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| Image Courtesy www.screenrant.com |
Are there any Avengers
characters that can be ruled out entirely for inclusion in the MCU? I’m not talking about the mutants and
Fantastic Four—both of those groups are owned by Fox and it would probably take
an act of God for any of them to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe! Instead, I’m talking about the characters who
are part of the Marvel canon and are not associated with a property which has
had its movie rights sold to another studio.
Can we really count out any characters for making an appearance
somewhere in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
This is a question
that ScreenRant posed this past week in an article entitled “15 Avengers Who Will Never Be Featured In Marvel Movies.” The writer, Agustin Guerrero, lists 15 comic
book characters whom he does not think will ever appear in the movies. And while I agree with his reasoning to a
point, I think he is overstating his cast with some of these characters. So I’m going to go through all 15
characters/groups with my take on whether or not they will appear in the
MCU. However, I will expand it to
include all media—films, TV, tie-in comics—so that may account for some of our
disagreements. I’ll summarize Guerrero’s
history of the character, give his reasoning for excluding the character, and
then give my take on whether or not the character can appear. Where possible, I will give a possible
scenario for inclusion.
If you haven’t yet, be
sure to check out the first part of this article.
Sentry
History
Bob Reynolds is a
middle-aged, overweight, former superhero who made the world forget about him
because it was the only way to defeat his arch nemesis the Void. However, the Void is really a split
personality of himself which manifests whenever the Sentry (another split
personality) does something good.
SR Reason for
Exclusion
He would literally
break the MCU by destroying 7 years’-worth of continuity.
My Response
Yes, he would. And if Marvel ever needs to break everything
apart and start over, that would be the way to do it.
Possible Scenarios
20-30 years from now
the MCU has run its course and Marvel Studios is ready to reboot the
universe. Bob Reynolds starts running
around saying that he’s a superhero, the MCU gets ripped apart, and Marvel
recasts everyone to move on now that we know how things “really happened.”
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| Image Courtesy marvel.wikia.com |
U.S. Agent
History
John Walker is a
former U.S. Army soldier who was given the same basic powers as Steve Rogers by
the “Power Broker.” He replaces Steve
Rogers as Captain America for a while before taking the name “U.S. Agent,”
working for the “Commission on Superhuman Activities,” and eventually going to
Canada to become the leader of Omega Flight.
SR Reason for
Exclusion
He’s a hot-headed
duplicate of Captain America, complete with vibranium shield. Bucky is a more-likely candidate for Steve
Rogers’ replacement in the MCU.
My Response
If they make some
minor tweaks to U.S. Agent’s costume, he could be a good character to introduce
in/following Captain America: Civil War as the U.S. Government/Iron
Man’s government-sanctioned replacement for Steve Rogers as Captain America who
serves as an enforcer for the Superhuman Registration Act.
Possible Scenarios
At the very end of Captain
America: Civil War, Tony Stark holds a press conference in which he
introduces John Walker as the new “Captain America.” He is wearing an altered version of the
Captain America uniform and carrying a traditionally-shaped shield. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers watches on TV with a
dark look on his face. We have no reason
to believe this will happen, but it would make one heck of an
ending/mid-credits scene!
Hercules
History
Hercules is basically
the mythological Hercules brought forward in time. He wields an adamantium mace and teams up
with Thor a lot.
SR Reason for
Exclusion
Because we’ve seen so
much of Asgard, it’s doubtful we’ll see another pantheon added to the MCU. Plus, Hercules doesn’t really bring anything
new to the table that we haven’t seen.
My Response
While I see his point,
I wouldn’t count out the Olympians for inclusion in the MCU.
Possible Scenarios
If they want to give
the Secret Warriors some real oomph, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduces
Hercules as the first new member of the Secret Warriors and takes a few
episodes to introduce Olympus and the Greek gods to the MCU. But I’m not holding my breath for Hercules to
join the Secret Warriors. Phobos is a
more-likely candidate, if only because he’s on the team in the comics.
