Since ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ was announced, we learned that the cast of Joss Whedon’s upcoming sequel will be packed with new faces. Not only will we see Earth’s Mightiest Heroes terrorized by the titular villain, but they’ll also have to deal with Baron Von Strucker, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and the Vision. Then earlier this week, we seemingly received confirmation that Ulysses Klaw would be appearing as well. But now we have gotten word that another dangerous female character may be joining the fray when the team assembles this summer.
Previously, Whedon expressed his desires to introduce more women Avengers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While some of the more well-known female heroes like Black Widow, Gamora, Jessica Jones, and Captain Marvel are already factored into the studio’s master plan for the next few years, it looks like one of the most obscure members of the Avengers roster might make her big screen debut in the next Phase Two film.
According to Schmoes Know, Mantis will join the ranks alongside Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the others in ‘Age of Ultron’ in order to connect the cosmic side of the MCU from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ to the rest of the characters on Earth.
Now I know what you’re thinking: Who is Mantis? To tell you the truth, I didn’t know who she was when I heard this rumor either. However after some research, it’s easy to see how she would fit into things. She was the daughter of Gustav Brandt and Lua Nguyen and studied under the tutelage of the Priests of Pama (who are members of the Kree race) because they thought her to be the Celestial Madonna. She earned the name Mantis because of her excellence in martial arts, but on her 18th birthday, her mind was wiped and she was given false memories of being a Vietnamese orphan. After working as a prostitute, she joined the Avengers with reformed villain the Swordsman. It was somewhere during this time when she found out who she truly was and developed strong ties with Scarlet Witch, the Vision, and Andy Serkis’ Klaw. She also served as a member of the Guardians and fought as a key player in the Thanos War.
Judging from her history, it almost seems like a no brainer that Mantis would be included in ‘Age of Ultron.’ By playing a minor role in Whedon’s follow up to ‘The Avengers’, her involvement could expand naturally over the course of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2,’ ‘Inhumans,’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War.’ I’ll even go a step further and predict that Kim Soo Hyun will be the one playing Mantis. Kevin Feige and the gang probably tweaked her backstory a bit to make her Korean and not a prostitute, but the K-drama star’s part is so shrouded in mystery that this would be a pretty educated guess.
Although before we get too ahead of ourselves, the Schmoes said that their source says that this isn’t 100% clear at this time that Mantis is definitely appearing in the movie, but it is clear that Marvel needs a way to connect all their franchises together before ‘Infinity War.’Including Mantis would do that nicely, but who knows what the House of Ideas really has up their sleeves. While we try to figure that out, let us know your thoughts about Mantis appearing in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ in the comments below.
‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ assembles in theaters on May 1, 2015.