Best MCU Beards for No-Shave November

Each year when No-Shave November comes around, I think to test my genetics and see if I can grow a beard than last year. My genes are such that it took me into my thirties to test myself long enough to get the goatee that I currently have. But November isn’t just about the face fuzz, but about men’s health. Physical and mental. So while I'm having a bit of fun with the Marvel-lous men (they seriously give me beard envy) men's health is serious. Many of us internalized the message to not ask for help. Don’t forget to check in on your mental and physical health. And don’t isolate yourself in the world of men; find your team of Avengers.

Though in no particular order, naturally I had to start here. Because iconic.

Maybe similar to Tony's, but it showed his transition from doctor to sorcerer.

Probably the closest to the beard I'm able to grow (but I lack sideburns).

Fitz started as a baby-faced nerd, but became a tough stubbly spy.

Without Hydra programming, Bucky needed something to keep looking tough.

Maybe Matt got tired of paying someone else to shave him?

Very polished and regal. A beard fit for a king.

Sometimes you can't care to shave (and sometimes you want to see your capabilities).

I think we all had beard envy for Cap's temporary on-the-run beard.

Fury was trying to look homeless. A beard helps, I guess?

I don’t know that I ever want chops like Hugh Jackman, but it’s iconic now. 

I had to finish off with The Thing’s bolder-y beard. Love it!

Secret Invasion Binge List

As Secret Invasion approaches on Disney Plus, I’m excited to see what Marvel will make of this intriguing storyline. My brother had told me about this plot from the comics years ago and then I saw it play out in cartoon form in Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Now we get to see it in live-action. I can only hope that Daisy Johnson (aka Quake) will return, as she was part of Fury’s team in the comics and cartoon. But since Agents of SHIELD is kind of semi-canon… we’ll see. There are two aspects of this show we know though: it will contain Nick Fury and the Skrulls. So let’s review Director Fury and his experience with these shapeshifters.

Captain Marvel

This prequel movie was Fury’s first encounter with the Skrulls, as well as ours. As a misunderstood faction of the shapeshifters infiltrated Earth, they sought only for the discovery and safety of their families. Along the way becoming allies with Carol, Fury, and Maria, they fought off the Kree before fleeing into space with Captain Marvel as their protector. We wouldn’t see the Skrulls again (knowingly at least) for many years yet.

Iron Man and Iron Man 2

This was our first present-day appearance of Director Fury. In the credits scene of Iron Man, he approached Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative. Six months later, he set Black Widow undercover in Stark’s company to evaluate him. After helping Tony Stark save himself, Fury left as quickly as he’d arrived.

Thor

In the credit scene for Thor’s inaugural movie, we see Selvig in the aftermath of New Mexico, teaming up with SHIELD and Fury, leading directly into the events of The Avengers. Unfortunately, it’s obvious to the viewer that Loki is along for the ride with Selvig.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Again, Fury only makes a short appearance (he’s good at those). This time he appears in Times Square, welcoming Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) to the 21st Century. Defrosted after nearly 70 years, it understandably takes Steve a few minutes to acclimatize. 

The Avengers

A major player in this movie, Fury is the one who gets the Avengers together. It was his pet project after all, as we learned in Captain Marvel. First he was sending Widow to recruit Banner and then he was bringing Cap in himself. After Coulson’s death, Fury rallied them together and gave them someone to avenge (Coulson, of course) in the Battle of New York. He also helped them give the World Security Council the slip after the battle. 

Agents of SHIELD

Season 1, Episode 2

After assigning Coulson and his new team to the Bus, they got it wrecked leaving South America. So naturally Fury showed up to tell Coulson off, in a semi-humorous ending to the episode. Fury made a note to warn Coulson about his recruit, Skye. Things turned out okay in the end, so maybe that means Fury will recruit her as Quake to help in Secret Invasion (I’m going to keep dreaming).

Season 1, Episode 22

This episode takes place after Winter Soldier, but I’ll talk about it here while I’m already under the SHIELD heading. On his way to Europe after the events of Winter Soldier, Fury catches the signal of a stranded FitzSimmons. After rescuing them, it's off to help Coulson beat Garrett. And he does. And Fury goes off to do Fury-type stuff (starting to form his Secret Invasion team maybe?).

