Murphy made some interesting comments (I've edited them down to the key points):
Crews for The Falcon and The Winter Solider, Loki and Hawkeye moved back into town and got the ball rolling again on the three upcoming series, joining the crew for the Untitled Spider-Man Sequel, which had previously begun prep work. The past week saw crews return to their projects’ offices, stages being built and pre-production steps taken that should ensure both The Falcon and The Winter Solider and Loki are able to resume filming sometime in late-August or early-September. Back in early July, the studio had hoped to resume filming on those projects by August 17th. A recent report indicated a late-October start for Hawkeye and, as I reported a few months ago, the Spidey sequel is expected to begin filming in September (though the recent release date shift does give them a month to play with). [With] WandaVision we continue to hear they have work to complete in Los Angeles. The return of crews [likely means] The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will be completed in enough time for the series to stream before the end of 2020. It also means casting news might begin to trickle out for Hawkeye and Spidey 3 over the next several weeks.
I distinctly recall the October rumour he references about Hawkeye, but I apparently did not record it, so I'm not sure of the source. I assume the WandaVision work refers to re-shoots, since we know the show had completed principal photography. Overall, the news matches my expectations for what's happening--full steam ahead and with an earlier start than some were expecting.
The Illuminerdi (Nebens) has casting calls for Ms. Marvel (for about the source of their information, see below):
"The male, with the code name Omar, is listed as a Pakistani American in his mid-to-late 20’s, a practicing Muslim and a self-proclaimed wiser older brother. He is also listed as modern and spirited."The female, code named Willow, is listed as a 16 to 20 year old American teenager of Turkish, Moroccan, or Arab decent. Active in student organizations with a love of being in charge, she is described as a hijabi Muslim, woke, popular, stylish and smart.
Keep in mind this isn't a quote from the casting call, but a paraphrase by Nebens. He reasonably guesses the first is Kamala's brother Aamir, while the latter is her friend Nakia Bahadir. The notice includes a production date of November-March. Both of these are expected characters for the IP, so nothing that really hints at how the MCU wants to tell her story (which, thus far, seems very small and young adult). I'm curious just how 'woke' they'll make Bahadir, I doubt that's the word used on the sheet, as the last thing Marvel wants is to step into the culture war they've largely avoided (most of our scoopers spend their free time fighting it, so they insert the battle into their material).
Nebens then posted another 'scoop' on The Direct, accidentally giving away his source, which is Daniel:
According to an insider who has been a very reliable source for industry info relating to the MCU [aka Daniel], the Hawkeye mini-series is currently casting for Eastern European actors to play a gang of mobsters who will appear in multiple episodes. Audition notes describe a scene where these mobsters break into a guarded building to retrieve an object that had been stolen from them. The context of the scene and the dialogue throughout it indicate that this object is some type of Novichok agent (chemical weapon).
I assume Daniel farmed this out to Nebens, just like he's previously done with former GWW writers (more about this below), otherwise Nebens wouldn't need to say a 'source' since he'd have direct access to Production Weekly himself. This suggests all the scoops on The Illuminerdi are via Daniel. In that sense, Daniel is propping up an entire ecosystem of fan sites that are otherwise filled with identical, generic content (you can't find comment on TI articles, which tells you something). This is similar in spirit to what Sutton does, although his work largely appears on Youtube and he doesn't use Production Weekly (why he doesn't, I have no idea). Nebens used to work at MCU Exchange, which was the original home of Charles Murphy and is still run by his buddy Charles Villanueva--I assume this indirect connection is why Daniel doesn't poach Murphy's info (as he's been caught doing with others), even if the don't seem to cooperate on content. An aside: Murphy/Villanueva also seem to have access to Production Weekly (I have no idea if its directly or through Daniel's Patreon), despite which Murphy never seems to step on Daniel's toes--whether that's via arrangement or not I have no idea.
Murphy claims the MCU is looking for a 'Joel Kinnaman-type" for a role in Spider-Man 3 (information either from an agent or Production Weekly), and speculates this could be for Kraven. I've only seen Kinnaman act twice, in Suicide Squad and Altered Carbon, and thought he was unremarkable in both, but given that the actor himself is unlikely to be cast that's neither here nor there. While the identification of the role has to be taken with a grain of salt, it seems like a villain and probably someone who could fit the Sinister Six (since that's what we've had in the first two films).
Sutton says Blue Marvel is on the way (echoing what he said very recently). It's an interesting scoop because Sutton says the character has a cult following, something I can't verify at all--I checked Google Trends and popularity lists and he's a non-factor; he also doesn't sell books by appearing in them (his usual team, The Ultimates, can't make it beyond 13-issues). Sutton speculates Carl Lumbly could have the role in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, even though that's not thematically on target for the IP (unlike the common assumption that he's Isaiah Bradley)--and how would a Superman-like character fit into the grounded story of that show? Sutton says the character is being considered for the Agents of SWORD show, which is a plausible. I don't buy the Lumbly guess at all, but could the character appear? Sure, but (as I said in the link above), the only reason I can think of would be to beat DC to the punch of a black Superman (otherwise, why add a character who echoes Captain Marvel?).
On his Geekosity page Sutton has been hinting at an MCU-version of the 1970s Champions and those hints echo one of his R&D lists. Champions was a short-lived (17-issue) effort from Tony Isabella (75-78), with a weird lineup: Hercules, Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Angel, and Iceman; later joined by Darkstar, with intentions to add Black Goliath (aka Bill Foster, who appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp) and Jack of Hearts. I'm not sure what the impetus would be for a team like this--that doesn't mean it's impossible or it can't work, just that I'm not sure what niche it would be filling (it reminds me of his Defenders scoop in May--another weird 70s group that felt like a dumping ground for disparate characters). I don't think the MCU can support that many super groups occupying the same thematic space--the team would basically be an iteration of the Avengers and the reason comics like this never last long is because they are derivative (each team needs a very specific angle to be unique enough to thrive).
Sutton Q&A (one and two, my comments in pink):
- Said the MCU would welcome Hugh Jackman back, but there are no current talks or rumours and because of his age his role would be limited [This is the exact same answer he gave to this question in June; back in September he said the role of Wolverine was Jackman's to turn down, which echoed LotLB at the time (this via their original source, 'The Black Knight'); he repeated the idea in December; Sutton's current stance is the one I had from the beginning, which was that Jackman's age limits what he can do and his own comments make it clear he isn't interested in returning as Wolverine because Logan was such a good ending for the character]
- Luke Cage is coming back, but Sutton doesn't know where; Tim said the last thing he heard is that Mike Colter would not be back [Back in September Sutton said all the original actors were coming back and would join the MCU--via that link you can see me dispute all the evidence provided--in November he cut out Finn Jones, saying he'd be recast, but as recently as July he was repeating the general September assertion, so the idea of no Colter is a significant change; this also looks like a revision on Luke Cage, because in May Sutton said he would be part of a New Avengers team, but while he doesn't specify that here he repeated it to me personally when I asked him about it]
- Mutants will appear before Namor; Dwayne Johnson unlikely to be involved because of timing [I don't understand the struggle to give up on Johnson in the MCU--he's in DC films, he's too old, and he's too expensive; that aside, you don't need someone like him for a character who can't have their own film anyway (because of the rights situation with Universal); on the other hand, the idea of mutants first seems likely as I expect them before Black Panther 2, which is the earliest we're likely to see Namor--keep in mind that Sutton believes Marvel has regained the rights to Namor via some old comments by Joe Quesada, evidence I've debunked, cf, but even if the rights were back, it can't be Johnson given the aforementioned factors]
- X-Men before any other mutant team; no current plans for Bishop [Absolutely and I'm not surprised--whatever cache Bishop might have for some, he doesn't register on popularity lists and he's not a key part of the iconic mutant stories]
- Shia Labeouf not currently up for any role [I have no idea why these rumours persist--trolls? While he continues to get work, no one is running out to see him in anything]
- Upcoming MCU antagonists: first Kang, then Doctor Doom on earth and Galactus in space [Sutton first proposed Kang in February, with other scoopers (Murphy and Daniel) putting him in Loki; the later idea has been Sutton's since September]
- Has heard nothing and doubts we will see Korvac [Rumours about the character go back to Reddit last June, which LotLB debunked last August]
It's hard not to think those early thoughts about Wolverine were derived this way: Feige had talked to Jackman in the fall, Ryan Reynolds wanted him in Deadpool 3, so.... It's an exciting prospect, even if Jackman is too old to reboot the character for the MCU (and it would deny Feige the clean slate he wants for the IP). I always thought Feige's calls to Jackman and Stewart were pure courtesy, as both have said Logan was the send-off they wanted, which is why I never bought into the idea.
