Every now and then I come across some information the veracity of which can be confirmed by a second source. What happens FAR more often is that I come across some information that while believable and from trustworthy sources, cannot be confirmed by other sources for various reasons. Typically, when the second scenario occurs, I move on and forget about the information unless, in rare instances, it turns out to be proven true somewhere down the road.
So, thing I heard this week (well, I heard it months ago but this is the week I’m talking about it): While filming the Disney picture Jungle Cruise, Emily Blunt met with Marvel Studios about a role in an upcoming film.
That’s it. That is all I heard. Don’t know if she signed or passed on yet another Marvel Studios role. I don’t even know what the role they discussed was. However, with the new character description (which many of us are ASSUMING is Clea) now out there, it seemed the right time to mention the meeting.
This is a story that maybe isn’t really a story because if nothing ever comes of it, then it was nothing. It is, however, interesting and I’m choosing to share it now after not doing anything with it for several months because of the latest round of Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness casting calls which call for a VERY strong “leading lady type”. late-20s to early 40s, who can be a “contemporary” to Strange.
Blunt is 36 years old and one of THE premiere female action stars in Hollywood. She not only fits the age requirement, she has all the chops and a long list of hits to be the new “leading lady” and certainly someone who can go on screen with Benedict Cumberbatch and be seen as his “contemporary.” She can do more than that. She can go toe-to-toe with Cumberbatch and knock his Stephen Strange down a few pegs when the time is right. Strange fans have longed for Clea to be a part of this sequel and a part of Strange’s MCU journey; Emily Blunt might be just the right actress for the role.
Of course there’s no way for me to know if she was talking about Clea, Sue Storm, Medusa (just in case those Inhuman reinvention rumors were true) or even a character in Eternals or another property I don’t even know about. What I do know is that the more I think about a list of actresses who can give what it takes to portray Clea appropriately, I can’t make that list without her on it.
If you’ve never read an installment of Connecting Imaginary Dots, allow me to explain the idea. Connecting Imaginary Dots was the title I came up with for my speculation pieces when I was writing at MCU Exchange. These types of pieces basically allow me to unload a bunch of junk that’s circulating in my brain in a way that should never be confused for things I actually expect to happen. I basically take a bunch of facts that are almost always entirely unrelated and do my best to connect the dots with by stretching my imagination. In the past these types of pieces have resulted in me theorizing that the Spider-Man sequel which became Far From Home might end up being a team-up outing of Spidey and Hulk in the Savage Land;however, I also wrote one theorizing that Sterling K. Brown would be playing the father of Erik Killmonger in Black Panther LOOOOOONG before anyone else was considering it and one in which I theorized that Annette Bening was actually Mar-Vell when everyone else still thought Jude Law was playing the character. The bottom line is this: these are fun spec pieces that allow me to just be a fan. With that out of the way…
A recent update to IMDB (which I am well aware can be unreliable) produced some information that, if true, could be considered incredibly interesting. The update indicated that actor Olli Haaskivi had joined the upcoming Disney Plus series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier as Dr. Wilfred Nagel.
If you find yourself asking who Dr. Wilfred Nagel is and why he might matter, don’t feel bad because he’s certainly not a popular character and not one that has accumulated a lot of appearances. First appearing in the 2003 limited series, Truth: Red, White and Black, he is however notable for one incredibly important thing: in an attempt to carry on the work of Project: Rebirth begun by Dr. Abraham Erskine, Nagel, under the alias Josef Reinstein, experimented on a group of 300 African-America soldiers, including one by the name of Isaiah Bradley.
Bradley, the only soldier to survive the trials, takes a Captain America costume and goes on a one man mission against the Nazis. The mission, unfortunately, fails and Bradley is captured and experimented on by the Nazis as they try to reverse engineer the new batch of Super Soldier serum. Though freed from his captors, Bradley is court-martialed and imprisoned for nearly 20 years before being pardoned. The legend of Bradley, the “Black Captain America”, however, had taken root in the Marvel Comics Universe and Bradley became well-known and respected in the African-American community.
Upon meeting Bradley, whose physical and mental states had deteriorated significantly, Steve Rogers began to learn more about Project: Rebirth.
If we are seeing Nagel, it seems very likely that he’s either there for the same reason he was introduced in the comics OR they’ve greatly altered his story and the MCU version will be responsible for production of the Super Soldier serum used by John Walker.
Here’s to hoping it’s the former. As fans know, if we get to meet Isaiah Bradley, his grandson Elijah might not be too far behind. And that’s another Young Avenger and…well, that’s another story.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe does not follow the comics to an exact letter, the MCU undoubtedly takes inspiration from the comics. Redwing is not an actual bird that Falcon communicates with, but it is a mechanical bird that he controls. Black Widow did not betray the Avengers in the MCU, though her relationship with the team in the comics is ambiguous at best. Needless to say, there are certain liberties taken when the MCU adopts from the source material. With that in mind, it stands to reason that where Wanda Maximoff in the comics was the reason mutants vanished the MCU’s Scarlet Witch is going to be the reason mutants join this shared universe over the course of WandaVision and Doctor Strange 2.
In the comics, Wanda Maximoff was trained by an actual witch named Agatha Harkness, who is set to be played by the criminally underrated Kathryn Hahn in WandaVision. Agatha is the Morpheus to Wanda’s Neo and she shows her how to unlock the true strength of her powers. With the ever-expanding MCU set to embrace the more supernatural elements of the comics (Doctor Strange has already been introduced, and Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, and Blade have all either been announced or teased by Kevin Feige and that’s before we even get to the multiverse shenanigans that would need to occur to make Jared Leto’s Morbius interacting with Tom Holland’s Spider Man a logical reality), it stands to reason that the MCU takes those first steps with their Witch, Wanda, and an actual witch in Agatha. With casting calls being put out for Wanda and Vision’s twins Wiccan and Speed, one need not speculate very far as to what could be the cause of Wanda’s potential mental break. In the comics, Wiccan’s powers very much resemble his mother’s, while Speed’s powers resemble his uncle Quicksilver’s powers. At the end of Winter Soldier, Baron Van Strucker said that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch represented the Age of Miracles. I can think of a different M word that one could use in the 1950s, the rumored Scarlet Witch setting, if they saw two kids running really fast and warping reality. Imagine if, in 1950, a devastated Scarlet Witch utters the words “More Mutants” because she wishes that someone could’ve protected her children after Agatha was responsible for taking them away.
Wanda’s nightmare, indeed.
The MCU’s Scarlet Witch losing her children after she lost her twin brother, her partner Vision right in front of her after being forced to kill him herself, turned to ash herself by the Mad Titan, and then resurrected only to be robbed of her vengeance is undoubtedly enough to push her over the edge. Feige has already said that, entering Phase Four, Wanda is the most powerful character they have. Throw in Wanda’s presence in Doctor Strange 2, existing in one universe where she has to potentially deal with The Wasp jokingly mocking Wanda’s desire to be a mother after having that reality brutally ripped away by Agatha. You can clearly see a scenario where losing her children leads her to not only bring the mutants from another universe into the main MCU universe due to the sheer loss she has experienced, but also leads to the Sorcerer Supreme to have to intervene to eventually put the Scarlet Witch down like in the House of M comic. This becomes even more likely when Wanda realizes that the reason Thanos was able to turn back time and kill Vision in front of her, and ergo rob her of the future she thought they’d have, is because Doctor Strange gave up the Time Stone.
With a new Doctor Strange synopsis being released, and a new director being brought in (three cheers for Jordan Peele being the one who takes the helm), Strange’s continued study of the now gone Time Stone has been teased. Mordo’s decision to eradicate the world of sorcerers could bring him into contact with Wanda Maximoff. Could Mordo be in cahoots with another villain, one that has been here for hundreds of years, and who the Scarlet Witch has an extended history with? And could her past interaction be the reason mutants will now exist in the MCU?
