I Need These 10 Marvel Heroes From Outside The MCU To Get Their Moment In Avengers: Doomsday & Avengers: Secret Wars

Avengers: Doomsday

and Avengers: Secret Wars

present the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

with its biggest and best opportunity to bring back major Marvel characters from beyond Earth-616. When the MCU began back in 2008, it set out to bring together a team of heroes from various movies. By 2012, it achieved that goal by releasing The Avengers.

However, it wasn’t until the Multiverse Saga that the MCU attempted to look back at other Marvel movies and incorporate their stories and characters into the expansive universe of stories that it had built. Spider-Man: No Way Home saw Tom Holland’s Spider-Man team up with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw Patrick Stewart appear in the MCU, and ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine helped to take two Marvel Universes and bring them both together. And Doomsday and Secret Wars can finally do the same for several other Marvel characters who never got to shine as bright as they deserved on the big screen.

10

The Original Howard The Duck

Howard holding a bottle of hand soap in Howard The Duck.

As surprising as it may seem, Howard the Duck was the first Marvel character to appear in a wide-release theatrical feature film. Before 1986, there were Marvel TV movies, and much further back, there was a Captain America serial released in 1944, but Howard took Marvel movies into the modern era. And yet, the movie is one of the most insane, controversial, and illogical films ever made.

Despite that fact, Howard the Duck plays an important part in the history of Marvel and cinema, and it deserves to get a redemption moment in the MCU. The character has already had some brief cameos in movies like Avengers: Endgame, and the character was featured prominently in a What If…? episode, but it would be great to see the original character return one last time before the end of the Multiverse Saga.

9

Dolph Lungren’s Punisher

Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle in promo pH๏τo for The Punisher (1989)

Dolph Lundgren became an iconic action star after appearing in Rocky IV as the formidable Ivan Drago. After that, Lundgren enjoyed success in a string of films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including an appearance in 1989 as Frank Castle in The Punisher. Today, Jon Bernthal is the celebrated actor cast in the role, but Lundgren was the first actor to tackle the character in live-action.

Unfortunately, the movie received mixed reviews, and things didn’t get much better when the story was adapted again in 2004 when Thomas Jane took on the role. However, Lundgren remains a popular action star, despite his advancing age, and it would be incredible to see a more experienced, battle-hardened version of Frank appear in the Battleworld.

8

Ben Affleck’s Daredevil

Ben Affleck as Daredevil perching in a bar in Daredevil (2003)

Controversial pick, but if I can be honest, I had a great time watching Ben Affleck’s Daredevil. The movie came out in 2003, around the same time as the Fox X-Men were picking up steam, and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man was putting Marvel on the map in cinema. Daredevil may have been weaker than both of those endeavors, but the film delivered something groundbreaking.

With Matt Murdock’s vision presented in this ethereal echo-location style, and Wilson Fisk played by the incredible Michael Clark Duncan, this movie was fun. Not to mention Colin Farrell, who currently stars as The Penguin in the Michael Reeves Batverse, playing Bullseye. Yes, the movie had flaws, and Affleck wasn’t a perfect fit for the role, but as a first step towards telling the story of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, it did its job.

7

Eric Bana’s Hulk

Eric Bana as Bruce Banner in Hulk Movie looking into the camera

In 2008, The Incredible Hulk introduced the Green Goliath to the MCU with his alter-ego, Bruce Banner, played by Edward Norton. However, the story of the Hulk was presented on the big screen just a few years earlier when Ang Lee directed Hulk. Eric Bana played Bruce Banner, and the film explored the origins of this tortured scientist whose life is forever changed by a major lab accident.

The film was incredibly tense, gritty, and visceral, though there were some concerns about the lack of consistency with the CGI. Despite this, Eric Bana did an incredible job playing Banner, and his conflict with his father made this story one of the most dramatic and compelling Marvel movies pre-MCU. Bana deserves another chance to revisit that story one more time.

6

Ioan Gruffudd’s Mister Fantastic

Ioan Gruffudd's Reed Richards in 2005's Fantastic Four looking into the camera

Pedro Pascal is the MCU’s official Reed Richards, but in 2005, Ioan Gruffudd absolutely nailed his role in Fantastic Four alongside MCU alum Chris Evans as Johnny Storm. Gruffudd was captivating as Reed, with an unrivaled intellect and curiosity that stretches beyond his own physical limitations. And when that stretching manifests itself in his powers, it makes for one heck of a story.

