What’s next for Marvel Studios? Who’s recently joined the cast of your most anticipated series or film? Where can you find the teasers and trailers? Look no further, true believers. Everything you need to know about the future of the MCU has been collected for you here. Click on each logo to learn what we currently know about the upcoming MCU projects.
There are many discussions surrounding what is going on with Marvel. While some believe they have lost their edge, it’s hard to deny (even if the web tries) that recent events shook the entire industry in an unprecedented way. What seemed like a straight-forward march into 2020 ended up derailing an entire industry for years to come. As such, costs were exploding beyond what you’d usually see with shows, especially in a streaming war to produce the best “content” possible (even if that wording has soured quite a bit in the industry).
She-Hulk, Attorney at Law was one of the shows that seemingly suffered, as in a new Variety report they claim that a single episode would end up being more expensive than even the final episodes of Game of Thrones. However, it’s not surprising given just how big Marvel was that they’d invest heavily to promote the streamer as much as possible, especially with a purely CG character as part of the cast and we know that Marvel has a bad habit of generally reshooting many sequences leading to more CG work.
It definitely isn’t a good sign if their costs continue to pile up and who knows if the current strikes also affected the 2024 releases. We may not know until next year, but it wasn’t a secret that the Disney+ shows cost a pretty penny, especially grounded shows like Secret Invasion saw its costs balloon during production in recent reports.
Marvel Studios wasn’t quite prepared to start a new venture like long-form storytelling and then getting hit by a pandemic that completely threw everyone off. We’re still feeling the aftermath of that time as it was still just under a year ago that we were living it. Now, we are also facing strikes that are redefining the entire industry, at this point while Marvel is certainly facing shaky grounds, it’s not something that seems specific to them looking at how few films performed in 2023.
Source: Variety
The Internet will often point to “quality over quantity” in regard to lower-than-usual performing Marvel movies. Though they still dominated most of 2022, their only “shortcoming” so far was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania underperforming with 470M. Yes, it didn’t make its money back but it’s still an amount most people would dream of in such a competitive market after running for 10+ years. Still, the vocalization of the Internet’s displeasure has also been very openly pointed at Disney+.
Some say the shows aren’t good enough quality, constantly dragging down the viewership numbers based on 3rd party tracking, and hatred from being too “woke” by a specific crowd. Last year, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Ms. Marvel took the brunt of it, but Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige left with a strong message during Disney’s Upfronts by pointing out that their shows have reached “often two to three times the numbers of viewers” from the “buzziest shows on competitive services.”
Thanks to Disney+, we’ve expanded the Marvel Cinematic Universe into genre and formats new to us that we haven’t done before. We’ve been able to introduce exciting new heroes and villains, locations and storylines into the MCU. And I’m pleased to share that when you compare our Marvel series to some of the buzziest shows on competitive services, even our smallest series are reaching much more international audience – often two to three times the number of viewers.
Kevin Feige
We can’t really prove it and streaming services continue to share very little outside of Netflix, but it’s definitely an interesting perspective to offer. And it’s not like they are inventing numbers, it may be a showcase of the international audience embracing these shows more, and discussions on quality are much more diverse than they appear to be; especially if you see how the Internet reacts toward the existence of shows like The Good Doctor.
We’ll see what the future holds for these shows, but Marvel is definitely taking a step back and changing up their strategy, such as Echo becoming a binge release. For now, it feels like we’re about to enter a new era as the pandemic has been left behind and theatrical releases are finally a viable strategy again.
Source: The Direct via Twitter
Charlie Cox‘s work as Matt Murdock and Daredevil in the Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law put an all-new, all-different spin on the character. For fans of the Netflix show, the carefree and funny Daredevil was a far cry from the morosity of the character in that series that they didn’t readily accept; for Cox, it was an enjoyable turn and one, it seems, he might like to revisit again.
Following his brief appearance in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Murdock is expected to next show up in Echo before getting back in the business of being the main focus of a series in Daredevil: Born Again, currently set to stream in 2024. Born Again, which was announced as one, 18-episode series starts production in February 2023 and is rumored to have its fair share of cameos and guest stars. In a new interview with Metro UK, Cox revealed that one guest star he’d like to see make the cut is She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany.
“I’ve made it no secret that I’m a huge fan of Tatiana’s and the fun we had on She-Hulk was some of the best fun I’ve had as that character,” said Cox. “I thought she was amazing as Jennifer Walters,” he continued, “and I would be a huge… certainly an advocate of her showing up in our show if she’s free and available and willing and all of those things. So I would love for that to happen. I have no idea if that is possible.”
The two certainly shared a fun, onscreen chemistry in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and seeing Jen step into Murdock’s world of Hell’s Kitchen would present the opportunity for an intriguing contrast to their time together in San Francisco. As Cox points out, the possibility of such an appearance isn’t really up to him and while Maslany’s future in the MCU isn’t in question when her character appears next absolutely is. However, with Born Again filming for the majority of 2023, maybe the actress can find some time in her schedule to fit a few days of filming in.
