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)