Marvel News

Murphy, first on his Patreon and subsequently on his blog,* posted a rumour that Doctor Strange will appear in the last episode of WandaVision. Whether the rumour is true or not, it's a common assumption given that the show will lead into the film (in other words, it would be strange if he didn't appear).
*He's embracing the Daniel RPK/Jeremy Conrad business model, which is an interesting transformation from a guy who, just 18 months ago, was repeatedly Tweeting that he'd retired from the scoop business

Murphy also posted a rumour that Guardians 3 will be released February, 2023. This comes on the heels of Marvel announcing new film dates about a month ago. At the time I guessed GotG3 would occupy the July, 2022 slot (with Captain Marvel 2 in February). Gunn recently said he'd begin filming in a year or so (ie, late 2020/early 2021), which leans into a 2022 release, but doesn't rule out early 2023.

Screen Rant's Thomas Bacon wonders if Olivier Richter's role in Black Widow is Ursa Major. His theory is derived from two separate items: 1) Richter having a role in the film, 2) an image from the trailer that seems to show a tiny bear. The character in the comics is a werebear affiliated with the Red Room/Soviet Super Heroes--however, he's huge, not small. Ursa Major is also a Mutant, so only available once the Fox sale was complete--requiring script changes around the time of production and guaranteeing it's a minor role (which fits the parts Richter gets). We'll need more information before we can put faith into the idea, but we can't reject it outright.

Yet another rumour from Murphy, who says there's evidence that the Reddit leak from October may be true (because he has confirmation the film is looking for a ring announcer and that leak included one). When that rumour dropped I doubted it's veracity because it sounded like Enter the Dragon mixed with Karate Kid (both now tired formulas for martial arts films). The post had another problem in that it included SHIELD when we know SWORD is what's relevant (SHIELD is only possible if Shang-Chi takes place in 2014 or earlier). The latter is a small issue, as what's meant might be the same, but it needs to be noted. We'll need more evidence before we can buy into the scoop (although a cheesy premise that rips off Iron Fist's Tournament of Champions is definitely within the writer's wheelhouse, see below).

This is a good time to bring up a rumour from June that the film required reworking (via a different writer) because David Callaham's initial script was considered dull. This 'scoop' came from Redditor TMSM, who stopped posting months ago, but Callaham's credits include a number of disappointments that are weak on plot, so it's plausible (I didn't realize Callaham had done production re-writes on Ant-Man, which undoubtedly helped him land this gig). TMSM's information has never been confirmed by anyone else, but tweaks are common with Marvel films (Black Widow needed last minute tending by a different writer, for example), so it will be interesting to see if it is true (and, if so, what was originally called for in the film and who was called on to fix it).

Murphy also talked about filming locations for Shang-Chi, which I normally wouldn't care about. I bring it up because, if correct, Marvel is skipping Hong Kong due to democracy protests (instead filming in Malta).

Ryan Reynolds confirmed that work on Deadpool 3 is in full swing at Marvel Studios. Note that he isn't referring to production, but discussions. There have been a lot of rumours about when (or even if) the film was coming to the MCU, but this implies that it is. My previous guess is that we'd see the film in October, 2022, but if it's still without a script that's almost certainly too early. It should be clear that whatever plans Reynolds had for the film originally have to be thrown out as he transitions into the MCU. Variety (the initial link) notes that Emma Watts (Fox's president of production), who survived Disney's purchase, won't be involved (unlike the first two films). Without knowing what her impute was, however, it's difficult to assess how (or if) that changes things.

We're finally getting set leaks from WandaVision and these include images that seem to confirm the appearance of Agatha Harkness as well as the official reveal of S.W.O.R.D. (which replaces SHIELD). The agency was implied by Spider-Man: Far From Home (as well as the version of Captain Marvel that's being used), while the Harkness rumours trace back to 4chan in January. Photos also imply that Monica Rambeau works for the agency (a 4chan post in November claimed she'd work for them).

A Murphy rumour I think we can debunk: supposed actress Sheila Knox said she was joining WandaVision and hinting that the role involved Latveria (Doomstadt), suggesting she could be Cynthia Von Doom (the mother of Doctor Doom). Murphy didn't look into this very hard (or at all), as her now-locked Twitter feed suggests she's trolling (she has #MAGA as a tag and is listed as one of the 'Women for Trump')--there's no chance a woman with zero acting credits on IMDB and that ideology would be hired by Marvel.

