We’ve been wondering for some time what the future of Marvel Studios’ venture into Disney+ would look like. The release of WandaVision is our first real glimpse, as we anxiously waited between episodes for how the series would unravel. One of the many questions we wondered about was the length of these series, as different shows will run for a specific length. Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be around six hours long with six episodes. WandaVision will consist of nine hours and was also predicted to have a similar running time. It looks like future projects will stick to this series length according to Kevin Feige, who was presenting at the TCA event.
Feige sees six hours as the sweet spot for these stories. Whether that’s Six, one-hour episodes (Falcon and Winter Soldier) or nine, shorter episodes for WandaVision
Interestingly, they are going to set a specific length for their series. The advantage of releasing series on streaming platforms is that you aren’t restricted to your show’s lengths or episode count. Interestingly enough, Marvel’s run on Netflix followed a similar structure, where they restricted the shows to a 13-episode runtime. However, they did not set a specific overall runtime, so episodes ranged from 45 minutes to over an hour. So, the choice to restrict the show’s overall runtime might be a reaction to ensure that the story being told doesn’t overstay its welcome. We’ve seen these complaints with the Netflix series, which seem to drag on at times. It will be interesting to see if they start mixing it up in the future, but for now, we can expect this six-hour run to be a connecting factor between all upcoming shows.
It is quite the day for Disney+. We just got the release date for Loki confirmed, which will not premiere a month later than originally announced. Star Wars: The Bad Batch is going to arrive on May 4th. Now, Well, it looks like one more upcoming Disney+ series just got an official release date, as it was revealed that Disney’s animated series Monsters At Work is going to premiere July 2nd on the streaming platform.
The series will work as a sequel to the original Pixar series Monsters Inc. and will continue to flesh out the franchise. The last time we visited Monstropolis, it was Monsters University, which explored Mike Wazowkis and James P. Sullivan’s college years. This series will feature the return of Billy Crystal and John Godman in the iconic roles, but will mainly focus on brand new monsters. Now that the power plant is run by children’s laughter rather than screams, a young scarer Tylor Tuskmon, who is played by Ben Feldman, will be in for a rude awakening with the company’s new direction.
Here’s a surprising reveal. In December, Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige revealed the release dates for various upcoming Disney+ shows. We finally found out that Falcon and the Winter Soldier would premiere in March and it would be followed by Loki in May. Well, it looks like production for the series has been dragged out a bit longer, as Marvel Studios just unveiled that the series will premiere on June 11th on Disney+.
It’s an interesting delay, as we originally predicted they are trying to release something new every week. Black Widow is still focused on getting that May release date, as we haven’t heard any plans on delaying it more. It would imply there will be a brief pause between Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki, so it will be interesting to see if they have something else to fill the gap or they want to give Black Widow some breathing room in theaters. The return of the God of Mischief will certainly bring us into a unique story, as he becomes involved with the TVA and faces different timelines throughout his journey.
UPDATE: It looks Collider was indeed right after all since less than two hours after the initial news came out, LucasFilm confirmed the May 4 release date for the upcoming series.
On StarWars.com there was further information regarding the release schedule. It was made clear that the unusual release day (for Disney+), a Tuesday, is due to the fact that May 4 is, as we all know, Star Wars Day. The following episodes will be released on Fridays as The Mandalorian, with the first one being made available on May 7th.
According to Collider, The Star Wars Clone Wars spin-off The Bad Batch is now set for a May 4th premiere on Disney+. However that same report ended up getting deleted shortly after, and the link is no longer available. Luckily, The Direct was able to quote the article before it got taken down, announcing a May 4 release date. Announced in July 2020, the animated series will follow the Clone Force 99, which is also known as the titular Bad Batch. They were the focus of The Clone Wars‘ last season’s first storyline. It will take place in the post-Clone Wars era, which will see the uniquely skilled clones take on mercenary work as they transition into a new life. It was during Disney’s Investor Day back in December that when we found out that the series will premiere in 2021. They also released the first footage, so we were hotly anticipating the actual release date.
The Bad Batch is yet another Disney+ exclusive that will expand the Star Wars franchise after The Mandalorian‘s success. If this debut date proves true, it looks like the streaming service is experimenting with different release schedules for its shows since both The Mandalorian and WandaVision was released on Fridays. The animated show would then break the mold with a Tuesday premiere as the service starts to expand, showing us that Disney is looking for ways to release multiple episodes every week without them cannibalizing each other. The May 4th release would set The Bad Batch to premiere right before Black Widow hits theaters and a couple of weeks before Loki will have its first episode made available. It will be interesting to see if the release of Collider’s article was just an accident or if it was released early, ahead of a scheduled official announcement.
