Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: MCU

  • ‘BLACK WIDOW’ Just the Beginning for Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova

    ‘BLACK WIDOW’ Just the Beginning for Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova

    The vest. Nat’s wearing the same vest as Yelena, so Yelena is going to die and Nat wears the vest to remember her! That’s a really short and poor summary of one of the most prevalent fan theories surrounding the fate of Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova in the upcoming Black Widow. It looks like fans will have to get to work on another explanation, however, as director Cate Shortland seems to have dug a grave for the popular theory in an exclusive interview with Empire Magazine in which she indicates the film will see Scarlett Johansson pass the torch to Pugh.

    Black Widow's Florence Pugh Explains Her Concerns Over Getting ...

    Talking with Empire about the film, Shortland explained how she and Marvel Studios The-One-Above-All tried to circumvent fan expectations with the upcoming film and how that will apparently lead to Pugh taking over the mantle and, potentially, the franchise:

    [Kevin Feige] realised that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction. And we didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.

    In all honesty, the chances of Marvel Studios bringing in a young actress of Pugh’s caliber for a one off were always incredibly low and there are plenty of other ways around the “vest” theory, one of which I teased in a series of tweets back in March:

    Of course my crackpot theory is just as unlikely to be accurate as anyone else’s, but I’m still not sure that I can get talked out of it either. Moving Yelena forward, both in standalone Black Widow sequels and in other projects, as good character who was corrupted by AIM presents a wonderful contrast to Nat’s bad character looking to make good. Of course we’ll have to wait to see how it all turns out, but with a project like The Thunderbolts rumored to be on the horizon, Pugh could find herself a VERY busy actress over the next decade.

    Look for more Black Widow news from Empire Magazine this week and, I would suspect, a couple of new looks at the film as well. Black Widow is set to hit theaters on November 6, 2020.

  • ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Set To Complete Production This Fall

    ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Set To Complete Production This Fall

    Yesterday finally mixed in some good news among the current round of doom and gloom as we learned that the Czech Republic was offering film crews an exemption to the current EU travel ban. This exemption provides an opportunity for Marvel Studios to complete filming on their Disney Plus streaming series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and, according to a new trade report, the studio plans to do just that. The report indicates that the studio is currently preparing to head back to Prague, where production was taking place before the pandemic shut things down, for a 9 day shoot this Fall!

    While the details of the shoot, including a targeted start date, haven’t been made available at this time we can revisit some old speculation (found here) about some locations Marvel Studios had staked out that could serve as either Zemo’s ancestral home or a base of operations for his schemes going forward.

    Despite there being quite a bit we don’t know, we can certainly all agree that yesterday’s good news seems to have gotten a little better and we might be able to hold on to hope that we could see The Falcon and The Winter Soldier streaming in 2020.

     

  • Good News For ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’

    Good News For ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’

    As fans grow more and more desperate for new content, the continued rise in the number of U.S. COVID-19 cases makes the prospects of stateside productions dubious at best. Complicating the matter even further, the European Union officially announced that, as of July 1st, travel from the United States will be banned, putting an apparent damper on the hopes of Marvel Studios finishing production of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which was filming in Prague before being shutdown at the onset of the pandemic. However, a little Hollywood magic seems like it might just save the day as the Czech Republic determined that U.S. film crews will be exempt from the travel ban, providing hope that we might see Sam and Bucky on Disney Plus sooner rather than later!

    Love Sam, but I thought it was wierd that old Steve hardly ...

    According to a trade report, the Czech Film Commission reached out to Hollywood execs ahead of the EU travel ban assuring them that filmmakers are still welcome there and outlining a process that would ensure a smooth border crossing for the cast and crew. Obviously this is fantastic news as Marvel Studios tries to put the finishing touches on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which was originally scheduled to stream in August before delays put that debut in jeopardy.

    As reported here, Marvel Studios was believed to be in negotiations to return to the Czech Republic to complete filming sometime later this Summer; this travel exemption should ensure the success of those negotiations, allow for filming to be completed and, if things go all sorts of Goldilocks just right, keep hopes alive that 2020 won’t be a total wash!

  • ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’ Production Still on Track for September

    ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’ Production Still on Track for September

    According to a production grid cited by ComicBook.com, Sony and Marvel Studios are still targeting a September start of production for Spider-Man 3. This information, of course, corroborates information shared here 3 weeks ago. The grid also indicates that producers still hope to film in Atlanta, New York City, Los Angeles and Iceland (seen below), though we’ll see how that goes as the COVID-19 pandemic surges across American cities including L.A.

    Movies filmed in Iceland and their Locations! - Wake Up Reykjavík

    While we are all weary of a lack of news and hungry for Marvel Studios content, it’s becoming harder to imagine that projects which have yet to begin filming, like Spider-Man 3, will be able to make a clean run through production without experiencing COVID-related delays or even shutdowns, especially if the studio truly has any hopes of moving the production to several locations.

    Additionally, as I reported a few weeks back, star Tom Holland also has to complete filming on another of Sony’s major projects, Uncharted, before beginning work on the Spidey sequel, so should that production undergo any delays, it will only further complicate the process of beginning work on Spidey. It’s not all bad news, however, because if Sony is intent on beginning work on the project soon, the possibility exists that we might start to get some information about additional cast members joining the film and, potentially, some insight into what we can expect. Stay tuned as this develops, but don’t open the caviar…

  • ‘WANDAVISION’ To Have More Than 6 Episodes

    ‘WANDAVISION’ To Have More Than 6 Episodes

    Since Kevin Feige revealed Marvel Studios upcoming Disney Plus slate at SDCC ’19, fans have prepped themselves for 6-8 episodes of streaming goodness. In the case of WandaVision, it’s been the belief of fans that the show would be a 6 episode event set to change the Marvel Cinematic Universe; however, according to some new evidence, it looks like we might be in for at least NINE episodes of the show.

    If you’ve been following me a while you probably figured out that sometimes I get bored, and when I get bored I go internet hunting for interesting comic book movie stuff to share with you all. Lately, with filming on hold currently, the hunt for Marvel movie or series news and tidbits is often a total bust. But occasionally I find some interesting reveals. This is a potentially great one for Wanda Maximoff and the Vision fans.

    Last night I came across the resume for a stuntperson in the WandaVision series, and in it I found this…

     

     

    I’m protecting the source a bit here, but trust me this is definitely a person who has worked on WandaVision, and I sincerely doubt they made a mistake in their resume listening. Possible, but I doubt it.

    As you can see, the stunt person is listed for”WandaVision Ep. 109.” It’s standard procedure for the numbering system to show the season number first (1) and the episode second (09), meaning this actor worked on episode 9 of WandaVision!

    There have been indications that Loki should have a second season, and we know that at one point there was planned to be a continuation of Sam and Bucky’s adventures on Disney plus, yet we’ve heard no word on that for WandaVision so far. Of course we don’t know how long to expect each episode to be, so we can’t expect 9 or more hour long episodes yet, but the possibility of an extended season is great news for fans thirsting for anything MCU related.

  • How ‘SHANG-CHI’ Connects the Mandarin to Genghis Khan

    How ‘SHANG-CHI’ Connects the Mandarin to Genghis Khan

    Since the Ten Rings first appeared on screen in 2008’s Iron Man, fans have eagerly anticipated the arrival of Iron Man’s nemesis, the Mandarin. While Ben Kingsley’s impostor in 2013’s Iron Man 3 didn’t sit well with many, Marvel Studios All Hail the King One-Shot set the stage for the true Mandarin to make his way to the MCU one day and, as we learned at last year’s SDCC, that day is coming soon with the Mandarin set to appear in Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings played by Tony Leung. A film with the word “legend” in its title certainly seems to give the promise of a trip through history and we’ve come across some information that indicates we will see just that and the implications of WHEN we’ll see could be pretty interesting.

    Ben Kingsley Wants to Execute a New Mandarin Twist | CBR

    While the biggest rumors surrounding the plot of Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings surround a martial arts tournament taking place in the present day, we’ve found evidence that the film will be partially set during China’s Song Dynasty and the Turko-Persian Seljuk Dynasty both of which shared the interesting fate of being invaded by the Khans of the Mongol Empire. It’s possible that these connect to a casting call that circulated in 2019 which indicated Marvel Studios was looking for “the ruler of a distant ancient kingdom.” That casting was rumored to be a call for Namor, though given this new information that seems unlikely. For those wondering what might connect Shang-Chi to some ancient dynasties and the Khans, the answer, at least in the comic books is, The Mandarin, himself a descendant of Genghis Khan.

