Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier

  • RUMOR: Elijah Richardson Joins ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ as Eli Bradley

    RUMOR: Elijah Richardson Joins ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ as Eli Bradley

    It looks like we might be able to check another member of the Young Avengers off the already growing list as actor Elijah Richardson has joined the cast of Marvel Studios upcoming Disney Plus streaming series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. According to his IMBD filmography, the 18-year old Richardson will play Eli Bradley, aka The Patriot, in 2 episodes when the show begins streaming this March. We will note here that we are well aware that IMDB can be edited anonymously, but there have been rumblings about the Bradleys being in the series before and, contrary to popular opinion IMDB is not ALWAYS wrong. We attempted to confirm the casting with two sources but were unable to do so.

    Elijah Bradley was first introduced as the leader of the Young Avengers in Young Avengers #1. A couple of issues later, he revealed to Captain America that he was the grandson of Isaiah Bradley, the Black Captain America. After originally leading his teammates to believe his powers came from a blood transfusion from his grandfather, Eli was caught injecting mutant growth hormone. Ashamed, Bradley quit the team but showed his true heroism when he was seriously injured taking a bullet to protect Captain America. That injury led to the need for a blood transfusion from Isaiah which lead to Eli becoming a true super soldier himself.

    Richardson’s Bradley would join Kathryn Newton’s Cassie Lang and Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop as members of the original Young Avengers team. It seems a safe bet to assume that Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd will be a part of the team as well after being introduced in some capacity in WandaVision. That leaves only Teddy Altman, aka Hulking, and Iron Lad to go to round out the OG squad in the MCU. Xochitl Gomez will debut as America Chavez who joined a later iteration of the team, in Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness. A Young Avengers project is in the works and believed to be headed to Disney Plus, perhaps as early as 2023.

  • Deep Thoughts: One Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2021 Release Calendar

    Deep Thoughts: One Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2021 Release Calendar

    Marvel Studios sat out 2020 much to the despair of MCU fans; however, one possible timeline for the studio’s release pattern in 2021 could mean we’d only have just a few content-less Friday’s in the next year!

    Last night, Edward Rose noticed that the official Disney Latino page listed WandaVision, Marvel Studios’ first Disney Plus streaming series, as having an 8-week run. That news got the wheels spinning and resulted in a hypothetical release schedule that would leave fans hanging on only 2 weekends. The underlying idea of this hypothetical scenario is putting new Marvel Studios content on as many Fridays as possible.

    2021 will kick off with the first episode of Marvel Studios Legends on January 8th, catching fans up on the adventures of Wanda, Vision and maybe the rest of the returning cast members. The following week, WandaVision would begin its 8-week run (which does not necessarily mean 8 episodes and that really shouldn’t be that controversial of a statement) which would conclude on March 5th. Additionally, we’ll almost certainly get our first look at Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings during this time, with the February 7th Super Bowl being on likely opportunity.

    While we have no confirmation of a Marvel Studios Legends episode for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, it seems like a safe bet and if we bet on it happening, March 12th, pinned between the end of WandaVision and the beginning of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, seems like a pretty safe date. So March 12th recaps the zany adventures of Sam, Bucky, Zemo, Sharon and crew and then The Falcon and The Winter Solider would follow, beginning on March 19th and running for six weeks (this was CONFIRMED in the Disney Investor Day Fact Sheet), concluding its run on April 23rd.

    Apri 30th would be a great time to tell the story of Natasha Romanoff with a Marvel Studios Legends episode dedicated to the Black Widow. While this is a Disney Plus series, there’s been no indication that the series will only tell the tales of the characters appearing in the Disney Plus series and in Nat’s case, there’s plenty to tell. This would give old fans and new viewers alike the opportunity to be prepped and ready for Black Widow when it FINALLY hits theaters on May 7th. Black Widow also provides Marvel Studios the opportunity to push out the first look at Eternals. Expect a trailer for the project a week or two before Black Widow’s May 7th release.   ***NOTE*** Should Marvel Studios films open overseas earlier than in the U.S. date, this part of the hypothetical schedule hits a bit of a speed bump.

