Because of the pandemic 2020 was the first year in ages that we didn’t get a brand new Marvel Studios release and 2021 looks like it will be an overload of content.
The Ronin first revealed back in August that The Falcon & The Winter Soldier’s debut had been bumped to 2021 and added a production order for upcoming shows which had been mostly on-point. We have another update tidbit to share as we’re hearing that both Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye are still expected to debut at some point in 2021 despite production hiccups due to COVID-19.
However, what is the plan now might change as time goes on.
The key thing will be how Disney+ plans to rollout their multiple MCU shows as WandaVision will kick-off on January 15th with Falcon, What-If…?, and Loki unclear where they’ll land on the streaming service’s schedule. WandaVision and Falcon’s delays will certainly help Disney+ keep more eyeballs on the service for the first half of the year.
She-Hulk and Moon Knight will not begin filming until March suggesting they won’t be ready until 2022.
Here is a reminder what the MCU film slate looks like.
Black Widow – May 7th 2021
Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings – July 9th, 2021
Eternals – November 5th, 2021
Spider-Man 3 December 17th, 2021
Thor: Love & Thunder – February 11th, 2022
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness March 25th, 2022
Black Panther 2 – May 6th, 2022 (Subject To Change)
Captain Marvel 2 – July 8th, 2022 (Subject To Change)
While we’re still waiting on official confirmation on who is playing Kate Bishop in Marvel’s Hawkeye series a new rumor is making the rounds.
The Direct claims that Black Widow actress Florence Pugh will be reprising her role of Yelena Belova in the show, although, they can’t say how large the appearance will be or if this will be a reoccurring role.
She is currently busy making the feature film thriller Don’t Worry Darling in California for director Olivia Wilde and if Florence is joining the Hawkeye show she won’t be filming scenes anytime soon.
Yelena Belova is part of the main character lineup of the Black Widow film (takes places between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War) and there has been assumptions from fans that Pugh would continue the legacy of the Black Widow mantle in future films after Natasha died in Avengers: Endgame. However, we don’t ultimately know Yelena’s fate in the Black Widow movie until we actually watch it.
The MCU incarnation of Yelena is meant to be more of a little sister to Natasha instead of a rival.
Filming will mainly take place in Atlanta but there is confirmation that some of the shoot will take place in NYC this week.
Jeremy Renner will be reprising the Clint Barton role as he mentors a young protege named Kate Bishop that becomes a member of the Young Avengers.
The Verge’s Chris Welch has posted a photo of a local production notice on his Twitter account confirming something for the upcoming Hawkeye series (working title Anchor Point) will be shooting in Brooklyn on December 2nd along with a list of the areas they’ll be filming.
Disney+ Hawkeye show gonna be doing some filming in downtown Brooklyn next week. pic.twitter.com/J2bWdr9TQ4
It’s possibly some exterior scenes like was done recently with Spider-Man 3 and it’s unknown if any cast members will actually be involved as the main shoot for the series is taking place in Atlanta, Georgia. Flying in actors doesn’t seem terribly necessary given the status of the pandemic. It’s worth mentioning that Shang-Chi had also shot stuff in San Francisco without their main cast.
Keeping the cast in as few locations would be in their best interest to avoid exposure to COVID-19 during the shoot. Given the technology available to these Marvel Studios shows they could simply film their surroundings then add actors later in the post-production stage.
We’re still waiting on if actress Hailee Steinfeld will be confirmed to play Kate Bishop or another yet-to-be-named actress has signed on to play Clint Barton’s protege. Hopefully, we start getting some new casting information concerning the series soon along with confirmations concerning the high-volume of character rumors that have been circulating.
However, this would yet again confirm that Hawkeye is next up with She-Hulk expected to be the next Atlanta series and will start-up sometime in March.
The Ronin can now confirm that Marvel’s Hawkeye series under the working title Anchor Point is about to begin shooting (if it hasn’t already) in Atlanta, Georgia. This would make the Jeremy Renner project to be the next series entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe to shoot after Ms. Marvel officially started filming last week.
