Yesterday, it was revealed that Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (Hot Fuzz, The Favourite, The Father) would be joining the Disney+ series Secret Invasion from Marvel Studios. A huge crossover event that will see the shape-shifting aliens, Skrulls, quietly taking over positions of power on Earth replacing humans. In the comics, it also bleeds over to the ranks of the Avengers as well seeing various.
Another high-profile actor is being courted for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Variety reports that Emilia Clarke is the newest addition to the cast of Marvel’s upcoming event series Secret Invasion. The Game of Thrones and Solo: Star Wars Story actress is currently in talks with Marvel to join the Skrull series.
Apparently, this wouldn’t be her first brush with Marvel as she had been wanted for role in Iron Man 3. This being revealed by the film’s screenwriter Drew Pearce on Instagram back in 2019 but things obviously didn’t work out.
Emilia told The Sunday Times she would be keen to join the Marvel family.
CLARKE: “I think, if I did, it would be me having a giggle. I want to do something absolutely stupid and silly, like, you know, The Avengers or whatever. Something where I got to have a giggle with mates.”
She would join Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, Olivia Colman in an undisclosed role, and fellow Brit Kingsley Ben-Adir reportedly taking a villain role in the Disney+ series.
Filming is said to begin this fall in the United Kingdom.
Earlier today Marvel Studios dropped the first wave of promotion for Destin Daniel Cretton’s upcoming flick Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings, which showcased a lot of the action scenes featuring the martial arts superhero played by Canadian actor Simu Liu.
One of the more interesting elements of the trailer released is that we see Tony Leung’s Wenwu in full costume as the iconic Iron Man villain, The Mandarin (seen above). However, we clearly see Wenwu wearing modern clothing in contemporary scenes and has a shorter haircut. It seems like this is actually a shot in the past and potentially connected to The Ten Rings’ obsession with Genghis Khan, first mentioned by Ten Rings member Raza in the original Iron Man film when Tony Stark is forced to build them weapons in a cave after being kidnapped.
Here is Raza’s speech from Iron Man.
“The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology. It was used by Genghis Khan to forge an empire that stretched across Asia, from the wintry woods of Ukraine to the Eastern shores of Korea. Now, whoever holds the weapons manufactured by Stark Industries rules the world… and soon, it will be MY turn.”
The Mandarin claims linage with Genghis Khan in the comic books and would explain why he was chosen to become the surrogate character to play Shang-Chi’s father in the film. His is father in the comic book is the infamous Fu Manchu and had to be updated as that character has long been considered an Asian racial stereotype. Wenwu can be given a lot more depth to his character while Fu Manchu would have simply just been a caricature of Asian villains in western culture.
We also see a huge battle with an army on horseback which looks to also be in the past, potentially alluding to Wenwu having the ability to extend his life (thanks to the Ten Rings?) or potentially is Genghis Khan himself. There is already a supernatural element with superpowers on display alongside large Foodog-like creatures.
In the comics, there is another group other than the MCU’s Ten Rings that has a close connection with Genghis Khan and Shang-Chi, that would be The Atlas Empire aka Atlas Foundation. A secretive group that mandates that leaders must have linage to Genghis Khan, you might know them better via Agents of Atlas a group of heroes that are led/recruited by Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo (eventually leads Atlas as well) and in more recent incarnations has Shang-Chi on the roster. They also happen to have a secret base of operations, Temple of Atlas, below San Francisco, the same American city where Shang-Chi has been calling home for the last decade (Jimmy Woo was also stationed there in Ant-Man & The Wasp).
I’ve actually been talking-up the idea that The Atlas Empire/Agents of Atlas could have a connection to Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings going back to April 2019. Having these potential scenes linking Wenwu to Genghis Khan seems to only bolster the possibility of Atlas being introduced in Shang-Chi. That would, of course, lead to the Agents of Atlas eventually joining the MCU. It’s worth mentioning one of the original members recruited by Jimmy Woo just happens to be Namor’s cousin Namora.
Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings releases on September 3, 2021.
