Adam Warlock’s MCU debut has been a long time coming. A space weirdo with one of Marvel Comics most interesting histories, Warlock was teased in a post-credit scene to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and, played by Will Poulter, will make his debut in May’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In the comics, Warlock had strong connections to Thanos and was a major player in all the Infinity Gem business, including leading an eclectic team known as the Infinity Watch. With the Infinity Saga in the books, Warlock’s MCU path would seem to be headed in a much different direction.
That direction, however, may not be very clearly defined in Warlock’s debut. According to director James Gunn, while Warlock’s mission in the film seems pretty black and white (the Sovereign want the Guardians taken out), the character has quite a bit of learning to do about the way the universe works and may ultimately be a little more grey than the trailer makes him appear.
It’s kind of more complicated than that. But he’s definitely not a good guy. What we’re seeing is the infant form of Warlock, newly out of the cocoon, and he does not understand life very well. He’s basically a baby.
James Gunn
Will Poulter as Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, via Empire
When Poulter was cast as Warlock, the internet did a collective double-take as the young actor’s name wasn’t one tossed around in association with the role. “People online were saying, ‘Oh, Tom Cruise should be Adam Warlock,’”, said Gunn, who had his own ideas about what type of talent he wanted in the role. “I wanted somebody who was youthful,” explained Gunn, “and I wanted the person who had the dramatic chops and the comedic chops, not only for this movie but for what Marvel will use Adam Warlock for in the future.He could become this really important character.”
Of course, part of that future could ultimately be joining up with the Guardians, as his character has done in the comics. Gunn‘s made it clear that Vol. 3 is the last ride for this group and for him, but given the overwhelming popularity of the franchise, it’s hard to imagine Marvel Studios letting everyone ride off into the sunset and closing up shop on the Guardians.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to hit theaters May 5th.
William Jackson Harper has become an overwhelmingly popular fan choice to play Reed Richards in Marvel Studios Fantastic Four. As casting for that project is still ongoing, however, Harper found himself another role in the MCU in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and a great new look at his character has been released via Empire.
According to Empire, Harper is playing an telepathic inhabitant of the Quantum Realm named Quaz. Also featured in the photo is Jantorra, played by Katy M. O’Brian, the leader of the Freedom Fighters who look to reclaim their homeland from Kang the Conqueror. Putting two and two together, it would seem that Quaz is a member of Jantorra’s group.
William Jackson Harper as Quaz in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, via Empire
Officially revealing the name of Harper’s character probably won’t stop the speculation that he’s playing a major Marvel character. His character’s name surfaced online some time ago, driving speculation that Harper was playing one of Marvel Comics great Cosmic heroes, Quasar. Speculation has also continued that Quaz is actually Reed Richards and that that the Fantastic Four have been trapped in the Quantum Realm since the 1960s. In all likelihood, Harper’s Quaz is probably just an original character developed by Marvel Studios for the film in place of a group of characters from the comics known as The Micronauts. Due to right’s issues, Marvel Studios cannot use the characters though they appeared in the pages of Marvel Comics. Much like Jantorra’s Freedom Fighters, The Micronauts sought to liberate their homeworld from a vile despot (Baron Karza), so it would seem they may have served as inspiration for the group in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
One of Marvel Comics most compelling villains, Kang the Conqueror, is finally set to make his MCU debut but maybe not in the franchise anyone would have ever expected. Jonathan Majors‘ Kang, a Variant of his He Who Remains seen in Season 1 of Loki, will debut in Marvel Studios’ smaller franchises in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Much has been made about the severe threat Kang poses and the juxtaposition of his debut occurring in a very humor-heavy franchise. Nobody at Marvel Studios is pulling any punches about it, either, making it very clear that Lang is heavily outmatched against the warlord. Given the unlikely scenario, one might wonder how the pairing ever came to be and the answer lies with writer Jeff Loveness.
While speaking with Empire about the upcoming film, Loveness detailed the genesis of the unlikely combo. “The first discussion we had was, ‘What if Ant-Man is accidentally in an Avengers movie by himself?‘”, said Loveness. Kevin Feige’s belief that it was time for Ant-Man to “take his position at the front of the podium” and kick off Phase 5 certainly called for a shift in the direction of the franchise and Loveness’ decision to write an Avengers film minus the Avengers represent just that. They also add to the sense of urgency and despair that fans are already feeling after the latest trailer showed Scott Lang in a world of hurt.
Given Kang’s desire to escape the Quantum Realm and get to conquering and the fact that the next Avengers’ film is subtitled The Kang Dynasty certainly doesn’t give the impression that things will end well for the Ant-Family, however, Lang is used to being the underdog and may still have trick or two up his sleeves when Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17th.
