Tag: Marvel Movies

The Pulse: Collecting the Biggest News of the Week of December 5th-11th
Marvel Rumor Round-Up

As I said on Twitter, we have entered the Wild West age of Marvel Studios’ projects being spoiled. At this point, no spoiler is too big and multiple projects had big spoilers leaked this week. You can check them out here:
Cowboy Bebop Gets Whac-A-Mole’d At Netflix

Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the iconic sci-fi anime series, Cowboy Bebop, is dead after one season. Read our review before it becomes a collector’s item.

Michael, not Kenny, G. to score ‘Thor 4’

Michael Giacchino, who has scored at least a half dozen Pixar projects and a handful of Marvel Studios projects, including all the Spidey films, revealed he is now scoring Thor: Love and Thunder. Wait until you guys find out about his next project for Marvel! It’s a howling big deal.

Let There Be More Venom

Sideshow Amy Pascal confirmed this week, to literally nobody’s surprise, that the studio was developing a third Venom film. The two films have inexplicably built a huge fanbase and made a metric shit ton of money, so a third film, featuring Tom Holland, would probably somehow become the biggest money maker of all-time for Sony.

‘Wonder Woman 3’ Headed for a Potential 2024 Debut

WW director Patty Jenkins has been on, off, in and out of a lot of films recently. A new report from one of the trades indicates that she’s still on Wonder Woman 3 and that it’ll start production in 2023, making a 2024 release date a possibility.

Destin Daniel Cretton Signs a Ryan Coogler-esque Deal with Disney

Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton signed a new deal with Disney that will see him develop, among many other things, the Shang-Chi sequel and a Disney+ Shang-Chi spinoff.
December 11, 2021
Destin Daniel Cretton Updates Progess on ‘Shang-Chi’ Sequel

Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings became a critical and financial success for Marvel Studios during the ongoing pandemic. To no one’s surprise, a rumored sequel was officially given the green light recently, with Destin Daniel Cretton returning to write and direct. Cretton, who is also developing a Disney+ series that spins out of the events of the first film, recently gave an update on the Shang-Chi sequel in an interview with Collider.

As is often the case, it turns out that conversations that took place during the production of the first film ended up being the genesis of a potential sequel; however, as Cretton told Collider, sequels aren’t guaranteed until Marvel Studios’ execs see how the first project is received by fans:

While we were shooting, we were throwing around joke ideas of what a sequel could be. But with Marvel, it really is gauging to see how people react to the movie and also gauging what the experience of making the movie was. We had such a good time on it that it would’ve been a shame not to have a sequel, so I’m very excited to.

And Shang-Chi was incredibly well-received. Audiences lauded the acting, action and fantasy elements and were immediately hungry for more. That demand gives Cretton an opportunity to more fully develop some of those idea thrown around during production on the first film, ideas that, as it turns out, made their way into the first film as potential sequel set-ups:

There are a lot of ideas that we had in the opener, and some of those ideas are planted as questions, by the end of our movie. There are things that we potentially want to explore in the future. Everything changes so much, so it’s hard to say how many of those ideas will actually make it to the finish line, but there are many of them there.

With all that prep work having been done, it would seem that Cretton’s sequel script might be well underway. However, Cretton told Collider that is far from the truth. When asked about the work he’d done on the script, the writer/director had this to say:

I’ve done [zero]. It’s a fun place to be right now. Everything is a possibility. We’re just tossing very loose ideas around and we’ll start to hone in on something, hopefully.

During the interview, Cretton also expressed his excitement to be able to continue working with both Marvel Studios and the cast and crew of the first film. His new deal with the studio should excite fans of the first film as we can look forward to great content for years to come.

Source: Collider

December 11, 2021
RUMOR: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s to Feature the High Evolutionary as its Main Villain

After many delays, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the next entry in the Guardians of the Galaxy film. James Gunn’s final romp into the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s galaxy will feature our favorite ragtag team of space heroes. Even after all this time, it’s surprising how little we know about the actual project, but it turns out we might’ve gotten our first hint at the main antagonist.

KC Walsh, who is famous for his work on GWW and dropped the World War Hulk news, recently appeared on the Change My Mind podcast and seemingly revealed that the upcoming threequel will feature the High Revolutionary as its main antagonist. He highlights that he is “essentially the idea in the movie is that he’s gonna be the one who created Rocket,” which has been hinted at something that the film would explore. His full quote states that:

I did hear – this is a thing that’s been floating around – the villain of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 is the High Evolutionary.
KC Walsh

Exploring Rocket’s origin sounds like a promising direction for the franchise, as he’s also been the emotional core of some of the stories. Of course, we don’t know how it continues the story out of Thor: Love and Thunder where they’ll be featured and if they continue their hunt for Gamora from a different timeline. We still have some time until it releases but it’ll be interesting to see what the future has in store for the Guardians.

Source: YouTube via The Direct

December 11, 2021
First ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Merch Offers First Look at Natalie Portman’s Mighty Thor

Here’s a curious surprise, as it seems that the first piece of merchandise for Thor: Love and Thunder have found its way into stores early. It’s similar to how we learned about the Guardians of the Multiverse in What If…?. This time around, we got what looks like a poster for the upcoming Thor sequel which includes our first look at a new suit design for the God of Thunder and, most notably, our first look at Natalie Portman‘s Mighty Thor costume. @GodEmperorBoss was the lucky one to find the first look:

https://twitter.com/GodEmperorBoss/status/1469673883418521601?t=FmIKfXLTP2tuMs2l2Wp8pg&s=09

It’s unclear if this is simply a poster meant for merchandise purposes, as it would seem odd that the first poster for the film that isn’t going to release until July 8th is already available in stores. Plus, it does seem like a lot of it is based on the artwork. Still, Portman‘s Mighty Thor looks great and a lot of it seems strongly inspired by her comic run combined with Thor’s earlier costumes.

We also get a brand new design for the actual God of Thor, who’s wearing a nice combination of gold and blue armor. Korg is also given the spotlight with a new look and Valkyrie can be seen in the back riding a Pegasus wearing a similar armor design that thor normally uses. So, she’ll also get a new look that is fitting for the ruler of New Asgard. It’s exciting and crazy to think we see more of Love and Thunder than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is set to release in May.

Source: Twitter

December 11, 2021
REVIEW: ‘Spider-Man 3’ is a Tale of Underperformance

It is said that movies are actually made three times: when writing them, shooting them, and then finally in the editing bay. This process helps solidify what the movie is supposed to be about, striping the project of superfluous details, sequences, or even a couple of redundant plot threads. It works as a bullshit filter, making the final product more concise, streamlining the viewing experience. It’s basically everything a late-night, tequila-induced, fanboy fever dream of a movie pitch isn’t. In that situation, anything goes and there’s room for every single character we can think of, often creating an unbalanced Jenga tower of ideas piled up on top of each other with no real structure to them. All of it is coupled with a vampiresque type of humor, the sort that isn’t likely to survive daybreak. Sadly, that’s the sort of mess that Spider-Man 3 feels like.

Whereas Spider-Man 2 is a great (and sadly rare) example of how to further explore a world beyond an already well-received first movie, Spider-Man 3 feels like an over-filled balloon that blows up in the audiences’ face leaving them with a bad case of tinnitus. It brings so much to the table that you hardly get the time to value each of the separate elements, while also not being one of those cases where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Aristoteles would not be impressed

Right at the start of the movie you get the natural progression of Peter and MJ’s relationship as well as Harry’s deep dive into his father’s secret room containing prototypes of Green Goblin’s gear. These threads alone would make for a pretty solid story, building from the relationships explored in the previous movie. The build-up was priming Harry to finally turn into the main villain we all knew he could become. There was no need to bring any more (relevant) characters into the fold unless the aim wasn’t so much making a good movie as it was selling a few more toys.

And so, instead of looking inward, valuing what it already had, Spider-Man 3 looked outward and tried to bite off more than it could chew. In the first ten minutes alone, the movie tries to establish Flint Marko – our future Sandman – and brings the symbiote crashing down on Earth. Soon after we are also introduced to Eddie Brock and Gwen Stacy, characters that never went beyond being a parody of themselves, serving as glorified cameos that could have been easily kept for another occasion. Gwen’s inclusion is especially remarkable since, after all the relationship drama in the previous movies, the decision was to double-down on that by having not one but two love triangles for Peter to be a part of. All with him remaining completely oblivious of how his actions affected people around him, making him incredibly unlikable along the way.

This movie ultimately became a tale of people not being able to do what they set themselves up for. The studio execs couldn’t keep out of the way (their meddling was pretty obvious and only hurt the final product) and the writers couldn’t come up with a consistent story, having to balance an unusually high amount of characters, and subplots. Also … Peter Parker can’t dance, Mary Jane can’t sing, Eddie Brock can’t use Photoshop and Harry Osborn can’t make a freaking omelet!

