Murphy's Multiverse

Blog

  • New Report Clarifies Marvel Studios 2023 Streaming Plans

    New Report Clarifies Marvel Studios 2023 Streaming Plans

    Less than one year ago, Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, rolled out a fully loaded Multiverse Saga to the thunderous applause of fans at SDCC ’22. That slate included 9 total projects slated for release in 2023: 4 films (Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvel and Blade) and 5 streaming series (Secret Invasion, Echo, Loki Season 2, Ironheart and Agatha: Coven of Chaos). Halfway through halfway through the year–that’s one quarter to you and me–that slate has already been blown all to hell and the pieces haven’t been Humpty-dumptied back together again.

    Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, which kicked off Marvel Studios 2023 as planned, was supposed to be followed by the Spring release of Secret Invasion. Spring has now sprung and though there are solid rumors of a June release of the series, there has been no word from Disney as to when fans will actually be able to check out the Nick Fury-centric spy thriller on Disney Plus. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which was originally slated to follow Secret Invasion, will make its May 5, 2023 release date; however, Echo, which was scheduled for a post-Guardians Summer release, has been subject to some pretty wild production rumors and, according to showrunner Marion Dayre, was pushed to late 2023.

    Those moves began the cascade of moves that resulted in 2023’s slate devolving into chaos. Delaying the release of Secret Invasion caused the second season of Loki to be pushed back as well; Blade brought on one–and then another–new writer and a new director and was moved to 2024; The Marvels left its late July slot for Blade’s November slot, giving it more time in post-production and a better release window; with all the other series shuffling around, Ironheart and Agatha: Coven of Chaos seem destined to be moved to 2024. Dominoes. And almost a quarter of the way through 2023, Marvel Studios fans have absolutely no idea when they’ll be able to catch a streaming series on Disney Plus.

    While that might not be remedied any time soon, a new report from Variety does at least seem to clarify how many projects fans can expect to stream in 2023…sort of. According to Variety’s sources, the five series that were planned to stream this year (Secret Invasion, Echo, Loki, Ironheart and Agatha: Coven of Chaos), “have been narrowed to three or four” and whichever ones don’t make the cut will be “moving into 2024 and possibly beyond.” With Secret Invasion and Loki sure bets for 2023 and Dayre’s statement about a potential late-2023 release of Echo lining up with recent rumblings, the “three” part of “three of four” seems set. Will Marvel Studios try to jam another live-action series into the second half of 2023? If so, Ironheart would be the safest bet given that Agatha: Coven of Chaos is still filming and would not be done any favors be being rushed through post-production to make a 2023 release. So what’s the safest bet at the moment: rounding out 2023 with Secret Invasion, Season 2 of Loki and Echo. What Marvel Studios will do beyond that remains to be seen and until they give us some direction, it’s best to keep things speculative and not etched in stone.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Sets Its Sights on a Franchise Best Opening Weekend

    ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ Sets Its Sights on a Franchise Best Opening Weekend

    Following the lackluster opening weekend of Shazam: Fury of the Gods, it looks like the Baba Yaga’s fourth big-screen adventure is set to kick ass at the box office. After getting glowing advace reviews that resulted in a 94% Fresh Rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a Metascore of 78, John Wick: Chapter 4 is setting up to have the franchise’s best opening weekend take.

    The franchise has always outperformed expectations, with each sequel significantly outperforming its predecessor at the box office. The three previous installments opened to $14M, $30.4M and $56.8M, respectively, and the trend looks to continue with the fourth film currently looking at a domestic opening weekend estimate of $70M and over $100M worldwide. Such a global opening would mean much of the film’s $100M production budget would be covered in the first three days of its theatrical window.

    The universe of John Wick is rapidly expanding with theatrical and streaming spinoffs planned but there seems to be no hint at waning interest from the audience. Perhaps superhero fatigure is real, but John Wick is tireless.

    Source: Variety

  • Beau DeMayo Sets the Scene for ‘X-Men ’97’ Season One

    Beau DeMayo Sets the Scene for ‘X-Men ’97’ Season One

    As Disney continues to delay Marvel Studios 2023 streaming slate, on project that was recently said to still be headed to the service this year is X-Men ’97. A revival of the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men ’97 was announced during 2021’s Disney Plus Day and the first ten-episode season has always been framed as starting right where X-Men: The Animated Series left off. During the recent X-Men: 60 Uncanny Years Live Virtual Event, X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo addressed that possibility and gave some insight into what to expect from the new show.

