Marvel Comics is filled with great characters. However, what makes many comic book fans happier than many solo comic book series is seeing some of their favorite characters team up with one another. This is pretty much how the Avengers team began. The idea was to put some of the most notable characters in Marvel together and then give them a major threat to take on. This led to the “Avengers-Level Threat” moniker that is now so well known in popular media. Marvel Comics teams are quite abundant, but which team or teams could become the next “Avengers” for Marvel Studios? By this question, we mean the big team-up film or films that could generate major revenue for the studio.<\/p>\n
Of course, this could also mean films about notable teams of characters that have yet to be introduced into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe<\/a><\/strong>. That would be similar to what we saw recently with the Eternals film. While this movie did not exactly do massive numbers at the box office, many feel there were simply a lot of issues making sense of them in today’s MCU. That does not mean that an all-new team of characters to the MCU could not do well though. We decided to discuss why several teams could become pretty huge for Marvel Studios & Disney alike if they really wanted something to replace the Avengers as their new cash cow. Let’s get started!<\/p>\n
It would be wrong of us to not get this one out of the way. The Thunderbolts<\/a><\/strong> have had a messy history, but an interesting one. They have been both villains and heroes over the years. Initially, they began their time as villains but chose to renounce this in favor of the heroic move. Sometimes this is a fake attempt to appear good but they’ll remain evil. Other times, it is completely genuine on their part. It really comes down to who is writing their comic series at the time. Interestingly, we know Marvel Studios is likely trying to build this team and could end up bringing it to the MCU within the next year or so. Currently, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is playing Valentina Allegra de Fontaine<\/a><\/strong>. She has been showing up randomly in Marvel movies and Disney+ shows.<\/p>\n
Also something we will likely be seeing a version of very soon. The Asgardians of the Galaxy<\/a><\/strong> in Marvel Comics is not technically related to the Guardians of the Galaxy, which might seem a bit odd given its name. Rather, it is built using mostly notable Asgardian characters. They originally popped up in Marvel Comics when the Guardians became “no more” back in 2018. It consisted of notable Asgardians like Valkyrie, Skurge, Thunderstrike, Angela, and Throg. Yet they also were accompanied by The Destroyer, but it was remotely being controlled by Kid Loki. We will likely be seeing a version of this team come about sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
We know Thor joined the Guardians and will likely be in the third installment of their movie series, which is said to be the last time the original team members are together. It is likely that the Guardians go down or dissolve and are replaced in their role as guardians of the universe by this team. It might include the Odinson, as the power of Thor is set to go to Jane as part of the upcoming Thor: Love & Thunder<\/em><\/a><\/strong> movie due out in Summer 2022. Even if it does not include him, we’ve already seen some of these characters in the MCU. The others would be easy to add among others.<\/p>\n
We know Marvel Studios sort of tried with the Inhumans several years ago with a television series<\/a><\/strong> on ABC. It did ultimately fail, but all of the animated Inhuman content did do remarkably well given how difficult it was to introduce so many of them. Like the mutants in Marvel, the Inhumans are a massive group of individuals. What makes them differ from the mutants is truly where they were in the world at large, as well as the Terrigen bomb. The mutants actually were on an entirely different world from all the other superpowered people in their original run. The Inhumans, on the other hand, were initially just in hiding and stayed away from everyone.<\/p>\n
The bomb forced Inhumans out, as regular people on Earth might have had some trace of Inhuman within them. If so, the Terrigen bomb that went off would put them into their own specialized cacoon until they came out with powers. All of these new powered people made Inhumans well-known, but also made people fear them and the new Inhumans who had no grasp of their powers yet. This story can be told well<\/a><\/strong>, and the major Inhumans could still become a major force in the MCU. It’s just that Marvel Comics teams like this need to be given a better storyline, and time needs to be given. Marvel Studios may realize this now, as Ms. Marvel will be coming to Disney+ sometime this year. She is an Inhuman herself and could help to properly introduce more as her show progresses.<\/p>\n
