Tag: MCU

Posted on in Film News, News

Daniel Radcliffe Denies Persistent Wolverine Casting Rumor Whilst Strapped To A Literal Lie Detector: “Flattered, But No”

As soon as it was revealed that Marvel Studios would end up getting the “X-Men” film rights reverted back them in the wake of Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, there has been an oddball fan campaign online to get “Harry Potter” actor Daniel Radcliffe (A well-known short actor) to take over the Wolverine role from Hugh Jackman (Appearing as Logan in “Deadpool 3”).

Well, despite the actor himself debunking various casting rumors over the years, he’s now been strapped to a lie detector for Vanity Fair(See video below) and was asked again about his potential casting as the iconic Canadian mutant by his fellow “Merrily We Roll Along” cast members Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez. As expected, the British actor denied it, again, adding that his recent buffness seen in the latest season of his comedy series “Miracle Workers” has nothing to do with being courted to play Wolverine by Marvel. When directly asked if he started the Wolverine rumor himself he responded with a clear, “No.”

“Yes. I got buff because I am obsessive, and I want to… You’ve seen my parents, they’re like insane fitness people. So that’s just been passed on. But no. No Wolverine. Flattered, but no,” Radcliffe stated.

This wouldn’t be the first time the actor has been connected to an MCU role as “online rumors” once claimed he was in the running to play Mark Spector, aka, Moon Knight, and was another rumor he had to deny multiple times in interviews.

Still, I’ll be holding out for more likely/suitable contenders such as Austin Butler (“Dune: Part Two”) Jeremy Allen (“The Bear,” “Iron Claw”), and Paul Mescal (“Gladiator 2”) to get a crack at the role of one of the most popular Marvel Comics characters. While I’m warming up to the idea of Taron Egerton doing it, I feel like there are plenty of others already doing action that could put the claws on too. Just hiring an actor because they’re short is a bit of the ridiculous fan asks applied to the new Wolverine, but likely won’t be a real make-or-break requirement of the studio for casting given this role is going to become a mainstay in the MCU for the next decade or more. Given that Marvel is reportedly only just meeting with screenwriters for “X-Men” it’s unlikely that we’ll see the new Wolverine actor anytime, despite any online rumors concerning what will or not show up in “Deadpool 3.”

SOURCE: VANITY FAIR

Posted on in News, Television News

Marvel’s ‘Agatha,’ ‘Daredevil,’ & ‘Ironheart’ Getting Big Release Delays According To US Copyright Filings

Today marks the release of the second season of Marvel’s “Loki” and there had been previous delays on the other streaming shows. We now might have an idea when two of them are going to be released next. MCU Direct is suggesting the upcoming Disney+ series “Ironheart” is expected to begin airing on September 3, 2025 (A huge push given they’ve completed filming), and “Agatha” is coming out on September 1, 2024. These dates come from listings on the United States Copyright Office, which would make them slightly more official than just a regular rumbling online.

“Agatha” is a magic-focused series and spinoff of “WandaVision” featuring Kathryn Hahn returning as the titular Agatha Harkness along with actors such as Aubrey Plaza as Rio Dival, and Sasheer Zamata in the role of a key horror-occult character, Jennifer Kale.

Dominique Thorne‘s Riri Williams made her debut in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” as a brilliant college student who builds her own armor suit from scratch. “Ironheart” is expected to continue those adventures and will introduce the supernatural villain, The Hood, who has “In The Heights” actor Anthony Ramos in the role. “Solo: A Star Wars Story” actor Alden Ehrenreich is also in the series and rumored to be playing the son of “Iron Man” villain Obadiah Stane portrayed by Jeff Bridges.

Other live-action MCU shows on the horizon include “Echo” on January 10, 2024, and “Daredevil: Born Again” on January 2025.

These delays stem from Disney+ juggling multiple original series from Marvel Studios and the “Star Wars” shows coming from Lucasfilm. They’re also looking like a bit of a content gap is coming next year in the wake of the strikes (long expected). Disney’s Bob Iger had also suggested to the public that they are considering slowing down the volume of Marvel shows to keep the studio from stretching itself too thin as their aim is to get the feature films on track.

SOURCE: UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT OFFICE

Posted on in News

Former Superman Contender Jamie Dornan Has Met With Marvel Studios

Irish actor Jamie Dornan is getting a lot of awards buzz and critical praise for his lead role in the Kenneth Branagh family drama Belfast. His other credits include The Siege of Jadotville, A Private War, Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar, and the spy thriller Anthropoid.

The actor spoke in-depth with The New York Times about his career, focusing on the past and future. Concerning the latter, Dornan revealed that he has met with Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige about a mystery project/role.

Dornan is open about the movies he covets, and he has met with the Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige about donning a cape and tights. “I’m more ambitious than I’ve ever let on before,” Dornan said.

