2022 has been a great year for Sony Pictures. Superhero-wise however, 2022 has not been the best year for Sony. While they’ve seen some successes, their latest attempt at expanding their Spider-Man franchise, wasn’t quite what they hoped for. Spider-Man: No Way Home made a major splash at the box office when it was released a year ago, but Mobius tanked at the box office. Not just that, the internet created an “It’s Morbin’ Time” joke that made them believe they could give the film some extra box office legs but ended up failing even worse.
So, while we have various other spinoff series in some form of development, all eyes are on the next Tom Holland-led project. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been expanding quite rapidly, but there’s still no word on the fourth entry that was confirmed by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Now, Sony Pictures’ Tom Rothman finally got a chance to tease what’s next for the wall-crawler in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He ensured that it was happening.
You bet. When you can expect it, I don’t know. Serve no wine before it’s time.
Tom Rothman
It might still be some time until we get an update on what the future has in store for us with the Spider-Man franchise. Marvel Studios has been reshaping its initial phase plans. So, perhaps once one year has fewer projects, we might see the time frame for the next entry. Who knows if we get one Spider-Man film before the Avengers crossover once again and the follow-up right after?
Agatha: Coven of Chaos has been steadily growing its cast throughout the last few weeks and they’ve now added one more. Deadline has just revealed that Tony winner Patti LuPone has joined the upcoming Disney+ series. She now joins Joe Locke, Aubrey Plaza, Maria Dizzia, Sasheer Zamata, and Ali Ahn. We also have the returning Emma Caulfield Ford, who will once again take on the role of Dottie from WandaVision.
As per usual, her role is kept quite under wraps besides that she is playing a witch. It’s not surprising that we’ll meet a few witches in a story focused on the witch played by Kathryn Hahn with “Coven” in the title of its Disney+ series. The casting so far has been quite a on point and promises what may be Disney+’s wildest series.
LuPone marks a good sign that we’ll see quite a few musical elements in the series, which isn’t too surprising after the success that “Agatha All Along” turned out to be; hopefully also finds itself in the series’ title melody. She worked in musicals such as Evita, Les Misérables, Sweeney Todd, and more. Of course, she also blended her talents into other projects like The Comedian, Wise Guys, Frasier, Penny Dreadful, and even Netflix’s recent The School for Good and Evil. So, It’ll be exciting to see what she brings to the table.
After less than a week in release, Avatar: The Way of Water has already nabbed a huge milestone at the box office. As of Tuesday, the movie has surpassed $500 million at the worldwide box office. However, while an impressive feat, The Way of Water still has a ways to go before it is deemed profitable. (The sequel to 2009’s Avatar is said to have cost around $350 million.) Luckily for The Way of Water, though, it’s expected to continue to dominate the box office in the coming weeks.
It took just five days for Avatar: The Way of Water to reach $500 million worldwide, and it’s thought that the movie will cross $1 billion at the box office before the New Year. It’s of note that, outside of The Way of Water, only seven other films have surpassed $500 million at the box office this year. The movie pulled in $18.3 million domestically and $40.5 million internationally on Tuesday, bringing its collective haul to $555.9 million.
While the film should continue to do decent business at the box office, with the movies never fully recovering from the pandemic, it’s doubtful it’ll achieve the heights of its predecessor. That film, of course, pulled in $760 million domestically and $2.92 billion globally.
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters.
For nearly two years, fans of the MCU took to social media to voice their concern that Marvel Studios’ post-Infinity Saga era lacked direction. Those criticisms seemed misplaced at the time (imagine pretending to know that Thanos was coming following 2011’s Thor) but once Kevin Feige rolled out the first look at the Multiverse Saga at SDCC ’22, they became completely irrelevant. Feige’s ambitious plan for the new saga included another double-dip of Avengers films among the current total of 13 unreleased films (expect Spidey 4 to join that number eventually).
