Murphy's Multiverse

Blog

  • Marvel Studios Searching For British Child Actors; Possibly Young Loki

    A casting call went out this afternoon for a Marvel Studios project, filming dates yet to be determined, for actors/actresses to portray 10 year old British male and 10 year old British female respectively.

    The descriptions for the roles are as follows:

    Male, 10 years old, British, Open Ethnicity, smart and brave with a sharp wit and life experience beyond his years…RECURRING

    Female, 10 years old, British, Caucasian, in tears over a frightening situation, she relies on her intelligence and resilience to find a way out.

    While the project is unnamed, the New Orleans based casting agency who released the call is working out of an office located in Atlanta. Given the nature of the characters and the fact that the shooting dates are TBD, it’s very likely that these roles are for the Disney Plus series, Loki, set to begin production in Atlanta next month.

    Rumors have swirled for some time that a younger Loki might be present in flashbacks, so it’s possible that the male character, which is a recurring role, might fit that bill. Of course it’s more likely it is for another character, but the recurring nature is the most interesting part.

    While the female role isn’t recurring, it’s possible that it too might be a younger version of a character set to appear in the show. Actress Sophia Di Martino, who was cast in an unknown role in November, is set to co-star with Tom Hiddleston. Rumors have placed her not only as a female reincarnation of Loki, but also as Amora, the Enchantress. While nothing about this casting call points to either of those characters, it is possible the Di Martino’s role is connected. Alternately, the character could be Leah, one drawn from Kieron Gillen’s beloved run on Journey Into Mystery and one Loki’s only true and loyal friends.

    Loki is currently set to debut on Disney Plus in the Spring of 2021.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘STRANGER THINGS 4’ Production Update

    Last year TV Line revealed that production on the fourth season of Stranger Things would kick off this month and wrap in August and now I can add a few, small details to that information.

    Though no “official start date” has been set in stone at this time, Stranger Things is preparing to start production either late this month or early next month, but NOT in its usual home base of Atlanta. Production on Stranger Things will kick off in Lithuania before completing filming back in Atlanta.

    Fans will immediately theorize that the Lithuanian setting offers the series the opportunity to authentically explore the ramifications of last season’s reveal that Hopper was alive and in what appeared to be a Russian prison. While it’s unclear exactly how long the series will film in Lithuania, they will primarily be using a prison set and filming in and around the locations where HBO filmed Chernobyl.

    Stay tuned for more news on this as it develops.

  • What I Heard This Week: Christian Bale’s Potential Role in ‘THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER’

    Every now and then I come across some information the veracity of which can be confirmed by a second source. What happens FAR more often is that I come across some information that while believable and from trustworthy sources, cannot be confirmed by other sources for various reasons. Typically, when the second scenario occurs, I move on and forget about the information unless, in rare instances, it turns out to be proven true somewhere down the road.

    With two different Disney Plus series under production at the same time, and films at various states of pre-production, rumors are running rampant and while it’s a ton of fun to sort through them all, not all of them make a ton of sense; however, I recently came across one that, while unverified, makes a lot of sense. It’s important to understand that, because I can’t verify this with a second source, I myself am treating it as a rumor which means, for the time being, I don’t believe it myself. It’s also important to understand that the information provided would be spoilery if did turn out to be true. So please read at your own risk and please make an effort to represent what you’ve read here as nothing more than a rumor. This isn’t a “hot scoop”, at least not yet. For now, they it is nothing more than a compelling rumor that should generate plenty of great discussion among the MCU fan community. With that having been said, read ahead if you chose…

    In no way, shape or form should any of this be shared nor construed as confirmation of anything. 

    Things I heard this week: Christian Bale’s potential role in Thor: Love and Thunder is a mo-cap role.

    Image result for thor dario agger"

    I spoke to an agent yesterday and while he could not give any info on what the role was, he said, “I’ve just heard that Christian is doing it.”

    Obviously that left me unsatisfied, so I kept digging around. The next part of the story is easily the best part, but CANNOT be confirmed as of this afternoon.

    I went to another trusted source…very trusted…like the guy who told me that Widow and Iron Man would die in Avengers: Endgame and that Sam would get the shield. I asked him if he could look into it. He did. Here’s the rundown,

    Source: “I’m hearing it’s for a mo-cap role but still looking into it.”

    In my mind, this doesn’t rule our Dario Agger, but it doesn’t make him the best choice either. Happily, 3 minutes later…

    Source: “Who’s Dario?”

