Tag: Sony

Marvel Studios’ Fail-safe: Spider-Man Enters the Multiverse

The announcement of Electro joining Spider-Man 3 had everyone theorizing. Is he the same character we meet in The Amazing Spider-Man 2? If so, why did he announce that he won’t be blue this time? There were a lot of hints pointing to this potentially being a live-action adaptation of the Spider-Verse. Yet, it could just be that they are reintroducing Electro with the same actor to build-up to the Sinister Six. Just yesterday, it could’ve gone anyway. Well, I did say that was what we thought yesterday. Now, we know that Benedict Cumberbatch will join the upcoming Spidey threequel. Now, it is hard to deny that there is some Multiverse aspect in play. I am not here to discuss the story implications, our very own Superhero Theorist will tackle that. In my case, I want to write about the reason this is happening. In my view, this storyline may be the result of Sony’s latest deal to keep the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in Marvel Studios’ hands.

Let’s return to last year when the world was less chaotic. In a sudden twist, Sony announced they will not renew their contract with Marvel Studios. Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige would only remain as a consulting producer rather than have full control. Negotiations fell through, and it seemed like Sony Pictures was taking back their creative rights. Luckily, they managed to come to an agreement that would let Marvel Studios finish the trilogy. It even includes an additional cameo. For now, there are no more plans for Spider-Man within the MCU. This could very well be his last appearance for some time if no new contract is finalized. Funn enough, Kevin Feige may have already hinted at the character’s development last year.

He also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-verse you never know what surprises the future might hold.

Doctor Strange’s involvement in the unnamed Spider-Man sequel may have strong ties to this contract. Today’s news would also confirm that the additional cameo will be in Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness. If no new deal is reached for the character’s return tot he MCU, it is a risk for Marvel Studios to set up future appearances and sequels. They might be trying to set-up a storyline that could keep the door open for a future return. If there is no new deal, Spidey’s absence makes sense in-universe. As such, they aren’t closing the door on a future contract but are wary of it potentially falling apart again. As Feige mentions, he can cross cinematic universes, so he is not ruling out a return in some form.

Why does this matter? Well, Sony wants to develop its franchise surrounding Spidey’s expansive cast of character. They’ve already started with a Venom film that already has a sequel underway. It is noticeable that this film did not have any references to Spider-Man or his larger universe. It wasn’t until the Morbius trailer that we got any connections. It revealed a short sequence that features Michael Keaton‘s Vulture. There was also an image of Spider-Man graffiti with Murderer painted over it. At face value, this is an obvious connection to the ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Yet, someone chose an image with the costume from the original Sam Raimi trilogy. It wasn’t even from the film but ripped straight out of PlayStation’s Spider-Man game.

There is one more thing that adds to the confusion. Spider-Woman director Olivia Wilde let slip that she is in contact with Kevin Feige while developing the film. So, it seems like some cooperation is happening behind the scenes. The way it’s mentioned, it sounds like a consulting position. It seems odd he is her first reference point. There is a chance that we could see some of Sony’s characters officially being part of the MCU as they expand the contract beyond just the titular web-head. I doubt we will see Morbius in Blade, but there seems to be some kind of connection. The Strange reveal today would lean on this being an alternative universe with similar set-ups just without the Avengers. Whatever it may be, this storyline seems to be the result of that contract and the uncertainty of the future. Feige wants the character’s trilogy to end on a high-note while keeping the potential of sequels open. Hopefully, they will find some agreement as the franchises continue to grow.

Source: Variety

October 8, 2020
Olivia Wilde Reveals Kevin Feige’s Involvement with Sony’s ‘SPIDER-WOMAN’

Sony has been very focused on creating their own Spider-Man inspired universe. Originally, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was going to be the jumping-off point for many stories. Even the Sinister Six were going to get their own film at one point. Even as that film bombed at the Box Office, they never gave up that dream. Once Marvel Studios got involved with the reboot of Spider-Man: Homecoming, they had another chance. It started with Venom that was a surprise Box Office hit. They already finished production on Jaret Leto‘s Morbius with a Venom sequel already underway. Now, we also got the announcement that Olivia Wilde will direct a film focused on Spider-Woman. As far as we know, Marvel Studios is only involved with the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man films. This could change very soon though. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Wilde may have slipped and confirmed that Kevin Feige is heavily involved.

