Marvel's "most-hated" character is reportedly making an MCU comeback

It's been an unusual time for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 2023 was particularly rough for the heavyweight franchise, as it saw a number of defeats on the big screen and small screen, with two of its three movie releases underperforming and one of its most-anticipated Disney Plus shows receiving a highly negative response. But the Marvel Studios franchise looks to stage a comeback this year with Deadpool and Wolverine.

There is an abundance of projects set to come out after that (including Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and Daredevil: Born Again), and a whole multitude more of rumored projects too. It's a sign of the potential that the MCU franchise still possesses and the buzz that it creates.

Now, a new report suggests that there is a new update about one of those long-rumored shows, but it might not be a treat for fans, as it also suggests that one of the MCU's most controversial characters could be involved in it.

G'iah rumored to return in Captain Britain series

Marvel scooper Rejected Scooper recently took to social media to report that G'iah will return to the MCU in the long-rumored Captain Britain series. The character is portrayed by Emilia Clarke and has made her only appearance thus far in 2023's Secret Invasion. The character was extremely divisive among fans and while a lot of that was intentional, she was also an unfortunate victim to some of the show's many problems.

Captain Britain has not yet been confirmed as a future MCU project by Marvel Studios, so it's important to take this one with a grain of salt. However, the project has been rumored for years, with fans longing for Henry Cavill to portray the titular character, who you won't be surprised to learn is a bit like the UK version of Captain America. With Cavill now rumored to be attached to Marvel Studios for a project, speculation has begun as to whether or not those fan-castings could come to fruition.

The notion of G'iah reappearing in the potential Captain Britain series isn't too outlandish. We last saw her in the UK when when she was recruited by Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Colman) in England. The two agreed to work together in a mutually beneficial arrangement that would allow Skrulls to remain protected in exchange for providing their services to Falsworth.

G'iah is the daughter of Talos and Soren who had joined Gravik and the Skrull resistance. However, when she couldn't take her leader's violent methods anymore, the two ended up on a collision course that saw her do battle with the villain in the show's most heavily-criticized scene. Having become a Super-Skrull, G'iah had the abilities of all the powerful Avengers, shifting between the raw power of Captain Marvel and the brute strength of Drax the Destroyer. Between the poor CGI and the fact that G'iah - a character already incredibly divisive due to her actions on the show - was arguably the most powerful character in the MCU, she unfortunately became the most-hated character in the franchise for a time. And all of the negativity wasn't deserved.

G'iah deserves better than Secret Invasion

Honestly, the negativity that the G'iah character received was a bit over-the-top; she was never the problem, it was how Secret Invasion handled her. The show was full of problems, from pacing to special effects, and its questionable handling of her storyline was right at the very top of that list.

Its decision to focus on her attempt to join the heroes was right long-term but the execution of it let her down, as she was somewhat responsible for the deaths of major MCU staples like Agent Maria Hill and her own father Talos. Fans struggled to forgive her for that, and her continued antagonistic attitude just didn't click with them, especially since there was too much water under the bridge at that point.

That's why the decision to make her overpowered in the final battle of the show went down so poorly. Secret Invasion was a thriller series that committed to its characters (even if it didn't always get them right), so the fact that it ended in such a bland CGI-heavy battle (with lackluster CGI) that was basically just a rendition of "anything you can do, I can do better" undercut everything it was going for. Granted, this is the MCU so a battle was inevitable, but it didn't have to be this gimmicky; and it was just another step too far for a character who had already lost the fans' trust.

Emilia Clarke was fantastic and her character deserved a more coherent debut than this. If the rumors of G'iah's return in that potential Captain Britain series turn out to be true, it should be looked upon as a good thing. Now is Marvel Studios' chance to showcase the character's potential outside of her limitless super-powers, away from the traumatic experiences of Secret Invasion.

I didn't mind G'iah as much as the majority of the fans did but there is real potential there for her to be more. Putting her back on the board in Captain Britain might be the way to showcase that; because at this point all she really needs is a project better than Secret Invasion. That shouldn't be too hard, right?