It’s exciting to think we have two more Avengers installments on the way from Marvel Studios with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty being helmed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings). The filmmaker will be working with screenwriter Jeff Loveness on the sequel, who recently penned Ant-Man 3 and will tackle Jonathan Majors‘ Kang The Conqueror for the second time. During a recent interview with ComicBook, the writer revealed a character he’s extremely excited to get his hands on and it’s one we’ve already been introduced to.
“Namor, man. I’m excited to write Namor,” Loveness said when asked about what he was excited about moving forward as he continues to work within the MCU.
Although, not directly said this could easily be taken as a hint that Tenonch Huerta’s Namor might be a character that will show up in The Kang Dynasty, mainly, because a solo project hasn’t been announced and we’re still unsure if he’ll be appearing in Matt Shakman’s Fantastic Four reboot (given Namor’s comic book connections to that superhero team) that is set to begin shooting sometime next year. An Avengers project would seemingly be larger enough to give some wiggle-room to allow for Namor to make a return after being introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
It’s also worth mentioning that while working on Rick & Morty, Loveness as a writer worked on the season five episode that introduced Mr. Nimbus. A character is a direct parody of Namor The Sub-Mariner but with a heightened level of sexuality and more silly/theatrical than his MCU counterpart.
While Namor was the antagonist of Wakanda Forever and had his own reasons to protect the world from finding his underwater kingdom by any means. In the comics, the character has been quite active in the superhero role as well joining the ranks of Marvel teams like The Avengers, The Defenders, The Illuminati, and The Invaders. So, it remains to be seen if Namor will actually show up, but, hopefully, if he does it’ll be to help boost his heroic/anti-hero persona and not double-down as being a villain.
Barring any more changes to the MCU slate by Disney, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is set to hit theaters on May 2, 2025.
When Narcos: Mexico breakout actor Tenoch Huerta was announced as playing a villain of Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, everyone jumped on the idea he would be playing the MCU incarnation of Prince Namor McKenzie, aka, The Sub-Mariner. One of Marvel’s first superheroes and mutants that predates the popular Stan Lee era.
Now, Huerta’s role as Namor has been confirmed thanks to the official promo artwork that circulated on Twitter (via @MCU_Facility) over the weekend. It shows Namor in mesoamerican Indigenous garb along with another image with Namor wearing a headdress that seems to be honoring Tepeyollotl, the Aztec jaguar god that might share superhero similarities to Wakanda’s own feline god Bast.
A welcomed update on the character’s origin. His original heroics saw him mostly destroying America’s WWII enemies including very racist depictions of the Japanese forces but would eventually be an important cog in the Fantastic Four comic books and the greater Marvel Comics universe. Namor has played both anti-hero, and villain at varying points of the comics and almost went to all-out nuclear war with Wakanda in the pages of The Defenders. So, having him join the Black Panther sequel was something many of us wanted to see going back to 2018.
Not only that, the artwork also featured the Atlantis villain Attuma, who is expected to be an antagonist. How exactly Atlantis will be featured in the film remains to be seen but will hopefully be extremely different from the Aquaman films.
Universal Pictures for the longest time held the solo film rights and even once attempted a feature film with Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines), but it never went in front of cameras. However, it looks like Marvel Studios figured out how to include him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but we don’t know if he’ll end up getting his own solo series or film down the road. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that Namor could factor in future things like the Fantastic Four reboot, Doctor Strange 3, Captain America 4 (via a McGuggin like the Serpent Crown), or even a big crossover event like Secret Wars as a supporting character.
We’ll likely see some first-look images or even teaser footage at San Diego Comic-Con later this month as the Black Panther sequel is heading to theaters on November 11 and promotion for the film will likely begin as soon as Thor: Love & Thunder is released into the wild later this week.
The next big Marvel Studios release to grace the big screen will be Chloe Zhao’s Eternals, which will see the MCU version of the team. We already know that the film incarnation will be different than their comic book counterparts and a new detail might help link them to a similar group of god-like aliens.
Marvel’s Nate Moore recently revealed to Comic Book another slight tweak to the Eternals origin, stating the group of immortals are from an alien planet called Olympia.
