We’re waiting on some big announcements from Marvel Studios concerning both their film and television lineups from presentations at San Deigo Comic-Con next week and D23 in August. However, Marvel’s Kevin Feige is already dishing a few tidbits during the press tour for “Deadpool & Wolverine” and confirmed that their “Nova” project is a streaming series that will air on Disney+ alongside when we could expect to see it.
Feige recently told Comic Book, “It’s happening, it’s coming together. Richard Rider, yep…A show, yeah, yeah.” He also mentioned when fans can expect the “Nova” series to be launched on Disney+, ” It’s three or four years out.”
That timeline would suggest “Nova” could be ready to go by 2027 or 2028, which gives them plenty of time to develop and find a leading actor to play Richard Rider. If you’re not familiar, after the destruction of the Nova Corps, a new Nova Prime is selected as Earthling Richard Rider takes up the mantle and would see Rider becoming yet another protector of the galaxy.
In the era of the “Star Wars” franchise mostly being done on Disney+, there is certainly a way to do a good-looking cosmic MCU series on a streaming budget. However, many of the Marvel shows don’t seem to be firing on the same level regarding sets and VFX. Hopefully, that’ll change with “Nova” since we’re talking about a character wading in the waters of “Guardians of The Galaxy” (Nova Corps. first introduced in the first installment) and “Captain Marvel” movies.
Some folks that might be a good fit for Richard Rider include Manny Jacinto (“The Acolyte”) and Timothy Olyphant (“The Mandalorian,” “Alien: Earth,” “Justified”) given their recent appearances on Disney+ via “Star Wars” playing helmeted characters they likely wouldn’t be all that opposed to returning for “Nova.”
While plot details have yet to be announced by Marvel, we do have a few crumbs to work from previous movies. Off-screen, Thanos has destroyed the Nova Corps on Xandar to get his purple mitts on one of the Infinity Stones they had been protecting after the events of the first “Guardians.” It remains to be seen if they’ll show those events in a flashback or if they’ll return to Xandar as Rider attempts to rebuild the group of space cops. At that point in the MCU timeline, The Kree Empire and Xandar have a peace treaty, and it wouldn’t be that hard to imagine that the “Nova” series includes some Kree villains that haven’t been tapped for the “Captain Marvel” films.
Keeping that 2027 (at the earliest) airdate in mind, cameras likely won’t be rolling until 2026.
In the wake of the massive success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s last two “Avengers” movies, the studio has been trying to assemble an epic one-two-punch for the follow-up, with two more event films focused on the epic Marvel Comics team. Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige look to be finally zeroing in on a replacement for Destin Daniel Cretton (now focused on “Shang-Chi 2”) on “Avengers 5,” as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that The Russo Brothers are in “early talks” to not only take over from Destin but also take on “Avengers: Secret Wars” as well.
UPDATE: Kevin Feige talked to Inverse and poured a little cold water on the report, hinting that the report might be inaccurate or that they jumped the gun a bit. The interviewer and Inverse are framing this response as a “denial.”
“No, I can’t comment on it except to say it was somebody else a couple of weeks ago, and I look forward to seeing who it is going to be next week,” Feige says. “We’ll see.”
I asked Kevin Feige if the Russos are really directing Avengers 5 and 6. He denied it. Article: https://t.co/p5do3CVzsN
Of course, the sibling duo aren’t strangers to the inner workings of the MCU as they directed “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Avengers: Endgame.” They’ve had massive success at the global box office, a potential reason for their offer to return, by earning a massive $6.681 billion over their four MCU releases. Specifically, “Avengers: Endgame” stands as the second biggest movie of all time globally with an impressive $2.79 billion.
