In recent news it was confirmed that Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Incredible Hulk would be joining Chris Hemsworth’s Thor in his third solo movie subtitled ‘Ragnarok’. This is excellent news for any and all comic book fans, and most cinema goers are probably down for the added Avenger in ‘Ragnarok’ as well. In my opinion this is representative of the change Marvel Studios is going to need to keep up with as their movies keep coming out. Soon it won’t be enough to have just one character in any given movie anymore. You can’t go around saying ‘everything is connected’ when it seems that the solo movies barely have any reprecussions or connective tissue to the larger ‘Avengers’ model (With the exception of Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, but only because of the much hyped Infinity stone focus in the latter). They’ve already *SPOILERS* given us a taste of this in ‘Ant Man’ with Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang running into Anthony Mackie’s Falcon during a raid Ant Man does on the new Avengers Facility seen at the end of ‘Age of Ultron’. This is a great first step towards making the solo films feel more integrated into the series as a whole. Although, admittedly, it must be quite the series of flaming hoops for the creative teams that are routinely swapped in and out of each film. There is a difference between setting up multiple storylines to pay off in another movie altogether and having a fan favorite  character depict a smart and sensible cameo a la ‘Ant Man’ though.

Possibly more important though is the inclusion of characters from both the television side of Marvel and their big cinema brothers. This is especially true for the Netflix shows that Marvel has begun to roll out. The addition of the Punisher to Daredevil season two is a slam dunk in this ideology of connectedness. Hopefully this is what will happen with other similar heroes that typically fall under the Marvel ‘Knights’  paradigm. Blade, Ghost Rider, and Moon Knight in particular could all benefit whatever series they are introduced in, just as long as it makes sense in service to the story being told. That was intrinsically the best aspect to this new iteration of Daredevil, the story. It was well written and heavily relied on dialouge with crushingly violent and dark sequences spattered throughout to avoid lag or boredom in the script machinations. As long as we aren’t simply tossing in cameos for no good reason.

I believe this to also be true for the upcoming ‘Jessica Jones’ series. Since she is mostly unknown (in the real and print world of comics) she would benefit from the inclusion of a character or two dropping by. Who wouldn’t be pleased as punch to see Paul Rudd’s Ant Man in an episode? Even a simple Foggy, from Daredevil, cameo would blow people’s minds. There’s also a rumor, with a heaping pile of salt, going around about the possibility of Spiderman making an appearance in the second season of Daredevil, which would make all the sense in the world. Spiderman and Daredevil have collided and teamed up previously many times in the past several decades of comics, why not use Tom Holland while we’ve got him? This would also highly benefit Sony, the more people come to recognize this new Actor as THE new Spiderman that gets to interact with all of Marvel Studio’s properties, the more money comes back to them when his solo movie opens. It’s a win-win for everyone barring this kid doesn’t become the new Hayden Christensen.. he’d have to try pretty hard to commit to that level of terrible though. There’s also the circulating rumor that Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange will appear in the ‘Defenders’ show once that hits, which is appropriate in my mind as Doctor Strange doesn’t show up all that much, but when he does, it’s usually a big deal, this would only serve to bolster whatever threat level has been introduced to the street level heroes of New York City.

It’s this type of interconnectedness that’s so exciting about what Marvel is doing. In the comics when Spiderman shows up out of nowhere in a Punisher storyline, or Black Panther in an Iron Man book, it’s exciting, scintillating, thrilling. Seeing these characters interact with each other is the basis of why the comics are so fun to begin with because the storytelling options can be endless. It doesn’t always work out, some will be destined to fail by their very nature, but what in God’s name is the point of having Avengers movies and tie ins if you aren’t going to utilize the characters you have access to? This was the downfall to phase two of Marvel Studios’ films in my opinion. I enjoyed those films, but why wouldn’t Tony Stark call for some sort of help when the President of the United States is in Danger? Or any of the scenarios that took place in these films? I understand, that’s part of the allure, an eventual collection of heroes in a “One Shot Annual”, but at least if we’re going to do that, can we make the sparing team ups of a revered quality? Age of Ultron was entertaining and did some things very well, but ultimately failed because of its weighty ambitions (Setting up multiple storylines to pay off in another movie altogether, clear marketing decisions etc). My point being, yes, we should definitely get more team ups, but lets give the creative teams some time, quality is important.