As the finale of The Falcon & The Winter Soldier will hit Disney+ on Friday, another big Marvel Studios series event is assembling it’s cast with Secret Invasion. A new casting update from The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Oscar-winner and current nominee, Olivia Colman, is now in talks with Marvel for an undisclosed role in Secret Invasion.
The British actress would join Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Skrull Leader Talos, and fellow Brit Kingsley Ben-Adir reportedly taking a villain role in the Disney+ series.
Colman has had a bit oddball career as she had been primarily known as a comedic actress in things like Peep Show and Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz when she took a dramatic pivot with projects such as Broadchurch, The Crown, and Tyrannosaur. Olivia eventually won Best Actress for her permanence in the dramatic comedy The Favourite from director Yorgos Lanthimos starring alongside Marvel alumni Rachel Weisz (Black Widow) and Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man 1-2). She recently landed a Best Supporting Actress nomination for the film The Father, which she co-stars with Thor franchise actor Anthony Hopkins.
Considering her high-profile and previously playing two historical queens, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume Colman might end up playing one of the royal members of the Skrulls.
Olivia might not be the only actor currently nominated for this weekend’s Academy Awards ceremony that is being courted by Marvel Studios for upcoming projects.
Secret Invasion is an event from Marvel Comics that sees a bunch of established characters being revealed as Skrulls, not humans. However, in Captain Marvel we learned that Talos and his group were not antagonists but actually refugees looking for a new place to call home. We last saw Nick Fury in the button scene for Spider-Man: Far From Home on some space station that the Skrulls were building, which could have a direct tie-in to both S.W.O.R.D. and Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel 2.
I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if Skrulls have a part to play in Black Panther 2 given how Wakanda is invaded by Skrulls and have their asses handed to them in the comics. There is also a huge connection to space with The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda and their vibranium (from a space rock) technology could be appealing to an evil sect of Skrulls looking to defeat/replace Earth’s superheroes.
THR also confirms previous production info that Secret Invasion will indeed shoot in the United Kingdom and that filming on the Disney+ series could begin as early as this fall.
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.
Celebrating the birthday of Shang-Chi actor Simu Liu, Marvel Studios has released a wave of promotional material for their upcoming martial arts flick Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings. This includes a first-look teaser trailer revealing that Shang-Chi’s father Wenwu gave his son 10 years to live his own life in San Francisco before taking his place at his side.
Wenwu is expected to be the MCU’s version of The Mandarin, a character that had been seen in Iron Man 3 but was revealed to be a fake. The Iron Man villain has long been seen as a stereotype, however, it looks like director Destin Daniel Cretton will be giving him a more complex adaptation as he stands-in for Shang-Chi’s comic book papa Fu Machu.
A trio of images were also posted by Entertainment Weekly which you can see below.
As a summer production in Atlanta is expected for Marvel’s Black Panther sequel directed by Ryan Coogler, the film has apparently landed it’s own working title alongside other Marvel Studios projects shooting in 2021.
Production Weekly is listing the working title as Summer Break. This will be strictly used during the filming of Black Panther 2 and these faux titles are often chosen by the directors.
Other recent working titles for MCU film projects are as follows.
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME = THE NOVEMBER PROJECT
THOR: LOVE & THUNDER = THE BIG SALAD
CAPTAIN MARVEL 2 = GOAT RODEO
ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA = DUST BUNNY
Details on the project are scarce but with the passing of T’Challa actor Chadwick Boseman there had been multiple confirmations from Marvel Studios brass that they have zero plans to use a digital version of Chadwick and have also downplayed the idea of recasting the role. We still don’t know what their plan is for the sequel and who exactly will take on the mantle.
Narcos Mexico star Tenoch Huerta had reportedly landed a villain role in the sequel but his character wasn’t mentioned in the report. We assume that they’ll be able to wrangle original cast members to return such as Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Florence Kasumba, Martin Freeman.
