Tag: Disney Plus

Connecting Imaginary Dots: Carlos Navarro Joins the Cast of ‘Hawkeye’

CONNECTING IMAGINARY DOTS ARE PIECES WE WRITE HERE THAT ALLOW US TO BE WHAT WE ALL TRULY ARE: FANS. THESE SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS SCOOPS, EXCLUSIVES OR FACTS; JUST SPECULATION ABOUT THE THINGS FOR WHICH WE ALL SHARE A GREAT PASSION.

Filming on the Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series, Hawkeye, is slowly coming to an end and headed into post-production ahead of an expected late-2021 debut. Filming was done primarily in Georgia but fans will remember that our first look at Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop was captured in a “but it’s too blurry to make out if it’s really her” video taken in New York in December. Thanks to a tip from a fan, we may have identified an additional cast member that has, so far, gone under the radar. We believe actor Carlos Navarro (The Walking Dead, The Outsider) can be counted among the cast of Hawkeye.

After receiving the tip, a quick check of social media indicated that Navarro was indeed in New York City working on an unidentified project in early December, the same time we were blessed with a bounty of Hawkeye set photos from the Big Apple. Further investigation shows a stuntman for Navarro listed on IMDB. Yes, we here are all just as aware as you are that IMDB can’t be taken as confirmation of anything. Around the time Navarro was confirmed to be in New York, set photos show that Hawkeye was filming some scenes involving members of the Tracksuit mafia, though a quick scan didn’t reveal Navarro among the members captured on film. It’s possible that an actor of Navarro’s caliber might have landed a meatier role than just another Bro, however; in early October, The Direct revealed that Marvel Studios was looking for a male in his 40s to play the recurring role of NYC Detective “Sherman.” Navarro fits the bill there just fine, giving us another option for a potential role.

Disney didn’t confirm the casting and they certainly won’t but we’ve struck gold on a couple of these types of potential castings before such as Tyler Dean Flores and Erin Kellyman from the upcoming series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. That having been said, as stated above this information has not been confirmed and should be taken as a rumor until official word is given.

March 15, 2021
Sharon Carter: The Story So Far

Now that WandaVision has ended, we already have our eyes on the next Marvel Cinematic Universe entry on Disney+, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. It also means that it is time to retrace the character’s steps, which will take center stage in the upcoming series. Today we will be looking at Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter, who we haven’t seen since Captain America: Civil War. So, it’s going to be quite the treat to see her back in action after almost five years. Let’s take a look back at her journey within the MCU.

We were first introduced to her in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as an agent of the spy organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. She goes undercover to protect Steve Rogers before blowing her cover after Nick Fury gets shot by the Winter Soldier. It is the moment we hear her codename Agent 13 for the first time. Once HYDRA reveals its true identity of infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D., she plays a pivotal role in saving various agents. After the spy organization gets disbanded, she joins the CIA’s Joint Counter Terrorist Center. It isn’t until her next appearance in Captain America: Civil War that she reveals her relation to Steve’s old flame, Peggy Carter. Her speech also inspired him to stand his ground against the newly enacted Sokovian Accords.

After they meet up again, she informs them of Bucky’s whereabouts, who got framed for an explosion in Vienna that lead to the death of Wakandan king T’Chaka. They meet up again after his arrest in Berlin, where she is working alongside Everett Ross. She takes on a mind-controlled Bucky alongside Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, and T’Challa, but they are unable to take him down. She ends up joining Rogers’ side and ends on the run from the government alongside the superheroes. In Avengers: Infinity War, we only briefly find out she was among those that got snapped during a quick glimpse at the Avengers’ list of missing heroes.

What’s Sharon been up to all these years? How will being Snapped out of existence for 5 years have impacted her life? What will lead her to cross paths with Sam and Bucky? These questions, and more, will be answered in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, which airs on Disney+ March 19th.

