Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Merch Offers Best Look Yet at Mordo’s New Design

    ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Merch Offers Best Look Yet at Mordo’s New Design

    We still have a few months until Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness finally releases in theaters. After originally eyeing a March release, the film was pushed back to a May release but that isn’t stopping the toy releases to offer a glimpse of what we can expect from the upcoming sequel. We did get a look at a Strange Variant, only known as the Defender Strange, and now we also got one for Chiwetel Ejiofor‘s Mordo, which offers our best look yet at his new look in the upcoming film.

    We still don’t know what his role in the story will be, but he seems a bit more sympathetic towards Strange even though he was focused on ending the existence of sorcerers. Perhaps he has gone down a different path, especially with the new dangers they oppose. Of course, there’s also the possibility that this version of the character is a Variant due to the multiversal nature of this story. There’s no mention of him having a different name like with Defender Strange, but it doesn’t mean we might not see different versions of the character throughout the film. It’s going to be fun speculating as we near its release.

    Source: Twitter

  • RUMOR: Supergirl and Batgirl May Become Part of the DCEU’s New Trinity

    RUMOR: Supergirl and Batgirl May Become Part of the DCEU’s New Trinity

    Two of the biggest mysteries in the past few years have been the future of Batman and Superman in the DC Extended Universe. The characters are pillars of the comics alongside Wonder Woman and, most frequently, Harley Quinn, but their future live-action appearances within the DCEU seem to be ending a bit sooner than many had hoped.

    Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck were reportedly set to leave their roles a few years ago, but since then things have gotten a bit foggy. MyTimeToShine, who has been on a DC hot streak as of late, is now reporting that both characters will effectively be wiped from canon in the DCEU. Yet, the big development lies in the fact that they already have characters ready to take over their original roles in the new canon.

    Supergirl and Batgirl are set to make their DCEU debut this year with Sasha Calle aiding Barry in The Flash. Leslie Grace’s Batgirl will presumably take place in the post-Flash universe, with Michael Keaton set to play Batman in the film. Calle and Grace will reportedly take over as the main universe “Super” and “Bat” representatives, as the DCEU heads in an interesting new direction with its characters.

    This news will surely confuse and upset many fans, but it’s best to keep an open mind as these are still purely rumors and we haven’t seen a finished project just yet. If these rumors are indeed true, it would mean Calle and Grace would join Gal Gadot in the new DCEU trinity. Along with being a member of the trinity, it seems likely that Leslie Grace could also join the Justice League, which is rumored to get a revival in The Flash. Whatever happens, we have a lot to look forward to.

    Source: Twitter

  • RUMOR: ‘The Flash’ Might Set Up a New Justice League

    RUMOR: ‘The Flash’ Might Set Up a New Justice League

    The Justice League can be considered the crown jewel of the DC Universe, where some of its greatest and most popular characters brought together as its definitive team. In live-action, however, they’ve struggled making that a reality. 2017’s Justice League was a testament to that struggle, and it’s been a long road until we got Zack Snyder’s Justice League. With so much up in the air, fans are wondering just when and where we might see the team return again to the big screen, and if rumors are to be believed, The Flash may have the answers.


    Take this as a spoiler warning, while it is still a rumor, it may give away important plot details of the upcoming The Flash film. So, only continue at your own risk.

    Leaker MyTimeToShine recently took a quick break from sharing info on Marvel Studio’s projects to dish out some info on the upcoming The Flash film, and gave away how it’ll reinstate the popular superhero team into the universe after it was left open-ended since the initial release of the Justice League film.

    As such, we may expect an all-new Justice League once the film ends its runtime. With the events of the previous films, most noticeably any Snyderverse entry, supposedly erased from the timeline, this would mean the team never came together to fight Steppenwolf and Barry would be the only one with knowledge of that battle. Here in this new universe, Barry will reportedly bring together a team with the first members being Supergirl and Shazam. Geeks Worldwide’s KC Walsh further backed up these claims:

    It’s still unclear just who the rest of the roster will be but it seems likely that both Aquaman and Wonder Woman will most likely return. It’ll be interesting to see if this is a “first time” for these characters or they also will remember being part of a previous iteration of the Justice League. We’ll see what this means for the future of the DCEU

    Source: Twitter

  • RUMOR: ‘The Flash’ May Soft-Reboot the DCEU and “Erase” The Snyderverse

    RUMOR: ‘The Flash’ May Soft-Reboot the DCEU and “Erase” The Snyderverse

    Continuity in the DC extended universe has been a bit loose these past few years with a lot of factors up in the air. It’s been tough for many fans who just wanted solid answers on the future of beloved characters like Batman and Superman, two pillars of the franchise throughout many mediums. We’ve known for a while now that Affleck was basically out the door, and Henry Cavill’s future is still very much up in the air. Some recent reports seem to point us in the direction of where the DCEU will be heading and the future of the extended universe.

    MyTimeToShine, who made a name for themselves with stories based off of Marvel Studios’ upcoming projects, recently shared some details on The Flash, and just what effects the film will have on the shared universe. By the sounds of it, it’s not going to be good for long-time fans of Zack Snyder‘s additions to the franchise, who was the person that initially kicked off the new rendition of the franchise.

    As such, The Flash may effectively “erase” the events of Man of Steel, Batman Vs Superman, and Justice League. Along with the films, Flash would also be erasing both Affleck and Cavill from the DCEU timeline entirely with the return of Michael Keaton cementing him as the new Bruce Wayne. Of course, it’s uncertain how the film will accomplish this and with the multiverse, it may simply end up redefining the mainline timeline like in DC’s famous Crisis events.

    This news, if it pans out, will undoubtedly upset many fans as the films made by Zack Snyder that started it all are quite beloved by parts of the fandom. Cavill also never really got his dues, and didn’t get another chance to prove that he could be the definitive live-action Superman that many fans knew he had the potential to be, but the actor still stays booked and busy.

    Source: Twitter

  • BTS Photo From the Set of ‘The Marvels’ Confirms New Additions to the Cast

    BTS Photo From the Set of ‘The Marvels’ Confirms New Additions to the Cast

    The Marvels, Marvel Studios 2023 sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, filmed in the UK and Europe and, with the exception of a few leaked set photos, did so rather quietly. The film will see Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers teaming up with Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan against Zawe Ashton, who we believe will play an iteration of one-time Kree emperor Ael-Dan. The rest of the film’s cast has stayed pretty secret, with only Samuel L. Jackson’s return as Nick Fury seemingly confirmed.

    To that end, rumors and unconfirmed castings by the studio have made the rounds and once such casting is that of Zenobia Shroff, who will play Kamala’s mother, Muneeba, in Ms. Marvel. While Shroff hasn’t been officially revealed as part of the cat by Marvel Studios, she did reveal her involvement in the project via social media. And now it looks like she may have also confirmed the appearances of several other members of the cast as well.

    The photo above was found on Shroff’s Instagram and contain 9 headshots that can pretty easily be found via a quick Google search. From left to right, we can see headshots of Larson, Parris, Vellani, Jackson and Ashton, all of whom were known to be part of the cast. After Ashton, however, it gets interesting as the remaining headshots would seem to confirm the rumored and/or previously unconfirmed castings of the following:

    • Seo Jun Park
    • Lashana Lynch
    • Tessa Thompson
    • Zenobia Shroff

    Park has long been rumored to be a part of the film and even shows up on the IMDB cast list. Lynch’s name has also been previously associated with the project, in which she’ll return, likely in flashbacks, as Maria Rambeau, but this is the first time that Thompson, who would be reprising her role as Valkyrie, has been associated with the film.

    Given the scope and scale of Marvel Studios recent and upcoming films, it’s not too surprising to see a major player like Valkyrie show up in another project. With a universe full of so many characters comes the natural consequence of being able to have them appear any and everywhere. Thompson’s appearance in The Marvels is just one more benefit that fans of the shared cinematic universe will get to enjoy.

  • Marvel Legends Packaging Provides the Best Look Yet at ‘Multiverse of Madness’ Variant

    Marvel Legends Packaging Provides the Best Look Yet at ‘Multiverse of Madness’ Variant

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will see Stephen Strange explore new territory in the MCU when it hits theaters this May. The recent teaser for the film shows Strange exploring the multiverse and, in the process, running into Variants of himself. Recently, one of those Variants, Defender Strange, was revealed by way of a Target Exclusive Marvel Legends figure. Now a new image, first shared by Twitter user @eljaunleon, gives us our best look yet at the Variant.

    The Variant of Strange, who was seen briefly in the teaser, is based, at least aesthetically, on the character as he appeared in Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson’s 2011 comic book series, The Defenders. That series, which ran for 12 issues, saw Strange team up with Silver Surfer, Namor, the Red She-Hulk and Iron Fist and ended, ironically enough, with Strange altering time to prevent the destruction of the universe. At the time it was being developed, Fraction teased that the series would “explain everything that has ever happened in the Marvel Universe”, so referencing it in a film that might attempt to do the same seems logical.

    The teaser only shows Defender Strange for the briefest of moments, so there’s no telling what his role in the film is or what other Defenders he might or might not be working with in his universes. To know that, we’ll have to wait to see how things unfold when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters on May 6, 2022.

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Writers Address ‘Loki’ Connection

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Writers Address ‘Loki’ Connection

    None of us expected it to be the massive gamechanger of 2020 but Loki forever changed the landscape of the MCU when it blew open the doors of the multiverse. This month’s Spider-Man: No Way Home extrapolated on the consequences of the multiverse opening as it brought several characters from previous Spider-Man franchises into the fold of the MCU. Even though it isn’t explicit, there is a connection to be made between the events of Loki and Spider-Man which the writers addressed in an interview with The Wrap.

    We were already down this road when that ‘Loki’ finale happened. We all felt like, this really helps. This is great because it shows that there is trouble in the multiverse. Whether certain things that were happening in ‘Loki’ line up in terms of the timeline exploding and is that the same time that Doctor Strange is casting the spell, I don’t know. There is, I’m sure, the Marvel talking points to that. But we were aware of a lot of the different things that were going on, and could we draw on those, how it would be affected by this thing, but ultimately we had our own giant story bear to wrestle with.

    The multiversal connection between the two projects may seem like one of the many happy coincidences that make the MCU so fluid and exciting. The Loki writers may not have been specifically aware of such a connection but it’s hard to imagine the stewards of the MCU, Kevin Feige and his think tank of producers, not seeing how it could all tie together. Nonetheless, it’s exciting to think about how Loki, No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could make up one big multiversal trilogy.

    Source: The Wrap

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Creatives Looked to Return Peter Parker His Comic Book Roots

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Creatives Looked to Return Peter Parker His Comic Book Roots

    While Tom Holland’s time as Spider-Man has been full of critical and box office success, it has not been without criticisms. Among the most common is that Peter’s relationship with Tony Stark gave the young hero too much, too soon, and took him far away from his comic book origins. Fans grew tired of Parker’s dependance on Stark’s technology, calling him “Iron Boy”, and hoped, with Stark now out of the picture, that Parker would have to learn to fend for himself. Stark tech was present once again in Spider-Man: No Way, both by way of the Ion Spider suit and the fabricator that helped Parker synthesize cures for the multiversal villains. By the end of the film, however, audiences saw a Parker who more closely resembled the young hero from the comics, having learned the true cost of being Spider-Man. And according to the film’s writing duo, Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna, putting Parker in that place was part of their mission.

    Fans of the long-running comic book series are used to Peter having to deal with what he’s come to call “Parker Luck.” It’s never been strictly defined by Marvel (I don’t think), but Parker Luck seems like a very specific branch of Murphy’s Law: if anything can go wrong for Peter, it will. More acutely, it seems to explore the inverse relationship between the time Peter spends doing good deeds as Spider-Man and the amount of GOOD things that happen to him. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter’s acceptance of his moral mission as Spider-Man, morals defined by his Aunt May, came at the cost of those he loved most, as McKenna explained:

    He was trying to do what May taught him and that made the sacrifice that much more difficult, because it blew up in his face and it got her killed. Then he started questioning that morality in a way that he never really questioned because he hasn’t been put to the test in that way.

    How did Parker come to terms with those questions? As we see by the end of the film, he seems to have come to terms with the fact that in order to be the hero he wants to be, there could be no getting around the spell cast by Strange to make people forget him. Though he promised to find MJ and Ned and “make them remember” him, McKenna says he comes to the realization that making that choice would only put them in danger:

    You want to have that doughnut scene be him making the last piece of the sacrifice. “I could tell them everything. I can try to get my friends back. But I’d be going right back to the place of endangering my loved ones by bringing them into my life. And I can’t have that.”

    Peter makes the mature choice after MJ mentions that her cut doesn’t really hurt anymore. While her words describe the physical pain of the cut, Peter realizes that the MJ’s emotional pain of losing him has also dissipated and chooses to leave her and Ned happy and safe, making, as McKenna said, the final step in his sacrifice and choosing not to try to continue live in two worlds, as Doctor Strange warned him. As many astute fans have noticed, it’s only at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home that we are finally getting the version of the character that made him so beloved over the years. Moving forward, Holland’s Parker is on his own without the benefit of Stark’s tech or the support of those around him, meaning the next trilogy of MCU films will look a whole lot different and, potentially, a whole lot more like the comics.

  • ‘Arcane’s Krizia Bajos May Be Playing ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ She-Hulk

    ‘Arcane’s Krizia Bajos May Be Playing ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ She-Hulk

    There have been many theories about what we can expect from Marvel’s Avengers in 2022. Throughout its first year, we got four additional characters, the game’s first Raid, and various events. There have been quite a few rumors about what the future has in store, especially with the leaks that hinted at the initial plans for the game. Well, leaker @mmmmmmmmiller has recently shared a new tidbit of info, as he claimed that Krizia Bajos of Arcane: League of Legends and The Loud House fame will be playing or voicing the game’s take on She-Hulk.

    Of course, normally take this kind of information with a grain of salt, as there’s no clear confirmation by the developer’s Crystal Dynamics. Yet, what adds fuel to the fire is that Bajos herself to the tweet with a green heart, which may add some validity to the claim.

    https://twitter.com/KriziaBajos/status/1476428505856593920

    It still doesn’t confirm it officially, as we don’t know if or when the character might release. There has not been a new roadmap released yet, which is scheduled to arrive at some point in the new year. It might give us an indicator if She-Hulk is planned as the next character to release. There’s a chance they have other plans as things tend to shift around, but the actress reacting to the tweet does add something to the speculation.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Writers Address Why Doctor Strange’s Spell Drew Venom to the MCU

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Writers Address Why Doctor Strange’s Spell Drew Venom to the MCU

    Magic. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, magic was both the problem and the solution and, because how magic works remains a mystery to us, fans were left with a lot of questions as they walked away from the theaters. Why did Doctor Strange’s original spell-gone-wrong draw Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock into the MCU? Does Strange’s final spell mean the Guardians or Captain Marvel, who weren’t on Earth when it was cast, will forget Peter, too? In an interview with Variety, writers Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna explained their approach to magic in the year’s biggest box office hit.

    The film’s central plot revolved around Peter meeting five villains from previous Spider-Man films and trying to cure them. The mid-credit scene, however, introduced a sixth: Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote companion, Venom. While the other five found themselves involved in a conflict with the Spider-Men, Brock chose to while away his time in Mexico, having drinks and catching up on the history of the MCU. But why was this version of Brock, who has yet to meet a Peter Parker in his own universe, brought to the MCU by the spell? According to the writers, the answer lies in a line spoken in the post-credit scene to Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which the duo revealed was actually directed by No Way Home’s Jon Watts.

    In that scene, Brock and Venom are catching up on their telenovelas while hiding out in Mexico when Venom begins to explain to him that he possesses “80 billion light years of hive knowledge across universes” that would “explode” Eddie’s “tiny little brain.” And just as Venom prepares to give Eddie a “taste” of that knowledge, the pair are caught up in Strange’s spell and brought to the MCU. According to McKenna, somewhere in that hive knowledge exits the Parker/Spidey connection, as he explained, “The idea is that the symbiote has knowledge of other universes. Buried in his brain is some knowledge of that connection.” Problem solved.

    The writers were a little less specific in their explanations as to exactly how Strange’s final spell, which made everyone on Earth forget about Peter Parker, would play out down the line, especially with him still actively working as Spider-Man. “Obviously, some sort of magical redaction has occurred,” McKenna explained. “At the end of all this, we didn’t want a lot of people trying to do magical math in their head.” And so, according to Sommers, they left the problems to be solved by their future selves:

    We decided, let’s try to do it in the most satisfying way and just focus on the emotion of it. And then if people have questions about some of those details that didn’t get answered here, we’ll answer them hopefully in another movie somewhere down the line.

    Give that the duo have worked on each of the MCU’s Spidey films so far and that there’s a fourth in development, they’ll probably have to start figuring out how to answer them sooner rather than later.

    Source: Variety