Tag: Marvel

‘ANT-MAN 3’: How Marvel Studios Tiniest Franchise Could Make Big Noise in Phase 5

With the Infinity Saga complete, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to enter a bold, new and Avenger-less era. While the specifics aren’t entirely clear, it seems that Phase 4 of the MCU will only last for 2 years and as we continue to learn more about it, it certainly seems like at least part of its purpose is to prepare us for something, to use familiar Marvel terminology, All-New and All-Different.

Black Widow, The Eternals, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder will hit the big screen while The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, What If…? and Hawkeye (and possibly Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight and She-Hulk) will continue the narrative over on Disney Plus. It appears as if The Eternals is going to be a deep dive into the ancient history of the MCU while also planting the seeds for future stories. As I discussed before, Doctor Strange: Into the Multiverse of Madness, in conjunction with WandaVision and Loki, seems poised to change the very nature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by truly opening up and exploring the multiverse. The other projects really seem like they’ll be utilized to transition to legacy heroes (Yelena Belova, Falcon-Cap, Jane Foster/Thor and Kate Bishop) or expand the reach of the MCU into previously unexplored corners and genres (Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings). What’s interesting is that we can’t be entirely sure which of these projects takes place in the MCU’s present day of 2023 which allows the MCU to potentially go on for another 2 years without assembling new heroes to fill the void left following the disassembling of the Avengers following Avengers: Endgame.

Enter the MCU’s smallest franchise: Ant-Man. Both Ant-Man and Ant-Man and The Wasp were smaller budget films that followed major MCU event films in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers: Infinity War, respectively, and were never perceived as “must-see films” despite the second film’s connection to the events of Avengers: Endgame. If there is any truth to the rumors, first shared on our podcast, that Ant-Man 3 may serve as the platform on which the Young Avengers assemble, we could see the final film in Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man trilogy grow to new heights both in popularity and in its impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In following up on the original Young Avengers rumors, I haven’t come across any confirmation of their appearance, but I have consistently heard from other sources to expect something on a much larger scale for Ant-Man 3, so large that the studio has already begun early pre-production work on the film. So while I still can’t confirm Ant-Man and the Young Avengers, I also still can’t entirely rule it out and am left to think about just what that film could look like.

Given that Ant-Man 3 is happening in 2022, the film wouldn’t introduce audiences to the characters, but it could serve as the film in which the team unites. Just exactly who will be on the team isn’t entirely clear, but there are some members who should be ready to go by 2022. Cassie Lang is already in the MCU and definitely ready to rock and roll as her dad’s parter. It appears as though WandaVision will introduce two members of the team in twins Tommy and Billy Kaplan, aka Speed and Wiccan, the children of the Vision and Scarlet Witch, and Kate Bishop is set to make her debut in Hawkeye, meaning we could have 4 core members of the first iteration of the team by the end of 2021. That leaves Teddy Altman, aka Hulkling, Elijah Bradley, aka Patriot and Nathaniel Richards, aka Iron Lad, (aka Kang!) as founding members of the team that still need to be introduced. Given the introduction of the Kree-Skrull conflict in Captain Marvel, it’s not too tough to imagine a way for Hulkling to show up and given that The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will deal with the legacy of Captain America, it is possible that we find a way to get to Patriot. That leaves us with the most interesting and problematic of the Young Avengers: the young, future Kang.

In the comics, Nathaniel Richards, after discovering he is fated to become the evil warlord Kang, travels back in time to seek the help of the Avengers. Finding them disassembled, Richards hacks into the Vision and discovers that the Avengers have identified a group of teens who could step in as the next generation of heroes if anything should happen to them. Richards assembles these heroes, the Young Avengers, and begins filling the void left by the Avengers. the Young Avengers ultimately came into conflict with Captain America and Iron Man after their exploits gained the attention of the two Avengers. While the two groups butted heads, they eventually came together to intervene in a major conflict between the Kree and Skrulls that centered around the heritage of one of Hulkling.

