After partnering with Sony, Amazon behan dipping their toes in Marvel waters with Angela Kang’sSilk: Spider Society. Earlier this year, Amazon gave Oren Uziel the green light to develop a live-action Spider-Man Noir streaming series. Now, they’ve enlisted someone intimately familiar with a Marvel character who first appeared in a Spidey comic to serve with Uziel as the co-showrunner.
According to Variety, Steve Lightfoot, who was the showrunner for both seasons of Netflix’s The Punisher, has agreed to board the project and share duties with Uziel.
Based on an alternate universe Spider-Man created in 2008 by David Hine and Marko Djurdjevic, Spider-Man Noir will follow the adventures of a non-Peter Parker Spidey in 1930’s New York. Actor Nicolas Cage voiced a version of the character in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Though Kang’sSilk series has been in development for some time, no timeline for the debut of the series on the streaming service has been given. It’s believed that Amazon’s deal with Sony has also generated several other ideas that are at different points in their development.
Lucasfilm will release two brand new Star Wars streaming series next year. According to an official release, The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew are slated to debut on Disney Plus in 2024. Neither series was given a release window in the announcement.
The Acolyte will be Lucasfilm’s first live-action Star Wars project set during the High Republic era and “will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes but discovers the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.”
Directed by Jon Watts (Marvel Studios Spider-Man trilogy), Skeleton Crew, which “tells the story of four kids who find themselves lost in the vastness of the galaxy trying to find their way home,” is set during the same New Republic era as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. The series was originally set to debut in late 2023 but recent rumors have it facing a nearly one-year delay to the end of 2024.
Some fans may be a bit disappointed to find out that neither a fourth season of The Mandalorian nor a second season of Andor are currently set for release in 2024. It was also believed that a second season of Tales of the Jedi, a canonical animated anthology, would debut in 2024 but there’s no mention of it in the release.
Through a press release via Disney UK, Marvel Studios 2024 streaming slate has been revealed.
As has been expected for some time, 2024 will only see 3 Marvel Studios projects hit the streaming service: Echo, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries and X-Men ’97.
Echo will kick off the year for the studio with all 5 episodes debuting simultaneously on Hulu and Disney + on January 10th. While no release date was given for Kathryn Hahn‘s Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, it’s expected to begin streaming in September. Live Darkhold Diaries, X-Men ’97, a revival of the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series, doesn’t have a firm release date but has long been rumored to be debuting “early in 2024.”
Star Wars seems like it could dethrone any franchise even if Disney+ has fewer subscribers than the streaming giant that is Netflix. So, many different metrics can showcase the success of a project in this modern data-based world. It’s getting more and more difficult as people online swing wildly with analytics and data points to showcase just how big a project truly is or not. Still, there’s always something interesting that pops up now and then to tease just how big a new project might be in this streaming age.
For Netflix, it seems they won the third quarter with their latest live-action anime adaptation; a far cry from where they were when Cowboy Bebop was released last year. The winner in Q3 according to an analysis from The Wrap is One Piece, which even managed to pull in a bigger interest in the US throughout its first 30 days in comparison to Ahsoka, The Boys spinoff Gen V, and the latest The Walking Dead spinoff.
We know that the series was big enough to get a second season (and hopefully gets the opportunity to grow even more beyond given just how much there is to explore from the original manga series). However, seeing just how big the adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s iconic series has become in the States is a showcase of just how universal the storyline is. Hopefully, they will be able to move forward fast and start filming to avoid losing the audience’s interest due to long waits in between seasons. So, we’ll see how fast the franchise starts moving forward.
Marvel Studios’ first canonical animated series, What If…?, is returning to Disney Plus for a second season. Season 2 will feature 9 more multiversal adventures that put a spin on familiar events from the Sacred Timeline. Season 1 memorably featured a universe where a quantum virus set zombies loose on Earth, one where Ultron won and another where Thanos was a Ravager and Season 2 promises to bring even more variety to the ever-expanding multiverse.
