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  • New ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldiers’ Pictures Teases the Weight of Captain America’s Shield

    New ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldiers’ Pictures Teases the Weight of Captain America’s Shield

    WandaVision is on everyone’s minds right now. Yet, we are only less than a month away from Marvel Studios’ next major Disney+ release, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. They’ve been busy releasing various TV spots to promote the show’s release while balancing various promotions for the one that is currently airing. A few days ago, we got a brief look at Wyatt Russell‘s Captain America, who seemed to be going through something. So far, the trailers have been very focused on the titular duo and keeping various secrets as they continue to promote it. They weren’t done yet as we got some brand new stills teasing the weight of the shield that Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson will face in the series.

    The main focus of the series will be on Sam’s questioning of carrying on the title that was bestowed upon him. There is a good reason that the series is titled Falcon and not Captain America and the Winter Soldier. The first image is actually interesting, as it is the first time we see Sam try to pull it out of the tree. We got a lot of short snippets of him practicing, so either he underestimated his strength or Bucky was mean enough to throw it into the tree to prove a point.

    There is a fun detail if you take a close look at Bucyk holding the gun in the final image. His real fingers are sticking out of the metal hand, so these images might not have been touched up yet. It’s crazy to think that we only have two more weeks of WandaVision to go before we near the next entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I cannot wait to see if they start exploring the vast history of the iconic Captain America shield.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Harley Quinn’s Started Recording for Its Third Season

    ‘Harley Quinn’s Started Recording for Its Third Season

    DC has been producing a variety of great shows in the last few years. What started with Titans has expanded into a plethora of original productions. They used the opportunity to explore the different aspects of the comic universe. Once Warner Bros. migrated them to HBO Max, we’ve seen a large increase in new shows entering a form of production. Of course, the sophomore series that started on the original DC Universe app is continuing, as well, such as the before-mentioned Titans currently in production.

    The stand-out, however, was the R-rated animated comedy Harley Quinn, which saw Kaley Cuoco take on the role of the Joker’s most iconic henchwoman. We got to see her grow into her love the course of two seasons, and many were ecstatic when the third got announced last September. We’ve been anxiously waiting for an update, and it looks like it finally arrived, as executive producer Patrick Schumacker shared an official update on Twitter.

    It is great to see the return of Diedrich Bader, Jim Rash, and Chris Meloni, who gave some iconic performances in the last two seasons. The idea of a washed-up Gordon just hanging on as best as he can be a genius interpretation of a commissioner living in the most crime-ridden city of the world. Bader was a perfect choice for this universe’s Batman, especially how much it contrasts the version he played in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I cannot wait for the next season, especially how they plan to continue where the last one ended.

    Source: Twitter, IMDb

  • Uncovering the Real Identity of Lewis Tan’s Cole Young in ‘Mortal Kombat’

    Uncovering the Real Identity of Lewis Tan’s Cole Young in ‘Mortal Kombat’

    After a long wait, the Mortal Kombat trailer has finally released. It gave us a good look at the various iconic characters from gaming history in live-action. Not just that, but the trailer teased introduced us to a new character that is new to the franchise that started in 1992. Lewis Tan is playing a man named Cole Young, who seems to have a relevant role in the story. They don’t give away any real details besides the strange dragon birthmark on his chest. They are making a big deal to include this newcomer to such a degree he even got a motion poster alongside MK legacy characters. Lewis Tan is a great actor and a perfect addition to the franchise. It would make sense they want to highlight his inclusion. Yet, it makes you wonder: is there more to this character that they are teasing?

    https://twitter.com/MKMovie/status/1361997570776698880?s=20

    Unlike the first film adaptation, the film seems to be taking a unique direction with the story and isn’t jumping straight into the iconic tournament. It got teased briefly with a shot that alludes to the great Kung Lao, who won the last entry, but it seems the main focus is the ongoing conflict with Sub-Zero. He destroyed Jax’s arms, and it looks like there is a personal vendetta. What stands out is that there is a brief mention that Cole shares the same birthmark with their primary suspect, which implies a connection to Sub-Zero. What makes this so interesting is that they hide the iconic blue ninja’s identity in the trailers. Fans of the games will know that there are two that took on the role. Bi-Han was the first to hold the mantle before his younger brother Kuai Liang took over. It seems to imply that Cole might end up being Kuai, who got separated from Bi-Han at a young age. The big fight between Sub-Zero and Scorpion in an icy landscape reveals a third player, who seems to be Cole.

