In less than two months, DC Studios’ all-new, all-different DCU will get with the debut of the canonical animated series Creature Commandos. Written by DC Studios co-chair James Gunn, the project will see characters from Amanda Waller’s Non-Human Internment Division team up with Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) to run black-ops missions.
With a cast of stars including David Harbour, Maria Bakalova and Sean Gunn joining Grillo and Steve Agee, who will be reprising his role as John Economos from Peacemaker, Creature Commandos will set the tone for the DCU and, if the new trailer that debuted at NYCC 2024 is any indication, it will be a far more brutal and bloody universe than many expected. But while the trailer looked like it might give Amazon Studios’ Invincible a run for its money in terms of straight-up savagery, Gunn explained that the DCU does not have an “overall aesthetic.” “Each project out of DC Studios is going to be its own thing,” said Gunn. “It’s a connected universe, but there’s not an overall aesthetic.” So despite the gory trailer shown at NYCC, fans probably shouldn’t expect David Corenswet‘s Superman to have too much in common with Homelander.
Gunn proved to be incredibly capable of balancing the dynamics and screentime of teams with Marvel Studios Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy; however, according to the Creature Commandos writer and producer, there’s some difference between the two team projects. “The characters aren’t all perfect,” said Gunn before adding that some characters in the series die for no reason. As for how the team comes together, Gunn explained that while that happens in Episode 1, “Lost-style” flashbacks will provide additional background on the Commandos. From there, a bromance between David Harbour‘s Frankenstein and Grillo‘s Flag was teased as well as an interesting romance brewing between Flag and Princess Ilana Rostovic, played by Bakalova.
It looks as though Creature Commandos will have a lot going for it when it streams on HBO beginning December 5th.
The changes made behind the scenes of Daredevil: Born Again have been well-documented. Following a hiatus from filming while Hollywood workers went on strike, Marvel Studios brought in a new creative team to overhaul the series. In doing so, the studio totally changed gears by tying the first season of the D+ project directly into the Netflix series, canonizing not only all three seasons of Daredevil but also the other Defenders-verse series.
But now that some time has passed, now that we actually see how well-integrated the stories are, I personally, Brad Winderbaum, will confidently say that they are part of the Sacred Timeline.
Brad Winderbaum
Accompanying the release of Echo, the studio’s first Marvel Spotlight production and its first TV-MA offering, the studio made massive changes to the Timeline Order subsection of the Marvel Studios channel on Disney Plus. Though it’s not yet updated in all regions, the studio retroactively placed all 161 episodes of the Netflix series in the Infinity Saga. Doing so required some changes in the script of the series while allowing for Netflix stars like Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll and more to join the fray. However, despite trade reports of his inclusion and set photos showing his character on the set, one MAJOR Daredevil villain was left off the cast list.
While Netflix Daredevil vets like Jon Bernthal and Ayelet Zurer were included, Season 3 star Wilson Bethel, who played psycho assassin Bullseye, was nowhere to be found on the casting list.
The good news here is that the lack of inclusion of Bethel could simply mean the studio is making somewhat of an effort to take some focus off of not only his character’s appearance in the series but also his actions, which certainly seem to change the course of Matt Murdock’s life. Of course, the bad news would sound an awfully lot like Bethel’s Bullseye being cut from the project entirely but that hardly seems likely given the extent of his role in the series following the overhaul and the fact that he’s been spotted in the leaked trailer.
New York Comic Con ’24 is in full swing and while Marvel Studios has not typically used the convention to promote projects, they took full advantage of being on Daredevil’s home turf. In a surprise move, Daredevil: Born Again stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio were in attendance as the studio showed a trailer for the first season of the new Disney Plus streaming series and officially revealed the premiere date as well as a new synopsis and the rating every Netflix fan had been hoping for.
Though it has been known for some time that Daredevil: Born Again was set to debut in March 2025, today’s NYCC presentation revealed that the series, which received a TV-MA rating, will hit Disney Plus on Tuesday, March 4th, 2025.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 19: Vincent D’Onofrio and Charlie Cox speaks onstage during the Marvel Fanfare with C.B. Cebulski at New York Comic Con at Javits Center on October 19, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Disney)
In Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer with heightened abilities is fighting for justice through his bustling law firm, while former mob boss Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) pursues his own political endeavors in New York. When their past identities begin to emerge, both men find themselves on an inevitable collision course.
