Marvel News

Marvel's SDCC reveal has come and gone and the major surprise was the lack of surprises and how brief a time period Phase Four will cover (2020-21). Everything announced had been previously leaked except for Blade (which isn't in Phase Four regardless)--even the dates had been correctly guessed. The only surprises were some of the casting choices. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just what struck me as most notable.

With that out of the way, let's go through the projects one-by-one and compare them to what we knew coming in and what had been rumoured (using this summary as our primary reference, with adjustments for news that came out after I posted that). My last date prediction was before the Thor 4 announcement, putting it a bit off, while Charles Murphy (updating as he went on social media) was correct on all the dates for the Phase Four films.

The Films

May, 2020 - Black Widow - This release date had been understood forever because of where it stood in the production cue, but what wasn't clear was the timeline. Let's go through the various rumours:

• Sebastian Stan's reported comment in May (and a Redditor's in July) was correct that the film is post-Civil War; this debunked what THS (Murphy) said in both April and October; Jeremy Conrad's Y2K rumour in September; and TMSM's in June that it would be pre-Iron Man. While Conrad tends to parrot things he's read elsewhere (when he isn't simply guessing), I suspect someone leaked the 2004 David Hayter script for Lionsgate as the MCU's version of the film and this is what confused so many different leakers (clearly specific information for this film was not part of the massive leak Murphy received right after Infinity War dropped).
• The original THS casting leak has at least partially held up: Florence Pugh as the "female bond", O-T Fagbenle as "late 20/early 30s African, Middle Eastern, or East Indian", and Rachel Weisz as "50s in smaller, villainous role." The other four roles can't be judged until we see more of the cast.
• The 4chan leak in May that Florence Pugh was playing Yelena Belova was confirmed
• The many rumours that David Harbour was Taskmaster were debunked (he's playing Alexei Shostakov, aka Red Guardian in the comics)--none of these rumours came from the major leakers (Murphy debunked it a month ago); LotLB's belief that he was was playing Ben Grimm was understandably debunked, as was Murphy's speculation that it was Fagbenle's role
• Fabbenle is playing The Agent--the only rumour even close to this was LotLB, who had Henry Cavill as US Agent--despite similar names these are two distinct characters (Rick Mason is the former, John Walker the other)
• No one knew who Weisz was playing (she is Iron Maiden, Melina Vostokoff)

On the whole Marvel kept a pretty tight lid on the film. THS' casting leak seems real, but was so vague that the film's nature remained unknown. We now know (thanks to Weisz) that it features a number of Black Widows, and it's clear the intent of the film is to hand the role over to Florence Pugh going forward. I do wonder how they'll dance around the absence of the other Team Cap characters.

November, 2020 - The Eternals - Another date deduced by the production slate, so let's go through the various rumours:

• Part of the THS plot summary--that the struggle would be against the Deviants--has been confirmed at SDCC
• Beginning with Murphy at THS, including the trades (THR), and a very recent report from Umberto Gonzalez, had Sersi in a prominent role--right now she's not even in the film, although LofLB are claiming Marvel is in active negotiations with Millie Bobby Brown to play the role (THR's report was that the film was a love story between Ikaris and Sersi, which seems pretty unlikely given Richard Madden's age, 33, and Brown's, 15)
• THR reported Angelina Jolie was Sersi (THS correctly scooped she was in negotiations to join the cast), but she's actually playing Thena (keep in mind it is entirely possible Marvel simply changed her name due to all the reports of who she was playing)
• Richard Madden was correctly identified as Ikaris by the trades (Variety)
• Kumail Nanjiani's involvement comes from the trades (THR), but no one identified him as Kingo Sunen (so he's race-swapped from Japanese to Pakistani)
• None of the other actors had been rumoured and the old THS' Hercules speculation from their initial cast scoop crashed and burned (Don Lee is a race-swapped Gilgamesh, Lauren Ridloff a race and gender-swapped Makkari--she's also a deaf actress, although I'm unsure if we'll get sign language--the MCU has never used it, although we saw a version of it from Black Bolt in The Inhumans)
• THS did correctly have a gender-swapped Sprite (Lia McHugh), and the "Karen" character may be Salma Hayek's gender-swapped Ajak
• There's no sign of Druig, Elysius, Zuras, or Starfox from the original THS cast scoop
• No one had Phastos as part of the film (race-swapped for the movie)
• Rumours about Millie Bobby Brown's involvement are currently busted unless LotLB are correct; Keanu Reeves' involvement (from 4chan and then Conrad) involvement also seems debunked

The project is already filming in London, which is around the August window we've been hearing for awhile.

