Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Thor

  • RUMOR: Leaked Marvel Legends’ Code Names Tease ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Additions

    RUMOR: Leaked Marvel Legends’ Code Names Tease ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Additions

    Throughout the pandemic, it seemed like the only real update we have for upcoming Marvel Studios projects was through merchandise. Even now, as film shave finally returned to theaters, sometimes leaks from toy companies offer some insight into the upcoming project, or at the very least a sign we can expect teases for upcoming projects. Twitter user @preterniadotcom shared a list that may potentially hint at the first wave of Marvel Legends figurines for Thor: Love and Thunder.

    Some of these could be quite easy to connect. Necro might be in reference to the Necrosword, so that’ll likely be Gorr the God Butcher. Korg is a good candidate for Cracked, while Pew Pew could be in reference to Star-Lord. Biceps is likely Chris Hemsworth‘s Thor, which could be as a reference to the image teased of him on set included in the tweet. The rest get a bit more difficult but Sabaton, a Swedish heavy metal band could be in reference to Valkyrie while Helm is Jane, due to her character famously wearing a helmet in the comics.

    Still, we have to keep in mind that not every single figurine in this line-up will be from the film. Even the What If…? series included at least one character from the comics. Perhaps we’ll get a Loki figurine in addition that isn’t directly connected to the film. IF code names are available and they are eyeing an April release, there’s a chance we might get a good look at them around February or March. Spider-Man: No Way Home’s toy tie-ins were released ahead of the trailer as well that offered some teases of the film.

    Source: Twitter

  • Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2022 Release Calendar, V3

    Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2022 Release Calendar, V3

    Marvel Studios rendered our previous 2022 hypothetical release calendar meaningless when they shuffled their entire release slate a couple of weeks ago, so we took another shot at it. Of note to this new effort is that we have considered that it looks like Disney does not want to stream live-action Star Wars series and live-action Marvel Studios series concurrently. And so while this isn’t a hypothetical Star Wars calendar, we will mention some of those series along the way.

    It looks like Marvel Studios will have to wait a bit to start streaming in 2022 as a Lucasfilm series is going to start in late-2021 and carry over into early-2022. The Book of Boba Fett could end up completing its run on February 16th, allowing Marvel Studios to kick off its 2022 Disney Plus release calendar with a couple of episodes of Marvel Legends. We could catch up not only on Bruce Banner but also on The Abomination. It’ll be interesting to see what other characters, if any, they cover and to see how much of the events of The Incredible Hulk are part of the story that leads us to She-Hulk.

    She-Hulk is set to be Marvel Studios’ longest streaming series to date, with 10 episodes scheduled. Placing it here allows Marvel to stream one episode per week, should they choose to, and helps it avoid overlapping any other live-action projects.

    We should have several episodes of Marvel Legends leading up to the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In addition to catching up on Stephen, we’ll almost certainly see a Wanda-centric one. Given the role Wong is set to play in the film, he may get one of his own, too. And then there’s Mordo…and yeah, we’ll see how these turn out, but it seems like they’ll stream the Wednesday of release week.

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was the first domino in the wave of release date shifts for Marvel Studios. It’s a wildly ambitious film from a director who is noted for both his pursuit of perfection and his understanding that perfection is never achieved in the first draft, so waiting a little longer to have someone like Sam Raimi put together the best version of his vision isn’t he worse thing for fans. Hopefully, come May 6th, 2022, we all walk out in awe and forget that the film was delayed for an entire year.

    Following the Strange sequel, we might not see another Marvel Studios series until mid-June. Recent rumors suggest that the Lucasfilm Obi-Wan series is slated for May (I mean May 4th IS a Wednesday); what’s curious is that if we allow for it to run for 6 weeks, we run into June and that’s when Mohan Kapur, one of the stars of Ms. Marvel, recently said he expects that streaming series to begin! Even though Ms. Marvel is introducing Kamala Khan and a WHOLE bunch of new characters, it will also feature an appearance from Carol Danvers, so we might get an episode of Marvel Legends on June 8th; either way, Ms. Marvel could kick off its run on June 15th and conclude on July 13th, coinciding nicely with Kapur’s comments.
    *Note we are predicting a two-episode premiere for Ms. Marvel to avoid overlap with Moon Knight.

    While we might not get an episode of Marvel Legends for Ms. Marvel, we’re sure to get a few for Thor: Love and Thunder. In addition to keeping up with Odinson’s adventures, fans could also use a refresher on Jane Foster, Korg, and Miek, Valkyrie, and the Guardians of the Galaxy before they hit the screen together.

