10 Mar Marvel’s Inaugural Disney+ Line-up Announced

Superbowl commercials are always a big deal, and this year in particular the spot that got the most attention was Marvel Studios teaser trailer for their inaugural roster of original Disney+ shows that will be debuting later this year. The first scripted Disney+ production The Mandalorian set the bar quite high, pleasing even the most jaded of Star Wars fans with the type of derring-do that some felt was missing from most of the post-original-trilogy films. That show’s success was helped in no small part by helmer Jon Favreau (who launched the MCU as director of Iron Man), fan-favorite guest directors like Taika Waititi (whose Thor Ragnarok maintains the highest tomatometer score by any Marvel solo sequel), and the most meme-worthy character of the year thus far–a character that viewers have dubbed, Baby Yoda. And while network shows like Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. and Hulu originals like Runaways failed to lock down the MCU film fanbase, and even popular Netflix productions like Cage, Daredevil, and The Punisher have received rather mixed reviews, these new Disney+ shows look awesome by any metric. No mere small screen spin-offs, these seem to be episodic-length features starring the same actors from the films, which gives the whole platform an authenticity that not even a great and popular character actor like Clark Gregg (reprising his role as Agent Coulson) could bring to ABC. This is Disney, after all, and they have clearly raised the bar for subscription streaming that way that HBO did for cable TV with Game of Thrones.

The first three series in the Disney+ version of the Expanding Marvel Universe are The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and WandaVision.

That trailer has garnered over 6 million views in one month, and that doesn’t even account for the cavalcade of vlogs, clones, and speculation videos that have been generated in its wake. Suffice to say that Geekdom is excited. There are dozens of great and inventive fan vids that have pointed out Easter eggs like quick glimpse of costumes and logos that seem to suggest future appearances by Captain America support characters like Battlestar, USAgent, and various other Super Serum recipients in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier; different age and gender versions of Loki and the Time Variance Authority in his solo series, and different incarnations of the Scarlet Witch, The Vision, and their potential future children in the sitcom formatted WandaVision.

But without that speculation, we can say for sure that the popularity of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier are going to greatly increase.

While Black Panther was the first black costumed adventurer to appear in comics (Fantastic Four #52 back in 1966), he was frequently an opponent and not an overt hero in most of his early appearances and didn’t get his own title until 1973. The Falcon is presented as a hero immediately in his first appearance in the September 1969 issue of Captain America, and he continued to fight alongside Steve Rogers until the comic was retitled Captain America and The Falcon from 1971 to 1978. And while Black Panther is the royal prince of the fictional African country, Wakanda, The Falcon has always been presented as an African American, making him the first African American hero in a mainstream comic book. Marvel’s Falcon also predates DC’s John Stewart, the first African American Green Lantern by two years.

As noted above, Falcon‘s first appearance and origin was in Captain America #117, back in September of 1969. Sam Wilson aka Falcon is already a major part of the MCU and the new series on Disney+ is sure to promote this key issue into the stratosphere alongside Hulk #181 (the first full appearance of Wolverine) and Amazing Spiderman #129 (the first Punisher), but as a cultural touchstone this issue has no peer.

Click HERE to purchase a VF+ CGC 8.5 graded copy of this book –one of only 5 Qualified copies currently known to exist in this condition, which is now regarded as one of the most important Key Issues of the late Silver Age. Such a landmark in investment-grade condition, so don’t expect this to be available for long!

The story for this important landmark of diversity in comics was written by the legendary Stan Lee and drawn by Gene Colan, whose run on Tomb of Dracula helped anchor the Bronze Age at Marvel Comics in the 70s. Click HERE to purchase an incredible, original Gene Colan Dracula art page).

We’ve also got an important original art page from the modern era that contains a piece of Winter Soldier MCU history. Captain America (2009) #33, Page 23 is the origin of the Winter Soldier as the new Captain America in Ed Brubaker & Steve Epting‘s award-winning Death of Captain America story arc (re-published as an omnibus). For over fifty years, there was an altruism in comic books that nobody stays dead except for Bucky, who died during a mission in World War II. Brubaker, whose work on Daredevil ranks among the best longform stories ever told within the comics medium, shook up the Marvel Universe when he debuted the Cold War era assassin The Winter Soldier and ultimately revealed him to be none other than Captain America’s former sidekick and best friend Bucky Barnes revived by the Soviets and hidden for half a century. This story informed the plots of two MCU films, with Captain America: The Winter Soldier being the first. This beautiful origin page was replicated (in a slightly different context) in the Captain America: Civil War movie. Here we see Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) in a S.H.E.I.L.D. lab, supervising the super-serum injection that will instill Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier) with all the powers of Steve Rogers (Captain America). In the MCU, Sam Wilson carries on the mantle of Captain America following Steve Rogers’ retirement, but by representing the Winter Soldier’s turn from heel to hero, this page maintains it’s importance in both published comics and the Marvel cinematic universe elevating it from comic art to pop culture totem.

This unique piece of signed, published, original comic art from an Eisner award-winning comics run can be purchased. Click here to buy now.