March 15, 2021
Kevin Feige Talks Potential Future Seasons for ‘The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’ and ‘WandaVision’

The press rounds have started for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Marvel Studios’ next venture in Disney+ will take a closer look at the dynamic between Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, who will carry on the legacy set by Steve Rogers’ run as Captain America. Now, they face an uncertain future with many more adventures ahead of them. One of the questions was on the possibility of the series getting a second season, which the showrunner is open for, and how that would look with the MCU’s connected universe. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige may have teased their general approach:

[…] People expect it to be like what people know before. Where is Season 2? Where is Season 1? We really did apprach it like we do the mvies, we better do this great or we won’t get to do another one. If we are able to do another one, there are certailny ideas. The slight difference, of course, as you all heard me say, and I think is becoming clear with WandaVision, that they will really go back and forth between Disney+ Series and Marvel Studios features. So, where characters show up and how, will sometimes be a in a direct season two, sometimes in a feature and then an additianl season.

We know that Wanda is going to have a bigger role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but the question is open to how they approach her story afterward. They could revisit the WandaVision series in a new format, or even retitle it completely t fit a new narrative. The introduction of Secret Invasion proves that we might see more event titles as mini-series rather than focusing on these series continuously releasing a new season each year. Disney+ does offer that flexibility that will keep these shows from getting repetitive.

March 14, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Director Kari Skogland on How the Pandemic Impacted ‘The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’

Production on Marvel Studios next Disney Plus streaming series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, was about halfway complete when things abruptly came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When production resumed on the project under the ironically named Pandemic Productions company, the cast and crew had to adjust on the fly to an entirely new set of circumstances. I asked director Kari Skogland how the pandemic impacted the project and to find a silver lining in what was a scary and surprising time.
Charles Murphy: “You guys had quite a bit of work done when the pandemic shut things down. What’s something good that came out of that downtime on this project?”
Kari Skogland: “For us, it was actually quite positive because we were able to, first of all, we had an amazing team. Everybody was very willing to pivot as necessary. So there was no panic as a result we just got on with it. Once the sort of surprise of it all, perhaps we all sniffed it coming? I guess I don’t know. But nonetheless, it was still a surprise. Once we sort of got over that, it was very much…we just sort of picked up and kept going because there is always work to be done-cause we were midway. So the positive side to it was when we were able to gear back up we were really targeted. We knew exactly what we were shooting. We knew where the series was and where it needed to go. I think we were able to use the time very wisely to make all kinds of decisions that we wouldn’t have had time to make otherwise. The best and most positive thing was that the team responded incredibly well, actors, everybody included, we all just got on with it.”

More than once during the shutdown, I heard how Marvel Studios was using the time they wouldn’t otherwise have well and wisely. Having more time to think, discuss and evaluate their projects provided a rare opportunity to strengthen what were some already great projects. As Skogland said, the shutdown gave them time to really reflect on things and make decisions without being up against deadlines. As you’ll see when The Falcon and The Winter Soldier debuts next week, the downtime was time well spent.

March 13, 2021
How Marvel Studios Plans to Take the Fight to Superhero Fatigue

It probably feels like a lifetime ago but it was only in 2017 that the MCU started releasing three feature films every year. By that time the franchise was approaching its 10th year with 17 movies under its belt and many started wondering just how long could Marvel Studios’ dominance at the box office truly last until audiences’ superhero fatigue managed to creep up on it. The following couple of years presented everyone with a resounding answer to that question as five out of the six movies released in that period surpassed the 1 billion dollar mark at the box-office, with two of those going over the 2 billion dollar mark while making Avengers: Endgame the highest-grossing movie of all time.

By that point, and besides being the final chapter of a story being told since 2008 through 23 interconnected movies, the end of the Infinity Saga had audiences saying goodbye to arguably its two most important characters, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, that had been at the forefront of the MCU since its inception. So being, Marvel Studios had a few problems on their plate as 2019 came to a close: How to reintroduce surviving characters making them a bigger presence within the franchise filling the void of the ones lost, how to make fans care for the new characters being introduced as they did the legacy ones, and most importantly how to maintain global audience interested in the MCU avoiding the aforementioned superhero fatigue to finally become a real thing, in what the MCU is concerned.

