Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Amazon

  • Amazon Renews ‘Invincible’ for Two More Seasons

    Amazon Renews ‘Invincible’ for Two More Seasons

    It looks like Amazon was sold on Invincible, as it has been renewed for two more seasons. The news came straight from the comic creator Robert Kirkman, who announced it in a fake call with actor Steve Yeun, who plays our titular hero. The very positive reception of the series was a great start as we followed the young hero Mark Grayson, who finally receives his powers but faces an unexpected family conflict. The announcement was perfectly timed as we are only a few hours away from the first season’s finale. You can check out the video announcement by Kirkman here:

    The Skybound/Image comic adaptation has a stacked cast that consists of Sandra Oh, Seth Rogen, Gillian Jacobs, Andrew Rannells, Zazie Beetz, Mark Hamill, and Walton Goggins to name a few. The series is produced by Skybound with executive producers Simon Racioppa, Dave Alpert, Catherine Winder, and Kirkman. The creator also stated the renewal separately to highlight his excitement:

    I’m extremely thankful to Amazon for the support and dedication they’ve put behind Invincible. The comic book is truly a love letter to a genre that Cory (Walker) and I grew up reading and loving, and it’s been a gratifying journey to watch our characters come to life again through the animated series. We’re beyond excited to continue this story for at least two more seasons.

    The renewal makes a lot of sense, as the animation takes a lot of time. They may also be planning to have a short break between the next seasons. Harley Quinn did something similar as it entered production for its first two seasons early on. We’ll see how often poor Grayson gets beat up in the upcoming finale. If the title card continues to fill with blood splatters, we might have a red one at the end of its runtime.

     

    Source: Twitter, Variety

  • ‘Invincible’: Omni-Man and Control

    ‘Invincible’: Omni-Man and Control

    Mark, we need to talk.

    These four words by Nolan Grayson reveal a vulnerable side we’ve never witnessed from Omni-Man. This moment was the most vulnerable we’ve seen him in Invincible to this point. Yes, even more than after brutally killing the Guardians Of The Globe. Mark doesn’t realize is that his father lives a completely different life than him. It’s not only another planet, Viltrum, but it’s the world inside Nolan’s mind. Inside Nolan’s mind, it’s an insatiable need for control.

     

    2021 - Unbesiegbar: Warum Omni-Man nicht wollte, dass Mark Kräfte hat - Gettotext.com

     

    There are people we encounter in life every day that are control freaks. They can’t stand the idea of someone doing however they please. They also abhor a person who doesn’t have the same viewpoints as they do. It’s the person who wants the A on the project and you to thank them for it. When Nolan trains Mark, he expects the absolute best. Under the guise of fatherly love, he chides him for not showing the same discipline. When Nolan tells Mark not to help Titan in the fifth episode, he ends up being right on the surface. In reality, it’s a lack of empathy from Nolan’s perspective that was his concern. He finds the request “beneath” his son’s abilities. He talks about wanting to focus on the big picture. Omni-Man aims to conquer Earth.

    Omni-Man is all about controlling the message and the narrative. When Debbie finds out that he killed the Guardians, Nolan doesn’t show remorse. He doesn’t even try to explain or give a justifiable reason for his actions. He attempts to use Debbie’s love for him against her, but what he doesn’t realize is that she and Cecil now understand who and what they’re dealing with. It’s only then that Nolan abandons the perfect mirage of a personality that he’s displayed.

     

    Amazon's Invincible Cast On Family Drama and Super-Violence | Digital Trends

     

    Another example of having control and exerting that power and fear is Nolan with his tailor Art. He knows that Art discussed his extracurriculars with his wife. Nolan can easily kill him, but he casually has a beer with him and plays on his fear. He uses indirect threats to make Art understand his position:

    One day it seems like you have all the time in the world, and the next it’s gone.

    When Nolan rips through the government, it’s a loss of control at play. It’s in all of that death and destruction that we see a desperate, psychotic version of himself. The only thing holding him back from a complete loss is Mark. In his last gasp at being able to control his plan, his ideology, and most importantly, his son. One can assume that Mark won’t respond kindly to all of the horrors his father has inflicted. Great parenting happens when you start controlling yourself rather than your child. We can only fear that the only thing Nolan understands is control, but it’ll never be himself. In more ways than one, Mark will have to prove if he is Invincible or not.

