In a stunning move, executive Victoria Alonso has parted ways with Marvel Studios. According to THR, Alonso’s final day with the studio was Friday, March 17th and no reason has been disclosed for her move.
Alonso has served as an executive producer on dozens of Marvel Studios’ projects dating back to 2012’s The Avengers. In 2021, she assumed the position of president of physical, postproduction, VFX and animation at the studio and has taken the lead in the studio’s push to increase diversity in its projects in front of and behind the camera.
The move ends a 17-year career for Alonso who began working as the studios’s chief of visual effects and post-production in 2006. She also co-produced the studio’s first film, Iron Man, in 2008.
Principal photography on Daredevil: Born Again is well underway in and around New York City with various parts of different neighborhoods being transformed into key settings for the streaming series. Last week, pictures of a corner store in Harlem being remodeled as Hell’s Kitchen and Delicatessen made their way online and now filming has begun at that location and revealed it is part of a flashback sequence.
— Daredevil: Born Again Behind the Scenes (@DDBAbts) March 20, 2023
The location stretches down the block a bit and judging by the cars on set, seems to be set in the late 1970s or later. As seen below, a stack of newspapers on set are dated November 1, 1999 but while it’s tempting to believe that’s the time period for this setting, those are actually real newspapers. Valley News is a publication that serves the New Hampshire and Vermont region and the Patriots did really beat the Cardinals 27-3 on October 31, 1999 so they may serve only as a prop and the date may not come into play in the series. There’s also an issue with the fact that the posters seen on the store are all classic 70s posters (the Raid poster, for example, is from 1978), making the newspaper anachronistic.
— Daredevil: Born Again Behind the Scenes (@DDBAbts) March 20, 2023
Given the difficulty in nailing down the exact time period when this scene is set, it’s all but impossible to determine exactly what might be going on without further context. However, star Charlie Cox indicated in a 2022 interview that as part of Daredevil: Born Again being a “whole new deal”, the series may include a retelling of some events that had previously been seen onscreen in Netflix’s Daredevil series.
What’s great about that is that we potentially get to tell some of the stories over and over again, in the same way that they do in the comics. Every now and then they start back in the beginning of Murdock’s journey as a little boy and they tell the whole origin story again, so maybe we’ll get to do that. I don’t know.
Charlie Cox
Could that be what’s going on here? This scene looks to be set in the late 1970s. In the canon established through the Netflix series, Matt Murdock was 30-32 years old, meaning he was born sometime in the mid-1980s. That Daredevil series was set in 2015 while the MCU is currently set in 2025-2026 depending on what project is being viewed (Cox’s most recent appearance in She-Hulk is widely believed to be set in 2025). With the big-time jump, that would make Matt 40-42 years old in the present day of the MCU. If Matt was out and about in the 1970s, he’d be pushing 50 years old in present day.
It’s also possible that it’s not Murdock’s story being told at all but another of the series’ main characters: Wilson Fisk. The casting of Sandrine Holt as Vanessa Fisk in Daredevil: Born Again has raised some questions about just what parts of the Netflix Daredevil series are being considered canon in the MCU. It’s possible, given the length of the series, that Marvel Studios may be choosing to retell the origin of Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock for the MCU.
Bob Iger‘s return to Disney has thrown a monkey wrench into Marvel Studios streaming plans. Iger has forced the studio to rethink the pacing of its streaming releases, rethink its budget and generally slow the big wheel that includes production, marketing and release. So slowed down has it become that with a quarter of 2023 almost gone, audiences don’t know when they might catch Secret Invasion, the first of the studio’s streaming offerings. While it’s likely to be a while before Disney gives in on that end, they may have given fans something to chew on.
It was recently discovered that an official Disney site that features upcoming streaming series had removed date windows from every Marvel Studios project and replaced them with “Coming Soon.” This is true for every project listed on the site from Secret Invasion to the animated Spider-Man: Freshman Year. In doing so, the order of the studio’s live-action projects were also reshuffled and that reshuffling may have given fans a glimpse into the order they should expect the studio’s live-action offerings.
Secret Invasion, which has recently been rumored to debut in June, will take the lead as expected. It’s been expected for some time now that Season 2 of Loki would follow the spy thriller but beyond that, the slate has been up in the air with Echo’s showrunner confirming a delay, word that Ironheart and Agatha: Coven of Chaos were pushed to 2024 and the lengthy production schedule of Daredevil: Born Again. While there’s no confirmation and no guarantee, it’s possible that the official Disney site rearranged the projects in anticipation of a coming announcement and put at least the live-action projects in order of expected release.
