Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: MCU

  • ‘WANDAVISION’: Meet the Hearts

    ‘WANDAVISION’: Meet the Hearts

    When the WandaVision trailer dropped last Sunday, some of the biggest teases came from the black & white portion of the show.

     

    As I stated in another theory post, by the time we hit the 1950s portion of the show, we know Wanda and Vision just got married and have moved to the town of WestView. They want to fit in with the rest and they’re living their perfect suburban lives. At some point during the show, they will invite Mr. & Mrs. Heart over for Dinner. Played by Fred Melamed and Debra Jo Rupp, the Hearts will ask them all sorts of questions like; “When did they get married? Where did they move from? Why don’t they have children yet?”. Wanda stuttered when asked these questions and she wasn’t able to answer them because she didn’t know how to answer them. None of it was real. Vision tried to answer as well, but he didn’t know either. And that’s when all of their reality started to slowly fall apart as the aspect ratio started to expand. Now, something that really puts us at unease is when Mr. Heart slams the table and says “Dammit. Why?”, with Mrs. Heart telling him playfully to “Stop it.”, all while Wanda and Vision give each other looks of concern. Such weird things to say.

     

    Now, when I asked you guys about how you thought Mr. & Mrs. Heart could be, many of you have stated that they’re actually demons sent by either Mephisto or Nightmare or people manipulated by the nosy neighbor Agnes aka Agatha Harkness:

     

    https://twitter.com/GodEmperorBoss/status/1308603394840498184?s=20

     

    Now, these are all completely valid theories, considering how much Mephisto influences Wanda’s story and the birth of her children as a whole. Not only that, but we’ve also heard rumors regarding Nightmare possibly joining the MCU in this show and potentially manipulating Wanda to alter reality. But I propose another theory, and ONE of you actually got really close to what I was thinking:

     

    https://twitter.com/adambarnhardt/status/1308523318388166657

     

    And in that tweet was a reply from fellow Murphy’s Multiverse Contributor: Lizzie Hill, which pretty much consolidates exactly what I’m proposing today.

     

    https://twitter.com/MsLizzieHill/status/1308548233661214725

    And because Lizzie and I had a bit of back-and-forth regarding our theories, we managed to consolidate both our theories into this one theory.

     

    THEORY: MR. & MRS. HEART ARE THE MANIFESTATIONS OF WANDA’S SUBCONSCIOUS

     

    Something we need to understand is that during this show, a lot of the things we see in these homages to the sitcoms are actually the manifestations made by Wanda as part of her alternate reality. Meaning, the whole world around her is made up by her (except for some exceptions like Monica and Agnes, who are “intruders”). What if when Mr. & Mrs. Heart are asking these questions, it’s actually Wanda asking herself these questions, to quote Lizzie, “like a writer trying to work out details of this story, getting angry/frustrated on one side(Mr. Heart), combined with the denial and trying to stay in the moment (Mrs. Heart), combined with the trauma of losing Vision & not being able to have this ideal life with him.” What if they are the life Wanda wants for her and Vision? And with the way Wanda looks at Mr. Heart when he slams the table, it looks as if he struck a nerve in Wanda. Another possibility for Mr. Heart asking “Damn it why?’ could be her manifestation of Vision asking Wanda “Why did you do this? Why did you bring me back?” since we know that Vision is probably the only manifestation of Wanda that has any sort of control and when Mr. Heart asks the question and slams the table over and over, it keeps cutting back to Vision looking at Wanda, with Mrs. Heart saying “Stop it.” over and over in the background with Wanda looking concerned at Vision.  Either way, it always just comes back to the same principle that this is all in Wanda’s head and it’s her ideas and subconscious questioning herself.

  • ‘WANDAVISION’: “Welcome to WestView”

    ‘WANDAVISION’: “Welcome to WestView”

    After months of radio silence from Marvel Studios, this past week, Marvel Studios started to ramp up on news once again, with reports of Jonathan Majors being cast as Kang the Conqueror, She-Hulk finding it’s the lead actress in Tatiana Maslany, with Kat Coiro set to direct multiple episodes, Olivia Wilde discussing Kevin Feige’s involvement in the upcoming Spider-Woman film, & Ms. Marvel finding its team of directors. & the news didn’t stop there as fans were treated this past Sunday to the first official trailer for the upcoming Disney+ show, WandaVision. Now, the trailer gave us a look at Wanda Maximoff & The Vision’s life after they’ve become newly-weds and are living the best of their lives in the humble little town of WestView until everything begins to fall apart.