    Genghis Khan, warlord and conqueror — Adam Smith Institute

    Khan’s place in China’s history remains controversial as does the the traditional interpretation of the Mandarin, so it will be interesting to see how Marvel Studios handles these in the film. One possibility is tying the invading Khan armies to the acquisition of the Ten Rings themselves and tying the Mandarin’s motives to his ancestors. Further speculation here benefits nobody, so we’ll stay away from it, but there’s certainly some interesting connective tissue here between the Mongol Empire, the Ten Rings and the Mandarin.

  • RUMOR: Alpha Flight Bound for the MCU

    RUMOR: Alpha Flight Bound for the MCU

    According to a Caleb Williams of Knight Edge Media, Marvel Studios is keen on introducing Alpha Flight to the MCU. Normally one tweet wouldn’t get me to turn on my laptop and type up a story, but this tweet resonates with some things I’ve heard and discussed on the podcast in the past.

    Created by John Byrne and first appearing in 1979’s Uncanny X-Men #120, Alpha Flight is a Canadian super team that plays a key role in the the long history of Wolverine; in fact, their first appearance saw their team leader, Vindicator, who first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #109 where he failed in his solo effort to bring the Canucklehead back into the fold, lead his team in to atone for his failure. The original team, which included Sasquatch, Shaman, twins Northstar and Aurora and Snowbird under the command of Vindicator-characters Byrne had developed long before his tenure at Marvel-were chosen to provide the X-Men with a real challenge. In 1983, Byrne wrote a solo Alpha Flight series that introduced one of the team’s most beloved members, Eugene Judd, aka Puck. Recently Puck lead a different version of Alpha Flight into space working alongside Carol Danvers before the original team returned just this past Fall.

    This rumor is incredibly interesting to me because, as Charles Villanueva and I have talked about on the podcast several times, it lines up with some information I heard quite some time ago, so while I am in no way confirming this, it’s definitely something I will keep an eye on because one of my most trusted sources told me that Alpha Flight was a property that Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, believed to have great potential. This information was from a time before Disney Plus was a factor, so I have no idea what the plans might be, but if we speculate a bit, you can see there are a lot of options.

    Obviously, everyone will eagerly focus on Wolverine’s past with the team as they eagerly anticipate the MCU version of Logan, but there are more options here than him. In Avengers: Endgame, Hulk mentions that part of the process of him merging his two personalities was spending some time in his “gamma lab” during the 5 year hiatus; I’m curious to see if Dr. Walter Langkowski, aka Sasquatch, might have been a part of his team or if, like in the comics, he was doing his own work on the Hulk’s experiment. Either way, Sasquatch, who played an interesting role in Al Ewing‘s The Immortal Hulk, brings another gamma related character into the mix in addition to She-Hulk.

    Sasquatch 'Dies' in Immortal Hulk #4 -- And Then Things Get ...

    Mutant twins Northstar and Aurora are more than just copies of the Maximoff twins. Jean-Paul Beaubier is the first major Marvel character to be openly gay and his sister, Jeanne-Marie, has struggled with dissociative identity disorder throughout her years in the comics. Michael Twoyoungmen, aka Shaman, is a powerful First Nations mystic who has taken some harrowing journeys throughout the years and aided in the birth of Snowbird, a demigod and daughter of the Inuit goddess Nelvanna. As Marvel Studios continues to make their films more representative of the world, you can see how Alpha Flight provides a great opportunity to diversify their character lineup.

    Again, this is all speculation based off a single tweet, so temper your expectations and be cautious and careful in how you spread the news. I am NOT confirming the rumor, only sharing that I heard 2 years or so ago that Feige saw great promise in the group and speculating on how they might fit in. For all we know, it might not even be the original team and, instead, the tweet is about the version that served with Captain Marvel. As always, time will tell.

     

     

  • Kathryn Hahn Hoping To Resume Work on ‘WANDAVISION’ Soon

    Kathryn Hahn Hoping To Resume Work on ‘WANDAVISION’ Soon

    Kathryn Hahn, who is cast as a key but mysterious character in WandaVision, (more than likely the witch Agatha Harkness), was interviewed on The Playlist podcast today and dropped a few tidbits about the series.

    For starters, she has confirmed that she has a bit more to film, and The Playlist reports that she’s hoping to resume filming this summer.

