Marvel News

Far From Home director Jon Watts seems to have shot down some popular rumours: 1) there's no Gwen Stacey (something that's pretty obvious given how hard they are pushing Michelle as the love interest), 2) there's no Captain Britain (there's no chance Kevin Feige would introduce non-Sony IP in a Sony film [apparently I'm being a bit glib here, as he was at least referenced in an early version of the script]), 3) and no Norman Osborn (this runs contrary to many rumours, eg).

A number of people (eg) have pointed out that set-photos from Black Widow include a 2017 BMW, bringing up the question of when the film takes place. We know Sebastian Stan said after Civil War (which would work for this vehicle), although that runs contrary to other rumours about the film (all placing it before Iron Man, with quibbles over how much earlier). There's the strong possibility that the filmmakers simply didn't notice or didn't care (that the car is just a car). Another set photo seems to confirm the Taskmaster rumours from way back in October [November] (part of the original THS scoop, I believe)--a character whose rights returned with the Daredevil IP back in 2012.

Umberto Gonzalez reports that Salma Hayek is being eyed for The Eternals (there are some confusing elements in the writing of the article that doesn't make it clear if she has been cast or is being considered for the cast--the headline implies the latter, the article the former). There's no certainty about who she would be playing (if the cast breakdown is still accurate--Charles Murphy implies it is not) it's not clear who she would be--Thena? Elysius?), but The Wrap claims that Angelina Jolie's Sersi is the lead of the film (it's worth recalling Gonzalez was pushing the narrative that she would be race-swapped up until Jolie's casting, so take his opinions with a grain of salt). It's pretty clear Marvel is trying to reduce their risk with the property by bringing in stars to push it forward (unlike using a relative unknown like Chris Pratt to lead the parallel property Guardians of the Galaxy).

ComicBook.com says they've verified a casting breakdown and production date (January-May, 2020) for the film whose original scoop comes from Discussing Film (DF were unsure what movie the casting call was for, but CBC says it's Doctor Strange 2). The role is for "Will" who must be "Mid-20s, Chinese-American (must be able to do a standard American accent)." Discussing Film broke the production date earlier this month, but this is the first official casting news we've heard for the film and the first news about the cast since Wardell's Tweet back in December (there was a 4chan post echoing it in May, but that appears to be simply a rehash of the same information). Wardell's information mentioned an Asian-Clea, but that's clearly not this role (keep in mind that his rumour was before the script of the film was written, so the substance could have changed considerably).

One IP we've heard nothing about is Deadpool. Bob Iger has said repeatedly we'll continue to see the character, but we have no idea in what way. Fox was intending to have him transition from Deadpool 2 to X-Force (a solid idea given that the sequel didn't live up to the original), but maintaining that continuity would mean all associated characters would be locked away from the MCU-proper (Colossus et al). A month ago Jeremy Conrad floated three options (echoed by Charles Murphy): 1) Deadpool 3, 2) Spider-Man 3, 3) Disney+. All of these seem like poor choices, but all three are on the periphery of the MCU and that may be where Feige wants to keep him. One idea is to reboot the character with Reynolds--this would bring a number of advantages, among which are shedding all the Fox associations (freeing up everything else in the IP for Marvel as well as removing the Fox association); it would also kickstart a character who had stopped growing in his sequel. The downside of this approach is that fans of his franchise might hate the change (that wouldn't worry me, but I'm not Feige).

Phase Four Transitions

I wanted to take a look at how Marvel is transitioning the MCU moving into Phase Four. I thought I'd start that process by doing a body count for the Phase One franchise characters (those dead or thought unavailable in red; those still active in green; those dead or retired but still getting a show or movie are in yellow; unknown status in purple).

