While Planet Hulk dispelled the notion that Bruce Banner’s rage-fueled alter ego lacked the patience, intelligence, or strategic insight to lead effectively, it was not the first time the “Green Goliath” found himself at the center of political power. Years earlier, the Hulk played a typically outsized role in the politics of the sub-atomic world of K’ai. Much like his time on Sakaar in Planet Hulk, his involvement on K’ai not only brought about a period of political stability, but also led to him finding love — and a partner who would stand by his side through thick and thin. One key difference between his romantic relationships on Sakaar and K’ai, however, lay in the nature of the bond itself. In that respect, K’ai proved to be a far deeper experience.

Indeed, the connection he found on K’ai with the warrior-empress Jarella was more than just romantic — it was deeply transformative, just like true love. It gave him a sense of peace and purpose that he rarely experienced anywhere else.

Who is Princess Jarella of K’ai?

Like many great love affairs, the Hulk met Jarella quite by accident. As detailed in The Incredible Hulk (1968) #140, the supervillain Psyklop captured the Hulk to serve as an offering to his masters. Before presenting him, Psyklop decided to examine the “green behemoth” more closely by shrinking him to a compatible size for closer study. However, during this reduction process, the Avengers —who had been searching for Psyklop— burst into his laboratory, disrupting his “shrinking and compression” of the Hulk. As a result, the Hulk was miniaturized to microscopic size and eventually ended up on the sub-atomic planet of K’ai.

[ RELATED: The Imperial Hulks Smash Into Marvel’s Cosmic Crossover Event With New Looks ]

While wandering the lands of K’ai, the Hulk stumbled upon the capital city — which, at the time, was under attack by a pack of Warthos – giant “pig-dogs” that had previously tormented him when he first landed on the planet. After fighting them off, the city’s green-skinned inhabitants welcomed him as a hero. It was there that he met Empress Jarella, the leader of K’ai. For both, it was love at first sight, and Jarella soon chose the Hulk as her mate. There was just one problem: he didn’t speak the local language.

To resolve this, she summoned the realm’s finest sorcerers to cast an incantation that would grant the Hulk the ability to communicate. The spell not only succeeded but also allowed Bruce Banner’s mind to merge with the Hulk’s body. As their relationship deepened, Banner confided in Jarella, revealing his true identity — and the duality of the man before her: both the brilliant Bruce Banner and the mighty Hulk.

Princess Jarella – the Hulk’s Greatest Love of All

Historically, while the Hulk and Bruce Banner share the same body, they are two completely distinct personas. Banner is the ultra-intelligent, rational, geeky scientist. The Hulk is the childlike, impulsive force of nature. Naturally, his two personas are attractive to different types of people. On Earth, Betty Ross was attracted to Banner’s intelligence and brilliance, his moral integrity, kindness, and vulnerability. Betty tolerated the Hulk because she knew that he was connected to Banner.

Conversely, on Sakaar, Caiera was attracted to the Hulk’s physical and mental strength, his warrior mentality, his wildness, and his childlike compassion for others. Caiera never truly met Banner, so she has no opinion of him. The warrior-empress Jarella, however, was the only love interest who knew and loved both the Hulk and Banner – and that is why she is his greatest love.

As the Hulk, Jarella accepted him unconditionally for who he was. Where others saw a raging beast, she saw a vulnerable being with noble intentions — someone in need of support and inclusion, not hatred and manipulation. Through her love and understanding, Jarella gave the Hulk a soothing sense of security and belonging, calming his “savage beast” tendencies. As Banner, Jarella found a kindred spirit — someone who shared her compassion and thoughtfulness. For Banner, she was someone whose feelings did not depend on “curing” him of his Hulk side, but rather someone who loved him equally as both Banner and the Hulk. In essence, Jarella completed them both — Hulk and Banner. For both sides of the “Green Goliath,” she was the love of a lifetime.

Why Princess Jarella Deserves a Comeback?

Psyklop eventually finds the Hulk and involuntarily returns him to Earth, separating the couple and ending what Banner/Hulk had considered the best time of his life. However, both Jarella and Banner/Hulk did not forget each other and were actually able to visit each other on Earth and K’ai several times afterwards. Each time they were together, it brought them ever closer. This culminated when, needing to save the life of Glenn Talbot, Doc Samson miniaturized the Hulk, who again ended up on K’ai – this time rescuing Jarella from a coup attempt. Ultimately, this resulted in the Hulk bringing Jarella back to Earth and breaking any current means of her return.

While this meant Jarella could no longer visit her home, she was finally united with Banner/Hulk, and the couple began making plans for their future on Earth. Unfortunately, as told in The Incredible Hulk (1968) #205, a date between Banner and Jarella was interrupted by an attack from the villain Crypto-Man. When Crypto-Man targeted Jarella, Banner transformed into the Hulk to stop him, despite Jarella’s own warrior instincts to protect Banner. In the ensuing battle, Jarella tragically died saving a child from falling debris. With the help of Captain Marvel, the Hulk was eventually able to return Jarella’s body to K’ai for a proper burial, as depicted in The Incredible Hulk (1968) #248.

Jarella’s sudden and shocking death came far too soon. Not only had she become a central part of both Banner’s and the Hulk’s lives, but she also seemed to be the answer they had both been seeking — the one person who could bring out the best in them. Beyond her role in their story, Jarella had an intriguing life of her own, one the narrative was just beginning to explore. Taking her away so early removed a character with the potential to guide the story in new and exciting directions. Indeed, Jarella was briefly resurrected in The Incredible Hulks #619 to help the Hulk battle Zom and the Abomination. She ended up being the cavalry, arriving just in time to save everyone from defeat. It was a powerful and heartfelt moment — one that underscored how much the Marvel Comics Universe could benefit from her return.

The post Hulk’s Greatest Love was Microscopic (And She Deserves a Comeback) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Ralph Ineson is a skilled actor, but there’s only so much a mortal man can do to get into the character and mindset of an immortal cosmic being. Ineson plays Galactus in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and he explained his process for embodying the character in a new interview with Empire published on Thursday. While it’s an impossible task by design, Ineson said that he started by simply being aware of Galactus’ sheer size and scale in relation to his own environment. That included driving through mountain tunnels “just imagining that as his windpipe and his trachea,” and visiting high places when he could.

“I also went to a lot of tall buildings,” Ineson explained. ‘We went to a wedding at the top of the Gherkin building in London, and I spent most of the afternoon just staring out, ruminating. I got in trouble with my wife — she was like, ‘You’ve got to say hello to the bride and groom at some point!'”

Simple as it may seem, it makes sense for an actor like Ineson trying to get into the headspace of an unfathomable character like Galactus. Marvel has been touting the movie character’s faithfulness to the original comics, likely due to the previous depiction of “Galactus” on the big screen that left so many disappointed. According to Marvel Comics, Galactus generally presents himself just shy of 30 feet tall, and weighs over 16 tons. However, he can change his size and his form, and his size sometimes changes based on how many worlds he has devoured recently.

[RELATED: The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is More Important for the MCU Than You Realize]

“He’s a cosmic force. He’s a god, of sorts,” Ineson said. He even jokingly compared his new character to his fan-favorite role on The Office, saying, “I don’t think Galactus is evil. But Finchy’s a proper c—.”

For a character like Galactus, comic book faithfulness is a bit of a moving target, as he has been retconned many times. On top of that, the MCU always bends characters, settings, and stories to its own unique purpose, keeping readers on their toes and avoiding spoilers. In First Steps, Galactus will appear in an alternate timeline from the rest of the MCU, but we know that these two timelines will crossover and interact in Avengers: Doomsday. It’s unclear if Galactus will travel to Earth-616 as well, but it’s certainly possible.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25th. In the meantime, the next MCU release is Ironheart, premiering on June 24th on Disney+.

The post Ralph Ineson Prepared For Galactus Role In the Weirdest Way (But It Makes Sense) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The release of a new movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is always a monumental event. There are so many things to consider, such as potential cameos, post-credits scenes, and character introductions. However, before worrying about the future, it’s important to look at the past to figure out which MCU projects are worth watching before heading to the theater. The only problem with that is that it’s a lot harder to keep track of who shows up in what and which shows and movies matter going forward. Even films like Captain America: Brave New World, which seem pretty straightforward, have countless callbacks that don’t make sense without viewing a handful of other projects.

While Brave New World‘s theatrical run is already over, the movie is now available to stream on the Disney+ streaming platform, meaning a whole new audience is ready to discover it. However, they won’t have a good time unless they watch all of the MCU projects on this list ahead of time.

1) Avengers: Endgame

While Sam Wilson’s journey in the MCU begins long before Avengers: Endgame, the movie reveals enough about his character to understand what he stands for. He returns from being dust and immediately goes to help the Avengers in the Battle of Earth, even dropping Steve Rogers’s iconic “On your left!” line along the way. But Sam’s biggest moment in Endgame comes after the fight is over.

With the Infinity Stones still in the Sacred Timeline, Steve goes on a solo mission to return them. Sam is present when his friend leaves, but he grows concerned when Cap misses his return window. Steve chooses to go back in time and be with Peggy, and after returning as an old man, he hands his shield to Sam, who promises to do his best.

2) The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Not long after the events of Endgame, Sam gives up to the shield to the United States government in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier because he doesn’t think he’s worthy. John Walker becomes the new Captain America, which forces Bucky Barnes into action because he doesn’t want anyone ruining the name. Sam and Bucky also have to worry about a group of super-soldiers who are causing problems all around the world.

Throughout the entire series, Sam wrestles with what it means to be Captain America, and he learns more about what the government does to Black people who don the stars and stripes. However, he makes a decision about his future at the end of the show that sets the stage for his first solo movie.

[RELATED – 10 Captain America Movie Mistakes You’ll Never Be Able to Unsee]

3) Eternals

Eternals seems like a movie that the MCU wants everyone to forget. Despite introducing a new team of heroes to the franchise, there have been almost no references to the Chloé Zhao-directed movie since its release. Brave New World doesn’t care about any of that, making the end of Eternals a major part of its plot.

At the end of Eternals, Sersi and her allies have to fight against Ikaris, who wants to allow a Celestial, Tiamut the Communicator, to destroy the Earth. They save the planet, but there are still consequences, with the body of the Celestial finding a home in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

4) The Incredible Hulk

Since Edward Norton’s recast, The Incredible Hulk has been the black sheep of the MCU. The only olive branch that was extended to it was the return of William Hurt’s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in Captain America: Civil War. However, Brave New World once again bucks the trend by making the events of The Incredible Hulk important to its story.

Both of the major villains in Brave New World made their debuts in The Incredible Hulk, and their history becomes the backbone of the threat that Captain America faces. It may seem strange to return to a Phase One MCU movie this late in the game, but it’s required viewing ahead of the fourth Captain America movie.

Captain America: Brave New World is streaming on Disney+.

Are you planning on watching these MCU projects before Captain America: Brave New World? Are there any other movies and shows that you think are worth watching? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Which MCU Movies & TV Shows to Watch Before Streaming Captain America: Brave New World on Disney+ appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Ms. Marvel star Aramis Knight, who portrayed Red Dagger on the Marvel Cinematic Universe series, has a disappointing update about a possible second season. In an interview with Screen Rant to promote his new film Karate Kid: Legends, the actor was asked about his possible future in the Marvel franchise. While Knight would be happy to return if the opportunity presented itself, he fears audiences might have seen the last of Red Dagger, citing how much time has passed since Ms. Marvel debuted. Knight also shared that he was in line to reprise his MCU role at various points, but things never worked out due to a variety of factors.

“I wish not, but I think so,” Knight said when asked if his time in the MCU is over. “I don’t think so. I mean it’s been a long time now, so I am not really sure. I mean I would love to. I was supposed to make appearances and other things but it didn’t end up working out and some logistical stuff and COVID stuff and I think also creative stuff. But I mean that was also an amazing show, but I dunno, I’m still waiting for the call to be honest.”

Ms. Marvel premiered on Disney+ back in 2022, bringing Kamala Khan to the MCU. The show earned enthusiastic reviews, with many praising its unique style and Iman Vellani’s performance in the titular role. Ms. Marvel laid the foundation for Vellani to reprise Kamala in 2023’s The Marvels, the feature film that saw her team up with Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau on a new adventure. At the end of the movie, Kamala looks to recruit Kate Bishop to form the Young Avengers.

[RELATED – Ms. Marvel Star Iman Vellani Has an Idea to Make the MCU Special Again]

Kamala hasn’t been seen since The Marvels, but the character was referenced during Daredevil: Born Again Season 1. In the now famous bank heist episode, Matt Murdock has a brief interaction with Kamala’s father Yusuf Khan. It’s revealed that Kamala is visiting friends in California. It has not been confirmed when Vellani will return for another Marvel project.

In the years since Ms. Marvel premiered, Marvel Studios has re-evaluated its strategy and made some notable changes. Even Kevin Feige realized it had become too much like homework for viewers to keep up with all the MCU content, so he’s moving forward with a “quality over quantity” approach. This means fewer movies and TV shows each year, which means Marvel is going to be more selective about what gets the green light. While The Marvels ended with a tease for a new superhero team, that film bombed at the box office with just $206.1 million worldwide. It seems unlikely there will be a follow-up to that project (be it a movie or TV show), raising questions about Ms. Marvel’s MCU future. Right now, the best bet might be to give her a supporting role in a film or series.

If Kamala is to return at some point in the Multiverse Saga, it would probably be in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars. Vellani was not among the 27 actors confirmed for Doomsday Marvel revealed in late March, but there are more casting announcements that will be made at a later date. Perhaps Vellani will be part of that next wave. If not, odds are audiences will have to wait until after Secret Wars to see her again. The start of a new saga for Marvel could serve as a gateway to deliver on the Young Avengers tease.

The post Ms. Marvel Season 2 Gets a Disappointing Update (What’s Next for Kamala Khan?) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe loves to revisit moments from earlier in the franchise. Despite Iron Man 2 featuring no connections to Spider-Man, it turns out that Peter Parker is present at the Stark Expo, and Tony Stark even saves him from a Hammer Drone that isn’t looking to take prisoners. However, not all of the major retcons happen off-screen, such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier confirming that Bucky Barnes is responsible for the death of Tony’s parents. But The Winter Soldier‘s retcon has nothing on the major one from Captain America: Brave New World, which changes the events of Captain America: Civil War in a massive way.

Beyond Sam Wilson, Brave New World‘s biggest connection to Civil War is Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who becomes president in the 2025 movie. His rise to power isn’t as straightforward as it seems, though, as there’s someone behind the scenes who’s pulling the politician’s strings.

Thunderbolt Ross’ Actions Are Not His Own During the Infinity Saga

Ross’ MCU debut comes in The Incredible Hulk, where he’s hunting Bruce Banner. He recruits Emil Blonsky, a decorated member of the British Royal Marines, to his cause, and they get to work. The duo corners Banner at a college, but after he turns into the Hulk, there’s no stopping him. Blonsky suffers serious injuries, which is a massive blow to his ego. So, when he runs into Samuel Sterns, who has been working with Banner’s blood, he forces the scientist to inject him with the dangerous substance, turning him into the Abomination. Unfortunately, Sterns doesn’t get away scot-free, being exposed to the blood during Abomination’s escape.

Sterns’ whereabouts remain a mystery until Brave New World, when he kickstarts a plan to show the world who Ross really is. It turns out Ross found Sterns after the attack on Harlem and threw him in a black site where he could use him for various projects. Ross’ main objective was to heal himself of an illness, but when it became clear to Sterns that his captor was never going to let him out, the villain changed course. While his career was taking off, Ross was slowly turning into a Hulk, the very kind of creature he had hunted for years. However, Sterns may have caused even more damage by supplying Ross with an idea that tore the Avengers apart.

[RELATED – Iron Man & Spider-Man’s MCU Relationship Was Great (But This Part of It Never Made Sense)]

The Leader May Be Responsible for the Sokovia Accords

Brave New World makes it clear that Ross uses Sterns’ superhuman intelligence to weigh different options when he’s in a tough spot. After Harlem, the only big conundrum for Ross is the creation of the Sokovia Accords in Civil War. He doesn’t believe the Avengers can operate on their own anymore because of all the damage they leave in their wake, so he brings Tony Stark the idea to have everyone register with the United Nations. Tony’s all for it because he feels guilty about his past transgressions, including creating Ultron. Steve Rogers, on the other hand, wants to be able to choose his missions without government interference.

The moral debate pushes both Iron Man and Captain America to the edge, and the two heroes create new teams to fight one another. Ross is in the middle of all of it, wanting to bring in Steve and his group as soon as possible to end the conflict. He doesn’t get his wish, of course, with Steve getting away and making up with Tony before Helmut Zemo shows them the tape of Bucky killing Maria and Howard Stark. The revelation makes things worse, and we find that the Avengers are splintered when Thanos and his Black Order roll into town in Avengers: Infinity War.

Ross clearly didn’t intend to leave the Earth near-defenseless when he pushed the Sokovia Accords. Still, there’s a scenario where Sterns came up with the idea and understood the ramifications of the political decision. After all, Brave New World‘s post-credit scene reveals that he’s smart enough to know that the multiverse is becoming more and more of a threat, which isn’t even in the same ballpark as breaking up Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

So did Zemo best the Avengers? Or was it really the Leader all along? Did Samuel Sterns create the Sokovia Accords for Thaddeus Ross? What other MCU events do you think he was involved in? Let us know in the comments below!

Captain America: Brave New World is streaming on Disney+.

The post Captain America: Brave New World Is Making Me Rethink Civil War in a Major Way appeared first on ComicBook.com.

There’s no shortage of expectations for Fantastic Four: First Steps, as this will be the third time around for Marvel’s first family. No one is more aware of the stakes in play than Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who was actually a producer on Tim Story’s Fantastic Four movie and its sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. After the disappointment of the 2015 reboot Fant4stic, the franchise ended up back in Marvel’s hands, and Feige sees this as an opportunity to finally get the characters right on the big screen.

In an interview with Empire, Feige made it clear how important the Fantastic Four are and why they need to be done the right way. “I think that there are no four characters that are more important for the history of Marvel,” Feige said. When the opportunity came up to work with them again, he embraced that second chance.

“When Disney bought Fox, it was really an unexpected dream come true,” Feige said. “It came at the perfect time, to help us launch into a new era. They are Marvel’s First Family, and I really wanted to do them justice.”

While there are elements from the first two Fantastic Four films that fans look upon fondly, other elements have shown their age, especially after the MCU started rolling and really diving into characters while also building out a layered world. Even with the mixed reception of the sequel, many fans still look at that film’s Silver Surfer as excellent, so it’s not like everything was negative back then. That said, this is Feige’s chance to fix what didn’t work and improve upon what did and do it with an established universe and a talented cast. If it was ever going to work, it would certainly be with this scenario, and time will tell if that actually happens.

[RELATED: Kevin Feige Has One Big Criticism of the MCU (And He’s Right)]

Feige knew he would need someone to pull those classic Fantastic Four elements together and make them interesting and relevant for a modern audience, and that responsibility fell to WandaVision’s Matt Shakman, as well as channeling “classic Fantastic Four energy.” When Feige was working on the previous Fantastic Four films, he says, “There was still a bit of fear of being silly”, but that’s times have very much changed, and many superhero elements are just part of mainstream culture. “In another time, some might consider the notion of somebody with a big, angular helmet walking through a city goofy,” Feige said. “I consider it awesome.”

While Shakman has had to be vague regarding plans for the film, he did lean into some of the same things Feige has hinted at regarding those classic elements on the big screen. “It’s different in so many ways,” Shakman told Collider. “I wish I could be specific. I wish I could say more. But we are doing things very differently from a story standpoint, from an approach to the filmmaking standpoint, that really fits the material. I wish I could say more. I would love to, but I can’t. But I think it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen before, and certainly unlike anything at Marvel that you’ve seen before.” You can check out the official description for Fantastic Four: First Steps below.

“Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family-Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/ Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and Ben Grimm/The Thing as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.”

The Fantastic Four First Steps hits theaters on July 25th.

Are you excited for Fantastic Four: First Steps? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things Marvel and MCU with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post MCU Fantastic Four Could Redeem Kevin Feige for Past FF Movie Mistakes (& It’s About Time) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

During their livestream on May 29th, Hasbro finally took the wraps off the first wave of Marvel Legends figures inspired by Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Figures of Marvel’s Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, Human Torch and Silver Surfer will debut on May 30th. That’s certainly interesting, but the big reveal for many will be the huge lineup of Gamerverse figures that are expected to launch in June and July. They aren’t explicitly based on Marvel vs Capcom video games, but the inspiration is clearly there. There’s Wolverine Vs Marvel’s Silver Samurai, Psylocke Vs. Thanos Gargantos, Juggernaut, and more! Here’s everything you need to know.

Below you’ll find a breakdown of the Fantastic Four: First Steps and Gamerverse figures in the order of their pre-order release. Look for these figures to be available here at Entertainment Earth and here on Amazon after the launch times unless otherwise indicated (there are a few retailer exclusives). Direct links will be added after the figures go live.

Marvel Legends Fantastic Four: First Steps Figures

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES MISTER FANTASTIC / $TBA / May 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / Reed Richards is the Fantastic Four’s patriarch and a scientific genius with the superhuman ability to bend, stretch, and extend his body parts across far distances. This collectible 6-inch scale figure is detailed to look like the character’s appearance in THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, features premium design and poseable head, arms, and legs, and comes with 4 accessories, including alternate regular hands and extra-long “stretched” arms and hands.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES JOHNNY STORM / $TBA / May 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / Johnny Storm is the most popular member of the Fantastic Four, known for his fiery attitude and charming personality. This collectible 6-inch scale figure is detailed to look like the character’s appearance in THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, features premium design and poseable head, arms, and legs, and comes with 4 accessories, including alternate hands and attachable flame FX.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES MARVEL’S INVISIBLE WOMAN / $TBA / May 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / Sue Storm is a fierce protector of her family and friends, possessing the superhuman ability to turn invisible. This collectible 6-inch scale figure is detailed to look like the character’s appearance in THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, features premium design and poseable head, arms, and legs, and comes with 3 accessories, including alternate hands and an attachable shield FX piece.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES MARVEL’S THE THING / $TBA / May 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / With a body made of nearly indestructible rock, Ben Grimm is a formidable member of the Fantastic Four, possessing impressive super-strength. This collectible 6-inch scale figure is detailed to look like the character’s appearance in THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, features premium design and poseable head, arms, and legs, and comes with 2 alternate hand accessories.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES HUMAN TORCH / $TBA / May 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / The Human Torch can burst into flames, fly, and absorb explosions. This collectible 6-inch scale figure is detailed to look like the character’s appearance in THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, features premium design and poseable head, arms, and legs, and comes with 2 alternate hand accessories.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES SILVER SURFER / $TBA / May 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / The Silver Surfer travels across the universe on her surfboard, imbued with super-speed and strength. This collectible 6-inch scale figure is detailed to look like the character’s appearance in THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, features premium design and poseable head, arms, and legs, and comes with 5 accessories, including alternate hands, and a surfboard with stand.

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Releases (June / July 2025)

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES GAMERVERSE WOLVERINE VS MARVEL’S SILVER SAMURAI / $TBA / June 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / The mutant Wolverine unleashes his adamantium claws against martial arts master and foe to the X-Men, Silver Samurai. These collectible 6-inch scale figures are inspired by the characters’ appearance in classic Marvel video games, are fully articulated with premium design and poseable heads, arms, and legs, and come with 11 accessories, including character-inspired power FX pieces and display stands.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES GAMERVERSE PSYLOCKE VS. THANOS / $TBA / June 6, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / Target.com (exclusive) / Armed with her psychic blades, the telepathic mutant Psylocke battles the mad titan Thanos. Comes with 9 accessories, including attachable power FX pieces for Psylocke and alternate hands for both figures.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES GAMERVERSE CAPTAIN AMERICA VS VENOM / $TBA / June 12, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / The patriotic Super Soldier Captain America faces off against Venom and his alien symbiote powers. Comes with 8 accessories, including an alternate head, alternate hands, and a shield power FX piece.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES GAMERVERSE GARGANTOS / $TBA / June 18, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / A giant cephalopod monster with tentacles, Gargantos brings his enormous size and strength into battle. Comes with 1 figure (7 unassembled pieces) and 1 eyeball accessory.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES GAMERVERSE MARVEL’S JUGGERNAUT / $TBA / June 26, 2025 at 1:00 PM ET / See at Entertainment Earth and Amazon / Cain Marko is the unstoppable Juggernaut, possessing superhuman strength and extreme durability. Comes with 3 accessories, including a set of alternate hands and a power FX piece.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES GAMERVERSE MARVEL’S WAR MACHINE VS MARVEL’S OMEGA RED / $TBA / July 24, 2025 at 10:00 AM ET / Walmart.com (exclusive) / James “Rhodey” Rhodes suits up as War Machine, going head-to-head against Omega Red and his weaponized cybernetic tentacles. Comes with 11 accessories, including attachable tentacle weapons for Omega Red and alternate hands for both figures.