February, 2021 - Shang-Chi - Because of the Chinese New Year most people predicted this release date (even Armin). As for other rumours:

• The 4chan rumour (May) of the Mandarin appearing in the film was confirmed (whether he's the father or not we don't know)
• All the casting predictions crashed and burned (no Donnie Yen (LotLB and others), Ludi Lin, etc); Simu Liu, who got the lead role, pushed for it on social media

As is apparent not much leaked or was known about this project, other than it was happening. GWW claims Marvel is looking for a 25-35 African-American actor for the role of "Adam" with no idea what movie it is for (they believe it's either the role of Midnight in Shang-Chi or Doctor Voodoo in Doctor Strange 2). I'm dubious of GWW's speculation because of their ridiculous Norman Osborn guess from a month ago.

May, 2021 - Doctor Strange 2 - There was a big surprise here, but we'll go through that:

• Derrickson gave away Nightmare as the villain back in the promotional tour for the first Doctor Strange
• There was no clear sign, yet, of any of Wardell's (May) rumoured characters (the Ancient One, Doctor Voodoo, or Clea, but see the GWW rumour above) or the time-travel element
• There's also no sign of the 4chan (May) characters (Christine Palmer, Mordo, and Wong)
• No one predicted Scarlett Witch would appear and I'd call this the biggest casting surprise next to Blade
• The Namor rumour Derrickson started seems off the table
• Deadline claimed the film would be in 2020

Much like Shang-Chi there weren't a lot of rumours about this one. I wonder, given the title, if Derrickson is drawing inspiration from John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness? I'm also curious what they'll do with Wanda in the film (her series, apparently, directly leading into it)? LofLB claim mutants will be introduced in WandaVision/Doctor Strange 2 as from another multiverse and that's where we'll meet her father (they say it will be a loose adaptation of the House of M with Nightmare tormenting Wanda's mind).

November 2021 - Thor 4 - Only recently announced, so let's go through it:

• TMSM's claim that the film would be in 2023 crashed and burned (he's subsequently said that it's behind other films in terms of pre-production--take that with a grain of salt)
• No one predicted Natalie Portman would return as Jane Foster (something that makes me groan--I've seen her in at least ten films and she's been painfully bad in all of them); this makes the LotLB's rumour that Angela will appear almost certainly false

One of the strange things 'announced' about the film is that Valkyrie is an LGBTQ character, but this was confirmed back in the lead-up to Ragnarok so isn't news. That her relationship is with Jane isn't that interesting either (granted, because they've gone back to Portman, I'm not sure how you make the Foster-Thor work--"Emote Natalie!" followed by "I can't!").

I'm not sure how I feel about a Phase only lasting two years--it's the most truncated Phase we've ever had and lacks an obvious bookend like an Avengers film (it's also shorter, in terms of films, than both Phase Two and Three). It's difficult to imagine a throughline. If, and we've no confirmation of this, the rumour that cosmic/grounded are separated, then Black Widow->Falcon and the Winter Soldier->Hawkeye would clearly be the latter, with The Eternals->WandaVision->Doctor Strange->Loki->Thor 4 being the former (it's unclear what kind of film Shang-Chi would be--presumably grounded to round things out).

Upcoming Films

• Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - We heard no specifics; THR claimed it was filming in 2020 (TMSM going further and saying February), both of which remain feasible
• Black Panther 2 - Given that Ryan Coogler started writing it recently there aren't many rumours out there
• Captain Marvel 2 - Confirming the obvious (that it gets a sequel); what Monica Rambeau's appearance in WandaVision portends for this I have no idea
• Fantastic Four - It's long been speculated that this would be the first Fox IP to appear and that seems to be the case (although without dates, we can't be absolutely certain); Conrad (and many others) predicted 2022 (this date is also a litmus test for Wardell, who debunked the rumour)
• Blade - This was the big surprise; a Blade script has been floating around since 2013 and the film has been on the board for the MCU since the very beginning; other than his age, Mahershala Ali is a great choice and apparently he is the one who asked for the property; LofLB say that plans to have Tomb of Dracula put on Hulu are on hold because of the film, claiming Wesley Snipes will play Dracula (or has been offered that role) in the film
• "Mutants" (presumably X-Men because Kevin Feige subsequently said the two terms are interchangeable--I wonder if this vagueness is related to Victoria Alonso's bizarre idea that "X-Men" is sexist) - Feige also said "Whatever we do will be quite different than what's been done before," which matches my speculation of how they would approach the property; LofLB says the first X-Men film will be called House of X and claim the MCU are using Jonathan Hickman's current plans for the comics--as much as Feige likes Hickman's work, I rather doubt they would hitch themselves to whatever plans he has

These are, apparently, all Phase Five films, which will begin appearing in 2022. There's a tacit assumption that we'll get the above films officially announced at D23 in August, but I'm not so sure--announcing it so soon could take away from excitement over Phase Four. Then again, it's just around the corner.

