Author: Charles Murphy

  • The Pulse: Collecting the Biggest News of the Week of Oct. 31st-Nov. 6th

    The Pulse: Collecting the Biggest News of the Week of Oct. 31st-Nov. 6th

    Gael Garcia Bernal Will Be Hairy and Scary

    Marvel Reportedly Has Some Big Plans For Upcoming Disney+ Halloween Special

    For some time now, the rumor mill has been buzzing about the possibility of Jake Gomez being the MCU’s Werewolf By Night in the 2022 Halloween Special. Now, with the casting of award-winning actor Gael Garcia Bernal as the lead in the event, it seems even more likely.

    Netflix’s Live-Action Avatar is Heating Up

    STEVEN LIPPMAN | MENS HEALTH | DANIEL DAE KIM | 3

    Daniel Dae Kim has joined the cast of Netflix’s adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender amidst reports that the streaming series was searching for some fire benders. The ambitious series looks like it is currently set to stream late in 2022.

    What is Dead Can Never Die: ‘Titans’ Season 5 Confirmed

    TEEN TITANS VOL. 3: DEATH OF THE FAMILY | DC

    In a move not even the most hardcore DC fans can explain, the HBO Max streaming series Titans is coming back for not only a 4th season, but also a 5th. Nobody is taking the news harder than our own Mary Maerz who is questioning the series of unfortunate events that led her to Murphy’s Multiverse and in the unenviable role of the reviewer of Titans.

    ‘The Incal’ adapation finds its director in Taika Waititi

    At a time when Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune is being hailed as a major cinematic accomplishment, The Incal adaptation is a few steps closer to having its own time to shine on the big screen, with Taika Waititi at the helm. What do these projects have in common? Well, a lot. Alejandro Jodorowsky is famous for having unsuccessfully tried to adapt and film Frank Herbert‘s 1965 Dune in the mid-1970s. After that, one of his projects was a graphic novel series written by himself and originally illustrated by Jean Giraud: The Incal. A project that includes and expands the concepts and artwork from the abandoned Dune film.

    Laurie Holden as Crimson Countess in ‘The Boys’ Season 3

    Amazon struck gold with its adaption of Garth Ennis’ The Boys, a world where the superheroes aren’t kept in check and act as they please. In the upcoming season, things are set to get even crazier than before with the arrival of Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, and superhero team Payback. But these won’t be the only members of the team making their way to Vought this season, as Laurie Holden is already set to debut as Crimson Countess, their play on Scarlet Witch.

    Lucasfilm Seemingly Fast Tracking a Film Based on the Old Republic

    old republic movie

    A few months back, we got the reveal that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was getting a remake exclusively for PlayStation 5. Now, it seems Lucasfilm also wants to take a look into that timeline in an upcoming film. It is seemingly eyeing a 2023 release set during the Old Republic that is set to enter production sometime next year.

  • BREAKING: Production on ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Delayed Indefinitely

    BREAKING: Production on ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Delayed Indefinitely

    As star Letitia Wright continues to recover from an injury suffered during filming earlier this year, production on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has come to a halt. According to a trade report, the production has worked around the injury as Wright heals but, at this time, have filmed everything they can without the actress who is rumored to be among the favorites to assume the mantle of Black Panther in the film.

    The studio has its eye on resuming filming at some point early next year and with the film recently has seen its release date shifted from July to November, the film should easily make its scheduled date if things go according to plan. It’s uncertain if perhaps these events were also playing into the delay to ensure it wouldn’t have to cut it close.

    It’s good that they aren’t forcing production if Wright isn’t healed enough to play her role. Interestingly, they filmed all the scenes that don’t involve her, which may hint that they are going to wrap up production soon, or also hints at her strong presence in the sequel. As of now, it seems very likely the film won’t face any delays if they can resume production in early 2022. They might use this time to finish up other work

  • Andrew Garfield Describes His Time As Spider-Man as a Heartbreaking Awakening

    Andrew Garfield Describes His Time As Spider-Man as a Heartbreaking Awakening

    To a generation, Andrew Garfield IS Peter Parker. And in an interview with The Guardian, the actor describes how his time as Spider-Man served as his own coming of age story.

    Garfield played Peter Parker/Spider-Man over the course of two films in 2012 and 2014. The actor became beloved for his portrayal of the character in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but according to him the experience opened his eyes to the nature of the money making machine that is Hollywood.

