Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Charles Murphy

  • Debra Jo Rupp Joins ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’

    Debra Jo Rupp Joins ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’

    Debra Jo Rupp (That ’70s Show) who had a small role in 2021’s WandaVision has been reported to have joined the cast of Agatha: Coven of Chaos.

    Rupp appeared in several episodes of WandaVision as Mrs. Hart, within the Hex, and citizen Sharon Davis when it was lifted. It’s presumed she will reprise her role as a citizen of Westview in Agatha: Coven of Chaos, which will focus on Kathryn Hahn’s wicked witch. Rupp is the second actress who played a citizen of Westview in WandaVision to join the cast of Coven of Chaos, joining Emma Caulfield.

    Originally slated for a late 2023/early 2024 release, Coven of Chaos was not featured on a recent update to 2023 projects, leading to the belief it has been pushed to at least 2024.

    Source: Deadline

  • 12 Days of X-Mas: Day 10, Forge

    12 Days of X-Mas: Day 10, Forge

    The X-Men are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Studios has no small task ahead of them in making sure that the iconic team can lead the franchise in Phase 7 and beyond. Marvel Studios is also sure to make every effort to separate their adaptation of the team(s) from what came before. To celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas, we’ve decided to put together a list of which characters might play a key role and how Marvel Studios can ensure nobody will confuse them with their Fox counterparts or, in this case, an X-Men fixture that Fox left on the bench.

    The Genius

    The Cheyenne Indian known as Forge never appeared in Fox’s X-films and that’s probably a blessing in disguise. Every super team needs an idea guy and Forge is an idea guy on a  level that would rival the greats like Tony Stark and Reed Richards. The kind of work Forge would do was either completely absent from the X-films or relegated to Hank McCoy who while also a genius in the comics, wasn’t the intuitive engineering genius that Forge was.

    Described best in his own words, Forge’s true mutant gift was “to make the impossible real” something he often did without possessing a true understanding of the process he was working through. Thanks to his mutation, Forge sees what others cannot and what Forge can see, Forge can create. As you can imagine, this gift can be both beautiful and terrifying and Forge has made more than his fair share of terrifying devices, including one that neutralized mutant powers. Forge has recently played a major role in the X-Men’s resurrection protocols and has found a new outlet for his talents in creating bio-organic weapons with the help of Krakoa.

    Adding Forge to the mix of X-Men in the MCU shouldn’t be a problem. His status as a member of the Cheyenne Tribe works well with Marvel Studios’ ongoing efforts to add diverse characters to the MCU, something very in line with Stan Lee’s original work with the X-Men. His past as a wounded soldier who experienced severe trauma also adds a layer of depth to the character and one not much different from current MCU fan favorite Bucky Barnes. Like Barnes, Forge sustained some gruesome war injuries; unlike Barnes, Forge is essentially part cyborg now but that mixture of man and machine fits so well with his mutant power that it must be part of his story. Beyond that, he’s a must-have character whose brilliance as an inventor will allow the X-Men to stay sharp and develop weapons to take on the alien races they’re sure to encounter (and that Fox decided to ignore). Including Forge also provides the opportunity for one of his inventions to fall into the wrong hands and endanger mutants everywhere. Forge has been a member of the core team, X-Force and X-Factor and has a pretty underrated relationship with Wolverine. It’s truly hard to believe that he hasn’t somehow been brought to live-action yet, but Marvel Studios should definitely change that in the very near future.

  • All-New, All-Different Murphy’s Law-Episode 112

    All-New, All-Different Murphy’s Law-Episode 112

    After a brief absence (one-fourth of the year is brief, right?) Charles and Charles muster all the energy of Sleepy General Dreykov to put together a 3-hour year-ending extravaganza.

  • 12 Days of X-Mas: Day 9, Psylocke

    12 Days of X-Mas: Day 9, Psylocke

    The X-Men are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Studios has no small task ahead of them in making sure that the iconic team can lead the franchise in Phase 7 and beyond. Marvel Studios is also sure to make every effort to separate their adaptation of the team(s) from what came before. To celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas, we’ve decided to put together a list of which characters might play a key role and how Marvel Studios can ensure nobody will confuse them with their Fox counterparts.

    The Twin

    Betsy Braddock made a token appearance in X-Men: The Last Stand and was then drastically underutilized in X-Men: Apocalypse. Given the poor adaptation of pretty much every character introduced in Apocalypse, including the titular mutant, it’s safe to say Simon Kinberg and Bryan Singer must have Googled “sexy X-Men costumes” and gone from there in developing Psylocke for the film. For a character with such a rich and complex history, she was reduced to cleavage and butt cheeks. While there’s certainly precedent for that in the comics, Fox really wasted a fascinating character.

    Part of Betsy Braddock’s comic book history is muddled with some uncomfortable body-swapping business with another mutant, Kwannon, that was recently resolved following the mutant move to Krakoa. Marvel Studios would be wise to skip over all of that and keep the focus on Betsy as the gateway character to a completely unexplored corner of the world in the Fox movies: jolly old England. Betsy’s comic book history as an agent of S.T.R.I.K.E., her twin brother Brian just so happening to be Captain Britain and her connection to Excalibur make her the perfect character to open the door to the weirdness that takes place on that side of the pond.

    One of the most powerful psychics on Earth, Betsy’s comic book time as a S.T.R.I.K.E. psi-agent could be reworked to make her an agent of MI13, Marvel’s X-Files division. Having her story begin there would allow for Marvel Studios to introduce the mystical wonders of England and Otherworld and characters such as her brothers, Brian and Jamie, Pete Wisdom and her royal pain in the ass, Majestrix Saturnyne. Whether through a Psylocke series, a Braddock series or an MI13 series (I’ve been pitching that one for almost 7 years now!), Betsy should be the star of the show before moving on to join the X-Men. Once with the X-Men, Betsy should be one of the founding members of the MCU’s X-Men strike team: X-Force. Of all of Betsy’s rich history, her time on X-Force in Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force stands about among her adventures as one of her most memorable. Marvel Studios is sure to expand beyond the core team of X-Men, including teams like X-Factor and X-Force in the MCU, and an X-Force team of Psylocke, Angel, Fantomex, Deadpool and Wolverine is exactly the kind of deadly strike team the MCU deserves. Psylocke has 10 years of interesting stories in her past. By allowing her to develop in her own world before joining the X-Men, Marvel Studios could smartly open up a whole new world of stories while bringing Betsy along on her own arc before she joins X-Force. This one almost writes itself!

  • Murphy’s Team-Up Volume 30: One Must-Have Character in James Gunn’s DCU

    Murphy’s Team-Up Volume 30: One Must-Have Character in James Gunn’s DCU

    James Gunn has a big job ahead of him in creating a shared cinematic universe out of the ashes after nuking the old guard. While he’ll smartly focus on Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League, he’ll also have to keep it fresh by bringing some new blood to the DCU. With that in mind, we have a handful of suggestions for Mr. Gunn as he gets things moving ahead in 2023.

    Joao Roque Pinto on Mister Terrific

    Dream casting: John Boyega, John David Washington, Scarlett Johansson

    When thinking of a character that will allow for interesting storylines (be it through solo outings or as part of a team), with interesting powers without them being too out there, someone who big screen audiences have little to no knowledge of who it is and its back story, and that will be able to play well with the biggest names in the DC catalog, Mister Terrific (Michael Holt) came immediately to mind.

    Gunn usually thrives when defining characters within team dynamics and Mister Terrific can be integrated into several teams the character has been a part of over the years. From the Justice League to the Justice Society of America, from Task Force X’s subdivision Checkmate to The Terrifics. His Genius-level intellect, “a natural aptitude for having natural aptitudes”, can also allow for a more plot-driven type of story, moving away from the spectacle that most team-up movies tend to be.

    Not discounting his use of T-Spheres, he remains a character that can easily be combined with almost any sort of comic book movie approach, from the more grounded to the most fantastical, all while also bringing to the table a representation factor into the larger DC Universe that should never be dismissed.

    Jeffrey Peterson on Clayface

    Dream casting: Denzel Washington, Josh Brolin, or Brad Pitt.

