Marvel News

Marvel and Sony have renewed their vows for at least another couple of films--Variety confirmed the deal and the essentials are these:

• One more Kevin Feige produced, Tom Holland-lead, Spider-Man film (due out in 2021, matching the expected two-year cycle between releases)
• Marvel will jump from 5% of the box office to 25%, while paying that much of the cost to make the film (Deadline reminds us that both items were part of Disney's original pitch)
• Spider-Man will appear in one other MCU film
• Feige talked about the character appearing in the Sony-verse films

What's interesting here is understanding what the plan on both sides is, because this is a short-term deal. What it does is allow Feige to finish his trilogy and for Sony to avoid bad PR and having to continue the story without all the MCU-elements. For Marvel I think keeping him is a nice stopgap before they truly get into the X-Men and Fantastic Four--he's an A-list character to lean on during a run of obscure IP. Once the Fox IP is on screen the MCU can easily live without Spidey. As for Sony, this comes across as surrender--they gave in to what Disney originally demanded and the only concession we're aware of is Holland appearing in Sony films (which they could have achieved on their own anyway). Feige very clearly separates what Sony does from the MCU (another universe), which avoids polluting his content with whatever Tom Rothman/Avi Arad produce.

Speaking of the deal, let's look back at John Campea's claim that if Disney paid for making the films it would threaten the rights Sony has over Spider-Man. This seemed preposterous and no one else repeated it, but Scott Mendelson from Forbes said this:

Nor is it necessarily the news that Disney will now essentially own 25% of another studio’s crown jewel IP

This is clearly a turn of phrase by Mendelson (who isn't the sharpest tool regardless), but others have leaped to the conclusion that the MCU actually has a 25% stake in the IP. Unless there's further clarification or substantiation of this idea I think we can lean on our original opinion that it's simply incorrect.

Production List has Shang-Chi beginning filming on November 1st, which is interesting because Charles Murphy thought it had been shifted to January a month ago (once again, his scoops are great, but his speculation is awful).

Murphy says the casting for Ms. Marvel has begun, with Marvel seeking an actress in the 16-24 range (I think the latter is too old, but most casting directors would disagree with me). He thinks this means she'll show up before her show, which is plausible. I mentioned about a month ago my theory that Kamala Khan will be inspired by the Monica Rambeau version of Captain Marvel rather than Carol Danvers to avoid potential White Saviour complaints (it's the easiest explanation I can come up with for having Monica in WandaVision). If my theory is right, we're seeing the casting rumours now so that Kamala can appear in that Disney+ show.

Mikey Sutton talked about his Wolverine vs Hulk film idea and said it was being discussed, which is not how the idea was being presented previously. He said the title being considered is Weapon X (a good choice); otherwise he repeated the plot given by LotLB. Sutton also claims Arcade is being considered as the villain for the X-Men (a plausible choice since Fox never used him). Finally, he debunked the rumour about Magneto and Xavier being race-swapped ("there's so much diversity in the X-Men they don't need to swap to make a point"). I've already debunked this idea, but I want to repeat that both Conrad and Murphy were happy to highlight it for the purposes of clickbait and virtue signalling.

I'd written a paragraph arguing against Daniel's claim that Kevin Feige wants Ghost Rider for the MCU (that would presumably coexist with Jeph Loeb's on Hulu), but those thoughts have shifted now that Deadline is reporting the Hulu version has been cancelled (something apparently Sutton wrote about beforehand). This doesn't confirm Daniel's scoop, but opens the door for Marvel to use him (I'm dubious that they want too--in the chat here Sutton claims they don't). Dumping the show makes sense, as I think there was no appetite for it regardless (the Agents of SHIELD fanbase is so small), and I highly doubt the character is suddenly of interest to Feige.

4chan followed up on the Ghost Rider news claiming Feige wants the character in Doctor Strange 2, but it will be the Alejandra Jones version with casting for her beginning in November-December (suggesting Bella Thorne will get the role). This is almost certainly speculation from the poster reading both the Daniel and LotLB news.

After the Ghostrider announcement Variety posted an article wondering if Marvel Entertainment would be shutting its doors on (non-animated) TV-development:

According to multiple industry sources who spoke with Variety, the perception throughout the entertainment business is that live-action productions will be mostly if not completely moved away from Marvel Television, headed by veteran exec and producer Jeph Loeb, as Feige’s unit ramps up production on its own Marvel series projects.

A Marvel Television insider told Variety that the company has several live-action projects at various stages of development. ... While Loeb’s Marvel TV still falls under the purview of Isaac [Ike] Perlmutter, Feige reports directly to Walt Disney Studios’ Alan Horn. ... Marvel Television’s two current live-action shows are “Runaways” at Hulu, which launches its third season in December, and “Cloak & Dagger” at Freeform. The latter show ended its second season in April with no word yet on whether it will receive a third. The only live-action show Marvel TV has in development with a network partner that has been announced is “Helstrom” [along with the animated shows.]

Let's be clear that this is Variety's speculation--that externally the logic would be to shutdown Jeph Loeb's projects and let Feige run all of Marvel. I agree that this makes sense abstractly, but internally at Disney it's not clear if that's possible given Perlmutter's continued presence and influence at Marvel. There's still a chance Hulu's Helstrom gets cancelled, but until it does we have to expect it to roll forward.

More from LotLB (and here) [the former from 'The Black Knight' and the latter from Sutton]:

• There are still plans to use Ghost Rider on Hulu, he just won't have his own show
• Sutton says the villain for Captain Marvel 2 will be Veranke (she's the queen of the Skrulls); he also claims Nova will appear and be trained by both Carol Danvers and Nick Fury--this is plausible, although I don't feel like Carol has earned that as a character (unlike Captain America, she didn't have to overcome much in her first film--we still need her to have a flaw I think, unless the MCU wants her to be Superman)--the Nick Fury angle is something they predicted back in August
• Secret Wars will wrap up Phase Six
• Long term spec list (all for Hulu): The Alejandra Jones version of Ghost Rider; Jennifer Kale; Topaz; Foolkiller; Zarathos; Deathwatch; Hag and Troll; Group: Legion of Night
• Sutton says Spider-Man will appear in Secret Wars and will be mentored by Reed Richards in the first Fantastic Four (this would require a new deal with Sony to happen, which he claims is coming)
• Sutton says the Spider-Man deal is short because they were in a rush to get the third film moving and Holland needs to sign a new extension with Sony before they can move forward; that there have been discussions to have Venom appear in the MCU; Feige also wants Holland to voice an animated version of Spidey for Disney+ (they could do this without Sony's permission, but want to play nice)
• There have been more discussions about Dwayne Johnson playing Namor (this echoes what they said in June, but as I mentioned at that time, the ultimate source for that comes from Movie Hole in May)
• Said their old rumour about She-Hulk appearing in Spider-Man 3 as his lawyer is back on the table in light of the deal (I would think Marvel would remain reluctant to debut IP in a Sony film, although it would be a different kind of middle finger to Universal)
• In the chat (second link) Sutton said the MCU is considering Henry Cavill for a role (he didn't say which); he also said Charlie Cox would return as Daredevil, but it wasn't clear in what context (the Loeb ghetto presumably, especially given Sutton's prior comments, although in theory he still has an MCU-appearance on his contract); LotLB has been pitching Cavill since at least July (a 4channer echoed the idea earlier this month, for whatever that's worth)

As always with these gentlemen (Sutton included), take this information with a grain of salt until we have more results to judge them.

