D23 has just started but it looks like some small details are already finding their way online even with some time until to the actual conference tomorrow by Marvel Studios. As shared by @BRMarvelNews, it looks like new logos for Daredevil: Born Again and Captain America: New World Order have been spotted. The Daredevil logo includes the iconic DD that the character usually wears on his chest plate while Captain America has elements from Sam Wilson’s new suit.
Source: Twitter
Many have noticed that throughout COVID, a lot more things have leaked from the normally super secret house of Marvel Studios. The company was well-known for keeping things tightly under wraps but much has changed in the last few years. COVID and a rise in home office have become one of the sources of their dismay as of late, at least according to a new report by The Hollywood Reporter.
They have shared that quite a few leaks have happened not because people are sharing them directly from home but rather curious family members or friends get a quick snapshot. They also highlighted how their dependency on smaller studios also led to a rise in demand, which also meant schooling a lot of new people and scattering their offerings across more vendors. Of course, scattering their footage also didn’t help from things finding their way online.
That didn’t stop them from their usual strict guidelines according to an anonymous source for THR, as they still tried to keep a tight lid as usual even during these difficult times:
I had to go through a whole training course to make sure that I know exactly what I need to do and where to report [anything suspect.
Anonymous VFX Artist
There has been an increase in security since the COVID leaks from Marvel Studios, especially surrounding Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which seemingly had the least information hit the web so far. It’s seemingly the return for many to their office that has helped even if some things still might find their way online in the future.
Kevin Feige has openly discussed the leaks and focused on keeping the experience alive with or without knowing ahead of time. So, we’ll see how much finds its way online with future releases or if merchandise remains our main source for first looks at projects.
Source: THR
As She-Hulk: Attorney at Law continues its run on Disney+, much speculation has arisen about where the plot of the series will go next. The fourth episode, which premiered earlier today, left off with Jennifer Walters having a lawsuit filed against her by a newly released Titania over the trademarked name of “She-Hulk”. Audiences who are anticipating a continued focus on the legal aspects of the series from this revelation should be excited for what’s in store. Actress Ginger Gozaga, who plays the role of Jen Walters’ best friend Nikki, spoke with TVLine about what audiences can expect for the second half of the series.
Yes, that hot legal action with pens and highlighters that you’ve all been asking for! [Laughs] The show is now definitely switching into what it looks like when you have petty, idiot supervillains and superheroes who are either antagonizing you or need to be represented by you. The thing about working in a superhuman law division is we can represent anyone, so we get comic book characters that haven’t entered the Marvel Universe yet, that you haven’t seen in any of the trailers. And you get to see the idiocy of the ridiculously fun superheroes who have legal trouble and may or may not listen to their attorneys. I’m really excited for people to see these guest stars that are in the comic books.
Ginger Gonzaga
Based on what Gonzaga has described, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is fully swinging into the perspective of the “legal comedy” that the series was initially previewed to be. Specifically, a legal battle between the characters of She-Hulk and Titania could very well become a more central arc that the show can take on for the remainder of its first season. This is something that Jameela Jamil seemingly alluded to as early as the red carpet premiere of the series.
Ultimately, fans of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will have to wait till next week to find out more about this direction of the series as the fifth episode is set to premiere on September 15 on Disney+.
Source: TVLine
The fourth episode of the nine-part series of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law doubles down on its intent to embrace an episodic half-hour comedy, and it is consistent with the success of Episode 3 with this premise. Episode 4 keeps She-Hulk as funny as ever. It is perhaps the first MCU project that will get fans excited for each week, not because they want to find out what happens, but simply because it is so enjoyable.
With certain characters and concepts (like Wong) carrying across multiple episodes, the series is avoiding a super strict “weekly” episodic structure that might forget all previous episode narratives. Still, the B story seems to act as an anchor for the structure—while certain stories span multiple episodes, the magic of Donny Blaze keeps it nicely choppy. It is a solid balance that embraces its MCU-unique style without limiting the stories and story arcs to miniature blips that exist purely within one short episode. She-Hulk is making it clear that it can do both.
Episode 4 continues many of the themes and tones the series has previously set out. The Donny Blaze story is small, but Wong’s inclusion gives it more weight and intrigue. The fact that Wong can be reframed in this series in such a funny way without necessarily affecting the character in the greater MCU is brilliant. She-Hulk feels like comics or comic runs where characters take on very different facets of themselves at different times, but the MCU has previously avoided treading into this territory. In fact, some fans tend to lend harsh criticism to the studio if their favorite character comes across differently than how they have in the past.
But She-Hulk’s embrace of this strategy undoubtedly will go on to benefit how the MCU is able to tell different stories. It is especially clear at the tail end of Phase 4, a very experimental and sometimes messy phase, that the MCU wants to expand its offerings in a variety of directions. This series is a prime example of how the studio can do this successfully. Perhaps some stern fans simply need to embrace stories as they come, rather than investing themselves fully in one idea of what the MCU is. “Wongers” will certainly prove to be practice for some to take things less seriously, but Daredevil’s eventual appearance in She-Hulk will surely be a real test.
In any event, after two episodes that fully embrace the format and structure, it seems obvious from this episode that the back half of the series is going to be even better than what we have already seen. Supporting cast, cameos, and one-off performances are all hitting at the same level, meaning the episodic and mini-story experience can thrive. If anything, She-Hulk has only had a couple of episodes to fully take advantage of that structure, and those couple of episodes were some of the MCU’s best television. With five more episodes to go, things are only looking up for the unique series.
Welcome back to another installment of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law From Page to Screen. In the show’s first week, we looked at the differences between the comics’ and series’ versions of Jennifer Walters becoming She-Hulk as seen in the first episode. In Episode 2, viewers got a live-action introduction to Jen’s new legal job, taken straight out of Dan Slott’s and Juan Bobillo’s 2004 She-Hulk run—Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway (GLK&H). Episode 3 took She-Hulk in a bold direction. While it didn’t appear to be the most comics-inspired episode, it did introduce an apparently reimagined version of a comic villain.
At the end of the episode, Jen is jumped by four men who wield the stolen tools of an Asgardian construction worker. The gang is apparently the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the supervillain team, the Wrecking Crew. The group first appeared in 1974 in The Defenders #17. Since then, however, the Wrecking Crew has primarily been associated as a villain to Thor, though they appear as adversaries in a wide variety of contexts in Marvel Comics.
Despite being construction-themed, the Wrecking Crew has a rather fantastical origin. The Wrecking Crew began in Marvel Comics with Dirk Garthwaite, a demolition worker whose violent upbringing made him equally unstable and violent. Dirk donned a mask and costume and assumed the criminal persona of “Wrecker,” causing mayhem at crime scenes with a crowbar. Wrecker’s crime spree one day brought him Loki, who was summoning his ally the Norn Queen to restore his magical power. Dirk was mistaken for Loki after stealing and wearing Loki’s helmet, and he was granted magical power in the form of superhuman strength and endurance.
Wrecker used his newfound power to carry out Loki’s command and battled Thor. Wrecker was defeated by the Destroyer armor after several attempts to kill Thor and was imprisoned. Wrecker eventually escaped from prison with three other inmates: Bulldozer, Piledriver, and Thunderball. The villain found his crowbar (which held his enchanted powers) and decided to share his power with his new crew of escapees. The Wrecking Crew was born when a thunderbolt hit the crowbar while all four held it.
In She-Hulk, the Wrecking Crew so far seems to be a rather puny, comedic version of the comics’ team. Though the group’s live-action origin is a nice nod to the heavy Thor-based comics crew, as they got their “abilities” by robbing an Asgardian construction worker of his enchanted tools. The Wrecking Crew members weren’t just looking for a fight with Jennifer Walters. Thunderball, wearing a ski mask, tries to inject her with what appears to be a blood sampling device. This opens the door for questions about the MCU Wreck Crew’s “boss” and what they want with Hulk blood.
The live-action Wrecking Crew has barely appeared in She-Hulk, so it is difficult to say if they will remain this fairly de-powered version of the classic comics team, or if they have more development later in the series. In She-Hulk comics, there is a comedic moment where the Wrecking Crew is imprisoned in the Big House, a Pym particle shrunken-down prison. Perhaps there is a chance for even more Ant-Man references in an MCU Disney+ series.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now streaming on Disney+.
Thanks to Kevin Feige’s presentation at SDCC ’22, not much has been left to the imagination for 2024. Marvel Studio’s One-Above-All blew the doors off Hall H by officially revealing Daredevil: Born Again, Captain America: New World Order, Thunderbolts, and Fantastic Four would all be released in 2024. He did, however, leave one currently scheduled film date unfilled and what look to be three Disney Plus series. Feige also gave a time frame for when Agatha: Coven of Chaos should start streaming and from the looks of it, 2024 is going to be a very full slate for Marvel Studios live-action productions.
As per Feige at SDCC ’22, Coven of Chaos will bridge 2023 and 2024, so if Marvel Studios sticks to that timeline, it’s just a matter of when in December it starts and when in January it ends, assuming a 6-episode run until otherwise indicated.
Once upon a time, it seemed like a sure thing that Deadpool 3 would hold down this spot. I even got wind at one point that it might start production in the Spring of 2023, making this the perfect date. However, as time goes on, confidence in Deadpool 3 being ready in time for this date continues to decrease. But until such a time that confidence hits absolute zero (and I hear that something else is taking this date), it’ll stay here.
Daredevil: Born Again will be Marvel Studios’ longest series yet, with an 18-episode first season on the docket. Everyone has their own idea about how this series will work out: three six-episode pods; a nine-episode “part one” and a nine-episode “part two.” But as of now, Marvel Studios hasn’t given any indication of what to expect so we’re rolling with this being 18 consecutive weeks of DD goodness. 18 weeks is over a third of the year and there are plenty of other streaming series they want to roll out, so a March 1st start date allows this big event series to bridge the gap between films.
It took a little longer than expected to crack the script and find a director, but now things are headed in the right direction with Julius Onah taking the helm. Expect casting news to start trickling out over the last quarter of 2022 and for production to get underway early in 2023.
The first draft of Thunderbolts has been complete for quite a while now, having been done by Black Widow’s Eric Pearson. With Jake Schreier now on board as director and much, if not all, of the cast of the film already in place, don’t expect a ton of news to roll out about this one.
Whether or not this project, which was announced back in February of 2021, is called Midnight Angels or not remains to be seen; however, once fans see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, they will certainly have an understanding of what this project could be about should Ryan Coogler chose to center this Wakanda-centric spinoff on those characters. Of course, there will be a couple of other potential stories that could also make for an interesting D+ series and Ironheart is itself a Black Panther-related spinoff, so the World of Wakanda will continue to grow in many directions regardless of what this series is titled.
Wonder Man finally gets his chance to step into the MCU! While I don’t expect this show to begin filming until 2023, there may be something to the rumors about them already looking to cast Simon Williams, meaning that the character would debut in another project ahead of his streaming series. Wonder Man and the Wakanda series do seem to be next up, so which one debuts first in the Fall of 2024 will just be a matter of which one gets into production first and successfully avoids the kinds of delays that have hit all of Marvel Studios live-action streaming series.
Nearly five and half years after first being teased at SDCC ’19, Marvel Studios will debut their version of the First Family. Matt Shakman was recently chosen to shepherd the project and early word is that his vision lines up nicely with not only what Kevin Feige has in mind but with the original vision of the characters who first appeared in the World’s Greatest Comics Magazine over 60 years ago.
Fans have had a field day wondering “what’s going on with Armor Wars?” The answer is probably much less sinister than the internet believes. The project is still in development and as is the case with so many of Marvel Studios’ projects, they are simply just taking their time to make sure they put together a solid project before heading into production.
*NOTE* While confidence is fairly high that 2024 will include Midnight Angels, Wonder Man, and Armor Wars (though it’s possible a Nova series pushes one of them to 2025) confidence is much lower on the order in which they might arrive.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law finally gets into its full groove in its third episode, and the result is the series’ best episode by far. By being able to embrace the half-hour story format, the show capitalizes on its concept and various parts to create some memorable and enjoyable television. But at the end of the day, Episode 3 is simple: it is wholeheartedly hilarious and full of constant literal laugh-out-loud moments.
With Wong’s introduction, the show once again proves it has strong connections to the MCU that it uses to enhance She-Hulk. The legal case-by-case structure essentially gives the show—apart from Jen’s overarching personal journey—the substance and story it needs on a weekly basis without the weight or pressure of actually needing a heavy overarching premise. There are clear breadcrumbs to a larger plot on the horizon, notably with the Asgardian construction worker-inspired Wrecking Crew that tried to take a sample of She-Hulk’s blood for “the boss.” But that tease is quite frankly the least interesting part of the episode by far.
The focus on smaller-scale stories also gives She-Hulk the space it needs to be genuinely funny and a pure comedy. Without the mandate of a slowly unraveling “main story”, each episode can just simply be enjoyed for what it is. The series can take elements, like Wong, from the greater universe and frame them in its own comedic lens without having to take on any responsibility for the true development of those characters or elements outside of this specific series. The cast, particularly the supporting cast, proves itself to be a formidable comedic vehicle when the narrative gives them the screen time. Josh Segarra’s Pug and Drew Matthews’ Dennis Bukowski handle the B-story without a problem and put in some of the best performances of the episode.
The pure absurdity contained in some of She-Hulk’s source material and comics generally is often not explored in live-action projects because it is—exactly—absurd. Phase 4 in general has been letting itself delve into that weirdness, but this series probably embraces the weird more than any other project. The simple joy of watching the “everyday life” of a Hulk and the Sorcerer Supreme along with the trivial and silly adventures they get into is virtually never part of the usual MCU experience. By not taking everything so seriously, She-Hulk gets to exist and breathe on its own, unique scale. But its resources make the small-scale stories feel much more exciting than if the revolving door of characters and clients was entirely new or bland. The show, through its connections to cameos and references, has an anchor in the MCU that keeps it from drifting into forgettable waters.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s third episode sees the series transform into what it is intended to be. Where the first two episodes jogged, Episode 3 sprints. The show is fully self-aware, and even directly calls out misogynistic patterns that surround female superheroes and woman-led projects, particularly on social media. She-Hulk has nothing to prove to those who cannot handle the concept of a “She”-Hulk getting attention. For the rest of the world, this episode proves that the series is a hell of a good time.
Through three episodes She-Hulk has already made a habit of sneaking in comic book characters and Easter eggs in addition to tying itself into all corners of the MCU. The A plot of Episode 3, “The People vs. Emil Blonsky”, focused on one of the MCU’s oldest villains in Tim Roth’s the Abomination and, in doing so, may have brought a Captain America connection to light.
Episode 3 picks up right where Episode 2 left off with Jen confronting Blonsky about his breakout from prison, which was captured on camera and has become national news. Since Jen was working on Blonsky’s potential parole, the footage is kind of an issue. Jen’s status as a female superhero lawyer and the bad news footage of Blonsky fighting Wong quickly become talking points for all the talking heads of the world (the writers created a WONDERFUL satire of the real world in this episode), including one by the name of Jefferson Coop, played by Mahdi Cocci. As part of his show, The Conversation, Coop interviews the prosecutor who put Blonsky behind bars all those years ago after his rampage in Harlem. And, as it turns out, that prosecutor has some big-time connections!
The prosecutor, played by Jason Turner, goes by the name of Gideon Wilson. In the comics, Gideon Wilson is the name of both Sam Wilson’s brother who has some pretty significant connections to gamma-related characters. While Sam’s sister, Sarah, was introduced in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, no mention was made of another sibling. Like in the comics, the Wilsons were born in Harlem, however, it has also been established that they moved to Louisiana where they were raised. While it’s not made clear in the episode if Gideon is indeed Sam’s brother, it’s possible he moved back to Harlem to pursue his law career where he was born. So for now it’s best to take it as a cool Easter egg and keep an eye on whether or not Gideon pops back up in the future. Either way, Jessica Gao and company certainly have displayed a knack for dropping in some wonderful comic book connections!
While Ironheart has been in production for some time, it looks like their casting announcements aren’t taking a break anytime soon. Deadline has just reported that XO‘s Regan Aliyah has joined the upcoming Disney+ series in an unknown role. There’s no word how big her role might be, but she’s joining a stacked cast that includes Dominique Thorne as Riri Wiliams, Alden Ehrenreich, Anthony Ramos, and many more.
The series is shaping up to be one of the MCU’s most interesting, especially with recent reveals adding a few curious questions on how it connects to the wider MCU storyline. Leaks seemingly hint at her iconic armor being showcased in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever while set photos hinted at her still working on one during the Disney+ series as it has a much bulkier design in comparison.
There have been theories that perhaps this show acts as a prequel leading into the event of the upcoming film, which would be a first. WandaVision was released ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness so it would connect to the series. Yet, this would be the first case that a series explores a character’s story before they joined the silver screen. Of course, we don’t know yet and can only theorize but it’ll be interesting to see once we get a first look at the series.
Source: Deadline
Aside from outliers like Ms. Marvel’s TV-PG rating, the standard rating for Marvel Studios Disney+ shows has remained TV-14, essentially PG-13. Marvel Cinematic Universe films, of course, have also traditionally held the PG-13 rating since the MCU began in 2008’s Iron Man.
Still, fans lately have been keen on tracking ratings for projects as the MCU expands past the Infinity Saga. For example, all hopes and expectations are on an R-rated Deadpool 3, Marvel Studios announced that the animated series Marvel Zombies would be its first TV-MA-rated show at San Diego Comic-Con 2022.
Unsurprisingly, though, the traditional trend continues with newly revealed ratings for Loki’s next season and What If… ? Season 2. Ahead of Disney+ Day and D23, the ratings for both shows have been revealed to be TV-14. Again, given that this is the second season of an ongoing show, these ratings shouldn’t be shocking. But at least fans won’t have to worry about them being less or more mature.
It will be interesting to watch whether and when Marvel Studios creates other shows outside of its TV-14 comfort zone, like Ms. Marvel and Marvel Zombies. Fans of traditionally more mature characters like Deadpool or Blade, and fans of the darker Netflix Marvel television series like The Punisher are eager to see how Marvel Studios expands its audience going forward.
For the time being, fans will have to wait until Disney+ Day on Thursday, September 8 and Marvel Studios’ D23 presentation on September 10 to find out more.
Source: The Direct
