Marvel Making Dark Avengers?
Is Marvel ready to bring Dark Avengers to the screen?
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier just ended last week, meaning that we won’t have a big Marvel Studios project until Loki hits Disney+ on June 11. Until then, fans will be left to their own devices, which will probably look a lot like the endless speculating and theorizing that flooded the internet after Avengers: Endgame hit theaters in 2019. Now, though, if a new rumor is to be believed, Marvel fans have quite a bit to which they can look forward.
A new rumor from WeGotThisCovered suggests that Marvel is bringing its popular Dark Avengers to the screen, and fans of the brutal Earth’s Mightiest Heroes offshoot have every reason to be cautiously optimistic. More specifically, though, the project will reportedly pit the Dark Avengers against the Thunderbolts. Could this get any better? Absolutely, and you can bet it probably will. There is currently no word regarding what form this project will take, but if the rumor ends up being true, then we will likely be hearing more about it sooner rather than later.
The aforementioned The Falcon and the Winter Soldier set up the formation of a Thunderbolts team pretty perfectly (thanks, Contessa), which adds to the plausibility of this popular—but still unconfirmed—new rumor. But please remember that this is only a rumor at this point and should be taken as such. Still, it is interesting that Marvel is reportedly pursuing a story featuring the Dark Avengers, as it would need to be much darker than anything they have attempted so far. That’s saying something, especially considering how dark both WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier often got over the course of their respective runs.
Some may be confused by the supposed similarities between the two teams, but they are actually pretty different. The Dark Avengers are far more villainous and murderous than the Thunderbolts, who have been described as a team of former no-gooders wanting to do good. The first team is actually comprised of supervillains pretending to be heroes, and the second is bad guys wanting to be better people. There are many ways this could go down, and all of them are incredibly exciting.
For those who may not be familiar with the publication history of Marvel’s Dark Avengers, allow me to fill you in. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Mike Deodato, the first issue of Dark Avengers debuted in January 2009 and ran for several years before concluding in 2013. The founding members of the Dark Avengers are Norman Osborn, Mac Gargan, Karla Sofen, Lester, Akihiro, Noh-Varr, Ares, and Robert Reynolds-aka The Sentry. John Walker (U.S. Agent) joined the team in 2013’s Dark Avengers #185.
In addition to the rumored Dark Avengers project, Marvel Studios is currently developing a She-Hulk series for Disney+, as well as a Hawkeye series, a Secret Invasion show, and, of course, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. There is obviously a ton more in the pipeline, but so many of those projects are far away and could change release dates at any point.
