Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Joseph Aberl

  • ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Opening Will Feature a De-Aged Harrison Ford

    ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Opening Will Feature a De-Aged Harrison Ford

    De-aging technology has become quite the rage nowadays, especially with the work that Marvel Studios has invested to make actors seemingly play their younger selves. It doesn’t always work out, such as how Martin Scorcese‘s The Irishman featured some impressive technology, but given the actor’s age, one could tell something wasn’t right when they started trying to beat each other up. Still, it’s a fun tech innovation that has found its home in IP franchises, and it seems Indiana Jones 5 will do the same.

    In a new piece by Empire, they reveal that the film’s opening will feature a flashback to the original trilogy’s Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford de-aged to look the part. Funny enough, set photos from quite some time ago did actually hint at the flashback, especially with a stunt person wearing a rather questionable Ford mask on his face. It does seem like they will swap him out once it comes to action sequences and him talking. Director James Mangold highlighted why they decided to take this route:

    I wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George-and-Steven old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast.

    James Mangold

    He also highlights that they use the opening set piece of a castle swarming with Nazis that pays tribute to the franchise’s early beginnings, especially in how it also helps guide audiences into the 60s setting of the fifth entry.

    So that the audience doesn’t experience the change between the ‘40s and ‘60s as an intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneering spirit of those early days… and then the beginning of now.

    James mangold

    It’s definitely going to be interesting to see how they pull it off and how it’ll tie into the overarching narrative. Whatever Indy is up to might end up inspiring the events that tie into the space race storyline we’ll see later in the film, but we can only speculate for now. Still, it’ll be a blast to see a younger Indiana Jones once again, even if it’s digital.

    Source: Empire

  • Anjelica Huston Reprises ‘John Wick’ Role in ‘Ballerina’ Spinoff

    Anjelica Huston Reprises ‘John Wick’ Role in ‘Ballerina’ Spinoff

    We’ve already had quite a few reveals that some familiar faces will arrive in John Wick‘s first spinoff titled Ballerina. It’ll further expand the world filled with assassins that Keanu Reeves‘ first introduced us to back in 2014, which would eventually grow into a major franchise that stands out from the rest. Production is already underway on the spinoff with Ana de Armas set to take on the title role. Now, one more familiar cast member is set to return from the main series.

    The Len Wiseman-directed film will see the return of Anjelica Huston in the role of The Director, who is the head of the Ruska Roma crime organization. She was introduced to us in John Wick 3 – Parabellum and it’s unclear just how big a role she’ll have in this expansion. There is likely a deeper connection between her and the unnamed main character of this spinoff, especially with her focus on teaching dancers to embrace their killer side. That is highlighted by her being the inspiration for the spinoff, to begin with.

    The idea of Ballerina was formed around the scenes with Anjelica in John Wick 3. Anjelica Huston is an icon and is nothing less than Hollywood royalty. The world of Wick is always made richer by her commanding screen presence.

    Erica Lee

    While franchise building is all the rage at the moment, John Wick is in a unique position to make use of its rather simple but creative take on world-building. So, we’ll see if Ballerina manages to become a success and potentially even pulls in more interest to further explore other veterans that made this world their own.

    Source: THR

  • James Gunn Opens Up on Never Tackling Nova in a ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Movie

    James Gunn Opens Up on Never Tackling Nova in a ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Movie

    Guardians of the Galaxy have become quite the household name in the industry. No one would’ve believed that the wacky group of space pirates would end up among Marvel Studios’ most famous IPs. Still, director James Gunn made it possible and is now ready to prepare for his third, and probably final entry in the franchise.

    While the comics included a wide variety of members throughout the years, Gunn always stuck to a smaller group throughout the films. Naturally, many wondered where some fan-favorites are, especially the character of Nova and the reasoning turns out to be quite simple as revealed in an interview with ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero.

