Tag: mcu

  • “The Marvels” Rewrite – Project : Doomsday Pt.1

    “The Marvels” Rewrite – Project : Doomsday Pt.1

    The Marvels is a strange MCU outing: It’s largely forgotten I feel – with most people only remembering the end when Beast shows up – but it’s not as scrutinised as other films of these phases have been. It’s really not the best, it’s tonally inconsistent and it has a lot of forgettable elements – especially the villain – but it’s also kind of fun and cute. The three main leads work very well together, Nick Fury is a lot of fun when paired up with the more civilian characters from Kamala Khan’s supporting cast and the action is genuinely very solid. So, why am I changing it? Well, for one, I feel it could be much better, but I also feel that with Captain Marvel supposedly set up as a member of the new “big three”, she needs a story that ties into the bigger picture a little bit more. So, How am I going to change it?

    My whole pitch for this version of the Marvels is dialing the original ALLLL the way up to 11. Every aspect we enhance, we make grander, bigger, larger, more expansive – whatever you wanna call it. To show you what I mean: “The Marvels” refers to our trio of heroines, Monica, Kamala and Carol, that doesn’t change in my pitch – what does change is that I want there to be MORE “Marvels”. Yes, those initial three characters will still be the main focus of my pitch, they’re the central driving force of the film, they’re the emotional core, but maybe along the way they meet more of these “Marvels”.

    In the original film this group travel from planet to planet as Dar-Benn plunders the natural resources of each to reforge Hala, Homeworld of the Kree. In my pitch they’ll go to more planets, meet more civilizations and go to known and unknown corners of the Marvel Universe. I’m literally turning it into an inter-planetary roadtrip. That’s my pitch: Captain Marvel, Ms Marvel and Monica go on a roadtrip through the cosmos to help a series of unexpected allies with similar branding. Instead of seeing around 3 planets, like we do in the original, let’s make it-a-dozen-or-so. How and why? Let’s get into it.

    In the very first moments of this new story we meet a fleet of Kree Warriors as they set course for Earth. They’re led by a Kree-Male who’s authoritarian voice belters the order to touchdown and attack, no matter the cost. They’ve heard tales of a woman who’s taken up a “Marvel” mantle, unknowingly becoming an emeny of the Kree. On the other side of Earth, floating above the edge of the exosphere, The “Sentient World Observation and Response Department”, better known as SWORD, takes note of the enemy ships as they quickly descend onto earth, targeted touchdown-point: New Jersey. Abigail Brand – leader of SWORD ponders to herself: “Whatever is in New Jersey?”

    The SWORD Base overlooking Earth, a ship full of agents launching themselves into battle

    Kamala Khan of course! We meet her as she’s making quick work of a group of nameless thugs robbing the local Circle-Q convenient store before the Kree touch-down in her street. She is a little excited at first, it is her first Alien Invasion after all, but she keeps composure and begins fighting them. Meanwhile SWORD is ready for this fight as well and sends in their best agents, including Monica Rambeau. Monica is an important member of SWORD of course, her mother started the agency, but Abigail is not happy she’s going on this mission. Wherever the Kree go Captain Marvel follows – everyone knows that – and Monica and Captain Marvel are not on great terms. Abigail suspects Monica might be so eager to go along on this mission to face off with Captain Marvel – and if that’s the case it could jeopardize the whole crew. It doesn’t matter though, before she can get another word in Monica’s already into a departing shuttle, on her way to Earth.

    Canon note: I had a tough time with the Ms Marvel show and how it fits in with the story I’m trying to tell but this is what I came up with: While the story itself happened, she’s had her origin and stuff, she DOES not have any intergalactic ties and her bangles are not the source of her powers. We are not doing big purple light constructs: My Kamala is stretchy, bouncy and Shapeshifty. When the MCU decided to give Kamala “pretty” powers they kind of lost me forever – a change so spineless and boring it killed my excitement for most of the entire forthcoming slate. I’m also scrapping the post credit scene since we’re not doing the body-swapping stuff! My version of the Ms. Marvel show is much more street-level and way more faithful to those amazing G. Willow Wilson issues she started out with. 

    Both Monica and Kamala are having a rough time with the fight against the Kree. They’re both still in the infamy of their careers as superpowered people and a team-up takes some time to adjust too. Time they don’t have, since Kamala is quickly worked to the ground and held at knife-point. A Kree Soldier holds his purple dagger mere millimeters from her face as he spouts some threats along the lines of: “Death To All Pretenders Who Dare To Bear The Marvel Name”. Before he can plunge the knife into Kamala’s face though, he is struck by an immensely powerful beam of light and sent flying into a wall.

    Kamala looks to her left, Monica looks as well, every SWORD agent and Kree Soldier turns their head to look at… CAROL DANVERS. Together with the one and only Captain Marvel, the team of heroes is able to swiftly send the Kree packing, but not before another litany of threats come their way from the leader of the group: “No Longer Shall The Marvel Name Be Blemished! We Shall Put An End To Every Fake Who Dares Sully The Name And We Will Be Back For You Pretender.” 

    After the Kree have gone, supposedly continuing their assault somewhere else in the cosmos, and our heroes back at the SWORD space station, Carol can explain what is happening: this faction of the Kree call themselves the “Brotherhood of Hala” and have set on a crusade to kill “All Who Bear The Marvel Name”. She’s been tracking them for a while now, coming across a litany of planets left in ruin and bloodshed. She thought they were headed for someone else in this corner of the Universe but was surprised to find them here on Earth, having been unaware of Ms. Marvel’s presence. Carol wants to immediately continue her search for them, coldly ignoring the other two heroes, but is stopped by Monica. She wants to tag along – help wherever needed, while Kamala insists on going as well. Kamala wants to prove herself to Carol, this is the biggest shot of her life to make her fanfiction into reality and if it means helping innocent people along the way she is here for it. Monica’s motivation is similar, she wants to prove herself to Carol, though she’s doing it for more vindictive reasons. She has the feeling that Carol abandoned her and her mom, and now she has to prove how unbothered she is by that. She is not Lieutenant Trouble anymore – as much as Carol may want that to still be the case. This scene, where the three heroes reluctantly band together serves both as a display for their motivation and the beginning of their character arcs:

    • Carol is a loner, she thinks she needs to be a loner to function and to not put anyone else in danger.
    • Monica is angry, and lets her anger decide what she does and how she does it.
    • Kamala is insecure as she journeys alongside these heroes of hers, thinking that she’ll never be good enough – not seeing their humanity and flaws.

    Trying to come up with excuses to ditch Kamala and Monica, Carol points out that two of them can’t fly or breath in space. Monica rightfully points out that they’re in a space station surrounded by a triple-dozen space-crafts and two of them are decorated pilots – so they set upon their journey in a loaned spaceship.

    Because I wanna hone-in on that Roadtrip aspect, I want to have the space-ship resemble a kind of RV / Campervan feel. It’s kind of dingy and it sputters as it gets off the ground, it has interiors and beds and enough seats for everyone to sit in the cockpit together, it needs to be fun and homey in there. SWORD just doesn’t have the resources right now to give them the greatest spacejet they have, Abigail mentions there’ve been two Celestial-citings in the last year (Canonizing Eternals) and those alone mean they need as much fire-power on-base as they can get. Thus they get the “RV-unit”, which stands for something like “Rocket-Vehicular-Unit” or something along those lines.

    A mock-up of what the RV-Unit would look like, sliding door included

    The first stop on their trip is to Carol’s original lead. A man working in an isolated research facility in the proximity of Mars: Doctor Adam Brashear. When they get there they arrive to a quiet scene, no Kree or other alien war-mongers running amok, just a Kirby-esque space station floating in solitude. Inside things are – somehow – even quieter, it’s lonely and desolate, it’s almost sad. Not in a decrepit way, the whole thing is spotless and clean, but it’s just so big and empty. In one of the rooms Kamala and Monica stumble upon a glass case with a beautiful blue costume inside. It’s got this white helmet piece and a blue emblem on the chest – a look that Monica appears to recognize. She’s learned quite a few of the world’s biggest secrets working for the government and this is one of them. 

    Now we get a little bit of an Origin story for Adam Brashear: A researcher studying anti-matter in the late 90s, Adam Brashear became a respected scientist in his field. Together with his research-partner Conner Sims, he created a portal of sorts between a strange dimension completely made-up of Anti-Matter, one they could harness the power off to fuel human civilization for decades to come. But when their portal explodes, Adam and Conner are changed, one becoming a force for good, and the other a force of evil. 

    “The rest of the story is hearsay, some believe the government covered it up, either killed Adam and Conner or sent them to some remote location never to be seen again, others believe they never made it out of the explosion. Most believe it to be a fairy tale though, a cautionary tale for scientists and such, the tale of Project Perseus, The Blue Bomb, The-“

    “The Blue Marvel”.

    Carol stands behind the two with a knowing look in her eyes, one filled with grief. “That’s what happened. Adam became the Blue Marvel. He became a hero, he became Fury’s big dream. After I left, Adam became Fury’s hero of the future, as powerful as me but tied down to earth, no ambition to roam the stars. Conner was the other side of that coin, a nightmare, an unstoppable evil, too powerful for any army to face. Conner attacked, Adam went after him and things went wrong so Fury called me. When I answered it was… it was already too late.”

    “Danvers.” A deep voice sternly puts an end to the story. “You know I don’t like unannounced house-visits”. Adam Brashear, the Blue Marvel, stands behind the trio of heroes – he’s younger than you might expect, perpetually stuck at the age he was at the time of the explosion.

    The Blue Marvel suit, encased in glass. Taken from his original mini-series look.

    Monica and Kamala try to warn Adam about the Kree soldiers on their way to come take his head off but he doesn’t really listen. Him and Carol are locked in a stare down of sorts, him facing a past-life he desperately tried to forget while she’s facing one of the worst mistakes of her life. A tear streams down her cheek. Monica and Kamala on the other hand realize that it’s strange how the Kree haven’t shown up yet – they had a sizable head-start after all. A question that is answered almost immediately as the Kree fleet shows up again, this time accompanied by a plethora of other, smaller, ships. 

    We do another big fight though this time everything goes much worse. The trio of heroines are not meshing well together, Monica doesn’t know what she can and can’t do, she’s pigheaded and not listening to the others, Kamala’s power set doesn’t make for great team-ups with the others and her inexperience leads to constant second guessing during the fight while Adam refuses to use his powers during the whole thing. This only reaffirms Carol’s suspicion, she needs to work alone or people will get in her way. Things only get worse when one of the Kree targets Adam, knocks him out and takes him with as the other three Marvels are incapacitated. That’s when they meet the leader of this “Brotherhood Of Hala, a mysterious Kree by the name of Legacy. He taunts Carol, telling her he didn’t expect much from her and she still managed to disappoint. He leaves the three heroines be, defeated and wallowing in it – he’s got bigger plans to focus on. 

    Our villain: Legacy. He wears a traditional Kree-Spartan warrior uniform, his anger hidden behind the shadows of his helmet

    Carol, Kamala and Monica get back on the RV to lick their wounds. The trip away from mars is quiet and solemn before Carol tells the others that she’s seen enough, she’ll drop them off back on earth and go after the Kree alone. Monica gets pissed in return and Kamala tries to interject how unfair it all is as the RV begins to sputter and stutter louder than before. Their in-fighting continues as the clunking sounds continue to grow and grow until the entire thing just shuts down, only adding fuel to Carol’s frustration. “Stupid thing!” she yells, beating the controls senselessly to no avail. Instead, Carol decides to go out and push the RV, she knows of a nearby station where they can get this thing fixed – then she can turn around and make a b-line for Earth and continue on this adventure alone. Before anyone can get another word in she’s out of the door, pushing them along.

    The atmosphere in the ship is solemn as Kamala sits in her corner of the RV, disappointed in this whole adventure. This is not how she imagined her first team-up with Carol Danvers would go. Monica notices and goes up to her and the two begin to talk. This scene in particular is important because it features Kamala and Monica discussing Carol, with Monica really expressing her anger towards her old best friend while Kamala tries to reason with her. These characters are both at polar opposite points from one-another and this scene is meant to both reflect that while also making them sort of realize that they’re not treating Carol like the person she is. Kamala, at one end of the spectrum, views her as this amazing superpowered goddess and Monica, all the way on the other end, sees her as this great hero who has no time for simple people like her or her mom – when in reality Carol is still a human being, one with faults and flaws, someone who makes mistakes – maybe a lot of them at that, and someone who is scared to face people she doesn’t wanna disappoint. This conversation marks the beginning of the evolution of their character arcs. 

    Carol drops off the RV at this weird intergalactic garage around Mintaka of the Orion Belt, where the alien mechanic tells our heroes that it’ll take him a few hours to get the RV back up and running again. I want to show audiences all these different worlds in space, I want them to see all these wonderful alien designs and sprinkle in some hints for what is still to come. The future of the MCU lies in space and establishing that this is a lively and expansive side of the universe is key in setting that up. I feel like you really wouldn’t be jumping-the-gun if you show audiences some of those more iconic alien-races before they become more important. Show us Strontians and Shi-Ar warriors and talk about threats like the Brood, establish this world so you don’t have to later. 

    Now that the RV is stranded for a while, Carol gets enough time to follow up on a lead that could help her track the Kree. She tells the others to stay put while she goes out – flying off into orbit before either Kamala nor Monica can contest. 

    Carol’s frustration boils over as she flies through the cosmos, becoming so angry she can’t help but decimate an entire asteroid as it drifts into her path of flight. Obviously she’s frustrated with herself, she’s frustrated over the abduction of Adam, she’s frustrated that her heroism is costing more and more lives everyday and she’s frustrated that she’s taking it out on Monica and Kamala. Her anger is short-lived though as a familiar face enters the scene: Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, riding a pegasus.

    The Valkyrie and Captain Marvel relationship is a really fun bit of character building on-paper, yet it’s basically non-existent in the MCU when you think about it. I like the little scene of Carol and Valkyrie in The Marvels but it’s not like… memorable. It’s a little gay I guess, mostly because that’s what’s being implied in interviews after the fact, but even that is like a sidenote at best. In my version of the Marvels we have Carol and Valkyrie going on a little date, not a real one but the two of them go out for coffee in a space diner – filled with lively alien creatures among the 50s retro decor.