     

     

    For this Theory Thursday, I wanted to discuss a plot mechanism that I thought could play out in the show, and when I saw the trailer, I found that my theory could actually be plausible. So let’s delve right into it.

     

    THEORY: EACH SITCOM ERA IS A “RESET”.

     

    Okay, let me explain because it can get kind of confusing. We know that the series is a “blend of classic television and the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, paying homage to multiple sitcoms over decades of television, like “I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, Roseanne, and many more”. And the biggest tease we got in the trailer was from the 50’s portion of the show, which was filmed in black & white and in front of a live studio audience. In my opinion, this is the first era the show will touch upon.

     

     

    Wanda and Vision just got married and moved to the little suburban town of WestView. They want to fit in with the rest and they’re living their perfect suburban lives…until “Mr. & Mrs. Heart” (played by Fred Nelamed and Debra Jo Rupp) come over to visit them and ask them all sorts of questions like; “When did they get married? Where did they move from? Why don’t they have children yet?”. This causes Wanda to stutter because she didn’t know how to answer them. When Vision tries to answer, he doesn’t know either. Mr. Heart slams the table and asks Wanda “Dammit. Why?”, & Mrs. Heart tells him to “Stop it.” over and over, all while Wanda and Vision give each other looks of concern.

     

     

    Immediately before the scene can go on, it starts to rewind. This is where “the first reset” begins. Unable to answer the questions about how/when she and Vision got married, where they came from, or why they don’t have children, Wanda loses her concentration and her 1950’s reality starts to unravel and rewind like a VHS tape until it eventually kicks her out of that made-up reality back into our own. And I believe it will go a little something like this:

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvfaSOcO_zI&feature=youtu.be

     

    Now that we understand the concept of what “the reset” is, I propose that during WandaVision, Wanda will encase herself (and the town of WestView) in an alternate pocket reality, where she will try to live her life with Vision as if it were a sitcom with a happy ending, but every single time, she finds a mistake that can unravel her reality, causing her to reset the reality she is in and move to another era where she can start over, having learned from the mistakes of her previous era. But as she keeps resetting her pocket universe, or changing between eras more and more, she’ll eventually garner the attention of the likes of her nosy neighbor Agnes, S.W.O.R.D. (and possibly even a Master of the Mystic Arts). And the reason for this is that maybe, every time Wanda resets her reality, she alters the fabric of reality in all of the MCU little by little until eventually causing a rupture in that reality, which is what could kickstart the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

     

    But we’ll only know for sure when WandaVision drops this 2020.

     

     

  • Gugu Mbatha-Raw Confirms ‘LOKI’ Has Resumed Production

    Gugu Mbatha-Raw Confirms ‘LOKI’ Has Resumed Production

    A new interview with Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Forbes.com confirms filming on the Loki series has resumed after being put on pause last March.

    Life is starting to return to somewhere near normal for Mbatha-Raw, who is now back at work filming the upcoming Marvel TV series, Loki, for Disney+ in Atlanta, Georgia.

    “I was in the middle of filming when the pandemic happened, so I had a real break, I’ve been painting and reading. Like so many others, I was at home for a long time,” she said. “Not to make light of the suffering going on, but in some ways, it has been an opportunity for me to get a fresh perspective on things. It is downtime that perhaps I might not have had, and now I’m thankful to be back to work. It’s been a journey for everyone, but it’s all for a greater reason and the greater good.”

    Typical of MCU actors, Mbatha-Raw isn’t giving up any details on the production, however it’s more welcome news for Marvel fans eager to see what the God of Mischief gets up to next.

    “I’m obviously sworn to secrecy about everything to do with Loki, but it feels great to be back. Everyone is trying to do it as safely as possible under the circumstances, and it feels good. I’m excited. It’s a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to see it.”

