Say what you like about Marvel Studios, but the enormous, era-defining impact the company has had on the moviemaking world cannot be denied. Famously — or infamously, depending on your point of view — the rise of the MCU is what kickstarted the craze for cinematic universes that we’ve had to endure over the past decade plus change. And yet the generally agreed declining quality of the MCU in recent years is leading to the argument that the Marvel Cinematic Universe… Well, isn’t.
As one impassioned, and disappointed, Redditor shared on the r/MarvelStudios sub, “I think it’s time to be realistic and realize the MCU isn’t a Cinematic universe anymore, it’s a brand.” The fan goes on to discuss their view that what made the Infinity Saga a cinematic universe was that it was all truly interconnected, but the Multiverse Saga is proving to be a misnomer as most of the releases in Phases Four and Five so far have had “nothing to do with the multiverse.”
Interestingly, few in the comments disagreed with the OP’s point and admitted that, yes, the MCU is more of a brand than a cinematic universe these days. What not everyone can agree on, however, is if that’s actually a problem or not. “I agree it definitely isn’t a cinematic universe anymore, hasn’t been for quite some time now,” said one, while another thinks this worrying is blown way out of proportion: “It’s both. Y’all act like it’s the end of days.” Some, meanwhile, have had their eyes open since day one. “It always has been,” one commented.
It certainly is easy to argue that the MCU is a brand, as the snowballing popularity the franchise earned as it grew and grew is very much a case of successful brand recognition. But is Marvel resting on its laurels a bit at this point and is less worried about tying it all together than simply releasing new content under the MCU umbrella? It’s hard to say from this vantage point of the middle of the Multiverse Saga. The full picture will only become clear once Avengers: Secret Wars finally arrives in 2027.
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Even years after a movie releases, the internet manages to uncover some new and interesting facts that would have changed the whole trajectory of the project. In today’s news you never knew, the threequel of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man: No Way Home, could have played out similarly to Venom, had some concept art for Peter Parker’s suit made the final cut.
Although we do get an end-credits scene featuring Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock, Venom is absent from the movie as a whole, allowing for the likes of the Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, Electro, and Lizard to present as the main threat to Peter, MJ, Ned, and the other-dimension Spider-Men. It was the word on the grapevine back in 2021 that Venom might make an appearance in No Way Home full-time, but considering how Venom: Let There Be Carnage came out a few months after No Way Home, obviously, the Marvel/Sony team felt it unnecessary to introduce Brock as Peter’s adversary so soon.
Some never-before-seen concept art of Holland’s Spider-Man showcases the symbiote suit, classically associated with Venom. We’ve seen the repercussions of Peter Parker succumbing to the symbiote’s influence in Spider-Man 3 with Tobey Maguire, and the results were nothing short of disastrous. If the MCU is looking to replicate that same mayhem, it’s only a matter of time before Parker and Brock cross paths.
It wouldn’t be a pretty sight, but at least we’d be getting a cool crossover suit from it, as pictured below.
It looks like something straight out of PS4’s Spider-Man game, doesn’t it? Tom Holland appears to be Spider-Man indefinitely as far as continuing his contract with Marvel, so it’ll most likely be him meeting Tom Hardy’s Venom in perhaps the fourth Spider-Man movie.
In a February 2023 Entertainment Weekly interview with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, the corporate bigwig confirmed that the Spider-Man 4 script is in the works. “All I will say is that we have the story,” he said. “We have big ideas for that, and our writers are just putting pen to paper now.”
We’ve yet to gain confirmation that Venom will be among the characters expected to return, but judging by No Way Home‘s end-credits scene, there’s an extremely strong possibility.
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We’re all secretly hoping for another Andrew GarfieldSpider-Man film, but it’s probably best not to over-analyze every little thing the actor says, although some just can’t help themselves.
To be fair, Garfield must have known by now that saying anything regarding the web-slinger would set a whole bunch of fans off. He provides a brief glimmer of hope for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, although whether that’s intentional or not is hard to tell. Perhaps he’s just tired of having to carefully choose his words. The source of his quote comes from the official art book for Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Garfield discusses his Peter’s story after the events of the movie.
“The story never ends, whether we film it or not. There’s a story happening in a universe somewhere. There’s endless potential with this character and all the different iterations. So, yeah, he’s definitely out there doing something.”
