Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Charles Murphy

  • ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Star Confirms SDCC ’23 Plans

    ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Star Confirms SDCC ’23 Plans

    Convention season is upon us and as it begins to ramp into high gear, studio plans for the biggest fan convention of the year are once again a hot topic. Last year, Marvel Studios kept a lid on whether or not they’d even attend SDCC ’22 for quite some time, with One Above All Kevin Feige waiting until late June to confirm. While the Feigster has yet to comment on the studios plans for the 2023 convention, which will run from July 19-23, it looks like MCU fans can start planning out their Saturday night.

    In response to a Tweet from the #WeSavedDaredevil account, Daredevil: Born Again star Vincent D’Onoforio has revealed that he co-star Charlie Cox will “definitely” be at SDCC ’23.

    Daredevil: Born Again was officially announced as one of the biggest surprises at SDCC ’22 and Cox and D’Onofrio are sure to draw a huge reaction from the Hall H crowd at SDCC ’23. Production on the 18-episode series has been ongoing in and around New York City since January and is expected to continue throughout most of 2023, despite the ongoing WGA strike.

  • Natashsa Liu Bordizzo on Sabine’s Headspace in ‘Ahsoka’

    Natashsa Liu Bordizzo on Sabine’s Headspace in ‘Ahsoka’

    In 2018, the final episode of the final season of the animated canonical series Star Wars Rebels ended with Sabine Wren making a promise to find Ezra Bridger. Five years and a jump to live-action later, fans will finally see Sabine, brought to life by actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo, make good on that promise in the Disney Plus streaming series Ahsoka.

    As teased in the epilogue to the final episode of Star Wars Rebels, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano will accompany Sabine on the journey to find out what happened to their friend after they freed Ezra’s home planet of Lothal from looming Imperial presence. While it’s not entirely clear how much time has passed in the galaxy far, far away since the epilogue, Bordizzo says that Sabine’s promise to find Ezra remains at the forefront of the character’s mind.

    “She feels an obligation to him,” Bordizzo told Empire. “When they freed Lothal, she was given this hero status. But she doesn’t feel that she’s earned that because she lost her friend in that whole debacle. She’s just focused on the promise she made to him to find him.” And while finding Ezra will fulfill that promise, Sabine and the rest of the crew of the Ghost will have to deal with the fact that their friend won’t be the only familiar face they find. How will she and her friends deal with the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who went missing alongside Ezra? Tune into Ahsoka when it debuts on Disney Plus on August 31st to begin to find the answer to that question.

  • Dave Filoni on His Biggest Challenge in Creating ‘Ahsoka’

    Dave Filoni on His Biggest Challenge in Creating ‘Ahsoka’

    Now one of two primary creators of the New Republic era stories being told through multiple streaming series on Disney Plus ahead of a theatrical event, Dave Filoni was once the chief creative mind behind Lucasfilm’s canonical animated adventures such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Through Disney Plus streaming series such as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, Filoni has had the opportunity to shepherd the adaptation of several fan-favorite animated characters into live-action.

    Of those characters, none was dearer to Filoni than Ahsoka Tano, who, played by Rosario Dawson, made her live-action debut in the second season of The Mandalorian. Now, three years later, the former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker will take center stage in her own streaming series, Ahsoka, and Filoni opened up to Empire about putting his beloved creation at the center of a series to be shared with legions of Star Wars fans, some of whom have not seen the animated adventures that fleshed out her story.

    Ahsoka Tano from “STAR WARS: TALES OF THE JEDI”, season 1 exclusively on Disney+. © 2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

    While Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels are considered canon, Filoni is acutely aware that not everyone who will be tuning into Ahsoka will be a Star Wars completist, meaning that not insignificant chunk of the audience won’t be fully familiar with the lead character’s story. According to Filoni, that presented him with a bit of a problem. “The biggest challenge was, there’s a whole bunch of audience that know her, and a whole bunch that don’t,” said Filoni. “She has one foot in the Star Wars that a lot of people know because of her connection to Anakin, and yet she’s all new and can go in her own direction, in her own way.”

    As is often the case with creatives, however, Filoni found a way to reframe that challenging aspect of the character. Rather than limit Ahsoka by holding her to what little fans who haven’t seen the animated series do know about her, Filoni has chosen to see the unfamiliarity as door that opens myriad possibilities. “I think that makes her an interesting bridge between what came before and what’s really possible,” said Filoni of Ahsoka’s potential. Given that the character is likely set to play a major role in Filoni’s New Republic era film and his enduring love for her, it sounds like there may be many more stories in Ahsoka’s future.

    Ahsoka debuts on Disney Plus on August 31st.

    Source: Empire

  • ‘It’, ‘The Flash’ Director Andy Muschetti Reportedly Set to Helm a New DC Studios Film

    ‘It’, ‘The Flash’ Director Andy Muschetti Reportedly Set to Helm a New DC Studios Film

    While the old DCEU begins to flame out, James Gunn and Peter Safran look to be grabbing one of its hottest embers to start the fire of their new DCU. One Take News is reporting that The Flash director Andy Muschetti has agreed to direct DC Studios’ upcoming film, The Brave and the Bold.

    The report comes on the heels of earlier rumors that Gunn would look to find a way to retain Muschetti as the transition from the Snyderverse era continues. Described by Gunn as a “a very strange sort of father-son story,” The Brave and the Bold will introduce the DCU’s new Batman alongside his son, Damian, and will also “feature other members of the extended Bat-Family just because we feel like they’ve been left out of the Batman stories in the theater for far too long.”

    Muschetti, who recently refused to comment on the rumors saying only “I don’t think I can talk to that yet,” became a hot commodity after turning in two stellar films as an adaptation of Stephen King‘s It. As a follow up, he is currently filming the Max streaming project and It prequel, Welcome to Derry. According to OTN, The Brave and the Bold is currently without a script or release date.

    Source: OTN

  • Ahsoka Tano Creator Dave Filoni on the Character’s Lonely Journey to Her Solo Series

    Ahsoka Tano Creator Dave Filoni on the Character’s Lonely Journey to Her Solo Series

    After making the jump to live-action in The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano her own streaming series this August on Disney Plus. Ahsoka, brought to live action by Rosario Dawson, has had one of the most compelling and emotional arcs of https://www.empireonline.com/tv/news/ahsoka-wanderer-dave-filoni-exclusive-image/any character in the great history of the Star Wars franchise. Once the promising Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka is a Jedi no more and now finds herself in a galaxy again on the brink of another major power struggle. The series, set in the same New Republic era as The Mandalorian, will reunite the character with her friends from the cast of and, according to an Empire interview with creator Dave Filoni, help her find a “new purpose.”

    “She’s a wanderer at this point,” says Filoni of Ahsoka’s lifestyle at the beginning of the series, “and is in a lot of ways wary of any organization as such because of the power that comes with it as a group. She walks a path that basically died out a long time ago,” he explains. “And there aren’t many like her left, if any. So that’s a lonely thing.” No longer a Jedi, Ahsoka is more of a ronin, as fans have seen in her appearances in The Mandalorian.

    However, as teased in the final episode of Star Wars Rebels, the former Jedi has one very important mission to take care of that will reunite her with her friends, the crew of the Ghost, who she hasn’t seen in years. “If you are a loner, you have a very small circle of friends. What is it like, then, when you try to open back up?” That question seems to be at the heart of what fans can expect in Ahsoka.

    With the series set to see Grand Admiral Thrawn return to the galaxy far, far away, it is expected to play a major role in the ongoing New Republic era of stories. While it’s not been confirmed, it’s widely believed that the character will play a large role in Filoni’s untitled and undated Star Wars “Heir to the Empire” film. If that’s the case, that makes Ahsoka a ca n’t-miss for fans when it starts streaming on Disney Plus on August 31st.

    Source: Empire

  • ‘The Boogeyman’ Grades Out with a Terrifying Cinemascore

    ‘The Boogeyman’ Grades Out with a Terrifying Cinemascore

    Based on a short story by Stephen King, The Boogeyman was initially intended to release on Hulu before getting upgraded to a full theatrical release. While the film has not been a huge hit with critics, it is holding on to a Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes with a 60%. After opening night, however, its Cinemascore indicates it may have been better off heading straight to streaming.

    Opening night audiences have chimed in and given director Rob Savage‘s adaptation of King’s 1973 short a B-. That score puts it on par with recent horror and horror-ish films The Pope’s Exorcist and Renfield and combined with the projected $15M opening weekend box office take (it’s up against Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, for Pete’s or Miles’ sake) does not bode well for a long and successful theatrical run.

    Regarded as one of King’s more terrifying works of fiction, The Boogeyman tells the tale of a man named Lester Billings and his horrific history with the titular monster. While critics have praised the atmosphere of the film adaptation, they’ve been less bullish on the creative choices made jumping from page to screen, insisting something was lost in translation.

    You can read our review here and check The Boogeyman out for yourself in theaters.

    Source: Cinemascore

  • J. Michael Straczynski to Return to Monthly Marvel Comics

    J. Michael Straczynski to Return to Monthly Marvel Comics

    After a long hiatus from Marvel Comics following the controversial One More Day mini-series he co-created with Joe Quesada, J. Michael Straczynski has returned to writing a monthly ongoing series for the publisher. In an interview with Gizmodo, Straczynski revealed that he and artist Jesús Saiz, who most recently worked with Jason Aaron on The Punisher, will be the creative team behind the new Captain America series launching in September.

    The new book will launch following the completion of the current Cold War crossover series which is running between both of the publisher’s current Captain America titles, Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty and Captain America: Symbol of Truth. Straczynski‘s return to Marvel Comics, for whom he wrote ongoing Thor and Spider-Man solo books, is major news and, according to the writer, was a slow-developing process. “Like most things, the process was incremental,” said Straczynski of his return to monthly Marvel Comics. “It started when Wil Moss asked me to do a short piece for the big Thor anniversary issue, which ended up getting a fair bit of attention. Then he asked me to do a Thanos story for that big issue, which also drew a lot of eyeballs, which led to me writing yet another piece for Marvel Age 1000 coming out soon. During all this, Wil Moss asked if I’d write a six-issue mini-series that would be a bit of an Event.  I did so, it was a ton of fun for everyone involved, and Wil gave Alanna [Smith, Marvel comics editor] one of my scripts that involved Captain America.“

    While we all await news on just what that event that his six-issue mini-series might be, Straczynski reminded everyone that he’s always had Cap on the brain. “Alanna liked how I handled the character, and sends an email asking if I’d like to take over the monthly Captain America book…and that was pretty much the best thing ever, because I’ve always had a strong affinity for Cap, which is why I would sneak him into just about everything I wrote for Spider-Man and Thor.” Longtime fans of Marvel Comics will remember that Straczynski slipped Cap into Amazing Spider-Man #537 where the character gave one his most memorable speeches…one that made its way into Captain America: Civil War.

    As for what he has planned for Steve Rogers in the new book, Straczynski says “it’s all about servicing the main character first and foremost.” That’s going to entail tackling a period of time never before explored in depth in Cap comics: Cap’s early, transformative years. “One thing about Steve Rogers that’s never really been addressed is the period between when his parents died, and when he became Captain America. We’re talking about a sickly, skinny 17-year-old kid, trying to survive on his own for because he’s stubborn and independent, on the street for several years, hustling for any gig he can get, even if it’s bigger than he is, trying to afford food and a place to stay. So we will counterpoint a present-tense story in which Captain America faces off against a new villain of supernatural origin, with a story about his younger self, with both stories tightly interwoven.“

    By exploring those years, Straczynski hopes he’ll get at what makes Steve Rogers–not Captain America–tick. “Because there’s one other, key aspect to that period that we will be addressing. The years young Steve was on his own were the same years during which the American Bund – for all intents and purposes the Nazi Party in America – was growing very powerful in real-world New York, blocks from where he lived. They held public marches and rallies, harassed people, and spread hate, all part of an effort to get America on the side of the Nazis, a campaign that came to a head with the biggest Nazi rally on American soil in history, as tens of thousands of people, Nazis and Nazi sympathizers, crammed into Madison Square Garden to celebrate their dream of a thousand-year Reich.“

    And Straczynski hopes that by exploring that era, he’ll find in Steve the same type of motivation to be a hero that Peter Parker found after the death of his Uncle Ben. “We are going to put young Steve right into the middle of that real-life vortex, where despite terrible odds he will make a crucial difference at an even more crucial moment. For a young Peter Parker, the murder of his uncle Ben was a transformational event putting him on the path to becoming Spider-Man. This story will be equally transformational, putting a young Steve Rogers on the path to being the hero he eventually becomes.”

    It’s a novel pitch from Straczynski and one that could either go a long way in redefining the character or threaten to anger hardcore fans. See for yourself when Captain America #1 hits stores this September.

    Source: Gizmodo

  • ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Headed for a Huge Opening Weekend Box Office Take

    ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Headed for a Huge Opening Weekend Box Office Take

    Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been one of the most anticipated films of 2023 and it looks like that’s going to translate into a monster opening weekend at the box office. With the film’s preview night generating a huge take, it’s now on track to have one of 2023’s best first weekends.

    The sequel to the 2018 hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Across the Spider-Verse took in a massive $17.3M which is nearly five times more than its predecessor. It also ranks as the second-highest preview night take for an animated film, falling in line behind the $18.5M Incredibles 2 earned. So far in 2023, only Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has had a better first Thursday but not by much as the James Gunn sendoff took in $17.5M.

    The huge preview night plus the overwhelmingly positive reviews of the film now have it on pace for an opening weekend in the range of $115-$125M, up significantly from the earlier predictions of $75-$90M. For comparison’s sake, Into the Spider-Verse opened to just north of $35M in 2018. With the new film grossing nearly half that much on its first Thursday, this will be a fun film to track!

    Source: Deadline

  • Dwayne Johnson Announces His Fast Franchise Future Plans

    Dwayne Johnson Announces His Fast Franchise Future Plans

    After once swearing off any possibility that he’d return to the Fast franchise following a feud with Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson has had an about-face. Following his surprising cameo in a Fast X post-credit scene, The Rock has announced his full-fledged return to the series via his social media.

    “Your reactions around the world to Hobbs’ return in Fast X have blown us away,” said Johnson before revealing plans for a Hobbs solo feature film. “The next Fast & Furious film you’ll see the legendary lawman in will be the HOBBS movie that will serve as a fresh, new chapter & set up for FASTX: Part II.” It’s likely that the Hobbs film will pick up where the Fast X cameo left off and could see Johnson go toe-to-toe with Jason Momoa‘s flamboyant villain, Dante Reyes. Given that the two never got to work together in the DC Universe, should Momoa co-star in the Hobbs film it would mark the first time the two action stars worked together.

    As for his well-known feud with Diesel, Johnson assured fans that the two stars have moved on and are moving forward. “Last summer Vin and I put all the past behind us,” said Johnson of the famous beef he held against Diesel dating back to 2016. “We’ll lead with brotherhood and resolve – and always take care of the franchise, characters & FANS that we love.” As part of the terms of their resolved conflict, Deadline reported that Johnson’s Hobbs may also end up appearing in the 11th film in the Fast series as well.

    Source: Deadline

  • A New Name Joins the List of Actors Up for the Role of Kal-El in ‘Superman: Legacy’

    A New Name Joins the List of Actors Up for the Role of Kal-El in ‘Superman: Legacy’

    With production on James Gunn‘s Superman: Legacy tentatively slated to get underway in January 2024, the search for the actors and actresses who will fill the film’s key roles is well underway. In May, a list of potential frontrunners for the roles of Superman, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor emerged and while that list was stocked with talent, there’s been no official word of anyone landing a spot just yet. Now, a new report from Variety indicates that Gunn may still be looking for his Superman and that a new name has joined his list of candidates.

    The trade is reporting that model and actor Pierson Fodé, best known for a 280-episode run on The Bold and the Beautiful, may have caught Gunn’s eye and be among those up for the role of Kal-El. Fodé‘s self-taped audition included a “montage” of the small-town farm in Montana on which the actor grew up and it apparently gave off some Clark Kent/Smallville vibes that Gunn reportedly enjoyed.

    Landing what must be one of the most coveted leading roles in Hollywood would be a major step up the ladder for Fodé whose biggest film credits include a supporting role in Woody Harrelson and Kevin Hart‘s Netflix original The Man from Toronto. Variety reported that no decisions have been made and that everyone’s reps declined comment. Superman: Legacy is currently set to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.

    Source: Variety