Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Creatives Looked to Return Peter Parker His Comic Book Roots

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Creatives Looked to Return Peter Parker His Comic Book Roots

    While Tom Holland’s time as Spider-Man has been full of critical and box office success, it has not been without criticisms. Among the most common is that Peter’s relationship with Tony Stark gave the young hero too much, too soon, and took him far away from his comic book origins. Fans grew tired of Parker’s dependance on Stark’s technology, calling him “Iron Boy”, and hoped, with Stark now out of the picture, that Parker would have to learn to fend for himself. Stark tech was present once again in Spider-Man: No Way, both by way of the Ion Spider suit and the fabricator that helped Parker synthesize cures for the multiversal villains. By the end of the film, however, audiences saw a Parker who more closely resembled the young hero from the comics, having learned the true cost of being Spider-Man. And according to the film’s writing duo, Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna, putting Parker in that place was part of their mission.

    Fans of the long-running comic book series are used to Peter having to deal with what he’s come to call “Parker Luck.” It’s never been strictly defined by Marvel (I don’t think), but Parker Luck seems like a very specific branch of Murphy’s Law: if anything can go wrong for Peter, it will. More acutely, it seems to explore the inverse relationship between the time Peter spends doing good deeds as Spider-Man and the amount of GOOD things that happen to him. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter’s acceptance of his moral mission as Spider-Man, morals defined by his Aunt May, came at the cost of those he loved most, as McKenna explained:

    He was trying to do what May taught him and that made the sacrifice that much more difficult, because it blew up in his face and it got her killed. Then he started questioning that morality in a way that he never really questioned because he hasn’t been put to the test in that way.

    How did Parker come to terms with those questions? As we see by the end of the film, he seems to have come to terms with the fact that in order to be the hero he wants to be, there could be no getting around the spell cast by Strange to make people forget him. Though he promised to find MJ and Ned and “make them remember” him, McKenna says he comes to the realization that making that choice would only put them in danger:

    You want to have that doughnut scene be him making the last piece of the sacrifice. “I could tell them everything. I can try to get my friends back. But I’d be going right back to the place of endangering my loved ones by bringing them into my life. And I can’t have that.”

    Peter makes the mature choice after MJ mentions that her cut doesn’t really hurt anymore. While her words describe the physical pain of the cut, Peter realizes that the MJ’s emotional pain of losing him has also dissipated and chooses to leave her and Ned happy and safe, making, as McKenna said, the final step in his sacrifice and choosing not to try to continue live in two worlds, as Doctor Strange warned him. As many astute fans have noticed, it’s only at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home that we are finally getting the version of the character that made him so beloved over the years. Moving forward, Holland’s Parker is on his own without the benefit of Stark’s tech or the support of those around him, meaning the next trilogy of MCU films will look a whole lot different and, potentially, a whole lot more like the comics.

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Writers Address Why Doctor Strange’s Spell Drew Venom to the MCU

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Writers Address Why Doctor Strange’s Spell Drew Venom to the MCU

    Magic. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, magic was both the problem and the solution and, because how magic works remains a mystery to us, fans were left with a lot of questions as they walked away from the theaters. Why did Doctor Strange’s original spell-gone-wrong draw Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock into the MCU? Does Strange’s final spell mean the Guardians or Captain Marvel, who weren’t on Earth when it was cast, will forget Peter, too? In an interview with Variety, writers Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna explained their approach to magic in the year’s biggest box office hit.

    The film’s central plot revolved around Peter meeting five villains from previous Spider-Man films and trying to cure them. The mid-credit scene, however, introduced a sixth: Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote companion, Venom. While the other five found themselves involved in a conflict with the Spider-Men, Brock chose to while away his time in Mexico, having drinks and catching up on the history of the MCU. But why was this version of Brock, who has yet to meet a Peter Parker in his own universe, brought to the MCU by the spell? According to the writers, the answer lies in a line spoken in the post-credit scene to Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which the duo revealed was actually directed by No Way Home’s Jon Watts.

    In that scene, Brock and Venom are catching up on their telenovelas while hiding out in Mexico when Venom begins to explain to him that he possesses “80 billion light years of hive knowledge across universes” that would “explode” Eddie’s “tiny little brain.” And just as Venom prepares to give Eddie a “taste” of that knowledge, the pair are caught up in Strange’s spell and brought to the MCU. According to McKenna, somewhere in that hive knowledge exits the Parker/Spidey connection, as he explained, “The idea is that the symbiote has knowledge of other universes. Buried in his brain is some knowledge of that connection.” Problem solved.