The Strikeforce unit<\/a><\/strong> happens to be one of the most interesting newer teams to Marvel Comics. A lot of what makes them so interesting to people is the fact that they do not handle villains like others. They are brutal and ruthless, willing to kill if they need to. Therefore, the members of this team needed to fit that kind of thing. If you want that, look no further than people like Blade and Bucky Barnes. Both of which have no problem ending lives and doing it again. On top of these two, they added Hellstorm & Monica Rambeau, both of which have a long history of being useful to teams they have been part of.<\/p>\n
S.W.O.R.D.<\/a><\/strong> is a lot like S.H.I.E.L.D. to most people. They handle universal problems while S.H.I.E.L.D. mostly handles things that affect the Earth or our solar system at most. Overall, they are a counterterrorism and intelligence unit with some very impressive heroes on their squad. While S.H.I.E.L.D. did have some connections with various superheroes or used villains to help them at times, they were not an official “team.” Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. organized the Avengers to be the only major team affiliated with them, but they became their own thing outside of this territory. Thus, S.H.I.E.L.D. mostly just used agents at most.<\/p>\n
S.W.O.R.D. has no choice but to operate differently as they take on extraterrestrial threats, so they need entire strike teams. While some of these people did not have powers, they all had superior abilities or weapons they could use. Abigail Brand<\/a><\/strong> runs the entire thing, but she is accompanied by several mutants like Beast, Emma Frost, Jean Grey, Cable, and even Magneto at times. Of course, Spider-Woman operates as a major agent for them along with some major villains like Doctor Doom at points. This is one of the varying Marvel Comics teams that could be very fun to utilize and could make a ton of money if used right.<\/p>\n
While this team might never see the light of day for the MCU, it would be a real shame to not utilize it. The Agents of Atlas team<\/a><\/strong> is made up entirely of Asian or Asian-American superheroes, making it very unique to the Marvel Comics teams world but also comic books entirely. The original version of the team was not exactly like this, as it debuted in the 1970s under Marvel’s “What If” saga. Yet this would change a few years back to the All-Asian team we now see today. You might have come to love Randall Park’s version of Jimmy Woo<\/a><\/strong> in WandaVision<\/em>. If so, you’ll be happy to know he is the head of this team and helped to organize it.<\/p>\n
The Secret Avengers<\/a><\/strong> became a thing pretty much out of necessity only. The Avengers are usually known for being big, brash, and in your face. You could see them coming a mile away and the major battles could possibly be seen from space. Yet the Avengers needed a black-ops unit to handle more “delicate” matters. While the Superhuman Registration Act<\/a><\/strong> was removed at the request of Steve Rogers, he still did not trust what the government might do again. If they could do something like that once, what is to stop them from doing something equally as bad or worse? The Avengers needed to be able to somehow work without interference.<\/p>\n
It should first be noted that we will want to steer more toward the later version of The Ultimates<\/a><\/strong> team rather than the original. The Ultimates<\/em> series debuted in 2002 in an attempt to modernize the Avengers comic book franchise. They felt they needed to center it around a military task force made up of super-humans and special agents. “The Ultimates” team would be organized by the American government and were deployed to combat growing threats to the United States and its allies. Of course, to no one’s surprise, Captain America was made leader along with Nick Fury. Yet this team was revamped to become a more “galactic” unit in 2015<\/a><\/strong> though.<\/p>\n
Marvel’s Champions<\/a><\/strong> team formed when young members of the Avengers left the team. They became disappointed in the actions of elder and\/or longtime team members. This became especially prominent following their actions during and after the second superhuman Civil War. It was due to this war along with others that people had a lot of distrust in superheroes overall. The younger heroes wanted to rectify everything to bring back that lost trust. Therefore, Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales (Spider-Man), and Sam Alexander (Nova) decided to go out on their own to form a new team we now call “The Champions.”<\/p>\n
Obviously, it would be stupid of us to ignore the X-Men<\/a><\/strong>. They are possibly the most notable of all Marvel Comics teams, as well as their many off-shoot teams as well. Interestingly, they are not technically in the MCU right now as they were part of FOX’s own separate universe. This is pretty cool to see, as it gives us the original comic book separation of universes. However, bringing the X-Men into the MCU means you can have them around for some giant storylines. Quite a few X-Men story-arcs and comic books have sold very well for Marvel over the years, making the X-Men brand quite massive.<\/p>\n
