Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Charles Murphy

  • Dwayne Johnson on Henry Cavill’s Return to the DC Universe

    Dwayne Johnson on Henry Cavill’s Return to the DC Universe

    As Dwayne Johnson’s career trajectory continued upward over the last decade and a half, one thing remained constant: his passion for Black Adam. First announced in 2007, the project has survived stops and starts in DC Universe, changes in leadership and changes in which characters and stories have been prioritized. Now as it’s finally about to be released, Black Adam seems set to serve as a jumping-off point for a new version of a connected DC Universe, but there’s one character that Johnson, and fans, have been eager to see back on screen.

    Henry Cavill made his debut as Superman in 2013’s Man of Steel, which once upon a time seemed to be the jumping-off point for a DC Universe shaped by Zack Snyder. However, following appearances in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, Cavill was absent from other projects and with no development on a Man of Steel sequel, fans had all but given up hope on his return as Kal-El. Johnson, however, never did. In an interview with ET at Black Adam’s premiere, Johnson seemingly confirmed the return of Cavill as Superman and discussed why it’s so important to have him back.

    The whole goal and initiative of Black Adam was to build out the DC Universe by introducing not only Black Adam but the entire JSA. 5 new superhero characters in one movie and also, as I have been saying all along, there’s an ethos we at Seven Bucks have…Seven Bucks Productions…myself, my co-founder, Dany Garcia, and Hiram Garcia and that is we’ll always put the fans first. Audience comes first. So, for years, audiences have been so passionate and vocal about…we’ve established Black Adam as the most powerful and unstoppable on our planet…but the fans have been so passionate about, as we have been, where is the most unstoppable force in the universe? Where is he? Well, just like I fought hard for Black Adam for fifteen years, Dany has been fighting for six years, Hiram has been fighting for six years, fifteen years. We’ve all been fighting for this moment, so I will say this: welcome home.

    Dwayne Johnson

    Rumors have swirled for months that Black Adam would see Cavill return to the role of Superman and Johnson’s all-but-confirmation here has to be exciting for fans, not only for this film but for the future, which Johnson has also spoken about recently. Let’s hope it doesn’t take 15 more years before we see the two titans share the screen again!

  • A Closer Look at Marvel Studios’ Updated Slate

    A Closer Look at Marvel Studios’ Updated Slate

    Marvel Studios made sweeping changes to their upcoming theatrical slate recently, shuffling the release dates of several projects in what looks to have been a game of dominoes. Upon closer look, however, it seems possible that the last domino hasn’t fallen yet.

    2023

    Phase 5 begins! Outside of Blade being removed from the 2023 slate, the slate remains unchanged. Two projects (Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Loki Season 2) look to connect directly with the overarching plot of the Multiverse Saga, but The Marvels might connect to it a bit more than one might think at first glance.

    2024

    The changes to the 2024 slate are where things really start to fall apart and where one has to question whether or not there will be another round of changes ahead. It seems like a big factor in whether or not there are more changes will depend on how connected the Disney Plus series/special projects are to the order of things.

    Originally, Phase 5 was supposed to end with Thunderbolts in July of 2024, now it looks like it will likely end with Deadpool 3 in November of 2024. Blade and Deadpool 3 (even though it wasn’t officially given a date until recently) were always a part of Phase 5, so where they land within it doesn’t seem to matter. However, as of SDCC, the first Phase 6 project was intended to be a Disney Plus series/special presentation scheduled for Fall 2024, before Fantastic Four. Then, another two Phase 6 Disney Plus projects were set to stream before the end of 2024.

    With all the changes, the end date for Phase 5 has now been extended by 4 months, meaning two streaming projects that were meant to be a part of Phase 6 are now TENTATIVELY set to stream before Phase 5 concludes. Can these projects just be moved into Phase 5? It’s hard to determine without knowing the identity of the projects. Do audiences need to see the content delivered in Blade or Deadpool 3 before they can view these series? Again, hard to determine without knowing what the projects are. If they need to be included in Phase 6, Marvel Studios would have to push them into November of 2024 or later, potentially creating a content void that they seem to be trying to avoid. A lot of questions that can’t be answered, but 2024 and Phase 5 are clearly being impacted the most by the changes and potentially impacting everything else the most as a result.

