MCU Theory: How the recent comics are alluding to what's/who's next for the MCU

[Crimz]

The Fantastic Four will have 4 related books by August. It's the first time the team has ever got this many FF-related books at the same time, they haven't had such a push like this since like the 60s.

It could mean something or nothing at all.

[Frontier]

The Fantastic Four will have 4 related books by August. It's the first time the team has ever got this many FF-related books at the same time, they haven't had such a push like this since like the 60s.

It could mean something or nothing at all.

And the X-Men are getting relaunched by Jonathan Hickman.

I don't know if that automatically means movies but I think it means Marvel is more invested in those properties without the Fox issue in the way.

Cort Lane even hinted at at least one of those properties having an animated series in the works.

[Thor-Ul]

My god, a renaisssance of FF and x-men. And the fact than Marvel pushed down all these properties have nothing to do with the acquisicion of FOX and the return of the movie rights to Marvel as consecuese. Just a happy coincidence.
Those naive conspiracy theorists.

[Evan]

Sometimes the MCU pulls things from recent comics, like Thanos's henchmen. So stuff we see in the comics today may well seep into the movies tomorrow, if only because it's cheaper for them to borrow ideas from the comics than to pay expensive screenwriters to come up with new characters.

But as to whether the comics know what's likely to happen in the movies, no, at least not since Feige got the Marvel Creative Committee fired and turned his studio into a separate entity within Disney. Sometimes the comics will take wild guesses about what's going to happen in the movies and be proven wrong, like when they retconned Carol Danvers into being half-Kree instead of a human who got her powers by accident, only for the movie to come out and show that MCU Carol Danvers was a human who got her powers by accident.

I bet they planned to make her half kree, had the comics do it, saw the backlash, and quietly did reshoots or just didn't film the half kree stuff the planned.

[Evan]

My god, a renaisssance of FF and x-men. And the fact than Marvel pushed down all these properties have nothing to do with the acquisicion of FOX and the return of the movie rights to Marvel as consecuese. Just a happy coincidence.
Those naive conspiracy theorists.

I heard rumors that xmen won't be in the next phase, phase 5, but will in phase 6 in like 3 years. Fantastic 4, who knows. They will be in the movies eventually.

[JKtheMac]

I heard rumors that xmen won't be in the next phase, phase 5, but will in phase 6 in like 3 years. Fantastic 4, who knows. They will be in the movies eventually.

Yet there are also rumours that they are doing away with phases altogether, and some of us think they might make entirely separate X-Men movies and not have them part of Marvel Studios. We will have to see.

[Evan]

Yet there are also rumours that they are doing away with phases altogether, and some of us think they might make entirely separate X-Men movies and not have them part of Marvel Studios. We will have to see.

phases or not they will keep making more movies, and whether you call them phases or not I think Feige will definitely plan things out in advance, his formula works so why abandon it

xmen will obviously be in the movie universe, that is a nobrainer not a prediction

[Snoop Dogg]

I bet they planned to make her half kree, had the comics do it, saw the backlash, and quietly did reshoots or just didn't film the half kree stuff the planned.

They did not wildly change the plot of a billion dollar movie within four months over a comic book plot that a fraction of an audience that is a fraction of the size of the movie audience didn't like on the internet. Life of Captain Marvel was also planned at least one, maybe two years before the movie came out because Marvel Comics cannot effectively coordinate stories to line up with movies they don't know about that are adapting old material and outright changing things. They (and by they, it's generally specific writers who like the movies) make plays for movie synergy when they know about the movies, at the same rate we do.

Big brain Marvel Comics killed off every Eternal because they're useless right before they announced movie plans for them, launched a book to fill the void of the Fantastic Four and then as soon it launched began development on just bringing the F4 back proper because they heard of the buyout, and new MCU Captain America hasn't been in a comic for an entire year.

[Ascended]

I heard rumors that xmen won't be in the next phase, phase 5, but will in phase 6 in like 3 years. Fantastic 4, who knows. They will be in the movies eventually.

Just a matter of scheduling I assume. They plan their stuff out pretty far in advance, so the film slate was plotted out long before the Fox deal went through. Fiege has said they weren't going to move on the Fox properties until everything was final and transferred.

I'd assume there were fanciful conversations about what to do with the Fox stuff if/when the deal went through, but serious conversations would've only started a few months ago. So I don't expect a FF or X movie any time in the next few years.

Cameos and build up? Maybe, once the Studio decides how to integrate them.

