Tag: Movies

  • Murphy’s Team-Up Volume 28: Marvel’s Most Wanted 2023

    Murphy’s Team-Up Volume 28: Marvel’s Most Wanted 2023

    Marvel Studios 2022 slate was as uneven as any the studio has put out in some time. Strong streaming offerings such as Ms. Marvel and Werewolf by Night gave in-home entertainment a boost while theatrically Marvel put out one of its biggest duds in Thor: Love and Thunder. Will 2023 be a stronger year? Like 2022, all of the studio’s films are sequels but unlike 2022 none of the streaming series will add new heroes to the MCU. For 2023 to be a success, Marvel Studios had better have some good stories ready to roll!

    Which stories are the members of Team MM looking forward to the most? We ranked them by most anticipated movie, most anticipated series and most anticipated overall…and asked our Twitter followers to do the same! Here’s what we found out…

    Charles Murphy

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Ironheart
    • Secret Invasion
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Loki, Season 2
    • The Marvels
    • Ironheart
    • Secret Invasion
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

    Torbjorn Frazier

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Secret Invasion
    • The Marvels
    • Ironheart

    Meghan Hall

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart

    Brandi Blahnik

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    • Loki, Season 2
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Loki, Season 2

    Darian Scalamoni

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Ironheart
    • The Marvels

    Joao Roque Pinto

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Secret Invasion
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Secret Invasion
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Ironheart

    Shashwat

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • The Marvels
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • The Marvels
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart

    Anthony Canton III

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • The Marvels
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    • The Marvels

    Hunter Radesi

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    • The Marvels

    Dalbin Osorio

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    • Loki, Season 2
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    • The Marvels
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Loki, Season 2

    Jeffrey Peterson

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • The Marvels
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • The Marvels
    • Ironheart

    MTF III

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • The Marvels
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Secret Invasion
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Secret Invasion
    • Loki, Season 2
    • The Marvels
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Ironheart

    Jared Kirschenbaum

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    • Secret Invasion
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Loki, Season 2
    • The Marvels
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Ironheart
    • Secret Invasion

    Lanfranco

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • The Marvels
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Secret Invasion
    • The Marvels
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • Ironheart

    Mary Rowe

    Most Anticipated Movie
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    Most Anticipated Series
    • Secret Invasion
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Ironheart
    Most Anticipated Project
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    • The Marvels
    • Secret Invasion
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    • Loki, Season 2
    • Ironheart

    MM Twitter Followers

    Over the course of the week, we ran 3 different polls asking our followers to vote on the same 3 categories. Here are the results…

    Most Anticipated Movie (4,930 votes)
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (38.8%)
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (37.4%)
    • The Marvels (23.8%)
    Most Anticipated Series (1,873 votes)
    • Loki, Season 2 (54%)
    • Secret Invasion (40.3%)
    • Ironheart (5.7%)
    Most Anticipated Project (3,983 votes)
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (35.3%)
    • Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (34%)
    • Loki, Season 2 (16.1%)
    • Secret Invasion (14.6%)
  • 12 Days of X-Mas: Day 1, Cyclops

    12 Days of X-Mas: Day 1, Cyclops

    The X-Men are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Studios has no small task ahead of them in making sure that the iconic team can lead the franchise in Phase 7 and beyond. Marvel Studios is also sure to make every effort to separate their adaptation of the team(s) from what came before. To celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas, we’ve decided to put together a list of which characters might play a key role and how Marvel Studios can ensure nobody will confuse them with their Fox counterparts.

    The First X-Man

    No character took it on the chin harder during Fox’s reign of terror with the X-Men than Scott Summers. The original trilogy sideline James Marsden‘s version and the Simon Kinberg films reduced him to a guy who just screamed an awful lot. A properly planned out X-Men franchise within a franchise should take Scott Summers on a 10-year arc from Xavier’s yes-man to a controversial mutant revolutionary. Anything less is doing the character yet another disservice.

    One of the easiest ways for Marvel Studios to set their vision for the X-Men apart from Fox’s is to put Scott, in fact, the entire Summers family, at the center of it. One way to ensure the Summers become integral to the future of the X-Men in the MCU is by introducing them and telling their story through a Starjammers trilogy. The first film could introduce Christopher and Katherine Sommers and their two, young sons, Scott and Alex, tell the tragic story of their separation, and tell parallel stories in space and on Earth. On Earth, Scott and Alex end up in an orphanage and come under the care of Doctor Essex, setting up a villain in Mister Sinister that Fox failed to capitalize on.