    “We’re gonna be picking up about several months after Professor X left Earth after being shot by Henry Gyrich and had to return to the Shi’ar homeworld to be with Lilandra,” DeMayo said of where X-Men ’97 begins. Gyrich’s attempted assassination of Xavier was broadcast for the whole world to see, something DeMayo says will come into play in the new season. “And what ends up happening is that assassination attempt has led to this wave of increased sympathy towards mutants and understanding.” What does that mean for the X-Men, who were used to being hunted and hated? According to DeMayo, it’s a more positive outlook than they’re used to and that will be an adjustment.

    Despite the friends of humanity still having their mullets and getting all up in it, things are really starting to look up for mutants. And this is gonna kind of come to a head and leads our X-Men to say, ‘What does our future hold for us? We weren’t expecting this.

    Beau DeMayo

    Not everyone on the team sees the same opportunity, however. According to DeMayo, Cyclops and Storm want to take charge in the absence of Charles and “carry on the dream”, something Magneto is intent on doing with them, while others see it as a chance to move on. Either way, X-Men ’97 is about facing the future, according to the showrunner.

    As the X-Men are kind of looking at the future and, we’re going to be talking a lot about this, ‘How do you face the future? How do the X-Men do what they’ve been telling humanity to do for decades, which is embrace the future?

    Beau DeMayo

    Will fans get to pick up the old storyline this year? Marvel Studios has yet to make anything official and recent rumblings have suggested that yet another release date shuffle may have taken place. So until you tune in for the first episode of the new season, don’t count your chickens.

    Source: Marvel Unlimited via The Direct

  • REVIEW: ‘The Bad Batch’ Pushes Clone Force 99 to a Tipping Point

    REVIEW: ‘The Bad Batch’ Pushes Clone Force 99 to a Tipping Point

    The last several episodes of The Bad Batch have been the best of the show’s second season and really put a lot of balls in the air for the audience to keep track of as it quickly reaches its two-part finale next week. Doctor Royce Hemlock was brought in as the creepy, new big bad, Hunter, Wrecker, Tech and Omega seemed to find themselves a safe haven and Crosshair finally saw the light. Though it was all pretty by the book, Episode 14, Tipping Point, did its best to redirect all the balls in the air in the same direction ahead of the season’s end.

    The episode had the unenviable job of ensuring all the key players would make it to the stadium on time for next week’s dual episodes, The Summit and Plan 99. Rex and Echo’s mission to rescue wayward and discarded clones led them to encounter a ship transporting several clone prisoners and a commander who was in a huge hurry to delete any and all information concerning where they were headed and why. Echo recovered what he could which led him to Pabu where he needed Tech’s help to decrypt what he had which led the whole happy family to discover Crosshair was now a prisoner of Doctor Hemlock and had sent them a warning and now all the disparate threads are heading toward denouement. As I said, by the book… but it works.

    Emerie Karr in a scene from “STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH”, season 2 exclusively on Disney+. © 2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

    While Hemlock’s plans for the clones are still a bit mysterious, the show overtly foreshadowed that the audience will find soon enough. During his meeting with Hemlock, Tarkin tells the doctor he expects a “full briefing at the summit.” While it’s unclear what the summit is, who will be there and where it will be held, it is clear that Episode 15 is titled The Summit which means Hemlock will likely get to monologue about his intentions for the decommissioned clones. Whatever his plans may be, Omega seems key to them and Crosshair’s warning to the rest of Clone Force 99 seems as though it will place Omega directly in harm’s way. But is Emerie Karr fully on board with Hemlock’s plans?

    Though the ending of Tipping Point does its best to make it unclear if Hunter and company will put together a rescue mission for Crosshair, it wouldn’t be The Bad Batch if Clone Force 99 didn’t band together to rescue one of their own. What is unclear, however, is just what the cost will be for the group who had begun to settle in a coalesce as a family and what they’ll find waiting for them when they go up against the sheisty and crafty Doctor Hemlock.

