In the comics, Marvel’s ever-shifting future has been explored under the hands of several writers and across many titles. This has spread to the toys also, with such characters as Deathlok, “Days of Future Past” Logan, Cable, Stryfe and others all getting figures over the course of Marvel Legends’ history. I realized recently that within a very short amount of time we’ve gotten figures from three distinct possible futures: King Thor, Spider-man 2099, and Spider-girl, whose alias is May Parker, the daughter of Spider-Man.
With so many different possible Marvel Futures already receiving figures, I started to think about what else we could get. As I started moving up the timeline, my first stop was the very near future: 2020.
Back in 1984, when we first met a future version of Iron Man, the year 2020 seemed like it was a long way away. In the blink of an eye, we’ve time-traveled to a mere five years away from that date. Five years. Amazing. While I doubt giant shoulder cogs are going to be the decoration of choice for any Iron Man we’ll be seeing that year, that doesn’t negate the fact that Iron man 2020 remains the most compelling and different Iron Man variant needed. Of course this would necessitate the creation of a brand new classic Iron Man body on which a 2020 version can be built, but nobody would complain about that. The 4-inch line got a 2020, it’s time for the 6-inch line to get one as well. But please… don’t make us wait five years before it makes it out there.
And if you want to toss out a 2020 version of Machine man… you have the tools to do so.
From there we move 79 years into the future. Spider-Man 2099 is, without a doubt, the most popular and long-lasting of the 2099 concepts and has received a handful of figures, but there are others that would make great toys as well. The first volley of titles included future takes on 616 mainstays such as Spidey, Dr. Doom, and the Punisher, with a brand new character headed by Stan Lee himself called Ravage.
Ravage is not what one would call the most critically acclaimed (or subtle) creation ever, but that doesn’t mean I’d turn one down if it meant adding to a decent 2099 collection.
Dr. Doom’s 2099 look, in particular, would make a striking figure. There’s a similarity to his more well-known look, but with more armor and spikes. Everything designed in the ’90s had spikes. For a brief time even Aunt May had spikes. OK, maybe not, but somebody somewhere considered it. There may even be some rejected drawings of Aunt May with liberty spikes. Rock on, you octogenarian.
Punisher’s 2099 design is also exactly what you’re expect. He’s got shoulder pads, he’s got pouches, he’s got guns so large a normal man would need help lifting them… yeah, he’s even got skull-esque knee pads. You can never have enough Punisher action figures, amirite? OK, OK, calm down, you might not have to worry about it for another 84 years.
As the 2099 concept expanded, we got future versions of Hulk, Fantastic Four X-Men, and Ghost Rider, among others. The Ghost Rider of 2099 was a robot with a flaming metal skull and a chainsaw hand. I don’t really know how that could get any cooler. Ghost rider is a concept that makes another appearance as we move further down the timeline, but the 2099 one is more than welcome.
The X-Men received their own action figures during the insane blitz of the ’90s where everything with a mutant gene got a figure, so there’s a history there. The Fantastic Four were… just the Fantastic Four from the past. So yeah.
We take a giant leap from 2099 all the way to the 31st century for our next future group. I doubt Hasbro will still be making toys by then, so maybe we can get these out of the way now. With the immense popularity of the Guardians of the Galaxy, we just have to find a way to get the original team out in some capacity, just piggybacking on the name itself.
No, they’re not the Guardians of the movie, but, you know, read a comic and educate yourself on the original team, dagnabberit. With stories from the ’70s and a lengthy series from the ’90s, the Guardians of the future deserve figures just as much as those of the present. Which brings us to another Ghost Rider:
Yeah. That just happened.
Finally, it wouldn’t be the future without the ultimate time-traveler. While we’ve had two opportunities to get Kang, many feel that he’s a bit undersized. I wouldn’t turn down a revamped Kang figure with a stature worthy of his legacy. And speaking of Kang’s legacy, you know who we’ve never managed to get? Right; Kang’s future self, Immortus. Kang’s lifespan is a twisting vine of random identities and chronological anomalies, including past lives as Rama Tut to future ones like Immortus. Talk about a me-myself-and-I situation.
The Marvel Universe is more than just NOW. It’s then, it’s tomorrow, and it’s a few days past that. Whether the year is 2020, 2099, or some random time in the 31st century, let’s get some plastic.