    Thor: Love and Thunder, like Doctor Strange 2, was bumped down the road a few months giving director Taika Waititi time to really fine-tune this film which, coincidentally, was supposed to come out just about one year ago on November 5th!

    In this hypothetical situation, Moon Knight does some big moving. I originally thought Moon Knight might run in May, but it’s getting bumped 2 months (seems like a pattern, right?). It’s reportedly a 6-episode series which means if it follows up Thor 4 and doesn’t have any ties to any existing characters that we know of, so it can go just about anywhere. For what it’s worth, this could easily switch places with Ms. Marvel, moving Ms. Marvel a little bit closer to The Marvels which was bumped into 2023.
    *Note we are predicting a two-episode premiere of Moon Knight to avoid overlap with Season 2 of What If…?.

    We got a few episodes of Marvel Legends ahead of Season 1 of What If…?, so there’s no reason to think we won’t see some ahead of Season 2.

    What If…? is, according to Disney, set to be an annual event and it would seem totally possible that they could even keep it in the same general slot every year, too. Season 1 kicked off on August 11th, and this hypothetical would see Season 2 debut on August 24th. This timing would work out well for Marvel Studios because this same time could also see Lucasfilm’s 12-episode Andor hit Disney Plus as well. As stated in the opening, keeping Star Wars live-action away from Marvel Studios’ live-action was a priority here and the whole calendar works out very nicely if we have What If…? and Andor going around the same time.

    What If…? could wrap up just in time for Marvel Studios to stream one of its two 2022 holiday specials: Werewolf By Night. Now to be clear, we aren’t 100% sure exactly what is going on with this project, but if it is just a one-shot holiday special, its February start of production would give the team plenty of time to have it ready for October 26th, just ahead of Halloween.

    Marvel Legends episodes for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever should hit D+ on November 9th, a couple of days ahead of the film’s release. We’ll certainly need to catch up on T’Challa’s journey along with Shuri, Ramonda, M’Baku, Okoye and the Doras and even Killmonger, you know just in case he shows up.

    Of all the films getting shuffled around, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever might have needed it the most. Production was delayed when Letitia Wright sustained an injury and it was in mid-production when the new IATSE/AMPTP agreement went into place, meaning some adjustments were made on the fly. You can absolutely guarantee that Ryan Coogler will use these extra 4 months to put together an absolutely amazing sequel in memory of Chadwick Boseman.

    It looks like Marvel Studios’ offerings for 2022 will end with the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on November 23rd. James Gunn has said he’ll be introducing an important new character in it and while a lot of folks believe that’s going to be Santa, I’ve heard rumblings (nothing concrete, so I’m not too excited myself just yet) that the new character might be one of the shinier ones in Marvel’s toybox.

    After the GotG special, Disney Plus could stream something from Lucasfilm (a second season of The Bad Batch is reportedly coming for 2022) and it’s also important to note that the now Disney owned Avatar 2 is still slated for release on December 16th, 2022, meaning the parent company will still have a lot going on even if there’s no other Marvel Studios’ series ready to stream. Of course, we’ll have a much clearer picture of things in just two weeks following the first annual Disney Plus Day, so bookmark this and come back and throw tomatoes at us then!


  • New ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Set Photos Tease Thor and Jane on a Date

    New ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Set Photos Tease Thor and Jane on a Date

    We’ve recently gotten some set video from Thor: Love and Thunder that confirmed the production has entered reshoots. It’s quite the common practice for Marvel Studios at this point and it seems that they might be using this chance to add some flashbacks into the production. New photos have surfaced featuring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman with their look from Thor: The Dark World. Not just that, they also seem to be out on a date of some kind with hot dogs. So, we might finally find out why they went their separate ways at some point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The images are provided by Twitter user @lovethundernews.

    Love and Thunder has a very telling name. It’ll be interesting to see how they integrate these flashbacks especially with Jane Foster’s new role in this story. Portman‘s return came with the confirmation she’ll wield Mjolnir at some point in the story. It’s unclear what that entails especially as his hammer was destroyed back in Thor: Ragnarok. Plus, we never found out why they went their separate ways in the franchise. The film will be our first look into it which might also be one of the core emotional anchor for Thor in this new storyline.

    Source: Twitter

  • Penny Dreadful Alum Sir Simon Russell Beale Joins ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Penny Dreadful Alum Sir Simon Russell Beale Joins ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    According to a playbill for his new gig, The Lehman Triology, British stage actor and Penny Dreadful alum Sir Simon Russell Beale has joined the MCU and will be making an appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder.

    https://imgur.com/gallery/2uMrQOM

    Beale has portrayed Shakespearian icons such as Malvolio, Hamlet, Iago and King Lear during his nearly 30 year career that has stretched from stage to big screen. He also memorably portrayed Egyptologist Ferdinand Lyle over 3 seasons of Penny Dreadful.

