Category: Features

‘One Piece’: Exploring Blackbeard’s Third Devil Fruit

There are many theories out there on the ongoing development of the One Piece manga. Of course, many focus on the Void Century, or what exactly is the One Piece and how it ties into the finale. There’s one rather important mystery that’s been teased throughout the manga’s entire run but never given much insight even as we’ve passed the 1000th chapter mark. It’s a dominant figure that remains a blank slate throughout, the infamous pirate Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach. The first canon wielder of two Devil Fruits broke every single rule, and there’s a chance he might even be the wielder of a third when we meet him again.

When he first meets our crew in chapter 223, they imply that he isn’t just a singular person but rather a “they.” Many believed it could simply be a shoutout to his crew scattered across the town. Yet, we get more hints that something is different about the wielder of the Yami Yami no Mi, the Darkness fruit. The moment he stole Whitebeard’s Gura Gura no Mi, the Quake fruit, and used it alongside his first fruit broke everything we know about the established rules of this franchise. It also added more questions to the earlier comments on him being more than one person.

The reason there’s strong evidence for Blackbeard to one day own a third Devil fruits lies in the use of the number three throughout the franchise. Oda is infamous for using numbers in creative ways, such as Luffy repeatedly receiving the 59. In Japanese, they get pronounced as “Gomu,” which is the Japanese word for rubber. The three connection exists in Teach’s design and prominently jolly roger, which consists of three skulls. He also wields three pistols, and, after the time skip, he has three braids in his beard. The number also exists in how many types of Devil Fruit exist in this world, Paramecia, Logia, and Zoan. He currently possesses the Logia fruit of darkness and the Paramecia fruit of quake. So, naturally, it seems likely he’ll gain access to a Zoan fruit ahead of the final confrontation with Luffy.

So, we know the likelihood of what fruit he’ll gain, but the question remains which one. Popular theories believe he’ll steal his last fruit from the current Wano arc and take over Kaido’s Uo Uo no Mi (Model: Seiryu). Yet, it would be strange to have Luffy fight another dragon after being the main focus of this arc. Plus, we already have Momonosuke with the same abilities, which would make his inclusion repetitive. Yet, at the same time, it would be in line with the use of threes in the series. Yet, the path of it being a mythical Zoan doesn’t seem so out of this realm. YouTuber 333VIL believed that the three might correlate to a Kraken-type Devil Fruit, as octopi possess three hearts.

In the Enies Lobby arc, Jabra thought he’d exploded if he is near the literal fruit as a devil might jump out of his body. So, perhaps a person requires multiple hearts to resist the curse of inhabiting more than one fruit. Yet, it still opens up why his jolly roger highlights three skulls. We learn that Teach doesn’t sleep, which would match up with how octopuses sleep in intervals of seconds. That would explain why people believe he is never fully asleep. Yet, one could easily also use the fact that he may inhabit multiple personalities to circumvent that. There just hasn’t been a time where we witnessed any personality changes throughout the series or a real hint at him possessing a devil fruit before he joins the Whitebeard pirates.

The final and a personal favorite theory is that he most likely will have the mystical Zoan fruit modeled after Cerberus. Not only would the three heads match his flag, but it also might add to the revelation of what exactly is so special about this pirate. There’s also the theming we’ve seen with past Emperors. Kaido has a strong following of dinosaur-themed Zoan users, while Big Mom’s crew utilizes food-related abilities. Blackbeard’s crew are more varied, but one prominent member wields a dog fruit, the Inu Ino no Mi, of the Kyubi no Kitsune model. Her prominence as the first real new fruit reveal could be a subtle hint at the correlation. It’s also one of the more recurring fruit variants throughout the series.

What adds a curious layer to him possessing three personalities is that his inspiration, the real-life Blackbeard pirate Edward Teach, was split into three characters. Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard, Blackbeard and the man he murdered for the Yami Yami no Mi, Thatch. It further creates a connection between the three characters that make up “Blackbeard” in this series. Perhaps Oda creates a parallel that this Blackbeard splits up into three characters, which could best get brought to the forefront by giving him three literal heads like a Cerberus. He also would be protecting the “Gates to Hell” as the last milestone before Luffy and his crew uncover Laugh Tale.

There’s one last aspect that might add some credence to the Cerberus theory. Throughout the Straw Hats travels, Usopp’s various lies seem to always come true at one point. We’ve seen it most notably with the giant goldfish on Little Garden. In an early flashback, we see the Usopp pirates hunting down a poor dog, as he calls it a Cerberus. In Thriller Bark, we do meet one that has a fox head. It’s a curious detail that not only works for a fun joke but also to grab our attention that he’s not fully formed. So, technically it’s not a true “Cerberus” but could act as foreshadowing. It could be a way to distract viewers from the creature’s actual debut later down the road.

