The guessing games can now finally end, as “Captain America: Brave New World” actor Giancarlo Esposito (“The Mandalorian”) has announced during the Marvel Studios’ presentation at San Diego Comic-Con that he’ll be playing Sidewinder in the new installment due out in theaters on February 14, 2025. Ending months of speculation about his Marvel casting.
Seth Voelker, aka Sidewinder, is the King of The Serpent Society. Which is a slightly more modern terrorist group from the pages of the Captain America comic books that mirrored H.Y.D.R.A. and had Madame Hydra, aka, among their ranks under the codename Viper and once attempted to take over the group entirely. The other main Serpent Society member in “Brave New World” includes Rosa Salazar’s Rachel Deighton, aka Diamondback, who eventually switches sides.
Another tidbit confirmed was, yes, the giant Celestial sticking out of the planet from “Eternals” is indeed made out of adamantium and could potentially have some sort of connection to the Wolverine/Weapon X Program coming in the future to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, alongside the “X-Men” reboot. The fight over the newly advanced mineral via Tiamut, similar to vibrainium, had been teased in the film’s first-look trailer.
This is likely why there was rampant speculation that Esposito’s character could be connected to the X-Men or a mutant himself.
One of the more compelling reasons to finally use The Serpent Society for Sam Wilson’s Captain American tenure is that it has an extremely deep bench of members, allowing for a steady stream of bad guys for him to throw hands against in future installments as it feels like “Brave New World” could be the start of Anthony Mackie’s trilogy.
Netflix is behind a series spinoff of the Guy Ritchie film “The Gentlemen” focusing on a drug cartel that uses the properties of British aristocrats to help hide their pot operations to keep the law off the sent of these criminal enterprises. The streaming giant has released a new trailer (See below) that gives more insight into the new story and cast led by Theo James, who plays the Duke of Halstead, Eddie Horniman, the estranged son of an English aristocrat who finds himself embroiled in a world of criminality.
“The Gentlemen” reunites Ritchie with footballer turned actor Vinnie Jones, who played witty street-tough characters in “Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch.” We’ll also see veteran actor Ray Winstone (“Sexy Beast”) in the role of a heavy in the show named Bobby Glass, the father of Kaya Scodelario‘s Susie Glass, and Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad”) is showing up as well. New footage from the trailer revealed that Peter Serafinowicz (“John Wick 2”) is appearing too.
Here is the British gangster show’s official synopsis via Netflix:
THE GENTLEMEN sees Eddie Horniman (Emmy-nominated Theo James) unexpectedly inherit his father’s sizeable country estate – only to discover it’s part of a cannabis empire. What’s more, a host of unsavory characters from Britain’s criminal underworld want a piece of the operation… Determined to extricate his family from their clutches, Eddie tries to play the gangsters at their own game.
You can watch that brand-new trailer for “The Gentlemen” below and all 8-episodes will drop on March 7.
Actor Giancarlo Esposito has been getting multiple second-winds thanks to his renewed popularity from shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” allowing him to continue exploring various genres such as sci-fi fantasy with playing a minor Imperial villain in “The Mandalorian” series (Each season having varying levels of screentime). But he seems to be embracing calls from the internet to take on comic book roles within the worlds of Marvel and DC.
While speaking with a crowd at Comic Con Panama, the actor revealed (See video below via Mint Doom on Twitter) that he’s had an early chatter with DC Studios co-head James Gunn about potentially joining the newly reset DCU, which had officially kicked off earlier this month with “Blue Beetle.” However, a character wasn’t declared nor were the subjects discussed in that talk assumed to have taken place before the strikes.
“I have been talking to James Gunn about the possibility of being in a movie – so who knows?”
What we do know is that Gunn is on the hunt for actors to play multiple roles in “Superman: Legacy,” but the names being mentioned for someone like Lex Luthor have been attributed to actors like Alexander Skarsgård, Bill Skarsgård, and previous Clark Kent hopeful, Nicholas Hoult. Fans might want to pigeon-hold the actor to only being right for villains, but Esposito seems to be keen to rebuff that notion. Planet).
In the past, Esposito has mused about a personal desire to play more heroic comic book characters such as Professor Charles Xavier from the “X-Men.” While fan sites/accounts have made massive leaps about Esposito taking certain roles, none of that has actually been backed up by more credible sources like the studios themselves or trades. More or less when the actor has on occasion brought up characters, it has been his personal reaction to internet fan-castings and not likely something he’s actually been offered.
Things like this might not even materialize into a role and could simply be a meeting of the minds that goes nowhere. Then again, we could see him being a good fit as a more cheerful version of, Perry White, Clark and Lois’ boss at the Daily Planet. There are also multiple other high-profile DCU projects in the works as well such as “The Brave & The Bold,” a second season of “Peacemaker,” an animated project focused on the “Creature Commandos,” and even more on the horizon.
Few days ago I was at an event in my country, and I got to see and meet Giancarlo. He answered lots of questions 👀 This one I recorded left me surprised (someone asked if he had a chance to appear in DC films) #dccomics#jamesgunnpic.twitter.com/GPH5ET3QrS
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE SEASON 2 FINALE OF THE MANDALORIAN
The Season 2 finale titled The Rescue was directed by Peyton Reed (Ant-Man) and seemingly gives some closure to The Mandalorian‘s Season 1 narrative.
As I assumed, Mando seeks out help from Bo-Katan and Koska Reeves they agree to help as long as they get a shot at Moff Gideon and returning the Darksaber back to Mandalorians.
Things go south once they get on Gideon’s ship and Dark Troopers are activated, luckily, Mando sends them into space via the airlock and then has a duel with Moff Gideon.
Mando survives and with the Darksaber brings Moff Gideon to the bridge where everyone else is. Gideon informs Din Djain that he’s won the Darksaber and he cannot just hand it over to Bo-Katan it has to be won in combat.
The Dark Troopers return to the ship and start taking apart the blast doors at the bridge only for a lone X-Wing to arrive. A cloaked Luke Skywalker takes care of the Dark Trooper droids in what is likely the most action the character has seen in the entire franchise.
Mark Hamill reprises the role with the help of some uncanny valley CGI which I’m shocked Lucasfilm is still attempting to use after Tarkin and Princess Leia in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was such a mess, the VFX is slightly improved but, in my opinion, they should have gone with an actor like Sebastian Stan instead.
Skywalker with R2-D2 at his side agrees to take Grogu and train him as Mando gives a tearful goodbye promises they’ll see each other again.
With Grogu in the hands of Luke Skywalker and The Jedi, Din Djarin may end up joining forces with Bo-Katan if she doesn’t kill him for the Darksaber to regain her power. Season 3 will likely see focus on the Mandalorians trying to restore things post-Empire.
The episode ends with a button scene teasing the upcoming Boba Fett and Fennec Shand project The Book of Boba Fett which is coming out in December 2021. We see the pair arrive on Tatooine and blast their way into Jabba’s Palace with Fett killing an older Bib Fortuna seemingly taking his spot as the head of the criminal syndicate. I have to assume the series will see Fett positioning himself to be a leader within the criminal underworld of Star Wars.
Rosario Dawson will be leading the spinoff Ahsoka.
However, we don’t know who will be leading the other spinoff series Rangers of The New Republic.
Tom Holland Teases That ‘Uncharted’ Will Begin Shooting Soon In Germany
Fans have been guessing about what Sony Pictures would do about Uncharted and Spider-Man 3 as their productions would now conflict with each other. The obvious thing was that Uncharted would begin shooting first because it was ready to begin in Germany back in March but filming was paused to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Some fans had made giant leaps with theories that Sony would just kill/delay Uncharted (after multiple production woes and hiccups over the years) and push forward with Spider-Man 3 instead. As we’ve been saying for months Uncharted is the priority at the moment and this has been cemented by Tom Holland.
Recent Instagram posts from Tom Holland suggest he’s about to begin shooting Uncharted in Germany very soon after taking a COVID-19 test, getting his hair done to play Nathan Drake and showing off how ripped he got to work with his Uncharted co-star Mark Wahlberg.
This would give the impression that he’ll be too busy over the next couple of months for Spider-Man 3 to begin production in September as previously rumored.
In normal times, Uncharted might have been able to complete it’s production within a range of 3-4 months, however, with the new COVID-19 precautions this would likely extend the filming a couple of months. That’s if people don’t get sick and they have to pause for a couple of weeks.
I think it’s extremely unlikely that Spider-Man 3 either is ready to shoot this September in Atlanta and Sony/Marvel will simply push that production into 2021 then bumping that November 5th, 2021 release to sometime in 2022.
‘Doctor Strange 2’ Still Expected To Shoot Primarily At Longcross Studios
Speaking of Phase Four films that have seen their productions delayed in 2020, I have an update as it looks like Marvel still plans to film Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England. A major filming location I had previously confirmed over at HN Entertainment.
Not anything crazy but, interestingly, they’ve been sticking to that stage space instead of considering other places. Longcross is the same stage facility where the original film shot and director Sam Raimi shot his Wizard of Oz prequel for Disney titled Oz, The Great & Powerful.
It’s a little unclear when they’ll begin shooting since it’s unknown how much set construction or prep has been taking place since the United Kingdom has been in lockdown. We also won’t know if they’ll be able to meet their 2021 release date until Marvel makes it known when they’ll be able to start filming.
I had also reported that they were planning on filming the sequel in New York City and Norway, but it remains to be seen if they’ll be doing any international filming anytime soon.
We shouldn’t be surprised if Doctor Strange 2 like Spider-Man 3 is delayed into 2021. However, Spider-Man 3 is a slightly different case as their lead is shooting another large studio film first.
Then again, we have little idea how much set construction and prep has been underway on either of the MCU sequels during the pandemic.
‘Moonlight’s Janelle Monae Wants To Play Storm In ‘Black Panther 2’
We’ve been all been excited to see who will ultimately play the rebooted version of the X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and yet another actress has thrown their hand in the ring to play aka Storm.
Moonlight actress and singer Janelle Monae spoke to Empire recently and revealed she’d very much like to play Ororo Munroe aka Storm in the Black Panther sequel. Bringing it up to cast members when they were hanging out in Atlanta.
MONAE: “I definitely have thrown it out there. One of my dreams has always been to play Storm. I don’t know if she comes in Black Panther, but it would be a dream to have her in it. I don’t know where they are with that. A lot of women have played Storm and they’ve done an exceptional job, and I would love to be in that line of artists and get to do Storm justice.”
T’Challa and Ororo in the comics do become romantically involved leading to marriage and it would be an organic way to introduce her into the MCU given that her mother N’Dare (a tribal princess) is from Kenya. Ororo potentially being fellow royalty wouldn’t be a stretch.
We still don’t know where Black Panther 2 is in the development stage other than Ryan Coogler is writing the script. While there have been rumblings of Spider-Man‘s Kraven The Hunter, Namor, and Fantastic Four‘s Doctor Doom appearing in the film nothing has been announced or confirmed.
‘The Mandalorian’s Giancarlo Esposito Says He’s Keen For Marvel Studios Role Next
Janelle isn’t the only actor seemingly gunning for a Marvel role. Veteran film and television actor Giancarlo Esposito (Do The Right Thing, The Mandalorian) briefly mentioned to Entertainment Tonight that he’d like to work with Marvel Studios at some point.
ESPOSITO: “Well there’s been all these rumors about being with Marvel, I want to work with those guys. I put it out there all the time. I haven’t created any of those rumors, but I worked years ago with Louis D’Esposito, who is one of the guys at Marvel, back when he was doing Cotton Club and I was doing Cotton Club, he was the [1st assistant director].”
“What they do is fantastic, and I want to do something enduring with them. I think the Marvel world would be, likely, the next step for me.”
This comes after a year ago there were rumblings the Breaking Bad actor was wanted for a role, however, that was neither announced nor confirmed.
Where he could land role-wise is unknown despite the fan suggestions for Norman Osborn and Magneto. I personally think he’d be excellent as a hero like Norrin Radd aka Silver Surfer since Adam McKay was trying to get a feature film together over at Marvel last year.
Charlize Theron Admits She Has Never Been In Talks With Marvel For Roles
While speaking with Variety, Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron (Atomic Blonde, Mad Max: Fury Road) has revealed that despite rumors over the years she has ultimately never spoken with Marvel Studios about various roles.
THERON: “I swear to God. I’ve never gotten anything. No, I’m not lying to you. But that’s okay. You know what? I am paving my own way. I’m creating my own opportunities. So it’s alright.”
This doesn’t mean Charlize will never meet with Marvel in the future but it sounds like it hasn’t happened up to this point.
Russo Brothers Support Anthony Mackie’s Comments On Lack of Diversity Behind The Scenes At Marvel Studios
After Anthony Mackie pointed out not too long ago that the people behind the scenes of Marvel Studios movies are mostly white and not as diverse as it could be. He is getting some support from directors The Russo Brothers while asked about it by Movie Maker.
JOE RUSSO: “I think we can always all do better at diversity, constantly in this business, and in every facet of every industry — so he’s not wrong at all. I think that we all have to work harder to keep endorsing and supporting diversity on both sides of the camera.”
Marvel Studios Artist Charlie Wen Shares Unofficial ‘Shang-Chi’ Artwork
A brief post made by Marvel Studios concept artist Charlie Wen on his Instagram shows us some interesting but unofficial artwork featuring Simu Liu as Shang-Chi.
THE RONIN 