I don't think I ever voiced my theory on what happened to Jeremy Conrad after his Eternals scoop (I reference it here): that was a legitimate leak, albeit far smaller than the massive pile that went to Charles Murphy not long after. Marvel wasn't ready for that film to be announced and I feel like they set up him up with the idea that the title of Avengers 4 was Annihilation in order to discover the source of leak. If you go through his scoops since then there's nothing weighty at all. To sum up: I think he briefly had an inside source that got stopped quickly. Fortunately for Conrad, he's able to make a (tenuous) living off that one successful scoop.

This is as good a time as any to update our old Conrad Prediction Chart. Those in red were completely wrong; those known to be stolen from elsewhere (right or wrong) are in blue; where he's right they are in green).

2018
April - predicted Black Widow in 2020, something I beat him to a month earlier (this was a very easy thing to theorize about, so he didn't get this from me)
May - predicts that the reason Nick Fury paged Captain Marvel was because he feared a Skrull invasion (debunked by Captain Marvel)
June - his claims about Dark Phoenix are debunked
July - predicts Kronos will have a cameo in Endgame
August - predicts Hydro-Man will appear in Far From Home without revealing that he got the information from an Instagram post
September - claimed Black Widow will involve Y2K
October
Claimed the title for the fourth Avengers film was Annihilation
Endgame will begin with a five-year jump
Claimed a Nick Fury series was in development, which got slapped down by Slash Film immediately
November
Suggested a Hawkeye Disney+ show was being discussed, but was too hesitant about it to say it was in development (this is pretty easy speculation as rumours about Kate Bishop go back several years)
Claimed Katherine Langford's character was playing the adult daughter of Tony Stark (claiming she would have to be sacrificed); Roberto Gonzalez had scooped Langford's appearance in October and in Conrad's article he admits her role is someone else's rumour he's repeating
Predicted that 'Karen' and 'Piper' from The Eternals will be teased in Endgame

2019
January
Steals the idea of Black Knight appearing in the MCU from a 4chan post, claiming he will be set-up in Endgame
Thought the rumour of an R-rated Black Widow was credible (funnily enough this seems to have come from Murphy's Twitter feed, albeit possibly indirectly since Conrad cited another source)
February - Claimed 'Karen' is archaeologist Margo Damien (yet to be determined, but at this point seems unlikely)
April
Rips off Charles Murphy's speculation about Hercules appearing in The Eternals from October
May
Rips off Roger Wardell's claim from December that Power Pack was coming to Disney+
Claims the MCU plans to integrate Deadpool in the MCU (something Charles Murphy echoed; I honestly haven't tried to track down if Conrad publicized this first, although given Bob Iger's repeated comments about the IP previously this is speculation hundreds of people made)
June
Rips off 4chan to claim Keanu Reeves is in negotiations to be part of The Eternals cast (this appears to be false, but can't be completely ruled out yet)
Claims the MCU is planning a 2022 release for Fantastic Four--this is something Roger Wardell claimed was false (yet to be determined)
July
Claims Daredevil or She-Hulk will appear in Spider-Man 3 (the former is preposterous given the rights situation)
August
A double ripoff as he piggybacked a Discussing Film scoop about Loki with an unattributed copy/paste of a THR article (all the substance about what the show at the time was goes back to Roger Wardell regardless)
Claims Tyrant will be the herald of Galactus (yet to be determined)
Says the ABC-Marvel property being considered is either Squirrel Girl or Glyph (yet to be determined)
Claims Giancarlo Esposito is up for the role of Norman Osborn (an idea borrowed from GWW, but he actually gives them credit here--GWW's own speculation being borrowed from a couple of earlier 4chan posts)
Agrees with GWW's speculation that Namor is being cast in Doctor Strange 2 (yet to be determined)
Rips off WGTC's story from June that the Inhumans would be appearing in the MCU
Rips off GWW's story that America Chavez is coming to Disney+
September
Rips off WGTC's story from March that Doctor Doom won't be the initial Fantastic Four villain

Including his original Eternals scoop everything else he gets right seems to be correct speculation. We have at least 13 incorrect items above and the list lacks any sense of an inside source (it's very easy to compare him to Charles Murphy or Roger Wardell, who have had legit inside scoops, and see the difference). His willingness to steal other people's content is horrendous, but it hasn't had any noticeable impact on him (his content was banned on Reddit for spamming failed scoops rather than ripping people off).

Finally, you may remember back in August I came across a Reddit sock account I believed was either Conrad or someone close to him. The reason for my surmise was because it was spending all its energy attacking Marvel scoopers not associated with Conrad or Conrad himself (who is a very popular target there)--it attacked Murphy, LotLB, TMSM, and defended Daniel--the attack on Murphy excludes prominent scoopers who get along with him (Daniel, the guys at GWW, and current and former MCU Exchange contributors). I called this out at the time and the account went very quiet up until today, when it attacked Mikey Sutton. In a post that has since been removed, it claimed someone who happened to have the same name committed a crime over a dozen years ago... except the site linked isn't a police report, it's a website where people can make any claim they want about others without offering any proof (it's banned in a couple of European countries)--so the incident, whether it was the same Sutton or not, not only never went to court, but no charges were ever laid. This is an awful attempted smear and should get the account banned.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News

Discussing Film says Ms. Marvel will begin filming next September (2020), with Bisha K. Ali as the showrunner.  I'm inclined to believe them (they have a pretty good track record, although there's no sign of the Lady Sif Disney+ show they mentioned in January), as including a specific showrunner in the scoop risks being debunked almost immediately. Ali has no prior experience in showrunning, with her only credits as a staff writer on shows that aired this year. This isn't necessarily a problem, as Kevin Feige is very good at assisting creators in areas where they lack experience (such as getting another director to help the Russo's with action scenes in Winter Soldier). As always, shows (or films) boil down to their writing, since there will be plenty of money and expertise for the aesthetic. Casting the lead will be challenging (finding the right actress to play her), because it's more difficult to grab a prominent name with teenage actors.

Conrad claims the MCU's creative team is getting together to plan out Phase Four and Five shortly, just as they did for the Infinity Saga back in 2014. He doesn't cite a source for this (or claim one--he rarely does), but it's plausible enough. If true it suggests that Black Widow, now filming, and The Eternals, about to film, are only setting up the broad strokes of things going forward (the former simply the new iteration of the character and its presumed sequel; the latter the building blocks of the MCU going forward).

