Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Spider-Man

  • ‘Loki’ May Have Hinted at Non-Marvel Studios Films Existing Before the Multiversal War

    ‘Loki’ May Have Hinted at Non-Marvel Studios Films Existing Before the Multiversal War

    Up to this point, we all assumed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe consists of multiple reality branches simultaneously. As such, we all expected WandaVision to kick it off after Wanda created a pocket dimension out of the small rural town of Westview. After countless guesswork, it ended up as a self-contained story, and there were no real signs of the multiverse just yet. Even 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home teased its existence only for it to turn out to be a lie by Mysterio. Yet, we have a What If series heading to Disney+, and Doctor Strange‘s sequel has the subtitle Multiverse of Madness. So, we believed Loki would finally confirm our suspicions only to surprise us even more. It revealed that the TVA serves to prevent new timelines from sprouting into existence. It seems the multiverse we know has already happened and imploded after a war. Now, it made us wonder what exactly was the multiverse before the Time Keepers got involved?

     

    Marvel's Loki: Who are the Time-Keepers of the MCU? - Geeky Craze

     

    There are no hints at what existed before the Sacred Timeline got created. If they follow the comics, the current iteration of the Avengers and their entire journey serve the Time Keepers as they seek to ensure their life cycle remains intact. Mobius also hints at the fact that the timeline exists in a constant loop. So, the end of time will always lead back to the beginning of creation. As such, our heroes will continue down their path no matter what over and over again. It did sound like the world was very different in the original timeline before it got that TVA reboot at some random point in its existence. We have no idea what may have led to that event, but there might be some curious hints through the rumor mill, especially surrounding Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

    Everything seems to be pointing to the appearance of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield‘s incarnations of the iconic webhead. Their villains seem almost confirmed at this point. Yet, there is one contradiction their appearance would create. As we saw, branches extend out of the Sacred Timeline when a nexus event happens. Like in What If, any alternative version of the characters will connect to the main timeline. Peggy Carter becoming Captain Britain is only a different event unfolding as some of the same events happened before the nexus that caused the new scenario. So, if we get introduced to two versions of a character with very distinct histories, it would imply that the multiverse was much more unique at one point, as the heroes looked different. Of course, the TVA’s current predicament could contradict this, but it does seem likely that we’re playing with very distinct concepts of the multiverse. Perhaps Garfield and Maguire come from multiversal timelines before the first war, which developed more independently from each other. Miss Minutes used the wording “unique” when discussing their pre-war existence.

     

    Spider-Man:' Andrew Garfield Breaks Silence on 'No Way Home' – The Hollywood Reporter

     

    Whatever happens in Loki, it may see the resurgence of these original timelines that vanished after the first Multiversal War. Marvel Studios already rebranded older movies as Marvel Legacy projects. So, it may be a way to keep them as distinct franchises but open up the door to allow the potential of multiversal cameos without breaking the universe’s canon. So, it won’t make people think if Hugh Jackman has a brief appearance as Wolverine, he will return to the role moving forward. Speaking of the X-Men franchise, the confirmed third Deadpool entry also gives the theory some weight if you consider that it’s a continuation from the Fox universe that continues into the MCU. As such, he may be part of this original multiverse and ends up in the Sacred Timeline. As an outsider, he starts to unravel the universe even more, especially if you consider his ability to break the fourth wall. We know the first seeds for a Secret Wars adaptation got planted. Just like Thanos, it seems inevitable that the next multiversal war will happen, and we might see some other familiar faces join the fray.

  • ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Sequel Adds Issa Rae as Spider-Woman

    ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Sequel Adds Issa Rae as Spider-Woman

    Finally, it seems like we’re getting some more news on the upcoming sequel to the 2018 hit, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The Hollywood Reporter has just revealed that Issa Rae is joining the upcoming production. She is most famously known for her work on the HBO comedy-drama Insecure. She is the first addition to the cast and will join Shameik Moore‘s Miles Morales, as well as Hailee Steinfeld‘s Spider-Gwen. While the plot remains under wraps, she is believed to voice Jessica Drew, who many fans also know as Spider-Woman. Chris Miller, who is writing the script alongside Phil Lord and Shang-Chi‘s David Callaham, shared his enthusiasm on Twitter.

    Spider-Woman is all the rage right now, as she is also currently the main focus of a new film by Sony. They recently hired Olivia Wilde to produce the film, which may even become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We still know very little about the direction of the sequel and there has been no word on if Oscar Isaac will also return after the after-credit tease from the first film. He played the 2099 version of the iconic webhead who seemed to have found a way to enter the multiverse. There was also the brief sequence where Gwen calls out to Miles, which would imply we might explore other universes than restrict to one specific one. It’ll be interesting to see if Miles also remains the main protagonist of the franchise, or if they start focusing on a different version of the character with each new entry as the Spider-verse continues to expand.