The post Marvel Legends Capcom-Style Gamerverse and Fantastic Four Figure Pre-Order Details appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill can be seen in their pre-DC superhero roles in some new fan art for Avengers: Secret Wars, and fans would doubtlessly be thrilled to see them in the actual film. The new fan art was shared to Instagram by Arifinity, and also includes an added credit of “Concept inspired by @thegloriouspictures,” with the art showing Affleck and Cavill in their respective Marvel roles of Daredevil and Wolverine. Prior to his debut as the Dark Knight in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Ben Affleck made his comic book movie debut in 2003’s Daredevil, portraying the blind lawyer Matt Murdock who leads a double life as the masked vigilante Daredevil. Cavill, meanwhile, first established himself as Superman in 2013’s Man of Steel, and later jumped into the Marvel sphere with a surprise cameo as “the Cavillrine” in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, paying off years of online fan casting and art of Cavill succeeding Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

The fan art of Affleck and Cavill as Daredevil and Wolverine can be seen below.

While Cavill’s Wolverine cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine is more of a fun Easter egg than a proper performance in the role, Affleck’s Daredevil performance had bigger ramifications for his career in superhero movies. Following the release of Daredevil (and Affleck’s deleted return cameo as Matt Murdock in the 2005 spin-off Elektra), he expressed significant dissatisfaction with the finished film, which led him to declare that his superhero days were over. Of course, that changed with Affleck donning Batman’s cowl in the DCEU.

RELATED: One Deadpool & Wolverine Moment Made Henry Cavill Sick

Based upon the eponymous 2015 Marvel Comics story, Avengers: Secret Wars is set to be the culmination of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, bringing past and current MCU stars into a crossover with many stars of pre-MCU Marvel Comics-based movies. Confirmed returns of the latter include numerous cast members of the Fox X-Men movies, including Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, James Marsden’s Cyclops, Sir Ian McKellan’s Magneto, and Sir Patrick Stewart’s Professor Charles Xavier. At writing, there’s no word yet on whether Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine will make his second MCU appearance after Deadpool & Wolverine in Secret Wars, or whether Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parkers will web-sling into the multiverse adventure after their much-applauded returns in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. However, both seem like good bets to see among the vast ensemble of the cast of Avengers: Secret Wars.

While a return of the Cavillrine in Secret Wars would be relatively easy to facilitate, the brevity of Cavill’s appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine also means that fans probably shouldn’t expect it to be much more than another quick cameo if it were to happen. The return of Affleck’s Daredevil, by contrast, is more complicated. As seen in Deadpool & Wolverine, Affleck’s Daredevil is stated to have been killed by the villainous Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) in the multiversal dumping ground of the Void (though Affleck’s Daredevil was on the list of possible cameos for the movie).

Of course, Daredevil’s demise is nothing to a little sci-fi writing couldn’t undo to bring him back into action for Secret Wars. Ultimately, fan art like the rendering of Affleck’s Daredevil and Cavill’s Wolverine often gives fans a fun glimpse into exciting “What If?” scenarios. In this case, the question of “What if Ben Affleck’s Daredevil and Henry Cavill’s Wolverine returned in Avengers: Secret Wars?” is one so intriguing, it’s hard not to hope it ends up happening.

Avengers: Secret Wars will be released in theaters on December 17th, 2027.

The post Ben Affleck’s Daredevil, Henry Cavill’s Wolverine Return in Avengers: Secret Wars Fan Art (& We Need It) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps star Ralph Ineson opens up about playing Galactus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and explains why he believes the antagonist isn’t “evil.” Speaking with Empire ahead of the film’s release this summer, the actor discussed his experience bringing the character to life, detailing his preparation process for portraying the role. While Galactus is definitely an opposing force to Marvel’s First Family in the movie, threatening to destroy Earth, it doesn’t necessarily mean he has malicious intent. Like any good actor behind a compelling villain, Ineson doesn’t think his Galactus is nefarious.

“He’s a cosmic force. He’s a god, of sorts,” Ineson said, describing Galactus in the film. “I don’t think Galactus is evil.”

The Fantastic Four: First Steps marks the first time Galactus has been depicted in a live-action film since 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The version seen in that movie was heavily criticized, as Galactus was depicted as a cloud. As seen in First Steps marketing materials, the MCU’s take on Galactus will be comics-accurate. Trailers have teased the character’s massive scale and imposing figure.

[RELATED – The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is More Important for the MCU Than You Realize]

In the comics, Galactus was notable because the character broke established trends for villains in superhero stories. Rather than being an evildoer hellbent on world domination or conquering the universe, Galactus consumes planets so he can live. If he stops devouring worlds, he’ll cease to exist, so he does what he does in order to survive.

Specific story details about Galactus in The Fantastic Four: First Steps have largely been kept under wraps during the promotional campaign. All that’s really been revealed is the fact he has marked Earth as his next target. If the film follows the source material, one can see how Ineson doesn’t see Galactus as “evil.” Like anyone else, he’s just trying to live. There’s potential here for a very compelling portrayal of the villain, who is widely considered to be one of the best Marvel characters. Perhaps First Steps‘ take on Galactus could paint the character as a tragic figure, cursed by his perpetual hunger for planets. It would be fascinating if Galactus was torn and conflicted about things, understanding his actions are fueled by an unfortunate necessity.

If Marvel Studios delivers on this promise, Galactus could emerge as one of the most captivating villains in all of the MCU. The franchise’s best antagonists are ones that are well-rounded, relatable characters who aren’t just mustache-twirling evildoers out for power. Marvel has arguably struggled in the villain department during Phases 4 and 5 by attempting to craft sympathetic figures as foils for the heroes, but this is an instance where that approach could pay off. Obviously, Galactus is someone who needs to be stopped, but the character is so much more than a world-consuming monster. First Steps can demonstrate that in a way that hasn’t been on screen before.

The post MCU Galactus Star Thinks the Planet-Eater Isn’t “Evil” (& He May Be Right) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Spider-Man’s modern trusty side-kick is the Spider-Bot, a tiny robotic creature designed in the shape of a spider (to match the hero’s aesthetic, obviously) that can assist Spidey in his missions around New York and the world. The trusty Spider-Bot was first introduced in the comics back in 2010, in the issue The Amazing Spider-Man #650, and now the little assistant has shown up in video games (Marvel’s Spider-Man 2) and at the Disney theme parks (Avenger’s Campus’ WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure), cementing its space in Spider-Man history. Disney has provided fans with their own Spider-Bot assistant, in the past, and now they’ve added a Spider-Man 2099 edition to the collection. However, you’ll need to grab one quickly as it is a very limited edition release. Here’s what you need to know.

The new limited-edition Spider-Man 2099 Spider-Bot Interactive Remote Control Bot is inspired by Spider-Man 2099 from 2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Limited to only 3,000 pieces, this bot can walk forwards, backwards, and spin around. Plus, this guy also has light and sound effects, a self-destruct button and more. With a limited amount of pieces and a price tag of $89.99, we don’t expect it to stick around forever. You can pick one up here at The Disney Store while they last. Additional details are available below.

Features:

• Limited Edition of 3,000
• Includes Spider-Bot and Remote Control
• Forward, backward, and 360° movement
• Crouch mode
• Light-up eyes
• Sound features
• Self-destruct button
• Projector Shield
• Digital life meter
• Standard blaster, deluxe blaster, deluxe blaster ammo buttons
• 2.4 GHz
• Battle game play with other Spider-Bots*
• Works with tactical upgrades**

They also have the original version of the Spider-Bot available, straight from the Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure ride at Disney’s Avengers Campus. Multiple “tactical upgrade” skins are also available, offering the chance to have your Spider-Bot match the look of the other Avengers like Black Widow, Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. If those interest you, head over quickly. All 4 skins are currently on sale for $16.98, down from the original $24.99. 

If you’re hoping to play the game that really brought Spider-Bots to the forefront, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, then you’re in luck. Amazon is currently offering the PS5 Standard Version for 43% off, making the price only $39.98. If you haven’t played the game yet and are looking for a new way to explore the Marvel Universe with Spidey (Peter Parker) and Spidey (Miles Morales), then head over to Amazon now. It’s time to get nice and cozy with the Spider-Bots, and this game is the perfect way to do so. 

Want to stay up to date with all the latest Spider-Man collectibles and games? Then keep an eye on our Gear Page!

The post R/C Spider-Man 2099 Spider-Bot Is a 3000 Unit Limited Edition appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel fans think they may have spotted some major heartbreak coming down the pike with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. The two films will be the culminating events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s current “Multiverse Saga” storyline, and a lot of fans thought they already knew that the two-part story would play out a lot like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but suddenly that expectation is not so certain. Because if this long-running fan theory is right, Marvel Studios has already put a coded foreshadowing in front of us that Secret Wars will have a dark ending.

Here’s how the theory about Avengers: Secret Wars‘ ominous ending breaks down:

Do Avengers Movie Logos Hide A Secret?

This Reddit thread from “EntertainmentEast729” breaks down how Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Avengers: Endgame all had title logos where the “A” in “Avengers” was flanked by a full circular curve. However, the logo for Avengers: Infinity War only had a half-circle around it, which some interpreted as a secret hint that the Avengers squad wouldn’t make it out of the film alive.

[RELATED: Marvel Comics Moments We Need to See in Doomsday & Secret Wars]

Well, if you look at the official logos for Doomsday and Secret Wars that Marvel Studios has previously displayed, it’s clear that it is the Secret Wars logo that only has a half-circle, while Doomsday‘s logo is flanked by a full circle. Ergo, in keeping with the line of Marvel fan theory, Marvel Studios is allegedly letting us know that Avengers: Secret Wars will end in tragedy for the superhero team… which fans should kind of expect.

It must be said: this entire theory could arguably get debunked based on font and formatting. “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” are the longest titles in the franchise: the size of the circle flanking the “A” may depend on how much space there is between the “A” in “Avengers” and wherever the subtitle is positioned. For instance, single-word subtitles like “Endgame” and “Doomsday” get centered, leaving much more design space for that larger circle; “Infinity War” and “Secret Wars” stretch longer across that bottom row, perhaps cutting the circle down in size. It really depends on how you interpret the design of the “Age of Ultron” subtitle: if it was reduced in size to accommodate the circle, or if it was done to keep this coded messaging alive.

How Will Avengers: Secret Wars End?

Avengers: Secret Wars is expected pick up the fragments left over (literally and figuratively) from Avengers: Doomsday, with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom presumably following the villain’s comic storyline and pulling together his own “Battleword” reality from the destroyed fragments of the Marvel Multiversal, after mass incursions wipe out all realities. In the 2010s “Secret Wars” event, the surviving Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men and other Marvel heroes (and villains) fought God-Emperor Doom and his forces to ultimately recreate a new Big Bang that birthed a new prime Marvel Universe, with various alternate universe elements (like Miles Morales, or Reed Richard’s villainous variant, “The Maker”) mixed into the main Marvel Universe.

Assuming the MCU follows a similar arc with its version of Secret Wars, the reboot of the “Sacred Timeline” will be a death of sorts of the MCU as we’ve known it. Narratively, the entire reality the characters of the MCU knew will shift, change, and expand in different ways to accommodate characters like the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and more (Miles Morales?) now existing alongside the Avengers. Behind the scenes, it’s also clear that veteran stars of the franchise could move on, while newer actors who may have expected big arcs in the franchise have to also say goodbye to those hopes, as bigger franchise characters like the X-Men step into the spotlight. In that sense, the Avengers’ “winning” at the end of Secret Wars is a hard concept to envision in the traditional sense, as defeating Doom (or whomever else is in the way) means also saying goodbye to the universe they (and we) knew.

So, maybe this Avengers logo theory isn’t so crazy after all – what do you think?

Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars have been delayed. Their respective new release dates are December 18, 2026, and December 17, 2027

The post New Avengers Fan Theory May Reveal Bad News for Secret Wars’ Ending appeared first on ComicBook.com.

A hero that fans briefly met in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is dead, and their death is the catalyst for Imperial, a cosmic event from mastermind Jonathan Hickman. Imperial is a four-issue event series by Hickman and artists Iban Coello and Federico Vicentini. Its purpose is to set the foundation for a new wave of cosmic titles, with Hickman shaking up the status quo in a similar fashion to his work on the X-Men. Heroes such as Hulk, Black Panther, Star-Lord, and Nova will take center stage in Imperial, but a hero close to one of them has perished even before the battles begin.

ComicBook has the exclusive preview of Imperial #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Federico Vicentini, Iban Coello, and Federico Blee. The preview begins with a spacecraft entering through Gateway 231B from the Milky Way to Andromeda. Amadeus Cho and Jennifer Walters are sitting together on the ship, trying to understand why they’ve been called from their home million light-years away. There’s been an unexpected death, and someone’s attendance at the funeral is mandatory.

Jennifer hates space, but if there’s one thing Amadeus has learned, when the Big Guy insists you do something, it’s best to keep questions to a minimum. The Big Guy in question is Hulk, though it’s Bruce Banner who is sitting next to them. He says that he asked Amadeus and Jennifer to come with him because they’re family, and his son, Hiro-Kala, is dead.

Bruce Banner, Amadeus Cho, and Jennifer Walters are taken to the ship’s holding area to change into the proper regalia for the funeral ceremony. They’re heading to Sakaar en Nevo, the planet that replaces Sakaar. Much like its predecessor, Sakaar en Nevo is a war planet where only the strong survive. Once they land, we see our heroes in their Hulk forms, with Amadeus and Jennifer changing into Brawn and She-Hulk, respectively.

People are rioting in the streets instead of mourning their fallen king. Brawn uses a tech pad to look up the funeral process for a fallen regent, which includes a ceremonial funeral followed by a mourning period. After that, the Dominion Games of ascendancy begin. This is interrupted by a gladiator who begins to talk badly about Hiro-Kala, and how he wasn’t a true warrior king. The consul attempts to stand up to the gladiator, but suffers a quick death instead. The gladiator then points his sword at the Hulks and asks if they have any words to speak. Hulk has no time for words and launches the gladiator out of the city, crashing to the ground outside.

Hiro-Kala is the twin brother of Skaar, whom MCU fans briefly met in the season finale of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Hulk brought him to the cookout that Jennifer Walters and her family were throwing. She-Hulk set up the story arc of Hulk traveling into space to go to Sakaar, and there were rumors that a Planet Hulk or World War Hulk project was in the works. With Disney dialing back the number of Marvel Studios films and TV shows released in a given year, news on Planet Hulk/World War Hulk has dried up.

We’ve been told that assassinations of galactic leaders are the lightning rod for Imperial, and it appears Hiro-Kala may be its first death. With space in chaos, empires will start to accuse each other and go to war. Charles Xavier and Lilandra’s daughter, Xandra, also gets tied up in Imperial, with the finale of X-Manhunt sending Professor X and Lilandra into space to save their daughter.

There will also be five one-shots spinning out of the event, with the first two being Imperial War: Black Panther and Imperial War: Planet She-Hulk. Imperial War: Black Panther finds Hulk raging war against Black Panther and the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, while Imperial War: Planet She-Hulk follows Bruce Banner’s cousin, Jennifer Walters, on New Sakaar as she looks to keep the peace.

“JONATHAN HICKMAN, FEDERICO VICENTINI AND IBAN COELLO TAKE ON THE UNIVERSE!” the description of Imperial #1 reads. “A sweeping Marvel cosmic event! Imperial is a story of intrigue, mysteries and war, which takes place against the backdrop of the formation of new galactic order in the Marvel Universe. Featuring HULKS, BLACK PANTHERS, NOVAS, GUARDIANS and COSMIC KINGS and QUEENS. It’s the must-read book of the summer!”

Imperial #1 goes on sale Wednesday, June 4th. Let us know your thoughts on the preview in the comments!

The post The Death of an MCU Hero’s Son Kicks Off Marvel’s Cosmic Space Event (Exclusive) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Say a Hail Mary for Matt Murdock. Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again failed to chart on the Nielsen top 10 list of original streaming shows, making the Marvel Television series the first not to enter Nielsen’s streaming charts. (2024’s Agatha All Along, the WandaVision spinoff that was the first series to be released under the rebranded Marvel Television banner, notched 426 million minutes in its premiere week and charted over the course of its nine-episode season.) Marvel Studios’ revival of the Netflix-aired Daredevil series is the only live-action MCU show with such a distinction.

The first-week viewership of Secret Invasion cracked the top 10 in the summer of 2023 with a recorded 461 million minutes of viewing (equivalent to about 8.54 million views), while Echo debuted at No. 10 with 731 million minutes when Disney dropped the entire five-episode season in January 2024. It should be noted that Secret Invasion and Echo were made available on both Disney+ and Hulu, while Echo was the first Marvel series to release its entire bingeable season all at once. Echo was also Marvel Studios’ first TV-MA rated show, with Daredevil: Born Again being the second.

RELATED: Marvel Officially Confirms Their New TV Strategy (And It’s What They Should Have Done All Along)

Following Daredevil: Born Again‘s two-episode series premiere on March 4, the streamer reported that “Heaven’s Half Hour” and “Optics” reached 7.5 million views in is first five days of availability (Disney+ defines a view as total stream time divided by an episode’s run time). That was the biggest Disney+ premiere of the year so far, but fell short of Loki season 2 (10.9 million views over three days) and Agatha All Along (9.3 million over seven days, compared to Born Again‘s first five).

Born Again marks the first Daredevil project to be produced by the Kevin Feige-led Marvel Studios, which began integrating enemies Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Kingpin Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) into the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe starting with Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye, respectively, in 2021. Cox went on to reprise his role in 2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and again in Echo, which featured D’Onofrio’s Fisk in a larger role and set up his mayoral run in Born Again.

Premiering 10 years after Marvel’s Daredevil debuted on Netflix, Born Again also saw the return of Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer), and Frank Castle/the Punisher (Jon Bernthal). Newcomers to the MCU include Zabryna Guevara, Nikki James, Genneya Walton, Arty Froushan, Clark Johnson, and Michael Gandolfini.

Marvel Studios has since announced that Krysten Ritter, who played Jessica Jones across three seasons of her own self-titled Netflix series as well as The Defenders, has joined the cast of Daredevil: Born Again season 2. The currently-shooting second season will stream in March 2026 on Disney+ as Marvel TV shifts to more traditional annual releases of new seasons.

Unlike the rejiggered first season that underwent a creative overhaul after releasing head writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman, showrunner Dario Scardapane (The Punisher) broke the sophomore season from the start.

“I don’t want to oversell it. I do happen to think it’s some of the best writing we’ve ever had on this show,” Cox said of Daredevil: Born Again season 2 in a recent interview. “I am sure everyone always says that. I texted the showrunner, Dario, the other day and was like, ‘Obviously we’re still halfway through shooting it, but huge, huge credit to what you’ve pieced together here.'”

“He’s done something which I’m really excited about,” Cox continued, “which is that he’s fleshed out characters that in the previous iteration of the show often get left behind. So, it feels much more like an ensemble than it’s ever felt.”

The post Daredevil: Born Again Officially a Ratings Misfire for Marvel (Can Season 2 Recover?) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Comics are littered with storylines that captivate readers, with some even in contention for the greatest comics ever told. These tales can come in the form of short stories, one-shots, and expansive stories that take up multiple issues. Fans always remember the great stories, but what about the storylines that begin but never come to a satisfying conclusion? There are a lot of factors affecting a comic book storyline being abandoned, from creative issues behind the scenes or a publisher deciding to end a title prematurely. These storylines end up being forgotten about by the general public, but not by the most loyal of fans.

We’re tracking down the seven storylines in comics that wound up being abandoned. Some of the entries will be familiar to superhero fans, while others took place in creator-owned comics. What they all share is a collection of fandom that would love nothing more than to see these stories get a proper ending.

7) Meet Alpha, Spider-Man’s New Sidekick

Before Spider-Boy, there was Alpha, a young teenager named Andy Maguire, who just happened to be named after live-action Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Alpha debuted in 2012 for Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary, and gained his powers after an accident during one of Peter Parker’s experiments at Horizon Labs. Instead of gaining the strength, agility, and stamina of a spider, Alpha was seemingly as powerful as Superman.

This power went to Alpha’s head, as he quickly became a hated figure in the eyes of Spider-Man fans. Marvel had big plans for Alpha when you look at how he was promoted and pushed in marketing materials. The publisher wound up dialing back Alpha’s powerset while also giving him a limited series that ended up going nowhere. Alpha eventually faded back into obscurity, never to be heard from again.

6) Batwoman’s Marriage to Maggie Sawyer

Batwoman was one of the early success stories of DC’s New 52, with the creative team of J.H. Williams III and Haden Blackman helping to redefine Kate Kane and firmly establish her as a member of the Bat-Family. Much of the praise came from their storytelling and the types of stories being told within Batwoman, like her relationship with her girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer. In fact, their partnership was leading to the two characters getting engaged and married, but DC put a stop to it before it could happen. This left Williams III and Blackman frustrated, leading to their decision to step away from Batwoman.

Williams III and Blackman stated that the changes to their planned story arcs in Batwoman came at the last minute, causing them to have to alter over years of planning and plotting. That romantic relationship in Batwoman was one of its key storylines, but wound up on the cutting room floor.

5) Whatever Happened to Morning Glories?

The early 2010s saw the release of Morning Glories from writer Nick Spencer and artist Joe Eisma. The comic starred kids who attended Morning Glory Academy. Our lead of six teenagers were brilliant but troubled, and Morning Glory Academy also dabbled in nefarious affairs that included murder, torture, and the supernatural. The series ran for 50 issues split up into two seasons, but Season 3 has yet to be released.

Morning Glories was a success with critics and readers alike, though Season 3 was never released, with the creators saying the title is on an extended hiatus.

4) Someone Is Pretending to Be a Mutant in the X-Men

There was once a time when Wolverine was very much dead. Never one to turn down a reason for an event comic, Marvel milked The Death of Wolverine into several spinoff titles and miniseries, one of which was Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda. The comic followed Wolverine’s teammates on the New Avengers — Iron Man, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage — as they kept their promise to Wolverine that if anything bad should ever happen to him, they’d make sure his body wasn’t used for evil purposes.

Of course, if stolen DNA is involved, then Mister Sinister is never too far behind. There’s also a database that contains the DNA of all mutants, but our heroes discover that the DNA shows that an unknown member of the X-Men isn’t a mutant, and that they have a sleeper agent in their ranks. This was an exciting development at the time, but the storyline was dropped as the X-Men comics continued to move towards Wolverine’s revival.

3) Miles Morales Was Supposed to Become a Spy

Brian Michael Bendis, one of the co-creators of Miles Morales, ended his run on the web-slinger and at Marvel Comics by setting Miles Morales up to get a codename and a new status quo as a super spy. Miles was wrestling with growing up and deciding what kind of hero he wanted to be. Miles’ father had a past that included being an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, and it looked like Miles was going to follow in his footsteps.

Cable from the X-Men even tried to recruit Miles, and stated that he had “seen the future of international espionage,” and Miles was at the center of it. You’d think there would have been a payoff to all of this, but alas, there was not. It’s a shame, because after Bendis departed Marvel, the publisher relaunched a new Miles Morales Spider-Man series and forgot all of that espionage setup happened.

2) Duke Thomas and Gotham Girl Live Happily Ever After

When Tom King started his run on Batman, he introduced two new superheroes to Gotham City — Gotham and Gotham Girl. The siblings got their powers through experimental treatments. The side effects of this treatment meant that the more they used their powers, the quicker their life spans would decline. Gotham eventually died after fighting Batman and the Justice League, with Gotham Girl falling under the same evil influence of Bane and Psycho Pirate.

