Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: MCU News

  • ‘Spider-Man 4’ Reportedly Undergoing a Major Overhaul

    ‘Spider-Man 4’ Reportedly Undergoing a Major Overhaul

    Unbelievably, the tenth anniversary of Marvel Studios and Sony’s agreement to enter into an unprecedented collaboration to produce Spider-Man films set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe is just months away. In February 2015, the two studios struck a deal that allowed a then-as-yet uncast actor to star in Marvel Studios-produced and Sony-distributed films while also appearing in other major crossover events made solely by Marvel Studios. Over the next seven years, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker appeared in a total of six projects and became one of the MCU’s most beloved characters.

    In 2021, ahead of the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which put a bow on the MCU-set Spider-Man trilogy, Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, assured fans that development on a fourth Spidey film had already begun in collaboration with Sony. Nearly three years later, while there have been plenty of reports and rumors about Spider-Man 4, there’s been no official word about when to expect the project in theaters.

    Amy [Pascal] and I and Disney and Sony are talking about — yes, we’re actively beginning to develop where the story heads next, which I only say outright because I don’t want fans to go through any separation trauma like what happened after “Far From Home.”

    -Kevin Feige, December 2021
    spider man 4

    Holland reportedly struck a deal to stay on as the Wall-Crawler in 2022 shortly after Feige revealed that Spider-Man and Daredevil were set to lead the MCU’s crew of street-level heroes through the Multiverse Saga. In an early 2023 interview with EW, Feige revealed that the studio cracked the story for Spider-Man 4 and that development on the script had begun. “All I will say is that we have the story,” said Feige. “We have big ideas for that, and our writers are just putting pen to paper now.” Though the work stoppages of 2023 slowed progress on putting that story together, details on the plot of the first installment of the new Spidey trilogy emerged. Spinning, in part, out of the events of the D+ streaming series Daredevil: Born Again, Spider-Man 4 was rumored to feature a “street-level civil war” that would see Spidey and Daredevil gather a team of heroes to take on Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin. With the story in place and production reported to be scheduled for a late 2024 start, a 2025 release for the film seemed possible; however, as time went on without any official word from Sony, fans began to wonder what was going on behind the scenes and with the most recent update indicating there’s been a delay in production that might push the film’s release to 2026, some new information has emerged that might explain why things haven’t gotten underway quite yet.

    According to reliable MCU insider Daniel RPK, Spider-Man 4 is now being developed as a “multiverse” project.

    Though no other details about the new direction of the film, fans have already expressed disappointment in another multiverse project; however, it’s possible that those frustrated fans aren’t looking through the multiversal lens clearly. While the concern about adding multiversal components to the story of Spider-Man 4 is understandable, it does not mean the “street-level civil war” has been removed from the film and could quite possibly point toward Miles Morales swinging into the MCU to join the fray.

    While the distaste for Spider-Man 4 evolving into “another” multiverse project is at least somewhat understandable given that was the premise of Spider-Man: No Way Home, a Peter and Miles team-up would likely be wildly successful. While it wouldn’t have the same R-rated tone as Deadpool & Wolverine, a Spider-Men film would do big business at the box office while allowing Miles to get into the game ahead of Avengers: Secret Wars. Fans of Jonathan Hickman‘s 2015 Marvel Comics event, Secret Wars, will remember just how large of a role Miles played in foiling Doom’s plans, so bringing him on board before the 2027 film would allow for the character to do his thing there while also prepping him as a star for the studio’s post-Multiverse Saga future.

  • Details from Marvel’s Scrapped Avengers Film Reveal One of the Planned Leads

    Details from Marvel’s Scrapped Avengers Film Reveal One of the Planned Leads

    Many Marvel Studios’ projects have faced their own particular challenges over the years but arguably no project had those challenges revealed publicly to the extent of the recently retitled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. A month after the studio ran the Russo brothers and Robert Downey Jr. on stage to reveal the film had become Avengers: Doomsday, details about what could have been have begun to emerge.

    Just days after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu updated the status of the sequel to the 2021 hit, Inverse revealed that Shang-Chi was originally intended to have a major role in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty before the project was retooled.

