Avengers Assemble – Speculating on Marvel Studios Phase Two
With San Diego Comic Con now behind us, there has been a veritable avalanche of Marvel Studios movie news, most of it already covered here on this very site in greater detail, but it bears repeating. First up, thanks to some juicy concept art, the Guardians of the Galaxy movie has been confirmed as featuring the most recent iteration of the team, which, yes, includes Rocket Raccoon! Rejoice! Next, we have the official confirmation that Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man movie is definitely moving forwards, with some test footage shown by the director giving an idea about how they’re going to realise the character. It also looks like, as suspected, the film will feature both the Hank Pym and Scott Lang versions of Ant-Man. Thor 2 has now been renamed Thor: The Dark World, which doesn’t really give much away in terms of plot at this point, though it has been confirmed that Mads Mikkelsen will now not be appearing in the film. Captain America 2 has also undergone a name change, now being known as Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Like our illustrious leader here at Sidekickcast , I think that the Winter Soldier storyline is something which would’ve been better saved for, at least, the third film in the series. That said, it is one of the best Cap stories of all time, and you never know, the title could well be some kind of bluff, and the film won’t feature Bucky at all. In other Cap news, Anthony Mackie is reportedly in talks to play the Falcon in the super soldier sequel, so we may well end up with two Cap sidekicks for the price of one. And finally, Comic Con was the perfect opportunity for Marvel to show us the new Iron Man armour for Iron Man 3, and confirm the worst kept secret in Marvel movies, Sir Ben Kingsley is playing the Mandarin. Which is exactly what they did. Now, let’s look at some more Avengers bad guys, shall we?
Doctor Doom (Victor Von Doom)
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #5 (1962)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Doctor Doom isn’t just the Fantastic Four’s archenemy, he’s the premier bad buy for the entire Marvel universe. The Avengers have faced him both in their self-titled book, and most of the individual members own books. Really, you haven’t made it as a superhero in Marvel comics until you’ve fought against Doom. Sadly, Doom is caught up in the rights to the Fantastic Four, which are owned by Fox when it comes to the movies, which means he won’t be appearing in Marvel’s film universe any time soon. It’s a real shame, since Doom is an awesome character who it would be fun to see interacting with all the Avengers, in particular Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor.
The Leader (Samuel Sterns)
First Appearance: Tales to Astonish #62 (1964)
Created by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: The Incredible Hulk (2008)
The Hulk has two major enemies who keep on coming back again and again to battle him. The first, the Abomination, is a character who can match the Hulk on a physical level (and appeared in The Incredible Hulk in the form of Tim Roth). The other, the Leader, is another character who was transformed by gamma radiation, but instead of it increasing his physical capabilities, it mutated his brain. As such, the Leader now has green skin, a massive head, and incredible intelligence. Believing his intelligence gives him the right to rule the world, he has clashed with the Hulk again and again, pitting his brain against the Hulk’s brawn, and failing every time. The Leader has already appeared in the Marvel movie universe, in his civilian alter ego of Samuel Sterns, who was portrayed by Tim Blake Nelson in The Incredible Hulk. That film featured a hint of things to come, with Bruce Banner’s blood dropping into a cut on Sterns’ forehead, and his head beginning to pulse and grow. He’s an unlikely candidate for an Avengers sequel, but if another Hulk movie happens, the Leader, in the form of Tim Blake Nelson, is a pretty safe bet to appear.
Skrulls
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #2 (1962)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None. Well, technically none. Well, probably.
A shape shifting alien race with designs on conquering the Earth, the Skrulls haven’t appeared overtly in the Marvel movies yet (though that said, the Chitauri, the alien race the Avengers battled in Avengers, was the name of an alien race from the Ultimate line of comics which were originally intended to be the Ultimate version of the Skrulls), but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been there at all. The comic storyline, Secret Invasion, put forward the idea that the Skrulls had actually infiltrated Earth years ago, replacing many characters with their own agents over the course of time, including Hank Pym, Mockingbird, Spider-Woman, Dum Dum Dugan and Jarvis. Secret Invasion isn’t a bad idea for a future storyline for all of the Marvel movies, giving us a superhero thriller where paranoia about who you can and can’t trust can be seeded in the solo films, with the invasion itself taking place in an Avengers movie. When the Skrulls do arrive, a few movies down the line (if at all), don’t be surprised if we find out we’ve been watching a couple of them for a while beforehand.
