Director James Gunn‘s “Superman: Legacy” has a lot riding on its broad shoulders as the film will not only usher in the brand new version of the Man of Steel for the DCU but will be the first big entry into the newly formed studios’ cinematic universe that will be fleshed-out in the first phase over the next couple of years. With that in mind, another big superhero is about to join that new universe and one that many had suspected could be introduced in “Superman” Legacy” as Gunn attempts to cram as much world-building into his upcoming superhero pic as humanly possible.
It sounds like Clark’s cousin from Krypton is indeed appearing in the DCU film before getting her own feature film, “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.” DC Studios is reportedly now looking at actresses to play Kara Zor-El. Those candidates up for the new Supergirl role according to Deadline include actresses Milly Alcock (“House of The Dragon”), Emilia Jones (“CODA”), and Meg Donnelly. The outlet also alludes to screen tests for the studio are likely going to happen within the next month or so, suggesting they don’t have a frontrunner. The assumption is that whoever is selected will be introduced in “Legacy,” given the proximity to the production in Atlanta, before moving on to “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” as that project has yet to secure or announce a director. However, how large of a cameo/role Supergirl could have is up for debate until Gunn chimes in on the report.
A great group of young actresses who could all make a large impact playing Supergirl, the part had been more recently played by Sasha Calle in “The Flash.” But as this news has been announced, it would mean that Calle will no longer be playing the part as DC Studios attempts to reset and recast a majority of these DC Comics roles. This likely means we’re going to learn a lot more about what their plans are concerning the solo film that has been in development for nearly a year now at DC Studios. Screenwriters Oren Uziel and Ana Nogueira are said to be currently writing the solo film’s script.
“Superman: Legacy” is still on track to hit its July 11, 2025, release date with a fantastic cast that consists of David Corenswet (as Clark Kent/Superman), Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luther), Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Anthony Carrigan (Metamorpho), Isabel Merced (Hawkgirl), and Nathan Fillion (Guy Gardner/Green Lantern).
Horror has become not only big business for studios but a lot of feature films released in theaters have done exceedingly well with audiences leading to some impressive box office results, as long as the budgets are reasonable. While Universal Pictures is hellbent on making sure they’re making their presence known with a string of remakes from within their Universal Monsters franchise, another studio is getting into the remake game and tackling a classic horror character that hasn’t been touched since 1988.
The Wrap reports that Warner Bros. has selected David Bruckner (“The Ritual”), who was behind the recent “Hellraiser” reboot, for a reimagining of “The Blob.” Bruckner is set to both write and direct this new take on with David S. Goyer (“Foundation”) producing via his production company, Phantom Four. The beloved horror film was first released in 1958 with a fresh-faced Steve McQueen starring, a direct sequel in 1972 called “Beware! The Blob,” and the Chuck Russell remake in the 1980s from a script penned by Frank Darabont (“The Walking Dead,” “The Mist,” “Shawshank Redemption”).
In the original, the blob is an alien purple sentient ooze that consumes organic creatures and with each meal starts to grow in size, once big enough it starts to eat humans and gets to the point where the small town is at the mercy of this giant eating machine. The Darabont remake from 1988 tried to add its own spin on the mythology by hinting the blob’s origin was outer space in the first act of the film. Only to reveal it was, in fact, a secret U.S. government bio-weapon experiment gone wrong and the armed handlers don’t exactly care about the townspeople getting gobbled up by the blob if it means their new weapon is kept classified from the rest of the world.
While the original had inventive but outdated special effects the 1980s version has some of the best practical gore effects ever put on film and is criminally underrated given that the slasher sub-genre seemed to rule that decade. Given the amounts of practical effects and makeup used in his Bruckner’s “Hellraiser” remake at 20th Century Studios, there is a glimmer of hope he’ll attempt to use as many in-camera effects as possible.
This wouldn’t be the first time that someone has attempted a fourth incarnation of “The Blob” as directors Rob Zombie (“House of 1,000 Corpses,” “Halloween”) and Simon West (“Con Air”) had tried to make their own versions of the film with the latter being able to coax Samuel L. Jackson into a leading role. However, it doesn’t sound like the same people are going to be involved in this more recent project and it’s not clear how this remake at Warners differs from the other three films.