For anyone who missed it, I wrote a long and detailed look at what an MCU version of Alpha Flight could look like--I'd love to hear opinions regarding the IP.
Dunking on Conrad is old hat at this point--he does it to himself often enough--but occasionally what he says is worth exploring for reasons beyond his self-inflicted foibles. Like most people, I don't follow his social media, but those who do occasionally transmit his words to other mediums. The night before the Agents of SHIELD finale (or, putting it more accurately, after the screeners had already come out), he claimed the episode was going to definitively tie the show to the MCU (which he echoed on his site afterwards). The episode came out and the show included... the Quantum Realm! This had Conrad proclaiming: yes, it's all connected! Why is this revelation irrelevant? Because the show has already had Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Sif show up and it didn't matter (the MCU did not respect those appearances at all--Coulson has been dead in the MCU since The Avengers). There's a significant slice of people who cover Marvel (eg) who can't accept what's been obvious from the beginning (eg): Feige won't acknowledge the show. He didn't want it when it began and he certainly doesn't now. It's never been a problem of could the IP be included, simply a fact that it won't be.
Since it's on my mind, I thought I'd look at the web of Daniel as it relates to the scooper sphere (as in, who appears to have him as their source for information)--scoops refers specifically to the MCU. What I mean by 'direct' is that Daniel would have to communicate with them directly to provide the information; 'indirect' means that communication isn't necessary (just access to his Patreon)--for those unfamiliar with Daniel's material, he only ever paraphrases what he gets from Production Weekly (it's likely part of the TOS for the site) and often does so in a very limited way.
Direct
Thomas Polito – Cinema Spot, formerly GWW, formerly Revenge
of the Fans (last scoop: May)
Vicky Depledge – formerly Cinema Spot, formerly GWW (last
scoop: May)—‘stepped down’ in June without moving on to anything else (which is very odd--she's still active on social media and still lists both sites as if she was still working for them)
Richard Nebens – The Direct/The Illuminerdi; formerly MCU Exchange and I believe That Hashtag Show (last scoop: August for both)—oddly, doesn’t include TI or THS in his Direct bio
Joe Deckelmeier – Screen Rant/The Illuminerdi; formerly That Hashtag Show (last scoop: last August)--he now does celebrity interviews for SR and writes non-MCU stuff for TI
Braxter Timberlake – The Illuminerdi; formerly That Hashtag Show (last scoop: July)
Brandon Zachary – The Illuminerdi; formerly That Hashtag Show (last scoop: February)—no longer covers MCU material for them
Indirect
Caleb Williams – Knight Edge Media, formerly GWW
I've mentioned before that Murphy knows most of these people--he worked at MCU Exchange and That Hashtag Show, but it remains unclear what association (if any) he has with Daniel. Since Murphy left both prior sites, their scoops have evaporated, suggesting he was the only person with sources (which, as I've gone over before, are a mix of Production Weekly, set reports/photos/videos, social media hunting, and agent/s).
One final, somewhat related thought: I'm not clear on how Pierre Chanliau, best known for a now very outdated scooper authenticity page, is a Marvel Reddit mod while writing for MCU Exchange and The Direct. It seems like a conflict of interest and a cynical mind has to wonder about the initial flood of Direct posts that appeared after his arrival that had no place there. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matters (any site like Reddit is going to have moderation problems), it's just something I noticed.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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