How The Casualties of Marvel's Avengers Endgame Can Make It Back into the MCU (**CONTAINS SPOILERS**)

Again, as the title states--there be spoilers ahead if you've not seen Avengers Endgame. But if you're up to date on the status quo in the MCU, what follows is a summary of in-universe opportunities Marvel Studios could leverage in bringing the fallen back into the fold sooner or later.

The Vision: Let's start from the beginning with a casualty from Infinity War not addressed by the reversal of The Snappening. Because the Russo Brothers chose to have the Great Disappearance undone rather than prevented, deaths precipitated by Thanos's collection of the gems continue to stand. So Vision's death at Thanos's hand--caused by his ripping of the mind gem from the hero's brow--is still in play. That said, it's also well known that Paul Bettany is preparing to reprise the role in "WandaVision" on the new Disney Plus streaming service. So what gives? Is he dead or isn't he?

• Vision is an android and can presumably be rebuilt. I'd originally thought that this would be a subplot within Endgame because of a small but notable aspect of how his death was depicted--his body's loss of color. In the comics, Vision is dismantled at one point by government agents. While he is rebuilt by Hank Pym, his personality cannot be salvaged and the character takes on a very robotic and emotionless demeanor as well as a grayish white appearance. That seemed like a story arc they might have been initiating.
• Wanda Maximoff can do literally almost anything. Many speculate that Scarlet Witch's powers will continue to expand throughout future phases of the MCU and that she might even be the key to integrating the Fox and Disney movie universes. At a minimum, she surely has one resurrection in her. And I also find it interesting that Emily Olsen has hinted at WandaVision having a 1950s vibe. Marvel married these characters in the comics and even gave them a miniseries in which they tried to live a "normal" suburban life with kids. In the end, it proved to be a bit of magical wish fulfillment--another avenue Marvel could explore for reuniting the star-crossed pair.

Thanos: This one is the most straightforward opportunity for resurrection, as Thanos is quite simply persona non grata in the land of the dead--at least as far as the comics are concerned. In the comics, he is motivated by a fascination with and unrequited affection for the embodiment of Death--an apparition that manifests itself to him on a regular basis. It is for her that he seeks to balance the scales of life and death in the universe, and it is her approval that he continuously and unsuccessfully seeks throughout multiple campaigns. And simply put, she's just not having it. So Death has, on occasion, expelled Thanos from her domain either to give him a chance to prove himself or--just as likely--to get away from his fawning. So Thanos could very easily turn up like a bad penny in the MCU following a similar story arc.

Iron Man: On some level, I don't want to see this one reversed--as Robert Downey Jr. had such a great run as this character and it ended in a reasonably satisfying way. However, he leaves an undeniable hole in the fabric of the movie universe. And while there are numerous characters who could pick up the mantle--Riri Williams (as Ironheart), Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Harley Keener--there are also plenty of ways in which Stark could return to the MCU himself.

• His brain engrams are out there. As promiscuous as Tony Stark may have been in other regards, there's never really been a good accounting of how free he was with his brain engrams. It is a major aspect of Avengers Age of Ultron that Tony's mind is a big foundational piece of the Ultron AI. So doesn't it follow that his mind is on file out there somewhere? Could it be downloaded to either serve as support for a new Iron Man (perhaps Harley?)? Or could it inhabit and drive an armor or android outright? And let's not forget that Ultron himself technically dies off-screen in a final confrontation with The Vision. Do we know for certain that he was obliterated?
• They could also leverage time travel. So the Avengers essentially have a time machine in the garage now, right? But let's assume that they resist the impulse to pluck a contemporary Tony from a recent point in time--avoiding the creation of additional ripples in the time stream and additional alternate realities. Even so, there are several time-related storylines from the comics that could still apply.
• Recasting the role with a young Tony. In a somewhat infamous story from the 90s, Tony revealed himself to be a traitor to the team that had been corrupted by Kang--essentially turning him into a sleeper agent. In the end, those Avengers would perform their own "time heist" of sorts by bringing a teenage Tony to the present to confront and outwit his future self. While the story had some issues and wasn't necessarily well received, elements of it could be tweaked to suit these circumstances.
• Discovering Tony is alive and well in a different time. More promising is a story that I've been wondering about a lot since Endgame. In a truly iconic two-part tale from the 80s, Iron Man and Doctor Doom get tossed back in time to King Arthur's court. While they aren't stranded there for very long in the comic story arc, there are some plot elements that seem like they'd be ideally suited for the MCU--almost too many, as if it's not coincidental.
• The audio stinger that occurs after the end credits of Endgame is seen by most as just a tribute to the original Iron Man movie. But what if it was to foreshadow Tony working with period appropriate tools--perhaps in a blacksmith shop? That's all he'd have available to repair his armor back in Arthurian England.
• It's been heavily hinted that a character from that period--the likewise time-tossed Black Knight, Dane Whitman--is going to appear in the MCU. What better opportunity than a movie crossover with Iron Man?
• It's also extremely interesting that Tony's daughter in Endgame--a character created for the MCU and not present in the comics--shares a name with Morgan Le Fay, Tony's primary protagonist in the original 80s time-travel story and a recurring foe who has struck at him and the Avengers even in the present day. I'm sure this is a long shot--and maybe too obscure of an Easter egg--but certainly worthy of consideration.
• Learning that the Tony that died was a doppelganger. I think this one is a greater likelihood for Black Widow, but some of the logic I explain below could apply to Tony as well.

