Marvel News

SPOILERS for ENDGAME below

I've posted my initial thoughts on Avengers: Endgame (along with checklists for scoops/predictions), but I have a few other bits and pieces before we get into the usual news.

Two supposed easter eggs have been making the rounds:

• The earthquake off the coast of Africa that Black Widow and Okoye reference is a nod to Namor

While this is possible, it's not as blatant an easter egg as Iron Man 2 (where Atlantis is seemingly shown on the map).

• Peggy Carter references Captain Britain by mentioning "Braddock"

This is during the 1970 time travel sequence, so if it is an easter egg it must be referencing his father (what would be the point of marooning the character in a time period where, canonically, he can't actually fulfill his hero role?).

We also have a couple of theories about how two deceased characters may appear in forthcoming properties if they aren't simply prequels.

Loki (Disney+): during the 2012 time travel sequence Loki is able to steal the Tesseract and escape (this is what requires the trip to 1970); narratively this means there's a timeline where that happens which does not effect the prime MCU timeline. What it does is create latitude if they want to use him again while still preserving his death (much as we have the 2014 Gamora set-up for Guardians 3)--Forbes believes the show will be his adventures in the alternate timeline, which is plausible, but that would not meet the expectation Kevin Feige set that these shows will impact the movies.

Black Widow (film): the theory above has a lot of proponents, while this one does not. Regardless, there are two ways we could get Widow in the MCU's present: 1) Banner says he tried very hard to bring her back when he performed the Snap, but couldn't--he might simply be wrong, 2) When Cap goes back in time, it affords him the opportunity to rescue Nat. I don't believe either of these is correct (the writers of Endgame are pretty explicit that she's dead, although their reasoning wouldn't apply to a past Widow who is rescued). I remain at a loss what a prequel to a dead character can hope to accomplish (if that's all it is).

A final observation: genuine spoilers for Endgame appeared broadly April 15th (via Twitter), the exact same timeframe that they did with Infinity War last year (back then Frank Palmer at Screen Geek indirectly spoiled Loki's death for me by discussing the spoiler). I steered clear of the usual places this time around and was able to avoid the problem. I don't think this will be an issue for the MCU for a long time, since culmination films like this are only going to reach a fever pitch after long intervals (a reality the comicbook industry has failed to learn, ie, Marvel's yearly events). As for how long that will be, the Thanos-narrative took seven or eight years (depending on when you believe Marvel decided to go with the Infinity Gauntlet story), so while that doesn't dictate how things will be in the future (especially since when it started Marvel was making two films a year and soon they will be doing four along with Disney+), but I'd think no sooner than five.

Two pieces of casting news for The Eternals have come out:

• 1) Umberto Gonzalez is reporting Korean star Ma Dong-seok has landed an undisclosed role--given how badly Umberto bungled the Katherine Langford scoop, we have to take this with a grain of salt
• 2) THS is adding details to its story from March about the film looking to cast a gay role with a gay actor: at the time they guessed this would be Hercules, but THS' own Charles Murphy says that's not the case and that Hercules may not even be in the film (an ironic pronouncement since he started that rumour). The role is for a character named "James" who is "intellectual, emotional, and has a strong sense of family." They are looking to cast an Asian actor and THS says that the lead option is Conrad Ricamora. It's difficult to match this character description to anyone on the cast list (meaning he could be in a supporting role, which would also contradict the initial THS report that said he was a lead)

Murphy continues to insist that Shang-Chi is going to be filming in Australia this summer rather than The Eternals, but I'm not clear on why. If it is Marvel has done a much better job hiding the casting for the film, because it would be the only one among the three in production (including Black Widow) that has had no leaks whatsoever.

In an interview with the LA Times Tessa Thompson said she'd heard rumours there was a pitch for a fourth Thor film--this matches hints from both Chris Hemsworth (in 2018 and then after Endgame's release) and Taika Waititi (2017) about it (their quotes via the link). Where there's smoke, there's fire, and I've been assuming we'll get another film with Thor ever since Ragnarok. Endgame also implies Thor will be in Guardians 3, which I hope is true since the change in his character suits that franchise extremely well.