Well it’s unlikely we see a direct adaptation of their comic book origins, it’s not too hard to see a way that they could slide into the MCU. The present day of the MCU, as seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home, is a time without Avengers. As I mentioned above, many of the characters will be introduced ahead of Ant-Man 3, so it’s just a matter of bringing them together. Given that Ant-Man is one of the few remaining Avengers and the only one with a film franchise, it certainly seems possible that we could see some universe shifting events including the Young Avengers take place in the third film.

The family friendly franchise seems like a great place to introduce the new team and provide them with opportunities to be mentored by Earth’s remaining Avengers. In a recent interview, Mark Ruffalo indicated that this sort of mentorship might indeed be something we see in the future, saying he’d like to see the Hulk interact with the new heroes that will be introduced and act as a “guru to some of the younger ones.” While I’m not sure we’ll see an actual academy with classrooms and lunch breaks, I could certainly see Scott, Hope, Clint, Rhodey, and Hulk (and maybe even Wanda and/or Vision) bringing a bit of an Avengers Academy vibe to the story. As for what that story might be, I think Avengers: Endgame may have left some a bread crumb or two.

Tony Stark invented time travel and, as he told Cap, when you mess with time, it tends to mess back. While that certainly happened within the events of Endgame when Thanos traveled forward to 2023 to lay waste to Earth, I’m not sure we’ve seen the end of time messing back. If ever there were a time to introduce Kang, it would be in the next few years. Should Marvel Studios version of the Fantastic Four hit theaters ahead of Ant-Man 3, say in February of 2022, the great 31st century conqueror could be first introduced there, making his younger self’s appearance possible in Reed’s third Ant-Man film. Of course this is nothing but pure speculation and there’s probably all kinds of timey-wimey stuff to consider, but one can always ponder the possibilities.

How would you like to see the Young Avengers brought together in the MCU? Let me hear your thoughts below!

November 21, 2019
Marvel Studios Sets Release Dates Through 2023; Moves to 4 Films a Year

Marvel Studios made a major move last Friday afternoon when it added 5 new release dates to its already impressive slate of productions. In adding one new date in 2022 and four in 2023, Marvel Studios, which once put out four films in a 2 year span, will now put out one film per quarter.

Thanks to Disney+, Marvel Studios is already set to produce an unprecedented number of projects, expanding their ability to tell more and different types of stories. Moving to 4 release dates per year likely means that, beginning in 2021, fans of the MCU won’t go more than a month or so without some sort of new content. At this point, all of the films are untitled, though we have a good idea of what some of them will be, even if we can’t be sure which of the new dates they will fill:

October 7, 2022

February 17, 2023

May 5, 2023

July 28, 2023

November 3, 2023

It’s important to note that February 18, 2022 and July 29, 2022 are also, at the moment, unannounced, giving us 7 “open dates.” It’s probably safe to assume that most of the dates will be filled by some combination of the projects announced by Feige at SDCC, so Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Blade, Captain Marvel 2 and The Fantastic Four will join the newly announced third Ant-Man to fill up 5 of the 7 slots. It’s also possible that Marvel Studios will attempt to introduce the X-Men into the MCU at some point in 2023 and to give Ryan Reynolds Deadpool a go in either 2022 or 2023.

The Mahershala Ali championed Blade reboot would seem a perfect choice for the October 7, 2022 date to take advantage of the horror aspects during the Halloween season, though at this point all anyone can do is speculate.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, once penciled in for the May 2020 release date now filled by Black Widow, would seem to fit nicely into the May 5, 2023 slot as it gives Gunn time to fulfill his contractual obligations on Suicide Squad before concluding his MCU trilogy.

When it was originally announced, Captain Marvel was slated for a July 6, 2018 release before being caught in the shuffle when Sony and Disney reached an agreement on how to use Spidey, so it wouldn’t be entirely shocking to see the sequel plant its flag on July 28, 2023.

Any way you look at it, all any of us can do at this point is guess and get ready to enjoy more MCU content than most of us ever thought we’d see!

