Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: MCU News

  • ‘ViSiONQUΞST’ Showrunner Teases Ongoing Potential of the Upcoming MCU Streaming Series

    ‘ViSiONQUΞST’ Showrunner Teases Ongoing Potential of the Upcoming MCU Streaming Series

    With Ruaridh Mollica confirmed to be playing the vessel for the soul of Tommy Maximoff, James Spader set to return as Ultron and a mercenary on his tail, Paul Bettany‘s White Vision will have plenty on his plate in the upcoming Marvel Television streaming series VisionQuest. All of that is complicated, of course, by the fact that the synthezoid Avenger doesn’t truly know who is is…or was.

    “You’re meeting a Vision who has died and come back to life, who is sort of reconnecting with his memories, and his feelings, and is going through a bit of an identity quest,” explained showrunner Terry Matalas, who took creative control of the project from Jac Schaeffer. And while there’s certainly a timer running on how long Vizh can stay on the sidelines and how long the studio can wait to reunite the Maximoff twins, it sounds as though the story told in VisionQuest–or at least some its characters–could live on beyond a first season.

    When asked by The Direct if a second season of the series was a possibility or if it would be a one-off, standalone series, Matalas left the door open. “I think that’s up to the Marvel and Disney Gods. It doesn’t necessarily have to,” Matalas said. “There is a group of characters in situations that are certainly on their own island, if you will. Trying to figure out how to say this… You could very much see these characters again, if you want.“

    Outside of the clever play on words about characters on their own island (most of the series is reportedly set on Madripoor), Matalas‘ words indicate that at least some of the series main characters find themselves positioned for a future in the MCU even if VisionQuest is the end of the WandaVision trilogy. Even if Matalas is being cagey, there are plenty of ways a series full of A.I. characters could live on beyond the Multiverse Saga.

    Source: The Direct

  • New Rumor May Indicate Marvel Studios Is Setting Up an ‘All-New X-Men’ Adaptation

    New Rumor May Indicate Marvel Studios Is Setting Up an ‘All-New X-Men’ Adaptation

    The rumor mill for Spider-Man: Brand New Day is officially moving at light speed, and at the center of the storm is Sadie Sink. While mounting evidence suggests that she’s playing the MCU’s definitive Jean Grey, a new tidbit from the reliable scooper Cryptic4KQual has just added a massive, reality-bending layer to her debut.

    According to Cryptic, Sink’s Jean isn’t just a local mutant from Westchester—she was described to him as being “time-displaced.” If that phrase sounds familiar, it’s because it was the literal backbone of one of the most polarizing and fascinating eras in modern X-Men history.

    In 2012, writer Brian Michael Bendis launched All-New X-Men, a series that saw the original five teenage X-Men (Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Iceman, and Angel) travel from the past to the present day. This teen Jean had to grapple with a world where her older self was dead, her mentor was a failure, and her future was a tragedy.

    By using the “time-displaced” description, Marvel Studios might be signaling a move away from the traditional born in the 616 origin. Instead of explaining where mutants have been for 20 years, Marvel could simply pluck them from the past–or another timeline–and drop them into the modern MCU. Even if it’s controversial, it’s potentially brilliant.

    Given the knowledge that Brand New Day deals–at least in part–with the fallout of Peter’s memory wipe, if Jean arrives as a stranger in a strange land, she and Peter–the ultimate lonely hero–share a thematic link that makes their rumored partnership much more poignant. Additionally, a time-displaced Jean allows Marvel to explore the character’s raw, untapped power and her psionic form–which Cryptic notes will look like X-Men ’97–without immediately jumping to the cosmic firebird.

    The time-displaced angle–especially in one of the final films in the Multiverse Saga–helps avoid forcing Marvel to address why the X-Men haven’t intervened on Earth-616 before. It also opens the door to the other members of the original five X-Men appearing in either a post-credit even to Brand New Day or in Avengers: Secret Wars.

  • Marvel Reportedly Orders “Character-First” Reshoots for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

    Marvel Reportedly Orders “Character-First” Reshoots for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

    We’ve seen the reports that the Avengers: Doomsday script was being tweaked during production, and it looks like those rewrites have officially triggered a round of additional photography. But don’t panic—this isn’t a The Marvels level overhaul.

    Avengers: Doomsday is heading back to London soon for additional photography and according to industry insider Daniel Richtman, the goal is to provide “narrative clarity” and “emotional beats” to the project. Sounds like after having spent some time in post-production, the Russos realize that with an ensemble this massive, the audience needs more time to actually care about the new team dynamics before Doom starts tearing them apart.

