Author: Charles Murphy

  • ‘Invincible’ Season 3 Teaser Reveals Release Date, Confirms No Mid-Season Break

    ‘Invincible’ Season 3 Teaser Reveals Release Date, Confirms No Mid-Season Break

    After a two-and-a-half year wait following its debut, Season 2 of Amazon’s animated Invincible came out of the gate strong…and then took a four month hiatus before finishing on a somber note. Mid-season delays have become more common in the streaming era and with animated series already taking longer to produce, fans began to wonder just how long it might be before they could enjoy all of Season 3. Now they have the answer.

    After a leaked version of the Season 3 trailer made the rounds over the weekend, the studio decided to share the real thing complete with a release date and a promise that the new season won’t take a break!

    Season 3 of Invincible will make its way to Amazon Prime Video on February 6, 2025

    As promised by show runner Simon Racioppa, the wait between Seasons 2 and 3 is significantly shorter than the 30 month wait fans had after the breathtaking Season 1 finale.

    We’re an hour long animated show which is very unusual, but we have so many characters and so many settings, even in just one episode that we’re really kind of pushing the limits of what can be done in animation. So it takes a long time to make it. But it has also taken a long time to learn how to do it and figure it out because we’re doing a lot of things that you don’t necessarily do in animation.

    Invincible creator Robert Kirkman

    The quick turnaround is encouraging not only in that it will allow for a much shorter gap following the devastating second half of Season 2 but also holds potential for further seasons of the adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel to start to roll out in shorter order as well. With Kirkman hoping the series runs for seven or eight seasons, that isn’t only good news, it’s also quite necessary.

  • ‘Superman’ Teaser Confirms Fan Favorite Character’s Appearance in the 2025 Film

    ‘Superman’ Teaser Confirms Fan Favorite Character’s Appearance in the 2025 Film

    In nearly every way imaginable, DC Studios’ Superman may be the most pivotal comic book movie since 2008. By choosing to write and direct the project and have it lead off the studio’s all-new, all-different DCU, DC Studios’ co-chair James Gunn went all in on making the Man of Steel a priority for the fledgling shared universe. In this way, Gunn’s vision for the character will be the audience’s first true impression and likely define whether or not the DCU ultimately takes off.

    The good news there is that Gunn’s love for the character and the incredible mythology that’s been built up around him over the last 86 years is well known. And while that doesn’t guarantee Superman will be a success, photos from the set and reports from screenings have given fans reason to hope, which is what the character is all about. Some of those set photos seemed to tease the inclusion of one of Superman’s most loveable supporting characters, Krypto. Now, Gunn has not only confirmed the inclusion of the Superdog but also shared a first look at the powerful pup!

    A well-known animal lover, Gunn also shared a touching story about how his own dog, Ozu, whoche and his wife rescued from an unfortunate situation. From the sounds of the story, Krypto will be both an integral part of the story and also cause some chaos!

    Gunn has always been a fan of Krypto and, dating back to when he first started work at DC has explored using the character in a project. Back in 2021, we erroneously reported that Gunn was developing a Krypto project for Warner Bros but Gunn’s interest in the character has clearly not waned. 

    Superman will land in theaters on July 11, 2025.

  • ‘Venom’ Franchise Vet Teases a “Marvel Film Villain” Future for The King in Black

    ‘Venom’ Franchise Vet Teases a “Marvel Film Villain” Future for The King in Black

    Venom: The Last Dance may well be the final installment in Sony’s Tom Hardy-led franchise but it’s become clear that the studio isn’t done experimenting with symbiotes just yet. The Last Dance is set to introduce the Marvel Comics villain Knull, the creator of the symbiote race and one of the oldest and most evil characters in the cosmos. However, Knull does not have a large role in this film, with the studio choosing to introduce the character in order to set him up as a far greater threat to be dealt with down the road, something akin to what Marvel Studios did with Thanos in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

    One movie could never do justice to Knull,” said The Last Dance director and Venom franchise veteran, Kelly Marcel, teasing big plans for the future of the character known in the comics as The King in Black. However, with Sony having no plans for more Venom films, where will Knull be explored further? Recent rumors have Sony working with Marvel Studios to have both Hardy’s Venom and Knull crossover into the MCU in the upcoming fourth Spider-Man film; however, those are just rumors for now, though Marcel may have added a little fuel to the fire with some recent comments.

