Tag: Jeff Loveness

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Loki’ & ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Writer Michael Waldron Takes Over Screenwriting Duties On ‘Avengers 5’

Marvel Studios is indeed retooling their next “Avengers” installment as it’s now been revealed that Michael Waldron (“Rick & Morty”), the creator of the “Loki” series and screenwriter of the Multiverse-focused “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” has been tasked to rewrite/rework the script for “Avengers 5” that had been previously titled, “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.” This comes after Destin Daniel Cretton was said to have exited the film to focus on a sequel to “Shang-Chi” alongside his “Wonder Man” series on Disney+ that is expected to resume production soon.

Waldron is also working on “Avengers: Secret Wars” and now makes him Marvel’s main screenwriter on their big Multiverse films. Getting someone to pen the next two installments would sort of mirror how the duo of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were assigned to both “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame” after working on “The Winter Soldier” and “Civil War.”

This would confirm that previous screenwriter Jeff Loveness (“Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania”) has stepped aside from the project. Earlier in the month, there had been rumors suggesting that the studio had moved on from Loveness after the disappointing reaction to his “Ant-Man” sequel featuring Jonathan Majors’ Kang The Conqueror as the main antagonist. It remains to be seen if they’ll keep Kang as their big bad over the next two installments. The recent season finale of “Loki” seemingly sidestepped Kang being such a threat and left the door open for someone else to fill that void, potentially.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Multiverse villains, The Squadron Supreme, are considered for the pic. A superpowered team that was Marvel’s evil knock-off of The Justice League that had been originally pulled out of the Multiverse as foes for The Avengers. Instead of having a single menacing baddie, there could be a whole team of them looking to defeat our heroes.

The Avengers #148, Squadron Supreme June 1976, Vintage Marvel Comic, MID-GRADE | eBay

A longstanding rumor over the last year or so has been that “Doctor Strange 2” helmer Sam Raimi is being courted for “Avengers Secret Wars” and could also end up making “The Kang Dynasty” as well. Raimi’s involvement has yet to be officially announced by Marvel/Disney or backed up by trade reports, but we shouldn’t be all that shocked if someone is named in the very near future.

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ Loses Director Destin Daniel Cretton Amid Rumors Of Creative Hiccups

As Marvel Studios is already seeing its fair share of headaches after the weak domestic box office opening for their latest pic “The Marvels,” another big one has sprung up. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that director Destin Daniel Cretton has exited the next “Avengers” installment titled “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” and there doesn’t sound like an immediate replacement waiting in the wings for the MCU event film.

Jeff Loveness (“Rick & Morty“) had been tapped to pen the sequel’s script after working on bringing a cinematic version of the Kang The Conqueror (played by actor Jonathan Majors) variant to the big screen with “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania.” There had been some rumblings this week from journalist/author Joanna Robinson (via ThePlaylist) on The House of R podcast that the writer was off the project and the studio had considered pivoting from Kang as the team-up’s next big villain.

Marvel has yet to officially comment on any changes to the film or its narrative direction.

This comes after “Ant-Man 3” had a bit of a disastrous response from audiences and the reason season of “Loki” attempted to distance itself from that film as well alongside Kang as the overseer of the Multiverse entirely. Potentially, allowing either Tom Hiddleston’s Loki to fill his spot as the villain (“Avengers: The Loki Dynasty”?) or Marvel looking to recast the role (Given Majors’ legal issues pertaining to domestic violence) with a big-name actor that could reenergize audiences. Thankfully, Kang being a Multiverse baddie with an unlimited amount of variant counterparts, a recast of the role wouldn’t be all that strange for audiences to accept.

This wouldn’t be the first director to exit a Marvel film in the development stage. Some of the others in the past include Edgar Wright, Patty Jenkins, and Scott Derrickson. There is an expectation his working relationship with Marvel won’t end as his Disney+ series “Wonder Man” is expected to resume filming as the strikes have been resolved and would likely continue to be a creative force on the previously announced sequel to “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.” As reports say Cretton will now focus on “Shang-Chi 2” which would see actor Simu Liu reprise the role of the Asian-American superhero.

“Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” was expected to be ready for release in May of 2026. However, if the film has lost both the director and screenwriter you could easily expect that date to be pushed back even further or end up replaced with “Avengers: Secret Wars.”

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ Screenwriter Teasing Namor Will Appear In The Next Big Superhero Crossover Event?

It’s exciting to think we have two more Avengers installments on the way from Marvel Studios with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty being helmed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings). The filmmaker will be working with screenwriter Jeff Loveness on the sequel, who recently penned Ant-Man 3 and will tackle Jonathan Majors‘ Kang The Conqueror for the second time. During a recent interview with ComicBook, the writer revealed a character he’s extremely excited to get his hands on and it’s one we’ve already been introduced to.

“Namor, man. I’m excited to write Namor,” Loveness said when asked about what he was excited about moving forward as he continues to work within the MCU.

Although, not directly said this could easily be taken as a hint that Tenonch Huerta’s Namor might be a character that will show up in The Kang Dynasty, mainly, because a solo project hasn’t been announced and we’re still unsure if he’ll be appearing in Matt Shakman’s Fantastic Four reboot (given Namor’s comic book connections to that superhero team) that is set to begin shooting sometime next year. An Avengers project would seemingly be larger enough to give some wiggle-room to allow for Namor to make a return after being introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

It’s also worth mentioning that while working on Rick & Morty, Loveness as a writer worked on the season five episode that introduced Mr. Nimbus. A character is a direct parody of Namor The Sub-Mariner but with a heightened level of sexuality and more silly/theatrical than his MCU counterpart.

While Namor was the antagonist of Wakanda Forever and had his own reasons to protect the world from finding his underwater kingdom by any means. In the comics, the character has been quite active in the superhero role as well joining the ranks of Marvel teams like The Avengers, The Defenders, The Illuminati, and The Invaders. So, it remains to be seen if Namor will actually show up, but, hopefully, if he does it’ll be to help boost his heroic/anti-hero persona and not double-down as being a villain.

Barring any more changes to the MCU slate by Disney, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is set to hit theaters on May 2, 2025.

SOURCE: COMIC BOOK