Tag: TV

The Pulse: Collecting the Biggest News of the Past Week, September 18th Edition

Life is busy. Sometimes too busy to catch up on all the big news of the week. Never fear, The Pulse is here to get you all caught up on the biggest stories of the past week, September 13-18th.

Hit Monkey First Look, Release Date Revealed

Once upon a time, Marvel Entertainment gave the green light to a handful of animated series. Of those, only MODOK and Hit Monkey survived Kevin Feige’s ascendancy. While we’ll probably never see The Offenders event series, we can see Hit Monkey beginning on November 17th on Hulu. The show is rumored to be “hyper-violent”, so we might not see the Marvel Studios credits roll ahead of it, but it’s still looking like it’ll be a blast.

Serkis Says Spidey and Venom Meeting is “Gonna Happen”

Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage screened last week and all the buzz (including from the studio, bizarrely enough) was about the post-credit scene that is rumored to hint at something fans have long hoped for: Spidey and Venom being in the same place. According to the film’s director, Andy Serkis, fans are eventually going to get what they hope for, saying “of course it’s gonna happen.” When? How? Why? Which Spidey? We’ll all find out together.

Live-Action Marvel Zombies On the Way?

What If…? made zombies part of the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse and found some pretty great ways to kill them. According to Mark Millar, who was part of the creative team behind Marvel Zombies to the comics indicated that “his sources” have told him that Marvel Studios has plans to bring the undead back “further down the line” in a live-action project. Marvel has a lot of projects in the pipeline, which one do you think makes the most sense for the ghouls to pop into?

Warner Bros. Developing Multiple ‘MORTAL KOMBAT’ Sequels

WB’s Mortal Kombat was never going to win any awards and it wasn’t everyone’s favorite film but it was always going to get a follow up. According to Variety, it may well get several follow ups focusing on individual characters from the gaming franchise’s mythology. As long as I don’t have to sit through a Kano solo film, it’ll be ok.

Krysten Ritter Wants to Join Charlie Cox in the MCU

Actress Krysten Ritter, who brought Marvel’s Jessica Jones to life on Netflix back in 2015, has decided that she’d like to not be done playing the character. Ritter, who was last seen as Jones in 2019’s third season of Jessica Jones, says she’d “absolutely just die to play Jessica again.” Nobody wants Ritter to die, but it’s great to know she’s up for returning to the role and reimagining the character like her Defenders co-star Charlie Cox totally for sure isn’t doing in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

‘THE PENGUIN’ Series in Development at HBO Max

Director Matt Reeves is definitely getting the chance to do some world building around his upcoming Batman film. The latest development, according to Deadline, is a streaming series focused on Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobblepot. That makes at least 2 series spinning out of 2022’s The Batman.

September 18, 2021
‘WANDAVISIONS’ Jac Schaeffer on the Challenge of the Finale’s Action-Sequences

We’ve been hearing more and more about what it’s like to work with Marvel Studios. Disney+ is some unknown territory for the production company and may have shifted their approach to adapt to the new format. Unlike their films, they can’t follow the usual three-act structure but have to find a different way of balancing the dramatic and action aspects of their projects. WandaVision showrunner Jac Schaeffer shared the challenge she faced getting the fight scenes down after focusing primarily on the dramatic aspects of the story. In the interview with Hollywood Reporter she shares that:

The finale was the hardest because that’s the Marvel-iest part. It’s always tough to really nail down on the mythology. What does Agatha [Kathryn Hahn] want and what does her power set look like? What does that mean for Wanda? How do we make that interesting? What’s the chess board where all the players give everybody a satisfying conclusion? It’s the third act of a Marvel movie. I’ve been around the block on some of those, and they’re so fun — but that’s always the hardest to land.
Jac Schaeffer

