2020 was the first year without any content from the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2009. A streak of 10 years lost. This is more heart-breaking than losing an 800 day streak on Snapchat. Anyway, I think a year break might be a good thing. One the one hand, it means we have to wait longer for Black Widow’s last ride, Vision’s resurrection and whatever the hell the Eternals will be about.
However it also gives us time to reflect on the MCU so far. And more importantly, it gives us time to make our predictions on the future! In this series, I’ll be collecting the predictions and writing my biggest hopes for the future of Marvel. (Spoilers ahead: DUH).
We take a break from the theorising of projects that are already planned. This article is about projects that should be in the works because it would make bank.
Last week, an actor/director tweeted out an idea for a TV series centred around the WandaVision unlikely star Jimmy Woo. The director, Stephen Ford, described the series as a X-Files type series with Woo solving weird cases in the MCU. Following a positive response, he is now writing a pitch for the big bosses at Marvel.
In the comics, Jimmy Woo is much more than a typical FBI agent. At one point even has his own secret service agency.
The only similarity between the MCU version and the comics is their name, ethnicity and the fact they work for government agencies. Even if it is completely unrelated to the MCU, this series would be entertaining. The actor that plays Woo, Randall Park, is also game.
It would also be incredibly good for diversity because whilst Marvel is just about getting there with black Diversity, it’s Asian diversity is terrible and even worse in the comics. So far, the most notable Asian characters in the MCU are Wong and Ned. Both of whom are sidekicks.
So a Woo centred series would be exceptionally good for Marvel’s reputation and would reel in all the Woo fans.
The big question is will the mastermind of Marvel, Kevin Feige, permit this in his vision for the MCU? An even better question, are there other quirky ideas that Marvel is missing out on?
The previous Marvel TV series explored other parts of the superhero world. This brought unique takes to the role of a superhero.
WandaVision was really good at this, completely embracing the sitcom genre. TikTok content creator, @daejahtalkstv, elaborates how superhero movies can be more than just action sci-fi big blockbuster stories. It is possible to be classified as superhero content even if it doesn’t fit the typical style of superhero films.
Hence, here are a couple of random ideas for the MCU that Feige should potentially consider.
Disney if you see this, all I ask is to be credited and I’ll pretend this exchange never happened. (Only including existing characters that already exist in the MCU).
Korg’s 5 years on Earth
This first one may just be an excuse to have Taika Watiti appear as Korg more. But let’s be honest, Korg could be making a podcast and Marvel fans could go nuts for it. Korg’s been living on earth in the five years and probably more after Endgame.
It would be a fun, light series following an alien learning how to live on Earth. This could be a more interesting way to fill plot holes from Endgame. It doesn’t even need to be a full series.
It could be a couple of live-action shorts. Or Korg running his own podcast with special cameo guests. One of these cameos has to be Luis (Michael Peña) from the Ant-Man films. It is truly criminal that both these comic relief characters haven’t been in the same film yet).
Skrull Family undercover/alien blending in on earth
This idea is a spin on the 2015 Vision comic series. In this, Vision tries to build his own family which ends horribly for pretty much everyone.
However, we’ve established at this point that A) the Skrulls are on Earth B) They’re staying undercover for some reason and C) the MCU is somehow adapting the Secret Invasion comic story into a Disney+ series.
I am slightly worried that this adaptation may not go as well. MCU on the whole have been horrible at adapting stories that have major consequences (looking at you Civil War and Age of Ultron) and the Skrull invasion is probably a story that has the biggest impact if done right.
Also, it is the type of story that needs set-up. Unless they’re going to turn round and sing “IT WAS THE SKRULLS ALL ALONG” there is little to no set up so far for the Skrulls.
Hence, it could make sense to have an alien family undercover series created. You could make references to other alien undercover content such as My Parents Are Aliens and Race to Witch Mountain.
The series would probably get darker as it goes along as the Skrull do anything to keep their secret under control.
Woo, Rambeau and Darcy
The Jimmy Woo series has already been pitched. Personally, I think a Woo series would be incomplete without Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Dr Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings).
WandaVision is literally a series spotlighting all the side characters from previous MCU films. I think it will be hard for Marvel to just put them on the side-lines again without some complaints.