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I loved this team up of Falcon, Cap, and Widow. This movie is largely considered one of the best MCU movies and it’s not hard to see why. In a way, this movie probably set in motion Fury recruiting his private team for Secret Invasion. With the fall of SHIELD and Fury’s supposed death, it creates a power vacuum and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Skrulls used this vacuum to begin advancing their invasion. It was also nice to see Fury in more of a major role, instead of making an appearance that lasted maybe five minutes like many MCU movies.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

So after the Avengers get their butts and minds kicked by Wanda, they take a little respite at the Barton Homestead. And it’s there that Fury shows up to give the Avengers the needed pep talk (and some intel about where to go next to fight Ultron). With the Avengers on the mission, Fury goes to pick up Coulson’s fleet of helicarriers (per the Theta Protocol in Agents of SHIELD). And with Ultron defeated and the New Avengers Facility up and running, Fury slips back into the shadows. 

Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame

While the Avengers are off fighting Thanos and the SHIELD team is off fighting Graviton, Fury and Hill are in Atlanta doing who-knows-what. Just as things are heating up, they start dusting into the air. But not before Fury can use his pager to call Captain Marvel. The next time we see Fury, it’s at Tony’s funeral. Or maybe it was never Fury… you’d never know if a Skrull got dusted instead of him. Peter Parker certainly didn’t know… but we’ll get to that in the next section.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

We’re led to believe that Fury is featured throughout this movie (only to find out in the credits scene that he’s off-world and Talos is covering for him). However, that doesn’t mean the appearance of “Nick Fury” with Spider-Man is meaningless. Fury obviously trusted Talos enough to leave him in charge and to play him. And this Skrull does a pretty good job (though I’d say he doesn’t have Fury’s instincts, or else he wouldn’t have trusted Mysterio). 

WandaVision

Season 1, Episode 9

After Monica Rambeau became super-powered during the events of WandaVision, a Skrull messenger was sent to touch base with her. This takes place during the mid-credits scene, so hopefully you didn’t miss it. It’s likely that she was recruited to help Fury. Only makes sense I suppose.

In addition to what I've already noted for Fury and Talos, we've also been told that Rhodey and Agent Ross will be appearing. If you want to watch Rhodey's story, I'd say to check out the Iron Man movies (all 3) and the Avengers movies (2-4). For Everett Ross, check out Civil War and both Black Panther movies.

So now we wait. Who’s a Skrull? Who’s human? And who’s a Skrull we can trust? And will we finally get to see Quake in the proper MCU? Come on and make Agents of SHIELD fully canon! But that could be a pipe dream. Only time will tell who’s in Fury’s inner circle.

The End of SHIELD

I started watching Agents of SHIELD back when I was working grave shifts in 2015. I’ve rewatched it twice since (once before Infinity War and once last year to get my wife up to date). It’s bittersweet to see the series come to an end this month, so i wanted to do some Top 5’s for the series. I’ve tried to avoid any specific spoilers from the series finale, but tread lightly.

MCU Cameos
Especially in the early days of SHIELD, we got MCU heroes and villains crossing over into the television universe. I’m excited to see this again with the Disney+ shows, but there was something special about it happening during Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter, tying the universe together. So here are some of my favorites.

1. Agent Sousa
   It was a privilege to see Sousa return after so many years and put his straight-arrow attitude to work with the present-day SHIELD team.
2. Fury and Hill
   SHIELD Season 1 was the only to feature the present-day SHIELD in its original form. As such, you can’t do the original SHIELD without Fury and Hill.
3. Peggy and Howling Commandos
   Flashbacks gave us a glimpse into post-WWII Hydra and Cap’s team taking them down (or so they thought). You can never have enough Agent Carter.
4. Lady Sif
   Back before she dropped off the face of Marvel, Lady Sif made a couple appearances, allying herself with Coulson’s team. Those were the days.
5. Malick
   It was a small appearance in The Avengers, but before he was the Season 3 big bad, he was on the security council ordering a missile to hit NYC.