    It’s not known what role Beale has taken on in Thor: Love and Thunder, but given his pedigree and the rumors that gods and goddesses from other pantheons may appear, it’s not too far fetched to think he might be portraying one of them.

    Thor: Love and Thunder will be in theaters on July 8th, 2022.

  • Breaking: Marvel Studios Makes Major Changes to Upcoming Slate

    Breaking: Marvel Studios Makes Major Changes to Upcoming Slate

    In a press release, Disney announced a slew of changed to their upcoming slate, including moving all of their upcoming Marvel Studios release dates and removing 2 Marvel Studios dates from the schedule.

    DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS which was previously dated on 3/25/22 moves to 5/6/22

    THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER  which was previously dated on 5/6/22 moves to 7/8/22

    BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER which was previously dated on 7/8/22 moves to 11/11/22

    UNTITLED INDIANA JONES/Indiana Jones 5 which was previously dated on 7/29/22 moves to 6/30/23

    UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION which was previously dated on 7/14/23 is removed from schedule

    THE MARVELS which was previously dated on 11/11/22 moves to 2/17/23

    ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA which was previously dated on 2/17/23 moves to 7/28/23

    UNTITLED MARVEL which was previously dated on 7/28/23 is removed from schedule

    UNTITLED MARVEL which was previously dated on 10/6/23 is removed from schedule

    UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY which was previously dated on 10/20/23 is removed from schedule

    UNTITLED MARVEL which was previously dated on 11/10/23 moves to 11/3/23

    No further information was given by Disney as to why the films were moved. While production of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was briefly delayed, productions on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder have wrapped and The Marvels and Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania have, as far as we know proceeded without problems.

    The updates mean Marvel Studios will only have 3 films in theaters in 2022. And while they still look to put 4 in theaters in 2023, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has now been moved to July, meaning it’s release will now be AFTER Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

    Four films remain on Marvel Studios 2024 slate with flags planted on February 16th, May 3rd, July 26th and November 8th.

    In total, one film was removed from the upcoming Marvel Studios slate.

    With the changes, the updated release slate looks like this:

    November 5, 2021: Eternals
    December 15, 2021: Spider-Man: No Way Home, in collaboration with Sony
    May 6, 2022: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
    July 8, 2022: Thor: Love and Thunder
    November 11, 2022: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
    February 17, 2023: The Marvels
    May 5, 2023: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
    July 28, 2023: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
    November 3, 2023: Untitled Marvel Studios film
    February 16, 2024: Untitled Marvel Studios film
    May 3, 2024: Untitled Marvel Studios film
    July 26, 2024: Untitled Marvel Studios film
    November 8, 2024: Untitled Marvel Studios film

    Captain America 4 and Blade were expected to be the next two films to enter into production, and Fantastic Four and Deadpool 3 are believed to be high up on the list as well.

    We’ll continue to update this story as it develops.

  • ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Could See the Return of the Valkyries

    ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Could See the Return of the Valkyries

    Here’s an interesting little tidbit. On the website StarNow, which includes information on actors and casting listings for major brands including Netflix and Disney, actress Vivian Tung includes a rather curious tidbit in her credits and experience. In her 2021 list, she highlights that she played a featured extra on the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder film. What stands out is that she’s listed as a Valkyrie. Tessa Thompson‘s Brunnhilde is the last known living member of the elite Asgardian warriors. So, this listing could hint at their return in the upcoming sequel.

    There are many ways to bring back the Valkyries. Either we get to explore Brunnhilde’s past that was hinted at before they were killed by Hela, or she reestablished a new generation after taking over New Asgard. She was given the title to rule over the remnants that are living on Earth. So, it wouldn’t be too surprising that under her rule she’d empower young Asgardian women to start a new generation of warriors.

    It’s great to dive deep into this part of the MCU’s mythos, as we only got a glimpse of it in Ragnarok. There’s also the fact that they may build upon the reestablishment of the Valkyries through the reintroduction of Jane Foster. In the comics, she ends up becoming a Valkyrie after giving up the mantle of Thor. Perhaps, there’s a future for Natalie Portman‘s character beyond the fourth entry in the franchise as she takes on a new persona. Of course, it’s still speculation and we’ll see what kind of role they might have once the film gets released next May.

