On December 14, 2017, Bob Iger announced that Disney had acquired 21st Century Fox and explained that the company was “looking forward to expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool.” Seven years later, an Marvel Studios X-Men film is only in the scripting stages and the Fantastic Four are still 8 months away from making their first MCU appearance. Somewhat astonishingly, Deadpool–the character who at the time seemed the least likely to find his way into the MCU–has found himself at the center of Marvel Studios’ efforts to reclaim its pop culture crown.
While it was not without its flaws, Deadpool & Wolverine accomplished exactly what Disney hoped it would: put butts in seats for a Marvel Studios movie. Heavily dosed in nostalgia, the third Deadpool film didn’t veer far from the same successful foul-mouthed formula that Ryan Reynolds put on display in the first two films, which were produced by Fox. And, of course, having Hugh Jackman along for the ride as Wolverine certainly didn’t hurt the film’s popularity. While rumors persist that Jackman will stay on as the MCU’s Wolverine for the near future, Reynolds has indicated that he isn’t in a huge hurry to suit up again anytime soon. Now, in a new interview, the star details his vision for the future of Deadpool and what it would take for him to return as the Merc with a Mouth.
“I have some pitches and ideas, but none of them center on Deadpool,” said Reynolds during an extensive conversation with The Hollywood Reporter. “Centering Deadpool works best if you take everything away from him and put his back against the wall. I can’t really do that again. A fourth time feels a little iterative and redundant. That doesn’t mean sacrificing fun. There is still an arc for Deadpool which is fulfilling and powerful,” he teased. “He is a great supporting or ensemble player. And I would always want Deadpool and Wolverine to be paired in some way.” After seeing the duo take the box office by storm in Deadpool & Wolverine, it would stand to reason that Disney would like to keep them paired up in the future as well.
Even as Reynolds shared that he does have a vision for how Deadpool can continue in the MCU, it sounds as though the next chapter in his story won’t be told anytime too soon. “There are no updates to share just yet,” Reynolds said. “But I trust Kevin and Lou D’Esposito with my life. The character trait I love most about Deadpool is that he’s a fanboy. His enthusiasm and longing to be part of a team is really endearing to me. It’s his overarching wish-fulfillment story. But I don’t think he should ever be an Avenger or an X-Man,” Reynolds explained. “If he becomes either, we’re at the end.“
However, that doesn’t mean Reynolds would fight to keep Deadpool out of either of Marvel Studios’ upcoming Avengers films or their X-Men reboot. “Just the opposite!” he told THR. “I think Deadpool works so well appearing with the X-Men and Avengers, but he always needs to stay an outsider. His ultimate dream is to be accepted and appreciated. But he can’t be accepted.”His coping mechanism of deflecting shame through humor works only when used to pave over his many inadequacies. If and when he does become an Avenger or X-Man, we’re at the end of his journey.”
Reynolds is a clever guy and has always been a wordsmith so while he explained that there are no updates “to share just yet”, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what’s next. Plenty of rumors have placed both Deadpool and Jackman‘s Wolverine in the mix for 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars and given where their stories were left at the conclusion of Deadpool & Wolverine, those rumors certainly track. However, with the start of production on Secret Wars nearly a year away, it may be quite some time before we find out if there’s any truth to any of those rumors.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now streaming on Disney Plus.
According to a new tidbit shared by frequent social media rumor monger My Time To Shine Hello, Marvel Studios may have outlined Moon Knight’s next steps in the Multiverse Saga. Should the information prove accurate, Isaac will find himself a busy man over the next few years as the rumor has him potentially suiting back up for both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Additionally, MTTSH reports that Moon Knight is also expected to be a part of the team of heroes who assemble to tackle supernatural threats in Midnight Sons, a film which has not yet been confirmed to be in development by the studio but around which quite a bit of talk has buzz has been generated over the last year.
Both Avengers films are expected to sport massive character rosters and Isaac is among the biggest stars in Marvel Studios’ impressive stable, so one or both of the films does feel like a safe place to see the return of not only Moon Knight but other Multiverse Saga heroes who have been hiatus such as She-Hulk and Shang-Chi. In the case of Midnight Sons, Loonie Moonie’s inclusion on the team is all but a sure thing…if the project ever makes its way to theaters.
With the Multiverse Saga rapidly unraveling following the atypically poor quality of several projects in 2022 and 2023, Marvel Studios wisely pressed the pause button on the production of their future slate last year to analyze what went wrong and chart a new path forward. As part of that new path, the studio scrapped its plansfor the fifth Avengers film and Kevin Feige reeled Robert Downey Jr. back into the fold to suit up as Marvel Comics’ greatest villain, Doctor Doom, in the new vision of the project, Avengers: Doomsday. Feige’s efforts to save the sagadidn’t stop there, as he also convinced the studio’s most successful directing duo, Anthony and Joe Russo, to return to direct both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Unsurprisingly, the return of the brothers Russo was part of a package deal that helped assure Downey that the studio was doing everything possible to curate the stories of the next two Avengers films carefully. An additional layer of security for Downey and the Russos was also provided when Stephen McFeely, who co-wrote several MCU projects including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, joined the project. Since the big changes were announced at SDCC ’24, there hasn’t been much official buzz around the projects; however, Collider was recently able to catch up with the Russos at NYCC and the duo was willing to share some big updates on both where things stand with both Doomsday and Secret Wars.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Joe Russo, Anthony Russo and Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
“Stephen McFeely is writing the script,” said Joe Russo about Avengers: Doomsday while adding that “we are right in the middle of the writing process.” Fans will, of course, note that there’s no mention of Christopher Markus being involved in the process despite being a co-writer on all of the Russo’s MCU projects and many non-MCU projects as well. And while some have tried to raise alarms over the absence of Markus, it seems as though all is well and that the brothers have gotten into a familiar groove with McFeely. We’ve always worked very closely with Markus and McFeely through all the work that we’ve done together,” said Joe. “It’s a little bit like getting back on a bike. We have a really codified process that we all work together through… It’s very complicated to iron out a story of this scale.”
That scale of the story of Avengers: Doomsday, and of Avengers: Secret Wars, may end up being larger than anything the studio has produced to date. While fans will have to wait some time before the entire cast lists of either film will be revealed, both are expected to see the return of dozens upon dozens of characters from the heroes of previous Avengers films to the Fantastic Four to the Scarlet Witch to Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man and even Thanos. Though he didn’t give anything away, Joe Russo confirmed to Collider that fans should expect a lot of heroes, villains and stories all coming together over teh course of the two Avengers films. “These are gonna be very, very big movies with a lot of characters in them and a lot of story lines coalescing,’ said the co-director before providing some positive vibes about the scripts saying, “We’re really happy with how they’re coming together right now.“
With the scripting process well underway, the Russos confirmed that principal photography on Avengers: Doomsday will kick off in the UK in the spring while also addressing how long of a break they’ll take before cameras roll on Avengers: Secret Wars. “It’ll be similar [to the process of filming Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame], but we’ll have a larger break in between the two movies than we did,” said Joe Russo before asking his brother, Anthony for clarification “I think it was four weeks maybe? Was it four weeks between Infinity War and Endgame?“. Anthony then confirmed that they do not plan to film the two projects back-to-back, indicating that they may have “a year or so” of separation.
I think it was a couple of weeks. But no, these are not as separated as you would normally separate two films of this scale, but they’re more substantially separated [than Infinity War and Endgame] by a year or so.
-Anthony Russo
With the two films set to open up a year apart in May 2026 and May 2027, respectively, it sounds as though all things are in order to make those release dates and deliver two large scale stories that MCU fans have been craving.
He is…inevitable. As the Avengers learned in Avengers: Infinity War, there’s no more dangerous foe than Thanos, the Mad Titan. And though they had some measure of revenge against him and were able to defeat another Variant of the villain in Avengers: Endgame, Earth-616 was forever changed because of his machinations and was left without several of its mightiest heroes. Simply put, although the Avengers avenged, Thanos won.
After being introduced in a relatively minor role in James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos became the central villain of what came to be known as the Infinity Saga. With Josh Brolin on board to bring Thanos to life, Marvel Studios did the unthinkable by making a villain the protagonist of Avengers: Infinity War. Now, as the studio prepares to shine the spotlight on another of Marvel Comics’ great villains in Avengers: Doomsday, a pair of convergent reports claim that the MCU is also turning back to Thanos.
