The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been intergalactic in its scope — and looks to grow even more so with the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — but it hasn’t been all that international yet in its regular roster of superheroes (with the exception of the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and Peggy Carter, natch). That could change, however, since we’ve just learned that the studio may finally give the UK’s greatest super-powered champion the deluxe treatment. Yes, Captain Britain could soon bring a little of that ol’ Blighty charm to the MCU on television.
The good Captain (a.k.a. Brian Braddock), as longtime fans know, rose to prominence in Marvel comic books first published in Great Britain. Created by X-Men mastermind Chris Claremont and famed Hulk artist Herb Trimpe, Captain B first appeared in October 1976’s Captain Britain Weekly #1. Functioning as the British equivalent of Captain America, his powers—including that of flight—were based not in science, but magic, and conjured up by the wizard Merlyn himself.
Writers supreme Alan Moore and Jamie Delano expanded Captain Britain’s world, introducing his longtime girlfriend (the mutant shapeshifter Meggan) and a host of villains. Artist Alan Davis took Trimpe’s initial Victorian design and revised it into a thing of beauty, a streamlined bodysuit and helmet marked with the good ol’ Union Jack that gave Brian a beefy physique to rival that of Superman.
Claremont later joined Davis and transformed Brian’s twin sister Betsy into the X-Man Psylocke (soon to make her big-screen debut in X-Men: Apocalypse). The two creators also launched the comic with which Captain Britain is most closely identified, the long-running super-team book Excalibur.
Scottish film producer/movie poster artist Ciara McAvoy announced the rumor of a Captain Britain TV show on Twitter, as well as the producer and co-producer on the project, Chris Lark and “Eleni”, and a familiar design for the Captain’s suit…
For my 1000th Tweet: Who will be playing Brian Braddock in the upcoming tv series #CaptainBritain?#Marvel Stay tune! pic.twitter.com/e0gbXKjdav
— Ciara McAvoy (@CiaraMcAvoy1) March 19, 2016
Something to start with : The producer Chris – @mrcoolmintprod
and the co producer Eleni – @MOVIESEL5 #CaptainBritain— Ciara McAvoy (@CiaraMcAvoy1) March 23, 2016
We’ve reached out to Marvel, but they aren’t offering any comment. So hope is alive, and I for one am thrilled to hear we might soon get to explore an entirely new corner of the Marvel Universe on screen (I’ve got every issue of Excalibur right here in my office, along with a sketch of the Captain penciled by Davis)! Though I am curious about which characters from Captain Britain’s world Marvel has the screen rights to, since so many of them were identified with the X-Men family of comic books.
What do you think? Would you like to see a Captain Britain TV show? Who would you cast in the lead? Let us know below!
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HT: Comicbook.com
Images: Marvel