Favorite Story Arcs
After seven seasons, not every story arc is going to shine bright. But I still enjoyed them. Sometimes it was because it was so action-packed. Sometimes it was because the story was so intriguing.

1. After SHIELD’s fall (S1)The race against time to take down Garrett and Ward after SHIELD fell, it was the best part of Season 1. In some ways it was a bigger SHIELD vs Hydra story than Winter Soldier was. Instead of lasting a few hours during the big battle, this one lasted for days.
2. Time travel (S7)The last season felt a lot like Legends of Tomorrow to me. There’s just something enjoyable about time travel shenanigans. Not every episode or time period was that great, but overall I loved how the time travel adventures turned out.
3. Agents of Hydra (S4)The Framework was intense. We got evil Fitz and conspiracy-theorist Coulson. And again it was a race against the clock as SHIELD tried to stop Hydra again, with cameos from old friends and foes.
4. Hive’s Inhumans (S3)How creepy was zombie Daisy? With her being my favorite character I was going crazy waiting to see how this all played out. I think her deception and betrayal is what made this arc amazing for me. Didn’t see it coming.
5. Dystopian Future (S5)I’m not a fan of how this played out in the present-day, but SHIELD against the Kree was a fun match up for me. It was different than any other arc that SHIELD had done and you never knew where it was going to go.

Characters to Keep
I’m honestly not sure how they’d do this, since the timeline from Agents of SHIELD doesn’t directly line up with how Infinity War/Endgame did things, but I’d love to see some of our Agents pulled into the movies and/or Disney Plus series.

1. Quake
   She may be off in space now (maybe working for SWORD?) but Daisy Johnson was my favorite in SHIELD. And I loved her in Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. I’d love to see her as part of the Secret Avengers in the MCU.
2. Ghost Rider
   He was supposed to have his own show (it’s since been scrapped) but Ghost Rider would be an interesting story for the MCU. And you could use another incarnation of the Rider too, not just Robbie.
3. Mockingbird
   I was so bummed that Bobbi never came back. Even Lance came back for an episode after their send off. Like Daisy, I’d love to see Bobbi come back for Secret Avengers or something.
4. Agent May
   It’s hard to imagine Melinda May as a teacher, so I would love to see Fury pull her out of “retirement” for a new adventure. Maybe once we see what’s up with the Skrulls?
5. Agent Sousa
   It could kind of be implied that I want him back, since he's off astronaut-ing with Daisy. But honestly I'd just love him coming back period. Besides Peggy he was my favorite in Agent Carter and I loved getting him back in SHIELD.

Villains
In many ways, villains make a show what they are. They test the heroes. They make the plot intriguing. And SHIELD had no shortage of interesting villains to choose from.

1. AIDA and the Doctor
   It is NEVER a good idea to have robots think for themselves. Every movie proves that. But not only did AIDA go crazy, but she took Fitz with her. I swear my heart stopped when Fitz shot Agnes.
2. Sybil and Nathaniel
   I thought we were done with the Malicks, but then Nathaniel’s death was prevented and he started his big villain plan. Throw in there a time-traveling psychic robot and it gets really crazy.
3. Hive
   Ever since he appeared on Maveth, Hive was freaky. And then bringing Ward’s body back to life and brainwashing Inhumans. And then his Watchdog Putty Patroller guys. Creepy.
4. Jiaying
   It’s hard to get freakier than a mom who’s ready to finish her daughter in order to preserve her way of life. Her final battle was an intense one and I loved how Daisy’s anti-hero dad stepped in to save her.
5. Raina 
   I was disappointed with her story’s ending in Season 2, but in Season 1 while working with Garrett, Raina was mysterious and creepy in the best possible way. I was sad to see her story dissolve.

I’m going to miss our little SHIELD team. It changed over the years, but I’m glad they got a solid send off. I can only hope this won’t be the last time we see them.

4 Types of Time Travel

The Cursed Child. The Flash. Doctor Who. Wibbly Wobby Timey Wimey.

Time travel almost seems to be a go-to with series nowadays. Any sort of science fiction or fantasy basically necessitates a time travel plot. The problem becomes when fans don't understand the rules of time travel. That being said, every franchise seems to have different rules. They all boil down (more or less) into one of four categories though.

