Marvel News & Notes

GWW's Thomas Polito had this to report:

The studio has been taking virtual meetings with various actors, writers, and directors over the past weeks, and one of those people is none other than John Krasinski. Krasinski and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige have both said they’d love to work together, and it seems that’s now closer to happening than ever before. While I’m not sure of the role he’d take in the MCU, whether it be that of a director, writer, or actor, I do know they discussed a multitude of projects during their meeting. As far as I’m aware, this is the first time they’ve formally met, but Krasinski is not currently in talks for any MCU project.

There are three key points to this: 1) Feige talked to Krasinski, 2) This is apparently the first formal talk they've had, 3) The talks are not specific to a MCU project. That makes this an exploratory talk--significant because it occurred, but Marvel talks to a lot of people, so it's far too early to jump to conclusions.

When this news came out Sutton said Krasinski will be Reed Richards (popular speculation for years), but that his wife Emily Blunt is less certain because she's hesitant about making the lengthy contract commitment (this echoes what he said back in February). Sutton says the MCU is considering Krasinski not just for Fantastic Four, but as writer/director of the rumoured Midnight Sons film (cf). Sutton repeated the idea that Richards would be the mentor for Peter Parker in Spider-Man 3 (an idea he first floated in September), which if true would add a lot of urgency to get him signed (the planned film date for that was July, see below, but even if delayed it would have to be arranged soon--I frankly don't buy the idea, which I suspect Sutton got from the purported FF easter egg in Far From Home).

Variety put out a puff piece on Mark Ruffalo and he said three things of substance, one of which we've heard before and another that's heavily rumoured:

“There’s nothing completely at a place where it’s a done deal. There’s some talk of having Banner/Hulk show up in [the Disney Plus series] She–Hulk. If we come up with something good, that would be really interesting. Right now that’s about it. That’s all there is on the table.
“There’s an idea that I think could be really interesting. We’ve never really followed him into his life. He’s always kind of off on the side. He’s like the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the Avengers [referencing Tom Stoppard's play Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead]. It’d be interesting to fill in all the blanks about what happened to him in between all these movies.”
“Maybe Hulk and Wolverine could hook up.”

The final comment we heard back in the fall; the first is something we've been aware of for quite some time, but clearly either Ruffalo hasn't signed on for She-Hulk or (more likely) isn't allowed to announce it yet. What's new is his idea for a Hulk solo project (which would have to be on TV), which sounds like the 70s TV show--a concept that could work if kept to just a season. Whether Marvel has any interest in that, however, remains to be seen.

A Redditor posted screen shots from his phone that seem to show two production dates: She-Hulk for July 6th and Spider-Man 3 for July 13th (both of these are via Production List). I think it's likely that these are the original planned dates for both IP. Murphy and Daniel both had She-Hulk shooting in August, but the former made the July claim back in January (before shifting the slate to November afterwards, link above). What do I think? I believe Sony will want to start filming Spider-Man 3 the second restrictions are lifted, such that the production date won't move much. As for She-Hulk, if Murphy's date shift is correct, than nothing will change and it will begin shooting in November. If, conversely, either Daniel or this screenshot is correct, it's probable that production will shift (presumably Disney would want to finish the re-shoots for Falcon and Winter Soldier as well as continue Loki first--they have the capacity to shoot another show at the same time, but that's more likely to be Ms. Marvel (given the chronology of the slate we have).

Production Weekly has Moon Knight's production start date listed as November 16th and to take 26 weeks. It's important to be aware that PW has been wrong before (cf), but the month matches what we've heard from Murphy (link above). If the length of the shoot is correct, that's longer than you need for a six-episode show (it's about the same length as the 13-episode Marvel Netflix shows). I have no idea how many episodes for MK are planned, but if accurate this would mean more episodes (keeping in mind, again, that PW has been wrong before).

Conrad posted a rumour that Captain Marvel 2 will lead into the next Avengers film. Conrad sites no sources for this rumour, which historically indicates that he doesn't like the person responsible for it, or (more commonly) that the source is not considered reputable. Pierre Chanliau has struggled to keep his big list of rumours up-to-date (I'm still here to help Pierre), so I went hunting on the Google machine. I found nothing as an obvious basis, so this either means the source is months old (ala his recent Eternals rumour) or it's from chatter/speculation on social media, youtube, and what have you.

