With the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness coming right on the heels of the finale of the Disney+ series Moon Knight, there has been a lot for Marvel fans to process over the last week. Still, information about the series has been pouring out after the relatively open-ended finale. In any Phase Four MCU project, though, there is one question always on audiences’ minds even if it is rarely answered—who survived the Blip?
Considering the MCU’s post-Avengers: Endgame content all takes place relatively recently after half the universe’s population was eliminated and then brought back, it always seems fairly relevant. For their part, Marvel Studios often keeps discussions about the details of the Blip to a minimum for plenty of practical reasons. However, Moon Knight head writer and executive producer Jeremy Slater recently told The Direct how Oscar Isaac’s Marc Spector spent his time during the five-year period. As seemed reasonable, he first confirmed that Spector did indeed survive the Blip:
We definitely, in the writers room, we all collectively thought he survived the Blip, that he wasn’t blipped away. Because I don’t know how you—I think if he had been blipped and come back, it would be something that you would have to address. It’s something you would have to deal with, especially as a character who is trying to find his place in the world, and has a lot of questions about his past. To not touch on the Blip of it all, felt weird. So we all kind of collectively assumed that he was part of the 50% that survived.
Jeremy Slater
Different clues throughout the series pointed to that conclusion, but it was never directly mentioned. Perhaps more interesting, Slater went on to say that he believes Moon Knight was “busy” during that time in a similar way to Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye/Ronin. He stated:
But as to what was actually happening during that period, I mean, I think that they say in the show that Steven basically woke up about two years ago. That was the first time that they started living separate lives, and it was following the death of Marc’s mother. So that’s been the last two years, and we assume the three years before that was sort of Marc, just, there was probably, in the same way, that Hawkeye had his hands full as Ronin because the criminal underworld was running rampant during the Blip time, I assume Moon Knight was keeping very busy. But it was all being sort of done in the shadows, and he was sort of taking out a lot of threats that never surfaced or saw the light of day.
Jeremy Slater
While the character’s future in the MCU is still unclear, Slater’s description of Marc Spector’s vigilante-type past confirms that side of the superhero that we did not see in Moon Knight. It certainly helps explain the room full of the bodies of those Spector killed as the Fist of Khonshu, and it opens up plenty of space for telling stories about the character in the past or hints at how he may act in the future.
All episodes of Moon Knight are now streaming on Disney +.
The contents of the mid-credit scene of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness give the impression that this is the direction Marvel Studios will take the threequel. However, we also all thought a Doctor Strange sequel would include 616 Mordo hunting sorcerers and we definitely didn’t get that.
As Marvel Studios likes to do, they can lift the title right from an existing story. In 2011, Marvel Comics published a hardcover novel, written by Roger Stern, that saw Stephen Strange team up with Clea to overthrow her mother, Umar, in the Dark Dimension. The novel also included an appearance by the Black Knight and really laid out some nice mythology around his sword and the Dark Dimension. Of course, Marvel Studios isn’t much for direct adaptation, so there’s plenty of room to change it up, but a film that really explores the Dark Dimension and the nature of the Faltine could be quite a ride!
Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #80 (1995)
With Clea making her way into the MCU, there’s really one other major character in Strange’s circle that feels like a must: Jericho Drumm. Brother Voodoo was rumored to appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but obviously never showed. It’s time to get him off the sidelines and, if you’re going to bring him in, you might as well do it right.
Multiverse of Madness ends with Strange developing a particularly nasty case of an extra eye, thanks to his use of the Darkhold. Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme could be a really great cautionary tale about the warning issued by Mordo in the first film: the bill comes due. And in Strange’s case, the Vishanti are probably collecting.
In the MCU’s present, Wong is the Sorcerer Supreme but fans have expected Strange to fill the role and eventually, he probably will. What would be fascinating would be for him to finally be named as Sorcerer Supreme only to have the title ripped away from him and handed over to another of Earth’s most powerful magic wielders: Jericho Drumm.
Marvel Studios could adapt War of the Seven Spheres (making a few changes along the way of course) and introduce the major Mystic principalities of the multiverse. In that arc, Strange renounced his powers after refusing to participate in the War, causing him to be stripped of many of his powers. If that were to happen in the MCU, the Vishanti would need a new Sorcerer Supreme. It’s not as glamorous as some others on the list, but it could introduce some other magic users (Doctor Druid, Salome, Cadaver, Kaluu, and more) as avatars of the principalities and turn out to be a pretty trippy film.
Strange Tales
Doctor Strange #13 (2016)
Multiverse of Madness included one very important detail about Stephen Strange’s origins that was cut from 2016’s Doctor Strange: the drowning death of his sister, Donna. While this might have seemed inconsequential, it could have been a hint to the future of the franchise. While this isn’t an adaptation of a specific arc, it’s absolutely bringing the comics to the screen.
