Marvel News

THR reports Captain Marvel 2 is finally coming (in 2022), but without the original directors and with a new writer (WandaVision staff writer Megan McDonnell). Marvel is searching for a female director, while the original directors are hoping to stay with Marvel (perhaps doing a Disney+ show). The date for the film is what I've long anticipated (although I did consider early 2023). I give Feige credit for changing directors (and writers), as it acknowledges that while the original Captain Marvel was successful, it's an average film (a bit like Shane Black's Iron Man 3) that needs an upgraded sequel. The Kelly Sue DeConnick version of Carol Danvers lacks flaws and, while you can make successful movies with that kind of character (eg Superman), it's much harder and not typical of the Marvel IP (whose successful heroes are flawed and relatable, as opposed to idealized). My guess is the story will feature either: 1) a villain so powerful it threatens her (granting that's hard to do after Thanos), or 2) a situation she can't just punch/blast her way through--my hope would be the latter. There is a suggestion that her arc will focus on Secret Invasion (see below), which would fit her modern lore quite well. What I'd like to see is Rogue's beginnings here (cf), but I have no idea if Marvel wants to introduce her that way. It seems pretty logical for Ms. Marvel to appear in the film, but given that her origin show comes first it's not as axiomatic as it would be otherwise (I'd still consider it likely--the doubt that she would is that Carol presumably shows up in her show so they've already met).

GWW seems to confirm rumours that Michelle Yeoh will appear in Shang-Chi. Yeoh already had an MCU cameo (Guardians 2), but she'll presumably look different enough that it won't be distracting (Gemma Chan was painted green in Captain Marvel, allowing some separation for her role in The Eternals, although ideally she would have been cut from CM entirely to avoid confusion).

Braxter Timberlake of The Illuminerdi (which I've never heard of) says that Rosalind Chao has been cast in an unknown role (they speculate it could be as Shang-Chi's mother--a possibility, as Chao is in her early 60s and Simu Liu is 30). If this is true, thus far Marvel is following the John M. Chu approach to casting and we'll see if that continues.

Brandon Zachary (also of The Illuminerdi) says they've got hold of casting notes for Doctor Strange 2 that suggest America Chavez will appear in that film (see below). The casting is for 'a teenage Hispanic female [as] a supporting lead in the film.' There are other possibilities who could fill this role, but no other name has cropped up and Chavez's origin is tied into the multiverse. Zachary believes it's part of building up towards Young Avengers, which is plausible.

The following day Zachary said Brother Voodoo would appear in the film, based on this casting description: "[D]escribed as a supporting male lead who is of Caribbean descent, and Haiti is specifically mentioned as a nation tied to the character. It’s also been noted that the character shouldn’t necessarily feel American, although the role is still potentially open to African-American actors." Rumours about Brother Voodoo go all the way back to Wardell in December, 2018 (there's an incorrect link via that link, the proper one is here), and is a reasonable assumption based on the description.

Comments from Patrick Stewart helped clarify some rumours that have been floating around for awhile:

I met with Kevin Feige a couple of months ago and we had long, long conversations. And there have been moves and suggestions, which include Charles Xavier. Here's the problem... If we had not made Logan, then yes, I would probably be ready to get into that wheelchair one more time and be Charles Xavier, but Logan changed all that.

When I first saw references to this story it sounded like Stewart had gone to Feige, not the other way around (as seems to have occurred). This reminded me of LotLB's claim back in September that the role of Wolverine was Hugh Jackman's to turn down (which, given Stewart's reaction to the same idea, Jackman certainly did if offered). This suggests that the scoop was at least partially accurate, which is a surprise because no one (other than Sutton) echoed it. The bigger question is: what was Feige's plan? I can only assume it would be tied into the multiverse, because it's impossible to imagine the incoherent whole of the Fox films being incorporated into the MCU. There are three things that spring to mind here: 1) Was the idea to help facilitate Deadpool's transition into the MCU? 2) How much does Feige's involvement with the original two Bryan Singer films impact his willingness to use those characters? 3) Marvel clearly didn't start their X-Men plans until sometime in the summer, which suggests a film is a long way off.

Deadline reports that former model Noah Mills is part of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier cast, without specifying in what role. He doesn't have a deep background as an actor so I'm unsure what role the 36-year old will have.

Murphy provided information that only comes from one source (grains of salt) about Loki:

"[A]ctors being brought on board for lead and major supporting roles in Loki are having options for a possible second season written into their deals. ... I’m told the studio is already looking into studio space in which to film Season 2 in 2021."

This implies that Marvel is hoping the show is received well enough for another season (or, really, that it isn't so awful that a second season isn't possible). As Murphy says in the article, this suggests that whatever story is planned for Loki, it will not be wrapped up in Thor 4. What could the story be? Once we see the plot of the first season I think we can start making education guesses. Murphy also confirmed that the show began shooting last week.

Production on She-Hulk begins in July, with the search for an actress to play her having begun in late 2019. What's interesting about this is that July was Hawkeye's production start date, suggesting Murphy's prior claim that the latter was delayed is true (despite official denials).

The Witcher writer Beau Demayo has been added to the Moon Knight writer's room (as per his Twitter). Almost four months ago GWW reported that Marvel was searching for the show's lead actor, but we've heard nothing about who it will be beyond speculation (a couple of weeks ago a 4channer claimed Max Thieriot would be announced January 10th, which obviously didn't happen; prior to that was Sutton's bizarre assertion that Pedro Pascal was being considered; everything else has been empty speculation).

Bleeding Cool's Rich Johnston says two unannounced Disney+ shows are in the works:

• Secret Invasion (an ever-popular rumour for an MCU film), which is intended to tie-in with the Captain Marvel films (which makes sense)
• A solo-series for an A-list character (in Johnston's words, closer to Loki than Vision levels)

The first element suggests the many rumours/speculations about Secret Invasion are correct, but perhaps on a more restricted level if it's being tied to Disney+ and Captain Marvel's IP. Is this related to the Doctor Strange 2 multiverse plot (cf), described as being like Age of Ultron in setting up Phase Five? It's not clear to me.