    In the comics, Sinister took a great interest in Scott Sommers and believed that the child of Scott and Jean Grey would perhaps be one of the most powerful mutants to ever live. Starting Scott’s MCU story at a young age and including the connection to Sinister would put the spotlight on the Sommers’ line and set up an ongoing antagonist who could cause all sorts of problems over a decade of X-Men stories. Of course, that’s only a part of Scott’s potential MCU story.

    The real work ahead for Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios Parliament is to find a way to evolve Scott over the course of 6 or so films. Cyclops is a divisive character in the comics and while they certainly won’t go beat for beat in adapting him to the MCU, they should certainly take inspiration from his journey over the years. Introducing Scott as a strong, young leader of the X-Men who whole-heartedly believes in Charles Xavier’s dream and then setting him on a path to develop his own, radical ideas about what Xavier’s dream really should be and ultimately rebel against Xavier would present a compelling character arc. After doing so much to save humanity time and time again, Cyclops became convinced that humanity would never accept them. It’s a lost opportunity for the MCU if at some point in time in Cyclops’ story, they don’t find a way to work in one of the most popular Marvel Comics memes ever: Cyclops was right!

  • Hugh Jackman Reveals Timeframe, Teases Plot of ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ Film

    Hugh Jackman Reveals Timeframe, Teases Plot of ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ Film

    It’s Christmas time and as far as information about the third film in the Deadpool franchise is concerned, Hugh Jackman is the gift that keeps on giving. Details about upcoming Marvel Studios projects are usually closely guarded secrets as the actors involved with those projects are coached up on what not to say. It looks like Jackman either skipped the training or doesn’t really care about norms, because he’s already let a couple of details about the Deadpool and Wolverine film slip and he’s just done it again.

    As a guest on episode #546 of the Empire Film Podcast, Jackman let a pair of juicy details loose that can be extrapolated into some potentially important details. Fans have wondered how the Deadpool and Wolverine team-up would work given Wolverine died in 2017’s Logan. According to Jackman, the events of the new MCU film will take place before Logan. With Marvel Studios in the middle of their Multiverse Saga, that’s no small spoiler and actually leaves quite a bit to unpack. As Jackman let slip recently, Deadpool 3 will involve time travel which means it’s possible that Deadpool will go back in time before Wolverine’s death and pluck him out of the timeline for their adventure. Such a choice might possibly be a Nexus Event and create a branch from the timeline. Even if Logan returns to his timeline, the adventure he and Wade go on in Deadpool 3 might end up causing a cascade of Nexus Events.

    Jackman‘s description of that adventure makes the Deadpool and Wolverine film sound an awful lot like a classic buddy cop film with the focus on just how annoying Wade is to Logan.

    Logan’s frustrated by him, wants to be a million miles away from him or wants to punch him in the head. Unfortunately, he can’t be a million miles away from him so I’m probably going to punch him in the head a lot.

    Hugh Jackman

    Of course, seeing Logan’s patience with Wade wear thin over the course of the film won’t necessarily be a surprise; Wade wears on everyone. However, it also opens up ample opportunities for Logan to punch, stab, dismember and otherwise hurt Wade which should make for some potentially memorable violence that should make fans of the R-rated Fox Deadpool and Logan films happy.

    Jackman’s comments also confirm that whatever the plot of the film is (one popular theory is that it will be an adaptation of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe in which Deadpool and Logan visit the universes of non-Marvel Studios Marvel projects and kill off the characters), he and Ryan Reynold’s Merc with a Mouth will be making their way through it together. Just how that might play out is unknown, but if Deadpool needed someone to help him kill off dozens of heroes, he’d certainly at least try to reach out to Logan who is, of course, the best he is at what he does.

    With nearly two years before the release of the currently untitled film, there’s plenty of time left for Jackman to continue to feed the audience little tidbits about the film. Despite Marvel Studio’s strict policy around allowing any details about future projects out, details like what Jackman has been revealing often do nothing other than increase hype for those projects. Maybe the studio could learn a thing or two from how leaks built hype for Spider-Man: No Way Home and let Jackman work as a one-man hype crew for the film.

    Source: Empire Podcast

  • A Behind the Scenes Look at the Entirely Practical Costumes of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

    A Behind the Scenes Look at the Entirely Practical Costumes of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is arguably the best movie in the MCU Phase 4 slate. It is critically acclaimed as Marvel Studios’ Magnum Opus, and currently stands at an 84% critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience score is even better with an approval rating of 94%, and a CinemaScore of ‘A’. So far, it has made nearly $800M at the global box office as it nears the end of its exclusive theatrical window.

