This was posted on the DailyMash site earlier in the year
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-entertainment/lovejoy-to-join-marvel-universe-2015021195254
Lovejoy to join Marvel universe
THE Walt Disney Company has acquired the rights to feature roguish antiques dealer Lovejoy in its Marvel Avengersfranchise.
Marvel president Kevin Feige confirmed the seven-figure buy-out of Ian McShane’s likeable yet devious art collector from the BBC this morning.
He said: “With our new acquisitions this week of both Spider-Man and Lovejoy, the Marvel Universe continues to go from strength to strength.
“Fans can be sure that the next
Avengers movie will be packed with plot lines about shady goings-on inside East Anglian auction houses.”
On an Avengers e-forum, blogger Wayne Hayes wrote: “Having an Ipswich-based antiquer with a shoulder-length mullet and deep facial creases fighting alongside Iron Man, Thor and The Hulk is simply not a true reflection of the original comics.”
Feige said: “I’ve seen sceptics sniping away online about how Lovejoy is not a ‘real superhero’. Then how do you explain his powers for distinguishing priceless heirlooms from clever fakes?
“I’d like to see Steve Rogers aka Captain America tell the difference between a genuine Stradivarius violin and a near-perfect replica. Spoiler alert: he couldn’t.”
Feige added: “This is probably not a good time to reveal that Bergerac is in the
Guardians of the Galaxy sequel.”
but it turns out it could well be true.
Here’s why Lovejoy actually *is* part of the Marvel comics universe
The Daily Mash have published a very funny spoof about ’90s British TV character Lovejoy being cast in a new Marvel Comics movie. But we don’t think this is as ridiculous as it sounds.
Because Ian McShane’s antique dealer/all-round loveable rogue is already part of Marvel comics continuity.
The Daily Mash piece, playing on the recent announcement that Spider-Man will appear alongside other Marvel film characters for the first time.
Ok, stick with us on this slightly tenuous ride.
In 1991, the character of Lovejoy appeared in a jokey trailer for the Antiques Roadshow
Lovejoy was at the height of its popularity at the time – and this gag was probably partly a bit of early promotion for a new series that was just weeks away.
So far, so good. What we’ve established is that ostensibly entirely factual series the Antiques Roadshow is actually set in a parallel universe identical to our own except that Lovejoy is a real person.
Now we skip forward a couple of decades, for an episode of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
There’s an episode of Torchwood called ‘Ghost Machine’ about this bloke finding something called a ‘quantum transducer’.
No, we have absolutely no idea either.
Anyway, one of the things he thinks about doing with the quantum transducer is taking it on… the Antiques Roadshow. So in the universe of Torchwood the Antiques Roadshow exists. We’re going to assume that the Torchwood version of the Antiques Roadshow is entirely factual, which therefore means that Lovejoy is a real person in the Torchwood world.
Now the easy bit: Torchwood is a Doctor Who spin-off, so Lovejoy is also part of the Doctor Who ‘canon’
Almost there!
Marvel comics have over the years published various Doctor Who tie-in comics in the US and the UK. There’s one comic in particular we’re interested in – a 1988 story called ‘The Crossroads of Time’ in which Doctor Who meets some sort of space guy called Death’s Head, who was, to make things even more confusing, from the Transformers comics.
Death’s Head has subsequently appeared in actual proper Marvel comics, like this one in which he’s fighting the Incredible Hulk for some reason or other.
The upshot of which is that Lovejoy definitely exists in the Marvel Universe
So there’s is absolutely no reason we shouldn’t see Tinker Dill teaming up with Iron Man to fight space antiques. No reason. NO REASON.