  • REPORT: Amazon’s ‘Silk’ Eyeing August Production Start

    REPORT: Amazon’s ‘Silk’ Eyeing August Production Start

    It looks like we got some more news on the upcoming Sony-Amazon series adaptation of Silk. The character was famously introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #4 but appeared as a faceless background character in the three issues before. She was part of the Original Sin storyline that revealed that Korean-American Cindy Moon was also bit by the spider that gave Peter Parker his abilities. Variety revealed that Sony was developing the project together with Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are acting as executive producers on the Amazon series.

    It seems we have an update on the project, as Discussing Film has exclusively learned that they are currently eyeing a late-August production start. They are still actively looking to cast their Cindy Moon. The character actually made their live-action debut in Spider-Man: Homecoming where she was played by Tiffany Espensen. As this project seems detached from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they will most likely recast the character with rumors pointing to them approaching Adeline Rudolph for the role. Sang Kyu Kim is reportedly working on the series as its showrunner with Korean American writer Lauren Moon working on the project.

    This news confirms that they are still actively working on the project with Amazon after making a deal with Netflix. They got a first look deal on future projects. Shortly after, they also made a deal to release their projects on Disney+ and Hulu. So, it’ll be interesting to see if Amazon will connect their project with Sony’s future films and movies based on the Spider-Man universe, or if it will be a unique project for the studio.

    Source: Discussing Film

  • ‘THE BOYS’: Laz Alonso Teases Jensen Ackles’ Dark Portrayal of Soldier Boy

    ‘THE BOYS’: Laz Alonso Teases Jensen Ackles’ Dark Portrayal of Soldier Boy

    It’s no secret that Amazon Prime’s The Boys is one of the darker comic book adaptations out there. The show has become known for its excessive guts and gore. Don’t forget its tendency to dive headfirst into some fairly heavy topics. It seems as though the upcoming third season, which is now deep into filming, won’t be changing any of that. In fact, series star Laz Alonso is teasing that it only gets worse from here. The actor, who plays Mother’s Milk on the show, revealed in a recent interview with Collider that the new Boys episodes are only getting darker and darker. He explained:

    I’ll put it to you this way. I was talking to the head makeup artist and she’s in charge of ordering the blood — that’s one of her many jobs. She told me that all of Season 2… When you talk about bulk, I don’t think they used over a gallon of blood in Season 2, believe it or not. Season 3, we’re already at three and a half gallons of blood. So that should give you a little indication of where it’s going.

    Alonso also dropped some of our first new information on Jensen Ackles’ new addition to the franchise, the Captain America-like WWII “hero” known as Soldier Boy. Apparently, the former soldier will be a big reason the show’s third season takes a darker turn. He elaborated that the inclusion of the character “allowed [Kripke] to not only bring in a character historically who’s pretty dark, but it also makes all of the other ensemble Supes darker as well.” Luckily for the production team, this is exactly what fans of The Boys were hoping for.

    Source: Collider

  • Amazon Investing $465 Million in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ First Season

    Amazon Investing $465 Million in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ First Season

    It looks like Amazon Studios’ ambitions have reached an all-new high, as recent reports have unveiled that their upcoming The Lord of the Rings series might be the most expensive show ever produced. They are estimated to spend NZ$650 million, which is around US$465 million. Keep in mind, this is the budget for the first season and not the entire series run. As far as we know, they also plan to have future seasons to expand it.

    This investment also has a very important meaning for New Zealand moving forward, as the money is invested into their local economy. Amazon received a $100 million boost for the film production and made a multi-year deal to secure benefits from the country. Minister of Economic Development and Tourism Stuard Nash shared his enthusiasm:

    I think what we have got out of Amazon in terms of the MOU and the industry and how we’re going to train people and our ability to use footage for tourism, the ability to leverage off a lot of what Amazon is doing, is fantastic

    It is a historic development that could be the start of higher budgeted shows moving forward. Disney+ has been moving to give their series movie-level budgets with their originals. The Mandalorian cost $15 million per episode while Marvel Studios’ productions would reach up to $25 Million. As The Hollywood Reporter points out, even HBO’s titan Game of Thrones cost $100 million per season. It’ll be interesting to see if this high investment pays off for them.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter, RNZ, Hollywood Reporter (Disney+)

