Avengers Assemble – Speculating on Marvel Studios Phase Two
Iron Patriot is not in Iron Man 3! Despite what we talked about last week. Nope, apparently, those pictures of the Iron Patriot armour aren’t pictures of the Iron Patriot armour at all, but are, in fact, pictures of a stunt man in the War Machine armour. Which has been made to look very much like Iron Patriot armour. What is the truth of the situation? Honestly, who really knows at this point. Further rumours circle the Iron Man threequel, with Marvel coming dangerously close to telling me I’m wrong and confirming that Ben Kingsley is playing the Mandarin after all, and pictures have shown us that AIM will have a presence of some kind in the movie. Does this mean MODOK will be along for the ride as well? Awesome as that would be, I somehow doubt it. In other Marvel movie news, the part of Fandral the Dashing has been recast for Thor 2. Josh Dallas will not be returning for the Thor sequel, with Fandral instead being played by Chuck’s Zachary Levi. Interestingly, Levi had been cast as Fandral in the first Thor film, but had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts, paving the way for Dallas. The given reason for Dallas not being able to return? Yep, more scheduling conflicts. Good news for Levi. And finally, Marvel have now all but stated outright that one of the films currently in development is definitely a Black Panther movie. Excellent news indeed, as long as they get the casting right. Who do you think should play the Panther? And which other Avengers will we be seeing on screen in the next few years? I have answers (wild guesses), and potentially vague spoilers, below.
Darkhawk (Chris Powell)
First Appearance: Darkhawk #1 (1991)
Created by: Tom DeFalco and Mike Manley
Joined the Avengers: Avengers West Coast #94 (1993)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Able to transfer his mind into a powerful android body, Darkhawk is more closely associated with the New Warriors than the Avengers, so is unlikely to appear in an Avengers movie, but will be in a New Warriors film if that ever happens. Actually, what Marvel should do with Darkhawk is make a movie of The Loners, a comic featuring a group of former teenaged superheroes who are trying to stop being superheroes. It’s like a superpowered version of alcoholics anonymous, and is an excellent idea for a film. Please Marvel?
Magdalene (Marissa Darrow)
First Appearance: Avengers #343 (1992)
Created by: Bob Harras, Steve Epting and Tom Palmer
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #363 (1993)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
The lover of the Philip Javert version of the Swordsman, Magdalene basically went wherever he went. If he shows up in a Marvel film (which he won’t), then so will she. If he doesn’t (and he won’t), then neither will she.
Deathcry (Sharra Neramani)
First Appearance: Avengers #363 (1993)
Created by: Bob Harras and Steve Epting
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #364 (1993)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
No. Just… No.
Iron Man (Tony Stark)
First Appearance: Avengers: Timeslide (1996)
Created by: Bob Harras and Roger Cruz
Joined the Avengers: Avengers: Timeslide (1996)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
I know what you’re thinking. “But we already covered Iron Man in part one!” Well, yes, we did. But this isn’t that Tony Stark. You see, during the truly awful The Crossing storyline, Marvel decided that Iron Man had been working under the control of Immortus all along, right back since the beginning, and that he should betray the Avengers, kill a number of them, and only be defeated when the Avengers brought an alternate reality teenage version of Tony Stark into their universe who built his own armour and killed off the Iron Man we all know and love. It was a really, really bad idea. Thankfully, it happened right before the Onslaught storyline, which led straight into Heroes Reborn and returned the real Tony Stark to us fairly quickly. The teenage version hasn’t been seen since, apparently “merging” with the real Tony when they crossed back into the regular Marvel universe in Heroes Return, giving us the real Iron Man, though still with the memories of this other Tony, who was only around a few months anyway. There’s not a chance in hell we’ll ever see this version of Iron Man in a film. That’s a good thing.
Masque (Guillietta Nefaria / Whitney Frost bio-duplicate)
First Appearance: Iron Man #320 (1995)
Created by: Terry Kavanagh, Heitor Oliveira and Adriana Melo
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #397 (1996)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Masque was a bio-duplicate (clone, basically) of Iron Man villain Madame Masque. She rebelled against her creator, and joined the Avengers, only to be kidnapped by Benedict, another agent of the original Madame Masque, two issues later. She then returned briefly a few years later and promptly died fighting Madame Masque’s father, Count Nefaria. While she’s not in Iron Man 3, it would be surprising if Madame Masque didn’t show up somewhere down the line in a future Iron Man movie. But it would be equally surprising if we ever see Masque in a Marvel movie.
