‘She-Hulk’: Marvel Hires ‘Love Life’ Director Anu Valia For Disney+ Series

Another interesting Marvel tidbit announced from the Disney Investor Day events last week is that the She-Hulk series has officially added director Anu Valia. Some of Anu’s credits include Love Life, A.P. Bio, Mixed-ish, and Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens. She also recently worked on the series Love, Victor.

Kat Corio had been previously named as one of the directors as well and was announced by Marvel.

READ MORE: Marvel In Talks With Kat Coiro To Direct ‘She-Hulk’ Series Pilot and Multiple Episodes – Will Also Executive Produce

READ MORE: Tatiana Maslany’s ‘She-Hulk’ Could Become The MCU’s Crossover Queen

She-Hulk, a new comedy series coming to Disney+, stars Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, a lawyer who specializes in superhuman-oriented legal cases. She-Hulk will welcome a host of Marvel characters to the series.

Kevin Feige confirmed during the Marvel presentation that the cast will include Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, and the return of Tim Roth‘s Emil Blonsky aka The Abomination. Roth previously playing the villain in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk and there had been previous rumors that Blonsky could be part of a Thunderbolts project.

Did he also tease that characters like lawyer Matt Murdock aka Daredevil or potential client Peter Parker aka Spider-Man might be showing up in the series? Check out the brief hint Kevin made below.

FEIGE: “And since Jennifer Walters is a lawyer that specializes specifically in superhero oriented legal cases you never know what Marvel characters might pop-up from episode to episode.”

I guess we’ll have to wait and see what characters he is actually teasing here.

However, it is worth mentioning that Spider-Man 3 director Jon Watts is working on a Fantastic Four film and She-Hulk at one time was a member on that roster, making her a strong contender to play a role in the MCU reboot alongside Spider-Man. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker originally made his comic book debut in the pages of Fantastic Four. However, if Holland’s finally MCU film is the Doctor Strange sequel it might be unlikely we’ll see him show up.

Filming on She-Hulk was reported to begin this March in Atlanta, Georgia which would suggest the series is heading towards a release in 2022 on Disney+.

READ MORE: Marvel Will Reportedly Begin Shooting ‘She-Hulk’ In Atlanta and ‘Moon Knight’ In London Starting In March

READ MORE: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Rundown of All The News At Disney Investor Day 2020

SOURCE: DISNEY

Marvel Will Reportedly Begin Shooting ‘She-Hulk’ In Atlanta and ‘Moon Knight’ In London Starting In March

Tucked in The Hollywood Reporter’s update and casting information about Marvel’s Black Panther 2 they mentioned the shooting statuses of upcoming Disney+ series She-Hulk and Moon Knight, both said to kick-off filming in March 2021.

Marvel Studios has yet to make any official casting announcements for the two shows but are expected to be led by Oscar Isaac (Dune, Star Wars, X-Men: Apocalypse) as Marc Spector in Moon Knight and Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, Perry Mason) as Jennifer Walters in She-Hulk as trades have reported they’ve essentially landed the superhero roles.

Moon Knight will be using the working title of Good Faith shooting in London, Budapest, and possibly Morocco with the recent announcement that Mohamed Diab will direct.

She-Hulk’s filming is confirmed to take place in Atlanta under the working title Libra (also being used for Mission: Impossible 7 overseas) with Rick & Morty’s Jessica Gao set as writer/showrunner and Kat Coiro (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) directing.

We should be getting some new casting information in the coming weeks.

Current productions filming include Spider-Man 3 aka The November Project (Atlanta), Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness aka Stellar Vortex (Surrey), and the Ms. Marvel aka Jersey (Atlanta) series has started filming this week. The Loki series aka The Architect (Atlanta) is a few of weeks away from wrapping joining WandaVision and Falcon as releases in 2021.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Tatiana Maslany’s ‘She-Hulk’ Could Become The MCU’s Crossover Queen

Yesterday, Deadline reported that Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany (Perry Mason, Destroyer, Orphan Black) had landed the Marvel Studios role of Jennifer Walters for the upcoming superhero comedy series She-Hulk that will be exclusively on Disney+, airing possibly in 2022 given the VFX involved. 

The Emmy winning actress had previously tested for major roles in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, so Tat had been on Disney’s radar for quite some time now. 