  • REVIEW: ‘The Mandalorian’ Manages to Do a Lot with Little Time

    REVIEW: ‘The Mandalorian’ Manages to Do a Lot with Little Time

    As expected, Chapter 20 of The Mandalorian, The Foundling, did indeed continue to provide further glimpses into the tragic past of Grogu; additionally, despite its short runtime it also managed to further develop the increasingly interesting arc of Bo-Katan Kryze. The episode, written by Dave Filoni and directed by Carl Weathers, also serves as a reminder of how good fans of Star Wars have it these days. Packed with Mandalorians screaming across the sky in their jet packs while taking on a giant bird of prey, The Foundling features the kind of action fans of the original trilogy only dreamt of as children of the ’70s and ’80s.

    It’s important for the audience of the series to keep in mind that, to some extent, The Mandalorian was borne of the dreams of a pair of ’70s and ’80s children. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni grew up fans of the original trilogy, playing with their Kenner toys and imagining all the stories that George Lucas didn’t have time to tell in those films. Those imaginings have grown and with age and practice in storytelling have become the foundations of a world unto itself–a world within the world they grew up adoring–where dozens of Mandalorians are training, unbeknownst to them at the moment, to take back their ancestral homeworld. That homeworld that feels so familiar, the cultural rifts that fractured it and that make Bo-Katan’s adoption by the Tribe feel so awkward, and all the mythology that goes along with it…for the most part, that’s Favreau and Filoni building an empire on a few bread crumbs.

    (L-R): Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), the Armorer (Emily Swallow), Paz Vizsla (Tait Fletcher) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season three, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    Now a member of the Children of the Watch and, apparently, taking that privilege very seriously, Bo-Katan’s progress is the true center of the episode. Though Katee Sackhoff recently indicated that Bo-Katan might be just fine following rather than leading, the character, by her own admission, has always been good at war. And so, Bo-Katan eagerly led a war party into battle against a massive and incredibly Star Wars-y raptor to save the life of Ragnar, a Mandalorian foundling and the son of Paz Vizsla. It shouldn’t be lost on the audience that clans Kryze and Vizsla were among the most prominent and powerful of Mandalore’s past. Though Paz and the rest of the Children of the Watch never accepted Bo-Katan’s claim as ruler of Mandalore, a potential alliance between the two–and all the different twists and turns it might provide room for–will be worth watching.

    Bo-Katan’s time in battle also allowed her to spend some one-on-one time with the Armorer as she replaced her shoulder pauldron. After seeing the mythosaur in Chapter 18, Bo-Katan had, until now, chosen to keep that information to herself. As Sackhoff explained in an interview, the character wasn’t entirely sure she believed what she saw and, therefore, was hesitant to share out.

    She doesn’t trust necessarily what she saw. She might have thought that she imagined it. There’s so many things that she’s trying to process in her head that I don’t necessarily think that it’s something that she wants to tell anyone about right now.

    Katee Sackhoff

    By choosing to reveal what she saw to the Armorer while also choosing to adorn her new pauldron with the mythosaur signet, Bo-Katan is making the choice to commit to the covert…and The Way. While there’s still likely to be plenty of awkward moments, Bo-Katan has come a long, long way since she was seen pouting on her throne as the ruler of nothing.

    (L-R): Grogu and Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) with stone crabs in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season three, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    While Bo-Katan’s journey was the meat, The Foundling also provided some potatoes by revealing a little more about how Grogu survived the massacre at the Jedi Temple following Order 66. As he’s apt to do, Filoni brought a non-canon character into the canon, this time in the form of Jedi Kelleran Beq. Played by Jar Jar Binks voice actor Ahmed Best, Beq was the host and main character of the now-canceled game show Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge. Beq’s rescue of Grogu gave the character a chance to show off the legendary lightsaber skills that earned him the nickname “The Sabered Hand” as he worked with some of Naboo’s finest to get youngling Gorgu off Coruscant. However, as Favreau recently indicated that he could go on making seasons of The Mandalorian forever, the episode left plenty of room to tell more of Grogu’s journey as this portion ended with him and Beq escaping into hyperspace.

    The advancements to Grogu’s plot in real time are more significant, however. Having chosen to return to Din Djarin as a Mandalorian foundling, Grogu now has to learn what it means to walk The Way of The Mand’alor. And so, the episode sees Grogu begin his training by going up against fellow foundling Ragnar. Grogu uses The Force to help him defeat Ragnar in his training exercise shortly before Ragnar is picked off by the raptor. While there wasn’t much time to explore his feelings, it’s likely that Ragnar didn’t take too kindly to the defeat. While he hasn’t been developed much, Ragnar has had quite a bit of screentime which means his story–and how it intersects with Grogu’s–is certainly not done.

