Author: Charles Murphy

How the ‘Black Widow’ Post-Credit Scene Ties into ‘Hawkeye’

The most recent social media spot for the Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Hawkeye promised some big surprises for the second half of the season. Prominent among the teases in the spot was a character, who was supposed to be mysterious, dressed in black with some rather interesting headgear. Fans of the comics immediately recognized that character as Yelena Belova, wearing her signature headgear from her days working for A.I.M. as the Adaptoid.

Rather than working for A.I.M., the MCU’s Yelena was revealed to be working for Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. While Val’s larger agenda is yet to be revealed, we do know that in the short-term, she has put Yelena on the trail of one of the heroes of Hawkeye: Clint Barton. When Val and Yelena met during the post-credit scene of this Summer’s Black Widow, we didn’t have enough information to fully understand the threat Yelena’s pursuit of Barton could pose. Thanks to a trade report, fans already knew Florence Pugh was going to appear in Hawkeye and the scene spelled out that she and Barton would be facing off against one another, but it wasn’t until fans worked through the first 3 episodes of the series that we could truly see the kind of trouble Belova could make for Clint.

The first 3 episodes of Hawkeye have spent a significant amount of time dealing with the fallout of Kate putting on the Ronin suit. The suit put Kate in danger, brought her and Clint together and put them both on the radar of the Tracksuits and their boss and, as we learned in Episode 3, “Echoes”, brings back painful memories for Maya Lopez as the Ronin was responsible for the death of her father. As Episode 3 ended, Clint’s secret was still safe but it seems like it’s only a matter of time until his past truly comes back to haunt him. And now that we can tie it all together, it seems like it’ll be Yelena that brings everything crashing down on Barton.

Despite only a couple people being shown to have been aware that Clint was the man behind the Ronin mask, it turns out that Val, who seems to be pretty resourceful, was in the know all along. As our friend Caleb Borchers pointed out on Twitter, Val didn’t just sent Yelena after Clint, she sent her after Ronin Clint. And that’s going to cause Clint a whole lot more headaches.

Important detail I noticed in BW the other night. Val shows Yelena a pic of Clint IN THE RONIN SUIT. I thought nothing of it at the time, but in a world where no one knows he was Ronin, it's a big detail.
— Caleb Borchers (@CalebABorchers) December 5, 2021

It seems safe to say that once Yelena enters the picture, Clint’s secret identity will be revealed to all interested parties in some way. How will Kate deal with the fact that her hero is a murderer? How will Echo respond to finally learning the identity of her father’s killer? What will Wilson Fisk’s move be when he learns it was an Avenger that nearly wiped out his criminal empire? Of course, Yelena is operating on bad info from Val, so what will happen when she learns the truth about what happened to Natasha? The second half of this season might not quite have the surprises the spot promised, but it certainly will have a lot of drama all tied to Kate putting on that damn suit.

The first 3 episodes of Hawkeye are now streaming on Disney Plus.

December 5, 2021
The Pulse: Collecting the Biggest News of the Week of November 29th-December 4th
‘Spider-Man: No Way’ Home Still a Work in Progress

Despite having been screened recently and releasing in just under 2 weeks, Spider-Man: No Way Home is still not a finished product. While this is a common occurrence for VFX heavy films, that hasn’t stopped intrepid internet personalities from spinning it as a once-in-a-lifetime event that spells doom for the upcoming film. Doom…is that a hint? Are they VFXing Doom into the film?

‘No Way Home’ Will Make a Lot of Money

For a film that’s not finished yet, Spider-Man: No Way Home looks like it’ll be the biggest money maker of 2021. Advance ticket sales for the film exceeded those of Avengers: Endgame and weren’t even remotely comparable to other Marvel films that released this year. Current domestic opening weekend projections put it between $190-250M, potentially more than doubling the current high water mark for 2021 which somehow came from Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

More Spidey

Amy Pascal is up to her old tricks again! Earlier this week, the Sony exec, in an interview with Fandango, let it be known that Sony and Marvel Studios would continue their collaboration on future Spider-Man films, likely much to the surprise of Kevin Feige. Here’s to hoping that when Feige finds out, they keep making these movies until 2099.

