William Jackson Harper has become an overwhelmingly popular fan choice to play Reed Richards in Marvel Studios Fantastic Four. As casting for that project is still ongoing, however, Harper found himself another role in the MCU in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and a great new look at his character has been released via Empire.
According to Empire, Harper is playing an telepathic inhabitant of the Quantum Realm named Quaz. Also featured in the photo is Jantorra, played by Katy M. O’Brian, the leader of the Freedom Fighters who look to reclaim their homeland from Kang the Conqueror. Putting two and two together, it would seem that Quaz is a member of Jantorra’s group.
William Jackson Harper as Quaz in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, via Empire
Officially revealing the name of Harper’s character probably won’t stop the speculation that he’s playing a major Marvel character. His character’s name surfaced online some time ago, driving speculation that Harper was playing one of Marvel Comics great Cosmic heroes, Quasar. Speculation has also continued that Quaz is actually Reed Richards and that that the Fantastic Four have been trapped in the Quantum Realm since the 1960s. In all likelihood, Harper’s Quaz is probably just an original character developed by Marvel Studios for the film in place of a group of characters from the comics known as The Micronauts. Due to right’s issues, Marvel Studios cannot use the characters though they appeared in the pages of Marvel Comics. Much like Jantorra’s Freedom Fighters, The Micronauts sought to liberate their homeworld from a vile despot (Baron Karza), so it would seem they may have served as inspiration for the group in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
One of Marvel Comics most compelling villains, Kang the Conqueror, is finally set to make his MCU debut but maybe not in the franchise anyone would have ever expected. Jonathan Majors‘ Kang, a Variant of his He Who Remains seen in Season 1 of Loki, will debut in Marvel Studios’ smaller franchises in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Much has been made about the severe threat Kang poses and the juxtaposition of his debut occurring in a very humor-heavy franchise. Nobody at Marvel Studios is pulling any punches about it, either, making it very clear that Lang is heavily outmatched against the warlord. Given the unlikely scenario, one might wonder how the pairing ever came to be and the answer lies with writer Jeff Loveness.
While speaking with Empire about the upcoming film, Loveness detailed the genesis of the unlikely combo. “The first discussion we had was, ‘What if Ant-Man is accidentally in an Avengers movie by himself?‘”, said Loveness. Kevin Feige’s belief that it was time for Ant-Man to “take his position at the front of the podium” and kick off Phase 5 certainly called for a shift in the direction of the franchise and Loveness’ decision to write an Avengers film minus the Avengers represent just that. They also add to the sense of urgency and despair that fans are already feeling after the latest trailer showed Scott Lang in a world of hurt.
Given Kang’s desire to escape the Quantum Realm and get to conquering and the fact that the next Avengers’ film is subtitled The Kang Dynasty certainly doesn’t give the impression that things will end well for the Ant-Family, however, Lang is used to being the underdog and may still have trick or two up his sleeves when Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17th.
Nearly two years ago during the press junket for WandaVision, Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige was asked if he could clarify when the studio’s Phase 4 would come to an end. Whether because he wasn’t sure at the time or because he was keeping it to himself, Feige simply answered, “No.” It wasn’t until a year and a half later, during SDCC ’22, that fans finally learned that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would end Phase 4 and that the studio had chosen a surprising film to launch Phase 5: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. With its release date just over a month away, the hype machine for the film has been switched on and fans are starting to realize that the third installment in the Ant-Man franchise won’t be the palate cleanser its two predecessors were. This one is big–really big–and will “have a significant impact on the future of the MCU” according to producer Stephan Broussard. How did the Ant-Man find himself in such a prominent position in Phase 5? According to Kevin Feige, he “earned” it.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania isn’t just kicking off Phase 5, it’s also playing a major role in advancing the the shared narrative of the Multiverse Saga, similar to how Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War moved along the plot of the Infinity Saga. Having a character like Scott Lang’s Ant-Man leading the way might seem surprising, but in an interview with Empire, Feige revealed why now was the time for Ant-Man to carry the torch.
We wanted to kick off Phase Five with Ant-Man because he’d earned that position. To not simply be the back-up or the comic relief, but to take his position at the front of the podium of the MCU.
