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| Image Courtesy www.facebook.com/ AgentsofShield |
As I said last week,
now that Marvel’s Most Wanted has been passed on, Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D. is left without an announced in-development spinoff, which is
an absolutely unacceptable state of affairs (note the sarcasm). Of course, if Marvel wants to compete with
the well-oiled machine that is the DCTVU on the CW Network (seriously: they’ve
got 3 originals, 2 imports (including Constantine since he appeared on Arrow),
and 1 animated), then they do have to start working on another AoS
spinoff post haste! Now, that’s not a
good reason to authorize a spinoff as a TV executive, but it’s an excellent
reason to theorize about a spinoff as a blogger! And I’m not a TV executive (probably a good
thing), so let the theorizing commence!
With that in mind, as well as the
criterion mentioned last week (specifically the ability to tie closely to (and
enhance) upcoming Marvel movies), here are two more spinoff ideas. These would really push in a new direction,
building on the foundation already established by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,
and would necessitate introducing a largely-new cast of characters. However, I think that either of these would
be a very interesting expansion of the MCU on TV.
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| Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org |
Agents of S.W.O.R.D.
New Characters:
- Agent Abigail Brand (half-alien A.T.C.U. agent and first director of S.W.O.R.D.)—if Marvel at least partly owns her rights
- Sydren (alien prisoner freed by the A.T.C.U. who works for S.W.O.R.D.)
Introduction: As part of a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
2 “tie-in” there is an alien invasion of Earth. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Abigail Brand reveals
herself to be half-alien when she uses her (inherited) pyrokinetic abilities to
singlehandedly fight off a large contingent of the invaders. She frees the alien Sydren from his captors,
and the two of them together capture the alien command ship and help the
ground-based S.H.I.E.L.D. and military forces rout the invaders. Following the invasion, S.W.O.R.D. is formed
with Brand as its director and the command ship (renamed the Damocles)
as its orbital base.
A couple weeks ago I talked about
Tie-In possibilities
with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for next year’s movies. On the subject of Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 2, I noted that the best (and most exciting to me) option for a Tie-In
would be for S.H.I.E.L.D. to fight and stop an alien invasion. Such an event could cause S.H.I.E.L.D., the
A.T.C.U., and the U.S. Government to form a new agency with the ability to
protect the world from extraterrestrial threats such as alien invasions. This agency would be S.W.O.R.D., which would
employ captured alien technology and vessels (as well as actual aliens who
either defected or were rescued).
As a spinoff show from AoS,
this series would probably not take too many characters from the original show
with it, though several characters could make their debut near the end of AoS
season 4. Some of the supporting
characters would be similar between the two shows (President Ellis, General
Talbot, and potentially the new S.H.I.E.L.D. Director and/or Coulson, for
example). However, the two would not
overlap too much unless there was a major event taking place.
Considering at least four
upcoming movies will have some cosmic elements to them (Thor: Ragnarok, Captain
Marvel, and the two upcoming Avengers movies), it would be very easy
to tie this series in with all of those movies.
In fact, S.W.O.R.D. itself could easily fit into Captain Marvel
and Avengers: Infinity War, which could make this organization the first
major tie-in to go from the TV shows to the movies. And assuming that Marvel TV finds a good
actor to play Abigail Brand, it would be easy enough for Marvel Studios to work
her into Captain Marvel or Avengers: Infinity War in a role
similar to Coulson or Fury.
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| This is actually the Young Avengers, but whatever.Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org |
New Warriors
Characters:
- Sgt. Joseph Green, a.k.a. Gauntlet (Army soldier who came into possession of an alien gauntlet weapon shortly after Iron Man)
- Vance Astrovik, a.k.a. Justice or Marvel Boy (newly-transformed Inhuman with the power of telekinesis)—assuming Marvel at least partly owns the rights
- Dwayne Taylor, a.k.a. Night Thrasher (wealthy orphan trained in multiple martial arts)
- Silhouette Chord, a.k.a. Silhouette (Cambodian girl with Darkforce-related abilities developed through centuries of selective breeding)
- Doreen Green, a.k.a. Squirrel Girl (non-mutant with a squirrel tail and the ability to communicate with squirrels)
Introduction: Gauntlet is recruited to S.H.I.E.L.D. as an
instructor at the Caterpillar training facility (alongside May) when the Army
retires him. Later, a small group of teenaged
heroes come onto S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar when they attempt to stop a crime in
progress. When he can’t convince them to
wait until they are older to become heroes, Coulson agrees to take them in and
give them S.H.I.E.L.D. training (with their guardians’ consent) as a way to
keep them out of trouble.
Off the bat, I just want to point
out that I had already written this well before TV Line
revealed that Marvel and ABC were working on a New Warriors series. What follows is what I already had; let me
just point out that after that announcement this seems like the most likely
series of the five to be made. Hopefully
it will have at least some connection to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I think
I have a good idea for how that can be the case!
This concept would follow a
similar plan to the Avengers: The Initiative and Avengers Academy
comic series. In both of these comic
series, the Avengers take in a group of teenagers with superpowers and train
them to use their powers properly and become heroes. The focus of both series is on both the
students and the teachers (trained heroes trying to teach the students to avoid
their own mistakes).
In the context of Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D., it would make a lot of sense for S.H.I.E.L.D. to begin
running into younger enhanced people—both Inhumans and powered humans. Daisy could be an instructor part-time for
the “New Warriors” (again, branding them with “___ Warriors” like the “Secret
Warriors” and “Shadow Warriors”), but more likely they would introduce new
heroes who have worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past during season 4 and then
set them up to become instructors for the new series. This would be an opportunity for other AoS
characters (the Secret Warriors, Deathlok, “Randolph,” and the like) to appear
for small guest spots. Additionally,
this would be a convenient way to bring movie characters to the TV corner of
the MCU as “guest instructors” (unlikely as that may be).
In addition to crossover potential
(I mean, who wouldn’t want Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye to drop in and teach
target practice?), this series would offer the same tie-in options as AoS,
in that the “New Warriors” could be deployed to handle smaller parts of the
larger conflicts which we see in movies like Thor: Ragnarok, Captain
Marvel, and Avengers: Infinity War.
This is, in a nutshell, how the aforementioned comic series worked into
larger story arcs such as “Civil War,” “Secret Invasion,” “Dark Reign,” and the
“Siege of Asgard.”
Also, Squirrel Girl has defeated
Thanos in the past, so…
Conclusion
Marvel would do well to consider
ways in which they can expand their TV offerings, particularly considering just
how much success DC has been having on that front. Building a good, multifaceted comic book
property universe on the small-screen (especially one with connections to the
big screen) is about more than just how the series can tie-in to the
movies. The way in which all of the
existing TV series could work together is also very important. Either of these options would provide a good
change-of-pace from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but I think that Agents
of S.W.O.R.D. would offer the best tie-in possibilities, considering that
four upcoming movies (five with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) will
incorporate cosmic elements. But at the
same time, Marvel is actually working on New Warriors!
Which of these spinoff possibilities
interests you the most? Is there a
different spinoff that you want them to develop? Do you want to see S.W.O.R.D. in the
MCU? Let me know in the comments!
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