    I went from being a naive boy to growing up,” said Garfield. “There are millions of dollars at stake and that’s what guides the ship. It was a big awakening and it hurt.” The pain, according to Garfield, came from the realization that the studio wasn’t interested in the soul of the character and the fans that love him, but their bottom line:

    Comic-Con in San Diego is full of grown men and women still in touch with that pure thing the character meant to them…you add in market forces and test groups and suddenly the focus is less on the soul of it and more on ensuring we make as much money as possible. And I found that – find that – heartbreaking in all matters of the culture. Money is the thing that has corrupted all of us and led to the terrible ecological collapse that we are all about to die under.

    In the years since, Garfield has stayed away from major studio tentpole films though his return as the Web-slinger is this December’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is all but confirmed. Hopefully someone will check in with him again following that film to see what brought him back to the role after having such a negative experience the first time around.

    Source: The Guardian

  • The ‘Eternals’ Post-Credit Scene Hints at a Dark Legacy and An Uncertain Future for the Black Knight

    The ‘Eternals’ Post-Credit Scene Hints at a Dark Legacy and An Uncertain Future for the Black Knight

    You clicked on an article about a post-credit scene, so proceed at your own risk knowing it will be spoiled.

    It’s not just about the post-credit scene. Yes, that post-credit scene, which sees Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman interact with an evil, talking sword before being snapped out of a trance by Mahershala Ali’s Blade, is one of Marvel Studios’ best in recent memory, but it’s not just about that scene. Harrington’s role as Dane Whitman in Eternals turned out to be a lot smaller than most people had originally imagined but it perfectly set up the character for a terrifying future and put Harrington on a path to one of the MCU’s faces over the next decade.

    By the time Eternals‘ lengthy runtime expires, Harrington’s Whitman is surrounded in enough mystery to make him one of the more interesting characters to explore down the roads. All the hints are there: his estranged uncle, his “complicated” family history and, of course, the very, very dense post-credit scene all of which leaves a lot to unpack, especially for those unfamiliar with the character’s journey through the pages of Marvel Comics.

    While Harrington kindly pretends he doesn’t know what’s next for the character, it’s hard to imagine Kevin Feige and the Parliament do not and Eternals gives fans a pretty clear idea of what to expect in the eventual Black Knight project.

    The Funky Uncle

    While Facetiming with Dane from the Amazon, Sersi implores him to reach out to his uncle and put whatever it is behind them that’s left their relationship strained. That uncle is Nathan Garrett, a British geneticist and inventor and the ancestor of one of the Knights of the Roundtable, Sir Percy of Scandia. As an ancestor to Sir Percy (the Black Knight of Arthurian legend), Garrett inherited the ancestral Garrett Castle which held within it the Ebony Blade, a magical weapon that carries with it a terrible curse. Garrett was found unworthy of the blade, but found plenty of ways to use his natural gifts to become a villain, even joining the Masters of Evil at one point. Before he died, Garrett, in an effort to make good on his potential and make amends for a life of crime, reached out to his nephew and bequeathed him Garrett Castle and all the remained inside, including his brilliant research and the cursed Ebony Blade.

    The Complicated Family Legacy

    The MCU's Next Superweapon Is The Opposite Of Mjolnir

    As mentioned above, Whitman’s uncle is descendant of Sir Percy of Scandia which means so is Whitman. So Whitman is one of a long line of people who have had the cursed Ebony Blade, forged by Merlin himself and gifted to them as a birthright. Percy handed the blade to his nephew, Sir Raston (who was killed by Immortus) and from there it found its way through several owners throughout time, including members of the Knights Templar, before finding its way to Garrett Castle. As complicated as that family legacy may seem, it might be even further complicated in the MCU should they choose to pull a particular thread about some potential familial connections to King Arthur himself. What’s worse is that, as it turns out, it might not be the Ebony Blade that’s truly cursed, but the family itself as it was recently revealed during the King in Black event that the sword simply works with its wielder to reveal an unhealthy set of behaviors common in the line: blood lust, psychosis and extreme violence.

    What’s In the Box???

    And as you may have guessed, that’s the Ebony Blade in the post credit scene…and Marvel Studios knocked it out of the park. There’s no telling what origin the sword will have in the MCU, but they did their best to let us know it’s a terrifying artifact. As Dane opened the box, which was adorned with the same family crest seen on the ring Sersi gave him in the beginning of the film. the cursed sword began to call to Dane who then reads aloud (and not in modern English) the words “Death is my reward.” If that wasn’t creepy enough, as Dane reaches towards the blade, its surface reacts to what you have to believe is his DNA and behaves similarly to iron filings drawn towards a magnet. What plans Whitman has for the sword or vice versa will have to wait, however, as Blade interrupted their union. Choosing Blade as the interloper here is incredibly interesting as the time the two have shared together in the comics is minimal, but it does seem to indicate that the supernatural aspect of the sword will be something of interest later on.

