4. Fix The Inhumans
If you’re like me, like any comic book reader, then you’re familiar with Kamala Khan. A Pakistani-American kid with Inhuman DNA, she’s got elements of everything that makes Marvel heroes great: Peter Parker’s joy and snark, her infectious cheer about being a superhero, a unique history, overcoming the struggles of being a teenager and a REALLY amazing superpowers. She joins a number of other really interesting characters like Lunella Lafayette, Daisy Johnson, and Iso. There are a lot of interesting Inhumans, people who gain abilities and powers thanks to the Kree messing with human DNA eons ago.
The problem is that most people don’t know the Inhumans and Marvel’s attempt to create a brand much like the X-Men has flopped in a massive way. Many critics argue that one of the defining reasons (if not the defining reason) behind Disney’s acquisition of Fox’s entertainment assets was to bring the Merry Mutants home. Whatever people might think, that doesn’t solve Kamala, Lunella, Lockjaw, and the “Inhuman” problem that plagues some of the best-loved characters of the MCU at large.
Is it time to bring Sana Amat, G. Willow Wilson, and the rest of Kamala’s creative team into the Studio fold to discuss just how the studio can fix its Inhuman problem? The Inhumans (particularly these Inhumans) must be a part of the MCU. Not regulated to television (although bringing in Daisy Johnson to the MCU at large is an important idea), but the the films.
Black Panther proves there’s money in gambits like this, so have people come up with a backstory that fits these characters. Either re-do the Inhuman city (or have it be an abandoned Inhuman city like the ones found on Agents of SHIELD) or have them be Inhumans from an alternate dimension who end up in the MCU’s dimension (which is Earth-199999 for anyone curious). But give fans Kamala, Lunella, and others a backstory they deserve. Where is Attilan? Who designed it? What sort of influences are there in it?
In this case, I’d also like for Marvel to lean in Saladin Ahmed’s direction. His Black Bolt book gave the king a degree of pathos and humanity that has lacked in other adaptations. Turning the Inhumans over to these guys could craft an incredible Attilan, it’s only a matter of how we fit it into the MCU at large that makes the issue difficult.
With characters like Lunella stepping into animated roles as well as Marvel’s Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors the stage is set. Now it’s just time to bring them to the big screen.