She highlights that the iconic and gut-wrenching goodbye sequence was the clearest vision she had going into the project. Yet, the path filled with fights between two Visions and Wanda’s takedown of Agatha took the most time. Most of the series pays tribute to classic sitcoms and takes quite the shift in the finale. Schaeffer‘s comment does highlight that they are one of the most challenging aspects of these projects. Action sequences that tie the entire story together while also keeping a dramatic core aren’t easy to balance. It can sometimes drag down a strong story if it doesn’t nail the ending. Luckily, WandaVision was able to accomplish just that.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

September 17, 2021
REPORT: ‘HIT MONKEY’ Won’t Get the Marvel Title For a Reason

After a long wait, Hit Monkey has finally been unveiled. It’s one of the last entries that was once set to become part of The Offenders crossover at Hulu. Yet, even with its release date out there, the thing that may have caught many reader’s eyes is that it doesn’t have the Marvel title. Even MODOK held the title in its advertising for the series even with its darker, adult-themed humor.

It is still based on the Marvel character, but won’t hold the title just like Helstrom did right around the time Marvel TV was absorbed into Marvel studios. We may have gotten an answer on why, as ComicBook.com’s Adam Barnhardt shared on Twitter that it’s being left out due to how violent the series is going to be. It may also be the reason why the last Marvel TV live-action series also lost that part of the title and not due to the merger, as many suspected.

https://twitter.com/adambarnhardt/status/1438956403058688000?s=20

It’ll be interesting if Marvel Studios’ future projects might take a similar approach. Deadpool kept its R-rating and Marvel logo while beheading enemies. Yet, it also was published through 20th Century Fox that doesn’t have the same limitations that Disney has. We know that the third entry in the Deadpool franchise will be part of the MCU, which means it’ll hold the Marvel Studios title. Perhaps Hit Monkey might be the last not to get the title, as Marvel Studios starts developing their future projects.

Source: Twitter

September 17, 2021
First Look at Hulu’s ‘HIT MONKEY’ Unveiled as it Eyes Late November Release

Some time ago, Marvel TV announced a variety of shows that’ll crossover into the so-called The Offenders mini-series. Most of the series ended up getting scrapped but some productions were along far enough they’d still see the light of day on Hulu. The recent release of MODOK was the first series, which took a stop-motion approach to its animation style. It looks like the next survivor has found its way online, as Entertainment Weekly unveiled Hit Monkey is heading to the streaming service as of November 17th.

Alongside the release date, we also got our first look at the show’s titular Japanese snow macaque and his hitman ghost friend, Bryce. The dark comedy follows the events after Bryce nursed him back to health. Yet, after his passing, the macaque picks up his assassin’s ways to avenge his friend, as his ghost, voiced by Jason Sudekis, continues to haunt him throughout the show.

The November release isn’t too far away and could be our hint at a potential trailer dropping at the latest of October. It’s curious that the series takes a more traditional 2D animation style, as they were supposed to crossover at some point. The concept of multiple shows with unique art styles colliding does sound like an exciting concept, but we’ll see if any of these series get a sequel season. There’s still no word on MODOK‘s renewal but only time will tell. For now, it’s great to see some of the more unique ideas still survive after the Marvel TV and Marvel Studios merger. We’ll see if their success leads to more down the road.

Source: EW

September 17, 2021
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!

September 17, 2021
‘WHAT IF…?’s Queen Ramonda Gets a New Funko Pop Alongside Killmonger as Black Panther

The tradition continues, as now that a few days have passed since the latest episode of What If…? dropped, Funko unveiled their latest Marvel-inspired Funko Pops. This time around, Queen General Ramonda is getting her own Funko. It’s revealed alongside the Killmonger as Black Panther design, which leaked his upcoming conflicts with the head of an Ultron sentry in his hand. It’s interesting that the Ramonda Funko never found its way online, as she had a prominent role in some of the earlier trailers.

Coming Soon: Pop! Marvel: Marvel Studios' What If…? Preorder Queen General Ramonda today and look for King Killmonger at your local Target this Fall! https://t.co/xxD8V1dq29 #Funko #FunkoPop #Marvel #WhatIf @whatifofficial pic.twitter.com/HTXg56IrPA
— Funko (@OriginalFunko) September 17, 2021

It’s great to see Funko continue offering these characters as Funko Pop, and we’re seeing a trend of giving otherwise minor characters more focus in merchandise. They are popular collectibles and it’s great that they are rolling them out alongside their reveal in the various episodes. It adds another layer to how Marvel is utilizing their weekly releases to also create synergy with their merchandising. We still have a few episodes to go, and it’ll be interesting who else might get a Funko that hasn’t already leaked online.

Source: Twitter

September 17, 2021
REVIEW: ‘Doom Patrol’ Remains Consistently Zany in Season 3

Doom Patrol manages to be one of the most unique and eccentric comic book television series around. More impressively, it manages to somehow be the least and most grounded series given its ability to present constant off-the-wall supernatural stories, as well as give its characters meaningful and intimate development. Season 3 stays the course and promises to keep the series’ signature zany spirit and hard spotlight on the characters’ continuing inner journeys.

What Season 3 of Doom Patrol might not offer – based on the first half of the season – is something sensationally different than what we’ve seen before. To be fair, how “different” can a show that embodies outlandishness actually end up being by the previous seasons? The answer might lie with the hidden foundational and conventional aspects of the show – the series is noticeably short of strong adversarial characters. Season 1’s Mr. Nobody is still the show’s gold standard, and no character or entity has risen to that villainous level since.

The fairly sporadic consistency and intensity of Doom Patrol’s villains tend to make the show feel like it hasn’t moved much over the course of multiple seasons. If the first five episodes of Season 3 are representative of the rest, the main team’s status as decidedly not the “Doom Patrol” may not be adjusted. But there are plenty of kernels of heroic ambitions, curiosities, and what it means to be a hero to think that this gaggle of superhumans could, eventually, be a super team. These bits and scraps have existed all along, though, but maybe two to three years in the title of the series could have a more direct meaning.

Some of the overarching plotlines from the first two seasons that felt weighty and more of a burden are mostly alleviated, though what haunted the team from the very beginning seems unwilling to let go. Perhaps that very haunting is the glue they need right now. Season 3 is a masterclass in forming individual unique episodes with absolutely and delightfully absurd micro-stories. This time around, the miniature adventures, while still feeling thematically removed from one another, fit better as puzzle pieces to the overall picture that is slowly coming to life. Episodes 2, 3, and 4 in particular are absolute gems as individual episodes a well as chapters of the same short story, and they are fun beyond expectation.

In any event, Doom Patrol is still doing what it arguably and sometimes surprisingly does best – its characters. Diane Guerrero is still an absolute powerhouse as “Crazy Jane” and while much of her story seemed to be tying itself to a close at the end of Season 2, the series’ most intricate and interesting character has plenty of additional journeys up her sleeve. Matt Bomer as Larry promises to keep being an anchor of tragedy and charm, but the character that truly steps into the spotlight this season is April Bowlby’s Rita. If any character has the ability to move the group—and plot—forward in a major way it surprisingly seems to be her.

Overall, Season 3 certainly understands its own assignment and admirably seems to refuse to sacrifice its bizarre and wonderfully unconventional style for anything else. Doom Patrol certainly has the ability to do so while simultaneously nailing the quality and depth of its characters’ stories. So, it undoubtedly has the potential to hit even more notes under the ever-present and ironic “Doom Patrol” label. Whether this season will see the group wind up in virtually the same enjoyable place they’ve been in since the beginning of the series or charge into genuinely new territory is still on the horizon yet to be seen.

September 17, 2021
‘WANDAVISION’ Composer Christophe Beck Teases ‘HAWKEYE’ Involvement

Just recently, we finally got our first look at the upcoming Hawkeye Disney+ series. The big surprise was that the series is fully committing to a holiday-inspired theme, as Clint uncovers a young Kate Bishop using his old Ronin persona. It also leads to them ending in conflict with the Tracksuit mafia, as Clint tries to make it back to his family before Christmas. Of course, the trailer included a very popular Christmas song and we don’t know what the soundtrack will be. Yet, it seems that composer Christophe Beck may have hinted at his involvement with the project.

