Scoopers Gonna Scoop: Who Are the MCU Scoopers?

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

The Trades

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

Production Weekly

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

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

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

Other "Official" Publications/Sites

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

Insider

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

Core Fan Scoopers

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

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

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

The Remainder

[Divided up into sub-categories]

The Disconnected

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

The Daniel Circle (Nebens gives it away)*

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

*There is at least some crossover with Murphy

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

The Sutton Circle

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

The Untested

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

The Debunked

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

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

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

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

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

My Experiences With Scoopers

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

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

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

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

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

WandaVision Review

This is the MCU's first venture into the world of television--or, at least, streaming--and we can look back at it now as a complete entity and consider how successful it was. I'm going to go through some background for provide context and then look at what the show was trying to accomplish and how successful it was. Let's also acknowledge that it's much easier to criticize than to praise, largely because the former requires justification, whereas the latter is typically framed as subjective personal taste. If you liked the show or hated it, this isn't meant to attack your perspective, simply to explain my own and what little we can tell about the response of the fanbase in general. What goes without saying is that on the base level of views and engagement at the time it aired, it succeeded

Background

The show was not meant to be the MCU's first foray into television, as the much more traditional Falcon and the Winter Soldier originally came first. The two were swapped due not just to the pandemic, but unexpected reshoots for Falcon.

The basic idea was to do an MCU version of iconic Wanda stories--things Elizabeth Olsen had always wanted to do, but didn't think Marvel could because it was too edgy (she creates kids who die and then murders millions of people--not typical Marvel fodder). The show itself was an amalgam of different stories that was less interested in their specifics than the general idea of Wanda being pushed over the edge by emotional trauma.

The showrunner is Jac Schaeffer, who wrote the original script for Black Widow that was so problematic it required two emergency re-writes and a delay in filming (she also has a script credit for Captain Marvel, which may explain some of the odd choices for Monica's origin story). Her writing team was a mix of experienced writers (Chuck Hayward, Peter Cameron, and Gretchen Enders) and inexperienced scribes (Mackenzie Dohr, Laura Donney, Bobak Esfarjani, Megan McDonnell, and Cameron Squires). In general the words on the page were rarely a problem for the show, but there were issues of story (which is Schaeffer's problem) and in isolated cases issues of performance (the director, Matt Shakman, shot all the episodes, so there was no variation in who was in charge of the actors).

The Goal

The show had three main objectives: 1) Process Wanda's grief, 2) Transform her into the Scarlet Witch, 3) Tell Monica Rambeau's origin story. I think the first two goals were reached in satisfying ways, even if Wanda torturing an entire town to process her grief isn't properly addressed (it feels a bit like Superman making out with Lois Lane at the end of Man of Steel while thousands of innocents lie dead or injured behind them). The writers are unintentionally validated the idea that abuse to make yourself feel better is justifiable (admittedly, I doubt many viewers picked up on this). The third objective was ultimately disappointing and there's no runway left before Captain Marvel 2 to fix it.

Episode Breakdown

Keep in mind, episodes one and two were dropped as a single piece of content; the descriptions below aren't intended to be encyclopedic, just the broad strokes of events.

• 1 (21min) Jac Schaeffer - Entirely centered on the sitcom reality; the humour mostly works (outside some opening jokes) and the drama of what happens with Mr. Hart is well-handled; the mystery of Agnes and Ralph are introduced
• 2 (28min) Gretchen Enders - The final full sitcom episode; the humour is better, as are the hints about what's going on; teases for episode four are planted
• 3 (24min) Megan McDonnell - The humour is good, but makes no use of the historical period it occurs in; Vision starts to become suspicious of what's going on; Geraldine breaks character and is expelled by Wanda; the sense of increasing tension is felt
• 4 (27min) Bobak Esfarjani and McDonnell - Our introduction to the B-plot and it has a rocky start; Monica flashback where she gets de-Snapped and finds out her mother dies (which has no discernable impact on her); Stamberg's Hayward is flat, unlayered, and a chore to watch; Jimmy Woo's missing person is introduced (something never resolved); Darcy appears with other scientists who are never seen again; we get the SWORD-side of what happened in episodes 2-3
• 5 (33min) Peter Cameron and Mackenzie Dohr - A good episode plagued by a few weak moments; Vision tries to figure out what's going on; Hayward tries to kill Wanda (with an 80s drone, trying to assassinate someone Thanos couldn't kill); Agnes kills Sparky (presumably to try and snap her out of the hex-reality, but this is never spelled out); and we get the Evan Peters Pietro reveal
• 6 (29min) Chuck Hayward and Cameron - Another good episode with weak edges; dudebro Pietro is a delight; Vision tries to save the people of Westview; the SWORD trio engage in a Scooby Doo adventures and the hex expands
• 7 (38min) Cameron Squires - A weak episode; the Vision-Darcy roadshow is excellent, but otherwise the B-plot drags--Monica gets powers without having to earn them; Agatha reveals herself to be a cartoony villain; we do, however, get "Snoopers gonna snoop"
• 8 (40min) Laura Donney - The flashback episode; this relies completely on emotional resonance which is undercut by all these moments having been addressed previously; Agatha's flashback lacks details and she remains unsympathetic and uninteresting; the threat to the kids is pointless and releasing Wanda is nonsensical (do we need to bring up Thanos again?)
• 9 (43min) Jac Schaeffer - The fighting episode is a mixed bag; Vision-on-Vision action is well executed (I liked their final dialogue, which is reminiscent of Age of Ultron), but Agatha never feels like a threat and neither does Hayward, so there's no tension; the emotional beat of Wanda saying goodbye to her reality is effective, except her loss is undercut by hearing the kids voices in the post-credit and the real Vision is still alive; the Monica post-credit scene feels like a waste of time (she's going to see Fury up at SWORD HQ--not much of a surprise or tease)