    The two sit down, discuss what’s been happening with the Kree and with Monica and Kamala and Valkyrie kind of gives the same speech as she does in the original telling Carol that having a team isn’t a bad thing and that having people close to you is important. She’ll function as the first chip in Carol’s hard exterior, informing the first step of her character arc. Carol then asks Valkyrie if she knows anyone else who also carries the Marvel name since they might be in danger. Valkyrie, hesitantly, tells Carol of a story from Sakaar, about a man – nay a boy – who came into the Sakarian battle-arena, beat up the Grandmasters champion and lived like a king for a day before growing bored of it and flying off again. No one had ever done that before and no one has ever done that since. There had been many rumors about this supposed “Marvel Boy” but most of them ended with him disappearing to a planet called Blatodeon. Valkyrie does warn Carol though, Blatodeon is a nasty place and this Marvel Boy is an even nastier dude. 

    Carol and Valkyrie in the space-diner, surrounded by known and unknown alien species

    Valkyrie gives Carol a peck on the cheek and some final words of wisdom as the two say their goodbyes: “You can stand tall without standing alone, Marv”. She hops back on her pegasus and flies away into the bifrost as Carol looks on.

    Later at night, once the RV has been fixed and Monica has flown it into the quiet night, Kamala begins to speculate about Monica’s powers. She’s updating her selfmade Handbook of the Marvel Universe and wants to know exactly what Monica’s power entails. The two talk about Monica’s control over the Electromagnetic Spectrum and we get a little montage where the two of them test out a bunch of ways to use her powers. They have Monica turn on a lightbulb just by holding it, see if she has X-Ray vision (which she doesn’t), pop a bag of popcorn without touching it, try and fail to Kamehameha together and she even tries to recreate the Palpatine Force-Lightning to no avail. 

    Moments from their montage

    The two laugh together and Monica asks Kamala: “How do you think of this stuff?”

    “I take an extra science class – being a superhero is NOT good for your grades and I need the extra credit – we did this experiment one day with a battery but me and my friend Bruno overloaded it and it kind of exploded… I’m definitely not passing this year.”

    “Well you’re a smart girl. Don’t forget it”

    Kamala smiles, this whole scene functions to sort of boost Kamala’s confidence and develop Monica’s powers at the same time. Kamala needs to understand that her nerdiness and her unique way of looking at this world are a benefit and not something she should hide.

    When Carol returns, Kamala and Monica are still going at it. The entire RV is a mess of failed power experiments. The two of them begin to show Carol what they’ve learned, with their biggest accomplishment being a chameleon style metamorphosis. Kamala uses her stretching abilities to stretch and fold her entire appearance into someone else’s – while Monica controls the light around her to distort her appearance into someone else’s. They both illustrate this ability by transforming into Carol, who’s freaked out by the sight of two more of hers in the same room.

    Carol and her imposters

    When they’re done showing off, Kamala mentions how hungry she gets when she uses her powers and Monica agrees that they need to eat. Carol protests at first, stating that they need to hurry if they wanna catch up to the Kree and stop another kidnapping from happening, but the other two make her realize that she’s actually pretty hungry. “Can’t fight a Kree army on an Empty stomach, Ms Danvers” Kamala tells her before Carol quickly corrects the last part: “it’s Carol, Kamala. Call me Carol.” (Which obviously makes Kamala very happy, since they’re basically BFFs now). It might seem like a silly scene but that moment where Carol realizes that – oh yeah I am hungry – is very important for that humanization that we’re honing in on. Carol realizes that she needs to take care of herself if she wants to save everyone – she needs to have people close to her that remind her of that, while Kamala and Monica (maybe subconsciously) see that Carol is also a human who needs food and water to live. Carol takes the three of them to one of her favorite intergalactic food spots.

    This whole scene is supposed to give us a glimpse of how we want these characters to be: Kamala, Carol and Monica looking out on the double moons of the Starlin-System as they eat together and laugh together. They’re sitting on the top of their RV-ship, eating alien gyros and just enjoying the moment for a bit. Carol apologizes to her teammates, clearing up the air a little and making space for their next adventure. 

    Our heroes enjoying some space-gyros

    The next day they arrive at the planet Blatodeon, a dark and grisly planet inhabited by gnarly looking extra-terrestrials that look like roach-human hybrids. Our heroes make their way through busy market streets with vendors selling all sorts of ghastly foods and merchandise, from heads on sticks to burgers made out of gelatinous meat-substances – this whole place should give you the creeps. When Carol starts asking one of the vendors about a “Marvel-Boy” his eyes fill with fear: “HE’S BACK?! OH NO NO OH NO” he shrieks before slamming his market-stand shut. One of the roaming townspeople also approaches the others and pleads with them to leave: “it’s not safe! He’s horrible!”. This goes on for a bit until most of the marketeers and customers have fled – with only one shadowy voice accompanying our Marvels. It’s a female – she tells them to head to the canyon up ahead if they want to find this “Marvel-Boy”. 

    As they head up to the canyon, following the shadowy woman from earlier, they discuss how creepy this all is and we continue to build the expectation that whoever they’re seeing is gonna be a FREAK. This way the audience is even more surprised when they see: Noh-Varr, young and beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful anyone has ever looked – certainly the cutest boy Kamala has ever seen. He’s sitting on a throne of stone, surrounded by roach-babes of all genders and has a not amused look on his face. See, as pretty as Noh-Varr is, he’s also a huge asshole with a disdain for most other life-forms. When the Marvels explain what is happening and how they want to help him he becomes agitated – mad – offended that they’d underestimate him so severely and goes off into a tirade:

    “Do you seriously think I need the help of a bunch of humans? HA! Now that is Dumbspeak! This is idiotic! Against the Kree of this world I am a GOD. I am Morrisonian – you are basic. I am Noh Varr of the 18th Kree Diplomatic Gestalt, I am the ensign of the Marvel – I have single-handedly helped maintain the peace between the Kree and The Skrulls after this time flarked it all up beyond recognition! I am Noh-Varr – I do not – need – you!”

    He’s then shot in the head.

    “Marvel-Boy! You have been sentenced to DEATH by the Brotherhood of Hala! – HOW DO YOU PLEAD?!”  The Kree soldiers stand a-top the Baltodeon mountains, rapidly approaching with an artillery that matches that of a large army. Another fight breaks out between the Marvels and the Kree, only this time it’s clear that the Marvels have a little bit of a better rapport with one-another and they end up sort of beating these guys for a bit. That is until a single energy blast rips through the battlefield and lays waste to both half the Kree Armada as well as all three of our heroes. “I PLEAD: FUCK YOU!” Noh-Varr yells, his face still smoking from the shot earlier and 

    displaying a furious anger. He starts just laying waste to almost the entire Kree army they’ve sent. He flips and jumps around and we get a little showcase of how weird this guy really is. 

    For those who don’t know: Marvel-Boy is a Grant Morrison creation; a futuristic Kree explorer whose DNA has been spliced with that of a Cockroach (hence why he’s hiding out on a cockroach planet, he feels an… attraction – let’s put it like that). He’s triple jointed and a hothead who looks down on earth in most of his first solo-miniseries. I want all that insanity in this little fight. He should be scuttering about like a bug and snapping his limbs in weird ways the whole time.  

    Noh-Varr – AKA Marvel Boy – sitting atop his lonely throne of stone

    As the three Marvels pick themselves back up from the floor the entire battlefield has been cleared and the remaining Kree all flee to their ships, broken limbs included. Only one of them remains on Blatodeon, a poor unfortunate one who’s been pinned: his own sword rammed through his shoulder and into a boulder. Noh-Varr has gotten to him before Carol could and is interrogating him thoroughly. He’s angry and mad and a little sadistic, pressing on the sword, jiggling it and even pushing it a little deeper as The Kree Soldier grunts in anguish. Carol cannot look on. She pushes Noh-Varr away: “That’s enough!” – leading to a screaming match between the two. 

    We kinda need to convey that these two characters are on the same path, one is just further along. Noh-Varr is who Carol will be if she doesn’t take it easy, if she keeps isolating and if she keeps getting angrier. The scuffle ends when the Kree soldier interrupts:

    “Your squabble is futile, Pretenders. Soon you will all be gone, removed like the cancer that you are. The Brotherhood of Hala will right the wrongs of this Universe, clearing the path for his return.”

    He grins like a lunatic. He’s a zealot, a fanatic of the Brotherhood and this cause is one he’s willing to die for.

    “Who? Who’s gonna return” Monica asks

    “Mar-Vell, Hero of the Kree Empire” he states, his grin seemingly void of any pain or anguish. 

    Carol’s focus deepens.

    “Marvel? Like him? Her? Us? Wait, Who?” Kamala asks, there have been a lot of Marvels so far.

    “No.” Carol interjects, “He said Mar-Vell. She was my – my mentor, she’s the reason I have these powers.”

    “No no NO! A fake, another pretender like you. Mar-Vell will be salvation, He’ll be our savi-“

    “Mar-Vell is dead. She dedicated her life to protecting the world from the Kree empire. She died to keep the Tesseract out of your hands: you do not get to pretend she was anything other than a hero”

    As Carol’s anger grows, she also realizes the Kree seems to be slipping away. Is it blood-loss, Noh-Varr? What’s happening to him?

    “Shit, he cracked a capsule! He’s dying.” Monica says as the purple foam spews out of his mouth. I told you he was willing to die for this cause. With his final breaths he gives a warning, a threat: “this world is wrong… a mistake… a dirty little flaw that needs to be corrected… you will be corrected!” 

    And so the only lead to Blue Marvel dies, leaving more questions than answers. 

    Noh-Varr walks off. He’s annoyed by this whole thing, this was more of a nuisance than anything else. Kamala pleads for him to come with, help them out and hopefully stop these people from coming after them but Noh-Varr just scoffs at the idea: “You think I need a bunch of humans around to help me? Don’t be ridiculous.”. He walks off, hoping to never have to see these folks again.

    Now we finally focus on our villains for a moment; we are in HALA, as Legacy begins a sweeping sermon. It starts off gruesome: he has these heads on spikes standing around him on the stage, with him pinning the last one to an empty spike at the beginning of his ramblings. All of the heads belonged to “Marvels” – some heroes of distant worlds, but most just happened to have the unfortunate last name – innocent lives on display for all the cheering Kree to see. It’s supposed to have this fascistic tone as Legacy rants on and on about this plan of theirs. The Kree think there’s something wrong with this world, things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be according to them and the biggest flaw is the absence of Mar-Vell. Now, this is a pretty big deal of course because the MCU has already kind of used Mar-Vell in the first Captain Marvel film, a huge deviation from the original Mar-Vell, who was a hero for years before passing away from cancer. I feel he’s too big of a player in Marvel’s history for them to not address him ever again, not because I want him to replace Carol, I’m far from interested in that, this all just ties into my LARGER plan for this Doomsday project. On the surface this is about a group of fanatics who can’t deal with changes to the status quo – they want to be rid of these “faux” Marvels, they only want this one guy! On a meta-textual level this is about fandom and their rejection of diverse, fresh new takes on characters they love, a theme I love exploring in stories like these, especially since you know they’ll be looked at through a scrutinizing lens given the genders and race of the main characters. 

    As the Kree sermon continues, the speaker reveals more of their plan: they want to open a portal to another dimension and steal Mar-Vell from that timeline, and they need Adam Brashear’s help to do so. He’s dragged on stage, tied up and beaten, as the Kree speaker hurls insults at him while simultaneously praising his work on dimensional-gateways. The Kree have taken Adam instead of just killing him so he can work on the portal technology – something he is convinced to do after they threaten innocent lives, showcasing that while Adam might not be a superhero anymore, he still has that prevailing sense of protectiveness that a hero needs. They’ve also recruited another scientist to assist Adam wearing a name badge that read: Marv L. A burly human with thick glasses and a fashion sense straight out of the 70s – a Ron Swanson type dressed like Carl Sagan. Marv L is short for Marv Liebermann, and he is not a superhero or anything, he’s just unlucky. 

    Later, as the cold evening has fallen upon Baltodeon, Carol stands on the rocks overlooking the city, contemplating the information she’s just learned.

    You okay there, Captain?” Monica playfully asks as she walks up behind her..

    “Stop calling me Captain, Monica… unless I get to call you Lieutenant Trouble again?” she smiles back. 

    “Nooooo, we are far beyond that time of our lives”

    “So, so far” Carol says, a distant smile on her face as she stares into the stars, maybe hoping to catch a glimpse of those memories again. “I miss her a lot, you know, miss hanging out with you guys. Right now all I would want is to talk to her about this. Mar-Vell was our hero and all of this… it just can’t be.”

    “I know what you’re feeling, Carol. Everyday, in that first second of every morning, before I’ve opened my eyes to the world again, I feel like that little girl – waiting for mom to come and wake me up… and then she’s gone again… I miss her so much.”

    It is silent for a moment as the two reminisce together before Monica asks Carol the question she’s been meaning to ask for her entire adult life: “Why didn’t you visit us?”

    “You never came by again. You promised me you’d be back and I never once saw you again. Why? What is so great about all of this that we became unworthy of your time? You know all these people and planets and aliens and you’ve lived entire lives in galaxies I didn’t even know existed.”

    “I had to help – there were emergencies and-”

    “Was my mom’s cancer not an emergency? It took The Snap for you to finally go see her again? It took me dying for you to show your face again on earth? Why Carol? Because I know it’s not your hero-missions and planetary adventures!”

    “I was scared okay… I messed up. I have all this amazing power and I can’t even live up to a promise I made to you when you were 10. I didn’t find the Skrulls a new home, I didn’t put an end to the Kree’s reign of terror on this universe and I wasn’t able to save Maria from all the pain she had to face. I was scared to face it all again, face you… disappoint you.”

    With tears in her eyes, Monica scoffs: “that’s the most human thing you’ve said yet.”

    “You know as a kid, whenever I’d get picked on or I was scared or I just needed a little push, I would look to the sky and imagine you swooping down and lending me a hand. You giving me some of that power of yours so I could face all of it. I guess I never realized you probably needed that push as well…”

    “I still do.”

    Monica hugs Carol: “Whenever you need it, Captain.”

    This is obviously a little rough around the edges but you get the gist, these characters are coming full circle and making up as we start to put the pieces in motion for our third act. 

    The two hold each other for a moment longer as the moon has fully risen into frame. 

    “I like that you still wear my jacket. It looks good on you.”

