Tag: Movie Features

‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’: Who’s Going to Die?

Director James Gunn has promised an emotional ride for fans when they finally sit down to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The film is set to act as the finale for the titular team and their time together in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as a goodbye from Gunn to his years working at Marvel Studios. A trailer for the threequel, which recently debuted at Brazil Comic Con, embraced the poignant tone set by the occasion and featured plenty of footage that seemed to hint at somebody not making it out of the film alive. The previous entries in the franchise have both been full of heartbreaking moments, the circumstances of which usually have something to do with a major character taking their last breath, and it would stand to reason Gunn wouldn’t finish off the trilogy without taking at least one more cast member with him.

With the future of the Guardians currently so up in the air, it feels like any one of the lovably dysfunctional, intergalactic misfits could end up biting the stardust. Nobody is truly safe, but it’s likely some are probably safer than others. Not every character feels quite as poised to end their on-screen journey, even if nothing is really off the table. As such, the situation begs for a ranking of the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy in order of their likelihood to face an untimely demise at the hands of Vol. 3.

Here’s how it all shakes out:

1. Rocket

This is the one everyone has been assuming for a while, and honestly, everyone has a good chance of being totally correct. While there’s been a lot of talk about certain characters “meeting their maker” by the end of Vol. 3, Bradley Cooper‘s Rocket will be the only one taking the phrase seriously. Gunn‘s trilogy capper is confirmed to explore the origins of Rocket in the MCU and will bring the anthropomorphic animal face-to-face with the man who created him – Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary. The film will deal with the fallout of this reunion and dig into its impact on the team as a whole, something that may feel familiar to fans of the franchise. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 pulled a similar move in expanding upon the origin of Michael Rooker‘s Yondu Udonta before killing him off in a soul-stirring sequence of self-sacrifice. At this point, it really feels like Gunn might do the same with Rocket in the follow-up.

To elaborate just a little further, Rocket has thus far enjoyed one of the most well-developed character arcs the MCU has been able to offer, and a definitive conclusion to that arc in Vol. 3 would be a natural way for the unlikely hero’s story to end. If that weren’t enough, Gunn himself has gone on record multiple times to state Vol. 3 would be a “send-off” for his favorite protagonist, repeating himself as recently as last month in an interview with Deadline:

The reason why I needed to finish this is because I love the character of Rocket more than any character I’ve ever dealt with before, and I needed to finish his story and that is what Volume 3 is about. I absolutely needed to do it, and I think we’ve done it in a spectacular way that I can’t wait for people to see.
James Gunn

It’s possible this is all one big ruse to hide the actual big death in the movie, but if that’s the case, it’s one of the better cons ever pulled by a director. This one feels too obvious.

2. Drax

There isn’t much story-wise that directly points to a coming expiration for Dave Bautista‘s Drax the Destroyer, but a few real-world instances have shot the character to the top half of the “probably going to die” list. To put it plainly, Bautista himself has been very open about his intention to leave Drax behind after Vol. 3, and with The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special fulfilling the dream of a Drax/Mantis project coming to life, Gunn has been able to do pretty much everything he’s publicly stated he wanted to do with the blood-loving, soft-hearted space warrior. Bautista, never one to mince words, has been referring to Vol. 3 as his last ride for a while now and even posted a farewell message on his Instagram back in May.

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The only reason Drax isn’t a more surefire bet than Rocket is because there’s still a decent amount of comic book material the MCU could work with in the future. At this point, the films have not yet drawn from the comic return of his long-thought-deceased daughter in the form of Moondragon, which could prove to be a wonderful plotline for a future movie or series. However, that could simply be a surprise twist Gunn is hiding for Vol. 3, and if so, her appearance may seal Drax’s fate immediately. After all, Bautista‘s career is on the rise, with several other projects on his plate. He may be on board to leave the MCU on a high note. Also, #GoodbyeDrax doesn’t sound all that promising.

3. Nebula

Perhaps a sleeper pick for the film’s big passing, Karen Gillan‘s Nebula actually has evidence going against her survival both on the screen and off. Much like Rocket, Gillan‘s rough-and-tumble space pirate has undergone a bit of a transformation since audiences first saw her in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Nebula started as an antagonist for the titular heroes, but has since become a trusted member of the team, and even served as an impromptu Avenger for a brief period of time. Also like Rocket, Gunn has gone on record in the past to say Nebula’s dramatic development over the course of his three films has been planned from the very beginning. Standard knowledge of plot structure would imply that, if her story was conceptualized as having three parts, an end for the character is, at the very least, somewhere in sight.

Furthermore, both Gunn and his buddy, actor and comedian Seth Green, have stated that Vol. 3‘s script is quite heavy on Nebula. An increased amount of screen time in the last project a character is planned to appear in is, often, not a great sign for anyone hoping to see them continue living. Green specifically commented on a lot of the plot revolving around the relationship between Nebula and her sister, Gamora. If one of those two had to sacrifice themself for the other, as will be outlined later, there’s a higher chance of it being the former. Gillan herself may have also put a final nail in the Nebula coffin, taking a page from Bautista‘s book and giving her character a send-off on Instagram:

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Sure, she says it’s possible this is Nebula’s “final chapter”, but at least she left a little room for hope at the beginning.

4. Star-Lord

What better way to close a trilogy than to kill off the main character? Of course, the answer is giving them a happy ending everyone can enjoy, but something like that might not carry the kind of gut-punch Gunn is aiming for with Vol. 3. Chris Pratt‘s Peter Quill, the self-proclaimed Star-Lord, has been the heart and soul of the Guardians since the franchise launched in 2014. He is, for all intents and purposes, the lead of the trilogy, which automatically puts him in contention for a big death to close it all off. This is especially true when one considers how willing Quill has been to die for his found family at the end of both previous films, and how absolutely heart-wrenching Gunn and company know it would be to have him meet his mother again in some sort of afterlife. Not saying that will happen literally, but the internet does love to make edits.

The major thing holding Peter back from the top of the list is the massive potential he holds for the future of the MCU’s cosmic storytelling. Even if he’s no longer a leader of the Guardians, Star-Lord is a central figure in most of the comics’ best intergalactic stories and is complex enough to transform for a new era in much the same way as Chris Hemsworth‘s Thor. It may feel like Quill is destined to end with the trilogy that made him a star(lord), but it might actually just be the conclusion of one book before another is opened. It seems just a little more likely that Pratt gets some time off from playing Peter before coming back as a changed man down the line.

