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  • ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Campaign Replay Confirmed for March Hawkeye Update

    ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Campaign Replay Confirmed for March Hawkeye Update

    We’ve been keeping a close eye on Marvel’s Avengers‘ next major update, which will finally allow us to play as the iconic archer. Lately, some hints have started pointing to the update potentially including more than what we initially expected. Suddenly, Intel leaked a video early on the addition of customizable HARM rooms. Crystal Dynamics also unveiled that they are holding additional streams showcasing the game’s original storyline. The theory paid off, as they announced that the Hawkeye update will include a long-requested function. It looks like we’ll finally be able to replay the campaign.

     

     

    It’s been a highly requested feature, as the REassemble campaign was one of the highlights of the game. We finally get to revisit Kamala’s story, as she witnesses her heroes fall during A-Day before becoming an essential member of the team. It also makes sense to add this function alongside the next-generation upgrade. We’ll get to revisit the storyline with updated graphics and a much smoother framerate. @PlayAvenger was able to grab the video of how we can restart the campaign:

     

    https://twitter.com/PlayAvenger/status/1369364739281854469?s=20

     

    If you take a closer look, they also updated the overall UX. The storylines seem to be numbered now, so it is easier to know where you start. You can easily access any of the campaigns and restart them from the operations menu. They also published a new blog post that confirms every operation can be replayed, which is great news as one issue I had was that I couldn’t revisit parts of the story even if the missions were available. I am looking forward to trying out the replay, as I’ve wanted to revisit it for some time again, especially now as the game starts to expand with future DLC characters. I cannot wait to check out the new HARM rooms as well, which offer some replayability by testing out my heroes in creative ways.

    Source: Twitter (Update Overview), Twitter (Campaign), Play Avengers

  • Disney+ Passes 100 Million Subscribers Worldwide

    Disney+ Passes 100 Million Subscribers Worldwide

    Disney has always been a powerhouse in the entertainment market. It seemed like they were unstoppable. So, many were curious how well they would perform once they enter the streaming market with Disney+. With a nice boost through the release of Soul, they already reached a subscription number of 94.9 million by January. That was before WandaVision was even released on the streaming platform. Now, it seems that within the last month they finally managed to surpass the 100 million thresholds. In the latest shareholder meeting, Disney CEO Bob Chapek announce the milestone with the following words:

    The enormous success of Disney Plus has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content. In fact, we set a target of 100-plus new titles per year, and this includes Disney Animation, Disney Live Action, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. Our direct-to-consumer business is the Company’s top priority, and our robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel its growth.

    Even in these uncertain times, the rapid growth of their streaming service has been able to keep their stock price soaring. The recent launch of India’s STAR platform has also added a lot of content that would draw in a new audience. Disney+’s biggest restriction was focusing purely on family-content, so this new direction will help it grow in Canada, European, and Asian markets. In the United States, Hulu remains bundled with the streaming service.

    Speaking of, it will be embedded with ESPN Plus, so you can access different services through one app. There is a good chance the same might happen for Disney+ as well with Hulu as the main hub. It is an amazing landmark for the young streaming service, and it will be interesting to see how it will further develop in the coming years.

    Source: Variety

  • Dove Cameron, Chloe Bennet, and Yana Perrault are The CW’s ‘POWERPUFF GIRLS’

    Dove Cameron, Chloe Bennet, and Yana Perrault are The CW’s ‘POWERPUFF GIRLS’

    The lead cast of The CW’s planned Powerpuff Girls series has been revealed. The Hollywood Reporter dropped the news this morning that Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault will portray the titular team of superheroes, who originated as animated characters on the fan-favorite Cartoon Network show. News came last month that The CW would be moving ahead with a live-action sequel series, which is set to revolve around the trio of women as disillusioned twentysomethings who resent losing their childhood to crime fighting. Written by Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody, and produced by CW veteran Greg Berlanti, the project will explore how the protagonists react when a new threat means the world needs them now more than ever. The pilot will be directed by Maggie Kiley, who has spent a lot of time working on shows of a similar manner, such as Katy Keene and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