    An origin story that starts in the 60s, maybe 70s, but definitely after the ‘golden age’ of cinema. Automatic buy-in through casting a respected Hollywood star that’s on the older side, but the film also gains the benefit of really only effects of makeup or CGI when really necessary. The film can still use noir and thriller elements of The Batman while leaning into a more physiological terror space. The movie has the opportunity to discuss body dysmorphia and alteration, self-help, generational trauma, and the arts, specifically film, without doing any of it too directly. The other golden opportunity is that Clayface’s abilities only have to be hinted at since those actors are good character actors anyway. The more monstrous reveal once the powers get out of hand can naturally happen in the third act or the first, depending on the classic film a director (Jordan Peele or Alex Garland) wants to reference.

    Dalbin Osorio

    I know there’s going to be a consensus for all sorts of Green Lanterns to show up, so I’m going to get in front of that and say that Simon Baz is the Lantern we need to see. As a hero who ends up wielding a fusion of Sinestro and Hal Jordan’s power ring, and as the Corps’s first Arab-American member, Simon has the chance to bring some much-needed diversity to a DC Slate that is predominantly cis hetero white men. Showing Simon’s street racing, and racial persecution following a subsequent car accident, would make some amazing TV.

    Now, who to play him, you ask? How about 40-year-old Lee Majdoub, who played Agent Stone in Sonic The Hedgehog? You’ll next see him playing the villain in Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, and he’s still young enough to where he could theoretically play this Lantern for 10 years.

    Jared Kirschenbaum

    Bat-Mite, as John Economos puts it in Peacemaker, is “a two-foot-tall interdimensional imp who stans Batman.” There are many interesting things DC Studios could do for a Bat-Mite project or an appearance elsewhere. Bat-Mite is similar to the Superman villain Mister Mxyzptlk, with a very different characterization. He is a being from the Fifth Dimension, which means Bat-Mite has access to phenomenal cosmic powers. And while Mister Mxyzptlk uses his powers to toy with Superman, Bat-Mite uses his powers to “help” Batman, because Bat-Mite is at his core, not a bad guy. His biggest problem is just that he is irritating. Basically, Bat-Mite is the fan from hell. He critiques Batman, makes things more difficult, and ruins Batman’s plans. The closest thing to Bat-Mite is probably Syndrome from The Incredibles. And in the wrong situation, Bat-Mite is dangerous. Sure, he likes Batman and wants Batman to succeed, but if Bat-Mite gets angry at Batman or wants to make a task more difficult for him to make it more fun to watch, there really are not many limits to what Bat-Mite can do. He is a nerd who just cannot help himself. Sometimes he is more bad than good, but a lot of the time, in his heart, he does just want to help.

    To be fair, since he is not showing up in a Batman movie anytime soon, James Gunn could totally make a Bat-Mite movie and it would probably be a lot of fun. However, this is not really where he would be the most useful in the DCU, especially since Bat-Mite has already come up in Peacemaker. And since a second season of Peacemaker will probably factor into whatever Gunn is cooking as Co-chairman and CEO of DC Studios and is more of a lock than the majority of other DCU projects, Bat-Mite should 100% show up as part of season 2. Imagine, Bat-Mite shows up floating next to Peacemaker. Only the audience and Peacemaker can see or hear Bat-Mite as he spends most of the show telling Peacemaker that he is not as cool as Batman. Is Bat-Mite real or is he a figment of Peacemaker’s imagination or some subconscious manifestation of his inadequacy? Who knows? But a stylized cartoon or weird CGI-man thingy floating around Peacemaker in season 2, telling him how he needs to do a better job of being a hero like Batman is the totally out-of-left-field choice that Gunn would absolutely make. When season 1 started, nobody thought that Peacemaker would be fighting aliens. So, why not throw in a being from the Fifth Dimension, especially one who would not really work in many other movies or shows? Bat-Mite as the angel and devil on Peacemaker’s shoulder in Peacemaker season 2 would be so much fun. 

    MTF III

    Who better to be an entry point character for the present state of the Batman Family and all of its tentacles than Bruce Wayne’s son, raised by Ra’s Al Ghul in the world of assassins, then introduced into the world of vigilantes as the next to carry on the legacy of Robin? Through him, we can meet all of Bruce’s surrogate sons and daughters and explore a different dynamic with Bruce, as he needs to find his softer side to connect with an offspring who might be more intense than even him.

