We’ve long wondered what exactly is happening with The Batman spinoff series focused on Arkham Asylum. While Colin Farrell‘s Penguin spinoff has recently started picking up speed, it seems that the untitled Arkham series is finally moving forward. Variety has shared that the creator of The Staircase, Antonio Campos, has joined the production as its showrunner. He will also act as executive producer and director for the series but only if his version gets the greenlight.
It should be noted that he’s the third writer to join the DC project, which has been announced all the way back in 2020. It originally started as a show focused on Gotham PD before it slowly merged into a project focused on the iconic insane asylum of Gotham. Terence Winter was originally attached to the project before Joe Barton took over, which was the point it took its current direction.
Matt Reeves is still attached to producing the series and he had hinted at it being a horror series that takes place in the same universe. There’s still no word if we should expect this project potentially acting as a sequel to the events of the first film or even as a prequel, especially with the untold story of how Barry Keoghan‘s Joker ended up in Arkham. Whatever direction the project takes, it’ll definitely be interesting and we’ll see if the project even starts rolling the cameras at some point.
Marvel Studios shocked the world today when they dropped the first trailer for their next Special Presentation, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, only a day after starting marketing on one of their next films, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. One of the biggest surprises in the teaser was the revelation that Hollywood icon Kevin Bacon would make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as a fictionalized version of himself. The actor has been jokingly referred to as an “Earth legend” by Chris Pratt‘s Star-Lord on multiple occasions, and it would appear his fellow Guardians took the phrasing to heart. According to the trailer, much of the Holiday Special will feature Dave Bautista‘s Drax and Pom Klementieff‘s Mantis attempting to kidnap Bacon as a present for a forlorn Peter Quill.
After the footage made its way online, director James Gunn took to his social media to comment on a very specific Tweet from, oddly enough, a full year ago. In October of 2021, Gunn stated that the Holiday Special would introduce his all-time favorite MCU character to fans of the franchise, resulting in months of theories as to who the creative could be talking about. Now, Gunn confirms that he had Bacon in mind the whole time, hinting that the actor’s role in the short film is a favorite of his.
And, yes, when I said the #GotGHolidaySpecial was going to debut my new favorite MCU character, that favorite character is Kevin Bacon. @kevinbacon
As revealed by the trailer, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is set to debut on Disney+ on November 25th. The Special Presentation will act as a bridge for the long gap between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
If there ever was a character that was noticeably absent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s the space dog Cosmo. After being lost in space, the pupper that loves saying “comrade” somehow ended up in The Collector’s collection but was never seen again since Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. Luckily, we learned that Maria Bakalova will take on the role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and it seems she’ll also appear in the Holiday Special.
The first trailer has dropped and while we don’t hear Bakalova voice the character, we do get the confirmation that Cosmo has a role of some kind in the Holiday Special. It likely may be just a minor role and she could appear in the party that is hinted at, but it would be fun to see how this Guardians of the Galaxy midquel potentially sets up the threequel in this franchise.
We don’t know quite yet if Cosmo has taken on the same role she did in the comics as the new de facto leader of Knowhere. Perhaps that’s where they have the party with what seems to be the Ravagers, but we’ll have to see how she factors into this story. Either way, it’s great to see the galactic corner of the MCU finally explore her character and hopefully set up more appearances in the future. If there was something missing in this franchise, it’s a telekinetic dog.
A look ahead into Disney +’s scheduled programming for the month of November may give some insight into when fans might expect to see The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. The official Japanese Disney Plus site has released a look at what’s coming to the streaming service in the month of November and included on the list is an entry that should be interesting to MCU fans.
According to the site, two episodes of “Marvel Studios Unknown Secrets.” What appears to be lost in translation is that those are episodes 25 and 26 of Marvel Studios Legends, the official description of which can be read below.