Marvel Studios is experimenting with an all-new, all-different rollout for Season 2 of What If…?, dropping one episode a day beginning on December 22nd. Before you start taking in that holiday treat, you’ve still got some time to prepare and so–as you’ve no doubt come to expect–Murphy’s Multiverse has put together The Ultimate List of What to Watch Before Season 2 of What If…?.
Given the premise of What If…? is unlike that of any other Marvel Studios project, it only makes sense that the Ultimate List would reflect that and so it’s a little different than what we usually roll out.
How It Started…
Loki, Season 1: Episode 6-For All Time, Always
The multiversal adventures of What If…? would never have taken place if Sylvie had not gotten all stabby-stabby with He Who Remains in the Season 1 finale of Loki. There’s no shame in rewatching every episode of both seasons of Loki, however, if you want to cut to the chase and get to the moment that each of the new timelines in which the adventures in What If…? take place, then you simply need to check out Season 1, Episode 6.
How It Went…
What If…?, Season 1
Season 1 of What If…? originally seemed like an anthological collection of disparate stories spread out all over the newly formed Multiverse. Episodes dedicated to Captain Carter and Star-Lord T’Chall were entertaining on their own merit but as the series progressed, the storylines began to converge as Uatu assembled great heroes from around the Multiverse. Some of those characters are set to return for Season 2 and reacquainting yourself with their stories will only add to your enjoyment of following their next steps.
Where It’s Going Next…
Undoubtedly, venturing back onto the branches of the multiverse to recall the events of Season 1 will be beneficial to your enjoyment of Season 2…but why stop there? New episodes means Uatu will be narrating stories from other branches–or maybe further exploring branches already seen in Season 1. While we refuse to get spoilery here, a list of episode titles made its way into the wild, allowing us to direct you toward some projects that might be worth revisiting before they become Nexus Events in Season 2.
Listed in Disney +’s Timeline Order:
Captain America: The First Avenger
The Tesseract will play a major role in at least one episode of Season 2 when a Mohawk woman named Kahhori–at totally original character created for the show–discovers it on Earth centuries before TFA. Watching TFA provides some background on the object which continues to play a big part in the MCU throughout the Infinity Saga.
Iron Man 3
Happy Hogan saves Christmas!? An entire episode of Season 2 is dedicated to Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan and given that it’s set at Christmas it’s possible that it spins out of the events of Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 which takes place at Christmas because it’s Shane Black’s Iron Man 3. The Forehead of Security spent most of Iron Man 3 in a hospital bed after being near an Extremis soldier that went boom so this may be a way to give the character a new adventure during that time though we cannot confirm Iron Man 3 is the backdrop.
Guardians of the Galaxy
A pair of Season 2 episodes will deal with events from the Guaridans franchise but rewatching James Gunn‘s first–and best–MCU film should provide all the information you need about Peter Quill, Nebula and the Nova Corps.
Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron
Before Season 1 of What If…?, a leak indicated that one episode would find Tony Stark on Sakaar rather than the Hulk and Thor. That episode will be part of Season 2 but how did Stark get there? Our best guesses are that the wormhole created by the Tesseract in Avengers led him there OR he switches places with Hulk at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron and somehow finds his way to the junk heap. Watch them both because there’s no downside to watching the first team up again or rewatching a film that has held up much better than folks thought it might!
Thor: Ragnarokand Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
As if she needed to be any more awesome, an episode of Season 2 will give Thor’s sister Hela, the Goddess of Death, access to the powerful Ten Rings! Her story as told in Ragnarok was absolutely fascinating and it’ll be very interesting to see how the rings augment her already unique powers.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
What If…? is a show about the Multiverse and 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness taught the audience that there’s no bigger threat to said Multiverse than Stephen Strange. Rewatch it because it’s awesome; rewatch it to meet some of those scary Strange Variants; rewatch it because Sam Raimi might be doing a lot more work with Marvel Studios in the future. One of those Variants–Strange Supreme–didn’t appear in the film but was a major player in Season 1 of What If…? and is confirmed to return in Season 2 so it’s good to remember that not all Stranges are good Stranges and also that good is relative in the Multiverse.
