Zombie doctors, cranky gods, and your friendly neighborhood swamp monster were just some of
the surprises the MCU threw at us in 2022. And did you catch the latest mutant reveal?
"Moon Knight" was, by and large, Oscar Isaac's show. The accomplished actor,
who's as comfortable in blockbusters like "Star Wars" as he is in intimate dramas,
is a fitting choice to play a superhero with a dissociative identity disorder. One of his
alter egos is Steven Grant, a meek museum gift shop employee. Another is Marc Spector,
a confident mercenary who is the avatar of the Egyptian god Khonshu.
"Hello, man in the mirror. I was wondering if you'd pop up again."
"I know you're scared."
"A bit, yeah."
Steven meets Layla El-Faouly, an Indiana Jones type archeologist
who is also Spector's estranged wife. She's upset that her husband has abandoned her,
and Steven can't believe he'd ever screw things up with such an incredible woman.
Layla spends most of the series with an alternately awestruck, scared, and confused
Steven. It's fun to watch her as she and this alter ego of her partner in love and archaeology
uncover tombs and escape henchmen. Still, actress May Calamawy never has as much to do as Isaac,
and there isn't much development of her character that hints at a last-act twist.
However, in the finale, Layla becomes the avatar of Taweret,
the Egyptian hippo goddess, in an attempt to stop Harrow and the god of judgment,
Ammit. Her transformation into the MCU's version of the Marvel Comics character Scarlet Scarab,
complete with metallic wings extended, makes for one of the most exciting moments in "Moon Knight."
"Moon Knight" proves that the MCU likes to keep us guessing until the very end. Fans of
the "Moon Knight" comics always knew that Steven and Marc shared their body with a third identity,
Jake Lockley, who was often portrayed as a cab driver with a busted nose. Readers anticipated
Oscar Isaac might get the chance to play this grittier alter ego, and the show was peppered
with subtle clues throughout. For example, whenever Moon Knight resorted to extreme violence,
the audience rarely saw it, and Steven simply came to, disoriented. Most fans
assumed it was Marc causing the bloodshed, but some suspected it was actually Jake.
In a trippy sequence at the end of Episode 4, Marc and Steven are trapped in a surreal
psychiatric hospital and pass by a locked sarcophagus, which leads to speculation
that Jake is trapped inside. The season finale does not actually confirm Lockley's existence,
but in true MCU style, a "mid-credits" scene leaves no doubt. A man wearing black leather
driving gloves wheels Harrow out to a limo and rudely dumps him inside. The driver then kicks
the wheelchair aside as Harrow confronts Khonshu, who has been waiting in the back
seat. We then learn from the Moon god himself that Marc and Steven are both off the hook for all the
previous murderous mayhem because Lockley had been there all along, happily doing the god's bidding.
Rumors were running wild throughout fandom that major celebrities and some as-of-yet-unseen
characters might make their MCU debuts in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."A trailer
for the film featuring Patrick Stewart's voice only added to the speculation that
Professor X and the Illuminaticould appear in the sequel. Sure enough, partway through the film,
there was Charles Xavier, seated next to Black Bolt, Captain Carter, Karl Mordo,
Captain Marvel, and Reed Richards. While it did not come as much of a
shock that Earth-838's Illuminati made an appearance in "Multiverse
of Madness," what threw fans for a loop was how director Sam Rami chose to deploy them.
The X-Men and The Fantastic Four have been eagerly anticipated additions to the MCU, but the
filmmakers totally pulled the rug out from under audiences with Wanda Maximoff in complete and
terrifying villain mode, killing off each member of the Illuminati in creative and disgusting ways.
"Haven't you had enough?"
"I could do this all day."
Raimi and scriptwriter Michael Waldron's devilishly hilarious bait-and-switch gave
fans what they thought they wanted, then took it all away in spectacular fashion.
With Sam Raimi, the man behind "The Evil Dead" in the director's chair,
fans expected the MCU to head into some groovy new directions, but they couldn't have guessed Stephen
Strange and his evil doppelganger would literally fight to the death with musical notes
in one of Marvel's most inventive battles yet. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is
full of Raimi-style flourishes that are as playful as they are gruesome. From a giant
eyeball getting impaled with a street lamp to Wanda's chilling jump scare, the movie doesn't
pull any punches. Even Bruce Campbell, as "Pizza Poppa," is doomed to punch himself repeatedly.
"It's over!"
All the madness comes to a crescendo in a dark and daring final act. To defeat Wanda and save
America Chavez, Strange 616 dream walks into Defender Strange's decaying corpse,
conveniently stashed in a rooftop shed in his universe. The souls of the damned arrive
to stop him since possessing dead bodies is a major no-no, but he wins them over.
A demon-enhanced zombie Strange, complete with broken fingers and chunks of his face missing,
holds off Wanda long enough for America to show her the error of her ways.
"This time it's gonna take more than killing me to kill me."
The MCU's second television series of the year was responsible for some notable firsts,
not the least of which is that "Ms. Marvel" is centered around the studio's
first Muslim superhero. Kamala Khan who is a 16-year-old Pakistani American living
in a Jersey City apartment with her supportive yet strict family.
When the series begins, all she wants is permission to attend AvengerCon and cosplay
as her idol, Captain Marvel. However, her folks disapprove, so she sneaks out. Her best friend
and one of many potential love interests, Bruno, makes her a pair of gloves for the
costume contest, but she forgets them in the bathroom. Instead, she throws on a mysterious
heirloom bangle bracelet which appears to turn her into a superhero in her own right.
