Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Marvel Movies

  • Chris Hemsworth Wants to Reinvent Thor in his Next Appearance

    Chris Hemsworth Wants to Reinvent Thor in his Next Appearance

    Thor: Love and Thunder has faced quite an interesting reception since its release, as some were quite frustrated with it embracing the most comedic aspects of all entries. Yet, it seems that Chris Hemsworth is ready to embrace a new direction for the franchise. After Taika Waititi‘s work on the last two entries with a more comedic focus, it seems that the Thor actor is ready to tackle the character in a new way, as he likes “keeping people on their toes.”

    You look at Thor 1 and 2, they were quite similar. Ragnarok and Love and Thunder are similar. I think it’s about reinventing it. I’ve had such a unique opportunity with Infinity War and Endgame to do very drastic things with the character. I enjoy that, I like keeping people on their toes. It keeps me on my toes.

    Chris Hemsworth

    He also highlights that it’s his way to get himself invested in the project. While his statement “just for my own sanity” may get misinterpreted online, it definitely seems like he’s looking for the hook that inspires him to continue the character. It’s not too dissimilar from what we saw him share before Waititi joined Thor: Ragnarok.

    It keeps me invested. I’ve said this before but when it becomes too familiar, I think there’s a risk in getting lazy then because I know what I’m doing. I don’t know if I’m even invited back. But if I was, I think I would have to be a drastically different version in tone, and everything, just for my own Sanity.

    Chris Hemsworth

    It’ll be interesting to see if we get a fifth entry in the franchise and what it might mean for Hemsworth moving forward. There are some darker stories that are definitely worth adapting, which might offer that fresh paint he’s looking for.

    You can watch the full interview with Happy Sad Confused Podcast here:

    Source: YouTube

  • Quentin Tarantino’s Long History With Comic Book Movies

    Quentin Tarantino’s Long History With Comic Book Movies

    Quentin Tarantino, the acclaimed creative behind indie megahits like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, has been on a bit of a tear lately in regards to superhero cinema. A recent interview with the Los Angeles Times saw the director call filmmakers who work with Marvel Studios “hired hands“, and claim that modern auteurs like himself “can’t wait” for comic book movies to fail. Not long after, Tarantino continued his tirade to imply companies like Marvel Studios had killed the “movie star”, effectively making characters more famous than the actors who play them.

    This is, of course, not a surprising stance for the famously old-fashioned talent to take, but it is unexpectedly harsh for someone with a long history of almost working on comic-based projects. Throughout his career, Tarantino has been attached to four separate superhero adaptations and has admitted to using comic-adjacent concepts as the basis for some of his released projects. Kill Bill, one of Tarantino’s seminal works, famously includes a comic-inspired monologue, and the director is known to have rows of superhero books stored in his home. He even recently revealed that Inglorious Basterds, another fan favorite from his resume, was heavily inspired by Marvel’s Howling Commandos line from the 1940s.

    For what it’s worth, Tarantino does not seem to despise the idea of adapting comics. He once said that, in his 20s, the idea of making films based on his favorite superheroes was all he wanted to do, but that he’d since “grown out” of that phase and moved on to focusing on original concepts. It would appear that his true qualms with superhero adaptations stem more from their unexpected impact on the film industry, and his perception that they’re produced at a high rate with low quality. As such, it’s intriguing to look back on the films his name was once attached to, and ponder what could have been different in a world where Tarantino was among those who had left their mark on the history of superhero cinema.

    Luke Cage: Hero For Hire

    Perhaps the closest Tarantino ever came to actually making a Marvel movie. The Jackie Brown filmmaker spoke with MTV in 2013 and dropped the bombshell he had once actively attempted to get a Luke Cage: Hero For Hire film off the ground. He claimed the idea for the project came very early in his career after he completed production on his directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs. That puts Tarantino’s pitch somewhere around 1992, nearly a decade before Blade, Spider-Man, and X-Men put comic book movies back on the map, and a lifetime before Netflix’s Luke Cage series made the character a household name. At the time, Marvel Studios had not yet been created, so Cage’s film rights were among the countless of their kind being bounced from company to company. As it turns out, however, Tarantino nailed down their then-owner, and a potential star, in a strong effort to get Hero For Hire made:

    After ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ I had considered doing a ‘Luke Cage: Hero For Hire‘ movie. Ed Pressmanowned it at that time and we talked about it. And I talked with Larry Fishburne about being Luke Cage and he really liked  that idea.

