Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: MCU

  • Theory Thursday: It’s Time for the MCU to Face Judgment

    Theory Thursday: It’s Time for the MCU to Face Judgment

    All rise for the honorable living tribunal.

     

    “From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then… boom. The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence.” In Phases 1-3, the MCU explored multiple individual stories, each of which became part of an interconnected storyline that we know as the Infinity Saga. In the Infinity Saga, the main overarching theme of these phases was the unification of the Infinity Stones from all corners of the universe. Now, with the Infinity Saga complete, we enter a new phase with a brand new storyline that fans will explore beyond the confines of our universe: the Multiverse.

     

    Who are you, in this vast multiverse, Mr. Strange?

     

    We were already teased about the concept of the Multiverse back in Doctor Strange (2016), and it was made a reference in the last MCU film of Phase 3, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), when Quentin Beck aka Mysterio, used the idea of the Multiverse to trick Peter Parker, Nick Fury (who was secretly Talos) and others into believing his ruse to become the “next hero”. But as Kevin Feige said back in SDCC last year, “Just because Quentin Beck makes up lies about the Multiverse, doesn’t mean it isn’t real.” We know that the concept of the Multiverse will be explored in Phase 4, with my money being on WandaVision (2020), Spider-Man: Something with Home in the Title (2021) & Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). I went very in-depth with my theory on how the Multiverse might play out in my “Reality Checked” Theory and discussed the possible universes that could be explored if Marvel indeed decided to acknowledge a Marvel Cinematic Multiverse.

     

     

    Now, if we are going to deep dive into the concept of the Multiverse, then we need to acknowledge the presence of a very important character in Marvel Comics lore that I believe already exists in the MCU and might make his appearance very soon:

     

    The Living Tribunal

     

    Now, the Living Tribunal has been described as a “nigh-omnipotent, nigh-omniscient, omnipresent” individual that “possesses limitless power, is able to erase entire realities from existence.” His only rival is his creator; the One-Above-All. But the Living Tribunal in the comics is essentially regarded as the 2nd most powerful individual in all of Marvel lore. His role has been to safeguard the Multiverse and be its Guardian, and unlike other characters, where there are other versions of the same character across multiple universes, there is only 1 Living Tribunal that exists in all of the universes as he is the center of it all. “The Tribunal manifests itself as a being with three faces, which represent the three sides of the Tribunal’s personality. Its front face, through which it usually speaks, represents equity, the fully hooded face on its right side represents necessity, and the partially hooded face on its left represents just revenge. All three voices must agree in a case before the Tribunal can intervene.”

     

    Why introduce him now?

    Living Tribunal by Eric Hallquist

     

    With the Multiverse now coming into play in Phase Four of the MCU and the idea that the universe might start to collide if Wanda Maximoff decides to go all “House of M” on us, then the Living Tribunal might be forced to play a role in trying to preserve the balance of the Multiverse by passing judgment onto Wanda, something I predict could happen in the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel. The first time the Living Tribunal was introduced in Marvel Comics was in Strange Tales #158, where he encountered Doctor Strange and had come to the conclusion that the Earth should be destroyed. Doctor Strange however managed to convince the tribunal to give the Earth a chance so he could fix it and save all life on Earth. The Tribunal agreed. We could see a scenario similar to this in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), where the Living Tribunal decides to pass judgment on Wanda Maximoff for altering the laws of reality and as penance, must die along with the rest of the Earth in order to preserve the balance. Doctor Strange will intervene and vouch for Wanda to keep her and Earth safe and manage to fix reality once again. And now, some of you might tell me that that sounds like an amazing pitch. But why introduce a character like this in the MCU now? How can I be sure that this is even the direction Marvel wants to go? What if I told you we’ve already had our first tease regarding the Living Tribunal?

     

     

    The Living Tribunal has already been teased in the MCU

    The Staff of the Living Tribunal by Sukh Singh

     

    Remember this relic? You might remember it in a scene from Doctor Strange (2016) when Baron Mordo was wielding it while training with Doctor Strange in Kamar Taj. Baron Mordo had actually called it the “Staff of the Living Tribunal”. Quite the interesting name no?