LotLB (and Sutton) claim Disney has backed off talks with Sony because Amazon, Apple, and possibly Netflix are trying to buy Sony Pictures. If Sony is purchased the rights to Spider-Man revert to Marvel, so there's no need to bargain for a new deal. Sony Pictures' financial position has been precarious for quite some time with rumours of its possible sale predating the current battle over Spidey. Tim (and Sutton) believe this won't be resolved until next year, as a bidding war is what Sony wants. I'd wait for independent confirmation before buying into this, but it is plausible.

Tim also updated his Hulk vs Wolverine rumour: he clarifies that the Immortal Hulk angle is this: something happens to push the Hulk into a darker place where he no longer has Bruce Banner's morale holding him back. It's in this more dangerous state that he comes to Canada and Department H sends Weapon X (Wolverine) to deal with him. The details, as Tim admits, are the reverse of the original report, but make much more sense. He repeats it's Hugh Jackman's part to turn down, but I frankly don't see what the MCU could get out of the soon-to-be 51-year old actor. While I think Feige would want to honour Jackman for the job he did with the character, there's no sense in him playing the same role in the MCU (unless you want to really go down the rabbit hole with X-23, but the bean counters at Disney want their toy money, so that's just not realistic).

Sutton has weighed in on the Netflix IP (with clarifications provided by me in square brackets):

After the Netflix freeze is over, The Defenders -- all of the specific shows [Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher] -- will awaken from suspended animation on FX, at least for first-run episodes [for "first-run" see below]. ...I need to clarify a few items. Netflix does not own these shows nor these versions of the characters, which are, tweaked or not, based on Marvel Comics [they were made by Marvel Entertainment]. Rather, they own and have exclusive rights to broadcast the seasons they paid for, all of which are currently streaming. That's all. Once the restriction has expired two years following the cancellation of the specific programs [October 12th for IF, October 19th for LC, November 29th for DD, February 18th for JJ and TP], Disney can revive the shows. But why FX? Disney's Kevin A. Meyer [Mayer, who is in charge of Disney streaming] and Hulu's Craig Erwich [senior VP] both publicly addressed the possible return of these shows on Disney+ and Hulu. ... Disney owns FX now [as part of the Fox deal], and they want MCU content on their channels. ... The current plan is to make episodes debut on FX initially and then make them binge-able later on Hulu. Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb said a few months ago that he is planning on bringing back the old crews depending on their availability. There is no recasting or rebooting even being discussed. These were successful programs, and there's more to Netflix's "cancellations" then what is brought to the surface. As these shows do not follow the fall debut schedules of network series, there is more flexibility of time with the actors (a greater concern are the showrunners, who may have signed exclusive deals elsewhere by then.) Marvel has a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude with returning properties. ... As for the "back issues" on Netflix, sources tell me it's a matter of time before Disney buys them. Having new episodes of the Defenders on FX will hurt Netflix because anyone seeing those programs on Netflix for the first time will then want to subscribe to Hulu to binge the latest seasons. Common sense. ... Netflix wants to focus on their own IPs.

To clarify what "first-run" means: it's when a show appears for the first time on one network, but with the intention to sell the rights to air its reruns elsewhere. In the above context the idea is to move to Hulu. I question Sutton's idea of Marvel's approach (at least Feige's), where with returning properties his attitude has typically been 'banish it to the Loeb graveyard' (massive IP from Fox notwithstanding, he's done this with Daredevil, Elektra, Ghostrider, and Punisher--Blade is an exception, but there's a strong indication that Mahershala Ali is the reason for that), but he might be referring to Loeb (the only example of which would be Ghostrider moving from ABC to Hulu).

As for the idea itself, it matches exactly what LotLB said back in August and makes me suspicious that Sutton is LotLB's source (Tim continues to distinguish the two, however). What about the substance? Let's look at the evidence for his claims:
1. Netflix does not own the IP, just the seasons they paid for
This is 100% true and not something I've seen anyone dispute
2. Kevin Mayer talked about the return of these shows
He's referring to a THR article from last December where Mayer said this:

"They [the Netflix shows] are very high-quality shows. We haven't yet discussed [their return], but I would say that's a possibility. ... [W]e want a general entertainment service, which would be Hulu."

Mayer said nothing about FX so I included the Hulu comment just to gauge his intentions. There's no substance here--he's just saying maybe--I wouldn't read into it either way.
3. Craig Erwich talked about the return of the shows

He's referencing an interview in February by The Wrap where Erwich said:

"Marvel has a ton of titles we’d be interested in. It kind of just depends on when they’re ready, [and] who, most importantly, is going to be behind these things."

The final comment seems to be about whether it's Jeph Loeb or Kevin Feige in charge, although that doesn't seem like an ambiguity. This is vague and, again, isn't remotely specific about those characters with the same actors/creators returning.
4. Jeph Loeb says he's bringing back the old crews if available
I can't find anything remotely like this, the best I can do is reference his open letter when the last of the Netflix shows were cancelled in February:

"As Matthew Murdock's Dad once said, "The measure of a man is not how he gets knocked to the mat, it's how he gets back up." To be continued...!"

This is innocuous and I think more about Loeb himself, who (along with Agents of SHIELD) was seeing most of his shows cancelled (at the time only Hulu's Runaways and FreeForm's Cloak & Dagger remained). When hunting for comments I found a much more specific statement from him made to Deadline this August:

"Marvel Television will be doing shows with Disney+, we just haven’t announced what we’re going to do there. … [W]e were blindsided [by the Netflix cancellations] and the things that were to come weren’t finished yet. … Now, we’re going to do it again with the animated series, and then we’re going to do it again with the fear-based series. It’s now become, for us, our model. We would rather try to find ways of putting together a group of characters so that when a platform meets with us to talk about what we want to do, we’re trying to create a family on that platform."

He doesn't talk about the Netflix characters coming back at all, just that he wants to follow-up the idea of groups of shows coming together in a team-up. It sounds like Loeb will have some series' that appear on Disney+ along with Hulu (he's never, from what I can tell, mentioned anything on FX), but this would still be the Marvel Entertainment brand, not Feige's Marvel Studios.
5. Netflix prefers to focus on their own IPs
This is broadly true, but ignores corporate politics where Netflix might be happy to make it difficult for Marvel to reuse those characters (much like Comcast-Universal has refused to sell the movie rights for the Hulk and Namor back to the MCU, even though Marvel can use the IP as much as they want outside of solo films, ergo Universal makes no money by retaining those rights).
Conclusion
None of the supporting evidence Sutton cites can be confirmed, so unless he has specific inside information this idea (which I rejected out of hand when LotLB brought it up) is busted. Would I like to see the Netflix IP return? For the most part, yes, even though it's an older cast and I dislike how they were disconnected from the MCU and how disconnected they became from each other after The Defenders (a huge mistake by Loeb). What's likely to happen is that, other than Daredevil, the Netflix IP will be rebooted in the Loeb graveyard on Hulu (I think DD will graduate to Disney+ and the MCU, as the damage Fox did to the brand with the 2003 film has been fixed--as I discussed last year).

