Peter Parker’s first solo MCU adventure is finally heading to Disney Plus. As part of a series of announcements by Marvel, it was revealed that Spider-Man: Homecoming will be available on the streaming service beginning May 12th.
Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man trilogy (Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3), starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, will be available to stream on the service beginning April 21st as well Mark Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man, which starred Andrew Garfield as the Web-Head. Homecoming and Sony Pictures Venom will join the other films on the service on May 12th.
Of course, all three Spider-Men appeared side-by-side-by-side in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home and that film’s post-credit scene featured Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock and his symbiote hanging out in the MCU. As fans wait to see what’s next for Tom Holland‘s Spidey in the MCU, now hey can at least rewatch his first MCU adventure and some of the multiversal Spidey shenanigans on Disney Plus.
Though it’s not expected to begin filming for quite some time, Marvel Studios Fantastic Four film continues to be the subject of casting rumors. Recently, Adam Driver, whose name has been circulated in connection with the film previously, was rumored to be in final talks for the role of Reed Richards. And now another name familiar to those who have been following the rumor mill has popped back up on a list of potential candidates for Sue Storm.
According to a popular YouTube sensationalist, Academy Award Nominess Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman) tops director Matt Shakman and casting director Sarah Finn‘s wishlist for the role of the Invisible Woman. According to the rumor, the rest of that list includes Allison Williams, Jodie Comer and Mila Kunis. Interestingly enough, Kunis was spotted meeting with Shakman in February, sparking speculation that she might be involved with the project.
A previous trade report indicated that Shakman and crew were looking to find their Sue Storm before casting anyone else, suggesting Sue was the “center” of the team and after finding the right fit, they would build “out the rest of the team.” There’s not a bad choice on the list of rumored front-runners and it’s very likely that the casting process is coming to a close given that it has been ongoing for months.
With multiple Marvel Studios projects shifting release dates in 2023 and 2024, the growing expectation among fans is that it’s only a matter of time before the film slate revealed at SDCC ’22 will shift as well. That slate currently has four films set for release in 2024 (Captain America: New World Order, Thunderbolts, Blade and the untitled Deadpool and Wolverine film) and four dates slated in 2025 and 2026. Among the films fans feel most likely to get pushed are the next two Avengers films, The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. The former of the two is currently scheduled for a May 2nd, 2025 release but between the shifting slate and troubling allegations mounting against star Jonathan Majors, making that date seems a dubious proposition at best to fans.
If they are planning to push the film, Marvel Studios isn’t tipping their hand. They haven’t addressed any major changes to the upcoming slate outside of recently moving The Marvels into November and, according to Variety, are moving ahead with their work on The Kang Dynasty. According to the trade, production on the next Avengers film is on track to kick off in the Spring of 2024 which would put it on track to keep the May 2, 2025 release date.
If any updates to Marvel Studios’ theatrical slate are pending, Disney could reveal some or all of them during their CinemaCon panel on April 26th. There’s been plenty of buzz about Marvel Studios looking to return to releasing only three films per year which would significantly alter the expected timeframe for their Multiverse Saga. Currently set to end on May 1, 2026 with Secret Wars, that date could quickly end up in 2027 should dominoes start to fall.
For fans of Superman, there’s a core group of characters whose stories are hard to separate from the Man of Steel. For better or for worse, Ma and Pa Kent, Lois Lane, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen and Lex Luthor are all fairly inextricably connected to Clark Kent. With a new Superman film coming as part of James Gunn and Peter Safran‘s new DCU, it’ll be important for Gunn–who is writing and directing Superman: Legacy–to find a way to make the reintroduction of all those characters into the mainstream feel fresh, should he choose to use them. With Gunn recently revealing that he’d begun “early pre-production” on the film and posting a picture of the current script for the film, you can be sure he’s thought through which characters are a must for the first adventure and now he’s revealed who one of them is.
Responding to a fan on Twitter, Gunn revealed that Daily Planet photojournalist and longtime bestie of Superman, Jimmy Olsen will “of course” be in the movie.
Olsen has appeared in multiple Superman-related projects in different mediums over the years. Actors such as Marc McClure, Aaron Ashmore, Mehcad Brooks and Michael Cassidy have all added their own touches to the character with some straying pretty far from the nature of Olsen in the comics. Given that the premise of Gunn’s new film revolves around Superman holding strong to old school values, it’s possible the newest iteration of Olsen might more closely resemble the innocent “Jeepers Mr. Kent” version than the CIA operative. With Gunn noting that he’s put together a list of preferred actors and actresses for the film, the identity of the new Jimmy Olsen may be just around the corner.
With Chapter 24 of The Mandalorian now streaming, Season 3 of the series is now in the books! Though the finale made good on several season-long arcs, made some major moves and significantly changed the status quo of the New Republic era, it probably won’t erase some of the hard feelings fans felt towards some of the other episodes along the way. Now that all eight episodes have been etched in beskar, we take a look back and the best and the worst of Season 3.
Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore
One of the best episodes of the entire series, The Mines of Mandalore was the highlight of Season 3. This chapter saw Din Djarin, Grogu and still reluctant Bo-Katan Kryze take the first step in restoring Mandalore to its former glory. The episode’s exploration of the mythology and culture of Mandalorians was something hardcore fans loved and are still buzzing about even after the finale.
Kicking off the second half of the season, The Pirate was a remarkably well-made episode that firmly grounded the events of the series in the larger universe of the New Republic and set in motion the march to the finale. While it started off as the story of Grogu and Din Djarin, The Mandalorian has grown into something much bigger as has its central cast of characters. Just as everything seemed to be trending up for everyone, The Pirate reminded everyone it’s not always so easy to put the past behind you.
Chapter 23: The Spies
The Shadow Council. The revelation that Gideon had set up shop deep within Mandalore. Din Djarin’s impassioned speech to Bo-Katan. The sacrifice of Paz Viszla. The Spies was about as good of a penultimate episode as we could have hoped for and was the perfect bridge between Chapter 22’s feel-good story and Chapter 24’s finale.
Before Chapter 20 streamed, fans had spent the better part of a week bemoaning its short run time. And then the episode spent almost every second of that runtime with its ears pinned back and having a helluva lot of fun. A huge episode for Bo-Katan’s redemption; an incredible action sequence with some crazy birds of prey; more of Grogu’s story complete with the live-action introduction of Jedi Master Kelleran Beq. Just a great all-around Star Wars story.
Chapter 24: The Return
While it lacked the big cameo appearance of the Season 2 finale, The Return gave fans everything they’d been asking for in Season 3 and somehow still made them unhappy. The Mandalorian Renaissance has officially begun with the destruction of the Darksaber symbolically ushering in a new era free of the prejudices of the past. Mando and Grogu kicked ass together and left to begin their journey anew in Season 4. Big action and big heart came together for a fun and fulfilling Season 3 finale.
Though it felt like a sluggish start to Season 3, in hindsight, The Apostate laid the foundation for a great season of The Mandalorian. Not only did it remind us of just how big the galaxy in which this story is told is, it subtly set us up to see what had previously been a story with a pretty small scope expand into one that has major consequences for the New Republic era of storytelling.
Chapter 19: The Convert
Notable for establishing the hypocrisy of the New Republic and establishing it as anything but safe, The Convert took the focus off of Din and Grogu in lieu of some time with Doctor Pershing and Elia Kane. If the characters of The Mandalorian were ever going to start impacting the galaxy on a larger scale (spoiler, they were) then making sure the audience has a good grasp on the goings on of that galaxy matter. So while this episode seemed pretty humdrum, not every episode can be action-packed.
Memorable for is wild cameos and the hatred they inspired online, Chapter 22 actually had quite a bit to say for anyone paying attention to the story rather than than the players. From beginning to end, Guns for Hire actually served as a reminder of just how big of a mess the galaxy is and how hard it is for the wounds of war to heal. Unfortunately, the episode relied too heavily on fans being both savvy and pretty deeply immersed in Star Wars lore to be able to read between the lines of the over the top cameos of Jack Black and Lizzo and will probably continue to be used as an example of “Disney Star Wars bad” for years.
For the better part of three seasons of The Mandalorian, Giancarlo Esposito‘s Moff Gideon was the thorn in the side of Din Djarin, Grogu and Bo-Katan before seemingly meeting his ultimate fate in Chapter 24, The Return. While Gideon put up a good fight against the trio of heroes in the Season 3 finale, his part in their story looks to have come to an end but not before his true nature was revealed, not only to the heroes but also to the audience. As threatening as he may be, Gideon was really just a big nerd obsessed with all the cool stuff in the Star Wars galaxy. Behind all his deception, treachery and posturing, it turns out Moff Gideon is just an 80’s kid.
While most fans guessed it some time ago, The Return confirmed that Gideon had hoped to use Grogu’s blood to infuse himself with The Force. More accurately, Gideon had hoped to infused himselves with The Force as the season finale revealed that Gideon and Doctor Pershing were not working with Shadow Council member Brendol Hux on Project Necromancer but rather putting the finishing touches on what he viewed as his ultimate form. But as it turns out, his ultimate form is essentially an 80’s Stars Wars kid’s fantasy come to life.