  • Untitled ‘The Boys’ Spin-Off Casts Reina Hardesty as Lead

    Untitled ‘The Boys’ Spin-Off Casts Reina Hardesty as Lead

    It looks like the still-untitled The Boys spin-off has found its lead actress. Deadline has just revealed that Brockmire actress Reina Hardesty will tackle the lead role of the upcoming college-focused series. It seems that it is already nearing a green light by Amazon Studios, which will want to continue banking on the success of their R-rated superhero franchise. The story will focus on America’s college for superheroes. Of course, it is run by Vought International and aims to prepare the new generation of Supes for their big debut. As to be expected, the story will push their sexual and moral boundaries to a test to get the best contracts.  It will be written by The Boys executive producer Craig Rosenberg.

    The third season is still in production for the popular series, as it has recently cast Katia Winter as Little Nina. The spin-off has also been quite busy, as it has added Shane Paul Mcghie, Maddie Phillips, Aimee Carrero, Jaz Sinclair, and Lizzie Broadway. It will be quite the stacked cast, which will take a very different approach from the mainline series. The Boys focused primarily on a group of non-powered individuals while intersecting stories from the Supes now and then. This series will primarily focus on a group of young adults and very hormonal superheroes at its core. The Brockmire actress might end up being the only hero without powers to add that human element, but there is no word which role she is tackling. It’ll be interesting to see if we get any potential crossovers between the series in the future.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Invincible’: The Power of Escalation

    ‘Invincible’: The Power of Escalation

    Superhero shows tend to go in different directions. We’ve seen their stories evolve from their child-friendly roots to embracing more adult themes. This evolution of storytelling led to Jessica Jones changing the landscape of female storytelling. Frank Miller‘s take on Batman in The Dark Knight Returns showed us a dystopian Gotham haunted by its failures. Yet, there persists an aspect of the franchise that makes it accessible for anyone in the world. Marvel Studios found a way to create an ever-expanding universe that can offer light-hearted stories alongside geopolitical thrillers. DC is taking a different approach by telling stories in different ways, may it be Joker‘s attempt at an avant-garde project or Aquaman embracing the silliness. The Boys took a different approach by completely embracing its R-rating. We’re seeing a curious development with Amazon’s second superhero project, an adaptation of Robert Kirkman‘s Invincible.

     

    Keep in mind, I will be discussing the first three episodes in this article. If you haven’t seen them yet, only continue at your own risk.

     

    Robert Kirkman's Invincible TV Series Packs a Surprising Punch

     

    Now, there is one aspect that makes the latest adaptation rather interesting. The first episode lures us into a false safe of security. It plays out as most superhero stories do. The 17-year-old Mark Grayson, voiced by Steven Yeun, uncovers that he has abilities just like his father. Of course, he sees this as his opportunity to live up to his father’s reputation as one of Earth’s mightiest superheroes, Omni-Man. It follows most superhero conventions by teaching him to control his abilities, face his teenage angst, and find a perfect name. It ends with a triumphant flight through the city as he embraces his new identity before the title card shows up.

    It is at this moment that the show ends and the other part of it begins. Suddenly, the story escalates once the title card vanishes. The superhero team, which is similar to the Justice League or Avengers, is murdered by Omni-Man. It’s not even just that he betrays the team out of the blue. He tears them apart. In a way, we shift from an episode of the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes straight into an animated adaptation of The Boys. The trailers tease a darker storyline, but it goes that step further to enforce this isn’t your regular superhero story. It isn’t even your everyday R-rated storyline. Its talent lies in balancing the two worlds that heroes can live within.

     

    Invincible Trailer Reveals Amazon Has The Market Cornered on Superhero Violence | Den of Geek

     

    There is a clear development of escalation between specific story beats. In the time we spend with Invincible, we commonly see his world get darker as time goes by. The first large-scale invasion in the second episode goes wrong. Yet, once he joins the Teen Team, it returns to a largely optimistic and comedic tone. That downtime doesn’t detract from the dark aspects of the overarching plot, but it offers a temporary break. In a way, it isn’t a subversion of the tropes we’ve come to love like The Boys is. It simply takes the base concept from comics that we’ve seen since its inception and escalates the violence. There is a reason that the title card continues to add more blood with each episode. Yes, it is adapting an existing comic, but the show uses its animated format to push that escalation. We’ve seen plenty of R-rated animated series do exactly that. So, it isn’t the first to do so. As such, it’s not reinventing the wheel in any way but using the existing and putting the pieces together to create something that feels fresh.

  • Katia Winter Joins ‘The Boys’ Season 3 as Little Nina

    Katia Winter Joins ‘The Boys’ Season 3 as Little Nina

    The Boy’s is becoming one hot property. The spinoff is in the works, and the third season has already entered production. It’s going to be interesting to see how they’ll top the previous season. Still, the series is known for its thrilling story and gratuitous violence that keeps getting wilder with each episode. It looks like the upcoming season will probably not stray too far from its predecessors. The third season will introduce Soldier Boy, Payback, and the untamed Herogasm storyline that is what you think it is. Along with Soldier Boy, it seems another considerable threat is coming this season, the Russian mobster Little Nina.

    According to Deadline, actress Katia Winter has joined the cast of The Boys. She will play the Russian mobster with an affinity for sex toys. The character is indeed a wild one, but nothing out of the ordinary for this property. Little Nina works with Vought. She uses compound-V to make more superheroes and has quite possibly one of the weirdest deaths in comics. Butcher added an explosive in her vibrator and blew it up mid-flight. It is unsure if they will adapt this iconic sequence from the comics or add their spin, which will get interesting once it airs.

    The Boys season 3 is now in production but currently has no release date. The upcoming season will see the return of Karl Urban as Billy Butcher. He will be joined by Anthony Starr, Jack Quaid, Erin Moriarty, Karen Fukuhara, and Laz Alonso.

    Source: Deadline

  • Shane Paul McGhie, Maddie Phillips, and Aimee Carrero Join ‘The Boys’ Spinoff

    Shane Paul McGhie, Maddie Phillips, and Aimee Carrero Join ‘The Boys’ Spinoff

    The Boy’s is one of the most popular shows right now. Even when a season isn’t currently running, it’s still a hot topic online. The series has spawned an immense following and has garnered a two-season run with another on the way. Also, its wild success has warranted a spinoff, a show that’ll follow young heroes as they attend a Vought-owned university that trains the best brightest of upcoming superheroes. The series got fast-tracked by Amazon. It already cast Jaz Sinclair and Lizzie Broadway in leading roles.

    The series is moving forward quite quickly as it has recently added three more to its ever-expanding cast. The recent casting additions include Shane Paul Mcghie, Maddie Phillips, and Aimee Carrero. The series doesn’t include which characters the three will take on, but previous castings did disclose who the previous two actresses would be playing. Mcghie could be playing Andre. Phillips could very well be Britney, but Carrero doesn’t seem to fit any of the roles previously rumored for the series.

    The Boy’s spinoff currently has not set a release date. We are also still waiting for an official title, which may confirm if the series is an adaptation of the G-Men, who is an X-Men spoof in the original comic run. they were a group of the upcoming third season of The Boy’s is currently in production and will see the return of everyone’s favorite superhero-hating renegades, as well as the supes, make the whole thing possible.

    Source: Deadline

  • Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ Spinoff Adds Jaz Sinclair

    Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ Spinoff Adds Jaz Sinclair

    It looks like Amazon is not wasting any time, as right after they unveiled Lizze Broadway announced for the upcoming The Boys spin-off, they’ve already announced the next cast member. Deadline has revealed that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star, Jaz Sinclair, has joined the upcoming spin-off as another one of the series leads. She will tackle the role of Marie Moreau.

    Around a week ago, the casting details were supposedly released, which offer some insight into what character Sinclair will end up playing. Marie is a young, up-and-coming hero from the Caribbean. She is the first and only hero from that region, so she has a lot of responsibility to make her home country proud. Hopefully, we won’t see her downfall through the negative influence of Vought. We already know they can barely control a group of adults, so who knows how well they can manage hormonal teenagers.

    The spin-off still has no official name as of now. It will follow a group of young superheroes, who visit Vought International’s school. The Boys executive producer Craig Rosenberg is writing the series, so that ensures that it will have the same heart, raunch, and satire as the original. At this rate, we might get the casting news for the rest of the cast by the end of the week. Hopefully, it also means we get an official title soon that finally unveils how they can title a spin-off based on The Boys. Its success could also start the development of more spin-offs in the future, so it is certainly a series to keep an eye out for.

    Source: Deadline