Johnston doesn't explain how he separates an A-list character from anyone else (is it cache, impact, screen time?), but if we're avoiding minor characters the candidates are (screen time included, excluding the original Hulk): Hulk (69:45), Nick Fury (53:00), and War Machine (49:30).

A Hulk show seems most likely--we know Mark Ruffalo was pitching ideas for the character with Kevin Feige a few months ago, and it's another way to give Universal the middle finger. Back in October of 2018 Conrad floated a rumour about a Nick Fury show, but this was immediately shot down by Peter Sciretta (although the idea was later echoed by LotLB in August); last January (same link) 4chan said a War Machine show was on its way (also echoed by LotLB in August). Given the relative ages of both Don Cheadle (56 later this year) and Sam Jackson (72 later this year), a series could only function as a torch-passing exercise. As for Hulk, Ruffalo isn't much younger (53 this year), but given that there's a She-Hulk series and that Hulkling may be coming, the torch is already being passed, so it could be a standalone story (given the plethora of 'Hulk' characters, I think it will be awhile before we see the Amadeus Cho version).

GWW writer Vicky Depledge says an America Chavez Disney+ series will be among the next announced. She broke the story that such a show was in development back in August, but until now there had been no further news from anyone (other than her possible inclusion in the roster of Young Avengers). Her story has never been debunked, which is a reason to give it credit. While the character comes up a lot in the media, she's not particularly popular and has powers similar to the DeConnick Captain Marvel (making me worry about duplication and being labelled a Mary Sue). I'm uncertain how much Marvel will follow that or not.

THR reports that two of the planned animated Hulu shows (Tigra & Dazzler as well as Kevin Smith's Howard the Duck) have been cancelled. The former had already had its entire staff fired, but this is a formal end to it. THR speculates, I think accurately, that it also means the planned team-up show (The Offenders) is dead. This leaves Patton Oswalt's MODOK and Josh Gordon's Hit-Monkey as the animated shows that will continue (as well as the live-action Helstrom, which was too far along to be cancelled when Feige gained control).

LotLB claim Glyph will be spun off into her own show from Helstrom, which (if true) would be Feige approving a decision made by Jeph Loeb months ago. Back in August Conrad suggested she was possibly the character who would appear on ABC (in response to a story from Deadline) and at that time I didn't realize Bleeding Cool had already scooped plans for the character for Hulu back in April (based on trademarks Marvel registered at the time). I'd be very surprised if anything from Helstrom goes anywhere, since Feige wasn't involved with it (this doesn't mean we won't get a Glyph show, but that I doubt it will be connected). For those unfamiliar, Glyph is a minor character created in 2015 with just eight appearances (largely confined to the unsuccessful Howling Commandos of SHIELD). She (Nadeen Hassan) has a mystical connection to Egyptian powers (much like Moon Knight). Expecting her to carry her own series is a stretch--it doesn't mean it can't happen, just that I'm very skeptical that it will.

Speaking of LotLB, they were part of a scoop from Sutton part one, part two, and part three:

• Sony can use characters they own who have appeared in the MCU on a case-by-case basis in limited doses, which was part of the new deal with Disney; as we've heard elsewhere, Marvel is free to ignore anything Sony does
• Marvel is interested in a live-action Spiderverse film
• Marvel has avoided using Gwen Stacy because of the performance of Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 [I find this a bit hard to credit, although Feige does prefer avoiding repeating what's come before, ie Mary Jane Watson], but the character is incredibly popular, particularly with a younger female audience; they want an MCU Spider-Gwen film, teaming her up with various young Avengers, but discussions have only just started
• Reiterated the old Bleeding Cool/LotLB rumour originally for Hulu [which Murphy recently echoed via speculation] that Blade would lead into Midnight Sons; the roster will be Blade, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Moon Knight, and Hellstrom [it's not made clear if the latter will be the same character from the show--it's implied, but Feige doesn't like things he wasn't involved with]; the plot would have them facing Mephisto and Marvel zombies [this is what Sutton said back in October (which echoed Deadline), except that the group was Spirits of Vengeance; tangentially, Daniel (also in October) said Man-Thing was in early development, but not specifically in this context (for those who don't know, Lionsgate produced a Man-Thing film in 2005 that was so bad they refused to release it in theaters); LotLB's persistence with Marvel Zombies is likely because in two of the three iterations of Midnight Sons that's been their opposition]
• Sony wants Morbius to meet Blade, but no negotiations have occurred and the performance of Morbius will impact the idea ([here's no reason for Marvel to cooperate, barring very large concessions from Sony]

Sutton repeats things he's said before above, so what's new is the slant on the agreement with Sony, Marvel's interest in Spidey IP (an idea that is not new), and Sony wanting more crossover (self-evident from Morbius). Neither idea is a stretch and as surmises go don't require inside information, but time will tell.

There is no onus on Sutton to explore the mechanics of how any of this would work, but why would Sony give up Spider-Gwen or the Spiderverse? Steamrolling Tom Rothman in a deal isn't hard, but even he isn't going to give the keys to the well-known IP for nothing and I think we're near the end of where Feige will compromise. In the prior agreement Marvel only surrendered money (making the films), and now Sony has been given the Loeb black hole where nothing they do matters. Sony only needs to look at where Marvel Entertainment is to see what that concession does for Sony. The only way forward is for Disney to buy the IP back, Sony to sell it's film studio (which would default the IP back to Marvel), or for a break in the arrangement entirely.

When we got the easter egg for Captain Britain in Endgame I wondered why they were teasing Brian Braddock in the 1970s. It's era appropriate for the comic (he debuted in 1976), but if that was him he'd be long past his prime in 2023. It could simply be an easter egg (a tip of the hat to fans), it might be his father John, but it made me wonder if Betsy will have that mantel in the MCU. The latter is unlikely (she's Brian's twin sister), but under Hickman she becomes Captain Britain (something she'd done previously), and perhaps Marvel doesn't want all their 'captain' characters to be male. I'm just speculating, but having read the current Excalibur run (put in motion before Feige was in charge), it's a possibility I hadn't considered before.