A Redditor has dropped supposed episode descriptions of the show (I've fixed some of the atrocious grammar):

• EP 01 Wanda is completely sad after the events of "Infinity War" and "Endgame” and utterly alone, after years of working with the Avengers and the death of her great love [Vision], her brother [Quicksilver], and her trainer [?] Natasha Romanoff, she receives an unexpected visit from a witch, Agnes. She offers Wanda sorcery classes, which would lead her to a reality creation where she lives her perfect life. [When] it happens, she got into the 50's years and the series works as a sitcom. We have Aaron[-Taylor] Johnson participating as Quicksilver. Meanwhile, Agnes seems nosy about Wanda's life and works for a powerful villain.
• EP 02 At Universe 616, S.W.O.R.D soon notices Wanda Maximoff's disappearance and invites Jimmy Woo and Darcy Lewis to investigate the disappearance of the hero after their successive work with Ant-Man and Jane Foster & Thor [presumably referring to Darcy being in the first two Thor films], they soon encounter Agnes, going deeper into the story of the mysterious woman, who reveals herself as Agatha Harkness, a Salem witch. Monica Rambeau [realizes] that people from around the world are suffering from nightmares during their sleep and summons a team to investigate it. At the same time Wanda becomes pregnant with Vision in her universe, giving birth to Wiccano [Wiccan] and Speed. The children have powers and count on Agnes's help to develop them, as does Wanda, who [becomes] better and better [with] her skills.
• EP 03 With time passing in a peculiar way in Wanda's reality, it's Halloween and Wiccano [Wiccan] and Speed ​​are already teenagers. Vision is possessed by a demon, Mephisto, and we can see more of his powers during the night's events, which feature great battles between the couple and villains, every situation happens like a 70's sitcom. With the help of Monica Rambeau, Darcy and Jimmy finds out that Agatha Harkness works for Nightmare [because] of blackmail, they also get transfered [transferred] to Wanda's reality. They are the key for Wanda [to find] out that the dream life is all a big illusion.
• EP 04 Agatha Harkness discovers that [her] farce has been revealed and enters a great battle with the heroes, killing Vision, causing his third death. Wanda freaks out and generates a strong power break between the two realities, transferring Wiccano [Wiccan], Speed, Darcy, Jimmy, Pietro and Agatha to Universe 616. Stephen Strange discovers that a large door in the multiverse has been opened and assists Wanda Maximoff in controlling her powers, but the witch is seized by Nightmare. Monica Rambeau discovers the whole story between Nightmare and Agatha Harkness.
• EP 05 Stephen, Wiccano [Wiccan], Speed, Monica Rambeau and Pietro all help Wanda in controlling her powers, which has been manifesting throughout the multiverse and causing a huge mess, forcing her to fight with her own mind. A scene [cut] from Age of Ultron “Wanda” vs WandaVision “Wanda” is included. At the end of the episode, Wanda takes control and promises revenge on Nightmare.
• EP 06 Wanda adapts to the versions of the people she created in her reality [?]. Monica Rambeau shows more of her powers. Nightmare's ambitions are revealed. Stephen becomes an advanced level magic tutor for Maximoff, that at the end of the episode, is declared as Scarlet Witch and receives a new uniform, similar to those of the Comics.

Clearly the person who wrote this was not a native English speaker, yet there are fragments of text clipped from someone with an educated grasp of the language. I believe the above is doing what the Redditor from my previous post did: taking various rumours and constructing a narrative from them. The poster seems to have Portuguese as their first language (given the consistent use of 'Wiccano'). There's not much unique here (the main change from other rumours is that Agatha Harkness is a reluctant villain whose deal with Nightmare is discovered by Monica). I don't take it seriously.

Loki has entered pre-production (in my previous post Murphy said filming would begin February 1st). The turnaround for the Disney+ shows seems to be about a year (as in, from filming to release), so that suggests Loki will appear c.February, 2021. It's beginning to look like what the MCU wants to do (since episodes will be released weekly) is have a Marvel episodes running more or less continuously throughout the year (or at least come close to that--see below).

