Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Charles Murphy

  • Marvel Studios Reportedly Set to Unleash Two Classic X-Men Villains in The Mutant Saga

    Marvel Studios Reportedly Set to Unleash Two Classic X-Men Villains in The Mutant Saga

    As Marvel Studios Multiverse Saga continues to speed to an end, plenty of work is already being done on the next group of stories which will introduce an all-new, all-different batch of mutant heroes and villains into the MCU. Marvel’s One Above All, Kevin Feige, has made it clear that while “some X-Men players that you might recognize” will continue to pop up over the next few films, “the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men.”

    As it stands, all signs point to the studio’s X-Men movie, directed by Thunderbolts* helmer Jake Schreier, being in theaters in 2028. Schreier’s “complex” take is said to be recognizably different than the angle taken by Fox during its two-decade long run bringing the mutants to the big screen. Part of that, according to Feige, comes from Schreier working on a “youth-focused” reboot but a new rumor suggests that won’t be the only way the new film diverges from its predecessor.

    They have been a place to tell stories about young people who feel different and who feel Other and who feel like they don’t belong. That’s the universal story of mutants, and that is where we’re going.

    -Jake Schreier on the X-Men comics
    According to longtime Marvel Studios insider Daniel Richtman, the studio will look to move away from Magneto and focus on a pair of classic X-Men villains as the new saga gets underway. Richtman’s new report indicates that Mister Sinister and Apocalypse are set to share the spotlight as big bada of the Mutant Saga.

    It’s an interesting pairing, especially given the villains’s shared history in the comics, that could point to the studio choosing to really delve into mutant lore and mythology as well as potentially keeping an eye on adapting Jonathan Hickman‘s modern Krakoan Age stories down the line.

    Though Fox attempted to utilize Apocalypse, played strangely by Oscar Isaac, it’s unlikely Marvel’s plans for the character would even slightly resemble the choices made by Fox. And as for Sinister…he may be the most delightfully evil Marvel Comics villain to have never made it to the big screen and his inclusion alone would allow the studio to explore some of the best X-Men arcs ever written. Teaming him up with Apocalypse, who transformed the scientist into something more evolved in the comics, would seem to set the sky as the limit for the stories that could be told in the new saga.

  • Paul Bettany Confirms Major Spoiler for ‘Vision Quest’

    Paul Bettany Confirms Major Spoiler for ‘Vision Quest’

    Marvel Television’s Paul Bettany-led streaming series, potentially titled Vision Quest, has remained remarkably under the radar. For its part, the studio has rarely mentioned the series officially, though it’s likely to be included in its NYCC presentation on October 11th. Despite the studio’s silence, some details about the series emerged over time, including a very interesting cast full of AI beings and one very mysterious young man played by Ruaridh Mollica.

    Though the identity of Mollica’s character has been kept under wraps by the studio, all signs point toward him portraying a young man named “Tucker” who is serving as the vessel for the soul of Tommy Maximoff. That’s not something the studio would come right out and say (it spent over half of Agatha All Along attempting to conceal the true identity of Joe Locke’s character) plenty of insiders have chimed in on the subject. None of them, however, carry the same weight as series star Bettany, who has seemingly confirmed Tommy’s appearance.

    While speaking at Los Angeles Comic Con, Bettany revealed that Vision Quest tells a story of “intergenerational trauma” shared by “fathers and sons.”

    It’s about intergenerational trauma…fathers and sons and denial of pain and denial of your own truth and coming to terms with who and what you are.

    –Paul Bettany on Marvel Television’s streaming series, Vision Quest

    With James Spader set to return as Tony Stark and Bruce Banner’s AI murder bot, Ultron, and much of the series set in a reality other than our own, Vision Quest will see Vision faced with some disturbing realizations while he rediscovers who he is. However, Bettany is clearly speaking about multiple generations and more than one father and more than one son, which all but confirms that his son, Tommy, will indeed appear.

    As seen in Agatha All Along, Billy Maximoff transferred to soul of his brother into a boy who died in a pool as a result of bullies holding his head under water. As Billy did so, he stated that the boy had no family or no one to love him, leaving the door wide open for “Tucker” to have quite a bit in common with his trouble-making comic book counterpart.

