Tag: Captain Marvel

5 Marvel Comics Events Fit For the MCU

Marvel Comics most recent event series, Empyre, is in the midst of its run and has received mixed reviews to this point. It’s place in the long and storied history of Marvel’s major events will ultimately be determined by how it ends and what impact it has on the future of the line but I’ve already seen a lot of fans speculating how it could tie into the MCU down the road. While we’ll have to wait to see how that goes, let’s look at some other events that could also be great fits for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Secret Wars (2015-16) by Jonathan Hickman

Jonthan Hickman’s work has trended toward the cinematic and Secret Wars is probably the most definitive example of that: it is a story absolutely intended to be adapted to the screen. While a lot of people would argue that a film adaptation of this is over a decade away, I would counter that it might not take quite that long (though I do think the film might benefit from the decade long build up-complicated thoughts, I know). Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness is the first step towards this film becoming a reality and the addition of Disney + as a medium on which to tell additional stories will allow the requisite foundations to be laid.

The story itself is one of Marvel Comics all-time gems: as the Multiverse destroys itself, Doctor Doom saves fragments of each world and creates a new world where things are as he makes them but not everyone has forgotten their past lives. Now I see no road to a film adaptation that doesn’t go through Doom, but the idea of bringing characters from their disparate universes into one created by God Emperor Doom would certainly challenge, if not top, the Infinity Saga. Ten years from now will we see the Doctor Strange sequel as the beginning of the Secret Wars Saga? We could only be so lucky.

The Korvac Saga (1978) by Steve Gerber

One of my all-time favorite events that’s really more of just a long run in Avengers (issues 167-177), The Korvac Saga is a fascinating story that calls into question the nature of good and evil and refuses to give an answer, forcing the reader to look inward for the answer.

Michael Korvac, a spacetime refugee from an alternate universe where the Badoon turned him into a cyborg before he defeated them and tried to destroy Earth, arrives in the 616 universe where he immediately hacks into Galactus’ ship and finds himself loaded up with the Power Cosmic. Basically, Korvac finds himself with the power and knowledge of a god and heads to Earth planning to make it his own, personal paradise. The story, which sees the original 31st century Guardians of the Galaxy team up with the Avengers, forces the reader to think about what they would do should they have to power to truly “heal” the world. Why are the Avengers, a group that have spent their entire collective history fighting against evil, trying to stop Korvac from acting in a way that essentially completes their mission for them by eliminating it?

As I said in the open, the event will make you question your beliefs and might even make you a bit uncomfortable. It would take quite a bit of work to retcon the OG Guardians from hillbilly space pirates to the kind of heroes that they are here, especially Starhawk, but that’s a possibility when you have an entire multiverse of characters at your disposal. So yeah, there are a few things to work out, but this one is absolutely meant for the screen!

Siege (2009-10) by Brian Michael Bendis

As soon as we visited New Asgard in Avengers: Endgame, this one entered the realm of possibilities. Everything about New Asgard fits into the pre-existing politics of the MCU and it isn’t much of a stretch to consider that people are not going to feel good about a group of alien refugees living on Earth, especially if things go south there as I expect they will in Thor: Love and Thunder.

In the comics, Siege sees Norman Osborn, manipulated by Loki, invading Asgard which, at the time, is located in Broxton, Oklahoma. While it is increasingly unlikely we’ll see Osborn involved if Marvel Studios The-One-Above-All decides to adapt this even for the MCU, we can take comfort in knowing that the studio has already adapted some major events with some major changes and it’s worked out ok so far. In this case, I would fully expect General Ross and his Thunderbolts to be the aggressors; at the same time, I could easily be talked into Tom Hiddleston’s unreformed Loki finding his way into the mix, just like the comics. If there’s any reason I could come up with for seeing more of Hiddleston, it would be to see him in a purely evil role and that could be offered to him here.

Siege is a crazy, visceral event with some really memorable panels (Sentry ripping Ares in half is definitely the best example) and it includes a cast of characters that would be tough to assemble on screen in the current MCU, but given just how well it fits thematically, I think it’s got a decent shot of making the jump from page to screen.

Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest (2006-08) by multiple writers

Annihilation was the comic event that brought me back into the fold as a Cosmic junky and, arguably, elevated Marvel’s Cosmic characters to a new level. It’s hard to follow up something as sprawling as Annihilation, but Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning not only did it but topped it with Annihilation: Conquest, an event that saw the return of Ultron and led to a new version of the Guardians of the Galaxy coming together, the team that ultimately inspired the MCU version that everyone has grown to love.