Speaking of 4chan, here's another plot summary (the last is from almost two months ago):

• The Eternals are created by the Celestials to defend humanity from the Deviants. After a vicious battle, they defeat and exile the Deviants, then give up their powers and memories to live among humans. [The opening premise echoes the second 4chan post from October, while the idea of them losing their memories/powers to one from November (an idea borrowed from the Neil Gaiman run)]
• In the present, Dane Whitman discovers the ruins of the Eternals’ citadel and activates a beacon that awakens them. He is attacked by the Deviants and rescued by Sersi. [The idea of Dane being an archaeologist goes back to the first post via the link above]
• The Eternals reunite and learn that the Deviants are searching for the “Tomb of the Gods.” Dane has the map, so the Eternals must protect him and count on his help to find it first. [The Tomb idea first came up in the earliest 4chan post referenced above, but ultimately hails from the original Kirby comic where it's called "The Chamber of the Gods"]
• The Deviants were freed by rogue Eternal Gilgamesh. However, Sersi and Dane learn Gilgamesh is being mind-controlled by Druig, who is the true traitor alongside Thena (Angelina Jolie). Thena secretly had a child with the leader of the Deviants, Kro, but the humans murdered him. She hates them ever since, and wants to reach the Tomb of the Gods to reclaim the power of the Celestials to destroy them. [The idea of manipulation is via the earlier 4chan post, Thena's relationship with Kro via the Roy Thomas run of Eternals, but the human murdering angle is new]
• Sersi is divided between Dane and her old lover, Ikaris, but ultimately chooses Dane. [The idea of a love triangle goes back at least to Daniel in August--her desire for a relationship with Dane to Bob Harras' Avengers run]
• Ikaris has a close friendship with Makkari.
• Kingo befriends Dane and teaches him how to fight.
• Dane becomes the Black Knight in the final battle.
• Sprite befriends Gilgamesh and convinces him to rejoin the Eternals.
• Phastos is gay. Thena tries to convince him to join her and punish humans for their prejudice, but he refuses because he still has hope for humanity. [The reveal about which character is gay goes back to a pair of 4chan posts in October]
• In the end, the Celestials awaken and possess the leader of the Eternals, Ajak. They decide humanity must be destroyed before they become too powerful, due to the mutations awakened by Thanos' snap. The Eternals stand against them, and Ajak sacrifices herself to stop them, and Ikaris becomes the new leader. [Given the bloated cast, a death or two would not be surprising.]

The only things unique about the post is part of Thena's backstory and some of the specifics about Black Knight. In that way, it's like many other plot leaks recently (largely composed or prior leaks). It's a plausible plot, but I'm not convinced (I remain concerned about Marvel leaning into a love triangle). So far, through all the announcements and leaks, this is the Marvel film I'm least interested in (partially because of the IP and partially because of the uninspired cast--many lazily compare the film to Guardians, but Chris Pratt was a charmer and there's no one with his charisma in this lineup--Angelina Jolie is the only real star and she's not the lead).

Murphy says the production date for Ms. Marvel is locked for April, 2020, which he believes means the show will air before Hawkeye (representing a change from what we've been told). It's possible for the show to film first and air after (The Punisher season one filmed before The Defenders, but was released afterwards), but it is uncommon. If the turnaround estimate I make above is accurate, I'd expect it to air c.April, 2021.

Murphy speculates that Moon Knight will film sometime in early 2020. This matches my own speculation that the Disney+ shows are coming far sooner than most believe. There's no reason, other than cost, for Disney not to double down on Marvel shows. If we're getting production slates two months apart, then perhaps it will begin in June (after Ms. Marvel).

Incidentally, I've ignored casting speculation for the show because it's all all been fan generated (Murphy keeps pushing for Shia Labeouf, who is more of a caricature than an actor, and now there's a push for Daniel Radcliffe, who isn't suited either--at 5'5 he can't pull off the pseudo-Batman look).

Given the above I wanted to look at the MCU Disney+ production schedule as we know it (I've included film dates in italics as points of reference):
2020
Black Widow (May 1)
Falcon and the Winter Soldier - late 2020 (two months into filming)
The Eternals (November 6)
2021
Shang-Chi (February 12)
WandaVision - early 2021 (almost two months into filming)
Loki - early 2021 (filming begins February, 2020 [Murphy])
Doctor Strange 2 (May 7)
Ms. Marvel - unknown (filming begins April, 2020 [Murphy])
Moon Knight - unknown (possibly early 2020 [Murphy])
What If? - mid-2021 (currently in production)
Spider-Man 3 (July 16)

Hawkeye - late 2021 (unknown)
Thor 4 (November 5)

She-Hulk - unknown (unknown)

Marvel wants their shows to lead-in and lead-off the films, so if there are 4 films a year from 2021 onwards, a multitude of shows are needed to support that. Both The Eternals and Shang-Chi seem off this track [as does the animated What If?], but I think that's because they were set into motion before Marvel had fully decided how it wanted to integrate their shows (I don't think the latter will impact anything near it, but there's a chance Shang-Chi will have relevance for Moon Knight--nothing else seems remotely similar to it). My guess is, excluding animated productions, we'll have 6-8 live action shows per year (by either 2021 or 2022)--the CW currently has six with a Stargirl show on the horizon (which seems like a slap in the face to the WB's Titans), so the amount isn't unreasonable.

Conrad believes Power Pack will be an animated series, which makes perfect sense. Back in May he claimed the IP was in full development, but no one else has reported it. If we're really getting the team on screen, an animated version (especially on Disney+) would explain the lack of news elsewhere.

Daniel claims Tom Holland is in talks to cameo in Venom 2. This idea is something that's been around for a long time, so I'm not sure what this adds to the discussion (it may well be that Daniel is making a safe guess that he can trumpet as a scoop if its right, but avoid being called out as wrong if it isn't because these are just 'talks').

Director Josh Boone has apparently been given the reins to finish New Mutants. There's no sign of the reshoots Fox wanted two years ago, which suggests the film will largely represent Boone's original vision (with Marvel's requested cuts of Fox-related easter eggs included). It will be an oddity when it appears in early 2020, but this approach costs the least amount of money (which seems to be Disney's primary interest).

We have a 4chan post talking about the MCU in general:

• Ray Winstone plays Ivan in Black Widow [her father]. Jermey Renner has a cameo as Hawkeye in the middle of the film. Linda Caradelini returns as Laura Barton in a cameo, likely dealing with Barton escaping [Civil War-induced] house arrest to help Natasha.
• Druig, Gilgamesh, and Sprite are the villains of Eternals. Thanos, Odin, and Ego appear in small roles. Neil Gaiman filmed a cameo in the film.
• Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings revolves around a tournament to win the Ten Rings. Sam Claflin, Kelly Marie Tran, Zhang Ziyi, Pierce Brosnan, Harry Shum Jr, and BD Wong are cast in supporting roles. [Tran/Wong via September 4chan, Claflin/Brosnan via October (1) 4chan, Shum Jr via October (2); Ziyi I haven't seen before]
• Namor appears in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, played by [Crazy Rich Asians lead] Henry Golding. Cillian Murphy is the favorite for the role of Nightmare. Wanda creates the Multiverse of Madness due to the events in WandaVison. [The idea of Namor in the film goes back to a deleted Tweet by Scott Derrickson back in March]
• Spider Man 3 will have Kraven as the main villain, with Hugh Jackman in talks for the role. JK Simmons returns as JJJ. Peter and MJ break up for a while.
• Thor: Love and Thunder features Thor making a new team of Revengers. Finn Wolfhard, Ryan Gosling, and Jennifer Lawrence are in talks for roles. [Wolfhard/Gosling via September 4chan; Lawrence is simply a popular pick for many roles]
• Ant-Man 3 is set for February 2022 and will feature Hulk and Kate Bishop teaming up with Ant-Man, Stature, and Wasp. TI’s Dave has been written out of the script due to recent controversies [Referring to him taking his daughter for virginity checks; apparently saying a woman can't be president in 2015 was no impediment, although he did apologize for that].
• Black Panther 2 is based off Doomwar. Ryan Coogler wants Denzel Washington for Doctor Doom, though Marvel wants someone younger. [Denzel is 64; it would also be puzzling for an African-American to be the ruler of a small, Eastern European country--this idea reminds me of the clickbait from September pitching a race-swapped Magneto]
• Fantastic Four is set for July 2022, with Travis Knight in final talks to direct. Marvel wants to cast A List actors as the Fantastic Four. Mole Man will be the main villain. [Knight via a November 4chan post]
• Blade is set for October 7th 2022. Several A-List directors are already having talks with Marvel to direct the film because of Mahershala’s involvement.
• Deadpool 3, Captain Marvel 2, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3, and Nova are set for 2023.

This strikes me as a mix of repeated rumours and fan-casting (it would be especially odd to have Sprite as a villain in a Disney-movie given that she's being played by a 12-year old). There's nothing here that hasn't already been rumoured or isn't simply borrowed from the comics and some of it is genuinely odd (the Revengers in a film featuring Jane Foster Thor? Where's the room for both those elements to coexist?).

As he did in October, Mikey Sutton spread out a series of scoops among friendly Youtubers. These are the MCU elements:

• Sutton says a Disney+ Clea show is in the works (the villain being Umar), which is intended to help spin off a Brother Voodoo show (where a rebooted Cloak & Dagger would appear). [This echoes LotLB's rumour from August, which had the former pair in a show together called Strange Tales; LotLB also said the latter would be rebooted back in November]
• Disney wants Hugh Jackman to reprise the Wolverine role for his finale as the character in a 48 Hours-style film with Deadpool--Sutton says this is purely in the discussion phase. [Jackman's potential return is something LotLB claimed back in September]
• There are discussions about adapting the Parker Industries scenario for Spider-Man down the line [I believe LotLB had something about this in the summer when they discussed Tom Holland having a nine-film arc for the character]
• Fantastic Four is in early development and Johnny Storm's love interest in Fantastic Four will be Frankie Raye, who will then become the Herald of Galactus, taking the place of Silver Surfer (which follows the John Byrne run on the comic) [Frankie's appearance echoes LotLB's rumour from August]

All these items are repeats or an evolution of LotLB rumours from earlier in the year (ones that may have come from Sutton). I'm highly skeptical of the idea of shows based on B-list supporting characters (Clea/Voodoo)--it's the kind of thing you do after you see really positive reception to them (neither has ever supported their own comic, which would make the idea unprecedented for the MCU).

A side note: it's interesting how LotLB's scoops from their own source have largely dried-up since Sutton started talking to them. There are a few possibilities: 'The Black Knight' hasn't had any scoops lately, he's an invented name for Tim's own speculation, or that's what Sutton called himself before he returned to making Marvel scoops on his own.

I've brought up HBO's Watchmen a few times (eg), largely out of curiosity over how it would perform given that Lindelof was the showrunner. The final two episodes saw a modest increase in viewership (0.822 13th/0.935 9th, although it remained low in the key demographic--older viewers are its bedrock). For context I wanted to compare it to something, so I thought another recent genre adaptation would suit (in this case The Witcher--which I've been covering it here).

Beyond relative critical praise (RT 96% and 56%, both of which are ridiculous; fan scores 52%/93%), how are they being received comparatively? Netflix doesn't release numbers, but viewer scores and social media for The Witcher has been very positive and the ancillary content (reaction videos, analysis, etc) is far more popular than the HBO show (just one example, YTer Rawrist's final review for Watchmen sits at 3.5k, while her recent Witcher review is 10.4k). The weather vane called Emergency Awesome makes this very apparent when you look at his two recent videos about each (his overview of episodes 1-4 has 550k views, while his final video on Watchmen, released over a week earlier, sits at 272k, well behind the highest viewed of his videos on the series (episode one), which is also far lower than The Witcher video).

All that this establishes is that The Witcher is more popular, but that doesn't mean Watchmen hasn't been successful in HBO-terms and despite lukewarm reception will almost certainly get a second season. To briefly go back to the critical response, there's little doubt that in both cases the scores represent an axe to grind from critics (both The Guardian and Entertainment Weekly in particular embarrassed themselves with nonsensical reviews)--I don't understand the animosity towards The Witcher (which tried hard to appease critics with diverse casting, female co-leads, overt depictions of racism, etc). Economically, however, Netflix is the winner despite the critical drubbing, as both it (and HBO) are subscription-based and popularity is what feeds new subscribers.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)