We’ve all been rabid for more footage from Bong Joon-ho‘s follow-up to the Oscar-winning thriller “Parasite,” after the South Korean filmmaker swept the awards season with his prescient class struggle satire and sadly there are some unseen delays on the horizon. The Hollywood Reporter has echoed the announcement from Warner Bros. that “Mickey 17,” a sci-fi pic about using clone labor on an off-world colony starring Robert Pattinson, won’t be hitting its original intended release date of March 29, 2024. We don’t have a new date for the pic but there is an expectation that the studio won’t take long to find a spot for the high-profile project based on the novel by Edward Ashton.
“Parasite” would ultimately win four Oscar statues in 2020 for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. Making “Mickey 17” one of the more hotly anticipated films in 2024 for not only genre fans but film nerds and award-season speculators as well.
UPDATE: It’s been announced by Warner Bros. that “Mickey 17” has been bumped to a release date of January 31, 2025. We had originally assumed the sci-fi could be pushed toward later in the year but it seems like an overcrowded slate in 2024 could be the problem.
Here is the original novel’s logline from Amazon:
Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living. Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous―even suicidal―the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it. On a fairly routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, surprisingly helped back by native life, Mickey7’s fate has been sealed. There’s a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties. The idea of duplicate Expendables is universally loathed, and if caught, they will likely be thrown into the recycler for protein. Mickey7 must keep his double a secret from the rest of the colony. Meanwhile, life on Niflheim is getting worse. The atmosphere is unsuitable for humans, food is in short supply, and terraforming is going poorly. The native species are growing curious about their new neighbors, and that curiosity has Commander Marshall very afraid. Ultimately, the survival of both lifeforms will come down to Mickey7. That is, if he can just keep from dying for good.
They’ve also announced that Adam Wingard‘s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” has moved up to March 29 (The old date for “Mickey 17”), from April 12. Fans are widely excited for the next installment of the Monsterverse franchise after the recent Apple TV+ series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” has made quite the impression on viewers and the previous success of “Godzilla vs Kong.”
The epic battle continues! Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of “Godzilla vs. Kong” with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence—and our own. “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” delves further into the histories of these Titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.
While Tom Crusie is busy trying to complete “Mission: Impossible 8” at Paramount Pictures with writer/director Christopher McQuarrie (“Jack Reacher”) and is reuniting with director Doug Liman (“Edge of Tomorrow”) for a space film at Universal Pictures that will see the iconic action star shoot scenes at the International Space Station, he’s aiming to make a big return to Warner Bros. as well.
Cruise has struck a deal with movie studio chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to develop, produce, and star in new films for Warner Bros. as revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, and it won’t be a traditional first-look deal. This comes after Cruise had a billion-dollar success with the long-gestating sequel “Top Gun: Maverick” and a less-than-stellar box office return on “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1” making it one of the bigger disappointments of 2023.
The actor hasn’t made a film with Warners in a decade and should help nudge the studio to make a big commitment to the theatrical release given the actor isn’t terribly keen on streaming while championing theatrical windows as well.
Some of the previous films Cruise has made at WB include “The Last Samurai,” Stanley Kurbick’s final film “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Magnolia,” and “Edge of Tomorrow.” There had been plans to move forward with a sequel to “Edge of Tomorrow” for years, and the new deal might help push things towards production as Liman has been attached to direct for years but scheduling has seemingly been the main issue there with Cruise laser-focused on Paramount projects. Cruise’s new deal would make it a lot easier to get “Edge of Tomorrow 2” made.
One of the other films Cruise is hoping to make is a Les Grossman spinoff, reprising his crass studio executive character from Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” at Paramount/DreamWorks.
Fans have automatically assumed that Cruise could end up playing Hal Jordan in a “Green Lantern” movie at DC Studios, but nothing in the report has suggested this is even on the table. However, that potentially could happen if all the stars align and James Gunn/Peter Safran made an impressive pitch to the star.
We’ve been waiting for ages to get some real concrete details about some of the upcoming “Star Wars” movies in various stages at Lucasfilm and there has been a bit of reveal. Today, the studio has announced a new film from Jon Favreau is set to head into production in 2024 and given the new “Star Wars” film the title of “The Mandalorian & Grogu” which clearly establishes his spinoff of the popular Disney+ series will indeed feature the former bounty hunter and the foundling with Jedi abilities.
American actor Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us“) plays the titular Mandolarian, Din Djarin, the surrogate father of Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) as the two have turned into a family as they go on various adventures across the galaxy which sees them become integral parts of the Mandalorian community. The setting takes place years after the events of “Star Wars: The Return of The Jedi” and we’ve seen two appearances from Luke Skywalker, and there are expectations we could see other original trilogy characters appear in the spinoff movie but how exactly they’ll be present to theatrical audiences isn’t known.