The One-Above-All
While Lang my seem “jokey”, he played a major role in the events of Avengers: Endgame and has certainly done his fair share or super-heroing. With Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America and Iron Man gone and no team of Avengers assembled, Lang’s status in the world has shifted (as seen in the trailers) and now so does the franchise’s status within the MCU.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania opens on February 17th.
Fans of the award-winning video game franchise, The Last of Us, have been anticipating the arrival of the HBO Max streaming series since word of the project first circulated in late 2020. Led by Pedro Pascal, Anna Torv, and Bella Ramsey, the adaptation kicked off with an 80-minute first episode that covered a lot of ground (55 years to be exact), most of which was incredibly familiar to fans of the game and has fans of the game pretty fired up for more. But what about your average outsider? As a certified outsider, I have a lot of questions about just what the hell is happening at the end of the world in The Last of Us.
Science!
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann came out swinging with some heavy science in the show’s opening scene. The science showdown between Quintus and The Swede was legit but it also really felt like HBO did a test screening of some portion of the series with a group of average IQ types and realized that without an explanation of what was going to happen 15 minutes later, they would have way too many questions. Then they went ahead and loaded it up with so much science that they may just have further confused the average IQ types. Fans of The Walking Dead spent several seasons trying to figure out how the end of the world began before getting over it, so at least there was some effort here.
D-Day
Pretty standard stuff for the day the music died, really. Pedro Pascal‘s Joel seems like a real dawg and the stuff with his daughter, Sarah, clearly exists to make you sad soon and open a spot in Joel’s heart later. Outside of that, Joel’s brother (that’s Gabriel Luna?!) is a rowdy Army dude–seems important. The Mycelium Mouths are just simply terrifying. Thankfully, Quintus’ pre-present-day exposition allowed for some understanding of how an otherwise decrepit old lady could become a WMD…oh my God he smashed her skull with a pipe wrench! Thankfully the failed escape attempt didn’t go on too long (I want to see what was going on in that plane; I feel like it was World War Z-level action with the Mycelium Mouths).
As the D-Day stuff comes to a close, it seems pretty clear that the only necessary piece was the death of Sarah. As the audience makes the jump 20 years into the future, there’s no understanding of how or why the Mycelium Mouths came to be, only that they did, leaving us to imagine that Sarah’s death will mark the beginning of Joel’s origin story as “The Governor” of some post-apocalyptic civilization.
What Are Fireflies? What a Mouthy Brat!
Joel is just…a grunt? He should be running this DMZ but instead, he’s willing to burn bodies and work in the sewers? All these FEDRA people are faceless goons and someone kicked the shit out of I-didn’t-recognize-her-but-that’s Anna Torv. Obviously, these Fireflys are a big deal; that brat they have chained up is mouthy as hell. If you’re already chaining her up, add a modified Hannibal Lecter mask to keep her from talking unless you need her to. Where’s a wight giant when you need one? I adored the abstract art on the wall in the subway tunnel; I could have stared at the blown-up Mycelium Mouth all day trying to figure out exactly what I was looking at.
Joel and Agent Dunham are sneaky! Joel’s brother is now estranged…hopefully Joel reminds him that he’d likely be dead if he hadn’t bailed him out of jail…and that Sarah would probably not have been shot and killed if Joel hadn’t spent the time bailing him out. At this point in the series, it’s tough to accept swapping out sweet Sarah, who fixed her Dad’s watch for his birthday, with the abrasive, vulgar Ellie but she’s apparently the Mycelium Messiah, so I guess she’s going to fill that hole in Joel’s heart with all sorts of cuss words.
The biggest outstanding question at the moment is why Joel is so terrifying. I assumed his 20 years of experience would have included murdering his way to the top of some group of survivors so he could lead a revolution against the government that took his daughter away from him. Murders, maybe some light torture, and developing some mild psychoses; instead, he’s just a dude who while resourceful, would seem to be no more or less threatening than any other dude. Surely his war vet brother would be scarier.
Next!