    Summary: Phase 5 ends later and with a different project and would currently experience an increase in the number of projects with some Phase 6 projects set to stream before Phase 6 begins.

    2025

    While the update on Monday revealed two pretty major changes, it also implies that more might be coming. With Fantastic Four being bumped into 2025, Avengers: Secret Wars was bumped out. However, it also means the February slot before Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is now occupied by Fantastic Four when it was clearly meant for another film up until these changes took place. The best bet as to what was intended to be there is the sequel to Shang-Chi. Both films are set to be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and there’s been enough said to me to indicate that Shang-Chi 2 was meant to lead up to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. With all that in mind, the slate is what it is at this point, but don’t be surprised to see further changes. One possibility is for one Avengers: The Kang Dynasty to move to the vacated November slot, opening up one of two summer spots for Shang-Chi 2. And while Disney doesn’t date Spidey films, that 4th movie is looming out there, so perhaps one of these 2025 films might come off the schedule entirely to make room for Spidey 4.

    Summary: Phase 6 starts later than expected, but with the same project (Fantastic Four). It also ends later, but with the same project (Avengers: Secret Wars).

    2026

    As announced at SDCC ’22, Avengers: Secret Wars was intended to close out Phase 6 and the Multiverse Saga in November of 2025. The next day, Disney slated 4 Untitled Marvel Studios films for 2026, all meant to kick off Phase 7. But as the delay of Blade led to the delay of another project and another project and so on, Avengers: Secret Wars found itself bumped 5 months to May of 2026. But being the capstone project of the entire Multiverse Saga, moving Secret Wars ultimately means delaying the end of Phase 6 and the start of Phase 7.

    Additionally, in shifting from November 7, 2025 to May 1, 2026, Avengers: Secret Wars actually jumped 2 dates. On the surface and without further changes, this adds a 6th film to the Phase 6 slate. We don’t know what the untitled films are, but when the slate for Phase 6 was revealed, it was comprised of 5 films. With things the way they are now, it’s 6 and this seems like a pretty major change to a slate that one would assume is pretty well planned out and only holds the requisite number of projects to tell the story. The scenario described in the 2025 section above provides some relief to that by removing one of those films to make way for Spidey 4. The best guess here is that Marvel Studios is NOT done shuffling and that these dates should be viewed as placeholders and nothing more.

    Summary: Phase 6 not only ends later but with Avengers: Secret Wars jumping 2 release dates, it currently includes one additional film that was previously slated for Phase 7.

    Realistically, any analysis is probably a waste of time because the only constant with Marvel Studios’ slate of projects is change. So for now, tracking the changes and thinking about how they might lead to more is both the best we can do and the worst thing we can do because it sends us down a path with no clarity just past the horizon.

  • ‘Rosaline’: Kyle Allen on His “Dimwitted” Romeo’s Obsession

    ‘Rosaline’: Kyle Allen on His “Dimwitted” Romeo’s Obsession

    For centuries, Romeo and Juliet has been used as inspiration for what’s likely an incalculable number of stories about star-crossed lovers. From direct retellings such as 1936’s and 1968’s Romeo and Juliet and 1996’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet to reimaginings such as Gnomeo and Juliet and Warm Bodies, the love story of the titular characters has been etched into the collective consciousness of us all. The main beats of the story are fairly well-known as young students across the globe are exposed to it as part of their studies making the beginning, middle and end of Shakespeare’s play common knowledge.

    With an ending as traumatic and final as the one written by the Bard, a sequel to the story would be a tough nut to crack if one wanted to extend the story; however, prequels and/or concurrent stories focusing on other characters who survived the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues are fair game and that’s where Hulu found inspiration for their upcoming film Rosaline. The unseen character is the unrequited love of Romeo at the beginning of the play and the reason he ultimately decides to attend the Capulet party where he meets and falls in love with Juliet.

