Marvel News & Notes

Hill believes Florian Munteanu will be playing Black Jack Tarr in Shang-Chi, based largely on his time spent in Australia coinciding with production as well as social media activity associated with him (which I find suggestive, if not completely definitive). The only prior speculation about Munteanu comes from Dark Horizon in March, where a source of Garth Franklin's told him Munteanu would be playing a secondary villain role in the film--this doesn't line-up with Hill's theory (Tarr is, at least after their initial meeting, a key ally of Shang-Chi's), but it does connect him with the film.

Michelle Yeoh's apparent involvement with Shang-Chi (cf--as above, via her location and social media) puts to bed rumours of a Ravagers film (cf), which (as I discuss in the link) I always thought was an absurd idea to begin with. Back in January GWW intimated that Yeoh was in the film (a rumour Weekly Planet first reported on--link above), with 4chan claiming in March that she plays an evil scientist (Zhang, a name that has come up several time in rumours, eg).

Deadline reports that Nia Dacosta will direct Captain Marvel 2; she's a relatively inexperienced director (Little Woods, a couple of episodes of Top Boy, the unreleased Candyman, and a pair of shorts). I have no opinion on her at all--as with nearly all of Marvel's directors, I haven't seen her previous work. Within that story, Deadline said Megan McDonnell wrote the script for the film (she's a story editor on WandaVision), who was in final negotiations to do so back in January. Whether that script suffers the same ignominious fate that Jac Schaeffer's did for Black Widow remains to be seen.

Daniel says Marvel is "casting [a] 12-15 [year old] Puerto Rican actress for a leading role in an upcoming Marvel movie," which he believes means is for America Chavez. This cannot be the same casting call The Illuminerdi reported on back in January--it's not just the timing, but the context (that called for a supporting role). The idea of her appearing in the film first came from GWW in January, which Daniel echoed at that time (crediting it to the wrong person, unless former That Hashtag Show writer Joe Dekelmeier and former GWWer Vicky Depledge are the same person). Could Daniel's surmise be correct? The age range fits her first appearance in the comics, but we'll have to wait and see. I'm not familiar with the character and her wiki reads like she was created via a checklist for the CW audience, so it will be interesting to see what the MCU does with her.

Sutton says Alison Brie has been cast as She-Hulk, which is interesting, as recent comments by Brie implied she wasn't yet involved (one could argue that she could have said 'no' if she definitely wasn't in the show). The initial casting grid listed She-Hulk as being in her 30s or 40s (well suited to Brie's age, 38), but the revised grid pushed the age down to 25-34, which would put Brie on the outside looking in. Of course, grids change, but it's worth keeping in mind.

4chan on Moon Knight (I don't buy this rumour, for reasons I'll get into below, but include it for tracking purposes):

From what I heard the main plot of the show is Marc Spector shares psychic connection with both Stained Glass Scarlet and Konshu and they manipulate him for their own gains which leads to Marc having a psychic breakdown. Due to this Marc can't differentiate between what is real and what is not and will have hallucinations and begins to doubt his own past. So to end this he decides to go to all associates and contacts of him and also his personalities to find the truth about his past and also his state. Bushman and Konshu will be minor villians. S.T.A.K.E sister organization of SHIELD will debut in the show. The narrative style will be similar to Westworld and Pulp Fiction. We'll see vampires in the show.

I feel like the writer meant major villains, rather than minor (since he offers no other antagonists in his post). It's taken as a given that Konshu and Bushman will appear; Stained Glass Scarlet's appearance was scooped by Sutton back in September; the only time STAKE has come up previously is about a month ago when Sutton said the group was being considered for a Hulu show. I think the inclusion of SHIELD is the most obvious giveaway that the poster is making this up (it would be SWORD if authentic)--there's nothing unique about the post other than Stained Glass Scarlet working with Konshu.

Sutton R&D list (1):

• Snarks/Zn'rx - An alien race typically used as opponents of Power Pack
• Kurse/Algrim - A Dark Elf and Thor-villain
• Speedball - A member of the hero team New Warriors (has a distinctive look, but I always found him goofy); he appeared in the unaired pilot of New Warriors from Marvel Entertainment, but hasn't come up in rumours since
• Snowbird - Original member of Alpha Flight (I wrote about the team back in June and have a detailed look at them coming soon)
• Marrina - Member of Alpha Flight (she was not included in the Sutton scoop linked above, but I mentioned at the time that I thought it was likely she would appear if the team did--there was a rumour that had her in a Namor/Black Panther 2 context in May, but not from anyone credible)
• Skymax/Sk'ym'x - A Super Skrull member of Squadron Supreme (meant to echo Martian Manhunter)
• Blue Marvel (Adam Brashear) - A relatively new (2009) character who was retroactively injected into Marvel's past without doing anything inventive (imagine how interesting it would be if he was involved in the Black Power Movement)--he's loosely based on Superman. I have no idea what the point of including him would be as he doesn't resonate in fan popularity lists (I'd never heard of him), but he was part of the Alpha Flight Space Program that's attached to Captain Marvel; could it be Marvel wants to have a black Superman before DC? Perhaps merging that idea with Hyperion below?
• Hyperion - Member of the Squadron Supreme (back in March Daniel said the IP was in development, with the general idea going back to Rich Johnston in February, who said they'd appear in Loki)
• Talisman - Member of Alpha Flight (and daughter of Shaman); Tim mentioned in the video 'I don't know if they're just going to bypass Shaman" to use Talisman, which is interesting because that was my speculation a month ago in trying to create more gender balance within the team (along with avoiding a potential stereotype); it was specified that she's being looked at for Disney+, which means she's not part of the Sutton scoop (and that makes sense as he didn't include her on the team for the Wolverine film)

Sutton R&D list (2), specifically for Thor or Hercules IP (the latter, he says, is planned for Disney+, echoing Daniel from October):