An implausible plot description appeared in a now deleted Reddit post:

Hey guys! So, I have learned from my source at Marvel some interesting info about the upcoming third Spider-Man film. I'm not going to be revealing the entire plot, because the movie's plot is still being decided and the script is in very early stages. Now, here is what I have heard. Please take it with a grain of salt, as nothing is set in stone.
The Kraven movie is officially not happening, and Sony is letting Marvel use him as the main villain for Spider-Man 3. Jon Watts actually threatened to walk away from the project if Kraven wasn't used as the main villain, since Watts has a major story arc in mind for the character. [No one has reported this--rumours of Watts walking away were connected to Sony abandoning the MCU]
Sony and Marvel (mostly Sony) are discussing having Spider-Man wear the Symbiote suit in the film. If so, the Venom 2 ending will be tweaked. I'm hearing that, if Marvel agrees, Venom 2 will end with Eddie [Brock] losing the Symbiote in New York, and the end-credits scene will feature it being captured by OsCorp, which brings us to another aspect of the film...
Norman Osborn will finally make his long-awaited debut in Spider-Man 3. Sony is much more lenient with Osborn than they are with Spider-Man, since they don't have big plans for Osborn in the SUMC. Norman Osborn will be revealed as "The Benefactor", and he will possibly have ties to Spider-Man's origin. Osborn is a narcissist who hates superheroes and wants to replace Tony Stark's role in the world. He was actually helping Mysterio's team the whole time in Far From Home, and is using Spider-Man being framed as an opportunity to have one less hero in the world. His appearance in the movie will mainly be to set him up as a major antagonist in future films. Spider-Man will have a lawyer, and it will most likely be Matt Murdock. Marvel is already trying to get the rights back for the Netflix heroes, and things are looking good. [The idea of Osborn being behind Mysterio goes back to rumours about Far From Home, eg; the Benefactor idea comes from a GWW scoop in June whose scenes were to be shot in 2019 for an undetermined role they guessed was Osborn (clearly not); finally the idea of a lawyer for Peter is an old Conrad rumour from July, whose problem has always been that the rights aren't back soon enough (beyond simply being unlikely)]

As I point out in my notes above, while this echoes other rumours we've seen, it has two fundamental problems which make me dismiss it: 1) Marvel doesn't need to 'get back' the rights to Netflix--they are on a clock and return shortly (November this year), 2) It leans very heavily into Norman Osborn, which is improbable while Sony retains the rights to the character and the current deal with Disney ends so soon.

Something similar also comes from 4chan (if you wonder why I look at 4chan/Reddit it's for two reasons: 1) to keep track of where rumours are coming from, and 2) occasionally genuine leaks occur --Rise of Skywalker's plot and production was completely leaked, as was the storyline for the first season of Picard, for example):

[Film is] code named Jailer
The are gonna be some changes going on with the script of this movie, but the basics are staying the same.
PART I
Peter won't be on the run. Neither will he have a lawyer.
The Daily Bugle - a web news media outlet - is a conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by it's host J. Jonah Jameson. As the general public is in disbelief of Spider-Man's secret identity to be that of a male-teenager, and debates online begin to surge that Spider-Man is really a young woman, something about Spider-Man's spandex and an "arse" joke is added in the context of the debate.
Peter's friends at school begin to treat him like he is Spider-Man which makes Peter the most famous kid in high school. Flash is mad at Peter and in denial and begins to stalk Peter to find the truth. Michelle has some side plot drama with Peter on how he is enjoying the "school fame" and all.
Herman Schultz [Bokeem Woodbine] returns as the villain with an exoskeleton power suit armor. Half-way into the film Night Monkey is fighting Schultz in the same prison where Adrian Toomes was jailed. At the end of their battle Schultz suit explodes inside the prison and we are to believe he is dead.
Steven Strange will have a cameo at the end of the movie. He visits Peter's home in Queens, NY to ask him about something that he has been tracking, but is interrupted when "Shocker" attacks both of them after obtaining the superpowers of his armor after the explosion in the prison.
Strange helps Peter "defeat" Schultz who's power now allows him to vibrate the fractures in reality that were let open by "Multiverse of Madness" and he is able to open gate ways into the multiverse and summon "copies" of himself from other dimensions. Schultz can summon thousands of "Shocker" clones of himself that have the ability to fire lightning.
PART II
Jake Gyllenhaal [Mysterio] is hinted to be alive in one sentence during the fight against Shocker, but is not shown or confirmed.
Strange basically tells Peter that he was tracking Eldritch magic in Prague and Venice and somehow the trace let him to Peter's home. And asks him if Peter had recently fought someone who had magical abilities similar to his own to which Peter answers no.
The real Schultz is taken down and knockout into one of his own portals and we never see him again in the movie.
Peter loses Aunt May at the end of the movie as one of the dimension collapses on top of their home swallowing the building, thanks to the portals created by Schultz. Strange holds one of the portals long enough for Peter to go through to go save his aunt.
Strange stays behind to deal with the threat and closes all the portals in the area. Strange sees Dormmamu's face briefly in one of the final portals that he closes.
Mac Gargan [Scorpian] and Adrian Toomes escape through the chaos created by Schultz in prison using a prison bus in the first post credit scene alongside other unnamed characters.The end-credits scene will set up The Sinister Six, which will essentially be a Sony/Marvel joint production. Mysterio will be revealed to be alive. The members of the team will be Vulture, Mysterio, Kraven, Scorpion, Venom and Morbius, with Doctor Octopus acting as a shadowy Nick Fury-type figure with ties to Spider-Man's past. It's pretty much set for a late 2021/early 2022 release.

A number of problems stick out to me: people think Tom Holland's Spider-Man i's a woman? Night Monkey? Marvel having a direct hand in The Sinister Six? I've included it all because I think the spine of the story is along the right lines, even though I think the poster has simply cobbled this together from various other posts.

Someone going by mcu_india on Instagram is claiming they saw a screening of Black Widow. Something similar cropped up on 4chan a few days previously, but I didn't copy the post because all the specifics weren't original (just opinions added), which made it clear the poster never actually saw the movie. The claim of authenticity for the Instagram account is that they correctly described the film's trailer (I'm not sure which one), but as I'm unaware of how true that is and the comments about the film are superlatives limited to 'amazing' and 'Florence Pugh is fantastic', it's something we safely ignore.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News

Feige loves DC films and he wants them to do well. I absolutely believe the first point, but put a caveat on the second (even though raising tides lift all boats). As corporate competitors the camaraderie only goes so far because there's a limit to how much on-screen product the genre can support--as expansive as it is, eventually superheroes will hit a wall and Marvel Studios are well aware of this. With the MCU coming to Disney+ and moving towards the brand being on-screen all year round, the competition is reaching a new level. If DC were truly on the ball they'd go very dark and largely stick to R-rated ventures (since Disney, thus far, has shown no inclination to compete in that space), but the money is better for PG so I expect WB to keep trying.