    In an interview with IGN, Marcel seemingly confirmed the latest and greatest rumors about the future of the character, saying “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,” cautioned Marcel, “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.

    The King in Black is way too powerful for ‘one and done.’ This film introduces Knull, but it just touches the beginnings of his story,” explained Marcel before comparing the studio’s plans for Knull to those of Marvel Studio’s greatest film villains, saying, “Marvel’s greatest film villains are developed over time. Here, Knull is the threat lurking behind the danger that tests the absolute limits of Eddie and Venom’s partnership — but it’s their relationship that remains the heart of this story.”

    Knowing that Knull is after his creations and that part of Eddie Brock’s symbiote was left behind on Earth-616 after his brief trip there certainly helps add fuel to the fire that Knull could eventually find his way into the MCU. And while Marcel doesn’t confirm it, she gives room for hope that one of Marvel Comics’ recent crossover events could unfold in Spider-Man 4. “As the fans know there are many, many more symbiote stories — the universe is wide and rich, and one movie could never do justice to Knull,” teased Marcel. “Beyond this trilogy, there are more stories to explore – God is coming.

    Source: IGN

  • ‘Avengers’ Star Casts Doubt on Prospects of Solo Spinoff Project

    ‘Avengers’ Star Casts Doubt on Prospects of Solo Spinoff Project

    Don Cheadle‘s MCU debut as James Rhodes in Iron Man 2 was played as an ironic, in-universe joke meant to make light of him replacing Terrance Howard in the role. Over a decade later, it’s starting to seem as though Cheadle’s latest appearance may end up being his last and, unfortunately, an unironic joke.

    Cheadle played a supporting role in the universally panned Disney Plus streaming series Secret Invasion. As revealed at D23 2022, Rhodey’s role in the series was intended to directly tie into Armor Wars, a Rhodey-centric project first announced during Disney’s 2020 Investor Day presentation. Originally conceived as a streaming series, the studio began developing Armor Wars as a film when, according to Marvel Parliament member Nate Moore, they realized “it felt too big for that show.

    Our Disney+ shows are awesome and we love them, but the budgets are not the same as the features, that’s not secret. And when you’re talking about a show that wants to be about seeing all the cool armors, and Don Cheadle interacting with all these armors, and the legacy of Tony Stark, that became cost-prohibitive to do as a show.

    -Nate Moore

    Indeed, according to Moore, the studio’s plans for Armor Wars had grown so large that the project would not only connect to Secret Invasion but also “affect other movies down the line.

    And we realized as a feature, not only can we get into some of the beautiful imagery that is from publishing and there’s certainly an Armor Wars run, but also there’s ways then to leverage the ideas of that movie that affect other movies down the line. So it becomes a multiplication really of, once you figure out what is cool about something…

    -Nate Moore

    Now, it’s beginning to look like that line of movies that were set to be affected by Armor Wars might just have to find another project to be products of. In an interview with TV Line, Cheadle cast some incredibly serious doubt on whether or not Armor Wars will ever see the light of day.

    Don Cheadle as James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes in Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

    When asked if he knew where Armor Wars stood on the studio’s rapidly evolving slate, Cheadle replied, “You can find out and let me know.” When TV Line followed up by indicating the last real news on the project was that it had “switched from a TV series to a movie”, Cheadle made it clear that Rhodey’s solo project was not happening anytime soon. “Yeah. I think the word that’s the most salient in that sentence is “switched.” [Laughs] I don’t know, I’m not sure where anything is right now. I think things are going through a lot of changes, and we’ll see what happens, we’ll see what it is.