Performances

• Elizabeth Olsen - Fantastic--she elevates the scenes she's in, transitions from dramatic to comedic naturally, and is a treat to watch. The show makes expanding her role in the MCU something to look forward too. We'd seen hints of this kind of performance once the Russo brothers got hold of her
• Paul Bettany - Equally fantastic; the slow burn of Vision sleuthing out what's happening inside the sitcom reality, wanting to help people despite the cost to himself, freeing the real Vision and accepting his own deletion from reality, is performed to perfection
• Kathryn Hahn - Fantastic as Agnes, cartoony as Agatha; the fault lies in the script and direction, so she gets a pass; the character is not one I want to see again in the MCU
• Teyonah Parris - Started strong as Geraldine, but her origin story is weak (reminiscent of Captain Marvel, see below) and her role as a hero at the end seems superfluous; ultimately Monica's introduction to the MCU is limp and I'm not excited to see her again
• Josh Stamberg - The worst acting performance in MCU history; flat, boring, and written as a one-dimensional villain; he was so bad that even the fanboys were cringing (eg/eg)
• Evan Peters - Fantastic and such a shame he's a throwaway character--they had an actor of this caliber and Karl Urban'd him into oblivion
• Randall Park - Average; Park can't emote, so you could drop in his performance from The Office and not tell the difference; that said, Park playing Park never dips below that level, so it's adequate for a minor character given nothing to do (his character arc is that he learned magic after Ant-Man and the Wasp)
• Kat Dennings - This is a difficult assessment for me because I like Dennings, but her performance is flat and I blame the writing--the best version of Darcy we see is in episode seven (written by Cameron Squires)--that's the most on-point version of her; despite my mixed reaction, I'd like to see her again
• Townsfolk - Collectively these performances are all excellent, with the actors allowed to breakout out of their sitcom personas doing so admirably; that said, I'm glad none of them were secret Marvel characters
• SWORD/B-plot Characters - Outside of Lana Young's doctor in the Monica flashback, these characters are given no depth or weight to be important--the B-story leans entirely on the Scooby gang and Hayward and since that doesn't work, the supporting cast seems listless and uninteresting

Monica's Origin Story

Chronologically (by event not episode):

• She is Snapped and her mother dies of cancer before she returns--she spends virtually no time mourning her mother's unexpected death
• Hayward sends her to assist Jimmy Woo in finding a missing person (who never comes up in the show ever again)
• She decides the best approach to an unknown force is to stick her hand into it, which draws her into Westview
• Wanda kicks her out of Westview when she brings up the past
• She defends Wanda against Hayward's characterization of her
• Insubordination gets her into trouble, but escaping SWORD is easy
• She gets a machine to help re-enter the hex that fails, but she can push herself in--this third interaction grants her powers
• She tries to reason with Wanda and then gets captured by Evan Peters
• She escapes Peters easily, but does nothing beyond standing in front of Hayward when he tries to execute children in front of dozens of witnesses (and their parents who could have annihilated him)
• She tells Wanda the ends justify the means (as in, she sympathizes with torturing innocent people in order to make yourself feel better), before being told she's wanted on the SWORD station from Far From Home

There's no arc for Monica--the show constantly rewards self-destructive behaviour that costs her nothing. Hayward is a laughably inept villain and Monica doesn't sacrifice anything for either her powers or to achieve things (it's all unearned). Her emotional moment is the death of her mother, who dies off-screen and causes no apparent change in who she is as a person. The only threat to her is Wanda and that's the person she's most eager to support. The basic elements required for a good story are here, but the execution is awful.

The J. J. Abrams Mystery Box

This narrative theory ... highlights the possibility of what lies beneath the surface, emphasizing deliberately vague storytelling to keep audiences engaged. In essence, the story introduces mystery after mystery, only answering questions when absolutely necessary

Abrams espoused this idea back in 2008 and he and his acolytes have liberally used it in all their films and shows. One of the problems that arises from this approach is that the solutions--the answers to the mysteries--are notoriously unsatisfying. In Lost it was admitted they often had no idea what the answers were and this kind of pointless and unsatisfying result seem inevitable when engaging in this approach. Showrunner Jac Schaeffer has never worked with Abrams or his people as far as I can tell, but clearly adapted this approach for Wanda's story.

Here are our mysteries in order (17); I've colour-coded what I think are satisfying answers, which are not, and which are a mixed bag (green, red, and yellow):

Q. Who created the reality Wanda is in?

A. Wanda in her grief (fully revealed in episode eight, but apparent in episode two when she rewinds time)

This is a wholly satisfying answer--this is Wanda's story, her journey through grief, so the venue through which she accomplishes it ought to be of her own making

Q. Is Vision real?

A. No (revealed in episode eight)

Nor should he be--it would takeaway from his sacrifice in Infinity War and it also makes more sense for how he behaves

Q. Who is Agnes and why does she behave so oddly?

A. She's Agatha Harkness, and evil witch who wants Wanda's powers (revealed in episode seven and eight) and needs to break her out of the hex reality to do so

The gist of this answer is fine, but how she tries to achieve it is via Saturday morning cartoon levels of plotting and that undercuts her character completely (her simple goal of power for its own sake is also uninspired)

Q. Who is Ralph?

A. A resident of Westview Agatha charmed and gave Quicksilver powers to assist in breaking Wanda's reality--he looks like the Fox Quicksilver coincidentally (revealed in episode nine)

I'll get into this more below, but why put so much effort into teasing something that goes nowhere--this subverts expectations, but not in an interesting way (it ultimately deflates what Agatha is doing as he is trivial)

Q. What's up with the rabbit (episode two)

A. Nothing

Apparently a scene was shot for the finale where the kids, Monica, Darcy, and Evan Peters try to get hold of the Darkhold, but the rabbit turns into a demon--this sounds better than virtually the entire final episode, but they get no credit for shooting it because they cut it (this is either on director Matt Shakman, a budget consideration, a pandemic issue, or a note from on high)

Q. Who is the mailman (episode two)

A. Just a Westview resident

I never understood the fan theories about him--this was what I assumed from the beginning

Q. Who is the beekeeper? (episode two)

A. A SWORD agent we never see or hear from again (revealed in episode four)

I didn't understand fan fascination with this one either--I thought the answer was obvious from the start (you could see the SWORD logo on his outfit)

Q. Are Wanda's kids real? (episode three)

A. No (revealed in episode eight)

Nor should they be given she doesn't have a partner who could father them

Q. Who is Jimmy Woo's missing person? (episode four)

A. We have no idea

This was included to provide a reason for Woo to be there, but how do you just ignore it afterwards? If its unimportant, have him reveal who it is immediately to dismiss it

Q. What happens to Vision and the kids once the hex is removed? (episode four)

A. Vision ceases to be, but the kids are apparently around somehow (episode nine)

The kids should be gone too, but it's Disney and we're getting the Young Avengers railroaded into our lives, so this is what's expected

