Tag: Hulk

Mark Ruffalo Teases a Very Different Hulk in ‘She-Hulk’

During the promotion of Netflix’s The Adam Project, actor Mark Ruffalo was interviewed on what we can expect from his return as Bruce Banner in the Disney+ series She-Hulk. While he didn’t give away any details he certainly promised we’ll see Hulk in a way that we’ve never seen before in the series, especially in how he interacts with people.

Tatiana Maslany is freaking legendary as the She-Hulk. I’m passing the ‘banner’ onto her. Yeah, there’s some really good, funny, cool, long, long scenes between the Professor and her. We’ve never really seen the Hulk interact with people the way he does in that show. It will be really interesting.
Mark Ruffalo

He does use the wording “Professor” which implies that we’ll see a lot more of the version of the Hulk we saw during Avengers: Endgame. Makes sense, as he has showcased in the first teaser trailer in Marvel Studios 2021 featurette during Disney+ Day. Yet, when he mentions the Hulk “interact with people” it does seem like we might get his original Savage version back in the Disney+ series. She-Hulk‘s comedic focus would also offer a lot of scenarios for the Green Goliath to land in.

Source: Twitter via The Direct

March 2, 2022
Hulk and Thor Face Off in New ‘Banner Of War’ Crossover Event

Ever wondered who the most powerful Avenger is? It seems like Hulk and Thor are going to try and answer that question, as Marvel has unveiled the first look at Hulk Vs. Thor: Banner of War. Donny Cates and Martin Coccolo will bring the world a brand new crossover event that will launch in April. As both characters celebrate their 60th anniversary, it#s the best time to see them face off against each other. Best part, you can check out the covers for the upcoming event right here:

Witness the fight that will smash the Marvel Universe at its core! 💥 'Hulk vs. Thor: Banner of War' kicks off this April: https://t.co/iepYBEGPmR (2/2) pic.twitter.com/7rUvZqvrZY
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) February 3, 2022

The five-part series starts off with Hulk Vs. Thor: Banner of War Alpha #1 and will then continue in both Hulk and Thor solo titles in May and June. Thor #25 will act as the second part, as Banner has managed to control his anger and the fight is dragging further out than Thor hoped for. His only hope is Odin before in Hulk #7 they get interrupted by Iron Man in his new Celestial Hulkbuster armor. It’ll be a lot of fun seeing these two titans of the Marvel Comic universe

Source: Twitter, Marvel

February 3, 2022
REPORT: ‘She-Hulk’ Will Set Up a ‘World War Hulk’ Movie, Eyeing 2022 Production Start

We’ve long wondered if Hulk would ever get his solo project. Especially with the announcement of She-Hulk’s Disney+ series, it seemed like the Green Goliath was going to continue his run as a supporting character. Yet, it seems that the time has finally come for Hulk to take the spotlight, as Geeks World Wide has shared that Mark Ruffalo is set to return in his feature film inspired by the World War Hulk storyline. It looks like it’s also been planned for some time as it’s eyeing a late 2022 production start. There is also the hint that this is the first of many potential Hulk films.

The aspect of this that truly stands out is that it confirms Disney and Marvel Studios have regained the rights to Hulk. As GWW points out, for a long time it seemed that the rights were in the hands of Universal. Yet, the moment we heard that Namor would potentially appear in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it opened the floodgates. The character was also famously owned by the competition, but still no word on any Hulk project. This report might be our first hint that they truly regained all the rights.

If this is indeed the next project, it opens up the question of how She-Hulk may set up this story. Of course, the story might be quite a bit different from what we are used to from the comics. Plus, it makes you wonder if She-Hulk has a role in this story. There’s a lot of potential in their take on the story.

Source: Geeks World Wide

October 20, 2021
Marvel Studios: Viewing Orders

With over two dozen projects comprising the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s sometimes easy to lose track of the order through which audiences should experience them. It is, of course, something pretty fluid as personal preferences might have some skipping a couple of projects in favor of their favorite ones. All in all, there are two general viewing orders that contain the entirety of the MCU. A Release Order, which respects the order in which projects were made available through the years, and a Chronological Order, which takes into account when each project’s plot takes place.

