Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Disney Plus

  • The Introspection Of Loki: When a God Accepts He Is Powerless

    The Introspection Of Loki: When a God Accepts He Is Powerless

    In the series premiere of Loki, our titular character continues his journey post Avengers: Endgame. Well, technically, his story following the first Avengers film from a timeline perspective. It’s easy to get caught up in the exposition of the Time Variance Authority. The implications of the timeline, multiversal wars, and what it all means are captivating, no doubt. There was something else that stuck out in a way that was quite jarring. It was our protagonist with his ego and power stripped away. It was a god reduced to a man, a big fish reduced to a guppie in the grand scheme of it all.

     

    Loki' Episode 1 Recap: The God Of Mischief Goes To Therapy

     

    Part of what makes storytelling impactful is when we get to know the why. Why is this story this way? What compels his actions? Owen Wilson‘s Agent Mobius interrogates Loki in a way that is more therapeutic than invasive. We know what happened in Avengers, but why? Loki has an obsession and a fixation on ruling and lording over. Yet, we never thought to ask why until now.

    Forced to witness his life and its inevitability, Loki is held accountable for his actions. There are no tricks or escapes here. Well, there is that time twister escapade for some escape hi-jinx, but ultimately it’s just a diversion. After finding out that his words directly lead to Freya’s death, we saw a crack in the armor. Then Loki got a trip into his unknown future, a reconciliation with Thor and death at the hands of Thanos. He has a realization at that moment how insignificant he truly is in the grand scheme of things.

     

    Loki' Episode 1 Analysis, Themes, and Theories - The Ringer

     

    There’s a brilliance in the writing team headed by Michael Waldron that needed to get us to a place to care about Loki. Yes, as fans in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we will buy into any morsel of story. What is accomplished here surrounds the nuance of this once villainous character. Loki’s past and potential future is summed up perfectly by his brief monologue:

    I don’t enjoy hurting people. I don’t enjoy it. I do it because I have to because I’ve had to. Because it’s part of the illusion. it’s the cruel elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear.

    NIs Loki turning into a good guy and starting a new hero’s journey? Probably not, as he isn’t the God of Mischief just for kicks. What sets this series off in a fascinating direction is the feeling that we know Loki in a way we didn’t before. Sometimes introspection leads us down the most fruitful doors.

  • Temuera Morrison Confirms ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Will Explore His Time Post-Empire Strikes Back

    Temuera Morrison Confirms ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Will Explore His Time Post-Empire Strikes Back

    While The Mandalorian is taking a backseat, we have a new member of the race taking centerstage. Well, technically he is a clone but it was Boba Fett that popularized the look and feel. After making a grand return in the second season of the popular Star Wars series on Disney+, he will not grace the world with a spin-off titled The Book of Boba Fett. We did get a brief tease in a post-credit sequence from the last episode, where he revisits Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine but that was pretty much it. Now, it seems like actor Temuera. Morrison may have confirmed that we might finally get an answer on how he escaped the Sarlacc Pit back in Empire Strikes Backs.

    Well, we can’t say too much, but we’re going to see his past and where he’s been since The Empire Strikes Back. Somebody pointed out he’s been kind of stuck in this one place, and now’s the time to actually go back in time and check out his journey and find out more about him.

    We got a brief glimpse of him during the first season but we don’t know why he avoided getting back his iconic armor. There seemed to be a reason why he didn’t take it back from Timothy Olyphant‘s Cobb Vanth, who could make an appearance in the upcoming spin-off. We might get some introspection into the spiritual journey he undertook after leaving that past behind and whose names might be on his list after stewing in thoughts of revenge throughout the last years. Whatever the upcoming spin-off has in store for us, it’s great to finally get to see more of the iconic character in action.

    Source: Rotten Tomatoes

  • REPORT: First Details on Gamora’s ‘What If?’ Episode

    REPORT: First Details on Gamora’s ‘What If?’ Episode

    Marvel Studios’ newest endeavor into storytelling will open the door to countless possibilities and answer the long-awaited question, What if?.  We know little about what the episodes of the upcoming series will entail aside from a select few. One will see Thor arrive on Midgard, but instead of following the events of the first film, he will throw one of the biggest parties the realm had ever seen. It’ll be so big that it’ll risk the end of the world as we know it. It seems that another upcoming episode in the series could see another unexpected arrival on Earth, one of the galaxies’ most skilled assassins and daughter of the mad titan, Gamora.