Beck took to Twitter to share the official poster alongside the new release date. He doesn’t leave any comments on the series or sharing how excited he is for the project, which makes many think that he’s advertising his involvement with the project. He’s no stranger to working with Marvel studios, as he was behind the iconic soundtrack for their first Disney+ venture WandaVision, Ant-Man, and its sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp.

@hawkeyeofficial on @disneyplus Nov 24 🙏🏼 @MarvelStudios pic.twitter.com/T6UDqj1jkz
— Christophe Beck (@CBeckOfficial) September 16, 2021

The composer had a pretty busy year, as his latest project Free Guy also recently hit theatres. What’s curious is that Beck seems to have a love for winter-themed projects. His filmography includes both Frozen titles for Disney and Netflix’s two The Christmas Chronicles films. It’s always curious to see trends in a composer’s work that hints at what type of stories they enjoy working on. Still, Christophe Beck‘s work is quite diverse with projects ranging from Pitch Perfect, Edge of Tomorrow to The Peanuts Movie. It’ll be interesting to see what touch he’ll bring to what may be the last Marvel Disney+ series for 2021.

Source: Twitter, Christophe Beck

September 16, 2021
Krysten Ritter Would Love to Join the MCU as Jessica Jones

There has been much anticipation with the possible return of the Marvel Netflix characters. In December, we broke the news that Charlie Cox would return in Spider-Man: No Way Home in a limited capacity. It opened up the floodgates for others to potentially do the same. It didn’t take long for the next report to follow, as there were rumors that Jessica Jones‘ Krysten Ritter might appear in next year’s She–Hulk.

Well, if Marvel Studios hopes to introduce the character of Jessica Jones into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it seems like Ritter would certainly be down to join any project. She shared her enthusiasm to return to the character in an interview with ScreenRant and shared her excitement about potentially returning as the character at some point if she was offered by Marvel Studios.

I would absolutely just die to play Jessica again. I had the best time doing it and I just love her so much. I’m so proud of that character. Not only because it was like a great role and she’s such a bad-ass, but that character has really resonated with people in a way that I don’t know who else has. Really, really resonated with women and girls, trauma survivors. It’s just so, so big and such a thing I’m so grateful to have been a part of. So if there’s ever an opportunity for me to put on those boots, I will be there in a flash.

The actress is currently busy advertising Netflix’s Nightbooks horror film. She-Hulk wrapped production some time ago and if she’ll appear, she may have already filmed a few scenes. There’s also the question of what the future has in store for the character if she does end up joining. Diseny+ may become the new home for street-level heroes and we might hopefully get an idea as the franchise expands.

Source: ScreenRant

September 14, 2021
Marvel Zombies Might Have a Live-Action Future in the MCU Beyond ‘WHAT IF…?’

The last episod eof What If..? introduced the world to the first incarnations of zombies within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They’ve actually been a mainstay in the comics since their debut in the Ultimate Fantastic Four run before going on to get their own series. It looks like Marvel Studios might have some plans for the zombified Avengers, as Mark Millar hinted at some live-action plans potentially being in the works in his latest newsletter. The statement “

[…](if my sources are correct) a little live-action Marvel Zombies further down the line, but you never heard that from me.
Mark Millar

The episode introducing the zombified versions of our favorite heroes was quite the talk of the town ever since it was first teased. It’s a concept that would deserve more exploration and with the horror theme, they’d make for a perfect enemy for our favorite Sorcerer Supreme to face in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

There is also the possibility to reintroduce the concept in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The virus spreads through Janet van Dyne in the Quantum Realm, which exists outside of time and the multiverse. Perhaps the crew’s return to face Kang the Conqueror might unleash the virus in another unsuspecting universe. It’s would also be curious to see if this project ends up as an R-rated one, or they go with the more muted PG-13 friendly designs of the animated series. If they truly make a return, it’s going to be an exciting one as Marvel Studios continues to explore new avenues with their franchise.

Source: Mark Millar via CBR

September 14, 2021