As is mostly the case when I decide to write something on the internet the inspiration came for this article when I read a news story on this very site by Josh Wilding. Check out the article but in a nut-shell it reported that IGN asked Jeremy Renner about the possibility of Hawkeye getting his very own 13 episode run on Netflix. His response seemed indifferent to the idea but it made me wonder, if not Hawkeye, which character from the Marvel movies do I think should get their own Netflix series.
With an abundance of characters to choose from I decided to only mention characters that we need to see more of. I’m not talking about the Captain America’s and Tony Stark’s that have both had multiple solo movies and major roles in the team ups.
Black Widow
Scarlett Johansson has been playing Black Widow since Iron Man 2 in 2010 and there has been a lot of noise about the character not getting a solo movie. While I certainly agree that Black Widow and Scarlett Johansson are certainly worthy of a major feature while thinking about this article I have convinced myself that this character would be better suited to a 13 episode (preferably shorter) story on Netflix. I am a massive fan of the movies but ever since Daredevil first appeared on Netflix, we have seen fairly consistent quality of superhero stories on the movie streaming service. The luxury that a small screen adaption has is the time. Over the course of 13 episodes we can really learn a lot about a character, their back story, motivations and see a full arc that pays off. A movie only has a limited amount of time and it becomes harder to invest in characters when the focus is spectacle. Black Widow’s origin was touched upon in Avengers: Age of Ultron and it seems to me that a logical next step for the character would be to explore her origins and go on a journey of self-discovery and acceptance.
Falcon
The Netflix shows have a much darker tone than the movies which helps to keep them separate, even though they are set in the same universe. While I really enjoy the feel of the shows I think there is a chance to introduce some levity with a
Falcon Netflix series.
Anthony Mackie is solid as the character and his wise-cracking comedic performance is definitely a highlight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Falcon is just a guy with some cool tech and I would like to see what he gets up to between saving the world and Civil Wars. Perhaps he loses Red Wing in a 101 Dalmations style pet robbery. I am sure there are far better ideas but I am not qualified or creative enough to suggest more, all I know is that I like the character and would love to see a more comedic superhero story on Netflix.
Wasp
The Marvel movies have had a bit of a hard time with criticism over its female characters and although Jessica Jones went someway to rectifyiung this, I think there is more work to do and one in fact one of the most interesting characters for me that we don’t know much about at all is
Hope Van Dyne/Wasp. The character first appeared in
Ant-Man, 2015 and will also be seen in the sequel,
Ant-Man and the Wasp. Between now and then I would like to see a bit more about the character and what she might have been up to during the events of
Captain America: Civil War. It would have made sense if the character appeared in Civil War but I accept that the movie was in danger of overcrowding. It would be good to see a reason for the characters absence though and the only reason I can think of for the character not appearing in Civil War as that she was off doing hero stuff and dealing with her over protective father, Hank Pym.
Miles Morales
Now I know that the character has not been introduced to the MCU just yet but this could be the perfect opportunity. I can’t profess to know much, anything actually about the character outside the Spider-Verse storyline which is why I would like to see a Miles Morales Netflix series. Mostly for my own personal viewing pleasure. I think it would be a fair compromise for those who wanted to see Miles Morales in the Marvel movies instead of another version of Peter Parker.
X-Men
As I am writing I find myself running out of character from the MCU that I could see having their own Netflix series but it occurred to me that the X-Men are probably more suited to the streaming service and binge watching craze. There are so many Mutants to focus and now that the bad taste that X-Men: Apocalypse left in my moth has almost gone I am just about ready to see the X-Men universe start to be rebuilt in the serial format. 2017’s Logan movie looks like it might turn out to be the best X-Men movie, or at least I think it will but I am happy that this would stand alone from any potential X-Men Netflix series. Hell, who says Wolverine needs to appear and to be honest I would prefer he didn’t.
If you haven't seen the Logan trailer (chances are you have) look at it with your eyes.
I honestly would like to see any of these characters appear on Netflix but if I had to choose I think the audience would have most to gain from a
Black Widow Netflix series and I think the move could prove to be a good and necessary one at this point given that we still have not seen a Black Widow solo movie. In my opinion, the Netflix series are better at providing context for the viewer and allow us to empathise with the character and none are more in need of that than Black Widow.
Please excuse my rambling and fan-boy writings and if you made it this far, I thank you for reading. Which Marvel characters do you think are more suited to a 13 episode series on Netflix? Are you happy for existing movie characters to feature on the small screen or are you happy with the mediums being somewhat separate from each other?