Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Marvel Cinematic Universe

  • Sorting Through ‘WANDAVISION’ and ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Conflicting Updates

    Sorting Through ‘WANDAVISION’ and ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Conflicting Updates

    Well it’s certainly been a befuddling couple of days for fans of the MCU, and in particular for those looking forward to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision. While its finally been revealed that FaTWS will NOT make an August release date, as expected considering the state of… well, everything; there has been continued confusion basically all day about whether or not WandaVision will be pushed back as well. I will do my best to sort it out for you below. But if you want the quick answer, it is plainly, I dont know. No one really does at this point in time. In all likelihood, not even Disney Plus or Marvel do.

    That being said, if you want to read the long answer where I sort through the several conflicting reports to try to clarify things on this front, and then give my at least somewhat educated OPINION of what might happen, then continue on.

    First and foremost, no, I’m sorry to say, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is not going to make the previously announced August 2020 release window. This was completely expected due to the pandemic shutting down filming and continued troubles with that, paired with the series having several weeks left to film at least (expect it to be longer with the current guidelines). However, if they are able to complete filming even as late as by end of September, maybe even October, that should still allow for a late 2020 release for that series. Chances are the studio is working out how and where to do that already.

    Thursday, The Laughing Place reported, not surprisingly, that The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was not on a list of titles sent to the media for the Disney Plus streaming service for August. This was despite Disney Chairman Bob Iger himself announcing a few months ago during an earnings call that FaTWS would stream in August, WandaVision in December, and Loki in 2021.

    Early Friday afternoon, a post by Deadline reporting on the delay news about The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, stated at first that WandaVision was “on track for a previously set October premiere date.” This was seemingly confused by the writer with the second season of The Mandalorian. They have since corrected the article to say “WandaVision remains on track for a 2020 premiere date” instead. So still probably streaming in December 2020, right? Well, hold off those party plans for a moment Wanda stans…and read on.

    A bit later, an Entertainment Weekly article came up talking about The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s delay, stated: “A source close to the situation confirms to EW that the premiere has indeed been delayed due to the global pandemic. If all goes well, a new premiere will be announced soon.” Note the “if all goes well” part there. Yeah, that’s a pretty big IF right now unfortunately. And I’m not exactly sure how they’re defining the word “soon” because we are certainly months away from seeing if “all goes well” with the series finishing up their filming. In other words, don’t expected a new release date announced too “soon,” and even then, everything is very very “wait and see” for all these series until they finish all the filming. Their only mention of WandaVision, by the way, was about the Bob Iger comment I mentioned earlier here. It was to air in December 2020, straight from the horse’s… um… mouse’s…uh…big time guy at Disney’s mouth. (Hold up. Keep reading Wanda stans…)

    Then late afternoon The Hollywood Reporter posted an article about Hawkeye being the first Disney Plus Marvel series to have multiple directors (Rhys Thomas, Amber Finlayson, and Katie Ellwood), which threw a monkeywrench into all our WandaVision hopes and dreams.

    Hawkeye is part of the first wave of Marvel shows that was due to hit Disney+ starting in fall 2020. The first show was to have been The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but the series has been delayed to the coronavirus pandemic affecting production. Other shows include WandaVision (spring 2021, if things go as planned), Loki (also spring 2021),then Hawkeye. All will see the silver screen thespians toplining the series.

    So now if that’s correct and up to date, we seem to be back to the original plan when the shows were announced last year, WandaVision and Loki in 2021. Or are we? Or is it simply the reporter guessing and/or going by old information about the release dates? The fact that he says Loki in Spring 2021 makes me think the latter. The reason being, Loki has kind of a lot left to film, especially compared with the other two. And again, we’re in the middle of a pandemic which complicates everything, including making filming take longer from what I understand. What I’m saying is, I’m rather skeptical that Loki is going to make a Spring 2021 release. I could be wrong, but I suspect late Summer or Fall is much more likely for the God of Mischief to appear again.

    As for WandaVision, and again this is my OPINION, and I could be totally wrong, and I could see something that makes me change my mind next week or month or whatever… However my opinion is that WandaVision will likely be pushed back to early Spring, (or maybe late Winter okay? Don’t hurt me.)

    The reason I think this is for one thing, while I’m sure Disney Plus is desperate for new content for their subscribers, they also are going to want to be smart and space out their releases a bit. This way subscribers have a continued feed of new stuff, not just one giant but delicious Marvely chunk and then nothing for months and months because they can’t be completely sure when they can get anything else filmed right now.

    Secondly, as we all know, Marvel likes to link their films, and these Disney series are also going to be linked both to the films and to each other. The order of things was in place for a while now: Black Widow, then Falcon and the Winter Soldier, then The Eternals, then WandaVision, etc… Assuming they want to keep that order in tact, due to connectivity, then WandaVision should air some time after The Eternals, and Falcon and The Winter Soldier after Black Widow... Do I know for sure that there are connections between all of these films and series? No. As I stated at the beginning, this part is my at least somewhat educated opinion.

    And lastly with the shifting back of release dates for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to March 2022, and the fact that WandaVision will definitely influence what happens in that film, they may not want to air WandaVision that far ahead of that film. Better to keep the events of WandaVision fresh in the audience’s mind for that.

    I hope I’ve helped clear up some of the confusion of the day for you, I did my best to, even if it’s not something some of you want to hear. Let’s just all of us wear masks for a while longer and then hopefully we can still get our beloved Marvel stuff this year, okay?

    Correction: One day later the Hollywood Reporter writer put out a correction on his Twitter @boris_kit: “I’ve made a correction to the article saying WandaVision is due to come out in 2020. Thanks to the Brandons for keeping me on my toes.”

  • ‘ANT-MAN 3’ Production Update

    ‘ANT-MAN 3’ Production Update

    I initially struggled with whether or not to share this information given the current uncertainty surrounding productions, especially here in the U.S.; however, in sharing it might clear up some confusion, so here it is: as of now, Ant-Man 3 has been rescheduled to begin production in June of 2021 in Atlanta.

    Emma Fuhrmann on Twitter: "Part of the journey is the end ...

    At the moment it’s really hard to predict what will happen with film and TV production in the coming months, much less all the way into next Summer, so I certainly wouldn’t start etching this one in stone any time soon but it is worth noting for one reason: when Marvel Studios reshuffled their release lineup earlier this year, fans were surprised, if not disappointed, that Ant-Man 3 wasn’t included on the slate. Captain Marvel 2 got a date and Ant-Man star Michael Douglas had teased that some Ant-Man 3 news would arrive, so what happened to Ant-Man 3?

    Fans in some circles came to believe the film had been outright canceled, which was never the case. The reality is that the film, which was supposed to begin filming in January or February of 2021 was a victim of the uncertainty of the production slate due to COVID-19. With so many films moving to 2022 and a backlog of projects to film both in the U.S. and abroad, the studio was willing to give the film some room to breathe, especially with a new writer on board and, from what I’ve heard consistently, big plans for the film.

    And so here we are. Certainly the team at Marvel Studios knows that anything production related is going to be touch and go for quite a while; it’s my belief that this is why they’ve remained so quiet over the past couple of months. That said, Ant-Man 3 has not been canceled and is absolutely still in the plans. If, by some miracle, everything stays on track and long term shut downs are avoided, we could see Ant-Man 3 in theaters late 2022 or early 2023!

  • ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Set To Complete Production This Fall

    ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Set To Complete Production This Fall

    Yesterday finally mixed in some good news among the current round of doom and gloom as we learned that the Czech Republic was offering film crews an exemption to the current EU travel ban. This exemption provides an opportunity for Marvel Studios to complete filming on their Disney Plus streaming series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and, according to a new trade report, the studio plans to do just that. The report indicates that the studio is currently preparing to head back to Prague, where production was taking place before the pandemic shut things down, for a 9 day shoot this Fall!

    While the details of the shoot, including a targeted start date, haven’t been made available at this time we can revisit some old speculation (found here) about some locations Marvel Studios had staked out that could serve as either Zemo’s ancestral home or a base of operations for his schemes going forward.

    Despite there being quite a bit we don’t know, we can certainly all agree that yesterday’s good news seems to have gotten a little better and we might be able to hold on to hope that we could see The Falcon and The Winter Soldier streaming in 2020.

     

  • Good News For ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’

    Good News For ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’

    As fans grow more and more desperate for new content, the continued rise in the number of U.S. COVID-19 cases makes the prospects of stateside productions dubious at best. Complicating the matter even further, the European Union officially announced that, as of July 1st, travel from the United States will be banned, putting an apparent damper on the hopes of Marvel Studios finishing production of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which was filming in Prague before being shutdown at the onset of the pandemic. However, a little Hollywood magic seems like it might just save the day as the Czech Republic determined that U.S. film crews will be exempt from the travel ban, providing hope that we might see Sam and Bucky on Disney Plus sooner rather than later!

    Love Sam, but I thought it was wierd that old Steve hardly ...

    According to a trade report, the Czech Film Commission reached out to Hollywood execs ahead of the EU travel ban assuring them that filmmakers are still welcome there and outlining a process that would ensure a smooth border crossing for the cast and crew. Obviously this is fantastic news as Marvel Studios tries to put the finishing touches on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which was originally scheduled to stream in August before delays put that debut in jeopardy.

    As reported here, Marvel Studios was believed to be in negotiations to return to the Czech Republic to complete filming sometime later this Summer; this travel exemption should ensure the success of those negotiations, allow for filming to be completed and, if things go all sorts of Goldilocks just right, keep hopes alive that 2020 won’t be a total wash!

  • ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’ Production Still on Track for September

    ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’ Production Still on Track for September

    According to a production grid cited by ComicBook.com, Sony and Marvel Studios are still targeting a September start of production for Spider-Man 3. This information, of course, corroborates information shared here 3 weeks ago. The grid also indicates that producers still hope to film in Atlanta, New York City, Los Angeles and Iceland (seen below), though we’ll see how that goes as the COVID-19 pandemic surges across American cities including L.A.

    Movies filmed in Iceland and their Locations! - Wake Up Reykjavík

    While we are all weary of a lack of news and hungry for Marvel Studios content, it’s becoming harder to imagine that projects which have yet to begin filming, like Spider-Man 3, will be able to make a clean run through production without experiencing COVID-related delays or even shutdowns, especially if the studio truly has any hopes of moving the production to several locations.

    Additionally, as I reported a few weeks back, star Tom Holland also has to complete filming on another of Sony’s major projects, Uncharted, before beginning work on the Spidey sequel, so should that production undergo any delays, it will only further complicate the process of beginning work on Spidey. It’s not all bad news, however, because if Sony is intent on beginning work on the project soon, the possibility exists that we might start to get some information about additional cast members joining the film and, potentially, some insight into what we can expect. Stay tuned as this develops, but don’t open the caviar…

  • ‘WANDAVISION’ To Have More Than 6 Episodes

    ‘WANDAVISION’ To Have More Than 6 Episodes

    Since Kevin Feige revealed Marvel Studios upcoming Disney Plus slate at SDCC ’19, fans have prepped themselves for 6-8 episodes of streaming goodness. In the case of WandaVision, it’s been the belief of fans that the show would be a 6 episode event set to change the Marvel Cinematic Universe; however, according to some new evidence, it looks like we might be in for at least NINE episodes of the show.

    If you’ve been following me a while you probably figured out that sometimes I get bored, and when I get bored I go internet hunting for interesting comic book movie stuff to share with you all. Lately, with filming on hold currently, the hunt for Marvel movie or series news and tidbits is often a total bust. But occasionally I find some interesting reveals. This is a potentially great one for Wanda Maximoff and the Vision fans.

    Last night I came across the resume for a stuntperson in the WandaVision series, and in it I found this…

     

     

    I’m protecting the source a bit here, but trust me this is definitely a person who has worked on WandaVision, and I sincerely doubt they made a mistake in their resume listening. Possible, but I doubt it.

    As you can see, the stunt person is listed for”WandaVision Ep. 109.” It’s standard procedure for the numbering system to show the season number first (1) and the episode second (09), meaning this actor worked on episode 9 of WandaVision!

    There have been indications that Loki should have a second season, and we know that at one point there was planned to be a continuation of Sam and Bucky’s adventures on Disney plus, yet we’ve heard no word on that for WandaVision so far. Of course we don’t know how long to expect each episode to be, so we can’t expect 9 or more hour long episodes yet, but the possibility of an extended season is great news for fans thirsting for anything MCU related.

  • RUMOR: Alpha Flight Bound for the MCU

    RUMOR: Alpha Flight Bound for the MCU

    According to a Caleb Williams of Knight Edge Media, Marvel Studios is keen on introducing Alpha Flight to the MCU. Normally one tweet wouldn’t get me to turn on my laptop and type up a story, but this tweet resonates with some things I’ve heard and discussed on the podcast in the past.

    Created by John Byrne and first appearing in 1979’s Uncanny X-Men #120, Alpha Flight is a Canadian super team that plays a key role in the the long history of Wolverine; in fact, their first appearance saw their team leader, Vindicator, who first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #109 where he failed in his solo effort to bring the Canucklehead back into the fold, lead his team in to atone for his failure. The original team, which included Sasquatch, Shaman, twins Northstar and Aurora and Snowbird under the command of Vindicator-characters Byrne had developed long before his tenure at Marvel-were chosen to provide the X-Men with a real challenge. In 1983, Byrne wrote a solo Alpha Flight series that introduced one of the team’s most beloved members, Eugene Judd, aka Puck. Recently Puck lead a different version of Alpha Flight into space working alongside Carol Danvers before the original team returned just this past Fall.

    This rumor is incredibly interesting to me because, as Charles Villanueva and I have talked about on the podcast several times, it lines up with some information I heard quite some time ago, so while I am in no way confirming this, it’s definitely something I will keep an eye on because one of my most trusted sources told me that Alpha Flight was a property that Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, believed to have great potential. This information was from a time before Disney Plus was a factor, so I have no idea what the plans might be, but if we speculate a bit, you can see there are a lot of options.

