The MCU may be home to whole armies of heroes and villains, but some of
Marvel's most popular characters have yet to cross over into Kevin Feige's epic franchise.
But why? Here are the real reasons we haven't seen these Marvel characters show up in the MCU.
Also known as the Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd is one of Marvel's more deeply tragic heroes.
In order to save his homeworld from the planet-devouring Galactus,
Radd agrees to become the villain's herald — searching the spaceways for other planets
to sate Galactus' never-ending hunger. He later stands up to Galactus in order to save the Earth,
and is forced to confront the immeasurable death and destruction he has enabled as a herald.
Silver Surfer made his live-action debut in the 2007 bomb Fantastic 4:
Rise of the Silver Surfer, a year before the MCU was born. There were widespread rumors
that the space hero would make an appearance in 2018's Infinity War, too, but as it turned out,
both Infinity War and Endgame came and went without any sign of the Surfer.
The first and most obvious reason for Surfer's MCU absence is that, until Disney's acquisition
of Fox, Marvel Studios just didn't have the right to use him. While the acquisition began in 2018,
it wasn't finalized until March 2019. So, in most likelihood Silver Surfer is going to have
to wait in line until after the introduction of the Fantastic Four. Unless Marvel Studios
plans to drastically change his origin, Silver Surfer can't be introduced without Galactus,
and while Galactus could be featured without the Fantastic Four, it seems pretty unlikely — since
Galactus is very much tied to their story. Think of it this way: Introducing the Silver Surfer to
the MCU outside a Fantastic Four film would be like premiering Loki outside of Thor... or
introducing the Red Skull in a Spider-Man flick. No first family, no surfer. That's the deal.
To the fans of Marvel Comics, one of the most conspicuous absences from the MCU's Infinity
Saga was the cosmic savior Adam Warlock. Warlock is referenced a couple of times in the films,
including making a kind-of-cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2's mid-credits scene.
"I think I shall call him… Adam."
So far, however, Warlock is pretty much a no-show.
In fact, despite the big hint dropped in the second Guardians film, writer and
director James Gunn has gone on record to say Adam isn't a lock for the third film.
Warlock is one of the most pivotal figures of the 1991 mini-series Infinity Gauntlet,
from which Infinity War and Endgame take much of their inspiration. In fact, after the events
of Infinity Gauntlet, it's Adam Warlock who takes ownership of the Infinity Gems and forms
the Infinity Watch to help him responsibly act as steward to the powerful artifacts.
While Warlock's absence from the Infinity Saga is regrettable, it's understandable, too. Warlock's
prominence in Infinity Gauntlet is based on a long history of conflict between Warlock and Thanos.
But when the MCU's Thanos struck in Infinity War, all we'd seen of Adam Warlock were Easter eggs.
Bringing Warlock into that already crowded film would mean making time for another origin story.
Regardless of the source material, the time just wasn't right for Warlock.
Here's hoping fans will finally see him in action in the third Guardians film.
Once Disney's acquisition of Fox was announced,
a lot of fans seemed to think the X-Men's MCU debut would come
relatively quickly. Some even posited theories about the mutants being introduced in Endgame.
Unfortunately, it seems like it'll be awhile before the X-Men take their place in the MCU.
Marvel unveiled their plans for Phase 4 at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con, with no X-Men related
projects among the announced films and TV shows. And this was before the COVID-19
pandemic pushed back theatrical releases for all the major film studios. Part of
the problem is that Marvel Studios has done well playing the long game, and they're not
going to start rushing anything anytime soon. In April 2019, Kevin Feige told io9 that the
next five years of MCU projects had been mapped out before Disney's acquisition of Fox, making
it unlikely Marvel's uncanniest heroes would be introduced before those five years were up.
If you find that news frustrating, you're not alone. In May 2020, Deadpool creator
Rob Liefeld made headlines after publicly doubting that Deadpool 3 would ever happen.
Liefeld told io9 inside sources had assured him there was no movement on either Deadpool 3 or on
any of the X-Men properties at Marvel Studios. So, although it seems inevitable that the X-Men
will show up in the MCU eventually, it doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon.
Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox also opened the doors to bring Marvel's
First Family home. While the team aren't Marvel's first superheroes,
1961's Fantastic Four #1 is the comic that paved the way for the company's
success — and drastically changed the comic book industry altogether. You could argue that
an MCU without a Fantastic Four is like a DCEU without a Superman or a Batman.
So far, however, there's no firm word on when we'll see the Fantastic Four
in the MCU — or if they'll premiere in their own film or someone else's.
Among the more popular rumors are the casting of John Krasinski as Reed Richards,
as well as the intriguing fan theory that the team could premiere in Ant-Man 3, with the team
being stuck in the same quantum realm where Hank Pym found Janet van Dyne in Ant-Man and The Wasp.
Honestly, though, it would be a surprise to see a new Fantastic Four movie as part of
the MCU anytime within the next few years. On one hand, there's the simple fact that
no Fantastic Four projects were a part of Marvel's Phase 4 announcement. On the other,
Marvel Studios will likely want to make sure the time is right for their iconic quartet. There
have been three Fantastic Four films in the 21st century — two of them were bombs, and none were
critically successful. There's no way Feige is going to rush into something as important as this.