Other IP

There was no sign of Ant-Man 3, making it likely there will be no sequel for Peyton Reed's franchise (if true, my prediction back in September still stands). We also didn't see hints of Captain Britain, Namor, Black Knight, Thunderbolts, Nova, Iron Heart, or an Avengers film, all of which have been rumoured.

Related Errors

There were many people (TMSM and others) saying no Fox IP for five years or more (2024 and later)--a nonsensical proposition boosted by Feige that's been blown out of the water
LotLB said Young Avengers would be announced at SDCC (didn't happen); they were at least partially correct about Fantastic Four and X-Men being announced
TMSM said Nova was further along than Thor 4, which is doubtful given the announcements

Disney+

One note that came through the announcement is that all shows take place after Endgame (with special circumstances for Loki and not counting the animated What If?). This isn't actually news, per se, simply confirming what prior rumours (and Bob Iger) have made clear. In terms of scoops, there isn't a lot to go on as most of the MCU-related sites are focused on the movies.

Fall, 2020 - The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Confirmed Deadline's report that Zemo was part of the cast (no sign yet of Sharon Carter); otherwise we can't judge the rumours (both from 4chan)

Spring, 2021 - WandaVision - The only detail we received was that Monica Rambeau would appear (!); this odd inclusion might suggest she won't be in Captain Marvel 2 (certainly there were no rumours about her--perhaps she's the one who inspires Ms. Marvel); we didn't get enough details to either confirm or deny what little we've heard about the show (all from 4chan), but apparently it will tie-in to Doctor Strange 2 and that during the show we'll see characters we've met before (Feige did use the plural, so presumably he's not only talking about Rambeau); I've seen speculation that Quicksilver could appear, but keep in mind that's speculation--Aaron Taylor-Johnson is currently shooting Tenet which will wrap no earlier than September, meaning he could be available in the fall when the show films). Kinda Culty believes the story will borrow from the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline (where Wanda suffers a full mental breakdown and needs Doctor Strange to pull her out of it)--this is certainly plausible.

Spring, 2021 - Loki - It was with sweet relief that we learned the Loki we're seeing is from the alternative timeline created by Endgame rather than the pre-history of the character who died in Infinity War; otherwise there just wasn't enough revealed to judge the rumours; interestingly, this show is already filming, but will appear third among the Disney+ series' (I assume this has to do with either Tom Hiddleston's schedule, MCU storylines, or both).

Fall, 2021 - Hawkeye - Variety confirmed Kate Bishop's participation in April, so there was nothing new here, although it does seem like the 4chan leak back in January is right about the plot (Hawkeye coming out of retirement to train Kate when she gets herself into trouble trying to be him).

Summer, 2021 - What If? - This animated series was announced back in March, but I was so disinterested I didn't report it; my interest hasn't changed--I never cared for these stories in the comics either and the fact that it's animated makes it even more ancillary to the MCU.

No other Disney+ shows were announced, but clearly others must be in the offing (there was no sign of Kinda Culty's prediction of a Valkyrie show--an odd rumour to begin with).

We also heard nothing about the upcoming New Mutants or a Deadpool sequel, which makes it clear at least the former property is not being folded into the MCU (since it will be released next year). One thing that did come out was that Feige is in full control of the Fox IP--I have no idea why anyone thought this was in question, but if it was, it is no longer.

A final pair of rumours from LofLB: they claim there will be a S.W.O.R.D. show on Hulu and it will include characters from Agents of SHIELD (which seems extremely unlikely); they also said that Keanu Reeves wants to play Adam Warlock (Guardians 3), but others are pushing him to play Moon Night (I think he's far too old for either role).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News

I wanted to get an article out before all the SDCC stuff drops, as there's a bit of news and some rumours to handle. First, some news: according to Variety Taika Waititi has jumped from directing the WB's Akira (slatted for production this fall) to write/direct Thor 4. This suggests that Thor 4 is coming relatively soon (2021/22), because otherwise there would be no need for him to leave Akira. We've had rumours about a Thor 4 since the press junkets for Ragnarok in 2017--an idea repeated by both Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth during and after the Endgame junkets.

