Thoughts on the Disney/Marvel announcements

 Disney has just emptied a bucketload of new series and film announcements onto the internet to gear everyone up for the next phase of its media empire. Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new wave of Star Wars properties and more, there's a lot to take on, but he's my thoughts on the MCU revelations. (I'll get to Star Wars eventually, but I'm not even up to date on The Mandalorian yet. However, really suspicious of the idea of bringing back Hayden Christiansen.)

MARVEL PHASE 4

She-Hulk: Confirmed to be starring Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters, this will be a Disney+ series. I was hoping for Gina Camaro, but Maslany is a solid choice (presumably the She-Hulk herself will be at least partly CGI). No surprise that Mark Ruffalo will be appearing as Bruce Banner/the Hulk, but very surprised and pleased that Tim Roth is back as Emil Blonsky, aka the Abomination. He was the best thing about The Incredible Hulk back in 2008.

Secret Invasion: Good news, but no surprise. The involvement of the Skrulls in Captain Marvel and Ben Mendelsohn as Talos pretending to be Nick Fury all pointed to the Secret Invasion storyline coming to fruition. Presumably this will have an impact on the films in time, but for now, this is another Disney+ series. Marvel have tried to tie together their TV and cinematic productions before to limited success, but this looks like a far more sophisticated effort. Mendelsohn and Sam Jackson both confirmed back for this.

Ironheart: The occasionally controversial (for small-minded people) new Iron Man comic treatement, Ironheart features Riri Williams as a young genius who creates her own biomechanical armour suit. The Disney+ series will star Dominique Thorne. Could be well worth watching.

Armor Wars: Less interested by this one. Do we need both? This has Don Cheadle back as Rhodey/War Machine dealing with the fallout from Stark's death when his technology falls into unscrupulous hands. Should be good, but just not sure these need to be separate series.

I am Groot: This sounds very silly: a series of Disney+ shorts revolving around Baby Groot, with "new and unusual characters." Could be a good chance to involve the more ridiculous and out-there ideas from the Marvel universe (Howard the Duck please!) No word on whether Vin Diesel will voice Groot.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Now this is just fabulous. Prior to the third Guardians of the Galaxy film in 2023 (finally confirmed to have James Gunn onboard without a doubt), this is a wonderfully daft thing to do. A homage to the notorious Star Wars Holiday Special, this is bound to be all kinds of ridiculous. Lined up for 2022, presumably for Christmas unless they bring it forward for a Thanksgiving drop.

Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel 2

Really looking forward to this one. I adored the first couple of runs of Ms. Marvel comics, and I'm stoked to see her on screen. Iman Vellani stars as Kamala Khan, and from the brief glimpse here, she seems perfect. She'll also appear with Ms. Marvel's idol in Captain Marvel 2, confirmed to star Brie Larson (so much for the stupid rumours that she was being recast), with Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau.

What If? and Loki

Not going to overload this post with videos, but here's the link to the dazzling trailer for What If? and a fun first look at the Loki series. Both are set for Disney+ next year, dealing with the MCU's expansion into the Multiverse. What If? looks particularly fun, with some of the best of the MCU cast involved (although clearly not everyone is voiced by their original actor). Hayley Atwell as Captain Britain? The inevitable introduction of Marvel Zombies? I'm in. Loki looks like it's going to embrace the alt-reality elements as well, with the introduction of the Time Variance Agency. A crime thriller with time travel and Tom Hiddleston? Can't go wrong.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

This is going to be fabulous, but the news today is the casting: Rachel McAdams is returning as Christine Palmer, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo and Benedict Wong as, well, Wong. We already knew that Elizabeth Olson was onboard as Wanda Maximoff, but the big news is the confirmation that dimension-jumping America Chavez is involved, played by newcomer Xochitl Gomez.

Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania

I love how silly these titles are getting. We expected a third Ant-Man film, but it's good to get confirmation of the title, which implies some exploration of the Quantum Realm, aka the Microverse. It was revealed a little while ago, but I'm still excited for Kang the Conqueror to finally make his big screen debut played by Jonathan Majors.

Fantastic Four

The least surprising but most welcome revelation, the Fantastic Four property is now back with Marvel following Disney's acquisition of Fox. Jon Watts, set to direct the third MCU Spidey film, is on to helm this. No cast news yet, but we can expect some crossover elements, if not with this film, with a follow-up, given the close links in the comics between the FF and Spider-Man, Kang and the Secret Invasion.

Casting round-up!

Almost out of breath now, so a quick rundown of casting news. Hailee Steinfeld is Kate Bishop in the new Hawkeye series on Disney+ (I foresee next gen crossovers with Ironeheart and Ms. Marvel). Hilariously, Christian Bale's role in Thor: Love and Thunder is Gorr the God Butcher, an alien being committed to killing every god in the universe. They won't be recasting T'Challa for the second Black Panther film due in 2022, instead "honouring his legacy." I presume that means a new Black Panther, but I think we can rule out Shuri, since Letitis Wright's in trouble these days for stupid online behaviour.

Spider-Man 3 casting round-up!

Now this is ridiculous and wonderful. The third, as-yet-untitled Spidey film is clearly taking Tom Holland's requested route and piling straight into a live-action Spiderverse story. Presumably they got sick of him spoilering things in interviews so just went with his idea from the outset. Holland is confirmed, of course, along with Zendaya as MJ, Jacob Batalon and Marisa Tomei. But there's also official confirmation that Jamie Foxx is back as Electro (from The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and now Alfred Molina as Doc Ock (from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2). Emma Stone is in negotiations to return as Gwen Stacy, and rumour has it that Andrew Garfield, Tobye Maguire and Kirsten Dunst have been approached to reprise their version of Spider and MJ. Plus Benny Cumber as Dr. Strange, presumably handling the interdimensional stuff.

REVIEW: Avengers - Endgame

And so, I finally begin to catch up with not only my viewing, but also my reviewing, of the many sf and superhero extravaganzas (extravaganzae?) to hit the screens.

Endgame is less a movie, more a cultural event; the culmination of eleven years of cinematic material designed to draw a line under the first iteration of perhaps the most successful film franchise in history. It's the sort of film that can't be appreciated alone; much of the experience comes from seeing and discussing it with like-minded friends. As such, this review is going to be slightly different, as my lovely partner-in-crime Suzanne and I chat about the film (in reality, we've been chatting about it for days with various other people as well, but this sums it up nicely).

And obviously, if you still haven't seen it, there are SPOILERS after this break.

REVIEW: Avengers - Infinity War

You've seen it, right? If not, go see it first. This review contains SPOILERS and SPECULATION.

REVIEW - Captain America: Civil War

SPOILERS INSIDE, TRUE BELIEVERS!

Marvel Phase Three: What do we know?

Last night while I was out, ahem, socialising, in the States it was mid-afternoon and Marvel was making a buttload of announcement regarding their next wave of movies. They revealed the complete set of films that make up Phase Three, right through to 2019. It's fair to say I am a little bit excited, and was immediately texting and sharing the hell out of the news over my Guinness.

So, what have we got? New bits of info keep coming to light, but here goes, with a little speculation thrown in:

May next year sees the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, for which Marvel released an extremely exciting trailer last week, and now followed up with a clip with a slightly different cut of the trailer. All the main heroic characters from Avengers Assemble are back, along with Don Cheadle as War Machine, potentially setting him up for future Avengers membership. Also included are Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver and Emily Olsen as the Scarlet Witch, briefly seen at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. James Spader is scary as hell as Ultron, seemingly created by Tony Stark in this version of events, but apparently taken from an old weapons programme, so Hank Pym might still have some level of involvement in the backstory. Seeing that he's a major part of the next movie, Ant-Man, this would make sense. Paul Bettany plays the Vision, almost certainly a development of the JARVIS AI. Andy Serkis has an undisclosed role, but it's been suggested that he plays Ulysses Klaw, which would tie into the Black Panther release scheduled. And Ultron will be needing some ultra-hard metal for his new body, and what better than a job lot of Wakandan vibranium?

Black Panther villain Klaw?

Age of Ultron is the eleventh film released by Marvel and finishes Phase Two. Phase Three kicks off in July with Ant-Man, starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man and creator of the shrinking suit. Evangeline Lily is Hope van Dyne, who seems to be filling the role as Lang's romantic interest, and is also probably going to be the Wasp in this version of things. Corey Stroll is Darren Cross, the villainous Yellowjacket, and John Slattery is back as Howard Stark. So this would seem to involve flashbacks and potentially tie in to the Agent Carter TV series. 

May 2016: Captain America: Civil War. Marvel did a huge fake-out with this, putting the title up as Serpent Society, which went round the internet and changed to the real title in the time it took me to text someone the false information. I initially thought this would be a difficult one for Marvel to adapt. The Civil War crossover event involved superheroes from all over the Marvel universe, including an absolutely vital role for Spider-Man. The major problem for the MCU is that they smply don't have enough characters set up for a Civil War style event, and those they do have don't really have secret identities to protect. On the other hand, it looks like only the generally gist of the series is being used (it's not like Age of Ultron is much to do with the crossover event beyond having Ultron in it). Marvel Supremo Kevin Feige says "Events of the whole cinematic universe will make all governments in the world want regulation. Not so much about secret identity, but about who reports to who." 

We do know that Robert Downey Jr. will appear, and that he and Cap will go head-to-head. Whether this will be RDJ's last film for Marvel we don't know, but rumours abound that Steve Rogers will end up dying in these events, seeing that Chris Evans is coming up to the end of his contract. There's also the question of the Winter Soldier, who hasn't been mentioned, but surely will have some time devoted to him. We do know that this film will have a significant role for Prince T'Challa, aka the Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman. Given how early Marvel have announced the actor playing the Panther, he might even appear as early as Age of Ultron. Now, while there has been a ton of speculation regarding Sony and Marvel finally finding a way to work together and use Spider-Man, any details on this has been conspicuous by their absence. It's no secret that Sony are in a state of crisis regarding their Spider-Man movies, and allowing Marvel to use the character, if only for crossover and team-up movies, would allow them to broaden their scope. If they can agree terms, Marvel could use Spidey in Civil War or future Avengers installments, and pay Sony a stipend; it'll basically be free money for them. On the other hand, there's no news whatsoever on whether this is true, and many have suggested that T'Challa could take Peter Parker's place in the story.

November 2016: Doctor Strange. No confirmation on the lead actor for this feature, but it sounds as though Benedict Cumberbatch has got the gig, but negotiations are still going. This is the first all-out mystical character to make it to the movies, after Thor and the Asgardians were interpreted more as hyper-advanced aliens than gods.No details on the plot yet, but a tenner says Dormammu is in it. May 2017: Guardians of the Galaxy 2. This will probably deal with Peter's parentage to some degree, and all we know is that he is not the son of the king of Spartax as he is in the comics. Peter's father seems to be something very old, and Den of Geek have suggested he's an Eternal, which might link him to the mad Titan Thanos to some extent. This is all major speculation right now, but Thanos is definitely going to be involved somehow, building up to the big events in Avengers 3. Suggestions are that some new members of the team will be introduced; I'd go out on a limb and say we'll at least get Nova and maybe Adam Warlock. Fingers crossed Howard the Duck and Cosmo will appear, but I doubt it.

July 2017: Thor: Ragnarok. Where's my fiver? Since we caught a glimpse of the realm of the fire giants in The Dark World, it seemed likely we would see Surtr and the Ragnarok storyline for the third Thor film. This will also have to deal with the ongoing thread of Loki's relationship with Thor and his usurping of the throne of Asgard. I dare to suggest it might go some way to tying together Dr. Strange's mystical world and the bigger cosmic side of things. Planets, realms and dimensions being explored. Edit: It's just occurred to me that Ragnarok is not the end of the world in Norse mythology, per se, but the critical step in a cycle of destruction and renewal. What better time, it they so wished, to recast Thor? Perhaps even with an actress in the role?

November 2017: Black Panther. No news about this beyond the casting of Boseman and probably Serkis. There's one issue in that Marvel can't use Storm, who is a huge part of T'Challa's story in the comics, but there's still plenty to be told about the Prince of Wakanda. I'm really looking forward to what they're going to do with this one.

May 2018: Avengers: Infinity War - Part One. July 2018: Captain Marvel. November 2018: Inhumans. May 2019: Infinity War - Part Two

Marvel aren't immune to the lure of the two-part event movie, and it looks like we'll have one huge cosmic war played out over these four films. So happy that Captain Marvel is going ahead, with Marvel confirming that this is the Carol Danvers version of the character. As one of Marvel's heaviest hitters, and a member of both the Avengers and Guardians in the comics, Captain Marvel's introduction into the franchise is big news. I'd say it's also extremely likely the Guardians will show up in her movie, and at least some of them will come to Earth for the final part of Infinity War. The Inhumans will also likely tie a lot of things together. The Inhumans are genetically part-Kree, the alien race who have already appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy and are presumably the blue-skinned creature glimpsed in Agents of SHIELD. Also, Captain Marvel gains her powers from an encounter with the Kree, so this big cosmic bust-up is already full of links. The Inhumans are not unlike X-Men's mutants, albeit with a different backstory, and could massively swell the roster of superhumans in the MCU if there was a Terrigen event that caused some unknowing Inhuman descendants to manifest their powers. Kamala Khan, please come to the MCU! It's also implied that Skye's father in Agents of SHIELD is Inhuman, but I'm stuck on UK airtimes for this and so behind the times.

As for the grand finale, all we know is that Thanos is coming, Infinity Gauntlet all ready. Marvel have released a teaser made up almost entirely of old footage and dialogue but one big reveal at the end. What's more, Mssr Feige has suggested that the characters from the Defenders miniseries - including Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Charlie Cox as Daredevil - might cross to the movies for this big event. They could also bump up the numbers in Civil War if the series are far enough advanced by then. No news on the long-scripted but unfilmed Black Widow movie, although at least we're getting one female-lead movie from Marvel (DC are actually getting there first, with Wonder Woman set for a 2017 release, but I am yet to be convinced they won't foul that up). It's also unlikely we'll ever see a Runaways movie, despite early work on it, but Feige has suggested that there may be a future for it on TV. Indeed, the addition of magic and more alien races in the MCU makes it easier to bring in (and you'd just make the mutants into Inhumans).




As for Big Hero 6 - it doesn't look like that's part of the MCU, but I'm still excited about it and going to count it until proven otherwise. Frankly, I'm going to count the 1980s Howard the Duck movie until proven otherwise, just to be perverse.

Addendum: While I am very excited for both Black Panther and Captain Marvel, and encouraged to see films headlined by a black hero and a female hero, it is not as if Marvel are pioneering things here. The media are going on as if these things have never been done before. Apparently everyone has forgotten about the three Blade movies released by New Line in the nineties and noughties. Supergirl came out way back in 1984 (a fine year). Then there's the 2004 DC/WB Catwoman movie, which, awful as it was, featured a black female superhero. Indeed, Halle Berry was a major part of the first two Fox X-Men films as Storm, although she was sidelined after that. As excellent as Marvel's output has been so far, and as encouraging as these developments are, let's not forget what came before OK?