The Black Widow movie is coming out this weekend and I’ve already got my ticket for the early showing! I can’t wait for a new Marvel movie after this two year absence. What can I say? I’m an unapologetic Marvel fan boy! I’m excited for the film and very excited for what it might introduce going forward.

We may get a Black Widow 2 one of these days.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but everybody seems pretty convinced that Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova will take over as the MCU’s new Black Widow. Sounds like a good idea to me. There are a ton of different directions to take such a character, with the most obvious being a sequel that sees Yelena go off on her own Russian adventures. If that’s the case, Marvel is going to need to dust off some of their classic Russian superheroes and villains to make a showing. The Black Widow movie will introduce Red Guardian, so what about the rest?

Join me after the jump for an enclave of Marvel’s Russian characters who are just waiting for a sequel opportunity!

6. Darkstar

We’ll deal with the obvious right up front: Russia has their own superhero team in the comics. They’re called the Winter Guard and — as far as we know — only Red Guardian from their lineup is going to make the movie. So what about the rest? Darkstar would make for a pretty great villain if you want Black Widow to take on another woman. She’s a mutant in the comics, but that can easily be switched to something else if Marvel isn’t ready to introduce mutants yet. She’s basically got darkforce energy powers and those will work in any situation.

5. Perun

Perun is the Slavic version of Thor. The people of Eastern Europe developed their own gods, and Perun was the one in charge of lightning and storms. So he would make a whole lot of sense in the MCU. People already know and love Thor, so why not a villain version? Sometimes in the comics, Perun wields both a hammer and a sickle, so there’s even more Russian to love.

4. Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man

At least twice, Iron Man has faced armored bad guys from Russia. The Crimson Dynamo is basically a bigger, rougher and tougher Iron Man suit built in Russia. It has been passed down from one Russian stooge to another throughout the years, because anybody can wear a suit. The original Crimson Dynamo was Anton Vanko, who was turned into Whiplash in the MCU. So yeah, anybody else can be a new Crimson Dynamo. Perhaps he teams up with Perun and the new Black Widow has to take on an evil Iron Man and an evil Thor?

Or how about Titanium Man? Again, he’s basically just a Russian secret agent who was given a big metal suit to combat Iron Man. He has a history with Black Widow in the comics, or at least the first Titanium Man did. And he fought Iron Man a bunch of times. Basically I’m just saying there are two armored Russian villains from the comics who could be used in a Black Widow sequel. Simple as that.

3. Colossus

Oh yeah, I’m going there. Straight on to Colossus! If you’re going to introduce the X-Men eventually, why not have some of them show up in other movies? Black Widow 2 is a couple of years away. The X-Men are a couple of years away. So why not kill two birds with one stone and have Marvel’s most famous Russian mutant make his debut?

2. Ursa Major

Speaking of Russian mutants, one of them can transform into a bear! Ursa Major has been a major staple of Marvel’s Russian characters for a long damn time. His backstory involves being one of the first mutants in Russia that the Soviet government didn’t kill in the crib, so that’s…dark. But then he goes on to be a real mensch. The Winter Guard doesn’t exist with a giant bear acting as muscle. Simple as that.

1. Red Ghost

The Red Ghost has been around since the very early days of the Fantastic Four, and he’s never needed any reinvention or reboot. He’s a weird-looking mad scientist with the power to turn into intangible mist. Sounds useful, right? So why does that picture have him surrounded by apes? BECAUSE HE ALSO CONTROLS APES! It’s an entirely separate side hustle! Red Ghost has either a squad or an army of hypnotized/trained apes at his command! On top of the mad scientist and red mist angles! The world needs to know his name.

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