This is on my mind because I wonder how much DC's planned Flashpoint storyline (for 2022's The Flash) impacted Marvel's decision to push the multiverse. The general thinking when this was announced is that it would bring the Fantastic Four and Mutants into the MCU, but that approach really isn't necessary (see below). The MCU started teasing the multiverse with Ant-Man in 2015, which was when the torturous process of bringing The Flash to DC began at WB. I could be reaching here, as the multiverse is a normal part of Marvel, but the MCU does react to DC (Civil War is the most obvious example), so I throw it out as a possibility.

Murphy went on The Den of Nerds to talk MCU and here are the main points from the nearly hour long video:

• Re: The Dark Avengers - no new information (not even a hint that it's being planned, although a spec script was written for it awhile ago, which is not uncommon) and he expects, if they pursue it, they will take their time with it (to me it seems redundant given the following)
• Re: The Thunderbolts - because of the persistent use of General Ross he believes that's the direction Marvel is going (speculation on his part--you can see more below)
• Re: Christian Bale - his character is not 100% motion capture, but motion capture is involved; the role isn't a cameo because he's unavailable for other roles at the time Thor 4 is being filmed (Murphy mentioned that his sources for this were agents--they had no information on whether Bale had signed a multi-film deal); he reiterated his speculation that Bale is going to play Minotaur because an agent told him Bale was playing Dario
• Re: Secret Wars - thinks that could be where the MCU is going years down the line, but has no specific insight that it is
• Re: Nova - no concrete information other than it's 'in development' (at various points this past year 4chan, the Redditor known as TMSM, and Sutton claimed a film was being developed)
• Re: Nightmare in Doctor Strange 2 - speculates that Derrickson left the project because Nightmare was left out (if this speculation is true it would explain the October re-write of the script, as the original Cargill script undoubtedly focused on that character, cf)
• Re: Doctor Strange 2 - believes it will be like Age of Ultron in terms of setting up the MCU going forward
• Re: Sonyverse - shares my opinion that it will be treated like the Jeph Loeb shows and ignored by the MCU
• Re: Shang-Chi - believes (but can't confirm) the tournament idea that's floating around
• Believes a lot of super soldier serum elements are coming (Black Widow, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, etc)
• Re: Namor - has nothing concrete about him and no news about a change in the rights situation (this was presumably asked because of the recent Conrad rumour; this answer does suggest it's unlikely he's appearing in Black Panther 2)
• Re: Midnight Sons team-up - no insider information, but thinks it's likely (this is something LotLB have discussed going back to when I first found them--originally as a Hulu idea--inexplicably I don't seem to have ever mentioned it previously)
• Re: Netflix characters - nothing official going on (related to Conrad's rumour in October)
• Re: Falcon and the Winter Soldier - none of the unexpected characters who will appear in the show will be mutants (which makes sense given when the script was written, but see below)
• Re: Mutants - no inside information, but said there's no point in filming for a week in Madripoor unless it's intended to set-up something down the line

There's not much new here, although it does imply some of the rumours being pushed the last few months are unlikely to have any substance to them. Murphy is pretty cavalier about on-set script changes regarding the Fox IP, but the lack of mutants suggests that my suspicion that Madripoor is mostly an easter egg for fans to anticipate them is correct.

Murphy believes that Miki Ishikawa (added to the cast in December) is playing Jolt (which he expressed at the time without going into it). His theory is based on: 1) the exercise regime she's putting herself through, 2) a tattoo she has of a lightning bolt, 3) liking a now-deleted comment about being in that role. The third point, I think, is the strongest evidence. Jolt is one of many members of the Thunderbolts and helps increase both the female and diverse quotient of the team.

Murphy says Loki has moved its production forward by ten days, meaning it will start shooting shortly. I don't know what conclusions can be drawn here, as it's such a short amount of time it won't impact its release schedule.

Conrad reports "Marvel is looking to cast two stand-ins for the series and the first is pretty interesting. They’re looking for a female who portrays Caucasian between 5’6″ and 5’8″ with BLONDE hair. They were very specific to specify the blonde hair. The other is an African American female a bit taller between 5’7″ to 5’9″." He speculates the blonde stand-in is for Enchantress, based on the description (saying there aren't any other major characters with that look in the IP). I can't speak to his former assertion (Valkyrie was race-swapped, otherwise she would be another), and we've certainly had our share of Enchantress rumours/speculation:

• Last January (4chan) claimed she was the villain in a Sif Disney+ show (at the time Discussing Film claimed such a show was in the works)
• October (Reddit) as the villain in Loki who will also appear in Thor 4
• November (Variety) broke that 5'7 Sophie Di Martino was in negotiations to join the cast without any idea who she was playing (I included Enchantress as a possibility)
• January (4chan) claimed Jodie Comer was in talks for the role

Di Martino, who is blonde and the right size, seems like the character the stand-in is for (this doesn't negate Conrad's speculation, but he never brings up the actress in his article). She could, of course, be playing someone else (I've seen people speculation she's a female Loki, for instance).

Richard Newby from THR theorizes how Scarlett Johansson could stay in the MCU after her solo film is done (reflecting a recent Mikey Sutton idea). There are many ways this could happen, but his theory is that Taskmaster is actually a clone of Natasha based on their perceived similar size in the second trailer (reminiscent of the same logic that said it was Fagbenle in the first trailer because of his relative size to David Harbour). I'd never heard of Newby before and the only reason I'm discussing him was initially I wondered if he was planting the story for Marvel--to help pave the way for Johansson returning, but now that I've seen more of his work it appears he's just there for clickbait. This doesn't mean Johansson won't be back at some point (in flashbacks or for Secret Wars etc), just that I think Newby has no special insight on the matter.