Q. Who is Monica's engineering friend (episode five)

A. A person of no importance

The show could have signaled this wasn't significant immediately, but kept teasing it

Q. How is Wanda doing this? (episode five)

A. She doesn't know (episode five, but fully in episode eight)

This is necessary to remove some of the moral/ethical culpability of torturing Westview residents for her own selfish purposes

Q. Who is Pietro? (episode five)

A. Ralph, apparently a random dudebro

The decision to use Evan Peters was deliberate, so this fake out is also deliberate--what a waste of a great actor. I don't mind that he's not Quicksilver (something Conrad says is for financial reasons and he makes a good point), but to throw him away like this is disappointing. Matt Shakman claims this was his idea, inspired by Iron Man 3, but he's not the showrunner and we already know it wasn't his idea (Schaeffer had talked about it previously), so I think he's either trolling or protecting the showrunner. If this is where it ends it's going to be something in the future Feige will admit was a mistake (it's the most poorly received element in the show from what I can tell)

Q. Who is behind Agatha? (episode seven)

A. No one (definitively in episode nine)

This isn't inherently a bad thing, but because Agatha is such a limp villain, it feels unsatisfying because the show never establishes a believable threat to Wanda

Q. Why does Agatha reveal herself to Wanda? (episode seven)

A. She wants answers for how Wanda is doing this (episode eight)

This is odd because she could have had these answers via Pietro asking questions (all that's learned is that she had powers before experimentation that they were enhanced by the Mind Stone--it's not at all clear that this knowledge furthered Agatha's understanding)

Q. Why does Agatha release Wanda from her control

A. Overconfidence

Apparently one of her abilities is absorbing power, but she could have done that in the basement where Wanda was powerless and the kids were captive, so the only reason to let her loose is for a CGI fight to occur

Q. What will White Vision (the real Vision) do? (episode eight)

A. Learn what he is and fly off (episode nine)

Until we know what they want to do with him in future it's hard to assess this--I like Bettany, so I'm happy there's a way forward for him, and since Vision is a synthezoid there's no objection to him being reactivated after destruction. It is odd that hex-Vision never tells Wanda what happened to him, but that's likely something cut for time and I can live with that

Some of the fails here are trivial, but they needn't have happened at all. For whatever reason Schaeffer got trigger happy with mysteries as a way to pursue engagement and, given how lukewarm the response was to the sitcom element itself, perhaps that was needed as a mitigating factor. The approach did make the show much more engrossing, but the aftertaste of shows like this tend to turn people off. Abrams has long since grown tired of having to talk about his approach and the general sentiment is that most of the things he and his acolytes make are disappointments.

The Response to Criticism

Prior to episode nine dropping the approach against those who criticized the show was revealed: anyone who doesn't like it is unhappy because their theories didn't turn out to be true. The other thing I've seen is to call anything criticized a positive. One of the funnier things about the first approach is that most of the people harbouring theories were the fanboys, the very people now defending that their theories didn't turn out. What's not clear to me is what the impact of the show will be down the line--it was highly watched and discussed, which is good for Marvel, but how will people feel in hindsight? I mentioned early on that I worried it wouldn't be worth re-watching and outside selective moments, that's the case. The flood of articles defending the mystery boxes is a sign that people weren't happy with them, but it's still unclear how broad or deep that dissatisfaction is. It helps that Falcon and the Winter Soldier is coming soon, although certainly (for me) this show has tempered expectations for that considerably.

The Scoops

Before we fully assess, here's a final one from 4chan that dropped beforehand:

Quicksilver Evan Peters is NOT from the Fox universe, but is Quicksilver (It will be explained).

There is no secret cameo of Magneto, Professor X or Reed Richards.

Monica's engineer friend is a Skrull. This will tie into Captain Marvel 2 and Secret Invasion

Agatha's Rabbit Scratchy is someone very cool and BAD! Will be teased at the end and go into Doctor Strange 2.

HEX Vision vs Spectral Vision is a thing. (There be no fusing together)

The battle scenes are insane and CGI is on par with Endgame. Everyone has their moment.

Very sad episode but very pleasing for a number of reason I won't spoil.

Doctor Strange appears and it's at a very precise moment of the episode that changes the tide

Some of this is right, some is wrong, and it feels like speculation to me. With that out of the way, let's move on to our assessment (this is the primary reference point). This isn't an encyclopedic list of what's been said by the various luminaries below, just the things I found distinctive from them. For the sake of sanity I'll only reference 4chan or Reddit if they are meaningfully correct about something (using the usual colour scheme; I'm being generous and I'll use yellow where there's room to debate).

Murphy

Nightmare is the main villain (he did say this was from just one source and we know who that is--the hyper aggressive Redditor who deleted their profile when caught for being wrong)

Josh Stamberg has a small role as an FBI agent

Evan Peters will appear

There's a subplot where Vision's body will have to be gathered and reassembled

Darcy will be key in recovering Vision's lost memories

Daniel

Hulkling coming (the show was one of his guesses for where he'd appear); his buddies at The Illuminerdi went harder and said he would be in the show, but even if that was Daniel's opinion, it's not under his byline, so he gets a pass

Aaron-Taylor Johnson will return as Quicksilver

Sutton

The show will set-up Secret Wars

His R&D list for the show and Doctor Strange goes 2 for 8 (can't be fully assessed until the film arrives)

The show will confirm that Wanda and Pietro are mutants

He had a theory that Dottie was Jennifer Kale (among other things), but we aren't judging speculation or theories

Agreed with Lauder (below) that it was likely there would be a 10th episode

Said there were talks for Magneto (one of the Fox actors) to appear, but didn't know if either had accepted or if producers had proceeded with the idea

Edward Lauder

Ultron will appear

There will be a secret 10th episode

Andy Signore

Evan Peters is Quicksilver

LotLB (TBK)

Reported a rumour that She-Hulk will appear in break the fourth wall

K. C. Walsh

Alluded that Monica's engineer was Blue Marvel--he didn't say it and his Tweet can be interpreted as a joke, but I thought I'd include it

Reddit

Described episode eight completely accurately just before it aired

Apparently there was going to be ten episode (director Matt Shakman just confirmed that), but it was a victim of the pandemic apparently. That aside, in general Murphy had the most information to offer, but either his sources had bad information or he had bad sources. I did not include one of the things Murphy has been pilloried for (Doctor Strange appearing) because that idea is not unique to him--it was ubiquitous amongst the scoopers (lending credence to the idea that it was cut). Daniel barely said anything about the show. Sutton's misses seem like speculation. Everyone else, save the Redditor, had nothing solid (I'll grant Signore that the way Peters was portrayed make him seem like Quicksilver, so if a crew member or extra might make that conclusion).