The latter two films were also shot back-to-back with a hefty amount of characters to juggle, which is also going to be an element of the next two “Avengers” installments. Something the Russo Brothers are really good at is managing a larger-than-normal superhero roster and will be an asset needed for these next two adventures. This development is certainly a bit of shock when you consider that previously, when the both “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” (title subject to change) and “Avengers: Secret Wars” was first announced by Marvel Studios they were extremely quick to add that neither project would have the Russo Brothers directing. The brothers had expressed some interest in tackling “Secret Wars” and the MCU’s “X-Men” reboot while on press tours for “Endgame” and other things.
Despite their thunderous box office and critical achievements with Marvel Studios, the directors have struggled more recently with critics on both the Tom Holland crime thriller “Cherry” and their $200 million-plus budgeted Netflix spy flick “The Gray Man.” They have another Netflix movie on the way, “The Electric State,” starring Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”) in the sci-fi pic.
While plot details aren’t being revealed at this time, established MCU screenwriter Michael Waldron (“Rick & Morty”), who has been the main screenwriter tackling the Multiverse-focused projects like “Loki” and “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness,” had been brought in to help with the script for “Avengers 5.” Kang The Conqueror was originally going to be the villain of “Avengers 5” before Jonathan Majors was fired by the studio, and it’s unclear if the studio is pursuing a recast for Kang or simply going to jump forward to “Secret Wars” (the big Multiverse war film) by splitting the project into two parts.
Fans will be quick to assume longtime creative partners Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely could be making their return to the MCU (Yet this hasn’t been made official in any way, just speculation).
It’s hard to assume what the outcome of their involvement would mean for the future of the MCU. While cinematic universe reset rumors are persistent, the studio hasn’t telegraphed they have plans to reboot their superhero franchise anytime soon. The idea that the band is getting back to together I’m sure is extremely exciting for fans and the involvement of Feige on these two films might help to ease the worries of folks not completely thrilled with their last couple of directing efforts. One of their more glorious contributions was giving Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark a fitting death scene by sacrificing himself for the universe. Hopefully, Marvel and the creative have their wits among them and don’t attempt to resurrect Stark simply to lean into the Multiverse gimmick.
There have also been some expectations that mutants, and particularly the new MCU version of the X-Men could be part of these new movies (“Deadpool & Wolverine” has been already teasing this) alongside the new cast of “Fantastic Four.” Although nothing has been made official on that front other than the new movie landed screenwriter Michael Lesslie (a director could easily be announced soon).
This big news comes off the heels of various trade rumblings that “Deadpool & Wolverine” (another Multiverse-centric film) filmmaker Shawn Levy was offered the job on “Avengers 5.” But as a subsequent report from Deadline states, Levy will be focusing on his new untitled “Star Wars” movie that will see the Canadian director reunited with screenwriter Jonathan Tropper (“The Adam Project”).
We’ll keep our fingers crossed that someone has the good sense to include Multiverse antagonists, The Squadron Supreme, in these upcoming “Avengers” films. Hard to ignore that Marvel’s take on the Justice League would make for some intense action sequences and could keep the superheroes on their toes, not to mention potentially leading to a few on-screen deaths (Thor and Hulk being strong contenders).
Later in the month, we’ll likely hear directly from Marvel/Feige about this whole ordeal as Marvel is making their grand return to the San Diego Comic-Con with a presentation on Saturday, July 27, which should confirm this announcement alongside other big updates on future feature films like “Fantastic Four,” “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts,” “Blade,” “Spider-Man 4,” and more.
With Marvel’s development on “X-Men” finally in full swing, we have some thoughts about the direction of the new project and how it could strive to establish itself as different from what happened in the 20th Century Fox era of feature films alongside fixing some longstanding grievances and limitations.
Last week saw the confirmation (via Deadline) that British screenwriter Michael Lesslie (“Now You See Me 3”) is indeed “in talks” with Marvel Studios to pen their upcoming “X-Men” reboot (previous reports suggest there were multiple contenders in the mix). Lesslie’s credits include “Macbeth,” “Assassin’s Creed,” the recent “Hunger Games” prequel, and wrote four episodes of the John Le Carre spy series “The Little Drummer Girl” that starred MCU actress Florence Pugh (“Thunderbolts,” “Black Widow”) and directed by Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook (“Old Boy”).