    The Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series, Loki, is next up. Loki is set to release in May, meaning Marvel Studios will have two projects out at the same time and as long as Black Widow remains a theatrical release, they’ll want as many butts in seats as possible. To that end, they’ll definitely give Black Widow a little room to breathe. Theatrical releases often make 50% or more of their total box office on the first weekend and rarely do “big money” after the second weekend. With this in mind, they might look to release a Loki-centric episode of Marvel Studios Legends on May 14th (there’s certainly a LOT to tell) and debut the first episode of Loki Season One the following Friday, May 21st. All indications at this point are that the Hiddleston-led streamer will run for 6 episodes, meaning it’ll wrap up on June 25th.

    At this point, it looks like Marvel Studios could realistically release new content EVERY Friday for the first six months of the year save New Year’s Day…and then comes July 2nd, which will launch the 4th of July holiday weekend in the United States. It’s possible that the studio takes the weekend off, has something special in the works for the Fourth (it is Steve Rogers birthday, after all) or, I suppose they could release an episode of Marvel Studios Legends dedicated to the MCU’s brief and confusing history of the Mandarin and the Ten Rings. The last one makes a bit of sense because, on July 9th, Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is going to rewrite that history when it debuts in theaters.

    The further down the road and into 2021 this hypothetical schedule goes, the harder it is to predict, but why stop now? Next up for Marvel Studios is What If…?, their first animated project. The only available info on the project is that it’s set to be released next Summer and, according to several reports, is expected to consist of 10 episodes. Placing it on the schedule under the assumptions that they’ll give a theatrical film at least one weekend all to itself and that they’ll release What If…? one episode at a time as well, the animated series could debut on July 16th and conclude on September 17th.

    In thinking ahead, that long gap serves a fairly important purpose if the goal is to provide new content every Friday: it allows Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye to “catch up.” The starts of both of those series were severely delayed by the pandemic and are currently scheduled for “late Fall.” If production continues without delays and the calendar fills out as predicted above, the two series could stream on either side of Eternals. 

    According to the Disney Investor Day Fact Sheet, Ms. Marvel comes first and could start its six-episode run on September 24th. It’s possible that the studio could push out a Marvel Studios Legends episode about Captain Marvel given the connection between Kamala Khan and her, but it’s also possible they just start right up. If they do, the Season One finale of Ms. Marvel would stream on October 29th.

    One week later, on November 5th, Eternals would make its LONG awaited degut in theaters. By introducing an entirely new group of characters, Eternals seems unlikely to be preceded by an episode of Marvel Studios Legends, though anything and anyone could show up in the film.

    ***NOTE*** after finding some new evidence, this paragraph was changed to reflect Hawkeye as a 6-episode series, so it would end on Christmas Eve.

    Following the pattern previously laid out around theatrical releases, November 12th could be a nice Friday for the Clint Barton episode of Marvel Studios Legends. Set photos have indicated that Hawkeye, the studio’s final 2021 project, takes place during the holidays so kicking it off on November 19th would give fans episodes on the day after Thanksgiving and on Christmas Ever. All signs point to this one being a 6-episode season, meaning we’d wrap up before the calendar turns over to 2022. Assuming no production delays, Marvel Studios would have the opportunity to jump right into She-Hulk and continue taking over the world of entertainment.

    Currently set to release on December 17th, 2021, Spider-Man 3 (which is scheduled by Sony and NOT Marvel Studios) throws a monkey wrench into the thought process of not having a film premier compete with an episode of a streaming series, but there are so many workarounds for that issue (Hawkeye taking a week off, the release date for the film being moved since production got off to a late start, Hawkeye not even starting until after Spider-Man 3) that it really becomes a non-issue.