Nearly two years ago during the press junket for WandaVision, Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige was asked if he could clarify when the studio’s Phase 4 would come to an end. Whether because he wasn’t sure at the time or because he was keeping it to himself, Feige simply answered, “No.” It wasn’t until a year and a half later, during SDCC ’22, that fans finally learned that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would end Phase 4 and that the studio had chosen a surprising film to launch Phase 5: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. With its release date just over a month away, the hype machine for the film has been switched on and fans are starting to realize that the third installment in the Ant-Man franchise won’t be the palate cleanser its two predecessors were. This one is big–really big–and will “have a significant impact on the future of the MCU” according to producer Stephan Broussard. How did the Ant-Man find himself in such a prominent position in Phase 5? According to Kevin Feige, he “earned” it.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania isn’t just kicking off Phase 5, it’s also playing a major role in advancing the the shared narrative of the Multiverse Saga, similar to how Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War moved along the plot of the Infinity Saga. Having a character like Scott Lang’s Ant-Man leading the way might seem surprising, but in an interview with Empire, Feige revealed why now was the time for Ant-Man to carry the torch.
We wanted to kick off Phase Five with Ant-Man because he’d earned that position. To not simply be the back-up or the comic relief, but to take his position at the front of the podium of the MCU.
The One-Above-All
While Lang my seem “jokey”, he played a major role in the events of Avengers: Endgame and has certainly done his fair share or super-heroing. With Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America and Iron Man gone and no team of Avengers assembled, Lang’s status in the world has shifted (as seen in the trailers) and now so does the franchise’s status within the MCU.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania opens on February 17th.
Fans of the award-winning video game franchise, The Last of Us, have been anticipating the arrival of the HBO Max streaming series since word of the project first circulated in late 2020. Led by Pedro Pascal, Anna Torv, and Bella Ramsey, the adaptation kicked off with an 80-minute first episode that covered a lot of ground (55 years to be exact), most of which was incredibly familiar to fans of the game and has fans of the game pretty fired up for more. But what about your average outsider? As a certified outsider, I have a lot of questions about just what the hell is happening at the end of the world in The Last of Us.
Science!
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann came out swinging with some heavy science in the show’s opening scene. The science showdown between Quintus and The Swede was legit but it also really felt like HBO did a test screening of some portion of the series with a group of average IQ types and realized that without an explanation of what was going to happen 15 minutes later, they would have way too many questions. Then they went ahead and loaded it up with so much science that they may just have further confused the average IQ types. Fans of The Walking Dead spent several seasons trying to figure out how the end of the world began before getting over it, so at least there was some effort here.
D-Day
Pretty standard stuff for the day the music died, really. Pedro Pascal‘s Joel seems like a real dawg and the stuff with his daughter, Sarah, clearly exists to make you sad soon and open a spot in Joel’s heart later. Outside of that, Joel’s brother (that’s Gabriel Luna?!) is a rowdy Army dude–seems important. The Mycelium Mouths are just simply terrifying. Thankfully, Quintus’ pre-present-day exposition allowed for some understanding of how an otherwise decrepit old lady could become a WMD…oh my God he smashed her skull with a pipe wrench! Thankfully the failed escape attempt didn’t go on too long (I want to see what was going on in that plane; I feel like it was World War Z-level action with the Mycelium Mouths).
As the D-Day stuff comes to a close, it seems pretty clear that the only necessary piece was the death of Sarah. As the audience makes the jump 20 years into the future, there’s no understanding of how or why the Mycelium Mouths came to be, only that they did, leaving us to imagine that Sarah’s death will mark the beginning of Joel’s origin story as “The Governor” of some post-apocalyptic civilization.
What Are Fireflies? What a Mouthy Brat!
Joel is just…a grunt? He should be running this DMZ but instead, he’s willing to burn bodies and work in the sewers? All these FEDRA people are faceless goons and someone kicked the shit out of I-didn’t-recognize-her-but-that’s Anna Torv. Obviously, these Fireflys are a big deal; that brat they have chained up is mouthy as hell. If you’re already chaining her up, add a modified Hannibal Lecter mask to keep her from talking unless you need her to. Where’s a wight giant when you need one? I adored the abstract art on the wall in the subway tunnel; I could have stared at the blown-up Mycelium Mouth all day trying to figure out exactly what I was looking at.
Joel and Agent Dunham are sneaky! Joel’s brother is now estranged…hopefully Joel reminds him that he’d likely be dead if he hadn’t bailed him out of jail…and that Sarah would probably not have been shot and killed if Joel hadn’t spent the time bailing him out. At this point in the series, it’s tough to accept swapping out sweet Sarah, who fixed her Dad’s watch for his birthday, with the abrasive, vulgar Ellie but she’s apparently the Mycelium Messiah, so I guess she’s going to fill that hole in Joel’s heart with all sorts of cuss words.