For those somehow unaware of who they are, the X-Men is made up of mutants. In Marvel Comics, mutants are those who are born with the X-Gene<\/a><\/strong>. This gene is possible for anyone to be born with, but it seems to be incredibly common for those with at least one mutant parent. These mutations in the body allow for the person to be born with superhuman abilities. Sometimes, it can cause them to look very different compared to regular humans but most mutants “appear” like normal humans until they use their powers. These powers can vary and there are even different threat levels for them, with “Omega” being only for the top mutants in Marvel.<\/p>\n
You now know about the mutants in Marvel, but a lot of the X-Men content came about very early in Marvel Comics. We saw those same mutants with only a few new additions after a while. By the 1980s, there was a call for newer mutants to come about. This is when the likes of Deadpool and Cable were created, along with several other newer mutants. Due to the success of the X-Men franchise, a spin-off comic book series made sense to go with. That led to the New Mutants<\/em><\/a><\/strong> comic series, which debuted in 1982. It was the first of several X-Men spin-off comics and one of the most successful. While some loved the initial run for its new characters, the stories were refreshing too.<\/p>\n
We did not just have another Magneto & Brotherhood of Mutants story for the 100th time. We were given great stories involving not only other villainous mutants but other major villains from Marvel. That includes encounters with Hela, Enchantress, Loki, Magnus, and the Beyonder. FOX even felt this would be a good thing to go with, which is why they released a New Mutants movie<\/a><\/strong> that came out around the time of the Disney-FOX deal that sent Disney rights to all of the X-Men content. It’s assumed Disney will go with them, as the New Mutants could be a great series at first if nothing else. They are one of the few Marvel Comics teams that people are not tired of seeing, as we only want more!<\/p>\n
Based on what little we have seen from the new Doctor Strange 2<\/em> trailer<\/a><\/strong>, it does seem that Marvel Studios and Disney are considering the idea of bringing in the Illuminati<\/a><\/strong> group. Of course, this is not “exactly” like the mystical, conspiracy-theory fueled, nonexistent Illuminati you might have heard of. Rather, the group was put together with the idea of stopping major threats in the background. Essentially, each member of this group brings something very important to the universe. Thus, they can technically steer the universe in a specific direction without ever being connected to such an event taking place.<\/p>\n
Marvel Studios has been planning to expand heavily<\/em> in the universal stories that Marvel Comics is blessed to have a seemingly infinite amount of. In doing this, they will need to expand beyond the Guardians of the Galaxy and go toward teams that could be massive. That brings us to the Annihilators<\/a><\/strong>, one of the few Marvel Comics teams that contain superheroes that could likely get pretty much anything handled solo. The Annihilators comic series was a limited one initially that ran four issues in early 2011<\/a><\/strong>. The series became so popular that another limited series ran another four issues after this in the latter half of 2011.<\/p>\n
Another team that Marvel Studios could very well be setting up sooner rather than later is the Midnight Sons<\/a><\/strong>. The team is made up of mostly supernatural superheroes, or those who have dealt with major supernatural events. The original team was formed by the two Ghost Riders: Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch. They learn that Lilith, the Mother of all Demons, is about to be resurrected. They team up with the Nightstalkers: Blade, Frank Drake, and Hannibal King along with Morbius the Living Vampire, Darkhold Redeemers, and Vengence himself, Michael Badilino. Michael is yet another Ghost Rider, but it’s a long story<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Some would say that The Defenders<\/a><\/strong> are not really a “team.” They are often a group of individuals forced to work together to defeat a major threat. Making them unlikely non-team members who just show up in the same place to fight. However, this was their original issue at first. The original team was led by Doctor Strange and included Namor, The Hulk, and even Silver Surfer. These characters tend to be individuals and only work on teams out of necessity. Things changed in later incarnations of the Defenders team.<\/p>\n
Those teams often consisted of Valkyrie, Luke Cage, Nighthawk, Beast, Gargoyle, and Hellcat. However, the team did make their first appearance in major media through Netflix<\/a><\/strong>. As the streaming service already used several Marvel characters, they decided to give them a team-up series. “The Defenders” team was the best option for them and included Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist. The series had mixed reviews, but that does not mean we could not see it again within the MCU overall. It truly is a great IP for Marvel Studios to use, and it would not make any sense to turn down the money it could make them.<\/p>\n
