Tag: TV News

What I Heard This Week: Two Potential Moon Knights

Every now and then I come across some information the veracity of which can be confirmed by a second source. What happens FAR more often is that I come across some information that while believable and from trustworthy sources, cannot be confirmed by other sources for various reasons. For instance, on February 19th, I wrote this piece relaying some rumors I’d heard about Marvel Studios updating its Disney Plus slate; the next day, the news broke that a special Disney Plus event would be held in London on March 5th where it is expected that Marvel Studios and Star Wars slates will be updated. I also shared information about Peyton Reed directing episodes of season 2 of The Mandalorian months before he made it official. With productions either underway or ramping up, information is starting to come back in and this time I heard something incredibly interesting about Marvel Studios Moon Knight.

While rumors have persisted that Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Moon Knight will begin production in 2020, it seems like it’s destined to begin filming in early 2021 alongside She-Hulk. Like She-Hulk, however, it’s also been rumored for some time that the studio has settled on their lead actor. I heard whispers as far back as August that the studio had found their Marc Spector and have done everything I could to try to uncover the identity of the actor but ran into roadblocks at every turn. This weekend, however, a very trusted source shared a couple of names with me that he had heard associated with the role. To be clear, there is no evidence that one of these actors has landed the role and I was unable to confirm with a second source that these two actors were in the mix; however, with the absence of news about who Marvel Studios has chosen, I believe sharing some info about names they MAY have considered could generate some interesting discussion. According to the source, Marvel Studios showed interest in actors Daveed Diggs and Nick Kroll for the role of Marc Spector!

Diggs and Kroll both fit the mold while breaking it at the same time. Given the prominent role that Spector’s Jewish background plays in the comics (his father is a rabbi), it’s been the popular opinion that Marvel Studios would seek out a Jewish actor to portray Spector and both Diggs and Kroll fit the bill there. On the other hand, Kroll is known as more of a comedian and it’s been Diggs’ vocal talents that have helped propel him towards stardom, though both actors have moved outside their comfort zones in their recent work. Kroll displayed his dramatic chops in 2018’s Operation Finale and Diggs received rave reviews for his role in the uber smash hit Hamilton, 2018’s Blindspotting, and more recently in the Snowpiercer series, a role in which he’s delved not only into some big-time action sequences but also into a world of loss and violence not altogether different from the one inhabited by Marc Spector.

Again, there’s no indication that either actor sat down and had discussions with Marvel Studios about the role, much less signed on for it. Realistically, unless one of these actors gets the role, there’ll never be a way to “prove” they ever considered; however, if they were in fact on “the list”, it shows an impressive amount of non-paradigmatic thinking on the part of the Kevin Feige’s trusted casting crew led by Sarah Finn. While I’ve been on board the Shia LeBeouf for Spector hype train (I may have built it, if we’re being honest) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen is a popular fan cast, it seems the studio is at least considering some more “off-beat” actors rather than the “edgy” types we’ve all had in mind. The potential interest in the two also offers a little clarity on an age range for Spector and, like the two actors, it’s a little different than what I was thinking. I was surprised to see that Diggs is 38 (would be 39 by the time production ramped up) and Kroll is 42, so while we’re certainly going to see an origin story, we’re also definitely getting a Moon Knight who has served his time as both a Marine and a merc and who has been through the ringer a bit. With all that in mind, I’m even more excited than ever to find out who Marvel Studios has chosen for the role as my mind has suddenly been opened up to a whole lot more options that I was previously considering!

Marvel Studios Moon Knight is headed to Disney Plus (eventually).

October 26, 2020
EXCLUSIVE: ‘HAWKEYE’ to Film at Tyler Perry Studios

Productions on the first two Marvel Studios streaming series, WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, are coming to a close and production on Loki has resumed in Atlanta following the COVID-related hiatus. Up next for the studio are Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye and with Spidey 3 also taking up studio space in Atlanta, Disney found themselves looking for some additional space and have found it! Marvel Studios Hawkeye will be using Tyler Perry’s Atlanta studios when it begins filming later this year.

Pre-production on the series has been ongoing for the past month and the studio is currently taking aim at a post-Thanksgiving start of filming and hoping that the series has the same good fortune as the others that recently resumed filming without any further delays. Expected to explore the fallout of the Avenging Archer’s time as Ronin, Hawkeye will introduce Kate Bishop, Maya Lopez and, most importantly, Lucky the Pizza Dog to the MCU and is also rumored to bring in classic Marvel villain Madame Masque. The series is said to be heavily influenced by the award-winning 2012-2015 run on the book by Matt Fraction. Should filming avoid any significant delays, the series could debut in the second half of 2021.