It’s still speculation for now as One Piece is still wrapping up its story on Wano. Elbaf seems like a safe bet for their next destination before the story enters its final arc. While we don’t know if Blackbeard will make his move on the island of the giants, he is likely to make his grand return soon now that Luffy is potentially taking down both Kaido and Big Mom. Yet, it seems like a fitting location to uncover his final fruit as it’s also the home to Shanks, who also has an element three inflicted upon him by Teach. The iconic three scars on his face inflicted upon him at some point may hint at there being something Shanks isn’t telling the world about this very dangerous pirate.

Source: YouTube (Kraken), YouTube (Cerberus), YouTube (Grandline Review)

September 19, 2021
Connecting Imaginary Dots: Marvel Studios Brings in Native American Writers for ‘ECHO’

Some social media clues suggest that Marvel Studios has hired several Native American screenwriters for its Echo writers room. Since it was reported back in March that “a writers’ room [had] recently [been] assembled” for the Hawkeye spin-off on Disney Plus, I’ve been curious about who Head Writers Etan and Emily Cohen might have recruited. Now it seems there might be some clues that the writers’ room could include Native American representation matching Emily Cohen, lead actress Alaqua Cox and her character Echo’s backgrounds.

In April, I noticed that Bobby Wilson, a writer on two series with significant Native American cast and crew representation in Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs, was followed by Alaqua Cox and Emily Cohen on Instagram. Now it appears Bobby has Marvel Studios written in his Instagram profile among his credits, suggesting he may well be writing on Echo.

Another slightly more tenuous connection might be to Rebecca Roanhorse, speculative fiction author and comic writer of Echo in Marvel Comics’ Voices: Indigenous Voices #1 and Phoenix Song: Echo. She currently has “TV writer (FX, Disney+)” written in her Twitter bio and follows Bobby Wilson and Marion Dayre, who is seemingly another member of the Echo writers’ room. This could indicate Rebecca is also working on Echo.

It’s exciting to see that the Echo writers’ room could possibly include Native American representation matching characters, cast and crew. With 10 still-unannounced projects not reported on, in development, it will be intriguing to see what, if any details, are announced for Echo and other projects at Disney+ Day on November 12th.

Alaqua Cox will make her debut as Echo in Hawkeye, which is set to premiere in November on Disney+.

Sources: Variety, Instagram, Twitter

September 19, 2021
In Defense of Marvel Studios’ Work-In-Progress Third Acts

We’ve previously written about how Marvel Studios continues to innovate and where it could improve. Marvel Cinematic Universe projects are often critiqued for prioritizing spectacle over emotional and thematic resonance in its third acts. At the same time, it’s clear from interviews that the studio seriously contemplates the decisions that go into their finales. This deliberation allows the studio to experiment. While experiments can result in occasional falters, it is a long-term approach that succeeds more often than not in resonant finales.

Marvel Studios’ films and tv series are often reviewed as sacrificing satisfying conflict resolution for spectacle in their third acts. This is also an element those making the films are aware of and are always working to improve. Nat Sanders, one of the editors of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, described on The Rough Cut podcast how the third act was a main focus to improve during the pandemic shutdown:

“We had a hiatus period, we had to shut down and before we came back up, along with really cutting and refining the 6 weeks worth of material we had at that point, our other main big focus was pre-vizing the third act and really continuing to develop the third act because it felt potentially just a hair underbaked in the script, compared to everything else, and we thought there was more to keep working on, so it ended up before a really great thing that we had that time for that part.”
Nat Sanders

The editors also spoke about how Marvel Studios emboldened them to make big decisions with the director Destin Daniel Cretton. They mention cutting half an hour out of the third act, and how these were considered good value even if a change in look for one character cost more than the entire budget of another film. Harry Yoon, another one of the editors, mentions how this empowered decision making met with an experimental attitude that focused towards continually improving the film’s emotional conclusion:

“[With the Marvel Studios producers] there was this attitude of ‘if we can make it 5% better or 3% better by addressing this one comment, then let’s try it.’ […] After a while you start to feel like you have permission within Marvel to make bold decisions […] That’s where it got very exciting towards the end, once we started to understand that character, story and audience were the big priorities and not these other things.
Harry Yoon

All of this suggests Marvel Studios keeps its collaborative spirit from within the Parliament, and extends it out to their project-based collaborators. This in of itself keeps fresh while also consistent. Regardless of personal opinions on the matter, it is a process that strives to keep improving.