  • James Gunn Hints at Major Changes to DC Studios ‘The Brave and the Bold’

    James Gunn Hints at Major Changes to DC Studios ‘The Brave and the Bold’

    When James Gunn and Peter Safran rolled back the curtain on their plans for DC Studios’ Gods and Monsters slate, the studio’s plans for Batman grabbed a lot of attention. Not only was Gunn going to introduce another new Batman but he was also going to introduce members of the Bat Family who have not had the big screen treatment before.

    The Brave and the Bold was described as “a story of Damian Wayne, who’s Batman’s actual son that he didn’t know existed for the first eight to ten years of his life. He was raised as a little murderer and assassin.” And with Andy Muschetti on board to direct, it sounded as though the project would come together quickly. The cookie has crumbled a little differently, however, as the film has been delayed a bit as Gunn work with a new writer (who many believe to be Drew Goddard) to make sure they get things right and it seems as though that may mean a major character has been dropped from the film.

    In an interview with IGN, Gunn explained that “some things have changed” with the project and to “wait to see exactly what’s happening,” with Damian Wayne.

    No, I think you have to wait to see the movie. Some things have changed. Plenty of things are in flux on what his situation is with his parentage and all that stuff, so I wouldn’t take any of it – Yeah, I mean, the actor who wants to… Listen, first of all, I can’t tell you the amount of big actors that have told me they want to be Batman.

    -James Gunn

    “I think you have to wait to see exactly what’s happening,” Gunn replied when pressed further about whether or not Damian would still appear in the project. Obviously that’s not confirmation of anything but it’s a far more cryptic answer than necessary if Damian is in the project. Should the new writer have written him out, it would seem to be more or less a Page 1 rewrite given that Gunn originally described the film as a Damian story. At that point, is it even still The Brave and the Bold? We’ll certainly keep an eye on this one.

    Source: IGN

  • How the  Pivotal ‘Peacemaker’ Cameo Shapes the Future of the DCU

    How the  Pivotal ‘Peacemaker’ Cameo Shapes the Future of the DCU

    Despite the growing exasperation surrounding the interconnected nature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Studios’ co-chair James Gunn has gone balls-deep into a shared narrative in the first year of the all-new, all-different DC Universe.

    Before the DCU began in earnest with Creature Commandos, Gunn confusingly canonized a pair of his own pre-DCU projects, Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad. For good measure, the DC boss then retconned the Justice League out of the first season of Peacemaker, replacing them with the Justice Gang + 2 and establishing a timeline for the young universe that places the events of Superman squarely between the first and second seasons of the HBO Max streaming series. And he’s accomplished all that while telling you that you don’t have to watch any one project in order to understand the shared narrative…

    While it’s becoming clear that last bit probably won’t hold 100% true, so far it hasn’t presented a problem because through three DC Studios projects, Gunn has not missed and the connectivity has been minimal…until the most recent chapter of Season 2 of Peacemaker.

    In what was likely one of the heaviest cameos ever in the superhero genre, “Ignorance is Chris” featured an appearance by Nicholas Hoult‘s Lex Luthor. Fresh off his thrashing at the mouth of Krypto, Luthor, aided by a cane, limped his way to a meeting with Rick Flag Sr. at Belle Reve, where the former finds himself serving a 265-year sentence for all his naughty tricks. In the moment–and especially because Gunn has teased that this season of Peacemaker serves as a prequel to Man of Tomorrow–the cameo felt weighty; however, according to Gunn, it is nothing less than a pivotal moment for the young DCU.

    While discussing the cameo–which was filmed during production in Superman–on Peacemaker: The Official Podcast, Gunn called the meeting between Luthor and Flag “a really important moment for ..the entire DCU.”

    So, we have a really important moment, for not only Peacemaker but the entire DCU. Rick Flag, the Head of A.R.G.U.S., strikes a deal basically with Lex Luthor in exchange for [him] finding where Peacemaker’s portal might be. He is going to move him from a prison with metahumans to a prison with no metahumans. From Belle Reve, where they are now, to Van Kull, both prisons from the comics.

    -James Gunn on Lex Luthor’s appearance in Peacemaker Season 2

    And so, in the words of one of the only people in the world with an idea of where the DCU is headed, a cameo made in a streaming series is a fulcrum for what’s to come. Of course, pragmatically speaking, general audiences won’t know the difference between Belle Reve and Van Kull nor will they really remember Flag even appeared in Superman. In that sense, Gunn isn’t really playing with fire and is staying true to his promise not to include cameos for the hell of it. Still, it’s a bold move to include world-altering events in a TV-MA streaming series that’s not supposed to be necessary viewing.

