The Disney Investor press conference has people speculating left and right, planning to grab the streaming service, thinking about what content Disney will produce, and generally getting very excited. Marvel has dropped quite a lot of content themselves with shows based on Scarlet Witch and Vision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and Hawkeye. There’s a question however that remains to be seen. Why are the dead avengers (except for Hawkeye) getting TV shows?
We Know The Good Guys Are Coming Back, But Why These Good Guys?
Let’s be honest. As much as people like Scarlet Witch in the comics, she’s not as big a character in the MCU and doesn’t have the fanbase of someone like – say – Black Widow. Or Shuri and any of the other Black Panther characters. Scarlet Witch gets her powers in Avengers: Age of Ultron and has one battle in Captain America: Civil War before she runs off with Vision. Her whole focus has been on Vision, setting up her arc of being forced to kill him in Avengers: Infinity War.
Loki, while a popular character, is still dead. Fans may speculate about it, but barring some major shift, it’s not likely that he’s coming back because he died before Thanos snapped. It bears asking just how far the Avengers will have to go back if they time travel to reverse the snap, but let’s be honest. Loki’s story has run his course.
Bucky and Falcon are also a really weird team up. Both got snapped by Thanos and neither were particularly close – at least from what we saw in the MCU. Alternatively there’s also Hawkeye, and the Archer series is supposed to be about him passing on the mantle. So. What’s going on here?
It’s a weird line up, especially when there are characters who have massive fanbases like Shuri, Valkyrie, Black Widow, Captain Marvel or any of her supporting cast. Only the dead ones, and not just the dead ones but THESE dead ones. Let’s consider what this might mean.
Each One of These Characters Will Become Significantly Important
This is the least likely, at least for me.
I’m not going to apologize for this. Bucky is essentially a foil for Steve, as is Falcon (it’s battle of the foils, two guys who love Steve so much) and unless something really crazy happens Bucky is pretty set in his “white wolf of Wakanda” role. It’s a unique concept, but why Falcon? If they have to come together in the wake of Steve’s death that’s likely – but what possibly could bring them together in the wake of Thanos?
The big thing that breaks this theory is Vision and Scarlet Witch. Both characters have spent their time developing their romance – not as heroes. While a romantic superhero series would be a twist, it doesn’t make for super compelling television. The MCU doing This is Us or Jane the Virgin doesn’t strike me as something that would work.
What can we say about Loki except – despite the overwhelming fanbase – he’s still dead and his arc has run his course. He did the most heroic thing possible and tried to save his brother. It’s going to be hard to figure out where he should go next.
The only person who this would account for would be Clint passing on his mantle but…hear me out…