This week, Marvel officially announced a film for The Inhumans to hit in November 2, 2018, the same year as Captain Marvel (July 6) and Part One of Avengers: Infinity War (May 4). The Inhumans is also scheduled to be the final MCU film to hit before the climactic Infinity War, Part Two (May 3, 2019), which would seem to indicate that they might be late-game players. But seeing as how this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we must remember that nothing is as it seems.
First off, the question on everybody's mind: who are The Inhumans? Well, simply put, they are the result of genetic experiments performed by the alien Kree on primitive humans. Despite the success of the experiments, the Kree abandoned the newly created "Inhumans" because of an ancient prophecy that came to light. Afterwards, many of the newly created Inhumans went off to form their own society, Attilan. Thriving there, they began evolving and creating their own technology, eventually unlocking the secret of their genetic history and creating the Terrigen Mist, which granted them incredible powers that vary from person to person. Essentially, they are mutants created by science instead of natural evolution.
The majority of the Inhumans are ruled by the Royal Family, which includes Black Bolt, Medusa, and several cousins such as Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, and Crystal. Black Bolt and his wife/cousin Medusa lead as the King and Queen (hey, whatever floats your boat), and often clash with Black Bolt's brother Maximus the Mad. They occasionally helped out Marvel heroes such as the Fantastic Four and the Avengers from numerous alien threats, but have never been a real focal point in Marvel Comics, much like the Guardians of the Galaxy once upon a time.
Despite most of the Inhumans residing in Attilan, several Inhuman tribes secretly remained on Earth and bred with the homo sapiens, resulting in a population of humans with a dormant Inhuman gene, and years later when a Terrigenesis Bomb exploded on Earth, this gene became active and created a whole new race of Inhumans. And that is where we find the Inhumans today
How will the Inhumans factor into the MCU, especially when their movie doesn't come out until extremely late in the game? That remains to be seen, but here I postulate one theory: the Inhumans are already at play in the MCU! Beware: possible spoilers follow.
If you've been following Agents of SHIELD, you'll know that Skye was shot during Season 1 and was saved by a serum crafted from the body of a dead alien (all evidence presented since then indicate that it was a Kree, the same race that created the Inhumans, and who were seen antagonizing the "
Guardians" this summer). Coulson and Garret were both given the same serum, but had side effects that Skye does not suffer. It has been hinted that the reason for this might have something to do with her parentage, which has been a running subplot for the show. Could Skye be Inhuman? It's certainly a possibility.
Speaking of Agents of SHIELD, the show could be hiding another potential Inhuman: Raina. The plot of Season 2 revolved around a mysterious object of alien origin (likely Kree, as it is etched with the same symbols Coulson and Garret started carving after being injected with the Kree serum) called the Obelisk (rather generic name, but okay). The Obelisk has a nasty habit of killing anybody who touches it.
Except Raina! We don't know too much about her, either. She could also be an Inhuman, as well. This also raises questions about what the Obelisk truly is. It has been speculated that it might be a Terrigenesis Bomb, containing the Terrigen Mist that is used to activate the Inhuman gene in true Inhumans and the hybrids that walk the Earth. If the object is in fact an Inhuman Terrigenesis Bomb, then then it would explain why Raina is the only person (so far) who is able to physically handle it.
There was also a bit during the Season 2 episode "A Hen in the Wolf House" where a fundraiser dinner is interrupted by a HYDRA assassination attempt, the weapon used having been reverse-engineered from the Obelisk, further evidence of the Terrigenesis Bomb theory. Several of the targets survive, however. Did Marvel just introduce a cluster of Inhumans in Agents of SHIELD?
While you readers chew on that bone, let's jump to the film part of the MCU, and examine possible Inhumans there. Because of their cosmic nature, there are relatively few Inhuman candidates in the film side of the MCU thus far, but there is one possible strong contender: Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord!
There is no question that Peter's father in the MCU is an alien; the question is, "Who is he?" Some hold
that he is J'Sonn of Spartax despite Kevin Feige's claims to the contrary, while others have theorized that it is Adam Warlock, despite the flimsy (at best) evidence that goes with that theory. The best guess is that Peter is still of royal blood, but possibly not Spartax. The biggest clue we have is a line thrown out by Yondu towards the end of the film, "It's a good thing we didn't take him to his father like we were paid to." This hints that the Ravagers were hired to bring Peter to his father. Obviously, that didn't happen, and his father is likely still looking for his son.
