Marvel News & Notes

Disney has finally re-arranged their film release dates as a result of the corona outbreak (in the process debunking some unfounded rumours--see below). Clearly they want the MCU to have its usual worldwide approach, or they wouldn't have shifted the slate so far back. Here's the new schedule (keeping in mind that Spider-Man is a Sony date and therefore not included):
2020
Black Widow - November 6 (the release date of:)
2021
The Eternals - February 12 (the release date of:)
Shang-Chi - May 7 (the release date of:)
Doctor Strange 2 - November 5 (the release date of:)
2022
Thor 4 - February 18 (the release date of an unrevealed title now pulled from the schedule--conventional wisdom says this was Ant-Man 3)
Black Panther 2 - May 6 (no change)
Captain Marvel 2 - July 8 (moving up three weeks)
Unknown - October 7 (general sentiment says this is Blade)
2023
Unknown - February 17
Unknown - May 5
Unknown - July 28
Unknown - November 3

Murphy has heard that the MCU is aiming to gear up full production again in September, which strikes me as a conservative guess, but given how terrible the situation is in the US, it's plausible.

I'm not sure what the shifting schedule means for Ant-Man 3, but the film now has a writer--yet another Rick & Morty alum, Jeff Loveness. He joins Michael Waldron (Loki/Doctor Strange 2) and Jessica Gao (She-Hulk) from Rick & Morty. We also learned there was an earlier version of the script from Paul Rudd and that it included MODOK. What interests me is that Marvel is choosing to bring someone in to either update or completely re-write Rudd's script. Ant-Man 2 suffered in the script department (compared to the original film, which had five writers), so I welcome the move.

Funko Pops may have revealed some appearances in The Eternals, specifically that of Kro and Arishem the Celestial. The latter isn't surprising, given that Marvel has shown off concept art of the Celestials and Arishem is the most obvious member to appear. However, Kro is a villain (a Deviant) who hasn't come up much in rumours. By my count we've only heard of him twice, once in December and then March. Only the original is a potential scoop because the latter is a mix of fan-casting with an absurd plot. What was that December rumour? It came from 4chan and, at the time, I said it was similar to a November post, but re-reading it that's not a fair assessment (the latter is clearly speculation based on the comics). Without repeating it entirely:

• 1) The Eternals were created by the Celestials to defend humanity from the Deviants [this was revealed by Richard Madden months earlier]; the latter are defeated and exiled and the former give up their powers to live among the humans, forgetting who they were (this is very similar to the Neil Gaiman run on the comic)
• 2) Dane Whitman discovers an Eternal citadel and activates a beacon that awakens them; Deviants attack him and the Eternals arrive to save him (this is similar to Jack Kirby's run on the comics, with Whitman in the Margo Damien-role and, I'd guess, Sersi in the Ikaris role)
• 3) The Deviants were freed by a rogue Eternal, there are twists and turns of the plot, but the key element is the inclusion of Kro as the principal Deviant who has a relationship with Thena
• 4) In the end the Celestials return and Ajak sacrifices herself to stop them

I was skeptical of this plot at the time, but returning to it I think it's plausible, making use of various elements we've heard about (eg Phastos etc). Let's keep in mind, the Funko Pops aren't an absolute guarantee we'll see those characters, they simply make it probable.

Murphy put out a Tweet reply where he said: "So you're still going to get Sue [Storm], probably in near proximity to AM3 [Ant-Man 3] coming out and, for all you know, whoever brings the FF [Fantastic Four] to the MCU might do a better job. You didn't lose." This is a fascinating thing for him to say, as to my knowledge he's never discussed this before (at least, outside the realm of speculation). From the context he doesn't just mean Sue Storm but the entire FF. The implication is that he thinks they require Ant-Man 3 to appear, but I'm taking that as his speculation. I wouldn't call this a scoop at this point, but it's interesting to note.

We have a Reddit post from a guy who has previously put up others that have not been deleted (meaning the mods have accepted that he is who he says he is--not the biggest hurdle to overcome, but it gives him more credibility than most):

