Avengers 2 (2015), Ant-Man (2015), & Captain America 3 (2016): JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISES ON MULTIPLE EARTHS, BLUE BEETLE, & SUPERMAN 3

Avengers 2 (2015), Ant-Man (2015), & Captain America 3 (2016): JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISES ON MULTIPLE EARTHS, BLUE BEETLE, & SUPERMAN 3

Since Guardians isn’t out yet, it’s not entirely clear what direction Marvel is going to take for this next phase. But the line up looks promising. There’s Avengers 2: Age of Ultron is slated for 2015, with Ant-Man in the same year and then another Captain America film the next.

A Justice League sequel should be a no-brainer, given our imaginary success for the first one, and continuing the Superman film should be just as logical, continuity-wise, but the introduction of another, lesser-known hero mixes things up quite a bit. Still, it was easier to see how Ant-Man would work while Edgar Wright was still attached to the project. Now things are less sure, and are probably depending on the numbers from Guardians, but it’s easy to stay optimistic if it’s as good as the trailer looks.

Blue Beetle is a good answer for Ant-Man, assuming we are talking about his Ted Kord identity. Kord is an inventor who inherits the Scarab, a piece of alien technology (the true canon of its origins are erratically editorialized, made complicated by the fact that the character was not originally published by DC) that could give him high-tech and highly weapon zed abilities... if he could get it to work for him. It’s no problem for the gadgeteer, though, who manages to create enough high-tech gear for himself to work well as a proper hero.

Kord has a Nice Scientist personality, meaning he’s not into macho superheroics the way his other empowered contemporaries are, with some goofy wisecracks that make him ultimately likable. Circumstances tend to force his hand, drawing out his heroics, but ultimately he is much more approachable than his godlike colleagues. It’s not too difficult to spin him as an answer to Ant-Man’s Hank Pym.

What would really rock the boat, though it may deviate from the Marvel master plans a bit, is if the Blue Beetle’s successor identity, Jaime Reyes, is given a try. Jaime’s story has tones that align more with Marvel’s Spider-Man (whose recent films by Fox are wildly, wildly successful here in the Philippines), as the nerdy but lovable teenager who stumbles upon the Scarab and manages to get it to work — but also manages to literally get stuck with it when it attaches itself to his spine.

Young enough to still be living with his family, going to school, and worrying about girls, his adventures would take on a significantly different flavor that could really work. His adventures, too, would take him out as far as space or as near as his hometown in El Paso, Texas. Jaime is a recent DC hero, so he does not have the iconic power Spider-Man might have, but it’s easy to see him immediately becoming every kid’s hero with the right kind of movie.