Daniel says Hulkling is coming to the MCU. This isn't an idea unique to him, although it seems to be the first time he's said it. The next day GWW had a scoop that said he was being cast for a project filming this year (they didn't include the breakdown, sadly). They speculate he's meant for WandaVision (now filming) because in the comics he's Wiccan's boyfriend, which is plausible. I had been dismissive of the character appearing so soon because She-Hulk was coming and just how many similar characters can you have at one time, but if the Young Avengers is a Disney+ show rather than a movie there's more separation between them.

Kinda Culty summarizes the clues that Kathryn Hahn is playing Agatha Harkness and it's hard to imagine anything else given the set photos (as I've said previously, Murphy was the only holdout on this identification and he'd given in prior to this).

KC (link above) speculates that various Lovecraftian villains of Doctor Strange could appear in the film given its title--a reasonable bit of speculation and I suspect that was the original Scott Derrickson-planned film--I'm not sure if that will be the case in a more Wanda-focused film. KC's theory is that Mephisto or Chthon will be the main villain (borrowing elements from the other)--I think the former is more likely as Mephisto is a less abstract entity and has far more ties to other characters and ideas that can be carried forward. Chthon came up in a Reddit rumour back in December, where he featured prominently in WandaVision, but given their history in the comics this could easily be speculation.

Daniel says the Thunderbolts are being introduced in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This echoes the Murphy speculation above (as well as the general sentiment that using Zemo points in that direction).

KC talks about Wolverine's advent into the MCU and I agree with him that he'll be one of (if not the) first mutant character we see. KC believes that mutants are already out there, because he thinks starting fresh leaves out too much mutant pre-history and that the multiverse solution is too convoluted (specifically the idea is a small number of mutants have existed for a long time, but the massive jump in numbers will be due to the Snaps). He thinks the MCU will skip Wolverine's origin just like they did for Spider-Man and that's probably true, although I don't like it, since my favourite version has never been on screen (Alpha Flight etc). He doesn't think we'll get a mutant-focused film until Phase Five, but that they'll be introduced in the upcoming movies/shows (my expectations for the X-Men in particular can be found here).

I never used to pay attention to upcoming comic titles or events because of the messy relationship between Marvel Studios and Marvel Entertainment. Now that Feige is the creative head of the comic division, learning that a new Werewolf by Night series is coming adds potency to the frequent rumours that the character is on his way to the MCU (eg).

Deadline says Birds of Prey is tracking to open at around 52 million, facing no competition and no real direct impact on it the rest of February. This is similar to Shazam (which opened with 53.5 in April). I don't expect the film to do as poorly as Shazam, but it is tracking to be one of the weaker comicbook films of the modern era (which, given the lackluster trailers, seems appropriate). It's still possible the film is a sleeper hit due to the lack of competition--plenty of films that have looked worse have done well.

I wanted to briefly go over what I think a lot of scoopers do to provide a steady stream of content for the sake of their patreon's/publicity. We'll exclude actual insiders (Roger Wardell) and scoopers who have avoided this approach (Murphy). This also excludes pure clickbait sites (like WGTC).

From what I can tell, all the well-known scoopers receive inside information, but it's infrequent and often vague. In order to keep the flow of information going they extrapolate and make educated guesses on what that information might mean--sometimes they get lucky and it works out, but often they don't. Murphy gets around the dead time by speculating, but he's far more careful than others to make it clear that's what he's doing. Let me give you some examples to illustrate what I mean:

• Marvel Studios/Entertainment will be connected: LotLB and others were talking about the integration of the MCU with Marvel Entertainment (TV) in the spring months before it was officially announced--it's a genuine scoop, but clearly they were unaware how it would happen and so they guessed that Loeb would remain, taking his marching orders from Feige as the TV-elements were integrated into the film universe. Instead, the actual plan was for Loeb to move on and the TV-verse to be ended and officially excised from continuity
• Conrad said that Nick Fury would call Captain Marvel at the end of Infinity War to warn her of a Skrull Invasion--he was correct that he calls her, but why was his added speculation (my guess is he knew the Skrull's were appearing in Captain Marvel and this fueled the idea)
• Sutton said Ant-Man would be moved to Disney+; in retrospect he seems to have been entirely guessing based on the information publicly available at the time (Paul Rudd asking fans to push for a third film etc)
• Daniel claimed Ben Affleck would stick around as Batman in 2018--this was something the actor was saying repeatedly at the time, but clearly Daniel had no inside information to tell him differently and was speculating

Perhaps I'm missing something in these cases--maybe there's more to it--but I've tracked enough of these scoops that I think it's unlikely. Typically the bigger named scoopers won't speculate without at least some firm data point (either actual inside information or the word of another insider they trust). It does mean, however, that you have to exercise caution, although I believe it's still worthwhile to see what's being said by whom (up until the release of Endgame virtually no one was aware of Wardell). I should point out that Conrad (and perhaps Daniel) have become more careful in how they frame information to avoid being completely wrong.

Just for fun, here are the Patreon numbers for the big scoopers:

• Daniel 226 supporters (he doesn't post the dollar amount; the number of patrons has been flat since 2016)
• Murphy 121 ($123/month; this is quite new)
• Conrad 40 (amount not listed; this number has been flat for over six months; his moribund YT seems to have prompted him to buy subscribers to avoid completely flatlining)*

*For those unfamiliar: when a YT channel is consistently gaining subs in precise quantities of ten or hundreds it's a virtual certainty that they are being purchased

Correction

Back in August I got the impression from an offhand remark from Tim (LotLB) that he owned a comicbook shop (or, at least, worked at one). Recently he came across the site (seemingly via a fan or friend) and let me know that's not the case. I'm happy to have him reading--whatever you might think of LotLB, it's an entertaining show to watch.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News

The new Black Widow trailer fell flat for me (I'm iffy about the Russian accents); there's a lot of exposition with flat delivery (I'm still not sold on Florence Pugh, but trailers aren't the film). For those following the various rumours about the movie, it confirms that someone is training new Black Widows (the assumption is that Melina, aka Iron Maiden, is responsible). An official synopsis came out as well, but added nothing no new information.

