Marvel News & Notes

Denise Petski (Deadline) reports that Jolene Purdy will have a recurring role in WandaVision. This is simply an aside in an article about something else, so no details were attached. My guess is it's not a role we're likely to see in other contexts (at this stage, given how cast-heavy the show is, how could it be?).

Daniel says Quicksilver is confirmed to return in WandaVision (presumably via casting sheets, although he doesn't specify). This is among the oldest rumours for the show (something Daniel has said before, as have anonymous people on Reddit, 4chan, LotLB (TBK), and speculated by Murphy as a result of Evan Peters appearing). Daniel doesn't say which actor it is (Aaron-Taylor Johnson or Peters--potentially both could appear). The general idea always made sense--if Wanda is going to resurrect Vision, why wouldn't she bring back her brother? One theory I haven't heard anyone express: if Johnson doesn't want to return to the MCU, Peters would be an easy replacement. I've never heard him suggest any reluctance to return, but it would be a reason to replace him (if, indeed, that happens). It's far more likely that Peters is playing a different character or is another iteration of Quicksilver.

Aaron Beelner, a veteran actor around Peter Dinklage's height, will appear in the first and fourth episode of Loki. No telling the role, although the short episode count indicates a tertiary one.

Daniel claims Loki will have a male and female love interest in the MCU (he doesn't specify if that will be in the show or later, but the show makes the most sense). Whether this will involve Loki's female form or not isn't made clear. I'm not sure if Loki is bisexual in Marvel, so I'm a bit fuzzy on what would be canon.

Caleb Williams (Knight Edge Media) copy/pastes a Tweet from Daniel in September where he was told Hugh Jackman was offered a role in the MCU (cf, which he posted on his Patreon over six weeks later)--subsequently he referenced it was for Doctor Strange 2 (which is what Williams echoes here). The Tweet looks like it might be cropped from something official, but it's hard to say. We know Feige met with Jackman a year ago, with most people speculating it was for Wolverine, but we frankly have no idea.

Speaking of Daniel, he says a mentor figure is being cast for Doctor Strange 2 to help navigate the Multiverse. Whether this role is what they sought Jackman for (if that rumour is true) isn't made clear.

K. C. Walsh (of GWW) says Doctor Strange 2 will borrow from Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme. I've mentioned before that Walsh is not a scooper. What he is, instead, is (on some level) buddies with Daniel--is that where this comes from? I don't think it is--I think Walsh is just speculating.

Murphy posted a theory for Falcon and the Winter Soldier where he believes the show will introduce the Commission on Superhuman Activities, likely meaning we'll see Valerie Cooper and Henry Peter Gyrich. The latter has a very colourful history with the X-Men. As for the group itself, it's somewhat similar in effect to the Sokovia Accords. This would fit what's going on with the show, so it is plausible if nothing else.

Pierre Chanliau (The Direct via Daniel) has a casting call for Moon Knight:

[FEMALE LEAD] 20s-30s, Egyptian, strong, intelligent and self-sufficient, she's always two steps ahead.

[CHARACTER 1] Female, All ages, Egyptian, fun, witty and lovable.

[CHARACTER 2] Male, All ages, Egyptian, dignified and powerful.

[CHARACTER 3] Male/Female, All ages, Egyptian, eccentric with a sharp wit and interesting physicality.

Chanliau has no idea who these characters are, guessing possibly deities. More broadly, it's likely that they are 1) Revisions of characters from the IP, or 2) Original creations. Without a better idea of what Marvel wants to do with the IP it's hard to speculate. What I think this means is that Moon Knight will lean heavily into Khonshu (which was never in doubt), making it less likely that identity disorder will also be on the table for Marc Spector. I'm interested to see how the Egyptian deities are handled--Thor and the Asgardians have become comical in the MCU, so if we get a serious tone in Moon Knight it could create some incongruity (similarly, goofy Egyptian gods strip away the edge that Moon Knight can have). It's going to be interesting to follow developments.

One thing this announcement does is illustrate how Marvel will try to avoid accusations of cultural appropriation for Moon Knight. Along with the aforementioned actors, they've hired Egyptian director Mohaeed Diab. This kind of representation has worked well for the MCU in terms of eliminating criticism, and I expect it to work here.

Sutton says Oscar Isaac's contract includes Avengers films, which not only fits his narrative that Moon Knight will be an Avenger (cf), but makes sense given the caliber of the actor, so it seems plausible.

Daniel says if Hailee Steinfeld can't be Kate Bishop, Elle Fanning is the back-up. What's funny to me is he remains slightly uncertain about Steinfeld despite saying she is locked in the role. This confusion seems to go back to whether that casting sheet is old or not (The Direct's Jack McBryan says it is and Conrad said Steinfeld hadn't signed yet; we also know from Variety that her Amazon show was renewed, meaning she wasn't bought out of her contract and will have restrictions to her availability). The fact that no one knows means Marvel is keeping things tightly under wraps, although given how soon the show will be shooting that can't last much longer.

Daniel claims Thor 4 will be bigger than Infinity War/Endgame, which is the third film (behind Doctor Strange 2 and Spider-Man 3) where he's made that claim. It's ridiculous. I'm not sure if his social media personality is bleeding into his scoops, but I'm not used to him using this much hyperbole.

Kat Dennings says she isn't in the film as far as she knows. In the days of dismissing actor denials, Murphy and others are accepting this as fact. I have no idea what makes the scoopers accept or dismiss these things, because if NDA's are as powerful as we've been told, her denial is meaningless.

More tangibly, Daniel claims they are casting a 20-30 year old female supporting role (open ethnicity), but without further information (and given the MCU's tendencies, this could be anyone). He adds that Thor vs Mighty Thor will happen (by which I believe he means Chris Hemsworth vs Natalie Portman, something we all assume), and that Thor will continue to butt heads with Peter Quill (also something we're all expecting). 

Daniel: Amy Pascal wants the previous Spider-Men in a Sinister Six film; if the two sign Pascal wants to give closure to the The Amazing Spider-Man 2 storyline; she also wants Tobey to play Uncle Ben so that Tom Holland thinks that's who it is when he meets him as Spider-Man; Daniel claims Garfield is reluctant to return due to his prior treatment (as revealed by the Sony hacks). Does Daniel have the kind of sources needed at Sony to know this? I doubt it, but if it's true what it suggests is that all the talk of bringing back the former actors is coming from Sony/Pascal rather than Feige/MCU. The idea would be to apply pressure to Feige by trying to stir up popular interest in such an event. Would Feige want that? I doubt it (due to his reluctance to use IP he wasn't involved with)--barring getting something significant in return from Sony. I do think this general narrative is similar to what Sutton is selling (someone I think does have good contacts at Sony), although he hasn't made it quite as clear cut (see below).

Daniel says Ryan Reynolds wants more heroes in Deadpool 3. This makes sense, although if this is true it suggests the film is a long way away before it appears. I'm not sure how long you want to sit on the 44-year old Reynolds before you slot him into the MCU.

Emre Kaya (formerly of GWW and The Cinema Spot among others) says that the Miles Morales audition tape Murphy discussed a couple of weeks ago was actually for Tim Drake in Titans. If that's true it's a big yikes from Murphy (granted, as I've gone over before, his speculation is heavily hurt by what he wants to happen). I'm unfamiliar with Kaya, but his comment makes more sense than Murphy's theory.

Sutton says Miles will be recruited to be part of the Young Avengers. He says Sony and the MCU are planning a cinematic franchise for him, and while I believe this is true for the former, the latter would require a new deal between the two entities. If he's cast very young maybe you can get away with two young Spider-Men, but it seems like an odd choice to me. Miles would beef up a lackluster Young Avengers roster, but I feel like they are only a potential Phase Five thing, dependent on how well the various members are received (I've gone over before how this is one of many IPs scoopers are in love with that are not popular with the public).

There was a 4chan post I wanted to look at from a purported MCU/Sony insider. Let's begin with the obvious: the odds of this person actually having inside information is slim (I would say none), but I find their responses interesting:

• Taskmaster will appear in Deadpool 3 after Black Widow [This is a recent Sutton rumour]; says Deadpool will start as largely its own thing and slowly integrate into the MCU; he says Sony wants the character to appear with Spider-Man down the line [It sounds like the poster means he'll remain Multiverse, which would make using him much simpler for Marvel--it also matches Sutton's recent post where he says the Deadpool films will be designed such that they aren't required viewing for the larger MCU story to avoid the issues an R-rating would create]
• The X-Men team will focus on: Iceman, Cyclops, Night Crawler, and an Asian-Psylocke; no mutant-menace element at all; team will be young, but they are nowhere near the casting process; no plans for a Captain Britain appearance [The lineup sounds horrendous--I'd actually skip this iteration--but it is distinctive; skipping the 'mutant menace' would make the approach distinctive from Fox, but would also make them a generic Avengers-imitation, so I don't buy it (so many iconic X-Men stories would be lost without that as well)]
• There's going to be an R-rated, Sons of Wolverine film, that will be like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and have a 3-film arc [This is so weird; I've never watched a TMNT movie, but none of them are R-rated; I also have no idea why you'd aim for a Sons of Wolverine film when you don't have Wolverine yet; and why make it R-rated and lose the MCU's typical audience?]
• A Storm film or Disney+ show has been discussed [This is something I'd expect to be considered]
• Songbird: will be very distant with a fear of abandonment; compares her powers to Sindel in Mortal Kombat and later gets construct powers [The comparison means nothing to me, but looking into it it's easier to say she'll have Songbird's powers]
• Doesn't know when (ie, which IP) Monica Rambeau gets her powers
• Black Panther will be killed off and replaced in his own film, but not by Shuri (they want her to remain her own thing) [This echoes my theory]
• Has heard nothing about Scarlet Spider [This reflects an old Sutton rumour]
• No Norman Osborn or Kraven in Spider-Man 3; says Marvel has floated several fake scripts to throw off scoopers [The Osborn rumour-mill has largely died off, but Kraven is still pretty hot]
• No Sentry to keep Captain Marvel distinctive/powerful; he says Marvel wants to lean on her heavily because Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk aren't as 'strong' (not sure if he means popular or powerful, as both are likely true) as she is [This is an interesting argument and does make some sense; I've said before that Fox had virtually all the best female Marvel characters, leaving the MCU scrambling with lesser lights]
• Thunderbolts coming and will bring back some villains [This is not new, going back to the original Wardell scoops]
• Doctor Doom coming and will be the next Thanos-level villain [This echoes, to some extent, Sutton, cf]
• Nova appearing is dependent on how well The Eternals does--if that movie doesn't do well, Marvel will scale back the cosmic material [I've never heard this before--it's an interesting opinion, although I think the character will appear no matter what]
• The Fantomex rumours are true [I've heard no rumours about him at all; it seems to originate from James Gunn's ridiculous X-Men list from August]
• Has no idea how Khonshu will be portrayed
• Lockjaw and Inhumans will appear in Ms. Marvel [The general idea of Inhumans appearing is broadly accepted among scoopers; Lockjaw specifically echoes 4chan from last November]

What's distinctive about this is: 1) He admits not knowing things, 2) These aren't all drawn from just one or two scoopers, so it's distinctive. That doesn't make it believable (I don't buy it as an inside scoop), just interesting.

One of the most prominent scoopers of the last few years has been excommunicated from the community. Jeremy Conrad, who made his hay with The Eternals scoop in 2018, got exposed by Christopher Marc (from HN Entertainment, The Ronin, and apparently IGN) for rightwing comments he's made on NeoGAF. As a result of this, beyond getting crushed on social media, he was banned from the relevant Marvel sub-Reddits and shut down his (tiny) Patreon. His website (and Youtube channel) remain.

What's fascinating to me is that this was the bridge too far for the scooper community--not him stealing content, lying, or acting like a jackass--all of that was only worth derisive comments. This is an excellent illustration of the unspoken (spoken?) contract that all the Marvel luminaries have to mouth certain talking points. I find this groupthink disturbing and Conrad's duplicity is one of the obvious issues that comes from having a closed circuit. A diversity of opinion should always be welcome, but the days of the 'big tent' approach seems long gone.

That aside, should Conrad be pushed out of the hobby? Probably--his behaviour has always been childish and he hasn't had a genuine scoop post-2018. Unfortunately, Conrad's temper tantrums are extremely common within this group of people (as I've referenced from time-to-time); we've also established that almost none of them have genuine sources themselves--as I went over in August, Daniel is responsible for supporting most of the scooper outlets, meaning that outside of Murphy and Sutton, virtually all 'serious' Marvel material is coming from him (this is only occasionally transparent as well, which I find interesting).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)