    My #2 choice would be Nubia. While the idea of a “Black Wonder Woman” might seem at first glance to be one note, through her we can learn about the secret history of the lost Amazon tribe of Bana-Mighdall, who left Themyscira’s magical protection and gave up their immortality to create a society of warrior women in the Amazon way, but amidst the tumult of Northern Africa. Through interactions with Diana, Nubia could be a doorway into juxtaposing a more militant vision of the Amazons against the utopian one we were exposed to in some of the previous Wonder Woman outings. Nubia’s heroic journey can be about her learning to inspire hope in Man’s World rather than instilling fear.

    Charles Murphy on The Spectre

    As Marvel Studios’ fans wait for Ghost Rider to make his way into the MCU, DC’s own Spirit of Vengeance could serve an important role in James Gunn‘s new DCU. The being known as Aztar is as old as the universe and serves as the hand of divine vengeance for DC’s One Above All. There have been a whole lot of different iterations of the character over the years and Aztar has been bound to a few different human hosts, but a combo of the New 52’s modern version of Gotham PD officer Jim Corrigan mixed with the brilliant work done by John Ostrander in the 1990s offers the perfect mix of a character tied into the connected universe Gunn is building while also being able to do his own thing. Is this the right superhero role for Gunn’s bestie Nathan Fillion?

  • New Avengers and Multiversal Avengers Lineups Rumored for ‘The Kang Dynasty’ and ‘Secret Wars’

    New Avengers and Multiversal Avengers Lineups Rumored for ‘The Kang Dynasty’ and ‘Secret Wars’

    The MCU has gotten much larger since Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame wrapped up the Infinity Saga. Thanks in part to Disney Plus, new heroes and villains have quickly accumulated and with two years to go until the next Avengers double-feature kicks off with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, those numbers will surely continue to grow. With so many new heroes joining those who survived Endgame, putting together a team of heroes to take on Kang the Conqueror shouldn’t be too hard. However, with Secret Wars set to follow up shortly after, are there too many heroes?

    A new rumor from @MyTimeToShineH suggests that in order to keep the runtime of Secret Wars a little more manageable, Earth-616’s Avengers will be the main focus of The Kang Dynasty but kept to the sidelines for most of Secret Wars, which will “focus on the heroes from other universes.” It sounds like the events of the 2026 film will involve a group of Multiversal Avengers!

    Those other heroes could be from Fox’s Fantastic Four or X-Men films, the Sam Raimi or Marc Webb Spider-Man films or other universes populated with versions of heroes that haven’t been visited yet. It’s an interesting rumor that also happens to fit most peoples’ wishes for the film. Given the previous rumor about Hugh Jackman and Tobey Maguire fighting alongside each other, it would seem that they’d be leading the squad. What characters would you like to see on the team of Multiversal Avengers?

  • ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ Rumored to Feature an Epic Marvel Team-up

    ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ Rumored to Feature an Epic Marvel Team-up

    Avengers: Endgame brought together heroes from every corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for one of the most memorable action sequences of all time. How can Avengers: Secret Wars top that portal scene? By bringing together heroes from every corner of every Marvel movie universe. And a new rumor suggests that’s just what will happen.

    @MyTimeToShineH has shared that Tobey Maguire and Hugh Jackman are rumored to team-up and fight “alongside” each other in Marvel Studios big saga-ending event in 2026.

    Maguire recently revisited the role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Jackman finalized a deal to return as Wolverine in Deadpool 3 and both actors have been rumored to make an appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars. Seeing their respective versions of these characters, who were the superheroes of the 2000s, come together on screen would certainly be the type of major crossover that would allow Secret Wars to feel “bigger” than Endgame. However, given that the script for the film is still being written and production is years away, don’t get too attached to any ideas about Secret Wars no matter how great they might sound.

  • 12 Days of X-Mas: Day 8, Shadowcat

    12 Days of X-Mas: Day 8, Shadowcat

    The X-Men are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Studios has no small task ahead of them in making sure that the iconic team can lead the franchise in Phase 7 and beyond. Marvel Studios is also sure to make every effort to separate their adaptation of the team(s) from what came before. To celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas, we’ve decided to put together a list of which characters might play a key role and how Marvel Studios can ensure nobody will confuse them with their Fox counterparts or, in this case.

