Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Marvel Studios

  • Ruth Carter Wins Oscar for Best Costume Desing for ‘Wakanda Forever’

    Ruth Carter Wins Oscar for Best Costume Desing for ‘Wakanda Forever’

    Wakanda Forever was nominated for five Oscars ahead of the 2023 Academy Award ceremony. While fans who held their breath and crossed their fingers that Angela Bassett would take home the first Oscar for an actress in a Marvel Studios film didn’t get their wish, the film did snap one shiny trophy as costume designer Ruth E. Carter won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Costume Design.

    The Oscar is the second for Carter’s work on the Black Panther franchise as she won the 2018 award in the same category. Carter and her team were faced with a huge challenge in Wakanda Forever as they created a distinct and unforgettable look for Namor and the people of Talokan. From the headpieces worn by Namor, Namora and Attuma to the Vibranium chest piece worn by Namor, Carter’s designs were beautifully realized and rendered practically. In addition to the costumes worn by the people of Talokan, costumes worn by Shuri and M’Baku also drew praise from audiences. The win is the second of Carter’s career out of four nominations.

  • Matt Shakman Rumored to Have Struck Fantastic Deal with Marvel Studios

    Matt Shakman Rumored to Have Struck Fantastic Deal with Marvel Studios

    Following his work on WandaVision, Marvel Studios turned to director Matt Shakman to take the lead on their Fantastic Four project when original helmer Jon Watts departed. With Fantastic Four now casting ahead of a 2024 start of production, news comes that Shakman may already be lined up for a pair of Marvel Studios projects in addition to the film.

    During a segment on the Hot Mic Podcast, Jeff Snieder indicated that Shakman may be Marvel Studios choice to lead a Disney Plus streaming series focused on the Silver Surfer and is lined up to direct a portion of the Disney Plus streaming series Vision Quest. While there has been no official word from Marvel Studios concerning a Silver Surfer project, a Special Presentation introducing the character has been rumored for some time . Vision Quest, on the other hand, is known to be in the works and is reportedly headed into production in 2024.

    Shakman has a strong background in TV beyond WandaVision, having worked on HBO’s Game of Thrones. Given Vision Quest is all but guaranteed to be a sequel to WandaVision, Shakman’s participation in the series would provide an opportunity for narrative continuity and consistency to be present in the new series.

    Source: YouTube

  • Marvel Studios Eyeing Sam Raimi to Return for ‘Doctor Strange 3’

    Marvel Studios Eyeing Sam Raimi to Return for ‘Doctor Strange 3’

    Following Scott Derrickson‘s departure from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Sam Raimi stepped in to take the reigns and put together one of Marvel Studios’ best Phase 4 films. Raimi infused the film with his signature style, providing audiences with a giant walking eyeball, a zombie Doctor Strange and a reminder that Marvel Studios films can be both “comic booky” and fun. Rumors have begun to swirl that Stephen Strange has a major role to play in the Multiverse Saga and that the studio is keen on pushing out another Doctor Strange solo film sooner rather than later and now that they might just have Raimi in their sights to helm it.

    During a segment of the Hot Mic Podcast, co-host Jeff Sneider indicated that it’s his belief that Raimi will return to direct the third installment in the Doctor Strange franchise. Though Sneider was clear that he was not confirming Raimi’s return, he hinted that it was pretty clear that was the direction things were headed.

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness grossed just short of $1B at the box office ($955.8M), making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2022. The film’s post-credit scene, which introduced Charlize Theron as Clea, hinted at Strange playing a major role in the larger narrative of the Multiverse Saga and recent rumors have suggested that the character will essentially fill the shoes Tony Stark wore towards the end of the Infinity Saga.

    Despite the rumors, Marvel Studios has not officially announced the Doctor Strange threequel; in fact, Disney Chairman Bob Iger recently indicated that the studio may be less inclined to revisit characters for a “third and a fourth” film in the future in favor of bringing new characters to the screen. Additionally, news of a slow down and increased measures of quality control within Marvel Studios don’t seem to match up with the rumored “fast-tracking” of Doctor Strange 3. Disney will be in attendance at April’s CinemaCon, providing them with an opportunity to publicly address any additions, subtractions or delays to Marvel Studios’ slate, should they chose to do so. Otherwise, fans may have to wait until SDCC ’23, or later, to see what Iger’s return to the company means for Marvel Studios theatrical plan.