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand, Marvel Studios: Legends celebrates and codifies what has come before. Revisit the epic heroes, villains and moments from across the MCU in preparation for the highly anticipated stories still to come. Each dynamic segment feeds directly into the upcoming series premiering on Disney+ — setting the stage for future events. Marvel Studios: Legends weaves together the many threads that constitute the unparalleled Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Essentially, the short Legends episodes serve as a way to remind fans (old and new) of the adventures of the characters that will be featured in upcoming projects. For instance, episodes 22, 23 and 24 of the series will focus on King T’Challa, Princess Shuri and the Dora Milaje ahead of the theatrical release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Over the course of 2022, the Legends episodes have come out just about one week ahead of the debuts of the projects they’re associated with. The three episodes on the characters from Wakanda are scheduled to follow this trend, releasing on November 4th, one week ahead of the film’s November 11th theatrical debut.
It’s logical to connect the November 23rd episodes of Marvel Legends to the only other known Marvel Studios project in 2022: The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Assuming that Disney Plus chooses to follow the same timeline they have all year, it’s reasonable to expect the James Gunn-led special presentation will debut the week of November 28th.
There’s been no trailer released for the special to date and other than a few tidbits here and there, not much has been shared publicly about what to expect from the special. It is known that it takes place between the events of Thor: Love and Thunder and next summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Rumors have covered appearances from Kevin Bacon, Santa Clause and the Silver Surfer, but outside of the key returning members of the Guardians, Marvel Studios has not confirmed anyone.
Well, yes, but the Holiday Special takes place between Love & Thunder and Vol 3 not between Vol 2 and IW. https://t.co/VbQPYRaJz6
With House of the Dragon having aired its season finale, speculation has begun about how the Dance of the Dragons will be adapted onto the screen in the second season and beyond. After spending a season chock full of time jumps to build to this moment, it was the murder of Lucerys “Luke” Valeryon at the hands of Aemond Targaryan that officially launched the war that will tear Westeros in half. This is something that has been confirmed by showrunner Ryan Condal to always be the climactic event of the first season’s finale, though the nature of the events which occurred changed significantly in relation to the original book by George R.R. Martin, specifically the culpability of Aemond in Luke’s death. The series adaptation showcased more regret and anguish over Aemond’s rash decision. While discussing the finale with Variety, this is what Condal had to say about the change.
Historians have told us that Aemond intended to kill Luke, but I don’t think any of them could purport to know what was going on in Aemond’s head at the time. And I would also dispute the word “accident” a bit. I mean, Aemond got on his giant dragon and chased his nephew on his much smaller dragon through the clouds screaming and yelling at him, incensing his dragon and starting a fight. He didn’t know how Arrax or Luke were going to respond, and it ended in tragedy. I don’t think that was what Aemond intended when he threw his leg over the saddle, but he did a horrible, dangerous thing. That is the point: This is a war of many cuts that lead to a really, really bloody wound. It adds complexity and nuance to the character that’s potentially interesting. There’s lots of runway to go on with Aemond as a character and the story of the Dance. This is his first act as a dragon rider and a warrior and it’s gone very wrong. Now what happens as a result, and how does he respond? Those are the questions I’m interested in as a dramatist.
Ryan Condal
The change comes after the first season of House of the Dragon has taken some mild creative liberties from the original source material (with varied responses to them). A major component for the future of the series is the potential to travel to more realms of Westeros. After remaining relatively isolated into a select few locations, the showcase of the map in the finale certainly has illuminated interesting possibilities for fans to ponder. Ryan Condal had the following to say about what to expect from the show moving forward in terms of new locations.
The show definitely has to expand its scope in the second season. Just as the original “Game of Thrones” grew in scope and expanse as it went, so, too, will ours. We’ve lived a good bit in three different worlds through this show: King’s Landing, Dragonstone and Driftmark. I think those will continue to be the home bases for the show. But a war is coming that requires allegiances from different kingdoms and armies all over the map of Westeros. I don’t think we’re going to get quite as vast as the original “Game of Thrones” did in its final analysis. But there are definitely many more new worlds to come, and new worlds that you haven’t necessarily seen in the original show, either. Rest assured, plenty of scope to come.
