Category: Features

Another Goodbye To A Legend

You have to cherish things in a different way when you know the clock is ticking, you are under pressure.

None of us could’ve known the pressure Chadwick Boseman put on himself. He worked through a disease that would eventually take his life. That loss has been felt throughout all communities and lives that he’s touched. With Marvel Studios’ What If…? turning its attention to T’Challa this week, it’s going to be amazing but bittersweet.

It’s truly going to be a joy to hear Boseman’s T’Challa once more. The concept of this new Star-Lord story is a fascinating one. Comparing and contrasting the stories of Peter Quill and T’Challa will be thought provoking. The magnetism of Chadwick’s voice will be like an old friend coming back one more time to say goodbye. We should all enjoy the time we get to spend once more with this unique character.

With that being said, there’s a sadness writing these words. It still feels like we’ve been robbed as fans. Chadwick Boseman, as an artist, brought a fire and attention to detail in everything he did. Bringing Black Panther and the world of Wakanda to life was more than the simple words of live-action.

Black Panther is an inspiration to those who spent their childhood identifying with those stories. The positive energy around the movie is powerful to this day. The celebration was for black culture, and Chadwick was at the forefront of that. There’s representation in theory and actual representation in practice. If you remember Black Panther’s comic debut in the Fantastic Four it was surreal to see him debut in live-action film.

Make no mistake about it there will be laughs this coming week. There will be an enjoyment of welcoming back one of our favorite characters. It’s a fresh story that will be the talk of MCU community. In addition to that, there will be an overwhelming emotion that hits a lot of us. Whatever emotion that will be, thank you Chadwick Boseman. Thank you for inspiring us, and thank you for leaving your passion and grace in all of your work. We miss your presence and will never forget you. Rest In Peace.

August 16, 2021
Taking a Closer Look at the Many Potential Stories Beyond MCU’s Phase 4

The next overarching stories of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be determined by the outcome of the currently dated projects. Having assessed how well these outcomes might go for our heroes, it becomes easier to make a projection about what overarching stories could happen across the next few years. So let’s take a look through the different power-threat levels of street, supernatural, global, cosmic and multiverse to see where we could be heading before the next major crossover.

Trails of Crime

With Hawkeye introducing more street-level characters and stories later this year, it’s easy to imagine that there might be a money trail involved in hiring the goons that are going after Clint. In the comics various mob bosses, including the Kingpin, hire Kazimierz Kazimierczak the Clown to kill Clint. So, it stands to reason there might be an overarching story of organised crime that carries through into She-Hulk and further in Echo. We’re probably only witnessing the beginnings.

In the midst of more coordinated criminal activity, more local heroes like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, as well as the Heroes for Hire will have to find ways to protect people in their neighbourhoods and eventually confront those mob bosses. Other street level heroes like Darkhawk or Squirrel Girl could join them. Maybe even Toni Masters (formerly Dreykhov) becomes involved, relying on her photographic reflexes to train low-level thugs as a way to get by on her search for her place in the world.

Whether those confrontations with the crime syndicate triumph or not, there will be multiple rivals looking to succeed the current Kingpin of Crime. It’s reasonable that in such a scenario the Kingpin might be looking towards collaboration with supportive international governments like Latveria. I wonder whether a potential successor named Parker Robbins might flourish in the Kingpin War, aftering having found a demon’s cloak belonging to Dormammu and becoming The Hood

Supernatural Streets

Wanda Maximoff being enticed into using The Darkhold, we’ll likely see an uptick in supernatural events around the world. No doubt that the streets and ley lines of New York City make it a hub of metaphysical activity that the cult forces of Dracula and Lilith, Mother of All Demons will be drawn to. Heroes like Doctor Strange, Moon Knight and Blade will need to team-up with adventurers, which includes Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Elsa Bloodstone, daughter of a famous monster hunter, and Werewolf by Night, who is reported to be have a series in development, to save people from paranormal activity.

At this point, it’s only a question of time before a full explosion of demonic cults spring up. Especially as Ghost Rider might join Marvel Studios’ filmography sooner than later. Alternatively, another scenario these heroes could find themselves allied with crime syndicate boss The Hood who discovers a zombie-esque virus. It’s enacted by Dormammu to conquer Earth. Although the Cosmic Conqueror is likely to be defeated in this endeavour, as it feels like the Mindless Ones might be more of a magic threat that the Midnight Sons and the Avengers might have to team-up for.

Global Witch Hunt

Another street level meets supernatural event could be the formation of the Young Avengers. There are few events in the MCU that cause new teams to form, especially comprising street level characters and assorted other power levels. A missing Avenger might be one of those causations. It’s not hard to imagine that Cassie Lang, Kate Bishop and Eli Bradley might know each other through online Avengers tracking communities or even an early get-together with Teddy Altman. He’s hidden on earth with the Lang family, in the midst of Kree/Skrull attacks as they search for a ‘hybrid’ on Earth.

It’s not hard to imagine these young heroes might be alerted if Wiccan and Speed are on a global search for their missing multiversal-mother. It’s also possible Billy and Tommy are joined by their new friends from recent adventures with Kid Loki and America Chavez. They might need to face-off against Kree and Skrull units as they go on a children’s crusade that could take them across the globe. Perhaps it leads them to the once faded but now rising from the ashes country of Latveria. We explored the idea of an adaptation of the Children’s Crusade storyline, which you can check out here. The uniting of such an assorted team on such an adventure could possibly bring them into the sights of other global players.

