These Marvel Comics characters will have big moments in 2021.
In comic books, certain characters get a boost in terms of story attention during certain years. Sometimes it’s because of the release of a coinciding movie to feature the character and other times it’s to prepare for a major event. This year will be no different. You’re going to see Marvel Comics heroes and villains get an even bigger push than normal. Others will be making their debuts into the new universe and, by extension, stardom.
Here are the 12 characters in the pages of Marvel Comics you should be paying attention to in 2021.
Honorable mentions: Venom, Namor, Moon Knight, Valkyrie (Jane Foster)
12. The Fantastic Four
Marvel Comic: Fantastic Four
Marvel’s First Family made headlines in December but the news that Marvel Studios will be going forward with a Fantastic Four project means more than just that long-awaited movie. It’s also undoubtedly going to help give them a boost in the comics. Whenever a live-action comic book project is announced, those characters are seen even more in the comics (this will be mentioned again later). Of course, Marvel Comics would have known about the upcoming movie before all of us, so that could have played into Dan Slott’s Fantastic Four – which has been so gripping – and perhaps even explain why they’ve been a big part of the last two crossovers.
Looking past the future movie, the Fantastic Four comic book has been incredible. They’ve added more characters without sacrificing the core, Ben and Alicia Masters finally got married, Valeria and Franklin Richards have had bigger roles, Johnny met his soulmate, and Reed and Sue have been the pinnacle of marriage. Along the way, they’ve defeated major threats and explored new parts of the universe. Thus maintaining everything that readers love. This writer fully expects the same and more going forward. Make sure you’re reading this.
11. Black Widow
Marvel Comic: Black Widow, Taskmaster
A name you’ll see a lot on this list, Kelly Thompson is currently writing a book everyone should be reading. She’s taken Black Widow (Natasha Romonoff) and may have put her on a path of revenge like we haven’t seen. The character’s enemies gave her a husband and son and put a fabricated life in her memory. When they attempted to kill her, it backfired. Not only is she alive, but she remembers who captured her and how they did it. She is going to make her former captors feel pain like they couldn’t imagine.
Black Widow is also chasing Taskmaster in his mini-series. Taskmaster seems to have been framed for killing Maria Hill. He isn’t normally scared. Cautious and threatened? Yes. Frightened? Not so much. The fact that he’s legitimately scared of Black Widow says a lot about who she is. Their eventual fight will be a good one. Taskmaster has enough skill to take her on. The question is whether it’s enough. Widow is feared on every corner of the globe. She’s fearlessly gone into battles knowing she would be overpowered and still won. Taskmaster runs from things like that. This won’t end with Taskmaster’s death, but she is going to give him a year he won’t forget.
10. Thor
Marvel Comic: Thor
Thor has had a disheartening five years. No longer being worthy, becoming a drunk, and dealing with depression was only part of the horrid time in his life. He’s reclaimed his worthiness and is now king of Asgard. Things still got bad again, however, as he lost the trust of his people by aiding Galactus, had a vision of his death, and Donald Blake is currently running amok in the Marvel Universe. Things are probably only going to get worse for the God of Thunder.
Thor always seems to have something going on. This year will be no different. Once he deals with Donald Blake, he’s still going to be King of Asgard. This means different and more powerful threats await him. There’s also the idea of being king. Helping Galactus won’t be the first unpopular decision he will make. Thankfully, he has Sif and Beta Ray Bill to let him know when he’s making mistakes. The question is whether or not he will listen.
Thor is known for being hard-headed. On more than a few occasions, he’s gone against the will of the people and his advisors. Most of the time, it’s worked out in his favor. Will it be the case again? This isn’t the first time that Thor’s been king, but it seems more important now. Thor must tread carefully. His people will hold him accountable.
9. The Mutants of Krakoa
Marvel Comics: X-Men, Marauders, X-Force, Excalibur, New Mutants
The mutants of Krakoa have had the best run of Marvel Comics in 2020. Beast is continuing to be a secretive jerk, Kate Pryde, Storm, and Emma Frost are dealing with Sebastian Shaw and X of Swords left a void in the Quiet Council and caused a chain reaction that will affect the X-Men’s alpha roster. These are only some of the things currently happening. We haven’t gotten into what’s going on with Wolverine, Omega Red and vampires. 2021 will continue to be a fun time for X-Men fans – not so much for the X-Men themselves.
The X-Men’s alpha team being decided by a vote is going to cause turbulence. The young nation will see how voting is both a gift and a curse. People are going to be jealous and others will say people got on due to collusion or nepotism. The Marauders aren’t out of the woods with Sebastian Shaw either because it’s unlikely that he takes being beaten and threatened without thinking of revenge (even if he started it).
Let’s not forget that the world still hates mutants as well. There’s a place in space where mutant killing robots were being made. This isn’t counting all of the other shenanigans that the X-Men will eventually have to get involved in and their new neighbors on Arakko. It’ll be another tough year for Marvel’s Mightiest Mutants.