What that project or role could be is a bit of mystery but we know that Marvel Studios are likely aiming to find people to lead their X-Men and Fantastic Four reboots along with rumored projects like Nova, which could be seeking someone to play Richard Rider.

It isn’t like Jamie Dornan is new to the superhero world as he was one of the many actors that auditioned to play Superman in Man of Steel before Henry Cavill (who has mentioned a desire to play Captain Britain in the MCU) was ultimately selected.

What role do you think Dornan would be perfect for?

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES

Posted on in Film News

Deadpool & Korg React To The ‘Free Guy’ Trailer; Could We Get An MCU Team-Up In ‘Deadpool 3’?

Using that Disney hype machine to help promote their upcoming film Free Guy, co-stars Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi have teamed-up to reprise their Marvel Comics characters to do a parody reaction video highlighting the trailer for Free Guy coming next month to theaters.

Interestingly enough, this is sort of the first film Wade Wilson has ever interacted with a character directly from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (granted this likely isn’t official canon or is it?) since being acquired by Disney. We’re also seeing him in a very PG-13 format which might be new for some given his raunchy foul-mouthed antics.

It’ll be neat to see if Deadpool and Korg do eventually feature together in a future Marvel project as Deadpool 3 feels like a good spot for that interaction. Reynolds had previously teased an idea he had for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to appear in a road trip film and now I can’t only think about how cool it would be if Taika’s Korg took that spot instead.

As it sits, Deadpool 3 will officially kept it’s R-rating and has a script being penned by The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers), however, a director hasn’t been named. I think it would be nifty if Taika Waititi, a noted workaholic, tried to sneak in and direct Deadpool 3 before another Thor installment or possibly even his Star Wars movie. Taika works fast and could likely churn-out a sequel pretty quickly as fans are patiently waiting for the mutants to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Posted on in Film News

The Updated Film Release Slate From Marvel Studios

With the added announcement by Marvel Studios of two movies being released in 2023, we decided to rundown the current slate of MCU films coming between 2021 an beyond.

  • BLACK WIDOW – July 9, 2021
  • SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS – September 3, 2021
  • ETERNALS – November 5, 2021
  • SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME – December 17, 2021
  • DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS – March 25, 2021
  • THOR: LOVE & THUNDER – May 6, 2022
  • BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER – July 8, 2022
  • THE MARVELS – November 11, 2022
  • ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA – February 17, 2023
  • GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 – May 5, 2023
  • TBA – October 7, 2022
  • TBA – July 28, 2023
  • TBA – November 3, 2023
  • FANTASTIC FOUR – TBA
  • BLADE – TBA
  • DEADPOOL 3 – TBA
  • CAPTAIN AMERICA 4 – TBA
  • X-MEN – TBA

It’s still curious that Marvel hasn’t announced dates for Fantastic Four, Blade, Deadpool 3 or even confirm that work is currently underway on Captain Marvel 4 and their X-Men reboot. We are already anticipating sequel announcements for Shang-Chi and Eternals being part of the upcoming plans as well. I guess we’ll just have to patient for the other 2023 releases along with what will be coming out in 2024-2025.

While Deadpool 3 is confirmed to be an R-rated project we’re in the dark if their Blade reboot starring Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali as Eric Brooks will also take a mature route given the history of Blade being an adult-focused action franchise that features blood drinking vampires.

Here is what the Disney+ side of things look like so far and from what we’re hearing there are a lot more shows to be announced in the near future.

  • LOKI – June 11, 2021
  • WHAT IF…? – Summer 2021
  • MS. MARVEL – Late 2021
  • HAWKEYE – Late 2021
  • MOON KNIGHT – 2022
  • SHE-HULK – 2022
  • SECRET INVASION – 2022
  • ARMOR WARS – 2022
  • IRONHEART – 2022
  • WAKANDA SERIES – TBA
  • ECHO SPINOFF – TBA
Posted on in Film News

Marvel’s Kevin Feige Seemingly Shoots Down Rumor Chris Evans Is Returning To MCU

During a chat with Entertainment Weekly to promote the upcoming Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winer Soldier, Marvel’s Kevin Feige finally responded to the Deadline rumor that Chris Evans was in talks to return to the MCU for undisclosed projects.

Kevin seems to refer to Evans’ own debunking on Twitter when he said “news to me.”

FEIGE: “I rarely answer no to anything anymore because things are always surprising me with what happens, but that rumor, I think, was dispelled rather quickly by the man himself.”

https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/1349835808497229824

He could have easily side-stepped the question or given a non-answer but seemed to double-down on Evans’ tweet. There has been some speculation that we could see the death of Steve Rogers in Falcon, however, that has yet be confirmed. It’s worth pointing out that we don’t really see a lot of Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent and gives me the impression that he might last that long in the show.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Posted on in Film News

‘Deadpool 3’ Development At Marvel Studios Moves Forward With The Molyneux Sisters Penning The Script

I guess the talk of Deadpool 3 never coming together at Marvel Studios was just a fevered dream of co-creator Rob Liefeld.