Swordsman (presumably Wade Wilson)
First Appearance: Avengers #1 (1996)
Created by: Rob Liefeld, Jim Valentino and Chap Yaep
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #1 (1996)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Boy, the Avengers were really scraping the barrel for their membership roster in the nineties, but stay with us. We’ve got some good characters coming up, I promise. So the Avengers were “killed” at the end of the Onslaught storyline. But they weren’t. They were instead shunted to Counter-Earth by Franklin Richards, the son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, where they proceeded to live their lives again. Unfortunately, the Avengers were forced to live their lives under the direction of one Rob Liefeld, a man who can’t draw, but is better at drawing than he is at writing. He put together a new team of Avengers, including this just awful version of the Swordsman. He had nothing to do with either of the previous Swordsmen who we’d seen as members of the Avengers before. At all. In fact, his origins weren’t even really covered in the pages of Avengers at the time. Later on, in a series of one shots, it was revealed who this Swordsman really was: Counter-Earth’s version of Deadpool. Chances of seeing him in an Avengers movie? Absolute zero.
Justice (Vance Astrovik)
First Appearance: Giant-Size Defenders #5 (1975)
Created by: Don Heck and Jerry Conway
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #4 (1998)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
We’ve technically already covered Justice, as Major Victory of the Guardians of the Galaxy is a possible future incarnation of the character, but let’s look at him solo in this younger guise anyway. Justice was the former leader of the New Warriors, who joined the Avengers after they returned from Counter-Earth. Having hero-worshipped the team from a young age, Vance was ecstatic when he was invited to join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but soon found that his hero-worship was getting in the way. Nervous about messing up in front of his idols, Justice would frequently freeze in battle, only making things worse for himself. However, he eventually managed to overcome his issues, and became a stalwart Avenger, even going on to help train the next generation of heroes in the pages of both Avengers: The Initiative and Avengers Academy. In terms of where we may end up seeing Vance on screen, it’s a tricky one. Major Victory could potentially appear in the rumoured Guardians of the Galaxy film, depending on which version of the team appears there, or Marvel may save the character for a New Warriors film somewhere down the line. Either way, if Vance appears in any of his superhero guises, expect him to cross over to the Avengers for a sequel or two afterwards.
Firestar (Angelica Jones)
First Appearance: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode #1: The Triumph of the Green Goblin (1981)
Created by: Dennis Marks, Dan Spiegle, Christy Marx, John Romita and Rick Hoberg
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #4 (1998)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
The first Avenger whose premier appearance didn’t happen in comics, Firestar is best known for her role in the classic eighties cartoon, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. It would be another four years before the character appeared in the comics, in 1985s Uncanny X-Men #193, but she’s been a mainstay of the Marvel Universe since then. Starting out as one of Emma Frost’s students, the Hellions, Firestar later joined the New Warrirors, and began dating her fellow team member, Justice. So it was that when Justice was invited to join the Avengers, Firestar went along with him. However, in recent years, Justice and Firestar’s relationship has come to an end, as has her association with the team. Still, as with Justice, if Marvel ever do a New Warriors film, Firestar’s a likely candidate to show up, and could then potentially move over to the Avengers franchise afterwards. That said, it’s kind of disappointing that her first appearance on a cinema screen will definitely not be in a Spider-Man film.
Triathlon / 3-D Man (Delroy Garret Jr.)
First Appearance: Avengers #8 (1998)
Created by: Kurt Busiek and George Perez
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #27 (2000)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Originally introduced as Triathlon, a man who had the “triple power within” unlocked so that he had physical strength, speed and agility three times that of the peak of human proficiency (think three Captain Americas), Garrett eventually enrolled in the Initiative programme to become a better superhero. Upon graduating, he was given the name and costume of the original 3-D Man, granting him one of the stupidest names in Marvel history, but oh well. It’s not like he’ll be appearing on a cinema screen near you at any point in the future. He’s just too damn obscure.
Silverclaw (Maria De Guadalupe “Lupe” Santiago)
First Appearance: Avengers #8 (1998)
Created by: Kurt Busiek and George Perez
Joined the Avengers: Avengers #30 (2000)
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
The daughter of Peliali, a volcano goddess, Silverclaw has the ability to transform into a variety of jungle animals. One of the least interesting characters in an otherwise stellar run on Avengers from writer Kurt Busiek, Silverclaw’s a very long shot for any screen appearances.
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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I love how you love a lot of the same comics I love. The Loners should 100% get made, always thought it would make a great TV show.
Yeah, actually, Loners as a TV series would be very cool if done right. Who do we pitch to?
Unfortunately I think it’s Jeph Loeb and as much as I’m a fan of his early work, I’ve lost so much respect for his latest stuff I don’t think I could keep my big mouth shut
*whispers* I quite liked X-Sanction. Not amazing, but kind of enjoyable. But yeah, he really hasn’t been on form for a while.