Avengers Assemble – Speculating on Marvel Studios Phase Two
Iron Patriot is in Iron Man 3! We’ve all seen the pictures by now, right? This is a pretty interesting bit of info regarding Iron Man 3, as we know for a fact that it won’t be the man who wore the armour in the comics, as that was Norman Osborn, otherwise known as the Green Goblin, whose film rights are held by Sony. Unless the character James Badge Dale (seen wearing the armour in the pics) is playing is a thinly veiled analogue named Herman Gosborn, it looks like the film makers are doing something a little different. It also moves the film further away from the Extremis storyline which it’s rumoured to be based on. So, how much of Iron Man 3 will be coming from Extremis, and how much from other sources? And will Iron Patriot make it into future instalments in the Marvel Movie canon? We’ll get to that eventually, but for now, why don’t we keep guessing which Avengers will and won’t be appearing in the next run of films, starting with one of the most obscure characters the team ever let join. Seriously, anyone know who this guy is?
Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)
Created by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #314 (1990)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Spidey first joined the Avengers during a fight against Nebula and the Stranger, two of the Avengers cosmic foes, with the fate of all reality in the balance. However, the massively powerful enemies and universe threatening stakes were too much for Spidey, who at the time felt himself more a street level hero, and he quit the team immediately after this first mission with them. Subsequently rejoining when Captain America invited him to be one of the New Avengers, Spider-Man has now amassed enough appearances as an Avenger to put him in the top twenty Avengers of all time. Alas, as with the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters, Marvel do not hold the film rights to Spider-Man, these being in the grasp of Sony, and with Sony soon to relaunch their Spidey franchise with the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man, these show no signs of reverting back to Marvel any time soon. It’s a shame that Marvel can’t take advantage of their biggest character and bring him into their shared universe, but it’s just not going to happen in the foreseeable future.
Stingray (Walter Newell)
First Appearance: Tales To Astonish #95 (1967)
Created by: Roy Thomas and Bill Everett
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #319 (1990)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Stingray’s an interesting character. His powers come from his specially constructed suit, which allows him to breathe underwater, survive at depths which would crush a normal human being, and grants him a degree of super strength. But he didn’t design it to be any sort of superhero. A marine biologist, Walter Newell designed his suit simply to aid in his research. Sure, when you have a suit like that and you come across Tiger Shark making mischief, then you would punch him on the nose, but despite fighting a number of aquatic based bad guys, and joining the Avengers, even giving them his artificial island to use as a base of operations at one point, Stingray still doesn’t think of himself as a superhero. It’s this aspect of the character that would make him a good choice to explore in a movie. If it ever does happen though, it’s a long way off. He’s just too obscure at the moment. If Namor ever gets a solo movie, Stingray may show up in that before crossing over into the Avengers, but that’s a big if.
Rage (Elvin Haliday)
First Appearance: Avengers #326 (1990)
Created by: Larry Hama and Paul Ryan
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #329 (1991)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
The fun thing about Rage isn’t that he was mutated by radioactive materials to become super strong, but that he was also a child at the time. The mutation aged his body, but inside, at the time of joining the Avengers, he was only thirteen. When Captain America found out Rage’s real age, he reluctantly had to ask him to leave the Avengers, who, not wanting to put children in danger, had a strict rule about only letting adults join the team. Rage joined the New Warriors, a group of superpowered youths, instead, though he has still returned to help the Avengers out on occasion, and has been promised that he can rejoin the team full time when he’s old enough. He won’t be in the Avengers movie, but don’t be surprised if Marvel make moves to get a New Warriors movie out at some point, and for Rage to be a major player in that.
Sandman (William Baker / Flint Marko)
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #4 (1963)
Created by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #329 (1991)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Yep, not only did this classic Spider-Man villain reform, he actually became an Avenger for a short time. Sandman’s reforming and becoming a good guy was a very popular move for Marvel, and his portrayal within the comics as a man who was actually a good person who had made some bad choices was a very rounded one. So it’s a shame that he’s a villain again now, thanks to John Byrne’s legendarily awful run on the Spider-Man comics in the late nineties, during which the Wizard used a device to change his brain and make him bad again. It sucked, and while later writers have made the most of it and told some good stories with Sandman as a villain, and even possibly hinted that he could reform again, it’s still not the same. Sandman appeared in Spider-Man 3, played by a very sympathetic Thomas Haden Church, and was the second best thing in it (J.K. Simmons as Jonah was the best thing, as ever), which of course means that Sony owns his rights as well as Spider-Man’s. He’ll only join the Marvel shared universe if they ever get Spidey back. So, again, not for the foreseeable.
