Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: MCU News

  • First Look at Robert Downey Jr.’s Doom Reveals Classic Inspiration for the MCU’s Take on the Villain

    First Look at Robert Downey Jr.’s Doom Reveals Classic Inspiration for the MCU’s Take on the Villain

    The recent Disney Blockbuster Consumer Products was not the sort of place one would expect first looks at Marvel Studios upcoming projects; however, it seems to have been the most revelatory convention for the studio in some time.

    Marvel reportedly let is slip that Scorpion, Boomerang and Tombstone were set to antagonize Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, potentially putting to rest a number of rumors about the film’s plot and villains. As if that wasn’t enough, a short sizzle reel of footage from Avengers: Doomsday was also shown and according to on attendee, it provided the first look at that film’s villain, Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr.

    According to Film Threat’s Chris Gore, Doom’s face will indeed be disfigured and, in his opinion, looks to be inspired by the look of creatures from “classic Universal Monster movies.”

    Without any additional context, Lon Chaney‘s Phantom of the Opera would seem to be one possible comparison and would like up with Jack Kirby‘s belief that Victor Von Doom was “paranoid” because of the damage done to his face. The extent of that damage has varied widely over the years, with Kirby drawing it as only a small scar, others, such as Esad Ribic depicting a much more complete disfiguration and John Byrne drawing something intermediate to the the two extreme ends of the spectrum.

    …he’s a good-looking guy, and he only has a tiny scar on his cheek, but because he’s such a perfectionist, he can’t bear to see that imperfection. He isn’t hiding his face from the public, he’s hiding it from himself.

    -Jack Kirby
    Doom as drawn by Jack Kirby
    Doom as drawn by John Byrne
    Doom as painted by Esad Ribic

    The description of a disfigured Doom certainly helps explain the tracking dots seen on Downey’s face in a recent behind the scenes photo of the actor and may indicate that Ribic’s interpretation of the character’s face, seen in Jonathan Hickman‘s 2015 Secret Wars, inspired the villain’s MCU appearance. With less than a year until Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters, perhaps it won’t be long before the studio chooses to let the whole world behold the face of Doom.

  • Marvel Studios Reportedly Keen on Casting ‘Avatar’ Franchise Star in Key ‘X-Men’ Role

    Marvel Studios Reportedly Keen on Casting ‘Avatar’ Franchise Star in Key ‘X-Men’ Role

    The House of Mouse has always liked to work in-house, often sharing talent across its major studios. Paul Bettany, Oscar Isaac, Samuel L. Jackson and Mads Mikkelsen, Lupitia Nyong’o are among those who have starred in both the Star Wars and Marvel franchises; Jon Favreau has directed projects for three of Disney’s major production studios; and…Pedro Pascal.

    Reinforcing that trend, following a very successful opening for Thunderbolts*, Marvel quickly worked to get that film’s director, Jake Schreier, back in the chair for their currently untitled and undated X-Men reboot, which is arguably the studio’s most important project since 2008’s Iron Man. Now, a new rumor suggests that Marvel will be reaching across the aisle to borrow a star from 21st Century Fox’s Avatar franchise.

    According to Jeff “The In” Sneider, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, the young star who plays Tuk in James Cameron‘s Avatar films, is being considered for the role of Jubilee in Marvel Studios’ X-Men.

    A central character in X-Men: The Animated Series and Marvel Animation’s X-Men ’97, Jubilation Lee never made it out of the background in Fox’s original X-Men trilogy. However, Kevin Feige has reportedly been keen on including the character in the MCU reboot and, over a year ago, she was been reported to be part of the upcoming film’s core cast.

    With Schreier boarding the project now, it’s likely the studio is looking to get production underway next summer, allowing X-Men to hit theaters in July 2027, launching the studio’s post-Multiverse Saga era.

  • ‘Daredevil Born Again’ Set Photos May Confirm a Popular Season 2 Theory

    ‘Daredevil Born Again’ Set Photos May Confirm a Popular Season 2 Theory

    After some time out of the public eye, production on Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again hit the streets of New York once more and may have confirmed a growing theory about the role Wilson Bethel’s Bullseye might play.

    Following an action scene filmed in public in early April, fans began to believe that Season 2 may see Bullseye teaming up with Daredevil to take on Mayor Kingpin. While that would make for some uncomfortable moments, Bullseye has no love for Fisk and Matt Murdock is in no position to turn down help. Now, new photos captured from the set show the two frenemies together again…and it’s clear some time has passed.

