Daniel posted up casting information for Hawkeye (via Production Weekly):
- Dates: November 2020 - May 2021
- [Danil] 8-10, Male, Eastern European, athletic, speaks with an accent
- [Audiologist] Middle-aged Chinese woman, an Audiologist working out of a rundown building in New York City
- [Old Lady/Old Man] Male or Female, open ethnicity, 65+. Very short
These look lik bit parts that, by and large, confirm that Hawkeye will have hearing issues as per the adapted comic run (something one of Murphy's writers discusses). None of this is really new information, simply confirmation of what's been assumed since the show was announced.
Sutton says Kate Bishop (whom he believes will be played by Hailee Steinfeld) will replace Hawkeye in the MCU. I think this has been the general assumption (it's certainly been mine), especially given that he was originally set to die in Endgame.
Jaimie Alexander posted on instagram that she was headed to Atlanta, sparking rumours she'll be part of Thor 4. The idea of Sif returning has been around for almost two years (cf), with Discussing Film claiming a Disney+ show was coming at that time. Speculation aside (I don't think Sif, on her own, can carry a show), the idea of her returning to the MCU makes sense, but what they want to do with the underdeveloped character I have no idea. A deleted Reddit post in July claimed she dies in the film and has the same amount of screen time as Valkyrie. The 36-year actress is young enough to push beyond the tertiary element of the Thor-franchise, but she's also at that point in her career where it's unclear she can ever be more than that.
- 30s, female, Egyptian, lead who is strong (Nebens says 'no BS', which presumably means she's a no BS person who doesn't tolerate in from others)
- 50s-60s, male, British, strong supporting role, with Nebens saying 'potentially open to Europeans' which makes no sense (British=European), so either he left out something or isn't being clear with what he was given (what he might mean is Caucasian rather than European and that the role is open to all ethnicities--why he wouldn't just say that, I have no idea)
The news also included a note that Moon Knight's cloak will be silver rather than white--this isn't a change that bothers me (people talk about a 'silvery moon' after all), but maybe for hardcore fans of the IP this is annoying.
I'm dubious of Nebens' speculation, but for the sake of posterity: he thinks the woman could be Marlene Alraune (presumably renamed to suit an Egyptian actress), and he guesses either Bertrand Crowley or Frenchie (!) as the male character.
Just an aside: I wonder how much (if at all) Oscar Isaac playing the Egyptian Apocalypse in the horrendous Fox X-Men film played a role in being cast as Moon Knight. Probably not at all, and Marc Spector isn't Egyptian, but there is a kind of synergy to it.
Sutton says WandaVision will firm up that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are mutants. I think this is something everyone is expecting, given that the groundwork for mutants in the MCU has to be established.
Speaking of Sutton, he is echoing the Shuri-as-Black Panther rumour (which is not surprising given his promotion of the site behind it, cf). While it's possible and an easy solution, I think Marvel would be better off having someone else in that role (letting Shuri remain her own person). Part of the charm of Chadwick's performance is that Black Panther has a temper, is impulsive, and isn't the smartest person in the room--all of that is lost with Shuri. It's not that you can't give Shuri inner turmoil, just that it forces you to change something that might come across as forced given her set-up.
THR reports that Tenoch Huerta is in talks to play the lead antagonist for Black Panther 2. I'm not that familiar with the Black Panther IP (as a Marvel fan I was all about the X-Men), but I can't imagine Mexican (or Latino) villains have played much of a role in the lore, so I have no idea what the intention is here (I suppose he could be Namor--anyone could be). This dropped so recently the scoopers haven't tackled it yet, so there's no speculation to go through.
Ever since Johnny Depp lost his case against Amber Heard (something he's expected to appeal), rumours about Heard have run rampant. Daniel joins the fray saying Amber Heard talked to Feige about a role in the MCU. This is plausible, but given how controversy-adverse the MCU is (look at the hysteria over James Gunn's Tweets), I think nothing would come of it.
Sutton says Darkhawk will be coming to Disney+ in a few years as part of the cosmic side of the MCU. He's previously said (in May and July) that he would be attached to Nova (first as just a group of characters in an R&D list, then as his BFF). What's not clear is if he's saying those initials ideas have changed. He attached an R&D list via LotLB:
- Dargin Bokk - A villain for the character
- Portal - A Native American who begins as a Marvel villain but becomes Darkhawk's ally
- Speedball - A ubiquitous supporting hero [Sutton had him on an R&D list in August]
- Nova - Meaning that he would appear [Sutton has consistently said the character will debut in Captain Marvel 2 and the elements of that story have remained consistent (Daniel had the IP in active production in May--this is a very different claim from active development)]
- Tombstone - The iconic Spider-Man villain (I can't recall if Sony owns his rights completely or if he's shared, but I believe it's the former)
- Catastrophus - A villain
- The Sphinx - A villain [he was on Sutton's R&D list for Nova in May]
- Savage Steel - A vigilante who attacked anti-heroes (like Darkhawk and the Punisher)
- Quasar - The oft-rumoured hero (there is a male and female version--scoopers generally assume it's the male version because he's been around longer/been more significant--I agree with Kinda Culty's guess that it's more likely to be the female version since she's Moon Dragon's love interest, cf) [Sutton specifically tagged the character as coming to the MCU in July; Both Daniel and Sutton had the character as part of an Annihilation event, cf]
Darkhawk is not a major character (a C-lister); he was created in 1991 when he had his only solo comic (with iconic, horrendous 90s art) and since appeared only as part of a team (perhaps most prominently with the New Warriors). Being obscure doesn't necessarily mean the MCU wouldn't use him, but he's also low profile--there isn't the media buzz of a Kamala Khan or even an Ironheart (neither conventionally popular, but Marvel keeps trying to make them work). I think Sutton's first scoop is far more probable--that he appears as part of a Nova franchise.
Tim speculated that this will lead to a New Warriors show, which Sutton confirmed in the chat and said it would include Firestar and that the show is being revamped into something more serious than the (failed) Marvel Entertainment iteration from a few years ago (cf). Sutton had the team on an R&D list last September (this might have been related to Marvel Entertainment plans, because at that time there was still a lot of confusion from both Sutton and LotLB about what was happening with those properties versus the MCU itself--they believed Jeph Loeb was working with Feige rather than Loeb being pushed out and Feige deleting all his projects).
Going back to Firestar for a moment, here are prior rumours about her: in August, 2019 LotLB (TBK) said that the follow-up trilogy for Peter Parker would include elements of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends that include Firestar; this idea was echoed by Daniel without attribution, and then Conrad took it from Daniel (also without attribution, cf); then in June Sutton said she was coming to the MCU. For a relatively popular character (niche, granted, but certainly better known than Darkhawk) it's interesting how little she's popped up in rumours. I'm not sure why New Warriors is the slot for her, but I'm not that familiar with that IP so it could simply be ignorance on my part.
A new MCU Deadpool is indeed in the works. Reynolds and Feige have finally come to an agreement on what the movie will be. It's a half sequel to the established Deadpool Series and half reboot. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick will be returning to write the script along with Reynolds, who already has a barebones draft constructed that he used to pitch the movie to Feige. It will be titled Deadpool: Retcon and will be set during the snap. The film will open with the entire established supporting cast of the Deadpool franchise getting snapped away. With Weasel getting snapped off screen to avoid using TJ Miller, which will be referenced in a 4th wall break. Deadpool will assume this happened due to him time traveling at the end of Deadpool 2 and attempt to fix it. The running joke is that Deadpool has always been in the MCU and there's definitely nothing strange about that. T-Ray is the villain. The film will be rated R and released under the 20th Century banner. It will work a lot like the Sony Spider-Man films where the MCU is canon to Deadpool but not necessarily vice versa. Reynolds signed a historically lucrative 5 film contract with Marvel Studios. This will be a big headline when this news breaks. The money is insane. Expect this news by December 10th. Likely will be announced by Reynolds on Twitter/Instagram, possibly in character as Deadpool.
It's rare for posts like this to be both so specific and so restrained. D-grade villain T-Ray has come up just once before (in a 4chan post about Shang-Chi in May). Right after this dropped Deadline (Kroll) debunked it by revealing that Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux are writing the film. He adds that Deadpool 2 director David Leitch won't return (I don't think he can be blamed for that film, but moving on from him is probably a good idea). I'm also happy we are getting new writers, as what the Deadpool sequel proved was that Reynolds cannot be allowed to do whatever he wants (this was also apparent, to some extent, with Paul Rudd and Ant-Man 2).
It's interesting watching the various narratives emerge after it was announced that Wonder Woman 1984 would debut on HBO Max in the US. To me the takeaway is this: failure. The film cost at least 200 million to produce, with millions more spent on marketing--an amount it will not recoup by releasing in this way. It is, very much, another Mulan, although I expect it to outperform the limp Disney effort (since Chinese audiences don't automatically hate it). This suggests to me that the film did not test well--that after the lengthy marketing campaign the weird choices (another prequel, Kristin Wiig as Cheetah, Pedro Pascal white-washed as some sort of weird Lee Iacocca figure, etc), the inchoate and confusing nature of the DCEU, and the soft reception of the first film (a rehashing of Captain America/Thor), combined to make most fans either indifferent or disinterested. While WB (and their sycophants) will try to put a positive spin on the move, there's no denying it's a failure (this is supposed to be a billion dollar film). What's interesting to me is what happens in the aftermath. Does Patty Jenkins get her trilogy, and if so is it directly put on HBO Max? Or is Jenkins waterboarded like Ava DuVernay, whom WB clearly wishes would go away rather than make New Gods. I feel like AT&T (who are responsible for pushing the Synder Cut forward) wants the DCEU to move away from whatever Jon Berg and Geoff Johns intended (the vastly disassociated approach to DC)--it seems like AT&T realizes part of what makes the MCU work is the connections--the DC Snyderverse failed due to poor writing, not interconnectedness.
What I don't think this supports is the goofy theory (Andre's) that this marks the end of big budget films. When the Covid vaccine becomes available, there's no reason at all for theaters to either remain closed or for people to avoid them, and it appears as though we are nearing that point. All this really means is that AT&T (or WB) saw no value in delaying the film further because they didn't believe it would do well in (American) theaters.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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