Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Hit With More High Praise Following World Premiere

    ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Hit With More High Praise Following World Premiere

    The world premiere of Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps took place at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on July 21st, just a few days away from the film’s global release. While the review embargo lifts at noon on July 22nd, those in attendance shared their thoughts on social media and much like the sentiment that came from an earlier preview of the film, there’s a lot of high praise for director Matt Shakman‘s retrofuturistic take on Marvel’s First Family.

    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JULY 21: (L-R) Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios, Louis D’Esposito, Co-President, Marvel Studios, Matt Shakman, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Julia Garner and Ralph Ineson speak onstage during The Fantastic Four: First Steps World Premiere at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California on July 21, 2025. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney)
    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JULY 21: (L-R) Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Vanessa Kirby and Pedro Pascal attend The Fantastic Four: First Steps World Premiere at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California on July 21, 2025. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney)

    It’s rare for those in attendance at world premieres to speak ill of projects on social media and full reviews by critics will certainly set the narrative for the film; however, with many of the reactions highlighting the performance of the film’s cast, the score by Michael Giachinno and the fact that it truly stands alone and requires no prior knowledge of the MCU, it’s sounding as though The Fantastic Four: First Steps may well be a huge hit for Marvel Studios.

  • Kevin Feige Confirms ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Co-Star

    Kevin Feige Confirms ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Co-Star

    Jon Bernthal may currently be busy filming scenes in New York City for The Punisher Special Presentation but according to Marvel Studios’ One Above All, Kevin Feige, it won’t be the only project the actor films this summer. Earlier this year, rumors and a trade report indicated Bernthal was set to star alongside his buddy Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Now, in an interview with Collider, Feige has confirmed that is indeed the plan.

    “I think there’s a promise at the end of No Way Home, that for as sad as it is that Peter is forgotten by everyone in his life, we are seeing for the first time in the Tom Holland Spider–Man stories him being a proper Spider-Man,” said Feige of how the previous Spider-Man film has set up the story for the upcoming fourth installment in the franchise, set to be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. “Him being by himself, dedicated to saving the city, and dealing with — for lack of better terms — street-level crime, as opposed to world-ending events,” he added.

    And with the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man fighting crime on the streets of New York City, it’s only a matter of time before he runs into Frank Castle. “So when you do that, you say, ‘okay, who are the other street-level characters that we’ve never seen him interact with?’ And of course, I love that The Punisher started in a Spider-Man comic. That great cover… I don’t want to say too much, but Destin — I will say too much — Destin is doing an amazing job right now on that movie, which starts shooting very soon. And he’s got eight or nine comic covers up on his wall in his art department that he is bringing to life in this movie, which is super cool.”

    Additional rumors indicate that Bernthal won’t be the only established Marvel Studios star joining Holland in the film. While it’s yet to be confirmed, Mark Ruffalo has been linked to the project as well, with more than one rumor suggesting that his Hulk will go savage and take on Spider-Man and Punisher for at least some portion of the film. Throw in Sadie Sink’s yet-to-be-revealed role and it sounds as though Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be quite the entry in the MCU-based Spidey franchise.

    Spider-Man: Brand New Day is currently set to swing into theaters on July 31, 2026.

    Source: Collider

  • Kevin Feige Teases Marvel’s Post-‘Secret Wars’ Slate Which Runs Through 2032

    Kevin Feige Teases Marvel’s Post-‘Secret Wars’ Slate Which Runs Through 2032

    Marvel Studios won’t be making a splash by revealing its upcoming slate in Hall H during SDCC this weekend but that doesn’t mean the powers that be at the studio aren’t working hard on putting it together. As of now, the studio has only scheduled films through 2028, but as always, Marvel Studios’ One Above All, Kevin Feige is kicking the can quite a bit further down the road. “It’s traditionally a five-year plan,” he said. “I think it goes to 2032 right now.”

    With the studio looking to release between 1 to 3 films a year and having only officially commented on a few projects in the works (Black Panther 3, X-Men and the long-delayed Blade film), that leaves quite a few holes to fill on that new slate. Given the looming success of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a sequel to that film seems all but a sure thing and there are plenty of other projects that have either been rumored or known to be in development but, as of now, Feige would only offer up a tease of how the studio hopes to return to one of its greatest strengths.

    “We were talking about a structure of an upcoming post-‘Secret Wars’ movie that I won’t name,” he said during a recent press event. “But I will say, like Shang-Chi, [it’s] getting back to what genre haven’t we done and want to do and how could this movie be that genre? [We would] focus on a singular storyline by embracing a certain genre we haven’t seen in a while. [It’s] remembering what cinema is and what movie going is and what entertaining audiences is,” said the Marvel boss.

