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
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)
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