• Iron Man: Tony (dead), Rhodes (alive, but unattached to a project), Pepper (Paltrow unsigned & seemingly done), Morgan (very young), Happy (continues), Agent Coulson (dead), Harley Keener (no plans), Iron Monger (dead), Whiplash (dead), Justin Hammer (rumours but nothing else), Aldrich Killian (dead), Trevor Slattery (unlikely to be seen again given his reception)
• Hulk: Bruce (continues on), Secretary Ross (continues on); all other characters (unused since, although we get periodic rumours about the villains)
• Thor: Thor (continues on), Odin (dead), Frigga (dead), Loki (dead, but Disney+), Heimdall (dead), Warriors Three (dead), Sif (unknown; rumoured Disney+), Jane Foster (Portman uninterested in reappearing), Darcy (ignored since Dark World), Erik Selvig (not used since Ultron), Skurge (dead), Valkyrie, Korg, Hela (dead, but as the goddess of death easy to bring back if they wish)
• Captain America: Cap (retired), Peggy (dead), Bucky (Disney+), Falcon (Disney+), Sharon Carter (Disney+), Alexander Pierce (dead), Jasper Sitwell (dead), Crossbones (dead)
• Black Widow: dead (prequel)
• Hawkeye: retired (Disney+); family remains alive
• Nick Fury: remains active (Far From Home)
• Maria Hill: ibid

Of the Phase Two series' (Guardians and Ant-Man), all the characters are active outside some of their villains, but the latter series seems to be over. The introduced new Avengers (Scarlett Witch and Vision) are getting their own Disney+ show (the latter despite being dead). Everything from Phase Three remains active (Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel), and other than a pair of villains, no one is dead and the supporting cast remains intact.

I last went through the hypothetical Phase Four slate in May, but in light of recent news I think it's worth revisiting (the information cited below comes from here unless otherwise noted).

2020*

[April 3 - New Mutants - not an MCU film, but being released by Disney]

May 1 - Black Widow (currently filming; it must be this release window given the production schedules)

Nov.6 - The Eternals (expected to film this September; we've had a lot of casting news for it)

2021

Feb.12 - Shang-Chi (expected to film this November; casting seems to have only just begun)

May 7 - Guardians 3 (filming in 2020, possibly in February)

[July - Spider-Man 3 if the deal with Sony is renewed]

Nov.5 - Doctor Strange 2 (filming Jan-May as per above, leaving plenty of time to hit this target and echo it's previous release window)

2022

Feb.18 - Black Panther 2 (work on the script has been ongoing since October; this date would echo the first film)

May 6 - Captain Marvel 2 (no specific rumours about it, but given the box office a sequel is certainly coming)

July 29 - Thor 4 (this runs contrary to the 2023 rumour from Redditor TMSM, but would be five years since Ragnarok, which matches the longest gap between MCU-franchise films)

*It remains possible for Marvel to add a date to 2020--the suggested start of filming Shang-Chi could make the November, 2020 deadline (it's the same timeframe as Doctor Strange), meaning The Enternals (beginning a few months earlier) could slot into late summer--just because it's possible doesn't make it likely, but it's worth keeping in mind

Other possibilities: Black Knight (via Wardell), Thunderbolts (ibid), Captain Britain (name-dropped in Endgame), an Avengers-film, Nova (oft-rumoured), and Namor (but with Universal complications, so not likely). It does not include a Deadpool film (which, if detached from the MCU, wouldn't be part of this schedule).

It needs to be kept in mind that with the addition of Fox's production capacity the MCU can easily add dates to 2021 and onward (it's likely too late to have more than three films in 2020), expanding the potential films we could see.

Neil Gaiman pitched an adaptation of his Marvel 1602 last year for Disney+, but Feige passed on the idea. I've never read the series, but abstractly I can guess that one of the problems for Marvel would be integrating that history into their existing framework.

I mentioned last time that I wasn't sure where Armin was getting some of his more speculative news since he never cites sources. Now I know: We Got This Covered. The proof? The website reported via a 'source' that nine Tom Holland Spider-Man films are planned for the MCU--two days later Armin regurgitated the exact same story. This matches exactly what I referenced in my previous post. I realize this mystery likely only interests me, but I've long wondered where he was getting some of his more outlandish stories.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)