Listen to me try to avoid Kevin Feige‘s pellet gun.

This might confirm that creatively Marvel Studios is heavily involved with this project, something that’s been a topic of conversation at Murphy’s Multiverse for quite some time. Back in February, we first speculated that the film might be set in the MCU; then, in March, the Charleses discussed a rumored new deal between Disney and Sony on an episode of Murphy’s Law. In the comics, Jessica Drew has many ties throughout the comics. She is a close friend of Carol Danvers and was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. She also became an agent of S.W.O.R.D. in the comics, who will make an appearance in Disney+’s WandaVision show. Most notably though, she was the character that was replaced by the Skrull queen Veranke during the Secret Invasion storyline. There are rumors that Captain Marvel 2 may adapt this storyline so her introduction as part of the MCU seems like a perfect choice.

Source: EW

September 15, 2020
Live-Action ‘SILK’ Series in Development by Sony

Last year it was revealed that Sony hoped to join into the superhero series game by signing the creative duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller to a 5-year deal to develop series based on their library of Spider-Man characters. It’s been all quiet on that front since…until now. According to Variety, Lord and Miller have their first project lined up in a live-action series focusing on the character Silk.

First appearing in 2014, Silk stepped unto Spidey’s life in a major way when his famous origin story was retconned to include a second bite victim for the radioactive spider. Cindy Moon, a high school student attending the same demonstration as Parker, was bitten in the ankle by the spider just moments after it bit Parker. Moon developed her own series of super powers but remained hidden in a bunker for 13 years until just before the “Spider-Verse” event.

Lord and Miller are working with Korean-American writer Lauren Moon to develop the project which is reportedly being pursued by Amazon. No word yet on a potential timeline for release.

September 3, 2020
Sony Eyeing J.C. Chandor to Direct ‘KRAVEN THE HUNTER’

This is interesting! A trade report from Deadline indicates that Sony has lined up J.C. Chandor, who wrote and directed the Netflix film Triple Frontier, for their Kraven the Hunter solo project which will be set in their universe. A Kraven solo movie going forward at the moment is interesting given the ongoing speculation that the character would feature in the third MCU Spider-Man film.

The news, which comes one day after Olivia Wilde was named as the director of Spider-Woman, continues to raise the question of just what relationship Sony’s Marvel films will have to Marvel Studios films going forward. As interesting of a character as Kraven is, it’s really difficult to imagine a series of Kraven films without Spidey (just as hard as it is to imagine a series of Venom films without him). Chandor will work off of a script by Richard Wenk which Sony has had ready for some time.

August 20, 2020
Connecting Imaginary Dots: A Kinnaman-Kraven Connection

A few days ago, Charles Murphy reported in a What I Heard This Week report, that Sony-Marvel are looking for a Joel Kinnaman “type” for a certain role in the third Spider-Man movie. It appears there is a chance that Kinnaman himself may not only fit the part, but could very well be cast in the film after all. This is by no means official, and mostly speculation based on a bit of detective work, but please read on and judge for yourself.

It is known that Joel Kinnaman and Tom Holland worked closely together on the film Edge Of Winter back in 2015. That film premiered the following year, along with Suicide Squad and Captain America: Civil War. The two became friends, mutually follow each other on Instagram, and Tom even popped up on the set to the Suicide Squad, via a now deleted post on Kinnaman’s Instagram.

Now, it would be easy and kind of silly to just say, well they’re friends so Kinnaman is definitely in Spider-Man 3 for that reason. But it is a small piece of evidence which is clear and undeniable. So while I wouldn’t rely on that solely for conclusions, I’ll just leave it out there.

What is also undeniable is that the much rumored, much anticipated, appearance of Kraven the Hunter in the Spider-Man universe, makes a hell of a lot of sense for the sequel. The way Spider-Man: Far From Home left off, with the cliffhanger of Peter’s secret identity being outed by one very loud mouthed J. Jonah Jamesson, plus Peter being framed for Mysterio’s murder, it seems only natural that the next installment would feature someone trying to capture the webslinger whether it be for justice, or just for the thrill of the hunt!