An interesting development from Gotham Girl’s time with Batman is the relationship she built with Duke Thomas/Signal. King even teases that Duke and Gotham Girl end up together in the future, but it’s a future that readers never got to see happen. You would think there would be a story arc where we jump into the future to see what happens to these young heroes, but it’s something we miss out on.

1) R.I.P. to the X-Men’s Krakoa Era

Last but certainly not least is the Krakoan era of the X-Men comics. Jonathan Hickman revolutionized the X-Men franchise when he kicked off a bold new era of storytelling, transplanting the X-Men and the majority of Marvel’s mutants to the soverign island nation of Krakoa. Hickman stated that he had a long outline of stories planned out, with House of X and Powers of X setting up several plots that could be picked up at any point, such as the previous lives Moira MacTaggert lived through using her mutant powers of reincarnation. There were also threats from Earth and space, like the anti-mutant organization Orchis and the alien Phalanx.

Marvel abruptly ended Jonathan Hickman’s run on X-Men with the four-part Inferno series. Several creative teams picked up the story threads that Hickman set up, bringing them to a close in the Fall of X after the Hellfire Gala. So you can say that the Krakoa era got a proper send-off, but it wasn’t the finale that Hickman envisioned.

The post 7 Comics Storylines That Were Totally Abandoned appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps is gearing up for its highly anticipated release this summer, and it’s only a matter of time before tickets go on sale. Before those pre-orders become available, theaters need to book showtimes, which means they need to know how long the film is. First Steps has a new run time, and it’s a little shorter than the figure that was initially reported. The movie’s landing page on the official AMC Theatres website has been updated to indicate that it is 2 hours, 10 minutes (130 minutes) long.

Despite this change, First Steps remains the longest Fantastic Four feature film. The Tim Story-directed movies from the mid-2000s ran for 106 minutes and 92 minutes, while 2015’s reboot from director Josh Trank was 100 minutes. First Steps is also the longest Marvel Cinematic Universe installment released this year. Thunderbolts* ran for 127 minutes and Captain America: Brave New World was 119 minutes.

Back in February, the website for the UK-based theater chain Odeon claimed The Fantastic Four: First Steps would be 140 minutes. While it’s possible this figure could change again at some point over the next couple of months, it’s reasonable to assume AMC has received new information as the chain prepares for the film’s release this summer.

[RELATED – The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is More Important for the MCU Than You Realize]

The new First Steps run time comes out in the midst of Disney/Marvel putting together a big marketing push for the summer tentpole. In addition to releasing a new trailer that offered fans a look at the MCU’s Silver Surfer, the studio has looked to raise awareness by airing ads highlighting the cast’s chemistry during ESPN’s coverage of the 2025 NBA playoffs.

It’s unclear why the First Steps run time is different now than it was a few months ago. One possibility is that the original figure from Odeon was merely a placeholder. Another is that different chains might have received different information about the film. Perhaps at one point, The Fantastic Four: First Steps was going to be a bit longer before some footage was left on the cutting room floor. Every film has deleted scenes, so the run time could have fluctuated as the movie made its way through the editing process.

Some might be surprised that The Fantastic Four: First Steps is slightly shorter than initially believed. As the kickoff to the MCU’s Phase 6, the film has a lot on its plate, introducing viewers to a new set of characters and an entirely different setting (First Steps takes place in a 1960s-inspired retro-futuristic reality). The Fantastic Four are set to be key figures in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, so First Steps needs all the time it needs to properly flesh everything out and get audiences acclimated with the new take on Marvel’s First Family. But arguably what’s even more important is how First Steps uses its time. Whether it’s 130 minutes or 140 minutes, what matters most is entertaining viewers with a well-paced story. As long as First Steps is that, Marvel fans won’t care about missing an extra 10 minutes.

The post Fantastic Four: First Steps Run Time Is Shorter Than Expected appeared first on ComicBook.com.

After more than two decades since DC’s Wonder Woman and Batman last shared the page with Marvel’s Thor and Iron Man, fans of both publishers, who have contributed more than anyone else to the development of the superhero comic genre, were thrilled earlier this year by the announcement of a new DC-Marvel crossover. While details of the event are emerging, the rich history of collaborations between these two comic book titans promises a legendary tale that will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on both universes. With the collaboration set to drop sometime this year, there’s no better time than the present to revisit past DC–Marvel crossovers, which were once a frequent occurrence, to understand the potential impact of the upcoming event on both universes.

A great place to start a review is with the Amalgam Comics series — arguably the most creatively ingenious fusion of DC and Marvel characters in the history of their collaborations. It’s a concept that undoubtedly deserves a second chance to showcase how exceptional these two superhero universes can be when combined with imagination and flair.

What are Amalgam Comics, and Why Did They Work?

The Amalgam Comics series was unprecedented, not only as a crossover event, but also in the way it was organized. It was an extreme crossover event that happened in the midst of a broader, more standard DC-Marvel collaboration. Specifically, in 1996, DC and Marvel collectively published a crossover mini-series entitled DC vs. Marvel (for DC fans) and Marvel vs. DC (for Marvel fans), which pitted the heroes of the two universes against each other, with the loser having their universe erased from existence. Naturally, the series featured some of the strongest and most popular characters facing off against one another. Needless to say, the series was an exciting bit of fan service, exploring stories that fans had been debating amongst themselves for decades and giving them a voice in the outcomes of specific battles.

[ RELATED: Marvel and DC Are Getting a Brand-New Crossover (and Sooner Than You Think) ]

However, in a major twist to the crossover genre, DC and Marvel introduced a “sub-crossover” event between the third and fourth issues of the main series, collectively known as the Amalgam Comics series. In this unique storyline, several superheroes involved in the larger contest were literally merged together to create entirely new characters. For example, Batman and Wolverine were combined to form Dark Claw, Darkseid and Thanos became Thanoseid, and Spider-Man and Superboy fused into Spider-Boy.

There were a total of twelve character combinations, each given a one-shot comic book to explore their stories in depth. However, in DC vs. Marvel #4, the merged heroes and villains were separated back into their original individual forms. In 1997, Amalgam Comics returned with a new 12-issue series that further examined the possibilities of combining DC and Marvel heroes. Like the first iteration, the 1997 series offered an exciting glimpse into the compelling superhero storytelling that emerges when DC and Marvel bring together their collective experiences and expertise.

Why It’s Time for the Return of an Amalgam Comics Series

With DC and Marvel already in agreement to bring forth another inter-universe event, the Amalgam Comics universe model would be ideal. It’s the perfect tweak to the traditional crossover model for a superhero comic book fandom that’s grown accustomed to the multiverse concept. More than just a crossover, it’s a fusion of styles, concepts, and characters that brings a genuinely fresh take on long-held ideas. This approach gives creators maximum creative freedom to come up with intriguing hero-villain combinations that resonate with both DC and Marvel’s contemporary fan bases.

Moreover, is there a better way to revitalize a title or character than by injecting a fresh take on an old vibe? Take Amalgam Comics’ hero Super-Soldier, a fusion of Superman and Captain America. He perfectly combined their “goody two-shoes,” patriotic hero personas. Fans familiar with Clark Kent and Steve Rogers as the “boy scouts” of their respective universes could easily see how their archetypes complemented each other. Naturally, Super-Soldier’s nemesis – the Green Skull – is an equally compelling mix of Lex Luthor and the Red Skull. Indeed, the combinations proved far more interesting than the individual parts alone. Indeed, Super-Soldier’s popularity with fans played a significant role in his appearances in both iterations of the Amalgam Comics series.

What this all means is that the Amalgam Comics series is the perfect choice to fulfill the promise of a brand-new DC-Marvel collaboration. It has all the essential elements of a classic crossover series: high-stakes threats centered around a compelling conflict, epic action sequences, and intense battles. Most importantly, it features fascinating characters who truly embody the spirit of a crossover. Indeed, with Amalgam Comics, the creative possibilities are endless. DC and Marvel—bring it back. You won’t regret it.

What Amalgam characters do You want to see? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel and DC Need to Bring Back Amalgam Comics appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends is back with a new season of adventures with Spider-Man, Spin, and Ghost Spider, but they will also be inviting some new friends in on the fun, and we’ve got your exclusive first look and details on the much-anticipated season 4. Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends will be picking up where the hit Dino-Webs season left off in season 3 and will dive into a new Water-Webs story arc for season 4 when it premieres on Monday, June 16th, on Disney Channel and Disney Jr. The new season will welcome Captain America to the show as well, but being that it’s a water-themed season, it’s only appropriate to also invite everyone’s favorite land shark Jeff, and you can check him out in the new poster below. You can also get your first look at the new season with our “Webs Ahoy” clip in the video above.

As you can see in the clip above, the Water-Webs season will lean into Pirate adventures on the high seas, and that includes the Spidey Crew’s amazing new Pirate Ship. The ship features a web cannon and a high lookout to keep track of what’s happening on the water, and the Spidey crew needs all of those advantages to chase down Green Goblin in his Goblin Ship, which admittedly looks pretty cool as well.

As they sing Web Ahoy (another song to add to the show’s growing list of catchy tunes), they catch up to Gobby and return all of the stolen items he took from passing ships, but the fun doesn’t stop there. As we mentioned previously, being on the water means you can pull in other great water-based characters, and few of those are more beloved these days than Jeff the Shark.

The adorable comics character has become even more popular thanks to his healing powers in Marvel Rivals, and now he will be popping up in several episodes throughout the season. He will also be getting a brand new song titled fittingly “It’s Jeff”, and both of the new songs were written by series’ songwriter and composer, Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy).

[RELATED: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Join Spidey and His Amazing Friends in New Clip (Exclusive)]

Captain America will make his first appearance in the series in the short “Captain America Lends a Hand”, and then he will join the show’s lineup of recurring characters throughout season 4, joining characters like Iron Man, Black Panther, Ms. Marvel, Reptil, Squirrel Girl, Hulk, and more. Many of the show’s great villains will also return, but we’re also excited to see what other new villains make their way into the show this time around.

Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends continues to entertain fans with some of Marvel’s most beloved characters, and the show is the No. 2 streaming series for kids and boys 2 to 5. So far, it has 2.3 billion views across Disney Jr. and Marvel HQ YouTube channels, and it has been streamed for 896 million hours and counting on Disney+. Seasons 1 through 3 are available to stream on Disney+. The series regular voice cast for season four features Alkaio Thiele as Peter Parker, Audrey Bennett as Gwen Stacy, and Carter Young as Miles Morales, while returning guest cast includes John Stamos as Tony Stark, Bindi Irwin as Isla Coralton, and Kylie Cantrall as White Tiger.

Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends will premiere on Monday, June 16 on Disney Jr. (8:00 a.m. PDT) and later that day on Disney Channel and Disney Jr. on Demand, with six episodes available the following day, Tuesday, June 17, on Disney+.

Are you excited for the new season? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends Reveals Season 4 Premiere and Jeff the Shark’s Debut (Exclusive) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Every year, Marvel Comics introduces new heroes and villains to their ever-growing roster, and it’s safe to say that not every power is amazing. Some are downright awful, ranging from gross to terrifying and anything else one can think of. Unfortunately, it’s the nature of the (comic book) beast, as not every hero can get the best and shiniest powers — that would make for a boring adventure, and Marvel aims to be anything but boring. As such, Marvel has introduced plenty of heroes and villains with disappointing, dangerous, or outright useless powers, and these are some of the worst of them.

Everyone dreams of having strength like Captain America or flight like Storm, but for every hero with an amazing ability set, there are ten more with lackluster mutations. Just look at the X-Men or Inhumans roster, and it’s not hard to spot an upset character who has had to make do with the strange powers they’ve been given. On the bright side, this has paved the way for some memorable and beloved characters, including Squirrel Girl, Glob Herman, and many more. Their odd abilities are what let them stand out (though a good creative team behind the scenes doesn’t hurt, either).

10) Extra Skin Elasticity

Angelo Espinosa is a mutant with a rather unfortunate mutation. Angelo’s mutation gave him about six extra feet worth of skin on his body. This extra skin can stretch, deform, wrap, expand, you name it. But it took Angelo, aka Skin, years to master his ability. When he’s not concentrating, Angelo’s skin sags, giving him a distinctly melted candle look (it’s as unsettling as it sounds). When he puts his mind to it, Skin can pull his skin inward to make him look like himself. He can also do more extraordinary things with the extra skin, like grow spikes. The idea of stabbing somebody with nothing but skin sounds pretty awful, but at least Skin is doing his best to work with what his mutation gave him.

9) Becoming a Literal Doorway (And Staying That Way)

Once upon a time, Eldrac was an Inhuman politician, and while he was no member of the Inhuman Royal Family, he served a purpose. Unfortunately, the Terrigen Mist doesn’t have much need for a politician without a faction, so when Eldrac became redundant, he found himself transformed. He became Eldrac the Door, a portal built into Attilan. As Eldrac the Door, he was responsible for ensuring safe transportation for the Inhumans. As such, when Attilan was attacked, Eldrac opened the doors and got every citizen to safety. Every citizen except for one, since Eldrac cannot move from his spot. He survived, but that had more to do with luck, as it’s not like a door has the best defensive abilities.

[RELATED: 10 Weakest Marvel Characters, Ranked]

8) Always Knowing Which Way Is North

As we’ve already mentioned, not every superpower can be amazing or extreme. The manga/anime My Hero Academia helped drive this point home, giving characters all sorts of quirks, including some that are barely worthwhile. Enter Marvel’s Spider-Island event, in which Jackal was trying to give everyone in Manhattan powers (sort of, they were going to start with Spider-Man’s skillset before morphing into arachnid monsters). Thankfully, Reed Richards was there to save the day. He gave everyone in Manhattan a vaccine of sorts, as he realized only those without superpowers were affected. Thus, everyone in Manhattan who didn’t already have power gained the ability to always know which way was North. Yeah, not super exciting, but at least they’re not giant arachnids.

7) Localized Time Manipulation, With a Side of Accelerated Aging

Gabriel Cohuelo, aka Velocidad, is one of Marvel’s many speedsters — at a glance. He looks like he’s speeding around the world, when in reality, Gabriel is actually slowing down the time around him, giving him the appearance of moving quickly. This form of localized time manipulation can still be quite useful, as Gabriel himself isn’t affected by the slowing down that naturally occurs around him. Unfortunately, there is a pretty big and negative effect to this ability, as Gabriel ages every time he uses it. This is a problem considering he got stuck in his state of “superspeed” the first time he tried to use it.

6) Fire Generation But No Fire Immunity

By all appearances, Carol Campbell hit the jackpot with her superpower. She can ignite herself at will, setting her entire body on fire. However, unlike the Human Torch, Carol has zero immunity to flames. That’s right, she can set herself on fire all she wants, but it’s not exactly good for her health. Naturally, Carol refuses to use her powers, as doing so could prove fatal. Carol now lives on the fringes of mutant society, with some mutants looking down at her, believing she’s ashamed of her heritage. In reality, she’s just trying to stay alive and out of pain.

[RELATED: 7 Dead Marvel Characters That Need Resurrecting]

5) Tuning CB Radio Transmissions – No Radio Necessary

Ulysses Archer, aka U.S. Archer, is a hero from another time. He hailed from a time in comics when superheroes didn’t always need a flashy power to get attention, and that may explain a thing or two. Ulysses Solomon Archer was seriously injured in a car accident, and that could have spelled the end of his superhero journey, but it didn’t. Instead, he had part of his head replaced with an experimental alloy. This gave him lethal head-butting powers and the power to pick up CB Radio Transmissions (with his head). Okay, it’s not the flashiest power, and it gets worse. Ulysses is extremely vulnerable to magnets and other electronic scrambling devices, which can effectively put him down. His power isn’t what most people would consider worth that serious downside.

4) Creating a Massive Explosion – But No Secondary Power to Survive It

Bailey Hoskins, aka X-Ceptional, is possibly one of the more famous mutants. Well, he’s famous for having an awful mutation, that is. Bailey Hoskins is often referred to as the Worst X-Man Ever, as that’s his comic debut. It also kind of suits his ability, as Bailey Hoskins has the unique ability to self-detonate, and according to Beast, he can even control the force and size of the explosion. That would be mighty useful in battle if not for one teeny tiny little problem: Bailey has virtually no way of surviving the blast. That’s right, Bailey’s mutation, if used, will kill him. And it did, in the same comic series he debuted in. Bailey has since appeared on Earth-616, though Marvel never outright stated such. Here’s hoping things are going better for him this time around.

3) Unlimited Belly Button Lint Generation

Admittedly, there are times when Marvel intentionally makes heroes (or villains) with horrible powers. Sometimes, it’s to prove a point or make a joke. In the case of Fluff, he hails from a highly satirical series (X-Statix and X-Cellent), so it’s safe to guess why he was created. His real name is unknown, Fluff can generate as much belly button lint as he wants. Yes, really. It sounds utterly useless, and it probably would be, if not for the second half of his mutation, which lets him alter the chemical state of the lint. So he can make smoke grenades, explosives, and other useful bits. It’s still pretty gross, and it’s limited by his creativity. On the bright side, what Fluff lacks in awesome powers, he makes up for in confidence, so that’s something, right?

2) Generation and Projection of Pennies

J. Pennington Pennypacker is one of several heroes to rise up in NFL Superpro (1992). He, alongside several other people, was experimented on at Camp Runamuck, a camp meant to help people with their self-esteem, ironic, right? Well, as it turns out, it was being run by an evil scientist trying to perfect his machine that would grant superpowers. He nailed it, except for the fact that he couldn’t control the powers. J. Pennington Pennypacker gained the ability to generate and hurl pennies from his wrist, turning them into high-impact projectiles. Why did the power end up being so similar to his name? Comic book magic. He dubbed himself the Almighty Dollar and helped to take down the evil scientist, so that’s something.

1) The Ability to Be Completely Forgettable

Xabi, aka ForgetMeNot, arguably has the worst superpower in Marvel Comics. Why? Because it stinks and forces the hero into isolation. ForgetMeNot’s ability is known as umemorability, which is just a fancy way of saying that nobody can remember him. This isn’t a case of Xabi being able to pick and choose who can and cannot remember him, as literally anybody who stops looking at Xabi will forget about his existence. It’s so bad that Xavier had to install an hourly mental reminder to ensure he remembers the hero. To make matters worse, ForgetMeNot’s abilities work on a psionic level, as basic psychic searches can’t find him. Likewise, machines struggle to detect him, which is a blessing and a curse. Despite not being well-remembered, ForgetMeNot has given his life to the cause, though he was most recently revived by the Five at Krakoa.

The post 10 Worst Superpowers in Marvel (and Number 1 Is Really Bad) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

It’s time to feast your eyes on a set of covers for Marvel’s Captain America series, with the highlight being a new suit for Steve Rogers. As Sam Wilson: Captain America ends, a Captain America comic featuring Steve Rogers prepares to launch. Going on sale July 2nd, Captain America by writer Chip Zdarsky (Daredevil) and artist Valerio Schiti (Avengers) puts Steve Rogers front and center in a story that spans his early days after awakening from his frozen suspended animation, to the present day. And it all ties back to Doctor Doom. Marvel is going all out by revealing a list of variant covers for the first issue from a murderer’s row of talented artists.

The main cover for July’s Captain America #1 is by Ben Harvey, with variant covers by series artist Valerio Schiti, who also contributes a Design Variant Cover showcasing Cap’s new suit, along with superstar artists Frank Miller and Pablo Villalobos. Series writer Chip Zdarsky also shows off his artistic chops with his own variant cover.

In addition, there is a patriotic Hidden Gem cover featuring John Romita Sr.’s iconic artwork from Marvel’s 1976 Bicentennial Calendar, as well as Luciano Vecchio’s recreation of the classic art in a 250th Homage Variant Cover. A Hidden Gem variant cover by John Romita Jr. is also available. Plus, Nick Bradshaw takes inspiration from a bygone era with one of the month’s eye-catching Retrovision Covers. Plus, the latest Marvel Rivals Variant Cover by NetEase Games spotlights artwork of Captain America’s design from the hit video game.

[RELATED: This Captain America & Winter Soldier Reunion Needs to Happen in the MCU]

I’m having a blast,” Zdarsky told Newsarama in a recent interview. “I’ve got the same feeling as I did when I started Daredevil, where each issue felt incredibly special, so I hope people feel the same way when they finally get to read it. Our first arc may be set in the past but it’s going to reveal some huge things that will affect the book going forward.”

The upcoming run opens with an adventure set just after Steve Rogers emerged from frozen suspended animation, but before he joined the Avengers. Returning to this pivotal moment in Marvel Comics history will reveal developments that will forever alter how the world views Captain America’s legacy. Following this game-changing arc, the series will shift to the present day where Captain America will deal with a new threat tied to this earlier secret conflict.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #1

• Written by CHIP ZDARSKY
• Art by VALERIO SCHITI
• Colors by FRANK MARTIN
• Cover by BEN HARVEY
• Variant Cover by VALERIO SCHITI
• Design Variant Cover by VALERIO SCHITI
• Variant Cover by CHIP ZDARSKY
• Variant Cover by FRANK MILLER
• Virgin Variant Cover by FRANK MILLER
• Variant Cover by PABLO VILLALOBOS
• Virgin Variant Cover by PABLO VILLALOBOS
• Bicentennial Calendar Hidden Gem Variant Cover by JOHN ROMITA SR.
• Hidden Gem Variant Cover by JOHN ROMITA JR.
• 250^th Homage Variant Cover by LUCIANO VECCHIO
• Retrovision Variant Cover by NICK BRADSHAW
• Marvel Rivals Variant Cover by NETEASE GAMES
• Blank Variant Cover
• On Sale 7/2
• While Captain America slumbered in ice, the world changed – for better and for worse. Steve Rogers awakens to a reality where battles are fought in the shadows through secrets and subterfuge, and villains aren’t so easy to identify. When a fledgling dictator named Victor Von Doom conquers Latveria, Steve faces a critical decision: adapt to a new kind of warfare, or forge his own path? And what will the choice he makes in the past mean for his future? Experience the untold tale of Captain America’s first encounter with Doctor Doom!

Captain America #1 goes on sale July 2nd. Let us know your thoughts on the covers and Cap’s costume in the comments below!

The post Captain America Cover Set Offers a New Look at Steve Rogers’ Updated Costume appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The newest Daredevil comic takes place in a dystopian future, but one familiar face saves Old Man Matt Murdock from receiving a brutal beating. It’s always fun to see what happens to our favorite heroes and villains in different, alternate futures, and the same can be said for Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell. An interesting mystery has been set up, and we’re finding out where characters like Captain America, Punisher, and Bullseye have ended up. As Daredevil looks to get back into the vigilante game, he’ll need all the help he can get so he doesn’t wind up dead. This help comes in the form of an ex-flame. WARNING: Spoilers for Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell #2.

Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell #2 comes from the creative team of Charles Soule, Steve McNiven, Dean White, and VC’s Clayton Cowles. The first issue saw Matt Murdock regain his incredible abilities after years of being a retired hero. An explosion at a subway tunnel retriggered his Daredevil powers, with Captain America sacrificing his life to save a mysterious young girl at the center of the terrorist attack. Readers know the mastermind behind everything is Daredevil’s old nemesis, Bullseye.

Matt Murdock dons a tattered, stitched-up version of his Daredevil costume and uses his enhanced senses to try and follow the trail of the terrorists that escaped. His investigation leads him to Times Square, where our mysterious girl unleashes a bright wave of light and passes out. Daredevil arrives just after Bullseye’s goons take her away in a stolen ambulance. Daredevil engages in physical combat after catching up with them, but the numbers game proves to be too much for the old man. Just when it appears all hope is lost, a shooter is taken out by three ninja throwing stars from Elektra.

Elektra Saves Old Man Daredevil, But Something’s Different About Her

While Daredevil is an old man, Elektra doesn’t look like she’s aged at all. She easily disarms (and beheads) their attackers, but Daredevil has her spare one of the henchmen so he can get information. Instead, Elektra clocks Daredevil across the face with the brunt end of her katana and tells the henchman to run back to his master and tell him they’re coming. Daredevil can tell by Elektra’s voice and body that she hasn’t aged a day in the long decades since they last saw each other.