Final Thoughts

What did I think of the show? I enjoyed it. I feel like it delivered on the promise of the Scarlet Witch and let Elizabeth Olsen show off her acting chops. It also made me realize how much I'd like to keep Paul Bettany around, although what the MCU would do with him I don't know (they've killed him three times, after all).

On the flipside, none of the other elements in the show worked for me. The sitcom premise, while functional, wasn't interesting, and the SWORD B-plot was poorly done and boring, failing to serve as a proper introduction for Monica Rambeau. I had no interest in Wanda's kids going in and I remain indifferent. Agatha Harkness was a disappointment, with more effort channeled into her Agnes persona than her true self.

In the end I think the show will be seen as an ambitious venture that only half-delivered. Jac Schaeffer spent far too much time on things that didn't matter and not enough on the plot or villains. I'm curious to see what Feige will do with her in the future (does she get the Anna Boden-Ryan Fleck exit, or is she like Peyton Reed, where there's always another chance to do better).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News & Notes

Before I jump in to the article I wanted to note that I've started doing vlogs based on the content here (this is the channel). I'm not tech savvy, so for the moment it's just me talking, but for those who prefer that medium it's available. The plan is to post here and then follow-up with a vlog covering that material.

The run time for the final episode of WandaVision leaked immediately (again from Reddit), coming in at 50 minutes (including all the usual extras), meaning the show will be just under six hours (350 minutes). This means that none of the episodes were HBO/Netflix-style. The leaker was incredibly vague on content, merely saying there would be a Maximoff/Vision fight against the big bad (what else could there be?). One of the fascinating things I still hear people talk about is a surprise tenth episode--Lauder and Sutton are among those pushing this, but I don't find their arguments persuasive.

Episode eight was yet another step back for me, although reactions I've seen have been more positive (leaning on emotional moments). Elizabeth Olsen's performance holds it together, but a lot of the sloppiness that's plagued the B-plot is apparent here (for that read here). Given how much effort was put into the show's sitcom elements, everything else looks hastily thrown together. The entire episode is one giant exposition dump serviced through flashbacks--these explain a few things, although Agatha doesn't need most of this information and what little she did could have been gleaned from Evan Peters' Pietro through talking to Wanda (which is a long way of saying its self-indulgent rather than necessary). The Reddit leak from the day before it aired proved to be 100% correct, incidentally.

Agatha's origin story suffered from flaws similar to Monica's (link above), where scenes intended to be emotional lacked the depth required to create those emotions. The decision to use Latin as the source of incantations isn't inherently bad, but it reminded me of Harry Potter and that ruined my immersion. I suspect the intention was to make witch magic distinct from sorcerer magic, but I just kept expecting the ladies to chase after the golden snitch or go get Dumbledore for some help. The scene is also baffling historically--apparently among the early colonists was a coven of witches, meaning the Salem persecutors really did have witches hiding amongst them. Why the witches want to kill Agatha is left vague--we know she used forbidden magic, but not what that was or why it was forbidden, and that she's irredeemably evil, but not why or what evil she's committed (this fails the classic storytelling dictum: show don't tell). Having her mother lead the group is a decision that will need to bear fruit to avoid being arbitrary (how that will matter, I have no idea); we're also left in the dark over what she's been doing all this time--in theory she should have been on the Ancient One's radar in the 17th century, so why wasn't she? Unfortunately, I don't think the show has those answers (it feels like a J. J. Abrams mystery box, where not even Abrams knows what it means). What we really need from Agatha is sympathetic motivation, otherwise she's going to fall down the Hayward-hole of being bad just because.

One of the better reveals in the episode is that Agatha wants to break Wanda out of her reality, which better explains her actions within the sitcom setting. We also learn that Agatha is not responsible for Pietro, just that she's using him as her eyes and ears. Some have taken this to mean he's just a random guy (eg Screen Crush), but I find that improbable. Marvel likes simple solutions because it's the best for a casual audience. The simple solution is he's Peter Maximoff from Fox, summoned via the Multiverse to fulfill Wanda's need for her brother to return (another alternative, albeit a less satisfying one, is that he's Jimmy Woo's missing person). Admittedly, having him be a nobody and never seen again is another kind of simple solution, but it's far less satisfying. We know Wanda didn't create him (if she did he'd look like Aaron-Taylor Johnson), and this would tie-in to what's going to happen in both Doctor Strange 2 and Spider-Man 3. If Evan Peters is a random guy, there's also no Multiverse tie-in in WandaVision--unless, perhaps, the Vision she created is from the Multiverse.

We then get a lengthy Wanda flashback divided up this way:

• c.6min as a child - This explains the sitcom premise of the show as well as showing that Wanda had magical powers even then; the scene debunks the theory that the actors from the commercials were her parent's (something I never thought made sense)
• c.3min with Hydra - Emphasizing that the Mind Stone enhanced her power; I'm uncertain what the point of seeing herself as the Scarlet Witch in silhouette was, but presumably it's meant to anticipate her upcoming transformation; the lack of Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) and Aaron-Taylor Johnson's Pietro is distracting and smacks of budgetary restrictions
• c.3min with Vision during Civil War - Character building for their romance, a set-up for the sitcom reality, and expressing her grief over her brother's death (something that would have been more effective if they'd used Aaron-Taylor Johnson in the prior scene)
• c.10 min preamble to the show's beginning - Wanda interacts with Hayward (Josh Stamberg still can't act), see's Vision's body, then flees to Westview where in her grief she creates the sitcom reality of the show

We wrap up with Agatha threatening Wanda's kids and a mid-credit scene of Hayward activating his weapon, White Vision. Agatha does not come across as intimidating--she's cartoonish and hasn't harmed Wanda directly or indirectly, so there's no sense of threat. It's the same tone used at the end of the previous episode and it's incredibly off-putting.