Following the release of the Morbius trailer last week, baseless speculation began that Jared Harris might be playing Doctor Otto Octavius in the Sony film. I’ve spent the better part of the last week doing my best to inform everyone (via my Twitter account) that not only is Harris not playing Doc Ock, but that he is playing a different doctor: Dr. Emil Nikos.
Described as “calm and fatherly” Harris’ Nikos is the mentor to Jared Leto’s Morbius. He is the director of the underfunded institution we see in the trailer and despite having “every right to be cynical, ” he has chosen the “path of hope.”
I can imagine fans are having a hard time wrapping their heads around this because it represents a change from the comics, where Nikos was Morbius’ peer and best friend. That being said, this hardly represents the first time a character was adapted to serve a different purpose on screen. Given the fact that the trailer seems to paint Nikos in a sympathetic light, I’d wager it’s still safe to assume one aspect of the character might carry over from the comics: I’d put my bet down that he’ll still be the first victim of Morbius.
If you’ve never read an installment of Connecting Imaginary Dots, allow me to explain the idea. Connecting Imaginary Dots was the title I came up with for my speculation pieces when I was writing at MCU Exchange. These types of pieces basically allow me to unload a bunch of junk that’s circulating in my brain in a way that should never be confused for things I actually expect to happen. I basically take a bunch of facts that are almost always entirely unrelated and do my best to connect the dots with by stretching my imagination. In the past these types of pieces have resulted in me theorizing that the Spider-Man sequel which became Far From Home might end up being a team-up outing of Spidey and Hulk in the Savage Land;however, I also wrote one theorizing that Sterling K. Brown would be playing the father of Erik Killmonger in Black Panther LOOOOOONG before anyone else was considering it and one in which I theorized that Annette Bening was actually Mar-Vell when everyone else still thought Jude Law was playing the character. The bottom line is this: these are fun spec pieces that allow me to just be a fan. With that out of the way…
Back in December, actress Miki Ishikawa and actor Desmond Chiam were added to the cast of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. While Chiam has been photographed on set on more than one occasion, there has been no sign of Ishikawa so far. Though she has not been on set, she has been putting herself through the paces of a rigorous regimen of exercise, the kind of routine that one might associate with becoming a superhero.
I have long believed that Marvel Studios has been working to set up some version of the Thunderbolts and I have often theorized how The Falcon and The Winter Soldier might be just the place to introduce the team. The present day of the MCU is a time without heroes. With the Avengers gone, the time is right for Thaddeus Ross to bring in his own team that he controls. I’m a big believer that the Thunderbolts are coming, so when Ishikawa was cast, I quickly jumped to the possibility of her playing one of the OG Thunderbolts: Jolt.
Talking through it and just following my "Thunderbolts spin out of Falcon and Winter Soldier" train of thought, it's possible that Ishikawa is playing OG Thunderbolt Jolt. pic.twitter.com/drhcUSSQfo
First introduced in 1997’s Thunderbolts #1, Hallie Takahama, aka Jolt, is one of the first members to be added to the Thunderbolts initial roster. Following experimentation by Arnim Zola, Jolt became attuned to her body’s bioelectric field to the extent that she could both weaponize it and use it to move incredibly fast.
As I stated earlier, when Ishikawa was cast, there was no evidence to support that she would actually play Jolt, so my guess was just a guess and, most likely, driven by my desire to see the Thunderbolts enter the MCU. But then yesterday, Ishikawa posted some pictures of her newest tattoos and one of them REALLY stood out to me:
That tiny little lightning bolt on her wrist looks exactly like the kind of tattoo one might get if she had been cast as a Thunderbolt (the team logo is a lightning bolt) and, perhaps more specifically as Jolt! Adding more fuel to the fire was a now deleted comment from a user saying “Can’t wait to see you as Jolt in the MCU!”, a comment that Ishikawa liked before it disappeared.
Connecting these dots really makes it seem like Jolt is a real possibility for Ishikawa’s mystery role and, if that’s the case, the Thunderbolts cannot be far behind!
If you’ve never read an installment of Connecting Imaginary Dots, allow me to explain the idea. Connecting Imaginary Dots was the title I came up with for my speculation pieces when I was writing at MCU Exchange. These types of pieces basically allow me to unload a bunch of junk that’s circulating in my brain in a way that should never be confused for things I actually expect to happen. I basically take a bunch of facts that are almost always entirely unrelated and do my best to connect the dots with by stretching my imagination. In the past these types of pieces have resulted in me theorizing that the Spider-Man sequel which became Far From Home might end up being a team-up outing of Spidey and Hulk in the Savage Land;however, I also wrote one theorizing that Sterling K. Brown would be playing the father of Erik Killmonger in Black Panther LOOOOOONG before anyone else was considering it and one in which I theorized that Annette Bening was actually Mar-Vell when everyone else still thought Jude Law was playing the character. The bottom line is this: these are fun spec pieces that allow me to just be a fan. With that out of the way…
Back in August a casting call, revealed by GWW, indicated that Marvel Studios was searching for an actor, 30-40, to play “the ruler of a distant ancient kingdom.” At the time of their report, GWW speculated that the character might be Namor and, given Kevin Feige’s recent comments, it’s looking increasingly possible that they might be right.
In a recent stint a as a guest speaker at the New York Film Academy, Feige gave a little insight into how they chose characters for Marvel Studios films, including Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness.
The most pertinent bit is transcribed below:
Sometimes you’re choosing title hero, choosing which main character or main team you want to bring to the screen and often times, it’s as you’re making and developing the movie [asking] ‘Who will come into it?’ and ‘Who will fit into it? The next Doctor Strange film, for instance, features some new MCU characters which will be making their debut in that movie you won’t expect or won’t guess who it is but we found a cool way to make it work because we want to make a particular type of movie there and there was a character who we always wanted to do something with who will fit really well there.
On the surface, only part of that (“a character who we always wanted to do something with”) sounds like Namor. Namor and Strange have a long comic book history through their time together on The Defenders, a team of otherwise non-teamer uppers who often come together to tackle threats that are more mystical or supernatural. The non-team team often included Hulk, Silver Surfer, Valkyrie and others over the course of the years. Namor also suffered from amnesia, causing him to forget his true heritage. Could the opening up of the Multiverse and the potential influence of Nightmare be enough to jog the memory of the Avenging Son of Atlantis?
Though the casting call did not specify which project the character would appear in, other information in the casting call does give a small hint. For instance, we can probably rule out the character of “DAVID” appearing in Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings because other character descriptions that appeared around the same time and have since been confirmed to be for Shang-Chi gave a time frame of January through May, a time frame we now know fits for that film, while the description for “DAVID” gave a TBD start date. So while we can’t pin down that this character will appear in Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness, we can be fairly confident that it is not for Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings and it doesn’t make a ton of sense to believe that they were already searching for actors for Thor: Love and Thunder a full year before it would film.
So, if we are connecting all the dots and doing some imagineering, we can at least make a case for Namor to make his long-awaited MCU debut in 2021 and, while we’re at it, we can make the case for “ADAM”, a character from another similar description, to be Jericho Drumm, aka Brother Voodoo…but that’s another story.
So what do you think? Could Namor finally make his debut in 2021’s Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness?
Welcome to another installment of what I hope is an enjoyable, extended look at a series of films that I’d like to see used as a way to bring the X-Men and Fantastic Four universes into the MCU. I’ve spent a troubling amount of time in my own mind thinking about this and figured that if I was going to spend that much time, I might as well write it up and feel accomplished! In doing so, I know that I’ll push some buttons with some readers, so let’s be clear about a few things: these are only MY ideas and do not, in any way, represent insight into what we should expect; of all the films I end up writing about, there’s a very small chance ANY of them get made; you’re free to write your own fan-fiction about films you want to see.