Even with the One-Above-All’s plan laid out in plain sight, it’s still a bit hard to see how the MCU gets from here to there. After all, at this point in the Multiverse Saga, only a handful of projects have been…Multiversal. So which projects in Phases 5 and 6 are shaping up to be the most important on the road to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty? Here’s our best guess…
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
This one isn’t much of a guess as it’s all but confirmed to lead directly to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. But how? Our best guess is that the events of Quantumania won’t actually result in Kang getting turned loose into the world just yet. Why not? Because there’s just too much story to get through between Quantumania and The Kang Dynasty to have Kang running about all willy-nilly in the MCU for 2 years. What Quantumania can and will do, however, is establish Kang the Conqueror as a major threat to the Multiverse and it might also serve as the Multiverse Saga’s “Thanos is coming” moment. Whichever members of the Ant-Family make it out of the Quantum Realm will surely relay their knowledge of the villain to whoever it is that makes up the new team of Avengers. Sounds like it’s going to be Cassie Lang’s turn to follow in her father’s footsteps and make up for a big mistake…
Loki, Season 2
Season 2 of Loki both is and is not exactly what you think it is. As details about the villain of the series start to trickle out, fans are starting to put together some pretty great theories about what might happen…but most of those theories get off to a false start. Though Season 1 lead writer Michael Waldron is off working on Avengers: Secret Wars, Eric Martin (who did a great deal of work on Season 1), took the lead. The continuity from Season 1 to Season 2 is going to pay major dividends as Season 2 picks up directly where Season 1 left off. It’s just that Season 1 didn’t leave off in the way many believe it did. Season 2 will also deal with the now out-of-control Multiverse and see Sylvie faced with the consequences of the choice she made when she shanked He Who Remains. He warned her. She didn’t listen. What happens when she finds out just how bad it’s gotten? Finally, Season 2 looks to include Jonathan Majors‘ Kang. Is he the same Kang as the one in Quantumania? Has he escaped from the Quantum Realm or is this before he became trapped there? Is he a new Variant? Season 2’s gonna be a trip.
The Marvels
It’s likely that every project in Phases 5 and 6 will have something that is ultimately somehow related to one or both of the Avengers’ films in the Multiverse Saga. Whether it be plot points, character developments or threads left hanging, most of the projects will tie into them one way or another. The big rumor for The Marvels is that it will actually delve pretty heavily into the idea of incursions that was introduced in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. That’s a pretty important bit as Reed Richard’s explanation of what they are might not have given the entire picture, but just what he knew about them at the time.
Captain America: New World Order
Don’t expect Kang to pop in here or for a world-ending incursion to happen in the first act. Do expect this to be the first global-level story of the Multiverse Saga and for it to clarify some details that have been fairly casually thrown into different Phase 4 projects. The Sokovia Accord were established in Captain America: Civil War and the Avengers spent an entire movie fighting over them; those same accords were casually revealed to have been repealed in one line of dialogue spoken by Matt Murdock in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. So what happens when there’s something worth fighting over now? The present-day MCU has no Avengers. But they’ll need some in 2025 otherwise calling it Avengers: The Kang Dynasty would be pretty silly. Will the New Avengers be formed during this movie? Or will this movie be the pivot point for the Multiverse Saga in that it will make it clear that the time has come for the New Avengers to come together?
Deadpool and Wolverine
Hugh Jackman‘s revelation that whatever this movie is called will involve time travel all but confirms that it will be an incursion-fest. I actually love the idea of Deadpool causing a whole mess of incursions that accelerate the destruction of the Multiverse. He’s not a serious character who should be trying to face off against Kang, but it is in keeping with the character that his actions, as noble as he may think they are, would create a major mess that others would have to clean up. If this film becomes the adaptation of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe which has been theorized here and there, it would be a wonderful way to build a true, all-inclusive Multiverse while capitalizing on Ryan Reynolds‘ popularity and love for Deadpool.
