Murphy's Multiverse

Category: Rumors

  • Mon Dieu! ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ Rumored to Have Another Ace Up Its Sleeve

    Mon Dieu! ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ Rumored to Have Another Ace Up Its Sleeve

    Deadpool and Wolverine may be Marvel Studios only theatrical release in 2024 but it’s definitely playing for keeps. The upcoming film, which is largely set in the Void introduced in Season 1 of Loki, will feature Variants of Deadpool and some familiar X-Men villains from Fox’s retired franchise. It’s also rumored to feature cameos from heroes and their Variants from across the Multiverse, including those who have appeared on film before and those who have not. Now, a new rumor suggests an X-Men Variant from an unproduced film will be making an appearance and hoping to make his momma proud.

    Following a social media interaction between Hugh Jackman and Channing Tatum, social media leaker GWGST claimed that Tatum, who was cast as Remy LeBeau in Fox’s unproduced Gambit film will make an appearance as dat thieving Swamp Rat in Deadpool and Wolverine.

    Written into X-Men canon in 1990, Gambit’s popularity skyrocketed following his inclusion in X-Men: The Animated Series which gave the character a large role and a larger-than-life personality. According to the rumor, Tatum’s Gambit will be sporting the familiar comic-accurate/TAS-accurate suit complete with the signature trench coat.

    Though it’ll be Tatum’s first time bringing the charming Cajun to life, it’s not the first appearance of the character in a CBM. Taylor Kitsch portrayed Remy in 2009’s atrocious X-Men Origins: Wolverine when Tatum was unavailable to fill the role. Ironically, Tatum’s Gambit–which had directors Gore Verbinski, Doug Lyman and Rupert Wyatt attached to direct at different times in development–was killed by Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which will almost certainly provide some fertile ground for jokiness around how the character ended up in the Void, non? C’est la vie, mon ami.

    Deadpool and Wolverine hits theaters July 26th.

  • Marvel and Sony Moving Fast(ly) and Furious(ly) in the Search for the Director of ‘Spider-Man 4’

    Marvel and Sony Moving Fast(ly) and Furious(ly) in the Search for the Director of ‘Spider-Man 4’

    Director Jon Watts delivered three highly successful Spider-Man films for Marvel Studios and Sony but as the studios look to take the character and franchise in a new direction, it seems they are also looking for new talent behind the camera. As news comes that the studios optimistically hope for production on Spider-Man 4 to begin this Fall, a surprising name has emerged as a potential director to take the helm.

    According to Jeff “The In” Sneider, Justin Lin is among the names being considered to take the lead on Spider-Man 4.

    Best known for directing six films in the Fast & Furious franchise, Lin certainly fits the bill as a change of pace from Watts. Lin has made his mark by elevating the Fast & Furious franchise from a fun, street-level wrenchfest into one of the world’s highest-grossing action franchises. Lin also directed 2016’s critically successful Star Trek Beyond and worked as an executive producer on Space Jam: A New Legacy, providing additional experience generating new ideas on beloved IPs.

    Sneider was quick to point out that Lin is only one name on a list of possible directors and that no decision has been made as to who will ultimately take control of the creative vision for Spider-Man 4. However, with a potential Fall start of production, Sony will need to move fast and furious to find their director.

  • RUMOR: ‘The Batman Part II’ Finds Its Two-Face

    RUMOR: ‘The Batman Part II’ Finds Its Two-Face

    It’s hard to imagine a live-action Batman film franchise without Harvey Dent. Indeed, iterations of the character have already inhabited the Burton-verse and Nolan-verse, helping the charismatic wild card join the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin and Catwoman as household names among Batman’s rogues gallery. Rumors have persisted that Matt Reeves‘ The Batman Part II might feature the character and given the Gotham created by Reeves in 2022’s The Batman it’s easy to imagine Dent could play an integral role in the sequel. Now a rumor from an unfamiliar and unproven source suggests that DC Studios has found their man to fill the Elseworld’s role.

