Marvel News & Notes

Fandom Wire's Andy Signore (seemingly fully recovered after the fiasco at Screen Junkies in 2017) claims to have plot details about Shang-Chi:

Shang-Chi has a special power in this film, and because of it, he was raised in an orphanage for kids that are trained to fight. This special orphanage is run by The Mandarin. Shang-Chi eventually escapes the school/prison and begins living on the run, trying to stay out the Mandarin’s clutches his entire life. The Mandarin does eventually find the grown-up Shang-Chi again, and offers him a chance. The Mandarin promises Shang-Chi money and power, along with a promise that he’ll finally stop chasing him if he will fight in an epic and magical tournament that every kid in the orphanage has been training for their entire lives. Whoever wins this tournament gets the legendary 10 Rings, which grants even more power, which clearly The Mandarin wants. However, The Mandarin is currently too old to fight so he enlists Shang-Chi. The tournament will have new characters from all corners of the MCU that include wizards, aliens, fighters, and well known comic book characters which we don’t want to spoil. Imagine a Marvel-infused Mortal Kombat movie! In this film, Shang-Chi’s special power is the ability to clone himself while fighting. This is a slightly different approach to a power he had in his more recent comics run. While in the comics Shang-Chi can create clones of himself to do anything, in this film, Shang-Chi only projects versions of himself during fight sequences. This gives the character something special to do, but also gives the filmmakers a way to Marvel-ize fight sequences. When we asked our sources on this story, if the film has more The Raid level hand to hand sequences, or more stylized magical fighting sequences over-using this cloning effect, they informed us it has both. One cool thing that we won’t get too much into, is that the film clearly knows that Mandarin fans are still upset and confused over Iron Man 3. Without spoiling it, they do address this issue at one point. He also says Awkafina will play Fah Lo Suee.

Let's first acknowledge two things: 1) Neither Andy nor Fandom Wire are known for Marvel scoops, 2) They are the source for Silver & Black as a TV-show, something they had so much faith in they've deleted the article. With grains of salt added, let's consider the scoop. If it seems at all familiar, that's because it's very similar to a Reddit post from October (which has been lauded by Murphy and others), and one from 4chan in January. The main differences between those two posts is that the latter names some of the tournament participants and denies the cloning power idea (which Fandom Wire says is projections, not clones), and the specifics of the above are much closer to the 4chan post. What it doesn't do is mention MI-6 or the expected characters we know are coming as per:
October: 4chan, Reddit (link above)
January: 4chan (link above), Sutton, Murphy
February: Daniel
March: 4chan
You could argue that Andy simply forgot them, but it's hard to see how in a post that long and detailed. As it stands, we can't accept this as a scoop until there's more verification for it.

Murphy has joined the chorus in saying Ghost Rider is coming. It's difficult to express how common rumours about the character have been (I go over some of them here, but every scooper outside Roger Wardell has floated something about him). The various rumours conflict with one another over what iteration it is, the context he'll appear in, and how soon he's coming, but the cumulative weight has finally pushed me into believing that Ghost Rider is coming to the MCU.

Deadline reports that the Czech Republic (where Falcon and the Winter Soldier was being filmed) is ready for filming to resume. That doesn't mean production will begin there soon, simply that it could. Cases of covid-19 haven't stopped there, but the incident level is low, nor have they experienced a huge number of cases like the US and others.

It seems as though we've finally tracked down the source of those Nick Fury Disney+ show rumours that have been floating around (none of which, assuming this is the same project, were correct). Marvel just announced: "Fury Files gives viewers top-secret access to S.H.I.E.L.D. intel on key Marvel heroes and villains. All of this is told by none other than the mysterious Fury, bringing together a mix of animation and motion comic art!" This sounds like cheap filler to add Marvel programming to the Disney+ lineup.

Former GWWer Thomas Polito says the scripts for both She-Hulk and Moon Knight have been written and assumes this is also the case for Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye as well (a safe assumption as they are expected to film first).