    There were a billion versions of Guardians before I came aboard… Yes, I guess maybe some script had Richard Rider in it, but like, there’s a lot of different versions. Yeah, I was never gonna– I never had Richard Rider in anything. He’s just too big of a character and he seemed too… From the beginning, when I came on board Guardians, I didn’t wanna have two human beings. I wanted to have one human being so that he could be surrounded in this world of aliens and then we realize little by little that all of these characters are the only of their kind. They’re the only human beings to them, you know?

    James Gunn

    The idea of Peter Quill being the only human definitely was the appeal for this story, even if some aliens just looked like normal humans, especially in the Nova Corp. Still, Nova is significant character from the comics that has a lot of history to explore, which might detract from Star-Lord’s fish out of water storyline early on. So, it would be a shame if Nova’s story ended up overshadowing the main focus of the franchise. Luckily, the is already rumored to get his own Disney+ spinoff at some point.

    Source: YouTube via The Direct

  • ‘The Boys’ Jensen Ackles Almost Played Deadpool

    ‘The Boys’ Jensen Ackles Almost Played Deadpool

    We live in a world where many actors have made their respective roles very much a reflection of themselves. Many can’t look at Iron Man and not think of Robert Downey Jr. or even recently Iman Vellani truly personifying Ms. Marvel in live-action. The same could be said about Ryan Reynolds, who was long the fan-favorite to play the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool, even before he took on the role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine back in 2009.

    Yet, it seems that he wasn’t always set to take on the role, as Supernatural and The Boys star Jensen Ackles revealed during an appearance at SPN PHX J2, he was originally cast to play the character before scheduling conflicts got in the way. It’s crazy to think that we may have had a very different version of the character.

    There was definitely a movie that I was very much in talks about… I wasn’t available, so the train just kind of stopped there. But, had I been available, I would’ve had to, you know, jump through the studio hoops and jump through the, you know, producer hoops and stuff. But I had a really good shot, and it’s a movie that I really, really like. [What was the movie?] Deadpool. It was probably a good thing because my ex-girlfriend was on there and so that probably would have been awkward, so it probably worked out for the best. I think that whole cast was amazing. I probably would’ve messed that up for a lot of people had I been a part of it, so probably best I didn’t. But that would’ve been cool.

    Jensen Ackles

    Ackles‘ performance as Soldier Boy in The Boys may be a good indicator that he’d make a great superhero, but it’s always tough to say if he’d nail exactly what makes Deadpool special even among the many quippy superheroes out there. It also raises the question if we’d even have the two films (with a third on the way) if it weren’t for Reynolds‘ heavy involvement in the process. No matter what, it’s a fun little detail to find out and who knows if they want to play around with a Deadpool multiverse-inspired storyline that could see him play a Variant of the character.

    Source: YouTube via ScreenRant

  • ‘Wakanda Forever’ Passes $500M Worldwide, Second Domestic Weekend Higher than ‘Doctor Strange’ Sequel

    ‘Wakanda Forever’ Passes $500M Worldwide, Second Domestic Weekend Higher than ‘Doctor Strange’ Sequel

    It looks like the numbers are finally in and it’s looking much better than initially expected, as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to take the weekend with an impressive $67.3M. Not only is it reviving a rather dead fall box office, but also pulled in the second-highest comic book movies’ second weekend of the year. It’s higher than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ $61M, which had a much higher opening but faced a harsher drop. It’s only behind Spider-Man: No Way Home which had quite the harsh decline as well but was carried by its legs, which the A CinemaScore could do the same for the Black Panther sequel.

    Overseas, it has now also pulled in an additional 69.8M, which puts the film at $546.3M and on route to potentially scratch the $900M mark over its run. The international drop of 53.5% is pretty good and there’s hope for the film to carry on with some strong legs, especially into Black Friday and the Thanksgiving holiday with no real direct competition outside of Disney’s Strange World.

    Currently, the film stands at $288M and should pass the $400M mark by the end of its run, but where it lands depends strongly on its legs moving forward. It didn’t quite reach the $70M but there are reports that this is likely due to its length. Ironically, while fans complained that the Doctor Strange sequel and Thor: Love and Thunder are too short, the runtime is hitting Wakanda Forever a bit when it comes to its box office performance.

