Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: MCU

  • Marvel Studios Takes Aim at Taking Over the World

    Marvel Studios Takes Aim at Taking Over the World

    In the wake of last week’s Disney Investor’s Day Presentation comes the realization that the long, angst-ridden waits between Marvel Studios projects are soon to be a thing of the past. Over each of the next 2 years (2021 and 2022), Marvel Studios looks to roll out AT LEAST 10 major projects a year between their theatrical and streaming offerings. 2020 has been a rough year for MCU fans with the COVID-19 related shutdowns eventually keeping Marvel Studios from releasing any of their planned projects. Even before COVID, however, fans endured some pretty significant gaps between projects (almost 2 years between Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk) but it is clear now that those days are over.

    2021

    • WandaVision begins streaming January 15th
    • The Falcon and The Winter Soldier begins streaming March 19th
    • Black Widow debuts theatrically on May 7th
    • Loki begins streaming in May
    • Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings hits theaters on July 9th
    • What If…?, the studios first canonical animated feature, streams Summer 2021
    • Eternals debuts in theaters on November 5th
    • Spider-Man 3 swings into cinemas on December 17th
    • Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye, both currently filming now, are scheduled to stream in Late 2021

    Looking at 3 data points isn’t really enough for a pattern, but it looks like Marvel Studios may be looking to release a new streaming series on Disney Plus every two months. If that pattern were to hold, we’d see What If…? in July, Ms. Marvel in September and Hawkeye in November. Of course, the studio would have to work around other streaming series as well, but that schedule seems fairly plausible and would make 2021 shape up like this:

    • WandaVision in January
    • The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in March
    • Black Widow in May
    • Loki in May
    • Shang-Chi in July
    • What If…? in July
    • Ms. Marvel in September
    • Eternals in November
    • Hawkeye in November
    • Spider-Man 3 in December

    Ideally, Marvel Studios would probably spread these projects out a little more and they very well may as the working premise is just a guess. What If…? could be a June or August release; Ms. Marvel could be an August, September or even October release; Hawkeye, which is set during Christmas, begin streaming following Thanksgiving and lead up to Spidey’s Christmas release. Whatever the case, it’s pretty clear that Kevin Feige has no intentions of Disney Plus subscribers going very long between new episodes of original content.

    2022

    • Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness will make its way to the big screen on March 25th
    • Thor: Love and Thunder is slated for cinemas on May 6th
    • Black Panther II is set for a July 8th theatrical bow
    • Captain Marvel 2 will smash into theaters on November 11th

    Additionally, the following series are currently slated to stream on Disney Plus in 2022, according to a chronological order listed on Disney’s official PDF file from the event:

    • She-Hulk
    • Moon Knight
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    • Armor Wars
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

    If we operate off of our premise that Marvel Studios would like to have a streaming series on Disney Plus every two months, a premise that is, as stated above, only plausible and not confirmed, we can get an idea of when they might sprinkle the half-dozen new series in:

    • She-Hulk or Moon Knight in February
    • Moon Knight or She-Hulk in April
    • Secret Invasion in June
    • Ironheart in August
    • Armor Wars in October
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special in December

    These timelines not only fit our working premise, but they are also very reasonable given what we know. She-Hulk and Moon Knight are both expected to begin filming in March of 2021. If Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel, which both recently began filming, are expected to make late-2021 release dates, two series that begin filming in early-2021 could be expected to make early-2022 release dates.

    Disney has also listed their Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali as set to appear chronologically ahead of Captain Marvel 2, according to the same PDF, which would bump Disney up to an 11th 2022 project. As of today, Blade has neither a release date nor a creative team, but Feige did say to expect some announcements soon. But it’s possible that 2022 could end up looking something like this:

    • She-Hulk in February
    • Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness March 25th
    • Moon Knight in April
    • Thor: Love and Thunder May 6th
    • Secret Invasion in June
    • Black Panther II July 8th
    • Ironheart in August
    • Blade in September
    • Armor Wars in October
    • Captain Marvel 2 November 11th

    Obviously, until we get an official update on Blade, we can only speculate but finding a way to get it out in September would give fans Marvel Studios content in every month but January, and the longest we’d go between projects would be from Christmas 2021 to February 2022.