Ryan Condal
The finale of the first season of House of the Dragon is available to watch on HBO and HBO Max. Production for the second season is said to begin at the start of 2023, though no official word has been said as to when it will air.
These words, uttered by Matt Smith‘s Prince/Prince Consort Daemon Targaryen in a moment of raging spousal abuse, really set the tone for an unexpectedly intense season finale. House of the Dragon returned for another hour on HBO last night, it’s last of the year, and somehow managed to up the dramatic ante on a show that’s been pretty consistently melodramatic for ten-straight episodes. Titled The Black Queen, in reference to Emma D’Arcy‘s Princess/Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, the finale stands as the series’ official boiling-over point in the conflict between members of the Targaryen family.
With Tom Glynn-Carney‘s Aegon II Targaryen crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms against the proper line of succession, Rhaenyra and her supporters – known as the “Blacks” – must devise a game plan to win back the Realm. Unfortunately, as is often the case in Westeros, nothing really plays out all that smoothly. While Rhaenyra hopes to find a peaceful transition between rulers, Daemon goes rogue and begins plotting a full-scale war. Elliot Grihault‘s Prince Lucerys Targaryen and his brother Jacaerys (played by Harry Collett) head north in search of allies among the Starks and Baratheons, but a surprise confrontation with Ewan Mitchell‘s Prince Aemond Targaryen puts a major damper on Rhaenyra’s rallying cry.
In the only bit of good news, Steve Toussaint‘s Lord Corlys Valaryon is revealed to have survived his wounds. He and his much-smarter wife, Eve Best‘s Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, pledge their dragons and their navy to the Black Queen, setting up an action-packed second season with tensions high and hearts broken. As per usual, it’s a lot to break down. Luckily for the folks at home, Murphy’s Multiverse has already determined the best and worst moments that occur in The Black Queen.
BEST – Deaths in the Family
House of the Dragon‘s first season finale begins and ends with the deaths of Rhaenyra’s children. Both moments are fairly impactful in terms of viewing experience, but it’s Emma D’Arcy‘s performance in reaction that solidifies The Black Queen as one of the series’ best installments yet. At the top of the hour, Rhaenyra is informed rather abruptly by Rhaenys that her father has finally passed and that Aegon has been chosen to succeed him – in what could be considered a coup on the part of Olivia Cooke’s Queen Alicent Hightower. This shocks the pregnant, would-be Queen into a premature stillbirth, which she delivers on her own – standing up – before walking away to initiate her rightful rule of the Seven Kingdoms. It’s exactly as impressive as it sounds, and an incredibly powerful sequence that likely made it hard for fans to keep their jaws from dropping. The grace and capability with which Rhaenyra handles the situation is eye-opening and sufficiently proves she has the temperament to lead that Aegon does not.
As if that wasn’t enough trauma for poor Rhaenyra, the hour concludes with the loss of a beloved son. Prince Lucerys travels to Storm’s End in an effort to sway Roger Evans’ Lord Borros Baratheon to his mother’s side, but when he arrives, he finds an uncooperative, and surprisingly rude, Borros has already aligned with Aegon at the behest of the latter’s brother, Aemond. The kindly Lucerys tries to leave peacefully on his dragon, Arax, but is pursued by his violently vengeful uncle in a gorgeous – *ahem* – dance of the dragons in the dark skies over Storm’s End. As beautiful and awe-inducing as the moment is, it also results in Aemond losing control over his dragon, Vhagar, with the beast killing both Lucerys and Arax in a shocking clamp of its teeth.
Stylistically, the ending is one of the best to come out of the entire Game of Thrones franchise. Storm’s End and the lightning-filled clouds above it appear to be out of a 1980’s-style Jim Henson film, a la The Dark Crystal, and the visual effects on the dragons and their duel are stunning. There’s a lot to love. However, it’s the minutes following Lucerys’ death that resonate the most. Aemond, for the first time, seems to show some sort of compassion, and the look on Rhaenyra’s face when she learns of what happened can only mean one thing – The Black Queen now has a pretty good reason to be a little less reasonable. Perfect set-up for a second season.