8. Elektra
Marvel Comic: Daredevil
Elektra never understood why Daredevil is the way he is. She didn’t get that Matt Murdock felt a moral obligation to the people of Hell’s Kitchen. It makes sense that she was still confused when she attempted to break him out of jail and he declined. That was until she walked a few blocks in his shoes. After that, Elektra saw what she needed to see. She became Daredevil while Matt was in jail – some of her reasoning behind this was to gain Matt’s trust but another reason was simply because she’s finally starting to get it. Regardless of her reasons, Elektra is going to be a character to watch this year.
Another thing to pay attention to is Mayor Wilson Fisk. Fisk is probably patting himself on the back, happy that his long time nemesis is behind bars. Now, he has to deal with Elektra – someone who’s sneakier and more aggressive than Daredevil. Elektra also doesn’t have to worry about a day job. She can come and go as she pleases, devoting her energy to being the new Daredevil. Fisk will have to be more careful than he’s ever been. Elektra could take down his entire empire if she wanted to. In fact, she may do just that. How cool would it be if Elektra took out the Hand and got Fisk kicked out of office?
7. The Immortal Hulk
Marvel Comic: Immortal Hulk
The Hulk went from being the strongest there entity that there is and planning to take over the world, to being weakened and captured. The Devil Hulk was possibly killed by the leader, leaving the child-like Hulk and Joe Fixit as the last two personalities. Child-like Hulk is normally enough, but he’s not as strong as he once was. Remember, Hulk fought The Thing and could barely draw blood. Joe’s lucky that Ben trusted him enough to let him go. If not, Hulk and Joe may have ended up in custody as the Leader does whatever he wants.
First, what is Joe Fixit doing? Is he trying to help the Hulk or is he looking to get his powers back? Nothing is ever what it seems with Joe. Plus, we haven’t seen his version of the Hulk in a while. Is the Devil Hulk dead? It sure does appear so. He was ripped apart in a way that can only be witnessed in Mortal Kombat. And what’s the Leader going to do next? We’ve seen what he’s been up to, but what’s his endgame? It can’t just be world domination. He’s not that kind of villain. Or maybe he is now.
Before 2021 is up, the Hulk is probably going to do something brutal to the Leader for messing with him.
6. She-Hulk
Marvel Comic: Avengers
Jennifer Walters left Civil War 2 with an entirely different persona. When she initially transformed into her Hulk form, she retained her intelligence. Ever since Thanos killed her, however, her Hulk side has become more like her cousin Bruce’s. She’s an angry, destructive force and she has now gotten used to it and embraced the anger and power more than ever. Now, in the Immortal She-Hulk story, we see that she’s visited the Gamma Hell with the Green Door more than a few times. When she died in Empyre, she was confronted by the Leader – who ultimately let her live because he was “in a good mood.”
Jennifer Walters may not have her own solo comic book series, but that won’t stop her from being an important character in the year ahead. It would be shocking if she doesn’t have a hand in taking down the Leader. Al Ewing (writer of Immortal Hulk) may not have featured that development at the end of Immortal She-Hulk without a reason. Even if she’s not involved in the death of The Leader, she will likely still help her cousin in some way.
She-Hulk is set to be the star of the upcoming Disney Plus series as well (which is expected in 2022). We’ve already discussed how Marvel Comics tends to place more focus on characters who are getting their own movie or TV show spin-offs. This will happen here. She-Hulk’s rollout will make the character look better than we’ve seen her. With that, look for her to knock out, take down or outsmart someone really powerful.
5. Miles Morales
Marvel Comic: Miles Morales Spider-Man
Miles Morales has proven time and time again that he is Spider-Man. His heroic feats have developed a great deal over time, evolving from beating up villains to helping people’s morale when they really need it.
In issue No. 17, Miles (as Spider-Man) helped a kid who was being bullied just by talking to them. A little web-swinging and a social media post saying he’s their friend helped too. However, as all superheroes know, there is also a negative side to being a hero like Spider-Man and Miles saw that up-close-and-personal. Dealing with the death of family members and feeling like it’s his fault it happened – a lot of the latter happened in the last few months and this year may not be any different for Miles.
How is Miles going to deal with the death/disappearance of his Uncle Aaron? This will be the second time he’s dealt with this. He didn’t even remember the first time until Ultimatum told him about his home universe. Then there’s that. Miles knows that he’s from the Ultimate Universe. How is he going to react to that? All of the trauma he’s endured all came back to him at once – that’s something anyone can struggle dealing with, let alone a teenager.
Miles is a great kid. Nonetheless, he’s still a kid. At some point he’s going to have a breakdown. Peter Parker has had more than anyone not named Logan. What kind of Miles Morales will we see this year? Will he be unsure of himself? More careful? Or will he confide in Tiana Toomes and tell her who he is?