Personally speaking, the Release Order should be followed when watching all MCU projects for the first time, with the Chronological Order being something to use on rewatches. This is mostly due to the fact that major plot points would be spoiled if not watching the entirety of the franchise as it was released, similar to the way audiences watching Star Wars for the first time would be spoiled The Empire Strikes Back‘s major plot twist by having previously watched the prequel trilogy.

CHARACTER VIEWING ORDERS

When it comes to following specific characters, we got together individual viewing orders with their appearances through the years. These can be as a central character to the plot or as blink-and-you-miss type cameos, many on mid or post-credit scenes. Keep in mind this is a work in progress, as new characters will keep being added.

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September 29, 2021
‘Immortal Hulk’s Al Ewing and Ram V Taking over ‘Venom’

It looks like the iconic symbiote is heading in a new direction, as Marvel has just revealed the brand new creative team working on the next Venom run. In a blog post, they’ve announced that the masterminds behind IMMORTAL HULK, Al Ewing, and Ram V will bring their horror inspirations to the symbiote. They are planning a dramatic and dangerous new direction of the symbiote with Bryan Hitch lending his artistic talents to the new comic line. Ram V shared his enthusiasm about the chance to tackle such an iconic character and offer a new look at what it means to be possessed by a symbiote:

When my editors at Marvel reached out about taking on Venom alongside Al Ewing and Bryan Hitch, I was not prepared for the kind of creative thrill it has been ever since. This story is going to expand and push the symbiote narrative and lore in even more unexpected and fantastic directions. It is also an utter thrill having the sort of call and response mechanic I’ve had with a writer like Al and an artist of Bryan’s caliber. Fans and new readers, strap in—you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

The team’s creative work on reimagining Hulk by exploring his horror roots offered a truly standout storyline in Marvel Comics’ historic line-up. The first artwork released for the 2021 entry in the franchise teases a space-focused storyline that is befitting the character’s roots. It also allows Al Ewing and Ram V to explore cosmic horrors in new and creative ways. It’ll be interesting to see how they continue the story that Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman explored into the King in Black crossover event. Whatever the future may hold, we’ll certainly get a lot more Venom-verse.

Source: Marvel

June 2, 2021
‘She-Hulk’ Could Introduce Hulk’s Greatest Enemy: His Father

Just today, The Direct revealed that a 10-year old Bruce Banner is being cast for She-Hulk. At face value, it’s something we could’ve guessed given that they are cousins. It wouldn’t be too hard to imagine some minor flashback sequence between the two. Yet, once you start thinking about it, this is Marvel’s chance to tell a Hulk-centric story since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. That film skipped through his origin and creation. We get scenes reminisced of the original 1978′ The Incredible Hulk TV show, but it didn’t spend much time on Banner. The MCU was mainly focused on his relationship with the Hulk. We never truly spent a lot of time with Banner before he was facing his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde scenario. Well, if the casting rumor is true, we might get

Throughout the MCU, Banner never much talked about his family history. We have seen this story told in the original Hulk film by Ang Lee. The 2003 film focused on Bruce’s relationship with his father David Banner, who started his experiment in gamma radiation. He isn’t the father of the year, as he believes Bruce owes him for putting him in this world. This ends up becoming his obsession by stealing Bruce’s ability before transforming into Zzzax.

In the comics, his father’s name was Brian. Sadly, the comics did not share a happier story for the Banners. He was quite abusive towards his son, as he believed his family had a “monster gene”. His work in nuclear energy drove him to alcoholism. He even swore never to have children but, of course, broke that when Bruce was born. He neglected him believing he shared the same monster gene, which he felt confirmed when Bruce showed a hyper-intelligence. It all led to the moment that Bruce had to witness his father kill his mother. These moments were what would truly shape the rage monster that he was holding within.

It’s a very dark story that was never delved into within the MCU. The recent news might be a small inkling of how we may uncover why rage is what fuels the Hulk. We might get to meet Brian and his mother, Rebecca. She-Hulk‘s protagonist Jennifer Walters is his cousin on his father’s side. We don’t know how close they are since he was on the run for most of his life after the transformation. He may have tried to get back in contact with her since he joined the Avengers. This forced him to face his past, which will be at the center of the story.

Jennifer’s introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be a jumping-on point in exploring more of Banner’s past and his relationship with his family. It opens up the question if we will get the introduction of Brian, who in the comics even transformed into a Hulk-like monster during the Chaos War storyline. Whatever they may have planned, it’s looking like Bruce will have to face his past one way or another.

Source: The Direct

October 5, 2020
Marvel’s 10 Most Terrifying Horror Characters

It’s October and that means it’s time for monsters, ghosts and all time of spooky stuff to get their just due. For me, that means taking some time to celebrate some of Marvel’s most terrifying characters and, as an additional bit of fun, compare their Magnitude of Terror to some of my favorite horror films.

Avi Arad

Much of modern horror cinema relies on the main character making a series of terrible decisions that everyone else in the audience can see coming. Nobody related to Marvel has done a better job of tapping into this mojo than Avi. He’s fortunate enough to have his name attached to films like Iron Man and Into the Spider-Verse and some of Marvel’s best animated series, but his real legacy will always be his inability to strike gold with Marvel’s most popular character (Spider-Man) in the midst of the great comic book movie renaissance of the 2010s. His struggles led to everyone’s gain, however, when Sony struck a deal with Marvel Studios to help produce Spidey flicks but it also emboldened him to go off and make whole new series of horrifying decisions like trying to make an Aunt May spy thriller.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: The Shining. Much like the Overlook Hotel, too much time around Avi will drive you completely insane making you capable of unimaginable atrocities.

Blade

Marvel Comics didn’t invent the vampire but Marv Wolfman certainly came up with something spectacular when he thought up Blade. I don’t know enough about the entire history of vampire literature to know if Wolfman invented the idea of the Daywalker or if he was just smart enough to borrow it and incorporate it into Eric Brooks’ story but I do know it made for one of hell of a character. A daywalking vamp that lives to kill vamps and starred in what stands up as one of my favorite Marvel films to this day, Blade has shared the page with big timers like Spidey, Doctor Strange and the Avengers without ever really seeing an incredibly popular solo series. With a Mahershala Ali led reboot/retcon on deck, the character is about to get another chance to bite into the mainstream market.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: The Lost Boys. Frenetic and fully immersed in the terrifying world of vampires but somehow appealing enough to lure you in, Blade absolutely deserves his place on this list.

Dracula

Of all the classic horror characters adapted by Marvel Comics over the years, Dracula has been used to the greatest effect since Gerry Conway brought him into the universe in 1972’s Tomb of Dracula. In addition to having a handful of other great Marvel characters introduced in his comic (Blade among them) Drac has had some legendary run ins with the X-Men and the Avengers. The transition from the blood thirsty monster of folklore to the calculating, scheming power player he’s become in universe has only added to the character’s legacy and h

e’s back again in Ben Percy’s current Wolverine run proving that much like the legend says, he never dies.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: The Silence of the Lambs. Equal parts intellectual, insidious and iniquitous, Marvel’s Drac can get into your head or your throat with ease. As we all sit around and wonder who the MCU’s next “big bad” is, it’s hard to imagine there won’t be more than one and that Dracula could fill the role of one of them in the future.

Elsa Bloodstone

The most underrated character on this list, Elsa Bloodstone is Marvel Comics’ version of Buffy the Vampire on steroids. The daughter of the immortal monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone, Elsa burst out of the mind of Dan Abnett and onto the pages of the comics in 2001 and has, sadly, been an all too infrequent flyer since; however, she’s always made a big impact on me when she’s been on page and seems incredibly well-suited to find her way into the MCU. Say what you will, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a tremendous success in the late 90s and a Bloodstone series would be straight fire on Disney Plus in the 2020s.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: 28 Days Later/Zombieland. Rude, irreverent and deconstructionist, Elsa IS the next generation of Marvel horror even if you don’t know it yet. Like 28 Days Later, Elsa’s story changes the pace of the genre (monster hunter, not zombie, in this case) and produces an underappreciated gem.

Hulk

When the Hulk first hit the pages of Marvel Comics in 1962, he did so as Stan Lee’s amalgamation of two great horror icons (okay, maybe three): Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde and Frankenstein’s monster. Lee thought the idea of a giant monster who was actually a hero was a winner and the first couple of decades worth of stories explored the duality of Banner and his jade-jawed alter (that duality has since expanded significantly into something harder to desribe) who took over once the sun went down. For quite some time those aspects of the Hulk took a backseat as other creators took over and took the character down other different but often interesting paths (the Maestro says hello), but now Al Ewing has brilliantly brought the character back to his roots while finding ways to expand his mythology along the way.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: The Fly (1986). Jeff Goldblum’s Seth Brundle has at least some commonality with Bruce Banner and the Brudlefly and Hulk certainly both have a problem with controlling their primal urges. Of course there’s not a perfect parallel between the two, but the idea of a science experiment going wrong and creating an unimaginable beast who loses control line up and and put them among one of mankind’s most commonly explored themes: the duality of man and the “beast” within us all.

Johnny Blaze

Cursed from birth, Johnny Blaze’s early life story was horrific enough before he made a deal with the devil (Mephisto) to save the soul of his foster father. Through his deal, Blaze became bonded with the demon, Zarathos, the Spirit of Vengeance, transforming him into the Ghost Rider each night. It’s hard for me to think of a Marvel Comics series that deals more directly with the horror concepts of Hell, the devil and the evil of men than Ghost Rider. Of course there have been several other Riders throughout the years, but Blaze stands out not only as the original but as the archetypal innocent whose life was forfeit through no fault of his own. Now the King of Hell, Blaze has changed a lot through the years but he’s arguably one of Marvel’s most iconic characters and has dealt with all manner of demons, witches, magic and the like.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Johnny’s soul was a bit more pure than Vlad’s when he struck his deal with the devil but they both remain men cursed to be monsters by night because they made deals to save the souls of people they loved. While Dracula himself feeds off the blood of others, Johnny’s bonded to a demon who feeds on the souls of sinners and stands as one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe.

Magik

At first glance you might not think that Ilyana Rasputin belongs on this list but a deeper look into her character reveals someone who has gone through Hell. The mutant sister of one the X-Man Colossus, Ilyana’s mutation gifted her the ability to teleport but that’s about the most boring thing about her. As a child, she was taken to the dimension of Limbo by the demon Belasco gained power while he corrupted her soul. Though she initially escaped, Belasco found a way to bring her back which eventually led to her transformation into the demonic Darkchilde and her ascending to the throne as the Demon Queen of Limbo. Also a powerful sorceress, Magik has teamed up with Doctor Strange and other mystics over the years to take on some formidable threats.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: The Babadook

Magik’s childhood trauma would rip the soul from any of us but ‘Yana, with some help from her friends and family, found a way to pull through and become stronger even learning to use her own life force to create her formidable magic blade, the Soulsword. Magik, for the most part, has learned to control the monsters that sought to use her and has become one of the X-Men’s most fierce warriors.

Man-Thing

“Whoever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing!” A terrifying creature created from the minds of Marvel legends like Stan Lee, Steve Gerber, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow, the Man-Thing is another victim of a science experiment gone wrong. The man that was Ted Sallis became the Man-Thing after working on, among other things, a new version of the Super Solider serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America. Though he survived an attack by A.I.M. on his lab, Sallis crashed into a swamp where the combination of the serum he injected into himself and the mystical properties of the swamp (it was later revealed to be the Nexus of All-Realities) collaborated to turn him into the monstrous Man-Thing. The original Man-Things stories saw the creature take on the role of hero by accident as criminals often found themselves up to no good in his swamp. Drawn to the violence through relatively confusing means, Man-Thing’s body would manifest a physical (maybe mystical) reaction to those who fear him and causing them to burn if he touched them. If you’ve never read through these early 70’s gems, do yourself a favor and check out a few on a cold, rainy night this October.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: Halloween (1978)

Emotionless but inexorably drawn to violence and impossible to stop, the Man-Thing has much in common with Michael Myers. His body count, while comprised almost entirely of bad people doing bad things, is probably higher than Michael’s but he remains silent, inhuman killer nonetheless.

Nightmare

One of Marvel’s most conceptually chilling villains, Nightmare has been mostly known as a thorn in the side of Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange but has caused plenty of problems for the rest of the Marvel Universe as well. A demon and one of the ancient Fear Lords whose power comes from the fears of other beings, Nightmare carved out his own chunk of the Dream Dimension to lord over and from there he used his power to capture and torment the astral forms of beings while they slept. Given that he draws his power from dreams, he’s essentially indestructible as he’ll continue to exist as long as people dream. His ability to torment sleeping souls doesn’t always end when they wake up either and he’s been proven to be powerful enough that those he torments take their terrors into their waking hours forcing them to question whether they’re asleep or awake.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The only horror film that ever truly traumatized me was Wes Craven’s OG Nightmare film. The idea of someone like Freddy Krueger who could haunt your dreams, kill you in your sleep and drive you the the brink of insanity while you were awake honestly kept me up at night for months after I first watched the film. Like Krueger, Nightmare loses much of his power outside of his own dimension, but can still provide a formidable threat. Done well, Nightmare could almost be TOO scary for the MCU.

Simon Kinberg

Some recent horror films such as Scream and Cabin in the Woods have successfully gone meta by having the characters aware of horror movie tropes only to have some of those characters ignore the established source material and drive head first into disaster. That pretty much sums up Kinberg’s tenure with the X-Men films which culminated in him somehow making a worse Phoenix film than the original dumpster fire that was X-Men: The Last Stand. Despite having the ability to work with some of Marvel Comics deepest and richest source material, Kinberg seemed to continue to shoot from the hip and never really hit the mark. In addition to whiffing on Phoenix twice, he also managed to screw up Apocalypse, hire Miles Teller to play Reed and turn Doctor Doom into a computer hacker…it’s hard to imagine anything more horrifying than his tenure with these characters.

Murphy’s Magnitude of Terror Meter: Night of the Living Dead. Despite moving at what seemed to be a snail’s pace, Kinberg found a way to make his mark on almost everything you held near to your heart and morph it into something completely unrecognizable and devoid of life through his relentless and unyielding assault on these IPs.

As tough as it was to limit it to 10, I think I nailed it. What characters are in your top 10? Let us know in the comments.

October 5, 2020
Phase 4 Theory: The Thunderbolts Initiative
“I found something 40 years in the army never taught me: Perspective.”

-Secretary Ross

This quote is particularly importan for where the Marvel Cinematic Universe heads to in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame. Not necessarily because it’s a cryptic line that could potentially set up the things Secretary Ross has been doing in the shadow of the MCU for many years, but because it’s really telling of how Marvel Studios operates in terms of storytelling. When you think about it, it’s always about keeping a “perspective” in the belief that all their individual stories eventually condense and fit into the structure of a larger plot. So, in their own way, Marvel Studios tells their stories exactly as the comics would even if the beats differ. They have their own individual characters with their own individual stories which then set up elements and plot points that will eventually interweave with other characters in a larger event. Now that the “The Infinity Saga” concluded back in 2019, many fans are left to wonder exactly how Marvel Studios will move forward heading into Phase 4 and Phase 5 in terms of the stories they’ll tell next, and we believe that the answer actually dates all the way back to 2008. You remember 2008, right? It is when a little-known Marvel Studios introduced the MCU with Iron Man.

Now, the first film of the MCU’s Phase 4 is Black Widow, and while the film might be chronologically set in the “Infinity Saga Timeline”, we must acknowledge that this film will be hoping to accomplish the equivalent of what Iron Man did back in 2008. This film will kick off a brand-new story that will eventually build up towards a larger plot down the line. I have reason to believe that Black Widow will set the seeds for the possible introduction of the Thunderbolts in the MCU the same way Iron Man set the seeds for the Avengers Initiative all the way back in 2008. Before I get into that discussion, let’s delve into some background info.

“Who are the Thunderbolts?”

In the comics, the best way to describe the Thunderbolts is essentially a group of “reformed villains with the best intentions”. Think Marvel’s Suicide Squad, and General Ross is their Amanda Waller. Don’t get it twisted: there have been heroes that have been a part of the Thunderbolts (i.e. Hawkeye, Luke Cage, Elektra), but the members of this infamous group have been mostly villains. Now there have been different groups with the same mantle but they have had different leaders (most notably; Baron Zemo, Norman Osborn and Red Hulk).

With the Avengers sort of disbanded following Avengers: Endgame, there might be some who may want to capitalize on the opportunity to become the next enhanced superteam. So now that you have a basic understanding of who and what the Thunderbolts are…

“Let’s discuss the Thunderbolts Initiative”

There are many possible teams inside Marvel Comics lore that could “replace” the Avengers in the MCU but, right now, the Thunderbolts seem like the most plausible choice as the next superteam to take center stage, mainly because some of its seeds have already been planted way back in 2016.

“Enter Secretary THUNDERBOLT Ross”

Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross was brought back into the MCU in 2016 after his last appearance in The Incredible Hulk back in 2008. During his absence, he became the Secretary of State and has served as a sort of secondary antagonist in Captain America: Civil War. I, for one, don’t necessarily believe in coincidences, especially when it comes to Marvel movies. Nearly everything Marvel Studios does in their films, whether it’s the introduction of a new character, an easter egg, or something as subtle as a name drop, has a payoff in some way or form. Now sometimes, that payoff can come in the short-term or it can be long-term. Secretary Ross’s recent appearances in the MCU, and especially his upcoming role in Black Widow, seems like it could be one of these long-term payoffs.

Now, don’t be fooled. Just because Thaddeus’ nickname is “Thunderbolt” and he led the Thunderbolts at one point in the comics, it doesn’t mean that that’s where the Thunderbolts got their name. (In comic lore, the group received their name from Baron Zemo, who organized the first Thunderbolts). Though ironically enough, given his position of power as Secretary of State & with the Avengers out of the way, I could see Secretary Ross capitalizing on the opportunity and he could very well become the “Nick Fury” for this new phase of the MCU, mainly organizing/running the Thunderbolts from a position of power. Who could become a part of these Thunderbolts?

Well, I have a list of possible candidates

:

“CANDIDATE #1: TASKMASTER”

With his introduction coming up in the upcoming Black Widow movie, Taskmaster could potentially be a viable candidate to join the Thunderbolts. His comic counterpart has an interesting ability, which is he possess a photographic memory and reflexes, where he’s able to duplicate nearly any physical act he sees after seeing it done by someone else only once. Based on what we’ve seen from the trailers, he may very well possess this ability, where he imitated the movements from Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America with his shield, and Hawkeye with his bow and arrow. Someone with this ability, in my view, is far too interesting of a character simply write as a one-off, so I’m willing to bet that Taskmaster may continue in the MCU following his appearance in Black Widow.

“CANDIDATE #2: BLACK WIDOW (YELENA BELOVA)”

Also being introduced in the upcoming Black Widow movie is none other than fellow Black Widow, and Natasha’s sister, Yelena Belova. While in the trailers we’re shown a sort of sibling bond/rivalry between the two, Yelena has served her time as an antagonist to Natasha and the Avengers in the comics: we have witnessed her joining forces with the likes of AIM and even being in the ranks of the Thunderbolts. Now, Yelena’s fate in this film is something I have previously discussed here on Murphy’s Multiverse (POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THAT ARTICLE SO BEWARE), but ultimately, considering that this film is supposed to be a passing of the torch from Natasha to Yelena, I could see Yelena being a part of the Thunderbolts down the line following her debut in Black Widow.

“CANDIDATE #3: BARON ZEMO”

What team would be complete without a leader? And who better to lead the Thunderbolts than the man who single-handedly manipulated the Avengers into their disbandment in Civil War? Baron Zemo is a well-trained soldier and a dastardly mastermind with an incredible “will and patience”. His upcoming appearance in the Disney+ show; The Falcon and The Winter Soldier could set up Zemo to eventually gather the attention of Secretary Ross and have him work under the radar as the leader of the Thunderbolts, similar to how Zemo operated in the comics with the original Thunderbolts. It wouldn’t be a surprise to me for Zemo to take up this role and join the Thunderbolts in this fashion.

“CANDIDATE #4: GHOST”

Introduced as one of the antagonists in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ghost is an interesting character with an interesting background. Her powers of quantum intangibility were a result of a Quantum accident involving her parents, which resulted in their deaths. Since being adopted by Bill Foster, S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken advantage of Ava and her powers, training her as a stealth operative that would carry out covert missions on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D. prior to their fall in 2014. Since then, she’s been presumably in hiding until 2018 when the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp took place, where she was forced into hiding once again after those events. We don’t necessarily know what happened to Ava following Avengers: Infinity War (2018) & Avengers: Endgame (2019). If Ghost was snapped, then she would probably still be alive and in the state where she left when the snap occurred. If she wasn’t, then she wouldn’t have received her quantum healing molecules that helped keep her stable since Ant-Man was trapped in the Quantum Realm for five years and everyone else was snapped. That might be a cause for concern since she might believe that everyone abandoned her again, and this might push her to the becoming a villain once more.

HOWEVER, in an interview, Hannah John-Kamen (the actress) had mentioned “that Ghost didn’t die” and that we could see her again in the MCU. If I had to bet, we could probably see Ghost return as a member of the Thunderbolts.