-Official synopsis for Daredevil: Born Again
Additionally, Marvel Studios released a partial list of cast members for the project, confirming the return of many veterans of the Netflix series. Joining Cox and D’Onofrio in the series are Margarita Levieva, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Zabryna Guevara, Nikki James, Genneya Walton, Arty Froushan, Clark Johnson, Michael Gandolfini, with Ayelet Zurer and Jon Bernthal.
Following a creative overhaul, Dario Scardapane took over as showrunner for the series which will be directed by a team of directors made up of the duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead as well as Michael Cuesta, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, and David Boyd.
Tom Holland‘s time as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man has been an incredible success. After debuting in Captain America: Civil War, Holland’s Peter Parker led three solo Spider-Man films (Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home) and starred in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Five of those films hit theaters in a three-year span so, understandably, Holland has been a bit of a break from the character since No Way Home hit theaters in 2022. However, as Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga moves toward its final phase, it’s time for the Webhead to return and help lift the studio back to its former glory.
Whatever the plot of the film, set to be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, ends up being, it’s clear that Holland has been given some level of input into his fourth go around. In a recent interview, the star revealed that the project has “a creative and a pitch and a draft” which he deemed “excellent” while also admitting that “it needs work.” Later in the interview, Holland reiterated that there were “a few things we need to figure out before we can get that really going” in order to ensure the legacy of the character was kept intact.
I feel like I owe it to [fans] to give and deliver the best version of what the next chapter for Spider-Man looks likeand I think that’s really important, and I think the creative integrity for something like that is really important, and the studio is on board and supportive and really collaborative.
-Tom Holland
Over the last decade, Marvel Comics added an incredible new layer to the legacy of Spider-Man in Miles Morales. The character has proven to be a hit across all mediums and fans have called out for his live-action debut for quite some time. Interestingly enough, despite all the wild plans Sony continues to concoct, none of them have included a live-action Miles Morales project. One can decide for oneself if that’s telling or not but one reasonable explanation for why Sony hasn’t moved forward with such a project yet is that they may indeed prefer to introduce the character in a Marvel Studios project and enter into a collaborative agreement similar to the one they have over the use of Peter Parker. Whether that ever comes to pass or not, it’s clear that Holland would be on board with such a decision.
During an interview with Rich Roll, the star made it clear that before he moves on from the role of Peter Parker, he wants to help introduce whichever young actor is chosen as Miles into the MCU. “If I would be lucky enough to somehow bring Miles Morales into my Spider-Man Universe and into the MCU, I’d love to do for a young kid what [Robert] Downey [Jr.] did for me.“
It’s a wonderful idea and one that would deepen and enrich both characters, as it has in the comics, if done correctly. Though his love for the character is well-known, Holland’s time as Spider-Man may be growing short. Rumors persist that he’ll not only star in Spider-Man 4 but also play major roles in both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, which will end the Multiverse Saga. While it’s unclear exactly what the plans are beyond the Multiverse Saga, the potential for a clean break from Peter Parker and a shift to Miles Morales as the primary Spider-Man of the MCU does exist. And Holland seems ready to make it happen.
He is…inevitable. As the Avengers learned in Avengers: Infinity War, there’s no more dangerous foe than Thanos, the Mad Titan. And though they had some measure of revenge against him and were able to defeat another Variant of the villain in Avengers: Endgame, Earth-616 was forever changed because of his machinations and was left without several of its mightiest heroes. Simply put, although the Avengers avenged, Thanos won.
After being introduced in a relatively minor role in James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos became the central villain of what came to be known as the Infinity Saga. With Josh Brolin on board to bring Thanos to life, Marvel Studios did the unthinkable by making a villain the protagonist of Avengers: Infinity War. Now, as the studio prepares to shine the spotlight on another of Marvel Comics’ great villains in Avengers: Doomsday, a pair of convergent reports claim that the MCU is also turning back to Thanos.