Gruffudd got two films to explore the character of Reed Richards, and he may well be one of the most acquainted actors with this character in the world. While Pascal will need to find his own way of delivering the character, Gruffudd’s version would be an interesting comparison to see in the Multiverse Saga, perhaps as part of a council of Reed’s ready to help Mister Fantastic solve his greatest problem ever.

5

Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider

Nicolas Cage's Johnny Blaze as Ghost Rider in Ghost Rider

Nicolas Cage is a national treasure, and not just because he starred in that film. Cage’s acting credits span a vast array of stories and genres, and he has tackled numerous characters. But, some of his best work on screen has to be when he was cast as Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider. Yes, it was flawed, and things went way downhill in the second movie, but in all honesty, the story of Ghost Rider is messy, dark, and occasionally confusing.

Cage has also showcased a love of superhero stories, with his near-miss role as Superman in a Tim Burton adaptation, his work in Into the Spider-Verse, and his role in an upcoming Prime Video series and Spider-Man Noir. Having Cage back as Johnny Blaze would be an incredible tribute to the character before the MCU finds their own actor to take on the role of Ghost Rider.

4

Anya Taylor-Joy’s Magik

Anya Taylor-Joy as Magik in The New Mutants

Anya Taylor-Joy is a widely celebrated actress whose career continues to grow from strength to strength. While her big break came in 2015s The Witch, the actress also recorded a Marvel movie shortly after, though it wasn’t released for several years. The New Mutants faced a number of issues around its release, not least of all being the COVID pandemic and the sale of Fox to Disney, but the unfortunate outcome from that was the way Taylor-Joy’s work as Magik went unrecognized.

Taylor-Joy would be a spectacular addition to the MCU, and if she could reprise her role as Illyana Rasputin, that would be even better. However, Marvel Studios will need to be more careful in their handling of the character. But if done correctly, Taylor-Joy could do the role justice, and bring one of Marvel’s most fascinating and underrated characters to life.

3

Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique

Mystique trying to talk Jean Grey down in X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Another extremely talented young actress, Jennifer Lawrence, is exceptional. And when she was cast to play Raven Darkholme in X-Men: First Class alongside James McAvoy, it was brilliant. The chemistry between the two and the reimagining of their story as adopted siblings was masterful. And it makes it all the more heartbreaking when Raven, aka Mystique, sides with Magneto over her beloved friend and brother Charles.

However, with the way this story played out, Lawrence only got to really shine in the first film. Yes, she appeared in the sequels, but her emotions and range in the role gave the character something fresh that completely redefined it. And while I’m excited to see Rebecca Romijn reprise the role from the earlier trilogy, I think it would be further enhanced if she were to appear alongside Lawrence’s iteration of the character.

2

Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web

Cᴀssandra Webb in sunglᴀsses in Madame Web

So, Madame Web was a disaster. There’s no two ways about it. The movie was disappointing, and it left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, including the star of the film, Dakota Johnson. Now, Johnson didn’t exactly treat the film delicately after working on it, and her constant berating of it likely didn’t help its box office, but it doesn’t mean she couldn’t provide an interesting meta for the MCU.

With the Sony Spider-Man Universe ᴅᴇᴀᴅ and gone, there is no future for Madame Web, so why not get Johnson to tackle the role in a more comical and lighthearted fashion for the MCU. There is a precedent of taking these characters from the SSU and bringing them over, but Johnson’s playful interpretation, and the way she holds herself could add something unique to Avengers: Secret Wars.

1

Tom Hardy’s Venom

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom talking in the desert in Venom: The Last Dance — Image via Sony Pictures

Tom Hardy is an incredibly talented performer. From his work as Bane in The Dark Knight trilogy, to his roles as an action hero or drama star, Hardy is spectacular. And while he was a glimmer of light in the darkness of the SSU, it’s hard to say that he was ever actually used to his full potential in the MCU-adjacent universe. Now, Hardy has already crossed over in a brief cameo, but it would be great to have him return for Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars.

Hardy is a natural hero, and someone who can be versatile and flexible in roles. If the version of Eddie Brock to appear in the MCU is a direct copy of the SSU’s, that could make for an interesting crossover, but I think it would be even better to see a more in-control and confident Brock stand up to the bad guys and fight alongside Tom Holland’s Web-Head. It was teased for some time that the two would share the screen, and maybe the MCU could pay off that promise in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars.