Marvel TV Loose Ends: A Power Broker, Captain Marvel’s Equal and 8 Others
Though the Marvel Cinematic Universe will at long last be addressing the mammoth Celestial in the room, an abundance of loose ends remain untied on the big screen. Harry Styles, anyone? Are your ten rings still emitting a mysterious beacon, Shang-Chi ?
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The Marvel Studio-produced, “It’s all (truly) connected” TV series that have been steadily rolling out on Disney+ since January 2021 are similarly guilty of setting up big reveals that, to date, have gotten little payoff — in movies, or anywhere.
Is the box office blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine the latest MCU project to curiously fail to incorporate a related element from a TV series that came before it? Let’s review Marvel TV’s many season-ending twists that led… nowhere. Yet.
SPOILERS for these series follow within each caption, of course….
WandaVision
WandaVision‘s March 2021 season finale found Hex Vision (the “husband” that Wanda had created using magic) engaging in a Ship of Theseus-themed philosophical discussion with White Vision (a synthezoid built by S.W.O.R.D. from the OG’s “corpse”). Hex Vision ultimately restored White Vision’s original data, allowing White Vision to remember his relationship with Wanda and the Mind Stone’s destruction.
“I am Vision,” White Vision stated, before flying off… somewhere… and disappearing for the rest of the WandaVision finale. And he hasn’t been seen or spoken of since — though a Paul Bettany-led, Vision-centric spinoff was announced in May. So maybe we’ll get proper follow-up then.
ON THE PLUS SIDE: The 2022 film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness followed up on WandaVision’s end credits scene, which hinted at a dark turn for Ms. Maximoff; 2023’s The Marvels told us what happened with Monica Rambeau after Nick Fury summoned her in the aftermath of the Westview witches battle; and the Disney+ spinoff Agatha All Along will chronicle what became of Wanda’s spell-bound adversary.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Who is the mysterious Power Broker spoken of in a hushed tone throughout Disney+’s second live-action Marvel series? Midway through the season finale, when Emily Van Camp’s Sharon Carter found herself squaring off with Flag Smasher front woman Karli, it became clear that Sharon is the unnamed power player. Sharon wound up shooting Karli dead (thus maintaining the Power Broker’s cover).
In the finale’s singular bonus scene, a senate committee pardoned Sharon (for helping out Cap/Steve Rogers during Civil War) and welcomed “Agent Carter” back into the ranks. But once outside, she who is also known as the Power Broker placed a phone call, saying, “Start lining up the buyers.” Because while Super Soldiers may be off the menu, Sharon now has full access to government secrets and weapons. Though the increasingly powerful Power Broker has not been spoken of since.
ON THE PLUS SIDE: Both 2021’s Black Widow and 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever told us a bit more about Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the Julia Louis-Dreyfus character who showed up in FAWS to recruit failed Cap John Walker aka U.S. Agent; the Anthony Mackie-led Captain America: Brave New World (in theaters February 2025) will resume the story of Sam Wilson fka Falcon fully embracing his role as Captain America; and the Thunderbolts* team-up movie will catch us up with Bucky Barnes, Val and John Walker.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
The October 2022 Season 1 finale’s closing moments not only saw Jennifer Walters’ cousin Bruce/Smart Hulk return from an impromptu trip to the planet Sakaar with a teenage son, Skaar, in tow — adding some fuel to the World War Hulk movie fire that was crackling at the time — it also showed Wong (traveling without Madisynn, alas) springing Emil Blonsky aka Abomination from his DODC cell and hooking him up with a room at Kamar-Taj. Eight Marvel movies/series later, neither Skaar nor Emil have been seen or spoken of since.
ON THE PLUS SIDE: Some version of Matt Murdock aka Daredevil, who stopped by She-Hulk for a fight and a fling, will live on in Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again (due out in March 2025). Madisynn, meanwhile, was heard from in the spring 2024 comic book What If…? Venom #3, but has not sipped a cosmo in live-action form since.