November 18, 2019
EXCLUSIVE: Details on Marvel Studios ‘WANDAVISION’

Production on Marvel Studios Disney Plus series, ‘WandaVision‘, began last week (as I first reported and Kevin Feige confirmed) and thanks to a new source, I was able to uncover a few interesting details about one of Marvel Studios most anticipated upcoming projects. It won’t do me much good to explain it, but due to the “newness” of the source, I’m hesitant to share the information, but I’ve decided to go ahead because while it’s all interesting, none of it is so shockingly spoilery that fans will be extremely disappointed if it doesn’t turn out. With that said, here we go!

Parts of the Show Will Film in Front of a Live-Studio Audience

The show’s director, Matt Shakman, has described ‘WandaVision‘ as an “epic action sitcom” and star Elizabeth Olsen described it as a “mash-up” of classic sitcoms. In that vein, parts of the first half of the series will be filmed in front of a live-studio audience. The long-running sitcom “I Love Lucy” was the first scripted show to be performed in front of an audience and, in an homage to it, the cast of ‘WandaVision‘ will be performing in front of small, seated audiences. While the series will seemingly jump through time in order to pay homage to various sitcoms, the first episode seems to be set in the 50s, just like “I Love Lucy.” Obviously strict NDAs will be signed, so don’t look for too many spoilers to leak out, but it will certainly add an interesting dynamic to production of the show as the cast will be able to feed off the energy of the audience.

Wanda and Vision Are Starting the Perfect 50’s Nuclear Family

As indicated by the concept art, Wanda and Vision are playing at being the ideal Nuclear Family. For much of the early part of the series, we won’t be seeing the synthezoid version of Vision. Vision will look an awful lot like we saw him in Avengers: Infinity War and be holding down a job as he and Wanda build their life in the suburbs.

Of course the perfect nuclear family means doing all those perfect nuclear family things like having kids, hosting parties and hanging out with your neighbors…

Kathryn Hahn is Playing a Character Named “Agnes”

Since she was announced as joining the cast as Wanda’s “nosy neighbor”, it’s been widely speculated that Kathryn Hahn would be playing Agatha Harkness. This can probably be traced back to an old 4chan “leak” which really seemed to be some educated guesses mixed in with a lot of uneducated guesses. While there’s no telling what twists and turns might develop over the course of the series, Hahn is, at least on the surface, playing a character names Agnes who seems to be Ethel to Wanda’s Lucy.

It’s possible that Hahn’s Agnes could be a version of little-known Marvel Comics character Agnes Ames who first appeared in the 1960’s comic, Modeling With Millie. It’s also possible that Agnes is a new character created just for the series and it’s also possible that she isn’t exactly what she might appear to be. However, for the time being, all we can say is that Wanda’s nosy neighbor is named Agnes and appears to be another homage to “I Love Lucy.”

While it’s still unclear exactly what Feige’s vision is for this show, it’s starting to come into focus. It appears that the show will, in fact, essentially be two different shows and from that I think we can deduce that there’s going to be a pivotal event that tips the scales towards the “action epic” part. Fans of the comics can probably begin speculating now, but we’re going to have to wait and see just what Feige has cooked up for us.

Please let me know your thoughts on what I’ve shared with you here and what your expectations are for ‘WandaVision.’

Thanks for supporting Murphy’s Multiverse!

November 12, 2019
‘DOCTOR STRANGE: IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS’ Will Irrevocably Alter the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Over the course of the first 23 MCU films, several films stand out as having steered the longform narrative. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, CAPTAIN AMERICA:THE WINTER SOLDIER, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, THOR: RAGNAROK and ANT-MAN AND THE WASP all featured choices, consequences and plot points that impacted more than just the events of those films. It’s hard to argue that Bucky’s reintroduction in The Winter Soldier, the implications of which rippled through the MCU for 5 years, might not have been the point from where the MCU changed forever. It was the beginning of the end of the Avengers, the inciting moment that lead to Civil War and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes being scattered around the globe when its people needed them most. The heroes, of course, came back together to defeat Thanos but it cost them dearly and we are left with a world, 4 years into the future, without a team of Avengers to defend it, alternate timelines created by their attempt to undo Thanos’ destruction and a group of survivors who have experienced a great deal of loss and trauma. While the first two films of Phase 4, 2020’s BLACK WIDOW and THE ETERNALS, don’t seem primed to explore the repercussions of AVENGERS: ENDGAME, it’s beginning to become clear which film will and, by doing so, become a game changer in the same way as Age of Ultron or Ragnarok before it: DOCTOR STRANGE: IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS.