New Global Avengers

From where we are now we can see that there might be two action-espionage teams forming within a global scale. While Sam Wilson has stepped up to claim the mantle of Captain America, he will likely still be put under a lot of scrutiny. Perhaps some of this could be alleviated with Sam publicly leading a team, and even getting his “Avengers Assemble’” moment. So, the question remains who this global time might consist of.

Shang-Chi seems likely to join forces with those that can help him achieve his goals. Perhaps Jane Foster’s Mighty Thor might be compelled to protect New Asgard, which has imbued her with power while her namesake is on cosmic adventures. Similarly there might be aliens like Hercules who have been chased from their homes by Gorr The God Butcher, and now want to set-up home on the planet. It could lead to the return of Sersi and Dane Whitman, who’ll get called into action due to their past.

Whether this team will be joined by a Wakandan hero on the international stage is still very much an open question. Of course this team could easily be rounded out by regulars like Bucky, Ant-Man, The Wasp, and War Machine. Rhodey will have recently tangled with the possible results of Sharon Carter’s Power Broker after she sold off Stark Tech plans. Regardless of who joins this team, it seems they will likely have a rivalry with another global team.

Rival Dark Avengers

Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is recruiting a team and we met its first true member. She tells John Walker, the slightly unstable super-soldier that “things are about to get weird.” She also refers to Baron Zemo as “our friend,” indicating she might have some plans for him as well. Yelena Belova is the final recruit knwon about, and it seems Yelena has been working for Val for some time already, jokingly asking for a raise and saying she shouldn’t be bothered on holiday.

It makes you wonder if Val knows about Agatha Harkness being trapped in Westview as ‘Agnes’ and what kind of bargain she might strike for freeing her. Whatever Val’s aims are, they seem an antagonism to our heroes, which could set up a rivalry between these newly formed teams. The only question is what would lead to them confronting each other. Is Val already looking to head off the Secret Invasion? Is a war brewing between Kree and Skrulls once again in their hunt for a ‘hybrid’?

There are many possibliites they might take with this new team. She might plan a siege on New Asgard, or other iconic locations from the comics. Perhaps a new type of humans have been steadily growing in numbers that need more control. Her machinations will surely become clearer over the next year or two. This global rivalry between these two teams will surely have to give way eventually as another global threat too big for one team alone emerges.

Cosmic Politics

There are likely to be various cosmic conflicts that could coalesce into a wider galactic struggle. As there are a significant number of Eternals, it stands to reason that some of them might stay protecting Earth while others adventure off into space in search of their creators, the Celestials. The ancient Celestial experiments could become the catalysts for a wider galactic war. New Asgard can be the connection point between Earth and the Cosmos, especially now that Thor Odinson ventured out with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

It is possible that he might continue his adventures in space while Jane Foster uses a repaired Mjolnir on Earth. Gorr The God Butcher will undoubtedly interrupt this space adventure. His rampage might introduce us to other pantheons like the Olympians and Tuatha De Danann, as they are attacked and in search of new habitats across the universe. Perhaps New Asgard can become a home for all of them? Will Valkyrie and her queen be able to unite peoples beyond Asgardians?

Cosmic Invasion

It’s likely that similar political negotiations might fall on the heads of Nick Fury, Talos and Captain Marvel with each of the three of them having a crossover stake in the Kree-Skrull conflict that will likely engulf the galaxy. With the Skrull invasion of Earth and the Kree Empire trying to get it’s hands on Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan and Teddy Altman for various reasons suggest there will be a continued focus on Earth within the wider politics of the galaxy. It’s not hard to imagine, when taken, to extremes this might include open invasion and attacks that combined cosmic and earthbound heroes.

We might see the involvement of characters like Nova, Abigail Brand and The Fantastic Four to keep these threats at bay. The Guardians are likely to split up and some of their remaining members could pop-up elsewhere. Perhaps in the deepest quarters of space at a catina we might see the Starjammers, as we explore new locations across the galaxy. Both the exploration of Terrans into deeper parts of space and the Kree-Skrull-Earth conflict spreading across galaxies might attract the attention of cosmic threats like Galactus or Annihilus, who will require a bigger team up than just the cosmically powered heroes.

Mutliversal Conquest

It looks like the multiverse will get more chaotic and dangerous throughout the next dimensional-timeline adventures of Loki, Captain Carter, Doctor Strange, and Ant-Man. Each of these characters can suffer heavy tolls from their impending exploits. The multiverse won’t disappear and the impact of different branching timelines won’t halt after what we can see on the horizon.

As the Loki Variant L1130 witnesed the cracking of the multiverse, it seems his next adventures could involve escaping a Variant of Kang the Conquerer that has taken over the TVA while trying to find the more revolutionary version he left Mobius and Hunter B-15 with. They might form a version of the Exiles to fix the broken timelines, as different versions of the TVA face each other. Whatever the answer is, it will likely be entwined with how Loki and Sylvie heal their rift.

Multiversal Madness

As Captain Carter continues to try and guard the multiverse, perhaps her further feats with Uatu might lead her to Merlyn and Roma. From there it’s easy to envisage how she might become first of the Captain Britain Corps with a duty to guard the wider omniverse. Along the way, it’s highly likely she will encounter our favourite heroes. Her actions might also echo from Strange’s upcoming adventure.