    While the chances of this hypothetical release calendar coming to fruition are approximately 3,720 to 1, the point of this wasn’t to plant a flag so we can do some chest-pounding later, but to extrapolate one possible release schedule based on the idea of having new Marvel Studios content on as many 2021 Fridays as possible. Right or wrong (and let’s be honest, this is almost certainly wrong), an exercise like this makes visible the scale of the studio’s plans and the role that Disney Plus plays in them: Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios will own at least a portion of the news cycle nearly every weekend for the foreseeable future.

  • First Look at ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Finally Released

    First Look at ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Finally Released

    Yes, it has finally arrived. We got our first look at the Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ series. It has been a long wait but what was originally going to kickstart the Disney+ era has been revealed. It is an action-packed trailer with a great look at what we can expect. We get teases of Flag-Smasher. They tease one of the best aspects of this series, the dynamic between Sam and Bucky. It also finally confirmed that it will release in March, so the wait between the series won’t take too long thankfully.

  • First Look at ‘Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s Flag-Smasher(s) Revealed

    First Look at ‘Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s Flag-Smasher(s) Revealed

    Falcon and the Winter Soldier still has no release date. It was originally going to air in August, but now WandaVision has the honor of kickstarting the new Disney+ era for Marvel Studios. Even after the constant delay, we barely have any idea about what we can expect from the story. We know that Baron Zemo will play a major part, and we get introduced to a brand new Captain America. Charles revealed one more big bad about two months ago would also make his appearance in the series, ULTIMATUM’s Flag-Smasher. We didn’t get a great look at the character, but some of his goons wore outfits quite similar to their comic counterpart. @tfatwsbr was so nice to share some promotional material that offered our first official look at the character and ULTIMATUM’s logo.

    It looks like they took a very different approach from the character’s original design. It states Flag-Smashers, so we might see a variety of members wear that moniker throughout the show. It could even be a new name for the group instead of ULTIMATUM. We still have no official word, who could be playing the character, but it was theorized that it is Noah Mills. So, who knows if the one showcased here might turn out to be the real one.

    For those wondering, as per usual in the Marvel Universe, ULTIMATUM is an acronym. It stands for Underground Liberated Totally Integrated Mobile Army To Unite Mankind. They might be avoiding having to spell that out in the show, so they just went with a new name. The group’s logo is a nice spin on the original. Hopefully, the fact that this promotional material making the rounds also means we could get some news on the show’s future soon. Until then, we can theorize what their inclusion might indicate for the Disney+ show.

    Source: Twitter

  • Merchandise May Offer First Look at Falcon’s Captain America Suit

    Merchandise May Offer First Look at Falcon’s Captain America Suit

    Many of us have gotten used to keeping a close eye on toys and merchandising products. Sometimes they end up revealing a lot more than what one would expect. We have that very case now as well, as the site SuperHeroStuff has started sharing some products for the upcoming Disney+ show Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Among them are a pair of socks that may give us our best look yet at what Sam Wilson’s Captain America suit may look like in the show.

     

    The colors are the dead giveaway with a nice combination of red, white, and blue. We also know it isn’t just his usual suit, as it is missing the red highlights that were showcased in the artwork reveal for the series. It also isn’t too far away from the design that Wilson got in the comics when he took on the mantle. Still, this could be a design that is just being tagged with Disney+ to get people to buy it. If it is real, I am sad that there is no star on his chest, which is an iconic aspect of any Captain America design. There is a good chance that this is also just a prototype suit before he upgrades it. Sadly, the socks don’t include him holding the shield, which would’ve been a final confirmation. The overall design is quite unique in comparison to what we have seen before, so it’ll be interesting to see how they’ll introduce it in the show, and if this turns out to be the real suit.

    Of course, as the other half of the show is about Bucky, you’ll find socks featuring the Winter Soldier. It is just noteworthy that this design is closer to that of Captain America: Winter Soldier. His long hair and purely grey arm showcase that this version might have some appearance in the show. We could get a flashback that ties into Bucky’s story in the Disney+ series. It could also just be an older design reused for merchandising but the mention of the streaming platform is just interesting. So, this does mean we have to take this with a grain of salt. Just like with Sam’s design, it could be a way to sell the socks by building on the hype for the upcoming series. Still, it is fun to speculate and see if this turns out to be the design that got leaked early on socks.

