Scoopers Gonna Scoop: Who Are the MCU Scoopers?

I thought it worthwhile to briefly go over the Marvel scoopers as I've come to know them. For some readers, especially those new to the site, it might feel bewildering to see scattered names referenced when they don't know why it's relevant. What follows isn't meant to be encyclopedic, just an overview. It's worth noting that the pandemic has coincided with a significant number of new scoopers (new to me, at least) whose veracity is not yet clear. Let's get to it (those in red seem to be out of the scoop game).

The Trades

Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline are the major sources of official news for the MCU and include scoops from time-to-time. These are actual journalists who have actual sources inside Marvel. On rare occasion they are wrong, but on the whole they are reliable and correct. They are not, however, impartial witnesses, and to maintain access have to "play ball" with the industry.

Production Weekly

This site, but specifically the paid version (which is quite expensive). I'll briefly include part of their self-description to explain what this is:

Production Weekly provides professionals working in the film and television industries with the most comprehensive production breakdown available. Our professional research staff continuously tracks and compiles up-to-date data on projects in various stages of development, both domestically and internationally. … Subscribers enjoy access to projects in pre-production, preparation, and development, for the major studio as well as independent films, network and cable television movies, pilots and series, both domestic and international. … Published every Thursday, each issue is revised weekly with an average of over 100 listings. Containing the project title, production company information including phone and fax numbers plus e-mail address, as well as the above-the-line crew (Producer, Director, Writer, Unit Production Manager, and Line Producer) and talent in addition to the logline, location and start/wrap dates.

This is the primary source for most of the better regarded scoopers, but because of the cost average fans don't have access to it. Virtually all the casting leaks you see come from this site.

Other "Official" Publications/Sites

• Rich Johnston - Head writer for Bleeding Cool; he rarely has scoops, but in my experience has been reliable when he does
• Umberto Gonzalez - Reporter for The Wrap; rarely has scoops (and those he gets are small), but is right from time to time (he's a controversial figure in fandom and little liked)

Insider

• Roger Wardell - The pseudonym of a true insider who infrequently uses Twitter (he first appeared on the scene in late 2012 and has spawned a number of imposters)

Core Fan Scoopers

[These individuals have been selected not just due to volume (which is considerable), but for their resonance and connection to the broader fandom]

• Charles Murphy - Runs his own website; formerly of MCU Exchange and That Hashtag Show; cantankerous at the best of times, but he has a good (if not perfect) track record; he has access to Production Weekly (directly or indirectly) and at least one agent as a source; he's very good at sleuthing social media and industry posts; Murphy is not dependent on his website or Patreon for his living, as he's a school teacher (in Michigan I believe)
• Daniel Richtman - Functions through Patreon, although he was once on Super Bro Movies list of writers (a site that went defunct in 2019); his primary source of information is Production Weekly--it's unclear that he has any other good sources of information; he has a tendency to use information without attribution, which is unethical, but no one seems to mind; I don't know if this is his primary source of income (I've been told he's quite young and may still live with his parent's), but ~450 Patreons is a tenuous way to make a living
• Mikey Sutton - Runs his own website/magazine; a former journalist who started scooping informally in 2014; I'm positive he has at least one source at Sony (I still can't judge if he has one within Marvel proper); claims he won't use Production Weekly, something I find odd; I don't know if Geekosity is his primary means of making a living or not
• Jeremy Conrad - Made his hay in 2018 with The Eternals scoop; even more garrulous than Murphy; after being exposed for rightwing political views this fall he cancelled his Patreon and rebranded; it's not clear where he got his information, as while he's had a few scoops, he's often been wrong (he also was guilty of stealing people's content); the scoop business is not how he made his living, as I believe he runs a comic book shop somewhere in California

For reasons not at all clear to me--it might just be territorial feelings--there's drama from three of the four above. Conrad is an angry man-child; Murphy often lashes out; and Daniel throws shade at people he doesn't like on social media. Despite that, Murphy and Daniel have a detente of sorts, as they never step on each other's toes and don't criticize one another. Sutton tends to avoid drama, although he's been subjected to a lot of hate (from Daniel in particular). Sutton has better traditional credentials than the other three, but that doesn't mean he has a perfect record (he also has a growing tendency to use language that allows him to back out of his scoops--such & such is being discussed, but nothing firm has happened). I think Sutton is sometimes guilty of wanting things to be true that makes him overreach. None of these four are 100% correct, but they have had better and more scoops than those that follow.

The Remainder

[Divided up into sub-categories]

The Disconnected

• Jacob Fisher - Editor-in-Chief of Discussing Film; mix of the usual casting information and personal connections (an infrequent scooper)
• Christopher Marc - Writer/editor of HN Entertainment; best known for nuking Conrad out of the Marvel community; his scoops tend to be things like where or when filming occurs (which I don't find particularly interesting)--it's possible this material is fed to him, but I haven't paid enough attention to say one way or another

The Daniel Circle (Nebens gives it away)*

• K. C. Walsh - Editor-in-Chief of GWW (Geeks Worldwide); gets some of his info from Daniel, but he also seems to be friends with Murphy, so he might get info from him as well; he's married and has a family (presumably GWW or his wife are his financial anchor)
• Thomas Polito – Senior editor at Vulcan Reporter; formerly Cinema Spot, formerly GWW, formerly Revenge of the Fans (last scoop: May); while out of the scooping game, he still writes MCU speculation from time-to-time
• Julia Delbel - The Illuminerdi; possibly still at or formerly The Direct, Small Screen, Charles Murphy's site, and The Mary Sue (she just received her first Daniel scoop)
• Vicky Depledge – Formerly Cinema Spot, formerly GWW (last scoop: June)—‘stepped down’ in June without moving on to anything and eventually deleted her social media [A reader said the Twitter account is still active, so either they had two or I looked at the account of someone using the same ID]
• Richard Nebens – The Direct/The Illuminerdi; formerly MCU Exchange and I believe That Hashtag Show
• Pierre Chanliau - The Direct/MCU Exchange and Reddit mod (Flamma_Man; the ethics of modding communities while writing for sites that use Reddit to promote themselves does not appear to bother anyone)
• Joe Deckelmeier – Screen Rant/The Illuminerdi; formerly That Hashtag Show (last scoop: last August)--now does celebrity interviews for SR and writes non-MCU stuff for TI, but was described by Daniel as a 'good friend'
• Braxter Timberlake – The Illuminerdi; formerly That Hashtag Show
• Brandon Zachary – The Illuminerdi; formerly That Hashtag Show (last scoop: last February)
• Tatiana Hullender - The Illuminerdi; she does podcasts etc, but I'm not that familiar with her background (last scoop: last January)
• Caitlin Tyrrell - The Illuminerdi; just one scoop that I've seen and I'm not familiar with her
• Caleb Williams – Knight Edge Media, formerly GWW; I can't recall a direct scoop from Daniel, instead he seems to just repeat him after the fact

*There is at least some crossover with Murphy

I am making an assumption here, which is that Nebens is indicative that all scoops from The Direct and Illuminerdi are from Daniel--I believe that's absolutely in the cast of casting scoops, which is generally what we get, but it is possible other kinds of scoops come from elsewhere. I also don't know if Daniel directly gives these tidbits to the individual authors, or if it goes through a specific person who then farms them out--in a way that doesn't matter, but it's worth noting (I believe it's more likely the latter, since in referencing a scoop put out by Depledge he thought Deckelmeier had posted it, cf).

