Earlier in the year, Marvel Studios’ producer/executive Nate Moore revealed that the Disney+ shows were the first time that films universe, the MCU, connects directly with Marvel shows. This comes after Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb exited the company and Kevin Feige took over the television division (killing multiple shows including a Ghost Rider series) after becoming Marvel’s chief creative officer, re-branding as Marvel TV Studios.
“When Disney+ was announced we realized that there was an opportunity to interweave a cinematic universe with a television universe which has never been done before,” Nate Moore said in a Disney+ special Marvel Studios: ASSEMBLED focusing on The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.
You can see that clip below spotted by The Playlist.
This would confirm that Marvel Studios only sees the series that they make are the shows that are canon in the MCU because Moore’s statements were cleared by both Disney and Marvel, since this was their own segment and not a random interview. Even if it was an interview, Moore is so high-up at Marvel Studios that what he says is gospel, just like when Kevin, Victoria or Louis speak upon what the studio is doing.
Now, Guardians of The Galaxy franchise writer and director James Gunn (who speaks with Marvel Studios brass on a regular basis) is under this impression too while interacting with fans on Twitter and dismissing that Agents of SHIELD/Agent Carter are MCU Canon, despite what fans think or desperately want to believe is true.
James Gunn has completed work on The Suicide Squad (releases August 6), will wrap on his HBO Max series Peacemaker this month (releasing January 2022), and Chris Pratt says Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 (will hit theaters on May 5, 2023) begins shooting this November.
James Gunn is wrapping on his HBO Max series Peacemaker next month and is already gearing up to shoot both Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3. and a Disney+ holiday special as well.
Production Weekly has listed the working title of Guardians of The Galaxy Holiday Special will be Buzzcut, the working title for the third film has been Hot Christmas (confirmed).
UPDATE: James Gunn has debunked Production Weekly’s new info via Twitter, which is another reason to be cautious about their information.
A reminder that working titles are mainly used during filming and then are discarded once the project is locked.
There is an assumption the projects will see the return of Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Dave Bautista as Drax The Destroyer, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot. It’s still questionable if we’ll see Zoe Saldana as Gamora in both.
Filming on Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 was revealed to be set for November to April, this news comes after Star-Lord actor Chris Pratt mentioned the production schedule during a visit to Jimmy Kimmel! after he was asked when they would be making the sequel. It will mainly be taking place in the United Kingdom, a location that is already being used for for Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels.
Other recent working titles for Marvel projects include the following.
LOKI – ARCHITECT
BLACK WIDOW = BLUE BAYOU
ETERNALS = SACK LUNCH
SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS = STEAMBOAT
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS = STELLAR VORTEX
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME = THE NOVEMBER PROJECT
THOR: LOVE & THUNDER = THE BIG SALAD
SHE-HULK = CLOVER
MOON KNIGHT = GOOD FAITH
THE MARVELS = GOAT RODEO
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER = SUMMER BREAK
ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA = DUST BUNNY
SECRET INVASION = JAMBALAYA
Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 has a release date of May 5, 2023 and we have to assume the Guardians of The Galaxy Holiday Special will air on Disney+ around December 2022. However, we’ll see the Guardians next in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love & Thunder on May 6, 2022 as they shot scenes during the production in Australia earlier this year.
Interestingly enough, Loki cinematographer Autumn Durlad Arkapaw has posted a video on Instagram of director Ryan Coogler playing basketball on a court. This seemingly confirms she’s working on the film as Black Panther’s cinematographer Rachel Morrison is busy on her own project.
Morrison adding fuel herself by sending her love with a reply on the post from June 18 and further confirming that Autumn is working on the Black Panther sequel. Auntumn Durald Arkapaw was recently in Atlanta working on their DIsney+ series Loki and has a fantastic eye as the show is one of the best looking projects to date.
Well, it looks like director Ryan Coogler and Marvel Studios have started production slightly earlier than expected on their Black Panther sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Variety seems to have got word directly from Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige that filming has officially stared on the stages in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday. Adding that Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba, and Angela Bassett are expected to reprise their roles from the original.
While there have been many fan-fueled online rumors of how they’re going to be moving forward with the second film, Marvel brass has confirmed they will neither recast T’Challa nor use a digital version of the late Chadwick Boseman. This sort of leaves fans questioning what they ultimate plan to do here.
It’s not the only Marvel project shooting in Atlanta at the moment as Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk series is deep into production as we speak that will see the return of Mark Ruffalo’s Professor Hulk and Tim Roth’s Abomination, we recently got a sneak peek at the Hulk villain’s updated design in the latest trailer for Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.
Disney has given Black Panther: Wakanda Forever a prime summer release date of July 8, 2022 and Ryan Coogler is developing a Wakanda series for Disney+ as well.
BLACK PANTHER – After the death of his father, T’Challa returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king — and as Black Panther — gets tested when he’s drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people.
As Marvel Studios has wrapped on Doctor Strange 2, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Thor: Love & Thunder, and a handful of their live-action shows. They still have a bunch of things that will begin shooting this year. It’s going to be a big year for Marvel sequels with The Marvels, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania are on deck alongside James Gunn’s potentially last Guardians installment, Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3.
Franchise lead Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his upcoming Amazon Prime Video film The Tomorrow War and confirmed the third film’s production scheduling will be November to April. However, despite already reading the script the actor couldn’t dish any details.
“We will be shooting at the end of this year to beginning of next year, like November to, maybe, April,” Chris Pratt old the late night talk show host when asked about the sequel’s production schedule.
It’s been confirmed that Guardians 3 will be filming in the United Kingdom under the working title Hot Christmas and was given a prime release date of May 5, 2023.
Earlier in the week, I mentioned a desire to see Loki series director Kate Herron tackle Marvel’s X-Men reboot. Keeping with the mutant topic, I’ve been watching the Aussie hitman series Mr. Inbetween from FX (now it’s in it’s third season) lately and I can’t help to get huge Wolverine vibes from this show. I’m come to the conclusion that the show’s creator/writer Scott Ryan (also stars as Ray) and director Nash Edgerton (brother of actor Joel Edgerton) could be the perfect duo to bring a solo Wolverine series to life for Marvel Studios.
The show is dark, emotional, funny and action-packed something that I believe would be extremely attractive to Marvel. Nash Edgerton, like the John Wick fellas Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, is a director with a background as a stuntman.
If you’re unfamiliar with the show here’s a rundown and trailer from Mr. Inbetween.
Mr. Inbetween stars Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith, a hitman for hire who makes a life out of balancing his criminal activities with his obligations to friends and family. He tries to be a father to Brittany (Chika Yasumura), his daughter with his ex-wife, a loving boyfriend to Ally (Brook Satchwell), and a good caretaker to his sick brother Bruce (Nicholas Cassim). Ray also covers for his friend Gary (Justin Rosniak) when needed, and follows his boss Freddy’s (Damon Herriman) orders without question.
Marvel hasn’t officially announced any upcoming plans for any Wolverine projects despite online rumors of a Wolverine show potentially being in the works. Officially, they are indeed moving forward Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 3 with writers working on the script and lacking any real updates are expected to reboot the X-Men movies sometime in the future.
Giving Wolverine his own series could be a way to properly tackle his military service during World War II that has been teased a couple of times, a real version of the Weapon X Program, Logan’s connections to Department H/Alpha Flight, his time in Japan/Madripoor, and potentially what he was up to during the Cold War against the Soviet Union. It could also help give other characters on the X-Men roster to take more leading roles in the MCU reboot.
We don’t have any idea who’ll ultimately take the Wolverine role from Hugh Jackman, but I’m leaning towards former Batman contender Cillian Murphy (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Peaky Blinders, 28 Days Later, Dunkirk, A Quiet Place Part II). The Irish actor has rubbed shoulders with plenty of MCU stars co-starring with Brie Larson in Free Fire, Chris Evans in the sci-fi thriller Sunshine alongside appearing with Thor’s Chris Hemsworth and Spider-Man’s Tom Holland in Ron Howard’s In The Heart of The Sea.
He’s a little bit older, however, not too much older than Moon Knight’s Oscar Isaac (42) or Doctor Strange’s Benedict Cumberbatch (44). While Cillian is slightly younger than Marvel’s new Blade actor Mahershala Ali (47).
