As the James Gunn-producedBrightburn proved, a lot of shit can go wrong when a nigh-omnipotent alien crash lands on Earth and gets raised by some rubes. Fortunately for Kal-El–and everyone who lived on his fictional Earth–he was found and raised by a pair of rubes who believed in truth, justice and the American way. Jonathan and Martha Kent’s selfless and compassionate rearing of an alien baby gave Earth its greatest hero as their adopted son, Clark, grew into Superman. Given their importance in his story, Clark’s Earth parents have played a role in almost every adaptation of the hero’s story and it has now become apparent they will in the latest version of his story. Just a day after the revelation that Pruitt Taylor Vince was cast as Jonathan Kent, a trade report has disclosed the actress set to bring Martha “Ma” Kent to life in Superman.
According to Umberto “El Mayimbe” Gonzalez, actress Neva Howell has been cast as Marth Kent in DC Studios’ Superman.
The casting of Howell and Vince indicates that Gunn is embracing the idea of true salt-of-the-Earth, middle-America types for the adoptive Earth parents of David Corenswet’s Kal-El.
DC Studios Superman is currently slated to fly into theaters on July 11, 2025.
While multiple Marvel Studios involve flashbacks, no project has been primarily set prior to World War II. As a result, the epoch of the MCU’s timeline has remained the same since Captain America: The First Avenger debuted in 2011. And so while the Disney Plus MCU Complete Timeline changes as each new project hits the streaming service, the beginning of it has remained static since its debut. But that’s all about to change.
X-Men ’97 has been overwhelmingly successful for Marvel Studios and with its attention-grabbing action coming on the heels of a much more well-received second season of What If…?, audiences have been reminded of the power of telling stories through animation. With X-Men ’97 now into its back nine, another animated series has continued to generate some buzz as rumors and speculation about it circulate. And though it doesn’t have a release date just yet, Eyes of Wakanda will debut in 2024 and become the new jumping off point on the MCU Complete Timeline.
As seen in Black Panther, the history of Wakanda stretches back to 28,000 B.C. though the meteorite that brought Vibranium to Africa and the Atlantic Ocean fell from the sky much earlier in 2,500,000 B.C. While projects such as Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and each of the Thor films have included flashbacks that predate Captain America: The First Avenger‘s WWII setting–and even predate the flashbacks in Black Panther–they are primarily set in “the present” and, as such, are placed far further down the timeline than Cap’s first MCU adventure. This will not be the case with Eyes of Wakanda.
According to reports about the series, one of the four 30-minute episodes is set during the time of the Trojan War. While it seems historians are all over the place when trying to pin down exactly when the Trojan War took place–if at all–an episode set during it would likely take place in the 12th or 11th century B.C. If so, will the Disney Plus timeline change?
Of course, some narrative devices could prevent Eyes of Wakanda from being the new #1 on the timeline. The studio could choose to have the series told by someone in the present day–perhaps Shuri is telling her nephew, T’Challa, for example–making each episode a flashback. In that case, the series would end up tacked on later on the timeline after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. That decision has already been made, of course, by Coogler and director Todd Harris and ultimately where the series appears on the timeline plays no role at all in how the stories told within it shaped Wakanda, Talokan, and, as we might be about to find out, some other places in the 616 universe.
Production is well underway on DC Studios’ Superman and most of the cast of James Gunn’s 2025 film have been known to the public for some time. But while fans know who will be playing Kal-El, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen and even Perry White, the faces behind Superman’s father figures have not been revealed despite plenty of amateur detectives doing some digging. Now, one of those roles have been filled and it’s a face that will be recognizable to many.
Character actor Pruitt Taylor Vince, who played Otis in The Walking Dead and J.J. La Roche in The Mentalist, has been cast as Kal’s adoptive Earth Dad, Jonathan “Pa” Kent.
Vince joins Kevin Costner, Glenn Ford and John Schneider as actors who have portrayed Pa Kent in live-action. There is currently no word on who which actor will fill the role of Kal’s space Dad, Jor-El, who has been brought to life by Russell Crowe and Marlon Brando among others.
When it came to The Fireborne Blade, I had no idea what to expect. I’ve never read anything by Charlotte Bond previously, and it’s very hit-or-miss with me when it comes to dragon books. However, The Fireborne Blade manages to pack a hell of a punch in such a small package, it’s safe to say Bond is now on my list of writers to follow going forward.