    2023

    While the films weren’t given official dates, it seems that Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3and Fantastic Four are all headed for theatrical release in 2023. It was also recently revealed that Deadpool 3 found a pair of writers, making it a likely candidate for another of the 4 previously slated 2023 films. Though we have no guarantee, it’s possible the 2023 slate could look something like this:

    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania in theaters for February 17th
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 debuting on May 5th
    • Fantastic Four rocketing into theaters for July 28th
    • Deadpool 3 bowing on November 3rd

    Marvel Studios is also known to have a handful of other projects that seem to be further developed than others, though it’s not known if they are meant for theaters of are streaming series:

    • Secret Warriors
    • Ghost Rider
    • Illuminati
    • Young Avengers

    Of those, Young Avengers seems MOST like one that could be a film, but any or all of them would make for great streaming series as well. Recent rumors have a second season of Loki headed into production in January of 2022, which would put it on track for an early 2023 release. Throw in a couple of rumored projects such as Thunderbolts, Agents of Atlas, Squadron Supreme, another series getting a second season or a surprise or two here and there and you’re right back into double digits for 2023. It also means it’s possible for Feige and Marvel Studios to get to 2024 before even tapping into what is certainly the biggest ace up their sleeve: the newly acquired X-Men and related characters, should they so choose. Sure Deadpool is part of that acquisition, but as the comics have proven, the X-Men can exist in a world all their own.

    Marvel Studios absence may have been felt in 2020, but it looks like The One-Above-All is doing everything he can to take care of us for the foreseeable future.

  • ‘SHANG-CHI’ Cast and Brief Synopsis Officially Revealed

    ‘SHANG-CHI’ Cast and Brief Synopsis Officially Revealed

    Following Disney’s Investor Day presentation on December 10th, Marvel Studios officially released a short synopsis for its 25th feature film, 2021’s Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings. The film, which is currently set to release next summer, will see Shang-Chi, played by Simu Liu, “confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.”

    shangchi

    Marvel Studios also officially revealed additional casting for the film. While Tony Leung and Awkwafina were previously announced by the studio, their characters have been unveiled as Wenwu and Katy, respectively. Fala Chen, who Lizzie Hill previously speculated would be joining the film as Leiko Wu, will play Jiang Li. Florian Munteanu (Creed 2) will be playing notable comics villain Razor Fist, Meng’er Zhang will be playing Xialing, Ronny Chieng will be playing Jon Jon and Michelle Yeoh will be playing Jiang Nan; as is the case with Chen’s character, these characters seem to be either original characters or characters whose names have been significantly changed from the comics.

    Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, will hit theaters on July 9th, 2021.

     

  • Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 74

    Murphy’s Law Podcast: Episode 74

    The 2 Charleses talk about the big DD news, the insanity that was the Disney Investor’s Day presentation and review the latest episode of The Mandalorian! Have a listen below…

  • Aramis Knight Joins Cast of ‘MS. MARVEL’ as Red Dagger

    Aramis Knight Joins Cast of ‘MS. MARVEL’ as Red Dagger

    21-year old Aramis Knight has joined the cast of the upcoming Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Ms. Marvel. Knight, who is best known for his role as MK in AMC’s Into the Badlands, will reportedly portray Kareem, aka Red Dagger, an unpowered, costumed vigilante Ms. Marvel meets when she visits her family in Pakistan.

    With Knight, whose father is of Pakistani descent, taking on the role of Kareem, and a slew of other announcements this week, the cast of the show seems to be nearly complete. Ms. Marvel is filming now in Atlanta.

