Tag: Scarlet Witch

Posted on in Features

The Serpent Crown Could Be Next Big McGuffin Coming To The MCU Leading To Lumerians & The Serpent Society

Yesterday, fans discovered the possibility of Namor (Prince of Atlantis) villain Gargantos being involved in a fight sequence in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. It felt like a big hint that Namor is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or even the Doctor Strange sequel after Scott Derrickson had teased on Twitter before deleting the post and exiting the film leading to rewrites from Michael Waldron (Loki).

Despite believable rumors of Namor (alongside other characters) showing up in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Atlantis and Wakanda having battled each other before), neither the trades nor Marvel Studios have confirmed this exciting potential. Given that Angela Bassett told Entertainment Tonight there have been at least five versions of the script means that things could have been tweaked/changed over the last year or two.

“There have been about five incarnations of the script and I hear another one’s coming,” Bassett said of the script development of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

While the Darkhold (book of dark magic) is being introduced in WandaVision and should play a large role in Doctor Strange 2, we could be seeing more dangerous items falling into the wrong hands.

The addition of Gargantos may mean another dangerous McGuffin could be coming to the MCU as well. As the comic that featured Gargantos included the former ruler of Atlantis, Naga of Lumeria. The Lumerians are sort of antagonists to the Atlanteans, and their leader Naga wears an object of interest of Marvel Comics, the Serpent Crown. Interestingly enough, Captain America: The Winter Soldier gave them a brief nod with the SHIELD ship in the opening sequence being called The Lumerian Star (seemingly a HYDRA operation).

The Serpent Crown has connections to various villains such as Mephisto (Marvel’s cosmic version of the Devil), Ophelia Sarkissian aka Viper, The Serpent Society (once led by Sarkissian), and the aforementioned Naga of Lumeria.

In the comics, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and the Thing teamed up to fight against Quasar, who was possessed by the Serpent Crown.

The Serpent Society connection is a big standout here. Mainly, because it was the fake title (Captain America: Serpent Society) used before Kevin Feige announced that they would be making Captain America: Civil War and announced the casting of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther. There had been reports that The Falcon & The Winter Soldier head writer Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson had been assigned to write Captain America 4, assumed to star Anthony Mackie. So, setting up the Serpent Society as a threat or giving clues to the Serpent Crown beforehand would be a good way to go.

The Serpent Society has a connection to Lumeria, which makes the Lumerian Star tease in Captain America: The Winter Soldier even more interesting given that it was controlled by HYDRA. Viper, also goes by the codename Madame Hydra. They could easily become the successors to HYDRA and make for foes for Sam Wilson’s new Captain America or even the Thunderbolts.

I wouldn’t be that shocked if Val (was an incarnation of Madame Hydra in the comics) or Sharon Carter’s Power Broker are part of this MCU incarnation of The Serpent Society, given that Viper once controlled the island nation of Madripoor, which seemingly we’ll be revisiting in the future possibly in Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.

Roxxon’s Hugh Jones (who appeared in Agents of SHIELD) attempted to use the Serpent Crown to gain control of the U.S. government in the comics, it’s possible the MCU could reboot that character as they have with the Darkhold in WandaVision. The Loki series, that gave us a true introduction to The Multiverse, featured Roxxon’s Walmart proxy Roxxcart.

I guess we’ll have to wait on March 25, 2022 to known for sure if Namor, Atlantis, and The Serpent Crown are coming.

Posted on in Film News

Benedict Cumberbatch Talks Working With Director Sam Raimi On ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness’

Filming on Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness has been underway in the United Kingdom since late last year and Collider was able to speak with it’s star Benedict Cumberbatch about working with director Sam Raimi.

