MCU News & Notes

There was interesting news about Disney that reflects on the MCU (this is Variety's coverage):

Streaming hits like “WandaVision” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” failed to deliver the kind of Disney Plus subscriber numbers that Wall Street was looking for, as the Walt Disney Company reported a mixed quarterly report on Thursday. The entertainment conglomerate’s stock fell sharply, dropping more than 4% in after-hours trading. Disney’s $15.61 billion in revenue for the quarter fell short of expectations, and its 103.6 million streaming subscribers missed estimates

The article actually tries to spin this positively, but it's important to note the failed logic being used: if WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier were big hits, subscriber numbers would meet or exceed targets. Fundamentally, this means both shows failed to accomplish their goal, although Feige has plenty of rope to continue doing what he's doing before Bob Chapek comes knocking on his door for an explanation.

We have more from THS (Nick Santos), who says Midnight Sons is in early development. This is a primordial idea from LotLB that Sutton inherited (cf), but whose framework was originally intended for Jeph Loeb and Marvel Entertainment as part of their Hulu strategy. Santos says a number of interesting thing:

Marvel has over 20 unannounced films, but with those is a heavy emphasis on branching out with their team up movies. They want to replicate the success of The Avengers with multiple team-up films. Young Avengers, Dark Avengers/Thunderbolts, etc. Although this week we can exclusively share that Marvel is working on a Midnight Sons movie, which is currently in early development. … The roster will start off small and grow in future films as with any team-up film. It will start with Doctor Strange, Moon Knight, Blade, Hannibal King, Hellstrom, Ghost Rider, and Scarlet Witch. Hannibal King and Hellstrom will be introduced in Blade and fleshed out further in Midnight Sons. While Ghost Rider will be utilized in [Doctor Strange 2] before continuing on in Midnight Sons. Moon Knight and Blade both have a series and movie coming soon. While plot details are scarce as this is still in early development, we can exclusively share that Blackout will be the primary villain; with teases of Mephisto throughout. From what I’m hearing, Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios are interested in having multiple Thanos-level threats within the MCU

The lineup is slightly different from the constantly changing Sutton roster (Hannibal King has never come up), and Blackout has never included as a villain. It also has an imbalanced gender lineup (6 to 1), so if this is accurate, expect gender swaps (I'm not sure if it's diverse enough either, although Blade and now Moon Knight will tick boxes for Marvel).

The first full trailer for Eternals was underwhelming (the teaser is actually better, albeit ephemeral)--again, no demonstration of acting (the cast looks old and tired), the visuals are simply adequate, and there's no tension. Some of this is due to Marvel not wanting to take away from Black Widow and Shang-Chi, but I expect much better (especially given how much time they've had to tweak the marketing). Nothing has changed my fear that this film is going to disappoint. There's certainly nothing yet to justify the award buzz in the fandom.

Speaking of the film, original script writers Ryan and Matthew K. Firpo got the Jac Schaeffer treatment, and are now simply 'story by', as Patrick Burleigh (Ant-Man and the Wasp) and Chloe Zhao are the credited writers. This is not at all unusual for Marvel, as outside Markus and McFeely, it's rare for a script to be under the control of one writer (or writing pair). Unlike with Schaeffer, we don't yet know if the change is a sign of improvement.

Not long ago Daniel said Shuma-Gorath was coming, but claimed he didn't know where. I pointed out that this information had to come from Production Weekly, meaning Daniel does know where the character will appear. This was confirmed when Richard Nebens (cf) posted its appearance in Doctor Strange 2 as a 'scoop' for The Illuminerdi. You can see how this ecosystem works, with Daniel arranging things for 'credit' knowing it was coming, while helping out his buddy by giving him the 'scoop'. This indirect way of cannibalizing Production Weekly (available to you at a price) is the awkward way in which the public gains access to this. The basic idea, of Shuma-Gorath in Doctor Strange 2, goes all the way back to a 4chan rumour from October, 2019, but reading through the entirety of that post it contains a ton of incorrect information. A month later we had another 4chan post which seems credible; it was followed by a third in December, but that has erroneous elements. Since then, we had radio silence outside K. C. Walsh saying he hoped the creature would appear in the film. In the end, if we're giving credit, that November post on 4chan (from 2019) appears to have had the genuine scoop. Am I excited to see Doctor Strange fight a tentacle monster? It depends on how it's done.

Daniel posted up a casting call from Production Weekly that's seeking French and Dutch diplomats and mercenaries (one of each). This seems trivial, but I included it regardless.

Jordan Blum, showrunner of M.O.D.O.K., says the show is part of the MCU. This is probably true, although we don't know in what way (presumably the multiverse) and we have to keep in mind that Jeph Loeb maintained the same throughout Marvel Entertainment's existence when it wasn't true. I certainly don't consider it required viewing.

John Cena made a fool of himself when he apologized for calling Taiwan a country. I'm bringing this up not only to point out what a tool Cena is for abasing himself for the Chinese box office, but because it's a good lead in to the hypocrisy the MCU engages in whenever it tries to take a moral or ethical stance. The main approach for Marvel is to talk about diversity (in the extremely limited, American sense of it), but they remain unconcerned about restrictions imposed by oppressive regimes or American militarism as long as it helps at the box office (what a contrast it is that Steve Rogers joined the army to fight the Nazi's, while Sam Wilson joined an invading force in Afghanistan chasing a paycheque). Cynically, there's nothing unexpected about it, but it's one of the reasons why I find the glowing press pieces about their casting absurd--it's just virtue signaling and a way of distracting fans from being critical (that goes for Disney as well).

This article is late because I needed a break. There was some behind the scenes drama which seems to be over now, and I've generally been very down on the direction of the MCU of late. I still hope to recapture the enthusiasm I had through the first three phases, but we are standing on a precipice where my desire to fully cover it is in question (this happened with Marvel Netflix as well). Let's hope Loki is excellent.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

MCU News & Notes

I don't usually post articles like this in such close succession, but we have major news to discuss so let's get to it.

Not that long ago I raised the alarm for both Shang-Chi and Eternals in regards to their release in China, but the response within the fandom has been muted. Variety (Rebecca Davis) has now echoed those concerns:

In a report on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four films, the CCTV6 China Movie Channel aired a list of the U.S. release dates for eight of the ten scheduled titles, but conspicuously left out “Eternals” and “Shang-Chi.” … The omission might seem small, but its significance lies in its provenance: the channel is under the jurisdiction of China’s powerful propaganda department, which has the final word on film approvals. … While the China Movie Channel report is not hard evidence that the two titles will be banned from the China market, their omission could be an indication that something about them is troubling Chinese officials.

As Davis' says, this doesn't guarantee issues for both films, but continues the potential trouble for both. The Eternals issue is comments made by director Chloe Zhao in an article long ago that's seen as critical of the Chinese government (good on Zhao for the criticism from an ethical perspective, but it was clearly a bad idea for her future career if China was an important part of that). The criticisms of Shang-Chi aren't presented as clearly by Davis, who I think is uncomfortable with the real ones (she begins with the non-issue of Fu Manchu, who isn't even in the film, then wastes time talking about the impact of Internet trolls because that fits a popular agenda in Hollywood). Once she's through those strawmen, the article repeats the comments we heard from The Direct (link above) that the cast plays into foreign stereotypes about how the Chinese look (along with unhappiness about the stereotypical kung fu, lanterns, pagodas, and the colour red)--the pandering itself is singled out (and they certainly aren't wrong, although I think part of that is aimed at the diaspora). I don't think those of us who aren't Chinese are in a position to say who does or doesn't best represent how they look, but it has to be a kick in the balls for Feige to get this kind of pushback (you either have to blame or congratulate casting director Sarah Finn). Davis also brings up that there's a chance Tony Leung (Mandarin) has been blacklisted, as his previous two films have not been released in China.

I said it when these films were announced and I'll repeat it again: neither Eternals nor Shang-Chi are popular IP, so bringing fans to the table was always going to be a struggle. If the worst case scenario occurs and they aren't released in China, that's a serious blow to their box office potential and we could be looking at Ant-Man numbers even if they are entertaining. What the Marvel sphere will do if that happens is difficult to imagine--poor Charles Murphy may go full Jeremy Conrad and nuke his online content...no I'm just kidding--Murphy loves the spotlight too much to do that, but I still think we'd see an existential crisis (the usual playbook is to blame the fans--toxic fandom!--whether the MCU would stoop to that I don't know--there was a plan very similar to that almost put in place for WandaVision, cf).

One thing that's occurred to me about the award buzz for Eternals: originally I thought this was marketing meant for the public, but given that the public doesn't care about awards, I wonder if instead this is meant to soften the blow because the MCU is expecting meagre box office returns. When something does poorly financially, you can still call it a success if it wins awards, so is this an Into the Spider-Verse play to disguise financial disappointment? It's just a theory--the film might be great and do well--but it's food for thought.

THS (Nick Santos) comes to us with a Ghost Rider scoop and here are the essentials:

I’ve seen concept art from Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness that shows Ghost Rider. From what I’ve seen and heard, it’ll be a cameo at best but considering Multiverse Of Madness is exploring the multiverse and will have horror elements, a cameo will fit in with the movie while not distracting too much from the rest of the film. While Ghost Rider can appear in his own movie, it’s said that like The Hulk, he’ll appear in other movies as a side character. ... As for casting, while this may be disappointing for fans, Marvel is not going to bring back Gabriel Luna, from Agents of Shield or Nic Cage. It will be the Johnny Blaze character but recast.

This story must have Sutton fuming, because he's been calling for the return of the character (albeit in different ways) for quite some time. Clearly, no one cares if Luna returns (otherwise he would, eg Charlie Cox), but a few will bemoan the loss of Cage even if his Ghost Rider films are broadly derided and he's become a caricature of himself as an actor (not the bees!). If this recasting is correct, what does that imply about the mass migration of Netflix characters we keep getting from Sutton? It's unclear. Speaking of Sutton, as with previous Santos material, while this is similar to things he's said, it's not exactly the same--we have a specific citation of evidence (concept art from Doctor Strange 2), but more importantly, the framework varies--recently Sutton has been talking about the character having their own IP, but Santos is talking about Ghost Rider as a secondary character who appears in other people's films. In that link we see 4chan echoing this idea (Ghost Rider in Doctor Strange 2). Sutton's own comments have been a bit confused--in July Gabriel Luna was returning, but by April he wasn't; Johnny Blaze will debut in Blade, but also Doctor Strange 2--I think the free flowing Q&A's he does with Tim just create confusion for those of us who keep track of what he says.

Speaking of Sutton, sometimes you are reminded of things when you're collecting comments for something else: how did Falcon pave the way for Luke Cage? If that happened, it alludes me, but (via the link above) apparently that was going to happen. The best argument you could make is introducing the serum to the MCU, but all the Nagle vials are gone and the serum was introduced in Captain America, so I'm at a loss for what the connection was meant to be.

Back to the Eternals briefly. We had another toy leak, but unfortunately it doesn't add anything to our understanding of the film (other than, perhaps, there's no sign of Black Knight anywhere, which would fit the leak). It's blase as leaks go.

We had two Black Panther 2 posts from Sutton (here and here) that are cross promotions for other people. The first is from Dietsch (Giant Freakin Robot) and Sutton adds nothing to it, so what Dietsch says is that Sam Wilson will appear in the film, although to what extent he doesn't know. This is certainly plausible given the ridiculous appearance of Wakandans in Falcon. The other is from Everything Always, which repeats a very old rumour that Namor will be the villain of the film. Other than Sutton repeating that the film rights are back at Marvel (which is only partially true, cf; it's odd that he puts it this way, since my Namor article is one of the few of mine I know he's read), Sutton adds nothing of substance to this. As for the Namor rumour itself, this is plausible (although I've never understood how a land-locked Wakanda would be a target for the sea-bound Atlanteans). You can see many of the old rumours here.

Our final Sutton entry, or actually, our final Dietsch entry (since this is again from him) is this, where he claims that Marvel is going to cast a young Iron Man with a different actor (ie, rather than de-aging Robert Downey Jr.), but Dietsch was uncertain which project it was for (Ironheart makes the most sense on a meta level, but Sutton thinks it will simply be a flashback). It's worth the reminder that right now there's no track record from Dietsch as either reliable or not, so I have no idea if he's credible (that applies to Everything Always as well).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News & Notes

One of the things I've realized recently is that if the MCU's quality remains at the current Disney+ level, I won't stick around to cover it. This unfortunate circumstance has happened before--Marvel Netflix crashed and burned so I moved on. It's still early and things can change, but given the recent drop in quality I'm genuinely concerned for upcoming Marvel products.

Buried in a THR story is a comment about Blade:

Marvel isn’t rushing with Blade, whose start date was pushed from this September to July 2022, so that the studio can spend time working on the Stacy Osei-Kuffour-penned script

That unexpected ten month delay suggests some serious issues beyond the director search THR references. I have to wonder if this is another Jac Schaeffer scenario where, the 'appropriate' person was found to write the script, but just like with Black Widow one of the MCU's script doctors is required to fix it. That may sound cynical, but given Mahershali Ali's age (he's forty-seven!) filming soon is of the essence for the action-oriented Blade, so there's logistical pressures to get things moving.

Variety is pumping the tires of Falcon's views based on TVision ratings, which is a US-only data set based on just 5,000 households. We're going to need a bigger boat, Variety! With that said, via Nielsen through the fourth episode the show was #1 among streaming shows, which is honestly surprising. If it can maintain that ranking I'm curious to see if views fall off a cliff when it's over (like WandaVision), or if it can retain its popularity.

James Gunn says he's done at Marvel once Guardians 3 is out (something he might be saying to get more money, but we'll take him at his word for the moment). I think this would be the right move--Gunn's second film wasn't as good as the first and he's being given all he wants at WB (the trailer for Suicide Squad was not encouraging).

A few things from Daniel:

• Shuma-Gorath will appear in an upcoming MCU project [The character has been floating around Doctor Strange 2 rumours for awhile, having started in WandaVision rumours, although no one of note has backed it]
• He believes Monica Rambeau will appear in Doctor Strange 2 [Given her connection to Wanda there's some plausibility to this, but just how many characters can you have in this film--I feel like this is unlikely given that she's off to the seemingly unrelated The Marvels soon after]
• Marvel is considering a POC for Hercules [This wouldn't surprise me, despite the cultural insensitivity--think of poor Gilgamesh]

Sutton claims Nova and Captain Marvel will face Galactus in the future, although he doesn't know in what project. It's a plausible idea, but not one likely to come to fruition any time soon. Whether The Marvels can fix Carol Danvers or not is an open question, but that would require the MCU to believe there are problems with her character in the first place (something we can't be sure of).

4chan:

• Gorr the God Butcher kills Korg and quite a few Asgardians (on Earth). Valkyrie is severely wounded and not seen again until the end of the movie. Gorr leaves when he discovers Thor is no longer on the planet.
• I am also pretty sure Gorr kills Russell Crows Zeus or we are to presume he is dead.
• The beginning of the movie shows Gorr killing Thor (we then find out he is an alternate Thor from a different universe. mjolnir then shoots off into a wormhole and Gorr follows. The Multiverse is a big deal in this movie as well.
• A few surviving Greek Gods team up with Thor to fight off Gorr who easily defeats them all. They are minor Gods. Hercules is mentioned but not with this crew. Thor is rescued by the [Guardians of the Galaxy] with Jane carrying mjolnir and has all the power of the MV Thor. I have literally no idea how she goes from Earth to being with the GOTG. Gorr injures [Peter Quill] (not badly but he is knocked out).
• Sif sacrifices herself for Jane when the two of them are fighting Gorr.
• There is a fight scene with Thor and Hercules over both being very childish about something. Its more comical than dramatic. Drax bets on Hercules while Rocket bets on Thor.
• Thor, Jane Thor, Hercules and Valkyrie all fight Gorr. He loses and then runs away. I would assume he will return again.
• Thor decides to stay with his people on Earth and invites the surviving Greek Gods to live with them as well. Jane stays with Thor but Valkyrie remains Queen.

Off the hop I have to say I don't like this plot at all, but nothing strikes me as inherently implausible, even if the description is vague enough to make me think the poster simply made it up. One of the main trends in rumours is Sif dying and a marginal role for Valkyrie (she can have a major role if she dies, but I don't think that can happen), but just because those elements are repeated doesn't make them true.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

The Eternals - Soaring to New Heights or in Crisis?

The story of The Eternals has hit a point where I feel the need to contextualize and explore it by itself. Buckle-up, strap-in and strap-on, because I want to go through it thoroughly. We're going to begin with a chronology to set the stage.

2015

• Marvel Entertainment (Jeph Loeb) hires John Ridley to produce an ABC show based on The Eternals (cf); the identity of what IP Ridley was working on was kept secret until 2019, long after it was retaken by Kevin Feige for Marvel Studios

2018

• April - The scoop that made the now cancelled Jeremy Conrad--Kevin Feige had taken back the IP for the MCU; this news came out a month after WB hired Ava Duvernay to direct New Gods (RIP), the IP Jack Kirby retooled when he returned to Marvel from DC--it's difficult not to see a connection between WB's push for that project and Feige's sudden interest (both hiring female directors of colour for the project doesn't seem coincidental)
• May - Writers Matthew and Ryan Firpo are hired to write the script
• June - Feige says he wants the film to play with the Ancient Aliens trope where the Eternals are the inspiration for a lot of mythology (how this meshes with actual Asgardians and Greek Gods is a mystery, unless the Eternals progenerated them as well); given how poorly Captain Marvel and Falcon and the Winter Soldier were integrated into MCU history, I'm skeptical that this will be done well
• September - Director Chloe Zhao is hired, coming off The Rider (an award winning film--the kind of thing only cinephiles watch anymore--the small scale, personal drama Modernists beat to death 70 years ago); it's claimed Marvel was in a rush to hire her in case someone else scooped her up
• October - That Hashtag Show (anonymously, but presumably Murphy) posts a story synopsis that, while clearly outdated (and presumably from Production Weekly), is still leaned on in popular coverage
• November - THS (Murphy) posts a cast list that must come from Production Weekly, but this is also dated and only partially resembles the cast in the film

2019

• March - Angelina Jolie is cast (erroneously believed to be Sersi at the time)
• May - Richard Madden is cast (correctly identified as Ikaris)
• July - The release date is set for November 6, 2020; filming commences with Zhao given complete control (saying the style she was using was inspired by Alejandro G. Inarritu's The Revenant, a film where DiCaprio shivered until he won an Academy Award)
• August - Gemma Chan, Kit Harington, and Barry Keoghan join the cast--this block announcement isn't typical for stars, so presumably was done to mute criticism of race-swapping Sersi (Harington is a much more direct adaptation for Black Knight, a character with no comic association with the Eternals and not included in the initial casting call, making him a late addition--presumably intended to add spice to an otherwise underwhelming group)

2020

• February - Filming wraps
• April - The release date is shifted to February 12, 2021; reports (ultimately from Daniel) circulate about how rushed the production was--unfinished costumes and an unfinished script (the reason for the film's rush, its speculated, is because of Guardians 3's shift in the slate); Daniel says the focus of the film is on Sersi and Dane Whitman (rather than Sersi and Ikaris), which is officially confirmed over a year later
• August - The title is shortened from The Eternals to Eternals (something I habitually forget)
• September - The release date shifts to November, 2021; Zhao's film Nomadland comes out (it doesn't make money, but as award bait that doesn't matter)

2021

• January - Zhao says she was also a writer for the film
• February - Additional photography (reshoots) occur--these are anomalously late given that the release date had changed just four months earlier (ergo, it's unlikely they were the original planned reshoots); a Tweet from Erick Weber (editor of Awards Ace) starts pushing the hype train for the film--it's the next Citizen Kane; K. C. Walsh (GWW editor) reports that Gemma Chan was such a problem on-set that Marvel has scaled back plans for her--Walsh subsequently deletes his Tweet without explanation and the fandom has tried very hard to forget it
• March - Busy with the awards schedule, Zhao (who typically edits her own films) leans on Dylan Tichenor and Craig Wood to make the first cut--this means the praise for the film up until then is at least in part due to those editors; the New York Times reports that the film could be in trouble in China due to a backlash over comments Zhao made in an interview years ago
• April - The leak: an anonymous Redditor reports on a screening (which must be the Tichenor-Wood cut)--the fandom eagerly ignores this information; Zhao wins an Oscar for Nomadland (which is the same type of film as The Rider)
• May - The first official trailer shots are included in a brief promo montage (the images match the leak, from what little we can tell); the focus is on Jolie's Thena (she gets the 'hero' shots), rather than the films leads

The Risk

Ever since this project leaked, there have been concerns about it (as I've gone over before, cf). While often casually compared to Guardians of the Galaxy, the Eternals IP is far more obscure and lacks the obvious roots in popular entertainment (Guardians is reminiscent of a lot of popular space fare). Beyond that obscurity and background, the film is saddled with a cast that hasn't made a ripple in the fandom. What about the director? Putting aside Zhao's inexperience with this kind of film, or that the films she's known for are divorced from popular entertainment, casual fans don't usually care about directors. So how about that cast?

Angelina Jolie is the only big name in the film, albeit in a secondary role. The famous actress is 45 and has a long, award winning career, including experience in genre films (Tomb Raider). Her only true blockbuster was 2014's Maleficent (758 million), whose sequel tailed off significantly. Everyone knows who she is, but that's never specifically boosted the box office of her films. Clearly Marvel knows she's the most exciting cast member, as she was given the most best coverage in the teaser--this can't last, since the leads will have to be prominently featured.

Richard Madden, the 34-year old Scottish actor, is best known for Game of Thrones; he has a modest film history with no notable failures. Like Jolie above, he's a positive add, but he won't bring fans into the theater.

The 28-year old Irish actor is making the transition from award winning films into the realm of blockbusters. Less recognizable than the two above, like them, no one is showing up to The Eternals because Barry Keoghan is in the film. Given the quality and age of the actor, Marvel might be playing the long game with him and envisioning a larger future.

The two leads are 38-year old Gemma Chan and 34-year old Kit Harington. Neither has ever shouldered a blockbuster before. Chan is known primarily for Crazy Rich Asians (based on the best selling Kevin Kwan novel), which was a modest box office success. Harington, like Madden above, is best known for his role in Game of Thrones, but his experience in film has generally been disastrous. Clearly, neither actor generates box office on their own. It goes without saying that Marvel has had luck with actors who have struggled elsewhere--Chris Hemsworth is the poster boy for that--but both Chan and Harington are much more subdued actors--and older than Hemsworth when he became Thor. Comparisons to Chris Pratt don't really work given his strong comedic background (such an important part of his success). These are, from what I've seen, primarily dramatic actors. The concern with both is that they will pale in comparison against their costars--that Jolie will outshine Chan and Madden/Keoghan will do the same for Harington--the last thing Marvel wants is for fans to wish for there was more of the secondary characters rather than the leads.

The rest of the cast, from veteran Salma Hayek to youthful Lia McHugh, seem to be tertiary members of the group (not just due to their relative prominence, but also by what's in the leak), which makes sense given the limited screen time available. Like everyone else on this list, none of them will have fans rushing out to the theater. Marvel may be aware of this problem, as thus far the (limited) marketing has pushed the director rather than the cast.

To sum up, we have an IP that no one knows (and was never successful as a comic, even if it's lauded for its scope), a cast that can't be relied on to draw an audience, and a rushed production. We also have to talk about the size of the cast--there are eleven characters to introduce here. This is an absurd amount. I think Guardians pushed it to the limit to provide origins for five, and one of those is a tree--is this ambition or insanity? There simply isn't time for proper origins here and the leak implies very limited roles for most. I think most MCU fans will wave away worries about the cast and an obscure IP because of past Marvel success, but what about the production?

