Marvel News

With the changes at Marvel Television it's no surprise that Cloak & Dagger has been cancelled (we'd already heard Freeform wasn't going to bring it back, so the only question was whether another network would). The duo still have a forthcoming appearance in the Runaways (which I'd expect to be cancelled after that season airs). The show, which I never watched (I wasn't happy with the casting or the YA approach), had a 40% drop in viewership in its second season--more importantly, however, it didn't come from Kevin Feige and I firmly believed that's the kiss of death for all these shows. LotLB claims the characters will get rebooted by Feige, be more comicbook accurate, and be part of Spirits of Vengeance--while theoretically plausible, I'm not sure how big a push there will be for what is a very minor IP (however much I may personally like it).

Charlie (who doesn't break news) made a distinction about Sony's TV rights I'd never heard before: Marvel owns the rights to anything that's 30-minutes or less, but Sony controls anything longer than that. In current parlance that translates to Sony being able to make live-action shows (via Sony Pictures Television), while Marvel can make animated shows.

We have a 4chan rumour about The Eternals:

• Thousands of years ago, the Celestials came to Earth and experimented on humans, creating Deviants and Eternals. Deviants are purple, mindless monsters, and Eternals are humanoid gods with magical abilities. For years, both species fought for dominance in the cosmos. The main planet for Eternals is Olympia, after Titan fell. Eternals are forbidden from having children or mingling with humans. Eternals think lowly of humans and deem themselves superior.
• Sersi (Gemma Chan) is a naive and childish soldier who relishes interacting with humans. Ikaris (Richard Madden) is the most powerful Eternal in Olympia who is married with two kids. Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) is a mute and deaf speedster who is discriminated against in this society. Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) is the most intelligent man in the city, who builds weapons and armor despite being a pacifist. Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) is the comedic relief and a refugee from Titan, who is an expert swordsman. Thena (Angelina Jolie) is a mysterious and aggressive commander of the Olympian military. Gilgamesh (Don Lee) is an extremist who is exiled from the city after leading a failed uprising. Druig (Barry Keoghan) is a loner and a refugee from Titan. Ajak (Salma Hayek) is the matriarch of the Eternals who can heal with a kiss.
• The Eternals recieve news about the activities of Earth from a Black Knight, a servant who wields the Ebony Blade and guards humanity from the Deviants when the Eternals are occupied. The Black Knight of this generation is Dane Whitman (Kit Harrington). Him and Sersi fall in love. Ajak forbids the relationship. Sersi enlists the help of Sprite (Lia McHugh) for wisdom. Sprite says that there is an ancient gravesite called the Tomb of the Gods that is enchanted with Asgardian magic that can grant the wish of anyone who wishes for it, as long as they deliver the Ebony Blade. Sersi steals it from Dane and wishes for her to become human. [The Tomb of the Gods echoes an earlier 4chan post]
• The spell works but quickly backfires. Instead of just Sersi becoming human, Makkari, Phastos, Kingo, Sprite, Druig, Ikaris, and Thena become human as well, and they do not remember their past lives. Dane Whitman is also no longer the Black Knight but an archeologist [sic]. In this new reality, Gilgamesh's uprising succeeded, and the Eternals have become world conquerors all around the galaxy, and Ajak is exiled.
• Sersi is the only one whose memories are intact, and she discovers that there are Deviants on Earth, and Gilgamesh's forces are arriving. To prevent a mass war, Sersi must find her friends and jog their memories to prevent a catastrophe.
• It is revealed that Sprite tricked Sersi. She wished for all the Eternals to become human long ago, but she didn't have access to the Ebony Blade. Instead of the Tomb fulfilling Sersi's wish, it just simply granted Sprite's since she asked first. She was tired of being treated like a kid.
• The story has numerous flashbacks to the past. We will see ancient civilizations both on Earth and in space. We will see a young Odin and a young Thanos.

This sounds enormously convoluted to me (and having 36-year old Gemma Chan play a childish character is very odd), with far too much material to tell in just one movie--frankly I think it's preposterous. As an aside, I wonder if some of the cuts to Star Force material in Captain Marvel were made so as to allow Chan to play an entirely different MCU character subsequently (that's almost certainly the reason why she was killed in that film).

Also from 4chan, we have comments about Falcon and the Winter Soldier (given that the show is filming, actual leaks should be forthcoming):

• Thunderbolt Ross and the Government [do] not want Sam Wilson to be the new Captain America due to not signing the [Sokovia] accords. They instead enlist John Walker to be the new Captain America, who prefers to go by the name: US Agent
• Furious, Sam gets the help of Bucky Barnes to fight low level crimes.
• Sharon Carter begs the Government to replace Walker with Sam, but Sam and Bucky grow close with Walker, with Sam accepting Walker as the new Captain America.
• Walker gets a chip in his brain implanted by Zemo, resulting in Walker going rogue.
• Zemo plans to implant chips similar to the one he put in Walker on the entire population. He gets Rachel Leighton [aka Diamondback] to help. [I had vague memories of hearing rumours about her, but that appears to be in error as outside of an entertaining comment on Reddit from 2016, she hasn't been on anyone's radar]
• Desperate, Ross and the government hire Sam and Bucky to stop Walker.
• Alfre Woodard as Miriam Sharpe [from Civil War] and Martin Freeman as Everett Ross return in major roles.
• Chris Evans as Old Steve Rogers will appear in two episodes, possibly to give moral advice to Sam and Bucky.
• Yelena Belova and Emil Blonsky [Abomination] are expected to cameo sometime in the series.

For those who might not remember, Miriam Sharpe is the woman who confronts Tony Stark in Civil War about the death of her son. As for the plot, it's plausible. The comicbook Walker was created as a critique of how patriotism can be exploited, but the character gradually became a hero. I don't expect Marvel to make that kind of critique (at least, not as blatantly), so adding a mind control element frees up any criticism of either Walker or the sort of jingoistic/fascistic elements associated with his original conception. A cameo from Belova also makes a lot of sense (coming on the heels of Black Widow), but I'm very surprised about Abomination. Rumours for that character go way back, with the most recent batch coming from the reliable Roger Wardell in December (who said the MCU had big plans for The Thunderbolts, including the character); later LotLB said he'd appear in She-Hulk (August). For those who haven't seen The Incredible Hulk, Blonsky (Tim Roth) is wasted in the film, along with every other actor, saddled with a nonsensical storyline that lacked a character arc. Roth is a great actor, so if this is true it will be good seeing him back (even at 58). On the other hand, the above isn't that hard to fabricate, so it could simply be speculation.

A Redditor also chimed in on the show:

• Starts off with Sam Wilson unsure of how to take up the Captain America mantle
• Sam continues to operate fighting local crime under the ‘Falcon’ name
• The world wonders where Steve Rogers is (as no one knows about what he did in Endgame) [I'm not sure what benefit there would be for him being secret in terms of story]
• Sam and Bucky are recruited by SHIELD and begrudgingly work together, alongside a new character named John Walker.
• Sam and Bucky are told that John Walker will be the next Captain America, and Bucky is confused because to his knowledge it is supposed to be Sam. Sam tells Bucky that he doesn’t want to be Captain America and agrees to work with John Walker (Bucky is perplexed but also agrees)
• Sharon Carter is also recruited for this mission. Also seems like Sharon and Bucky will have a romantic relationship throughout the show by bonding over Steve leaving. [When news of her return came out I suspected it might be for a romantic angle]
• Walker, Bucky, Sam, and Sharon are assigned to shut down a suspected threat and are working together to crack it
• Big revelation is that Walker is actually Zemo using the same disguise technology Natasha was using in The Winter Soldier
• Zemo, at least for a small portion, is able to use Bucky’s trigger words to get him to revert to the Winter Soldier
• Sam helps Bucky break the trigger words for good and takes his place as Captain America permanently
• More about Sam and Bucky’s pasts will be revealed….family, friends, etc.
• Show sets up WandaVision at its conclusion (It seems like all the shows will be connected and will help set up future projects)

I think this breakdown has some problems--it includes SHIELD, which I suspect isn't an acronym the MCU will be using again (SWORD is much more likely); using Bucky's words as a plot device yet again seems incredibly redundant (it was his problem in two other movies and solving it was the whole point of him going to Wakanda); it doesn't specify at all what the threat the group would be trying to shut down--what's their mission where Zemo can be revealed (or reveal himself), and what's his goal with the disguise; and there's no apparent logic in secret Steve Rogers--what plot purpose could that serve? All-in-all this reads like fan speculation.

LotLB claims the show will follow the Madbomb story arc, but with Walker in the Captain America role. Without further details this idea can't really be judged (the inspiration for the scoop seems to be comments by the Russo's that they were going to use that story before Captain America 3 became Civil War).

Yet another 4chan post, but this is about the unconfirmed Ant-Man 3 [confirmed by THR shortly after I posted this, with Reed again at the helm]:

• Travis Knight [Bumblebee director] is in negotiations to direct. Peyton Reed is instead pushing to direct The Fantastic Four film [The Reed rumour for FF is a very popular one, as his script for Fox from years ago is still floating around].
• Paul Rudd singlehandedly wrote the first draft.
• Set to be released on July 29, 2022 [This is the Charles Murphy date]
• The film focuses on Ant-Man and The Wasp leading and mentoring the Young Avengers. [Again, the Murphy rumour]
• The Young Avengers lineup includes Stature [Cassie], Hulking, Wiccan, Speed, Ms.Marvel, Miss America, and Kate Bishop [The basic idea of the Murphy scoop; credit to the poster for including the GWW rumour about Chavez, who I forgot as a possibility last time].
• Micheal Pena, David Dastmalchian, TI, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Micheal Douglas are expected to reprise their roles from the last two Ant-Man films
• Growing Man is the main villain.

