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  • Disney Confirms Controversial Character Remains in ‘Captain America: Brave New World’

    Disney Confirms Controversial Character Remains in ‘Captain America: Brave New World’

    Marvel Studios rolled out the first look at 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World which looks to be a high-octane thriller. While the teaser trailer gave away quite a bit, including the inclusion of Red Hulk, it held back quite a bit as well, including leaving out some key cast members. One of those members of the cast, Shira Haas, is set to play Ruth Bat-Seraph, known in the comics as Sabra, who has become the center of some controversy. Fans have threatened to boycott the film over her inclusion and some rumors arose that the character would be taken out of the film entirely. As it turns out, that is not the case as Haas was included on the list of cast members sent out by Disney in an official press release.

    “Captain America: Brave New World” stars Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford. The film is directed by Julius Onah and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. Louis D’Esposito and Charles Newirth serve as executive producers.

    Despite backlash from fans, Haas‘ character was never going to be removed from the film. In 2022, the studio released a statement indicating that they were “taking a new approach” with the character.

    While our characters and stories are inspired by the comics. They are always freshly imagined for the screen and today’s audience, and the filmmakers are taking a new approach with the character Sabra who was first introduced in the comics over 40 years ago

    With only a brief hint of the character in the teaser, fans will have to wait to see what that new approach is and how they incorporate her into the MCU despite the controversy that has surrounded her since she was first revealed to be in the film.

    Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 14, 2025.

  • Marvel Studios Official Synopsis for ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Teases a “Nefarious Global Plot”

    Marvel Studios Official Synopsis for ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Teases a “Nefarious Global Plot”

    Following the release of the teaser trailer for Captain America: Brave New World, Disney unveiled the first official synopsis for the action-packed 2025 film. The film has been described as a political thriller in the past and the synopsis indicates fans should expect just that.

    CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. © 2024 MARVEL.

    After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

    Official Synopsis for Captain America: Brave New World

    Though he’s only briefly seen in the teaser, that “true mastermind” is certainly Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns who is returning to the role for the first time since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. Brave New World director Julius Onah teased Sterns’ role in the film in an interview with ComicBook.com in 2022.

    One of the things that really drew me to this project is The Leader is a man who operates from intellect. And it’s so great to have an adversary who is working with this incredible intellect to really put Sam through the wringer in this story. And again, it’s a paranoid thriller; it’s this grounded adventure where I think everything that happens in this film feels so real and intense because of who this adversary is. What he’s going to have to go through in this film is because he’s got an adversary who is so terrifyingly intelligent.

    -Jullius Onah

    The teaser trailer lays out how Sam Wilson moves ahead following the events of the Disney Plus streaming series The Falcon and The Winter Solider as President Thaddeus Ross looks to make Captain America an official position within the United States military. Onah previously talked about the challenges Wilson would face in that role saying, “He is in a new position. 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? That’s the thing that he hasn’t had to deal with just yet. As the Falcon, he was always there supporting the rest of the team, but now he’s the man leading the team and I think that’s going to be a really exciting journey to go on with him.”

    Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 14th, 2025.

  • ‘Ms. Marvel’ and ‘What If…?’ Writer Taking Over for Fired ‘X-Men ’97’ Showrunner

    ‘Ms. Marvel’ and ‘What If…?’ Writer Taking Over for Fired ‘X-Men ’97’ Showrunner

    Marvel Studios’ most recent foray into animation, X-Men ’97, checked all the boxes. From beginning to end, the revival captivated the audience with shockingly high stakes and ended on such a high note that fans were clamoring for news about Season 2. The good news is that the sophomore season of X-Men ’97 is already deep into its production and could hit D+ as early as 2025; however, with showrunner Beau DeMayo being let go by Marvel Studios despite having a long-term plan for the series, the question of who would take the reigns of the successful series continued to hang overhead. Now, that problem has been resolved.

    According to Deadline, Matthew Chauncey has agreed to join the creative team of the animated series as the head writer for Season 3 of X-Men ’97.

    Chauncey is an in-house hire for the studio, having worked both in live-action on Ms. Marvel and in animation on Seasons 1 and 2 of What If…? and the upcoming Eyes of Wakanda. With Season 2 of X-Men ’97 currently in production, Chauncey will have plenty of time to get to work on drafting Season 3 which should allow for him to find his groove with the characters and the pre-existing stories and churn out some banger episodes. While he has writing credits for more than a half-dozen episodes of What If…?, he was the sole writer for Season 2, Episode 7, “What If…Hela Found the Ten Rings?”, which was one of the season’s most fascinating installments.

    Source: Deadline

  • Marvel Studios Unveils the Official Synopsis for ‘Agatha All Along’

    Marvel Studios Unveils the Official Synopsis for ‘Agatha All Along’

    Marvel Studios rolled out the first look at its next Disney Plus streaming series, Agatha All Along and, as usual, sent some extra goodies out as well. In addition to some promo photos and a great looking poster, the studio also provided an official synopsis for the series.

    In “Agatha All Along,” the infamous Agatha Harkness finds herself down and out of power after a suspicious goth Teen helps break her free from a distorted spell. Her interest is piqued when he begs her to take him on the legendary Witches’ Road, a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they’re missing. Together, Agatha and this mysterious Teen pull together a desperate coven, and set off down, down, down The Road…

    The goth Teen mentioned is, of course, Joe Locke’s Nicholas Scratch Billy Kaplan and the Witches’ Road is sure to be drought with peril!

    Agatha All Along premieres September 18th on Disney Plus.

    Updating

  • DC Studios No Longer Moving Ahead with a Matt Reeves’ Gotham-Verse Series

    DC Studios No Longer Moving Ahead with a Matt Reeves’ Gotham-Verse Series

    Before James Gunn and Peter Safran took the reigns as co-chairs of DC Studios, Matt Reeves had quite the vision for bringing Gotham to life on the big and small screens. In addition to his trilogy of Batman films, Reeves had several streaming series in the works and while one of those, The Penguin, is set to debut on Max this September, news has come down that development on another series has been halted.

    According to Variety, the untitled Arkham Asylum streaming series will no longer move forward.

    The GCDP thing, that story has story has kinda evolved. We’ve actually now [moved] more into the realm of exactly what would happen in the world of Arkham as it relates coming off of our movie, and some of the characters… almost leaning into the idea of… it’s like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham.

    –Matt Reeves on the evolution of his Arkham project

    Originally imagined as a Gotham City Police Department series to be written by Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter and set within Reeves’ universe, the premise of the project changed over time. By March 2022, the GCPD project became an Arkham Asylum-centric series that would involve horror elements with Joe Barton taking the reigns on the script. In the fall of 2022, Antonio Campos took over as showrunner and development continued. Now, the long-gestating project is no more.

    The idea, again the way that Gotham is a character in the movie, I really want Arkham to exist as a character. You go into this environment and encounter these characters in a way that feels really fresh. And so in our work on Gotham, that story started to evolve, and it started feeling [like], ‘Wait, we should really lean into this.’ And then that’s kinda where that’s gone.

    –Matt Reeves on the evolution of his Arkham project

    Even with the show not moving forward, Reeves‘ vision for Gotham still lives on. In addition to Colin Farrel’s The Penguin series, Robert Pattinson will return in The Batman Part II in 2026.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘The Acolyte’: Exploring the Mystery Planet’s Connections to the Sith

    ‘The Acolyte’: Exploring the Mystery Planet’s Connections to the Sith

    Episode 6 of The Acolyte, “Teach/Corrupt”, may not have been the most action-packed of the series and it really didn’t do much to further the plot of the series. That doesn’t mean the latest installment of Lucasfilm’s newest Star Wars series didn’t have something to offer to the overall mythology of the galaxy far, far away.

    With both Master Sol and The Stranger seeing through the Parent Trap swap fairly quickly, the episode slowed down considerably compared to the previous installment which was as action-packed as Star Wars has ever been. “Teach/Corrupt” split time with the Aniseya twins and their swapped masters and while Mae and Sol still have some things to work out, The Stranger’s time with Osha was indeed revelatory. Together on an “unknown planet”, The Stranger begins his seduction of Osha, intending to have her replace her sister as his acolyte. As the two spend time in his bad-guy lair, The Stranger works to repair his helmet which Jecki damaged in the last episode. For the first time in Star Wars canon, the metal used to build the helmet, cortosis, is named and its properties are explained as it becomes apparent that the “unknown planet” is rich with the valuable metal. And as interesting as The Stranger’s tale of his time as a Jedi is, the island has been at the center of much of post-episode discussion and it turns out it may not truly be unknown.

    While some fans believed the island planet may have been Ahch-To, showrunner Leslye Headland dismissed the idea while keeping the name of the planet a secret. However, some fans have come to believe that the planet has already appeared in Star Wars canon in the novel Darth Plagueis. Published in 2012, the canonical novel by author James Luceno tells the story of Sleepy Sheev Palpatine’s Sith Master, Hego Damask, aka Darth Plagueis. In that novel, Plagueis killed his own Master, Darth Tenebrous, on an ocean planet rich with cortosis ore. That planet, Bal’demnic, clearly has a whole lot in common with The Stranger’s “unknown planet” and given that The Acolyte is set about 65 years before Plagueis killed Tenebrous on Bal’demnic, it’s entirely possible that the first season of the series is setting the stage for that part of the Sith’s history to ultimately be told should the series be renewed.

  • The Justice League Arrives in the Latest ‘Superman’ Set Photos

    The Justice League Arrives in the Latest ‘Superman’ Set Photos

    Recent set photos revealed Edi Gathegi‘s Mister Terrific sporting a Lordtech logo on his chest, driving speculation that he, Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl and Metamorpho would be members of a superhero team funded by Maxwell Lord. In that scenario, that team would likely be Justice League International and while confirmation of that hasn’t come from anyone at DC Studios just yet, new set photos do confirm other characters will be wearing gear with a Lordtech logo.

    Fresh from Cleveland come new set photos that provide the first look at Nathan Fillion as everyone’s least favorite Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, and Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl.

    Though there’s no good look at Merced’s costume, Fillion’s Gardner is definitely sporting the same Lordtech logo on his chest as was seen on Mister Terrific’s. Given how similar Hawkgirl’s costume looks to the others, it seems a safe bet the same logo can be found in her costume as well. It’s also possible that Metamorpho is taking place in the scene given the presence of an actor in a blue VFX suit.

    Updating…

  • ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Starts Production as Cast Grows

    ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Starts Production as Cast Grows

    The wait is finally over, as Netflix has celebrated the production start of One Piece‘s second season with a video. They continue to understand that the selling point of this production is the cast and their dynamic, so we get a chance to see the Straw Hats unite once again to kick off their return to South Africa truly. They aren’t revealing any major details but still give fans that heartfelt return of the main cast.

    That isn’t all though, as we do continue to get some more casting announcements. It looks like we have some familiar faces returning as they’ve confirmed that other returning actors are Ilia Isorelys Paulino’s Alvida, Michael Dorman as Gold Roger, and Jeff Ward as Buggy. It makes sense given Buggy and Alvida were set up at the end of last season, but Roger’s return could lead to quite some speculation on where and how we’ll see him in the series. It would be neat to see a recurring trend for each season to open with the iconic pirate king.

    Of course, there are also some other major casting additions we’re a little late on. We finally know that Callum Kerr will play Smoker in the next season, who’ll be joined by Julia Rewald as Tashigi. Ty Keogh is playing Dalton who’ll face off against the always hilarious Wapol, played by Rob Colletti. Surprisingly, still no announcement for major players like Chopper, Nico Robin, Bon Clay, Sir Crocodile, or Mr. 1. We’ll have to see if they are keeping some news in their back pocket once production nears its end or if the series closes on its release.

    Source: Twitter, Variety

  • SDCC Promos Reveal First Look at New Concept Art for ‘The Fantastic Four’

    SDCC Promos Reveal First Look at New Concept Art for ‘The Fantastic Four’

    Marvel Studios is headed back to San Diego this July and if they’re showing up, you can count on them to make a splash. Big Cheese Kevin Feige has said the studio wouldn’t roll into town unless they could over-deliver and given the multiple shifts release dates across the studio’s theatrical and streaming slates, there should be plenty of news to share. 

    One project that fans would love to hear more about–and that Feige himself is admittedly excited about–at SDCC is The Fantastic Four which is set to begin filming the day after the con wraps. Despite the short turnaround, it’s still possible the cast of the film makes an appearance in San Diego but even if they don’t, it seems as though the 2025 film will indeed be a centerpiece of the studio’s Hall H panel.

    With just a few weeks to go until SDCC kicks off, promo banners for The Fantastic Four have been spotted in San Diego.

    https://twitter.com/F4Update/status/1807798604418982017?t=MHlB_DVftJKxjgmlO99eQQ&s=19

    And I’m extremely excited by it, because I think those characters are mainstays… are legendary pillars of the Marvel Universe that we’ve never got to play with or explore in any significant way – apart from Multiverse Of Madness and a few fun teases – before, in the way that were doing in that film. So I’m extremely for that.

    -Kevin Feige on The Fantastic Four
    https://twitter.com/F4Update/status/1807806533964627983?t=oKDCl3YZeDtWi6J-3IynQA&s=19

    While Marvel has already shared some incredible artwork showing off the First Family, the new promo banners show off some very neato silhouettes of Pedro Pascal‘s Reed Richards, Joseph Quinn‘s Johnny Storm, Vanessa Kirby‘s Sue Storm and Ebon Moss-Bachrach‘s Ben Grimm. Of note is Sue’s classic bob haircut which makes plenty of sense given the film’s ’60s setting.

  • ‘Superman’ Set Photo Teases the Luthor Family’s Ties to the Founding of Metropolis

    ‘Superman’ Set Photo Teases the Luthor Family’s Ties to the Founding of Metropolis

    DC Studios’ co-chair and Superman director James Gunn has been known to drop an Easter egg or dozen in his films. A decade after Guardians of the Galaxy debuted in theaters, Gunn still hasn’t publicly revealed an Easter egg he’s taunted fans with since the film’s release. Photos from the Cleveland set of Superman have indicated that the first DC Studios film will be no different as references to former Supermen, DC Comics creators and characters who may well exist in the DC have all been discovered as fans comb through hundreds of shots. Given what’s known about the film, it’s clear that while it’s the launch of the DCU, Superman takes place in a “lived-in” universe where metahumans are established. As Gunn and crew have tried to create a true-to-the-comics Metropolis, they’ve been sure to add plenty of details to give the City of Tomorrow a rich history as well and now, one that ties to the family of Superman’s archenemy has been spotted.

    Via a set photo by Michael Collier, a set prop for Metropolis’ Downtown District which tells the history of the fictional city has been shared online. The very comic-accurate history of Metropolis, including its founding by Dutchman Paul De Vries, includes a reference to the Luthor family.

    While it may seem like a reference to John Henry Irons at first glance, the sign indicates that Metropolis’ boom during the Industrial Revolution was due to a company called Steel Works. In the comics, that company was founded by Wallace Luthor, the great-grandfather of Lex Luthor. Lex Luthor will be played in Superman by Nicholas Hoult, who has also recently been spotted on set.

    Metropolis would prosper during the Industrial Revolution with the founding of the Steel Works.

    Obviously, it remains to be seen what impact, if any, this detail might have on the film; however, it’s incredible to see this level of reverence to the source material and the attention to detail in crafting the DCU’s Metropolis. The sign itself may ultimately not make it into a single frame of Superman but as Gunn and DC co-chair Peter Safran try to craft a massive shared universe, you never know what may or may not matter and there’s no harm in creating a fully fleshed out DCU bible.

    Superman hits theaters on July 11, 2025.