If there’s one thing we know Marvel Studios loves to do, it’s play with genres. From political spy thrillers to coming-of-age films, Kevin Feige and his team have tried it all. Well, let’s say they almost did. There is one that they’ve yet to dip their toes in, and it happens to be one of the oldest in the book. Somehow the Western genre, perhaps the earliest craze in American cinema, has eluded the world’s most popular production house. It was only a couple of years ago when one might have assumed this was because the general public’s love for the genre died with John Wayne. However, Marvel’s Disney-bedfellow Lucasfilm proved this was untrue with their surprise smash hit on Disney+, The Mandalorian. The series contains all the imagery and plotting of a textbook cowboy show. Yet by turning a few classic cliches turned on their head, it managed to make all the difference with audiences. If Marvel ever plans to explore the Wild West of their sprawling cinematic universe, they should look to do something similar. Luckily for them, they already have the perfect project hidden in the pages of their most obscure comics. I’m referring, of course, to the little-known Native American hero Red Wolf. A few years ago, the Black-Eyed Pea’s Taboo shared his excitement about the character and his importance for representation with a cosplay.
The pitch is simple. Marvel Studios’ Red Wolf would be the perfect Disney+ original series or film that gives fans a look at the Wild West through the eyes of a Native American. You can take the traditional concept of cowboys fighting off the “savage Indians” and flip it on its head. They can give us the tale of a Native American man fighting to maintain peace and his people’s way of life while portraying the traditionally heroic cowboys and military men as the antagonistic force throwing a wrench in it all. It would bring some much-needed Native representation to mainstream audiences, something Marvel is already working towards with the recent casting of Alaqua Cox as Echo. It also would create a new kind of Western that can play on all the classic angles with a fresh perspective. Now, I’m sure this raises a lot of questions, so let’s try to answer a few of them.
Who is Red Wolf?
Red Wolf has had a few different names and origins over the years, courtesy of multiple writers attempting to reboot the character frequently. Created by Roy Thomas in 1970 as William Talltrees, he was a modern-day descendant of the Cheyenne tribe. Shortly after, Red Wolf was retooled as an 18th century Western protagonist by Stan Lee. This new version, Marvel’s most prominent one, went by the name Johnny Wakely, a Native man raised by adoptive white parents after his biological family gets killed by the U.S. Army. On a quest to find his place in the world, Johnny ends up part of the Cavalry, and an ensuing conflict with his former people leads to him coming face-to-face with the Cheyenne God, Owayodata. The wolf spirit grants him enhanced human capabilities and the name of the deceased warrior known as Red Wolf as part of his second chance at life. From there on, he wanders the West, alongside his furry companion Lobo, helping those in need and grappling with his own identity. A few more variations of this same concept have come to fruition in the decades since, but the next most important debuted in 2015’s Secret Wars event. In an alternate Marvel reality set in 1872, Red Wolf was portrayed as a member of the Cheyenne Nation, who teams with sheriff Steve Rogers to save a town known as Timely and the tribes of the surrounding area. This Red Wolf ultimately becomes sheriff before accidentally being transported forward in time to the modern 616 universes.
Why not the Classic Cowboy?
Why shouldn’t Marvel Studios adapt one of their countless cowboy protagonists from the 40s and 50s? They could make a show about Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, Outlaw Kid, Rawhide Kid, Western Kid, or even the Apache Kid, who was white despite his title. The answer is in their names: they’re all the same. It’s always the same, a guy on horseback that you’ve seen in every Western movie, video game, and television series since the inception of the Spaghetti Western. Quite frankly, a project about one of them would be boring and repetitive. Red Wolf incorporates diversity into your storytelling, which inherently breeds creativity and innovation. Having a Native character in the lead role also opens up a real-world chance for Native actors, actresses, directors, and writers to show the entertainment industry what they’re capable of. I can only think of a handful of Native peoples working in the industry. It’s easy for gatekeepers to claim this is because there aren’t many Indigenous folks with the right credentials, but it’s more than likely that major Hollywood studios just haven’t opened their doors to let them in. The talent is there, yet the opportunity is not. Marvel could take a step towards changing this with Red Wolf.
What would Red Wolf be about?