    Source: Marvel.com

  • Jaimie Alexander to Return in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Jaimie Alexander to Return in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Just yesterday, we got a lot of information on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Disney’s Investor Day showcased the future Disney+ series and gave some small updates on the various films that will fill out Phase 4 and beyond. We sadly didn’t get too much detail on most of the films, but it seems that we didn’t have to wait long, as Deadline has now reported Jaimie Alexander is finally returning to the MCU in Thor: Love and Thunder. She was noticeably absent in Taika Waititi‘s first MCU film, Thor: Ragnarok, after we witnessed the death of the Warrior’s Three. Supposedly, Loki disguised as Odin saw her as a threat and banished her. She was among those that vanished after the snap, so it is uncertain

    There is also the theory of her appearing in Loki in some capacity. It will premiere in May, so it is uncertain if they will confirm her appearance by then. Our very own Lizzie Hill heard recently from a trusted source she has a fun cameo in the Loki series. Still, it is great to see the fan-favorite character return. We have no idea what she was up to since Sif left Asgard behind and what her role will be in Love and Thunder. There have been rumors she might even get her Disney+ series at one point, which could fill in the blanks. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it could still be in the pipeline at one point. It is also uncertain ifs he is aware that Asgard has fallen and the alien race took refuge on Earth. We’ll see whatever the future has in store for Sif and how she’ll react to what Thor has become after the events of Avengers: Endgame.

    Source: Deadline

     

  • ‘Ms. Marvel’: Rish Shah Playing the Inhuman Kamran

    ‘Ms. Marvel’: Rish Shah Playing the Inhuman Kamran

    Ms. Marvel has only just entered production early on, but we still got a sneak preview during Disney’s Investor Day. We don’t have too many official details on the Disney+ series’ casting. A while back, the Illuminerdi broke the news that Inhumans Red Dagger and Kamran would be joining the project. The latter is a rather interesting addition, as he was a key player in the original comic series as Kamala’s love interest. He also turned out to be Inhuman. Kamran can charge his body with bioluminescence that he transfers into inanimate objects. The moment he does this, these objects become miniature bombs. Well, it looks like the actor Rish Shah has confirmed his involvement via Instagram with the upcoming Disney+ series and that he will be playing Kamran. @cosmic_marvel was able to get a snapshot of his story where he confirmed it.

    There hasn’t been any information on how large a role he has currently. His involvement with the project would hint at them following the iconic storyline from the comics. Now, it was an essential moment in Kamala’s road to becoming a hero so I won’t spoil it here. Still, the inclusion of other Inhumans may be confirming that this series is building up an entire section of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has yet to be explored through Marvel Studios. We still do not know if the Royal Family might make an appearance at some point, but Charles was able to find some clues to Maximus’ potentially appearing, which you can find here. Hopefully, we get some tease of what the Inhuman future within the MCU might look like once the show airs next year.

    Source: Twitter, Illuminderdi

  • Disney’s Investor Day: Our Team’s Top Picks

    Disney’s Investor Day: Our Team’s Top Picks

    Yesterday was a day packed with numerous interesting and unexpected announcements regarding some of everyone’s favorite characters and franchises. It was a mixture of brand new surprises and expected announcements. Disney went all out, and it will take a while to unpack everything that they disclosed in their 4-hour long Investor Day presentation. But, we have to start somewhere, and for now, some projects caught our eye, for one reason or another. Here are our team’s picks:

     

    Charles Murphy

    For me, it’s simple: the revelation that Christian Bale is playing Gorr the God Butcher. We’ve been all over the map with Bale because we really had a hard time thinking they’d use Gorr after having co-opted parts of his power set with Hela in Ragnarok. Knowing that we are going to get Gorr in this film cements the fact that we are getting a much more direct adaptation of one of my favorite modern-day comic runs in Jason Aaron‘s Thor. I haven’t been able to get my head around what this means: are we going to see the 3 Thors story and see things at the end of time? Is it set in the modern-day? I know whatever it is, I’m ready for it!

