Tag: Disney Plus

  • Marvel Studios Productions Shut Down Indefinitely

    In anticipation of the continued spread of COVID-19, Marvel Studios has informed crew members via email that their current 4-week hiatus has been extended indefinitely. A copy of the email was shared with me and while I was asked not to share it in its entirety, I am able to share a few key points:

    1. All active Disney Plus productions, which include The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision and Loki, are now delayed indefinitely with crew members being informed they “no longer believe a 4-week suspension is realistic” and that they will restart production “when the global health environment allows.” It’s worth noting that these are the only productions detailed in the email which means that there are no crew members currently working on other projects.
    2. Crew members were notified that, as of April 3rd, they will no longer be employed on their particular project.
    3. It is assumed that this indefinite delay is also in effect for all films in production as well, meaning Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings will be further delayed as well. Its impact on the production timeline of Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness, Spider-Man 3 and Thor: Love and Thunder is unknown at this point.

    Given the uncertainty around the spread of the virus, speculation as to the duration of the extension is foolhardy; however, it is clear that, contrary to popular opinion, work on WandaVision has not yet been completed. Stay tuned to Murphy’s Multiverse for updates on this developing situation.

  • ‘Scarlet Witch’

    ‘Scarlet Witch’

    Premiere: TBD

    Ahead of the debut of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, rumors began to swirl that co-lead Elizabeth Olsen’s character, Wanda Maximoff, would be at the center of two upcoming projects: a Scarlet Witch solo project and an adaptation of Alan Heinberg’s Avengers: The Children’s Crusade.

    As it turns out, it sounds like the Scarlet Witch solo project, which would presumably follow Wanda following the harrowing events of the Strange sequel, will not only come first, but also possibly start filming in 2023, making a 2024 debut a distinct possibility. Whatever the case, it’s exciting to know there are still more chapters to Wanda’s story.

    Cast

    • Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch
  • ‘Shang-Chi 二’

    ‘Shang-Chi 二’

    Premiere: TBD

    The success of Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings made a sequel to the 2021 release a no-brainer, so it surprised nobody when, in December of 2021, Marvel Studios put it on the slate.

    Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed the first film, is returning to write and direct the next chapter, which is currently slated to go into production sometime in 2023. A rumor spread in September 2022 placed the movie’s release date in early 2025. With Cretton set to direct the next Avengers movie set for release in May of 2025 this would make the 2023 production start date make a bit more sense. It would mean that he could basically be then starting a close to two-year period in which he would be shooting back-to-back Marvel projects.

    In November 2023, Cretton left Avengers: The Kang Dynasty to begin work on Shang-Chi 2.

    Cast

    • Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
    • Awkwafina as Katy
  • Daredevil: Born Again Season 1

    Daredevil: Born Again Season 1

    Premiere: March 4, 2025

    Following his appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Charlie Cox is expected to appear in several MCU projects spread out over 2022 and 2023. She-Hulk, Echo and Armor Wars are all rumored to feature appearances by the Man Without Fear, but what fans of the character really want is another solo project.

    The good news is that a solo project was in the works and could have even started as soon as late 2022. Cox was thrilled to be back in the role and had some strong ideas about what to do with the character next, hoping for a more PG-version of the character.

    Although not officially confirmed by Marvel at the time, fans got the next best thing in May 2022 as a trade report broke the news on one of Hollywood’s worst-kept secrets: A Disney+ Daredevil series will indeed be going into production. Charlie Cox will reprise the titular role with Matt Corman and Chris Ord attached to write and executive produce.

    The series was officially announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 as Kevin Feige himself confirmed that The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen would be the focus of 18 streaming episodes under the new title Daredevil: Born Again.

    In late 2023, Corman and Ord left the project as part of a creative retooling. Shortly after, Dario Scardapane (The Punisher) came on board as showrunner along with the directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. On January 18, 2024, D’Onofrio revealed that the creative overhaul may have altered the original plan for 18 episodes, though he did not confirm a new episode count for the series.

    As production on the series resumed in January 2024, a trio of cast members from the Netflix series were added to the cast after the decision was made to tie Daredevil: Born Again directly to the events of the three seasons of Daredevil. Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll, who are set to reprise their respective roles as Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, and Wilson Bethel, who played Benjamin Pointdexter in Daredevil Season 3, were reported to have smaller supporting roles in the new series.

    Cast

    • Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil
    • Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin
    • Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / Punisher
    • Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page
    • Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson
    • Kamar de los Reyes as Hector Ayala/White Tiger
    • Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn
    • Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake
    • Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie
    • Wilson Bethel as Benjamin Pointdexter/Bullseye
    • Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk
    • Genneya Walton as BB Urich
    • Arty Froushan as Buck Cashman
    • Hunter Doohan actor as Muse
  • ‘The Ten Rings’

    ‘The Ten Rings’

    Premiere: TBD

    The continued story of the Ten Rings organization was teased in Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, so it wasn’t a complete surprise when, in December of 2021, a Disney Plus spinoff project from the film was announced. While it has not been confirmed by Marvel Studios, it is expected that the series, being developed by Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton, will focus on the Ten Rings, now under the command of Xialing.

    Cast

    • Meng’er Zhang as Xialing
  • Daredevil: Born Again Season 2

    Daredevil: Born Again Season 2

    Premiere: March 4, 2026

    During the Disney Entertainment Showcase at D23 2024, Daredevil: Born Again star Charlie Cox confirmed that a second season of the series was set to start production before the end of 2024.

    Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again kicked off in late February in New York City. On March 1st, Matthew Lillard was confirmed to join the cast and was later revealed to be portraying an international power player named Mister Charles.

    Krysten Ritter will return as Jessica Jones.

    Cast

    • Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk / Kingpin
    • Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle / Punisher
    • Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page
    • Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson
    • Matthew Lillard as Mister Charles
    • Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones
    • Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn
    • Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake
    • Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie
    • Wilson Bethel as Benjamin Pointdexter/Bullseye
    • Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk
    • Genneya Walton as BB Urich
    • Arty Froushan as Buck Cashman
    • Unknown actor as Muse
  • Marvel Studios ‘LOKI’ Confirmed to Feature the TVA’s Minutemen

    Though production on the series is currently delayed, we’ve still got an interesting piece of news. IMDB shows (and for those that doubt it, I can confirm its accuracy) that the Minutemen, essentially the police force of the TVA, will have a presence in Loki with Marvel Studios stunt guru Chris Brewster portraying one of them!

    Image result for marvel comics minutemen

    First appearing in Fantastic Four #352, the Minutemen are an armored corps of robots, clones and cyborgs used by the TVA to police the Timestream. Tasked with securing TVA headquarters and apprehending delinquents who are messing with timelines, the Minutemen have, on occasion, led by Justice Peace. For the purposes of Loki, you might be able to think of them as red shirts on an episode of Star Trek. As it stand now, Brewster will be joined by Isabelle Fretheim as Minutemen in Episode 2 of the series.

    Image

    Stay tuned to Murphy’s Multiverse for further coverage of Loki!

  • EXCLUSIVE: New ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Set Photos Tease a Big Project by Samson Development

    In December, I wrote a piece about how The Falcon and The Winter Soldier would explore some of the efforts to rebuild the world after the Blip. A big part of that rebuilding process seems to be the ever-present Samson Development Company whose motto, conveniently, is “Rebuilding Your City After the Blip.” While we don’t know what role Samson Development will have in the series (Will the company be in the background? Is it somehow related to Doctor Leonard Samson? Is the company somehow integral to the plot?), a new series of set photos from out friend @loburger indicates that as the series comes to a close, Samson Development is working on a pretty big project that could hint at something major coming down the road (it also could be hinting at nothing).

    @loburger recently went down to get a closer look at the area where our exclusive set videos were shot and got us not only a good look at the signage indicating a large undertaking by Samson Development, but also some information about the production timeline of the series as well. As you can see in the photos below, Samson Development is building a massive tower located on Broad Street.

    The identity of this mysterious new tower is sure to cause a stir. Could it be the Baxter Building? Possible, but unlikely as the Baxter Building is located at 42nd and Madison Ave. and very near the UN building. Oscorp? Again, possible but unlikely. As much as we’d love for it to be one of those great landmarks, at this point we do not have the evidence to support those ideas.

    In addition to the interesting new tower going up on Broad Street, a closer look at one of the set photos shows a curious logo that calls back to some graffiti seen in earlier set photos.

    Those set photos, which can be seen here, have fueled speculation of Captain America villain Flag-Smasher showing up in the series and this sticker might well be connected to the same perpetrators of that graffiti. While we have no context for why this logo is here or what to expect, it’s consistent with things we’ve seen before.

    A final note of interest: according to @loburger’s conversation with set security, it appears that The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which is now filming in the Czech Republic, is scheduled to return to Atlanta for additional filming “at the end of the month.” Hopefully we are able to gather some more photos then and continue to get an idea of what to expect from the series!

  • Wunmi Mosaku Joins the Cast of ‘LOKI’

    Actress Wunmi Mosaku has joined the cast of the upcoming Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Loki.

    Set photos of Mosaku, which can be seen at Just Jared, show her interacting with Sophia Di Martino who, depending on which speculation you subscribe to, is playing either Lady Loki or the Enchantress. While the role of Mosaku is yet to be determined, it appears that she is working with the Time Variance Authority, possibly as one of the Justices employed by the organization.

    Mosaku’s star has been on the rise as the 32-year old since winning a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress in 2017. She has since appeared in Season 5 of Luther and will lead Jordan Peele’s upcoming HBO series, Lovecraft Country.

  • Disney Plus European Launch Event Cancelled Amid Coronavirus Concerns

    Disney has cancelled its European Launch event, originally scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday of this week, in response to the rapid spread of the coronavirus through Europe. News of the cancellation came in a press release via THR:

    Due to a number of media attendee cancellations and increasing concerns at the prospect of traveling internationally at this time, we have decided to cancel our Disney+ launch events scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday.

    The 2 day event was set to feature a Thursday launch followed by a Friday press conference and several panel discussions (Star Wars and Marvel Studios almost certainly among them). Disney now plans to deliver the press briefing next week via webcast and promised to find other ways to make the talent expected at the event available to the press.

    Stay tuned to Murphy’s Multiverse as this story develops.