Black Widow: So let's start with the fact that I know everyone at Marvel is insisting there will be no resurrections where Natasha is concerned. I'd argue that this could be a misdirect from the studio that reportedly filmed 4 alternate versions of the ending of Endgame in the interests of secrecy. But one could also argue that the "no resurrections" assertion could still be true from a certain perspective--assuming that the Natasha who died was a doppelganger of some sort.

• First, it's a given that a Black Widow movie is happening--so that's a factor to consider. The movie could well be a prequel--a feature-length swan song for Scarlett Johansson in much the way that Endgame was dedicated to Robert Downey Jr. But what if it starts off in prequel mode and then reveals that Natasha was replaced by a doppelganger? (Perhaps just after the events of the first Avengers movie?)
• If that seems crazy, consider the following: Black Widow's role in Captain America Civil War--where she bounces between the factions--mirrors the story arc for Spider-Woman Jessica Drew in the comic version. Interestingly, Drew would later be revealed as the leader of a Skrull invasion using the passage of the registration act to play both sides and foment chaos.
• But the Skrulls are good guys now, right? Hold on for a moment. Empires like the Kree and Skrulls have long been shown to alternate between good and bad in the comics--as they are diverse societies with ever-changing political dynamics. So just because the Skrulls come across as sympathetic in one story doesn't cement that status for all time. Also, note that Marvel Studios could pick a different way to tell a Secret Invasion story--much as the Marvel Ultimate Alliance game series did in making a nanotech virus the source of the invasion in its second outing.
• While I realize this is another long shot, I'd love to see a story where an amnesic Natasha Romanov is living under the guise of school teacher Nancy Rushman--an identity she assumed in one of my favorite multi-part stories in Marvel Team-Up back in the 70s. In that story, Black Widow lost her memory as a coping mechanism following torture at the hands of Viper and Silver Samurai--but I think it's an outcome that could be easily spliced to the Secret Invasion narrative.

While some of these possibilities are much less likely than others, this thought exercise helps to remind us that the MCU is working with house money where willing suspension of disbelief is concerned. Comic book stories are rife with stunning reveals and improbable outcomes--giving Kevin Feige and company an unusual amount of latitude. So we'll just have to see where and how they use it.


Next time: How kaiju almost convinced me to buy a house.

Savage Sword of Wendy and Other Sundry Final Bits: Part 4 of "Things They're Enjoying on Earth-2 That We'll Never Get to See"

Rounding out a series I started a few weeks ago, I take one more quick spin across the multiverse to point out some places where entertainment has taken a sharp left turn in comparison to our Earth.

There are numerous Earths where the Portland Trailblazers and the Minnesota Timberwolves are both NBA Championship dynasties. The Trailblazers had the second pick in the 1984 NBA Draft and passed on Michael Jordan to draft center Sam Bowie. They were still very successful in the 80s and early 90s—making it to the NBA Finals on a couple of occasions—but they’ve not won a championship since the 1970s. So I’m thinking that drafting Jordan would have more than sufficed to transform the franchise. As for the Timberwolves, they passed on Steph Curry not once but twice in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft for two other players at his same position (point guard)—Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn. So it’s not hard to imagine that some small changes in draft priorities could have dramatically impacted their success over the last decade.