Sutton put out a much more plausible rumour that Ant-Man would be going to Disney+ (he doesn't add substance to this, merely saying it was headed to the streaming service). I'm uncertain if this will happen, but the films were relatively cheap and most of the actors involved are as well, so it's possible.

A very specific 4chan post dropped:

Michael Angarano recently was cast as a main cast member in a Disney+ show. It's definitely mcu related seeing as those shows are the only ones that are really casting right now. According to the source he's almost certainly a main character in Moon Knight, maybe not Moon Knight himself but you never know. His role is all speculation but his involvement is almost certain. He was also rumored to be playing someone in [an unannounced/unconfirmed] Silver Surfer but this pretty much proves that rumor wrong, although (speculation) he could play the same character in both which might further support his involvement.

They aren't casting Moon Knight yet so this conclusion is definitely wrong. If Angarano has been cast in an MCU show it would either be Falcon and the Winter Soldier or WandaVision, as those are the only shows gearing up for production. I am, however, not convinced that Disney+ is only casting MCU characters right now.

Andre addresses a Conan-in-the-MCU rumour I'd never heard before, based on Moon Knight appearing with the character in the comics. Ultimately Andre dismisses the rumour and I do as well. As he points out, the reason Moon Knight is appearing in various comics isn't about Conan, but about raising the profile of the character before his Disney+ show. It's extremely unlikely that either Marvel Studios or Marvel Entertainment would want to use Conan, even though the IP has a great deal of resonance. Marvel already has a pseudo-Conan in the form of Ka-Zar (I discuss him briefly here and his cohort, Shanna the She-Devil, has come up in rumours attached to the Savage Land, whose IP was packaged with the X-Men). It's far more likely that if Marvel wanted to use a character like this, they would do so with the comicbook IP while saving Conan for yet another reboot of the movie franchise (Amazon passed on a show about him recently, as CEO Jennifer Salke finds the IP offensive--this no doubt has Robert E. Howard spinning in his grave, not that Salke would know anything about him or the stories the character is based on).

Whatever happens with the Netflix IP, one thing we won't get is the return of a few sparkling supporting characters. I want to highlight my favourites since they were either re-envisioned versions of lackluster antecedents or demonstrated what one could do with a difficult character to portray (I'll skip David Tennant--we all know how good he was).

Ward Meachum, Joy Meachum - the Meachums are early Iron Fist characters who were poorly constructed and dull in the comics; these two shine in the Netflix series, Ward in the first and Joy in the second. They are, in fact, more complicated and interesting than Iron Fist himself
Karen Page - a milquetoast character Frank Miller (and Kevin Smith) ruined in the comics, Netflix reimagined her as a much more interesting version of herself (even though I think her origin episode in DD3 is not very good)
Typhoid Mary - an interesting comicbook character who, while changed quite a bit for IF2, was portrayed fantastically
Wesley - a sad casualty of DD1, the performance shifted a routine Kingpin flunky into someone with gravitas and emotional weight
Micro - a very different slant on The Punisher character, but a welcome one and the second season had a giant hole in it due to his absence (they even made his family interesting, which is something most shows struggle with--five seasons of Breaking Bad and they couldn't do it)
Cottonmouth - pulled a Meachum and outshone the lead of the series (so much so that I think he cast a shadow over everything else in Luke Cage that followed)
Scarfe - yet another brilliant actor who gave life to a limp character that Coker threw away in the first half of his first season--like Mahershala Ali, Frank Whaley was much more interesting than the lead he was supporting
Turk - while underused throughout, this bumbling stereotype was given life and vitality and left you wanting more
Wil Simpson - Wil Travel's nuanced and fascinating character was thrown away pointlessly in the disastrous second season of Jessica Jones season two, but he gave subtlety to a cartoony, ridiculous one-note character from the comics

These were all great performances that included significant character revamps that have been flushed down the toilet (either within the shows themselves or due to the cancellations). It's fantastic that we got to see them, but sad to let them go.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News

Actress Simona Zivkovska's agent Tweeted that she's in the Black Widow film, without revealing her role. This was followed by several other reveals on social media, including Yolanda Lynes, Jade Ma, and Shaina West. These are presumably other Black Widow's who likely have small parts (since Florence Pugh is the future MCU Black Widow).

GWW says a Silver Surfer film is being developed. They reference Adam McKay's comments to THR back in December about how he wanted to make such a film, so it is possible, but I find it hard to believe we'd get Silver Surfer before The Fantastic Four, so take this with a grain of salt.

The weather vane that is Charlie just parroted my theory of a gradual build-up for the X-Men (having mutant characters pop-up in other films before their own team-up). He also repeated what the Russo's have talked about (their admiration of John Byrne's X-Men and Fantastic Four work).

Mikey Sutton then offered this up this rumour:

"The X-Men film is still a few years off from in the MCU schedule. However, mutants will begin appearing in various films and TV programs with the Doctor Strange sequel looking more likely an MCU debut for one or two. But what of the movie? ... [T]he name being discussed quite often to possibly write and direct the initial X-Men film is a familiar one: Joss Whedon. ... No discussions or offers as of yet that I'm aware of, but for Marvel Studios X marks the spot for Whedon."

After Ike Perlmutter was forced out of Marvel Studios, Whedon has been around for MCU premiers and interviews--clearly his relationship with them is a good one. With that said, it seems far more likely that Whedon would helm a Disney+ show rather than a film, assuming he wants to direct at all.

A comment about Sutton as well, who I'd never heard of until recently and seemingly hadn't posted scoops in quite some time (why he uses Facebook is beyond me): he's been putting out a lot of rumours of late, to the point where more caution needs to be used about them until some have panned out.

Daniel says the MCU wants a Young Avengers series on Disney+ (see below). Speculation about Young Avengers goes back a long way (Charles Murphy said a script for a film was commissioned in July, 2018), but the recent rumours began in January, with both 4chan and WGTC, with a later 4channer claiming there were discussions, but nothing in active development. The idea has always been plausible, so it's safe fodder for speculators (eg, Charlie started making videos about them in June, 2018).

In the wake of the WGTC Magneto Disney+ show rumour, an even less reputable site (Full Circle Cinema, who have zero MCU scoops) put up a clickbait story about how POC actors were being considered for Charles Xavier and Magneto. The reason why this idea is ridiculous is the timing--if they aren't casting for She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, etc, why would they be casting for a show that occurs after them? Jeremy Conrad jumped on this rumour (he likes clickbait too) and this brought all the usual suspects chiming in on social media (Charles Murphy repeatedly said that the Holocaust is just another tragedy and easily replaced, an idea I find astonishing). Surprisingly, the various fan sites ignored this story, presumably because of just how preposterous it is.