5. Mantis

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special just gave Pom Klementieff‘s Mantis a pretty big emotional connection to the heart of the franchise’s story and did a great job of engraining her forever as a Guardians fan-favorite. While this is all well and good, they could also just be setting it up to hurt more when Mantis is offed by the end of Vol. 3. Truthfully, though, Mantis is probably safe. She’s a newer character to the franchise, with a lot of room left to explore. That doesn’t instantly save her from death, but it would make her a pretty good through line between the next iteration of the Guardians and the team that came before. Also, there isn’t much in the way of evidence to point toward curtains in Mantis’ near future. In fact, there’s more evidence going the other way, with Klementieff recently making an appearance on the D23 Inside Disney podcast and making a few comments that hint toward a continued existence in the MCU.

When asked if there would be more adventures for Mantis in a post-Vol. 3 world, the actress replied carefully, not giving anything away but not really hinting at a demise either:

I can’t say much because, you know, the movie’s going to be released a long time from now, in May. But what I can say is that, again, it’s going to be very funny but also extremely emotional. And it’s going to be, in some ways, you know, the end of a chapter, as the Guardians of the Galaxy family. So we’ll see what happens after, you know? It’s not like ‘over over’ but, you know, it’s still…it’s going to be different after.
Pom Klementieff

When asked a follow-up about starring in a Mantis solo project, Klemetieff responded, “Yes! Oh, that’d be fun for sure“. It doesn’t really sound like she’s expecting her journey to end in Vol. 3.

6. Gamora

Reader, Gamora has already died in the MCU. That’s the main argument to be made against Zoe Saldana‘s space assassin having a big, dramatic death in Vol. 3. Granted, one might be able to see the storytelling advantages of killing her off a second time. She means a whole lot to several members of the main group, and the idea of getting her back – against all odds – just to so quickly lose her again could work in the way of total devastation for fans and the film’s cast alike. It’s also possible that the team finds themselves in a situation where someone has to go, and Gamora volunteers herself knowing she’s displaced from her real timeline anyway. It’s just that all of that comes off as cheap on paper, and Gunn isn’t going for anything cheap in his final Marvel outing. Unless there’s a fantastic concept for a second Gamora death scene, it isn’t supremely likely that the creatives behind the Guardians double down on tears for Saldana.

7. Kraglin

One might assume Sean Gunn‘s Kraglin is disqualified from death in Vol. 3 because he’s not a big enough character to elicit the proper audience reaction, but that’s pretty silly thinking. At this point, everyone should have grasped the concept that no character is too small to bring tears to viewers’ eyes. Especially in James Gunn‘s hands. The real reason Kraglin is disqualified from death is that he’s the obvious future of the Ravagers, and he can’t perish before nailing down how to control that darned arrow. When Vol. 3 opens, Gamora will be in charge of the Ravagers, but there’s only a very tiny chance that is still true by the time credits roll. If she doesn’t remain as captain of the Ravagers, it only seems fitting that Kraglin finally ascend to his rightful place. This is the ending he deserves, and both Gunn brothers know it.

8. Groot

Vin Diesel‘s Groot will probably survive Vol. 3 on the same clause keeping Gamora alive, and that’s the simple fact that Gunn has already killed him off once before. The original Groot met a perfect and beautiful end during the climax of the first film, and it’s hard to imagine his son topping it at such a young age in Vol. 3. The more interesting plotline would be Groot finding his way in the galaxy without Rocket by his side, something that feels more and more bound to happen as the release date draws near.

9. Cosmo

After making a short cameo in the first film and landing a supporting role in the Holiday Special, Maria Bakalova‘s Cosmo will become an official member of the Guardians when Vol. 3 eventually lands in theaters. The thing is, there’s almost no way she dies in the movie. Not only is she essentially still a brand new character, who has massive potential as a founding member of the Guardians 2.0, but there is not a soul attending the premiere of Vol. 3 who wants to see the adorable talking dog eat it so fast? That seems harsh even for noted horror connoisseur James Gunn.

Source(s): Collider, Instagram, Entertainment Weekly, GameRant, Inverse, Disney,

December 3, 2022
How ‘Spider-Man 4’ Might Impact Marvel Studios 2024 Theatrical Slate

A new rumor has Sony looking to start production on a fourth Spider-Man solo film in the Summer of 2023 for a Summer 2024 release. If everything goes according to plan, that fourth film would be part of Marvel Studios’ ongoing Multiverse Saga and 2024 is already shaping up to be a busy year in that regard with 4 films headed to theaters. How might a potential fourth Spider-Man film shake up that slate? Let’s take a look.

Current Slate

May 3, 2024: Captain America: New World Order
July 26, 2024: Thunderbolts
September 6, 2024: Blade
November 8, 2024: Untitled Deadpool and Wolverine Movie

By all current accounts, Sony is keen on getting Spider-Man 4 into theaters in July. The studio already has an Untitled Marvel Sony Film slated for that date and if they get production underway in Summer of 2023, as the new rumor states, a July 2024 release date sounds about right. However, Marvel Studios has Thunderbolts slated set for release just 2 weeks after that which is far too close to the potential Spidey 4 date. It seems nearly impossible to believe both films will release in July. One or the other must move and there are plenty of options available.

Option #1

An easy solution is for Thunderbolts to move into August. By sliding ahead to August 2nd, 2024, Spider-Man 4 gets room to breathe and Thunderbolts can take advantage of following that film into theaters. 3 weeks is the same grace period Disney gives its own films (Captain America: New World Order will run for 3 weeks before Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Inside Out 2 will run for 3 weeks before Mufasa: The Lion King), Marvel Studios has released a successful film in August before in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Disney does not currently have a theatrical release slated for August 2024. Of the two “Summer films” for Marvel Studios, Thunderbolts would have to be the one to move because from everything I’ve come to understand, it must follow Captain America: New World Order.