    A quick check of IMDB shows that a stunt double and a personal assistant for Boyd Holbrook are listed for The Batman Part II. According to Medium’s “source”, Holbrook has joined the cast as Harvey Dent, though they mention that DC has declined to comment. Of course, taken by itself, IMDB can be misleading if not entirely unreliable, and time will bear out the reliability of Medium as a source for breaking news.

    Previously, Josh Hartnett and Joel Edgerton had been rumored to be up for the role of Harvey Dent. With the release date having recently been moved forward a year to October 2, 2026, it’s possible that both of those of actors became unavailable, forcing DC to go looking for someone else to fill the role. According to Medium, that same release date shift allowed Holbrook’s schedule to be cleared up for the role.

    Source: Medium

  • New Rumor May Shed Some Light on Marvel Studios X-Plans

    New Rumor May Shed Some Light on Marvel Studios X-Plans

    As Marvel Studios continues to move toward the finish line of their ongoing Multiverse Saga, they already have one eye on the future of the MCU. One major piece of that future will be the X-Men, who have already begun to be sprinkled into the Multiverse. While Marvel Studios have laid out no clear plans, they did begin taking meetings with creatives last fall to hear pitches on how to fully incorporate mutants into the MCU. Now, a new rumor may indicate that part of the plan will revolve around one of the X-Men’s most devious villains.

    According to insider Daniel RPK, Marvel Studios plans to put Mr. Sinister front and center as the big bad of the studio’s X-Men reboot.

    Created by iconic X-Men writer Chris Claremont in 1987, Mr. Sinister has become one of most fabulous and deadly villains Charles Xavier and his team have ever faced. He played a large role in X-Men: The Animated Series and recently hatched his greatest plan to date in the comics which led to the end of the mutant’s Krakoan Age. Should Marvel Studios indeed choose to put Sinister in the middle of their plans for the X-Men and keep some semblance of who the character is in the comics, his long and incredibly complex personal history could truly be used to set the table for any number of stories to be told. Over the last 25 years and change, Sinister has had a hand in just about every major X-story and has deep ties to Apocalypse, the Summers family, the Weapon X program and both Charles and Magneto. Fox had planned to incorporate him into their X-Men franchise but never did, providing Marvel Studios with a fairly easy choice in a central villain that both helps set their X-films apart and allows for some very interesting stories to be told.

  • Disney Rumored to Be Killing Three Marvel Studios Franchises

    Disney Rumored to Be Killing Three Marvel Studios Franchises

    Since Bob Iger‘s return as Disney’s top dog, the House of Mouse’s major studios have been reflecting on the work they have been churning out. Chief among those is Marvel Studios, who after a string of projects that were critical and/or financial disappointments, has been mandated to slow down production and get back to the basics of what made the MCU the cultural phenomenon it was. The strikes served as a blessing in disguise in that regard, allowing Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios Parliament to rework several projects that were already in production and get ahead of the curve on others. As a result, it seems as though the end of the Multiverse Saga may ultimately be delayed a bit and while fans wait to find out when it will wrap up and what new projects will join those already known, a new rumor may help put that puzzle together.

    According to Marvel Studios insider Daniel RPK, Disney has decided not to move forward with a trio of sequels, effectively killing three Marvel Studios franchises. The scooper reports that the studio has decided not to move forward with more projects in the Captain Marvel and Ant-Man franchises and has “shelved” a sequel to 2021’s Eternals. The moves come as Iger reportedly wants Marvel to put their energy into projects that are sure-fire hits and reduce the number of risky projects in the pipeline.

    The Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels, was a disappointment at the box office, falling well short of the big money its predecessor made in 2019. The target of a preemptive and hateful social media campaign that was successful in keeping fans out of theaters, the film has been fairly warmly received as it made its way to Disney Plus. The same can not be said, however, for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Plagued by rewrites, the film–which was supposed to be a major cornerstone of the Multiverse Saga–is the most critically panned MCU project. Neither of those projects were as risky as Eternals, which was also well-lambasted by critics. Word of development on a sequel to Eternals had been making its way around for some time but for now, it seems fairly unlikely to move forward.