The post strikes me as fan speculation inspired by the Murphy rumours. Knight was approached to direct Guardians 3 before James Gunn was brought back; I wouldn't be surprised if Reed wasn't directing the film (due to performance), but we have nothing substantial to back either assertion. I'd be shocked if Reed was given The Fantastic Four. Beyond that, I'm disinclined to think we'll get Hulkling just after setting up another new Hulk in She-Hulk. Growing Man is also an odd villain to require such a large team-up.

Conrad borrowed Sutton's scoop from September (unattributed) about Stained Glass Scarlet appearing in Moon Knight.  This is, I believe, the first time he's specifically stolen something from Sutton (making me wonder if he got the idea indirectly from Daniel, who is friendly with all the other scoopers and undoubtedly passing information around).

4chan also weighed in on Moon Knight:

• Show alternates between 2003 and 2023, it will be a trippy sliding timescale that I've heard compared to Westworld/Mr Robot.
• Wants to simultaneously explore mental health issues, wealth disparity, and super hero action.
• Marc Spector will be the MCU's first truly flawed protagonist. He will make decisions that will shock you. Currently in the first episode he throws a man off a skyscraper to his death. Despite it being Disney + they aren't pulling any punches.
• Will pull heavily from the Ellis run, with both his classic costume and the Mr. Knight persona appearing.
• Garrett Hedlund, Justin Theroux, Michael Ealy, Shia LeBouf and Rami Malek are all being looked at for the role. But there's a push internally to go for an unknown and surround him with A-listers.
• Show is mostly an origin story, with Bushmaster as the main villain.

This idea, of borrowing from the updated version of Moon Knight, is in contrast to Sutton's assertion in September that the show would instead follow the original (more mystical and family friendly) iteration. I frankly think the latter is more plausible, given Disney's branding, but the poster's idea is far more popular (fitting the many Moon Knight rumours of the ancient past).

Kinda Culty has weighed in with his own theory about Secret Wars: he believes all the rumours about it are ultimately born from the Russo brother's many comments about wanting to direct it. I agree with him that if it is adapted, it will borrow elements from both the 1984 and 2015 versions of the event. He talks about how the lead characters in Hickman's (2015) version line up very well with pre-established or forthcoming MCU characters (Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange, Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Black Panther, and Molecule Man). One bit of trivia about these events: both were artificially created to serve a larger purpose, with the first a very straightforward event for a toy company, while the latter was Marvel merging their dying Ultimate brand with the mainline universe. I agree with KC that the latter idea is unlikely to be used in any fashion since there's not enough room for Marvel to make that work (unless this is far down the line).

More from LotLB/Sutton:

• They are specing on Nova: Annhilation (this matches the Sutton rumour from September)
• Sutton: Iron Fist will be recast and may appear in Shang-Chi 2 as the Chuck Norris to Bruce Lee [cf Way of the Dragon]; says no other Netflix cast members will be changed nor will their IP be rebooted (something that seems quite unlikely given some of their schedules--Mike Colter in particular is a very busy actor)
• Sutton continues: there will be an Iron Fist show that follows the Immortal Iron Fist run (2006-07) and a villain being discussed for it is Sabretooth (who first appeared in Iron Fist)

It's hard not to see the Sutton scoop as a cynical attempt for collectors to shift devalued issues of Iron Fist that are gathering dust, but it does fit prior speculation about the Netflix shows by him (and LotLB). As I've mentioned previously when discussing this, I just don't see the payoff for Marvel in approaching the Netflix IP this way: they don't own the shows which have messy continuity anyway. It's far easier and cheaper to simply reboot the characters--if they selectively want to keep (say) Charlie Cox, he can be the exception to the rule (bring him in via the multiverse--he could even be an alternate version of Daredevil--or hell, play his father). There are lot's of ways to pay homage to what was done with that IP without a messy merging of them with the MCU (this would also apply to Agents of SHIELD and all the other Jeph Loeb properties).

One thing I think Joker is proving is that the Venom-release window (early October) locks in a high box office return for competent comicbook films. Joker stands at 872 million while Venom finished at 856. Neither film was highly praised critically (29% and 69% respectively), but did well with audiences (80% and 89% respectively, keeping in mind that only the latter is authentic viewers given when RT changed how people could vote). The release window features soft competition colliding with the massive appetite for comicbook material. It will be interesting to see how films like this (both of which are, in different ways, by-the-numbers products) will do if/when they face serious competition. I've noticed over the last few years that even average comicbook films are performing very well at the box office, but I don't think that's a sustainable trend and we'll get greater vetting as the number of films increases.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)