Something I did like about the conclusion was the idea of a 'Scarlet Witch' being a kind of category--that you become. Apparently that's a thing in the comics. It's an interesting take on the identity and offers a better reason for her to be called that beyond simply being a superhero name. It does seem a little derivative of the Phoenix-force from the X-Men, but it's different enough that I can live with it.

Overall it's not a bad episode, but I expect better (if the emotional beats don't work, as they didn't for me, there's very little to grab hold of). My primary feeling watching was impatience for the plot to move forward, because none of the emotional beats were new--Wanda's parents appear and die immediately (she'd already mourned them in Age of Ultron and earlier in the show), Pietro dies off-screen (she'd expressed grief for him in Age of Ultron and the show), etc. None of the intended pathos worked, except for the momentary power of the performances between Bettany and Olsen. Now that we're nearly done the show, I can see why Jac Schaffer's Black Widow script had to be shredded.

The finale has very little left to do, as the leaker indicated above. Beyond battle we'll get a resolution for Evan Peters (as in, find out who he is), although that's been shoved so far into the background it seems largely unimportant (this applies to Jimmy Woo's missing person as well). Doctor Strange will arrive and there will be a set-up for Doctor Strange 2. It's not clear to me if Marvel wants to keep Agatha around as a villain--at this stage I'd say no, but perhaps my mind will be changed when I see the finale. She is not, incidentally, the Big Bad of Phase Four--Marvel likes to tease characters like that first.

One thing to consider is we've been told the show ends on a tragic note. In the comics this would be the deaths of Billy and Tommy, but all the leaks are pointing to Vision dying (again), which is what I'm expecting. However much we try, there's no escaping The Young Avengers.

More 4chan about the show, this time purportedly describing the final episode:

It starts off on the night of the Brady Bunch episode [episodes 3-4], where Wanda already had her kids [episode five]. Wanda and Vision have a short conversation about being parents and then it cuts to them a while later being asleep in bed. Shows Wanda having a nightmare as we get flashes of ATJ [Quicksilver] as well as the young version played by the actor we saw playing Pietro in episode 8 [Gabriel Gurevich rather than Joshua Begelman].

Cuts to outside in Agatha's yard, where Evan Peters is being formed in the same way Vision was with the yellow/orange strands. Agatha sees this from her window and goes out to approach him. Peter quickly freaks out and starts speeding around everywhere. Eventually he comes back to Agatha asking her wtf is going on. She seems to kind of put two and two together here and quickly hexes him, bringing him inside. Cuts back to Wanda and Vision where Vision wakes her up, asking if everything is alright. She says it was nothing and she goes back to sleep, while Vision looks at her in a concerning way.

The way this is written is confusing, but I think it's not too hard to interpret. I doubt this, as you don't want to follow a flashback episode with another series of flashbacks. None of this is necessary either--all it really does is explain Evan Peters, something that can be done through a few lines of dialogue.

More 4chan:

I have a friend who works in special effects for various studios. He mentioned that during the final battle sequence there will not be any new villain that shows up but rather two ‘battles.’ Wanda and family vs Agatha and then Vision vs White Vision.

Vision ends up sacrificing himself to defeat white vision and agatha gets away during the confusion.

The final post credits scene is Agatha with the rabbit who is nightmare. He shape shifts on screen and all the audience sees is his shadow while he talks to agatha. Afterward it says agatha will return in multiverse of maddness.

This is quite similar to a 4chan post from a few days ago (with Vision sacrificing himself, the nature of the fights, and no new villain introduced). While the whole "I know a guy" is a meme, the idea is plausible, as I think it's far too late to introduce a new villain in the final episode (outside a post-credit scene); it also fits my idea that Doctor Strange isn't showing up to save the day, but pop in after Wanda defeats Agatha herself.

Daniel says we'll see The Illuminati from another reality in Doctor Strange 2, which is fascinating to me as it's exactly what Sutton said back in January, 2020. Could this be what Chris Evans is signing for? I mentioned when discussing his return that there was no point in signing him then unless it was for a project filming soon--Doctor Strange 2 is filming now, which is plenty soon. Food for thought.

We've had a lego leak for Shang-Chi, which didn't show anything we didn't know before (although it is our first sign of merchandise for it). This film remains one of those oddballs where the scooper community is very excited, but the general public is not. We can't truly judge fan reaction, however, until we get a trailer and that's a long way off.

Pierre Chanliau, via some Instagram sleuthing (Charles Murphy-style), has discovered that actress Alysia Reiner is in Ms. Marvel. He's unsure who she's playing, guessing it's a villain--possibly The Inventor. As someone utterly unfamiliar with the IP, I don't have a better guess to offer.

Back to Daniel, he posted a casting list from Production Weekly and here are the interesting bits:

[Villain] Supporting Diverse

Set: Zawe Aston

[Supporting Male Role] (Supporting 20s-30s)

Prototype: Thimothée Chalamet, Michael B. Jordan

[Red Herring Role] Cameo Any

Prototype: Clive Owen

Dies early in the film

This is pretty vague and post-dates the official announcement for Aston. It's difficult to imagine two actors more different than Chalamet and Jordan (the former is 25, white, thin, and French; the later is 34, African-American, and ripped). This suggests they have no firm idea for the character (as in, who he is doesn't matter very much). I'm lost on why the film needs a fake-out character--outside of Hitchcock this kind of thing rarely works (I remember the hilarity that greeted Star Trek: First Contact's push for Neal McDonough's lieutenant Hawke as a new member of the crew). While I'm not excited for Captain Marvel 2, I am curious what Marvel is going to do with the film--the elements going into it are all very soft (by which I mean, not that popular), so bringing in the casuals is going to be an interesting task.

I was curious if we'd get a response to K. C. Walsh's revelations about the Gemma Chan drama on set--often there's a heavy dose of condemnation for the person publicizing it. What have we seen? As predicted, nothing. No one is talking about it. It's like it never happened.

This reminds me that there were stories almost a year ago from Daniel about how The Eternals was rushed into production--without a complete script, fully finished costumes etc. This did the rounds at the time, but hasn't been discussed since. No one has disputed what was said, which suggests it was indeed rushed.