A few of the issues mentioned above had already started being addressed head-on by taking a chance on characters like Black Panther and Captain Marvel, allowing for a larger and more diverse audience to feel embraced by the superhero cinematic universe Marvel created, all while keeping longtime fans engaged by diversifying the type of stories being told, the angles in which they were told, and the voices that told them. Phase 4 would be doubling-down on this idea of bringing into the franchise a much more diverse group of filmmakers (Cate Shortland, Destin Daniel Cretton, Chloé Zhao, Nia DaCosta) and introducing characters like Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Ironheart, and the incredibly diverse cast of Eternals that are further living proof that the MCU is trying to evolve and become a much richer and relevant franchise by allowing so much different voices to shine through.

But today, exactly one week after the WandaVision finale and one week before The Falcon and The Winter Soldier premiere, it’s becoming increasingly clear that, as contradictory as it may sound, another way Marvel Studios is trying to avoid superhero fatigue is by going all out and delivering ten projects in a single year. One would think that that would be against their interests as this means that there’ll be hardly a week throughout the year without some sort of new MCU content, but Marvel Studios is managing to circumvent that by turning inwards and redefining what the superhero genre can aspire to become. This way, instead of only releasing properties that could be described as being the generic superhero production and thus paving the way for audiences to quickly lose interest by the lack of novelty, they are expanding into sub-genres that are already a reality across the industry.

As WandaVision played with sitcom tropes while combining romance, mystery, and drama, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is set to be more of an action-thriller experience. Ms. Marvel could be categorized as a teen drama while Hawkeye (mystery-thriller), Eternals (action epic), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (martial arts action film), and Loki (sci-fi adventure) will each have their particular characteristics, making each project fresh in its own right. Going beyond 2021 we’ll find the same being applied to shows like She-Hulk (courtroom drama) or movies such as Thor: Love and Thunder (space ~~opera~~ rock show). All of this seems to mean that Marvel Studios is thinking that, by diversifying, audiences won’t grow tired of what they have to offer in the same way they don’t get tired of movies and tv in general. Even if all properties are a part of a larger franchise, their particulars will allow all of them to be experienced without the added weight of being presented with the same formulaic concepts and narratives.

Marvel Studios broke the mold for what franchises of this magnitude could become, and by keeping themselves in the public eye year-round but also understanding that a gimmick can only keep itself relevant for so much time, so much so that it’s not afraid to reinvent itself on the go (as we were able to see with WandaVision), is likely doing it again, before our very eyes.

March 12, 2021
‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Director Kari Skogland Open to a Second Season

We are only a week away before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will release on Disney+. The series will follow-up on Avengers: Endgame‘s ending, as Sam Wilson comes to accept the shield passed on to him by Steve Rogers. Now, he and Bucky will become unlikely allies as they face a new foe. It is uncertain how the story will lead into the future of the franchise, but it looks like director Kari Skogland might have enough plans for a second season. In an interview with The Direct, she revealed that there might be more stories to explore with this dynamic duo:

I can’t even answer that because I would say there’s nothing I didn’t get to do in this one, and yet there’s so much more to do. So, let’s hope that there is a season two. I have no idea whether there will be or not, but I do know there’s always more stories to explore and more characters to have go down the rabbit hole with.

So far, none of the announced Disney+ shows have a confirmed second season. WandaVision just ended a few weeks ago, but there hasn’t been a word on the series getting an additional season. The advantage of Marvel Studios’ approach allows them to continue these stories at a later date. Wanda’s story seems to lead directly into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, once that story gets resolved, they can continue her tale in a future sequel. They also aren’t restricted to keeping specific names. So, they could create a new show inspired by Vision Quest that continues these story threads. It will be interesting to see what their approach will be in the future.

