Tag: Marvel TV

Recent ‘Ironheart’ Casting Call May Lend Credibility to Villain Rumors

A recent casting call from POC Culture shed light on a new, supporting character to be featured in the as-yet-undated Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Ironheart. The report indicated that the production is searching for a Black, Latina or Afro-Latina transgender woman between the ages of 18 and 22 to portray a character described as “smart” and “confident” with a “unique sense of humor.”

As the news made the rounds, one additional bit of information seemed to slip through the cracks just a bit and it’s information that might lend credibility to some previous rumors about the villain of the series. In early January, The Illuminerdi reported that a casting call for Ironheart might indicate that Parker Robbins, aka The Hood, could be villain of the project. That idea has been met with a heavy dose of skepticism by fans because it seems incongruous to have a mystically-enhanced villain going up against a tech-based hero. However, the recent casting call for the transgender woman included an additional description of the character that actually supports the idea of The Hood.

POC Culture’s report included among the descriptors of the character that she also had a “mystical bent.” While this is EXTREMELY vague, it does indicate that Ironheart will include at least some sort of mystical elements. And while this in no way confirms the presence of a character so steeped in mysticism as The Hood, it does raise some interesting points for discussion, not the least of which being that by putting a magic user up against Riri’s powerful tech, Marvel Studios would be going against LONG-established pillars of their stories in which the power sets of the villains match the heroes. By pitting someone like The Hood against Ironheart, Marvel Studios would give Riri a chance to truly flex her genius muscle and separate herself from her armored predecessor. So while this is by no means some sort of confirmation of The Hood, it is interesting food for thought and something to follow over the next couple of months.

April 4, 2022
‘Moon Knight’ From Page to Screen: Episode 1

Unlike the last Marvel Studios series, Hawkeye, Moon Knight has made it pretty clear so far that the series does not draw its inspiration from any particular comic book run. While that makes it more difficult to pull any particular page or panel from the comics and compare it to the live-action series, it does give us an excuse to explore much more of Moon Knight’s comics history. The premiere episode of Moon Knight had a heavy focus on Steven Grant’s dissociative identity disorder (DID) and his discovery of Marc Spector, his alter. Here, we give a rundown of Marc Spector’s DID throughout the character’s history.

The origin of Spector’s DID was not explored until much more recently. But the first appearance of Moon Knight’s personalities came with Moon Knight #1 (1980). After Spector died under the statute of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu, he was seemingly revived. He vowed to act as the human fist of Khonshu as Moon Knight. Causally, though, it was mentioned that Marc Spector had two other personalities as well: millionaire Steven Grant and taxi driver Jake Lockley. In that first story, the caped Moon Knight persona was referred to as a combination of Spector, Grant, and Lockley, though later stories have considered Moon Knight his own personality. In Episode 1 of Moon Knight, Jake Lockley has yet to appear or be referenced. Spector has also had other identities including Mr. Knight, Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine.

‘Moon Knight’ #1 (1980)

Some Moon Knight stories had a tendency to downplay the fact that Spector had multiple identities, not mention it at all, or inaccurately reference it as schizophrenia. In 2016, the Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood run first acknowledged that Spector’s DID manifested as a child:

‘Moon Knight’ #10 (2016)

Not too long after that, Max Bemis and Paul Davidson exposed that Spector’s DID may have been triggered by a traumatic event. Specifically, a family friend, whose real name was Ernst, was actually a Nazi and a serial killer, who brutally tortured and killed members of Spector’s Jewish community. Spector escaped, though his DID was apparently a coping mechanism to handle the trauma.

‘Moon Knight’ #194

Generally speaking, Spector, Grant, and Lockley are aware of one another. Often, particularly in Moon Knight’s early days, they worked together as a unit in order to make the whole caped vigilante deal work.

‘Moon Knight’ #189

‘Moon Knight’ #195

Episode 1 of Moon Knight, however, depicts a Steven Grant that has no idea Spector or Khonshu exists. A similar moment in the comics also comes from the Lemire-Smallwood run where Spector confronts his alters (or at least versions of them) in order to gain control.

Marvel Studios ‘Moon Knight’ Episode 1

‘Moon Knight’ #14 (2016)

The episode also depicts Steven blacking out when Marc takes control of his body. That also is not something that the comics Moon Knight seems to have much issue with, although there are times when certain personalities–often Marc–are intentionally suppressed for long periods. But in the Bemis-Davidson run, it’s revealed that Jake Lockley had a relationship with Marlene and fathered a child with her, and Marc was completely unaware of it.