     

     

    It almost seems like Sub-Zero was after him before Hanzo Hasashi uttered the iconic line to pull him back. We know that these two continue the fight in some manner, so there is a chance that there is a running red herring about who is trying to protect Cole. Scorpion also plays a role in the character’s backstory. Earlier in the trailer, we briefly see Cole staring into the mirror before getting interrupted by a range premonition with Scorpion. It seems to imply that Cole might have some connection to those events. So, as a result of the attack, Cole was cast out from the Lin Kuei, Sub-Zero’s clan. Perhaps Hasashi took his vengeance on the Chinese assassins for killing his family, and Bi-Han tried to hide his brother’s identity so he wouldn’t get targeted. The conflict between the two iconic ninjas may be at the center of this film’s story.

     

     

    It would explain why the story moved away from focusing on Liu Kang, who usually is the stories’ protagonist. They want to switch it up and explore Cole to uncover his history. Perhaps he even learns to master his abilities. If they follow the game’s, Bi-Han’s fate may also be the motivation why Cole will enter the Mortal Kombat tournament. The battle between Scorpion and Sub-Zero has become a staple for the franchise, so they will probably continue fighting in future sequels. Sub-Zero’s introduction as a villain could lead to his potential downfall and future as a specter of darkness. His rivalry with Scorpion and his brother is one of the most iconic storylines of the franchise. It would make sense to try something new and focus on that development instead of going the usual destined warrior route with Liu Kang. I am excited to see which direction they are heading with this franchise once the reboot premieres in April.

    Source: Twitter, YouTube

  • SCOOP: Daredevil Season 3 Production Timeline Revealed

    SCOOP: Daredevil Season 3 Production Timeline Revealed

    Note: This article was originally published by Charles Murphy on MCU Exchange on August 23, 2017.

    Just last week we broke the news that the third season of Daredevil would begin shooting in October. Since then, Charlie Cox himself reiterated that the show would indeed film “later this year” and now we can confirm not only the October date, but also the entire production timeline.

    As it stands now, Season 3 is scheduled to begin production on October 15th and wrap on June 30th. While anyone who has followed a production will understand that those dates are never set in stone due to the unpredictability of logistics, that is the plan for now. Given that information, it’s likely that casting will start to take place over the next several weeks though it may not be officially confirmed until later in the process. The eight and a half month timeline is quite a bit longer than normal, but given the fact that it also runs through the holiday season, it’s reasonable to assume there may be some downtime. Assuming production stays on schedule and wraps around early July, it’s possible that the series could debut late in 2018!

     

    Given the state of things at the end of The Defenders, it seems a foregone conclusion that Daredevil Season 3 will be adapting Frank Miller’s beloved Born Again arc so while many fans are itching to see Bullseye in action, we may be looking at the return of Wilson Fisk alongside another new villain. Who would you like to see take on Daredevil in Season 3?

  • Helmut Zemo: The Story So Far

    Helmut Zemo: The Story So Far

    As we continue with our previews for The Falcon And The Winter Soldier characters, one of the most compelling returns is that of Helmut Zemo. Daniel Brühl‘s Zemo only appeared in one film, though you can easily make an argument that he had a substantial impact on the MCU. This guy broke up the Avengers without laying a hand on any of them. Zemo is one of the few villains who successfully reached his end goal in a film. There’s something intrigue about his return, so let’s take a look at how Zemo got here.

     

     

    Captain America: Civil War introduces us to Helmut Zemo. He is a former Colonel of the Sokovian Armed Forces and the leader of EKO Scorpion. After the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron left Sokovia in crumbles, Zemo sought revenge for his family’s death. Knowing that he couldn’t fight the Avengers head-on, he focused on destroying the team with other means. To achieve his goal, he started hunting down a mission report on December 16th, 1991. Zemo found a book that contains the phrases to control Bucky, which he took after interrogating a former HYDRA goon.

    He was the mastermind that coordinated the bombing of the UN in Vienna, which led to King T’Chaka’s death. It was around the same time the Sokovia Accords were signed, so tensions were high. His plan involved framing Bucky behind the explosion, which would start an internal struggle between Iron Man and Captain America. It led to the eventual arrest of the former Winter Soldier and Steve Rogers by the CIA.

     

    It becomes the perfect opportunity for Zemo to use the book on Bucky, who goes on a rampage. He then plants the seed of him heading out to activate other HYDRA super-soldiers, which is why the Avengers fight at the Berlin airport. He waits his time at the base until Rogers, Stark, and Bucky arrive. There, he reveals that his plan was never about the soldiers. He killed them long before they showed up. The file he was looking for was to show Stark the night his parents die.

    Now that he managed to destroy the Avengers from the inside, as Iron Man, Captain America, and Bucky duke it out, he sits in the snow. T’Challa, who learned there is no point in taking revenge, confronts the former Sokovian soldier on his action as he plays with a gun. The moment he tried to end his life, T’Challa jumped in to make sure he can’t go through with it. The last we saw of him, he was in the same cell that Bucky was imprisoned in. We will see how he escaped and decided to don his mask once the show airs on March 19th on Disney+.

     

  • Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 82

    Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 82

    The Charleses M. and V. discuss the ridiculous Fantastic Four/Jennifer Lawrence rumor and come with a bunch of reasons why they hope it’s untrue. But they also manage to talk about Evangeline Lilly confirming the start date of Quantumania, the legendary Danny Elfman scoring Doctor Strange 2 and Mena Massoud being up for the role of Ezra Bridger!

  • ‘WandaVision’ Gets Soberingly Real With its Last Sitcom Era

    ‘WandaVision’ Gets Soberingly Real With its Last Sitcom Era

    With only two episodes of WandaVision to go, reality has finally caught up with Wanda, in more ways than one. Yes, the show finally reached the present day this week, just in time for the excitement and allure of Westview to disappear and become a much more cynical place.

    With a couple of exceptions, WandaVision has used its sitcom structure to effectively highlight and/or subvert the feel of whatever time period Westview happens to be experiencing during the current episode. Long gone are the carefree days of the 1950s, and even the difficult lessons of the 1980s are too sugar-coated for the town by “Breaking the Fourth Wall.” All of these eras have had their blissful bubbles burst by one incident or another, and now Wanda is ready to give up on this one before it even starts. She’s not going to bother attempting to maintain hope and optimism in her children, either. She just wants some time to forget about everything, and it’s even sadder to think about when you remember that this was her whole motivation behind creating Westview in the first place.

    WandaVision episode 7 review: "A reveal brings about the endgame" | GamesRadar+

    This cynical attitude isn’t the only modern sitcom trope present in this episode. The documentary style of television that was largely popularized by reality TV eventually made its mark on sitcoms like Modern Family and The Office with characters frequently breaking the fourth wall as if they’re speaking to an interviewer (the term “mockumentary” has been coined in reference to this) and there’s plenty of that to be found here. Even characters who are trapped in “real life” are somehow able to magically pop over to an interview location to speak to the audience this week, and of course this is eventually lampshaded before the episode is over. There’s even a point at which Vision simply looks into the “regular”, non-interview camera; also a common trope of the times.

    The lack of lyrics – or even character shots – also fits in with modern-day sitcoms. But those disappointed by the final Anderson-Lopez theme tune being…uneventful were surprised when a theme song for a whole different side of the story capped off the episode.

    After much fan speculation, “Agnes the Neighbor” was finally confirmed to be Agatha Harkness, a character lifted from Marvel Comics but considerably changed for WandaVision (most notably in that Agatha isn’t a villain in the comics). A montage of her evil deeds throughout the eras of Westview was accompanied by her very own theme song, which was very reminiscent of the one for The Munsters, a 1960’s sitcom about a family consisting of various types of monsters (not to be confused with The Addams Family, which ran during the exact same years and had nearly the same number of episodes).

    “Breaking the Fourth Wall” was the last episode of WandaVision to focus on emulating a specific era of sitcoms, but as Agatha’s theme song demonstrated, that doesn’t necessarily mean all the references are done quite yet. This episode showed the magic maintaining Westview’s eras going haywire, and it’s very likely this will escalate as WandaVision hurdles toward its March 5 finale.

  • ‘WandaVision’ Episode 8 Will Be Longest to Date

    ‘WandaVision’ Episode 8 Will Be Longest to Date

    Much debate and speculation has been going on the past few weeks about the episode lengths of upcoming WandaVision shows, with people wondering when Disney+ might give us a significantly larger weekly bite of this marvelous magical apple. Well now that the “big bad” not-so-surprise reveal at the end of episode 7 has us on the edge of our seats and wanting even more answers, a Redditor who was right about last week’s running time has posted what they believe is the running time for the crucial episode 8. Plenty_Echidna_544 posted that the upcoming episode will be 47 minutes long.

    As the redditor points out, they were indeed correct about last week’s episode runtime.

    Source: Reddit

  • Bruce Campbell May Be in London for ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness’

    Bruce Campbell May Be in London for ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness’

    Back in June, in an interview with Diabolique Magazine, Evil Dead actor Bruce Campbell gave a surprisingly insightful answer on Sam Raimi‘s upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness film. He has been a mainstay in Raimi‘s films, commonly appearing in a brief cameo, so many thought that the chances were good he would do the same for Raimi‘s first film since 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful. Campbell may have revealed that he will potentially make an appearance, as he shared a brief video confirming that he is in London in quarantine.

    Of course, there is no confirmation that he is there explicitly. The only thing we know is that he is involved with the upcoming Evil Dead Now film. He confirmed that he doesn’t have a starring role but will only have a producing credit. Given their history, it just seems to make sense that he would also make an appearance in some form. They have kept the tradition for some time, as he also appeared in Oz The Great and Powerful. It would be amazing if they bring back the concept from Raimi‘s scrapped version of Spider-Man 4, which would’ve seen Campbell play the role of Mysterio.

    If they had the rights to the Evil Dead franchise, they could’ve paid tribute to one of the earlier Marvel Zombies runs, which features Ash Williams fighting an onslaught of zombified Marvel heroes. The Doctor Strange sequel’s focus on the multiverse offers a wide variety of possibilities to happen, so who knows what direction they might take if he is indeed joining the production.

    Source: Diabolique Magazine via The Direct, Twitter, Variety, Den of Geek, What Culture

  • Marvel Studios Has Begun Their Search for ‘Fantastic Four’ Writers

    Marvel Studios Has Begun Their Search for ‘Fantastic Four’ Writers

    Yesterday, a rather bizarre story dropped about the possibility of Jennifer Lawrence joining the Fantastic Four. The report by The Daily Telegraph tabloid claimed that she was heading to Australia to film it. It was strange that its director, Jon Watts, is still actively working on the untitled Spider-Man 3, as laid out in the original article. The rumor regarding Lawrence‘s casting mentioned she is also there to film a different series, which would have to be in production for some time if she were to join the other potentially. So, like with many rumors, we can only take it with a grain of salt. Justin Kroll took to Twitter to share some information on the production. He dropped the return of Chris Evans as Captain America around a month ago. It offers some insight into where the production of the Fantastic Four film currently is.

    Fantastic Four got revealed at the tail-end of Disney’s Investors Day’s Marvel Studios panel, so it makes sense that it is later down the production pipeline. They only recently hired Stacy Osei-Kuffour to pen Blade. They might be looking for writers for a variety of projects at the moment. Speaking of, they have cast Bahershala Ali in the role of the vampire hunter already in 2019, so it isn’t new for them to sign-up talent long before they enter any form of pre-production. They have cast actors early for them to make an appearance in earlier projects. Either way, it will be interesting to see who they might get to write the project about Marvel’s first family and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s attempt at adapting the iconic characters.

    Source: Twitter, Deadline