I feel like the line to focus on here is, “whether we film it or not.” Garfield is definitely not confirming anything here, he’s just reiterating what we learnt from No Way Home; that Peter 3’s story goes on, even though we likely won’t see it unfold. However, many do want to see the story be told, and they want it on the big screen. This quote has provided hope for a new movie, maybe with a plot similar to what Garfield was talking about.
I think that it's safe to say that Andrew Garfield, isn't quite done yet with Spider-Man. #SpiderMan3
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe isn’t doing too well right now, so it could be wise to bring in a beloved version of the friendly neighborhood superhero to renew interest, while others just want to see the hero get his happy ending on the silver screen.
Of course, it’s not impossible that Garfield should return as Spidey, but he’s definitely not confirming his return here. If anything, it’s more just his own speculation on what his version of Peter did after the most recent Spider-Man movie.
All this is just to say that Andrew’s answers really don’t give much a way, so it’s better not to get our hopes up. Actually, MJ said it pretty well in No Way Home: “If you expect disappointment, then you can never really be disappointed.”
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Opting to field, Central Zone dismissed North Zone for 164 in 49 overs before romping home in 33 overs, courtesy a 153-run second-wicket stand between Shivam (85) and Yash (72).
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Nayar believes that the Rohit Sharma-led side should be playing their strongest team six to eight months ahead of a major tournament like the upcoming ODI World Cup.
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ICC's reconnaissance team will visit all 12 venues in India that will host the 2023 ODI World Cup matches, including the ones scheduled to host warm-up games.
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Hardik Pandya will lead India as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were rested with Sanju Samson and Axar Patel being named for 2nd ODI against West Indies.
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Harmanpreet has been slapped with a two-match ban for her public outburst after an ODI game against Bangladesh recently and will not be available for India's first two games at the continental event. India were given direct entry to the last eight stages, courtesy of their ICC T20I ranking.
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So, what went wrong here? It’s very easy to pin this on simple laziness or lack of talent, but we think a peek into what was going on behind the scenes at Marvel Studios while Secret Invasion was being made offers a lot of answers and hints that the showrunners were put in an impossible position.
MCU release date musical chairs
Image via Marvel Studios
The COVID-19 pandemic threw a grenade into Kevin Feige’s carefully laid out release schedule. Practically every Multiverse Saga movie suffered some kind of release date reshuffle, though The Marvels had it worse than most.
The original release date was July 8, 2022. It then slipped to Nov. 11, 2022, Feb. 17, 2023, July 28, 2023 before finally settling (we hope…) on Nov. 10, 2023.
Secret Invasion was planned and written between mid-2020 and early 2021 (as per this interview with Kevin Feige) and the shoot began in London in September 2021 with a rough release window of early 2023.
You may see where we’re going with this. We suspect that when Secret Invasion was being written and shot it was intended to be a sequel to The Marvels. But while Secret Invasion was in full production The Marvels got pushed back too far for that to work. Suddenly, a sequel had become a prequel, and four months of reshoots with Samuel L. Jackson and Emilia Clarke took place in August and September 2022.
How could this have affected the show?
Screengrab via Disney Plus/Marvel Studios
We can only speculate on how this affected Secret Invasion‘s story, though the plot holes in the finale give us some indication of how things were changed.
One of the notable narrative oddities is that the show begins with Nick Fury returning to Earth after a long absence and ends with him returning to the S.A.B.E.R. station, having left the Skrulls in a worse situation than he found them when the show began. It makes a lot more sense for Fury to return to Earth after the interstellar story of The Marvels wraps up and we suspect the original ending either saw Fury vowing to remain on Earth or even killed him off altogether.
The switcheroo would also explain a lot about the sequence in which G’iah disguised as Fury infiltrates Gravik’s base. We think this was originally shot as Fury himself making the journey: which is why Fury and Sonya make a trip to Finland en route to Gravik in episode five, why the radiation-proof G’iah anxiously checks a Geiger counter she doesn’t need, why Gravik delivers the emotional climax of his arc to the wrong person, and why Fury’s plan just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Image via Disney Plus
It’s notable that Gravik actor Kingsley Ben-Adir doesn’t seem to have been able to return for the September 2022 reshoots and that all the scenes after the ‘Fury is G’iah’ reveal have Gravik in full green Super-Skrull monster mode. We strongly suspect the entire Super-Skrull fight was put together in reshoots without Ben-Adir, which is why we don’t see his face from that point on.
We can only speculate on what the original Secret Invasion ending might have been, but if this story had come after The Marvels, there would have been some genuine tension as, without any future MCU appearances scheduled, the door would have been left open for Fury to make a heroic sacrifice and fully atone for exploiting the Skrulls.