Interestingly, Eric Pearson has the only screenplay credit for the film (he did uncredited work on Spider-Man: Homecoming and re-writes for Thor: Ragnarok), with original writer Jac Schaeffer and re-writer Ned Benson receiving only story credits. The implication is that Schaeffer's script was a dumpster fire and that makes me wonder what she'll bring to WandaVision as the showrunner (her work on the Captain Marvel script was completely excised). Pearson's name had not come up in relation to the film and we only knew about Benson because Collider reported on his emergency re-write in June (Pearson's re-write must have been an even greater emergency). Script problems are not uncommon for the MCU and it can be argued that outside of Markus & McFeely, there's a constant struggle to get things right.

Apparently there was a 4chan post from late November that I missed, it claims:

• Starts right after Civil War, meant to fit perfectly into rewatch chronology. There's a lot of fleshing out parts of the MCU you didn't know need fleshed out. Like Winter Soldier in that regard. Ties into Ant-Man and the Wasp in a surprising way
• Rachel Weisz is Iron Maiden and is the main villain. Her suit is super cool. Taskmaster is more of a badass side character
• Taskmaster is OT Fagbendle and he dies at the end when Yelena kills him. Hearing he's back in the post credits somehow or there's a second Taskmaster. Might have been working with Yelena to con Nat out of Foxcharge the whole time
• There are flashbacks to Nat's past lots of Red Room stuff with young her Yelena, Melina and Alexei
• They all have trauma from their past and it's what bonds them
• Drive of the plot is stopping Melina from reactivating the Black Widow program and ruining the lives of more young women, and Nat getting this device that is basically like the "blocking" system in Black Mirror and will make her Cap and Falcon impossible to track.
• movie is very dark, very John Wick, and very much an obvious (sometimes heavy handed) passing of the torch to Yelena
• Yelena will be a new status quo of a Black Widow who is the most ruthless MCU hero yet and it's questionable whether she will stay good or bad
• Natasha realizes through the events of this movie how important the family she gained in the Avengers is. And that's why she goes back to Cap and Sam at the end
• Super Satisfying end to Natasha's character
• Hawkeye, Jimmy Woo, and whatever Walton Goggins character was named [Sonny Burch] all have cameos

Not much of this is new (it's largely cribbed from a October and November 4chan posts, and very similar to a Reddit post from December); I hope the idea of a ton of flashbacks is incorrect (the movie itself is essentially a flashback). The only unique content Jimmy Woo and Sonny Burch cameos (a plausible idea).

A Redditor put out a post about the film that included one thing I hadn't heard before: Oliver Richter is playing Taskmaster (rather than Fagbenle). It's interesting speculation, but I think highly unlikely.

Marvel released a new official synopsis for The Eternals (the general reaction to the film thus far is a mix of confusion and indifference), adding one plot specific element: "[A]n unexpected tragedy forces [the Eternals] out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s most ancient enemy, the Deviants." It's not clear what this tragedy is, but there's nothing meaty here for a casual fan to sink their teeth into. Unlike Black Widow, this film will rely heavily on good trailers to draw people in.

Scott Derrickson has departed Doctor Strange 2 due to creative differences (at minimum studio mandates about release dates). I suspect this has been coming for quite some time mainly because of Jade Bartlett's script work in October after C. Robert Cargill had already written a draft. The change could mean that scoops from early 2019 (and earlier) are more suspect, although much has been echoed since. It's clear from his social media activity in December that Derrickson made his choice fairly recent (a few weeks ago).

4chan weighed in on his departure (grains of salt required):

I don't really know where else to post this because I don't want to lose my job.
Derrickson has been a problem since he started breaking the story for Strange 2. He refused to meet deadlines and was constantly coming up with excuses. He frequently blamed Disney even though they were being very accommodating to him.
The only reason he was ever signed on to direct was because Kevin Feige went to bat for him. Feige stood by him the whole way, trying to meld his vision of the movie with where the MCU is going.
Derrickson wanted to kill Rachel McAdams [Christine Palmer] in a horror movie cold open. He also planned to kill Wong, destroy the cloak of levitation, and pack the movie full of jump scares. He was basically going to treat the entire supporting cast he himself introduced like the Warriors Three in Ragnarok.
Needless to say, there's a lot that didn't work with that vision. Wong isn't going anywhere and the higher ups were adamant about that.
Aside from his bad attitude and refusal to hit deadlines, the straw that broke the camel's back was Scarlett Witch. Feige has huge plans for the character and WandaVision is setting them all up. Feige sees her as the main villain of the picture and thinks her arc is the most important. Derrickson really wanted Nightmare to be the driving force and to lean into the horror he was was wreaking on Strange's life.
One heated argument ended with Derrickson yelling "Why don't you just call the movie Scarlett Witch then!" And hanging up on Feige.
After cooler heads prevailed Derrickson came back, hat in hand, to apologize and request to be let off the project. The request was obviously granted and here we are. I have no idea who is going to replace him. People seem to be in a panic around here, but I'm also hearing that Feige/Disney already has someone in mind that they've been eyeing a long time. The name I've heard around the office is Darren Lyn [Lynn] Bousman [director of several abysmal Saw-films] but take that with huge amounts of salt.

This kind of information is either 100% accurate or complete bullshit and there aren't many ways for someone to have this information (granting that gossip does get around). Let's entertain it as real for a moment: killing Christine could work if Clea becomes his romantic interest (assuming the former is never going to evolve into Night Nurse). As for Wong, other than shock value I don't know what the point would be (it would be a very different choice than the Warriors Three, who ultimately never developed). I can imagine Derrickson being unhappy that Nightmare wasn't the principal villain, but with that said, unless there's something to validate this we're safe to ignore it.

Discussing Film has a casting scoop for Doctor Strange 2:

[O]ne is a 30s-40s female open ethnicity villain and one is a 30s-40s African-American villain. Given that we know the sequel will already introduce Nightmare as a main threat, it’s likely that the African-American villain will be the MCU’s interpretation of Nightmare, a character that Scott Derrickson wanted to include in the first film but has said to be including the character in this sequel. As for the female villain, it is possible that she could be Lilith or even a new version of Morgan Le Fay.