Namor the Sub-Mariner is one of Marvel's earliest heroes.
The aquatic hero first shows up in 1939's Marvel Comics #1, and his subsequent battle with the
original Human Torch is often considered the moment the Marvel Universe was created — since
it established that two heroes from two different comics could exist in the same narrative.
The main reason Namor hasn't shown up in the MCU has mostly to do with film rights.
Universal Studios acquired the film rights to Namor in the '90s.
It's not known exactly when it happened, but in 2014, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige
confirmed that the film rights to the Sub-Mariner had at some point reverted back to Marvel.
The situation is still complicated, though. No one has confirmed it, but it seems likely that
Namor's situation is similar to the Hulk's — that is, while Marvel Studios may have the
film rights to Namor, Universal still holds the distribution rights. This means that,
just as with the Hulk, Marvel could include Namor in a team-up movie, but not his own solo film.
It's seemingly more and more likely that Namor is on the way, though it will probably be a
while before anyone knows for sure. There are some persistent rumors that Namor will be the villain
of the upcoming Black Panther 2, and in April 2020, Avengers: Endgame co-writer Christopher
Markus confirmed the mention of an underwater Earthquake in the film was a reference to Namor.
"Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?" "Nat,
it's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it."
Whether this pays off, however, has yet to be seen.
Also known as Wonder Man, Simon Williams actually almost had a cameo in Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol. 2. For the scenes set on Earth,
Firefly star Nathan Fillion posed as the actor-turned-hero in movie posters advertising
a Simon Williams film festival. Sadly, no shots of the posters made it into the finished product.
There are a few good reasons why this ionic-powered Avenger has failed to show up in
the MCU thus far. For one thing, one of the big comic book moments he's best known for is being
involved in Ultron's creation of the Vision, and that already happened in Age of Ultron — without
Wonder Man's involvement. For another, he has a reputation for being a little derivative.
His name sounds too similar to the more well-known Wonder Woman,
and his power set and physical appearance makes him seem kinda like a Superman knock-off.
Finally, there's simply been no great clamor for Wonder Man's introduction to the MCU,
and he's never been perceived as much of a marquee character.
There was a Wonder Man one-shot in 1986, though, as well as an ongoing solo series in the '90s and
a 2006-2007 mini-series. So that's not to say it couldn't happen. After all, neither Black
Panther nor Guardians of the Galaxy comics were breaking sales records before they became movies.
But for the time being, it looks like Wonder Man is staying firmly off Marvel's radar.
There have been a number of different incarnations of the Thunderbolts since they were introduced
in the '90s, but the common thread is that the team's line-ups are almost always made
up of former or current bad guys — or heroes who prefer more lethal tactics. Things looked bright
for a Thunderbolts entry into the MCU when James Gunn said that he'd made it known to Kevin Feige
that he wanted to make a Thunderbolts film. But so far, the team has yet to make an appearance.
There are probably a couple of reasons for that. Since the interview in which he said he'd pitched
the Thunderbolts, Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for offensive tweets from
years earlier, hired by Warner Bros to write and direct The Suicide Squad, and eventually
rehired by Marvel. So if Gunn planted any seeds for a Thunderbolts film, they would've likely
been uprooted with his initial firing. Not to mention that 2016's Suicide Squad and the
upcoming The Suicide Squad prominently feature supervillains acting as heroes — so and it could
be that Marvel is apprehensive about being seen as ripping off their Distinguished Competition.
But you never know. While Marvel hasn't announced any upcoming Thunderbolts movies,
there are rumors the team will be featured in the upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Disney+ mini-series. And considering Baron Zemo, the Thunderbolts' original founder and leader,
still has a role to play in Phase 4 and beyond…well, let's just say never say never.
In Marvel Comics, one of the most powerful members of the Avengers is Hercules — the
superpowered strongman of Greco-Roman myth. Physically, he's in the same class as Marvel
powerhouses like Thor and the Hulk, and, just as he does in his legendary stories,
he often finds himself in conflict with the gods who make up his family.
Hercules is an infectiously fun character too, and ironically, many of the ways in which he's
most fun offer some insight into the most likely reason for his absence in the MCU.
He's overconfident, parties hard, and often sees himself as the gods' literal gift to women.
He also tends to think with his fists, has vicious rivalries with his siblings,
and never listens to his extremely powerful father — who happens to be the leader of the gods.
In other words, you can easily make the argument that, if you want to see a Hercules movie,
you could easily just watch the first half hour or so of 2011's Thor.
Whether he's redundant or not, it's possible Hercules could debut in the MCU. In June 2020,
The Cinema Spot claimed that unnamed sources had revealed Hercules was on his way to a
live-action Marvel Studios project. There was no indication of whether this would be a team-up
film or one of Disney+'s Marvel mini-series, or whether he would appear in his own project.
Marvel has offered no confirmation so far — but it's not like they would, is it?
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