We’ve seen Darcy grow from wise-cracking intern to *checks notes* wise-cracking doctor… Ok, there hasn’t much development there but this trio makes WandaVision so much better and it would be a shame to never see them work together again.
So to the man pitching a Woo series, don’t forget the other members of the mystery-solving trio (The Hex-gang, I think the fans have dubbed them).
Luis’ Heist Crew
Ok technically when we last see this character in Antman and the Wasp, Luis had turned a new leaf and was working a security firm with Scott Lang. However, I think we can breeze all over that for the sake of having Luis have his own comedy heist show.
It can be like a mini-Antman film, which are already heist genre themed. Whilst other heist stories are filled with over planned, cleverly precise schemes, Luis’ show will have none of that.
By contrast, his crew will come up with dangerously dumb plans that through some sort of chaos actually turn out right and somehow don’t land them in prison or worse.
It’ll be a bit like “Tower Heist” and would definitely make fun of the Fast and Furious series in one way or another.
Damage Control – Clean-up crew
ABC actually greenlit a comedy series based on Damage Control who briefly appeared in Spiderman: Homecoming causing to become the Vulture. However, we never got to see the show, probably due to DC doing a similar series.
However, I feel like it would be a wasted opportunity to leave a sitcom like this on the shelf. Like the Korg series, it could look at the holes between the major films. Maybe even look at how The Snap affected the average worker.
Drax and Mantis/Collector and the Grandmaster
Can’t forget our aliens! So much of current MCU content is centred on Earth so it would be nice to see a change of scenery. Catch up with what the Collector or the Grandmaster are doing, two incredibly powerful characters in the comics who were slotted into the MCU as minor weak nobodies.
Feige may have plans for them later on but they seem to add too much lore for the MCU to handle. However, it would be nice to know what happened to either of them.
Alternatively, we have Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff), another unlikely duo that might be interesting to watch. I picked these two over Rocket & Groot because R & G already have a bunch of content in comics and animated series.
Whereas Drax & Mantis seem more of a unique duo to the MCU and will certainly have more squabbles because they haven’t worked together as long as Rocket.
Look into the other nine Realms of Yggdrasil
Hopefully, Thor Love and Thunder can show us what the first few Thor films could have been.
MCU have this comic character enriched with lore and adventures and they’ve barely scratched the surface of that character’s story or the other realms in which he has adventures.
A short series that maybe look at adventurers in each of these realms would give us the opportunity what the Thor films missed out on.
Doctor Strange ‘Magic School’ series
This, out of the rest of the options, is the most wishful thinking but you’re going to have magic in the MCU and not going to introduce a Harry Potter-like school of magic. Come on Marvel. You could make so much dolla if you did it right.
In all honesty, we barely tap the mechanics of magic in the MCU and I think a Doctor Strange adjacent series could do this pretty well. It could focus on Wong teaching a new set of magicians because the actor was so good in Deadly Class.
It could be about the magicians who decide to go into the real world instead of staying with Masters of the Mystic Arts but can’t leave the magic world behind. Maybe even set up Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) as a villain a bit more before he appears in a Doctor Strange film again.
Look into the world of Wakanda
John Walton, PA Wire/PA Images
There’s already plans for a Disney+ live-action series set in Wakanda so Disney is already on my wavelength but yes this is absolutely needed after the first Black Panther film.
It could fill in the blanks between the films. The last time we saw Wakanda, ignoring the battle in Infinity War, it had just opened its doors to the world.
Like with the nine realms of Yggdrasil, we’ve barely scratched the surface of Wakanda even though the team behind BP did much better in establishing Wakanda than the team behind any of the Thor films.
I would love for this to be about one of the three women of Black Panther.
Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje, the badass warriors of Wakanda. A workplace sitcom with Shuri (Letitia Wright) and the inventions she gets to build with her team.
A spy series following Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), showing her independence from T’Challa.
Or even, if you’re thinking about saving money, introduce a new character entirely. Could be a way to bring in Storm, the X-men hero who has ties to Wakanda. Or a new hero entirely.
I would even accept a series about M’Baku (Winston Duke) and the Jibari tribe, clashing with the new rules of Wakanda. One tiktokker even theorised how this upcoming series could bring in a familiar character from the Netflix Marvel Universe.
All in all, these are opportunities that Marvel is missing out on and need to get on that pronto. If you have any other sidekick adventures comment below.
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