October 25, 2020
New ‘THE MANDALORIAN’ Season 2 Exclusive Look

There’s brand new The Mandalorian footage out, as the marketing campaign for the hit Disney+ series enters its final stretch ahead of the October 30 premiere date.

This season we’ll reunite with some familiar faces such as Cara Dune, Greef Karga, and Moff Gideon, introduce live-action Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren, as well as welcome Boba Fett back to the live-action Star Wars universe.

This past September saw the release of the long-awaited first trailer and in the last few weeks we got a couple of TV spots as well as a few promotional stills. Now, with just eleven days until October 30, it won’t be long until we find out what’s next in the adventures of Din Djarin and The Child, aka Baby Yoda, as they seek new information about both the infant’s rightful home and an order of sorcerers called.. the Jedi.

You can find out more info on the show’s Season 2 right here.

October 19, 2020
EXCLUSIVE: Scene Details from ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’

Last week provided exciting images of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier as they resumed filming in Atlanta, and this week it was revealed that Georges St-Pierre will return to the Marvel universe as Batroc the Leaper in the Disney Plus series.

This week we have an exclusive account from Reddit user and Marvel fan SplendaDaddy12 who watched as St-Pierre filmed a scene with Desmond Chiam and Erin Kellyman in an Atlanta Park on Tuesday, September 14, 100% confirming Kellyman’s role in the series.

According to this witness, Georges was filming in a park standing with Desmond by a bench, while Erin sat between them on the back of the bench with her feet on the seat. He could not hear any dialogue but said that Erin’s character used some kind of power, unclear how, to impress the two. The power involved extras near them in a field stopping, simultaneously looking at the phones, looking up, and all walking towards them in a group and as if in a trance.

It was unclear how exactly Erin’s character used this power, she didn’t seem to have a phone out in the scene, and a whistle of some kind is what signaled the extras to react this way. It was remarked that Desmond and Georges seemed surprised by this, whereas Erin seemed to play it cool. Georges and Desmond were dressed as they were seen in the pictures posted by Just Jared that day, Erin had on neutral colors, probably similar to how Desmond was dressed.

While we still have not completely confirmed who either Chiam or Kellyman are playing in the series, it is clear they are meant to be up to no good and causing trouble for our heroes Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. Interestingly, the mind control aspects of Erin’s character’s “powers”, seems to support the idea that she is in fact playing Melissa Gold, aka Screaming Mimi of the Grapplers, aka Songbird of the Thunderbolts, something Charles Murphy has written about a few times before (see links below).

Only time will tell who Erin and Desmond are really playing, and what exactly they’re up to. Have fun debating this new bit of information in the meantime!

For some more of our coverage of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, see also:

Connecting Imaginary Dots: Falcon and The Winter Soldier will introduce Songbird

Connecting Imaginary Dots: Erin Kellyman may appear in Falcon and The Winter Soldier

Exclusive: Falcon and the Winter Soldier set videos hint at a new team joining the series

New video emerges as Falcon and the Winter Soldier resumes production

First Look at Batroc the Leaper in Falcon and The Winter Soldier

September 16, 2020
EXCLUSIVE: ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Set Videos Hint at New Team Joining the Series

Earlier this week, a video taken on the set of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier seemed to show Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes liberating some people from NYPD vehicles while Wyatt Russell’s John Walker fought a group of masked thugs. Though exciting, the video came without much context. Now, in footage, photos and a firsthand account obtained exclusively by Murphy’s Multiverse, we are able to get a MUCH clearer picture of what we were seeing.

At this point, I would caution anyone who is spoiler sensitive from continuing on as what follows my very well revolve around a major plot point. Also, I offer my gratitude to @Loburger for being generous enough to share these pics, videos and details exclusively with Murphy’s Multiverse and to @MsLizzieHill for her tireless work to help provide our readers with the best content!

Twitter user @Loburger was on set Saturday, February 29th and managed to snag several set photos, including one below that seems to add some context to what we see in set videos.