Option #2

Another frequently discussed scenario is having Spider-Man 4 open in December. Spider–Man: No Way Home opened on December 17th, 2021 and raked in almost $2B; however, there is one major consideration to this option: Avatar 3 is currently slated to open on December 20th, 2024. Sony could opt to release Spider-Man 4 on November 29th, which would place the release 3 weeks after Deadpool and Wolverine and 3 weeks before Avatar 3. Part of the strategy in a December opening is to take advantage of the holiday break, however, and a November 29th release combined with Avatar 3’s presence would all but ensure that theaters playing Spider-Man 4 around Christmas time would be sparsely populated.

Option #3

A third possibility could arise out of the continued delays to Marvel Studios Blade. After several delays, the film recently took on a new director and another new writer who is reportedly starting the script from scratch. Marvel Studios is still expecting to get the film into production next year and hit the targeted September 6, 2024 release date but should it encounter any more delays, Sony could put Spider-Man 4 in September or Marvel Studios could push Thunderbolts to September, allowing Sony to have Spider-Man 4 in July. Moving Blade would complicate things for Marvel Studios as it would likely cause a cascade of subsequent moves into 2025 and beyond, but that’s hardly something Sony would concern themselves with.

Other options exist, of course, but these 3 seem the most viable for a number of reasons. All things considered, the hardcore Marvel Studios’ fans dream probably looks something like this:

May 3, 2024: Captain America: New World Order
July 12, 2024: Spider-Man 4
August 2, 2024: Thunderbolts
September 6, 2024: Blade
November 8, 2024: Untitled Deadpool and Wolverine Movie

It may be a while before we get any official news, but shuffling the theatrical slate is now more normal than keeping it the same so don’t start etching your 2024 movie plans in stone just yet.

November 29, 2022
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Strange World’ Directors Reveal Much Darker Version of Film

Strange World, Disney’s next major animated film, is almost in theaters, and it promises to be another joyous, family friendly ride from the House of Mouse. However, according to directors Qui Nguyen and Don Hall, there was almost a version of the movie that was much darker. Speaking exclusively with Murphy’s Multiverse, the veteran creatives were asked if there’d been any unused ideas they wished could have stayed in the movie, or that they hoped people might one day see. Nguyen answered the question first, revealing an early take on the story that involved a lot more violence:

We had so many. That’s the joy of making one of these films. We get to play with a lot of different ideas, especially in the story stage. We had a series of deaths that were – like we were murdering different characters throughout. There was a version of the movie where, like, the whole crew is dead and you have a feral Callisto at the end who’s like “I’m enraged! I will destroy this place no matter what I do!”
Qui Nguyen

Strange World revolves around the Clade family, as they explore an unknown world in search of something that might save their homeland. The farmer Searcher Clade (Jake Gyllenhaal), his adventurous son Ethan Clade (Jaboukie Young-White), his proactive wife Meridian Clade (Gabrielle Union), and his larger-than-life father, Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid). They are joined on their journey by Callisto Mal (Lucy Liu), the President of Avalonia and leader of an exploration group assigned to help the Clades on their mission. As Nguyen described, Callisto was almost a villainous presence in the film, and apparently, Jaeger was originally a bit scarier as well:

We had a much more barbarian type of Jaeger who like killed a giant caterpillar monster with his bare hands, which was really cool. So, there’s a lot of iterations of this film that were really fun to do…like, what if Jaeger was a lot more barbaric or Callisto was a lot more angry or something like that.
Qui Nguyen

Not all of the abandoned concepts were so gloomy, however, as Hall chimed in to discuss his favorite deleted scenes. The former Big Hero 6 director explained that one of the creatures in the film, lovingly referred to as a “Poop Pickle”, was intended to play a much bigger role. Unfortunately, time didn’t allow this to happen:

Yeah, and the creatures that show up, sort of, a little way through the movie in the acid lake. Those kind of green, blobby things we call “Poop Pickles”. We had storyboarded scenes where those creatures were explored more extensively and they were all very funny and kind of wonderful. We just didn’t have time to support that much. We needed them to do what they do in the movie, which is help them get out of a jam. But who knows? Maybe in the future we’ll get to explore some more about the world of the Poop Pickles.
Don Hall

Strange World is now in theaters.

November 27, 2022
Quentin Tarantino’s Long History With Comic Book Movies

Quentin Tarantino, the acclaimed creative behind indie megahits like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, has been on a bit of a tear lately in regards to superhero cinema. A recent interview with the Los Angeles Times saw the director call filmmakers who work with Marvel Studios “hired hands“, and claim that modern auteurs like himself “can’t wait” for comic book movies to fail. Not long after, Tarantino continued his tirade to imply companies like Marvel Studios had killed the “movie star”, effectively making characters more famous than the actors who play them.

This is, of course, not a surprising stance for the famously old-fashioned talent to take, but it is unexpectedly harsh for someone with a long history of almost working on comic-based projects. Throughout his career, Tarantino has been attached to four separate superhero adaptations and has admitted to using comic-adjacent concepts as the basis for some of his released projects. Kill Bill, one of Tarantino’s seminal works, famously includes a comic-inspired monologue, and the director is known to have rows of superhero books stored in his home. He even recently revealed that Inglorious Basterds, another fan favorite from his resume, was heavily inspired by Marvel’s Howling Commandos line from the 1940s.

For what it’s worth, Tarantino does not seem to despise the idea of adapting comics. He once said that, in his 20s, the idea of making films based on his favorite superheroes was all he wanted to do, but that he’d since “grown out” of that phase and moved on to focusing on original concepts. It would appear that his true qualms with superhero adaptations stem more from their unexpected impact on the film industry, and his perception that they’re produced at a high rate with low quality. As such, it’s intriguing to look back on the films his name was once attached to, and ponder what could have been different in a world where Tarantino was among those who had left their mark on the history of superhero cinema.