Source: The Direct

March 12, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Director Kari Skogland on the Most Important Questions ‘The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’ Will Answer

In an exclusive interview with Murphy’s Multiverse, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier director Kari Skogland discusses what drew her to the project, the key questions this series will address and how developing how the nature of the project allowed the characters to live and breathe without the usual time constraints.

Charles Murphy: “The episode has big action but it also has some beautiful and chilling character moments. The leads are hurting for different reasons and we finally have time to explore them more deeply. Did the opportunity to help define these characters make the project more attractive?”

Kari Skogland: “I don’t know about more attractive. No matter what I was excited. The central idea of it where Sam was handed the shield and what was that going to be and what is that what’s that the exploration of will he or won’t he take on what’s this is going to be for a Black man to carry the shield? What is Captain America’s relevance? Is there a Captain America that makes any sense anymore? All of those questions I thought were very topically important to not just discuss but to go on a real exploration in a deep dive sort of way.”

Needless to say the legacy of Steve Rogers and the weight of carrying his shield and taking up the mantle are major themes in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. When he was handed the shield in Avengers: Endgame, Sam told Steve it felt like it belonged to someone else. The fact that we’re getting a series titled The Falcon and The Winter Soldier tells us he hasn’t resolved those feeling just yet.

Skogland continued on to explain how the structure of the show allowed for her to find the moments in which the characters could live and breathe and struggle, which they do beautifully in the first episode.

KS: “There was that on the one level and on the other level was the nature and the depth of these characters that we were able to in a 6-hour space compared to…I call it the meal vs. the snack. 6 hours is the meal and the feature is now the snack. And there’s plenty of room for snacks but I love the meals because you don’t feel like you’ve got these time constraints where you’re trying to jam too much into too short a space and the characters can live and breathe. And you’re also not sweating the “I better wind this up” too quickly. You’re able to let it gestate and let us worry for the character or be with the character. I really looked for performance opportunities and found from the get go it was going to be a challenge for the actors to find those moments and the table was set for them to do their great work and they did.”

And the actors really did great work delivering on the promise of this extended opportunity to develop their characters, something you’ll all have a chance to see when the first episode streams one week from today!

March 12, 2021
Report: ‘The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’ Episodes to Run 45 to 55

A new article from the New York Times on the upcoming Disney+ Marvel Studios series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, reports that the series of 6 episodes will all be 45 to 55 minutes in length.

“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” consisting of six 45-to-55-minute episodes to be rolled out weekly, offers timely explorations into the nature of patriotism and extremism and the values of inclusivity, diversity and representation, set in a world striving for stability after a global catastrophe.
NY Times

This is in some contrast with recent quotes from series star Anthony Mackie and Kevin Feige, with Mackie comparing the series to a 6 to 8-hour movie, and Feige correcting that slightly with a “not quite 8 hours.” One assumes the New York Times should have good sources, but as someone who wants as much of the new adventures of Bucky and Sam as possible, I hope it’s a bit more.

Source: NY Times, ScifiNow+

March 12, 2021
Theory Thursday: How ‘What If…?’ Sets Up ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

Marvel Studios is exploring new avenues with this summer’s Disney+ animated series What If..? To those unfamiliar, the anthology comic run that started in 1977 explored alternate realities. It would explore how one detail could change the curse of history. So, now that Marvel Studios is exploring new ventures, such as WandaVision‘s sitcom stylings, the animated series may elevate the MCU to new creative heights by exploring different genres. After Avengers: Endgame introduced the concept of alternative timelines into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it made us wonder if the upcoming multiversal storyline might be more relevant than we might at first expect.

