Murphy's Multiverse

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  • ‘She-Hulk’ Director Confirms 2022 Premiere and Comedic Tone of Series

    ‘She-Hulk’ Director Confirms 2022 Premiere and Comedic Tone of Series

    She-Hulk director Kat Coiro was recently making the press rounds promoting her upcoming film Marry Me. In an interview with The Wrap, the director shared her thought process when asked to join the Marvel family, confirming the rumored comedic tone of the Tatiana Maslany-led series.

    I never choose a project based on genre. And I actually don’t think very much about genre, I think about character. And I think about the emotional lives of the characters and, you know, can I bring something? Can I bring a mix of humor and heart to this? Because that is what I love to watch. And it’s what I love to work with. And so when I stepped into, you know, the Marvel playground — the cool thing about Marvel is that it is an ever-evolving universe and you have straight dramas, and you have very comedic films, and we are in that world where we’re definitely playing with a more comedic world, but it also is still part of Marvel land.

    Coiro was asked whether a second season can be expected, to which she affirmed the show’s release this year, following the vague teaser from Disney+ late last year.

    I will let Kevin Feige answer that question. For now, we have done a season and it’s coming out sometime this year. And we’ll go from there.

    Source: The Wrap

  • ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ Producers Hint at MCU Crossover

    ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ Producers Hint at MCU Crossover


    Fan-favorite Hollywood creatives Phil Lord and Chris Miller have a lot on their plates with the highly-anticipated sequel to their smash hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The next film in the series, the first of a two-part story, promises to introduce audiences to a plethora of new and exciting spider-verses. Just which ones viewers will see is still being kept mostly under wraps, though the world of Marvel 2099 seems like a safe bet, and the realm of Spider-Man: India was teased in the movie’s first trailer.

    One fun idea fans haven’t been able to shake is the idea of a crossover with the live-action MCU. While the thought might have once seemed far-fetched, the multiversal shenanigans of Spider-Man: No Way Home have made anything seem possible. During a recent interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Miller and Lord were asked directly about the possibility of a surprise universal overlap, and a connection between the MCU’s multiverse and their own. The answer was more optimistic than expected:

    The Multiverse is big and wide. And all things grow… Why would you think a Multiverse, in which many things are possible, that [those things are] not related?

    Chris Miller

    Lord continued with the quip, “Everything’s possible except for this one thing that everyone wants.” Obviously, this confirms nothing. However, it does leave the door open for an animated Tom Holland to swing his way Across the Spider-Verse. Or even better, for a live-action Shameik Moore to appear as Miles Morales.

    Source: Happy Sad Confused

  • New ‘Ms. Marvel’ Set Photos Tease a ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Connection

    New ‘Ms. Marvel’ Set Photos Tease a ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Connection

    It looks like set photos have slowly found their way online from the Ms. Marvel reshoots, which offer a curious update on what we can expect from the Disney+ series. What stands out is that these photos not only include Iman Vellani in the costume that was briefly teased in the initial Disney+ Day trailer, but the fact she is seemingly chased down by a very familiar-looking drone to Spider-Man fans.

    Spider-Man: Far From Home viewers might instantly recognize the drone that Mysterio used to pin everything on Peter Parker. With the help of EDITH, these Stark Tech drones ended up causing a lot of damage to London Bridge. That wasn’t the last we saw of them, as they would eventually show up in No Way Home as the government seized the assets after Parker was blamed for Mysterio’s murder. So, there’s a chance that someone got their hand on it and repurposed You can check the images shared by @CosmicMMedia here:

    It’s really interesting to see the drones make a return even if they aren’t the exact same that we saw back in No Way Home. Stark’s legacy might live on, but it opens up the question of who might be controlling them if they are chasing down Kamala. She may have her abilities already at this point. So, someone is out there trying to control the meta-human population. It’s not too dissimilar to Marvel’s Avengers plot, which also focused on the young Inhuman.

    Source: Twitter

  • Everything You Need To Know About ‘Turning Red’

    Everything You Need To Know About ‘Turning Red’

    March 11th sees the release of Pixar’s first offering of this year, Turning Red. Directed by Academy Award-winner Domee Shi, the film centers on a kid named Mei, a diligent, studious, and sassy pre-teen who one day wakes up as a giant, fluffy red panda. It’s up to Mei and her support system of friends and her mom to help her navigate life as she enters her first phase of adulthood.