When false news about production problems surface, there's typically a quick and strong response to it--either directly from those within the production, or from the media covering it. That has not occurred with this film--instead, the approach has been to ignore any problems raised. This approach concerns me as it lends credence to those reports. So what do we know? The production issues:

The Eternals pre-production was rushed in order to meet the movie’s filming schedule, meaning costumes were not finished, sets were not completely constructed, and even parts of the script were incomplete at the start of filming. Specifically, Kit Harington's Black Knight costume was unfinished when scenes with him in the suit were being shot, so it's likely that post-production work will be needed to digitally complete the suit

Daniel is a huge Marvel fanboy who doesn't want to speak negatively of anything, so he's only going to talk about this if he feels its verified (and the coverage surrounding it never questions the facts). In the leak Harington never suits up as Black Knight, leaving us with three options: 1) The leak is false, 2) The scene or scenes are few and were removed for the screener, or 3) Marvel decided against having that reveal (presumably because of how many characters in the film and require introductions). That aside, while films have survived a rushed schedule, this is often a sign of trouble. The above story circulated for about a week in April of 2020, but since then no one talks about it. Daniel can't have learned of this from his usual source (Production Weekly), so it must be from crew chatter and/or local reports. This story was followed later by much spicier news:

I heard Gemma Chan [Sersi] was a pain to work with on Eternals, so much so, Feige reduced her role in future plans and changed the ending to give Madden [Ikaris] a larger role, also heard other characters are introduced

Walsh doesn't say where this information comes from, but he has firm connections to both Murphy and Daniel and the former does have access to at least one Marvel associated agent (eg he was given the entire breakdown of Endgame almost a year before it came out). The idea of introduced characters fits the leak (one of the post-credit scenes), but above and beyond that, he has a good track record and is a card-carrying Marvel fanboy--the last thing Walsh would want to do is say something negative about Chan. While he has deleted the Tweet, he hasn't made a mea culpa to say he was wrong. There's no sign of these changes from the leak, but it's unlikely much could be changed with her as a lead. What's not in dispute are the potential issues Zhao has in China (as per The New York Times):

Experts say that while Ms. Zhao’s background would likely have been a major selling point for “The Eternals” in China, it could now become an Achilles’ heel

We don't know if China will suppress the release of The Eternals or not, but if they do that has massive implications for the film's box office. Perhaps Zhao and Disney can mollify the Chinese government and this will simply be a footnote to the film's history, but until then it raises serious questions over how well the film can perform.

There's Still Time

While interest in The Eternals hasn't spiked, it isn't in the black hole of indifference of Shang-Chi (at least in terms of social media engagement). The teaser for it is ephemeral, but the highlighting of Jolie seems to have helped. We won't be able to assess how well the film is being received until we see a true trailer and there's no rush for that given that two movies will release ahead of it.

I haven't talked at all about whether this will be a good film or not (as opposed to a successful one). We simply don't have enough information to even guess. The people gushing about it have an incentive to do so, which means we can't take their effusion seriously. For fans of Zhao's prior work, cinema history is filled with non-genre filmmakers faceplanting when attempting this kind of thing, so we can't draw conclusions from that either. As for the cast, while I think the casting of Gilgamesh is outrageous for cultural reasons, even if it's underwhelming on the surface it could still work--there's talent here that a good script could make shine. Unfortunately, I'm concerned about the current standards of MCU storytelling after the slipshod experiences of WandaVision and Falcon (the former has already lead to spin from the MCU). Will this be a return to form? If it's not, this is one of the rare projects Marvel can put in the rearview mirror without impacting anything--it's not the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, etc--something fans are already passionate about and would truly be upset if they were done poorly. Ultimately I think expectations need to be measured. There is potential for the Eternals, but I think we need to hold off uncorking the champagne until we've seen a little more.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News & Notes

Sutton put out a couple of She-Hulk related posts. First he echoes something from YTer Everything Always who claims Titania will be the villain of the show. I don't know of anyone who didn't predict this, but Sutton echoes the sentiment. I don't know if Everything Always is a credible source--I'm unaware of any prior scoops, but I won't dismiss or credit him until I have a reason too. This was followed by another echo of Everything Always, who says that Charlie Cox has already filmed his scenes for the show (he was seen on-set on April 30th). What Sutton adds is that he's heard he won't suit up as Daredevil until it's a larger appearance, so much like with Spider-Man 3 this will just be as Matt Murdock.

One of the weirdest casts we've seen in the MCU is The Eternals and we now know why: it's the brainchild of producer Nate Moore (so the cultural insensitivity towards Gilgamesh is Nate's ignorance, not that he's received the deserved excoriation). Speaking of that film, you may recall that I predicted no one would discuss The Eternals leak (cf), just like no one discussed the issues of Gemma Chan on-set (eg), and this is plain as day as descriptions (eg) from popular YTers about the film ignore it entirely (everything in those limited segments echoed what was in the leak, although we haven't seen enough to say that description is 100% accurate). Marvel continues to sell the show based on its director, incidentally, something I think they are doing because the cast is so underwhelming.

