Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • Beyond the Grey Havens — Stephen Colbert to Co-Write LOTR Sequel ‘Shadow of the Past’ Following ‘The Late Show’ Exit

    Stephen Colbert has found his next calling. In an announcement made alongside Peter Jackson, Colbert–who is leaving The Late Show on May 21st–announced that he will join the forces of Middle-earth.

    Colbert is co-writing a brand-new, live-action film tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past. It’s being framed as a direct sequel to the original trilogy that doubles as a “lost chapter” adaptation. Colbert’s specific pitch to Peter Jackson involves adapting the six early chapters of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring that were skipped in the 2001 film—specifically everything from “Three is Company” to “Fog on the Barrow-downs.”

    The thing I found myself reading over and over again were the six chapters early on in The Fellowship [of the Ring] that y’all never developed into the first movie back in the day. It’s basically chapters ‘Three Is Company’ through ‘Fog on the Barrow-downs,’ and I thought, Oh wait, maybe that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story. Could we make something that was completely faithful to the books while also being completely faithful to the movies that you guys had already made?

    -Stephen Colbert

    The movie will be set 14 years after the death of Frodo and use that timeline as a framing device to revisit these untold stories, allowing the film to exist as both a sequel to The Return of the King and a mid-quel to the early days of the journey with the story reportedly centers on Elanor Gardner, the daughter of Samwise Gamgee. While her father and his friends Merry and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their original adventure, Elanor discovers a “long-buried secret” that suggests the War of the Ring was nearly lost before it even truly began.

    Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.

    -Official synopsis for The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past

    Colbert is writing the screenplay alongside his son, Peter McGee, and Philippa Boyens. Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are on board to produce via WingNut Films, ensuring the original trilogy aesthetic remains untouched.

    While casting is still under wraps, the synopsis practically begs for the return of Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd. With the story focusing on their older selves retracing their steps, the timing for the original cast to return–now 25 years older in real life–couldn’t be more perfect.

  • James Marsden Takes His Place on Prestigious List of Marvel Studios’ Liars and Deniers

    James Marsden Takes His Place on Prestigious List of Marvel Studios’ Liars and Deniers

    Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, James Marsden spoke openly about reprising his role as Cyclops in Avengers: Doomsday. He also admitted to lying about it previously to avoid “Marvel trouble.”

    In doing so, Marsden joins elite company such as Charlie Cox, Andrew Garfield and Paul Rudd, all of whom have lied, denied and otherwise dissembled about their association with Marvel Studios projects.


    Of course, the big takeaway isn’t just the return—it’s the suit. Marsden confirmed he is finally wearing the Jim Lee-inspired comic-accurate costume, moving away from the black leather era of the early 2000s. Since the suit was first leaked in 2025, fans have been excited to see it on screen and the first glimpse of it in one of the film’s short teasers delivered.

    “To put this on felt very cool,” said Marsden, who said he also felt “heroic” and “authentic”, the latter of which fans have been craving and Marvel seems intent on giving them.

  • True Crime in Metropolis — DC Studios Taps ‘American Vandal’ Creators for Jimmy Olsen/Gorilla Grodd Spinoff

    True Crime in Metropolis — DC Studios Taps ‘American Vandal’ Creators for Jimmy Olsen/Gorilla Grodd Spinoff

    The DCU is about to get the mockumentary treatment. In a report first shared by Variety, DC Studios is officially developing a prestige true crime docuseries centered on Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen.

    Rumors of an anthology-style series that would see Jimmy investigating the Daily Planet’s most dangerous leads emerged in mid-2025 and now it seems as though the studio is ready to move forward with the project.

    Following his breakout performance in James Gunn’s Superman, Skyler Gisondo is set to reprise his role for the HBO Max original. But this isn’t your typical superhero spinoff—it’s an investigative deep-dive into the criminal underworld of the DC Universe.

    In what might be the most inspired creative pairing of Chapter 1, DC has tapped Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault—the minds behind the Peabody Award-winning American Vandal—to write, showrun, and executive produce. The show is described as a grounded, noir-inflected mystery that focuses on Daily Planet staff members as they navigate a world of institutional corruption and metahuman conspiracies

    The series is framed as a fictionalized true-crime investigation hosted by Jimmy. Season 1 will focus entirely on the criminal history of Gorilla Grodd. Reframing the iconic Flash foe as a subject for an investigative documentary allows the DCU to explore Grodd’s “layered psychological profile” and his path from scientific experiment to global threat through archival footage and “interviews”.

    By moving the American Vandal duo into the DCU, Gunn is doubling down on his promise to diversify the “tone, scale, and format” of the franchise. This isn’t just a spinoff; it’s an experiment in genre-bending that could change how we view comic book villains forever.

  • One Billion Strong — ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Shatters Every Known Trailer Record in History

    One Billion Strong — ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Shatters Every Known Trailer Record in History

    We knew the hype was real, but the numbers coming out of Sony and Marvel are staggering. According to a fresh report from Variety, the marketing campaign for Spider-Man: Brand New Day has achieved something no other film in history has: it has crossed the 1 billion views threshold across its collective trailer materials in record time.

    The main teaser alone didn’t just break the record; it obliterated it.

    While Deadpool & Wolverine held the previous 24-hour record with 365 million views aided heavily by a Super Bowl spot, the Brand New Day trailer hit 718.6 million views in its first day. Proving the Spidey-Sense is a global phenomenon, the trailer surpassed Deadpool & Wolverine’s all-time record in just eight hours, clocking 373 million views before most of the West Coast had even finished their morning coffee.

    It has been nearly five years since the world saw Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. The pent-up demand for a rebooted Peter Parker in a world that has forgotten him is clearly higher than anyone anticipated. By turning a simple trailer drop into a record-shattering global event, Sony and Marvel have sent a clear message: the MCU’s slump is officially over and 2026 will be a huge year.

    Source: Variety

  • Marvel Reveals Streaming Date, New Title for ‘Punisher Special Presentation’

    Marvel Reveals Streaming Date, New Title for ‘Punisher Special Presentation’

    Frank Castle won’t be appearing in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 but he won’t be far behind. Ahead of the streaming debut of the sophomore season of the Daredevil revival, Marvel has announced the release date for The Punisher Special Presentation along with an official title.

    The Punisher: One Last Kill will drop on Disney Plus on May 12th, the same day as the Season 2 finale of Daredevil: Born Again.

    Co-written by star Jon Bernthal and Reinaldo Marcus Green, the feature will follow Castle and see him take on Ma Gnucci, the head of the Gnucci crime family. In terms of MCU Punisher continuity, Ma Gnucci makes quite a bit of sense as an antagonist for the project given that Frank wiped out several members of the Gnucci Crime Family, including her son Tony, in Episode 1.01 of The Punisher, “3 AM.“

    As Frank Castle searches for meaning beyond revenge, an unexpected force pulls him back into the fight.

    -Official synopsis for The Punisher: One Last  Kill

    Ma Gnucci tried to take Frank Castle out in Volume 5 of The Punisher, written by Garth Ennis. The 12-issue arc, known as “Welcome Back, Frank”, launched Ennis’ 49-issue run with the character and has long been hailed as a classic Punisher tale. Harboiled and gruesome, “Welcome Back, Frank” took the character back to his roots and allowed him to do what he does best: kill bad guys with extreme prejudice…and a flamethrower. If the Marvel Television Special Presentation takes any inspiration from Ennis’ arc, fans should prepare for an extraordinarily violent hour or so.

    It’s going to be dark; Frank has no interest in breaking out the darkness. It’s not going to be easy. I don’t know if that’s the Netflix tone then that’s what it’s going to be. It will not be Punisher-lite, I promise you that.

    -Jon Bernthal
  • Lights, Camera, Action (Again)! Marvel Studios Renews ‘Wonder Man’ for Season 2

    Lights, Camera, Action (Again)! Marvel Studios Renews ‘Wonder Man’ for Season 2

    It looks like Simon Williams isn’t ready for his final bow just yet. Despite being originally billed as a miniseries, Marvel Studios has officially greenlit a second season of Wonder Man for D+.

    The news was revealed by the studio via social media and confirmed that both Yahya Abdul-Mateen II  and Sir Ben Kingsley are set to return for the sophomore season.

    While Season 1 was produced under the Marvel Spotlight banner— reserved for more grounded, standalone stories—the series became an immediate breakout hit. It still sits as the #1 show on Disney+, with fans praising its “acting nerd” charm and the undeniable chemistry between its two leads.

    Executive producer Brad Winderbaum previously said Season 1 concluded a trilogy for Trevor Slattery (following Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). A second season means the MCU’s greatest actor is officially entering a new, unscripted chapter of his life.

    (L-R): Simon Williams/Wonder Man (Yahya Adbul-Mateen II) and Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley) in Marvel Television’s WONDER MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo Courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2025 MARVEL.

    Showrunner Andrew Guest has already been dropping hints about the potential direction of a second season, telling The Direct back in January that if it happened, he’d want to explore “the deal to be worked out” between Simon’s burgeoning superhero status and the restrictive “Doorman Clause” of Hollywood.

    Marvel is clearly listening to the fans. Wonder Man was a gamble—dramadey about the craft of acting set in a superhero world—but its success proves there is a massive appetite for character-driven stories.

  • James Gunn Confirms the “Superman Saga” Timeline; How ‘Supergirl’ Bridges the Gap to 2027

    James Gunn Confirms the “Superman Saga” Timeline; How ‘Supergirl’ Bridges the Gap to 2027

    James Gunn is once again using his Threads account to do the heavy lifting for the DCU’s marketing department. With three major projects featuring Kryptonians now on the board, fans have been scrambling to figure out the chronological order of the “Gods and Monsters” era.

    Over the weekend, Gunn officially settled the debate. When asked where Milly Alcock’s Supergirl sits in relation to the two Superman films, Gunn kept it simple:

    In between Superman and Man of Tomorrow.

    -James Gunn on Supergirl’s place in the DCU Timeline

    This confirmation gives us a clear look at the structure Gunn is building and the key role that the Kryptonian cousins have in it.

    Though Gunn didn’t write or direct Supergirl, it seems reasonable to believe that Brainiac could be referenced or even show up in a minor role, perhaps a flashback, especially since the trailer confirmed scenes set in Kandor, the capital city of Krypton that was shrunken and kept in a bottle by Brainiac. If that does indeed happen, it makes Supergirl a key contributor to the lore of Gunn’s planned four-film Superman Saga.

  • Tom Holland Teases a “Catastrophic” Evolution in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    Tom Holland Teases a “Catastrophic” Evolution in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    After months of waiting, the first teaser for Spider-Man: Brand New Day dropped to record-breaking numbers, thanks in part to the neogenic nightmare Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker seems to be experiencing. The biggest talking point hasn’t been Punisher’s van or Peter’s new apartment—it’s evolution, baby. After three movies of relying on Stark-tech and chemistry sets, Parker is finally growing his own arsenal.

    However, according to Holland himself, this change isn’t just a convenient power-up; it’s the beginning of something much more harrowing.

    In a post-trailer sit-down, Holland didn’t mince words when describing the physical toll of the new film. While he remained tight-lipped on specific plot points, he dropped a descriptor that has the body horror corners of the fandom reeling:

    Peter is undergoing a physical evolution in this film that is, quite frankly, catastrophic. It’s profoundly unique to the superhero genre because it’s not about getting stronger—it’s about losing control of what you are. Manhattan is a darker place this time around, and Peter is changing to survive it.

    -Tom Holland

    “Catastrophic” is a very specific word choice. It suggests that the organic webbing we saw in the trailer—where Peter wakes up in a literal web cocoon—isn’t the end of the transformation.

    It seems clear that Peter’s evolution is part of  a live-action adaptation of the “Man-Spider” arc from the 90s animated series or the “The Other” storyline from the comics. In those stories, Peter’s mutation accelerates, turning him into a multi-armed, predatory creature. With Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner confirmed as a mentor/professor at ESU in this film, the narrative bridge for a biological crisis is already in place. If Banner is there to help Peter stabilize his DNA, it implies that Peter is actively falling apart.

    Should Marvel and Sony have followed through on the promise of the teaser and force Peter to choose his humanity over his power, Brand New Day may have the potential most emotional Spider-Man story ever told.

  • Marvel Studios Reveals Slim 2029 Slate

    Marvel Studios Reveals Slim 2029 Slate

    In addition to confirming a pared down 2028 theatrical release slate, Marvel Studios has also unveiled the first of what is sure to be many 2029 release calendars and it is notably slim.

    Disney has tentatively scheduled a pair of Marvel Studios’ films to be released on May 4 and July 13, 2029.

    The slate represents former Disney CEO Bob Iger’s desire to reduce Marvel’s theatrical output, placing an emphasis on quality over quantity. At this point, Marvel has kept its post-Multiverse Saga slate, X-Men, Black Panther 3 and a sequel to The Fantastic Four: First Steps are all reportedly being developed as well as a Ryan Reynolds-led X-Men team-up film and the horror ensemble, Midnight Sons.

    As it stands now, Marvel will roll out the first five films of its new saga as follows:

    • Untitled Marvel Studios May 5, 2028
    • Untitled Marvel Studios July 28 2028
    • Untitled Marvel Studios December 15, 2028
    • Untitled Marvel Studios May 4, 2029
    • Untitled Marvel Studios July 13, 2029
  • Matthew Lillard’s ‘Born Again’ Character is the MCU’s New Global Shadow Player

    Matthew Lillard’s ‘Born Again’ Character is the MCU’s New Global Shadow Player

    When news first broke that Matthew Lillard was joining Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, the fancasts went wild—was he the new Norman Osborn? A live-action Alistair Smythe? But as the premiere draws near, the reality is much more interesting. Lillard isn’t playing a costumed man; he’s playing the man who makes the costumes possible.

    Lillard’s Mr. Charles–who he describes as having a “Cheshire Cat energy” and a level of chill that should terrify every other player on the board–is exactly the type of character the actor would never be expected to portray.

    Lillard found his way to Hell’s Kitchen via a relationship with showrunner Dario Scardapane that originated from the pair’s shared love of Dungeons & Dragons. “I am the Dungeon Master for all these incredibly powerful showrunners,” Lillard joked. Scardapane apparently liked Lillard’s ability to shape a narrative so much that he wrote the role of Mr. Charles specifically to “plus up” the veteran actor’s unique energy.

    Mr. Charles is described as a “CIA-style spook” and a global power broker. While Wilson Fisk is busy playing Mayor of New York, Mr. Charles is playing a different game on an international stage. In a world where everyone is terrified of the Kingpin, Mr. Charles is notably “unimpressed.” Lillard teased a “delicious struggle over power” between himself and Vincent D’Onofrio, noting that his character sees Fisk as a big fish in a very small, local pond. And in an interesting bit of tethering, Scardapane has confirmed that Mr. Charles reports directly to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. He exists in the “Val world,” effectively linking the events of Born Again to the larger Thunderbolts* and narrative. So, apparently, it’s all connected again.

    Despite the high stakes, Scardapane says the scariest thing about Mr. Charles is how “regular” he looks. He’s the guy wearing a plaid button-up and slacks to a tense dinner at Gracie Mansion, completely relaxed while everyone else is buttoned-down and bleeding. Lillard himself admits he’s “chewing scenery” in a world that is otherwise incredibly grounded and tense.

    Whether Mr. Charles is there to help Fisk or pave the way for his replacement remains among the season’s biggest mysteries.