The two stories are truly massive, drawing in nearly every major Cosmic character, race and entity from Marvel’s vast stable and redefining some of them in ways that fans didn’t even know we needed. From Galactus to the Space Knights to the Shi’ar to the High Evolutionary, these events truly touched all the bases. Should they be adapted to the MCU, Disney + series may be a better fit than trying to squeeze them into a pair of 2.5 hour films and there’s certainly some work to do to get the existing universe from here to there, but it’s all doable and should absolutely be done.

The road to Annihilation begins with the introduction of the Fantastic Four and the Negative Zone, allowing for the cinematic debut of The Living Death Who Walks along with some other key characters. If you’ve read my 5-part Nova series, you know that Richard Rider would have a big part to play in these stories as well and, along with what would certainly be some new members of the Guardians, would bridge the gap to Conquest. The return of James Spader as Ultron there would be a major selling point for fans who felt he didn’t get his just due in Avengers: Age of Ultron and would also help tie the Earth-bound stories to the Cosmic corner. If Marvel Studios has any hopes of correcting course on their Cosmic stories, these two stories should be their North Star.

Rise of the Midnight Sons (1992) by multiple writers

A six-issue event that spanned five different title, Rise of the Midnight Sons brought together nine occult-related characters (also called the Mystic Nine) to take on Lilith, the mother of demons. While we are unlikely to see all nine original comic book members on the team should it appear in the MCU, it certainly seems like Kevin Feige could be lining up an adaptation. The effort to bring Ghost Rider and his associated mythology into the MCU proper, the development of Blade, which is almost certain to stick closer to the source material than the prior iterations, and the rumors some other “horror-based” characters such as Dracula, Werewolf By Night and others all at least give us hope.

The original event, to be honest, is a little all over the place, but that’s what happens sometimes when you have too many cooks in the kitchen and it’s something that could easily be straightened out by the studio. This story could easily be adapted into something nice like, Doctor Strange: The Rise of the Midnight Sons, and work as the same sort of event film for that franchise as Civil War did for Captain America. The big selling point for this is event would be the idea that it would serve as a launch pad for the other characters’ properties by giving them the spotlight in the film. I think we’d be likely to see it do for some characters what Civil War has done for Sam, Bucky, Zemo and Sharon. This one would be a VFX extravaganza, but it’s definitely something that would put butts in seats and be worthy of a few buckets of popcorn.

August 9, 2020
Nia DaCosta Set to Direct ‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’ Sequel

According to Deadline, Nia DaCosta, director of the upcoming Candyman reboot, has come on board to helm the 2022 sequel to Captain Marvel.

The report indicates that while DaCosta has been the front runner for a while now, she landed the job after meeting with Marvel Studios The-One-Above-All this past weekend.

The sequel, written by WandaVision writing room grad Megan McDonnell, is expected to adapt the Marvel Comics event Secret Invasion.

August 5, 2020
‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’ Sequel Officially a Go at Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios is officially moving forward with a sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel. Megan McDonnell, who has done some screenwriting for the upcoming Disney Plus series, WandaVision, has been chosen to develop the project.

Directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Bolden, who co-wrote and directed the billion dollar franchise opener, will not return to helm the sequel, which is expected to take place in the MCU’s present day. Marvel Studios is reportedly searching for a female director to head up the project which is expected to hit theaters in 2022.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

January 23, 2020
Connecting Imaginary Dots: Annette Bening is the MCU Mar-Vell

Note: This article was originally published by Charles Murphy at That Hashtag Show on January 7, 2019.

If you’ve never read an installment of Connecting Imaginary Dots, allow me to explain the idea. Connecting Imaginary Dots was the title I came up with for my speculation pieces when I was writing at MCU Exchange. These types of pieces basically allow me to unload a bunch of junk that’s circulating in my brain in a way that should never be confused for things I actually expect to happen. I basically take a bunch of facts that are almost always entirely unrelated and do my best to connect the dots with by stretching my imagination. In the past these types of pieces have resulted in me theorizing that the Spider-Man sequel which became Far From Home might end up being a team-up outing of Spidey and Hulk in the Savage Land; to counter that, I also wrote one theorizing that Sterling K. Brown would be playing the father of Erik Killmonger in Black Panther LOOOOOONG before anyone else was considering it. The bottom line is this: these are fun spec pieces that allow me to just be a fan. With that out of the way…

I’ve been all over the map on this one and have never been 100% certain about how things will shake out, but right now I am more convinced than ever that Annette Bening will be portraying the MCU version of the Kree hero Mar-Vell in Captain Marvel. The casting of Jude Law threw me for a loop as it was reported that he would be playing both Carol’s mentor and a character named Walter Lawson. Lawson, of course, was the alias Mar-Vell used in the comics when he was sent by the Supreme Intelligence to Earth as a spy under the command of Yon-Rogg. The trades said Law was Lawson, I thought that must mean Mar-Vell and so for a while I was set on that and I was fine with that.