    The Foundling certainly has all the earmarks of an episode that will undoubtedly pay major dividends down the road. For all the preemptive hand-wringing online about the episode’s short runtime, Chapter 20 of The Mandalorian may ultimately be remembered as a key chapter in the series.

  • ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Set Photo Reveals a Potentially Shocking Development

    ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Set Photo Reveals a Potentially Shocking Development

    UPDATE: Some great detective work by one of our Patreon mods has turned up the fact that the sign on the church has read “March 15, 2020” since June 2022. It seems likely that the sign is not part of the shoot and does not indicate the series will take place in 2020.

    Photos and videos from the Harlem set of Daredevil: Born Again have been coming fast and furious and clues about the series have come a long with them. A 70s-set flashback will explore a time in the life of a young Wilson Fisk, for example, and now a new set photo reveals yet another time period that will be explored.

    Charlie Cox‘s Matt Murdock was spotted on the set of Daredevil: Born Again and appeared to be following a young woman down a street of brownstones. A church on the block was also part of the set and a photo shared by Daredevil Updates shows that the bulletin board on the front t if the building dates the scene in 2020!

    Assuming there’s no mistake or trickery here, the date indicates that at least part of Daredevil: Born Again is set during the five years between Thanos’ snap and the Hulk’s snapback. Fans have theorized that the show may be set during that time period after learning that Deborah Ann Woll and Eldon Henson weren’t returning for the show. Being set in 2020 would allow for an easy explanation for the absence of their characters: they were Snapped!

    The events of Season 3 of Daredevil are widely believed to have taken place before the Battle of Wakanda shown in Avengers: Endgame so to date, Matt Murdock’s experiences during the 5 year Blip have yet to be explored. Could the entire show be set during that time period? It’s unlikely mostly because of the rumored connection between the events of Echo, which is known to take place in the present day of the MCU, and Daredevil: Born Again.

    More than likely, the scene is one of a series of flashbacks that will be used to fill in blanks in what the audience knows about Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk as they begin their MCU journey together.

  • More Mando! Jon Favreau May Never Stop Making New Seasons of the Streaming Series

    More Mando! Jon Favreau May Never Stop Making New Seasons of the Streaming Series

    As the third season of The Mandalorian approaches the halfway point, preparations for production of a fourth season are already underway. Jon Favreau has confirmed he’s written the scripts for Season 4, which is reportedly shooting this Fall, which will continue to tale of Din Djarin and his Mandalorian foundling, Grogu. But how long will that tale continue? According to Favreau, forever is on the table.

    In an interview with EW, Favreau was asked how many seasons of the show he could potentially create. “I’m having a blast, and I love working with Dave [Filoni], and I love how the characters develop over time,” he said. “I also love that there are other stories now being told in that same time period, like Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew.“ Those shows, set in the same New Republic era as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, look set to play major roles in whatever overarching story Favreau has in mind for Grogu and Din and working with the creators of those shows has been integral to his continued enjoyment behind the scenes of The Mandalorian.

    I really have been enjoying this tremendously and I love these characters and I love seeing how they’re growing together. I’ve really enjoyed working with this group of people and I love collaborating with all these different filmmakers and different storytellers, both from the directors we work with, and other showrunners like Dave and, and others like [Skeleton Crew’s] Jon Watts and Chris Ford.

    Jon Favreau

    Favreau further explained that his timeline for wrapping up The Mandalorian is pretty deeply tied to how much he enjoys making it and it sounds like he’s having the time of his life.

    I don’t know what would make me not enjoy doing it, especially as long as the audience is connecting with these characters. This feels like a really enjoyable moment. And I love this format of telling one chapter at a time and keeping the audience guessing, but also fulfilling certain expectations.

    Jon Favreau

    The enjoyment of the audience and their knowledge of the goings on in the galaxy far, far away obviously carry some weight with Favreau and are taken into consideration when developing the stories that shape this corner of the Star Wars universe.