One of DC’s Oldest Properties Getting an Animated Adpatation

Way back in 1962, DC Comics published Metal Men, a series about some “men” made of different metals. 60 years later, they’ll make their way to the big screen, or at least HBO Max, in an animated adaptation of the comic. Ron Clements, Celeste Ballard and John Musker, who worked on the animated Disney classic, The Little Mermaid, are working on the adaptation for DC. We truly are living in the golden or iron or lead or mercury or tin or platinum age of comic book adaptations.

Real-Life Vampire Nic Cage to Star with Awkwafina in Dracula Movie Not Titled Dracula

You truly can’t make this shit up. Universal, who refuses to give up on their “monster-verse” has cast Nicolas Cage, who has been accused of actually being a vampire, has been cast as Dracula in Universal’s Dracula movie appropriately titled, Renfield. The film will star Nicholas Hoult as Renfield and Awkwafina as we don’t know who. The film will be directed by Chris McKay, who will almost certainly get around to making Nightwing as soon as he’s done with this one.

Cobie Smulders’ Secret Invasion Role is Confusion
With Nick Fury as the lead in the Marvel Studios streaming series Secret Invasion, it seemed a sure thing that Maria Hill would return despite not being a part of the official cast announcement. As it turns out, actress Cobie Smulders, who has portrayed Hill in at least 2 MCU films, is in Secret Invasion; however, thanks to the trade report about her involvement, we’re not quite sure who she is playing. While it would seem like she’d be back as Hill, the trade report mentioned she was playing a “newly created character”, so either they’re high or they just spoiled something major about the series.

Ron Weasley Actor Still Acting

Turns out that Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley over the course of roughly 45 Harry Potter films, is still acting. The 33-year old has been cast has been cast in horror maestro Guillermo del Toro’s latest project, Cabinet of Curiosities. It’s unclear if Grint is the lead and the project will explore the curious career choices of the actor, or if he’ll be a curiosity in the titular cabinet.
December 4, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Morbius’ Filming Additional Scenes Involving Michael Keaton’s Vulture

Recently, during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Michael Keaton told the host that he would soon be reprising the role of Adrian Toomes, a character he first played in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and then again in Sony’s Morbius, which is set to release late next month. Keaton’s nonchalant, matter of fact delivery of the news set fans abuzz as they began to speculate on what property he might be working on. Fans began to wonder if we was doing some additional photography on Morbius or if he might be joining Spider-Man: No Way Home or if he was joining some unknown, mystery project.

While I have yet to hear Keaton’s name attached to Spider-Man: No Way Home, we can exclusively reveal that his work on his role in Morbius is still ongoing with just 7 weeks until release. Though we don’t have details on whether Keaton was working on reshoots or additional photography, the work isn’t done quite yet as scenes with the character will be filmed next week.

To this point, Keaton’s appearance in the footage that’s been released for Morbius point towards the character making what amounts to an extended cameo. However, if Sony has been filming scenes with the character for the past two weeks, it would seem like an attempt to beef up the role in the upcoming film. With Venom: Let There Be Carnage opening a way for character’s from Sony’s Marvel films to crossover into the MCU and with Amy Pascal indicating that Sony and Marvel Studios are continuing their collaboration, anything is possible in terms of what to expect from Keaton’s role in the future.

December 4, 2021
Amazon Exclusive Kate Bishop Funko Pop! Available for Pre-Order

With the Marvel Studios series Hawkeye now streaming on Disney Plus, a steady stream of merch and collectibles related to the show has started to be rolled out. We’ve seen Clint Barton, Kate and Lucky and Echo Funko Pops come available for pre-order over the past two weeks and now there’s one more for collectors to add to the set as an Amazon Exclusive Kate Bishop Pop is now available for pre-order.

The Amazon Exclusive figure sets itself apart from the previous version by having Kate draw back on her bow and, sadly, does not feature Lucky. You can pre-order the Pop, which is set to ship in March, here for $12.99.

Murphy’s Multiverse is an Amazon affiliate.

December 4, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Wimpy Kid’ Star Brady Noon Reflects on His First Voice Acting Experience

The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies and schools to change the way their day-to-day operations worked. Hollywood was no different. After briefly pausing all productions, the film industry stayed true to the old saying, “the show must go on”, and quickly shifted gears. Part of that shift saw productions being worked on from home. For Diary of a Wimply Kid star Brady Noon, that meant work on his first voice acting role as Greg Heffley, took place from a home studio.

Arlyn Murphy interviewed the star earlier this week and the two teens talked about talked about Noon’s first voice-acting role and shared a laugh when Murphy compared Noon’s description of working from home to virtual schooling during the pandemic.

Noon: It was great! Coming from live-action into the studio was something that I’d never done before and something that I was extremely looking forward to and I liked the concept that I could wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt to work. That was a nice little change. Overall, I’m super happy with how it turned out and it’s something that I would like to continue doing in my career.

Murphy: Sounds like virtual school. That’s fun.

Noon: Yeah! (Laughter)

The comparison to online pandemic learning is a fair one as students across the globe experienced a massive paradigm shift in education. While students were ostensibly “doing school” from the comfort and safety of their homes and were in communication with their teachers, the feedback loop that is such a big part of the educational process took a different form. Something similar is probably true about actors working on voice roles from home without a director there in person. It’s encouraging to hear that Noon enjoyed working on the film that way as it seems he’ll be a big part of the plans writer and executive producer Jeff Kinney has for further adaptations of the series.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is now streaming on Disney Plus.

December 4, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Author Hopes to Adapt the Entire Series into Disney + Films

The all-new animated film Diary of a Wimpy Kid is now streaming on Disney Plus (you can read our review of the film right here!). The film is an adaptation of the first book in the popular children’s series by author Jeff Kinney. Kinney, who wrote the screenplay for the new movie and also served as an executive producer, talked with Murphy’s Multiverse’s own Arlyn Murphy this week about the new film.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is served in an easy-to-digest 56-minute runtime full of heart and humor and some great characters. An adaptation of the second book in the series, Rodrick Rules, is already in development as a sequel that is planned for a 2022 release, but we could just be seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the books being adapted for Disney Plus. Murphy asked Kinney if he had plans to continue to adapt the series (the 16th entry to the series, Big Shot, was just released at the end of October), and Kinney was optimistic about the prospects:

I hope so. And I hope we can make them longer, too. The Rodrick Rules one is a little longer than the first one. I really hope we get to do lots of these stories because we’re really trying to do a good job and we’re not just spitting them out. We’re sort of really taking our time in crafting them and I love that so I hope we can tell lots of stories.

As Murphy noted in her review of the film, the new adaptation makes some emotional additions to the book. With Kinney overseeing the projects, we know the stories of Greg Heffley and his family and friends are in good hands.

December 3, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy’ Kid Author Has No Plans to End the Beloved Series

It took author Jeff Kinney nearly 8 years to get his first book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, published in 2007. Since then, the author has continued to kick out sequels at a prolific rate with at least one Wimpy Kid book being released each year since. The first book was adapted into a live-action film in 2010 and now Kinney worked with Disney to bring the familiar animation style to Disney Plus in the all-new short film Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Arlyn Murphy sat down with Kinney to talk about the new movie and the future of book series. Murphy and Kinney talked about the inspiration behind the book series and the process in getting the first one to print. When asked if he had any end in mind for Greg’s story, Kinney’s reply indicated that we should plan on many more stories about the adventures of Greg Heffley and friends.

Yeah, I was joking on Twitter…somebody said “When will the series end?” and I said, “It will end when I end.” And I got like 100,000 likes to that and I was like, “Oh man, I shouldn’t have said that!” But that is how I feel. A good cartoonist, I think, sticks with their property. I think we all feel sad when a cartoon character goes away, you know, so I’m gonna do this for a while if I can.

Kinney’s love for the characters he has created comes through not only in the novels but in the new film. His message of perseverance in the face of challenges is a great one and his success shows the power of betting on yourself. The most recent entry in the Wimpy Kid series, Big Shot, is available now at Amazon and wherever books are sold.

You can read Murphy’s review of the new animated film here and check back at Murphy’s Multiverse for more coverage of the movie and interviews with Kinney and the film’s lead, Brady Noon.

December 3, 2021
‘Hawkeye’ Series Echo Funko Pop! Now Available for Pre-Order

Maya Lopez made her MCU debut in this week’s episode of Hawkeye and made quite the impression. Fan response to the character, portrayed by newcomer Alaqua Cox, has been incredible with many looking forward to seeing more of the character. The good news on that front is that Cox will star in her own series, Echo, which is likely to stream in 2023. And now, Entertainment Earth has made the first ever Maya Lopez Funko Pop! available for pre-order.

The new Pop is available for pre-order now at Entertainment Earth by clicking right here. The Pop, which is scheduled to ship in February, is selling for $11.99. Completist collectors might also be interested in the Kate Bishop and Lucky set as well as as the Clint Barton Pop!

Murphy’s Multiverse is an Entertainment Earth affiliate.

December 3, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Star Brady Noon Reveals His Favorite Book in the Series

Like many kids his age, 15-year old Brady Noon has grown up in a Wimpy Kid world. At least one Diary of a Wimpy Kid book has been published every year since 2007, including the latest entry in the series, Big Shot, which was released this October. Additionally, four of the books (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rodrick Rules, Dog Days and The Long Haul) were adapted into live-action films between 2010 and 2017.

Now Disney Plus is working with author Jeff Kinney to adapt the books into a series of animated films beginning with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which starts streaming tomorrow and Noon, who starred on the D+ series, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, is now a part of that world, voicing the lead character, Greg Heffley. Arlyn Murphy had a chance to speak with Noon ahead of the film’s release and asked him if he was a fan of the Wimpy Kid books growing up.

I was! Third and Fourth grade were probably around the first time I picked up a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and I started reading it and I grew up, my young childhood, on the movies and the books, so just to be part of such an amazing franchise is just such a dream come true.

Murphy followed up by asking Noon if one book among the 16 in the series stood out to him as a favorite, to which Noon replied, “Yeah, definitely the first one. Can’t go wrong with the original one is kind of how I look at it.” Given the massive franchise the original 2007 book has spawned, Noon’s not wrong!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid begins streaming on Disney Plus December 3rd.

December 2, 2021
Exclusive: Mighty Ducks Star Brady Noon Wants to Be the Next Wolverine

Brady Noon is breaking out. Following his recurring role as Tommy Darmody in Boardwalk Empire, Noon co-starred in 2019’s Good Boys before landing the lead in the Disney Plus series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. Noon’s latest project is the Disney Plus original animated film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid where the 15-year old actor voiced Greg Heffley, the main character and the titular wimpy kid.

Disney and Noon seem to have a good relationship. He’s set to return for Season 2 of The Mighty Ducks and is expected to reprise the role of Greg in the 2022 Diary of a Wimpy Kid sequel, Rodrick Rules. As we’ve seen before, when Disney likes an actor, the studio likes to continue to work with them across multiple of their platforms. With that in mind, our Arlyn Murphy had an interesting question for Noon when they spoke earlier this week. Given that Disney owns Marvel Studios, Murphy asked Noon what Marvel character he’d like to bring to life if given his choice.

If I were to have to play any Marvel character, I’d probably want to play Wolverine as a kid or, like, Wolverine as a teenager. Being a young Hugh Jackman! I feel like that’d be pretty cool.

A younger Wolverine would certainly be one way for Marvel Studios to differentiate its version from the Fox version that Jackman played over two decades. We only briefly saw a young Logan in the Fox films, which rushed through the story told over six comic issues between 2001 and 2002 in Origin. A more direct adaptation of the comic might, in fact, make for a very good Disney Plus series, so Noon just might be onto something here. Could he be the first actor to go SNIKT in the MCU? With the direction his career is headed in now, it seems like anything is possible.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid hits Disney Plus on Dec. 3.

December 2, 2021