1. Time is Fixed -- "Whatever happened, happened"
Prime example of this one is LOST. For all of its critiques, LOST stuck tight to its rule about not changing anything in the past when the Flight 815 survivors were stuck in the 1970's. It was actually LOST that sold me on this version of time travel. Basically, if you travel to the past, you cause the past to happen. Same thing happened in Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry saw himself conjuring the patronus charm, because a future version of Harry had already gone back in time. No one un-did Buckbeak's death; he was saved the whole time. Other examples include Once Upon a Time ("Is This Henry Mills?"), and Star Trek Voyage Home.

2. Time is Malleable -- "His head's gone, it's like it's been erased."
One of the more popular kinds of time travel (in my opinion) is demonstrated in Back to the Future. In this version of time travel, it's possible to change the past. By changing the past, you could erase yourself from existence, like Marty McFly almost did. This was also seen in the future when Marty and Doc change Marty Jr's fate. Other examples include Once Upon a Time ("Snow Drifts"/"There's No Place Like Home"), Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's ("Bonds Beyond Time"), Runaways ("Cheat the Gallows"), X-Men Days of Future Past

3. Alternate Timelines -- "If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past."
The version of time travel seen in Endgame got confusing and it's because people assumed time travel rules version 2 (i.e. Back to the Future) but when Banner called out Doc and Marty's time travel rules, it confused people even more. Essentially, each time they made a change to the past, it created a splinter timeline. So the upcoming series Loki, featuring the Loki from Battle of New York in Endgame after he escapes. It creates a multiverse scenario, with multiple similar timelines. In my opinion, this was better explained in Agents of SHIELD when they changed the future, but Deke still survived in the present day. Instead of being erased from time (like version 2 rules), he just remained in this new timeline, featured in Season 6. Other examples include Once Upon a Time ("Homecoming"/"Leaving Storybrooke"), Star Trek (2009 movie), Star Trek Voyager

4. Fixed Points in Time -- "Everything else is in flux, anything can happen, but those certain moments, they have to stand."
This is the kind of time travel that gets confusing really easily. It basically gives the writer the authority to do whatever they want, depending on the idea. Doctor Who used this idea and it meant that certain things could be changed, but other events had to happen (like Pete Tyler's accident or the "death" of the Doctor, etc.). The Flash also did this with the death of Barry's mother. Changes to these events caused paradoxes to occur, resulting in the Reapers, the collapse of time, and the Flashpoint timeline. Other things, like the trajectories of individuals' lives, the universe just compensates around. Other examples include Legends of Tomorrow (for the most part).

Which version of time travel is your favorite? Which time travel story/series is your favorite?

Unpopular Opinions: MCU

I started off this week with a countdown on Facebook to Black Widow and the launch of MCU Phase 4. I feel it's only appropriate to pair that countdown with a reflection of sorts to the history of the MCU. Phases 1-3 had movies, shorts, Netflix, Hulu, and network shows. Now we're moving into an area consolidated to movies and Disney+. So as part of my reflections, here are a few of some unpopular opinions about the MCU thus far.

Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk weren’t so bad
They are two of the lesser loved MCU movies. They’re not fantastic blockbusters, but they aren’t as bad as people make them out to be. The big problem with Iron Man 2 is that they bit off more than they could chew (Black Widow’s introduction, Whiplash, Justin Hammer, etc.) but it didn’t make the movie bad. On the other hand, I think the big problem with The Incredible Hulk is how it kind of came out of nowhere and became irrelevant afterwards. It assumed you knew the backstory of The Hulk and it kind of just threw us in there. Also, especially since they re-cast Bruce Banner, the movie kind of became inconsequential. We’ve seen Ross since then, but the Abomination and Betty just disappeared (although the Abomination was mentioned in Agents of SHIELD).

Iron Fist was good
I think the biggest issue people have with Iron Fist is how it’s so different from the comic book character. So to be fair, I’ve never read the comics. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed Iron Fist. Danny Rand was a refreshingly chill character compared to Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage being so angsty. Also, as far as Season 2 is concerned, it was one of the shorter seasons of any Netflix MCU show, so I think that helped keep the pacing up. The 13-episode Netflix seasons made them feel like 13-hour long Marvel movies. And that got kind of exhausting. So even shaving off three hours made it more manageable.