    The film hinted at where Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine will be headed in Phase 5, with this being her 3rd appearance in just under 2 years. The character is heavily rumored to play a prominent role in Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts. The movie also marked the first appearance of Ironheart in the MCU; Riri Williams will continue her journey in the 2023 series Ironheart, which wrapped filming in late October.

    Like the original film, Wakanda Forever brought the rich history of a hidden civilization to the MCU with the reveal of Talokan, an underwater kingdom. An enormous amount of work went into creating a culture for the hidden city in incredible detail.

    ‘Wakanda Forever’ Costumes

    On their official Facebook page, Wētā Workshop showcased their work for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in collaboration with Academy Award-winning Costume Designer, Ruth Carter. The post featured richly detailed costumes for Namor, M’Baku, Attuma, Namora, and the warriors of Talokan.

    The character designs for the Talokans, which received wide praise, were derived and inspired by Mesoamerican artwork. The costumes were entirely physical, which was quite a hassle for the actors.

    “The headpiece is very heavy and under the water you can feel beauty in the costume, in the movements, and in all these things,” Namora actress Mabel Cadena said on the Cup of Soul Show. “But the first time, to me, was like ‘This costume is going to kill me under the water.’”

    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now playing in theatres.

    Source: Wētā Workshop | The Cup Of Soul

  • The Hypothetical 2025 Marvel Studios Release Calendar, V2

    The Hypothetical 2025 Marvel Studios Release Calendar, V2

    Trying to predict what 2025 might look like when changes to 2023 are still happening is just ridiculous! But here we go…

    *NOTE* we are no longer tracking animated projects nor including them on the hypothetical calendars.

    Though this has not been officially announced by Marvel Studios, rumors suggest that this is in the works and that it will stream on Disney Plus ahead of Fantastic Four. For now, Fantastic Four is slated for Valentine’s Day so giving the Sentinel of the Spaceways his own project a month or so out would allow plenty of time for audiences to get to know him.

    Fantastic Four was shuffled into 2025 since our last update, but with Matt Shakman on board to direct based on a script from Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, it seems like things are headed in the right direction! Fans are understandably hungry for this movie and by the time it releases, nearly 6 years will have passed since Kevin Feige announced it at SDCC ’19!

    Nova has a writer and is rumored to be a project that’s destined to become a Special Presentation. It’s time for The Man Called Nova to enter the MCU.

    Reiterating old news here, but way back in the day the word was that the studio expected whoever it was that ultimately took on the role of Kamala Khan to shoot Season 1, a movie and Season 2 all in a fairly short amount of time. Iman Vellani is that actress and she’s going to be pretty busy as it’s expected she’ll play a rather vital role in the overall story of the Multiverse Saga, too.

    This is one of the bolder moves on the calendar, but since it’s hypothetical, it doesn’t really matter. I know absolutely nothing about the plot of this movie and the only thing I’ve ever heard was that it would arrive before Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Until I know something else, I’ll stick with that nugget. That means shuffling around the slate a bit and bumping The Kang Dynasty to a new spot even though Marvel Studios has it slated for May 2nd.

    Oscar Isaac and Mohamed Diab seem to want everyone to know a second season of Moon Knight is in the works and we believe it is. Logistically, placing it on the slate before The Kang Dynasty makes quite a bit of sense as it would allow the character to emerge from his own shadowy world into the larger shared universe and help audiences understand how he might get involved with the Avengers.

    Tom Holland will have a new deal with Sony and Marvel Studios. Spider-Man 4 is happening and some rumors suggest it could happen as soon as 2024. However, if it really will involved Daredevil and Kingpin, it will have to happen after Daredevil: Born Again streams on Disney Plus and as indicated in version 4 of our 2024 hypothetical calendar, that series may not roll out until mid-2024 and that would have a domino effect on this film. Sony’s done the July 4th long-weekend release before with Spider-Man: Far From Home, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see them do it again. Of course, if they do release it then Marvel Studios would have to shuffle one of their release dates just a tad.

    Originally intended to be the May 2025 film, we’ve moved Avengers: The Kang Dynasty down the road a piece as a result of the shuffling of other projects. As it currently stands, August 1st isn’t even on the slate, but if Spidey 4 does drop in early July, Marvel Studios could push the July 25th date a week to let Spidey 4 do its thing before dropping the fifth Avengers film. One would think Spidey will certainly be in it, so having his story first is fine and all nonsense aside, it doesn’t matter when Marvel Studios releases this film. It’s going to make its money in any month on the calendar.