    “Your jacket? This was mine before you even existed, kid.”

    “I wore it more though – and better!”

    “Tell that to the Ketchup stains on the sleeves!” she laughs. “This was all I had left in my wardrobe, my suit has been burned to a crisp by that asshole’s Marvel Blast.”

    “Same, actually, this thing has more holes than fabric at this point.”

    “You know… I might know a guy who can help!”

    I don’t really have this sequence planned out or anything, I just want to have a dress-up sequence. They go to some distant planet where an intergalactic costume-designer works and they get some upgraded looks. I really love Carol’s suit from the latter half of the Marvels, though I think the colors need to be brighter while Kamala’s standard suit is perfect. One of the best modern superhero designs of the last 30 years rivaled only by like Miles Morales, so we’re not touching that.  Obviously Monica doesn’t have a suit yet, she’s been wearing a SWORD suit for the duration of the film and totally deserves a comic accurate superhero suit as they approach the final act, though I imagine if I had something to say about it, it’d be a little more streamlined and a little less… line-y. 

    There they are, our Marvels, rocking beautiful costumes and looking badass while doing so – and it’s not just the audience who appreciates it.

    “Looking beautiful ladies.” A male voice says from behind them. As soon as she hears the voice Carol’s face goes from scared-surprised to exasperated-and-annoyed as she rolls her eyes. “No…”. It’s Eros! Remember! (…) Harry Styles from the Eternals post credit sequence. (…) No, yeah, this is a weirdly deep cut to bring up but just stick with me. I don’t hate “The Eternals”, it’s a solid film, with pretty fun characters and it looks great. My enjoyment of the film only seems to grow as Marvel continues to serve up more grey-sludge films as the years pass. Ignoring that such a film exists, that these powerhouses of characters are just roaming around in your universe, is stupid. The MCU has made a lot of mistakes and wasted a lot of characters over the years but what I hate the most is when they ignore those mistakes instead of improving them. The Eternals didn’t connect with audiences, that is clear, but it’s not like they never can! Just keep trying. It’s my biggest issue with Doomsday currently: it seems like such a gigantic course-correction, such a pivot, that it renders the entire last 7 years inconsequential. They’re trying to correct a mistake that was never a mistake; just because you made a bad Captain America movie once doesn’t mean you have to bring your white-boy-of-the-month back!

    Anyway, Eros. He’s also on the fashion planet for a new costume – even though he’s already got a wardrobe bigger than Kamala, Monica and Carol’s combined – and, by coincidence, stumbled upon Carol. We imply that they know each other and specifically that Carol does not like him. You could read the situation as something more romantic, perhaps they’re an ex-situationship, but at-least they have a past. Eros follows them around the planet as they walk back to the RV, while hitting on Monica and flattering Kamala along the way, before letting them know he knows what’s been happening, he knows about Mar-Vell and more specifically he knows about the leader of the Brotherhood of Hala. I kind of want to establish Eros as THE gossiper of the universe. He knows everything that’s going on, every scandal, every fight and break-up: if it’s juicy, he knows it! 

    Carol, Monica and Kamala sit in Eros’ chambers on the Fashion planet. It’s gaudy, kitsch and way too big but Kamala is fascinated. Eros offers everyone a drink, very much trying to make this anything BUT business, but once Carol gives him a stern look even he realizes the games are over. He tells Carol that The Brotherhood is led by a Kree they call Legacy – and legacy doesn’t just hate Mar-Vell for no reason, it’s not just the “Multiversal Mistake” stuff, it’s deeper. Legacy is Mar-Vell’s Neglected off-spring and his real name: Genis-Vell

    “Mar-Vell’s whole life was her work for the Kree – then when she discovered her whole life was a lie she pivoted and dedicated it all to Skrulls and Technology and Space-Stones hidden in cosmic cubes. So little time for fun, so little time for love, so little time for fun-loving and no time for little Genis at all. Genis grows up angry, upset and full of Cosmic Radiation from mommy’s experiments, giving you one very mean and very powerful older brother, Carol Danvers” He cheekily smiles. 

    “That man is not my brother.”

    “Come on, Captain. You know Mar-Vell looked at you like a daughter – you’re the child she never had – and that makes Genis very angry… you took his mom! Now he’s gonna take you for all your worth.”

    “Why are you telling me this, Eros?”

    “It’s a warning. I know all about having an evil brother, Captain, and when family gets involved things cut so much deeper, are you prepared for that?”

    Carol thinks for a moment, this has all gotten so much more intense all of a sudden and quite honestly, Eros is right. This is all a lot and she doesn’t know if she can take all that on.  

    “We are.” Monica says with her hand on Carol’s shoulder. Carol looks at Monica with a smile, she’s not alone anymore – this is a burden to share with her friends.

    When they leave Eros’ suite, he leaves her with a smile and one final message: “It’s nice to see you again Carol. Having friends looks good on you.” before the doors close and he disappears. “Why are there so many cute boys in space? It’s not fair.” Kamala comments before Carol quickly dismisses the thought: “You know his brother is Thanos right?” to which Kamala “EEP”s.

    “Having friends looks good on you.”

    Now that we the audience, as well as the characters in the story, know what the stakes are, it’s important not to waste anymore time. The RV sets out for Hala, Homeworld of the Kree. 

    We are reintroduced to Hala not from a grand point of view overlooking the expansive alien city or a cool shot of the Kree-statues overlooking the people, but from the inside view of a dingy apartment. A shower, or the kree equivalent of one, is heard being turned off behind what we can only assume is the bathroom, as a male voice softly hums a song. He steps out, a towel wrapped on his head and another fixed to his waist – a scruffy beard and a little bit of a belly, Yon-Rogg – Carol’s mentor turned foe. He screeches when he sees Carol, Monica and Kamala awaiting him on his couch. 

    I’m not sure why I feel the need to bring Yon-Rogg back, he’s not a particularly strong villain in the first film and I think he doesn’t necessarily fit with what I’m doing here and yet, I kept thinking of ways to involve him. He’s just such a dangling plot-thread from the first film and I quite like the dynamic between Carol and Him in their last scene together so I thought… why not!? 

    He warns Carol that coming here was a mistake, not a trap per-se but a miscalculation on her part. The Brotherhood of Hala are fueled by anger towards her and there isn’t a place for her to hide. “Legacy is stronger than you could ever imagine. He has power that rivals even yours – and his eyes… he sees things Vers, he looks into the universe and sees it all. He has a cosmic awareness…, it’s incredible” Yon-Rogg becomes creepy, he becomes fanatical as his speech goes on. He inches closer to them, his pupils dilate and the towel on his head falls off to reveal: The Captain Marvel Logo cut into his forehead. “He sees all, he sees our future, he sees our past, he sees YOU!” As Yon-Rogg grunts out and leaps towards the three he’s blasted through the walls of his apartment into the city, comically flying across buildings before disappearing into the tall Kree Architecture. The commotion has caught the attention of the surveilling Kree soldiers and our heroes are quickly spotted through the hole in Yon-Rogg’s wall. As jetpack-wearing Kree soldiers fly toward them, Carol yells: “TIME TO GO!” and pulls her compatriots through the hole and into the busy Kree city. 

    Our heroes run over the rooftops, in the alleys and through the living rooms of Hala as the Kree shoot at them from every angle. For a moment they even split up, Carol in the air, Monica on the ground and Kamala twisting herself into knots as she squeezes through small alley gaps and the pipe-systems surrounding the housing-blocks they’re in before Carol manages to grab the other two, lifting them up in the air with one hand each. As they fly through Hala, one of the Kree soldiers grabs a rocket-launcher of sorts and blasts it towards them, catching Carol mid-air, sending her and the others falling to earth. They land in an alley, Carol unconscious and the Kree soldiers hot on their tail. They try to hide but are quickly spotted again and cornered. The threat is real, Kamala tries to go for a swing but gets zapped by a stun-blast from one of the soldiers, leaving Monica as the only one left standing. Things aren’t looking good, the Kree approach, their weapons hissing like snakes in their hands ready to strike, this all seems hopeless… how will she get out: CUT TO BLACK.

    The darkness fades when two gigantic doors open, revealing Carol being hauled into the Legacy’s room by the two Kree soldiers. Legacy patiently awaits her arrival with a grin. He taunts her, reminding her of her failure – that it’s gotten her friends killed and that she’ll be unable to stop what’s about to come. She calls him a madman, an insane freak who’s tricked himself into thinking his delusions are real, but he assures her his visions are authentic – and he’s gonna make sure she knows it. The Space-Stone is calling to him, using the remnants of its immense power to show Genis that things are wrong and to plead for him to fix them. 

    He’s used Adam to create this portal to another world, one not broken and flawed like this one is, and now he’s gonna pull the “original Mar-Vell” out of that universe and into ours: restoring the first of many mistakes woven into the Sacred Timeline. “Once he’s here, he’ll see what needs to change. Me and Him will be side-by-side as we eradicate all this ugliness… and we’ll start with you.”

    “I think we’ve heard enough! Right?!” One of the guards holding Carol says to the other. “Hell yeah we have, I can’t stand to listen to this guy’s mumbling any longer!”. Before Genis can realize what’s happening the two guards punch him in the nose. Obviously, Kamala and Monica aren’t dead, they’ve used their new-found abilities to turn into the guards from earlier and trojan horse themselves right into Genis’ base. Genis is shocked and calls in more Kree guards. The fight that breaks out is the first time that these three heroes have ever worked together in perfect unison. Kamala, Monica and Carol are perfectly harmonized in battle, easily laying waste to the Kree Guards. Genis, annoyed and frustrated, walks off and heads for the portal, he’s not to waste anymore time and begins the portal sequence, typing in some final numbers and adjusting everything before he can finish his life’s work.

    The one problem though is that to run a portal of this size, you need a magnificent amount of power – so much so that there isn’t a battery or generator large enough on this side of the galaxy to run it. But there is a man powerful enough to do so. Genis brings in Adam, chained and hooked up to machinery, and explains that he’ll serve as a battery of sorts to run the portal. Adam refuses to use his powers, but Genis doesn’t need this to be voluntary. Instead he flicks on the machine and it begins to syphon Adam of his strength, ripping the anti-matter from his molecular structure in gruesome fashion. As Adam grunts and screams in pain the portal begins to sizzle and crack, much to the delight of Genis, who feels his ultimate destiny is finally coming to fruition. This is a shocking sight for our Marvels as they come into the room, having made quick work of the Kree soldiers outside.

    Adam becomes a living battery, stripped of his powers through this painful device

    Genis grunts as they approach, cracks his neck and knuckles and gets ready: if they want a fight, he’ll give them one. This is where we get to show off: One fully charged all-powerful Genis-Vell against our Three heroes. Against Kamala and Carol and Monica: Our Marvels. The fight is evenly matched and it’s clear just how formidable Genis really is but even so our heroes are doing a number on him, blasting him, beating him, kicking him and Kamala even manages to shrink down and poke him in the eye. Genis is more on the defensive side the entire time until he finds one opening as Kamala goes in for an attack and takes it. He grabs her arm and slams her into the wall, hitting Carol and Monica in the process. The three women realise that while they have the upper hand numbers wise, Genis is simply too resilient. Most of their attacks have done nothing to him – and the ones that have are quickly rendered obsolete by his rapid healing – all the while the portal continues to grow. 

    Monica realizes that the portal is growing too fast and if they don’t deal with it soon it’s going to cause gigantic problems, including the death of Adam who’s starting to slip in and out of consciousness. Monica explains it like this: Reality is a sheet of paper, and the machine Genis has built is a knife slashing at the sheet. Each slash is creating a bigger hole in the paper but destroying the knife alone won’t undo the damage. The holes remain. If they want to fix this they need tape! 

    “So where do we get tape?” Kamala asks in response to the analogy, dodging punches while doing so.

    “I’m the tape.” Monica responds. “I can absorb the energy that’s being put out by the portal and redirect it, hopefully shutting this thing down. For Good!”

    “Taping up the hole.” 

    “Exactly – but I need that thing to stop drawing power from Adam so that I can actually revert what it’s putting out and I don’t know how to do that without the portal becoming unstable.”

    Kamala grows excited, she knows the answer to this: “It’s like my science class! When I overloaded the battery it exploded – instead I needed to do it gradually right? That’s what we do! Slowly lower the energy intake so you can match it with your output and we keep control of the giant tear in the space-time-continuum!”

    “And how are you going to do that?” 

    “You just watch and learn, Captain!” Kamala says cockily before storming off and shrinking down to the size of a bug… and then coming back apologetically: “I’m sorry, that sounded really cool in my head but maybe it was too much.”

    “No, kiddo, that was badass” Carol responds as the two fist-bump and Kamala runs back – joyous as all her dreams are coming true. 

    “What do you need me to do?” Carol asks Monica as she gets ready to save the universe.

    “How about you start by kicking this guy’s ass!” She yells as Genis goes in for another punch. 

    Carol cracks her knuckles, lights up entire body and goes for it: Binary mode.

    Energy explodes through the room with each blow the two enemies strike on one-another: equally matched, a cosmic kinship through their connection to Mar-Vell and their connection to the space-stone, the same power flows through their veins, a yin and yang – a brother and sister.

    As the battle continues on in the background Kamala has seemingly jumped into the machinery that’s keeping Adam imprisoned, rummaging around the internal circuitry. We recreate one of my favorite Kamala panels as she squeezes herself through the machinery like a rubberband – a Chaplin-esque visual gag as she contorts through spinning cogs and gears. She manages to slow the machinery down and the portal begins to stabilize. 

    Kamala wrangles herself through cogs-and-gears, stretching and folding whenever needed

    “KAMALA! KEEP IT UP! Whatever you’re doing, it’s working! I’m gonna start trying to revert the energy back, don’t stop!”

    A glowing beam of energy is sucked into Monica’s hands as she commandeers the immense power, molding it to her will as the portal begins to move. “I”M DOING IT!” she yells with excitement and surprise. The immense power of it all begins to lift her off the ground… she starts to fly.

    Genis sees this as well and begins to grow even angrier. He continues to tussle for a bit before managing to kick Carol out of his way and freeing himself from battle long enough to pull Monica away from the beam, grabbing her by the ankle and janking her entire body into the floor, breaking her control of the portal. Luckily, the portal is stable due to Kamala’s interference with the battery, as Adam’s strength slowly returns to him – a mistake Genis will quickly have to make up for. He starts smashing into the machine like a madman, tearing it apart as he looks for Kamala. She yells as she’s tossed around, breaking her control off the machinery and sending Adam’s power back to the, now broken, portal.