At the end of the first installment, Wakanda revealed itself to the world and it’s advanced technology could lead to conflict with other nations. Fans have been hoping that complex characters such as Namor or Doctor Doom could end up appearing in the sequel but neither have been confirmed.
Director Ryan Coolger is also developing a Wakanda spinoff series for Disney+ as part of his overall deal with Disney. We’ve seen Wakanda take a small role in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier and could be planting seeds for the Coogler show.
Black Panther 2 has been given a release date of July 8, 2022.
Back in 2019, there were rumblings that Marvel Studios was potentially considering an X-Men series for Disney+ that would include a faithful origin of a popular mutant character, the assumption was this could be Wolverine and his time in the Weapon X Program.
Well, it’s 2021 and the rumor has resurfaced over at That Hashtag Show. They’re adding that it’s in development at Marvel Studios taking an anthology angle and claim the first season will tackle Weapon X. The black ops weapons program that gives Logan his adamantium skeleton and claws could make for a compelling series.
However, we can exclusively share that Marvel is in early development on a series for Disney+. This series would be an anthology series based on the character of Wolverine. Since Wolverine is immortal and has a multitude of stories to tell, each season will focus on a particular story within the Wolverine mythos. Think like American Horror Story, where there’s a season long plot and then it resets. Only in this, you’ll have the center of Wolverine.
I’ve learned that while early in development, Marvel is aiming to adapt the famous Weapon X story arc for the first season.
Over the weekend, I mentioned in a feature article about Marvel rebooting/recasting the Wolverine role could lead to a Disney+ series as it would allow the studio to tackle multiple points in Logan’s life without overshadowing the new X-Men reboot film or other mutant team members. Covering things such as his service in WWII/Cold War, the Weapon X program, connections to Alpha Flight, fights with Hulk, and adventures in Japan/Madripoor.
Mark Ruffalo has talked-up multiple times his desire to see Wolverine and Hulk finally interact with each other, as Wolverine debuted in the pages of the Hulk comics before joining the X-Men. Ruffalo himself is going to be part of the cast of She-Hulk, another series on Disney+ that will focus on Bruce Banner’s lawyer cousin Jennifer Walters.
Wolverine’s Weapon X origin was explored in the forgettable mess X-Men Origins: Wolverine and there was a second attempt with a more faithful version with an action sequence in X-Men: Apocalypse. A new definitive take on Weapon X set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe could be a good way to reintroduce the character to audiences alongside the new actor.
Marvel Studios is developing Deadpool 3 but haven’t officially announced any other plans for their mutant lineup or who is creatively involved with the X-Men reboot. The studio hasn’t chosen a new actor to play Wolverine which means we’ll have to wait for Marvel to confirm this is actually happening.
The fictional X-Men location Madripoor had been introduced in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, which has been a stomping-ground for Wolverine adventures and could be seen again in future X-Men projects. Outside of the Princess Bar making a cameo, it’s unlikely that Wolverine himself will be appearing in the final two episodes of the MCU series.
Logan was R-rated but normally the originally programming on Disney+ has been PG-13, which would suggest this wouldn’t be as violent as Hugh Jackman’s final outing as the popular mutant hero. Star has been recently added to Disney+ in various international markets allowing mature content from Hulu, FX, and 20th Century Studios to be streamed on the service that had been originally imagined for families.
It’s exciting that Marvel Studios has regained the film rights to Fantastic Four and Silver Silver, allowing them to finally use some of their most iconic and well-known characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe either in films or series airing on Disney+. Norrin Radd aka The Silver Surfer, the herald of Galactus, was co-created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. The Marvel Comics character first appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four in 1966. Arguably one of the more popular cosmic characters that had been introduced from that era of comics and appeared in a handful of animated projects.
20th Century Fox attempted to develop a solo film in the 1990s and hired a large group of writers to tackle the script with various drafts. Those screenwriters working over the years included John Turman (Hulk, Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer), Richard Jefferies (TRON: Legacy, Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer), John Rice (Windtalkers, Blown Away), Rudy Gains (The Calling), Mike Finch (American Assassin, Predators, John Wick: Chapter 4, Hitman: Agent 47), John M. Bergmann, Bernd Eichinger (Downfall, Perfume: The Story of A Murderer, The Baader Meinhof Complex), and Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en, The Wolfman, 8mm).