While he will tackle the various timelines intersecting, there are a few new paths before him. For one, there are likely to be new supernatural threats on the streets of New York that could require him to assemble a team. His experiences might also force him to realise that there needs to be a small cabal watching over the multiverse in the hopes of sparing their own timeline at the cost of others while saving all of them from those who might use time as a weapon. Lastly, in noticing the appearance of young heroes, it might be the time to gather those with mystical abilities to guide them through the mystic arts in a Strange Academy. It seems like the doctor is going to have a busy period.

While Scott Lang’s tussle with Kang is not likely to go well for the Lang and Pym families, it’s possible Scott and Hope will return to earthly protection and warding of the Young Avengers. The Variants of Kang may form a council and are likely to be making plans to further expand their influence across the timelines even if it means the incursions of some into others. It looks like the future is going to be quite rough.

Many Stories to Come

In view of how these stories might play out across the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse, it’s clear that the peaks of the next few years will include story threads that will lead to bigger confrontations that require multiple teams. There is an inevitability that these bigger confrontations will crossover themselves in their power levels and impact, suggesting that once the above stories have begun to play out, we might start to see a wider crossover between all the new and hold heroes of the MCU as a unavoidable threat emerges that everyone must join in to tackle.

August 16, 2021
A Burning ‘STARGIRL’
Season 2 of CW’s Stargirl begins in a much different place than when season 1 ended. Courtney Whitmore has a fix, and it’s to fight supervillains. The one problem with that though; there’s more to life than being a superhero.

“The JSA is not the only team that you’re a part of. Our family’s a team too, okay?” Stepdad and S.T.R.I.P.E. creator Pat reminds Courtney. Pat’s attempting to normalize Courtney’s life while she’s trying to find a fight that doesn’t exist, not yet anyway. The new JSA members are also feeling the lack of threats in their own way.

The season premiere deals with trauma as Yolanda is dealing with her role in Brainwave’s death. Beth is struggling with the loneliness of not only her parent’s pending divorce but also trying to get Chuck (the famous AI goggles) back online. Rick is struggling with the idea of being a hero yet not getting any accolades from it. The theme had weight. These heroes are so young and were so excited to get into this without thinking of the cost.

Examining how a hero deals with the silent moments when the mask isn’t on is something Stargirl excels at. Courtney can’t take the mask off, so Pat makes her for a couple of weeks till she can get her act together. Even young Mike wants to get involved in the crime-fighting business instead of going on vacation. Our young heroes wanted everything right now and they most certainly got it. Now they have to deal with the idea of living somewhat normal lives from time to time.

Here are three other quick hitters from the premiere.
1. Cindy (who we love to hate) is informing her own Injustice Gang with the help of Eclipso. One of the pictures she chooses is Courtney’s step brother Mike Dugan. Oh boy, this could get complicated.
2. Green Lantern’s daughter Jennie-Lynn Hayden, or better known as Jade, has arived. We get an explosive debut from her as she battles Courtney and grabs her father’s lantern. Courtney has quite the journey on her hands with Jade in the fold.
3. Is that Starman? In the pilot we think Sylvester Pemberton is dead, but it seems like he’s alive and well. We find him in a diner talking to Pat Dugan’s ex-wife. Will he be making an appearance soon and what does that mean for Courtney?
August 15, 2021
How Captain Carter Shaped Her Universe

When Sylvie plunged a dagger into He Who Remains’ heart, she effectively unleashed hell for our heroes and villains over the next several years. Never mind that the man she killed was fine with surrendering the TVA willingly. What Lady Loki’s actions did was both destroy the sacred timeline and bring about something even worse than the Mad Titan.

Given that, What If…? becomes even more important as the first Marvel Cinematic Multiverse show to highlight the first real consequences of Lady Loki’s actions. Before we look at where we are now, we need to take a quick look at where we were before Lady Loki’s actions.

If you believe that Captain America was able to return all the stones to their rightful timeline and return with a brand new shield for Sam Wilson at the end of Avengers: Endgame, then I’m here to tell you that the math generally doesn’t add up. When Cap and Tony go to steal the Tesseract from the 70s S.H.I.E.L.D. base, they also steal four Pym particles. They use two to return to the present timeline which leaves Cap with two. If you listen to the dialogue with Ant-Man, Iron Man and Cap, it is made clear that you need two Pym particles for a roundtrip in the Quantum Realm. So, theoretically, Cap would’ve only had enough to return one of the stones and then come back to the present-day.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Hank Pym was back, so he could’ve just made Steve more Pym particles. Sure, that would explain how Steve got the stones back, but you really think Steve told nobody except Hank Pym, a man he just met, about his plan to remain in the past with Peggy Carter and secure a shield of his own? That just doesn’t seem like something Steve would do.

It’s more likely that Hank made Steve the particles to return the stones and return to the present day, but Steve used the one to return to the present day to return to 1950 to be with Peggy. This removes Captain America from our main timeline. These are the branching timelines that, I think, popped up post-Endgame:

A 1940’s timeline where Cap remains while he is, possibly, believed to be dead.

