Hi guys, JR here.
Since last weeks worst superhero origins list got a good response, I'm going to start doing a list series on Tuesdays. I may also try and get another weekly blog post going, but that's still a W.I.P at the moment. But anyway, this week I'm going to list the 10 comic book characters I'd most like to see appear in an upcoming Marvel movie, why I'd like to see them and how likely it is that we will see them, as well as 5 that I wouldn't and why.
See you after the jump.
10. Michael Korvac
Movie: Guardians Of The Galaxy 2
Who: For those of you who don't know who Michael Korvac is, when he was introduced in the 70's this guy was a big deal. Virtually all-powerful he took on and killed every single member of the Avengers (who at the time where as close to the most classic line-up of the team as you can get, Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Black Widow, Ms Marvel and Wonder Man all being on the team) and the original Guardians of the Galaxy, then brought them back to life, because why not.
Why: It brings into play a number of other factors that could be interesting in the MCU. The Brotherhood Of Badoon, who make Korvac into such a huge threat, are one of the few major villainous alien species Marvel have left to work with (they've done the Kree, the Skrulls are too associated with the Fantastic Four and the Shi'ar aren't all that evil and they're packaged with the X-Men), so bringing them in could be interesting, especially against the Guardians, who are their worst enemies. Korvac could also provide one good answer in how to introduce one of the remaining infinity stones (although there is a better one which we'll get to later). In the comics he gains the majority of his power from the Grandmaster, who Marvel are planning to use in Thor: Ragnarok I believe. But what if this Korvac gained his power from an infinity stone? It gives a nice juxtaposition against Starlord, a human who used the power for good, where-as Korvac would use it to try and gain power.
How Likely Is It?: At the moment- 0/10. All the speculation on GotG2 is focused towards a different villain that makes more sense. But maybe GotG3? Please.
9. Daredevil/ Kingpin
Movie: Spiderman: Homecoming
Who: The guy from that show on Netflix that's quite good and the guy who plays the main bad guy on that show on Netflix that is quite good. You know, because the show is quite good.
Why: So, Kingpin. This guy starts out as a Spiderman villain, then migrates over to being Daredevil's arch-nemesis. Daredevil is the centre-piece of this show on Netflix which is really quite good (and made by Marvel) and now there's a Spiderman movie coming out under the Marvel banner. Plus both heroes operate on street level crime in New York and have worked together in the comics on numerous occasions. Need I say more?
How Likely Is It?: 2/10. Marvel have said they want to keep their TV shows and movies separate for the moment and the Spiderman movie could become too crowded if another hero other than Iron Man were to show up. Still a cameo or a mention would be nice.
8. Egghead
Movie: Antman and The Wasp
Who: Antman's arch-nemesis and evil scientist. Egghead has been around making life difficult for all iterations of Antman since the 60's. He's been in the Masters Of Evil and part of the Intelligencia.
Why: Antman doesn't have many famous foes, so unless Marvel want to have him fight lower order Avengers villains like the Serpant Society or Radioactive Man, Egghead makes sense. He could be incorporated as an ex-research partner of Hank Pym, a move that would be reasonable considering how they've handled the character in the MCU so far. He also doesn't have to be a main villain, being the genius mastermind behind another bad guy, kinda like Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2 only good.
How Likely Is It: 7/10. Like I said, Antman doesn't have too many baddies in his rogues gallery worth considering, so they might skip it altogether and pull some villains people may have heard of. But he is likely if they do go for Antman adversaries.
7. Kraven The Hunter
Movie: Spiderman: Homecoming
Who: One of Spiderman's oldest but less recognised foes (in the eyes of the mainstream audience), Kraven is the worlds greatest hunter and has made Spiderman his target to complete his career by hunting a truly unique adversary. He's also pretty freaking cool.
Why: Because he's a lesser seen villain. Everyone knows the Green Goblin, everyone knows Doctor Octopus, everyone knows Venom. They had the right idea with The Amazing Spider-Man series, using Lizard and Electro, but the execution lacked. Kraven is a character that matches Spidey in almost every department, despite not having any powers. He's strong, fast, agile and has a keen intellect. He's also been in some amazing stories with Spidey, Deadly Symmetry and Kraven's Last Hunt being standouts. It would also be a different type of superhero film, one more reliant on psychology than big action set pieces.