    While that’s about all he gave away in terms of teasing upcoming projects, Feige did reveal that the seven-year plan will see 2027’s Multiverse Saga finale, Avengers: Secret Wars, “reset” the Marvel Cinematic Universe rather than reboot it.” “Reboot is a scary word,” said Marvel’s Big Cheese. “Reboot can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Reset, singular timeline — we’re thinking along those lines.”

    According to Feige, resetting the MCU means recasting roles, some of which have been filled by beloved actors for more than a decade…or two. “X-Men is where that will happen next,” he revealed while talking about the studio’s upcoming film, which he confirmed will be helmed by Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier. However, the future won’t just feature new actors as Cyclops and Jean Grey; it will also include the studio eventually recasting the roles of Captain America, Iron Man and Black Panther, among others.

    They have been a place to tell stories about young people who feel different and who feel Other and who feel like they don’t belong. That’s the universal story of mutants, and that is where we’re going.

    -Kevin Feige on Marvel Studios X-Men

    “Amy Pascal and David Heyman are now searching for a new James Bond,” said Feige of Sony’s efforts to relaunch the 007 franchise. “David [Corenswet], the new Superman — he was awesome. That will always be the case,” Feige said of seeing new names take over roles from previous stars. “I think it’s hard for anybody to do that when an actor has done such a great role,” he said of replacing actors such as Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. in iconic roles before adding. “How are they going to ever replace Sean Connery [as James Bond], right?“

    It’s interesting that Feige chose to sat down with reporters rather than attempt to thrill fans at SDCC; however, given the major changes to the plans the studio revealed at SDCC ’19 and SDCC ’22, the days of the major slate reveals may be behind Marvel Studios or, at the very least, they’ll be done in much smaller doses. For now, it’s clear that the bulk of the studio’s attention is being directed toward making sure Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars leave fans satiated with the Multiverse Saga before taking yet another step into the unknown in 2028.

    Source: Variety

  • James Gunn Addresses the Status of DC Studios ‘Swamp Thing’

    James Gunn Addresses the Status of DC Studios ‘Swamp Thing’

    When James Gunn and Peter Safran pulled back the curtain to reveal their initial plans for DCU Chapter One: Gods and Monsters in January 2023, there were plenty of surprises. While the DC Studios’ co-chairs intended to–and in fact did–launch the new connected universe with one of comic’s greatest characters, Superman (originally titled Superman: Legacy), the slate also included projects featuring some DC Comics characters that aren’t necessarily household names.

    One such project announced to be in development was a Swamp Thing feature film with James Mangold attached to direct. Described by Safran as a horror film intended to “investigate the dark origins” of the character, the film was said to be “tonally different” than other DCU fare while still being “interconnected” to the rest of the slate.

    That slate has changed considerably, however, since being announced, leaving fans to wonder if many projects, Swamp Thing among them, are still being developed. In an interview with Josh. Horowitz, Gunn was asked to update the status of Swamp Thing and revealed that for the time being, the project is still being worked on.

    “We talked to James (Mangold) the other day. No, he hasn’t delivered a script. He’s been distracted with his billion of movies,” said Gunn. “We’re talking about it again.”

    One of those films distracting Mangold may be his Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi movie which was recently said to have been coming together relatively quickly and moved ahead of the Daisy Ridley-led Star Wars: New Jedi Order project. If that’s the case, it’s highly unlikely that Swamp Thing finds its way into theaters at any point within the next two years which was the original plan for the first ten projects revealed in 2023. However, with a Wonder Woman film gathering momentum at the studio, it seems the focus has somewhat shifted toward getting DC’s Trinity and other heavy hitters to the screen sooner than expected, while still leaving room for other projects such as Clayface or Sgt. Rock.

    Source: Happy Sad Confused

  • Wonder Woman Casting: The Search for a New DCU Star

    Wonder Woman Casting: The Search for a New DCU Star

    The future of the all-new DCU was riding on the successful launch of James Gunn‘s Superman. As the new film , which was a hit with audiences and critics, closes in on $200 million at the domestic box office, it seems safe to say that, at least for now, the future is secure… though it certainly won’t look much like the original plan laid out by Gunn and SC Studios’ co-chair Peter Safran.

    While Supergirl and Lanterns, which were both included in the first look at the studio’s Gods and Monsters slate, are on track for release in 2026, they’ll be joined by Clayface, a true horror film, which only took shape over the past year. Beyond that, projects such as Booster Gold, Swamp Thing and Paradise Lost, seem to have lost all creative momentum; however, there’s no shortage of ideas in the queue and it sounds as though one of them is starting to move ahead quickly.