    The writers were a little less specific in their explanations as to exactly how Strange’s final spell, which made everyone on Earth forget about Peter Parker, would play out down the line, especially with him still actively working as Spider-Man. “Obviously, some sort of magical redaction has occurred,” McKenna explained. “At the end of all this, we didn’t want a lot of people trying to do magical math in their head.” And so, according to Sommers, they left the problems to be solved by their future selves:

    We decided, let’s try to do it in the most satisfying way and just focus on the emotion of it. And then if people have questions about some of those details that didn’t get answered here, we’ll answer them hopefully in another movie somewhere down the line.

    Give that the duo have worked on each of the MCU’s Spidey films so far and that there’s a fourth in development, they’ll probably have to start figuring out how to answer them sooner rather than later.

    Source: Variety

  • How Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Helped Shape ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

    How Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Helped Shape ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

    For most audiences viewing Spider-Man: No Way Home, the most exciting element of the film was the return of former Spidey actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. In the latest installment, the duo returned so that they could aid current series star Tom Holland in fighting off a small army of their own multiversal supervillains. While it may have been reasonable to believe the actors simply popped in to perform their scenes before moving on to other projects, a recent interview with the movie’s writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers revealed the opposite was actually true. Maguire and Garfield had significant input on the way their characters shaped the film. Sommers begins:

    They had thoughts, and it was really interesting and helpful to see their thoughts. No one knows the character as well as — or gives as much thought to the character — as someone who has to then embody it and sell it. … It definitely shaped what we did.

    Erik Sommers

    McKenna continues:

    They had great ideas that really elevated everything we were going for and added layers and an arc and we really actually started honing into the idea that these two guys were really helping Tom’s Peter on his journey to becoming who he ends up becoming. There’s a crucial, moral moment that they help him get through in the climax of the movie. So much of that was brought by Tobey and Andrew’s ideas and shaping of what they thought their characters could bring to this story.

    Chris McKenna

    The film doesn’t end up delving too far into the post-franchise life of either interpretation of the character, and the writers claim this was done on purpose. McKenna states they wanted to hold back from the characters being used purely as fan service, and focus more on the ways they could help Holland’s Peter Parker emotionally We learn much more about the ongoing adventures of Garfield’s Parker than we do Maguire’s, and this was supposedly exactly what the actors wanted:

    Tobey wanted to be very minimal about how much you know. Very, very minimal. Andrew really loved the idea of he’s still tortured over what happened in Amazing Spider-Man 2and where that left him, and how they could bring that to Tom.

    Chris McKenna

    It certainly added quite a bit to their appearance, as they felt like actual characters continuing their story arcs in meaningful ways while having all three learn from each other. The writing duo had quite the challenge ahead of them, but they managed to keep it all intact while also building upon the franchise’s overall development. It makes you wonder where they are from here on.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Ending Was Written In Case There Was No More Sequel

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Ending Was Written In Case There Was No More Sequel

    Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s ending might go down as one of the best in Marvel’s cinematic history and as one of the most tragic. Tom Holland’s run as Peter Parker came full circle, but at a deep cost. After a fun multiversal romp filled to the brim with familiar faces, the story still ended with Peter making an important decision. It still remained his story and while open-ended, could’ve still felt like the perfect bookend to this version of the character. Luckily, it seems that the writers had exactly that in mind.

    In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna discussed the ending of the film, and that they had this in mind when tackling the project, especially as it builds upon the lessons learned from the past two entries. As Sommers points out:

    We knew we were going to end up in that place. As far as what it means, whether or not there are going to be more? All we could do was try to service this story and tell what we felt was the best version of this story. It’s ended in a place where it could feel like a satisfying to this particular Spider-Man, or it definitely could keep going.

    Erik Sommers

    Of course, they also took this ending as a potential “end” for the entire franchise. It’s a given after the dealings already fell apart before they even entered the third film’s production. While a fourth is in development as confirmed by Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige, they did keep that in the back of their mind while writing it.

    I think it’s a fitting ending if it had to end this way. We never know. “Oh, is Tom doing another one? Will we be a part of it?” At a certain point we just got to keep our eye on the one in front of us. “Is this a satisfying story that doesn’t just feel like we are ending on a cliffhanger that is trying to trick you in to the next one?” I do feel with this ending, Peter makes a sacrifice. There are all these Marvel movies about him trying to figure out what it is to be a hero, what it is to be Spider-Man, what it is to be Peter Parker, how to balance both, how to have it all. He gets to have it all at the end of the last movie, right before that tag and then it’s all stripped away. “Oh no! What are they going to do next time?” This one feels like it’s more mature because it really is, as Doctor Strange says, “You are trying to have it all. You can’t have it all. You’ve got to make a choice.”