    Carol tries to get Genis off the portal but he swats her away and grabs tiny Kamala with his other hand, squeezing her tighter and tighter. She screams in agony, the others try to stop it but to no avail. They pull and push on Genis, who just stands there like an immovable statue with an evil toothy grin as he squeezes the life out of Kamala. The commotion is so grand that even reaches Adam, deep in his woozy state. He awakens confused; Now that the energy flow has been corrupted, his strengths are slowly getting back to him. He watches on, growing more and more angry with every fleeting moment, growing stronger at twice the rate. His eyes light up, blue overtaking his irises, and a hard concussive beam of light penetrates Genis through the arm; “STOP!”. Genis drops Kamala in pain, who slowly falls to the ground like a little feather, gently gliding down. 

    When Adam snaps back to reality he’s unchained and realizes what just happened: “No!… oh no…”. He vowed to never use his powers again, especially not for violence against others and yet here he is. The bodies around him remind him of that day, the last time he used his powers, the day he lost his wife and he begins to break down as Carol runs up to him and looks him in the eye. 

    “Adam! Are you okay?? Adam”

    He sobs, regret pouring out of him in the form of salty tears down his cheeks. “It happened again. Why is this happening again?”

    “It’s not Adam, It’s not. You saved her, look. She’s okay, we are okay… I’m here now, Adam, I’m here. I’m sorry I wasn’t there last time but I am now. Things are different.”

    Adam continues his loathing as Carol pleads to him: “We need you Adam. I can’t do this without you. Right now all that pain you’re feeling, all that anguish you’ve kept bottled up, is about to be unleashed ten-folds over this whole universe. Please don’t let that happen, Adam, please. You know she wanted you to keep fighting, keep helping people who need it… need you.”

    “Adam there is so much grief in this life, so much pain. And it’s so tempting to let it cripple you, have it take you over completely and control you. I know it’s happened to me, all the pain and angst just kept bubbling up until I was bitter and angry and alone and I let it push people away… but I can’t do that anymore. I can’t let my pain dictate my life anymore. Don’t let it dictate yours anymore either.”

    Obviously this whole speech would need to be more subtle for it to hit the way I intend it to but I’m getting my point across fairly well: Adam, if only for a moment, puts his grief aside and powers up. The Blue Marvel Returns and Carol’s arc wraps up.

    While the two heroes occupy Genis, Monica and Kamala realize that things have gone completely wrong. The Portal is unstable now, jagged and skittering as everything in the room starts to get sucked into it. Real breaks and tears begin to appear in the space around them, The atoms around them are being torn apart and mangled up as this new reality begins to bleed into the old one: this will destroy everything

    While Carol and Adam continue to give him a beat down, Genis starts to smile as he looks in the portal. He cackles about his prophecy once more; Mar-Vell will come back and this universe will be less broken than it is now! A silhouette even begins to appear by the portal… and then another one, and another, and another – until the entire room is filled with silhouetted characters similar to the ones we see at the end of “No Way Home” when Strange casts his spell. But none of the silhouettes look like Mar-Vell, some might recognize the silhouettes: a man made of stone, a woman with claws and a man made of fire among them, but they’re all barely visible, outlines really of people from distant worlds. Genis is surprised – no, baffled even, he screams angrily before his rage turns to a sort of hopelessness. He’s distracted, defeated in his ideals, giving Carol the upperhand to finally knock him out. 

    Together with Adam she joins Kamala and Monica as they desperately try to put a stop to the rampaging Portal. Adam, having made the portal and being by far the smartest in the room, is their last hope of stopping this rampaging hole in space and time – but even he doesn’t see a safe way out of this. Monica is the only one that knows what needs to be done, she could theoretically still commit to her plan from earlier: redirect the portal’s energies and close it up. Except, now that the portal is unstable on this side, she’ll need to jump to the other side to close it – where the matter is more stable. But, doing so would trap her in a completely unknown reality, with no real plan on getting back – leading to a lot of protesting from Carol and Kamala. All of which falls on deaf ears. She’s made up her mind, this is what needs to be done. Monica blocks off Carol and Kamala from getting to her with a light shield and goes through the portal – surrounded by bright cosmic purples and stars shining faintly in the distance. It’s beautiful, only made more stunning by Monica’s light powers as she reflects pure beams of light into the portal. Carol furiously tries to destroy the shield to no avail as the portal begins to shrink. She screams for Monica, finally she has her back, she’s finally let someone in again and this is what happens – it’s not fair. “It needs to be done!” Monica yells at her aunt, her best friend in the whole world. Carol knows that it’s true, that this is what needs to happen if the universe is to survive, and still the feelings inside her scream to let it all die if it means she’ll keep Monica safe a little longer. She yells at Monica – a promise that she’ll fulfill even if it costs her her life: “I’ll find you! I promise you I will get you and I will bring you home safely!”. The two say their goodbyes as the portal slowly closes, a tear running down Monica’s cheek is the last thing we see before it does so for good, leaving Carol, Kamala and Adam alone in the dark and evil kree lair.

    Monica’s big sacrifice. The portal’s energies literally over-coming her entire body as she absorbs it.

    Genis’ cosmic eyes die out as the portal closes, he mutters to himself with insanity: “This is all wrong, it cannot be.”. He is rendered a shell of his former self, bumbling and pathetic. It would be a truly sad sight to behold had he not tried to kill everyone in the room moments prior. 

    We see the RV make its way through the cosmos again, though it’s not the lively little vehicle it once was: Monica’s absence clouds the atmosphere. Kamala is quiet as she tries and fails to write more stuff down in her Handbook, tears welling in her eyes every time she puts pen to paper, which is noticed by Carol. “You doing okay, kiddo?” she asks to which Kamala explains how differently she imagined this whole thing going. “Look Kamala, what Monica did for us, that’s what being a hero is always going to be about. Sticking out your neck for others even if it hurts like hell. She did that for us, and now we are going to do so for her. I promise you, we will get her back. Me and you kid. The Marvels.” She smiles and says to Kamala, inspiring her to her core and giving this admittedly bleak ending a nicer, more hopeful tone. 

    “Where do you want me to drop you off?” Carol asks Adam as she heads back to the RV’s controls, expecting him to want to go back to his Mars-Lab as soon as he can – yet he surprises her. He wants to go to Earth – catch up on what he missed, finding the beauty of it all once again. He says so with a smile, which is one of the first times we’ve actually seen him happy. Rounding out his arc as well. 

    “Uhm! Marvel Man and Lady? How long is this trip going to last… this man is giving me the creeps…” – Professor Marv. L says from the back of the space ship. You didn’t think I’d forget about him did you? He’s sitting in a chair right next to Genis, who’s been rolled up in a thick layer of duct-tape, shell-shocked and unable to make any attempts to escape. It’s a humorous little moment to end this story on, as Earth comes into view from RV and our heroes sail off to fight another day.

    At least these heroes do… 

    Monica’s eyes slowly open up. Knocked out in space by the excessive might of the portal, she expects to open her eyes into the darkness of space and yet instead she awakes to a white room. Hooked up to wires that are then hooked up to monitors, she’s being cared for and observed. Two voices ring out from the distance, both oddly familiar yet most will not be able to place them until they walk into frame. Maria Rambeau, Monica’s mother, stands at the foot of her bed with an odd look in her eyes, one of total unfamiliarity. The other woman tells Maria that it’s good she contacted her, and promises to do everything she can to help Monica back on track… dressed in green and yellow, with gorgeous red hair flowing, Jean Grey stands next to Maria: Rounding out the title of our story with a final Marvel: Marvel Girl. 

    The original version of this obviously featured Maria and Beast, instead of Jean, but I was much more interested in bringing in one more Marvel to the mix. Beast makes sense because they’re in a lab I suppose, but there is no reason why this couldn’t just be Jean. I also kept Maria because that twist is so much more interesting than anything else in the original post-credit-sequence. Yeah, cool, Beast is back I guess, but like what’re they going to do with Maria! Is Monica going to have to choose between her original world and spending time with her mother again? This is like a genuinely heartbreaking scenario they’ve set up and I’d hate to rip that away from this narrative.

    And so my version of “The Marvels” ends – similar yet completely different to what came before and introducing a whole plethora of new and exciting characters into this world. What is Blue Marvel going to do next? And were the Kree right? Is there really something wrong with the Sacred Timeline? And are Carol and Kamala going to be able to find Monica again? So many questions. Wait… what happened to Noh-Varr.

    Planet Baltodeon is cold and desolate, around Noh-Varr his cockroach-concubine sleeps soundly. He’s mad still, mad at people trespassing on his planet, mad at getting shot at and most of all… mad at how utterly bored he is. “Ladies, Gents, if you’ll excuse me”. He stands up and steps over the people at his feet. “It has been an honor for you to serve me, but I must go. There are planets to conquer and worlds to enslave! I will be off” he states, before flying off into the air in an instance. Off to new adventures!

    And that is that. Every loose end wrapped up. I really wanna thank all of you for sticking with me on this. If you’ve read this whole thing you deserve a prize of some kind. I hope my ideas and words came across in the way I intended it too and it wasn’t too much of a jumbly mess. I’m actually very proud of what I’ve done here and as the story progresses I hope you all will begin to see the seeds I’m planting but for now I hope you just enjoy the story. Here’s an updated list of projects now canon to “Project Doomsday” and maybe a little tease as to what’s to come next as well. Thanks for reading and see you next time!

    “I normally wouldn’t do this, I guess I still don’t really want to. I just don’t know what to do. She’s out there somewhere and I – I – I promised her mother that I would keep her safe and I just couldn’t. I failed her. I messed it up and I need your help. From all of you. Sam… I need the Avengers.” Carol pleads to an empathetic yet determined Sam Wilson. “Well, The Avengers could always use another Captain.” 

    We end this entire thing on a shot of Carol and Sam, shaking hands and locking in a partnership that will determine the course of the next phase to come. As it fades out – a blurb of text appears like it has done so many times before in these stories, but with a slight addition:

    The Avengers Will Return… As Time Runs Out

    In exactly 331 days from now – 7944 hours – 476640 minutes –  Doomsday will arrive.

  • The Doomsday Project

    The Doomsday Project

     – Doomsday is coming-

    In exactly one year from now – 365 days – 8760 hours – 525600 minutes – The MCU will come to some sort of grand conclusion. Wrapping up the last quarter century of cinematic superhero films into an extravaganza blockbuster. Yet there have been many bumps in the road on this long journey that the MCU has taken us on. It’s safe to say that, after many cinematic duds – both financial and critical – and television shows that failed to gather audiences in a substantial way, the MCU isn’t standing on as-solid-a-foundation as it did when they had their previous big event with Infinity War and Endgame. I’ll be the first to say that I am the opposite of excited for Doomsday, both because of the lackluster build up to it as well as everything else we know about the film, yet I feel there are parts of this grand tapestry that work very well. Some of the pieces that are and have been in play for the last 7 years are incredibly fun and exciting and could lead to some very satisfying world-building – yet it’s just not working, is it!?

    That’s what “Project Doomsday” is. A series of articles in which I try to remold “The Sacred Timeline” into something more palpable, something more exciting and engaging then what we have now. How? Well it’s simple really: just rewrite half a decade of film-making in a year’s time. 

    Okay not really, I won’t be delivering like 12 whole screenplays about a bunch of movies I don’t really care about: this is more an exercise in improving. In using the knowledge I have off this universe, the comics, the entire Marvel world and smashing it together to hopefully deliver a version of this story that makes people more excited to see it all culminate in Doomsday and Secret Wars. That’s also where the limitations of this challenge come into play. I’m not doing a fanfiction thing. Don’t expect me to be like: “I hate She Hulk! What if She-Hulk was actually Iron Man 4 and in Iron Man 4 no one is WOKE and all the ladies are sexy!” – if you want that then go write your own stuff, I’m sure it’ll be wonderful buddy! No, I’m really trying to keep Phase 4-through-6 intact, I won’t take out any movies or shows from the already existing line-up and I’ll try not to add a billion-trillion extra shows and films (I might add one or two but that’s an idea for later). I will use what is there and just shift it into something else. 

    I will change a lot about those movies though. Yes, I’ll try to keep most of them intact, I don’t really want to completely overhaul these stories but I’ll definitely change them in substantial ways. Most of the casts of these films will remain the same, A lot of the story beats will remain the same and endings are mostly already set in stone given what I need to work towards, but things will be different. To give you a little hint as to my first project: My version of “The Marvels” will NOT feature any body-swapping quantum-band hijinks – nor will it feature Nick Fury in a substantial role, but it will of course feature all the titular Marvels (I won’t give away too much else though).

    I also won’t be changing ALL of the projects released in the last 7 years. Realistically speaking I’ll only be overhauling like 20 percent of what’s there (especially since phase 4-6 features something around 35 projects, which is quite frankly ridiculous) but I will be overhauling some of the major films released. If you’re expecting me to really dig into “Echo” or “Moon Knight” you can set those expectations a little lower. These projects are largely inconsequential to the already predetermined roadmap leading to Doomsday and will not be any more important in my version. That does not mean that I’ll be tackling every major hit the MCU has had either – Thunderbolts fans can rest soundly knowing I don’t see any reason to change what is already there. 

    This brings me to my final point: Don’t read too much into this, please. I am doing this for fun, I’m doing this because it’s simple and low-stakes and if I mess up I won’t accidentally flush 200 million of Mickey Mouse’s hard earned dollars down the drain. Filmmaking is hard and hindsight is 2020. Of course my job is a million times easier than what Feige and his compatriots have had to do post Endgame – I don’t envy them at all (Maybe I envy them a little bit). I just think I can do something fun with what is there and I wanna show people that work.

    Establishing the Timeline:

    I wanna make sure everyone knows our jumping off point, You’ll need to know what is and isn’t canon as we go into the project. First off, the most obvious point to make: Everything released pre-Endgame is canon, that includes Endgame. The Infinity Saga is off-limits. The first few Phase 4 releases are also largely off-limits. Wandavision, Falcon and Winter Soldier, Black Widow as well as the first season of Loki will need to be almost completely intact for this to work. The set-up in those shows are too important for the future of this Saga to fuck with- if I did we’d be getting a completely different story and that is not what I’m trying to do. 