[RELATED: Marvel Star Charlie Cox on a Potential Daredevil Movie in the MCU: “Write Letters”]

However, these abilities that Daredevil regained won’t last forever. They are slowly slipping away from him, which is why he’s in such a rush to to something meaningful with them. Elektra tells Daredevil that she didn’t come to him about the bomb and missing girl, but instead to offer Daredevil a chance at the immortality that she now possesses. This insinuates that Elektra has made some deal with a devil — perhaps The Hand — for life longevity. Daredevil appears to get a flashback to the past and Wilson Fisk’s death, though a white glowing star and skull logo would suggest that Captain America and Punisher — who is being tortured by Bullseye — may have been involved.

The gang that Daredevil is after is called the Triple Ring, and they answer to Daredevil and Elektra’s old friend, Bullseye. He has the mysterious girl strapped to a device that looks to feed off the energy she generates. Foggy Nelson tells Daredevil that a government-funded program called the New Warriors project is what Bullseye is after. In an effort to create superhumans, experiments with super-soldier serum and gamma radiation were being used. A whole shipment of the stuff is in an underground bunker, and Bullseye just got his hands on it.

What did you think about Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell #2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Daredevil Reunites With an MCU Street-Level Hero in Marvel’s Dark, Dystopian Future appeared first on ComicBook.com.

In 2009, Chris Hemsworth screen tested for the role of Thor as Marvel was just starting to build its grand cinematic universe, and once fans met him in 2011’s Thor, it became apparent that Marvel had knocked this particular casting out of the park. Marvel previously released a video celebrating Hemsworth’s legacy as the Asgardian God of Thunder back in 2022, but today a new caption from Hemsworth himself was added when he shared it on social media, with Hemsworth reflecting on the role that has been such a big part of his life over the past 15 years while also nodding to his Avengers future.

Hemsworth’s caption accompanies the video, and you can find the caption right here. “Playing Thor has been one of the greatest honors of my life. For the last 15 years I’ve held Mjolnir and then Stormbreaker as the God of Thunder, but what made it truly special… was sharing it with all of you. Your passion, your cheers, and your love for this character have meant everything to me. Thank you for making my journey through the Marvel Cinematic Universe unforgettable.. Next up, Doomsday!” — Chris Hemsworth

As reactions to Hemsworth’s post come in, there is a sense that this is perhaps him celebrating his legacy in the MCU because he might be finishing up with the role soon. As Hemsworth indicated in the caption, he is set for Avengers: Doomsday, so fans will see him on the big screen in the Thor role at least one more time. With the stakes attached to Doomsday, though, it would be easy to see this being Thor’s swan song, or at least setting up for it as part of Secret Wars.

That’s all just conjecture, mind you, as we know literally nothing about future plans for Thor or Hemsworth. That said, with Loki also making his return in Doomsday, it would be something special to have that reunion happen before one of them or both of them decide to finish up with the franchise.

[RELATED: Why Marvel Delayed Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars Revealed (& It’s a Good Thing)]

In a previous interview with Happy, Sad, Confused, Hemsworth spoke about Thor’s future and what fans could expect if the character returned to the big screen. “I mean you look at Thor 1 and 2 they were quite similar. Ragnarok and Love & Thunder: similar. I think it’s just about re-inventing it,” Hemsworth said. “And I’ve had such a unique opportunity even with [Avengers] Infinity War and Endgame to do very drastic things with the character; I enjoy that, I like keeping people on their toes, it keeps me on my toes, keeps me invested. And I’ve said this before: when it becomes too familiar, I think there’s a risk of getting lazy I think, like ‘Ah, I know what I’m doing,’ you know? So I don’t know – again, I don’t even know if I’m invited back. But if I was, I think it’d have to be a drastically different version – tone, everything. Just for my own sanity [laughs].”

Avengers: Doomsday is set to release in theaters on May 1st, 2026, while Avengers: Secret Wars will release on December 17th, 2027.

What do you want to see in a future Thor film, and do you think Doomsday will be Hemsworth’s final time as Thor? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things Marvel and movies with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!

The post Chris Hemsworth Sparks Marvel Retirement Rumors With New Thor Comments appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Benicio del Toro’s take on the Collector quickly became a Marvel Cinematic Universe fan favorite, but the actor hasn’t been invited back to the franchise since the Infinity Saga ended. In an interview with ComicBook to promote his new movie The Phoenician Scheme (out in select theaters May 30th and nationwide June 6th), del Toro addressed his possible future in the MCU. When asked about reprising his role in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, del Toro cast doubt that such a development is in the cards. However, he would be open to the opportunity if one ever presented itself.

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s like, you gotta get invited to play in that international tournament, and I’d love to play in it, but fingers crossed that’ll happen soon,” del Toro said. “I haven’t been invited yet for a second round.”

Del Toro made his MCU debut back in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, appearing in a mid-credits scene where Volstagg and Sif give the Collector the Aether in an effort to keep it separated from other Infinity Stones. The Collector returned in Guardians of the Galaxy and most recently was seen in Avengers: Infinity War, when Thanos travelled to Knowhere to retrieve the Reality Stone. Del Toro also voiced the Collector on an episode of What If…?.

[RELATED – The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is More Important for the MCU Than You Realize]

Avengers: Doomsday is currently in production. In late March, Marvel Studios put together a record-breaking livestream event to announce 27 actors who are in the film. Shortly after, Kevin Feige confirmed there are additional Doomsday casting announcements that will be made at a later date. No actors who are primarily associated with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise were confirmed as part of the Doomsday ensemble.

As fun as it would be to see del Toro back as the Collector, it’s hard to find a natural place for the character in the Multiverse Saga. As mentioned in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, he sold Knowhere to the Guardians, and his whereabouts are currently unknown. The Collector isn’t a superhero, so he isn’t going to get called into service to help in the fight against Doctor Doom. He was always more of a supporting player, and given his connection to the cosmic side of the MCU, the Collector likely wouldn’t appear again unless there was another Guardians of the Galaxy-related project. Though Star-Lord has a future in the franchise, it’s unknown if Marvel will ever move ahead with Guardians of the Galaxy 4, so audiences might have seen the last of the Collector.

That doesn’t mean del Toro can’t have a Marvel future himself. If Robert Downey Jr. can return years later to play Doctor Doom, anyone can play multiple characters in the MCU. An Oscar winner, there’s no shortage of roles del Toro would be a strong fit for, so if the right part emerges, Marvel would be smart to keep the actor in mind. Perhaps after Avengers: Secret Wars and the X-Men become the focus, del Toro will get another call.

The post Fan-Favorite Avengers Star Admits They Haven’t Yet Been Invited Back to the Franchise After Endgame appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Stitch is inevitable. Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch remake made waves at the box office over Memorial Day weekend, which turned out to be a record-setting weekend for Disney: not only did the reimagining of the 2002 animated movie set the record as the biggest 4-day Memorial Day weekend opening of all time domestically with $182.7 million, but the studio is reporting that Lilo & Stitch took in a massive $37 million on Monday. That’s the fourth highest-grossing domestic Monday ever, surpassing the $36.8 million that Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame made on its first Monday back in April 2019.

Disney also holds the top spots for domestic Mondays. Marvel’s Black Panther clawed its way to the biggest-ever Monday over Presidents Day with $40.15 million in 2018, outdoing the $40.1 million of the previous record holder, 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The third-best Monday belongs to the $37.1 million webbed up by 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was produced and distributed by Sony Pictures but co-financed by Disney.

RELATED: Mission: Impossible 8 Breaks Box Office Record 25 Years After Tom Cruise Scored Best Memorial Day Ever

With Lilo & Stitch taking the fourth-best Monday and Endgame moving to fifth place, the blue alien has edged out the other Disney-owned blue aliens: 20th Century’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which took in $32.2 million the Monday after Christmas Day in 2022. Stitch also outperformed 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, the Tom Cruise starrer that was the biggest Memorial Day Monday ever before the little blue alien came along this weekend.

According to Disney, Lilo & Stitch is the No. 1 film in the world with a cume of $361.3 million at the global box office so far. Cruise’s eighth and final Mission: Impossible film, The Final Reckoning, opened in second place, which means that Stitch has twice now dethroned the movie star. Mission: Impossible 8 also set its own series-best opening at $79 million and another $112 million overseas for a total worldwide start of $191 million.

When counting the combined grosses of Lilo & Stitch and The Final Reckoning, as well as holdovers like Final Destination Bloodlines, Sinners, and Disney/Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, 2025 is now on record as the biggest Memorial Day weekend box office in cinema history.

“The love that people have for Lilo & Stitch continues to grow, and the goal with this new retelling was for audiences to be able to enjoy these characters on the big screen again and hopefully have just as much fun watching it as we had making it,” Alan Bergman, co-chairman, Disney Entertainment, said. “We are tremendously proud of this history-making launch, and I want to give my thanks to our teams who have done such great work as well as to the fans who have made this exceptional opening possible.”

“Stitch is an example of what Disney actually does best,” David Greenbaum, President of Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios, added. “An extraordinary animated film from 2002 that becomes a series that then over time creates a real fanship, which leads to us looking at the idea of creating this wonderful film that we now are bringing out to the world.”

Lilo & Stitch has pushed Walt Disney Studios past the $2 billion mark at the global box office, making Disney the first studio to achieve the milestone this year.

Walt Disney Animation’s Moana 2 (released over Thanksgiving in 2024), Mufasa: The Lion King (released over Christmas), Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown, and 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, the live-action Snow White, and Thunderbolts* all contributed to the $2 billion total.

Disney’s upcoming 2025 slate includes Pixar’s Elio (June 20), The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25), Freakier Friday (August 8), Tron: Ares (October 10), Predator: Badlands (Nov. 7), Zootopia 2 (Nov. 26), and Avatar: Fire and Ash (Dec. 19).

Lilo & Stitch — which stars newcomer Maia Kealoha as Lilo, Sydney Elizebeth Agudong as Nani, Billy Magnussen as Pleakley, Tia Carrere as Mrs. Kekoa, Hannah Waddingham as the Grand Councilwoman, Courtney B. Vance as Cobra Bubbles, Zach Galifianakis as Jumba, and Chris Sanders as the voice of Stitch — is playing now everywhere.

The post Lilo & Stitch Box Office Haul Breaks Avengers: Endgame Record appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Though it was one of the year’s first major blockbuster releases, Captain America: Brave New World had a rough go of things during its theatrical run. The Marvel Cinematic Universe installment is hoping to find new life on streaming. Today, Marvel released a short Brave New World promo to announce that the film is now available to watch on Disney+. The video, which you can watch in the space above, heavily revolves around Sam Wilson’s fight with Red Hulk (which was a centerpiece of the marketing campaign) and contains other out-of-context action shots.

Captain America: Brave New World had been available to purchase digitally, and the Blu-rays hit shelves earlier this month. Now, the film can be watched at home for “free” with a Disney+ subscription.

One of the last feature films of the MCU’s Phase 5, Captain America: Brave New World premiered back in February, marking Anthony Mackie’s first time portraying the titular character on the big screen. The movie received mixed reviews, earning the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score for a Captain America film. Brave New World also became one of the lowest-grossing installments in MCU history, making just $415.1 million worldwide.

[RELATED – 10 Captain America Movie Mistakes You’ll Never Be Able to Unsee]

Despite the underwhelming response to Brave New World, Captain America is set to be an integral figure throughout the rest of the Multiverse Saga. Anthony Mackie is set to reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. The actor is hopeful he’ll continue to play the character for the next decade.

While Captain America: Brave New World didn’t perform well in theaters, that isn’t indicative of how it will do on streaming. History is full of box office bombs and disappointments that found their audience at home. Most recently, sci-fi film Mickey 17 became the top film on HBO Max despite struggling at the multiplex, so Brave New World could have a similar fate. Because of the word of mouth, Brave New World was never considered to be a must-see on the big screen. However, watching something from the comfort of your living room is a much more appealing prospect. It wouldn’t surprising if Captain America garnered a decent following on streaming as people catch up on what they missed in theaters.

Brave New World is arguably hitting Disney+ at the right time. Avengers: Doomsday is currently in production, and the MCU got back on the right track with the premiere of Thunderbolts*, which earned positive reviews. With hype for The Fantastic Four: First Steps gradually building ahead of its debut this July, there’s plenty of excitement for what the MCU has in store over the next couple of years. Given how integral Sam Wilson should be to the upcoming Avengers films (see: his legal dispute with the New Avengers that’s referenced in the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene), there should be a fair amount of interest in checking out this key part of his arc to see how all the pieces come together.

The post Captain America: Brave New World Is Now Streaming: How to Watch appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel helped evolve superheroes past the godlike icons of DC, bringing all-new facets to superhero comics. Sci-fi was a big part of the comic industry throughout the ’50s and ’60s, and Marvel was on the forefront of cosmic characters. Fantastic Four was the home of Marvel superhero sci-fi, and created many characters and concepts that would become extremely important to cosmic Marvel. Cosmic Marvel is one of the more interesting portions of the Marvel Universe. It’s full of powerful spacefaring heroes and villains, their trials and tribulations bringing superhero stories to an all-new level. Cosmic Marvel pushed the envelope in the ’70s, when creators like Jim Starlin (a name you’ll be seeing a lot throughout this list) created characters and concepts that would lead to some of the most defining Marvel stories of all time. From Infinity Gauntlet to Annihilation, cosmic Marvel has been the source of many of the publisher’s most beloved stories.

Cosmic Marvel is full of epic characters, but some of them are more important than others. They’ve played a huge role in the history of the Marvel Universe, with powers unlike anything more Earthbound heroes have encountered. Cosmic Marvel is defined by many iconic characters, each one playing a role in why the best cosmic Marvel comics are the best cosmic comics of all time. These eight cosmic Marvel characters are the most important, each of them making cosmic Marvel the amazing place that it is now.

8) Captain Marvel I

When people think of Captain Marvel nowadays, they’re mostly thinking of Carol Danvers, but there would be no Carol Danvers without Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel. The Kree soldier, armed with the Nega-Bands, went to Earth and helped fight against his own people’s invasion, getting his own solo book. Captain Marvel was vital to the cosmic Marvel revolution of the ’70s, battling Thanos and other cosmic threats. Jim Starlin told the best Captain Marvel stories, and even gave him the story that killed him in The Death of Captain Marvel, which would become the first in a line of oversized Marvel graphic novels. Captain Marvel began a legacy that lasted til this day, his legend being carried on by the heroes and villains he touched. Even Thanos came to like and respect Captain Marvel, which really tells you everything you need to know about the character.

7) Gamora

Gamora is the link between multiple generations of cosmic Marvel heroes. She first appeared in Strange Tales #180, joining her fellow Starlin creations like Adam Warlock, Pip the Troll, and Thanos. She was taken by Thanos after he destroyed the majority of her race, and was trained by the Mad Titan to become the most dangerous woman in the universe. She ended up in the Soul Gem, and would get out with Warlock and Pip in order to battle Thanos during Infinity Gauntlet, becoming a key part of the newly burgeoning cosmic Marvel of the ’90s. This iteration of cosmic Marvel would fade away as well, but she would also be in the next rebirth of cosmic Marvel during Annihilation, joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, where she would become more popular than ever. Gamora isn’t anywhere near the most powerful cosmic Marvel characters, but one can’t deny just how important she’s been to cosmic Marvel. Her relationship to Thanos would have been enough, but the fact that she’s played such a big role in making cosmic Marvel popular earns her a spot on this list.

6) Annihilus

Annihilus is one of the many Stan Lee/Jack Kirby creations that laid the groundwork for what cosmic Marvel would one day be. Annihilus’s home was the Negative Zone, and the insectoid conqueror was armed with the Cosmic Control Rod, a weapon that gave him great power as well as allowing him to control beings’ minds, allowing him to create a massive army. Annihilus was constantly trying to invade the regular universe, but the Fantastic Four were able to stop him every time. What really made Annihilus important to cosmic Marvel, though, was his place as the catalyst behind Annihilation. Annihilation came out around the same time as Civil War, and was overshadowed by that event, but is considered by many to be way better. Annihilus was the mind behind the Annihilation Wave, and his threat was the one that Nova, the Silver Surfer, Ronan the Accuser, Drax the Destroyer, and the Guardians of the Galaxy faced. Cosmic Marvel was going through one of its fallow periods before Annihilation came out — they usually coincided with those times that Jim Starlin wasn’t at the publisher — and that story played a massive role in reminding everyone just how awesome cosmic Marvel could be. Annihilus helped make all of that possible.

5) Fantastic Four

What many consider cosmic Marvel didn’t start until Jim Starlin took the disparate pieces of Marvel sci-fi and brought them together. However, there wouldn’t ever be a cosmic Marvel without the Fantastic Four. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s creation is possibly the greatest science fiction comic in the history of the medium, introducing multiple corners to the Marvel Universe that would get explored even more in the years to come. The Fantastic Four discovered the Skrull, broke through to the Negative Zone, and battled multiple universal conquerors. They were the first Earth heroes to deal with Galactus, and characters like the Silver Surfer and Adam Warlock all first appeared in Fantastic Four books (more on them later). They learned about the existence of Uatu and the Watchers before anyone else did. The Fantastic Four’s adventures planted the seeds of cosmic Marvel, and have been there ever since, their intergalactic/interdimensional allies and enemies taking them to new places.

RELATED: You’ll Never Believe These 10 Marvel Characters Actually Exist

4) Galactus

Galactus is basically what would happen if H.P. Lovecraft got to create a comic book character. Galactus is the definition of cosmic horror — a force so powerful that nearly every mortal being other than his Heralds is beneath his notice. Galactus’s first appearance in the Fantastic Four classic “The Galactus Trilogy” changed the Marvel Universe, as he would become the first of many cosmic beings that would define cosmic Marvel. Galactus also brought with him one of cosmic Marvel’s most important characters, the Silver Surfer, and was responsible for the existence of powerful Heralds like Firelord and Terrax. Galactus was a new kind of character in the Marvel Universe, and his existence gave cosmic Marvel one of their literally biggest stars. Galactus is one of the most powerful forces in existence, able to chew up Celestials and spit out stardust. Galactus is one of the key characters in cosmic Marvel. While there have been more powerful cosmic beings introduced — Eternity, the Living Tribunal, the One Above All, the One Below All — none of them have played as pivotal a role in making cosmic Marvel as unique and popular as Galactus has.

3) The Silver Surfer

The Silver Surfer was the first major solo star of cosmic Marvel. Stan Lee apparently loved writing dialogue for the Silver Surfer, or so the legend went, and fans loved him because of “The Galactus Trilogy”. The Silver Surfer decided to help Earth against Galactus and was trapped in Earth’s atmosphere by the cosmic giant, appearing in books like The Mighty Thor and various Silver Age Marvel anthology titles before getting his own solo book in 1968, three years after his debut, and would join the Defenders in the early ’70s. Silver Surfer would get various solo titles throughout the ’80s, including the brilliant Silver Surfer: Parable, from Lee and French artist Moebius (it’s amazing and you should check it out). Silver Surfer would get another solo series in the late ’80s, and when Jim Starlin came back to Marvel after spending some time at DC, he would begin the build-up to Infinity Gauntlet there, in the months leading up to Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #50. Silver Surfer was the standard bearer of cosmic Marvel, and when Starlin left, Ron Marz took the book over, giving Silver Surfer fans even more great adventures. Silver Surfer would disappear with the rest of cosmic Marvel, and appear again during Annihilation, getting another solo series from Dan Slott and Mike Allred that is considered one of the best Surfer comics ever. While he’s never been as important to cosmic Marvel as he once was, Silver Surfer will always be a vital part of the history of cosmic Marvel.

2) Adam Warlock

Adam Warlock first appeared in Fantastic Four #66-67, created to be the perfect man by the Conclave and first known as Him. He’d soon become known as Adam Warlock and was taken over by Jim Starlin. Starlin’s entire cosmic Marvel universe began to revolve around Warlock, with Pip the Troll (he honestly almost made this list, but that would have been more out of personal esteem than his worth), Gamora, Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, and Thanos, along with non-Starlin creations like High Evolutionary and Captain Marvel. Warlock would battle against the most powerful cosmic threats, possessing the Soul Gem, and proving that his appellation of the “perfect man” was fitting. Adam Warlock battled against his evil future self the Magus, and eventually ended up as a soul in the Soul Gem, where he would stay until Infinity Gauntlet. Warlock formed the core of the anti-Thanos force, and was able to get the Infinity Gauntlet after Nebula took it off the Mad Titan. Warlock would get a team book, Warlock and the Infinity Watch, and played a big role in all of Starlin’s ’90s cosmic Marvel stories. That would eventually end, and he’d show up again post-Annihilation, working with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Adam Warlock even made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut thanks to his relationship to the Guardians, although he was a very different kind of character in the movie.

1) Thanos

Thanos has become the key to cosmic Marvel multiple times over the years, and serves as Jim Starlin’s greatest creation. Thanos became one of the chief villains of Starlin’s ’70s cosmic Marvel books, battling Adam Warlock and the original Captain Marvel. His battles against cosmic Marvel’s two biggest heroes made him something of a star for a certain kind of Marvel fan, and he would die after trying to use a Cosmic Cube to kill half the universe for Mistress Death. She’d eventually resurrect him, and reveal to him the existence of the Infinity Gems, which would lead to Thanos Quest and the Marvel classic known as Infinity Gauntlet. Infinity Gauntlet made Thanos a star for an entire new generation of Marvel readers, leading to Thanos becoming the big bad of the first three Phases of the MCU. Whenever cosmic Marvel gets popular, Thanos is there, and he’s become synonymous with cosmic Marvel.

Who do you think are the most important cosmic Marvel characters? Sound off in the comments below.

The post 8 Most Important Cosmic Characters in Marvel, Ranked appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The entire Marvel Cinematic Universe owes Tony Stark a debt of gratitude. When he enters that cave in Afghanistan, he sets off a series of events that culminate in the Avengers assembling and battling against all kinds of threats. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows for Tony, though, because as soon as he returns from captivity, he has to deal with Obadiah Stane, who wants the head of Stark Industries gone so he can take over. Stane is all about weapons, while Tony, after seeing what his creations are capable of, turns over a new leaf and tries to protect the world with his Iron Man armors instead of helping destroy it.

The innovation that Tony uses most often in his pursuit of world peace is the Arc Reactor, which he discovers how to miniaturize to power his armors. Every one of Tony’s new creations uses the Arc Reactor in some way, but he conveniently forgets all about it when designing technology for a good friend who needs all the help he can get.

Tony Stark Always Had Time for Peter Parker

After fighting crime with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for a few years, Tony finds himself in need of reinforcements when Steve Rogers and a few others refuse to sign the Sokovia Accords. He needs to bring in Captain America before Thaddeus Ross sends his men after the hero, and the only way to do that is to recruit a young hero from Queens. Spider-Man joins the fray in Captain America: Civil War and immediately gets on Tony’s good side, earning a new suit with all kinds of bells and whistles.

Tony and Peter Parker’s relationship only grows stronger in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which sees Spider-Man, despite making a few mistakes, earn a spot in the Avengers and an even more impressive suit. Peter turns it down initially, wanting to focus on keeping his neighborhood safe, but that goes out the door when Thanos’ Black Order arrives on Earth. Spider-Man fights alongside Iron Man with the Iron-Spider suit, even losing his life on Titan when Thanos acquires all of the Infinity Stones.

For five years, Tony deals with the guilt of losing Peter, so when an opportunity to bring the young hero back knocks on Iron Man’s door, he comes running. The Avengers go back in time, get the Infinity Stones, and bring everyone back, including Spider-Man. Thanos loses the Battle of Earth shortly after and dies, but he takes Tony with him, leaving Peter and everyone else devastated. Being a good mentor, Tony leaves Peter with some additional goodies in Spider-Man: Far From Home that help him defeat Mysterio, but, for some strange reason, Arc Reactors are nowhere to be found, leaving the Wall-Crawler without a full arsenal.

[RELATED – Marvel Finally Has The Hulk Replacement The MCU Has Missed Since Endgame]

The MCU’s Tony Stark Keeps the Best Toys for Himself

Despite making Peter two suits and giving him access to a machine to make another, Tony never features a major Arc Reactor in his Spider-Man designs. It’s mentioned that the Iron Spider suit contains “miniature arc reactors” in its design schematics, but we never see Tony convey that to Peter onscreen, or see Peter examine the pivotal technology and make use of it later. Initially, it may be that Tony doesn’t feel like he can trust Peter with the secret of such power, as Arc Reactors can dish out serious damage. However, when everything is on the line in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, it feels like a massive oversight to have Spider-Man jump into battle without Peter also mastering the Arc Reactor’s power.