“In the past we see the Eternals, who, in our version of the mythology, are immortal aliens from a planet called Olympia. [They’ve] been asked by the Celestials to come to Earth to rid the Earth of creatures called the Deviants. The Deviants are these parasitic aliens who go from planet to planet, and as they kill the apex predators on a given planet, they sort of take the characteristics of those predators and wipe out intelligent life. Well, the Eternals are heroes, so they’ve come to earth to eradicate the Deviants and allow humanity to thrive.”
In the comics, Olympia aka High Olympus was set on Earth in Greece.
Interestingly enough, The Olympians (Marvel’s cosmic version of the Greek pantheon of gods) will be officially introduced in Thor: Love & Thunder after Australian actor Russell Crowe revealed he’d be playing the MCU version of Zeus in the sequel.
I don’t exactly see why Marvel wouldn’t have Zeus and The Olympians also being from this planet of Olympia as a streamlined way to be less confusing to audiences by making the groups essentially interchangeable. This might also be why Zuras (Thena’s father) isn’t in the film, both Zeus and Zuras have similar character designs in the comics.
Zeus, of course, is the father of demigod Hercules Panhellenios aka The Prince of Power, who just happened to be on The Avengers roster around the same time as Gemma Chan’s Sersi and Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman aka Black Knight.
Adding a bit of fuel is that director Chloe Zhao told Empire Magazine that the Eternals are “akin to stories of Greek and Roman gods, who live very human lives with human traits, rivalries, jealousies and frailties.”
It’s hard not to notice this information only further distancing themselves from Thanos and Titan. In the trailer, Ajax (played by Selma Hayek) explained that The Mad Titan wasn’t a Deviant, which prevented them to interfere with his dastardly plan to kill half the universe (addition of Olympia could suggest he’s not an Eternal either). This line was also likely out of convenience because Marvel wasn’t even thinking about bringing Jack Kirby’s obscure creations, The Eternals, into the MCU until Chloe Zhao pitched them on the idea.
However, nothing stops them from making Titans like Starfox part of the Eternals/Olympian group.
The MCU version of Deviants could also have a larger connection to Lemurians and world of Namor/Atlantis, if Lemuria and Atlantis both were sunk during The Great Cataclysm (potentially shown in Eternals). This might explain why we see Deviants coming out of the ocean in the trailer footage and possibly where they’ve been hiding out for 5,000 years until the events of the film.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see when Eternals releases on November 5.
Despite the death of Peggy Carter in Captain America: Civil War, we’ve kept getting more Hayley Atwell brief cameos in Avengers: Endgame when Steve Rogers did his time-traveling and now we’ll be seeing a Multiverse incantation in the upcoming What If…? series that will debut on Disney+ on August 11.
Peggy Carter is the one who is selected for the super-soldier program and leads a team that includes Steve Rogers, who pilots the HYDRA stomper armored suit.
This has lead to rumors from The DisInsider that Atwell might be seeing her Multiverse incarnation, Captain Carter, appear in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. If they’re indeed keen on bringing her back to the live-action corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it would be the perfect excuse to tackle another period adventure but with Captain Carter and various characters from her timeline/universe.
Producer Brad Winderbaum revealed to Deadline recently that Marvel has plans to bring her back for multiple seasons of What If…?, which could make fans extremely happy and that could help signal the studio’s desire to do more with her in the future.
One idea I’ve had about future projects that has been growing like a germ for months is that Marvel Studios finally attempt a version of The Invaders. The other team Steve Rogers led in the comic books alongside his trusty side-kick Bucky Barnes. That lineup also consists of android John Hammon aka Human Torch (Easter Egg in Captain America: The First Avengers), Namor The Sub-Mariner (expected to be coming soon), Joey Chapman aka Union Jack (raced against Tony Stark in Iron Man 2), Jacqueline Falsworth aka Spitfire, and many many more WWII era characters that may never see the light of day (Wolverine and Captain Britain could easily join those allied ranks too).