    Editing to add a quick additional quote from another new interview with Vulture where Mbatha-Raw is a bit more specific about when they resumed filming. Previous reports were they would begin on September 14.

    Where are you right now?

    I’m in Atlanta. I’m filming here, for work — Loki the Disney+ series. We just restarted a few weeks ago.

    Source: Forbes, Vulture

  • Darcy’s Role in ‘WANDAVISION’ Revealed

    Darcy’s Role in ‘WANDAVISION’ Revealed

    Last night’s WandaVision trailer took the hype for the upcoming Disney Plus streaming series to another level while leaving fans with more questions than answers. The trailer gave us our first look at Kathryn Hahn’s mysterious Agnes, a look at Teyonah Parris’ grown-up Monica Rambeau taking a mysterious trip and ending up with what we assume to be a group of SWORD agents. It also set the table for one of the show’s many interesting premises: Vision’s missing memories (and maybe Wanda’s as well?). We see the manifestation of this issue while Mr. and Mrs. Heart, dinner guests of Wanda and Vision’s, ask questions about the happy couple who have just moved into the town of Westview and neither are able to answer.

     

     

    Now whether or not Wanda can answer and chooses not to is a question for another time (I don’t THINK she can, though); it’s clear from the look on Vision’s face, however, that he does not know how he came to be where he is. Later in the trailer, Hahn’s character bluntly tells Vision that he is dead, much to his surprise. From what we can gather, it seems that, as rumored, Wanda and Vision are living in an alternate reality where the events of Avengers: Infinity War have no hold. They are married, have children, and live in a happy little world where Vision still has the Mind Stone firmly embedded in his forehead. But we know there’s more to the story than just this new reality and it’s what’s happening outside that bubble that brings Darcy into play!

     

     

    As we reported here, while Wanda and Viz are happy in their bubble, life goes on in the real world, where someone is collecting the parts of the synthezoid Avenger and reassembling him. When Vision finally finds himself humpty-dumptied back together again, much like in the Vision Quest arc, he finds his memories are not intact; in fact, he has absolutely no recollection of his demise at the hands of Wanda (nor, apparently much of the time following the work done on him by Shuri) and it falls on the shoulders of Kat Denning’s Darcy to fill in the blanks. We don’t quite know how Darcy and Vision end up crossing paths but we’ve heard from sources that Darcy ends up being a key figure in getting Vision back on his feet. One scene described to us has Darcy informing a very confused Vision of the tragic circumstances of his death. And so whatever series of events that have transpired since the last time we saw her, Darcy somehow ends up working on piecing the Vision back together again. As with many of the scoops we share, we know we’re missing some context here so it’ll be interesting to see this all unfold when the series streams LATER THIS YEAR!!!!!

     

  • New Set Photos Show Sebastian Stan Smiling, Cruising on the Set of ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’

    New Set Photos Show Sebastian Stan Smiling, Cruising on the Set of ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’

    Intra-pandemic production on the Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier resumed last week and set photos have come fast and furious. The most recent pics have come to us via Just Jared and they show one of the series leads, Sebastian Stan, filming a motorcycle scene.

    Despite less than stellar weather this week, Stan was able to work this scene in on a clear night earlier this week. The scene sees Stan’s Winter Soldier atop what appears to be a pretty souped up bike in what is sure to be a highly intense chase sequence. You can check the set photos out at Just Jared by clicking the link above!

  • ‘MS. MARVEL’ Adds Two-Time Oscar Winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy to Team of Directors

    ‘MS. MARVEL’ Adds Two-Time Oscar Winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy to Team of Directors

    Rounding out what has been one of Marvel Studios most prolific news weeks in 2020, a report indicates that the studio has assembled a team of directors for the upcoming Disney Plus streaming series Ms. Marvel and that team is damn impressive. Recent rumors pointed to the Bad Boys For Life directing duo of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah helming multiple episodes; THR has now confirmed those rumors and adds that two-time documentary short Oscar award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Meera Menon, who previously directed an episode of Marvel’s Netflix series, The Punisher, will all work in concert directing different episodes of the series!

    Production on Ms. Marvel is expected to kick off this November in Atlanta. While no announcement has been made, it is widely believed that Marvel Studios has found their Kamala Khan along with most of the rest of the main cast.

