Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Joseph Aberl

  • New ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Merch Offers New Look at Mordo and Rintrah

    New ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Merch Offers New Look at Mordo and Rintrah

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is only a few more months away, and Marvel Studios is still pushing out merchandise to build up to its release. We haven’t gotten a full trailer just yet, as most of your understanding of the film comes from the teaser trailer that got attached to Spider-Man: No Way Home. We’ll get reintroduced to some familiar faces and even some new ones. The big return is with Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Mordo. We’ve previously got a chance to see his updated design, but it looks like he also has reached the rank of Master at some point according to the new piece of merchandise.

    Of course, in a story all about the multiverse, there’s always a chance that he isn’t the Mordo we last saw in the post-credit sequence of Doctor Strange. In the teaser trailer, he did seem like he was on friendly terms with STrange, but we also don’t know what path he went down. There’s also the question of the new character we are getting introduced to in the form of Rintrah. Some new merchandise offers a new look at the character, who might have a big role in the upcoming film.

    We still know very little about the project, but it’ll be interesting how all these characters play into the madness that will be unleashed with the multiverse. Plus, there are also the Variants that we’ve seen of the film’s main protagonist, which opens up the door to any of the newly introduced characters stemming from across the multiverse. We’ll see if the new trailer might offer a better look at what the film has in store for us.

    Source: Twitter, Twitter, Twitter

  • ‘The Banks’ Roxane Gay to Adapt Graphic Novel as a Series for New Regency and TKO Studios

    ‘The Banks’ Roxane Gay to Adapt Graphic Novel as a Series for New Regency and TKO Studios

    It looks like another comic book storyline is making its way to television, as New Regency and TKO Studios are currently developing Roxane Gay and Ming Doyle‘s The Banks. Gay will also be heavily involved in the series, as she is set to write the adaptation. It joins Regeny’s expansion into TV with their Prime Video adaptation of the original 2005 film Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They’ve also recently worked on Tom Holland‘s The Crowded Room, which is heading to Apple TV+.

    The story of The Banks follows the most successful thieves in Chicago, the titular Banks family. Yet, they lose one of their own during the heist of a century, which brings the family together to take their vengeance. It was one among Roxane Gay’s many projects, such as the novels Ayiti, An Untamed State, and Bad Feminist. She also worked with Marvel on World of Wakanda. It’s her first step into adapting a series.

    Source: Deadline

  • Rocksteady’s ‘Suicide Squad’ Game Won’t Release Until 2023

    Rocksteady’s ‘Suicide Squad’ Game Won’t Release Until 2023

    The wait for Rocksteady’s next game will take a bit longer, as Bloomberg has revealed that Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League has been pushed back until 2023. There is still no set release date, as it was initially announced to release in 2022 alongside the other DC-based game, Gotham Knights. It’s unsure if they decided to push it back due to both games having close ties to Batman, or if it’s a production decision.

    The game was originally announced back in 2020 during their DC FanDome event. It’ll focus on a smaller team that comprises the titular Suicide Squad, as you can play either Captain Boomerang, King Shark, Deadshot, or the ever-present Harley Quinn. Unlike Gotham Knights, this game seemingly focuses more on gunplay and mechanics similar to Insomniac’s Sunset Overdrive.

    It’s a shame the wait is going to be longer once again, as we still know very little about the game. 2021’s DC FanDome offered our first real look at gameplay, but it was only in short snippets. Rocksteady continues to focus primarily on the story, but it supposedly will act as a Games-as-a-Service model once it releases. Here’s hoping we still get some updates throughout the year as we continue to wait for its release.

    Source: Bloomberg

  • Oscar Isaac Confirms ‘Moon Knight’ as a Limited Series

    Oscar Isaac Confirms ‘Moon Knight’ as a Limited Series

    As Marvel Studios isn’t following the usual TV format, you never know which of their new series may end up getting a sequel season or not. So far, the only confirmed series to get a second season are Loki and What If…? but everything else is pure speculation. It looks like their latest Disney+ series, Moon Knight, might just be a one-and-done, as during Variety’s Actor on Actor

    I’d never heard of “Moon Knight” before, and I collected comics when I was younger. I’d heard of “Morbius,” but I’d never heard of “Moon Knight.” I don’t know how the process was for you because it’s a feature film, we’re a limited series. There was a lot of room to try stuff because there wasn’t the pressure that we got to make sure we make however many hundreds of millions of dollars on the opening weekend.

    Oscar Isaac

    It makes sense that they might approach Moon Knight as a limited series, especially with how the initial trailer teases it like an analysis of Marc Spector’s psyche. So, a potential Season 2 might fall too much into a typical action storyline that the actor might not be interested in tackling. Of course, we don’t know if his fractured mind would truly come back together by the end of the story.

    Marvel Studios also has the freedom to potentially renew it at a later point, as they don’t have to make a direct second season shortly after but explore the character once they figure out a new take on the character. It’s also uncertain how active Oscar Isaac wants to be in an interconnected franchise, but it seems likely he’ll re-appear after the mini-series premieres on Disney+ on March 30th.

