Phantom Stranger and Thor

A tale of Gods and Monsters to be sure.  It's interesting that the body hopping Ultra-Humanite wound up in such a hairy form, given that he was Superman's original bald headed foe - before Luthor lost his locks.

The Fantastic Four and The Phantom Stranger

 

Haunted houses are bad enough, but a haunted Baxter Building, including Reed's Lab? That's a whole new level of trouble to deal with.

Phalanx of Phantoms

 

Marc Tyler Nobleman, a Patron of this blog, suggested I have the Phantom Stranger meet The Phantom of  The Opera, and that concept just started snowballing!  With a team this large, I couldn't fit all of the artists used in the labels.  This cover features illustrations by Ross Andru, Jaime Hernandez, Andy Smith, Peter Snejberg, Steve Mitchell, Herb Trimpe and Paul Becton.

Gwen Stacy and The Phantom Stranger

 

Does the Phantom Stranger seek to turn her into Spider-Gwen, or is there another purpose for her  to serve that he has in mind?  The mysterious answer is only sixty cents away!

Brother Voodoo and The Phantom Stranger

 

The Phantom Stranger is a character that I really hope shows up on screen in the new DCU.  I can see him showing up as a supporting character in multiple films.  It would be a great role for an actor to have fun with, but who best to cast?

Tintin and The Phantom Stranger

 

There's nothing like a crisply detailed mystery to make for an entertaining afternoon of reading.  I'd like to see what kinds of secrets that this pairing could uncover together.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The Phantom Stranger

 

The Phantom Stranger is a character that I would love to see join the DCU.  He may not get his own movie or series, but he could be like a spooky Nick Fury in that he could show up in other character's projects at key moments to offer guidance or assistance.  I bet it would be a fun role for an actor to portray.

Mephisto Vs. The Phantom Stranger in: "Giving the Devil His Due!"

 

Mephisto's dialogue here refers back to the events of STF #2240, where he first tangled with The Phantom Stranger.  He should have known that this was one crimefighter that he could not intimidate.  It looks like the Stranger's tactics for dealing with the demonic entity will be a bit different this time around.

Darkseid Vs. Kang

 

These two were set to become the big bads of their respective cinematic universes, but things have not gone as planned.  The end of the DCEU and Snyderverse means that Darkseid will probably be put on the back burner for a while.  Jonathan Majors' legal issues have put everything Kang related into a holding pattern until a verdict on his alleged assault is reached.  It's a good thing we have Braniac and Galactus to pinch hit if necessary.

The Phantom Stranger and 8 Famous Co-Stars

 

For the conclusion of this Five-Part Epic, we see that The Enchantress' lost love was none other than King Arthur of Camelot 3000.  Let's wish our STF couples some peaceful times ahead after all they've been through. Hey, nobody said comic book romances wound be easy.

This marks the 15th Appearance of The Power Couple, The 29th Appearance of the WW/Cap romance and the 11th appearance of The Hercules/Vixen romance.

Ghost Rider and The Phantom Stranger in: "Stay of Execution!"

 

Ghost Rider came to The Phantom Stranger's rescue in STF #3540, and  now it's time for that favor to be returned.  There's something very cool about the Stranger's design. On half of his cover appearances, all that is shown of him is his shadow/silhouette - and it still always makes for a striking image.  I hope that's an effect that can be translated to live action if the character is ever brought to the big screen.

The Phantom Stranger and Moon Knight

 

The first teaser for Disney+ Moon Knight series impressed me enough that I decided not to seek out any further promotional material so that I can start watching it as spoiler free as possible.  Oscar Isaac looks great in the role and the costume(s) translated much better to live action than I was expecting.  Some reviews of the first few episodes have come in and so far they seem universally positive.  I look forward to the end of the month and diving into the show.

Justice League Dark Vs. Mephisto

 

Ever since Wanda/Vision, there has been rampant speculation as to when and where (and if) Mephisto will show up in the MCU.  I haven't really been expecting him to show up yet, so I have not been disappointed at his absence thus far.  Now that Agatha Harkness is getting her own spinoff Disney+ series, there's another chance to get him into the mix though.  If he's going to make his debut anywhere, that might be an appropriate place.

Ghost Rider and The Phantom Stranger

 

With Blade on the way, Agatha Harkness set for a spin-off series and Werewolf by Night rumored to show up in Moon Knight, Marvel seems ready to get the supernatural side of the MCU into swing.  Can it be long before Ghost Rider makes an appearance in some form or other?  I can see Marvel watching DC planning a cinematic Justice League Dark and wanting to beat them to the punch with a supernatural team of their own.  Bring on Gargoyle, Man-Thing, Son of Satan and Jennifer Kale.

Master of Kung-Fu and The Phantom Stranger

 

I'll be checking out Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings when it hits Disney+ later this month.  I am looking forward to it after it had such a positive reception.  I waited for Black Widow and didn't feel like I missed much - other than the introduction of Yelena, it's pretty filler and skippable for a Marvel Movie.  The early reviews for Eternals do not fill me with confidence, and despite an Oscar I thought Nomadland was deadly dull, so I'll be waiting on that one too.  I think the next movie to actually get me to a theater will be Spider-Man: No Way Home - if the studio ever stops delaying it!

Aliens Vs. The Phantom Stranger

 It will be interesting to see what becomes of the Alien and Predator franchises now that they have been acquired by Disney.  I've read that they are interested in creating new streaming series for each.  Can such show work on Disney+, or would they have to be too watered down?  Maybe they'll go to the Disney-owned Hulu instead?

Nick Fury Vs. The Phantom Stranger

 

I am eager to hear more about projects like HBO Max's in development Justice League Dark series, becuase DC has such a great stable of occult and mystical-based characters that have largely been untapped in live action until now.  Still, I have heard no word that The Phantom Stranger will be part of that show, or any other upcoming DC project for that matter.  That strikes me as an oversight, He is such a a cool character that could fit in many places in the DCEU.  He would be easily to realize in live action as well, as long as the lighting designers can manage to keep his eyes constantly in shadow!

Phantom Stranger enters The Twilight Zone

I have always considered The Phantom Stranger to be the Rod Serling of the DC Universe, with his tendency to show up at moments of crisis or pivotal decisions for various characters.  Rather than being an overly proactive presence, he prefers to steer heroes in the right direction, but ultimately they still have to be the masters of their own destinies.

Thank you to Marc Tyler Nobleman, comics' historian and Patron of this blog, for suggesting this team-up!

The Avengers meet Phantom Stranger & Swamp Thing

It still seems crazy to me that the new Swamp Thing series was cancelled before a single episode aired.  Even if that was the case you would think a cancellation announcement would have been held until it had its complete run.  It's too bad other accommodations could not be made for filming, from the little I have seen it looked like a pretty cool show. One of these day's I'll have to binge watch the whole thing.

Swamp Thing met the New Avengers in STF #1241...

The Phantom Stranger and Iron Man

This is a good example of a cover that was a bit trickier to accomplish than may look at first glance.  One might think that all that needed to be done was to add in an image of Iron Man on top of the Phantom Stranger splash.  As you can see below, I used the splash page from DC Comics Presents #72, which had a lot of captions and text that needed to be removed and replaced with background elements first.  Sometimes even the simple looking covers can be a challenge to create.