Sutton reiterated his old Strange Academy scoop, but unlike in August he specified it was for Disney+ (originally he thought it was either that or an animated show). This is a rare instance when another scooper (Daniel) specifically debunked the idea, saying the IP was not coming. I have no strong feeling either way--Strange Academy is a fairly new IP. Sutton's argument is that it's meant to echo Hogwarts and draw in Harry Potter enthusiasts--it's possible I suppose, but I think there's a serious tonal issue between it and comics (you can see from Ant-Man's box office that when the MCU pushes strongly towards a younger audience it drives some people away).

Sutton says that Spider-Man will appear in the Fantastic Four film and have a love/hate relationship with Johnny Storm (echoing Dan Slott's I'm With Stupid team-up from 2005). You may have noticed that Sutton has a lot of material related to Spider-Man and there's good reason for that--I've surmised for quite some time that his source (or one of his sources) is at Sony, so anything involving their IP he has insight on. That doesn't guarantee that this is true, but puts it in plausible territory.

Sutton also talked about Spider-Woman and whether or not the film will have an MCU connection. This idea is not original to him, as Murphy brought it up way back in January, 2019 (we've also had director Olivia Wilde vaguely hint at Feige's involvement). Sutton's article says that talks happened about an arrangement similar to the one with Spider-Man, but he doesn't know how they went (this echoes what Murphy said last March). I believe those talks occurred and that it's likely that Spider-Woman is going to be shared in some fashion.

We have one more from Daniel's rumour file:

• Henry Cavill has reached out to Marvel after the news about the J. J. Abrams' Superman

The sentiment about this is pretty common. It's believed Cavill refused to cameo in Shazam for money reasons (or, perhaps, a desire for a renewed commitment) and whether anything has changed since then I don't know. It's likely that WB execs, who want to move away from the Snyderverse, consider Cavill a big part of that and want a change in direction. The DCEU has been such a confusing mess it's hard to know what will happen moment-to-moment.

In a Q&A Sutton had a lot to say:

• The MCU will cast their own Magneto even if one (or both) of the Fox iterations appear as part of the Multiverse. [This is my expectation as well (Feige said he wanted to do something completely different with the IP)]
• Agents of Atlas (either a film or show) is not currently in development, but he believes it will be gradually built towards ala The Avengers. He says the first character to be teased besides Shang-Chi is Sword Master, who will appear in Shang-Chi 2 (a film that's also not confirmed, although Sutton believes it's coming, cf); oddly, I can't find a specific reference to Agents of Atlas from Mikey in the past, so I must have missed jotting it down at the time
• He repeated that Marvel was looking at Jennifer Lawrence for Susan Storm, but that she's not signed [Let's recall that what was debunked was Fantastic Four filming, not her casting, which remains up in the air]
• There are discussions to have the Killmonger Black Panther take over the romance with Storm (which would make sense). This is dependent on Michael B. Jordan's availability, since (according to Sutton) he's very interested in Superman
• Repeated the scoop that Alpha Flight will appear in a Wolverine vs. Hulk film (cf)
• Tenoch Huerta is playing the Kasper Cole version of White Tiger in Black Panther 2 (cf)
• Sony Pictures will be bought out in a couple of years; he reconfirms a new deal has been struck between Sony and Marvel (cf), which I think is likely
• Repeated that Marvel wants Mike Colter back as Luke Cage (cf)
• Thunderbolts and Excalibur are both coming; he's dubious the former will involve Norman Osborn (who wasn't part of the original scoop from Roger Wardell back in 2018, cf), the latter will be headed by Black Knight and Captain Britain (cf)
• Namor news has died down--he's coming, but not for awhile [It's worth recalling that Sutton believes Marvel has his rights back; I go over the problems with his reasoning for that here (with some additional info here)]
• A Disney+ show for Gambit is still in the works (cf)
• Repeated Midnight Sons is coming (consisting of at least Ghost Rider, Blade, Jennifer Kale, and Glyph, cf)

After Sutton's recent AoS story he's moved on to Jessica Jones. Since some of Mikey's content has been disappearing from his site, I'll quote him:

When Krysten Ritter returns as Marvel Studios Jessica Jones, she will not be toned down for Disney Plus; the new show will still be for adults. However, do not expect to see it on Disney Plus. Rather, Hulu. … when I scooped back in September 2019 that the Netflix Defenders would return on either FX or Hulu with their original casts, skeptics held up their torches. … What I’m hearing now is that the Jessica Jones revival is possibly the first MCU program on Hulu. … Hulu is going to take the smaller, rated R material like Jessica Jones and, in the future, The Punisher. No development for the new Jessica Jones has begun yet; furthermore, they haven’t started negotiating with Krysten Ritter. Yet. What I do know is that they have talked about introducing private detective Dakota North on the show.

The hardon Mikey has for Hulu is difficult to understand. That aside, there's important context here: when (in 2019) Sutton made the claim the Netflix shows would come back, he was under the impression that it would be via Jeph Loeb and Marvel Entertainment (working under Kevin Feige). Instead, Feige came in like a wrecking ball, forcing Loeb out and cancelling all his planned shows. I believe Feige's recent comments about R-rated material means it's not a priority for the MCU. I'm not saying it will never happen, but I'm not expecting a big push for anything R-rated. The final note here is just a funny one: Dakota North is a monument to missed speculation from Tim (LotLB) about which ABC-show was in development in 2019. We now know it was Elsa Bloodstone, meaning there's been nothing happening with Dakota North.

More broadly, could we get Jessica Jones with Krysten Ritter in the next couple of years? Maybe. Not, I think, with the Netflix continuity, especially since the second and third seasons of that show were awful (showrunner Melissa Rosenberg's deal with WB has gone nowhere as a result), but the possibility of a reboot exists. The problem with the idea is that Jessica Jones, as a function in the Marvel universe, is most impactful in relation to other characters as opposed to on her own, which is to say she doesn't need her own IP to fulfill her purpose.

I've mentioned before how insular the scooper community is and there's an example of that on Reddit. Back in July a Redditor dropped scoops for both WandaVision and Thor 4, but these were removed with a great deal of hostility by Murphy's source for WandaVision (another Redditor I mentioned previously). Someone with a good memory believes that much of what they wrote has been verified by WandaVision, so here it is for us to judge ourselves, starting with the Disney+ show:

Sooo, yesterday I had dinner with friends and one of them brought another friend who worked in the production of WandaVision and is working right now in the production of Thor 4. HUGE SPOILERS

Spoiler: WandaVision:

The plot involves Wanda creating a dome around a small town, controlling the whole population, where she changes reality to make everything look perfect. Each time there is a glitch in the reality, Wanda changes decades (that's how the sitcom thing change), and everytime something bad happens the character of Kathryn Hahn is involve.

