Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • RUMOR: Olivia Colman May be Playing an Iconic Comic Character in ‘Secret Invasion’

    RUMOR: Olivia Colman May be Playing an Iconic Comic Character in ‘Secret Invasion’

    We’ve long been wondering what to expect from Secret Invasions. There’s a lot of talk surrounding the project, especially with its Skrull invasion potentially putting everyone’s identity on the line. Who knows if the people we’ll follow are human or Skrulls? For now, it seems that a new report by Illuminerdi may offer a little insight into who one character is playing, Olivia Colman.

    According to their sources, Colman will take on a gender-swapped version of Union Jack. There are currently three versions of the character,e and it’s unclear if they are sticking to the recent version of Joseph Chapman, who had a run-in with the Skrulls. There is also James Montgomery Falsworth and his son Brian Falsworth. Perhaps she’s a gender-swapped version of Falsworth, which would keep the door open for the mantle to be passe don potentially at one point in the future.

    It’s great seeing more international characters get adapted, and it’ll be interesting to see if we explore their shared history as fellow agents. Perhaps Fury and this gender-swapped version of Union Jack share quite the history that’ll help add to the suspense of when they can’t trust anyone anymore. We’re definitely interested to see how they tackle this project and especially toy with us from week to week, as we start questioning who is and isn’t part of the invasion.

    Source: Illuminerdi

  • ‘Jessica Jones’ Star Joins ‘Orphan Black’ Spinoff

    ‘Jessica Jones’ Star Joins ‘Orphan Black’ Spinoff

    Krysten Ritter has booked her next TV gig. The Jessica Jones actress will star in AMC’s Orphan Black follow-up, Orphan Black: Echoes, which is slated to hit the small screen sometime next year.

    Along with starring in the follow-up for AMC, Ritter will also executive produce the 10-episodes series. Echoes is set in the world of the original series, and will revolve around a group of women as they weave their way into each other’s lives, embarking on a thrilling journey that will unravel the mystery of their identity – all while uncovering a story of love and betrayal. Ritter will portray Lucy, a character that is described as trying to find her place in the world. Like with the original show’s star, Tatiana Maslany, who is now leading She-Hulk, Ritter will more than likely play multiple clones in the series.

    Orphan Black: Echoes was first announced as being picked up to series back in April. This marks the first casting announcement for the series. Anna Fishko (The Society) serves as Echoes‘s creator, writer, showrunner and executive producer. The original series was created by screenwriter Graeme Manson and director John Fawcett, who will serve as co-showrunner on Echoes. Returning from the original series are Boat Rocker’s David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg, who will executive produce alongside the company’s Katie O’Connell Marsh, Nick Nantell, and Kerry Appleyard.

    While a release date has not yet been announced, Orphan Black: Echoes is set for a 2023 release.

    Source: THR

  • Holt McCallany Accepts ‘Mission: Impossible’ Role

    Holt McCallany Accepts ‘Mission: Impossible’ Role

    Mindhunter actor Holt McCallany has signed on for a role in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part Two. The actor will play Secretary of Defense Bernstein. He joins Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham and Pom Klementieff, who all star alongside leading man Tom Cruise.

    Part Two will serve as the eighth title in the hit franchise. Cruise returns as agent Ethan Hunt who leads his team on globe-trotting missions as a means to avert global disaster. Details regarding the film’s plot are sparse, but the film could potentially serve as the end of the franchise, although no decision looks to have been made as of yet. Christopher McQuarrie returns to direct the film from his own script after wrapping on Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One.

    McCallany starred as FBI Special Agent Bill Tench on Netflix’s critically acclaimed series Mindhunter. He currently stars in the AMC drama 61st Street alongside Courtney B. Vance, which has been renewed for a second season. Other credits on his resume include Lights Out, Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley and Blue Bloods. 

    The last Mission: Impossible film, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, earned $791 million at the worldwide box office back in 2018. Cruise can currently be seen on the big screen in Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick, which continues to fly high at the box office after two months in release.

    Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part Two will hit theaters on June 28th, 2024.

    Source: Deadline

  • Marvel Studios Director Takes Himself Out of the Running to Helm ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’

    Marvel Studios Director Takes Himself Out of the Running to Helm ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’

    Kevin Feige delighted and confused Marvel Studios’ fans with the announcement that Avengers: Secret Wars is targeting a November 2025 theatrical release. Though the project had been teased as early as June of 2021 in Season One of Loki, the debate about whether or not something on the scale of Secret Wars could be put together in less than a decade raged on amongst fans.

    That debate hasn’t ended with the announcement of the film, but some attention has been diverted to who might be directing Avengers: Secret Wars. When it was announced that Destin Daniel Cretton signed on to helm Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which will debut just six months before Avengers: Secret Wars, it was also revealed that Cretton was not on board for Secret Wars. It’s hardly uncommon for a Marvel Studios’ film that’s over 3 years away to be without a director, but for one of this magnitude, it’s become a talking point and most of the discussion seems to center on directors who have worked with Marvel Studios in the past.