Daredevil Season 1 wasn't so great
Before I watched Daredevil, I heard how great it was. But I was disappointed. Matt Murdock was cool and I liked Daredevil as a character and a concept. However, as the season went on, it felt drawn out. Like I said with Iron Fist, the 13-episode seasons often felt like a super long movie. I much preferred the shows where each episode felt like a self-contained story with an over-arching plot. In my opinion, Jessica Jones, Runaways, and even Cloak & Dagger did a better job at that.

Agents of SHIELD Season 1 was good

I've heard a lot of complaints over the years about Agents of SHIELD's bumpy start. As the series started in the post-Avengers/MCU Phase 2 era, they took some time figuring out their footing. Until the Winter Soldier tie-in episodes, the series didn't have an over-arching story per se. It kind of just seemed like an MCU cop show, where each episode was its own story. Maybe it's just because I had lower expectations that I liked it? I don't know. But it's still my favorite MCU TV show thus far, ever since I started binging seasons 1-2 during grave shifts.

Captain Marvel is good
I don't know what it was about Captain Marvel that got people up in arms last year, but I liked it. Granted, the 90s nostalgia helped, but it added a story into an era of the MCU that we'd never seen before. Also we got some backstory with Nick Fury and Phil Coulson (though I'm still kind of bitter that we didn't get as much Coulson as I wanted). Maybe the details of Fury's eye injury wasn't important, but it was a fun addition. In addition, the plot twist was unprecedented. Everything I'd read had the Skrulls as bad guys, so we were set up for the Kree to be the good guys. But we'd also only seen the Kree as the bad guys (in Guardians, in SHIELD, etc.) so I didn't know what to expect. All that made the experience more fun for me. Honestly, my biggest disappointment with Captain Marvel is that she didn't have a bigger role to play in Endgame, after all that buildup.

Black Widow isn't necessary
Don't get me wrong; I'm looking forward to seeing Black Widow. However, I'm skeptical about it. My worry is that the whole movie will be pure fan-service for the people who've wanted a female-led Avengers movie. Representation matters (as Joe explained this week), but it has to be done right. If Black Widow is done right, it'll be great. My fear is that it's just a cash-grab and it won't matter after it's done. We've had lots of standalone MCU movies over the years (Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, etc.), but none of them have been filler; they've all been relevant to the universe. But since Natasha is dead... how is her standalone movie going to relate to the future of the MCU? I'm skeptically optimistic, but mostly skeptical.

Father/Daughter Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day! I could spend this post talking about more awesome TV couples, but I’m gonna take a twist on it. While growing up, my wife loved that her parents made Valentine’s Day about more than just romantic love. This continued through college and then into her professional life, as her elementary school students give her cute little Valentines. And now that we have our little girl Lucy, I definitely have more on my mind than just my wife (make no mistake, I’m still getting my wife something for Valentine’s Day). So with Valentine’s Day today and Lucy’s baby blessing this Sunday at church, I’ve got father/daughter relationships on my mind. So in no specific order, here are some of my favorite father/daughter relationships in fandom.

Pete and Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)
The original Pete died when Rose was just a baby, as seen in Father’s Day. When the Ninth Doctor and Rose traveled back in time to see him, she ended up saving him and messing up the timeline. But then Pete made the greatest sacrifice a father can, literally giving his life for his daughter’s life. Later on when an AU Pete arrived, he saved Rose from oblivion and basically adopted her as his daughter in his universe.

Alan and Maria Jackson (Sarah Jane Adventures)
This Doctor Who spin-off had an interesting take on a father/daughter relationship. In the first episode, Maria and her dad moved in across from Sara Jane Smith after an interesting divorce. Throughout Season 1, Maria dealt with her mom, who is a bit of a narcissist. Her dad supports her and loves her throughout the whole ordeal, even after he discovers that Maria has been running around with Sarah Jane fighting aliens. He even helped a bit, all the way up until they moved to America. It was refreshing to see a good dad during a messy divorce, just trying to do his best.