For all of Esposito’s talk about how Gideon was the galaxy’s “top warden” looking to restore order to the galaxy after the fall of the Empire, the character’s true nature turned out to be much more selfish and his goals seemingly much smaller in scope. Gideon, like me and many of you, is a collector. While we collect action figures and memorabilia from the fictional Star Wars universe, Gideon was doing the same thing inside the Star Wars universe. His obsession with the Sith, Jedi and Mandalorian cultures–all the cool tricks, toys and trinkets that come along with them–is no different than ours. At some point, alone in his room at the ISB, Gideon definitely tried to summon something to his hand using The Force; while holding a broomstick in a mirror, he absolutely “bzzzzzzd” up a lightsaber and took a few swings; and he most definitely wondered how cool it would be to be screeching across the sky wearing a jet pack and suited up in Mandalorian armor.
The difference, of course, is that Gideon lived within that world and had the means and willpower to make those fantasies real. For Gideon, that meant being a Force-wielding, beskar-wearing bad guy: the best of all worlds! While the rest of the Shadow Council waited for the return of Thrawn or for Project Necromancer to be completed, Gideon used his considerable resources to set up shop on Mandalore and put together the coolest damn cosplay costume he could imagine in his very own bad guy lair. While it’s unclear exactly what was left undone, it’s clear his plan didn’t come to completion. Perhaps Project Necromancer’s work was necessary to transfer his consciousness into his clones? A bunch of Gideons without his memories wouldn’t be of much use, after all. It seems like we’ll never know exactly what his grand plan for the galaxy was (although…you never know) but as he went down in a blaze of glory, he did it in style and I, for one, am extremely jealous of his collection.
Led quite intentionally astray by some aspects of Chapter 23, The Spies, and comments by the cast and crew of the series, fans had put together some pretty wild theories about what to expect in the Season 3 finale of The Mandalorian. Suffice it to say, by the time the title of the episode (The Return) was revealed just a touch over five minutes in, it was pretty clear where the episode was headed and that no betrayals or heart-wrenching deaths were coming; instead, Chapter 24 was a spectacle-filled finale that significantly changed the status quo of the New Republic era of the galaxy far, far away and a promise of a return to a more episodic adventure in Season 4.
For much of the most recent season, The Mandalorian has been criticized for spending too much time on characters other than Din Djarin and Grogu. In some ways, the finale served as a very direct response to that criticism, bringing the duo back into the spotlight with an action-packed escape followed immediately by a battle with the galaxy’s biggest fanboy, Moff Gideon, and his Praetorian Guard. While many fans waited much of the season for Bo-Katan Kryze to betray Din Djarin, her well-timed intervention Din’s fight with Gideon allowed her to try to exact her revenge on the Moff while allowing for Din and Grogu to work side-by-side taking down the guard. The relationship between Bo-Katan and Din–which was developed on screen over several episodes while fans all threw their hands up and complained that nothing was happening–bore fruit when Din and Grogu joined Bo-Katan in holding off Gideon long enough for Axe Woves’ kamikaze mission to take him out. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Mandalorians are stronger together.
Bo-Katan Kryze
That sentiment, shared by Bo-Katan while Din and Grogu joined her against Gideon, should have resonated strongly with the audience as a measure of the incredible growth made by the character since she first showed up in Season 3. Sitting alone in her throne room, Bo-Katan had given up on…pretty much everything. The weight of her past failures had become an anchor preventing her from moving forward and, having lost everything, she was content to pout in her big chair. Now, Bo-Katan has relit the Great Forge of Mandalore and stands ready to lead her newly reunited people into a new age of Mandalorian glory. In summation, it’s almost as if every minute of her journey over the course of Season 3 helped shape her into exactly the type of leader her people needed her to be.
With Mandalore’s future in the best of hands, The Return also promised a return of what made fans fall in love with the series in the first place: the adventures of Din Djarin and Din Grogu. After quickly convincing Carson Teva to let them take care of some of the New Republic’s dirty work, the Dins get a storybook ending to Chapter 24. What does that mean for Season 4, which is already in pre-production with cameras slated to roll this Fall? With Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew set to bear some of the world-building weight of the New Republic era and help move things toward Dave Filoni‘s “Heir to the Empire” film, the next season of The Mandalorian might look a whole lot more like Seasons 1 and 2, with several chapters devoted to taking the Dins on new adventures each week, allowing for Grogu to continue learning and evolving as a Mandalorian.
The Return certainly moved fast, packing a spectacular aerial battle of Mandos vs. Dark Troopers, the presumed death of Gideon and the retaking of Mandalore into 42 minutes but make no mistake, those 42 minutes changed the status quo of the New Republic era of stories. With Gideon, who was revealed only to be serving his own interests rather than that of the Shadow Council, now dispatched, there’s room for a new threat to emerge. With Bo-Katan and crew reconstructing Mandalore, a new and powerful force will continue to emerge on the other side of that threat. As far as a season finale goes, The Return seemed to deliver on just about every level: big action, resolution and the promise of what comes next. It may not have been what fans theorized but it seems to have delivered what they’ve all ben asking for all season.