The Wrecking Crew
First Appearance: Defenders #17 (1974)
Created by: Len Wein
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
When the Wrecker (who had first appeared in Thor #148, gaining his powers when the Norn Queen mistook him for Loki) decided to share his Asgardian superpowers with three fellow criminals (by making all of them grasp his enchanted crowbar during a lightning storm), the Wrecking Crew was born. While primarily seen as Thor bad guys, the Wrecking Crew are one of those villain groups who can appear anywhere, and have been seen frequently battling Spider-Man, the Avengers, Luke Cage and the Defenders, among others. With the title of The Dark World, we can assume that Thor’s next film will be primarily set in one of the other nine worlds, but once we get a Thor film which returns the God of Thunder to Midgard, he’ll need some Earth based enemies to face. The Wrecking Crew would fit the bill nicely.
Molecule Man (Owen Reece)
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #20 (1963)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
A character so powerful that he can control all matter at the molecular level, the Molecule Man has been seen undertaking such fetes as destroying and recreating both Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, and the Silver Surfer’s surfboard, creating impregnable force fields, dropping a mountain on a group of superheroes, transporting the city of Denver through space and even creating life. Thankfully, Molecule Man was one of those bad guys who was more misunderstood than truly evil, and eventually tried to settle down and have a normal life, even helping save the world from the Beyonder. But nothing ever lasts, and the Molecule Man may try to do good, but is also not exactly the most balanced of individuals. As such, he always inevitably ends up returning to cause problems, whether intentionally or not. He’d be an interesting threat for the Avengers to face, because he’s so powerful, but not strictly evil. He’s an unlikely candidate though, since the character’s not really that well known.
The Kree
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #65 (1967)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
Another alien race who have occasional designs on the Earth, the Kree are the race responsible for the creation of the Inhumans and the Deviants on Earth, and one of their own, Mar-Vell, was active on Earth as the hero, Captain Marvel, giving them a number of ties to the Avengers. The Kree also have a long-standing enmity with both the Skrulls and the Shi’ar, and wars between the various races have formed the basis for two famous Avengers stories (The Kree/Skrull War and Operation: Galactic Storm respectively). Also, if you get the Kree, you get both Ronan the Accuser, a Kree enforcer who can go toe-to-toe with Thor in combat, and the Supreme Intelligence, a living computer made up of the brains of the finest Kree scientists on their home world of Hala. If Marvel decide to do another alien invasion plot, then they’re more likely to use the Skrulls, but the Kree/Skrull War would be a good storyline to adapt. Rather than an invasion, Earth is simply caught in between two warring alien races, and the Avengers have to fight against two armies. It won’t be the next film, but it’s a possibility for Avengers 3.
Norman Osborn
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #14 (1964)
Created by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
It’s surprising what a good fit for an Avengers bad guy Spider-Man’s archenemy turned out to be. Sure, he’d been giving Spidey a hard time in the comics for ages as the Green Goblin, but in recent years, he seems to have stepped up his game. Feigning sanity, Osborn was put in charge of the Thunderbolts by the US Government, and led them into battle against the Skrulls during the Secret Invasion. It was Osborn who ended up killing the Skrull Queen, and was granted more power by the government as a result. Osborn formed his own team of Dark Avengers and, using stolen Iron Man armour, began operating as the Iron Patriot, always looking for more power. This naturally brought him into conflict with the Avengers more than once, as well as leading to a brutal war against the X-Men, until his true nature was exposed after he laid siege to Asgard. Captain America led the true Avengers into combat against Osborn’s team, and the one time Green Goblin was once more incarcerated. However, he has since returned again, having undergone a procedure to transform himself into an Adaptoid (a being who can emulate the powers of the Avengers). The Avengers defeated him once more, but it’s only a matter of time before Osborn returns, and as long as Spider-Man is on the team, he will be targeting the Avengers. Osborn, however, won’t be appearing in the Marvel Studios films, since his rights are part of the Spider-Man franchise which are still very much in the hands of Sony. Of course, that said, we’ve all seen the Iron Patriot armour in leaked Iron Man 3 set pics, though Marvel have tried to tell us it’s a new paint job for War Machine instead. We’ll see soon enough, though if it is the Iron Patriot, it won’t be Norman in the armour.
Fin Fang Foom
First Appearance: Strange Tales #89 (1961)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: Cameo in Iron Man (2008)
A giant green alien dragon in purple pants. Yes, we need Fin Fang Foom in the Marvel movie universe. An image of the character, as redesigned by Adi Granov for the Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas miniseries, appeared in the first Iron Man movie, and when the first Avengers trailer to show the giant Chitauri space beast things was released, there was speculation that this was meant to be Fin Fang Foom, but that’s the extent of the character’s involvement in the Marvel movies so far. Fingers crossed, he appears somewhere down the line. With his purple pants.
Dormammu
First Appearance: Strange Tales #126 (1964)
Created by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
The ruler of the Dark Dimension, and the main antagonist of Doctor Strange, the dread Dormammu is an all powerful demon who once, aided by Loki, pit the Avengers and the Defenders against each other in combat. Dormammu won’t be in any Marvel movies until Marvel get around to that oft-rumoured Doctor Strange film, but once he appears there, don’t be too surprised if he then appears in the following Avengers movie, much as Loki did with Thor and Avengers. That is, if Marvel don’t do a Defenders film. Come on Marvel, give us the cinematic Defenders!
Morgan le Fay
First Appearance: Black Knight #1 (1955)
Created by: Stan Lee and Joe Maneely
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
The Marvel version of the character from Arthurian legend is King Arthur’s half-faerie half-sister. An immortal black magic user who has clashed with the Avengers a number of times, Morgan once transformed an entire team of Avengers, at that point thirty-nine members strong, into medieval versions of themselves subservient to her. While it’s unlikely to happen, the idea of the Avengers facing a genuine mystical threat from the time of King Arthur and Merlin on screen is an appealing one, and would allow Marvel to bring the Black Knight onto the team as well. Who wouldn’t enjoy that?
Korvac (Michael Korvac)
First Appearance: Giant-Size Defenders #3
Created by: Steve Gerber and Jim Starlin
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: None
A bad guy with cosmic powers who was able to not only defeat the combined strength of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, but killed both groups as well. While Korvac was clearly insane, and trying to remake the world in his own image, his motives were (at least partially) altruistic, and he ended up committing suicide, restoring the Avengers and the Guardians to life as his final act. Of course, you can’t keep a good villain down, especially in Marvel comics, and so Korvac has returned a number of times to plague Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The Korvac Saga is seen as an all time classic Avengers storylines, and rightly so. While the Avengers are going to be a bit busy with Thanos over the next few years, having Korvac show up somewhere down the line is something Marvel definitely need to consider doing.
The Avengers
First Appearance: Avengers #1 (1963)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Marvel Studios Film Appearances: The Avengers (2012)
Let’s be honest, the Avengers end up fighting each other almost as often as they fight super powered madmen, evil robots, gods and despots from the far future. There are plenty of stories in which the Avengers fight the West Coast Avengers, or the New Avengers fight the Mighty Avengers, or all the Avengers just engage in a massive slugfest with each other. Kevin Feige has made noise in the past suggesting that the third or fourth Avengers movie could well be based on Civil War. The Avengers fighting the Avengers for two hours? It’s going to happen. It’s just a question of when.
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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