Speaking of Valkyrie, one of the stranger rumours I've heard comes from Youtuber Kinda Culty: Valkyrie will get a Disney+ show. His source for this are comments by Thompson on the red carpet for Endgame (which I haven't located), but as far as I can tell no one else followed-up on those comments (including Thompson herself, as she told Collider she had no idea what was planned for her character)--this makes me doubt the prospect. I think Disney would struggle to drum-up interest in a show specific to her--she needs co-stars.

More from the Lords of the Long Box, as I continue accumulating their rumours to see what (if any) inside sources they have. Here's the gist of their latest video:

• They pointed out what I said awhile ago, that Jeremy Conrad's rumour about Daredevil in the next Spider-Man is impossible
• They agree with Conrad's second guess that She-Hulk (or at least Jennifer Walters) will fulfill a lawyer role in the sequel; they say she will appear on Disney+ before the third Spider-Man film (which, if true, means she has to show up very soon because it's just two years until the next film); it's a plausible rumour as she's been a solid MCU possibility for a long time; if she's going to appear on Disney+ it would presumably be in one of the already announced shows (as a supporting character); the fact that Universal owns her distribution rights is irrelevant in terms of this kind of usage
• They claim an insider saw two sets of concept art showing Machine Man: one with Starlord and the other with Thor and Hercules
• Apparently they previously claimed Hercules would debut in a Thor-film (something a bit hard to credit since Waititi hasn't put pen to paper yet, albeit whatever his pitch was could be be floating around)--the two characters have a strong association in the comics, but the only Hercules rumours we've heard previously were attached to The Eternals
• They claim that Sony has put the Venom sequel on hold while trying to get Marvel to produce the next Venom and incorporate it into the MCU; this could be true, although Feige has (to date) never incorporated a character not created in-house and I don't expect him to start now
• In an earlier video they said they'd heard Venom would be in the next Spider-Man (we had a series of articles about this a month or so ago after some very innocuous comments from Feige); I don't believe it
• They claim The Ankler story about the Sony-Marvel contract is wrong (a billion at the box office meaning another MCU-Spider-Man is automatic, otherwise renegotiation's are immediate); it's difficult to believe this, because even if this is what they've heard, Rushfield seems like a credible source
• They say Viggo Mortensen is being eyed to play Doctor Doom, but I think at age 60 he's much too old for the role
• They repeated the rumour that a race-swapped Kraven the Hunter is being discussed to make a cameo in Black Panther 2; this idea has a solid basis because Ryan Coogler wanted Kraven in the first Black Panther; the race-swap twist likely comes from BossLogic, who put out the rumour a few days ago; this plan could only happen with either a renewed Sony-deal or else a specific deal for the character, but as far as we know Sony still has writer Richard Wenk (hired last August) working on a script for their own, in-house film
• Moon Knight is coming either as a film or Disney+ show; there have been Moon Knight rumours basically every year since the MCU began, with the most recent in January from 4chan (saying it was being discussed); I'd consider this idea plausible

Of these various rumours the She-Hulk one is the most immediately testable--distinct enough from Conrad's since they include a Disney+ element.

The news cycle is a funny thing--I kept wondering why no one was contemplating the future of Shazam after its lackluster box office performance, but it seems as though the dam has finally burst as the barometer that is John Campea is finally openly wondering about it. There remains the possibility no sequel is coming (certainly having Black Adam's Dwayne Johnson pitching himself to the MCU doesn't help), but we've also heard that exec's are happy with the first film, so who knows what the WB will do?

I've mentioned GWW before, finding their MCU material a mixed bag at best. I've learned that the site is DC-focused, which might explain the lackluster Marvel track record (akin to habitual Tweeter Daniel RPK, who is also more of a DC-guy).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News

Variety mentioned that Millie Bobby Brown is in The Eternals, but not in an article proclaiming a casting exclusive, simply including her name among others in the film. This odd inclusion has lead to doubt about its veracity--Charles Murphy believes Variety is reporting a rumour, even though there are no other instances like it in the article (Kumail Nanjiani is also listed, but THR reported that Marvel was in talks with him in April, so even if not confirmed his involvement isn't a rumour). Either this is an odd slip (like Deadline saying Doctor Strange 2 will be a 2020 release), or the slip is including her when Marvel isn't ready to announce it.