     

     

    Ms. Lizzie Hill

    People need something to get behind,” as Bucky Barnes said. Well with kick-ass ladies, exciting action, an ominous intensity, and a fractious buddy cop comedy vibe I can certainly get behind the Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Can’t wait for March!

     

     

    Charles Villanueva

    After watching each trailer numerous times, I gotta say that Loki takes the cake in this category. For someone like me who was less than whelmed at the idea of Tom Hiddleston returning for another rodeo as the God of Mischief, that teaser really put me in my place. It’s as if every scene deserves an article on its own just for how intriguing it is. The set design looks crazy. Feige described the show as a crime thriller and I certainly got some Twin Peaks vibes seeing the teaser play out. Color me convinced.

     

     

    Joseph “The Machine” Aberl

    I think the biggest move of the night was to confirm what will happen with Black Panther‘s sequel. It wasn’t about the film but more about how they want to honor Chadwick Boseman‘s legacy moving forward. T’Challa was a big character moving into the next phase of their franchise, so anything could’ve happened. Yet, they took an honorable route and decided they will not recast the character. We will continue revisiting Wakanda in the future with a new generation taking over keeping Boseman‘s legacy alive.

     

     

    Superhero Theorist

    I’m a sucker for anything regarding the Multiverse. So you can guess how excited I was when Feige confirmed that Doctor Strange 2 would not only tie in with WandaVision but Spider-Man 3 as well. This takes me back to SDCC 2019 when Feige confirmed that Phase 4 would tell mini-arc stories based on 3-4 films and shows rather than a bigger story arc based around 23 films. So if the Multiverse is one of those stories based around the events of WandaVision, Spider-Man 3, Doctor Strange 2, and potentially possibly even Loki and What If?, then I’m all for it.

     

     

    John Sabato

    The best reveal for me would have to be that of the Ahsoka solo show reveal. Something that many of us were hoping would be in the works, especially with how Dawson played to the character to an almost perfect pitch. It’ll be exciting seeing her go after Grand Admiral Thrawn and hopefully see Ezra appear. My most disappointing reveal would have to be that of Shang-Chi. It had nothing to do with the quality of the film it was just that we were shown nothing from the film, not even a sizzle reel while shows like Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel, which gave us a better look and they’re not even done filming. While the project still a bit away it would’ve fit to see a first look at the film instead of just confirmation on the cast.

     

     

    Dalbin Osorio

    For me, I loved the announcement that Hayden Christensen was returning as Vader in the long-rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi show: seeing Vader turn into the menace and homicidal maniac leading into Rogue One and Episode 4 is always good news. He may have been awful in Episode 2 but he was great in Episode 3 and has shown incredible development as an Actor since leaving the Star Wars universe. What disappointed me, though, was not hearing anything about XMen. We got an F4 reveal, so many shows that will undoubtedly impact the very fabric of the MCU, and it feels a little like Feige is toying with us by knowing he has the X-Men in his back pocket. Still, a logo reveals, or even just one word (mutants) would’ve been cool to allude to the future.

     

     

    João RP

    Several project confirmations made me very happy. From the new Alien series to Taika Waititi‘s Reservoir Dogs and the MCU’s Secret Invasion series with Ben Mendelsohn returning. But I’ve got to say that having Patty Jenkins direct her own Star Wars movie is the surprise announcement that really made me gasp. She’s hardly the one to get herself on a project without making it her own in a way that elevates the material, and her personal background with her father having been a fighter pilot will surely make this a special project for her. Having her use that strong affinity to the subject to tackle a story about the Rogue Squadron, a group of fighter pilots initially founded and led by the Original Trilogy’s Wedge Antilles, sounds like a great start to the history of women directing Star Wars feature films.