But the way Yondu says the line, it is implied that Peter's father is a man of power and money, possibly royalty? Possibly Inhuman royalty? Kevin Feige has gone on record to state that the Spartax origin will not be used; either that is massive misdirection, or a massive clue. Could Peter's true father be King Agon, father of Black Bolt, the current Inhuman King? If so, could the MCU version of the Inhuman Royal Family pop up in Guardians 2? Can you say, "Sibling rivalry," anyone?
Another bit of evidence we have is that Peter is the only one who is able to hold the Power Stone for extended periods of time, much in the same way that Raina is the only one able to hold the Obelisk, both of which are objects of immense power and alien origin that have injured or killed anyone else who has held them long enough, much like the Tesseract and the Aether, the other two Infinity Stones confirmed so far. Some people have said that the Obelisk could be another Infinity Stone, but that's a story for another article.
Going back to the Terrigenesis Bomb/Obelisk, this brings us to Carol Danvers, and the origins of the MCU version of Captain Marvel. The first Captain Marvel was a Kree warrior (can you see how this is all connected yet?) who had many associations with the Inhumans before meeting Carol Danvers. During an explosion, portions of Mar-Vell's DNA fused with that of Carol's, who gained similar powers, becoming Ms. Marvel, and then later assuming the title Captain Marvel in honor of the being who gave her her powers.
While I would like to see this origin for Danvers, there is another way to bring her to the screen that is still true to comics, and still fit into the Inhumans story. The newest Ms. Marvel, Kamala Kahn, is an Inhuman, gaining her powers through the Terrigen Mist. Perhaps it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to have Carol Danvers be an Inhuman, as well. In case the above image didn't make it obvious enough, I vote Katee Sackhoff for Carol Danvers.
Let's breakdown the "Inhuman Carol Danvers" theory: Agents of SHIELD could introduce Carol Danvers on the small screen (the finale would air around the time Age of Ultron hits theaters, in which she is rumored to appear), maybe as a US Armed Forces pilot working under Glenn Talbot, or for SHIELD itself.
In the finale, the Obelisk/Terrigenesis Bomb explodes, activating a lot of dormant Inhumans, such as Skye and Carol. Carol and Skye are both endowed with super powers, and Carol later becomes Captain Marvel on the big screen (and leaving Skye on AoS as Ms. Marvel, maybe?) And then later, have them both on screen together in the Captain Marvel movie.
So then not only would we have a superhero movie with a strong female lead, but TWO strong female leads! And I'm going to stop that train of thought right there before it devolves into a lesbian fantasy (which would be rather quickly), but it's more food for though.
And of course, the Inhumans films will feature Black Bolt and other members of the Royal Family (will they touch on the incest aspect? Probably not, but who knows). There is so much room to play with the Inhumans in the MCU that they could pop up anywhere, and not just serve as a stand-in for mutants, but give us new heroes and villains to flesh out the MCU.
A have a feeling that AoS will bring in a lot of those new villains and heroes should the show continue past Season 2; there is so much ground that the show can cover between the big screen MCU outings that it's totally unreal. And it's not just AoS; we may see some Inhumans pop up during the Netflix series', as well. But most of this is merely speculation, and could be completely off the mark; we'll know for sure by the time Captain Marvel and The Inhumans both hit screens in 2018!
Before we leave, let's take a look at Marvel's current game plan for Phase 3:
Ant-Man, coming July 17, 2015;
Captain America: Civil War on May 6, 2016;
Doctor Strange on November 4, 2016;
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 enjoying a new May 5, 2017 date;
Thor: Ragnarok taking
Guardians' old July 28, 2017 spot; fan-favorite
Black Panther out on November 3, 2017; and, of course
Captain Marvel on July 28, 2018 and
The Inhumans on November 2, 2018. Finally, the two-parts of
Avengers: Infinity War hit on May 4, 2018 and May 3, 2019.
Throw in DC's recently announced slate of films, we are, without a doubt, living in the Golden Age of Comic Book Movies.