The Nightmare guess is plausible; Enchantress is another potential villain (I haven't seen Lilith in speculation before, while Kinda Culty is the only one on the Le Fay train thus far). Enchantress rumours go way back to 4chan in January (for a Sif show that hasn't happened); then a Redditor in October said she'd be the villain in Loki before 4chan weighed in last week to put her in Thor 4 (Reddit, below, says she'll be in both in Loki and Thor 4). This isn't an inherently 'where there's smoke there's fire' situation, but more about how ubiquitous the character is for the IP.

A synopsis from Back Stage reads as follows:

After the events of Avengers: Endgame, Dr. Stephen Strange continues his research on the Time Stone. But an old friend-turned-enemy puts an end to his plans and causes Strange to unleash unspeakable evil.

This is exceedingly odd, since there is no Time Stone in this reality. I'm not sure how accurate Back Stage is, so I'd take it grain of salt.

A now-deleted Reddit post shared a screenshot from Production List that said Doctor Strange 2 will begin May 4th. Given PL's sketchy track record, I don't give it much weight.

4chan has weighed in on Ant-Man 3:

• Set for February 18th, 2022 [Murphy believes it will be a July release, but his speculation isn't universally shared]
• Takes place around 6 months after Endgame, where Scott and Hope decide to get married. However, their marriage is postponed after the new villain Whirlwind comes around. [A classic villain for the IP who is a mutant]
• Scott and Hope suit up with Cassie, Hank, and Janet to stop Whirlwind. Luis tags along too in his own suit. They also get the help from Kate Bishop [I have no idea why Luis needs a suit, but maybe?]
• Scott comes across Eric O'Grady, a prisoner looking for redemption similar to Scott in the first film. Scott takes Eric in the journey. [O'Grady has also been Ant-Man in the comics--the poster's idea seems to be that, given Paul Rudd's age (soon to be 51), to introduce him to pass the torch]
• Bill Foster becomes Goliath again and Ghost is confirmed to be dead. Goliath and Whirlwind team up. The two believe the beach that Scott and Hope were going to for their honeymoon has a source for eternal life. [It would be very strange to kill Ghost off and that's a bizarre plot--a beach with eternal life?]
• Hank Pym dies making a sacrifice. [Given Michael Douglas' age (76 later this year), this is plausible]
• Title of the film is Ant Man and The Wasp with the Love Bug
• Script written by Paul Rudd has Yacht Rock soundtrack which is built in the story similar to the Guardians films
• Casting hasn’t began but Alexander Skarsgard is Peyton Reed’s dream choice for the role of Whirlwind. Reed also wants Daryl Sabara as Eric O'Grady. TI’s Dave has been written out of the script. No idea on Kurt. [Presumably TI would be gone due to various controversies]
• Emma Fuhrmann will reprise her role as Cassie. Cassie and Kate could hook up at the end of the film. [There's no comicbook history of the two having a relationship, as both are straight. Incidentally, any time I see the word "reprise" I can't help but think of Armin, who uses the word incessantly]
• Hailee Steinfeld has fallen out of negotiations to play Bishop due to her Apple contract. Bishop of course will still debut in Hawkeye, with the show setting up the events of this film
• Marvel has a shortlist of actresses who could play Bishop now which includes Liana Ramirez, Maya Hawke, Kaitlyn Dever, and Brianna Hildebrand

The post has some similarity to a much shorter one that appeared on 4chan a couple of weeks ago (although it lacks the Hulk). Back in November Murphy said the film would have a grander scale and that's not evident here. I think the above is just a poster's speculation, filled with fan casting and some implausible choices (two deaths in a film aimed at kids, including Ghost?).

Murphy believes actress Julie Zhan could be part of Falcon and the Winter Soldier based on her filming in Atlanta at the same time--given that she has a January 9th Instagram post that says 'Day 1' and the show has been in production for over two months, I'm dubious.

If more proof was needed, we have additional photos that show Madripoor being used in the show (as discussed previously). It remains unclear what role it will have (I wonder if they'll use it to help tie-in to Shang-Chi who, while having no comic relationship with him, could very easily be given one) .

Murphy reported that Hawkeye's scheduled shooting (July) has been delayed indefinitely. He said this has been in the works for some time and the shift forward of Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Moon Knight on the schedule are associated with that change. Conrad took this information and claimed the delay is both to let the negativity over Jeremy Renner's divorce simmer down and (he speculates) to sort out the non-compete clause in Hailee Steinfeld's contract. Conrad says in the meantime Marvel is looking for someone else to play the role. Less than a day later Disney denied that production was delayed (to The Verge and other reporters). If this denial is accurate, it will be the first time since I've kept track of Murphy that something he reported as fact was false.

Daniel says Moon Knight will begin production in August (which, if accurate, would be around the time Ms. Marvel wraps filming).

The trailer for Morbius confirmed that Sony can reference the MCU directly in their films (or, at least, the Spider-Man elements). They've always had the option to use characters from that IP in their own films (in this case, the Vulture), as the contracts signed are with Sony. I have no idea how coherent this will be--given that Sony films are likely to be a mixed bag when it comes to quality, I'm not sure how they'll impact Marvel (if at all), or how broadly they'll integrate its elements. Perhaps the multiverse element that's coming to the MCU will wind up explaining it all, or Feige might approach them the same way he did with Netflix/etc--ignore everything Sony does (I consider this unlikely since he wants to play nice).