I propose that Marvel take inspiration from both the Johnny Wakely and Secret Wars versions of the character for a live-action adaptation. The story takes place in 1872, where a man rediscovers and embraces his culture after years of being an outsider. It allows the protagonist to double as an audience surrogate, as we learn alongside him about the Cheyenne people and the legend of the Red Wolf. It also creates an interesting internal battle for Johnny, who gets caught between two worlds. He could even become a man of the law, where writers get a chance to explore what policing means for a person of color during that era. The villain could be a character usually shown to be a good man in old-school dime novels, like Kid Colt or Kid Cassidy, the latter of which was revealed as a white supremacist in 2000’s Blaze of Glory. It would be a great way to highlight the mistreatment of Natives in history and the subsequent glorification of the white men who killed them. The Agent Carter series confirms that Kid Colt existed at one point in MCU’s history and was treated as a hero by modern-day media. Another intriguing villain option would be the Phantom Rider. Despite premiering as a hero, the character’s comic design lends itself to KKK allegories. The infamous sexual assault storyline with the time-traveling West Coast Avengers proved that the character’s morals are less-than-ideal.
Don’t Forget Kushala
Finally, it would be a waste to explore Marvel’s 1800s from a Native viewpoint and not include Kushala. A very recent addition to the Marvel pantheon, Kushala is an Apache woman known as the Demon Rider, who managed to become her time period’s Ghost Rider and Sorcerer Supreme at the same time. With one character, Marvel Studios could connect their Western project to the Doctor Strange franchise as well as their upcoming supernatural projects, like Blade and the rumored Ghost Rider reboot. A Red Wolf project could only benefit from her inclusion, and her similar origin of parents killed by the U.S. Army would make her a fitting co-star fighting alongside Red Wolf. It would offer a close insight into the mythology of the Apache. There is so much potential with this simple concept that it would be a shame not to explore it in a Disney+ series or film.
WandaVision is on everyone’s minds right now. Yet, we are only less than a month away from Marvel Studios’ next major Disney+ release, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. They’ve been busy releasing various TV spots to promote the show’s release while balancing various promotions for the one that is currently airing. A few days ago, we got a brief look at Wyatt Russell‘s Captain America, who seemed to be going through something. So far, the trailers have been very focused on the titular duo and keeping various secrets as they continue to promote it. They weren’t done yet as we got some brand new stills teasing the weight of the shield that Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson will face in the series.
The main focus of the series will be on Sam’s questioning of carrying on the title that was bestowed upon him. There is a good reason that the series is titled Falcon and not Captain America and the Winter Soldier. The first image is actually interesting, as it is the first time we see Sam try to pull it out of the tree. We got a lot of short snippets of him practicing, so either he underestimated his strength or Bucky was mean enough to throw it into the tree to prove a point.
There is a fun detail if you take a close look at Bucyk holding the gun in the final image. His real fingers are sticking out of the metal hand, so these images might not have been touched up yet. It’s crazy to think that we only have two more weeks of WandaVision to go before we near the next entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I cannot wait to see if they start exploring the vast history of the iconic Captain America shield.
As we continue with our previews for The Falcon And The Winter Soldier characters, one of the most compelling returns is that of Helmut Zemo. Daniel Brühl‘s Zemo only appeared in one film, though you can easily make an argument that he had a substantial impact on the MCU. This guy broke up the Avengers without laying a hand on any of them. Zemo is one of the few villains who successfully reached his end goal in a film. There’s something intrigue about his return, so let’s take a look at how Zemo got here.
Captain America: Civil War introduces us to Helmut Zemo. He is a former Colonel of the Sokovian Armed Forces and the leader of EKO Scorpion. After the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron left Sokovia in crumbles, Zemo sought revenge for his family’s death. Knowing that he couldn’t fight the Avengers head-on, he focused on destroying the team with other means. To achieve his goal, he started hunting down a mission report on December 16th, 1991. Zemo found a book that contains the phrases to control Bucky, which he took after interrogating a former HYDRA goon.
He was the mastermind that coordinated the bombing of the UN in Vienna, which led to King T’Chaka’s death. It was around the same time the Sokovia Accords were signed, so tensions were high. His plan involved framing Bucky behind the explosion, which would start an internal struggle between Iron Man and Captain America. It led to the eventual arrest of the former Winter Soldier and Steve Rogers by the CIA.
It becomes the perfect opportunity for Zemo to use the book on Bucky, who goes on a rampage. He then plants the seed of him heading out to activate other HYDRA super-soldiers, which is why the Avengers fight at the Berlin airport. He waits his time at the base until Rogers, Stark, and Bucky arrive. There, he reveals that his plan was never about the soldiers. He killed them long before they showed up. The file he was looking for was to show Stark the night his parents die.
Now that he managed to destroy the Avengers from the inside, as Iron Man, Captain America, and Bucky duke it out, he sits in the snow. T’Challa, who learned there is no point in taking revenge, confronts the former Sokovian soldier on his action as he plays with a gun. The moment he tried to end his life, T’Challa jumped in to make sure he can’t go through with it. The last we saw of him, he was in the same cell that Bucky was imprisoned in. We will see how he escaped and decided to don his mask once the show airs on March 19th on Disney+.
With only two episodes of WandaVision to go, reality has finally caught up with Wanda, in more ways than one. Yes, the show finally reached the present day this week, just in time for the excitement and allure of Westview to disappear and become a much more cynical place.
With a couple of exceptions, WandaVision has used its sitcom structure to effectively highlight and/or subvert the feel of whatever time period Westview happens to be experiencing during the current episode. Long gone are the carefree days of the 1950s, and even the difficult lessons of the 1980s are too sugar-coated for the town by “Breaking the Fourth Wall.” All of these eras have had their blissful bubbles burst by one incident or another, and now Wanda is ready to give up on this one before it even starts. She’s not going to bother attempting to maintain hope and optimism in her children, either. She just wants some time to forget about everything, and it’s even sadder to think about when you remember that this was her whole motivation behind creating Westview in the first place.
This cynical attitude isn’t the only modern sitcom trope present in this episode. The documentary style of television that was largely popularized by reality TV eventually made its mark on sitcoms like Modern Family and The Office with characters frequently breaking the fourth wall as if they’re speaking to an interviewer (the term “mockumentary” has been coined in reference to this) and there’s plenty of that to be found here. Even characters who are trapped in “real life” are somehow able to magically pop over to an interview location to speak to the audience this week, and of course this is eventually lampshaded before the episode is over. There’s even a point at which Vision simply looks into the “regular”, non-interview camera; also a common trope of the times.
The lack of lyrics – or even character shots – also fits in with modern-day sitcoms. But those disappointed by the final Anderson-Lopez theme tune being…uneventful were surprised when a theme song for a whole different side of the story capped off the episode.
After much fan speculation, “Agnes the Neighbor” was finally confirmed to be Agatha Harkness, a character lifted from Marvel Comics but considerably changed for WandaVision (most notably in that Agatha isn’t a villain in the comics). A montage of her evil deeds throughout the eras of Westview was accompanied by her very own theme song, which was very reminiscent of the one for The Munsters, a 1960’s sitcom about a family consisting of various types of monsters (not to be confused with The Addams Family, which ran during the exact same years and had nearly the same number of episodes).
“Breaking the Fourth Wall” was the last episode of WandaVision to focus on emulating a specific era of sitcoms, but as Agatha’s theme song demonstrated, that doesn’t necessarily mean all the references are done quite yet. This episode showed the magic maintaining Westview’s eras going haywire, and it’s very likely this will escalate as WandaVision hurdles toward its March 5 finale.
Much debate and speculation has been going on the past few weeks about the episode lengths of upcoming WandaVision shows, with people wondering when Disney+ might give us a significantly larger weekly bite of this marvelous magical apple. Well now that the “big bad” not-so-surprise reveal at the end of episode 7 has us on the edge of our seats and wanting even more answers, a Redditor who was right about last week’s running time has posted what they believe is the running time for the crucial episode 8. Plenty_Echidna_544 posted that the upcoming episode will be 47 minutes long.
As the redditor points out, they were indeed correct about last week’s episode runtime.
Marvel Studios has been busy working on the various Disney+ shows that are eyeing a release this year. So far, we only know that Falcon and the Winter Soldier will start next month before Loki takes over in May. Right now, Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel are currently filming as they prepare to release in late 2021. Especially Ms. Marvel has been filming for some time, they even had enough to showcase a small sizzle reel during Disney’s Investors Day last year. It gave us our first look at newcomer Iman Vellani in the titular role. Now that an additional casting has been revealed, it looks like their current plans will see the production head to Bangkok. In a recent Instagram posting, atlanta_filming mentioned in the comments that the series is going to be heading to the iconic city of Thailand next.
Our own sources back up the next shooting location, as they aim to wrap up its production in Atlanta next month. They would be heading to Bangkok shortly after, but it is unsure how it might be affected by the pandemic. Thailand may serve as the backdrop for a famous storyline from comics that took place in Badin, Pakistan. It is the hometown of Kareem, or better known as the hero Red Dagger. We know that Aramis Knight has joined the series in the role, so it could be how they introduce him. We have no details, so it is uncertain what they plan on shooting in the city, but it would be interesting to see the character explore her roots. It could also serve as a backdrop for some creative interior shots, so we’ll see once the show airs sometime later this year.
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