    With two episodes left in the current season of Peacemaker, ample time remains for a little more context to be added to just exactly what Flag’s deal with Luthor will mean but it’s hard to imagine Luthor being outmaneuvered by Flag, especially since the latter continued to devolve into a blunt instrument in each episode. Moving Luthor to Van Kull–which is located in Metropolis in DC Comics continuity–brings the evil genius right back to his home turf in time for whatever plans Gunn has for him next.

    Source: Peacemaker: The Official Podcast with James Gunn

  • ‘Peacemaker’ Delivers an Absolutely Phenomenal DCU Cameo

    ‘Peacemaker’ Delivers an Absolutely Phenomenal DCU Cameo

    As he was making the rounds promoting Season 2 of Peacemaker, James Gunn touted the sixth and eighth episodes of the HBO Max streaming series as perhaps his favorite work on an incredibly impressive superhero resume. More recently, the DC Studios co-chair and Superman Saga creator has described the sophomore season of Peacemaker as a prequel to his next film, Man of Tomorrow…and now fans can understand where Gunn was coming from on both counts.

    Episode 6 of Peacemaker Season 2, “Ignorance is Chris”, sees Frank Grillo‘s Rick Flag Sr. grow frustrated with the inability to track down John Cena‘s Christopher Smith on the alternate Earth he’s chosen to call home and turn to the DCU’s resident expert on the subject: Lex Luthor!

    Serving a 265-year sentence in Belle Reve for his actions as seen in Superman, Luthor trades a chance at redemption to help Flag locate Peacemaker.

    Given that Superman stands as the only DCU film, there certainly weren’t a lot of characters from which to choose for cameos; however, even given a full roster of characters, Luthor is one of the greatest villains in all of comics and using him in this way is a major fLex.

    Luthor may not be back in Peacemaker but his appearance teases just how connected and comic booky Gunn’s DCU will be…and it’s phenomenal!

  • ‘Spaceballs 2’ Cast Officially Revealed as Production Kicks Off

    As the 1987 Star Wars parody, Spaceballs, came to a close, Mel Brooks’ Yogurt told Bill Pullman‘s Lone Starr that “God willing,” they’d all “meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.” Nearly 40 years later, Amazon MGM Studios has begun production on the long-awaited sequel which will see nearly all the main players from the original reunite and reprise their respective roles.

    After 40 years, we asked “What do the fans want?”…but instead, we’re making this movie.

    -Mel Brooks

    Amazon MGM Studios announced that Rick Moranis (Ghostbusters; Little Shop of Horrors; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise), Josh Gad (Frozen; Beauty and the Beast; The Wedding Ringer), Keke Palmer (Nope; One of Them Days), Lewis Pullman (The Testament of Ann Lee; Thunderbolts), Anthony Carrigan (Barry; Superman), George Wyner (A Serious Man; A Million Little Things), Daphne Zuniga (Melrose Place; One Tree Hill), and Bill Pullman (Independence Day; Lost Highway; The Sinner) are set to star in the studio’s new Spaceballs film, alongside previously announced star, Mel Brooks.

    The sequel has brought Moranis, who will once again play the villainous Dark Helmet, out of retirement. Bill Pullman and Zuniga return as Han Solo and Princess Leia analogues Lone Starr and Vespa, with Lewis Pullman believed to be playing their son, a new character based on Kylo Ren. Gad is rumored to be playing the son of Barf, the Mawg played by the late John Candy.

    Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) is directing from a script by writing duo Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez (Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy; TMNT: Mutant Mayhem), and Josh Gad. Plot details are being kept under lock, key, and an industrial-strength Schwartz shield.

    Spaceballs 2 will be in theaters in 2027.

    Source: Amazon MGM Studios

  • Marvel TV Boss Confirms Plans for Annual Releases for Two Marvel Animation Projects

    Marvel TV Boss Confirms Plans for Annual Releases for Two Marvel Animation Projects

    Since rebranding and falling under the purview of Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studio, Brad Winderbaum in 2021, Marvel Animation’s projects have been far more hit than miss. The first seasons of  X-Men ’97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man debuted to strong critical reviews and an even stronger audience response, building excitement for sophomore seasons.

    In early 2025, Winderbaum confirmed that both series would return to D+ in 2026 and shared his wish that both would become annual releases for the studio. “Season 2 of X-Men ‘97 is going to be in ‘26. We’re working on it now. To me, it’s important to try to get to an annual cadence with these shows and to have something that people can rely on,” Winderbaum proclaimed, adding “We will have a Spider-Man season every year if I have anything to say about it.” As the head of streaming, Winderbaum does indeed have something to say about it and now, he has said it.

    (L-R): Rogue (voiced by Lenore Zann), Jubilee (voiced by Holly Chou), Jean Grey (voiced by Jennifer Hale), Cyclops (voiced by Ray Chase), Roberto Da Costa (voiced by Gui Agustini), Nightcrawler (voiced by Adrian Hough), Storm (voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith), and Morph (voiced by JP Karliak) in Marvel Animation’s X-MEN ’97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.

    While promoting Marvel Animation’s latest release, Marvel Zombies, Winderbaum revealed that both X-Men ’97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are on the books for annual releases for “the next few years.”

    What’s exciting about the next few years is that we’re going to get subsequent seasons of X-Men ’97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on an annual cadence. So every year, there’ll be a new season and we can map out a longer arc to those stories.

    -Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studio, Brad Winderbaum
    Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) in Marvel Animation’s YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.

    Under original showrunner Beau DeMayo, X-Men ’97 looked set to run for five seasons and adapt major Marvel Comic storylines such as Age of Apocalypse. With Marvel Studios moving on from DeMayo, however, progress on the show slowed, pushing season two off the studio’s 2025 streaming slate and into 2026. Winderbaum‘s latest comments could be interpreted as an indication that the new showrunner, Matthew Chauncey, has hit his stride in outlining and developing future seasons of the show.

  • James Gunn Teases the Futures of Two DCU Villains

    James Gunn Teases the Futures of Two DCU Villains

    While Superman focused mainly on fleshing out the all-new, all-different DCU’s Metropolis and its cast of characters, the film’s opening text established a world in which metahumans have been a known quantity for 300 years. That allowed for plenty of room to introduce heroes and villains in the film without necessarily having to spend too much time on their origins, something director James Gunn took full advantage of in having the Engineer and Ultraman join Lex Luthor in taking on Superman.

    Even though Maria Gabrielle de Faria’s Engineer didn’t land with audiences as much as Gunn had hoped, she was a key part of Luthor’s team, so with Superman’s arch enemy set to return in Man of Tomorrow, it shouldn’t be too surprising to learn that Gunn has plans for the Engineer as well.

    As confirmed by Gunn from comments made in the Superman Director’s Commentary, de Faria will return in Man of Tomorrow where fans will learn what happened to the villain after she went toe-to-toe with Kal-El and lost.

    “She’s out of the movie,” said Gunn of the character in reference to her not returning to the story after being knocked unconscious by Superman. “Where does she go? Well, you’re going to find that out in the next movie.”

    That sounds a bit like PlanetWatch may end up getting involved in…watching the planet…when Brainiac attacks, which is a reasonable way of having Lex and Superman team up in Man of Tomorrow. However, the Engineer wasn’t the only other villain in Superman.

    During production, word leaked that Superman would feature some sort of evil doppelgänger of the Man of Steel, also played by David Corenswet. That, of course, turned out to be the DCU’s Ultraman, who has a markedly different origin story from his DC Comics counterpart…but as Gunn teased, his story may not be over either and the next chapter may take him to his comic book home.

    “We discover that Ultraman is a clone of Superman. [In the comics], Ultraman is from Earth-3, where he’s a part of The Crime Syndicate and an evil version of Superman. There are some similarities here,” said Gunn. “Also, you might ask yourself, ‘Where does Ultraman go at the end of the movie?’ He sends him up into the black hole. Is this the end of Ultraman? I don’t know.”

    While obviously more opaque than the plans for the Engineer, it does sound as though while Ultraman’s fate might be unknown to the audience, it’s a little more defined in Gunn’s mind.

    Could Gunn be hinting at a Crisis on Two Earths-type film as part of his Superman Saga? It’s certainly not one on many fans’ bingo cards and would be incredibly ambitious; however, if executed properly, it would also likely stand as a giant among comic-booky comic book films.

