As part of the cast reveal on Valentine’s Day 2024, Marvel Studios made a tiny change to the title of their Fantastic Four film. Introduced in 2019 as Fantastic Four, the Matt Shakman-led project- –which is set to begin principal photography this August–became The Fantastic Four. As changes go, adding an article to the beginning of the title is pretty minor; however, a change is a change and the news is the news. In that regard, it’s worth pointing out that Marvel Studios has made another minor, but interesting change, to the title of another 2025 film.
After quite a few delays as part of Disney’s 2023 slate shuffles, filming is finally underway on the Jake Schreier-helmed Thunderbolts project. In a surprise but welcomed move, star Florence Pugh took to social media to post a “sneaky” video from the set of the project. During her trip around the stage, Pugh bumped into Schreier whose director’s chair revealed a new logo and title for the film. Later, the video was reposted to social media by Marvel Studios apparently confirming that the film is now called Thunderbolts*.
Florence Pugh is here to show you a few things she can't show you.
Again, as title changes go, placing an asterisk at the end of the pre-existing title is about as minor as it gets; however, it’s also fairly puzzling because it came with no explanation. Typically when placed at the end of a word, an asterisk indicates some sort of footnote is being cross-referenced. That does not seem to be the case here which leaves a little mystery around the minor change to the title. It’s possible the asterisk indicates some additional context is needed to understand the title of the film which is also the title of the team of antiheros who undertake a secret mission in the film. Given all the online hubbub about one purported explanation for how the team gets the name, it’s possible that the asterisk is indeed a reference to how the team chooses its moniker.
As for the video itself, it’s fairly harmless and other than a quick peek at the vault in which Lewis Pullman‘s Robert Reynolds is being held at the beginning of the film, it doesn’t give away much. However, it’s part of a welcome change in the way Marvel Studios has gone about the business of revealing information about their projects for quite some time. It cleverly takes advantage of Marvel well-known and incredibly obnoxious secrecy on set and gives fans a little reason to be excited which ultimately builds hype for the project.
Thunderbolts* is currently slated to be in theaters on May 2, 2025.
Like its predecessor, X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men ’97 will likely never be criticized for moving too slowly. The original Fox series often moved quickly through popular arcs lifted from Chris Claremont‘s Uncanny X-Men and the third episode in ’97 followed suit in its adaptation of Inferno.
Published in 1989, Inferno was a line-wide crossover event for Marvel Comics. Told throughout more than 30 issues of mutant (Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, X-Terminators and Excalibur) and non-mutant (Avengers, Cloak and Dagger, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Power Pack and 3 different Spider-Man books) titles, Inferno focused on Illyana Rasputin’s transformation into the Darkchylde and the origin story of the Goblin Queen, Madelyne Pryor.
For “Fire Made Flesh”, X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo opted to do quite a bit of trimming and use the episode to resolve the clone Jean story while also setting Bishop and Nathan Summers on their path to a dark future. However, the final scene of the episode, which was set entirely apart from the main event, hints at another classic Claremont arc being adapted beginning with Episode 4.
After losing her powers and setting out on her own at the end of “Mutant Liberation Begins”, Storm finds herself alone in Tequila Mockingbird, a dive bar somewhere in Texas. As the Weather Witch watches the weather report, a slim and sharply mustachioed stranger approaches her and introduces himself as Forge, “an old friend of Charles Xavier.” Indeed Forge appeared in 10 episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series, half of which involved the wonderful timey-wimey stuff that is part and parcel of the X-Men experience. However, the timing of his latest appearance suggests that he’ll have an all-new, all-different role in X-Men ’97 that will be based on Claremont’s run on Uncanny.