A director has yet to be named for “X-Men,” however, we’ve been pushing the idea of recruiting from within and mentioned years ago about considering Ryan Coolger (“Black Panther”) for the gig after extending his deal with the studio as he’s involved with “Eyes of Wakanda” and has been long assumed to wrap up a trilogy with “Black Panther 3.”
MULTIVERSE MUTANT VARIANTS: While we are still a bit in the dark about the studio’s main plan for the X-Men, we’ve seen variants appear in various recent films with Charles Xavier/Professor X (Patrick Stewart) in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” dying in Earth-838, in “The Marvels” we see a CGI variant of Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) where he mentions another variant of Xavier, and “Deadpool & Wolverine” brings in the TVA from “Loki” alongside with the tease of Wade Wilson (Previously existed in his own universe outside of the Singerverse since he had variants of both Colossus and Juggernaut) and a mysterious Logan variant (We don’t know for sure if both are making the jump to Earth-616 the film until we see how it ends).
“Fantastic Four” is expected to take place in a retro-futuristic universe, but it remains to be seen how mutants will be joining the fold as Marvel has yet to telegraph what the plan actually is. However, the internet has plenty of theories, none of which have been confirmed, including the rumbling of an MCU reboot after “Avengers: Secret Wars.”
There is the obvious notion that “Deadpool & Wolverine” is simply saying goodbye to Fox’s era of Marvel films, hence why Jennifer Garner’s Elektra is set to appear in the project when she had zero connection to the “X-Men” movies and even less likely to join the MCU for the foreseeable future.
MCU MUTANTS ALREADY EXIST: King Ch’ah Toh Almehen/Namor (Tenoch Huerta) is referred to as a mutant in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” it’s also worth mentioning that he’s part of an X-Men roster in more recent comics and is heralded as Marvel Comics’ first mutant. He’s not the only one either, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) also had been teased in her Disney+ series as being a mutant while incorporating the “X-Men” animated theme, and Damage Control seemed to be developing an early version of the Sentinel Program (via Stark/Mysterio drones) as a government response to combat meta-human threats.
Having Namor or Kamala becoming a cohort of the X-Men wouldn’t be a bizarre notion.
FIX GLARING PROBLEMS OF THE SINGERVERSE: It’s hard to not be aware that Kevin Feige is precious about his time working on the original run of “X-Men” films, but they clearly weren’t great adaptations of the characters or their comic book adventures while they were still mostly entertaining installments.
Mutants like Cyclops, Rogue, Storm, Callisto, and a few others barely resembled their comic book counterparts during the Fox days. Hopefully, fans will finally get authentic versions, and we’ve already seen that Marvel is open to finally putting them in their iconic costumes. Hugh Jackman, of course, wearing a version of the Jim Lee-era suit (still waiting to see footage of the cowl) in the upcoming “Deadpool” sequel.
Some of the problems weren’t just improper takes on various mutants. Shoehorning them in the movies without much of an introduction, exploration of their origins, or much character development without an impact on the story. A good amount ended up being included just to kill off, used in the background, or simply added as an Easter Egg/cameo for the die-hards.
When director Bryan Singer returned to tackle two more movies, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “X-Men: Apocalypse,” a big issue started to materialize and conflict with the canon of the previous movies. ALL MUTANTS now, suddenly, without explanation, had a slow-aging power set when that was once relegated to a handful of specific mutants. It was a lazy method by producers to keep the “X-Men: First Class” cast together while the movies jumped decades spanning four different decades (starting in the 1960s and ending in the 1990s with “Dark Phoenix”) while the actors never really actually aged, which was frustrating for fans. Since the MCU is already filled with characters that don’t age normally, if the reboot decided to only make this a characteristic for a few like Wolverine, Magneto, Mystique, Mister Sinister, Apocalypse, and Sabretooth, we’d be all for it.
In the end, consistency or continuing established franchise canon wasn’t a prime concern, adding to the habitual confusion audiences experienced over two decades. There is the optimism that the team over at Marvel Studios would be way more dedicated to make sure everything clicks and fits together.
EXPAND THE COSMIC SIDE OF THE MUTANT SAGA: Another thing that the Singerverse really never got right was the X-Men’s connection to space opera elements via The Shi’ar Empire and The Imperial Guard. Allowing them to take pages from “Star Wars” and “Dune” without having to strictly rely on The Guardians of The Galaxy for future cosmic adventures. Cyclops’ father/brother are members of the space pirate team The Starjammers. Marvel even has their own take on the Xenomorph with the deadly invasive alien species, The Brood, and the other big space invaders, The Phalanx.
An expansion could also mean exploring a heap of other mutant-related teams on Earth, such as Alpha Flight, X-Force, X-Factor, Excalibur, The Morlocks, and Exiles.
RECASTING FOR A NEW GENERATION: Recasting Wolverine would certainly be Marvel’s main priority as the character, thanks in part to Hugh Jackman’s run as the Canadian mutant, is easily as popular/well-known as Spider-Man or anyone on the Avengers roster. Despite all the teases from “Deadpool & Wolverine” of Jackman’s variant making the jump to the mainline MCU in Earth-616, there is a strong common sense expectation he’s not going to be playing the role for Marvel over the next 10-plus years.
There have been plenty of fan-castings online featuring a laundry list of genre-friendly actors such as Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter”), Taron Egerton (“The Kingsman”), Karl Urban (“Dredd,” “The Boys”), Zac Efron (“The Iron Claw”), and even one that had Jackman’s public endorsement, Tom Hardy (after director Matthew Vaughn attempted to cast him as Young Wolverine during his time making “X-Men” films). My own opinion is that folks on the rise like Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear,” “The Iron Claw”) and Austin Butler (“The Bikeriders,” “Dune: Part Two”) might be more in-tune with the kind of actor that Marvel should be seeking out.
I’m not too worried about Marvel recasting the X-Men lineup, mainly, from seeing how they’ve handled “Fantastic Four.”
Many fans enjoying “X-Men ’97” feel that Marvel should simply move forward with a live-action incarnation of the animated show and place that version within the mainline MCU. But the problem with that idea is that they’ve killed off characters and explored storylines that could still be reworked for the big screen. Even with the show’s popularity, I don’t see a huge reason to start this new era of the X-Men by having to adhere to a 30-year-old pre-existing canon when this should be a true REBOOT. It’s exactly why I think a reset from the Singerverse is a must, too. Then again, there are some neat character choices that could be carried over.
We’re sure to get some more updates on “X-Men” in the coming months as Marvel Studios looking to make a presentation this summer at the D23 event.
“Russian Doll” and “Poker Face” star Natasha Lyonne has reportedly joined the growing cast of Marvel Studios’ reboot of the “Fantastic Four” that is expected to begin shooting this summer at Pinewood Studios UK. The comedic actress is one of a handful of recent additions to the latest MCU project alongside Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, John Malkovich, and Paul Walter Hauser, with the former playing the planet-eating supervillain, Galactus.
While Deadline announced the news first, their report fails to mention who exactly Lyonne is playing in “Fantastic Four” and how large the role actually will be.
Previously confirmed by Marvel back on Valentine’s Day, the main cast consists of Pedro Pascal as Dr. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing.
“Fantastic Four” is tentatively set for release in theaters on July 25, 2025, and I’m sure we’ll keep getting neato casting updates throughout the next couple of weeks as we get closer to the film’s production start.
Will we ever actually get “Thor 5” from Marvel Studios? That seems like a huge question mark after the lackluster effort from “Thor: Love & Thunder,” and while lead actor Chris Hemsworth seems gung-ho about donning the cape once more, what the studio actually wants to do is another matter entirely. Yet, there is a glimmer of optimism thanks to his “Furiosa” director, George Miller, who recently responded to Comic Book about his interest in working with the fellow Aussie again for a possible fifth “Thor” movie.