A dead Twitter account (lasting all of a few days in December) from Roger Wardell had credible scoops for Endgame, such that I think the rest of his speculation is worth addressing:

• Black Knight in film

This was echoed by a 4chan post a month later, but as a potential Disney+ show (which was then presented as a scoop by Jeremy Conrad without referencing either source).

• Power Pack/Ms Marvel likely as shows

Feige has mentioned being fond of the former for years; he's also confirmed Kamala Khan appearing (the time jump in Endgame speeds up her arriving), but beyond that there have been no specifics (although both could easily work as shows, even if I have negligible interest in the former).

• A Thunderbolts film featuring: Zemo (Civil War), Ghost (Ant-Man and the Wasp), Justin Hammer (Iron Man 2), General Ross (Hulk), Abomination (Hulk), and the Leader (Hulk)

Rumours about this kind of film have been floating around for a very long time, spiced up by James Gunn admitting an interest back in 2014 (undoubtedly this transitioned into Suicide Squad nicely for him). There are contracts in place for many of the actors, but as yet there's nothing firm about it. I'm hesitant to accept the lineup here, but the general idea is plausible. I'm not sure if having Ross at Tony's funeral in Endgame is a nod to his future use or simply one to The Incredible Hulk (ala Harley Keener appearing in that scene for Iron Man 3).

In all these instances Wardell says that they are being discussed, not that they are specifically going to happen--this is an important distinction to keep in mind.

iHorror is reporting New Mutants has been delayed again, their source saying:

They want to wait until the merger is completed before they make decisions about the release of certain films, including The New Mutants.  The new release date will be far away from August.  Nothing else is known at this point. This makes perfect sense and, if true, is probably the end of the film as a theatrical release.

I have no idea how reliable iHorror is, but a delay (if not outright shelving) of the film would not be surprising.

With a 40% drop in viewership The Gifted has been cancelled. I believe that while Marvel Entertainment (which runs the TV shows that aren't on Disney+) will continue to have shows on Hulu, the number will be small and (once Agents of SHIELD ends) that will be the only network it's involved with. Personally, I don't see the point of disconnected elements of Marvel.

I've been mentioning Shazam's box office for awhile (346 million currently), due to the endless stream of articles and videos proclaiming it a great success. Where does the film fit on the scale of major comicbook movies since Iron Man? I have the MCU in green, DC in red, Fox in blue, and Sony remains black:
1. Infinity War 2.04
2. Avengers 1.51
3. Age of Ultron 1.4
4. Black Panther 1.34
5. Iron Man 3 1.21
6. Civil War 1.15
7. Aquaman 1.14
8. Captain Marvel 1.1
9. The Dark Knight Rises 1.08
10. The Dark Knight 1.0
11. Spider-Man: Homecoming 880
12. Batman v Superman 873
13. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 863
14. Venom 855
15. Thor: Ragnarok 853
16. Wonder Woman 821
17. Deadpool 2 785 (this includes Once Upon a Deadpool)
18. Deadpool 783
19. Guardians of the Galaxy 773
20. The Amazing Spider-Man 757
21. Days of Future Past 747
22. Suicide Squad 746
23. Winter Soldier 714
24. Amazing Spider-Man 2 708
25. Doctor Strange 677
26. Man of Steel 668
27. Justice League 657
28. Thor: The Dark World 644
29. Iron Man 2 623
30. Ant-Man and the Wasp 622
31. Logan 619
32. Iron Man 585
33. Apocalypse 543
34. Ant-Man 519
35. Thor 449
36. The Wolverine 414
37. Captain America 370
38. First Class 353
39. Shazam 346
40. The Incredible Hulk 263
41. Green Lantern 219
42. The Fantastic Four 168

It will finish as one of the poorest performing comicbook films in years and the lowest in the DCEU by a considerable margin. I remain baffled that no one seems to want to discuss why it only worked in North America (I can find exactly one video looking at its performance). I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here and I will be letting it go, but that lack of reflection is puzzling--I'm genuinely curious why industry people think something so safe and critically praised tanked like this (my theory is the target audience was wrong--making it a straight-up kids movie killed it).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)