Noah and Claire Bennet (Heroes)
“The Company” may have coerced Noah into the adoption in the first place, but Noah became an ideal father for Claire over the years. There were definitely times that their relationship was strained, usually when Noah started lying to his family again and again. But Claire and Noah always reconciled. When it came down to it, Noah’s priority was definitely his family, even to the point of going on the run from “The Company” to keep Claire safe.

Emma and Charming (Once Upon a Time)
Being the same age post-curse, Charming didn’t exactly have a lot of opportunities for traditional parenting. That being said, he definitely made those moments happen still. Typically it came out when it pertained to Emma’s romantic life (especially with Hook) and her grief (losing Henry or Neal’s death, but some of my favorite father/daughter moments with Charming and Emma were when she was hurting and her father was the one who rushed to comfort her. Also, let’s just talk for a second about how awesome it was to see Charming fight to save newborn Emma.

Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyme (Ant-Man)
After the death of her mother, Hope’s relationship with her father was immediately strained and it never really recovered until after he told her the truth during the events of Ant-Man. Between the events of that film and its sequel, Hank and Hope obviously reconciled and pooled their intelligence to rescue Janet from the Quantum Realm. Seeing them work together so flawlessly in Ant-Man and the Wasp was a beautiful sight. I love that movie in general, but the father/daughter relationship was definitely a highlight among the rest of it.

Phil Coulson and Daisy Johnson (Agents of SHIELD)
From the very beginning, Coulson had a special relationship with Skye/Daisy. As things progressed, especially in Season 2 as Daisy met her parents, Coulson definitely became a pseudo-father to her. With how Jekyll/Hyde her birth father was, it only made Daisy cling harder to Coulson. After letting her father go, she didn’t have a father anymore per se, except for Coulson. So it was natural that when Daisy needed guidance, she ran to Coulson. Unfortunately, that also meant that Daisy was the most heartbroken (except maybe for Agent May) when Coulson was dying.

Wilf Mott and Donna Noble (Doctor Who)
Donna had a great father growing up, from what we know. However, after her father, Geoff Noble, died, her grandfather Wilf really stepped up and became the prime father figure to her. Despite her mother’s taunting and criticism, Grandpa Wilf never ceased to encourage Donna to follow her dreams and her passions, even when it meant that she traveled with the Doctor to potentially life-threatening worlds. It was also Wilf who was there for her after the Doctor wiped her memory, watching out for her since the Doctor couldn’t.

Quentin Lance and Laurel Lance-2 (Arrow)
Two years after the death of his daughter Laurel on Earth-1, Quentin was “reunited” with a version of her from Earth-2. This alternate-universe Laurel was a villainous lackey when we first met her. However, over time with her new “father” she changed. Even after Quentin’s death, Laurel-2 continued to honor his memory by fighting the bad guys and continuing to change, even when the world thought she was a lost cause. Her new father’s encouragement changed her for the better and made her into a new hero Laurel.

Shawn Hunter and Maya Hart (Girl Meets World)
When we left off Shawn Hunter at the end of Boy Meets World, he was single and living life. When Girl Meets World picked up, Shawn was nowhere to be seen, but when he came back into Cory and Topanga’s life, she quickly took a liking for their daughter Riley’s best friend Maya. At first it was just a matter of affection, as Maya’s family life reminded Shawn of his own. Later on, as Shawn got to know Maya and her mom, it became about family, as Shawn married Maya’s mom. As a pseudo-father or a step-father, Shawn was amazing with Maya, treating her as though she were his daughter. Eventually that happened, as he adopted Maya in the series finale.

Honorable Mentions:
There are so many other father/daughter combos that I wish I could include. This post would be forever long if I included them all. But here are a few honorable mentions. Cory and Riley, Rory and River, Joe and Iris, Jack and Monica, Tony and Morgan, Scott and Cassie

I hope you have a great Valentine's Day, however you spend it. Personally, I have an 8-week old date that I can't wait to snuggle.

2020: Year in Preview

2020 is fast approaching. So as I watch the new episodes of Runaways, here are some of my thoughts on stuff coming in the new year.

