There is a very strong argument that we have reached Superhero saturation point. Superheroes have been the dominating force in cinemas for years and the future looks to continue in that vein. In recent months, particularly following some rather average products (naming no names, Batman v Superman!), a Superhero film is by no means an instant hit. As with any genre a lot of mistakes have been made, whether it’s mis-casting or poor writing or just bad interpretation of the source material, these films are far from perfect. We also have a problem, most prominent in the MCU, that most of the characters in these films have been around for some time now. The actors contracts are beginning to end and some are just knocking on the door of being too old to fully commit to the roles. So where do we go from here?
There’s a theory banging around that Infinity War will mark a soft reset of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with possible re-casting or existing characters, origin story alterations and the introduction of brand new characters. While I don’t think Marvel will do a whole reality reset, I think the opportunity to breathe new life into the franchise cannot be passed up.
Comics present an almost limitless supply of characters to draw upon for adaptation and the well is far from dry. So let’s get this started. Below you will find, in no particular order, 9 Marvel characters that I think should be included in the MCU, or at least have a live-action interpretation of some kind. I’ve tried to leave out the characters we know are already on their way like Captain Marvel, but hopefully you’ll agree with at least some of my suggestions. Some are a bit out there but stay with me!
Wonderman
Straight away we know a Wonderman film won’t happen, purely because of his name. He could however get a cameo in some way if he was referred to as Simon Williams. There was even rumour a while back of Nathan Fillion being lined up to don the red spectacles! IF he were to get his own flick, focusing on his comic origin would, in my opinion, be the best way to go.
Being responsible for his late father’s company only to see it fail and go to prison for embezzlement, forcing him to make a deal with a mysterious stranger (the original Baron Zemo in the comics), giving him superpowers and being sent off to bring down the Avengers from within only for him to turn against his controller, would be great! However, there are more reasons why this probably wouldn’t happen. He shares a lot of similarities with Ultron (turning against his creator) and also, in the comics his brain patterns were used to create Vision. So really, Vision should be called Wonder-tron.
His similarities to Vision, infatuation with Scarlett Witch and the fact that he has some incredible ionic powers could make for an interesting and visually stunning character. At least have an easter egg referring to the guy! The world’s most famous superhero actor!
Namor
How are we almost 10 years into the MCU and still not had a film about Marvel’s first superhero?! Of course if they do bring him in now they will be accused of copying WB as Namor The Sub Mariner, does share a lot of qualities with Aquaman. After all, they are both Kings of Atlantis, have super strength, can swim at incredible speeds, breathe underwater and can communicate with marine life. Namor’s strength does depend on his length of time out of the water but when in contact with it he is an almost unstoppable force. Where I think Namor wins out though is through his sheer mistrust of surface dwellers! Aquaman is a man of two worlds but Namor is definitely an Atlantean, even if he is half human. He fights mankind almost as much as the bad guys to protect the seas but has over the years learnt to use his power for the good of the whole world and not just his people.
The main reason I want him to be included in the MCU is so he can play his part in the Marvel Illuminati, the most intelligent Superpowered minds on the planet. We have already seen most of the other members on the big screen in some form, Iron Man, Professor Xavier, Black Panther, Mr Fantastic so maybe the Illuminati would be a great way to bring all of the properties together, reveal that this group have secretly always been working together and have them all under one umbrella studio! I know, pipe dreams, but come on, it would be great! One possible link to another film (if they actually made a good Fantastic Four film at any time) could be his adoration of Sue Storm. He is always trying to woo her, he’s such a lothario!
Oh yeah and he can fly using the wings on his ankles! How cool is that?!
Nova
I will confess to not having read much about Nova but bear with me. There has been a rumour for a while that nova may turn up in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, especially seeing as we were introduced to the Nova Corps on Xander in the first film, so it would be easy to have a version of Nova appear as a cameo. If we’re going with the Richard Rider character I think it is a natural addition to the Guardians area of the MCU. Imagine if the Nova Corps gets wiped out by some huge calamity and leaves a single survivor passing his suit over to a rookie who has to wield the entire Nova Force! Not much more set up is required than that.