How Likely Is It?: 4/10. It'd be great to have a film with Kraven, but I just don't see it happening with Spidey having so many villains and many of them being more suited to the style of the MCU (Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Mysterio etc. etc. etc.)
6. Black Widow 2 (Yelena Belova)
Movie: Black Widow solo film
Who: The second woman to take up the code name Black Widow, Yelena underwent the same training the Natasha Romanov did to become the Black Widow and was used by the Russians to try to take down the defecting Avenger (not before messing with the Inhumans and opening a Vibranium mine in the Savage Land).
Why: If there is going to be a Black Widow solo film, it will focus on Natasha's past as a spy and who better to act as the villain than someone who is her equal, possibly even a former friend, who underwent the training alongside the Avenger. Marvel have lots of Russian super-villains, but Yelena fits better because it has that emotional impact with the story that can be told.
How Likely Is It?: I dunno. If a Black Widow film is made then 10/10 Yelena Belova is the bad guy. But Marvel don't seem to want to pull the trigger on that particular project.
5. J. Jonah Jameson
Movie: Spiderman; Homecoming (last one I promise)
Who: Editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle and Peter Parkers boss. One of the most beloved supporting characters in any comic series and a man modelled after Stan Lee.
Why: It's J. Jonah Jameson. The fact he can be left out of a Spiderman movie is a travesty. He was a highlight in the comics, he was a highlight in the cartoons and god-damn if he wasn't a highlight in the Rami films too. With the current Spidey being a teen and the film set to be based around Peters highschool years, it only makes sense for him to be working the Bugle as a photographer. And where there's the Bugle there's a loud-mouthed, moustached editor waiting to launch into another tirade against everyone's favourite wall-crawler.
How Likely Is It?: 8/10. Jameson is a huge part of the Spiderman universe. The only way he's not in it is if they decide to have Peter take up his current job in the comics at a science lab. Which could happen, I guess.
4. Captain Mar-Vell
Movie: errr..... Captain Marvel (obviously)
Who: The original version of Marvel's eponymous Captains, Kree soldier and hero of Earth, he's the reason the current Captain Marvel (whom the film will be based around) gets her powers.
Why: Because he's got to be hasn't he? They've already introduced the Kree and used Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy so there's no excuse. If they weren't to include him, they'd have to find some other way of giving Carol Danvers powers, and that would probably be quite awkward.
How Likely Is It?: 10/10. I'd be shocked if he didn't show up, even if he dies very early on (which I'm expecting).
3. Klaw
Movie: Black Panther
Who: Andy Serkis. You know. The guy who got his arm cut off by Ultron in Avengers 2?
Why: Ok, this is technically a cheat, since he has been in the MCU, but that was Ulysses Klaue. I'm talking about Klaw, the guy with the sonic cannon on his arm. The guy who killed Black Panthers father. He's already canonically in the MCU, in Wakanda and he's lost his right arm. He will be in the Black Panther film and by god he'd better be the main bad guy, because they've got Andy Serkis and he is a legend.
How Likely Is It?: Guaranteed. He's already appeared. Now he just needs the arm cannon.
2. She-Hulk
Movie: ???
If they make another Hulk movie, that'd be my best guess
Who: Bruce Banner's cousin Jennifer Walters, who gets a blood transfusion from Brucie to become the Hulk's female equivalent. A.K.A the most popular Marvel character that hasn't yet show up on the big screen in any capacity.
Why: Because she's the most popular Marvel character yet to feature in a movie in any way shape or form. If Antman can have his own movie, if the Guardians of the Galaxy can have their own movie, if the Fantastic Four can still have their own movies despite being utterly ****, She-Hulk should get at least featured. She's been in the Avengers since the 70's, she's been in the Fantastic Four numerous times, she was in The Defenders, she's had her own title on numerous occasions and she's guest starred in pretty much every on going series Marvel have published. But no big screen debut for Jen.
How Likely Is It?: Not very. Unless Marvel give us another Hulk film (which they seem reluctant to do seen as how the last one tanked and the one before that was possibly 2nd to Batman and Robin in terms of worst superhero film ever), then her introduction into the MCU would feel awkward and from out of nowhere. So for now, 0/10, which is a shame, because She-Hulk is great.
