Marvel has been expanding in many ways. Not only are we getting an onslaught of movies and TV series, but there’s also their gaming division. Marvel’s Avengers is still adding DLC with the new characters here or there, but that’s not all. We also have the upcoming releases of Midnight Suns, Spider-Man 2, and Wolverine. As it turns out, there’s one more heading our way.
Jeff Grubb, who is quite well-known for dropping leaks in the past has just calmly revealed that there might be a Black Panther-focused game in development while commentating on the latest trailer drop from Marvel Studios. He doesn’t give away any details but seems to hint that more details will follow in an upcoming stream.
As he doesn’t really confirm any details we’ll take this with a grain of salt but given the character’s popularity, it would only be a question of time before he’d get his own game. Black Panther was a big focus of Marvel’s Avengers marketing campaign with Kratos himself, Christopher Judge voicing the character. It’s also unclear how far along this project might be if it turns out to be true.
There is one more aspect that should be considered and that is how they might approach that kind of game. An open-world game based in Wakanda and the forest surrounding it would be quite an experience. Though, they could also go for a more straightforward narrative game as you have to tackle various missions throughout the world and in his hometown. We’ll see if more comes of this with the upcoming streaem.
The wait has finally come to a conclusion, as we got our first look at Namor the Submariner in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Tenoch Huerta, one of the first casting announcements for the film, will take on the role of one of Marvel’s oldest characters. While there will be comparisons to James Cameron‘s Avatar due to blue skin and Aquaman, there’s something unique about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s approach to the characters. Nothing highlights more than a new piece of merchandise offering a new look at Namor’s traditional clothing.
This time, Namor is heavily inspired by Mayan and Aztec culture, which not only adds an excellent representation but makes him stand out visually. A new piece of merchandise highlights that very design work that adds to his look and even further hints that the Atlanteans have a Jaguar god of their own, paralleling Wakanda’s Bast.
The design approach for this character is great, especially in how they utilized his comic design. Doubt many expected to see his green speedo as part of his design, but they somehow made it work and also utilize the approach to create a fitting design approach. We’ll see if he might even have a few more other designs in the future. Namor is likely to have a bigger role in the future and we’ll see how it ties together with the now well-established Multiverse Saga.
Finally, after a long wait, we got our first look at an emotional trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It finally revealed our first look at Tenoch Huerta‘s Namor, the Atlanteans, Riri Williams, a tease of how the film will handle Chadwick Boseman‘s death, and a lot more. Not too long after, it seems that Marvel is not wasting any time unveiling its line of Funko Pops for the upcoming film that’ll close off Phase 4 o the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The bigger surprise is that the Funko for Riri Williams includes her MK1 armor that would eventually become Ironheart.
Of course, we got a lot more looks at various Funko Pops for characters that’ll have a prominent role in the upcoming sequel. Among them is a good look at Namor, Attuma, and Namora, who’ll introduce the MCU’s take on Atlantis. There’s still no official word on how exactly they might feed into the story, but it’s exciting nonetheless.
Last but definitely not least, we have our Wakandan members of the cast. It’s interesting to note that there#s no official look at the new Black Panther. Even the trailer wasn’t too keen on revealing just who would take on the mantle, which may be something they’ll continue keeping a secret throughout the series’ marketing activities.
The Funko Pops look great and it’s going to be exciting to see what role every member has, especially given the dramatic turn this story will take. M’baku having a Funko continues to indicate he’ll have a big role in the story, which isn’t surprising given his popularity and the way he built a connection with T’Challa in the story. So, we’ll see in November how they will handle thee legacy.
The world was dealt a terrible loss when news broke that Chadwick Boseman had passed away, just when his career had really begunto take off and he’d become this inspiration to so many people around the world. Boseman reached new heights with the role of T’Challa, a character who’d become incredibly important to a whole lot of people in a very short amount of time, as one of the first Black characters to get their own solo film within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Developing the sequel was always going to be difficult for everyone involved, especially those who’d worked closest to him like actress Danai Gurira, who plays Okoye in the MCU. Variety caught up with Gurira after the Marvel Studios Hall H panel and asked her about her experience making the film.