     

  • New ‘WANDAVISION’ Trailer May Have Snuck in an Awesome Easter Egg

    New ‘WANDAVISION’ Trailer May Have Snuck in an Awesome Easter Egg

    This article, like the last few that I’ve published tonight, is not meant to be scoops or pieces where I claim facts. This one, like the others, is just me picking apart the trailers we all saw today and being a fan. And tonight there was one last thing in my mind that wouldn’t let me go to bed: a possible High Evolutionary Easter Egg in the new WandaVision trailer.

    A couple of scenes in the new trailer introduce a new actor named Herb, who seems to be hanging out with Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes. How do we jump from 70’s or 80’s Herb to High Evolutionary? In the comics, the High Evolutionary, whose true name was Herbert Wyndham, had a major role in the backstory of Wand Maximoff including the recent 2015 retcon which took away her and Pietro’s mutantness and made them failed experiments of Wyndham’s.

    I’m certainly not claiming that Herb will be the High Evolutionary in the series (although that would be AMAZING); I’m simply suggesting that Marvel Studios could have chosen any of 1000000000 names for Agnes’ friend and that by choosing Herb, they were at least Easter Egging us in one very specific direction.

    WandaVision begins streaming on January 15th on Disney Plus.

     

  • Owen Wilson Confirmed as Mobius M. Mobius in ‘LOKI’

    Owen Wilson Confirmed as Mobius M. Mobius in ‘LOKI’

    The Loki trailer presented at the Disney Investor Day presentation was full of major reveals, such as the fact the the Lord of Lies will likely go before the Council of Kangs. One thing that I personally missed upon first viewing was confirmation that Owen Wilson was confirmed to play a member of the TVA’s middle management, Mobius M. Mobius.

    Thanks to closed captioning, the mystery of who Wilson will portray in the series had been revealed and I think I speak for fans around the world when I say, “WOW!” The character of Mobius is an interesting one whose appearance is based on Marvel Comics writer and one-time editor Mark Gruenwald and was one of many cloned TVA management workers. It’s occurred to me that given Wilson’s alleged comedic chops, Marvel Studios might have the man portray several of these cloned characters which would be an interesting time for a guy who has admitted he’s never taken himself that seriously as an actor.

    Loki is set to stream on Disney Plus in May of 2021.

  • ‘LOKI’ Trailer Looks to Bring the God of Lies Before the Council of Kangs

    ‘LOKI’ Trailer Looks to Bring the God of Lies Before the Council of Kangs

    Marvel Studios unleashed a torrent of incredible news on us today, so much so that it’s easy to overlook some of the fine details of the footage they gave us. For instance, in the first teaser for next May’s Loki, it was pretty easy to ignore the faces on the wall in what appeared to be a courtroom.

    On the wall behind Gugu Mbatha-Raw‘s unknown character are a trio of faces, all of which bear the unmistakable trademark lines of Kang the Conqueror. The hardest of the hardcore know that Loki was produced by Limbo Productions I and that Kang the Conqueror is the Lord of Limbo. I have LOOOOOOOOONG expected Kang to show up in Loki (going so far as to wonder if Owen Wilson could be playing the character); when Jonathan Majors casting as Kang was revealed by the trades, I mentioned it was likely he would be showing up in something prior to Ant-Man 3. Over the past week, KC Walsh of GWW has HEAVILY teased the presence of the character. Given what we see here, it certainly looks like Loki is the place and that Gugu might somehow herself be on the council, be A Kang or related to the time-traveling despot.

    Council of Kangs (Team) - Comic Vine

    The multiversal Council of Kangs was first introduced in 1986’s Avengers 267 and did a lot of very counter-intuitive but self-preservatory shit. If we’re being honest, nothing about Kang, Immortus or any other of his personas make sense, so let’s not pretend to sort it out in 3-5 sentences. What does seem certain is that Loki will face off against the Master of Men before the end of Season 1!