     

     

    Not only that, but Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely actually revealed at SDCC last year that The Living Tribunal was set to appear during Avengers: Infinity War (2018), to judge Thanos for his crimes against the universe. Clearly, that idea was opted out later on and we never saw that scene but if he was set to appear in this film, chances are that Marvel Studios has plans for the cosmic entity to make his way to the MCU very soon.

     

    Only time will tell us if and when we are ready to face the judgment of the Living Tribunal in the MCU.

     

     

  • Theory Thursday: ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Will Introduce the Commission on Superhuman Activities to the MCU

    Theory Thursday: ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Will Introduce the Commission on Superhuman Activities to the MCU

    Once meant to kick of Marvel Studios slate of Disney Plus streaming series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier hit a bit of a speed bump in the Spring, pushing it back in the queue. In an alternate universe, the series has completed its run and fans’ imaginations have been running wild with theories about what’s next for the heroes and villains. Here, however, we’re still stuck speculating on what might be and a non-story from last week got my wheels spinning again.

    After some official The Falcon and The Winter Solider Mini Mates leaked online last week, word made its way around the internet that they had spoiled the fact that Wyatt Russell would be introduced as Captain America in the series. of course that’s just not right; there is no spoiler here. The Big Game spot that teased the series already showed us Walker in full Cap gear as have many set photos and, most importantly to this theory piece, these posters from the set which made the rounds back in February.

    The Falcon And The Winter Soldier Set Pic Reveals The New Captain America

    Walker being trotted out as Cap isn’t a spoiler by any means. While they certainly won’t follow the character’s comic arc beat for beat, it’s been pretty evident from jump street that Walker was going to be the guy holding the shield…there’s a reason why the series isn’t called Captain America and The Winter Soldier. What is interesting about the posters that were spotted on set is that they are sponsored by the U.S. Army. Now Walker himself was a military hero but that’s not all that’s going on here. These posters are more than just the U.S. Army celebrating the promotion of one of their own to the role of Cap; these are good ol’ government propaganda and that likely means that, just like in the comics, Walker was hand selected by the government to be the new Cap. There’s probably a whole other theory piece here about why Walker was chosen over Sam, but that’s not what this is. This is about just what kind of group would do the choosing and what role they might play in The Falcon and The Winter Solider and beyond.

    If the government is going to do something, you can be damn sure they’re going to form a committee to do so and, theoretically speaking, that committee would be the Commission on Superhuman Activities. In the comics, the CSA’s members came from all over the government: the military, the NSA and the FBI were among the organizations who had representatives on the Commission. Their job, in a nutshell, was to monitor and strategize on how to deal with the ever growing number of powered people. As Vision pointed out in Captain America: Civil War, the strength of the Avengers invites challenge. Given what we know about the series, it seems incredibly likely that we will see the further proliferation of powered people (you can read my ideas about how that might happen here) and see the government response to that. Way back in January of this year, this Connecting the Imaginary Dots piece laid out one possible route the government might take: attempting to reproduce the Super Soldier serum. Now we can’t be 100% sure, but I’m willing to be that one of the big themes of this series is going to be the legacy of Steve Rogers and that serum and that John Walker gets himself a little cocktail to power him up courtesy of the CSA.

    The CSA isn’t the Accords, though the formation of the Commission might easily be seen as a natural consequence of the Accords. The CSA would be its own thing and while Thunderbolt Ross might have a hand in its formation in the MCU, it’s very much its own group in the comics and it has a few KEY power players who, should the CSA show up in the MCU, might portend some really big things down the road.

    Key among the potential members of the CSA are Valerie Cooper and Henry Peter Gyrich. Dr. Valerie Cooper believed she saw a developing threat in the growing number of powered people (it was mutants in the comics…are we there yet in the MCU) and used the CSA to tap into the that growing number of powered U.S. citizens as part of what she saw as an arms race. In the absence of the Avengers, Cooper created the Freedom Force (composed entirely of mutants who were looking to clear their criminal records) and the group was successful for a time before falling apart. From there, Cooper played an integral role in making sure that John Walker ascended to the mantle of Captain America, under the thumb of the CSA, and bringing in his old Army buddy, Lemar Hoskins, as his partner, Battlestar (you first read about Hoskins appearing in the series right here!). Cooper, or a character like her, seems like sure bet to appear in the series and while her time on the CSA is pretty exciting, wait until you guys go look up the X-Men watchdog organization she headed up (O.N.E.).