  • Review: ‘Marvel Zombies’

    Review: ‘Marvel Zombies’

    As Marvel Studios marketed the first season of its multiverse-hopping canonical animated series, What If…?, it smartly leaned heavily into the show’s most eye-popping premise: zombies. The earliest teasers for the series put zombie Cap front and center, along it clear that at least in that episode, nobody was safe from the zombie apocalypse.

    As it turned out, the attempt by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to take down the zombies infected with a Quantum Virus in “What If…Zombies?!” led to an even greater catastrophe; however, the silver lining for fans of zombies–and the gratuitous violence that comes with them–was 30 minutes of TV-MA of spectacularly gory fun in the kind of kill-or-be-killed environment that was more akin to Mortal Kombat than anything. And, like many episodes of What If…?, “What If…Zombies?!” left the door open for more stories to be told…

    …the creative team behind What If…? ran with it like they were designing Mortal Kombat fatalities. The episode included two particularly bad cases of being cut in half (Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers were bisected longitudinally and transversely, respectively); Wong continued the trend of librarians from Kamar-Taj being relieved of their heads; and Hope van Dyne got especially nasty, using ants to strip the flesh from Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian and Doctor Strange before decapitating Iron Man, repulsoring Happy in the face and then growing to full size inside a zombified Sharon Carter, resulting in a real gross mess.

    -‘WHAT IF… ZOMBIES?’ Is the Closest To ‘MORTAL KOMBAT’ The MCU May Get

    Four years later, Marvel Animation’s Marvel Zombies returns to the alternate Earth overrun by Quantum zombies to spin a classic zombie yarn bringing together disparate groups of survivors. While the zombie horde prevented Thanos’ plans from coming to fruition, it ultimately unleashed an even greater threat in Wanda Maximoff, the Queen of the Dead, who doesn’t have a 50% off the population of the Earth coupon but rather and army of undead who see the population as an all-you-can-eat buffet.

    Center): Zombie Okoye (voiced by Kenna Ramsey) in Marvel Television’s MARVEL ZOMBIES exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2025 MARVEL.
    Frenetic, savage and gadgety-on-the-brink-of-gimmicky, Marvel Zombies ends up a bit less than the sum of its parts while still managing to deliver a sinewy supernatural survivor story.

    Picking up where “What If…Zombies?!” left off, Marvel Zombies spends three episodes bringing together its main cast while explaining and expanding upon the situation they’re trying to survive in the ravenous, post-apocalyptic environment which creators Bryan Andrews and Zeb Wells leverage to their full narrative advantage. From the North Institute to The Raft and plenty of surprising people, places and things, the four-episode TV-MA mini-event is weaved on an impressively vast narrative canvas that is incredibly inclusive. Ultimately, Marvel Zombies is Kamala Khan’s story–and Iman Vellani once again does an amazing job–though there’s plenty for others to do outside of die.

    On that note, Simu Liu‘s Shang-Chi and Awkwafina’s Katy Chen, who are at ground zero of the outbreak in San Francisco, get a fun new origin story that shows off the fun that can be had exploring these What If…? universes. And it involves a truly all-time great zombie apocalypse moment that sits right there with 28 Days Later and World War Z. Ultimately, it’s moments like this (which takes place at the begining of Episode 2) and Spider-Man being turned loose as a zombie-killing machine that make Marvel Zombies worth the watch, even if it is a bit flawed in its narrative and does leave some continuity questions even in an alternate timeline.

  • ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ Star Joins the Cast of ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ Star Joins the Cast of ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    In May, a report from journalist Chris Higashi, who was in attendance at the Disney Blockbuster Consumer Products presentation, revealed a significant amount of information about the villains and plot of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Though it was met with heavy skepticism as the time, Higashi claimed that the presentation revealed a trip of villains set to menace the Web-Slinger in the new film: Scorpion, Boomerang and Tombstone.

    With Michael Mando back as Mac Gargan, Scorpion is a lock and now, as production continues in the UK, another of those three baddies has been confirmed.

    According to Deadline, Marvin Jones III has joined the cast of Spider-Man: Brand New Day as Tombstone, The Horror of Harlem.

    Jones voiced Tombstone in Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 2018 and also has experience as a live-action baddie after playing DC kingpin Tobias Whale in the CW’s Black Lightning.

    Updating…

    Source: Deadline