Should that be the case (and I can’t state strongly enough that this is JUST A GUESS), Secret Invasion looks to be followed in 2023 by Loki Season 2 and Echo. Just what changed behind the scenes to make Echo releasable in 2023 remains to be seen, but it would represent a significant shift in thinking should that series make a late 2023 debut on Disney Plus. With those three live-action projects taking up the last half of 2023, it would seem that Ironheart would kick off 2024 and be followed by Agatha: Coven of Chaos and then at least part of Daredevil: Born Again. Given the mandate to spread releases out a bit more, it would seem tough for all 18 episodes of Born Again to be released in 2024 but there’s no reason they all have to, either.
There’s currently no hard evidence to support this but, to some extent, it fits some of the rumors making their way around (both publicly and privately) about the current and very, very tentative live-action slate of Marvel Studios streaming projects. In the past, I’d have only given this a 33% chance of working out but in the current climate, 25% would be generous. However, it’s certainly worth pointing out so we can all kee an eye on things.
Just recently, some set photos found their way online from the recently started Daredevil: Born Again set. Now, People magazine has shared a close-up shot of Charlie Cox and Nikki M. James on the New York City set for the latest Disney+ venture.
While it doesn’t give away any big new look at the characters, it does highlight that we’re going to get quite a bit more of Matt Murdock the lawyer in the new Marvel Studios sequel. While we did get a glimpse of it in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk, Attorney at Law, it definitely seems like the ambitious 18-episode Disney+ series will be more than just him jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
It’s great to see his iconic red glasses return and he even has his walking stick in one hand. Kind of a shame we don’t get a cheesy red tie to bring the “I am definitely not Daredevil” ensemble together, but who knows what fun little moments we’ll have in this new adaptation. Either way, it’s always great to see Cox back in the iconic role.
We still don’t know who James is playing but it does seem likely she’s a fellow lawyer. Perhaps his next romantic venture will have him work with a colleague that could add some interesting tension throughout the series run. We can still only speculate but the project might become one of their most ambitious.
Fans of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels have celebrated the live-action debuts of many of their favorite characters over the past several years. Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have found a way to bring fan favorites like Bo-Katan Kryze, Ahsoka Tano and Cad Bane to life in their lineup of New Republic-era series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Sometime later in 2023, another handful will make their live-action debuts as the core characters from Star Wars Rebels, including Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger, are set to appear on Disney Plus in Ahsoka.
It’s been a fun time for fans as Filoni and Favreau have carried on the stories of these characters; however, the pair have also come under fire for questionable decisions about the appearance of the characters like the Grand Inquisitor and for being a bit too generous in fan service by having too many characters make the jump. In fact, Filoni has been accused of making too much of an effort to bring his animated creations to life. Filoni addressed that accusation and gave some insight into his process in an interview with The Wrap.
“Very rarely,” replied Filoni when asked if he often thinks “How can I get my cartoon characters into live-action?” “I know people think it’s the other way around, which is fascinating to me,” he continued, “but I think there’s two ways to look at that, which is that, yes, they were animated characters, but to me they’re just characters. And now I’m over here working in live-action. I’m comfortable with those characters, I know them, I like them and I like to see them around.”
It’s an interesting position for Filoni given that he created and curated the characters over a decade of animated story-telling and now has the ability to call on them to help define a new era of the galaxy far, far away. Even for Filoni, who knows the characters inside and out, brining them to live action is not without its challenges. “It changes when they’re suddenly in a different medium,” explained Filoni. “Katee’s [Sackhoff] talked about it a little bit, and the difference between performing Bo-Katan as a voice actor versus performing her physically and being present on set as her – it’s a different vibe. I’m always cautious. And Jon [Favreau] and I talk about who will we bring in? I try to do it when it makes the most sense.”
For instance, as Filoni explained, when the plot of The Book of Boba Fett called for “a gunslinger to go up against some of our characters,” Cad Bane was the obvious choice. The character’s live-action design came under fire from fans of his time in the animated series. Filoni addressed why the character’s distinct look changed a bit for his live-action debut. “I think looking at that, the first thing I think is, ‘Well, how do we do that and make it believable?’ Like the character, he’s so lean and gaunt in The Clone Wars,” explained Filoni, “and if we don’t do that, is it all CG? How are we going to portray that? If we don’t think we can do that effectively, then we shouldn’t do it.”