This becomes interesting to explore because it would stand to reason that Cap wouldn’t leave Bucky to Hydra’s torture, which takes that timeline into a very different direction than the main timeline. Is this Cap operating in the shadows with Peggy helping him? Does he become Nomad instead? How does SHIELD develop with Cap still alive? A lot of questions, especially when he wouldn’t have had enough Pym particles to return, so the one that gives the shield to Sam isn’t our Steve.

A 2012 timeline that has Loki with the Tesseract.

This was explored, briefly, in Loki. However, if we dive further, we now have a 2012 where Loki does not return to Asgard and cause his parents’ death. That means neither Hela and Surtur are released, Asgard is still standing, and Thor does not return to Earth in Avengers: Age of Ultron to help retrieve Loki’s scepter. Keep in mind that Thor returned to Earth to get the Aether from Malekith. With Malekith vanquished, he and Jane could’ve remained in Asgard. If Thor does not return then the Vison in this 2012 timeline might be very different. Wanda and Pietro would still receive their powers from the Mind Stone, and Ultron would actually create Vision.

A 2014 timeline with no Thanos (because that Thanos was killed in 2023).

This is a timeline with not only no Thanos but also no Guardians as Gamora is gone. This means that Star-Lord never loses the Power Stone to Gamora. Instead, he probably loses it to Rocket and Groot, and they are still arrested, but without Gamora the team isn’t as strong and it is very possible that this timeline sees Ronan succeed in destroying the Nova Corps and Xandar. With no Thanos to check him, does Ronan become the most powerful being in the universe? Does this timeline have a Carol that returns to Earth sooner if Ronan sets his sight on Earth?

A 1970s timeline where Hank realizes someone stole his Pym particles.

This is a timeline where Hank Pym potentially leaves SHIELD much sooner, which means Janet never vanishes. If Janet never vanishes, who stops the Russian missiles from destroying Earth? Furthermore, if Hank and Janet are still alive and together, then Hope never feels the need to become a superhero, so there is no new Wasp in this timeline either.

After Loki, we now have a 2012 that has created another branch: one where He Who Remains is dead and Lady Loki is potentially in charge of the TVA. That means we definitely now have 2 different versions of 2012, with a potential third:

1. Loki and the tesseract, King Thor, Odin alive, Hela imprisoned, Asgard still here, and a Hydra that believes Captain America is a sleeper hydra agent.
2. Lady Loki in charge of the TVA with Kang dead.
3. whatever TVA Loki now finds himself in, where Kang lives.

That means that we have six guaranteed timelines, with a potential seventh, before we even get to the first episode of What If…?.

Oh, wait, but what about Wandavision? Wanda becoming the Scarlet Witch was the event He Who Remains did not foresee. It may not create a whole new branch as much as it veers the main timeline in a direction that not even Kang saw coming. It’s that change, in combination with the branches, that brings Dr. Strange off the bench.

Now… on to What If…?:

We see Agent Carter become Captain Carter by making one small decision. This leads to a timeline where the following things definitely happen:

1. Peggy Carter is the new Captain and vanishes through the portal created by the tesseract. She lands in the future of this universe where Nick Fury is assembling the Avengers in 2012. The Hawkeye in this timeline knows who Captain Carter is, and clearly so does Fury.
2. Howard Stark creates the first Iron Man suit, which Steve Rogers utilizes as the Hydra Stomper.
3. Bucky does not become the Winter Soldier, which means Isaiah Bradley is not sent to capture him. It is possible that Bradley will not be experimented on either, which means his grandson wouldn’t join the Young Avengers.
4. Tony Stark doesn’t lose his parents because there’s no Winter Soldier to kill them. This, also, probably means there is no Iron Man in this universe.
5. Colonel Phillips is dead, replaced by Colonel Flynn, and this could mean SHIELD takes a very different direction with no Phillips or Carter left to ground the agency.

Those are a lot of changes emerging from episode one, but there’s one that this episode also might hint at:

If Earth Prime’s Steve did not deliver the new shield to Sam, who did? It has to be a Steve that both did not go into the ice, had access to someone who could build a new shield, and did not receive the super-soldier serum. What Steve could that be? Perhaps a Steve that loved Peggy Carter and had a billionaire genius playboy philanthropist with access to the Tesseract who could help him be right there in that spot all along?

Where do we go from here?

August 15, 2021
How ‘SUICIDE SQAD 3’ Could Build Upon ‘JUSTICE LEAGUE’s Aftermath

After the explosive success that was The Suicide Squad, the team is bound to make a return at some point. When that day eventually comes, Gunn has taught us how much value this franchise gains from a new writer and director. While keeping the films subtly separate, I believe it’s time to explore what happened between The Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey, which allows Rick Flag and Captain Boomerang to return for one of the many other missions hinted at by both them in the opening of James Gunn‘s film.

The premise for this pitch would follow Amanda Waller sending out a team to Pozharnov, Russia. If the location sounds familiar, it’s where the Justice League faced off against Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons. However, the location would now be the temporary base of operations for Intergang, who’ve moved in on the terraformed territory and salvaged leftover Apokolyptian tech. They’ve started reengineering it for sale to capitalize on the tragedy. While they’ve been a mostly Superman antagonist, the group should take a Hydra-like role in the DCEU, acting in the shadows with its ties to Apokolips.

The latest verison of the gang would be lead by Bruno and Moxie Manheim, Doctor Polaris, Neutron, Toyman, and Deathstroke, who were sent to keep things on track by the one bankrolling the operation, Lex Luthor. Deadshot returns with another team consisting of hand-picked members especially suited for this mission to search and and shut down Intergangs operation.