At the very least, Tony should have shown Peter the ropes when it came to his proprietary technology, especially because Spider-Man has to fight against it in Spider-Man: No Way Home. While trying to help the villains from the other universes, Peter uses a Stark Industries Fabricator, which has an Arc Reactor as its power source. Electro immediately recognizes the power in front of him and steals it to make himself stronger. Peter has trouble holding his own against the electric villain, and it takes Doctor Octopus pulling a fast one to get the Arc Reactor off the board.

Tony does so much good for Peter, acting as a mentor at a time when the young hero needs one. Peter also owes Tony his life, as he would’ve stayed dust if Iron Man hadn’t got off his butt and retrieved the Infinity Stones. Despite all that, however, he lets him down by refusing to fully show him what makes the Iron Man armors truly special.

Do you think Iron Man screwed up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by never giving Spider-Man an Arc Reactor? How would that power have changed Peter Parker’s journey? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Iron Man & Spider-Man’s MCU Relationship Was Great (But This Part of It Never Made Sense) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Things just got more complicated for a villain in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. The web-slinger has slowly been meeting more of his classic villains in Ultimate Spider-Man, with Wilson Fisk/Kingpin siccing his Sinister Six after Spidey and Harry Osborn/Green Goblin. This resulted in Harry’s death, though that was revealed to be a ruse orchestrated by Mysterio, who just happens to be Harry’s wife, Gwen Stacy. But there’s more to Mysterio’s identity than meets the eye, which is just how the Master of Illusion likes it. Because Gwen Stacy isn’t the only character in the Spider-Man Universe who can call themselves “Mysterio.” WARNING: Spoilers for Ultimate Spider-Man #17 below.

Ultimate Spider-Man #17 comes from the creative team of Jonathan Hickman, David Messina, Matthew Wilson, and VC’s Cory Petit. The issue focuses on Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn taking the fight to Wilson Fisk and his Sinister Six. They each meet with different characters, which is where we see Gwen Stacy and Robbie Robertson together in Gwen’s office inside Oscorp Industries. Robbie brings Gwen some important information, and when Gwen asks why she should trust him, Robbie says that “we Mysterios have to stick together,” revealing himself to be one of the five individuals sharing the Mysterio identity in the Ultimate Universe.

Marvel Reveals Which Characters Share the Mantle of Mysterio

The meeting between Gwen Stacy and Robbie Robertson is interrupted by Wilson Fisk and his handler, James Wesley. With Harry believed to be dead by the general public, Kingpin wants to make sure that Gwen Stacy stays true to her deceased husband’s obligations, such as his business arrangements with Kingpin. He leaves Gwen and Mr. Wesley alone to finish signing paperwork, where we learn that Mr. Wesley is also one of the Mysterios.

Mr. Wesley helped Gwen find Harry when he and Peter Parker were being held by Kraven the Hunter. This caused some unwarranted questions from Kingpin, though Mr. Wesley was able to sidestep them. He leaves Gwen with the Mysterio amulet, meaning that it’s her turn to act as Mysterio for one week. Gwen decides to use that time to team up with Green Goblin and launch a strike against Mr. Negative and his Demons.

[RELATED: Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man Continuity Belongs in the Marvel Universe’s Main Timeline]

The duo takes out a couple of Demons, with Green Goblin helping innocents escape the building, just in time for bombs to blow it all up. Phase 1 of their war is a success, so it’s time to recruit Spider-Man for some extra backup. Ultimate Spider-Man #17 ends with Harry calling Peter to let him know that he’s alive. Peter took his family on the run after Kraven learned his secret identity. Harry tells Peter to come back home as they move on to the next phase of their plan.

The Mysterio of the Ultimate Universe is vastly different from the one on Earth-616, which is considered the main Marvel Universe. Instead of just Quentin Beck being Mysterio, he shares it with four other characters. So far we’ve met Quentin, Gwen Stacy, Robbie Robertson, and James Wesley, meaning there should be one more character to be revealed in this quintet. Things are escalating quickly, and a gang war is just around the corner. The only question is what side will the other Mysterios choose?

The post Ultimate Spider-Man Just Made an MCU Villain’s Secret Identity a Lot More Complicated appeared first on ComicBook.com.

It’s about time. Marvel fans were thrilled when it was announced that Tom Hiddleston — whose trickster God of Mischief, Loki, died in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, only for his past self to escape into a branched timeline in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame — would be looped back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Doomsday. The last time we saw this time-slipping alt-2012 Loki in his self-titled Disney+ series, he sacrificed himself to destroy the Time Variance Authority’s Temporal Loom, saving the branched realities of the multiverse that he then presided over from his throne at the End of Time.

Loki’s glorious purpose also meant saving his friends, including the Loki variant turned TVA fugitive Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), TVA agent and best friend Mobius (Owen Wilson), TVA repair guy O.B. (Ke Huy Quan), and B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku). The latter reappeared in last summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine, and it seems that Di Martino’s Sylvie will be making the jump to the Sacred Timeline as part of the ever-expanding Avengers: Doomsday cast.

“Playgrounds,” Di Martino captioned a since-deleted Instagram post (below) that fans have taken to mean Sylvie is in Doomsday. Di Martino’s Sylvie stunt double, Sarah Irwin, has also reportedly been spotted in the UK, fueling speculation that the character is set to return (presumably to reunite with the long-lost Loki).

RELATED: New Avengers: Doomsday Set Photo Shows Two Returning Characters

“I think, at this point, if anything comes back to threaten freewill in general, I feel like Sylvie will be there to fight the good fight. It kind of depends where the story goes, where the bigger picture goes,” the Loki star previously told ScreenRant about her role in the MCU moving forward.

“No one knows but Kevin Feige,” Di Martino continued of the Marvel Studios president and producer. “I mean, she could go anywhere. Again, the possibilities are limitless. That’s what’s so exciting about it. You just never know.”

The Anthony and Joe Russo-directed Avengers: Doomsday started principal photography last month at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England. Perhaps not coincidentally, Buckinghamshire’s Pitstone Quarry doubled as the Void, a “metaphysical junkyard” at the End of Time that first appeared as a location on Loki, when Marvel Studios shot Deadpool & Wolverine there in 2023.

Along with Hiddleston, the Doomsday cast includes Robert Downey Jr. (Doctor Doom), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier), Letitia Wright (Shuri/Black Panther), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man), Wyatt Russell (John Walker/U.S. Agent), Tenoch Huerta Mejia (Namor), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova/Black Widow), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), Lewis Pullman (Bob Reynolds/Sentry), Danny Ramirez (Joaquin Torres/the Falcon), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Winston Duke (M’Baku), Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr/Ghost), and Channing Tatum (Gambit).

The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast members Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Susan Richards/Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/the Thing) are all set to return, as will Fox’s X-Men movie alums Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), and James Marsden (Cyclops).

Marvel Studios has dated Avengers: Doomsday to open December 18, 2026 in theaters (previously May 1), followed by Avengers: Secret Wars (also delayed from May 7 to Dec. 17, 2027).

The post Loki Star May Have Accidentally Revealed Avengers: Doomsday Return to the MCU appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The comic industry has lost a titan in Peter David. David’s passing is a tragedy. He was an amazing creator, and spent years working on the greatest characters in comics. Peter David was a man of multiple talents, writing everything from Star Trek novels to cartoons. David’s time on The Incredible Hulk for twelve years completely redefined what the character could be. Throughout the ’90s, The Incredible Hulk was extremely popular, and David’s opinion column, “But I Digress…” in CBG allowed readers to get to know him like they did few other creators. He was responsible for some of the greatest stories for multiple characters — Hulk, Spider-Man, Supergirl, Aquaman, Jamie Madrox — and left behind a body of work that will stand among the greatest comics of all time.

We’re here to talk about David’s work. This list will contain both entire runs and individual stories from those runs that are especially good. David’s runs were things of beauty, truly epic stories that were masterpieces of tone and character. You knew you were in for a treat when it came to his books, as he was going to take characters you never thought about much and make them into obsessions. All of Peter David’s work is worthy of praise, but these ten works are the best of them, books that you need to get your hands on.

10) Fallen Angel

David’s Supergirl ran for years, but he still had stories left to tell with the character after it was finished. This led to him and artist David Lopez creating Fallen Angel, a book that took many of the ideas behind David’s Supergirl and continued them. The book starred Lee, a superheroine known as Fallen Angel in the city of Bete Noire. The city itself is as much a character as Lee herself, a shifting landscape of perfect order during the day and complete corruption by night. Lee battles against the machinations of the Magistrate, as readers are drawn through one of the darkest and rewarding narratives ever. Fallen Angel was published by DC Comics and IDW, and it can be a bit tough to find. However, it’s definitely worth the hunt. David’s work on Fallen Angel is some of his best.

9) “The Death of Jean DeWolfe”

“The Death of Jean DeWolfe” is Peter David’s second professional comic work, and what a work it is. Police captain Jean DeWolfe, one of Peter Parker’s closest friends, is found dead and Spider-Man swings into action to find the killer. Daredevil gets involved when Matt Murdock is brought in to represent a group of muggers that Spider-Man brought in. The villain is revealed as the Sin-Eater, and Spider-Man is faced with a foe that he wants to kill. “The Death of Jean DeWolfe” is a Spider-Man classic and showed off what David was capable of with superheroes. Working with artist Rich Buckler, David created a page turning mystery that transforms midway through into a completely different story. This is one of the most beloved black Spider-Man costume series, and it led David to write for all four Spider-Man titles of the ’80s and ’90s — The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, and The Spectacular Spider-Man — and it’s all because of this classic story.

8) Supergirl

Post-Crisis Supergirl is an interesting story in itself, but the basics are this — in the post-Crisis DC Universe, Superman was the only Kryptonian. Supergirl was Matrix, a shape-shifting, protoplasmic being that took on her form after meeting her on an alternate Earth. David’s Supergirl kicked off with Supergirl saving the life of Linda Danvers, and the two beings merged. The mystery of who Linda Danvers was as a person is a major mystery in the series. Supergirl’s life as Linda changes her, and David takes the characters in directions that no fan ever thought they would have gone in. David paid homage to the Supergirl ideas of the past while completely remaking the character from the ground up. David worked with a lot of great artists over the run of Supergirl, which ran for 80 issues over seven years, but kicked the book off with his former artistic partner Gary Frank. Frank’s art is amazing, and every issue he draws looks fantastic. Supergirl is a perfect example of David taking a character that no one thought of very much and made her into a star.

7) Hulk: The End

Peter David is widely considered the best Hulk writer of all time, so Marvel gave him the honor of telling the last Hulk story. Hulk: The End re-teamed David with artist Dale Keown, to tell the story of the Hulk in the far future. Humanity is long extinct and the Hulk will not let Bruce Banner die. He is followed over the insect ridden planet by a device from an alien race, recording his actions as he tried to kill himself over and over again. It is just as dark as it sounds and is all the better for it. David captures the despair of both the Hulk and Banner, the last sentient being on Earth, trapped with the person they both hate the most. Keown’s art was at another level than it was when he worked on The Incredible Hulk with David, and Hulk: The End is page after gorgeous page of Hulk action, with images you’ll never forgot. Hulk: The End is the perfect ending for the Hulk, David’s final word on a character he changed forever.

6) Aquaman: Time and Tide

The post-Crisis DC Universe was a fertile places for new takes on old characters and David’s time working with Aquaman were one of the highlights of ’90s DC. David got the go ahead to completely reboot everything about Aquaman, starting with The Atlantis Chronicles (a truly excellent reimagining of the DC Atlantean lore) and soon got his chance to the do the same to Aquaman with Aquaman: Time and Tide, along with artist Kirk Jarvinen. Time and Tide was a new kind of Aquaman for the extreme ’90s, and David was able to use the lore that he had established before to give readers a new Aquaman. This story pit the Atlantean monarch against Ocean Master, beginning a new chapter in their decades long rivalry, and setting up the villain as Aquaman’s greatest foe, a position that was usually held by Black Manta. David’s Aquaman is the perfect version of the character, and Jarvinen’s art is fantastic, giving readers brilliant underwater action. Time and Tide was the perfect reimagining of Aquaman, and is worth the effort of hunting down.

RELATED: Aquaman’s Voyage Into the Fantastical is Paying Off in a Major Way (Review)

5) Spider-Man 2099

Marvel’s 2099 comics were one of the ’90s most beloved line, and a big reason for that is Spider-Man 2099. Peter David, kicking the series off with legendary artist Rick Leonardi. David showed off his cyberpunk chops with Spider-Man 2099, the story of Miguel O’Hara fighting against the corporation that he used to work for — Alchemax — and the changing world of the Earth of 2099. David showed the limits of what could be done with this new setting, and Spider-Man 2099 is an example of perfect superhero goodness. Miguel O’Hara is a brilliant character, one that David presents to the reader from every angle. He also faithfully recreates the villains of Spider-Man for the future, his love for the character shining through all the time. The ’90s weren’t the greatest decade for Spider-Man fans but for 44 issues, readers got some of the best Spider-Man comics of all time from a master of the character.

4) Young Justice

The Teen Titans didn’t do very well in the ’90s, the glories of the past not enough to keep readers interested. By the mid ’90s, DC had introduced an all-new slate of teen sidekicks — Tim Drake, Cassie Sandsmark, Conner Kent, and Impulse — and they got to be pretty popular. DC gave Peter David and Todd Nauck a chance to make the teen heroes a big deal again with Young Justice. As a concept, Young Justice is basically just the Teen Titans under a different name, with David taking the young heroes to a boarding school environment, which was a nice touch. Young Justice was sold as the Robin/Superboy/Wonder Girl/Impulse book, but characters like Arrowette, Empress, and Secret kept readers coming back. Unlike the Teen Titans, Young Justice got their own Justice League mentor, with David bringing in Red Tornado. Young Justice was the epitome of what teen superheroes could be, with David proving that he could do teen heroes better than anyone in the industry.

3) X-Factor

Peter David wrote three separate runs on X-Factor since 1991. He wrote X-Factor (Vol. 1) #70-89, X-Factor (Vol. 3) #1-50, 200-262 (it reverted to legacy numbering), and All-New X-Factor #1-20. The first one premiered during the X-Men line’s 1991’s reboot, and was easily the most well-written X-Men book on the market at the time. His team was a masterpiece of character, digging into each and everyone one of them, making them better heroes. X-Factor (Vol. 1) #87 was the therapy issue, a comic which completely reinvigorated Quicksilver as a character. X-Factor (Vol. 2) was the Madrox book, spinning out of David’s work on MadroX, and saw X-Factor evolve into a detective agency. It’s constantly brilliant, and probably the best of the three. All-New X-Factor was X-Factor as a corporate superhero team, now with a hundred percent more Gambit. Peter David was a master of team storytelling, and his time on X-Factor gave readers some of the greatest team comics ever.

2) Aquaman

Aquaman was basically dead by the time the ’90s got underway. SuperFriends had ruined the character for an entire generation of DC fans, and no one had been able to make the character popular again. Peter David had seemingly taken it upon himself to fix Aquaman and make him a big deal again, with aforementioned The Atlantis Chronicles and Time and Tide setting up the pieces for a new Aquaman ongoing series. David and artist Jim Calafiore were able to make Aquaman one of the best DC comics of the mid ’90s, which is actually quite impressive even thought it doesn’t seem like it should be. David immediately threw a curveball at readers by having piranhas eat off Aquaman’s hand. This new hook handed Aquaman was a stone cold bruiser, and David threw him at everything from supervillains to sea gods. It was an amazing read every single issue, 44 issues of awesome Aquaman action.

1) The Incredible Hulk

Peter David wrote The Incredible Hulk for 12 years, working with artists like Todd McFarlane, Dale Keown, Gary Frank, Liam Sharp, Mike Deodato Jr., and Adam Kubert. David’s run kicked off with issue #331 and ending with issue #448. There are so many amazing issues throughout David’s run and he changed the Hulk forever, introducing readers to some of the most important pieces of Hulk lore. He changed the relationship between the Hulk and Bruce Wayne forever, digging into the psychology of the Hulk in a way that no other writer had tried to. He was able to write every kind of Hulk over his run, from the genius scientist Hulk to the monosyllabic savage Hulk. Every Hulk writer after his has used ideas that David laid the seeds for. He found a way to make Rick Jones vital in the ’90s, which is quite a feat. There are multiple eras throughout David’s run, and there’s something for everyone in this run. Personally, my favorite issues came from Gary Frank and Adam Kubert’s time with Peter David, but it’s all amazing.

What’s your favorite Peter David series (sorry Captain Marvel and Star Trek: The Next Generation fans, those are excellent too)? Sound off in the comments below.

The post 10 Greatest Peter David Comics appeared first on ComicBook.com.

A new photo from Marvel Cinematic Universe star Olga Kurylenko has fans believing her character Taskmaster could be returning in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. As seen on the Instagram account update_mcu, the actress shared a picture of herself in Bahrain, captioning the image “Working on a Sunday” with a flexing arm emoji. This has led to speculation that Kurylenko could be filming scenes for Doomsday, which is currently in production and seemingly has already shot some sequences in Bahrain. Recent set images detailed an on-location shoot taking place in the country.

It is important to keep in mind that this is just theorizing from MCU fans right now. Kurylenko did not detail what kind of work she was doing in her post. Check out the image in the space below:

Kurylenko made her MCU debut in 2020’s Black Widow before reprising Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster in this month’s Thunderbolts*. As many viewers suspected — due to Kurylenko’s absence from several marketing materials — Taskmaster is killed early on in Thunderbolts*. Though director Jake Schreier offered an explanation for the decision, killing Taskmaster proved to be controversial. Many fans felt Marvel missed an opportunity to further develop Antonia after her harrowing experiences in Black Widow.

[RELATED – Thunderbolts* Really Messed Up Taskmaster’s Death]

In late March, Marvel Studios confirmed 27 actors set to appear in Avengers: Doomsday. Several of Kurylenko’s Thunderbolts* co-stars were among the names revealed, but she was not announced during Marvel’s record-breaking livestream. Still, Kevin Feige has stated there are more Doomsday casting announcements to come in the future, fueling speculation about the rest of the massive ensemble.

Kurylenko has a handful of projects in pre-production listed on her IMDb page, so her trip to Bahrain may not be connected to Doomsday. Still, it feels more than coincidental that she’s in the same location where Marvel is shooting a massive blockbuster. If Kurylenko is back in action as Taskmaster, it’s unclear how she’ll be brought into the fold. The Sacred Timeline version from Thunderbolts* is clearly dead, so perhaps Kurylenko could play a Multiverse variant this time around. One possibility is that Bahrain is being used for the Void, so a version of Antonia might have been banished from her timeline for unknown reasons.

Bringing Taskmaster back for Avengers: Doomsday has potential to be a nice twist from a storytelling perspective. It would be fun to see the New Avengers’ reactions to Antonia’s mysterious return. Additionally, Marvel would get a mulligan for a character who deserved much better the first time around. After so many fans were disappointed by how the character was portrayed in her previous MCU appearances, Doomsday could be an outlet for redemption, tapping into what made Taskmaster such a fan-favorite character from the comics. It’ll be interesting to see if Kurylenko is among the other actors in Doomsday. The film has so much on its plate that fixing the franchise’s handling of Taskmaster may not be on Joe and Anthony Russo’s checklist, but for now, there’s reason to have hope.

The post MCU Star’s Photo May Spoil Dead Character’s Doomsday Return (Fixing a Marvel Mistake) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The mystery behind Ms. Marvel‘s mutant powers is slowly being revealed. Ms. Marvel first became connected to the X-Men when the finale of her Disney+ series uttered the word “mutation.” The theme from X-Men: The Animated Series also played in the background to really drive the point home. The comics decided to sync with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, killing Ms. Marvel and bringing her back to life using the X-Men’s resurrection protocols on Krakoa, where they revealed to her that she is both an Inhuman and a mutant. We’ve yet to see the mutant powers that Ms. Marvel possesses, but they just manifested themselves at the most opportune time. WARNING: Spoilers for Giant-Size X-Men #1 below.

Giant-Size X-Men #1 comes from the creative team of Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Adam Kubert, and Laura Martin, with a “Revelation” backup story by Al Ewing, Sara Pichelli, Federico Blee, and VC’s Clayton Cowles. The comic follows Ms. Marvel as she’s thrown into the past to experience different, critical events in the X-Men’s history. The villain causing all of this mischief is David Haller/Legion, the son of Professor Charles Xavier. For some unknown reason, Legion has decided to travel from the far-flung future to the past to change events. For some reason, Ms. Marvel has also been chosen to follow Legion on this journey.

[RELATED: Ms. Marvel Meets the Age of Apocalypse’s X-Men in First Look at Marvel Event (Exclusive)]

They wind up at the X-Men’s home in Westchester, New York, right after Cyclops lost his team. Enter the Uncanny X-Men, consisting of Nightcrawler, Thunderbird, Colossus, Storm, Banshee, Sunfire, and Wolverine. These are the X-Men that debuted in 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1. Cyclops, who recognizes Ms. Marvel from when the original X-Men were transplanted in the current day, takes Ms. Marvel with the new team for a rescue mission to the mutant island Krakoa.

While the X-Men battle Legion, Ms. Marvel convinces Krakoa to become “a Giant-Size X-Man” by taking to the sky to escape into space. Legion follows, taunting Ms. Marvel the entire time. “What’s a little girl with stretchy arms supposed to do against our Legion?” he asks. Ms. Marvel’s response is where we see her mutant powers come into play.

Ms. Marvel Unleashes Her Mutant Powers

The display of Ms. Marvel’s mutant powers comes as she delivers a knockout punch to Legion. She uses her stretching powers to form two large fists, which light up and glow with yellow/gold energy. Fireworks seem to fly off her fists as she lands the punch on Legion, with fireworks even bouncing off his face. Ms. Marvel is just as surprised as the reader at what just happened. She begins plummeting back to Earth, wondering why her mutant power isn’t flying. Legion saves Ms. Marvel by teleporting them to another point in time, where the X-Men are confronted by Jean Grey’s Dark Phoenix. The story will continue in Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1.

As for Ms. Marvel and her mutant powers, it’s not entirely clear what they are. She’s always been able to embiggen her body, but the sparkling effect and diamond shapes that appear on her hands and wrists are new. In some ways, they mirror her abilities in the Ms. Marvel Disney+ series. The show had Ms. Marvel creating hard-light constructs that were the color purple. Here, her powers are a lighter shade, so not exactly the same.

We’re left with more questions than answers. Emma Frost previously told Ms. Marvel that the awakening of her Inhuman powers kept her mutant powers dormant, though they would manifest themselves at some point in the future. It looks like that future is now, even though it takes place in the past. Time travel is funny that way.

What do you think about Ms. Marvel’s mutant powers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Ms. Marvel’s Mutant Powers Are Finally Revealed (But What Exactly Are They?) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Uncanny X-Men has been setting the bar very high for the rest of the “From the Ashes” X-Men books. The book’s latest story has seen the Outliers discovering the truth about their new base, Haven House, and Uncanny X-Men #15 shows exactly what the X-Men have been sitting on since they moved her. “Dark Artery” has introduced readers to Lady Henrietta, a powerful mutant who has been around for a century, guarding a mutant secret unlike anything readers have ever experienced. Uncanny X-Men is the best current X-Men book, and this newest issue shows off exactly why, as Gail Simone and David Marquez take readers on a terrifying ride through the past.

Simone promised that Uncanny X-Men would be something of a Southern Gothic horror book, and Uncanny X-Men #15 does a tremendous job of capturing that feel. The truth about Haven House is revealed both through flashbacks and current day exposition, as Lady Henrietta tells the Outliers the story of the Penumbra, a Hell-like place for the dead who hurt mutants. A big problem with “From the Ashes” since the beginning has been the way the majority of the books rehashed Marvel’s merry mutants’ history. Uncanny X-Men has done a tremendous job of sidestepping this; while Simone has definitely captured the flavor of the past — specifically the more character focused of X-Men legend Chris Claremont — she’s been telling stories that aren’t as obviously rehashes as some of the other X-Men books. “Dark Artery” is yet another example of that.