The set photo below indicates that at least one major set piece in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will revolve around a hostage situation taking place at the 2023 G20 Summit in New York. G20 is an annual summit that was first held in 1999. Representatives from 20 countries assemble to discuss means to achieve international financial stability. Recently, actor Demi Castro was added to the IMDB Page as “G20 Leader #1” and, if I’m processing all these videos correctly, it seems that the villains of the series will mount an attack on G20! Scroll through the images below to see some exclusive set videos.

The four new set videos below give us much more complete picture of just what’s happening in this scene. According to @Loburger:

“The 2 armored vehicles come to a stop and 4 people run toward them. You can’t tell from the this but all 4 of them appeared to be females and they all wore masks. One of the ‘bad guys’ with the masks had brilliantly bright, long red curly hair.”

And so, as you can see in the first video, the 2 NYPD SWAT vehicles pictured above are stopped in the road by the gang of females.

The next video is similar to the video from the other day, but from a different angle. It gives us another look at Walker’s brutal fighting style and also shows him taken down by the gang of women. This gang of women look like brawlers to me and that’s something I’ll speculate on shortly.

The final video shows Bucky rushing to the aid of Walker after liberating who we assume to be G20 hostages from the SWAT vehicles.

There are 2 major takeaways here:

1. At this point it seems safe to say that Bucky and Walker are indeed working together to rescue the G20 leaders.

2. Are we seeing the Grapplers? In the comics, the Grapplers are a group of female wrestlers who, similar to John Walker, are powered up by the Power Broker, but then went on to pursue a life of crime. The group consisted of Titania, Letha, Poundcakes and Screaming Mimi, aka Songbird! Like many other characters and plot points from The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, the Grapplers were created by writer Mark Gruenwald, so it’s not entirely unreasonable to think the might show up to cause some trouble for our heroes.

While there are still MANY, MANY questions about what’s going on here, there’s no doubt that these new photos and videos shed a little more light on this past weekend’s production! Please feel free to sound off on what you think is going on in the comments!!

September 11, 2020
What I Heard This Week: ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’

This piece was originally published on August 18th. That day, a decision was made to take it down after fans became aggressive in their disbelief of it. With Labor Day being today, we wanted to share the original information again.

As has always been the case, “What I Heard This Week” pieces should never be taken as more than rumors until they’re proven true or false.

As mentioned here, Marvel Studios production crews recently returned to Atlanta to prepare for filming to resume or begin on several projects. Crews for the Disney Plus streaming series The Falcon and The Winter Solider, Loki and Hawkeye joined crew from the Untitled Spider-Man Sequel in constructing sets, getting the offices back up and running and preparing general pre-production routines in advance of the cast and directors heading back at an undisclosed date. Now, it looks like we might have a very good idea of just when they’ll roll cameras again and we should all be as hyped as this dude is when he high fives John Walker!

This isn’t one-size fits all info and, as I’ll detail after sharing the info, it could lead to two possible timelines, but it’s still worth a share. Cast members for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will begin arriving in Atlanta as early as this weekend (August 21st-23rd) to get ready to resume production. This doesn’t mean we should expect to see everyone in Atlanta this weekend because, as you probably know, the whole cast doesn’t always need to be everywhere all the time; however, this weekend will mark the beginning of their return meaning filming is just around the corner…though we can’t quite be sure how long it’ll take to round that corner.

Given the ongoing pandemic, a return to Atlanta does not mean an immediate return to set for the cast, so there are a couple of options here. Option one would be that the cast lands in Atlanta this weekend, clears a quick result COVID test, gets ready to roll and starts filming next week…and that would make us all really happy; however, that might not be how it works out. Option two would be that the cast lands in Atlanta this weekend, goes into a 2-week self-isolation period, and begins filming after the September 7th Labor Day holiday. Unfortunately, I was unable to get clarification on whether or not the cast will be required to self-isolate or not, so I can’t tell you which option we’ll see, but I can tell you that we are almost there and, if things go well, we might even get to see The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in 2020.

September 7, 2020
EXCLUSIVE: New ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Set Videos

Just as we get word that filming on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is set to restart in Prague this Fall, we have gotten our hands on some videos of prior footage. Filmed last year by James Brown, the new videos give us another look at a familiar scene and the different angle provides a closer look at one of the female villains and a better view of Bucky’s hostage rescue that raises an interesting question.

The first video is more of a behind the scenes look at Sebastian Stan and his stunt double preparing for a scene and Stan gregariously shaking hands and hugging crew members on set. While it doesn’t give away too much, fans always love to see this kind of BTS action!