The Fireborne Blade follows a Knight named Maddileh. Eager to right herself as a Knight, following a regretful personal relationship, Maddileh goes out in search of the Fireborne Blade. The legendary weapon is a tale among her people, and she believes if she manages to successfully find it, she’ll be hailed a hero, and her name will be restored once again. Simple enough, except securing the blade will set Maddileh on a journey full of danger and secrecy, one that seems all but certain to end in death.
The book itself is merely one-hundred and sixty-four pages. As far as fantasies go, that’s on the shorter end. And yet, what Bond manages to achieve within such a short page count is incredibly impressive. Not only does Bond craft an intriguing story with characters such as Maddileh, Petros and Saralene; Bond also manages to create fascinating backstories that help to push their journey along. Not exactly an easy task to do with a novella, and yet, The Fireborne Blade proves it is possible.
Yes, the book is about dragons. Yes, there’s plenty of dragon lore. And yet, The Fireborne Blade is far from just another dragon book. The amount of character development that Maddileh goes through over the course of the book is top-notch. The character initially comes off as very standoffish; unwilling to confide in anyone. Then, by the end of the book, we see Maddileh showcase a softer side, one that perhaps isn’t as cold-hearted as she tries to let on.
All in all, The Fireborne Blade is the perfect little bite of fantasy for those looking for an introduction to the genre. It’s short. It’s action-packed. But more importantly, along with impressive fantasy work, The Fireborne Blade is a wonderful character-driven story. Give it a read when it releases in May.
Sony’s animated Spider-Man franchise has been far and away the studio’s best efforts in bringing the world of the Web-Slinger to the big screen. 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its 2023 sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, combined to gross over $1B worldwide and opened the eyes of audiences to the wonders of animation. As freneticaly fast-paced as the action on the screen has been through the first two movies, pushing the boundaries of animation certainly slows things down behind the scenes. The trilogy’s final film, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, was due to be released in theaters on March 29, 2024; however, a series of delays–including the 2023 Hollywood strikes–have delayed the film’s release indefinitely. As fans wait (im)patiently for word from Sony, singer and songwriter d4vd may have tipped the studio’s hand.
In a pair of social media interactions, dv4d indicated that he is working on music for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse and that the film will hit theaters in 2025.
While responding to a fan’s comment about his song “Feel It” which was used in Season 2 of Invincible, d4vd teased the notion that he was working on something Spider-Man related saying, “I can only make one happy song a year…See you next year when Spider-Man comes out.” Of course with the possibility that Tom Holland’s live-action Spider-Man 4 may hit theaters next year, it wasn’t necessarily clear what Spidey film the creator was talking about. On a subsequent Twitch stream, d4vd cleared up any confusion, telling a follower “I got news for you buddy. Beyond the Spider-Verse. That’s all I‘m gonna say.“
While it’s not a sure sign that the film will be in theaters next year, it does line up with some recent speculation. And, of course, it’s important to note that Sony has a currently unfilled release date set aside for a Marvel movie on June 25, 2025. Should the studio indeed be able to roll out Beyond the Spider-Verse in June and Spider-Man 4 later in the year, it would certainly be a banner year for Sony.
A dream casting is coming true as Paramount’s upcoming third entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog cinematic franchise has found its main antagonist, Shadow the Hedgehog. The Perfect Lifeform is about to face off against the blue blurr and it seems that Keanu Reeves has accepted the role. The opposite of our hero, the creation of Dr. Robotnik’s grandfather is about to leave quite an imprint on the franchise after being teased in the second entry.
Reeves is a fun addition to the cast, as the film had a scene calling him a “national treasure” and it will be interesting if they might reference that sequence. He was one of the many fan casts for the role next to Darth Vader, Hayden Christensen who was at one point even rumored to be up for the role. Though, given Reeves’ previous role as John Wick, playing the gun-totting edgy hedgehog seems like perfect casting.
Shadow was first introduced in Sonic Adventure 2 and quickly became a mainstay of the franchise. He even recently appeared in the Netflix animated series Sonic Prime as a major player in that series’ multiverse-inspired story. There are a few elements that director Jeff Fowler already teased in the previous entry that set up a similar storyline to when we were first introduced to the character but it’ll be interesting to see if they have plans similar to Knuckles moving forward, who is getting his Paramount+ series.
Animation takes a long time. But it looks as though the wait for Season 3 of Amazon Prime’s hit animated series, Invincible, won’t be nearly as long as the wait for the recently concluded second season. It took two and a half years for the sophomore season of the comic book adaptation to hit the streaming network following the surprising success of Season 1 in 2021. Even then, Season 2 was split into two parts, with Part 1 debuting in November 2023 and Part 2 debuting in March 2024. Animation takes a long time.
Season 2 of Invincible completed its run on April 4, 2024 and fans are hoping there won’t be another 30 month wait for Season 3. And according to showrunner Simon Racioppa, that won’t be the case. In an update posted on the official Invincible Twitter account, Racioppa shared that “we are deep in Season 3” and its release “should be sooner than Season 2.”
No new episode this week, so how about an everything we know about Season 3 so far post pic.twitter.com/xklLt65ePf
On the surface, that seems like great news for fans of the series. And while “sooner” could literally mean anything less than two and a half years, it does seem as though some real progress has been made. As creator Robert Kirkman told Collider, the show’s hour-long runtime along the expansive cast of characters and locations contribute to the amount of time it takes to make the show. However, they are learning as they go.
We’re an hour long animated show which is very unusual, but we have so many characters and so many settings, even in just one episode that we’re really kind of pushing the limits of what can be done in animation. So it takes a long time to make it. But it has also taken a long time to learn how to do it and figure it out because we’re doing a lot of things that you don’t necessarily do in animation.
Whenever Season 3 does hit Amazon Prime, it will feature the return of Battle Beast and Titan, two major players from Season 1 voiced by Michael Dorn and Mahershala Ali, respectively. And yes, Invincible will return as well.
The attack on Genosha in Episode 5 of X-Men ’97 took the lives of an as yet unrevealed number of mutants. Despite Cable’s attempt to warn his mother, Madelyne Pryor joined key players such as Magneto and Gambit as casualties of the Wild Sentinel’s devastating attack. While mutants and fans alike are still mourning the dead and recovering from the massacre, the question of who orchestrated it remains.
A close look at some clues have led to the theory that the Sentinel Android known as Bastion could be behind the attack. There’s plenty of compelling evidence to suggest Bastion as a possibility but continuing to connect the dots has lead us to not only double down on the identity of the perp but also wonder if the voice actor for the villain hasn’t been in front of our eyes all along.
Theo James Is Bastion
Before the first episode of X-Men ’97 debuted on Disney Plus, showrunner Beau DeMayo revealed that Theo James was set to voice a “fan-favorite” character. Through five episodes, the identity of that character has remained a mystery but DeMayo’s insistence that the role would “surprise people” ties nicely into the idea that James will voice Bastion.
Connecting the dots from James voicing a surprising fan-favorite character to Bastion isn’t really all that crazy. With only five episodes left and the big bad behind the attack on Genosha left a mystery, there’s plenty of reason to think it was Bastion. From the picture of him in Forge’s lab to his brief presence at the gala to the use of “Tolerance is Extinction” as the title of the three-part season finale (Bastion was introduced in the comics in an event titled Operation: Zero Tolerance), plenty of markers point in the direction of Bastion.
If we accept it’s Bastion, the idea of James voicing him is the easy part. James likely didn’t sign on to voice a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo character and there just aren’t that many major characters left to come into play in this season. While the idea of him voicing Captain America gained some traction online after Cap’s shield was seen in a recent sneak peek, it’s preposterous. James is as British as tea and strumpets and though he’s grown into a bloody brilliant actor, his American accent is a bit rubbish, innit? While he’d be chuffed to bits to voice Cap, he is not.
James‘ career renaissance has been impressive. He recently led Netflix’s The Gentleman for which he received high praise. However, it was his role as the bad guy in White Lotus: Sicily that showed his range. We won’t have long to wait to find out if we connected the dots well or not but the idea of James as the voice of Bastion is just too good to pass up.
Despite a dozen known projects being on it, DC Studios’ DCU slate is fairly undefined. Though Creature Commandos has been confirmed for a 2024 streaming debut, the only project with a known release date is Superman, which is currently in production ahead of its July 11, 2025 bow. It was originally believed that the streaming series Waller would hit Max in 2024; however, the 2023 WGA strike put a dent in those plans. With the scripts for Waller still being written by Jeremy Carver and Christal Henry, Season 2 of Peacemaker became next in line. Peacemaker star Jennifer Holland recently revealed cameras were set to roll on the John Cena-led series this summer but DC Studios co-chair James Gunn just surprised everyone with an update on the project.