    After a recent report by Variety claimed that a Wonder Woman movie was being fast tracked at DC Studios, longtime industry insider Umberto Gonzalez has added fuel to that fire. According to Gonzalez, who recently appeared on The Box Office Podcast, the studio has begun the search for an actress to portray the DCU’s Princess Diana of Themyscira.

    Gonzalez indicated that Gunn and Safran are following the same plan that led them to Milly Alcock as the shared universe’s Supergirl and are looking for a not-so-household name with a TV-heavy resume rather than an actress with a background in big studio fare. It’s a new age at the box office and it appears that saving salary will be a primary concern as the new studio gets up and running.

    For his part, Gunn has confirmed that Wonder Woman is in development, though he certainly has not given any indication it has been fast tracked. “I mean, it’s not going to be until the scripts are ready,” Gunn said recently when asked about when fans might expect to see Batman and Wonder Woman join Superman in the DCU. “So, both the scripts (The Brave and the Bold and Wonder Woman) are being written now, and, if they’re good, then we’ll go into production immediately.”

    Given Gunn’s recent comments that one planned film was abandoned because the writer could not put together a good script, the news is equal measures good and not so good; however, the studio is unlikely to bail on a member of the Trinity, meaning a new Wonder Woman film WILL happen, even if we can’t say when just yet.

    Source: The Box Office Podcast

  • New Report Reveals Mephisto’s Next MCU Stop

    New Report Reveals Mephisto’s Next MCU Stop

    Sacha Baron Cohen‘s secret role in Marvel Television’s Ironheart was one of Hollywood’s worst-kept secrets. Despite efforts to keep the true identity of Cohen‘s “Mystery Man” from leaking, word of the actor portraying the role of Mephisto made its way online in early 2022, more than three years before the Great Corrupter popped up in the Ironheart series finale.

    Cohen brilliantly brought Mephisto to life, bringing a superficial graciousness to the character whose only true goal is collecting souls. With major changes to Marvel Studios’ plans between the production and release of Ironheart, fans have been theorizing when–if at all–Mephisto May next appear and it seems as though there may not be an answer.

    According to Marvel Studios insider Daniel Richtman, Cohen will step back into the shoes of the Master of Malice in the long-rumored supernatural team-up film, Midnight Sons.

    Though Marvel Studios has never officially addressed the property, a Midnight Sons film has been rumored to be in development since 2022, with Werewolf By Night director Michael Giacchino having originally been attached to direct. In 2024, Fede Álvarez‘s name popped up on the radar as a potential director with Logan scribe Michael Green working on a screenplay for Marvel and the studio hoping to fast track the project.

    With the studio potentially looking to get Midnight Sons off the ground ahead of the long-troubled Blade reboot, it tracks that they’d be starting to move toward putting together a cast and having Cohen’s Mephisto front and center as a major antagonist is a great start.

  • Lucasfilm Reportedly Force Pushes Once-Prized Star Wars Project Down the Queue…Again

    After being announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023, Lucasfilm’s Daisy Ridley-led New Jedi Order era film seemed to quickly gather momentum, at one point being the favorite to launch the studio’s plans to bring its galaxy far, far away back to theaters. Set to “tell the story of rebuilding the New Jedi Order and the powers that rise to tear it down,” the Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy-directed project was reportedly far enough along that Lucasfilm considered a 2025 release. Things changed quickly, however, as creative teams came and went and by November 2024, the film’s release was delayed indefinitely despite reports that the studio believes Ridley is its “most valuable cinematic asset.” Now a new report indicates that the project may be facing another delay.

    According to insider Daniel Richtman, Ridley’s film has been bumped down the queue again “as both the Shawn Levy and James Mangold Star Wars films are moving forward first.“

    Levy’s film, Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, was announced at Star Wars Japan in April and is expected to  begin production this Fall ahead of a 2027 release. In many ways, Starfighter seems to be on the path Lucasfilm once hoped the New Jedi Order film would follow.

    Mangold’s film, like the Ridley-led project, was announced at SWCE ’23 and will also take place in an all-new era of stories, set 25,000 years before the “present day” era of The New Republic. The film, referred to by fans as the “Jedi Prime” project, will tell “the tale of the first Jedi to wield the Force and harness it as a liberating power in an era of chaos and oppression.”

    As it stands now, The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter are the only two films with set release dates, hitting theaters on May 22, 2026 and May 28, 2027, respectively.

  • Marvel Studios Reshapes Its 2028 Release Slate

    Marvel Studios Reshapes Its 2028 Release Slate

    Under Bob Iger’s second tenure as the head of Disney, the big Marvel machine was instructed to scale back its production efforts, prioritizing quality over quantity. “We’ve also learned over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality. And frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much,” Iger told investors in March. “By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe that will result in better quality.” As such, projects began to disappear from the release slate and the studio looked to schedule 2 or 3 films a year moving forward, starting in 2026. However, plans are always subject to change and it now looks as though Marvel may look to launch its next saga with a more aggressive approach.

    Disney has added a fourth Marvel Studios film to its 2028 release slate, reserving December 15th for an untitled film. Should the studio hold to the current plan, fans can also count on being in theaters on February 18th, May 5th and November 10th.

    Marvel has yet to officially announce any of its 2028 projects, though its X-Men reboot and a third Black Panther film are expected to land in theaters that year. In an interesting development, Variety reports that a sequel to this summer’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps is also in development and may be on track for a 2028 release. In addition, Thor, Doctor Strange and Shang-Chi sequels could be on the docket, as well as the studio’s long-awaited Blade reboot or the Midnight Sons ensemble film or Ryan Reynolds X-Men team up film. Whatever the case, it’s clear that the studio has options and may feel comfortable about moving forward with releasing four films because four good scripts have been turned in.

    Source: Variety

  • A Major Marvel Villain Is Rumored to Call the UK’s Windsor Castle Home in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’…And It Isn’t Doom

    A Major Marvel Villain Is Rumored to Call the UK’s Windsor Castle Home in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’…And It Isn’t Doom

    Marvel Studios certainly seems to be swinging for the fences with Avengers: Doomsday. The initial cast reveal included plenty of surprises, including multiple members of Fox’s original X-Men trilogy. While rumors of an Avengers vs. X-Men style battle have swirled around Doomsday for some time, the inclusion of Sir Ian McKellen on the list of 27 stars still caught fans off guard. Now it sounds like his Magneto may just have an important part to play in whatever it is the X-Men are up to on what’s believed to be Earth-10005.

    According to social Media scooper My Time To Shine Hello, the UK’s Windsor Castle will be used in Avengers: Doomsday as Magneto’s stronghold.

    The castle does bear some resemblance to the Autumn Palace, a castle that Magneto called home on Mars/Arakko after leaving Krakoa during writer Al Ewing‘s 2021 Marvel Comics series, X-Men: Red.

    Though it’s not entirely clear what to expect on Earth-10005–or whatever reality the Fox X-Men inhabit–it has been theorized that the reality’s timeline could have begun following the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past. If that’s the case, Magneto could very well be working with Charles Xavier and his X-Men to stop what’s beginning to look like an attack on their Earth by Robert Downey Jr‘s Doctor Doom.

  • Ryan Reynolds’ New X-Team Reportedly Revealed…and It Includes the MCU’s Rumored Wolverine

    Ryan Reynolds’ New X-Team Reportedly Revealed…and It Includes the MCU’s Rumored Wolverine

    Earlier this month, THR broke the news that Ryan Reynolds was “quietly plotting his return” as Deadpool. While the star has made it clear that he believes another solo Deadpool film would be superfluous, it turns out he’s been working toward a script for an MCU-based ensemble film that would include “three or four X-Men characters.” Now, a new rumor from one of social media’s busiest news might have revealed exactly what Reynolds has in mind.

    According to My Time To Shine Hello, Reynolds has been writing a script for a potential MCU-set X-Force film that would feature his Deadpool teaming up with Josh Brolin‘s Cable, Hugh Jackman‘s Wolverine and an all-new actor as Storm.

    If the new information is accurate, it meshes with a late-2024 report from Marvel Studios insider Daniel Richtman, who claimed that Jackman was set to carry on as the MCU’s Wolverine in the studio’s upcoming Avengers films and beyond.

    Like nearly every team in the pages of Marvel Comics, the roster of X-Force has been a revolving door since the team first appeared in 1991. Founded by Cable, X-Force often takes a more proactive, militaristic, and covert approach to dealing with threats to mutantkind, often involving missions that the mainstream X-Men would deem too morally ambiguous or violent. While the X-Men typically strive to protect and integrate mutants peacefully, X-Force is essentially the “black ops” arm of the mutant world.

    Introducing multiple X-teams is a must for Marvel Studios as it launches Kevin Feige‘s reported 10-year plan for the massive roster of characters obtained when Disney purchased 21st Century Fox in 2019. By reuniting Reynolds and Jackman, who drove Deadpool & Wolverine to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all-time, and bringing back Brolin, who certainly made a compelling case to continue on as the Askani’son, whole also introducing a new actress as Storm, the studio would certainly be putting its best foot forward its efforts to provide the new Saga with a strong foundation.

    Sources: THR