Murphy is one of the few cast members from Danny Boyle’s Sunshine that hasn’t landed an MCU role as Chris Evans became Captain America, Benedict Wong plays Doctor Strange pal Wong, Hiroyuki Sanada briefly appeared as sword wielding Yaukza boss killed by Clint Barton in Avengers: Endgame, and Michelle Yeoh will be seen in Shang-Chi this September.
If they wanted to hire a younger actor, Aussie lad Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers, Stranger Things, Baz Lurman’s Elvis Biopic) wouldn’t be a horrible choice and he happens to have family connection to Canada. His Power Rangers co-star Naomi Scott took the Princess Jasmine role in Disney’s live-action Aladdin movie with Stranger Things leads playing Marvel characters as David Harbour is The Red Guardian in Black Widow and Charlie Heaton played Cannonball in The New Mutants.
I can’t help but be reminded that Legion and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawely was developing a Doctor Doom film for 20th Century Fox before the merger, who knows if that will ever see the light of day. However, Hawley has since pivoted to an Earthbound series set within the Alien universe for FX On Hulu that has Ridley Scott (Raised By Wolves, Prometheus, Alien, Blade Runner, Alien: Covenant) attached to produce. I wouldn’t be shocked if we eventually saw Marvel Studios also look at the creatives at FX and Hulu to develop shows for them like Scott Ryan and Nash Edgerton.
Hiring a couple of Aussies could help the idea of shooting a would-be Wolverine series at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Fox Studios also happens to be where Mr. Inbetween is shot.
It’s the same studio facility used for The Matrix, Star Wars: Attack of The Clones, Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith, Superman Returns, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, Mad Max: Fury Road, Alien: Covenant, Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings, Thor: Love & Thunder, and George Miller’s upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa.
Anyways, we’ll keep our fingers crossed Marvel will consider them for a hypothetical Wolverine series.
A brand new trailer for Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings has been released by Marvel Studios and is seems to reveal some big things. Such as Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky aka Abomination in some sort of illegally fighting ring, which might just be located in Madripoor. The seedy island nation recently introduced in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. and the hide-out for people ducking the U.S. government.
Also, Blonsky seems to be fighting someone connected to Doctor Strange and they were smart enough to hide his face, so we can’t confirm if it’s Benedict Wong’s character Wong or someone else. Although, it’s likely Wong.
I’m curious if Shang-Chi will have connections to the She-Hulk series.
I did theorize that in the last trailer we saw a flag of Madripoor in the background, while others assumed it was related to Captain America/John Walker. The lawless country would certainly be a place where Blonsky could hide from U.S. government just like Sharon Carter aka The Power Broker. I’m curious if the Ten Rings/Madripoor will be showing up in things like Armor Wars and She-Hulk.
There is also a glimpse of the dragon, The Great Protector.
Check out the new trailer below.
SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS – Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.
Joining Simu Liu in the Marvel cast includes Tony Leung as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Shang-Chi’s friend Katy, and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, as well as Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, and Ronny Chieng. Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and produced by Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz, with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Charles Newirth serving as executive producers. David Callaham & Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham wrote the screenplay for the film, and experience it in theaters on September 3, 2021.
While we won’t spoil anything else from the third episode of Loki, director Kate Herron took to Instagram yesterday to double-down on comments made by Tom Hiddleston’s character Loki about his sexual preference for both would-be princes and princesses.
A huge revelation that Loki is now canonically bisexual.
“From the moment I joined [the Loki series] it was very important to me, and my goal, to acknowledge Loki was bisexual. It is a part of who he is and who I am too. I know this is a small step but I’m happy, and heart is so full, to say that this is now canon in [the MCU],” the director said in a post on Instagram (See below).
Marvel has previously tipped-toed with same thing with Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie off-screen bisexuality by Thompson herself and endorsed by Kevin Feige, but this feels like the first time a major character has been established as part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Will this be the only time it will be referenced? We’ll have to wait and see, but given that the character hasn’t really been given love interests in the past, it’s possible we might not see Loki establish same-sex relationships. But I would love to be wrong here.
One of the big things announced about Chloe Zhao’s Eternals is that Brian Tyree Henry’s character Phastos will be part of a loving same-sex family, establishing the Marvel Comics character as openly gay. I think fans are going to be excited to see themselves on the big and small screen as Marvel continues to grow their tent of representation, I’m sure folks are going to be watching carefully about how Marvel hopes to continue these character’s stories within the MCU beyond these reveals.