Former GWW writer Vicky Depledge says:

Got confirmation that the SWORD series is in fact titled Secret Invasion and will lead into CM2 [Captain Marvel 2]. Can expect it to be one of the 3-4 new D+ series that will be announced. Likely to film sometime next year as it has been greenlit for production, but no word on that yet.

This means the IP ties two different rumours together: Secret Invasion (from Daniel/Rich Johnston) and Agents of SWORD (from LotLB, Reddit, and 4chan). I think there's a difference in what the latter set of rumours claimed (not only from each other, but in general), and it's the easier speculation given the Agents of SHIELD precedent and the Far From Home post-credit scene. If we're going to see Nick Fury in a live action show, this would be the one for him to star in.

After this came out, Murphy Tweeted the following:

Secret Invasion, Young Avengers, Ironheart...all 100% legit projects being developed. I think it's foolhardy to worry about dates at this time, but they're all legit as reported by [GWW writers].

The other two IP mentioned (YA and Ironheart) have come up before--both ideas go back to Daniel (in September and last February, respectively). In that Tweet, Murphy said it's too early for dates for those shows, directly referencing The Cinema Spot (a site I'd never heard of, but where Polito and Depledge have both wound up), where Polito said Ironheart will shoot next year.

GWW says Secret Warriors is being developed (they aren't sure if it's a show or film), about which we haven't had rumours since the Loeb-verse pilot was never picked up. They have no idea what iteration of the team it will be and, until we hear more, there's no way to know how soon the IP will come (if it is indeed coming). There was an animated version of the team (2018) that featured: Kamala Khan, America Chavez, Quake, Squirrel Girl, Patriot, and Lockjaw (two of which we know are coming to the MCU). Neither Feige or Loeb seem to have been involved in the film and I have no idea if it's a precursor to anything--it's simply food for thought.

GWW speculated Agents of SWORD will include Quake from Agents of SHIELD. Conrad picked up on this and believes it, but added a false statement in the midst of that: "I know there was some kind of “Agents of SWORD” rumor being spread around the internet, but I don’t believe that was ever the actual S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off; especially not with Quake in it." This is demonstrably false (this exact rumour was on Reddit back in January, but we can go back even further to August when LotLB also made this claim--Sutton just repeated it). Conrad repeating this idea doesn't make me believe it, and I have no idea why people persist in thinking Feige will validate anything from Jeph Loeb. I'm not saying it can't happen, but since we've seen no sign that it will, I don't buy it.

Sutton says Daredevil will go to Hulu and the character will be rebooted, but with Charlie Cox remaining in the role (as well as some of the other original actors). Daredevil would then be part of the rumoured Midnight Sons film (cf). This idea is not unique to Sutton, as others have echoed it in some fashion (LotLB, Daniel, and Conrad), but it's one whose logic none of them have really tackled (LotLB talks about the mechanics of how, but not why). Why have the same actors in the same roles, but as different iterations--what's the benefit of that? None of the goodwill from the Netflix shows will carry over because it's not the same character. The actors are also older (Colter and Bernthal will be 44, Ritter will be 39, Cox will be 38), meaning it limits the kinds of stories you can tell with them. Beyond that, Bernthal has an immensely busy schedule (with no holes until 2023); Colter is the lead in another show (Evil); while Cox is in the midst of pre-production on a film (Stripped). I don't think this will happen. That aside, here's the reserve Sutton put out:
Stilt-Man - easter egged in Netflix's Daredevil
Dakota North - the legend from scoops past
Gladiator - appeared in the Netflix's Daredevil (if never fully in costume)
Machinesmith
Mr. Fear
Owl - the character appeared (and was killed) in Netflix's Daredevil
Paladin - a long-rumoured character (eg LotLB have had him both in a Moon Knight and a Thunderbolts series)
The Spot
Ox

The fact that some of these characters appeared in the Netflix show wouldn't preclude them from appearing in an MCU-iteration, but if they did, they would be very different (it also makes it less likely they would appear initially).