Jeremy Renner is reprising the Clint Barton role and will be mentoring a young female protege named Kate Bishop, one of the Young Avengers.
A previous report from The Hollywood Reporter stated that She-Hulk (Atlanta) and Moon Knight (London) wouldn’t begin their shoots until March. With WandaVision and The Falcon wrapped (Loki about to wrap) this gives Marvel the extra space needed to shoot both Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye simultaneously.
There was also a production grid making the rounds suggesting a September start which obviously wasn’t accurate as the pandemic led to extended shoots on Falcon and WandaVision not leaving much room for new shows to jump in. COVID-19 has been throwing production dates into a tizzy for months and as studios adopt bubbles they might be able to avoid future delays once filming starts.
Also filming in Atlanta, is Spider-Man 3 aka The November Project which is rumored to be using a production bubble to keep cast and crew safe during filming on the Spidey sequel.
There still isn’t official confirmation about who exactly has taken the Kate Bishop (Barton’s young protege) role in the show despite Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit, Bumblebee) being in the mix for the part early on as reported first by Variety. It’s expected to become a key role not just in the series but for future MCU films as well.
Renner posted this image on his Instagram stories yesterday leading fans to believe this means filming has started, although, could have been connected to a workout picture he posted from the gym.
Another Disney+ show on the horizon includes a Nick Fury series starring Samuel L. Jackson and written by Kyle Bradstreet (Mr. Robot) that could end up tackling the Skrulls/S.W.O.R.D. depending when and where it’s set in the timeline.
There are also other shows in development stages that have yet to be made official by Marvel/Disney.
WandaVision is the the first Disney+ series to release and will officially debut on January 15th.
The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned that Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo and veteran actress Catherine Keener (Get Out, Out of Sight, Being John Malkovich) have joined Shawn Levy’s upcoming sci-fi action film The Adam Project, Ruffalo becoming the fourth actor from a Marvel Comics film. The time-travel film coming from Skydance Media and will land at Netflix.
The pair will be joining Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Guardians of The Galaxy), and Jennifer Garner (Daredevil, Elektra).
Ruffalo and Garner worked together on 13 Going On 30 back in 2004.
Reynolds is starring as a man who travels back in time to get help from his 13-year-old self. Together, they have to find their late father, who is now the same age as Reynolds, and set things right in order to save the future.
Ruffalo is playing Reynolds’ dad, a brilliant physicist. Keener will play the movie’s villain, a woman who has stolen powerful technology from the physicist.
We previously confirmed that Brian Smrz will act as the second unit director on The Adam Project and will be overseeing the film’s action sequences. Brian’s credits include X-Men 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Iron Man 3, Terminator Genisys, The Predator, Rise of The Planet of The Apes, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
A sign to the scale Skydance could aiming for with the action scenes.
Filming is already underway in Vancouver.
Mark Ruffalo had a stellar role in Best Picture winner Spotlight as he’s been mostly working on Marvel Studios films with The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and is expected to play Professor Hulk in the upcoming Disney+ series She-Hulk.
She-Hulk begins filming in Atlanta around March when The Adam Project is said to wrap.
Director Shawn Levy (Real Steel, Stranger Thins) and Ryan have already worked together on the 20th Century Studios film Free Guy.
Back on Friday, there was finally an update on the status of Deadpool 3 with Marvel Studios moving forward on the sequel by hiring The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers) to write the script. Along with it reaffirmed that the project will keep it’s R-rating, which is something that Disney/Marvel brass have been relaying to the press for years now, although, every couple of months it becomes newsworthy again.
I’ve come up with a list of mutants I’d personally like to see in Deadpool 3 and that would fit this R-rated corner of the MCU very nicely. The rating should discourage Marvel from trying to cram the main X-Men lineup into a violent Deadpool adventure which seems like bad idea when they have access to all these other cool X-Men characters that would fit the mature tone. I still suspect they’re going to allow them to work with a larger budget than the 20th Century Fox films.