‘Moon Knight’ #190

Marvel Studios’ ‘Moon Knight’ Episode 1

How Moon Knight will continue to explore the titular character’s DID will be interesting, to say the least. It could take on the primary focus of the series like it did for the Lemire-Smallwood run, or it could remain somewhat on the sidelines as it has for most of Moon Knight’s comic book history. For now, enjoy one of the most iconic Moon Knight pages out there:

‘Moon Knight’ #14 (2016)

Moon Knight is now streaming on Disney+.

April 4, 2022
Marvel Backtracks on ‘Daredevil’s MCU Connection with Latest Update

Just earlier today, we’ve reported that Marvel’s official website has added a new section called “On Screen Full Report” which details a character’s story from any adaptation. In the case of Matt Murdock’s Daredevil, everyone noticed that not only did it explore the Netflix series’ storyline for Charlie Cox‘s take on the character, but even referenced that his return in Spider-Man: No Way Home took place “sometime later” after the events of Daredevil‘s Season 3. Now, the site has been updated and the MCU connection has been completely removed.

Orginally, the section had a reference to his time after Mysterio had Peter Parker’s identity outed and setting up his future return. It was swiftly followed by the mention of him, Karen and Foggy reforming their original law firm. Now, while that later bit is still included they’ve completely removed the Spider-Man: No Way Home section altogether. On the left you’ll see the original version while on the right the one missing the entire section on his time in the MCU.

It’s unclear what exactly has lead to them choosing to delete it once again, but the update and removing the MCU reference is definitely suspicious. It’s unclear why they’d change it right after publishing it, but the fact that the topic is making the rounds and the team behind it would like to avoid anyone making the connection. We’ll likely have to wait until Murdock’s return in a future project to get a better grasp on what story elements remain from the Netflix series, especially now that it has been added to Disney+.

Source: Marvel

April 3, 2022
Marvel’s Latest Site Update May Further Hint at ‘Daredevil’s MCU Canonicity

The quest to discover whether or not Marvel Television’s Daredevil series is canon to the MCU has been a long and winding road. The show went from presumably canon during it’s run to losing it once it was canceled by Netflix, and the subsequent folding of the studio that created it. With little to no confirmation from Marvel Studios or the creatives behind the MCU, the question remained up in the air for years. Evidence was conjured up on both sides of the argument to prove their own theories. Then, late last year, Vincent D’Onofrio and Charlie Cox reprised their respective roles as Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock in two major MCU projects, opening the doors for speculation wider than ever before.

After the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Marvel website added Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s alternate universe wall-crawlers to their official character index. They were specified as non-MCU characters, and where the only non-MCU characters on the site to have their own “on screen” pages. All major characters officially under the MCU canon have separate tabs profiling their live-action appearances separately from their comic book history. However, there are no such pages for characters in films or television shows produced by a studio that is not Marvel Studios. Even the cast of Agents of SHIELD are reduced to quick video breakdowns. Yet, a recent addition to the site includes Daredevil, along with the rest of his Defenders co-stars, receiving their own “on screen full reports”.

Even more curious, Daredevil’s character page includes a full description of the character’s Netflix history, including all three seasons and his time with the Defenders. Yet, what stands out is that it ends with a sequential paragraph describing his role in No Way Home as happening “sometime later”. As for Fisk’s page, it includes a similar history but does not reference the events of his appearance in Hawkeye, despite using an image from the show as the web page’s header. The information is weirdly non-specific and doesn’t technically confirm anything, as it’s not clear who is updating the Marvel website or if it was some sort of mistake. Disney+ doesn’t help matters by simply grouping the former Netflix shows as The Defenders Saga in the streaming service. For now, it’s just an interesting detail that may give fans a hint at where Daredevil lies in the Sacred Timeline’s history.

Source: Marvel

April 3, 2022
‘Moon Knight’ Directors Promise a “Mind-Bending” Episode 4

Moon Knight is a rather different kind of hero, as he not only is facing off against world-ending threats but also himself. The first episode has teased a man’s mind shattered, as the personalities of Steven Grant and Marc Spector fighting for control. It looks like they might fully dive into it throughout the series, but director Aaron Moorhead has teased that episode 4 might go even one step further, as he promises there will be a “mind-bending swing” that recontextualizes the rest of the series.

As you say, there’s a big, mind-bending swing in episode four that makes you reconsider some of the stuff that you’ve seen. Being able to do stuff like that — which pops up all over the comics, and also do great service to the tone and feel of the comics, the excitement of opening something up and seeing something you haven’t seen before — was one of the reasons that we wanted to do this
Aaron Moorhead

Fellow director Justin Benson adds that they really went back to explore the character’s 50 years to play around with the project, as they embraced the many “big swings” that it took in the many different runs.

