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  • Marvel Studios Reportedly Makes a Decision on ‘Doctor Strange 3’

    Marvel Studios Reportedly Makes a Decision on ‘Doctor Strange 3’

    Doctor Strange’s place in the Multiverse Saga is clear…or at least it was. 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness surprised fans by revealing that the Multiverse faces no greater threat than Stephen Strange. The film’s mid-credits scene, featuring Charlize Theron as the powerful extra dimensional sorceress Clea, saw Strange embark on what many believed to be the first step in discovering that time was running out for the Multiverse. Of course, much has changed since then which means whatever adventures Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron had in mind for Strange and Clea may no longer be on the docket for the paranormal pair.

    And there’s the threat. And it’s out there and now it’s out there. There’s a multiversal threat. In the same way that when the MCU first went cosmic many years ago, there was the teed up threat of Thanos. Now it’s probably a matter of you’re setting up some multiversal threats on the board. Whether it’s Kang, Incursions, whatever. It’ll be interesting to see how all those things come together.

    -Michael Waldron

    Though star Benedict Cumberbatch has confirmed he’ll be returning to work on an MCU project or two in 2025 (the actor is confirmed to be part of the cast of Avengers: Doomsday), there’s been no news on the studio’s plans for a third installment in the Doctor Strange franchise. However, a new report has shed some light into the Dark Dimension.

    According to Marvel Studios insider Daniel Richtman, production on Doctor Strange 3 is expected to get underway in 2026. Should that come to fruition, it’s likely that the film would take one of the studio’s two currently unfilled 2027 theatrical slots.

    Really what happened was, we ended up stumbling upon an idea that activated all of us. You couldn’t see it coming until it came, and once it came it was like, “Well, that’s a story we need to tell.”

    -Anthony Russo on Avengers: Secret Wars

    While many believed Doctor Strange 3 would provide a good chunk of the exposition necessary to get fans ready for the final act of the Multiverse Saga, it’s possible that writer Stephen McFeely has incorporated that into Strange’s arc in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. If that’s the case, Doctor Strange 3 will likely be one of the first films in the studio’s next saga which is expected to be heavily focused on mutants. 

    Source: Empire

  • Delayed Marvel Studios Sequel Gets Encouraging Update

    Delayed Marvel Studios Sequel Gets Encouraging Update

    After getting derailed by a string of projects that did not move up to expectations, Marvel Studios Multiverse Saga seems to be getting back on track. Deadpool & Wolverine brought audiences back to theaters last summer and following Agatha All Along, Marvel Television looks to have another hit on its hands in Daredevil: Born Again which will kick off Marvel’s packed live-action slate. With three films and three live-action streaming series set to release, MCU fans will have plenty of content to keep them busy in 2025.

    The creatives at Marvel will find themselves busy in 2025 as well. After pivoting to Doctor Doom as the big bad of the Multiverse Saga, the studio’s Phase 6 lineup was thrown into disarray. Some projects were cancelled, others delayed, some reworked and a few look to be in limbo. However, as 2024 came to a close, the Marvel Parliament started to chisel away at the 2026 theatrical slate, working with Sony to schedule Spider-Man 4 as the immediate follow up to Avengers: Doomsday.

    Bringing Tom Holland‘s Spidey back to the screen was clearly a priority for the studios for some time and with time running out on the Multiverse Saga, getting the fourth Installment in the MCU-set Spidey franchise in theaters for 2026 ultimately jeopardized Marvel Studios’ plans for another highly-anticipated sequel, Shang-Chi 2. The decision to tap Destin Daniel Cretton to helm Spider-Man 4 meant that production on the sequel to 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, expected to begin in 2025, would be delayed indefinitely. However, a new report from a trusted insider has revealed that the studio is looking to get Shang-Chi 2 up and running sooner than we thought.

    According to Daniel Richtman, Marvel Studios is currently planning to begin production on the untitled Shang-Chi sequel some time in 2026.

    While we were shooting [Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings], we were throwing around joke ideas of what a sequel could be. There are a lot of ideas that we had in the opener, and some of those ideas are planted as questions, by the end of our movie. There are things that we potentially want to explore in the future.

    -Destin Daniel Cretton

    In development since late 2021 with Cretton drafting a script, the Shang-Chi sequel was once believed to be an integral part of the Multiverse Saga; however, Shang-Chi may have been unceremoniously pushed out of the spotlight when Marvel Studios pivoted from Kang to Doctor Doom. While Cretton once explained that he had explored many potential ideas for a sequel, only a possible title for the sequel, Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of Time, ever emerged.

    Given the shift in the Multiverse Saga’s direction, it’s safe to assume the plot of Shang-Chi 2 might need to be adjusted, making a 2026 start of production a reasonable possibility for Cretton following his work on Spider-Man 4. The studio currently has two untitled films slated for release in 2027 on July 23 and November 5, meaning both would follow Avengers: Secret Wars which is expected to be the Multiverse Saga finale. Of course, it’s possible that the studio may choose to rearrange those releases should stories, such as whatever they decide on for Shang-Chi 2, need to be told to add to the overall narrative of the saga.

  • The ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Trailer Contains the MCU’s First ‘Luke Cage’s Reference

    The ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Trailer Contains the MCU’s First ‘Luke Cage’s Reference

    The decision by Marvel Studios to canonize Netflix’s Daredevil series as part of the creative overhaul on Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again meant that the adventures of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen weren’t the only stories retconned into MCU continuity. Indeed all of Netflix’s series made the jump because of the interconnected nature of their stories and the shared experiences of the title characters in The Defenders. So while Matt Murdock, Wilson Fisk, Frank Castle, Benjamin Pointdexter and others will share the screen again in Daredevil: Born Again, Jessica Jones, Colleen Wing, Danny Rand, Misty Knight and Luke Cage are out and about somewhere in New York City. And while fans of those characters wait to learn what’s next for them, the first trailer for the new series acknowledges another one of the Defenders for the first time.

    As can be seen around 28 seconds into the trailer, during a New Year’s Eve gathering in Times Square in which Wilson Fisk is seen giving a speech, one of the billboards just above the advertisement for Rogers: The Musical serves as an advertisement for Harlem’s Paradise.

    Founded in the 1960s by Buggy Stokes and Quincy McIver, Harlem’s Paradise served as headquarters for the Stokes Crime Family and was a key location in both seasons of Luke Cage. As of the series finale, ownership of the club had been passed on to Cage following the death of Mariah Dillard.

    Harlem’s Paradise is the place where hip-hop, funk, jazz & rock and roll all come back to the mothership. It’s a party, y’all.

    Though the billboard is advertising the club through a quote, the lettering on the sign is unclear. However, the nod to the location is an easy way to incorporate one of the key settings of the Defenders-verse into the MCU without making any major changes to the world previously created or painting themselves into a corner.

    Daredevil: Born Again debuts on Disney Plus on March 4th.

  • New Collected Editions of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips ‘Criminal’ to Hit Stores Ahead of Amazon Studios’ Adaptation’s Debut

    New Collected Editions of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips ‘Criminal’ to Hit Stores Ahead of Amazon Studios’ Adaptation’s Debut

    In 2023, trade reports revealed that Amazon Studios was developing a streaming series based on Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips‘ Eisner-award winning comic book series, Criminal. With Brubaker as its showrunner, he series went into production on 2024 with Charlie Hunnam in the lead as Leo, described as “a brilliant master thief who sees all the angles.” Adria Ajorna, Emilia Clarke, Luke Evans and Michael Mando joined the cast, giving it some serious star power but there’s been little news on when to expect it. However, it looks as though we can indeed expect it to arrive this year and , to prepare for it, Image Comics is giving the original comic series a “glow up.”

    Per a press release from Image, “The bestselling, fan-favorite Criminal series by multiple award-winning team Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Reckless, Houses of the Unholy, Fatale) will get a glow up this year with trade paperback reprints featuring new cover art and design from Phillips and published by Image Comics.” Image will release 8 volumes of Criminal with the first trade paperback will be available in stores on January 22nd and subsequent volumes will become available each month through August.

    While the release does not provide a premier date, it does indicate that “the first season of the TV show will cover the first two story arcs of the comic book series, Criminal, Volume One: Coward and Criminal, Volume Two: Lawless.” Given that info, we shouldn’t expect to see the series hit Amazon Prime until at least March.

    Preparing for the wider world to discover Criminal as a TV series, Sean and I wanted 2025 to be a big celebration of Criminal, and I couldn’t think of a better way to start that off than redesigning the entire series from the ground up, with these amazing new covers that Sean has created.

    -Ed Brubaker

    Brubaker’s association with the show seems to have reconnected him to his own work.”Running the Criminal TV show was a life-changing experience, but it also made me appreciate the comics more than I ever had, at the same time, and I can’t wait for new audiences to discover this wide world of crime that Sean and I have spent all these years building,” said the showrunner.

    And while he doesn’t say it, it sounds as though diving back into Criminal may have sparked some new ideas in Brubaker’s mind. “Our next step in the celebration is still a surprise,” he teased, “but expect to see it announced soon, too.” Could 2025 see new issues of Criminal in your LCS? We’ll know soon enough.