    Me: “Dario Agger. Is that who he is? Did someone tell you that?”

    Source: “Yeah, but they also mentioned Beta Ray Bill.”

    End of chat until I hear back.

    Image result for beta ray bill"

    So what did I take away from this (I almost said, what should YOU take away from it, but that seemed heavy handed):

    This conversation between me and “source” is reminiscent of a lot of conversations we’ve had in the past. The reality is that even in Los Angeles, nobody other than Bale, his agent, some people at his agency and the people at Disney are 100% sure who he is playing. The mo-cap part is interesting because he could be Agger and still obviously have to mo-cap the Minotaur. Beta Ray Bill is obviously the greatest Cosmic character ever and there is nothing anyone can say to change that, but, is Bale really up for this or did my source’s source get the echo chamber effect, ie did someone read it online and mention it to him and now he thinks that’s who it is? I have no idea.

    What I would feel comfortable saying is that Agger and BRB are legit options where some others aren’t. If it’s mo-cap, well that’s a very helpful clue to help solve the problem. It means a character like Gorr, while he would seem unlikely given how Waititi co-opted him for Hela, is certainly in the mix. 

    Image result for marvel gorr"

    Of course Bale has stated in the past he wants nothing to do with more comic book movies and is notoriously difficult to work with on set, so a mo-cap role where his exposure to other human beings is limited makes THE MOST sense. I’m continuing to try to dig into this, but I have no false hopes of being the guy who breaks it. I am, however, happy to share the breadcrumbs and tidbits I turn up along the way. 

  • Another ‘SHANG-CHI’ Casting Call May Give Further Support to the “Tournament” Leak

    On Christmas Eve I reported that Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings was searching for an actor to play a ringside fight announcer and speculated on how that casting could potentially tie into a fan-favorite leak that paints the Destin Daniel Cretton helmed film as a sort of Enter the Dragon/Bloodsport-esque flick that will see Shang-Chi take on all kinds of deadly fighters while fighting to secure the legendary Ten Rings for the Mandarin. Now an additional casting call has surfaced and could lend additional support to this potential leak.

    A casting call for professional wrestles and actors with martial arts and fighting experience went out to male citizens of Australia and New Zealand, ages 20-55, meaning the production was looking to stock up on fighters and what better reason than to fill slots in a martial arts tournament! You may recall that back in October it was revealed that casting was underway for Shang-Chi villains Razor Fist, Ghostmaker, Steel Claw and Shadow. This new casting call could be related to that or it could just be an all call to bring in a high volume of fighters that will be seen in the background. Either way, the evidence is starting to mount that we just might be seeing something special in the MCU with Cretton putting his own spin on the martial arts tournament film.

    Image result for enter the dragon"

    While production is scheduled to begin on Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings this month, the terrible wildfires in Australia might push the start of filming back meaning we may not find out much over the coming days. Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings is due in theaters February 12, 2021.

  • Connecting Imaginary Dots: Namor Might Finally Show Up Defending the Earth in ‘DOCTOR STRANGE’ Sequel

    If you’ve never read an installment of Connecting Imaginary Dots, allow me to explain the idea. Connecting Imaginary Dots was the title I came up with for my speculation pieces when I was writing at MCU Exchange. These types of pieces basically allow me to unload a bunch of junk that’s circulating in my brain in a way that should never be confused for things I actually expect to happen. I basically take a bunch of facts that are almost always entirely unrelated and do my best to connect the dots with by stretching my imagination. In the past these types of pieces have resulted in me theorizing that the Spider-Man sequel which became Far From Home might end up being a team-up outing of Spidey and Hulk in the Savage Land;however, I also wrote one theorizing that Sterling K. Brown would be playing the father of Erik Killmonger in Black Panther LOOOOOONG before anyone else was considering it and one in which I theorized that Annette Bening was actually Mar-Vell when everyone else still thought Jude Law was playing the character. The bottom line is this: these are fun spec pieces that allow me to just be a fan. With that out of the way…

    Back in August a casting call, revealed by GWW, indicated that Marvel Studios was searching for an actor, 30-40, to play “the ruler of a distant ancient kingdom.” At the time of their report, GWW speculated that the character might be Namor and, given Kevin Feige’s recent comments, it’s looking increasingly possible that they might be right.

    In a recent stint a as a guest speaker at the New York Film Academy, Feige gave a little insight into how they chose characters for Marvel Studios films, including Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness.