    One such director, Scott Derrickson, who directed 2016’s Doctor Strange and served as an executive producer on Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness, has been mentioned as a possible candidate, but according to Derrickson, it’s not in the cards. When asked if there were any possibility of him landing the gig, Derrickson promptly replied with a GIF that provided a firm “NO” as an answer.

    https://twitter.com/scottderrickson/status/1552688255795171329

    If Derrickson is truly out of the running, the pool of candidates who have worked with Marvel Studios in the past is still pretty deep. While Feige has said the Russo brothers aren’t on board for the project, it had the “they aren’t on board YET” feel. Other candidates could include Ryan Coogler, Sam Raimi, Peyton Reed, Nia DaCosta and Jon Favreau, who while he’s been busy with Star Wars, could return for a project the size of Avengers: Secret Wars. And there’s no reason to close the door to directors who haven’t worked with the studio before, as a big project like this could attract the interest of some big names in the industry. Whoever they land, Marvel Studios could have an announcement as early as this September at their D23 presentation in Anaheim.

  • Kevin Feige on Marvel Studios’ New Outlook on Avengers Films

    Kevin Feige on Marvel Studios’ New Outlook on Avengers Films

    For the first decade of its existence, Marvel Studios rolled out an Avengers film every three years or so to signal the end of a Phase. Fans were treated to The Avengers in 2012, Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015 and then double-dipped with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame in 2018 and 2019. Endgame, of course, was the final film in what’s now known as The Infinity Saga, a long-form narrative told over the course of 23 films.

    Three years removed from the release of Endgame, Marvel Studios’ next phase is off and running and, in less than two years, has seen the release of more than half of what the studio did in the first eleven years. Thanks to the addition of in-universe streaming series on Disney Plus, Phase 4 is already 13 projects deep with two more coming in 2022 (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) and 26 more scheduled from 2023 through 2025. As it stands, when Daredevil: Born Again releases on Disney Plus in the Spring of 2024, Marvel Studios’ post-Infinity Saga output will surpass what the studio released in its first 10 years, with 25 total projects released in just over 3 years (2021-24). None of those projects, however, will have been Avengers projects.

    At SDCC ’22, Marvel Studios head cheese Kevin Feige revealed the studio’s upcoming slate, which includes two upcoming Avengers films. With both of those films slated to hit theaters in 2025, fans are staring down a six-year stretch in between Avengers films, double what they’ve been accustomed to. Feige explained why the studio has broken free from the pattern they once set for themselves:

    The truth is, when we were doing Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3, there were less projects over more years. They were smaller projects and individual character stories, and it felt appropriate at that point, that after every two or three years that it took for a phase, we would do an ‘Avengers’ film. As [Phase] 4, 5 and 6 were coming together, there are more projects in less years – because of all the amazing stuff we’re now allowed to do on Disney+, and getting characters from Fox, Fantastic Four and Deadpool — that it felt like, certainly after ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame,’ that we thought ‘Avengers’ movies aren’t cappers. So many of our movies now — ‘Multiverse of Madness’ and what you’re about to see in [‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’], all are big team-up films introducing big parts of the mythology… ‘Avengers’ films really should be the capper to a saga.

    Kevin Feige

    Feige left a lot to unpack there, but the key points are that the increase in the number of productions, the ability to tell stories on Disney Plus, the addition of new properties via the Fox merger and the fact that the studio can use the already existing wealth of characters in team-up style films all helped the studio rethink what an Avengers film might need to be. Part of the allure of an Avengers film is seeing multiple heroes working together and that’s something that the studio can do in nearly every project they roll out these days, given that they have dozens of already established characters at their disposal. And so, at the end of the day, what it really means is that the Avengers films will feel like even bigger events than they did before with the ability for them to all include something on the scale of the final battle in Avengers: Endgame. For fans of Marvel Studios, that’s a prospect worth waiting to see on the screen.

    Source: Variety

  • Maris Abela in Talks to Portray Amy Winehouse in ‘Back to Black’

    Maris Abela in Talks to Portray Amy Winehouse in ‘Back to Black’

    The forthcoming Amy Winehouse biopic looks to be zeroing in on an Industry actor. Just weeks after confirming Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy) will direct the film, Variety is reporting that newcomer Marisa Abela is in talks to portray the singer in Back to Black, although the outlet has noted a deal is not yet in place.

    Abela currently stars in the BBC drama Industry where she plays the privileged but troubled Yasmin Kara-Hanani. The series will return for its second season next month. Outside of Industry, Abela has starred in the Sky TV series COBRA and starred alongside James Norton in the film Rogue Agent. She’ll next be seen alongside Haley Bennett and Sam Riley in She is Love. She is also set to appear in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie which will hit theaters next year.

    The biopic is a passion project for Taylor-Johnson who was good friends with the singer and the project always intended to find a newcomer to portray Winehouse, rather than a pop star. The production also made sure to find someone that was of Jewish heritage to stay true to Winehouse’s background. While Abela has not sung in any of her projects to date, her RADA profile notes that she does sing and is described as an alto.

    The script for Back to Black was written by Matt Greenhalgh. The biopic is being produced by Studiocanal along with Alison Owen and Debra Hayward alongside Tracey Seaward. A deal for a Winehouse biopic was first signed off on in 2018, when the estate signed a deal for the movie. Owen and Hayward have been attached to the project since then. Winehouse’s father, Mitch Winehouse, has thrown his support behind Back to Black.

    As of now, a deal for Abela has not been finalized nor has a release date been announced for the film.

    Source: Variety

  • Netflix to Launch Immersive ‘Squid Game’ Experience This Fall

    Netflix to Launch Immersive ‘Squid Game’ Experience This Fall

    Netflix is launching an immersive Squid Game’s experience for fans of the hit series. The immersive experience will see players – 2 to 6 people at a time – navigating games from the series, including both Red Light Green Light and Marbles, two of the show’s most iconic games. The games will take place in game boxes developed by Immersive Gamebox and will utilize touch screen and motion sensor technology to heighten the experience. The immersive experience will kick off in New York City this September. Those interested in participating will need to be at least sixteen years old.

    “People are constantly seeking new and different ways to remain invested in their favorite content,” said Immersive Gamebox CEO Will Dean in a statement to the press. “To reimagine Netflix’s most popular show in an entirely new format offers customers more ways to stay connected to Squid Game.”

    While Immersive Gamebox has locations in Dallas, Chicago, Houston and Denver, the Squid Game experience is only confirmed for New York City as of now. Live experiences are great revenue for Netflix, while also allowing the streaming service to create experiences for fans in the real world much like Disney’s theme parks. Netflix also recently crafted experiences for both Stranger Things and Bridgerton, two of its most popular series, with the Stranger Things experience taking place in New York, London and San Francisco, while the Bridgerton experience allowed fans to experience the Queen’s Ball in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago.

    The decision to create an immersive game experience is sure to raise some concerns from fans, especially after it was recently announced that Netflix was developing a spinoff reality series. The reality series, Squid Game: The Challenge, will see contestants compete for $45 million and is expected to cast 456 players, much like in the show. 

    The first season of Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix, while Season 2 is currently in development.

    Source: THR

  • Xochitl Gomez Talks America Chavez’s Future…As a Possible Mutant

    Xochitl Gomez Talks America Chavez’s Future…As a Possible Mutant

    Xochitl Gomez is a star on the rise. The actress debuted as the dimension-hopping hero America Chavez in this year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and it seems likely that Marvel Studios has even bigger plans for her future. In both the comics and on the big screen, her character has the ability to punch her way across Marvel’s never-ending plethora of universes. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the midst of it’s Multiverse Saga, and with a Secret Wars adaptation on the way, America could end up being the piece that ties it all together. She could also play an interesting role in what the MCU has planned next.

    The finale of Ms. Marvel on Disney+ pulled a shocking twist when it revealed Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan would be the MCU’s first major mutant. Traditionally an Inhuman, the move proved Marvel Studios was not afraid to tweak origins on the road to folding former Fox properties into their timeline. Making Khan a mutant also helped simplify her somewhat messy on-screen backstory, and a similar unveiling could do the same for America Chavez, whose powers and origin are usually fairly complicated to explain. Speaking with Comic Book Movie, Gomez was asked how she felt about her character’s potential to also be a mutant in the MCU. Her response was not a denial:

    Yeah, I mean I’m honestly open to anything. As long as we get to see…I think there’s so much more to her and her story that we haven’t really seen yet. I think there are lots of layers to America, and I think there are some fun things to explore. Hopefully, we get to explore the things, and yeah, I think that’s all I’m gonna say.

    Xochitl Gomez

    The last time fans saw Chavez, she was training with Wong in Kamar Taj to become a sorcerer. If not a mutant, than perhaps the young heroine could join the ranks Doctor Strange and the Sorcerer Supreme. When asked about this alternative possibility, Gomez continued:

    Yeah, you see her in Kamar Taj and she’s learning the mystic arts, which is a different form of magic than her powers. I think it’s really cool that she’s learning that, and also just being at Kamar Taj gives her some discipline and just a place to call home since, obviously, she doesn’t really have a place like that. Being there with Wong I think is a good choice and a smart decision.

    Xochitl Gomez

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now streaming on Disney+. Whether America Chavez could turn out to be a mutant or a sorcerer remains uncertain.

    Source: Comic Book Movie

  • Kevin Feige on the High-Bar Marvel Studios Has Set for ‘Fantastic Four’

    Kevin Feige on the High-Bar Marvel Studios Has Set for ‘Fantastic Four’

    Three years after being announced at SDCC ’19, Marvel Studios Fantastic Four finally has a release date. During SDCC ’22’s Hall H presentation, Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, revealed to fans that the first ever MCU-set Fantastic Four film will hit theaters in November of 2024.

    While a release date has been carved out, much about the film remains up in the air. Without a director, after Jon Watts exited the project, and no writer announced as yet, Fantastic Four seems, for the moment at least, pretty directionless. Rumors have swirled that Feige has shown interest in some of Hollywood’s biggest names, including Steven Spielberg, to helm the film but SDCC came and went without a hint of a director…or a cast. It’s not all bad news, however, as Feige explains to THR, it’s because he and the top brass of Marvel Studios are taking great care in developing the project and separating it from Fox’s prior attempts to bring the First Family of Marvel Comics to the screen.

    A lot of people know this origin story. A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before? We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen.

    Kevin Feige

    Unpacking Feige’s quote (and the implications from the original article), it’s clear that the plan is NOT to retell the origin story of the team again. Marvel Studios took the same approach when introducing Spider-Man into the MCU, choosing to sprinkle in jsut enough info about how Peter Parker became Spidey via dialogue as opposed to spending an act or two of a film on it. Does this mean that the Fantastic Four might, as Spidey did before them, enter the MCU in another film? Rumors and speculation have identified Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania as a potential entry point for the team, but without casting decisions for the team having been made, the clock is ticking on that as the Ant-Man threequel hits theaters in February.

    Whatever the plan, it’s encouraging to know that Feige understands the gravity of this film and that Marvel Studios MUST take great care to set it apart from Fox’s less-than-successful films. As of now, all eyes are on D23, September 9-11th in Anaheim, as a potential time and place for Feige to trot out a director and cast. With less than two months to go until the event, fans are holding out hope that Feige can solve everything.

    Source: THR

  • Wyatt Russell on ‘Thunderbolts’ and Director Jake Schreier

    Wyatt Russell on ‘Thunderbolts’ and Director Jake Schreier

    A Thunderbolts movie was officially announced by Marvel Studios at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, but news of the project’s existence actually broke several weeks earlier. Deadline revealed in June that director Jake Schreier would helm the film, which fans now know will be for a July 26, 2024 release date. One of the actors expected to play a role in Thunderbolts is Wyatt Russell, who debuted as the government-selected Captain America John Walker in last year’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+. By the end of that series, Walker had become the U.S. Agent, and was recruited by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Val for a mystery team that many assume will turn out to be the Thunderbolts.

    Russell actually has a history of working with Schreier, as the two previously teamed to bring critically acclaimed cult show Lodge 49 to life at AMC. Speaking with The Digital Fix, the actor was asked how he felt about his former creative partner being hired for Marvel’s next big team-up film. According to Russell, the Marvel Cinematic Universe couldn’t have gotten a better talent:

    Incredible. Amazing. I’m so biased, but like you couldn’t have dreamt of a better person. He has such a tender quality to who he is as a person. But I think in all of his movies, like Robot and Frank, like his way of dealing with relationships is always great. I think his structures are always on point. He’s professional. He’s amazing at filtering ideas, listening to opinions, making the best decisions for the movie, listening to all the voices in the room, but holding power as the filmmaker. He needs to make the film that he needs to make. I just don’t think they could have picked a better person.

    Wyatt Russell

    Fans shouldn’t get too excited about a reunion between the two just yet, however, as Russell also stressed he has yet to receive an actual call about appearing in Thunderbolts:

    I’m still waiting. I know they’re doing it. I know that they’re planning it. I gotta imagine that there’s something in there for me. But yeah, until you get that true actual prompt, like, ‘Okay, this is your start date. And this is when you’re coming, and this is when you rent your house, and this is when logistically you need to start setting up to do these things.’ That’s when I shift my mindset to going to do that, you know? Other than that, before you get that call, things can change on a dime; you never know.

    Wyatt Russell

    He continued to explain the anxieties of waiting for the job, citing his desire to call Schreier and get the wheel turning himself:

    It’s so hard not to call Jake and be like, ‘so what’s going on?’ Yeah, you have to hold your tongue, because Marvel has their process, and their process is great. You respect it for how they do it. And they’ve had so much success doing it that you want them to do it the way they know best, and so that’s the way that it works, and I’m happy to be a part of that process and fit into their world that way.

    Wyatt Russell

    There have been no casting announcements for Thunderbolts at this time.

    Source: The Digital Fix