Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Joseph Aberl

  • Former Pink Power Ranger Amy Jo Johnson Directing an Episode of ‘Superman and Lois’ Season 2

    Former Pink Power Ranger Amy Jo Johnson Directing an Episode of ‘Superman and Lois’ Season 2

    Here’s a great surprise. It looks like Amy Jo Johnson is currently directing an episode of the CW’s Superman and Lois show. If that name seems familiar, Johnson became famous as Kimberly Hart, the Pink Ranger from the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. She has long moved on from that role and has been quite busy directing short films. She has also tackled feature-length productions, such as include 2017’s The Space Between and 2019’s Tammy’s Always Dying. Now, she is also joining the production of one of CW’s flagship DC shows, as she shares her excitement on Twitter.

    It’s great to see her excitement for tackling the project and it looks like she is responsible for the sixth episode in the upcoming second season. She has made quite a name for herself with her film projects, especially during 2019’s Toronto International Film Festival with Tammy’s Always Dying. If she is tackling this project, it’ll be interesting to see if she’ll become a mainstay for future entries in the series and if she might even get a chance to tackle other projects from DC’s library.

    Superman and Lois has been one of CW’s strongest showings, as it’s also co-produced by HBO Max. As such, the effects and production stand out from the other entries in their repertoire similar to Stargirl. It’ll also carry on the torch for the now discontinued Supergirl, which first introduced Tyler Hoechlin as this universe’s Superman. It’ll be interesting to see how they tackle the family drama for the Man of Steel in the second season and what the future has in store for this family.

    Source: Twitter

  • Hailee Steinfeld Talks How Kate Bishop Was Affected by Thanos’ Snap

    Hailee Steinfeld Talks How Kate Bishop Was Affected by Thanos’ Snap

    When Hawkeye‘s first episode starts, we find ourselves back in the Chitauri invasion from the first Avengers film. Afterward, we see Hailee Steinfeld‘s Kate Bishop’s story from a young kid growing into the young archer that’ll join Clint Barton in his unlikely adventure. The only thing that we don’t find out is if Bishop was affected by Thanos’ snap from Avengers: Infinity War.

    Luckily, Steinfeld offered some insight into if she was affected by it in an interview with The Wrap. As they point out, we are introduced to the character when she is 22 years of age. If she was still a kid around ten years old during the Battle of New York of 2012, then it would work out that she’s that age in the year 2024 going into 2025, as confirmed by director Rhys Thomas. Luckily, she also confirms that she wasn’t snapped:

    No, I believe that we see her survive and we see, you know, loss there as well. And that didn’t happen to her.

    Hailee Steinfeld

    It’s a strange event that the various film and series writers have to work around, as the on-time we got a definite timeline, it didn’t quite work in Spider-Man: Homecoming. To avoid this, Marvel Studios has gotten sly with giving definite timelines and mostly working around when it takes place of specific events. We’ll see if more series might still explore how these events affected NYC from the events of Infinity War and the Blip from the sequel Avengers: Endgame.

    Source: The Wrap

  • ‘Hawkeye’ Almost Featured Ant-Man At One Point

    ‘Hawkeye’ Almost Featured Ant-Man At One Point

    The first two episodes have dropped for Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye series on Disney+. It gave us some hints of what’s to come in the future episodes, but we also know that Black Widow set up an appearance by Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. Turns out, director Rhys Thomas had one more MCU character in mind while creating the series. In an interview with The Playlist, the director revealed that early on he hoped to include Paul Rudd‘s Ant-Man.

    Sadly, it seems he didn’t make it into the series but their dynamic certainly would’ve added something fun to the series, as highlighted by the director. It’s good though that it didn’t happen, as he might stick out a bit too much in a series that is taking a more grounded approach to its story. So, a guy that can shift sizes at will might take away from Clint and Kate’s story. Thomas‘ full quote is on what inspired his potential addition:

    I don’t want to reveal anything because we do kinda get to introduce [some characters]. Here’s one—Ant-man. Paul [Rudd] and Jeremy’s dynamic together I enjoy. I enjoyed their press tour dynamic when they were on the ‘Avengers’ run. So [Ant-Man] was a character that felt like a fun way to play at the absurdity of Clint’s situation…but I did get to have a little nod to that.

    Rhys Thomas

    Still, Rudd‘s dynamic with Jeremy Renner was a highlight in the press tour and even in Captain America: Civil War. Here’s hoping that they get another chance to team up in the future. At least we got a tease of what’s to come in the series with four more episodes releasing in the coming weeks that may hold plenty of surprises for viewers.

    Source: The Playlist

  • ‘Hawkeye’s Battle of New York Sequence Was “Done Brand New” for the Disney+ Series

    ‘Hawkeye’s Battle of New York Sequence Was “Done Brand New” for the Disney+ Series

    The latest Marvel Studios Disney+ series has finally arrived and Hawkeye starts off with a unique look at the original Battle for New York during The Avengers. The opening of the film introduces us to a young Kate Bishop when the Chitauri attacked.

    It’s also the moment that she witnesses Hawkeye taking down aliens and becomes a fan of the Avenger, which leads to her interest in archery. In an interview with The Wrap, director Rhys Thomas reveals that the sequence was “completely done brand new” outside of one single scene.

    The whole thing was completely done brand new, it was all new off the showroom floor, except there was one moment of Jeremy leaping off the building that we [used]. But we also had to shoot the other side. So we had our double recreate the leap as well. I had this great chance to look at dailies from the original ‘Avengers,’ which was kind of cool.

    Rhys Thomas

    It’s not the first time we revisited the events of the first Avengers film, as Spider-Man: Homecoming famously opened up with its aftermath. WandaVision also had an episode of the events from the crossover films, such as seeing what the events of the Blip meant for people that vanished after Thanos snapped his fingers.

    The sequences are reminiscent of the Marvels comic storyline, which showed the big events from the perspective of a regular photographer from the Daily Bugle. Here’ shopping they high continue teasing these events and how they establish the franchise’s future.

    Source: The Wrap

  • REVIEW: ‘Cowboy Bebop’ 1×03 “Dog Star Swing”

    REVIEW: ‘Cowboy Bebop’ 1×03 “Dog Star Swing”

    Who knew dogs were so expensive in the future. Yes, the episode has finally arrived where we meet the Welsh Corgi named Ein. Yet, before that, we have an episode that focuses primarily on the bounty of the episode. Yes, we do get a few moments building up the overarching plot, but the core of the episode is about Spike figuring out how to handle the fact his identity has been blown. So, we finally take a moment to explore the characters to enforce the story rather than the other way around.

    COWBOY BEBOP Recap: (S01E03) Dog Star Swing

    This episode highlights Jet’s new role as a family man. The doll he is trying to buy is nightmare-inducing, but who knows how rare they are in this galaxy. While a strange addition at first, it does add an extra layer of motivation for the character that was mostly just dragged along until the story affected him directly. Not going to lie, the doll getting damaged in every possible way was a funny addition as he’s trying to help out Spike. The tender moment between Jet and his daughter was quite nice, especially with how Ein played a role in bringing them together.

    I will say that what they did with Abdul Hakim was certainly strange. Not sure why the character needed to be a holographic projection, especially with some questionable implications. It’s the same episode where the now-infamous “blackmail” comment appears that sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s something that does sour an overall good episode, as we finally get a feeling for how Spike and Jet work with each other to take down their targets. Plus, his motivation with kidnapping dogs (who are no longer Data Dogs this time around) was an interesting twist on the original. It’s too bad that these are overshadowed by some questionable additions.

    Speaking of, Cho is a highlight in this episode. He’s having a lot of fun with the role and has a great grasp of balancing that cool but fun side of his character. The visual of him hanging from the building while Jet’s desperately holding was great. Seeing him lighting a cigarette upside down until the camera reveals what he’s leaning against was a rather well-done scene. Also, his “Nice!” comment when Hakim pulls off some moves is probably one of my favorite moments in the series. His first confrontation with Vicious was also great as this version of Spike shows off why he was called “Fearless” back in the day but does once again highlight that our main antagonist is not that vicious as he could be.

    There are great moments in this episode, but it is dragged down by some strange decisions. It’s great to see Ein and he’s as adorable as he always is. Spike gets some great moments sprinkled throughout with Cho being a highlight. His dynamic with Mustafa Shakir‘s Jet Black finally got some attention and it was worth the wait. The way they play off of each other is one of the series’ highlights and we get a good glimpse here. They are friendly and joke with each other, but even after working for three years, they don’t get along with everything. Here’s hoping the next episode focuses on the strong points and drops what didn’t work.

  • New Data Hints at Marvel Studios Being Responsible for More than 60% of Disney+ Subscribers

    New Data Hints at Marvel Studios Being Responsible for More than 60% of Disney+ Subscribers

    Disney+ has seen quite extensive growth since it was released last year across the world. Just recently, it celebrated its long history with Disney+ Day that offered some insight into what the future has in store. Now, the company Whip Media has offered a bit more insight into how exactly the growth of the app may have been strongly pushed through the addition of Marvel Studios’ original series. While The Mandalorian laid the groundwork for its success, their data hints that the Marvel Studios additions that started with January’s WandaVision, are a reason why people subscribe to the service.

    Keep in mind, this isn’t official data provided by Marvel Studios or Disney. It is a statistical analysis based on a survey of US TV Time apps, where interviewees were at least 13 years of age. The server showcased that only 10% were not interested in the latest show, Hawkeye while 66% were “definitely” going to check it out. Generally, it looks like 63.5% have subscribed to the service in the first place due to the Marvel Studios offerings.

    Whip Media

    It’s an impressive showcase of just how popular the Marvel Studios series are. Keep in mind, this also doesn’t include the film releases like Black Widow and Shang-Chi, which may also add a boost due to early access to Marvel Studios films. When asked if they see value in other offerings outside of Marvel on the platform, 73.9% believed there is enough on Disney+ to keep them using the platform.

    Whip Media

    So, while Marvel Studios’ offering might be the reason people are subscribing, they do stick around for the other offerings on the service. In November, we saw that the service was facing some troubles in its growth during the last quarter with only 2.1M new subscribers. It was far removed from their initially expected 10M. It was also when releases slow down for Marvel Studios and their other offerings due to the pandemic pushing back quite a few releases. The only offering was What If…? that had the least people complete the viewing according to Whip Media’s survey.

    Whip Media

    Statistically speaking, it’s certainly a showcase that Marvel Studios might continue to be a priority for the service moving forward. To be fair though, we’ve only had two new series releases under the Star Wars umbrella, The Mandalorian‘s first two seasons and The Bad Batch. So, we might see a stronger push once Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and the various spin-offs, which kick off with The Book of Boba Fett next month, start releasing on the service. Plus, Marvel Studios has quite a big year planned for 2022 and we’ll see if their new ventures like She-Hulk or Moon Knight might even draw in a new audience.

    Source: Variety via The Direct, Variety

  • ‘Gorillaz’ Co-Creator Damon Albarn Working with Netflix on a Full-Length Film

    ‘Gorillaz’ Co-Creator Damon Albarn Working with Netflix on a Full-Length Film

    The virtual band Gorillaz was created by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn back in 1998. The band has gone through many different genres since its inception. In a way, they never truly committed to any genre while even telling a story of its four fictional band members through music videos. There have been discussions about a potential cinematic adaptation for quite some time. Luckily, it seems that talks have started again as songwriter and co-creator Albarn is already in discussions with Netflix to bring the film to life. In an interview with Apple Music, he revealed the collaboration:

    I’m at Netflix because we’re making a full-length Gorillaz film with Netflix. We’re having a writing session in Malibu this afternoon. It’s really exciting to do that. It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a very long time. It’s been through so many incarnations…this Gorillaz doing a movie. Honestly.

    Damon Albarn

    The last sentence about the many incarnations once again highlights how long this project has been in development. There were hints that back in 2020 a new project was in development. It’s unclear if it’ll act as an origin story for the creation of the fictional band, or simply explore their current life. There’s a chance it might expand where the last album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez‘s story left us off. Of course, it could tell a completely unique story with references to what has happened in the past.

    There’s also the question of whether the series will act more like an extended music video. Gorillaz might create a new album for the film, similar to what Jack Black did with the Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny film. We’ll see how long the wait will be, but if they’re going down the animated route it’s likely something that’ll take a few years before it sees the light of day.

    Source: Collider

  • Latest ‘No Way Home’ Spot Teases Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man

    Latest ‘No Way Home’ Spot Teases Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man

    Spider-Man: No Way home is probably the film with the least secrets at this point. Most of the villains have been leaked quite sometime before we even got a trailer, but the uncertainty about what is and what isn’t fake kept many speculating. The latest trailer did give us a clearer picture of the sinister threat Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man is about to face, it also gave us our first reference to “another” Spider-Man due to Alfred Molina‘s Doc Ock realizing he’s attacking a different one. There was quite an emphasis on that moment and the latest spot by Sony even kicks-off by once again hinting at there being a different Spider-Man. In a way, it seems that they are trying to offer more hints on the appearance of Tobey Maguire in the upcoming threequel.

    It isn’t a coincidence that Sony is going out of their way for this exchange between Octavius and Doctor Strange. Plus, if this scene remains in the film, it’ll likely act as a set-up. The question still remains how or when they might show up, as there hasn’t been an official tease of the also long-rumored appearance of Andrew Garfield‘s Peter Parker. Some of his villains are included with Lizard and Elektro proudly showcased in the last trailer. So, perhaps we get a line that’ll tease his appearance in another trailer. We don’t know if Lizard has kept some humanoid aspects. It’s likely that Elektro might highlight his despising of spider-themed superheroes.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Dune’ Returning to IMAX for a Limited Time After Leaving HBO Max

    ‘Dune’ Returning to IMAX for a Limited Time After Leaving HBO Max

    It looks like Warner Bros. is excited about the success of Dune, which is currently on its way to becoming their second film to pass the $100M mark at the domestic box office. The film just left HBO Max, as it was still part of the streaming deal that Warner Bros. made last year. As around $50M of its income worldwide is from IMAX showings and domestically an impressive 20% of its total box office, it seems they want to use the chance to re-release it again for a limited time on December 3rd.

    The film was specially shot for the format. So, it makes sense that they’d want to continue to bank on it. Select locations will even have a 1.43 aspect ratio vs. the usual IMAX offering of 1.90:1 that adds up to 40% more of the film’s picture. The film was shot with this format in mind, which Warner Bros. and Legendary banked on while advertising the film.

    Of course, it was a bit of a conflict with the simultaneous streaming release, but Dune still has shown a strong box office holding. It currently still remains in the top 5 and was only pushed out of the top spot with the release of Eternals. It’ll be interesting to see if this additional screening will add a decent boost to its performance.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’s The Daily Bugle Gets an Official TikTok Account

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’s The Daily Bugle Gets an Official TikTok Account

    Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s marketing is in full force, as they’ve created an entire TikTok channel for the in-universe Daily Bugle. Not just that, fellow Midtown High student, Angourie Rice‘s Betty Brant, is the service’s new intern and will host various videos alongside J.K. Simmons‘ J. Jonah Jameson. It’s a clever way to advertise the upcoming film without showing too much footage. It’s similar in style to when they created videos ahead of Ant-Man’s release that is from the in-universe news channel WHIH Newsfront. You can check out the TikTok account by clicking here. @BrandonDavisBD also uploaded the pic featuring Brant’s introduction on Twitter which you can check out here:

    It’s quite a clever idea to advertise the film and its in-universe events. Sadly, the WHIH concept only ran for a limited time and wasn’t recurringly brought back. It would be great to see the Daily Bugle be a recurring element in the MCU’s future. Betty Brant’s addition is also a great touch, as she is famously part of the news organization in the comics. So, it’ll be interesting to see if she has a future with the company moving forward and there is even a reference to it in the upcoming No Way Home film.

    Source: TikTok