While we know very little about the plot of the sequel at this point, it’s becoming clear that it is being set up to be the fulcrum of Phase 4 and, perhaps, the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following its introduction in 2016’s DOCTOR STRANGE, the idea of the multiverse was largely left to marinate in the minds of fans before being brought back into the spotlight in SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME. Though Quentin Beck’s story of the multiverse turned out to be nothing more than part of his plan to deceive Peter, it did bring the idea back to the forefront of fan’s minds so when Kevin Feige revealed the full title of the Doctor Strange sequel at last summer’s SDCC, it caused an uproar. At that time, we found out that Wanda would be a key player in the film and that the events of WANDAVISION would spill directly into it. Just recently, Feige indicated that DOCTOR STRANGE: IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS would also be connected to the events of LOKI, which will somehow follow the unredeemed 2012 version of the Lord of All Liars on a trip through time, already making the Scott Derrickson sequel the central hub for MCU fans in 2021.

While we don’t know exactly what to expect from DOCTOR STRANGE: IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS or how WANDAVISION and LOKI will impact it or be impacted by it, it certainly seems that the film is positioned to reshape how we will think about the MCU going forward. Opening up the true multiverse means almost endless possibilities for story telling going forward. Other universes mean other versions of familiar characters, territory that has been mined in the comics for decades. It might also mean new characters such as Captain Britain, the Squadron Supreme or Miles Morales. Having Strange learn to navigate between these universes could also mean he might come into contact with cosmic entities that exist outside the confines of a singular universe, being such as Eternity, the Living Tribunal or even the Beyonder, who might have a thing or two to say to the Sorcerer Supreme.

In the way that CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER set the pace for the longform narrative for the films from 2014-2019, it’s possible that DOCTOR STRANGE: IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS could set the stage for the next several years of films after 2021. If anyone is looking for a path the connects Sony’s films to the MCU or for some version of SECRET WARS to make its way to the big screen, it seems like establishing the true multiverse is a necessary first step.

November 8, 2019
EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios Taps ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Screenwriter David Callaham to Pen Untitled Film

Note: This article was originally published by Charles Murphy at That Hashtag Show on November 1, 2018.

Screenwriter David Callaham has been commissioned by Marvel Studios to write an upcoming and yet to be announced film. Since writing the screenplay for 2005’s Doom, Callaham has quickly ascended as a writer. He has done character work on the Expendables franchise, wrote 2014’s Godzilla and has scripts for 3 major upcoming films (Wonder Woman 1984, Mortal Kombat and Zombieland 2) in various stages of development.

Callaham boarded the new project earlier this month, but at this time we are unable to learn the specifics of the project. We do know that it is a film and not one of the limited series currently being developed for Disney Play. The 41-year old Fresno native and University of Michigan grad is no stranger to Marvel Studios, having done some uncredited work on Peyton Reed‘s Ant-Man, and his very diverse resume of projects (including the Amazon series Jean-Claude Van Johnson) doesn’t give us much to go on as we speculate.

What It Is Not

Black Widow, The Eternals and the sequel to Black Panther are set. Black Widow was penned by Jac Schaeffer while Matthew and Ryan Firpo tag teamed the script for The Eternals. Ryan Coogler recently signed on to write and direct the follow up to Black Panther. With Black Widow and The Eternals expected to enter production in 2019, it’s highly unlikely that Marvel Studios has decided to scrap a script entirely and start over with a new writer. It’s much more likely that Callaham is working on a yet-to-be-announced project.