    Chris McKenna

    They certainly had to tackle quite a challenge when bringing this film to life. Some of the previous entries always end up buckling under the weight of expectation, as they juggle multiple storylines that end up distracting from the core narrative. Here’s hoping to see what the future has in store for Tom Holland‘s take on the character.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ on Uncle Ben’s Absence in the MCU

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ on Uncle Ben’s Absence in the MCU

    There was always one noticeable change in the MCU Spider-Man films in comparison to previous cinematic Spider-Man franchises: the noticeable lack of Uncle Ben. He tends to be the main anchor point for Peter Parker’s morality. Yet, as we learned in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it turns out that this role was taken over by Aunt May. In her last moments, she even echoes the famous “with great power” words from the comics. Well, it seems that Uncle Ben was always on the mind of writers Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna, who worked on all three entries as revealed in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

    I don’t think there was much impetus to put it into the other two movies. This iteration of Spider-Man didn’t start by telling the story of losing Uncle Ben. We started at a different place with Peter. Those words are so tied to Uncle Ben, there didn’t seem to be a natural place for it. We weren’t even thinking necessarily, “Oh, we have to do it in this one.” As the story started to develop, and as we got to the scene with May, we realized, “This is going to be Peter’s Uncle Ben,” and the words are going to come out.

    Erik Sommers

    This arc also plays into how he develops, as McKenna reveals they’ve always played around with the absence of Uncle Ben but realized they can tell a very different origin story that adds more layers to his character, especially with a moral guide like Aunt May adding a new spin on the familiar. They also go on to say that:

    Hopefully you start seeing this is a different Peter Parker. They are all different. They have had different origins. They have had different contexts and this Peter is the only one of these three who has had a Tony Stark in his life. So he chases the fame. He chases this father figure and approval from this billionaire, philanthropist playboy. Then he realizes, “I don’t want to be an Avenger. I’m chasing the wrong thing.” And the next movie was, “I can’t be Iron Man. I can only be Spider-Man.” In this one, there is a whole new way he has to get tested about what these other two guys have been tested by. By the death of a loved one at the hands of a villain. What are you going to do about that? They help him get there

    Chris McKenna

    While many were not happy with the initial direction and Iron Man’s role as a mentor to Spidey, it all paid off as part of a trilogy. As they highlight, the arc was about uncovering what it means to be Spider-Man, which is truly anchored in how the film ends. Here’s hoping that the future lets us explore the lesson that he took away from those events as he grows, for the first time, left to his own devices.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Xochitl Gomez Strikes a Familiar Pose as America Chavez in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Promo

    Xochitl Gomez Strikes a Familiar Pose as America Chavez in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Promo

    Xochitl Gomez’s America Chavez is set to play a key role in the events of next May’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Chavez, a one-time Young Avenger in the comics, possesses the unique ability to open star-shaped portals in reality, allowing her and her companions to traverse different realities across the multiverse. The character was briefly seen in the recent first look at the film but now, thanks to some new promo art, fans can get a better look at the character who happens to be pulling off a familiar pose.

    As you can see Gomez is imitating the pose held by Chavez on artist Jamie McKelvie’s variant cover to 2017’s America #1, written by Gabby Rivera. The character has always been a powerhouse, boasting superhuman strength in addition to her ability to travel interdimensionally. The character has always been a lot of fun on the page as well and she now joins the ranks of fellow comic book Young Avengers Kate Bishop, Billy and Tommy Maximoff and Eli Bradley in the comics. Hopefully we see them team up sooner than later.

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Already Passed $500M Domestically

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Already Passed $500M Domestically

    It looks like Spider-Man: No Way Home is continuing to take over the Box office at an incredible pace. The film has already passed the $500M mark and is currently continuing its dominance of the box office even as Omicron concerns are spreading worldwide. AS pointed out by @Great_Katzby, the film is potentially going to nab an $800M+ domestic run, which would put it on par with massive releases like Avengers: Endgame, and Avatar, as it would end up right between the two’s domestic runs.

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    It’s quite a strong domestic run and if the film manages to release in China, it may continue to inch towards a $2 billion worldwide release. There’s still some time and concerns over the pandemic have slowed down that momentum somewhat, but the film is still a massive success for Sony and Marvel Studios. As we heard a few days ago, the film is on its way to becoming Sony’s most profitable release with the current estimates still seeing it end its run at around $1.75B. It’ll certainly be important to keep an eye on how its box office run develops moving forward.

    Source: Twitter

  • Zack Snyder Shares First ‘Rebel Moon’ Concept Art, Eyeing Production Start in Few Months

    Zack Snyder Shares First ‘Rebel Moon’ Concept Art, Eyeing Production Start in Few Months

    It looks like direct Zack Snyder is already preparing for his next project, as the director has taken to Vero to share the first look at concept art for his next film project, Rebel Moon. What was once a Star Wars pitch will become a unique tale that’ll premiere on Netflix at some point in the future. The first look at the upcoming film teases a moody space epic that certainly seems like it is up to Snyder‘s wheelhouse. He also teased that they are “heading to principal photography in a few months,” which hints at an early 2022 production start.

    Of course, we still know very little about the project outside of a brief synopsis and that Sofia Boutella was cast in the leading role. With Man of Steel on his belt, Snyder is no stranger to sci-fi epics and it’s always promising to see him tackle a new world he was able to build from scratch. There’s no word yet if this might also connect to his new zombie franchise that started with Army of the Dead, but he seems like the type that plays around with loosely connected worlds. Here’s hoping we get more details as they start production.

    Source: Vero via Twitter

  • UPDATE: Andrew Garfield’s Stunt Double on ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 3’ Rumors

    UPDATE: Andrew Garfield’s Stunt Double on ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 3’ Rumors

    UPDATE: It looks like another comment has been discovered by William Spencer on the discussions surrounding The Amazing Spider-Man 3. As shared previously, the Andrew Garfield stunt double seemingly hinted at something being in the works, but The Direct uncovered another comment that was tucked away, where he confirms he has no info on the rumored The Amazing Spider-Man 3 revival.

    The Amazing Spider-Man 3 William Spencer

    As we stated in our article below, he reacted with a thank you to a previous congratulations on a revival, very likely spurred by the Forbes piece that seemed to hint at one being already in development.

    Source: Instagram via The Direct

    Ever since Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters, there’s been a lot to digest on the future of Spider-Man. Many were happy to see Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire‘s return to the iconic roles, but it also brought back a new love for The Amazing Spider-Man franchise. So much that it even became a trending topic and people wanted to see the revival of the third entry. Garfield is even a popular choice to face off against Venom, as many believe his Peter Parker exists in that specific universe while Tom Holland continues in the MCU. Well, a slip up by Garfield‘s stunt double may have confirmed that Sony is reviving The Amazing Spider-Man 3.

    In a new post, William Spencer shared that he is currently recovering from an Achilles injury. Many comments hinted at their interest in him returning to stunt double in the third entry with one user even congratulating on a project that isn’t officially announced. Well, it’s his reaction to the statement that has caught everyone’s attention, as he seemingly thanks him for the congratulations and may have confirmed that a project may be in some form of development or at least talks.

    The reason we run it as a rumor is due to a Forbes article adding some confusion to the mix. Sony originally wanted Garfield to face off against the Sinister Six, who were going to get their own film. And amidst the Venom rumors, an article titled “Andrew Garfield Likely Returning As Spider-Man to Fight Venom, Sinister Six” started adding more fuel to the fire that the project is happening. Yet, it seems that most of the piece is pure speculation on Sony wanting to capitalize on the success of No Way Home. So, this could be the basis of him believing a third entry is in development. So far, we only heard that the fourth entry of Hollands‘ run is in development, but there are still many rumors hinting at Garfield not being done with Spidey. So, we’ll take this with a grain of salt for now, but hope that Sony unveils its future plans in the near future.

    Source: Instagram, Forbes

  • RUMOR: Black Bolt Will Appear in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    RUMOR: Black Bolt Will Appear in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    Following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, we finally have our first glimpse into the multiverse within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The upcoming sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange will dive deep into a realm of infinite possibilities with the return of Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange. No Way Home featured quite a few multiversal cameos from characters like Willem Dafoe‘s Green Goblin, Tobey Maguire‘s Spider-Man, and even Jaime Foxx‘s Electro. With the multiverse open, it is unsurprising to think many more could pop up soon, one of which is rumored to be quite a popular Inhuman. 

    A new rumor from Fandomwire states that the ruler of Attilan himself, Black Bolt, will be making his MCU debut in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The character is believed to be a variant from within the multiverse working alongside the rumored multiversal Illuminati. Currently, there’s no name attached to the role, and it’s unknown if this Black Bolt will be the one we saw a while back in ABC’s Inhumans series, which ran for one season before being canceled by the network. If that was the case, then perhaps we could see Anson Mount reprise the role, but the Inhuman’s future in the Marvel cinematic universe is still up in the air. 

    Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness is currently set to release in theaters on May 6, 2022. The film was directed by Sam Raimi and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams, and Xochitl Gomez.

    SOURCE: Fandomwire