To hear the stars of Marvel Studios film and streaming projects tell it, somewhere out there exists an omnipresent Nick Fury Man on the Wall-esque character out there ready to silence them the moment they dare even consider sharing information about their projects. If he is real, Patti Lupone is not afraid of him. Lupone is starring in the upcoming Marvel Studios streaming series, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, a project about which very little information has been made publicly available by the studio. During a visit to The View, Lupone changed all that pretty quickly.
While discussing the project, Lupone revealed the identity of her character, one of a coven of witches who team with series lead Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha against some less than good witches. “Well it’s a coven of witches, and I play Lilia Calderu, who apparently is in the Marvel world,” said Lupone. “And I researched her, she’s hot! She’s really hot! She is! She’s got a great body, raven hair.” Calderu, The Witch-Queen of the Gypsies, is hardly a household name but is indeed ripped right from the pages of the Marvel Comics. Fortunately for Lupone, her research on the character was pretty easy as Calderu made one brief appearance in the comics before dying. While that might mean Lupone’s character’s time in the MCU will be short-lived, it also provides the opportunity for Marvel Studios to give the character a brand new story without being held to any standard from the comics.
Lupone didn’t stop there as she went on to detail just who else was part of Agatha’s coven of witches and what role Joe Locke will play in that coven. “We are a coven of witches, and the witches are Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza, and the familiar — if anybody knows ‘Heartstopper’ — is Joe Locke,” explained Lupone. “And Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, and myself. And I play Lilia Calderu, a 450-year-old Sicilian witch, whose power is divination, and whose trial is tarot.” It is widely believed (ok, it’s known) that Locke is playing Billy Kaplan, aka the Young Avenger known as Wiccan, in the series so it’s interesting to see that he’s referred to as the coven’s “familiar” here. That means Billy will begin the series as nothing more than a companion to the witches before likely beginning to discover his true nature which, in the comics, is fairly convoluted.
Lupone’s willingness to share details about the project probably came as quite a shock to Marvel Studios; however, given the lack of positive buzz around the studio at the moment, they’ll hopefully be a bit forgiving with the actress. Agatha: Coven of Chaos is expected to stream on Disney Plus sometime in 2024.
One of three new films announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023, the untitled New Jedi Order movie will feature Daisy Ridley’s return to the Star Wars universe as Rey. Set 15 years after the events of Episode IX-The Rise of Skywalker, the project will tell “the story of rebuilding the New Jedi Order and the powers that rise to tear it down.”
Over the course of seven seasons of the ABC melodrama, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the events of the show seemingly became more and more detached from the goings on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Indeed, the majority of the events of the show’s final season were revealed to have taken place in an alternate timeline complete with its own unique history. Even before the show ended in 2020, the canonicity of it was a matter of debate and Marvel Studios has added fuel to that fire more than once in the last couple of years. Now, a new rumor suggests they may be preparing to do it again.
Production on the WandaVision spinoff, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, has been ongoing for a few months now and while not much in the way of spoilers has made its way off the Atlanta set, something incredibly interesting–and in line with the decanonization of AoS–just did. According to insider Daniel RPK, the Kathryn Hahn-centric streaming series will delve a little further into Agatha’s personal past and explore her history with one of the MCU’s most dangerous objects: the Darkhold.
The Darkhold played an important role in both WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness before being destroyed by Wanda so while it may not play a role in the future of the MCU, Agatha: Coven of Chaos is rumored to include a revelation about the book’s past that will open a Pandora’s Box. According to RPK, Agatha: Coven of Chaos will make clear that Agatha Harkness has been in possession of the Darkhold for hundreds of years. Fans of both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Runaways will most certainly understand how impactful that rumored revelation will be to the canonicity of those shows.
Fans haven’t learned anything from WandaVision so while there’s certain to be any number of wild theories generated to work around what Agatha’s centuries-long possession of the book means, if this rumor is true it would effectively (once again) call into question the canonicity of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Darkhold played an integral part in Season 4 of the ABC series but if Agatha has kept the book with her for over one hundred years, Lucy and Joseph Bauer didn’t find it in a basement and Robbie Reyes didn’t take it to Hell with him because…you know…Agatha had it.
In cases like this, Occam’s Razor works best and the simplest explanation makes the most sense: the Darkhold in Agatha’s possession in WandaVision isn’t the same as the one from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because the two shows don’t take place in the same timeline. Fans can still enjoy all seven seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but the evidence continues to mount that the entire series should not be considered MCU canon though an argument could be made that some early seasons were. Marvel Studios already went well out of their way to completely redesign the book for WandaVision, so this rumor shouldn’t ultimately be too shocking; however, we’ll have to wait to see Agatha: Coven of Chaos to get the full context and history of the Darkhold before knowing for sure what Marvel Studios intentions are.
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