Hey guys! Long time no see, but I figure with all the delays that everyone could use some cheering up right now. If you don’t already know, I’ve been working as an editor on both Wandavision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, typically just working on trailers, but with the start of remote work, I’ve been working on Falcon as a part-time editor and got to see some interesting scenes. I’m not gonna spoil anything monumental, but given that some of these scenes may straight up have to be cut, I figured I’d share some of their contents with you all. (And for all those wondering, Marvel is eyeing a December 2020 release date, and is likely pushing Wandavision to July 2021 in order to be in close proximity to Doctor Strange--the delays affecting Doctor Strange made them want to push those two closer together as well so a Doctor Strange trailer featuring Wanda can build hype.) [This would be a significant delay and put a drag on MCU momentum for Disney+, but it does make sense to synergize the two related IP]
Some scenes I’ve seen for Falcon:
Bucky will work with US Agent as part of a government-mandated parole of sorts in exchange for charges against him being dropped. He is, however, highly suspicious of the serum given to US Agent, and starts his own spy work mirroring Widows’s Captain America: Winter Soldier arc. This leads into the information I gave in the last leak (Bucky warning Sam about the serum [link above].)
As part of this parole, Bucky also sees a government-mandated therapist who is revealed to be corrupt. He has a few flashback scenes with her in which more of his time as the Winter Soldier is revealed, including him finding out about Steve Rogers’ “death” and momentarily breaking programming, as well as him being ordered to kill Sam and other members of the Falcon program.
Bucky winds up deciding to go on the run rather than work with US Agent and be complicit in further danger to society.
Sam and Bucky go to an airport together undercover and there’s a funny scene involving Sam’s wings and Bucky’s arm going through TSA.
There’s a big reveal involving Steve opening a training academy in the alternate timeline. [I'm not sure what this portends--the phrasing suggests significance, but I'm not clear what that is]
Really cool team-up scene with Sam and Isaiah [Bradley] once Sam takes back the shield, with the 2 of them passing the shield back and forth.
Zemo, Sam, and Bucky will team up before it’s revealed that Zemo was involved in the creation of the mind altering serum used on US Agent.
Battlestar will turn against US Agent after seeing him brainwashed and go rogue.
The Madbomb rumors were true, but those scenes are certainly being cut and possibly being replaced with a new side villain for US Agent and Bucky to take on. [Presumably in reference to the plot changes being made in response to the corona outbreak]
Each episode will have a post-credit scene!
That’s all! I’ll respond to a few questions in the comments as usual. Stay safe everyone, and remember that delays only mean you’ll be getting an even better product. Safety is the priority right now. Shooting is being eyed to resume in June if things have improved.

The idea of the 'Madbomb' plot isn't new (eg, LotLB had it in November and it's been common speculation; the storyline is from Jack Kirby in 1976), but if this is correct it sounds like it's not just being adjusted, but completely replaced. This must be the reason the re-shoots aren't complete, since the show is replacing the plot entirely (a radical decision and, in my opinion, an overreaction). As for what's here in general, it sounds plausible and we're finally learning more about Bucky's storyline. What's not clear from is where the Zemo storyline is going or the end game for US Agent, but the poster did say he was trying to avoid major spoilers.

Daniel claims a Young Avengers project is in active development, without saying if it's a film or Disney+. Rumours about the IP aren't new and they aren't even new for Daniel, who reported the exact same thing back in September. So why is Daniel repeating himself? This isn't the first time he's done so, but I think the trigger was GWW's Thomas Polito saying "Sounds like Marvel Studios is gearing up to take pitches from writers for Young Avengers" on Twitter.

On March 27th Grace Randolph claimed Disney was considering putting Black Widow on Disney+, something that Conrad echoed the next day and Murphy echoed obliquely on his Twitter feed. I pay next to no attention to Randolph, as her unending bitterness towards her former employer and lack of inside sources makes her completely unreliable (cf). A few days after this came out Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro said this idea was hogwash, something that would be more definitive if D'Alessandro himself hadn't fallen on his face previously. Any doubt this was invented was crushed with Disney's revised slate (above), but I'm surprised that Conrad/Murphy gave someone as unreliable as Randolph credit (or that either thought on a business-level such an option was acceptable).

In a now deleted Tweet from Atlanta Filming there seemed to be an accidental casting leak:

"What does 'Must See Thursday' and Fox's X-Men have in common? They both started actors/actresses that are villain in upcoming Marvel shows."

There's no guarantee the person running the Twitter feed is accurate, but its possible, so let's go down the rabbit hole. For those who don't know, the Must See Thursday moniker was NBC's brand for its 1990s nighttime lineup (launched in 1993--you can see the full list here). People on Reddit (link above) missed the 'starred' part of the quote and included everyone who made an appearance--including those from when NBC changed the name to Must See TV, so keeping to our boundaries, here is your option: Kelsey Grammar (Frasier (93-94, 98-00); X-Men 3; Days of Future Past (cameo)). That's it. No other starring actor within that timeframe also appeared in the X-Men films. Could he be appearing? It's certainly possible, but I'd take it with a grain of salt.

Conrad referenced something I hadn't heard of regarding New Mutants (cf above):

"...some have said that HBO has some kind of deal in place for the newer [Fox X-Men] movies (such as Dark Phoenix) until 2022. That would likely rule out New Mutants too."

This is surely why Disney has stubbornly pushed releasing the film theatrically, unable to dump it on Disney+ and, therefore, the only way outside of VOD to make any money on it. In going through comments about this on Reddit people pointed out that the deal only applies in the United States, but that's a significant enough market to give Disney pause.

Here are the highlights from Kinda Culty's latest video for me (some of this is already known, but I felt was worth repeating):

• I was reminded that Feige said the film goes back 7,000 years, a very specific number that none of the early leaks got correct (their estimates ranging from millions to 30,000); Feige also hinted at a Thanos connection (which is expected, but worth repeating)
• From set leaks Loki seems to be working with the TVA; he's rumoured to visit ancient Egypt and KC thinks this is for a Kang connection (he goes through all the different iterations--default Kang, Rama-Tut, Scarlet Centurion, Iron Lad, and Immortus), perhaps being a backdoor to Fantastic Four, Mutants (possibly Apocalypse in Egypt), and Young Avengers
• Thor 4 will be like Ultron or Civil War; including maybe Loki, some Eternals, and SWORD; there will be a main villain with a bunch of secondary ones--he leans towards Gorr as the main villain (borrowing elements from Mangog), due to Taika's attachment to the Jason Aaron run on Thor (he likes the recent 4chan leak)
• Black Knight hinted to continue on from The Eternals (which makes sense--of all the leads appearing in that film, he's the only character with any popularity from the comics)

We had more from the fake Roger Wardell:

• Inhumans to undergo complete recast. Ms Marvel will refer to ABC's flop as a TV series of that universe. It will appear several times throughout the show in a form of billboards and TV spots.
• Heroes for Hire Disney+ show planned for Phase 5. It will serve as a binder between some of the Netflix and Disney+ characters. [The idea of the Netflix characters appearing is fairly common, with LotLB, Mikey Sutton, Daniel, Conrad, WGTC, and Cosmic Book News all floating the idea]
• Return of the Darkhold will be fundamental for upcoming WandaVision. Captain Britain and Ghost Rider in Doctor Strange 2. Events of both the show and movie will prepare the ground for Doctor Doom's debut. [Rumours about Ghost Rider in Doctor Strange 2 are quite common, but Captain Britain is not; Murphy brought him up in November in what, in retrospect, seems like his guess over what the 'Limbo LLC' was going to be about--which, as it turned out, was Loki; then in January I speculated he might be one of the 'character they've always wanted to use' Feige teased for Doctor Strange 2]

None of this seems plausible to me, as Feige has shown no inclination to acknowledge the Marvel Entertainment properties, and Disney doesn't even own the Netflix shows, so why empower their competitor?

A couple of thoughts I've had lately:

• I wonder if we'll see a young Daredevil with the Yelena version of Black Widow in the aftermath of Black Widow. Netflix, while it included an origin for the character, used a much older actor and largely skipped over his origins--given Florence Pugh's age, it would be an easy fit if the MCU wants to go there, since the two are heavily connected in the comics
• No Deadpool in the MCU? I'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever truly be part of the universe. We've had nothing announced for Phase Four and surely the third film is coming within that timeframe, Bob Iger said it would be part of the MCU, but I wonder if he's going to occupy the same space Netflix/ABC did in being 'adjacent but ignored'

One of the most popular actors in the MCU rumour-mill is Ryan Gosling--according to rumours he's playing anything and everything. This speculation isn't just based on his popularity, but also because he hasn't had any known upcoming projects on his slate. We have a bit of an update on that from Daniel, who says he's signed on with Universal for their Monsters franchise (rebooted, presumably, from Tom Cruise's disastrous The Mummy in 2017). The project has also (according to him) signed John Krasinski to write/direct, which could signal he's been passed over by Marvel, or that the Fantastic Four is a long way off.

Amidst all the shuffling due to the pandemic, one of the more surprising delays is Sony's Morbius. The film has jumped all the way from July 10th to March 19th of next year (while the gap is similar to Black Widow, its notable because Sony didn't need to push it that far). The shift brings to question just how interconnected it is with Venom 2, whose October 2nd date is unchanged. There were a lot of assumptions that Morbius would help set-up Venom, but this change implies there were simply easter eggs or trivial references.

For those interested, via the Sony hack, here are the Marvel characters they can use (including those shared). The document is from 2011, but there were no important adjustments made through to the time of the hack in November, 2014.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)