Luke Cage: Hero For Hire

Perhaps the closest Tarantino ever came to actually making a Marvel movie. The Jackie Brown filmmaker spoke with MTV in 2013 and dropped the bombshell he had once actively attempted to get a Luke Cage: Hero For Hire film off the ground. He claimed the idea for the project came very early in his career after he completed production on his directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs. That puts Tarantino’s pitch somewhere around 1992, nearly a decade before Blade, Spider-Man, and X-Men put comic book movies back on the map, and a lifetime before Netflix’s Luke Cage series made the character a household name. At the time, Marvel Studios had not yet been created, so Cage’s film rights were among the countless of their kind being bounced from company to company. As it turns out, however, Tarantino nailed down their then-owner, and a potential star, in a strong effort to get Hero For Hire made:

After ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ I had considered doing a ‘Luke Cage: Hero For Hire‘ movie. Ed Pressmanowned it at that time and we talked about it. And I talked with Larry Fishburne about being Luke Cage and he really liked that idea.
Quentin Tarantino

In the same interview, Tarantino explained that Hero For Hire fell by the wayside when the idea for Pulp Fiction grabbed his attention. As time continued to slip by, Hero For Hire suffered a quiet creative death. Much later, in a 2020 podcast interview, Tarantino added that some of his geekier pals were to blame for the Luke Cage film’s demise. Apparently, they felt dramatic actor Laurence Fishburne was not suited for the title role and had pestered Tarantino about casting action star Wesley Snipes instead. Never a fan of being told what to do, the director said this back-and-forth “ruined the whole damn thing”, despite Cage being his “absolute hero” at the time. Ultimately, Tarantino said he felt like he “made the right choice” in committing to Pulp Fiction as his second feature.

Silver Surfer

Around the same time, after Reservoir Dogs and before Pulp Fiction, Tarantino is reported to have written a full-blown script for a film based on Marvel’s cosmic mascot, the Silver Surfer. What’s more, he supposedly brought the script to German studio Constantin Film, who owned the rights at that point. In the early 90s, several creatives saw the immense potential in a Silver Surfer adaptation, but most studios – Marvel included – felt there was no money to be made in Silver Surfer on the big screen. The visual effects required to bring a movie like that to life were considered too expensive, and as a result, every attempt to develop a cohesive film was shot down. This, unfortunately, included Tarantino’s treatment, which was supposedly around 500 pages long.

Green Lantern & Iron Man

Years later, after superhero films had gained steam but prior to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s emergence, Tarantino was offered two separate major adaptations from big-name studios. Green Lantern and Iron Man, both in varying stages of development in the late 2000s, were pitched to the Django Unchained director by their respective producers as his first tentpole picture. Obviously, he passed on both. While Tarantino has never publicly commented on his opportunity to bring Iron Man to life, which came at a time before the involvement of Robert Downey Jr. or any of the factors that eventually made it a huge hit, it likely came to him in a scenario similar to what he described for Green Lantern:

I was offered the ‘Green Lantern’. Not since it’s been a script, but just like, ‘Hey we own the ‘Green Lantern.’ Would you like it?’
Quentin Tarantino

Again speaking to MTV, Tarantino conceded that, by the time Green Lantern and Iron Man arrived at his door, he had fully grown past his phase of wanting to adapt other people’s material. He elaborated, saying if he were to ever make a superhero film, it would have to be something entirely of his own design:

It wouldn’t be an existing comic book character. I’m a writer. I’d want to use my imagination and not have to fight with geeks’ memories of how this character should be and, ‘Oh, I cast an actor as opposed to a bodybuilder’ or it’s not as good as the way Neal Adams drew him.’ If I were to do something like that, I would want the fun of coming up with the superhero myself.
Quentin Tarantino

With only one film left in his 10-film career plan, Tarantino will likely never make a superhero movie. Unless, of course, he decided he wanted to contribute to the trend, and use his imagination to show the current crop of directors how he thinks it should be done.

Source(s): The Digital Fix, Screen Rant, MTV, The Hollywood Reporter, Indie Wire, Yahoo!, Comic Book Resources, The Los Angeles Times, 2 Bears, 1 Cave Podcast

November 23, 2022
What Bob Iger’s Return Might Mean for Marvel Studios’ Disney+ Future

There’s a lot happening over at Disney since Sunday’s announcement that Bob Iger will return as CEO and take back control of Disney after passing the torch to Bob Chapek. It’s not every day that a former executive just takes over a position shortly before the holidays and with an announcement on a Sunday of all things. Not even a day later, the development continued with Chapek‘s right-hand man, Kareem Daniel, leading the streaming revolution also leaving the company, someone who had much more control over projects than some might think.

Now, the big question is what exactly this new direction means for Disney and especially Disney+. The streaming market has hit a bumpy road once things calmed down with the pandemic. In many ways, we saw a slight counter-development as people finally felt safer going out again, which lead to many doubts about the potential and profitability of the streaming market. Netflix hasn’t helped in that regard with them throwing as much money as they can against the wall to find their “next big franchise” for better and for worse.

The rise finds demand also showed its fangs with Marvel Studios, who started producing a few Disney+ shows and started ramping up as demand during the pandemic skyrocketed. While some believe it turned into a “quantity over quality” matter, one cannot deny that Marvel made the best of the situation, as it filmed many of its projects during the pandemic with many restrictions holding them back. In a perfect world, the studio may have kept its originally planned course and developments but this isn’t about what ifs.

What we are aiming to talk about is what will be, as Iger‘s return and Daniel‘s exit raise some interesting questions about what this means for Disney+ moving forward. The most important aspect is that creatives are back in the center, a significant showcase of what made his reign stand out as the company’s leading man. The dangers of algorithm-driven filmmaking have always shown their thorns throughout streamings history and this could rejuvenate hope in the market.

Not just that, but it also likely hints at Marvel Studios gaining a bit more control over how they tackle the development of their series. At this point, Marvel Studios is capable of pumping out up to four or five series per year. Not a small undertaking for any production company in the markets even if it expanded to do just that. They made the best of the situation with some of Marvel Studio’s most out-there and creator-driven projects yet. Still, Iger’s return might mean the studio has a bit more control over just how much they produce.

Many are quite concerned about R-rated content on Disney+, but that might not truly be an issue. The Star expansion internationally and a strong focus on more adult content were already put in motion before Iger left his position. He even highlighted Deadpool during the 20th Century Fox acquisition. We might still see some more family-friendly offerings in the future, but it doesn’t seem like he’ll suddenly force projects to become more PG-13, especially with how the studio has been growing with its new library. Of course, this is just speculation and nothing concrete outside of some fear of the old Disney model showing its hands.