    “I’ve got a little bit left on WandaVision.”

    When asked what it’s like joining the “Marvel machine” she said:

    “It is another like surreal awesome swing into another genre… but so fun…so fun…”

    “I wish I could tell you a thing about it, but I can’t, or I would just disappear from this Zoombox.”

    She was also asked about how crazy WandaVision looks, she replied:

    “It’s gonna be fabulous, yeah. I can’t say anything else!!”

    You can listen the full interview on The Playlist podcast here.

  • Marvel Studios May Be Casting Their Echo

    Marvel Studios May Be Casting Their Echo

    As the production wheels start turning again, news has started trickling over the past couple of weeks. Today brings what might be some of the biggest news to date as it looks like Marvel Studios may be in the early stages of casting for one of Marvel’s more extraordinary characters and one time Avenger Maya Lopez, aka Echo.

    Sarah Finn put out the call for a deaf female, Native American, First Nations, Indigenous or Latinx, 18 or older, to play the role of “Malia” in an upcoming Disney Plus series set to shoot this Fall. Finn is looking for someone “independent, athletic and bright” to play a 20 something character.

    It’s obviously important to note that this casting call does not indicate what series the role is for, so we can only speculate that it’s for Echo, one of Marvel’s most prominent deaf characters, speculation made much easier by the fact that the description checks just about every box on the Maya Lopez checklist. However, while Finn is Marvel Studios casting director, she has also worked on Star Wars projects as well including The Mandalorian, so it’s possible the role could be for one of the Star Wars series in development as well.

    A top level martial artist with photographic reflexes and co-created by Joe Quesada and Dave Mack, Echo first appeared in 1999’s Daredevil #9. Raised by Kingpin after he murdered her father, Echo fell in love with Matt Murdock while simultaneously trying to take out Daredevil. After besting Daredevil and discovering he was Murdock, Echo turned on Fisk, shooting him in the eye, and then fled the country. 

     

    Marvel Studios will have full control of the rights to Daredevil back from Netflix by November 2020, making it possible that this is the first sign of their plan to reboot the Man Without Fear. However, there have been no signs of development on a Daredevil series and there is another part of Echo’s comic book past that may point in the direction of her showing up in Hawkeye, a series that was, at one point, on track for a late-Summer/early Fall start of production and may still get a chance to do the cameras of things go well. In Brian Michael Bendis 2004 New Avengers, Maya fought anonymously alongside the Avengers in Japan as the mysterious Ronin before revealing herself to them. Of course Clint Barton later took on the same persona, one we saw on screen in Avengers: Endgame.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Though it might necessitate quite a retelling of her origin story, it’s possible that Echo could show up as an antagonist in Hawkeye, presenting an interesting parallel to Kate Bishop, before finding her way back to the light. Again, all we can do is speculate here, but the potential certainly exists for Echo, a character whose dark journey might be pretty similar to Barton’s and who bore the same mantle as the Avenging Archer, could show up in the series, especially given Kevin Feige’s statement that we would, in fact, see more of Barton’s time as Ronin. 

     

    I’ve been working hard trying to dig up more information on the casting call, which I’ve now seen circulating on Twitter, but at the time of publishing this article, I’ve been unable to find anything more. Stay tuned as I will update this situation as it changes.

  • ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ May Still Stream in 2020

    ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ May Still Stream in 2020

    I’m not one to shy away from sharing good encouraging news about the MCU, and this bit is far from official word, but nonetheless certainly a good sign for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

    See below an Instagram post supporting #BlackLivesMatter by Anthony Mackie’s personal makeup artist on FaTWS Latoya Henderson (filmartist_toya).

    “We’re getting a Black Captain America this year.” This is, I stress, not official word the show will definitely still stream in 2020. They still have significant work to complete, however one assumes Latoya might know a thing or two on the subject, and spoken to the man himself about it maybe, so this is definitely an encouraging sign that we will see Sam and Bucky in the series this year!

    Our most recent rumblings from sources both public and anonymous point to The Falcon and Winter Soldier resuming filming in Atlanta in late July and currently negotiating to return to Prague, probably in August. Charles Murphy recently indicated on his Twitter that should the series complete filming by the end of September, they should still make a 2020 streaming on Disney plus. Fingers crossed this is the case.