    What’s Next?

    Marvel's Black Knight: Who Is Dane Whitman In The Comics

    Whitman’s Black Knight has been an Avenger. He’s been a part of Excalibur. He’s been a member of MI-13. He’s traveled throughout time. He’s fought Skrulls. He’s found himself on Weirdworld. With Harrington on board in the role, it’s reasonable to assume that not only will we see a Black Knight solo project in the not too distant future, but we’ll also likely see a lot of the young hero in other projects over the next decade or so. He’s a character with a rich enough comic book past to connect more of the MCU’s unexplored history (and could especially help unlock the enormous and greatly unexplored potential of the magic, myth and legends of Britain) while also helping shape its future. For Harrington, it’s not just another guy with a sword. Harrington has said on multiple occasions over the past several weeks that he’s drawn to the darker side of this character. Let’s hope Marvel Studios minimizes the changes and maximizes the potential of a character with an already fascinating and established story.

  • Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2023 Release Calendar, V2

    Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2023 Release Calendar, V2

    Earlier this year, we ran one hypothetical scenario for Marvel Studios 2023 release slate. A lot has changed since then (including the reshuffling of the film slate and a streaming series delay), so with Disney Plus Day coming up next week, we thought we’d shoot our shot at predicting how 2022 and 2023 might look. Here’s 2023, V2.

    Whereas 2022 started off with a Star Wars series, it’s possible that the late-2021 reshuffling of Marvel Studios projects may have allowed for a perfect bit of Disney synergy.

    This could allow the Disney+ Secret Invasion series to kick off the year and lead almost directly into The Marvels, a film with which it will share characters and, potentially, some plot points. If that’s the case, we could see an episode of Marvel Studios: Legends catch us up on Nick Fury and Talos on January 4th ahead of Secret Invasion’s 5-week run (prediction a 2-episode premiere here to keep things from overlapping).

    Marvel Studios: Legends episodes for Kamala Khan, Monica Rambeau, and, of course, Carol Danvers are a good bet the week of the release of their team-up appearance in The Marvels. If Disney+ keeps pushing these summaries out, we could see them on February 15th.

    The Marvels is starting to sound like another one of Marvel Studios’ highly ambitious team-up sequels, on par with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: Ragnarok. Looking back, those films set not only their main characters but also the supporting cast on new journeys that lead to some amazing, redefining arcs. We could see that happening here when The Marvels drops into theaters on its new date, February 17th, 2023.

    It can’t be all Marvel all the time. Season 3 of The Mandalorian would fit in nicely following The Marvels, meaning the next MCU project we could see would be episodes of Marvel Studios: Legends recapping the journeys of the Guardians. There would, by this time, be a LOT to do, so we could see the most loaded Legends day on May 3rd, 2023.

    James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, originally supposed to be in theaters in May of 2020, will finally arrive on May 5th, 2023. Adam Warlock, played by Will Poulter, is set to make his debut and, presumably, give the Guardians a hard time. However, we know that Gunn has said this film will be Rocket’s film and that it’s the final chapter in his telling of the story of this group, so Warlock will certainly not be the only new character we meet.

    Following the final chapter of the OG Guardians of the MCU, it’s likely we’ll get a bit of a break from the MCU, maybe for something like the Lucasfilm Ahsoka series in May. Marvel Studios could get back in the game with a Marvel Studios: Legends episode on Maya Lopez (and maybe Wilson Fisk) on June 7th before her series debuts the next week.

    We know almost nothing at this point about the solo Echo series other than it is described as a Hawkeye spinoff. There are rumors that both Hawkeyes and Kingpin will appear and that they are searching for Native American actors to, we think, play members of Echo’s family. This one has the feel of something that can be a pretty original spin on the character and it’s key that the focus is on Alaqua Cox’s Lopez. That said, don’t be surprised if some other familiar faces show up throughout the series.

    By the time Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters, it’ll have been 5 years since Ant-Man and The Wasp was in theaters. A little catching up on Scott, Cassie, Hope, Janet, and Hank sounds good…oh yeah, and Kang. Expect a few Marvel Studios: Legends episodes to air the week the film hits theaters.

    While Peyton Reed remains on board as the director, writer Jeff Loveness came on board AM&TW:Q to put a fresh spin on an existing draft. I’ve always heard this was going to be a much bigger film than either of the first two and having Jonathan Majors’ Kang involved certainly does nothing to dispel that rumor, though I am VERY curious what this one ends up being all about. We’ll all find out together July 28th, 2023.

    Another year, another season of What If…?.

    Riri Williams is set to make her debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in July of 2022, so the events of her show will almost certainly be influenced by/spin out of the events of that film. An episode of Marvel Studios: Legends will help new fans catch up on her story and sort through the 3 suits she goes through in the Black Panther sequel.

    Even though her series was announced in late 2020, it really does seem like it’ll be mid-to-late 2023 before we see our first episode of Ironheart. It won’t start filming until 2022 and will be part of a backlog of projects when it does. With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever being pushed to November 2022, it’s all but a sure thing we don’t see this follow-up series until 2023.

    This whole feature is an exercise in making wild guesses but by the time we’re at this portion of the 2023 calendar, the guesses are even wilder. Since we’re going with Cap 4 as the final 2023 film, we’re going with an episode or more of Marvel Studios: Legends ahead of time to catch us up on whoever needs to be caught up on.

    Captain America 4 is going here simply because, as of writing this, it’s the first movie scheduled to go into production in 2022 (currently set for a June start). Blade is set to go into production one month later, so it’s would be easy to imagine it could be here instead, but I went with the simplest explanation.

    Should Armor Wars be the MCU series that rounds out 2023, some episodes of Marvel Studios: Legends will be a necessity to catch up on Rhodey and whomever else they pack in here.

    By the time this series streams (hypothetically), it’ll be about 3 years since its surprise announcement at the 2020 Disney Plus Investor Day. Like Ironheart, Armor Wars is, in part, being pushed down the line as other projects get pushed down the line. In this case, we know that as of November 2021, the project was still in the EARLIEST days of development, so it’s reasonable to assume it won’t go into production until late 2022 so a late 2023 release date sounds right. It’s also intriguing that this film could have some themes in common with Captain America 4 (maybe they both deal, to some extent, with Sharon’s work as the Power Broker or with these heroes continuing to work through the legacies of their friends?) Either way, this show has a ton of potential to introduce some wild new characters to the MCU (CONTROLLER AND STILT-MAN!!) and it’s hard to think we still have 2 years to wait on it.

    Why anyone would try to guess what’s going to happen in 2023 when we aren’t even sure what’s happening in 2022 yet is beyond us, but we did it anyway. Again, bookmark this bad boy so we can come back to it later for a laugh.


  • Hailee Steinfeld Was Marvel Studios’ “Go-to-Girl” for the Role of Kate Bishop

    Hailee Steinfeld Was Marvel Studios’ “Go-to-Girl” for the Role of Kate Bishop

    For well over a year, fans rode a roller coaster as rumors of Hailee Steinfeld signing on as Kate Bishop ebbed and flowed. She was in; she was out; she signed on the dotted line; the project was delayed and might have cost her the role; the project was delayed and allowed her to land the role. In reality, nobody knew what to believe and it wasn’t until we got the first photos and videos of Steinfeld on set that anyone was sure she had landed the role of Bishop in Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Hawkeye.

    Hawkeye is set to stream (beginning with a 2-episode premiere) on November 24th and from the footage we’ve seen so far, it looks like Steinfeld is not only a great fit for the role but truly gets the role. According to Marvel Studios executive producer Trinh Tran, even though fans rode the rumor mill roller coaster, the studio always knew they wanted Steinfeld for the role.

    I remember the very first day when [executive producer and MCU mastermind Kevin Feige] and I sat with Hailee to talk about it. We were just like, ‘This is Kate Bishop.’ When you read the comics, you get that energy from Kate — that wit and those smarts. And meeting Hailee, you see she’s so incredibly talented. Just look at the body of work she’s accomplished at such a young age. We knew having her be a part of the MCU one way or another would be very exciting, but when we started talking about this particular project and this character, she just became our go-to girl.

    As Tran says, Steinfeld is a huge star at just 24 years old and brings with her to Marvel Studios an already incredibly well-established fan base of young people. Steinfeld is very much primed to become one of the faces of the MCU’s future and it certainly doesn’t hurt Marvel Studios to have one of those faces be as instantly recognizable as hers. Bishop’s entrance into the MCU will mark the appearance of yet another comic book Young Avenger and as that number continues to grow, it’s only a matter of time until those characters get their own property, one that will certainly see Bishop in the lead. When you think about that future, you can understand why Steinfeld was always Marvel Studios go-to-girl and why they were willing to do what they had to do to find a way to bring her into the MCU.