    Romeo’s quick change of heart upon seeing Juliet has often been seen as love at first sight but taken another way, it’s really just a young man who is a romantic and is in love with the idea of being in love. At a recent global press conference for Rosaline, actor Kyle Allen, who brings Romeo to life in the film, discussed that very topic.

    Romeo would fall in love with a stick if you’d let him. He’s completely obsessed with the concept and the idea of love. And other than that, that’s pretty much the entirety of his personality. He doesn’t have much else going on.

    Kyle Allen

    Allen goes on to describe Romeo as “dimwitted” which is a nice way of saying that for much of the time audiences are engaged with the character, his decisions aren’t made by his brain so much as…well, not his brain. What will this latest Romeo and Juliet-inspired tale add to the collective story? Fans can find out when Rosaline streams on Hulu, beginning October 14th.

  • REVIEW: ‘Andor’ Episode 6

    REVIEW: ‘Andor’ Episode 6

    The idea that the collective nose of the Empire is so upturned that they can’t see what’s going on right beneath it has been a central theme through the first five episodes of Andor. Key members of the fledgling Rebellion, including Cassian, understand this perception and it’s become a crack in the Imperial armor that they’ve learned to exploit. Episode 6, “The Eye”, opens with a reminder of just how much disdain the Empire has for those they see as beneath them and ends with the Empire feeling for the first time just how dangerous these people they’ve regarded as inferiors can be. However, as the season progresses into its second half, the galaxy just became a much more dangerous place for those who wish to take down the Empire.

    “The Eye” was many things and chief among them was that it was the first time that Andor really leaned into being a Star Wars series while also continuing its expansion of what a Star Wars series can be. Seeing and hearing the Tie Fighters roar into action rang the Star Wars bell, but setting the familiar chase scene amidst the beauty and rarity of the natural phenomenon occurring on Aldhani continues the hot streak for this creative team. They continue to world-build in a world that’s been accused of being too small in a galaxy so large. Why does everything happen on Tattooine? Why is everyone a Skywalker or know one? Why does Luke have to be in everything? It would have been low-hanging fruit to have Palpatine cameo in the brief Senate scene. They chose to keep the focus on Mon Mothma, who will become central to the series and the growing rebellion. Andor continues to trend away from these issues and cameos, content to exist and be judged on its own merits rather than connect itself to familiar faces and places.

    Episode 6 works incredibly well as a conclusion not only to the first half of Season 1 but also to the four-episode arc that introduced Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael and to the three-episode arc that saw Rael’s scheme unfold and, ultimately be successfully completed. It works so well as a conclusion that if Episode 6 had been the end of Season 1 of Andor, it would be hard to argue that it had been anything other than a triumph. The mission is complete; Cassian did Cassian things; the Empire is now aware that there’s a stick in their eye. The closing shot of Rael, who feared he may have overreached in his efforts to attack the Empire, finally releasing the tension he expressed in the closing shot of Episode 5. So many of the storylines put into play were tied up neatly by the events of Episode 6 and that’s no easy thing to ensure. The team of director Susanna White, writer Dan Gilroy and creator Tony Gilroy could be commended for putting the finishing touches on what’s arguably the best streaming series Star Wars has released on Disney Plus. But the brilliance of the series lies in the fact that Episode 6 serves both as the end of one arc and the beginning of another.

    For all its brilliance so far, Andor is just getting off the ground. By tying up the intersecting storylines with the completion of the mission on Aldhani, the series activated other storylines that had been weaved into the first six episodes. Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero, who had warned her superior that a threat was growing, is now on the precipice of becoming a central part of the second half of the season. With Cassian now back on his own, it’s time for Kyle Soller’s Syril Karn to get off the bench and get into the action. The investment in introducing and developing so many characters made by Tony Gilroy is about to pay dividends. Cassian, Mon Mothma and Luten Rael have had their moment. It certainly feels like the Empire is about to strike back.

