With the Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises back under the Marvel Studios banner, the MCU has become the home of virtually every Marvel character under the sun. With the cast of Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot now confirmed , Deadpool & Wolverine set for release this month, and X-Men ’97 having recently revived a fan-favorite incarnation of the eponymous team, there aren’t many corners of the Marvel universe left to bring into the fold, aside from ones involving bizarre rights issues like Rom the Spaceknight, the Micronauts, or Godzilla (remind us to tell you about that time the Big G fought the Avengers). However, there is one character who still hasn’t appeared in the MCU, and his absence has us raising our eyebrows.
That would be one Rick Jones, kid buddy and sidekick to the Hulk, who used to be one of Marvel’s most important characters, if you’d believe it. In the 1960s when Marvel Comics launched many of their stalwart properties, Rick was a mainstay who popped up in a wide variety of stories. Although he still makes sporadic appearances in modern comics and has shown up in various cartoons and video games, Rick has never made the jump to live-action, and has been all but ignored by the MCU.
So what gives? Why has Rick gotten the short shrift, and what does it say about how superhero storytelling has changed since his creation? Let’s take a look. Because Rick rarely appears outside the source material, it’s worth giving a brief rundown for the non-comic r.