    A little more well-known thanks to his time as a government liaison with the Avengers, his appearances in numerous animated series and in 2000’s X-Men, Henry Peter Gyrich is an even bigger asshole and a character a lot of fans have been expecting to see in the MCU for some time, so an appearance here as part of the CSA wouldn’t be entirely surprising. Gyrich helped develop and oversee the off-the-books Project: Wideawake which kept an eye on the mutant explosion and, among other things, employed Sentinels against them.

    Should one or both of these two appear in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, they could not only be viewed as short terms thorns in the sides of Bucky and Sam but also potentially as some of the first steps that Kevin Feige could be taking towards introducing mutants to the MCU. At the very least, they might be two of the first characters who were previously owned by Fox to make their way into the ever expanding universe (though I think Agatha Harkness might be the first, now that WandaVision is coming ahead of this project). We’ll see how it turns out, of course, but given what we already know about the series, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the CSA make its debut when The Falcon and The Winter Soldier premiers next year.

     

  • What I Heard This Week: Two Potential Moon Knights

    What I Heard This Week: Two Potential Moon Knights

    Every now and then I come across some information the veracity of which can be confirmed by a second source. What happens FAR more often is that I come across some information that while believable and from trustworthy sources, cannot be confirmed by other sources for various reasons. For instance, on February 19th, I wrote this piece relaying some rumors I’d heard about Marvel Studios updating its Disney Plus slate; the next day, the news broke that a special Disney Plus event would be held in London on March 5th where it is expected that Marvel Studios and Star Wars slates will be updated. I also shared information about Peyton Reed directing episodes of season 2 of The Mandalorian months before he made it official. With productions either underway or ramping up, information is starting to come back in and this time I heard something incredibly interesting about Marvel Studios Moon Knight.

    While rumors have persisted that Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Moon Knight will begin production in 2020, it seems like it’s destined to begin filming in early 2021 alongside She-Hulk. Like She-Hulk, however, it’s also been rumored for some time that the studio has settled on their lead actor. I heard whispers as far back as August that the studio had found their Marc Spector and have done everything I could to try to uncover the identity of the actor but ran into roadblocks at every turn. This weekend, however, a very trusted source shared a couple of names with me that he had heard associated with the role. To be clear, there is no evidence that one of these actors has landed the role and I was unable to confirm with a second source that these two actors were in the mix; however, with the absence of news about who Marvel Studios has chosen, I believe sharing some info about names they MAY have considered could generate some interesting discussion. According to the source, Marvel Studios showed interest in actors Daveed Diggs and Nick Kroll for the role of Marc Spector!

     

     

    Diggs and Kroll both fit the mold while breaking it at the same time. Given the prominent role that Spector’s Jewish background plays in the comics (his father is a rabbi), it’s been the popular opinion that Marvel Studios would seek out a Jewish actor to portray Spector and both Diggs and Kroll fit the bill there. On the other hand, Kroll is known as more of a comedian and it’s been Diggs’ vocal talents that have helped propel him towards stardom, though both actors have moved outside their comfort zones in their recent work. Kroll displayed his dramatic chops in 2018’s Operation Finale and Diggs received rave reviews for his role in the uber smash hit Hamilton, 2018’s Blindspotting, and more recently in the Snowpiercer series, a role in which he’s delved not only into some big-time action sequences but also into a world of loss and violence not altogether different from the one inhabited by Marc Spector.

    Again, there’s no indication that either actor sat down and had discussions with Marvel Studios about the role, much less signed on for it. Realistically, unless one of these actors gets the role, there’ll never be a way to “prove” they ever considered; however, if they were in fact on “the list”, it shows an impressive amount of non-paradigmatic thinking on the part of the Kevin Feige’s trusted casting crew led by Sarah Finn. While I’ve been on board the Shia LeBeouf for Spector hype train (I may have built it, if we’re being honest) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen is a popular fan cast, it seems the studio is at least considering some more “off-beat” actors rather than the “edgy” types we’ve all had in mind. The potential interest in the two also offers a little clarity on an age range for Spector and, like the two actors, it’s a little different than what I was thinking. I was surprised to see that Diggs is 38 (would be 39 by the time production ramped up) and Kroll is 42, so while we’re certainly going to see an origin story, we’re also definitely getting a Moon Knight who has served his time as both a Marine and a merc and who has been through the ringer a bit. With all that in mind, I’m even more excited than ever to find out who Marvel Studios has chosen for the role as my mind has suddenly been opened up to a whole lot more options that I was previously considering!