  • Dwayne Johnson Promises a Major Showdown Ahead in the DC Universe

    Dwayne Johnson Promises a Major Showdown Ahead in the DC Universe

    It’s been said so much that it’s become a meme: the hierarchy of power in the DC Unvierse is changing. In just a couple of weeks, fans will see for themselves what Dwayne Johnson has been teasing when Black Adam hits theaters. Johnson has called the long-gestating project the “hardest undertaking of [his] entire career physically & mentally” and has maintained his passion for bringing the character to the screen for the better part of a decade.

    With the future of the DC Universe uncertain in the wake of massive ongoing changes at WB, it’s safe to say that all eyes will be on the box office performance of Black Adam as WB decides just what the future holds. While the execs might be debating what’s next, Johnson is pretty bullish on what he thinks needs to happen and, in an interview with CinemBlend, he made it very clear: Black Adam vs. Superman. When asked if he intends for the two titans to go toe-to-toe on screen, Johnson held nothing back, saying, “Absolutely. That is the whole point of this man. Thank you for asking that.“

    Johnson continued on, giving some insight into what the new DC era he’ been talking about really means

    And I have been saying for some time, there’s a new era in the DC Universe that’s about to begin. And what I meant by that was introducing a brand new character. It’s not a sequel, not an existing IP. It was…you know, Black Adam! Two years ago the world had no idea who he was. We did, but not, you know, the rest of the mass out there. Introducing the JSA, introducing that new era of the DC universe.

    Dwayne Johson

    According to Johson, however, the new era isn’t just about introducing new characters. It’s also about giving the fans what they want, including more Superman.

    But also what I really meant by, ‘This is a new era in the DC Universe,’ is listening to the fans. Listening to the fans. And doing our best to give the fans what they want. And maybe, sometime down the road — and I went through this in pro wrestling — is you can’t always give them what you want. But you’ll always know that we’re listening. And in this case, with what you and I are talking about, I have been listening and I’ve been wanting to address fans for years. Because I’ve been waiting for someone to step up and address the fans and say, ‘Hey, we hear you.’ So finally, after many months turned into many years, we ended up with what we ended up at. And the whole goal and intention now is to this new era, new time. Now let’s build out.

    Dwayne Johnson

    Rumors continue to proliferate that Henry Cavill’s Kal-El makes an appearance in Black Adam, but it sounds as though Johnson has more than just a brief meeting between the two in mind. While everyone is waiting for the Shazam/Black Adam movie, it seems Johnson has other plans.

    Source: CinemaBlend

  • ‘Interview with the Vampire’ Episode 2 Teases One of the Immortal Universe’s Most Powerful Vampires

    ‘Interview with the Vampire’ Episode 2 Teases One of the Immortal Universe’s Most Powerful Vampires

    AMC’s Interview with the Vampire is only two episodes into its first season but it has already begun building out what promises to be an expansive world. The studio has plans to use Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches novels to develop their own shared universe, called the Immortal Universe. Interview with the Vampire is the first of what could be many adaptations of the Vampire Chronicles and it will be followed in January by the Alexandria Daddario-led Mayfair Witches series. Episode 1 of Interview with the Vampire briefly teased the family of witches being present in New Orleans when Louis and Lestat were active there; now a name drop in Episode 2 could start the process of detailing the very long and twisting history of vampires in the Immortal Universe.

    In the opening minutes of Episode 2, “After the Phantoms of Your Former Self”, Daniel Malloy inspects one of Louis’ “rare” relics: a painting from an artist named Marius de Romanus. When Malloy mentions he’s never heard of the artist, Louis’ assistant mentions that little of his work survived and both Malloy and the audience moved on. However, if AMC’s plans for the Immortal Universe play out as expected, it’s likely the audience will hear much more about and from Marius at some point in time.