Speaking of Murphy, he also says those old Hercules-in-The Eternals rumours come from 4chan (I believe he's referring to this 4chan post from January); I bring this up because I had it in my head that he had started that rumour--that he'd said as much on his podcast (he certainly spent time speculating about it)--but that memory seems to be in error [or it's very good, because exactly what he speculated in November, two months before the 4chan post].

Variety's Justin Kroll says Marvel is putting out offers to men in their 20s of Chinese ancestry for the role of Shang-Chi (I'd guess they'd want it finalized for SDCC). It's been a month since THS reported that Ludi Lin and Ross Butler were auditioning. Tangentially, the specificity of the casting (whose importance I brought up when the film was confirmed) runs in contrast to how Marvel Entertainment has approached casting characters (most obviously and in parallel with Iron Fist, where two prominent Chinese roles (Colleen Wing and Davos) went to Japanese and Indian actors). That's not to say the MCU always cares about such things, but clearly in this kind of landmark 'first' film (ala Black Panther or Captain Marvel) there's a different approach.

A news story that's making the rounds is that if Far From Home doesn't make a billion at the box office it will end the current iteration of the Marvel-Sony deal. The source of this story is Richard Rushfield and his publication The Ankler. He claims, and I've seen no one question the veracity of this claim, that a billion dollars guarantees a third Sony/MCU Spider-Man film (after which the renegotiation would have to occur--otherwise it would be happening now). Midnight's Edge goes through all this (saying they've heard the deal has already been re-negotiated, even though the stipulation for the original deal is true), but adds some very interesting information about the characterizations we've seen in the Tom Holland movies (ie, why Ned Leeds is a weird version of Ganke, the bizarre Michelle-MJ decision, Liz Allen becoming the Vulture's daughter, etc)--keeping in mind they can't officially confirm this information:

• For Sony to retain the Spider-Man IP they must release related films via the clock Marvel attaches to all its properties--this is apparently every 3 years and 9 months for filming to begin on sequels, and 5 years and 9 months between new iterations/new Spidey IP (we can take this information as fact because Deadline covered these specifics back in 2011); to miss either deadline means Sony loses their rights
• Homecoming does not 'count' in terms of the ticking clock--only films produced by Sony do, which is why Venom appeared when it did (it began filming five years after Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released)
• As for characters, it turns out that any Sony-owned version of a character that appears in an MCU-produced film becomes frozen as a disputed character should the deal end--this is why we have changes made to the characters (it's almost like the bizarre Star Trek license J. J. Abrams negotiated, where everything has to be 25% different); if true this debunks my theory from January that the changes were coming from Amy Pascal

The latter point, if true, doesn't include the possibility of a negotiated deal to free-up a particular character for use in the MCU, but it does explain why the villains we've seen have been less direct adaptations and not the ones we might expect. The Marvel Scoop Master (TMSM) adds that Sony obligates Marvel to produce the films every two years, which I hadn't heard before.

One other element from the as-yet unverified TMSM (link above) is this:

So [the] original plan for the post-credits scene was to have Oscorp tower show up with [Norman] Osborn and a (in progress) Sinister 6. Now it's worth noting that [in the] original the true ending (not counting post credits scenes) was the post credits scene, and the post credits scene played off of this with the members of the Sinister 6 finding out that Peter is Spider-Man and going after him. This would've brought back Shocker, Vulture, Scorpion, Mysterio (yup); but also include Dmitri (the bus driver) as Chameleon with Osborn bringing them together. This was shot, VFX was done. It was in the can. Then in the last minute, Watts decided to scrap all of that, and cut the film so that it ends pre-maturely and then the ending became the mid-credits scene.

How credible is this? Back in May we had confirmation there would be no Vulture in the film and since the film's release Watt has talked about using Kraven next (while saying it's not up to him). It does, however, match elements missing from the 2018 4chan leak, which seems to be based on the authentic leak that went to Murphy (via an early script for the film). We know a lot was cut from the theatrical release, but this would be a massive change to make (particularly if the effects were done). I find it a bit hard to swallow that the scene was actually shot and cut--that's a very expensive change to make and, if that's the direction the MCU wants to go, why is Watt's talking about something completely different? It's odd.

