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| Jessica Jones' cast and Luke Cage are the only ones missing from this photo to be honest... |
Just fair warning, I'm going to mention a LOT of spoilers and potential spoilers, so continue reading at your own risk if you haven't been keeping up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole lately.
I. Disposable Villains
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| Top (left to right): The Winter Soldier, Thanos, Justin Hammer Far left: Loki (of course) Bottom (left to right): Red Skull, Ultron, Nebula |
Outside of Grant Ward (Marvel's Agents of SHIELD), the Kingpin (Daredevil), Nuke (Jessica Jones), Crossbones (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Nebula (Guardians of the Galaxy), Loki (Thor: The Dark World), and Thanos (Avengers) there are little to no "major" villains that exist in play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME they debut or showcase a remarkable villain, that same villain is either killed off or written off in a way that there's no way that it's remotely possible nor fathomable that they would EVER return again.
Perfect example? David Tennant's Kilgrave/Purple Man from Marvel's Jessica Jones. WHY THE FUCK DID THEY KILL HIM OFF AFTER ONE SEASON!!??? I'm sure there's some angry feminist out there that will be standing on her soapbox preaching that it was the only way for Jessica to get over her PTSD and move on with her life, but it's turning into a common copout for almost every single one of these films in this universe. "Well we can't think of a better conclusion to these films, so we'll just kill the big baddie off. I'm sure we can thumb through the comics for someone else later." Holy fuck, if I was on creative staff for planning the narrative of this universe, I would be slapping people during these meetings for even suggesting this stuff.
If you look at the Marvel Comics Universe, no matter what decade, reality, nor main (616) canon or Ultimates versions, there is ALWAYS a wide assortment of villains at play to act as obstacles for these heroes to overcome.
II. The Segregation between the films and TV/Netflix properties
As of Avengers: Age of Ultron, the only marque actor contracted by Marvel to appear in the TV series/Netflix properties has been Samuel Jackson (limited to a few sporadic appearances on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD as Nick Fury) and Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill). I find that rather odd. It's no secret to Marvel fans that these characters interact and engage each other on a regular basis, so I don't see why it's such a daunting task to use their contracted actors for regular roles across their TV/Netflix properties. Seeing some of the Avengers pop up in Agents of SHIELD would definitely garner more attention that struggling show needs in it's follow-up seasons, especially with appearances from Avengers who haven't had their own solo titles, such as Hawkeye (who has history with Adrianne Palicki's Mockingbird/Bobbi Morse in the source material) and Black Widow (who could really benefit with more exposure, given Agents of SHIELD's knack for establishing "kick-ass" female protagonists).
I suppose another excuse that Marvel/Disney would give is the fact that they have a "long-term" plan and seeing the Avengers appear in the TV/Netflix properties will take away from their merit/worth on the big screen. In reality the opposite is true. Look at what the CW is doing with the few characters that they are allowed to use from DC Comics. Warner Bros. is on the crisp of kickstarting their own cinematic universe with the debut of Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and the inevitable Justice League follow-up. As much as I'm not crazy about their approach nor methods of how they have been going about that from a narrative standpoint, at least DC Comics has the balls to try putting together a superhero team-up show on television. Sure, Marvel has that in the pipeline with the Defenders MUCH later down the road and possibly the Secret Warriors on Agents of SHIELD, but who knows how soon that is coming from how far Marvel keeps spreading their films out over the course of the next decade.
When I saw Falcon/Sam Wilson appear in Ant-Man I was beginning to become optimistic, thinking that maybe that Marvel/Disney would possibly start doing the same with allowing the heroes/villains crossover into the TV/Netflix properties. With the Netflix exclusives, I can totally understand the lack of connections to the films as those series have been pretty grounded and personal to their own corner of the MCU. Daredevil dealt exclusively with the harsh realities of the impact of the Battle of New York on Hell's Kitchen while Jessica Jones is a story that focus entirely on one woman's path of redemption. I can expect no different from Iron Fist and Luke Cage when those series debut.
To it's credit, the ONLY character who seems to have a continuous stake in the movies AND the TV universes is Peggy Carter, whether it be via flashbacks or throughout her own solo series. She acts as the bridge between the world that Captain America left behind after being frozen in ice for roughly 50 years and the modern day equivalent to our own world that majority of the MCU takes place. She is the link to the foundation of the SHIELD organization that the Agents of SHIELD work for and are currently trying to rebuild after exposing HYDRA's corruption from within. She was revealed to be an ally and friend to a young Hank Pym in the opening flashback of Ant-Man and she remains as a significant figure in Captain America's life, whether in the past or present and even in his dreams and memories via flashbacks. All that I'm asking is that Marvel Studios show this much of attention to more of their characters in this universe.
III. Hope For the Future
Marvel Studios has The Inhumans on their horizon for future films and with the Infinity War being split up into two solo films, there's more room to expand what's going on between those said films on the TV and Netflix properties.
Marvel recently reported that the Infinity War (Part I and II) would be the film(s) where the ENTIRE Marvel Cinemataic Universe comes together. I hope this means that everyone (TV shows AND films) have some sort of representation. Creating and maintaining this universe has been a group effort and everyone deserves that one moment to shine together on the silver screen, even if it's for a few seconds.
At the end of the day that's the double edged sword that Marvel Studios has created with this cinematic universe. Much like the comics, you expect the Avengers (or other misc. heroes in this universe) to jump in at every chance to help out their friends and allies in their times of greatest need. That's what I was thinking towards the end of Thor: The Dark World and throughout the ENTIRE plot of Ironman 3 - it was like they totally forgot that they were teaming up in their last theatrical appearance. Which was really strange to say that it was a global threat much like the Battle of New York. Captain America: The Winter Soldier handled the team-up naturally that they had enough Avengers/SHIELD agents involved that it was totally understandable what they were doing to help this matter. The fall of SHIELD/HYDRA had to be a massive dilemma that possibly had the Avengers spread out pretty thin around the world with Hawkeye more likely staying low with his family in his safe house, Hulk/Bruce Banner and Tony Stark/Ironman dealing with things on their end at Stark Industries after the ordeal in Ironman 3, and Thor was still coming to grips with the events after The Dark World.
With the more feature films and television properties that they continue to create to introduce more of these heroes and villains into the Marvel Cinematic Universe the expectations of fans are going to continue to escalate to the point that they will continue to ask why their favorite heroes aren't crossing over more often. While I understand that even the comic books allow these heroes to continue with their own solo adventures despite being on teams and factions, it's not too much to ask that Marvel at least try to blur the lines every now and then instead of keeping their properties segregated.
I mean c'mon. If CW's Arrow and The Flash can do at least 2-3 team-up or cameos per season, it shouldn't be too much to ask Avengers or some of the other television properties to jump around back and forth. Hell, if it were up to me, I would require it in the actors' and actresses' contracts when they sign to Marvel for these films.
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