I mean it was very, it was everything really, we didn’t know when and how it was gonna hit us, it hit us various ways and various moments, sometimes just walking onto the stage and hearing Ryan [Coogler] talk before that, we were getting hit, watching it, there are various moments where your just being hit by that and I think it was beautifully said by Dominique [Thorne] and by Micaela [Coel] that they really were support for us, there was a very hard day I had on set and she [Dominique] was there for me and you know you just never knew when it was just gonna be a really hard day and so they were really amazing, our new family, they understood they were in a place where grief was happening and they really really, they held us up.
Danai Gurira
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to hit theaters on November 17th, 2023.
While all eyes have been on the reveal of Tenoch Huerta’s Namor, there was one other first look at a Marvel Cinematic Universe character. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s trailer gave us a first look at Ironheart a.k.a. Riri Williams. Dominique Thorne will take on the role of the character before getting her own spinoff series on Disney+. It’s fitting that the first image we see of her is also reminiscent of Iron Man hammering away at his suit. Perhaps she’s making her own to prepare for a battle.
We were all quite excited for the arrival of Thor: Love and Thunder, as it would expand our understanding of godhood in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While our visit to Omnipotence City was relatively brief, it did feature a host of interesting characters scattered throughout a sequence.
Now, the most significant addition was that we could briefly see what looks to be Bastet in the foreground. While she sadly didn’t receive any lines, a new batch of behind-the-scenes photos shared by Luca Vannella offers the best look yet at her design from the film, which highlights her Egyptian background.
It’s still bizarre they’d include such a monumental character of Balck Panther’s mythology and not even explore it in the story. We got a few short moments, and there’s some great inclusion of New Zealand deities, but we sadly didn’t quite get to explore the other pantheons throughout, even if Moon Knight already had us covered there.
Perhaps they are setting up some more exploration of godhood that will be forced to get involved once a certain Conqueror potentially gets his way. We’re still in the set-up phase and there is a lot to be excited about. So, we’ll see where it’s all heading with SDCC heading our way starting today.
Here’s a surprise, but it looks like one mainstay of the Black Panther franchise won’t be making his return, as Daniel Kaluuya revealed in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes @THATJacqueline. She shared the news on Twitter as the NOPE star revealed he wasn’t able to reprise his role due to scheduling conflicts with his involvement with the latest Jordan Peele film. So, it seems we’ll sadly not get a sequence with W’Kabi, which is a shame given the relationship teased in the first film and the world views that would eventually break them apart.
BREAKING NEWS: Fresh from my NOPE interview with Daniel Kaluuya he did not reprise his role in #BlackPanther2 due to his schedule conflicts w/ #NOPE!
We still don’t know exactly what to expect of the upcoming Black Panther sequel. A few promos have teased that we may be looking at war between Namor’s Atlantis and Wakanda. Just how they’ll tackle what happened to T’Challa is still a big question for everyone, but they have openly stated they won’t recast the character. W’Kabi missing is a shame given how close they were and it would’ve been great to see how much the passing of his former friend might affect him, especially after the last time they talked was on different sides.
Director Ryan Coogler is facing one of the biggest challenges anyone could tackle, especially with how close he was to Chadwick Boseman. Whatever decision he decided to take, it’ll likely be in tribute to his friend. We are still a few months away from it hitting theaters. So, the first trailer reveal will be the one to give us a better idea of how they’ll bring it all together while setting up Wakanda’s future.
With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on the horizon, it’s been on many minds how much the Marvel Cinematic Universe won’t be the same without Chadwick Boseman‘s T’Challa. He’s certainly left a landmark performance and we still got to hear his voice in the animated What If..? series for Disney+ sometime after his passing. Now, the Emmys have revealed their nominations and it turns out that Boseman has received one posthumously for his performance in the Disney+ series.
He’s not the only one, as Jessica Walter has also been nominated for her work in animation, as she gave a memorable performance in Archer even 12 seasons in. The season bid farewell to the actress who gave us one of the most memorable mothers in animation. She and Boseman are both nominated with this becoming Walter’s sixth overall nomination.