    As my articles go on over the next few months I’ll be updating what is and isn’t canon as these projects go on. To streamline this I’ll be updating this handy little timeline in every article as well:

    You’ll find similar timelines in each article to kind of give you a sense of what has and hasn’t happened. Some shows and films won’t get complete overhauls but I will change aspects of them so things mesh better with my new canon, if that happens you’ll see a little “CANON NOTE” where I’ll explain the details of what changes. 

    I think those are all the rules. I hope so at least. If more rules pop up i’m sure everyone will figure it out. You can expect part 1 of this project to be released before the end of this year. With that said: 

    In exactly 364 days from now – 8759 hours – 525594 minutes –  Doomsday will arrive.

    (I thought of this ticking clock idea two weeks ago and then Marvel Studios decided to copy me actually!)

  • Brand New Day Could be Adapting The Craziest Punisher Story Ever

    Brand New Day Could be Adapting The Craziest Punisher Story Ever

    After many months of delays, rewrites and speculations it seems that “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is finally starting production, and with it a load of new theories about what this fourth solo-Spidey film could entail. Even though more and more set photos leak, castings are announced and Twitter leakers continue to flap their gums, the story of the MCU’s latest Spider-Man film is not becoming any clearer. So far we know shockingly little about the film besides some official casting (which have quite frankly only made this entire thing more confusing) and unofficial rumors. Truly one of the only things we know for sure is the inclusion of Frank Castle, who will be starring alongside Peter Parker in this adventure, though to what his role in the story may be remains to be seen. Yet, what if I said I had an idea – a theory that, though based on set pictures and credible rumors, seems so implausibly plausible that I couldn’t even decide if I should keep it to myself or not. A theory that, if true, could create one of the most controversial takes on these characters we’ve ever seen. Let me explain.

    This theory popped into my head like lightning. I was scrolling on Twitter reading about the leaks that were happening because of the beginning of “Brand New Day’s” shoot when the idea just appeared – it hit me like a truck… or a tank. See there had been a picture taken of this big tank, set to rampage through the fake New York City streets – and on it we see a red devil logo, adding a menacing touch to the already imposing vehicle. Many assumed that this devil is a connection to Martin Li, better known as Mister Negative, who fans have been waiting to see in live action for a while now. Following this a lot of people ran with that assumption, speculating about how and why Martin Li could be involved in the story. Yet, as plausible as that is, scooper DanielRPK did also tease that Punisher will be the one driving the vehicle – it is after all not really the style of Li and his goons to drive a huge tank like that. So why would Frank drive a tank branded by the Inner Demons? That’s the question I posed myself when I realized it.. what if it’s not Mr. Negative, what if it’s not the inner demons or anything even remotely associated with that – what if it’s The Hand!

    Do you guys remember The Hand, of course you do. The bad guys from “Daredevil” season 2 and then “The Defenders” and I guess they were also in a bunch of Iron Fist episodes. The Hand were a big deal in the MCU for a while (during the Netflix era of the MCU that is, the canon of it all still remains a little vague but I’m pretty sure it’s all MCU now… right?) so why not bring them back? “Because it doesn’t make any sense!” I hear you say – to which I can only say: “Yeah! That’s what I thought too, but maybe it does make sense!”. For starters, there is precedent in the comics for it. It was only a few years ago when Jason Aaron launched his Punisher series, in which Frank got recruited by the Hand to serve as “The Fist of The Beast” – so there is precedent to have The Hand return – this time in Frank’s world instead of Matt’s. Sure, This was a pretty controversial time for the character, loved by one half of the audience and despised by the other half, so I understand it might not seem like the most obvious of stories to adapt but there is more evidence that this whole thing could be happening. 

    We know the street level side of the MCU has up until this point been almost exclusively explored in “Daredevil: Born Again”. The show has largely been inspired by Charles Soule’s time writing the Daredevil comics but – with its season finale – is steadily morphing into something more akin to Chip Zdarsky’s books. It is during his tenure on Daredevil that Jason Aaron started writing his Punisher book, leading to a lot of crossover between the two stories. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think the creatives behind “Born Again” and this new street level saga in the MCU have read those Punisher books as well – maybe they even liked them so much they’re planning on adapting it in some way – and where better to start than a highly anticipated Spider-Man film?!

    Obviously it would also end up tying into Daredevil, but It’s not like it doesn’t fit into the narrative “Born Again” has been building. Frank obviously escapes Fisk’s detainment and I’m sure revenge is at the forefront of his mind right now but with Fisk’s mayoral influence spreading and the Anti-Vigilante task force growing in strength, Frank needs a serious upgrade to get that payback he so craves. The Hand could be that payback. He gains a serious boost in strength and abilities during his time with them – upgrades Matt’s little army cannot possible grant him. On top of that we also know Frank is not too keen on Matt’s way of doing things, so joining his Vigilante team isn’t in the cards either. Yet joining The Hand would only fuel the ferocity of his ways, he’d become the unstoppable crime-destroying force he could never be before – now aided by an unstoppable ninja army as a bonus. 

    This would need to be explored in both the second season of Born Again as well as the Punisher special Bernthal is currently filming – and from set photos and videos it doesn’t seem like mysticism is all that involved yet BUT, there is some more evidence pointing towards a return of The Hand in the near future. Look, it is quite a stretch but Elodie Yung, who portrayed Elektra in Season 2 of “Daredevil” and then returned for “The Defenders” series as well, did post an instagram picture that could hint towards a Daredevil return… really it’s only because she used a devil emoji in her caption but a lead is a lead and as a real Geek-tective I have to take into account every lead I get. “Born Again” Producer Sana Amanat also stated a desire to have the character return when the first season debuted earlier this year, saying; “One hundred percent it’s in the back of our heads. Eventually, we’ll try to figure out a bit more with that.” So we know this is something they’ve been thinking about, who knows how quickly they figured it out. 

    It could also be that the idea stemmed from the “BND” team instead, realizing Frank and The Hand neatly slotted into what they were already building. We’ve heard two substantial rumors over the course of BND’s pre-production; first off, the film would be street level, featuring many lower class villains for Peter to face off against over the course of the film. On top of that rumors indicated that Silver Samurai and Viper could also be making an appearance as a more bigger looming threat, possibly orchestrating whatever scheme Peter finds himself in. If both of these leaks turn out to be true it would serve as the metaphorical glue holding these two sides of the theory together given that the Silver Samurai and The Hand are both major players in Marvel’s Japanese organized crime world.

    I imagine it going something like this – Silver Samurai and Viper are concocting some sort of plan, I say they’re supplying the New York underworld with weapons, and Spider-Man catches wind of that some way or another. Let’s say he runs into a couple of villains like Boomerang and Scorpion sporting crazy upgraded weaponry which sets him on a path to finding out where they’re getting it from. It’s on that path that he crosses The Hand, being led by Frank. The Hand is on a crusade to rid the city of these weapons as well but classic comic book confusion will get in the way of an initial team-up (like it always does) as Punisher and Spider-Man face off against each other – both under the assumption that the other one is orchestrating this weapons-business. Obviously after a big fight breaks out (possibly the one we’re witnessing being filmed right now) the two characters team-up to thwart Silver Samurai and Viper (A team-up is something the synopsis released earlier this week backs up). 

    Who knows, this could even lead to a fun post-credits-sequence that sees Matt visiting Peter while on his friendly-neighborhood-patrol, warning him that Frank is dangerous, that his methods are wrong and that any friend of the Hand is an enemy of Daredevil – a very organic way of having the two characters meet up finally. It could even be a great slow-burn problem for Matt which he has to put on the backburner while dealing with Fisk in season 2, a problem that grows stronger and stronger everyday they are not put in their place. Zdarsky’s book actually features a ton of animosity between Frank and Matt, a dynamic I’d love to see recreated by Cox and Bernthal given just how well they’ve adapted that butting-heads relationship before.

    Now truth be told, this all doesn’t fit in together as neatly as I would like, there are still so many loose ends that need to be tied up to make this all make sense. Why is Hulk involved for instance? And where do all those other villains fit in? Or what about Jon Bernthal, he’s producing the Punisher special and I do not think he’s completely down to go in such a mystical route (even though this could be explained away by just depowering Frank compared to his comic counterpart) – let alone the fans, how would they react to such a wild departure from the Frank they know and love. Many questions still remain but I can’t deny that I kind of love this idea. I’m one of those people who appreciated what Aaron did with his Punisher book and seeing that play out in the MCU would be cool. You can’t tell me that a Sword wielding unstoppable Punisher doesn’t sound like a hell of a good time!?

    What do you think? Am I making sense? And let me know if you have any good theories about Brand New Day that you’d like to talk about. As always, give me a follow wherever you can and make sure to stick around for more articles about Marvel, Spider-Man and comics in general!

  • Iron Man V Superman: Starting a Cinematic Universe

    Iron Man V Superman: Starting a Cinematic Universe

    LOOK UP! It is finally upon us. The Summer of Superman is reaching new heights as audiences slowly but surely flock into theaters to watch James Gunn’s “Superman” film. A weirdly momentous moment for a whole platitude of reasons. Of course for starters: Hopefully it’ll turn the public’s perception of the blue boy scout around after a few years of middling wide-spread success – but, maybe more importantly, it’ll also kickstart a brand new Cinematic-Superhero-Universe, something DC, under the WB umbrella, has been trying to accomplish for a decade now. After their first attempt slowly fizzled out into increasingly confusing course corrections, leaving the entire brand tarnished in a ditch, James Gunn now holds the reins to the DC universe and his take on the “Man Of Tomorrow” is set to start it all off in a big way. But is “Superman” enough to get audiences back to the big screen for one of comics’ oldest and most iconic universes? Having seen it, I am not so sure…

    Before I get into why, maybe we should look back to the past, back to where it all began. Back to 2008. Back to Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man”. The movie that started it all – the movie that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a monumental achievement in blockbuster film-making that studios have tried – and failed – to replicate ever since. The MCU seems to be this unobtainable gem to these conglomerate studios, time and time again they try to launch their own universes, releasing spin-offs and remakes and big-budget-blockbusters to absolutely no success. Valiant comics tried to start up a universe with Vin Diesel’s “Bloodshot” film – an attempt so laughable I had to take a minute to recoup after finishing typing the previous sentence. Sony Pictures really did try their hardest to make the SPUMM universe work (Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Movies) – releasing a whole slate of critically, and often commercially, panned films for almost a decade – and Universal will always live in infamy over their Dark Universe announcement photo. Yet Marvel somehow managed to avoid that, they managed to create this incredible sprawling universe, surviving even after steadily releasing unimaginable levels of MID for half-a-decade.

    DC does have a lot of good faith going for it at the moment, it seems like audiences are excited to see more of this universe and “Superman” is projected to do good; this is the closest I think we’ve ever gotten to a studio replicating that MCU formula for success. Yet it’s the general audiences that need to be onboard the most, and that’s where I’m afraid “Superman” will lose people. 

    Gunn’s “Superman” is a comic book movie. It is the silver age brought to life, not only in design and feel but also in story structure. The entire thing plays out like a series single issues played in rapid succession, you can almost see where each issue would end and the next would start if this were a 6 issue mini-series instead of a big Hollywood blockbuster; a quality the film both suffers from as it does excel in. Because yes, it’s so refreshing to see a movie actually respect this medium that is often only used to be gutted for parts and “inspiration” – giving us scenes that feel like their ripped straight out of a comic book – silliness and wackiness included, yet it can also feel out of place at times. All the wackiness takes up screen time that I would’ve personally much rather seen used on other more important things like… I don’t know… characterization maybe!

    CHARACTERIZATION

    See, when a comic book consistently throws characters at me like Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, Mr Terrific or even Jimmy Olsen, I’m totally down to roll with that. I know what I can and need to expect in a big-two/canon comic book – them’s the rules and I love the medium for it – but that is a completely different way of storytelling, the medium makes that work, when you apply that same story-structure to the first movie of your big franchise it becomes convoluted, stuffed to the brim with characters that I cannot imagine general audiences would be into at first glance. I’ve seen many people compare the films narrative to that of a random single issue in a 30+ issue comic book run and I totally get that, there’s so much lore and story that is only being hinted at or referred to but never actually shown that it can become convoluted – even for someone like me, who is aware of all this stuff on a not-so-normal level.

    Here’s where Iron Man comes in. Iron Man is a comic book film, yes; it has most of the things that make Iron Man who he is and is as faithful as I think time allowed it to be. But it is also a movie. It’s a film that uses the language and structure of said medium to adapt the comics – and I don’t think “Superman” does the same. “Superman” is so faithful to the comic book medium that, at times, it ends up feeling like less of a movie because of it. At times it can feel more like a series of Rick and Morty episodes strung together, with all the characters and all the different settings pulling the movie in so many different directions making the entire thing feel messy and detached from one-another. 

    Imagine a version of Iron Man 2008, with the same cast and the same runtime, but it also includes Whiplash and The Crimson Dynamo as henchmen for Obadiah Stane. That’d already be a pretty stacked film right? But then, when Iron Man keeps running into the West Coast Avengers for some reason, things become even more convoluted. Instead of the great moments between Tony and Rhodey, you’d instead get a scene where Tigra rips apart bad guys or instead of getting the cheeseburger scene with Happy and Tony, Hawkeye shows up instead to get made fun of for his bow and arrow skills. Yeah it’s fun on paper but when you think of what you get instead – what these characters are replacing in the runtime – you realize it might not make for a more satisfying final product. “Superman” is that film.

    Take the Daily Planet. A staple of the Superman mythos attached to a plethora of iconic side characters to the Superman expanded cast and vital to understanding the character of Clark Kent. I was so excited to see what Gunn was cooking with the Daily Planet. All the casting was great, I know Gunn can handle a group of big colorful characters like the Daily Planet crew and we’ve been sorely lacking a nice faithful adaptation of this side of the DC world for decades now. Yet, in the final film, they’re kind of… absent. Sure yeah they’re in the film and they have like a funny scene… but that is it. They have a scene. One maybe two scenes dedicated to the entire group. They are not in it nearly enough for how important their subplot is to the main story. Most egregious of all, one member of the Daily Planet, maybe the most vital member, is only in the film for about 2 minutes total (if not less)…  and that is Clark Kent. 