It’s no secret that Storm was one of Claremont’s favorite characters. Claremont was the first writer to recognize her true potential and begin developing her as a character. Much like in “Mutant Liberation Begins”, Storm lost her mutant powers after having been shot with a Neutralizer. In Uncanny X-Men #186, Storm began working with Forge to recover and, in the process, fell in love with the alpha-level technopath. Titled Lifedeath, the issue and and its follow-ups are well-revered as one of the great love stories in the pages of the X-Men’s extensive history. For those peeking ahead, Episode 4 of X-Men ’97 is titled “Motendo/Lifedeath-Part 1.” Yeah, the next episode is going to include Mojo but did you know it’s also going to explore one of the more intimate stories ever told about Storm?
While even those with passing knowledge of the comics know that Ororo was once married to T’Challa and was the Queen of Wakanda; however, few know about her romance with Forge. Fewer yet know that Forge, the mutant Maker, designed the Neutralizer that robbed the goddess of her powers. Given the raging popularity of X-Men ’97, it seems as though a whole new generation of people are about to find out and begin to understand why legions of ’90s kids adore Storm. Outside of Logan and Jean Grey, not many mutants have undergone the type of emotional development in the pages of Marvel Comics as Ororo has. Given Episode 4 is only Part 1 of Lifedeath, it seems as though DeMayo and crew intend to go against the X-Men: TAS grain to take their time and give the goddess her just desserts.
Deadpool and Wolverine may be Marvel Studios only theatrical release in 2024 but it’s definitely playing for keeps. The upcoming film, which is largely set in the Void introduced in Season 1 of Loki, will feature Variants of Deadpool and some familiar X-Men villains from Fox’s retired franchise. It’s also rumored to feature cameos from heroes and their Variants from across the Multiverse, including those who have appeared on film before and those who have not. Now, a new rumor suggests an X-Men Variant from an unproduced film will be making an appearance and hoping to make his momma proud.
Following a social media interaction between Hugh Jackman and Channing Tatum, social media leaker GWGST claimed that Tatum, who was cast as Remy LeBeau in Fox’s unproduced Gambit film will make an appearance as dat thieving Swamp Rat in Deadpool and Wolverine.
Written into X-Men canon in 1990, Gambit’s popularity skyrocketed following his inclusion in X-Men: The Animated Series which gave the character a large role and a larger-than-life personality. According to the rumor, Tatum’s Gambit will be sporting the familiar comic-accurate/TAS-accurate suit complete with the signature trench coat.
Though it’ll be Tatum’s first time bringing the charming Cajun to life, it’s not the first appearance of the character in a CBM. Taylor Kitsch portrayed Remy in 2009’s atrocious X-Men Origins: Wolverine when Tatum was unavailable to fill the role. Ironically, Tatum’s Gambit–which had directors Gore Verbinski, Doug Lyman and Rupert Wyatt attached to direct at different times in development–was killed by Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which will almost certainly provide some fertile ground for jokiness around how the character ended up in the Void, non? C’est la vie, mon ami.
Director Jon Watts delivered three highly successful Spider-Man films for Marvel Studios and Sony but as the studios look to take the character and franchise in a new direction, it seems they are also looking for new talent behind the camera. As news comes that the studios optimistically hope for production on Spider-Man 4 to begin this Fall, a surprising name has emerged as a potential director to take the helm.
According to Jeff “The In” Sneider, Justin Lin is among the names being considered to take the lead on Spider-Man 4.
Best known for directing six films in the Fast & Furious franchise, Lin certainly fits the bill as a change of pace from Watts. Lin has made his mark by elevating the Fast & Furious franchise from a fun, street-level wrenchfest into one of the world’s highest-grossing action franchises. Lin also directed 2016’s critically successful Star Trek Beyond and worked as an executive producer on Space Jam: A New Legacy, providing additional experience generating new ideas on beloved IPs.
Sneider was quick to point out that Lin is only one name on a list of possible directors and that no decision has been made as to who will ultimately take control of the creative vision for Spider-Man 4. However, with a potential Fall start of production, Sony will need to move fast and furious to find their director.