It’s fairly commonly received wisdom that a singular vision rather than an interdependent conception is what empowers creative and successful films. Yet Marvel Studios seems to empower its collaborators to make impactful decisions throughout the process and potentially change aspects of the result as they go. Benedict Cumberbatch recently reflected on this experimental attitude in regards to his Doctor Strange sequel:

“With the first film, you’re always locked into a script, because it’s the origin story,” he says. “But there was a lot more freedom this time around. I guess, because we were … not literally making it up as we go along, but sometimes it feels like that. Marvel has this amazing ability to come into production: ‘We really just have to start shooting now. It doesn’t matter that the third act is not quite where you want it to be.’ You really do things on a wing and a prayer sometimes.”
Benedict Cumberbatch

This experimental attitude will always result in hits and slight misses. On one hand it’s brilliant that Marvel Studios gives its creative collaborators freedom to keep improving a script or scene they are not quite happy with. This can, with different perspectives or more thought, often help a scene arrive at a better place. On the other hand, however, an impending production timeline might mean a completely satisfying conclusion is reached. It also suggests that we might get different kinds of conclusions as the studio as a whole works on improving, which we know is a key motivation of the producers there. It seems as though the difficulty of third acts is a studio wider discussion. Jac Schaeffer recently spoke about how hard it can be to resonantly blend scale with emotional conclusions:

It’s the third act of a Marvel movie. I’ve been around the block on some of those, and they’re so fun — but that’s always the hardest to land. The emotional part of the finale was always very clear to me: their goodbye and the goodbye to the children. That was the grounding force. All the pyrotechnics and making sure that Wanda’s win against Agatha at the end really sings, that’s stuff that takes a long, long time.
Jac Schaeffer

The Marvel Cinematic Universe at large is a work-in-progress and this filters down into the production elements of each project. Loki featured a conclusion that was largely an amazing set of Jonathan Majors’ monologues. Yet it was also satisfying through aspects of action, scale, emotion and theme. Post-credit scenes as a feature, are significantly part of the additive delight which makes these films and streaming series so compelling. Characters and concepts are introduced, and for the creatives, part of the fun becomes figuring out how these characters and concepts play into the larger narrative. That wider narrative is perhaps the most significant point. While there might be immediate conclusions in particular projects, the wider narrative remains a work-in-progress. This gives Marvel Studios the freedom to produce better endings that delight us all.

Sources: The Rough Cut podcast, The Hollywood Reporter

September 18, 2021
Improvisation in Marvel Films: ‘GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY’s Yaro Root Scene

Improvisation is a common feature on most movie sets. Actors taking creative liberties with their dialogue and behavior has led to some of the most iconic lines and moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It includes the likes of the “I am Iron Man” bombshell from Iron Man and allegedly 80% of Taika Waititi‘s Thor: Ragnarok. Karen Gillan is no stranger to improvisation on sets, such as Avengers: Endgame‘s opening paper football scene with Iron Man and Nebula, but it seems her improvisation skills may have actually left their imprint all the way back in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Speaking to BBC’s Radio 1 this week, the Guardians of the Galaxy actress revealed that another iconic Nebula moment was the product of improvisation. When asked about her favorite lines from her career, she surprisingly said one of them was the “It’s not ripe” line from the Guardians sequel.

One that I noticed that people want me to always write on pictures is that improvised line actually from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which is “It’s not ripe.” It was improv-ed at the time, and that has stuck beyond anything else.
Karen Gillan

The Yaro root is a fruit Nebula spends most of the film chasing in vain. The Guardians repeatedly warn her that it’s not ripe and actively prevent her from taking a bite. Finally at the end of the film, Nebula sneaks her way into trying the fruit and inevitably spitting it out followed by the above-mentioned line.

How a Single Line Can Add More to the Story

Although it might seem like a small side joke, the Yaro root also doubles as a well-written piece of characterization for Nebula. Despite her being an antagonistic, bitter character, the Guardians are still looking out for her best interests, even with something as simple as eating fruit when it’s ready. When the head-strong Nebula rushes to get what she wants on her own terms, it ends up being premature and not what she wanted. The Yaro root is a reminder of how Nebula can benefit from learning to trust others instead of struggling to get by on her own and achieving less.