Fantastic Four
It’s hard to imagine a Fantastic Four film taking place in the MCU that doesn’t somehow connect to the Multiverse Saga. The current rumblings around the plot point toward it shaping up to be a little Cosmic in nature and to involve the Silver Surfer. Of course, at this point in the game, there’s no context for what his purpose in the film might be. Whatever the case, he’s certainly no villain but one of his comic book powers might serve an interesting purpose in Fantastic Four. When gifted with the Power Cosmic by Galactus, the Cosmic Wanderer gained Cosmic Awareness. This power allowed him to sense things about the universe that others couldn’t. He could perceive changes in energy in the universe and determine the location of said changes. If the 616 reality were in some jeopardy through an incursion, it’s incredibly likely that the Surfer would know about it first. From there it’s not much of a…stretch…to think he might find himself working with one of the smartest people on the planet to determine the nature of the incursion. From there it follows that Reed might create a device that would allow him to peer into other realities to see if they’re in similar danger. From there it’s possible he might meet other Reeds. Having a plan for dealing with incursions and/or Kang would seem like a pretty major deal. Could an evil Reed be the villain here? Another version of Kang, such as Immortus? Too many unknowns at the moment, but if Marvel Studios wants to set this apart from Fox’s efforts with the First Family, this would do the trick.
Shang-Chi 2
The rumored title of Shang-Chi and The Wreckage of Time opens up some fascinating possibilities for the sequel to 2021’s Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings. More importantly, it also established one of Marvel Studios’ newest heroes as one of the key figures in the Multiverse Saga. The Wreckage of Time would seem to point directly at Kang’s involvement in this movie and, as indicated earlier, he still has to get out of the Quantum Realm somehow. I still think this movie takes place before Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, though the current slate does not show that. I’ve been asking for a Shang-Chi and Ms. Marvel team-up and this could be it. Theories that those two characters have weapons that are ultimately a major part of the Multiverse Saga might be on to something, but instead of them being part of taking down Kang, what if they somehow end up being part of how he’s freed from the Quantum Realm. Just because Kang can’t get out doesn’t mean he might now have allies on the outside. Once freed from the Quantum Realm, Kang would certainly be at liberty to do some serious damage to the timestream.
Is Nomad even happening?! There’s still no official word on the project that we first reported was in the works over 2 years ago, but it really is…right? Is it a TV series? A film? Nobody seems to know but if it were a film about Steve Rogers’ time returning the Infinity Stones, it could turn into an incursion-palooza that, much like Deadpool and Wolverine, could speed up the timeline toward Avengers: Secret Wars. As detailed here, a guy like Steve Rogers visiting these other timelines could be a way worse idea than you’d think. If he chose to right some minor wrong while he was in each of those alternate timelines (as nicely detailed in the image from MCU Exchange), this project could serve as the ultimate connecting piece between Marvel Studios’ two Sagas and show fans just how time messes back, as Tony Stark warned.
It’s not exactly the Yellow-Brick Road, but these projects could easily set the stage for the events of The Kang Dynasty. How does the story go from there to Secret Wars? Stay tuned, True Believers…
Amid speculation that Marvel Studios would look to cut back on its output, a new rumor has emerged that the studio is developing a spinoff for an upcoming project that hasn’t begun production yet. According to insider Daniel RPK, Marvel Studios a Sentry-centric solo project, following the character who is rumored to be the villain of 2024’s Thunderbolts.
The new rumor is interesting in that the Sentry has yet to be officially revealed as the villain of Marvel Studio’s Thunderbolts. The rumors of Sentry’s appearance in Thunderbolts stem from a report that Marvel Studios was looking to cast an actor to play an “evil Superman” in the film. That report generated a couple of rounds of speculation about which of Marvel’s Superman analogs might make the best “evil” version, first with Hyperion and then Sentry. With Thunderbolts being a Super Soldier-heavy project already, Sentry’s comic book ties to the Super Soldier serum form the foundation of a fairly strong argument that he’d be the better choice of the two.
The latest rumor doesn’t indicate if the Sentry project, should it make its way out of development, would be a prequel or a sequel, though if the Marvel Studios adaptation of the character is anything like his comic book counterpart, he’ll be pretty tough to kill, especially for the group of characters who currently make up the Thunderbolts, so a sequel would not be off the table. Perhaps the development of a solo project could be used to help attract a big-name actor to the role who would be interested in signing on as more than just a one-off villain.