    Source: Variety

  • REVIEW: ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Chapter 6 – From the Desert Comes a Stranger

    REVIEW: ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Chapter 6 – From the Desert Comes a Stranger

    So, the third season of The Mandalorian is going strong. It’s just strange they decided to rename it The Book of Boba Fett and ignore the titular character after a few episodes to fully embrace a follow-up story for Din Djarin. After last week’s episode, Temuera Morrison once again takes a backseat while the series further expands upon the greater mythos that was initially set up with Grogu’s journey to becoming a Jedi. It’s a shame that such a great episode is bogged down by the fact that it feels like you’re watching the wrong show.

    I will talk about spoilers in the review, so only continue at your own risk if you haven’t seen the episode yet.

    I love what Lucasfilms is doing with the Disney+ series, but I fear what this series’ pacing might mean for other spin-offs from the initial series that kicked off Disney+’s success. Pedro Pascal‘s Din remains one of the most compelling characters, but he also gets the most emotional arc throughout the entire franchise currently. Boba Fett at least shows up this time around, but barely even has a speaking line that makes you wonder if he’s even the protagonist of this story.

    Still, what we have is a great episode that is riddled with great cameos that are certain to make many long-time fans gush. The episode starts with Timothy Olyphant‘s return as Cobb Vanth – a personal favorite that I hope gets more focus in the future – and a small insight into what the Pykes trade is going on. You’d think for a large smuggling ring they’d do more than exchange money in the middle of nowhere like that, but it does lead to a powerful moment showing who he’ll side on once the main conflict happens.

    Yet, most of the episode is focused on Grogu, who makes his adorable return with some insight into his teachings by Mark Hamill‘s Luke Skywalker. They certainly learned from the previous appearance and the effect looks quite a bit better, even if still off at times. the performance is also quite subdued but works well for the Jedi way that he is trying to teach to his new padawan. It’s great to see the teachings, especially how Grogu echoes moves we’ve seen from Yoda in the prequels. That even gets paid off at the end of the episode.

    Din not being able to let go of his little fellow, and traveling all the way to see him was great – even if I don’t quite get how he knew to find them. R2D2 returns for a brief appearance, which seemed like a given with Luke there. However, I never expected Rosario Dawson‘s Ahsoka to make an appearance. It made sense in how she built upon the words she mentioned in her last appearance, and her interactions with Luke were heartwarming for Star Wars: Clone Wars fans.

    I do believe that the biggest moment comes at a later date for Clone Wars fans when bounty hunter Cad Cane arrived. Probably the best use of Tatooine’s landscape to build up his arrival and everything just worked incredibly well. Didn’t think the character would translate so damn well to live-action. The Western showdown matched his design so well, and he probably got the most intimidating introduction out of any character in this show yet. It’ll be a difficult one to top moving forward.

    We only have one more episode to go, and I am having a hard time imagining all these pieces falling together as they should. Boba is a no-show in his series for the last two episodes. We spent most of the first five revisiting the past and any main threat vanished before they even had a chance to become relevant. The Pykes offer some intrigue but not enough to make the upcoming events feel relevant. Outside of Morrison‘s performance and giving Boba Fett an actual character, it feels like this series is just The Mandalorian 2.5 rather than its own fully fleshed-out show. Even when the show catches back up with Fett’s empire, the big moment towards the end is overshadowed by everything else.

    I loved the episode, don’t get time wrong, but I wanted to spend time with Fett, as he raises the Rancor, takes down the underbelly, and sees the build-up to the final confrontation. They tease a big war, but we still don’t know why the Pykes are obsessed with the obvious Dune parallel. The problem lies that its main character was fleshed out in the past while nothing in the present is fully explored outside of fun cameos and Djarin’s story taking over. Perhaps they should’ve split it up into two series and just keep The Book of Boba Fett as a brief 5-episode mini-series.

  • ‘Halo’ Has a New Showrunner In Case of a Season 2 Renewal by Paramount+

    ‘Halo’ Has a New Showrunner In Case of a Season 2 Renewal by Paramount+

    Halo‘s release hasn’t been an easy one. After being in development hell for eight years, it is finally releasing on Paramount+ this March. It originally was produced as a Showtime series, but the streaming service from ViacomCBS became its new home. Currently, there has not been a renewal for the second season, but it seems that they may have a new showrunner who is ready to take over, the third one so far.

    Executive producer Justin Falvey shared that David Wiener, known for his work on Fear the Walking Dead and Brave New World, would take over from Steven Kane, who was responsible for the production of the first season. Yet, he wasn’t the only one as Kane was responsible for the production in Budapest, while Killen worked on it in the United States. As of now, both have left the project, but Kane is open to still staying on as a consultant.