The difficulty with this film would be to make it different to Green Lantern. They are very similar, if visually different. Nova beats Green Lantern for me based on his look and his powers aren’t based on willpower. He has energy projection, flight, strength and can even open wormholes, and let’s face it the MCU could do with another space-faring hard hitter!
She-Hulk
This has to be a no-brainer. We have plenty of evidence to suggest that a solo Hulk film does not work. This is mainly down to the fact that the Hulk itself is a mindless rage monster so writing dialogue and character development is beyond tricky. A large portion of any Hulk film has to focus on Bruce Banner who, if we’re honest, isn’t the interesting part of that relationship! But you can’t just have the big green guy smashing things up for 2 hours!
This is where Jennifer Walters comes in. Banner’s cousin, Jennifer received an emergency blood transfusion from him which caused her to turn into a lean, mean hulk machine but still retaining control over her mind and emotions. Ok, she was also turned permanently green but she is the perfect mix of super strong rage monster and coherent member of society. She has even continued her work as a high level attorney for some time. She has in recent time been able to switch back and forth between her human and hulk form, but I think for a big screen adventure, She-Hulk should be a permanent thing.
Borrowing some story influences from the X-Men franchise, we could see Jennifer struggling with her transformation and the inevitable persecution received because of her looks. She would be the perfect character to illustrate that Superheroes are people too, even if they do look a tad different. Also she would it be an awesome female superhero led film! A strong leading woman in character as well as ability is something we have not seen enough.
Sentry
This is pure fantasy. It will never happen but Sentry is a complicated character that I would love to see tackled on the big screen. The best way I can describe him is Superman with a troubling personality disorder. Real name Robert Reynolds, initially injected with a super suped up version of the super solider serum (one version of his origin anyway), Sentry is in terms of brute strength and sheer number of abilities, one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe!
Invulnerability, strength to go toe-to-toe with the Hulk, super speed, blinding light and energy projection, occasional instant teleportation, super enhanced healing factor and no physical weaknesses! Come on, this is the guy that fought Galactus to a stalemate! If you don’t want to see him in live-action after that description then maybe I can whet your appetite a little more. Sentry has some baggage in the form of an entity known as the Void.
I’m going to focus on one interpretation of the Void because I just love how it is explained in the comics. For every good action or life saved by the Sentry, the Void performs a bad action or kills. If Sentry saves a city or world, the Void will burn civilisations. Sentry is unpredictable, perfectly displayed when he rips Ares, the God of War in two and almost single-handedly destroys Asgard during the Siege storyline. Regardless of the reason for its existence you have to agree that seeing a being of Sentry’s power level fighting a dark version of himself would be amazing.
Again, it’s unlikely to happen but perhaps the excuse could be made after Infinity War a new big bad is needed for the Marvel heroes to fight and what better character to have than one who could be the team’s greatest asset and worst nightmare!!! Horrifyingly fantastic!
Moon Knight
This one is a fan favourite and is often called the ‘Marvel Batman’. His secret identity Marc Spector is a wealthy man who is trained to an Olympic-level and is an expert in various marital arts, he also can expertly wield a wide variety of weapons. Both characters have similar motivations, fuelled by revenge, but Moon Knight believes he is the Egyptian God of Vengeance.
Moon Knight is a complicated character. Not only is Mark Spector capable on his own, he was given superhuman powers by the Egyptian Moon God Khonshu, giving him enhanced strength, speed and endurance which are dependant on the phases on the moon, becoming stronger during the peak of a lunar cycle. Unfortunately, like Sentry he has some issues. He has a dissociative identity disorder, meaning he has multiple personalities which fight for control over his mind. While these can provide some protection against psychic assaults, it makes Moon Knight unpredictable and formidable!
He would be a brilliant addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some people criticise the character for being so similar to Batman but personally if a character is being compared to one of comics most loved and popular characters then he must be pretty great!
Spiderwoman
Jessica Drew is a difficult character to tackle. Her origin has been changed numerous times since her first appearance in 1978 but any one of them could be a brilliant story to see on the big screen. She is not related to Peter Parker in any way, and was not created in the same way he got his powers. I’m going to pick one version of her origin and run with that!
She gains her powers when her mother’s womb gets hit by a laser containing the DNA traits of several different species of spiders (yes I’ve copied that from the gospel that is Wikipedia). Eventually Jessica gets recruited in HYDRA where she receives extensive training until learning its true nature.
It’s not her origin that interest me though, I really want to see the Secret Invasion story in which the Spiderwoman character turns out to be the Super Skrull Queen. I’ll admit this would be difficult to achieve on screen and would probably require a trilogy of films to fully explore but imagine how awesome it would be if our heroes discover some of their closest friends were shape-shifters!
Studios would probably be reluctant to bring her into the films because of her superhero name but her power set which includes the usual strength, speed, durability with added flight, pheromone manipulation and bio-electric energy blasts or ‘Venom blasts’, would add a little bit of spice to a film. Have we had a poison equipped character on screen yet? Maybe Viper from The Wolverine, but she was crap!
Squirrel Girl
I’m cheating a little with this one as a ‘New Warriors’ series has just been announced featuring Squirrel Girl, but I couldn’t leave her out of this list. On paper she is a ridiculous character. She has enhanced strength, speed, agility, small claws and knuckle spikes as well as a semi-prehensile squirrel tail. She also has an empathic bond with squirrels enabling her to communicate and partially control them. Sound strange? Don’t forget the character of Ant-man is readily accepted, this is just a different creature!
Doreen Green is inspired to use her mutation for good when seeing Iron Man (how many people does he inspire!?). She has on many occasions proved to be very capable and even took down Doctor Doom on her own by overwhelming him with squirrels! A character often under-estimated it would be good to see in the same vein as the current Spiderman. A willing hero but not fully accepted by the big names like the Avengers. Constantly trying to prove herself to be a hero and getting into all kinds of scrapes. The TV show that’s been announced is apparently going to be a comedy which I think is a good choice for the character. I’m not sure I can actually ever see Squirrel Girl going up against the likes of Thanos or Kang.
Longshot
Longshot is a genetically engineered life-form from a dimension called Mojoworld. Originally employed as a stuntman by his world overlords, he breaks free and becomes a prominent rebel leader and eventually escaping to Earth. Do you need a cooler origin story than that? Sounds brilliant to me and we haven’t even discussed his powers!
He has a lot of common powers but his most interesting one is the ability to affect probability fields, meaning he can create good luck for himself, although this does have a bad luck effect elsewhere. This enable to him to survive almost impossible situations and makes his marksmanship almost flawless, he could be one of the best fighters. He can also read the memories of those he comes in to physical contact with and some objects. Plus he looks bloody cool! I haven’t read much about him but he has very close links with the X-Men and fellow Mojoworld member Dazzler. He would just be cool to have on screen!
Red-do: Mr Fantastic
So we’ve had some character not yet seen on film, now it’s time to give one a second (or third) chance. We have had 3 interpretations of Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four in live-action so far and none of them have got the character right.
Reed is one of if not the most intelligent person on the planet. Constantly inventing, innovating and tinkering, he is responsible for some of the most technologically advanced developments in the Marvel universe. He developed trans-dimensional travel as a child and discovered the Negative Zone, building a superhero prison in it for crying out loud! And of course is a member of the Marvel Illuminati!!
As leader of the Fantastic Four Reed is a formidable superhero in his own right, especially with those elasticity powers! He can transform his body into almost any shape and size but it does require extreme concentration. We need to see the super intelligent Reed combined with Reed the superhero. None of the live action versions have got the balance right. If Johnny Storm is the passion of the Fantastic Four, Reed is the glue that holds them together! An emphasis really needs to be put on the family-man aspect of his character too!
This list is entirely subjective and I’m pretty sure most of these heroes won’t ever appear in live-action but I can dream. Hopefully the Superhero train will continue for a while yet but only if they can keep it fresh. New stories, new characters, different formulae and above all, listen to what the fans are saying!!! Oh and also Sony, stop pissing about with Spiderman and give him back to a Studio that knows how to do him justice!
What do you think of the list? Who do you want to see in live-action? Let us know in the comments below.
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