The roster could include Poison Ivy, Killer Frost, Rick Flag, Count Vertigo, Parasite, Nightshade, Killer Moth, Clock King, Captain Boomerang, and Copperhead. This time around, there’s no diversion with a team but rather two groups with specific missions to accomplish. In typical Waller tradition, she doesn’t inform them of each other’s existence, which leads to an unexpected confrontation.

The one notable absence in this film would be Harley, and while she’s been a staple in the past two films, it’s time to move on. Captain Boomerang teased he’s been on different missions when he asked her surprised what she was doing back in prison. I think exploring those missions getting to know some past fan favorites, even more, would be much more beneficial. Placing it during Birds of Prey also gives a good reason why Harley is absent and gives us a new perspective on the team that might also explore why Waller continues to fall down a darker path.

August 15, 2021
‘GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY’s Dance Off to Save the Galaxy

Editor’s note: This was written by our good friend, Pierre Chanliau.

Years ago, there was a brief and odd time when people derided Peter Quill’s dance-off with Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy. Claiming it devalued the tension of the scene by reducing it to a joke. On the whole, the scene in question is one of the best in James Gunn’s debut MCU film. So, before he begins work on the threequel, let’s talk about that dance-off.

After the Dark Aster crashes into Xandar, Peter Quill and the rest of the Guardians emerge from the rubble unscathed thanks to Groot’s sacrifice. A sacrifice that Rocket mourns, holding several twigs of what remains of his friend. Ronan suddenly rises from the crash, equality unscathed, to the horror of everyone. After repelling a futile attack from a furious Rocket, Ronan begins to give an overtly verbose and hammy speech to the citizens of Xandar about enacting his vengeance. He raises his hammer to destroy the planet but before he can, he’s interrupted by singing from none other than Peter Quill. That song that’s actually playing in this scene is from The Five Stairsteps’ “O-o-h Child.” An uplifting song about how “things are gonna get easier” in times of strife.

It isn’t a mistake that this song is the last one from Peter Quill’s first mixtape. Meredith Quill likely included this last song specifically for her son when she was first diagnosed with brain cancer. One way to look at this scene, is that she inadvertently helped her son save the galaxy since it was this song playing that prompted Peter to improvise his distraction. So even in death, Meredith was there for her son.

What also isn’t talked about enough is how this desperate ploy by Quill actually made Ronan a tad more interesting as a character with one single delivery from Lee Pace. As if breaking character, Ronan looks on, confused, at Quill’s display, asking him in an uncharismatically quiet voice, “What are you doing?” Not only is it one of the funniest line reads in the entire film, but it showcases the “real” Ronan. Thanos was right when he called the Accuser a “boy” with the demeanor of “a pouty child.”

Looking at every one of Ronan’s actions in retrospect, he was always putting on an act. He’s so desperate to be taken seriously, that he literally bathes in the blood of his enemies with no sense of irony. Not to mention his desperate need to be taken seriously, such as when he killed The Other, the voice of Thanos. This interpretation of Ronan is reaffirmed when he asks the question again, but with Pace returning to the Accuser’s typical cadence. It’s as if Ronan is trying to save face and regain control of the scene after his (obviously prepared) speech was rudely interrupted.

Regardless of the massive difference compared to his comic book counterpart, this one moment gives this adaptation of Ronan a bit more character than other low-tier villains in the MCU, like Christopher Eccleston’s abysmal Malekith. After Quill’s distraction succeeds, the rest of the scene is far more self-explanatory. It blatantly symbolizes Peter accepting his mother’s passing as he finally grabs her hand. Something he didn’t do as a child years ago because it meant acknowledging her impending death. Despite what one might think of Gunn, he nails the emotional beats in his films when they matter most, and he’ll hopefully be able to match this in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

August 15, 2021
How Chinese Mythology and Marvel History Could Set Up a ‘SHANG-CHI’ Sequel Featuring Iron Fist

The trailers for Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings have so far done a pretty good job of showing us a lot and divulging very little. Nevertheless, we here at Murphy’s Multiverse have been hard at work analyzing every little detail we can. Recently, the team published a few articles speculating on the inclusion of important Chinese mythology in the film. If true, it could open the doors to the future of the franchise in some big ways. If the next installment in the Shang-Chi saga decides to lean further into this mythology, it could set up a sequel featuring a partnership everyone has been wanting to see. Some further digging and a whole lot of reading, reveals an interesting connection between the titular Master of Kung Fu and another popular Marvel martial artist, the Immortal Iron Fist.

It seems incredibly likely, even if it’s not yet confirmed, that Shang-Chi‘s first solo film will end with him in possession of the Ten Rings. It’s been strongly hinted at in the footage and posters we’ve seen released for the movie, and it would be a fun new way for the MCU to “power up” a character who’s already pretty dangerous on his own. As human machine Joseph Aberl pointed out in his own prospective piece, the origins of these mystical rings could have a pretty heavy connection to the film’s Great Protector and the other dragons of importance in Chinese folklore. If Simu Liu‘s protagonist were to end up the owner of this immense ancient power, it would be a great starting point in a journey to discover more about where this energy comes from.