When you look at the 50 years of incredible content that’s been generated for Moon Knight and Marvel, the best of it is defined by taking big swings, by being bold. So in that way, we were empowered to continue that, to be bold, especially with [episode four]. Visually, something that we were really drawn to, especially for that episode, was the [Jeff] Lemire and [Greg] Smallwood run [of Moon Knight].”
Justin Benson

It sounds exciting to see what the series has in store once we hit that episode, especially how it builds up beyond that. If there is a mind-bending twist, it makes you wonder how it might change the way we view the series and how it comes together at the end. The directors enthusiasm for playing around with the story, as well as embracing the comics. No wonder they were chosen to tackle Loki‘s next season as well.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

April 1, 2022
‘Moon Knight’s Opening Sequence Was Ethan Hawke’s Idea

Ethan Hawke has talked about how Marvel Studios has offered a more cooperative environment unlike other studios. In the same interview with Variety, the actor has also talked about how the opening of Moon Knight came together, highlighting that creative input offered. The memorable opening sequence introduces us swiftly to his character of Dr. Arthur Harrow, as he crashes up glass with his cane and putting them into his shoes before walking off. He reveals that it was actually his idea, wanting to give the villain his own scene reminiscent of comic book one pagers.

That [scene] really sprang out of my imagination and our conversations. When you read a comic book, some of the pages have eight drawings, some of them have 16, some have four, and then every now and then, they’ll give like the villain one full-page drawing.
Ethan Hawke

That comic inspiration seemingly got his gears turning on what they might do, and the creative team gave him the opportunity to explore that aspect, which led to him reflecting on his character.

I kept asking the writers and directors, if it was a comic book, what would his full-page drawing be? And they were like, “What do you think it was?” I started really meditating on that, and I started thinking about spiritual people who go crazy, who get mad on their own spiritual pride, and how often that turns inward and you see that they’re secretly self-lacerating in some way and hating themselves
Ethan Hawke

The connection to the sequence came in the inclusion of his cane, and how it could tie into his character. It probably became the moment that cemented the collaborative nature of this project.

I knew he had a cane and I kept saying, “Wait, I have a cane. Do I have a limp?” They’re like, “No, you don’t have limp.” And I thought, “Ahh, I know why he has a cane.” So I told them this idea. And this is what I mean about what was so surprising about Marvel: They’re like, “Let’s shoot that. That’s a great idea. Let’s open the show with that.” I’m like, “Okay, well, I guess these guys do want to play.”
Ethan Hawke

It’s great to see that the actors are able to also add something to the projects they are working on, especially in how they can highlight their characters effectively. The opening may have caught many off-guard, as the show focused on Moon Knight set the stage in a very different way by focusing on its main antagonist. We’ve only just started and it’ll be interesting to see what the future has in store for Harrow.

Source: Variety

April 1, 2022
‘Moon Knight’s Ethan Hawke on How Marvel Studios is Different From Other Studios

There’s been much debate on Marvel Studios’ relationship with its actors and directors given they run a tight ship. many believe that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is purely studio-driven, but there have been hints that the company has a very different dynamic with its talent than the industry standards might make you think. In an interview with Variety, Ethan Hawke shed further light on what it’s like working with the industry and how Marvel Studios sticks out.

Every other experience I’ve ever had in film is generally that the more money they have, the more fearful the producing staff is. They really want you to do this cookie-cutter thing, do what we paid you to do, don’t have any ideas.
Ethan Hawke

He went on to compare the Disney-owned subsidiary like a kitchen and how it works with the many cooks in its kitchen.

Marvel clearly has a good relationship with actors. The metaphor I like to use is, you have to cook in their kitchen and use their ingredients, but once you’re in the kitchen, and with their groceries, you can do whatever you want. So that was kind of fun.
Ethan Hawke

He also goes on to highlight that the studio isn’t “brittle and arrogant” as some others are. The company seemingly has supported the team behind Moon Knight to bring their vision to life.

I was impressed. They have a tremendous confidence. A lot of people who are really successful, get brittle and arrogant. And wonderful people get confident, and they believe in others and instead of having power over people, they empower people. They really empowered Oscar, Mohamed, myself, May, other people working on the show to try to have a good time and try to make something that we cared about. Because they basically bet that if we liked it then other people would like it.
Ethan Hawke

It certainly sounds like the company is more focused on establishing a collaborative effort and hopes to empower creatives to bring their visions to life. The Disney+ series have highlighted that they are offering their teams more freedom as they’ve added more projects. Of course, the studio still has an active hand in the work such as the CEO Kevin Feige pitching some ideas while bringing projects to life. Movies and TV series are a collaborative effort. It looks like Marvel Studios tries to keep that alive somewhat.