“I would work with Chris on anything. I really would. He’s a wonderful actor. He’s got the full range of all the skills,” the director said of the potential of working with Hemsworth again on “Thor 5” at Marvel Studios. “I mean, you’ve got to be athletic, physically. But, you also gotta be athletic emotionally and intellectually to take on these very, ultimately fairly complex, any role really. So, I was very lucky with all my cast, and particularly in the way that Anya and Chris matched each other. Particularly towards the end of the month.”
Hard to imagine that Kevin Feige wouldn’t be completely thrilled if Miller came into the Marvel offices to declare his intentions to direct a film for them. While there are certainly a bunch of hurdles to jump to get to the point of Miller actually getting involved with the MCU and the next “Thor” movie, we can’t completely dismiss the idea.
There was a time when Miller nearly made his own big studio comic book movie with “Justice League Mortal” (long before Zack Snyder’s version), and there have been reports of Warner Bros. at various times pursuing him again to tackle DC characters like Superman and Green Lantern. Perhaps something like a fifth “Thor” movie might be a little more appealing to the filmmaker, given his last three movies have very much had a fantasy/fairytale angle to them, not to mention already working with “Thor” cast members like Hemsworth on “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” and Heimdall (currently kicking it in Valhalla with Jane Foster) actor Idris Elba was his co-lead in his genie pic “Three Thousand Years of Longing.”
It’s not lost on us the handful of references in these last two “Fury Road” connected films that have mentioned Valkyries and Valhalla as part of the Citadel’s wasteland warrior culture, seemingly adding elements of the Norse myths.
However, it’s worth noting despite all the online rumors concerning early “Thor 5” development and Hemsworth’s willingness to make one more movie to get things right alongside a potential death scene, Marvel Studios hasn’t shared any official plans for a fifth movie or that they’re even keen to make it after the mixed reactions to “Thor: Love & Thunder.”
We have our Galactus! Marvel Studios has reportedly landed on veteran character actor Ralph Ineson to play the iconic planet-eating bad guy in their upcoming “Fantastic Four” reboot that is gearing up to start filming this summer at Pinewood Studios UK in England. Making this the actor’s second MCU role after appearing in James Gunn’s “Guardians of The Galaxy” as a Ravager pilot.
This casting update comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter, as they’ve also added John Malkovich in another undisclosed part. You might remember that Malkovich was once in the mix to play The Vulture in Sam Raimi’s never-made “Spider-Man 4.”
The two new additions to the “Fantastic Four” cast will join Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Julia Garner, and Paul Walter Hauser. Matt Shakman directs after tackling the Disney+ series, “WandaVision,” which also played with period production design.
Ineson is likely known for roles in genre projects like “Game of Thrones,” “The Witch,” “The Creator,” “The Green Knight,” and will be part of Robert Eggers’ remake of “Nosferatu.”
While the reboot is expected to take place in the 1960s, some retro-futuristic skyline in promo artwork might have telegraphed that the movie is set in another universe, outside of Earth-616. “Fantastic Four” has a release date of July 25, 2025, and with casting in full swing, we’ll likely keep hearing new names being added over the coming days/weeks. So, stay tuned for those updates.
Marvel Studios is still casting roles for their upcoming reboot of “The Fantastic Four” and has added actor Paul Walter Hauser (“Cruella”) in a mystery part, according to both Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter. Who exactly Hauser is playing is unknown; we could theorize it is anything from a random supporting role to a villain like Mole Man or the voice of our heroes’ loyal robot, H.E.R.B.I.E., the latter being confirmed by official teaser artwork released by Marvel Studios back on Valentine’s Day.
After delivering “WandaVision,” Matt Shakman has been selected to direct the latest incarnation of “Fantastic Four” with a cast that consists of Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”) as Dr. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (“Mission: Impossible” and “Fast & Furious” franchises) as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear,” “Andor”) as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things”) as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch.
