Comics Explained: Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)

At D23 this year Disney announced a wide range of upcoming movies and TV shows, and, in regards to comics, I am most excited for seeing the TV debut of Kamala Khan, the most recent Ms. Marvel. Kamala was introduced formally in 2014 as part of Marvel's attempts to diversify its comics line, and she has been well received by both critics and fans. Out of the newly introduced characters, Kamala is my personal favourite, and it is unsurprising that she is getting her own TV series.

Comic Origins

Kamala's first appearance alongside Captain Marvel

Kamala was created by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona, but Marvel editor Sana Amanat played a great role in the character's creation. As the daughter of Pakistani immigrants to the United States the idea of Ms. Marvel came to the Marvel team when she and fellow editor Stephen Wacker were discussing her childhood. Consequently, and possibly contributing why she is such a good character, Kamala Khan reflects a lot of Sana's teenage years. Her design aimed to blend Carol Ann Danvers's present costume, the original Ms. Marvel and current Captain Marvel, her classic costume, and a shalwar kameez. Further connecting her to Carol Ann Danvers she debuted in Captain Marvel #14 in an unnamed cameo watching Captain Marvel fight, but she made her proper debut in All-New Marvel NOW! Point One #1. Kamala was born to Pakistani parents in Jersey City, and grew up close to two friends who were also children of immigrants - Nakia Bahadir and Bruno Carrelli. Due to her 'nerdy' interests and strict parents, made worse by being the daughter of immigrants thanks to xenophobia, she regularly faced ostracism. However, her love for superheroes gave her hope, but her favourite was Carol Ann Danvers who had recently adopted the moniker of Captain Marvel.

In Ms. Marvel Vol. 3 #1 Kamala gained her powers and became a superhero. Tired of being left out she decided to sneak out and attend a popular party, but her 'friends' used it as an excuse to mock her. Upset she set off home just as a world changing event took place. Showing how the movements of gods, aliens, and heroes have such an impact on ordinary people Kamala gained her powers thanks to Thanos and the Inhumans in the Infinity story. Thanos attacked the Inhuman base on the Moon with the intention of reclaiming, and most likely murdering, his son, but he was opposed by the Inhumans and Earth's heroes. A bit of backstory about the Inhumans is needed here. The Inhumans are a species closely related to humans, thousands and thousands of years ago the Kree experimented on humans giving some of them superpowers - the experimented on humans became the Inhumans. The Inhumans also had access to the Terrigen Mists, mists which can give individuals superpowers, and as a right of passage young Inhumans enter the mists to undergo 'Terrigenesis' giving them powers. During Thanos's invasion the leader of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, deployed the Terrigen Bomb to destroy Thanos. Instead it destroyed his city and the mists spread across Earth causing humans with latent Inhuman genes to undergo Terrigenesis. This is what happened to Kamala. A Terrigen Cocoon formed around her, and she saw visions of her three favourite heroes: Captain America, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel. Talking with the visions she stated that wanted to be like the 'beautiful and awesome and butt-kicking and less complicated' Captain Marvel. When the mists cleared she found she was wearing a version of Marvel's costume. When trying to come to terms with what happened her bullying friends fell into a river and drowned, and Kamala went to rescue them realising that she had powers. She could drastically enlarge, shrink, or stretch her body, so she used it to save her friends becoming a hero.

Becoming Ms. Marvel

Kamala and the Inventor

In issue three, while visiting Bruno at her local convenience store, robots attacked and she was shot, but found out that she had healing powers. This started Kamala's surreal and insane stories after Bruno revealed the attack was done by his younger brother working for a mysterious person called 'the Inventor'. Making a costume inspired by her favourite hero she set out to use her powers to stop the Inventor who turned out to be a human-cockatiel hybrid straight out of The Island of Dr. Moreau. The Inventor had been creating robots and animal experiments, including his monstrous alligators called 'megagators', to wreck havoc on New York. Kamala managed to learn the backstory of the Inventor. A scientist called Gregory Knox wanted to clone Thomas Edison, because reasons, but his pet cockatiel got in the way so a bird-human hybrid was created. Naturally it became an evil genius. In her challenges against the Inventor she encountered Wolverine who was searching for a missing school girl, and he decided to help her fight the Inventor. The Inhumans on Earth also sent their giant dog Lockjaw to keep an eye on the young hero, and the two quickly warmed to one another. Using Lockjaw's ability to teleport to find out how a bird-man could generate enough energy to power his many robots: he was kidnapping teenagers and using their bodies to power them, including her friend Nakia. Her final battle with the Inventor saw her shrinking into the scientist's giant robot, almost being killed by the robot's electro-magnetic wave (which destabilises her body), and the grateful teenagers helping her defeat the robot and freeing a captured Lockjaw. 

