Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Marvel Movies

  • Benedict Cumberbatch Reveals When Doctor Strange Will Return

    Benedict Cumberbatch Reveals When Doctor Strange Will Return

    When last seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Doctor Stephen Strange hopped off to an undisclosed alternate universe with Charlize Theron‘s Clea with the promise that he’d return again. However, despite a third film in the franchise rumored to have been fast-tracked, there’s been no official announcement from Marvel Studios just yet, leaving fans wondering when they might see the Master of the Mystic Arts again. As it turns out, his next appearance may not be as far away as some might think.

    In an interview with Nick Hackworth, Benedict Cumberbatch revealed that plans are in place for him to step back into the role of Strange. After describing his next role as Pete Seeger in James Mangold‘s upcoming Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, Cumberbatch teased his return to the MCU.

    “After that [A Complete Unknown],the only thing I think I know for certain is there are some Marvel capers in the making next year,” revealed Cumberbatch. And while the actor went on to clarify that he knows very little about the plans–and given the current climate in Hollywood, it’s easy to believe him–a little Sherlockian deduction might lead to some possible explanations.

    Following Disney’s major reshuffling of their future slate of films, only two Marvel Studios films, Blade and Fantastic Four, are currently intended to release in 2025. Of those projects, only Fantastic Four is known to be scheduled to film in 2024 with Blade believed to be nearly ready to enter production as soon as the ongoing WGA strike comes to an end. Given Strange’s travels to Earth-838 make him one of only three MCU characters to have met that Earth’s version of Reed Richards, it isn’t too hard to imagine Strange interacting with the main continuity’s Mister Fantastic. Of course, that doesn’t take all other options off the table. There’s an Untitled Marvel film slated for February 13, 2026 which could potentially be either Doctor Strange 3 or another film in which Strange appears and it’s certainly worth pointing out that while Cumberbatch will be filming next year, he never indicated he was working on a film. With that in mind, it’s possible he’s joining any number of Disney Plus projects that are either known to be or rumored to be in the works. Unfortunately, with Marvel sitting out SDCC ’23, we’ll likely have to wait quite some time to find out what’s next for Strange.

    Source: YouTube

  • First ‘Venom 3’ Set Photos Reveal ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Connection

    First ‘Venom 3’ Set Photos Reveal ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Connection

    There have been some leaked images from the set of Venom 3 as production finally started, but it was hard to make out what exactly was happening in these scenes. Some theorized that Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock was wearing the same outfit that we saw in the post-credit sequence of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which brought the symbiote into the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    Now, Hardy has unveiled the first image from the set, which confirmed the connection. So, it seems safe to say that the film takes place directly after Brock’s return from the MCU in his original dimension. We still don’t know if this is the same universe where Morbius and the upcoming Kraven the Hunter film take place, but it means we’ll get to explore the fallout of these events. Who knows if it might even tease a potential multiversal storyline?

    We’ll have to wait a bit longer until we know how exactly it might tie into the events, but also if they will stick with whatever they are shooting. Who knows how much things will change once the WGA strike comes to an end and they are compensated as they should be? Of course, they may just be sticking to the first draft that was finished some time ago, but all that remains a mystery for some time moving forward.

    Source: Instagram

  • Anthony Mackie on the Pressure of Becoming Captain America and Sam’s Story Picks up in ‘Brave New World’

    Anthony Mackie on the Pressure of Becoming Captain America and Sam’s Story Picks up in ‘Brave New World’

    Before audiences decided they hated everything produced by Marvel Studios, they loved everything produced by Marvel Studios. From 2014 through 2019, the vast majority of MCU films were overwhelmingly well-received by critics and fans alike. Many of those films involved one of the shared universe’s most beloved characters, Steve Rogers, played by one of its most beloved talents in Chris Evans. At least for the time being, Evans has put the MCU behind him and, following the events of the Marvel Studios streaming series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, has been replaced as Captain America by Sam Wilson, portrayed by one of Hollywood’s most charismatic talents in Anthony Mackie. In 2024’s Captain America: Brave New World, Mackie will lead his first MCU feature film and become the first actor to take over an existing franchise as a legacy character and according to the actor, he’s feeling the pressure.

    “There’s a huge amount of pressure,” Mackie told Inverse. “You throw my dumb ass in the water, and you’re like, ‘Swim.’ I’m like, ‘Sh*t.’ But at the same time, it’s all in the state of mind. I’ve been given a great cast. I’ve been given a great group of people who I’ve worked with before.” That great group of people includes director Julius Onah and co-stars Danny Ramierez, Shira Haas and Harrison Ford, who Mackie said made him “so fucking nervous” on their first day working together that he couldn’t remember his lines. “He’s Harrison fucking Ford,” said Mackie. “There is this aura about him. But he dispels that really quickly because he’s such a cool guy. He’s everything a movie star should be,” explained Mackie before recounting Ford’s on-set demeanor. “He would say, ‘Let’s shoot this piece of shit.’ And everybody was like, ‘Yeah, let’s shoot this shit,” said Mackie.

    falcon and winter soldier vfx
    Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

    Despite picking up the shield that once belonged to Steve Rogers, Mackie is quick to explain that Sam Wilson is his own Cap. “It’s more so about his ability to connect and counsel,” Mackie says of Sam’s “superpower.” “He’s not as rash to bear arms as Steve Rogers was. Having a super serum makes you impossible to beat, so your answer to everything is to fight it out. Whereas Sam Wilson can actually die pretty easily. He realized that his ability is not to change the world with force; it’s about giving people the wherewithal and the recognition that they deserve so that they can make a change,” Mackie explained. “I can go around and beat up people all day; it won’t matter. Those people are going to come right back and do the same shit.” Despite not having superpowers, however, Mackie made one thing clear. “All the flying, CGI, and all that shit. That’s going to happen,” he assured.

    As of now, Mackie’s first film foray as Cap is slated for July 26th, 2024 and despite some fairly spoilery set photos making their way online, the plot of the film is still relatively unclear. Though he wouldn’t say much, Mackie did indicate that he and Ford worked together quite a bit on Brave New World. “We spent a good bit of time together. Ross and Cap have always had that relationship, where they were friends and they respected each other, but they always bumped heads. That’s their relationship in the storyline,” explained Mackie. With Ross set to become the President of the United States of America, it’s interesting to imagine what would cause him to bump heads with Captain America. As of now, fans will have to wait just over a year to find out.

    Source: Inverse

  • You Get a Captain Marvel, You Get a Captain Marvel…Samuel L. Jackson Reveals the MCU’s New Approach to the Shared Moniker

    You Get a Captain Marvel, You Get a Captain Marvel…Samuel L. Jackson Reveals the MCU’s New Approach to the Shared Moniker

    Across the decades, the House of Ideas has churned out multiple Captains Marvel. The Kree hero Mar-Vell, Monica Rambeau, Genis-Vell, Phyla-Vell, Noh-Varr, Carol Danvers and even a weird Skrull/Mar-Vell hybrid have all been known as Captain Marvel in the pages of Marvel Comics. The MCU has shown no interest in following the lineage laid out in those pages and has chosen instead to blaze its own trail, leapfrogging 5 Captains to get to Carol and revealing that on Earth-838, Maria Rambeau became Captain Marvel. Now it appears that much like the comics, the moniker of Captain Marvel is going to be shared by more than just those two characters.

    In an interview with Sway’s Universe, Secret Invasion star Samuel L. Jackson, whose Nick Fury is set to appear in November’s The Marvels, indicated that two more characters may be set to take shared ownership of the title of Captain Marvel. “After Secret Invasion, I’m moving on to The Marvels where you got like three different people who are Captain Marvel,” said Jackson. “You got Brie, you got a black Captain Marvel and you got a Muslim Captain Marvel,” continued the actor. Jackson is, of course, referring to Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani‘s Kamala Khan, both of whom will share the stage with Brie Larson‘s Carol Danvers in the upcoming film.

    This is certainly the first time we’ve heard of the possibility of these characters sharing the distinction of being called Captain Marvel but it does fall in line with the way the title has been treated in the comics. It also certainly doesn’t preclude any of the characters from having other superhero names as not too many characters have sported the title Captain Marvel for long in the comics. Marvel Studios The Marvels will hit theaters November 11th.

    Source: Sway’s Universe via The Direct

  • James Gunn Calls Out Recent Superhero Movies as “Really Lazy”

    James Gunn Calls Out Recent Superhero Movies as “Really Lazy”

    James Gunn is going to have his hands busy with saving DC’s brand in the views of cinemagoers. The last few years haven’t been kind and going by The Flash’s box office, it’s not looking better. Still, the CEO and director took his time in the Inside of You podcast to bad-mouth other superhero entries. He goes as far to say it’s not quite the issue with volume but more with them being “really lazy.”

    People have gotten really lazy with their superhero stories. And they have gotten to the place where, ‘Oh, it’s a superhero, let’s make a movie about it.’ And then, ‘Oh, let’s make a sequel, because the first one did pretty well,’ and they aren’t thinking about, ‘Why is this story special? What makes this story stand apart from other stories? What is the story at the heart of it all? Why is this character important? What makes this story different that it fills a need for people in theaters to go see?’

    James Gunn

    While one can definitely argue that some films hold up better than others, the question remains what he’s talking about exactly. Marvel’s recent releases were still strong box office performers and seemed to have a hold. The only time a superhero movie really fumbled was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania but this might be more of a comment on the DC Extended Universe. He mentions that “having very different genres” is a way to solve this which is pretty much how Marvel Studios handled the genre for many years.

    The Flash, Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and more have been showing a lack of interest in this particular brand. And, Gunn’s job moving forward is to ensure that isn’t the case. In the same interview, he goes on to highlight his approach to ensuring it’ll be “as good as it can possibly be.”

    We’re going to be very careful with the product that we put out and making sure everything is as good as it can possibly be.

    James Gunn

    That is a great statement and pretty much just echoes the overall quantity over a quality issue that people claim, but he also stated that The Flash was among the best films he’s seen in the genre. So, the question remains on why he wouldn’t go by that same rule with the latest release if this is a concern of his or is this a push towards what he’ll over with the DCU to be in contrast to the DCEU? We won’t know until Superman Legacy releases. Still, it seems a bit harsh for someone trying to push the genre forward to badmouth it at the same time.

    Source: Variety

  • [SPOILER] May Return in ‘The Marvels’

    [SPOILER] May Return in ‘The Marvels’

    The following article contains spoilers for the ending of the first episode of Secret Invasion. So only continue at your own risk.

    One of the biggest shocks in the pilot episode of Secret Invasion was the death of Maria Hill. Cobie Smulders was a mainstay since her first appearance in 2012’s Avengers. While she didn’t quite follow her comic counterparts’ growth into the leader of SHIELD, she still remained a constant throughout the franchise. It worked well to highlight the dangers Nick Fury is about to face.

    Even with how big the show was and how many set photos have found their way online from the production, the twist was kept a secret up until the show’s release. Smulders shares her surprise and looking back at what she believes was “a dream job.”

    There were a lot of people around, so I’m surprised that there wasn’t an image that got leaked. I guess that’s the respect that Marvel has earned over the last decade, which is like, ‘Don’t spoil it for people.’ And nobody did, thankfully.

    Cobie Smulders

    Interestingly enough, the article from The Hollywood Reporter claims that she is still set to return in the upcoming film The Marvels. What adds a bit of confusion to this twist. Of course, it opens the possibility that we’re going to see more Skrull twists in the series moving forward. Of course, it may just also be a hint that the film takes place earlier in the timeline tahn expected but we might not know until Disney+ releases.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter

  • Bad Bunny Hops Off Sony’s ‘El Muerto’

    Bad Bunny Hops Off Sony’s ‘El Muerto’

    The announcement by Sony that they were developing an El Muerto project fans sent the dozens of fans of their Spider-Man cinematic universe without a Spider-Man to Google to learn just who the masked man was. After analyzing the brief Wikipedia entry, everyone remained confused as to why the film was in development other than as a vehicle for multi-hyphenate star Bad Bunny. Sony hoped that BB’s reach would generate enough interest to carry the project. Now, shortly after the film was scratched from Sony’s slate, further bad news has dropped.

    According to Big Screen Leaks, Bad Bunny has chosen to leave El Muerto.

    https://twitter.com/bigscreenleaks/status/1672312018882142211?s=20

    As BSL explains it, Bad Bunny‘s desire to continue touring plus the delays caused by the ongoing WGA strike combined to drive the star away from the project. However, despite Sony initially developing the project because of Bad Bunny, they are apparently–for reasons none of us will ever be able to come to understand–looking to recast the role and keep the project alive! What a world! While it would seem best for everyone to let El Muerto die, Sony has often continued to choose the road much less traveled, sometimes even opting to travel roads that nobody really wants to go down…or even know exist.