You Couldn’t Live with Your Own Failure, Where Did that Bring You? Back to Me.
After social media scooper MTTSH claimed that Thanos was headed back to the MCU “sooner than you think”, ComicBookMovie.com followed up with their own claim: Marvel Studios has plans for the Mad Titan to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars.
After originally being developed by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness scribe Michael Waldron, the script of Avengers: Secret Wars is now in the hands of Stephen McFeely who co-wrote both Infinity War and Endgame, making him very familiar with Thanos. Add in the fact that the brothers Russo are back in the directors’ chairs for Doomsday and Secret Wars and the idea that the return of Thanos in the latter could put him against Robert Downey Jr. again and you have the makings of a believable rumor.
For those wondering, Thanos has squared off against Doctor Doom in the pages of Marvel Comics before. In fact, in the 2015 event series Secret Wars, Thanos squared off against God Emperor Doom and found himself wanting. Though the reports don’t provide any details about what to expect from Thanos’ appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see a Multiversal Variant of the character find himself in a similar predicament.
Even though the final film in Fox’s X-Men franchise was D.O.A. at theaters, it turns out there’s plenty of life left in those particular Children of the Atom. Kevin Feige and crew sprinkled a pair of Fox’s X-Men into a pair of projects before Deadpool & Wolverine, which was loaded with Fox (and non-Foz nostalgia) provided Marvel Studios with a much-needed boost this past summer. And even as the studio prepares to move ahead with its own X-Men film, rumors have begun to swirl that–at least for the time being–OG X-Man Hugh Jackman may well stay on as Wolverine.
While it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, the heavy nostalgia worked on both live-action and animation, via X-Men ’97, creating a palpable buzz around the mutants for the first time in years. Now, as the studio begins to lay out its approach to Avengers: Secret Wars, another actor who played a key role in Fox’s original X-Men trilogy has teased a future for his character in the MCU.
In an interview with Comic Book, Kelsey Grammer, who played original X-Man Hank McCoy, aka Beast in the Fox films and then again in a post-credit cameo in The Marvels, shared that he has had “conversations” with Marvel Studios about continuing on in the role.
“There’s nothing I can talk about,” Grammer told Comic Book. “What I do know is that there was a huge sort of outburst when I showed up at the end of The Marvels, I guess it was. The response was really almost… it wasn’t unexpected. There’d be some response, but it was pretty overwhelming, and so there are some conversations.” And given the way The Marvels came to an end, the possibility that the studio would return to the alternate universe inspired by Chris Claremont’s X-Men run shouldn’t surprise anyone.
While there’s been no clear indication as to what to expect from Avengers: Secret Wars, the post-credit scene implied that Monica Rambeau ended up in a universe where not only was her mother a powerful superhero capable of wielding both Quantum Bands but also the X-Men were a well-established team. It wouldn’t be too surprising to find out other heroes exist there, too, and those heroes might end up playing a major role over what’s left in the Multiverse Saga.
Marvel Studios swung for the fences at SDCC ’24 by revealing Robert Downey Jr.‘s return to the MCU. Trotting out their biggest star didn’t land quite as well as they had hoped, however, as fans questioned both the logic of recasting Downey as Victor Von Doom and whether or not he’d truly been cast as Doom at all. In the days and weeks following the casting, social media was abuzz with speculation that the character might be revealed as a Tony Stark Variant behind the mask or a reverse-engineered take on Marvel Comics’ Infamous Iron Man. It is the Multiverse Saga, after all, and fans have grown accustomed to the studio’s growing penchant to put their own spin on incoming characters. And so, despite being introduced as Victor Von Doom, fans have continued to wonder just who Downey would be playing in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday. For now, at least, it seems that uncertainty can be laid to rest.
In an interview with THR, Downey clarified that his return to the MCU was never going to happen by going backward by reprising his role as Tony Stark and that the goal laid out by Marvel Studios Head Honcho Kevin Feige was to “get Victor Von Doom right.“
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: Robert Downey Jr. speaks onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
Downey revealed that talks about his return to the studio began in 2023 when, during a conversation with his wife, Susan Downey, and Feige, the Marvel boss said, “It just keeps occurring to me, if you were to come back …” before taking the conversation in a surprising direction. “He brought up Victor Von Doom,” shared Downey, adding, “I looked into this character. Later on, he goes, ‘Let’s get Victor Von Doom right.” And with the blessing of Disney boss Bob Iger, the plan was hatched to bring the Infinity Saga’s brightest star into the struggling Multiverse Saga as the most complex and well-developed villain in the history of Marvel Comics.
Though he won’t be the first actor to play two roles in the MCU–indeed his Captain America: Civil War co-star Chris Evans just reprised his role as Johnny Storm in Deadpool & Wolverine–he will be the first to fill two roles of the magnitude of Iron Man and Doctor Doom. To that end, should any hint of Tony Stark’s well-known MCU persona come through in his performance as the Beast of the Balkans, fans will begin to question just who is supposed to be behind the mask. Fortunately, Downey–who just won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Oppenheimer–has shown to be more than a one-trick pony over the years and has the requisite skill to disappear behind Doom’s mask and create a brand new persona that fans will have to hope is as mesmerizing and memorable as his time as Iron Man.
In what’s either the most brilliantly coordinated marketing move in its history or a spectacular coincidence, Marvel Studios looks to be following the plot of the recently released Deadpool & Wolverine as it attempts to accelerate the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga. Launched in 2021 with the studio’s first streaming series, WandaVision, the Multiverse Saga has now toddled into Year 3 with a track record pockmarked by an unprecedented run of projects that simply failed to land with the fanbase. Beginning with 2021’s Eternals, the studio dropped a series of duds into theaters. Though the cringeworthy Thor: Love and Thunder made plenty of money at the box office, it also raised plenty of concerns about what was happening behind the scenes. Those concerns seemed justified when, in 2023, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania–one of the Multiverse Saga’s most important stories–was DOA at the theaters and became a critical and financial bomb.
What followed has been well documented and won’t be rehashed here in detail; however, a new mandate by Disney big cheese Bob Iger, the loss of the entire creative team and star of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and an extended Hollywood work stoppage have all combined to metamorphose the future of Marvel Studios. And now it seems as though Kevin Feige and crew wish to euthanize the Multiverse Saga and move ahead into whatever all-new, all-different saga is on deck. While that assumption is purely speculative, comparing the studio’s original plans for the Multiverse Saga with the latest iteration does provide a compelling foundation from which to make an argument that Marvel has chosen to prune its current saga.
How It Started
Despite getting underway in 2021, the Multiverse Saga was not known as such until July 2022 when Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, revealed the title and what ultimately became the first of many drafts of the saga’s future slate. At that point in time, six films (Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder) and seven streaming series (WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Loki, What If…?Hawkeye, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel) had already been released as part of Phase 4. Feige then revealed that Phase 4 would wrap up with She-Hulk: Attorney At Law and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, bringing the total number of Phase 4 projects to 15, only 8 fewer than that ENTIRE Infinity Saga. Phase 4 played out as planned with each project making its scheduled release date.
The cookie crumbled a little differently for most of the one dozen projects that originally made up Phase 5. That number quickly changed to 13 when the then untitled third Deadpool film was added to the phase just a couple of months later in September 2022…and from there, the shuffle was on. For the purposes of this discussion, it’s not worth counting the number of times each project was given a new release date, only to point out that as of publication, 6 Phase 5 projects (half of the original number) have yet to be released despite the original plan calling for the phase to wrap up with the release of Thunderbolts on July 28, 2024 (the date on which Deadpool & Wolverine ultimately was released). As it stands, the final six projects of Phase 5 are currently set to be released in 2025.
Though not much of it was revealed at SDCC ’22, Phase 6 was originally intended to be made up of at least 11 projects. As of July 2022, only three of those projects were “known” and they were all films (Fantastic Four, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars). At that time, the Multiverse Saga was on track to be composed of an incredible 39 projects with 8 of them being unknowns. Additionally, as of July 2022, only two projects were slated for release between the fifth and sixth Avengers films–which were both set for a 2025 release–and only one of them was believed to be a feature film, though the identity of it was unknown at the time.
Post-SDCC ’22, fans already found it hard to believe that the studio would roll out two Avengers films in one year and by October 2022, they were proven right. The studio moved Avengers: Secret Wars into 2026 which meant there was now room for 3 movies to be released between the fifth and sixth Avengers films. By February 2023, Disney had moved Blade into 2024 and bumped The Marvels into the November 2023 release. By June 2023, the schedule had been rearranged again to include a total of 10 films to release in the Multiverse Saga after the theatrical debut of The Marvels (a net increase of 1 film from the original plan) with only 2 in between Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
This plan remained intact through Disney’s April release schedule update with Deadpool & Wolverine being the first of 10 films released after The Marvels with Avengers: Secret Wars still in place to be last of the 10.
Following SDCC ’24, Disney released another updated version of its theatrical release schedule on August 2nd, 2024. While it’s highly unlikely to be the final version of Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga slate, the latest update removed the July 24, 2026 theatrical date from the schedule. Marvel Studios had not named the film intended for that date and it seems very likely that Sony will quickly pounce on it as the release date for Spider-Man 4; however, Spider-Man 4 was always coming and it was always coming from Sony so Marvel dropping the date is a net loss of one project from the Multiverse Saga, putting things back to where they stood in July 2022 with only one film set to hit theaters in between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. So if they’re back to where they started, how can the argument be made that they are trying to accelerate the ending of the saga?
We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, or a maximum of three. And we’re working hard on what that path is.
Bob Iger on the reduction of content being produced by Marvel Studios
To truly make the argument, one must look at the overall reduction in content as mandated by Bob Iger who, in this instance, is playing the part of Mr. Paradox. Once set to be composed of AT LEAST 39 projects (21 films and 18 streaming series), that number has been greatly reduced–although not entirely quantifiable at this point. The studio was originally willing to release as many as 5 live-action streaming series in a year, a number that has already been reduced to 2. Where once the studio planned to roll out Echo, Season 2 of Loki, Ironheart, Agatha All Along and Daredevil: Born Again over the course of 12 months spread between 2023 and 2024, Daredevil: Born Again is now set for a March 2025 release and Ironheart, while still expected to be released, remains in limbo. Beyond those shows, only Wonder Man and the Paul Bettany-led Vision series have been confirmed by the studio and are not likely to arrive on Disney Plus until 2026. Looking back at the original Phase 6 reveal, it seemed as though the studio had planned for as many as 5 streaming series to be released within it. Even if Wonder Man and Vision were among them, it seems very hard to believe that the studio will then push out 3 more streaming series in 2027 before the release of Avengers: Secret Wars.
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(Disney/John Argueta)
CHARLIE COX, VINCENT D’ONOFRIO
The strongest indicator that the studio is looking to put the Multiverse Saga out of its misery is the recent reduction of films between the newly retitled Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. While it does return the slate to the state of its initial reveal at SDCC ’22, nobody believed that was the final draft at the time. Reducing the number of projects in between the films results in the reduction of efforts to further explain or further explore what’s going on in the Multiverse. Where it once seemed likely that Armor Wars, a sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Doctor Strange 3 were all destined to be part of the Multiverse Saga, that’s no longer possible given the most recent release schedule update; where Phase 6 once looked to be comprised of 6 films, it’s now down to 5 and that is with Blade, which was originally a Phase 5 film, having slid into Phase 6 due to struggles to get production underway. Whatever film lands in between the two Avengers films will have some seriously heavy lifting to do as it seems increasingly unlikely that a streaming series would be required viewing for an Avengers saga finale.
Given the response of the audience to the multiverse portions of the Multiverse Saga, the reduction of projects almost certainly happened as a result of Iger and Marvel Studios’ creative cohort, The Parliament, recognizing they were on very thin ice with fans. And while that is indubitably a “good thing”, it does not alleviate the perception that they’d like to get this chapter of the MCU over as soon as possible. While we will have to wait a bit longer to be able to say just how many fewer projects will ultimately make up the Multiverse Saga, it is clear it will be fewer than intended and that Iger’s return to Disney coincided with the push to deploy the Time Ripper against it.