    Murphy’s Multiverse were given the chance to attend the film’s press junket that had certain members of the production including Shi herself, producer Lindsey Collins, and their talented crew of production designers and animators. Here are a few things we learned from Turning Red:

    Director Domee Shi wanted to create a Pixar film with a female protagonist that was different from the other films

    Pixar films have always leaned towards the fantastical and otherworldly. Whether it’s about a superhero family trying to normal lives, a robot living in isolation a millennia later, or a journey through the afterlife, these films are usually far removed from what we recognize in real life. Turning Red seeks to upend that. According to director Domee Shi:

    When I first pitched the film, I really wanted it to feel different and unlike any Pixar film you’ve seen before.  This is going to be Pixar’s first contemporary teen girl protagonist and I really wanted the world to reflect her character: colorful, chunky and cute, bold and in your face just like Mei.  The term I used a lot to the crew was ‘Asian tween fever dream.’  We really wanted a fun, specific backdrop to tell this coming-of-age story, so we decided to set it in Toronto, Canada in the early 2000s. 

    The decision to keep it contemporary goes beyond the surface. The culture and norms of the era play a big part in giving the film such a distinct vibe. Shi adds:

    Not just because it’s when I grew up as a tween, but it was also the height of tween-of teen pop mania in the late 90s, early 2000s, you had those boy bands, pop idols.  We also just wanted to avoid social media and just kind of tell this story in a simpler time of flip phones, CDs, jelly bracelets, and Tamagotchis. 

    Rosalie Cheng was originally the film’s stand-in voice actor and not the star

    Rosalie Cheng had no idea she was going to be the star of Pixar’s next big film when she signed on for Turning Red. The plan was to have her voice the protagonist Mei to give the production crew a sense of the character while they were looking for the right talent for the job. As fate would have it, they eventually realized that Rosalie was the right person. Producer Lindsey Collins says:

    In our earliest version of this film, we found this local 12-year-old girl right here in the East Bay to record our temp voice for our lead character. And over the next year, we tried to look for other actors to replace her in the final film.  Frankly, nobody came close.  Rosalie Cheng had become the main character Mei and there was no other choice in our minds. 

    During the junket, they showed me and several members of the press a heartwarming clip of the moment they told Rosalie she was starring in the film.

    It’s a film about growing pains

    Turning Red is a lot of ideas rolled into one. It’s about puberty and the confusing physical changes that come with it. It’s about transitioning into adulthood while honoring yourself in the process. It’s about navigating through the cultures of your immigrant family while assimilating in a world that feels alien. As director Domee Shi described it, all of these ideas are distilled into a mother-daughter story about “finally embracing change and all of its messiness even if it means saying goodbye to the relationship they once had.”

    Expect some fourth-wall-breaking inspired by Lizzie Maguire and Ferris Beuler

    Protagonist Mei is as sassy as they come and with that sass comes the opportunity to have one with storytelling. Turning Red opens with a fun opening sequence that has Mei breaking the fourth wall. The inspirations for that choice are unsurprising but are welcome nonetheless. Shi said:

    I just wanted it to feel different, in every way.  And I don’t think we’ve done a fourth wall breaking sequence yet in a Pixar film.  And, you know, I grew up loving those classic teen movies like Ferris Bueller but also those terrible but awesome Disney TV channel movies, where they had very precocious, sassy fourth wall breaking characters, like Lizzy McGuire. I kind of wanted to just take that energy and put that in this movie.  It also kind of sets it in this nostalgic time period as well.

    Black Panther and Mandalorian composer Ludwig Goransson is doing the score

    Producer Lindsey Collins set out to form the best team, from top to bottom, to make Turning Red as great as possible. That task includes hiring the right composer to breathe new life to the striking animation. Collins settled on Ludwig Goransson, a composer and producer who has worked with the biggest artists today and has scored music for the biggest films. Collins had this to say about Goransson’s work on the film:

    He brought this perfect mix of traditional score and also a deep early 2000s pop knowledge to the movie. I will say that the leap Ludwig’s score took from early demos to final recording was mind-blowing.  I think largely because he added so many unique sounds and tracks on top of the traditional musicians’ tracks, it just made the film pop for us in a way that we were just thrilled for.