    Source: SuperHeroStuff (Falcon), SuperHeroStuff (WS)

  • New ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Merch Teases Sharon Carter on the Run

    New ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Merch Teases Sharon Carter on the Run

    While The Falcon and the Winter Soldier isn’t set to debut until sometime next year, it seems Marvel isn’t holding back on the release of new merch based on the upcoming Disney+ series.

     

     

    Earlier today, the Marvel Pop Up Store in Tokyo, Japan started to display some of the merch it will be selling for Tokyo Comic-Con, and it seems to give us some details about the status of some of our characters while also giving us a clue at to where the show might be headed. So, let’s break down these sets and see what we can find.

     

    SET A:

     

    “Set A” is displaying what seems to be some notebook coverings and stickers about the show, with some details about Sam and Bucky’s powers and enhancements, as well as the tagline “Who will wield the shield?”. The most stand out article out of all of these items is the Sharon Carter “Wanted” sticker on the top right. It seems to indicate that Sharon is going to be on the run from the government and the law in this series. It’s no surprise considering that the last time we saw Sharon, she aided Captain America during Civil War (2016).

     

    SET B:

     

    Set B, as we can see here, features a FAWTS towel, along with a sticker and keychain of Cap’s shield.

     

    SET C:

    As for Set C, there’s a FAWTS Keychain with a two-sided logo piece that swivels and interchanged between Bucky’s signature star on his arm and Sam’s falcon icon. There seems to also be 3 pins for the logos of both the characters and the show, and lastly a sticker with a close-up of both of the characters.

     

    Following the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities—and their patience—in Marvel Studios’ “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.” The all-new series is coming to Disney+ sometime in 2021.

  • The Biggest Scoops of Year One

    The Biggest Scoops of Year One

    They grow up so fast! Somehow we blinked and the site that I started on a whim one afternoon in 2019 has turned 1! When I launched last year the only real “business plan” I had was to start a site for me to share (mostly) Marvel Studios rumors and my thoughts about the MCU. It’s certainly become MUCH more than that and I’ve somehow been blessed with the hardest working and most supportive team I could ever imagine. While we certainly struggled through the beginning of the pandemic, we bounced back and grew and are incredibly grateful for the support from you all and hope to keep making this site a part of the ever-growing fan community.

    While I’ve always loved chasing the big scoops associated with Marvel Studios, one thing I’ve learned in the past year is that our fans’ interests are incredibly diverse as evidenced by the scoops that they’ve read. Below are the Top 6 biggest (most viewed) scoops of Year One!

    EXCLUSIVE: ELISABETH SHUE TO APPEAR IN ‘COBRA KAI’ SEASON 3

    Elisabeth Shue’s return to the world of the Karate Kid wears the crown and took the victory by an impressive margin. Interestingly enough, thought the story was written last November, it wasn’t until Cobra Kai hit Netflix that this scoop got hot. With Season 3 set to stream on January 8th, we don’t have long before we’ll find out if Ali Mills will reunite with Johnny and Daniel or if this one will end up in the Biggest Poops pile down the road.

    EXCLUSIVE: EVAN PETERS PLAYING MYSTERY ROLE IN ‘WANDAVISION’

  • ‘YOUNG AVENGERS’ May Be On Deck for Marvel Studios

    ‘YOUNG AVENGERS’ May Be On Deck for Marvel Studios

    On October 16th, Disney created 3 new production companies. The fact that they were created on the same day might point towards them being Marvel Studios properties. Marvel Studios has a track record of creating production companies in bulk where as other branches of Disney usually produce them one at a time. For example, as revealed by Murphy’s Multiverse, Grass-Fed Productions and Solve Everything Productions were created on the same day as were many of Marvel Studios upcoming Disney+ projects. While we don’t know that they are Marvel Studios production companies, we did find some additional evidence that backs up the possibility that they are Marvel Studios productions, though it wasn’t enough to make us 100% certain. So what are they?   The production companies are Standoffish Productions, Blueberry Waffles Productions , and Log Jam Productions. While we can’t tie them to any Marvel property, we do have some ideas.

