Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Charles Murphy

  • ‘THE MANDALORIAN’ Chapter 10: Filoni and Favreau Pull No Punches About Their Plodding Pace

    ‘THE MANDALORIAN’ Chapter 10: Filoni and Favreau Pull No Punches About Their Plodding Pace

    Before I watched a minute of Chapter 10 of The Mandalorian, I had already read a couple of messages and seen enough Twitter comments to know presume that the episode was going to move a bit slowly. Then, less than 10 minutes into the episode, the characters themselves made it clear. To me the conversation between Peli Motto and Din Djarin about how to best transport those eggs was more than instructions on how to move those eggs; to me it was a message from the show’s creatives that this show is going to move slowly and that they believe that slow-moving pace is the best way to develop their baby. And those eggs…they’re not just eggs.

     

    The Mandalorian' Season 2 Opener: A Favorite 'Star Wars' Character Makes A Cameo – Recap – Deadline

    Traveling sub-light is a bit dicey these days…

    As our own, talented Joao Pinto wrote here, The Mandalorian goes against the grain by refusing its viewers the instant gratification that we’ve become used to. Creators Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have a story to tell in this world but they have repeatedly proven that they are in no hurry to tell it. Their deliberate and restrained pace has caused some frustrations for fans, but they don’t seem too rattled by it, as this episode seems to prove. Favreau is playing with ideas that are in the same sandbox that George Lucas built in 1976. We’ve spent a lot of time on Tatooine exploring and expanding that “rock” that Luke Skywalker himself couldn’t wait to escape and I think that’s telling. Favreau’s growth as a story teller over his career has been nothing short of remarkable and now he’s doing something that many mature story tellers have done over the years: finding value in things that others have overlooked.

    As for Filoni, we already know he’s probably the world’s biggest Star Wars fan and that pretty much nobody alive loves their job as much as he does but there’s more to the story there, too. Filoni has LIVED Star Wars not just as a fan but as one of its most prolific creators. Dating back to his work on Clone Wars, Filoni has spent thousands of hours developing and curating the universe that Lucas built and, in that time, has developed a love affair with the most minute of details. The pair of them working together on this show was never going to go any other way.

    Their partnership dates back to The Clone Wars where Favreau voiced Pre Vizsla and first wielded the Darksaber, an artifact we saw reemerge in Season 1 of The Mandalorian, and as someone who is currently watching The Clone Wars as a companion to The Mandalorian, it seems evident to me that Filoni and Favreau are still exploring themes and ideas they first tinkered with over a decade ago. If you think they’re going slow now, stop and think about that: in some cases they’re still telling a story that began in 2008 and they are in no rush to get to the last chapter.

    Moving fast is the only thing keeping me safe…

    Once the realization above sinks in, it’s much easier to sit back and enjoy The Mandalorian for what it is: the live-action Star Wars version of Kung Fu with Din Djarin out fighting for justice, protecting the underdog but, most of all, walking the Earth (ok, the galaxy) all while avoiding all those other bounty hunters out to get him. While Kung Fu was a martial arts Western, The Mandalorian is a sci-fi Western. Westerns are a lot of things: they’re nostalgic, exist on the border of civilization and wilderness and, most of all, typically move at an almost glacial pace. For this reason, their popularity has waned over the last 30-40 years despite a handful of very well-made Western films. Filoni and Favreau know this. They know that modern fans have the “I wanna go fast” mindset of Ricky Bobby, but if you paid attention to this episode, they told us all loud and clear that they’re going to continue telling this story their way and continue the homage to Akira Kurosawa that Lucas began in 1976. They believe in the long game, a game they’ve not only been setting up episode by episode but before that and they are going to continue narrating this tale in that way because just like those frog eggs, story telling like this is becoming more rare by the minute but, by taking proper care of the story, by avoiding the urge to jump into hyperspace, they believe they’ll save what’s almost a lost art of storytelling.

     

  • Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 70

    Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 70

    Charles and Charles take an unexpected deep dive into Chapter 10 of The Mandalorian, talk about some potential new Marvel Studios projects and more! Have a listen to the record breaking 70th episode below:

  • The Biggest Stories of Year One

    The Biggest Stories of Year One

    If there’s one thing I’ve proven myself capable of over and over again, it’s the ability to never have a clue what’s going to be a big story. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve told Charles V. how excited I was to run something only to find out that pretty much me and two guys in Jersey actually cared about it. The top 10 most viewed articles of the first year of Murphy’s Multiverse make one thing very clear: most people don’t care too much about Marvel Studios’ scoops. If you had asked me a year ago, I’d never guess that only 1 of the top ten would be associated with a Marvel Studios project but that’s exactly what we have here in the Top 10 Biggest Stories of Year 1!

     

    1. ‘MARVEL’S AVENGERS’ LEAK OFFERS FIRST LOOK AT ‘AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.’S JEMMA SIMMONS

    When I started Murphy’s Multiverse, it never crossed my mind to cover gaming. It had been years since I felt like a part of the gaming community and knew I was out of touch with modern gamers. Thankfully Charles and Joseph are part of the team and found a way to connect with gamers because the results are clear: gaming needs to be a big part of the future of the site. This one made its way to the top in just over 3 days, forcing me to reshuffle the top 10. The combination of Marvel Avengers with Jemma Simmons, star of the beloved Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series proved to be of great interest to readers as Year 1 came to a close.

     

    2. FIRST GLIMPSE AT ‘MARVEL’S AVENGERS’ BLACK PANTHER LEAKED

    Marvel’s Avengers game has brought a lot of new readers to the site and Joseph has worked hard to find any and all new information on the game. Fans are so hungry for info on the game that 7 of the top 10 most-read pieces of the year are about it, including this one which gave fans their first look at Black Panther.

     

    3. EXCLUSIVE: ELISABETH SHUE TO APPEAR IN ‘COBRA KAI’ SEASON 3

    As mentioned in the top scoops post, this one was essentially ignored when I wrote it a year ago but once Cobra Kai hit Netflix, the flood gates opened. Shue’s role on Amazon’s The Boys certainly represents a departure from her Ali Mills persona, so it’ll be interesting to see the actress occupy two very different prominent pop culture roles at the same time. Cobra Kai’s enormous popularity got fans searching for more info on Shue’s return and there was only one place to find it: right here at Murphy’s Multiverse.

     

  • CONFIRMED: Solve Everything a Marvel Studios Property; ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ Likely a Go

    CONFIRMED: Solve Everything a Marvel Studios Property; ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ Likely a Go

    This update won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone, but since we first reported on Grass-Fed Productions and Solve Everything Productions, the latter of which we firmly believe to be associated with the Marvel Studios Fantastic Four project, it does seem appropriate to follow up. When we broke the news a few months ago, we were able to confirm that Grass-Fed Productions was a Marvel Studios production company; however, until today, I had only anecdotal evidence that Solve Everything Productions was also a Marvel Studios production company meaning, ironically, you just had to take our word for it…until today.

    Marvel 75th Anniversary: Fantastic Four Fine Art Lithograph by Alex Ross | Sideshow Collectibles

    As of today, there’s no room for doubt: Solve Everything Productions is officially a registered Marvel Studios property and, as we discussed, points directly at Fantastic Four and making it highly probable that Kevin Fiege and crew have given the green light to the project. While there is no official word from the studio at the moment, it seems increasingly likely that Fantastic Four will be added to the 2023 slate which means we should expect a creative team to be put together at some point in 2021. Again, most of us had already come to this conclusion, but TO MY KNOWLEDGE, there had been no confirmation of the connection until now.

    For the record, Marvel Studios reps had no comment on the situation.

  • The Biggest Scoops of Year One

    The Biggest Scoops of Year One

    They grow up so fast! Somehow we blinked and the site that I started on a whim one afternoon in 2019 has turned 1! When I launched last year the only real “business plan” I had was to start a site for me to share (mostly) Marvel Studios rumors and my thoughts about the MCU. It’s certainly become MUCH more than that and I’ve somehow been blessed with the hardest working and most supportive team I could ever imagine. While we certainly struggled through the beginning of the pandemic, we bounced back and grew and are incredibly grateful for the support from you all and hope to keep making this site a part of the ever-growing fan community.

    While I’ve always loved chasing the big scoops associated with Marvel Studios, one thing I’ve learned in the past year is that our fans’ interests are incredibly diverse as evidenced by the scoops that they’ve read. Below are the Top 6 biggest (most viewed) scoops of Year One!

    EXCLUSIVE: ELISABETH SHUE TO APPEAR IN ‘COBRA KAI’ SEASON 3

    Elisabeth Shue’s return to the world of the Karate Kid wears the crown and took the victory by an impressive margin. Interestingly enough, thought the story was written last November, it wasn’t until Cobra Kai hit Netflix that this scoop got hot. With Season 3 set to stream on January 8th, we don’t have long before we’ll find out if Ali Mills will reunite with Johnny and Daniel or if this one will end up in the Biggest Poops pile down the road.

    EXCLUSIVE: EVAN PETERS PLAYING MYSTERY ROLE IN ‘WANDAVISION’

  • No Good To Us Dead: ‘BOBA FETT’ Series Headed into Production

    No Good To Us Dead: ‘BOBA FETT’ Series Headed into Production

    Last week The Mandalorian brought Boba Fett back from the dead. Now, according to a trade report, Lucasfilm has greenlit a solo mini-series about the newly resurrected bounty hunter which could begin principal filming as soon as next week!

    Mark Hamill addresses Boba Fett returning in Mandalorian season 2

    Rumors about a possible Boba Fett series date back to early 2019 but Temura Morrison’s appearance at the end of Chapter 9 seemed to cement Lucasfilm’s plans to bring Boba back into the limelight. Much of the future of Star Wars seems tied to Disney Plus with several live-action series already in the works (Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan foremost among them), the Bad Batch animated series and former Disney CEO Bob Iger indicating that the success of The Mandalorian would lead to spinoffs set within that corner of the universe. If Boba Fett is the first among those spinoffs, Lucasfilm is coming out swinging.

    The trade report indicated that Lucasfilm has been keeping the development of this series (and possibly others) close to the vest and, for that reason, were unable to confirm a start of production or who might be working on the project; however, should production start up over the next few weeks, we would hope some official news might break.

  • Black Panther 3

    Black Panther 3

    Premiere: TBD

    Following the premier of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, franchise star Letitia Wright indicated that a third film was “in the works at Marvel Studios. Nearly two years later, in November 2024, Denzel Washington revealed that a role had been written into the film for him, though the studio has yet to confirm the project was in the works.

    On December 17, 2024, the project was officially confirmed to be in development by Marvel Studios Chief Creative Office and President, Kevin Feige, Black Panther 3 will be written and directed by Ryan Coogler.

    Cast

    • Letitia Wright as Shuri
    • Denzel Washington in an unknown role
  • ‘THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER’: Darcy’s Return for the Sequel Apparently Not in the Stars

    ‘THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER’: Darcy’s Return for the Sequel Apparently Not in the Stars

    Kat Dennings’ Darcy, an original character created for the MCU in Kenneth Branaugh’s Thor, has always held an interesting place in the hearts and minds of fans. When her character didn’t appear in Thor: Ragnarok, it looked like the end for her MCU journey makig the announcement at SDCC ’19 that her character would be appearing in WandaVision a major surprise. With her character back in the picture, fans have wondered if we’d see more of her in the upcoming Thor sequel, Love and Thunder, which will film early next year. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dennings shed some light on that developing situation.

    Darcy Lewis | Marvel Cinematic Database | Fandom

    Fans of the character should prepare themselves for a let down because while we know her good friend Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman, is returning for the 4th installment in the franchise, Dennings hasn’t gotten the call from director Taika Waititi:  “No, still no idea! I don’t think I’m in it. I feel like I would have heard by now. So literally my answer is I have no idea, I have even less an idea than I did before” she told ET. Dennings did, however, speak out in support of the film and the exciting new direction for Portman’s Foster who is set to become the Mighty Thor, saying, “I thought it was genius, the most genius thing I had ever heard. I think it’s so brilliant. I mean, [Portman], you know, she’s a rock star actor, she can do anything. As a fan, I’m just excited to watch it.”

    Thor: Love and Thunder is set to begin production in Australia early next year and be in theaters on February 11th,  2022!

  • Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 69

    Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 69

    In this record breaking 69th episode of Murphy’s Law, Charleses M. and V. discuss the casting of Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight, the various Marvel Studios projects that wrapped over the past couple of weeks and the return on Boba Fett to the Star Wars universe in Chapter 9 of The Mandalorian! Dig in with your ears.

  • Absent from November’s “Next on Disney Plus” Announcement, ‘WANDAVISION’ Seems Set for December

    Absent from November’s “Next on Disney Plus” Announcement, ‘WANDAVISION’ Seems Set for December

    The first of the month has come and with it has come our first look at what to expect on Disney Plus in the month of November. Noticeably absent from the video was Marvel Studios WandaVision, a streaming series set to be Marvel Studios first shot at original MCU content for the service.

    While Marvel Studios have yet to give an official announcement date, it now seems like WandaVision will stream at some point in December as the studio has indicated a 2020 release for the series. While evidence pointed to a Thanksgiving weekend streaming start for the series, it now seems highly unlikely we’ll be seeing WandaVision while we eat our turkey sandwiches. Though it’s possible that the series could still begin streaming in November, it seems more likely that with reshoots/pick-ups on the series just recently wrapping that the studio will take its time and, hopefully, give fans a holiday season surprise sometime in December.