Because I’ve neglected this site recently. Hopefully I can make some general lifestyle adjustments so I can prioritize posting here more frequently than every quarter. Now, without further ado…
*****ETERNALS AND HAWKEYE SPOILERS BELOW*****
The first thing I want to cover is the Black Knight cut scene at the end of the Eternals. Dane Whitman has an interesting backstory. He inherited the Ebony Blade from his uncle, who was the previous Black Knight and member of one of the iterations of the Masters of Evil group. Except Dane decides to use his powers for good.
The sword came to Dane’s ancestors from Merlyn, of Arthurian legend, just with that Marvel spin. In the cut scene, a voice now confirmed to be that of Mahershala Ali (Blade), asks Dane if he’s ready for the consequences of picking up the blade. The sword itself is more or less the antithesis of Thor’s Mjolnir. It amplifies the darkest and worst traits of the wielders soul, thus making it a stronger weapon the worse the person is who’s wielding it.
There has been some speculation that Ali’s voice-cameo might indicate the foundation for the Midnight Sons. I think that if this is the route that Marvel is going, this means we’re going to see Jack Russel (or the new guy whose arc I haven’t read) in Moon Knight; Morbius will somehow make his way to the MCU during MoM; and the rabbit that Agatha was always talking to in Wandavision was actually the Man-Thing. That only leaves Ghost Rider as the outlier since they’re already making the Blade movie.
Getting back to Merlyn; Merlyn’s nemesis was/is Mordred, who has handled the Darkhold multiple times throughout Marvel comics history. Given that Scarlet Witch is currently in possession of the Darkhold, and she has a confirmed role in Multiverse of Madness (MoM), I think it’s a safe bet to speculate that Wanda and Strange will (probably only briefly) encounter Mordred in some pocket dimension. However, if we’re lucky, we’ll get to see Mordred’s master, Necromon. This is relevant because Merlyn eventually ties back into Dane’s story. He and Dane eventually go off on a quest of some sort to find Captain Britain (“Captain Braddock” mentioned in Endgame) and stop Mordred and Necromon in Otherworld.
Masters of Evil
I think we’ll see a mash up of the Masters of Evil and the Thunderbolts. Both of which Baron Zemo was part of, and both of which he led. This will tie in nicely to the Falcon and Winter Soldier story and the theory that Val is putting together the Thunderbolts team with Yelena Belova, U.S. Agent (John Walker), and Abomination. I think two strong candidates for the Thunderbolts/Masters of Evil mashup would be Moonstone and Justine Hammer’s iteration of the Crimson Cowl (Justin Hammer’s daughter). Though I think it’s more likely that we’ll see Taskmaster from Black Widow and Ghost from the second Ant-Man movie.
(Afterthought: I’m not entirely sure how Yelena might fit into the Thunderbolts after the Hawkeye finale, because she realizes that Val manipulated her into almost killing Clint)
The ‘Defenders’ Angle
Dane Whitman was one of the OG Defenders, along with Doctor Strange, Namor, Silver Surfer, Hulk, Daredevil, and Valkyrie. If Marvel is taking this route, we’re *FOR SURE* going to see Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster return, and most likely heading up the Contest of Champions. This contest is basically galactic-sized murder-gambling. The Grandmaster will abduct beings to fight for him in a tournament against another crazed villain who’s done the same thing. The wager is often times the fate of a planet or civilization. Coincidentally, this is also where Korvac comes in. Korvac is like the X-Men’s Forge, except he’s crazy and evil. And also his lower half is a floating robot cube… thing.
Korvac was tortured and transformed at the hands of the Badoon. The Badoon are the same race of aliens that attacked Yondu’s home planet and orphaned him, and establishing them in the MCU gives a more sturdy foundation for expansion on the Kree, Skrull, and (hopefully) Shi’ar empires. Doing this could very well usher in the beginnings of the Annihilation saga OR (my personal favorite) the Jonathon Hickman run on Infinity from 2013 where Thor straight up murders a Builder during peace negotiations; “A reckoning…“
A Sizeable Neg
Lastly, part of the Black Knights early arc (pre-Dane), involves a Nexus Being from the distant future named Sise-Neg establishing a way to time travel and change things in the past without negatively impacting his future. Sise-Neg travels through time looking for beings of great power, so he can steal said power and I guess attain the oldest villain trope that exists; to rule everything and/or be the strongest magic wielder. If you’ve seen the Loki series, you can see how easily this would meld with Kang’s story.
Anyway, Doctor Strange is fighting with Mordo while trying to follow Sise-Neg through time. Sise-Neg finds Merlyn, but Doctor Strange and Mordo inadvertently stop him from stealing Merlyn’s power. Then, if I recall correctly, the Dark Knight shows up to defend Merlyn and Sise-Neg summons a dragon for him to fight and then runs off through time again.
The prevailing point of this post is to emphasize that there are multiple ways in which the Black Knight can tie into the MCU at large. So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Did I get something wrong? Let me know in the comments!
Did you know that Walrus can whistle?