A Multiversal Question

Around a week ago, I discussed the new direction for Marvel Studios’ canonical timeline. At the moment, the main timeline has remained pretty linear over the past decade. Avengers: Endgame changed that two years ago, as we got introduced to this universe’s time travel. The moment they change something in the past, the ripple effect will create a new timeline. As you can see in the visual above, What If is about to split the timeline up into the multiverse. Theoretically, this show might give Marvel fans their first full-on deep dive into the expansion that I believe will be known as The Marvel Cinematic Multiverse moving forward. Not just that, it also will have some deeper implications for the franchise’s future.

Just The Beginning

The first trailer for What If…? gave us a glimpse at multiple alternate universes. If I had to choose, I’m most excited about the one focused on Doctor Strange. I believe that, unlike the other episodes, it won’t retell a previous episode but rather tease one that’s yet to come. So, I firmly believe it will provide a glimpse of his upcoming sequel. Not just that, it will also tease the main villain that will bring madness into the multiverse. He is rather prominent in the trailer, as it teased us with an alternate version of the magical doctor that has fallen to the dark side.

He could bring about the destruction of the world (and possibly the multiverse as we know it). Upon closer examination, he conjures a very familiar form of red magic with black dots swirling around it. I suspect that this may turn out to be Chaos Magic, which we got introduced to in WandaVision. This version of Strange seems to be losing his humanity, as he has tentacles expanding from his hand. I believe that this isn’t Strange but rather someone imitating him. Whoever this individual turns out to be, there is a good chance he might be the main villain of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. After the season finale of WandaVision teased Wanda’s quest, she may have found her way into this alternate dimension. If you take a closer look at the image above, you can see a woman in red staring at this twisted version of Strange. Going by her red outfit, I suspect she could turn out to be Wanda seeking her children.

Anything is Possible

The Doctor Strange sequel is among my most anticipated MCU films to release in the coming years. When the multiverse is involved, pretty much anything and everything is on the table. Perhaps we even get to revisit the alternate realities presented in What If. Just imagine Doctor Strange and Wanda Maximoff enter an alternate reality centered around Marvel Zombies, which pays tribute to Army of Darkness. It would be a waste not to pay tribute to the film that the same director, Sam Raimi, worked onn. Or, you could have Doctor Strange face off against different versions of characters we know, like a live-action Peggy Carter as Captain Britain. Case in point, you should consider paying attention to What If…?, especially now that the multiverse is about to be blown wide open.

Case in point, you should definitely consider paying attention to What If…?, especially now that the Multiverse is about to be blown wide open.

March 11, 2021
‘STAR WARS’: Roles Thought to be Bound for a New Series are Instead Set for ‘The Mandalorian’

Late last year, before there was any sort of official confirmation regarding The Mandalorian spin-offs, reports came out announcing a couple of roles that were supposed to be destined for one of those shows. The roles, labeled “Drash” and “Skad”, were both for British-sounding supporting characters, one male and one female, both in their late teens/early twenties, both members of a street crew.

In what can only be assumed as either as a small mistake made in the initial reports or as a natural evolution of the writing process of these shows, we can now confirm that these two characters will instead be appearing alongside Pedro Pascal‘s Din Djarin in the third season of The Mandalorian, in what seem to be the first additions to the cast after the record-setting season 2. With Grogu having left the show (or did he?) to be trained by Luke Skywalker, both “Drash” and “Skad” might turn out to be two characters that will try to fill that gap, as Din Djarin will need someone close to interact with.

After a cameo-filled second season that paved the way to several spin-off announcements by introducing to live-action Star Wars characters like Bo-Katan, Cobb Vanth, Ahsoka Tano and bringing back Boba Fett, The Mandalorian’s third season might be returning to the template used on season one, by focusing mostly on new characters, created specifically for the show.

The Mandalorian season 3 will begin filming shortly and is set for a 2022 release. 2021 should still bring us its first spin-off, as the Boba Fett and Fennec Shand centered The Book of Boba Fett, staring Tamuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen, is set for release this December, only on Disney+.

March 10, 2021