The Sutton Circle

• Lords of the Long Box source 'the Black Knight' - LotLB's original source is part of a group of comicbook speculators with inside info; he seems to have stopped contributing (either due to losing his source or a disinterest in doing it anymore); he and Sutton apparently knew many of the same people, but he was not one of Mikey' sources (last scoop: July); my guess was that TBK's source was at Marvel Entertainment and Feige nuking that into oblivion cut off his access
• Edward Lauder - Writer/editor of Small Screen; no track record of scoops (he's been around since 2016, but I only heard of him a few months ago)
• Drew Dietsch - Managing editor at Giant Freakin Robot; only one untested scoop that I'm aware of, so can't be judged yet
• Metric ton of Youtube sites - Since launching Geekosity, Sutton has largely stopped having scoops posted on YT, but these sites always credited him so the scoops were always his (as opposed to being farmed out anonymously)

The Untested

• Andy Signore - YT channel as well as Fandom Wire; it's not at all clear who his sources are or if they are valid
• Kris Tapley - Podcaster and freelance writer; formerly at Variety; has two scoops out on social media that can't be verified yet
• Devin Colson - Writer at Fandom Wire; has put out scoops, but his track record can't be assessed yet
• Reilly Johnson - Writer at Fandom Wire; only one scoop this January, which can't be judged yet

The Debunked

• Grace Randolph - Youtuber who formerly worked for Marvel; while she has inside sources for DC, she has an atrocious track record in the MCU and her vindictiveness towards her former employer makes her unreliable
• Skyler Shuler - Editor-in-Chief of DisInsider; formerly at That Hashtag Show; while he and his writers put out scoops, I'm not aware of any that have been correct
• 'The Marvel Scoop Master' - Redditor who spent about a month posting supposed inside information for the MCU back in 2019; he's never deleted the account, but stopped posting for a reason
• Joshua Munn/Gilian Dudley - I believe Munn is his real name; has tried twice to make his name as a scooper (using Reddit and Twitter), only to have his predictions fail (cf)
• Roger Wardell-clones - There have been two that I'm aware of, the first of which was debunked before I was aware of the real one; the latter ('WardellRoger') was someone I dismissed almost immediately, but was considered 'good' by others for about a year
• James Troughton - Formerly Fandom Wire; put out a failed scoop last January and is no longer on the site

This does not include clickbait sites like We Got This Covered, speculation sites like Cosmic Book News, etc--while many claim inside information, these either have no serious track record of success or are so willing to print anything that it's impossible to tell if correct material is simply luck or based on something.

I've mentioned before how small the scooping world is and you can get a sense of this from shared histories:
MCU Exchange: Charles Murphy, Pierre Chanliau, Richard Nebens

That Hashtag Shows: Charles Murphy, Richard Nebens, Joe Deckelmeier, Braxter Timberlake, Brandon Zachary, Skyler Shuler

It's worth noting that a couple of MCU Exchange folk write for Murphy's website but do not post scoops (editor-in-chief Charles Villanueva and editor Joseph Aberl). Villanueva has access to Production Weekly, but as far as I can tell only ever posted casting grids for Marvel Netflix shows, commenting on MCU-proper only after others post it.

My Experiences With Scoopers

These are few and far between, as I haven't specifically approached anyone.

• I had a couple of exchanges with Murphy on social media back in the day where I asked questions--he was nice enough to me in those interactions
• Jeremy Conrad blocked me on Twitter despite never having followed or interacted with him there
• Tim, from LotLB, was linked to my material by a friend or fan back in the fall of 2019; we very irregularly discuss MCU scoops; he has, to my knowledge, only skimmed my material a couple of times
• Roughly a year ago Tim introduced Sutton to me and we talked irregularly for a few months (during which I posted a couple of his scoops)--this tailed off, although he's always answered if I've asked him questions; Mikey checked out my material before talking to me, but beyond the scoops does not (as far as I know) read my material
• I spoke to Pierre Chanliau briefly when he was a Reddit mod--he used information I provided to help create his scooper veracity list, but ignored me afterwards

There is an understandable fear from scoopers about being wrong--having a scoop turn south. This anxiety is related to their reputations and losing their audience, which is likely why many of them are so temperamental. While I understand that concern, if you're being honest this kind of thing is no big deal and you see some (like Tim) not fret if something doesn't turn out--far better to admit it and move on then pretend it never happened (or change the story so it doesn't seem wrong).

The other thing I'll note is that, despite the large number of names here, these folks have virtually identical opinions--not just about Marvel, but world views--which means the space is starved for diversity and criticism. Even people who bicker espouse the same MCU opinions, which gets mindnumbing when you have to keep tabs on them

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)