The reality of the situation is that in the recent social media climate, the decision to faithfully recreate Cad Bane through CGI would have taken just as much heat as the decision to change it for live-action. The criticism, however, doesn’t seem to faze Filoni. “At the end of the day, I’ve been very happy with the ones that have gone over,” he said before teasing fans with the notion that he’s not done quite yet. “There may or may not be more in Ahsoka, if that’s your thing. If you’re excited about that, I’m just saying that one might have a few more, which makes sense, by the way. As you know, I wrote it. You can’t fault me there.” Who can blame the guy?
The book ends of Chapter 19 of The Mandalorian, The Convert, left fans wondering what Bo-Katan Kryze was up to following her experience in the mines of Mandalore. The episode’s opening picked up in the aftermath of Chapter 18’s plunge into the Living Waters where she encountered a massive Mythosaur, an encounter she chose to keep from Din Djarin after asking if he had seen anything alive in the pool. Bo-Katan’s dip in the Living Waters also put her in a position she never thought she’d be in: walking The Way of the Mandalore as a member of the Children of the Watch. With her home world of Kalevala destroyed by a fleet of Imperial remnant TIEs, Bo-Katan, now washed free of her apostasy, was invited by the Armorer to remain with the covert of Mandalorians. Needless to say, it was a pretty busy day for Bo-Katan.
Did those experiences change the skeptical Bo-Katan, however? Fans aren’t so sure and much of the social media discussion after the episode centered around the character’s decision to remain mute about the Mythosaur, wondering if she intends to use the knowledge of the beast to her advantage. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bo-Katan actress Katee Sackhoff assuaged those concerns, saying her behavior was rooted in something much less malevolent. “She doesn’t trust necessarily what she saw. She might have thought that she imagined it,” explained Sackhoff. “There’s so many things that she’s trying to process in her head that I don’t necessarily think that it’s something that she wants to tell anyone about right now.“
Part of what Bo-Katan may be trying to process is that the beliefs that Din Djarin has held dear–beliefs she called “cute”–may hold some water. According to Sackhoff, Bo-Katan’s attempts to reconcile her past with Din’s “cult” with her own past and the very recent events of her own present have given her quite a bit to ponder which is why she remained so quiet when she was accepted into Din’s Tribe.
The mistakes of her past — with Death Watch and the resulting death of her sister Satine — weigh heavily upon her, and she’s in a more vulnerable state than we’ve ever seen her before when Din brings her in. But because of the disagreements with Din’s cult in the past, the Watch welcoming her to their clan with open arms is a surprise to her. To be immediately accepted by people is new for her. She may or may not be trying to figure out if that’s a place where she should potentially stay.
Katee Sackhoff
Still, it’s hard for fans to believe that the militant Bo-Katan won’t look to weaponize her newfound friends in another attempt to avenge her sister’s death and ascend to lead the reborn Mandalore. According to Sackhoff, that’s not in the cards, however. “I truly believe at this point that she hopes someone else steps up,” Sackhoff said. “She doesn’t want the responsibility. The responsibility cost her everything,” she explained. “Leading didn’t work, so maybe fitting in will.” With more than half the season still ahead, Bo-Katan’s choice to be a leader or a follower will likely have a huge impact on the events of not only TheMandalorian Season 3 but also the shape of the New Republic.
During the 5 season run of X-Men: The Animated Series, the X-Men tangled with Mister Sinister on more than one occasion. Sinister did as Sinister does, harvesting mutant DNA for his experiments and slinking off into the darkness to live to haunt the X-Men another day. Another day is now, as Sinister has been revealed to be the big bad of the revival of X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men ’97.
During Marvel Unlimited’s celebration of X-Men: 60 Uncanny Years, showrunner Beau DeMayo summed up what to expect from the series, which is expected to debut sometime in 2023.
Storm and Wolverine try to continue the X-Men. Magneto comes in and wants to step up for Charles Xavier. Sinister comes in to try to end the X-Men once and for all.
The official synopsis for ‘X-MEN ‘97’ has been revealed:
“Storm and Wolverine try to continue the X-Men. Magneto comes in and wants to step up for Charles Xavier. Sinister comes in to try to end the X-Men once and for all.”