The mystery of Haven House and why Gambit chose it as the X-Men’s newest base has been one of the major questions of the book, and the answer is so much cooler than readers could have imagined. Simone’s ability to weave together character and plot is one of the reasons this story works so well. A big focus of the issue is the camaraderie between the Outliers, as the four young mutants show just how much they care about each other when Deathdream makes a decision that could change his life forever. The Outliers are some of the coolest new mutants ever, and Simone has done a great job of giving each of them distinct personalities. They are the majority of the focus of the issue, and it’s great to see the way they work together and play off each other. One of the best things with Simone’s writing has always been her ability to do a lot with a little, and she does that with Outliers. Ransom is the leader, Deathdream is the weird one, Calico is the one with secrets, and Jitter is the group sweetheart. Simone is able to show off who each of them are with some simple dialogue, and she’s able to fit in so much character all while creating a great plot and dropping lore on the readers.

RELATED: Ms. Marvel Meets the Age of Apocalypse’s X-Men in First Look at Marvel Event (Exclusive)

Marquez’s art is fantastic, but that’s no surprise. This is a very dark issue, lighting wise, but Marquez never slacks on the detail. His character acting is amazing, really selling the emotion of every scene. There’s a moment between Jitter and Calico that works so much better because of Marquez’s art, capturing love, fear, and surprise in two panels. This issue has some great action scenes, and Marquez is able to capture the sense of motion that action scenes need to work.

The Penumbra, the otherworldly place under Haven House, has a simple design and it works so well because of Marquez’s art. Anyone entering the Penumbra gets gothed up — there’s a dress code for Hell apparently — and Marquez creates great alternate costumes for both the Outliers and the X-Men. One of the things that fans have loved about this book is the sexiness of the characters (the last issue with everyone in their underwear was talked about constantly in X-Men fan spaces), and Marquez keeps that up in this issue as well. Looking at Marquez’s Wolverine in his cut-off jean shorts will definitely make readers realize why Wolverine is such a ladies man. His Man-Thing looks sensational, and it’s enough to make readers want him to draw the character more.

There’s so much to love about Uncanny X-Men #15. Team books have gone through a lot of changes over the years, but Uncanny X-Men is an example of borrowing the structure of the past and making it work in the present. This issue has everything a reader could want — expert character work, fun lore, exciting action, and tremendous art. “Dark Artery” has been a blockbuster so far, and this penultimate issue will definitely hype readers up for the story’s end.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Uncanny X-Men is on sale now.

The post Uncanny X-Men #15 Is a Master Class of Borrowing From the Past to Tell New Stories appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Fantastic Four has been impressing fans since writer Ryan North took over the book, and One World Under Doom has seen the team lead the charge in the battle against Doctor Doom, who became the Sorcerer Supreme and used his powers to gain control of the Earth. Doom de-powered the Thing, leading to the eventual loss of the powers of the Fantastic Four. To solve the problem, they went through time and space to expose him to the cosmic radiation, but none from other universes worked. The Thing secretly changed the coordinates to Earth-616, and while he regained his powers momentarily, he also doomed the Fantastic Four, accidentally making it so they never got their powers. That is where the excellent Fantastic Four #32 picks up, as Valeria Richards, with her mind in the body of her counterpart on this Earth, Mary, tries to figure out a way to fix everything.

Of course, this being the eminently logical Valeria Richards, she wonders how this Earth survived so long without the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four were the first superheroes of what is sometimes referred to in-universe as the “Age of Marvels”, and they thwarted threats of all kinds from destroying the planet, from Negative Zone invasions to cosmic giants like Galactus. Valeria eventually finds out the truth — the Franklin Richards of this world gained the godlike powers and he worked with his powerless — but still intelligent — parents to save the world. However, Valeria learns the chilling truth behind the situation, one that will remind readers of one of The Twilight Zone‘s greatest episodes.

Franklin Gave Everyone a Good Life… Whether They Wanted It or Not

The Twilight Zone is one of the greatest TV shows of all time, and that’s all there is to it. Series creator Rod Serling was able to find a way to tell chilling sci-fi/horror stories, despite the strictures of network television of the time. Serling and The Twilight Zone‘s other writers were known for adapting stories from the sci-fi serial novels of the day, creating televisual plays from the best ones. There are lots of episodes of The Twilight Zone that can vie for the title of greatest episode, but one that immediately springs to mind is “It’s a Good Life”, based on a short story of the same name by Jerome Bixby and written for the screen by Serling. The episode revolved around what seemed like the perfect town, but the reality was much scarier. The town was held under the omnipotent thumb of Anthony Freemont (Bill Mumy), a young boy with the powers of a god that made sure everyone in the town was “happy” and nothing ever changed into anything he didn’t want. It’s an amazing episode, named by Time and TV Guide as one of the best episodes ever. It has a rather deep pop cultural footprint, as well, and was remade in The Simpsons episode “Treehouse of Horror II” in 1991. Ryan North is obviously a fan of it, because he lifted the idea whole cloth for Fantastic Four #32.

RELATED: A Member of the Fantastic Four Is Going to Fight the Entire Marvel Universe

Valeria and Franklin were protected by their mother’s force fields as the last universe was ending, which made it possible for parts of them to survive into the new Earth. Valeria got all of her memories and intelligence. Franklin got all of the power. Reed and Sue realized their son was akin to a god, and even at a young age were able to use his powers to save the world. This taught Franklin a terrible lesson — that he could destroy any problem and make everyone happy, creating a world looked after by an omnipotent one-man police force. He eventually even transformed himself into the largest, most powerful being he had ever encountered, Galactus, in order to cow any enemies that came knocking. This is “It’s a Good Life” with a Fantastic Four twist, and it’s honestly one of the better new comics I’ve read lately.

This Issue Shows the Terrible Reality of What Franklin Richards Could Become

Franklin Richards’ powers put him in rarefied air among humans in the Marvel Universe. Franklin’s powers, a mix of the highest level psionic abilities and reality altering, have allowed him to help remake the Marvel Multiverse after the Incursions completely destroyed it. Franklin has always been a potential danger, but his upbringing by the Richards made sure that he learned from the best people imaginable. However, on this Earth, Franklin had a very different life. He was used as a weapon by his parents, and that made him into a monster.

Mixing the Fantastic Four and The Twilight Zone is a brilliant idea, and this issue shows how well the team and their characters can fit into type of sci-fi story. Valeria Richards is forced to come up with a plan, and is able to trick her omnipotent, mind-reading otherworldly brother. This is a Valeria and Franklin issue, one that shows just what they’re capable of.

Fantastic Four #32 is on sale now.

The post The Fantastic Four Just Gave Galactus a Stunning The Twilight Zone Twist appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Supervillains have become big business over the years. Marvel and DC Comics have been pumping out villains since 1938, giving readers every kind of enemy they can imagine. As comics have grown in complexity, villains have also grown as well. The best villains have become more multi-faceted, often more so than the superheroes they fight, and this has seen a funny little thing happening over the decades — villains getting their shots at redemption, often teaming with heroes that they tried to kill. This is just how it works when a character gets more fleshed out; fans want more and more of them, and the best way to do that is to redeem them. Oftentimes, these redemptions would end and the villains would go back to being monsters, their time as heroes a thing of the past. While this is fine with many villains, they’re better as villains usually, there are some who should give up the evil ghost forever.

These villains have shown what their potential is on the side of angels, and it’s greater than what they can do as a villain. There are some iconic villains who have been villains for so long that giving them long runs as heroes would allow them to become something completely new. They deserve for their redemption arcs to permanent, leaving evil behind and becoming heroes… or if not heroes, at least something more than they would have been as a villain.

7) Captain Cold

The Rogues are an amazing villain team. Look at every other supervillain team out there; all of them fall to problems with everyone being amoral monsters who don’t care about anyone but themselves. The Rogues face off against the most powerful heroes around, and have had to learn to work together against the Flash Family, using their powers and technology in concert to slow the fastest man alive down to a crawl. The Rogues work together, and have respect for each other, which starts at the top with Captain Cold. Leonard Snart isn’t a mass murderer, and he hasn’t ever wanted to take over the world. He’s just wanted to make money hand over fist. Captain Cold is the perfect villain for a redemption. Captain Cold is a very entertaining character to read about, a great leader who understands how to use the Rogues as weapons against the Flashes. He knows when to use the carrot and when to use the stick. Captain Cold also has an edge to him that would make the man in the parka a very dangerous villain to deal with. Captain Cold could easily slot into a heroic role — he’s done it several times and it’s always fun — and fans would be able to spend way more time with him.

6) The Lizard

Curt Connors was a professor and teacher at Empire State University, and his classes were some of Peter Parker’s favorites. Connors has lost his arm in an accident and devoted his life to bringing the reptilian ability to regrow limbs to humanity. He started experimenting on himself, and had a breakthrough, allowing himself to regrow his arm. However, it also ended up transforming him into a ravening monster. As the Lizard, Connors would gain amazing physical abilities, but lost his humanity. Sometimes, the Lizard is an amoral scientist who hisses a lot, but other times he’s a wild monster with no trace of Curt Connors inside of him. The Lizard is actually a perfect character for a redemption; he just wanted to help people and work to make life better. It wouldn’t really take all that much to redeem the Lizard — basically just allow him to keep control of his mind when he transforms into his monster form, with him struggling against the beast inside of him. The Lizard is a character that could have gone either way — his origin is the same as multiple science based superheroes — and making him a hero would give him something to do besides go after Spider-Man in a near-animalistic rage.

5) Brainiac

Brainiac is a villain that most people don’t think of in redemption arcs, and that’s why he’s so perfect for it. Brainiac is one of the most frightening beings in the DC Multiverse, a monster obsessed with knowledge who has traveled the universe, shrinking worlds, then destroying everything else in the solar system. Brainiac would seemingly be impossible to redeem, and that’s sort of why him getting a redemption would be so much fun. Imagine if Brainac decides to undo what he did to the universe, trying to help recreate the worlds he’s destroyed, all while enemies who wanted revenge tried to go after him. Brainiac is a fascinating character, and giving him a redemption arc would be very difficult. It would definitely take a lot of work, but that work is definitely worth it. Brainiac has a ton of potential in a non-villainous role and it would be amazing to see him reach his potential outside of going after Superman.

RELATED: 7 DC Comics Moments I’m Still Not Over

4) Moonstone

Moonstone is in interesting place in the Marvel Universe. She started out as a C-list villain battling enemies like Ms. Marvel, and eventually ended up joining the Masters of Evil, alongside Baron Zemo. Moonstone participated in Masters’ greatest battle against the Avengers in the story “Under Siege”, and would become enmeshed in one of Zemo’s greatest plans — the Thunderbolts con. This was the beginning of the redemption of Moonstone, a process that has gotten stutters and stops ever since. Moonstone became the leader of the Thunderbolts who didn’t want to be villains any more. Moonstone battled against Zemo and became Hawkeye’s second in command when he took over as the team’s leader, showing that she was actually pretty good at being hero. The eventual dissolution of the Thunderbolts would see the end of her time as a hero. She would rejoin the team during Civil War, but she didn’t have any of the character development that she had before. She was back to being a villain, and while it was definitely entertaining at times, she’d have been much better to have continued the redemption arc that she had started years ago in the late ’90s. Moonstone is a fine villain, but would make for an amazing hero if she was given the chance.

3) Deadshot

Deadshot is basically in the same boat as Moonstone. Deadshot was a Batman gimmick villain in the ’50s — his was gunslinging gambling dandy — but was transformed into a more high tech mercenary in the late ’70s. Deadshot became more popular as a criminal mercenary and was soon made a member of the cast of Suicide Squad. Deadshot came to shine here and eventually would even get a sad backstory and a daughter that humanized him. Deadshot has been nominally on the side of the heroes for a long time, but he’s always something of a villain. It’s honestly kind of mystifying, especially when one looks at Deathstroke and his various redemption arcs. Deadshot would make the perfect anti-hero/espionage hero. That’s basically been his role for years, but it seems like there are times when DC decides that all of his redemption needs to go away so that Deadshot can be a villain for a short time before returning to the Suicide Squad or the Secret Six. Deadshot is tailor-made for a complete redemption, and would make for a better hero than he has a villain.

2) Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom is the greatest supervillain in the Marvel Universe. The only one that comes close to him is Magneto, but it’s harder to call Magneto a supervillain than it is Doctor Doom. Doom has been a constant thorn in the side of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, battling them whenever he feels like challenging himself. A funny thing has happened to Doctor Doom over the years. He was given a tragic backstory, the love of the people of Latveria, and a softer side that made readers enjoy him as something beyond the hyperbole spouting, third-person pronoun using villain. Doom’s become something beyond what he was and the best way to keep showcasing new facets of the character is to complete his redemption. Allow Doom to be something of a hero — his turn in Infamous Iron Man and Marvel Two-In-One was supremely entertaining — with him getting to hang out with Valeria Richards, save the world to show everyone how amazing he is, and making fun of Reed Richards every chance he gets would be very entertaining. Doom as a villain hunting anti-hero is the way to go if Marvel wants to push Doom in new directions.

1) Sabretooth

Sabretooth is a brutal monster, and is Wolverine’s greatest villains. Sabretooth has played a unique role in the history of the Marvel Universe. He’s one of many superpowered mercenaries, and a mutant who loves the fact that his powers have made him an immortal that never has to face the consequences of his actions. Sabretooth’s popularity exploded, along with any character who was somewhat adjacent to Wolverine, and Marvel started to put him in more places, giving him chances on X-Factor and the X-Men many times over the years, as well as his own solo series. There are a lot of people who would argue against Sabretooth getting redemption, but giving him redemption would show that no sin is unforgivable. Sabretooth makes for an excellent hero or anti-hero, and it might be time to just pull the trigger on this change, taking the character to another level.

What villains do you think should get redemption? Sound off in the comments below.

The post 7 Comics Villains Who Deserve Redemption appeared first on ComicBook.com.

M’Baku is back. Marvel Studios already announced that Winston Duke — who played M’Baku, leader of Wakanda’s Jabari tribe in Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame before succeeding Chadwick Boseman’s late T’Challa as King of Wakanda in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — is among the 27 MCU stars (and counting) assembling for Avengers: Doomsday. While the Us actor has been spotted in behind-the-scenes photos with co-stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth, we’ve yet to see Duke’s M’Baku on set.

Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel shared a photo from Doomsday‘s on-location shoot in Bahrain, and it appears to show Duke in costume and wielding M’Baku’s club (a knobkerrie). It also appears that Letitia Wright’s Shuri, who assumed the mantle of Black Panther in Wakanda Forever, is standing next to King M’Baku.

RELATED: Hugh Jackman Has Surprising Answer About Wolverine Return With Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool in Avengers: Doomsday

Duke and Wright are among the Doomsday cast members currently on location in Bahrain. Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America), Danny Ramirez (Joaquín Torres/Falcon), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr/Ghost), Mabel Cadena (Namora), Alex Livinalli (Attuma), and Tenoch Huerta Mejía (Namor) recently attended an event at Cipriani Bahrain with director Joe Russo, suggesting the worlds of Wakanda and Talokan will meet again. (Cadena, Livinalli, and Mejía made their debuts alongside the undersea kingdom in Wakanda Forever.)

If the Bahrain desert isn’t doubling as the kingdoms of Wakanda or Talokan, there may be another possibility: the Void. The barren landscape resembles the “metaphysical junkyard” at the End of Time (as seen in Loki and Deadpool & Wolverine), although the latter filmed its wasteland scenes in Buckinghamshire, UK.

Sigel, who collaborated with directors Joe and Anthony Russo on the Tom Holland-fronted Cherry and AGBO productions Extraction and Citadel, also shot 2003’s X2 and 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), James Marsden (Cyclops), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), and Kelsey Grammer (Beast) are all confirmed to be reprising their roles from Fox’s X-Men movies, as part of an ensemble that includes the casts of Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Downey (Doctor Doom), Hemsworth (Thor), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) are among the MCU veterans reprising their roles, with Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova/Black Widow), Wyatt Russell (John Walker/U.S. Agent), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Lewis Pullman (Bob/Sentry), Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Richards/the Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/the Thing), and Channing Tatum (Gambit) rounding out the cast.

Marvel Studios has slated Avengers: Doomsday to open December 18, 2026 in theaters (previously May 1), followed by Avengers: Secret Wars (also delayed from May 7 to Dec. 17, 2027).

The post New Avengers: Doomsday Set Photo Shows Black Panther Star’s Return (But Where Are They?) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Despite the Mission: Impossible movies being all about Ethan Hunt finding himself in ridiculous situations, the franchise tends to keep its villains relatively grounded. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Owen Davian is just an arms dealer looking to land a huge score, while Henry Cavill’s August Walker is a CIA agent who turns out to be part of a nasty group of terrorists. Hunt’s adversaries really don’t get complicated until Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, when he faces off against Gabriel and his AI master, the Entity. Their plans are so big that they carry over into Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which sees the Entity make a play to take control of all of cyberspace.

The Entity’s trump card is its ability to access nuclear codes, putting the idea of total annihilation on the table. It doesn’t stop there, though, placing agents in major positions all over the world, ensuring that anyone and everyone bends to its whim. The Entity is a cerebral threat that runs circles around another AI villain, the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s Ultron.

The Entity Takes Its Time in the Mission: Impossible Franchise

The Entity has a pretty complicated backstory, being the Rabbit’s Foot that Hunt steals for Davian in Mission: Impossible III before the United States government develops it into a cyber weapon. Wanting to get one over on the Russians, the US uses the Entity to disable the cloaking technology of a submarine called the Sevastopol. However, the mission goes awry, with the Entity gaining a mind of its own, sinking the ship, and spending the next several years developing a plan to take control. Gabriel finds himself on the Entity’s radar at some point before Dead Reckoning Part One and sets his sights on Ethan Hunt, wanting to grab the keys that access the weapon’s source code before the IMF agent does.

Hunt thwarts Gabriel’s plan, but he’s not ready to take on the Entity just yet. He goes into hiding for several months, which is when the events of The Final Reckoning start. The world is living in fear because the Entity already has nuclear codes in its back pocket and a cult full of followers willing to do anything to be part of the AI’s new world order. Hunt and Co. have to go completely off the grid to fight back, and they still suffer losses when Gabriel pinpoints their hideout and kills Luther. The Entity pushes Hunt to his breaking point, and even though the spy ultimately wins by trapping the AI in a special device, the world is forever changed, which is something Ultron couldn’t achieve during his tenure in the MCU.

[RELATED – This Is the Best Mission Impossible Action Scene (And It’s Not Even Close)]

Ultron Fails to Make a Lasting Impact in the MCU

Ultron’s origins aren’t all that different from the Entity’s. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner discover a code within the Mind Stone that they believe can be the key to creating a peacekeeping AI. After some tinkering, they leave Ultron to his own devices, which is when he discovers the internet and decides that humanity isn’t worth protecting. He defies his masters and starts to create problems all over the world, including taking control of nuclear codes.

Without wasting a second, Ultron decides to take his talents to Sokovia and outfits its capital with boosters that turn it into a floating island. The idea is to use the city as a meteor of sorts to send the Earth back to the Stone Age, allowing Ultron to rebuild the world in his vision. Of course, he doesn’t get the job done because Earth’s Mightiest Heroes come together once again to save the day. Ultron’s more or less forgotten after that, with his only legacy being Helmut Zemo, who goes after the Avengers because he blames them for the events of Sokovia.

The Entity doesn’t let emotion affect decisions like Ultron does, being meticulous and ensuring that Hunt must do everything perfectly to win. It also plays the long game by starting a cult that can push its agenda without it even having to act. The MCU felt like it had to introduce Ultron early on because he’s such an iconic Avengers villain, but if the powers that be waited for The Final Reckoning to come out, they would have had the blueprint for a much better AI threat.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in theaters now.

Did you enjoy the Entity as a villain in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning? Do you think the movie told a better Ultron story? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Tells a Better Ultron Story Than the MCU appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have defined themselves through their esteemed work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To date, the duo has helmed four MCU movies, all of which stand out among the franchise’s best-received and most popular titles. Despite the filmmakers’ excellent superhero films, their endeavors outside of the MCU have not been nearly as triumphant. Movies like 2021’s Cherry, 2022’s The Gray Man, and 2025’s The Electric State achieved neither the critical nor commercial success of the Russo brothers’ MCU movies, which perhaps explains why the pair will return to direct 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars.

With more MCU films under their belt than any other director, the Russo brothers have enthusiastically made their mark on the superhero genre. Ranking the Russo brothers’ four MCU films isn’t easy, but a few key factors determine which ones outshine the others.

4) Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Russo brothers’ MCU directorial debut centers on Steve Rogers’ (Chris Evans) first modern-day mission as Captain America. Teaming-up with Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Steve battles a covert enemy within S.H.I.E.L.D. and confronts his former best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) — who has been brainwashed by HYDRA and turned into the lethal Winter Soldier.

Captain: America represents a significant improvement over 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, incorporating an excellent group of supporting characters while maintaining the focus on Steve’s journey in a new age of heroes of villains. The Winter Soldier arguably contains the best action sequences the MCU has ever seen. Captain America and co.’s freeway battle against the Winter Soldier is absolutely riveting, and Steve’s elevator fight with a band of S.H.I.E.L.D soldiers ranks among the coolest displays of a hero’s strength in combat. Although The Winter Soldier doesn’t have the high stakes and breathtaking payoffs as the Russo brothers’ other MCU movies, it’s still a top-tier film in the franchise that’s a ton of fun to watch again and again.

3) Avengers: Endgame

The Russo brothers concluded their initial MCU run with a bang, delivering the exhilarating and emotional ending to the Infinity Sage in Avengers: Endgame. Following Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) devastating snap eliminating half of all life in the universe, the remaining heroes band together for one final bid to defeat the Mad Titan. A time travel quest to retrieve the Infinity Stones before they came into Thanos’ possession leads to all kinds of twists and turns, and Endgame‘s final act evokes, joy, heartbreak, and fulfillment in a way no MCU film has achieved before.

Astronomical stakes and equally weighty outcomes drive Endgame‘s story, which isn’t devoid of missteps. Black Widow’s sacrificial death at the midpoint of the movie wasn’t the ending she deserved, and at times, the time-travel plot seems overly convoluted. The underuse of Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and the framing of Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) depression as a joke stick out as notable blunders. However, numerous monumental moments, such as the resurrection and assembly of the lost heroes during the final battle with Thanos and Tony Stark/Iron Man’s (Robert Downey Jr.) snap and ensuing death make Endgame a truly unforgettable viewing experience. Endgame‘s achievements almost outweigh its flaws, and the MCU will have a hard time replicating the fan excitement and cultural impact the movie produced.

[RELATED: The 10 Best MCU Sequel Movies, Ranked]

2) Captain America: Civil War

In their sophomore MCU outing, the Russo brothers fixated on a superhero conflict unlike anything the MCU has tackled before. Captain America: Civil War, the fallout of the costly Battle of Sokovia, has the Avengers face pressure to operate under government supervision instead of acting on taking action of their own accord. Warring ideologies take center stage as Iron Man and Captain America lead dissenting camps of Avengers. The tension boils over, and the conflict ensues.

Captain America: Civil War boasts a level of complexity and introspection hard to come by elsewhere in the MCU. Steve, Tony, and the rest of the Avengers are forced to reckon with the harm they have caused while operating as an independent coalition, calling into question what it means to be a hero. The ever-relevant subject of government oversight adds another thought-provoking layer to the film. A score of compelling MCU characters, from Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) to Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) inject a ton of personality into Civil War‘s story, and the fight sequences involving them all are exhilarating to watch. The Russo brothers’ made a nearly unparalleled superhero movie with Civil War, however, one MCU film just barely beats it.

1) Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War is the Russo brothers’ best MCU movie, and could easily rank as the franchise’s greatest title of all time. After years of breadcrumbs, Thanos finally emerges as the Avengers’ formidable foe, embarking on a quest to gather all six Infinity Stones to achieve his dream of a stable universe. Shockingly, the titular team finds themselves overpowered on multiple occasions, culminating with Infinity War‘s astonishing ending in which Thanos successfully kills half of all life — numerous Avengers included.

It’s difficult to imagine another superhero movie ever pulling off a degree of spectacle, stakes, and surprise akin to Infinity War. The weight of the film’s events can be felt at every second of its two-and-a-half-hour run time, and each character’s actions produce significant consequences. Infinity War’s conclusion packs a devastating and emotional punch, and the moments leading up to it — such as Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) death near the beginning and Wanda’s tragic killing of Vision (Paul Bettany) later on — are saturated with despair. An engrossing, thrilling, and poignant viewing experience, Infinity War reigns over all of the Russo brothers’ MCU movies.