I don't want to go over too many stories that Ms. Marvel has appeared in, because I don't want to spoil any too much. They are all fun and well-written so I would recommend reading them in person. Among them include stopping Loki during a Valentine's Day party at her school; fighting against an Inhuman coup who wanted the Inhumans to rule over humanity; helping fight during the 'Incursion' when different universes started smashing against one another; and eventually joining the Avengers. In her journeys she encountered many of the other new and young heroes, such as the new Nova and Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man, at a school science competition. Then the Second Superhuman Civil War broke out. A mutant called Ulysses had the ability to see into the near future, specifically when crimes or disasters were going to happen. The superheroes became divided about Ulysses's power: some, like Captain Marvel and She-Hulk, wanted to use his power to stop crimes before they happened a la Minority Reporty, whereas others, like Iron Man and Captain America, still subscribed to 'innocent until proven guilty' and that people were only guilty when they commit a crime. Things could possibly change between the vision and the event. The Civil War challenged Kamala's views and her loyalty to Captain Marvel. When Ulysses predicted that Bruce Banner would turn into the Hulk and destroy significant parts of Times Square a team was sent to calm him, but Hawkeye unexpectedly, and accidentally, killed a calm Banner. Kamala doubted herself, and had to be comforted by Miles and Nova, but the war began escalating. As Bruno lost his hand thanks to the war, and decided to go to Wakanda possibly never seeing Kamala again, she left Captain Marvel's side. Cutting a long story short, thanks to the breaking of Tony Stark's back by Carol Ann Danvers it caused Ms. Marvel to become fully distanced from the Avengers.

Forming the Champions

The Champions: Cyclops, Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Nova, and Viv

Following the aftermath of the Civil War Kamala had come into contact with many of the other new young superheroes. Leaving the Avengers she, Nova, and Miles formed their own group: the Champions. They were soon joined by Amadeous Cho, the new Hulk, the Vision's daughter Viv, and a time-displaced young Cyclops (the reason for this is stupidly confusing). One of my favourite panels is when the old Nova meets the Champions after being away for years, and is confused about the new heroes. He got confused that Kamala is now Ms. Marvel, and that Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel, and states 'I hate every word that you've just said' when Cyclops told him that he is a past version of the adult Cyclops taken from an alternate past by a time-travelling Beast. The Champions continued many of the weird and wacky adventures which makes it a really good read, as a result I won't go into too much detail as I don't want to spoil anything. Among them include fighting the Atlantean Navy, fought a sheriff causing hate crimes in his town, and helped fight Hydra during their takeover of the US in the Secret Empire event. Kamala is still a member of the team, and when Cyclops decided to leave when the team expanded he felt comfortable to tell Kamala in person - the only person he told in person.

Thank you for reading. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

How I would bring the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool into the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel back together?

One of the big topics to be on the minds of every comic book fan recently is Disney purchasing a lot of Fox's movie and TV rights. Currently, we do not have a clear image how much Disney has bought but we do know that the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool have all been at least partially acquired by Disney. CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, has released a statement declaring that the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool will be worked into the MCU. Iger has also stated that R-rated Marvel films are not out of the question. Many comic book fans have been debating how they would bring these characters in, and I would highly recommend watching this YouTube video by Rob from ComicsExplained and Benny from Comicstorian on how they would do it. Rob on his own channel has also done several videos on how he would do the MCU X-Men/Fantastic Four. Today I thought I would do personally bring these characters into the MCU.