To address the idea itself: the claim is that the MCU wants to do something different with the characters, so to be different they'll make these characters POC. This, to me, misses the point entirely. Something different means not leaning on Magneto as the primary threat and not leaning on Xavier to be the prominent head of the X-Men. As I mentioned in my X-Men article, there are plenty of other options for villains and mentor characters--Emma Frost, Moira MacTaggert, or even someone like Storm if you want to age her up. It also ignores toy sales--X-Men characters sell even when the movies bomb, so because of that I think we'll get far fewer race-swaps (there are plenty of POC mutants to choose from regardless--I keep asking for Thunderbird even though I know we'll never get him). You have to ask yourself: has Marvel swapped any popular characters thus far? No. Playing around with The Eternals or the support characters in Spider-Man (where Amy Pascal has a lot of influence) isn't even a blip on the radar. There's been no serious pushback from fans about swaps thus far other than Zendaya as MJ (but only because they didn't want her to be Mary Jane Watson, which she's not). That aside, abstractly race-swapping Xavier makes no difference, but I think there's no chance whatsoever that they change Magneto.

Sutton says the MCU is trying to lure director Jon Watts to do a Nova film (which, if true, would be a shot at Sony). Within that post Sutton claims there will be a Young Avengers film (see above) and that the plan for Nova is to build up to an Annihilation storyline involving Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Nova rumours go back a long way, but before LotLB started talking about it a 4chan post in May claimed a movie was in active development (something Redittor TMSM echoes). The general consensus has always been that it will be the Richard Ryder version of the character, but this may simply be an expectation based on what's popular.

Sutton followed this up with the following:

"There will not be a next Big Bad in the MCU. Instead, there will be [two] Big Bads. ... According to my sources, the MCU is planning on having two major villains as part of its new Endgame. In the next couple of phases, all roads lead to Doctor Doom and Galactus. [N]either character will debut on Disney+. ... These are A-list characters that fans and general audiences will flock to see in theaters.... Noah Hawley's Doom movie, as publicly reported, is dead [cf] and will not be tweaked as a Disney+ TV show. ... [Doom] will be Easter Egg'd until he debuts on The Big Screen. He is going to have links to other Marvel foes, either politically, mystically, or through business. Both characters are in the "embryo" stage in terms of MCU development but the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby and John Byrne runs on The Fantastic Four will provide the skeleton and soul. ... What they'll be leading towards is an epic battle fought on the ground and in space, a secret wars if you will. No casting as of yet. I am told Viggo Mortensen has been tossed around as a potential Doctor Doom [presumably referring to July LotLB rumour]. But, to my knowledge, he hasn't been approached."

LotLB added to this saying that the Mandarin and Doom will know each other and be rivals to some degree, but in the future will team-up to fight Doctor Strange. The idea of more than one major villain in Phase Four goes back at least to a 4chan post in May, although it proclaimed Norman Osborn as one of those villains (something TMSM and others echoed), which is clearly wrong. Sutton's idea is plausible, although I can't imagine either character would appear any time soon.

WGTC is reporting that the MCU is considering Rhonda Rousey for She-Hulk. I haven't seen any of her acting, but I frankly don't believe this. While she has the body of a fighter, given that the character is going to be CGI, that doesn't seem relevant. For those with good memories, Rousey pushed to be Captain Marvel back in 2015, but the MCU went with an established, well-regarded actress instead and I think they'll follow-suit here.

LotLB
Before I go into their rumours I wanted to clarify something: back in August they said an animated Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was in development and this is partially true, as Disney+ is putting the original (1981) show back on-air. I feel like a lot of Tim's rumours are broadly correct, with the specifics often way off.

• Young Avengers will be on Disney+ (see above); when I asked Tim to clarify between it being a film and on TV he said this: "Our report had it as a film originally too but I haven't heard anything official yet and Daniel Rictman reported a few days ago that it would be on Disney+, so it could end up on either really. My guess is most of the the team will make solo appearances in MCU and Disney+ and eventually come together as Young Avengers on the big screen." This is a fascinating answer since he's directly contradicting his prediction in the video (it does, however, make sense).
• Sutton says Moon Knight will be the MCU-version of The Dark Knight, but with more mysticism; villains being discussed are Dormammu (which seems unlikely given his appearance in Doctor Strange), Bush Man (a classic villain for the character, who won't be called by this name--that's my expectation at least), Morpheus (a minor character, but another villain from the IP), and Stained Glass Scarlet (aka Scarlet Fasinera, another minor character from the IP who Tim thinks will be a love interest). They also claim the focus of the character won't be multiple personalities, but mysticism (which would imply borrowing more from the early version of the character, Doug Moench's run, rather than his later depictions--this would run counter to all the older rumours about him).
• Makes the strange claim that Hugh Jackman hasn't turned down the Wolverine role yet so it hasn't been cast (?)--this notion seems to be debunked by Jackman himself, who has repeatedly said he's done with the character
• Characters put on the reserve list:
• Super Skrull (acquired via Fox as part of the Fantastic Four IP)--I've never found this character interesting, so I'm not excited by him
• Wiccan (son of Wanda, LGBT, and a member of the Young Avengers)--I don't know the character at all, so my response to him is muted
• Black Bolt (leader of the Inhumans, whose people have been floating about in the rumour mill since Adam McKay brought them up in December--most prominently WGTC in June, which Conrad happily copied in August, using the logic of Ms. Marvel=Inhumans); I actually like the Inhumans, but I'm not sure if the MCU will go back to them
• New Warriors (the group whose show has been sitting in limbo for a couple of years ever since Freeform cut it loose in 2017--this wouldn't be salvation for it, but rather the group put aside for future development)
• Dominic Fortune (a minor character for Marvel Entertainment; they believe this is for the Dakota North show on ABC)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: so far Feige has shown limited interest in older Marvel story material. The films have borrowed heavily from the visuals of the past, but most of their character and story elements come from modern comics. With that said, I think Sutton's idea of using the older version of Moon Knight is plausible, because the more modern interpretation wouldn't fit very well with Disney limitations (it would make more sense in the Marvel Netflix approach).

I want to follow-up on something John Campea said back in August about the Marvel-Sony deal. At the time he asserted that the rights situation was tied to who funded the films and he did so without caveats. Less than a month later, he's backpeddled on the assertive and added the disclaimer "as far as I understand it," from having talked to a few people. Those people can't be firm sources or he'd have no need to add the qualifier, which means what he said definitively earlier about the deal has to be taken with a pretty large grain of salt.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News

Mikey Sutton is reporting the MCU is discussing a Wolverine vs Hulk film--this would echo a desire Anthony Russo mentioned years ago (he owns the former's first appearance in 1974, where the two characters battle). If this is true, it fits my idea of how the X-Men will be introduced in the MCU (gradually). Sutton says the idea is that they will use the Immortal Hulk-version (which I know very little about)--he then gave Tim (of LotLB) the rest of his scoop (apparently verified by Tim's source): "Hulk" won't be used in the title (due to the rights Universal has); the story is Hulk gets sent to retrieve Wolverine from Canada, who is also being sought by Alpha Flight. This would echo both the first appearance of Wolverine as well as Alpha Flight's first interaction with the X-Men. I have my doubts about this, but I love the idea.

