The typical Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film takes place in or around the present day. This makes the universe feel as relatable as a universe involving meta humans possibly can to the viewing audience. However, there has been a little bit of MCU time-jumping in recent years. The most recent example was a five-year sprint into the future after Thanos dusted half of the Earth’s population in the climax of 2018’s Avenger’s: Infinity War.
In the past, Marvel Studios has implemented full-on period pieces. The first of these was produced in 2010 with the Captain America origin story, Captain America: The First Avenger. It was set during the turbulence of World War Two, both in Brooklyn and in Europe.
The other noteworthy MCU foray into the past was with 2019’s Captain Marvel. The movie jumped back in time and across space to explore Captain Marvel’s origin story set in the 1990s. The movie did a splendid job of making the 1990s feel realized, complete with dated leather jackets and even a cameo for Blockbuster Video. It appears that Marvel Studios is about to introduce a plethora of new characters. The trailer for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness hints at the possible introduction of the X-Men and perhaps even the Fantastic Four. The time could be ripe for the studio to produce another pertinent period piece.
Wolverine
The adamantium-clawed mutant serves a similar purpose with the X-Men that Captain America does with the Avengers. He is the proverbial elder statesman, a physical presence, and occasionally the team leader.
The same way that Captain America: The First Avenger helped set up The Avengers, a Wolverine piece could do the same for a future X-Men film. The Fox Studios film X-Men Origins: Wolverine had a time-jumping scene that displayed the age-defying Wolverine fighting in several 19th and 20th century wars.
This was powerful, but Marvel Studios should take this example a step further by producing a full period piece about the nearly-immortal mutant. Though Captain America: The First Avenger was a World War Two period piece, it took place solely in the European theater of the war. Given that part of Wolverine’s backstory takes place in Japan, a period piece about the Asian theater of that war could be an interesting angle for Marvel Studios to take.
Magneto
Magneto is perhaps the most tragic of all mutants in Marvel Comics. This is because the mutant experienced the horrors of World War Two not from the battlefield, but from within the concentration camps.
Captain America: The First Avenger made no mention of the Holocaust or the Nazi concentration and death camps. This was a big swing and a miss on several fronts, somewhat akin to having an America Civil War movie that does not make mention of slavery.
Producing a Magneto origin story that is set in a central European concentration camp would make for extremely powerful cinema. Marvel Studios even has some fantastic source material for this in the form of the graphic novel Magneto: Testament. Marvel Studios could even tie this film in with the rest of the MCU by having Captain America and the Howling Commandos liberate the concentration camp by film’s end.
Black Panther Prequel: T’Chaka
MCU fans are familiar with Wakandan society in the present day. However, the fictional kingdom’s mythos is incredibly storied and rich. It would be wise of Marvel to go back in time to the days when T’Challa’s (the late Chadwick Boseman) father, T’Chaka, was the Black Panther.
Wakanda, as a fictional kingdom, is uniquely situated in Africa from economic, cultural, and historical perspectives. Economically, the discovery of Vibranium (the most powerful metal in Marvel Comics) in Wakanda transformed the country, allowing it to become the most advanced nation on Earth. It was also able to do this in secret, hidden away from the prying and insatiable eyes of western colonizing powers.
It would be fascinating for Marvel Studios to tackle Wakandan history with a Black Panther prequel film. Setting the film in 1950s or 1960s Wakanda would make it a particularly pertinent film. The African continent began liberating itself from colonization in the 1950s, which would make for a powerful Black Panther prequel narrative. There could be internal political debates within Wakanda about how to react during this time, particularly given Wakanda’s historically reclusive nature. Throw in familiar Black Panther themes such as the advancement and power that vibranium brings, plus Wakandan lore and mythology, and there is a terrific premise for a powerful prequel film.
These three hypothetical films would make for powerful films with socio-political period backdrops for Marvel Studios. They are far from the only possibilities, as well – another bold direction would be for Marvel Studios to produce a Winter Soldier solo film documenting the mercenary’s years as a brainwashed Soviet master assassin. The possibilities are many, all that is needed is the will and wherewithal to push storytelling and filmmaking boundaries in the oversaturated superhero genre.