One funny result I had in doing the research for this was coming across a site I'd never heard of called The Arkatech, which is floating a rumour that Captain Marvel will appear in Shang-Chi (because Skrulls will be part of the tournament that takes place in the film). The idea of Skrulls appearing in the film comes from a Reddit rumour in January, but that's been an isolated piece of speculation.

Murphy put out a Tweet wondering if an Instagram post from Tze Chun (showrunner for Gremlins) was a hint for Agents of Atlas. I think this is speculation or him hoping, but in terms of rumour antecedents there is one: back in February GWW claimed Shang-Chi would set-up an Agents of Atlas show or film. At the time I said if that was true it made a lot of sense, because Shang-Chi has limited appeal, so by putting him in a group you aren't just leaning on him to sell the film/show.

Disney's financial woes have come up a great deal, but I'm not that interested in Marvel's corporate owner except for how it impacts the MCU (I think Bob Iger's return as CEO is as much to stabilize the stock as anything else). In a way, the fortunes of Disney aren't as relevant to the MCU as they are to the other parts of the company, because Marvel is the golden goose--it generates tons of revenue. As such, no matter what happens to the House of Mouse, that part of the company is the one that will receive the most support and protection regardless of what else goes on.

This is mostly a tangent from the MCU, but it came to mind while writing this. One of the things I'm exposed to when tracking entertainment news is a small but very loud group of Youtubers--specifically, those whose channels are based on outrage. With one exception I don't typically name them, because I don't think they warrant the attention, but I wanted to briefly go over something I've noticed lately about their popularity. It's not intended to be a comprehensive list, just the biggest fish in the pond I'm aware of (all of whom are quite friendly with one another); I put a star next to the ones who bought the fake story about Amazon's The Lord of the Rings (cf):
Mr. H Reviews 241k*
Nerdrodic 234k*
Geeks + Gamers 224k*
Midnight's Edge 168k
Overlord DVD 151k

Let's acknowledge that these are modest channels--Emergency Awesome has 3.45 million subscribers, as a point of comparison. They are specialty channels run by people whose numbers are built out of angry, hardcore nerds. I'm not saying these channels are identical--Midnight's Edge actually does good reporting, but they pair that with lazy clickbait.  What's true of all of them, if you look at Social Blade, is they are declining (see above--it looks like Overlord got caught viewbotting and there are signs some have resorted to buying subscribers--for those who don't know, blocks of subs at even numbers (100, 1,000, etc) are a sign of that). Why the downward trend? There's not much to be angry about right now, as I'll get into below (some have tried to attack the MCU, eg, but there isn't resonance for that yet). I'll briefly bring up The Critical Drinker (341k), who is friends with the above and does a lot of the same content (and seen a similar drop): he's not included because I'm less familiar with him and he seems a bit more independently minded.

So what made these channels as big as they are? There are some fundamental differences in their scope, but in general two properties standout: Star Wars and Star Trek. These are the white whales for views--both have older, well-established fanbases that feel unappreciated and exploited by their corporate masters (Disney in the former case, CBS in the later). I'm in the demographic targeted by these channels, but as just a casual fan of both IPs I don't feel personally attacked in the same way (I'm not crushed like the guys at Red Letter Media--RLM isn't included above because they are a very different channel). Why have these YTers been able to make so much hay off both IP?

I think two elements are the primary reason: 1) Belief that they are getting a weak and disappointing product, 2) The combative approach by those responsible towards all criticism. What's surprising to me is just how low the bar is to please the fanbase seems to be--Member-berry The Mandalorian and the Rebels make Star Wars fans happy (many also defend the prequels, Geeks + Gamers being one, which boggles the mind). Star Trek seems to have a slightly higher standard to reach, as shows like Voyager and Enterprise (both done faithfully in the spirit of the IP) did not perform well and ended the franchise's long run on television.

This brings us to the current predicament for these channels. Disney Star Wars is shifting away from what upsets fans, so the rage is dying away (ie, MauLer (281k), abandoned his Force Awakens series due to lack of interest and refuses to produce a critique of Rogue One because his fanboys like it so much). Changes at CBS also mean the end is neigh for Kurtzman's projects (Discovery and Picard), with a push to get back to what worked in the past (and sold merchandise). The only incalcitrant left is the BBC and Doctor Who, but that's a tiny audience. The creators can't switch to a positive videos because that arena is already overcrowded with much bigger channels--they are dependent on, not just negative news, but news that impacts the IP of a large enough fanbase. This isn't to say these channels are dying--they can putter along just fine profiting from live shows--but they seem to have peaked.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)