When the MCU launched 10 years ago, the universe was grounded by our own rules of reality. Each film installment introduced us to alternate planes of existence, the depths of space, and even the subatomic scale. Only just scratching the surface on 60 years’ worth of comic book history, the publisher has often relied on crossover events to anchor the interconnected stories of each character and team. As Phase 3 nears completion, as well as a Fox merger in negotiation, we have explored some of the story arcs and crossover titles that could be adapted for the silver screen.
Secret Wars
In this 1984 story, a cosmic entity called The Beyonder abducts the superheroes and transports them to a “Battleworld” to face off against Marvel’s most infamous villains. There was sort of a followup in 2015, where the collapsing multiverse was saved by Dr. Doom, who combined all realities and timelines into one combined existence.
While Thanos credits balance as the motive behind his finger-snap, there may be outside forces at work. If he is playing some sort of dangerous game with the cosmic entities, Marvel has the opportunity to combine every iteration of their characters from all studios and properties – multiple Spider-Men on screen at once type of stuff.
Kree-Skrull War
A story released in 1971, an immense galactic war between the Kree and the Skrulls spills into the Earth’s proximity. This story arc frees the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell from a dimension called the Negative Zone. The Kree hero exposes Carol Danvers to his technology in the process.
Kevin Fiege stated the plot of Captain Marvel is heavily inspired by the Kree-Skrull war. Taking place in the ’80s, we should see an early S.H.I.E.L.D. team working alongside Jude Law’s Captain Marvel. We’ve seen much of the Kree race around Marvel films and TV, but never any Skrulls. The heroes are likely to have beat them into hiding.
House of M
Wolverine wakes up as a guard to Magneto and his royal family in this alternate universe. Along the way he realizes Scarlett Witch has made Mutants the general population, with regular humans being the minority.
Mutants don’t yet exist in the MCU, but this could be how the X-gene comes into existence. As Fox’s Marvel properties are on the brink of acquisition, Deadpool 2 raking in big numbers at box office, as well as a slew of successful television shows, let’s hope the world of mutants can soon join MCU canon.
New Avengers
After the events of Civil War, writer Brian Michael Bendis relaunched the team. Comprised of the heroes who did not sign to work for the government, this new roster included a few heroes including Bucky as Captain America, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Clint Barton, Wolverine and Luke Cage.
At this point, we know that the MCU’s founding Avengers are at the end of their contracts. Whether this is the team that saves the day in the untitled Avengers movie, a new team will indefinitely assemble, and Captain Marvel will play a big role in the team.
Secret Invasion
Since the Kree-Skrull War, the Skrulls have set their sights on Earth, placing sleeper-agents to infiltrate the planet. Some of these infiltrators have been genetically modified with various superpowers as well, making formidable foes.
Assuming this is catalyzed by the events of the 1980-based Captain Marvel, some of our favorite characters may have been shapeshifting sleeper-agents the whole time. This story turned the heroes against each other, but only time will tell who could be part of the alien takeover.
Dark Reign
After the world watched Norman Osbourne kill the Skrull queen and end the invasion, Osbourne is entrusted by the people as Earth’s protector as well as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., establishing a new agency called H.A.M.M.E.R. in its place.
A whole cabal of villains are tapped to take over the mantles of the heroes, and the former Green Goblin pursues his own agenda. Over time the team rebels due to his insanity. Fiege claims the following Phase 4 will be completely different — maybe the MCU is in for some dark times.
Future Imperfect
After two nuclear wars and the span of a century, an alternate version of the Hulk has aged into the Maestro. He possesses the intellect of Bruce Banner, and has been driven insane by radiation over the years. Seizing control of the planet, a younger Hulk travels through time to contest him.
Fiege and Mark Ruffalo have spoke about exploring a small Hulk story arc throughout the next phase of films. After Avengers: Infinity War, Bruce Banner cannot transform into the Hulk. Recently-released concept art raises the question, is it a suit that allows Banner to transform? Does the suit go awry in the process? Regardless, hopefully we see a genius Hulk causes ruckus in the MCU.