Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Loki

  • Gugu Mbatha-Raw Reveals That ‘Loki’ Will Explore Ravonna Renslayer’s Origin

    Gugu Mbatha-Raw Reveals That ‘Loki’ Will Explore Ravonna Renslayer’s Origin

    It was revealed two months ago that Gugu Mbatha-Raw‘s character is actually Ravonna Renslayer. Now, the significance of this role is huge for comic fans, as she is the love interest of the one and only Kang the Conqueror. Now, we know that Jonathan Majors will play the character in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but his casting was already nine months ago. This led to a lot of speculation on him potentially appearing in an earlier storyline. The introduction of the Time Keepers and the Time Variance Authority in the upcoming Disney+ Loki made it seem like the perfect place for him to appear. In the show’s press junket, Mbatha-Raw revealed that the upcoming season will act as an origin story for the comic character.

    Well, luckily or unluckily for me, Kate explained to me that this was sort of more of an origin story for Ravonna Renslayer. You know, sort of predating some of the stuff in the comics. All that stuff is there, but theres also the opportunity to feel like starting with something fresh with the TVA that hadn’t been seen before by fans on screen.

    Interestingly enough, she also teases that there might be a bright future ahead for the character beyond Loki.

    There’s so much there, that I’m, you know, I feel like there’s plenty of potential for her in the future as well.

    Now, the implications are huge if you consider that this also means we might see her first meeting with Kang. In an earlier interview with Vanity Fair, he did hint that the series will also play around with romance in an interesting way. Perhaps we’ll get a star-crossed romance between Kang and Ravonna throughout the Disney+ series that builds up his character before he takes a darker turn once Quantumania releases 2023. Who knows if Loki might also be the reason why Kang becomes the Conqueror we all know him as from the comics.

    Source: Vanity Fair

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Loki’ Season 1 Will Be a Standalone Season

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Loki’ Season 1 Will Be a Standalone Season

    There has been one major rumor circling the Disney+ series Loki. Okay, there are quite a few but one of the standouts was the potential of it receiving a second season. Almost a year ago, there seemed to be rumblings of it happening, but we never got any confirmation. There was the report that head writer Michael Waldron signed up a deal with Disney that included his work on Kevin Feige‘s untitled Star Wars film. It also confirmed a reference to a potential second season. Charles Murphy got a chance to ask Waldron if he could say anything on the rumors, but he swiftly played coy on the fact but did tease that the upcoming season will tell a complete story.

    It was really always my hope and intention with this to tell a complete story with this season. Season 1 would stand on its own and, you know, is there more story to tell in the future? I don’t know, time will tell.

    There are a lot of hints that there is something happening and we hope to see a lot more TVA in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Waldron also teased the potential of a Secret Wars connection. So, even if they don’t move forward with Loki, there is always a chance that they explore another Variant of a popular Marvel character. There are a lot of creative ways to utilize this simple premise and continue building upon the TVA mythology we can expect from the upcoming series. Now that they are opening up the rest of the multiverse, it feels like there is no more limit to what stories they may tell.

  • EXCLUSIVE: There May Be A ‘Secret Wars’ Connection in ‘Loki’, Says Head Writer Michael Waldron

    EXCLUSIVE: There May Be A ‘Secret Wars’ Connection in ‘Loki’, Says Head Writer Michael Waldron

    It’s been a long break since the finale of Falcon and the Winter Soldier aired on Disney+. Now, we are just a few days away from the first episode of Marvel Studios’ next venture airs on the streaming platform with the return of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. The series will take place after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Our favorite team of heroes accidentally let a version of Loki escape his fate when he got his hands on the Tessaract. To keep the timeline safe, he gets captured by the Time Variance Authority and will journey off into a brand new adventure.

    Our very own Charles Murphy got a chance to sit down with head writer Michael Waldron to discuss the Disney+ show. Murphy asked if an animated sequence that details the TVA’s history, a previous “multiversal war” and the potential for altered timelines to create more multiversal conflicts might tease a connection to the famous Marvel storyline Secret Wars possibly being adapted for the MCU. Waldron had the following to say:

    We’ll see. You’ll probably know, as well as I do, not everything is just in there. If the purpose of that whole thing was to just indoctrinate the audience and everything. Yeah, we’ll see how this plays out in the MCU moving forward.

    Of course, he doesn’t outright confirm anything but the inclusion certainly seems intentional. Ever since Endgame was released, Secret Wars seemed like the perfect follow-up event. We’ve already witnessed Thanos snapping half the world out of existence and our heroes travel through time. So, the next major event would need to top even that and it seemed like a natural fit with all these multiversal stories that they would collide at one point. We cannot wait to see where the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is heading.

  • ‘Loki’: First Funko Pops Revealed for Marvel Studios’ Next Disney+ Series

    ‘Loki’: First Funko Pops Revealed for Marvel Studios’ Next Disney+ Series

    We are only two days away from Loki finally premiering and it seems that everyone is gearing up for it. Marvel Studios has been dropping quite a few featurettes and even the first few clips on their Twitter channel and now Entertainment Weekly unveiled the first Funko pops for the Disney+ series. They are only featuring our main two cast members Tom Hiddleston‘s Loki and Owen Wilson‘s Morbus. There aren’t any major reveals or hints in these images, but we do get a good look at Mobius’ weapon of choice that was briefly hinted at in the trailers.

     

    loki funko pops

     

    Entertainment Weekly also unveiled a variety of other new merchandise that includes some of the Miss Minutes merchandise that leaked some months ago. She is the TVA mascot and will have a prominent role throughout Loki’s journey with the inter-dimensional bureaucracy. The new show will also continue the tradition that a variety of Funko Pops will get released as the show goes through its six-episode run. We still know very little of what to expect from the series. So, it’ll be interesting to see what other Funkos are heading our way in the upcoming weeks.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly

  • Kevin Feige Teases the Importance of Disney+’s ‘Loki’ for the MCU’s Future

    Kevin Feige Teases the Importance of Disney+’s ‘Loki’ for the MCU’s Future

    Finally, the long wait is about to end as Marvel Studios’ next Disney+ series is about to premiere this Wednesday. Loki will introduce the world to the Time Variance Authority and the return of the beloved God of Mischief. We’ve all been wondering how the exploration of time travel may affect the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward and it looks like their next series will do exactly that. In an interview with Empire. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that Loki might be the most important of the series so far.

    It’s tremendously important. It perhaps will have more impact on the MCU than any of the shows thus far. What everybody thought about WandaVision, and was sort of true, and The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, which was sort of true, is even more sort of true for Loki.

    The introduction of the TVA is a considerable indicator that the multiverse is only truly opening up. There have been concerns about how these shows would affect the bigger picture and it seems that the upcoming series will do exactly that. Feige also hints at how Tom Hiddleston’s character will change throughout the six-episode run, as they want to use these series to let their characters grow in new and unexpected ways. So, here’s hoping we might see more of the trickster god in the future, especially with the uncertainty if he might return in a film as well. Of course, the introduction of Variants and the upcoming What If series could also be a good indicator that the MCU might tackle a lot of new perspectives from across the multiverse.

    Source: Empire

  • ‘Loki’s Michael Waldron Promises Air-Tight Time Travel Logic

    ‘Loki’s Michael Waldron Promises Air-Tight Time Travel Logic

    Avengers: Endgame changed the game in many ways. It ended an era of Marvel Studios’ storytelling and started a brand new one. Of course, there is also the fact that our favorite heroes uncovered a way to travel through time and influence past events. It even led to them messing with the timeline, as our favorite God of Mischief Loki managed to sneak away with the Tessaract after a failed heist attempt.

    Now, he gets his own spin-off series heading to Disney+ that will build on that newly introduced concept. The Time Variance Authority rules and protects the timelines that they screwed up and it seems they have a very different understanding of time in comparison to what we learned in the fourth Avengers film. Head writer Michael Waldron revealed that the TVA has a very different understanding of time travel that will be explored in the series and he also had to make sure there were no holes in his script.

    We wanted to create a time travel logic that was so air-tight it could sustain over six hours. There’s some time-travel sci-fi concepts here that I’m eager for my Rick and Morty colleagues to see.