Somewhere, there has to be a League of Extraordinary Mascots. Don’t let the pig tails fool you. If you’re familiar with the Wendy’s brand’s social media presence, you know that she’s a baller. I’d picture her expanding beyond eviscerating internet trolls and posers to righting wrongs in the real world supported by an A-Team including the wheelman from the Sonic commercials and the “Can you hear me now?” guy on comm. Maybe they’d be based out of Farmer’s University. (So wait—is J. K. Simmons playing a character in those commercials? Or is he playing himself as the dean of the university? Doesn’t matter, I suppose. You know the tennis courts retract to reveal a high-tech launch pad either way. That’s just how he rolls.) And while everyone else would be live action, Wendy would HAVE to be animated Son-of-Zorn-style. I wouldn’t suggest going all Red Sonja though—that would be a bit much. But who’s to say what “Wendy” this is? Maybe Wendy Darling? But one who actually joined and led the Lost Boys? Food for thought. (Pun intended.)

Sterling Archer, Agent of SHIELD? Fox owns FX. Disney owns Fox. As terrifying a prospect as this is, it’s got to be a reality somewhere. And maybe Nick Fury is his step-dad. Let that soak in. Talk about your Danger Zone.

A massive TV crossover event connects various CBS mystery series to the novels of Stephen King. Consider the facts:

• Cabot Cove, Maine just has way too high a murder rate. It’s a little town. For there to be this much loss of life is unconscionable under any normal circumstances. But while pretty much the only common denominator is “Murder She Wrote” protagonist author Jessica Fletcher, we know she can’t be committing the crimes—as we see the murders in flashback and the murderers typically confess to the crimes after being caught. Unless… what if she’s really pulling everyone’s strings and they’re not even aware of it?
• This brings to mind some other Maine towns like Derry, Salem’s Lot, Castle Rock and Little Tall Island where sinister characters including Mr. Linoge, Leland Gaunt, and others manipulate both people and circumstances to cut a bloody swath across those respective communities. Could it be that Cabot Cove is in THAT Maine? I ask you, how could it NOT be?
• So I figure there must be numerous stops along the crossroads of infinity where CBS took the plunge and outed the venerable Ms. Fletcher as a malevolent entity—perhaps along the lines of Sutter Cane from John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness. (If you don’t think Angela Lansbury, Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast, would be a good fit for a horror role, go back and watch her as Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd and you’ll change your mind.) All that’s debatable is whether they’d have made the connection to King’s fictional Maine explicit—perhaps working with Castle Rock Entertainment’s TV arm—or if it would just be implied.
• And there would obviously be a cascade effect—since all of those old CBS mysteries like “Matlock” and “Diagnosis Murder” used to cross over from time to time. Maybe a little Lovecraftian shenanigans occurring in the backwoods of Matlock’s Georgia? Seem far-fetched? Not if you consider that the networks were experimenting with similar themes in shows like the Gary Cole vehicle “American Gothic” and a rebooted “Dark Shadows” around the same time. (It was the millennium. Motives were incidental. Snark.)

Well, I could ramble around the multiverse some more—and may do so again—but this Tardis is rented and I need to take you home. Or was it a DeLorean? Eh, doesn’t matter. It's past your curfew either way.

Next time: Something completely different—and likely to drop much quicker than my last post, as I aim to catch up with my one-post-per-week pace. (Blame it on holiday weekend merriment.)

Marvel Netflix Unchained: Part 3 of "Things They're Enjoying on Earth-2 That We'll Never Get to See"

We live in an era of almost limitless entertainment options, the advent of the internet having generated a wide spectrum of new media for short and long-form text, audio, and video content. And as much as content consumers have benefited, Netflix more than most other content providers has proved itself to be the right company in the right place at the right time to capitalize on this bonanza--at least initially. But as different streaming services emerge, we will soon see if Netflix's hard-won supremacy can survive the gradual whittling down of its catalog in the face of competition.

Few Netflix ventures have been as critically successful as their recently canceled slate of Marvel TV shows--shows that reflect the ebb and flow of Netflix's creative and commercial dominance. It's hard to believe that it was only back in 2015 that Charlie Cox's portrayal of Matt Murdock, Marvel's Daredevil, first hit our screens. Building on the success of this surprise hit--leveraging a second-tier character and following up on a lackluster big-screen adaptation--Netflix and Marvel TV execs set out to build a franchise of multiple gritty, film noir depictions of street-level comic book heroes: Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and--somewhat infamously--the immortal Iron Fist. And then as quickly as these heroes assembled to form The Defenders, they were gone--a casualty of Disney's aspirations to create their own streaming service.