With so much time between now and when we will first see the X-Men enter the MCU, there’s a lot of time for things to change (including my own mind); however, this “blueprint” is my current idea and one that I’ve attempted to base both in the kind of decisions Marvel Studios has made to date and on the types of changes we’ve seen recently. Unfortunately, in writing these I’ve discovered I am NOT cut out to do screenplays, so some of these stray from convention in a few ways.
In thefirst installment, I took at look at how Starjammerscould potentially kick off Marvel Studios’ inclusion of the X-Men characters into the MCU. Then I took a shot at introducing Charles Xavier to the world and explaining just why he needed the X-Men in the first place. Next, we introduced arguablyMarvel’s greatest character, Victor von Doom.We then caught up on the adventures of Corsair and crew and met the poweful Shi’ar Imperial Guard. We finally gave Marvel’s first family the film they deserve and then brought the X-Men into the MCU, making good on our several movie long build up to a true-to-comics Scott Summers. Yesterday we investigated the origins of the universe and took a look at the threat nature poses to us all in the Silver Surfer. Today, we’ve come back to finish up our Starjammers trilogy and give the Summers boys a reunion with their father!
My goals here are to tie up a lot of loose threads, give the Summers’ men a chance to shine together and really put a kink in our relationship with Charles Xavier all while saving the world and and the Shi’ar Empire. No big deal really.
When we last saw our Starjammers, things were pretty bleak. Hepzibah’s home planet had been destroyed, though she, Raza and Ch’od were together and on the run, and Corsair had been captured and imprisoned on Chandilar. The post-credit scene to that movie revealed that the pirates hadn’t given up, however, and had hatched a plan to spring their leader. We’ll pick up there as the movie begins. A great pirate prison break scene unfolds as Sikorsky’s plan is hatched. It seems important here to show the trust and efficiency with which the team operates now to see how far they’ve come and what they’re capable of doing for their “family.” It’s Hepzibah who ultimately springs Corsair and the reunion of the two results in some serious passion (Corsair thought she was dead). As they prepare to take leave of the prison, Corsair realizes that they could also leave with what might possibly be their biggest score to date: Lilandra. And so they do and as we move through and incredible escape scene (I like to think about this looking like the escape from the Death Star in A New Hope), our space pirates have new life. They pick up a new ship on the way out and hit their jump. We find out that they’ve been on the run for some time since the breakout and they know they’ll have no place to go with the Imperial Guard on their trail; however, they’ve managed to lay low and begin work on a plan with Lilandra’s help.
Cut to Earth and Professor X’s newly renovated school seems busier than when last we saw it. We know that the events of Professor X and The X-Men were among the first to reveal the enormity of the mutant population to the world and while fear has spread through the government propaganda, Moira and Charles have been hard at work expanding trying to talk to parents of young mutants they’ve identified and expanding the student body. Now shown to be enrolled at the school are Calvin Rankin, Kevin Sydney, Alex Summer, Lorna Dane, Ororo Munroe (the young mutant Charles first encountered years ago in Cairo) and Suzanne Chan. It’s also revealed that Moira has continued work at her foster home nearby and some other, younger mutants are living there in a bit of a different setting. Among them are Jamie Madrox and Petra Laskov (the girl we last saw pawning diamonds at the end of Professor X and The X-Men) and, of course, Gabriel Summers. We see the new students going through their paces in school and also being led through training exercises led by the original team. Charles’ sense of pride in the students, especially his first class, is evident as he watches them; however, he is especially concerned about Alex’s inability to control his power. As Charles moves away in his hoverchair, Moira contacts him and as the two speak, the camera pans to Kevin Sydney and we find out that she’s been working hard to find a cure, but it seems as if the poor young man has only a few months left to live.
On Chandilar, the Imperial Guard surround a closed door and as we move inside, we see D’Ken in a heated conversation. As we move around the room, it becomes clear that he’s the only one in the room and that he is carrying on a full back and forth with the crystal. We learn that since his sister escaped, he’s used the crystal to destroy several other planets within the Empire for harboring the Starjammers, though in none of those circumstances was their evidence of them being there. Back outside the room, the Imperial Guard share concerned glances and even the stoic Kallark seems to crack. As D’Ken finishes communing with the crystal, he is led by the Guard to another room where he’s greeted by a face we haven’t seen for some time: Davan Shakari. Shakari briefs him of the events on Earth, leaving out of course the escape of his Terran slave, but sure to include the growing number of super-powered beings on an already dangerous Earth, including Charles Xavier and his team of X-Men. D’Ken sends Shakari back to Earth, tasking him with surveilling their school and learning just what each of the team can do.
At that we cut to Charles who has a fully realized Cerebro, a machine that harnesses his ability to exist in his astral form, now built into the school (it’s been hard to stay away from it until now, but it’s necessary at this point). As he enters the program, we find that he’s able to reach further and further with his mind and now he senses a call for help further than he’s been before: Charles, in his astral from, has left Earth and finds himself quickly drawn through space where he comes face to face with the unique beauty of Lilandra Neramini. Charles calmly sits next to the deposed leader of the Imperial Guard and introduces himself. Lilandra tells her story and of the threat that her brother poses to the entire universe. Charles, in move far more self-serving than we’d like our heroes to make, insists that Lilandra and her team come to Earth where Charles and his X-Men will help devise a plan to stop her brother’s reign of madness and terror. Charles returns to his body and Lilandra brings the plan to the Starjammers and it is met with near unanimous approval and then a decidedly angry “NO!”. Corsair will not go home; he won’t face reminders of his losses; he won’t bring this threat to Earth. As Corsair storms away, Hepzibah starts after him only to be stopped by Ch’od. In a twist, Ch’od, not Hepzibah convinces Corsair to return to Earth to find closure for his losses and to regale the Starjammers with tales of his youthful adventures. The course is set: the Starjammers are heading to…Alaska.
Catching up with the X-Men, we see the original team finishing a battle with Unus the Untouchable using a device of Beast’s design that cleverly captures him within his own force field. This was the first mission in which Charles allowed Mimic, Polaris, Havok and Sway to go into the field as backup and while they weren’t needed, Charles debriefs them on the way back to the school and seems to be very pleased with their progress. This won’t be the “we’re ready Coach, put us in moment” because it’s at this point Charles determines that they are, in fact, ready and tells them as much. Back at the school, we find that Moira has come to visit and has brought Gabriel with her. It seems that Gabriel, who has been progressing well and fitting in nicely at the home, was working on fixing some wiring when he took a shock. The shock was minor but what’s happened to him since then is what’s brought him here:
Since the shock, Gabriel’s body, including his eyes, have been emanating energy and while he’s not in pain or hurting anyone else, it won’t stop. Charles agrees to see the young man and is amazed at what he sees. He explains to Gabriel that he’s a mutant and would like to enter his mind to see if he can find out what he can do to help. Gabriel agrees but Charles finds it tough sledding to even enter his mind at first as it appears Gabriel is resisting. Once Gabriel calms down, Charles finds several things: a torrent of awful events at the hands of aliens who look an awful lot like Lilandra; a Shi’ar spy here on Earth and Gabriel’s escape; the fact that Gabriel’s memories seem to begin at adolescence and the lack of anything at all before that. Charles also feels pain and the promise of enormous power and, as he exits Gabriel’s mind, he senses a deep hatred for the people who hurt him. Charles and Moira confer and agree that Gabriel should stay with the X-Men for now until the full reach of his abilities are understood. As Charles takes him to his room, he passes the common room where the Summers boys are playing a killer game of Super Mario Kart 9. Scott puts down his controller and walks to get a closer look, believing for a moment that they man that just walked by looked an awful lot like his dad. Alex quickly snaps him out of it and the two return to their game. Before we leave the school, we see Kevin in front of a mirror, quickly taking the shape of each of his classmates before morphing into and holding the look of Charles Xavier and as we pull away, we find that Shakari, the hand of Shi’ar Emperor D’Ken, has not only found the X-Men, but his runaway slave.