WORST – Otto Hightower Being Himself
Truthfully, there wasn’t much to hate in The Black Queen. The episode sped along at an insane pace and was chock-full of buzz-worthy scenes. However, there was one moment that felt truly infuriating as a viewer, and that was the only one involving a Hightower. Rhys Ifans‘, as good as he is, continues to be one of the most obnoxiously vile characters on the show, with his Otto – Hand of the King – arriving in Dragonstone in an attempt to make Rhaenyra and Daemon swear fealty to their new King. Obviously, they do not, and Otto is forced to make several snide remarks before leaving ominously with the promise of death floating in the air. The best part of his brief appearance in the finale was when Rhaenyra removed his symbol of the Hand and tossed it off a bridge. Hopefully, he never gets it back.
All 10 episodes of House of the Dragon are now streaming on HBO Max. A second season is unlikely to stream until 2024 or later.
With the conclusion of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law’s nine-episode run came the end of Marvel Studios’ streaming series for 2022. The year kicked off in March with a six-episode journey into the mind of Marc Spector in Moon Knight, starring Oscar Isaac; continued in June with Ms. Marvel, which also ran for six episodes and introduced Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan to MCU; and concluded with Tatiana Maslany’s fourth-wall-breaking Jennifer Walters. Each series certainly had its own, distinct flavor and, as with all things, didn’t satisfy the palates of all fans. Team MM watched and covered them all, so with them now behind us, we thought we’d share which series were to our taste in the return of the Team-Up!
Joao Pinto
Moon Knight might not be the MCU series that better managed to stick its landing—especially not when compared to Loki, Ms. Marvel, or She-Hulk—but its build-up was indeed special. The character work developed by Oscar Isaac is likely to still be unparalleled in the MCU, and the psychological components made for an incredibly compelling experience ahead of the lackluster and uninspired finale. The weeks while the show was airing were incredibly stimulating both as an audience member and as someone who got to write about the show, perhaps in a way that I hadn’t yet felt, and likely haven’t since, when it comes to Marvel Studios Disney+ series.
Being a fan of Jeff Lemire’s Moon Knight run it was wonderful to see so many elements from it being adapted to the small screen, as well as witnessing the unfolding of the future of the Gods in the MCU, with established connections to both Thor: Love and Thunder and the upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The somewhat tedious series finale is unlikely to remain as the final Moon Knight chapter in the MCU. So being, the amazing work developed in the first five episodes will still surely be given a proper climax, one that highlights just how impressive the show really was…if you leave out the finale.
Mary Rowe
She-Hulk is my favorite MCU series of Phase Four. It introduced a main character that represented a very down-to-Earth person, whose super adventures only added to the baseline personal story. It was hilarious, the final two episodes were absolutely phenomenal and memorable, and Marvel seemed unworried about portraying very real women and not shying away from important topics and concepts that are often ignored because they shine a bad light on (a) reality for women, and (b) the “fandom” and general internet’s misogyny. But even without that, it was the most enjoyable show by far, and I can’t wait to see more of this kind of comedy and creative approach in the MCU going forward.
Torbjorn Frazier
My favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe series from Disney+ this year was She-Hulk: Attorney at Law with a bullet. While Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel both had fantastic high points, the latest series from Marvel Studios was most consistent with its high quality. Led by a phenomenal performance from Tatiana Maslany, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law felt like the first MCU project to fully embrace its status as a television series within the greater universe. The stakes weren’t as catastrophic as many of Phase Four’s contemporaries, but they were very much real and resonate in the modern world (it truly was a marvel to watch the show so accurately predict the bad faith negative commentary that would come from toxic corners of the internet). And then of course, the back two episodes of the series provided Marvel’s creative high points of the year thus far. Daredevil had a natural transition from Netflix to the MCU-proper, and then the creative team provided a masterful adaptation of fourth-wall shattering akin to many seminal She-Hulk comic runs.