But what if the Marvel Netflix gravy train had never ended? What if the collaboration had continued for several more years, Disney's appetite for individual success having not yet been sufficiently whetted by its performance on such platforms?

If the Marvel Netflix universe had continued to expand--much as I imagine it has for our neighbors on Earth-2--here are some of the shows I'm sure it could have encompassed: 

Moon Knight -- This one would have to be considered a virtual certainty. I believe that a Moon Knight show was rumored even before the rest of the Defenders roster had been finalized/publicized. And in truth, Netflix might have fared better if they'd inserted Marc Spector, the Fist of Khonshu, ahead of some of the other shows they aired. I realize that could have been problematic--as the embattled Iron Fist and Luke Cage are sort of a package deal--but I think you could have swapped Spector for Danny Rand in terms of the series rotation.

A mercenary turned masked vigilante with a history of mental illness and a strange relationship with an ancient Egyptian god that may or may not just exist in his head, Marc Spector could have checked many of the boxes that Iron Fist did from a plot standpoint. And I think the character's back story would have generated opportunities for inner turmoil and identity crisis that might have played better than the ones that fell flat in Iron Fist. Also, Moon Knight's numerous supernatural story arcs with vampires, werewolves and the undead would have opened the door for a more expansive mystical bent to the Defenders franchise.

The Thunderbolts -- I've heard that a Thunderbolts movie might be appearing in a future phase of the MCU, but I fear it will under-deliver on the potential of this super-team--which happens to be one of my all-time favorites. If the goal is to treat the Thunderbolts like Marvel's equivalent to The Suicide Squad--in an action-heavy romp with super-villains coerced into fighting bigger threats--then it doesn't matter much whether you tell that story in a movie or a TV show. But if the intention is to tell a nuanced story about deception and redemption, then TV permits you the time for a slow burn--for ongoing character development, stumbles, and plot twists.

The concept of the Masters of Evil--the Avengers' archenemies--posing as a group of heroes following Marvel's Onslaught crossover event was a masterstroke. It wasn't unusual for either of the two big comics publishers to introduce new books or characters following a big universe-shaking storyline, so I remember picking up the first issue with modest expectations. But when I flipped to the last page and realized who these "new" characters really were, I was hooked. From there, Kurt Busiek's storytelling didn't disappoint. I came back monthly to watch as Baron Zemo and his crew romanced a world starved for heroes in the wake of the deaths of the Avengers and Fantastic Four. And I marveled at how these once-hardened criminals started to enjoy the limelight, started to feel empathy for those they were saving on a daily basis, and how those feelings started to undermine their loyalty to Zemo and his evolving plan for world domination.

I can picture the gradual transformation of various team members into legitimate heroes and the resulting tension it would create across the group playing out very well over multiple season-long story arcs filled with noble sacrifices, surprising twists and the occasional assassination. Definitely a series that could make the most out of TV's episodic nature and longer collective airtime.

Squadron Supreme -- I've talked about the squadron elsewhere, so I won't take another deep dive here. Suffice to say that this group of heroes who conquer their world in the interests of saving it would be great fodder for a superhero show filled with personal betrayal, political intrigue, and espionage. (Imagine House of Cards meets Game of Thrones meets The Super Friends.) The likenesses of the squadron members being very similar to the Justice League and the substantial budget required to do their powers justice would both serve as complications. Nevertheless, I think there would be plenty of juice here to justify the squeeze. (It couldn't be more challenging than animating dragons, right?)

Alpha Flight -- For those not familiar with the history of Canada's premier super-team, this last one might seem like a reach. But this isn't just an expression of affection for the Great White North. Rather, it's an acknowledgement that John Byrne's 12-issue series-launching story arc is almost perfectly designed to be adapted as a binge-worthy Netflix-style franchise. Introduced several years earlier in the pages of X-Men, Alpha Flight was still largely a blank slate at the beginning of Byrne's run in 1983--its characters having been shown in battle but not yet fleshed out with individual personalities and back stories. So Byrne made a great creative choice and decided to build a team by deconstructing it.