Scott Derrickson always wanted Nightmare to be part of the Strange franchise and, to be fair, he’s arguably one of Strange’s most important villains yet to be adapted. The film could see Strange haunted by nightmares of failing to save his sister, orchestrated by The Lord of Darkness. Parts of the film could visit the Dream Dimension, of which the Nightmare Realm is a corner ruled by Nightmare. It could also introduce Sleepwalker and allow for Sam Raimi to really continue to deal with some of the really off-the-wall visuals he dished out in Multiverse of Madness.
Doctor Strange: Triumph and Torment
Marvel Graphic Novel #49 Dr. Strange and Dr. Doom: Triumph and Torment (1989)
An adaptation of the 1989 graphic novel Triumph and Torment would take the most set up ahead of its release, but it could also have the biggest payoff of any of the potential story lines Marvel Studios might adapt for Doctor Strange 3. Triumph and Torment sees Doctor Strange team up with one of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful sorcerers: Victor Von Doom. The two good doctors, Strange and Doom, travel together to Hell to free the soul of Doom’s mother from her captor, Mephisto.
As stated above, it would take some set up to get here, especially since Doom doesn’t exist in the MCU yet. Much like the do with the Fantastic Four, Marvel Studios has a big job to do in making sure that their version of Doom stands apart from Julian McMahon’s version and even farther apart from Toby Kebbell’s “Hacker Doom.” One way for them to ensure that is to develop the side of Doom’s character that Fox always ignored: his mastery of the mystic arts. Over the years, the retconning of Doom’s origin story has refined it into one of Marvel Comics’ most well-developed. If any villain deserves his origins to be told, it’s Doom, and Marvel Studios could do so through a D+ series that could serve as the precursor to this film. Of course, audiences who don’t watch it might miss out on a few finer points, but if they beginning of Doctor Strange: Triumph and Torment explains that the two Doctors are headed to Hell to save Doom’s mom, it’ll be enough. Assuming Benedict Cumberbatch isn’t going to be around the MCU forever, this is the chance for the MCU to team up two major mystical powerhouses and bring one of Roger Stern’s best stories to the screen.
Doctor Strange and The Defenders
The Defenders #3 (1972)
I’ll never NOT want to see the original comic book Defenders lineup together on screen. By the time a third Doctor Strange film heads to theaters, the trio that first formed the Defenders in the early 1970s will all have been introduced into the MCU, with Namor set to debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever later this year. Clea and Valkyrie, who were also often members of the non-team, are also on the board, leaving only really the Silver Surfer as a well-known member who isn’t quite yet primed to appear.
If Raimi is going to return for the third film, the original Defenders’ arc (which was spread out over issues of Doctor Strange, Sub-Mariner, and The Incredible Hulk) would be easily adapted and allow Raimi to work with the Lovecraftian concepts that inspired him to make Within the Woods (which allowed him to make The Evil Dead) and that he revisited in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In that arc, the Defenders came together to battle an invasion of the Undying Ones, a collection of ancient demons who existed between worlds and served The Nameless One. Adapting the arc would even allow for Raimi to introduce the MCU’s version of the Necronomicon, which would serve as the bridge from Strange to Namor, whose people could have a history with either the book or the Undying Ones themselves.
It’s hard to deny that the Star Wars prequel trilogy faced an uphill battle when it releases initially. The pressure of following up on of the most popular franchises of all time that has been largely dormant in theaters is nothing to scoff at. Even with the original creator George Lucas at the helm, it didn’t quite jell with people at the time. Luckily, there have been a new group of fans that look back at these three films quite fondly nowadays and it seems that this new perspective has also sparked something in Ewan McGregor.
During his promotion for the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series, McGregor talked about what it’s like seeing the renewed love for those that grew up from watching it as kids has also changed his own relationship with the series. @DreamedOfMagic took to Twitter to share the following quote by the actor:
You were a kid when our films came out, so we sort of made them for you… We now meet those people that really love our films, but it’s taken 15 years for us to hear that and it’s so nice…. It’s changed my outlook – my relationship with Star Wars…”
Ewan McGregor
While it’s not spoken, the newly found reception for these films may have also been a reason he was open to potentially return. Hayden Christensen also faced a lot of backlash at the time of this portrayal of Anakin Skywalker but is welcomed with open arms by the community. So much so, thathe’s now also making a general return in the role with other appearances planned in the near future. With only a few more weeks to go, we’ll see what the future has in store for us with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Moon Knight and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness have been dominating the last few weeks, but now it’s time for Marvel to set their eyes on the next release, Ms. Marvel. There’s been some concern with the adaptation, as while the character seems mostly intact from the comics, her abilities have gone through quite the change. The character’s co-creator Sana Amanat talked to Entertainment Weekly to not only talk bout that massive change but also to highlight just how excited they are that Iman Vellani is taking on this role.