So even though it’s a small line from a silly gag, I think this line is actually rather important to her character arc. The meaning of the line makes it all the more impressive that it was an improvisation, especially when you consider that its director James Gunn has previously stated that about 99% of the final dialogue in his films are straight from the script. It’ll be interesting to see if her tendency for improvisation might come to the forefront with director Taika Watiti in Thor: Love and Thunder. As mentioned previously, he’s a fan of improvisation and perhaps he’ll get more of these character-developing scenes through improvisation.

If you are interested, you can check out the interview with Karen Gillan right here:

Source: Deadline, MTV, Yahoo, Twitter , The Hollywood Reporter , BBC Radio 1, Twitter

September 17, 2021
Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2022 Release Calendar, V2

Back in January, we looked at one hypothetical 2022 release calendar for Marvel Studios. We’ve been through another round of production delays and release date shifts and with 2022 just a few months away, have a little bit better idea of when we might expect to see Marvel content next year. With that in mind, here’s version 2.0 of a totally made up and hypothetical way Marvel Studios 2022 release schedule might look.

Originally set to stream on Disney + in 2021, rumored production delays pushed Ms. Marvel’s MCU debut to 2022. With the number of streaming series Marvel Studios has to get through in 2022, it would seem like they’d want to kick off the new year with a bang, debuting Ms. Marvel as soon as possible, dropping the first of the expected 6 episodes on January 5th.

Now that Wednesdays are the new Fridays, we know that Marvel Studios has no aversion to dropping a new film while a series is streaming. With that in mind, it’s possible that the they get She-Hulk’s 10 episode run started as early as February 23rd, one week after an episode of Marvel Legends catches fans up on the stories of Bruce Banner and Emil Blonsky, two characters who will have big roles to play in the series.

While She-Hulk is in the middle of its run, fans will FINALLY get the sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange on March 25th, 2022 when Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness hits theaters. Marvel Studios will almost certainly have a few episodes of Marvel Legends ready to view to prep fans to remind fans not only of what Stephen Strange, Wong and Mordo have been up to, but also to remind them of the journey of the film’s primary antagonist, the Scarlet Witch.

Right after She-Hulk finishes its extended run (remember, it’s 10 episodes and will stretch from late-February through late-April), fans will be able to head to theaters for the next chapter in the saga of the God of Thunder when Thor: Love and Thunder comes crashing in on May 6, 2022. Marvel Legends episodes covering the journeys of Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy are almost a sure thing and we’ll certainly need to catch up on Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who will have been absent from the MCU for almost a decade when this film releases.

From the God of Thunder to the avatar of the Egyptian God of the Moon…Marvel Studios Moon Knight, featuring Oscar Isaac in the lead role(s) could hit Disney Plus as early as May 11th. In our first draft, we had Moon Knight streaming about one month earlier, but with Ms. Marvel moving to 2022, it got pushed. Realistically, should Marvel Studios wish to do so, they could move Ms. Marvel to this slot, much closer to the character’s next appearance in November’s The Marvels.

We’re not sure if Marvel Studios will go this route, but interestingly enough the mythology of Moon Knight has some ties to the mythology of Black Panther. Should Kevin Feige and crew wish to make that explicit on screen, there could be some small connection between the two that would make Black Panther: Wakanda Forever fit nicely in order after the completion of Moon Knight’s expected 6-episode run. Wakanda Forever is one to keep an eye on as well, as production delays due to an injury to Letitia Wright have pushed the expected completion of principal photography into early 2022.

Marvel Studios intends for the animated series What If…? to occur annually and we know they’ve already done a lot of work on Season 2, so it’s likely it’ll be ready for a Summer 2022 debut. Season 1 was 9 episodes, so we’ll go with that for now and slot July 20th as the drop date for the first episode of Season 2, which will see the return of Haley Atwell’s Captain Carter and adapt a scenario from this year’s Black Widow film.

Marvel Studios seems to be aiming to have Secret Invasion ready to stream just ahead of The Marvels. Production on the series in kicking off in earnest in October in the UK, allowing for some actors to complete work on The Marvels before shifting over to Secret Invasion. If everything goes smoothly, the series should be ready for Disney Plus by September 28th, 2022, leaving a week to recover before the Captain Marvel sequel hits theaters on November 9, 2022. Truthfully, we have no confirmation that the two projects are tied together, but we’re pretending they are for the purposes of this experiment. Presumably, both of these projects would be preceded by some Marvel Legends episodes recapping the adventures of Nick Fury, Talos, Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau before telling the next chapters of their stories.