“CANDIDATE #5: ABOMINATION”

Remember Emil Blonsky from The Incredible Hulk? Well, last time we heard from The Abomination was in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where Agent Coulson casually mentioned that Blosnky was in a cryo-cell in Alaska at a secret facility known as The Vault: this facility was under “then-General, now-Secretary” Ross’ supervision, as explained by Coulson in Marvel’s One Shot: “The Consultant”. The World Security Council, along with General Ross, had even considered putting Abomination on the Avengers Initiative program before Agents Coulson & Sitwell, along with Stark, forced Ross to disagree with the decision and keep Blonsky in cryo-sleep.

Now this detail is really important because if Ross wanted to have Blonsky be a part of the Avengers, his “new perspective” could be to eventually develop his own Avengers-esque team, starting with Emil Blonsky. Back then, the Avengers themselves stood in the way of his plan, but by having the Avengers out of the way, his plan can now come full-circle.

“CANDIDATE #6: JUSTIN HAMMER”

We all remember Sam Rockwell’s interpretation of Justin Hammer from Iron Man 2 (2010). He was one of my favorite things about the film. The quirkiness, the smugness, the many ways he tried to imitate Tony Stark. The last time we saw him was at Seagate Prison during the Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King. Now, the reason why I mention him is that he is essentially the anti-Tony Stark and he actually had a connection with “then-General” Ross. Since Tony Stark is dead following the events of Avengers: Endgame, one might assume that Ross might pull some strings to get Hammer Industries to work in developing weapons for the Thunderbolts.

Plus, Sam Rockwell had actually shown interest in reprising his role as Justin Hammer last year during a Reddit AMA.

“CANDIDATE #7: SONGBIRD”

Melissa Gold aka Songbird has yet to be introduced into the MCU. However, our very own Charles Murphy had actually made a “Connecting Imaginary Dots” article where we can see from some interesting set photos from The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and we ALSO see a character donning a purple mohawk, similar to what Songbird dons in the comics. That article does a really good job in describing who/what Songbird is, but the most important thing we need to know about her is she has “acoustikinetic abilities” (she can use her vocals to generate her powers) and she has an interesting relationship to both the Thunderbolts and Baron Zemo.

“WHY THESE CHARACTERS AND WHY NOW?”

Like I said earlier, nothing Marvel does is done by pure coincidence. All of these characters, in some shape or form, have been a part of the Thunderbolts. And with potentially 5 of these characters already having a major presence in both the Black Widow movie and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Disney+ show, the chances of something bigger being developed are certainly high.

Besides, following the events of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home and considering that:
- Tony Stark aka Iron Man is dead.
- Steve Rogers passed the mantle of Captain America on to Sam Wilson aka Falcon.
- Thor is now off-world with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
- Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow is dead.
- Bruce Banner is seemingly out of commission due to his snap.
- Hawkeye is with his family.
- Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are both still wanted criminals by the Sokovia Accords.
- Spider-Man has been branded a criminal.
The world might no longer trust the Avengers, but the world also recognizes that there will always be threats that normal law enforcement alone will not be able to stop. So, by the time Phase 4 kicks into high gear, it might be time to introduce a new team of “heroes” to the MCU. And who better than some of Marvel’s best villains?
September 3, 2020
FEATURE: Team-Ups We’d Love To See In Phase Four Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe

This article was originally published by Charles Murphy at MCU Exchange on November 16, 2016.

From the early 1970s until the mid-1980s, Marvel comics published a one-shot series called Marvel Team-Ups in which characters from across their universe came together for one issue. The vast majority of these team-ups (especially the first volume) featured Spider-Man pairing up with someone, but also allowed other, non-A-list heroes to work alongside some heavy hitters.