Can we really blame the ‘Secret Invasion’ team?
Image via Marvel Studios
If all of the above is true, then we suddenly feel a lot of sympathy for the Secret Invasion writers as they appear to have been dealt an extraordinarily bad hand by Marvel Studios. They wrote a story designed to take place after the events of The Marvels, and turning it into a prequel to that film undercuts Nick Fury’s character arc, ruins the climax, and completely undercuts any suspense about these characters’ fates throughout the show.
Here’s hoping the real story of what went down behind the scenes on Secret Invasion comes out and we learn how this was originally supposed to end. Right now, all we can do is try to fit this jigsaw together with information we know.
But, though there are a lot of missing pieces, the overall picture looks pretty clear to us.
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With the first day drawing to a close, Labuschagne was seen dragging his bat within the crease as the England keeper Bairstow took aim to hit the stumps if the Aussie batsman had left his crease.
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Spider-Man: No Way Home has now cemented itself in the upper echelons of MCU movies. It delivered on everything it promised, gave us closure on the previous two Spider-Man franchises, and set up an interesting (if somewhat tragic) future for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. We still fondly remember the gasps on opening night as audiences realized that, yes, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were along for the ride.
But could No Way Home have been even better? Well, perhaps it could if they’d have gone with this rejected ‘Iron Goblin’ concept, which combines Stark and Oscorp equipment tech:
Image via Reddit
This is a particularly cool concept, as within No Way Home, Norman Osborn becomes something of a mentor to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. So, his repurposing tech from Peter Parker’s last mentor Tony Stark has a kind of sadistic symmetry to it.
Plus, it’s just a cool look that brings together some classic MCU costuming with the best of the Raimi era. Perhaps the only problem is figuring out how Osborn would get his hands on Stark tech. Most of this stuff is on lockdown after Far From Home, though we suppose it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say the Green Goblin had raided a Damage Control storage facility to swipe what he needs.
We’re hoping that the MCU eventually gets around to introducing its own Norman Osborn, perhaps going on to adapt some of the excellent comics’ arcs around the character. But, let’s face it, nobody out there is going to bring it as hard as Willem Dafoe. Even if it doesn’t make sense, we want him back cackling on that glider.
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Hollywood continues to hobble along without its actors, but in the meantime we still have movies that need promoting, so how else can a studio advertise its film without the stars? By resurrecting ancient memes, of course.
With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in full swing, Paramount has turned to a pretty unique – if not slightly desperate – method to promote its upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. A video shared by IGN on Twitter shows a man who has supposedly just come out of a screening, and for anyone that used the internet around 2007 to 2008, his face should be very familiar.
16 years ago, ‘zombie kid’ sparked one of the most popular memes on the internet by uttering the simple phrase “I like turtles” live on the news.
One of the oldest figures from the golden age of memes has returned. The “I like Turtles” kid, now a fully-grown man, probably with a family and everything, dons his zombie makeup once again to recreate his iconic video. If you don’t remember the classic clip, allow me to jog your memory.
The original video was a pretty big deal, with thousands of people quoting it back then. It’s still a well-known meme that regularly gets used all the time. Or maybe that’s just me. Either way, it’s nice to see a legend back from beyond the grave.
Although as cool as it is, it’s indicative of the current state that the industry is in. With no actors to promote projects, studios are running out of ways to advertise new movies. While this fun little video will keep fans entertained for a while, it won’t last forever.
Some studios have even resorted to hiring scabs, which is a big no-no. If only there were some way to bring this strike to an end, like agreeing to the union’s terms perhaps? But who knows, that’s just my two cents on the matter.
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For better or for worse, money drives cinematic trends. And Barbie is currently raking in the cash for Warner Bros. and the parent company that owns the rights to the iconic doll, Mattel. Like the eponymous character the movie is based on, Barbie is breaking all kinds of barriers and records, and might even lead to Greta Gerwig becoming the first female director to make a film that grosses over a billion dollars at the box office.
In stark contrast, the MCU’s big attempt at a summer hit, Secret Invasion, isn’t doing so well among the fandom and seems to be lagging in terms of streaming numbers too. The noir spy drama has been considered lackluster by many, despite an absolutely golden cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, Emilia Clarke, and Olivia Coleman. Long-term fans of Marvel think it’s both too sedate and nonsensical in terms of world-building, whereas other viewers who thought they’d be getting something a little less CGI-laden and formulaic have been disappointed by the lack of risks taken compared to what was promised.