    Yes, Clark Kent is in the film for mere moments. The rest of the film is entirely dedicated to Superman. In a way I can appreciate that the film doesn’t ever make the audience believe Clark and Superman are different characters – Clark is Clark, no matter if he wears the costume or the glasses – yet characters in the film don’t know that obviously. There is an entire investigation in the film led by Lois and Jimmy that then directly ties into the final act of the film and guess what! Clark does not help a single bit. He’s so absent from the Daily Planet no one is even really concerned about him not being there. The entirety of Metropolis is evacuated in the third act, the whole crew evacuate the Daily Planet building together (that’s the only scene in the film that features them all interacting by the way) and no one is like… “Where’s Clark?”. Not a funny remark from Steve calling Clark a wuss for sitting this out or Perry White yelling out for him during the commotion. No, Kent’s presence is barely acknowledged throughout the whole film? WHY? Because instead I’m watching this weird alien creature Lex Luthor created for some reason. There’s a huge disconnect between plotline: Superman and plotline: Daily Planet – which makes the latter feel weirdly inconsequential given how much it ties into the third act. 

    And it’s not like the Justice Gang gets enough shine because of it. The exact same issues I have with the Daily Planet arise with the Justice Gang. I know nothing about these characters, about what makes them tick, what they’re like and what having them here adds to the final story beyond what I already knew about them going in. Yes, Mr. Terrific leaves a lasting impression sure, but I wouldn’t say he’s a really fleshed put character. Again, general audiences don’t have the luxury of having comic-book-brain-worms that make you store useless capeshit information in your head like some of us do. They will just be left wondering who they just saw flying around the film without ever getting an answer (until some of these guys ultimately get their own HBO miniseries or whatever). 

    It’s an even bigger shame because Gunn is clearly gifted at characterization. He made audiences fall in love with Rocket Raccoon of all characters and even in this film it’s obvious just how good he is at it. Jimmy is really fun, he might be the only supporting character that actually works in the entire film. There’s also a really nice moment where Perry White listens to Lois’ story as the entire office melts down in a panic. Character beats like that work so well but the movie just doesn’t have enough of those moments to engage you fully. 

    INTENT V EXPECTATION

    But where I think Iron Man and Superman differ the most, where I think these films’ paths leading to Cinematic Universes diverge most is with Intent and with Expectation. Superman is being released in a completely different cultural landscape compared to Iron man. The movie industry, fandom, culture as a whole has so drastically changed since 2008 (a lot of that stemming from the existence of the MCU) and audiences expectations have shifted alongside that change. “Iron Man”, unlike all the other attempts we’ve touched on so far – including “Superman” – didn’t know what it was capable of doing. Not Feige, Not the studios’, not even the audience knew what this could grow into (I’m sure there were hopes and dreams of course, but no one could’ve expected what happened). That’s the difference. Now everyone knows what Superman is gonna become, they know they can expect more – as do the studios and filmmakers. They’re launching a cinematic-universe knowing full well that, post “Guardians Of The Galaxy”, you can get away with putting a bunch of colorful stuff in your film. But I don’t think you wanna start by going at a 100 percent, “Iron Man” barely started at ten and the MCU didn’t go to one-hundred until like 5 years later.

    You need to set that foundation first. You need to grow your world from the characters, not the behind the scenes chitter-chat and background easter eggs – audiences want fully realized main characters and side characters they can really sink their teeth into, that’s how you get them onboard, that is how you get them to come back. Think of that first wave of MCU films and how those side-characters, still to this moment in the MCU, are relevant and fan favorites. Bucky, Pepper, Happy, Loki, Rhodey – these characters are the backbone of the universe and I just don’t think the DC Studios universe is starting off strong in that regard. 

    I’m not just saying this about the DC universe to be a prick, Marvel is suffering from the exact same thing at the moment (fans had to patiently wait on Karen Page to return in the Born Again finally before they could finally get some engaging characters back, for instance). Fact of the matter is I want all of this to succeed. I want to see more DC projects get the greenlight, I wanna see The Justice League finally form in a meaningful way, I want Batman and Superman to team-up for once, I want more deep-cut characters to get solo projects. But it needs to be engaging first which is why I think this start is a little bit rocky. Luckily rocky isn’t disastrous – I’m not trying to bait people and say “JAMES GUNN FAILED, THE DC UNIVERSE IS DEAD, LONG LIVE DADDY FEIGE!!!” – far from it. Like I said, I think the cinematic future of DC is looking incredibly bright and i’m so excited to see more of it, I’ve just been burned so many times – I’ve seen so many off these films underperform and get destroyed by the general public that I really hope Superman comes out of this blockbuster-summer unscathed. 


    What do you think? Did you like Superman? And what’re you hoping to see from the future of DC movies? Let me know in the comments and follow Ghost-Writes wherever you can for more ramblings about DC, Marvel and the rest of the comic book industry.

  • What To Read: Daredevil: Born Again

    What To Read: Daredevil: Born Again

    We live in a day and age filled with comic book adaptations. Movies starring our favorite superheroes, villains, anti-heroes and pulpy characters seem to pop up every month, tv shows adapting cult classic independent books are released so fast you can barely keep up with it and every now and again they even try to adapt the books we love for the stage (to middling success). Yet the stories that inspire these films and shows often get overlooked. The books that breathe life and color into these – often inferior – adaptations are sometimes completely ignored when a major studio gets their claws into them, a trend that frustrates me endlessly. That’s why I’m starting this series, where we look at upcoming comic book adaptations and discuss the books that inspired them, so you know what to pick up next time you’re in your local comic book shop.

    Today we will be looking at Marvel Studios’ latest straight-to-streaming series “Daredevil: Born Again”, a continuation of the original Netflix show that released in 2015. With the episodes that have released so far we know a little of what to expect, but for those who want to know more, this list is for you. 

    Spoilers for the first 3 episodes of “Daredevil Born Again” from here on out!

    Daredevil by Charles Soule

    If you want to be prepared for “Born Again”, you need to start here. Charles Soule’s time on the Daredevil title is without a doubt the foundation on which this new season is built, not only introducing you to new-comers like Muse, but it’s also the book that kick-started Wilson Fisk’s reign over New York City, a storyline which will slowly make its way into the MCU in Born Again.

    Charles Soule’s run is quite wonderful; After Mark Waid’s took Matt into a lighter and more colorful direction in his critically lauded run on the character, Soule proceeds to rip Matt back into darkness, into the shadows of Hell’s Kitchen all the while sporting an amazing black suit and a gritty new personality. Especially that last part seems to have inspired “Born Again” at least a little, as we know Matt is going to go through some rough shit at the start of the season, dictating his personality for the entire rest of the show. 

    But it’s not just Matt’s MCU path laid out by Soule’s time on the book, it seems like Wilson Fisk might just be inspired by Soule as well. Soule took Fisk and his dirty operations out from the city’s seedy underbelly and brought him to new levels of power by making The Kingpin of New York City its newest mayor. We obviously saw Fisk becoming the Mayor of New York in the show’s first episode and I’m excited to see how the show tackles his new rise to power. One of my favorite moments from Soule’s time on the book (that I will refrain from spoiling) happens after he’s appointed as New York’s mayor so I truly hope the MCU will do this storyline justice.

    The most obvious hint towards a possible Soule adaptation though is Muse’s inclusion in the show. The artistic serial killer introduced by Soule and Ron Garney is making his on-screen debut in the new show, setting the stage for what I can only assume to be some gore-y mayhem.

    Soule’s time on the character is a wonderful return to tone, perfect for anyone who loves the Netflix Daredevil series and wants more of that gritty feel. Soule brings a unique flavor to the book with his background as a real lawyer, perfectly balancing the work of Matt and the work of Daredevil into an exciting saga filled with amazing art by a stellar line-up of artists.

    Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky

    Unlike most of these lists I write, this is mostly a pretty chronological list of books I’m recommending. After Soule quit his time on the Daredevil title came Zdarsky, taking over the saga of Matt Murdock and running with it in a new yet familiar direction. Zdarsky’s Matt is still gritty, still that catholic boy grown up wracked with guilt and anger, but he’s also just sort of beaten down. He’s tired, hurt and broken. All of which catches up to him in a major way when he faces a gang of low-tier street thugs and makes a mistake he can’t turn back. Trailers for Born Again have suggested that Matt will make a similar mistake early on in the show which is where the similarities between these two takes on the character start. 

    While Soule started Fisk’s reign over New York as Mayor, Zdarsky is the one who fledges it out into the same territory I expect from the MCU. While this might not be super important yet, I can’t imagine this stuff won’t be touched upon later in the show. Maybe that’s in the show’s next season set to release next year or it could be touched upon in other shows / movies as the street-level saga of the MCU starts to take shape. 

    Zdarsky’s time on the character spans multiple books making it a little bit more difficult to read the entire thing in one go. Essentially, this story is split up over 3 parts; starting with Daredevil (2019) issue #1 which ends and leads into “Devil’s Reign” – the 7 issue event with plethora of tie-in issues that connect to it- and finally ending with 2022’s Daredevil run. Those first two parts are most important for those who wanna get ready for “Born Again” and the future of the MCU. Many of these similar lists will tell you to skip that last part of Zdarsky’s saga as its magical “Hand” focused story might put off those looking for a gritty crime drama, but personally I have to disagree. If you wanna experience Zdarsky’s voice for Matt to its fullest, you need that last stretch to fully make it all make sense, it brings the entire thing together and wraps up one of the most satisfying runs the character has ever had. 

    The show also includes a bunch of minor characters from Zdarsky’s run; We know we’ll see Cole North in the show, a rough and tough cop who comes after Daredevil in Zdarsky’s run but quickly learns the importance of his role as the Devil Of Hell’s Kitchen. The show’s version of Bullseye seems inspired by Zdarsky’s run as well, with Poindexter donning a suit inspired by Checchetto’s design and newly introduced character Daniel Blake reminds me a lot of Zdarsky creation Butch Farris.

    Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis

    Now we skip back in time to the early 2000s, way before either Zdarsky or Soule took over on the Daredevil title, before the character had appeared on Netflix and even before Ben Affleck donned the red leather on the big screen. Before all of that we had Brian Michael Bendis’ phenomenal run on the character. 

    The Bendis era is amazing. It’s Bendis at his best as he effortlessly seemed to create a narrative that spanned 50+ issues without ever taking a breather or having a fill-in issue to pad for time. He draws in from all corners of the Marvel Universe – which he seemed to be running during the early 2000s – to create his own little cohesive street-level world within this larger universe of capes and tights.

    The only reason this series isn’t higher on this list is because I just don’t see that much of it factoring in during the MCU’s“Born Again”. Some of Bendis’ storylines might be adapted later on (though I expect that to be more-so a season 3 or 4 story than a season 2 plot) but for now not all of his 50+ issues are exactly important if you want to immerse yourself in the world of the MCU show. What is important to read though is the White Tiger arc, a storyline the show has taken major inspiration from in episode 2 and 3. Sure, there are some differences the show has made that fans might not be entirely agreeing with, but if you want a glimpse at the story of Hector Ayala in the comics, this is the book to pick up.

    Nobody does the grit, the angst and the violence of Daredevil better than Bendis, leaving his mark on the character forever, infusing any adaptation off the character with that little extra something that makes Daredevil stand out from the rest of the Marvel universe. 

    Honorable Mentions

    Since the Man Without Fear has such an incredible track record in comics, with an unrivaled amount of classic and critically acclaimed runs under his name, I think it best if I give you all a little run down off other amazing Daredevil stories you should check out, even if they might not tie in with the new show’s story as much as the previous entries have. 

    Obviously the show takes its title from the seminal “Born Again” arc by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, which might be one of Daredevil’s greatest and most classic stories ever told. Yet the show and the book truly don’t bear any resemblance to each other, with the story instead being the main inspiration for the Netflix show’s third season. Still, picking up “Born Again” cannot do you any harm, it is a truly astounding read and I dare you not to fall in love with Miller and Mazzuccchelli’s work instantly. 

    Since I put Bendis’ run on here I do also feel like checking out Brubaker’s follow up run is a good idea. Not only do the two stories directly lead into each other, but the book also features the death of Foggy Nelson, a major plot point in the MCU show as we’ve come to learn. If the rest off the book is adapted into the show as well remains to be seen, but no matter what the book is still very solid and the perfect supplement to Bendis’ time on the title. 

    One of the show’s newest additions to the Daredevil world is that of Kristen McDuffie, whom Matt decides to set up a law-firm with in the show after Foggy’s supposed passing. Kirsten is heavily featured in Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil which – and I understand I am repeating myself here, but Daredevil just has this many hits under his belt – is another modern day classic run on the character. 


    There are many more incredible Daredevil titles for you to revel in, and I certainly hope you do check out more once you’ve gotten through this list, but for now these are all the books I think you’ll want to read as you dive in Matt’s return to the small screen. Are there any titles you think I’ve missed? And how are you liking the MCU show so far? Let me know in the comments or on my socials and be sure to follow us as to not miss any Daredevil coverage (and believe me, there is more on the way)

  • Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man – What’s Next?

    Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man – What’s Next?

    The two episode finale of “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” left us with many exciting cliffhangers and set-ups for next season, some obvious and others less-so. Where do we think these storylines could lead to and can we uncover more hidden storylines if we look to the comics for leads? Let’s talk about it.

    Before we can really start I do have to say that I won’t be discussing the obvious; Yes, Norman will become Green Goblin. Yes, Lonnie will turn into a more comic accurate Tombstone. Yeah, I also saw the symbiote and Yes, Doc Ock will get his tentacles. Sure, those things are exciting but they’re not super fun to talk about compared to the outlandish theories I have cooked up, hence I’m not touching on them.

    Spoiler warning for Season 1 of “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”

    Taskmaster

    Last year, way before the show came out, even before we got any official trailers or promo material, I wrote a speculative article on the series trying to piece together what we could expect from its first season. One of my more outlandish theories from that article was a surprise appearance from none-other than Taskmaster, one of Marvel’s most iconic bad guys and a fan favorite for many. Now we obviously didn’t see Taskmaster in the show’s first season but the ending of episode 10 weirdly enough made me more certain we’ll see the skull-faced bad guy in the second season. 