    Source: StarNow

  • Marvel Studios: Viewing Orders

    Marvel Studios: Viewing Orders

    With over two dozen projects comprising the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s sometimes easy to lose track of the order through which audiences should experience them. It is, of course, something pretty fluid as personal preferences might have some skipping a couple of projects in favor of their favorite ones. All in all, there are two general viewing orders that contain the entirety of the MCU. A Release Order, which respects the order in which projects were made available through the years, and a Chronological Order, which takes into account when each project’s plot takes place.

    Personally speaking, the Release Order should be followed when watching all MCU projects for the first time, with the Chronological Order being something to use on rewatches. This is mostly due to the fact that major plot points would be spoiled if not watching the entirety of the franchise as it was released, similar to the way audiences watching Star Wars for the first time would be spoiled The Empire Strikes Back‘s major plot twist by having previously watched the prequel trilogy.

    CHARACTER VIEWING ORDERS

    When it comes to following specific characters, we got together individual viewing orders with their appearances through the years. These can be as a central character to the plot or as blink-and-you-miss type cameos, many on mid or post-credit scenes. Keep in mind this is a work in progress, as new characters will keep being added.

    Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

  • Alan Taylor Would Love a Director’s Cut of ‘Thor: The Dark World’

    Alan Taylor Would Love a Director’s Cut of ‘Thor: The Dark World’

    Veteran director Alan Taylor is currently riding high from the promotional tour of his new film The Many Saints of Newark, but that doesn’t mean he’s unwilling to revisit moments from his past. In a recent interview with Inverse, the filmmaker once again discussed his history working with Marvel Studios, a collaboration that resulted in the sequel, Thor: The Dark World. Taylor, who was selected to helm the second Thor feature after impressing the studio with his work on shows like Game of Thrones, shared his original cut of the story. The director has hinted at a plot that involved more “wonder”, and now, he thinks he’s like to see it come to fruition.

    I was cheering for Zack Snyder when he was doing that and thinking, Will he pull this off? This is amazing. I think every director was kind of rooting for that. I would love to, I mean to. Can you imagine that? They give me however many millions of dollars they gave him to go back in. Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to get that phone call.

    Alan Taylor

    It would seem the experimental “Snyder Cut”, a full-length re-release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, has given Taylor the spark he needed to find interest in going back to revisit his work with Marvel. In the same interview, he acknowledged his massive respect for Marvel boss Kevin Feige and the success of the MCU since his days with the company. While The Dark World doesn’t quite have the same widespread fanbase as Justice League, it would still be interesting to see what the original version of that story looked like. Unfortunately, with the MCU’s tightly woven web of interconnectivity already moving well beyond the year 2013, it seems unlikely Feige and crew would be willing to go back and change anything. Still, one never knows what the future may hold.

    Source: Inverse

  • Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2022 Release Calendar, V2

    Deep Thoughts: Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2022 Release Calendar, V2

    Back in January, we looked at one hypothetical 2022 release calendar for Marvel Studios. We’ve been through another round of production delays and release date shifts and with 2022 just a few months away, have a little bit better idea of when we might expect to see Marvel content next year. With that in mind, here’s version 2.0 of a totally made up and hypothetical way Marvel Studios 2022 release schedule might look.

    Originally set to stream on Disney + in 2021, rumored production delays pushed Ms. Marvel’s MCU debut to 2022. With the number of streaming series Marvel Studios has to get through in 2022, it would seem like they’d want to kick off the new year with a bang, debuting Ms. Marvel as soon as possible, dropping the first of the expected 6 episodes on January 5th.

    Now that Wednesdays are the new Fridays, we know that Marvel Studios has no aversion to dropping a new film while a series is streaming. With that in mind, it’s possible that the they get She-Hulk’s 10 episode run started as early as February 23rd, one week after an episode of Marvel Legends catches fans up on the stories of Bruce Banner and Emil Blonsky, two characters who will have big roles to play in the series.

    While She-Hulk is in the middle of its run, fans will FINALLY get the sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange on March 25th, 2022 when Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness hits theaters. Marvel Studios will almost certainly have a few episodes of Marvel Legends ready to view to prep fans to remind fans not only of what Stephen Strange, Wong and Mordo have been up to, but also to remind them of the journey of the film’s primary antagonist, the Scarlet Witch.

    Right after She-Hulk finishes its extended run (remember, it’s 10 episodes and will stretch from late-February through late-April), fans will be able to head to theaters for the next chapter in the saga of the God of Thunder when Thor: Love and Thunder comes crashing in on May 6, 2022. Marvel Legends episodes covering the journeys of Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy are almost a sure thing and we’ll certainly need to catch up on Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who will have been absent from the MCU for almost a decade when this film releases.