There is one major aspect that could see a shift; even if it won’t be noticeable immediately. Up until now, Chapek’s goal was to drive subscriber numbers as fast as possible. To do so, they needed to bet on their cash cow to do exactly that, which was Marvel Studios and even Lucasfilm. So, they faced the challenge of having to push out as much as possible to keep that number growing. While Marvel studios might have been just as ambitious, it’s hard to not think there was some growing demand internally to get out as much as possible.

As noted, whatever the aftermath will be from Iger‘s return, we won’t see it for quite some time. Daniel leaving was the first signal that a new yet familiar era is set to return to the company and Marvel Studios will likely reflect that development. We might see them dial it back once the current projects that are already in production have been released. The Multiverse Saga is generally the Marvel Cinematic Universe going through its sophomore season and with post-Endgame blues affecting some, they can currently use the era to experiment.

The Disney+ shows are a new venture for the production company, and Marvel Studios tried to take its cinematic experience into a new market; with the help of Marvel TV’s experience after merging with the division. One can feel about their consistency in quality one way or another, but it’s definitely been interesting to see Marvel go beyond its usual ventures in many ways. Special Presentations opened up the possibility to move away from high-budget series with unique ventures and who knows if we’ll see more of those moving forward.

Iger‘s era is just about to begin, and we’ll very likely be stuck with many questions for some time. We don’t know if they’ll replace Davis and rebuild the streaming division, or potentially take a completely different direction moving forward. Perhaps Marvel will have more control over its own segments connected to the streamer, as originally envisioned when the Disney+ venture first started picking up steam. Whatever the future may bring, all eyes will be on Kevin Feige on how he’ll tackle this new direction.

November 21, 2022
How The Sentry Can Work as the “Evil Superman” of ‘Thunderbolts’

Marvel Studios Thunderbolts won’t hit theaters until 2024, but it’s already becoming incredibly interesting. Word that the villain of the film is set to be an “evil Superman” has sparked an incredible amount of debate and speculation as to who it is that the Super Soldier-heavy team will take on in the film. Over the years there have been plenty of “Superman” analogs on the pages of Marvel Comics, but not too many of them really fit the bill as “evil.” One, however, does have a bit more of a bad streak in him than the rest and an origin that’s tied to the Super Solider Serum making him a more likely option than the rest.

The MCU loves its Super Soldier Serum. First mentioned in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk as General Thunderbolt Ross’s pet project, the backstory of the original serum, and its creator, Dr. Abraham Erskine, was filled in in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. More was learned about the Serum in Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and at current, there are about a half dozen known Super Soldiers in the MCU including Bucky Barnes, Alexei Shostakov and John Walker, all of whom are set for roles in Thunderbolts. While The Falcon and The Winter Soldier seemed like the end of the line for new Super Soldiers in the MCU, it’s possible that the “evil Superman” set to antagonize the Thunderbolts could be one of the comics’ most powerful Super Soldiers ever: Robert Reynolds, aka The Sentry.

While Doctor Erskine created the Super Soldier Serum for the United States, several countries developed their own serums and it might be the right time to find out about one more country’s work on it: Canada. In the comics, Canda’s Department K, a shady little part of the Canadian government, scraped together what they could from Project Rebirth, the Weapon Plus experiment that created Captain America, and tried to recreate the effects as part of Project: Sentry. The result of their work was a serum, The Golden Sentry Serum, that was thousands of times stronger than the U.S. version. That serum was ultimately consumed by a drug addict named Robert Reynolds, who turned into a superhero known as The Sentry.

For years, The Sentry was one of Earth’s greatest protectors; a hero amongst heroes. The Sentry found himself up against a great evil, The Void, who became his archenemy. However, when the equally powerful and destructive Void was revealed to be a part of himself, The Sentry worked with Doctor Strange and Mister Fantastic to make the entire world, including himself, forget he ever existed. This worked so incredibly well that The Void disappeared and Reynolds went on to become a balding, overweight, middle-aged man that had no idea of the power within him.

A direct adaptation of The Sentry wouldn’t truly result in an “evil Superman”, but Marvel Studios rarely directly adapts anything and just based on the little information provided above, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the character could end up in opposition to the Thunderbolts. Just exactly what to expect from the MCU’s Sentry is a little tricky to predict. If he were truly the fully powered-up version of the character from the comics, the Thunderbolts wouldn’t stand a chance against him, meaning whatever version of the Serum he takes, it probably won’t result in him gaining “the power of a million exploding suns.” But it doesn’t mean that a version of the character can’t or won’t exist, even if he’s not Candian.

All the plot really needs is someone willing to be working on Weapons Plus behind the backs of others and Thunderbolts has no shortage of people like that among its cast of characters. Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross, who is rumored to be the U.S. President by the time the film rolls around, has always had an interest in the serum. Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who has been assembling the Thunderbolts for some time now, seems to have a great affinity for Super Soldiers, having collected 3 of them for her team. Other options could exist as well as the entire cast of the film isn’t known at this time. What does seem clear though, is that the true villain of the film won’t be the “evil Superman”, but whoever made him in the first place.

Given that the future of the MCU will include the X-Men, Thunderbolts is as good a time as any to learn that someone has restarted the Weapon Plus Program that, in the comics, created Weapon 1, Steve Rogers, and Weapon X, Wolverine, among its many Super Soldiers. Even Ted Sallis, aka Man-Thing, has a history with Weapon Plus in the comics. Weapon Plus had a broad reach in the comics and Phase 5 would be an ideal time to continue to add to its MCU backstory while potentially preparing for the arrival of the mutants on the scene.

Val made her Vibranium lust known in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and while it’s really hard to imagine her team of Thunderbolts being able to take on the combined might of both Wakanda and Talokan in order for her to get her hands on some (though it should be pointed out that a fully powered Sentry could do whatever he chose), the possibility that she might be connected to an ongoing, covert Weapon Plus program does bring another precious metal to mind. It’s obviously just wild speculation, but they need to do something drastic quickly to make Val’s character interesting and having her be the link from Cap to Wolverine might just do it. Should Val somehow be behind whatever they choose to call the MCU’s Project: Sentry (Project: Sentry has a nice ring to it), a lot of things start to make sense, both in the present and the future.

At the end of the day, a Super Soldier experiment gone wrong really does make for the best choice for the “evil Superman” of Thunderbolts and it isn’t much of a stretch to see how easily Robert Reynolds’ comic book origins as Sentry could be tweaked to fit the ongoing narrative of the MCU. Will he be strong enough to rip the God of War in half? Probably not. But he’ll almost certainly be strong enough to take on John Walker.

November 21, 2022
5 Avengers Too Wack for the MCU

Once upon a time, it was hard to imagine characters such as Wonder Man, Jack Russell and Man-Thing could exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure, all the characters are outlandish, dare I say comic book-ish, for one reason or another, but Marvel Studios has moved beyond the core group of Avengers and into the depths of the roster where some of their most

Doctor Druid

Marvel Studios toned down the weirdness of Doctor Strange’s adventures quite a bit in translating the Sorcerer Supreme from page to screen. But believe it or not, there’s another master of the mystic arts who has had even weirder adventures in the pages of the Marvel Comics: Doctor Anthony Druid. Doctor Druid actually predates Strange, having been created in 1961 and like Strange he sought out the Ancient One and learned some magic.

It’s not so much that Druid himself is too wack for the MCU, though he does lean a bit too heavily into hypnosis sometimes; it’s more that the majority of his adventures in the pages of the comics took him to some locations that probably won’t end up being a bit part of the MCU. Trips to Deviant Lemuria, Weirdworld and Atlantis or all on his resume. He’s a little more occult than what we’ve seen in the MCU so far and though he has been an Avenger in the comics, it’s hard to imagine him holding down a spot on the roster in the future.

Jack of Hearts

Of all the characters on this list, the thought of Jack not ever making his way into the MCU is the one that’s toughest to take. The character first appeared in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #22 after having been teased in previous issues. A human-alien hybrid, Jack’s powers came as the result of being exposed to an experimental fuel source, Zero Fluid, created by his father during an attack on his laboratory by the evil corporation known as…The Corporation.

Even though Jack’s alien mother’s homeworld of Contraxia is already an established location within the MCU after having been visited in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Jack is a tough character to imagine adapting to the screen, at least in any recognizable way. His origin story’s connections to an alternative fuel source would fit right into the modern world and the MCU, but his powerset would make him one of the most powerful characters in the shared universe. And then there’s his look. It’s an absolutely fabulous comic book design that just wouldn’t carry over to the big screen. So what is Jack of Hearts without his trademark look and his “my cells are full so I’m going to explode” timer always at risk of going off? He’s not Jack of Hearts, whatever he is. Too strong and too wack for the MCU.

Sentry

Nearly everything about Sentry sets up for a surefire blockbuster tentpole superhero flick, other than one key piece of his backstory: nobody within the Marvel universe remembers who he is. The origins of Robert Reynolds’ transformation into Sentry fit right into a key piece of the foundations of the MCU: the Super Soldier Serum. However, it’s not quite the fairy tale story of Steven Rogers. Methhead Roberty Reynolds broke into a lab and got into some serum that granted him the power of “a million exploding suns.” He went on to become one of Earth’s mightiest and most beloved heroes until The Void, an entity that bonded with Reynolds, took over and created chaos. With the help of a few of Earth’s heroes, including Doctor Strange, things were fixed up and the entire world, including Reynolds, forgot the Sentry ever existed.

The reality of adapting Sentry to the MCU is that he’s simply too powerful to exist despite the fact that he would fit right into the modern MCU and the future. One of the great things about the character in the comics has been the exploration of how a character with his power could exist within society. He’s also a wonderful case study in mental health. They might adapt him for a film (there are rumors even now that he’s going to be the villain in Thunderbolts), but the TRUE Sentry, at the end of the day, however, he’s simply too wack to become a great character in the MCU. Enjoy him in the comics because that’s about as good as it’ll ever get.

Silverclaw

Maria de Guadalupe Santiago’s backstory is probably as wack as any character in the Marvel Universe. Maria’s father held a deep belief in the old gods of Central America, specifically putting a significant amount of stock into the tales of the Volcano goddess, Peliali. After disappearing into the jungle for some time, Maria’s father came back with baby Maria, who he claimed was the daughter of Peliali. You can sort of compare Maria to DC’s Beast Boy in that she can change into a number of different animals, all native to Central America, of course. Over the years, she’s been an anaconda, a cheetah, a crocodile and…a sloth. Her powers manfiested uncontrollably when she was young and, after her father died, she found herself in an orphanage run by Catholic nuns who were none too happy to have a pagan werekid running around. Fortunately for Maria, Iron Man’s butler Edwin Jarvis saw a commercial for the orphanage, sponsored her and somehow she eventually ended up in America and became an Avenger.

Thor, Black Panther and Moon Knight have already introduced different pantheons of gods to the MCU, so it wouldn’t be out of the question to have the Incan gods join them. However, it’s unlikely the Avengers are going to take on an abundance of werepeople. It’s also hard to imagine a non-mutant shapeshifter joining the team, especially one that, at first glance, looks like Gene Simmons. Silverclaw has never been a popular character (she has not been seen in the comics for a decade or so) and might be a touch to wack to find her way on an MCU-based Avengers team anytime soon.

Tigra

On one hand, if Jack Russell can exist in the MCU, Tigra can, too. Jack is a werewolf. Tigra is kind of like a werewolf, except she transforms into a cat…and wears a bikini. Greer Nelson has been an Avenger and a West Coast Avenger, a team that seems like it’s destined for the MCU sooner rather than later. She’s been an instructor at the Avengers Academy. She has some really great stories and has had important relationships with a lot of big players in the MCU, including Moon Knight. However, while a version of Grant Nelson/Tigra might bound into the MCU, it’s really hard to see where the tiger-striped, bikini-clad version fits in. At one point in time, the character was supposed to share the stage with Dazzler in an animated series for Hulu but, unfortunately, that never came to fruition. That may have been the best shot the weretiger had at the spotlight.

November 20, 2022
‘Wakanda Forever’ Keeps Hope Alive for a WWII-set ‘Invaders’ Project

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever delivered a fascinating backstory for the underwater nation of Talokan and its God-king, Namor. Writer/director Ryan Coogler created a unique version of the legend of Atlantis that allowed for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s take on the Sub-Mariner to stand apart from the comics while still staying true to the character’s core characteristics. Interestingly enough, despite nearly entirely recreating the character, Coogler also left room down the road for Namor to retroactively become a part of a comic book-based team with which he’s long been associated: the Invaders!