    Source: THR

  • REPORT: New ‘Silk’ Casting Details Revealed for Amazon’s ‘Spider-Man’ Spin-Off

    REPORT: New ‘Silk’ Casting Details Revealed for Amazon’s ‘Spider-Man’ Spin-Off

    While Peter Parker is off dealing with a multiverse full of problems, Sony is hard at work on expanding its world of Marvel characters. Recently we got the news that Aaron Taylor Johnson will play one of the character’s most notorious foes, Kraven the Hunter. Of course, it doesn’t end there for Sony’s expansion plans. Some time ago, we learned that Sony had begun development on a live-action series surrounding another arachnid hero, who goes by Silk. The series has yet to make any headway in recent months, but it seems like the production is avidly searching for its lead.

    A new rumor from the Illuminderdi offers some details on the character. We know they are actively embracing the character’s heritage, as they are looking for a Korean-American actress in the age range between 19 to 29 years. The breakdown describes the character as “an indomitable spirit who can’t help but care”. The description continues talking about how she is “smart, self-assured, funny but tries to please everyone around her.” She even is highlighted to have a “predilection for extreme empathy.” They also reveal that the series is eyeing a February 2022 production start and will consist of eight episodes.

    Details on this project remain scarce, as it’s currently unclear just where and when this series takes place. A character named Cindy, played by Tiffany Espensen, who many believed to be Moon currently plays a minor role in the Spider-Man films from Sony and Marvel Studios. She briefly appears in Homecoming. It seems now that is definitely not the case unless this series is set within the Sony that characters like Venom and Morbius currently find themselves in. Hopefully, these questions will get answered once more details arrive for the Amazon series.

    Source: Illuminerdi 

  • REPORT: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Assembling A Sinister Group of Multiversal Villains

    REPORT: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Assembling A Sinister Group of Multiversal Villains

    Spider-Man: No Way Home seemed to be turning into Sony’s most ambitious project involving the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler. In a way, it has become the worst kept secret after one leak after another hinted at the threequel’s Spider-Verse storyline. After rumors started piling on about the return of famous villains from various former entries in the franchise, former Doctor Octopus, Alfred Molina, just confirmed his involvement with the project. Of course, it gave more credence to other rumors and stories, such as The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s Jamie Foxx returning in the role of Electro. He even leaked an image teasing his inclusion after the announcement. It led to more rumors hitting the web of other classic villains joining the project and Collider seems to be adding more fuel to the fire in their The Sneider Cut podcast.

    He revealed various details about the film’s villainous roster, as he pointed out in the podcast that Sandman, Rhino, and Lizard will be joining the project in some capacity. He did point out that he is uncertain if the actors are also returning to portray these roles. Now, he also points out that Willem Dafoe‘s Green Goblin, who has also been rumored in the past, would be the main antagonist of this incarnation of the Sinister Six. Host Jeff Sneider does make the point that we should still take it with a grain of salt but makes a valid point that it’s easier to reintroduce older villains than having to set up a completely new cast for the Sinister Six to gather.

    For now, we will see how it develops as we are still half a year away from the film opening in cinemas. The film’s inclusion of Doctor Strange also strongly suggests some magical or multiversal shenanigans will occur in the film. The various Social Media sites also seem to be preparing for a promotional push of the threequel, which could offer some insight into what direction the film will truly head towards. It’s funny to think that Mysterio made up the existence of the multiverse only for it to haunt Peter Parker in the sequel. Here’s hoping it all comes together.

    Source: Collider

  • Aaron Taylor-Johnson Cast As ‘Kraven the Hunter’ Film Set for 2023 Release

    Aaron Taylor-Johnson Cast As ‘Kraven the Hunter’ Film Set for 2023 Release

    Aaron Taylor-Johnson has nabbed a surprising new comic book role. The actor will play Kraven the Hunter in his live-action debut, a solo film being produced by Sony. The news comes from The Wrap, who also claims the former MCU actor is signed for multiple pictures as the famed Spider-Man villain. Taylor-Johnson is best known for his prior work on comic-based properties, having portrayed Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron and the titular character in both Kick-Ass films. He also appeared in 2014’s Godzilla and played a small part in Christopher Nolan‘s Tenet.