There is so much of Kamala in her because I think Kamala has the same type of view of the world. She looks at the world with eager and hopeful eyes, and I think Iman does that, too. You can’t help but root for her and be drawn to her. There are just so many similarities that it felt like such a natural fit to see her put on the costume for the first time [or] see her go into the Khan house for the first time. It just made sense. There’s no other Kamala than Iman Vellani.
Sana Amanat
That’s not all, as she also discussed how they’ve adapted the project to fit the MCU by remaining true to Ms. Marvel’s storyline from the comics.
The comic was very much a guiding light for us. We needed to make sure that it worked in the MCU, of course, but we wanted to make sure that we had that quirkiness and the stylistic distinction that the comics did so well. We wanted to find our own MCU version of it. So, we’re doing things in this show that we don’t really do anywhere else in the MCU. It’s kind of told through the lens of Kamala’s experience and her wild imagination. I think the brightness and the colors and where we go in the Marvel universe and in Kamala’s universe is really what makes it stand out, tonally and stylistically, from everything else.
Sana Amanat
The biggest change will also come in the form of how she looks up to Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers never had the identity of Ms. Marvel in the MCU. So, it’s a very different relationship when she takes on that role while still growing into her hero moving forward.
I think that is very, very similar to the comics. Obviously, in the Marvel comics, the story was different. [Carol] was Ms. Marvel in the Marvel comics, and she’s been around for much longer. But in this case, what’s unique is Captain Marvel is one of the few really well-known, big-time female Avengers, if you will. She had a pretty significant save in the battle against Thanos, and I think if someone who was young and looking out at the world, and she sees this really powerful, badass woman almost take down Thanos, what does that do to you? How do you internalize that? I think that is a really important story to tell, not only about who your heroes are, but who are your heroes when you’re a young person of color? What does that do to your sense of self?
Sana Amanat
It’s great to see that the creators of the character were also heavily involved with the project to ensure that their vision remains intact even in its translation to live-action. She highlights that she was on set and had an active role in bringing the character to life, which just highlights how collaborative the Marvel Studios environment truly is for creators of any kind.
There has been a lot of debate on the changes made to Ms. Marvel’s abilities. The upcoming Disney+ series by the same name will mostly follow the character of Kamala Khan, who was first introduced back in 2014. Marvel’s first Muslim-American superhero had a very specific ability that many called Embiggening where her body stretches in creative ways or even just grow entirely. Yet, the Ms. Marvel trailers teased she’ll have some crystal and cosmic-inspired abilities. People were concerned about what it might mean for her moving forward, but Ms. Marvel co-creator Sana Amanat has now opened up about the change from the comics.
Amanat played a vital role in bringing the character to life together with writer G. Willow Wilson, artist Adrian Alphona, and editor Steve Wacker. She highlights the adaptation and says she’s also actively discussed the changes with fellow creator Willow highlighting they agreed with the direction the project took with her abilities.
Obviously, so much of the show is an adaptation, and we thought it was important to make sure that her powers are linking to larger stories in the Marvel universe. We wanted to make sure there is a little bit more story to tell after this series. Obviously, she goes into The Marvels. The powers do look different, which is very controversial. I know people are like, “How dare you change the powers!” I know people are upset about it, but as someone who’s probably one of the closest people to this character from the inception, and having spoken to Willow about this as well, I think Willow and I have always felt that this made sense. This was the right move because there are bigger stories to tell.
Sana Amanat
One might argue that sacrificing her original abilities for “bigger stories” to tell, but that may further hint that we’ll get a better view of why the changes were made once the series releases on Disney+. It also seems like Amanat confirms that the metaphorical and visual standpoint of the abilities will remain even with their more cosmic direction.
It’s really fun to give Kamala different kinds of powers that feel big in scope and cinematic in a different way. We can do a lot of fun things with her. I don’t want to spoil too much about how she uses her powers, but they’re fun and bouncy. At the same point, the essence of what the powers are in the comics is there, both from a metaphorical standpoint and from a visual standpoint. We’re doing the embiggened fist. We’re doing the elements that make her feel and look kind of crazy, but also really cool. I think it’s going to be familiar to people, but at the same time, different in a fresh and unique way.
Sana Amanat
The powers haven’t been highlighted too much in the trailers. So, we’ll see how exactly it might tackle these themes that made the character stand out in the past. Many that have been worried about the adaptation point out that it takes away from her character, but it seems that is something they’ve definitely going to remain while promising it’s simply just a “fresh” perspective on something comic readers have come to love over the years.
Avatar: The Way of Water just released its first trailer and already made quite the splash in the film market, as the film managed to garner 148.6M views within its first 24-hours. The announcement comes from Disney and 20th Century whichalso highlighted that 23M were lone from China. Keep in mind, thatthis is excluding everyone that watched the trailer in its exclusive theatrical launch alongside Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which made its own mark with $450M worldwide.