     

  • Marvel Studios ‘ETERNALS’: Who is Phastos?

    Marvel Studios ‘ETERNALS’: Who is Phastos?

    With the Infinity Saga coming to a close, Marvel Studios is preparing to launch into an all-new, all-different era beginning with Phase 4. While several properties are going to serve as deeper dives into already established characters and worlds, Eternals is going to introduce new characters and change what we think we know about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Eternals were born in the mind of Jack Kiby as Marvel Comics “ancient aliens”: beings of immense power who had protected Earth since the beginning of time. Over the course of history, the Eternals and their enemies, the Deviants, worked their way into the religions and mythologies of many cultures gods and monsters, angels and devils and heroes and villains. Marvel Studios will certainly put their own spin on the characters, but we can still take an opportunity to get to know them here…in 400 words or less!

    The history of Marvel's Phastos explained

    A master forger, inventor and tech genius,the nihilistic Phastos has developed weapons for the Eternals for the past 2,500 years or so, including the elegant and deadly blade of his fellow Eternal Kingo. His expertise as a weapons forger lead to him being confused for the Greek god Hephaestus. Like all Eternals, Phastos’ power suite gives him incredible strength and powers; however, unlike most of his fellow Terran Eternals, Phastos did not approve of going to war against the Eternals enemies, the Deviants. Spending much of his life searching for evidence that life has meaning, Phastos personal philosophy stands in stark contrast to the other Eternals.

    All Of Marvel's Eternals Character Designs Revealed In Concept Art
    Concept art of Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, fourth from left.

    Phastos will be brought to life by Brian Tyree Henry and the MCU version of Phastos seems set to offer a very different take on the character. Rather than adapting the nihilistic version of the comics of the character, it seems that this version will have found someone who gives meaning to life as he has a husband and a child in Marvel Studios Eternals. It will be interesting to see if Phastos still holds the same pacifist views about war with the Deviants as well, despite his expertise in designing weapons.

    Eternals is set to hit theaters February 12th, 2021.

  • ‘THE FALCON AND WINTER SOLDIER’ Still Planning a Return to Prague

    ‘THE FALCON AND WINTER SOLDIER’ Still Planning a Return to Prague

    Here is a quick update for all you fans of the Disney Plus Marvel series currently trying to finish up filming. Both WandaVision and Loki were expected to have resumed very recently, however no definitive proof, such as images of them filming, has popped up on the internet yet. Bear in mind, that just because we don’t see proof of them filming, doesn’t mean they are not. Both of those series have done much more on stages and backlots than on location, so we may not get much for these in comparison to others. We certainly have not seen much in the form of paparazzi or fan snagged images or details from the start of those series filming. 

    As for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we have certainly seen definitive proof of them filming a few times this past 2 weeks alone, due to them filming in Atlanta and being caught by both paparazzi and fans. There are still a few weeks left to film in Georgia before they travel back to the Czech Republic to finish work there. COVID-19 numbers have been rising in that country, unfortunately, so that is still very much a concern, and could certainly change plans for travel.

    However, I was informed by @FFilmu (Twitter) that a permit for the production to film in the Czech Republic has finally been spotted. The permit is valid from September 29th to October 12th, and seems to be mainly for parking, possibly for some filming nearby during that period. This news, plus recent posts by the Czech casting agency for the series stating that the project would be filming “soon,” and in October, certainly supports the idea that plans are still going forward for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier to return and finish up there.

    I will also note here, that the casting agency has also remarked that the crew is “regularly tested for COVID-19, so I am certain many precautions are being taken. Whether or not the whole crew and cast must go, or it will be a much more limited group, to pick up some exterior shots, stunts, and 2nd Unit stuff, remains unclear at this time.

  • Evidence Suggests Disney May Be Prepping to Alter ‘BLACK WIDOW’ Release

    Evidence Suggests Disney May Be Prepping to Alter ‘BLACK WIDOW’ Release

    Evidence from both the Disney UK and Disney France websites may indicate that the company is rethinking their release strategy for Marvel Studios Black Widow. As seen below, both websites have removed the film’s release date from the respective pages for the film. They have also replaced posters for the film with ones that no longer show a date. Both websites have done the same with the pages for the upcoming Pixar film, Soul, which is currently scheduled to be released in theaters on November 20th.

