Marvel’s Greatest Cosmic Story Still Needs To Be Adapted
For a team that calls itself “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” the Avengers sure spend a lot of time in outer space. Starting with 1972’s Kree-Skrull War, Marvel’s premier superteam has routinely found themselves in the middle of cosmic events and galactic civil wars that require them to leave the comfort of their home planet in order to fight in the deep void of space. The biggest and greatest of Marvel’s cosmic crossovers was 1992’s Operation: Galactic Storm, a storyline that has yet to be adapted for the MCU but honestly should be.
Operation: Galactic Storm was a 19-part comic book crossover event that ran through all of Marvel’s Avengers titles at the time. Named after the real-life Operation: Desert Storm—America’s codename for the first Gulf War—Galactic Storm saw the biggest characters at Marvel intervening in a cosmic war between the Kree and the Shi’ar Empires.
Galactic Storm would actually be the best way to introduce a plethora of Marvel’s cosmic characters that haven’t been added to the MCU yet.
Initially apprehensive about getting involved in the galactic conflict, the Avengers find themselves drawn into the war following a discovery by Quasar that the warring factions’ use of a nearby stargate is destabilizing the Earth’s Sun.
What makes Operation: Galactic Storm the perfect story to adapt into either a movie or Disney+ show are the various factions involved in the war. While the blue-skinned Kree have been a staple in the MCU since 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the bird-like Shi’ar have yet to make an appearance in live-action—mainly because of their strong ties to the X-Men.
Now that Marvel owns 20th Century Fox and can use the X-Men and any affiliated properties, it’s the perfect time to introduce the Shi’ar into the MCU.
Quasar is the Marvel equivalent of Green Lantern, a hero with cosmic bands that are capable of emitting powerful bursts of energy or creating weapons or other constructs out of hard light.
Galactic Storm would actually be the best way to introduce a plethora of Marvel’s cosmic characters that haven’t been added to the MCU yet. Along with the Shi’ar, the above-mentioned Quasar factors heavily into the conflict.
Quasar is the Marvel equivalent of Green Lantern, a hero with cosmic bands that are capable of emitting powerful bursts of energy or creating weapons or other constructs out of hard light.
These “quantum bands” function similarly to Ms. Marvel’s bangle. As such, it’s possible that if Marvel did bring the cosmic Operation: Galactic Storm to either the big or small screen, they might want to sub in Kamala Khan for Quasar. Even so, there are still plenty of characters from Galactic Storm that haven’t appeared yet in the MCU.
Both the Kree and Shi’ar have their own respective superteams, Starforce and the Imperial Guard. The Shi’ar’s Imperial Guard, in particular, is home to Gladiator, a mohawked, Superman analog who’s pound for pound one of the strongest characters in the Marvel universe—cosmic or otherwise.
In addition to introducing new characters, Operation: Galactic Storm would also be the perfect way to showcase some characters that have technically appeared in the MCU but haven’t really done much yet. Gilgamesh, Starfox, Sersi, and the Black Knight were all introduced in 2019’s Eternals and have active roles in Galactic Storm‘s central conflict.
Meanwhile, Operation: Galactic Storm would be the perfect way to redeem Inhumans alum Crystal. After all, if Black Bolt can make a comeback in Doctor Strange 2, there’s no reason the other Inhumans can’t follow suit.
While a Disney+ series might make sense for the length of Galactic Storm, Marvel might want to go feature film for their cosmic opus if only to guarantee it receives the budget it deserves.
Along with all of the new and lesser-known characters, Galactic Storm also features all of the old standbys like Captain Marvel, Thor, Ant-Man, She-Hulk, and pretty much every other character in the MCU even remotely associated with the Avengers.
Avengers West Coast #81 (Marvel Comics, 1992)
Ultimately, a live-action adaptation of the Marvel cosmic epic Operation: Galactic Storm would be a great opportunity for Marvel to introduce the Shi’ar—and through them the X-Men—into the MCU as well as tell an epic story on the level of Infinity War and Endgame.
While a Disney+ series might make sense for the length of Galactic Storm, Marvel might want to go feature film for their cosmic opus if only to guarantee it receives the budget it deserves.
Kevin Feige just needs to make sure that if Operation: Galactic Storm does get adapted, it’s the comic crossover and not the crappy 1995 arcade game of the same name.