You Couldn’t Live with Your Own Failure, Where Did that Bring You? Back to Me.
After social media scooper MTTSH claimed that Thanos was headed back to the MCU “sooner than you think”, ComicBookMovie.com followed up with their own claim: Marvel Studios has plans for the Mad Titan to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars.
After originally being developed by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness scribe Michael Waldron, the script of Avengers: Secret Wars is now in the hands of Stephen McFeely who co-wrote both Infinity War and Endgame, making him very familiar with Thanos. Add in the fact that the brothers Russo are back in the directors’ chairs for Doomsday and Secret Wars and the idea that the return of Thanos in the latter could put him against Robert Downey Jr. again and you have the makings of a believable rumor.
For those wondering, Thanos has squared off against Doctor Doom in the pages of Marvel Comics before. In fact, in the 2015 event series Secret Wars, Thanos squared off against God Emperor Doom and found himself wanting. Though the reports don’t provide any details about what to expect from Thanos’ appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see a Multiversal Variant of the character find himself in a similar predicament.
It’s hard to imagine Sony and Marvel Studios moving forward on a fourth Spider-Man film without Tom Holland and that’s probably why rumors of the star agreeing to a deal to stay on as the Web-Slinger preceded the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home which was his last contracted appearance. Though those rumors of a new deal were incredibly widespread, neither Holland nor anyone at Sony or Marvel ever confirmed the veracity of them. For his part, Holland has stayed the course, maintaining that while he’s interested in working with the studios on another film, he’d only move forward if it was a story worth telling.
All I can say is that we have been actively engaging in conversations about what it could potentially look like for a fourth rendition of my character. Whether or not we can find a way to do justice to the character is another thing. I feel very protective over Spider-Man. I feel very, very lucky that we were able to work on a franchise that got better with each movie, that got more successful with each movie, which I think is really rare, and I want to protect his legacy. So, I won’t make another one for the sake of making another one. It will have to be worth the while of the character.
With Spidey vets Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers reportedly back on board to script the fourth film and Destin Daniel Cretton set to direct, buzz is building around the project, especially with rumors of a 2025 start of production. While fans continue to wait for word on when Holland’s Peter Parker will return to the screen and start off a brand new phase of his career, the star has spoken out about the state of the project for this first time.
“We have a creative and a pitch and a draft which is excellent. It needs work but the writers are doing a great job and I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me,” said Holland in a wide-ranging interview with Rich Roll. “Zendaya and I sat down and read it together and we at times were like bouncing around the living room.” Holland continued, once again expressing concern for the legacy of the character, especially in the minds of fans. “Like this is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect, but there [are] a few things we need to figure out before we can get that really going. But it’s exciting and I’m really, really excited about it.”
As a seasoned veteran of Marvel Studios’ projects, Holland is well aware that the story for Spider-Man 4 will serve as not only a Spidey sequel but also to set up the character’s next steps in the shared narrative. “Obviously, one of the things to like bear in mind with Marvel is that there is, your film is a small cog in a large machine, and that machine has got to keep running, and you need to make sure that you can fit into that timeline at the right time to benefit the bigger picture,” Holland explained. With Spider-Man reportedly set to play a large role in both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, it seems as though everyone has agreed upon where the sweet spot in the timeline is and that it’ll allow for a solid fourth installment in the Spidey franchise to pave the way. “I feel like I owe it to [fans] to give and deliver the best version of what the next chapter for Spider-Man looks like,” said Holland, “and I think that’s really important, and I think the creative integrity for something like that is really important, and the studio is on board and supportive and really collaborative.“
Despite how great all of that sounds, Holland did caution that while everyone is working in the right direction, it’s not quite go time yet. “I’ve been so blown away by how welcoming they’ve been into that creative room, but you know we’re working now, pedal is to the metal, we’re trying to get it going as soon as possible,” he said. “Things are looking great, but there’s still a lot of moving pieces that need to come together for us to hit the ground running.” Hopefully whatever needs to come together does so without a hitch, allowing Holland’s Spider-Man to make his way back to the MCU by 2026.