One of the big standouts was James Gunn (The Suicide Squad, Guardians of The Galaxy 1-3, Slither, Dawn of The Dead, Super), as the filmmaker revealed on Facebook that he was approached by the studio in 1999 to write an “extensive treatment” for Silver Surfer.
GUNN: “When I first moved to LA in 1999, one of the first people I met on a meeting was an exec at Fox. He told me they wanted to make a Silver Surfer movie, and I might be right for that, so I wrote an extensive treatment. It was a huge story, cosmic as hell, and featured the Silver Surfer turning on Galactus (but no Fantastic Four – this was before the first FF film).”
Eventually, 20th Century Fox got their Silver Surfer project with Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer in 2007 with Doug Jones (Hellboy 1-2, The Shape of Water) playing the body and Laurence Fishburne (John Wick: Chapter 2, The Matrix Trilogy, Ant-Man & The Wasp) becoming Norrin Radd’s voice.
There had been plans of giving Silver Surfer a spinoff after the Fantastic Four sequel and they hired writer J. Michael Straczynski to tackle it in 2007. The seasoned screenwriter’s credits include Babylon 5, Thor, Sense8, Underworld: Awakening, Ninja Assassin, World War Z, Changeling, The Real Ghostbusters, Captain Power, He-Man & The Masters of The Universe, and She-Ra: Princess of Power.
Two years later, Straczynski mentioned in an interview that the sequel not meeting the studio’s expectations led Fox to question making a direct spinoff.
STRACZYNSKI: “What happened was when FF2 didn’t do as well as they hoped it would do, it caused them to call into question a Silver Surfer movie. The script that I wrote picked up right where FF2 left off. So if they do a Silver Surfer film down the road, it’ll have to be its own separate [thing].”
Director Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City) debunked a rumor he was going to direct the movie while speaking at San Diego Comic-Con 2008 via Slash Film.
PROYAS: “Unfortunately that is just a rumor. I don’t know where that came from. I do like Silver Surfer, but I’m not going to be doing it.”
In 2018, it was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that comic book and television writer Brian K. Vaughn (The Great Machine, Y: The Last Man, Saga, Lost, M.A.S.K.) was developing a solo Silver Surfer movie before the merger with Disney in 2019 seemingly nixed those plans alongside a bulk of Marvel projects that Fox was developing at the time.
Marvel Studios now has control of the character and announced a new Fantastic Four movie in December that will be directed by Jon Watts, who helmed their Spider-Man trilogy.
Filmmaker Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short, Ant-Man) stated he was interested in a Silver Surfer movie while speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. In the chat, he cited The Wachowskis’ stylized Speed Racer movie as inspiration.
MCKAY: “Silver Surfer man, that’s the one I want to do. I would do anything to do Silver Surfer because visually….could do what the Wachowskis did with Speed Racer, with the Silver Surfer. At the same time, there’s a great emotional story in there man. Where a guy has to choose to save his planet. You know Norrin Radd has to save his planet…that, that would be the one.I think they’re kicking around a Nova idea.”
While speaking with MTV at the 2019 Gloden Globes, Adam suggested there was some “discussion” and Marvel’s Kevin Feige at the same event seemed open to the idea of meeting with him about the project.
MCKAY: “(Laughs) There actually has been some discussion about Silver Surfer. My agent certainly woke up. They were excited. We’re in the middle of, you know, backing Vice right now, but, who knows, in a couple of months it could pop up. I really am excited by that idea. So, we’ll see what happens.”
FEIGE: “I’ve not gotten a call yet, but I’ve seen Adam tonight and at a number of these awards, he is as everyone knows an incredibly smart guy he’s an honest to goodness fan and you know did a lot of behind the scenes work on the first Ant-Man film and have you seen Vice? A little cameo, a little Galatcus cameo in there that we helped him get. So I look forward to speaking to him more.”