Back with the Starjammers, Corsair, not in his 80’s rock star bodysuit, and the team have made a brief stop in Alaska where we see Christopher Summers approach a home in Anchorage. An unsure Summers pauses before knocking on the door, which is opened by a man who slowly realizes who is standing before him. We find this is one of Summers’ old Air Force buddies who has clearly thought his friend long dead. Summers enters the home and tells his friend the tale we’ve seen unfold, ultimately being forced to introduce him to his new crew. After some convincing, Summers’ friend agrees to get Summers’ belongings left behind at the base and delivers a small box of materials cleaned out from his locker and desk. In it, Summers finds exactly what he was looking for: a picture of his wife and sons taken on their fateful vacation and as he returns to their ship, he places it on his control panel as a constant reminder of what was taken from him by the Shi’ar and the reason why he continues to take from them. Their brief detour done, Lilandra reaches out to Charles Xavier and the two work together to bring the Starjammers to Westchester.
Back on the Shi’ar throneworld, Shakari is seen transmitting his report to D’Ken. As he ends his report, he begins his descent on the school, revealing himself in his full Shi’ar armor for the first time.
Shakari boldly breaches the school and is soon greeted by its students. His Shi’ar physiology gives him enough of an advantage and his armor proves to be able to not only produce energy blasts, but also keeps Marvel Girl from getting into his head. Several of the X-Men are taken out of the picture as Charles calls out a plan to others. Sway creates a time loop in which Shakari finds himself battling Cyclops over and over; with his attention diverted, Polaris and Havok team up. Havok unleashes a massive blast of energy on Shakari, more than even he can handle, disabling him momentarily. While he’s down, Polaris uses her powers to restrain him within his armor and remove his helmet at which time Marvel Girl finds her way into his mind and shuts him down. As the battle comes to an end, Gabriel comes out to the field to see his former tormentor disabled and approaches him. Before anyone can stop him, Gabriel projects and energy whip and begins to lash Shakari, tearing away pieces of his armor as he goes. Gabriel can’t be stopped and either Charles nor Marvel Girl can enter his mind; fortunately, the arrival of a massive Shi’ar starship proves to be enough to distract him. As the ship lands in clearing in the woods surrounding the school, the crew disembarks: the Starjammers and the X-Men make their first fateful meeting.
Having not had contact from Shakari, D’Ken heads back to commune with the crystal. When he emerges, he gathers the Imperial Guard and gives the command to load the crystal aboard their ship. He’s going to Earth and the crystal has told him to destroy the planet. Each of the crew, save Neutron, know this is madness; they load the crystal but Kallark, Oracle, Mentor and Smasher, all psi-linked by Oracle, devise a way to stop the mad Emperor.
Back on Earth, the Starjammers and X-Men try to hatch their own plan. Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Havok and Polaris accompany Corsair and Hepzibah to the ship, thrilled to explore an alien vessel. Here Scott sees the picture on the control console and the dots are all connected. He asks to scan Corsair’s mind and she finds that he is indeed Scott and Alex’s father and that since their separation, he’s believed them dead and suffered greatly. Meanwhile, in the school, Gabriel has found where they are holding Shakari and opens the cell intent on torturing his former master. Shakari is beaten and weak, but as Gabriel pauses, Shakari strikes a blow to the boy, rendering him unconscious. Shakari dons his armor and as he looks to leave the school, he crosses the path of Charles and Lilandra. Shakari’s armor keeps him safe from Charles’ psychic attacks and before the rest of the team can come to help, he’s overpowered Charles and taken Lilandra. Tossed from his chair, Charles sees Shakari use his armor to open a portal and disappear.
After they collect themselves, they X-Men and Starjammers are now planning a rescue when Lilandra reaches out and tells Charles that she is on Earth but that she now knows her brother is headed for Earth, intent on destroying it. Eager to make up for his mistakes, Gabriel tells the team he knows where Shakari’s lair is, explaining he’s been a slave to the Shi’ar his entire life. It’s gonna be a bit awkward, but it’s now at this critical juncture in the film, that the revelation of father and sons is made by Jean who had been able to not only learn about Christopher Summers but also the life of Gabriel while reading Shakari’s mind. Following their reunion, the plan is presented as follows:
Polaris, Havok, Storm and Sway will be joined by one of Moira’s students, Petra, and Gabriel to rescue Lilandra.
Charles, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, Angel and Mimic will accompany the Starjammers to Shi’ar space to stop D’Ken.
The final battle is waged on two fronts. On Earth, Storm and the “gold” team battle Shakari who is beaten back and tells them if they don’t stand down, he will kill Lilandra. In space above Earth, Cyclops’ “blue team” and the Starjammers engage in an incredible battle with the Imperial Guard as D’Ken powers up the crystal.
Shakari, aware that the battle is lost, looks to enter the base and make good on his threat when the Earth begins to swallow him up. Petra concentrates and Shakari is slowly surrounded by the Earth and Storm hits him with a large lightning bolt, stunning him.
In space, Jean communicates with Charles who instructs her to leave the team and head for the crystal. As she does, she looks back and sees the Professor hit with a devastating blow from Neutron, and fall limp. She reaches out to him to find their connection is still intact despite the fact she’s sure he’s dead. As she looks on confused, the body of Professor X slowly changes into their teammate Kevin and she realizes what’s happened. This scene also features some great moments of Scott and Corsair fighting side by side, filling Scott with the kind of confidence he’s often lacked. Fighting in the presence of his father is going to be key to Scott’s growth as a leader.
On Earth, Charles frees Lilandra from her cell and the two share a kiss. As he moves back outside with Lilandra, he sees the team engaged in a new battle with Gabriel. We see a decapitated Shakari and a rage in Gabriel that has grown out of control. The revelation of his mother’s death at the hand of D’Ken put him over the edge and the gold team can’t stop him. Polaris and Petra use their powers in concert to begin to lift the Earth on which Gabriel is standing into space. As he rockets from the Earth, Gabriel stares down at the team and flies away, leaving a trail of energy in his wake.
On the Shi’ar ship, the blue team realize they’re on their own to stop D’Ken. Appalled at what he saw and what he believes is betrayal, Mimic has retreated back to the Starjammer. As the tide turns in favor of the Shi’ar, Charles reaches out to Jean and explains, in brief, that he’s constructed an elaborate maze in her brain to keep her true power contained, but that now is the time to turn her loose. D’Ken is in deep commune with the Shi’ar gods inside the crystal as he prepares to unleash the weapon. Jean’s blocks are removed and she’s momentarily unable to process what she’s seeing (think about someone getting glasses for the first time), but she quickly reaches out and realizes she is within everyone’s heads simultaneously. She easily shuts down each of the Imperial Guard and follows D’Ken inside the crystal. Fill in the blanks about what she sees in here (I really don’t think they can do another Phoenix story), but it ends with her unloading with all her new found might and destroying the crystal from within, ending the threat and rendering D’Ken catatonic.
As the film wraps up,Marvel Girl and Angel have left. Several newcomers have come on and train in an incredibly updated and alien Danger Room, courtesy of Shi’ar technology, which has also provided a new jet for the team. As we head into space with the Starjammers, Polaris and Havok are seen with the crew. Back on Chandilar, Lilandra is crowned Majestrix of the empire, flanked by her Imperial Guard, as Charles, Cyclops, Storm, and Beast look on.