However, as we’ve drawn nearer to the film’s release, evidence has piled up that leads everyone to believe that Law is actually playing Yon-Rogg. To be fair, that doesn’t mean that he’s not also playing Walter Lawson; just because that was Mar-Vell’s alias in the comics does not mean that it can’t be the assumed identity of Yon-Rogg while he’s on Earth in the film. This isn’t so much about Law, though; it’s about Bening.

Bening was added to the cast of the film amid conflicting reports from the trades. One trade said she would “most likely” be playing Carol’s mom and another said she was a scientist. As with Law’s role, there’s no reason both things cannot be true, but I do believe we can identify the role in which she was cast. We were the first to reveal the character breakdowns for the film way back in November of 2017. Unfortunately, much of the work I did was lost in the hack of our site earlier this year, but here is the relevant info:

[UNKNOWN MALE /SCIENTIST] Supporting Lead Male (40-59) Intelligent, but can throw a punch. Open ethnicity. Sounds like he may be tied to a well-known character.

As I’ve said before, I originally wondered if this character might not be Rick Jones, but that clearly isn’t the case. What is most likely the case is that the studio gender-swapped this role and cast Beninig in it. She’s the right age (60 now, but was 59 at the time of filming) and even if Marvel Studios had hoped for a male, you don’t turn away an actress of Bening’s caliber if she comes in to audition for the part. We know that Bening has a stunt double for the film, so we’ll certainly get to see her “throw a punch” or two and, as time has gone on, the clues have lined up as to what well-known character she is playing: Mar-Vell.

It’s a leap of faith, to be sure, but I think the breadcrumbs lead me close enough to make it. I don’t have to be correct here, but I cannot imagine a Captain Marvel film or a Marvel Cinematic Universe that does not have a Mar-Vell. It’s incredibly uncomfortable to me to imagine how Carol ends up with the name Captain Marvel if she doesn’t have a Mar-Vell, but beyond that, there was a reason Carol eventually took on the mantle: Mar-Vell was a noble, romanticized hero whom she greatly admired. While it’s clear that Law’s Yon-Rogg is going to be her mentor in the film, it’s also clear from the quick snippet we’ve seen that she has a relationship with Bening’s character as well. Bening’s character has a much larger role in the film than what the marketing has lead us to believe so far and I’m willing to be that it’s her relationship with Carol that helps Carol decide to step up and take charge by doing what she believes is right and that sounds a lot like what Mar-Vell would do, even if it meant defying orders and turning her back on the Kree.

I know there are a lot of people who think otherwise. I know people believe Bening is playing Yon-Rogg, the Supreme Intelligence or someone else entirely inconsequential. I don’t like any of those arguments. I have no idea why the Kree Supreme Intelligence, a 54-foot head in a jar that holds the collective intelligence of the greatest Kree minds in their history inside its genetically engineered head would feel the need to speak to Carol through an avatar. I also don’t know why said avatar would need a stunt double. Additionally, and on a personal level, I absolutely need Marvel Studios to embrace the ridiculousness that is the Supremor and give me a 54-foot head in a jar. So process of elimination says she’s not the Supreme Intelligence.

She’s also not Yon-Rogg. I don’t believe that Hasbro and Funko mistakenly mass produced a million toys with the wrong name. I also don’t buy the super convoluted theories that suggest Law is both Yon-Rogg and Mar-Vell. In this instance, I’m a fan of Occom’s Razor: the simplest answer is that Bening is Mar-Vell.

While it may end up being the wrong assumption to make, it is the simplest and, I believe, there’s at least a tiny bit of evidence to support it beyond what I’ve discussed above. In his earliest appearances, Mar-Vell was draw with white hair. It was a great coincidence that the human doctor whose identity he assumed (Walter Lawson) had white hair and looked just like him. Add that to him being a pink-skinned Kree and he was the perfect replacement for Lawson and the perfect spy.

While his hair later became blond, it’s the white hair that always stuck with me as a kid and it’s the white hair that might provide the smallest clue as to whom Bening is playing. A quick Google search of Annette Bening will provide you with evidence that for most of the last 4o years, she’s been a redhead. Sometimes it’s blond; sometimes it’s brunette; mostly it’s red. You know what she’s not done? She’s not done white, not until she took the role in Captain Marvel.

Why? Why cast an actress of Bening’s caliber in a small, meaningless role and then make her dye her hair white? I don’t have an answer for that question other than “you wouldn’t.” I’m aware that it’s not much, but combined with everything else I’ve been tossing around in my brain, it’s enough to convince me that in the MCU, Bening is playing Mar-Vell, a Kree scientist who may of may not have been on Earth and who may or may not be Carol’s mother, but who definitely has a relationship with Carol and plays an integral part in helping her become the hero she is meant to be!