The theory here is that the “Great Protector” is actually the White Dragon of Qinghai Lake, one of the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas in Chinese legend. Not just that, he’d also be the creator of the Ten Rings. This idea stems from the shots in the movie’s trailers that show the Great Protector, a white dragon, submerged in water and interacting with a fully-uniformed Shang-Chi, presumably in a climactic moment of the story. He is also historically associated with the element of metal, which plays into the concept of molding the rings. If this theory turns out to be correct, it would allow for the other Dragon Kings to play a role in future Shang-Chi projects concerning our hero and his efforts to understand his past. This is where things get interesting. If a person were to dig far enough into Marvel lore, they would discover that one of the other Dragon Kings once played a vital role in the origins of the mystical city K’un L’un and it’s champion, the Iron Fist.

Long before the days of Matt Fraction‘s famous run, which rewrote the history of the character and made his title a generational mantle, there was a little tale by the name of Power Man & Iron Fist #118-122. This comic attempted to give Shou-Lao the Undying, the dragon from whom Danny Rand received his powers, a new origin more closely tied to mythology. In it, we find that Shou-Lao was once a mortal resident of K’un L’un who began a romantic relationship with a dragon in her human form. Unfortunately for him, this dragon turned out to be the sister of the Black Dragon, who was unpleased with Shou-Lao’s actions. As revenge, he turned Shou-Lao into an immortal beast, confined him to a cave, and ripped out his heart. Eventually, killing this dragon and plunging his fists into the removed heart is what would give Rand his supernatural abilities. In the story, Rand and Luke Cage would have to confront the Black Dragon.

This has since been retconned, but the MCU could use it as a jumping off point for a meeting between Shang-Chi and Rand in a potential sequel. If the Great Protector is a Dragon King, and our newly formed hero ends up searching of the other dragons and the power they bestow on Earth, it could lead him directly to the doorstep of K’un L’un. A famous Iron Fist story involves Danny Rand and the other champions of the Heavenly Cities fighting back against a corrupt K’un L’un leader known as Yu-Ti. The comic Black Dragon once took the city over by force. Perhaps these concepts could be combined to make the film’s antagonist, as he disguised himself in a human form as Yu-Ti.

Another possibility is that the dragons are tied to the Heavenly Cities themselves, with Wenwu and the Ten Rings’ base of operations functioning as a Heavenly City in the MCU. The decade-long disappearing act often pulled by Heavenly Cities could help explain why the Mandarin has not yet been seen in the MCU, and why Shang-Chi was given “ten years” to discover himself separate from the organization. It would also align with Michelle Yeoh‘s comments about portraying the protector of a “mythical city”. If this is true, and Shang-Chi becomes the city’s new champion, it would stand to reason that he might have to use his Ten Rings to compete in a future Tournament of the Heavenly Cities. Either way, a future team-up between Shang-Chi and the Iron Fist is starting to feel a little less far-fetched.

Source: Echoes From Old China, Comic Vine

August 14, 2021
How Marvel Studios Continues to Push Innovation Through the MCU

Marvel Studios is on the verge of the longest run of A-letter grade Cinemascores. If Shang-Chi, Eternals, and Spider-Man: No Way Home each achieve at least an A-, the MCU will take the lead from Pixar with 23 theatrical releases in a row that garnered that audience rating. It’s no easy claim to release films that people enjoyed consistently. Beyond being tuned in with their audiences, whose tastes might change, this level of consistency requires a dedicated approach to improvement and innovation. Let’s take a closer look at how the once small-time production company continues to innovate.

Kevin Feige typifies Marvel Studios’ approach to improvement. In an interview with Vanity Fair in the lead-up to Avengers: Infinity War, he noted that a childhood hobby of his was being disappointed with sequel films he’d seen, then creating better versions in his head and with his action figures. He’d often think to himself:

I gotta fix it. I gotta come up with a better [version].

Feige’s path mirrors a journey many Marvel Studios’ employees would later go on. He was rejected five times from film school at the University of Southern California before getting in and interned for Lauren Shuler Donner. She eventually took him on as her personal assistant and he would go on to become an associate producer on 2000’s X-Men. His approach to gradual improvement would eventually turn into the MCU.

This improvement also bears itself in the first films of the MCU through their innovative use of visual development. In an interview with Kevin Smith earlier in 2021, Marvel Studios’ Director of Visual Development, Andy Park, notes that Marvel Studio’s leadership trio of Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, and Victoria Alonso made the hiring of the in-house visual development team rather “unique” in its approach to a shared universe. In the film industry, freelancers are often changed between films, allowing a progression where the artists can work on characters “through the years” and even in advance of writers working on a project.

Although not all of the key art drawn by the visual development will make it into a film or show, Park emphasizes just how in tandem the teams work by stating that:

It was also our art that they plaster along the wall [of the writers room as a] source of inspiration.

It would also be accompanied by the comic book source material to offer writers a full picture for inspiration. This innovative setup is just one of how it helps writers, directors, production designers, and actors develop and improve upon projects as they go.

A more recent innovation process seems to have evolved from Kevin Feige’s experiences early in the industry. The Parliament is a group that is partly made up of six executive producers, who each produce individual Marvel Studios films while marshaling the cohesion of the shared universe. Stephen Broussard, Eric Carroll, Brad Winderbaum, Nate Moore, Trihn Tran, and Jonathan Schwartz have each been at Marvel Studios for over ten years often dating back to the first MCU films. They started their careers with roles like assistant as early as 2005.