This stuttering start to Phase 5 of the MCU isn’t out of the blue, either. Phase 4 was beset by problems, with many Marvel lovers turned off by poor writing that fed into a confusing multiverse concept that was supposed to play by its own rules, but ended up being too messy to follow. This was always a potential banana skin for the comic book franchise, given how disparate the source material for the MCU is (comics, especially those with characters that have been appearing for decades, don’t always make sense in terms of timelines or even characterization), but the writers and producers haven’t done much to negate potential problems, instead hoping some fancy tech and a few basic jokes will paper over the cracks.
A large reason for this decline is that the MCU is simply too much of a juggernaut now. While it’s great that Disney and Marvel can spend billions on brilliant casts, fantastic sets, and high-end production, that all seems to have come at the expense of writing interesting, unique stories that speak to audiences. This would be fine if it took a Fast and Furious route, and made films that leaned into their status as fun, explosive blockbusters, but producers and studio heads seem determined to paint the MCU as artsy and pushing boundaries. This contrast between facts and reality is what’s really pushing people away, and is at the heart of why the newer films and shows often have logical missteps in them. In trying to build a cohesive universe, Marvel has simply confused everyone and itself. However, because everything the MCU does is practically a cash printing machine, the likelihood of the franchise being killed off or rebooted properly is close to zero. There have been too many dollars poured in, and execs know they’ll recoup it because their built-in audience will continue to head to the theater to see new films in the MCU, even as they become even more formulaic.
This isn’t an issue that’s intrinsic to Marvel, of course. As the Spider-Verse films (produced by Sony, not Disney) show, there can still be fresh takes on comic hero stories that are both critical and commercial successes. However, the desire to take risks and experiment in the MCU will always be tempered by the bottom line, and money always wins out over creativity.
The MCU has another big problem, too. Its fandom is almost too dedicated and invested in its products, to the point that many are so entitled that they’ll immediately trash anything that doesn’t fit into their narrow view of what a Marvel show or movie should do. This is an issue that’s worsened by social media, where it seems any bit of content, post, or comment that doesn’t take the context of every user’s life into consideration is rubbished by those suffering from main character syndrome.
So, all in all, it’s looking a little rough for the comic book guys (minus the swimming pools of cash they can still dive into, of course). Yet, despite all these issues that are making the MCU creak at the seams, it seems that on the back of Barbie’s success Mattel is keen to delve further into its extensive IP and begin its own cinematic universe.
Of course, Barbie‘s box office dominance has been important for plans to make more movies based on Mattel products, but the idea has been in the works for a while now. As outlined in an extensive New Yorker article, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz has been thinking about how to get the best out of the company’s vast trove of products since he joined five years ago, and he’s used the MCU as a blueprint. There’s no doubting his commitment to the plan, either: at the very beginning of his project in 2018 he hired Miramax veteran producer and Harvey Weinstein protege Robbie Brenner to run the company’s burgeoning film division.
Like Marvel, Mattel has so many existing products and characters to work with that it could be making films and shows for years and barely scratch the surface. From Polly Pocket to Hot Wheels to Master of the Universe, the toy company could do everything from big action blockbusters to sweet, nuanced coming-of-age films. By beginning the project with Barbie, the company’s biggest product and the one with the most cultural cache, it made a statement: the Mattel Cinematic Universe is here, and it will be for a long time.
The toy company, usually known for rabid protection of its IP (so much so it sued the Europop band Aqua when they released the song “Barbie Girl” in the nineties), surprised many by hiring indie filmmaker Greta Gerwig to run the Barbie project, and seemingly allowing her an incredible amount of creative control. Not only was Gerwig able to get some potentially controversial politics into the film (controversial if your mind is stuck in the fifties, anyway), but she also poked a lot of fun at the company for its overly male leadership team and the inherent money-grabbing nature of a big business.
Barbie wasn’t the template for an artistically or commercially successful toy flick, though. Transformers was a box office smash a decade and a half ago, and TheLego Movie showed that even if a film is effectively a long advert, it can still have the sort of heart you’d expect from a veteran auter making a passion project. And, while it’s easy to say this is all an attempt to plumb the public for more cash, the fact Mattel chose not to re-release some of the obscure characters that Gerwig brought back into public consciousness with Barbie shows that the film division may very well end up being its own thing (sorry to those who were hoping for a Michael Cera Allan doll).