Amy and I and Disney and Sony are talking about — yes, we’re actively beginning to develop where the story heads next, which I only say outright because I don’t want fans to go through any separation trauma like what happened after Far From Home.
According to Jeff “The In” Sneider, Marvel Studios and Sony are hoping to begin principal photography on Spider-Man 4 this Fall, targeting a September/October start.
According to Sneider, the time frame fits with the increasingly stuffed schedule of franchise co-star Zendaya, whose commitment to Spidey will not coincide with a delay in production on HBO’s highly successful series, Euphoria. Should cameras indeed roll on Spidey 4 this Fall, it’s possible that the film could hit theaters in 2025, though with Avatar 3 slated for a December 19, 2025 release, 2026 does seem more likely. Interestingly enough, Sony has June 27, 2026 already set aside for an Untitled Marvel movie which would keep the film in theaters for the Fourth of July weekend which Sony seems to prefer.
It’s no secret that a good portion of Marvel Studios Deadpool and Wolverine will take place in The Void. Introduced in Season 1 of Loki, The Void is a massive space located at the end of time where people, places and things end up when they or their timelines are pruned by the TVA. It’s a fun concept that allowed for the Law of Conservation of Mass to remain intact even in a wild sci-fi romp like Loki; however, once pruned Variants end up there, they have to contend with the trans-temporal entity Alioth, a construct of Kang’s who feasts on those sent to The Void. It’s a scary place to be sure but it’s definitely survivable and it looks as though Deadpool and Wolverine will introduce a slew of Variants who have done just that. Now, some new promo art for the film gives a pretty clear picture of who some of the Variants who occupy the Void will be.
A piece of art making its way around social media found an interesting way to tease five total Deadpool Variants, including three that haven’t been revealed until now.
Embedded in the classic “SNIKT” of Wolverine, a baby version of Wade Wilson and Variants, Kidpool, Deadpool, Dogpool and Headpool can be seen, left to right. Those are certainly not the only Variants we’ll see in the movie (Lady Deadpool is noticeably absent) but it does seem as though Deadpool and Wolverine will introduce some version of the Deadpool Corps. In the comics, the Deadpool Corps was a team of alternate-universe versions of Deadpool that assembled to take on a multiversal threat. That sounds pretty much what they’re likely to do in Deadpool and Wolverine where they will have to take on, Cassandra Nova, the deranged twin of Charles Xavier.
Deadpool and Wolverine is set to hit theaters on July 26th!
Though no release date has been revealed yet, Eyes of Wakanda has already caught the attention of fans. First announced at the What If…? Season 2 premiere, the animated series produced by Ryan Coogler will tell the story of “brave warriors” who “throughout Wakandan history have been tasked to travel the world retrieving dangerous vibranium artifacts.” Other than that, little was know about the show but that’s changed now thanks to Marvel exec Brad Winderbaum.
In am interview with Men’s Health, Winderbaum revealed quite a bit of new information about the series, including where it fits into the sometimes confusing Multiversal continuity. According to Winderbaum, Eyes of Wakanda “fits right into our sacred MCU timeline continuity.” Winderbaum also confirmed that the series had been directed by Todd Harris which also seems to have confirmed an interesting rumor about the series.
In 2022, we learned that Harris was creating an animated series about “a secret society of humanoid aliens living on earth dispatches a team of spies across the world to collect a series of missing artifacts that threaten to influence mankind…” and that the series would feature a Mandarin-speaking character named “Jin.” The strong similarities between the official description ofEyes of Wakanda and the original description of Harris‘ show are obvious and further information about Jin seems to mesh nicely with a very interesting rumor about Eyes of Wakanda.
Scooper CWGST shared a rumor that Eyes of Wakanda would introduce an Iron Fist by the name of Janora, an original character created just for the show, who would be working with a Wakanda named Basha. This lines up nicely with the information we shared in 2022 that indicated “Jin” was a “Chinese warrior” and “perhaps the best trained martial artist in the world.” Her story begins, it seems, when another character named “Bosco” steals one of the series’ MacGuffin artifacts. Connect the dots and it sounds like Basha may head to K’un Lun to retrieve some type of Vibranium artifact and then find himself at odds with Janora.