    Quentin Tarantino

    In the same interview, Tarantino explained that Hero For Hire fell by the wayside when the idea for Pulp Fiction grabbed his attention. As time continued to slip by, Hero For Hire suffered a quiet creative death. Much later, in a 2020 podcast interview, Tarantino added that some of his geekier pals were to blame for the Luke Cage film’s demise. Apparently, they felt dramatic actor Laurence Fishburne was not suited for the title role and had pestered Tarantino about casting action star Wesley Snipes instead. Never a fan of being told what to do, the director said this back-and-forth “ruined the whole damn thing”, despite Cage being his “absolute hero” at the time. Ultimately, Tarantino said he felt like he “made the right choice” in committing to Pulp Fiction as his second feature.

    Silver Surfer

    Around the same time, after Reservoir Dogs and before Pulp Fiction, Tarantino is reported to have written a full-blown script for a film based on Marvel’s cosmic mascot, the Silver Surfer. What’s more, he supposedly brought the script to German studio Constantin Film, who owned the rights at that point. In the early 90s, several creatives saw the immense potential in a Silver Surfer adaptation, but most studios – Marvel included – felt there was no money to be made in Silver Surfer on the big screen. The visual effects required to bring a movie like that to life were considered too expensive, and as a result, every attempt to develop a cohesive film was shot down. This, unfortunately, included Tarantino’s treatment, which was supposedly around 500 pages long.

    Green Lantern & Iron Man

    Years later, after superhero films had gained steam but prior to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s emergence, Tarantino was offered two separate major adaptations from big-name studios. Green Lantern and Iron Man, both in varying stages of development in the late 2000s, were pitched to the Django Unchained director by their respective producers as his first tentpole picture. Obviously, he passed on both. While Tarantino has never publicly commented on his opportunity to bring Iron Man to life, which came at a time before the involvement of Robert Downey Jr. or any of the factors that eventually made it a huge hit, it likely came to him in a scenario similar to what he described for Green Lantern:

    I was offered the ‘Green Lantern’. Not since it’s been a script, but just like, ‘Hey we own the ‘Green Lantern.’ Would you like it?’

    Quentin Tarantino

    Again speaking to MTV, Tarantino conceded that, by the time Green Lantern and Iron Man arrived at his door, he had fully grown past his phase of wanting to adapt other people’s material. He elaborated, saying if he were to ever make a superhero film, it would have to be something entirely of his own design:

    It wouldn’t be an existing comic book character. I’m a writer. I’d want to use my imagination and not have to fight with geeks’ memories of how this character should be and, ‘Oh, I cast an actor as opposed to a bodybuilder’ or it’s not as good as the way Neal Adams drew him.’ If I were to do something like that, I would want the fun of coming up with the superhero myself.

    Quentin Tarantino

    With only one film left in his 10-film career plan, Tarantino will likely never make a superhero movie. Unless, of course, he decided he wanted to contribute to the trend, and use his imagination to show the current crop of directors how he thinks it should be done.

    Source(s): The Digital Fix, Screen Rant, MTV, The Hollywood Reporter, Indie Wire, Yahoo!, Comic Book Resources, The Los Angeles Times, 2 Bears, 1 Cave Podcast

  • ‘Multiverse of Madness’ Concept Art Reveals Doctor Strange’s Meeting with the Vishanti

    ‘Multiverse of Madness’ Concept Art Reveals Doctor Strange’s Meeting with the Vishanti

    For the most part, every frame of every film is the culmination of an incredible amount of work done behind the scenes in pre-production. It’s a complicated process that some find daunting and the most laborious part of making a film. Marvel Studios films are typically full of visual spectacles that fans don’t see until they’re fully realized after dozens and dozens of hours of work by concept artists. However, for every piece of concept art that makes it through pre-production, there are countless more that don’t when the scenes they are created for are cut either from the script or end up on the editing room floor.