    “In the original plan for Avengers 5, then called Kang Dynasty, Shang-Chi would’ve been one of the film’s main leads. A lot’s changed since then; Avengers 5 was meant to focus on Kang the Conqueror, but Marvel has since completely retooled the film to introduce Victor Von Doom.”

    -Inverse

    To fans who have followed the project since it was first announced at SDCC ’22, the notion that Shang-Chi was intended to be one of the film’s leads shouldn’t be too shocking. Destin Daniel Cretton, who helmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings, was originally set to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and it was often theorized that Shang-Chi’s rings–along with Kamala Khan’s bangle–might play a big role in taking on Kang the Conqueror. However, as things began to fall apart around the project, Cretton stepped away as director of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty as writer Michael Waldron came aboard to retool the script. Despite plans to recast the role of Kang after Jonathan Majors was fired following his very public legal issues, the studio made the decision to move in a different direction earlier this year, removing the subtitle from the film and keeping the new plan under wraps until the big Hall H reveal at SDCC ’24.

    Though no word has come down the pipe on what to expect from writer Stephen McFeely‘s script for the newly announced Avengers: Doomsday, it seems unlikely that the same group of characters intended to lead the charge in The Kang Dynasty will remain at the center of the new project.

    Source: Inverse

  • Marvel Studios Recasting Pivotal Phase 4 Role for Upcoming Project

    Marvel Studios Recasting Pivotal Phase 4 Role for Upcoming Project

    Marvel Studios kicked off its post-Endgame efforts in January 2021 with its first Disney Plus streaming series, WandaVision. Led by incredible performances by Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany and Kathryn Hahn, the series was a hit with fans and has spawned a pair of spinoffs in Agatha All Along, a nine-episode streamer premiering on September 18th, and an untitled Vision series that begins production this Fall. While the continuing tales of Agatha Harkness and the White Vision are certainly of interest to fans, the series also included a handful of other characters whose impact was felt beyond the story told in WandaVision.

    The story of Monica Rambeau, who gained her powers in WandaVision, continued in the 2023 film The Marvels and looks to be integral to helping move along the overall narrative of The Multiverse Saga and there are several minor characters from WandaVision who are set to return for Agatha All Along; however, arguably no characters had a larger immediate impact on Phase 4 than Wanda and Vision’s children, Billy and Tommy. Created by Wanda as part of the Hex she placed over Westview, the children disappeared when Wanda removed her spell in the WandaVision finale. Corrupted by the Darkhold and driven in her efforts to reunite with Billy and Tommy, Wanda became the Scarlet Witch and took on fellow Avenger Steven Strange in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Though she sacrificed herself to destroy the Darkhold in the final act of the film, Marvel Studio’s head honcho Kevin Feige has teased a future for the character and it seems as though fans will begin to get a glimpse of that soon.

    There really is so much more to explore. We still haven’t touched on many of her core storylines from the comics. I don’t know that we saw her under rubble? I saw a tower coming down, and a little red flash. I don’t know what that means.

    -Kevin Feige on the future of Wanda Maximoff

    Though she isn’t expected to have much, if any, physical presence, in Agatha All Along, Wanda’s actions will reverberate throughout the series. The series will follow Agatha as she seeks to regain the power taken from her by Wanda. To do so, Agatha must walk the legendary Witches’ Road with her coven and one member of that coven is widely believed to be Billy Kaplan who, in the comics, is the reincarnated version of Billy Kaplan. Played by Joe Locke, the character is called Teen in Agatha All Along, obfuscating the character’s true identity until late in the series. With one son finding a way back into the world, it’s just a matter of time until the other does and now we know when to expect that.

    According to insider Daniel RPK, Marvel Studios is looking to cast Javon Walton as a character also called Teen in the upcoming Vision-centric WandaVision spinoff. Given previous rumors about the series and the shared name for the character, it seems all but a certainty that the studio is looking to cast Walton as Tommy Shepherd, the reborn Tommy Maximoff.