To put it into comparison, the film has managed to pull in more viewers than Black Widow (116.8M), Incredibles 2 (113.1M), and Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker (112.4M). It’s impressive considering the first entry was released in 2009 and people mostly had to go on the promise of multiple sequels being in development. The impressions are certainly positive and will seemingly draw in quite a crowd going by these early numbers. The film will release on December 16th with the return of Sam Worthington‘s Jake Sully and Zoe Saldaña‘s Na’vi Neytiri.
The original made quite the splash in theaters by becoming a massive hit and taking the top box office spot from director James Cameron‘s other hit, the Titanic. While Avengers: Endgame managed to pass the film’s initial box office success, a sneaky re-release campaign gave it an additional boost to once again claim the top spot. As both franchises are under Disney’s subsidiaries, the company has managed to keep its hands on two very valuable IPs and highlights that they are also all in to give Cameron the time he needed to develop multiple Avatar sequels.
It looks like one of the Assembled episodes has been delayed, as Moon Knight’s was originally going to release today. Still, Disney has seemingly made the decision o postpone it to 25th May 2022. This delay marks the second time it has happened for any Marvel Studios shorts that take a peek behind the curtain on how these projects are done. The same happened with their last Disney+ series Hawkeye, which was delayed into February instead of its initial January release. Surprisingly, we also never got a poster release for the series, which has also been a tradition up to this point.
There’s been a surprising development of these projects being turned into individual episodes rather than having them as part of the initial Assembled series. The change was made with Hawkeye, which may have seen a spike in viewership as a standalone episode rather than bundled with the series due to the sporadic release schedules depending on when the films and series are released.
Here’s hoping that they do eventually fold them back into the Assembled series at a later date for those wanting to catch up on everything they missed. The upcoming episode on Moon Knight also will include a particular “roundtable discussion” featuring the directors of the series. We initially saw the Disney Gallery: The Making of The Mandalorian, which kicked off the idea of mini-documentaries based on the popular series. We’ll see if they start promoting the special as we near its new release date in a few weeks.
Welcome to another edition of The Morning After Huddle where we we bring you the top news from around the NFL. They say that legends never die and apparently, neither does the career of one Thomas Edward Patrick Brady,Jr.
Here’s what you need to know:
Tom Brady simply can’t ride off into sunset, much to the dismay of several fanbases. He will be diagnosing defenses and coverages for the foreseeable future. Word broke today that Fox Sports has given the Bucs QB a whopping 10-year $375 million contract immediately following his playing career. (So, in another 20 years) If his rings weren’t going to keep him warm in retirement, the money surely will!
Speaking of money, Giants rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux is paying $50K for Graham Gano’s number 5 jersey. Normally, rookies are advised not to spend their money before ever playing a down of football, but, in this case, the money is going towards a great cause: Puppies Behind Bars. The charity provides service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders, in addition to explosive-detection canines for law enforcement.
Finally, the Jags are still dealing with the aftermath of Urban Meyer. Today, former Jags Kicker Josh Lambo has sued the organization to recoup his $3.5 million base salary in 2021 and emotional distress. Lambo says he was physically and verbally abused by Meyer and claims that the team violated the Florida Private Sector Whistleblower’s Act.
That’s it for today’s edition. Catch us Thursday for more news you want to know!
It was exciting when we got our first look at the many members o the Illuminati throughout our time with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Yet, the film gave us one last surprise in the form of its post-credit sequence. After a surprisingly go-lucky Strange is wandering the streets, he is suddenly greeted by a mysterious person in the middle of the street. Eagle-eyed viewers instantly recognized the actress Charlize Theron. Comic fans also instantly realized that she is playing the Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimension and Dormammu’s niece, Clea.
To celebrate joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the actress took to Twitter and shared a small BTS image of her showing off her Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness make-up. In the comics, her costume and design were heavily focused on the color purple and it was great seeing those elements remain in their translation into live-action. Sadly, she didn’t give us a full look at the costume she wore in the post-credit sequence, which seemingly took a lot of elements from across the character’s vast comic history.
It does seem like they are setting her up as a big part of the third entry of the Doctor Strange franchise, but we don’t have an official announcement on it even happening. They may even head out into the Dark Dimension in a different film altogether, but the fact she’s pretty much signed on is an exciting one either way. Her appearance was quite the treat for viewers, and hopefully will be the first of many appearances moving forward for the actress in the MCU.
Fezzy, Suki, and Joe are back to talk all things One Piece, as we have quite the collection of news. Not only did we get a chance to talk bout another great chapter with 1047, but also looked at the amazing episode 1015 and the latest updates on Odyssey.
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