We also assume that likely means that this new movie will replace the fourth season of “The Mandalorian” and means the crew of the show is likely working on the feature as well.
The official “Star Wars” website also includes a piece of concept artwork, and that you can see below.
Pascal had been reportedly in talks to play Dr. Reed Richards in Marvel’s “Fantastic Four” reboot from director Matt Shakman and is expected to go into production before “The Mandalorian & Grogu.” One of the more interesting aspects of the streaming series is that Pascal mostly does voiceover work as Din Djarin with a stunt actor performing a bulk of the in-costume and fight scenes, the character rarely taking off his helmet makes all this possible.
Filoni and Favreau are said to be officially in development for a second season of “Ahsoka” too continuing the story of the characters from “Star Wars: Rebels” and the former Jedi from “Star Wars: Clone Wars.” However, given the film is the now main priority for the writer/director it’s unknown when we’ll see “Ahsoka” season two begin shooting. It was previously announced that Filoni would be making his own film as well taking place in the era of the Disney+ series and seemingly could focus on Grand Admiral Thrawn’s return, ala, “Heir To The Empire.” Although, we’re unclear how much of that will impact the second season of “Ahsoka” or if the two will be related at all.
Of course, Favreau isn’t a stranger to cinematic universes after directing “Iron Man,” and “Iron Man 2” for Marvel Studios helping to usher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to a global audience with a batch of lesser-known Marvel characters. He’s been since working on a fleet of streaming series for Lucasfilm with the aforementioned “Ahsoka,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” miniseries, and the upcoming Jon Watts project “Skeleton Key.”
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) is also set to direct Daisy Ridley‘s return as Rey Skywalker in a new film that will see her start a new Jedi school and had been expected to begin shooting this year as well but we’re still waiting on casting news on that front. Other “Star Wars” pics in the works include a Jedi origin film from James Mangold (“Logan”) set ages before the Jedi Order/The Old Republic alongside mystery films from Taika Waititi, and Shawn Levy.
Director Paul Verhoeven hasn’t made an American movie since the 2000 film “Hollow Man,” which attempted to explore a modern mature take on the classic “Invisible Man” and it was also his last big entry in the R-rated science fiction genre. But that seems to be changing with his next English-language feature film project “Young Sinner” and while speaking with the outlet Metrograph, Verhoeven has decided to make his big return to American productions alongside teasing an openness to return to making a big studio sci-fi blockbuster. However, there is one catch, it would need to be offered a script as good as the ones he received for “RoboCop” and “Total Recall.” The two big blockbusters and the thriller “Basic Instinct” would sort of cement his status as one of the best genre directors of that era.
“If someone were to give me a script like ‘RoboCop’ or ‘Total Recall,’ I wouldn’t hesitate to do that. I haven’t seen it,” the Dutch filmmaker told Metrograph.
“RoboCop” is easily one of the more well-liked entries in the cyberpunk sub-genre of science fiction and focused on a slain cop ressurected as a cyborg by a greedy corporation that eventually tracks down his criminal killers that are revealed to be intertwined with the company that brought him back to life.
“Total Recall” on the other hand wasn’t an original idea as it was a loose adaptation of the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” and was pitched as “Indiana Jones” on Mars. It focuses on a construction worker who dreams of visiting the human colony on Mars only to discover he’s already been to Mars as a double agent and was dumped on Earth after having his mind erased leading to a violent adventure off-world. Originally, Canadian director David Cronenberg was attached to direct and he had a direct hand in the addition of the mutant population on Mars, adding his signature weirdness but ultimately exited leaving the director’s chair to be filled by Verhoeven. Oddly enough, a “Total Recall” sequel based on Dick’s “Minority Report” went into development before the studio, Carolco Pictures, went bankrupt and the project landed at the feet of Steven Spielberg. The script’s ties to “Total Recall” was all but severed and reworked as a starring vehicle for Tom Cruise instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Speaking of ‘RoboCop,” Verhoeven is reuniting with the film’s co-writer Ed Neumeier on a new American-set political thriller called “Young Sinner” and spoke about how the two ended up finally re-teaming after 1997’s “Starship Troopers.” The pic co-fianced by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures was a satirical futuristic take on WWII propaganda films based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel that found a second life in the home video market after the film was considered a big box office disappointment at release.