Doomed to Fail
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: Robert Downey Jr. speaks onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
Hindsight is, as they say, 20/20; however, the Multiverse Saga was always a risk. And before Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania flopped and Jonathan Majors‘ legal troubles deep-sixed Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, Kang was always going to be a problem…and a problem the studio should have foreseen following Avengers: Endgame. There are plenty of reasons why hardcore sci-fi media never really lands with general audiences but time travel, alternate dimensions and the infinite possibilities of a multiverse are definitely near the top of the list. For a decade, MCU films were easily digestible popcorn blockbusters. Avengers: Endgame changed that and the online dialogue following the film stands as a testament to the difficulties general audiences have with key hardcore sci-fi concepts. Not even the writers of Endgame agreed with the directors on how time travel worked.
We are not experts on time travel, but the Ancient One specifically states that when you take an Infinity Stone out of a timeline it creates a new timeline. So Steve going back and just being there would not create a new timeline.
-Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely on how time travel works within the MCU
Both Ancient One and Hulk were right. You can’t change the future by simply going back to the past. But it’s possible to create a different alternate future. It’s not a butterfly effect. Every decision you made in the past could potentially create a new timeline. For example, the old Cap at the end movie, he lived his married life in a different universe from the main one. He had to make another jump back to the main universe at the end to give the shield to Sam.
-Anthony and Joe Russo on how time travel works within the MCU
Tracking and understanding the multiple realities created by time travel in Avengers: Endgame became an obsession and a wonderful lesson of why it is important not to engage in online dialogue about nuanced and complicated fictional topics. What should have been a teachable moment for the Parliament became anything but. Rather than avoid dipping back into the deep end of the sci-fi pool, they doubled down by choosing to enter the Multiverse Saga and by choosing Kang as its center. Even the most dedicated and long-standing fans of Marvel Comics would have a difficult time explaining the convoluted nature of Kang to a fellow dedicated and long-standing fan. Making Kang the “anchor being” of the Multiverse Saga was never the right choice. And despite the correct decision to eliminate the saga’s “anchor being” following Majors‘ legal troubles, it nonetheless accelerated the end of the saga, forcing them to turn to where they should have always started.
Now, it seems, the studio heads chose to learn the hard way and in a move that has been described as “desperate”, turned to Doom to save the Multiverse Saga…and turned back to their biggest star (Robert Downey Jr.) and their most consistent shepherds of content (McFeely and the Russos). Superficially, pivoting to Doom indicates that the Parliament “was listening to fans” and let them help drive the bus to the end of the Multiverse Saga. On the other hand, the move to Doom seems hurried, and, in all the worst ways, Avengers: Doomsday could turn into the MCU’s Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice: a rushed and contrived mash-up that tried to do too much too fast and ended up as an abject failure.
Can Doom replace Kang as the anchor being and save the Multiverse Saga? That’s not a question that can be answered until the entire saga can be viewed retrospectively. However possible it may be, it may be hard for longtime fans of the MCU (and even harder for longtime fans of the Victor Von Doom found in the pages of Marvel Comics) to accept the Multiverse Saga as a success. All things die and with so many options available for Marvel Studios to choose from for their next saga, it might be hard to find many fans who mourn the accelerated end of the Multiverse Saga.
Marvel Studios is expected to provide some measure of an update on the Multiverse Saga on Friday, August 9th during its portion of Disney’s Entertainment Showcase as part of D23.
From the sounds of the reviews of critics who were able to catch early screenings of Deadpool & Wolverine, the movie is no Quantumania but it’s no Endgame either. Wherever it ultimately lands in terms of fan and critical reception, there’s no doubt left that it will blow up the box office and that Hugh Jackman‘s return to inhabit the role of Wolverine once again has a lot to do with that. Jackman famously believed he had fully left the role behind him after 2018’s Logan gave the character an incredibly well-received send-off; however, a call from Ryan Reynolds and a long drive gave Jackman the clarity to decide that Deadpool & Wolverine provided a way back in without having to disturb the legacy of Logan.