The Russo brothers’ MCU films are available to stream on Disney+. Avengers: Doomsday opens in theaters on December 18, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars hits theaters on December 17, 2027.

The post The Russo Brothers’ MCU Movies, Ranked appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Spectacular Spider-Man star Josh Keaton has revealed his frustrations with how Disney handled the show during its initial run. Spider-Man is one of the most storied characters in all of fiction. He has countless comics, movies, TV shows, video games, and so on, he’s one of the biggest superheroes in the world and there seems to be no signs of any kind of Spider-Man fatigue. Fans have come to love and appreciate his world, always enjoying new stories with the webhead. However, the overabundance of Spider-Man has also meant that some iterations of the character get compromised in various ways.

As Spider-Man fans likely know well, Marvel sold the film rights for Spider-Man to Sony many years ago to avoid bankruptcy. This was a good deal at the time and allowed Sony to go off and make Sam Raimi’s beloved Spider-Man trilogy. However, once the MCU kicked off, things got complicated. Spider-Man couldn’t appear alongside the Avengers unless Marvel and Sony worked out a deal. After a couple of misfires, Sony and Disney struck a deal that allowed Sony to keep Spider-Man, but he could be used in the MCU. Things got a bit more complicated for Spider-Man when it came to TV stuff, though.

On the Toon’d In podcast, The Spectacular Spider-Man star Josh Keaton revealed that the show more or less died because of Disney. The actor noted that the show was in full swing on the CW and they were making Season 2 when Disney bought Marvel. Although Disney seemed to be confident that The Spectacular Spider-Man would continue on Disney XD, that’s not how things went.

“I mean, we got cut short, because that was that was right around the time that Disney was going to buy Marvel,” said Keaton. “So we did a season, it was critically acclaimed, it was getting great ratings. And then we were doing Season 2, and while we were recording Season 2 was when Disney bought Marvel, and they basically never cancelled us and never picked us up. They just never said anything. But they told us, ‘Oh, you’re going to be headlining our new network, Disney XD.’ But then, when they put us on Disney XD, they showed the episodes out of order, they kept changing the times that it was going to air, they never really did any promotion.“

Keaton went on to note that it didn’t help that The Spectacular Spider-Man moved from the CW to Disney XD, which was a channel that wasn’t as widely accessible depending on the kind of provider people had. He went on to say that the chances of a return to The Spectacular Spider-Man were slim because Sony owns the rights to that specific show, despite the fact Disney owns the rights to Spider-Man in TV. Ultimately, Disney would have to pay Sony to do another season, which probably isn’t worthwhile to Disney and why they went on to make Ultimate Spider-Man with Drake Bell.

“The thing is that Disney now owns the rights to the character of Spider-Man for TV, right? But Sony still owns the rights to the show, ‘The Spectacular Spider-Man.’ So if Disney wanted to continue making it, they would have to basically pay Sony to license the show, so they could keep making it. But, why would they do that? They’re like, ‘We can just make our own show.'”

Despite the fact that The Spectacular Spider-Man was featured in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, it’s not any kind of big hint at the future. It seems like that version of the character won’t get the spotlight again, much to the dismay of fans.

Do you still want a season 3 of The Spectacular Spider-Man? Let me know in the comments.

The post Spectacular Spider-Man Star Blames Disney For Fan-Favorite Series’ Fate (& Reveals If There’s Hope for a Revival) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Ryan North’s Fantastic Four run has reminded readers of everything they love about the Fantastic Four. One World Under Doom has thrown the Marvel Universe into a tizzy, as new Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Doom has used his powers to take over the world. That’s not all he’s taken, as he robbed the Thing of his powers in a bid to take away the powers of the whole team. This has sent through the Fantastic Four on a temporal, multiversal trip to give the Thing his powers back, which fails every time. The Thing surreptitiously changed the spatial coordinates to Earth 616’s past in desperation. He regained his powers… but at the cost of the Fantastic Four’s. The issue ended with the universe ending and Fantastic Four #32 picks up where things left off, as Valeria Richards, whose mind took over Mary Richard’s (her counterpart on this Earth) body.

Valeria finds a world that’s very familiar, and immediately wonders how the world could even still exist, as the Fantastic Four stood between the Earth and doom multiple times (sometimes Doom). She gets her answer when she meets Franklin, who is in the form of Galactus. Franklin has been used like a weapon by her parents to protect the world with his godlike powers, and has created a world where any problems are solved by his powers, from supervillains’s greatest acts to the simplest acts of crime. This gives Valeria an idea, and the plan she creates is a partly from an X-Men classic, the dark future tale called “Days of Future Past”. This story is also related to Franklin, making this issue’s story work on multiple levels.

The Fantastic Four and “Days of Future Past” Have Been Linked for Years

“Days of Future Past”, by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, ran through Uncanny X-Men #141-142. The story opens in the future, a world where the US government passed the Mutant Registration Act, which led to a Sentinels arms race, which led to the mutant-hunting robots killing most mutants and superhumans, putting the remainder of humanity in concentration camps where they can make sure mutants aren’t born. The surviving X-Men form a resistance, and come up with a desperate plan — send the mind of Kate Pryde back into her young body and prevent the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly. The plan is a success, but the Earth of “Days of Future Past” still existed. Readers learned in later stories that one of the X-Men’s most powerful — and useful — members in this future is Franklin Richards. The telepathic, reality-altering mutant helps fight against the Sentinels and even helps send his girlfriend Rachel Summers back in time to the present.

RELATED: A Member of the Fantastic Four Is Going to Fight the Entire Marvel Universe

In Fantastic Four #32, Valeria quickly realizes that Franklin is going to be a problem with her plans to restore the old universe, but she’s the only person who thinks that Franklin has gone too far. Jean Grey and her husband Namor (which is something of a funny joke in its own right for longtime Marvel fans) are the last few members of the resistance left. Valeria comes up with a desperate plan, one that takes a page from “Days of Future Past”. She gets Jean and Namor to get her parts for a time machine of sorts, to open a temporal wormhole and send her mind through it into her old body in the last universe. As I was reading the issue, I immediately thought of “Days of Future Past”, and saluted North for using this idea. There’s a little irony to it even, as later in the “Days of Future Past” timeline, Franklin would do something quite similar. However, North is too good of a writer to leave things there. It obviously doesn’t work.

Fantastic Four #32 Brilliantly Subverts the “Days of Future Past” Trope

Valeria Richards is one of the smartest people on the face of the Earth. She’s smart enough to know that Franklin is basically omniscient. She knew that he would sense the wormhole opening, and she knew that he could move at the speed of thought. There was no way for her plan to work in time. She even knew that it would be somewhat impossible to send her whole mind back in time. She made sure that everyone thought of the old plan in order to fool Franklin, though, to hide the real plan. Her actual plan was to send something much smaller back in time — just four words, leading to the next issue.

Fantastic Four #32 is an example of everything good a Fantastic Four story can be, with North combining ideas from “Days of Future Past” and the classic episode of The Twilight Zone “It’s a Good Life”. This is an amazing comic, one that shows just how frightening Franklin could have been and how efficient Valeria is. The word peak is thrown around a lot, but this issue deserves it more than most thing called it. This is peak Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four #32 is on sale now.

The post The Fantastic Four Completely Reinvents One of the X-Men’s Darkest Stories appeared first on ComicBook.com.

While Peter Parker and Eddie Brock are the Marvel characters most closely associated with the Symbiotes, there have been a lot of heroes and villains that have been hosts over the years. It seems like every major Marvel character has been paired with a Symbiote at some point, even if just for a brief amount of time. The developers of Marvel Rivals might be taking advantage of this fact by adding Symbiote inspired skins for its playable cast at some point in the future. A newly uncovered leak has shared voice lines for Captain America, Rocket Raccoon, Storm, and Moon Knight, who all seem to be referencing their partnership with some kind of Symbiote.

The voice lines were shared by the dataminers at X0XLeak, and are pretty entertaining. Steve Rogers refers to himself as “Captain Klyntar,” Rocket seemingly tells his new partner to “bite them, not me,” Storm talks about the “raw power,” and Moon Knight tells Khonshu he could “get used to this.” As of this writing, none of these voice lines are connected to any cosmetic currently available in the game. This is driving speculation that the next season of Marvel Rivals will see Knull as the main villain. Readers can hear those voice lines in the X/Twitter post embedded below.

No actual skin designs have been uncovered just yet, but it’s worth noting that all of these characters have been a Symbiote host in various comics, even if briefly. As such, we could see the developers of Marvel Rivals base these new skins on designs seen in the books, or in other Marvel media. It’s also possible that we could get entirely new designs created specifically for the game. There’s simply no way of knowing right now, but it will be interesting to see what NetEase brings to the table. Whatever the case might be, we can at least expect the costume variants to have some twists that make them fit with the world of the game.

As with any leak, readers are advised to take all of this with a grain of salt. While datamines can be a great source of early information, they can also hint at plans far into the future, or concepts that have been scrapped. Symbiote variants seem like a fantastic idea, and the kind of thing that Marvel Rivals players would love to see added. Based on that fact alone, on top of the newly uncovered voice lines, it seems like a safe bet that this leak will pan out. For now though, it’s impossible to say when we can expect them.

RELATED: Marvel Rivals Reveals New Look at Blade

Hopefully fans won’t be kept waiting too long on an official announcement. NetEase has managed to keep a steady stream of content coming to Marvel Rivals since the game’s launch last year, and it’s likely that will continue for the foreseeable future. At this time, we don’t know what to expect from Season 3, but we should start to learn more over the next few weeks.

Are you excited about the new season of Marvel Rivals? Do you think that we’ll see a theme centered around the Symbiotes? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

The post Marvel Rivals Leak Hints at New Symbiote Costumes for Multiple Characters appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Merc With a Mouth will clash with the Dark Knight in a comic book crossover for the ages. Perhaps the biggest announcement to come out of the ComicsPRO retailer summit in Glendale, CA, earlier this year is that Marvel Comics and DC are working on a crossover of their respective superhero universes. Seeing Marvel and DC characters interact used to be a special moment that happened every blue moon, with the last one coming in 2003 with the Justice League and Avengers. Fans have been wanting to find out more details on what DC and Marvel have cooking, and now we know it involves Deadpool and Batman.

Entertainment Weekly announced that the crossover between Marvel and DC will take place in Deadpool/Batman, a one-shot penned by writer Zeb Wells and cover and interior art by Greg Capullo. Deadpool/Batman #1 comes out on September 17th and finds Wade Wilson hired for a mercenary contract in Gotham City, bringing him into the crosshairs of the World’s Greatest Detective. There will also be a lineup of “backup adventures” featuring “exciting Marvel and DC character match-ups,” though details and creative teams will be announced at a later date.

“After writing Amazing Spider-Man for 60 issues, I told Marvel I needed a break,” Wells said. “Marvel told me I could do that or I could write a comic starring Deadpool and Batman with the best Batman artist of our generation. I no longer needed a break. In Batman we’ve found someone who has even less time for Deadpool’s antics than Wolverine, but a city-wide threat from the Joker makes strange bedfellows (literally, if Deadpool had his way). It’s been a blast letting Deadpool loose in Gotham City and watching what happens.”

“Am I dreaming? This crossover is likely to be the high point of my career…and, I’ve had a great career,” Capullo added. “Some of my earliest work (many years ago) was on X-Force, so Deadpool and I go way back. More recently, I spent 10-plus years drawing Batman at DC. The idea that I get to do a crossover event with Deadpool and Batman…If I am dreaming, please don’t wake me!”

[RELATED: You’ll Never Believe These 10 Marvel Characters Actually Exist]

November will feature the DC one-shot Batman/Deadpool by writer Grant Morrison and artist Dan Mora. The story for that comic hasn’t been officially revealed, but there will also be similar “backup adventures” as well. Morrison recently teased that they were working on a top secret Batman project, and now we know it’s Batman/Deadpool.

“I don’t do many comics these days but there was no way I could turn down the chance to work with Dan Mora again, one of my all-time favorite artistic collaborators — and definitely no way I could turn down Batman and Deadpool!” Morrison said. “Expect 4th wall-busting mayhem, owls, blood, blades, and at least one giant typewriter!”

“This is more than I ever imagined I could do in my career, and it is a huge honor to be part of this crossover: it doesn’t happen too often, and I am a huge Deadpool fan!” Mora shared. “When I first worked with Grant, I didn’t know what to expect, but it was an incredible team-up. I always hoped to work with Grant again, and working on Batman/Deadpool is like a dream come true. Grant and I working together on this once-in-a-lifetime project is going to be such a fun experience.”

What do you think about seeing Deadpool and Batman together in the same comic? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Deadpool & Batman Are Officially Crossing Over in 2025 appeared first on ComicBook.com.

One of the few things we know about Marvel’s upcoming miniseries Vision Quest is that James Spader will reprise his role as Ultron, which could mean anything from a cameo to a full-on resurrection. Fan theories have been tackling this question in recent weeks as the series draws closer, often noting the spare parts of Ultron we’ve seen through the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the last decade. However, this week Reddit users looked further back in the franchise’s history, finding some ideas that might make more sense. The good news is, they would give this iconic villain more screentime and a bigger part in the story. The bad news is, it could be serious trouble for Vision and the Avengers.

The MCU has been criticized at times for killing off its best villains too early, and Ultron is one of the prime examples. After terrorizing the planet in Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015, he was presumed dead, though we have seen parts of his robot swarms since then. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, we even saw his head, which was held in a secure vault by the United States Department of Damage Control. Many fans have theorized that this will be the key to his comeback in Vision Quest, but this week’s post looked past the hardware.

Instead, u/Shadowblade3000 proposed that Ultron’s persona will resurface from within Vision himself after the events of WandaVision. They pointed out that Ultron’s mind and consciousness was a key ingredient to Vision’s creation back in Age of Ultron, though it was not completely uploaded to into his body. Later, the consciousness of J.A.R.V.I.S. was added in, along with a blast of lightning from Thor and the Mind Stone itself. They theorized that the Mind Stone kept Ultron’s dark impulses supressed, and that without it, the different aspects of Vision’s mind would begin to vie for control of him.

[RELATED: Vision Quest Timeline With WandaVision, Agatha Confirmed by Showrunner (& It Makes Sense)]

This internal conflict could be interesting on its own, but it could also leave room for Ultron to escape into his own body as well. After all, he was originally created as a disembodied AI, and he became a threat when he escaped into the Internet. He could escape from Vision in the same way, and from there he could find any number of android components or Iron Man suits to inhabit. Ultron’s original head in the Damage Control vault doesn’t necessarily need to come into play, although the villain will likely take on his familiar appearance one way or another.

The biggest issue with this theory is Ultron’s motive. We know he wanted Vision’s Vibranium body for himself, and there’s no reason that should have changed here. He may leave Vision to build strength and try to reclaim the body later, but he may try to banish Vision from the body and keep it for himself. This would be an interesting turn for the miniseries — forcing Vision to confront himself and determine who he really is without his powerful body.

The idea that this villain will come back from within Vision himself is more compelling than an old, dismembered head simply reawakening, and it’s clearly popular among commenters. At the same time, it’s a pretty loose theory that could work out in a lot of ways with many different variations. There’s also the overarching question of how central Ultron will be to the plot, and which other characters may need screentime.

Vision Quest is filming now, but it has no release date yet, and there are several MCU shows premiering in the meantime. Iron Heart will be streaming on Disney+ next week, followed by Eyes of Wakanda in August and Wonder Man in December. Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is expected in March of 2026, while Vision Quest does not have a release window yet. It’s expected sometime in 2026 on Disney+.

The post Vision Quest Fan Theory Perfectly Explains Ultron’s MCU Return (& Now We’re Worried) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

A female android is set to make its Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Marvel’s Vision series on Disney+. The show, rumored to be titled Vision Quest, is a spinoff of WandaVision starring Paul Bettany’s titular Avenger. WandaVision‘s popularity has already produced one spinoff, Agatha All Along, and Vision Quest will continue the trend by following Vision on his quest of rediscovery. While fans speculate on whether Scarlet Witch will make an appearance, T’nia Miller is reportedly cast as the female lead opposite Paul Bettany. The character Miller plays has a strong connection to both Vision and his creator, Ultron.

According to scooper Daniel Richtman and reported by Deadline, T’nia Miller is playing Jocasta in Vision Quest. Created by Jim Shooter and George Perez, Jocasta debuted in 1977’s Avengers #162. Ultron created Jocasta to be his bride, with her consciousness based on Janet Van Dyne/Wasp. Just like Vision, Jocasta broke away from Ultron to side with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. We’ll have to see if Jocasta’s journey in the MCU follows the comics, but it is worth noting that James Spader is reportedly reprising his role as Ultron from 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.

T’nia Miller’s resume includes The Fall of the House of Usher and The Haunting of Bly Manor on Netflix, and Foundation on Apple TV+.

[RELATED: Scarlet Witch Trends After Rumors Claim Wanda Could Return in Vision Series]

After Vision was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, S.W.O.R.D. rebuilt Vision (dubbed White Vision by fans) to be used as a weapon. WandaVision featured two Visions — White Vision and a heroic Vision that came to life when Scarlet Witch put Westview under a hex spell. These two Visions fought, with the heroic version “awakening” the White Vision, who flew away on a mission of self-discovery. Vision Quest will theoretically pick up where WandaVision left off.

Terry Matalas, the showrunner of Vision Quest, recently confirmed the timeline shared by WandaVision, Agatha All Along, and the Vision series.

“The timeline is definitely navigated,” Matalas told Katee Sackhoff on her podcast, The Sackhoff Show. “At the end of WandaVision, the original Vision was rebuilt and weaponized, and then had a moment of discovery and acceptance of who he was. Then [he] flew off… [Vision Quest] is following that character, and that character’s journey.”

Matalas also spoke of how he’s approaching Vision’s Disney+ series. “There was a kind of logline that was very specific,” Matalas said. “Kinda like ‘It’s this, this, and this.’ But there were a thousand ways to do exactly that. I’m trying to figure out how to vaguely respond to you, but it was an opportunity to be like, ‘Okay, if you want to do this, then you kinda also want to do this, this, and this.’ And it became this very collaborative experience that’s just been really wonderful. And it doesn’t have to be with the biggest, most successful studios of all time. It’s been a really wonderful creative experience, and I think we are making something really special.” Matalas also shared his anxieties about the upcoming series. “It’s also scary because they are like, ‘Go do that crazy thing you wanna do.’ And I’m, like, ‘Oh, wow, it’s a big stage to take a big swing on.’ But I think we’re in a really good place.”

What do you think about T’nia Miller playing Jocasta in Vision Quest? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Vision Series Casts a Major Marvel Character as Female Lead (& It Isn’t Wanda) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The stars of The Fantastic Four: First Steps showcase their chemistry with each other in a new tie-in ad for the upcoming Marvel blockbuster. In the promo, which was released as part of ESPN’s coverage of the 2025 NBA playoffs, Marvel’s First Family gathers together to watch Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. Evidently, Johnny Storm is a huge basketball fan, as he’s still miffed about missing Game 4 in a different playoff series that took place when the characters went to space. Getting life-changing super powers doesn’t make up for being left out of the conversation about a great game.

A nice touch in the promo is the retro ESPN logo and use of vintage basketball footage, tying into First Step‘s 1960s-inspired retro-futuristic setting. You can watch it in the space below:

Disney/Marvel has kicked the Fantastic Four: First Steps marketing campaign into full gear ahead of the film’s July release date. A trailer was released back in April, establishing the movie’s tone, atmosphere, and characters. One of the more noteworthy elements of that preview was teasing the massive scale of First Steps‘ comics-accurate Galactus. Some merchandise has also been unveiled, giving fans their first look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Franklin Richards.

[RELATED – The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is More Important for the MCU Than You Realize]

As Marvel looks to end the Multiverse Saga on a high note, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a very integral project for the MCU’s future. The four main stars, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, are set to reprise their roles in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Marvel continued to build hype for First Steps‘ arrival by teasing the Fantastic Four in the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene.

The NBA playoffs aren’t necessarily the first place fans might expect to get a new look at The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but there’s some corporate synergy at play here. ESPN is another Disney-owned property, so the Mouse House is using the platform of a high-profile sporting event to raise awareness for its big summer tentpole. Disney’s taken advantage of ESPN audiences to promote blockbusters in the past (see: the Star Wars sequel trilogy trailers that premiered on Monday Night Football), so this is something the studio has plenty of experience with. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more Fantastic Four promos as the NBA playoffs roll on; ABC (also Disney-owned) is the home of the NBA Finals.

This ad is clearly something made specifically to air during the ESPN broadcast, meaning there aren’t any new plot details to dissect. However, it gives fans another great taste of how the characters interact and play off each other. Given how important the Fantastic Four are to the rest of the Multiverse Saga (and perhaps beyond), it’s crucial for audiences to be onboard with these versions of the classic characters. Some might find it strange to see Johnny bickering about missing a game, but the Fantastic Four feels like a family that’s been together for a long time here. If the chemistry they display in this promo is anything like what’s in the final film, Marvel fans are in for a treat.

The post The Fantastic Four: First Steps Cast Show off Their Chemistry In Strange New Tie-In Ad appeared first on ComicBook.com.

17 years after Ed Norton’s Hulk debuted in the MCU, the franchise is basically full of Hulks. The not-so classic Banner-Hulk remains active (and will return for Avengers: Doomsday), but now we’ve also met She-Hulk, Tim Roth’s Abomination and of course Thunderbolt Ross made his bow as Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World. And that’s not to mention Banner’s Son Skaar, the weird variants introduced in What If…? or the embarrassment of incel She-Hulk villain HulkKing. 

An yet, for all the gamma-powered muscle walking around the MCU these days, we still don’t really have the Hulk anymore. At least, not the version Marvel fans once knew and loved. Somewhere between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Endgame, Marvel decided the most interesting thing about Bruce Banner was figuring out how to stop being the Hulk altogether. That’s how we ended up with “Smart Hulk,” a solution to a character problem that never should have been solved.

And while Hulk’s solution was useful for Endgame, it also quite pointedly closed the book on one of the MCU’s most interesting character arcs. The conflict between man and monster, between vulnerability and rage, between wanting to be left alone and a burning need to protect and belong… it was all why Hulk was one of the best original Avengers. And now that Banner is now seemingly content as a gentle giant genius, the MCU has a story vacuum where that irresistibly entertaining conflict used to be.

And that’s exactly why Thunderbolts* was such an important release for MCU fans who like their struggle to be personified. Because, when you think about it, Lewis Pullman’s Sentry is basically the perfect replacement for the original Hulk’s character arc.

Sentry Is The Secret Hulk Replacement You’ve Been Waiting For

On paper, Sentry is Superman with serious mental health issues: a man granted the power of “a million exploding suns” whose very existence is a paradox. He’s a god-level superhero in the soft outer casing of an emotionally unstable, tormented, and perpetually terrified human. And then, of course, there’s The Void – the dark, corrupting heart of Bob’s psyche that manifests as an apocalyptic, unstoppable force of destruction every time he loses control. That conflict of vulnerability and monstrous dark power sounds awfully familiar doesn’t it?

There is, of course, a chance that Bruce Banner’s savage side returns in the future of the MCU, and we get to see more of the conflict between his urge for calm, and the bubbling rage bursting out of him, all green and violent. But if that doesn’t happen, Sentry might be exactly what you’ve been waiting for. Bob’s arc, in fact, may even go further than Hulk’s ever did. Because Bob’s personality makes the deadly tug of war with the Void all the more poignant. Both characters are cursed by their split existence, but Bob is both a lot nicer and a lot more personally linked to his fellow heroes already.

And of course, Hulk was always still a hero, and the promise that he’d ever go bad was only ever dangled above us as an audience. We’re haunted by the idea of Savage Hulk after seeing a glimpse of him in Age Of Ultron. That was never enough, and even though Hulk was always monstrous, his emotions and his desire to belong despite fear of himself still feels impressively sympathetic. Far more sympathetic, in fact, than a jolly green dork. We’re confronted with the strange idea that in seeking humanity, Banner actually became more alien.

Though the end of Thunderbolts* suggests Bob has things under control, the threat of The Void’s reappearance is part and parcel of who he is. And that internal war, wrapped in a man who could vaporize entire cities on a bad day, is everything the current MCU has been missing since Hulk got all homely and… safe. Excitingly, Sentry isn’t just Hulk 2.0 (or whatever iteration we’re onto now), he’s a horrific upgrade. And hopefully, his popularity might remind us all – and Marvel – why the real Hulk mattered so much.