    Marvel Studios Moon Knight is headed to Disney Plus (eventually).

     

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘HAWKEYE’ to Film at Tyler Perry Studios

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘HAWKEYE’ to Film at Tyler Perry Studios

    Productions on the first two Marvel Studios streaming series, WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, are coming to a close and production on Loki has resumed in Atlanta following the COVID-related hiatus. Up next for the studio are Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye and with Spidey 3 also taking up studio space in Atlanta, Disney found themselves looking for some additional space and have found it! Marvel Studios Hawkeye will be using Tyler Perry’s Atlanta studios when it begins filming later this year.

    Hawkeye Concept Art Reveals First Look at Marvel Disney Plus Show | Collider

    Pre-production on the series has been ongoing for the past month and the studio is currently taking aim at a post-Thanksgiving start of filming and hoping that the series has the same good fortune as the others that recently resumed filming without any further delays. Expected to explore the fallout of the Avenging Archer’s time as Ronin, Hawkeye will introduce Kate Bishop, Maya Lopez and, most importantly, Lucky the Pizza Dog to the MCU and is also rumored to bring in classic Marvel villain Madame Masque. The series is said to be heavily influenced by the award-winning 2012-2015 run on the book by Matt Fraction. Should filming avoid any significant delays, the series could debut in the second half of 2021.

     

  • ‘SHANG-CHI’ Wraps in Australia as Simu Liu Heads to San Francisco

    ‘SHANG-CHI’ Wraps in Australia as Simu Liu Heads to San Francisco

    UPDATE: Turns out SF was just a stop on Liu’s trip home and he will not be filming any scenes there.

    Principal photography on Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings wrapped in Australia over the weekend but it’s possible that the film’s star, Simu Liu, might not be done just yet. Liu recently left Australia and in the video below, taken from his Instagram story, is headed to San Francisco where stunt scenes for the film have been ongoing for the past week.

    The stunt scenes have involved what appears to be a runaway SFT bus headed toward the waterfront near the Lower Nob Hill neighborhood. Over the course of the week, we’ve seen the bus reduced from two cars down to one and cause quite a bit of damage, as seen in the set photos below courtesy of @ShangChiBR:

    It’s possible that Liu is headed to San Francisco to film some pick-ups for the scene as it does seem a little too coincidental that the Toronto resident would happen to end up in the same place as these scenes have been being filmed. We’ll keep our eyes peeled and ears open over the next few days.

    Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is currently set to hit theaters on July 9, 2021.

  • LEAKED ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Funko Pop Gives a Look at a Masked Zemo

    LEAKED ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Funko Pop Gives a Look at a Masked Zemo

    Marvel Studios The Falcon and The Winter Soldier recently wrapped filming in Prague and is, hopefully, going to stream on Disney Plus sometime in early 2021 but thanks to an eager retailer, we have our first look at a Funko Pop from the series. The Dis.pops Instagram account posted a picture of a previously unseen “Baron Zemo” Funko:

    In the past, Funko Pops have very accurately portrayed Marvel Studios characters and we have no reason to think this would be any different. While it’s great to see Zemo in his trademark mask, we’ve known that was coming since Daniel Bruhl put it on during a video presentation at SDCC ’19. What’s a bit more interesting is that box is labeled with the comic book accurate title of Baron.

    Marvel Officially Reveals Baron Zemo's MCU Mask | Screen Rant

    To this point, the MCU version of Helmut Zemo has been pretty radically different from his comic book counterpart and has not been referred to as “Baron” at any point nor has there been any reference to his father or the hereditary title. For the most part, Funko Pops have been very representative of the changes made to characters whose MCU versions have diverged from the source material, though there are plenty of examples of the collectibles using “comic book” names for film characters who were never referred to by those names on-screen (I’m looking at you Hydro-Man and Molten Man). So while the addition of “Baron” to the name of the character did catch my eye and could portend some interesting revelations about Zemo’s character in the upcoming series, let’s not count our chickens before we punch the gift horse in the mouth on this one.