    Richtman’s report stated that the big set pieces are reportedly locked and that cameras will be capturing “character-driven material” when they roll in the coming weeks. These moments have always been a strength of Anthony and Joe Russo, who have struck gold with unexpected character pairings and groupings in the past such as Thor, Groot and Rocket or Nebula and Tony Stark.

    If they’re going back to set to make sure the “heart” of the movie is beating, that’s a win for the fans.

  • Vincent D’Onofrio Blames Studios for Kingpin’s Absence from Spider-Man

    Vincent D’Onofrio Blames Studios for Kingpin’s Absence from Spider-Man

    Since returning to the role of Wilson Fisk in Hawkeye, Vincent D’Onofrio has made no bones about which MCU hero he wants the Kingpin to square off against. Whenever he’s provided the opportunity, D’Onofrio consistently makes it crystal clear that taking on Spider-Man is his “end goal” as Kingpin. And for quite some time, all parties involved seemed to be teasing such a showdown in what ultimately became Spider-Man: Brand New Day but that never materialized…and now D’Onofrio is placing blame at the feet of the studios who collaborate to produce the MCU-set Spidey films.

    …it definitely has to be Spider-Man. One day…I’m hoping. We’ll see if they ask me to do it. Kingpin lived in a world of Punisher, Daredevil and Spider-Man so that would be the one.

    -Vincent D’Onofrio

    While responding to a fan’s statement that a matchup between Kingpin and Spidey was needed “ASAP”, D’Onofrio stated in order for it to happen, Sony and Marvel would need to “get their shit together” over what he called a “complicated rights issue.”

    While Kingpin debuted in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #50, he has since become a primary Daredevil antagonist. D’Onofrio explained that because the character is technically “shared” between Marvel (Disney) and Sony, placing him in a Sony-produced Spider-Man film requires a level of legal acrobatics that hasn’t happened yet. In the past, D’Onofrio has noted that his current contract is firmly rooted in the Marvel Television side of things, so similarly to how Spider-Man won’t appear in a live-action Marvel Television series, Kingpin won’t appear in a live-action Marvel Studios film until a new deal is arranged.

  • Tom Holland Teases a “Catastrophic” Evolution in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    Tom Holland Teases a “Catastrophic” Evolution in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

    After months of waiting, the first teaser for Spider-Man: Brand New Day dropped to record-breaking numbers, thanks in part to the neogenic nightmare Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker seems to be experiencing. The biggest talking point hasn’t been Punisher’s van or Peter’s new apartment—it’s evolution, baby. After three movies of relying on Stark-tech and chemistry sets, Parker is finally growing his own arsenal.

    However, according to Holland himself, this change isn’t just a convenient power-up; it’s the beginning of something much more harrowing.

    In a post-trailer sit-down, Holland didn’t mince words when describing the physical toll of the new film. While he remained tight-lipped on specific plot points, he dropped a descriptor that has the body horror corners of the fandom reeling:

    Peter is undergoing a physical evolution in this film that is, quite frankly, catastrophic. It’s profoundly unique to the superhero genre because it’s not about getting stronger—it’s about losing control of what you are. Manhattan is a darker place this time around, and Peter is changing to survive it.

    -Tom Holland

    “Catastrophic” is a very specific word choice. It suggests that the organic webbing we saw in the trailer—where Peter wakes up in a literal web cocoon—isn’t the end of the transformation.

    It seems clear that Peter’s evolution is part of  a live-action adaptation of the “Man-Spider” arc from the 90s animated series or the “The Other” storyline from the comics. In those stories, Peter’s mutation accelerates, turning him into a multi-armed, predatory creature. With Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner confirmed as a mentor/professor at ESU in this film, the narrative bridge for a biological crisis is already in place. If Banner is there to help Peter stabilize his DNA, it implies that Peter is actively falling apart.

    Should Marvel and Sony have followed through on the promise of the teaser and force Peter to choose his humanity over his power, Brand New Day may have the potential most emotional Spider-Man story ever told.

  • The “About-Turn” —New Details Emerge About How Marvel Frankenstein-ed ‘Born Again’ into a Netflix Sequel

    The “About-Turn” —New Details Emerge About How Marvel Frankenstein-ed ‘Born Again’ into a Netflix Sequel

    The last two years of tracking Daredevil: Born Again revealed significant behind-the-scenes turbulence, but we finally have the surgical breakdown of exactly how Marvel Studios reworked he show from its original, “legal procedural” premise.

    In a candid new interview with USA Today, series lead Charlie Cox pulled back the curtain on the “Herculean task” showrunner Dario Scardapane faced when he was hired to fix a season that was already half-finished. According to Cox, the overhaul wasn’t just a few reshoots—it was a complete structural “about-turn.”

    When the creative reset happened in late 2023, Marvel found themselves with six episodes of footage that “didn’t quite work” but contained “brilliant” individual scenes. Rather than tossing it all, Scardapane—who previously wrote for The Punisher—essentially re-engineered the season’s DNA.

    Scardapane wrote and filmed a brand-new Episode 1 from scratch. This new pilot was designed specifically to bridge the gap between the 2018 Netflix finale and the current MCU, re-establishing the “dream” of Nelson, Murdock, and Page. In what was described as a “Frankenstein job”, the original six episodes were moved. What was supposed to be Episodes 1 through 6 became Episodes 2 through 7. To stick the landing (a phrase made very important on social media by Marvel stans) and tie the new narrative threads together, Scardapane wrote a two-part finale to replace the original ending.

    The new team filmed a series of “interstitial scenes” to be woven into the existing middle episodes, ensuring the transition from the new pilot to the old footage felt seamless. And the result was a frustratingly fantastic return to the streets of New York City.

    The original version, steered by Matt Corman and Chris Ord, famously kept Matt Murdock out of the Daredevil suit until Episode 4. Kevin Feige reportedly pulled the plug after realizing the show lacked the “brutality and pathos” that made the Netflix run a hit. The overhaul brought Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson),  Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer) and Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) back into the fold after they were originally omitted from the series. And, perhaps most importantly, the “About-Turn” allowed them to lean back into the dark, street-level tone that fans have been begging for since 2018 in Season 2.

    Marvel has turned a potential disaster into what looks like a genuine love letter to the Defenders era. Scardapane’s ability to  Frankenstein two different visions into one cohesive Season 2 which, according to early reactions, should be a hit with fans.

  • Bearded Behind Bars —Charlie Cox’s New Look May Tease ‘Born Again’ Season 3 Building the “Devil in Cell Block D”

    Bearded Behind Bars —Charlie Cox’s New Look May Tease ‘Born Again’ Season 3 Building the “Devil in Cell Block D”

    Charlie Cox’s recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! may have been massive, scruffy spoiler for the future of the Man Without Fear. Cox showed up sporting an uncharacteristically thick beard while revealing he had finished shooting scenes for Season 3 in New York just 12 hours prior.

    For fans of the comics, that facial hair isn’t just a style choice; it’s a beacon pointing directly toward one of Matt Murdock’s most harrowing chapters: The Devil in Cell Block D.

    It’s been theorized to be a potential source of inspiration for some time but Cox’s new look has brought the possibility of Season 3 adapting Ed Brubaker’s legendary “The Devil in Cell Block D” arc back into the spotlight. The story Matt Murdock is outed, arrested, and thrown into Ryker’s Island alongside the very criminals he put away…and it could work pretty brilliantly as the third season of Marvel Television’s flagship series.

    Cox told Kimmel he’s been filming heavy action sequences where he’s “getting cut a lot” and covered in prosthetic scars. This fits the brutal, close-quarters desperation of a prison riot or a no-rules brawl behind bars, similar to what fans loved in Season 2 of the Netflix Series.

    While the film studio is taking its time, Marvel Television Marvel is moving at breakneck speed. By filming Season 3 before Season 2 even premieres, they are ensuring that the street-level corner of the MCU has a consistent, high-stakes narrative through 2026 and 2027.

  • ‘VisionQuest’ Timeline Opens Door for Major MCU Crossover

    ‘VisionQuest’ Timeline Opens Door for Major MCU Crossover

    Though it has been in development since late-2022, details about the Paul Bettany-led Vision-centric series–including an official title–proved difficult to pin down. That all changed during New York Comic Con 2025 when Bettany made a surprise appearance to discuss the series, now confirmed as VisionQuest.

    Described by Marvel.com as “the final installment in the trilogy that started with WandaVision and continued in last year’s Agatha All Along,” VisionQuest was originally developed by Jac Schaeffer before being handed off to Terry Matalas. The series, set to release in 2026, will follow the White Vision, last seen in the WandaVision finale, as he tries to regain a sense of who he was before being destroyed in Avengers: Endgame and rebuilt by S.W.O.R.D. as a weapon.

    What’s different about Vision right now is that Red Vision gave Vision all of his memories, including the memories from within the Hex. But White Vision is having real difficulty connecting to them.

    -Paul Bettany

    Part of that journey will involve a heavy dose of artificial intelligences that, like Vision, are part of Tony Stark’s legacy, including Henry Lewis as D.U.M.-E, Jonathan Sayer as U, James D’Arcy as J.A.R.V.I.S., Orla Brady as F.R.I.D.A.Y., Emily Hampshire as E.D.I.T.H, and James Spader as Ultron. And if that won’t put enough on the plate if the Synthezoid Avenger, the soul of his son Tommy is now inhabiting the body of Thomas Shepard, played by Ruaridh Mollica. Suffice it to say, there will be quite a bit going on in VisionQuest, however, where and when it takes place may just make things even more complicated.