    Now it feels like there’s a larger context for me to understand. Because we just knew what happened after [The Mandalorian], and we knew what happened before, and there’s a lot to draw upon from additional stories that were told outside of what’s considered official canon now, but is held very dearly to the fans who’ve been at it for decades. And so we like to take all of that into consideration.

    Jon Favreau

    Creating new characters and stories that continue to world build one of the most popular and successful franchises in the world on a week-by-week basis certainly wasn’t what anyone expected following the completion of the sequel trilogy, but it is what’s working best for Lucasfilm with Star Wars right now. And, more importantly, Favreau and the talented crew of collaborators he’s assembled enjoy it and keep coming back for more.

    It’s a really wonderful format, and you really grow to appreciate having such a good team around you that, for each new film, you would have to assemble. But [with The Mandalorian] we get to inherit this great group of talented people that we could work with every year.

    Jon Favreau

    It sounds as though the tales of Grogu and Din are in good hands and will continue to be spun for the foreseeable future.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly

  • First Look at Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone from the Set of ‘The Penguin’

    First Look at Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone from the Set of ‘The Penguin’

    The HBO Max streaming series The Penguin will see Colin Farrell suit back up as Oz Cobblepot and navigate a Gotham in chaos following the events of 2022’s The Batman. It’s been reported that the series will take place almost immediately after the final act of The Batman and a new batch of set photos may prove just that.

    The new photos not only provide the first clear look at Cristin Milioti‘s Sofia Falcone but also seem to be taken outside of a church. Sofia’s father, Gotham crime boss Carmine Falcone, was murdered in The Batman so it’s possible the scene filmed today is his funeral. The photos also seem to confirm that Berto Colon has joined the cast as an associate of Falcone’s.

    Farrell was on set for the potential funeral as well. Given Cobblepot’s less than stellar opinion of Falcone and his involvement with him on the night of his death, it’s safe to assume he won’t be getting along well with Sofia and her brother Alberto, played by Michael Zegan.

    https://twitter.com/assisteagora/status/1638247442641481750?t=ImtVzM9oJ740ueR9LgGjDA&s=19

    The Penguin currently has no time table for release but should be ready to stream by mid-2024.

  • Latest ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ BTS Pics Show Matt Murdock in Action

    Latest ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ BTS Pics Show Matt Murdock in Action

    The Harlem set of Daredevil: Born Again has been fruitful for fans who love to study set photos. A 70’s set flashback scene revealed that the series will be revisiting Wilson Fisk’s younger days, an era that was already well-fleshed out in Netflix’s Daredevil. Now, the same set has been transformed into the MCU’s present day and star Charlie Cox has been spotted walking along a sidewalk in front of some brownstones. Thrilling stuff!

    There’s absolutely no context to these shots at the moment but fans can’t get enough pictures of Cox. Cox was also captured this week sharing a scene with new co-star Nikki M. James likely following a court case.

    The plot of the 18-episode series is being kept under wraps but it’s known that Jon Bernthal is set to reprise his role as Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, for a portion of the series. He’ll join Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio as stars who made the jump from the Netflix series. Eldon Henson and Deborah Ann Woll are not expected to return and Ayelet Zurer, who played Vanessa Fisk, will not return as Sandrine Holt has now been cast in the role.

  • First ‘Captain America 4’ BTS Pics Feature Anthony Mackie on Location

    First ‘Captain America 4’ BTS Pics Feature Anthony Mackie on Location

    With all the attention focused on Daredevil: Born Again, Captain America: New World Order quietly began production on location in Atlanta this week. The first set photos from the film show Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson visiting a West Virginia diner.

    The new film will be the fourth installment in the Captain America franchise and the first big screen outing for Mackie’s Wilson since he took on the mantle in the Disney Plus streaming series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Rumors have the plot of the film revolving around the discovery of Adamantium on the body of the Celestial Tiamut and a world going to war over the precious resource.

    The photos seem to show work being completed on an unfinished set of a location called Smyth’s Diner which is a location that has been visited in the pages of Marvel Comics in 1991’s The Adventures of Captain America #2.

    Location filming is expected to continue throughout the week and expect Mackie to be joined by co-star Danny Ramirez who will be reprising his role and Joaquin Torres and suiting up as the Falcon.

    Captain America: New World Order was co-written by Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson and will be directed by Julius Onah. The film is currently slated for a May 3, 2024 theatrical release.

    Source: Just Jared