It seems like most of the people in this episode were faceless because we’ll never see them again now that Joel, Tess, and Ellie left the zone. Though it was nothing extraordinary, the closing shot of the episode worked as a really great tease for me. The thought of them heading into a completely ruined city full of loud, screechy noises might not be Rick riding into Atlanta on his high horse, but it definitely portends bad things man, I mean bad things…
Production on Marvel Studios’ first project of the new year, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, kicks off next week in Atlanta and after months of unofficial announcements, the studio worked with THR to unveil the talent working on the streaming series. Tucked away in that announcement may have been one of the studio’s most important new castings in relative newcomer Miles Gutierrez-Riley. As the slow march toward a Young Avengers project continues, Gutierrez-Riley may be filling the role of one of the last remaining original members of the team.
In October of 2022, a pair of casting calls for Agatha: Coven of Chaos seemed to indicate that Marvel Studios was set to introduce two founding members of the Young Avengers: Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman. While the casting of Joe Locke as the “witty”, “astute fanboy” momentarily made absolute nobody Nicholas Scratch everyone’s favorite character, it’s much more widely accepted now that he’s playing Billy Kaplan, aka Wiccan. The case for Locke as Wiccan is significantly strengthened by the presence of a pair of casting calls for Jewish parents, a description matching Billy’s parents from the comics and accepting Locke as Wiccan goes a long way toward making the case for Gutierrez-Riley as Hulkling, assuming he’s been cast in the other role revealed in October.
That role called for a gay actor 18-20, described as “a kind soul” with a “great sense of humor” who is totally in love with his boyfriend and has an athletic build. While Gutierrez-Riley doesn’t hit the age range (he graduated from Fordham University in 2020), the age ranges have always served as guidelines and Marvel Studios has routinely reached outside of them when they find the right fit. To that end, Gutierrez-Riley, who was a Denzel Washington Scholarship Recipient at Fordham before landing role in Amazon’s The Wilds and director Sanaa Lathan’sOn the Come Up, certainly could fit the bill.
Whether or not that role is Teddy Altman/Hulkling, of course, is a different matter entirely as is the nature of that character in the MCU. In the comics, Hulkling is a Kree/Skrull hybrid with a powerful heritage on both sides. As the grandson of Skrull Emperor Dorrek VII, Teddy (Dorrek VIII) is heir to the Skrull empire; as the son of Kree hero Mar-Vell, Teddy carries on a legacy valued greatly by the people of Hala. Marvel Studios has made a series of choices, however, that all but eliminate any of that background. Dorreks don’t exist yet in the MCU and Mar-Vell had no super powers nor was she a revered hero of Hala, so short of creating an entirely new backstory for Teddy, it seems that being Wiccan’s boyfriend (and likely being able to shape-shift) is the role for the time being. Of course, with Secret Invasion and The Marvels coming in 2023, there’s still time to add a little more depth to the Kree-Skrull War and give Teddy something more to do.
Agatha: Coven of Chaos is currently slated to stream on Disney Plus in late 2023 or early 2024.
As production on Agatha: Coven of Chaos prepares to get going, the studio has revealed the talent in front of and behind the camera of the streaming series. Head writer and executive producer Jack Schaeffer will serve as one of three directors of the series joining Gandja Monteiro and Rachel Goldberg. Monteiro is coming off of her work on the hit series Wednesday while Goldberg worked on Netflix’s Resident Evil series and Peacock’s A Friend of the Family.
It was also officially revealed that Joe Locke, who is expected to portray Billy Kaplan, Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, and Sasheer Zamata joined the cast of the WandaVision spinoff along with Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Okwui Okpokwasili, and Maria Dizzia. The newcomers join Debra Jo Rupp, Emma Caulfield, David Payton, David Lengel, Asif Ali, Amos Glick, Brian Brightman, and Kate Forbes, who were last seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in WandaVision.
The spinoff is slowly turning into an ambitious project that will definitely offer a curious look into the MCU. With the return of the Westview cast, it does seem like we’ll either see more of them than initially expected or they’ll simply have a short role before Kathryn Hahn‘s Agatha ventures out into the titular coven. As production is already set off to release next week, we’ll see what the next Disney+ entry has to offer.
James Gunn has responded to the rumor by indicating nobody has been cast as Superman and that casting won’t happen until the script is complete.