    Billie Eilish and Finneas wrote original songs for the film’s in-universe boyband, 4*Town

    Just as they set out to hire the best composer with Goransson, the production team also had the undertaking of hiring someone to compose songs for Turning Red‘s fictional in-universe boyband 4*Town. The boyband plays a huge part in Mei’s journey and therefore needed to be a realized thing. With the help of her kids, Collins’ first choice ended up being the songwriting partnership of Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas.

    Billie Eilish was relatively unknown but adored by my kids in 2016, and her song Ocean Eyes was playing on repeat in our house.  So when we started thinking about songwriters who could capture the early 2000s sound and bring something fresh to it, Billie’s name came up.  After further research with the Disney music team, we had a better sense of Finneas and Billie and their influences, their style, and figured, you know, why not start with our dream choice? 

    To nab the biggest popstar and her equally successful producer of a brother, the production set out to make a notebook containing pictures, sketches, and diary logs – as if they were made by Mei herself – to convince them to board the project. The production was successful as Eilish and her brother said yes to Turning Red not too long after receiving the notebook.

    Their songs truly brought 4*Town to life.  Finneas actually even sings as one of the band members.  He’s Jesse.  In the end, they wrote three original songs for us. 

    4*Town was inspired by your favorite boy bands

    Being a kid of the 90s, it’s unsurprising to know that Shi drew inspiration from that particular generation of pop culture. 4*Town is made up of a hodgepodge of boy band influences that spans Backstreet Boys and the present-day crazy of K-pop.

    They’re definitely a homage to all the boy bands I loved growing up in the late ’90s and early 2000s: Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, O-Town, 98 Degrees.  We really wanted them to also feel like multicultural and even though they are like a homage to the boy bands of that era, we wanted to bring like a little bit of a modern touch to them too.  One of the boy band members, Tae Young, is a homage to the K-pop boy bands that I got into in-in college.

    Anime is a big part of Turning Red’s DNA

    Turning Red breaks the Pixar mold in a lot of ways, not the least of which is its distinct animation style that heavily draws from anime, a genre that Shi grew up loving. Animation supervisor Aaron Hartline revealed to the press the ways they sought to imbue a recognizable anime touch with Pixar’s signature hi-fi animation.

    We wanted to tap into Domee’s passion for the two genres of animation that she loves, anime being the East and Pixar Disney animation being the West.  Turning Red lives somewhere in between these styles.  We took influences from both genres and merged them together.  We often referenced anime eyes on this film.  And one of the great things about anime is that it’s not afraid to push the characters’ designs to the extreme.  The character’s eye shapes can be drastically different depending on the mood of the character. They even add hearts.  Basically, anything to help the characters emote.  In Turning Red, we wanted to use this same eye language.  We added stars, highlights, shrink the pupils down to tiny dots and create crescent shapes for her eyes.  Luckily, Domee had a really strong design sense.  She would give us drawings for how the characters should look.

    Aaron Hartline

    Turning Red premieres on March 11 in theaters everywhere and Disney+.

  • REVIEW: ‘Student Body’ Fails to Thrill

    REVIEW: ‘Student Body’ Fails to Thrill

    It’s hard to describe what Student Body is by the end of the film. While it tries hard to be terrifying and thrilling, it’s often predictable and frustrating with a very thin plot barely holding together. And yet, it’s not terrible. It’s not necessarily good, but it’s not necessarily bad, either. It’s the type of film that is easy to watch if you need a good popcorn flick on the couch, unfortunately, though it seems likely to not leave a lasting impression.

    Student Body is a horror thriller written and directed by Lee Ann Kurr. This marks Kurr’s feature film directorial debut, having previously helmed the TV mini-series, Wonder, as well as a couple of shorts. While the script does have its flaws, Kurr does do a good job at bringing out the best in the young cast. Where the film falls apart, however, is when it tries to make the leap into a horror film in its final moments. Up until that point, it’s the stereotypical high school flick that sees one student trying to fit in with the “cool kids.” It’s a cliché story, and one that would benefit from a unique plot. Student Body, unfortunately, lacks a unique story.

    Perhaps the easiest way to describe Student Body is by noting that it’s a story of obsession, one that tries to treat some of its subject matter with a sense of ease, but continually throws it in the viewers faces. It’s the typical high school film full of toxic friends, trying to fit in and trying to balance school and home. This one, however, just has murder thrown in to spice things up.

    This is a film that could have greatly benefited from a larger budget — perhaps to actually make it feel like a school with more than five students. It also could have benefited from a tighter and more cohesive story. Again, this isn’t to say the final product is terrible. It’s still an easy watch under two hours, and it does feature Christian Camargo as Mr. Aunspach, with the actor bringing his signature charm to the film. It’s just that, horror/thriller films need to be memorable if the story isn’t going to be tight. The score only managed to stand out in one scene near the end, proving to be otherwise forgetful throughout the rest of the film. The cinematography was lacking, especially in shots of the school. And the acting, at times, was subpar. Thankfully, though, those moments were few and far between. Harley Quinn Smith put everything she had into delivering a stern, yet vulnerable Nadia Parker, while Montse Hernandez shined as Jane Shipley.

    While Student Body wasn’t a favorite of mine, and one I probably won’t return to for future viewings, that doesn’t mean I’d encourage others to write it off. Give it a chance. It’s a quick film you can stream over the weekend while sitting at home. You may just enjoy the craziness that awaits.

  • Charlie Cox Finally Breaks Silence on Daredevil Return in ‘No Way Home’

    Charlie Cox Finally Breaks Silence on Daredevil Return in ‘No Way Home’

    A handful of actors are breathing sighs of relief since the film they’re in, Spider-Man: No Way Home premiered a little under two months ago. One of those actors is Charlie Cox, who in his MCU debut reprised his role as Matt Murdock. Cox, for the past few months, has been doing his best to mask his excitement over the truth. That’s now over though as the actor has finally given his first interview since the film’s release.

    I don’t think I’ve done any interviews. I still don’t know what the rules are. Obviously, it’s now known that I’m in Spider-Man. So, yeah. But more than that, I don’t know, and the little I do know, I’m obviously not going to say. But the only thing I would say is that for a long time I was asked these questions and I genuinely had not heard anything.

    Fans who diligently follow leaks and rumors are aware that Daredevil may be slated for a handful of appearances down the road, with the most likely one being She-Hulk. In addition to that, those rumored appearances are said to feature Daredevil with his Silver Age yellow suit. Should this turn out true, the little Cox knows may not be so little after all.

    Cox defended himself a little bit by jokingly stating that while he lied, he hadn’t been lying as long as fans assumed.

    For years, I have been asked questions about returning as Daredevil, and the genuine truth was I 100% assumed that was gone, that ship had just sailed. I didn’t hear from any of the folks at Marvel for a couple of years. It does now look like I was lying for a long time, I actually wasn’t, I was only lying for a little bit of time. You still don’t want to spoil it for people.

    Source: Supanova

  • Charlie Cox Wants To Do More Crossovers in the MCU

    Charlie Cox Wants To Do More Crossovers in the MCU

    Charlie Cox’s return as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home teased a potential future in which The Man Without Fear is free to pop up anywhere in the MCU in the future and that potential has fans buzzing and theorizing what’s next for the character. Rumors have him showing up everywhere the next couple of years, from Moon Knight to She-Hulk to Armor Wars, and hope continues to build that he’ll be back in a larger capacity in the next Spider-Man film.

    For the better part of a year, Cox had to dissemble a bit as he was peppered with questions about his return to the role, but now that the cat is out of the bag, he’s able to give some more insight on his return, as he recently did in an interview with Australia’s Supanova Comic Con. When asked about how he hoped the future of the character would look, Cox replied:

    I feel so lucky to have been cast in that role and it is the gift that keeps on giving. I loved every single minute of making the show. To be asked to come back and to be involved in any capacity is absolutely thrilling to me. And I hope…I don’t want to sound greedy…but I hope I get to do loads more. I hope I get to be involved way, way more for many years. I hope it never ends. I hope it gets to the point where people are like, “You’re too old to be playing this part.” I don’t know what their plans are but my hope is that I get to do as much as I’m allowed to do and to be involved.

    An excited Cox continued on by explaining that having Daredevil enter the MCU has opened up a world full of possibilities where he can meet up with other characters:

    The one thing that being in the MCU allows that we couldn’t really do with the Netflix stuff is that I can now interact with other MCU characters. So that would be really cool. Crossovers is the thing I would like to do next. I don’t know what that looks like and I don’t know what they’re planning and all that kinda stuff but, you know, there are some really interesting stories there that I would like to, I would love for the character to explore.

    As Cox said, the Netflix-verse offered very little in terms of crossovers as the studio only had the rights to a select group of characters. Now that he’s entered into the MCU, let’s hope Cox gets his wish to play the character as long as he wants and get started on those crossovers immediately.

    Source: Supanova

  • Vin Diesel Started Recording His Groot Lines for an Upcoming MCU Project

    Vin Diesel Started Recording His Groot Lines for an Upcoming MCU Project

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently busy filming, as James Gunn returns to finish the trilogy he started back in 2014. The story will see the ragtag team continue on their quest after whatever may happen between them and Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder. We still don’t know what the future has in store for this intergalactic team, but we know we’ll be getting a lot more of Groot. Vin Diesel has shared his excitement on exactly that as he shared a video on his Instagram as he returns to record voicing the character.

    Curiously, he didn’t confirm what project this recording is for, as there are currently four projects that we can expect to see Groot return. The before-mentioned Love and Thunder, the animated I Am Groot Disney+ series, the third Guardians film, and its Holiday Special. It wouldn’t be surprising if he is recording all the projects in one sitting, especially as the next Thor entry won’t release until July. Plus, the animated series is confirmed to release this year.

    It’s sweet he is sharing the video not only highlighting that he started recording for the character, but also giving a shoutout to his history of recording the voices of characters that say very little, like his time on The Iron Giant. It’s strange to think that he ended up tackling a similar role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which still opens up the possibility for him to join a project in a different capacity at some point in the future. Yet, it’s hard to beat just how iconic he made Groot since he first appeared in 2014.

    Source: Instagram

  • Murphy’s Team-Up Volume 16: MCU Team-Ups

    Murphy’s Team-Up Volume 16: MCU Team-Ups

    Nathan Miller

    It’s really hard to choose the MCU team-up I’d most like in Phase 4. Normally, I’m most interested in 2nd or 3rd order interactions. The kind of question that usually gets me going is something like, ‘who will be teaming up with each other in 3 years time?’ but right now the source of my thoughts seems to come from projects we saw in 2021. The feeling that seems to follow around potential selections, is excitement for seeing familiar characters reactions to newness in other characters. As one of my favourite characters, I’m supportive of whatever Wanda does in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and am enthused to see reactions to her development as The Scarlet Witch. I’m also ready to see familiar Avengers characters react to Sam Wilson as Captain America, and I’m ready to see Sam lead a team of Avengers. Finally, I’m intrigued to see where Yelena Belova pops up next, so, no matter who she connects with I’ll be absorbed by her interactions with the rest of the MCU. Out of those three, I’m definitely most excited to see what Wanda gets up to, and what the reactions to it are!

    Mary Maerz

    Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2... : Through The Roof 'n' Underground

    Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer with just about anyone. I don’t have any deeper thoughts about it. Put him with Doctor Strange. Spider-Man. Sersi. Abomination. Korg. Miek. Jack Duquesne. Party Thor. Zombie Iron Man. Guy who filmed Shang-Chi on the bus. I don’t care.

    Charles Murphy

    Despite being surrounded by gods and monsters, there’s no more down-to-earth hero in the MCU than Sam Wilson. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier allowed us to get a better handle on who Sam is and, simply put, he’s a no-nonsense guy with a straightforward approach to solving problems. He speaks from his heart. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. He knows EXACTLY who he is.

    By the time we see Sam in the MCU again, a character who has absolutely no idea who is will have joined the fray. Given who Sam is, teaming him up with Moon Knight might provide some killer character interactions. Sam’s training as a counselor might make him feel as though he can connect with the Fist of Khonshu, but he’s not ready for Moon Knight’s particular set of issues. The Lunar Legionnaire could be an absolutely fascinating fly in Sam’s ointment in Cap 4.

    Dalbin Osorio

    For me, I’m really anxious to see a team up between the new Captain America and the new Black Panther. There’s a scene in the comics where Sam Wilson asks that his suit be made by the Wakandans, and he goes on to explain the importance of the African nation and how he should be connected to them in some way. In the MCU, we’ve now seen the beginning of that play out with Sam getting his new costume from the Wakandans. Seeing the new Black Panther’s reaction, and subsequent dialogue, to the new Cap being Black would be a a bad ass moment.

    Hunter Radesi

    The Friendship of Spider-Man and Human Torch | Marvel

    This isn’t exactly a unique choice, but there probably isn’t a live-action Marvel pairing I’ve fantasized about more than Spider-Man and the Human Torch. Anyone who’s read the original run of ‘Marvel Team-Up’ knows this is the foremost duo, with meetings both humorous and touching coming in their respective solo titles as well. Peter and Johnny have an interesting chemistry, as young heroes with something to prove operating on opposite ends of the personality spectrum. Sure, the MCU may not have even cast it’s Torch yet, but this is a team-up that’s finally (finally!) possible for the first time on the big screen and I have a sneaking suspicion it will happen sooner than later.

    Anthony Canton III

    Considering the way Spider-Man: No Way Home ended, there’s one team up I feel would give Peter Parker not only the family vibe but a little bit of fun. What if Peter, in trying to stop a criminal, runs into Scott Lang? They never interacted in Captain America: Civil War, so it would be a fresh pairing, and while Scott doesn’t know who Peter is it could be used for some fun dialogue. Spidey and Luis could trade some stories and Ant-Man could help Spider-Man deal with whatever problem he has in the interim. Imagine a story where there’s an arms dealer (Justin Hammer perhaps?) and Spidey needs a little help against some formidable robots. Scott being a family man could give Peter some advice on whatever he’s currently dealing with. You get Scott, Hope, Cassie, and the rest of the crew and you have a fantastic team up movie.

  • REVIEW: ‘Three Swords’ is Good, Yet a Missed Opportunity

    REVIEW: ‘Three Swords’ is Good, Yet a Missed Opportunity

    Sometimes we read a synopsis for a novel and think, “Wow, what a great story this is going to be.” We are excited about the main characters and are fans of the writer, so we think we know what to expect. Then we read the actual story and it fails to meet those expectations. It could be because of the characters, or the writing style, or the pace of the story, or it could even be the reader’s own expectations. With Three Swords, this is one of those novels where the story failed to live up to the expectations set by the synopsis.

    Penned by C.L. Werner, the veteran writer of numerous short stories set in the Warhammer universe and the Black Plague trilogy, Three Swords tells the story of the Warriors Three as they receive an ominous set of predictions from the Enchanters as it pertains to Asgard. The Warriors Three must venture out into the cosmos to stop the Enchanters from enacting their plan to destroy the universe. This takes our titular heroes to many moments in history, from the actual civil war to important moments in England, and it is there where you really get some highlights that you can enjoy, even if you’re not well-versed in Marvel lore. Unfortunately, the story is not given much time to breathe before jumping to the next set-piece, and it seems Werner is ultimately in a rush to just get through the story. As such, the Warriors Three aren’t as fleshed out as they could’ve been. Whereas the little Easter eggs while they’re traversing the universe work without you having a vast array of Marvel knowledge, the characters are written as if you do have a vast array of Marvel knowledge. Due to this, it creates a disjointed narrative where characters do things and you’re almost expected to just understand why they did that. 

    The set pieces work pretty well, with Werner doing a great job of using words to paint the story of the action we are seeing. Because each Enchanter has a tower, or lair, it feels like a Mortal Kombat video game where you’re fighting waves until getting to the endgame boss. Fandral is the standout here, as he gets some really cool moments where we are reminded how good a swordsman and warrior he truly is. As I was reading it, I kept thinking “man, this would be a really cool adaptation on Disney+” because it kind of feels like the National Treasure films with their reverence for what came before in both Marvel and modern history with some really good action mixed in. I, also, enjoyed that this story really put someone other than Thor in charge of saving Asgard: too often, in Asgard’s history, the Warriors Three are just along for the ride, but putting them in charge here really makes the story feel small enough (their friendship shines) even though there’s so much at stake. 

    Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the twist ending. No spoilers, but it is telegraphed from the beginning, and that made it feel a bit cheap. It lessens everything that came before the end, and it doesn’t really hold up to the rest of the story: if the story was a B before the ending, the twist is like a D and just soured me a bit on the story as a whole.

    All in all, a solid entry but one that could’ve been substantially better had a cheap twist not been added and had more effort been put into developing the characters beyond what we would know as Marvel fans. Werner deserves credit for writing the action and humor in a strong way, but in the end, the story falls to reach the heights teased.