Six episodes later, when it seems that the Department of Damage Control has been dealt
with, Bruno breaks the most important news "Ms. Marvel" has to offer. Before leaving for CalTech,
he tells Kamala that she possesses a genetic mutation, which means her powers don't come
exclusively from the bracelet and Kamala is actually — dun, dun, dun — a mutant.
Forget Patrick Stewart's cameo on Earth-838 – this is what fans of "X-Men" have been
waiting for since Disney acquired Fox. Just in case audiences thought it was a coincidence,
showrunners added a few bars of the animated "X-Men" theme music to the scene for good measure.
About a year before "Thor: Love and Thunder" premiered, fans learned that
Russell Crowe would be joining the MCU as Zeus. While Zeus is both a fixture of Greek
mythology and a character in Marvel Comics, Crowe is best known for portraying serious,
often conflicted characters, like "Maximus" in Ridley Scott's epic film, "Gladiator."
Given those credentials, many expected Crowe's Zeus would be a mighty, if not somewhat dour,
god. Instead, Crowe gave fans a glimpse of Zeus as they'd never seen him before. A Zeus turned loose.
Sporting foppish ringlets, an ill-fitting breastplate, and making pronouncements in
a ridiculous Greek accent, it was immediately clear this once mighty "King of the Olympians"
had been entirely transformed by director Taika Waitit's trademark brand of comic
relief. Crowe's Zeus prances around with his toga mini-skirt pinched between his fingers and
threatens to ban anyone who upstages him before the annual orgy. He's a riot and an effective
foil to Thor, embodying an apathetic god who is everything Gorr, the God Butcher, loathes.
"You are Thor, the god of thunder. But, is not thunder just the sound of lightning?"
The headlines around "Thor: Love and Thunder" mostly had to do with Natalie
Portman's return as Jane Foster. Not only that, she was getting promoted to
true co-star and would appear alongside Chris Hemsworth's Thor as Mighty Thor.
"Jane?"
When fans speculated about the plot, they mostly wondered whether she might be the
one wielding Mjolnir going forward. Others wondered whether Christian Bale's Gorr the
God Butcher might live to threaten the MCU's growing cast of gods in future installments.
What no one saw coming was that "Thor: Love and Thunder" would
end with the God of Thunder becoming a foster parent to Gorr's daughter,
a little girl named "Love." Thor functionally adopts the child, but the mystery remains,
how long he will stay in "dad mode" and what part Little Love will play in the next MCU phases.
The first-ever Marvel special presentation, "Werewolf by Night," dropped onto Disney+
around Halloween with minimal fanfare. It was a test of sorts for one-off stories
that didn't warrant a feature-length film or a multi-episode arc. That "Werewolf by Night" was
so good was a pleasant surprise. The primarily black-and-white, low-fi mini-monster movie is
a throwback to horror classics from the 1930s and '40s like "Frankenstein" and "The Wolfman,"
but it has a strong voice all its own and an aesthetic unlike anything else in the MCU.
When human monster hunter Jack Russell arrives at Bloodstone Manor, viewers know that he is destined
to undergo a transformation. This meant that the best trick "Werewolf by Night" had up its sleeve
was the double reveal lurking in the hedge maze. In a scare worthy of its vintage inspirations,
a giant arm bursts through a shrubbery and grabs Jack by the chest. A split second later,
we discover it belongs to "Man-Thing," a popular character from '70s-era Marvel comics.
Further, we learn that Jack isn't hunting Man-Thing – they're best buds. He's infiltrated
this occult occasion at significant risk to himself to spring his friend before the
assembled assassins can torture and kill him. Man-Thing's design and his sweet relationship
with Werewolf by Night were definitely two unexpected highlights of the MCU's 2022 line-up.
The second special presentation of 2022 was"The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," a
parody of a Christmas special that was filmed concurrently with "Guardians of the Galaxy:
Vol. 3." This 40-minute musical mash-up is even more irreverent
than Guardians usually is, and it's stuffed full of gleeful Easter eggs.
The plot revolves around Drax and Mantis wanting to get Peter Quill the
best Christmas present ever, his hero, Kevin Bacon. The actor was referenced
in the first film when Star-Lord cited "Footloose" before his climactic dance
battle with Ronan. Bacon doesn't just make a cameo, either; he plays a significant role.
"Dude, calm down. We're not gonna hurt you."
"That's a talking raccoon."
"I'll kill you."
However, "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" ends with a development that matters
much more to the MCU in the long run. Mantis has been keeping a secret. It turns out she's
Ego's daughter, which means she's Quill's half-sister, and she is afraid to tell Peter
because it might dredge up painful memories about his mother's death. After the presents
have been exchanged and Kevin Bacon heads home, Mantis decides to tell Peter, and as one would
expect in a holiday special, he is thrilled at the news that he and Mantis are family.
After dozens of films, MCU fans know to stick around for mid and end-credits stingers,
which often have two purposes. They give filmmakers one last gag, and more importantly,
they tease new storylines and characters. It's a tradition that goes back to the very beginning,
and 2022 was no exception, with audiences meeting at least three new additions to the MCU's roster.
First up, audiences finally got to meet the much-teased Jake Lockley, the most
violent of Moon Knight's alter-egos. Another surprise was the appearance of Charlize Theron,
as a multiverse traveler who confronts Doctor Strange in the street. He follows
her into what appears to be the Dark Dimension, but not before an ominous
third eye manifests on his forehead. Though she is only named in the credits, Theron is Clea,
Doctor Strange's love interest from the comics. Next, in "Thor: Love and Thunder,"
a miffed Zeus with a gaping hole in his chest calls upon Hercules to avenge him.
Of course, with Bob Iger reinstalled as Disney CEO and the MCU reassessing its path forward,
it remains to be seen what role any of these newcomers will play in the future.