This update comes after Julia Garner (“Wolf Man,” “Ozark”) was tapped by the studio to play the Earth-X version of Silver Surfer with Norrin Radd’s love, Shalla-Bal, playing the herald of cosmic villain Galactus. From the teaser artwork, there are elements of our version of the 1960s (a Time Magazine from the era) but also a cityscape teasing a retro-futuristic setting that may hint the film won’t take place within the main MCU, Earth-616.
The budding comedic actor made a curious pivot into dramatic roles thanks to Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” and “Da 5 Bloods,” Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewel,” and the prison drama “Black Bird.” There is a bit of a connection between Hauser and Shakman, as one of the first roles Hauser had was playing a teenage Juggalo on “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,” which was a comedic series that Shakman directed and he did work on that episode from 2010.
“Fantastic Four” has a script from Eric Pearson (tackling the latest draft) with an expectation that shooting will start later this summer at Pinewood Studios UK and has a tentative release date of July 25, 2025 (be prepared for more MCU slate shifts between now and then).
Another interesting casting addition has been announced for Marvel’s upcoming production happening this summer, “Fantastic Four,” as we also have some character confirmations beyond the four superheroes (after their casting was finally confirmed back on Valentine’s Day, including the inclusion of the team’s robot pal H.E.R.B.I.E.). A new report from Deadline has revealed that actress Julia Garner has been tapped to play Shalla-Bal, a female incarnation of Galactus‘ cosmic herald, Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd being the version most known).
As everyone would suspect, Galactus will be the reboot’s villain. Although, we’re still waiting on who exactly is going to be playing the planet-eating being.
Shalla-Bal is an immortal Empress of Zenn-La and the lover of Norrin Radd in the comics. Radd accepts Galactus’ offer to become his herald (find planets without sentient life for him to destroy and consume) to save his own planet, including his love, Shalla-Bal. One of the more heartbreaking aspects of the Silver Surfer mythos is the two lovers being separated across the stars. This could be a sign that Marvel is looking to dig deeper than previous incarnations.
Garner, of course, isn’t a stranger to genre work after previously working on the acclaimed Netflix crime series “Ozark,” the Aussie-set thriller “The Royal Hotel,” the Robert Rodriguez sequel “Sin City: A Dame To Kill For,” a yet-to-be-released A24 horror thriller “Apartment 7A,” and is currently shooting Leigh Whannell’s “Wolf Man” remake at Universal Pictures as the studio attempts to expand their Universal Monsters franchise.
Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”) directs a cast that consists of Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”) as Dr. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (“Mission: Impossible” and “Fast & Furious” franchises) as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear,” “Andor”) as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things”) as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch.
The current script was penned script by a collection of writers that include Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, Eric Pearson, and Ian Springer.
We’re still curious about who is going to voice H.E.R.B.I.E., the team’s robot assistant that was previously announced by the studio. Many have assumed that we’ll be seeing Victor von Doom, aka Doctor Doom, in the new film. However, trades have yet to back up those claims, and the studio hasn’t selected an actor for that part, which could mean they’ll be aiming for a cosmic setting, allowing the characters to lean into the more cosmic stuff.
“Fantastic Four” is set to begin shooting later this year at Pinewood Studios UK and has a tentative release date of July 25, 2025 (prepare yourselves for a few more delays).
This summer’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” will be the only big MCU feature film installment this year from Marvel Studios peppered in with Sony’s bootleg Marvel universe installments “Kraven: The Hunter” and “Venom 3” hoping to squeeze a few more dollars out of an exhausted audience that has caught-on to their attempts to cash-in on rushed and poorly planned superhero movies. There is some genuine excitement for “Deadpool 3” after the recent trailer drop earlier in the month, and something long suspected might have just been confirmed about the sequel’s villain.