    One of the oldest vampires in existence, Marius is over 2,000 years old, having been born as a bastard in 30 B.C. Turned by a vampire named Teskhamen, who served the first two vampires, Akasha and Enkil, Marius was immediately an incredibly powerful vampire whose strength grew over time. Eventually, Marius came to be the caretaker of Akasha and Enkil, known as Those Who Must Be Kept, who he looked after for centuries. Marius made several fledgling vampires, most notably Armand, whose path is destined to intersect with Louis’, perhaps even in this first season.

    Marius plays a major role in many of Rice’s sequel novels to Interview with the Vampire and it would be shocking if he didn’t appear in some form in the first two seasons before taking on a major role down the road. So far, AMC has done a fantastic job of planting the smallest of seeds and giving them time to grow and bear fruit down the road. Will the trend continue in Episode 3?

  • Charlie Cox Calls ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ a “Whole New Deal”

    Charlie Cox Calls ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ a “Whole New Deal”

    Even in the midst of the Multiverse Saga, accepting Multiversal Variants continues to prove difficult for fans. While an entire series can be built around a Variant of a dead character hanging out with a genderswapped Variant of himself and meeting a villain who defends the timeline against Variants of himself, apparently there can only be one Daredevil. An All-New, All-Different Daredevil recently appeared in the eighth episode of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, full of new tricks, a new personality and a new suit, but the debate as to whether or not this MCU Daredevil is the same guy fans met in Netflix’s Defenders-verse continues.

    However, as fans of the Netflix series continue to search for definitive evidence, star Charlie Cox continues to make it sound as though it’s going to be harder and harder to find. In an interview with ET following D23, Cox seemed pretty firm in his belief that this Matt Murdock isn’t EXACTLY that Defenders-verse guy. When asked about the recently announced Daredevil: Born Again, Cox spoke pretty plainly, saying, “Kevin has been very clear about it being Season 1, not a Season 4, so it’s a whole new deal.” Fans shouldn’t need enhanced senses to hear what’s being said by Cox there. Even so, Cox continued on indicating that he’d like to see Murdock’s journey retold back to the origin, as often happens in the comics.

    What’s great about that is that we potentially get to tell some of the stories over and over again, in the same way that they do in the comics. Every now and then they start back in the beginning of Murdock’s journey as a little boy and they tell the whole origin story again, so maybe we’ll get to do that. I don’t know.

    Charlie Cox

    Not even Peter Parker got his origins retold as he joined the MCU and given the way the concept of Variants works, it’s hard to imagine a new Matt like the one seen in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law diverged from Netflix Matt as far back as the hero’s origin story. Cox’s words paint a pretty clear picture of where he believes Feige stands, who would of course have FINAL say on just how different the anyo one Variant is from another. However, until Feige says it to a camera, plenty of fans will be reticent to believe Cox’s words. Whatever the case, Daredevil is in the MCU and Cox is having a blast in the role. So no matter which Variant you think you’re getting, you should be happy!

    Source: ET

  • REVIEW: ‘Interview with the Vampire’ Episode 2

    REVIEW: ‘Interview with the Vampire’ Episode 2

    If Episode 1 of Interview with the Vampire served to introduce Louis and Lestat and their immortal bond, Episode 2, “After the Phantoms of Your Former Self”, served to introduce their tempestuous relationship. The Louis who narrates his tale to Daniel Malloy isn’t much of a vampire, choosing not to hunt but rather to take small drinks from willing familiars or drink blood stored in bags. How he came to be the Louis in the present day has nearly everything to do with how his relationship with Lestat ebbed and flowed and this episode provides the earliest inklings of how things will progress.

    From Louis’ first, awkward kill in the episode’s opening half, Lestat’s nature as a killer begins to come into contrast with Louis’. Though Lestat tells his pupil that murdering his victims will get easier over time, the truth is that Louis never took to it as his mentor did. Over the course of the episode, Louis becomes appalled first with himself after finding himself tempted to drain his sister’s baby and then later with Lestat who views his kills as an expression of his inner artist. Their debate over how to properly dispatch their food ends in Lestat screaming at Louis, imploring him to embrace his new powers: “you’re a killer, Louis!” While these words are among some of the more famous from Anne Rice’s novels to be quoted in this episode, rather than put Louis on the course Lestat hopes they will, they set him instead on the one that makes him evolve into the present day version willing to tell his story to Malloy. Louis and Lestat’s love-hate relationship drives so much of Rice’s novels and it seems that the series is willing to spend time developing it, rather than rushing it, meaning the payoff down the road should be all the better.