    Bennet, well-known to Marvel fans as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s Daisy Johnson (perhaps better known as Quake), will take the role of Blossom. The character was the group’s former spunky leader, who holds numerous degrees from her days as a conscientious perfect child. In the series, she will find herself dealing with repressed trauma that’s turned her into an anxious recluse, and attempt to become a leader once more. Cameron, who quickly rose to fame as the star of Disney projects like Liv & Maddie and Descendants, will play Bubbles. She’s America’s toughest sweetheart who has maintained her sparkling disposition in the days since childhood. Bubbles is initially more interested in recapturing her fame than saving the world, but one could expect that to change as the series progresses. Finally, Perrault has signed on to portray Buttercup. The actress’ resume differs from her co-stars, having spent most of her time in stage productions like Jagged Little Pill. Her version of the character, who was once the rebellious member of the group, will be shown as a secretly sensitive person trying to live life anonymously, separating herself from her days as a Powerpuff Girl.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • BREAKING: Disney Sticking to ‘Black Widow’s Theatrical Release

    BREAKING: Disney Sticking to ‘Black Widow’s Theatrical Release

    The Walt Disney Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders was held today. Among the topics approached was, once again, the possibility of Marvel’s Black Widow being made available to its global audiences through Disney+ Premier Access in the coming weeks. Following the Mulan‘s and Raya and the Last Dragon’s simultaneous theatrical and Disney+ release, the idea of the first MCU movie since Spider-Man: Far From Home, which debuted over 20 months ago, being made available through Disney’s streaming service has been gathering fans ever since it’s first release date wasn’t met, back in May 2020. Now, Disney CEO Bob Chapek had the following to say on its upcoming release:

    Next up is Marvel’s highly anticipated spy thriller Black Widow featuring an All-Star cast that includes Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson currently set for release in theaters on May 7 I know Marvel fans have been looking forward to this film for a long time and I promise you it’s well worth the wait it’s absolutely fantastic.

     

     

    As such, Disney has made no changes to what is still expected to be a theatrical-only release, this coming May 7th. With theaters planning on reopening in several cities across the US, even if at a lower capacity rate than before, Disney seems confident that audiences, perhaps driven by the growing number of COVID-19 vaccines being administered, will show up. They hope that it will make the nationwide theatrical release a success. This news doesn’t mean that we will be returning to business as usual, as the movie’s run may probably be shortened, being made available at home earlier than movies of this magnitude usually are.

    We still have a couple of months until Black Widow is set for release, and as with almost everything these days a lot can change in eight weeks. We’ll see if this bold strategy pays off.

    Source: Walt Disney Company

  • ‘WandaVision’ EP Jac Schaeffer Talks Doctor Strange’s Absence

    ‘WandaVision’ EP Jac Schaeffer Talks Doctor Strange’s Absence

    WandaVision built up a mystery that could crumble the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s reality as we know it. As Wanda transformed a small suburban town in New Jersey into a real-life sitcom, we all wondered if this might attract the attention of another sorcerer. The introduction of the witch Agatha Harkness and the Darkhold would certainly be on the radar for the Sorcerer Supreme.

    Sadly, he did not end up making an appearance to confront Wanda on her actions. Well, in an interview with Deadline, the Disney+ series executive producer Jac Schaeffer was asked that question and her answer seems to imply that he was certainly included at one point:

    I heart Doctor Strange just like anybody. Yeah, it’s one of those things, that’s how the chips fell, that’s how the cookie crumbled, is what I will say, but I look forward to seeing him on screen with Wanda in Doctor Strange 2.

    As we learned from director Matt Shakman, their production was affected by the pandemic. Storylines they filmed didn’t make it into the official release, especially as the finale was only finished shortly before it aired on the streaming channel. Shaeffer tries to avoid the question, but she does hint that he was in the cards at some point. It could also have been affected by how much they could include in the finale while working through the crunch. Still, even if he didn’t make an appearance in WandaVision, we know it sets up her story for when she joins Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It’ll be interesting to see how these stories interconnect when the film premieres March 23rd, 2022.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘WandaVision’ EP Jac Schaeffer Reveals Why There Was No Secret Villain in the Finale

    ‘WandaVision’ EP Jac Schaeffer Reveals Why There Was No Secret Villain in the Finale

    Sadly, WandaVision has come to an end last week. It gave us a story about personal trauma and overcoming the hardships of our past. Of course, when a superhero is involved it gets a bit messier than just a few therapy sessions. She ended up revisiting her past to face the events that shaped her and unconsciously rewrote an entire town’s reality and turned it into a living sitcom world. She also ran into the witch Agatha Harkness, who revealed her destiny.

     

    Who Is Agatha Harkness in WandaVision? Agnes Revealed as Westview Marvel Villain

     

    Throughout the show’s run, many of us believed that there was another mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes. Yet, as we found out, it was Wanda that affected this town. In an interview with Deadline, executive producer Jac Schaeffer revealed that this was always part of the plan when asked why Mephisto didn’t make an appearance:

    We didn’t think this series needed a big bad. I mean, the big bad is grief, you know, and that’s the story that we were telling. and then we got a bonus baddie in the form of Agatha Harkness who ended up facilitating Wanda’s therapy, so yeah, I think we feel preggy good about that.

    It was a great choice to avoid this trope of some evil manipulating the events from the shadows. This way, we got to take a closer look at Wanda and she had to face the consequences of her own actions. They highlighted this aspect in the season finale when she got confronted by the townsfolk. At the same time, Mephisto was heavily involved in the comics with the creation of Wanda’s children, so it is certainly a departure.

    Source: Deadline

  • International Women’s Day: Women on the Rise

    International Women’s Day: Women on the Rise

    It’s International Women’s Day! There aren’t really any special events in the comic book movie world planned to commemorate it a la Captain Marvel’s release two years ago, but that’s okay. A lot has happened to further women in the genre between then and now, and that gives us plenty to reflect on and celebrate today.

    I can’t help but be a bit sad taking a look back, though. Last year was supposed to be the biggest year for women in CBM’s yet, but that – like practically everything else in the world – didn’t end up panning out the way it was supposed to. DC and Marvel each had two films set for 2020, all four with women in the starring role and, possibly even more importantly, directed by women. Of all the MCU and DCEU movies before this, only Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel had been directed by women, and the latter also had a male director working alongside the female one. Yes, there were a few other female-led superhero movies before this, but none from the two main “universes” that are known and loved today. There were many awesome women in both DCEU and MCU movies – I particularly liked that Black Panther had so many different women in it because it allowed each of them to be more than “the token girl” who rolls her eyes when the men get silly and fun – but they didn’t get to lead their own franchises until those films came out.

    On top of this, Marvel revealed at the beginning of the year they were going to release the Disney+ series WandaVision in the same year. It really seemed as though by the end of 2020, women taking the lead on superhero projects on and offscreen would no longer be a novelty, but rather the norm.

    Of course, we all know how that panned out. Due to the pandemic, there was no major MCU release in 2020, as WandaVision was delayed into January 2021. DC’s two female-helmed projects were released, but neither ended up making huge waves. Birds of Prey was admittedly pretty niche from the get-go, but Wonder Woman 1984 would have probably done quite well financially if things had been normal) and the conversation surrounding both circled right back to whether or not women should helm superhero projects.

    That being said, I do think the discussion in this area is improving. I saw little to none of this kind of debate with WandaVision, which, while directed by a man, had a female lead and head writer (with several other women on the writing team). There was and is discourse surrounding the show, but it’s about the content and themes of the project rather than the fact that women played key leadership roles in making it happen.

    Speaking of WandaVision, that show also brought us the origin story of a new female superhero, when Monica Rambeau became…well, we don’t know her official superhero name yet (she’s had several in the comics, and the frontrunners for which one will be used in the MCU seem to be Spectrum and Photon )but she gained some cool new powers and also used her human abilities to help Wanda face her grief. I can’t wait to see her shine some more in Captain Marvel 2.

    I also appreciate that superhero media seems to be moving away from the “men direct male-led movies, women direct female-led ones” mentality. I know some believe projects with female leads should only be directed by women, but I’m okay if not all of them are as long as there are women at or near the top of the decision-making pecking order as well (for example, the aforementioned Matt Shakman-directed, Jac Shaeffer-penned WandaVision).
    And I’m all for women-directed male-led projects as well. In fact, you know the next Marvel project, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? The one that a lot of guys are saying is more “for them” than WandaVision because it looks fast-paced and action-heavy? Well, it’s being directed by none other than Kari Skogland, a woman who has helmed a bunch of other TV projects and spoken out about the importance of opportunities for up-and-coming female directors.

    Here’s to the further normalization of women in the comic book movie world. They’re not going anywhere, and neither is this woman who writes about them.

  • ‘WandaVision’: How Matt Shakman Handled that Big Bohner Twist

    ‘WandaVision’: How Matt Shakman Handled that Big Bohner Twist

    WandaVision masterfully played with audiences’ preconceived notions and expectations specifically around the notion of character teases and reveals. Fans were waiting for Blue Marvel, Talos’ daughter, Reed Richards and Mephisto to show up but nothing messed with fans more than Evan Peters. Brought in as a “recast” Pietro, who Agatha called “Fietro”, fans fought tooth and nail over whether or not Peters was Fox’s Quicksilver brought to the MCU through multiversal hijinx or just another stiff from Westview. That was all settled in the finale as Pietro was exposed as Ralph Bohner, a Westview resident who had been powered up by Agatha as a way to take advantage of Wanda’s grief over the loss of her twin.

    The Bohner reveal has left some fans feeling pretty raw and has really continued to stick out among the popular topics of conversation even a few days after the show streamed. In an interview with Kevin Smith, WandaVision director Matt Shakman talked about his inspiration for the reveal and how “playing with expectations” is always enjoyable. Shakman mentions how he was inspired to use Bohner by another MCU twist that wasn’t necessarily met with wide-ranging applause: Iron Man 3′s Trevor Slattery/Mandarin twist.

    Whether you love him or hate him, you can’t argue that Peter’s Bohner subverted expectations and did so cleverly within the studio’s genre-specific “rules.” Peters “Fietro” got to explore all the “uncle” sitcom tropes and even the character’s name is yet another sitcom reference, this time a nod to a character from the late-80’s/early-90’s sitcom Growing Pains. At the end of the day, he was never going to be more than a side character brought in to drive the story in one very particular direction.

    WandaVision Episode 6 May Reveal Pietro's True Intentions | CBR

    Even though Peters’ appearance in WandaVision was discovered, the studio still handled the Bohner twist delicately, making sure that the surprise wasn’t blown prematurely. It’s understandable that a lot of fans feel like they’ve been jerked around and are still waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Peters to somehow be revealed as Quicksilver; however, it’s pretty clear that this was the reaction that Shakman and the studio were hoping for and they absolutely nailed it. Kevin Feige has often talked about how even though the MCU is based on comics, he doesn’t want to do direct adaptations because fans would know exactly what to expect. As we enter Phase 4, it looks like The-One-Above-All’s philosophy has grown into something bigger and is going to keep us all on our toes moving forward.

  • New ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Character Posters Show Off The Series Big Guns

    New ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Character Posters Show Off The Series Big Guns

     

    With Marvel Studios first Disney Plus streaming series, WandaVision, now in the rearview mirror, the studio has turned its attention to promoting its next big event: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Set to debut March 19th, the series will explore the legacy of Captain America in a post-Blip world. Marvel has kicked off what we can expect to be a busy couple of weeks of promo and press by releasing new character posters for the series leads.

    These characters also happen to be the same ones each getting an episode of Marvel Studios recap series, Legends. While the marketing for the series has understandably revolved around the title characters, we still know little about what exactly Zemo is up to here and even less yet about Sharon Carter’s role. Interesting is the absence of two other characters who will play a major role in the series: John Walker and Karli Morgenthau, aka Flag-Smasher. Perhaps we’ll see more of them over the next couple of weeks leading up to the debut.

    The Falcon and The Winter Soldier debuts on Disney Plus on March 19th!

     

  • Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 84

    Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 84

    Charles and Charles are back! Charles M. gives a bunch of Marvel Studios production updates and the guys talk about the big news around Marvel Studios X-Men reboot, the Thor: Love and Thunder set photos, Captain Marvel 2 rumors and more!