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| Image Courtesy marvel.wikia.com |
Spider-Woman
History
Jessica Drew is given
various superpowers (strength, agility, flight, bio-energy projection, and
pheromone production) by a laser containing spider DNA while still in the womb
(She was created by the High Evolutionary, so we can’t expect her origin to
make a lot of sense!). She was a
brainwashed double agent for Hydra who joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers to
betray them to Hydra.
SR Reason for
Exclusion
She was just created
so Marvel could get the rights to the name, and she’s really in Peter Parker’s
shadow as far as the general public is concerned. She would cause a lot of confusion with
Spider-Man now that he’s coming to the MCU.
My Response
While I can somewhat
agree with the point as far as the big-screen is concerned, I think she would
be an interesting inclusion on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. We know that Hydra uses brainwashing, and
that Ward (who is now in the process of rebuilding Hydra) is familiar with the
process. He could easily take a young
Jessica Drew who somehow got powers, brainwash her, and use her to infiltrate
S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Secret Warriors.
And if she does well on the small-screen, Marvel may choose to bring her
to the big-screen during Infinity War.
Possible Scenarios
Jessica Drew is an
Inhuman woman given various abilities by the Terrigen Fish Oil. Before Skye and Lincoln can find her,
however, she is taken by Ward and his neo-Hydra group, which uses their
brainwashing techniques to also give her some level of control over her
abilities. Ward then plants Jessica in
such a way that Skye discovers her and recruits her into the Secret
Warriors. The Secret Warriors plot in Agents
of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3 follows Skye’s efforts to learn who is betraying
the team, which eventually leads her to Spider-Woman. At the end of the season they break the
brainwashing and use her double agent status to draw Hydra out into a final
major confrontation.
Wonder Man
History
Simon Williams
originally worked for Baron Zemo, who transformed him into an ion-powered
superhuman and sent him to infiltrate the Avengers. He eventually turns on Zemo, saves the
Avengers, and joins the team.
SR Reason for
Exclusion
Like the issue with
Spider-Woman, Wonder Man’s name is too close to “Wonder Woman.” SR thinks that DC and WB “would do everything
in their power to stop production of Wonder Man with their Wonder Woman
film set to premiere in 2017.”
My Response
Well yeah, if he’s
going to headline his own movie. But as
a secondary character in another movie?
I don’t think Warner Bros. would be that petty. But, what do I know? We’re talking about multimillion-dollar
companies that openly steal each other’s characters (see: Wonder Woman/Wonder Man; Captain
Marvel/Captain Marvel/Captain Marvel).
Given that Baron Zemo
is appearing in Captain America: Civil War, one of the upcoming movies
could see Zemo take a bitter ex-con named Simon Williams, give him superpowers,
and send him undercover to infiltrate the Avengers.
Possible Scenarios
In Captain America:
Civil War, Baron Zemo sends his own enhanced person, Wonder Man, undercover
to join the Avengers. However, he
instructs Wonder Man to look for the biggest and most spectacular moment to
“accidentally” cause massive collateral damage, giving Zemo and his
politically-connected allies an opportunity to call for the Avengers’
dissolution and arrest. This is unlikely
at this point since production has started and there has been no hint of
casting him, but it is always a possibility for them to do this in secret as a
surprise twist.
Alternatively, the
same thing could happen in a future movie, perhaps following Infinity War
when the Avengers are looking to replace a number of fallen heroes.
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| Image Courtesy marvel.wikia.com |
She-Hulk
History
Jennifer Walters is
Bruce Banner’s cousin, and he is forced to give her a blood transfusion in
order to save her life. However, the
Hulk-blood transforms her into She-Hulk, a female version of the Hulk who is
slightly weaker but retains her normal intelligence. Jennifer is also a lawyer who represents
heroes in court.
