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  • SDCC: ‘Armor Wars’ Writer Promises Series Will Still Happen 

    SDCC: ‘Armor Wars’ Writer Promises Series Will Still Happen 

    Marvel Studios brought their very best to yesterday’s Hall H panel, but for some, it still wasn’t enough. Company President Kevin Feige took the stage to reveal the next three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, complete with titles both old and new. Unfortunately, there were some previously announced projects left out of the mix, causing fans to worry that certain releases may never be coming. Armor Wars, a Disney+ series announced way back in 2020, is chief among them.

    The show was initially revealed as part of Disney’s 2020 Investor Day meeting, alongside Secret Invasion and Ironheart. Those other two projects were included in this year’s Comic-Con presentation, but very little has been heard about Armor Wars since it’s conception. One thing that is for sure, however, is that The Carmichael Show’s Yassir Lester will serve as the series’ head writer. Following Marvel’s big panel, Lester seemingly took to his Instagram to reassure fans that Armor Wars would still happen at some point:


    Armor Wars is set to star Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine, in an adaptation of the famous 1987-1988 comic arc. Written by Bob Layton, the story concerns Stark rival Justin Hammer stealing Tony’s tech and distributing it to a variety of villains across the world. In the book, Iron Man goes on a rampage to get his tech back, but since the hero died in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, the MCU’s take will instead have War Machine protecting his deceased friend’s legacy. As stated before, there is currently no release window for the project.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Nope’ Opens With $44M Domestically on Lower End of Expectations

    ‘Nope’ Opens With $44M Domestically on Lower End of Expectations

    In a surprising twist, another new production hits theaters and slightly underperforms. While Lightyear is the only real “non-performer” at the box office, it’s surprising to see Jordan Peele‘s latest miss its $60M projections. Similar to other productions throughout the year, the only real overperformers are holdouts from 2020 in Top Gun: Maverick and Minions: Rise of Gru. In a way, these holdovers have had a lot of momentum built into them that helped lead to their current standing but until something else overperforms, we might not truly know.

    Still, Nope opened the weekend box office with $44M with a B CinemaScore could hint at a bigger drop next weekend. Of course, it being an R-rated horror flick, this is a big opening weekend by any other standard; similar to how Marvel comparisons are a tough nut to crack due to their unique aspects. It’s not a disappointing release but it is lower than 2019’s Us ($71M) which might sting a little. There’s a chance this film could leg out.

    It’s the third-best opening for an R-rated project since Joker that pulled in $96M and is now behind Halloween Kills‘ $49M. Expectations were higher ahead of Peele’s recent successes and Universal isn’t going to be hurting if one film doesn’t make the benchmark. Similar to how doomsayers for Thor: Love and Thunder miss the fact that it performing decently won’t hurt the production company pulling in a film that almost scratched a billion with its Doctor Strange sequel.

    Source: Forbes

  • SDCC: Chris Pratt on Star Lord and Gamora in ‘Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3’

    SDCC: Chris Pratt on Star Lord and Gamora in ‘Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3’

    One of the biggest mysteries revolving around Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was the status of Gamora, who’d been missing since Avengers: Endgame. Of course, we know what happened to our Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War but the past version that remained in the present day has just vanished into thin air.

    The trailer shown to those in Hall H during the Marvel Studios panel revealed that Gamora is alive and well, only she’s working with the Ravagers now. Not just that, she’s even leading them. Variety was able to catch up with Chris Pratt who talked about Star-Lord and Gamora’s now complicated relationship and how Quill is dealing with the love of his life no longer feeling the same towards him.

    Well Quill is obviously devastated, the love of his life, Gamora, does not know who he is, its just shes a different person then he came to know and love and hes reeling about that, he just dealing with the emotion of that and in denial and kinda not really capable of functioning well and thats what, thats where we find him and hes coping with that through the course of this film and leaves the guardians vulnerable and he spends the rest, you know, most of the movie trying to make up for his lack of presence and good frame of mind because of the emotional sort of state hes in.

    Chris Pratt

    Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to hit theaters on May 5th, 2023

    Source: Twitter

  • SDCC: ‘Wakanda Forever’ Funko Pops Offer Closer Look at Ironheart’s MK1 Armor and More

    SDCC: ‘Wakanda Forever’ Funko Pops Offer Closer Look at Ironheart’s MK1 Armor and More

    Finally, after a long wait, we got our first look at an emotional trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It finally revealed our first look at Tenoch Huerta‘s Namor, the Atlanteans, Riri Williams, a tease of how the film will handle Chadwick Boseman‘s death, and a lot more. Not too long after, it seems that Marvel is not wasting any time unveiling its line of Funko Pops for the upcoming film that’ll close off Phase 4 o the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The bigger surprise is that the Funko for Riri Williams includes her MK1 armor that would eventually become Ironheart.