With that all said, Barbie‘s insane marketing campaign shows that consumerism rather than art is at the center of what Mattel wants to do with its cinematic universe. While we might not be getting a Midge doll, we’ve seen plenty of new Barbie products being pumped out to coincide with the film’s release. And, while Barbie was more daring from a creative, storytelling, and dialogue point of view than the vast majority of MCU shows and films, it still has the same problem that a lot of movies do nowadays: it’s just the rehashing of an old idea or character, albeit with a unique spin.
And that’s the problem with a potential Mattel Cinematic Universe or any franchise that’s based on decades-old IP. Even if its owners are willing to make interesting things and take risks, the fact is that the film industry is increasingly reliant on existing content. For everyone’s talk of sequel fatigue, the way Hollywood operates means that new ideas will almost never be given the chances and funding Barbie was, no matter how unique or brilliant or touching they may be.
This is tied into a wider point about the way capitalism sucks the innovation out of creative products, because to the people in charge (and making all that cash) more money coming in is always good, even if its followed by people complaining and the slow death of a red giant, like the MCU. The fact is, money-hungry execs don’t care about art, no matter what indie darlings they sign up for their projects. The lowest common denominator and an inbuilt desire audiences have to seek comfort will always win out. It’s up to creative types to change that and produce things that will make people think in a different way. But it appears that Mattel, and Hollywood in general, would rather mine the past than look to the future.
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IND vs WI 1st ODI Live: Follow the live updates of India vs West Indies 1st ODI in Barbados. Also, find the live scorecard and commentary of the IND vs WI 1st ODI on News18.com
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Don’t listen to the haters, Brie Larson is one of the most valuable players in the MCU’s arsenal. She made her triumphant franchise debut back in 2019’s Captain Marvel — which earned $1.1 billion at the global box office, don’t forget — followed that up with a key supporting role in Avengers: Endgame, aka the biggest Marvel movie ever made, and she’s since blown minds with cameos in Shang-Chi and Ms. Marvel.
And yet rumors have always insisted that there’s apparently problems behind the scenes between the actress and the studio — remember those claims that Larson was clashing with her co-stars on The Marvels, when the Oscar-winner is clearly as thick as thieves with Iman Vellani and Teyonah Parris. The wildest crackpot conspiracy theory, though, sprung up this past April when it went around that Emilia Clarke was being brought in to replace Larson as Captain Marvel.
This was nothing but hot air, as the confusion seemed to stem from a misreading of the fact Clarke was playing a recast Captain Marvel character in Secret Invasion, specifically Talos’ daughter, G’iah. Ironically, however, the Secret Invasion finale just came perilously close to making this gonzo bit of internet gossip 100 percent MCU canon.
As you can’t have missed by now, G’iah got an upgrade in Secret Invasion‘s sixth episode when she went from Super-Skrull to Super-Duper-Skrull by inheriting the powers of practically every Avenger ever thanks to The Harvest. Naturally, Carol Danvers’ abilities came in the most handy in her battle against Gravik, with their big fight featuring a lot of epic shots of Clarke borrowing from Larson’s iconography and making a superhero pose while glowing with fiery energy or bolting through the air like a fireball.
We have so many questions about what happens next with G’iah and whether The Harvest powers are permanent or not, but as it stands, she has to be the most powerful character in the MCU and genuinely could take over as Captain Marvel from Carol Danvers if Larson ever feels the need to exit the franchise. Given that it’s a series about crazy conspiracy theories turning out to be true, it’s the height of irony that Secret Invasion is threatening to do just that itself.
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Among many other things, the President of the United States has ordered that all Skrulls be killed, directly resulting in the assassination of the (non-Skrull) British Prime Minister outside Downing Street. The only ray of light is the mention of a peace summit between the Skrulls and Kree, so perhaps there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.
But Emilia Clarke’s G’iah may be the most consequential part of Secret Invasion, as she’s now arguably the most powerful individual in the entire MCU.
The G’iah Hypothesis
Screenshot via Marvel Studios/Disney Plus
So, to recap, the Secret Invasion finale saw G’iah disguise herself as Nick Fury in order to infiltrate Gravik’s base. While there she gave Gravik “The Harvest”, a vial said to contain the DNA of practically every character who fought in Avengers: Endgame‘s Battle for Earth.