In the pages of Marvel Comics, the story of the Invaders was first told via flashbacks to World War II. Originally comprised of Namor, Captain America and John Hammond, the Original Human Torch, the Invaders were a group of heroes who sought to take on the Axis powers of Europe in the 1940s. The team grew to include teen sidekicks Bucky Barnes and Thomas “Toro” Raymond and, over the years, dozens of other characters. The original members of the team have reunited over the years but the bulk of their great stories took place during WWII fighting against one of the greatest evils the world has ever known. Despite just being introduced into the MCU in its present day, it seems that nothing about Namor’s known history could prevent him from being a part of such a team in the MCU.

As shown in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Namor is over 450 years old and despite his desire to keep Talokan and its people hidden from the surface world, the film’s events do not depict the first time he’s had contact with humans. Not only has Namor been spotted on beaches in and around the Yucatan Peninsula, but he also burned down a plantation and murdered several of its inhabitants as a young boy. Though he serves as the antagonist of Wakanda Forever, Namor is no villain. Arrogant, prideful and extremely temperamental, Namor is also compassionate and has a strong sense of justice, so while he holds no love for the surface world, you can be sure that he would share Captain America’s sense of disdain for the Nazis.

Historically speaking, the Nazis had a very real fascination with the lost continent of Atlantis and undertook several attempts to find it. As outlined here, it wouldn’t take much to retcon what audiences know of the MCU’s WWII era to bring Namor, Steve Rogers and John Hammond (who was introduced in Captain America: The First Avenger) together to fight Nazis. In fact, all it would take would be a threat to Talokan to invoke Namor’s imperious impulses and find himself compelled to fight alongside other righteous heroes. If Marvel Studios did it right, it might even explain why Nick Fury had an icon in the Atlantic Ocean on his map of superhero hot spots seen in Iron Man 2.

That map has been widely interpreted to represent the locations of heroes Fury was following closely. The icon in the Atlantic has been thought to be Atlantis while the one in Africa thought to be Wakanda. However, there’s no reason to believe that those icons couldn’t simply represent places where interesting activities have taken place in the past rather than events that were taking place in and around the events of Iron Man 2. Fury didn’t have to know the exact location of Wakanda, for example in order to have become aware of some past incident in the area that drew his attention. The same could be said for the area in the Atlantic. The Nazis were known to be searching the seas far and wide for any potential signs of Atlantis so there’s no reason they couldn’t have engaged with Namor and the Invaders in that region, which is not insignificantly located near Tristan da Cunha, the most remote island archipelago in the world with a current population of only 264 inhabitants. Should a battle involving the Nazis, a flying fish man, a flaming, flying android and the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan have taken place in such a location, it wouldn’t take much imagination to figure out why it wasn’t part of the history books in the MCU but a guy like Fury would have means to find out about it.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever delivers a great origin and introduction for K’uk’ulkan and does an equally wonderful job of not cutting off any more stories for the character, past present or future.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theaters now.

November 18, 2022
Murphy’s Team-Up Volume 28: Ranking Marvel Studios Phase 4 Films

With the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios has completed its theatrical slate for Phase 4 which began when Black Widow was released in July 2021 after a long wait due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Phase 4’s films all now available for consumption, Team MM thought there was no time like the present to rank them.

Hunter Radesi

1 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2 Spider-Man: No Way Home
3 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
4 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
5 Eternals
6 Thor: Love and Thunder
7 Black Widow

Anthony Canton III

1 Spider-Man No Way Home
2 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
3 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
4 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
5 Thor: Love And Thunder
6 Black Widow
7 Eternals

Charles Murphy

1 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2 Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
3 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
4 Spider-Man: No Way Home
5 Eternals
6 Black Widow
7 Thor: Love and Thunder

João Pinto

1 Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
2 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
3 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
4 Spider-Man: No Way Home
5 Black Widow
6 Eternals
7 Thor: Love and Thunder

Michael T. Ford III

1 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2 Spider-Man: No Way Home
3 Black Widow
4 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
5 Eternals
6 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
7 Thor: Love and Thunder

Jared Kirschenbaum

1 Spider-Man: No Way Home
2 Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
3 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
4 Black Widow
5 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
6 Thor: Love and Thunder
7 Eternals

Dalbin Osorio

1 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2 Spider-Man: No Way Home
3 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
4 Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
5 Eternals
6 Black Widow
7 Thor: Love and Thunder

Torbjorn Frazier

1 Spider-Man: No Way Home
2 Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
3 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
4 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
5 Thor: Love and Thunder
6 Eternals
7 Black Widow

Spider-Man: No Way Home: It was the worst-kept secret in Hollywood about what this film was going to be, and yet No Way Home still provides the best live-action cinematic experience of Spider-Man. It has a truly epic scope, successfully pays off (and improves) films outside of the studio that made it, and even still is a strong personal story for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. No Way Home is the largest success of Phase Four.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: While other films on this list are built upon the legacies of the past, Shang-Chi is the strongest film in Phase Four based on its own individual merits. The core four of the cast all bring their best, Destin Daniel Cretton established himself as a marquee director of the future, and the film has left audiences with a great future to look forward to.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Trying to rank a film like Wakanda Forever feels futile and plays into the argument of why rankings can be arbitrary and reductive. Even still, Ryan Coogler adeptly manages the insurmountable task of having to manage the grief of Chadwick Boseman’s death and turn it into this beautiful exploration of grief and loss. It continues the strong desire for Wakanda to play a major role in the MCU.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Sam Raimi’s return to superheroics was a strong success in my eyes. It is much closer to the imaginative experience that Doctor Strange should bring to the big screen with his magic and dimension-hopping. As well, it’s a film where I found the fast pacing to be more of a benefit here as opposed to Love and Thunder. And to boot, I appreciated all the narrative themes and allowing Benedict Cumberbatch’s to be more quiet and nuanced than most MCU protagonists.

Thor: Love and Thunder: This film is a perfectly fine adventure into the world of New Asgard and the power dynamics of the Thors. Natalie Portman is fantastic in her return to the role of Jane Foster aka Mighty Thor. For me, the biggest issue is the film being too fast-paced and really needing another 10-15 minutes to slow down.

Eternals: While I completely understand the issues some have with this film, I am someone who absolutely adored Eternals. The time spent marinating on the human experience and the concept of family resonated in an unexpectedly fantastic way. Though the film’s pedestrian attempts at the superheroic tropes do hold it back in these rankings.

Black Widow: It was a refreshing experience watching this film as the first MCU film released post-pandemic and a perfectly passable romp of a spy film. However, it still feels like it would’ve been much better served in Phase Three and doesn’t move the needle for the future beyond Florence Pugh’s iconic Yelena Belova.

Average Ranking

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Black Widow
Eternals
Thor: Love and Thunder

1.8
2.1
2.8
3.9
5.5
5.8
6.2

Power Ranking

Murphy’s Multiverse Power Rankings are calculated by assigning point values for rankings. In this instance, a film received 7 points for being ranked #1, 6 points for being ranked #2 and so on down to 1 point for being ranked #7.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Black Widow
Eternals
Thor: Love and Thunder

6.3
5.9
5.3
4.1
2.5
2.3
1.8

November 16, 2022
How ‘Wakanda Forever’ Could Set the Course to the Savage Land in ‘Thunderbolts’

With the revelation that Wakanda is no longer the only nation with access to Vibranium, the landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe changed dramatically. For all the reasons clearly outlined by Queen Ramonda in her speech to the UN and seconded by Everett Ross in his conversation with his ex-wife and current CIA Director, Valentia Allegra de Fontaine, it seems best if Vibranium is kept out of the hands of other nations. Fortunately, the two known locations of Vibranium on Earth now seem safer than ever with Wakanda and Talokan forging an alliance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. However, if Vibranium could be found buried in the ocean floor, who is to say that’s the only place outside of Wakanda where deposits of it might exist?

An increasingly popular fan theory posits that it won’t be long before Vibranium’s history in the MCU is revised once more and that another deposit of the alien metal will be discovered in another place, like Wakanda and Talokan, thought to only exist in legend: the Savage Land. Hidden away in Antarctica, the Savage Land is a tropical game preserve created by an alien race over 200 million years ago that first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1941. Over the years, several individuals stumbled upon the Savage Land, filled with prehistoric flora and fauna such as dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers and early hominids, allowing legend of it to spread among mankind and into “fictional” accounts. In addition to the wild array of creatures that inhabit it, the Savage Land from the pages of the Marvel Comics is also the only known location of an alternate form of Vibranium known as Anti-Metal. While Savage Land Vibranium shares some properties with Vibranium, its unique properties could make it, in many ways, a more dangerous alternative.

By embracing the more fantastical elements of Namor and Talokan, Marvel Studios kept the door open to introducing the Savage Land in the MCU. And if the Savage Land does exist in the MCU, it could provide a fascinating opportunity to make good on Namor’s promise that one day the world would come for the resources of Wakana and Talokan. As eager as Val is shown to be to get her hands on Vibranium in Wakanda Forever, she’s not foolish enough to think her team of Thunderbolts could possibly be well enough equipped to take on either Wakanda or Talokan, much less their combined strength. However, the uncertain fate of Riri Williams’ Vibranium detector in the film could be just the type of unresolved plot point that could set the course of the Thunderbolts’ mission in the 2024 film: a trip to the Savage Land.

Sending a few Super Soldiers, a cyborg, a spy and a sneaky quantum-phase shifter into the Savage Land to bring back some Anti-Metal might sound like a relative day at the park; however, as fans of the comics know, it isn’t just the dinosaurs and Man-Apes of the Savage Land that the Thunderbolts would have to deal with. The Savage Land has its own protector, Ka-Zar, and it’s unlikely he and his Smilodon companion Zabu would take kindly to a group of outsiders coming to raid his land.

Since the Disney-Fox merger was completed, I’ve consistently heard whispers that Marvel Studios One-Above-All Kevin Feige was eager to bring the Savage Land to the MCU. Fox never explored the potential of it and its inhabitants, making it ripe for Marvel Studios. Feige found a way to include a “Savage World” in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which served as a Savage Land Easter egg. Is it possible it also served as a way to prime audiences for the eventual inclusion of the location within another project?

While on the surface, the group Val has assembled to be her Thunderbolts doesn’t really inspire much awe; however, putting them in the Savage Land and pitting them against Ka-Zar and/or the elements does seem to spice things up a touch. In the comics, Anti-Metal’s unique properties allow it to liquefy other metals. So much for John Walker’s shield. Could Anti-Metal do the same to Wakandan Vibranium? Bucky’s arm would make for an interesting experiment. Savage Land Vibranium also has unique vibrational properties. Could those be used to disrupt Ghost’s phasing abilities?

Of course, Ka-Zar is no villain and if Thunderbolts was going to follow along this “hunt for Vibranium” path, the team wouldn’t spend the entire film locked in battle with him, but the idea of that team on a mission to the Savage Land is much more palatable than them taking on Wakanda, Talokan or really any group of powered people. The current makeup of the team is pretty weak and couldn’t handle any sort of Avengers-level threat. So who else could be in the Savage Land that would make a formidable and realistic threat to the team? Skrulls have been known to be interested in Anti-Metal in the comics and would provide just the kind of threat the Thunderbolts could handle while teaming up with Ka-Zar. It could also provide a great opportunity for Marvel Studios to adapt the big Savage Land battle from the Secret Invasion comic event into a smaller-scale third-act brawl that would make Thunderbolts a whole lot of fun.

Another, less exciting option for a big bad in Thunderbolts could be the MCU’s Power Broker, Sharon Carther. It’s worth noting that the D+ series Secret Invasion is said to lead right into Armor Wars, which is now being developed as a feature film. Having competing parties searching for Vibranium in the Savage Land is a lot less exciting than having Skrulls there, but it could also be said that they don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I’ve not heard exciting things about the big bad of the Thunderbolts’ film, however, so this is just one boring place my mind goes while pursuing the possibilities.

Again, it’s all just speculation generated from what’s become a fairly well-shared fan theory about what Val’s team will get up to in Thunderbolts, but there are certainly enough dots to connect to make up the bare bones of a boring story. However, given its slot as a July film, Marvel Studios will certainly want Thunderbolts to look and feel like a blockbuster and a trip to the Savage Land would go a long way in that regard.

November 14, 2022