The post Marvel Finally Has The Hulk Replacement The MCU Has Missed Since Endgame appeared first on ComicBook.com.

A compelling new fan theory leverages Jonathan Hickman’s revolutionary House of X and Powers of X saga to explain the absence of mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shared by redditor u/rOkBad7175 on the /marvelstudios subreddit, the theory also provides a seamless way to introduce the X-Men to the Sacred Timeline. The theory, gaining traction among MCU enthusiasts, centers on Hickman’s radically reimagined character of Moira MacTaggert, suggesting her unique abilities and desperate quest to save mutantkind could be the key to understanding why mutants are only now emerging in the MCU’s main timeline. This concept provides a lore-rich foundation that not only accounts for the mutants’ delayed arrival but also sets the stage for complex future narratives, echoing the intricate storytelling that defined Hickman’s celebrated X-Men tenure.

Hickman’s tenure on the X-Men titles initiated a bold new era known as the Krakoan Age, fundamentally altering the status quo for Marvel’s mutants. At the very center of this seismic shift was a profound retcon of Moira MacTaggert, a character traditionally known as a human geneticist and a staunch ally of Charles Xavier. Hickman revealed Moira to be a mutant herself, possessing the power of reincarnation. Upon each death, Moira returns to the moment of her conception, retaining all memories from her previous lives.

[RELATED: 10 X-Men Characters Who Would Be Perfect for the Thunderbolts* Director’s MCU Reboot]

House of X #2 detailed that Moira was living her tenth life, having experienced a myriad of timelines she helped shape by influencing the world events with her knowledge of the future. Unfortunately, she learned a grim, immutable truth through these nine previous lives: mutants always lose. Regardless of the strategies employed, whether it was through heroic sacrifice, aggressive dominance, or attempted integration, every path inevitably led to the persecution, subjugation, or outright extinction of mutantkind, often at the hands of humanity, advanced Sentinels, or other powerful cosmic or artificial intelligences.

Armed with this devastating knowledge from centuries of lived experience across her past lives, Moira X, in her tenth incarnation, resolved to break this catastrophic cycle. She approached Charles Xavier much earlier in his life than in previous timelines, revealing her mutant nature and the cyclical doom awaiting their kind. This revelation shattered Xavier’s initial dream of peaceful coexistence and pushed him toward a more radical strategy for mutant survival. Later, Magneto was also brought into this secret counsel. Together, this triumvirate, guided by Moira’s unprecedented understanding of future failures, orchestrated the establishment of a sovereign nation for all mutants, Krakoa, and, most crucially, the Resurrection Protocols. Through a group of five key mutants (The Five), deceased mutants could be reliably brought back to life, effectively neutralizing death as a significant threat to their species. This bold initiative united former X-Men, their allies, and even many of their long-standing adversaries under a single banner, all driven by Moira’s unseen hand and the desperate hope that this tenth life would finally be the one where mutants would survive and prevail.

MCU Fan Theory: Could Moira’s Cycles Explain Mutant Absence and Emergence?

Drawing inspiration from the complex legacy of Moira MacTaggert established in Hickman’s X-Men run, u/rOkBad7175 offers a fresh perspective on why mutants might have remained hidden in the MCU and how they could eventually emerge. As the user proposes, “We haven’t seen them because of Moira Mactaggert. This is her 9th life, maybe. She tried several times for the mutants to survive. Maybe the fox timeline was one of those lives? She orchestrated the major events there?” This line of thought speculates that the MCU’s Sacred Timeline could be another of Moira’s attempts to navigate the perilous path of mutant existence, potentially even trying to learn from events in other realities like the Fox X-Men cinematic universe.

A core element of this theory is how Moira might have adapted her strategy in this current MCU timeline. According to u/rOkBad7175, “Eventually she realised the key to mutants surviving is shutting up and not going public. It is working so far.” This suggests a deliberate decision by Moira to keep mutants entirely covert. The theorist also attempts to tie in the fate of another superpowered group, suggesting Moira might have actively worked to neutralize threats: “She also maybe got the Inhumans killed off, or just took away the terrigen mist (in the comics, terrigen mist gives mutants a deadly sickness). That is why we haven’t seen the Inhumans in the Sacred Timeline.”

Another commenter, u/rCaciulacdlac, provided a detailed integration of the TVA into u/rOkBad7175’s framework: “I can integrate the TVA in your story. Maybe for the sacred timeline to work, Moira needs to experience all those timelines that eventually lead to the doom of the mutants, so that she can eventually decide to go down the path of the Sacred Timeline. And those timelines in which she dies, they are immediately pruned after.” This suggestion reframes Moira’s multiple lives as a necessary, albeit harsh, process, perhaps even tolerated or managed by the TVA, with failed timelines being pruned, thus aligning with the “mutants always lose” theme until a stable path is achieved.

The mutants will be a key MCU element in the upcoming crossover movie Avengers: Doomsday, which is scheduled for release on December 18, 2026.

What are your thoughts on this Moira-centric fan theory for introducing mutants to the MCU? Let us know in the comments!

The post X-Men Fan Theory Uses Jonathan Hickman’s Masterpiece To Explain Mutants In the MCU (& It Makes Sense) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel’s upcoming animated series, Eyes of Wakanda, is set to delve into a thrilling spy-espionage narrative, introducing audiences to Wakanda’s own version of James Bond. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner and director Todd Harris, a long-time Marvel Studios storyboard artist, explained that the series will follow the Hatut Zaraze, a clandestine group of Wakandan operatives also known as the “Dogs of War.” These agents are tasked with recovering dangerous Vibranium artifacts that have been dispersed throughout history, starting from an inciting incident at the end of the Western Bronze Age. First look images of the Disney+ series, executive produced by Ryan Coogler, have also been unveiled, offering a glimpse into this previously unexplored corner of Wakandan lore and its historical impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“I really liked the idea of everyone’s view of history,”  Harris stated. “The story starts off during the end of the Western Bronze Age, and that spark sets off this giant spy-espionage story that reverberates through time…. You get Wakanda-grade James Bond, and sometimes a Jane Bond, with the backdrop of all the awesomeness that is Wakanda.” This paints a picture of thrilling, cloak-and-dagger adventures featuring highly skilled Wakandan agents, both male and female, operating across diverse historical settings.

“The story is about the Hatut Zaraze, which translates as ‘Dogs of War’ in the Wakandan language, a spy division tasked with recovering Vibranium artifacts from Wakanda’s enemies, Harris further explained. “When an inciting incident releases some of these things into the wild, they’ve got to, in a very hush-hush kind of way, make sure that these things don’t turn into a bigger problem. We saw what happened when one disc got into the hands of one Super Soldier — it changed the course of the world,” Harris continued, with a direct allusion to Captain America’s Vibranium shield.

[RELATED: Black Panther 3: Angela Bassett Addresses Possible MCU Return (But Could It Happen?)]

Eyes of Wakanda combines “the interconnectivity of Marvel with the interconnectivity of history along with the interconnectivity of the human story,” Harris elaborated. This framework suggests a series that will not only expand the lore of Wakanda but also tie its secret history into the broader MCU and resonate with universal human themes. Harris also mentioned the series will be “anthology adjacent,” indicating a collection of stories across different time periods that weave together a larger, continuous narrative. He further highlighted the creative ambition of the Marvel animated series, noting, “They let me go hog wild.”

The Hatut Zaraze’s Comic Roots and MCU Future

Originating in Marvel Comics, the Hatut Zaraze were created by writer Christopher Priest and artist Mark Texeira, debuting in Black Panther Vol. 3 #4. They functioned as Wakanda’s secret police, a ruthless and efficient force eliminating threats to the nation, often operating outside conventional laws. Led by the White Wolf, T’Chaka’s adopted son, they were known for their loyalty and brutal methods. T’Challa eventually disbanded the Hatut Zaraze due to their extreme tactics, though they later resurfaced as mercenaries while still holding some allegiance to Wakanda. Their distinctive appearance, usually involving white, lion-themed attire made from Vibranium microweave, made them visually memorable.

Eyes of Wakanda will reinterpret the Hatut Zaraze for Earth-616, the main MCU continuity the show is confirmed to inhabit. Harris’s description of them as a “CIA-like defense group” recovering artifacts across time suggests a shift towards external espionage rather than solely internal enforcement, aligning more closely with the “Wakanda-grade James Bond” motif. This means a portrayal that emphasizes their skill and dedication to protecting Wakanda from external threats, likely downplaying some of their more controversial comic book elements.

Eyes of Wakanda will premiere on August 6th, exclusively on Disney+.

How do you think Eyes of Wakanda will portray the Hatut Zaraze compared to their comic book origins?

The post Marvel’s Black Panther Streaming Series Will Introduce Wakanda’s James Bond (First Look) appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Even with the high quality of recent shows like The Penguin and Daredevil: Born Again, it’s always a shame when great superhero TV shows get cancelled before their time. Superheroes have taken up space in many TV shows long before the days of the MCU and the DC Universe, and while these franchises have made superheroes mainstream – they’re now everywhere we turn – there are many other series that we hope get second chances. It would be fantastic to see these shows brought back, revitalized, and rebooted for the modern age of superhero media.

Whether they were developed by Marvel Television before Marvel Studios made its own TV series, or those developed outside of the mainstream DC Universe timeline, or those created outside of either studios’ oversight, some of the best TV shows have been unceremoniously cancelled. Often, this has been in spite of hugely positive reviews, though sometimes not, which means there could be hope for future reboots. Audiences are desperate for original superhero storytelling, and rebooting some of these series is the perfect way to give audiences exactly what they want.

Streaming platforms, including Disney+, HBO Max, and even Amazon Prime Video, and evolving viewer habits have changed the game for superhero TV shows. These streaming services also provide the perfect opportunity for lesser-known and prematurely cancelled superhero shows to get second lives. With studio attention turning to quality over quantity, better character development, and higher stakes, now may be the perfect time to bring some of these much-beloved (and also some of the not-so-beloved) superhero shows back to life with reboots, continuations, or remakes.

10. Legion (2017-2019)

Series creator Noah Hawley apparently always intended Legion to run for three seasons, meaning the series wasn’t technically cancelled. Even so, each season of Legion received critical acclaim and universal praise, so it would be amazing to see it rebooted or continued, perhaps now set in the MCU’s official timeline, alongside the upcoming X-Men movies and series. Legion’s dark but comic narrative, innovative visual design, and remarkable performances, particularly from Dan Stevens and Aubrey Plaza, earned the series its positive reception, and Marvel could definitely capitalize on the series’ huge success.

9. Heroes Reborn (2015-2016)

Heroes Reborn premiered in 2015 as a continuation of Heroes, the popular superhero TV series that ended in 2010. A number of characters, including Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman), returned in the series, bridging the gap between Reborn and its parent show. Unfortunately, despite ending on a cliffhanger and having the potential to expand the Heroes universe perfectly, Reborn was not renewed for a second season. A new spinoff, Heroes Eclipsed, is in development, but it’s a shame that Heroes Reborn‘s own storyline and fresh new characters didn’t get the development they deserved.

8. The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008-2009)

While many want to see Spider-Man: The Animated Series brought back, especially after Marvel Studios’ recent X-Men ’97 revival, it’s actually The Spectacular Spider-Man that deserves a reboot more than its animated predecessor. The Spectacular Spider-Man was originally planned for five seasons, but only saw two released before its cancellation, which means the door should be open for the series to be rebooted. With the animated Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man series performing well for Marvel, and the deal between Disney and Sony still strong, it would be brilliant to see The Spectacular Spider-Man brought back to life.

RELATED: Remembering DC’s Arrowverse & What It Did for Superhero TV

7. Cloak & Dagger (2018-2019)

Released on Freeform between 2018 and 2019, Cloak & Dagger is one of the Marvel Television shows that haven’t been confirmed to be canon to the MCU. While the series was wrapped up nicely, with creators expecting a cancellation due to lackluster viewership, Cloak & Dagger barely explored some of the most exciting aspects of its titular characters. It would be fantastic to see new versions of Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson brought to life in the MCU proper, perhaps fighting alongside Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and his allies in Daredevil: Born Again season 2, setting up their own possible reboot.

6. Misfits (2009-2013)

Released for five seasons on British TV, Misfits told an original and grounded superhero story, as five young offenders carrying out community service gained supernatural powers after a freak electrical storm. Misfits‘ popularity dwindled as the series progressed, especially after the original core cast were replaced following season 3. Even so, the concept of five reprobates gaining powers and becoming reluctant and polarizing heroes is one too interesting and entertaining to leave behind. Misfits deserves a reboot that captures the essence of its first few seasons and ignores the pitfalls of its later years.

5. Alphas (2011-2012)

Alphas is a little-known TV series that introduced a crime-fighting police procedural-style to the typical superhero project, as five superpowered individuals, led by noted psychiatrist and neurologist Lee Rosen, who investigate crimes committed by other Alphas. Alphas‘ fast pace and strong ensemble earned it praise, but, since the series was a product of its time and was slightly underdeveloped, it would be great to see it redone for the modern age. A lot has changed in the last 13 years, so Alphas would surely now be a more well-rounded and thought-provoking show.

4. Powerless (2017)

2017’s Powerless, being set in the DC Universe featured in DC Comics, featured a very interesting concept that deserved more development. Following Emily Locke (Vanessa Hudgens), Director of Research & Development at Wayne Security, Powerless saw her create technology that could help humans avoid becoming collateral damage in superhero battles.

Unfortunately, Powerless got a tragic ending, as its final three episodes were pulled from the schedule before they could release, so Powerless never even got a proper ending. James Gunn and Peter Safran could easily adapt this story for the new DC Universe, giving Powerless a second chance.

RELATED: 10 The Boys Characters You Didn’t Realize Were Making Fun of Marvel

3. Agent Carter (2015-2016)

Following the success of Agents of SHIELD, more Marvel Television projects were put into development, including Agent Carter. The two-season series caught up with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) in the wake of the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, where she took on new threats alongside Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy), and Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj), who eventually crossed over into Agents of SHIELD. Agent Carter could easily be folded into the MCU’s official timeline and rebooted or continued, especially when considering its positive reception among audiences and critics alike.

2. Constantine (2014-2015)

Constantine was retroactively established as a part of the so-called Arrowverse TV franchise, but prior to that, it stood on its own as a strong exploration of the titular DC Comics demon hunter in live-action. After its cancellation, Warner Bros. tried to find a new home for the series, but failed. While Keanu Reeves is expected to reprise his role of Constantine in an upcoming DC Elseworlds sequel, it would be great to see the TV series rebooted for the mainstream DC Universe, bringing demons, magic, and the occult into James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new franchise.

1. Inhumans (2017)

2017’s Inhumans series tried to capitalize on the popularity on Inhuman characters in Agents of SHIELD, but failed miserably. Inhumans is widely regarded as one of the worst things Marvel has ever brought to live-action, and the series’ poor reception has hurt the development of any Inhuman characters since. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw Anson Mount reprise his role of Black Bolt, the Inhuman King, which may have created the perfect opportunity for the series to be rebooted. This might be just what the Inhumans need to get true redemption and finally make their official MCU debut.

After the recent confirmation that the Defenders Saga, which originally released on Netflix between 2015 and 2019, is now canon to the MCU’s main timeline, it’s possible more Marvel Television shows could get the same treatment. This would benefit the likes of Cloak & Dagger, Agent Carter, and even Inhumans, all of which could easily be integrated into the MCU’s official order of events. While it’s unclear what the future holds for the MCU’s TV shows after its already-confirmed projects, it would be brilliant to see some of these shows revived, building on their pre-existing lore or introducing brand-new concepts and characters.

Whether that’s bringing Inhumans into the MCU, folding Agent Carter back into Marvel’s history, introducing mysticism and the occult to the rebooted DC Universe, or bringing back original characters from Heroes, Misfits, and Alphas, it would be great to see any number of these shows rebooted. It’s a huge shame that some of these shows didn’t originally get the attention they deserved, while others were seriously disappointing and need redemption. Superhero TV shows are just beginning to earn back a good reputation, so now might be the perfect time to revive some of these misused and underdeveloped stories.

Which superhero TV shows do you want to see rebooted in the future? Let us know in the comments!

The post 10 Cancelled Superhero Shows That Deserve a Reboot appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps will introduce Marvel’s first family of superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but their highly anticipated debut carries much more significance than most fans realize. Phase 6’s first movie centers on Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they fight to protect their world against Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in a timeline separate from the MCU’s main universe, though the heroes will eventually arrive in Earth-616, as confirmed by the post-credits scene of Thunderbolts* and the Fantastic Four members’ involvement in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday.

Avengers: Doomsday is the real make-or-break movie in the MCU’s near future, yet The Fantastic Four: First Steps remains almost as important. Several factors relating to the Fantastic Four’s revival, the film’s release in proximity to Doomsday, and the coinciding debut of the DC Universe with Superman two weeks earlier, cement The Fantastic Four: First Steps as the MCU’s most important movie since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. A lot is riding on its success, and the MCU cannot afford to miss.

[RELATED: Marvel Fan Finds Surprising Trend About MCU Movie Ratings (But Fantastic Four Might Break It)]

The Significance of The Fantastic Four: First Steps Cannot Be Understated

As the third live-action film iteration of the titular team, The Fantastic Four: First Steps will face endless comparisons to the previous versions put forth in Fox’s 2005 and 2015 Fantastic Four movies — the former of which was followed by 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Neither of the aforementioned titles garnered much critical or fan praise – thus, the bar is set fairly low for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Undeniably iconic comic book heroes, the Fantastic Four have frustratingly never reached their full potential in movies. If the MCU’s Fantastic Four emerges as the best rendition of the characters, comic book fans will be delighted, and faith in the MCU’s ability to reboot beloved heroes ahead of casting its new X-Men could be restored.

Fantastic Four: First Steps is the second-to-last MCU movie to hit theaters before Doomsday, adding another pivotal layer of expectations and stakes. Charged with providing an adequate setup for the first Avengers film in seven years, First Steps needs to thoroughly develop its characters before their high-stakes showdown with Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) while providing enough context for Doomsday’s overarching plot. A good portion of fan hype for Doomsday will rely on the audience’s reception of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

DC Is Starting Its Own New Universe

Lastly, factoring into the immense importance of The Fantastic Four: First Steps is its release date, just two weeks after the new DC Universe’s first movie, Superman, opens in theaters. Directed by James Gunn, Superman will introduce David Corenswet as the newest portrayal of the legendary hero, beginning a long-awaited new era of interconnected DC movies. It feels like forever since Marvel and DC films had an equal impact on the box office or on the superhero zeitgeist. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy of the 2000s and early 2010s remains DC’s only model of consistent quality, while 2017’s Wonder Woman and 2018’s Aquaman prevailed as aberrations amid the DC Extended Universe’s messy and underwhelming slate. Meanwhile, the MCU has taken advantage of DC’s failures, captivating moviegoers with the Infinity Saga from 2008 to 2019, and has mostly maintained its cultural relevancy despite some hiccups in the years following Avengers: Endgame.

But, with Superman arriving right before The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Gunn’s DCU has the chance to generate genuine competition with the MCU for years to come. There will be a box office battle between The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman, and the two movies will also compete for the approval of critics and audiences. Twin revivals of iconic superheroes should make for a fun duel this summer. Even though Superman is only one movie, it’s likely the start of a new era in which Marvel and DC vie for supremacy in the genre.

The MCU Could Be in Trouble if The Fantastic Four: First Steps Fails

A ton is at stake for the MCU with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Although Thunderbolts* helped breathe new life into the franchise, The Fantastic Four: First Steps must carry the momentum into Avengers: Doomsday. The MCU can neither afford a box-office bomb nor a critical reception failure here, as the countdown to its all-important next Avengers outing wanes. With Superman setting the bar for success a couple of weeks earlier, The Fantastic Four: First Steps needs to match or exceed the response to the DCU’s flagship film. If The Fantastic Four: First Steps falls short, the MCU’s will be limping into Doomsday, which already lacks sufficient buildup. The MCU has to get The Fantastic Four: First Steps right to bring the best version of the Fantastic Four to the big screen, to establish a proper preface for Avengers: Doomsday, and to prove that it still dominates the superhero genre. 

The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in theaters on July 25th.

The post The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is More Important for the MCU Than You Realize appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The Avengers is a combination of Marvel’s greatest heroes, battling against the most powerful threats imaginable. The Avengers have many must-read stories, created by some of the greatest names in the history of the comic industry. The best Avengers stories of all time are near perfect superhero yarns, stories that helped define and redefine what Marvel could be. There are lots of great Avengers runs out there, but there’s one that I’ve always felt was light years better than just about any of them. I’m speaking of the Avengers/New Avengers run of writer Jonathan Hickman. Hickman is one of Marvel’s greatest talents, and his work on the Avengers is widely considered one of his better works, leading into the blockbuster 2015 event story Secret Wars.

Hickman took over the Avengers at an interesting time. Avengers Vs. X-Men had changed the face of Marvel, and the beloved Avengers run of writer Brian Michael Bendis was ending. However, Bendis’s run was long past its best days, and fans were ready for something new. Hickman gave readers that over the course of Avengers and New Avengers, creating an Avengers run that is still talked about over a decade later. Hickman’s time writing the Avengers was perfect, and there’s no other Avengers run out there that can match it.

Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers Is a Cut Above the Rest

Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers were two unique books that showed off why the Avengers are such a fertile concept. Avengers was the straight up superhero book, with the largest and most powerful Avengers team ever assembled to battle universe-shaking threats. These threats are all somewhat related, as the universe itself starts to reach its end. This concept is expanded upon in New Avengers, which follows the Illuminati as they learn the truth behind all of the Avengers’ problems — the Incursions, a mysterious event destroying the various universes of the multiverses. Avengers is the big action spectacle book, as the Avengers battle threats unlike anything they had before. Meanwhile, New Avengers is the more character focused book, as the Illuminati deal with the pressure of secretly destroying entire Earths before they can destroy Earth-616. The Avengers have long been known for both spectacle and character, and Hickman found a way to use each of these aspects to tell what is simply the greatest Avengers story of all time, a compelling narrative that challenges the Avengers unlike anything they had ever faced before.

RELATED: Marvel Just Introduced A New Avengers Team (& the “Heroes” Are Very Unexpected)

Hickman realized something that many Avengers creators never really understand — that you can do Justice League stories with the Avengers. Honestly, the best way to describe Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers is that it is Morrison’s JLA in the Marvel Universe. Avengers stories during the Bendis era, were honestly pretty street level, telling stories that were more about the drama of the Avengers rather than the spectacle of the Avengers facing the biggest threats in the universe. Hickman brought his love of sci-fi to the Avengers; while the Avengers have some amazing sci-fi stories under their belt, Hickman brought that to the next level. Just look at the mid-run event story Infinity; it was a cosmic war in the stars that felt like it came out of a sci-fi novel, pitting the greatest alien empires, under the leadership of the Avengers, against the Builders, an ancient race that helped create the multiverse. Things get even more drastic when “Time Runs Out” starts, a story that ran through both Avengers and New Avengers, as the end of everything gets closer than ever. It’s brilliant storytelling as each team of Avengers deals with the end in the only way they know how. Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers is straight-up amazing; it took the Avengers to entirely new places, showing that the team was greater than anyone ever expected. Everything about it is perfect, using the Avengers in the best way possible.

Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers Is the Last Great Avengers Run

Bendis made New Avengers/Mighty Avengers/Dark Avengers/Avengers into must-read titles for the first time in years, but by the time Hickman took over Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, fans were tired of Bendis’s Avengers. Hickman had to bring the Avengers back to their roots as the greatest fighting force in the universe, and did so by doing an Avengers story with stakes at a level that no other Avengers story had reached. Hickman was able to bring the Avengers to the next level in his run, and no other Avengers story has ever reached its height ever since.

Hickman’s era of Avengers stories is the last time that the Avengers were truly great. It makes sense that the team has never been able to reach the heights of Hickman’s run; Hickman told the ultimate Avengers story. There’s really nowhere else for the Avengers to go; it’s all just same old, same old from there. Hickman showed readers what the Avengers at their best could be, and nothing has been able to stand with it ever since.

What do you think of Hickman’s time on Avengers and New Avengers? Sound off in the comments below.

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