Source: Metro UK
She-Hulk, Attorney at Law did a lot as a series, as it not only gave us Marvel Studios’ first venture into sitcom territory but also added some interesting new elements to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. of course, all eyes have been on the addition of Daredevil finally making his return to the franchise, it also gave us some heartfelt moments with Jennifer Walters’ cousin, the Hulk himself.
The biggest reveal came at the very end of the series when Hulk introduced everyone to his son, Skaar. His design has left many scratching their head, as it was quite a departure from the original that many spent time reading in the comics. Surprisingly, it seems that they had one version as revealed by concept artist and illustrator Constantine Sekeris on his ArtStation. It’s definitely closer to what we know from the comics, especially the long hair and sword.
His design in the series is definitely a departure from the comics and sadly it seems we might have to wait a bit longer before we get him to look a bit more like his comic counterpart. Still, there’s some excitement to see what they may have planned for a character like Skaar in the MCU. The franchise is expanding in new and curious ways, which adds to the potential of what he may look like once the character returns to a project later down the line.
Source: Art Station
If there was one thing She-Hulk: Attorney at Law had plenty of, it was low-tier foes for the titular hero to face. Almost weekly, fans were introduced to new, second-rate baddies from the Marvel universe, whether they be in the courtroom or making ill-advised decisions in the streets. In fact, there were so many ridiculous characters, it almost seemed like nothing the writers pitched ever hit the cutting room floor. Unfortunately, that is not true. It would seem that at least one minor villain actually failed to make the grade, and was removed from the show prior to filming.
Concept artist Wesley Burt, who did a lot of the early design work on the series, took to Instagram to reveal a classic Daredevil villain was, at one point, supposed to make an appearance in She-Hulk. Carl Burbank, better known as Bushwacker, is a mercenary and longtime enemy of the Man Without Fear. Formerly a priest, he abandoned his vows after a string of deaths in his parish, and instead became a paid killer for the CIA. He was outfitted with weaponized, cybernetic arms, which he eventually used to get jobs from bigger baddies like Kingpin and The Hood.
Burt claims that Bushwacker would have appeared in an early episode of She-Hulk, though it’s unclear where he would have fit in. Based in the show’s track record, it’s likely the character would have had a small, comedic role. Burt essentially confirms this when he says the mercenary would have struggled to change out and load his “robohands” during his time on screen. Either way, it would have been cool to see such a deep-cut Marvel villain in live-action. Perhaps Marvel Studios will find somewhere else to use Bushwacker soon.
Source: Instagram
Before principal photography on She-Hulk: Attorney At Law ever got underway, rumors had the legal comedy pegged for a 10-episode first season. Similar rumors hovered around Marvel Studios’ first streaming effort, WandaVision, which like She-Hulk, ultimately consisted of nine episodes. With most of Marvel Studios’ streaming series consisting of 6 episodes, these two stand as outliers. So what determines just how many episodes will comprise each series? According to director Kat Coiro, the episode count for She-Hulk wasn’t something that was predetermined by Marvel Studios.
Talking with The Direct, Coiro explained that She-Hulk was fairly deep into development before the number of episodes started to come into focus.
One of the most amazing experiences I’ve had as a creator and as an artist is Marvel is not bound by the same rules as, you know, other TV shows that have to be 22 minutes. And the story really dictated the length of the season. And so as the story came into focus and as we started putting the pieces together, it landed at nine. It could’ve been eight, it could’ve been eleven. And it’s the same with the length of the episodes. There isn’t a number you have to hit. It really is, ‘What’s best for this episode,’ which, in my opinion, is how it should be.
Kat Coiro
One of the benefits of owning your own streaming series is being able to play a little fast and loose with things like runtime and episode count. And while that may seem obvious, it’s something that Marvel Studios has struggled with throughout their first round of streaming series. Criticisms of rushed or crammed finale have been levied against series like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Hawkeye. On the other hand, Loki’s total runtime seemed just right. Perhaps as Marvel Studios continues to evolve as a “television studio”, they’ll continue to learn the right lessons and let the story dictate the runtime, not let the runtime dictate the story.
Source: The Direct
Of all the obscure comic book characters introduced over the 9-episode run of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, it was an original character developed for the show that captured the hearts of fans. Patty Guggenheim’s Madisynn was undoubtedly the surprise star of her time on the show. Her “bestie” relationship with Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Wong, played by MCU vet Benedict Wong, played out wonderfully throughout Episode 4, “Is This Not Real Magic”, and continued on into a hilarious post-credit scene. As it turns out, while She-Hulk featured several scripted post-credit scenes, Madisynn’s “Wongers” scene wasn’t one of them.
According to director Kat Coiro, the idea for the scene developed as the crew delighted in the on-set chemistry between Wong and Guggenheim.
You know, when Wong and Madisynn have their little moment, that was not scripted but they had such incredible comedic chemistry that, at the end of the day, I had them sit on the couch, and threw a couple cameras on them and said, ‘Go. Go forth and make comedy.’ And they sure did. So, part of what was amazing about this process was the collaboration and really leaning into the strengths of our actors. And part of the secret of comedy is letting people get loose, and have fun, and play around. And so, whenever we had the opportunity to do that we would.