    Shared by @_DaredevilShots, the new images reveal battered battle-buddies and a closer look at Matt’s gear gives the impression that the right against Kingpin has been raging on for quite some time. A side-by-side comparison with Matt’s suit from the April set photos shows that the black paint job has significantly worn away, revealing more of the original red suit.

    At last check in April, Episodes 3 and 4 were being filmed, which would bring the second season to its halfway mark. It’s unclear if the recent shots are from those episodes or if production has progressed beyond at this point; however, it would seem that Matt’s fight against Fisk hasn’t gone well up to wherever in the season these photos are from and, eventually, he’s going to need to find further help in taking down the Fat Man.

  • Marvel Studios Begins Unprecedented Wave of Marketing Madness for ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Marvel Studios Begins Unprecedented Wave of Marketing Madness for ‘Thunderbolts*’

    Long before Thunderbolts* hit theaters, fans had plenty of theories about the asterisk added to the film’s title in early 2024. At the time, Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, made it clear that the studio would not address the change until after the movie hit theaters. That time is now and the studio is addressing it in an unprecedented way.

    Yes, you’ll notice the asterisk on Thunderbolts. That is the official title of Thunderbolts and we won’t talk more about that until after the movie comes out.

    -Kevin Feige

    Following the film’s very solid opening weekend in which it pulled in $162.1 M globally ($76 M domestic, $86.1 M overseas) and managed to secure an A- Cinemascore, the studio has begun a bold marketing move that officially reveals the meaning behind the asterisk.

    In the film’s third act, the film’s titular team of lonely losers are introduced to the press as The New Avengers after saving New York City from The Void. It’s a move made solely to allow Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to save face but as the film’s post-credit tag reveals, the team is still active as Avengers 14 months later.

    Retitling a film after release, even unofficially, isn’t something Marvel Studios has dabbled with in the past and it remains to be seen just how serious the studio is about the change. It appears, however, they’ve invested at least some capital in a second wave of marketing the film as The New Avengers begging the question if the film will indeed be rebranded for digital and home release.

  • ‘Thunderbolts*’ Director Confirms Major Changes to the Film’s Original Script

    ‘Thunderbolts*’ Director Confirms Major Changes to the Film’s Original Script

    Rewrites, reshoots and additional photography have become routine partsof the Marvel Studios production machine. It’s safe to say that no two projects undergo the same amount of changes and that they’re not always all-encompassing nor always favorable.

    Both Captain America: Brave New World and Daredevil: Born Again were significantly reworked following the 2023 Hollywood work stoppages to varying degrees of success. Brave New World reshot its first act battle, gave The Leader a concerning makeover and shot a very awkward post-credit scene, none of which were well-received by fans. On the other hand, the creative retooling of Daredevil: Born Again, intended to connect it to the original Netflix series, seemed to please the bloodthirsty legion of edge lords who believe the character should suffer in darkness and misery. However, perhaps no project underwent a more complete overhaul than Thunderbolts*.

    Originally drafted by Eric Pearson as a sequel to Black Widow, the project’s script was handed off to both Joanna Calo and Lee Sung Jin. Typically, it’s never made clear by the studio just how much a script changes from beginning to end; however, director Jake Schreier veered from the norm in an interview with EW, explaining that very little of the film’s original conceit survived.

    According to Schreier, the only big idea from the original script that made it to the big screen was the idea of the mismatched team of damaged people being revealed as the MCU’s New Avengers at the end. The idea was “in the script from the very first draft,” Schreier told EW, adding “Even though a lot of things, almost everything, changed around it.“

    “There was the core idea of these operatives sent to kill each other, which I thought was such a neat twist on people expecting Marvel’s Suicide Squad,” Schreier explained. “And then that was the ending, and it went to a very different place, but that was the one thing that was like, no matter what we do, it’s going to end in that place.” Whatever the original version may have been, there will be very few fans disappointed with the direction the studio ultimately chose for the film.

  • The ‘Thunderbolts*’Post-Credit Scene Just Became Even More Important to the Future of the MCU

    The ‘Thunderbolts*’Post-Credit Scene Just Became Even More Important to the Future of the MCU

    As is Marvel Studios’ tradition, Thunderbolts* included some additional scenes during the credits. Though the first scene featuring David Harbour‘s Red Guardian was played for laughs, the second scene jumped 14 months into the MCU’s future, providing a look at the New Avengers regrouping at The Watchtower. Unlike several of the studio’s post-credit scenes, this one felt important, providing information about Captain America and his team of Avengers while also teasing the arrival of the Fantastic Four on Earth-616. Yelena’s New Avengers were decked out in new uniforms, including Bucky sporting a new star logo very reminiscent of the one his character recently sported in the pages of Marvel Comics as The Revolution, and were just learning about a “space crisis,” which is almost certainly an Incursion.