What It Might Be

Literally anything else. Could Callaham be the writer of the Dark Avengers script we reported on earlier this month? It’s certainly possible, though at this point he’s just as likely to the scribe of that script as he is any other film. We know that Marvel Studios is developing a Doctor Strange sequel, that Kevin Feige has teased adding the Young Avengers and that they would like to introduce a number of new characters, including a handful of new female characters. Callaham’s diverse portfolio makes him equally likely to be working on any one of those projects. Whatever the project is, we wouldn’t be too surprised to hear more about it in the near future. With Callaham coming on board this late in 2018, it would be in line with recent Marvel Studios protocol for them to be hoping to get the script in order to film in late 2019 or early 2020, making it a candidate for either the May 7th or November 5th, 2021 release. It’s also entirely possible that Callaham may take his time on this project and we may not even see it in the near future. Whatever the case, we certainly hope to stir the drink and get some more details in the near future.

November 1, 2018
EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios 2020 Slate is Set

Note: This article was originally published by Charles Murphy at That Hashtag Show on October 26, 2018.

Kevin Feige has kept his word: while the wheels at Marvel Studios are still spinning, the fans are left to speculate on what films will come when. Black Widow, The Eternals, Black Panther 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 headline a list of projects we know are upcoming, but since it was announced that Vol. 3 would be delayed while the search for a director continued, it’s been unclear and a source of debate among fans which film would take it place. The recent announcement that the studio was dropping one of its 3 scheduled films from its 2020 release slate seemingly confirmed that Vol. 3 would NOT be happening anytime soon and fanned the flames of conjecture even further. So which movies will we actually end up seeing in 2020?

We are told that in addition to dropping the July 31, 2020 film from their slate, Marvel Studios also settled on the 2 films they’ll be releasing in 2020. As many fans have speculated, we are told the studio plans to release Black Widow on May 1, 2020 and The Eternals on November 6, 2020.

We are told that Black Widow is looking to take advantage of the attractive production incentives available by filming in Croatia. Walt Disney Studios used the beautiful coastal nation to film portions of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, allowing for Black Widow to film their as well in keeping with one of many requirements for the handsome rebate. We were the first to bring you a limited synopsis for the film, one that is in line with a longer synopsis also recently revealed:

At birth, the Black Widow (aka Natasha Romanova) is given to the KGB, which grooms her to become its ultimate operative. When the U.S.S.R. breaks up, the government tries to kill her as the action movies to present-day New York, where she is a freelance operative. The standalone film will find Romanoff living in the United States 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union.

With production set to begin early in 2019, it’s very possible Black Widow is already in pre-production and we expect casting news to begin to leak before the end of the year!

Marvel Studios is also rolling the dice on The Eternals in 2020.

The story of ‘THE ETERNALS’ is set millions of years ago when the cosmic beings known as the Celestials genetically experimented on humans, creating the super-powered individuals as well as more villainous off-shoots known as Deviants. The two groups went on to battle each other throughout history to see which would eventually become the ultimate race. The story involves the love story between Ikaris, a man fueled by cosmic energy, and Sersi, who relishes moving amongst humans.

Chloe Zhao, director of The Eternals, is the big winner in the shuffling of Marvel Studios post-Infinity plans. The studio has a script that they like and when they moved on Zhao, they had hoped things would come together quickly enough to begin production Q4 of next year, which we are told is tentatively planned to take place primarily in the UK, though that’s certainly not been cemented at this point.

Fans of the comics know that The Eternals have two rather diverse interpretations in the comics: the Jack Kirby iteration and the Neil Gaiman iteration. While Gaiman’s turn with the characters held on to some of the key points of the original Kirby work, it was certainly a more modern take. We are told that the script by Matthew and Ryan Firpo was more heavily influenced by Kirby’s 1976 work and will not only introduce the worlds of the Eternals and Deviants, but also connect to several existing characters, leave doors open for the introductions of any number of new ones and establish a deep history of the MCU.

