Five things the MCU should give us, but won't

Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is no more. Our favorite anti-hero/trickster/pure evil, he of “mewling quim” fame is d-e-d, dead. Thanos saw to that. But what’s wonderful about Loki, the character, is that there is no true end to Thor’s adoptive sibling. Loki is and always will be, that’s their thing. And, Loki is not gendered. I’d love to see Marvel cast a woman to play a new iteration of Loki, as Thor’s sister. While there’s canonical evidence for this to be true, Marvel doesn’t have a great track record of inclusivity with their casting. But hey, you heard it here first, Marvel should cast a woman as future Loki!

There is literally no one in the Marvel universe that Steve Rogers cares about as much as he cares about Bucky. This is not to say there’s no room for platonic male friendships — that is absolutely important. But, maybe write it for two characters who don’t have two entire movies dedicated to their relationship. Or for two characters who don’t have an absurd level of chemistry. Steve gave up everything for Bucky. And Bucky gave up everything for Steve. In a universe that is long overdue for LGBTQ+ representation, this is an easy one that has a narrative basis.

Tony Stark is a terrible mentor. One of the most cathartic parts of the comic event Civil War is when Peter Parker realizes this and confronts Tony. I’m still waiting for that catharsis in the MCU. Tony plucks Peter out of Queens, shows him this whole new world in Captain America: Civil War and then spends all of Homecoming ignoring him. He ignores Peter’s calls, talks down to him, and then eventually gives him no actual guidance whatsoever before taking credit for the hero Peter becomes by the end. Let Peter Parker see what a trash person Tony Stark is!

Cate Blanchett wastes no time in reminding us that she is the Hela, the “GoddESS of Death” in Thor: Ragnarok. Imagine an Infinity War where we get to see Thanos beholden to that Death (formerly GoddESS of) and kill half the universe because the Goddess of Death asks him to. There are no loopholes there — she wants death and he gives it to her. None of this “resources are scarce” nonsense.

There is a scene in the first Avengers movie where Loki is caged and Black Widow has to pull information out of him (she's the “mewling quim"). She gets it, surprising no one, but there’s a line where she says, “I got red in my ledger; I’d like to wipe it out.” There was an entire movie written in that line of dialogue that we never got to see. (Unless you count Red Sparrow, I guess.) We should have gotten this movie in 2013, after The Avengers but before Winter Soldier. It was the most potent time to tell her story, and we’ll never get that moment back.