Spoilers Marvel Cinematic Universe spoiler-heavy speculation thread

[Christopher]

I associate Namor more with the X-Men, but I think he would be an interesting addition to the MCU if they can distinguish him from Aquaman.

That's an ironic caveat, considering that originally Aquaman and Namor were very different characters, but for the past few decades, Aquaman has pretty much been written as a Namor clone. Namor was always a half-human son of a princess of an undersea kingdom (though it wasn't explicitly named as Atlantis until 1962), but Aquaman wasn't retconned into the half-human son of a princess of Atlantis until 1959 (so who was copying whom?), and didn't become king of Atlantis until 1964. And from the '80s onward, he's usually been portrayed as an Atlantean king dedicated to defending the seas from human rapaciousness and willing to go to war with the surface world to do so, which has been Namor's schtick pretty much all along.

 

[Samurai8472]

Infinity War Part 1 and 2 to re-titled

http://www.superherohype.com/news/373243-both-avengers-infinity-war-films-will-be-retitled#/slide/1

 

[JD]

It was the screenwriters who said it, (Markus and McFeely) not the Russos.

McFeely...sounds like a creep doctor character from Grey's Anatomy.

Oops, sorry about that. I'd been reading a bunch of Civil War interviews, so I must have gotten them confused.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Aquaman and Green Arrow had the good fortune of sharing a Golden Age anthology series with Superboy...thus they survived the transition between the Golden and Silver Ages as backup features to the Boy of Steel in Adventure Comics. If Aquaman had been one of the scores of superheroes to suffer outright cancellation by the end of the Golden Age, I have to wonder if anyone would have bothered reviving him in the Silver Age, given that he didn't even have a JSA connection. (Roy Thomas would have gotten around to having him in All-Star Squadron, certainly....)

 

[theenglish]

Aquaman and Green Arrow had the good fortune of sharing a Golden Age anthology series with Superboy...thus they survived the transition between the Golden and Silver Ages as backup features to the Boy of Steel in Adventure Comics. If Aquaman had been one of the scores of superheroes to suffer outright cancellation by the end of the Golden Age, I have to wonder if anyone would have bothered reviving him in the Silver Age, given that he didn't even have a JSA connection. (Roy Thomas would have gotten around to having him in All-Star Squadron, certainly....)

All Star Squadron was actually how I learned about how deep the golden age actually went. I loved that series almost as much as I loved the LSH from that era.

 

[Christopher]

Aquaman and Green Arrow had the good fortune of sharing a Golden Age anthology series with Superboy...thus they survived the transition between the Golden and Silver Ages as backup features to the Boy of Steel in Adventure Comics. If Aquaman had been one of the scores of superheroes to suffer outright cancellation by the end of the Golden Age, I have to wonder if anyone would have bothered reviving him in the Silver Age, given that he didn't even have a JSA connection.

Oh, I think he definitely would've been. After all, DC's Silver Age creators were heavily invested in the science fiction angle, in reinventing the Golden Age characters in a more SF-driven way -- so the Green Lantern changed from an Aladdin riff to a space cop, Hawkman changed from a reincarnated prince to a... another space cop, etc. Note that Aquaman was retconned into a half-Atlantean in 1959, the same year that Hal Jordan debuted and Barry Allen got his own comic. If the character had been cancelled along with the others, he probably would've been revived and reinvented as a half-Atlantean, or even a full Atlantean, because that sort of thing would've fit right into the pulpy sci-fi mindset of the era. There's been a lot of ocean-based or underwater sci-fi going back to Captain Nemo.

 

[The Old Mixer]

But all of the other characters that they reimagined for what would become established as the Earth-1 setting were longtime JSA'ers who'd been among DC/National's higher-selling / longer-lived Golden Age heroes...Flash and Green Lantern had multiple titles in the Golden Age, and were bumped to JSA reserve status as a result...Hawkman and the Atom were the second-tier heroes in Flash and Green Lantern's anthology titles, and had the longest continuous stints in the JSA. In my hypothetical scenario that has Aquaman not surviving into the Silver Age as a backup feature, I think he would have been far too obscure amongst the scores of Golden Age heroes in comic book limbo to warrant the same sort of treatment. They would have dipped some more into the JSA well first.

That said, it was definitely about who you knew in the Golden Age...or who you shared an anthology title with. Just as Hawkman and the Atom benefited from close association with Flash and Green Lantern, Aquaman and Green Arrow benefited all the more from association with Superboy.

 

[Christopher]

But all of the other characters that they reimagined for what would become established as the Earth-1 setting were longtime JSA'ers who'd been among DC/National's higher-selling / longer-lived Golden Age heroes...Flash and Green Lantern had multiple titles in the Golden Age, and were bumped to JSA reserve status as a result...Hawkman and the Atom were the second-tier heroes in Flash and Green Lantern's anthology titles, and had the longest continuous stints in the JSA. In my hypothetical scenario that has Aquaman not surviving into the Silver Age as a backup feature, I think he would have been far too obscure amongst the scores of Golden Age heroes in comic book limbo to warrant the same sort of treatment. They would have dipped some more into the JSA well first.