    While this is a very loose connection, we think we have an idea of what one of the production companies could possibly be. Blueberry Waffles, here is our explanation. We have seen in Young Avengers Volume 2, written by Kieron Gillen and launched in January of 2013, that the team continuously meets up at Joe’s Diner for breakfast. In one of the issues, Kid Loki eats blueberry pancakes. As I like to say, waffles are just pancakes with abs, so this could be the production we are looking for. While we already know Marvel is developing a Young Avengers project, this could be them moving forward with the project. We are not 100% sure, but this could the answer.

     

     

    While this is some pretty shaky evidence, we do know that Marvel Studios is developing many other projects like Blade (he stakes vampires with wood, so Log Jam…get it?), Ghost Rider, Illuminati, Ironheart, Secret Invasion and Secret Warriors, in addition to Young Avengers, so there are plenty of reasonable options for these production companies. Keep in mind that not all production companies are tied straight to the comic books. For example, WandaVision was Static Productions. Nobody would have ever found that one out. It is the same situation for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier streaming series that was Pandemic Productions. Until we have further proof, all we can do is keep this in the back of our minds as something to think about and with Marvel Studios slate already pretty full, it would be a while before any of these projects got up and running.

  • Leaked Funko Pops Offer First Full Look at Anthony Mackie’s New Falcon Suit

    Leaked Funko Pops Offer First Full Look at Anthony Mackie’s New Falcon Suit

    It is crazy to think that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier originally was going to release in August. Now, we are still anxiously waiting for a release date. WandaVision took its place as the first MCU original show on Disney+, but we don’t even know when that will air. Still, the pandemic has not stopped the production of tie-in products that tease what we can expect from these series. Not too long ago, we got our first look at a very comic-accurate Zemo through his leaked Funko Pop. Now, we got another closer look at the Funko Pops that gives us a great first full look at Anthony Mackie‘s Falcon suit for the upcoming series. We only got glimpses of it in the initial poster.

    The first poster teased a stronger focus on red, which is paying tribute to the characters’ original costume. The back of the box confirms that three Funko Pops are available from the series. There is a chance, however, that these are just a limited run. Still, there is no sight of that Captain America costume that Falcon will most likely wear once he accepts his new role. His Funko also includes the returning Red Wing, who we briefly saw in Captain America: Civil War. It will be interesting to see if his companion gets a bit more action in the upcoming series.

    I also have to mention the parallel between Winter Soldier’s star and that of Captain America’s shield. It’s a small visual added to the box that serves no real purpose, but I love this kind of detail. These are certainly must-buys for fans of the MCU and these respective characters. Hopefully, we will get a trailer soon that shows these new costumes in action.

    Source: DisPops IG (Full Look), DisPops IG (Back)

  • Theory Thursday: ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Will Introduce the Commission on Superhuman Activities to the MCU

    Theory Thursday: ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Will Introduce the Commission on Superhuman Activities to the MCU

    Once meant to kick of Marvel Studios slate of Disney Plus streaming series, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier hit a bit of a speed bump in the Spring, pushing it back in the queue. In an alternate universe, the series has completed its run and fans’ imaginations have been running wild with theories about what’s next for the heroes and villains. Here, however, we’re still stuck speculating on what might be and a non-story from last week got my wheels spinning again.

    After some official The Falcon and The Winter Solider Mini Mates leaked online last week, word made its way around the internet that they had spoiled the fact that Wyatt Russell would be introduced as Captain America in the series. of course that’s just not right; there is no spoiler here. The Big Game spot that teased the series already showed us Walker in full Cap gear as have many set photos and, most importantly to this theory piece, these posters from the set which made the rounds back in February.