    The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is (probably) set to stream on Disney Plus in early 2021.

  • Natalie Portman Talks ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Natalie Portman Talks ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    “It’s going to be really Silly and Funny and Great.”

     

    This is how the Academy Award-winning actress described the upcoming MCU film, Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). Natalie Portman, who portrayed Dr. Jane Foster in the previous Thor (2011) & Thor: The Dark World (2013) films, is currently in Sydney, Australia, “prepping” for the production of Thor 4. Last night, she was interviewed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. She was asked about the project and how she had prepared for the project. “I’m playing the Mighty Thor…There were some graphic novels where Jane Foster becomes Thor and it’s going to be really silly and funny and great.” She also described that she had been exercising for the role, joking about the process as “tiring after working out…and during…and before.”

     

     

    She continued the interview by showing praise for Taiki Waititi, the director of Thor: Ragnarök (2017) & now, Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). “He’s wonderful. I’m very excited to be a part of it all.”

     

    THOR LOVE AND THUNDER IS SET TO PREMIERE February 11, 2022, STARRING Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Natalie Portman.

     

    Source: The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

  • ***UPDATED*** Alejandra López NOT Tapped to Helm Upcoming Marvel Studios Project

    ***UPDATED*** Alejandra López NOT Tapped to Helm Upcoming Marvel Studios Project

    Update: We learned today that Lopez was working with Marvel on an audiobook project and not an upcoming project for Marvel Studios as first reported.

    “DEJANDO LA MANCHA DE PLATANO Y AGRADECIENDO A DIOS.”

     

    That is how Ms. López responded to her breaking the news that she will be directing a project at Marvel Studios. Puertorrican born-and-raised director, Alejandra López let everyone know via her social media that her next project would take her to Burbank, California, where she has confirmed that the news.

     

     

    Alejandra López has worked on multiple projects before, her most notable work being the short film The Blue Cape (2019). It’s a touching story of how a young boy in a hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico goes beyond his limits to help acquire medicine for his grandfather. As a Puertorrican, this news makes me so happy and proud of her accomplishment. I wish her the best and cannot wait to know more about which project she’s been tapped to direct.

  • Potential ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’ Audition Video Description Revealed

    Potential ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’ Audition Video Description Revealed

    On Friday evening an audition video was shared with me. Though it was labeled “Titans”, it became clear upon watching it that it was something very different than that. The now-deleted video was an audition for a Spider-Man project of some kind.

    Audition videos get posted on sites like Vimeo all the time. Sometimes they’re legitimate, other times they’re not. I have no way of discerning for you whether or not this one was, but I was able to watch it before it was taken down and I can describe for you what was in it. From there, you can decide for yourselves how/if it might fit the MCU’s Spidey narrative arc. This young actor was trying out for the role of “Daniel.” Marvel Studios always uses code names for their roles, so the actual identity of the character is unknown, but the audition video gave a few interesting tidbits that could help determine who he is playing.

    Before reading any further there are 2 things you need to keep in mind:

    1. The now-deleted audition video could have been for a fan film or something completely unrelated to Sony’s MCU-set Spider-Man films.
    2. The now-deleted audition video, were it truly for Spidey 3 and if its contents related to the actual script of Spidey 3, would possibly reveal a pretty heavy spoiler.

    The two-part video begins with a young African-American man out delivering food for what appeared to be his parents’ restaurant. The young man is stopped by the NYPD because he is wearing some sort of Spider-Man gear. When questioned by police, he states he’s a fan of Spidey but it’s clear that in whatever universe this takes place, being a fan of Spidey is NOT ok. This would certainly seem to be in line with where we’d think things would pick up in Spidey 3 following the events at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home.

    The second part of the video sees the young man first in a conversation with his father, then his cousin (?). When talking to the second person, a breaking news report airs on TV indicating that the costumed hero Spider-Man has been found dead at a museum.

