Author: Charles Murphy

‘MOON KNIGHT’ Adds May Calamawy to Cast

Baharani actress May Calamawy has joined the cast of Moon Knight, according to a trade report. Calamawy, is fresh off a big role in the Emmy-nominated Hulu series, Ramy, joins Oscar Isaac as part of the cast.

Moon Knight is expected to begin filming this March and should stream, as a 6-episode series, on Disney Plus sometime in 2022. It’s unclear at this time what role Calamawy is playing, but the 34 year-old actress fits the profile of a 30-something female lead described as “strong” and “no BS” actress to play an Egyptian character which many fans believe will be a version of Scarlet Fasinera, aka Stained Glass Scarlet.

January 13, 2021
Marvel Match-Up With 6 Confirmed Production Companies

A couple of months ago, Arlyn Murphy dug up what she believed to be 3 newly formed Marvel Studios production companies: Blueberry Waffles, Log Jam and Standoffish. Last month, just ahead of Disney’s Investor Day, we also discovered that Frequent Productions was set to begin work in Atlanta sometime this year and were able to confirm it as a Marvel Studios project. Today, I can confirm that Blueberry Waffles, Log Jam and Standoffish are all 100% Marvel Studios projects, joining Frequent, Grass-Fed and Solve Everything as production companies for upcoming Marvel Studios projects. With Marvel Studios having recently announced a slew of new projects, it seemed like a great time to try to make some sense out of which company each project might be!

While Marvel Studios has a lot of upcoming projects, there are 6 without production company pairs. (5 if we’re being honest because Solve Everything is DEFINITELY Fantastic Four). As it turns out, there are also 6 production companies we haven’t paired up with films (again, it’s really 5). With that out there, it seemed time to have a little fun trying to work out the best pairings between production company and project and…solve everything.

Blueberry Waffles Armor Wars

Frequent Blade

Grass-Fed Fantastic Four

Log Jam I Am Groot

Solve Everything Ironheart

Standoffish Secret Invasion

As stated above and described in detail here, it’s pretty easy to pair up Solve Everything with Fantastic Four. Beyond that, the next most likely pairing is between Log Jam and I Am Groot, a series of original shorts separate from the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. During Investor Day, Kevin Feige mentioned that they would be filming the Holiday Special during production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, meaning it wouldn’t need to be given its own production company, whereas I Am Groot, as a separate entity, would.

As we continue on, the only certainty is increased uncertainty in which goes with which. Early on in Riri Williams’ Marvel Comics appearances, her mother made a reference to her often making breakfast for Riri and having it go uneaten as she was always more interested in tinkering in her shop (I think I’m remembering that correctly. For the sake of argument, let’s make that a really good reason to pair Blueberry Waffles with Ironheart. Arlyn’s original premise was this it might be pointing towards a Young Avengers project, but that’s clearly farther off now and Ironheart is coming soon, so it could work.

While I can’t make the case for it to be as good of a fit as the ones already paired up above, Standoffish could pair with Secret Invasion, though I can also make a case for Grass-Fed pairing up with Secret Invasion as a reference to the four Skrulls who did time on Earth as cows following their run-in with the Fantastic Four. However, standoffish could absolutely refer to Fury’s personality, making this a bit of a toss-up. Bringing Blade into the mix muddies the water even further, but even Fury is more personable than Blade, so Grass-Fed for Secret Invasion and Standoffish for Blade as the most current, but totally wild guess.

That leaves Frequent to pair with Armor Wars and no good connection. Often times, as was the case with Pandemic Productions and Static Productions (the production companies behind The Falcon and The Winter Solder and WandaVision, respectively), the companies aren’t comic book references but refer very specifically to the events of the series. Perhaps that’s the case here or perhaps it’s a joke in reference to how often Tony’s armor is compromised in the comics.

Whatever the case, this important news here is in that following up on the newly formed production companies, I was able to confirm that they are all for Marvel Studios projects, meaning production on all of them is likely to get underway sometime this year.

January 12, 2021
Kevin Feige Willing to Experiment with Episode Lengths for Marvel Studios Disney Plus Series

The length of the episodes of Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series has been the subject of internet debate for quite some time. With WandaVision’s early episodes all checking in around 30 minutes, it’s clear that somewhere down the line the episodes are going to get longer in order to add up to the 6 total hours of time promised by the studios. In an interview with Collider, Kevin Feige shed some light on how the studio is experimenting with the episode lengths in some of the upcoming series.

Well, we’re looking a little differently. We’re looking at it as developing them as either six hour-episodes, or nine or 10 half-hour episodes. So, for instance, WandaVision started that way and Falcon and the Winter Soldier as 30 minutes, but because it’s streaming, it’s Disney+, and the rules have blurred over the years, yes. Some can be 23 minutes. Some can be much longer than that. But She-Hulk, for instance, is being developed as 10 30-minute episodes. Some will be longer and some will be shorter. Loki, Falcon and the Winter Soldier is being developed as six 40-50-minute episodes.

Some of what Feige said confirms things we’ve been hearing for some time, such as She-Hulk’s ten episode first season. However, it’s the first time we’ve heard any info on episode lengths for either The Falcon and The Winter Soldier or Loki, both of which are apparently going to be 6 episodes averaging 45 minutes a piece, giving a total run time of about 4.5 hours, or 2 movie’s worth of time devoted to these characters.

Source: Collider

January 11, 2021
Murphy’s Law: Episode 77

Charles M. has seen the first 3 episodes of WandaVision and shares his brief reactions! The Charleses discuss the other big news of the past week and look ahead to a big year full of Marvel Studios content!

January 11, 2021
Kevin Feige Talks the Possibilities of the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse

No upcoming Marvel Studios film has been the subject of wilder rumors and speculation than this year’s Spider-Man threequel. Charlie Cox. Toby Maguire. Andrew Garfield. Emma Stone. Jamie Foxx. Willem Dafoe. Alfred Molina. The list of actors we’ve heard attached to this film and their attachments to previous iterations of Spider-Man seem to have no end. In an interview with Comicbook.com’s Brandon Davis, Kevin Feige spoke to this impressive list of rumors.

I’ve read some things. I’m not sure I’ve read all things. The fun thing about online speculation when it comes to our stuff is how sometimes it couldn’t be more off the mark and sometimes it’s shockingly close, and that’s held true for the last few years. But saying which is which would take all the fun out of everything.

As you’d expect, Fiege didn’t confirm any of the dozens of rumors out there, but it is interesting that he didn’t flatly deny any either. Instead, he may have actually thrown gas on the fire by pointing out the fact that the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel will explore the multiverse.

The biggest clue is the title of the second Doctor Strange movie. That’s the biggest clue of where the Multiverse of Madness is taking us and how we’re exploring that. It’s surreal to me that we’re talking about a Spider-Man 3. I worked on a movie called Spider-Man 3 many years ago directed by Mr. Sam Raimi. So this clearly, the shorthand of calling it Spider-Man 3 now, it’s fine. We call it Homecoming 3.

At this point, it seems that any and everything is possible. Spider-Man 3 is set to hit theaters this December; Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness is set to follow it in March of 2022.

Source: comicbook.com

January 10, 2021
Paranoia Will be at the Heart of Marvel Studios ‘SECRET INVASION’

Secret Invasion was one of Marvel Comics largest scale line-wide events; however, according to Kevin Feige, the upcoming Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series won’t try to match the scope of the comics. In an interview with comicbook.com’s Brandon Davis, Feige set some expectations for what to expect from the newly announced series:

Well, there were more characters in the Secret Invasion comic series than there were in Endgame so, no,” Feige admits. “It’s not that but it very much is a showcase for Sam Jackson and Ben Mendelson and tapping into the paranoia elements of the Secret Invasion comic series that was great with the twists and turns that that took. So, that’s certainly our focus more than, ‘Can we cram in more characters than Endgame? like publishing?’

The marketing campaign for the comic series centered on a series of “Who Do You Trust?” ads, adding to the uncertainty of just which Marvel hero was a Skrull and which one wasn’t. It’s great to continue to hear that Feige’s plans aren’t to outdo Endgame in terms of scope, but rather to explore new pathways to deliver on some of the classic Marvel Comics stories.

Source: comicbook.com

January 10, 2021
Kevin Feige on the Genesis of ‘WANDAVISION’

During today’s WandaVision press junket, I was able to ask Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, about how his late grandfather’s work on the Dick Van Dyke Show might have led to the creation of this series.

Me: “You guys just did talk quite a bit about Dick Van Dyke and while we were researching and thinking about what to talk to you about, we noticed that your late grandfather, Robert Short, worked on the show as an executive for like 5 years. I was wondering if you could talk about how that might have led to this project and how special it is to you to get to pay tribute to him in this way.“

Kevin Feige:

It is special. My grandfather worked for Proctor and Gamble…and Proctor and Gamble was, back in the day, sponsor and producer on mainly soap operas but in the early, early, like 50s and 60s I think they did some primetime, so I don’t know that he was actually on the show but he was one of the sponsors and companies behind the show. And that might have had a little to do with it.

Feige went on to explain how his childhood love for sitcoms lead to the development of WandaVision:

There’s something fun that has happened. It’s mainly I watched too much TV as a kid and TV meant a lot to me and I found comfort in television families. One thing we talked about early on is these are not parodies, this is not direct satire…we love these things and they meant a lot to us, dated and silly as they may seem now, there’s a comfort factor there. So that was the primary factor behind…and the comic inspiration, of course, is what lead us to putting these ideas together.

And it wasn’t just Feige’s background that led to the series. Many of the people involved with the show, and with Disney, have a history with sitcoms:

There is a wonderful thing though that happened with Matt’s background as he’s talked about, which is so amazing. Lizzie’s background with her sisters, which didn’t even occur to me until I think we were standing in the writers’ room with pictures of Full House on the wall and I went, “Oh, right.” And yes, the connection with my grandfather going way back and even the people who oversee Marvel Studios and created Disney Plus, Bob Iger, ran ABC, I think, he was very influential in putting Family Matters on the air. And Alan Horn ran some of the greatest, biggest sitcoms of all time. And to a certain point, Matt included, this was everybody’s past, and it was fun to hear stories as we worked on this series about all these people that we worked with every day and getting an insight into where they come from. My grandfather being one of them.

And then there was Feige’s last comment of the day, “That was a good backup question.”

We’ve heard plenty about WandaVision was something near and dear to Feige’s heart and there’s no doubt that this interview shed some light on that.

WandaVision streams THIS FRIDAY, January 15th.

January 10, 2021
Phase 4 Slate Still Uncertain

In the Summer of 2019, Marvel Studios One-Above-All Kevin Feige unveiled the MCU’s Phase 4 which, at the time, consisted 10 projects stretching from May of 2020 through November of 2021. Of course, the COVID pandemic changed everything and here we are in January of 2021 without having seen any Marvel Studios content in over a year, though WandaVision is just around the corner. With all the shifting and shuffling, today’s WandaVision press junket seemed like a great time to clarify just how much things have changed.

Me: “I know we just talked about WandaVision kicking off Phase 4, with all the shuffling that’s been going on with the release slate changing and then some of the announcements, could you clarify where Phase 4 kind of ends at this point.”

Kevin Feige: “No.”

I’ve never been so excited to be told no in my life. Now it’s easy to read too much into this, but given the amount of time Marvel Studios had to think things over during the pandemic, it’s entirely possible that they have rethought the structure of Phase 4. At any rate, it would certainly seem that it’s no longer exactly what it was at SDCC ’19.

January 10, 2021
“WANDAVISION” Will Explore Monica’s Life After ‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’

When Kevin Feige announced that Teyonah Parris would be showing up as a grown-up Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, fans put on their thinking caps trying to determine how Monica would fit in. The trailers and TV spots have given us a little hint about what Monica is up to, Parris says that the series will definitely fill in the gaps.

Monica has “definitely been through some things and seen some things…we actually do get to learn particularly what those things are Monica has seen and gone through and how they have shaped her life.” Parris went on to say, “We will actually touch on that A LOT through the course of the show.”

“We met Monica in Captain Marvel as a little girl, and basically in WandaVision we pick up with who she is now as a grown woman and through the course of the show we find out what she’s been up to what’s happened for her between that gap in the years and how she’s grown and evolved or not and we just follow her along.“

While WandaVision is clearly a show with the unusual couple at its center, it’s intriguing to know that it’s going to take some time to fill in the gaps of what Monica has been up to since the events of Captain Marvel, which took place in 1995. It certainly seems like Monica is headed for big things in the MCU.

January 10, 2021
Patreon Preview: James Bond

Every now and then, I come across some information that I share just with my Patrons. With the betting line on the next James Bond finding its way into the news, I thought it might be a good time to share some rumblings I first shared with my Beyonders back in mid-November, 2020. This info found its way to the UK Express just a few days later. At the time, word had begun to circulate the Tom Hardy had landed the role. A new source reached out to me and shared some info to the contrary. What follows is just a cut and paste from that November Patreon post, with no edits or exclusions.

What I Heard This Week: James Bond

Unfortunately, I have taken a lot of grief about these types of posts in the past. Unfortunate because often times, they turn out to be true or partially true. It’s the nature of these rumors, because until I can verify them with other sources that is all they are and all they have ever been, that some will be untrue. People just don’t seem to be able to handle that, so I’ve decided that WIHTW pieces will be exclusives to Patreon from now on and I am starting off with a doozy.

This obviously isn’t my usual jam, but when you get some good information about one of the world’s most popular franchises, you go ahead and run with it.

We know Craig’s done with the 007 role and we also know that Bond isn’t. With that said, here are 2 interesting rumors that came my way.

1. Even with the release date for No Time To Die in flux, the EARLIEST stages of work have begun on the next Bond film. Everyone fell in love with Cary Fukunaga and they’ve publicly expressed that they hope to bring him back. I’ve been told they have extended an offer to him to helm the next installment.

2. While we’ve heard all sorts of rumors about who might be the next Bond, I was told just the other day that the producers are open to exploring some really interesting options. One possible route is to take Bond down a totally different route by bringing in someone MUCH younger than anyone we’ve seen so far. Craig was 38 when he took over the role and, I am told that the studio is open to going even younger than that and also willing to look at some unconventional choices. Timothee Chalamet and Robert Pattinson types. Be careful to understand that this does not mean either Chalamet or Pattinson are actually on the list of names they’re exploring but that they are open to actors like them who we might not think would fit the role, much like Pattinson was unexpected as Bruce Wayne.

That’s it for this one and it is in the very early stages but I think that’s what’s so cool about it. We’ll see how it develops and come back to think about this one again when we know more.

End preview. Rege-Jean Page certainly meets the criteria for #2. He is 31 years old, he is not Tom Hardy and, to my knowledge, was not famously considered as “the next Bond.” I certainly have no idea if he’ll get the part, but it’s interesting to see that there are still names out there other than Hardy.

January 6, 2021