CUMBERBATCH: “Sam, amazing. He’s so collaborative. God, he comes with the baggage of an icon. He’s an incredible force, especially in this genre. But he’s so humble, he’s so nice, he’s so appreciative, you really wanna serve him. And boy, when he’s happy, you know you’ve done something right. He’s so good at getting you there and getting it there. It’s been a very, very collaborative process, this one. Our origin stories, I guess, and obviously the beasts that were the Avengers films to be a part of were a thrill, but you’re kind of just along for the ride. You do the best with what you’ve already got given to do. The second time around, there’s a bit more of, ‘So, what do you want to do, and how do we go about solving this?’ So it feels very creative. Scarily so, sometimes.”

We know that the sequel will include The Multiverse and WandaVision ended with Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff becoming the Scarlet Witch along with getting her hands on the Darkhold, a dark magic spell book in Marvel Comics that could lead to multiple evil characters coming into their dimension.

Newcomer Xochitl Gomez will be playing Young Avengers member America Chavez aka Miss America as confirmed by Marvel back in December.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness will be released on Mach 25th, 2022.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Features

SPOILERS: A Rundown of The ‘WandaVision’ Finale & What It Means

THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS WANDAVISION FINALE SPOILERS

Wanda finally becomes the Scarlet Witch leading to giving Agatha Harkness a spell while making her the noisy neighbor in Westview until she needs her help in the future. This is after it’s revealed that Harkness wants to steal her powers and has the Darkhold, an extremely dangerous book of spells. Maximoff also gives up her false reality which included the twins and Vision, as she finally admits what she is doing is wrong. The second button looked like a scene directly from Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In Multiverse of Madness, as Wanda might end up using the Darkhold (potentially doubles-down that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t MCU canon) to bring back her children into reality from the Multiverse and potentially leading to terrible consequences.

Evan Peters’ “Pietro Maximoff” wasn’t Quicksilver as he was some random Westview citizen named Ralph Bohner, which means that Marvel is indeed moving forward with a reboot of X-Men instead of adding the Singerverse to the MCU. Plenty of fans assumed that Peters would become the new Quicksilver and that the series would somewhat introduce Mutants, that didn’t happen.Ultimately, the Multiverse wasn’t explored which many believed would explain Peters taking over the Quicksilver role.

While Monica Rambeau is approached by a Skrull to seemingly join off-world S.W.O.R.D. in the first button scene that most likely going to be connected to Secret Invasion, but we’ll have to see if her powers are active outside of the Hex and if she’ll be in that series alongside Captain Marvel 2.

The White Vision brainwashed by S.W.O.R.D. director Hayward didn’t end up killing the other version of Vision, but just left the Hex and it wasn’t revealed where he went. I think Vision just leaving annoyed a bunch of people because we didn’t see what his fate was and he was the big “cameo” Paul Bettany was teasing then really didn’t do much in the end.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how Wanda will be interacting with Doctor Strange in the sequel along with how the Multiverse comes together. Most of us are likely a little confused by all this stuff didn’t catch the attention of people like Strange and Baron Mordo, given all the magic and use of the Darkhold. Strange and the Ancient One previously being established as omnipresent characters that are seemingly aware of everything going on.

Posted on in Features

SPOILERS: Episode 8 of ‘WandaVision’ Pulls The Curtain Revealing Multiple Motivations

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION AHEAD

Last week, it was finally revealed that everything bad that was happening withing the Hex bubble was Agnes, who was rumored during production is actually Agatha Harkness. Not exactly a villain in the comic books, but seeming is a villain in the MCU. Episode 8 starts off showing her in the 1600s killing her own coven of witches including her own mother and potentially stealing their powers after they accuse her of using dark magic.

Agatha, a witch who uses spells, has been trying to figure out how Wanda was able to change reality and resurrect Vision. She uses the twins as a way to force Wanda show her how she was able to change things on such a large scale and I assume steal the power for herself. Yet again, it’s confirmed that Evan Peters version of Pietro isn’t Wanda’s brother and was used to manipulate her. Sorry folks, no Singerverse era of X-Men for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While Agatha has been meddling, it’s really was Wanda behind the Hex and bringing an entirely new version of Vision out of thin air. Something that completely puzzles/frustrates Agatha as Wanda is able to do such “magic” effortlessly and without spells.

Watching old sitcoms being Wanda’s way of dealing with grief and explaining the homages, as her father Oleg Maximoff used to bring them home as a way for the kids to practice their English. This further illustrates that Magneto won’t be showing up in some secret cameo.

During the flashbacks it’s revealed that Hayward lied in earlier episodes when he said Wanda broke into the S.W.O.R.D. facility and stole Vision’s body parts, as we see see a flashback to her being let in and calmly leaving without him.

We also see the real motivations of S.W.O.R.D. and Director Hayward as they were trying to nudge Wanda to resurrect the dead body of Vision so they could use him as a weapon. Wanda conjures a new version of Vision which is likely why Hayward had been attempting to track him within the Hex bubble. Hayward and S.W.O.R.D. have been trying to figure out how to power-up Vision and in the end credit scene use the Hex charged drone to bring their version of zombie Vision back online. He’s is now ghostly white (a nod to the comic books) and will likely be used as a weapon against Wanda in the next episode.

The episode ends with Harkness holding the twins and calling Wanda the Scarlet Witch as she uses chaos magic, the first time Wanda has ever been referred to her X-Men name.

Episode 9 feels like it’s going to be some sort of standoff and possible establish the events of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. It’s a smart move on the part of Marvel Studios as people following WandaVision will likely be more inclined to go see the Doctor Strange sequel. The original while a fine installment, but wasn’t the most memorable or anticipated Marvel film to date and didn’t set the box office on fire.

It’ll be interesting to see if further trauma (possibly in Episode 9) pushes Wanda to become a villain herself or if Agatha/someone else is revealed as the main antagonist for the Doctor Strange sequel.

Posted on in Television News

Kevin Feige Gives Vague Response If ‘WandaVision’ Connects To Marvel’s ‘X-Men’ Reboot

WandaVision debuts on January 15th on Disney+ and Deadline is curious if the Phase 4 series will be teasing future things to come including Marvel’s X-Men franchise reboot, given that Wanda has direct connections to the mutants as her father happens to be Magneto. The response from Marvel’s Kevin Feige is extremely vague which might be a bit disappointing for people expecting from clarity.

DEADLINE: We know with Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, her character connects into Captain Marvel 2, and that the series connects to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Is WandaVision a ramp to the revival of X-Men you’re planning?

FEIGE: “In hindsight, in five years if when we’re talking about everything that’s happened, everything can be a ramp to everything, specifically though, yes, Monica in Captain Marvel 2 and specifically to Wanda teaming up with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

We’ll have to wait and see if the show drops hints to mutants as that could also be the case with Eternals.

There are small tidbits from the X-Men comic book universe joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe with S.W.O.R.D. in WandaVision and the fictional island nation of Madripoor is expected to make it’s live-action debut in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

Concerning upcoming projects based on the former 20th Century Fox properties we learned last year The Fantastic Four reboot has Spider-Man trilogy director Jon Watts attached and Deadpool 3 recently landed screenwriters The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers) pushing forward that film’s development.

Vice director Adam McKay talked about potentially pitch a Silver Surfer movie to the studio and Noah Hawley had been developing as solo Doctor Doom project before the merger that seemed to interest Feige.

How and when we’ll see mutants and the main team of X-Men is still an unanswered question.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Elizabeth Olsen Suggests She’ll Begin Shooting ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Next Month

Not too long ago Marvel Studios executive vice president Victoria Alonso confirmed that WandaVision has finished filming which now allows Elizabeth Olsen to move on to her next big Marvel project, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. While franchise star Benedict Cumberbatch had previously suggested that he would begin filming this month it was a little less clear when Olsen would begin shooting her scenes as the film’s co-lead.

Elizabeth has revealed to travel outlet CN Traveller that she’ll be in England over the holidays either shooting/prepping for the sequel.

OLSEN: “I did a really strange deep-dive into how an American could legally live in the UK and I saw that there’s a retirement visa once you reach 54. I feel as if British people work to live – they don’t live to work, unlike in LA and New York. I am moving back soon to film the sequel to Dr Strange, so I’ll be there for Christmas, just outside London. Even given the current circumstances, it will be a nice trip.”