Nate Moore was working managing the Marvel Studios Writers Program, having never produced a film before when Kevin Feige offered him the opportunity to co-produce Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He describes this experience as being similar to all the other producers at Marvel Studios in an interview with Vanity Fair’s Still Watching podcast:

That’s sort of been the experience of every producer who has ever made a Marvel Studios film and one point they were untested, hadn’t done a film and then Marvel said ‘here’s your giant blockbuster kid, make your movie.’

This encouragement for adaptation and improvement is such a facet of the company that when Harvard Business Review “analyzed 338 interviews with producers, directors, and writers and 140 reviews from leading critics” to assess the reasons behind Marvel Studios’ success, they concluded that one of their leading principles is “selecting for experienced inexperience” just as Feige went from interning to becoming an associate producer under Lauren Shuler Donner.

While each Marvel Studios project always had individual producers attached to them from beginning to end, The Parliament is an overarching collaborative group that allows the producers of each project to share notes on casting, script, costume, and visual effect iterations. It ensures a cohesive shared universe of script connections and overall character arcs, as well as the development of future stories. When talking about how Loki will impact Spider-Man: Far From Home, Head Writer Michael Waldron notes that:

Your producing teams are constantly communicating with those producing teams to make sure that you’re not screwing each other up.

Each of Marvel Studios’ recent Disney+ streaming shows Wandavision (Mary Livanos), The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (Zoie Nagelhout) and Loki (Kevin Wright) each had a producer working with the writers. They act as a creative partner to the head writer and the writer’s room in the most creative and impactful way possible. At the same time, while guiding them through other projects. Again, each of these up-and-coming producers was at one point an assistant who has been promoted to the point where they are executives producing a project for themselves. Malcolm Spellman, Head Writer of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier notes that:

Marvel wants you to create first and they want you to do it without worrying about […] if there is obvious threads to the greater MCU.

Then at some point, they might say that something written as innocuous can become something more meaningful in the wider MCU. Derek Kolstad, another writer on the show, notes that they “meet at the beginning of the day and the end of the day” to coordinate and deal with the overlapping complexity of the shared universe. That way, the creative talent doesn’t have to and can focus on their main jobs. This level of coordination accelerates the balance of iteration, improvement, and innovation at Marvel Studios.

Marvel Studios is in the relatively early stages of having a shared universe between various media. Just as we saw improvements in their films going from the origins to the classics we’re likely also going to see a similar journey. This time, it’ll be in combination across film and TV formats. With innovative processes in place within their set-up, it seems inevitable not only that more classics are on the way, but eventually later on down the line we’ll see both an evolution of these improving processes and perhaps even more media formats joining the MCU.

Source: Vanity Fair, YouTube, Vanity Fair (Moore), Harvard Business Manager, Collider

August 14, 2021
How Marvel Studios Solved Everything

It’s been already heavily discussed how the fact that Marvel Studios not having the rights to its current catalog of characters from the start was probably a good thing. It allowed for a number of trilogies devoted to specific characters to have the room to be developed, something that was crucial to the relevance those same characters achieved, not only whiting the MCU itself but in pop culture as a whole. From there, with its Cinematic Universe already established and with a need to infuse it with new characters, Marvel Studios had to figure out how to do so all while also giving audiences a pretty good reason why those characters didn’t show up earlier, at times when the Earth needed every helping hand it could find.

So being, Marvel decided to tackle introducing new characters in various ways. These were either someone wanting to keep a low profile (Ant-Man), others were in outer space (Guardians of the Galaxy), another was in a secluded African nation that wanted nothing to do with the outside world’s problems (Black Panther), one was a kid from Queens that kept mostly to his part of town (Spider-Man), another was introduced through a prequel meaning she was there all along, just not on earth (Captain Marvel), while a neurosurgeon turned sorcerer managed to fulfill his duty behind the scenes (Doctor Strange). All in all, it went pretty smoothly, but with its growing catalog of characters, and specifically referring to most of the ones Marvel got back from Fox, Kevin Feige, and the Parliament (Marvel’s unifying creative committee) wouldn’t have such an easy task.

How to introduce both the Fantastic Four and the X-Men to the MCU was always a bit of a head-scratcher, more so with each passing year. Both have an almost inherent need to have been there from the start and, especially in the case of the Mutants, it’d be hard to have them stay away from the public eye since the beginning of the MCU. They have always been the outcasts, the marginalized, enduring a lifetime of being seen as less than they’re worth, which eventually leads to a breaking point. But for this stage to be set, you would need a different context than the one the MCU holds at this time.

Going back to the Fantastic Four, it would also be tough to swallow that Reed Richards, one of the smartest men on the planet, would be left out of the story being told so far, even if Marvel’s First Family hadn’t gained its powers yet, only to show up now. And even if the route chosen would be to have the team vanish in the middle of the space race that started in the 50s, only to return in the present day, there should be references, technology left behind, something that would have already alerted audiences to their presence in the MCU.