January 7, 2019
EXCLUSIVE: New Details About ‘Captain Marvel’ Revealed

Note: This article was originally published by Charles Murphy at MCU Exchange on August 2, 2017.

The excitement around the SDCC announcement that Captain Marvel would be a period piece taking place in the 1990s was absolutely tangible. From the time period to the involvement of the Skrulls, people were absolutely blown away but also left asking a lot of questions. We reached out to our most trusted source who helped us out with the Children of Thanos and Nomad stories and were able to land a few details that should hold us over until Marvel Studios is ready to give us more info.

In 2014, Badass Digest revealed that Carol Danvers would make her debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The introduction, they reported, would be an end of the movie cameo that would include Ms. Marvel among the new members of the Avengers. The site included a disclaimer that while it was possible, it was just as possible that the studio was a little concerned about introducing such a major character in a short cameo.

Avengers: Age of Ultron did debut a new team of Avengers (which we never saw in action, by the way) but there was no Carol Danvers. With her own film having been announced in the time between the initial report and the premiere of the film, it seemed Marvel Studios chose to hold off and give her an introduction more in line with her high profile. The reports, however, were confirmed and Marvel even went as far as to shoot VFX plates for her entrance into the New Avengers facility, but those shots were ultimately used on Scarlet Witch’s arrival in her new costume. Kevin Feige explained his decision in keeping Danvers out of the film:

“There were drafts that maybe people somehow got their hands on and read early on that included some characters – maybe others, but certainly one, which is why it’s dangerous to read scripts early on, and talk about them early on…

[Captain Marvel] was in a draft. But to me, it would have done that character a disservice, to meet her fully formed, in a costume and part of the Avengers already when 99% of the audience would go, ‘Who is that?’ It’s just not the way we’ve done it before.”

And so Carol Danvers’ introduction to the MCU was put on hold as the minds at Marvel Studios went to work on how to best introduce her, but what was revealed was that Captain Marvel would have been a fully formed, known quantity as a superhero at the time. Now, we at the MCU Exchange have exclusive details on how Kevin Feige, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck will bring Meg LeFauve and Nicole Perlman’s script to the screen and we think you’re going to love it!. As noted above, it is still very early in the process (they won’t film until winter 2018) and all of this is subject to change, but what we currently know sounds absolutely amazing.

Brie Larson’s absence from the filming of Avengers: Infinity War has people asking just where the most powerful of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was when they most needed her. While it was widely believed that Carol wasn’t in the fight because she hadn’t been powered up yet, we now know that’s not the case; however, if she’s been a superhero for 20 years so you think she would show up when the fate of the entire cosmos was at stake!

So where has Carol been all this time? We are told that the comments by Marvel Stuido’s physics consultant, Dr. Spiros Michalakis, about the Quantum Realm playing a major part in Captain Marvel have an awful lot to do with where she’s been and why she sat out the events of Infinity War. With Captain Marvel releasing between Infinity War and the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4, we believe we have an answer to Danvers’ location and see her return to join the fray in Avengers 4.

Long time members of the Carol Corps are going to love the way the story pays homage to her long history. We know the Kree will have a large presence in the film and, according to the source, the film will absolutely include the Kree hero Mar-Vell! It’s well-established in Marvel Cinematic Universe mythology that the Kree have been to Earth before, so we aren’t surprised to find out that Mar-Vell might have been on Earth in the past to observe and report on the activities of humans especially given that film’s plot is expected to be driven by the longstanding Kree-Skrull war.

Though we don’t know if we’ll be seeing him on Earth as Dr. Lawson, we are told to expect to see a version of the Psyche-Magnitron accident from the comics and that accident will be responsible for altering her DNA and giving her powers. Furthermore, we are told that her unique half-Kree/half-human DNA will be used to explain why she hasn’t appeared to age since her disappearance, meaning they won’t need to age/de-age Brie Larson. Just like Thor and the Asgardians before her, Carol won’t necessarily age in the MCU.

Additionally and in somewhat of a surprising move, the earliest drafts of the script include references to her functioning as Ms. Marvel and that there will be a version of her early Ms. Marvel costume seen onscreen. Marvel Studios have been great about updating classic looks that respect the mythology without causing too much controversy and we expect something similar will be done here.

We’ll keep working with our source to find out more, but Marvel Studios has been on lockdown for a long, long time but this is a genius move by Marvel Studios. With the film being set in the 90s it gives them the opportunity to do a lot of things in the 20 years that have passed and also deal with the repercussions of those events.

August 2, 2017