I'm not the only one (eg) who thinks the changing the title of Captain Marvel 2 to The Marvels is in response to the hostility towards Captain Marvel. While no one is going to show up for Monica Rambeau after her limp origin story in WandaVision, there's a small chance Kamala Khan will hit with the intended audience to add some oomph (I'm dubious, but YA-fair isn't aimed at me). I don't know what the plot will be, but since she's surrounded by women of colour, the MCU might finally feel safe in giving Carol Danvers some flaws (let's cross our fingers).

Kevin Feige is a very smart man. For decades he's navigated a world of immensely rich egotists and forged a good reputation both for the products he puts out and how he interacts with the entertainment industry. However, we now have something from him that is the first verbal misstep I can think of. Here is the quote about Doctor Strange in WandaVision (along with a second quote from Elizabeth Olsen that I'll get into later):

“Oh, it would’ve been so cool to see Dr. Strange. But it would have taken away from Wanda, which is what we didn’t want to do. We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie — here’s the white guy, ‘Let me show you how power works.’” That meant the Dr. Strange movie, too, had to be rewritten. In the end, Feige says, Marvel’s process is “a wonderful combination of very dedicated coordination, and chaos. Chaos magic." At one point, back when Dr. Strange was supposed to be part of the story, the in-universe commercials were going to be messages from Strange to Wanda, and there was also talk of having Cumberbatch appear in one of the ads.

Elizabeth Olsen is pushing back on criticism that Wanda got off too easy by flying away without punishment after she forced an entire town of people into her sitcom fantasy world.  “She had to get away before the people who have to hold her accountable got there,” she says. “And where she went is a place that no one could find her. Because she knows that she is going to be held accountable, and I think she has a tremendous amount of guilt.”

First let's address the obvious: no one who covers Marvel (CBR, Murphy, Daniel, Sutton, MCU Exchange, The Direct, The Illuminerdi, etc) will talk about the elephant in the room except (perhaps) to applaud it. As I've always said, the Marvel space has no room for diversity--it's an unquestioning hivemind. With that out of the way, who in their right mind would complain about the Sorcerer Supreme helping someone struggling with magic? A struggle that involved Wanda torturing innocent people because she felt sad. The only issue, apparently, is that Doctor Strange is white, so we have to assume an African-American man, Chinese man, an Indian man, etc would be fine--anything but Tibetan, right Kevin? This is the worst kind of lazy virtue signaling. You have to wonder if Scott Derrickson was jettisoned from Doctor Strange 2 because of this nonsense, as it apparently impacted that film as well. No one would have watched Doctor Strange help Wanda and think it demeans her character--Feige even skipped the much simpler (if still ridiculous) gender angle. Fans would have been happy to see the one hero who could have helped Wanda actually help her. The reason I think we're getting this cockeyed explanation is because even casual fans kept wondering, 'why isn't Doctor Strange coming to help Wanda?' Because there is no good answer to this, Feige seems to have leaned on the kind of response that will prevent the media from asking that question, even though it will have the opposite effect within the fandom. The YTers who make their living engaging in a culture war have been knocking at the door to the much more lucrative Marvel fandom for years, but thus far found no purchase. This is exactly the kind of thing that opens the door to them.

I included the much more benign response from Elizabeth Olsen because this short puff piece in Rolling Stone is a form of damage control. The final episode of WandaVision aired March 5th and apparently two months later the criticism is so overwhelming that there are fears it might impact Doctor Strange 2--Feige presumably arranged for the story to be put out to quell the backlash. Unfortunately for Olsen, her explanation can't retroactively fix the lazy way her story ended (apologizing to Monica Rambeau, who said she'd do the same thing, rather than the people she was selfishly torturing for weeks). Simply saying she feels bad when we don't see it on-screen isn't adequate. When it comes to the torture, Olsen doesn't have the culture war card to play, so she's left with a limp explanation.

The larger concern is one I brought up in my Falcon and the Winter Soldier review--you can argue that the standards for the MCU have been slipping over the last four years. The upcoming material has warning signs all over it and we're in the midst of a push to try to allay understandable concerns over The Eternals given the puff pieces about the director (Chloe Zhao could win twenty Oscars and that would convince exactly zero casual audiences members to show-up)--in a way Marvel has no choice, since the cast excites absolutely nobody.

I mentioned this on Twitter, but we've now had back-to-back MCU shows that include horrible implications:

• 1) It's okay to torture people if you feel sad (WandaVision)
• 2) It's okay to murder people if they disagree with you politically (Falcon and the Winter Soldier)

Neither Malcolm Spellman nor Jac Schaeffer intended these implications, but their slipshod writing is so bad that it's the logical consequence of their portrayals of both Wanda and Falcon. Does anyone care? I'd like to think so, but we shall see.