While no further details about who those characters may be were revealed to us, we can certainly speculate. Dating back to the earliest recorded history, the Eternals have direct connections to Thanos, through his father, A’Lars (mentioned in Avengers: Infinity War) and his mother Sui-San; the Greek Pantheon, known as the Olympians, through Zuras, son of Kronos and uncle to Thanos; the Kree and also the malevolent entity known as the Dragon of the Moon. Additionally, the timeless foes of the Eternals, the Deviants, have several interesting connections themselves. Their longtime, underwater capital city of Lemuria could certainly portend some interesting possibilities as could the fact that Skrulls, set to debut in Captain Marvel, are also Deviant offshoots in the comics. Once thought to be a film that could tangentially connect to Thanos and maybe be backdoored via Vol. 3, it’s possible that The Eternals could become a central hub from which many other future story lines emerge.

If we’ve learned anything in the past week, it is that films which seem to have the firmest of release dates (Wonder Woman 1984, for instance) can be shuffled around in an instant so I’m not here to tell you to go get in line for tickets just yet. In a business that’s always in motion, this represents a snapshot of Marvel Studios plans today as I write this, which isn’t even the same day you’ll read it, at which point plans could already have changed.

October 26, 2018
EXCLUSIVE: MARVEL STUDIOS HAS COMMISSIONED A ‘DARK AVENGERS’ SCRIPT

Note: This article was originally published by Charles Murphy at That Hashtag Show on October 5, 2018

Marvel Studios has enjoyed an unprecedented 10 year run of box office success as that began with 2008’s Iron Man. That film gave the studio the momentum it needed to build a cinematic universe around a few well-known heroes, take some gambles on a few others and tell a longform story unlike any that’s come before. That story, however, will come to an end with 2019’s Avengers 4 as will the tenures of several of the studio’s flagship heroes leaving fans to wonder what comes next. Some of the heroes and franchises will live on post-Infinity with sequels being developed for Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Black Panther; other new heroes such as Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau will be introduced before Avengers 4 and become a part of the story that comes next; new franchises, such at The Eternals, are being developed, showing that Kevin Feige and company are still willing to roll the dice on some lesser known characters even as their deal to bring home the X-Men, Fantastic Four and related characters creeps towards closure.

As exciting as the influx of new characters is for fans, Feige couldn’t have counted on them to shoulder the load going forward until the recent approvals to the deal. As a result, Marvel Studios has been developing dozens of properties for potential films and those dozens of properties probably stand at a dozen different stages of development. Some of those properties will feature prominently in the future of the MCU and others will never be known to anyone not lucky enough to be a part of the Marvel Studios brain trust. We’ve been fortunate enough to find out about similar projects in the past and today we’re happy to share another: Marvel Studios has developed and completed a script for an adaptation of Dark Avengers.

To be clear, Marvel Studios has many scripts for many projects, not all of which will make it to the big screen. It’s a smart move for the studio to commission as many scripts as possible knowing that at any time someone might come up with a take on an IP that blows people away while also knowing some of them will go straight to the bottom of the pile. We at That Hashtag Show don’t pretend to know where in that pile the Dark Avengers sits, only that a script for the IP was completed .

The Dark Avengers were created by Brian Michael Bendis and first appeared in their own title in January of 2009 in the aftermath of the Skrull Secret Invasion. With the people and the government having lost faith in the Avengers, Norman Osborn, who had been in charge of the Thunderbolts, was appointed head of the reformed S.H.I.E.L.D., now known as H.A.M.M.E.R.. Osborn took the opportunity to assemble his own team of “heroes”, including Sentry, Noh-Varr and Ares and to disguise some Thunderbolts as former Avengers. Osborn’s team included a Mac Gargan “Spider-Man”, a Moonstone “Captain Marvel”, a Bullseye “Hawkeye”, a Daken “Wolverine” and Norman in the Iron Patriot armor. The initial run of the comic lasted 16 issues and ran throughout the Dark Regin and Seige line-wide arcs.

October 5, 2018