For the next few days, New York City will be the center of the pop culture world as NYCC ’24 gets underway. Though it’s typically not been used to deliver major breaking news about upcoming Marvel or DC projects, both studios have certainly promoted films and series in the past and will do so again this year.
In Marvel’s case, fans will be able to take visit a booth with a display of costumes from Marvel Television’s upcoming streaming series, Daredevil: Born Again. And while anything more may have seemed like wishful thinking, early arrivals at the event caught the first glimpse of a brand new Marvel logo that includes the first look at multiple characters expected to appear in upcoming projects.
The new logo, which is starting to pop up all over social media, not only gives fans great, new looks at Harrison Ford‘s Red Hulk, Anthony Mackie‘s Captain America and a few characters from the 2025 film Thunderbolts* but also a great shot of H.E.R.B.I.E., Jeff the Shark and Galacta, the daughter of Galactus.
New Marvel logo with Fantastic Four, Red Hulk, Thunderbolts*, and more on it at NYCC! pic.twitter.com/cpGdfpKiJd
Though it’s not been confirmed, it is incredibly likely that Jeff and Galacta are simply part of Marvel Comics’ presentation or their video game presentation. On the other hand, the logo also includes close up looks at Daredevil, Wilson Fisk from Daredevil: Born Again and the Human Torch who, along with H.E.R.B I.E., will be seen in 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Additionally, the inclusion of characters from What If…? in the logo all but guarantees the third season of the canonical animated adventure will hit Disney Plus in 2025. As it stands, the studio’s 2025 slate currently includes:
As it moves through its nine-episode season, it’s become increasingly clear that Agatha All Along was never intended to be about Agatha all along. Initially the unassuming familiar of Agatha Harkness’ coven of chaos, Joe Locke‘s Teen has emerged as the true protagonist of the second half of the series. Following the Episode 5 reveal that Teen is Billy Maximoff, the son of Wanda Maximoff believed to have been erased from existence in the WandaVision finale, the true nature of the character immediately changed the focus of the series. With Episode 6 detailing how Billy came to be entangled with William Kaplan, the final three episodes look set to proceed with a new storytelling purpose that was made clear before Episode 5 wrapped.
While the “Billy reveal” wasn’t truly a surprise to a large percentage of the MCU’s fan base, the revelation of why Billy wanted to walk the Witches’ Road may have been a surprise to those unfamiliar with the very detailed leaks about the plot of Agatha All Along. Despite Teen expressing a desire to obtain power at the end of the Road, much of the online discussion about his real motives (most of which were based on the assumption he was truly Billy Maximoff) leaned into the idea that he would use the Road to find his mother. Episode 6 made it clear that the Wanda problem remains one to be solved another day.
Thanks to some detective-esque interrogation from Agatha, Billy’s true motivation for walking the Witches’ Road came bursting forth in a show of strong emotion. What Billy is truly missing and hopes to find at the end of the road is his twin brother, Tommy. Like Billy, Tommy was believed to be erased from existence as Wanda undid the hex. However, as is the case with Billy, Tommy’s soul remains on Earth-616. Moreover, Billy can feel his twin’s presence but is unable to locate him.
With three episodes left to go, there’s still some exploration of other witch’s stories to go, a trial or two and at least one incredibly interesting twist; however, with Billy’s true intention for manipulating Agatha to leading the way down the Witches’ Road having been revealed, the show has changed course and one has to wonder what adventures will be in store for Billy and Tommy, if and when they reunite.
Through its first six episodes, Marvel Studios’ first WandaVision spinoff, Agatha All Along, has been nothing short of spellbinding. In Episode 5, “Darkest Hour/Wake They Power”, creator Jac Schaefferrevealed that Joe Locke‘s unassuming Teen was actually Wanda Maximoff’s son, Billy. Though it was certainly not a surprise to hardcore fans of either the MCU or Marvel Comics, general audiences who don’t read comics or scour the internet for every leak, rumor and scoop may have found themselves not only surprised but a little confused about how Earth-616 Billy, who disappeared when Wanda undid The Hex, could be alive and rather well. More multiversal shenanigans? More magic? Fortunately, the wait to find out was not a long one as Episode 6, “Familiar By Thy Side”, set out to explain the previous episode’s twist.