Some time ago a rumor began to make the rounds that an actor who had appeared in a Star Wars project was in the running for a role in Fantastic Four. This rumor, the actual dictionary definition of vagueness, unfortunately, generated a nearly infinite number of follow-up rumors one of which was that Andor star Diego Luna was in the running for Reed Richards. Luna recently addressed those rumors during an appearance on Kristian Harloff’s The Sith Council on his YouTube channel.
When asked by Harloff if he would have any interest in taking a role with Marvel Studios, Luna made it pretty clear that his current obligations with Andor would keep him from doing that in the near future.
I was talking about that this morning, like the rumors. When you become part of rumors, if half of the rumors were real, you know. It’s just incredible the amount of stuff that I see now out there. The only thing I can tell you, man, is that, for the next two years, I’m busy. In two years, we’ll see if what I want to do is even film. We’ll see.
Diego Luna
Of course, fans have a hard time believing anything any actor says these days about potential jobs with Marvel Studios and will probably dissect Luna’s comments for the next few days; however, Luna seems to be shooting pretty straight about his time commitment on Andor, a project on which he’s an executive producer. While Luna is rightfully a fan-favorite and a well-deserved media darling, fans are going to have to keep pulling names out of the Star Wars hat until they find the right one for a role in Fantastic Four.
Lionsgate has begun marketing John Wick: Chapter 4 with a trailer and stills ahead of its re March 2023 release. The creatives behind the franchise have already confirmed that work on a fifth chapter of the John Wick franchise is in the works but the popularity of the character and the deep mythology of the world has already resulted in the birth of a John Wick Cinematic Universe. Two spinoffs within that shared universe, The Continental and Ballerina, are already at various stages of development. Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas, began production last month and now word of a newsworthy addition to its cast has arrived.
According to Deadline, actor Gabriel Byrne has joined the cast of the Len Wiseman-helmed spinoff. Byrne’s role in the film, which will focus on de Armas’ Rooney, a ballerina/assassin who was briefly seen in John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum, was undisclosed in the report. Byrne joins Anjelica Huston, Norman Reedus and Lance Reddick as new members of the John Wick universe with Ian McShane reprising his role as Winston and Keanu Reeves is also expected to appear in the film, which takes place between Wick 3 and 4.
Ballerina currently has no release date but is expected to be ready for theaters by late 2023/early 2024.
On Tuesday, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson confirmed Black Adam’s future within the DC Universe. The actor revealed he connected with James Gunn, the new co-head of DC Studios, about Black Adam’s future on the big screen. And as expected, there are currently no plans to bring back Black Adam just yet — at least, not in the “first chapter of storytelling” for the new DC Studios.
“James and I connected, and Black Adam will not be in their first chapter of storytelling. However, DC and Steve Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters,” he tweeted. “James and I have known each other for years and have always rooted for each other to succeed. It’s no different now, and I will always root for DC (and Marvel) to win and WIN BIG.”
News that Black Adam will not be included in DC Studios’ “first chapter of storytelling” comes after the film massively underperformed at the box office. It was doubtful that Johnson would return as the anti-hero, especially as the studio is said to be seeking to start from scratch. As of now, it’s unclear what DC Studios is planning, outside of a new Superman movie featuring a new, younger actor. More details are expected to become available at some point next month.
All tolled, 2022 saw 9 Marvel properties released into the wild. Marvel Studios pushed out 3 films, 3 streaming series and 2 special presentations and Sony decided it was Morbin’ time. Of those properties, three of them were among the Top 10 Most Anticipated 2022 Movies as determined by Fandango last December. New year, new list, but once again Marvel properties lead the way in Fandango’s Top 10 2023’s Most Anticipated Blockbusters.
To the surprise of mostly nobody, James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 tops the list, which was compiled by polling more than 5,000 Fandango users. To the surprise of many, another Marvel Studios’ threequel made the top 3 in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. In between the two: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse which, interestingly enough, was also at #2 on the 2022 list before its release date was moved into 2023. Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 (Mission Impossible 7) which appear at #6 and #7, respectively, on this year’s list, were also part of last year’s Top 10!