But after Loki, by going the route we all saw, what Marvel Studios has done is allow for all the optimal scenarios one might conjure to introduce the former Fox residents to the MCU. Ever since the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney we all knew it was coming, but there always seemed to be a few tough decisions left to be made to make the overarching story make sense. One of those would be Magneto’s origin. Someone who was so clearly defined by the horrors of Nazi Germany and their concentration camps. Introducing such a character beyond 2022 would make him an elderly man, far from the ideal age for such a relevant character in the MCU’s coming decade. But now, both this, the issues raised above, and many others, are almost magically solved, without much compromise

With slight deviations to the Sacred Timeline at specific points in time, you could create these character’s origin stories free from all the constraints more than a decade of MCU projects have ultimately created. With the timeline-hopping we’re probably in store for in the next few years, it won’t take much to get already fully-formed characters with specific backgrounds we already know of (much like we pretty much skipped Spider-Man’s origin in Captain America: Civil War) into the main timeline, with their development from then on being specific to the MCU.

I’m sure the upcoming Multiverse Saga ended up being developed partially because, much like Reed Richards himself in Jonathan Hickman‘s Fantastic Four run, Feige and his team were on a quest to “solve everything”. To figure out how to best move forward beyond the Infinity Saga by following a different structure, and at the same time deciding on how to best integrate two of the most iconic comic book teams into the character playground the MCU has become. Knowing that arriving late to the party might be a downside, by choosing the Multiverse route they are not only allowing their entrance into the MCU in a fairly straightforward fashion but also for it to become the home of the best versions these characters have ever seen on the big screen.

August 13, 2021
Exploring a Darker MCU Spider-Man Story Through a ‘Gang Wars’ Adaptation

The 1980s were a grimy time for Marvel. Their comics were filled with plotlines concerning the downtrodden streets of a once-proud nation, and their heroes often found themselves dipping their pantyhose in the darker corners of morality. Spider-Man, for example, swapped his famous red-and-blues for a new pitch-black color scheme and dove headfirst into New York’s criminal underworld. The resulting comic arcs are often lost in the shuffle of alien symbiotes and vengeful hunters, but in retrospect, they’re just as good as anything Marvel has done with the character.

Many internet pitches for Tom Holland‘s next set of potential Spider-Films include re-iterations of tales we’ve already seen in both live-action and animation. While those stories are favorites for a reason, it’s time to explore a darker side of the iconic web-head. The Death of Jean DeWolff and Gang War, written by Peter David and Christopher Priest, respectively, are two of the great narratives in regard to Peter Parker’s more grounded adventures.

The former sees one of Spider-Man’s closest allies in the NYPD, Captain Jean DeWolff, gunned down in her own home. It follows his emotional quest to find her killer and put a stop to his murderous rampage. The latter deals with numerous crime lords from the Big Apple’s seedy underbelly waging an all-out war for control of the Kingpin’s empire. At the core is Spider-Man’s desperate attempts to end the conflict and keep innocent people safe. Both stories push Spidey to the brink of his mental capacity, test his relationship with the people of his city, and if combined properly, could make for an amazing Spider-Man movie.

The foundation for a Gang War adaptation would be best laid using the concept of a power struggle in New York’s world of organized crime. In the comics, the power vacuum opened when Wilson Fisk mysteriously disappeared from the city, and figureheads like The Rose, Hammerhead, and Silvermane began vying for the vacant position. With Daredevil on his way to the MCU, it’s possible Fisk could also play a role in Spider-Man’s cinematic future, but he doesn’t have to for this story to work.

A deleted scene from Far From Home revealed the existence of the Manfredi family in Marvel’s live-action universe, so it stands to reason a character like Silvermane could already be at the top of the criminal food chain. If the old man were to perish unexpectedly, with the chance to return later in a cyborg body, it would be enough to create a similar violent situation. Characters from the story directly linked to Fisk, like his son, The Rose, could be replaced with other underappreciated antagonists, like former enforcer Tombstone or fashion designer-turned-criminal Roderick Kingsley.

Should these crime lords begin warring in New York, Peter Parker would be sure to notice and attempt an intervention for the sake of civilian safety. Much like the comic, the naivety of his actions could actually work to prolong the conflict and add quite a bit of depth to his unhealthy working relationship with New York’s police department. It also gives us a new understanding of Peter’s overall motives. It would serve the story well to give Peter a confidant, or “good cop”, that supports his endeavors, like DeWolff, Yuri Watanabe, or George Stacy. All three of these characters eventually die in the line of duty, and an incident like this on film would be a good reason to push Parker towards an uncharacteristic rampage of his own. The MCU likes its amalgamations, so a mix of the three, with a name like Captain Jean Stacy, could be in order.

As previously mentioned, DeWolff and Gang War take place during Spidey’s time in the black suit. If that were the case here, the death of a friend at the hands of the world’s sleaziest would be enough to evoke new, darker personality traits in our favorite hero. With his immense power, it would take a special kind of someone to prevent him from doing something he might regret. Daredevil plays a prominent role in both comic arcs and has his horns deep in the philosophy of street-level crime. It makes him the perfect candidate to interfere in Spider-Man’s emotional tear and help the young hero battle his foes the just way.

A project that draws from all of these elements has a lot of potentials. On the surface, it would be incredibly cool to see a costumed Spider-Man and Daredevil fight crime side-by-side. The crime lords of Spidey’s rogue’s gallery deserve the spotlight eventually. On a deeper level, a slightly older Holland examining Peter Parker’s ethics, dealing with true loss, and protecting his home turf is exactly what a lot of people want to see. The story would be completely different from what we’ve seen, but maybe that’s exactly what the character needs right now.

August 13, 2021