    The statement is rather ironic if you consider that Rick and Morty openly avoids the topic of time travel. There have even been various episodes where they twist the concept on its head to reveal it was something that connected to alternative dimensions In a way, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is doing something similar, as we also got the tease of multiple Lokis appearing in the show. As he is also the writer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Waldron won’t get a break from breaking time and space anytime soon.

    Source: Vanity Fair

  • ‘Loki’ Head Writer Michael Waldron Teases Multiple Lokis for the Disney+ Show

    ‘Loki’ Head Writer Michael Waldron Teases Multiple Lokis for the Disney+ Show

    We are only a week away from the latest Marvel Studios show to hit Disney+. Loki will explore an alternative timeline version of who managed to flee his original fate through some time travel shenanigans from the Avengers. Of course, his existence throws the timeline for a loop and it forces the Time Variance Authority to step in. Now, the God of Mischief is forced to work alongside them to repair what he damaged. Leading up to the series premiere, there have been various rumors about other incarnations of Loki finding their way into the series. The trailer titling him as a Variant certainly added to that very theory.

    It seems that the show’s head writer Michael Waldron is having some fun teasing their potential inclusion in an interview with Vanity Fair. He doesn’t outright confirm it but finds a way to make it obvious that Tom Hiddleston might not be the only one to hold the mantle in the upcoming series, and how they might influence his journey throughout the various episodes.

    What being is more chaotic than Loki? What do you have to learn from any version of yourself?

    Vanity Fair goes on to discuss the comic origins of Kid Loki and Lady Loki. Especially the former is interesting, as some time ago it seemed like young actor Jack Veal may have nabbed the role of a prepubescent version of the Nordic god. We may get a clearer picture once the first episode premieres on June 9th. Hopefully, they won’t wait too long to give us a clearer picture of what trouble Loki will get into alongside TVA’s Morbius, especially if he will start talking to multiple incarnations of himself.

    Source: Vanity Fair

  • ‘Loki’ Head Writer Michael Waldron Teases ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Connection

    ‘Loki’ Head Writer Michael Waldron Teases ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Connection

    The Marvel Cinematic Universe has slowly changed throughout the years. Some stories were isolated while others would influence or have unforeseen consequences on the events of another. As Phase 4 starts to expand, we’re starting to notice that the stories being told are more interconnected than ever before. This appears to now have become the case with the release of Junes’ Disney+ show, Loki. According to Michael Waldron, the head writer for Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there could be a potential connection between the timeline shenanigans of both projects. In an interview with Total Film, Waldron teased the connection when discussing the Doctor Strange sequel:

    All of these stories, in their own way, are interconnected, and have ramifications. I think that certainly our aim with the Loki series was for it to have wide-reaching ramifications across the MCU moving forward. So, you know, was I having to clean up some of the messes that I made [with Loki]? Maybe so.

    In the past, we’ve theorized about how multiple projects could potentially tie into the coveted Multiverse of Madness besides the recent debut of WandaVision and the upcoming release of Spider-Man: No Way Home. With Loki delving into what occurs when variants alter the timeline and create branches into alternate realities, it seems as though the Sorceror Supreme could potentially have a lot on his plate by the time we reach the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness once it airs next year.

    Source: TotalFilm

  • How ‘Loki’s Variant Concept Opens the Door for Recast Characters to Return

    How ‘Loki’s Variant Concept Opens the Door for Recast Characters to Return

    Loki‘s latest trailer offered a closer glimpse into the newly introduced Time Variance Authority. After the Avengers played around with time, they gave the God of Mischief a chance to escape his fate that would’ve been Thor: The Dark World. Of course, the TVA wouldn’t allow it and Made sure he can’t do more damage by roaming free. We learn that this alternative version is called a Variant and uncover that there are potentially more out there. With rumors going around that multiple Lokis might appear in the series, which aren’t all played by Tom Hiddleston, and the addition of other Spider-Men in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it seems we will see many different interpretations of our favorite heroes soon. As such, Marvel Studios could explore its own history and bring back some familiar faces that got replaced as the series expanded.