Production Is Underway on Season 2 of Peacemaker
As is his way, Gunn–who confirmed he is directing some episodes of Peacemaker Season 2–took to social media to announce that production on the sophomore season of the streaming series had begun.
The announcement comes as a bit of a shock as principal photography on Superman is ongoing; however, there’s no arguing with the man with the plan.
Could Superman Appear in Peacemaker Season 2?
One interesting possibility that arises from Peacemaker and Superman filming in the same spot at the same time under the watchful eye of the man directing both and in charge of the shared universe is a potential crossover. At some point, Peacemaker’s presence in the new DCU will have to be explained since the events of Season 1 predate the existence of the all-new, all-different universe. Given Gunn is the boss, having all the principal actors available together provides the perfect opportunity for the director to cross major task off his to-do list.
For the second time in just a few weeks, a reliable Marvel Studios’ insider has indicated that production on the studio’s fourth Spider-Man film–which will once again be made in collaboration with Sony– will get underway before the end of 2024. While that’s definitely an encouraging development for fans who have been waiting to find out when Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker will return to the screen, the rumored start date could point to some interesting possibilities for the film.
If production does indeed kick off in late 2024, it provides Sony with an opportunity to release Spider-Man 4 in 2025, something they have been reportedly hoping to achieve. Production on the previous three Spider-Man films have taken 3-4 months to complete; if the same timeline is followed in the fourth installment, principal photography should be complete by the end of January 2025. Could the film then be ready to hit theaters before the end of 2025?
The short answer is that it absolutely could be. Each of the last three MCU-set Spider-Man films hit theaters roughly eight months after they wrapped principal photography. Most recently, Spider-Man: No Way Home began production in October 2020, took a break for the holidays, resumed in January 2021 and concluded in late-March. No Way Home hit theaters in mid-December 2021.
Being ready for theaters is one thing; finding a release date in an already jam-packed 2025 is something else entirely. Sony Pictures, not Marvel Studios, sets the dates for the releases of their Spider-Man collaborations. As of now, Sony has an Untitled Marvel Movie set for June 27, 2025. Even by Sony’s sometimes bewildering standards, 3 months in post-production surely can’t be enough. However, just because Sony sets the dates does not mean Marvel Studios, who produces the collaborations, won’t work with their partner in finding a suitable release date. And to that end, an interesting coincidence may point to a target date for Spider-Man 4.
Only a Fool Would Charge into Battle with a Dull Blade
With Marvel Studios still working on the back end of its Multiverse Saga, including the fifth Avengers film which is currently still slated for a May 1, 2026 release, its easy to imagine Blade being pushed to their open February 13, 2026 date even without Spider-Man 4 being taken into consideration. However, if Sony is keen on getting Holland’s Webhead into theaters in 2025, Disney could work with them on doing so since it benefits their MCU as well. While Sony likely covets a mid-December release for Spidey 4, James Cameron‘s Avatar 3–a sure billion dollar box office take for Disney–is set for December 19, 2025. Cameron recently claimed that Avatar 3 was on track for that date and if that’s true, there’s no way Disney budges from that date. However, they might happily move Blade into 2026 leaving a big opening for Spider-Man 4 to hit theaters on November 7, 2025.
Marvel Team-Up: The Wallcrawler and The Man Without Fear
After a lengthy delay in the production of Daredevil: Born Again which allowed Marvel Studios to retool the project, principal photography on the first nine episodes wrapped in early April 2024. With those episodes in the can, work on post-production to get the episodes ready for a 2025(?) release will take priority. With that work being done as well as continued work on the scripts for the next nine episodes, it was reported that the cast and crew won’t resume work on Daredevil: Born Again until November 2024. Isn’t that convenient…?
If work on Spider-Man 4 begins in September and production on Daredevil: Born Again doesn’t resume until November, there is ample opportunity for Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio and anyone else from the cast of the streaming series to film scenes for Spidey 4. Like Hannibal Smith, Feige loves it when a plan comes together.
To be sure, this is a big game of dominos and we’ve not even seen the first one fall just yet; however, should things line up with the schedules of directors (one is not yet in place for Spider-Man 4, though an offer was reportedly extended to someone), actors and studio availability, everyone could come out of a shit storm smelling like roses.
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