    See Taskmaster is connected to one of the show’s minor characters; Jeanne Foucault, who we see teaming up with Daredevil at the end of season 1. Jeanne, going by Finesse in the comics, is a gifted Polymath, being able to copy anyone’s fighting abilities in an instance. Obviously these powers are very similar to that of Taskmaster, often implying that he’s Jeanne’s biological father in the comics. Now obviously her inclusion does not have to mean Taskmaster will show up next season, but the fact that the show opted for Jeanne instead of someone like Blindspot, who’s an actual Daredevil sidekick in the comics, leads me to believe Taskmaster has at the very least been discussed by the show’s creative team. 

    Imagine how cool a team-up episode would be where Daredevil, Finesse and Peter have to face Taskmaster? Tell me you don’t wanna see that!

    The Future of W.E.B.

    One of the final scenes in season 1’s finale ended with Harry Osborn establishing W.E.B, a tech company set up to help young scientific minds fund their brilliant ideas. We see a list of potential names to join the organization including Ned Leeds; a classic member of Spider-Man’s supporting cast with a headache-inducing amount of lore and retcons to his name – including being the Hobgoblin, and Max Dillon; better known as classic Spider-Man bad guy Electro. Also included are a bunch of the show’s crew members and a wide-array of minor characters from the comics. While those latter additions to the list are far from household names, there is a shared link between some of them; G.I.R.L.

    No, that doesn’t mean they’re all girls, it’s actually an acronym for the “Geniuses In Action Research Lab”, another enterprise focused on honing the skills of young scientific minds (though this one only focused on female members). This group is founded by Nadia Van Dyne, daughter of Hank Pym and known as the Unstoppable Wasp in the comics. I’d love to see Spidey team-up with another bug-themed do-gooder and the inclusion of Nadia would be another fun way for the show to differentiate itself from the sacred MCU timeline. I’d also enjoy seeing the W.E.B team face off against the G.I.R.L group as the two strive for scientific dominance. 

    Fallout of War

    Now what you might forget as a viewer is that “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” is basically a “What If…” episode expanded into an entire show. It might be a bit of an unconventional one but the show does explore what would’ve happened to Peter’s life had he not joined team Iron Man during the events of Civil War. While the show never addresses the Sokovia accords and subsequent fallout of the new superhero laws in detail, Civil War is alluded to on several occasions, so much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if the show delves much deeper into this “What If…” in subsequent seasons. 

    The inclusion of General Ross and Iron Man are my main reason for thinking we might be getting more down the line. Not only is their appearance in the show a sort of random addition, as neither character really interacts with Peter’s story at all, mainly being used as a tool by Norman, but the show also reiterates their importance in the season’s finale. Norman specifically mentions both characters in his speech to Octavius in jail as if the writers really wanted you to remember their inclusion in the show. 

    We also saw the actual Accords in the show’s final episodes and Cap makes a very minor appearance in the hallways of Oscorp, posing for a picture with Norman that’s hung on the wall for all of his visitors to see. To me it’s clear that the show keeps reminding the viewer that the superhero Civil War happened so people keep it in the back of their minds once season 2 or 3 continues developing the scenario. 

    The “YFNSM” prequel comic that Marvel has been publishing also established that this version of Peter is a bigger fan of Cap than he is off Tony, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the show decides to retroactively make Pete a member of Team Cap, especially since the webhead is definitely in conflict with the Sokovia Accords as a masked vigilante. I’d love to see what Peter would do once Cap is the first Avenger he meets instead of Tony and if he would join him in a fight against Iron Man.

    Future Villains

    Now the show has set up a whole heap of exciting new adversaries for Spidey to face next season with the obvious inclusions being more Doc Ock, Green Goblin and a Venom of sorts, but the show planted many more seeds for the future of Peter’s rogues.

    The show gives us a bunch of future bad guy material in episode 4 and 5 by establishing a crew of criminals looking to buy some of Octavius’ gear before being apprehended by the cops. These characters obviously included The Unicorn, who I don’t expect to see much more of, but it also included characters like Mikhail Sytsevich; father of the original Rhino in the comics. While this could mean his son Aleksei vows to take revenge on Spider-Man for putting his father away in prison, he does also sport a very bulky body himself, perfect for a Rhino suit in the future? Someone on the crew who does get their comic accurate costume already is Dmitri, better known as the Chameleon, the groups getaway driver. He dons his iconic white mask later on in the season while helping the 110th find Octavius’ gear. 

    While the 110th is obviously led by an increasingly scary Lonnie Lincoln now, the group does also include another well known Marvel bad guy; Bulldozer. Bulldozer is normally a part of the Wrecking Crew (who we saw in She-Hulk previously) alongside Wrecker, Piledriver and Thunderball. If we’ll see those three pop up in the 110th later on as well remains to be seen, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Lonnie goes to look for more super-powered allies after discovering what Ocatvius’ gas did to him.

    One of the show’s final teasers and one that puzzled me the most was that of Nico Minoru, as she used her previously hidden magical abilities to conjure up a spell. Now it wasn’t entirely clear to me what her spell was going to do but it obviously has something to do with her mother. Nico has sort of mystified me in this show, her inclusion is fun and I get that the series wanted to differentiate Peter’s supporting cast from other adaptations, but putting in the biggest member of one of Marvel’s most interesting titles, a character with such a well-established back story and identity, seems on purpose. While we don’t know what happened to Nico’s parents, we do know her story is much different from her comic book counterpart, yet I wouldn’t be surprised if the show manages to align the two versions a little more in subsequent seasons. For those who don’t know, the original Runaways story establishes Nico’s parents as villains working for an evil cult-like organization called the Cabal. I’m guessing “YFNSM” ‘s version of Nico’s mom is lost somewhere in a magical realm and Nico is desperately trying to get her back, but once she manages to do so, her mom will have turned in some way, either voluntarily or possessed by something on the other side (Mephisto?? We did see a hint of him in her Tarot deck…). 

    Whatever or whoever will appear in the shows upcoming seasons remain to be seen (though we did get an exciting Gwen Stacy reveal on Twitter today), but if the response to season 1 is any indication, fans will love whatever happens!


    There were many more exciting reveals in “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” and I’d love to hear what you are most excited to see happen next! And what did you think of the show’s first season. Did you love it? Hate it? Let me know! Be sure to follow along as I can promise the Wall-Crawler will be discussed much more in the future!

  • Thrillers Or Spectacle: The MCU Dillemma

    Thrillers Or Spectacle: The MCU Dillemma

    Marvel Studios’ latest cinema release, “Captain America: Brave New World”, is the umpteenth film in a long line of projects developed by the movie-conglomerate to disappoint fans. While there are many factors to consider in the film’s critical failure – some just and others unjust – one of the most prevalent points I keep hearing online is the unmet expectation of an “Espionage Thriller”. People seem to be champing at the bit for a gritty spy flick that takes the bureaucracy of the Marvel Universe and runs with it to create a tense, world shattering, conspiracy that only the heroes of this world can fix. That craving has been prevailing for years now while films and series released under the MCU banner promising to deliver on this specific genre more often than not end up being quite bad. We’ve seen it with “Secret Invasion”, a spectacular misfire that tried to turn the gigantic comic book event of the same name into a small scale conspiracy story to little success, and before that we also got the solo Black Widow film that seemed to be interested in relighting this gritty fire missing for so long. While that movie certainly isn’t as bad as “Secret Invasion” was, it definitely wasn’t great either; quickly falling back into the studios’ worst habits and turning into a generic action film with forgettable set pieces. So why are MCU fans still hung up on this genre if the studio can’t seem to ever get it right? Why do they think Feige and his creative partners are even capable of making a film of that kind?

    Well before we can even answer that question I say we need to take a step back and ask a bigger question instead; “Has Marvel ever made a real espionage thriller?”. I say Yes and No. You see the MCU and its hordes of fans have been chasing one high ever since 2014, hoping to fill the “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” sized cavern left by the studio. A movie so good it might end up being a negative for the MCU in the long run. “The Winter Soldier” was something so incredibly fresh, so invigorating and cool, that fans have elevated their standards to such a degree that any and all attempts at recreating the magic have fallen on deaf-ears. But, and pardon my bluntness, do MCU fans really know what they’re talking about? Or have they been chasing an unachievable high left by a film that never even really existed in the way they remember? I think so. See I agree that“The Winter Soldier” is good, it’s a tense mystery filled with great action, but any great Espionage Thriller needs that bit of realism embedded in it to create stakes. It needs to grip you, relate to you and the fears you have about the world. It needs to take from real world issues and use that to create something gripping and tense. It needs politics, an identity, maybe a little anger aimed at the world as it is. But “The Winter Soldier” has absolutely nothing to say about anything besides a surface level “good vs bad” narrative. Sure, inspired by actual political thrillers from the past like “All The President’s Men” and “Three Days Of The Condor”, “Winter Soldier” might make you feel like you’re watching something meaningful, but it’s only ever an emulation of said genre rather than actually trying to be it.

    The MCU is maybe one of the most apolitical worlds you’ll ever see on the big screen, where any real world conundrum about race or war or equality or every other very basic surface level political interest is reduced to a minor hurdle in the road to a large world ending threat or even ignored all together. I can’t remember the last time one of these movies actually used it’s heightened – super – version of reality to put a mirror up to the real world, not even using it’s super-powered foundation as an allegory for real world problems, which is probably one of the MCU’s most apparent short-comings given that almost every comic book that’s even come close to being lauded a masterpiece by general readers builds entire narratives around that exact enhanced mirror. It seems Feige and the upper-creatives at Marvel Studios are desperate to say as little as possible, often only saying things when convenient for them rather than for any artistic reasoning. 

    “But Ghost, The MCU is built on a foundation of social commentary, didn’t you see Iron Man! He hates weapons!” I hear you yell at your digital screen, and yes, Iron Man certainly tries to say something about… war I guess? That making weapons is bad… unless you use the weapon yourself? I think that’s what Iron Man tries to say, I can’t be sure though as any meaningful – though very confusing and muddled – message you try to squeeze out of the first Iron Man film is in fact buried underneath a thick layer of genuine US Military propaganda. I know I’m far from the first person to have spoken about this but Marvel has on numerous occasions (including on the production of “Iron Man”) actively worked with the US Military for their films, including giving the Department Of Defense final say on the film’s script in exchange for access to real military equipment for the film’s production. Marvel traded their entire artistic integrity just to pay a little less. A spineless decision for a quick buck. 

    Now I don’t want to get ahead of myself here but… I feel like we’ve sort of found ourselves at the root cause of this issue fairly quickly. It’s money, because of course it is. I know, I know, what a boring conclusion to come to, but I can’t help that we are living in a world built atop a foundation of currency over humanity. When you make art with the sole purpose of making money from it, you’re gonna end up saying nothing, because saying something means you’ll undoubtedly step on someone’s toes – and that person is not paying for a ticket to see your next film about a purple guy trying to kill a spider-guy. You can only make billions by making movies for everyone, which means you have to also appeal to everyone, thus saying nothing in the process. Because if you didn’t appeal to everyone, you’d end up only making hundreds of millions of dollars at once, and who’d want that when you could be making a billion instead? 

    There is honestly only one MCU project that I believe dares to say something even remotely controversial ; “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” (coincidentally a project independent from Box Office numbers since it’s a streaming series not a cinematic release) A story all about a black man becoming Captain America, this show simply couldn’t not make a statement about race and what it means to be black in America. By mirroring the real life vitriol Sam Wilson (and in extension Anthony Mackie) got for portraying the new Captain America, this show was the only thing actually willing to take a stand against that hate and by adding Isaiah Bradley to the story the show also managed to use that enhanced mirror I mentioned previously to create a really solid series. Sure, the political commentary isn’t all that scathing and falls on deaf ears for a lot of its run time, but even a small step in the right direction will get you to where you need to be eventually. Yet then, when it’s time to give Sam his own solo film, when it’s time to put Isaiah on the big screen and to continue making that same statement, the studio instead flops over into something else, a spineless film about nothing. Absolutely nothing. In a time where elections are maybe the most important they’ve ever been, Marvel studios makes a film about the president turning into a big jello pudding hulk. A sad display of cowardice but one also not all too surprising given their track record. 

    So no. A political espionage thriller isn’t happening. Not now and maybe not ever. But is there still room for a thriller of any other sort? A tense and grounded story focusing on a smaller scale adventure for any of the heroes in the MCU? Honestly, I’m not so sure about that either.

    Post-Endgame it’s been apparent that the once king of blockbuster film-making just isn’t what it used to be. While pre-Endgame Marvel movies certainly didn’t all hit, the general reputation of the MCU felt untouchable, hit after hit after hit, billions coming in at the box-office, it really felt like the MCU had the formula down. But post-Endgame the conglomerate seems to have slipped a bit. With their focus shifting to bigger and bigger slates of films and tv, the overall cohesion of the Universe slowly seemed to disappear and with it quality seemed to slip a little more as well. I wouldn’t say everything has gone to shit, that we’re watching an unmitigated disaster spin out of control until it reaches its inevitable whimper of an ending, but I do think the studio has, in an attempt to course correct, started relying too much on big spectacle moments to make up for poor critical reception, and those spectacle moments will end up leaving no lasting impact. 

    Yes, putting Red Hulk in your movie and then marketing his inclusion like crazy might compensate for the lack of audience investment in this world in the short-run, but it’s not gonna be a sustainable solution. You will run out of these characters eventually, there’s not an endless supply of glup-shitto’s in the Marvel Comics vault, and when you do, audiences will realize there’s nothing left for them in this universe, no cohesion, no stakes, no dynamics they love between characters they stan on twitter! Just a universe mistaking cameos for spectacle. 

    That same mistake is also what’s causing their Thriller problem – or lack-thereof I should say. Yes, you can give us a story about The Leader pulling the strings behind the US government as an all out world-war is set to break out, but if the stakes can only conclude in a big smash fest between Captain America and Red Hulk well then you kind of lose the tension you’ve been building (now a weak script and massive reshoots don’t help this case either but my point still stands). Same with “Secret Invasion”, which has arguably the worst finale of any Marvel project ever made with that god awful fight between Giah and Gravik forever stained upon this universe. Thrills can come from more than just bad Dragonball battles, more than power-scaling and smashing action figures into each other, especially when your entire story depends on tension on a much smaller scale!

    So can Marvel make Thrillers anymore? Probably! But there has to be some change before any of that can happen. The studio needs to take some risks. I know big studios don’t like taking those these days, but risks are what is going to get butts in seats in the long run. Risks make the audience engage in your stories and risks are how you build a franchise out. And yes that might cost money, yes you might not hit a billion with every movie you make, but you will have an audience left after your big expanding universe reaches its 20th year anniversary.