Deadline reports that Marvel Studios has tapped The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers, The Great North) to write the third installment and would be a sign that the sequel could be the first official X-Men film produced/released by the studio since the merger brought the film/television rights to Disney.

Sources tell Deadline that Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin to write Deadpool 3 with Reynolds set to reprise his role as wise-cracking superhero.

As we’ve been saying for ages via quotes from both Disney and Marvel brass that they still seem to be keen to keep the film R-rated. Deadline reaffirms this, yet again.

Besides Reynolds return, there is so many factors being worked but sources say the film is still expected to be rated R like the previous two installments. 

Ryan Reynolds is set to reprise the role of Wade Wilson but this would be the first film without the involvement of Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who tackled the last two movies when they were made at 20th Century Fox pre-merger. We don’t know officially if other cast members like Zazie Beetz or Josh Brolin will carry over their roles like Reynolds.

It’s unclear if David Leitch’s schedule will allow him to return for a third installment, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they considered a new director in all honesty given how many projects Leitch is juggling currently.

It sounds like with screenwriters set that we could see the sequel arrive at the earliest in 2023 with production taking place in 2022 if a script is completed in a timely fashion.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Mahershala Ali Says He Inquired About ‘Blade’ Role Back In 2016 and Alludes To Darker Tone For Reboot

There had been plenty of rumors of Marvel Television trying to make a new Blade series for streaming services despite a trade report from 2013 stating that Marvel Studios was developing an in-house script via their writers program. Mahershala Ali was announced as the new Eric Brooks aka Blade at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, however, it was clear that Marvel hadn’t hired a director or screenwriters at that point.

Marvel’s Kevin Feige confirmed that Mahershala approached them specifically about Blade as they really planning on making a film at the time.

While speaking on the podcast The Tight Rope (via The Direct), Ali revealed that he started asking Marvel about Blade coming back to the fall of 2016 after the Season 1 of Luke Cage premiered on Netflix. Adding that Marvel Television had indeed been considering making a Blade series before landing the part and alludes that Blade may remain “darker in tone”.

ALI: “So I did this Marvel show for Netflix called Luke Cage, right? And so in doing that show, the day it premiered I had turned to my agent and I had said ‘what are they doing with Blade?’. Because I kept hearing that they were trying to find a way to remake it and put it back together, and it was exciting for me to get to be in that Marvel space in TV, but for me my goal had always been film. But also being able to participate in television in very specific ways that had real meaning, but my larger goal was to be able to really navigate between film and television, and so I turned to my agent and I said you know, what’re they doing with Blade? And he goes I check on it, and so there was this long process of them speaking about, at least in the television division, really wanted to make it a TV show again, but not necessarily, trying to acquire the rights still, and some thing’s kinda going on, so it took a couple of years.”

“But it was really my participation in Luke Cage that sparked the idea, married with being so inspired by Wesley Snipes’ work, and what he had done, and how much had changed since his iteration of Blade, and how that had really sorta like ushered in this era of like this Marvel and DC sort of like comic book stuff, and so, for me, like I just felt like since they were having conversations about bringing it back into being, I just wanted to be considered for it because I had definitely a connection, at least in my mind to Wesley Snipes going way back to high school when people used to joke and say we looked alike, and all this stuff.”

“Wesley was someone who I recognized, and yet had an impact on my confidence, and in just me sort of just kinda like standing in my own truth and own strength in a certain way, so I always kind of followed his choices, and really was inspired by his work, and so many others, but Wesley in particular, and so I just brought it up as someone who wanted to, I really wanted to take on that role, and tackle that, and also I love that it’s darker, that’s all in terms of tone, he’s a little bit darker than some of the other ones, and so that element was attractive to me.”

There was a brief update from Deadline that Marvel Studios is currently seeking black writers to pen a Blade script but a director has yet to be named. While there had been fan speculation that Blade could be ready for release in late 2022, where it is in the development process would say that was never an option and would be very difficult to begin shooting before 2022 given how many projects Marvel Studios is busy with at the moment.

BLADE – A half-mortal, half-immortal is out to avenge his mother’s death and rid the world of vampires. The modern-day technologically advanced vampires he is going after are in search of his special blood type needed to summon an evil god who plays a key role in their plan to execute the human race.

