Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • Jon Bernthal Joins ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    Jon Bernthal Joins ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    Following rumors that he was set to play a key role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a trade report confirmed that Jon Bernthal has joined the cast of the film.

    According to THR, Bernthal will join star Tom Holland, MCU newcomer Sadie Sink and Spidey franchise veterans Zendaya and Jacob Batalon as well as Mark Ruffalo, who is rumored to be the showing up as the Savage Hulk in the film.

    The Hot Mic Podcast co-host John Rocha first reported on The Punisher having a role in the film earlier this year, prior the Nexus Point News report that Ruffalo joined the film, staying that his sources indicated that he would team-up with Spider-Man to take on The Hulk. At this point, it’s certainly starting to look as though things are headed in that direction.

    While Sink’s role has not been officially revealed, it’s been rumored that she is playing either May Parker or a variant of Gwen Stacey. Other reports have Michael Mando returning as the Scorpion, who will join Boomerang and Tombstone as a trio of villains set to menace Peter Parker as he moves forward following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

    Source: THR

  • Lucasfilm Reportedly Force Pushes Once-Prized Star Wars Project Down the Queue…Again

    After being announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023, Lucasfilm’s Daisy Ridley-led New Jedi Order era film seemed to quickly gather momentum, at one point being the favorite to launch the studio’s plans to bring its galaxy far, far away back to theaters. Set to “tell the story of rebuilding the New Jedi Order and the powers that rise to tear it down,” the Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy-directed project was reportedly far enough along that Lucasfilm considered a 2025 release. Things changed quickly, however, as creative teams came and went and by November 2024, the film’s release was delayed indefinitely despite reports that the studio believes Ridley is its “most valuable cinematic asset.” Now a new report indicates that the project may be facing another delay.

    According to insider Daniel Richtman, Ridley’s film has been bumped down the queue again “as both the Shawn Levy and James Mangold Star Wars films are moving forward first.“

    Levy’s film, Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, was announced at Star Wars Japan in April and is expected to  begin production this Fall ahead of a 2027 release. In many ways, Starfighter seems to be on the path Lucasfilm once hoped the New Jedi Order film would follow.

    Mangold’s film, like the Ridley-led project, was announced at SWCE ’23 and will also take place in an all-new era of stories, set 25,000 years before the “present day” era of The New Republic. The film, referred to by fans as the “Jedi Prime” project, will tell “the tale of the first Jedi to wield the Force and harness it as a liberating power in an era of chaos and oppression.”

    As it stands now, The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter are the only two films with set release dates, hitting theaters on May 22, 2026 and May 28, 2027, respectively.

  • Marvel Studios Reshapes Its 2028 Release Slate

    Marvel Studios Reshapes Its 2028 Release Slate

    Under Bob Iger’s second tenure as the head of Disney, the big Marvel machine was instructed to scale back its production efforts, prioritizing quality over quantity. “We’ve also learned over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality. And frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much,” Iger told investors in March. “By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe that will result in better quality.” As such, projects began to disappear from the release slate and the studio looked to schedule 2 or 3 films a year moving forward, starting in 2026. However, plans are always subject to change and it now looks as though Marvel may look to launch its next saga with a more aggressive approach.

    Disney has added a fourth Marvel Studios film to its 2028 release slate, reserving December 15th for an untitled film. Should the studio hold to the current plan, fans can also count on being in theaters on February 18th, May 5th and November 10th.

    Marvel has yet to officially announce any of its 2028 projects, though its X-Men reboot and a third Black Panther film are expected to land in theaters that year. In an interesting development, Variety reports that a sequel to this summer’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps is also in development and may be on track for a 2028 release. In addition, Thor, Doctor Strange and Shang-Chi sequels could be on the docket, as well as the studio’s long-awaited Blade reboot or the Midnight Sons ensemble film or Ryan Reynolds X-Men team up film. Whatever the case, it’s clear that the studio has options and may feel comfortable about moving forward with releasing four films because four good scripts have been turned in.

    Source: Variety

  • Marvel Studios Has Reportedly Solved Its Blade Problem

    Kevin Feige‘s announcement that Marvel was developing a Blade film with Mahershala Ali on board as the Daywalker was not only the highlight of SDCC ’19 but also one of the studio’s biggest-ever Hall H bombshells. However, six years later, fans are still waiting to see Ali in action as the studio struggles to crack the story. While the studio may well continue to develop the film, a new report claims the character may end up on the big screen in the maybe-sort of-near future.

    According to Marvel Studios insider Daniel Richtman, Ali’s Blade will appear in the supernatural ensemble film, Midnight Sons.

    Buzz around a Midnight Sons project dates back several years, though the studio has remained mum on the possibility. In February 2024, Richtman reported that Werewolf By Night director Michael Giacchino was lined up to direct the film.

    First assembled to battle Lilith in 1992’s Ghost Rider #31, the roster of the Midnight Sons/Midnight Suns team has changed greatly with each iteration though the mission has mostly remained the same: stop supernatural shit from happening on Earth. And that’s where Giachhino fits in.

    On the subject of the roster, Richtman also reported that Midnight Sons will feature the MCU’s Ghost Rider, who is rumored to appear in Avengers: Doomsday and possibly played by star Ryan Gosling. Should that work out, a team led by Gosling, Ali and Oscar Isaac‘s Moon Knight would provide plenty of star power to bring audiences to the theater.

  • Sadie Sink’s Latest Rumored ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Role Could Bring the Spider-Verse into Live-Action

    Sadie Sink’s Latest Rumored ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Role Could Bring the Spider-Verse into Live-Action

    Since it was reported that Sadie Sink joined the cast of Spider-Man: Brand New Day in mid-March, rumors have had the actress portraying just about every high-profile female Spidey character from Mary Jane Watson to Mayday Parker and more in between. While Sink has kept quiet about her role, rumors continue to fly, including a new one which could potentially lead to a tie-in with Sony’s successful, animated Spider-Verse franchise.

    According to a new rumor from Jeff “The In” Sneider, Sink’s character could be an “alternate-universe Gwen Stacey.” While Sneider didn’t provide any further details or speculation, one interesting possibility–should the rumors be accurate–would be Sink playing the Spider-Woman of Earth-65, as seen in Into the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse.

    Voiced by Hailee Steinfeld, Earth-65’s Gwen Stacey is a key character in the Spider-Verse franchise and has gained prominence across multiple Marvel-produced genres.  Sony has been rumored to have interest in bringing some of the more popular Spider-Verse characters into live-action and could be using Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which they co-produce with Marvel Studios, to test the waters with a character whose popularity has already been proven.

    By casting an actress of Sink’s caliber, Sony would likely have had something larger than a one-off role in mind. If that’s the case, the Spider-Woman/Spider-Gwen/Ghost Spider version of Gwen Stacey would be a great fit. Should audiences take to Sink’s portrayal of the character, Sony would have the opportunity to use the appearance as a stepping stone to another attempt at producing their own live-action Spider-Man universe, this time with actual Spiders!

  • New Report Could Tease the Return of an MCU Supervillain in Marvel’s ‘Vision’ Series

    New Report Could Tease the Return of an MCU Supervillain in Marvel’s ‘Vision’ Series

    A fan recently took to social media to share his unscheduled tour of what he claimed was the set of Avengers: Doomsday, revealing a set that indicated a trip to Madripoor was in the cards. Now, a new report from a reliable source has reframed that sneaky set visit.

    According to insider Daniel Richtman, the set in question was not for Avengers: Doomsday but rather for Marvel Television’s Vision series. And from the sound of it, Madripoor may well be one of the project’s central locations.

    It’s an island nation in the Indonesian archipelago. It was a pirate sanctuary back in the 1800s. It’s kept its lawless ways

    -Baron Zemo on Madripoor

    First seen in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Madripoor is a lawless archipelago in Southeast Asia ruled by The Power Broker. In one of that series’ biggest twists, The Power Broker was revealed to be Sharon Carter, who fled to the island nation after stealing Steve Rogers’ shield and Sam Wilson’s EXO-7 Falcon wings from the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre. Despite being pardoned and rejoining the CIA, Carter continued to work as The Power Broker. Though Emily VanCamp has not been reported to be part of the cast of Vision, it seems possible she might have a role in the project, perhaps as the one who puts Todd Stashwick‘s Paladin on the trail of Vision’s tech.

    The revelation that the Madripoor sets were built for Vision may also change the way one of the locations spotted in the set your is interpreted. A sign for “The Webslingers Inn” was seen in the brief video, causing fans to speculate that multiple Spideys were set to return in Avengers: Doomsday. With the knowledge that the sign is for a location in the Vision series, perhaps it’s more likely to some sort of cybercafe that provides Paul Bettany‘s synthezoid the opportunity to connect with the multiple other AI characters who appear in the series.

  • Todd Stashwick’s Mystery ‘Vision’ Assassin Reportedly Revealed

    Todd Stashwick’s Mystery ‘Vision’ Assassin Reportedly Revealed

    Marvel Television’s Vision series has been making quite a bit of news lately with reports of multiple stars joining the cast as embodied artificial intelligences, leaving fans wondering just what might be going on in the Terry Matalas‘-created project. However, as the recent casting confirmations continued to come, the role of one actor who joined the cast early on remained a mystery…until now.

    According to Marvel Studios insider Daniel Richtman, Todd Stashwick, who was cast in September 2024 as an “assassin who is on the trail of android and the technology” inside Vision, will be playing the Marvel Comics mercenary Paladin.

    Created by Jim Shooter as a private investigator and mercenary for hire, Paladin hasn’t been a major player in the Marvel Universe but did have a brief era of increased popularity while appearing in Heroes for Hire and Thunderbolts books.

    Given his comic book history, it’s likely that Paladin’s services will have been acquired by someone else and it will be interesting to see if the series stays with the character’s roots or if Stashwick’s version is a true villain.

  • A Major Marvel Villain Is Rumored to Call the UK’s Windsor Castle Home in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’…And It Isn’t Doom

    A Major Marvel Villain Is Rumored to Call the UK’s Windsor Castle Home in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’…And It Isn’t Doom

    Marvel Studios certainly seems to be swinging for the fences with Avengers: Doomsday. The initial cast reveal included plenty of surprises, including multiple members of Fox’s original X-Men trilogy. While rumors of an Avengers vs. X-Men style battle have swirled around Doomsday for some time, the inclusion of Sir Ian McKellen on the list of 27 stars still caught fans off guard. Now it sounds like his Magneto may just have an important part to play in whatever it is the X-Men are up to on what’s believed to be Earth-10005.

    According to social Media scooper My Time To Shine Hello, the UK’s Windsor Castle will be used in Avengers: Doomsday as Magneto’s stronghold.

    The castle does bear some resemblance to the Autumn Palace, a castle that Magneto called home on Mars/Arakko after leaving Krakoa during writer Al Ewing‘s 2021 Marvel Comics series, X-Men: Red.

    Though it’s not entirely clear what to expect on Earth-10005–or whatever reality the Fox X-Men inhabit–it has been theorized that the reality’s timeline could have begun following the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past. If that’s the case, Magneto could very well be working with Charles Xavier and his X-Men to stop what’s beginning to look like an attack on their Earth by Robert Downey Jr‘s Doctor Doom.

  • ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Test Screening Leaks Have Landed Online

    ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Test Screening Leaks Have Landed Online

    10 years after Fox’s second attempt to bring the Fantastic Four to the screen crashed and burned, Marvel Studios take on Marvel’s First Family, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, looks to finally establish the heroes as a box office presence.

    Director Matt Shakman‘s choice to set the new film in a retrofuturistic 1960s New York sets the film apart from both of Fox’s previous versions while grounding it in the same era in which Stan Lee and Jack Kirby launched The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine. But will that be enough to make The Fantastic Four: First Steps The World’s Greatest Comic Book Movie?

    While it wouldn’t take much to earn the title of the best Fantastic Four film, fans are hoping for much more out of Marvel Studios’ first FF film, especially with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn leading the way. Can they deliver ?With just under two months until the film hits theaters, the studio made the decision to do a test screening in Los Angeles, giving the public a first look at First Steps and reactions have begun to make their way online.

    Light spoilers ahead…

    From the collective reactions coming out of the test screening, The Fantastic Four: First Steps sounds like a very straightforward, very comic book FF adventure. According to one viewer, Ralph Ineson’s Galactus is “TERRIFYING” and “the best part,” described as having an “incredible scale” and “ripped straight from the comics” (so not a giant, lingering fart cloud). The same viewer said the film’s plot feels very “Lovecraftian” with a “cosmic horror angle” that gives it “a lot of personality.”

    On the negative end of the spectrum, the film’s lack of character development was cited as well as a disappointing use of Reed’s powers and use at all of The Thing.

    All in all, it sounds as though it’s a spectacle-heavy sci-fi adventure with summer blockbuster appeal; however , as always, social media reactions from test screenings and early screenings can’t really be taken too seriously, no matter which way they lean: they are, after all, just opinions and opinions do indeed vary.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps lands in theaters on July 25, 2025.

    Source: MSS

  • Ryan Reynolds’ New X-Team Reportedly Revealed…and It Includes the MCU’s Rumored Wolverine

    Ryan Reynolds’ New X-Team Reportedly Revealed…and It Includes the MCU’s Rumored Wolverine

    Earlier this month, THR broke the news that Ryan Reynolds was “quietly plotting his return” as Deadpool. While the star has made it clear that he believes another solo Deadpool film would be superfluous, it turns out he’s been working toward a script for an MCU-based ensemble film that would include “three or four X-Men characters.” Now, a new rumor from one of social media’s busiest news might have revealed exactly what Reynolds has in mind.

    According to My Time To Shine Hello, Reynolds has been writing a script for a potential MCU-set X-Force film that would feature his Deadpool teaming up with Josh Brolin‘s Cable, Hugh Jackman‘s Wolverine and an all-new actor as Storm.

    If the new information is accurate, it meshes with a late-2024 report from Marvel Studios insider Daniel Richtman, who claimed that Jackman was set to carry on as the MCU’s Wolverine in the studio’s upcoming Avengers films and beyond.

    Like nearly every team in the pages of Marvel Comics, the roster of X-Force has been a revolving door since the team first appeared in 1991. Founded by Cable, X-Force often takes a more proactive, militaristic, and covert approach to dealing with threats to mutantkind, often involving missions that the mainstream X-Men would deem too morally ambiguous or violent. While the X-Men typically strive to protect and integrate mutants peacefully, X-Force is essentially the “black ops” arm of the mutant world.

    Introducing multiple X-teams is a must for Marvel Studios as it launches Kevin Feige‘s reported 10-year plan for the massive roster of characters obtained when Disney purchased 21st Century Fox in 2019. By reuniting Reynolds and Jackman, who drove Deadpool & Wolverine to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all-time, and bringing back Brolin, who certainly made a compelling case to continue on as the Askani’son, whole also introducing a new actress as Storm, the studio would certainly be putting its best foot forward its efforts to provide the new Saga with a strong foundation.

    Sources: THR