Another behind the scenes video which shows either Wyatt Russell or his stuntman preparing for action as John Walker, aka U.S. Agent, preparing to jump in and help out with what we believe is a hostage situation taking place around the 2023 G20 Summit (you can check that out more here).

This next video shows Stan working on some of those moves he was practicing as he takes on one of what we believe to be a hostage taker before heading towards the SWAT vehicle where the hostages are held.

https://youtu.be/aR8jG0E8TuE

The next video gives us a look at U.S. Agent fighting one of the female villains we first saw in our earlier post and suspected might be the Grapplers. Though it’s really hard to see, it’s possible that the female taking on U.S. Agent could be Erin Kellyman, who we believed joined the production, possibly as Thunderbolt member Melissa Gold, aka Songbird.

The final video is the most interesting. While we’ve seen another angle of this scene before, this look provides a clue that one of the hostages being released from the vehicle might be more important to the plot than the others. Around the 9 second mark, a hostage stumbles and falls. After she’s helped up, you can clearly see the crew lower a boom mike over her head so that her conversation with Bucky and Walker can be recorded. Given the situation at hand (hostages taken at the G20 Summit), it’s highly unlikely this is casual, “thanks guys type of comment and more likely that this unknown character is someone of significance in the series.

It’ll be incredibly interesting to see just what these set videos turn out to be when we finally get to see The Falcon and The Winter Soldier when the Marvel Studios production airs on Disney Plus!

July 1, 2020
What I Heard This Week: Ms. Marvel Auditions

Every now and then I come across some information the veracity of which can be confirmed by a second source. What happens FAR more often is that I come across some information that while believable and from trustworthy sources, cannot be confirmed by other sources for various reasons. Typically, when the second scenario occurs, I move on and forget about the information unless, in rare instances, it turns out to be proven true somewhere down the road. The news about Peyton Reed working on Season 2 of The Mandalorian came from an article just like this, but I’ve also heard some pretty wild stuff of which we have no proof, like Doom showing up in Black Panther II. Over the past week, we’ve seen unions give guidelines for safely returning to work, plans start to come together for projects to resume filming and an increase in the number of actor/actresses who are signing on to new projects as the film industry attempts to get the big wheel spinning once again.

It’s been mostly quiet on the Marvel Studios front, however, as we still don’t have any definite timeline for when they will finish production on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (though yesterday did bring some good news on that front), Loki or Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings. And while we heard that Spider-Man 3 is aiming to start up in late-September or early-October, we still don’t know when other projects which missed their intended start dates, such as Ms. Marvel and Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness, will get the green light. However, there is another glimmer of hope that was shared with me and that I’m happy to share with you now… What I heard this week: after shutting the process down due to the pandemic, casting has resumed for the role of Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel! The casting process for this one has been wild and taken a long and winding road but I was told that actresses were recently being called back in to continue the auditioning process. The casting of Kamala Khan is certainly one that is of great interest to many (my Twitter DMs are proof as they are filled with questions about when and who and if) and one that Marvel Studios is clearly taking great care to get right.

The timing of the resumption of the process is also of note. As the state of Georgia begins to open back up and film and TV production gets rolling again in and around Atlanta, where Ms. Marvel is slated to film, it’s possible that an imminent casting could lead to cameras rolling on the Disney Plus streaming series before the end of Summer! This is one to keep an eye on over the next several weeks. Should Marvel Studios land the actress for the role, a casting announcement via the trades would be major news and lift the spirits of fans who have had little good news the past few months.

June 16, 2020
EXCLUSIVE: Evan Peters Playing Mystery Role in ‘WANDAVISION’

The world needs some good news. Thanks to a familiar and trusted source (the same L.A. based source who told me about Peyton Reed signing on for Season 2 of The Mandalorian), I have learned that Evan Peters (American Horror Story, X-Men) signed on for a key role in the Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series WandaVision. The 33-year old Peters landed the role late last year and filmed his scenes shortly after.

The nature of Peters’ role is being kept under wraps and that is likely to generate a great deal of excitement and confusion among fans given that the actor has thrice portrayed Wanda’s brother, Pietro, in Fox’s X-Men franchise. Of course Peters is also well-known for his portrayal of several terrifying villains over the course of 8 seasons of American Horror Story, opening up the possibility that he’s landed a role as WandaVision’s big bad. Given the nature of the series, Peters could be playing anyone from Nicholas Scratch to Mephisto.

