Disney Pushes Marvel to Retcon Its Groundbreaking First Superhero for a New Series

in Disney, Marvel

New York City as seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, overlaid with the Marvel Studios logo

Credit: Inside the Magic

Is Disney pushing Marvel and Lucasfilm to retcon more properties to make them cross-platform hits?

MCU characters with the Disney+ logo, including Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, Captain America/Falcon, and Loki
Credit: Disney+

The Walt Disney Company owns one of the largest libraries of franchise intellectual property in the world. In addition to its vast catalogs of Mickey Mouse and Disney Princess content, it owns, via various subsidiaries, basically every Marvel character and concept, Indiana Jones and Star Wars, The Simpsons, the Pixar universe, and much, much more.

Perhaps because of that, the company has gotten pretty leery of coming up with entirely new characters and stories instead of relying on the dependable old ones.

This could partially explain the cancellation of The Acolyte after a single season. The Leslye Headland-created show was the first live-action Star Wars series on Disney+ with entirely original characters, rather than bringing back legacy characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) or casting a new live-action actor like Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson).

Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds in 'Ahsoka'
Credit: Lucasfilm

Related: ‘X-Men’ Icon Brian Cox Complains That Marvel Refuses to Pay Him

As Inside the Magic has discussed at length, The Acolyte was a deeply flawed show that received more than its share of petty criticism, but it is telling that Disney and Lucasfilm were ready to shut down an original show at the first sign of trouble.

In the meantime, the company is working overtime to port the Mandalorian ( Pedro Pascal) and Grogu (himself) to the big screen, bring back Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker, and retcon the events of Rogue One (2016) for Andor Season 2.

Marvel Studios has always played pretty fast and loose with the canonical events of characters and events that it has adapted for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

For example, the Infinity Saga bears only a passing resemblance to the “Infinity Gauntlet” story that it is based on; similarly, the backstory for everyone from the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to Spider-Man (Tom Holland) has been extensively retconned in order to make it work for the Sacred Timeline.

Kohhari (voiced by Devery Jacobs) with glowing eyes in 'What If...?'
Credit: Marvel

Now, Marvel is doing the same thing to its own original characters. At the behest of Disney, the studio is introducing Kahhori, a character introduced in the animated MCU series What If…? into Marvel Comics. This will both retcon the origin of its supposed “first superhero” and mark the first time that a character from the MCU has become part of comics canon, at least in a significant way.

Marvel announced the upcoming port of Kahhori to comic books in Kahhori: Reshaper Of Worlds #1, an upcoming one-shot comic book under the Marvel’s Voices imprint. That particular comic line generally includes short, anthology-style stories focusing on POC characters, writers, and artists, so it does make sense that the MCU’s first Indigenous American superhero would emerge there.

Comic book cover featuring Kahhori, a Native American character surrounded by a glowing aura, wearing traditional clothing. The title reads "Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds." The background includes a snowy forest scene and "Marvel Voices Special" in the corner.
Credit: Marvel Comics

The press release for Kahhori: Reshaper Of Worlds reads:

The Mohawk warrior Kahhori fell into Sky World and into our hearts from her first appearance fighting invaders to her home. She’s already helped save all of reality from a demented Doctor Strange and secured peace in her own world… So what NOW?

Award-winning storyteller Ryan Little launches Kahhori into the 616! Chasing a threat out of Sky World, she lands in the fiery streets of Hell’s Kitchen! But culture shock’s gonna be the least of her problems as her strange adversary tears through NYC. Featuring exciting guest stars and the comics debuts of some extraordinary creators, Marvel’s Voices brings you an extra-special anthology celebrating Indigenous heritage and one of the most exciting characters to emerge from the MCU!

The Marvel Comics one-shot will include work from Kahhori co-creator and What If…? writer Ryan Little. It will also be written by Indigenous creators Arihhonni “Honni” David and Kelly Lynne D’Angelo (in their Marvel debuts), with art by David Cutler, Jim Terry, and Afua Richardson.

Related: Marvel Releases First Look at Doctor Doom in Action Following Robert Downey Jr. Announcement

Kahhori and Captain Carter decked out and ready to battle Doctor Strange in 'What If..?'
Credit: Marvel Studios

Kahhori (voiced by Devery Jacobs) was introduced in the second season of What If…?, characterized as a Mohawk Nation woman of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in pre-colonial North America.

She gains powers due to exposure to the Tesseract (which contains the Space Infinity Stone) and ends up repelling Spanish invaders alongside her people. Kahhori’s further adventures saw her teaming up with Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) and facing off with Strange Supreme (Benedict Cumberbatch), but it sounds like her Marvel Comics debut might be a little more grounded in nature.

Marvel Studios has been very slow to introduce new characters into its continuity and Disney has been even slower to attempt to incorporate them (canonically, at least) into its other departments. But it looks like the Mouse is finally ready to start linking its comic and cinematic universes, even if it ends up retconning them both.

Kahhori: Reshaper Of Worlds #1 will be available for physical and digital purchase on 11/6.

Do you think the MCU needs more original characters?

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