     

    Sergei Kravinoff is one of the few iconic Spider-Man foes to never appear on the big screen, despite multiple attempts. He is traditionally portrayed as a Russian big-game hunter with a demented Spidey obsession, refusing to quit until he has captured his prey. His most famous character arc, Kraven’s Last Hunt, is often cited as one of the greatest comic stories ever told. The developing film is being billed as the next chapter in Sony’s Marvel Universe, following their other villain-centric films Venom and Morbius. It was revealed that Kraven was next in line for the solo treatment last year, to the surprise of many fans who believed he’d appear as the antagonist in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Kraven the Hunter is set to be directed by J.C. Chandor, known for his work on Netflix’s Triple Frontier, for release on January 13, 2023. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway wrote the script alongside Richard Wenk. Long-time Sony producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are also attached to work on the project.

    Source: The Wrap

  • Theory Thursday: ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Sequel May Offer a Superior Villain

    Theory Thursday: ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Sequel May Offer a Superior Villain

    When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse swung into theaters almost three years ago, the film rose to levels beyond anyone’s expectations. The story of Miles Morales presented themes of love, family, loss, community, power, and above all, responsibility as he embraced his role as Spider-Man. It managed to achieve incredible accolades, such as winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. With such high levels of praise, the bar has been set pretty high for the upcoming sequel. The next entry will release in October of 2022, and the team is keeping the film’s plot under wraps. Yet, there might be some hints that offer a clearer picture.

    We know that Spider-Man 2099, portrayed by Oscar Issac, may enter the fray following the post-credit scene of the first film. We may also expect newcomers to join the film’s sequel, such as Supaidaman and Silk, as teased by producer Phil Lord on Twitter. And of course, we can expect some familiar faces like Gwen Stacy to return, especially how the film’s ending teased her reuniting with Miles. We also reported that one of the sequel’s villains is the obscure Spidey villain known as The Spot. I believe, however, that one more villain is making a grand return in a new way.

     

     

    When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse got its home release, there was an “Alternate Universe” mode. It allowed viewers to watch deleted or scrapped scenes from the film that acted as a rough cut. In it, there was a scene where Doc Ock said: “The power of the multiverse in the palm of my hand,” paying homage to that famous line from Spider-Man 2. Afterward, Octavius jumped into the portal and vanished into thin air. Of course, that did not make it into the final cut. Associate Director of the film, Andrew Levinton, revealed that it would’ve “taken away from the intensity of Miles clinging for his life…hurting the momentum.”

    The scene, however, still sets up something interesting. In the released version, we never see Olivia Octavius escape after she got hit with the bus. The multiversal portal was pulling everything in. So, the deleted scene may have potentially happened off-screen. The reality web seems connected to the Spider-People, and it is uncertain how it may affect Dr. Octavius, who has no connection to it. An incarnation of Doc Ock does have one deep tie to the Spider-Family.

     

     

    He became the Superior Spider-Man when his comic version took over Peter Parker’s body. As such, there are two routes to how they could venture into it. They may also take a unique direction, such as Octavius fusing with the Web upon entry and created a universe all on her own where she became Spider-Woman.

    She could also take on the comic origin where she uses with the mind of a Spider-Man or Woman in an alternative dimension. Either way, reintroducing Olivia Octavius as the Superior Spider-Woman could be a twist on par to her reveal in the first film. It could set up an interesting contrast to Peter B. Parker, as the betrayal of a newly found ally could leave scars with the young Miles Morales. Plus, we would get more Kathryn Hahn. And that’s already a win in my book.

    Source: Twitter, Twitter, Murphy’s Multiverse, Twitter

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Used VFX Teams from Previous Raimi and TASM Films

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Used VFX Teams from Previous Raimi and TASM Films

    As we steadily approach the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the anticipation grows for any new information or details regarding the upcoming film. The biggest question on everyone’s mind is whether or not the film will indeed adapt a “Live-Action” Spider-Verse storyline that will reintroduce Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as the Spider-Men from their respective universes. Along with that rumor, there are also murmurs that the film could potentially bring in tow their fellow crewmates from the previous films such as Kirsten Dunst, Emma Stone, and many of the film’s previous villains to form a multiversal Sinister Six. While those rumors remain to be confirmed until we get an official confirmation with either a poster or a trailer, there are clues that could certainly make that rumor mill spin even faster.