    Even the most optimistic interpretation of Cheadle’s comments would not leave much room for hope that Armor Wars remains a priority for Marvel Studios as they look to wrap up the Multiverse Saga and further comment from Cheadle does nothing to change that. After being asked about how the revelation that the Rhodey seen in Secret Invasion was a Skrull, meaning there’s no real indication of when the last time any significant time had been spent with the character, Cheadle replied, “Yeah, no shit.” The star then went on to explain that while he was willing to take the detour in Secret Invasion, it certainly seemed like it was part of a package deal that included Armor Wars.”Uh… you know, there was no… it wasn’t a demand. It was a request. “What do you think about playing this?” And it was to set up stuff in the following thing,” explained Cheadle. “So, if the following thing happens, and all those things were set up, then that’s one thing. If, as you said, it doesn’t, then we can talk about how I feel about it after!” As the studio looks to move ahead, it seems more and more likely that Armor Wars has been left behind.

    Source: TV Line

  • Marvel Studios Officially Reveals the Identity of Joe Locke’s Teen

    Marvel Studios Officially Reveals the Identity of Joe Locke’s Teen

    For MCU fans who are also comic book fans or those who spend a great deal of time online, the identity of Joe Locke‘s Teen was never truly a mystery over the first 5 episodes of Agatha All Along. More casual fans, however, may have found themselves a bit more engaged in the series’ fun teases that led to the revelation in Episode 5 that Teen was a powerful witch in his own right. While the episode’s ending, which showed Teen in a magical blue crown, was all the confirmation most fans needed of who Locke was playing, Marvel Studios has erased all doubt ahead of Episode 6.

    In a post shared across its various social media platforms, Marvel Studios has confirmed that Locke is playing Billy Maximoff, the son of Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch!

    Though the secret was out long ago, series’ creator Jac Schaeffer and the writing room did an admirable job of attempting to lead the audience in other directions. Those misdirects worked so well that, according to Locke, the majority of fans missed a tease that linked his character to Wanda in one of the series’ earlier episodes: his mother’s crown stitched into the back of his sweater.

    You can do the most unsurprising thing in the most surprising way, and that’s how you hook an audience.

    -Joe Locke on his character reveal in Agatha All Along

    As the series heads into the back half, Locke, now free from the stress of keeping secrets, teases how the shift in power dynamics will play a major role moving forward. “The show starts with Billy being very much the familiar, the secondary to all the witches. Now we know he is also a witch, and that changes things,” explained Locke. “Also, we now know that he has the ability to cause harm to them. Therefore, he is now the most powerful person on the Road. What does that change in the dynamic of the group and how does that change the future of those relationships?

    Just how powerful is the most powerful person on the Road? Fans of the comics may have already figured that out and given the character’s ability in the comics to manipulate reality, they may well be right…

    Source: EW

  • New Report Details Marvel Studios’ Plans for Robert Downey Jr.’s Doom

    New Report Details Marvel Studios’ Plans for Robert Downey Jr.’s Doom

    Though fans might debate whether Robert Downey Jr.‘s return to Marvel Studios was a publicity stunt or a brilliant casting decision, there’s little room for argument about the impact the star will have on the box office receipts for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. As one of the franchise’s central heroes, Tony Stark, Downey led the MCU to unimaginable success and is primed to do it again, this time as the newly minted main antagonist of the studio’s Multiverse Saga. The announcement of Downey as Victor Von Doom not only caught a lot of fans by surprise, it also changed the course of the remainder of the studio’s Multiverse Saga, potentially allowing for some projects to move ahead while putting others on the shelf, perhaps forever.