Spider-Woman / Arachne (Julia Carpenter)
First Appearance: Secret Wars #6 (1984)
Created by: Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck
Joined the Avengers: Avengers West Coast #74 (1991)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
The second Spider-Woman (there have been loads!), Julia Carpenter first appeared in the Secret Wars mini-series, and then went on to join the Avengers and Force Works, and even appeared in the nineties Iron Man cartoon. Having her appear in an Avengers movie could prove complicated though. It’s unclear how Marvel want to deal with the various Spider-Women on the screen at the moment, but if one of them was going to appear, it would be almost certainly be the original Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, rather than Arachne. That said, Secret Wars film anyone? Make it happen, Marvel!
Living Lightning (Miguel Santos)
First Appearance: Avengers West Coast #63 (1990)
Created by: Dann Thomas, Roy Thomas and Paul Ryan
Joined the Avengers: Avengers West Coast #74 (1991)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Living Lightning wears massive shoulder pads. And that is why he won’t be in any Marvel movies.
Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin)
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #45 (1965)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #343 (1992)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
A member of the Inhuman royal family with power over the elements, Crystal originally appeared in the Fantastic Four as the Human Torch’s girlfriend, later joining the FF for a time. When she and the Torch eventually broke up, she met and fell in love with Quicksilver, marrying him and having a daughter, Luna, with him. She also had a very brief romance with the Black Knight while she and Quicksilver were having some marital problems, though this ended when she and Pietro reconciled. Well, for a time. They’re divorced now. As for future film appearances? Well, it’s not inconceivable that Marvel may want to put the Inhumans in their own film, which would certainly have Crystal as a main character. If that does happen, then the chances of Crystal appearing somewhere down the line in an Avengers sequel aren’t bad at all.
Thor / Thunderstrike (Eric Masterson)
First Appearance: Thor #391 (1988)
Created by: Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #343 (1992)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Eric Masterson started out as the human alter ego for Thor, in much the same way as Donald Blake had once been, but things soon changed when Masterson actually became Thor himself. He joined the Avengers at this time, before eventually being separated from Thor. However, Odin was so impressed with Masterson, that he granted him his own enchanted mace, named Thunderstrike, which would give him powers on a par with that of the god of thunder. Using the Thunderstrike name for himself, Masterson continued to serve with the Avengers until he died as a result of the Bloodaxe curse. Thunderstrike has a good chance of showing up in a Thor sequel, though it won’t be the next one. If he does, it may only be as Eric Masterson, but he’ll probably be there at some point.
Machine Man (X-51 / Aaron Stack)
First Appearance: 2001: A Space Odyssey #8 (1977)
Created by: Jack Kirby
Joined the Avengers: Avengers West Coast #83 (1992)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Originally created by Jack Kirby as a robot trying to understand humanity, who later became a superhero, Machine Man had a bit of an overhaul in the comics in recent years, thanks to writer Warren Ellis. These days he’s a beligerent drunk whose robot brain runs on beer and who refers to humans as “fleshy ones”. If he did appear in a Marvel movie, you have to hope it would be this version. It would be hilarious. However, it’s highly unlikely. He wasn’t an Avenger for long enough to appear in an Avengers sequel, and he’s too unknown to get his own film. Nextwave movie anyone? Probably not.
Swordsman (Philip Javert)
First Appearance: Avengers #343 (1992)
Created by: Bob Harras and Steve Epting
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #357 (1992)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
A Swordsman from an alternate reality, he won’t be appearing in any Marvel movies, except maybe as an alter ego for the original Swordsman, should he ever appear.
To be continued…
About the Author
PJ Montgomery Writer of various things, lover of comics, films, books and computer games, loveable rogue and proud Sidekick.
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A NextWave movie would be freaking awesome, this needs to get made
I think we all agree with you there.