    In that regard, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may have been one of the most maddening films for concept artists whose work was never adapted to the finished product. Originally, the film was set to be directed by Scott Derrickson and it is very likely that a good deal of pre-production work was done before he departed the project. Sam Raimi took over the film with writer Michael Waldron and the two went to work on creating an entirely different film which meant all new concept art had to be created. At the heart of the film was a MacGuffin known as the Book of Vishanti, a magical tome that Multiverse of Madness co-producer Richie Palmer described as “a magical book that gives— if you’re good, it will give you the power you need to defeat any bad. It will fight the Darkhold; it is good, and it is pure.”

    The film wasted no time introducing the Book of Vishanti as fans were thrown into the middle of America Chavez and a Variant Doctor Strange’s pursuit of the tome in the opening scene. With the Darkhold-influenced Scarlet Witch after Chavez’s powers, the Book of Vishanti, which Palmer described as the “greatest power of good” in the Multiverse became Chavez’s best hope at survival because it served as the antithesis of the Darkhold.

    On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Book of Vishanti. It exists in the space between universes, and is not for any one sorcerer to wield or keep as their own. The Darkhold has the quality about it where you want to possess it and you want to keep it. The Book of Vishanti is the opposite. It’s for everyone and all sorcerers.

    Richie Palmer

    In the Marvel Comics, the book was created by Agamotto, the first Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. Agamotto was the son of the Elder God Oshtur and with her and the alien god, Hoggoth, formed a trio of god-like beings known as the Vishanti. Over centuries, the Vishanti became the guardians of Earth and its Sorcerers Supreme. Having served as Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen Strange has come face-to-face with the group before and thanks to some newly located concept art created by Aaron Black, it seems that the idea for him to meet up with them in Multiverse of Madness was tossed around at one point.

    Obviously, the Vishanti didn’t make the final cut and all that can be done is to speculate about what Strange’s visit to them might have entailed. The concept art for the trio is stunning, however, and given the importance the Vishanti play in the comics, it would not be surprising to see the idea revisited somewhere down the road.

    Sources: Marvel.com, Art Station

  • Vincent D’Onofrio on Which MCU Hero is the “End Goal” for Kingpin to Take On

    Vincent D’Onofrio on Which MCU Hero is the “End Goal” for Kingpin to Take On

    When Kevin Feige revealed that Daredevil and Spider-Man would lead the MCU’s street-level heroes, it only added fuel to the fire that the two heroes would eventually team up to take on their greatest common enemy: Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. All the principles involved in the potential battle royale have shared their desires to tangle with one another before. Vincent D’Onofrio, who returned to the role of Kingpin in Marvel Studios D+ streaming series Hawkeye, has gone on record twice describing his hopes to take on Spider-Man, saying that if there were one hero he could battle down the road “it definitely has to be Spider-Man.“

    If Kingpin and Spider-Man don’t go toe-to-toe, however, it won’t be because of D’Onofrio’s lack of trying. If he hadn’t been clear enough already, the actor reiterated his wish to see the two characters fight during a panel at September’s Salt Lake FanX. During a Q&A session, D’Onofrio was asked who in the current MCU he’d love to interact or fight with. As an audience member shouted Spider-Man, D’Onofrio said, “there’s only one, really, end goal…and I think somebody just said who that would be.“

    Given Kingpin first hit the pages of Marvel Comics in 1967’s Amazing Spider-Man #50, it would be tragic if he didn’t take on the Web-Head at some point in the MCU now that Marvel Studios has the opportunity to have them face off. With Tom Holland reportedly inking a new deal, perhaps D’Onofrio will get his wish, squaring off with Spidey in Spider-Man 4.

  • First Look at ‘The Marvel’s Main Trio in New Merch Leak

    First Look at ‘The Marvel’s Main Trio in New Merch Leak

    Just as we finally got to sit down in theaters to watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios is already preparing for what’s to come in 2023. We already got a trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania but now it seems that some merchandise has been spotted that offers a first look at the main trio of The Marvels.

    As shared by umportalgeek on Instagram, there’s already a The Marvels‘ shirt available that gives us a good look at the main trio of Monica Rambeau, Carol Danvers, and Kamala Khan. The biggest reveal from this merchandise is the costume that Monica will seemingly wear during her outing as a hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    Not much is known about the project and there’s a lot of potential with this film having not one but three leads. The balance it’ll hold by switching between perspectives of Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris. Their dynamic will definitely be a highlight for the project.

