Apart from Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben or Batman’s parents, they say that nobody ever really stays dead in comic books. Any character that gets killed off on the page seems to be inevitably brought back at some point in the future, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) appears to be drawing plenty of inspiration from its comic book source material.
Despite being dead in the main MCU timeline, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow will nonetheless headline her own solo movie next year, while the also-dead Vision will co-headline Disney Plus exclusive series WandaVision alongside the Scarlet Witch, proving that death is no obstacle in the franchise’s quest for world domination.
Of curse, one of the first major characters in the MCU to meet their demise was Phil Coulson, who was fatally wounded by Loki in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. Coulson was then brought back again to star in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where he was once more killed off, brought back again, killed off again and then brought back as a Life Model Decoy over the course of six seasons. Seriously, this show has gotten wild over the last few years.
Fans who don’t follow Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. though likely got a kick out of seeing Clark Gregg reprise his role as a de-aged Coulson in Captain Marvel and now, sources close to We Got This Covered – the same ones who told us a Young Avengers show is coming to Disney Plus, Wiccan will debut in WandaVision and General Ross will appear in She-Hulk, all of which have been confirmed – have informed us that this definitely won’t be the last we’ll be seeing of the character.
According to our intel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will blow the MCU wide open, with many characters previously thought dead now able to appear as alternate versions of themselves, with Coulson being one of those people. This is also set to lead to him becoming reintegrated into the franchise, with a larger role in Captain Marvel 2 virtually a foregone conclusion. Meanwhile, Coulson could also be part of the in-development New Avengers and might even be one of the focal points of a potential S.W.O.R.D. series on Disney Plus, with the organization confirmed to be introduced into the MCU as part of WandaVision.
All that being said, though Phil Coulson is without a doubt one of the franchise’s biggest fan-favorites, bringing back characters from the dead just because you’ve found a convenient plot device to do so isn’t the most interesting or original form of storytelling, and Marvel need to be careful how they handle it going forward. And while plans can always change behind the scenes – remember when The Wrap told us Michael Rooker was playing King Shark in The Suicide Squad, only for Rooker to deny it just days later? – this is definitely something that’s on the cards over at Marvel as of right now and as soon as we hear more about what’s in store for us, we’ll be sure to let you know.
