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    Where Are They Now In The Marvel Cinematic Universe?

    By

    mcuwhere

    The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going for eight years now. Even more impressive, after Captain America: Civil War, they have thirteen movies under their belts. Not to mention, four shows, and more on the way or rumored.

    As massive the MCU has become, it’s great to see some old threads tied. Civil War featured the return of General Thaddeus “Thuderbolt” Ross. Besides Downey Jr’s cameo, this marked the first returning cast member from The Incredible Hulk; the second movie in the MCU.

    Agents Blake and Sitwell started popping up here in there, mainly in the Marvel One-Shots. Most recently, Blake has turned evil on Agents of SHIELD. And after several appearances on SHIELD, Sitwell met his demise after whispering “Hail Hydra” into Senator Stern’s (the late Gary Shandling, returning from Iron Man 2) ear. Note that he was a television character that the movies acknowledged.

    Yet there’s still loose ends. Many interesting or potential characters have been in limbo. If the MCU continues to chug along over the next several years, surely they should come back and pick them up.

    Doc Samson

    Only appearance: The Incredible Hulk

    Ty Burell, known for Modern Family and Muppets Most Wanted, played a pre-mutated Leonard Samson. In the movie, he is romantically involved with Betty Ross. He also assumes his position as the therapist.

    In the comics, he was mutated by Gamma rays, just like Hulk; only, Doc has purple skin and green hair. I would love to see Burell in that mutated state. What’s Boss Logic’s number?

    Betty Ross Banner

    Only appearance: The Incredible Hulk

     

    In Ang Lee’s Hulk, Betty was played by Jennifer Connolly from Labyrinth and Beautiful Mind. But in The Incredible Hulk, she is the daughter of Aerosmith, I mean Liv Tyler. Like I said, she was last romantically involved with Doc Samson, but there was still some love for Bruce.

    Deathlok

    First appearance: Agents of SHIELD Season 1

    Last appearance: Agents of SHIELD Season 2

    One thing SHIELD is good at is turning original characters into a classic one from the comics; like Skye into Quake.

    Mike Petersen was a single father who got caught up with Project Centipede. By the end of the season, he became the classic character, Deathlok. Though, the show also added that John Garret (Bill Paxton/created by Frank Miller), since he was a already cyborg, was the original Deathlok.

    Mike came back for the second season, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss, hi-how-you-doing, appearance. But season three came and gone with no whisper from the guy.

    Zodiac

    Only appearance: Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter

    In the One-Shot, Peggy sought out a mission against a terrorist organization know as the Zodiac. In the comics, the Zodiac were full of sign-themed baddies. There was Scorpio, who had a history with Nick Fury. There was also Taurus, a Minotaur-like villain.

    Too bad the show didn’t feature a peep from the guys. That would have kept it from cancellation.

    Abomination

    First appearance: The Incredible Hulk

    Last mention: Agents of SHIELD Season 1

    Tim Roth is a vet from such films as Pulp Fiction and Planet of the Apes (2001). He played Emil Blonsky against Edward Norton’s jade giant. Last we heard, Coulson threatened Ward to guard duty at Blonsky’s cell in Alaska.

    Longshot

    Only mention: Agents of SHIELD Season 1

    In SHIELD‘s very first episode, Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) returned as Agent Maria Hill, in which she asked Grant Ward about the X-Man.

    Longshot, I thought for sure Fox had the rights to. He was an X-Men mainstay in the ’90’s, who Cyclops and the gang picked up in Mojoworld. I wonder if they were only allowed the Easter Egg. I would sure love to see the blade-throwing/probability-messing dude in the MCU.

     

    Human Torch

    Only appearance: Captain America: The First Avenger

    Dr. Phineas Horton created the original Human Torch. No, not Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four, but Jim Hammond, an android. This Human Torch was actually from the pages of Timely Comics. It wasn’t until publisher Martin Goodman’s nephew, Stan Lee took over, that name changed to Marvel. He was a member of The Invaders, which featured Captain America and Bucky, Sub-Mariner, and Human Torch’s sidekick Toro, not an android.

    In the first Captain America, Steve and Bucky take a couple of girls to the World’s Fair, where Howard Stark shows off his flying car (possibly Coulson’s Lola). They walk by a tube encasing a mannequin-looking figure wearing a red suit. In a marquee above, reads “Dr. Phineas Horton Presents: The Synthetic Man.”

