With Marvel’s announcement that the next Doctor Strange movie (colorfully titled: ‘Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’) will take a turn towards the horror genre, and with Blade now officially part of the MCU, this raises the possibility that the Midnight Sons might be on the horizon.
Obviously, they won’t appear in Phase 4, since after the San Diego announcements, we now know exactly how the next two years will unfold, but could they make a Phase 5 appearance?
In this post, I explore some Midnight Sons and other Marvel horror comic speculation.
After Marvel’s San Diego announcements we know what the next two years will look like (which is, in effect, short-term, given how Marvel Studios plans ahead). There is no doubt in my mind that every new film and show announced as part of Phase 4 was chosen to be released within the next two years for a reason. Namely, Fiege & Co. are building towards the introduction of new characters/story lines. For me the most intriguing of the announcements (which I describe in the post: The Future of the MCU: What to Expect in Phase 4 & Beyond) is the news that Blade is coming.
In tandem with the announcement that ‘Doctor Strange 2’ will be horror themed, I can’t help but think Marvel is setting up a future “Order of the Midnight Sons” film!
In the Marvel comics, this is a team of characters originally brought together by Doctor Strange in order to battle Lilith and her children the Lilin.
With a changing line up, the team has, throughout its various inceptions, included: Doctor Strange, Marc Specter (Moon Knight), Morbius, Ben Reilly (the Scarlet Spider), Damon Hellstrom, Blade, Elsa Bloodstone, Jericho Drumm (Brother/Doctor Voodoo), Man-Thing, Iron Fist, and Ghost Rider among others.
The order is said to be ancient in origin, and in every version the group is bound together by the sharing of an iconic cross-like mark branded by magic to the wrist of each member. When evil appears, and the Midnight Sons are needed, the brand summons the order- creating excruciating pain in the required member until the summons is answered. The nine active members are in this way compelled to answer the call.
Ghost Rider Vol 3 #31 (November 1992) – First Midnight Sons
Blade and Doctor Strange together open the possibility for the Midnight Sons and the team first appears in this very affordable comic. As a mini-series and crossover event, the Midnight Sons wasn’t the best Marvel crossover event of the 1990s, but it wasn’t the worst either. This is still a dollar bin book, so it won’t hurt to pick up a few copies. Especially since the real potential here is the connection to the Marvel super-natural and horror universe this team brings.
If there’s one item that connects all the Marvel horror and occult universe together, it would be The Darkhold. This dark magical book is basically responsible for all Vampires and Werewolves and other demonic entities in the Marvel Universe. It’s fitting that its first appearance is in a story featuring Jack Russell (no, not a dog, a person) who twice a month becomes the Werewolf by Night. If Marvel brings the Midnight Sons to the MCU, there’s no reason the Werewolf can’t be included. However, Marvel Spotlight #4 is the first appearance of the Darkhold. Returns are currently mixed on this comic, but in 9.8 grade it has broken the $1, 000.00 mark. Lower grades are still affordable, like the 8.5 grade that sold on eBay for a mere $67.95 on 03/14/2018 and the 9.4 which recently sold for $140.00 on 03/11/2019. Over the year 9.4 also shows the best returns, with positive +37.3% after 2 sales over the last 12 months.
Before the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider there was the original Rider: Johnny Blaze. Although Blaze first appears in Marvel Spotlight #5, for the purposes of Midnight Sons, this – the first issue of his self-titled series- is the more important book because it also features the first cameo appearance of Daimon Hellstrom aka the Son of Satan. Together, these two are seminal members of any Occult based team and have also been members of the Midnight Sons. Furthermore, this comic is still more affordable than Johnny Blaze’s first appearance in Marvel Spotlight #5. Long term returns on this comic are almost as good as the former, but over the last three months, returns on this comic have been mixed with best numbers seen on 8.5 grades. This grade is up +29.3% after 5 sales. The last three eBay sales of that grade went from: $365.00 (on 05/04/2019), to $375.55 (on 06/10/2019) to the most recent sale of $449.99 (on 07/05/2019). Get it now, this is the pick of the bunch.