Captain Carter leading an incarnation of The Invaders during WWII, the Cold War (could add members of Agents of Atlas), or in present time could be worth turning into a live-action series on Disney+ given how hungry Disney has been to adding multiple new shows to the streaming series. Seeing Marvel tackle off-shoot Multiverse projects on Disney+ feels like a better way to tackle this stuff instead of overloading audiences with feature film explorations.
Chris Evans has seemingly bowed-out from the MCU and Peggy Carter could be the one to lead Invaders, if Evans stays away (despite reports of a return that have been denied) and the studio wants to pursue a live-action Carter project.
We know that actress Hayley Atwell was willing to return for more seasons of Agent Carter, but if they’re focusing on new television projects at Marvel Studio. It also doesn’t hurt that she’ll be starring alongside with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8, highlighting that the actress is still interested in action roles and Marvel should capitalize on that sooner rather than later.
Yesterday, fans discovered the possibility of Namor (Prince of Atlantis) villain Gargantos being involved in a fight sequence in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. It felt like a big hint that Namor is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or even the Doctor Strange sequel after Scott Derrickson had teased on Twitter before deleting the post and exiting the film leading to rewrites from Michael Waldron (Loki).
Despite believable rumors of Namor (alongside other characters) showing up in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Atlantis and Wakanda having battled each other before), neither the trades nor Marvel Studios have confirmed this exciting potential. Given that Angela Bassett told Entertainment Tonight there have been at least five versions of the script means that things could have been tweaked/changed over the last year or two.
“There have been about five incarnations of the script and I hear another one’s coming,” Bassett said of the script development of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
While the Darkhold (book of dark magic) is being introduced in WandaVision and should play a large role in Doctor Strange 2, we could be seeing more dangerous items falling into the wrong hands.
The addition of Gargantos may mean another dangerous McGuffin could be coming to the MCU as well. As the comic that featured Gargantos included the former ruler of Atlantis, Naga of Lumeria. The Lumerians are sort of antagonists to the Atlanteans, and their leader Naga wears an object of interest of Marvel Comics, the Serpent Crown. Interestingly enough, Captain America: The Winter Soldier gave them a brief nod with the SHIELD ship in the opening sequence being called The Lumerian Star (seemingly a HYDRA operation).
The Serpent Crown has connections to various villains such as Mephisto (Marvel’s cosmic version of the Devil), Ophelia Sarkissian aka Viper, The Serpent Society (once led by Sarkissian), and the aforementioned Naga of Lumeria.
In the comics, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and the Thing teamed up to fight against Quasar, who was possessed by the Serpent Crown.
The Serpent Society connection is a big standout here. Mainly, because it was the fake title (Captain America: Serpent Society) used before Kevin Feige announced that they would be making Captain America: Civil War and announced the casting of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther. There had been reports that The Falcon & The Winter Soldier head writer Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson had been assigned to write Captain America 4, assumed to star Anthony Mackie. So, setting up the Serpent Society as a threat or giving clues to the Serpent Crown beforehand would be a good way to go.
The Serpent Society has a connection to Lumeria, which makes the Lumerian Star tease in Captain America: The Winter Soldier even more interesting given that it was controlled by HYDRA. Viper, also goes by the codename Madame Hydra. They could easily become the successors to HYDRA and make for foes for Sam Wilson’s new Captain America or even the Thunderbolts.
I wouldn’t be that shocked if Val (was an incarnation of Madame Hydra in the comics) or Sharon Carter’s Power Broker are part of this MCU incarnation of The Serpent Society, given that Viper once controlled the island nation of Madripoor, which seemingly we’ll be revisiting in the future possibly in Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.
Roxxon’s Hugh Jones (who appeared in Agents of SHIELD) attempted to use the Serpent Crown to gain control of the U.S. government in the comics, it’s possible the MCU could reboot that character as they have with the Darkhold in WandaVision. The Loki series, that gave us a true introduction to The Multiverse, featured Roxxon’s Walmart proxy Roxxcart.
I guess we’ll have to wait on March 25, 2022 to known for sure if Namor, Atlantis, and The Serpent Crown are coming.
We’re still pretty much in the dark concerning Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness outside of the additions of Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez. The rest of the returning cast consists of Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, and Rachel McAdams.