Establishing a theme that would pop up numerous times in ensuing years, team leader James MacDonald Hudson (Guardian) and his teammates would find themselves at odds with their handlers in Department H--losing their official status with the Canadian government for the first of what would be several occasions. In this instance, it would lead to the various heroes--Sasquatch, Northstar, Aurora, Shaman, Snowbird, Marrina--being left to their own devices, heading off to pursue their own individual interests and (in some cases) personal demons. The next several issues of the series then took the opportunity to profile each character in depth before the team eventually reassembled at year's end to face a threat striking back at them from out of that collective history.

This story arc--which transforms a group of "work friends" into a legitimate family in the midst of unexpected tragedy--would take full advantage of Netflix's flexible format by bookending a series of "regular-sized" character-focused episodes between "double-sized" beginning and ending set pieces, much as the comic series did. And the first year of the comic is remarkably self-contained, so you could either tell as one standalone story or as the launching point for multiple seasons; I can imagine that the ultimate heart-rending conclusion of the initial arc would leave viewers clamoring for more even as they struggled to lift their jaws off the floor. It would be a perfect vehicle for a strong ensemble cast--much like the recently dropped Umbrella Academy. (I could picture them delivering the first 10 to 12 episodes at the same time and then treating the season-ending episode as a mini-movie with a later release date--just to turn the screws on an anxious fan base. But I suppose that's just the showman in me.) ;)

Next time: A "What If" lightning round to complete our list of comparisons between our Earth and its close cousins--to be followed by a breakdown of how fallen characters from Endgame might work their way back into the MCU.

Carter Hall, Warlord of Mars: Part 2 of "Things They're Enjoying on Earth-2 That We'll Never Get to See"

Some things are an absolute hit on paper and you can't imagine why that potential doesn't translate into reality. I've always felt that way about Hawkman. So I have to imagine we're the oddballs--that elsewhere across the multiverse, Carter Hall is typically a much beloved character ranking just below DC's trinity of Superman, Bat-Man, and Wonder Woman.

On our Earth, at least, his transition from comics' golden age to its silver age was more than a little problematic. In the 1940s, Hawkman had a mystical origin; Carter Hall was an adventuring archeologist who was also the swashbuckling reincarnation of the Egyptian god Khufu. The 1960s reintroduction of the character recast him as an alien policeman in keeping with the era's space-age bent. However, while these origins couldn't be more different--a difference that numerous later re-imaginings and reboots have tried to reconcile--I don't suppose that's what has prevented this from being a more successful franchise. Rather, I think it's less about the differences between his two competing origins and more about their similarity to the origins of other flagship DC properties.

Modern, post-Crisis-on-Infinite-Earths depictions of the Justice League have repeatedly portrayed its members as a godly pantheon. Each has a unique origin, powers, and aesthetic--at least except for Hawkman. We need a space policeman, you think--oops, we've already got one in Green Lantern. OK, we'll play up the demigod angle--oops, that's Wonder Woman's turf. It's hard to put your finger on who Carter Hall is supposed to be, the niche he's intended to fill.

To my mind, I think that all of the ingredients for a legendary comics run (or movie series) are there--they're just not being used in the proper proportions. Hawkman needs to be DC's "Conan The Barbarian." Or, more to the point, he needs to be their John Carter--Warlord of Mars. Because as I've noted above, it's not just about juggling plot elements--about reconciling the detritus of years of convoluted continuity. It's about crafting a memorable and compelling aesthetic. And I can envision one that allows DC to pick up several threads or story arcs from both the Golden Age and Silver Age to create a story that could almost live entirely outside of the mainstream DC universe.

Simply put, Carter Hall needs to get lost. Or, perhaps more appropriately, he needs to get Lost.

Do you know what a space policeman and a reincarnated god both have in common? Well, it's certainly not relatability. Now, having said that, I realize we're talking about a comics company that has successfully made us care about the daily trials of an invincible farm boy alien and an orphaned billionaire. But there's no denying that an everyman hero has a lot of appeal. So rather than starting off in uncharted territory, what if Hawkman came from simpler beginnings?

