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The Avengers, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, are getting a big downgrade.
Credit: Marvel Studios
While Iron Man (2008) may have kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the emergence of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), it was The Avengers (2012) that truly realized the possibilities of a shared superhero universe. In the team-up movie, fans saw the classic lineup of Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) finally team up to kick some Chitauri ass, and they’ve been chasing that high ever since.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) was generally treated as a bit of a letdown despite introducing characters like Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and the titular malevolent AI (James Spader). While Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019) managed to close out the Infinity Saga with a powerful one-two punch, Marvel Studios has never really been able to recapture the magic of seeing the original group together.
Credit: Marvel Studios
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That might be changing, but not at the same prestige level that one might expect. While Avengers: Doomsday (formerly The Kang Dynasty) and Avengers: Secret Wars are both in the works for massive theatrical releases, it is being speculated that a Disney+ streaming series will introduce elements of the West Coast Avengers, a Marvel Comics team best described as the B-squad.
Credit: Marvel Studios
Respected entertainment industry scooper Daniel Richtman, also known as @DanielRPK, has reported that the upcoming Vision series (also referred to as Vision Quest at various times) is taking some inspiration from the West Coast Avengers, opening a new era of superhero team-up possibilities. He posted, “I hear this show will have elements from the ‘West [Coast] Avengers’ run and might even have members of that team in the series.”
The West Coast Avengers were created by Roger Stern and Bob Hall in 1984 for a self-titled spinoff of the original Avengers title, acting as an expansion of the concept both in-universe and as a Marvel franchise. The team was originally formed by Hawkeye at the behest of Vision and included Mockingbird, Tigra, James Rhodes (then using the Iron Man name rather than War Machine), and Wonder Man. Over the years, the team has included Scarlet Witch, Hank Pym (one of the Ant-Men), the Wasp, and Moon Knight; it even inspired its own spinoff, the bizarro Great Lakes Avengers.
Credit: Marvel Comics
It is not exactly fair to call the West Coast Avengers the JV squad of Marvel Comics, but it is not exactly inaccurate. That could explain why, if Kevin Feige intends to bring the team into the MCU, it may be via a Disney+ streaming show rather than a full-fledged film. However, it is a pretty big demotion in terms of status, no matter how you cut it.
The Vision series will star Paul Bettany as the White Vision, the new version of the Infinity Stone-boosted android first introduced in Age of Ultron, killed in Infinity War, and resurrected in WandaVision. After the events of that Disney+ series, in which Wanda Maximoff (Olsen) imprisoned a New Jersey town in a reality bubble and embraced her destiny as a magic user, White Vision took off for parts unknown.
Credit: Marvel Studios
Related: Disney Wants ‘Deadpool’ Avengers Team: Report
This new show, reportedly inspired by Tom King’s 2015 Vision series, will presumably follow the soulful android as he comes to terms with his strange existence and maybe, just maybe, form some kind of adjunct Avengers team. The series will also mark James Spader’s return as Ultron and is heavily rumored to feature Elizabeth Olsen’s return to the MCU in some form.
It is worth noting that Marvel is also currently producing Wonder Man, a series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, an actor-turned-superhero with deep connections (in the comics) to Vision, and some new series or movie (it’s unclear) featuring Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) has already been introduced to the franchise, as has Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac), so we’ve got a whole bunch of West Coast Avengers already on the field.
Credit: Marvel Studios
Considering how expensive it is becoming to make Avengers movies, maybe it makes sense that the next version of the team will be on Disney+. Even if that’s a demotion.
What’s your favorite Avengers movie?
“}]] The ‘Avengers’ used to be the pride of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and now they’re getting dumped on streaming. Read More