4. Mystique
Marvel Comic: X-Men
In X-Men No. 6, we saw one of the reasons that Mystique joined the Quiet Council. First, there was a mission with a team of X-Men to destroy the Mother Mold (House of X issues No. 3 and 5) – a journey that concluded with her death. Thankfully, the Krakoan Resurrection Protocols brought her back to life.
After two more missions, however, Mystique made a demand. She wanted her wife Destiny brought back to life – something that Xavier has continued to put off. What Mystique doesn’t know is that Moira MacTaggert said that Destiny should never come back. But at the end of the issue we saw that Destiny knew this might happen. She told Mystique that they wouldn’t bring her back to burn Krakoa to the ground.
This happened in 2019. Since then, Mystique has been very quiet. She’s not the kind of person to sit idly by when she wants something, so don’t be surprised if she is concocting something. At some point she will get what she wants or do what her wife asked. Mystique doesn’t care that mutants are living peacefully in a utopia. Her only concern is what she wants. If it meant every mutant in the world died except her, Rogue, and Destiny, she’d happily burn Krakoa down. Mystique will try, but it’s doubtful she’ll succeed. She may end up exiled next to Creed. However, this could be her plan all along.
3. Captain Marvel
Marvel Comic: Captain Marvel
Kelly Thompson is the reason this writer enjoys Captain Marvel as much as he does. Over the last few months, her What if… story connected with her main title as we learned that a battle killed most of the world’s heroes. While the heroes were fighting, the governments nuked Earth. Carol Danvers is currently in this future (one where her older self restarted the sun) and she will return having learned everything that can possibly happen. As we saw in Civil War 2, she does everything she can to protect the world. Will this happen again here?
Captain Marvel will come back to the present with the knowledge of everything that went down. She’ll have a couple of options going forward. First, tell of the people she trusts about what she learned. This way they can formulate a course of action. Or, she may instead choose to plan in private. She’s seen how Tony Stark and other heroes reacted to her attempting to stop something before it happens. The conversation will be whether or not it’s their future or one in another reality. This probably isn’t going to end with this story arc alone because the repercussions of this story could affect Marvel sooner than we think and perhaps even on a much bigger scale than it currently is.
2. S.W.O.R.D.
Marvel Comics: S.W.O.R.D., Fantastic Four
At the end of Empyre: Aftermath Avengers, we saw that Abigail Brand was present when Hulkling and his people were defeated. Many took this as a threat beause Abigail Brand and S.W.O.R.D. are now assisting in making the Krakoan space program. Those two things alone let us know that S.W.O.R.D. will be a major factor in 2021 but, aside from that, there is one more thing that S.W.O.R.D. may be the first to encounter because the Xenomorphs and Predators could be on their way to Earth.
It was revealed last year that Marvel has acquired the comic book rights of both the Alien and Predator franchises. There was even some artwork created to showcase what a future with both alien creatures could look like for the Marvel Universe, showcasing the Predator holding Iron Man’s helmet in his hand.
Should they make their presence felt in this continuity, S.W.O.R.D. could be the first to know if something goes down. How would they react? Is S.W.O.R.D. going to be the first beings attacked when these two apex predators head to Earth? In fact, let’s take it a step further. Maybe they’re already there.
In Aliens vs Predators, we saw that the Predators have been fighting the Xenomorphs on Earth for decades. For all we know, it could be the same here. If that’s the case, this could be a hidden secret. Either way, S.W.O.R.D. may be the ones to deal with it.
1. Deadpool
Marvel Comic: Deadpool
The Merc with a Mouth is King of the Monsters – a title he’s held with honor. You would assume Deadpool would be apprehensive, but he wasn’t. Of course he was shocked, but that wore off soon. He eventually fit right in. For example, when Captain America showed up, Deadpool put him in his place. He reminded Steve Rogers that the monsters of Staten Island deserved the same rights as humans. He also mentioned that he himself is considered a monster. Along the way, he’s gotten close and romantic with famous (or infamous if you’re a monster) monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone. Things are looking good for Wade, which, of course, means it can’t last.
Fans of Deadpool know that if things are going well for Wade then they’ll eventually become equally as bad. Elsa Bloodstone is a monster hunter so she could end up killing one of Deadpool’s citizens. At that point, Wade will have to make a decision. This doesn’t mean he’ll choose the throne. Wade has already seen that sometimes his subjects have to be put down (Deadpool No. 5). This won’t be shocking, however, because few people expect Wade to be King of the Monsters forever. Then again, maybe he’ll surprise readers.
We also have to acknowledge a couple of things. First, Deadpool will go up against Knull, his army, or both. Since he was once infected by a symbiote, Knull will have a connection to him. Second, there’s an ancient monster god coming. Looks like Deadpool will be adding “killing a deity” to his résumé. Or, and this is possible, the Night Wolf will get credit and become king.
Which Marvel Comics character will you be paying close attention to this year? Let us know in the comments below!