    In a new report from the Illuminerdi, it seems that an upcoming Gamora-centered episode could see her hunting down the one and only Tony Stark. It could be that Gamora is after Stark following the battle of New York. Iron Man flying through the wormhole the Chitauri were invading from and destroyed their mothership. It rendered Lokis’ army, which later turned out to be Thanos’, useless.  Seeing him as a threat in his ongoing search for the Infinity Stones we could see Thanos send his favorite daughter and most skilled warrior after Tony to make sure he wouldn’t be an issue for him in the future.

    Marvel Studios What If? currently has no set release date but will release exclusively on the Disney+ streaming service. The series will feature the return of countless familiar voices from the MCU and even see the debut of Uatu The Watcher, voiced by Jeffrey Wright.

    Source: Illuminerdi

  • ‘Loki’ May Have Hinted at Non-Marvel Studios Films Existing Before the Multiversal War

    ‘Loki’ May Have Hinted at Non-Marvel Studios Films Existing Before the Multiversal War

    Up to this point, we all assumed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe consists of multiple reality branches simultaneously. As such, we all expected WandaVision to kick it off after Wanda created a pocket dimension out of the small rural town of Westview. After countless guesswork, it ended up as a self-contained story, and there were no real signs of the multiverse just yet. Even 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home teased its existence only for it to turn out to be a lie by Mysterio. Yet, we have a What If series heading to Disney+, and Doctor Strange‘s sequel has the subtitle Multiverse of Madness. So, we believed Loki would finally confirm our suspicions only to surprise us even more. It revealed that the TVA serves to prevent new timelines from sprouting into existence. It seems the multiverse we know has already happened and imploded after a war. Now, it made us wonder what exactly was the multiverse before the Time Keepers got involved?

     

    Marvel's Loki: Who are the Time-Keepers of the MCU? - Geeky Craze

     

    There are no hints at what existed before the Sacred Timeline got created. If they follow the comics, the current iteration of the Avengers and their entire journey serve the Time Keepers as they seek to ensure their life cycle remains intact. Mobius also hints at the fact that the timeline exists in a constant loop. So, the end of time will always lead back to the beginning of creation. As such, our heroes will continue down their path no matter what over and over again. It did sound like the world was very different in the original timeline before it got that TVA reboot at some random point in its existence. We have no idea what may have led to that event, but there might be some curious hints through the rumor mill, especially surrounding Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

    Everything seems to be pointing to the appearance of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield‘s incarnations of the iconic webhead. Their villains seem almost confirmed at this point. Yet, there is one contradiction their appearance would create. As we saw, branches extend out of the Sacred Timeline when a nexus event happens. Like in What If, any alternative version of the characters will connect to the main timeline. Peggy Carter becoming Captain Britain is only a different event unfolding as some of the same events happened before the nexus that caused the new scenario. So, if we get introduced to two versions of a character with very distinct histories, it would imply that the multiverse was much more unique at one point, as the heroes looked different. Of course, the TVA’s current predicament could contradict this, but it does seem likely that we’re playing with very distinct concepts of the multiverse. Perhaps Garfield and Maguire come from multiversal timelines before the first war, which developed more independently from each other. Miss Minutes used the wording “unique” when discussing their pre-war existence.

     

    Spider-Man:' Andrew Garfield Breaks Silence on 'No Way Home' – The Hollywood Reporter

     

    Whatever happens in Loki, it may see the resurgence of these original timelines that vanished after the first Multiversal War. Marvel Studios already rebranded older movies as Marvel Legacy projects. So, it may be a way to keep them as distinct franchises but open up the door to allow the potential of multiversal cameos without breaking the universe’s canon. So, it won’t make people think if Hugh Jackman has a brief appearance as Wolverine, he will return to the role moving forward. Speaking of the X-Men franchise, the confirmed third Deadpool entry also gives the theory some weight if you consider that it’s a continuation from the Fox universe that continues into the MCU. As such, he may be part of this original multiverse and ends up in the Sacred Timeline. As an outsider, he starts to unravel the universe even more, especially if you consider his ability to break the fourth wall. We know the first seeds for a Secret Wars adaptation got planted. Just like Thanos, it seems inevitable that the next multiversal war will happen, and we might see some other familiar faces join the fray.