Kat Coiro
It’s great to see that the creative team of She-Hulk was able to recognize the comedic gold they had on their hands in Madisynn. Noboy’s asking for a Mr. Immortal spinoff, but MCU fans are definitely wondering when they might see Madisynn again!
Source: The Direct
More than any other MCU project to date, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law opened the doors for some of Marvel’s most obscure D-list characters. Leap-Frog made a memorable MCU debut. Emil Blonsky’s retreat introduced Man-Bull, Saracen, Porcupine, and El Aquila, none of whom would many many Top 1000 favorite Marvel characters lists. Regardless, She-Hulk gave those characters their moments in the spotlight along with introducing slightly more well-known characters like The Wrecking Crew and Mr. Immortal.
To no one’s surprise, those characters were just some of the many that the writer’s room of the series considered and while we’ll never know the entire list, writer Zeb Wells did name drop one character whose exclusion from the project might indicate an appearance in another project down the road.
“Yes, for sure. We went through a lot of them. I think Stilt-Man was probably thrown in there at one point. Saracen, he started off as someone else we couldn’t get for some reason. I think there is a character at Marvel called ‘The Matador’ and we couldn’t use him [laughs].”
One of Daredevil’s recurring foes, Stilt-Man is precisely the type of character who is more well-aligned with the sensibilities of the MCU than the Netflix Defenders-verse. If the character was indeed in the mix for She-Hulk, it’s possible, perhaps even likely, that he’ll be in the mix again. While primarily an adversary of Daredevil, the character also played a role in Armor Wars, which Marvel Studios is currently adapting as a feature film. So while he didn’t make the cut in She-Hulk, Stilt-Man’s dozens and dozens of fans can keep their fingers crossed he turns up down the road.
Source: Comicbook
In true Marvel Studios’ fashion, their latest project, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, has continued to make news nearly a week beyond its finale streamed on Disney Plus. Most of that news has come from post-finale interviews and most of those have been focused on guest star Charlie Cox, whose appearance as both lawyer Matt Murdock and the costumed vigilante Daredevil in Episode 8 fully integrated his character into the MCU after a brief appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Cox has a lot of MCU in front of him, with a rumored appearance in Echo and an 18-episode series of his own, Daredevil: Born Again, set for 2024. With all that ahead of him, however, much of the focus remains on his past and whether or not this Matt Murdock is the same one introduced in Netflix’s Daredevil.
In the past Cox has been clear that whatever the case, Daredevil: Born Again will not serve as a continuation of the Netflix series, calling it a “whole new deal” and explaining that Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige sees it as Season 1 rather than Season 4. Cox has also expressed enthusiasm at the fact that his future in the MCU will allow for the opportunity “to potentially get to tell some of the stories over and over again.” These comments certainly leave room for this iteration of the character to be a multiversal variant rather than THE exact same character seen over three seasons of the Netflix series.
Interestingly enough, EW addressed this very topic in a recent interview by asking Cox if he was playing Daredevil “the same as in the Netflix series”
It should be and it is always the same character. The difference is just like with people, we morph and change and are very different based on what’s going on in our lives. The Matt Murdock from the Netflix show, that world and what was going on for Matt meant that most of the time we were living with a man who had a huge amount of pressure and strain and tonally the show was very dark and gritty and heavy. I don’t know what the new show will be like, but when I came over to do Spider-Man and She-Hulk, the tone is much more lighthearted and tongue in cheek and fun and witty and full of levity, so the hope was that Matt is able to fit into that world and participate in it without it being a different character, a different person.
Charlie Cox
Pretty clear cut. Same character, same person. However, asked by THR if the character he will be playing in Daredevil: Born Again will be “the exact same character” as the one from the Netflix series, Cox’s response was a little different.
I honestly don’t know. I haven’t read any scripts yet, and we haven’t really talked at length about what this current iteration will be like. Just by the fact that they’re using me as an actor to play the part, it’s clear that there are going to be some consistencies and … some differences. We have an opportunity to at least take what worked really well and then also add some cool elements, ideas, concepts and themes that we weren’t able to do before. So it’s Daredevil, but upgraded.
Charlie Cox
Given that Daredevil entered the MCU in the Multiverse Saga, the second statement seems to fall in line with what Marvel Studios has put on film so far in Phase 4. Plenty of examples exist of characters who are almost identical, but just a little different. And that statement also points out the creative freedom of choosing to portray Daredevil (and Kingpin or any other Netflix character for that matter) as a Variant. As Cox says, they would have the “opportunity to at least take what worked really well” while also having the freedom to change parts of the story they didn’t like. A well-placed Nexus Event essentially makes Matt Murdock the same character at his core but allows Marvel Studios to retell stories (as Cox indicates they are willing to do) in a way that fits their shared narrative rather than having to force the Netflix stories into it.
Fans of the Netflix series may not love it, but Cox said it himself: “it’s Daredevil, but upgraded.” Ultimately it’s clear that Cox isn’t even sure himself what’s happening and the truth is that the longer he and fans are kept in the dark, the better it is for Marvel Studios because it allows them to do what they do best: keep interest in their characters and project alive even when there’s nothing new to see.