1. Adam Warlock
Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy 2 or Avengers: Infinity War (either part)
Who: The guy you call if you need to deal with Thanos. An artificially created human, who's cocoon did a blink and you'll miss it cameo amongst the Collectors collection in the first GotG film, Adam Warlock is bonded to the final infinity stone, the Soul Gem.
Why: Because many, many reasons. One, his design is amazing. Two, he is hugely connected to both Thanos and the infinity stones. Three, Ayesha has been heavily speculated to be the villain for GotG2 and she was the second attempt at making the perfect human, the first being Adam Warlock. If this is confirmed then Warlock is go. Fourth: He is the deciding factor in the Infinity War storyline in the comics, which follows Thanos' attempts to collect the infinity stones and Earths heroes attempts to stop him (kinda sounds like something that may happen in the future).
How Likely Is It?: If Ayesha is confirmed for GotG2, then 1000/10. If not, then probably 8/10 for Infinity War. I've been calling for Warlock since Thanos was revealed at the end of The Avengers, so I'm kinda hoping I get vindicated here.
And now for 5 characters I don't want to see in the MCU. Well, when I say characters, I'm including groups as well.
5. The Runaways
Why Not: Because their story would fit much more easily into a TV show format rather than a movie. I would love to see this group realised on-screen, but I just don't think a movie would work. They wouldn't have time to build all of the characters properly in 2 hours (most of the Avengers have their own movies for that and can you honestly say that any other superhero team has had all of the characters properly developed, even with more than one film? X-Men? Cyclops. Angel. Shadowcat, all extremely undeveloped), whereas telling the story episodically they would.
4. Blade
Why Not: Marvel recently got the film rights to Blade back and apparently Wesley Snipes has expressed interest in bringing the character back in the MCU. However, even with Doctor Strange being around the corner, the MCU is mostly science based. Even Thor is an alien rather than a proper god. Vampires would be incongruous in the current MCU and plus, vampires have got a bad rap since Twilight, so maybe leave the fangs at home guys. Because as badass as Blade is, it has to cleave through a whole mountain of rubbish to make vampires cool again for the mainstream audience.
3. The Fantastic Four
Why Not: Once again, another series where rights may have reverted to Marvel. Unfortunately for Marvel's first family, they're no longer relevant. The comic is cancelled, the last movie was an abomination and the previous two weren't much good, despite starring Captain America himself. Plus, it would be hard to bring them in to the MCU anyway. In the comics they are the first of the second generation of Marvel heroes, they restarted the Marvel Universe. But in the MCU, they'd be arriving into an already established world with already established characters and a lot of already established events which makes the original Fantastic Four origin a lot harder to work. And the Ultimates versions of the characters never really worked anyway, plus de-aging the characters worked so well in the last movie.
2. Venom
Why Not: Spider-Man 3 should serve as a historical reminder of what happens when you don't do a classic character right. You can't do Venom in one film. Plus his origin doesn't work without Spiderman going off-planet, because an alien symbiote just crashing onto Earth to latch onto the closest living thing, which turns out to be Spidey, is just too convenient. So there is too much set up involved in getting Venom to the screen, it will take at least 2 films before the character actually appears if you want to build him properly. So no, how about we focus on some of Spiderman's other rogues, of which there are an incredible number.
1. Namor
Why Not: Does anyone else remember how much of a tool this guy actually is? Arrogant, aloof, short-tempered and as likely to act as the villain as he is to act the hero. Plus his look isn't great either. Yes, they probably would go with the black tights and jacket look, but when your most iconic look is a green, scaly speedo, you know you're doing fashion sense wrong. And he has wings on his feet, let's not forget. Plus, he has the same problem as Blade. Atlanteans are just too fantastical for the MCU as it is now. And then Marvel have the problem of DC actually beating them to the punch at something when it comes to movies, as Aquaman has already been revealed, striking a huge blow at Namor and his stupid speedo.
So that's y list. What did you think. Tell me if you agree or disagree with any of my choices in the comments below and if there are any characters you think I've missed out on either list, let me know.
