3. The Falcon And The Winter Soldier (3/19/2021)
- Destiny vs. Deviation: Receiving Captain America’s shield from the temporal deviating “Old Man Steve” Rogers, Sam Wilson is positioned to carry the legacy that comes with it. The American government is well known for participating in genetic (deviation) experiments and the history of such heinous acts comes into better view. Bucky Barnes, having previously been a subject to genetic (deviation) experiments will naturally seek out his post Endgame purpose in life while assisting Sam in finding his.
- Directly picking up from the final moments of the biggest movie of all time, there seem to be invisible lines & strands that will connect different projects.
- There is no clear connection to the Multiverse in this series yet (besides “Old Man Steve” appearing in his “I did that” moment at the end of Endgame), but the theme of Genetic Deviation is present.
- Probability (100%): A slew of super humans (we have yet to confirm) will appear in this series; introducing John Walker aka U. S. Agent and his side kick BattleStar. The mass production of super powered beings speaks to the study of genetics on a geo-political scale which is best suited for this “cinematic experience”, as Feige has described. Governments, scientists, terrorists and power brokers like Baron Zemo (and Secretary Ross) will be vying for the edge to corner the market in Super Soldiers. The introduction of Madripoor into MCU is one of the best things that this project has to offer Marvel fans. The smallest of cameos from characters like Patch, Viper, Gorgon, The Silver Samurai, etc. would light my life up like Knowhere at night!
- Possibility (50%) Another theme seems to connect this project with Eternals, as well as Thor: Love & Thunder; the idea of worthiness. Falcon has to overcome the challenge of being deemed “worthy” to assume the mantle of Captain America like he does in the comics. The Eternals, created along with the Deviant species are to be judged by The Celestials on whether Earth and its inhabitants are worthy of existence. The introduction of The Mighty Thor brings the hammer Mjolnir back in to play. Only the “worthy” may wield Mjolnir. (Huge stretch…but stretching is good for our bodies, imagination and creativity.)
- Possibility (75%) The next Genetic Deviation themed project after this one seems to be Ms. Marvel. We could possibly see her, Isaiah (Black Captain America) & Elijah Bradley (Patriot) introduced in this series. We should definitely be expecting legacy nods to Captain America, like The Weapon Plus Program (which in turn experimented on Wolverine and many more). I wouldn’t be surprised to see The Original Human Torch or Namor The Sub-Mariner worked into the storyline somehow. This is his 80th birthday after all.
4. Black Widow (5/7/21)
- Destiny vs. Deviation: Speaking of Super Soldiers and genetics, here is the first lady of the MCU Avengers in her long awaited solo movie primed for the fight of her life against the enhanced mercenary, Taskmaster. Battling to stop the creation of more Black Widows by a program called The Red Room. As guilt plagues Natasha Romanov’s mind, she must face her past in order make peace with herself.
- Probability (90%): We learn more about Natasha’s origin. Yelena Belova, who is destined to become the “new” Black Widow has some sort of experiment scene in the trailer. Knowing that she will survive this movie (she is cast in Hawkeye), gives me confidence that Hawkeye will be in this film.
- Possibility (50%): This movie is as much about the legacy of Black Widow as The Falcon And The Winter Soldier is about Captain America’s legacy. Since Natasha will encounter the likes of Secretary Ross and/or A.I.M., so will Yelena. One road leads to The Thunderbolts, the other leads to becoming Super-Adaptoid. A lot of people may not know that Black Widow shared a comic book run with The Inhumans. Although she is human and Marvel never explores a genetic deviation in her (to my recollection), they usually attach super humans to her story.
- Since the movie is based in Eastern Europe and Russia among other regions and Eternals was set to be the movie after this, until COVID changed things, there is a idea that Druig (or some other Eternal) could be living as a government official in the former Soviet Union. I also think it’s possible that we see other members of The Winter Guard. (I almost hurt myself with that stretch. Lol!)
5. Loki (5/2021)
- Destiny vs. Deviation The Loki from first Avengers movie creates a temporal deviation in Endgame that sees him escape from “The Battle of New York” with The Space Stone, which is still encased in The Tesseract. He is somehow abducted by the Time Variance Authority, a organization of Multiversal and Temporal police that exist in a temporal deviation, called the Null-Time Zone. Loki has to appear to do good to obtain his own selifish desires. Helping to solve a mystery, he creates multiple temporal deviations which could lead to catastrophe.
- Probability (99%) It seemed like a stretch to many when I officially was the first to predict Kang The Conqueror would make his debut in Loki, but these exercises are how I realize what Marvel is up to without getting inside info (which I am privy to sometimes for transparency). Anyway, we have already seen Johnathan Major’s (Kang) face sculpted behind Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character in the trailer. That is enough for a super fan like myself, except for the fact that we will see a Mjolnir worthy Loki!
- Possibility (50%) We could see the outcomes of Loki succeeding in each of his attempts to gain power throughout The Infinity Saga. This could be “The Cosmic Ghosts of Christmas Past” meets Time Bandits meets Usual Suspects. We could see the debut of Lady Loki, Kid Loki and Old Loki. And what would a murder mystery be without a railroad train? In The TVA’s case, The Cross-Time Central Express Railroad!!!
6. What If…? (Summer 2021)
- Destiny vs. Deviation: “Space, Time, Reality…it’s more than a linear path. It’s a prism of endless possibilities.”
- Nothing is probable about a What If scenario.
- Possibility (100%) Enter Uatu The Watcher. This is the poster child of Destiny vs. Deviation. A complete exercise of showcasing what stories are possible in The MCU. Every episode is a full Multiversal Deviation. Again, nothing is probable because anything is possible. (‘Nuff said)
7. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (pronounced Shong-She) (7/9/21)
- Destiny vs. Deviation: Not much is known about this film yet. The story from the comics is about a son raised to be a special warrior that must fight endlessly to redeem himself after committing an atrocity in the name of his father. Marvel has deviated from the original story. Pictures of sets online indicate that this will be a world building film.
- Probability (90%) We see an origin of The Ten Rings and The Mandarin.
- Possibility (50%) We could see the debut of multiversal alien, Fin Fang Foom.
- Possibility (40%) Significant mutant characters could make their debut or cameo in this film. I personally would love to see Tivan, The Collector trap Fin at some point but there is no reason to believe that is possible besides comic book stories.