One thing to keep in mind about the Sony deal: when Marvel originally approached Sony they were in a very different place. Most of the MCU's best-known, owned-characters had all already appeared on-screen, and while their movies were very successful Amazing Spider-Man 2 made about the same as Winter Soldier--they weren't yet at the point where any MCU film (not made by Peyton Reed) had a shot to make a billion at the box office. However, the moment Disney began the process of buying Fox (at the end of 2017), Sony's leverage has ebbed away. Does Marvel want to make Spider-Man films? Of course, but the return of thousands of characters from Fox (particularly the Fantastic Four and X-Men) means they could very comfortably live without him.

Umberto Gonzalez is reporting that John Wick creator Derek Kolstad has joined Falcon and the Winter Soldier as a writer. I'm indifferent to the Wick-franchise, so the news doesn't impact me one way or another.

ComicBook.com (CBC) noticed that Marvel seems to have reserved some as-yet unactivated Facebook pages for both Black Widow and The Eternals (which isn't very interesting or surprising), but other fans (eg) began hunting and found the same for Dark Avengers, Young Avengers, and Iron Heart. There have been rumours about the first two before (with THS saying a script was commissioned for the former and 4chan talking about plans not yet in development for the latter). I hadn't heard any credible rumours about Iron Heart, but it turns out THS (Murphy) ran a story on it last July (Marvel having had a script produced for it by Jada Rodriguez). Keep in mind, having a script does not automatically mean having a movie (just one example: Marvel had a Blade script written back in 2013). As for the character, in the comics she's a divisive character and not particularly popular, but that doesn't mean Marvel can't make her work on screen. That said, don't assume that simply nabbing FB pages guarantees these properties are coming (it can simply be a preventative measure to prevent cybersquatting)--indeed, as more and more of these are find (a few more via the link) that seems like the intent.

Finally, we continue our attempt to discern the veracity of LotLB as a source. Here's the latest:
-There will be a Luke Cage cameo in Black Panther 2 (the Mike Colter-iteration from Netflix)
-A Storm cameo in Black Panther 2
-There are discussions to have Marvel Zombies on Hulu
-White Tiger will be in Shang-Chi (the original version of the character, so not the version name-dropped in the first season of Jessica Jones)
-On Twitter they added that Young Avengers (cf above) will be announced at SDCC
-This is incidental, but apparently Jeremy Conrad blocked them on Twitter because they disagreed with his rumour (ripped from 4chan) about Keanu Reeves being in The Eternals

Putting aside the fact that Ryan Coogler is only just starting his work on the script, meaning its improbable anyone outside his inner circle knows what he's doing, I think the Luke Cage idea is preposterous--Netflix still owns their seasons of the character and his appearance would make them MCU-cannon (and, by association, the entire Netflix-verse)--there's no reason why Feige or Disney would want to legitimize them, nor has Feige shown any inclination to acknowledge what Jeph Loeb/Marvel Entertainment is doing. As for the rest, the Zombies idea echoes what they've said previously about horror properties on Hulu, while Storm and the Young Avengers remain safe guesses. I've definitely not heard the White Tiger rumour elsewhere and it's that kind of thing that will ultimately decide if I keep covering LotLB or not. I think a lot of what they put out is there purely to sell comics, what's in question is if they do get scoops occasionally.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News

SPOILERS below

Spider-Man: Far From Home is out, leaving us to hold the door for the MCU until Black Widow next May. While the director returned from Homecoming, that movie had six credited writers, whereas this comes from just the duo of Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. The pair bring us a very safe movie--Far From Home is enjoyable, but within the MCU cannon it's not in the upper echelon--it's roughly on par with Ant-Man and the Wasp--entertaining, but doesn't move the needle much. You can make the argument that only the very end actually matters, something I suspect will hurt its reputation as time winds on.

For whatever reason the writers decided to cut and paste the Vulture's origin for Mysterio, but the latter doesn't get as much time or development (barely more than Malekith), so doesn't pack the same punch (Gyllenhaal isn't given much to do--he's not quite as wasted as Jude Law in Captain Marvel, but it did feel like there was a lot more they could have done with him). The disgruntled-with-Tony Stark approach has become repetitive and I do think Kevin Feige and Sony need to shift away from that approach (although understand Feige wanting to attach the franchise to the MCU as much as possible to make it harder for Sony to walk away).

The film's first act is slow, far slower than Homecoming. Fortunately the later two-thirds of the film is much better paced and even with a weaker villain it's an entertaining ride (we get none of the pathos of Homecoming, however, as Mysterio's death doesn't pack a punch--its perfunctory and seems like a waste).