Post-Credit Scene #1: A ship carrying Charles and the X-Men is attacked by a Shi’ar cruiser. Lilandra’s long-exiled sister, Deathbird, pilots the other vessel.
Post-Credit Scene #2: On Earth. The Canadian Wilderness. A raging Wendigo terrorizes a hunting camp until a group of heroes come into view and begin to contain him. As they close in, the Wendigo grows angry and just as he lashes out at the hero code-names Saint Elmo…SNIKT!
While the Starjammers trilogy has come to an end, we certainly haven’t seen the last of them. We also are set up not only for an all-new, all-different X-team, but also the introduction of Wolverine into the MCU. At this point we are almost done but we know it’s been a long road so far. In our next installment, we’ll catch up with the Richards’ men and Doom as they discover the Kang Dynasty!
Welcome to another installment of what I hope is an enjoyable, extended look at a series of films that I’d like to see used as a way to bring the X-Men and Fantastic Four universes into the MCU. I’ve spent a troubling amount of time in my own mind thinking about this and figured that if I was going to spend that much time, I might as well write it up and feel accomplished! In doing so, I know that I’ll push some buttons with some readers, so let’s be clear about a few things: these are only MY ideas and do not, in any way, represent insight into what we should expect; of all the films I end up writing about, there’s a very small chance ANY of them get made; you’re free to write your own fan-fiction about films you want to see.
With so much time between now and when we will first see the X-Men enter the MCU, there’s a lot of time for things to change (including my own mind); however, this “blueprint” is my current idea and one that I’ve attempted to base both in the kind of decisions Marvel Studios has made to date and on the types of changes we’ve seen recently. Unfortunately, in writing these I’ve discovered I am NOT cut out to do screenplays, so some of these stray from convention in a few ways.
In the first installment, I took at look at how The Starjammerscould potentially kick off Marvel Studios’ inclusion of the X-Men characters into the MCU. Then I took a shot at introducing Charles Xavier to the world and explaining just why he needed the X-Men in the first place. Next, we introduced arguably Marvel’s greatest character, Victor von Doom. We then caught up on the adventures of Corsair and crew and met the poweful Shi’ar Imperial Guard. We finally gave Marvel’s first family the film they deserve and then brought the X-Men into the MCU, making good on our several movie long build up to a true-to-comics Scott Summers. Today, for our 7th day, we are taking a trip into the cosmos and discovering the origins of one of Marvel’s most powerful players: the Silver Surfer.
This is one that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since the deal went down. In my head, Taika Waititi in charge of this film would make it one of the great space adventure films of all times. While this story has some pretty serious bits to it, Waititi is the one guy who could make Surfer’s trip through the Cosmos a must see for me. Once again, I’m going with a less is more approach, so forgive the jumps; they’re there for your convenience and to make the reads a bit easier.
The thing I love most about this film is that while it’s going to be Norrin Radd’s story (a story worth telling as much as anyone’s), it’s going to take us back to the beginning of time in the MCU and it’s going to be Galactus’ story as well. This is VERY unconventional film as well because it’s going to tell the tales of two men (humanoid beings at least) whose similar decisions in similar circumstances intertwine their fates. There’s a villain in here, but it’s not one they’ll fight in this movie. In this movie, the conflict is with nature: the unforgiving nature of the universe itself. This is Marvel Studios The Martian or Apollo 13 or whatever other film you like in which man isn’t fighting man; this film is about what happens when the universe puts up a fight. In that scenario, you may fight back, but you’re going to lose something.
We’ve begun to get a sense of just how old the universe might be, but this film is going to show us the day it all began and for that, we start our story on the planet Taa, in a time before our time began…
Immediately upon seeing Taa we realize it is utopia. A perfect paradise that represents the pinnacle of potential and progress. It’s citizens travel in spheres that seem to be created by their thoughts and the landscape seems ever changing (thanks for writing that, Stan Lee!…Thor #169). Even in a place like Taa, where everyone and everything is magnificent, there are those that rise even higher and in this place that being’s name is Galan.
A man of science, Galan has held grim news from his people for some time, but his conscience tells him that the time for secrets is gone. For years he’s seen the evidence, seen life around the universe die out as it contracts upon itself and he’s hoped to find a way to save the people of Taa from the same fate. At this time, Galan and his fellow sciencemasters realize there is no hope in staying where they are: EVERYTHING DIES. If they stay, they die, but Galan believes that if they could find the center point of the contraction of this universe, they could possibly survive into the expansion of a new one and so they begin construction of a “life raft” meant to shield them from the enormous energies that will surround them. With the life raft complete, a group of them make their way into the center of the universe and we can pretend things looked good for a minute, until the inevitable happened. As the ship and his people are destroyed, Galan feels something else, something different pulling at him and as he lets go, we cut to black.
As the lens reopens, we are returned to utopia but as the camera works its way through the surface of this planet, we see it is not Taa at all: we are on Zenn-La, more than one billion years after the destruction of Taa. We learn that Zenn-La is everything Taa was. With their civilization at it’s peak, Zenn-Lavians, unlike the people of Taa, had given up their quest for knowledge, believing the pursuit of advancement trivial when they had so much already. Instead, the Zenn-Lavians preferred more hedonistic pursuits and spent their time chasing their own happiness. Of course there are exceptions to every rule and so it’s here we meet our hero, Norrin Raad, perhaps the noblest soul in the entire universe and one that longs for escape and adventure. Sparing you some time here, we’ll meet all the key Zenn-Lavians, most importantly, Shalla-Bal, Raad’s lover, and all the key details including how Norrin’s father, Jartran, was given the Copernicus treatment for his theory that this universe was but one of many in a true multiverse, and then took his life. And of course, we get to know Radd, so full of wisdom yet so bereft of experiences, and truly discover his love for Bal.
Surely there are no souls more desirable to the demon Mephisto than those as noble as the soul of Norrin Raad and so, once again, we see the demon in Hell, in the presence of many poor tormented souls, including Raad’s father. In a flash, Mephisto reveals himself to Raad, who is busily reading yet another story of a past in which Zenn-Lavians sought adventure. Curiously, Raad’s conversation with the demon reveals this is not their first encounter and though Mephisto offers him several deals, including the return of his father, in exchange for his own soul, Raad dismisses the demon again, telling him to torment someone else. As Mephisto disappears, all seems well on Zenn-La in the year 1900.
A ship moves through space. It isn’t until a planet comes into view with it that we get a sense for the sheer size of it as it dwarfs the planet. A technological wonder, Taa II hovers above the gasesous dwarf planet for a moment before, pulling away. Inside the ship, a nearly 30 foot being storms away to sit. As he removes his very distinct helmet, we recognize the face of Galen, but much else has changed. We learn from his ship’s log that it’s been some time since they found a suitable planet to which Galen replies, “I know. Galactus hungers!” Time to save time again! I want to catch up on how Galen became Galactus and do it some justice without doing too much. Most importantly, I want to explain how and why Galactus exists and flashbacks to when the Fallen One was his herald and to set up the fact he does not have one now. As we cut back to the present (I guess it’s actually the past), Taa II sets its sights on Zenn-La.
Zenn-Lavians had long since forgotten how to defend themselves and what weapons they did have proved futile as Taa II set up in orbit. Galactus emerges, briefly touching the surface of the planet. As he does, an entire ocean dries up, and Galactus seems pleased and returns to his ship. As he uses a machine on his ship to begin converting the planet to the energy he must consume, Norrin Raad realizes that this is the moment for which he’s been longing his entire life. He enters a shuttle and approaches Taa II and as the camera pans away, we notice he’s attracted an interested observer: Mephisto.
Raad approaches Galactus who after failing to recognize him, attempts to dismiss him. Raad begs him to explain why he is doing this and why an entire civilization must die. Galactus, reminded of his own origins, pauses and reflects on the oath he once made to himself to feed only on planets where no sentient life existed; however, Galactus hungers and he must eat and he explains this to Raad. Raad quickly and easily makes the deal he never made with Mephisto because Galactus offers the one thing Mephisto never did: the survival of his people and, above all, Shalla-Bal. As Mephisto leaves, Galactus imbues Raad with the Power Cosmic: the Silver Surfer is born!
In the order of saving time, we’ll see nearly 100 years of Silver Surfer adventures, allowing Raad to explore the cosmos and become the adventurer he always wished to be. Early on, Raad would return to Zenn-La while his master was full and visited with Shalla-Bal, but as time went on, his master used his powers to make him forget about his home and his love and his sense of adventure and wonder: the Surfer was little more than another slave to the hunger of Galactus. Though he knew Raad untouchable under the eye of Galactus, Mephisto never quit watching and it was, with one eye on the long game, that he approached Shalla-Bal, who still pined for the return of her lost love and so a deal was made: Mephisto would return her love to her side in exchange for the price of her own soul at the time of her death.
As we move towards the the end credits, we see the Surfer as he speeds into a familiar spiral galaxy.
Post-Credit Scene #1: Earth. The Baxter Building.
Post-Credit Scene #2: Elsewhere…We see the manifestation of the cosmic being known as Eternity. Inside of it, a great darkness grows.
Post-Credit Scene #3: Elsewhere yet…in a space seemingly between spaces, sits a prison cell. Inside the cell sits a massive being, completely different from anything we’ve seen, composed of dark matter: the Fallen One.
Fan Cast: There are two roles that I can see people in here. I love Joel Edgerton as the Surfer. He’s got the perfect bone structure and soft spoken nature. I know it’ll be heavy CGI, but with the advances they’ve made in make-up (look how good Nebula looked in GotG Vol. 2), you could get away with some of that. If not, he’d still be just great as Raad. As far as Galactus, call me crazy but I love Ralph Fiennes for it!
Thanks for hanging in thus far! Tomorrow we’ll reunite the Summers family and wrap up the Starjammers triology!
Welcome to another installment of what I hope is an enjoyable, extended look at a series of films that I’d like to see used as a way to bring the X-Men and Fantastic Four universes into the MCU. I’ve spent a troubling amount of time in my own mind thinking about this and figured that if I was going to spend that much time, I might as well write it up and feel accomplished! In doing so, I know that I’ll push some buttons with some readers, so let’s be clear about a few things: these are only MY ideas and do not, in any way, represent insight into what we should expect; of all the films I end up writing about, there’s a very small chance ANY of them get made; you’re free to write your own fan-fiction about films you want to see.
With so much time between now and when we will first see the X-Men enter the MCU, there’s a lot of time for things to change (including my own mind); however, this “blueprint” is my current idea and one that I’ve attempted to base both in the kind of decisions Marvel Studios has made to date and on the types of changes we’ve seen recently. Unfortunately, in writing these I’ve discovered I am NOT cut out to do screenplays, so some of these stray from convention in a few ways.
This film is one that no matter what I came up with, even I wouldn’t be happy. I love the stories of the Fantastic Four and there adventures so much that I just can’t imagine how to do it right. I also know, that much like Spider-Man, fans can do without another origin story and so we are going to pick up in media res, with them returning to Earth after a 12 year absence during which time they were feared lost. Of the many things that the other versions got wrong, the ones that stand out the most to me are the missing sense of adventure that made the comics so unique and the lack of focus on Sue Richards as the central character. I know that everyone just loves how cool Johnny looks when he flames on and it’s easy to fall back on Reed, but as a kid reading these comics that grew into an adult reading these comics, it always seemed that Sue was the driving force behind their love and sense of adventure. While I’m a bit mad at myself for putting Sue in a precarious position in this film, it’s something that will be remedied before the end. This film is going to start a thread that eventually brings the Avengers into the story, but first it has to get started.
In some ways I’ve thought of this film as the MCU’s Odyssey. We get a story about the hell the family went through to get home only to find their home in imminent danger. The film will open right where the post-credit scene from Doctor Doom left the four. From news reports we find out that the heroes have been a known quantity for since their accident in 2005. Despite being lost, the family actually looks to be in relative good health. Different reports allow for us to catch up on their adventures as we see news footage of their battle with the Mole Man in California, a tussle with a version of the Frightful Four (which sadly won’t have Medusa!) and a major encounter with Namor (who we have already met at this point). All of New York is abuzz at not only the return of the heroes, but the shock of them walking out their ship with two children. The four are taken into a government building in order to begin their debrief. Here the narrative structure of the film’s second act will unfold: each of the four heroes will tell a portion of what went wrong, where they’ve been and how they got back.
We begin with Sue, who tells of the earliest days of the family’s mission in 2008. We find out they spent some time on the Blue Area of the Moon where they were exploring Skrull ruins there. As they excavated the ancient base, they were able to reboot one of the old computers. Reed spent days and days away from the team, poring over the files and taking notes. Upon returning to the ship, Reed became a man possessed. Almost a week had passed now and while the rest of the team had continued to work on exploring other parts of the base, which Reed now estimated to be nearly one million years old, he had been sleeping an hour a day at best. As this part of Sue’s story comes to an end, we see Reed begin assembling a device based on his notes from the Skrull archives.
The Richards children, Franklin and Valeria, undergo a battery of tests in separate rooms. Everything about Earth is alien to them. As the doctors continue their tests, Valeria begins to giggle. When her attending physician asks her what made her laugh, she looks at him and says, “Just something my brother told me.” As we flash back into Franklin’s room, we catch just the slightest bit of a strange glimmer fade from his eyes and understand he was in communication with his sister a moment ago.
As Reed eats a warm meal, he picks up where Sue left off. The Skrull archives contained information about an ancient parallel universe made of what he believes to be anti-matter: the Negative Zone. This is Reed Richards and people are asking him about what may be the most monumental discovery of his time, so he gets deep into the science of it here. The Skrulls new of the universe and had constructed a gateway to it. Their first party was annihilated immediately upon breaching the portal, but a group of Skrull scientists were able to keep it stable and open. Over time they the Negative Zone through the portal and, eventually cataloged many planets, several of which they named. According to the archives, they never sent another team through the portal, but continued to monitor the Negative Zone for thousands of years until life found it from the other side. As the camera pans to give us a clear view of the Skrull portal, we see the figure of a young Annihilus approach before a Skrull scientist powers down the portal.
Ben tells the interview team that Reed became obsessed with recreating a portal to the Negative Zone because he believed that if they were able to undergo charge conjugation, they could fundamentally alter their bodies, allowing them to exist within the Negative Zone. While not something Skrull scientists of the time could achieve, Richards is a bit of an expert on Rydberg atoms and metastable states and believes he can create a device that can enter the Negative Zone. Ben indicates that at this point Reed realized he was on the brink of not only discovering another dimension, but also creating faster than light travel. Reed used a shuttle to return to Earth for supplies and it was this point that the remaining team became aware of the presence of another being: Uatu the Watcher.
Johnny tells us that Reed returned to the Blue Area of the Moon and, over the next couple of weeks, recreated the gateway. Though driven to make his way to the Negative Zone, Reed has always believed that the principles of science are to be trusted and so they opened the gateway, set up every piece of equipment they could, and simply observed for nearly 3 years. They recorded data on radiation, charted the movement of the planets they could see and decided that only two of them seemed to be capable of sustaining life. At one point during the observations, Johnny, bored to pieces by the process, rolled a tool into the portal only to watch it be instantly destroyed. At that time it was mid-2011 and Sue was pregnant with Franklin. Johnny explained that while Reed worked, he and Sue and Ben continued to explore not only the Skrull base but also the rest of the Blue Area, eventually stumbling onto the lair of Uatu.