    TL:DR, the 2-minute and 54-second scene is doing a lot of table setting for Avengers: Doomsday and it turns out that’s because it was filmed by the directors of the upcoming Marvel project.

    In an interview with Comic Book, Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier revealed that the post-credit scene was filmed on the set of Avengers: Doomsday while strongly hinting that Joe and Anthony Russo were behind the camera for it.

    So a couple things about that. I didn’t film that scene. I was there when it was filmed and I can say that it comes from the set of a production that might be starting production right around now. So that might be fun for people to stay and watch.

    -Jake Schreier

    The knowledge that the Russos filmed the scene adds a little extra weight to the information contained within. Too frequently, the studio’s stingers are poorly thought out and following up on them becomes the problem of “the next guy.” Since the Russos directed this and are “the next guys,” this scene can more or less be thought of as part of Avengers: Doomsday, which we can safely assume begins a year and two months after the events of Thunderbolts*, set in 2027. With that, we now know that the next Avengers film will be set in 2028, keeping the MCU timeline ahead of the real world by a couple of years.

    Thunderbolts* is now in theaters and Avengers: Doomsday is now in production ahead of its May 1, 2026 release.

  • First ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ BTS Photo May Reveal a Familiar Setting

    First ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ BTS Photo May Reveal a Familiar Setting

    One month after Marvel Studios slowly revealed over two dozen members of the cast of Avengers: Doomsday, principal photography on the film has officially begun in the UK. Though it’s only just getting underway, photos of the construction of a large-scale practical set and rumblings of an opening scene at the X-Mansion have made their way online in recent weeks; now, a behind-the-scenes photo released by the Russo brothers looks to confirm the latter.

    Shared on Instagram, the first official look from the set of Avengers: Doomsday does not seem to give much away at first glance, though some might argue that seeing “Victor Von Doom” on the director’s chair might settle some concerns that Robert Downey Jr. is playing a Stark Variant. However, a closer look at the background could indeed confirm that the first scenes to be filmed for the movie are set at Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.

    Given that it’s been some time since the interior of the X-Mansion has been visited on screen, it might be easy to overlook that Downey’s chair is positioned to intentionally provide a look at the wall of what can be assumed to be the location for filming on day one…and that wall does indeed look like it belongs inside Xavier’s school. The oak paneling is consistent with how the school has looked in the Fox films and with a large chunk of the cast of the original X-Men trilogy returning for Avengers: Doomsday, that’s unlikely to be a coincidence.

    While it’s safe to assume the Russos won’t be following the exact formula they used in making Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, it is likely there will be some resonance in some of the choices they make. Opening Avengers: Doomsday by having Victor Von Doom take on and possibly take out Fox’s OG X-Men would serve the same purpose as having Thanos easily defeat the Hulk and Thor while killing Loki. With X-Men: Days of Future Past having created a divergent timeline in which the events of the original trilogy were undone and the team was alive and well in 2023, the X-Men should be an incredibly formidable superteam and if they can’t stop Doom, who can?

  • Early Reactions Call ‘Thunderbolts*’ Marvel’s Best Since Endgame

    Early Reactions Call ‘Thunderbolts*’ Marvel’s Best Since Endgame

    Once upon a time, Thunderbolts* seemed to be on track to be a relatively run of the mill Marvel Studios movie that would serve as a sequel to 2021’s Black Widow. A few rewrites and an almost totally unknown director later, it sounds as though the studio’s work behind the scenes may have transformed Thunderbolts* into an MCU all-timer.

    Without giving away too much, a lot of what David [Harbour] and Florence [Pugh] are working with as material in this movie relates to that past relationship. And there’s resonance to that, so I think it’s important to everyone to preserve that legacy of something that emotionally meant so much to people and make sure that we refer to that in the right way, and we protect it and make sure that it means something. I think we’re pulling from all of their histories and then trying to tell something new. I don’t think that it feels like a Black Widow sequel. I think it feels like it’s a sampling of people from different parts [of this universe]. It’s definitely a part of our story but it’s not the driving force that leads into this film.

    -Jake Schreier

    Following the film’s European premier and series of early screenings Thunderbolts* is being hailed as an overwhelming success, featuring the kind of heart missing from many recent efforts.

    According to multiple socmed accounts, Thunderbolts* is carried by strong performances across the board with Florence Pugh and Lewis Pullman leading the way.