I still think their priority was to bring the science fiction. Aquaman is a character with a lot of potential in that regard. A member of a lost undersea civilization, with special powers and eldritch science at his disposal? It's classic. Why would they have cared about how popular the characters were a decade before? They were trying to create characters that would appeal to the audience of the '50s and '60s, and sci-fi was big then. Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Atom weren't just characters with JSA ties, they were characters that lent themselves to sci-fi storytelling.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I have to wonder if anyone would have bothered reviving him in the Silver Age, given that he didn't even have a JSA connection. (Roy Thomas would have gotten around to having him in All-Star Squadron, certainly....)

Roy had GA Aquaman appear in the last issue of the All-Star Squadron. Had COIE not happened Roy was planning to use Aquaman more frequently.

Note that Aquaman was retconned into a half-Atlantean in 1959,

IIRC, the GA Aquaman's powers came from advanced science his father found in the ruins of Atlantis.
Found a quote:

The story must start with my father, a famous undersea explorer — if I spoke his name, you would recognize it. My mother died when I was a baby, and he turned to his work of solving the ocean's secrets. His greatest discovery was an ancient city, in the depths where no other diver had ever penetrated. My father believed it was the lost kingdom of Atlantis. He made himself a water-tight home in one of the palaces and lived there, studying the records and devices of the race's marvelous wisdom. From the books and records, he learned ways of teaching me to live under the ocean, drawing oxygen from the water and using all the power of the sea to make me wonderfully strong and swift. By training and a hundred scientific secrets, I became what you see — a human being who lives and thrives under the water

 

[The Old Mixer]

I still think their priority was to bring the science fiction. Aquaman is a character with a lot of potential in that regard.

But in my hypothetical scenario, would they have even dug that deep to find him? They likely would have gone for a higher-profile character and reinvented them with a science fiction angle.

DC/National had access to lots and lots of Golden Age heroes...had Aquaman not survived as part of a package deal with Superboy, he probably would have faded into obscurity. You likely wouldn't be arguing for the potential of the character today, because somebody else would need to tell you who he was.

The Golden Age versions of the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Atom all had common ties, which I indicated, that Aquaman didn't share. One of these things is not like the others.

 

[Christopher]

IIRC, the GA Aquaman's powers came from advanced science his father found in the ruins of Atlantis.

Yes, I know. But Arthur himself was treated as just a normal human who'd learned his aquatic skills, like all the other Golden Age heroes who'd traveled to exotic lands and mastered extraordinary abilities which they used to battle evil. And I don't think Atlantis ever figured in the stories except as the ruins where Arthur's father made his discoveries. The Silver Age made Aquaman himself half-Atlantean, had Atlantis survive as a present-day kingdom, and eventually had Aquaman become its king. That's very different.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yes, I know. But Arthur himself was treated as just a normal human who'd learned his aquatic skills, like all the other Golden Age heroes who'd traveled to exotic lands and mastered extraordinary abilities which they used to battle evil. And I don't think Atlantis ever figured in the stories except as the ruins where Arthur's father made his discoveries. The Silver Age made Aquaman himself half-Atlantean, had Atlantis survive as a present-day kingdom, and eventually had Aquaman become its king. That's very different.

just pointing out the GA Aquaman already had a "science" origin.

 

[Christopher]

just pointing out the GA Aquaman already had a "science" origin.

But not to the same extent, which is the point. The origin was there, yes, but it was incidental and rarely figured into the stories. It was just an explanation for his powers, not something that was a living, breathing, regular part of the plots. Turning him from human into half-human, changing the focus of his stories from "the sea" to Atlantis itself, these are major changes that substantially increased the sci-fi content of the stories.

 

[Nerys Myk]

But not to the same extent, which is the point. The origin was there, yes, but it was incidental and rarely figured into the stories. It was just an explanation for his powers, not something that was a living, breathing, regular part of the plots. Turning him from human into half-human, changing the focus of his stories from "the sea" to Atlantis itself, these are major changes that substantially increased the sci-fi content of the stories.

I haven't read enough GA Aquaman to know.

 

[Captain Craig]

I'm a big fan of modern Aquaman, Bronze Age up, and would love for DC to put out a Aquaman Golden Age Omnibus to go along with the Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman ones they've being doing.

As to Namor he's at the top of the pile among B-tier characters whose time is due to appear in the MCU.
Marvel Zombies I have no interest in watching.

 

[theenglish]

Now that Dr. Strange is here, maybe we can get a real Defenders movie. I would love to see Namor on screen, but I think he would work best alongside other characters. He is also an old ally of Captain America.

Perhaps we can get an Invaders movie? Alternatively, I would love to see flashbacks to the Invaders in a Captain America movie.

 

[kirk55555]

Perhaps we can get an Invaders movie? Alternatively, I would love to see flashbacks to the Invaders in a Captain America movie.

That would be cool, but could they make it fit? Superheros/metahumans in WWII besides Cap, I mean, It always felt like Cap (and red Skull, I guess) were the only somewhat enhanced individuals in the period, at least based on what we see. I know the android Human Torch showed up as an easter egg, but besides that I don't know if they could really have the Invaders in the MCU WWII. It would be cool, but feels unlikely.

 

[JD]

I've been wondering if we're going to get a MCU version of The Illuminati? They did seem to play a pretty major role in the era of stories that has been big influence on the movies and shows.

 

[jbny67]

Oops!
http://epicstream.com/news/Major-Ma...-Confirmed-To-Appear-in-Avengers-Infinity-War
Barvel

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Oops!
http://epicstream.com/news/Major-Ma...-Confirmed-To-Appear-in-Avengers-Infinity-War
Barvel

Yeah, they "accidentally" said it.