Sue explains that while her pregnancy went on, Reed worked tirelessly at the math necessary to eventually allow them to send a probe into the Negative Zone. It’s crucial here to see Reed and Sue’s relationship work itself out. This isn’t Jessica Alba getting mad at Ioan Gruffudd for working too much. This is a couple that have committed to and know one another. Not only is Sue not mad at Reed, her presence in Reed’s life is what keeps him going and she’s aware of it. Once he was sure that he had it right, he built an early model H.E.R.B.I.E. and sent it through, programmed to return in two weeks. When two weeks time had passed, H.E.R.B.I.E. returned and Reed downloaded the video stream. H.E.R.B.I.E. had been programmed to spend one week on the planet they had named Arthros and one week on the planet they had named Baluur. As expected each of the planets were revealed to have life; unexpectedly, while H.E.R.B.I.E. was programmed to return in two weeks, he held over 10 weeks worth of data. Sue and Reed came to the conclusion that they were experiencing the relativity of simultaneity and upon a closer look at the data they’d been collecting realized that time in the Negative Zone moved faster relative to our own universe because the Negative Zone has begun to contract.
Reed explains that with the math done and proven successful, there was nothing to stop them from their expedition into the Negative Zone. He’s then reminded of there being one thing that stopped them: the impending birth of his first child. While this begins as Reed’s story, we get bits and pieces from everyone as they detail Franklin’s birth and first year. To me this is as important as any sequence in the film because it captures the essence of this group of people: for this bit of the story all we see is love and the importance of these characters to one another.
With Franklin now one-year old, the family is ready to board the ship and prepare for exploration into the negative zone. It’s 2013 and this is the last time we’ll see them in our dimension for 7 years. Ben explains that because they were certain to find life on Arthros and Baluur, they chose to explore other near by planets. The contraction of the Negative Zone along with Reed’s recent mastery of faster than light travel made it easy to navigate. It’s 2015 and Sue is pregnant again. Ben’s face harrows: the baby inside Sue was killing her. In some way the radiation from the Negative Zone took its toll on the baby. Reed was certain that his work reversing the polarity of their molecules should have extended to the baby; it didn’t and as she grew in Sue’s womb, she began emitting small doses of Negative Zone anti-matter. Desperate to save Sue, the team sets course for Arthros were they know they’ll find life.
Johnny is quick to add that the life they found was anything but friendly. Arriving on Arthros, the ship is immediately greeted by by thousands of insectivorids. Reed and Ben exit the ship and are taken away, leaving Sue, Johnny and Franklin aboard.
Returning to Sue, we find that she was days away from delivery by the time they made landfall on Arthros. From her perspective we see Franklin, now a 3-year old, continue to attend to his mother with growing concern. While she can’t explain it, Sue is sure that while Franklin is in the room, her pain is lessened. Despite being just 3, Franklin is so worried about his mom that he has created a pocket dimension in which he is siphoning off the radiation from his sister. Given that neither Sue, Johnny nor Franklin know what’s happening, they can’t account for it.
Reed and Johnny enter the throne room of Annihilus, the great lord of the Negative Zone. Ever pensive and paranoid, Annihilus is sure that the explorers have come to take his kingdom from them and, in classic Annihilus fashion, details the great power of his Cosmic Control Rod, assuring the duo that they are nothing to The Living Death That Walks! Reed tells us that he became instantly aware that the Cosmic Control Rod held the answer to saving both his wife and unborn child but that they needed to formulate a plan. Reed and Johnny throw themselves at the mercy of Annihilus, explaining they are merely a family of explorers from an alternate universe. Remembering how close he came to escaping the Negative Zone long ago, Annihilus allows the duo to return to their ship so he can plan his escape.
At this point, Ben explains, things were looking bad for Sue. Reed needed to make his play for the Cosmic Control Rod and needed to make it now. Johnny details how he alerted Reed to the apparent mobilization of Anninilus and his army of Borers. Annihilus is headed for the gateway and then Earth. Using Reeds hyperspace equation, the team jumped to the gateway, destroying it just as Annihilus arrives. A battle ensued that works as a showcase of the teams’ fantastic powers and their years of having worked together. With Annihilus defeated, Reed assures him that there will never be another gateway to his dimension as the design is in his mind. He makes a deal with Annihilus: hand over the Cosmic Control Rod long enough to heal Sue and the baby and Reed will make another gateway. Annihilus agrees. Sue is saved; Valeria is born. It’s now 2016 and the Fantastic Four realize they may never be going back.
Reed works night and day on the new gateway and time passes by. As the day approaches, Annihilus approches Reed who powers up the device. As the gateway opens and Annihilus and his army prepare to enter, the great bug king unleashes the power of the Cosmic Control Rod on Reed. As Johnny and Ben race to his side, Annihilus steps through the portal, ready to conquer a new universe. As he enters the threshold, an invisible and nearby Sue hatches the plan. The gateway changes color as Sue unleashes a powerful blast of concussive force onto Annihilus. As he staggers to his feet, we see him easily lifted from the ground. He’s still in the Negative Zone on Baluur and he’s now in the hands of Blastaar. His army of Borers is easily turned away with a little rock and fire and the family takes Reed back to the ship. They head back to the Blue Area of the Moon and approach Uatu who, despite his vow to only observe, helps restore Reed to health. Before they leave for Earth on July 3, 2o2o, Uatu uses his screens to reveal to them an impending threat to the time stream. It seems a bit silly, but this quick trip to Uatu’s lair proves crucial down the line. The Four head back to Earth and we are back to the beginning.
Post-Credit Scene #1: The family is back to the Baxter Building. Reed is hard at work trying to recall the mechanics of his one-time rival Victor von Doom’s Time Platform. As he reaches the breaking point, a portal opens in his lab and out steps a man Reed has not seen in a long, long time: his father, Nathaniel Richards. He explains he’s come from the future and that the heroes of Earth have to assemble to stop the time lord known as Kang.
Post-Credit Scene #2: Latveria. As Victor puts the finishing touches on his Time Platform, Reed and his father open a portal to his lab. Victor attacks the duo, but is easily put down by Nathaniel who tells him his Time Platform is outdated and sad. He then uses the technology of his suit to open a chronal portal and he, his son and Victor step through into Ancient Egypt.
Fan Cast: I’ve thought about this one quite a bit and I absolutely love this group. In this iteration, we won’t be seeing Ben Grimm at all as he’ll have been the Thing for quite some time; therefore, we only need someone to voice him and Adrien Brody is my guy!
Welcome to another installment of what I hope is an enjoyable, extended look at a series of films that I’d like to see used as a way to bring the X-Men and Fantastic Four universes into the MCU. I’ve spent a troubling amount of time in my own mind thinking about this and figured that if I was going to spend that much time, I might as well write it up and feel accomplished! In doing so, I know that I’ll push some buttons with some readers, so let’s be clear about a few things: these are only MY ideas and do not, in any way, represent insight into what we should expect; of all the films I end up writing about, there’s a very small chance ANY of them get made; you’re free to write your own fan-fiction about films you want to see.
With so much time between now and when we will first see the X-Men enter the MCU, there’s a lot of time for things to change (including my own mind); however, this “blueprint” is my current idea and one that I’ve attempted to base both in the kind of decisions Marvel Studios has made to date and on the types of changes we’ve seen recently. Unfortunately, in writing these I’ve discovered I am NOT cut out to do screenplays, so some of these stray from convention in a few ways.