While Secret Invasion is doing it’s thing, Marvel Studios might have to find room to drop the first of its Holiday Specials. Rumor has it that the Halloween special might just feature Werewolf By Night, a character originally believed to be starring in his own streaming series. Production on the special is set to take place early next year, so it shouldn’t be a problem to have it ready to go for, let’s say, October 26th.

Even though the entire piece is hypothetical, this one has the greatest uncertainty. I’ve recently heard a rumor that production on Echo might get pushed JUST a bit, to April 2022, making it almost impossible for it to stream in 2022. Should it hold to its originally reported January 2022 date, however, we could easily see it debut on Disney Plus by November 16th.

Should the calendar hold, Marvel Studios could wrap up 2022 with its second holiday special, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. This one will film during production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so it’ll be ready to drop whenever they choose, maybe even on December 28th, 2022!

September 17, 2021
Connecting Imaginary Dots: Shuma-Gorath May Appear in ‘SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME’

Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next threat seems to be emerging from within the multiverse. The ending of WandaVision kicked off a new era that saw its expansion in Loki. While all eyes were on the newly introduced Kang, it seems the rumored foe of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness might have an early appearance. In the first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home, eagle-eyed fans may have spotted the first glimpse of Shuma-Gorath.

In the trailer, Doctor Strange creates a spell to wipe everyone’s memory of Peter Parker being Spider-Man. As it usually does, something goes wrong and it unleashes something from the multiverse. Eagle-eyed Twitter user @MSpector_JM noticed that in the rift you can spot a rather strange and familiar eyeball with what seems like tentacles. The design is very reminiscent of Shuma-Gorath and continues to tease his presence.

https://twitter.com/mspector_jm/status/1438175666457890816?s=21

Rumors point to the multiversal being as the main threat in the upcoming sequel and it is after America Chavez’s abilities, who is confirmed to make her live-action debut in Multiverse of Madness. As such, Strange’s actions in No Way Home may break a hole in the newly established multiverse, which gives Shuma the power to finally find the source of power he requires to dominate every reality.

Yet, this brief tease may not be his actual debut within the MCU. Giant green tentacles can briefly be seen in the premiere episode of What If…?, as they try to break through a portal opened by Red Skull before being pushed back in by Captain Carter. He even has a showdown with a Variant of Doctor Strange in a later episode, where he fuses with him. As the show deals with the multiverse and the fact that tentacles are the only connective tissue besides the Watcher, it may be Shuma-Gorath.

Marvel Studios is building up to his full debut in next year’s Doctor Strange sequel. The various teases and this small detail in the Spider-Man trailer could hint at a post-credit sequence involving Strange facing the creature. While the trailer implies it was Peter’s nerves unleashing the multiversal villains, there’s a chance that this small glimpse builds up to the first confrontation as we learn the true reason why the multiverse broke in the first place.

Source: Twitter

September 16, 2021
Pixar’s ‘NONA’ Is a Punk Rock Heartwarmer

Nona is Pixar’s latest short in its Sparkshorts film series, a program that lets Pixar employees develop and create their own short films to foster the company’s next generation of filmmakers. The results have been stellar so far and Nona is no exception.

Directed by Louis Gonzales, Nona depicts a day in the life of a wrestling-loving grandmother. Anticipating a great day of watching her favorite wrestling program, a pastime she shared with her late husband, the titular Nona is in for a surprise when her grandaughter spends the day her. According to Gonzales in an interview we did with him:

I’ve always had this concept of a grandma that loved wrestling. I’m an older guy in animation and I was seeing a lot of younger, hungrier, up-and-coming artists. I had this real connection to the idea of an older lady whose life hadn’t passed by but is on the cusp of that. That felt like it called to my attention. That’s where the story started.

Nona is brimming with wholesome punk rock energy. From the music down to its pulsating sense of fun, this short is one that will leave a smile on your face. And like all great Pixar shorts and films, Nona gets a ton of emotional mileage out of a seemingly innocuous premise. Beneath all that crazy energy is a truly heartwarming vignette of life, love, and memory. With all that in mind, it isn’t surprising how personal the story is for Gonzales:

I don’t know how to tell a story that isn’t personal. Even when I’m storyboarding for other directors, there has to be a personal component. Otherwise, there’s no truth in it. If there’s no truth, audiences aren’t going to connect with it. My short is filled with my truth. It’s filled with people I love that inspired these characters and stories.

Short films are synonymous with that nostalgic Pixar viewing experience. Even going back to that iconic chess short from the 90s, Pixar shorts are truly special. Producer Courtney Casper Kent also briefly talked about these shorts get made and what makes a good Pixar short like Nona.

I feel like where you start isn’t necessarily where you end up. That’s true with every short I’ve worked on [laughs]. It’s about telling the story that people can connect to and continuing to refine that to keep it honest. I feel like this story getting told at this point in time when people are presented with more challenges like having more family around than usual and having to balance that with work. I think that only enhanced the story and make it all of the things we are always looking for in a Pixar short.

September 15, 2021
3 Things We’d Like to See Explored in a ‘SHANG-CHI’ Sequel

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings has established itself as both a critical and popular success, carrying a strong 98% audience score and 92% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metascore of 71 and 7.6 user score at Metacritic. Financially, it has outperformed pandemic expectations and looks to have another good week or two in the tank. All that success combined with Kevin Feige and Destin Daniel Cretton’s comments which have indicated a sequel is essentially waiting to be given the green light mean that a follow up to Shang-Chi is an inevitability at this point. The first film was pretty well self-contained, but as is always the case found ways to connect itself to the MCU and leave some threads left to pull for potential sequels. What could we see in Shang-Chi 2? We have some thoughts…

The Capital Cities of Heaven

The pocket dimension of Ta Lo is integral to the plot of Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings. When Shang-Chi and Xialing first arrive in Ta Lo, they get a tour of the small town along with a history lesson: in short, there are other hidden cities that, like Ta Lo, are likely pocket dimensions. As we prepare for the Sacred Timeline debuts of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, it’s possible that Shang-Chi also laid the groundwork to bring Daniel Rand-K’ai, the Iron Fist, along for the ride as well.

Should Marvel Studios decide to take the leap (and make no mistake, bringing Iron Fist to the MCU will come with several big shit storms), a Shang-Chi sequel could easily make use of the pre-established idea of hidden cities to introduce the Capital Cities of Heaven and, should the want to make an absolutely incredible movie, center it around the Tournament of the Heavenly Cities. Introduced during Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja’s run on Immortal Iron Fist, the capital cities of heaven are all mystical cities located in pocket dimensions around the Earth, each with their own Immortal Weapon or champion. Among those cities if K’un Lun whose champion is, of course, The Immortal Iron Fist. Every 88 years, 7 of the 8 cities converge into one breathtaking setting, the Heart of Heaven, and host a tournament that pits the Immortal Weapons against one another. Bringing the tournament to the big screen would provide MCU fans with a chance to meet characters such as Fat Cobra, John Aman and Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter while giving Feige a chance to reboot Danny Rand, Dog Brother #1 and the Bride of Nine Spiders, all of whom were done dirty in the Netflix series.

It wouldn’t take much imagination to shuffle things around enough to have Ta Lo be one of the Capital Cities and have Shang-Chi be their champion. Given Cretton’s effective use of flashbacks in the first film, it would be fun to watch him explore the rich history of these cities while introducing characters that could stick around for a while and have their own stories told down the line. Given what we learned in Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, it’s safe to assume these cities already exist. Now it’s a matter of how badly the team at Marvel Studios wants to explore them.

The Atlas Foundation

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings did a wonderful job of establishing the long history of the Ten Rings organization without telling us too much about either the organization or the rings themselves. We know the organization has existed for around 1,000 years and that during that time, Wenwu was known by many names, among them the Great Khan. Logically, if one organization has existed for a thousand years, so could another: The Atlas Foundation.

The Atlas Foundation’s origins date back to the time of Genghis Khan and have ties to him as each of the Foundation’s leaders have always been descendants of him. Given Wenwu’s long life, it’s entirely possible that he fathered more than the two children we met in Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings and that one of those children could have gone his or her own way from Wenwu and created a secret organization that has grown significantly over the last 1,000 years. This part of the sequel writes itself as, should this organization exist, both Shang-Chi and Xialing would be direct heirs of Wenwu and the rightful leaders of the Atlas Foundation. With Xialing now running the Ten Rings, it would make for some killer sibling rivalry if Shang-Chi took his place atop Atlas and used its resources to work against his sister.

Introducing the Atlas Foundation opens the door not only for another really cool dragon (Atlas has long been advised by the immortal lung dragon known as Mr. Lao) but could also pave the way for Jimmy Woo to enter the picture and open the door to an Agents of Atlas project as a direct follow-up.

Fin Fang Foom

When we found out that Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings would feature multiple dragons, NOBODY predicted we’d get the Great Protector and the Dweller-in-Darkness. Nobody is complaining about how great they worked out but fans are still crossing their fingers that the one we all thought was coming will show up and the mid-credits scene, while intentionally ambiguous, certainly leaves open the possibility we will see Fin Fang Foom in the sequel.

As the Avengers explain to Shang-Chi, his use of the Ten Rings activated a beacon that is calling to something ancient. Given the presence of Captain Marvel in the room, it’s easy to believe that this beacon is calling to something far away across the stars, however, that is never made explicit. The opening of the film leaves the origin of the Ten Rings intentionally ambiguous, stating only that Wenwu maybe found them in a crater or in a tomb, leaving room for a sequel to explore just exactly where they came from. Given his comic ties to the rings, it would be pretty great if the answer to that question came in the shape of He Whose Limbs Shatter Mountains and Whose Back Scrapes the Sun.

Though his story has changed some over the years, Fin Fang Foom is an ancient being from the planet Kakaranthara from where his species, the shape-shifting Makulans, left to conquer other planets. FFF arrived in Ancient China prior to the 8th century and while his fellow Makulans went out to conquer, he was given a reserve role and put to sleep in a tomb. Eventually, the Mandarin ventured into the tomb and took the Ten Rings, Makulan technology that contained the souls of dead warriors, and woke the Foomster.

Again, the story writes itself and keeps its ties to the comic books while updating it to keep it fresh. Wenwu’s rings are clearly alien tech; the combination of that tech with Ta Lo’s magic could be just the catalyst to bring Foom out of his slumber and into the world where he would lay waste to it in the form of a giant dragon, giving Marvel Studios its very first Kaiju film. While Fin Fang Foom might seem like an Avengers-level threat (indeed the mid-credit scene with the Avengers leads us down that path), Shang-Chi is pretty powered up with the rings and could put up a fight against Foom and maybe even learn something new about the rings along the way.

September 15, 2021
How Insomniac Can Improve ‘SPIDER-MAN 2’s Approach to Side Missions

When Insomniac Games dropped their smash-hit Spider-Man in 2018, it seemed they might have done the impossible. Against all odds, the project was almost universally acclaimed by the character’s widespread fandom. The studio received praise for their work on the story, graphics, voice acting, mechanics, character designs, and much more. Yet, there was one aspect that left a good chunk of players wanting more. The game’s many side quests proved to be a fun way of traversing the open-world map of New York City, they often felt as though they were lacking a little spark.

The video game’s main plotline was an emotional rollercoaster filled with surprising twists that involved a number of big-name Spidey characters. As a result, it began to feel a little flat when the majority of the side missions were simply repetitive jaunts to fix broken pipelines and knock the mind-control out of raging college jocks. Sure, a game about your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man should probably have a few friendly neighborhood objectives, but they shouldn’t take up most of the game’s precious real estate. The recently revealed Spider-Man 2 should take advantage of this to improve its take on side quests, and Insomniac should start the process by revolving the goals around more intriguing characters.

It makes sense that Insomniac might not want to use a major Spider-Man villain for a side mission when they could be used as the main antagonist in the future. This might be part of the reason Taskmaster set the challenges instead of a character like Kraven, who the company clearly plans on using in the franchise’s next installment. Luckily, our beloved heroes exist in a universe toppling with extravagant foes and tales just waiting to get adapted. One could take a look at any member of the webhead’s extensive rogues gallery and turn them into a short chain of mission objectives. That being said, the villains selected for the game would work best if their stories are able to possess a solid emotional core to build on. Peter Parker and Miles Morales tend to be at their most interesting when they have a little skin in the game. The stakes of their quests are raised by a personal connection to the threat they face.

A great way to accomplish this is by telling stories that build on the previous game or even hint towards the future. For example, the first game featured a character named Dr. Morgan Michaels, a precursor to Morbius. A fantastic follow-up to this would be Spider-Man hunting down a mysterious new serial killer, only to discover a vampiric Michaels. As this is a character Peter already knows, it would make his efforts to help him all the more engaging. The resulting side quest would feel far more earned and satisfactory than trying to race through Screwball’s obstacle courses ever did. Imagine the controversial F.E.A.S.T. building is taken over by Dr. Elias Wirtham and establishes his new medical center, H.E.A.R.T. Around the same time, the vigilante known as Cardiac begins stealing experimental medical equipment around the city. It results in two separate side stories combining into one.