    The most pertinent bit is transcribed below:

    Sometimes you’re choosing title hero, choosing which main character or main team you want to bring to the screen and often times, it’s as you’re making and developing the movie [asking] ‘Who will come into it?’ and ‘Who will fit into it? The next Doctor Strange film, for instance, features some new MCU characters which will be making their debut in that movie you won’t expect or won’t guess who it is but we found a cool way to make it work because we want to make a particular type of movie there and there was a character who we always wanted to do something with who will fit really well there.

    On the surface, only part of that (“a character who we always wanted to do something with”) sounds like Namor. Namor and Strange have a long comic book history through their time together on The Defenders, a team of otherwise non-teamer uppers who often come together to tackle threats that are more mystical or supernatural. The non-team team often included Hulk, Silver Surfer, Valkyrie and others over the course of the years. Namor also suffered from amnesia, causing him to forget his true heritage. Could the opening up of the Multiverse and the potential influence of Nightmare be enough to jog the memory of the Avenging Son of Atlantis?

    Image result for marvel the defenders"

    Though the casting call did not specify which project the character would appear in, other information in the casting call does give a small hint. For instance, we can probably rule out the character of “DAVID” appearing in Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings because other character descriptions that appeared around the same time and have since been confirmed to be for Shang-Chi gave a time frame of January through May, a time frame we now know fits for that film, while the description for “DAVID” gave a TBD start date. So while we can’t pin down that this character will appear in Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness, we can be fairly confident that it is not for Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings and it doesn’t make a ton of sense to believe that they were already searching for actors for Thor: Love and Thunder a full year before it would film.

    So, if we are connecting all the dots and doing some imagineering, we can at least make a case for Namor to make his long-awaited MCU debut in 2021 and, while we’re at it, we can make the case for “ADAM”, a character from another similar description, to be Jericho Drumm, aka Brother Voodoo…but that’s another story.

    So what do you think? Could Namor finally make his debut in 2021’s Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness?

  • ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ May Go to Madripoor

    A few weeks ago, I published some set photos a few weeks ago and indicated that they contained a spoiler. Today, thanks to Twitter user Luke Hatcher, it seems the secret is out. A portion of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will take place on the fictional island of Madripoor!

    A closer look at the red symbol on the wall shows that it is the same dumb featured on the flag of Madripoor.

    Just what our heroes and Baron Zemo are doing there remains to be seen, but its history in the comics of being a haven for criminals, especially Hydra, makes it extremely interesting!

    Madripoor has featured heavily in the X-Men comics and, in particular, Wolverines history.

  • Crazy Christmas Rumor: ‘WANDAVISION’ Will Introduce Doomstadt

    Before I get to the craziness, let me say this: I am writing this tonight without any indication that the tweets I’m referencing contain any facts at all. In fact, I’m hoping that by publishing this, we get some clarification one way or the other; on the other hand, everything about WandaVision is so crazy, that I don’t think I’d be surprised to find out if it is true. With that out of the way…

    An actress took to Twitter late Tuesday claiming to have been cast in WandaVision:

    Given the time of year, it’s nearly impossible to get anyone to confirm anything right now and I’m certainly not claiming to know whether or not this actress has been cast. However, today she made an even more interesting claim:

    A wild claim? Maybe. But a look at Helen, Georgia does give just enough pause to wonder whether or not this claim might be true.

    The quaint Bavarian town of Helen, Georgia is certainly a dead ringer for Doomstadt, the capital city of Latveria and the birthplace of Victor Von Doom and, perhaps more relevant to the story here, his mother, Cynthia Von Doom, a Romani sorceress. Given the series looks to be exploring the backstory of Agatha Harkness, it’s possible that it could explore other, different magic users, including Cynthia. Since we don’t know the plot of WandaVision, it seems like SWORD, Agatha Harkness and, potentially, Doomstadt, are disparate ideas and we might have to wait a while to see how they all tie together, if they do at all.

    Again, this is certainly nothing confirmed, but it is interesting and, my guess is that we’ll have a pretty good idea of whether or not it is true in the next 24 hours or so.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ to Resume Production in a Caribbean Paradise

    After filming in and around Atlanta, Georgia for the past several months, production on Marvel Studios Disney Plus series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, is set to move to a bit more “exotic” location when filming revs back up after the holiday break. When filming resumes after the holiday break, it will be in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico!