    Thanks to our sources, we are able to confirm that the upcoming installment in the MCU Spider-Man saga is incorporating VFX teams that previously worked on the visual effects for both the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy and TASM films. This development is interesting for a number of reasons. First and foremost, they’ll be joining forces with the multiple teams that have worked on the effects for the previous MCU Spider-Man installations. Not only that, but Marvel Studios and Sony seem to be holding no punches when it comes to the supervisors that will helm the post-production for this project as a number of their VFX Supervisors were also the supervisors to some of the groundbreaking visual effects for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

     

    Having the VFX teams that worked on the previous Spider-Man franchises could be a huge indicator as to which direction this film could potentially go. If Maguire and Garfield are indeed involved in the film, then who better to have work on the VFX involving them than the people who actually worked on them all those years ago. They understand the character’s unique movements, styles, and micro-expressions better than anyone. Putting to use those models and animations that were used to bring to life the Raimi and TASM Spider-Men is a great way to differentiate the 3 Spider-Men from each other from a stylistic point of view. And even if this film doesn’t include the Spider-Verse storyline, there are scenes from both of these film franchises that have stood the test of time in terms of visual effects and it would be great to see those techniques and styles applied to better enhance the Spider-Man experience in this film. Just look at the train scene from Spider-Man 2 or the visuals from The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, which arguably had the greatest web-swinging sequence of the three iterations. Having this group of individuals work together for a film is absolutely outstanding and it’s certainly seeming like Spider-Man: No Way Home is setting itself up to be one of the most visually stunning films for Phase 4 and we can’t wait to see what this film has in store when it hits theaters in December.

  • MCU Production Timelines: Infographic & Methodology

    MCU Production Timelines: Infographic & Methodology

    In this piece I’m just going to explain a few of the finer points behind the data I put together for the Phase 3 and Phase 4 production timeline infographic, which João has again so excellently put into a graphic.  My purpose in working with João on this one is just to help people understand another piece of the puzzle of how MCU movies tend to get put together.  Fans understandably love to obsess over the release slate, particularly what’s coming next and when it is coming.  It can get a little confusing as to what is and isn’t further along in the timeline. Hopefully, we’ve laid that out in an understandable format.

    A couple of notes I want to make on the data.  First of all, this is a relatively imprecise set of information.  What I’ve put into the spreadsheet is largely the dates as combed from the Wikipedia entries for each film (I did trace back the references in those articles to trade reports in most cases). Now if a director is hired in a forest and it doesn’t make a sound, are they still the director?  In other words, these dates for when writers and directors are hired are based on trade reports.  It may be that someone was hard at work for weeks or even months before the media found out.  I’m taking the information that is publicly available.  In particular, I assume the “filming start” dates are very approximate.  Captain Marvel, for example, filmed a few things before the official start of filming for weird tax purposes.  Also, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania did some kind of plates filming already this year, but the filming hasn’t really started in earnest yet. Again, I’m taking the Wikipedia dates in most cases and there will be some imprecisions there.

    As far as director and writer hirings, I have listed the first hiring for each in most cases.  Directors in the MCU haven’t changed that much in recent years.  The major exception that will come to mind for most astute readers is the change from Scott Derrickson to Sam Raimi for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.  As such we’ve included that change as a separate item.  Writers, however, switch with much more frequency.  The process for hiring writers, managing rewrites, and then deciding who gets the final credit for both writing and story is byzantine at best.  To keep it simpler, we just took the first report of any writer or any director, regardless of their final involvement or non-involvement in the project.  I also am somewhat arbitrarily determining what counts as this production.  For some projects, development on the IP might have happened decades ago, but I’m treating those as a different project altogether.

    It’s worth noting that sequels are pretty obviously different.  Often the director and lead actor are already in place and returning for the sequel.  As such directors get “named” essentially as soon as the project is greenlit.  This is also the case of writer/directors like James Gunn.

    Release dates are a little tricky on this graph, given the interference of COVID.  We’re giving you both the original date and the final date in most cases.  Black Widow, for example, was almost totally finished when the pandemic started.  As such it isn’t that the production really took longer, it just all got delayed.  Sorting out a movie like Thor: Love and Thunder is a much more complicated matter.  We’ve done our best to give you a sense of the normal operating procedure and hide the confusion pandemic delays caused.

    Two other major exceptions deserve a mention.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is another one that looks rather weird due to the firing and rehiring of James Gunn.  The movie never officially got a release date, but I think before the whole mess it was likely that the May 2020 date would have been Guardians Vol. 3’s planned landing spot.  Also, Avengers: Endgame was shot pretty tightly with Infinity War, so there is some weirdness in its extended production time.  I think it is highly likely that those two Avengers productions mixed and mingled quite a bit.  Certainly, the screenplays seemed to happen at the same time.