The biggest outstanding question at the moment is why Joel is so terrifying. I assumed his 20 years of experience would have included murdering his way to the top of some group of survivors so he could lead a revolution against the government that took his daughter away from him. Murders, maybe some light torture, and developing some mild psychoses; instead, he’s just a dude who while resourceful, would seem to be no more or less threatening than any other dude. Surely his war vet brother would be scarier.
Next!
It seems like most of the people in this episode were faceless because we’ll never see them again now that Joel, Tess, and Ellie left the zone. Though it was nothing extraordinary, the closing shot of the episode worked as a really great tease for me. The thought of them heading into a completely ruined city full of loud, screechy noises might not be Rick riding into Atlanta on his high horse, but it definitely portends bad things man, I mean bad things…
Experiencing The Last of Us never gets any easier. It’s a painful, heartbreaking story that might feel gratuitous if it wasn’t so devastatingly good. Of course, the difficulty involved with balancing so much grief with a storytelling necessity for actual payoff is a huge reason why the game was so beloved, but it’s not a task so easily accomplished. That’s why, as with any adaptation of an iconic video game, fans were likely terrified of a live-action series that would fumble the chance to convey this unicorn act to a wider audience. Luckily for them, HBO’s revamped take on Naughty Dog’s 2013 classic hits all the same marks as its predecessor in a shockingly faithful premiere episode that even manages to improve on a few key moments in the franchise’s lore.
The series’ first 80-minutes are essentially broken up into two segments – a 20-minute prologue detailing Outbreak Day and the origins of the Cordyceps takeover, followed by a proper hour that introduces viewers to the show’s post-apocalyptic world and its grungy cast of characters. Truthfully, it’s hard to remember the last time a major adaptation converted its source material from format-to-format with such pinpoint precision. The story beats are all almost exactly the same, with the episode only straying from what previously existed in brief efforts to expand upon what fans were already expecting. Normally, a word-for-word translation could prove costly for a series of this caliber, but The Last of Us is, quite frankly, not normal.
Perhaps it’s because the video game previously existed as a somewhat cinematic experience, but the show’s surprising method of sticking to what works is admirable for multiple reasons. The obvious positive is that The Last of Us is still The Last of Us, and not an entirely new tale riding the original’s credibility. Those who played the games and loved them will be thrilled to see certain scenes play out exactly as they did on their PlayStations nearly a decade ago; those who are witnessing this story for the first time can take comfort in the fact they’re not “missing” anything the former group has raved about for years. As mentioned before, The Last of Us is special in large part because of its emotional tight-rope act, and series creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin clearly don’t want to mess with that wildly effective formula.
Both Mazin and Druckmann stated before the series premiered that there would be new elements and expanded segments throughout the story’s retelling, and the colossal first episode wastes no time in proving this to be true. Viewers are quickly treated to a 1960s cold open explaining the science behind Cordyceps, and a much longer tenure with Nico Parker’s Sarah and the pre-apocalypse Miller family. Thankfully, neither of these bits wear out their welcome and actually end up serving the overall plot rather well. Parker is so likable in her elongated stint on the show that Sarah’s ultimate demise becomes all-the-more tear-jerking, while the eventual collapse of society is made far more upsetting after an incredibly stressful sequence involving the Miller’s neighbors that will likely qualify as one of the most tensity-filled television scenes of the year.
Among the show’s greatest achievements, thus far, is how successful it is at conveying the brutality of The Last of Us without most of the gut-wrenching action. This is accredited mostly to the brilliance of the cast. Pedro Pascal‘s Joel and Anna Torv‘s Tess are more delicate than ever before, stripped of their near-superhuman survival abilities in a slightly more realistic version of the apocalypse than the game was allowed to portray. As such, the series is forced to show their capabilities through smaller moments, leaning heavily on the dramatic aspects of the story, and both performers are adept at meeting the challenge. Bella Ramsey, the biggest question mark leading into the series’ premiere, is outstanding. The most important part of bringing existing characters to life is capturing their essence, which they have in spades. The same goes for Gabriel Luna as Tommy, and, obviously, Merle Dandridge‘s Marlene.
All-in-all, it would appear that HBO has a bona fide hit on their hands.The Last of Us recaptures magic in a bottle, mixing sorrowful, awe-inducing set pieces with the damaging beauty of the human condition, and finally revealing to the greater world why they should be so invested in the journey of Joel and Ellie. The premiere does an excellent job of pacing itself through its own expository chapter and leaves off on an intriguing-enough note that promises a thrill ride when viewers return next week. If the first episode is any indication, newcomers to the franchise are in for a treat, and longtime fans should be excited about what they already know comes next.
One Piece‘s live-action adaptation will offer a new take on the iconic manga from Eiichiro Oda. We were lucky to follow the production with various set photos that teased larger-than-life production. They are using real boats to showcase some iconic iconography from the original series, and we’re still anxiously awaiting a first look at the costumes of the various actors.