Anyways, here is who I’d like to see show up in Deaddpool 3.
PSYLOCKE: Psylocke or Kwannon has a bit of a checkered past as the body of the Japanese woman that Betsy Braddock (sister of Captain Britain) inhabits was once an assassin under the purview of both The Mandarin (as Lady Mandarin) and The Hand/Yakuza. The character is more than weird and I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if they simply go with the Kwannon character instead of the messy body-swap stuff.
Kwannon is sort of more interesting given the connections to The Mandarin (the villain of Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings) and The Hand via Yakuza boss Matsu’o Tsurayaba (Wolverine villain). Having Psylocke start out as a villain for criminal syndicates then redeemed to become a superhero joining the ranks of the X-Men and the more violent X-Force would make for an interesting character reboot since she didn’t even get an origin in X-Men: Apocalypse. Actress Olivia Munn has gone on the record with her frustration with Simon Kinberg and Brian Singer’s lack of knowledge.
Psylocke also has ties to the country of Madripoor which is being introduced in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. The fictional Southeast Asian island nation could become a pivotal locale in future projects like X-Men films or something like Deadpool 3, as I think it’s about time they moved filming outside of Vancouver and explore some more different locations.
It would also be nice to see another Earthbound female Asian character outside of the Shang-Chi franchise kicking some ass in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, I wouldn’t rule-out having her moonlight as an assassin for the Atlas Empire or The Ten Rings. Then again, when Deadpool 3 shoots they’ll have full access to The Hand again.
OMEGA RED: Interestingly enough, Matsu’o Tsurayaba also connects to the next mutant.
Arkady Gregorivich Rossovich aka Omega Red originally had a bigger in Deadpool 2 as there was concept artwork making the rounds suggesting he was going to be a bruiser like The Juggernaut but he did briefly “cameo” in the mutant prison scenes. I’m not sure anyone would have noticed unless has had pointed it out and means the villain could get a second chance in the MCU.
In the comics, Arkady was a failed super-soldier experiment cooked-up by the Soviet Union and is considered to be one of the most dangerous mutants, giving Wolverine a run for his money. He’s worked has muscle for criminal syndicates like The Hand and feels within the wheelhouse of both Wolverine and Deadpool. I’m not shy about my desire to get this character on the big screen.
Since he’s Russian it could be a good excuse to connect him to Colossus’ time there.
X-23: Ryan Reynolds has been desperate to make his Wolverine vs Deadpool film, while Hugh Jackman isn’t likely return to the role anytime soon, Marvel is going to recast the role for the MCU making that a possibility in the future.
There is zero sign that Wolverine will be ready to go for Deadpool 3 but there is an established character they might want to use in the meantime that could make for an excellent surrogate, X-23.
We’ve seen Marvel Studios give second chances to J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and Jamie Foxx as Electro for their Spider-Man franchise, so there is some hope they could soft-reboot Laura Kinney aka X-23 while keeping Dafne Keen in that role for their X-Men/Deadpool franchises. It’s a bit of stretch to think they’d ask Keen to return but if they’re unable to use the new Wolverine, X-23 would be an excellent surrogate as her origin has already been covered in James Mangold’s Logan and you can fill in the blanks later.
MISTER SINISTER: There had been some suggestions that Sinister was going to be part of the never-made Gambit film starring Channing Tatum and he certainly is an untapped X-Men baddie that Marvel Studios could use for multiple films. He essentially could become the less conflicted than Magneto and take secure reigns as the main villain of the X-Men franchise before they attempt to bring in Apocalypse or others.
You could easily have Sinister, a former human geneticist turned mutant, be one of the people behind “the Workshop” from the first film and we ultimately see what has happened to those collared mutants that were sold-off as weapons on the black market. Possibly having him as a puppet master of a character like Sugar Man leading to Sinister being a bigger threat in other X-Men films.