    I think that is all the details. I hope you all enjoyed this. Again, this is all an exercise with approximation. I’m sure some slight variance in the data is possible if you look at different reports. Enjoy!

  • ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Funko Offers Better Look at Carnage’s Design

    ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Funko Offers Better Look at Carnage’s Design

    After a long wait, the first trailer for Venom: Let There Carnage hs finally dropped online. It continued where the original left off, as Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock lives his life alongside the symbiote. We also got a new look at Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady. The mad man would eventually combine with a symbiote to form Carnage. We got a few good looks at the symbiote throughout the trailer, but as they are still working on the effects, they have kept him in the shadow. It seemed as if they muted his classic red coloring, but the newly revealed Funko Pops may have given us the best look yet.

    The trailer’s muted colors didn’t quite offer a great look at the newly formed symbiote. Luckily, the Funko Pops confirms that he will be mostly red with black tendrils mixed in. The design seems strongly inspired by his time in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, where it was an artificial creature created by Dr. Curtis Conners with the help of Peter Parker’s DNA. Of course, in that run, the character wasn’t taken over by Cletus Kasady. The story that was hinted at seems to take a lot of inspiration from the Maximum Carnage run, as it also includes the character of Shriek.

    Source: Instagram

  • How ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Could Set-Up a Joe Manganiello-led ‘Agent Venom’

    How ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Could Set-Up a Joe Manganiello-led ‘Agent Venom’

    There are enough signs that the upcoming Spider-Man threequel will explore the multiverse in one way or another. Of course, this opens up new possibilities to how they can further expand the franchise. With Disney and Sony making deals for Disney+, it seems like their partnership will extend beyond the release of No Way Home. Now, if we get reintroduced to some Spider-Man legacy characters, which Alfred Molina outright confirmed, we may also get a chance to see other characters join the franchise in the future. There were also rumors of Tobey Maguire getting spotted on the film’s set. Once the gears get turning, an idea popped in my head how a minor character from Sam Raimi‘s first Spider-Man film would be the perfect candidate for an unlikely spin-off. How about the multiverse gives us an Agent Venom project starring Joe Manganiello as Flash Thompson?

     

    JJMM on Twitter: "Spider-Man 2002film #JoeManganiello as #FlashThompson #Marvel #ThrowbackThursday… "

     

    The actor only had a brief appearance in the first and third entries of the films. The role continued by Chris Zylka and Tony Revolori in the remakes. Since, the actor has played a variety of roles, such as Rampage, The Sleepover, and recently Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Sadly, it seems that his future as DC’s Deathstroke seems uncertain, but that also means there is another opportunity waiting. As the multiverse unfolds, there might be a new possibility to expand the franchise in creative ways. In the comics, Thompson ended up losing his legs during the Iraq War. Afterward, he enlisted in the Project Rebirth 2.0, which saw him bonded with the Venom symbiote. It gave him the same abilities as Spider-Man and new artificial legs. Manganiello’s Thompson is the only version that is connected to a symbiote that bonded with Spider-Man. As such, he would be the most likely candidate to recreate the origin story.

    Tom Hardy‘s Venom remains disconnected from the rest of the franchise and already bonded with Eddie Brock without gaining any spider-based abilities. So, the best way to introduce the symbiote similar to the comics, where Spidey found it during 1984’s Secret Wars event. Instead of forcing Hardy‘s version to bond with Peter and then return to Eddie, the Spider-Man 3 variant already went through the process. Maguire‘s Peter did destroy it during the finale, but that doesn’t mean a part of it may have survived. So, the government got its hand on it and found a way to graft it unto a desperate Thompson. Years later, he is still an active agent and finds his way into an unfamiliar multiverse.

     

    In Venom, Eddie Brock Briefly Teams Up With Flash Thompson's Agent Venom

     

    He is stranded in an unfamiliar world with dangerous living armor grafted onto his body. There was no one there to help him keep it under control, which meant he needed to find a solution. After breaking into a facility that offered him a solution to keep the Venom symbiote at bay, he ends up getting knocked out. Now, he ends up in the government’s captivity and is forced to join their efforts on repairing the aftermath of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He becomes a temporary asset for the Thunderbolt project but is trying to find a way home. The events left rifts across the world and he finally manages to get through one to follow the breadcrumbs back home. He ends up in a dystopian version of Earth that has been conquered by symbiotes, as their leader tries to call out to him. He is pulled away by the TVA before they are able to get close and is now enlisted to solve another world-altering event caused by his symbiote leaving a piece behind in the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe. Morbius M. Morbius was already tired of having to deal with an unhinged Loki. It looks like their job isn’t quite done yet with the Multiverse.