We have a new Redditor posting supposed scoops (one and two), with the usual claims of having a friend who works at Marvel (who doesn't, right?). Here's the substance:

• Mark Ruffalo will reprise his role as Bruce Banner for a cameo in She-Hulk. However, it’s important to note that his scenes will be flashbacks. Even though Jennifer Walters needs a blood transfusion from Bruce in the comics, in the show, the government has his blood from the events of The Incredible Hulk. Aside from She-Hulk Ruffalo will co-star in a 2022 movie. [Banner appearing in the show is a common assumption; as for a 2022 film, the only one announced is Black Panther, but Guardians 3, Ant-Man 3, and one other will appear]
• First of all, ABC’s Inhumans is NOT part of the MCU. Ms. Marvel will introduce three Inhumans to the MCU: Black Bolt, Maximus, and Karnak. I’m not sure if other Inhumans will appear, but if they do it won’t be more than a cameo appearance. [The idea of rebooting Inhumans goes back to LotLB in September with Black Bolt; GWW echoed that in October (I have an incorrect link in that article, but the correct one is listed above), adding Maximus; 4chan echoed both in November and added Lockjaw, who isn't included here]
• One of the original six Avengers will appear in Loki. Also, Kid Loki and Lady Loki will appear as alternate versions of the beloved character. This show will tie heavily into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness [it will air before DS2]. His appearance in the movie won’t be that big though, because the focus will be on the Scarlet Witch. [The idea of Kid Loki goes back to Murphy last January, although it's received no serious support since; Murphy is also the only one who has indulged in Lady Loki speculation]
• The upcoming Fantastic Four movie will tie into an upcoming Avengers sequel via Kang the Conqueror. [While Kang is popular in the rumour mill, he's been largely absent from any notable rumours--in November 4chan had him introduced in Ant-Man 3, but that's it]
• Ant-Man 3 will set-up the Disney+ Young Avengers show. Cassie Lang will lead the team with other members appearing in other Disney+ shows. Some of the members are: Ms. Marvel; Speed and Wiccan [via WandaVision]; Kate Bishop [via Hawkeye]; Kid Loki [via Loki]. [Rumours about the team pre-date Infinity War, but in terms of the recent stuff they begin with a 4channer saying it was being discussed last January; in May 4chan said there were 'plans'; in September Daniel said it was coming to Disney+, Sutton (same link and around that time) said it was a film; Murphy in October said he'd heard a rumour they would appear in Ant-Man 3, which a November 4chan post echoed, but a month after his original comment Murphy said he could still only call it a rumour--my belief is that his rumour was Daniel's]
• Agents of SWORD will be a Disney+ show. Chloe Bennet and a couple other Agents of SHIELD actors will have small, yet pivotal, roles in the show. [These rumours ultimately come from LotLB (the only support it has received otherwise is from 4chan in November)]
• Moon Knight and Blade will be connected, possibly for a future team-up [Common speculation]
• Thor: Love and Thunder will use Jane Foster’s breast cancer storyline with minor changes [Common speculation]
• The Captain Marvel inspired What-If...? episode will follow what life would be like if Maria Rambeau had flown Mar-Vell and received powers. The powers would then pass onto her daughter [I've heard this before, but as I don't care about What If I didn't track it]
• Bob Iger and Alan Horne want nothing to do with Sony’s Spider-Verse (aside from Tom Holland) but Kevin Feige is open to the idea [I have no idea what this is supposed to mean]
• Unfortunately, Marvel Studios has no plans for most of the previously cancelled Marvel shows (Runaways, Cloak & Dagger, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage). Daredevil and Punisher are the only ones with possible revivals. [A return for Daredevil is a common rumour--either the show or character--while the only people to bring up Punisher are Sutton/LotLB]
• No word yet on mutants.
• Magneto and Magda are Wanda’s parents (will be revealed in WandaVision). [Common speculation, although you'd think the former would be a mutant]
• Wanda messes up reality BIG TIME in WandaVision enough for SWORD to need to try to kill her. Speaking of SWORD, Monica Rambeau is an agent for them, and Darcy Lewis is a scientist. SWORD is supposed to be a space-based organization, and aren’t allowed on Earth. However, in order to find Wanda, they’re going to need to go the the United States. When they get there, Jimmy Woo tries to stop them as he works for the FBI but ends up being a double agent for SWORD. This takes place shortly after Avengers: Endgame. [Back in November 4chan described Darcy as an FBI recruit; then in December the FBI part was echoed by another 4channer; in the comprehensive recent Reddit post her role isn't defined--the scientist idea is plausible]
•  WandaVision will have some cameos (Agents of SHIELD mostly). [See the AoS note above]
•  Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will have huge cameos from other movie actors (They’re calling it the Civil War of Phase 4, in terms of the cast size). [This is a new idea]
• The Young Avengers show and What If...? seem to be the only MCU Disney+ shows that could have multiple seasons, so far.
• The Enchantress will appear in Loki and then Thor: Love and Thunder. [See above]
• Betty Ross will appear in ‘She-Hulk’. [October rumour from Daniel]
• Moon Knight will tackle the debate of wether [whether] or not what Marc Spector does is in his head. [Most of the speculation about the character, going back long before he was slated to appear, has assumed this, with Sutton being the only one saying otherwise]

Most of the above has been heard before. The distinctive elements are Doctor Strange 2 being like Civil War, and Darcy/Woo's occupation/arc WandaVision. It reads like someone's speculation.

More from LotLB:

• Sutton: initially thought Christian Bale would be Beta Ray Bill, but may be up for Silver Surfer; regardless, he believes both will be in Thor 4
• Reserve list for Shang-Chi (for the current film and the future):
• White Tiger (Hector Ayala-version); LotLB put him here back in July previously
• Fah Lo Suee (his sister); rumoued in October (Reddit, with Awkwafina in the role)
• Black Jack Tarr (minor character--no powers, a fighter who becomes the director of MI6); also rumoured in October (4chan)
• Clive Reston (MI6 agent); rumoured in October (4chan)
• Moving Shadow (his half-brother); rumoured in October (Conrad)
• Leiko Wu (MI6 agent; love-interest of Reston); rumoured in October (4chan)
• Ghost Maker (Russian martial artist); rumoured in October (Conrad)
• Pete Wisdom (mutant); rumoured in November (Sutton, who put him on the Excalibur spec list)
• Sir Denis Nayland Smith (MI6 agent)
• Sword Master (martial artist); the Lin Lie-version, who was created in 2018
• Korain (samurai); appeared exactly once in 1974
• Skullbuster (cyborg who is a member of the Reavers); primarily an X-Men villain
• Warfist (martial artist); works for the Mandarin
• Silver Samurai (samurai); the original Keniuchio Harada-version
• The Shadow Council (a group of post-Civil War villains associated with Mandarin)

Given the 98% Asian cast of the film, if this list is credible than most of the MI6 characters would be for a sequel (modern Shang-Chi has a strong connection to that organization). What we see here largely echoes various other rumours (new and old), but White Tiger sticks out like a sore thumb (maybe some wish fulfillment from Tim).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)