    Source: YouTube

  • Fewer Sequels, More Avengers in Store for the MCU

    Fewer Sequels, More Avengers in Store for the MCU

    As Bob Iger continues to reign in the free-spending gunslingers behind Disney’s big brands, fans of those brands continue to wonder what the future will hold. During an appearance Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Iger gave some indication of what the future of Marvel Studios may hold.

    On the heels of a pair of sequels that weren’t the critical darlings that Disney had hoped they’d be, Iger indicated that Marvel Studios may reevaluate their approach to sequels.

    There are 7,000 characters, there are a lot more stories to tell. What we have to look at at Marvel is not necessarily the volume of Marvel stories we’re telling but how many times we go back to the well on certain characters. Sequels typically work well for us. Do you need a third and a fourth, for instance, or is it time to turn to other characters?

    Robert Iger

    It’s hard not to read between the lines of Iger’s comments and think about Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. The former has been widely criticized for taking the wrong lessons from its much more successful predecessor, Thor: Ragnarok while the latter has been under fire for its drop-off at the box office.

    It’s not all bad news for Marvel Studios, though. Iger is confident that the future, which he loosely defined as the “next five years”, holds a lot of promise.

    There’s nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand. I think we just have to look at what characters and stories we’re mining. If you look at the trajectory of Marvel in the next five years, there will be a lot of newness. We’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise with a whole new set of Avengers, for example.

    Robert Iger

    Interestingly enough, that newness includes the scheduled MCU debuts of the Punisher, Blade, Deadpool, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, none of whom are new to the superhero landscape, only the MCU; so roughly in the sense that a used car is new to you, though not truly new. Beyond that, characters such as Sentry, Wonder Man and Nova are known to be making true debuts, so it will be worth tracking which of Marvel’s 7,000 other characters get the opportunity to make the jump to the MCU.

    Iger’s comments on a “new set of Avengers” is also worth some thought. After having four Avengers films weaved throughout the Infinity Saga, each serving as “Phase enders”, the studio chose to reserve the Multiverse Saga’s Avengers films for Phase 6. With Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars set to end the Multiverse Saga, the expectations placed on those films is already staggeringly high.

    Source: Deadline

  • New Details Emerge on ‘What If…?’ Season 2’s New MCU Character

    New Details Emerge on ‘What If…?’ Season 2’s New MCU Character

    The first season of Marvel Studios animated series What If…? was a hit with critics and audiences. A second season was already in the works by the time the first episodes hit Disney Plus, but nearly a year and a half later, no word on its release has been revealed. There have been some tidbits about what to expect, however, including the fairly major news that a brand new character will be introduced to the MCU in Season 2.

    The news, via Boardwalk Times, confirms the identity of the new character as Kahhori, who was recently leaked via a Funko product. According to the Twitter account, Kahhori, a young Mohawk woman, will be the star of an episode that explores the impact of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy coming into possession of the Tesseract in pre-Colonial America.

    Additional details from Marvel.com describe the episode as a look what happens when “The Tesseract takes on a new life and a new mythology, transforming a lake into a gateway to the stars and leading Kahhori, a young Mohawk woman, on a quest to discover her power.” Writer Ryan Little scripted the episode in collaboration with members of the Mohawk nation and the episode will “take place in the Mohawk language” and from the perspective of the Mohawk people. The episode will see Kahhori have to “live up to her name (which means she stirs the forest in Mohawk) to recruit powerful allies into the fight to save her people and change the course of history forever.”

    Though no official word has come from Marvel Studios at this time, insider KC Walsh recently shared a potential timeline for the release of the second season of What If…?. According to his sources, the show is tentatively set to debut in early 2024. As Marvel Studios looks to find a better pace with their streaming releases, no time frame (even those originally shared by Marvel) should be considered etched in stone at this time.

    Source: Marvel.com

  • RUMOR: James Spader Set to Return to the MCU as Ultron

    RUMOR: James Spader Set to Return to the MCU as Ultron

    Over decades of Marvel Comics, Ultron has never stopped finding a way to return as a thorn in the side of the Avengers. It appears his cinematic counterpart is going to take up that habit as well. A new rumor shared by the mods at Reddit points to the return of the rogue A.I. in an upcoming Marvel Studios property.

    According to the rumor shared in Tales from the Mod Queue, James Spader will return as the voice of Ultron for Armor Wars. Originally announced as a streaming series, Armor Wars is now getting the big-screen treatment and giving James Rhodes his time to take center stage. Though it’s currently not on the slate, rumors have suggested that the film could go into production as early as late 2023.

    Fans have hoped for the return of Spader, whose Ultron is one of the MCU’s best and most memorable villains, for some time. While the plot of Armor Wars is unknown, it is said to spin out of Rhodes’ arc in Secret Invasion. In the comics, Armor Wars centered around the technology of Tony Stark falling into the hands of criminals who used it to enhance their own suits. Given that Stark created Ultron in the MCU, it would be terrifying to think that he kept some sort of backup that could allow for the reemergence of the AI should it fall into the wrong hands.

    Yassir Lester has been tasked with scripting Armor Wars for Marvel Studios which producer Nate Moore said was being developed as a film to allow for some of Lester’s big ideas to be realized under a big budget.

    Source: Reddit

  • ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ Reportedly Facing a Lengthy Delay

    ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ Reportedly Facing a Lengthy Delay

    The Marvel Studios slow down was bound to cascade. As the studio pulls back under a mandate from Bob Iger to space out their projects, a new rumor suggests that the Multiverse Saga will face a delay of almost 3 years compared to the slate revealed at SDCC ’22.

    According to anonymous sources in contact with the mods at r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers/, Avengers: Secret Wars, the final project in the Multiverse Saga which was originally slated to release on November 7, 2025, will now be pushed until 2028. The report goes on to add further speculation that part of the reason for the delay would be to release the final movie of the Multiverse Saga on the 20th anniversary of the MCU which began in 2008 with Iron Man.

    While several projects are said to be delayed following this new mandate from Iger, no official word has come from Disney on any changes to the MCU slate since Iger’s return. The last update to Marvel Studios’ slate came in October when the following changes were made:

    BLADE moved from 11/3/23 to 9/6/24

    UNTITLED DEADPOOL MOVIE moved from 9/6/24 to 11/8/24

    FANTASTIC FOUR moved from 11/8/24 to 2/14/25

    UNTITLED MARVEL moved from 2/14/25 to 11/7/25

    AVENGERS: SECRET WARS moved from 11/7/25 to 5/1/26

    Presumably, Disney will address any official changes to the slate in the near future with the upcoming CinemaCon providing one possible opportunity. Until then, it’s best not to start tattooing release dates just yet.

    Source: Reddit

  • ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3’ to Have the Longest Runtime of the Trilogy; Still Too Short for You

    ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3’ to Have the Longest Runtime of the Trilogy; Still Too Short for You

    With just under two months to go until the May debut of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, director James Gunn has remained fairly active in social media discussions about the film despite being engrossed in his new role as co-chair of DC Studios. The final installment in Gunn’s Guardians trilogy promises to be an emotional roller coaster as it brings an end to the story of this iteration of the team and not every member is expected to survive their encounter with the film’s villain, Chukwudi Iwuji‘s High Evolutionary.

    Gunn has consistently praised Iwujij’s performance in the film and recently took to Instagram to hype the High Evolutionary, who is responsible for the experiments/torture of Rocket. Gunn’s post simply teased “Can’t wait for you all to meet this guy” along with a creepy picture of High Evolutionary’s face stretched over some enhancements but fans took the chance to interact with Gunn to ask about the film’s runtime.

    Though he didn’t give an exact runtime for the sequel, Gunn did respond that “It’s longer than 1 & 2.” As can be seen here, Guardians of the Galaxy checked in at 2 hours and 2 minutes and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at 2 hours and 17 minutes, a runtime that included 5 stingers. Gunn’s statement means that not only will Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 be the longest Guardians film but also the longest film of his directorial career and one of the ten longest MCU films. That checks out as there’s a lot to do in the film. Time will have to be spent on exposition about the High Evolutionary and Adam Warlock, exploring the new dynamics of the Guardians with a time-displaced Gamora, killing someone(s) and setting the stage for the future of the team. Given all that, a 2 hour and 18+ minute runtime seems fair.

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 debuts in theaters on May 5th!

  • Production Schedule For ‘Captain America 4’ Revealed

    Production Schedule For ‘Captain America 4’ Revealed

    First officially announced at 2022’s San Diego Comic Con, Captain America: New World Order will be one of the non-multiversal projects of the Multiverse Saga, exploring the political situation of the MCU and the state of Sam Wilson, especially now that Secretary Ross is President Ross, putting the two at an awkward position. The movie features Anthony Mackie, Tim Blake Nelson, Shira Haas, Danny Ramirez, Xosha Roquemore, and Carl Lumbly. After quite a long wait, we finally have a precise production schedule for the movie.

    According to Midgard Times, Captain America: New World Order begins principal photography on March 27, 2023 and is expected to wrap production after 116 days on July 21, 2023. Filming will take place at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, and the production will take place under Changeup Productions LLC. The production will take place parallel to Agatha: Coven Of Chaos, Daredevil: Born Again, Wonder Man, Deadpool 3, Blade, and Thunderbolts.

    This falls in line with executive producer Nate Moore’s statement to Deadline a week ago, in which he revealed that filming would commence in “three weeks.” You can read more on that here. The March production start date was also previously confirmed by Anthony Mackie in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, in which he revealed that the upcoming Captain America installment will start filming in “March.”

    We start in about two months? March… Yea—two months, we’ll be—what month is this? We start in about a month, my bad. It’s not January. We start in about a month. We’re just kicking it off, and everybody’s getting squared away and ready to go.

    Anthony Mackie

    Marvel Studios’ Captain America: New World Order is set to release on May 3, 2024.

    Source: Midgard Times | Deadline | Yahoo

  • Disney May Sell Hulu to Regain Hulk and Namor Film Rights

    Disney May Sell Hulu to Regain Hulk and Namor Film Rights

    In the world of IPs and rights, you never know what might happen. Marvel Studios is still trying to regain the rights that Marvel Comics once sold to external partners all the way in the past to ensure they wouldn’t go bankrupt. While Sony is not likely to ever let go of Spider-Man, it does seem like there are two characters they might finally regain the film rights to according to a Wall Street analyst, Jason Bazinet, who has a “Buy” on Disney shares and offered some predictions on where he sees the company’s future.

    One of the biggest questions always was: will Disney hold on to Hulu? The streaming service did push its overall subscriber numbers but existed as a direct competitor to their in-house produced streaming service Disney+. They also don’t fully own it with a 67% stake being the only reason they have as much control over r the service as they do. Bazinet though believes going by the latest fiscal quarter, they’ll likely sell the service.

    Following fiscal 1Q23 results, we believe the company is less interested in a mass market DTC offering. This raises the possibility that Disney may sell its Hulu stake.

    Jason Bazinet

    The share size was a result of their Fox deal that cost them a whopping $71.3B back in 2019. They technically have the right to buy out the remaining 33% from Comcast as of January 2024, but there’s no definite that they are obliged to definitely do so. Blazinet though believes that perhaps the sale of Hulu gives them some leverage to get their hands back on the distribution rights for the Marvel IPs of Hulk and Namor.

    While Disney owns all Marvel IP, Universal has distribution rights to Hulk and Namor. As such, if Disney makes a Hulk or Namor film, Comcast can distribute the film on Peacock. If Hulu is sold, Disney may use this as an opportunity to secure these distribution rights.

    Jason Bazinet

    Hulu can be found in 44% of U.S. online households and has a strong market share. Though if they do decide to purchase the remaining rights, they might just fuse the service similar to how the service is being treated internationally with the Star branding. As of now, the costs estimated for Hulu stand at somewhere between $19.8B and $27.5B. Though there have been rumors they might regain the rights by 2023 anyway. So, we’ll have to see what that might mean especially with rumors of a World War Hulk film making the rounds.

    Source: The Wrap