...unlike other Disney+ series, these programs will be given an R-rated injection. ... Hulu is under the full control and mostly owned by Disney; by 2024, Comcast will lose its 33% stake to Disney. By making Hulu available through a parental lock, Disney+ will solve its problem of including its 18-and-up IPs to its main streaming service. Discussions are early but ideas are being tossed about [This general idea about Hulu being the platform for R-rated material has been consistent with Sutton and LotLB (TBK)]. Among them:Tomb of Dracula: This is based on the moody, critically acclaimed cult Marvel comic book of the '70s. If it's greenlit, it will be tied in with the Blade theatrical reboot. [Sutton said the same thing back in May]Adventure Into Fear: Taking its title from the short-lived Marvel Comics series (only 31 issues over five years) that once housed Morbius, this is currently being envisioned as an anthology of sorts, a revolving door of various Marvel horror characters such as Man-Thing; Marvel Zombies; and Satana (more comics accurate than how she was in Helstrom). This is also what Loeb was calling his horror line for Hulu. [Back in May of 2019 LotLB (TBK) said the various Loeb projects of the time were leading into this (link ahead), believing at the time it was part of the MCU; a Redditor this February made a somewhat similar claim for a film in 2024/25, except it's the Midnight Sons project--see below; Man-Thing is a bit different as Daniel said back in October of 2019 that a project was in development for Disney+--he's never repeated the idea, so it's possible he plucked it from LotLB (who he friendly with at the time)]Deathlok: Technically not horror, but dark, violent science fiction, this futuristic character appeared on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., played by J. August Richards. If Deathlok is produced, he will be recast. In the comic books, several people have been equipped with the Deathlok cybernetic tech so any changes would easily be explained away. [The source for this one is an old Deadline rumour from April of 2019 via genre editor Geoff Boucher who isn't really an MCU scooper--no one has ever echoed the idea--I have a theory that Boucher erroneously thought because Deathlok #1 was being researched for the Grapplers (who will appear in Falcon and the Winter Soldier) that the IP itself was coming]Clea: Doctor Strange's sorceress girlfriend could either have her own show or share one with Jericho Drumm, otherwise known as Brother Voodoo (more recently, Doctor Voodoo) in Strange Tales. Sources add that Voodoo will probably get the series nod as he's more marketable, especially because of his name. [This is an old LotLB (TBK) scoop from August, 2019, with the difference being that Sutton (last December) said Voodoo would spin off Doctor Strange 2 and then Clea from Voodoo (same link), whereas TBK said they would have a joint show called Strange Tales. It's not clear to me that Voodoo is more marketable--while the name is striking, he's not a 'first', whereas Clea would be the first sorceress introduced in this way]Ghost Rider: The Midnight Sons may be introduced in one of the new Blade movies, as I scooped here on August 21, but Marvel Studios see him as the perfect vehicle for a mature TV show while making theatrical appearances as well with his freakish partners in the Midnight Sons. [Murphy joined the chorus that the character was coming in May; Sutton has been pretty consistent with Ghost Rider, saying he'll be Johnny Blaze, but adding in July that Gabriel Luna would return to play his iteration as well; Sutton has also stuck to Blade leading into Midnight Sons (although the membership has varied--he also doesn't say here, as he did in August, that Blade 2 will lead into the project, although I think its implicit]
- A trilogy planned for Black Knight (post-Eternals)
- The character will crossover with Captain Britain and Excalibur
The idea of a Black Knight film is something insider Roger Wardell scooped two years ago; LotLB (TBK) said in August of 2019 that he'd appear as part of an Excalibur trilogy, an idea Sutton repeated in November and again this July. For Sutton this is a new declaration--a Black Knight trilogy--but the idea of a solo film had been planted earlier. If true it's an interesting commitment to Kit Harrington, whose film ventures have consistently failed. It's also not clear from the scoop if his love interest from Eternals (Sersi) will follow him around--that's tended to be the case in Marvel, but not something I'd want to see for Black Knight (much like Harrington, Gemma Chan also doesn't have a track record of film success, cf for both).
Sutton says Firestar will be a romantic rival for Peter Parker once he hits college in Spider-Man 4, as well as serve as his introduction to mutants. This idea is an old LotLB (TBK) scoop from August, 2019, which Daniel and then Conrad echoed. Sutton's first comment on the idea, that I'm aware of, was from this June when he said she was coming to the MCU (same link). He then said she'd be a member of a New Warriors show in November (that doesn't inherently contradict the Spider-Man 4 idea).
Sutton added that Spider-Man will put on his iconic black suit in the first college film. His doesn't explain how this will mesh (if at all) with what Sony has done with Venom, but the suit is intended to be the Symbiote.
Sutton says Felicia Hardy (aka Black Cat) is planned for Spider-Man 4 (for those keeping track, she's been on Amy Pascal's Sony slate for years--either on her own or with Silver Sable). Back in May Sutton said the Black Cat and Silver Sable project would be on Disney+ (this doesn't inherently contradict this new idea, but is food for thought)--Sutton has shifted all the Pascal-lead Sony projects to Disney+ (the others being Silk and Spider-Woman). It's worth noting Black Cat (along with Silver Sable and Silk) are not particularly popular characters and in the case of the former two best known for their striking appearance--an element both Sony and Marvel would likely move away from. I bring this up because I never thought they were (at least in the hands of Pascal) characters who could carry films or TV-shows. After this came out, Sutton said the plan is for Black Cat to be romantically interested in Spider-Man, but not Peter Parker, and her appearance eventually leading into the Kingpin appearing (he doesn't say if this is Vincent D'Onofrio, but given his general feelings on the Netflix material, this seems likely from his perspective).
The idea of both Firestar and Black Cat pushing for Peter's affections while Michelle is still around is strange--these kind of hijinks are better suited to a single character (both for Peter and the women pursing him). YA material is dominated by love triangles, but they function better when the object of affection hasn't made a choice yet (something Peter has done). I don't think either character (Firestar or Black Cat) will be cast to fit their comicbook depictions (Pascal's Spider-Man films have most strongly gone against that).
Murphy believes Blade could be an October, 2022 release, based on what was shown on the Investor's Day fact sheet. He includes cautions and hesitation, but I've long thought this date suited the IP.
From the latest Sutton Q&A: he reiterated that Angela will appear in Thor 4 and that Jessica Jones will appear in the MCU (he's been very consistent with both); he also repeated that Sony's Marvel material will appear on Disney+ as part of the new deal between the companies (see above). There's been a push within the fandom for Angela, but I have a hard time seeing Marvel using her (at least in a remotely comicbook accurate fashion). I also don't know what you do with the character, although she'd add some 'umph' to a Sif series (cf).
Daniel says A-Force is in active development. The idea of an A-Force project isn't new--originally developed as a Marvel Entertainment project for ABC (cf), the first MCU rumour came back in June, 2019, from LotLB (TBK); then 4chan in February, and finally Sutton in July. As I've said every time this comes up, it's an odd idea that feels out of date (as perhaps demonstrated by so many 'girl power' films failing of late). If it's true I'm not sure how Marvel will handle it. About a month ago Daniel said Marvel wanted a majority female Avengers, which would make the impact of an A-Force film redundant (especially since much of the membership would be the same), but Sutton made the same claim back in July. Could this project be coming? Absolutely, but I wouldn't take Daniel's claim as confirmation just yet (if Murphy jumps onboard, then we'll call it locked).
Murphy talks about a potential MCU schedule that would see new Marvel IP arriving on a weekly basis (given that the episodes of the Disney+ shows are annoyingly weekly). I've long thought Marvel wanted new IP hitting every month, but this idea (weekly) makes sense.
As someone very attached to numbers, one of the great puzzles for me is the universal claim (among Marvel pundits) that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a huge success--mirrored by DC pundits claiming the same for Shazam. Based on the numbers, I don't see it (I've included Shazam for context):
I haven't seen Wonder Woman 1984 yet (my enthusiasm was never very high because prequels lack stakes), but I'm bringing it up for a specific MCU reason: the plot of the film is apparently a mess and the writer responsible is none other than David Callaham, the writer of Shang-Chi. Back in June, 2019, a Redditor claimed that his script for Shang-Chi was dull and required re-writes. That's never been confirmed, but Callaham's track record as a writer makes it believable (as I went over a long time ago)--it doesn't sound like Wonder Woman 1984 has changed that impression.
Murphy believes Blade could be an October, 2022 release, based on what was shown on the Investor's Day fact sheet. He includes cautions and hesitation, but I've long thought this date suited the IP.
From the latest Sutton Q&A: he reiterated that Angela will appear in Thor 4 and that Jessica Jones will appear in the MCU (he's been very consistent with both); he also repeated that Sony's Marvel material will appear on Disney+ as part of the new deal between the companies (see above). There's been a push within the fandom for Angela, but I have a hard time seeing Marvel using her (at least in a remotely comicbook accurate fashion). I also don't know what you do with the character, although she'd add some 'umph' to a Sif series (cf).
