Tips For Marvel: We Have Some Ideas...

It’s inevitable. If you do something well, The Internet will tell you how to do it better. In this case, we’re standing in for Big ‘Net, and we have a few ideas thoughts about where Marvel can/should take the MCU next. We realize that their current Phase Three slate is locked in through the next Avengers double-header featuring Thanos, the Infinity Stones, and basically everyone else. But between their TV/Netflix offerings and the prospect of more films down the line, there is still a lot of ground we’d love to see them cover. And clearly we’re experts. Clearly.

As a caveat: this isn’t about the X-Men or any other film properties they don’t control themselves. Obviously we’d love if Marvel could go and give us the Apocalypse storyline we deserve, but that isn’t happening. And we’re gonna leave Spider-man alone as well, since it’s enough that Marvel is allowed to hop in that sandbox with Sony.

So, in no particular order, here are our top asks from Marvel!

1) Make Hawkeye interesting or something.

We get it. You tried. You gave him a wife, and a farm. You gave him whatever in Budapest with Natasha. You even gave him to Loki for a bit. Maybe it’s the inherent sub-Chris charisma that Jeremy Renner exudes, but the Clint Barton we see in the movies just isn’t working. In the comics, Hawkeye had a troubled past — he spent some time in the circus, and as a criminal. He had a ridiculous costume and a slew of romances with other heroes. He was interesting precisely because he was the dude leveraging his hand-eye coordination on a team of super soldiers, geniuses, and gods. Not everyone can be prettiest princess in the room, and letting Hawkeye take a backseat would have been fine… if we hadn’t gotten Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye comic. It may have been released to capitalize on the MCU version of Hawkeye, but it did so much more. It explored his hearing impairment (hello diversity - there is an Avenger with a disability!) and his relationship with his brother. It gave him Lucky the Pizza Dog. It showed what an Avenger does with their time and money when not saving the world - Clint bought a brownstone in Bed-Stuy and palled around with neighbors who called him “Hawkguy.” But most importantly it explored the relationship Clint has with his supposed protégé, former Young Avenger Kate Bishop. They both are called Hawkeye, though Kate arguably wears the mantle more naturally. Together they made a hell of a team.

What we’re saying is: there is room to make Hawkeye a more interesting character, by playing into his everyday dude-ness. But if the ship has sailed on injecting the MCU version of Clint with any of that, can you just give us Kate Bishop? We want an worthwhile Hawkeye, but we aren’t picky about which one.

2) Or maybe kill Hawkeye?

What we’re really saying is: could you make the Disassembled storyline happen? We’ve got Vision, and Scott Lang, and Wanda in the mix now. After the all-encompassing events of Infinity War, bringing the Avengers back home and wrapping them in a story of internal conflict might be a nice palette cleanser. Just like Civil War, you don’t have to keep all the story beats the same — maybe Wanda goes crazy because she misses Quicksilver rather than her kids, you know? You can still have Hawkeye sacrifice himself. Sure, you can’t have it lead to the classic “no more mutants”/ M-Day bit, but maybe she could say “no more Inhumans”…

3) For that matter, make Scarlet Witch interesting.

She is one of the most powerful characters in all of Marvel comics. And sure, at this point Wanda’s original standing as the daughter of Magneto has been thrown to the wind, but she’s never been a mutant in the movies anyway. Now that magic has been brought to the MCU, can she go off and train with Doctor Strange? Maybe level her up to her biggest, baddest-ass self? Even if she gained her reality-bending powers from the Mind Stone, their distinctive red glow looks more like the Reality Stone/Aether. And Strange has the Time Stone, so we know that sorcerers are no strangers to the Infinity Stones. The groundwork is all there — the characters just need a push in the right direction. And then you’ll have a Scarlet Witch who can really tear shit up.

4) Embiggen the MCU with some Kamala!

New York City is about to have its Defenders, but what about Jersey City? Give it the hero it deserves. Give it Ms. Marvel. Spider-man:Homecoming has proved that tales of high school heroes still work, and with the Inhuman family about to join the mix, not to mention Captain Marvel, there is basically no reason not to give us Kamala Khan. Just have her pop up somewhere, then give her a movie or a show. We aren’t picky. Hell, the groundwork is already laid thanks to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and those fish oil vitamins infused with Terrigen! Look, she’s funny, she’s female, she’s Muslim, she’s Pakistani-American, and her embiggening powers won’t be THAT hard to recreate with the use of some clever camera tricks. Plus she doesn’t have decades of backstory to wade through while trying to adapt. And frankly, we’re sure this is probably already in the works. It would be foolish not to bring her into the MCU somehow. We trust you, Marvel. Just don’t make us wait too long.

5) Monica Rambeau, or dare we say it, NEXTWAVE?

Photon. Captain Marvel (the other one… no, the OTHER other one). Spectrum. Call her whatever you want. She’s kept a pretty low profile over the years, but the former Avenger and current member of the Ultimates is a strong black woman who can transform herself into any form of energy on the electromagnetic spectrum. Which means if budget is a concern, you can just make her disappear and say she’s an x-ray or something! But seriously, she has ties to Black Panther, Luke Cage and Carol Danvers. She’s even got some backstory with the New Orleans Harbor Patrol, which could be updated for some interesting post-Katrina stories. Or if nothing else, she was an integral part of a little not-quite-in-continuity story called Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E, which is a cult classic. With Fin Fang Foom and killer koalas in the mix, you can’t go wrong! Sure, you might have to change her teammate Boom-Boom into an Inhuman or something, but that’s fine. It would give you the chance to flex your creative muscles and have some fun without having to worry about it impacting the MCU. If you managed to turn Alias into Jessica Jones, you can handle this. Netflix will love it.

6) You have the rights to Blade. Use them.

We’ve already seen what you did with the rights to Ghost Rider and the Punisher once you got those back — you threw the characters into other existing shows and people went nuts for it. Meanwhile, Blade is one of the properties that helped launch this whole comic book movie craze in the first place. He’s a half-vampire dude who hunts vampires. Give him a show, or have him pop up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. It doesn’t matter. Just bring him back in your own special way.

7) Bring Coulson back to the movies.

Just for a moment. Or a mention. Something. Anything. We know that coordinating between the movies and the TV shows, especially the network ones, is a hassle. But we also hear that Samuel L. Jackson will be making an appearance as Nick Fury in Captain Marvel, so maybe it’s time that his right-hand man/replacement makes a return as well. I can’t remember, do the Avengers even know he isn’t dead at this point? Does it matter? The movies gave us Phil Coulson. If we can’t have Daisy and May and the whole team pop up to join the fun, it’d be nice to give Coulson some sort of nod, just to acknowledge that he’s still out there saving the world. You know, when he’s back from that space station.

What do you guys think? Anything you’d like to see Marvel tackle in the future? It’s not like they’re gonna read this and hire us, so lets just have some fun!

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Tori Preston is deputy editor of Pajiba. She rarely tweets here but she promises she reads all the submissions for the "Ask Pajiba (Almost) Anything" column at [email protected]. You can also listen to her weekly TV podcast, Podjiba

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