I was expecting to hate the romance with Michelle because of how weak the Liz-romance was in Homecoming (and how hamfisted Sony and Marvel have been with their attempt to use not-Mary Jane), However, so far the relationship works for me, even if it is very by-the-numbers. What's saved it is Michelle's quirkiness, although as a girl without goals or a background I don't think they can push it any further. I'm also lost on what the point of the Brad Davis character is--it's never clear if he's dating Michelle, and if he's not his time with her becomes creepy (something she seemingly would have called out). Remy Hill isn't given anything to work with, unfortunately.

The MCU doesn't like secret identities and we have Peter Parker's foiled here. I'm not sure where they want to go with this, since he's still high school aged and, realistically, he and May would be dead very quickly. Hyper-realism isn't a thing in comics however, so we shouldn't get hung up on that. What this change represents is a pretty clever move from Feige, as it makes it even harder for Sony to pull the character away to make their own movies since virtually all Spider-Man stories have, at their heart, his need for secrecy.

Bringing back J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson was a nice touch (making him an Alex Jones-type is an interesting move--and, again, makes Sony pulling away much more difficult since they can't simply lean on The Daily Bugle).

As for the final post-credit scene, the theory I've heard is Marvel might be looking for a reverse Secret Invasion plot (with the Kree as the villains instead of the Skrulls). That storyline doesn't interest me (and how much Kree-fighting do we need in the MCU? They've been antagonists in the first Guardians and Captain Marvel already). We also have a set-up for S.W.O.R.D. (something that seemed like a given for two reasons: 1) destroying SHIELD in Winter Soldier meant just rebuilding it wouldn't make much narrative sense, 2) one of the few specific elements in the modern iteration of Carol Danvers is her attachment to SWORD).

Finally, let's look at the accuracy of leaks prior to the movie coming out (I've used green and red to highlight relative accuracy):

• May, 2018 - 4chan leak: this seems to have come from someone associated with Charles Murphy, as the information is the same as the massive leak he received around that time; it broadly has the correct plot, albeit talks about Pepper Potts appearing, includes Liz Allen (I suspect her inclusion was an extrapolation from the 4channer when he learned that Peter's high school friends would be on the trip), Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) appearing (in January THS posted a follow-up that she'd been replaced by Nick Fury and Maria Hill during the story process), Alistair Smythe as the rival for Michelle, Vulture and Scorpion making cameo's, and Mysterio's employer being a major villain--it's a very tempered accuracy
• July, 2018 - many speculated that Numan Acar's "Dmitri" would be the villain Chameleon based on his character's name, but if that's the case we saw no sign of it
• January - another 4chan leak, but this is clearly speculation riffing off the prior post (it incorrectly includes the Chameleon, Mysterio compromising SHIELD and using Chitauri tech, Peter not wanting to be Spider-Man, along with the inclusion of Alistair Smythe)
• April - Charles Murphy speculates that Remy Hill could be playing Shang-Chi (something he backed away from very quickly)
• May - speculation circulated that Michelle was actually Nick Fury's daughter
• May - a final 4chan post erroneously said Mysterio is actually from an alternate reality and that the final scene of the film reveals Oscorp Tower

The only accurate information that came out was via the huge MCU dump that Murphy received in May, 2018--none of the other leaks about the film were accurate (and nearly all were derived from the original).

Murphy says he knows for a fact that David Harbour's character is not Taskmaster (he believes that's O-T Fagbenle's role), and that whomever Harbour is playing is working with Rachel Weisz's character. He also clarified that the pre-Iron Man 2 idea for the film is two years old and that there have been three screen writers since (we only know two of them, Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson). The original script he saw apparently did not include reference to the five-year jump between Infinity War and Endgame.

A Redditor posted a screen shot of what he claims is a now-deleted preview on Amazon of the Black Widow novelization (if true I'd guess the author is Will Corona Pilgrim, who has written the last seventeen official adaptations). Here are the key details he includes (he likes using ALL CAPS so I've adjust that):

[Title]: Black Widow: The Heroes Journey
(Set after Civil War)
Natasha Romanoff, the lethal super-spy known as Black Widow, is locked in a room within Berlin’s Joint Terrorism Task Force playing cat and mouse with Agent Everett Ross. She’s wondering if Ross has any idea why she agreed to come in. He’s wondering a lot of things. What possessed her to let Steve Rogers Captain America escape from the Berlin aircraft hanger with fugitive Bucky Barnes? Whose orders did she follow? Where is Rogers now?