My thoughts are no one has been cast as Superman yet. Casting, as is almost always the case with me, will happen after the script is finished or close to finished, and it isn’t. We’ll announce a few things in not too long, but the casting of Superman won’t be one of them. 🧜♂️ https://t.co/2SGWV2RSI7
As the new year marches on, fans are still eagerly awaiting word from James Gunn and Peter Safran on the first wave of films forthcoming from the newly formed DC Studios. With Gunn currently writing a script for a new Superman film–one that will not feature Henry Cavill returning to the role–it’s likely that project will be among that anticipated first wave and a new rumor indicates it might be happening sooner than you’d think.
Rumor mill generator deuxmoi has shared some info on Gunn’s Superman project that’s sure to get people talking. According to the individual, Gunn is targeting a Summer 2025 release date for the new film, which he will direct. Additionally, the rumor indicates that a frontrunner may have emerged for the role of Kal-El; though deuxmoi didn’t explicitly name an actor, the hints given (Australian…Netflix romcom trilogy…HBO Max teen show) would seem to point at Jacob Elordi. Elordi, who starred in the Kissing Booth and Euphoria, has been a somewhat popular choice for the role on social media and fits the bill for Gunn’s vision of a younger Superman.
Given Gunn’s track record with addressing rumors associated with his projects, fans may know a lot more about the veracity of this one soon.
Disney loves synergy. After the latest trailer for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania debuted during the College Football Playoff National Championship game, the studio is going to be back at it soon this time to promote one of their most popular streaming series.
A press release from ESPN revealed that a new trailer for Season of The Mandalorian is set to debut at halftime of the NFL Wild Card Playoff Game on January 16th. The game, featuring the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, can be seen on ESPN and kicks off at 8:00 PM ET.
The third season of The Mandalorian, which is set to debut on Disney Plus on March 1st, will continue to follow the adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu, who were reunited in the Season 2 finale. The teaser trailer for the new season featured the ruined homeworld of Mandalore, high tensions and a look at several fan-favorite characters making their return.
The third installment of the Deadpool franchise is quickly becoming one of Marvel Studios most anticipated projects if not one the most talked about. Since star Ryan Reynolds revealed that Hugh Jackman was coming out of retirement from the character of Logan to co-star in the untitled film, the project has been in the news fairly consistently. While there are plenty of theories about what the plot of the film will include (and what the title might be!) little is known about the film which goes into production in the Fall of 2023 and plenty of questions about how the very R-rated Deadpool will fit in the very PG-13 MCU.
The tone of the first two Deadpool films, while incredibly different from the average MCU film, is partly responsible for their popularity. Jackman’s last outing as Wolverine in Logan was extremely violent. The irreverence and violence associated with the characters may not seem to fit in the MCU, but according to Reynolds, fans should expect an “authentic” representation of the characters they’ve come to know and love and one hell of a team-up.
It’s really kind of finding a way to service both of these characters that feels extraordinarily authentic to each of them, and I think these two wrongs actually will make a right in a pretty great way.
Ryan Reynolds
As for how he expects to blend the sensibilities of the Deadpool films with Marvel Studios more family-friendly films, Reynolds calls the process of figuring that out a “tightrope walk.”
I think it’s a tightrope walk. I mean most of these movies are always a tightrope walk of tone, so in this instance, though, you have a collision of two pretty iconic characters that exist in the Marvel Ancillary Universe [laughs] — we’re in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point.
Ryan Reynolds
Kevin Feige has gone on record to indicate that Deadpool 3 will have an R-rating, like its predecessors, so it seems fans can still expect more of what they loved. It’s also clear that the “collision” of the two characters is not only the film’s biggest selling point but also the point from which the film is being built out. Deadpool 3 is starting to sound a bit like Lethal Weapon and there’s nothing wrong with that!
Though she says it will be a while before it hits the screen, Black Panther star Letitia Wright’s assertion that a third installment in the franchise is “already in the works” has us thinking about the future! Black Panther: Wakanda Forever left a lot of paths to be explored in the future and some characters being introduced in other properties make for some interesting speculation about what stories Ryan Coogler may have in mind for Black Panther 3. Here are a few that we’d like to see on the big screen.