Sutton Q&A:

• While Norman Osborn is coming, he won't be a primary antagonist in the MCU (rather it will be characters like Doctor Doom and Galactus) [This matches previous things he's said]
• Sony would like the MCU to do Agent Venom [The implication seems to be that this would be inside the MCU, but if so it's hard to see how this benefits the Sony iteration of Marvel, so doesn't make sense to me as-is--granting that Sutton envisions more interplay between the two]
• The Amazon Silk won't be the MCU iteration [If there is one; Mikey doesn't follow the logic here, but if this is true it does imply that Sony's own material will also continue to be separate; we have to remember that Mikey has been leaning into Sony's material being within the context of the MCU, so this Amazon news was a potential blow to that idea]
• Claims Feige never changes his plans [What I think he means is he doesn't make reactionary changes ala WB or Sony etc--however, we know from comments made by Taika Waititi that Marvel tweaks the hell out of their films based on testing and that this also impacts plans for characters (Sharon Carter's planned romance with Steve Rogers being cut, for example), so Sutton is right to an extent, but his specific point about The Eternals (implying some sort of long term plan) doesn't address the supposed issues related to Gemma Chan--so if there are sequels--and Ant-Man got sequels--with what focus?]
• Repeated that Agents of Shield actors will be in Secret Invasion [Something possible due to the multiverse, but Sutton still believes the show will be canon]
• Repeated that Black Knight films will spin off The Eternals while appearing in an Excalibur show [I agree with the idea that he'll spin off, but it's surprising Marvel would give him a show and films]
• Repeated that Dracula will appear in Blade and that they wanted Wesley Snipes to play him [This is an old LotLB (TBK) scoop from July, 2019, that we've heard conflicting things about--Snipes, at least according to rumour, isn't the easiest person to work with]
• The Inhuman royal family is being saved for the Fantastic Four
• Repeated that 'everyone but Finn Jones is back' from Netflix [I don't buy it, but time will tell]

He also included an R&D list (most of which is repetition):

Captain Britain (for Phase Four, possibly introduced in Shang-Chi franchise) [A Shang-Chi sequel can't be in Phase Four, although that doesn't inherently debunk this]

The Fixer

Omega Red (planned as being a prime villain for the X-Men)

Jigsaw (for a Bernthal-lead Punisher series)

Shanna the She-Devil (for an X-Men film when they go to the Savage Land) [This idea has very old roots, as the premise was one of the original LotLB (TBK)'s original scoops from May, 2019, that Sutton has subsequently repeated]

Zarathos (for Ghost Rider) [cf from an old Hulu list from Sutton]

Crimson Dynamo [This echoes a recent 4chan post]

Repeated his Agents of Atlas scoop

Agent Venom [See above]

Ares [This echoes the recent story from Alex de los Llanos]

No Henry Cavill as Hercules [This is in response to something from Daniel's rumour file]

MCU looking at the X-Men from Claremont/Byrne and the Jim Lee era in the 90s (along with the animated series) [This echoes Sutton's prior comments]

Silver Surfer appearing in the Fantastic Four sequel

It's worth recalling that most of Sutton's Marvel scoops are also what Sutton would like to see in the MCU, so that does cause some concern (we see something very different in his DC material). Maybe he's very fortunate that he and Feige are on the same wavelength, but I believe there's an element of wish fulfillment from him (confirmation bias, as I've repeatedly gone over before).

We can't leave without some Daniel rumours (ignoring his incessant Ryan Reynolds rumours):

• Marvel wants Tobey and Andrew's versions of Spider-Man to stick around for awhile [That would be a Sony decision presumably, and how would it benefit them?]
• Chris Evans and Florence Pugh cameos were cut from Falcon
• Feige wants Tony Stark to meet Mister Fantastic [There have been plenty of rumours that would make this happen in Secret Wars; given RDJ's career outside of Marvel it's certainly doable]
• Feige wants to bring back Ultron for Wanda to fight [How redundant]
• Infinity Stones will return
• A second season of Falcon hasn't been ruled out [What?]
• Captain America 4 and The Marvels are meant to be mini-Avengers films
• Captain America 4 will have multiple Captain America's
• Henry Cavill in talks for either Captain Britain or Hercules [See above]
• Marvel wants Sam Wilson to be as important as Steve Rogers [Off to a poor start unfortunately]
• Sam and Rhodey will be the new Cap and Iron Man of the MCU
• Captain America 4 will feature characters from Phase One

This is the bog-standard Daniel, a mix of pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking, stating the obvious, and a little virtue signaling--nothing that's particularly interesting.

I don't talk DC all that often--other than Teen Titans, Batman, and Detective Comics in the 80s, I never read much DC--but I did want to make a point about the Snyder Cut that I don't think gets discussed enough by its fans. If Snyder Cut fans are signed up for HBO Max and they aren't going to leave the platform if there's no more Snyder, what leverage do they have? I would think the only option for the movement is to depart en masse if they don't get what they want, but I haven't heard that's occurring. To me that's the only way to motivate WB or AT&T to give them more of what they want.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)