    From the God of Thunder to the avatar of the Egyptian God of the Moon…Marvel Studios Moon Knight, featuring Oscar Isaac in the lead role(s) could hit Disney Plus as early as May 11th. In our first draft, we had Moon Knight streaming about one month earlier, but with Ms. Marvel moving to 2022, it got pushed. Realistically, should Marvel Studios wish to do so, they could move Ms. Marvel to this slot, much closer to the character’s next appearance in November’s The Marvels.

    We’re not sure if Marvel Studios will go this route, but interestingly enough the mythology of Moon Knight has some ties to the mythology of Black Panther. Should Kevin Feige and crew wish to make that explicit on screen, there could be some small connection between the two that would make Black Panther: Wakanda Forever fit nicely in order after the completion of Moon Knight’s expected 6-episode run. Wakanda Forever is one to keep an eye on as well, as production delays due to an injury to Letitia Wright have pushed the expected completion of principal photography into early 2022.

    Marvel Studios intends for the animated series What If…? to occur annually and we know they’ve already done a lot of work on Season 2, so it’s likely it’ll be ready for a Summer 2022 debut. Season 1 was 9 episodes, so we’ll go with that for now and slot July 20th as the drop date for the first episode of Season 2, which will see the return of Haley Atwell’s Captain Carter and adapt a scenario from this year’s Black Widow film.

    Marvel Studios seems to be aiming to have Secret Invasion ready to stream just ahead of The Marvels. Production on the series in kicking off in earnest in October in the UK, allowing for some actors to complete work on The Marvels before shifting over to Secret Invasion. If everything goes smoothly, the series should be ready for Disney Plus by September 28th, 2022, leaving a week to recover before the Captain Marvel sequel hits theaters on November 9, 2022. Truthfully, we have no confirmation that the two projects are tied together, but we’re pretending they are for the purposes of this experiment. Presumably, both of these projects would be preceded by some Marvel Legends episodes recapping the adventures of Nick Fury, Talos, Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau before telling the next chapters of their stories.

    While Secret Invasion is doing it’s thing, Marvel Studios might have to find room to drop the first of its Holiday Specials. Rumor has it that the Halloween special might just feature Werewolf By Night, a character originally believed to be starring in his own streaming series. Production on the special is set to take place early next year, so it shouldn’t be a problem to have it ready to go for, let’s say, October 26th.

    Even though the entire piece is hypothetical, this one has the greatest uncertainty. I’ve recently heard a rumor that production on Echo might get pushed JUST a bit, to April 2022, making it almost impossible for it to stream in 2022. Should it hold to its originally reported January 2022 date, however, we could easily see it debut on Disney Plus by November 16th.

    Should the calendar hold, Marvel Studios could wrap up 2022 with its second holiday special, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. This one will film during production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so it’ll be ready to drop whenever they choose, maybe even on December 28th, 2022!


  • Alan Taylor Shares His Original Plans for a More Magical ‘THOR: THE DARK WORLD’

    Alan Taylor Shares His Original Plans for a More Magical ‘THOR: THE DARK WORLD’

    Marvel Studios may be huge on creative vision now, but that wasn’t always the case. The production giant’s second phase of films was plagued by conflicts between directors and Marvel’s now-defunct creative committee. These disagreements famously led to Edgar Wright departing Ant-Man, and had a huge impact on the final product of the MCU’s first Thor sequel.

    Before Game of Thrones’ Alan Taylor boarded the project, it had already lost a director in the form of future Wonder Woman helmer Patty Jenkins. We’ve known for a while that The Dark World didn’t end up looking as Taylor originally intended, but now we have a clearer idea of what it was supposed to look like. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he offered a glimpse of his vision.

    The version I had started off with had more childlike wonder; there was this imagery of children, which started the whole thing. There was a slightly more magical quality. There was weird stuff going on back on Earth because of the convergence that allowed for some of these magical realism things. And there were major plot differences that were inverted in the cutting room and with additional photography — people [such as Loki] who had died were not dead, people who had broken up were back together again. I think I would like my version.

    Alan Taylor

    It would seem Taylor’s original plans included keeping Tom Hiddleston’s Loki dead. The big reveal is the plan on ending the relationship between Thor and Jane Foster earlier than expected. While it would have been interesting to see what direction these changes might have taken the MCU, it is worth noting that keeping these developments in the film would likely have prevented Loki from happening. We might not have even gotten Taika Waititi’s Thor films that redefined the character. Sometimes, the universe is give-and-take.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter