Marvel News & Notes

Disney has officially delayed Black Widow to May, Shang-Chi to July, and The Eternals all the way to November of 2021. The latter decision is the most interesting, because it strikes me as a sign of a lack of confidence in the (already completed) film. Shang-Chi, currently filming, is a much more traditional superhero outing and I suspect its meant (along with Disney+ shows) to provide a push for an IP that's made no dent for casual fans at all. It's also an confirmation that Black Widow was never going to tie-in to The Eternals and I wonder if anything does, given that it was meant to premiere prior to all the Disney+ shows other than Falcon and the Winter Soldier (which clearly has nothing to do with it). The enormous gap also enables additional testing, re-shoots, and changes if necessary. The moves crush the absurd idea of Black Widow premiering on Disney+ (proposed by Conrad, Murphy, and others). Mulan's anemic performance on the platform aside, it also tanked in Chinese theaters (indicating it would have failed in a traditional American release as well; not a good sign for Niki Caro's career), but something as profitable as the MCU was never going to streaming without appearing in theaters first.

The WandaVision trailer did not carry our understanding of the show forward very much (with the Indonesian version, now pulled, providing a date of October 30th--in error, as that's The Mandalorian's date). It wasn't as effective as the brief teaser we saw months ago. What it does do is offer a possible reason for the Grim Reaper rumours (eg), which seem to have informed part of Vision's story (cf)--I don't mean that I think that character will necessarily appear, simply that he does in the source material being used. We also see shots of Vision with the Mind Stone still in his head, which is interesting (since Thanos destroyed it, the stone and the Vision with it are creations by Wanda). Fred Melamed and Debra Jo Rupp appear in the trailer during the 1950s segment, and I agree with the sentiment that both are reflections of Wanda's subconscious.

We also received confirmation that WandaVision will premiere before Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The change has to do with the comparative amount of re-shoots required, as Falcon and the Winter Soldier has changed part of its plot in light of Covid (the expensive and extensive risk aversion is nothing new from Marvel).

Murphy offers this insight into the show:

[M]uch like in the Vision Quest arc [1989], [Vision] finds his memories are not intact; in fact, he has absolutely no recollection of his demise at the hands of Wanda (nor, apparently much of the time following the work done on him by Shuri) and it falls on the shoulders of Kat Denning’s Darcy to fill in the blanks. We don’t quite know how Darcy and Vision end up crossing paths but we’ve heard from sources that Darcy ends up being a key figure in getting Vision back on his feet. One scene described to us has Darcy informing a very confused Vision of the tragic circumstances of his death. And so whatever series of events that have transpired since the last time we saw her, Darcy somehow ends up working on piecing the Vision back together again.

Given that he says 'sources' (plural) he's quite confident about Darcy's role with Vision.

Daniel says Marvel is considering a number of options for alternate versions of MCU characters to appear in Doctor Strange 2, including Tom Cruise as Tony Stark. I'm dubious of this information, as other than when he's pulling things from Production Weekly, Daniel's accuracy is wonky at best (it looks like something gleaned from forums or word of mouth from friends). Cruise, as far as I can recall, has never worked with Disney, and most of his film work over the last twenty years are with either Universal or Paramount--a trend that seems highly intentional.

I get to eat some humble pie here as Variety reports that a Nick Fury show is being developed with Disney plus (with Kyle Bradstreet serving as the writer and EP--he's best known for Mr. Robot). This is interesting for a number of reasons, but first, we have to credit our old friend Conrad as he was the first to talk about this as a show back in October of 2018 (something Peter Sciretta from Slash Film vigorously disputed at the time). Since then Daniel (two January's ago) and then LotLB (last August) said the same thing. What I wonder is, could this be the Agents of SWORD show (as in, will it perform the same function)? It seems highly probable given the set-up in Spider-Man: Far From Home. My objection to a Fury-series was Jackson's age and how his character arc was already over. However, if the point of the show is SWORD then there's somewhere for it to go and younger characters for him to pass the torch too (Abigail Brand is the most logical, but it's not necessarily her). My guess, then, is that Fury's name is being used to sell a SWORD show (perhaps we'll see the characters from WandaVision, by which I mean Monica Rambeau, Darcy, and Woo, continuing in this context). I'll add that I don't think Fury, by himself, is much of a draw to casual audiences--there will need to be an additional hook (character) to push it forward. And, although it goes without saying, the fanboys are already retreading their Chloe Bennet articles (cf) in light of the news.

THR reports that Ms. Marvel has hired directors Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Meera Menon. The former pair directed the limp Sony sequel Bad Boys for Life, Obaid-Chinoy is an award winning documentary filmmaker, and Menon comes from television. Of the four, Obaid-Chinoy is the only Pakistani contributor (Menon is Indian while Arbi/Fallah are second-generation Moroccans from Belgium). This kind of broad net fits Marvel's approach to diversity--it's not as targeted as it could be (the edict clearly being Desi/Arab Muslims rather than Pakistanis specifically)--designed to silence those who spend their days screaming into the internet. While I'm sure a few cinephiles would disagree with me, but in general I think directors for television don't matter (the writing team and the actors make the magic). I'd argue a director's importance for film is also overstated, but less so.

Murphy notes a casting call for a 16-20 white actress and a 27-33 African-American actress, assuming they are for the supporting characters Zoe (a friend of Kamala's) and Tyesha (her future sister-in-law). I see no reason to question his surmise, although as an outsider so much of the cast seems trivial (see below). The IP seems roughly templated on classic Spider-Man with a cast echoing Black Panther, which isn't a bad way to go, but in the former case that cast wound up either with abilities or falling off (which isn't the case for Ms. Marvel). I'm curious how the MCU projects her forward, as so much of the elements attached to the IP seem superfluous.

After the two posts above the entire casting grid was dropped (via Production Weekly; the errors below are from our transcriber; we can see this has been around for at least a couple of months as we get our woke descriptive seen in August):

Start Date: Nov. 2020
Wrap Date: May 2021
Format: 1 Hour
Casting Director: Krista Husar, Sarah Finn, Kathleen Chopin
Producer: Sana Amanat, Jenna Berger
Writer/Showrunner: Bisha K. Ali

[Dex]
Lead Male
Pakistani male 17 - 25 years old, can have American or Pakistani accent.

[Female Lead]
Female (15-20)
Pakistani female 15 - 20 years old, born and raised in New Jersey.

[Male Lead]
Pakistani male, 17-25 yrs old, can have American or Pakistani accent. 

[Matteo]
Recurring Male 16 - 23, open ethnicity, a loyal friend, he's grounded, smart and tech-savvy with a great sense of humor. 4/6 eps. Jasjit Williams (Testing)

[TBA Female Role Lead]
Female Pakistani
Undisclosed Female Role. Pakistani. LEAD

[Willow]
Recurring Female (16-20)
American teenager of Turkish, Moroccan or Arab descent, she's a hijabi Muslim, woke, popular, stylish and smart. Active in student organizations, she loves to be in charge. 4/6 episodes

[Omar]
Recurring Male (24-29)
Mid to late 20s, Pakistani American, a practicing Muslim and self-proclaimed wiser older brother. He's modern and spirited. 4/6 episodes. Saagar Shaikh (Testing)

[Celeste]
Female (40-69)
40s-60s, Pakistani, a practicing Muslim, Celeste is a caring mother with a sharp wit. She can be overprotective of her daughter, but everything she does is driven by the love she has for her children. 6/6 eps

[Neil]
Male (40-69)
40s-60s, Pakistani, a loving, warm father and practicing Muslim with a big heart and an even bigger mouth. He's supportive and protective of his children and is the family's consummate storyteller. He is a poet and a romantic at heart. 4/6 eps

[Sierra] [Clearly Murphy's Tyesha]
27-33, Black, witty, levelheaded and outgoing woman who is not afraid of following her own path. She's a hijabi Muslim with a lot of personality and lover of all things 'nerd.'  4/6 episodes.

[Jessica] [Murphy's Zoe]
16-20, white, outspoken, popular and queer. She's a social butterfly, always invited to the best parties and up on the latest gossip. She may seem like your typical high school “it” girl, but there’s depth and loyalty to her that you might not expect. 4/6 episodes

[Kamran]

[Villain]

[TBA Male Role Cameo]
Undisclosed Male Role. 35-55, open ethnicity. CAMEO (Will Have Options)

As someone unfamiliar with the IP, this reads like an After School Special (or a singing/dancing number away from High School Musical) and cannot appeal to a general audience that way. There's no obvious tie with a popular element from the MCU so, if none exists, I can only assume Marvel is hoping the Avengers video game (released earlier this month and starring Kamala Khan) is enough to generate casual interest. I can't judge it until we've seen some footage (and that's a long way away), but on the surface, this is an easy pass for me (by which I mean, I think I can skip watching it and miss absolutely nothing that will matter for the broader MCU).

Lizzie Hill believes social media activity from Loki actress Sophia Di Martino means that actor Jack Veal is playing Kid Loki in the series--this discovery is not her's, as this Brazilian Twitter account put it out four days earlier, a fact that caused the expected social media meltdown over credit. The logic from both is: there was a casting call for a boy and a girl for a recurring role (the latter being Cailey Fleming as "Sylvie") and they believe Veal looks like Tom Hiddleston, ergo.... What's interesting to me is that this cast listing (widely known among scoopers) was not included in the Loki list dropped by The Illuminerdi (via Daniel) back in February (the only public reflection of it is from March via IMDB Pro). The idea of Kid Loki appearing goes back to Murphy in January, 2019, but given how wrong most of that information is, he was clearly speculating. I'm not at all a fan of using successor characters when the original is still around and I'm also not big on kid characters in general (they can work--like Carrie Henn in Aliens--but more often than not they don't). Could they be right? Maybe, but the odds are just as good that the actor is playing Loki in a flashback or as Loki revisits his youth via the TVA (this is something the Twitter user also points out).

Following this there was a post on Reddit which repeated the casting list for Loki via Daniel from February, except as-is rather than the Danielian summary TI used (the analysis is also new, being a mix of the poster's and the Twitter user he's summarizing); I've left the errors in.

"Male Leader - No age specified. Looking for a talent with a name. Probably with a sense of humor. This role will have the options (to appear) in another series and film. Needed for at least 5 or 6 episodes". The only cast member who matches this description perfectly is Richard E. Grant. Lokis2br speculates that it might be Mr. Mobius (and his various clones such as Mr. Paradox, Mr. Tesseract and Mr. Orobourous). Previously I believed that the character he's playing is some sort of Old Man Loki or even All-Father Loki from alternative timeline where Thor is a bad guy. Nonetheless, Mr. Mobius is the most likely at this point. [I have no strong opinions here since I'm not that familiar with the IP]
"John - John is a man. Open to all ethnicities of 27 - 36 age group. A contentious and combative soldier with an axe. Narrow-minded and menacing. A supporting role. Required for 4 episodes". Lokis2br implies that the casting calls for Justice Peace. I know that there is no match when it comes to his age but Owen Wilson's resemblance to that character is truly uncanny. Besides, he looks much younger than he really is. [This doesn't sound like an Owen Wilson character at all]
"Casey - Open to any ethnicity or gender. Casey is a good-natured but exhausted intern. Nice and funny. His entire career was spent at home and he always does things through (with a help of?) books, even under danger (pressure?). A supporting character for 4 episodes". There is actually a character called Casey and it's pretty obscure one. In the comics he/she is that interdimentional frog/turtle-looking alien who is sort of time and space conductor helping you in jumps between many different timelines. This one will be just my own assumption here and very long shot at this point but I believe that Casey will be played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. [I don't agree with the poster's surmise at all]
"Woman 2 - Looking for a woman in the 30 to 50 age group. This role is open to all races. Needed for 6 episodes". Not muuch information but Lokis2br believes that this one is for Chronomonitors. They are the central system of the TVA base of operations and can take any form they want, just like Enoch (Chronicom) in AoS [Agents of SHIELD]. I believe that it's somehow plausible. 6 episodes makes a whole series so it must be the TVA's agent/employe and not just some random no-name. However, that description can be anything else, including Minutemen. Apparently Isabelle Fretheim is playing one of them. It also implies that there was another casting call for Woman 1. [I have no insight here]

This last comment is a reminder that I somehow missed Murphy's scoop from March that includes the Minutemen, with Isabelle Fretheim and her husband Chris Brewster appearing in Loki. This miss on my part explains Sutton's belief that Westerns will play a role in the time travelling plots to come, as the Minutemen's second comic book appearance involves that element (they were used originally in the Fantastic Four in 1991, but when they returned for Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine in 2010-11 is when we get Westerns). Sutton, who is typically aware of what comics Marvel is researching, presumably saw this and extrapolated. As for what the Minutemen are, they are timeline enforcement (not connected, in the comics, to the TVA, but with a similar function).

One amusing side note about the above: apparently on the boards Sutton's name is such an anathema that any association (which apparently the Twitter user has) is cause for derision--anecdotally this seems to be because most (or all) of the mods are friends of Daniel's. Why anyone has an emotional stake in scoopers I have no idea--from my perspective, accuracy is what matters most (which is why I still bother keeping tabs on Conrad, as even though he's almost always wrong, he has been right in the past).

The Direct (Chanliau), by which we mean Daniel, reports a casting call for Moon Knight:

• 20-40 (years old), White male. A stereotypical good looking, overly enthusiastic, less intelligent than average but still lovable. Actor must be fluent in French.
• 20-35 (years old), all ethnicities, female. A manipulative operative in a secret organization, capable of going from cool and tough to warm and friendly in a heartbeat.

The first is certainly Frenchie, the best friend (why he's described as dumb I have no idea--someone is a fan of Jacques Clouseau perhaps); the latter is speculated to be Moon Knight's love interest, Marlene, but if that's correct she's undergone a major change to become unrecognizable, as neither the secret organization nor being manipulative are associated with her. I think the latter guess is wrong. What it could be for is Stained Glass Scarlett (cf), whom we've known about since last September (Sutton, confirmed later by Daniel) and the descriptors for her sound like what came out of 4chan in August.

The Illuminerdi (Timberlake), by which we mean (again) Daniel, offers up this casting call [After this was posted, The Disney Insider editor said it was an old casting sheet and he's seen a newer one calling for an actor in the 25-40 range]:

Spector was a former pugilist, mercenary, and CIA agent. He’s double-crossed by his boss, Raoul Bushman, after they find a mysterious archaeological site, which Bushman planned to loot for his own selfish means. Near death, Spector comes into contact with Khonshu, an Egyptian moon god, who offers him another chance to live, in return for becoming his avatar on this world. Spector accepts the deal and is reborn with superhuman powers. He then returns to the U.S. and accumulates immense wealth after investing his earnings as a mercenary and becomes the crimefighter known as “Moon Knight.” Spector also created multiple identities, including the alias of millionaire Steven Grant to misdirect people from his mercenary history and Jake Lockley, a low-key taxicab driver that helps him keep a closer ear to the streets and criminal elements.

This is very different from a Moon Knight suffering from mental illness (matching the scoop from Sutton above, which also fits my theory--see below). The call is looking for an actor between 40-50 with (56-year old) Keanu Reeves as the right kind of fit. This is a much, much older pitch than I expected. If true it means the character is not meant to be front and center for very long, but more of a Nick Fury-style mentor. Assuming TI is repeating the Reeves part correctly (they don't quote it, so we can't be sure), it repeats a twice-repeated rumour:

• July, 2019 - LotLB (TBK) said this was one of the roles Marvel was considering for him
• May - K. C. Walsh (GWW) repeated the idea on social media (he's not a scooper, so this would have come from his now former GWW buddies who are friends with Daniel)

Others have said Reeves will not have this role (eg Reddit). I don't see the point in Marvel limiting their options like this and I don't see a hole in his schedule to allow it--Moon Knight will start filming soon and Reeves is locked up in several productions as is. Another consideration is that Reeves isn't Jewish and the casting rumours beyond him have all centered around Jewish actors (Murphy keeps torturing us with terrible ideas in that respect).

To briefly go over why I suspect Marvel won't lead into Moon Knight's multiple personalities: 1) It's been done (Legion, season two of Iron Fist, etc), 2) It doesn't seem on-brand for Disney+ which is trying to be as 'family-friendly' as possible, 3) The 'is he or isn't he crazy' motif can't last very long before it has to be resolved--and then what? 4) Pushing the mystical side of him fits much more into where Phase Four is going--it can tie-in nicely with Doctor Strange or even Blade, whereas his personal demons don't lend themselves to the other parts of the MCU.

As an aside: I think the Jonathan Majors casting (if it's for the Rama-Tut version of Kang as speculated, or simply all of Kang's aspects) means we're unlikely to get Egyptian casting for Khonshu (as I've pointed out before, Marvel's diversity is about pleasing American audiences rather than satisfying the demographics impacted by particular roles, with Gilgamesh being a particularly painful example).

Sutton says Marvel is having internal discussions about Gwendoline Christie for the role of Veranke in Captain Marvel 2. He's been pushing Veranke since last September. Christie is certainly available (whatever heat she gained from Game of Thrones seems to have cooled), but Sutton has an iffy track record when it comes to casting, so grains of salt required.