We still don’t know if Norinn Radd will be part of Marvel’s new Fantastic Four franchise (expected) or if Adam McKay will get to make his solo film as Marvel Studios hasn’t officially announced any plans concerning Silver Surfer. However, there are plenty of casting ideas making the rounds online and figured I’d mention the people I think would be a good fit in the role that would likely be a mix of live-action and motion-capture.
LAKEITH STANFIELD (AGE 29): Get Out, Uncut Gems, Judas & The Black Messiah, Knives Out, Atlanta, The Girl In The Spider’s Web, War Machine, Dope, Short Term 12, and Straight Outta Compton.
RYAN GOSLING (AGE 40): The Nice Guys, Blade Runner 2049, Drive, Only God Forgives, Half Nelson, Remember The Titans, The Place Beyond The Pines, First Man, La La Land, and The Gray Man.
BRAD PITT (AGE 57): Fight Club, Snatch, Killing Them Softly, Inglourious Basterds, Se7en, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Moneyball, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Troy, Ocean’s Eleven, The Big Short, Interview With A Vampire, Fury, Legends of The Fall, True Romance, The Devil’s Own, and Bullet Train.
After the merger between Disney and 21st Century, the film and television rights to live-action X-Men projects reverted back to Marvel. This has led to the announcement of Jon Watts directing a reboot of The Fantastic Four, another group of characters that came home to Marvel in the wake of the merger. Marvel Studios doesn’t seem to be in any rush to introduce mutants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the biggest task they’ll have is recasting the Wolverine role.
Getting the X-Men and Wolverine on the big screen took a bit longer than you might imagine. Apparently, development goes back to 1984 as Wolverine co-creator Roy Thomas (Conan The Barbarian, Conan The Destroyer, Red Sonja) and Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway (Fire & Ice, Conan The Destroyer) wrote an X-Men film for Orion Pictures before the studio had financial issues.
Another incarnation had James Cameron producing a version with Near Dark director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker) and a script titled Wolverine & The X-Men was penned by Gary Goldman (Total Recall, Big Trouble In Little China, Navy Seals) around 1991 for Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment and Carolco Prictures. When Carolco went bankrupt the project was essentially dead.
In 1994, producer Lauren Shuler Donner got her hands on the X-Men rights and brought it to 20th Century Fox hiring screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven, The Wolfman, 8mm, Sleepy Hollow, Fight Club, Event Horizon, The Game) to work on a script, he was also assigned to write a Silver Surfer movie for the studio that never saw the light of day. After multiple tweaks to the X-Men script from various writers (some uncredited like Christopher McQuarrie and Ed Solomon), David Hayter would eventually get the screenwriting credit. It was eventually shot in 1999-2000 in Toronto/Hamilton/Burlington, Ontario, Canada by director Bryan Singer (attached since 1996) and released in 2000 earning an impressive $296.3 million globally on a budget of $75 million.
The Hugh Jackman era was certainly a bumpy road as the Australian actor was a last minute replacement for the Wolverine role as Scottish actor Dougray Scott had a scheduling conflict as he was busy shooting John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II. During the Cameron/Bigelow incarnation, Bob Hoskins had been considered. Much later on actors such as Russell Crowe, Viggo Mortensen, and Keanu Reeves had been in the mix for Wolverine.
The commercial success of the first X-Men movie is often cited by many as the turning point for Marvel projects being appealing to wide-range of audiences. Alongside Blade, proved to Marvel that people were willing to go see popcorn films featuring their characters which at the time had been considered a niche audience as a multitude of comic book movies had failed to make money in the 1990’s. Many studios tried to chase the box office returns achieved by Tim Burton’s Batman movies only to lose a lot of money in the process.
Due to Wolverine’s popularity he ended up landing his own film trilogy at 20th Century Fox starting with the forgettable mess, X-Men Origins: Wolverine that was plagued with studio brass,Tom Rothman, meddling with production and threatening to fire director Gavin Hood. A workprint of the film had been leaked online ahead of the officially release with incomplete visual effects and wasn’t much better than the theatrical version, as it clearly had half-cooked effects and godawful digital claws. The horrible effects only highlighted how bland the film was.
Luckily, The Wolverine was helmed by James Mangold (replacing Darren Aronofsky) and became one of the better films of the X-Men franchise and led to a stellar final bow for Hugh Jackman in the sequel Logan. Hugh would announce his retirement as Wolverine following the success of Logan, even turning down multiple pleas from Ryan Reynolds to make a Wolverine vs Deadpool movie.
Marvel Studios is now in the perfect position to reboot the X-Men and remove all the silly timeline issues along with the character deviations that started with Singer’s first installment giving us faithful versions of the mutants. The only mutant project they’re currently working on is the R-rated Deadpool 3 starring Ryan Reynolds as they recently hired Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin to write it.
The Falcon & The Winter Soldier has introduced Logan’s stomping-ground Madripoor and I hope we’ll see the location in future X-Men projects. I’d love to see Marvel give Wolverine a faithful origin covering his adventures during WWII/Cold War, confrontations with Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, connections to the Canadian mutant team Alpha Flight or in the Weapon X Program as Marvel Studios would likely be able to explore this stuff in a Disney+ series as not to distract from the main X-Men team.
We’re still waiting on Marvel to announce the creative team working on their X-Men reboot.
Hiring the next Wolverine is gong to be a pivotal moment for Marvel Studios because Hugh Jackman has been the face of Logan for over 20 years and to some fans their entire lives. It’s sort of tough coming up with the “perfect list” of casting hopefuls to play the MCU’s Wolverine because those are big shoes to fill. However, I came up with a group that might skew a little older but I felt had the well-rounded careers that could be solid enough to be in consideration along with being names that I assume Marvel would want to target. Given that Moon Knight’s Oscar Isaac is in his forties it wouldn’t be that hard to imagine older/seasoned contenders for Wolverine.
HENRY CAVILL (AGE 37): Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Witcher, Man of Steel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Stardust, Immortals, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Enola Holmes, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League.
CHRIS PINE (AGE 40): Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984, Hell or High Water, Outlaw King, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Unstoppable, Smokin’ Aces, This Means War, and The Finest Hours.
TOM HARDY (AGE 43): Band of Brothers, RocknRolla, Black Hawk Down, Locke, Taboo, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Peaky Blinders, Dunkirk, Legend, The Revenant, The Drop, Lawless, Warrior, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bronson, Marie Antoinette, Star Trek: Nemesis, and Layer Cake.
CILLIAN MURPHY (AGE 44): 28 Days Later, Inception, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Peaky Blinders, Red Eye, Sunshine, Dunkirk, Free Fire, TRON: Legacy, Cold Mountain, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, and A Quiet Place II.
Namor McKenzie aka The Sub-Mariner has become one of the few high-profile Marvel Comics characters that is still on the table to finally make his jump from the comics to the big screen. The aquatic superhero debuted back in 1939 and was created by Bill Everett, who also famously created Matt Murdock aka Daredevil with Stan Lee.
In the early days of Marvel Studios, a feature film version of Namor The Sub-Mariner was being developed back to 1997 when Variety reported that The Right Stuff’s Philip Kaufman was trying to make a solo movie with Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm. This took place around the same time 20th Century Fox was working on a Silver Surfer movie with director Geoffrey Wright (Romper Stomper) and a version of Fantastic Four from director Pete Segal (Tommy Boy, Get Smart, 50 First Dates).
Universal Pictures got their hands on the rights then attempted their own version of The Sub-Mariner in late 2004 with director Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, Adventures In Babysitting) working from a script penned by screenwriter David Self (Road To Perdition, The Wolfman). Two years later, Universal and Marvel Studios hired Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines) to direct and rewrite the Self script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Here is the logline for the Jonathan Mostow version.
The movie’s take will see a young man discovering he actually is a prince from Atlantis, with him turning out to be the key man in a brewing war between the underwater world and the modern surface world.