Charles Murphy has offered an updated production slate for the Disney+ shows:
October - Falcon and the Winter Soldier
November - WandaVision
First half of 2020 - Loki (Discussing Film claims January 28th)
Second half of 2020 - Hawkeye

I suspect DF's early Loki claim is correct and that Hawkeye will begin not long after, given both the content requirements for Disney+ and the comparative filming schedule of the other shows (the filming of the first two overlaps and I suspect that will be the norm for MCU shows).

Speaking of Hawkeye, Variety is reporting that Hailee Steinfeld has been offered the role of Kate Bishop. This is spot-on casting if correct (as in, she looks like her comicbook counterpart), unlike the utterly random casting for The Eternals (which mimics Guardians of the Galaxy in that respect). I haven't seen her perform much, but I think she's a solid choice. The show has also named Jonthan Igla as the showrunner.

We have our first 4chan rumour in quite some time (by that I mean one getting some buzz). These are the claims (quoting it directly):

• Black Widow’s father is played by Ray Winstone. Isabela Moner plays a new KGB recruit, mentored by David Harbour’s Red Guardian. [Variety reported on Winstone's involvement back in June, but his role hasn't been officially announced; Moner's involvement hasn't been confirmed anywhere that I can find.]
• The main plot of Eternals is Black Knight and Sersi’s relationship. Adam Scott and Brendan Gleeson are cast as Eros and Zuras. [The plot matches what both Variety and THR reported last September, but as yet we have no casting announcements for the other referenced characters]
• Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is set before Endgame but after Infinity War. Little to no connection to the MCU besides the Ten Rings. Steven Yuen, Kelly Marie Tran, BD Wong, Jamie Chung, and Donnie Yen are being offered roles. [This is quite vague and we've heard nothing about the story (why would it be a prequel?)--the only rumour comes from the unverified Reddit scooper TMSM back in June, who claimed David Callahan's initial script was considered dull--lacking humour and the usual MCU references--so was being fixed--there's no independent confirmation of that from anyone else, however, unlike the emergency fix of Jac Schaeffer's Black Widow script via Ned Benson]
• Doctor Strange into the Multiverse features the return of The Ancient One and Quicksilver. David Tennant is the studio’s number one choice for Nightmare [Back in December Roger Wardell said the former would be returning; rumours about Quicksilver's return have been floating around since before Infinity War, but this is one of the few to put him in this film--LotLB seems to imply the same]
• Spider Man 3 was planned to come out in July 2021 before the Sony/Marvel deal fell apart [This isn't a scoop--it fits the Sony release schedule]
• Thor: Love And Thunder takes place 95% in space. Peter Dinklage returns as Eitri. Chris Pratt has a small appearance as Quill. Taika Waititi wants Ryan Gosling and Finn Wolfhard for roles in the film. [The space element seems like a given, but I haven't heard these specific rumours before]
• Fantastic Four is the February 2022 film [plausible and a fairly common supposition]
• Black Panther 2 is about Namor taking over Wakanda. Micheal B Jordan has a minor role as Kilmonger [This is a pretty common rumour]
• Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 is set to be released in July 2022. Lucas Till, Dacre Montgomery, and Zac Efron all met with James Gunn about playing Adam Warlock; Mark Hamill is in the film as The High Evolutionary [I've heard about Hamill's possible involvement before, if not specifically attached to that character, who was put on the board by Wardell back in May; the date for the film is also a very common guess]
• Blade and Captain Marvel 2 are set for 2023 [Both are plausible]
• The X-Men reboot is a high priority for Disney, with them wanting it to be released no later than 2023 [Again, plausible]
• Feige has met with Ewan McGregor, Millie Bobby Brown, Keanu Reeves, Himesh Patel, Collin Farrell, Jessica Chastain, and Henry Cavill for future MCU roles [I mean, sure? Maybe he has--I don't really get excited about casting rumours until I know what roles they are for]

One of the criticisms of this post is that it looks like someone's wish list, which it could be--its veracity is going to be easy to judge as final casting announcements for The Eternals should be coming soon.

Daniel is reporting Power Pack is coming to Disney+, a scoop Charles Murphy promptly claimed for himself through comments he made in 2017, but I think he can leave the champagne on ice as his claim was that it would be a film, which is not what Daniel is claiming (that idea, while undoubtedly sourced, doesn't move the needle much from Feige wanting to make a film all the way back in 2005). The last serious rumour we had about it was from Wardell (same link) in December, which said it was going to be a show (Conrad copy/pasted this subsequently; LotLB jumped in on the idea in August). What do I make of all this scoop spaghetti? Wardell has it--while I believe that Murphy heard about film discussions, Wardell actually put it on Disney+.

Fandom Wire reported that Disney is cutting out all the X-Men ties in Fox's New Mutants in case Feige ever wants to canonize the film as part of the MCU (something I doubt, despite a good cast). Conrad disagrees with this (as do I) and he presents good reasoning for it:

[D]ue [to] it still being a Fox production and the Fox producers would then receive a credit on any future MCU movie where these characters appeared. That’s unlikely something Feige would want to happen

There's really no reason for Feige to want add the film into the MCU--what would be the point? A better question is why Disney is insisting on dumping the dead letter into theaters--the worst case scenario is that fans like the film, delaying (even further) ever seeing that IP properly. They should simply spike the film, but it seems like the bean counters simply can't help themselves and like Dark Phoenix want money to help balance the books.

I wanted to reflect briefly on the Ms. Marvel rumours prior to the Disney+ announcement. While Feige confirmed in an interview last year that Kamala Khan was coming eventually, the first specifics came from Wardell in December who said a show was being heavily discussed. Then in June Mindy Kaling talked about her, indicating she'd have a show (comments she walked back, but I think that was to allow the MCU to make the official announcement). I'm going through this just to establish purveyance of information.

WGTC claims a Magneto Disney+ show is being discussed--they say this claim comes from the same source that gave them the She-Hulk scoop (below), so we'll have to watch and wait to see if this one also comes to fruition. Keep in mind WGTC isn't afraid to make things up and will post virtually anything, so I've included this only because of how they've sourced it.

Speaking of WGTC, Conrad is recycling their rumour from March that Doctor Doom won't be the initial villain in Fantastic Four. The rumour makes perfect sense since Doom has been used in the prior films, but once again Conrad doesn't attribute where the information comes from. The most recent Doom rumour was from LotLB, who claimed the MCU was eyeing Viggo Mortensen for the role.

The LotLB Assessment

I started keeping tabs on Tim in June and after a few months I thought it would be worthwhile to follow the threads of his various rumours. Those definitively disproved are in red, those that seem true are in green, those likely to be false are in yellow, and those partially or likely true are in purple:

June

• Fantastic Four and X-Men will be announced at SDCC - both were referenced at the event, which I think is close enough in terms of validating it
• David Harbour's character in Black Widow is Ben Grimm - utterly false and a bizarre idea given the timing
• A Nova film is coming - undetermined
• An A-Force film is coming - undetermined
• Modok will be the villain in Captain Marvel 2 - this seems impossible given that he's in an animated Hulu series, but we can't count it out until we know more about the film
• Avengers 5 will be Avengers vs X-Men - undetermined (they repeated a version of this rumour in August, but seem to make it interchangeable with Hickman's Secret Wars for reasons that aren't clear to me--he subsequently said it will have Annihilation with Galactus as a mid-point)
• Norman Osborn won't be a main MCU antagonist because Sony owns the IP - currently valid and this prediction (while matching my own) went against the conventional wisdom at the time
• The acquisition of the Fox IP moved the MCU away from making Thunderbolts and Dark Avengers films - unknown (also a bit strange, as Tim has said before that Feige doesn't want to make films about villains)--they flipped on this in regards to the Thunderbolts in September (see below)
• Dwayne Johnson is in negotiations to play Namor - undetermined
• Venom will be in Spider-Man 3 - undetermined
• Angela will be in Thor 4 - this seems very improbable, not just because Hela borrowed some of her characteristics in Ragnarok, but due to her costume and the fact that the script hadn't even been started at this point

July (1)

• Omega Red will be the villain for the Black Widow sequel - undetermined (it hasn't been written yet)
• US Agent will be in Falcon and the Winter Soldier and be played by Henry Cavill - they botched this prediction even more below, but the general idea is correct
• Peter David's X-Factor will be on Hulu - they updated this prediction below, but in both cases it's undetermined
• Werewolf by Night will be on Hulu - they got the character correct (if GWW is to be believed), but he's appearing on Disney+ in another character's show
• A Western-themed show will spin off Ghostrider on Hulu - undetermined

July (2)

• Luke Cage (Mike Colter) will cameo in Black Panther 2 - this is preposterous
• Storm will cameo in Black Panther 2 - undetermined
• There are discussions to have Marvel Zombies on Hulu - they will be in What If? on Disney+
• White Tiger will be in Shang-Chi - undetermined (although it seems unlikely if the model for the film is Black Panther, ie, dominated by Asian characters)
• Young Avengers will be announced at SDCC - this did not happen

July (3)

• Conrad's idea of Daredevil appearing in Spider-Man is impossible - this is just a basic fact, but credit for calling it out
• A She-Hulk Disney+ show is coming - verified at D23; WGTC put out this rumour in April (claiming it's intended to have Ruffalo hand the role over to whoever plays She-Hulk, which is something we can't verify or deny yet); the fact that Tim hasn't added the bracketed information suggests his source is not their source
• Said She-Hulk would appear in Spider-Man 3 after her show - this was logistically impossible in the first place and unlikely to happen regardless--although he believes the film will be in Phase Five (see below), and if that were to occur this sequence could as well (not that I think it will)
• Machine Man is coming - undetermined
• Hercules will be in Thor 4 - undetermined (but plausible enough)
• Sony was putting Venom 2 on hold to help negotiations with Marvel to incorporate him into the MCU - this clearly was not the case
• Richard Rushfield's claim that a billion dollars for Far From Home meant another MCU Spider-Man film was false - true
• Viggo Mortensen is being considered for Doctor Doom - undetermined
• Kraven is being considered for Black Panther 2 (as a Wakandan) - this is almost certainly false given Sony's plans for a Kraven-film
• Moon Knight is coming as either a film or Disney+ show - the latter was confirmed at D23; they updated this rumour to have the show on Hulu below

July (4)

• There will be an Agents of SWORD show on Hulu that will feature some of the characters from Agents of SHIELD - undetermined, but I find this idea unlikely
• Keanu Reeves wants to play either Adam Warlock or Moon Knight - undetermined, but neither seems like a good fit (Reeves is simply too old for either role)

August (1)

• MCU is planning it's next three-phase arc which will end in a version of Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars - undetermined
• Fin Fang Foom will be in Shang-Chi - undetermined
• The Manderin will have a cameo in Doctor Strange 2 - undetermined
• Feige has rejected using Peyton Reed's old [1960s setting] Fantastic Four script - almost certainly true
• The Herald of Galactus will be Frankie Raye's Nova - undetermined; this prediction was inspired to refute Conrad's rumour that it would be Tyrant (I think both are guessing)
• Nick Fury will train Nova - undetermined
• Iron Heart will be in Phase Six - undetermined, but I doubt Phase Six is on the board yet
• Power Pack will be on Disney+ - undetermined (but see above)
• Spider-Man 3 will be in Phase Five and will feature Kraven - even with an agreement with Sony this seems unlikely, but the villain has been hinted at by Sony
• US Agent will be on Hulu rather than Disney+ - this was a bizarre change to their earlier (more accurate) rumour
• Korvac won't be appearing any time soon - undetermined (this seemed to be a shot at the rumours--from TMSM among others--that were floating around at the time)
• Kamala Khan will appear in Captain Marvel 2 and she'll have a show which ABC wants - unknown, but likely; while the show idea is correct, they put it on the wrong network (whether ABC wanted it or not isn't clear--the clarification that they wanted it rather than it definitively appearing was in the next set of rumours, Tim again struggles to separate Marvel Entertainment with the MCU as Feige had already staked his claim to the character last year at the latest)
• Obnoxio the Clown will appear on Hulu - undetermined

August (2)

• Peyton Reed is in talks to direct Fantastic Four - undetermined (Reed would undoubtedly want the project, but I have no idea why the MCU would want him to have it)
• There will be a lot of Hickman in Phase Four - undetermined (but unlikely given the properties being used thus far)
• Deadpool will have a post-credit scene in Black Widow - undetermined, but by far their most specific prediction
• Brother Voodoo and an Asian-Clea will appear in Doctor Strange 2 and have their own show called Strange Tales - undetermined, but this echoes an old Wardell rumour with an added TV-show elememt
• Giancarlo Esposito is up for the role of Dracula in Blade - undetermined, but seems to be in reaction to Conrad's ridiculous (and stolen from GWW) idea that he would be Norman Osborn
• The MCU has reserved Puck, Pip the Troll, Moondragon, and the Gibbon for their use - undetermined, but I frankly don't believe the latter
• Feige will produce Venom 3 - at the moment this is impossible
• A New Mutants show will be on Disney+ - undetermined
• A War Machine show is coming on Disney+ - undetermined (echoing a 4chan rumour from January)
• An original Human Torch show is being discussed for Disney+ with Chris Evans (!) in the role - undetermined, but the casting idea is ridiculous
• Want a Peggy Carter show that includes Evans that would show their time together - undetermined, but a terrible idea and I find it hard to credit
• Negotiations are occurring with [73-year old] Sylvester Stallone for a Guardians 3000 show - undetermined, but given his age seems unlikely
• Man-Thing and Moon Knight are coming to Hulu - undetermined
• Scarecrow and Orb will appear on Ghostrider - undetermined
• Quake will be on Agents of SWORD - undetermined
• The Netflix characters, with the same cast, will be placed on FX when their rights return - undetermined, although the cast idea seems preposterous