After the massive success of Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/em>, fans are dying to see a film or series with all three major cinematic Spider-Man actors. It would be cool to see, but this is not the first time Marvel brought Spider characters together. In fact, they did this quite a bit within the Spider-Verse storyline<\/a><\/strong>. Initially, the team-up happened between Peter Parker and Miles Morales, who were the Spider-Man heroes of their own specific world. Miles took on the mantle when “his” Peter died. Yet other Spider characters showed up in the universe to team with them, including Ghost Spider, Scarlet Spider, and Spider-Man 2099.<\/p>\n
Due to how crazy it would be to turn down a proper team of spider heroes, Disney decided to use the team-up as a series<\/a><\/strong> on Disney XD. Though animated, they proved how awesome it would be to team these characters up. Nicknamed the “Web-Warriors,” due to the lack of an official team name in the comics, the series was terrific. It is clear how much people love the Spider-Man IP. With over a billion dollars made on the last film, fans clearly want to see these characters more. Plus, the MCU has yet to debut so many awesome spider characters. It would be perfect to do this and team them up to take on a major threat once again.<\/p>\n
The Heroes for Hire<\/a><\/strong> team initially started as a buddy team-up involving Luke Cage and Iron Fist. The two were so good together that they made sense to keep using, so their comic series ended up doing very well. The name first appeared in Cage’s Power Man comic series back in 1978, as Iron Fist’s comic series had been canceled due to lower sales. Therefore, joining up with Luke Cage was a smart concept, so the writers gave him a three-part role in the Power Man series. However, the appearance was so beloved that Marvel canceled the Power Man solo comic in favor of a Power Man and Iron Fist comic series soon after. The official Heroes for Hire comic series by name began in 1996.<\/p>\n
Often called Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos, the simpler term of “Howling Commandos<\/a><\/strong>” has been used more in the last number of years. As it allowed the team to separate from Fury and do their own thing. Initially, the name was given to “Sgt. Nick Fury’s” elite squad during World War II. This series debuted in the 1960s and ran through the 1980s. However, it differed heavily from the team Fury organized in 2005 for the brand new Howling Commandos series. This team focused more on the paranormal, monster-like villains. Thus, it needed to be a team made up of people from that world.<\/p>\n
We get it, FOX has tried their hardest<\/a><\/strong> to make the Fantastic Four work. However, they never really showed they understood these characters. Allowing Disney and the newer Marvel Studios to get their hands on this IP would be amazing. To be fair, it is not as if the original movies did not do very well. In 2005, the original movie released before anything other than X-Men had proven to be valuable from the comic book world in cinema. It made a little over $333 million. The second movie made a little over $300 million. This doubled their budgets, and they even made this money in a time when movie tickets were a little cheaper than they are today.<\/p>\n
The 2015 abomination still made $167 million, getting back its budget. Thus, it is clear this team has value. If done right, the Fantastic Four<\/a><\/strong> could be massive for Marvel Studios. They are one of those Marvel Comics teams that everyone still has a special connection to. It is hard to let “Marvel’s First Family” go, as they were massive for the comic book world overall for half a century already. Heck, Human Torch is among the first creations for Marvel Comics overall. It is clear Marvel Studios will bring them back. The question is, will they be able to draw just as much money as the Avengers? It is certainly possible.<\/p>\n
They say if something is not broken, then you shouldn’t fix it. The Avengers IP is still incredibly valuable, but it’s obvious that we cannot keep seeing the same cast of characters over and over. There needs to be a change, and Marvel Comics felt the same about that. This led to the introduction of the Young Avengers<\/a><\/strong>. Officially debuting in 2005, they were formed by Iron Lad. He happens to be a young version of Kang the Conqueror known as Nate Richards<\/a><\/strong>. His future self goes back to the past and takes his teenage self to the future to show what all he will have. However, instead of feeling accomplished by this, it horrifies Richards.<\/p>\n
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Marvel Comics<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
Marvel Studios<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
The Walt Disney Company<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
IMDb<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
Rotten Tomatoes<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
FOX Corporation<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"