Sutton also says Katheryn Winnick is being considered for several roles, including the possibility of Enchantress in Thor 4. Winnick campaigned to be Captain Marvel back in 2012 (if only), so there's interest on her end, and she's currently working for Disney (ABC's Big Sky), which wouldn't exclude film or Disney+ work. At her age (42), I think she's better suited for a role like Emma Frost, but if Marvel ever uses that character its years away. As I mentioned above, I'd take casting rumours like this with many grains of salt.

Sutton commented on the idea of Marvel's interest in Harry Styles (in reference to the Kris Tapley rumour), saying it exists but not as Starfox (due to that character's questionable behaviour in the comics, something I was unaware of until now).

To add to the casting speculation, Daniel claims Marvel has talked to Mark Wahlberg, which I can only hope is not true unless it's for a cameo. For me, at least, certain actors are such big personalities that they overwhelm any role they play (Stallone is a good example of that), and I don't like them in roles that don't simply echo that persona.

4chan (certainly the same poster from last week, tweaking that information; errors are his)

Moon knight is marketed as a psychological horror, based on Jeff lemires run.
Marvel what if might take fan requests, as long as people don’t ask for stupid shit, like what if quicksilver and scarlet witch had babies, or something.
Kevin feige is using Shang chi to create an iron fist style story, since the rights didn’t expire. [This is frankly bizarre, since while Iron Fist has an iconic tournament of champions, that concept is hardly attached to his IP]
Disney wants marvel or Star Wars to make a competitor for friends/community/parks and rec. on Disney plus. This is because friends is the number one show on HBO MAX, and Disney plus needs their equivalent to increase subscribers. [This is trying to explain the bizarre comment from his previous post]
Marvel max is going to be their home for r-rated movies. The more risqué the script, the lower the budget they will get. For example, deadpool 3 would get a really high budget since it’s been proven to succeed, but a movie with rape scenes, or is very political would get a pretty low budget. [The idea of Marvel having or insinuating rape scenes is, to say the least, ridiculous]
James Gunn wants to do an X-force movie. It would be R-rated, and he would have full creative control. [I have vague recollections of someone making a comment about Gunn and X-Force, but as I can't find it, take it with a grain of salt--quite meaningless at this point though, since I don't think Gunn will be with the MCU after Guardians 3]
Vince Gilligan was approached by Kevin feige. [Award winning writer etc, unfortunately responsible for the screenplay of the Will Smith film Hancock]
a Blade and Spider-Man team up is in the works. It’ll be made by the bad boys for life producers. It’s still in very early pre production, so don’t get your hopes up. [Ms. Marvel directors Arbi & Fallah; the question here is: why?]
Family guy wants to spoof the marvel movies like they did Star Wars. Remember, since buying fox, family guy is now a Disney property.

This is, simply put, a farrago of nonsense. I include it here to keep tabs on its bizarre ideas.

With all the casting rumours above I wanted to briefly revisit a common one: Giancarlo Esposito (passim). Esposito recently hinted about plans for a season four of The Mandalorian, implying his involvement. If that's true, it doesn't preclude him from a role in the MCU, but it definitely cuts down on his availability (and thus, the odds). If he ever appears, given his age, I see him in either a villain or supporting role (think Erik Selvig for the latter)--whether he'd want that I have no idea.

Some thoughts given the Ms. Marvel news above and general Young Avengers content (Kinda Culty's latest goes through the latter): it seems like part of Marvel's Disney+ strategy is to undercut DC's CW shows. Those shows are aimed at a primarily female tween/teenage audience (eg), with attempts to broaden failing to hit home. Of the shows, The Flash has the widest appeal, but even it is small potatoes compared to other hit TV or streaming shows (something very evident from the lack of wall-to-wall coverage for it that you see for hot IP). If the appeal is limited, why target it?

I can think of a couple of reasons: 1) it's the only demographic where DC actually competes with Marvel, 2) it's a high spending demographic and Disney cares about toys. Strategically and on the economic front, it makes sense. With that said, it's concerning to me because CW shows are not appealing at all--it's bowdlerized American television--something the MCU has largely avoided despite the limitations of a PG framework. The concern is we'll start to get the same limited framework on Disney+ and once you start doing that the umbrella effect of the brand fails--that happened to Marvel Entertainment and I can only hope Feige is going to inject more into the YA content (unless he wants the shows to be demographically specific, which seems unlikely)--time will tell.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)