Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: MCU

  • Never Go Full Cajan! Channing Tatum’s Gambit Will Be a Little Different in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

    Never Go Full Cajan! Channing Tatum’s Gambit Will Be a Little Different in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

    Everybody knows you never go full Cajun…

    After years of trying to bring the character to life in a Fox-produced solo film, Channing Tatum finally brought Gambit to live-action in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine. Tatum‘s Gambit stole the show as audiences fell in love with the actor’s long-awaited debut as the Cajun, even if his accent made it all but impossible to understand him at times. It didn’t take long for fans to begin to call for more of Tatum‘s mumbly mutie. And with a little post-credit magic here and a deleted scene there, more of Tatum as Gambit in the MCU seemed to possibly be in the cards and then, Marvel Studios announced the main cast of Avengers: Doomsday, which included Tatum, allowing him to bring Le Diable Blanc to another party. This time, however, there will be one notable difference.

    “I’m not gonna go full Cajun,” said Tatum of his role as the Ragin’ Cajun in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday.

    Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this? Woo, I’m about to make a name for myself here.

    As Tatum explained in an interview with Variety, directors Anthony and Joe Russo “want things to be funny, but they don’t want to go full ‘Deadpool’,” in which the character’s accent more closely resembled the indecipherable gibberish spit out by Blake Clark‘s Farmer Fran in Adam Sandler‘s The Waterboy. “They want to keep the drama and keep it tight. When Gambit gets serious — when he drops the Mardi Gras mask — things do matter,” teasing a major role for Gambit, including a “big fight” with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom that Tatum found himself sidelined for, thanks to an unidentified leg injury.

    The change in approach comes in response to Marvel execs, who the star said “really had to wrap their mind around the accent and how people are going to understand him,” in the biggest Marvel film of the decade.

    “There was very little improv. The Cajun dialect is a very particular one,” said Tatum in a previous interview of his first go around as the character. “I grew up in Mississippi and my dad is from New Orleans. So it’s one of those things that I grew up around it, but I’ve never done it. There are certain little isms that are very Cajun-y, but we actually intended it to be somewhat unintelligible. That was sort of the joke. [Co-star Ryan Reynolds would] come up to be and say, ‘I don’t want to know anything that you’re saying on this [take],’ so I just dialed it all the way up,” added Tatum. “And then other ones he’s like, ‘All right, I’ve got to understand what you’re saying now.’”

    Whether the changes to the character result in this Gambit being a Variant from another timeline or just someone looking to communicate more clearly with his friends, fans will certainly be thrilled with the return of Tatum in the role.

    Source: Access Hollywood, Variety

  • New Stills, Synopsis Releases Ahead of ‘Marvel Zombies’ D+ Debut

    New Stills, Synopsis Releases Ahead of ‘Marvel Zombies’ D+ Debut

    Spinning out of the gory good time that was episode 1.05 of What If…?, Marvel Animation’s Marvel Zombies, a four-episode TV-MA mini-event, is set to debut in D+ on September 24th. Along with a trailer for series, created by Bryan Andrews and Zeb Wells, Marvel rolled out a poster and a batch of stills along with a synopsis in a press release.

    So, you survived the zombie apocalypse. Super. Now who’s going to stop the Avengers from feasting on your brains?

    Peter Parker/Spider-Man (voiced by Hudson Thames) in Marvel Television’s MARVEL ZOMBIES exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2025 MARVEL.
    Blade Knight (voiced by Todd WIlliams) in Marvel Television’s MARVEL ZOMBIES exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2025 MARVEL.
    Blade Knight (voiced by Todd WIlliams) in Marvel Television’s MARVEL ZOMBIES exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2025 MARVEL.

    After the Avengers are overtaken by a zombie plague, a desperate group of survivors discover the key to bringing an end to the super-powered undead, racing across a dystopian landscape and risking life and limb to save their world.

    (L-R): Alexei Shostakov/ Red Guardian (voiced by David Harbour), Yelena Belova (voiced by Florence Pugh), Kamala Khan (voiced by Iman Vellani) and Blade Knight (voiced by Todd Williams) in Marvel Television’s MARVEL ZOMBIES exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2025 MARVEL.
    (Center): Zombie Okoye (voiced by Kenna Ramsey) in Marvel Television’s MARVEL ZOMBIES exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2025 MARVEL.
    (L-R): Kamala Khan (voiced by Iman Vellani), Blade Knight (voiced by Todd Williams), Alexei Shostakov/ Red Guardian (voiced by David Harbour) and Yelena Belova (voiced by Florence Pugh) in Marvel Television’s MARVEL ZOMBIES exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Television. © 2025 MARVEL.

    Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Tessa Thompson, Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Hailee Steinfeld, Wyatt Russell, Randall Park, Iman Vellani, Dominique Thorne and Others Lend Their Voices as the Undead Arrive September 24, Exclusively on Disney+.

  • BTS Photo Confirms Spoilery ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Setting

    BTS Photo Confirms Spoilery ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Setting

    Principal photography on Avengers: Doomsday recently took place at Windsor Great Park in the UK where a set referred to as the “Luke Cage House” was constructed in a secluded area. Rumors indicated that the home belonged to Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter and was located in the alternate timeline created when Rogers used the Time-Space GPS to travel time to live with the love of his life.

    The rumor is sensible and would smartly tie Avengers: Doomsday to Avengers: Endgame, however, neither Haley Atwell nor Chris Evans were announced as part of the cast of Doomsday and Evans has routinely denied that he’s returning as Rogers.

    Despite all that, fans are convinced that the pair of stars are in the film and a report that they recently shot scenes alongside Tom Hiddleston has supported a rumor that Rogers’ decision created the first Multiversal incursion, kick-starting the end of everything. Now, as filming in Windsor Great Park wraps, a new behind the scenes photo confirms a mid-20th century setting for the recent scenes.

    Photographer UnBoxPHD, who has been delivering photos from UK sets of Marvel Studios films over the past couple of years, shared a shot of a car carrier transporting a pair of classic cars: a Plymouth Special Deluxe and a Chrysler New Yorker, both from the early 1940s.

    Given that Rogers travelers back to 1949 to have his dance and begin his life with Carter, the cars support the recent set report; however, until Atwell and Evans are seen on set or officially announced as part of the cast, their inclusion in the film will remain a subject of debate.

  • Evidence Mounts that Luke Cage May Return in Season 2 of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

    After skipping the summer convention circuit, Marvel Television will make some noise at New York Comic Con on October 11th as part of a panel promised to include “special guests for a look behind the scenes at Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ shows from Marvel Television and Marvel Animation.” Fans were already eagerly anticipating the event as it would be a great opportunity to showcase the first footage from Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again, which was shot in and around New York City…and now it looks as though they may have even more to look forward to.

    A tweet sent out from the official New York Comic Con account confirmed that stars Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll and Krysten Ritter will all be in attendance on both October 11th and 12th but they’re not the only members of the old Defenders-verse crew who will be there as Luke Cage star Mike Colter will join them.

    Could the tweet have spoiled Colter’s return and Cage’s MCU debut in the upcoming season of Daredevil: Born Again? The first trailer for Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again contained a reference to Harlem’s Paradise, the club owned by Cage, and given where Power Man’s story left off at the end of Luke Cage Season 2 and the state of affairs in New York City in Born Again, an appearance by the character make a ton of sense… certainly more than one by Danny Rand.

    Colter has remained open to reprising the role and with Ritter having joined the cast of Season 2, now may be the time to begin reuniting the Defenders.

  • ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Leak Reveals Potentially Massive Spoilers Involving Three Infinity Saga Stars

    ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Leak Reveals Potentially Massive Spoilers Involving Three Infinity Saga Stars

    Cameras have been rolling on Avengers: Doomsday for just over five months and Marvel Studios has gone to great lengths to try to keep details about the 2026 film in house. With most of the movie being filmed either on a soundstage or in locations that are very secluded and/or secure, the studio has managed to limit the  major leaks that have plagued almost every project it has produced in the past five years…until now, perhaps.

    A recent rumor indicated that Chris Evans –who has not been officially announced as part of the cast of the film–would be reprising tlhis role as Steve Rogers and that his story would pick up where itedt off in Avengers: Endgame. Now, a pair of social media reports have combined to shed an even brighter light on the role and reveal the first truly major spoiler from the project. Proceed with caution…

    The rumor mill began rolling when photographer UnBoxPHD shared the news that Tom Hiddleston was on the set of Avengers: Doomsday to film. That information could in no way be considered spoilery given that Hiddleston was among those announced as part of the cast in March; however, a follow-up report by a trusted Marvel insider may have connected a series of dots and revealed a major plot point.

    https://twitter.com/UnBoxPHD/status/1961126358735523887?t=5XOWu3kYGtLXd8wFW3FIzw&s=19

    According to longtime social media scooper Daniel Richtman, Hiddleston filmed his scenes along with Evans and Haley Atwell, presumably at the “Luke Cage house.”

    Tom Hiddleston has filmed a scene in Steve and Peggy’s home where he’s having a [conversation] with them.

    -Daniel Richtman

    If accurate, it means that the God of Stories will have left his throne at the Citadel at the End of Time from where he protects the Multiverse. And it would take something incredibly important to cause him to make that choice…

    Though it’s far from confirmed, such a scene could very well lend support to rumblings recently making the rounds that suggest Steve Rogers’ decision to live a life “in the past” with Peggy caused the first incursion and has made him the target of Doctor Doom’s ire. Aside from the rich possibilities of Rogers and Loki meeting again on screen (remember, this is the Time Heist Variant of Loki, which means he has a past with Rogers but has evolved over the course of an incredible journey), having Avengers: Doomsday tie directly into the epilogue of Avengers: Endgame would be a smart move for the studio. It also presents an intriguing dynamic in which Rogers–The Man Out of Time who led Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to victory over Thanos–inadvertently started the destruction of the Multiverse while Loki–the God of Lies whose attempt to conquer Earth assembled the Avengers–must now try to save it…again.

  • Marvel Studios Has Begun Work on Its First Post-Multiverse Saga Film

    Marvel Studios Has Begun Work on Its First Post-Multiverse Saga Film

    “Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men,” teased Feige in November 2024. “Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back.” Now, following a recent report that casting for the film would “begin soon,”work on the age of mutants has finally begun at Marvel Studios.

    What I can say is, it’s just inherently interesting and complex material. The core idea of what X-Men is involves complexity.

    -X-Men director Jake Schreier
    In an interview with Empire, director Jake Schreier confirmed that he he is now on the clock for Marvel Studios X-Men.

    “I can’t say anything about it, but we’ve started work on X-Men, and that’s obviously very, very exciting,” said Schreier, who directed the very well-received Thunderbolts* which debuts on D+ August 27th.

    “There are so many things that I didn’t know about before I started [Thunderbolts*],” he explained. “The biggest learning curve for me was the proportion of the action to the more emotional, character-driven scenes, and how, even though it’s more shooting days than I’ve ever had, they get eaten up quite quickly by the action stuff. By the time we got to the end of it, it felt like, ‘Oh, now I feel like we get how to do this a little bit better.’”

    After officially taking the reigns of the film in May, Schreier teased the studio’s complex take on the team of mutant heroes in a July interview with The Playlist. “It’s an incredible opportunity with super interesting characters and [much] internal conflict,” he said of helming the first MCU-set X-Men film. “These characters are wrestling with their identity and place in the world—that’s inherently interesting and complex material.”

    X-Men is expected in theaters in 2028.

    Source: Empire

  • ‘Eternals’ Star Reveals Marvel’s Plans for the Failed Franchise

    ‘Eternals’ Star Reveals Marvel’s Plans for the Failed Franchise

    At a time when it seemed Marvel Studios could not miss, it delivered one of its biggest disappointments. 2021’s Eternals failed to land with critics and, in a fresh post-COVID environment, struggled at the box office. The film deviated heavily from the much-discussed “Marvel formula“, introducing a large cast of characters and leaning heavily into philosophical influences.

    It was clear at the time that the studio had big plans for future projects, including a major role for Kit Harrington‘s Dane Whitman and a spinoff featuring Harry Styles‘ Starfox, who appeared in one of the film’s tags. However, as time went on, it became clear that Eternals was likely to be a one-shot. After rumors of Marvel shelving a sequel to Eternals landed online in early 2024, Kevin Feige confirmed that there were “no immediate plans” to move forward with a follow-up.