    We already got a hint at what direction the project is taking during the post-credit sequence of Ms. Marvel. With merchandise already making its way into stores, we’ll have to see if more is already circulating even with the film not set to release until July.

    Source: Instagram

  • What Bob Iger’s Return Might Mean for Marvel Studios’ Disney+ Future

    What Bob Iger’s Return Might Mean for Marvel Studios’ Disney+ Future

    There’s a lot happening over at Disney since Sunday’s announcement that Bob Iger will return as CEO and take back control of Disney after passing the torch to Bob Chapek. It’s not every day that a former executive just takes over a position shortly before the holidays and with an announcement on a Sunday of all things. Not even a day later, the development continued with Chapek‘s right-hand man, Kareem Daniel, leading the streaming revolution also leaving the company, someone who had much more control over projects than some might think.

    Now, the big question is what exactly this new direction means for Disney and especially Disney+. The streaming market has hit a bumpy road once things calmed down with the pandemic. In many ways, we saw a slight counter-development as people finally felt safer going out again, which lead to many doubts about the potential and profitability of the streaming market. Netflix hasn’t helped in that regard with them throwing as much money as they can against the wall to find their “next big franchise” for better and for worse.

    The rise finds demand also showed its fangs with Marvel Studios, who started producing a few Disney+ shows and started ramping up as demand during the pandemic skyrocketed. While some believe it turned into a “quantity over quality” matter, one cannot deny that Marvel made the best of the situation, as it filmed many of its projects during the pandemic with many restrictions holding them back. In a perfect world, the studio may have kept its originally planned course and developments but this isn’t about what ifs.

    What we are aiming to talk about is what will be, as Iger‘s return and Daniel‘s exit raise some interesting questions about what this means for Disney+ moving forward. The most important aspect is that creatives are back in the center, a significant showcase of what made his reign stand out as the company’s leading man. The dangers of algorithm-driven filmmaking have always shown their thorns throughout streamings history and this could rejuvenate hope in the market.

    Not just that, but it also likely hints at Marvel Studios gaining a bit more control over how they tackle the development of their series. At this point, Marvel Studios is capable of pumping out up to four or five series per year. Not a small undertaking for any production company in the markets even if it expanded to do just that. They made the best of the situation with some of Marvel Studio’s most out-there and creator-driven projects yet. Still, Iger’s return might mean the studio has a bit more control over just how much they produce.

    Many are quite concerned about R-rated content on Disney+, but that might not truly be an issue. The Star expansion internationally and a strong focus on more adult content were already put in motion before Iger left his position. He even highlighted Deadpool during the 20th Century Fox acquisition. We might still see some more family-friendly offerings in the future, but it doesn’t seem like he’ll suddenly force projects to become more PG-13, especially with how the studio has been growing with its new library. Of course, this is just speculation and nothing concrete outside of some fear of the old Disney model showing its hands.

    There is one major aspect that could see a shift; even if it won’t be noticeable immediately. Up until now, Chapek’s goal was to drive subscriber numbers as fast as possible. To do so, they needed to bet on their cash cow to do exactly that, which was Marvel Studios and even Lucasfilm. So, they faced the challenge of having to push out as much as possible to keep that number growing. While Marvel studios might have been just as ambitious, it’s hard to not think there was some growing demand internally to get out as much as possible.

    As noted, whatever the aftermath will be from Iger‘s return, we won’t see it for quite some time. Daniel leaving was the first signal that a new yet familiar era is set to return to the company and Marvel Studios will likely reflect that development. We might see them dial it back once the current projects that are already in production have been released. The Multiverse Saga is generally the Marvel Cinematic Universe going through its sophomore season and with post-Endgame blues affecting some, they can currently use the era to experiment.

    The Disney+ shows are a new venture for the production company, and Marvel Studios tried to take its cinematic experience into a new market; with the help of Marvel TV’s experience after merging with the division. One can feel about their consistency in quality one way or another, but it’s definitely been interesting to see Marvel go beyond its usual ventures in many ways. Special Presentations opened up the possibility to move away from high-budget series with unique ventures and who knows if we’ll see more of those moving forward.