SOURCE: THE TIGHT ROPE PODCAST

Posted on in Television News

Marvel’s ‘The Falcon & The Winter Soldier’ Reportedly Adds ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Actor Danny Ramirez In “Pivotal Role”

It looks like Marvel Studios is neither finished filming or adding to the cast of their upcoming series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Top Gun: Maverick actor Danny Ramirez has landed an unnamed but “pivotal role” in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. Ramirez is best known mostly for television with credits that include Netflix’s On My Block. He isn’t a stranger to the world of Marvel Comics as he had a small role in Fox Television’s X-Men series The Gifted before the merger moved the X-Men rights over to Marvel Studios.

He plays a fighter pilot with the call sign “Fanboy” in Paramount’s Top Gun sequel titled Top Gun: Maverick set to be released on July 2nd, 2021.

TOP GUN: MAVERICK – After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”

Danny isn’t the only actor from the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick that has landed a streaming series as Monica Barbaro is starring opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger’s upcoming father-daughter spy series for Amazon/Skydance Television.

It certainly feels a little late to be adding an actor to the cast with such a big role but it’s possible he was quietly hired and has been able to keep his casting a secret for multiple months.

The Ronin was the first outlet to report that Disney+ would be delaying the release of The Falcon series from late 2020 to sometime in 2021 back in mid-August. The company seemingly confirmed this after it recently left the MCU series out of their “Coming Soon In 2020” programming ad and their website had it listed for a TBA 2021 spot.

Originally, it was supposed to launch back in August before the Coronavirus pandemic paused production back in March and only recently resumed. Given the show is still filming it’s extremely unlikely it will be ready in December or would overlap with WandaVision’s episodes.

Ramirez joins a cast that already includes Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson aka The Falcon, Sebastian Stan as James “Bucky” Barnes aka The Winter Soldier, Daniel Bruhl as Zemo, Wyatt Russell as John Walker aka U.S Agent, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carton aka Agent 13, Georges St-Peirre as Batroc The Leaper, Desmond Chiam, Erin Kellyman, Veronica Falcon, Adepero Oduye, and Carl Lumbly.

The series will explore the transition between Steve Rogers handing over the Captain America mantle over to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson in Avengers: Endgame only for the American government to install their own candidate with Wyatt Russell’s John Walker aka U.S. Agent.

Set photos have revealed that one of the locations in the show is most likely Madripoor, a fictional lawless South-East Asian island nation originally created in the pages of the X-Men comics and could be used in the future for X-Men projects along with setting up various villains from that corner of the Marvel universe. Since the island has connections to The Hand (villains connected to Wolverine, Daredevil, and Elektra), Ophelia Sarkissian aka Viper/Madame Hydra, Wolverine, and Psylocke. A gang member’s jacket spotted on the set used imagery of an X-Men character called Ogun, a Japanese villain connected to Wolverine and Kitty Pryde aka Shadowcat.

There have been plenty of rumblings that the series could introduce a version of The Thunderbolts which were led by Zemo in the comic books. It’ll be interesting if that actually comes together as there had been unsupported talk of a Thunderbolts project being kicked-around at Marvel at one point.

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier is expected to drop elusively on Disney+ sometime in 2021.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

Samuel L. Jackson Reportedly Reprising Nick Fury Role For New Disney+ Series From Kyle Bradstreet – Is This The S.W.O.R.D. Show?

Samuel L. Jackson will return to the Nick Fury role for an unnamed Marvel Studios series for Disney+ according to a report from Variety. Kyle Bradstreet will write and executive produce. His television credits include Mr. Robot, Berlin Station, and Cooper.

The exact plot details of the show are being kept under wraps, but multiple sources say Jackson is attached to star with Kyle Bradstreet attached to write and executive produce. Like all the other Marvel shows at Disney Plus, Marvel Studios will produce.

Variety stops short from saying what the new series which most likely is the rumored S.W.O.R.D. series. The last time we saw Nick Fury was on a space station being built by Skrulls in outer space and we’ll see S.W.O.R.D. introduced later this year in WandaVision with what looks like Monica Rambeau is an Agent of S.W.O.R.D.

S.W.O.R.D. could become the Phase 4 replacement of S.H.I.E.L.D. given that future threats in the MCU are most likely going to be coming from beyond the stars and the Multiverse. With Skrulls on Earth and established there is also the possibility that a version of the Secret Invasion could also be explored.

I’m sure fans will be hopeful that if this turns out to be a S.W.O.R.D. series that characters such as Abigail Brand will be involved and with Cobie Smulder’s television series Stumptown being cancelled I wouldn’t be shocked if Maria Hill is eventually attached.

Captain Marvel 2 has director Nia DaCosta attached and there is an expectation that S.W.O.R.D. will have large presence for Earthbound scenes in that sequel allowing for Fury, Monica Rambeau, and even possibly Ms Marvel aka Kamala Khan to get involved.

SOURCE: VARIETY