MCU Phase 4: 8 Major Comics That Could Inspire Its Story

6. Dark Reign

By far one of the juiciest rumours to have emerged regarding Marvel and Sony's partnership is that the House of Mouse actively forbid the studio from incorporating Norman Osborn into Silver & Black. Of course, Sony's Spider-Man spin-off was eventually cancelled in order to create two separate spin-offs instead, but reports of Norman being removed so he can receive a key role in the MCU is exciting, and points towards a certain storyline potentially making its way to the franchise.

Osborn is, of course, a Spider-Man villain first and foremost, but he's also come up against the Avengers once or twice. During the events of Dark Reign, Norman capitalised on the aftermath of the Skrull invasion in order to consolidate his political standing, which he cemented by ousting Tony Stark from S.H.I.E.L.D., and replacing both him and it with H.A.M.M.E.R. - a tyrannical police force that worked to the former Goblin's benefit.

Eventually, Osborn manufactures his own "Dark Avengers", and effectively becomes a twisted version of Iron Man, called the Iron Patriot (already seen in Iron Man 3).

Although this storyline probably won't be doing the rounds until the early stages of Phase 5, it's possible that Norman will make an appearance in Phase 4 to seed the rise of the Dark Avengers and his eventual Dark Reign. That Hashtag Show have even speculated that David Callaham could be penning a Dark Avengers script for Marvel, so expect some movement from the company regarding Norman in the months ahead.