August (3)

• Says Marvel Entertainment (Jeph Loeb/Ike Perlmutter) and Marvel Studios (Kevin Feige) are now cooperating and that it's all connected - almost certainly false; what's really strange about this is when Tim does spec lists he seems to understand the two are different (eg the first September link below), but gets confused when he does scoops
• There are plans for a six-picture Spider-Man deal if an agreement is reached with Sony - undetermined (surely Disney pitched some sort of plan to Sony)
• Quicksilver will return from another universe with the same actor if he wants to return - undetermined
• An actor is auditioning for Nova - undetermined

August (4)

• A new deal with Sony is close - undetermined
• Captain Britain and Excalibur are coming, with the team featuring the Black Knight - undetermined
• Red Hulk, Abomination, and the Leader will appear in She-Hulk - undetermined
• The Paladin will appear on Moon Knight, along with Doctor Strange and Nighthawk - undetermined
• Feige is considering turning the Fox Gambit film into a Disney+ show - undetermined, but I consider this extremely unlikely
• There will be a Nick Fury show on Disney+ - this echoed an old Conrad rumour that was debunked at the time, but that was long enough ago that I can't be completely certain that this reflects the same thing
• Gargoyle will debut on Hulu - undetermined

September (1) Spec List
Slightly different topic: Tim claims these characters are reserved for the MCU (those for film are starred (*)); it's not clear what Tim means by those reserved for TV as he says streaming which could mean MCU or the Jeph Loeb abyss:

• *Thor Corps is being reserved for the MCU - my guess, if this is true, is that it's related to Hickman's Secret Wars (where they appeared)
• *Shanna the She-Devil (they've referenced this idea before) - for those who don't know she's associated with the Savage Lands (which has connections with X-Men); she does not look like Feige material to me (the outfit), but Tim specifically said Feige wants to use the Savage Land and I hope he does
• Spider-Girl (they are aware that Sony owns the movie rights)
• Nightwatch (another Sony IP) - Tim seems unaware that Sony announced plans for a film way back in 2017 (although there's been no movement on it since then that I'm aware of)
• Multiple Man - this echoes the above as Fox put this in development in 2017 with James Franco attached, but we know the MCU killed that specific version of the property--if his speculation is accurate this is has to be unrelated, as the Fox announcement didn't spark speculators at all (made clear by the prices attached to his first appearance)
• The Sentry - there are old rumours about him, but they predate my thorough MCU-coverage so I can't relate Tim's to those
• Thunderbolts - there were a lot of rumours about the property (and see below), with the only serious one coming from Wardell in December where he claimed Marvel had big plans for them--nothing credible has come since (if this is accurate and it's MCU-proper, I'd guess it's a Disney+ show, perhaps tying in with Ghost actress Hannah John-Kamen hinting the MCU wasn't done with her character--see below)

September (2)

• Clarified that his source ("The Black Knight") approached him in May; posting these scoops got Mikey Sutton in touch with Tim
• Thunderbolts coming to Disney+, which is interesting because previously Tim said that Feige doesn't like doing villain films
• Reiterated their old rumour that She-Hulk was originally going to be Peter Parker's lawyer in his third film, but that the MCU switched her to a series due to the impasse with Sony (I find this idea, echoed by Conrad, extremely unlikely); her antagonist is going to be Thundra

Current Score Card
Correct: 5
Partially/likely correct: 5
Incorrect: 11
Likely incorrect: 3

It's less than 50-50, which might sound like guessing, but this is far ahead of Jeremy Conrad's horrendous track record (eg). Some of the confusion above is due to what's coming from Tim's source and what's coming from Tim. What I think is that either Tim or his source make guesses based on collector speculation, but also lean on the rumour mill, meaning we have educated speculation mixed with amateur speculation. This creates a weird synthesis of information. What's not clear is if there's insider information here--nothing (yet) definitively says so.

A brief comment on what's coming up from DC. I never liked the idea of doing a detached, one-off film about the Joker. The more I hear (and see) about the film the more it seems like the name is being attached as a marketing ploy for an otherwise run-of-the-mill, award-bait Hollywood drama. The buzz surrounding it doesn't interest me--films like this always generate buzz and there's nothing critics would like more than a comicbook film that's not really a comicbook film (you can find innumerable videos and articles of critics complaining about the dominance the genre has over the industry). I've said it before and I'll say it again: what's fun about comicbook stories is their wider context--the characters inhabit a larger world and aren't drowning in the tedium of our reality. Fictional 'real world' drama, especially these days, is banal--in a world where a reality TV star has become president, what can you glean from something like this? Seeing the film could change my mind of course, but I highly doubt it.

Birds of Prey is a different animal. I hadn't heard much of anything about it since casting was announced last year. I don't know how much I can credit Grace Randolph's claim of extensive reshoots (Randolph's Marvel stuff is garbage, as her hatred for her former employer never fades, but she's better with DC). Nothing I've heard or seen has sounded remotely interesting about the film. The reports have it ripping off Deadpool 2, which is not the film in that series I'd be copying. They made a mistake in having a child actor (Ella Jay Basco) be part of the plot and the casting in general is mystifying (Rosie Perez can't act). None of this means it won't be successful--I suspect it will have a big opening and it might do well, but I'm not interested.

To sum up: the DCEU (or DC at the WB) is still a complete mess. Execs won't put someone in charge and it's creating complete chaos. I think the Snyder-verse was terrible, but at least it was consistent. What we have now is bubblegum films from James Wan (successful), David F. Sandberg (failure), generic award-bait (Todd Phillips), and...whatever Cathy Yan is doing. Comics have a broad range, but this is not how it works--not if you want your audience to follow the brand (both the MCU and DC on the CW have figured that out). A non-comicbook fan who loves the Phillips movie won't see any of the other DC-films--why would they? I think what Wan (and the edit of Suicide Squad) proved is that you can overcome a incoherent plot and mediocre writing with spectacle. Neither of those films made sense, but they made money and Wan's at least left people with a positive feeling--why DC doesn't just make that their brand and push forward is beyond me. As it stands the only project that interests me is the rebooted Batman, although it almost certainly won't follow the Wan model.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)