Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Charles Murphy

  • New Rumor Details Namor’s Powerful Presence in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

    New Rumor Details Namor’s Powerful Presence in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

    Tenoch Huerta Mejía‘s Namor stands as one of Marvel Studios’ most wonderfully constructed antagonists with his performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever leaving fans wanting more. Though characters from the World of Wakanda were expected to play key roles in Avengers: Doomsday, Huerta Mejía‘s name stood out among those revealed to be part of the cast of the 2026 film. And with the Russo brothers directing, K’uk’ulkan’s return should be expected to make a splash…and it sounds as though it will.

    VFX artist turned social media scooper James Mack–who has accurately reported on some details about Avengers: Doomsday–took to X to share details about a massive and VFX-heavy battle featuring Namor and it sounds as though the Emperor of the Deep will unleash the full extent of his powers next year.

    According to the scoop, Namor–accompanied his Talokanil army and a giant octopus–will unleash a “massive tsunami” in an unknown opposing force in Avengers: Doomsday.

    After sharing the original scoop, Mack returned to X to share an image of the giant tidal wave known as the Ultimatum Wave as it wiped out Manhattan. Of course, in Marvel Comics continuity, Magneto, not Namor, caused the Ultimatum Wave. However, that won’t stop Marvel Studios from showing off just how powerful Namor can be in Avengers: Doomsday.

    Mack’s scoop names two new Talokanil soldiers: Andromeda and Orka. Given the legions of soldiers in Namor’s army, namea aren’t dished out to all of them; in fact, only Attuma and Namora were named in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. With those two characters expected to return, perhaps is reasonable to assume Andromeda and Orka might have similarly sized roles. Neither have particularly exciting histories in the pages of Marvel Comics, with Andromeda canonically the daughter of Attuma and Orka typically a blunt instrument. It’s possible that the two are part of an MCU iteration of the Defenders of the Deep, Namor’s hand-picked strike force.

    With a trailer for the film rumored to be headed to theaters in December, this rumor seems relatively believable as this would be JUST the sort of big action beat that could be included in the trailer to raise expectations for the film.

  • ‘Severance: Star Tramell Tillman Casts Doubt on the Nature of His Role in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    ‘Severance: Star Tramell Tillman Casts Doubt on the Nature of His Role in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    In August, trade reports indicated that Severance and Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning star Tramell Tillman joined the cast of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Initially, the word that Tillman was set to join the fourth installment of the Spidey franchise as a villain; however, months into filming, Tillman’s role remains a mystery and now the star has called into question the veracity of those early reports.

    In a brief interview with Variety, Tillman played coy about his role while responding to a question about his potentially villainous character by asking, “Who says I’m playing a villain?”.

    Interestingly, despite never having been caught on location yet, Tillman revealed he’s already begun work on the film, scheduled to hit theaters on July 31, 2026.

    I’m told that Marvel has a plan to say goodbye to Kang. They’re going to wrap him up. I think they want to give him the boot just to put to bed any…I think they’re going to deal with Kang somehow. A small little thing… probably in one of the Avengers movies. I’ve heard Doctor Doom could be the one who kills him.

    -Jeff “The In” Sneider

    While reports from early 2025 claimed that Tillman was set to take over the role of Kang from Jonathan Majors, more recent insider buzz has made an effort to discredit the idea. Truly, yet another villain in Spider-Man: Brand New Day seems like overkill with Tombstone, Scorpion and, allegedly, Sadie Sink‘s shape-shifting character set to antagonize Spidey while he’ll also have to deal with both a rampaging Hulk and The Punisher.

    Given the expansive roster of interesting characters in Spidey’s orbit, there’s no doubt that Tillman would be a far greater asset to the MCU as a character–ally or enemy–who can carry on beyond a one-off appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

  • ‘She-Hulk’ and ‘Marvel Zombies’ Writer Zeb Wells Set to Write Legendary’s ‘Buck Rogers’ Film

    Marvel multimedia scribe Zeb Wells has been tasked with reviving one of the most significant figures to emerge from the pulp era. According to OG super scooper Umberto Gonzalez, Wells–who has worked for Marvel’s film, television and publishing studios–has landed the gig as the writer for Legendary’s Buck Rogers film.