    By spending so much time developing the relationship between the two leads, the episode left itself little time to do much else. A little world-building early on (Louis explains to Malloy that one of his paintings is by Marius de Romanus, one of the world’s oldest vampires) and a subtle hint to just how strong Louis is for having been made by Lestat (his trip into the sun, while painful does little damage) stand out, especially to those familiar with Rice’s works. But beyond that, the episode does exactly what it seems it was intended to do: put the drama between Louis and his maker on full display, setting up a season’s worth of conflict.

  • ‘Werewolf By Night’ Confirmed to Take Place Post-Endgame

    ‘Werewolf By Night’ Confirmed to Take Place Post-Endgame

    Unlike nearly every other Marvel Studios project, Werewolf By Night took place entirely in its own corner of the MCU. No cameos. No callbacks. Just a self-contained special presentation that introduced a neatly retrofitted history of monsters and those who hunt them. As wonderful as it was, however, its ability to stand on its own (short of a 2-second reference to the Avengers) made it tough to determine just where it exists within the MCU’s ever-expanding timeline. Fortunately, Disney Plus has put it in its place.

    Outside of a few dates on the graves of the Bloodstone family, there was really nothing given to place WHEN the events of Michael Giacchino’s project took place and the black and white presentation of it certainly makes it feel “longer ago” than when it actually was…which as it turns out, is right now in Marvel Studios’ present day. According to Disney Plus, the events of the night depicted in Werewolf By Night take place just around the same time as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Ms. Marvel and Thor: Love and Thunder. That means that not only does the MCU have a long history of monsters, it has a present which means it could have a future!

    With Werewolf By Night’s timeline established, it leaves Black Widow as the only Phase 4 project set outside of the present day as its events took place prior to Avengers: Infinity War, making them part of the Infinity Saga. It’s of note that since Werewolf By Night does take place in the present day, the idea that the Bloodstone could play a role in the coming events in projects such as Avengers:The Kang Dynasty remains firmly on the table.

  • ‘Werewolf By Night’ A First for Marvel Studios in More Ways Than One

    ‘Werewolf By Night’ A First for Marvel Studios in More Ways Than One

    Marvel Studios Werewolf By Night debuted to praise from fans and critics alike, being hailed as a unique project for the studio in terms of both content and tone. The first of what’s expected to be many more Special Presentations for the studio, Michael Giacchino’s horror homage introduced a world of monsters and those that hunt them and was a little more violent than typical Marvel Studios’ fare. But being the first Special presentation and opening up a whole new world of characters and stories wasn’t all for the project as it also became the first Marvel Studios’ project on Disney Plus NOT to include some sort of post-credit tag.

    Dating back to WandaVision, Marvel Studios has included at least one post-credit or mid-credit scene in every one of their Disney Plus streaming series, both live-action and animated. An argument can be made that the post-credit scenes have become a distraction, often taking away from the discourse around the body of the project and focusing on “what’s next.” And so despite rumors that actor Jaycob Maya would appear as lycanthrope Jake Gomez in a Werewolf By Night tag, he was nowhere to be found.

    Giacchino recently stated that he had no intention of his project serving as a pilot for future horror installments, so it’s not entirely surprising that he put a bow on the story without teasing anything more. Sure, fans can wonder what Elsa, Jack and Ted might get up to next and exactly what the nature of the Bloodstone might be, but there were no promises made via a post-credit scene and that’s ok. Not even a “Jack will return” text appeared on screen. Too often, those promises aren’t kept or generate speculation that ultimately leads to disappointment. So while it might not mark the END of the tradition, it’s nice to see that the creators don’t feel beholden to it, allowing for them to use them as they see fit.