It sounds like a rewatch (or a first experience) may be in order for fans who might not remember why Magneto has to step in for Charles (Charles is in space) or why Sinister is so angry. In a response to the tweet embedded above, DeMayo indicated that while the summary is correct, an official and full synopsis will be revealed later in 2023.
While the well has been dry since the initial posters dropped for Netflix’s live-action One Piece series, there have been some small details here and there keeping eager fans afloat. The upcoming adaptation will take the beloved manga of the same name and bring it into a completely new format. While the anime has been running for over 1,000 episodes, there’s a lot of potentials to explore the vast world of One Piece in live-action.
Now, a new casting has come to light that might highlight that showrunners Matt Owens and Steven Maeda are already looking toward the future. As first shared by @OP_Netflix_Fan, actor Rebaone Ben Kgosimore has shared on his CV that he’s played the role of Mr. 7 in Netflix’s One Piece.
— ONE PIECE NETFLIX FAN (@OP_Netflix_Fan) March 17, 2023
At first, the name might seem unassuming especially as he wasn’t actually featured in the original East Blue run. Yet, he was mentioned in the story during Whiskey Peak, as it was unveiled that Mr. 7 was sent to recruit Mackenyu‘s Roronoa Zoro for thee organization known as Baroque Works. His inclusion not only means we’ll finally get to see how that interaction ended between him and Zoro but also be the first hint at what’s to come beyond the East Blue.
Going by a recent listing on the Writers Guild of America West, they might already be preparing for a potential second season renewal, which would very likely build upon this brief introduction. Going by the original manga, it only makes sense that the East Blue ends with the first season. One of the first threats they face on the Grand Line is the organization known as Baroque Works which has close ties to the events unfolding on Alabasta.
48 hours after fans of the Disney Plus series Willow said their goodbyes to Elora Dana and the people of Tir Asleen following a trade report of the show’s cancellation, their hopes were suddenly resurrected by showrunner Jonathan Kasdan. In a lengthy message shared on Twitter, Kasdan clarified what’s quite a complicated situation regarding the future of the streaming series.
According to Kasdan, the next season of Willow, which he referred to as Volume II, has already been written and while it’s not headed into pre-production and is not scheduled to start filming over the course of the next year, it does not mean that it will not get made. However, given the fact that the second season of the series is not on the fast track, Kasdan explained that the decision was made to release the cast members to pursue work on other projects until the call for the start of Volume II comes. “If the appetite for more Willow persists, Disney, Lucasfilm and this amazing cast and crew will satisfy it,” said Kasdan.
Following the success of 2018’s Black Panther, Ryan Coogler agreed to a 5-year exclusive deal with Disney in 2021. As part of that deal, Coogler not only developed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever for Marvel Studios, but also started development on multiple series spinning out of the Black Panther franchise. The first of those series, Ironheart, was originally set to debut in 2023 but Bob Iger’s return to Disney has put some of Marvel Studios projects on pause as they rethink their release strategy. Coogler’s other projects remain in development, however, including a series believed to star Danai Gurira as Okoye and a project being called The Golden City. While no timetable has been revealed for these projects, some interesting new information about The Golden City has come to light.
During The Hot Mic Podcast, YouTuber Jeff Sneider shared an intriguing rumor which indicated that The Golden City is being developed as an animated series. At this point, it’s entirely unclear what the project might be about though The Golden City is clearly a reference to Birnin Zana, the capital city of Wakanda. One possibility that an animated project might offer Marvel Studios is the opportunity to tell quite a bit of the history of Wakanda without having to create multiple extravagant sets.
While Marvel Studios is developing multiple animated projects, their status as canonical to the events of the MCU aren’t all clear. At this point, only the events of What If…? are confirmed to be canon, though they clearly take place throughout the Multiverse and not in the “Sacred Timeline” where other MCU projects are set. Should The Golden City by canon, it may be the first animated series to be set in that “Sacred Timeline.”
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By using our site, you consent to cookies.
This website uses cookies
Websites store cookies to enhance functionality and personalise your experience. You can manage your preferences, but blocking some cookies may impact site performance and services.
Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.
Name
Description
Duration
Cookie Preferences
This cookie is used to store the user's cookie consent preferences.
30 days
These cookies are needed for adding comments on this website.
Name
Description
Duration
comment_author_email
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
comment_author_url
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
comment_author
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us understand how visitors use our website.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.
Pinterest Tag is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.
