As word began to circulate that Marvel Studios 2023 streaming slate might see some reshuffling following the return of Bob Iger, one series that seemed a safe bet to remain in 2023 was X-Men ’97. The revival of the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men ’97 was set to kick off its rumored four-season run in the Fall of 2023. Now it seems as though that will not be the case.
Following a rumor about the show being delayed until 2024 was shared on Twitter by CanWeGetSomeToast, showrunner Beau DeMayo took to social media to tell ask fans who are anxiously awaiting the show to “just be patient.” Though DeMayo said he could “neither confirm nor deny” the rumors of the show’s delay, the information is consistent with word that reached us as well.
Despite the friends of humanity still having their mullets and getting all up in it, things are really starting to look up for mutants. And this is gonna kind of come to a head and leads our X-Men to say, ‘What does our future hold for us? We weren’t expecting this.
Beau DeMayo on X-Men ’97
As with many of the projects that are currently facing delays of varying lengths, the extra time to nail things down should ultimately be worth the wait for fans. The new series is set to pick up right where Season 5 of X-Men: The Animated Series left off. According to DeMayo, X-Men ’97 begins “several months after Professor X left Earth after being shot by Henry Gyrich and had to return to the Shi’ar homeworld to be with Lilandra.” The mutant superteam will also be going up against a familiar foe in Mister Sinister, according to an official synopsis of the series. So it sounds like there are plenty of great things in store for fans whenever the show finally makes its way to Disney Plus.
James Gunn is now the co-CEO of DC Studios and has the unimaginable task of righting the ship that was the DC Extended Universe. Now, simply pushing it forward as the DC Cinematic Universe, he aims to wrap up what was filmed before him while setting his sights on the future. Interestingly enough, it seems his friendship with Kevin Feige has led to some “light and fun” talks about a potential DC-Marvel crossover down the line.
In an interview with Empire, he reveals that while his first priority is to ensure that he fully takes charge of the DCU after wrapping up work on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But he seems quite open to potentially working on some kind of crossover; even if it likely would require a lot of legal work to make it happen.
I’m certain that’s more likely now that I’m in charge [at DC], Who knows? That’s many years away, though. I think we have to establish what we’re doing [at DC] first. I would be lying to say that we haven’t discussed it. But all discussions have been very, very light and fun.
James Gunn
With Gunn at the charge, it definitely will change many of the restrictions that we saw in the past for the franchise. While some corners of the Internet have already cried out in terror, there’s a bright future ahead for a truly interconnected franchise. While juggling TV and video games in addition to films might sound quite a bit challenging, if anyone could make it work it’s definitely Gunn.
Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Echo has been the subject of rumors for quite some time. The project, which follows the character of Maya Lopez who was introduced in Hawkeye, was rumored to have a troubled production and every option from it being totally reshot to it being scrapped entirely seemed to follow it. As it turns out, Marvel Studios chose neither of those options and now it seems that it’s headed for release on Disney Plus later this year.
The Man Without Fear Twitter account caught sight of a change made to the publication date of a collection of Echo’s Marvel Comics stories called Echo: The Saga of Maya Lopez. The book, is marketed as “The stunning and lushly illustrated comic debut of Marvel’s next screen sensation, Echo!” was originally set for a mid-2023 release before being pushed all the way until February of 2024. It seems that date has changed again and the book will now hit stores on October 31, 2023.
The ECHO: THE SAGA OF MAYA LOPEZ TPB that had been pushed to Feb 2024 has now been changed once again to October 31, 2023, and is advertised as a media tie-in, so maybe the show is coming in the fall pic.twitter.com/1Q4Nutgv4p
— Daredevil ManWithoutFear.com (@manwithoutfear) April 7, 2023
While it’s certainly not confirmation of a release date, the most recent rumors we’ve heard about the Echo streaming series indicate that it is currently on track for a November release on Disney Plus. The move of this book, which is clearly meant to coincide with the release of the streaming series, is just another interesting piece of data to track until Marvel Studios releases an updated slate.
There’s always a discussion surrounding how villains are treated in any comic book cinematic franchise. Most commonly, they survive for mostly one film and those that make it out alive aren’t around for too long. So, while the heroes continue to get some development, outside of Loki, most villains end up one-dimensional due to the lack of screen time.
As it turns out, Crossbones actor Frank Grillo feels the same. His character was seemingly set up for a long future with the Marvel Cinematic Universe but faced an untimely end during Captain America: Civil War. One might argue that without his character, the events of that entire film wouldn’t have taken place but it seems Grillo wasn’t a fan of how his character was treated, and seemingly confirms he’ll appear in an upcoming DC project.
They never told a story [about Crossbones]. The mythology of the MCU and just what Marvel has in its pool of characters, it’s so deep. Crossbones was there for a minute, but he was supposed to be there longer, then they went the direction they did. I think Crossbones serves a purpose, but I think the interesting thing is that if you see how many people around the world have responded to Crossbones, and again, he’s on the screen for a very f–king short amount of time, I think there’s more there. I think there was more meat on the bone. I was disappointed, which is why I went over to DC.
Frank Grillo
It’s certainly a bit strange as he probably had more screen time than any villain in the MCU. Plus, he also returned for two projects even after his character died, as he returned in Avengers: Endgame and even voiced Crossbones again in What If…?. So, he wasn’t a character that was completely sidelined and it would’ve been great to see him return especially with future multiversal storylines. But going by his comments, that ship has sailed.
Superhero fatigue has been all the rage right now. Mostly due to some pointing out that they’ve seemingly reached their limits and reading too much into box office performances of two distinct projects earlier this year. Shazam: Fury of the God couldn’t pull in an audience and opened with a depressing $30M while Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania lost steam surprisingly fast after a bombastic opening.
While there’s more to this given just how superhero films performed last year, James Gunn gave his thoughts on the topic and seemingly believes that there is such a thing. Yet, he points out that it’s not as simple as “superhero movies” but rather spectacle films that lack the heart that really drags us into these stories.
I think there is such a thing as superhero fatigue. I think it doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes. It has to do with the kind of stories that get to be told, and if you lose your eye on the ball, which is character. We love Superman. We love Batman. We love Iron Man. Because they’re these incredible characters that we have in our hearts. And if it becomes just a bunch of nonsense onscreen, it gets really boring. But I get fatigued by most spectacle films, by the grind of not having an emotionally grounded story. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether they’re superhero movies or not. If you don’t have a story at the base of it, just watching things bash each other, no matter how clever those bashing moments are, no matter how clever the designs and the VFX are, it just gets fatiguing, and I think that’s very, very real.
James Gunn
It’s not completely wrong, as many spectacle films sometimes can overshadow the heart of the story. Ant-Man‘s third film is quite a bit “bigger” than the previous and perhaps just went overboard on what defined the franchise initially. Even Shazam‘s sequel seemingly started going in a bigger direction and there’s no surprise that the first two very family-centric franchises may have struggled a bit earlier this year.
Of course, the topic of superhero fatigue is also quite a bit important for James Gunn, as he’s the head of the newly formed DC Studios. With him set to also direct the next Superman film that’ll define a future new cinematic universe, he’ll put a lot of weight into ensuring that fatigue doesn’t take away their opportunity to build this franchise.
Production on Marvel Studios streaming series Wonder Man, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, looks to be getting underway in Los Angeles and while the cast has been growing by the day, the team behind the camera is also coming into focus. In a post on his Instagram, Wonder Man executive producer Destin Daniel Cretton has revealed that Brett Pawlak will serve as the series director of photography.
A quick check of Pawlak’s resume, located on his website, confirms that Pawlak has taken the gig. Cretton and Pawlak are frequent collaborators with the two most notably teaming up on Just Mercy and the Disney Plus streaming series, American Born Chinese. Wonder Man is being written by Brooklyn 99‘s Andrew Guest and will be directed by a team consisting of Stella Meghie, James Ponsoldt and, potentially, Cretton. Of course, Cretton is also pretty busy writing the sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and preparing to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, so he may choose to simply oversee the creative team of Wonder Man.
Given Marvel Studios has been ordered to drastically slow down their output of streaming series, it’s unclear when Wonder Man may stream on Disney Plus but it doesn’t seem as though it could be any sooner than late 2024.
The first full trailer for the upcoming Marvel Studios streaming series, Secret Invasion, debuted recently and gave fans a little better idea of what to expect from the show when it debuts on Disney Plus on June 21st. Though it won’t be a superhero cameo fest like its comic book counterpart, Marvel Studios Secret Invasion will have quite a bit in common with the 2008 crossover event by writer Brian Michael Bendis. Most notably, the central plot revolves around a faction of Skrulls who, after years (maybe decades?) of preparation, are prepared to take over Earth. The new trailer–just like the first teaser–certainly gives off all the vibes of a paranoia-laden spy-thriller but it also gives a little better glimpse into the plans of Kingsley Ben-Adir‘s Gravik which look to give the show a heavy dose of science fiction as well.
Taking over Earth, even when they’ve infiltrated positions of power around the globe, won’t be easy for the Skrulls. They’ll need an army and while they may have the numbers necessary to put a sizeable one together, what’s known of them from Captain Marvel would hardly make the likes of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes shudder and so, they’ll need something more. Though it’s been the subject of rumors for some time now, it’s made clear in the new trailer that Gravik isn’t your average, ordinary shapeshifting Skrull but rather something a little more…super.
Super-Skrulls have been part of Marvel Comics since 1963’s Fantastic Four #18 and while it’s not been confirmed just yet, it seems as though Gravik is the MCU’s beta Super-Skrull. Super-Skrulls are exactly what you probably think they are: Skrulls sporting super abilities beyond that of the average Skrull. In the comics, they come in two flavors: enhanced or cloned. Whether enhanced or cloned, Super-Skrulls in the comics have been either technologically or genetically altered to enable them to express super abilities taken from other beings. And in Secret Invasion, it seems that’s exactly what Gravik is up to.
Seen first in the teaser for the series and then again in the new trailer, in his base in a decommissioned nuclear power site in Russia, Gravik has a secret room containing dozens–maybe hundreds–of bodies, each of whom has a very interesting looking device attached to their bodies. Is this essentially a farm where cloned Super-Skrulls are waiting to be awakened and sent into action? If so, what’s stopping Gravik from sending them out to take over Earth? The answer to that seems to be tied a machine that he’s shown to be building in the teaser and the trailer. Should he complete that, he’d have an army of Super-Skrulls ready to take on Earth’s heroes when they answer the call.
The trailer also provides some insight into where Gravik is collecting the specimens he intends to use to power up these Super-Skrulls. After first appearing in the MCU in Spider-Man: Homecoming, The United States Department of Damage Control conveniently popped up in Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Following the Chitauri invasion of Earth, Damage Control was given oversight over any and all alien artifacts from the Battle of New York. It would stand to reason that they’ve also followed the Avengers around the United States clearing up their messes following their major skirmishes. During Phase 4, it was also established that they have a supermax prison where Emil Blonsky and the Ms. Marvel villains known as the Clandestines were held. The infiltration of Damage Control could be a potential disaster…and that’s exactly what the Secret Invasion trailer indicates has happened.
While a trailer often presents things taken out of context, it sure looks like Gravik’s Skrulls have been busy getting their hands on all kinds of things they can use to power up their army of Super-Skrulls. The screenshot above may indicate that they were able obtain the hand of Cull Obsidian, a member of Thanos’ Black Order who aided him in acquiring the Infinity Stones on Earth. Cull Obsidian possessed incredible strength, speed, stamina and durability while also demonstrating the ability to heal quickly from injuries–standard, run-of-the-mill superpowers. It seems very likely that Gravik would use the DNA from the sample to provide his army of Super-Skrulls with those powers as their baseline before adding who knows what else to the mix. With the resources of Damage Control, it’s terrifying to think what Gravik could be cooking up and if he’s successful in creating an entire army of Super-Skrulls, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes might not be enough to stop them.
With Nick Fury refusing to call his “super friends” for help in Secret Invasion, it’ll be interesting to see what the old spy pulls out of his bag of tricks to stop Gravik’s plans to take over the Earth!
Who do you trust? That question will be at the center of Marvel Studios latest streaming series, Secret Invasion, when it hits Disney Plus beginning June 21st. Unlike its comic book namesake, Marvel Studios Secret Invasion won’t be an epic, Avengers crossover event but rather a paranoia-laden spy thriller with the spy of all spies, Nick Fury, right in the middle of it all. Marvel Studios recently rolled out the first full trailer for the new series and also provided an official synopsis and partial cast list for the show!
In Marvel Studios’ new series “Secret Invasion,” set in the present day MCU, Nick Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity.
Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury will be joined by Talos, once again brought to life by Ben Mendelsohn. They will be joined by fellow MCU returnees Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Martin Freeman as Everett Ross and Don Cheadle as James Rhodes. Kingsley Ben-Adir joins the MCU as Gravik, the leader of an extremist faction of Skrulls that includes Emilia Clarke‘s G’iah, the daughter of Talos, and Killian Scott, whose Skrull character has not been officially named but has been referred to as Fiz in various reports. Charlayne Woodard, who is rumored to play Nick Fury’s wife, Priscilla, Samuel Adewunmi, Dermot Mulroney, Christopher McDonald, Katie Finneran and Olivia Colman, who will play MI6 operative Sonya Falsworth, were also revealed to be part of the cast.
Ali Selim (Manhunt, Condor) directed and executive-produced Secret Invasion, along with fellow executive producers Kevin Feige, Jonathan Schwartz, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Samuel L. Jackson, Kyle Bradstreet and Brian Tucker. Bradstreet is also the head writer, and Jennifer L. Booth, Allana Williams and Brant Englestein serve as co-executive producers.
Quality over quantity has been the long-echoed outcry on the internet surrounding Marvel Studios’ direction during the pandemic. With up to four shows on top of three films, it seemed like they were hoping too put out as much as they could. There were hints that Bob Chapek‘s era has forced them to also enforce more Disney+ releases to promote the streaming service while also trying to adjust to something no one ever expected to delay their releases for two years.
Marvel Studios was playing catch-up but there was enough drama to overshadow the troubles most production companies are facing in the current timeline. CG over specific shots in a 2+ hour project were the signs of this development, and many discussions have surfaced online. Ironically, most of this discourse only really arrived during 2022 and has been hyper-fixated on in the current mythos.
That was until Bob Iger once again took over as Disney CEO and many new rumors have surfaced hinting at a new yet old direction. Ironically, the number of rumors of potential projects was one of the causes for concern, these new rumors are potentially doing the same thing. On The Hot Mic, Jeff Sneider has added more fuel to the fire of a more regulated output in the form of an exact project count moving forward.
Marvel’s target output has been reduced. I don’t know if this has been reported, or if this was a line in the trades, or whatever, but I’m told that the target output has been reduced from four shows and four movies a year to two shows and three movies a year. And of course that’s malleable. You could get one on either side of that, or whatever.
Jeff Sneider
Two series and three films a year seem to be the current direction for 2023. We just recently saw Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania release with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Marvels on the horizon. We also had the longest pause between series releases with Secret Invasion finally getting its June release and likely only the second season of Loki on the horizon. While some future schedules might hint at a different schedule, they have reshuffled their schedules quite a bit as of late.
It is kind of funny to think that this schedule matches what we had with the Netflix series and the Marvel movies, as we had two series and three films every year. Yet, we also had additional Marvel series like The Runaways, Agents of SHIELD, as well as Cloak and Dagger. 2018 to 2019 technically had more projects airing with a higher number of episodes compared to the “stuffed” 2022 but perhaps the Marvel studios branding is creating the illusion of such. Either way, the current rumor mill will likely have many happy to see the studio dial it down.
Recently a listing on Disney Plus indicated that Marvel Studios upcoming streaming series, Secret Invasion, was set for a June 21st debut. Shortly after word of the listing begin to circulate online, the listing and any reference to the streaming project was removed from the service. Now, ahead of a new trailer for the series, the release date has been confirmed by a new poster for the project.
Sporting the familiar “Who Do You Trust?” tagline from the comic book crossover event, the new poster features a fascinating image of Nick Fury’s face intercut with a Skrull…and a release date!As indicated by the recent D+ listing, Secret Invasion will kick off its 6-episode run on June 21st.
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