[Iron Maiden]

I think the most out in the open talk about whose coming up has been on Doctor Doom. The Russo brothers are taking a break now from the MCU but when asked there were a couple of characters they said would bring them back....(go to about the 3 minute mark). Other characters they mention are Ben Grimm and Kraven. Fox actually had a working script on a Doom solo movie from Noah Hawley. Kevin Feige requested a copy of it. I think they could even try for an adaptation of the GN Triumph and Torment for a Doctor Strange movie.

[JKtheMac]

phases or not they will keep making more movies, and whether you call them phases or not I think Feige will definitely plan things out in advance, his formula works so why abandon it

xmen will obviously be in the movie universe, that is a nobrainer not a prediction

I don’t think it is a no brainer. The premise works far better without other superheroes, historically they have been part of a separate movie franchise which has been successful on its own terms, keeping them separate strengthens both brands and maintains a dual box office strategy, keeping them in separate universes does not preclude them from having crossover movies down the line.

Everyone just assumes Feige will be given these properties. I am not convinced he will be given the choice.

If it was up to me I would separate the X-Men comics too. I know that would be controversial but that’s mostly because everyone is just used to them being in the same universe. We pretend that anti mutant sentiment makes sense in the MU and perform mental gymnastics to justify it.

There is a possibility that the Hickman reframing may fix the conceptual fault lines between the mutants and the rest of the MU, and that may then be part of a new strategy for how to use them in the MCU. We will see.

[Mike_Murdock]

That just isn't bourne out by the facts if we look back. This is a narrative put together by people wanting to see everything as combative and antagonistic.

I don't think it's antagonistic at all. In fact, references to Nick Spencer's run of Captain America and Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther demonstrate a willingness to draw from recent comics that suggest the opposite. But if you ask any Marvel comic writer if they've gotten any advance information, they've consistently said no.

People thought Life of Captain Marvel had inside knowledge of the movie. No less than Joe Quesada was involved in development. But that turned out not to be true.

[JKtheMac]

I don't think it's antagonistic at all. In fact, references to Nick Spencer's run of Captain America and Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther demonstrate a willingness to draw from recent comics that suggest the opposite. But if you ask any Marvel comic writer if they've gotten any advance information, they've consistently said no.

Not true. Coates clearly said yes to this.

Besides, it is not necessary for them to have a detailed plot breakdown for them to be the beneficiary of this kind of synergy. Take for example the trivial example of the ‘Asgardians of the Galaxy’ notion. This was almost a meme that took off as critics began to compare Thor Ragnarok to GotG. Both the MCU and the MU have consciously played into this notion. I would suggest that this was deliberate synergy not just zeitgeist.

I agree the movies have very often taken notes from recent comics, and this is the most visible synergy, but conversely many comics have very clearly been steered by a strategic foreknowledge of what is coming up.

For example, just because Feige has refused to announce which movies are being released after Spider-Man I can guarantee you that Buckley and Gabriel know and are using this to plan their upcoming publishing strategy. They don’t need to give plot breakdowns to CB or the line editors, but they will say “when commissioning that Black Widow comic, try and focus on these specific elements,” or “when in the writers room talking about the next cosmic event, make sure any Nova discussions focus on this aspect of his character and perhaps bear in mind the prominence of these members of his wider cast”.

People thought Life of Captain Marvel had inside knowledge of the movie. No less than Joe Quesada was involved in development. But that turned out not to be true.

On the other hand, people get very easily distracted by the difference in the plot elements in these kinds of projects and entirely miss their thematic synergies and the way irreconcilable differences in characters can be carefully minimised and brought into a wider thematic approach.

[Frontier]

You want a real example of creators trying to follow the movies with the barest of information, just look at the cartoons .

Yet there are also rumours that they are doing away with phases altogether, and some of us think they might make entirely separate X-Men movies and not have them part of Marvel Studios. We will have to see.

I don't see the point of the rights reverting and giving Marvel Studios access to the X-Men and FF if not to do MCU versions of those properties, otherwise they would've just let Fox continue to produce their own X-Men movies and Dark Phoenix wouldn't be so readily assumed to be the last one.

I would not be surprised to see Feige want to do his own take on the X-Men/FF.

[JKtheMac]

You want a real example of creators trying to follow the movies with the barest of information, just look at the cartoons .

I don't see the point of the rights reverting and giving Marvel Studios access to the X-Men and FF if not to do MCU versions of those properties, otherwise they would've just let Fox continue to produce their own X-Men movies and Dark Phoenix wouldn't be so readily assumed to be the last one.

I would not be surprised to see Feige want to do his own take on the X-Men/FF.

The buyout was absolutely nothing to do with superhero movies.