Above all, Spider-Man 3 just isn’t a fun movie, albeit you can certainly have fun watching it. And that’s one of the only things a Spider-Man movie simply cannot afford to be: dull. But Spider-Man 3 does have one incredibly strong redeeming factor as Stan Lee‘s cameo is probably one of his best, if not the best. “You know, I guess one person can make a difference. ‘Nough said.” I’m extremely happy Kevin Feige got the hint.

December 10, 2021
Marvel Studios Confirms ‘Eternals’ Disney+ January Release

It looks like we finally have confirmation that Eternals will release on Disney+ early next year, as Marvel Studios took to Twitter to share a new poster confirming its release date. It’ll start streaming as of January 12th and bring the storyline of the Celestial-born creations to the streaming service. The release date was first hinted at a few weeks ago due to it following the new streaming deal that Disney made with theaters that closed the window on releases with a new 70-day window. The announcement comes alongside a slightly updated poster with the new Disney+ release.

Marvel Studios' #Eternals arrives to @DisneyPlus on January 12 ✨ pic.twitter.com/qpw4CGvHUZ
— Eternals (@TheEternals) December 10, 2021

The film has been performing quite well in the local box office and has even passed Black Widow, but that film did release during a very uncertain time and also gained quite a bit of traction through being one of the few simultaneous releases on Disney+ for the House of Mouse. It’ll be interesting to see if Eternals gets a second life on the streaming service, as we still have no idea if we’ll get a sequel or spinoff from the series. After Shang-Chi finally got a confirmation, we’ll see what the future holds for the Eternals and Celestials..

Source: Twitter

December 10, 2021
Tom Holland Hopes For Spider-Man to Clash With Wilson Fisk After ‘No Way Home’

Spider-Man: No Way Home finally releases next week. With numerous villains returning from previous Spider-Man franchises there has been a lot of discussion about future adventures for the webhead. Sony producer Amy Pascal has even suggested there is another trilogy starring Tom Holland in the works. Such a rich comic history means there are lots of suggestions out there about where this Peter Parker could go next. Vincent D’Onofrio recently revealed he’s hoping, if those returning rumors turn out to be true, his Wilson Fisk could go up against Spidey at some point in the future. Holland himself has even had a few similar ideas.

In an interview with Fandom.com Tom Holland was asked about some of his ideas for a fourth Spider-Man film could be. He mentions thinking it would be fun to do either an anti-hero version or a low-budget “film about Peter Parker that has nothing to do with Spider-Man.” Both of these suggestions seem in the realms of possibility somehow. His suggestions at a villain are also quite interesting:

I think there are some interesting villains, I think Madame Web could be something that is really interesting and we could do it in our own way. I’d really like to come up against Wilson Fisk.
Tom Holland

Sometimes fanciful ideas during the promotion of the previous film are worth taking note of to see whether they remerge as genuine continuations of the story. Spider-Man fighting the Kingpin would certainly be an exciting street-level story for Marvel fans. There are numerous rumors about Netflix Marvel characters joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Kevin Feige has teased that. It could be the perfect time for Spidey to reorient himself away from multiversal Avengers level threats back down tackling crime on street level.

Source: Fandom.com

December 10, 2021
Tom Holland Already Pitched a ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Sequel

Spider-Man: No Way Home is just around the corner and we’re about to see the webhead’s biggest story yet. He’s going to face villains from other Spider-Man franchises as the multiverse collapses in on itself. Yet, the question also remains with his identity out there where his story is heading to next. It seems that Tom Holland might have an idea, as he revealed in an interview with Fandom that he actually already pitched an idea for the next entry, but he can’t reveal it quite yet, as he’d “be ruining this movie.”

Tom Holland hints at a mysterious idea for his next #SpiderMan outing

'There is one idea that I have pitched to the studio but by telling you that idea I’d be ruining this movie' 👀 pic.twitter.com/37Q8xtXgoP
— Fandom (@getFANDOM) December 10, 2021

So, he’s definitely teasing something that builds off of the events from how No Way Home ends. He does highlight that he is open to passing the mantle on, but it doesn’t seem likely that the actor has played Spidey for the last time. Plus, there’s a lot of potential of seeing his story as he moves to college and faces a new world. We’ll see how Doctor Strange’s actions might leave the world and what it means for the webhead’s future. It wouldn’t be too surprising that he might take a break and play on his storyline from Homecoming, where he wants to stay low and remain the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Here’s hoping that a new trilogy – if they attempt it – might focus more on our favorite webhead as he struggles with some more grounded storylines.

Source: Twitter

December 10, 2021
First ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Clip Features ‘Hawkeye’ Easter Egg

It’s all connected. That line was once carried by Agents of SHIELD as it tried to connect the Marvel TV series with its bigger brother on the silver screen. Yet, no matter what happened, the films never acknowledged events from the TV series. Avengers: Endgame was the first with James D’Arcy’s return as Jarvis but it was most likely intended as nothing more than a cameo. With the arrival of the Disney+ series, it seemed like that would change and it seems Spider-Man: No Way Home is starting that new direction.

The first clip of the threequel has found its way online and includes a very noticeable Hawkeye reference while Peter is swinging MJ to safety. For a few seconds, you can see the newly introduced Rogers: The Musical ad highlighted as they swing by. It’s a great point of continuity that the musical has a strong presence in New York City and also hints that they may take place around the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYXIf8ggvK8

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Spidey is suddenly going to show up in Hawkeye – even if that would be a great little surprise – but it continues to highlight how connected Marvel Studios’ various projects are going to be. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will also be the first series where events from the Disney+ series WandaVision will bleed into the latest film entry and it’ll be interesting to see how they might connect moving forward.

Source: YouTube

December 10, 2021
REVIEW: ‘Spider-Man 2’ Remains the Definition of a Perfect Sequel

There aren’t many things that are fortunate enough to be described with what I like to call “GOAT status.” That list includes the likes of Michael Jordan, begrudgingly Tom Brady, Heath Ledger‘s Joker performance, and anything Denzel Washington-related. There’s one that I want to talk bout today that stood the test of time. For 17 years, the superhero movie to hold that very title for me is none other than Spider-Man 2. As we’re about to witness the return of some iconic faces in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s the perfect time to let you know why it’s garnered that prestige.

A couple of months ago, a debate popped up in my Twitter feed on who the best live-action Spider-Man was, especially in regard to the distinction between Parker and his alter-ego. For my money, Tobey‘s performance in Spider-Man 2 is the best rendition of a college-bound Peter, who also has garnered quite a bit of experience in crime-fighting. In the first Spider-Man film, he took the more awkward approach with the character. This time around, Maguire seems much more comfortable in bringing these two sides to life and it’s not an easy balance to capture.

This time around, he’s haunted by the life he can’t have with MJ, and you can feel that anguish throughout the film. It’s not just that, we also witness the struggle he has with his best friend slowly losing himself to his thirst for vengeance and their eventual falling out throughout the course of the film. Tobey truly sells that anguish throughout the film wheel still balancing it with the light-hearted aspects of the story and what it means to be Spider-Man.

Of course, we can’t talk Spider-Man 2 without discussing the performance of Alfred Molina as Doctor Otto Octavius. He is a legend, to say the least, and to have him in this role lends a certain gravitas to such an important character in the webhead’s mythology. Molina delivers a standout performance and really makes you sympathize with Otto, who’s driven to this point because he’s lost everything. All of it is gone within seconds, be it the woman he loved or all the work he’s invested his entire life for.

It’s a powerful journey throughout the film. Even more so once the moment comes that he can finally overpower the tech that was changing him. He finds the inner strength to take control once again and save Peter along with the rest of the city. It is a beautiful moment that really cemented him as more of an anti-hero than a straight-up villain. Even to this day, it is one of the strongest performances in a superhero movie.

Kirsten Dunst as MJ was panned 17 years ago, but after rewatching it I can’t seem to remember why. I think she is fine in the role, especially in how she sells it that is struggling to make it as an actress and wants a normal relationship with Peter. While the first in one painted her as unattainable for Parker – following high school clichés of the time – this one twists that in its axis by having it be that they can’t be together. It’s a nice twist and one that Dunst handles well throughout the film.

Seeing Dr. Octopus in live-action was visually incredible at the time and it still holds true to this day. The score is exceptional, especially when the citizens of New York City carry Spider-Man after he stops the runaway train. An iconic scene deserves iconic notes, and this one is delivered in spades. That’s just on top of a memorable villain, great performances by the leads, and a story as personal as the original catapults Spider-Man 2 into the upper echelon of superhero films.

December 9, 2021