Jackman’s return as Wolverine (along with FINALLY donning the iconic comic-accurate costume) has been central to the film’s marketing since the beginning and seems to have been worth the wait. Even before the film’s debut, fans were already begging for more of Jackman in the role, hoping that he’d star in one or both of the studio’s upcoming Avengers films. While that’s not been confirmed by Marvel yet, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them take advantage of Jackman’s presence in San Diego to make a major splash at their Saturday Hall H panel. However, even if Jackman does come back for another appearance or two, he can’t go on forever and whoever does ultimately replace him will have their claws full.
In an interview with Discussing Film, Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, addressed the topic of Hugh Jackman‘s future as Wolverine and the idea of replacing the actor in a role he has owned for more than two decades. “Yes,” Feige answered bluntly when asked if someone other than Jackman would ever portray Wolverine in the MCU. “You know, Marvel is celebrating its 85th anniversary later this summer. That’s just the first 85 years, and Disney just celebrated 100 years as well. I think these characters will be around for another 100 years, long after all of us,” he continued, “so, for sure, there will be [eventually another actor as Wolverine]. I think it will be in a very different style and in a different way.” Feige finished the answer with a warning for whoever takes the handoff from Jackman, saying, “I also think if somebody were to attempt to do a Hugh Jackman as Wolverine impression, that would be a pretty big mistake.”
As Marvel Studios moves closer to launching their own take on the X-Men, it’s all but a sure thing that Wolverine (one of the most popular X-Men ever) will ultimately be part of their plans. It sounds as though that’s something Feige has already thought quite a bit about and that the folks behind the MCU’s X-Men reboot will be delivering their own take on Wolverine which will help distance it from Jackman’s iconic portrayal. “As comic readers know, there have been various and very, very different versions of these characters over the decades,” began Feige. “It would be fun to explore different ones someday down the line. Again, we don’t have immediate plans by any means. But in the decades to come, I think it’s inevitable. If that happens, it would have to be a very different and bold reinterpretation of [the character] because no one will be as great as Hugh Jackman at doing his version of Wolverine.”
So while it seems we’ve not seen the last of Jackman in the role just yet, it also sounds like a plan is in place to make sure the next guy in the suit doesn’t have to bear the weight of being compared too closely to him. Check out Jackman’s latest turn as Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine, in theaters now.
It seemed…inevitable. Just hours after THR broke the news that directors Joe and Anthony Russo were in talks to return to Marvel Studios to helm Avengers 5 and Avengers: Secret Wars, rumors began to swirl that another pair of key contributors to the Infinity Saga may join them. According to multiple outlets, the Russos may be accompanied in their new venture by another creative tag team well-known to MCU fans: writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
According to both Daniel RPK and Jeff “The In” Sneider, Markus and McFeely–who teamed up to write the screenplays for a half dozen MCU films in Phases 1 through 3–are set to pen Avengers 5 and Avengers: Secret Wars. Interestingly enough, word of the duo’s return comes on the heels of unconfirmed reports that writer Michael Waldron had left Avengers 5.
While the Russos faces may have been more familiar to fans of the MCU, Markus and McFeely were every bit as much involved in the scaffolding of the Infinity Saga as the directing duo. In addition to writing the screenplays for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Markus and McFeely also penned Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.
There are all sorts of characters that would be fun. Joe and Anthony keep saying Secret Wars and I keep going, “really, you want to take on another giant multi-character [crossover]?” I would personally be more drawn to setting up a single character again and taking them from the beginning.
While the Russos often shared their desire to adapt Marvel Comics Secret Wars for the MCU, Markus and McFeeley were less keen on the idea in a 2019 interview, suggesting they’d rather work with X-Men characters, with Cyclops at the top of their list. Should they start from scratch on Avengers 5, an adaptation of Marvel Comics 2012 crossover event, Avengers vs. X-Men, could scratch that particular itch and fit nicely into the ongoing Multiverse Saga plot, especially given where things left off in The Marvels.
With the creative team for the next Avengers films now seemingly complete (again), it’s reasonable to assume Marvel Studios will include the projects in their Hall H panel at SDCC ’24 on Saturday, July 27th.
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