The MCU has been very popular for a number of reasons, but one of the things that really worked in Phase One was a handful of characters that appeared in multiple movies in smaller roles at first and helped to bring the bigger world together. Marvel owes a lot to Phil Coulson and Nick Fury. With James Gunn and Peter Safran leading the new (and hopefully improved) DCU, what characters should they bring in to tie the various movies together? We have a few ideas.

JIMMY OLSEN

Who would be better than Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen? He is a beloved character that has been around for more than 80 years. He could give the audience a very human perspective to this larger than life world of superheroes, over the top villains, and fictional cities. His job as a photojournalist could let him travel city to city photographing superheroes for the Daily Planet- and it gives him a unique chance to network with the various heroes (he is Superman’s best friend if you have not heard). I can also picture a docu series with Jimmy talking about different cities, the superheroes in them, and the already established rogues. The DCEU wasted Olsen’s potential, lets hope the DCU doesn’t repeat this mistake!

PHANTOM STRANGER

Okay, maybe a human is not strong enough to hold the DCU together through various movies, how about an omniscience being who already ties together DC Comic’s supernatural, cosmic, and earthbound heroes together? Heck, he even helped usher DC’s crossover with Marvel in the nineties. The Phantom Stranger is the perfect character to lurk in the background, moving heroes and villains around like chess pieces, and preparing for something big and multiverse shattering. And look at that fedora, is there a more stylist immortal character for James Gunn to choose?

VANDAL SAVAGE

Who says we need a good guy to tie together the various movies of the DCU? Thanos became the connective tissue of the MCU movies after Coulson/Fury and the first Avengers movie. And we keep sitting at thej edge of our seats for the mad titan’s next appearance. While I love Lex Luthor and the Joker, both have been kinda overused in past movies and TV shows. Enter Vandal Savage, a 50 thousand year old villain who has faced off with both the Justice Society and the Justice League. He is a master manipulator who can also hold his own against most of the heroes of the DCU. He can tie different time periods of the DCU together (Jonah Hex, Golden Age Heroes, Swamp Thing, Icon),and just maybe, his plan has been boiling for thousands of years…

What characters would you love to see tie the DCU together? Do you want to see movies tie together right away, or wait a while to crossover?

I have not picked up a DC Comic title in over a year. Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of their decision to reboot their entire line with “The New 52“ while picking and choosing what to keep and change. Talk about a cluster $&#@. Certain characters, like Superman for example, were changed so much that I didn’t recognize the character that I have followed for the past twenty years. So why bother?

Then I see a cover like this. Two of my favorite characters, the Phantom Stranger and the Question, who have both been grossly underused in the past. Now taking center stage in the new “universe”. Back before the reboot, the Question in particular was killed and replaced with a sub-par supporting character. So, maybe not all of the changes have been so bad… Should I give “The New 52” a shot?

The Phantom Stranger #7
Official Description: Do you dare ask who slayed the Stranger?

The new issue hit stands and the digital market place today, April 3rd. It was written by Dan DiDio and J.M. DeMatteis, with art by Gene Ha and Zander Cannon.

Check out these Phantom Stranger and The Question related products…

First NBC announced a Munsters reboot, Mockingbird Lane, and a Hannibal Lecter prequel named Hannibal, both of which are from Bryan Fuller. Well, now NBC has revealed that they have ordered 10 episodes of a Dracula reboot starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the title role. Official description: “…series introduces Dracula as he arrives in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier. There’s only one circumstance that can potentially thwart his plan: Dracula falls hopelessly in love with a woman who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.“

DC Comics is getting ready to reveal more of their “New 52” universe’s history in September’s The Phantom Stranger #0. The book promises to reveal new parts of the elaborate backstory of our favorite heroes and villains. The Stranger has appeared already in the “New 52”, in a story in the Free Comic Book Day special. The new series will be written by Dan DiDio with art by Brent Anderson.

Over in Marvel Comics, this week sees the long awaited (at least for me) meeting between Kitty Prde and Colossus. It has been a year since these two ex-love birds have been together since the “Schism” between Cyclops and Wolverine that broke the X-Men in two over a year ago. Be apart of their date today in Wolverine and the X-Men #14.

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit is very close to changing from two films into a trilogy of films. Jackson toyed with the idea at Comic Con, maybe getting people ready for the official announcement? It should be interesting how much of the movies will follow JRR Tolkien’s actual book, which was much shorter than the Lord of the Rings books and aimed at kids. The report says that Jackson worked from more than 125 notes that Tolkien was using to rewrite The Hobbit after the success of Lord of the Rings. The whole project is very interesting and I’m sure the success of the first movie will help determine the future of the series.

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