Black Panther: Enemy of the State
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s touching post-credit scene in which Shuri met her nephew, T’Challa II, in Haiti captured the hearts of audiences and made good on the film’s subtitle. It also opens the doors to exploring a topic addressed by Christopher Priest during his epic run on Black Panther: what happens within a country when its leader spends significant time away from it. In the comics, a sudden public scandal forced T’Challa to leave Wakanda for an extended time. In his absence, a wily refugee by the name of Achebe lead a coup and took over governing Wakanda…with a little help from Mephisto!
Black Panther: Enemy of the State could adapt this fairly easily, given Shuri’s absence from Wakanda. A coup by Achebe would also give Winston Duke‘s M’Baku a major role in the film, given that he was last seen serving as the king regent of Wakanda. With Sacha Baron Cohen reportedly signing a multi-projecet deal with Marvel Studios to play Mephisto, the time is right for this classic Preist story to make its way to the big screen. Letting Achebe go full-on talk-to-the-hand-puppet crazy while having Mephisto pulling the strings would provide an unexpected change-of-pace for the franchise.
Black Panther: The People
Thematically, Black Panther: The People may seem a little similar to Enemy of the State, but there are enough little differences to make a case for choosing to adopt this arc from Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ run on Black Panther. Black Panther saw the government taken over from within; Wakanda Forever saw the devastation of the country; The People could easily be the logical next step. Since the passing of King T’Chaka, Wakanda has, to put it lightly, had a rough go. Killmonger’s time as Black Panther, as it turns out, was the least of their concerns. T’Challa’s friendship with the Avengers led to Wakanda becoming a focal point of Thanos’ invasion (the aftermath of which was entirely hand-waved away) and Namor’s attack cost Wakandan lives outside of the Royal Family. The people of Wakanda have had enough and are, perhaps, ready to take things into their own hands…with a little help.
The MCU has yet to explore how other African nations view Wakanda, something Reginald Hudlin did wonderfully in his run on Black Panther. Hudlin introduced the neighboring, authoritarian nation of Niganda and with it, a centuries long grudge between it and Wakanda over, you guessed it, resources. Though The People would see a revolt from within Wakanda, the country of Niganda would play a key role as well while examining the philosophical arguments around types of governance. Coates’ run introduced Tetu, a Wakandan with strong anti-monarchical beliefs, and Zenzi, a Nigandan empath who used her powers to incite riots. The plot of this one, as they say, writes itself. The disillusioned Tetu finds his anti-monarchical movement growing following the multiple tragedies brought to Wakanda by the Royal Family. His movement draws the attention of Zenzi, who uses her powers to stir the people into a revolt, all the while serving the end goals of the brutal Nigandan Prime Minister, M’Butu, who seeks to take ownership of Wakanda’s resources.
Black Panther: Invasion
Heavily hinted at in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine wants what Wakanda has: Vibranium. For playing such an integral part in the MCU, the Great Mound really hasn’t been featured much outside of a few minutes of screentime in Black Panther. It’s rumored that 2024’s Thunderbolts will see Val’s team of Super Soldiers and spies head to the Tiamut’s corpse to gather up another valuable natural resource: Adamantium. Adamantium would make a pretty suitable replacement for Vibranium, which is now under the joint protection of Talokan and Wakanda, and so Val’s pursuit of it makes sense. Of course, there’s another rumor about that movie that would make it pretty tough for the Tbolts to do their job, meaning they might come home empty handed.
Should Val fail to obtain some Adamantium, she may get desperate and, as you know, desperate time call for Deathlok. As the director of the ever-so-shady CIA, Val would know all about the long-since-abandoned Project: Alpha-Mech. A simple plot could see Val provoking a neighboring nation, perhaps the aforementioned Niganda, to attempt an invasion of Wakanda. The U.S. Government could then offer to “assist” Wakanda by sending in a unit of their Very Special Forces: a team of Deathloks. As cyborgs, Deathloks could be easily manipulated to obey the whims of their person-in-the-chair. Fans of the comics might recognize this as an adaptation of Reginald Hudlin‘s “Who Is the Black Panther?” arc. It would be a wild, wild ride to see on screen!
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