Almost everyone with eyes knew that Deadpool & Wolverine was going to be a much-needed hit for Marvel Studios. Putting Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine into the same movie is just a no-brainer. Marvel’s been making team-up comic books for decades, and this isn’t even the first MCU movie to do the same thing. Thor: Ragnarok was really a Thor and Hulk movie, while the MCU Spider-Man trilogy with Tom Holland featured supporting roles for Iron Man, Nick Fury, and Doctor Strange.
If one of the lessons from Deadpool & Wolverine is that Marvel needs more films like these, then these are the five MCU pairings who deserve their own team-up movie. With few exceptions, most of these roles have already been cast.
Spider-Man and Human Torch
Casual fans may not realize this, but the very first issue of the Marvel Team-Up comic book in 1972 featured Spider-Man and Human Torch. At the time, Peter Parker and Johnny Storm were two of the younger heroes in the Marvel Universe, and they gradually formed a friendship in their costumed alter egos. Because the Spider-Man and Fantastic Four film rights have been separated for decades, we’ve never seen that connection play out in films.
Having said that, it would still be a challenge in the MCU since The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in an alternate world from the primary timeline. But with the multiverse, all things are possible.
Hulk and The Thing
The Thing and the Hulk have a long ongoing rivalry in the comics that’s never been explored in live action. But there is a comic book team-up story that would fit in perfectly with the MCU.
Jim Starlin and artist Bernie Wrightson’s 1987 standalone graphic novel The Incredible Hulk and the Thing: The Big Change came up with a reason for these two mismatched bruisers had to go on an intergalactic mission together. Their interactions were hilarious, especially when the dumber incarnation of the Hulk attempted to “help” his new friend.
Black Panther and Storm
Nearly two decades ago, Marvel put the X-Men’s Storm and Black Panther into a romantic storyline that culminated in their marriage. The couple eventually split up, but they remain an important part of each others’ history.
This would be complicated in the MCU since Storm hasn’t been cast yet and Marvel has been reluctant to recast T’Challa following Chadwick Boseman’s death. But if the upcoming film Avengers: Secret Wars takes the opportunity to lightly reset the MCU, Marvel could introduce a new T’Challa and eventually Storm as well.
Spider-Man and Daredevil
Spider-Man and Daredevil is one team-up we’ve kind of seen already. Charlie Cox made a cameo as Daredevil/Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, where he was the lawyer for Peter Parker (Tom Holland). But since Cox didn’t suit up in that movie, a proper Daredevil and Spider-Man team-up is still high on our wish list.
These two have a natural connection, since Wilson Fisk was originally a Spider-Man villain before he became Daredevil’s nemesis. In the MCU, Daredevil is the veteran of the two, and it would be very interesting to see that dynamic play out in a Spider-Man movie.
The Midnight Sons
In the early ’90s, Marvel brought together Blade, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, and more supernatural heroes under the Midnight Sons banner and pit them against the forces of evil. The Midnight Suns video game tweaked that formula a bit to include more mainstream Marvel heroes as members as well.
If we had to keep it to a two-character team-up, then Blade and Ghost Rider are still the natural pair. However, the Blade movie has yet to begin production, and Marvel’s been dragging its feet with Ghost Rider even though the rights to the character reverted to the studio years ago.
