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| Image Courtesy www.twitter.com/ DrStrange |
With Doctor Strange ushering a New
Magical Age into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, suddenly a whole world of new
possibilities opens up for our favorite movies and TV shows. Now, it’s not as though we haven’t seen magic
before in the MCU; Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has introduced (and promptly
killed off) two separate Darkforce users (manipulators of extra-dimensional
energy), and Agent Carter season 2 was all about the MCU’s first
encounter with the Darkforce Dimension.
Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch, is (properly speaking) a magic
user, though her powers have thus far been limited (for the most part) to mental
manipulation and telekinesis. However,
all of these examples have been given scientific explanations (less so in the
case of Scarlet Witch): extra-dimensional
energy and Mind Stone experimentation, respectively.
What Doctor Strange brings
to the table is a form of magic we have not seen before, which will defy most scientific
explanation. I expect that characters
will attempt to give it a scientific explanation (Strange is a doctor,
after all!), but at some point they will just have to acknowledge that there
are some things they will never fully comprehend.
Once Doctor Strange
introduces magic in a big way, I expect that we will start to see a lot of magic
users appear in various MCU offerings, a theory to which I alluded last week
while talking about Tie-In possibilities
between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Doctor Strange. This week I will expand on that by talking
about magical characters who could appear in as many upcoming announced MCU
offerings as I can.
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| Image Courtesy marvel.wikia.com |
Druid, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Sebastian Druid is the Secret
Warriors’ resident magic user in the comics.
He starts out rather out of shape and even “washes out” of the Secret
Warriors before Fury sends him to “Deathlok’s Boot Camp” to get in shape and
learn to better control his abilities.
Personally, I think Druid is the
most logical magic user to serve as a follow-up to Doctor Strange’s entrance
into the MCU. As a Tie-In to Doctor
Strange, I expect S.H.I.E.L.D. to learn about the movie’s climactic battle
and discover from this the existence of magic which they had only ever
imagined. Coulson resolves that they
need to try to track down a magic user of their own so they can learn how it
works and find ways to prevent magic from getting out of hand. At the same time, thanks to the battle,
Sebastian Druid unlocks his own magical potential, which brings him to
S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attention. S.H.I.E.L.D.
takes him in, and he gets training and learns to use his magical abilities as a
member of the Secret Warriors (possibly the first non-Inhuman member).
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| Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org |
Daimon Hellstrom/Son of Satan, The
Defenders and Jessica Jones
I’ve talked about Daimon
Hellstrom, a.k.a. the Son of Satan, multiple times in the past. He is the son of one of the MCU’s versions of
Satan, though his mother is human. He
and his sister Satanna are both half-demon.
Though Satanna follows in their father’s footsteps, Daimon opposes their
father and fights with the heroes. He
also becomes romantically involved with Patsy Walker, a.k.a. Hellcat, and the
two of them get married.
If Marvel and Netflix decide to
add a traditional magic user to the Defenders (not taking into account
supernatural heroes like Ghost Rider—a version of whom may still appear on
Netflix, even though the Robbie Reyes version is appearing in Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4), in my opinion Daimon Hellstrom would be the logical
choice. His relationship with Trish
Walker would be an interesting one to explore, particularly after Jessica
Jones season 1 focused so heavily on the concept of male/female
relationships and abuse. This would be
all the more appropriate if the rumor from a while back about Mephisto being
the villain for The Defenders turns out to be true. Daimon and Satanna could both fit in The
Defenders if that were the case.
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| Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org |
Nico Minoru, Cloak and Dagger
Nico Minoru is a member of the
Runaways whose parents are dark magicians.
Along with the other Runaways, Nico flees from her super-villain parents
and fights to stop their plans for world domination. Nico wields the Staff of One, a powerful
magical artifact. However, she can only
access the staff when she gets cut.
If the Runaways appear on Cloak
and Dagger (a possibility I will talk about in a few weeks), it is a
virtual certainty that Nico Minoru will appear with them. Actually, considering that Nico’s mother
(Tina Minoru) appeared in the Doctor Strange prequel comic, I’d say it’s
a good bet that Nico herself will appear in something eventually!
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| Image Courtesy marvel.wikia.com |
Adam Warlock is a powerful cosmic
being who was specifically created to be the perfect man. Similar to Vision in the MCU, Warlock has an
Infinity Stone in his forehead, in his case the Soul Stone.
There has been a lot of
speculation that Adam Warlock will appear in Avengers: Infinity War,
especially with his female counterpart, Ayesha, already confirmed for Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol. 2. This would be
a good way to bring the Soul Stone into the picture, but I don’t know if they
will go this route when they already have one artificially-created perfect
being walking around with an Infinity Stone in his forehead! However, even if Warlock wields the Soul
Stone in a more traditional fashion (like as an amulet or something), I would
not be surprised if he appears in the MCU sooner than later, particularly in Infinity
War. He would bring a completely new
skill set to the Guardians of the Galaxy, something that would be extremely
useful when they face Thanos.
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| Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org |
Doctor Druid is a secondary
magical character and one-time Avenger.
When Stephen Strange was in training to become the Sorcerer Supreme,
Doctor Druid was considered to be his back-up, in case Strange didn’t pan
out. Brother Voodoo is another secondary
magic user, though unlike Doctor Druid he actually served as Sorcerer Supreme for
a time when Strange was thought dead.
Either of these guys could
potentially appear in a future Doctor Strange movie, either as a
supporting character and fellow magic user or as an antagonist who eventually
becomes an ally. The Avengers may not need
another magic user on their team in addition to Doctor Strange and Scarlet
Witch, but at some point they may decide to switch the teams up and bring in
new characters.
Mystical Elements of Black
Panther
Black Panther is another
character whose back story includes mystical elements. Wakanda is extremely technologically
advanced, but they also employ shamans who are attuned to the
mystical/supernatural world. The biggest
example of this is probably Bast, the Panther God who gives the Black Panther
his powers, and whom he connects to by eating the mystical “Heart-Shaped Herb.”
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| Image Courtesy marvel.wikia.com |
You can’t really talk about magic
without talking about one of the biggest magical villains in Marvel Comics. The Mandarin is not exclusively a magical
villain; his power actually comes from ten rings which he stole from an alien
spaceship. So his power is based on
alien technology. Which controls
magic. So is it technology or
magic? Huh.
The Mandarin actually appeared in
Iron Man 3 as a false flag operation masterminded by Aldrich Killian and
the A.I.M. think tank in order to create a need for super-soldiers (which they
would then fill with their Extremis soldiers).
However, the One-Shot Hail to the King revealed that there is an
actual Mandarin out there (whose name Killian “borrowed”), and who is unhappy
with Trevor Slattery’s portrayal of him.
At some point in the future—perhaps an Iron Man 4—this “real
Mandarin” should come into the picture.
And hopefully he will be every bit as menacing as he is in the
comics. In order to really do him
justice, he will need to have some form of magical abilities.
Conclusion
These are just some of the ways
that I hope and expect to see the concept of magic expand throughout the MCU
following Doctor Strange. One example
of this has already been confirmed in the form of Ghost Rider’s appearance on Agents
of S.H.I.E.L.D., but I am certain that will not be the only example of
magic we see in the MCU beyond Strange himself.
Of all the ideas mentioned, I think the ones that interest me the most
are the TV-centric ones, particularly Nico Minoru and Daimon Hellstrom.
What other magic users would you like to see
in the MCU once they really start exploring the idea of magic? Did I miss someone you think needs to be
mentioned? Let me know in the comments!
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