The Mass Effect Series as a Cinematic Universe

If EA made a deal with Disney/Marvel instead of Lionsgate holy crap could they make some money adapting this series. It could be the next Guardians at the very least. If you think of the Reaper plot not as the beginning of the story but as the endgame (Infinity War / Justice League ) and the Normandy Ensemble as the next Avengers this opens up a world of possibilities.

Which Mass Effect character (backstory) would be the best one to kick start off a cinematic universe?

Personally I think the first in a number of parallel movie series could be about the origins of Shepard from early life to the Skyllian Blitz, N7, how he met Kaidan, etc. It would be a great platform to launch/establish the Mass Effect universe and could include b-stories and supporting cast of Kaidan, Ashley, Anderson and set up the Reaper movies and the wider franchise. Ashley could even have an Eden Prime spin-off movie prior to the Reaper movies which could be a bit Aliens (1986) with robots.

A second movie series could start with the first contact war and explain the origins of Cerberus and could feature the characters Jack Harper, Saren, Anderson, and eventually Miranda (, Jacob) & Jack who could also have spinoffs prior to the reaper movies. It could lead into the events of Revelation and an Anderson spin-off.
 
A third movie series could feature Garrus and a supporting cast of characters like Harkin and Baily set on the citadel during the time humans first start to integrate with galactic society and establish an embassy. It could start in-medias res during the Arch-angel era and through flashbacks tell the tale of his days as a beat cop on the citadel, human friendships and rivalries and what drove him to become a vigilante. It could explore the differences and similarities in values and attitudes and cultures between the different alien societies and could feature major cameos from Tali (pilgrimage), Harkin, Wrex, Barla Von, Fist, Udina, Thane, Dr. Heart & Aria, etc.

If a Garrus movie could succeed one day I think a Wrex spin-off movie could also be fascinating. Garrus's movies could be a vehicle to explore citadel space, Wrex's adventures could be set in the Terminus. Wrex could be the Hulk of the Mass Effect franchise. The initial Lack of humans in his story could be a hard selling point but screw the timeline a bit, for the first part of the movie I'd have Wrex briefly narrating the Krogan Rebellions and detail the unravelling of Krogan society, and explaining to the audience the route of the animosity between krogans, turians and salarians nicely setting up the genophage for later films and how he ended up killing his own father and being exiled from his home-world and becoming a space mercenary for the rest of the movie.  He could put together his own crew of (non Krogans) humans like Zaeed and other aliens like Bray and the rest of the movie would lead up to his infamous encounter with Aria. Perhaps have Aria start off as part of Wrex's crew and have Wrex become Aria's business partner instead of Patriach and explore her origins as well.

The Reaper movies certainly do not have to be a trilogy or necessarily play out in exactly the same way. After the events of Mass Effect 1 and between the events of Mass Effect 2 there could be a slew of other movies featuring the Normandy Ensemble. The Lair of the Shadow Broker, Leviathan & From Ashes could be adapted as standalone movies along with entirely new stories. The material of Mass Effect 2 and 3 could be expanded to trilogies. The Mass Effect extended universe is so vast in fact EA and Marvel could make Mass Effect movies for the next 30 years.

What are your thoughts on the Mass Effect series as a cinematic universe?