    In addition to recently launching a career in boxing, Walton has starred in the HBO prestige series, Euphoria, and Netflix’s Umbrella Academy. In the comics, Tommy was a rough-around-the-edges teen whose behavior frequently landed him in juvenile detention centers. He possessed powers similar to his uncle, Pietro Maximoff, aka Quicksilver, and joined the Young Avengers under the codename Speed. Tommy Maximoff, played by Jett Klyne, displayed similar powers in the latter half of WandaVision.

    Kevin Feige recently confirmed that Star Trek: Picard writer Terry Matalas has replaced WandaVision and Agatha All Along showrunner on the Vision series and while early word is that Matalas has some interesting new ideas for the show, the return of Tommy to the MCU remains in the plans and will serve as connective tissue to Agatha All Along. Given how pivotal finding a way to bring her sons to life was to Wanda’s arc, it would seem incredibly logical that once they’ve found their way into the 616 reality, she won’t be far behind.

  • Simu Liu Updates the Status of ‘Shang-Chi 2’

    Simu Liu Updates the Status of ‘Shang-Chi 2’

    With the third anniversary of the theatrical release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings creeping closer, fans are still waiting for the film’s breakout star, Simu Liu, to return to the MCU. While much of the recent dialogue around Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga centers on the poor performances of several projects, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings still stands as one of the company’s best films post-Endgame, having been both critically and financially successful. Just two months after the film hit theaters during the pandemic in 2021, it was announced that Destin Daniel Cretton inked an overall deal to develop content for Disney including a Shang-Chi sequel.

    Destin is an amazing collaborator who brought a unique perspective and skill to Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings. We had a fantastic time working together on the film and he has so many intriguing ideas for stories to bring to life on Disney+, so we’re thrilled to expand our relationship with him and can’t wait to get started.

    -Kevin Feige on Destin Daniel Cretton, December 2021

    According to Cretton, much of the groundwork for the sequel took place during the filming of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. “While we were shooting, we were throwing around joke ideas of what a sequel could be,” said Cretton who added “There are a lot of ideas that we had in the opener, and some of those ideas are planted as questions, by the end of our movie. There are things that we potentially want to explore in the future.” Despite what sounded like a promising start to a sequel script, the director indicated in a 2021 interview that nothing had moved beyond the “idea stage” and that he’d done no work on a script, saying “I’ve done [zero]. It’s a fun place to be right now. Everything is a possibility. We’re just tossing very loose ideas around and we’ll start to hone in on something, hopefully.“

    I think just what Shaun decides to do with all this newfound power, you know? It kind of consumed his father, consumed Wenwu. I’m curious as to how someone much younger, much more inexperienced, would fare against the rings. Just this idea of all of a sudden being gifted something that’s so powerful but also so dangerous. And then the other big question I have is, you know, in what way does Shaun fit in with the rest of the MCU? Who are you going to see? What kind of crazy team-ups? What kinda tie-ins, Easter eggs? I’m just as much in the dark as everyone else, so I don’t know anything, but I’m excited to dive into that process.

    -Simu Liu on a potential Shang-Chi sequel

    During SDCC ’22, Liu fueled hopes that sequel plans would come to fruition relatively soon, telling the crowd that he was”going to be busy the next few years” and that he’d be starring in “a couple of” projects Marvel Studios announced during the convention. Two years and another SDCC later, Liu’s Shang-Chi still hasn’t returned to the MCU and the sequel still hasn’t been put on Marvel Studios’ slate. It’s an understatement to say that quite a bit has changed behind the scenes at the studio over the last two years and fans have rightfully been worried that the Shang-Chi sequel may have been canceled; however, in a recent interview with Press Trust of India, Liu put those concerns to rest.

    A lot of it is above my pay grade but it’s definitely happening,” said Liu of the sequel, adding, “So just very excited to kind of work on it and it’s going to be amazing. I really can’t say anything beyond that.

    It’s an encouraging update from the film’s star that comes at a time when there simply hasn’t been much information about the project in nearly a year. In late 2023, Cretton was confirmed to still be working on the script while also having stepped down as director of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. With even more changes having taken place at Marvel Studios since then–including the reframing of the entire structure of the Multiverse Saga–it’s unclear what role Shang-Chi will play in the shared narrative over the next few years. Once believed to be integral to mounting a defense against Kang the Conqueror, Shang-Chi’s rings may now have a different purpose with Doctor Doom looming. And while Liu may not be at liberty to discuss just what that purpose is, it is encouraging to know he’s still headed back to the MCU.

    Source: Press Trust of India

  • D23: Major Marvel Movie Remains Absent from Kevin Feige Presentation

    D23: Major Marvel Movie Remains Absent from Kevin Feige Presentation

    For the third time in four months, Marvel Studios’ One Above All, Kevin Feige, provided a convention audience with an update on the studio’s 2025 film slate when he took the stage at Disney’s D23 event on August 9th. And for the third time in four months, Feige teased Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, explaining what each project would add to the ever-expanding MCU and showcasing footage for those in attendance. And for the third time in four months, there was no mention of one of the studio’s longest-gestating projects.

    As was the case at April’s CinemaCon and July’s SDCC, Feige’s presentation about the studio’s 2025 theatrical slate did not include even a mention of Blade. First announced at SDCC ’19, the Mahershala Ali-led reboot was initially met with incredible anticipation; five years later, that has evolved into incredible consternation as the studio’s well-documented struggles to get the project up and running have led to concerns that it may never make its way to the big screen. And when for the third time in four months the project gets left out of a presentation by Feige about what to expect in theaters in 2025, it’s easy to understand why fans have grown concerned.

    Feige isn’t acting independently in ignoring the project. During a recent investor call, Disney big cheese Bob Iger also failed to discuss the project while hyping investors on the company’s big 2025 release schedule. “In 2025, our theatrical slate remains just as robust, with Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Zootopia 2, and Avatar 3,” said Iger, listing each of the other MCU films slated for 2025.

    Despite being left out of Feige’s three most recent presentations about the immediate future of the MCU and currently being without a director, Blade is still listed as a November 7, 2025 release on all of Disney’s official channels. However, as the calendar creeps toward Fall, when the project was expected to begin production, the probability of Blade keeping that 2025 release date continues to decrease. And at this point–after not being mentioned during a presentation by Feige for the third time in four months–fans have begun to wonder if they’ll ever see the Daywalker’s solo project on the big screen at all.

  • Marvel TV Boss Dodges the Canonicity of ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

    Marvel TV Boss Dodges the Canonicity of ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

    Marvel Studios’ Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum, has been there since the beginning. Beginning his career as an assistant to Marvel big wig Louis D’Espositio on Iron Man, Winderbaum has served as an executive producer on over a dozen projects and was promoted to his new role in August 2021. Since then, he’s found himself in the spotlight more frequently, including being the mouthpiece for the studio’s rebranding which moved them away from the “it’s all connected” era that seemed to overwhelm newer fans.

    There was a lot of pressure post-Avengers: Endgame on the public to feel obligated to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything. Part of the rebranding was a signal to the general audience that we’re creating a lot of options, and you can follow your tastes within this brand. Some will be more comedic, some will be more dramatic, some will be animated, some will be live-action. Marvel is more than just one thing — it is actually many different genres that just happened to coexist in a single narrative.

    -Brad Winderbaum on Marvel Studios rebranding of projects, May, 2022

    Now roughly halfway through their Multiverse Saga, the studio is reticent to make fans feel as though they have dozens of hours of required reading to do before watching a new project. “The hope is that, like the comics, you can just pop in anywhere and have a satisfying experience,” said Winderbaum in a May 2024 interview with Variety. “We’re trying to dispel the idea that you need to do any kind of setup work to watch anything else.” So while “the characters still live and breathe in the same universe…the interconnectivity is not so rigid that you need to watch Project A to understand Project B.” For example, even though the events of the Netflix Marvel series from the mid-2010s are canon to Marvel Studios’ Sacred Timeline, audiences should not need to watch the 39-hour-ish long episodes of Netflix’s Daredevil in order to enjoy the upcoming Disney Plus streaming series, Daredevil: Born Again.

    So, I can say that up until this point, we’ve been a little bit cagey about what’s Sacred Timeline and what’s not. That was born, frankly, out of a period at the studio where we were like “we have to stick the landing with Avengers.” It was another part of the company developing the Netflix stuff; we were aware of what they were doing, they were aware of what we were doing, but it was a lot.. it was a lot to balance anyway. But now that some time has passed, now that we actually see how well-integrated the stories are, I personally, Brad Winderbaum, will confidently say that they are part of the Sacred Timeline.

    -Brade Winderbaum on the canonicty of the Marvel Netflix series, January 2024

    With Marvel Studios so readily retroactively placing the events of the Netflix Defenders-verse into their Sacred Timeline, fans have been anticipating another TV series to be officially given the same treatment. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the first Marvel Television show of the modern era, continues to have a fervent fanbase of supporters who believe it deserves to be given Winderbaum’s seal of approval as well, despite some mixed signals about just how it might fit into the Sacred Timeline; however, Winderbaum isn’t quite ready to sign off on that just yet.

    “I want to go down this road with you, you know I do, but we’re just gonna take a deep breath for a second,” said Winderbaum when asked if he considered Marvel Television’s ABC melodrama as canon to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline. “I think that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a really great show and there was a long time where some of the best reveals in that show were during the Winter Soldier era where Hydra emerges and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh!’,” said Winderbaum about the early seasons of the series that clearly crossed over with Marvel Studios’ big-screen adventures. “I remember that feeling, even knowing what was happening, just being a fan, [going] ‘It really is connected!’,” he continued. “I think that there is, in a crazy way, like you said, it does feel like it fits into The Multiverse Saga in an incredible way.” Before finishing his evasive maneuvers, Winderbaum gave props to the cast of the series saying, “Just know that I love that cast, I love Clark Gregg and I love that show.“

    Winderbaum seems to have been heavily schooled in Feigespeak 101 because he said a whole lot without saying anything at all. Loving the series and the cast and admitting a nostalgic connection to the “It’s All Connected” days is a far cry from “I personally, Brad Winderbaum, will confidently say that [the Marvel Netflix series] are part of the Sacred Timeline.” Part of the studio’s hesitancy to officially canonize Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. despite the obvious connectivity of early seasons likely stems from some of the crazier adventures that took place in later seasons. Of course, no matter what Winderbaum or other studio execs say, the best part about fandom is and always has been the ability of fans to choose their own adventure and enjoy things as they please. Nothing anyone says or does not say should deter from that.

    All episodes of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. can be found on Disney Plus under the “Agents and Inhumans” section which is obviously and intentionally quite separate from the section titled “MCU Complete Timeline.”

    Source: Screen Rant

  • D23: ‘What If…?’ to End with Season 3

    D23: ‘What If…?’ to End with Season 3

    adsf

    With the series ending, director and showrunner Bryan Andrews explained that he was comfortable going big. “We can take big swings,” said Andrews of the creative teams efforts for Season 3. To that end, the series is set to feature some wild new genres, including a Western, and expand its roster beyond the major characters who populated most of the show’s first two seasons.

    In addition to a Western, another of those “big swings” will see a new team of Avengers–featuring Sam Wilson, Moon Knight and Monica Rambeau, take on gamma monsters.

    Updating…

  • Marvel Studios Confirms Episode Count for ‘Agatha All Along’

    Marvel Studios Confirms Episode Count for ‘Agatha All Along’

    Marvel Studios’ first streaming series, WandaVision, may ultimately be remembered more for what it was not than what it was. Each week, the MCU fanbase squabbled about short runtimes, concocted ridiculous theories and nitpicked its way right through a very good series carried by three incredible performances. Even in the weeks and months leading up to the series, social media was full of debates over how many episodes it would be despite evidence that it was set to be a 9-episode season. As the first of at least two WandaVision spinoffs creeps closer to its debut, Marvel has put out one of those potential fires before it spreads.

    According to an official release sent out by Disney following Marvel Studios’ presentation at D23, Agatha All Along will consist of nine episodes.
    (L-R): Teen (Joe Locke), The Green Witch/Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) and Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata) in Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.

    In Marvel Studios’ Agatha All Along, the infamous Agatha Harkness finds herself down and out of power after a suspicious goth Teen helps break her free from a distorted spell. Her interest is piqued when he begs her to take him on the legendary Witches’ Road, a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they’re missing. Together, Agatha and this mysterious Teen pull together a desperate coven, and set off down, down, down The Road…

    -Official Synopsis, Agatha All Along

    As ridiculous as it seems that the same confusion over episode count that occurred with WandaVision could resurface over Agatha All Along, there has been a lack of clarity on the matter. It is nearly impossible and definitely futile to attempt to dig back to the source of the confusion; however, most of it seems to stem from claims of a Witches’ Road special presentation spinning out of the spinoff. Further claims about the special–which was never discussed publicly by Marvel Studios–postulated that plans for it had changed and it had been rolled into the body of the streaming series. Whether any of the claims were ever true or not, message boards and Discord servers were certainly not certain about how many episodes of the Kathryn Hahn-led series they should prepare for this Fall.

    According to the press release, the nine-episode series was directed by a trio of talent with each responsible for three episodes. In addition to series creator Jac Schaeffer, episodes of Agatha All Along will be directed by Rachel Goldberg (Mayans M.C. and Gen V) and Gandja Monteiro (Wednesday, The Witcher and The Walking Dead: Dead City).

    Agatha All Along will debut with a 2-episode premiere on September 18th and stream on Disney Plus right through Spooky Season!

  • D23: Marvel Studios Debuts an Enchanting New Look at ‘Agatha All Along’

    D23: Marvel Studios Debuts an Enchanting New Look at ‘Agatha All Along’

    Kathryn Hahn‘s Agatha Harkness bewitched MCU fans in 2021’s WandaVision. Hahn’s scene-stealing performance alongside MCU vets Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany led to a quick green light on the development of her own spinoff series. Created by WandaVision‘s head writer, Jac Schaeffer, the series underwent a string of title changes before settling on Agatha All Along. A first look at the series debuted in early July but with just over a month until its streaming debut, Marvel Studios rolled out a new look at the series during their portion of D23’s Disney Entertainment Showcase.

    The series stars Joe Locke as “Teen”/Billy Kaplan, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Maria Dizzia, Paul Adelstein, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Okwui Okpokwasili, with Debra Jo Rupp,
    Patti LuPone, and Aubrey Plaza as Rio Vidal, aka the Green Witch.

    (L-R): Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) and Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone) in Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.
    Detective Agnes O’Connor (Kathryn Hahn) in Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.

    In Agatha All Along, the infamous Agatha Harkness finds herself down and out of power after a suspicious goth Teen helps break her free from a distorted spell. Her interest is piqued when he begs her to take him on the legendary Witches’ Road, a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they’re missing. Together, Agatha and this mysterious Teen pull together a desperate coven, and set off down, down, down The Road…

    -Official Synopsis, Agatha All Along

    Agatha All Along debuts with two episodes on September 18th on Disney Plus.

  • Latest ‘Fantastic Four’ Set Photo Includes a ‘WandaVision’ Easter Egg

    Latest ‘Fantastic Four’ Set Photo Includes a ‘WandaVision’ Easter Egg

    Principal photography on Marvel Studios The Fantastic Four: First Steps is underway in the UK and photos and videos of the set have steadily been making this way online. The studio is going to great lengths to bring a 1960s retro-futuristic New York City to life by constructing massive sets including Times Square, the Flatiron building and what looks to be either the Baxter Building of the Excelsior Launch Pad site. Progress on the set has been tracked on Twitter by user UnBoxPHD and now the latest update may have revealed a connection to one of Marvel’s most well-received streaming series.

    An updated photo of the set for the Matt Shakman film reveals that somewhere in the expansive set, a building named “Westview Appliances Television” has been built. Westview was, of course, featured in the D+ series WandaVision as the town was put under a hex by Wanda Maximoff while grieving the loss of Vision

    Whether or not the building is meant to simply be a reference to the series, which Shakman also directed, or if there’s a larger connection at play via multiversal hijinks is unclear. Given that Westview is located in New Jersey in the MCU, it is totally reasonable to wonder if it will pop back up in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, especially given the comic book connection between the Richards family and Agatha Harkness.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to hit theaters on July 26, 2025.