    Flashback Friday: DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN - Freaksugar

    Now there are all kinds of possibilities spinning out of this video if, in fact, it’s legitimately for Sony’s third Spider-Man film. Could the young man in the video have been auditioning for the role of Miles Morales? Could this be a Spider-Man from a different, parallel Earth or is this the MCU’s Peter? Could Doctor Strange have cast some sort of illusion that could somehow allow Peter to return to some semblance of a normal life? Has someone else put on the Spider-Man costume and died? While I have a hard time believing that the big picture revolves around killing Tom Holland’s character, I can think of several ways “Spider-Man” could die and Holland could continue on in the role. As is often the case with these videos, we know very little because we don’t know the connection to the larger plot (assuming this is legit and there even is one), so it’s hard to determine very much but we do know that we’re talking about a universe where Spider-Man seems to be an enemy of the state and ends up dead and if that gives us any sort of insight into the plot of Spider-Man 3, then we know it’s going to be a wild ride and that Marvel Studios has chosen to go down a shocking path for the threequel.

  • What I Heard This Week: Spider-Slayers in ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’

    What I Heard This Week: Spider-Slayers in ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’

    Every now and then I come across some information the veracity of which can be confirmed by a second source. What happens FAR more often is that I come across some information that while believable and from trustworthy sources, cannot be confirmed by other sources for various reasons. For instance, on February 19th, I wrote this piece relaying some rumors I’d heard about Marvel Studios updating its Disney Plus slate; the next day, the news broke that a special Disney Plus event would be held in London on March 5th where it is expected that Marvel Studios and Star Wars slates will be updated. I also shared information about Peyton Reed directing episodes of season 2 of The Mandalorian months before he made it official. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been able to hear much of anything, so I’m excited to share this bit on info with you.

    Spider-Man: Whatever Happened to the Smythes and the Spider-Slayers?

    I was recently contacted and had some information shared with me that has led me down a pretty wild path of speculation to an end point that I think makes a ton of sense. The information, while nebulous, comes from a trusted source and I’ve spent some time trying to get a little more context and clear up what I’ve been told, but at this point that is hard to come by, so I’ve landed on the option that makes the most sense to me: Spider-Man 3 may well introduce one of the Wall-Crawler’s oldest villains, Dr. Spencer Smythe.

    Smythe first appeared in 1965’s The Amazing Spider-Man #25 and made a mess of things for Spidey at the behest of J. Jonah Jameson who, as you know, viewed the young hero as a MENACE! Without giving away some details I’ve been asked to keep quiet, Smythe was one of a handful of alliterative Spider-Man characters that I had to choose from based on the information at hand but he’s also the one that fits the best given the way the last film ended. While there’s currently no shortage of crazy Spidey rumors going around right now, it seems a certainty that the film will open with Peter dealing with the fallout from the revelation of his secret identity by Mysterio at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Of course that movie also brought J.K. Simmons‘ J. Jonah Jameson into the MCU and given his history with Smythe, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see the two team up at the beginning of this threequel. Smythe, of course, doesn’t pose much of a threat himself but he’s more than capable of causing Spidey problems by developing Spider-Slayers!

    Spider-Slayer Mark V | Marvel Database | Fandom

    The Spider-Slayers were a series of robots developed by Smythe with the original model even bearing the face of J. Jonah himself. An appearance by the Smythe and the Spider-Slayer(s) could prove for some incredible shots of Spidey swinging through NYC with the Slayers in pursuit as well as making Jameson a true antagonist in the MCU while bringing a classic Spidey villain to the screen for the first time. It’s also worth noting that Smythe’s son, Alistair, played by BJ Novak, made an appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and we know that Feige has no problem reinventing characters from the previous Spidey franchises at this point with both Simmons and Jamie Foxx reprising their roles in the MCU, so Novak’s Alistair, who was a part of the series of events that saw Foxx’s Max Dillon become Electro, could make his way into this shared universe as well.

    Again there are so many wild rumors out there right now that it’s hard to tell what to believe and hard to get a good idea of just what this movie is about, but adding Smythe and his Spider-Slayers to the film is certainly in line with where things left off last time we saw Spidey! Hopefully, we’ll see where things end up for Peter and company and if I made the right choice in my deductions sooner than later as filming is set to kick off soon and Spider-Man 3 is due in theaters on December 16, 2021!