Monthly Archives: February 2025

Feb 23 2025

Who Will Be The New Avengers?

As Captain America: Brave New World concluded, one thing that was clear was that the Avengers would be recreated by Sam Wilson aka Captain America. As exciting as this sounds, the nagging question for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is who will be the new Avengers? How many superheroes will Sam recruit? Will it be made up of the OG Avengers minus those that retired or died, or will the roster be entirely new? These questions are quite confounding given that filming for Avengers: Doomsday begins next month, and the film will be released next year. Let’s consider the following candidates:

The Core Avengers

These six candidates will most likely be the main team featured in Avengers: Doomsday, but don’t be surprised if the lineup changes by the end of the film. In fact, it’s entirely possible that one or two of the Avengers will die to raise the stakes for Avengers: Secret Wars.

Captain America

This is one is set in stone since Sam Wilson was asked by President Ross to reform the team in Captain America: Brave New World and by the end of the film he was talking to his partner, Joaquin Torres about being on the team (more on him in a bit). Sam will be the leader of the team and a good subplot is him being thrown for a loop if he encounters an evil variant of the OG Captain America.

Ant-Man

Every superhero team needs a relatable everyman type and a natural clown to provide some comic relief. Scott Lang and Sam Wilson have some history together and Sam recruited him before in Captain America: Civil War. Plus, Ant-Man has a unique power set that can be either seen as weak or strong. Beware: it’s possible that Ant-Man could be one of those heroes who does not survive, which would earn Doctor Doom a lot of hatred by fans.

The Hulk

The new Avengers team will need someone who literally brings a lot of muscle to the team and be a holdover from the original Avengers team. Out of all the remaining original Avengers, the Hulk is the most available and he has Bruce Banner’s intellect which adds a lot of scientific know-how that will be needed to match Doctor Doom’s genius.

War Machine

As much as we all want to forget about Secret Invasion, the dangling plot thread about James “Rhodey” Rhodes being replaced by a Skrull has to be addressed. We’ll probably never get a War Machine solo project to answer this thread and Rhodey’s inclusion in the team will add some critical firepower to the team. War Machine will also serve as a legacy to Iron Man thanks to his armored suit.

Captain Marvel

Yes, Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel is not popular with MCU fans, but she would be the most powerful member of the team and add a cosmic angle. However, she is a bit too powerful and one interesting subplot for the film is to have her nerfed dramatically by Doctor Doom. The power loss would be an interesting story for Danvers and make her more relatable to viewers.

Star-Lord

Star Lord blazing guns

Hey, the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 promised us that the Legendary Star-Lord would return. Where else can Peter Quill show up? The lovable goofball would be a great character to team up with the equally goofy Scott Lang and the interactions between the two would be hilarious. Then again, in case Captain Marvel is not on the roster, Quill can add the cosmic connection to the team.

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Feb 16 2025

The New Captain America Faces A Brave New World

Despite what many people are claiming online, the fourth Captain America film, Captain America: Brave New World, is not a misfire. It’s not perfect and has to be ranked fourth in the Captain America film series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Yet, it largely hits the mark and is a solidly good political thriller. There will be SPOILERS.

The film serves many functions. It is a continuation of the Disney + TV show, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and a semi-sequel to the film The Incredible Hulk. At the same time, it sets up future events in the MCU while answering a nagging question from Eternals.

This is the first Captain America film to not feature Steve Rogers as the superhuman soldier. Instead, the mantle is taken up by Steve’s former partner and friend Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a non-superpowered former soldier. In addition to his combat training and wits, Sam dons an armored suit made of vibranium that provides protection with its unique property of absorbing and dispelling kinetic energy. The suit also allows Captain America to fly and is adorned with drones called Redwing. Then there is Captain America’s nearly indestructible shield which was given to him by Steve. Even with all these adornments, Sam is conflicted about his capability to live up to the name of Captain America. But thankfully, by the end of the film he dispels his self-doubts.

Captain America: Brave New World begins with the U.S. presidential election of former general Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford taking over the role from the late William Hurt). Despite his political victory, Ross is devastated over the fact that his daughter Betty (Liv Tyler) no longer talks to him due to his obsession in the past with hunting down her boyfriend Bruce Banner aka the Hulk.

Five months later, Captain America is working with the U.S. military to recover classified items from a terrorist group called the Serpent Society, who are also holding hostages. Sam lets his friend and partner Joaquin Torres aka the new Falcon (Danny Ramirez) recover the items while he rescues the hostages. During the rescue, Wilson meets the group’s leader Seth Voelker/Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), who escapes.

President Ross invites Sam and Torres to a White House summit with world leaders including those from India, Japan and France. Before the summit, Sam invited his friend Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to the summit. Bradley was introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as a recipient of the super-solider formula that gave Steve Rogers his powers, but because he is Black, he was horribly treated and jailed by the U.S. government in the 1950s.

At the summit, Ross tries to make amends with Sam due to the antagonistic relationship he had with superheroes like Sam and Steve in past MCU films. He also asked Sam to rebuild the Avengers team, but Sam is hesitant because the team would have to answer to Ross. Still, Ross is willing to negotiate with Sam.

During the summit, it’s revealed that the items Sam and Danny recovered were Japanese samples of a new metal called adamantium that is stronger than vibranium. This metal was found on the newly created Celestial Island in the Indian Ocean and is part of the remains from the Celestial that the Eternals killed in their film. Ross proposes a treaty to mine and distribute the adamantium worldwide as a counter to the nation of Wakanda who exclusively owns vibranium. The event is going well until Bradley and few government agents get a musical signal which triggers them to attempt to assassinate Ross.

Even though Ross is saved, the summit is considered a failure as Japan blames the U.S. for the theft of the adamantium and threatens to pull out of the treaty. Sam, Danny and Ross realized that the person behind the theft and the assassination attempt was Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson). During the events of The Incredible Hulk, Sterns was infected by Banner’s gamma-irradiated blood and became a disfigured mutate called the Leader with an exposed cranium and the capability of a quantum computer. After that film, Ross imprisoned Stearns and secretly used Stearns’ advanced intellect to advance his career and keep him healthy.

After Sam and Danny try to confront Stearns, he escapes custody and launches a new plot to create a war between the U.S. and Japan and ruin Ross politically to get revenge on Ross. It is clear that Ross is having trouble dealing with the stress, which threatens to get out of control, and leads to Stearns’ trump card on Ross by turning him into a Red Hulk.  

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Feb 9 2025

The MCU: Countdown To Doomsday

This week Captain America: Brave New World, the penultimate film of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), premieres in theaters. Then on May 2, Thunderbolts*, closes out Phase Five, with Phase Six beginning a few short months later with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. From there it’s a very short trip to next year with Avengers: Doomsday, the beginning of the end for the MCU’s Multiverse Saga.

For some MCU fans this conclusion comes as a relief given the checkered record with the Multiverse Saga. Unlike the celebrated Infinity Saga, which consisted of Phases One, Two and Three, the Multiverse Saga has been inconsistent in terms of quality and execution. A lot of blame has to go to the Disney executives who demanded that Marvel Studios crank out too many MCU film and TV projects before they were properly developed in a short amount of time. Naturally, this diluted Marvel Studios resources and personnel to the point that special effects studios rebelled against Marvel Studios for being overworked on their assigned projects. What was worse was that the results of the studios stretching themselves too thin became very apparent on screen. For every success like Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 and WandaVision there were colossal failures like The Marvels and Secret Invasion.

But what made the Multiverse Saga so unsatisfying was that many of the projects did not add to an overall storyline. Unlike the Infinity Saga, where many films contributed to a larger storyline, this was not the case with the films and TV shows of Phases Four and Five. It was evident that a larger story was not being developed properly and some projects that were supposed to advance it did not succeed. It got to the point that Marvel Studios had to do a radical course correct and change the main villain of the Multiverse Saga from Kang the Conqueror to Doctor Doom.

The reaction to Doctor Doom being the main villain of the saga received mixed results, especially after the revelation that Robert Downey, Jr. would play the Latverian dictator. This casting raised many questions about whether or not Doctor Doom was a variant of Tony Stark, the hero that Downey played in the Infinity Saga. Some claimed this was a desperate move by Marvel Studios and Disney to generate excitement and attention. Well, it probably was, but it looks to be working.

However, given the short period of time before Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Studios has to get the ball going with Doom. Frankly, Marvel Studios should have taken steps by now to establish him. Looking at the release schedule for films this year there is this week’s Captain America: Brave New World, then Thunderbolts*, and finally The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is the start of Phase Six. Normally, Doctor Doom is a major Fantastic Four villain and should have been the main antagonist in The Fantastic Four: First Steps but thanks to the poor reception of the villain in previous versions of the Fantastic Four, the new FF film had to go with another villain (Galactus). After that the next MCU film is scheduled to be Avengers: Doomsday.

Unlike Thanos, who was carefully teased over years in the Infinity Saga, it seems as if we’re jumping right into Doctor Doom. Being that he is the number one villain in Marvel Comics, Doctor Doom deserves more build up. At the very least he or his country should have been name dropped in recent projects such as Deadpool & Wolverine or What If…?

We’ll soon find out if he will be teased in a post-credits scene in The Fantastic Four: First Steps or even mentioned in Captain America: Brave New World. Hell, even an Easter egg or two will work at this point. It would be a missed opportunity of epic proportions if he is not even referenced in the Fantastic Four film because after that it would be difficult to try to set him up in the remaining MCU projects before the Avengers film. He can be referenced in Captain America: Brave New World since that film will set up the forming of a new Avengers team, and mutants for the next MCU saga. He can also be teased in Thunderbolts* but it’s anyone’s guess as to how. The same goes for the TV projects like Daredevil: Born Again, Ironheart, Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies and Wonder Man. Aside from Marvel Zombies, none of the TV shows would be a good vehicle to feature Doctor Doom.

Of course, Marvel Studios could surprise all of us and announce that another film will come out after The Fantastic Four: First Steps and before Avengers: Doomsday and it must feature the armored tyrant in some capacity. What could that film be? Doctor Strange 3? On the other hand, do not be surprised if the next Avengers film gets its release date changed because we haven’t heard anything concrete about the actual production and Marvel Studios has to get started very soon to meet the May 2026 release date. It would not be the worse thing if Avengers: Doomsday is delayed by a few months or even a year since this would not only allow the hype to grow for it but to better set it up with upcoming projects.