  • The Ten Rings Set to Return in a Surprising Marvel Project

    The Ten Rings Set to Return in a Surprising Marvel Project

    Though the true nature of the organization wasn’t revealed until 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Xu Wenu’s surreptitious terrorist organization, The Ten Rings, has been causing chaos in the MCU since its inception. If not for the actions of one cell of The Ten Rings that attacked a U.S. military convoy in Afghanistan, Tony Stark would never have become Iron Man in the MCU’s Sacred Timeline.

    Of course, it was eventually revealed that the leader of that cell, Raza Hamidmi al-Wazar, had been working with Obadiah Stane, first to buy Stark Industries weapons and then to kidnap Tony. After recovering pieces of Stark’s original Iron Man armor from the desert, al-Wazar believed he had struck a deal with Stane that would eventually provide the Ten Rings with an army of armored soldiers. Instead, Stane took the armor, which eventually became the Iron Monger suit, and killed al-Wazar and his men.

    While that certainly seemed to be the end for the MCU’s first baddie, it seems there’s more for the Phase 1 villain to do after all. According to multiple trade reports, Faran Tahir, who portrayed al-Wazar in 2008’s Iron Man, will return to the role in Marvel Television’s untitled D+ Vision series.

    Tahir’s return certainly Adds another layer of intrigue to the already mysterious Vision series. The Paul Bettany-led series, which was originally developed by WandaVision and Agatha All Along creator Jac Schaeffer before being reworked by Terry Matalas, is expected to follow the White Vision as he attempts to relearn his own tragic history.

    James Spader signed on to reprise his role as Vision’s “father”, the rogue AI Ultron, and Todd Stashwick joined the project in September as a mysterious assassin. As murky as those two castings made the picture of what the plot of the Vision series could entail, bringing back a long-dead baddie muddies the waters even further. Given Vision’s history is thoroughly entangled with Tony Stark’s, it’s entirely possible Tahir’s al-Wazar could be seen in flashbacks; however, since the character’s death was only assumed, it’s possible he could have survived Stane’s firing squad and find himself somehow mixed up with Ultron. Whatever the case, al-Wazar will now be operating in a world where Xu Wenwu has died and his daughter, Xu Xialing, is now the head of her father’s empire. Perhaps the next chapter in her story will be tied somehow to the events of the Vision series.

    Marvel Television’s untitled Vision series begins filming soon and is expected to stream on Disney Plus in 2026.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Brave New World’: Sam Wilson’s First Big Screen Outing as Captain America Will Be One of Marvel Studios’ Shortest Movies to Date

    ‘Brave New World’: Sam Wilson’s First Big Screen Outing as Captain America Will Be One of Marvel Studios’ Shortest Movies to Date

    After an abnormally slow 2024 in which Deadpool & Wolverine was it’s only theatrical offering, Marvel Studios is set to roll out three films in 2025. First up is Captain America: Brave New World which will see Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson take center stage as the Sentinel of Liberty after taking the mantle back from John Walker in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

    Stepping up to be the leader as Captain America is going to be a new set of challenges for him. And in this story, a big part of his journey is how do you define that leadership?

    -Director Julius Onah

    While marketing for the film has focused heavily on Harrison Ford‘s Red Hulk, Cap will also be facing a more cerebral threat in the form of Tim Blake Nelson‘s Leader, who seems to be the man pulling the strings in a war over adamantium. And while that seems like it should make for a pretty packed movie, it turns out it will be the shortest of Marvel Studios’ four Captain America films.

    Multiple outlets have reported that the final runtime for Captain America: Brave New World will be 1 hour and 58 minutes. Not only would that make it the shortest film in the Captain America franchise, it would also be only the ninth of thirty-five films to come in under 2 hours and, along with Ant-Man and The Wasp, be the seventh shortest MCU film.

    Reports from early test screenings indicates that the film had some ground to make up and reshoots may have addressed some of that. WWE superstar Seth Rollins recently revealed that his role, which included a major action sequence, was cut from the film. While there’s some debate over just how much of the film was reworked, the short runtime may be indicative of some heavy editing, as was the case with The Marvels and Thor: Love and Thunder, two recent MCU films that also happen to come in under two hours. With the film in theaters one month from tonight, we won’t have long to wait to see if Marvel was able to pull a great action movie out of the abundance of footage that was shot.

    Captain America: Brave New World opens in theaters on February 14th.

  • Social Media Teases Imminent Release of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Trailer

    Social Media Teases Imminent Release of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Trailer

    Though a couple of different convention-only trailers for Daredevil: Born Again have leaked online in low quality video, with less than two months to go until its release, there’s been no officially released footage. Even if it’s not drawing from a huge sample, it’s still as close to a series debut without a trailer that any Marvel Studios produced streaming series has come. But that may be changing very soon.

    Just a day after series’ star Vincent D’Onofrio explained that the planned release of the trailer had been delayed by the Los Angeles wildfires, a story from an official Daredevil social media account may have just revealed when fans can finally watch a HD version of the trailer.

    Via Instagram, it appears as though Marvel will roll out the first trailer for Daredevil:  Born Again at 7 AM PT/10 AM ET, presumably tomorrow.

    However, while the easiest assumption to make is that the story is teasing an imminent trailer release, there’s no confirmation of that at the moment. At this point, we’ll all know in just under 12 hours so get some sleep and set your alarm.

  • ‘Nosferstu’ Star Rumored to Be Up for a Second MCU Role

    ‘Nosferstu’ Star Rumored to Be Up for a Second MCU Role

    Don’t call it typecasting but Bill Skarsgård continues to land villainous roles and deliver his best performances. Whether as Pennywise, Marquis de Gramont or, most recently, Count Orlolk, Skarsgård inhabits sinister roles in a way few have been able to do consistently.

    You’ll be forgiven if you don’t recall that Skarsgård also played a (sort of) big bad in a Marvel Studios films, having voiced the Deviant leader, Kro, in 2021’s Eternals. While the actor recently generated some buzz after expressing his opinion of his ability to pull of a “pretty cool Joker” in Andy Muschetti‘s The Brave and the Bold, a new rumor suggests he may be in line for another turn in a new MCU role.

    According to social media scooper My Time To Shine Hello, “Marvel Studios is interested in Bill Skarsgård for a new MCU role. Not his Eternals role.”

    While that’s all the scooper had to share, with Marvel Studios finally turning its attention to the X-Men and Mister Sinister strongly rumored to be an ongoing antagonist, it’s easy to imagine Skarsgård becoming the fabulous supervillain.

    Of course there are plenty of other roles, both heroic and villainous, that Skarsgård might fill as well (The Beyonder comes to mind) and it must be remembered that this is simply a rumor. However, with the mutant movement underway and the studio potentially looking to introduce at least one key member of the X-Men before the end of the Multiverse Saga, it’s believable enough that the Marvel Parliament may also consider introducing a major new villain as well.

    Source: My Time To Shine Hello

  • What To Expect From the Future of the Star Wars Universe and When to Expect It

    What To Expect From the Future of the Star Wars Universe and When to Expect It

    What’s next for Star Wars? Who’s recently joined the cast of your most anticipated series or film? Where can you find the teasers and trailers? Look no further, true believers. Everything you need to know about the future of the Star Wars universe has been collected for you here. Click on each logo to learn what we currently know about the upcoming Star Wars projects.

  • Wild Rumor Points to a Fan-favorite Clone Wars Villain Appearing in ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’

    Wild Rumor Points to a Fan-favorite Clone Wars Villain Appearing in ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’

    Though set in the previously unexplored New Republic era, Lucasfilm’s D+ Star Wars series have included plenty of familiar faces. The studio’s creative grand admiral, Dave Filoni, has utilized The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka as vehicles to allow a dozen characters from a pair of animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, to make the jump to live-action.

    Appearances by Filoni faves such as Bo-Katan Kryze and Cad Bane, who played key roles in the animated series, have been largely well-received, though nothing pleases everyone, especially not the very divided Star Wars fandom. With plenty more projects to go before Filoni puts a bow on the Mandoverse, comes plenty of time to bring a few more animated favorites to life and an absolutely wild new rumor suggests that one of Star Wars: The Clone Wars deadliest bounty hunters will make his first live-action appearance in 2026.

    According to Kristian Harloff, Kyuzo bounty hunter Embo will reportedly have a major role as one of the main villains in director Jon Favreau‘s The Mandalorian and Grogu.

    Harloff’s report indicates that The Mandalorian and Grogu will feature Din Djarin and Grogu attempting to save Rotta the Hutt from Embo–voiced by Filoni–who has been hired to kidnap the offspring of Jabba. It was recently announced that Jeremy Allen White was set to portray Rotta (another Clone Wars character set to move into live-action) and there are some pretty wild theories and rumors out there about what’s become of the Hutt since last time he was seen.

    Of course, should this rumor turn out to be true, it would certainly make for a fun adventure but with the Shadow Council also set to appear, there will be more to the plot of The Mandalorian and Grogu than a kidnapping.

    The Mandalorian and Grogu will hit theaters on May 22, 2026.

    Source: YouTube