Bonus Reading
Marvel 1602
A first in our Ultimate List series! For decades, Marvel Comics has been known as the House of Ideas. While Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created an enormous sandbox full of rich characters, many writers over the years have thought outside the (sand)box and told stories in alternate universes much like the ones imagined in What If…? One of the most divisive efforts to tell these alt-universe stories came from the mind of Neil Gaiman who decided to bring about the age of heroes 400 years earlier than Lee and Kirby! Published in 2003, Marvel 1602 reinterprets the origins and lives of characters such as the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Captain America and more during a time when superstition reigned supreme over science. If you have time for a quick, 8-issue romp through the 17th century from the mind of one of comic’s most singular authors, pick up Marvel 1602 at your LCS or check it out on Marvel Unlimited before seeing how it’s adapted in Season 2!
About What If…? Season 2
The Watcher returns to season two of Marvel Studios’ What If…? when the animated series begins streaming on Disney+ on Dec. 22. And in the spirit of the holiday season, fans are invited to unwrap a new episode nightly for nine nights.
Season two of What If…? continues the journey as The Watcher guides viewers through the vast multiverse, introducing brand new and familiar faces throughout the MCU. The series questions, revisits and twists classic Marvel Cinematic moments with an incredible voice cast that includes a host of stars who reprise their iconic roles. Featuring fan-favorite characters this season like Nebula, Hela and Happy Hogan, episodes are directed by executive producer Bryan Andrews with executive producer AC Bradley as head writer.
There’s a fun irony to see The Boys series slowly turn into exactly what it mocked in its earliest seasons. The series created by Eric Kripke explored a dark and twisted take on superheroes that is steeped deeply in American politics and consumerism. It was the “gotcha” of its time as an anti-movement towards the more light-hearted fun the superheroes on the silver screen offered by mocking its foundations as a franchise-building, marketable product.
The Boys is now set to get its third spinoff series, The Boys: Mexico. The offshoot will be developed by Blue Beetle writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, who is seemingly actively looking for a co-showrunner to join the project. The project has not started casting and is set to film in Latin America. This marks another expansion of the Boys-verse after the recent release of Gen V and the animated spinoff Diabolical, which were both steeped in the R-rating of the original.
The series is also going to be executive produced by Andor’sDiego Luna and Werewolf by Night’sGale García Bernal, who is also interested in potentially having a minor role of some kind in the series, though it’s not yet set in stone. It’ll likely further explore another venture by Vought into expanding its superheroes across the world, or perhaps be a series that echoes the normal man vs. the superheroes that we see in the main The Boys series. We’ll have to wait a bit until we get more info on the series as Gen V is also set to get a second season.
Iman Vellani is slowly becoming the face of Marvel Studios’ iconic franchise. Robert Downey Jr. held that mantle for a long time and any inclusion of him in a film was a big selling point and if she keeps it up, she is slowly building up that role. She just recently appeared in The Marvels and while her next major live-action appearance is uncertain, she does have an animated project on the horizon.
We still don’t know when we can expect it to release but Marvel Zombies is one of the next animated features set to release. First teases hinted at the same animation style as What If and highlighted it’s likely a unique what-if scenario from the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe. In an interview with The Direct, Vellani reveals that not only did she already finish her work on the project but Kamala Khan will have a major role in it.
We’ve done the whole thing. It was amazing. It was so much fun. And I love—there are a lot of cool characters in the ‘Marvel Zombies’ show. And Kamala is kind of the center of the show. They described it to me, it’s like, ‘She’s basically the Frodo of the story.’ And I was like, ‘That’s amazing.
Iman Vellani
She also highlights the excitement of having the character she started playing get to interact with various new characters through this animated style. Though, sadly, it seems they didn’t get a chance to record in a bigger group.
And I get to interact and meet all these people along her journey. And, yes, they’re only the voices, and I don’t get to hear their voices in real-time. But just, it’s my fantasies, right? Like, knowing Kamala is going to interact with some really cool people, even if it’s just animation, is so special in a lot of ways.