    Kane shared during the Television that he worked on the Budapest production for two years, and being away from his family for so long as the reason he stepped down from the project. The series has had a troubled production for so long, as it also went through two directors with Rupert Wyatt forced to drop the project due to scheduling conflicts. So, only Otto Bathurst remained on to finish it. We’ll probably have to wait until the viewership numbers are in for Paramount before they decide to continue with the project.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Hocus Pocus 2’: Doug Jones Shares Closer Look at New Billy Butcherson Design

    ‘Hocus Pocus 2’: Doug Jones Shares Closer Look at New Billy Butcherson Design

    Just yesterday, executive producer Adam Shankman revealed that the Halloween classic revival of Hocus Pocus has just finished production. The project will see the return of the original Sanderson sisters, Bette Milder, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimiy. Yet, they aren’t the only ones as Doug Jones is also making his return as the zombie Billy Butcherson. Outside of a single set photo of the sisters flying, we sadly never got a good look at his updated take on the character. Luckily, as production has wrapped, the actor has shared a closer look on his Twitter featuring him in full Butcherson make-up.

    https://twitter.com/actordougjones/status/1488583087168516099

    It certainly looks like they stuck to his original design for the most part. He’s wearing a jacket that hides the rest of his costume, but it does seem like it is mostly the same as the original. The best part of the costume is that he once again gets to do a practical mask to bring the zombie to life, which is a perfect way to pay tribute to the original. Jones is famous for his work on bringing various monsters to life through practical prosthetics and it’s great to see him return to one of the roles that put him on the map.

    Source: Twitter

  • Tom Holland Confirms Conversations are Ongoing for MCU’s ‘Spider-Man 4’

    Tom Holland Confirms Conversations are Ongoing for MCU’s ‘Spider-Man 4’

    After the massive success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, there has been a lot of anticipation about what the future may have in store for the web-slinger. The franchise’s main star, Tom Holland, has been quite coy on if he would even return, but Marvel Studios’ CEO Kevin Feige confirmed that they are already working on a fourth entry in the franchise. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, he confirms that discussions have started on the next entry while he is busy promoting Uncharted.

    We’ve had conversations about the potential future of Spider-Man, but at the moment they are conversations. We don’t know what the future looks like.

    Tom Holland

    The actor highlighted that he believes talks are currently happening between Feige, Sony’s Tom Rothman, and producer Amy Pascal, but that he doesn’t know where exactly they are with it, as he currently is “not really thinking about the future.” He goes on to highlight his current way ot handling the situation with No Way Home‘s success.

    I’m still riding the wave of the success of the film and enjoying that.

    Tom Holland

    It makes sense the two companies are following up on the film’s success by taking a look at how they can continue the story. Feige is no stranger to planning quite a bit in advance. So, he may already have some plans for how they might potentially tackle the project. Though, with director Jon Watts moving on to Fantastic Four, they may already be considering who might be the perfect choice to tackle the next trilogy.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly

  • RUMOR: ‘Eternals’ Don Lee May Film a New Marvel Studios Project in the Summer

    RUMOR: ‘Eternals’ Don Lee May Film a New Marvel Studios Project in the Summer

    It looks like an Eternal might be making a grand return in the near future, as the site allkpop is reporting that Ma Dong Suk, also known as Don Lee to Western fans, is returning to the United States to film an unknown project. He originally played the character of Gilgamesh in the film, and it seems that he’ll return to take on the role in the unnamed project.

    The actor is currently busy promoting his Korean film Wilderness before heading out in the summer. He has hinted in the past that he would potentially return, similar to a statement by Selma Hayek confirming she signed on for multiple films. So, we might see the members of the Eternals film make their return throughout multiple projects, as we still haven’t received a confirmation for a sequel.

    Of course, fans of the film might question how he may make a return after his fate in the 2021 Marvel film. There’s a chance he may make an appearance before the snap, as his death in Eternals doesn’t take place until after Thanos’ defeat at the hands of the Avengers. Yet, as they are artificial begins, he may make his return as a new version of the character that doesn’t have the same memories. Whatever it may be, it’s great that he may have a future with the franchise.

    Source: allkpop

  • ‘Red Notice’s Rawson Marshall Thurber to Direct ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Series

    ‘Red Notice’s Rawson Marshall Thurber to Direct ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Series

    Entertainment One has been quite focused on adapting a TV series based on Dungeons & Dragons. It looks like they have also found the person to bring it to life with Red Notice director Rawson Marshall Thurber signed on to adapt the classic role-playing game. He is set to write, direct and executive produce the pilot for the series. It’s uncertain if this will connect to the film that is currently in production by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley.

    Derek Kolstad was tapped to create a series based on the franchise, but it’s uncertain if he’s moved on from the project given he’s recently signed on to adapt various projects like Battle Chasers. It seems their plan is to create a live-action cinematic universe based on the tabletop franchise. It’s uncertain how involved Thurber is in establishing the greater franchise besides this series.

    Before he worked don Red Notice, he was also the mastermind behind projects like Central Intelligence, Skyscraper, We’re the Millers, and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. He does have some background in TV with Fox’s The Loop and NBC’s Marry Me. So, the writer and director is no stranger to long-form storytelling and it’ll be interesting to see how he might tackle a fantasy-based storyline.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter