A big win for Marvel Studios, as they have seemingly cast Minari and Nope star Steven Yeun in a secret role for the upcoming Thunderbolts film. Not just that, but it seems he’s joined a major role that’ll make him a major player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward. There’s no word on who he might be playing, but there are enough rumors making the rounds that could hint at whoever he’ll be playing.
Either way, he’ll have a major role in Thunderbolts opposite Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. While it’s not quite an Avengers movie, it is still set as their first major crossover film that could become their next Guardians of the Galaxy-like team film that continues opposite of the main Avengers line-up.
There are already going to be quite a few theories on who the actor might be playing, ranging from Amadeus Cho to the rumored Sentry. The actor has been on quite the career-high since leaving The Walking Dead with starring roles in A24’s Minari, Jordan Peele‘s sci-fi thriller Nope, and even voicing Invincible in the Amazon series. He also has a Netflix series on the way with Beef and also is working on Bong Joon Ho‘s Mickey 17. So, the actor is at the perfect point to also add a major blockbuster tentpole franchise to his filmography.
Though it is now clear that Marvel Studios has pulled back significantly on the number of projects it will release–and thus put into production– each year, they company is still in the middle of its new multiphase saga and is still pushing ahead with that saga’s shared narrative. While the entire slate of the Multiverse Saga hasn’t been shared yet, two big event films are on it. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars are both currently in development with the latter currently set to be the final installment of the Multiverse Saga.
That doesn’t mean the former won’t have an important role; in fact, it looks like it will be the first time fans see the new iteration of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as they assemble to take on a Kang or two…or three. Several rumors have emerged about just which heroes might make up the New Avengers, including one that suggested Sam Wilson, Shuri and Shang-Chi were set to lead the team. Recently, Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man was unsurprisingly rumored to play a key role in the film. Now a new rumor has emerged on YouTube that might reveal some other members of the team.
The new rumor indicates that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty director Destin Daniel Cretton has been keen on having Hulk, She-Hulk and Moon Knight as part of the lineup of the New Avengers. Additionally, Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, would like Charlie Cox‘s Daredevil to join the lineup, though he may be willing to wait until Avengers: Secret Wars to have him earn his spot.
A lineup of Captain America, Black Panther, Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, Spider-Man and not one but two Hulks would certainly provide a team with quite a wide range of experiences and abilities. Hulk’s time travel expertise may prove valuable in the fight against Kang(s) but it’s likely that whatever team goes up against Jonathan Majors‘ team of villains won’t come away unscathed.
As Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania join it as the most harshly reviewed film in Marvel Studios’ history, a new report indicates that 2021’s Eternals will have a sequel. Though the critical response to the film was poor and audience scores didn’t indicate it was a big hit with fans in theaters, it has found a new life on Disney Plus becoming the streaming service’s biggest film debut. It now seems possible that the streaming success of Eternals may have given the franchise new life.
According to insider KC Walsh, an Eternals sequel has been given the green light at Marvel Studios and has recently been added to the production schedule alongside the previously announced sequel to Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings.
Eternals 2 and Shang-Chi 2 have been added to the Marvel Studios production calendar pic.twitter.com/2IqGEtREbq
Though no further details were provided about when the films might go into production, a quick peek at Marvel Studios’ existing slate would indicate that fans should not expect Eternals 2 or Shang-Chi 2 until 2025 at the earliest. As it stands, there are 2 untitled Marvel Studios films scheduled to release in 2025 and 3 in 2026. With news breaking now about these two projects, it’d would be reasonable to assume under normal circumstances that they’d be ready in time for 2025 but times they are a changing.
This time around writer Kelly Marcel is taking over directing duties with Tom Hardy also being heavily involved in bringing the project to life. She also wrote the screenplay for the third entry alongside its main star and it seems they may have already started work on the Venom threequel.
Hardy took to his personal Instagram account to share a video looking back at the production of the series while confirming that they are already in the pre-production stage for the threequel. Seems the video was found while working on the third part of a sequence where Eddie Brock is fighting Venom, who is in control of his body.
It’ll be interesting to see if the third entry of Venom even approaches the multiversal travel that he went through in the post-credit sequence of Spider-Man: No Way Home. There’s always the chance he may reprise the role in a future Avengers film as the Marvel Cinematic universe continues to grow its multiverse. So, the threequel may also act as a lead into his appearance in the mainline MCU once again.
After the harsher criticism has hit Marvel Studios’ latest release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the sudden move for The Marvels from a July release all the way back to November had many wondering if there’s a correlation. Perhaps Marvel Studios knew they needed to give the project more time and it was too late to push back Quantumania back as well, as it already started its marketing cycle; something that could’ve become quite expensive to restart at a later point.
While we’ll never truly know what reason Marvel Studios has for delaying projects, there have been hints that they are taking a step back after the rush of projects released right after the pandemic delayed everything for a year. So, ever since they’ve been playing catch-up and had the Disney+ pressure set upon them by Bob Chapek‘s reign. Now, Bob Iger returned and we’ll likely see a more familiar Marvel Studios moving forward after amore experimental season.
In a new report by The Wrap, they share that the delay for The Marvels was to give it more time in post-production, at least according to their studio insiders. It’s a surprising move as it will compete directly with Disney’s 100th-anniversary film Wish, a scare that also happened last year with the underperforming Strange World against Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Though some believe these projects won’t face a similar fate.
Still, if this report is true we’ll likely see more time windows for post-production moving forward for Marvel Studios’ productions. The thing that many might not have noticed is that non of the 2024 releases have started production. They are set to start in a few months and all films from this year filmed during 2021. So, we may see a return to normal as all productions up to this point also had to film during COVIDs high season.
With a fourth film in the franchise unlikely to debut before Avengers: Secret Wars, it’s unlikely Scott’s fixation with Kang the Conqueror will still be unresolved, so what would the focus of the new project be? As always, we have some ideas inspired by the comics!
Ant-Man, The Wasp and Stinger: Irredeemable
2015’s Ant-Man set the stage for the plot of a sequel and given it’s yet to be revisited, the fourth film might be the perfect time for a handful of reasons. During the chaos at the Pym Tech HQ near the end of Ant-Man, Martin Donovan’s scumbag Hydra double agent Mitchell Carson stole a vial of Pym Particles and escaped while being chewed up by ants. Carson had been after Hank Pym’s great creation since the late 1980s when the two worked together at S.H.I.E.LD. and he holds quite a grudge against the good Doctor Pym. Bringing back Donovan and allowing him to have his revenge on Pym would make for a great opening act and grant Michael Douglas‘ wish to let Hank die!
In the comics, Carson has some strong connections to Eric O’Grady, the third Ant-Man. Irredeemable could see Carson team up with O’Grady, another Pym Particle-Powered character, Erik Josten, and mutant loser Whirlwind to take his revenge on Hank and the Ant-Family. The three villains would nicely provide each of the film’s heroes with their own baddie. Scott and Josten, aka Atlas, could kaiju fight around San Francisco; O’Grady’s shady, stalker, perv vibes would put him at odds with Cassie; and Whirlwind, one of Janet van Dyne’s most persistent foes in the comics, could take on Hope. What would that leave for Janet? Revenge on Mitchell Carson who could even come complete with his mangled face as a result of the ant attack at the end of Ant-Man.
All parties involved have expressed interest in going “smaller” in Ant-Man 4 after taking on Kang and this might be the best bet to make that happen.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Avengers Academy
It would have been awesome to see the Young Avengers come together in an Ant-Man film but since Ant-Man 4 isn’t likely to hit theaters until after Avengers: Secret Wars, those characters will probably assemble on screen before then. That doesn’t mean, however, that Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne can’t mentor a new generation of heroes!
While the Young Avengers were a group of powered people identified through Project Failsafe to be the next generation of heroes, Avengers Academy assembled a powered group of youngsters in hopes of keeping them from breaking bad. The Academy was led by Hank Pym, Tigra, Hawkeye, Jocasta, Quicksilver, Justice and Speedball with Pym and Tigra really at the forefront. It wouldn’t take a lot of imagination to revamp the roster of instructors and let Scott and Hope take the lead. The group could take on some of Ant-Man and The Wasp’s more proletariat rogues like Whirlwind or Kangaroo or Crossfire or take on something a little more awesome…like the Awesome Android and the Mad Thinker.
Ant-Man, The Wasp and The West Coast Avengers
Yes, the people involved in the Ant-Man franchise have expressed their desire for the fourth film to be a smaller film…but that doesn’t mean it can’t have a killer cast. The West Coast Avengers certainly seem to be headed to the MCU so why not let the fourth Ant-Man film be the place where the team assembles.
Give Scott Hank’s place on the team and assemble Hawkeye, Mockingbird (now that we know she’s in the MCU), Moon Knight, Wonder Man and introduce Tigra and let this be the dumb fun movie of the year. Let Hawkeye use Pym Particles and become Goliath. Put them up against the Grim Reaper (maybe he’ll be introduced in Wonder Man) or the Zodiac…in all their crazy glory. There are so many wild stories waiting to be told in the pages of the West Coast Avengers comics that one must be just right for Ant-Man 4!
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Vengeance
This pitch exists for one reason: to introduce Jack of Hearts to the MCU. The film would take on elements of the comics and combine them with Jack of Hearts origins to create an adventure worthy of the Ant-Family and one that would provide Scott with one of his great comic book not-quite-besties.
Hank Pym knows a lot of smart people, so introducing audiences to another one, Philip Hart, who has sovled the world’s energy crisis with his Zero Fuel wouldn’t be a stretch. When Hart’s invention is perfected and he’s ready to give it away, the criminal organization known as The Corporation steps in killing Philip and exposing his son, Jonathan, to the dangerous fuel and mutating him into the powerful–and dangerous–Jack of Hearts. Hank’s relationship with Philip could be enough to get him killed in the explosion, leaving Scott, Hope, Janet and Cassie on a quest for vengeance parallel with Jack’s. The Corporation is full of all types of terrible goons they could take on and the plot could, as comic book readers know, set the path to the end of Scott Lang’s time in the MCU as well.
Peyton Reed is in rare company at Marvel Studios. With the release of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, Reed joined Jon Watts (Spider-Man) as the only directors to complete a trilogy of films for one franchise. They’ll be joined by James Gunn when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters in May and while Gunn’s future won’t include more Marvel Studios projects, Reed’s very well may. It’s already been made clear that ideas for a fourth Ant-Man film have been hatched and discussed with Kevin Feige so it seems just a matter of time before Ant-Man 4 gets the green light. But would Reed want to return for another round?
That’s a lot more complicated answer than you might believe as Reed revealed in an interview with Collider. The short answer is definitely yes, but the director has some pretty interesting thoughts about what coming back would mean.
It’s interesting because, you know, I’m superstitious about this stuff, right? I mean, when we were doing the first Ant-Man there was certainly no guarantee we were going to get to make a second one. And even after the second one, there was no guarantee. When we finally announced that, “Okay, we’re gonna make Quantumania, we’re gonna get to do this,” it was marshaling all the forces onto that because we knew if we’re gonna get to do a third one, it’s gotta be something altogether different. We gotta show the audience something different.
For me, it was the Quantum Realm, of being able to create that whole world, worlds within worlds, and answer those questions. What the hell was Janet Van Dyne doing down there for 30 years? And also, to kick off Phase 5, to introduce Kang the Conqueror with Jonathan.
Peyton Reed
Reed’s interest in returning seems to be tied to making sure whatever comes next looks and feels different than what came before. Quantumania certainly accomplished that even if it wasn’t well-received critically. So what would a fourth film entail? While he doesn’t give a direct answer, inspiration might be found in the pages of Fantastic Four comics.
So I was focused on that thing. Now that the trilogy is done, who knows? Again, years ago – you and I have talked about this before – I developed Fantastic Four like 20 years ago. I channeled a lot of my Fantastic Four love into the Ant-Man world, and specifically into Quantumania. You know, it’s no mistake that both are kind of dysfunctional families of superheroes, and in Fantastic Four they may go into the Negative Zone, we went to the Quantum Realm. I really scratched that itch with these movies.
Peyton Reed
With so many great Fantastic Four stories to be told and only so many films in which to tell them, it’s possible that Reed could continue to turn to them for inspiration for the Ant-Man franchise should things head in that direction. However, there are some other Marvel properties in the works that Reed might be interested in working on as well, should the opportunity present itself. “I want to play in a lot of different sandboxes,” said Reed of the idea of working outside of Marvel before adding, “I would never say no to a future doing stuff at Marvel. I mean, I’ve loved my time at Marvel, I love the people in Marvel, and I love what they’ve been able to do.“
What other “stuff” at Marvel might have caught his eye? “I would do a Nova movie,” said Reed. “I love [The Man Called Nova]. That seems cool.” With a Nova project currently in development at Marvel Studios, Reed may just have his chance.
The MCU’s five-year time jump created all kinds of narrative space to explore within the Multiverse Saga and the creatives behind Marvel Studios’ Phase 4 projects took full advantage. While WandaVision takes place in 2023 just weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special seem to be set in 2025. So where does the latest installment of the Multiverse Saga fall? Fortunately, Marvel Studios has made pinpointing the location of the events of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania on their timeline very simple!
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania gives a few clues to its location on the timeline, including a slightly older Cassie, but the best bit of info doesn’t come from the movie itself, but rather from a combination of facts from another film and, more importantly, a member of Marvel Studios’ Parliament. During Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is seemingly set in early 2025, some information about the setting of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is casually shared in a CNN ticker. That bit of info on the ticker reveals that Scott Lang is out and about on his book tour during the events of Wakanda Forever.
Scott Lang continues tour in support of autobiography Look Out For The Little Guy.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
As exciting as that is, it doesn’t quite pinpoint Quantumania’s place on the timeline because book tours take some time. However, the events of Quantumania can clear things up a bit because it seems that the book reading seen in the film is probably the last one on the tour since Scott–and the rest of the Ant-Family–find themselves in the Quantum Realm shortly after. Thankfully, that’s where Parliament member Nate Moore‘s comments come into play and can clarify.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe in Timeline Order as seen on Disney Plus
In an interview with CinemaBlend, Moore gave some clarification as to when the events of Wakanda Forever and Quantumania take place.
Yeah I mean, look if you think about… This movie clearly happens after No Way Home and Eternals. I think it probably happens potentially concurrent with [Thor: Love and Thunder]. New Asgard does exist in our universe, for instance, or in our film. And almost concurrent with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is coming out in February.
Nate Moore
Given that Ms. Marvel has a Scott Lang Easter egg dropped in, it’s safe to say that Wakanda Forever, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel and Thor: Love and Thunder are all taking place fairly concurrently with Quantumania but that Quantumania‘s setting is just a bit after Wakanda Forever and just a bit before Love and Thunder. So, until further notice, 2025 it is!
Not all is sunny with the latest release by Marvel Studios, as while it did manage to release in its predicted release window at $104M domestically over three days. The big surprise is a softer release internationally at $121.3M. As of now, the film is 13% ahead of the first Ant-Man internationally but 27% below its sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. Yet, the big reasoning here is that it had a very soft Chinese opening at 19M, which is quite a bit further away from the predicted $35M to $55M. It seems that it did receive a similar score to that of the first Ant-Man but was lower on another score.
Rotten Tomatoes soft score didn’t help and if you add in factors like a tired box office after Chinese New Year and a general lack of interest in Hollywood productions, it’s going to be a tough battle for the film in that market. We also can’t forget that Marvel films have been banned since 2019 and it was going to be an uphill battle no matter what was released in that market. Deadline also points out one rather interesting aspect: science-fiction has major troubles in Asia Pacific markets as even Star Wars has trouble establishing itself in these markets.
South Korea seems to have a similar development with these types of films, which doesn’t help matters much as both were key markets in the last two films’ releases. Still, Australia and European markets are performing ahead of the last two releases and could make up for the softer Asian release, but it does seem unlikely that the film will pass Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s global box office at this rate. It could have a chance at around $550M to $600M depending if that B CinemaScore will not overshadow any potential legs. The drop in the next weekend will give us a clearer picture.
It’s been a nailbiting weekend for the box office, as many were unsure if Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may actually manage $100M opening. The B cinemaScore and critical reception made it a make or break situation. Now, for any other ffilm this would be a fantastic opening weekend even with an A score, but Marvel has more weight on its shoulders as one of the biggest franchises and money-makers for Disney. Still, the film surprised and pulled in an additional 33.8M over Saturday after a strong $46M Friday (including Thursday previews) and is set to close the weekend with $104M over three days.
Don’t forget, this is Presidents Day weekend and as such will probably wrap up around $118M. Keep in mind, those numbers can always fluctuate once the weekend wraps up. That would place perfectly in the more positive side of its initial prediction that was between $96M to $131M. So, the film certainly delivered on its box office promise even if the next weekends drop being the true indicator what kind of multiplier we can expect. A more mixed to positive word-of-mouth could still net it a 2.3 multiplier but given the Ant-Man franchise could surprise given how well it worked with children and families. It may have potentially found a niche that could carry the film further.
It should also be noted that the Saturday hold percentage wise is better than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (-36%), Thor: Love and Thunder (-40%) but not far from Eternals, who also shares the B rating. Deadline believes the draw of Kang the Conqueror may be balancing out any of the critical reception. The film opened 44% higher than Ant-Man and the Wasp and is now the trilogy’s biggest opener. Interestingly enough was playing evenly throughout the entire day. So, this is perhaps a more balanced experience than the other more frontloaded pictures, but only time will tell.
Overall, the film also pulled in a strong $121.3M worldwide and now stands at $238.3M worldwide. The film isn’t breaking any records worldwide and had a smaller opening in China with 19.2M but that market also hasn’t had a Marvel movie in quite some time release at the same as internationally. Deadline has pointed out that science-fiction adventures do have that habit internationally. As of now, the film is now the third highest opener in February ever following Black Panther ($242.2M) and Deadpool ($152.2M). It has now dethroned the former third place holder of Fifty Shades of Grey at $93M.
Even with the current critical and CinemaScore rating, there’s still expectation the film will become the highest Ant-Man entry, which it would manage by passing $622M. To reach though, it’ll need a better multiplier around 2,6 at least, which might be the biggest challenge. A rejuvenated market may help push its legs, as our only real comparison is during last year when fiilms barely had any momentum and multiple weeks of barely any major releases.
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