    Source: OTN

  • DC Veteran to Compose ‘Kraven the Hunter’s Soundtrack

    DC Veteran to Compose ‘Kraven the Hunter’s Soundtrack

    Looks like Kraven the Hunter is in good hands. Well, depends on who you ask when it comes to the upcoming Sony spinoff film focused on the Spider-Man film. Still, there is some exciting news with the addition of Benjamin Wallfisch. The veteran composer has seemingly joined the production and will give Aaron Taylor-Johnson the right melody to hunt down his non-animal prey.

    What is interesting about Wallfisch is that he’s no stranger to superhero properties. He’s worked quite a bit with Andy Muschietti on The Flash, his two It films, and even was involved with 2019’s Shazam! though his best work might be Blade Runner 2049, which he worked on it alongside composing icon Hans Zimmer.

    It’ll be interesting to see what direction he takes the soundtrack for this film, as Wallsisch has quite an extensive background. So, they could go any way they want with it but it would seem fitting if they lean into the characters’ Russian background in their choice of melody. Though, it’s hard to say if director J.C. Chandor already went in with a rather specific vision.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Spider-Verse’ Threequel Unlikely to Release Next Year

    ‘Spider-Verse’ Threequel Unlikely to Release Next Year

    Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has opened to much acclaim and is quite a success at the box office. Many saw it as the perfect showcase of what animation and superhero movies are capable of, but a recent announcement has unveiled that things were a bit rough behind-the-scenes.

    In a new report by Vulture, a lot of details on how the crew is overworked were unveiled. Not just that, but they also made quite a point to highlight that Phil Lord was a big part of the production leading to many rewrites and changes even with an almost finished product.

    Yet, the question remained if Beyond the Spider-Verse was even far along, but one of the anonymous animators has pointed out that they aren’t far along enough to even hit the next year’s release that was originally set when the film was split into two parts.

    The only progress that’s been made on the third one is any exploration or tests that were done before the movie was split into two parts.

    It’s definitely realistic that the film won’t be available in 2024. At this point, we don’t know how long the wait might end up being, but here’s hoping that for future developments of the project they’ll take their animation staff into consideration and avoid the issues that are currently being reported.

    Source: Vulture

  • Animators Speak Out on Turbulent Production on ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’

    Animators Speak Out on Turbulent Production on ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’

    For some time now, people have used the Spider-Verse films as a showcase of what happens if you respect animators and those working don’t the project. It has commonly been used as a point of comparison between how major studios utilize their VFX houses for live-action adaptations. Yet, it seems that there was a lot more happening behind the scenes than one might’ve assumed initially.

    Supposedly, while Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse cost only $150M to produce, it seems like things were quite messy and costly in the long run. Multiple crew members, who range from artists to production executives, have come out to share what has happened across the many years working on the film in a new article by Vulture. And, it seems that it wasn’t pretty.

    Around 100 artists have supposedly had to “flee the movie” before it was finished, as they share that the film sprinted in the last three years. One of the reasons is seemingly due to one of its producers, Phil Lord of LEGO Movies fame, having a hard time conceptualizing 3-D animation and seemingly prefers to edit with fully rendered work. This means, they finished an entire project and then end up having to scrap big chunks of it due to this editing style. Usually, these kinds of stages happen early on in production, but it seems they pretty much had to change elements that were already finished.

    Subsequently, their backlog started to pile on as time went by. It’s no wonder the film was postponed by more than a year from its initial April 2022 release. At the time, it was “pandemic-related delays” but it seems there’s more to that after all. Seems that Phil Lord’s partner, Christopher Miller was surprisingly absent throughout most of the production. Lord seemingly overshadowed even the trio of directors involved with the project.

    Of course, Sony executives have disputed the claim with producer Amy Pascal pointing out that “over a thousand” were involved and losing 100 isn’t too surprising. Though she did confirm that the project went through various major overhauls when it came to its visuals and narrative. Going as far as executive Vice President of Sony Pictures Imageworks, Michelle Grady, stating “It really does happen on every film,” which casts a darker shadow over their other work especially with Pascal’s stating: “Welcome to making a movie.”

    Though, it should be pointed out that one stated it was a harsh experience but one that is “extraordinarily rewarding” it’s still not a good sign that what VFX and gaming industries are going through also affects animation. We’ll have to see if the WGA strike might be a big milestone to push for better experiences of employees in these creative environments but it also is a sign not to point the finger at a single scapegoat and take a look at the bigger picture.

    Source: Vulture