“I’m working with Ed Neumeier, who wrote ‘RoboCop.’ You could say it’s a political thriller, if you want, situated in Washington. The last couple of years I’ve been working in France because I couldn’t find something interesting here at that time. But Ed came up with a really interesting proposal. For two years we have been working on the screenplay. It should be done in two months and then we can find out if someone can finance it.”
One could theorize that Neumeier might be the sort of screenwriter that could attempt to write/adapt another tentpole script to coax Verhoeven back to the blockbuster sci-fi genre after working together on three movies. Interestingly enough, he had been involved with plans for “RoboCop Returns” back when Neill Blomkamp had been interested in reviving the franchise with Peter Weller reprising the iconic role of Alex Murphy, aka, RoboCop. Since Neill Blomkamp’s exit from the sequel, there hasn’t been much movement on the part of MGM as the studio had been acquired by Amazon.
There was a time that Sony Pictures was all-in on trying to recapture the magic of his sci-fi work by being involved with remaking “RoboCop,” “Total Recall,” and “Starship Troopers.” All three were PG-13 versions of those beloved mature movies with the first two flopping and luckily the third one never got further than development.
2024 is going to be an interesting year, for sure, and we have a big push from Universal Pictures adding to their modern wave of films connected to the Universal Monsters franchise. One of the upcoming projections is a new “Wolf Man” movie from Aussie filmmaker Leigh Whannell (“The Invisible Man,” “Upgrade”) with Blumhouse producing, and seems to be more of a modern take on the werewolf story, separating itself from the 2010 film that starred Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro. Filming is expected to begin soon because the studio has already given the new project a release date in October, suggesting a quick turnaround in the post-production process.
With that in mind, we have a new casting update for “Wolf Man.” The usual trade outlets including Deadline are all reporting that “Ozark” breakout Julia Garner has been tapped to play the female lead in the horror pic opposite Christopher Abbott (“Poor Things”), who had recently replaced Ryan Gosling (“The Fall Guy”).
The report says Garner will play “a mother whose family is being terrorized by a lethal predator.” This part seemingly echoes her recent Aussie thriller “The Royal Hotel” which was distributed by NEON last year.
“Wolf Man” is set to be released on October 25, 2024.
1995’s “Heat” is arguably one of the more mainstream commercial successes of Michael Mann‘s directing career and is still considered by many, like myself, as one of the greatest action films in cinema history and not just 1990s. Mann managed to elevate the material (A remake of his television movie “L.A. Takedown” that aired on NBC in 1989) with the help of high-profile actors like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro taking lead roles alongside others such as Val Kilmer. The pic pits two groups of extremely efficient Los Angeles professionals working both sides of the street. A slick twist on the classic cops and robbers genre with the LAPD major crimes unit closing in on a team of highly skilled heist-men after a job goes south in the opening of the film.
A novel co-written by Mann and Meg Gardiner covering the events before and after the original film in 1988/2000 was recently released with the aim of turning it into a follow-up feature film. While chatting recently with Variety to promote his current release, “Ferrari,” a biopic about the famed sports car and racing magnate Enzo Ferrari starring Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”), the filmmaker shared a minor update on the current status of “Heat 2.” Stating that while he was still ironing out the script, there are plans to shoot the prequel/sequel sometime in 2024.
Mann says he has plans for “Heat 2” to shoot in 2024, and has been putting the final touches on the script that he calls both a “prequel and sequel.”
A good sign that official casting news is on the horizon as most of the roles will have to be recast due to the timeline of the novel. Last April, Driver was reportedly up for a lead role and reunion but has yet to be made official.
Here is the book’s synopsis via publisher Harper Collins which will be the inspiration for the upcoming crime thriller:
One day after the end of ‘Heat,’ Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) is holed up in Koreatown, wounded, half delirious, and desperately trying to escape LA. Hunting him is LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino). Hours earlier, Hanna killed Shiherlis’s brother in arms Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) in a gunfight under the strobe lights at the foot of an LAX runway. Now Hanna’s determined to capture or kill Shiherlis, the last survivor of McCauley’s crew, before he ghosts out of the city.
In 1988, seven years earlier, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their highline crew are taking scores on the West Coast, the US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. Driven, daring, they’re pulling in money and living vivid lives. And Chicago homicide detective Vincent Hanna—a man unreconciled with his history—is following his calling, the pursuit of armed and dangerous men into the dark and wild places, hunting an ultraviolent gang of home invaders.
Meanwhile, the fallout from McCauley’s scores and Hanna’s pursuit cause unexpected repercussions in a parallel narrative, driving through the years following Heat.
While there are plans to shoot “Heat 2” in 2024, we don’t have a production timetable for that, a release date, or a full cast of actors outside of Driver being in talks. So, as things are coming together nicely we’re not there just yet. We’re sure more updates are coming later in the year, stay tuned.
There was such promise when director Zack Snyder decided to rebuff the theatrical studio machine to take his film ideas to Netflix, a streamer known to throw around insane amounts of money on risky projects that tend to overspend on talent with bloated budgets. “Army of The Dead,” another zombie flick after his well-received “Dawn of The Dead” (penned by James Gunn) seemed to have modest success at Netflix with somewhat approval from both critics and audiences with a sequel, “Planet of The Dead,” expected to be Snyder’s next feature film.
Well, the recently debuted “Rebel Moon- Part One: A Child of Fire” dropped this month, and there are now some official viewership numbers released by the streaming service to give us an idea of how the movie is doing with Netflix subscribers. Netflix’s own first three-day viewership data has been released for “Rebel Moon – Part One” (via What’s On Netflix) and those numbers aren’t exactly that impressive. While it ended up with 23.9 million and might seem solid, What’s On Netflix added some context comparing “Rebel Moon” to other Netflix original films released in 2023 and the sci-fi pic doesn’t even crack the Top 8 films. Since the box office isn’t really a gauge for success with streaming feature films, the viewership data is really all we have to work with.
Here’s what the Top 10 movies looked like from What’s On Netflix’s list of 2023 films based on their first three days of performance and “Rebel Moon” is squarely in that ninth place spot:
MURDER MYSTERY 2 – 42.9M
THE MOTHER – 42.9M
EXTRACTION 2 – 42.8M
LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND – 41.7M
HEART OF STONE – 33.1M
YOU PEOPLE – 28.3M
THE KILLER – 27.9M
YOUR PLACE OR MINE – 27.7M
REBEL MOON – 23.9M
THE PALE BLUE EYE – 19.8M
The ambitious pic didn’t exactly win over critics but the lower-than-expected numbers might speak for themselves. Still, this is only part 1 of a two-parter, plus, there have been promises of a “more mature director’s cut” of the film in early 2024 (Whatever that means). If these early numbers are any indication, Netflix might be second-guessing any follow-ups given the cost vs return for the streaming giant. Perhaps, we won’t be seeing any more of these two-parter productions from Snyder anytime soon as the release model (two different edits) and splitting a single film into two might be part of the problem here, this isn’t exactly “Hunger Games” or “Dune.”
A trailer for “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” was released over the holidays and is still expected to drop on April 19, 2024, as planned.
For months now Disney and Marvel Studios have been walking on eggshells by attempting not to comment or spotlight the legal woes of actor Jonathan Majors, who just yesterday was convicted of reckless assault in the third degree and guilty of harassment. This is from a two-week trial in NYC that stemmed from a March altercation between the Marvel actor and his ex-partner, Grace Jabbari. Sentencing for Majors will take place on February 6, 2024, and will shed light on what kind of consequences he’ll be seeing for his actions.
Within hours of the verdict being announced trades like The Hollywood Reporter learned that the studio had finally decided to drop Majors from his contract and sever their ties with him for future MCU projects. Majors had been playing multiple variants of the Multiverse Saga villain, Kang The Conqueror, and was expected to become a rather key aspect of both “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” as well. The quickness of the announcement was more than likely prepared months in advance and the studio had just been waiting for the trial’s outcome to make the firing public.
Kang had been mostly confined to variant appearances on two seasons of the Disney+ series “Loki” and played the main villain of “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania,” the latter project not exactly supported by either critics or audiences. Recently there have been some creative hiccups on the next project said to feature Kang as Jeff Loveness (“Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania”) reportedly exited as the screenwriter on “Avengers 5” with fellow “Rick & Morty” writer Michael Waldron (“Loki,” “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness”) stepping in to do rewrites on the script after being previously assigned to “Secret Wars” too. This coming around the same time as director Destin Daniel Cretton also left the “Avengers” pic to focus on his “Wonder Man” series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen,” “Aquaman 2”) and a gestating sequel to “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings” led by Simu Liu (“Barbie”).
It’s clear “Avengers 5” is getting an overall but what that will look like isn’t being revealed officially and we’re still going to have to wait for more concrete details on how much they’re actually changing.