ALPHA FLIGHT: Wade is Canadian and there happens to be Canadian Government sanctioned group of mutant heroes called Alpha Flight that have been long over due for a live-action adaptation. Adding Department H to the MCU could be one way to give a better origin to Wolverine and potentially expand the X-Men universe by including the obscure Canadian mutants. I’ve been championing that Alpha Flight be given their own Disney+ series as there is enough there to deserve a series over a feature film. Wilson is eventually going to get on Department H’s radar and could attempt to recruit him to disastrous results, they’re also goofy enough that they’d add to the comedic nature of the film.
CABLE & DOMINO: I’m still of the belief that Marvel will ultimately keep actors like Josh Brolin and Zazie Beetz in their respective franchise roles while potentiality giving their character designs a soft-reboot to look a little more like their comic book counterparts. They’re lower on the list because I think it’s less of a worry that they’ll get tossed. Although, hiring new actors wouldn’t be shocking given that Marvel can replace them if they chose to do so.
There are now plenty of examples of actors playing dual roles in the MCU and having Brolin return to the Cable part after playing Thanos wouldn’t be the strangest move they could make.
I’m sure we’ll start learning more about Deadpool 3 once Marvel Studios does an official panel for it.
Spider-Man 3 will officially see it’s score composed by Michael Giacchino!
The composer announced his return on his Twitter account yesterday and used the first official set photo that had been previously shared by franchise star Tom Holland. Michael will now secure scoring an entire Spider-Man trilogy.
We are hearing that there is an expectation that Giacchino will be back for Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness after tackling the first film’s score. Both films are currently in production with Spider-Man 3 shooting in Atlanta under the working title The November Project and Doctor Strange 2 filming at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England.
Jon Watts is directing a cast that includes Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jamie Foxx, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Tony Revolori, Angourie Rice, Jon Favreau, and J.K. Simmons.
There have been rumblings that we could learn the film’s title in the coming weeks/months. We do know the film is will follow the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home where Peter Parker is outed publicly by J. Jonah Jameson as Spider-Man along with being framed for the murder of Quentin Beck aka Mysterio. The extent of those consequences or Parker going on the run or being captured are currently a mystery.
Questions remain about the inclusion of Jamie Foxx’s Electro and if this will become an MCU incarnation of the Spidey villain rather than a resurrection of the same character from Amazing Spider-Man 2 via The Multiverse. J.K. Simmons’ reprisal of J. Jonah Jameson is clearly a new soft-reboot of the character for the franchise and is expected to cross into the other Sony/Marvel films like Morbius. The Jared Leto film has already had it’s connection to Spider-Man: Homecoming outed with it’s trailer including Michael Keaton’s Vulture.
The deal between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures expires after one more Marvel film that most likely will be the Doctor Strange sequel given that Benedict is confirmed to appear in Spider-Man and could easily lead to Peter Parker showing up in Doctor Strange’s “solo” film as these installments are quickly become quasi Avengers movies because of the team-up nature of them.
I have to assume that Disney and Sony will eventually come back to the negotiating table to work together on more movies as it is an increasingly beneficial situation for both companies.
Olivia Wilde is reportedly directing a Spider-Woman film but it remains to be seen if Kevin Feige/Marvel Studios will be involved with that project. It’s been assumed they will be, as Marvel has access to Jessica Drew the alter ego that is traditionally known as Spider-Woman. The heroine debuting outside the Spider-Man comics and happens to be an agent of S.W.O.R.D. that is firmly set within the MCU via WandaVision along with other upcoming projects.
Sony Pictures has given Spider-Man 3 a release date of December 17th, 2021.
We learned yesterday from Deadline that Marvel Studios are finally moving forward on Deadpool 3 almost a year Ryan Reynolds announced publicly that development started at Marvel. While the report mentioned how closely Ryan would be working with the studio as he reprises the role of Wade Wilson and seemingly will keep his position as part of the creative team while two creatives are missing from the report entirely (“team Deadpool” is mentioned) questioning their involvement.
Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, the screenwriters and executive producers on the previous two Deadpool films are absent from the article announcing that The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers) would be tackling the Deadpool 3 script.
Have they’ve exited the project?