    Obviously, everyone will eagerly focus on Wolverine’s past with the team as they eagerly anticipate the MCU version of Logan, but there are more options here than him. In Avengers: Endgame, Hulk mentions that part of the process of him merging his two personalities was spending some time in his “gamma lab” during the 5 year hiatus; I’m curious to see if Dr. Walter Langkowski, aka Sasquatch, might have been a part of his team or if, like in the comics, he was doing his own work on the Hulk’s experiment. Either way, Sasquatch, who played an interesting role in Al Ewing‘s The Immortal Hulk, brings another gamma related character into the mix in addition to She-Hulk.

    Sasquatch 'Dies' in Immortal Hulk #4 -- And Then Things Get ...

    Mutant twins Northstar and Aurora are more than just copies of the Maximoff twins. Jean-Paul Beaubier is the first major Marvel character to be openly gay and his sister, Jeanne-Marie, has struggled with dissociative identity disorder throughout her years in the comics. Michael Twoyoungmen, aka Shaman, is a powerful First Nations mystic who has taken some harrowing journeys throughout the years and aided in the birth of Snowbird, a demigod and daughter of the Inuit goddess Nelvanna. As Marvel Studios continues to make their films more representative of the world, you can see how Alpha Flight provides a great opportunity to diversify their character lineup.

    Again, this is all speculation based off a single tweet, so temper your expectations and be cautious and careful in how you spread the news. I am NOT confirming the rumor, only sharing that I heard 2 years or so ago that Feige saw great promise in the group and speculating on how they might fit in. For all we know, it might not even be the original team and, instead, the tweet is about the version that served with Captain Marvel. As always, time will tell.

     

     

  • Kathryn Hahn Hoping To Resume Work on ‘WANDAVISION’ Soon

    Kathryn Hahn Hoping To Resume Work on ‘WANDAVISION’ Soon

    Kathryn Hahn, who is cast as a key but mysterious character in WandaVision, (more than likely the witch Agatha Harkness), was interviewed on The Playlist podcast today and dropped a few tidbits about the series.

    For starters, she has confirmed that she has a bit more to film, and The Playlist reports that she’s hoping to resume filming this summer.

    “I’ve got a little bit left on WandaVision.”

    When asked what it’s like joining the “Marvel machine” she said:

    “It is another like surreal awesome swing into another genre… but so fun…so fun…”

    “I wish I could tell you a thing about it, but I can’t, or I would just disappear from this Zoombox.”

    She was also asked about how crazy WandaVision looks, she replied:

    “It’s gonna be fabulous, yeah. I can’t say anything else!!”

    You can listen the full interview on The Playlist podcast here.

  • ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ May Still Stream in 2020

    ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ May Still Stream in 2020

    I’m not one to shy away from sharing good encouraging news about the MCU, and this bit is far from official word, but nonetheless certainly a good sign for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

    See below an Instagram post supporting #BlackLivesMatter by Anthony Mackie’s personal makeup artist on FaTWS Latoya Henderson (filmartist_toya).

    “We’re getting a Black Captain America this year.” This is, I stress, not official word the show will definitely still stream in 2020. They still have significant work to complete, however one assumes Latoya might know a thing or two on the subject, and spoken to the man himself about it maybe, so this is definitely an encouraging sign that we will see Sam and Bucky in the series this year!

    Our most recent rumblings from sources both public and anonymous point to The Falcon and Winter Soldier resuming filming in Atlanta in late July and currently negotiating to return to Prague, probably in August. Charles Murphy recently indicated on his Twitter that should the series complete filming by the end of September, they should still make a 2020 streaming on Disney plus. Fingers crossed this is the case.

  • ‘Wonder Man’

    ‘Wonder Man’

    Premiere: December 2025

    A June 2022 trade report announced that a Wonder Man Disney+ series was in development over at Marvel Studios with Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang–Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) as executive producer and Andrew Guest (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Community) serving as head writer.

    Little else is known about the project besides the fact that it’s seemingly looking at a 2023 production start, possibly hinting at a 2024 release. Considering both the subject matter, and the team Marvel Studios is gathering to develop the project, it would perhaps be fair to expect a show with a lighter tone similar to She-Hulk‘s, with similar episode lengths and numbers.

    Following persistent rumors in mid-October, Yaha Abdul-Mateen was finally confirmed as being the MCU’s Wonder Man through a trade report later that same month. Production on the project kicked off in 2023 but was delayed due to the WGA strike. Following some time to reframe the project, production restarted in January 2024.

    The Marvel Television series will debut on Disney Plus in December 2025.

    Cast

    • Yaha Abdul-Mateen as Simon Williams / Wonder Man
    • Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery
    • Demetrius Grosse as Eric Williams/Grim Reaper
    • Ed Harris as Neal Saroyan
    • Lauren Glazier as a to-be-confirmed character