Why The Skrulls And Badoon May Never Be Part Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe
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When the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer came out a few days ago, it was full of juicy Easter eggs for fans of the comics pick apart. One features the two troopers with Korath the Pursuer at the very beginning. They’re part of the Sakaaran alien race, who hail from Sakaar, which is featured in Planet Hulk. However, the Sakaarans are not the natural enemy of the Guardians, but rather the Badoon race. So why aren’t the Badoon featured in the new movie?
In an interview on the Pointless Podcast, Guardians director James Gunn explained why certain aliens, like the Badoon, could appear in Marvel movies, while others will not. It’s not that Marvel Studios, producer Kevin Feige, and Gunn didn’t want to include the Badoon in the new film, but it boils down to the film rights. In other words, Marvel doesn’t own them. Gunn explained, “Marvel only partially owns Skrulls, and also for the record, we don’t own the Badoon either. So people were asking why we have the Sakaarans in the film, we don’t own the Badoon.”
For the uninitiated, the Badoon are one of the oldest alien races in the galaxy. They once had a natural gender schism, which resulted into two factions, the Brotherhood of Badoon and the Sisterhood of Badoon. They also once formed an alliance with the Kree Empire. Twentieth Century Fox owns the film rights to the Badoon because the alien race is also connected to the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer. But without the Badoon, and more importantly without the Skrulls, the Kree Empires hated enemies, what comic book storylines can Marvel tell in the future?
Here’s something to consider. Let’s assume that the direction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two and Phase Three will lead to a final showdown that pits The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy against the Mad Titan Thanos for the Infinity Gauntlet. Once The Avengers 3 wraps up, what will Phase Four look like? One possibility could be the Civil War storyline, where all of the Marvel characters pick a side on the Superhuman Registration Act. One arc that might not happen is the Secret Invasion, because Marvel doesn’t own all of the necessary rights.
The Secret Invasion was a Skrull ploy to replace members of The Avengers with sleeper agents in order to take over Earth. Marvel and Joss Whedon used the Chitauri race The Avengers because they didn’t own the rights to the Skrulls.
Considering that Marvel has proven that they are very efficient about making their movies and planning for the future, it seems like studio wants to tackle Civil War and Secret Invasion in the future, they could find a way around these issues. Hardcore Marvel fans might not be happy if upcoming phases don’t feature the Skrulls or the Badoon, but there might not be any way around that.
Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Benicio del Toro, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Rooker, Olivia Lovibond, John C. Reilly, and Glenn Close, and opens everywhere on August 1.