While joining the One Piece community discussing the last year, showrunner Matt Owens got the opportunity to offer some minor tidbits on what to expect. In it, he revealed that his new favorite character from the live-action adaptation is Mihawk, played by Steven Ward.
I will say that my favorite character in the live-action is Mihawk. I will say that.
Matt Owens
Of course, he doesn’t really give away any details or why he’s enjoyed the character but YouTuber Rogersbase did add a bit, as he had the opportunity to visit the set some time ago.
I will say, I understand why Matt be saying that. I will also say that I think there is a story arc that when we get to it, people are going to be very impressed with how that story arc turns out, and looks in live-action.
Rogersbase
The YouTuber highlights that “he has complete faith now” after having had a chance to see the set from the arc that he is teasing. Of course, this led to many speculating what exactly he is referencing, but it seems like there’s a lot to be excited bout in how they bring this project to life. Owens did tease that we’ll get an update “very soon“ so we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see what the project has to offer.
There’s always a heated discussion online about the relevance of remaking something in live-action. Some believe that these projects should remain in their original format, but there’s also an opportunity for these adaptations to draw in a completely new audience. That is something that showrunner Matt Owens seemingly believes with his adaptation of One Piece for Netflix and Tomorrow Studios.
While being asked about the upcoming live-action adaptation, Owens got an opportunity to highlight what he and his co-showrunner Steve Maeda hope to accomplish with this show, and that is to establish this “as an entry point.” A series like One Piece consists of 1,000+ chapters and just as many anime episodes. So, it’s not an easy show to just jump into, but that is something Netflix’s One Piece can offer.
We want to be able to use this as an entry point. We’ve all had experiences trying to get people into this who aren’t that are like: “How many chapters is it? How many episodes is the anime?” So, to be able to offer this as a new and different entry point. See, now you can jump in. Now, you can see what we were talking about.
Matt Owens
It’s an ambitious goal and also reflects how much care is going into this project from everyone involved. They highlight that the cast, crew, and anyone working on the project loves or fell in love with the series, ensuring they want to bring it fully to life. There’s always a challenge with adapting an animated project into live-action, but the team gives a lot of hope.
There’s also the fact that some people simply don’t care for animation. Hollywood still struggles to highlight that animation is an art form and not just something for children. Guillermo del Toro highlighted this fact once again during his speech after winning for Pinocchio. Yet, some might not be interested to jump into an animated project or read a manga. So, the live-action project may give them that entry window to give it a chance after all.
One Piece is among Netflix’s biggest and most ambitious releases for 2023 (if it does) but with no real update for quite some time, there’s a lot of hope that it’s only the calm before the storm. Showrunners Matt Owens and Steve Maeda are still hard at work bringing an iconic world created by mangaka Eiichiro Oda to life and also trying to avoid the usual pitfalls of anime or manga adaptations.
There is, however, one major difference with the creative team this time around, as they are quite proactive in the fan bases for this franchise. Owens has recently participated in the Reverie, an ongoing meeting between One Piece content creators, where he offered a tiny but hopeful glimpse into what’s heading our way with this ambitious project. While he couldn’t give away any details or drop any reveals, he has given hope that an update is just around the corner.
During the live cast, he revealed that “you’ll have something new to see very soon.” The wording seemingly implies that we’re not only getting an update on casting, but perhaps we’ll actually get more from the set or even the cast in their iconic costumes. Of course, there could be the potential of a teaser trailer of some kind, but it may also be too early to say given that strongly depends on when the series may release on Netflix. Either way, it’s a great way to hint that we won’t have to wait too much longer until we get an update on where the series currently stands.
Things have calmed down quite a bit on the shore of the One Piece live-action series since production wrapped up some months ago. Tomorrow Studios and Netflix are working on what may be one of their most ambitious adaptations yet, as the original series by Eiichiro Oda is quite a bit different from the more grounded stories of Death Note and even Cowboy Bebop. The world includes a wide variety of creatures, cultures, and environments that are out of this world.
There’s always some worry with live-action translations that cartoony elements may not make it into these adaptations. While visual effects have come a long way, there are still some limitations or even creatives who might be shy about fully embracing that wacky concept. Luckily, showrunner Matt Owens revealed that this series is definitely going to “look like the One Piece world” during his participation in the yearly One Piece community-driven live-cast known as the Reverie.
The world is going to look like the One Piece world, that is what it is. Are characters going to have razor-sharp teeth when they get mad? No, we won’t have that but elements that make the One Piece world what it is, we’re not shying away from it.
Matt Owens
For long-time fans, this is a releasing statement to hear, especially with just how creative some of the islands become that we see in the series are. It also makes sense that we won’t be seeing the usual anime tropes for the various reaction shots, but it’s great to know that once we hit the Grand Line, there’s going to be a lot of chaos awaiting this new take on the Straw Hat pirates.
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