Marvel News

Kevin Feige confirmed Loki will tie-in to Doctor Strange 2, or rather (looking at the schedule) the reverse. This makes sense as it's an alternate Loki who remains alive and Doctor Strange is about opening up the multiverse (ergo, presumably, opening it up for his return). Executive producer Stephen Broussard also confirmed that Loki will include a 'huge' time travel component (to what end remains unclear).

Also in official news, Jessica Gao (of Rick & Morty etc) was announced as the head writer of She-Hulk, while Jeremy Slater (who wrote the screenplay to 2015's Fantastic Four among other things) landed the same role for Moon Knight. For the most part I don't know either's work, so have no strong reaction (I don't think we can blame Slater too much for FF--clearly Feige doesn't).

Here's a 4chan post about WandaVision from a guy claiming to be working on the show in Atlanta (I've fixed some of the weird capitalization etc in the post):

• After the events of Avengers: Endgame, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) is depressed and homeless. A mysterious woman named Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) comes across Wanda and offers her a deal. Agatha could make a pocket dimension of the perfect world for Wanda as long as Wanda stays there forever. Wanda agrees
• Wanda’s perfect world consists of Vison with her two newborn babies: Wiccan and Speed. Agatha appears as a noisy [I think he means 'nosy'] neighbor to keep an eye out on Wanda, as she plans to kill her after the two babies grow up (which they do in a span of a week)
• On Earth, FBI Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) with his recruits of Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) are hired to solve a case regarding Agatha, leading to where they get sucked into Wanda’s pocket dimension.
• Guest Stars and Cameos include Lashana Lynch as an elderly Maria [Rambeau] using CGI, James Spader as Ultron with archive footage from Age of Ultron, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, with the final episode leading into Multiverse of Madness. Dick Van Dyke and Carol Burnett were offered cameo roles of a elderly couple in Wanda’s Perfect World [both of whom I was surprised to discover are still performing regularly].
• Ben Barnes and Dominic West are cast as Chthon and The Grim Reaper, Agatha’s two minions who are tasked to kill Vision and the babies.

Hahn's roll hasn't been officially revealed, but both an earlier 4chan (October) rumour and one from Reddit (October) have made the same claim that she's Agatha Harkness (the idea that the character would appear goes back to 4chan in January). Neither of those rumours, nor Daniel's (October) included the opening premise and the only way to rationalize Wanda being homeless is if General Ross continues to impose the Sokovia Accords, thus forcing her into hiding--it's a stretch, but not impossible. The plot with Vision and the children echoes the idea about the show that goes all the way back to when it was announced. The rolls for Woo etc are a new idea, but plausible. No one, that I'm aware of, has proposed the two supporting villains listed here. The Grim Reaper is Wonder Man's brother and participated in the Tom King Vision series that forms part of the inspiration for the show. Chthon has a history with Wanda in the comics and certainly makes sense as an antagonist. Could this information be real? There's a decent chance, but we'll need to hear more to be sure.

A related note: imdb isn't the most reliable place for casting information, but they've listed the John Walker character on the cast list (who is appearing in Falcon & the Winter Soldier). What his role is, if included, is hard to say (is he part of Woo's team, for example?). It's also worth noting the above does not mention Quicksilver, who has been heavily rumoured to appear in the show.

Conrad says early development of the Thunderbolts has begun--this echoes a very old (December) Roger Wardell rumour, which subsequently LotLB repeated in September. Conrad offers no specifics other than it's years away and given his track record I doubt he has an actual scoop here, but it's a safe guess to make. Wardell's claim was that the IP was being discussed.

The Charles Murphy's hint of "Limbo," which I and most others thought was about Ant-Man 3, has been clarified to say it's about the untitled February, 2022 MCU film--from there Murphy subsequently put out a Tweet declaring it either means: Fantastic Four, Captain Britain, Blade, or Deadpool 3. Murphy loathes the Deadpool films and loves Fantastic Four, but I consider neither suggestive. GWW then discovered a Disney-created LLC called "Limbo Productions I LLC," which they claim is for the Loki series. I have to wonder if Murphy is referring to the LLC and drawing different conclusions for it (in this particularly case I'd agree with GWW's interpretation, due largely to scheduling of announced properties--Limbo could refer to the state Loki is in during his show).

Possibly related to this, HN Entertainment notes that Disney has set-up a production company called Finger Guns Productions LLC, guessing this is for Marvel and Deadpool 3 specifically; others think it's for the Hawkeye show (I lean towards the latter just because of the timeframe).

Discussing Film is scooping that Ms. Marvel's family is being cast saying "Marvel Studios are eyeing to cast Pakistani American actors for all three roles," which casts doubt on the 4chan post from a couple of weeks ago that claimed Mindy Kaling and Riz Ahmed had been approached for those roles (neither are Pakistani, as I mentioned at the time).

GWW also has a casting scoop for the show: a villain code named 'Birdman,' whom they believe is The Inventor (an early Ms. Marvel antagonist). I have no strong opinion as I'm unfamiliar with her rogue's gallery.

A 4chan post came out afterward claiming:

• [Pakistani actress] Arisha Razi is in final negotiations to play Kamala Khan
• Omid Djalili [British actor of Iranian descent] and Mindy Kaling are in talks to play Khan’s overprotective parents, Yusuf and Muneeba Khan. Marvel is still on the search for a actor for Amir, Kamala’s older brother
• The Inventor and [Inhuman] Maximus the Mad are the two main villains of the series. Ben Whishaw is in talks to play The Inventor. Freddie Highmore has been approached for Maximus.
• Finn Wolfhard has recently been approached for Bruno, Kamala’s Best Friend
• Black Bolt and Lockjaw appear. [Deaf actor] Nyle DiMarco is in early negations to play Black Bolt
• Brie Larson will have a minor role as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel
• Riz Ahmed has been offered a role
• Filming begins in August 2020, for a release in Late 2021.

While this fits the above, it could easily be fan casting. I do think Marvel will try to find a deaf actor for Black Bolt (makes perfect sense for him and it would be a slamdunk for representation).

Conrad says an Iron Heart Disney+ series is in early development--this echoes a WGTC rumour from September, which was derived from LotLB in August (who claimed she'd appear in Phase Six). Both ideas (the character and format) are very safe guesses, as despite not being very popular with comic readers (Brian Michael Bendis created Riri Williams for his kids and she's tended to be a Mary Sue because of it), she fits the MCU's push for diversity. My only issue with this idea (I believe Conrad is guessing btw), is that if the MCU wants to move forward with Morgan Stark (Katherine Longford), it would make much more sense for her to pick up her father's mantle.

More from LotLB/Mikey Sutton:

• Via Sutton: there's a planned Excalibur trilogy featuring Black Knight, Captain Britain, Deaths Head, and others
• An Excalibur-related Spec list: Kitty Pryde, Lockheed, Cerise, Longshot, Pete Wisdom, Widget (who was Kitty), and Daytripper

LotLB had an Excalibur scoop back in August, but that came via their original source ("The Black Knight") rather than Sutton. In that rumour the team was very close to the original, consisting of Captain Britain, Kitty Pryde (she was briefly Widget, incidentally; presumably Lockheed would be with her), and Nightcrawler, with Black Knight and Psylocke added (both of whom have been on the team). In the new list, Cerise (one of the Shi'ar) was a member of the team, but is very obscure; Peter Wisdom is a less obscure minor character who has been on the team; Daytripper is also known as Jimaine Szardos, Magik (the second with that name after Colossus's sister), and Amanda Sefton--she is the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo and has a close relationship with Nightcrawler (she's also been a member of the team); Longshot has never been a member of the team, although given that his usual partner Dazzler has been sent to the animation ghetto, it frees him up to move around. I'm still very uncertain about this idea, as it's unclear how Marvel will approach using mutants and how quickly they will roll out various teams. It's certainly plausible to do so, however (I don't think a Captain Britain solo vehicle was ever likely and none of the rest of the roster could ever hope to shoulder a film or show).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)