  • ‘Thunderbolts’: New Rumor Has Bucky Barnes Sidelined in the 2025 Ensemble

    ‘Thunderbolts’: New Rumor Has Bucky Barnes Sidelined in the 2025 Ensemble

    Marvel Studios Thunderbolts has faced its fair share of delays since being announced in 2022. The project’s script has passed through several writers since Black Widow scribe Eric Pearson‘s first draft came in. Most recently, The Bear showrunner Joanna Calo was brought on board to take a pass at the script just as cameras are finally set to roll in Atlanta. Sporting an ensemble cast that includes Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour and Lewis Pullman as the powerful Sentry, the project seems loaded with potential; however a new rumor indicates that a fan-favorite character won’t have as large of a role as once thought.

    Though details on the film’s plot are scarce, it’s said that the story “centers on villains and antiheroes going on a mission that was supposed to end with their deaths.” When the film’s cast was introduced by Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios One-Above-All said that Bucky would serve as the “de facto leader” of the team. While that may have been true at the time, according to insider Daniel RPK, that no longer seems to be the case.

    Though he was front-and-center on the concept art released for the film in 2022, RPK has indicated that not only is Sebastian Stan’s Bucky not one of the film’s main characters but also that some other, surprising characters are potentially set to play a larger role. In response to a line of questioning on X, RPK claimed that “Bucky is definitely NOT a co-lead with Yelena” and provided a list in which he laid out the priority taken by each character in the film. Bucky, as it turns out, is right near the bottom with characters such as Russell’s U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost and even Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster ahead of him.

    As has been shared before, the film was originally a nearly full-fledged sequel to 2021’s Black Widow but even as rewrites have changed the film a bit, it’s still Pugh’s film to lead and thus she’s surrounded by supporting characters from her first MCU appearance. While there’s plenty of intrigue around why a character as popular as Barnes might not be one of the film’s leads, there’s less question about why Harbour’s Red Guardian won’t have a ton of screen time. With Thunderbolts having worked through multiple delays, it’s now filming right smack dab in the middle of production on Stranger Things Season 5, meaning the project will have to make due with whatever they can get out of Harbour.

    Bucky’s potential role in Thunderbolts has always been an interesting one. Though he was introduced as part of the team, which is clearly going to be run by Dreyfus‘ CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the two have never interacted. While she recruited Yelena Belova and John Walker, Bucky never seemed to be on her radar. Furthermore, what we’ve seen of Val’s intentions for the team would seem ideologically opposed to where Bucky found himself at the end of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Wharver the case, it seems far more likely that Bucky will be doing his own thing in the film rather than taking orders from Val.

    Thunderbolts hits theaters on May 2, 2025.

  • RUMOR: Sony Makes a Decision about Miles Morales’ Live-Action Debut

    RUMOR: Sony Makes a Decision about Miles Morales’ Live-Action Debut

    It’s no stretch to say that when Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli created Miles Morales in 2011 for Marvel Comics Ultimate Universe the duo created one of Marvel Comics most important and beloved characters. Miles has been an incredibly popular character in the comics, led a video game franchise and is at the center of two of the best superhero films of the era with a third, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse set to cap that story. All that’s left is the character to make his way into live-action, something fans have been eagerly awaiting for quite some time. Now, a new rumor from a credible insider indicates that the wait is nearing its end.

    According to Daniel RPK, Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige, who have been collaborating on Tom Holland’s MCU-set Spider-Man films for the better part of a decade are planning to continue working together to incorporate Miles Morales into the MCU!

    RPK claims that Pascal and Feige are set to introduce the character in the as-yet-undated fourth Spider-Man film. Additionally, Miles’ solo adventures will be set in the MCU, allowing Spider-Man to continue to interact with Marvel Studios’ fully-stocked universe of heroes.

    The timing of the rumor neatly coincides with Sony’s recent box office failure, Madame Web. Though the studio had success with its first Spider-Man-adjacent project, Venom, they’ve failed to repeat it and the last two projects, Madame Web and Morbius, are among the most critically panned superhero films of all time. While including Miles in the MCU doesn’t indicate Sony’s given up just yet (Kraven the Hunter is due out this year and, for some reason, the studio is still developing El Muerto), it does give fans of the character hope that his story will be done some measure of justice on the big screen. With Avengers: Secret Wars lurking down the road and Miles having played a significant role in the 2015 Marvel Comic book event of the same name, it seems that Sony and Marvel Studios are making a very wise choice at just the right time.

  • RUMOR: Marvel Studios to Reteam with Michael Giacchino on ‘Werewolf By Night’ Follow-Up

    RUMOR: Marvel Studios to Reteam with Michael Giacchino on ‘Werewolf By Night’ Follow-Up

    Michael Giacchino is a cornerstone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since Doctor Strange his theaters in 2016, the fanfare he created has become one of the world’s most recognizable jingles. He has scored 5 Marvel Studios films and in 2022 directed the studio’s first Special Presentation–for which he created another unique and catchy fanfare–Werewolf By Night. The streaming special caught fire with audiences and Giacchino’s work in creating a singular look for the new corner of the MCU drew heavy praise. Fans have been eager for Giacchino to reteam with Marvel Studios for a new project and while he recused himself from the search for a director for Blade, a new rumor making the rounds suggests that by waiting, he may have found himself a perfect scenario.

    According to insider Daniel RPK, Marvel Studios is eyeing Giacchino to helm their big-screen Midnight Sons project.

    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.

    While there’s been no official word on who might make up the team, Werewolf By Night, Man-Thing and Elsa Bloodstone have all been members of the squad in the comics and those just happen to be characters Giacchino is very familiar with. Additionally, if he were to helm the project, he could get his chance to work with Blade, who he previously described as one of his favorite Marvel characters.

    I mean, look, I love Blade. I think that’s an amazing, amazing character. It’s one of my favorites. But I feel like that thing is already in motion in a way that is like, and I’m in motion on other things as well, and there’s just– It’s a whole… you know. It’s just, timing-wise, it’s a little crazy. So I feel like, you know… I want that to be a great movie. I want that to be an awesome movie, because that character deserves it in a huge way. But yeah, right now, I mean, no.

    Michael Giacchino on why he’s not directing Marvel Studios Blade

    Given the rumors that horror scream queen Mia Goth is playing Lilith in Blade–which is still scheduled to go into production later this year–it’s possible that a Midnight Sons film could also serve as a follow-up to that film and, like the comics, see the team assemble to take on her and her 9 demonic offspring, the Lilin. A handful of other members from the comic book team already exist in the MCU (Doctor Strange, Moon Knight and Wong) and there could be more on the way as a rumored Ghost Rider project remains in development. While there’s no timeline for when to expect the Midnight Sons film just yet, it certainly sounds like the perfect opportunity for the studio to reteam with Giacchino and let him work his magic one more time.

  • New Rumors Point to an R-rated, Badass ‘Blade’ Film from Marvel Studios

    New Rumors Point to an R-rated, Badass ‘Blade’ Film from Marvel Studios

    Marvel Studios have certainly taken their time developing the Mahershala Ali-led Blade reboot. First announced at SDCC ’19, the project came as a shockingly wonderful surprise…and then the world went to hell. Nearly four and a half years, one global pandemic and two major Hollywood work stoppages later, production on the film still hasn’t gotten underway and, in fact, has been delayed multiple times. However, all signs point to principal photography finally getting underway sometime late in 2024 and now a new rumor about the film is sure to provide some much-needed hope about the state of the project.

    According to insider Daniel RPK, after having multiple writers work on the script (current writer Michael Green is the sixth scribe to work on the screenplay) it sounds as though they’ve found their story and it sounds fairly badass!

    In November 2023, director Yann Demange told Deadline that Marvel Studios had given him the green light to make Blade an R-rated film. “They gave me the R, which is so important,” said Demange, adding that “we are going to have fun because Mahershala is such a deep actor.” “I’m excited to show a kind of ruthlessness, a roughness he has, that allows him to walk the earth in a particular way. I love him for that. He’s got a dignity and integrity, but there is a ferocity there that he usually keeps under the surface. I want to unleash that and put it on the screen.” he explained. The new rumor from Daniel RPK lines up with Demange’s R-rated comment and gives some insight into exactly what Ali’s Daywalker will be up against.

    The rumor states that Blade will be a period piece and will have ties to one of the MCU’s most confusing post-credit scenes. Apparently the film’s plot will revolve around an attempt by the villain Lilith–played by horror queen Mia Goth–to gather up the blood of Blade’s daughter in an effort to create an army of Daywalkers. To make things more interesting, Goth’s baddie will reportedly weild the mysterious Ebony Blade, first seen in the MCU in The Eternals. In the mid-credit scene, Kit Harrington‘s Dane Whitman was revealed to be in possession of the sword, which was shown to have some fascinating properties. Just as Whitman was about to pick it up, he was stopped by Ali’s Blade, who was not seen, only heard.

    Following the release of The Eternals, Marvel Studios executive producer Nate Moore explained how the studio came to connect Blade to the sword. “Cause the Ebony Blade, the characteristics of the Ebony Blade are not dissimilar to some degree to vampirism and we think that’s an interesting kind of thing to play with,” explained Moore. Now it sounds as though Blade will establish a MUCH clearer connection to the stinger scene though it’s not believed that Harrington will play a role in the film.

    Blade is currently slated for a November 7, 2025 release.

  • ‘Walking Dead’ Franchise Mainstay Reportedly Among Marvel Studios Top Choices for Major Role

    ‘Walking Dead’ Franchise Mainstay Reportedly Among Marvel Studios Top Choices for Major Role

    When Steven Yeun debuts as the powerful Sentry in 2025’s Thunderbolts, he’ll join the extensive list of talent who have appeared in two of the industry’s most popular shared universes: the Marvel Cinematic Universe and The Walking Dead Television Universe. Michael Rooker, Danai Gurira, Lauren Ridloff and Matt Lintz are among those who have all held down major roles in the MCU while also spending time fending off zombies in AMC’s popular and expansive franchise. Jon Bernthal, who along with Andrew Lincoln was one of the first two actors cast in The Walking Dead, is set to reprise his role as Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, in the Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series, Daredevil: Born Again, and fans have pined for Norman Reedus, whose Daryl Dixon remains one of the faces of The Walking Dead franchise, to land a Marvel role–mostly Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze–for years. However, a new report indicates that another franchise mainstay might be next in line to join the MCU.

    According to industry insider Daniel RPK, Colman Domingo, who has starred as Victor Strand in Fear the Walking Dead, is atop the list of actors that Marvel Studios is considering for a major role in their ongoing Multiverse Saga.

    The new report suggests that Domingo, who has appeared in 109 episodes of the series over its 8 seasons, is among a group of actors being considered by Marvel Studios to fill the role of Kang the Conqueror, the current franchise “big bad.” Jonathan Majors, who was originally cast as Kang and has appeared as Variants of the character in both seasons of the streaming series Loki as well as 2023’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, was fired by the studio in December 2023 after being found guilty of reckless assault in the third degree and of harassment stemming from an incident with a former partner in March 2023. Domingo, who also starred in 2021’s The Candyman, HBO’s Euphoria and voiced Unicron in 2023’s Transformer: Rise of the Beasts, immediately emerged as an online fan favorite for the role of Kang in the wake of the news of Majors’ firing and would be a strong choice should the studio cast him.

    Rumors about a potential pivot away from a focus on Kang the Conqueror have been prominent for some time and only grew louder when Marvel cut ties with Majors. Fan reception to the character, particularly in his role in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, has been less than enthusiastic and with a creative overhaul of the two-part finale of the Multiverse Saga—including a new writer on Avengers 5, which was set to feature Kang–it seemed as though Marvel might choose to wash their hands of the character and replace him with another villain. While they still may choose to reduce Kang’s role in the remaining films in the Saga, interest in an actor of Domingo’s caliber suggests there are still some plans for Master of Men.