There’s no shortage of fan theories when it comes to which characters may be introduced
into the MCU in the upcoming phases of the franchise.
It’s fun to speculate, and regardless of who you’re rooting for, it seems that there’s
a promising future as far as superheroes are concerned in terms of new additions.
That being said, not all heroes in the Marvel Universe in the comics are quite suitable
for the big screen.
This is because they’re too abstract, their powers to vague, or because another existing
character already stole their thunder.
So today, we’re diving deeper into this depressing truth with our list of the top
10 superheroes who are impossible to adapt into the MCU.
This list is a combination of superheroes and cosmic entities in the Marvel Universe
that are seen as good forces.
Just something to keep in mind.
10 Hyperion Hyperion is a superhero whose had multiple
iterations over the years.
For starters, his first appearance was as a member of the Squadron Sinister, a villainous
team that was based on the Justice League from DC Comics, with Hyperion being a loose
parody of Superman.
He was later reimagined as an alien who was raised by the government, having been sent
to earth in a space craft as a child, and found by the US government and trained into
a covert agent.
In addition to that, his powers are very similar to the man of steel’s.
Even his weakness feels like a different take on kryptonite; his powers and energy are diminished
when he’s exposed to something called argonite radiation.
Yeeeep.
So obviously, Hyperion’s similarities to Superman are the reason why this character
would be difficult to adapt.
Imagine the press storm over it.
Plus, Marvel Studios has done a great job at depicting flawed superheroes, and adding
a superman type to that roster might feel a little overbearing.
9 The One Above All The One Above All is responsible for the existence
of all life in the Multiverse, and possibly beyond that.
It is omnipotent, and above all other cosmic powers and abstract entities, including the
Living Tribunal, who it is said to be the overseer of.
The One Above All first appeared in Marvel comics in 2007, in Sensational Spider-Man
vol 2 issue 40, and is also known as ‘Above All Others’.
It’s abilities are beyond any known system of abilities, same as it’s strength levels.
So, with a character that abstract, considering that we’re potentially getting a glimpse
of the Living Tribunal in Avengers End Game, it seems unlikely that the MCU would be eager
to introduce something of such immense power, especially since the Living Tribunal was the
one who fit the bill as exactly that for decades and decades prior to The One Above All even
being introduced.
8 The Vishanti Similar to our last number, the Vishanti are
pretty abstract entities.
They are a trio of god like beings, made up of Hoggoth, Agamotto and Oshtur.
Each of their histories are made up of really intense lore that intertwine with other entities
and gods in the Marvel universe.
Oshtur was one of the Elder Gods, one of the first lifeforms created when the Demiurge,
the planet’s sentient bio-sphere, breathed life into the world.
Hoggoth is the last survivor or an ancient alien pantheon.
And Agamotto is the child of Oshtur.
All that being said, the Vishanti are patrons of the Sorcerer Supreme, and there have been
connections via Doctor Strange to them that have made their way into the MCU.
That being said, exploring them further than that seems incredibly unlikely, since they
are so separate from the rest of the Marvel Universe, and have only ever really made cameos
from time to time.
But this also seems like a case of never say never, so who knows.
Maybe they’ll show up in an upcoming Doctor Strange film.
7 Superior Spider-Man If you’re unfamiliar with the character,
the Superior Spider-Man is NOT Peter Parker.
It’s Otto Octavius in Parker’s body.
So, once upon a time in the comics, Octavius was dying and decided to switch bodies with
Peter Parker so he could live, all by swapping their consciousness into one another.
Parker didn’t see it coming, and was trapped in Otto’s body, ultimately consumed by his
illness, dying.
Otto took over Peter’s life, and the Spider-Man persona, calling himself the Superior Spider-Man.
The storyline got some major backlash, and Parker was eventually returned, with Otto
learning a few important lessons in the process.
Naturally, based on the criticism, it seems unlikely that Marvel Studios would ever want
to recreate that storyline up on the big screen, especially when Spider-Man actor Tom Holland
has quickly become so adored amongst audiences.
6 Hercules Marvel’s take on Hercules has always been
considered a great one.
Plucked out of Greek mythology and into the panels of modern day comics, Hercules has
played an avid role in the universe, including participating during the first Civil War story
event.
He’s also acted as a good inclusion in Thor’s storylines from time to time.
But that’s exactly why we won’t likely see him up on the big screen.
Thor pretty much has the market on superheroes rooted in mythology.
That’s not to say we won’t ever see other mythologies pop up in the MCU, but right now,
it kind of seems like it might be adding an unnecessary component into the universe.
In addition to that, Hercules is a character who has had a ton of portrayals over the years,
including an animated Disney one; it would seem likely that Disney wouldn’t want to
confuse the two in case they ever wanted to revamp their animated one into a live action
story like some of their other classic tales.
5 Origin Origin is a fascinating cosmic entity.
It’s been charged with creating the origins of various events in the universe, and the
origins of superpowered beings.
It has claimed to be the one who conjured the cosmic storm that gave the Fantastic Four
their powers.
It has claimed to have been the one who made it possible for Thor and the Asgardians to
find their way to earth.
It chose who would become a mutant, and it planted the locations of Earth in the minds
of the Silver surfer, Galactus and the Skrulls.
