The Marvel Cinematic Universe (often called the MCU) is a collection of films and television shows produced by Marvel Studios that exist in the same timeline. The MCU produces films and television shows based on the Marvel Comics: think of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. And while the MCU has introduced many characters,due to the large number of characters that live in the comics’ main universe (Earth-616), a majority have been left out.
One of my personal favorites not in the MCU is Dominikos Petrakis, or Avalanche. He is a Cretian mutant whose power allows him to create vibratory waves from his hands. This allows him to create tremors, manipulate the earth, and (of course) avalanches. Despite his best buddy (and possible ex-lover), Pyro, getting a good portion of screentime in films like “X2: X-Men United,” Avalanche remains mostly unknown and forgotten outside of an occasional comic book cameo.
Due to his unfortunate lack of major character development, he remains nothing more than a previous member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, an occasional ally, or an obstacle, of the X-Men. It’s really disappointing to me; Avalance is an “accidentally complex” character. While he’s in the background, he manages to get development without much thought – likely due to multiple writers working on the comics at once.
This raises the question: should the MCU add Avalanche?
With a heavy heart, I have to say no. I believe that Avalanche joining the MCU would do irreparable damage to the few tidbits we already have of his character. Additionally, I consider him a little too “complex” for the MCU to write him in a proper way.
The unique thing about Avalanche is that, despite being a background character, he navigates his relationships in an interesting way; poorly, and with what appears to be commitment issues. According to multiple sources (though, as far as I know, the comics have never explicitly mentioned her), Avalanche is married to a woman named Helen Petrakis that he moved from Crete to the United States with. However, throughout the 80s and 90s, he constantly has affairs with other characters – both male and female.
While interesting, I don’t think the MCU would handle this well. Disney doesn’t do a great job at depicting queer relationships in their work, and I don’t think the fandom would handle Avalanche’s relationships well.
The MCu would definitely do Avalanche dirty.
In addition to Marvel’s poor track record with queer representation, I worry that the writers wouldn’t handle Avalanche’s relationships well. I can see them skipping over or greatly watering down his infedelity. He’d probably end up in relationships with women only, despite his most well-known partner in the comics being another man, Pyro. They’d likely change the date of when he appears, removing the entire point of his first affair partner being another man at a time where the law prohibited same-sex relationships. I could easily see them turning him into a filthy, rotten cheater to make him an antagonist.
I also don’t think they’d portray his commitment issues well. As mentioned earlier, Avalanche has multiple short-term relationships, avoids labels (in the current comics, he refers to Pyro as his “best friend” and not ex-boyfriend), and self-sabotage (leaving his partners and having affairs). He quite literally abandons Pyro at one point to die and confesses to having affairs with other women. This would be amazing to explore, but I doubt the MCU writers could portray this with justice.
I also worry the fandom wouldn’t handle him well.
I don’t think they could fully grasp Avalanche’s relationship issues. Instead, I could see them viewing Avalanche one of two ways: either he’s a horrible person that cheats for no reason, or he’s a bisexual man with commitment issues, but because he’s bi he has done no wrong.
I don’t think they could see the morally gray aspect of his character. Yes, he cheats because he has issues committing and he couldn’t come out during the time he was living in. However, that doesn’t excuse him cheating on his wife nor his commitment issues.
Despite my love of this character, I really hope he doesn’t get adapted into the MCU. He really deserves more time to shine in the comics to show who he is, beyond being an ex-Brotherhood member or Pyro’s possible ex-lover.
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