One thing we do know that Loki head writer Michael Waldron worked with Raimi to rewrite the script from scratch.
Fans have spotted a listing on Mandy that Yenifer Molina is connected to scene that is expected to feature Namor villain Gargantos. This would be the most recent nod to Namor/Atlantis coming to the MCU and it would support the Namor tease that former director Scott Derrickson made on Twitter before deleting the post.
People have jumped to the conclusion that Molina is actually playing Gargantos, but the role simply says “Gargantos Fight 2” (looks like the name of a scene, not a character) and there is a strong possibly it’s simply a nameless extra role (looking at her other roles in her listings are extremely minor such as “officer worker” and “waitress”) that is fighting against or being attacked by the monstrous villain in an action sequence. Normally, Marvel hires motion-capture actors or bigger names to voice these types of CGI characters.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Molina is simply an extra during a visual effects heavy action scene.
There had been rumblings that Brother Voodoo and Clea would appear but those castings haven’t been made official by either trade reports or confirmations by Marvel. Outside of the return of Baron Mordo we don’t have an official villain despite previous teases of Nightmare being used by Derrickson.
I wouldn’t be shocked if we end up seeing Tom Holland’s Spider-Man appear given that Cumberbatch is confirmed for Spider-Man: No Way Home, but must have shot his scenes in London because he wasn’t spotted in Atlanta and the Doctor Strange 2 production overlapped with Spidey 3.
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness is set to be released on March 25, 2022.
NEW: We’ve recently uncovered a casting detail for DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS!
Actress Yenifer Molina will be portraying Gargantos! 🐙
Namor McKenzie aka The Sub-Mariner has become one of the few high-profile Marvel Comics characters that is still on the table to finally make his jump from the comics to the big screen. The aquatic superhero debuted back in 1939 and was created by Bill Everett, who also famously created Matt Murdock aka Daredevil with Stan Lee.
In the early days of Marvel Studios, a feature film version of Namor The Sub-Mariner was being developed back to 1997 when Variety reported that The Right Stuff’s Philip Kaufman was trying to make a solo movie with Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm. This took place around the same time 20th Century Fox was working on a Silver Surfer movie with director Geoffrey Wright (Romper Stomper) and a version of Fantastic Four from director Pete Segal (Tommy Boy, Get Smart, 50 First Dates).
Universal Pictures got their hands on the rights then attempted their own version of The Sub-Mariner in late 2004 with director Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, Adventures In Babysitting) working from a script penned by screenwriter David Self (Road To Perdition, The Wolfman). Two years later, Universal and Marvel Studios hired Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines) to direct and rewrite the Self script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Here is the logline for the Jonathan Mostow version.
The movie’s take will see a young man discovering he actually is a prince from Atlantis, with him turning out to be the key man in a brewing war between the underwater world and the modern surface world.
In 2008, British actor and former professional diver Jason Statham revealed to IESB that he met with the studio for The Sub-Mariner, but couldn’t picture himself in the part.
STATHAM: “I took a meeting for Sub-Mariner. I don’t know if I’d look right running around in a tight speedo with wings on my ankles but there’s so many cool fucking characters.”
From there the project dissolved and after the massive success of Iron Man/Phase One there was hope from fans that Marvel could wrangle the character back from Universal Pictures and do their own thing. While there had talk that Namor was completely back at Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige suggested to IGN back in 2018 things were complicated with the rights. At the time, it seemed like there were still issues giving the anti-hero his own solo project.
IGN: With the Disney/Fox deal, if that pans out, with the Sony rights sharing deal with Spidey, the one big loose end, then, is Namor and Universal. Can you tell us what the status of that is? Is there any chance for him to just pop up in an MCU film? It just sounds like an incredibly complicated situation, for one character.
FEIGE: “It is. I think there’s a way to probably figure it out but it does have — it’s not as a clean or clear as the majority of the other characters.”
He obviously could become one of the more crossover-friendly characters as he has connections to Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Illuminati, the original Defenders lineup alongside Doctor Strange and Hulk, The Avengers, X-Men, the WWII era team The Invaders, and ties to Agents of Atlas via his cousin Namora.
There has been years of speculation and rumors concerning when and where Namor McKenzie aka The Sub-Mariner will show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, none of that chatter has been confirmed or announced by the studio officially. Despite the ideas he could be appearing in things like Eternals, Black Panther 2 or Fantastic Four. So, there is a possibility that they still haven’t hired an actor to play Marvel’s “first mutant.”
I’d personally like to see Marvel Studios continue their recent trend of looking at actors with a mix of commercial and awards success. You’d have to imagine given that Namor is potentially going to jump around to different franchises they’re going to need an actor with some decent range and wide-range of genre credits.
Here’s a trio of Oscar caliber actors I’d like to see in the Namor role.
RIZ AHMED (AGE 38): Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The Night Of, Sound of Metal, Nightcrawler, Four Lions, Venom, and Jason Bourne.
STEVEN YEUN (AGE 37): The Walking Dead, Minari, Invincible, Burning, and Okja.
DEV PATEL (AGE 30): The Green Knight, Skins, Slumdog Millionaire, Chappie, Lion, Hotel Mumbai, The Newsroom, and The Last Airbender.
Yesterday, it was revealed by Deadline that Chris Evans was nearing a deal to reprise SteveRogers aka Captain America in a small supporting role (similar to Robert Downey Jr. in Spider-Man: Homecoming) for an undisclosed MCU project. They also mention Evans might be returning for second thing, possibly a film but didn’t reveal what that could be either.
There are a couple of obvious options such as old Steve Rogers becoming a mentor to Sam Wilson in Captain America 4 as he takes over the mantle. Also, seeing what Steve was up to while hiding between Captain America: Civil War to Avengers: Infinity War, not unlike where Black Widow takes place in the MCU timeline. There is the multiple years between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, I’m sure there would still be threats in the wake of Thanos’ snap.
There is another option to add. Thanks to Avengers: Endgame, that Steve was able to go back in time to be with Peggy Carter and stayed there starting in 1948 just when The Cold War begins. Steve as an old man ends up handing Sam Wilson the shield at the end of the film and launching the events that will be covered in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.
The Multiverse also opens the door to other timelines allowing to them return to WWII.
I think it’s hard to imagine with all the threats surrounding him during that timeline and Peggy Carter’s work at S.H.I.E.L.D. that he doesn’t eventually jump back into the fray between his return and Avengers: Endgame. What would make a lot of sense would be Rogers leading his own team which has previously happened with The Invaders, a group mostly made up of WWII era heroes such as Namor McKenzie aka The Sub-Mariner, Union Jack, Spitfire, the original android version of The Human Torch aka Jim Hammond, Blazing Skull, and multiple other wartime heroes that could get some live-action love.
It’s worth noting that Wyatt Russell’s John Walker aka U.S. Agent, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes have been established members on the roster.
There is another superhero that was kicking around during WWII and The Cold War that has teamed-up with Captain America the comics that could make for another excellent addition to those ranks, that being the Canadian super-soldier Wolverine.
Luckily, since Logan doesn’t really age he can be able to time-hop to various eras of the MCU including something like WWII or even futuristic setting like with Old Man Logan.
Rebooting Wolverine is clearly a huge priority to the studio alongside the X-Men and having the anti-hero connect to various MCU characters beforehand wouldn’t be shocking since he’s, like Steve Rogers, he is part of a super-soldier program via Weapon. When his origin takes places in the MCU doesn’t seem to be set in stone and Marvel can certainly tinker with it to fit their needs but I’d personally like to see him running around WWII without his indestructible skeleton and then get it during The Cold War.
It might be a good idea to introduce Wolverine as a supporting character elsewhere so that he doesn’t dominate the main X-Men films as much. The fictional X-Men locale of Madripoor is going to be introduced in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, which had many fans jump to conclusions that Wolverine is connected to the Disney+ series, although, there hasn’t been credible information backing up these fan desires. However, it becoming a stomping ground for the mutant eventually wouldn’t a surprise.
If they’re genuinely going to bring Chris Evans back I think it is worth considering giving him another period project since while Captain America: The First Avenger canonically takes place during WWII, it felt like they copped-out by limiting how much fighting he did against the actual Axis. The Cold War era could be another fine option as Steve combating the new threat of The Soviet Union during the height of the nuclear arms race feels just as a plausible of a setting for another adventure.
X-Men villain Omega Red could be a good baddie to use as well given his connections to Soviet Union super-soldier experiments.
It’s worth mentioning we’ve previously seen Easter Eggs to canonical members of The Invaders lineup in previous Marvel Studios films.
Union Jack was teased via Iron Man 2 as Joey Chapman was listed as one of the racers going head-to-head with Tony Stark. The Human Torch is seen encased in glass and Namor’s Atlantis was briefly teased in Captain America: The First Avenger at the Stark Expo (blink and you’ll miss the underwater city nod). The S.H.I.E.L.D. boat called The Lemurian Star in Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a direct nod to Namor villains The Lemurians, a sign that something nefarious was happening onboard.
I’m sure we’ll start to get confirmation what Evans is actually going to show up in but I think fans are also quite comfortable leaving old Rogers alone as well given his satisfying ending.
The Hollywood Reporter has news that Marvel and director Ryan Coogler are in talks with Narcos: Mexico actor Tenoch Huerta to play one of the villains of Black Panther 2.
Also, they state that Marvel Studios wants filming to begin by July of next year in Atlanta, Georgia.
They’re not naming his role but Huerta would make for interesting MCU incarnation of Namor The Sub-Mariner, as he played a complex cartel member on Narcos: Mexico and I’ve been championing different types of actors for the role when it comes time for Marvel to cast an actor for it.
Namor’s Atlantis and T’Challa’s Wakanda have come to all-out war in the comics with Namor flooding Wakanda along with the two high-tech nations almost exchanging nuclear weapons. There is certainly tension there between them and plenty of unconfirmed rumors that Namor could end up being a villain go all the way back to the first film’s release. The sinking of Atlantis aka The Great Cataclysm in Marvel Comics has a direct connection to Celestials, Deviants, and Eternals which could be introduced in the upcoming Eternals film. Nods to Namor go all way back to Captain America: The First Avenger and have been sprinkled throughout multiple films since.
There are even objects from the Guardians of The Galaxy attraction Mission Breakout! located at the Disney theme parks that tease an Atlantis connection via “Terran Ocean Artifacts”.
Of course, the role could be something else entirely but he’s giving off Namor vibes.
Chadwick Boseman passed over the summer due to a battle with colon cancer (something he kept private) and everyone involved with the project has been taking time to mourn his passing. I’m not entirely sure how fixed that production start is given that was likely when they were planning on shooting before the death of Chadwick and there could be adjustments or delays upcoming.
Marvel Studios still hasn’t announced what their plans are with the T’Challa role but have debunked a rumor of using a digital-double of the late actor for the sequel.
Ever since Marvel Studios got rights to mutants and the X-Men we’ve all be heavily anticipating when that could happen it is starting to feel like we’re getting extremely close to at least an introduction to mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe very soon.
Kevin Feige has previously stated that Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff will “truly become the Scarlet Witch” in her solo series WandaVision and the recent trailer has seemingly confirmed certain elements we all assumed would be explored in the show after the cosmic orgainzation S.W.O.R.D. will be introduced which is directly from the pages of the X-Men comics with folks like Dr. Hank McCoy aka Beast among the team.
In the comics, Wanda and her brother Quicksilver are the children of X-Men villain Magneto an origin element that has never been used in the MCU incarnations as the studio had shared use with 20th Century Fox at the time of Avengers: Age of Ultron but weren’t allowed to reference mutants or X-Men. Their powers were explained by HYDRA’s human experiments with Loki’s staff to create metahumans.
Mutants are normally born with a mutant gene that leads to their superpowers.
It’s been assumed for a long time that series would be a version of House of M storyline, where Wanda creates a new reality, this would explain why a very dead Vision can father twins (Speed and Wiccan) and why we don’t see them outside of this suburban neighborhood.
There was seemingly a direct nod to the comic run in the new trailer with a shot of a wine bottle called Maison du Mepris (House of Contempt), which could be seen as House of M nod from certain perspectives.
I’m also thinking the wine bottle is a nod to the 1963 French New Wave film from director Jean-Luc Godard titled Le Mépris aka Contempt.
LE MEPRIS – A philistine in the art film business, Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance) is a producer unhappy with the work of his director. Prokosch has hired Fritz Lang (as himself) to direct an adaptation of The Odyssey, but when it seems that the legendary filmmaker is making a picture destined to bomb at the box office, he brings in a screenwriter (Michel Piccoli) to energize the script. The professional intersects with the personal when a rift develops between the writer and his wife (Brigitte Bardot).
The reference might have a double meaning and indicate a future rift between Wanda/Vision with the “House of Contempt” becoming the one they’re stuck in leading to friction. It’s also worth noting we still don’t have any indication that the series will introduce any mutants and if Monica Rambeau lands her powers in the series we don’t know if she’ll have mutant status.
Then again, Wanda could manifest mutant properties in people across the globe these are comic book stories after all.
There are likely more casting and character surprises on the way.
Kathryn Hahn is rumored to be playing legit witch Agatha Harkness, but Marvel has yet to make this official. If she is indeed playing Harkness as the witch costume would suggest, this could connect the character to large events in the Marvel universe’s past including the sinking of the Kingdom of Atlantis. This event is referred to in the comics as The Great Cataclysm and has direct ties to the Eternals. One version has a Celestial and the Deviants causing it. Another one in the Ultimate Universe suggests that Agatha had something to do with the fate of Atlantis.
I wouldn’t be shocked if S.W.O.R.D. is involved because Mephisto has a part to play with what is going on with Wanda and Vision, a cosmic entity that happens to be Marvel’s version of the devil and could be pulling the strings as he likes to torture various heroes. However, I’m not entirely sure why S.W.O.R.D. is doing there unless they believe that whatever is happen is somehow alien related and it very well could be.
Chloe Zhoa’s Eternals seems like another perfect oppurtunity to give audiences a new version of the mutants via the mutant gene that inserted into humanity via Celesitials, who are a third offshoot of Eternals and Deviants. It is established in the comics Harkness has been on Earth for a long time and was kicking around during The Great Cataclysm, 20,000 years in the past and would have likely had run ins with Eternals and Celesitials given her age/powers in the comics.
Harkness given her age making her either mutant or an eternal herself wouldn’t be shocking. I don’t think it would take much of a leap to connect her to Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman aka Black Knight either given his connection sorcery and witchcraft.
An Atlantis connection via WandaVision or Eternals could help usher in mutants in another way beyond Scarlet Witch’s powers and The Multiverse.
It’s been established that Namor McKenzie aka The Sub-Mariner is the first mutant concerning Marvel’s publication history as he predates the X-Men as one of the very first legacy superheroes with mutant abilities and there was even a run in 2011 titled Namor: The First Mutant. That same year he joined the X-Men during events like Avengers vs X-Men and was recently seen in X-Men Red.
While they made sure to separate his mutant abilities like flying from his Atlantean power-set, there is a chance that Marvel alters that for the MCU version. In the 1960s, Professor Xavier and Magneto tried to recruit him into their various mutant factions and only recently has joined their ranks.
Namor is an extremely important crossover character with connections to the Fantastic Four, The Illuminati, and Agents of Atlas led by Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo with his cousin Namora on the team. He also teamed up with Hulk, Doctor Strange, Valkyrie, and others on the original version of The Defenders.
There had been some teases from director Scott Derrickson on Twitter that Namor could be part of his sequel Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, but that element hinted to may not have survived the development process or the final version that Sam Raimi makes. Then again, Harkness in WandaVision and Eternals both covering Atlantis could help establish Namor beforehand.
Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi is part of the Agents of Atlas which could be another entry point to introduce Atlantis, Namor, and Namora into the MCU. There are already unconfirmed rumors that Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings will include a mutant character.
It’s still pretty damn neat we’re getting the mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe even if we have to wait a couple more years before the main X-Men team gets a proper reboot. However, it’s still not cut-and-dry when we’ll start seeing recognizable mutant characters but I’m eager to find out.
THE RONIN 