Fantastic Four

Also Fantastic Four not Fan4stic

The Fantastic Four must be treated with respect. Although I am not a big fan of the Fantastic Four comics they are incredibly influential and important in making Marvel what it is today. Marvel started out as Timely Comics and evolved into Atlas Comics during the 1950s, (which you can read about here), when the superhero trend started to dip after the Second World War. When DC made it big with the Justice League this brought superheroes back. Atlas was re-branded as Marvel and they made their own superhero team with the Fantastic Four. Unlike the Justice League, the Fantastic Four were a family and had family squabbles, and readers loved this. They had interstellar battles while going through family drama grounding the characters in reality. Up until the end of the 1970s the Fantastic Four was Marvel's biggest sellers, and when they wanted another team/character to explode in popularity they would team up with the Fantastic Four for an issue or two. Galactus, Silver Surfer, Black Panther and Dr Doom all made their debut in the pages of Fantastic Four. The MCU can do the Fantastic Four right compared to the previous three abysmal movies done by Fox.

I have not watched Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D but to my knowledge they have teased S.W.O.R.D. In the comics SWORD (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) is a branch of S.H.I.E.L.D designed to deal with intelligent alien life. We can imagine that following the events of The Avengers, Guardians Vol. 2 and Thor: The Dark World S.H.I.E.L.D decided that it needed its own division to combat alien threats if the Avengers were unavailable. I would have the Fantastic Four be part of S.W.O.R.D. A big issue then comes up: Reed Richards, (Mr Fantastic). In the comics Richards is the world's smartest person, possibly second only to Dr Doom or his daughter. Audiences would be wondering if he's so smart why hasn't Tony Stark or Bruce Banner mentioned him yet? The easy answer could simply be that we don't bring up Stephen Hawking in everyday conversation, but that is an easy way out. Richards could be a part-time lecturer at somewhere like MIT who has been secretly working for S.H.I.E.L.D, alongside Susan Storm, but the information was classified. They could have designed the Helicarriers etc. but Nick Fury has had their involvement classified so S.H.I.E.L.D's secrets could not get out. Then we get to Infinity War. When Thanos is invading we can have a simple comment from someone like Black Widow saying that S.W.O.R.D's best two scientists have gone up with two expert pilots to fortify the ISS or S.W.O.R.D's orbital base. Another comment would be made that solar rays released by Thanos' usage of the Infinity Stones has caused them to go silent. At the end of the movie, or in a post-credit scene, the ship arrives back on Earth and it turns out those who went up have powers thanks to the space rays. Thus we have the Fantastic Four in the MCU.

For the first Fantastic Four movie do not have Doctor Doom as the primary antagonist. Mention Doom but do not feature him. Tim Burton's Batman and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man could have the Joker and Green Goblin as the key antagonists because of how varied Batman's and Spider-Man's Rogues Galleries are. The Fantastic Four's Earth-based enemies are largely limited to Doom. However, most of Marvel's celestial universe originated with the Fantastic Four. Disney had to do a deal with Fox in order to get Ego in Guardians Vol. 2. The first Fantastic Four movie would work well if they went to space and we can link it back to S.W.O.R.D. Like how Iron Man was in The Amazing Spider-Man we can have Black Panther serve a similar role. There is so much to work with; we can introduce the Skrulls, the Shi'ar, the Titans. Maybe Annihilus could be the primary antagonist so we can bring in the Negative Zone and expand on the Multiverse as set out in Doctor Strange. After this first film we can have the Fantastic Four cameo, or star in, other MCU movies until they get sequels. 

Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom is one of my favorite Marvel villains and has yet to be done justice. We hit a problem though. Latveria is the joint most advanced country in Marvel's version of Earth - tying with Wakanda - and Dr Doom's quest for dominance knows no bounds. Wakanda so far in the movies has been quite effectively explained - it is an isolated advanced country hiding behind a facade of a poor, rural country. There is a simple way to explain why Doom and Latveria has yet to appear: Latveria until Infinity War was a regular Balkan country. I would have Doom take control of Latveria during the events of Infinity War. Someone could even make a passing comment. I can imagine Black Panther looking at a screen commenting where Thanos is invading and he makes a comment like 'The Latverian government has fallen to someone with advanced technology but I do not believe that this is related to Thanos' army.' That is Doom's introduction to the MCU. Then when we have our first Fantastic Four movie we have a Doom movie. In the Fantastic Four movie we have Mr Fantastic commenting to Black Panther in a brief conversation that he knows Doom, and that his heart is in the right place despite a massive ego. In the Marvel movies until we have the Fantastic Four v. Doom we show that despite an intense egomania Doom has toppled an apartheid state, brought equality, improved the rights of women, increased the standard of living for all Latverians, and has ended crime with his Doombots. Meanwhile, the Doom movie is basically an origin story for Doom. It sets up Latveria as a state virulently oppressing the Roma population, it establishes that Doom's mother is a witch who teaches him magic, and that he had been using technology mixed with magic to help his family. Maybe we can even bring in Mephisto who was influential in Doom's origins. Doom goes to the USA where he meets Richards and then Nepal where he trains with the Ancient One. We can even have a Doctor Strange cameo where Doom leaves, bumps into Strange, and then goes on his way. He returns to Latveria building up a resistance movement and then during the events of Infinity War he takes power. The movie closes with the first Doombot executing the other leaders of the resistance who oppose Doom's increased authoritarianism. Then in future movies he becomes a full blown antagonist.

X-Men

The X-Men has a huge roster which could appear in the MCU

The X-Men is far trickier than the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom. Do we keep the old X-Men cast or do we get a new one? I cannot imagine Wolverine, Magneto and Professor X as anyone other than Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, but it would be confusing if we kept them and not everyone else. However, due to their age I doubt they all would be able to continue playing characters for several more movies for about ten more years. For Fox's Marvel TV series keep them in continuity when possible (I have yet to see them) but recast the main movies. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D introduced the Inhumans as the MCU's version of the mutants; we can keep that but use 'mutant' as a slur. Rob at ComicsExplained did an excellent video about how he would bring in the X-Men (please see here) but my idea is a mix between his and a user on Reddit u/TheUglyBuck back when the trailer for Infinity War was released. To summarize Rob's idea mutants and the X-Men have always been in existence but Professor X used Cerebro to wipe them from history, but after Infinity War everyone remembers. u/TheUglyBuck mentioned a reverse of 'No More Mutants.' In the comics Scarlet Witch and Vision couldn't have kids so using her reality warping powers she created twins. When they were wiped out of existence by Mephisto (whose soul she used to create them) she lost her mind, and Magneto manipulated her into making mutants the majority and humans the minority. Called The House of M it resulted in Scarlet Witch saying 'No More Mutants' and depowering over 90% of Earth's mutants. 

My plan sort of mixes the two. Throughout humanity mutants have existed but in very small numbers; maybe one hundred existing at once max at any point in time. Apocalypse, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Mystique, Professor X, Magneto, Storm and Jean Grey are just some mutants who had powers at birth. Over the last few years more and more have been appearing which are shown in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. However, Earth's mutant population still remains tinny, maybe 150 in total. Then Infinity War happens, Vision is killed, and Scarlet Witch loses control and suddenly turns hundreds of thousands of people into mutants. Suddenly fear of superpowered beings turn from a rather niche fear to a full blown, worldwide panic. The word 'inhuman' is replaced by 'mutant.' Then we have our first five MCU X-Men movies: a Professor X movie, a Magneto movie, a Wolverine movie, a Storm movie, and the X-Men movie. The Professor X movie is like how Rob explains in his video which is slower paced, more character driven, and goes into the history of mutants in the MCU. The Storm movie is similar where she encounters Black Panther as a child setting up their future relationship. The Magneto movie acts like Spike Lee's adaptation of Malcolm X's autobiography where he sees the persecution of mutants as the same as the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, and becomes involved in radical mutant activism. The Wolverine movie is basically X-Men Origins: Wolverine done right. Finally the X-Men movie adapts the first issue of the comics where Professor X brings together Jean Grey, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast and Angel to prevent Magneto from using stolen nuclear weapons to wipe out cities. Then we get a second Wolverine movie (featuring his time in Japan and possibly introducing Daken), a Jean Grey movie, a Mystique movie, a Gambit movie and then the second X-Men movie. This second movie blends Giant Size X-Men #1 and God Loves, Man Kills where the first X-Men are kidnapped so Professor X recruits Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, Polaris, Nightcrawler, Sunspot and Havok to rescue them. Meanwhile, they face the repercussions of the last movie with hate preacher William Stryker denouncing mutants, and we later find out that it is connected.