    While the studio’s slate of projects for 2026 and 2027 remains largely unknown, the ongoing shared narrative does have two fixed points in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. And so while the Marvel Studios Parliament continues to rewrite the new saga on the fly, preparations are underway for Anthony and Joe Russo to get back to work with Downey and the rest of the cast of Avengers: Doomsday so it can meet its May 1, 2026 release date. And now, thanks to a new report from a reliable MCU insider, we have an idea of not only what that schedule might look like but also what else awaits Downey in his role as Doom.

    According to long-time MCU inside man Daniel RPK, like Josh Brolin‘s Thanos before him, Downey’s Doom will indeed be the protagonist of Avengers: Doomsday. With a five-month shoot expected to kick off in the UK in March 2025, Downey is expected to be on set for three of those months while other stars are currently looking at only setting up shop for anywhere between one to four weeks.

    How can we not go backwards? How can we not disappoint expectations? How can we continue to beat expectations? And he brought up Victor Von Doom. I looked into this character. Later on, he goes, ‘Let’s get Victor Von Doom right.’

    -Robert Downey Jr. on Kevin Feige’s pitch for him to return to the MCU,THR

    Given the lengths to which Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, went to bring Downy back into the fold as Doom, it shouldn’t be too surprising that the star will be front and center in Avengers: Doomsday and, likely, again in Avengers: Secret Wars. However, according to RPK, those won’t be the only projects in which Downey dons the mask. The insider suggests that in addition to those two films and 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Downey’s Doom may “potentially” appear in “some other projects between Doomsday and Secret Wars.”

    Without a defined release slate for 2026 or 2027, it’s incredibly hard to pin down what those “other projects” might be; however, given the comic book history between Doctor Doom and Wanda Maximoff, it’s not too hard to imagine Downey joining Elizabeth Olsen in the rumored Scarlet Witch solo film, even though the two characters have to navigate the multiverse to make it happen. Similarly, a shared comic book history with Stephen Strange points to multiple potential opportunities for storytelling in the MCU, pairing Downey with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Master of the Mystic Arts. And, of course, any number of other possibilities exist and with Downey on board as Doom, it would seem as though a bad match would be hard to find.

    Source: THR

  • ‘Agatha All Along’ Crowns Wanda Jr.

    ‘Agatha All Along’ Crowns Wanda Jr.

    For the first four episodes of Agatha All Along, creator Jac Schaeffer let fans dabble in their theories about who Joe Locke‘s Teen may or may not be. Thankfully, following Agatha Harkness’ heartbreaking trial, there’s no longer any doubt about who Locke is playing or who is in charge on the Witches’ Road.

    Those who have enjoyed the mystery of Teen’s true identity shouldn’t despair now that the show revealed him as Wanda Maximoff’s son, Billy. Indeed the mystery was spoiled long ago and more mysteries are yet to be solved. While fans may find themselves a little too focused on the “revelation”, perhaps a little more attention should be paid to the enormous power Billy displayed in the episode’s final moments where he not only took control over two other witches but, possibly, the Road itself.

    While Marvel Studios has yet to officially acknowledge Teen as Billy Maximoff, aka Billy Kaplan, aka Wiccan, Episode 5 of Agatha All Along crowned the Demiurge-to-Come and, in doing so, subtly referenced one of the character’s more popular arcs, The Children’s Crusade. Following Agatha mocking Teen for being like his mother, the character proved her right by displaying not only the magnitude of his power but also his apparent lack of control of it when he unleashes it.

    Of course, the real question here is if Billy has been capable of these great feats of power all along, why has he been so meekly playing along on the coven’s trip down the Witches’ Road? Or has he been meekly playing along at all? At his strongest in the comics, Billy was a reality warper capable of creation, transmutation and essentially accomplishing any and every thing he wished. Sure, he’s out of control at the end of Episode 5 but what might we have missed along the way?