I’ve previously confirmed that filming will be mainly taking place at Longcross Studios in Surrey under the working title Stellar Vortex. Secondary filming locations were supposed to include Norway and New York City at one point. Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi has stepped in to direct after Scott Derrickson exited over creative differences with the studio. Hopefully, we’ll start getting some more casting news if they’re really undergoing filming soon.

Doctor Strange 2’s cast also is confirmed to include Benedict Wong as Wong and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Karl Mordo. Newcomer Xochitl Gomez has reportedly joined the film in undisclosed role that many believe could be Young Avengers/Ultimates member America Chavez aka Miss America.

The United Kingdom is currently in their second lockdown which allows for film and television production, but further restrictions are now expected to go beyond December. We’ll have to wait and see if the government drops the hammer on productions in the coming weeks/months.

The Loki and WandaVision series are said to lead directly into films like Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.

WandaVision’s debut on Disney+ has been delayed to January 15th, 2021 and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness is expected to release on March 25th, 2022.

SOURCE: CN TRAVELLER

Posted on in Television News

Marvel’s ‘WandaVision’ Debut Officially Delayed To January 15th On Disney+

The mystery of WandaVision’s release date has been finally solved!

While there was an expectation back in August that they would be able to begin airing episodes before the end of 2020, that isn’t the case. Disney has officially announced on social media that the series will begin airing on Disney+ starting on January 15th.

Many fans had tried to convince themselves that WandaVision could be ready before December but that obviously wasn’t realistic given that production delays due to COVID-19 has seemingly impacted multiple Marvel Studios even the film slate.

Back in August, in The Ronin’s report on the delay of The Falcon & The Winter Soldier to sometime in 2021 there had been an expectation that WandaVision was much further along in the production/post-production process and could have been ready in late 2020.

Fans will really need to dig deep down to find their patience because targeted release dates are written in sand and not stone. We’ll likely see many more delays and shifts throughout 2021 as situations are influx leading to date changes/production pauses.

This news would confirm that 2020 will be the first year without new MCU projects in a long time.

Other live-action series officially on the way include Loki, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Hawkeye.

WANDAVISION – Marvel Studios’ WandaVision blends the style of classic sitcoms with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany)—two super-powered beings living their ideal suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.

SOURCE: DISNEY

Posted on in Features

Will The MCU Version of Mutants Have A Connection To Atlantis?

Ever since Marvel Studios got rights to mutants and the X-Men we’ve all be heavily anticipating when that could happen it is starting to feel like we’re getting extremely close to at least an introduction to mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe very soon. 

Kevin Feige has previously stated that Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff will “truly become the Scarlet Witch” in her solo series WandaVision and the recent trailer has seemingly confirmed certain elements we all assumed would be explored in the show after the cosmic orgainzation S.W.O.R.D. will be introduced which is directly from the pages of the X-Men comics with folks like Dr. Hank McCoy aka Beast among the team. 

In the comics, Wanda and her brother Quicksilver are the children of X-Men villain Magneto an origin element that has never been used in the MCU incarnations as the studio had shared use with 20th Century Fox at the time of Avengers: Age of Ultron but weren’t allowed to reference mutants or X-Men. Their powers were explained by HYDRA’s human experiments with Loki’s staff to create metahumans. 

Mutants are normally born with a mutant gene that leads to their superpowers.

It’s been assumed for a long time that series would be a version of House of M storyline, where Wanda creates a new reality, this would explain why a very dead Vision can father twins (Speed and Wiccan) and why we don’t see them outside of this suburban neighborhood. 

There was seemingly a direct nod to the comic run in the new trailer with a shot of a wine bottle called Maison du Mepris (House of Contempt), which could be seen as House of M nod from certain perspectives. 

I’m also thinking the wine bottle is a nod to the 1963 French New Wave film from director Jean-Luc Godard titled Le Mépris aka Contempt. 