This doesn't tease very much and doesn't sound like something dreamed up by the Redditor. We've heard nothing previously about Everett Ross being in the film, but looking at Martin Freeman's schedule, all his current projects are in post-production (including FX's The Breeders and ITV's A Confession), meaning he's available. It would also fit the timeframe we heard from Sebastian Stan, so I'd call this plausible, if not definitive.

While thinking about the movie, one other issue with it being an early prequel (an origin film) is this: if Far From Home is meant to wrap up the first three phases of the MCU, how can you have an impactful story from that same time period of the MCU? If you did, surely it would also be part of the first three phases, but we've been told again and again that we're moving forward.

Speaking of Murphy (same link), apparently he's seen a casting breakdown for The Eternals that he hasn't posted (that I've seen, at least); it includes a role for "Mature Latin Woman"--this is the role he believes Salma Hayek is being sought for. This unpublished leak is also the source of the "Big Muscular Guy" character he's referenced (which brought about his Hercules speculation from back in November).

We finally got some clarity on where Black Panther 2's development: Ryan Coogler has been working on the script only the last few weeks (despite re-signing in October, which is when I was presuming he'd started the story process). What this means is, for those of us who want to see Storm introduced, there's every opportunity to do so. It also means the film is going to come after Doctor Strange 2.

You may have seen or heard various Doctor Doom rumours floating about, but wondered where it's all coming from. The last time we heard about the project was in March via THR, where writer Noah Hawley had talked to Feige about the script he was working on with Fox (he was announced on the project back in July, 2017). Unfortunately for Hawley, he had that conversation before the sale was complete, so he didn't get much feedback in return. THR released a story just a few days ago where they again talked to Hawley (ostensibly about Legion) and he dropped this during the interview:

I did sit down with [Marvel Studios' president] Kevin Feige recently and I said that I look at myself as sort of the Marvel R&D department. I know the genre can do all of these amazing things that [the Marvel Cinematic Universe] is doing, but my feeling is, what else can we do with it? Can we make it surreal? Can we make it musical? Not as a gimmick, but all of these techniques are about putting you into the subjective experience of these characters. … Let's explore through this genre the every day evils we do to each other, the ways we hurt each other and take each other for granted. There are different stories and characters who will bring about other themes. I wrote a script about Doctor Doom, an antihero story I really like, and we're still talking about making it. I'm trying to get out from under this movie I made [Lucy in the Sky] and this last season of Legion [ongoing], and Fargo is coming back up [late 2019]… but for better or worse, these are the stories we want to hear right now. I think you can bury your head in the sand and say, 'That's unfortunate for our culture because they're simplistic.' Some people say that. I don't look at it that way. I think they are morality tales on a larger scale, and it's better to be part of the conversation than pretend the conversation isn't happening.

Feige hasn't officially cancelled Hawley's Doctor Doom, so the possibility remains that Marvel could push forward with the project, simply having him integrate it into the MCU proper (something he's able to do, unlike Edgar Wright with the original Ant-Man). Given Hawley's schedule, however, it's not something that could be started until well into 2020, so isn't coming any time soon.

A few days ago Jeremy Conrad floated the idea of Daredevil appearing in Spider-Man 3. There are two problems with this idea: 1) the rights return to Marvel in November, 2020 (that's when it will have been two years since Daredevil's cancellation), at which point the filming of Spider-Man 3 will be complete (assuming it follows the usual pattern, wrapping in October), leaving no room to insert him, 2) through two Sony movies Feige has refused to insert new MCU IP into the films--only existing IP (Iron Man, Fury, etc) have appeared. Conrad's other lawyerly speculation is She-Hulk, which has the same issues as #2. In the end his article seems like clickbait, but it has made the rounds.

We have more claims from LotLB (their veracity as a source remains dubious, but I haven't debunked them yet):
-Omega Red is the villain for the Black Widow sequel
-Henry Cavill will be US Agent in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier show
-An X-Factor series will be on FX (the Loeb ghetto), claiming it will be the early 90s Peter David team that I like (rather than the original X-Men roster it began as in the 80s)
-Werewolf by Night will be a Hulu show
-There's going to be a Western-themed series on Hulu spinning off of Ghost Rider

I consider the Cavill rumour debunked as he's just started filming Enola Holmes (whose production will overlap Falcon and the Winter Soldier). It's hard not to conclude their scoops are simply excuses to push comicbook sales, although they still have some rope left with me because of what might be authentic info on Shang-Chi casting.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)