Daniel says A-Force is in active development. The idea of an A-Force project isn't new--originally developed as a Marvel Entertainment project for ABC (cf), the first MCU rumour came back in June, 2019, from LotLB (TBK); then 4chan in February, and finally Sutton in July. As I've said every time this comes up, it's an odd idea that feels out of date (as perhaps demonstrated by so many 'girl power' films failing of late). If it's true I'm not sure how Marvel will handle it. About a month ago Daniel said Marvel wanted a majority female Avengers, which would make the impact of an A-Force film redundant (especially since much of the membership would be the same), but Sutton made the same claim back in July. Could this project be coming? Absolutely, but I wouldn't take Daniel's claim as confirmation just yet (if Murphy jumps onboard, then we'll call it locked).
A Daredevil series is in the works over at Marvel Studios. This is very much being spearheaded by Kevin Feige and it’s going to be violent. When I say violent, I mean VIOLENT. Possibly R-rated. And it looks like it’s coming to STAR on Disney Plus. Hulu in the US at the moment.
This is consistent with Sutton's idea above (absent the supernatural element). Using the Hulu brand to keep the R-rating from staining Disney makes sense, but whether you really need Daredevil to be R-rated is an open question (given how violent PG films are allowed to be). What an R-rating really allows you to do is nudity, which I expect Disney and Feige to oppose in all contexts.
There are two things I wanted to discuss from Kinda Culty's latest theory video:
1) Jonathan Majors will not only play Kang, but all his iterations as well including Iron Lad
2) The image on the left (inside the red box) is therefore of Majors as Kang
The logic of having Majors play all versions of Kang is much simpler for an audience unfamiliar with the character. That being said, while KC thinks the 31-year old looks young enough to play Iron Lad, I do not. The MCU seems to be trying to keep the hypothetical cast of Young Avengers young:
Kathryn Newton (Cassie Lang) - 24 in February
Kathryn Newton (Cassie Lang) - 24 in February
Hailee Steinfeld (Kate Bishop) - 24
Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan) - 18 or 19
Xochitl Gomez (America Chavez) - 14
We don't yet know who is playing Hulkling (confirmed back in January), Wiccan, or Speed, and it is typical for male actors to be older, but for me at least, Majors seems outside the age range for Iron Lad (unless they change his age, lose the name, and Majors looks the same in all iterations).
KC's idea about the three heads above representing The Time Keepers (two representing Vorth and Zanth, with the female Ast being replaced by an image of Kang), is persuasive. However, I don't think the Kang depicted (if that's what it is) looks like Majors (the facial features are wrong). That disconnect may be the nature of the shot in the trailer, but from just that I don't see it.
So what's my solution if, on the whole, KC's basic theory is correct? It's possible we will get the different iterations of Kang played by different actors (it would certainly make filming them meet simpler). The versions in the comics do, for the most part, look distinctive, although that seems overly complicated for the MCU. I'll need more information before I can firmly lean one way or another.
Murphy talks about a potential MCU schedule that would see new Marvel IP arriving on a weekly basis (given that the episodes of the Disney+ shows are annoyingly weekly). I've long thought Marvel wanted new IP hitting every month, but this idea (weekly) makes sense.
As someone very attached to numbers, one of the great puzzles for me is the universal claim (among Marvel pundits) that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a huge success--mirrored by DC pundits claiming the same for Shazam. Based on the numbers, I don't see it (I've included Shazam for context):
- Box Office: 375.5 (film cost 90, so ~140-180 including marketing etc)
- Shazam: 366 (cost 100, so ~150-200)
- Box Office Rank: #24 (#16 domestic, #34 foreign)
- Shazam Rank: #25 (#21, #27)
If you want to talk about it as an animated feature, Incredibles 2 made 1.2 billion dollars the same year. It did make money for Sony, but that's a low bar to cross. What puzzles me is how rare it is for every pundit to repeat the same thing while completely ignoring the financials (pundits love box office as a point of discussion and measure of success). A friend of mine suggested the praise is based on the awards it received, which makes some sense (personally I put no stock in awards, but some do). Regardless of why, I'm curious to see how a sequel does--if it (again) achieves this kind of box office, will we continue to hear the same refrain? And if not, why not?
I haven't seen Wonder Woman 1984 yet (my enthusiasm was never very high because prequels lack stakes), but I'm bringing it up for a specific MCU reason: the plot of the film is apparently a mess and the writer responsible is none other than David Callaham, the writer of Shang-Chi. Back in June, 2019, a Redditor claimed that his script for Shang-Chi was dull and required re-writes. That's never been confirmed, but Callaham's track record as a writer makes it believable (as I went over a long time ago)--it doesn't sound like Wonder Woman 1984 has changed that impression.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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