    Despite having one of the studio’s most talented ensemble casts, the only lasting impact Eternals has had on the MCU was to introduce Adamantium into the mix in Captain America: Brave New World. Even without a sequel in the works, the film’s stars such as Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden and Kumail Nanjiani have yet to find themselves integrated into other projects, leading to speculation they may never be seen again, despite some of them being more than willing to return to the MCU.

    Yeah! I mean, listen, I have plans today. I don’t know if they have plans. I would love to come back. But I’m sort of waiting to hear when or if that’s going to happen. I’m hoping I get to do more. I had a great time playing that character. It’d be a shame if he’s a sort of one and done. But, you know, the decision’s not mine to make.

    –Kumail Nanjiani on the future of the Eternals franchise, January 2023

    In 2023, Nanjiani indicated that while he would “love to come back” as Kingo, he was unaware whether or not Marvel had plans to move ahead with an Eternals sequel. Now, in a new interview, Nanjiani opened up about Marvel Studios grandiose plans for the failed franchise and how it’s poor landing impacted him.

    “It came out right after COVID, so I had a year and a half at home to be just like, ‘When this thing comes out…‘” said Nanjiani of the anticipated impact Eternals would have on his career. “It came out, it got really bad reviews, and it didn’t do that well. It shattered me too much. That was when I was like, ‘Oh, I need to go to therapy to figure this out.”

    Any disappointment fans may have had in the response to the film multiplied for Nanjiani. As he shared, Marvel intended for Eternals to launch its own franchise, including additional movies, video game appearances and even a ride at Disney Parks.

    “I was like, ‘This is going to be my job for the next ten years.’ I signed on for six movies. I signed on for a video game. I signed on for a theme park ride. They make you sign on for all this stuff,” explained Nanjiani. “You’re like, ‘Okay, so I’ll be doing Marvel movies every year, and in between, I’ll do my own little things. Whatever I want to do.’”

    Reading between the lines of Nanjiani‘s comments, it sounds as though not only was an Eternals trilogy in the pipeline but also appearances in other projects, likely including Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which has since been scrapped, and Avengers: Secret Wars. However, four years later, Nanjiani‘s Kingo has only appeared in Marvel Animation’s What If…? and as he explained, it doesn’t sound as though he has any future appearances scheduled at the moment.

    “None of that happened,” he lamented. “For me, what really hit me was realising that too much of my self-esteem is wrapped up in other people’s reactions to my work. People have way bigger problems than this.”

    Of course, recent years have provided plenty of evidence that the studio never truly puts any character fully to rest. Tim Roth and Tim Blake Nelson recently returned to their respective roles after more than a decade on the sidelines and with an all-new, all-different mutant-centric saga on deck, maybe there will be new life for the Eternals, too.

    Source: YouTube

  • Ray Winstone Blames Marvel Reshoots for His Sleepy ‘Black Widow’ Performance

    Ray Winstone Blames Marvel Reshoots for His Sleepy ‘Black Widow’ Performance

    It doesn’t take a well-trained eye to notice that reshoots took a toll on Black Widow. Despite strong performances across the board and a thrilling first two acts, a “poorly staged, plotted, and executed” third act  kept it from realizing its potential as a truly great spy film.

    Part of the problem came by way of the film’s big bad, General Dreykov, the worst villain in the studio’s Phase 4 and, perhaps, the entire body of work that makes up the MCU. Played with big grandpa-fell-asleep-on-the-toilet-again energy by Ray Winstone, a potentially great villain who should have felt like evil incarnate came across as a flatline. And now we know why Winstone grumbled his way through his scenes.

    In an interview with Variety, Winstone explained that after filming his scenes–whichnbe called “the best thing” he had “done for a really long time“–director Cate Shortland (almost certainly at the behest of Marvel), had him reshoot his entire performance.

    “I worked with this amazing director, Cate Shortland, and we worked on what my character was going to be,” started Winstone. “He was like a pedophile running around all these girls, and they’d become black widows. We used to get applauded on set. It was probably the best thing I’ve done for a really long time,” said the actor of his time on set during principal photography.

    “Then I come home after finishing the job and get a call saying we need to do some reshoots,” continued Winstone. “I say: how many scenes? [Cate] says ‘all of them.’ So I said she should recast [the role], but I was contracted, so I had to do it. I go back, they do my hair all nice, put me in the suit, and I couldn’t do it. I’d already done it. I thought, ‘I’m not doing it now. I’ve done it. That’s how it’s going to be.’ That’s rejection, you know? There’s nothing worse than doing something, leaving it on the floor, and then being told it’s not right.”

    It certainly sounds like Winstone had a miserable experience and it showed as he was barely coherent as Dreykov during Black Widow‘s third act which was a sloppy, VFX tragedy. While it’s clear there was an entirely different version of the film which included an entirely different version of Dreykov, it’s unlikely that fans will ever hear about it, much less see it.

    Source: Variety

  • Wyatt Russell Joins the Cast of Another MCU Project

    Wyatt Russell Joins the Cast of Another MCU Project

    After debuting as an antagonistic force in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Wyatt Russell‘s John Walker has becoming an increasingly sympathetic character as he’s worked through a redemptive arc. His rough persona made him the perfect foil to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova in Thunderbolts* and now, as part of the New Avengers, he’ll help Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as they attempt to save the Multiverse in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. However, fans will have another chance to catch Russell’s U.S. Agent before he hits the big screen again in 2026.

    According to a recently updated project profile for Marvel Animation’s Marvel Zombies, Russell will voice (presumably) Walker in the four-episode mini-event.

    Debuting on D+ on September 24th, the TV-MA series spins out of the ending of Episode 1.01 of What If…?, “What If…Zombies?”, and sees the survivors of a zombie plague search for answers to their survival.

    After the Avengers are overtaken by a zombie plague, a desperate group of survivors discover the key to bringing an end to the super-powered undead, racing across a dystopian landscape and risking life and limb to save their world.

    -Official Synopsis for Marvel Animation’s Marvel Zombies

    Whether Walker finds himself among the infected or not is unclear; however, given that David Harbour and Florence Pugh are also among the announced cast members, it is possible an alternate reality version of the Thunderbolts could be on display in the series.

  • ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Will Feature a “Changed” Sue Storm

    ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Will Feature a “Changed” Sue Storm

    Vanessa Kirby has been widely and roundly praised for her work as Marvel Studios Sue Storm in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. After sacrificing herself to save Earth-828 from Galactus, Sue was brought back to life by her immensely powerful son, Franklin and while the fallout of that wasn’t addressed in the film, Kirby recently made it clear it will have an impact on her character going forward.

    In an interview with Movie Web, Kirby–who has been in production on Avengers: Doomsday since March–gave some insight into why she’s excited to continue on with the character and teased a potential dark twist spinning out of her  death and rebirth.

    “I love that I get to continue with Sue because it’s so interesting,” said Kirby who said her character’s experience with death has been heavy on her mind.

    I’ve been thinking a lot doing Avengers and stuff about how someone that’s been through, in the space of basically a week, someone who has given birth and has died and come back to life… how a death experience like that would change you.

    -Vanessa Kirby

    And she’s been doing more than just thinking about it as it sounds as though in preparation for Doomsday, Kirby has been doing some research into how near-death experiences can change a person. “I’ve been listening to a lot of people that have had those kind of experiences and what they learn, and therefore how different they are after they come back from that,” said Kirby. But how big of a change could it be?

    If Marvel Studios followed one particular path from the pages of Marvel Comics, Sue’s return from the other side could be used to introduce Malice, a manifestation of the darkness inside the character. As wild as a direct adaptation of Malice into the MCU might be, some version of the character might be in the cards, especially since Kirby recently revealed her desire to explore an entirely different side of Sue than has been done in any other big screen iteration.

    I’m dying to do Malice. She’s come from a really tough background. She lost her mother in a car crash. Her dad tried to save her mother. He couldn’t. He then spiraled, became an alcoholic, got locked up in prison for murdering a loan shark, and then died. Sue had to become a mother to Johnny. They were orphans. They had to fight for themselves. What I loved about her was that she chose a path that was inherently a positive one. She chose to keep her heart open and to stay warm. The Future Foundation, for me, wasn’t a noble political act, but it seemed to me that it’s Sue’s nature.

    -Vanessa Kirby, Variety

    Of course, Kirby’s interest in exploring that particular direction does not necessarily mean Malice will ever appear in the MCU; however, with the First Family set for appearances in a pair of Avengers films ahead of a likely sequel, there’s plenty of narrative runway to let Kirby take Sue down that road.

    Sources: Movie Web, Variety