    As of our last update, this project was totally unknown, but given the rush to put together a writer’s room for it before the end of 2022, it would seem like a project that could easily stream on Disney Plus in 2025. We like to think of this one as a little Young Avengers, a little West Coast Avengers and a little “let’s keep Paul Bettany around because he’s that good.”

    This wasn’t even a film the last time we ran this exercise! As far as we know, the story of Armor Wars has always had a role in the Multiverse Saga so until we hear otherwise, the project will stay part of it even as the winds have shifted. Its connection to the events of Secret Invasion also helps us place it here, where it’s not too far away from the 2023 streaming series.

  • Major X-Men Location Rumored to Already Exist in the MCU, Serve as Key Setting for Upcoming Films

    Major X-Men Location Rumored to Already Exist in the MCU, Serve as Key Setting for Upcoming Films

    Marvel Studios has owned the live-action rights to the X-Men for over three years and while they haven’t chosen to introduce any of the major characters associated with the team into the MCU, they have started to sprinkle in some bits and pieces that are connected. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier introduced the lawless location of Madripoor to the MCU, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness featured a Multiversal Variant of Charles Xavier, Kamala Khan’s powers in Ms. Marvel were discovered to be the result of a mutation and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduced Namor, the MCU’s first mutant (at least for now). Now, a fascinating new rumor suggests they slipped another mutant-related breadcrumb into the MCU without anyone noticing and may change the way audiences look at Eternals.

    New information from insider Daniel RPK suggests that a major mutant location already exists in the MCU and will serve as a key setting in two 2024 films. The new rumor claims that the corpse of the Celestial Tiamut has become an island called Genosha and will be featured in Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts.

    Fans of X-Men comics will recognize Genosha immediately and likely have a visceral response. Located in the Indian Ocean, Genosha played a major role in the comics for well over a decade, first as an island full of mutant slaves, then as the first attempt at a mutant nation on Earth and ultimately as the site of the massacre which killed 16.5 million mutant inhabitants of the island.

    Rumors point to Tiamut’s corpse/Genosha, which is indeed located in the Indian Ocean, serving a key role in Captain America: New World Order as governments of the world learn of the presence of Adamantium in or on the island. Then, in Thunderbolts, the titular team will be sent to Genosha to procure the precious metal. The Thunderbolts going in after Adamantium lines up with CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s obsession with Vibranium, as seen in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and establishing Tiamut/Genosha as a geopolitical hotspot due to its natural resources sets it up to be a key locale in the future of the MCU. Other rumors point to Thunderbolts also serving to show that Super Soldier research is ongoing and it becomes fairly easy to connect the dots from Super Solider research to Adamantium to Weapon X down the road.

  • ‘Black Panther 2’ Director Opens Up on T’Challa’s Original Story

    ‘Black Panther 2’ Director Opens Up on T’Challa’s Original Story

    There will always be the question of “what if” in the back of our minds, as we try to unravel what was the original plans for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever before the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman. His T’Challa had a big future as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but a new direction had to be found after the unexpected developments. In an interview with New York Times, director Ryan Coogler got a chance to open up on what his original plans were for the story that he had envisioned for Boseman to continue on.

    It seems that Coogler’s original plans were for T’Challa to try and connect with his son after the blip. The plan was “for his 8th birthday, they do a ritual where they go out into the bush and have to live off the land.” We get elements from this storyline scattered throughout, such as the reveal of his son in the post-credit sequence and that idea seemingly was explored when Shuri and Queen Ramonda try to work through their grief.

    It’s unclear though if the events would unravel in a similar way. Still, this original storyline also would not have worked with a recasting of T’Challa. Having a story about T’Challa trying to save the world with his son by his side. It wouldn’t just feel right to explore that story with someone besides Chadwick Boseman in the role. Either way, we’re now entering a new era for the Wakandans and the introduction of young T’Challa opens up an interesting future to explore.

    Source: New York Times

  • ‘Black Panther 2’s Script Always Included Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Val

    ‘Black Panther 2’s Script Always Included Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Val

    Ryan Coogler had a lot of challenges when it came to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with everything that has happened in the last few years. Many were worried about the inclusion of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the story, but it turns out that Julia Louis-Dreyfus was always part of the story he envisioned for the film as revealed by co-writer Joe Robert Cole.

    Ryan will have a different perspective as the director, but I’ve never had a conversation where I was asked to incorporate something that didn’t feel organic. The dynamic of the U.S. being an instigator and Western powers being an instigator, that always existed. It wasn’t, ‘Oh, we need to find a reason to make this character exist.’ It was, ‘Oh, this is already in here and there’s this wonderful actress available.’ It always starts from the story and the ideas

    Joe Robert Cole

    Ryan Coogler did confirm though that her character’s role had to be dialed back to make room to deal with T’Challa’s death; the film’s way of paying tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman.

    Yeah, nobody was shoehorned in or asked to be put into the movie or anything like that. Actually, in this version, [Louis-Dreyfus’s role] was pared back in order to make space for dealing with T’Challa’s death. And we had Val in there before she even appeared in any of the other movies, before Black Widow and [the series] Falcon and the Winter Soldier. People assume that we were told to put her in, but she was there from the beginning.

    Ryan Coogler

    He goes on to highlight that the conflict originally had more involvement from Val, who had a more active part in the film. Sadly, he doesn’t go into any details regarding how that would’ve evolved the story.

    Yeah. But it was a combination. Val [the C.I.A. director, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus] was much more active. It was basically a three-way conflict between Wakanda, the U.S. and Talokan. But it was all mostly from the child’s perspective.

    Ryan Coogler

    The film’s ending does imply that the story element that was originally part of this film might be explored in the future in some way. Plus, while it may have made some question why Val was included to begin with, it still gave us a future conflict that fits perfectly into Namor’s own plans moving forward.

    Source: New York Times

  • Winston Duke on M’Baku’s Future in the MCU

    Winston Duke on M’Baku’s Future in the MCU

    Black Panther has made many actors into icons and Winston Duke‘s M’Baku was among the many instant fan favorites. Not only was he a major player in the first film, but even went on to get the spotlight in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. He just recently made his return in the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever, which saw the cast help keep Chadwick Boseman‘s legacy alive.

    Of course, there’s more to the franchise’s future as the Marvel Studios’ cinematic universe continues to further explore these characters. He believes that “The power of what Marvel has become is that it doesn’t belong to any one actor or anyone lead or character.” It was his way of highlighting that he doesn’t know where we’ll see M’Baku next but it mainly depends on when Marvel decides to bring him back.

    Sadly, it seems that he might know exactly where he’ll make his return but he still seems up to potentially returning for more entries. There are a lot of potential storylines that could pick up where Wakanda Forever left off, especially now that the story implies he’s taken over as the king of Wakanda after Shuri passed on the mantle. Whenever Marvel Studios is ready to further expand its universe, it seems that Winston Duke will be back around to give us more of the lovable M’Baku.

    Source: Esquire

  • ‘Black Panther’ Star Believes a Recast of T’Challa is Inevitable

    ‘Black Panther’ Star Believes a Recast of T’Challa is Inevitable

    As Black Panther: Wakanda Forever approaches the end of its exclusive theatrical window, those who persevered in making the film despite the loss of Chadwick Boseman have continued to share their thoughts on how the film evolved following the actor’s death. Winston Duke, whose M’Baku grew to be a close and trusted ally of Boseman‘s T’Challa, has emerged as a rising star in Hollywood and the conclusion of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever leaves his character in an incredibly important position: as the new King of Wakanda. While M’Baku holds the throne, for now, Duke isn’t afraid to peer pragmatically into the future.

    In an interview with Esquire, Duke talked in depth about the passing of his friend, how it shaped the sequel and what he believes the future of the character to be. In Duke‘s mind, it’s not a matter of if Marvel Studios will recast the role of T’Challa, made famous by Boseman, it’s a matter of when.

    There’s no way they’ll never remake Black Panther in the future. There’s no way that the saga and interpretation of T’Challa, King of Wakanda, will end. He is canon. So trust that it’ll come. But allow this to be a human experience.

    Winston Duke

    While the near future of the cinematic iteration of the World of Wakanda would seem to be prepared to focus on former Dora Milaje General Okoye and the son of T’Challa and heir to the throne of Wakanda introduced in Wakanda Forever, Duke‘s comments are likely in line with some longer-term plans of Marvel Studios. The Multiverse Saga is currently set to wrap up in 2026 with Avengers: Secret Wars, a film that will almost certainly involve familiar heroes from different timelines who may, in some cases, be portrayed by unfamiliar actors. Given that possibility, it’s not hard to imagine Marvel Studios taking the opportunity to cast another actor as T’Challa, a move that would, in a way, not strictly be a recast but still provide the opportunity for more stories about one of Marvel Comics most well-developed characters to be told. Future stories in the MCU could see T’Challa interacting with Reed Richards, Storm and Namor, characters with whom a rich comic book history as been developed. As Duke said, T’Challa “is canon”, but allowing Boseman’s friends and family to go through their own “human experience” rightly took precedent over cinematic stories.

    Source: Esquire