In the first installment, I took at look at how The Starjammerscould potentially kick off Marvel Studios’ inclusion of the X-Men characters into the MCU. Then I took a shot at introducing Charles Xavier to the world and explaining just why he needed the X-Men in the first place. Next, we introduced arguably Marvel’s greatest character, Victor von Doom. We then caught up on the adventures of Corsair and crew and met the poweful Shi’ar Imperial Guard. We finally gave Marvel’s first family the film they deserve and now we’re going to look at a way to bring the original X-Men to the MCU without doing too much of what’s been done before. It’s time for Professor X and The X-Men!!
NOTE: From here forward, we are going to try to go with a less is more approach to these. The first 5 have been VERY long and, understandably, not everyone has the time to read through them so we are making an effort to shorten them up considerably.
We pick up in the year 2023 to find Charles in Scotland working with Moira at her research facility on Muir Island. His return and interest in their old conversations has brought Moira back from the states where she was working with orphaned children. Additionally, we meet the mysterious Dr. Karl Lykos, a colleague that Charles met on his travels and an expert on mutation. We learn that as Charles traveled the world, he became aware of the existence of thousands of mutants, many of whom were abused and persecuted, and others like Farouk who were already capable of great evil. Charles believes that if something isn’t done to help mutants, like the young girl he met in Cairo, more and more of them will find their way to a life of crime, using their abilities for evil. With Lykos away from the research facility, Charles revealed Project Cerebro to Moira. Convinced this is how they can do the most good, they begin work on the project.
We catch up with Cain Marko. It’s clear that he’s now at one with the force that possessed him years ago and that it controls him by feeding his vengeance. We see that they’ve hatched a plan to allow Cain to remove the final reminder of his tortured youth: Charles Xavier. Marko, under the guidance of Cyttorak, the being that possesses him, begins crafting a helmet that will keep Charles’ powers at bay.
At this point we catch up with Scott Summers. When we last saw him, he’d runaway from the orphanage and after collapsing, had been found by Jack Winters. Some time has passed, Scott is now 15 and shows signs of physical and mental abuse at the hands of Winters who has been using Scott’s abilities to help him acquire some material for an experiment that he believed would increase his powers even more. Though Scott fights it, Winters uses his limited telepathic powers to bend Scott’s will.
Back on Muir Island, Charles, Moira and Lykos begin using Cerebro to identify younger mutants with whom they can make the most difference. In the interest of the less is more idea mentioned earlier, you can imagine the names that could come up here. Of interest to this piece (and those that follow), however, are Jean Grey(14), Scott Summers (now 16), Warren Worthington (18 and already active as the Avenging Angel), Robert Drake (15), Henry McCoy (20 and already enrolled in Bard College), Jamie Madrox (10), Calvin Rankin (14), Kevin Sydney (12) and Suzanne Chan (13). Charles begins work recruiting the children into his School for Gifted Youngsters and reaches out to Fred Duncan, an old friend who we find out now works for the FBI, leading their mutant task force. Charles knows that Duncan is aware of the Summers’ boy and hopes that by enlisting him early on in the process, he’ll make an ally out of him in the long run. Again, in the interest of time, Charles is able to acquire Jean, Scott, Warren, Hank and Bobby. While Jamie’s parents were open to Charles’ idea, they believed their son too young to move away from home; as a result, one of the first projects Charles’ tasked Hank McCoy with was to build a machine that prevented Jamie from duplicating while he was in it.
Training montage!
Charles’ X-Men face their first true challenge: a teleporting mutant who has been on a major crime spree. Revealing themselves to the public for the first time, IN THEIR FULL GOOFY AS HELL COMIC ACCURATE UNIFORMS, Marvel Girl, Cyclops, Angel, Beast and Iceman work together with Charles to down the teleporter who had become known as “The Vanisher.” The Vanisher is taken into custody by Fred Duncan and The X-Men become well-known and, even accepted as heroes. TV footage shows them working alongside the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man and the Avengers to take out various minor X-villains (someone like Mesmero or even as ridiculous as Arcade could cameo in this way).
Stepping away from the action, we’ll also need scenes of the team at the mansion as well. We need time for Jean and Scott’s romance to take hold, to see how brilliant Hank is, to watch Warren fly off in the middle of a lesson by Charles and to see just how much Bobby looks up to Scott. It’s also time to find out a bit more about Charles’ dark side. We know that he’s been constructing barriers in Jean’s mind to keep her from her real powers and that he hasn’t told her. And, during this time, he’s visited by Lykos and we find out that Charles has known about and kept quiet about Lykos’ own secret need to absorb the life force of other beings.
The film’s final act is all about the X-Men and the Juggernaut. The team fights hard, but no absolutely no avail as the Juggernaut wreaks absolute havoc on their school, the building in which he grew up, abused by his father and ignored at the expense of Charles. Charles quickly realizes that he’s unable to use his powers to stop Cain as well, so he reaches out to those who his team has helped in the past. As Juggernaut continues to lay waste to the area, the team is badly beaten and disabled one by one. Charles walks out to face his step-brother only to have the Juggernaut charge him. Realizing he will be destroyed, Charles quickly employs a psychic shield around him. While this cushions the blow, Charles is still sent flying, striking his lower back into the front wall of the school. At this time, Doctor Strange and the Human Torch show up, having answered the call. Strange recognizes Marko is possessed by an ancient being; Torch deduces that the helmet is literally riveted to Marko’s skin; Charles pleads with them to stop Marko but to spare his life. Once Johnny frees the helmet, Charles uses his abilities to lift it from Marko’s head and begins to communicate with him only to quickly realize that he’s not there. Just as the Juggernaut prepares to starts another charge, Bobby lays down a patch of ice to keep him from gaining momentum and Jean, in her most impressive use of her powers to date, enters the mind of Marko, fractures the bond of Cyttorak and puts him to sleep.
Post-Credit Scene #1: The Savage Land. Growing concerned that he would no longer be able to keep himself under control, Lykos chose to go off the grid. Chasing legend, he eventually found himself in the Savage Land. As the camera pans away from him, we see the Savage Land in its full glory and before it turns to black, we see Lykos unleash a pair of wings and fly away.
Post-Credit Scene #2: Very montage-y. We see several young mutants, all across the world, grow into their powers. While some are able to hide their changes, others aren’t and other still choose not to. Reports pore in of mutants using their powers to murder and steal. Of note in the montage are Alex Summers, a green-haired girl and a teenage girl seen selling diamonds at a pawn shop (no, it’s not Emma Frost!). As the montage comes to a close, Fred Duncan is seen reporting to his new boss: Henry Gyrich, leader of Project Wideawake.
Post-Credit Scene #3: Cain Marko is shown as a prisoner. As we move to the credits, we see he’s being held underground in friction-less cell. Above ground, the reconstruction of the school goes on.
Fan Cast:
Marvel Girl/Jean Grey-Sophia Lillis
I set her apart not only because I think that Jean is super important in the overall scheme of things but also because after watching IT, I feel that Lillis is perfect for Jean. She absolutely has the look down and can act. I know she’ll be a little old by the time this film rolls around, but I think it has to be her!
The rest of the team
By the time 2020 or 2021 (whenever Marvel Studios gets around to the Starjammers movie, Jacob Tremblay will be the right age to be cast as the young Scott Summers and grow into the role and could possibly lead a series of X-films beyond what I have planned here (X-Factor would be a great start). It’s impossible to say what these kids will look like down the road, but Max Charles (The Strain), Jacob Hopkins (The Goldbergs) and Jake Brennan (Richie Rich) could hold down the roles of McCoy, Worthington and Drake.
This leaves the team in a great spot to move into their next phase. I tried to make this as different as I could from anything we’ve seen before and to stay true to the comics. The team is established, but not quite ready for prime time and mutant hysteria has set in. Sounds like a good time for our heroes to do the one thing the old X-movies never did…head to space!
Come back tomorrow for our intro to Galactus and the Silver Surfer and see what else the demon Mephisto has been up to.
Professor X and the X-Men will return!
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