The waters would seem to get muddy quickly should Peters be reprising his role as Pietro and then crossing over into the MCU, but rumors have persisted that WandaVision will somehow feature Wanda’s deceased brother though Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who played the speedster in Avengers: Age of Ultron, has made it very clear that we shouldn’t plan on seeing him suit back up as Quicksilver any time soon. So if Taylor-Johnson isn’t back and Quicksilver is, that would mean a recast, something Marvel Studios has done successfully in the past, and Peters would be an interesting choice given the majority of fans seem to gravitate towards his portrayal of the character. This is just one possible option, of course, and perhaps not even the most likely, but it’s the one that quickly comes to mind.

Time will tell exactly what role Peters is playing, but given his American Horror Story fan base and his resume as a superhero, this is, most definitely, some good news!

June 1, 2020
EXCLUSIVE: ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ Set Photos Give A Closer Look at Madripoor

In late 2019, it was revealed that a portion of the now delayed Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier would take place in Madripoor. Murphy’s Multiverse had some exclusive set photos which were followed by a great look at the action in photos which can be seen at the Daily Mail.

Now, thanks to a Murphy’s Multiverse reader known as Danny, we have an unprecedented look at Atlanta set that became Madripoor. The photos reveal new locations and give us a sense of the scope of the set. While it’s possible that these locations may just be Easter Eggs, there’s always the possibility that one of them may end up being a spoiler of some sort, so proceed at your own risk.

The first photo gives another, closer look at a location that first indicated to me that the set was indeed Madripoor. Patrons of mine might remember that in mid-December, before the set leaks confirmed Madripoor, I teased that there was a spoiler in one particular set photo that I had shared.

The above photo gives us a look at a sign for Stinger’s Strip House. It was this Stinger’s sign that first gave away Madripoor to me and that now, in light of the recent news of Marvel Studios developing a slew of new shows, might turn out to be more than a great, obscure Easter Egg.

During Jonathan Hickman’s 2009-2011 run on Secret Warriors, he introduced some appendices that included some “top secret” information about the team and a slew of secret bases kept by Nick Fury. Top on the list and indelibly etched into my mind despite never playing a big role in the series is Stinger, a safe house located in…you guessed it…Madripoor.

The inclusion of Stinger’s Strip House is either an incredible coincidence or an example of some deep cuts being added into The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Given what we’ve already seen from the production, I’m inclined to believe it’s the latter and, I think that if Stinger’s is actually one of Fury’s safe houses, it works nicely to move the plot along. We’ve all wondered just what the boys (Bucky, Sam and Zemo) are doing together in Madripoor; maybe now we know that they hit up this safe house while on the run (and they’re not running from who you think they are! Their pursuer was actually seen in those Daily Mail set photos).

The idea of Stinger’s being one of Fury’s safe houses is even more interesting when we consider that since these shots were taken, Marvel Studios has begun development on a Secret Warriors project meaning we might just get even deeper into Nick Fury’s world! All speculation of course but it’s really hard not to start connecting those dots.

In addition to Stinger’s, there’s one more location in Madripoor that I believe to have been taken right from the pages of the comics: the Brass Monkey Saloon. The saloon, which has also been called the Bronze Monkey, made it’s first appearance in Captain America #363, Moon Over Madripoor, and written by Mark Gruenwald whose run is clearly the basis for much of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. The Brass Monkey also popped up recently in Mark Waid’s Invisible Woman series and while it’s never been a major location, it’s a place where Lowtown’s shady characters assemble, punches get thrown and no questions get asked.

In the first picture above, you’d be hard pressed not to notice that the original sign of the bar was a brass monkey head. You may notice a similar, less subtle motif in this next set of exclusive set photos.

If that’s not an outdoor version of the Brass Monkey, then I don’t know what it is. It’s possible that the boys pass through here and may even come into conflict with some of Lowtown’s less desirable inhabitants; it’s also possible it’s just a very cool nod to Gruenwald’s 2 issue arc that saw Cap chasing Crossbones into Madripoor after he had abducted Diamondback. Either way, these photos show an incredible level of detail and preparation that went into a temporary set.

There are several more photos here that show a Casino, a tattoo parlor and do a great job of showing the fine details on the Madripoor set.

The level of detail and effort to build Madripoor into a multicultural crime den is incredible. We don’t know right now when we will see The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, but for MCU fans who aren’t avid comic book readers, it looks like their introduction to Madripoor is going to be memorable!

May 8, 2020