Though we can’t confirm the connection, combined with our old Connecting Imaginary Dots piece,the new information seems to support the rumor that Eyes of Wakanda will feature an Iron Fist. Should it all work out, that Iron Fist will show up in the third episode of the series, as per the original information. Either way, it sounds like Eyes of Wakanda is lining up to be a blast!
It’s been said that nostalgia is a hell of a drug. The sentimental longing for an overidealized past can all but rewrite reality within our minds, amplifying our perception of the emotional impact of past experiences and manifesting something that never truly existed in the way we remember it. It’s a road we’ve all traveled and the longer we stay on it, the further we get from the true nature of the original experience. Unlike fortune, nostalgia’s no fickle wench: it provides exactly what we want it to every time.
Revisiting that imaginary hallowed ground simply reinforces whatever good feeling we’re searching for and is the source of every grumpy old man telling a young buck that “they don’t make them like they used to.” However, as it turns out, they do indeed make them like they used to and, every so often, even better. Marvel Animation’s X-Men ’97 stands as an exemplar of how studios can revisit known and even beloved quantities while finding something that may not have been there originally. Whether you grew up with X-Men: The Animated Series or have never seen an episode of the ’90s classic, X-Men ’97 is about to become your favorite Saturday morning cartoon.
Give Marvel Studios mad props. They smartly leaned heavily into ’90s nostalgia in promoting X-Men ’97, adeptly using the dope theme song from X-Men: The Animated Series and some sweet old-school posters to provide O.G. fans with a phat dopamine rush that reminded them just how off the hook chillin’ on Saturday mornings used to be. Back in the day, X-Men: The Animated Series was the bomb…or was it? Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
For a nearly unquantifiable portion of a generation, X-Men: The Animated Series was the gateway drug into the uncanny world of mutant heroes and villains created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Over 76 episodes, the series–heavily inspired by Chris Claremont’s work with the characters in the pages of Marvel Comics–became a frenetic highlight reel of the X-Men’s greatest hits. Without ever reading an X-Men comic, fans of the show could name a dozen X-Men, define an Omega mutant and summarize some of Marvel Comics’ greatest X-Men runs. Just as Claremont’s life-saving run on the Uncanny X-Men concluded, X-Men: The Animated Series cemented the characters in the era’s zeitgeist. The serendipitous multimedia symbiosis of page and animation no doubt led Fox to the inevitable conclusion that the X-Men would be a hit on the big screen and thus, the X-Men became embedded in pop culture, where they have firmly remained over 30 years later. But if the first three episodes of X-Men ’97 reveal anything, they reveal just how weak our minds can be when challenged by the nostalgia for better days.
If you believe yourself a fan of X-Men: The Animated Series, challenge yourself to a modern-day rewatch. Unlike the finest of wines, the series struggles to mature with its audience, limited not only by the technology of its time but also by the sensibilities of an era gone by. And that’s just fine and totally fair…however, as Marvel Animation rolls out a brand new series set in that bygone era, it absolutely needs to be fit enough to survive the onslaught of modern fans. Showrunner Beau DeMayo aggressively relieves the evolutionary force of selective pressure by slightly changing the DNA of the series to favorably adapt to the modern environment in which it will be judged. What emerges is a new generation more fit than its predecessor on nearly every measurable standard.
X-Men ’97 veraciously maintains the feverish pace of its progenitor. The first three episodes of the season cover more than 20 issues of Claremont’s run on Uncanny and resolve an eight-month line-wide comic run in 30 minutes. However, it’s here where a reflective member of the audience should stop, drop and roll back into common sense: regardless of your modern sensibilities, X-Men: The Animated Series was created to entertain children. In this sense, compared to offerings such as Teen Titans Go!, X-Men ’97 is much more Hawthorne than Hemingway.
The first three episodes offer plenty of rawhide upon which to chew. Is Marvel Animation starting up its own connected universe? The Daily Bugle provides plenty of opportunities to believe so. Despite the statement that X-Men ’97 is doing its own thing, does the appearance of WHiH News portend some connection to the live-action MCU and the Multiverse Saga? When dealing with the timey-wimey concepts that are part and parcel of the X-Men, could the crazy sumbitches at Marvel Studios be planning to capitalize on nostalgia in a way ’90s kids could never have dreamt of by bringing the team that brought X-Men into pop culture back into pop culture in an all-new, all-different millennium?
As of March 2024, there are no answers to those questions; however, in an ever-expanding wilderness of superhero projects, the fitness of X-Men ’97 is not dependent on the audience’s familiarity with the MCU. Should you have watched all 76 episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series once, twice or nonce, you’ll find yourself fully engaged in the story of Cyclops, Jean and the team as they learn to move forward in the absence of Charles Xavier who, by the way, “died” in Season 5, Episode 10 of X-Men: The Animated Series which aired in 1996. Yet somehow, some way, DeMayo and his writers’ room have found common ground for those who saw Charles “die” with those who only know who Charles is from Logan or Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As Marvel Studios rightfully finds itself under fire, X-Men ’97 could ironically raise the roof of what fans consider as the shit while still being enjoyable for trifling busters.
Though it seems highly unlikely that Danny Ramirez‘s Joaquin Torres will evolve into a vampiric falcon-human hybrid anytime soon in the MCU, he’s certainly due for an upgrade. Having been given Sam Wilson’s EX0-7 Falcon suit in the Disney Plus streaming series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Air Force First Lieutenant Torres is ready to step into the world of superheroics in Captain America: Brave New World.
As is the case in the comics, Torres will be sporting a full helmet in Captain America: Brave New World and that helmet is front and center in the artwork. The image also confirms that the MCU’s new Falcon will be decked out in an all-new, all-different color scheme that is consistent with the character’s recent look in the comics.
With Captain America: Brave New World set to undergo some significant additional photography this summer, fans may be treated to more set photos which could come with a better glimpse of the suit. Rumors have circulated that the scenes from which the set photos linked above were captured have been removed from the film which means Torres will have to find another reason to break out his new gear.
Captain America: Brave New World is currently slated to hit theaters on February 14, 2025.
As Marvel Studios continues to move toward the finish line of their ongoing Multiverse Saga, they already have one eye on the future of the MCU. One major piece of that future will be the X-Men, who have already begun to be sprinkled into the Multiverse. While Marvel Studios have laid out no clear plans, they did begin taking meetings with creatives last fall to hear pitches on how to fully incorporate mutants into the MCU. Now, a new rumor may indicate that part of the plan will revolve around one of the X-Men’s most devious villains.
According to insider Daniel RPK, Marvel Studios plans to put Mr. Sinister front and center as the big bad of the studio’s X-Men reboot.
Created by iconic X-Men writer Chris Claremont in 1987, Mr. Sinister has become one of most fabulous and deadly villains Charles Xavier and his team have ever faced. He played a large role in X-Men: The Animated Series and recently hatched his greatest plan to date in the comics which led to the end of the mutant’s Krakoan Age. Should Marvel Studios indeed choose to put Sinister in the middle of their plans for the X-Men and keep some semblance of who the character is in the comics, his long and incredibly complex personal history could truly be used to set the table for any number of stories to be told. Over the last 25 years and change, Sinister has had a hand in just about every major X-story and has deep ties to Apocalypse, the Summers family, the Weapon X program and both Charles and Magneto. Fox had planned to incorporate him into their X-Men franchise but never did, providing Marvel Studios with a fairly easy choice in a central villain that both helps set their X-films apart and allows for some very interesting stories to be told.
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