Do not do Avengers vs. X-Men immediately. We all know how the DCEU fared when it jumped straight to Batman v. Superman. One thing I want to mention is bringing the MCU together. A criticism of the MCU movies is why don't other characters appear in other movies? Where was Thor, Hulk and Iron Man in Captain America: Winter Soldier? Why didn't Iron Man get hold of Captain America in Iron Man 3? Earlier I mentioned Fantastic Four was Marvel's biggest seller until the 1970s, the reason why this stopped being the case was because of the X-Men. Everyone would be wondering why the Avengers aren't mentioned in the X-Men movies. A simple comment/cameo could fix all this. Like in the first X-Men Iron Man could offer his assistance but Professor X rejects this saying that mutants have to stop Magneto. It can even be smaller references like Magneto seeing a Captain America movie in his own movie. Of course the Wolverine movie specifically has to mention Captain America seen as the Weapon X program, which gave Wolverine adamantium covered bones, was an attempt to replicate the Super Solider serum. We can build the relationship up so the X-Men appear in an Avengers movie, the Avengers fully appear in a X-Men movie, and finally we get Avengers vs. X-Men.

Deadpool

Ryan Reynolds tweeted this saying 'Apparently you can't blow the Matterhorn.'

Deadpool is simple. Keep Ryan Reynolds and just have him acknowledge that he's in a new continuity. Deadpool should appear in the Avengers and X-Men movies where he wants to do his usual stuff but 'the Mouse won't allow it.' The entire movie he tries to say the f-word but can't, and PG-13 movies are allowed one f-bomb so he tries to save it for the end, but then Wolverine uses it. Deadpool could also make jokes that Chris Evans once played the Human Torch and says 'Aren't you supposed to be on fire or something?' We could even have a Spider-man/Deadpool movie. The comics are hilarious, it worked in the cartoons, and would work perfectly with Ryan Reynolds and Tom Holland together. The Deadpool solo movies would remain just as they are and the first one should open with a joke about Disney. For example, Deadpool could be thrown out of Disneyland for destroying the animatronics on the It's a Small World Ride, and when he gets kicked out he could yell 'Does that mean that I can't be in Kingdom Hearts 3 then?' Deadpool in the MCU would be great, and we could get an adaptation of Deadpool Vol. 3: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Final Thoughts

The Family back Together?

Although I am very much against Disney slowly monopolizing the US entertainment industry, seen as it is a company which has rewritten copyright law to stop Mickey Mouse appearing in the public domain, I am excited for Marvel to have its characters back. Soon hopefully Namor and the rest of the Spider-Man roster can be back in Marvel's hands. Did you like my plans to bring the Fantastic Four, Deadpool, and X-Men into the MCU? How would you bring them in?

For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby

Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Warning!: Contains Spoilers!

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

 Rogue One is the newest installment in the fantastic Star Wars franchise set in between the events of Episode III and Episode IV. Directed by Gareth Edwards and, written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy we finally have a good prequel to the Original Trilogy. This review contains spoilers so if you wish to read my final verdict please skip to the end.

Plot

The Rebel Alliance frees former rebellion and criminal Jyn Elso (Felicity Jones) to get close to breakaway rebel leader Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) who has information from a defecting Imperial pilot (Riz Ahmed) about the Empire's new superweapon. With Rebel pilot Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), spiritual warrior Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), and a mercenary Baze Malbus (Wen Yiang) she finds out that her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelson), has been forced by Imperial Lieutenant Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelson) to create a superweapon named the Death Star.