Kathryn Hahn is in fact the big bad of the show, playing a powerful witch (not Agatha Harkness according to this guy).

The show ends with the revelation of the Kathryn Hahn character and Wanda in full Scarlet Witch mode, having a big battle a la "Dragon Ball Z".

He wasn't sure if Doctor Strange appears in the end and didn't remember anything about Evan Peters character or if Aaron Taylor-Johnson appears.

Wanda's twins appear at least in their teens.

The 00's sitcom parody is Malcolm in the Middle.

There will be flashbacks to Wanda's childhood, when she started showing her powers

This is not 100% accurate, but in spirit it's close enough for a forum like Reddit. What's funny to me is that Murphy's source, who only had access to insights on WandaVision, has been acting like she's a serious Marvel insider for months and has a lot of sway with mods--it's very strange. Here's what the poster said about Thor 4:

The main story is Jane having cancer and somehow she manages to lift the hammer and this cancels her disease, but does not cure.

Lady Sif is alive, Thor will find her in an ice planet with a complete new look. She dies at the end of the movie.

Valkyrie is a supporting character, her sexuality will be explicit. She appears the same amount of time as Lady Sif.

Christian Bale is in fact the big bad.

The GotG will appear.

Loki does not appear.

Thor goes to Valhalla where dead characters will appear. (The guy only confirmed Idris Elba [Heimdall] appearance but I suspect more characters will appear)

He describes the movie as a road-trip comedy around the universe

I actually covered this part of the poster's scoop at the time, but because I dismissed the WandaVision element (specifically due to the person denying that Agnes was Agatha Harkness), I assumed this was incorrect as well. The text from my link is slightly different because the person who reposted this talked to the original poster and a bit more was added through those conversations. I think the idea of Sif having a fairly minor role and dying is plausible--Taika Waititi gleefully destroyed all the background characters from the IP in Ragnarok and Sif was intended to be among them. Do I think this is completely accurate? No, because the WandaVision material isn't either, but I suspect the thrust of what's said is true. One interesting side note: if Sif dies it's a blow to a couple of people who have claimed a show with her is coming (Discussing Film and Sutton, specifically).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Marvel News & Notes

Some interesting news about The Eternals was dropped by K. C. Walsh (GWW):

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

This is not at all the kind of thing Walsh would make up--he's someone inclined to be supportive of Chan--so I believe he was told this (he's deleted the Tweet, but left others related to it--I suspect Murphy (who he'd already given this information too) and/or others in his circle told him to shut-up for fear of losing their access--this is not information Marvel wants public. As expected, in response to this there are now people talking about how great Chan was on-set. I see two possibilities: a source Walsh trusted set him up, which is hard to imagine, or this is true, but for obvious reasons Marvel doesn't want it out there. It will be interesting to see if Walsh feels pressured enough to offer up a mea culpa to maintain his access--we shall see--but don't expect this to be confirmed until years later (if ever). I'm also not expecting other scoopers to mention it, but if they do expect them to mouth the company line.

Assuming the above is true, let's consider what it means. I've pointed out before how risky it was to lean the film on Gemma Chan and Kit Harrington (a risk Marvel mitigated by including a billion supporting characters), but particularly with Chan because unlike Harrington, casual fans have no idea who she is. Clearly the hope was that Chan could pull off what we saw with Chris Pratt in Guardians, but I never anticipated her struggle would be on-set drama (when was the last time that happened in the MCU?). With an ensemble cast, transitioning away from her is very easy. I'm less clear on what Walsh means by 'other characters are introduced'--Eternals is already overcrowded, so how much time do you have for more intros? Perhaps he's talking about post-credit entries or the future of those taking Sersi's place in future plans.

Speaking of The Eternals, I've been seeing Marvel fans proclaiming the movie is the greatest thing ever made, but was unclear where the hyperbole was coming from given that we've seen nothing and director Chloe Zhao has made only three art films no one has seen. It turns out the hyperbole is from a Tweet via Erick Weber, editor-in-chief of Awards Ace (among other things), who said on Feb.22:

Just got a text from a high-level source who tells me Chloé Zhao "crushed" The Eternals & Marvel is "almost in disbelief" about what they have on their hands

Is Weber known for Marvel info? Not to my knowledge. Would he put this out just to hype the film for Disney? I have no reason to think so. However, before we put on our party hats, internal faith in an IP doesn't always work out--Batman v Superman received a standing ovation from WB execs before it released (cf) and it's standard procedure for studios to talk about how great something is prior to release (it's part of the hype). Is this a positive sign? Yes and I'd like it to be true. Does it alleviate my concerns? Not yet--let's see a trailer first.

We have a Reddit leak for WandaVision that was verified by mods. The Redditor echoes the 4chan leak from a few days ago, although the poster splits things between 'verified' and 'unverified', with most of the information being in the latter category (when the two posts are the same I've coloured them in green; my comments are in pink):

VERIFIED LEAKS

• I've seen images of White Vision, as well as Vision himself being created in the hex. [The 4chan post never specified a white Vision, but I think having two opposed Visions is close enough]
• White Vision is in some sort of chamber with a horizontal blue-ish light. Everything has a blue-ish cool tint, honestly. He seems to be asleep / deactivated. He is, indeed, totally white.
• Vision's creation involves a bunch of magical orange lines, like beams. There's a door right behind him in the image I have, and his (left?) arm is outstretched. It basically seems to be the precursor of what we've seen in the trailers. His pose is very similar. [He means when an in-colour Wanda meets a black and white Vision]

UNVERIFIED

• It shows how Agatha got her power.
• Agatha and Wanda see Wanda's past in front of them. [Supposed leaked stills show something of this]
• Wanda and Pietro as children watched old sitcom VHS tapes on TV. [ibid]
• Suddenly a bomb comes! Wanda and Pietro hide under the bed.
• It shows how Wanda got her power. [We've seen this scene in trailers repeatedly]
• Wanda and Vision talk before their Civil War scene. [I think he means Infinity War because of supposed leaked stills that came out this week]
• Wanda goes to the SWORD base and meets Tyler Hayward. She sees Vision's body torn apart. [We've seen parts of this in the show and trailers]
• She leaves the base without the body, goes to Westview, and cries. BOOM. The hex appears.
• Agatha got Wanda's child [children]. She's choking them with a pink smoky rope thing in the street.
• The mid-credits scene is Hayward activating White Vision. [If that's correct, it means the entire episode takes place in less than a day of real time]

There's no reason to question the verified elements as they have all the messy specifics of something the poster has seen with their own eyes. The rest seems like speculation informed by the actual spoilers. We will get two Visions in the show, which is interesting, although the show itself is hardly spoiled--it doesn't clarify Agatha's motives, why Wanda went to Westview, or why the hex occurred there (among other things).

Amidst the reveal of Spider-Man 3's title, No Way Home, came some interesting news from Tom Holland:

The way I understand it is that agreement between the two studios has already happened. I don’t think that they’re going to run into the same troubles that they did as we were going into… was it ‘Spider-Man 2’? ‘Far from Home’ had come out and then the whole thing happened between Sony and Marvel. I think the two studios have worked that out, and I don’t think that that will be a problem in the future. That said, I’m just the actor and I was a part of a few phone calls during that process, but I think they love working with each other, I think they found a way in which it can be beneficial for both studios, and I’m just kind of like a kid in the middle of it, between two parents during an argument (laughs).

When the new deal between Sony and Marvel was announced in 2020 it was for one more MCU-produced Sony film (aka Spider-Man 3) plus an MCU appearance. Many are taking Holland's comments to mean an extension has already been negotiated between the two companies, but while this is indicative, I wouldn't take it as confirmation.

A Redditor put out a purported scoop that Spider-Punk and Spider-Man 2099 will appear in Spider-Man 3. The poster knows a guy and despite not being able to verify things with the mods, was allowed to leave the post up without comments--this is not normal procedure and presumably the poster is friends with a mod/s. That aside, if true these would have to be cameos--the cast is too bloated for anything else--but I'm familiar with neither and researching them hasn't added any excitement.

Another tidbit from Feige is that there are currently no plans for R-rated IP that are currently in development besides Deadpool 3. While this isn't a big surprise (Marvel comics themselves are PG), just two months ago in a now-deleted article, Sutton claimed Blade would lead into a number of R-rated supernatural shows. If Blade isn't R-rated, it's hardly the proper lead-in, and if it isn't R-rated, why would related supernatural shows be? This looks debunked to me.

I've long thought the primary purpose of introducing the Multiverse was that it offered an opportunity for the MCU to give itself a 'Get Out of Jail, Free' card. With it, you can not only bring in characters from non-canon IP, but you can also bring back dead characters (through other iterations). Its introduction makes this option perpetually available and its a great way to either fix things that aren't working or simply experiment (it's also an odor-remover if Sony films start to bomb).

LotLB, in conjunction with Lauder from Small Screen, talked shop and I'm glad to see Tim doing this--whatever you think of him, I find him entertaining--a passionate guy with a good sense of humour. I think the usual LotLB crew is more engaging, but none of his buddies can offer scoops. That said, Lauder did not have any new info to offer, simply repeating the rumour of a Captain America 4 with Chris Evans (cf), along with Ultron having something to do with Hayward in WandaVision (cf).

I don't know what's going to happen to Mikey Sutton if his Agents of SHIELD rumours go unfulfilled. Innocuous comments from Feige prompted this response (Mikey accidentally missed mentioning one of the shows referenced, specifically Daredevil). I admire his faith, but if he's wrong he's pushed this so hard it will reflect poorly on him. Mikey was right about Charlie Cox appearing (something I was wrong about), but I think how he's presenting what will happen to AoS is beyond the pale. Here are the key quotes, starting with Feige (direct quotes are in quotes):

"I think there are legions of Agents of SHIELD fans and Daredevil fans and Jessica Jones fans and Luke Cage fans. There’s a very big fanbase for those shows." ... Feige indicates that some of the stories you see about characters they can use again from the previous TV shows are true, some are not, but they would be open to opportunities depending on the scenario. ... "There are often rumors that are true and there are often rumors that are not. It was great fun to have Clark Gregg come back to the MCU in Captain Marvel… Everything else, we’ll just have to see."

Here's Sutton's response:

First of all, he singled out Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as among the Marvel TV series with a “very big fanbase.” The other programs he mentioned were Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. This wasn’t random. He never spills the beans until he’s ready. … The substantial followings he described provide a reason for Disney to resurrect those shows. … Read between the lines. Those are programs that Marvel Studios is planning on bringing back. Regarding Marvel’s AoS specifically, the Marvel Studios producer admitted that “There are often rumors that are true.” … Furthermore, many have claimed that they don’t even exist in the MCU. Kevin Feige shot those down. He said that it depends on the situation; some of it will be kept in continuity while others will not.

There are a number of prevarications here (Feige did not 'single out' AoS). One of the immediate issues for Sutton's theory about these comments is that Feige did not mention The Punisher or Iron Fist, and he's said both are coming back (with Iron Fist re-cast, cf and cf)--so if Feige only mentioned those shows that are coming back, RIP those scoops. That aside, it takes special pleading to associate the huge fanbase for Netflix's Daredevil with the anemic AoS fanbase--this isn't a matter of debate as I went over the numbers. We know the list of shows Feige provided were off-the-cuff because of the absence of the aforementioned two along with Agent Carter, The Runaways, Cloak & Dagger, and Hellstrom. Does Feige excluding a show he executive produced (Carter) mean it's on the scrapheap? I don't think anyone believes he'd sleight his own work even if that was the case, but that's the implication of Sutton's argument. Two more prevarications: Feige doesn't use the word "continuity" in any quote I've seen--there's a huge difference between using characters from past IP and canonizing their continuity within the main MCU (we aren't talking about Multiverse continuity); secondly, Feige did not 'shoot down' the idea that AoS isn't part of continuity. I believe this is a rare case where Sutton's love for a show is overwhelming his ability to be objective--he's suffering from confirmation bias and I don't know what he'll do if it all falls apart.

I've said this before: Marvel could borrow characters from AoS via the Multiverse, but what I object to is the idea that the shows will have their canon be within the prime MCU universe. I see no benefit in doing so--it reduces opportunities rather than multiplies them.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)