    Gonzalez’s report states that Wells will be adapting author Philip Francis Nowlan‘s novella, Armageddon 2419 A.D. for the feature film. The original story, published in 1928, featured Rogers being exposed to a gas, going into suspended animation and waking up in a dystopian future to fight invaders with advanced technology like ray guns and flying belts. Nowlan’s action-adventure style was common to the pulp era and the character, originally named Anthony Rogers, inspired the creation of countless characters and stories including Flash Gordon, Adam Strange and Star Wars.

    While the character gained his greatest mainstream fame through the hugely popular newspaper comic strip (where he was renamed “Buck Rogers”), radio serials, movie serials, and TV series including Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, which ran from 1979-198.

    A Buck Rogers project has been in development at Legendary since they acquired the rights to the character in 2020.

    The Thrill Machine: A Look Back at the Pulp Era 💥

    The Pulp Era was a golden age of popular fiction, spanning roughly from the 1890s through the 1950s. It was a time when fantastic, action-packed stories—from hard-boiled detective tales and jungle adventures to the earliest forms of modern science fiction—burst onto newsstands and defined much of 20th-century pop culture.

    What Defined the “Pulp”?

    The term “pulp” comes directly from the cheap, rough wood pulp paper on which these magazines were printed. This inexpensive material allowed publishers to print vast quantities of fiction magazines at low cost, selling them for just 10 or 25 cents.

    These magazines were easily identifiable by several key characteristics:

    • Low Cost: Their affordability made them the primary mass-market entertainment before television and comic books took over.
    • Distinctive Covers: They featured vibrant, lurid, and often sensationalistic painted covers designed to grab a reader’s attention and hint at the wild action inside.
    • Genre Focus: Unlike literary magazines, pulps were unapologetically dedicated to specific genres, giving rise to specialized titles.

    A Multiverse of Genres and Heroes

    The Pulp Era didn’t just entertain; it served as the essential proving ground for nearly every genre and archetype that would later define comic books, movies, and television.

    Science fiction titles such as Amazing Stories–in which Rogers debuted–adventure titles such as Doc Savage Magazine and detective titles such as Black Mask broke ground for the eventual rise of comic books.

    The Birth of the “Superhero”

    Crucially, the pulps invented the concept of the “Super-Hero” long before Superman. Characters like The Shadow (who had a secret identity, a hidden headquarters, specialized gadgets, and fought a constant war on crime) and Doc Savage (a polymath adventurer with near-superhuman skills and strength) established the fundamental tropes that would later be directly adopted by comic book creators. Many early Golden Age comic book writers and artists were, in fact, veterans of the pulp industry.

    Source: The Wrap

  • Details from Marvel’s Scrapped Avengers Film Reveal One New Team Was Set to Play a Key Role

    Details from Marvel’s Scrapped Avengers Film Reveal One New Team Was Set to Play a Key Role

    In February 2023, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness described Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, as “the biggest movie in the world.” However, whatever “big, sweeping” ideas Loveness had for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty were thought to be lost to time as he was replaced as the film’s writer by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron in November 2023. By July 2024, original director Destin Daniel Cretton had also left the project and was replaced by Anthony and Joe Russo, who brought along old pal Stephen McFeely to work on the script for what became Avengers: Doomsday.

    One early rumor about Loveness‘ plans for the film indicated that it would include multiple teams of heroes, something that was all but confirmed when concept art from Marvel Studios Senior Concept/Visual Development Mushk Rizvi was discovered online in early 2025. While there’s always plenty of space between concept and execution, we now know one “big idea” Loveness had for one particular team whose presence in the film was revealed by the concept leaked art.

    In a Reddit Q&A, Waldron pulled back the curtain on plans he and Loveness had for the Young Avengers before Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was scrapped in favor of Avengers: Doomsday.

    Jeff Loveness and I spent an afternoon pitching on the Young Avengers defeating a version of Kang and being so stoked about it…only to discover that that particular Kang carried a little card that said to Be Patient with him, it was his first day as a Kang. And then they were so bummed. I think he was gonna be the lizard Kang from the end of Kang Dynasty? I don’t know. Anyway we had fun.

    -Michael Waldron, Reddit Q&A, October 28, 2025

    Given the response to the defeat of Jonathan Majors‘ Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, it seems unlikely such a scene, even if treated as a joke, would have landed well with the grumbly segment of the Marvel “fan base.” However, it is entirely in line with the sensibilities of Loveness and Waldron and also at least partially consistent with one of the Young Avengers first collective missions in the comics.

  • James Gunn’s Post-WBD Sale Fate Reportedly Sealed

    James Gunn’s Post-WBD Sale Fate Reportedly Sealed

    With Warner Bros. Discovery up for sale, an inch of uncertainty about the future of the studio’s major brands has turned into a mile of bullshit. Paramount has long been seen as the front-runner to seal a deal to acquire WBD and all the companies under its umbrella, including Cartoon Network, CNN, DC Studios and HBO and a recent article claimed that if the deal were to go through, Paramount CEO David Ellison would seek to oust James Gunn, head of the still-new DC Studios.

    According to Bloomberg, should Paramount complete the purchase, Ellison “plans to keep much of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. intact.” More relevant to the rumors of Gunn’s departure, Ellison is said to want to “keep the creative teams of the two studios,” which would include, one might assume, Gunn and DC Studios’ co-chair Peter Safran.

    That’s all putting the cart before the horse, however, as WBD has thrice denied Paramount’s bids to buy the company and there is plenty of opposition in Hollywood. Outside of that sphere of influence, concerns about a potential monopoly have been raised as well.

    Should it all go down, however, Gunn recently confirmed that his plans for the all-new, all-different DCU “definitely go significantly further than Man of Tomorrow,” which is scheduled for a 2027 release. Certainly aware of the impact of a potential change at the top, however, Gunn recently cast doubt on whether or not he’d be able to bring all his plans to fruition. “So whether or not that’ll be me that’s able to fulfil that promise depends on a lot of things in life,” he recently told Boba Talks. It now looks like at least one of those things should no longer be a concern.

    Sources: Bloomberg, Boba Talks

  • ‘Lanterns’ Star, Showrunner Tease John Stewart’s Discordant Dynamic with Hal Jordan

    ‘Lanterns’ Star, Showrunner Tease John Stewart’s Discordant Dynamic with Hal Jordan

    DC Studios co-chair James Gunn has big plans for the Green Lantern Corps; however, with the potential sale of Warner Bros. Discovery creating uncertainty around the future of the new DCU, it remains to be seen how much of those plans will come to fruition. Those concerns don’t look to be halting the release of the HBO Max streaming series Lanterns, set to debut in 2026.

    With Rebel Ridge breakout star Aaron Pierre and Primetime Emmy Award-winning actor Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) cast as John Stewart and Hal Jordan, respectively, Lanterns has all the cache of an HBO Prestige series. Created by  an all-star team of writers led by Ozark‘s Chris Mundy, DC Comics’ ace Tom King and TV icon Damon Lindelof, the series is meant to play a key role in the larger, shared narrative of the DCU…should it get to play out. But even if it doesn’t, it sounds as though the series will serve as a solid standalone story.

    John Stewart and Hal Jordan are two of DC’s most compelling characters, and Lanterns brings them to life in an original detective story that is a foundational part of the unified DCU…

    -James Gunn

    In a wide-ranging interview with Men’s Health, Pierre and Mundy set the stage for the series, which the latter calls “as much of a buddy cop show as a superhero show.”

    From the sounds of it, Lanterns will see Pierre‘s Stewart, who the actor says “radiates strength and fortitude,” being prepped as a replacement for Hal Jordan which, as one might expect, will cause some friction between the two.

    “Our show is in a lot of ways about replacement—when should someone step aside and when is it time for the next person to take the reins? That push and pull between those two characters is really important,” Mundy explained.