The upcoming sequel’s additional expeditions would also be best optimized if they added new mechanics. Far too many of Spider-Man‘s added crusades utilized the same gameplay structure. It felt tedious in nature and led to a lack of replayability outside of the game’s grand narrative and general free-roaming. The next adventure’s inclusion of two active Spider-Men with different abilities will play a role in alleviating this issue, as Miles’ camouflage and venom strikes could be used for special stealth-based quests that Peter isn’t equipped for. The intermittent release of Spider-Man: Miles Morales also lends Spider-Man 2 the advantage of additional material to work with, some of which might give Miles some personal connections to new side villains.

A potential example comes to mind in regards to Miles’ brush with the Tinkerer. Building upon one of the last game’s best side quests, it would be interesting to see what might happen if Tombstone’s gang got their hands on her technology and used it to transform a pair of their wayward youths into the rivals Rocket Racer and Big Wheel. Feeling obligated to deal with Tinkerer’s fallout, Miles could rush to detain the duo and attempt to set them on a better path. Despite having just mocked the original game’s Screwball missions, the idea of a speed-based task to break up combat objectives isn’t a terrible one. It would just be better executed if Miles, and the player, had a deeper relationship with the material.

Insomniac looks to be on track to develop another success with Spider-Man 2, but if they really want the game to top its predecessor they’ll need to fix what didn’t work last time. The quality of the game’s side quests won’t make or break it, but they will be an integral part of the project’s legacy. Making them worthwhile through world-building and proper storytelling is something that could help cement the project as one of the industry’s great sequels.

September 14, 2021
Exploring When the Next Young Avengers Members May Appear in the MCU

The trailer has finally arrived for Hawkeye. It introduces the world to Hailee Steinfeld‘s Kate Bishop. Not only an important character in the role of Clint Barton and the Avengers but a very prominent member of the Young Avengers. We’ve noticed a variety of young heroes popping out throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s fourth phase and it seems like we might get a Young Avengers adaptation at some point. Yet, there are still three prominent members that haven’t made their debut yet. So, it’s time to explore when we can expect the missing members of the team.

Miss America

Now, this is a rather easy one to pinpoint, as we got the confirmation that Xochitl Gomez will play America Chavez in next year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We still have no idea what direction they are taking with the character, but her presence in a multiversal story stays true to her comic origins. She was raised by her mothers in a dimension known as the Utopian Parallel. After a great tragedy, she ends up traveling from one reality to another before embracing her heroic nature.

It’s still unsure how she fits into the story. There might be a connection between how she ends up working alongside Strange and the rumored appearance of Shuma-Gorath. We also have Wanda’s unknown role on top of it all. Perhaps her home dimension is the key to ending the madness that rages across the multiverse. At the end of the story, she may end up in the mainline dimension and meets up with some of the already introduced members, as they potentially face a new challenge ahead.

Hulkling

So, here’ the first of the three Young Avengers that wasn’t hinted at in any capacity. Theodore Altman is half-Kree and half-Skrull. He was born as the love child of Mar-Vell and the Skrull princess Anelle, who had a brief affair. As a result, he was raised on Earth due to the fear of what her kind would do to him knowing he is a half-breed. Growing up, he learns fast of his shapeshifting abilities and ended up drafted by Vision in the Avengers Fail-Safe Program a.k.a. the Young Avengers.

His Skrull and Kree background makes him eligible for two specific projects. Either we’ll get introduced to the character in the Disney+ Secret Invasions series or the Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels. We got introduced to a gender-flipped version of Mar-Vell that was protecting refugees from the Skrull race. There wasn’t any hint of her having potentially brought a child to the world, but there’s a curious gap in history that has yet to get explored before her death at the hands of Yon-Rogg.

Iron Lad

Unlike the previous characters, there’s a strange absence of Iron Lad. We did get introduced to his multiversal parallels, The One Who Remains and Kang the Conqueror. In the comics, a young Nathaniel Richards is abducted by an older version of himself. Terrified of the vision that shows the monster he would become, he swears to avoid his fate and arms his body with a bio-metal suit. As his name implies, the teenage hero is inspired by Iron Man’s iconic design. So, it would make sense that he’d potentially appear in Armor Wars. Yet, the Marvel Cinematic Universe might curiously twist his origin story.

There’s a chance we might not even see Iron Lad in the MCU but rather have another character take his place. Marvel Studios is working on an Ironheart series eyeing a production start next year. The only thing she and Iron Lad have in common lies in their inspiration. They both end up building high-tech armors inspired by Tony Stark that could even surpass his work. As we learn that Kang is strongly connected to time and the multiverse, she may take his role in the original story as she faces the fact of what her existence would create. Of course, they could also still introduce Richards as a fellow MIT student. Still, her prominent role in the MCU’s future might create an interesting twist on the original.

September 13, 2021