Doctor Who Series 12 (January 1)
We got confirmation recently that Doctor Who series 12 would be starting with a New Year’s episode this year. We’re gonna see more of the Thirteenth Doctor’s personality and of her companions’ lives. I’m looking forward to the return of different enemies. Judoon, Cybermen, and Daleks are all slated to appear. We’ve also got historical figures like Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison appearing. And an overall series arc, instead of just individual stories. It should be great!

Crisis on Infinite Earths (January 14)
SPOILER ALERT FOR PARTS 1-3
The December portion of this year’s Arrowverse left us hanging in… well, the Vanishing Point. We’ve got two more episodes left (the Arrow and Legends portions). Confirmed characters yet to appear are short (most of the confirmed characters were in the first three episodes); we can still expect appearances from Stargirl, some of the Legends (probably in their episode), and parts of Team Arrow (probably in their episode as well). I was really hoping to see more of Black Lightning, Clark Kent-167 (from Smallville), Huntress-203 (from Birds of Prey), and Superman-96 (from Superman Returns). But perhaps, like the final battle in Endgame, we’ll get all the heroes back together for a final battle in January.

Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (February 21)
Premiering in Japan first, this new Digimon Movie later come to the United States in the spring. After the events of Digimon Adventure Tri, we’ll jump forward another few years. Everyone is slowly progressing towards their lives featured in the Adventure 02 epilogue. And finally we get the reappearance of the 02 kids! They were just silhouettes in Tri, but they’re back! It also looks like we might get a new Digivice (looks like a smartphone) and possibly a look at a level above Mega (previously only officially addressed in video games).

Onward (March 4)
Not a lot has been released about this new Pixar movie yet. We know it’s star-studded though: Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Octavia Spencer, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are all set to voice characters. The small amount that’s available tells us that we’ll be introduced to a world of magical creatures. However, it seems they’re losing their magic. I’m curious what the overarching plot will be. I’m looking forward to it.

Mulan (March 25)
Adding to the ever-growing list of Disney remakes, we’ve got Mulan coming in a few months. We’ve been told it’s going to be quite different from the cartoon. We won’t have the music, we won’t have Mushu, and we won’t have Shang. I’ve heard that it’ll be more accurate to the original Chinese legend. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about it (I loved Mushu and Cri-Kee) but I’m willing to suspend judgment until I see it.

Black Widow (May 1)
After years of waiting, fans finally get a Black Widow movie. As long as it’s not 100% fan-service, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. We’ve got it set between Civil War and Infinity War. No indication that it’ll show us how she ends up with Cap and Falcon before Thanos’s goons come to Scotland. The recent trailer did show us that we’ll end up getting glimpses at Natasha’s past. Even if it’s not shown in explicit flashbacks, we’re likely to get some explanations at least. I’m hoping that we get some small tie-in to the future of the MCU. My brother had the idea that maybe there’ll be something with the Skrulls and SHIELD that’ll tie into the credit scene in Far From Home. I guess we’ll see.

Agents of SHIELD Season 7 (Summer)
No official release date yet, but we’ve got one last mini-season of SHIELD left. As the team blasted into the past, FitzSimmons were split up and Mack, Deke, and Daisy were brought in with May and Yo-Yo in critical condition. And on top of all that we got a Coulson Chronicom LMD joining the team. So into the early 20th Century we go, with different SHIELD personnel set to appear along the way. Since they had time to plan for this end, I’m optimistic for a solid ending.

Lizzie McGuire Reboot (???)
After almost two decades, Lizzie McGuire returns. Disney+ hasn’t announced a release date yet, but we have had some details of what to expect. We know that Lizzie and her family are coming back. Shortly after the reboot was announced, Gordo was announced to be returning. The part I’m looking forward to most is that animated Lizzie is coming back. Not adult animated Lizzie, but it should be teenage animated Lizzie, meaning she’s still a kid at heart (is that too cliche?). In the meantime, Lizzie McGuire and her movie are on Disney+ already.

Obviously not a comprehensive list, but just some things to get excited for. We know The Eternals and The Little Mermaid remake are set to release. What else are you waiting for?