  • DC Studios Officially Reveals Its ‘Lanterns’ Co-Stars

    DC Studios Officially Reveals Its ‘Lanterns’ Co-Stars

    DC Studios’ Lanterns is ready for launch. After assembling an all-star team of writers led by Ozark‘s Chris Mundy, DC Comics’ ace Tom King and TV icon Damon Lindelof, the first DCU streaming series quickly began the process of assembling talent on both sides of the camera with an eye of some big time stars filling the roles of co-leads Hal Jordan and John Stewart. After an extensive search that included some A-list turndowns, DC Studios has officially announced the pair of talented actors that will lead the HBO prestige series.

    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 we’re launching next summer with Superman.

    -DC Studios’ co-chairs James Gunn and Peter Safran on Lanterns
    Via social media, Max revealed that Rebel Ridge breakout star Aaron Pierre and Primetime Emmy Award-winning actor Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) have been cast as John Stewart and Hal Jordan, respectively.

    Previously described as a “terrestrial-based investigation story” that “plays a really big role leading us into the main story” in the DCU’s first chapter of stories, Lanterns will revolve around the central characters finding an “ancient horror on Earth.” Word is that Jordan will be a grizzled vet–which makes Chandler a great choice–and that Stewart, played by the up-and-coming Pierre, will be a new member of the Corps working with him as “supercops on Precinct Earth.”

    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 on Lanterns

    News of Chandler‘s inclusion in the project was first shared by the THR at the end of September. Pierre had recently been reported to be on the DC Studios’ shortlist for the role of Stewart. Production on Lanterns is slated to being in Atlanta early in 2025 which means the series is likely to find its way to HBO in 2026.

  • ‘Spider-Man: King in Black’ Could Make Good on a Pair of Recent Marvel Studios’ Blunders

    ‘Spider-Man: King in Black’ Could Make Good on a Pair of Recent Marvel Studios’ Blunders

    With any luck, Marvel Studios’ well-documented Multiverse Saga struggles may be on the way to being a thing of the past. Not many studios could have survived the deluge of debacles that Marvel rolled out in 2022 and 2023; however, following a string of successful projects in 2024, it seems as though Kevin Feige and crew–under a mandate from Bob Iger–have found a way back to the top of the food chain. And while the return to form is a welcome one, projects such as Eternals, Thor: Love and Thunder, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion still exist and the events depicted within them cannot be entirely discounted as the MCU forges ahead.

    The studio’s mid-2023 course correction hasn’t had time to be fully realized as yet but with a somewhat improved Captain America: Brave New World and a much-improved Thunderbolts* headed to theaters in 2025, the enjoyment of the fruits of Iger‘s mandated labor is within reach. Not every project was given the same grace as those two, however, and as the second half of the Multiverse Saga gets rewritten on the fly, it’s clear that some of the studio’s original plans will never come to fruition. Eternals 2? Nope. Thor 5 starring Hercules/ Maybe. The Kang Dynasty? Ope. Armor Wars? We’ll see. However, even though direct sequels and the big ideas set up to unfold within them may never see the big screen, recent rumors about the future of the MCU may provide a gateway to make good on a pair of projects that probably should have turned out quite a bit better than they did.

    Whatever the plans for Phase 6 were in 2022, they have become something quite different in 2024  No one change can tell the whole story of what went down behind the scenes but the shift in the studio’s plans for director Destin Daniel Cretton are very telling. Once on track to helm two of the studio’s most important Phase 6 films (a Shang-Chi sequel and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty) is now helming Spider-Man 4. 1+1 means Spidey 4 is now pretty damn important to whatever plans Marvel Studios has for to start bringing the Multiverse Saga to a close.

    Recent reports indicated that the fourth installment in the Tom Holland-led franchise underwent an overhaul that saw it evolve from a street-level team up to a multiverse story and recent rumblings have begun to reveal the nature of the new script written by Spidey vets Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Should the latest rumors prove true, Marvel Studios and Sony will expand their collaboration beyond their already impressive efforts and will oversee a creative crossover event of unprecedented magnitude. An increasingly louder and louder buzz points towards Marvel incorporating Sony’s most marketable Spidey-adjacent star, Tom Hardy, into the MCU following Venom: The Last Dance. Furthermore, as Hardy’s Eddie/Venom joins the narrative, so will the film’s villain, Knull, the creator of the symbiote race and one of Marvel Comics’ most powerful and frightening new villains. And incredibly enough, Knull has connections that extend well-beyond the Spider’s web that could easily be weaved into the character’s MCU arc and, in doing so, make good on a pair of moments that currently sit near the top of the studio’s list of recent missteps.

    As fans prematurely bemoan Spider-Man 4 potentially telling “another multiverse story” (like the last one was sooooooo bad),   the true nature of Knull and the storytelling potential it offers is being overlooked. Sure Spider-Man: King in Black would feature two characters who originated in a universe other than Earth-616’s but recent retcons to the history of the Klyntar have blazed a trail that, quite honestly, Marvel Studios’ Parliament would be foolish not to explore on the MCU.

    The Retcon is On…Hopefully

    Retcons have allowed comic book writers the ability to make changes great and small to previously established canon in order to make room for (sometimes) exciting new stories. So far, this is territory into which the MCU hasn’t waded very far but should they choose to work with Sony to bring the terrifying King in Black into their sandbox, they have a great opportunity to easily retcon some small pieces of previous films which might, in the end, make them feel a little more important.

    Thor: Love and Thunder had plenty of problems and though the film’s cold open wasn’t one of them, the type of increased creative collaboration with Sony that would allow Marvel Studios to include Knull in Spider-Man 4 could work in favor of at least making the fourth Thor film feel a bit more important than it did. Though it wasn’t seen on screen, the battle between Gorr’s god, Rapu, and the Dark Shadow Lord that left the former dead played out on the pages of 2013’s Thor: God of Thunder #6. However, in Jason Aaron’s iconic run, the character who fought the gold-armored god (and was stabbed in the melon by a spear!) was Knull. And just as in the film, and as one might expect from being stabbed in the head, Knull appeared to be dead and his Necrosword was scooped up by Gorr, who then used it to butcher gods across the cosmos.

    It took Knull more than one hundred years to recover from his wounds. After his recovery, the primordial god began to use his powers to create the symbiotic parasites that eventually became the Klyntar race of which Venom is a member. It’s not entirely clear how long Gorr was actively killing gods in the MCU but the point of retcons is that it doesn’t really matter. Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Dark Shadow Lord could easily be retconned as Knull and the Shadow Realm and Shadow Monsters Gorr had access to in the movie could easily be tied to Knull’s title as the King in Black and the god of darkness. Truthfully, it would be incredibly foolish of Marvel Studios not to take advantage of the opportunity to make these changes should Knull be part of the plans for the MCU’s Multiverse Saga.

    Making the Best of a Bad Situation

    For far too long now, it’s been very clear that not only do Marvel Studios’ mid and post-credit stingers distract audiences from the very films they pay to watch but also hold no promise of an eventual payoff. In simple terms, the studio has played fast and loose with what they stick on after the body of the film, making the stingers either irrelevant of a problem for the “next guy up” to solve. There are no stronger examples of this than both of the stingers attached to Eternals but Spider-Man: King in Black could very well help save one of them.

    Thanks to one of the film’s stingers, Kit Harrington‘s Dane Whitman seemed to be destined to do…something…after Eternals. Whitman’s destiny as the Black Knight was teased before being interrupted by the offscreen voice of Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury Mahershala Ali‘s Blade. Two years later, Blade still hasn’t even begun production and Harrington‘s MCU future remains dishearteningly undefined. However, Whitman’s Ebony Blade could be the key to unlocking the potential of one of those two characters and possibly even both.

    Marvel Studios has made it clear they’re not interested in pulling directly from the pages of Marvel Comics and in this case, that could work in their favor. Whitman’s Ebony Blade has an interesting history that itself was retconned during the King in Black limited comic book series. Its MCU history is completely unknown which means the creatives have been handed a blank slate and could smartly craft something that could allow Harrington to bolster the supporting cast of Spider-Man 4 while making the Ebony Blade an important MacGuffin in the battle against Knull.

    While there once was some chance that Harrington might lead a Black Knight solo project that could serve to tell the long history of the Ebony Blade and the cursed knights who wielded it over the years, that’s incredibly unlikely to happen now given Disney’s new marching orders for their major studios. However, tossing Whitman into the mix of Spider-Man: King in Black would allow for a far more condensed version of the story to be told, as happened in the King in Black event series. And while a one-to-one adaptation of that won’t happen, that’s in the best interest of the potential story. For a long time now, Marvel Studios’ plots have always been simpler than those speculated or made up by fans and it could happen again with Whitman’s Ebony Blade. In the comics, the blade was forged from a substance known as Starstone which was created during the Big Bang. A powerful relic from the beginning of time, the Ebony Blade was sought after by Knull during his attempted conquest of Earth. It’s easy enough to imagine Knull, an Eldritch god who himself came to be during the birth of the cosmos, seeking out such a relic as he comes to Earth-616 in Spider-Man 4, giving Whitman a reason to have existed in the MCU in the first place and allowing for the Eternals‘ stinger to have some serious significance rather than being yet another throwaway scene. Ali’s Blade could provide some exposition while also helping fight off Knull’s horde of invaders and most everyone would start feeling quite a bit better about most everything.

    Of course, everything you just read is dependent, first and foremost, on the rumors of Knull joining the MCU being accurate. Beyond that, it’s not hard to start to see pathways that would allow for “yet another multiverse” movie to be one of the more exciting films in what remains in the Multiverse Saga while also upping the profile of some of the MCU’s less-than-beloved projects from its first half.

  • Ewan McGregor Updates the Status of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Season 2

    Ewan McGregor Updates the Status of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Season 2

    When it premiered on Disney Plus in 2022 Lucasfilm’s Star Wars streaming series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, debuted as the service’s most-watched series opener ever, surpassing even the incredibly popular first season of The Mandaloian. Though viewership declined over the course of the series, the Ewan McGregor-led project was generally well-regarded critically and included some incredible and iconic moments, including a reunion between Obi-Wan and his former Padawan, Darth Vader.

    Despite mostly positive vibes coming from Obi-Wan Kenobi and McGregor’s eagerness to continue on as the character, Lucasfilm had other irons in the fire. During an interview at 2023’s Star Wars Celebration Europe, Lucasfilm’s head honcho, Kathleen Kennedy made it clear that any further Kenobi stories would only potentially come “down the road.” Now it seems as though McGregor and the studio have begun walking that road.

    That is not an active development. But I never say never, because there’s always the possibility. That show was so well-received and [director] Deborah Chow did such a spectacular job. Ewan McGregor really wants to do another. Everybody’s all hands on deck with what we’re doing right now, as you can see by what we showed everybody [at the Celebration]. We’ll turn our attention to that again maybe down the road.

    -Kathleen Kennedy on a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi
    During an appearance at Los Angeles Comic Con, McGregor revealed to the audience that he and Lucasfilm were “exploring ideas” for a sophomore season of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

    Among those ideas is one that will certainly thrill fans of Lucasfilm’s iconic animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: a further reunion with McGregor’s prequel co-star, Hayden Christensen, that would include potential flashbacks to the Obi-Wan and Anakin’s time in the Clone Wars!

    I was saying this to someone earlier. That armor! Putting on that armor would be a great joy. Then me and Hayden can really get back together.

    While ideas are wonderful, there’s plenty a slip twixt cup and lip. However, McGregor remains one of the studio’s most iconic, beloved and marketable stars and may be one of the only stars of the franchise capable of willing something into being.