Sutton (link above) repeated his old rumour that Iron Fist will be rebooted onto Disney+ and follow the Brubaker/Fraction run--this is exactly what he said back in November with just one change: he did not mention he'd appear in Shang-Chi 2 (although Tim said he thought Shang-Chi would appear in the Iron Fist show). The problem with this idea, as I mentioned then, is that Shang-Chi is already doing what Brubaker's run is best known for: a big martial arts tournament, so repeating that is redundant. If they reboot Iron Fist it has to differ not just from the Netflix-version, but also from Shang-Chi or it can't possibly work. I've always felt like this rumour was wishful thinking. My guess is, if we see him again, it will be in Heroes for Hire with the more jokey, laid back iteration of the character.

LotLB (Tim specifically) had a great dissection of Conrad's Ultimatum rumour:
1) Conrad's scoop isn't from production grids (as claimed), but from an Instagram post by Shawn Sendio, who is a production manager for both Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision
2) Sendio teased the terrorist group U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M., which funnily enough Conrad himself mentioned back in February, which has no association with the Ultimatum-event
3) Echoed my point that Feige doesn't like Loeb and wouldn't promote content he created
4) The Ultimatum-event is widely considered to be terrible and thought to have been the final death blow to Marvel's Ultimate Universe

LotLB said something I hadn't heard about the Becky Lynch rumours, which is that people are saying she's She-Hulk (this isn't what they are saying, simply what they have heard). I understand the idea--she has the physicality and the red hair, but the rumour was that she was in a movie, not a show, so if the surmise is correct it means the scoop itself was poorly phrased. I also consider it highly unlikely because we know Marvel is looking for a comedic actress (an Alison Brie-type), rather than someone who can match the physicality.

Sutton claims a Spider-Man 2099 show is coming to Disney+. an idea that runs into the same problems I went over for a Silver & Black show (it also echoes an old Reddit post from October, although in that case it was a film). It's not clear from the scoop if its an animated show or live action. It's been rumoured (but not confirmed) that Marvel owns the rights to shows that are 30-minutes or less. If this is true, Sony only becomes involved if it's long enough, but Sutton calls this a joint project under Feige. The problem with this idea for me, as I went through last time, is why Sony would want to boost Disney+ when they have their own streaming service with Crackle. I can imagine Sony wanting to make a show like this, but there's no advantage in them cutting Disney in (or, to filp it around, if Disney can make it themselves, why involve Sony?). I don't buy it. Sutton also included a spec list for it: Justice, Net Prophet, Lyla, Thanatos, Proteus (the Greek god), Morlun, Blitzgeist (just one appearance), and Dr. Cronus.

A rumour I ignored in my last post, but thought I'd go over in order to dismiss it: the Ravagers shown in the Guardians 2 post-credit scene would be coming back (for a film from the source, but others suggested a show). All of this is derived from casual chitchat from Michael Rosenbaum and a vague comment from James Gunn who said that, while they are not in Guardians 3, maybe they'll come back. Beyond the problematic ages of Stallone (74), Rhames (61), and Yeoh (58), there's indications that Yeoh is getting the Gemma Chan-treatment of being recast as a different MCU character in Shang-Chi (cf). When, where, and why would this property be developed? Nothing about this makes any sense to me and I think it's just wishful thinking. Fortunately for Rosenbaum, he'd be very easy to cast in a different role if Feige wants too (given that both his appearance and voice were altered in his cameo).

Deadline reports that Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are going to have roles in Ball & Chain, which is only interesting to me because of the persistent rumours about the latter being in Fantastic Four (cf; I think the Johnson-as-Namor rumour has finally died). Keep in mind this doesn't mean Blunt can't play Sue Storm, but if so it backs up the clock for when that could happen.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)