Source: Variety

April 1, 2022
‘The Mandalorian’ and ‘Loki’ Lead Disney+ Viewership

There’s been a lot of debate on just how well the various series perform on Disney+. While some might want to use it to argue on their personal favorite series leading the pack, but it’s also an indicator of what was the most popular production on the streaming app. While none of Disney+s original productions could compete with Star Wars or Marvel, The Hollywood Reporter and Nielsen offers a little insight into how they generally performed through an analysis based on viewing data for the streamer. As of now, it seems that The Mandalorian and Loki remain the best performing series on the site.

Throughout their runtime, every entry of the six live-action shows across both major brands were in the top 10 each week they released a new episode. Yet, it is highlighted that they continuously made billion more minutes of view time spent afterwards. Even What if..? and Star Wars: The Bad Batch made appearances throughout with around two billion minutes of viewing time within seven weeks. The Mandalorian is yet the clear leader with 14.5 billion minutes watched throughout the year. However, 8.4 billion were alone from the time the second season made its debut.

While the Marvel shows have yet to top the series that started Disney+, Loki managed to draw in 5.23 billion minutes of watch time. It even passed one billion in a single week, and is the only Marvel series to do so. On top of that, it had the highest average watch time for any series, even including Star Wars with 872M minutes per episode in its six week runtime. Falcon and the Winter Soldier actually ranked right behind it with 692M minutes per episode, but reaching 4.15B average. Hawkeye had a weaker run with 3.46B minutes watched during its viewing time.

The biggest challenge will come for Marvel Studios introducing new characters to the franchise through Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel. All previous entries were built on existing characters but they are believed to have the potential to become next quarter’s biggest series alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi. We also have to keep in mind these aren’t direct numbers from Disney+, where they might have a very different picture. It strongly depends on what they base their success on that could reshuffle this order.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

April 1, 2022
‘Moon Knight’s Place on the MCU Timeline Revealed

The tradition continues that Disney+ has not only become the central hub for anything Marvel, a new tagline the advertising for the Netflix show’s additions have been strongly pushing, but also gives us a hint at where what project takes place across the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline. With the latest addition of Moon Knight, we once again can play the game on where exactly it fits within that very Sacred Timeline and it looks like the answer was quite simple.

Just like Hawkeye before it, Moon Knight has been placed directly at the end of the timeline order. As such, it’s the newest addition to the ever-expanding franchise. So, the latest four entries also include Shang-Chi, and Eternals. Yet, we can very likely include Spider-Man: No Way Home around the same time as Hawkeye, as the series isn’t included due to Sony still holding on to the rights to that franchise.

It would be great if they added some kind of fun visualization that highlights how some of the stories may even overlap on the timeline. Technically, Loki takes place across its entirety as the Time Variance Authority doesn’t necessarily adhere to the classic timeline rules. With the multiverse expanding, who knows if they might add other “Sagas” to the overview, as who knows what the future has in store for the MCU.

Moon Knight still feels the most isolated of all projects. So, even if it has a timeline window it doesn’t necessarily have to fit that placement. Who knows if they might get a little creative in the future, as they shift some parts here or there to better fit the timeline if needed. For now, it only gives us some playroom to speculate, especially if there’s any crossover by the end of it.

Source: Disney+

April 1, 2022
‘Moon Knight’ Director Discusses The Series’ Depiction of Dissociative Identity Disorder

Bringing Moon Knight to live-action was always a risk. Marvel Studios not only took on the task of telling the story of a lesser-known character, but it also grappled with a complex character. Perhaps most notably, Marc Spector, the person behind the caped crusader Moon Knight, has dissociative identity disorder (DID). Previously referred to as multiple personality disorder and often mislabeled and misunderstood, Spector’s DID causes him to have several distinct personalities co-existing in his mind and body.

Mental health can often be tricky subject to portray accurately or sensitively in fiction. While Moon Knight creators have apparently put in the effort to explore DID respectfully, series director Mohamed Diab says that the fiction of the show keeps it from being a truly accurate depiction of the mental health condition. In an interview with Variety, he noted:

I learned a lot, and I think everyone is going to learn a lot through the journey of the show, about DID…But I still would say that, as respectful as we were, this is not an accurate depiction of DID. We are in a supernatural world and sometimes we over-dramatize stuff.
Mohamed Diab

Diab’s quote seems entirely fair considering at the end of the day, Moon Knight is meant to be a Marvel Studios superhero show. Still, the first episode of the series already places extreme emphasis on the character’s DID, and it looks to be an integral part of Moon Knight going forward. It is positive that Diab notes that Marvel was respectful of the condition, as Moon Knight comics sometimes missed the mark historically. Fans can watch Oscar Isaac’s stunning performance as Steven Grant and Marc Spector while the Disney+ series progresses, but they should perhaps take the portrayal of DID with a grain of salt.

Source: Variety

March 31, 2022