Now that Ant-Man has closed the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Phase 2” slate of movies, we await the hero-vs-hero calamity that will be 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.
Except…doesn’t it seem too soon for that? Aren’t there only still about 10 or so superpowered heroes bopping around the MCU? That’s not a civil war, that’s a volleyball game.
It turns out that the MCU’s Phase 2 was more expansive than it seems. There are now nearly one hundred characters, most of them with powers or superior abilities, that could take an active role in Marvel’s Civil War! Take a look at the below graphic to see what the network of Marvel characters looks like right now. (Spoilers ahead for Ant-Man and Age of Ultron, as well as rumored characters and links in forthcoming Marvel Phase 3 movies.)
For visual clarity, the infographic does not include long-dead characters (like Iron Monger), minor non-powered characters (like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s FitzSimmons), or characters from the 20th century era of the MCU (like Howard Stark or the Howling Commandos). Even with these guidelines, the MCU has still become a big place.
Particularly notable is the central presence that Black Widow currently occupies within the MCU. She’s forged a variety of one-on-one relationships with almost all of the main Avengers roster, who in turn hold connections to almost all of the other characters in the MCU. This makes the dearth of Black Widow toy merchandise even more baffling.
Chris Lough writes for Tor.com and admires the persistence of Angar the Screamer. He’s sporadically on Twitter.
This graphic is everything right now.
You’re forgetting Agent 13!
Well we’ll see if Simmons remains alive and unpowered episode one of season 3.
That is a heck of an extensive chart. Nothing compared to the list of characters in the comics, but still pretty hefty.
much as I wish otherwise, Frigga wins the lottery of the only MCU character to die and apparently stay dead, so even though she’s marked as deceased (which I didn’t see at first) I don’t understand why she’s on the chart, since it’s supposed to be those potentially playing in Civil war??
You’re forgetting Agent 13!
Nooooooo!
(I mean, yes, I did. I’m just yelling to the skies.)
Ellisande, I originally had her off the chart, but it seemed…weird? Loki, Odin, Thor, and Frigga have a complex relationship and Loki’s actions are pretty influenced by her role in Dark World, which is the last time we saw him, so I ended up including her for the sake of further contextualizing Loki’s status.
That’s basically the reason behind the inclusion of all the recently-dead characters, like Quicksilver. Their deaths (or creation, in Ultron’s case) are important motivators for where the related characters stand pre-Civil War.
Red hulk? The abomination? Did I miss a movie somewhere?
I wouldn’t have put Agent 13 there because she is non-super. For example, Jane Foster is not on the chart either. We saw the Abomination in one of the Hulk movies. And while we haven’t seen Red Hulk, we have seen his alter ego (spoilers ahead if you really haven’t been paying attention for a few years), Thunderbolt Ross.
I just hope that most of the characters that we have heard are appearing in Civil War are in cameo status, otherwise the cast is going to be more than a bit unwieldy, and overpower the story.
Nice job, Chris. Lots of interesting connections to ponder. And by the time Civil War is over, a lot of those lines will have shifted.
Another interesting thing to note is that we’ve seen Sif and Volstagg meet The Collector face to face. And that they know him pretty well.
Andy @7 – The Abomination shows up in the version of the Hulk movie with Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. The movie in question is only very loosely tied into the MCU, through the following things:
1) The sonic weapons used on the Hulk have the Stark Industries logo;
2) SHIELD is referenced as one of the groups being used to try and track Bruce Banner; and
3) Tony Stark (Robert Downey Junior) shows up in the post-credits scene to tell General Ross to stay clear of the Hulk in future.
It showed up around the same time as the first Iron Man movie, and didn’t do anywhere near as well in the box office. It was very much a throw-back to the Bill Bixby TV series (right down to having Lou Ferrigno providing the voice for the Hulk and doing a cameo as a security guard).
Many of the characters in the graph have not been introduced yet to the MCU (netflix series, for example), or they have not been confirmed to be in the movie (the guardians (except star lord)). The only asgardian who seems likely to be in the film is Loki. The Inhumans, while they have been partaily introduced, will only take center stage when their film comes out.
so to me it feels a little early for a civil war.
Ellisande: “much as I wish otherwise, Frigga wins the lottery of the only MCU character to die and apparently stay dead”
I assume you mean not-entirely-villainous characters. And not at all! Also staying dead, so far, are Yinsen (IM); Abraham Erskine (CA:TFA); and Maya Hansen (IM3). (It’s too soon to tell about Quicksilver, in light of Coulson.)
(I once catalogued these because I was kicking around A Theory about who stays dead and who doesn’t, so I had the information to hand.)
Wait. Pym and antman are enemy!?
So Wasp is about half the age of Hank, and I assume is Scott’s love interest instead? (I haven’t seen Antman) How did Marvel manage to re-arrange that in the past 20 years I’ve been out of reading comics?
This is pretty awesome, but I feel like this needs to be 3D in some way. I’m thinking some sort of line between Peggy Carter and Vision.
@lonechicken, it’s not in the comics at all, just in the movieverse. They added Red Queen, Jan and Hank’s daughter from the A-Next/American Dream continuity, into the movie, and fridged Jan (possibly temporarily, at least for the duration of this movie) so Hank could have Issues about his daughter being a superhero. (She is neither Red Queen NOR Wasp in this movie, if that matters to you)
Sif also was on Agents of SHIELD and has connections to all of those characters!
There should also DEFINITELY be a line between Natasha and Falcon and as of Ant-Man, one between Falcon and Winter Soldier. Howard Stark is another major connector who is missing, too!
Civil War only involves heroes. Villains aren’t aren’t going to register anyway, so they don’t count. Likewise dead people and old people. Asgardians other than Thor and possibly Loki don’t give a damn about human politics, so they don’t count. Nobody has confirmed that anyone from the Netflix shows will be in the MCU, so those don’t count. Characters from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are questionable, and the Inhumans are getting their own movie further down the line. The Guardians of the Galaxy are nowhere near Earth, so they also do not count. That leaves 17 characters:
1. Ant-Man
2. Black Panther
3. Black Widow
4. Captain America
5. Falcon
6. Hawkeye
7. Hulk
8. Iron Man
9. Maria Hill
10. Nick Fury
11. Scarlet Witch
12. Spider-Man
13. Thor
14. Vision
15. War Machine
16. Wasp
17. Winter Soldier
Cool infographic, though.
@10 Megpie71
I feel like I should mention that Lou Ferrigno did the voice of the Hulk in both Avengers films as well . . . .
@16 Of course the chart is just speculation and all, but to be fair, the actor who plays Daredevil has said he’s contractually obligated to appear in the Marvel movies if he’s asked. If there wasn’t the possibility of the Netflix characters making at least a token appearance, why put it in their contracts? The same could be said with the SHIELD characters. With the huge plot crossovers with the movies, it’s not a leap to say the could appear. And to discount the Inhumans just because they’re getting their own movie doesn’t make sense considering characters have made appearances in movies before getting their own. The thing with the Inhumans is they don’t have to waste a movie setting up the backstory. It’s already there in SHIELD and Avengers AoU.