As a kid, this was one of my favorite titles, allowing me to see pairs like Spider-Woman and Hulk or Spider-Man and Valkyrie work together. As an adult, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is allowing me to experience the same sort of joy, seeing Ant-Man meet Captain America and soon seeing the Hulk and Thor go on a Cosmic road trip. According to Kevin Feige, people like me who love seeing these characters interact might really enjoy Phase 4 where he says we may see more “unexpected combinations of characters.” While Feige is fired up to see facial hair bros Tony Stark and Stephen Strange pair up, we had a few team-ups of our own that got us feeling excited:

Doctor Strange and Hulk

The Defenders are coming to Netflix in 2017, but to longtime readers of Marvel Comics such as myself, the title of Defenders belongs to a group otherwise typically self-serving heroes who occasionally teamed up to save the world from attacks more supernatural in nature. I’ve already talked about my hopes for the original comic book Defenders to assemble in a Doctor Strange sequel, but I’m not convinced we will get that. It’s easier to convince me that rather than the whole team, we get to see Doctor Strange team-up with Hulk, however. Given Marvel Studios is keen to team characters up into odd pairs and the fact that their best bet to continue making the most out of Mark Ruffalo‘s Banner/Hulk is to put him in other characters’ solo films, this really seems like a near no-brainer. Strange and Banner/Hulk have a long comic book history that should not be ignored.

Spider-Man and Doctor Strange

This happened several times in the comics and while I’m not sure we’ll see Spidey or Strange taking on a full co-starring role in either one’s solo film, I think that paying homage to some of the classic team-up books is a great idea. Also, given Spidey’s youth and Tom Holland‘s genuine innocence, I can imagine them sharing a few scenes could produce some absolutely incredible moments. Given Holland’s contract still has quite a few films left on it, it seems reasonable to believe that these two will team-up at some point.

Black Widow, Hawkeye, Winter Soldier, Sharon Carter, Maria Hill and Nick Fury

When Marvel Studios was first founded, it had plans of making a solo Nick Fury film. Later, rumors about an S.H.I.E.L.D-centric film made the rounds. While neither of those films ever got the green light, Feige’s comments about making smaller, more intimate films might give it life again. Samuel L. Jackson isn’t going to live forever, so putting together a feature role for him in a Mission: Impossible-esque, espionage-heavy film starring a few of Marvel’s finest spies would be a trip. Such a film could certainly have some space to fill in some more of the past of the MCU while giving Marvel Studios the type of genre jumping they seem to have been happy to do. If such a film were to be made, I’d hope Marvel would knock on the door of Christopher McQuarrie to write (maybe with his Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation collaborator Drew Pearce) and direct.

Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel

When Carol Danvers joined the cosmic heroes for a brief spell in the comics, it seemed like the team found something they’d always been missing but didn’t know it. Many potential characters are missing from the Guardians in the MCU and it’s possible we may never get to meet many of them (Adam Warlock, Phyla-Vell, Moondragon, Starhawk, Vance Astro…the list goes on). However, there is one recent member of the team that is about to enter the MCU in Captain Marvel, making it possible that she teams up with the ragtag band to help…guard the galaxy. Certainly casting Brie Larson as Carol shows that Marvel Studios has big plans for the character in its post-Infinity War plans. With Robert Downey Jr. aging, we could start to see actors like Larson and Benedict Cumberbatch take on a bigger role in the MCU, meaning seeing more of them more often as we did with Tony Stark. And when it comes to the possibility of more Danvers, I don’t think anyone will complain if they get to watch Larson and Chris Pratt interact over the course of 2-hour space adventure.

Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch

This one has to happen at some point, right? The two primary magic users on Earth have to meet. When we last saw Wanda in Captain America: Civil War, she and Vision were pondering some existential questions and Wanda was just beginning to accept who she was now. A team-up with Doctor Strange could go a long way towards helping Wanda grow more comfortable and could help with some much-needed exposition about the way her powers work. Kevin Feige referred to her spell-casting as chaotic, which really couldn’t have been coincidence, right? So could Strange and Wong come to learn as much from her as she from them? Could their investigation into her powers lead to a confrontation with Chthon, the Elder God of Chaos? That sounds like it could get fun and potentially send Wanda off on the path many of us are expecting her to follow.

Spider-Man and Hulk

It worked well in the comics. It worked well in cartoons. Do you have any reason to doubt that putting these two together as a pair won’t work in live-action? The thought of Holland’s Spider-Man cracking wise with the Hulk sounds like a fun of an idea as Marvel could put into action. The question then becomes why would Hulk and Spidey team-up? What would bring them together? Someone worth smashing, I’d hope. Well it probably isn’t true, it seems like Spidey and Hulk were the most frequent pairing in the old Marvel Team-Up books, maybe Marvel Studios could mine those for some good quality ideas, maybe something that could finally bring Rick Jones into the MCU?

November 16, 2016