Note: She actually prefers to be She-Hulk because
Jennifer has a meeker personality while She-Hulk is more strong-willed
SR Reason for
Exclusion
There’s already one
Hulk, with another (Red Hulk) rumored to be on the way in Civil War. Is there room for another Hulk
character? Plus, there’s no way Bruce
Banner would agree to give someone a transfusion of his own blood.
My Response
There is absolutely
room for another Hulk character if the story is right. Remember, duplication doesn’t mean automatic
exclusion.
Also, though it is
unlikely that Bruce Banner would give someone a transfusion of his own blood,
that all might change if the person in question is a dear family member who
will die otherwise.
Possible Scenarios
Daredevil
season 2 introduces Jessica Walters as either a new partner at Nelson and
Murdock or a rival lawyer (either at another firm or working for the District
Attorney’s office). In season 3 Jessica
is grievously injured in a drive-by shooting while Bruce Banner is visiting (in
secret). The only way to keep Jessica
alive long enough for help to arrive is for Bruce to give her a blood
transfusion, which he does reluctantly.
Jessica transforms (which heals her), defeats and captures the men who
tried to kill her, and joins the Defenders.
Great Lakes
Avengers
History
The team was founded
by Mr. Immortal when he discovered that immortality isn’t very useful for
fighting crime. He recruits a bunch of
other heroes with “weird” powers, and they fight crime together as the “Great
Lakes Avengers” until they are served with a Cease and Desist order by the
actual Avengers.
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| Go Team? Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org |
Characters:
Mr. Immortal –
resurrects when killed, but heals normally from any non-fatal injuries
Dinah Soar – a winged
creature/dinosaur from the Savage Land
Big Bertha – a
beautiful supermodel who can increase her size, giving her super-strength and increased
durability
Flatman – a paper-thin
guy who can stretch his body (think Mr. Fantastic but less useful)
Doorman – a teleporter
who can only use his body as a doorway into an adjacent room (exciting)
Note: Hawkeye and Mockingbird were on the team as
mentors for a while, during which time the team actually fought alongside the
real Avengers teams
SR Reason for
Exclusion
They all have weird
and stupid powers. Most of them are
mutants. The Savage Land is probably
owned by Fox.
My Response
Yeah, pretty
much what he said. The most exciting thing they could
probably do is take a bunch of other Q-list heroes, give them the name
“Great Lakes Avengers,” and use them as cannon fodder against Thanos.
Possible Scenarios
Like I said
above: a bunch of Q-list superheroes (a
few new Inhumans?) who happen to live near the Great Lakes are inspired by the
Avengers to team up and fight crime.
They come to the attention of Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D., who send the
Secret Warriors to investigate.
S.H.I.E.L.D. takes them under their wing, trains them, and utilizes them
when it’s convenient. Eventually the
Avengers learn of them and ask them to change their name. The Great Lakes Avengers are one of the hero
teams which unite in Infinity War Part 2 to defeat Thanos, and most of
them get killed in the battle.
Fantastic
Four/X-Men
History
Do I need to explain
who these guys are?
SR Reason for
Exclusion
Talk to Fox
My Response
Yeah, it would pretty
much take an act of God for them to be included in the MCU.
Possible Scenarios
The fans boycott every
single Marvel movie produced by Fox for the next 5 years and a completely bankrupt
Fox finally sells the rights back to Marvel in disgrace.
Conclusion
Most of these
characters are highly unlikely to ever appear in the MCU. However, I’m not going to rule all of them
out entirely for an appearance in the right story, particularly when Marvel is
going to need a lot more heroes to confront Thanos in the epic Avengers:
Infinity War movies and then to repopulate the Avengers following the Infinity
War. Of the 15, I think the most
likely characters to appear are Black Knight, Hercules, Spider-Woman, and
She-Hulk. The only ones that I would
count out entirely from this list are Justice, Smasher, and the listed members
of the Great Lakes Avengers, since they are all (probably) owned by Fox. Oh, and the F4 and X-Men.
Which of these
characters would you like to see in the MCU?
Are there any characters where you disagree with my reasoning? Let me know in the comments!
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