• Baldur - Thor's buddy who is eventually revealed to be his brother (I suspect the MCU will skip the latter element); he hasn't come up in rumours before
• Angela - Thor's half-sister who is ubiquitous in the rumour-mill (Joshua Munn had her in Thor 4 and Guardians 3 (May), 4chan in Thor 4 (May), fake Roger Wardell in Thor 4 (May), and The Black Knight (last June) in Thor 4); one of the problems with Angela is that her relationship with Thor was used for Hela in Ragnarok, but that could easily be dropped; she's Sera's love interest in the comics, who is believed to be appearing in Loki
• Enchantress - A sometime enemy, sometime ally; also ubiquitous in the rumour-mill (Reddit in March claimed she's in Loki; IMDB Pro in March listed 'Young Sylvie'; Conrad in January thought the search for a blond stunt double was for her; Reddit in January said she'll appear in Thor 4; 4chan claimed Jodie Comer was cast in the role in January; Sophia Di Martino's casting was speculated to be for her in November; Reddit in October had her as the main antagonist in Loki; and 4chan last January put her in a Sif Disney+ show)
• Zeus - Hasn't come up in rumours previously, but would have to appear in a Hercules show
• Gorr - The primary antagonist in the Jason Aaron run on Thor; another character who constantly appears in the rumour-mill (generally assumed to be Christian Bale's role in Thor 4), but just a month ago Sutton said he'd heard of no plans for him
• Beta Ray Bill - Cut from Ragnarok and expected to appear sooner than later in the MCU; Sutton said weeks ago that he's coming to the MCU, but he was uncertain if he'd appear in Thor 4
• Mangog - A classic Thor-villain (the combined energy of Odin's victims--which seems redundant given Ragnarok); he's come up just once before in rumours, on Reddit in February, which claimed this was Bale's character (perhaps elements of that character will be used for whomever Bale portrays)
• Firelord - One of the Heralds of Galactus; he hasn't appeared in the rumour-mill before
• Recorder - A Rigellian Recorder, a robot created to record information and report back to the Rigellians; one appeared in the first two Hercules limited series (1982 and 1984)
• Skyppi the Skrull - A Skrull friend/ally of Hercules; introduced in the second Hercules series and then killed off in his only other appearance in 2010's Hercules run; this character will only appear as-is if Marvel wants a comedic version of Hercules
• Artume - A fairly recent creation (2009), she's a faux-Amazonian created by the Amazon Queen (Hippolyta), whom she ultimately rebels against; likely because of how prominent Wonder Woman is for DC, the Amazons and their associated characters have barely appeared in Marvel
• Gilgamesh - Yes, the same character who is appearing in The Eternals (a shining example of how selective Marvel's interest in representation/diversity is); he's never been a popular character in the comics, but he was heavily featured in the 2016 Hercules series by Dan Abnett
• Darkstar - Began life as an antagonist for The Champions, the 1970s team Hercules was part of; her powers are similar to Cloak's (of Cloak & Dagger) in that she can manipulate Darkforce energy; Sutton is the only person to bring her up before, back in April, where she was included as part of the Russian group The Winter Guard in an R&D list
• Blood Brothers (Gh'Ree and R'Hos) - Aliens of the Roclite race who are classic bruisers; often foes of the Avengers, they don't have a particularly strong association with either IP attached to this list

The idea of a Hercules series is an interesting one, because in the comics the character has never been able to take off. Let's briefly go over his solo-efforts:

1982 - Limited series taking place in the 24th century

1984 - The sequel to the above

2005 - A limited series within the normal timeline

2008 - The Incredible Hercules (28-issues)

2010 - Limited series

2010 - Heroic Age: Prince of Power (4 issues), which is really an Amadeus Cho vehicle (Greg Pak's creation and Pak wrote this series)

2011 - Herc (10 issues)

2016 - Short-lived run (6 issues)

The character has been around forever and is always in circulation, but no one has been able to make him function on his own. Part of the problem is related to Marvel's struggles on what to do with the Greek pantheon since DC has used it so extensively and has an iconic character derived from it--he often comes across as a discount-Thor and that lack of distinction is the stumbling block for him ever breaking out. I wonder how much the success of the Kevin Sorbo-lead Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995-99) played into the idea of a Disney+ show.

Sutton Q&A (my comments in pink):

• Says there have been discussions to include Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man in upcoming Sony films, but no negotiations have occurred with the actor [Which makes me wonder just how firm those plans are if no one has talked to the actor; for Sutton this idea goes back to May when he said a live action Into the Spiderverse was being planned]
• Starjammers will be teased on Agents of SWORD [Sutton had them on an R&D list in June]
• Kraven in Spider-Man 3, but may not be the main antagonist [Common speculation (eg), although theoretically Sony is still making a solo Kraven-film, which would make this idea impossible; interestingly, this echoes LotLB's second prediction for him from last July, which seems at variance from what they said a month earlier where he was a Wakandan who would appear in Black Panther 2]
• Sutton agrees with The Illuminerdi report that Steinfeld is still attached to play Kate Bishop [He says nothing about her contract issues with Apple and when I asked him about it he said he was still looking into it; an amusing aside: in the video Tim said 'Don't ask me about Steinfeld']
• Wolverine vs Omega Red will occur in the former's solo films [Going from Sutton's prior comments, this could be no earlier than his second film, cf; this seems to be in variance with what LotLB originally proposed last July, where they had Omega Red as the villain of Black Widow 2]
• Sutton says he believes the rumours of Chris Evans Captain America interacting with Wolverine in World War 2 is an idea the MCU won't miss [I find this idea incredibly redundant--it's a prequel, involves the convoluted 01-02 retcon of Wolverine's origin, etc--there's little reason to imagine Evans returning for that specifically, as he wouldn't be evolving his character forward, simply replaying the iteration from the first film]

I'd love to hear more from Sutton about Steinfeld, since no one claiming she has the role has addressed her contract situation (Disney could probably buy her out, but if that was the case, why not do it last fall?). The Starjammers idea is plausible, as is Omega Red's appearance (although, given that I'm unfamiliar with the character, it doesn't particularly excite me). I both don't like and don't buy the other Wolverine idea.

We have another made-up rumour from 4chan echoed by 4chan (with everyone plausibly commenting that the latter was the first poster trying to correct errors under a different name--I've interlinked them with the second post in red):

The deadpool animated series is making a return, but will be on Hulu instead of FXX. Writers and producers are not known to me at the moment, but Donald glover most likely won’t return. Deadpools animated series is trying to comeback, and crossover with hit-monkey. This is due to the success of Harley Quinn’s animated series.

Marvel is trying to make blade and moon-knight team up in some form, most likely a tv show or movie, however nothing is off the table. Blade and moon knight are teaming up in some form.

The MODOK animated series is going to be very similar to archer tone-wise (which is good to me at least.)

A young avengers sitcom is in the works, in the vein of community. A young avengers sitcom that’s like community is an idea that’s been thrown around. It is however not officially in production.

A gritty, dark punisher movie is being worked on as well (but is being put on hold due to police using his logo and the whole Black Lives Matter situation as well as police brutality). Talks of a punisher movie are being discussed. It’s gonna be low-budget, and very gritty. But this won’t come out anytime soon, since a lot of the BLM protests, and the Netflix deal are stopping this from happening.

Deadpools animated series might crossover with hit-monkey, if deadpools animated series ends up being made.

Hit-monkey is set to be voiced by Seth rogen, However, many actors are being considered for the role.

All R-rated marvel movies will be under the Marvel-max banner. These films might crossover into other marvel movies, but be pg-13. Marvel max is going to be for r rated content.

The third Spider-Man movie is going to be called: Spider-Man : can’t go home. Spider man: can’t go home is a working title. Sony still can’t think of a name yet.

Marvel is looking at creating a suicide-squad esque film, with the thunderbolts, James Gunn is eyeing to direct.

Death is going to be introduced in the MCU. Possibly through deadpool 3. Death will not be in deadpool 3.

Moon-knight is going to have a huge focus on mental health, and people who diagnose themselves with mental health disorders, as opposed to people that actually have them. Moon knight is going to talk about the DIFFERENCES between actual mental illness and self diagnosis.

Howard the duck is going to get a live-action movie instead of an animated series. It will be under marvel max. The Howard the duck movie is officially why they wanted to cancel the animated series. It would either be a straight to Hulu animated movie, or a live action movie. But it will be rated r.

Why does everyone believe this is the same person posting twice? The use of language is the same and the second post, rather than simply refuting the first, affirms it, simply adding context and clarification. That aside, the ideas are generally preposterous.

Tangentially, in discussing Peter Shinkoda's comments previously (no further updates on that score, which is surprising and doesn't help his case), I briefly touched on how disconnected the noisy Marvel punditry is with the current state of martial arts in the present--that it's common and multicultural, as illustrated by the melting pot of MMA (the UFC currently has one Asian champion among twelve titles). It behooves Marvel, if it wants to benefit from that popularity, to reflect modern diversity rather than follow the pundits trapped in the past. I have to imagine the MCU is well aware of the this reality and perhaps see Shang-Chi as a peace offering to the later before moving forward with a more modern, diverse approach.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News & Notes

Murphy reports that two sources have told him John Byrne's West Coast Avengers run (specifically the 'Vision Quest' storyline) has influenced WandaVision. "It looks like one of the subplots centers on Wanda going Humpty Dumpty and trying to reassemble Vision after his parts have been scattered around the world." This is a fascinating revelation because, if true, it invalidates (in whole or in part) all the plot leaks we've seen thus far--none have even suggested this as a story angle. To me it also suggests what Darcy et al will be doing (at least in part)--gathering the parts.

The Illuminerdi posted a casting list for Hawkeye:

[C]ode name, Arek. He is male, 20-30 years old, and is described as having an Eastern European background. The role is currently casting as you are reading this, and Arek is expected to appear in five out of six episodes of the series.

They speculate this is for the character known as The Clown (Kazimierz Kazimierczak, who is Polish), a mercenary. Murphy repeats this without any added analysis.

Daniel, after this dropped, said the show is casting for the Tracksuit Mafia. We've been aware of their inclusion since the show was announced (given their involvement with Kate Bishop's origin), although specific rumours arrived later.

TI followed this up by saying Hailee Steinfeld is officially onboard for Hawkeye ("While we weren’t able to find out the nature of the delayed announcement, or the details of her negotiations, she is now firmly listed as set on the project"). We know that last year Marvel approached her (cf), but her exclusivity deal with Apple prevented the signing. Conrad claims it's 99% done, but nothing is signed, while other scoopers (Murphy et al) are skeptical and have heard nothing either way. Jack McBryan (who co-founded The Direct) claims "it all seems based on an outdated document" (neither he, TI, nor Conrad have provided any documentation). This all comes out a week after Derek Cornell (link above) claimed she was long out of the picture because of the Apple contract which remains my perspective until we hear something different. On a personal note, I have no feelings on who is cast in the role, since I'm unfamiliar with all the actresses rumoured and the character herself.

Alison Brie told THR that the only thing she knows about She-Hulk is what she sees in the press (this is after her agent contacted Marvel when they heard they were casting an 'Alison Brie-type'). I bring this up because I think its illustrative that celebrity campaigning for a role is a non-factor in how Marvel casts major roles. My feeling has always been that Brie wasn't approached because of her age (38), a general issue for Marvel I discussed recently (TLDR: I believe they want younger leads to carry the torch for the MCU going forward).

Both TI and Daniel say The Illuminati is in the works, with the former providing more specifics than the later:

Marvel Studios is in the early stages of developing some kind of project based off Marvel Comics’ Illuminati team. The only confirmed details are that Marvel CCO Kevin Feige is listed as the producer for this project, and the current title of the project is Marvel’s Illuminati. There is no other talent attached and there is no confirmation on whether the project is a movie or a future show on Disney+.

Daniel said: "Heard awhile ago there is an idea for a Illuminati project of some kind and it seems like there's now a grid out for it and it's now in active development." I have no idea why he's saying it seems like there's a grid--there is or isn't--so either he hasn't seen it or what he's seen is ambiguous.

What prior rumour does Daniel refer to without naming it? Back in January Sutton said the Illuminati would appear in Doctor Strange 2 (leading to the resurrection of Black Widow). The only other mention of the group is also from Sutton in May, where he said in Secret Wars the Tony Stark from an alternative reality will be part of its Illuminati. Clearly Daniel is referring to Sutton (whose material he's used before without attribution).

The scoop sparked Murphy to propose what I think is a bizarre lineup for the group (in the comics originally Doctor Strange, Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, Professor X, Black Bolt, and Namor). These are all men, which Marvel will certainly change; one of them is dead (Stark), while four others have yet to be introduced. Here's Murphy's iteration: Strange, Hulk, Captain Marvel, Ajak, and Hank Pym. The first pick no one would question, Hulk isn't a bad idea, and Carol Danvers could work, but the list goes off the rails after that. The idea that Ajak (assuming she survives her film) is going to be a breakout character from The Eternals is simply bizarre (she will have, at best, the fifth-most screen time in that film), although the soon-to-be fifty-four year old actress would be inexpensive to lock down. The Hank Pym choice is even stranger--Michael Douglas turns 76 this year and leaning on an actor who would be filming this in a few years is more than odd. While there have been other members of the group (including Captain America and Black Panther, who are available in one form or another in the MCU), I think we can safely reject Murphy's speculation. My guess is that Feige only wants big characters in the group for it to echo the impact in the comics, and Pym and Ajak do not qualify (ages aside).

Murphy (with confirmation from Discussing Film) says Ms. Marvel will film November-March. He also says Kamala Khan has not yet been cast and guesses these dates are a clue for when Hawkeye will wrap filming (assuming it will end before this begins, which is preposterous since that only gives Hawkeye two months--the MCU has had no problem with overlapping productions for Disney+). Two days after this was posted Daniel echoed it (without attribution). This all but debunks Conrad's claim back in January that the casting was either done or down to a few actresses.

Pete Hernandez (who I've never heard of) drops a purported scoop from a 'reliable source with industry knowledge.' He makes the following claims about Captain Marvel 2 (my comments in pink):

• Ms. Marvel will have a supporting role [This isn't a scoop--there's no point in introducing Kamala Khan unless she's intertwined with Carol Danvers]
• The film will include many important Marvel characters, making it a mini-Avengers [see below]
• It will adapt Secret Invasion [This was scooped by Rich Johnston back in January, with Sutton preceding him with the idea in September (I don't think Johnston's scoop is directly dependent on Sutton)]

There is no scoop here, as the idea of it having an Avengers-like feel is exactly what Johnston and Sutton were saying because it's Secret Invasion. This reminds me of an issue I've had with everything from The Direct thus far--they seem to be imitating Full Circle Cinema is taking other people's content, adding a 'Wow, what do you guys think?' and posting it. I don't agree with that approach at all.

Back on topic, Sutton also talked about the film (which I've shortened a bit):

[T]he Skrulls appeared in both the Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home films [and A]ccording to my sources, all three are set to [feature in] Captain Marvel 2. [In] September [link above] on Lords of the Longbox [I scooped] that Captain Marvel 2 would feature Veranke as the main villain in a loose adaptation of Secret Invasion. The plans for Captain Marvel 2 are evolving with Secret Invasion remaining its nucleus. After the roots of Secret Invasion are planted on Disney+ [cf], Captain Marvel will be battling more than just one Skrull in her sequel. In fact, more than a Skrull but a Super-Skrull. It was revealed to me that this won't be the Super-Skrull with the Fantastic Four's powers; rather, it's a Super-Skrull with Spider-Man's abilities. And thus Marvel Studios will pay homage to Marvel Team-Up No. 62. ... I also leaked [in] September that Marvel Studios wanted Nova to debut in Captain Marvel 2 [link above]; this could either be a brief introductory appearance or, if the Super-Skrull has taken Spider-Man's powers, provide a much-needed power boost. As for Rogue, talk has been to have her cameo as a villain at the end, setting up the third movie with Ms. Marvel appearing as well.

I think Sutton means Ms. Marvel will appear in Captain Marvel 2 as well, as opposed to her appearing in Captain Marvel 3 with Rogue. This scoop echoes, in part, what he said in May. The idea of using Spider-Man to help boost the signal power of Captain Marvel makes sense, although if this is indeed a mini-Avengers he isn't as crucial. I've said it many times before, Carol Danvers needs depth--character development--and an easy way to do that is through Rogue by removing her powers.

In a now deleted Reddit post:

[Sif] is alive, Thor will find her in an icy planet with a complete new look. She dies at the end of the movie.Also, Valkyrie is a supporting character, her sexuality will be explicit. She appears the same amount of time as Lady Sif. Thor goes to Valhalla where dead characters will appear. (This person only confirmed Idris Elba [Heimdall] appearance.) The movie is described as a road-trip comedy around the universe. The [Guardians of the Galaxy] will show up.

The same poster had another 'scoop' (WandaVision) that was preposterous, so the above is clearly made-up (there isn't enough screen time to involve a Sif death arc in the film anyway).

LotLB said Black Panther 2 will feature Namor as the antagonist. This echoes what they said back in December and it's not an uncommon idea, as the two characters have an interesting history of conflict in the comics. That scoop was via their original source (The Black Knight) and I'm not sure if Sutton (who is responsible for most of their inside information these days) shares the same opinion (if he's talked about it, I haven't seen it--in May he said Namor would be a member of The Defenders, and in July that a solo film is in development).

Sutton says the first Fantastic Four film will include Franklin Richards (son of Reed and Sue). The reasoning is to both differentiate the film from the Fox efforts, skip having to repeat the origin, and use Franklin as a way to spinoff into a Power Pack Disney+ series. Not mentioned in the scoop, but this idea would also make it easier to cast older actors in the lead roles (albeit, losing out on younger adventures for the group). The idea of a Power Pack show or film is not new and its known the MCU has been considering it for a long time--having a tie-in to the FF would help boost something I think virtually no one is interested in.

Speaking of the Fantastic Four, or at least IP associated with them, Sutton has jumped on board the Giancarlo Esposito train. A source tells him there are internal discussions considering him for Doctor Doom (whom they envision as a Darth Vader-like character--as in, a redeemable villain). I went over the history of Esposito in the Marvel rumour-mill back in May, something the actor's own comments have helped push forward (he wants to play a Thanos-like role). When going through all of this a fan mentioned that Doom is Romani (something I think was introduced in 1989's Triumph and Torment and I was unaware of)--is that representation Marvel cares about? I doubt it, but if it is, it would eliminate Esposito as a possibility. Esposito is a great actor, but this isn't the role I'd use him for (I'd much rather have an actor of a similar age to Reed Richards than the 62-year old).

Peter Shinkoda (who played Nobu) was on a #SaveDaredevil Youtube hangout (hangouts virtually no one is watching) and said the following (9:46-10:51):

"They [the writers] made me privy to a storyline [about Nobu when filming in 2014] ... that they were prevented from shooting. I'm kind of reluctant to say this, but I'm going to take it and I apologize to Tommy [presumably co-executive producer Tom Lieber] and Jeph [Loeb] and I'm going to take this moment--but I have to because...because I just have to. I'm not really into protecting, you know, uh certain things anymore. Jeph Loeb told the writers room not to write for Nobu and Gao, and this was reiterated [to me] many times by many of the writers and showrunners. The showrunners [presumably Steven S. DeKnight, Marco Ramirez, Doug Petrie, and possibly Drew Goddard] said um, nobody cares about Chinese people--and Asian people--there was three previous Marvel movies, a trilogy called Blade where Wesley Snipes kills two-hundred Asians each movie--nobody gives a shit, so don't write about Nobu and Gao [he seems to mean this was the message being relayed by Loeb to the showrunners]. And they [the writers] were forced to put their storyline down and, uh, drop it."

Subsequently Shinkoda Tweeted that neither he nor Wai Ching Ho (Gao) were invited to the season two premier (they appeared in four and one episode respectively), which they were told was an oversight.

This entire story is bizarre, but before we go into it let's briefly go over the background. Shinkoda appeared in the first two seasons of Daredevil. He was part of subplots involving The Hand that failed throughout the Netflix run--even when the group was the focus, like in The Defenders, the writing for them was a confused mess. Shinkoda's comments, if true, are horrendous (this would be a different level of racism than, say, Amy Pascal's emails). The story does, however, contain strange elements I want to go over.

The first is: why would Blade be Loeb's touchstone for what to do with his story? He had no hand in the New Line productions. I guess the idea is that Blade is about a martial arts character, so that's the parallel? I find it odd, but its a trivial point.

The main issue is Loeb's Asian racism. Why I struggle to immediately accept this is, if Loeb feels this way, why was Elektra race-swapped? This is a major character (impacting merchandising) who receives a ton of screen time in two different shows (the swap itself eliminating the most prominent Greek Marvel character--much like the Romani above, I doubt Marvel cares about representation for them). Elektra is also far from the only major Asian character from Marvel Entertainment--Colleen Wing could easily have been given less to do or cast as Caucasian (her early artwork leans heavily into that). We also have Quake in Agents of SHIELD, who (even if Joss Whedon picked the actress) has been the face of show for a long time (Melinda is another). It's not that you can't create reasons for why Loeb might have made those other choices, just that the more complex it becomes the more you crash into Occam's Razor and wonder if that's what's really going on.

Another issue is Shinkoda is claiming a lot of people were aware of this--the entire writer's room for the first and possibly second season (thirteen people if it includes the second, including the very socially conscious Lauren Hissrich who now runs The Witcher). This would be in addition to Ho and anyone those various individuals might have told. The idea that these folks never said anything or leaked something to the press, while possible, is very strange (especially with a media ready to jump on this exact issue for Iron Fist).

At first I found the timing odd--Jeph Loeb is gone, as is Marvel Entertainment (absorbed into Marvel Studios). However, it's possible that as long as ME was functioning, Shinkoda was either hoping for more work or didn't want Loeb to impact himself or those he respected still working there (I'm speculating because he's said nothing about the timing). By making this statements now, other than adding a horrific rider to the history of ME's productions, it has no impact going forward at all (except, perhaps, on what remains of Loeb's career).

When this story broke I was told on social media that "this is far from the first time Loeb has been noted or accused to some pretty racists comments," so I went looking. Beyond his Karate Kid outfit during the Iron Fist 2 ComicCon panel (shown above), and general unhappiness from some about the Iron Fist IP (accused of cultural appropriation), I found nothing (Deadline, for example, just echoed what I've included here). This is extremely odd--there is no risk for anyone to come forward at this point, but it hasn't happened yet. I also asked a couple of people who had (directly or indirectly) inside sources at ME if they'd heard anything--they had not.

None of this means Shinkoda's story is false, just that we are missing facts supporting it. Racism and sexism are rarely subtle (an easy example is Marvel Entertainment owner Ike Perlmutter: refusing to produce Black Widow toys because he claimed they wouldn't sell; his purported comments about no one being able to tell the difference between Terrence Howard and Don Cheadle when War Machine was recast; his resistance to making either a Black Panther or Captain Marvel film; etc; these internal matters were leaked almost immediately to the press). What's my conclusion? I am baffled. This isn't likely something Shinkoda would make-up, but at the moment his experience hasn't been reflected anywhere else across Loeb's many productions. That might change in time, but I don't like jumping to conclusions.

Does this revelation have any impact on the MCU? For the most part, no, although it may push back (or kill) any chance we have of ever seeing Iron Fist (who I believe can only be presented as a lighthearted version at this stage since Shang-Chi is so similar to him otherwise--this is ironic, because all the people who hated Iron Fist wanted the edgy, Immortal Iron Fist iteration).

We have another Sutton Q&A to go over:

• Dacre Montgomery is being considered for Johnny Storm [Sutton previously brought up Dacre as a possible Adam Warlock]
• Squadron Supreme discussed, but it's not coming any time soon [This first hit the rumour-mill in March when Daniel said it was in development]
• Warriors Three will return for a Journey into Mystery Disney+ show [This idea seems related to a Discussing Film scoop from 2019 which said a Sif Disney+ show was coming (which Daniel echoed a month later); Journey into Mystery has only ever been teased on Reddit back in May (in connection to the Loki show)]
• Doctor Strange/Doctor Doom team-up film still planned (Triumph of Torment) [Echoing what he said in June]

I frankly don't believe the Warriors Three idea unless it's attached to Sif (and even then, she needs help for fans to care). The trio were almost non-existent in the Thor-films and, outside hardcore comic fans, made no impression (otherwise Taika would have faced more resistance in killing them in Ragnarok). The main takeaway is tacit agreement with Daniel's idea for Squadron Supreme.

4chan gives us a preposterous version of Spider-Man 3:

Working title is Spider-Man: Home Run

Peter is attacked by Scorpion in his apartment, the two fight and eventually Peter catches him on fire and he flees.

Aunt May is fine, but Ned is seriously injured after getting thrown across the room as Scorpion busted in, prompting Spider-Man to leave New York.

Secretary Ross hires the world's best bounty hunter, Kraven, to stop Spider-Man. Kraven tracks Spider-Man as he makes his way across the country, before trapping him in Chicago which he has transformed with his own devices and traps.

After running thru a city full of traps, Happy Hogan rescues Peter and they flee to Nebraska, thinking nobody can find them there. Peter ditches his phone so he can't be tracked.

Ross has captured Aunt May, [Michelle], and an injured Ned.

Ross broadcasts a message nationwide, giving Peter 36 hours to turn himself in, or he will drop nuclear bombs on New York and Los Angeles.

The military infiltrate Ross' headquarters, but they are slaughtered by his newly created Spider Slayers.

Kraven and Scorpion ambush Happy and Peter as they approach New York, Happy gets shot in the stomach, just before he dies, he blows up his plane, killing Scorpion as well.

Peter attacks Ross, and figures out that he's not actually Ross, but Mysterio disguising as Ross using his drones. Peter finds the corpse of the real Ross.

Beck betrays Kraven, forcing Kraven and Spidey to work together in the third act. They face the army of Spider Slayers. The Slayers aren't real, it's the projecting drones, who are circulating around the nation demolishing buildings including the Empire State Building, Chinese theater, and the White House, and leveling small towns.

Nick Fury pages Captain Marvel, she arrives to help destroy the drones wreaking havoc across America.

Peter and Kraven prevent both atom bombs from launching. Kraven dies from his injuries from fighting the "Spider Slayers", Peter rescues his friends and Beck escapes.

Captain Marvel helps clear Spider-Man's name. Mid credit scene features Vulture and Morbius contacting Mysterio about a team they're building.

Post credit scene shows Doctor Strange re-enter NY through a portal, he is shocked at all the destruction.

This is ridiculous, but I post it here just to keep tabs on anyone who borrows from it.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News & Notes

THR reports that director team Amber Finlayson and Katie Ellwood, along with Rhys Thomas, will be directing Hawkeye. This is the first Disney+ series that hasn't leaned on just one director for every episode (for whatever that's worth).

Speaking of the show, Derek Cornell (who runs The Disinsider, ie, the Disney Insider) claims popular Kate Bishop-pick Hailee Steinfeld is long out of the picture. I thought this was clear months ago, due to her exclusive contract with Apple, but that message has not seeped very far into the fanbase. Given how soon the show is, Marvel would have moved on from her a long time ago and it wouldn't surprise me if the role was already cast. After this came out, Conrad said Taissa Farmiga and Olivia Cooke were rumoured for the role--I couldn't find another source that suggested them, so either it's an actual scoop of Conrad's or simply his speculation (I'd lean towards the latter).

There was some unintended drama within the fandom over the release date of WandaVision courtesy of an offhand remark by Borys Kit of THR (who you may remember did something similar regarding the Namor-rights long ago). Hill goes through this and, ignoring her surmise about the show (which was debunked via Kit's subsequent correction), it was clear Kit mis-remembered when WandaVision was supposed to release because he wasn't claiming that the date had changed. Not long after this he Tweeted that he'd made an error and nothing has changed.

Back in June I discussed Murphy's analysis of comic images shown during the Expanding the Universe vignette specific to WandaVision. At the time Murphy had no idea who would fill-in for the role of Charles Xavier. My thought at the time was perhaps Doctor Strange, but Cumberbatch could only do so if he was appearing throughout the series, and that's not the case. In doing research for my upcoming WandaVision Theory File, another possibility occurred to me: Agatha Harkness (a magic user and possible mentor-like figure).

Sutton has expanded his Inhumans scoop (his prior comments were in February, saying they would appear in Fantastic Four 2, and then in July that Vin Diesel still wants to play Black Bolt--this echoes a very old rumour from the Diesel himself):

When a group of explorers rocket into his hidden city in the Himalayas, Black Bolt launches a ferocious attack on the ship’s crew, the Fantastic Four. Reed Richards and his wife Sue; her brother Johnny Storm; and Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm, find themselves in the cockpit of an exploding jet. Sue quickly envelops her family with a force field to protect them, but they quickly adapt into action. Johnny flames on, his body on fire as he soars down to fight the surprised enemy below.
But Blackagar Boltagon is not alone. He has a family of his own, a Royal one. Medusa; Crystal; Gorgon; and Triton. All in full costume, in their Jack Kirby glory. Marvel TV once attempted a no-budget take on the Inhumans. It went nowhere, fizzling fast. The current plan is to recast and reboot the Royal Family; all the build-up from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will finally pay off.
It’s unknown exactly where the Royal Family will debut in the MCU first, but they are planning on having them appear in Fantastic Four 2. Long-range goals have always been the Marvel Studios way. Discussions begin years in advance before directors or screenwriters are hired. And that’s where the Inhumans are at the moment, waiting in the Himalayas of the imagination before the sound that can be heard around the world.

All of this is plausible to me except for one element: Agents of SHIELD. Sutton and I have a fundamental disagreement on Feige's approach to Jeph Loeb's properties. He believes Feige will integrate the old ME IP--his current Netflix theory is rebooting them with the same actors (for those with good memories, I went through Sutton's theory about this back in September--his reasoning has changed since (cf), but it's good to be familiar with the antecedents) and canonize AoS. I don't believe either is true for this reason: Feige wasn't creatively involved in any of them and he's never allowed anything in canon that he didn't work on himself (Deadpool will, presumably, be our first exception to this rule, but I believe that's a command from on high, ie Iger). This does not mean I think Sutton's general idea for the Inhumans is invalidated--it's entirely plausible--although it does fly in the face of the many scoopers who believe they will be rebooted in Ms. Marvel (eg Daniel, GWW, and Conrad). If they appear in Kamala Khan's debut, it's hard to conceive of the encounter as described above, which comes across as a first encounter.

We have another Sutton Q&A (my comments in pink):

• Beast will appear on Agents of SWORD [This is a new claim, but he was part of the org in the comics]
• Kitty Pryde's main series will be Exalibur [Ergo, not X-Men; this was originally an LotLB scoop in August, which Sutton repeated in November; I've mentioned before that this would disappoint me, as Kitty's early days with the X-Men are charming and I'd be sad to lose them (nearly a hundred Claremont issues of X-Men, 129-212)]
• Reiterated that all the Netflix actors (except Finn Jones) will return [This is something current for Sutton since November, link above, although the basic idea goes back to Conrad last July]
• Helstrom not part of the MCU [This was never in question for me, although Daniel thought he would be back in April--granting he may have meant 'MCU' in the wider sense; it's an interesting opinion for Sutton to have since he broadly believes the Marvel Entertainment properties are going to be folded back into the MCU]
• Darkhawk being developed to be the best friend of Nova [Sutton was the first to suggest that he'll appear in the MCU when he made this claim back in May]
• Gabriel Luna will return to play his version of Ghost Rider, although the Johnny Blaze iteration will be the main one in the MCU [I believe this is a new idea from Sutton, although it originally cropped up on Reddit back in October and was repeated by Daniel at that time (something that, oddly enough, refuted his own claim a month earlier on his Patreon, where he said Feige doesn't want to use anything of Loeb's); I frankly don't believe this, although it fits the metanarrative Sutton believes in--if memory serves, I believe Luna has said Marvel hasn't contacted him since his show was cancelled]
• Reiterated that Black Knight will be part of Excalibur [This was first suggested by LotLB back in August, then repeated by Sutton in November]
• John Krasinski and Emily Blunt are still front runners for The Fantastic Four [This matches what he said back in February, although in April (same link) he thought Blunt was less likely]
• He believes two of Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio will take on MCU roles in the future (he also added Ben Affleck) [DiCaprio is the obvious exception, since all three of the others have already appeared in superhero films, which means the prediction itself is plausible (but also easy speculation to make)]

Unrelated to this Q&A, Sutton says Owen Wilson is playing Kang in Loki. If this sounds familiar, it's because that was Murphy's theory back in February. I'm not that familiar with Kang, but if Wilson is playing him then I can't imagine that he's a serious villain. I think the more prevalent theory, that he's Justice Peace, is more plausible.

4chan weighs in on Black Widow (this is long and I think it's fanfiction, but to track these things I've included it; comments in pink):

Disney is in a real fuckin tizzy trying to figure out what to do with Mulan and Black Widow with all these Covid delays. They've been showing the movies to all sorts of different teams to see what the best way to re-coup their investment is. My marketing team was one [This is preposterous--Disney would not need to show their films to marketing companies to decide what to do because of the pandemic]. I feel safe sharing this because of the sheer amount of people in this industry I know who've seen the movie.
For starters, a review, it's okay. Basic capeshit. The story is uninspired and generic, a lot of the jokes aren't funny. The action makes an attempt at a clean John Wick style but really only achieves it twice. I'll describe what I can, as limited by human memory [This is way too long to be someone's memory and doesn't match the premise of a marketing team's approach, which would take notes in order to provide coherent feedback].
So the movie opens with RDJ's voice over a timecard setting up that it's right at the end of Civil War. He tells Nat she needs to run, because they're gonna come after her the hardest due to her past. She gets on a motorcycle and drives away from the Avengers facility and we get the Marvel logo. [The idea of RDJ appearing via cut footage from Civil War is widely believed]
The next scene is a flashback to young Nat. She's talking with young Yelena in a hallway, she's been asked to kill a diplomat or something and she's unsure if she can do it. She tries but can't bring herself to pull the trigger. She goes out into the hallway and cries, the woman leading the red room leads Yelena in and through a opaque glass door, we see her shoot the man without a thought.
Back in the present/past/when the fucking movie is set, Nat goes to Budapest. She's looking for something to make her/Cap/Sam be untraceable. There's a voice cameo of Anthony Mackie as she relays info to him. She knows that Yelena can find it, because the Red Room used to use it for its Widows. [This references the 4chan/Reddit MacGuffin, cf, although he avoids using their term for it--no doubt to seem original]
She tracks her down to her apartment. They fight (second best fight in the movie) then once they know they aren't gonna kill eachother, they have a beer. They talk about guilt. They bond. Yelena tells Nat she can't give her the thing because the Red Room still has it. Dreykov has started up a new program and started training new Widows. [The first part of this is summarizing the first trailer]
Another flashback shows slightly older young Nat(de-aged ScarJo) escaping the Red Room program. it's run by Rey Winstone and he's got his daughter with him who isn't part of the program, probably like 7-8 years old. She does a bunch of spy stuff to escape but she gets caught by Dreykov, she says something about always being taught to shoot first and tries to kill him but he attacks her and somehow she shoots something that makes the hallway explode. Seemingly killing Dreykov and his young daughter who was hiding behind him. Nat survives by jumping out a window into a river. Her underwater face transitions to her in a bath in Yelenas apartment. They have beef over the fact Nat abandoned her and never came back. Suddenly they're attacked by Taskmaster and his goons. Someone doesn't want them talking. Taskmaster looks stupid as hell but is actually kinda cool. He trounces both of them easily. They escape. [This borrows the accidental kill scene from a different 4chan post in March, link above, followed by more cribbing from trailers; it's difficult to say if the poster misunderstood the Loki reference made in The Avengers--by 'Dreykov's daughter' he seems to mean Natasha--or if he's reapplying the reference as motivation here (which isn't a bad idea, although I don't buy it from this)]
They decide they need to find out what's up with him and also end the Red Room program for good. They travel to the Swiss Alps to find Melina, who was an older widow who was matronly to them. She's retired, living a quiet life and is happy to see them. She knows that the Red Room is active and that the new Widows are being trained by a mysterious mercenary called Taskmaster. His ability to memorize the fighting styles of others makes him invaluable to the program. She reluctantly agrees to help them take him down but they all concede they'll need help. [A mishmash of common speculation and what's known]
We see Taskmaster in a command center. He's watching footage of Nat fight from the movies we've seen. Also watching footage of Yelena. Dreykovs voice over an intercom gives orders to the Widows to follow his orders and let him teach them. He takes on several Widows at once and wins easily. Dreykov tells them to do better. [Cribbed from trailers]
Meanwhile in Siberia, we get the most fun sequence of the movie. Nat, Yelena, and Melina all do a full fun spy movie Charlie's Angels style prison break to get Alexi, their father/big brother figure out of a Russian state prison. [Trailers]
They succeed. Family reunion scene in the cabin that you've all seen in the trailers. They go to the old Red Room facility that's been long abandoned but can't find much. We get another flashback that I honestly don't remember much of. Just generic young teen spy frustration from Nat and Melina giving her advice. Young Yelena is jealous of their bond.
Melina hacks an old computer that's got a list of the programs safehouses on it. They head to the most likely one, trying to find Dreykov. Taskmaster is secretly watching them. [Trailer cribbing along with a tiny bit of invented plot]
While crossing a border they are captured by CIA agent Rick Mason. Nat and him used to fuck. He reveals he's working for Thunderbolt Ross directly to bring them back home. Ross and Widow make a deal that if Mason accompanies them the whole way, and she turns herself in after, they'll be allowed to continue shutting the Red Room down.
We see a flashback of a younger Ross and younger Nat making a similar deal when she's recruited into Shield. Ross wanted her for his own reasons but says something like "Fury always gets what he wants ever since he saved the world from aliens or whatever"
I'm butchering it but Hurt's delivery of it was maybe the best joke in the movie. [Mix of trailers, public info, and common speculation]
They go to the safehouse. It's empty. Big obvious trap. Explosion separates them all. Giant fight scene/chase scene where Taskmaster shoots at them with the bow and arrow. He uses all the MCU greatest hits in this movie. [Trailers/common speculation]
Nat escapes on her own and goes to a bridge where they planned to rendezvous but Taskmaster is waiting for her. Coolest fight of the movie happens here. Really shows off his gimmick. She actually gets a hit in that slightly cracks his helmet, and he jumps off the bridge. [Trailers]
Shortly after, Yelena appears. Then Mason, then Melina and Alexei.
Mason and Nat tend to eachothers wounds at a campsite. They kiss. Nat pulls away and says she doesn't have the best luck with men. "My last boyfriend flew away into space or something" Mason agrees, saying his last girlfriend literally shot him in the head, showing her his scar. They seemingly hook up. [Poster invention]
The next morning, as they prepare to leave, "Taskmaster' attacks. "He" seemingly kills Mason with his sword. Nat is devastated, but Yelena makes her leave with them. Melina was scouting ahead in the city and comes back and comforts her. Telling her the story of how she had a husband, a daughter, who died. Nat is shocked to learn she had a child and Melina says that the sterilization procedure didn't work on her and she had to hide the fact she was pregnant by faking that she was a prisoner of war. Saying "we all do crazy things for our family" [Meant to fit the many rumours of Taskmaster dying, as well as gender confusion over who was playing him, link above; the rest is invented]
This leads us to the big finale in the mountains you've all seen in the trailer. Black Widows, Taskmaster, goons, and Red Guardian all duking it out. Theres a some kind of bioweapon that's gonna be launched with this crane thing as the Red Rooms current mission. It's a REALLY sudden mcguffin that no one I watched the movie with was paying attention enough to know where it came from. But there was probably some exposition dump that explained my brain glossed over. [He's nuking his premise, as missing a large chunk of exposition makes no sense at all]
Anyway. Huge set piece. Skydiving from exploding crane. Taskmaster and Red Guardian have a pretty decent fight. Tasky kills him in front of Yelena Melina and Nat. [Common speculation]
Melina holds him off while Nat and Yelena fight their way inside to where they think Dreykov is. Turns out, he isn't. It's just a computer that's been changing the voice of someone to sound like Dreykov. You guessed it, it's Melina. Her and Dreykov were in love, and had a daughter together. Nat killed both of them. We see lots of flashbacks during this. Like Saw movie amounts of flashbacks. [Matches rumours of Melina in charge, but with his own twist for why]
Taskmaster is revealed to be Mason. He tells Nat she trusts to easy and he just works for the highest bidder. Melina is pissed he killed Alexei but he justifies it saying "he was in the way of my target." Melina wore the suit when Mason was "killed" [Mason as Taskmaster has been known for a long time]
The 4 of them fight. Melina escapes to suit up in this pretty sick armor thing. They are surrounded by Widows and Taskmaster says he's won but then Nat and Yelena give a real "girl power" speech and the Widows decide to help them. They overwhelm Taskmaster by attacking him all at once. Nat and Yelena using eachothers moves(something else set up in flashbacks) to confuse him. They finally have him beaten and on his knees but Nat won't kill him because of their past. Yelena doesn't hesitate and shoots him through his cracked mask in what to me felt like super cringey moment. She tells Nat go ahead. Nat's bleeding and her suit is cut open so Yelena gives her her vest and says she'll see her on the other side. [Yelena killing Taskmaster is another old rumour, link above]
Nat and Melina have a one on one showdown. Nat is overpowered by the advancements of her suit, but remembering the training Melina herself gave her, outsmarts her and uses her Widows bite to short out the system. Nat says that killing Dreykovs daughter has haunted her for 20 years. That she never meant for it to happen. She gives Melina a chance to forgive her, but she doesn't and Nat has to push her off a ledge. Falling to her death. [Melina dying is another common rumour]
Post resolution was a scene where Nat and Yelena meet up. They hug goodbye. Nat tries to give the vest back but Yelena says she doesn't want it because Nat got "her stink all over it" then smiles and says "it looks better on you anyway." Yelena feels bad that their whole family fell apart or died. But Nat says that this made her realize she already has a family worth dying for in the Avengers. She offers Yelena to come with her, but Yelena says saving the world isn't her thing. Nat points out they just did and Yelena smiles and says "well that was a one off" then rides off. [Mirrors common speculation]
Last shot of the movie is Nat realizing that Yelena stole the "impossible to track" gadget from her when they hugged goodbye and smiling to herself. [This doesn't make much sense, since the whole point of the MacGuffin was to explain why Nat, Cap, and Falcon couldn't be found from Civil War to Infinity War]
Credits.
Post credits 1 is Yelena walking into a dark warehouse. A bunch of soldiers point guns at her. Her casually puts her hands up and throws the device on a table. Sitting at the table is Thunderbolt Ross. Taskmaster is there and Yelena gets pissed saying that he killed her friend and that wasn't part of the plan. He takes off his helmet to reveal a bandage and points out that she returned the favor by shooting him in the head. She points out it's not the first time she's done that. She says to Ross "I think that relieves me of our deal" And Ross responds "oh no, we're just getting started" [Terrible dialogue writing, but that aside, this is also directly from an old 4chan post]
Final credits scene is Clint looking at Natasha's grave with his kids. Nice tender moment, but honestly a bit of emotional whiplash from the twisty turning spy movie that preceded it. [From the exact same 4chan post mentioned above]
That's pretty much it. I'm sure there's some scenes I forgot or glossed over a part of. But overall that's the gist. I really feel like the movie isn't gonna come out until next year now and I know the nerds are hungry so feast on this for a while to tide you over.