    While Marvel Studios has been quite good with keeping its various characters consistent, there have been a few recasts throughout the years. The most notable one for the franchise was when Mark Ruffalo replaced Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. As production ramped up for Avengers, Norton‘s vision of the character didn’t mesh with Marvel Studios’ and they parted ways. It made many questions if that film was still considered canon until William Hurt‘s Thaddeus Ross returned in Captain America: Civil War. There are other cases of recastings in the franchise’s long history. Don Cheadle took over from Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2 while Zachary Levi replaced Josh Dallas‘s Fandral in Thor: The Dark World.

     

    Nicht düster genug: Edward Norton erklärt seinen Hulk-Ausstieg

     

    Now, with the introduction of Variants in Loki, it opens up a lot of new possibilities. Of course, there is the obvious option to also bring back the before-mentioned recasts, who could make an appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Strange may seek the help of the Hulk only to meet a completely different version of Banner, which gives us a brief cameo of Edward Norton returning as his interpretation of the character. They might even explore this aspect with the recent replacement of Cassie Lang, as Kathryn Newton took over the role from Emma Fuhrman in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Scott Lang can’t recognize the face of his daughter that becomes a catalyst for the events of the film, as he tries to get back the Cassie he knew and loved. Why stop there? How about they introduce Tom Cruise as an alternative version of Tony Stark to pay tribute to almost playing the character before it went to Robert Downey Jr. It opens up a new way to explore the ever-expanding universe as they face real-world limitations and give these actors one last shot at revisiting these old roles or what could’ve been.

    Source: CinemaBlend, ScreenRant, Geo

  • Marvel Studios’ Disney+ Approach Causes Industry Concern

    Marvel Studios’ Disney+ Approach Causes Industry Concern

    It looks like Marvel Studios’ current new direction with Disney+ is causing a stir again, as a report by Variety has revealed that many industry experts are wary of their new strategy. Usually, shows are produced by a showrunner, who pretty much organizes the production, directors, writers, and maps out the overall story. In Marvel’s case, these shows have a head writer but don’t actually include anyone with the title of showrunner. It has been openly communicated by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige but has somehow managed to fall under the radar until now. As Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s Kari Skogland put it, they are using “the features model.” That means that they are adapting their production methodology from filmmaking in their new long-form format rather than fully embracing classic television conventions. She had the following to say on the process:

    It’s a nuance, but it’s one that I think is being embraced more and more because the job honestly in these big, epic miniseries or shows is too big,” says Skogland, who’s also an executive producer. “I was in the writers’ room so that I could really absorb what was being said and be part of the process by floating ideas. As we were going through production, we would workshop scenes and then ask for rewrites on things. So [Malcolm Spellman] was still very much a part of the whole process, but it’s a slightly different mechanical way it comes down. Honestly, it’s very effective and efficient, because it’s just too much work for any one person.

    Marvel Studios is well-known in the industry for its unorthodox approach, which allowed them to establish 23 interconnected films. Of course, switching up the cinematic landscape and adding a new level of restrictions comes at a price, as peers will doubt its validity in making television. It brought back a discussion regarding the creative autonomy that showrunners usually hold and if this will lead to the studio losing talent. David Goodman, the president of Writers Guild of America West, has shown his concern for the model but highlights how unique Marvel Studios is as a case in the industry.

    If Marvel still wants to have its product be at the standard that people are coming to expect from it, they’re going to need good writers, and they’re going to have to invest those writers with responsibility. I stand in awe of what they’ve done at Marvel. Others have tried, and they haven’t succeeded

    Yet, there are some legitimate concerns about the approach. Kevin Feige and the companies’ future vision for the Marvel Cinematic Universe acts as the main showrunner connecting it. It is an environment that won’t interest every type of creative out there, which could lead to some strife, which we’ve seen back in the day with Edgar Wright. Though, it isn’t uncommon for industry experts to fear strong changes to the status quo. Its implementation may serve the MCU’s expansion and won’t become an ongoing standard, which also makes Marvel Studios a perfect jumping-on point for talent. It is the same environment that gave Malcolm Spellman the chance to expand into film with Captain America 4.

    Source: Variety