GOTG 2's Cut Character Would've Wasted The MCU's Best Spider-Man Replacement

If Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 didn’t cut Darkhawk, Marvel would have wasted its best replacement for Spider-Man (Tom Holland) in the MCU. According to James Gunn, the Marvel Comics superhero almost made an appearance in the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Why he ultimately wasn’t included hasn’t been discussed, but it likely has to do with the number of characters already featured in the story.

Darkhawk is among the many Marvel characters who can take Spider-Man’s place at some point down the road. Of course, the 25-year-old actor could have a long future with the MCU, but nothing is set in stone. A new MCU Spider-Man trilogy being in development has been mentioned, but not outright confirmed by Marvel or Sony. Plus, Holland has talked about retiring the character before he’s reached the age of 30, which indicates that his time in the MCU is limited. Eventually, Marvel will have to move on from Spider-Man and possibly look to a legacy character like Miles Morales or someone else capable of filling his shoes.

The best replacement for Peter Parker wouldn’t necessarily have to be someone who shares his codename or abilities. It just needs to be someone who carries the essence of Spider-Man. Arguably the best candidate for this role is Christopher Powell’s Darkhawk. Like Peter himself, Darkhawk got his start as a teenager in Queens whose life was changed forever when he developed super powers. Instead of getting his from a radioactive spider bite, Chris acquired a psychic link to a cosmic android body. His powers were radically different from Spider-Man’s, but the challenges he endured as a teenage superhero were deeply reminiscent of Peter’s earliest adventures. The MCU has a chance to use Darkhawk in the same way, but that would never have been possible if it had sent him straight to space in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

As a cosmic adventurer, Darkhawk would actually fit well into a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but his MCU introduction happening in one of those films would be a waste of his potential. To have Darkhawk show up as one of the characters that the Guardians meet in space would be to skip over a key phase in Chris’ superhero career. In the 1990s, Chris’ activities as Darkhawk allowed his solo comic title to do its own take on the classic “with great power comes great responsibility” theme from Spider-Man’s stories. During his time in New York, Darkhawk had to cope with the changes made to his personal life and the struggles that came with being a superhero, all the while trying to adhere to his moral code and preventing others from hurting his family. It wasn’t until much later that Marvel matured him and moved him to space.

Given the similarities between his journey and Peter Parker’s, an adaptation of Darkhawk’s 1990s adventures could give the MCU a suitable Spider-Man replacement, but that can only work if it starts from the very beginning with his character. Since Gunn opted against putting him in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the door remains open for Marvel to tell Darkhawk’s story in a future Disney+ series or MCU movie.

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