  • Marvel Studios Developing an Unscripted Disney+ Documentary on the MCU’s Super Women

    Marvel Studios Developing an Unscripted Disney+ Documentary on the MCU’s Super Women

    It looks like Marvel Studios is starting to explore new avenues, as they are currently developing an unscripted documentary series that will air on Disney+. According to the official site, the focus will be to highlight the woman behind and in front of the camera that brings the Marvel Cinematic Universe to life. They are also reaching out to female fans to share their excitement about the series, which you can check out by clicking here.

    There is a curious development of how Marvel Studios approaches its expansion into long-form storytelling. We already got the Assembled documentary that showcases how the Disney+ shows got developed. There were also the quick recap supercuts from Marvel Studios Legends that helped new viewers to catch up on what happened before an upcoming project releases. We might see the film studio expand with other documentaries to take a closer look at how these projects are developed. Hopefully, we could get our hands on another Expanding the Universe documentary teasing upcoming projects.

    Now, it seems that the series is in early development and we might not expect it anytime soon. It’s uncertain if this might also be a short film or even an entire series that has an episode focusing on a different project. It would be interesting to take a look back at how the MCU has changed and what the future holds. It would seem like a perfect tie-in to the upcoming The Marvels film, which will focus on Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau. Whatever they have planned, we are looking forward to it.

    Source: Marvel

  • ‘Loki’s Day One Viewers Surpassed ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’ And ‘WandaVision’

    ‘Loki’s Day One Viewers Surpassed ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’ And ‘WandaVision’

    It looks like Loki was already a major success for Disney+, especially if you consider that the series moved away from its usual Friday release schedule. The analytics company SambaTV reported that the premiere drew in around 890K households, which would make it Disney+’s biggest US premier for a Marvel Studios series. To offer a comparison, Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiered with 759K and WandaVision‘s 655K. It also beat out the release of Cruella, but it was locked behind the Premier Access service.

    The interesting thing about this trend is that it’s a sign of how Marvel Studios’ ongoing release strategy is actually paying off. Each entry in their Marvel Cinematic Universe projects builds up excitement for the next, especially as the various projects start to draw more and more attention. It’ll be interesting to see how its numbers develop over the weekend, as they recorded Falcon and the Winter Soldier racing 1.7M followed directly by WandaVision’s 1.6Mm over the course of three days. At this rate, Loki might even hit the 2M mark if positive buzz carries the show’s momentum.

    Now, we have to point out that these numbers may only showcase a small margin of its actual viewership. As such, they can only utilize their own data to compare and contrast its development. Disney+, like many streaming services, does not release its actual viewership numbers and it’s difficult to say how it truly performed. For now, we are dependent on external analysts to offer any insight into how well a streaming series or film is performing, but going by the hype build around Loki, Disney, and Marvel Studios had nothing to worry about.

    Source: Deadline, Twitter

  • REPORT: Ben Mendelsohn May Reprise ‘Rogue One’ Role in Disney+ ‘Andor’ Spin-Off

    REPORT: Ben Mendelsohn May Reprise ‘Rogue One’ Role in Disney+ ‘Andor’ Spin-Off

    It looks like one more Rogue One veteran is returning in the upcoming Andor spin-off, as The Direct has reported that Ben Mendelsohn will reprise his role as Orson Kennic. However, they do point out that they are unsure of how big his role might actually end up being in the series. There is a chance he has a brief cameo, as our titular character Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, might infiltrate an Empire base at some point in the series. This news drops shortly after Bill Skarsgard leaked the fact that Forest Whitaker was also returning in the upcoming Disney+ series as Saw Gerrera. It seems that we could see more familiar faces from Star Wars‘ first non-episode film pop up potentially.