Loki still has more episodes to air on Disney+ and we’ll be curious to see if that comment is all we end up getting concerning his bisexuality. It’s certainly an encouraging start.
Marvel Studios has outed Sophia Di Martino’s Lady Loki variant character in a new promotional poster, but some clues point towards her not actually being a true Loki variant. Sophia’s character was attributed to be Lady Loki from her original casting and was photographed in costume on set in Atlanta early in production, so fans were quite aware of her existence before the appearance in Episode 2.
Interestingly enough, she doesn’t want to be called Loki and there might be a good reason for that. Her name isn’t Loki and there is new evidence to what the real name might be.
Sylvie Laufeydottir shows on a file spotted by Fandom and is likely a direct nod to Sylvie Lushton, a more modern incarnation of The Enchantress and has a connection to The Young Avengers (members are slowly being introduced to the MCU). The name also appears in new merchandise spotted by The Direct.
Given the surname, it’s possible that Sylvie is actually Loki’s sister or simply a female variant. However, it’s interesting they’d select a name attributed to Loki’s blonde female counterpart and Asgardian partner, Amora The Enchantress. Lady Loki, in the comics, is traditionally depicted with dark hair.
There is the possibility they’ve combined Lady Loki, Amora The Enchantress, and Sylvie into a single character.
It feels like we might get some more information on “Lady Loki” in the next episode.
When the Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox, the rights to Marvel Comics projects such as Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Silver Surfer returned to Marvel. We know that Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Cop Car) is attached to direct their Fantastic Four reboot, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 3 is officially in the works with The Molyneux (Bob’s Burgers) handling the script, and writer/director Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice, Ant-Man, Don’t Look Up) has been publicly interested in tackling a solo Silver Surfer movie.
What seems to be something that won’t be anytime soon is their X-Men reboot, which likely won’t get a release date before 2025, as hinted to by Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige. How they’re going about with Fantastic Four could suggest that Marvel Studios may end up looking at their existing director lineup to handle the X-Men reboot.
A director that is quickly becoming a strong standout is Loki’s Kate Herron, as the series has a strong cinematic feeling and look despite being a Disney+ series. It also echos what Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are doing with The Mandalorian slightly more than the two previous Marvel/Disney+ shows.
I bring up Kate Herron because she recently revealed in an interview with Trey Mangum that her first introduction to Marvel was the X-Men cartoon series that originally aired domestically on Fox in the 1990s.
“Basically, my first introduction to Marvel was that I loved the X-Men cartoons growing up, I was obsessed with it. I remember trying to turn my dolls into Storm…but I’d always play X-Men with my toys. I think loved it because they were outsiders and I connected with that, I was really drawn into that story,” Kate Herron said.
Having a director with that sort of connection with X-Men would be the complete opposite of Bryan Singer, who was notoriously ignorant of the source material (altering characters at whim) and according to Hugh Jackman, actively banned the comics from the set. Herron has proven she has a visually striking eye and the ability to have the scope needed for a project as big as X-Men, also being able to juggle a good amount of characters as each episode of Loki adds more players into the mix.
It wouldn’t hurt to have someone that might champion the Jim Lee era costumes that were highlighted in the Fox Kids cartoon. Going that route with the character designs would also help separate itself from the Fox films and allow Marvel Studios have their own stamp on the live-action X-Men.
I also think one key element of the X-Men franchise is the high-volume of female characters on the roster, something that wasn’t always handled properly with Fox’s era of the franchise as Bryan Singer/writers/producers took liberties with characters like Rogue and Storm. Those characters alongside Psylocke didn’t get proper adaptations with the previous incarnations. Herron’s Loki series has a strong/diverse female presence and those characters have been given a little more depth, there is hope that she could give a bigger stage to female members of the team.
While some fans will likely be keen to see The Russo Brothers return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for X-Men, they’ve been clear that what they actually want to tackle is Wolverine and Secret Wars. If they were to oversee the Secret Wars event, the X-Men would likely be involved and scratch that Wolverine itch.
I could see Kate Herron fitting nicely as the architect or godmother of the new era of the X-Men and fans like myself may feel more comfortable with the franchise in her hands after seeing her impressive work on Loki.
THE RONIN 