    While early screenings always generate “best ever” reactions, reading between the lines here reveals that Jake Schreier‘s approach to the project injected the film–and perhaps the MCU–with the shot of adrenaline it needed as it heads into the final phase of the Multiverse Saga.

  • ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Showrunner Teases Matt Murdock’s Season 2 Army

    ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Showrunner Teases Matt Murdock’s Season 2 Army

    The Season One finale of Daredevil: Born Again left Matt Murdock–and all of New York City– in the shadow of Mayor Kingpin. “Straight to Hell” left no doubt that Wilson Fisk won the battle but it also made it clear that Matt Murdock is regrouping and preparing for war. Faling back to Josie’s, Murdock is now looking to put together an army to take on Fisk and his Anti-vigilante Task Force, an idea that has fans of the Netflix Defenders-verse convinced Jessica Jokes, Luke Cage, Danny Rand and more will ultimately be featured in Season 2.

    With the sophomore season already well into production, there’s been no sign of the Defenders yet; however, in a recent interview, showrunner Dario Scardapane made it clear those characters–and others from Matt’s circle of friends–arent far from his mind as he continues work in the show.

    “Without giving too much away…when you’re working in what I would call the Hell’s Kitchen corner of the MCU, those iconic characters are always in your mind,” said Scardapane of Jones, Cage and Rand…but those heroes aren’t the only characters with ties to the Kitchen.

    “The thing is that — and this is kind of hard, I’m trying to thread a needle here — you want to bring in people and relationships and past figures in Matt’s life because they help the story, particularly in terms of a story where Fisk has taken over the city. And there is a resistance and a rebellion, so to speak, rising. So there’s going to be people, vigilantes, superheroes that are involved in that. There has to be because this is happening to their city,” Scardapane explained. Of course, as integral to his story so far as the Defenders have been, nobody has been a more important figure in Matt’s past than Elektra. However, bringing her back from the dead or even bringing in living Defenders just because isn’t something Scardapane is willing to do.

    “…you also want to create a completely organic story for that. So who comes in and why has to be beyond anything earned. So the easiest answer to your question is, yes, those characters that you just listed off are absolutely in my head and everybody’s head as we’re working,” said Scardapane of the trio of heroes who helped save New York City in the Defenders crossover event.

    “How that manifests itself is both really tricky writing-wise and a pretty closely guarded secret at this point,” he continued. “So I’m being intentionally cagey, but I’m also saying, ‘Hell yeah!’ in terms of it’s something we’re thinking about.“

    Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again will hit D+ in March 2026.

    Source: EW

  • ‘Daredevil: Born Again’: [SPOILER] Returns as Action Moves to Key Netflix Series Location in Latest Set Photos

    ‘Daredevil: Born Again’: [SPOILER] Returns as Action Moves to Key Netflix Series Location in Latest Set Photos

    Ironically, as Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again enters into its Netflix era, production on Season 2 of the D+ streaming series has returned to one of the Netflix series’ key locations. After what seemed like a daily onslaught of set photos early on, production on the new season of the Marvel Studios revival hadn’t been gathering much attention; however, that’s certainly changed now.

    For the past few days, photos from the New York City set revealed that as part of his New York: Born Again campaign, Wilson Fisk was set to take part in a charity boxing match against someone called Matter Horn. Now, new photos and video reveal that the match takes place at Fogwell’s Gym.

    Fogwell’s, of course, is the home gym of the Murdocks. It’s the place where Jack Murdock trained and where Matt learned to fight. It would almost certainly seem that since Fisk knows Matt is Daredevil, that he’s chosen the venue to draw the hero out as he continues his anti-vigilante agenda. And further video from the set shows that if that was indeed the plan, it worked.

    https://twitter.com/chrisagwrites/status/1910600134141870341

    Wilson Bethel‘s Bullseye has been on set the past few days as well and now we know why…sort of. While it’s not entirely clear what is intent is, the crazed assassin can be seen arriving at Fogwell’s in his tactical suit, once again loaded with knives. And then he can be seen quickly leaving…through the front window!

    It would seem that showrunner Dario Scardapane is intent on having Daredevil and Bullseye crash through the front window of every location near and dear to the heart of Matt Murdock. With the frenzy taking place outside Fogwell’s just before the two exit the gym, it’s clear the action inside was likely just as intense as what went down inside Josie’s in Season 1. However, no spoilers have escaped the set just yet but given who was in attendance, it’s incredibly likely Bullseye was there to take someone out…but who?

    The Season 1 finale of Daredevil: Born Again streams on April 15th on Disney Plus. Season 2 will debut in 2026.