Here’s How the MCU Can Introduce the Squadron Supreme

As with most things in the digital age, rumors spread at once, traveling around Twitter at the speed of light; the latest example of that comes with reports suggesting the Squadron Supreme could be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Rooted in a rumor from Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnston, it’s said the production team behind Disney+’s Loki has been buying up all kinds of books “with the common thread being the appearance of the Squadron Supreme.” Suffice to say, let’s talk about how a group that finds itself at times a blatant ripoff of DC’s Justice League can eventually find its way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Before we dive too far in, let’s talk about the Squadron so we all have a general understanding of the team itself and some of the most popular stories the members of the Squadron Supreme have appeared in. Introduced in the early 1970s — in the main Avengers title, no less — the first iteration of team consisted of superheroes analogous to the Justice League. The initial iteration of the team included characters like Hyperion (Superman), Nighthawk (Batman), Power Princess (Wonder Woman), Whizzer (Flash), Doctor Spectrum (Green Lantern), Amphibian (Aquaman), Golden Archer (Green Arrow), Lady Lark (Black Canary/Hawkwoman), and Arcanna (Zatanna), to name a few.

Squadron Supreme Vol. 1 launched in the mid-1980s, giving the team its first self-titled book from Mark Gruenwald and Bob Hall. It was in this maxi-series the team dealt with a dystopian Earth where everyone is suffering from a drought and the economy is in shambles. Everything is a mess and the Squadron tries to usher in a new era in hopes of creating a utopia. It’s very much an alternate-universe story and is technically set in Marvel’s Earth-712.

But that story itself leads us directly into our first two MCU pitches, if you will — both involving the proverbial crap hitting the fan, requiring the use of a team people can call on when needed most. The first idea here is that the Squadron Supreme could have come to the forefront during the five-year time-jump in Endgame, where the universe was reeling from The Blip. Admittedly, that scenario does open a whole box of continuity errors, being that the Squadron wasn’t there to help out at the massive final fight in Endgame — nor did they help the Avengers at any given time.

That final fight does, however, lead us into our next scenario. As the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) explained in Endgame, timelines would have disastrous consequences if the Avengers didn’t return the Infinity Stones to the proper space in time. Because of that, it’d also stand to reason a timeline where Thanos doesn’t exist would also have an ill impact on the future of the timeline. While the Mad Titan was hellbent on destruction, perhaps he was right and the timeline without him eventually does cause its own demise.

It’d be here the Squadron Supreme could rise and try righting the ship. It would also be an opportunity for Marvel to adapt some of Jason Aaron’s latest works for his and Ed McGuiness’s acclaimed Avengers run in the vein of the group being creations of the United States government. Either way, we know Loki will involve a heavy time-traveling component, something that opens up a whole new opportunity for storytelling with Marvel Studios, including the anticipated introduction of the Squadron Supreme.

Loki is set to hit Disney+ next spring.

What characters from the Squadron Supreme would you like to see in the MCU? Think if over and let us know your thoughts in the comments section!