    Source: EW

  • Pre-Order for Marvel Poison Spider-Man Funko Pop! Now Available

    Pre-Order for Marvel Poison Spider-Man Funko Pop! Now Available

    Entertainment Earth has made their exclusive Poison Spider-Man Funko Pop! available for pre-order.

    Introduced by Cullen Bunn during Venomverse, the Poisons are an extra-terrestrial race with the ability to bond and consume the hosts of symbiotes. The EE exclusive has a glow-in-the-dark “Chase Variant” that the company will be randomly inserting during production, meaning some lucky fans will get an ultra-rare variant!

    You can pre-order the Funko Pop! here at Entertainment Earth.

    Murphy’s Multiverse is an Entertainment Earth affiliate.

  • Chip Zdarsky and Jacob Phillip’s ‘Newburn’ Already Optioned for TV

    Chip Zdarsky and Jacob Phillip’s ‘Newburn’ Already Optioned for TV

    Today saw the release of the first issue of Newburn, a crime comic published by Image that follows a private detective, Ed Newburn, as he navigates the NYC underworld. Chip Zdarsky (Stillwater, Daredevil) and Jacob Phillips (That Texas Blood) worked together on the project which has debuted to very positive reviews so far.

    Apparently someone believed in the book early on as the duo revealed that Newburn has already been optioned for a TV series, which the duo revealed last night during a live stream with the guys at Comic Book Club. The talk about Newburn comes up around the 18 minute mark.

    While they didn’t reveal which service has optioned the book, Zdarsky does mention that whichever studio it was needed nothing more than the first 3 issues to make the call. You can probably pick up a few copies of Newburn at your LCS today and flip them for a profit in the near future!

    Source: Comic Book Club

  • Marvel Legends Lady Loki Now Available for Individual Pre-Order

    Marvel Legends Lady Loki Now Available for Individual Pre-Order

    After having been teased alongside a retro Falcon figure earlier this year, Marvel Legends retro

    One of the great modern iterations of the God of Mischief came from 2008’s epic Thor series by comic creators J. Michael Straczynski and Oliver Coipel when Loki took the form of a woman and became known, to fans, as Lady Loki. The Loki of Norse mythology was always a shapeshifter, so taking the form of a woman was nothing new but the character went on, in this new form, to be quite popular throughout Dark Reign. Now collectors can pick up a great looking version of Lady Loki for their shelves.

    Pre-order the 6-inch Lady Loki at Entertainment Earth ($22.99 and scheduled to ship in February) by November 2, 2021

  • Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2022 Release Calendar, V3

    Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2022 Release Calendar, V3

    Marvel Studios rendered our previous 2022 hypothetical release calendar meaningless when they shuffled their entire release slate a couple of weeks ago, so we took another shot at it. Of note to this new effort is that we have considered that it looks like Disney does not want to stream live-action Star Wars series and live-action Marvel Studios series concurrently. And so while this isn’t a hypothetical Star Wars calendar, we will mention some of those series along the way.

    It looks like Marvel Studios will have to wait a bit to start streaming in 2022 as a Lucasfilm series is going to start in late-2021 and carry over into early-2022. The Book of Boba Fett could end up completing its run on February 16th, allowing Marvel Studios to kick off its 2022 Disney Plus release calendar with a couple of episodes of Marvel Legends. We could catch up not only on Bruce Banner but also on The Abomination. It’ll be interesting to see what other characters, if any, they cover and to see how much of the events of The Incredible Hulk are part of the story that leads us to She-Hulk.

    She-Hulk is set to be Marvel Studios’ longest streaming series to date, with 10 episodes scheduled. Placing it here allows Marvel to stream one episode per week, should they choose to, and helps it avoid overlapping any other live-action projects.

    We should have several episodes of Marvel Legends leading up to the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In addition to catching up on Stephen, we’ll almost certainly see a Wanda-centric one. Given the role Wong is set to play in the film, he may get one of his own, too. And then there’s Mordo…and yeah, we’ll see how these turn out, but it seems like they’ll stream the Wednesday of release week.

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was the first domino in the wave of release date shifts for Marvel Studios. It’s a wildly ambitious film from a director who is noted for both his pursuit of perfection and his understanding that perfection is never achieved in the first draft, so waiting a little longer to have someone like Sam Raimi put together the best version of his vision isn’t he worse thing for fans. Hopefully, come May 6th, 2022, we all walk out in awe and forget that the film was delayed for an entire year.