For the most part the poster leaned on a couple of old 4chan posts mixed with trailer footage. His only innovation was Natasha's life-changing error and Melina's motivation (the latter, as I said above, isn't half-bad, but I don't think it's what we'll see).

I dropped a Sutton scoop about Agents of SWORD a few days ago and it was interesting to see how minimal the response to it was versus the Wolverine scoop from a month ago (roughly 4-to-1). It's what I'd expect, but there are some hardcore Agents of SHIELD fans in the scoop community who I think have an inflated sense of how invested fans are in that show.

Other than the Russo brothers, all the MCU directors who have made more than one film have produced a sequel worse than its forebearer. From Joss Whedon to James Gunn to Peyton Reed to Jon Watts, all have seen a decrease in quality with their sequels. This isn't an MCU-specific phenomena either, as the Netflix shows that kept the same showrunners saw a precipitous decline (Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Punisher), and I'd argue it's largely the case across the board in film. What's interesting is that, typically, part of the problem with a sequel is that there were no clear plans for the follow-up--something especially true in the past. The MCU doesn't work that way however, so there are plans, so why are these sequels weaker?

In all the MCU cases, while the director remains the same, the writers have changed. Here are those transitions:

• Whedon: Zach Penn had a story credit on The Avengers, even though Joss tossed his script, but Age of Ultron is all Whedon (I think most people would accept that plot has never been Joss' strong suit)
• Gunn: Nichole Perlman wrote the initial treatment of Guardians, but the sequel is all Gunn (the humour is on par, but the other elements are tangibly weaker)
• Reed: Edgar Wright and his writing partner Joe Cornish, along with production rewrites from David Callaham were part of the original film; the sequel lacked those three and added Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (part of Rudd's writing team), along with Far From Home writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (much like with Gunn, the humour remained consistent, but the other elements were weaker)
• Watts: Writing teams Watt and Christopher Ford, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daly, and fixes from Eric Pearson did not carry over (again, the humour was consistent, but the other elements were weaker)

The Russo brothers, unlike the examples above, have always worked with Markus and McFeely and that combination has produced the best Marvel films.

I wanted to dive into something that I've touched on before--the sources of information about what Marvel is doing beyond what's official (by which I mean the categories and who is or isn't connected to them among the scoopers):
Insiders - Someone working for the MCU (directly or indirectly); the real Roger Wardell is the only person who fits this bill (I assume he's someone's kid); Sutton also claims inside sources, which seem genuine at Sony, but are less clear at Marvel Studios (a bit clearer at Marvel Entertainment)
Agents - Some insider information makes its way to agents; Murphy is the only one who has ever cited an agent as a source
Production Weekly - A subscription based site that puts out casting calls and production information; this is, as far as I can tell, the only 'inside' source for Daniel and it's used (directly or indirectly) by Murphy and The Illuminerdi
Set Leaks - Photos, videos, and eye witness reports; Murphy seems to have the best connections for the first two, while the latter is extremely hard to judge
R&D - Marvel and Sony have to do research when they want to put something on screen and that means making a request through the company to the comic branch for source material (undoubtedly some low level admin actually puts these things together--there would be physical and digital resources required); this is the process LotLB's original source ('The Black Knight') seemed connected to, as does Sutton (although the pair apparently have different sources for this--perhaps Sutton via Sony and TBK via ME, but I'm guessing); we know Geoff Boucher (formerly?) at Deadline briefly had this access (perhaps indirectly), because his erroneous scoop about Deathlok is clearly based on him misinterpreting why Marvel was researching his first issue (which, we now know, is because of The Grapplers in Falcon and the Winter Soldier)
Ancillary Information (social media, IMDB, etc) - Murphy uses this extensively and it is the primary source of information for Conrad (I'll talk about his Eternals scoop below)
Questionable Information (Reddit, 4chan, etc) - The other Conrad domain--he spends a lot of time trawling through this material looking for things that seem plausible. Plenty of other scoopers, but for most its supplementary

Excluding actual insiders, all of these avenues of information have issues--they require detective work to unravel (and if its not well-reasoned, you get a Geoff Boucher face plant). You can see this process in action if you go back a few years--Murphy (when at MCU Exchange) figured out that Marvel's casting calls would always use the same first letter of the real character and he got very good at figuring out who they were based on descriptions. In light of that, Marvel changed their approach and his speculation promptly became no better than anyone else's (without that constraint he's as libel as the rest of us to push towards things he wants rather than what's most likely).

You can also work some things out from this. It's been pretty clear to me that TBK (the original LotLB source) had strong connections with Marvel Entertainment--a lot of his information steers that direction and he's been largely silent since Feige deleted it. He was also not aware that the Feige axe was coming--neither were most of the scoopers (a decision that would have been made months beforehand, albeit I thought it was pretty obvious the moment Disney+ was announced). The reason I can rag on Conrad is because  he's been frequently wrong or caught stealing--where are his scoops? The big one he had (Eternals) feels like something out of ME (my guess is he was told the show at ABC had been cancelled because Feige wanted the IP for the MCU).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)