JUST IN: We polled over 5,000 @Fandango users to learn the 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2023. The Top 3: 1. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 2. SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE 3. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA *Note: #GOTGVol3 is the first Guardians movie to top this list pic.twitter.com/1sbA43qLm9
As first presented at SDCC ’22 (and remains unchanged as far as anyone knows), Phase 6 begins with Fantastic Four and ends with Avengers: Secret Wars. The “SDCC Slate” contained 5 films beginning in November 2024 and ending in November 2025. 2025 was set to be a monster year with two Avengers films releasing within 6 months of one another with one other untitled film releasing between them.
Then came a delay to Blade, the shift of the date of Deadpool and Wolverine from February 2024 to November 2024, Fantastic Four from November 2024 to February 2025 and the move of Avengers: Secret Wars into 2026. The sum certainly looks to be greater than the total of its parts in this case. When placed side-by-side, it becomes clear that the “New Slate” not only stepped into Phase 7 territory but by doing so also added one film to the Phase 6 slate and put two films worth of storytelling between Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, creating a three film gap between them now.
At this point, Marvel Studios has several theatrical projects at varying stages of development though only two of those have been officially acknowledged by the studio. What films should fill that three-film gap between Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars and why? We have thoughts…
For the purpose of this exercise, the most recently updated Marvel Studios slate will be treated as it is “locked-in.” Thinking and speculating about projects four years away from release is tough going because the reality is that the most recent slate will change again, maybe multiple times, before Phase 6 wraps up the Multiverse Saga. However, for simplicity’s sake, this article is working within the slate as it currently stands. Under those conditions, here’s our best guess:
Shang-Chi 2
Theories about the true nature of Shang-Chi’s rings have always been interesting, but following the trailer for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and the undeniable similarity they share with some of Kang the Conqueror’s gear, the game has really changed. Shang-Chi has always been primed to be a major part of the Multiverse Saga, but with Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton now on board to helm Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, it stands to reason Shang-Chi, and his rings, might play a much larger role in the Saga then originally imagined. The first film left the origin of the rings intentionally vague and an upcoming animated series is rumored to connect some dots between the rings, Kamala’s bangle and more. That series, which is being overseen by Todd Harris and potentially directed by Brian Kesinger, revolves around a secret society of earthbound aliens who scour the world for a series of powerful and influential artifacts. The rings are certainly just those types of artifacts and it’s possible that the aliens trying to find them are either affiliated with or working against Kang. Whatever the case, Shang-Chi’s a major player, the sequel is announced and seems like it absolutely must come out ahead of Secret Wars.
Armor Wars
Armor Wars has been part of Marvel Studios’ plans for the Multiverse Saga since before fans knew there was a Multiverse Saga. First announced in 2020 at Disney’s Investor Day, Armor Wars was originallydeveloped as a streaming series before shifting gears and becoming a feature film. If the series was planned to be in the Multiverse Saga, it would stand to reason that the film will be too, especially given its close ties to Secret Invasion.
Nomad
We’ve always had Nomad as a streaming series, so this represents a major shift in thinking though nobody seems to know what to expect of it. However, the best “Nomad” story Marvel Studios could tell would be one following Chris Evans‘ Steve Rogers as he returned the Infinity Stones to their respective timelines. As explained by Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, an incursion can be caused when people travel between multiverses and alter that reality more than the allowable margin for error. If that’s true, that sweet sendoff for Steve and the end of Avengers: Endgame looks like it might be a pretty major problem now that He Who Remains is no longer around to protect the timeline. Could a Nomad feature film center on Steve’s journey to the other timelines where it’s revealed he actually caused multiple incursions?
It’s not out of the realm of possibilities. As Steve told Tony, when he sees a situation pointed south, he can’t ignore it. Could little acts of do-gooderism during his visits to the timelines from which the Infinity Stones were borrowed actually end up accelerating the incursion process and speeding up the timeline to Secret Wars? It’s hard to say because not enough is currently known about what incursions are truly all about in the MCU, but if Evans is truly back for a pair of projects as reported, it’s hard to imagine that one of them is really just about him riding a motorcycle around the countryside and helping people change flat tires. Not with Secret Wars looming…
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