    We have a few other Lanterns peppered in there but this is really a terrestrial based TV show which is almost like True Detective with a couple of Green Lanterns who are space cops watching over Precinct Earth in it they discover a terrifying mystery that ties into our largest story of the DCU.

    -James Gunn

    Pierre describes Stewart as a man who has “That hunger to be the best version of yourself, which also holds you accountable when you’re not.” According to Mundy, that resolve will be challenged by what sounds like a pretty abrasive Jordan.

    “So much of the power that John has is by not taking the bait, understanding that you lose your power if you’re yelling and screaming,” said Mundy. “That’s what we’re trying to convey: He knows he belongs, so he doesn’t have to overcompensate. There’s a real balance there that’s just innately inside of Aaron. He’s big. He’s an intimidating presence just physically. But there’s a softness to him too. There’s a thoughtfulness. You can’t teach that.”

    Should Stewart’s story continue beyond Lanterns, it sounds as though he’ll come out of the streaming series truly tested by Jordan, making him more than worthy as his successor.

    Source: Men’s Health

  • Fans Believe Marvel Studios May Have “Soft Launched” Its New Black Panther

    Fans Believe Marvel Studios May Have “Soft Launched” Its New Black Panther

    In January 2025, a report from Jeff “The In” Sneider indicated that Marvel Studios planned to recast the role of T’Challa, with a new actor set to portray the character originally played by the late Chadwick Boseman. Sneider claimed the new actor would step into the role for three upcoming films, starting with Avengers: Doomsday and continuing on in both Avengers: Secret Wars and Black Panther 3.

    Sneider’s report was quickly countered by social media scooper My Time To Shine Hello, who claimed that the recast wasn’t for the character played by Boseman but rather for T’Challa II, played by Divine Love Konadu-Sun in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Former Marvel Parliament member Nate Moore seemed to put the rumblings to rest in February, explaining that without a story in place for Black Panther 3, the studio was unable to make a decision about replacing Boseman in the role. However, as believable as Moore‘s words were, one of the biggest oopsies ever quickly turned the tide of the story one more time.

    We don’t know what the story is, so I couldn’t tell you whether or not we’re open to recasting. It certainly wasn’t our instinct for Wakanda Forever. I’ll never say never to anything, but it’s too early to talk about any of that stuff. We have to figure out what the story’s going to be.

    -Producer Nate Moore

    In March, Senior Concept/Visual Development Artist Mushk Rizvi posted a significant amount of concept art from the studio’s upcoming slate to her Art Station account. Among there were several designs for a new Black Panther that looked to be using actor Damson Idris as a model. 

    The idea of Idris as the MCU’s new T’Challa took hold quickly among the fanbase; however, further inspection of the files posted on Art Station revealed that the character in the concept art was T’Chanda, the Black Panther of Wakanda in World War II and the grandfather of T’Challa. Despite the excitement, the buzz died down and with principal photography on Avengers: Doomsday having been completed with no sign of Idris among those revealed to be part of the cast, fans seemed to have moved on…until now.

    An appearance by Idris at Vogue World: Hollywood, alongside Black Panther franchise star Angela Bassett, has fansvonce again believing he’s set to be the MCU’s next Black Panther.

    With Bassett spotted holding hands with Idris while outfitted in the same garb work by her Queen Ramonda, fans quickly began to call the event a “soft launch” for the recasting of Boseman‘s iconic role. Theories and speculation have begun to spread across social media platforms and message boards, though no single theory seems to be taking hold. Is Idris a Multiversal Variant, a grown T’Challa II or T’Chanda? Has he been cast in Avengers: Doomsday at all? Given the fact that characters from the World of Wakanda are confirmed to play a major role in the film, all of the options would seem to be in play. With the studio rumored to be planning to roll out a teaser for the film before year’s end, perhaps we’ll all find out soon.