    The Kitten

    Another victim of Fox’s focus on cool displays of powers rather than proper characterization, Kitty Pryde was reduced to meme status after being Juggernaut bitched in X-Men: The Last Stand. The character returned in 2014 for a role in X-Men: Days of Future Past where she got to touch Logan’s temples for a while and then became a teacher in the new timeline established at the end of the film. In essentially every way possible, Fox wasted a top-tier X-Men character who was portrayed by an incredibly talented actor. Outside of correctly using her phasing ability, Fox seemed to have absolutely no understanding of Kitty nor how important of a character she could be. That’s something that Kevin Feige will almost certainly remedy when he brings his version of the X-Men to the MCU.

    A bit of a child prodigy, Kitty showed genius-level aptitude in computer science and attended a prestigious engineering school as a child. She joined Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and became a member of the X-Men when she was just 13 or 14 years old. Kitty is just about the perfect poster child for Wolverine’s side of the debate with Cyclops over using teens as “soldiers” in Xavier’s crusade. Over the years, Kitty has grown close with Storm, Wolverine and Colossus, with whom she’s had an on-again-off-again romantic relationship. Kitty has arguably had one of the most chaotic and interesting lives of any X-Man and has battled demons, vampires, aliens and all other sorts of baddies and has always emerged from her battles as a central figure to the success of the team.

    What Fox failed to understand about Kitty Pryde is that despite being introduced in the comics as a teenager, she’s no sidekick. In fact, used appropriately, Kitty is probably the perfect point-of-view character to launch the MCU’s look at the inner workings of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. That’s not to say that the other characters aren’t incredibly important, only that Marvel Studios could take the unique approach of giving the audience Kitty’s perspective of entering the madness of the mutant world. Though Fox’s X-Men were always in danger, the question of whether they should have been was never fully explored in the Singer or Kinberg films. The Fox films never explored the true nature of Charles Xavier (as detailed here), something that could be done wonderfully by changing the lens through which he’s viewed. Marvel Studios has many characters from which to choose as they think about which character they want to be the eyes through which they meet the larger world of the X-Men, but there’s no better choice than Kitty Pryde. Shadowcat should be right out front as mutants step into the spotlight in the MCU.

  • ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ Concept Art Offers Great Look at Jonathan Majors’ Kang

    ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ Concept Art Offers Great Look at Jonathan Majors’ Kang

    A new trailer for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania will be coming our way soon, but from what fans have seen of the film so far, Marvel Studios is really leaning into comic booky looks for the villains. M.O.D.O.K. hasn’t been fully revealed yet, but nobody would mistake his look as having come from a “grounded” universe. More importantly, Jonathan Majors‘ Kang the Conqueror looks to have been ripped straight from the pages of Marvel Comics. The purple and green scheme and the blue mask seem to capture the otherworldliness of the character that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had in mind back in 1964 when he appeared in Avengers #8.

    As fans wait for the first truly great look at a fully geared up version of Kang, a new piece of concept art will give them something to tide them over.

    While Marvel Studios may miss the boat from time to time with the characterization of some of the characters they adapt for the MCU, their track record on character designs is much stronger. This look for Kang is another example of making minor and necessary modifications to the comic book look while capturing the essence of that look.

    Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters in just 48 days!

  • New Rumor Reveals the Avengers Final Foe in ‘Secret Wars’

    New Rumor Reveals the Avengers Final Foe in ‘Secret Wars’

    As Phase 5 prepares to kick off soon with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, fans are just starting to get a sense of what Marvel Studios Multiverse Saga is going to truly all about. After the revelation that the new saga will conclude in 2026 with Avengers: Secret Wars, fans have been sure that someone other than Jonathan Majors‘ Kang would be the villain of the piece. It turns out they may have been right…sort of.

    A new rumor from Twitter user MyTimeToShineHello has revealed that Secret Wars is set to introduce a classic Marvel Comics character and the entity behind the original 1984 Secret Wars event: the Beyonder. The rumor comes with a twist, however, in that the MCU’s version of the Beyonder will be yet another Variant of Majors’ character.

    While a lot of online conversation about a potential villain centered on Doctor Doom, who was the primary antagonist of the 2015 version of Secret Wars, it seems, if the rumor is true, that Marvel Studios has chosen to make their big saga-ender a mashup of the 1984 and 2015 events with both incursions and the Beyonder playing roles.