    The Falcon And The Winter Soldier Set Pic Reveals The New Captain America

    Walker being trotted out as Cap isn’t a spoiler by any means. While they certainly won’t follow the character’s comic arc beat for beat, it’s been pretty evident from jump street that Walker was going to be the guy holding the shield…there’s a reason why the series isn’t called Captain America and The Winter Soldier. What is interesting about the posters that were spotted on set is that they are sponsored by the U.S. Army. Now Walker himself was a military hero but that’s not all that’s going on here. These posters are more than just the U.S. Army celebrating the promotion of one of their own to the role of Cap; these are good ol’ government propaganda and that likely means that, just like in the comics, Walker was hand selected by the government to be the new Cap. There’s probably a whole other theory piece here about why Walker was chosen over Sam, but that’s not what this is. This is about just what kind of group would do the choosing and what role they might play in The Falcon and The Winter Solider and beyond.

    If the government is going to do something, you can be damn sure they’re going to form a committee to do so and, theoretically speaking, that committee would be the Commission on Superhuman Activities. In the comics, the CSA’s members came from all over the government: the military, the NSA and the FBI were among the organizations who had representatives on the Commission. Their job, in a nutshell, was to monitor and strategize on how to deal with the ever growing number of powered people. As Vision pointed out in Captain America: Civil War, the strength of the Avengers invites challenge. Given what we know about the series, it seems incredibly likely that we will see the further proliferation of powered people (you can read my ideas about how that might happen here) and see the government response to that. Way back in January of this year, this Connecting the Imaginary Dots piece laid out one possible route the government might take: attempting to reproduce the Super Soldier serum. Now we can’t be 100% sure, but I’m willing to be that one of the big themes of this series is going to be the legacy of Steve Rogers and that serum and that John Walker gets himself a little cocktail to power him up courtesy of the CSA.

    The CSA isn’t the Accords, though the formation of the Commission might easily be seen as a natural consequence of the Accords. The CSA would be its own thing and while Thunderbolt Ross might have a hand in its formation in the MCU, it’s very much its own group in the comics and it has a few KEY power players who, should the CSA show up in the MCU, might portend some really big things down the road.

    Key among the potential members of the CSA are Valerie Cooper and Henry Peter Gyrich. Dr. Valerie Cooper believed she saw a developing threat in the growing number of powered people (it was mutants in the comics…are we there yet in the MCU) and used the CSA to tap into the that growing number of powered U.S. citizens as part of what she saw as an arms race. In the absence of the Avengers, Cooper created the Freedom Force (composed entirely of mutants who were looking to clear their criminal records) and the group was successful for a time before falling apart. From there, Cooper played an integral role in making sure that John Walker ascended to the mantle of Captain America, under the thumb of the CSA, and bringing in his old Army buddy, Lemar Hoskins, as his partner, Battlestar (you first read about Hoskins appearing in the series right here!). Cooper, or a character like her, seems like sure bet to appear in the series and while her time on the CSA is pretty exciting, wait until you guys go look up the X-Men watchdog organization she headed up (O.N.E.).

    A little more well-known thanks to his time as a government liaison with the Avengers, his appearances in numerous animated series and in 2000’s X-Men, Henry Peter Gyrich is an even bigger asshole and a character a lot of fans have been expecting to see in the MCU for some time, so an appearance here as part of the CSA wouldn’t be entirely surprising. Gyrich helped develop and oversee the off-the-books Project: Wideawake which kept an eye on the mutant explosion and, among other things, employed Sentinels against them.

    Should one or both of these two appear in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, they could not only be viewed as short terms thorns in the sides of Bucky and Sam but also potentially as some of the first steps that Kevin Feige could be taking towards introducing mutants to the MCU. At the very least, they might be two of the first characters who were previously owned by Fox to make their way into the ever expanding universe (though I think Agatha Harkness might be the first, now that WandaVision is coming ahead of this project). We’ll see how it turns out, of course, but given what we already know about the series, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the CSA make its debut when The Falcon and The Winter Soldier premiers next year.