  • What To Read: Captain America – Brave New World

    What To Read: Captain America – Brave New World

    We live in a day and age filled with comic book adaptations. Movies starring our favorite superheroes, villains, anti-heroes and pulpy characters seem to pop up every month, tv shows adapting cult classic independent books are released so fast you can barely keep up with it and every now and again they even try to adapt the books we love for the stage (to middling success). Yet the stories that inspire these films and shows often get overlooked. The books that breathe life and color into these – often inferior – adaptations are sometimes completely ignored when a major studio gets their claws into them, a trend that frustrates me endlessly. That’s why I’m starting this series, where we look at upcoming comic book adaptations and discuss the books that inspired them, so you know what to pick up next time you’re in your local comic book shop.

    Today we’ll be looking at Captain America’s latest big-screen outing “Brave New World” and the books that inspired it as well as books that will supplement your Gamma radiated cravings after seeing the film. 

    All-New Captain America

    Sam Wilson’s first solo title as Captain America is immediately his best. This 6 issue mini-series written by Rick Remender with art by Stuart Immonen is exactly what you want from a book like this. It introduces you to this new era of Captain America with no-holds-barred action. Seriously, this thing opens right in the middle of the fight and just doesn’t let up the entire time, it’s really thrilling. Cap is sent on a mission against Hydra that sees him facing off against every pseudo-nazi Steve Rogers has ever faced. Having Sam stuck in this adventure that encompassess almost the entirety of Steve’s past is genius and a lot of fun, solidifying it as one of my favorite ways off relaunching a legacy character like this. 

    Sam is put through the ringer here as he’s thrown into the modern-day version of a Kirby and Simon era story, including evil super-nazis trying to take over the world with a ridiculous scheme and colourful interior pages. It’s clear that Remender really went for it here to prove just how worthy Sam is of the shield as he beats down 80 years of Cap villains in 6 issues. But the story doesn’t just use its incredible action to convince the reader of Sam’s competency. It does much more.

    The entire adventure plays alongside several flashbacks scenes that explore Sam’s past and instill the entire story with motivation as we realize more and more why Sam is supposed to be Cap. These flashback sequences aren’t just good to create that sense of morality that fuels Sam but it also gives readers a sense of Sam’s back story. Sam has a sort of convoluted past because of a retcon from a few decades ago but Remender uses this book to clean that up a little, making it easier to stomach as this new status quo for the character is ushered in. 

    “All New Captain America” is a non-stop action book great for new readers and old readers alike.

    Captain America: Sam Wilson

    Remender’s Sam Wilson Mini is followed up by Nick Spencer’s run on the winged Avenger, another solid entry in this character’s new status quo. While I think Remender’s mini is the better of the two, this book feels much more akin to his Live-action counterpart. The book focuses on more grounded issues compared to the “sci-fi nazis try to sterilize the entire earth using inhumans” of our previous entry, often commentating on real world events and the rhetoric present in 2016’s America (and also 2025 America sadly). But by tackling said issues in a heightened way the book still manages to be fun and engaging instead of simply depressing. 

    The book also features the origin of Joaquin Torres’ Falcon, who we will see more of in “Brave New World” after his Disney+ debut 4 years ago. I really like Joaquin as Falcon in the comics, he’s got a very fun, young, energy around him and the total ridiculousness of his origin story is something I mess with heavily. 

    Also present in this book which may or may not tie into “Brave New World” is the Serpent Society, a group of snake-themed evil doers who were originally featured in this new film but reshoots and rewrites seem to have done away with them for the most part. It’s not entirely clear what happened to them but if you wanna make sure you’re not missing out on any snake related activity in the film, make sure to check out this book since they’re the big bad of the entire thing.

    While this run is solid, it does tie into a bunch of other Marvel Universe stuff later on which might make it a bit of a tough read for those who aren’t fully engaged into that world-building yet. I recommend starting with the first 6 issues and seeing what you think before either continuing on or pivoting to one of the other books on this list!  

    Thunderbolts Red

    No, I didn’t confuse the next two MCU releases, I know we’re not talking about the “Thunderbolts*” yet. But the inclusion of Thaddeus Ross and The Leader in Brave New World make “Thunderbolts Red” (or Thunderbolts 2013) the perfect supplementary reading material as you prepare for the new MCU blockbuster. Especially Ross’ shines here, both in his role as a no-nonsense general and as the Red Hulk. Written by Daniel Way (and later Charles Soule), this run on the Thunderbolts is unlike any of the others sharing the name. While previous incarnations of the team focused on groups of (reformed) villains, this take on the character sees a group of anti-heroes coming together under the leadership of Ross to do the big scale stuff they can’t do alone.

    Their first mission revolves all around Samuel Sterns AKA The Leader, who might not be exactly as smart as you expect him to be in this run (or the color you expect him to be for that matter), but he’s still as dastardly as you want him to be (especially in the later half of this run once other writers take over the book). The Leader doesn’t necessarily have the most iconic line-up of books under his belt, so finding a run that prominently features him the way this one does isn’t as easy as you might think.

    This book is a ton of fun. Bloody, violent, action packed and filled with fun characters like Ghost Rider, Deadpool, Elektra and Punisher alongside the aforementioned Hulk characters. 

    Honorable Mentions

    There’s many more stories to get through as we prepare for Brave New World, but many of them might not be entirely relevant to the movie’s story. That’s why they’re in this little paragraph. I still recommend reading these stories, but if you don’t get through them before the film’s release it’s not going to affect your viewing experience. 

    Red Hulk was created in 2008 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness in the aptly titled “HULK” book, an unstoppable tour de force of a comic. Loeb has undoubtedly written some beautifully emotional books before but his Hulk run sure as shit isn’t that. I wouldn’t even really call this book good yet it is still very entertaining. Each issue whizzes by you like a freight train and before you know it you’ll be 12 issues in and pondering what the fuck you’re even reading about. If you have a Marvel Unlimited subscription and a free afternoon I’d highly suggest cracking this open and turning your brain off. But if you don’t have any of these, maybe let the book lay to your wayside.

    On the flipside I’d recommend reading Immortal Hulk, my personal favorite Hulk book ever written and one of the most solid runs the big two have had to offer readers in the last 20 years. Immortal Hulk, written by Al Ewing and drawn by Joe Bennett, is a body-horror thrill ride that introduces readers to a whole new mythology surrounding Bruce Banner. Sure, this isn’t focused on Captain America necessarily, neither is it too focused on Thaddeus Ross, but if we want a story that focuses all on Gamma then Immortal Hulk is the book to bat for. 

    A book I’ll always recommend people read if they want to get into Captain America is “United States Of Captain America”, a story all about what it means to be Captain America, a concept I’m sure Sam will struggle with as well in Brave New World. The book features both Steve and Sam suiting up as the titular red-white-and-blue hero but it also includes a plethora of other Captain Americas, both old and new. It’s a fun cross-country adventure that celebrates the 80 year history of Cap perfectly and introduces you to a whole new cast of fun characters.


    Are you excited for “Brave New World”? And If so, will you be checking out any of these aforementioned books in preparation? Let us know in the comments and give us a follow if you’d like to read more!

  • 4 Fantastic Yet Underrated Fantastic Four Comics

    4 Fantastic Yet Underrated Fantastic Four Comics

    The year of The Fantastic Four has officially started. Yesterday’s incredible teaser trailer for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” ushers in the start of an exciting few months of promo – both on screen and on the page. But as we get ready to see Marvel’s First Family finally portrayed on the big screen for a third – and hopefully most successful – time, I’d love to shine a light on some of the best books this team has to offer. The Four have many astonishing titles under their name, critically acclaimed books from some of the biggest writers comics have ever seen. But over the course of their 60 year history they’ve also had so many incredible smaller books that don’t get put into the spotlight as often. That’s what I want to focus on today. The books that deserve the spotlight just as much as those aforementioned critically acclaimed runs. Let’s dig in!

    Fantastic Four: Full Circle

    “Fantastic Four: Full Circle” is nothing short of breathtaking. Made as a sequel to maybe the most famous Fantastic Four issue ever written – “This Man, This Monster” – Full Circle is a glorious mix of vintage sci-fi mixed with hypercolored modern comic making. Written and Illustrated by the legendary Alex Ross, this book is a clear labor of love; love for the Fantastic Four, love for the Silver Age, love for Kirby and love for Ben Grimm specifically. 

    It’s the most gorgeous Fantastic Four book I own. A stunning work of art from start to finish with each page seemingly better than the next. I know I sound like a broken record here but what Ross does in this book is mind-blowing. My jaw drops to the floor with each flip off the page. I own the newly released Deluxe Edition of the book and I can’t recommend reading the back-material in there enough. The creative journey Ross has been on while making this book is inspiring and instills the entire book with a new level of beauty.

    Plus it’s not like the story is bad either. It’s actually really good. An incredibly classic little thrill-ride that lets all members of the Four shine as they journey through the Negative Zone. Not since Kirby has the Negative Zone been portrayed with such life, exploring a unique new side of this staple of the Marvel Universe while never straying too far from what made it so classic in the first place. If you need something to scratch the itch left by the original Kirby and Lee works I highly recommend “Full Circle”.

    The Thing (2021)

    He’s the heart and soul of the Four. He’s the ever-loving blue-eyed Thing. He’s Ben Grimm. He’s the only member of Marvel’s first family who has his own solo series on this list! And that’s not for no reason. Walter Mosley and Tom Reilly’s Thing mini sets Ben on a journey across the globe (and beyond it) that quickly spirals into something much more cosmic. I love a book like this. An ever expanding story that unravels into all corners of the Marvel Universe, including appearances from a ton of other F4 characters. 

    If you’ve read “Batman Universe” by Brian Michael Bendis you sort of know what you’re getting with this book, an adventure across wacky worlds that sets its titular character completely out of their element. But whereas that book purposely strays away from the classic tropes of the Caped Crusader, this mini goes full on Fantastic, not only going for the wild intergalactic sci-fi characters and worlds that make the F4 who they are, but also the equally important character work. The entire thing (pardon the pun) is delightfully classic, with Tom Reilly’s art being the pulpy centrepoint. 

    Tom Reilly’s art is just stunning. He nails Ben’s look; This is that version of The Thing that the kids of the Marvel Universe love, The Thing who sells Action Figures and The Thing who’s lovable face is plastered on t-shirts. But it’s also the brawler. It’s also The Thing who makes the ground beneath his feet shake with every punch. He’s big and tough yet loveable. He’s perfect. 

    If you want to read a fun and breezy book about arguably one of comics’ most layered heroes, pick this up!

    Marvel Two-In-One

    “Marvel Two-In-One” is a strange book published in an even stranger time. Marvel seemed to be struggling with what to do with the Four given that their exclusion from the MCU (and subsequent inclusion in stories made by other rivaling companies) meant the studio behind Marvel couldn’t milk the cow completely dry – they’d have to share the poor aching bovine with other conglomerates. Thus, post Hickman’s “Secret Wars”, Marvel’s first family was banished from their publishing line-up. In-universe this meant Reed, Sue and their children had decided to leave this universe in order to rebuild the universe. Leaving behind Ben and Johnny, who believed they had passed during the Secret Wars event. With this in mind, Chip Zdarsky set out to write “Marvel Two-In-One”, A wonderful little book that sets out to explore the grief left behind by Reed’s sudden departure. 

    While the family might be split up in “Marvel Two-In-One”, it’s still a Fantastic Four book through and through. It’s got the exploration of different worlds that make the Four standout from the other more typical hero-types, it has family dynamics that are both fun and emotionally resonant, plus it even has all the heart you’ve come to expect from this group. Chip writes Ben and Johnny so incredibly well; They are well rounded characters, strained brothers-from-other-mothers whose rekindling is both satisfying as it is real. Sue has always been Johnny’s sister, but Ben really grows into Johnny’s big brother here. 

    It’s not like Reed and Sue aren’t present in the book either. The book introduces a plethora of different multiversal versions of Reed and Sue who help highlight the importance of the teams dynamic with one-another, cementing this book as a giant love letter to the Four as we wait on their return. 

    Their return to the Marvel Universe is touched upon by Zdarsky in his final issues on the title, which are both satisfying as they are bitter sweet. I feel this book’s biggest flaw is its corporate mandated end. Zdarsky could’ve written this for another 50 issues as he prepared to relaunch the main FF title but alas, the publisher had other things in mind. Thankfully there’s still these 12 exciting and beautiful issues left for you to delve into. 

    Silver Surfer: Requiem

    Now to be fair, I know putting a solo Silver Surfer book on this list might not be entirely accurate to what I set out to do in this article but I felt like The Surfer is so ingrained into the Four and their lore that he’s basically a member of the team at this point (plus, The Four do heavily feature in this book). Written by J. Michael Straczynski and illustrated by Esad Ribic, this four issue mini focuses on the final days of Norrin Radd’s life as the power cosmic that gave him his powers turns out to be his undoing as well. 

    As I start this off I must say that I have truly no words to describe how much I adore this book. I read it for the first time when I was much-too-young to fully understand it, but as I have grown a little older I love it more and more. That is what I love most about “Requiem”, the fact that I know I haven’t fully wrapped my brain around the entire thing yet, I know there is so much more emotional development left to gain here that I’m simply not feeling yet. One day I will, One day this thing will tear me apart completely and leave me entirely breathless and that’s something I’m looking forward to very much.

    Exploring all sides of Norrin Radd’s life, both on Earth as on Zenn-La, “Requiem” explores who the Silver Surfer is in such a beautiful way that I challenge anyone who reads this not to fall in love with the character. Frankly, his death might be the best place to start reading Silver Surfer comics, because no other book will make you feel for Norrin the way this one does. No book will make you understand why Silver Surfer might just be Stan’s greatest creation. No book will make you understand why we need Silver Surfer. 

    The book is an emotional ride from start to finish, exploring all corners of the Marvel Universe as it jumps from one beautiful character moment to the next. Requiem is wonderful. Truly wonderful.


    I hope you decide to check out one or more of these books as we all anxiously await the release of“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” this summer. Make sure to follow Ghost Writes since we will be covering so much more of The Fantastic Four in the upcoming months (and beyond).

    Make sure to let me know what you think are some of the most underrated Fantastic Four titles ever released!