The two had been originally set to write Deadpool 3 when the project was at 20th Century Fox and post-merger met with Marvel Studios over the summer of 2019 with Ryan. There had been an assumption they had been chosen to write the outline/story for the sequel or at the very least help produce given their success with the X-Men character. However, their names don’t appear in the Deadline report or in the follow-ups from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
The screenwriting duo had been tapped by Disney to pen Pirates of The Caribbean 6 (a reboot) before the script changed hands to Ted Elliot and Craig Mazin. They had also reunited with Ryan for Michael Bay’s Netflix film 6 Underground and a mature take on Clue at 20th Century Studios.
We can’t really ascertain why the pair weren’t mentioned in the article, however, this wouldn’t be the first time a key creative walked away from a Deadpool sequel. You might remember that Tim Miller was all set and ready to direct Deadpool 2 only to exit over “creative differences” which led him to team-up with James Cameron for Terminator: Dark Fate and was replaced with David Leitch. Speaking of David, it’s mentioned that while Marvel is open to him returning as director they’re realistic about his busy schedule and will likely end up hiring a new director.
It’s unclear if they’re even producing or consulting on the film. Hopefully, there will be some clarity in the coming weeks given how much they contributed to the success of the franchise.
Another little tidbit in The Hollywood Reporter’s casting news concerning Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther 2 with Narcos: Mexico actor Tenoch Huerta in talks to play one of the film’s villains. They mention that the returning cast will include Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Wintston Duke, and Angela Bassett with the former possibly getting a much larger role.
Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke and Angela Bassett are expected to return for the new feature, with some saying Wright’s character may take on a more prominent role. Marvel, which had no comment on this story, has not revealed its plans on how it plans to proceed without Boseman, although it has indicated that it will not use CGI to include the late star in the film.
Oddly enough, Danai Gurira is not part of this returning group but I assume she will be in the future.
Chadwick passed over the summer after a battle of colon cancer and everyone involved has been focused on mourning which makes me a little skeptical they’ll at this pointing locking-down production dates after they just lost their lead actor. Marvel Studios executive vice president Victoria Alonso debunked an online rumor that they were considering on using a digital-double of Chadwick Boseman for the film.
While the outlet is pushing this news that filming is set to begin in July the studio hasn’t confirmed if they’ll be promoting Wright’s Shuri to Black Panther status or simply recasting the T’Challa role which seems like the simpler move on their part as weird as it might be. Handing the reigns to Shuri would mean they’d also have to kill-off the T’Challa character and I’m not terribly sure Disney is keen on that idea. However, giving Wright more to do in sequel could lead to her becoming Black Panther at some point.
There seems to be a process where the ruler of Wakanda can retire the Black Panther position and still rule, as was the case of T’Chaka and T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War.
We’ll have to wait and see what Marvel/Coolger ultimately decide to do.
A tiny tidbit mentioned by The Hollywood Reporter suggests that James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy 3 could begin before the end of 2021, as it had been set to shoot in Atlanta, Georgia before Gunn’s firing/rehiring. He’s a busy bee lately as he’s in post with The Suicide Squad and will begin shooting Peacemaker early in the new year.
The studio will have Peyton Reed back for a new Ant-Man movie in 2021 and is ending the year with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 shooting with a returning James Gunn.
James Gunn’s HBO Max series Peacemaker will be shooting from January to June in Vancouver and if all things come together will release The Suicide on August 6th alongside a promotional tour for the film (most likely virtual) before jumping into shooting Guardians 3 in the fall/winter.
The Guardians cast are expected to show up in Thor: Love & Thunder after the announcement Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill will have a role in the Thor sequel which is being considered somewhat of an Avengers-level project (Doctor Strange 2 and Ant-Man 3 will be considered too once more characters are revealed officially).
Other Marvel films said to begin shooting in the 2021 include Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man 3 in London, Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel 2 in London, and Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther 2 in Atlanta.
Unlike most of the Marvel slate the sequel doesn’t have an official release date.
THE RONIN 