Moon Knight
The May 2022 Season 1 finale had a mid-credits scene in which Ethan Hawke’s Arthur was led out a psychiatric hospital by a mysterious stranger who appeared to have killed multiple security guards on his way in. Arthur was escorted into a limo, where he was greeted by none other than the god Khonshu. “Meet my friend, Jake Lockley,” Khonshu said — and when the limo driver turned around, we realized he was a third personality of Oscar Isaac’s Marc Spector/Steven Grant’s. Jake shot Arthur, then drove off.
Not only has Jake Lockley not been seen nor spoken of since, the Moon Knight series as a whole seems to have been lost to the MCU ether.
ON THE PLUS SIDE: Nope, we’ve got nothing.
Loki (Season 2)
In the Disney+ series’ November 2023 Season 2 finale, Loki realized his glorious purpose by gathering up the Time Loom’s dying branches, marching up a set of steps to the remains of He Who Remains’ citadel, and sitting on a glimmering throne where, with great if sad resolve, he held together the bundled branches — forming the World Tree/Yggdrasill that connects the Nine Realms.
Of the three Marvel properties that have come out since Loki Season 2 — The Marvels, Disney+’s Echo, and Deadpool & Wolverine — it is the latter, which deals with the TVA as well as a threatened Sacred Timeline, that seems to conspicuously ignore Loki’s new status. Surely the God of Time would have something to say about the plan to replace an Anchor Being?
ON THE PLUS SIDE: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the February 2023 film that preceded Loki Season 2, marked the big-screen debut of Jonathan Majors’ Kang villain (introduced in Loki’s Season 1 finale) and had a bonus scene that essentially previewed Loki Season 2. Also, Deadpool & Wolverine did acknowledge that Wunmi Mosaku’s B-15 is still in the TVA’s employ.
Secret Invasion
The many shortcomings of the June 2023 TV adaptation of the titular comic book storyline have been well documented by TVLine — though Secret Invasion‘s conspicuous disconnect from the “It’s all connected!” MCU seems to be due, at least in part, to the fact that its place in the larger timeline got shuffled around. Namely, it at one point was supposed to come out after November 2023’s The Marvels, the MCU film that most egregiously ignored the Samuel L. Jackson-led Disney+ series.
If we were to zero in on Secret Invasion‘s two loosest threads, there is the fact that Emilia Clark’s G’iah in the season finale became a CRISPR-created Super Skrull who wielded the powers of numerous MCU heroes/villains — including the ultra-mighty Captain Marvel herself! Meaning, G’iah sure could/should have helped out Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel and Monica Rambeau/name still being workshopped in The Marvels.
Secret Invasion also memorably (infamously?) revealed that James “Rhodey” Rhodes had been a shape-shifted Skrull “for a while,” though there was much debate about whether that extends as far back as immediately following his paralysis in Captain America: Civil War. Maybe Don Cheadle’s Armor Wars, conceived as a Disney+ series but last we heard on track to be a movie, will revisit(/scrap) that unpopular retcon?
Oh, and don’t get us started on Fury’s wife, who was also quite MIA from The Marvels.
ON THE PLUS SIDE: It seems like Captain America: Brave New World, in which Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross is a newly installed POTUS, will address the truncated term of Dermot Mulroney’s President Kitson…?
Echo
The January 2023 binge-drop’s finale had a mid-credits scene in which Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, aboard a private plane after being bested by Maya Lopez & Co., tuned into the news and intently watched a report on the New York City mayoral race. As the news anchors spoke of voters’ desire for a “bareknuckle brawler” and “outsider” who isn’t afraid to take on the establishment, Fisk leaned in closer — as if to say he’s the man for the job.
Echo only streamed earlier this year, so this thread isn’t very loose at all, but the Daredevil: Born Again revival-of-sorts arriving in March 2025 likely will tie this one up nicely, either covering Fisk’s bid for office or open with him already elected.
Want scoop on any Marvel TV show ? Email [email protected], and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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