Before principal photography on She-Hulk: Attorney At Law ever got underway, rumors had the legal comedy pegged for a 10-episode first season. Similar rumors hovered around Marvel Studios’ first streaming effort, WandaVision, which like She-Hulk, ultimately consisted of nine episodes. With most of Marvel Studios’ streaming series consisting of 6 episodes, these two stand as outliers. So what determines just how many episodes will comprise each series? According to director Kat Coiro, the episode count for She-Hulk wasn’t something that was predetermined by Marvel Studios.
Talking with The Direct, Coiro explained that She-Hulk was fairly deep into development before the number of episodes started to come into focus.
One of the most amazing experiences I’ve had as a creator and as an artist is Marvel is not bound by the same rules as, you know, other TV shows that have to be 22 minutes. And the story really dictated the length of the season. And so as the story came into focus and as we started putting the pieces together, it landed at nine. It could’ve been eight, it could’ve been eleven. And it’s the same with the length of the episodes. There isn’t a number you have to hit. It really is, ‘What’s best for this episode,’ which, in my opinion, is how it should be.
Kat Coiro
One of the benefits of owning your own streaming series is being able to play a little fast and loose with things like runtime and episode count. And while that may seem obvious, it’s something that Marvel Studios has struggled with throughout their first round of streaming series. Criticisms of rushed or crammed finale have been levied against series like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Hawkeye. On the other hand, Loki’s total runtime seemed just right. Perhaps as Marvel Studios continues to evolve as a “television studio”, they’ll continue to learn the right lessons and let the story dictate the runtime, not let the runtime dictate the story.
Of all the obscure comic book characters introduced over the 9-episode run of She-Hulk:Attorney At Law, it was an original character developed for the show that captured the hearts of fans. Patty Guggenheim’s Madisynn was undoubtedly the surprise star of her time on the show. Her “bestie” relationship with Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Wong, played by MCU vet Benedict Wong, played out wonderfully throughout Episode 4, “Is This Not Real Magic”, and continued on into a hilarious post-credit scene. As it turns out, while She-Hulk featured several scripted post-credit scenes, Madisynn’s “Wongers” scene wasn’t one of them.
According to director Kat Coiro, the idea for the scene developed as the crew delighted in the on-set chemistry between Wong and Guggenheim.
You know, when Wong and Madisynn have their little moment, that was not scripted but they had such incredible comedic chemistry that, at the end of the day, I had them sit on the couch, and threw a couple cameras on them and said, ‘Go. Go forth and make comedy.’ And they sure did. So, part of what was amazing about this process was the collaboration and really leaning into the strengths of our actors. And part of the secret of comedy is letting people get loose, and have fun, and play around. And so, whenever we had the opportunity to do that we would.
Kat Coiro
It’s great to see that the creative team of She-Hulk was able to recognize the comedic gold they had on their hands in Madisynn. Noboy’s asking for a Mr. Immortal spinoff, but MCU fans are definitely wondering when they might see Madisynn again!
Paramount Television has reached a deal to adapt Geoff Johns’ Image Comics title Geiger. Set in a Mad Max-esque dystopia in 2050, Geiger tells the story of a man named Tariq who survived the Unknown War of 2030 and now protects the people of the wastelands from criminals and scavengers. According to Deadline, Johns will write the pilot and then serve as showrunner and executive producer alongside Justin Simien.
Published in 2021, Geiger’s first story arc ran for six issues and was followed up by an old-school 80-page giant-sized issue that looks to be setting up a Geiger-verse full of characters called The Unnamed who are somehow connected by through fighting in wars dating back to American Revolution of 1776. One of the characters, a robot named Junkyard Joe who fought in the Vietnam War, recently debuted his own solo series.
As of publication, no timeline for the start of production of the series was given, but it’s safe to say fans shouldn’t expect it to hit the screen until late-2023 at best, but more likely 2024.
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