Marvel Cinematic Universe

I put Blade because there hasn't really been any other hero that works on the street level that isn't dead (Nat), in space (the Guardians), or dealing with their own problems (Peter).

Well we got Captain America, Bucky, and possibly the second Falcon. Blade seems more involved with the likes of Doctor Strange and Moon Knight to me.

Oh right, I forgot about Bucky and Sam, thanks.

They seem to be setting up several stories at once: the Thunderbolts with the Contessa - which might be getting its big push in Cap 4; the unfolding mystical cosmic situation with Dr. Strange; and the big sci-fi cosmic situation with Kang.

Kang strikes me as the new "everyone fights this guy" villain, the same way Thanos and his minions were. Contessa seems to be a spy conspiracy story and so would probably work around the characters who can engage that sort of thing specifically (which might include She-Hulk, if her series is really going to be a law dramedy) - unless they're interpreting the Thunderbolts as the Dark Avengers in which case it's definitely going to be a Mirror Match movie. And depending on what Dr. Strange 2 sets up, that might, but I would love an adaptation of the actual Defenders (though they would have to introduce Namor for that, I guess).

Of the things being set up, the thing the Young Avengers - who are mostly legacy characters - are most likely to come up against is the Thunderbolts, especially if it turns out to be a Dark Avengers set up.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:25:18 AM

Now that I think about it, if Daredevil is going to appear in mainline MCU projects now, he could definitely be a street level hero that could fight against the Thunderbolts. Same with the other Netflix heroes.

There's also She Hulk and War Machine, though we have to see their solo outings first.

Shang-Chi is sort of in a grey area in that he kinda dips in and out between street level, mystical, and possibly cosmic levels depending on if he has the rings or not. And since he isn't really affiliated with any organization, he's pretty much a wild card in terms of when and where he can show up.

Edited by MatthewWayne on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:29:37 AM

I don't know if we would see any of the Netflix characters fighting the Thunderbolts, tbh. So far, the thing that ties the Contessa's appearances are that she's targeting people with potentially adversarial relationships with the Avengers, which does make her story come off as being one that's going to involve more specifically the Avengers and their circle of characters / their legacy).

I'd expect Peter to get sucked into the Thunderbolts plot, but not Matt - especially if Matt is going to be brand new on the scene. Same with Blade (especially with Blade, tbh. If I were to give a guess for where Blade might tie into, it'd be whatever is going on with Strange. Blade typically nopes out of most other MCU drama, mostly because his thing is otherwise so specific).

I honestly have no idea about Shang-Chi, mostly because the movie hikes him into a different genre in the 11th hour of his movie, but could also easily punt him back if they want - and most of the hints at the end of his film come off as sequel hooks than universe hooks. Wong being his primary contact with the rest of the superhero community would imply he's going to be making appearances with Strange's crew, though.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:34:45 AM

I've long felt like we might indeed end up with Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers vs Young Avengers and then both put their differences aside to fight Kang or someone else.

The Infinity Saga of the MCU covered a whole bunch of classic plot beats, but one it notedly didn't cover was the comic book classic of "long-time heroes and villains fight a larger threat together", which I think is a prime thing to do with Thunerbolts/Dark Avengers and the Young Avengers. Just put them both up against Kang (I'm guessing) after clashing for a bit.

EDIT: Strange's crew, I'm guessing, are going to be the Midnight Sons/Suns.

Edited by Gaon on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:34:59 AM

So, Kang ends up becoming the MCU's equivalent to Doomsday and Mechagodzilla?

Okay, I kid. I understand it wouldn't necessarily be the same situation as those films.

You may have a point with Daredevil, if they really are going to hit the Continuity Reboot button. Apparently he and Moon Knight worked together a few times in the comics, so maybe that could be a thing that happens. Moon Knight has also worked with Doctor Strange though, so...hmm.

Honestly, I dunno where Spider-Man is going to be post NWH. Going to have to wait on that one.

And yeah, I'm expecting Blade to get involved with Doctor Strange after his solo outing. Definitely seems he's going to be a mystical hero.

Speaking of which, do any of y'all recommend hitting the Blade Trilogy from the 90s before MCU Blade makes his (proper) debut? Because I haven't seen it, and know next to nothing about the character.

Edited by MatthewWayne on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:37:32 AM

Y'know, after thinking about the "Kang as COVID-19" meme that wanders around on the internet, I can't help but imagine how interesting Kang would be as a reoccurring threat within the MCU similar to how the virus works. In that you defeat one variant of him, but another arrives to take his place and is even more dangerous that the heroes have to take more measures against. It would be a cool allegory, though I can understand if Marvel won't go down that path.

Edited by MatthewWayne on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:40:04 AM

Definitely watch the first one at least. 2 is enjoyable enough, and Trinity is pretty meh or even bad.

Edited by Weirdguy149 on Dec 6th 2021 at 4:40:41 AM

Alright, I'll check it out. Thanks.

I applaud comic books' restraint in not introducing a ton of virus-based villains in the last couple years, tbh.