    Following the Strange sequel, we might not see another Marvel Studios series until mid-June. Recent rumors suggest that the Lucasfilm Obi-Wan series is slated for May (I mean May 4th IS a Wednesday); what’s curious is that if we allow for it to run for 6 weeks, we run into June and that’s when Mohan Kapur, one of the stars of Ms. Marvel, recently said he expects that streaming series to begin! Even though Ms. Marvel is introducing Kamala Khan and a WHOLE bunch of new characters, it will also feature an appearance from Carol Danvers, so we might get an episode of Marvel Legends on June 8th; either way, Ms. Marvel could kick off its run on June 15th and conclude on July 13th, coinciding nicely with Kapur’s comments.
    *Note we are predicting a two-episode premiere for Ms. Marvel to avoid overlap with Moon Knight.

    While we might not get an episode of Marvel Legends for Ms. Marvel, we’re sure to get a few for Thor: Love and Thunder. In addition to keeping up with Odinson’s adventures, fans could also use a refresher on Jane Foster, Korg, and Miek, Valkyrie, and the Guardians of the Galaxy before they hit the screen together.

    Thor: Love and Thunder, like Doctor Strange 2, was bumped down the road a few months giving director Taika Waititi time to really fine-tune this film which, coincidentally, was supposed to come out just about one year ago on November 5th!

    In this hypothetical situation, Moon Knight does some big moving. I originally thought Moon Knight might run in May, but it’s getting bumped 2 months (seems like a pattern, right?). It’s reportedly a 6-episode series which means if it follows up Thor 4 and doesn’t have any ties to any existing characters that we know of, so it can go just about anywhere. For what it’s worth, this could easily switch places with Ms. Marvel, moving Ms. Marvel a little bit closer to The Marvels which was bumped into 2023.
    *Note we are predicting a two-episode premiere of Moon Knight to avoid overlap with Season 2 of What If…?.

    We got a few episodes of Marvel Legends ahead of Season 1 of What If…?, so there’s no reason to think we won’t see some ahead of Season 2.

    What If…? is, according to Disney, set to be an annual event and it would seem totally possible that they could even keep it in the same general slot every year, too. Season 1 kicked off on August 11th, and this hypothetical would see Season 2 debut on August 24th. This timing would work out well for Marvel Studios because this same time could also see Lucasfilm’s 12-episode Andor hit Disney Plus as well. As stated in the opening, keeping Star Wars live-action away from Marvel Studios’ live-action was a priority here and the whole calendar works out very nicely if we have What If…? and Andor going around the same time.

    What If…? could wrap up just in time for Marvel Studios to stream one of its two 2022 holiday specials: Werewolf By Night. Now to be clear, we aren’t 100% sure exactly what is going on with this project, but if it is just a one-shot holiday special, its February start of production would give the team plenty of time to have it ready for October 26th, just ahead of Halloween.

    Marvel Legends episodes for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever should hit D+ on November 9th, a couple of days ahead of the film’s release. We’ll certainly need to catch up on T’Challa’s journey along with Shuri, Ramonda, M’Baku, Okoye and the Doras and even Killmonger, you know just in case he shows up.

    Of all the films getting shuffled around, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever might have needed it the most. Production was delayed when Letitia Wright sustained an injury and it was in mid-production when the new IATSE/AMPTP agreement went into place, meaning some adjustments were made on the fly. You can absolutely guarantee that Ryan Coogler will use these extra 4 months to put together an absolutely amazing sequel in memory of Chadwick Boseman.

    It looks like Marvel Studios’ offerings for 2022 will end with the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on November 23rd. James Gunn has said he’ll be introducing an important new character in it and while a lot of folks believe that’s going to be Santa, I’ve heard rumblings (nothing concrete, so I’m not too excited myself just yet) that the new character might be one of the shinier ones in Marvel’s toybox.

    After the GotG special, Disney Plus could stream something from Lucasfilm (a second season of The Bad Batch is reportedly coming for 2022) and it’s also important to note that the now Disney owned Avatar 2 is still slated for release on December 16th, 2022, meaning the parent company will still have a lot going on even if there’s no other Marvel Studios’ series ready to stream. Of course, we’ll have a much clearer picture of things in just two weeks following the first annual Disney Plus Day, so bookmark this and come back and throw tomatoes at us then!