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Marvel Reviews

5 Best Characters & Stories Primed for an MCU Special Presentation!

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe recently experimented with a new format and dropped the so-called “Special Presentation” Werewolf By Night on Disney Plus. The special is a delightful addition to the ever-expanding MCU, using a taut hour-long runtime to introduce audiences to the titular lycanthrope and other key but obscure characters from the comics – most notably, plant monster Man-Thing and monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone. The special further sets itself apart with a well-executed tone that pays tribute to classic horror films of the Universal Monsters era. Werewolf By Night stands out at a time when superhero media – and MCU content in particular – needs entries that are more than just retreads of a tried-and-true formula.

As the credits rolled on Werewolf By Night, I started to think about what made this first MCU Special Presentation work and other, new-to-the-MCU characters from the pages of Marvel comics would be a good fit for the format. In my mind, this could be due to the possibility of seeing a brand new corner of the MCU, the potential to showcase a specific genre, or a character that historically has a niche role in the comics and thus lends themselves to a self-contained introduction.

So with those general guidelines in mind, allow me if you please to put my Kevin Feige-style baseball cap on and propose five characters who could be interesting at the center of a future MCU Special Presentation, and the comics that could serve as inspiration for their stories.

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The A.X.E.: Judgment Day Reread, Part 2

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Welcome back to our multipart reread of Marvel’s big 2022 summer event, “A.X.E.: Judgment Day”; previously, we looked at the lead-up to this apocalyptic ruckus, as well as the basics you need to know about the Eternals—as this entire story really is event architect Kieron Gillen blowing up the narrative he started with his brilliant but criminally underselling (and thus prematurely ended) Eternals run.

Note that spoilers will follow. From here, we’ll assume you’re caught up on the event’s core narrative.

This time, we’re looking at A.X.E.: Judgment Day #1 by Kieron Gillen, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles; Immortal X-Men #5 by Gillen, Michele Bandini, David Curiel and Clayton Cowles; and X-Men: Red #5 by Al Ewing, Stefano Caselli, Federico Blee and Ariana Maher. Covers by, respectively: Mark Brooks & Sabine Rich; Giuseppe Camuncoli & Jesus Aburtov; Russell Dauterman & Matthew Wilson.

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Omnibussin: The Later Marvel Years of The Black Panther

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The release of 2018’s Black Panther was a bit of a surprise hit for Marvel Studios. One good reason we know that is that the publishing arm of Marvel did not bother to prepare a single hardcover collection in time for the film’s release—something they’ve begun to do for all of their movies. Marvel vowed to do better next time around, and they have: where once there were no Black Panther omnibuses, now three have been released in a span of a few months, just before the release of the much-anticipated sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. And another one’s on the way! But Black Panther has a long comics history, so these don’t even begin to cover all his adventures: what omnibuses are left? What will they contain? That’s what we’re here to find out!

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The A.X.E.: Judgment Day Reread

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[From Free Comic Book Day 2022: Avengers/X-Men; art by Dustin Weaver, Marte Gracia and Cory Petit; the only time I recall seeing the “vs.” included in the event title—misleading much here in the free promo?!]
This is the first of several pieces that looks at the core “A.X.E.: Judgment Day” story from start to finish. We’ll focus on the event series A.X.E.: Judgment Day and the tie-ins written by event author and architect and ongoing Immortal X-Men writer Kieron Gillen (working with artists Valerio Schiti, Guiu Vilanova and Lucas Werneck, respectively), as well as the X-Men: Red tie-in issues from Al Ewing and Stefano Caselli, the surprise mini-masterpiece Legion of X #6 from Si Spurrier and Rafael Pimentel and Marauders #6 from Steve Orlando and Andrea Broccardo—which isn’t as essential as the others but is significant for devoting an entire issue to Krakoan reactions—specifically, the Marauders’—to the Progenitor’s judgment; indeed, the story deals with developing a healthy response to a false god’s terrifyingly bratty judginess.

So, we’re narrowing in on what’s already a wealth of material, paring down from 30+ issues with the tie-ins to appreciate the core of this epic story and its most integral side stories, while appreciating the nuances of character, theme and continuity that each storyteller brings to this apocalyptic barnstormer.

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The Evolution of Marvel Cosmic, Part 7: Two New Cosmic Horror Bruisers, 1968

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[Jack Kirby cover art; Vince Colletta inking Thor #155; Joe Sinnott inking Fantastic Four Annual #6]

If you missed our 1968 entry on The Silver Surfer and Captain Marvel solo series, check it out!

As a Marvel Cosmic menace and a classic instance of pulp cosmic-horror, Annihilus is fairly unique. Occasionally approaching the threat level of Thanos, the dire bug lord can be just as existentially terrifying to sentients everywhere, especially in 2006’s Annihilation, but he’s as much cosmically powerful warlord as insect horror trope—both spaces that, of course, the much more well-known Brood occupy successfully. Still, while the Brood’s depictions have often played both aspects to the hilt, Annihilus’ storytellers generally haven’t emphasized the horror of his being, whether that’s the alienness of his biology or his motivations (the clearest exceptions here being Keith Giffen, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning in the Annihilation event and Jonathan Hickman in his Fantastic Four run 12 years ago). The guy’s got a lot of untapped potential when it comes to skin-crawling thrills and chills.

Mangog is perhaps more horrifying for appearing so bizarre, chimeric almost, and mindlessly brutal—and properly mammoth. He’s also simply much more cosmic horror than particularly cosmic, beyond, that is, his origin; here, too, there’s still untapped potential in Mangog’s status as a cosmic player. Since his debut, the fullest realization of this alien monstrosity’s brutal terror and the most impressive battle against him are to be found in the epic story arc that is the beginning of the end to Jason Aaron’s spectacular Thor run (see The Mighty Thor #700-705, recently followed up on, rather underwhelmingly, in the current Thor title from Donny Cates). Of course, there’s very little prior competition even his original story is deeply flawed in its resolution, as was so common in the Silver Age, with a lame and quite literal deus ex machina (However, it’s been 20 years since I read Dan Jurgens’ 2000 Mangog/Thanos* epic in Thor vol 2 #20-25, which probably still holds up for some quick fun, but it’s not going to have the pathos or intensity of Aaron, Russell Dauterman and Matthew Wilson; *it’s really just a Thanos clone, though, so…).

The clear challenge with nemeses like these is that rolling them out onstage means the stakes must be high, apocalyptically dire; otherwise, they should be offstage or they lose the edge to their terror—though why not have a one-off, fun and cruelty-free version of these two brutes in something like a Squirrel Girl Beats Up Marvel Cosmic or Gwenpool Gone Space Merc?

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