The nomination for Chadwick Boseman will count as his first, which is fitting timing given how many of the team behind What If…? paid tribute to his work on the series and in the MCU. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has been quite vocal about not recasting the actor in their universe, and it has led to some uproar online but it’s uncertain just how the mantle of Black Panther will be carried on. For now, it’s a nice touch for him to receive this nomination for his hard work on the project.
Chris Hemsworth and the cast of the film have been ever busy with promoting Marvel Studios’ latest project, Thor: Love and Thunder. In that process, Hemsworth has described Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher as his “favorite villain” to work against in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This quote from the lead actor has stirred me into thinking who would qualify as my personal favorite villain within the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With this being a truly daunting task, I’ve thought up a list of my five favorite villains from the MCU. Before getting into this specific list, I want to make it specifically clear that this is a list of my favoritevillains and not necessarily the best villains (in whatever metric you may qualify that to be). These are five characters whose film appearances resonated the most with me for a plethora of reasons, and I encourage the notion of thinking up which five would be your favorites.
Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
5) Norman Osborn / Green Goblin (Earth-96283) – Spider-Man: No Way Home
The argument could be made that Willem Dafoe’s portrayal of the classic villain is technically an MCU villain due to him coming from the universe of the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man films, but Green Goblin’s now intrinsic ties to the life of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker should qualify him as a definitive MCU antagonist. Having grown up with said Raimi-directed films, the absurdist camp of Dafoe chewing scenery in his descent into madness left a large imprint on myself and specific turns of phrase were in my lexicon well before Spider-Man: No Way Home. Though with the news of his return into this role in the 2021 blockbuster, I held some reservations that he (and the other returning characters) would feel too incongruous with the more slightly subtle tones of what the Marvel Cinematic Universe had done with Spider-Man. Though fortunately, not only did this version of Norman Osborn fit in extremely well with Holland, I’d argue the campiness of the character enhanced the performance. Willem Dafoe adeptly balanced both sides of the sympathetic figure of a man trapped by a demon inside of him and the sinister villain who killed this universe’s Aunt May and drove Peter into nearly becoming a killer. He was the perfect type of villain to help transition Holland’s Spider-Man into the seemingly more adult version that will continue into the future.
Daniel Bruhl as Helmut Zemo
4) Helmut Zemo – Captain America: Civil War
What makes DanielBrühl‘s portrayal of Helmut Zemo such a memorable villain for me in the history of the MCU is the distinct lack of physical action we see him undertake. Whereas essentially every other villain from the Marvel Cinematic Universe made their claim for power through overt action, Zemo got what he wanted through acting in the shadows and through the power of words. This Machiavellian approach felt extremely fresh at the time of Captain America: Civil War’s release and he still remains one of the most unique villains from the franchise. And then of course, there’s the worthwhile discourse that Zemo is arguably the most effective villain in the MCU thanks to being the catalyst of the Avengers disassembling through only a few distinct actions.
Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger
3) N’Jadaka / Erik Stevens / Killmonger – Black Panther
For a film like Black Panther, its primary villain is what moves the film from a really strong entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe to an all-time classic. The strong working relationship between director Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan is ever present in how much the movie is carried by the actions and motivations of Killmonger (though I certainly don’t mean that as a slight on anyone else involved in the strong ensemble cast). For me, watching Killmonger throughout Black Panther is akin to watching a Shakespearean performance of King Richard III in his titular play or Iago in Othello. There will always be something exciting and intriguing seeing a villain being able to strategically navigate the world around him and end up in ultimate power, only to have a dramatic fall by the end of their story. And what especially makes Killmonger a majorly compelling character is having justifiable motivations for his actions in the world around that has genuinely unfairly wronged him. Some of the most interesting villains to watch are those that have the right moral justifications, but carry them out immorally.