    Image result for beautiful puerto rico

    While work has begun on a film district in Puerto Rico, it is not expected to be complete until next Summer; however, films such as Bad Boys 2 and Fast Five and Captain America: Civil War have filmed on the island before.

    The studio has filed paperwork to shoot there under Pandemic Productions PR LLC.

  • EXCLUSIVE: SHANG-CHI Casting For Ring Announcers; Could Support Longstanding Tournament “Leak”

    Shang-Chi is preparing to begin filming after the new year and is currently casting a plethora of small, supporting roles. One such role, for a ringside fight announcer, might just support one a plot “leak” that appeared on Reddit just a short while ago. You can read a transcription of the now deleted leak below:

    An alien spaceship landed in China hundreds of years ago. The ship was powered by the Ten Rings, magical relics that all serve a different purpose. The rings were looted by a secret society known as the Avatars, which is led by a wise martial artist simply called the Ancestor. The Ancestor wore the rings and used them to become an expert fighter.

    The Mandarin grew up hearing about the ancestor’s story and was fascinated by it, despite everyone else believing it was just a myth. He began to idolize the Ancestor, and devoted his life to finding the rings. This inspired him to form his own mafia, which is the Ten Rings gang. Basically, the point of the gang is look for the rings all around the world. He adopted his niece, Fah Lo Suee (Awkwafina) and taught her martial arts.

    After years of investigation, he discovers that the legend of the ten rings are real, and that the Ancestor is dying. There was a leak a little while back that Shang-Chi is a tournament film, and that’s actually true. When the Ancestor dies, the Avatars will run a secret tournament/kung-fu trial in which the winner will be granted the rings. The Mandarin is too old to compete, and he doesn’t want to risk Fah Lo Suee’s life. That’s where Shang-Chi is going to come in.

    Shang is a street urchin who meets the Mandarin after he starts dating Fah. The Mandarin takes a liking in Shang and starts training him as his apprentice. His first task, as an act of gang initiation, is to kill Trevor for impersonating the Mandarin. People speculated that they would be related, but it will be more of a Walter White/Jesse Pinkman dynamic.

    When the tournament begins, the Mandarin will send Shang to win and get the rings for him. That’ll be the basic gist of the film pretty much. I know that defeating Fin Fang Foom will be an obstacle. Leiko Wu and Clive Reston will be in the movie as SHIELD agents who are investigating the Ten Rings gang. Shang-Chi will obviously betray the Mandarin and become a hero over the course of the film. He will get the ability to create multiple duplicates of himself. It will be an ‘Orphan Black’ situation, where each clone of himself has their own personality. So the fights will obviously be insane to witness.

    Marvel is casting Shang’s enemies in the tournament, and one of them will be a character named Chao.

    While I certainly can’t speak to the authenticity of every one of the plot points included in that “leak”, the fact that the film is currently searching for ringside fight announcers, combined with the prior knowledge that they were casting for several of Shang-Chi’s comic book kung-fu opponents could very well lend a bit of credibility to this leak and we may see an MCU version of the 90’s classic martial arts film, Bloodsport. As shocking as having Fin Fang Foom and the ability to create duplicates might seem, there is enough other evidence out there to support a dragon living in certain locations and it’s possible that one of the rings could grant Shang-Chi the power to create dupes.

    What are your thoughts on how likely this is to work out? Let me know in the comments!

  • Dwayne Johnson’s ‘BLACK ADAM’ Confirmed to Introduce Hawkgirl

    DC Entertainment’s Black Adam will mark the big screen debut of the Justice Society of America, a team that I can confirm will include Hawkgirl. The studio is casting for an actress, 20-30 years old, for the role in the film which will begin production in July of 2020.

    As I first reported in March, Black Adam will feature JSA members Hawkman, Atom Smasher and Stargirl. It was later reported that Doctor Fate and Isis will also be in the film, a report I can also confirm. However, many fans were left to speculate whether or not we’d also see some iteration of Hawkman’s ever present partner, Hawkgirl and now that speculation can be set to rest.

    The studio continues the search for for actors to fill the lead roles of Hawkman and Isis, as well as the supporting roles of Stargirl, Atom Smasher, Doctor Fate and, now, Hawkgirl. With the film expected to generate potential spinoff films for either the individual characters and/or the JSA, the studio is being patient as the potential cast members could very well lead their own franchises one day.

    Black Adam, which is expected in theaters on December 22, 2021, tells the story of a “champion turned villain whose quest for dominance over all magic drives him to destroy anything that stands in his path.”