It defies the laws of physics, and it can retroactively alter reality without creating
diverging timelines.
All in all, it’s basically deus ex machina catalyst personified.
A cosmic plot device.
It first appeared in 1991’s Quasar issue 18, and for the most part was involved in
the cosmic hero’s stories.
So, it’s safe to say the chances of us ever seeing Origin make it’s way into the MCU
are slim to none.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Origin_(Earth-616) 4 Quasar
Speaking of, lets take a look at Quasar, the cosmic superhero.
Quasar, aka Wendell Vaughn, became a superhero after putting on the Quantum Bands, which
give him superb powers and the ability to tap into a limitless energy source called
the Quantum Zone.
There’s been multiple individuals who have taken up the mantle as well.
So why does Quasar not stand a chance at getting an MCU adaptation?
The character has a lot of similar traits to others who already exist in the MCU, especially
Captain Marvel and Star Lord.
We know that the Nega Bands are something that will likely never see the light of day
in the MCU either, since their origin with Mar-Vell’s Captain Marvel doesn’t seem
like it’ll ever be explored, so why would the quantum bands be?
And we already have a quantum realm, do we want to throw two more quantum things into
the mix?
Plus, if the reports are true and a Nova feature film is in the works down the pipeline, there’s
a very good chance that Quasar will be ignored altogether for the sake of being redundant
and unoriginal.
Tough luck Wendell.
3 Sentry Sentry’s got a similar problem to Hyperion;
he’s very much a Superman type, although much more flawed.
Sentry, aka Robert Reynolds, starts off as a middle aged overweight man who remembers
out of the blue that he’s Sentry, a superhero with the power of one million exploding suns.
He realizes that his archenemy, the Void, is returning, so he attempts to warn several
prominent Marvel superheroes, only to discover that no one remember the Sentry.
As he approaches each of them, they remember him, all having a specific recollection; Sentry
had taught Angel how to conquer his fear of falling, a photo of him won the Pulitzer Prize
for Peter Parker, and the Hulk apparently still recalled him.
Mister Fantastic then remembers what happened; Sentry and the Void are two halves, one in
the same, and Reynolds had erased his memory and the memory of everyone else on Earth in
order to prevent the Void from coming, as a way to protect the Earth.
Sentry is a character who is omnipotent, immortal, can warp reality, manipulate on a molecular
level, can teleport, has a regenerative healing factor, and of course, superhuman strength,
speed, stamina, the whole darn package.
He’s arguably even stronger than Superman himself.
So a character with powers that immense would likely require some sort of lead up, similar
to how the MCU set the stage for Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet.
While Sentry isn’t impossible to adapt, it would create a lot of repercussions in
the MCU that could arguably disrupt the kind of story telling that Marvel Studios has set
up over the last ten years.
Another reason why we’ll never see Sentry appear in an MCU film, or, at least a proper
adaption of him, is that his origin story is so steeped in self reflexive retconning
that in order to truly tell his origin story, it would likely cost Marvel Studios and Disney
a whole lot of money on cast and visual effects alone, raising the question, would a Sentry
feature film be worth it?
2 Namor Namor the Sub Mariner is arguably one of the
biggest players in the Marvel Universe.
He’s the king of atlantis, ffs.
Or at least, the Marvel Atlantis.
Anywho, he’s one of the publisher’s oldest characters, having been the OG anti-hero when
he first popped up in Timely Comics’ Motion Picture Funnies Weekly back in 1939.
The hero with a short fuse has been a member of the Avengers, the X-Men, The Cabal, the
Defenders, and most importantly, the Illuminati.
So why hasn’t he appeared in the MCU?
Or at least had some sort of mention of him come up?
That’s because the rights to the character are a bit complicated at the moment.
Universal allegedly still holds the rights over distribution for the character.
While Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada has stated a few years ago that he
believed Marvel Studios got the rights back, he’s had a history of crying wolf on that
one, having been proven wrong a few years prior to that about Namor’s rights.
Marvel Studios have remained silent on the issue as well.
So it seems there’s still some fussing that needs to be taken care of before we’ll get
to see Marvel’s King of Atlantis make an appearance on the big screen.
1 The Micronauts The Micronauts are a superhero team that first
appeared in the pages of Marvel comics in 1979 with their own self titled solo series.
They’re based off of the Mego Micronauts toy line, and the comic existed long after
the toys were cancelled, carrying on to 1986, with other publishers then getting the rights
in the early 2000s.
These heroes originate in the Microverse, aka, the Quantum Realm; a name change that
Marvel Studios had to change because they don’t own the rights to it.
It’s for that very reason that we will never see the Micronauts in an MCU film; Hasbro
Studios and Paramount own the rights for a live action film, having announced in December
2015 that it was in development.
Despite that, the microverse has a very long history in Marvel comics, with it first appearing
in a 1943 issue of Captain America Comics in a two part story titled The Princess in
the Atom.
Back then, it was a sub-atomic world known as Mita.
Later, the name would be defined when the Fantastic Four visited it in 1963’s Fantastic
Four issue 16.
There we have it friends!
What other superheroes or good cosmic entities in the Marvel universe do you think would
be difficult to adapt up on the big screen?
Give us a shout in those comments below and let us know your thoughts!
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