    So, all eyes will be on the weekly performance for this film, as Thanksgiving week can make all the difference and likely also the cause of why not everyone rushed to theaters over the weekend. Veteran’s Day holiday also played a key factor in its drop, which helped elevate its box office and it’s only 2% behind Doctor Strange at the same time. Next Sunday could be the decider of where it truly might end up.

    Source: Twitter, The Numbers, Twitter, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline

  • First ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Story Details Hint at Space Race Setting Facing an Old Foe

    First ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Story Details Hint at Space Race Setting Facing an Old Foe

    The space race is on, as we finally have some tips on what to expect from Indiana Jones‘ upcoming return to theaters. Harrison Ford is back to take on Nazis but this time in a very new setting as we’ll join the archeologist in 1969, smack-dab in the middle of the space race. While the original movement has long moved on, according to the film’s co-writer Jez Butterworth, the moon landing may have had some sinister minds trying to make it work.

    The simple fact is that the moon-landing program was run by a bunch of ex-Nazis. How ‘ex’ they are is the question. And it gets up Indy’s nose…It’s not just that they’re looking for something where there’s nothing up there – it’s like Reno without the gambling, or whatever his line is. But the people that are behind it are, you know, his sworn enemies.

    Jez Butterworth

    It definitely raises a few interesting questions. This story element could imply that Indiana Jones may somehow end up in space. After the last film introduced aliens into the franchise, it wouldn’t be too far out there but definitely could raise some questions on how it forces his hands into the story.

    Jones is an archeologist and has nothing to do with space travel directly. So, the story could likely see an event from his past, perhaps even involving Mads Mikkelsen‘s Voller, who is inspired by Wernher von Braun, a former Nazi that would become a NASA engineer. In the same interview with Empire, the actor teases that perhaps there is something they are both chasing down.

    He’s a man who would like to correct some of the mistakes of the past. There is something that could make the world a much better place to live in. He would love to get his hands on it. Indiana Jones wants to get his hands on it as well. And so, we have a story.

    Mads Mikkelsen

    It definitely is going to be quite interesting to see how they tackle the 1969 space race with an aging Jones stuck in the middle of it all. It definitely sounds like an interesting setup and here’s hoping the trailer isn’t too far to finally unveil our first look at Jones back in action.

    Source: Empire

  • RUMOR: New ‘Thunderbolts’ Casting Hints at an Evil Superman-Inspired Villain

    RUMOR: New ‘Thunderbolts’ Casting Hints at an Evil Superman-Inspired Villain

    Rumors have been abounding as of late, as we’re about to enter the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No matter where one feels on Phase 4, we’re about to enter a new and exciting era that’ll offer some unique projects. among them is the first non-Avengers team-up film in the form of Thunderbolts. An unlikely group of anti-heroes is stuck together to take on a mission for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and it seems that they might be in for more than they bargained for.

    A new rumor is making the circles that they are currently trying to cast the main antagonist for the upcoming Thunderbolts film, who hints at it being an “Evil Superman.” What makes this interesting is that there are two characters that could potentially take on that very role with Squadron Supreme’s Hyperion, a more direct parallel to the Justice League and Superman, or the other powered individual known as Sentry.

    What adds to it is that they are already eyeing the casting of Ryan Gosling or Alexander Skarsgard, who would make two very interesting additions to the MCU. Gosling has highlighted his interest in joining the franchise but was more hopeful of taking on the role of Ghost Rider; a very popular choice at the moment. So, we’ll see if he’d even be interested in this role though it may also depend on what direction they are going.

    If they are indeed going for a villain storyline, Sentry does seem like the most interesting direction given his connection to the Void. Though, Squadron Supreme as part of the Multiverse Saga would also make sense with elements leaking into the mainline MCU timeline that ends up setting up the future Avengers films. There are many potential directions they could take this storyline but we’ll have to wait a bit longer until we find out.

    Source: Patreon via Twitter, Twitter

  • New Funko Pop Offers First Look at ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s MODOK

    New Funko Pop Offers First Look at ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s MODOK

    While those that got a look at Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania during D23 teased the arrival of MODOK, which stands for Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. The character has long been hoped to become a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially because he is one of the more insane designs that would seem impossible in live-action. So, there was a lot of excitement to see him make his debut, though the first officially released trailer did not offer a glimpse at his design.

    Surprisingly, it seems our first look at the character won’t be int eh second trailer but rather a Funko Pop that has seemingly found its way into stores a bit earlier than expected. Influencer Cris Parker shared a poster on his Twitter account that includes a first look at the design, which would match with descriptions that found their way online during D23. It’s still only a rumor who is behind the mask but it’s insane to see this design hinting at a rather comic-accurate design making its way to the comics. The only addition is the mask giving him a very familiar grin but also hiding his identity.

    It’ll be interesting to see what this design looks like in action, but it definitely is promising. There’s always the danger that it goes a little too goofy, especially if that is in fact a faceplate. Though they could surprise us and make use of his silly design to build upon. Who knows how he also connects to the arrival of Kang the Conqueror in the MCU but perhaps there’s a conflict in the Quantum Realm that was just waiting to unravel beyond its dimension.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Wakanda Forever’ Faces Harsh Friday Drop, But Still Set to Dominate the Weekend

    ‘Wakanda Forever’ Faces Harsh Friday Drop, But Still Set to Dominate the Weekend

    It definitely looks like Marvel Studios’ projects are quite frontloaded in their release, as even Black Panther Wakanda Forever with an A CinemaScore faced a harsh Friday-to-Friday drop. It pulled in between $17.9M and stands at a chance of making up to $70M. It’s definitely a harsh 79% drop but not the worst that Marvel Studios has seen this year, as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dropped by 81% on its second Friday. It’s even lower than Thor: Love and Thunder‘s 80% and not too far from Black Adam’s 72%. Perhaps it’s a general genre trend in a market with less to offer.

    As Deadline points out, there’s a chance it’ll make up to $70M and could stand at a 65% drop for its second weekend total. At that rate, it’s only around 3% lagging behind Multiverse of Madness, which is massive considering it was a prime summer release in May. Plus, Thanksgiving and Black Friday are around the corner which could give it a massive boost with very little competition. So, it does seem safe to assume it’ll hold the top spot going into its third weekend.

    The Black Panther sequel already passed $400M worldwide and could be moving similarly to the previous entry. For those wondering if it’ll pass the billion-dollar mark: it doesn’t seem like a sure thing but if it holds after this weekend there’s still a chance it could outdo the Doctor Strange sequel. Even if some want to call this “the end of Marvel” once again, the films are still financially doing better than most and after much-calling fatigue since even after Avengers: Endgame‘s release. It’s the kind of fatigue many others would dream about.

    Source: Twitter, Deadline, Collider, The Numbers

  • Ncuti Gatwa’s ‘Doctor Who’ Run Finds its New Companion

    Ncuti Gatwa’s ‘Doctor Who’ Run Finds its New Companion

    Even in a world filled with time-wimey things, there are some rules that apply no matter what happens. One of those is that the Time Lord known as the Doctor always has a companion that joins him on his travels through time and space. With a new doctor on the horizon in Ncuti Gatwa, it always was the question of who might take on that very role. Perhaps we’ll see a familiar face or even someone completely new. As it turns out, it was the latter.

    Millie Gibson of Coronation Street fame has joined the upcoming 15th incarnation of the beloved Time Lord as his companion by the name Ruby Sunday. She’ll take on the role once the new season returns later next year. No details have been shared on what we can expect of her character or when she might show up in the story, especially with Gatwa not taking on the role directly after Jodie Whitaker‘s run.

    There have been many iconic companions in the past and it’ll be quite interesting to see what she’ll bring to the table. Hopes are high with the new season as well, as it might shake things up. Not only is David Tennant briefly returning to take on the role of the Doctor, but it’ll have ea new home internationally on Disney+. There have been hints that Disney is also adding some investment into the series to help it grow; crazy to think given it’s been running for over 50 years by now. So, we’ll see what this new season might do to mix things up.

    Source: Twitter, The Guardian