7 Unfinished & Abandoned MCU Stories

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has enough story to float a battleship. In fact, there’s so much going on that individual movies can’t contain it all, forcing the powers that be at Marvel Studios to develop team-up movies that put all of the franchise’s cards on the table. Avengers: Doomsday is gearing up to accept that mission, and there’s no telling how many different projects it will reference. Of course, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are the clubhouse leaders, since they both feature post-credits scenes that set up Doomsday. But the MCU could also pull a fast one and place some other project at the top of the food chain.

No matter how long Doomsday‘s runtime is, though, some MCU stories probably aren’t going to come back around. They’ll end up in the same place as all the ones that are dropped during the development process: the trash heap. Here are seven unfinished and abandoned MCU stories.

7) The Power Broker

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier acts as a follow-up to the original Captain America trilogy, bringing Steve Rogers’ two best friends together for a mission. During their journey, they run into an old friend, Sharon Carter, who’s been on the run since the events of Captain America: Civil War. She warns the titular duo about a new player, the Power Broker, and sends them on their way. Well, it turns out Sharon is the Power Broker, and despite talking a big talk, she’s yet to return and stir up trouble.

6) The Serpent Society

Speaking of Captain America movies, the original idea for the third movie was to introduce the Serpent Society, an evil organization from the pages of Marvel Comics. That didn’t come together because Civil War was too enticing, but the Serpent Society wasn’t forgotten. Characters like King Cobra and Rattler were going to appear in Captain America: Brave New World, with actors even being cast and filming scenes. However, the movie underwent an overhaul during production that left the Serpent Society on the cutting room floor.

5) Captain Marvel’s Original Introduction

Captain Marvel’s arrival in the MCU is the stuff of legend. Nick Fury calls his pal Carol Danvers for help as he’s getting dusted in Avengers: Infinity War, paving the way for her solo movie and an appearance in Avengers: Endgame. Captain Marvel almost didn’t have to wait so long to make her live-action debut, though. At one point, she showed up at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron alongside the rest of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The powers that be decided against it, opting to keep her on the sidelines a bit longer.

4) Baron Mordo’s Warning

Doctor Strange has trouble wrapping his head around the whole magic thing at the start of his 2016 solo movie. Fortunately, Karl Mordo is there to guide the rookie sorcerer, and the two form a strong bond. However, Strange messing with the Time Stone rubs Mordo the wrong way, so he starts hunting down anyone abusing magic. Despite promising Strange that he’ll see him again, he’s yet to reappear (at least on Earth-616).

3) Taskmaster Lives

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine pits all of her secret agents against each other because she needs to clean house in Thunderbolts*. While they all eventually realize what’s going on and decide to put their differences aside, that doesn’t happen before Taskmaster bites it. It’s a shocking moment that sets the tone for the rest of the movie, but things didn’t always end up that way. The Thunderbolts* script originally had Taskmaster travel with the team and undergo her own transformation.

2) Mitchell Carson

Hydra steps out of the shadows in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, revealing that it’s been growing inside S.H.I.E.L.D. since the beginning. Cap and Co. take care of most of the heads, but a few more grow in their place, including Mitchell Carson. He shows up in Ant-Man looking to buy the Yellow Jacket suit. When the deal goes south, he makes the most of his oppurtunity and steals a vial of Pym Particles. The MCU has yet to reveal what he does with them.

1) The Ten Rings’ Beacon

At this point, it feels like all of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is an abandoned story. Shang-Chi is at least going to return in Doomsday, so the MCU will get another chance to flesh his character out. But it also needs to follow up on the reveal in Shang-Chi‘s mid-credits scene, which sees Wong, Captain Marvel, and Bruce Banner discuss a signal coming from the Ten Rings. There must be someone or something on the other end listening.

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