    Mendelsohn gave us a great performance as the main antagonist in Rogue One. So, his return is a welcomed one. It looks like the actor has a big future with Disney+, as he is also slated to appear in the upcoming Secret Invasion series from Marvel Studios. Of course, it is uncertain if he simply has a brief cameo in Andor, but he would make for a great recurring character that somehow manages to always get into Cassian’s way at the most inopportune times. You can never go wrong with more of Ben Mendelsohn n in any project. Here’s hoping we also get some more familiar faces returning to flesh out the era when the Empire ruled over the galaxy.

    Source: The Direct

  • REPORT: Jameela Jamil to Play ‘She-Hulk’ Villain Titania

    REPORT: Jameela Jamil to Play ‘She-Hulk’ Villain Titania

    It looks like there is no end to the news surrounding Marvel Studios’ future on Disney+. We’ve recently got a tiny glimpse behind the scenes of She-Hulk with a look at Mark Ruffalo donning his CGI suit. Now, it seems that Illuminerdi got their hands on some news, as they just shared the info that The Good Place‘s Jameela Jamil is playing the villainous Titania. She’s an interesting addition as the main foil for Jennifer Walter. Illuminerdi believes that she was the character that went under the code name “Lucy.” She was described as a Kardashian-esque social media influencer with a dark side. We don’t know exactly how the series will play out, but it certainly would be a unique take for the class Marvel villain. Jamil‘s addition will surely offer a lot of fresh comedy to the series and she could make for an interesting dynamic between the two unlikely villains.

    If they truly follow this social media-focused character, it could give us a glimpse at what role She-Hulk might have. We know from Avengers: Endgame that Hulk is a well-known hero. So, the existence of a female version of his would also get quite a bit of attention. She might end up becoming more famous than Tatiana, which pushes her over the edge to keep up with her unlikely enemy. Of course, she could also just end up being one of Jennifer’s clients throughout the legal comedy’s run.

    Source: Illuminerdi

  • ‘Andor’: Forest Whitaker to Return in the ‘Rogue One’ Spin-Off

    ‘Andor’: Forest Whitaker to Return in the ‘Rogue One’ Spin-Off

    Andor has been busy filming for some time now and we still know very little about what direction the series is heading. All we know is that it’ll take place before Rogue One and explore the early days of its titular character, Cassian Andor. Some time ago we did get a good look at the cast, which includes Marvel Studios veteran Stellan Skarsgard. Well, it seems he accidentally let slip in an interview with Sverige Radio that he had “at least two good” scenes with Rogue One veteran, Forest Whitaker. He played the character of Saw Gerrera, which he even returned to play in the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video game.

    It actually makes a lot of sense for his character to return in the series. While he did find his end in Rogue One, there are a lot of stories that can be explored while he leads the Rebellion against the Empire. We might get a closer look at how he became infamous among even their ranks. It also opens up the question of how much Andor will explore in its first season, as we might get a look at the darker side of the Rebellion rather than the hopeful one we are introduced to in Star Wars: A New Hope. It looks like we might have al to more surprises heading our way.

    Source: Sveriges Radio via The Direct

  • ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Eyeing Late 2021 Production Start

    ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Eyeing Late 2021 Production Start

    We’ve all been wondering when the third season of The Mandalorian would finally enter production. It was revealed earlier in the year that the spin-off The Book of Boba Fett would be the first to enter production and premiere in its usual time slot this year. Star Wars‘ expansion into streaming has already seen them pick up the pace with the Rogue One spin-off Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi entering production throughout the year. Well, it looks like the expansion has also come at a price.

    Collider revealed that the third season won’t enter production until the end of 2021 or the latest in early 2022. So, we certainly can’t expect the continuation before the end of the next year. There are multiple reasons for this, as the LA stages the film usually utilizes are pre-occupied by Ewan McGregor‘s return as Obi-Wan Kenobi. There is also the fact that Pedro Pascal recently joined HBO’s live-action adaptation of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us franchise.

    It’s going to be a long wait for Mandalorian fans until the next entry finally releases, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t getting more Star Wars on Disney+. Collider also hinted at the fact that we can expect some familiar faces in the spin-off, as it is described as a mid-season event. So far, the only confirmed addition besides Temuera Morrison‘s Boba Fett is Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. The series recently ended its production. So, we might get some more news in the coming months about what we can expect from the series.

    Source: Collider