The plot to Rogue One is very well done and unlike the prequels it feels much more in line with the rest of the Star Wars universe. This may be because Rogue One was a more self contained story which directly leads onto the Original Trilogy contrary to the prequels which tried (and failed) to create an epic on par with the originals. Rogue One also makes the Empire seem more of a threat to the Rebel Alliance. The choices done with the plot makes the Empire seem an all encompassing, totalitarian regime and the Rebel Alliance a small force which can easily be snuffed out of existence. This made the story far more gripping. Spoiler alert but the ending seemed highly appropriate for the film. Although I did manage to more or less guess the ending by the last act of the film it was still fitting. The attack on the planet containing the Death Star plans did seem to be a suicide mission, and I am really glad that they went down this route of being a suicide mission. Also, I like the way it seamlessly transitioned to the start of Episode IV. When this is released I want to watch the two back to back to make the start of Episode IV seem even better.

Characters and Acting

Some of the Cast

Without a doubt the acting in this movie is really good. Particularly from Felicity Jones; I thought that she stole the entire movie. Especially her interactions with the other actors. None seemed forced and overall it seemed natural making it easy watching. Alan Tudyk as the droid K-2SO. I am a big fan of Firefly and really enjoyed him in it so it was a pleasure hearing him in the movie. Like Wash in Firefly he managed to create quite an amusing character which added some more light moments in a considerably dark movie. Forest Whitaker as always was good. He pulled off an extremist freedom fighter losing his mind very well and reminded me of his role in The Last King of Scotland where he played the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Ben Mendelsohn was surprisingly good, although at times in the final act his acting bordered on the overly eccentric. Diego Luna was quite good but at times when interacting with other actors his acting seemed somewhat off which was a slight issue. 

I liked every character in the movie. Jyn Elso by far was my favorite, and I thought she was well written and realistic. She was a very realistic character so with the additional superb acting from Felicity Jones it easily made her the best character. Also, I was very glad for the addition of Saw Gurrera from both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star War Rebels. His addition in this movie was both a nice way to end his character cycle, and actually introduce characters from the Extended Universe into the mainstream movies. I'm hoping that this opens the doors for the introduction of other characters like Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade. Galen Erso was a very good character being a Star Wars version of Robert Oppenheimer. He seemed someone who clearly wished to note aid the Empire but had no choice in the matter. Overall, the characters were really well written in this movie.

Effects

Like The Force Awakens the effects in Rogue One were fantastic. I am really glad that they have continued with the trend of mixing practical effects and CGI together to create a visually stunning movie. This creates another strike against Jurassic World now as that film only used CGI. I am hoping that this opens the door for more movies to combine practical effects and CGI. It was so good in fact that at one part I was watching an alien and wondering whether it was CGI, practical effects, or both. The superb effects allowed a greater level of immersion into the universe created by the film makers. Only the effects on General Tarkin and Princess Leia seemed off. What they did had actors play Tarkin and Leia and then use CGI to make them look like Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher respectively. The Tarkin effect was alright most of the time but the Leia one seemed almost like it was from a video game. Not outright bad but compared to the earlier effects it was a bit disappointing. Overall the effects were very good.

The Universe

Lord Vader

Rogue One feels like it belongs firmly in the Star Wars universe. It adds to the movies and brings in aspects from the wider canon. Darth Vader has gone back to his formidable roots from his whiny Anakin persona of the prequels, and now we finally have a Vader which shows him as a powerful Sith Lord in both presence and fighting style. Much like Marvel's current Darth Vader comics we get a truly powerful Dark Lord of the Sith. The worlds we see seem to be natural parts of the Star Wars universe. Jedha being caught between the iron fist of the Empire and the harsh guerrilla warfare of Saw Guerrera among the ruins of a Jedi stronghold made a world which belonged in this franchise. The inclusion of Saw Guerrera and kyber crystals (which power lightsabers) has opened a potential to include the Extended Universe into the movies. Maybe Admiral Thrawn to appear in Episode VIII? Or for the First Order to be secretly working with the Yuuzhan Vong? Or maybe a prequel set during the events of the video game Knights of the Old Republic?

Conclusion

Rogue One is easily one of the best entries in the franchise and I would go as far as to say that it is my second favorite Star Wars movie (after Empire Strikes Back). For good acting, good characters, and fantastic effects which makes a movie which truly belongs in the Star Wars universe I'm giving Rogue One a 8.5/10. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.