In 2008, British actor and former professional diver Jason Statham revealed to IESB that he met with the studio for The Sub-Mariner, but couldn’t picture himself in the part.
STATHAM: “I took a meeting for Sub-Mariner. I don’t know if I’d look right running around in a tight speedo with wings on my ankles but there’s so many cool fucking characters.”
From there the project dissolved and after the massive success of Iron Man/Phase One there was hope from fans that Marvel could wrangle the character back from Universal Pictures and do their own thing. While there had talk that Namor was completely back at Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige suggested to IGN back in 2018 things were complicated with the rights. At the time, it seemed like there were still issues giving the anti-hero his own solo project.
IGN: With the Disney/Fox deal, if that pans out, with the Sony rights sharing deal with Spidey, the one big loose end, then, is Namor and Universal. Can you tell us what the status of that is? Is there any chance for him to just pop up in an MCU film? It just sounds like an incredibly complicated situation, for one character.
FEIGE: “It is. I think there’s a way to probably figure it out but it does have — it’s not as a clean or clear as the majority of the other characters.”
He obviously could become one of the more crossover-friendly characters as he has connections to Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Illuminati, the original Defenders lineup alongside Doctor Strange and Hulk, The Avengers, X-Men, the WWII era team The Invaders, and ties to Agents of Atlas via his cousin Namora.
There has been years of speculation and rumors concerning when and where Namor McKenzie aka The Sub-Mariner will show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, none of that chatter has been confirmed or announced by the studio officially. Despite the ideas he could be appearing in things like Eternals, Black Panther 2 or Fantastic Four. So, there is a possibility that they still haven’t hired an actor to play Marvel’s “first mutant.”
I’d personally like to see Marvel Studios continue their recent trend of looking at actors with a mix of commercial and awards success. You’d have to imagine given that Namor is potentially going to jump around to different franchises they’re going to need an actor with some decent range and wide-range of genre credits.
Here’s a trio of Oscar caliber actors I’d like to see in the Namor role.
RIZ AHMED (AGE 38): Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The Night Of, Sound of Metal, Nightcrawler, Four Lions, Venom, and Jason Bourne.
STEVEN YEUN (AGE 37): The Walking Dead, Minari, Invincible, Burning, and Okja.
DEV PATEL (AGE 30): The Green Knight, Skins, Slumdog Millionaire, Chappie, Lion, Hotel Mumbai, The Newsroom, and The Last Airbender.
Marvel Studios was reportedly said to have kicked-off production on their Disney+ series She-Hulk last month in Atlanta, Georgia. The show seems to be still assembling the main cast as a new report from Deadline has revealed that Renee Elise Goldsberry will be playing a character named Amelia.
While not confirmed by Marvel, people have assumed this role could be Amelia Voght, a mutant nurse from the pages of X-Men comics and member of the Acolytes. It’s also possible it could be another character created for the She-Hulk series as while there have been hints to mutants with the introductions of Madripoor and S.W.O.R.D., Marvel hasn’t officially added mutant characters to the MCU.
The American actress is likely best known from the musical Hamilton, the Netflix cyberpunk series Altered Carbon, and Ally McBeal. The latter series is said to be sort of an influence on the legal Marvel project.
She’ll be joining a cast that includes Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner aka Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, and Ginger Gonzaga as Jennifer’s best friend.
The creative team sees Kat Coiro and Anu Valia directing episodes with Rick & Morty’s Jessica Gao as the head writer.
Walters is a defense lawyer that specializes in superhero and super-villain cases. In the comics, after a life-threatening accident she requires a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner leading to her acquiring her own Hulk abilities. However, unlike Bruce Banner once turned into She-Hulk she remains in her green form similar to how Bruce/Hulk is in Avengers: Endgame. There had been hints we’ll see other Marvel superheroes and lawyers in the series.
Jennifer has joined multiple superhero teams over the years including Fantastic Four, Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., A-Force, and Heroes For Hire.
THE RONIN 