Josh Brolin as Thanos
2) Thanos – Avengers: Infinity War
While Thanos serves as the main antagonist for both Infinity War and Endgame, I particularly want to focus on why the former portrayal of the character is especially one of my favorite MCU villains. The level of nuance that Thanos brings to the table on his quest for all six Infinity Stones was a pleasant surprise for some audience members (including myself). This was a character that very easily could’ve been portrayed as an ultimate “man in the chair” that orchestrates his villainous scheme from a distance while focusing on the large Avengers roster before a large final battle. However, Infinity War gives Josh Brolin some substantial material to work with in terms of character development by making him essentially the protagonist of one of the highest anticipated major blockbuster films. When Marvel Studios could have simply made Thanos the personification of pure evil, they instead made him a complicated figure that truly believes he is acting for the good of the universe (even though his actions clearly show that he isn’t). It was a genuinely risky decision by Marvel Studios, and I greatly appreciate that risk and how well it ended up playing out for them. And on the point of risky decisions, the most critical component for making him one of my favorite cinematic villains is him ultimately being successful in his resoundly defeating Earth’s mightiest heroes destroying half of the universe’s life. While it was obvious in the moment that the killed heroes would rise again by Endgame the following year, it still remains one of the most bold endings to a major studio film and solidified this film as the Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back of this generation. And Avengers: Infinity War would certainly have not reached that status without the all-time great portrayal of Thanos.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio
1) Quentin Beck / Mysterio – Spider-Man: Far From Home
While generally well received by audiences as an enjoyable villain, I certainly expect this to be considered to be an at least unconventional #1 pick for favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe villain. However, Jake Gyllenhaal gives an all-time great and multi-layered performance as Mysterio that consistently rings in my mind a favorite character from this decade-plus long cinematic saga. While I certainly feel strongly about nuanced characters with complex motivations (as seen in my entries of Zemo, Killmonger, and Thanos), I can find equally great enjoyment out of a villain who has essentially no real redeeming qualities. Quentin Beck is simply an absolute irredeemable villain in his vain attempt to enter the world of celebrity and total willingness to outright murder a teenager. Plus his showmanship is extremely memorable, between his iconic revealing monologue and multi-layered illusion on Spider-Man in Berlin. What I find most interesting with Mysterio is Gyllenhaal’s master-class in acting with this role. Quentin Beck is played as a fairly wooden and generic superhero for the first half Far From Home, and it reaches the point that one could think it’s just an outright bad performance on a first viewing. However, the turn at the midpoint of the film is both extremely fun to watch and recontextualizes his entire role in the film as part of his master scheme (which makes this film extremely rewatchable in my book). Jake Gyllenhaal looks like he’s having the time of his life as an unhinged, vapid Hollywood-esque, mustache-twirling lunatic. And of course Mysterio is responsible for providing this version of Spider-Man with my favorite live-action action scenes with the character throughout the third act. Then of course comes the notion that Mysterio is the catalyst for the status-quo breaking events for Peter Parker, which places him in my pantheon of enjoyable villains that at least semi-successfully achieve their goals.
Of course, this whole thought experiment is ultimately subjective, and I’m very certain any reader of this will have their own variations on a “Top Five Favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe Villain” list. That in itself has been critical in making Marvel Studios as successful as it has been. And hopefully we will be able to see new villains that could be included on these types of lists in the near future as Phase Four continues.
Earlier today we got our first look at Attuma from merchandise that was making the rounds for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Now, it seems that @MCU_Facility has shared the first look at Tenoch Huerta‘s Namor. The design was hinted at earlier and continues to highlight how the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s take on the character is inspired by Mayan culture.
The design is definitely a great addition to the MCU with a lot of added detail hinting at the technology being used by the race living underwater. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll appear in the first trailer or this might be something that is kept a secret moving forward. Yes, we have gotten our first look at the character through this merchandise reveal but most people don’t learn about it until the actual trailers drop.
So, we don’t know how they’ll promote this new character. A lot of weight is likely on the release of this trailer considering the weight it carries after the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman. We still don’t know how they’ll approach it and if they will even focus on it in the initial trailer, as it is what everyone has been wondering about since the film started production.
Source: Twitter
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