Believing that G’iah was Fury, Gravik activated the Super-Skrull machine with her inside, granting both of them multiple superpowers. They fought, Gravik was killed, and now G’iah has teamed up with Olivia Colman’s Sonya in an effort to stop President Ritson’s Skrull genocide.
As many fans quickly pointed out, having a character as powerful as G’iah as a free agent threatens to break the MCU. The powers of the Hulk, Thanos, and Captain Marvel combined in one person would be overkill alone, let alone the many other heroes tossed in there. Surely the next time there’s a major threat we’ll be wondering why G’iah isn’t involved.
But perhaps there’s a way to get her out of the picture?
How do you solve a problem like G’iah?
Image via Disney Plus
G’iah may have walked out of Secret Invasion a hero after defeating Gravik, though it’s easy to imagine her becoming a major MCU villain. After all, just weeks before the events of the show she was on board with Gravik’s plan to foment a nuclear war, wipe out humanity, and let Skrulls make Earth their new home.
We’ve seen her explain to her Talos that she doesn’t believe in trying to get on humanity’s good side in the hopes of receiving charity. The fact that the world appears to be on an anti-Skrull pogrom should only harden her resolve to violently fight for her people.
We can easily imagine her as a very sympathetic villain in a future story, though let’s face it, our “heroes” battling someone trying to stop their people from being exterminated is a tricky needle for any writer to thread.
The Marvels villain in the making?
Image via Marvel Studios
On paper, G’iah would make a great antagonist for The Marvels. Her receiving Captain Marvel’s powers theoretically means she should become involved in the power tangle that sees Carol, Monica, and Kamala switching places, as a Skrull she has a place in Carol’s past, and there’s her obvious link to Nick Fury.
As of the end of Secret Invasion, she has a bone to pick with Fury for once again heading off into space and leaving the Skrulls to face a miserable fate, so we want to see this unfinished business resolved.
That said, Marvel Studios don’t appear to have thought that far ahead and unless they’re playing their cards very close to their chest, Emilia Clarke doesn’t appear to be in The Marvels.
But G’iah remains an interesting villain for Kevin Feige to keep in his back pocket for later use. Though, and we can’t underline this enough, taking a broadly sympathetic Emilia Clarke character, giving her incredible powers, and then watching her go off the rails in a violent spiral of bloody revenge hasn’t exactly proved to be a fan pleaser in the past.
The other, more depressing option is that G’iah is just never mentioned again in the MCU and the overall story just pretends Secret Invasion didn’t happen. This feels worryingly likely, but fingers crossed we haven’t seen the last of her.
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion episode six.
Secret Invasion didn’t waste any time letting us know that Everett Ross had been one of the victims of the Skrulls. The character basically set the events of the Disney Plus show into motion in the first episode back in June, as he met a fellow CIA agent who had figured out that the Skrulls were infiltrating important organizations on Earth as well as enacting terrorist attacks.
Ross swiftly killed him, only to be chased down by Talos and get gunned down himself as his skin turned green and he reverted back to his Skrull form. Just in the first few minutes of the show, we learned that a recurring and fairly important character in the MCU had been a Skrull for an undefined period of time, effectively setting up the stage for more characters to possibly start showing their true alien selves.
It wasn’t until the finale, which aired Wednesday, July 26, that we were given a status update on the real Everett Ross. Thankfully, he is still alive and in much better condition than Rhodey — the other major Marvel character to be replaced by a Skrull. In fact, it’s the side-by-side comparison between the two men that gives us our biggest clue for how long Ross has been under the aliens’ control.
Image via Marvel Studios
While Rhodey appears visibly emaciated, weak, and disoriented, Ross snaps out of the machine’s grip fairly quickly, immediately turning to the man on his right and asking how long he’d been there. It seems that the CIA agent had been abducted relatively recently, presumably after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Being blindsided by Marvel about the true identity of these characters doesn’t feel great. For Rhodey, the implications are immense given how long he’s probably been away, but for Ross, fans can rest a little easier knowing his deception didn’t last particularly long and what we saw in his prior outing was likely real.
Secret Invasion chose to not give us definitive answers, and instead feed us little hints that can help us put the pieces together ourselves. It’s possible that it will be a while before we know for sure just how long Ross had been replaced by a Skrull. Martin Freeman has been cryptic about when his next franchise appearance will be, telling Collider, “I never think I’ve got a future in the MCU.” It looks like we’ll have to wait and see, but for now, it’s somewhat safe to assume Ross’ past history as a character hasn’t been as severely damaged as his fellow government man.
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Since Nimona is currently coasting with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s safe to say that the Netflix production is making waves in the animated industry. Originally a Disney property, Nimona was canceled for explicitly showing a same-sex kiss on screen, but Netflix salvaged the project and made certain that it went ahead, much to the delight of LGBTQ+ viewers everywhere.
Despite being knocked out of the Top 10 early in its streaming run, there are already talks of Nimonagetting a sequel, purely based on the overwhelmingly positive reception it received upon release. If you’ve already seen Nimona and find yourself looking to bridge the gap between long hiatus and the (maybe) sequel, there are a handful of other animated adventures that bare some striking similarities.
Moana
Image via Walt Disney
When Moana arrived in theaters back in 2016, it acted as a much-needed cultural reset for POC representation in children’s movies. Back in Disney’s Renaissance Era, we had our first-ever Asian princess in Mulan, then in the mid-2000s, we were given the very first Black princess, Tiana, in The Princess and the Frog. Ever since, Disney has been slow on the uptake of adding POC to new releases, but in the last half-decade, more and more POC and snagging lead roles.
One of Nimona‘s biggest draws is the complicated relationship between Nimona and Ballister, which blossoms from mere acquaintances to a father-daughter dynamic. The same can be said for Moana and Maui, who start out as enemies and become practically family, offering us a heartwarming brother-sister pairing.
Raya and the Last Dragon
Image via Walt Disney
With her recent stint as Scuttle in The Little Mermaid, Awkwafina has made a reputation for herself as the loveable animal sidekick. She started this trend in Raya and the Last Dragon, where she voices Sisu, the last surviving dragon who aids the warrior princess Raya in restoring the dragon gem to save her father and banish evil spirits from her land.
Raya and Sisu are an unlikely pair, but both are brave and passionate, so their friendship becomes the ultimate key to restoring the gem and saving the five tribes of Kumandra. Although Nimona and Ballister have a much more chaotic relationship than Raya and Sisu, both movies tell a story of one human and one super-powered being joining forces to defeat a common enemy.
Luca
Image via Disney/Pixar
As we find out in Nimona, the titular imp-demon is a shape-shifter, able to transform into any animal at will. We see Nimona become a shark, a rhino, and even prehistoric creatures such as dinosaurs. Essentially, she can shapeshift into any animal that has existed at any period in time. That same concept applies in Luca, albeit to a lesser extent. Rather than becoming any living creature, Luca was born a sea monster and discovers that he can transform into a human when on dry land.
Just as Luca finds solace in Alberto, a like-minded individual, the same can be said for Nimona, who assigns herself as Ballister’s sidekick after sensing a “villainous spirit” in him. Although Nimona simply wants to cause chaos and “break stuff,” Ballister is working to clear his name after Queen Valerin’s sudden death. Just as Nimona is looking to be accepted by society for her powers, Luca campaigns for humans and sea monsters to co-exist peacefully.
Onward
Image via Disney/Pixar
Another key selling point for Nimona is the action-packed adventure that the main characters embark on. As for Onward, the story follows two elf brothers who set out on a quest to obtain an artifact that will temporarily revive their deceased father. Their journey is chock-full of strange mysteries, head-scratching puzzles, and an exciting treasure hunt. The voices of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland as Ian and Barley, respectively, certainly make Onward more appealing, and that same fact applies to Nimona with Chloë Grace Mortez and Riz Ahmed in the lead roles.
Another theme consistent with both movies is the use of magic; Onward takes place in a world inhabited by mystical creatures, whereas Nimona is set in a medieval-futuristic kingdom primarily inhabited by humans and a handful of individuals endowed with magic. In both instances, the story’s core characters share a bond that acts as the driving force behind the narrative, so if it’s well-written characters with an endearing relationship that appeals to you, Onward is a must-see.
The Sea Beast
Image via Netflix
Nimona is the epitome of a disorderly father-daughter relationship, but The Sea Beast perfectly mimics that attribute. The story revolves around Jacob Holland, a sea monster hunter who teams up with an orphan girl named Maisie to find the elusive Red Bluster. In this scenario, Jacob is Ballister and Maisie is Nimona, as both pairings result in mayhem and hilarity. Both movies are essentially the same concept explored in different time periods under different circumstances.
It’s also worth noting that both are Netflix productions, so there’s some consistency in both the storytelling and the animation. There isn’t any magic involved like Nimona, but that certainly helps to give The Sea Beast more of a grounded feel as it focuses on pure human connection rather than over-the-top effects and surrealism.
Epic
Image via BlueSky
An often overlooked animated feature, Epic released back in 2013 and starred the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, and Christopher Waltz. This action-adventure fantasy is based on William Joyce’s 1996 children’s book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs and revolves around teenager Mary Katherine (M.K.) who gets shrunk and joins the civilization of a tiny woodland kingdom inhabited by slugs, flower people, and soldiers known as Leafmen.
Along the way, M.K. meets Nod, a rookie Leafman who becomes her eventual boyfriend. There are some similarities between M.K. and Nimona, namely how they are called upon to protect the kingdom they reside in, join forces with a high-ranking male soldier (or knight, in Nimona‘s case), and save the day despite coming from different walks of life and largely being misunderstood due to their species.
Big Hero 6
Image via Walt Disney
There’s no denying that Big Hero 6 is one of Disney’s greatest triumphs in the last decade, effectively crafting a more child-friendly version of Marvel’s Avengers. Not only are the protagonists exceedingly likable, as with Nimona, but Big Hero 6‘s central plot focuses on the bond that forms between Hiro and Baymax, which is just as unconventional as Nimona and Ballister. On one hand, you have a seemingly ordinary person, and on the other, you have a being of extraordinary power and resolve. Baymax and Nimona might not look like much, but they both pack a pretty big punch.
Both movies feature a mysterious antagonist — ‘The Director’ in Nimona and ‘Yokai’ in Big Hero 6 — who manipulates the protagonist in some way. For Hiro, his micro-bots are used as weapons. For Ballister, he’s framed for the murder of Queen Valerin. Both of these events trigger the main conflict in each story. Big Hero 6 stars the voices of Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, James Cromwell, and Alan Tudyk.
How To Train Your Dragon
Image via DreamWorks
In a much more on-the-nose manner, How To Train Your Dragon also deals with a wanna-be ‘warrior’ and a so-called ‘beast’ that’s been outcasted by a village. For centuries, the Nightfury was branded the most fearsome of all dragons, never to be seen by the naked eye for long enough to survive the encounter. Meanwhile, Hiccup wants to be a macho Viking like his father, the Chief of Berk. But when he corners a Nightfury, becoming the first Viking to do so, Hiccup can’t bring himself to kill it.
From there, Hiccup and Toothless (as the Nightfury is appropriately named) form an inseparable bond and convince Berk that Vikings and dragons can live harmoniously. Dragons are no longer viewed as savage beasts and instead work alongside humans as pets. The same applies in Nimona, as the titular shapeshifter is eventually accepted by society after saving the kingdom from a deadly threat. So if it’s a tale of acceptance you’re after, How To Train Your Dragon is a perfect match.
Wreck-It-Ralph
Image via Walt Disney
If there were ever a movie on this list that emulates Nimona to an absolute T, it would be Wreck-It-Ralph. There’s a brutish oaf who’s never truly fit in and whose friends turn against him and a little girl with an extraordinary gift that’s only ever viewed as a nuisance and a mistake. Both Nimona and Vanellope possess special abilities that are frowned upon by others, but they enlist themselves as the sidekick to another unfortunate soul and vow to help them clear their name.
In Ballister’s case, he’s looking to prove that he didn’t murder Queen Valerin, whereas Ralph is trying to prove his worth as more than just a stereotypical bad guy. Although they don’t see eye-to-eye at first, both pairs eventually become inseparable and succeed and convincing the world around them that they aren’t a threat. That pursuit forces them to cross paths with some common enemies, but the ultimate redemption is well worth the sacrifice.
Ron’s Gone Wrong
Image via 20th Century Studios
Directed by Jean-Philippe Vine in his feature directorial debut, Ron’s Gone Wrong focuses on Barney, a middle-school teenager who befriends a defective robot named Ron and must protect him from corporate employees who view Ron’s flaws as bad publicity and seek the B-bot to be destroyed. Both Ron’s Gone Wrong and Nimona feature a so-called ‘defective’ protagonist who society views as irredeemable.
In Nimona’s case, she’s considered dangerous due to her powerful shapeshifting abilities. As for Ron, his programming malfunctions make him much more human than regular bots, which inconveniences those around him and shines a bad light on Bubble’s CEO Marc Wydell. There’s also the matter of both Ron and Nimona sacrificing themselves (supposedly) to save those who deem them freaks, effectively clearing their names. Both of these stories focus largely on redemption in the face of adversity.
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