Consider his near-namesake, Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter. The eventual warlord started off as a Civil War soldier who, through unexpected misadventure, found himself transported to the savage red sands of Mars (also know as Barsoom). There, he encounters a wide array of dangers posed by the local fauna as well as several warring humanoid races--and even finds love in the arms of an alien princess. Imagine, if you will, what would happen if you superimposed this dynamic over Carter Hall's curious life (or lives). What if Hall didn't start off as either an alien or a demigod? What if he started off as an earthling who would go on to become both?

He could still be a policeman, mind you--or some lawman in general (sheriff, detective, etc.). The epoch you pull him from is kind of irrelevant if, as I'm supposing, you'd deposit him on some alien landscape in a forgotten past--maybe thousands of years ago. And what if that doomed alien planet happened to be a place called Thanagar? And what if, brought together by his leadership, its inhabitants trekked across the stars to an early Earth where--even after his departure back to his own time--he was remembered with almost god-like reverence?

Let's see how many boxes that checks - Thanagar, policeman, demigod, ancient Egypt. I could see him getting really good with a mace and sword over years of mortal combat bringing order to his adopted world. And the other elements of the Hawkman mythos--the wings, Nth metal, and more--could easily be the trappings of the exotic environment he tames before leading an exodus from it. Check, check, check and check.

What appeals to me most about this remix isn't just the fact that it recombines the various elements of his origin(s) in a different way. What I like is that it takes a character that has, at times, been rather stiff and plants him firmly in a sexy space opera. This wouldn't be extraterrestrial life imagined as gleaming white corridors on modern steel-gray spacecraft. This would be a blend of alien tech with swords and sorcery--monsters and mayhem, blood and sand. This is Carter Hall on the cover of a heavy metal album, mace raised above his head--Princess Shiera clasping her arms around his chest. Definitely not your father's (or grandfather's) Hawkman--but one I'm sure they'd enjoy reading.

Nevertheless, as we'll find with many of the suggestions in this series, I'm doubtful that this idea could work here and now--as the window of opportunity for such a re-imagining has probably passed for several reasons. First there's Disney's 2012 John Carter movie, which struggled to recoup its $350 million budget at the box office--leading to a huge write-off. Second, there's the fact that DC appears to have found itself a different hero to cast in a similar light--Jason Momoa's Aquaman. So, at least where the big screen is concerned, this slant on Carter's adventures would be unlikely to find either a backer/budget or a niche. (Unless maybe they found a way to combine their stories? Hmmm. I'll have to think about that one.)

Among my Instagram posts, I know I recently mentioned having picked up the "Kill Island" TPB from Frank Cho's run on Savage Wolverine. Looking at that art--of Shanna The She-Devil, Logan, the dinosaurs--I'll confess that I'd be intrigued to see how he (Cho) would adapt the above concept in comics form. You'd have to tread carefully in memorializing that era of pulp science fiction without indulging in sexism or misogyny. But much of modern pop culture manages to revisit older concepts while subverting expectations and updating morays/themes, so I'm confident it could be done here too.

That's not to say that the recently launched Hawkman comic by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch--shown alongside the Cho Wolverine spread above--won't blow up. Their solution to Hall's existential conundrum, while different than what I describe, is certainly novel and could raise his profile within the DC universe by tying him to the prehistory of the line and the massive eons-spanning threat of the Deathbringers. It's a more reserved and reflective take on the character than what I've envisioned, but that doesn't mean it's less likely to be successful.

No, I think that the real problem is that Carter Hall never seems to be the right man at the right place at the right time--at least not in this neighborhood of the multiverse. Ironic that a guy who has been reincarnated, rebooted and reinvented so many times can't seem to catch up with the law of averages. But in the end, every dog--er, hawk--has his day. Who's to say that this isn't his? Predictably, only time will tell.

Next time: What if Moon Knight had made it into the Marvel Netflix roster instead of Iron Fist?

Agents of SHIELD Fans Relax--Your Timeline Isn't Broken... Just Different (WITH SPOILERS)

** SPOILER WARNING ** - This is going to contain mildly spoilery material related to events in Avengers Endgame and the Season 6 premiere of ABC's Agents of SHIELD. So if you've not seen Endgame and/or you don't want to know too much about the AoS premiere, you might want to hold off on reading what follows.

OK... I'm waiting. Are they gone yet?

Good--let's get started.

So you may or may not have read that AoS Season 6 is set a year after the events of its Season 5 finale--and that it does not reference the Decimation Event (i.e., the Snappening) even though it falls within the intervening years between Infinity War and Endgame. Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel Television, was recently quoted in TheWrap as saying that the show would likely "ignore" the event and that it was "the safest way to do things" given the uncertain timing of the show's premiere in relationship to the movie release. He is later quoted as saying that "we don't ever want to do anything in our show that contradicts what's happening in the movies" as the movies are "the big dog."

This could, of course, all be a misdirect--misinformation intended to generate additional interest in the AoS premiere on 5/10.  It could also be that they'll somehow find a way to do as Loeb suggested--and "tell our [stories] pre-snap"--though that's hard to reconcile given how closely the final episodes of Season 5 were tied to the events playing out in Infinity War. But there's another very interesting possibility that the events of Endgame open up: they're not in the mainstream MCU after all.

To some, this option is even less appealing than asking for a continuity mulligan, as it undermines the underlying logic of both Infinity War and Endgame. It would seem to suggest that Doctor Strange was wrong and there were other ways for Thanos to be defeated, not just one out of 14+ million. So for the AoS timeline to splinter off from the mainstream MCU in the waning hours of Season 5 means that the good doctor was mistaken, that Thanos was somehow beaten in the Battle of Wakanda--rendering the Endgame timeline moot.

But I think that's the key to the problem--who's to say that AoS switches timelines at the end of Season 5? I'd argue that, on the contrary, they departed from the MCU continuity at the beginning of Season 5.

That season is very much tied to time travel--with the beginning of the season taking place in a dystopia where events in their near future will destroy the world. Note that the storyline is also pretty self-contained, with most of the events hinging on the assumption that it is the actions of the SHIELD team that will either facilitate or prevent the future they've witnessed. If we take that to be true, then we're already outside of MCU continuity. Because it leaves us comparing two outcomes that couldn't have fit into the Marvel movie timeline--one where Graviton destroys the Earth and one where he's prevented from doing so. And if we assume that those timelines are the same except for that one, to-us-oh-so-critical difference, then the team's foray into the future showed no signs that we were ever in a snap-impacted timeline.

Having AoS depart the main MCU timeline months earlier allows both things to be true--for Thanos to have been defeated under circumstances different from those in Endgame without making Doctor Strange wrong. Because Strange would have been talking about outcomes available to the Avengers at that moment leading up to the battle on Titan. He wouldn't be looking at timelines that had branched off much earlier--opportunities that had already been lost to them as events unfolded.

You can also make the argument that we can never really know if AoS was ever based on the exact same events as the rest of the MCU. By virtue of the TV universe keeping some of its connections vague, we know that they reached similar milestones--the Battle of NY, the fall of SHIELD, the Sekovia Accords, and then finally the Battle of Wakanda. But we don't know details about casualties, the exact roster of the Avengers at any given moment, etc. We can therefore only know for sure that things played out similarly--not the same. So any number of divergences not preventing the eventuality of Thanos's assault on Wakanda could have occurred given that lack of specificity.

While I'm sure you could binge watch the last 5 AoS seasons to compile a list of details that confirm the timing of specific MCU events, I don't know that I'd bother trying to identify a specific point of divergence. Through the magic of serialized fiction, Marvel TV execs could choose to find a way to retcon certain plot points or just gradually smooth them over with a wink and a smile. I would not therefore be surprised if--whatever excuse is used--the timelines of Agents of SHIELD and the MCU fall back into sync as soon as the end of this season.

But unless their solution specifically addresses this problem, we're likely still talking about different though similar universes--a separate, if similar, Coulson, a separate, if similar Daisy, etc.. As has been suggested in both AoS and the movies, it seems that reality tends to warp or wrap around certain key events--that certain outcomes are effectively inevitable even if arrived at along different paths. However, you can't really "un-break" continuity. Parallel storylines are still separate storylines.

In the meantime, if you're Marvel, you can have your cake and eat it too--allowing that one cake is in the 616 and the other is not.

The CW's Seven Soldiers of Victory: Part 1 of "Things They're Enjoying on Earth-2 That We'll Never Get to See"

I won't over-blow the extent to which I have been emotionally drained by Avengers Endgame and the Battle of Winterfell in the last week, but there's no denying that a lot of activities--these, as well as "Take Your Kid to Work Day" and a weekend gaming outing--have eaten up much of the time I usually spend in preparing my blog. Nevertheless, I'm plagued by musings about alternate timelines--so I'll share a brief impression of one here.

In my mind's eye, it's so clear to me... (Insert swirling dissolve.)

On Earth-2 right now, following every episode of "Serenity Now" (the next-generation spin-off of 12-season-long TV juggernaut Firefly), sci-fi fans flip over from Fox to the CW to watch Legends of Tomorrow--the story of Rip Hunter and his rag-tag band of anachronauts bent on protecting history from Vandal Savage, Per Degaton, Chronos, and other time-related villains.

Wait--isn't that what people are doing on this (prime) Earth? (Minus the Firefly spin-off, of course.)

Yes and no. Because, you see, on Earth-2, the Legends of Tomorrow are made up of DC Comics's obscure but ripe-for-interpretation "Seven Soldiers of Victory."

Our Earth's Legends cast is basically a who's who of the second tier of Justice League heroes: Firestorm, The Atom, Vixen, etc. And while I have no issue with them making a splash on the small screen, I don't know that they're the best choices to be the guardians of time--especially not when DC has a group of forgotten heroes who are practically designed for the purpose.

If you're unfamiliar with the Seven Soldiers--also known as Law's Legionnaires--they were an eclectic group of mystery men from the golden age of comics, DC's second super-team following the creation of the Justice Society of America (JSA). Most prominent among their number was a pre-JLA Green Arrow and his sidekick Speedy--hence a great tie-in to CW's "Arrowverse." But listen to the rest of the roster: Vigilante (a cowboy), the Shining Knight (er, a knight--with a magic blade and winged horse), the Star-Spangled Kid and his sidekick Stripesy (more on them in a moment), and the Crimson Avenger (a turn-of-the-century masked hero with a heavy film noir vibe). They already seem to be a hodge podge group of time-tossed characters to start. In more modern depictions, Star-Spangled Kid is swapped for star-powered Star Girl and Paul Dugan (Stripesy) wears an armored mech suit to become S.T.R.I.P.E. And that could probably all work "as is." Personally, I'd turn Stripe into a pirate. Something about that just rings true to the ear--he was already a sailor, I think--and it would check another box in terms of historical adventure.

What I love about the idea of using these characters is that they are, in fact, so obscure. Because that's where the network could exercise so much creative license. There would be no kid gloves--you could tell any type of story you wanted, with whatever stakes or twists you wanted, without having to worry about raising the ire of an angry fan-base. Instead, you could use the series to craft a fan-base from scratch with avant-garde storytelling and compelling, original characters within the wrapper of an existing comics franchise.

Admittedly, the original team of Seven Soldiers is pretty dated--all male, not really at all diverse. But their obscurity would give you plenty of leeway to gender-swap or recast various roles. Could Greg Saunders, The Vigilante, be portrayed as a black cavalryman dolling out justice in the West following the Civil War? Why not? And could the aforementioned pirate "Stripe" be a notorious woman with a scarlet past? Again, why not?

I realize that this is the Catch-22 where a lot of entertainment derived from comics is concerned. Where there is demand for certain characters, that demand has expectations attached to it. So more obscure characters give you more runway, but it doesn't matter if people aren't interested enough to tune in long enough to develop attachment to them.

Several of these characters appear as part of the massive JLA roster in Bruce Timm's Justice League Unlimited series, and even assemble briefly in an homage episode called "Patriot Act" where they have to fight the hulking mutated General Eiling. They don't get a lot of dialogue or characterization--these were only half-hour episodes in a series with a large ensemble cast, after all--but Timm clearly saw the potential in their interaction, such as when Sir Justin (Shining Knight) and Vigilante (voiced by Nathan Fillion) debate whether the world is in moral decline as compared to the mores of their respective times.

What's especially unfortunate is that it's essentially an either-or proposition. The existence of The Legends of Tomorrow--the version we've gotten--basically precludes us ever getting The Seven Soldiers of Victory in the DCEU. But whereas I can't envision these characters getting a different treatment--as the time travel dynamic is just oh-so-appropriate for this group--I don't know that the likes of Firestorm, Vixen and others from the current Legends roster would be blocked from either the big or small screen by their exclusion from this concept. So on Earth-2, they're probably watching an expanded assortment of CW shows inclusive of all of these characters. (The jerks.) But then they also have carnivorous koalas with razor-sharp fangs--so you take the good with the bad.

Next time: More entertainment from across the multiverse that you didn't know you were missing.