    It was rumored that Ultron would put Jarvis into this Human Torch’s body to create The Vision.

    Justin Hammer

    First appearance: Iron Man 2

    Last appearance: Marvel One Shot: All Hail the King

    Sam Rockwell (Frost/Nixon, Matchstick Men) played one of the prime antagonists of Iron Man 2. He was rival to Tony Stark in the arms world. Rockwell’s character was far younger than his comic counterpart.

    Since his capture, he was last found in Seagate Prison, where Trevor Slattery was interviewed for his impersonation of the Mandarin.

    Harley Keener

    Only appearance: Iron Man 3

    With War Machine becoming more prominent as the movies have moved along, it’s easy to forget that Tony Stark had another sidekick. Harley Keener wasn’t anybody from the comics. But he won our hearts nonetheless. We last saw him when Tony left him a garage full of tech, so he could grow up to be just like his hero. I’m sure many are wondering if he indeed grew up to be just like his hero.

    A popular fancast is for him to become Nova. There’s been a handful of Novas, especially, like Green Lantern, there’s a whole Corps of him. But also like the Green Lantern Corps, there’s a few of them from Earth. However, none of those were named Harley Keener. But with the rumor that Phase Four will feature such hero, and the Corps’s introduction in Guardians of the Galaxy, there’s hope for his return yet.

     

    Mandarin

    First appearance: Iron Man 3 (sorta)

    Last mention: Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King

     

    As an apology for Iron Man 3, All Hail the King promised us a real Mandarin out there somewhere.

    Tony Stark became Iron Man when he was captured by the Mandarin and forced to build a weapon for him. Instead, Tony, with the help of Yinsin, built a suit of armor to escape, and potentially free his cellmate (of course, we know Yinsin’s fate).

    In the movie, however, Tony was captured by a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings. This played as a nice metaphor to Mandarin, as he possessed ten rings, which each had their own power. Iron Man 3 never put two-and-two together. But then again, Trevor Slattery wasn’t the real Mandarin. And when Jackson Norris revealed to him that there was a real Mandarin, he further explained that he was the leader of the Ten Rings.

     

    Maria Hill

    First appearance: The Avengers

    Last appearance: Agents of SHIELD Season 1/ Deleted scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron

    Cobie Smulders jumped from TV to the big screen, from Robin Sparkles to Nick Fury’s right hand man, er woman. In the comics, she takes over as director of SHIELD. But in the MCU, Fury gave the Department to Coulson. Subsequently, she got a job with Stark Industries, where she works for Pepper Potts now.

    She was on the very first episode of Agents of SHIELD. Then, after the fall of SHIELD in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which bled into Agents of SHIELD, is when she jumped companies. In the remaining episodes of the first season, she appeared as an employee of Stark. Though she hasn’t returned yet to let us know how that’s going, or if she likes her new boss, Pepper. But, she was in a deleted scene for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

    Red Skull

    Only appearance: Captain America: The First Avenger

    A little bit ago, I concocted a theory as to where our red-faced baddie could be. In such, I actually proposed two theories. One went along the lines of Mark Millar’s story in the Ultimate Universe, where Red Skull was actually Steve Rogers’s son. Of course, in the MCU, this version would be a second generation Red Skull.

    The other theory traced him from when we last saw him, teleported by the Cosmic Cube, a.k.a the Tesseract. It proposed that he’s somewhere out in space, possibly Asgard, and could show up in either Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, or Avengers: Infinity War, as they are all cosmic-bound.

    The Leader

    Only appearance: The Incredible Hulk

    As The Leader, Samuel Sterns has proved to be Hulk’s main antagonist. Though, you wouldn’t know it with Thunderbolt Ross’s overshadowing. If the General could return, then how about his other arch nemesis?

    Whereas we would love to see Ross take on his ultimate fate as Red Hulk, we actually did see Sterns show signs of his mutation. When “Mr. Blue” attempted to cure Norton’s Banner, Hulk refused to be suppressed, and turned the table on Sterns. We last saw him as his head was starting to grow, which would eventually give him his appearance in the comics.

    Boss Logic could also do a piece of Tim Blake Nelson as how he’d look as The Leader.