LE MEPRIS – A philistine in the art film business, Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance) is a producer unhappy with the work of his director. Prokosch has hired Fritz Lang (as himself) to direct an adaptation of The Odyssey, but when it seems that the legendary filmmaker is making a picture destined to bomb at the box office, he brings in a screenwriter (Michel Piccoli) to energize the script. The professional intersects with the personal when a rift develops between the writer and his wife (Brigitte Bardot).

The reference might have a double meaning and indicate a future rift between Wanda/Vision with the “House of Contempt” becoming the one they’re stuck in leading to friction. It’s also worth noting we still don’t have any indication that the series will introduce any mutants and if Monica Rambeau lands her powers in the series we don’t know if she’ll have mutant status. 

Then again, Wanda could manifest mutant properties in people across the globe these are comic book stories after all. 

There are likely more casting and character surprises on the way. 

Kathryn Hahn is rumored to be playing legit witch Agatha Harkness, but Marvel has yet to make this official. If she is indeed playing Harkness as the witch costume would suggest, this could connect the character to large events in the Marvel universe’s past including the sinking of the Kingdom of Atlantis. This event is referred to in the comics as The Great Cataclysm and has direct ties to the Eternals. One version has a Celestial and the Deviants causing it. Another one in the Ultimate Universe suggests that Agatha had something to do with the fate of Atlantis. 

I wouldn’t be shocked if S.W.O.R.D. is involved because Mephisto has a part to play with what is going on with Wanda and Vision, a cosmic entity that happens to be Marvel’s version of the devil and could be pulling the strings as he likes to torture various heroes. However, I’m not entirely sure why S.W.O.R.D. is doing there unless they believe that whatever is happen is somehow alien related and it very well could be. 

Chloe Zhoa’s Eternals seems like another perfect oppurtunity to give audiences a new version of the mutants via the mutant gene that inserted into humanity via Celesitials, who are a third offshoot of Eternals and Deviants. It is established in the comics Harkness has been on Earth for a long time and was kicking around during The Great Cataclysm, 20,000 years in the past and would have likely had run ins with Eternals and Celesitials given her age/powers in the comics. 

Harkness given her age making her either mutant or an eternal herself wouldn’t be shocking. I don’t think it would take much of a leap to connect her to Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman aka Black Knight either given his connection sorcery and witchcraft. 

An Atlantis connection via WandaVision or Eternals could help usher in mutants in another way beyond Scarlet Witch’s powers and The Multiverse. 

It’s been established that Namor McKenzie aka The Sub-Mariner is the first mutant concerning Marvel’s publication history as he predates the X-Men as one of the very first legacy superheroes with mutant abilities and there was even a run in 2011 titled Namor: The First Mutant. That same year he joined the X-Men during events like Avengers vs X-Men and was recently seen in X-Men Red. 

While they made sure to separate his mutant abilities like flying from his Atlantean power-set, there is a chance that Marvel alters that for the MCU version. In the 1960s, Professor Xavier and Magneto tried to recruit him into their various mutant factions and only recently has joined their ranks. 

Namor is an extremely important crossover character with connections to the Fantastic Four, The Illuminati, and Agents of Atlas led by Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo with his cousin Namora on the team. He also teamed up with Hulk, Doctor Strange, Valkyrie, and others on the original version of The Defenders. 

There had been some teases from director Scott Derrickson on Twitter that Namor could be part of his sequel Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, but that element hinted to may not have survived the development process or the final version that Sam Raimi makes. Then again, Harkness in WandaVision and Eternals both covering Atlantis could help establish Namor beforehand.  

Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi is part of the Agents of Atlas which could be another entry point to introduce Atlantis, Namor, and Namora into the MCU. There are already unconfirmed rumors that Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings will include a mutant character.

It’s still pretty damn neat we’re getting the mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe even if we have to wait a couple more years before the main X-Men team gets a proper reboot. However, it’s still not cut-and-dry when we’ll start seeing recognizable mutant characters but I’m eager to find out.