  • Lucasfilm Rumored to Be Repackaging Long-Delayed Star Wars Project for Streaming

    Lucasfilm Rumored to Be Repackaging Long-Delayed Star Wars Project for Streaming

    During Disney’s 2020 Investor Day presentation, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced that Patty Jenkins had signed on to direct Rogue Squadron. At the time, the film was slated for a Christmas 2023 release but following a production delay in 2021, the film was removed from Lucasfilm’s slate in September 2022 leading fans to believe the film had been canceled. In early 2023, trade reports confirmed that the project was dead in the waters of Dagobah but somehow, Rogue Squadron returned.

    According to social media scooper My Time To Shine Hello, Lucasfilm has provided a new hope for Rogue Squadron, choosing to redevelop the long-delayed project as a streaming series for D+.

    While this isn’t the dead project fans are  currently wishing will come together (that honor goes to The Hunt for Ben Solo), the project has always sounded relatively exciting and D+ might be the perfect place for it. Set to introduce a “new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy,” Rogue Squadron is believed to be set AFTER the sequels and could serve as a companion piece to Star Wars: Starfighter.

    With the New Republic Mando-verse projects nearing their narrative conclusion in the not too distant future, Lucasfilm is certainly looking for its next batch of stories and Rogue Squadron could have survived uncertainty and become part of the future.

  • ‘Daredevil’ Star Confirms Season 3 Return

    ‘Daredevil’ Star Confirms Season 3 Return

    After being originally left out of Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again, Wilson Bethel joined the cast following the creative retooling that brought it into alignment with the original Netflix series. Thanks to a little retcon, Bethel‘s Bullseye became a bit more interesting, having influenced Matt Murdock enough to have him take a bullet for the Fat Man.

    Set photos have revealed that Bullseye will play an integral role in Season 2, perhaps even as part of Murdock’s resistance, though it’s unclear just how long the pair will remain allies, given Dex offed Matt’s bestie. What is clear, however, after a recent con appearance by Bethel, is that Dex will survive the events of Season 2 and be back in action when season 3 hits D+ in 2027.

    “As some of you might know, we’ve already got picked up for another new season that we will start doing next year,” said Bethel. “We’ll have more Bullseye on the way and Kingpin and all the rest.” Yay…

    As exciting as it is to learn that Marvel Television has no interest in moving away from Kingpin and Bullseye six seasons into Daredevil, Bethel did try to prime the pump for Dex’s appearance in Season 2.  “There are whole new avenues of Dex’s interesting, messed-up psyche that we get to explore, and there’s some really, really fun stuff that’s on the way for Bullseye and Dex,” Bethel said.

    Bethel also teased “a truly fucking awesome” sequence filmed for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, which will debut on D+ in March 2026. “I think the coolest Bullseye fight sequence that we have yet to see in the show is part of [Season 2].” Hopefully it involves some buzzing and more of him using odd shit to kill people because there’s nothing more interesting.

  • Marvel Studios Reportedly Moving Ahead with a Second Season of Its Latest Animated Hit

    Marvel Studios Reportedly Moving Ahead with a Second Season of Its Latest Animated Hit

    Though Marvel Animation’s Marvel Zombies wasn’t the studio’s highest-rated streaming series, the four-episode mini-event drew a lot of eyeballs. A report from The Direct claimed the series exceeded expectations and given that Marvel’s streaming skipper, Brad Winderbaum, said that the studio would be looking at viewership numbers before unleashing a second season of Marvel Zombies, it’s seemed likely that more zombies were on the way…and it sounds as though they are.

    According to Marvel Studios insider Daniel Richtman, the powers that be have decided to move ahead with a second season of Marvel Zombies.

    Frenetic, savage and gadgety-on-the-brink-of-gimmicky, Marvel Zombies ended up a bit less than the sum of its parts while still managing to deliver a sinewy supernatural survivor story.

    -Murphy’s Multiverse review of Marvel Zombies

    While Season 1 of Marvel Zombies wasn’t perfect, it delivered some absolutely phenomenal fun, including “a truly all-time great zombie apocalypse moment that sits right there with 28 Days Later and World War Z.” And while the finale teed up a second season, there are plenty of other tales to be told on the alternate Earth where the Dead Queen rules, meaning there’s plenty of meat on the bone for additional seasons.