    Of course, we got a lot more looks at various Funko Pops for characters that’ll have a prominent role in the upcoming sequel. Among them is a good look at Namor, Attuma, and Namora, who’ll introduce the MCU’s take on Atlantis. There’s still no official word on how exactly they might feed into the story, but it’s exciting nonetheless.

    Last but definitely not least, we have our Wakandan members of the cast. It’s interesting to note that there#s no official look at the new Black Panther. Even the trailer wasn’t too keen on revealing just who would take on the mantle, which may be something they’ll continue keeping a secret throughout the series’ marketing activities.

    The Funko Pops look great and it’s going to be exciting to see what role every member has, especially given the dramatic turn this story will take. M’baku having a Funko continues to indicate he’ll have a big role in the story, which isn’t surprising given his popularity and the way he built a connection with T’Challa in the story. So, we’ll see in November how they will handle thee legacy.

    Source: THR

  • SDCC: Marvel Studios President on Ryan Gosling’s Interest to Play Ghost Rider

    SDCC: Marvel Studios President on Ryan Gosling’s Interest to Play Ghost Rider

    San Diego Comic-Con has come to a close with a bombastic ending by Marvel Studios. They took Hall H by storm by not only announcing Phase 5 but surprising many with the Avengers films that will end the current era of Multiverse films. It was a sweeping reveal and afterward, everyone used their change to ask Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige whatever question they could.

    Among them, Josh Horowitz got a chance to ask him for MTV News if he’s heard about Ryan Gosling‘s interest in playing Ghost Rider. After there were rumors he might be joining another project, such as Nova, the actor swiftly denounced any such casting but shared with Horowitz he would love to tackle the Ghost of Vengeance. Feige was only excited knowing that Gosling was interested and is open to find a spot for him in the MCU.

    Gosling is unbelievable. Ryan is amazing. I’d love to find a place for him in the MCU.

    Kevin Feige

    OF course, he doesn’t reveal if talks have ever taken place but it does seem like something Feige would be excited to have happened. They already started adding quite a few legacy actors to their projects. So, finding the right role for Gosling would be something they wouldn’t want to miss out on.

    Source: Twitter

  • Kathryn Newton on Where We Find Cassie Lang in ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’

    Kathryn Newton on Where We Find Cassie Lang in ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’

    Of the many Marvel Studios projects presented during Saturday’s Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania was one to make quite the impression, giving those in attendance their first look at Jonathon Majors as Kang the Conqueror. Alongside Kang, however, was the first look at Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, making her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut.

    The first footage shown to attendees in Hall H revealed that Newton’s Cassie Lang isn’t in the Quantum Realm. She’s actually in Jail. Of course, not much context was given as the film isn’t out until next year. But Newton did comment on the scene when Variety caught up with her after the panel.

    She was in jail, I can’t believe that they showed that. I love that that was the intro to Cassie, first of all, that experience was so fun for me. I couldn’t even see anybody but I could feel everybody there, I could feel you all out there and I hoped you liked Cassie Lang a little bit, the little bit that you saw. Yeah, she’s in jail, she’s not up to no good, she’s up to good, okay.

    Kathryn Newton

    Ahead of the Marvel Studios Hall H presentation, we got our first look at Cassie Lang suited up alongside her father and Hope Van Dyne, all sporting new outfits in what looked to be a Quantum Realm-esque background with our first look at Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror looming over. 

    Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is set to hit theaters on February 17th, 2023

  • SDCC: Tenoch Huerta on Wearing Namor’s Iconic Speedo

    SDCC: Tenoch Huerta on Wearing Namor’s Iconic Speedo

    For a while now we’ve known that Tenoch Huerta would be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and while it was never official, we knew he’d be playing the Atlantean king, Namor the Submariner. Given that the character has always been on the goofier side, sporting a strong widow’s peak, a green speedo, and ankle wings, many had wondered just how it would translate into live action. 

    It’s safe to say, however, that the costume department on the Black Panther sequel knocked it out of the park bringing the submariner to life, and even Huerta himself shared his excitement about being able to wear the iconic but modernized look. 

    “It’s amazing. You know, everybody pretends to be a superhero or to be part of these movies or whatever, and then you are a part of it, and then you are the superhero, and then you are wearing the costume, and it’s your skin, your voice your talent, your story. It’s overwhelming.”

    Tenoch Huerta

    Fans can catch glimpses of Namor in the trailer for the film, sporting a few different looks. Of course, his most prevalent one is the green Speedo look, but for the film, Namor has been given an upgrade and can be seen sporting golden bands with Mayan designs and jade jewelry with all this color and the characters design just has so much more life to it, they took a rather simple look and gave him an actual identity and elevated it to a whole new level.

    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to hit theaters on November 17th, 2021.