Though the big Billy reveal was indeed part of multiple and widespread leaks about Agatha All Along, the “how” of it all was not necessarily front-page news. And as is Marvel Studios’ way, Schaeffer chose not to follow along step-by-step with the way Marvel Comics handled Billy Maximoff’s “rebirth”, opting to create a more connected in-universe option. For those who haven’t seen it yet or find themselves a little confused, let’s look at how it all went down.
Even if the mechanics of it all aren’t quite clear right away, the bare bones explanation for what’s going on is that just as Billy Maximoff and his brother, Tommy, disappeared as their mother ended the hex that created them, a teenager named William Kaplan (Locke) was killed in a single car accident. As Kaplan’s soul left his body, Billy’s soul moved into the “empty vessel” and as the body reanimated, it was Billy behind the wheel.
As he explains in the episode, Billy has none of William Kaplan’s memories and has been essentially posing as the teen for three years, a stranger within the body of another person. Interestingly enough, Billy retained the psionic powers he displayed in WandaVision while also, obviously, learning spellcraft along the way.
Moving forward, it should be clear that Locke’s Teen is truly Billy Maximoff wearing the skinsuit of William Kaplan. How the studio will choose to proceed with identifying the character is already a topic of conversation among Marvel Comics fans with the very simple solution of calling him Billy Kaplan deemed as a solid compromise. Whatever the case, it’s now clear that Locke’s character has a future beyond Agatha All Along, though with the studio taking its time producing new streaming series, it could be years until we see the next chapter.
With production on Marvel Studios and Sony’s Spider-Man 4 finally set to get underway in 2025, buzz around the project has been steadily growing over the past several months. Though the project has been in development since before Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters in 2022 and rumors about its potential plot have been popping up for almost as long, it wasn’t until Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton boarded the project following a rumored script overhaul that the wildest and most exciting rumors started to fly.
Once widely believed to be a team-up film featuring Spidey, Daredevil and other street-level heroes taking on Wilson Fisk, the latest word on the film’s script, by Spidey vets Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, is that it will bring Sony’s Spidey-adjacent universe’s biggest star into the MCU and, along with him, one of the most terrifying villains to hit the pages of Marvel Comics in the last decade: Knull, the King in Black. Though there’s no confirmation of exactly what the actual plan is for Spider-Man 4, reports of screenings of Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance indicate that the film may indeed set up the prospects of an unprecedented studio crossover in which Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock finds himself fully integrated into the MCU and not just visiting for a short-term bender in Mexico. As the release date of Sony’s third and final installment in the Venom franchise draws near, Hardy was asked about the recent rumors and his response may be quite telling.
When asked by a reporter what the odds of Spider-Man showing up in Venom: The Last Dance might be, Hardy slyly responded by saying, “You know…you know, there are always possibilities. I couldn’t possibly say anything because this is the last movie.” Before moving on, Hardy added, “Yeah, I would love that.” As not only the star of the Venom franchise but also a writer and producer on The Last Dance, Hardy is in a unique position to know exactly what those possibilities are for this film and beyond.
This is just the beginning for Knull. We’re in spoiler territory now and we hope some of the fun of watching this movie is not knowing what will happen,but trust me, we know full well how important Knull is to the fans, so just as we laid a foundation for Venom, we hope we are doing the same for Knull.
–Venom: The Last Dance director Kelly Marcel
Despite Sony putting a bow on the Venom franchise in The Last Dance, director Kelly Marcel recently confirmed that Knull’s story is just beginning. However, with the two most popular symbiote (Venom and Carnage) apparently off the board, it would seem foolish–even for Sony–to try to move forward with a symbiote-centric story. But according to Marcel, “One movie could never do justice to Knull,” which means that somehow, someway, there’s more story to tell. With a piece of the Venom symbiote already on Earth-616 and Hardy’s Brock reportedly headed back to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline, it’s easy to draw the conclusion the the King in Black will find his way there as well.
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