So Kraven the Hunter is extremely likely to be in it. In fact, our own Charles Murphy surmised as much in a Connecting Imaginary Dots feature back in February.

Also undeniable, is the fact that Kinnaman is a just about perfect casting choice to play the Russian born hunter Sergei Kravinoff as strongly hinted at in Charles’ other previously mentioned article.

So, there’s the age old question, if they are or were looking for an actor or actress who is the perfect type for a role, then why in the world don’t they just hire that actor? Of course contract negotiations, and availability can play a big part in whether or not an actor gets or takes a role, but in this case I think there is a strong possibility he might actually already have it. A check of Kinnaman’s IMDb seems to show his schedule clear for the time being.

There is also some interesting connections revealed courtesy of Instagram.

The man you see Tom Holland praising in the Instagram post above is George Cottle. He is the stunt co-ordinator and assistant director for Spider-Man: Far From Home as well as the upcoming Spider-Man film, and stunt co-ordinator for Spider-Man: Homecoming. Very interestingly, Cottle also follows Kinnaman on Instagram. I checked and it doesn’t appear they had worked together before, tho perhaps they are friends through Tom Holland. However, the fact that it didn’t take much scrolling to get down to Kinnaman’s name on his following list makes me think that follow may be fairly recent.

Perhaps I’m leaping to a conclusion, a bit too enthusiastic whilst stalking my prey of new information, but I would say there is a strong chance Kinnaman is in Spider-Man: the threequel possibly aka… ugh… Homesick. And yes it is very possible, since he’s just about perfect for it, that he is actually playing Kraven the Hunter himself!

August 12, 2020
The Real Story of Sony’s ‘SILVER AND BLACK’

In 2013, Sony Pictures began development on a female-centric Spider-Man spinoff set to feature Felica Hardy, aka the Black Cat, who was played by Felicity Jones in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The original script, written by Lisa Joy, survived the Sony/Disney deal and evolved over the years as new writers put their own spin on it until finally, in 2017, Gina Prince-Bythewood, who had been hired to direct what had now become Silver and Black, went to work on finalizing the script. Production on the film was set to begin in March of 2018 in preparation for a February 2019 release, but was delayed as Prince-Bythewood continued to tweak the script to her liking. By August of 2018, Silver and Black was dead with Sony planning instead to make two films, one for Felicia Hardy’s Black Cat and one for Silver Sable. In April of 2020, Prince-Bythewood indicated that Sony had, once again, shifted gears on the project, now hoping to develop it as a limited streaming series which she indicated might be headed for Disney Plus (I’m not entirely sure that’s possible). Alas, here we are, in June of 2020 with neither a Silver nor a Black and no indication that we’ll ever see one, the other, or both. In it’s place, I offer a look at what the film might have been had in gone into production in March of 2018.

This information is based on conversations with people who had knowledge of the film’s direction as of early 2018, so while it may not have been the way the film ended up working out since the director was still rewriting it, it is the best we are going to get right now. I will also attempt to determine who and what was removed and added based on conversations with people who were privy to info about the film’s direction before Prince-Bythewood began her rewrites.

The film would have centered on Silver Sable’s pursuit of master thief Black Cat with Sable working as a bounty hunter for the U.S. Department of Justice. Hardy had volunteered to undergo experimentation at the hands of Dr. Mendel Stromm, who would have also gone by his comic book alias, Gaunt, in this film. The procedures were meant to enhance Hardy’s skills by installing AI tech into her body; after receiving the upgrades, Hardy escaped Gaunt’s lab with her new powers not entirely under control and headed for South America. Silver’s motives for taking the job aren’t entirely professional, however; Gaunt was responsible for the death of Silver’s father, Ernst Sablinova, and the torture and death of some of her fellow Symkarians, and she wants Hardy to lead her to Gaunt so she can extract her revenge.

Fans of the comics might be familiar with the Wild Pack and they would have had a presence here as well. Brought together by Silver’s father, Ernst, the comic book group took on the task of interfering with international crime and though this group is a little bit of a mash up, its goals are the same. The headliner of the squad was set to be Dominic Fortune. Fortune originally worked for Ernst and Sable before going to work for the U.S. DoJ and is now reunited with Silver here under the direction of Korean-American DoJ Agent Mark Sim and working with Agent Klein. Sim’s character has always been interesting to me given his comic book counterpart is the NuHuman known as Haechi who first appeared in 2014’s New Warriors book. Earlier versions of the script saw some other members of the Wild Pack as well and it’s unclear how many of them we’d have seen, but the setup remained the same: Silver and Fortune would lead a DoJ team in pursuit of Felicia Hardy with Silver never intending to bring her in and, instead, use her as a means to her own ends. To aid in finding Felicia, Silver uses one of her contacts located in the Tri-Border region of South America (an epicenter of organized crime and the working title of the film): Dmitri Smerdyakov, the Chameleon. A man on the run from his own past, Dmitri has made quite the reputation for himself at the Tri-Border as the guy in-the-know. Though he only has a handful of scenes in the film, he does show off his skills as a master of disguise and helps Silver locate Hardy.

Unfortunately for Felicia, Silver and DoJ aren’t the only ones out to get her. After undergoing her experimentation, Felicia ruined Stromm’s plans to add her to his gang of experimental goons, so he sends a couple of them after her: Mac Gargan (Scorpion) and Anton Rodriguez (Tarantula). Like Hardy, they’ve been experimented on and upgraded as well with Gargan wearing a full exoskeletal suit and Rodriguez sporting an boot with some sharp exo-upgrades. Additionally, Hardy’s past as a criminal has another player in pursuit of her as well as Lonnie Lincoln, aka Tombstone, is out to kill the cat as well. Sadly, Tombstone didn’t have much of a role in the film, appearing for little more than an elongated cameo. Fortunately for Felicia, Silver catches up with her first.

From here you have the duo on the run trying to evade everyone that they’ve betrayed, double-crossed, stolen from and pissed off. Rodriguez catches up with them in Rio with Rodriguez trying the James Bond approach before being taken out courtesy of Felicia’s new powers and a train car. Gargan also has a tough time dealing with the ladies as he’s roughed up considerably as well. Eventually, however, Hardy is recaptured by Gaunt and taken back to his lab where she’s tortured by Gargan. The final act of the film saw Silver team back up with Fortune and infiltrate Gaunt’s lab to liberate Hardy. You might also remember the rumor that one of the film’s final scenes would see Silver assemble an all-female squad of characters like Spider-Woman, Jackpot, Stunner and Dusk to join her and Felicia on what was described as a “female version of the Dirty Dozen.”

One of the most interesting parts of the changes to the 2018 version and something I’ve reported on before and talked at length about on Twitter was the apparent removal of Norman Osborn. In 2017, Sony was set to have Osborn in the film as the man behind the curtain funding Stromm’s work. While we would see Charles Standish work as Osborn’s messenger, Osborn himself was to be heard, not seen, in the film but he was absolutely a part of it. Following the success of 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, rumors started to swirl about Marvel Studios interest in getting Osborn into the MCU down the road. Following those rumors and Prince-Bythewood’s rewrites, I was unable to find any information about Osborn’s appearance in Silver and Black. To be clear, that doesn’t mean beyond a shadow of a doubt that Osborn would not have appeared in the film (it’s just as easy for them to remove him from the script or any casting calls and keep it close to the vest), but it was an interesting development to say the least. Additionally and on a related note, I was unable to find evidence of the role of Charles Standish surviving the rewrites either.

Though Prince-Bythewood hopes to see this script survive and be adapted to Disney Plus (given the fact that Keaton’s Vulture is in Morbius, who knows what the deal is that Sony and Marvel Studios have at this point and how possible a co-op with Marvel might be), the creative log jam caused by COVID-19 makes that prospect fairly dubious at this point in time, casting even further doubt on whether this project will survive in any form. To my knowledge, despite being in preproduction for years, nobody was ever officially cast for the film as the script was always undergoing changes. As of today, it really looks like this one might end up in the scrap pile on top of Nightwatch, but stranger things have happened.

Would you guys have been in theaters on day one to see this version of Silver and Black? Let us know via Disqus!

June 24, 2020
Connecting Imaginary Dots: Sony’s ‘SPIDER-WOMAN’ Film Will Be Set in the MCU

If you’ve never read an installment of Connecting Imaginary Dots, allow me to explain the idea. Connecting Imaginary Dots was the title I came up with for my speculation pieces when I was writing at MCU Exchange. These types of pieces basically allow me to unload a bunch of junk that’s circulating in my brain in a way that should never be confused for things I actually expect to happen. I basically take a bunch of facts that are almost always entirely unrelated and do my best to connect the dots with by stretching my imagination. In the past these types of pieces have resulted in me theorizing that the Spider-Man sequel which became Far From Home might end up being a team-up outing of Spidey and Hulk in the Savage Land;however, I also wrote one theorizing that Sterling K. Brown would be playing the father of Erik Killmonger in Black Panther LOOOOOONG before anyone else was considering it and one in which I theorized that Annette Bening was actually Mar-Vell when everyone else still thought Jude Law was playing the character. The bottom line is this: these are fun spec pieces that allow me to just be a fan. With that out of the way…

I know there’s a lot of conflicting info out there and a lot of theories, so I am hoping to shed some light on that here.

Over the past week, I’ve read that Spider-Woman is set in the MCU, that it’ll feature Julia Carpenter and that there is no Spider-Woman film, but that there is just a Madame Web movie using the character.

Here’s what I can tell you:

Spider-Woman is a Sony Pictures film and it is entirely separate from Madame Web. But there is something very interesting. Amy Pascal is producing the film for Sony, but it’s also being overseen by executive producer Rachel O’Connor. This is interesting because O’Connor has not been associated with Venom, Morbius or Venom 2, but she has been associated with both Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home. I don’t think you need me to tell you why this is interesting, but at the moment, all I can do is speculate as to what this might mean.

Jessica Drew is set to be the star of the Spider-Woman film. That is a stone cold fact. The character is co-owned by Sony and Disney. Marvel Studios can use Jessica Drew but cannot call her Spider-Woman. In conjunction with the information I stated above, this situation becomes much more interesting to me. I have to leave open the possibility that Sony and Marvel Studios could be working together on this film, meaning we could get a fully realized Jessica Drew rather than a half ass one from either Sony or Marvel Studios.

Be careful though because, as of now, there’s no proof of this. The closest we can come is tying O’Connor to it and speculating that the October 7, 2021 release date that Sony just claimed was actually a sign of cooperation by Marvel Studios, who had originally claimed that date. Of course this would put Drew on the board for some of the big, upcoming MCU story lines, including a potential Secret Invasion adaptation, so…fingers crossed.

My guess is that if there is something to this, we will know very soon.

February 15, 2020
Jared Harris Isn’t Playing Doc Ock in ‘MORBIUS’ Because He is Playing Emil Nikos

Following the release of the Morbius trailer last week, baseless speculation began that Jared Harris might be playing Doctor Otto Octavius in the Sony film. I’ve spent the better part of the last week doing my best to inform everyone (via my Twitter account) that not only is Harris not playing Doc Ock, but that he is playing a different doctor: Dr. Emil Nikos.

Described as “calm and fatherly” Harris’ Nikos is the mentor to Jared Leto’s Morbius. He is the director of the underfunded institution we see in the trailer and despite having “every right to be cynical, ” he has chosen the “path of hope.”

I can imagine fans are having a hard time wrapping their heads around this because it represents a change from the comics, where Nikos was Morbius’ peer and best friend. That being said, this hardly represents the first time a character was adapted to serve a different purpose on screen. Given the fact that the trailer seems to paint Nikos in a sympathetic light, I’d wager it’s still safe to assume one aspect of the character might carry over from the comics: I’d put my bet down that he’ll still be the first victim of Morbius.

Morbius is due in theaters July 31, 2020.

January 21, 2020