    SOURCE: Twitter

  • SDCC: James Gunn on Saying Goodbye to ‘Guardians of The Galaxy’

    SDCC: James Gunn on Saying Goodbye to ‘Guardians of The Galaxy’

    Those in attendance at Hall H were treated to quite the surprise when James Gunn popped up with the cast of Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3, where they debuted the first footage of the upcoming film. Reactions to said footage were reportedly quite emotional, as the footage included a young Rocket Raccoon, the return of Gamora, and the reveal of the High Evolutionary.

    We’ve known for quite some time that Gunn would be wrapping up this iteration of the Guardians of The Galaxy, a team he brought into the spotlight back in 2014, and following the panel, he briefly discussed what it was like saying to conclude their story. Variety caught up with Gunn following Marvel Studios’ big Hall H panel and talked about how hard it was to say goodbye to something he’d been a part of for so long. 

    “I really like sorta blocked myself off to it till the last day and Chris Pratt gave a very emotional speech and I got teary-eyed, he had prepared it, it was really funny. He was reading off all of the people, he went back, and he looked at all the people that said the first movie was gonna be a huge bomb, and all the people that said a bunch of negative stuff about how bad the movie was fail and read all the stuff and went into a bunch of stuff about how much we all love each other.”

    James Gunn

    Gunn continued on to talk about another speech given by a veteran Guardians of The Galaxy cast member, Zoe Saldana.

    “Zoe Saldana gave a speech that just crushed me and like I just lost it, like I really cried, you know? And I’m a big tear guy, not a cry guy, a tear guy. You know, I get the little tears, I’m sitting with my fiance and we’re watching some movie and I get teary-eyed, all the time, real easy with the tears, not easy with the cry, and I cried, it was really beautiful.”

    James Gunn

    Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to hit theaters on May 5th, 2023.

    SOURCE: Twitter

  • SDCC: ‘Blade’ Officially Starting Production in October

    SDCC: ‘Blade’ Officially Starting Production in October

    We got shockingly little information on Blade at Marvel Studios’ presentation in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con. We saw it listed on the Phase 5 slate, where it was officially given a November 3rd, 2023 release date, but any sort of casting announcement was absent from the presentation. The bright side is that we have a confirmed start window for production on the film thanks to a press release from Disney following the panel.

    Disney has confirmed that Blade will indeed begin shooting this fall, officially starting production in October of this year. The film was originally believed to begin filming sometime this summer, but seems to have hit some sort of delay resulting in a fall start date now.

    ““BLADE,” which begins shooting this October and opens in theaters Nov. 3, 2023.”

    Disney

    We can definitely assume that Marvel Studios will feature the film much more come September when the D23 convention rolls around and we have a whole bunch of new announcements from the house of mouse. While little remains known about the film, the cast has begun to grow quite a bit in the past few months, as Marvel Studios prepares to bring the Daywalker into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    The cast for Blade includes Academy Award winning actor Mahershala Ali, Delroy Lindo, and Aaron Pierre, with Milan Ray also reportedly joining the cast. Plot details for the film are still currently under wraps along with the roles for Lindo, Pierre, and Ray who have yet to be officially announced by Marvel Studios.

    SOURCE: Disney

  • SDCC: Feige Confirms the Russo Brothers Not Attached to Next ‘Avengers’ Films

    SDCC: Feige Confirms the Russo Brothers Not Attached to Next ‘Avengers’ Films

    Although Secret Wars was only confirmed during Marvel Studios’ Hall H presentation on Saturday, the project has been rumored to be in development for years now. It is a film that directing duo, Anthony and Joe Russo have described as their dream project, calling it an ambitious story that they adored growing up. Last year, a report circulated suggesting the Russo brothers were thought to be negotiating a return to Marvel Studios with many thinking it would be to helm a Secret Wars film down the line – especially following their handling of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. That, however, does not look to be happening.

    Following the huge Hall H presentation on Saturday, Kevin Feige briefly talked to Deadline about the Russo brothers and the next two Avengers films. Unfortunately, for those hoping to see the duo direct Secret Wars and/or Kang Dynasty, it doesn’t look as though it’ll be happening. Feige was asked about the possibility and went on to explain that, while Marvel Studios loves the Russo brothers and they love the studio, Anthony and Joe Russo are not attached to direct either Avengers title.

    “They are not connected to it,” he said. “They have been, I think, very direct about that. I think they were… we love them, they love us, we wanna find something new together, um, but it’s not this.”

    Feige’s words, of course, do suggest we will see the brothers return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though. Just not for the next two Avengers films. With a slew of projects still to be announced for Phase 6, perhaps there’s something else they find themselves attached to soon enough. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

    Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars will hit theaters on May 5th, 2025 and November 7th, 2025, respectively.