A filing with the U.S. Copyright Office, a new harbinger of information and speculation for fan sites, has quietly mentioned that Emma Corrin‘s villainess character is going to be Cassandra Nova. A mutant telepath that just happens to be connected to Professor X in a big way.
The tidbit, filed by Disney/Marvel themselves, would confirm a longstanding online rumor that Corrin is playing a version of Professor Charles Xavier’s evil twin sister from the comics. However, how Cassandra will be presented to the audience in her cinematic incarnation has yet to be made official. She could simply be a variant of the X-Men character as the sequel is confirmed to feature variants (We’re already getting different takes on both Wade and Logan) of all sorts of characters and might be a more suitable angle rather than having her an elderly sibling to Patrick Stewart‘s version from previous films. Corrin’s role has long been established as a villain just like Matthew Macfadyen‘s TVA bureaucrat, Paradox.
This posting would also back up previous trade reports that Jennifer Garner is indeed reprising the Elektra role. However, we’re still unclear how large that part is ultimately going to be. Promo artwork for the film has also sort of teased the inclusion of The Hand, which are primarily known as Marvel antagonists but Elektra finds herself controlling the group at a point in the comics.
Garner had recently worked with both director Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds on the time-traveling action flick “The Adam Project” which also featured Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo, as Garner and Ruffalo played the parents of Reynolds’ Adam. Fingers crossed we’re getting more of a cameo as the Fox incarnation of Elektra was sort of done horribly in both the “Daredevil” film led by Garner’s future husband Ben Affleck and the long-forgotten disastrous solo spinoff movie that ended the actress’ run as the Marvel heroine.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” is officially set to hit theaters on July 26, 2024, and we’re hopeful the next trailer will help to explain more of the actual plot as the teaser trailer mostly just established that the TVA and the Multiverse would indeed be playing a major role in the film’s story.
Marvel Studios is busy these days after the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes were resolved last year allowing them to finish “Deadpool & Wolverine” with “Fantastic Four” and “Thunderbolts” next on deck. Another project that has been quietly in development is a sequel to “Shang Chi.” A less-than-stellar update came from the film’s main star Simu Liu (“Barbie”) suggesting that there wouldn’t be any real movement on the sequel until after the next “Avengers” installment that had director DestinDaniel Cretton attached. Well, Cretton is no longer making “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” as he exited with that project currently undergoing rewrites by Michael Waldron (“Loki,” “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness”) after he replaced Jeff Loveness (“Ant-Man 3”). Reports said the filmmaker would instead focus on his Disney+ series “Wonder Man” and the “Shang-Chi” sequel.
While speaking with ComicBook, the Canadian actor echoed previous media reports that Cretton would be focusing on “Shang-Chi 2” after his exit from “Avengers 5.”
“Oh man, I don’t know to be honest,” Liu responded to questions on when the sequel is coming. “I mean, those things are so above my pay grade. I just wanna continue to be a fan of it. You know, when I get a call of like, ‘Hey, this is what you’re in and this is where you’re going to show up. And, this is when you’re going to need to be blacked out for.’ That’s kind of generally what tends to happen. But, you know Destin is such a special filmmaker and we’re very happy to have him on the sequel. So, he’ll be working on that and we’re really excited to see what he comes up with. I think he’s going to do a brilliant job.”
Previously, Cretton told Cinema Blend that it would be a dream to land legendary action star Jackie Chanfor the next installment. This wouldn’t be an insane notion as the last installment included two key actors from Chan’s “Police Story 3,” aka, “Supercop” with Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh and Yuen Wah (“Kung Fu Hustle”) taking supporting roles. A film that obviously influences the Marvel pic.
“If we could ever get Jackie [Chan] into a movie that would be a lifelong dream of mine. Yeah. Let’s put it out there.”
Marvel Studios has yet to date the sequel, but we shouldn’t be all too surprised if it ends up getting released between 2026-2027. Given that Marvel has a heap of dates in that range that haven’t been announced what titles would be in those spots to the public.
THE RONIN 