Marvel News & Notes

Some fans are upset that Ms. Marvel's power set is changing for her Disney+ show. I've seen two kinds of complaints: one is related to a Muslim using magic (which is a religious issue I won't address here), and the other is that it's not faithful to the IP. While I sympathize with a desire to follow the source material, I think the change was inevitable with Mister Fantastic on his way to the MCU (duplicating their power sets is not a good idea). Broadly I prefer direct adaptations, but I don't object to the change in principal because this isn't a proven IP (the comics always fail, the video game underperformed, etc), so tweaking on several levels was necessary anyway (whether the specific change will work is a completely different question, but the show had already pissed off the IP's fans with casting, and Marvel seems focused on casuals anyway).

We've learned that there won't be a Hawkeye season two. Just like with WandaVision, there wasn't one specifically planned to begin with, however, there would be if it had been more successful. Viewership of Hawkeye was low (anecdotally none of my friends have seen it and I only know one person who has), which likely means no solo outings for Kate Bishop either. One positive is that fewer people witnessed how poorly Kingpin was portrayed, creating the opportunity for that to be fixed in Echo, although I don't expect it to be. By itself the lack of another season doesn't mean much, but the cumulative context continues to be that Phase Four is floundering. What Marvel needs is a strong Doctor Strange 2 and Thor 4, although what's best for fans is for both to struggle in the hopes we get a change of course (my guess is the former will do well, but the latter could be in trouble).

One piece of DC news that came out of the Amber Heard/Johnny Depp trial is that current DC head Walter Hamada tried to replace Amber Heard with Emelia Clarke (!) in Aquaman 2. Clarke, like some other Game of Throne's costars, has failed in everything outside that show, so she's only an improvement by not having personal issues that are public. This news has drawn conspiracy theories (cf) that Heard will be replaced in reshoots, but I seriously doubt Discovery wants to spend more money on Aquaman 2, a film that I think will hit the same brick wall of Venom 2 (in that the success of the first was something of a fluke & there's limited interest in a sequel).

Speaking of DC, Sutton reports that because The Batman underperformed, WB is expecting director Matt Reaves to make artistic changes for a sequel. The metrics indicate women were the main demographic that ignored the film, which is interesting given that Robert Pattison was picked to appeal to that audience. It also illustrates that Zoe Kravtiz isn't a female draw either (which is less of a surprise, but given how popular Catwoman is, is added proof she was also a poor casting choice). I doubt Reaves will want to change his artistic vision, and I'd still argue the cast is too lackluster to save his slice of DC. If I were Discovery I'd wash my hands of it and reboot Batman (yes again--these films should sleepwalk to a billion dollars--the appetite for the character hasn't died).

I'm curious to see how Black Adam performs in October. We know that having Dwayne Johnson in a film doesn't guarantee success and, as someone who was heavily active in comics in the past, I'd never even heard of Black Adam until talk about the film began (admittedly I was a Marvel guy, but I read DC in the 80s). WB has failed selling lesser known IP (Shazam, Birds of Prey, and The Suicide Squad), leaning on their iconic characters (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Joker). Will this change with Black Adam? I have my doubts.

I haven't gone through Sony's Marvel projects in about a year, so let's update how things have changed:

Released/Filming

• Venom 2 (Oct) - Made almost 40% less than its predecessor--all the losses were worldwide (it was an equally solid if unspectacular success domestically)
• Morbius (Apr) - Bombed across the board
• Kraven the Hunter - Currently filming, but has an unappealing release date (Jan/23)

Production

• Venom 3 (Dec) - Amy Pascal said they were in the planning stages for it
• Madame Web (Feb) - Dakota Johnson hired to star; Sydney Sweeney hired in an unknown role (Mar)

No News

• Nightwatch - Last updated October, 2018
• Sinister Six - Last updated when Pascal said the project was 'alive' in December, 2018
• Roberto Orci project - Updated March, 2020
• Silver & Black - Updated April, 2020
• Jackpot - Updated May, 2020
• Olivia Wilde project (believed to be Spider-Woman) - Radio silent since August, 2020
• Silk (TV) - No updates since June, 2021

Technically Into the Spider-Verse is not part of the SMU, but it's worth noting that it's sequel is planned to release in 2023. The animated spinoffs appear to be dead (assuming Silk is not one of them; nothing official has been said since 2019 and the people producing them are instead busy making the sequel, so it's likely their appearance depends on how Part Two is received). While no one seems to care, Into was not a big hit at the box office and I'm curious to see how its sequel performs.

That aside, what can we make of all this? For one, Amy Pascal's stake in the Spider-Man IP is so strong that being fired from Sony doesn't keep her out of it. Beyond that, Sony's quality of writing for their films is just as bad as Marvel Phase Four, so the odds of any of these projects being good is very small. Of the 'no news' category, I think there's no chance that Nightwatch, Jackpot, or Pascal's Sinister Six will ever appear (just as Silk and Silver & Black did not, at least as originally conceived). If Silver Sable is in Madame Web, then that might be an attempt to launch her into a team-up film with Black Cat...maybe, if Sony is actually trying to plan things out. There are rumours that Black Cat will appear in Spider-Man 4, but whether that precludes her from debuting in Sony films we don't know yet.

I can't claim to understand it, but there is no stopping the group that continues to try and resurrect the Snyderverse. I can't convince anyone I know to watch The Snyder Cut and I don't blame them, as it's a boring, incoherent, and unintentionally hilarious film...and yet its adherents continue to sing its praises (MauLer's review remains much more entertaining than the film itself). The movement itself is massively confusing, as its adherents dislike Ezra Miller (Snyder's Flash), Amber Heard (Snyder's Mera), and Ray Fisher (Snyder's Cyborg), but want to restore his vision. That vision itself was poorly conceived and executed, with Snyder wanting to do the equivalent of MCU Phase Three with his opening (kill Superman, jump to Thomas Wayne, do Flashpoint in the first Flash film, pull Cyborg out of his Teen Titan context, etc). I don't think Discovery will let Zack run the DCEU again, but I do wonder if they think there's enough fans to support an HBO+ show or something similar. Supporters keep talking about how well The Snyder Cut did on streaming, but I haven't seen convincing evidence of that.

This article was written by Peter Levi