    Iger‘s era is just about to begin, and we’ll very likely be stuck with many questions for some time. We don’t know if they’ll replace Davis and rebuild the streaming division, or potentially take a completely different direction moving forward. Perhaps Marvel will have more control over its own segments connected to the streamer, as originally envisioned when the Disney+ venture first started picking up steam. Whatever the future may bring, all eyes will be on Kevin Feige on how he’ll tackle this new direction.

  • James Gunn Opens Up on Never Tackling Nova in a ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Movie

    James Gunn Opens Up on Never Tackling Nova in a ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Movie

    Guardians of the Galaxy have become quite the household name in the industry. No one would’ve believed that the wacky group of space pirates would end up among Marvel Studios’ most famous IPs. Still, director James Gunn made it possible and is now ready to prepare for his third, and probably final entry in the franchise.

    While the comics included a wide variety of members throughout the years, Gunn always stuck to a smaller group throughout the films. Naturally, many wondered where some fan-favorites are, especially the character of Nova and the reasoning turns out to be quite simple as revealed in an interview with ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero.

    There were a billion versions of Guardians before I came aboard… Yes, I guess maybe some script had Richard Rider in it, but like, there’s a lot of different versions. Yeah, I was never gonna– I never had Richard Rider in anything. He’s just too big of a character and he seemed too… From the beginning, when I came on board Guardians, I didn’t wanna have two human beings. I wanted to have one human being so that he could be surrounded in this world of aliens and then we realize little by little that all of these characters are the only of their kind. They’re the only human beings to them, you know?

    James Gunn

    The idea of Peter Quill being the only human definitely was the appeal for this story, even if some aliens just looked like normal humans, especially in the Nova Corp. Still, Nova is significant character from the comics that has a lot of history to explore, which might detract from Star-Lord’s fish out of water storyline early on. So, it would be a shame if Nova’s story ended up overshadowing the main focus of the franchise. Luckily, the is already rumored to get his own Disney+ spinoff at some point.

    Source: YouTube via The Direct

  • How The Sentry Can Work as the “Evil Superman” of ‘Thunderbolts’

    How The Sentry Can Work as the “Evil Superman” of ‘Thunderbolts’

    Marvel Studios Thunderbolts won’t hit theaters until 2024, but it’s already becoming incredibly interesting. Word that the villain of the film is set to be an “evil Superman” has sparked an incredible amount of debate and speculation as to who it is that the Super Soldier-heavy team will take on in the film. Over the years there have been plenty of “Superman” analogs on the pages of Marvel Comics, but not too many of them really fit the bill as “evil.” One, however, does have a bit more of a bad streak in him than the rest and an origin that’s tied to the Super Solider Serum making him a more likely option than the rest.

    The MCU loves its Super Soldier Serum. First mentioned in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk as General Thunderbolt Ross’s pet project, the backstory of the original serum, and its creator, Dr. Abraham Erskine, was filled in in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. More was learned about the Serum in Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and at current, there are about a half dozen known Super Soldiers in the MCU including Bucky Barnes, Alexei Shostakov and John Walker, all of whom are set for roles in Thunderbolts. While The Falcon and The Winter Soldier seemed like the end of the line for new Super Soldiers in the MCU, it’s possible that the “evil Superman” set to antagonize the Thunderbolts could be one of the comics’ most powerful Super Soldiers ever: Robert Reynolds, aka The Sentry.

    While Doctor Erskine created the Super Soldier Serum for the United States, several countries developed their own serums and it might be the right time to find out about one more country’s work on it: Canada. In the comics, Canda’s Department K, a shady little part of the Canadian government, scraped together what they could from Project Rebirth, the Weapon Plus experiment that created Captain America, and tried to recreate the effects as part of Project: Sentry. The result of their work was a serum, The Golden Sentry Serum, that was thousands of times stronger than the U.S. version. That serum was ultimately consumed by a drug addict named Robert Reynolds, who turned into a superhero known as The Sentry.

    For years, The Sentry was one of Earth’s greatest protectors; a hero amongst heroes. The Sentry found himself up against a great evil, The Void, who became his archenemy. However, when the equally powerful and destructive Void was revealed to be a part of himself, The Sentry worked with Doctor Strange and Mister Fantastic to make the entire world, including himself, forget he ever existed. This worked so incredibly well that The Void disappeared and Reynolds went on to become a balding, overweight, middle-aged man that had no idea of the power within him.

    A direct adaptation of The Sentry wouldn’t truly result in an “evil Superman”, but Marvel Studios rarely directly adapts anything and just based on the little information provided above, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the character could end up in opposition to the Thunderbolts. Just exactly what to expect from the MCU’s Sentry is a little tricky to predict. If he were truly the fully powered-up version of the character from the comics, the Thunderbolts wouldn’t stand a chance against him, meaning whatever version of the Serum he takes, it probably won’t result in him gaining “the power of a million exploding suns.” But it doesn’t mean that a version of the character can’t or won’t exist, even if he’s not Candian.

    All the plot really needs is someone willing to be working on Weapons Plus behind the backs of others and Thunderbolts has no shortage of people like that among its cast of characters. Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross, who is rumored to be the U.S. President by the time the film rolls around, has always had an interest in the serum. Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who has been assembling the Thunderbolts for some time now, seems to have a great affinity for Super Soldiers, having collected 3 of them for her team. Other options could exist as well as the entire cast of the film isn’t known at this time. What does seem clear though, is that the true villain of the film won’t be the “evil Superman”, but whoever made him in the first place.

    Given that the future of the MCU will include the X-Men, Thunderbolts is as good a time as any to learn that someone has restarted the Weapon Plus Program that, in the comics, created Weapon 1, Steve Rogers, and Weapon X, Wolverine, among its many Super Soldiers. Even Ted Sallis, aka Man-Thing, has a history with Weapon Plus in the comics. Weapon Plus had a broad reach in the comics and Phase 5 would be an ideal time to continue to add to its MCU backstory while potentially preparing for the arrival of the mutants on the scene.

    Val made her Vibranium lust known in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and while it’s really hard to imagine her team of Thunderbolts being able to take on the combined might of both Wakanda and Talokan in order for her to get her hands on some (though it should be pointed out that a fully powered Sentry could do whatever he chose), the possibility that she might be connected to an ongoing, covert Weapon Plus program does bring another precious metal to mind. It’s obviously just wild speculation, but they need to do something drastic quickly to make Val’s character interesting and having her be the link from Cap to Wolverine might just do it. Should Val somehow be behind whatever they choose to call the MCU’s Project: Sentry (Project: Sentry has a nice ring to it), a lot of things start to make sense, both in the present and the future.

    At the end of the day, a Super Soldier experiment gone wrong really does make for the best choice for the “evil Superman” of Thunderbolts and it isn’t much of a stretch to see how easily Robert Reynolds’ comic book origins as Sentry could be tweaked to fit the ongoing narrative of the MCU. Will he be strong enough to rip the God of War in half? Probably not. But he’ll almost certainly be strong enough to take on John Walker.

  • Marvel Studios EP Reveals the Jack Kirby-inspired Pitch for ‘Captain America 3’ That Kevin Feige Rejected

    Marvel Studios EP Reveals the Jack Kirby-inspired Pitch for ‘Captain America 3’ That Kevin Feige Rejected

    Captain America: Civil War was one of Marvel Studios’ most jam-packed films. Not only did it pay off on the long-gestating hostilities between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, but it also introduced two major new heroes in Black Panther and Spider-Man AND set the stage for both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. A big film, to be sure, and as Marvel Studios Executive Producer and Parliament member Nate Moore revealed it was a major step up from the original pitch for the threequel.

    In an interview with Matthew Belloni, Moore let slip that the original pitch for the film revolved around a story arc from the 1970s that was written by Marvel Comics’ legend Jack Kirby: the Madbomb!

    So we were developing Captain America 3 and we were [doing] really good. Winter Soldier worked, people were back in, they’re interested, and we were talking about a movie, and we knew we had to resolve, obviously, the Winter Soldier storyline. We wanted Cap and Bucky to ultimately reunite. And the plot that we… And we knew we wanted to use Zemo. What a great character. You know, he’s obviously a classic Cap villain. And we were building the movie around a MacGuffin around the Madbomb, which, the Madbomb goes off and causes normal people to start fighting each other. It’s honestly a little similar to what I think they did in Kingsman.

    Nate Moore

    Moore’s comments give some insight into the creative process at Marvel Studios. Regardless of what the plot was, Cap 3 was seemingly always going to include Zemo and the reunion of Steve and Bucky. Moore and his team were high on the possibilities of the story, but unfortunately for them, Kevin Feige was not. According to Moore, the Madbomb simply was “not a big enough idea” for Marvel Studios The One-Above-All. But Moore wanted to prove him wrong.

    And it was cool, and it was grounded, and it was political, and whatever, and [Feige] was like, ‘That’s not a big enough idea, guys.’ And we’re like, ‘Let us write a draft, we’ll prove it to you.’

    Nate Moore

    Moore mentioned that Feige responded by saying, “Okay, prove it to me” and so they set to work on adapting Kirby’s Madbomb arc for the big screen. Moore continued the story and described the genesis of the jump from Madbomb to Civil War.

    As we’re getting done with it… he pulls me into his office and he said, ‘You know, I think we should try to do Civil War.’ And I was like, ‘Kevin, we don’t have half the stuff that’s in Civil War. We don’t have the New Warriors, we don’t have… Here’s all the reasons why we can’t do it.’ And he’s like, ‘Go home, read it, let’s talk about it.’ So I went home that night, read it… I re-read it, ’cause I had read it before and I was like, ‘Yeah, look we don’t have the Negative Zone prison…’ There were so many things that we didn’t have.

    Nate Moore

    Shortly after that, as Moore tells it, Feige approached Joe and Anthony Russo along with co-writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and gave them their marching orders saying, “So, stop with the Madbomb, you guys are doing Civil War.” Moore and the team were then faced with throwing out a great deal of work and having to start over. According to the executive producer, it was a scary time, but as we all know now, Feige was right.

    Look, It was scary and when you’re throwing out a whole thing and starting new, it’s always a bit weird, but he was right. He was right. We were still able to pay off the Bucky storyline. We still figured out how to use Zemo. But the central conceit of the movie was something that audiences would gravitate towards and they did.

    Nate Moore

    It’s well-known that Marvel Studios will often use discarded storylines in other projects and the Madbomb idea may at one time have been part of the plot of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. A common rumor ahead of production on the project was that the series, which filmed under Pandemic Productions LLC, was going to feature a terrorist bioweapon that could have been similar to the Madbomb. As a real-life pandemic beset the world, rumors swirled that the pandemic plot was rewritten, though director Kari Skogland debunked the rumors that the plot was ever in the script. Whatever the case with The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, the Madbomb arc remains open to adaptation down the road in the MCU whether as part of a streaming series or as the first act in another Cap film.

    Source: The Town with Matthew Belloni transcribed by the staff of The Direct

  • 5 Avengers Too Wack for the MCU

    5 Avengers Too Wack for the MCU

    Once upon a time, it was hard to imagine characters such as Wonder Man, Jack Russell and Man-Thing could exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure, all the characters are outlandish, dare I say comic book-ish, for one reason or another, but Marvel Studios has moved beyond the core group of Avengers and into the depths of the roster where some of their most

    Doctor Druid

    Marvel Studios toned down the weirdness of Doctor Strange’s adventures quite a bit in translating the Sorcerer Supreme from page to screen. But believe it or not, there’s another master of the mystic arts who has had even weirder adventures in the pages of the Marvel Comics: Doctor Anthony Druid. Doctor Druid actually predates Strange, having been created in 1961 and like Strange he sought out the Ancient One and learned some magic.

    It’s not so much that Druid himself is too wack for the MCU, though he does lean a bit too heavily into hypnosis sometimes; it’s more that the majority of his adventures in the pages of the comics took him to some locations that probably won’t end up being a bit part of the MCU. Trips to Deviant Lemuria, Weirdworld and Atlantis or all on his resume. He’s a little more occult than what we’ve seen in the MCU so far and though he has been an Avenger in the comics, it’s hard to imagine him holding down a spot on the roster in the future.

    Jack of Hearts

    Of all the characters on this list, the thought of Jack not ever making his way into the MCU is the one that’s toughest to take. The character first appeared in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #22 after having been teased in previous issues. A human-alien hybrid, Jack’s powers came as the result of being exposed to an experimental fuel source, Zero Fluid, created by his father during an attack on his laboratory by the evil corporation known as…The Corporation.

    Even though Jack’s alien mother’s homeworld of Contraxia is already an established location within the MCU after having been visited in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Jack is a tough character to imagine adapting to the screen, at least in any recognizable way. His origin story’s connections to an alternative fuel source would fit right into the modern world and the MCU, but his powerset would make him one of the most powerful characters in the shared universe. And then there’s his look. It’s an absolutely fabulous comic book design that just wouldn’t carry over to the big screen. So what is Jack of Hearts without his trademark look and his “my cells are full so I’m going to explode” timer always at risk of going off? He’s not Jack of Hearts, whatever he is. Too strong and too wack for the MCU.

    Sentry

    Nearly everything about Sentry sets up for a surefire blockbuster tentpole superhero flick, other than one key piece of his backstory: nobody within the Marvel universe remembers who he is. The origins of Robert Reynolds’ transformation into Sentry fit right into a key piece of the foundations of the MCU: the Super Soldier Serum. However, it’s not quite the fairy tale story of Steven Rogers. Methhead Roberty Reynolds broke into a lab and got into some serum that granted him the power of “a million exploding suns.” He went on to become one of Earth’s mightiest and most beloved heroes until The Void, an entity that bonded with Reynolds, took over and created chaos. With the help of a few of Earth’s heroes, including Doctor Strange, things were fixed up and the entire world, including Reynolds, forgot the Sentry ever existed.

    The reality of adapting Sentry to the MCU is that he’s simply too powerful to exist despite the fact that he would fit right into the modern MCU and the future. One of the great things about the character in the comics has been the exploration of how a character with his power could exist within society. He’s also a wonderful case study in mental health. They might adapt him for a film (there are rumors even now that he’s going to be the villain in Thunderbolts), but the TRUE Sentry, at the end of the day, however, he’s simply too wack to become a great character in the MCU. Enjoy him in the comics because that’s about as good as it’ll ever get.

    Silverclaw

    Maria de Guadalupe Santiago’s backstory is probably as wack as any character in the Marvel Universe. Maria’s father held a deep belief in the old gods of Central America, specifically putting a significant amount of stock into the tales of the Volcano goddess, Peliali. After disappearing into the jungle for some time, Maria’s father came back with baby Maria, who he claimed was the daughter of Peliali. You can sort of compare Maria to DC’s Beast Boy in that she can change into a number of different animals, all native to Central America, of course. Over the years, she’s been an anaconda, a cheetah, a crocodile and…a sloth. Her powers manfiested uncontrollably when she was young and, after her father died, she found herself in an orphanage run by Catholic nuns who were none too happy to have a pagan werekid running around. Fortunately for Maria, Iron Man’s butler Edwin Jarvis saw a commercial for the orphanage, sponsored her and somehow she eventually ended up in America and became an Avenger.

    Thor, Black Panther and Moon Knight have already introduced different pantheons of gods to the MCU, so it wouldn’t be out of the question to have the Incan gods join them. However, it’s unlikely the Avengers are going to take on an abundance of werepeople. It’s also hard to imagine a non-mutant shapeshifter joining the team, especially one that, at first glance, looks like Gene Simmons. Silverclaw has never been a popular character (she has not been seen in the comics for a decade or so) and might be a touch to wack to find her way on an MCU-based Avengers team anytime soon.

    Tigra

    On one hand, if Jack Russell can exist in the MCU, Tigra can, too. Jack is a werewolf. Tigra is kind of like a werewolf, except she transforms into a cat…and wears a bikini. Greer Nelson has been an Avenger and a West Coast Avenger, a team that seems like it’s destined for the MCU sooner rather than later. She’s been an instructor at the Avengers Academy. She has some really great stories and has had important relationships with a lot of big players in the MCU, including Moon Knight. However, while a version of Grant Nelson/Tigra might bound into the MCU, it’s really hard to see where the tiger-striped, bikini-clad version fits in. At one point in time, the character was supposed to share the stage with Dazzler in an animated series for Hulu but, unfortunately, that never came to fruition. That may have been the best shot the weretiger had at the spotlight.