I figured we would be up to our armpits in virus inspired media like zombie movies, social commentary, films where characters are coincidentally in isolation (even if not because of a virus, specifically), etc by now. But while there's been some, it hasn't been too much.

Blade Trilogy is by far the most relevant thing the character has in his entire history, comic books included. It is in fact a sign of how different times were that Marvel never really managed to leverage this highly succeessful set of films into comic book arcs (e.g how Nomak, the villain of film 2, never made his way back to the comics despite being a fairly iconic part of the films and a very good Evil Counterpart to Blade).

Only films 1 and 2 (2 being directed by none other than Guillermo Del Toro, who'd go on to helm the Hellboy films and become the living legend he is now) are good though. Film 3 is kind of a shitshow.

The opening of film 1 in particular is one of the most iconic scenes of 90's cinema and th character's watershed moment, I'd go as far as saying.

Edited by Gaon on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:43:05 AM

Yeah, that would've gotten old very quickly. I'm more inclined to lean towards that one idea for Kang though in that he's a very physical threat that can still be perceived similarly to what's happening today, while not actually being a "virus killing the world" story.

Alright, thanks for the recc.

Edited by MatthewWayne on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:47:45 AM

Ah, I remember watching Blade when I was welllllll too young for it. Scared the hell out of me.

Interestingly there was gonna be a new Blade comics couple years back introducing his fully grown daughter.

But it never came fruit because the then writer Tim Seely left the project because he didn’t want to be like a white guy writing a black character lead book which sounds good but no one else bothered to pick up the book leaving it to languish.

Edited by slimcoder on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:54:58 AM

In comic book realm I always thought Blade was one of those characters just sort of lying in wait for a iconic, character-redefining-run that never came. Like Iron Fist, Venom and Moon Knight for example all being more minor comic book characters raised to a great extent by spellbinding, creative runs by writers Ed Brubaker, Donny Cotes and Warren Ellis/Jeff Lemire (respectively). Even Ghost Rider had the Jason Aaron years.

Blade's turn just never came, for whatever reason. He's recently been getting some focus but he still needs that silver bullet (ha) of a run.

Edited by Gaon on Dec 6th 2021 at 1:59:41 AM

Speaking of sequel hooks, Shang Chi 2 is confirmed happening - unsurprisingly.

The article title makes it sound like there's also going to be a Shang-Chi Disney+ show, but looking at the actual text what's really happening is the director of the film is getting an MCU Disney+ show of unknown subject matter.

I wonder who Shang-Chi will be going up against in the sequel. Of course there's the big angry space dragon people keep talking about, but who knows what else could happen?

Edited by MatthewWayne on Dec 6th 2021 at 2:24:36 AM

There was a rumor a month back about a Shang-Chi spin-off series focusing on Xu Xialing and the Ten Rings was in development. Could be the same thing your talking about.

Link

The Makluan make the most sense for what they set up in the first film, but on the other hand I don't really want it to be the Makluan because that's very much not a Shang Chi thing, and the one movie they spent pitting him against an Iron Man baddie (and a Dr. Strange baddie) only worked because they explicitly slotted all that into an open spot of Shang-Chi's own mythos.

I don't really want Shang Chi to be "the character who deals with all the Iron Man stuff they didn't get to in the Iron Man films" rather than letting him be his own character. I like the idea of Shang Chi continuing to be a mystical take on the Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan style martial arts spy/crime flick.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Dec 6th 2021 at 2:32:59 AM

Yeah, despite people complaining about how MCU Spider-Man seeming like an Iron Man lite, at least his enemies are actually people from his rogues gallery, even if they've been retooled to hate Stark.

I really hope Shang-Chi goes down your suggested path of the mystical martial arts crime drama, while fighting villains unique to him.

Edited by MatthewWayne on Dec 6th 2021 at 2:36:07 AM

Shang Chi is also in an interesting spot, because the movie left out a lot of things that they could bring in later - basically the opposite of how Black Panther had four of BP's most significant villains in it and either definitively killed, reformed or - in one case - simply didn't adapt them as villainous in the first place.

Shang Chi has all these Interpol and secret agent characters to him that we haven't seen yet, which they could totally use in a sequel (or the show). He also has a crapload of evil relatives, and Wenwu's old enough that there could totally be branches to his family Shang doesn't know about.

Imo, The Five Weapons Society could work as the focus of a sequel. It's a secret society / evil cult previously controlled by Shang Chi's father that became a problem after his father's death, each based around a different weapon fighting style (and including The Hand). With the Ten Rings being a facet of Shang's dad in the MCU, Marvel could pretty easily retool them into a cabal of powerful collectors of mystical weapons and artifacts, and even merge in some Iron Fist stuff by having their organization be an evil counterpart to the Immortal Weapons.

Or they could go full mysticism and adapt the Jiangshi thing Shang's had going on recently.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Dec 6th 2021 at 3:06:22 AM

I don't really expect it either (shame, because he grew on me in season 2), but this is news to me. Do you have a link corroborating this?