Iman Vellani
So far, we know very little about Marvel Zombies which was at one point touted as the first major R-rated project by Marvel Studios. While Echo has seemingly already taken that mantle with its upcoming January release, it’s still exciting to get another hint at what’s to come and the inclusion of these actors in the animated adaptation of the beloved comic book series. Here’s hoping they might be allowed to include Ash at some point.
Short of George Lucas, nobody associated with Lucasfilm understands what makes Star Wars tick quite like Dave Filoni. Now, the creator behind Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels and Ahsoka will step into a new role as Chief Creative Officer.
“In the past, in a lot of projects I would be brought into it, I would see it after it had already developed a good ways,” said Filoni. His new role as CCO will change that and allow him to oversee Star Wars projects from the start. “In this new role, it’s opened up to basically everything that’s going on,” Filoni said. “When we’re planning the future of what we’re doing now, I’m involved at the inception phase.I’m not telling people what to do,” Filoni explained. “But I do feel I’m trying to help them tell the best story that they want to tell. I need to be a help across the galaxy here, like a part of a Jedi Council almost.”
Filoni is still expected to helm a New Republic-era film that will tie together the stories of Disney Plus series The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett and Skeleton Crew. He explained that his new role involves “understanding the intent of the filmmakers and being a resource to them.” After spending years working with Lucas and developing films, Filoni has established himself as a wise, old master of the galaxy far, far away. “Literally, hours now of Star Wars storytelling I have done,” he said. “See…I even phrased that like Yoda.”
Filoni hopes those hours–numbered no doubt in the hundreds–will allow him to make a major difference with the filmmakers Lucasfilm brings on to continue telling Star Wars stories. “To truly help filmmakers, it was really important for me to experience it firsthand,” he said. “I can also lend a perspective on the challenges that telling these stories will present. I feel more capable of actually being helpful outside of just saying, ‘Well, Jedi are like this, and Sith are like this…” As challenging as Star Wars fandom can be, Filoni’s experience will allow him to be a Wayfinder for future storytellers.
What was once hailed as one of the future flagship series for the streaming giant, it seems that Shadow & Bone is no longer moving forward on the streamer after two seasons. It’s one of many shows getting canceled, which also includes Glamorous, Agent Evlis, Captain Fall, and Farzar. It seems that while viewing numbers weren’t strong, to begin with, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes were the last nail in the coffin for these projects.
The strikes led to a lot of productions getting delayed and ended up with a pipeline logjam for 2024 and 2025 moving forward for the streamer. Not just that but the big gaps between seasons are also going to lead to a major drop in viewership numbers; something they are fearing for some projects that are currently starting to get production back up.
The Night Agent and One Piece broke out in a big way, which puts them in a nice spot to get picked up fast to start production soon, but it seems Shadow and Bone lost too much momentum to move forward with its third season. Many believed that the Grishaverse novels were going to see spinoffs get developed but on top of the delay, the series wasn’t in the top spot even as it held on to the Top 10 for five weeks. Sadly, that seems to be the end for the adaptation.
Marvel Studios is trying something all-new and all-different with the second season of their first canonical animated adventure, What If…?, by switching up their long-standing release strategy. Starting December 22nd, fans will be able to tune into one multiversal adventure per day for nine days and, as seen in the first trailer for the project, will be meeting an interesting variant Avengers team.
The trailer comes out swinging by introducing fans to an alternate universe where a very powered-up Peter Quill in what, based on Quill’s age, is either set in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The young Quill Variant, who based on the use of his powers, seems to have spent some time with his father, Ego, draws the attention of S.H.I.E.LD., run by Peggy Carter and Howard Stark, who send a very interesting team of Avengers to deal with the boy.
As revealed over several scenes from the trailer, Quill is met by Bucky Barnes, Mar-Vell, Hank Pym/Ant-Man, Bill Foster/Goliath, King T’Chaka/Black Panther and Thor. The team is quite time-appropriate given what we know about the Sacred Timeline, though the inclusion of T’Chaka and Mar-Vell is very interesting given the relative anonymity of their alter egos in the 616 multiverse. Avengers Assemble!
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