What remains unclear is what Marvel is expected to do about the character of Kang and if they’ll simply recast, given the Multiverse villain has many variants (“Loki” has established that variants can both look like the original character or completely different) allowing for a brand new actor to be placed in the Kang role without much narrative headaches. General audiences likely didn’t get too attached to Majors as Kang after the underwhelming reactions to “Ant-Man 3.” Plenty of names have been thrown around online as potential wishlist replacements such as Oscar-winner Denzel Washington (“Gladiator 2,” “The Equalizer 3”), his son John David Washington (“Tenet,” “The Creator”), John Boyega (“They Cloned Tyrone,” “Star Wars”), Damson Idris (“Snowfall”), and many others. Using the villain’s other variant aliases like Rama-Tut or Immortus could also be a way to distance themselves from using the Kang name alongside retitling the next “Avengers” installment.
Pedro Pascal is expected to play the variant of Reed Richards in “Fantastic Four” after we saw John Krasinski play him as the Earth-838 incarnation in “Doctor Strange 2.” So, Marvel isn’t above recasting these parts and the Multiverse gives them a narrative excuse to do it. We saw a backlash against Marvel’s choice not to recast T’Challa for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” after the sudden death of star Chadwick Boseman due to a private battle with colon cancer, which might have been understandable from a grief perspective among the director, cast, and crew. What I don’t think fans want to see is the erasure of black characters becoming a trend within the MCU and finding another actor doesn’t seem like that much of an ask since the Multiverse angle gives the studio a lot of wiggle room.
LOKI establishes that VARIANTS can look exactly like him or nothing at all. Kang being another force within the Multiverse, could have a new variant that arrives because of the events of LOKI's season finale and looks completely different. pic.twitter.com/NgO2obk6Qh
“Loki” Season 2 also just wrapped up and the ending of the series downplayed the 616/Majors version of Kang allowing for them to pivot to a new variant/actor or simply find another villain altogether, given Loki‘s renewed popularity having him potentially meddling with the Multiverse with his new gig at the TVA might be another way to go here.
Some online have convinced themselves that Marvel is going to “pivot from Kang The Conqueror” entirely to focus on a character like “Fantastic Four” baddie Doctor Doom because he had been an antagonist in a more recent comic incarnation of “Secret Wars.” However, given that the “Fantastic Four” reboot hasn’t even been established it feels odd that the studio would be rushing Doom to shoehorn him into two “Avengers” installments before he’s been properly fleshed out in the “Fantastic Four” films. While many still look to the comics for what might end up happening in the MCU, the studio isn’t exactly known for making one-to-one adaptations of the source material they ultimately do their own thing. It’s worth noting that we still don’t have official confirmation that Doom is even showing up or being cast for the Matt Shakman-directed reboot, Doom’s involvement has only been speculation going back to when the project was first announced by the studio and previous rumors of his involvement in other MCU projects didn’t pan-out.
Before the merger, Noah Hawley (“Legion”) had been quietly developing a solo “Doctor Doom” film for 20th Century Fox but seemingly has moved on with the latest season of “Fargo” and production on his Earthbound “Alien” series at FX/Hulu set to resume in the new year.
There are villain surrogate options for Marvel besides Doom such as “X-Men” Multiverse villain Mojo, who on the Fox Kids animated series (being continued via “X-Men ’97” on Disney+) kidnaps the X-Men forcing the team of mutants to appear on his interdimensional TV station in Mojoverse/Mojo World as a massive boost to their ratings. A plot point that could be easily applied to the MCU version of Battleworld given that the “X-Men” are expected to be coming to the MCU after the events of “Deadpool 3” which is said to involve a Multiverse/TVA angle to it.
In my personal opinion, a group of Multiverse villains perfectly suited for these next two installments would be The Squadron Supreme. Not only do they originate directly from the Multiverse in the pages of “Avengers” comics but including them may remove the need for variant/cameo overloads as Marvel’s version of Justice League would be a compelling pack of antagonists for our heroes to go toe-to-toe with and wouldn’t need to be explored beyond the two event pics. Allowing for some slightly more self-contained threats that don’t need to be established over time in a dozen other projects.
Marvel has yet to announce a director for either “Avengers 5” or “Avengers: Secret Wars,” but the current assumption is that we could end up seeing whoever is hired for one to shoot both films. The next film is slated to be released on May 1, 2026, but we won’t hold our breath that it sticks to that date.
THE RONIN 