    While discussing the series at NYCC, Bettany revealed that VisionQuest is set roughly one year after the events of WandaVision. At first glance, that may seem a relatively boring but of info; however, given a large portion of the series takes place in Madripoor, it’s possible the new series could share some narrative fabric with The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

    First seen in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Madripoor is a lawless archipelago in Southeast Asia ruled by The Power Broker. In one of that series’ biggest twists, The Power Broker was revealed to be Sharon Carter, who fled to the island nation after stealing Steve Rogers’ shield and Sam Wilson’s EXO-7 Falcon wings from the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre. Despite being pardoned and rejoining the CIA, Carter continuedto work as The Power Broker. Though Emily VanCamp has not been reported to be part of the cast of Vision, it seems possible she might have a role in the project, perhaps as the one who puts Todd Stashwick‘s Paladin on the trail of Vision’s tech.

    In the MCU timeline, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier takes place in 2024 and is set one year after the events of WandaVision. Bettany‘s comments certainly don’t confirm that VisionQuest will take place when Sam and Bucky are in Madripor with Zemo but it does open the door to any of them or Carter making an appearance in the series. Could this be why Matalas described a scene in the finale of VisionQuest as “kind of a Marvel dream”? Or is he referring to the finale reuniting the Maximoff boys? We’ll have to find out together in 2026.

  • A vs. X: ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Star Teases Epic Clash Ahead

    A vs. X: ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Star Teases Epic Clash Ahead

    When Marvel Studios revealed the main cast of Avengers: Doomsday, a number of surprising names graced the backs of chairs, including a half dozen stars from Fox’s X-Men franchise. Fans immediately began to speculate that the return of the OG X-Men could mean only one thing: a war between worlds featuring the Avengers and X-Men. And according to one star, it looks as that’s what we’ll see.

    In an interview with Variety, Cyclops actor James Marsden talked about his role in Avengers: Doomsday and teased that “worlds are ready to collide.”

    You can feel that it’s something special. The world is ready for this movie and these worlds are ready to collide.

    -James Marsden

    With Avengers: Doomsday believed to be largely inspired by Marvel Comics writer Jonathan Hickman‘s work on Avengers and New Avengers titles, it’s possible that the Fox X-Men’s Earth could serve as a stand-in for Earth-1610 (the original Ultimate universe) which went to war with Earth-616 during the final incursion before 2015’s Secret Wars.

    Doctor Doom has officially arrived in the MCU. This villain, a master of cutting-edge science and powerful magic, will unleash a cascading crisis across the entire multiverse.

    -First synopsis for Avengers: Doomsday

    Rumors from the set of Avengers: Doomsday have indicated that any potential clash between Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Children of the Atom would be engineered by Doctor Doom. Given the powerful looking Doom seen recently at a merchandising expo in Shanghai, it’s safe to assume he’ll be pulling a lot of strings when Avengers Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, 2026.

  • Marvel Studios Has Begun Work on Its First Post-Multiverse Saga Film

    Marvel Studios Has Begun Work on Its First Post-Multiverse Saga Film

    “Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men,” teased Feige in November 2024. “Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back.” Now, following a recent report that casting for the film would “begin soon,”work on the age of mutants has finally begun at Marvel Studios.

    What I can say is, it’s just inherently interesting and complex material. The core idea of what X-Men is involves complexity.

    -X-Men director Jake Schreier
    In an interview with Empire, director Jake Schreier confirmed that he he is now on the clock for Marvel Studios X-Men.

    “I can’t say anything about it, but we’ve started work on X-Men, and that’s obviously very, very exciting,” said Schreier, who directed the very well-received Thunderbolts* which debuts on D+ August 27th.

    “There are so many things that I didn’t know about before I started [Thunderbolts*],” he explained. “The biggest learning curve for me was the proportion of the action to the more emotional, character-driven scenes, and how, even though it’s more shooting days than I’ve ever had, they get eaten up quite quickly by the action stuff. By the time we got to the end of it, it felt like, ‘Oh, now I feel like we get how to do this a little bit better.’”

    After officially taking the reigns of the film in May, Schreier teased the studio’s complex take on the team of mutant heroes in a July interview with The Playlist. “It’s an incredible opportunity with super interesting characters and [much] internal conflict,” he said of helming the first MCU-set X-Men film. “These characters are wrestling with their identity and place in the world—that’s inherently interesting and complex material.”

    X-Men is expected in theaters in 2028.

    Source: Empire