Despite numerous reports saying that an Inhumans movie was dead, rumors of its demise have been somewhat exaggerated according to a new interview with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige over at Slashfilm. The Inhumans film was announced  back in 2014, at Marvel Studios’ big Phase Three event, where they announced all their films through the end of 2019.

Originally, Inhumans was set to debut on November 2, 2018, and then it was pushed back to July 12, 2019 when Marvel added Spider-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp to its Phase Three plans. Then, it was quietly postponed, and eventually taken off the schedule altogether, leading to the rumors that the film was canned for good. But not so, says Feige. He tells Slashfilm “I think Inhumans will happen for sure. I don’t know when. I think it’s happening on television. And I think as we get into Phase 4 as I’ve always said, it could happen as a movie. I think it would be super cool.”

Feige says he “thinks it’s happening on television” which illustrates the divide between Marvel film and TV. Not only are the Inhumans happening on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, they have been since the around season two. We’re on season 4 now. Of course, the Inhumans associated with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are the rank and file members of the species, regular people who have been exposed to Terrigen, which unlocks the Inhuman potential in their DNA. So far, we haven’t heard a peep from the Inhuman royal family, which one assumes would be the subject of any Inhumans movie, as they live apart from mankind in the city of Attilan.

It is pretty weird that the Marvel Cinematic Universe films haven’t said a word about the Inhuman population explosion happening all over the world. It also hasn’t been mentioned even in a passing sense on shows like Luke Cage or Jessica Jones, which is odd, because all the Marvel Netflix shows mention the alien invasion of New York in the first Avengers film. You’d think when the Sokovia Accords are being brought up by Secretary Ross in Civil War, the Inhuman population would have been mentioned, at least as a throwaway reference. But nope, we got nada. Certainly, Agents of SHIELD references the events of the films all the time — on the show, Inhuman citizens with powers have to register with the Sokovia Accords just as superheroes like the Avengers do.

Let’s say an Inhumans movie does indeed happen in Phase 4. There are three Marvel Studios films set for release in 2020, so let us assume that Inhumans is one of them. How would they fit in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point? Well, for starters, the films would have to acknowledge the existence of Inhumans as they’ve been introduced on TV. I’m sure Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D will be long off the air by 2020, but that doesn’t mean you ignore what they added to the canon. That’s not supposed to be the Marvel way. Remember, The Incredible Hulk wasn’t exactly a huge Iron Man sized hit, and they even replaced the actor who plays Banner, but the events of the film still count, and are referenced. That’s how it should be.

So here is how a potential Inhumans movie could fit into the current MCU as we know it. The film could have Black Bolt, Medusa and the rest of the Royal Family emerging from centuries of hiding in their hidden city. How would the governments of the world react to a new, super powered nation? Probably, they’d send the Avengers in to “handle” them. Remember, the Avengers work for the U.N. now, as per the events of Civil War. Heck, there is your Avengers 5 movie right there.

The Inhuman royal family also relocated to the Moon for some time in the comics, to live even further apart from humanity. An off-world, more cosmic Inhumans could find them in conflict with the Guardians of the Galaxy for instance. In the comics and on TV, the Inhuman species was created thousands of years ago when the alien Kree experimented on ancient humans to create soldiers to fight their enemies. The Guardians’ main villain in their film was Ronan, who was a Kree. Could the Kree try to enlist the Inhumans as their soldiers as revenge against the Guardians? Since the Kree essentially created their race, would the Inhumans have any choice but to obey them?

Whatever Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios do with the Inhumans property as a film–and I hope it does happen, because these characters are too cool to waste–they need to acknowledge everything that has been built up around them on Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. Ignoring it all will make them seem sloppy and petty. There are a lot of cool places these characters can be taken to build upon what’s already there, instead of pretending a whole TV series just didn’t happen.

What do you want to see in a potential Inhumans film? Let us know down below in the comments.

Images: Marvel Comics