    Depending upon your perspective, this evidence could be interpreted in multiple ways if we throw out the chance that this is some sort of error on the part of the two websites. One possible interpretation is that Disney is preparing to offer Black Widow to audiences via Premier Access. Support for this hypothesis can be found by looking back at how events unfolded around Mulan’s shift to Premier Access. Much like what’s happening with Black Widow and Soul, the release date for Mulan was taken down from official Disney websites and replaced with “COMING SOON” just ahead of the official announcement that it would be premiering on Disney Plus. Many pundits believed Mulan would serve as the canary in the coal mine for the Disney PVOD release strategy and yesterday’s Yahoo report that the studio has already raked in $260M via Premier Access would seem to indicate a major success for their first effort. An argument could be made that Black Widow and the Marvel Studios banner could easily outdo that take.

    Another possible interpretation is that Disney has made the decision to move Black Widow’s theatrical release from the November 6th date but have yet to pin down a new window. Earlier this week, a report by Deadline suggested that the company was preparing to do just that though they had no official word from Disney. The decision to move the film’s release date would be unsurprising given the disappointing box office returns for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which caused Warner Bros. to shift the release of another of their tentpole releases, Wonder Woman 1984, for a fifth time. At this point, nobody would blame Disney for moving the film to a time when more people will feel comfortable heading to theaters.

    While we can’t be sure which, if either, of these interpretations of the evidence is the correct one, it does feel like some news about the release strategy for Black Widow is imminent. If and when that happens, we’ll be here to pass it on.

  • Marvel Studios ‘ETERNALS’: Who is Thena?

    Marvel Studios ‘ETERNALS’: Who is Thena?

    With the Infinity Saga coming to a close, Marvel Studios is preparing to launch into an all-new, all-different era beginning with Phase 4. While several properties are going to serve as deeper dives into already established characters and worlds, Eternals is going to introduce new characters and change what we think we know about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Eternals were born in the mind of Jack Kirby as Marvel Comics “ancient aliens”: beings of immense power who had protected Earth since the beginning of time. Over the course of history, the Eternals and their enemies, the Deviants, worked their way into the religions and mythologies of many cultures gods and monsters, angels and devils and heroes and villains. Marvel Studios will certainly put their own spin on the characters, but we can still take an opportunity to get to know them here…in 400 words or less!

    Thena by Arkenstellar 2014 - YouTube

    The daughter of the modern Prime Eternal, Zuras, Thena has been a part of the Marvel Comic mythology since she first appeared as the Roman goddess Minerva in 1940’s Red Raven #1. Retconned by Jack Kirby in Eternals #5, Thena has served as one of the Eternals fiercest warriors, often being confused for Minerva’s Greek counterpart and daughter of Zeus, Athena, over time. While Thena has served as the tip of the spear in the Eternals endless battles with the Deviants, she also found herself falling in love with one of their most ruthless warlords and eventual leader, Kro, over the course of a couple of thousand years. Thena became pregnant with twins which she decided to transfer into the womb of a mortal woman who then gave birth to the Deviant-Eternal hybrids. Those children, Deborah and Donald, eventually learned their true origins and of their incredible power: they could merge into one being, the Dark Angel, who grew wings and could, like many Eternals, project powerful beams from its eyes.

    Trailer Watch: Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek And The Rest Of The Eternals Have One Week To Save The World In Chloe Zhao's Marvel Epic - TODAY

    Angelina Jolie will portray the warrior Thena in Eternals. Interestingly, trailers have shown Thena interacting with the Deviant Kro. It’ll be interesting to see if Thena and Kro take on the role of star-crossed lovers in the film and go on to conceive the twins. While the length of Jolie’s contract with Marvel Studios is unknown, Thena’s character is one that is primed to appear in multiple films, especially if they adapt the story of her children with Kro. We also know that Thena will be affected by Mahd Wy’ry, a cognitive condition brought on by their long life that causes them to forget and can potentially drive them mad, making Thena, one of the Eternals fiercest warriors, a potential threat.

    Eternals will hit theaters November 5th!