Jennifer is a defense attorney and cousin of Bruce Banner, who transforms into the superheroine She-Hulk after a blood transfusion from Bruce gives her superpowers of her own. 

The series is expected to skew more comedic given that Jessica Gao (Rick & Morty) is the head writer and they’ve seemingly hired Kat Coiro (The Mick, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) to direct multiple episodes. It’s also said that Mark Ruffalo may reprise the Bruce Banner/Professor Hulk role for the show to help connect Jennifer to the greater MCU. 

Kevin Feige has confirmed that these new Disney+ characters would most certainly make the jump to the feature films and She-Hulk has the potential to become their next big crossover characters given that is how she was utilized in the comics books. 

Here is a rundown of just some of the film projects I think she makes the most sense for. 

SPIDER-MAN 3: There have been plenty of team-ups over the years in Marvel Comics and planting seeds for upcoming projects has always been something Marvel Studios has always been keen on doing. 

Spider-Man 3 is a strong candidate to introduce the regular human version of Jennifer Walters before the She-Hulk series. 

At the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Quentin Beck aka Mysterio’s death was spun as murder at the hands of Spidey by J. Jonah Jameson and he also outed his secret identity as Peter Parker. Plenty of fans have suggested that Peter Parker if caught by authorities would be in great need of a defense attorney. A noble profession that doesn’t only fall on the shoulders of Matt Murdock aka Daredevil in Marvel Comics but also Walters, who happens to specialize in superpowered cases. 

Interestingly enough, Jennifer has a connection to J. Jonah Jameson as she married J. Jonah Jameson’s son John Jameson aka Man-Wolf. 

A nifty connection to the Spider-Man franchise is that Tatiana just happened to co-star in the Boston bombing drama Stronger alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, who played Quentin Beck aka Mysterio.

It is worth noting that according to production grids (take with a grain of salt) making the rounds online both Spider-Man 3 and She-Hulk shoots are expected to overlap at some point next year in Atlanta, Georgia. This potential shooting schedule could theoretically allow Tatiana shoot scenes as Walters due to the proximity to each other, but this is only speculation. 

Potentially seeing Jennifer seriously injured during the events of Spider-Man 3 via a villain trying to kill Peter Parker just might be a reason to lead to her cousin Bruce Banner to give her the blood transfusion that not only saves her life but gives her superpowers. A perfect way to help establish her origin outside of the Disney+ series and also connect her to the MCU beyond Banner.

There is also the possibility that Spider-Man 3 sees Parker simply on the run from authorities with the help of parental figures Happy Hogan and Nick Fury being tracked down by the film’s villains. 

I don’t see the entire film being a courtroom drama, do you? But if Peter needs a lawyer, Jennifer could be easily suggested by Bruce or Happy. 

FANTASTIC FOUR: After the merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox, Marvel Studios finally got full rights to use both the X-Men and characters connected to the Fantastic Four. 

She-Hulk happens to be an official member of the team.

While there have been hints that there is quiet development on the MCU reboot of the franchise (via Slove Everything Productions LLC), neither a director nor screenwriter has been officially announced by the studio. 

Ant-Man 3 will include Avengers villain Kang The Conqueror played by Lovecraft Country’s Jonathan Majors, who happens to be a villainous ancestor of Reed Richards from the future. Nothing says at the moment that Marvel Studios will carry over that tiny family connection from the comics with the MCU version of Kang but it is worth considering. 

I’m also extremely hopeful that the Fantastic Four franchise will be an excellent excuse for Kevin Feige to take a second crack at The Inhumans, as Crystal was a member of the team. The introduction of Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel in her own Disney+ series, who is part of The Inhumans, would certainly open the door for the studio to explore those other characters in more accurate way than the sub-par ABC series. 

Marvel Studios is expected to make some announcement soon if they are indeed gearing up to shoot Fantastic Four within the next two years or so.

SECRET WARS AKA AVENGERS 5: The Fantastic Four wasn’t the only big-league superhero team that Jennifer joined as she was part of the Mighty Avengers and could easily be involved with the Secret Wars lineup given she was included in the original comic book run. 

The Russo Brothers have teased an interest to tackle the Secret Wars as a follow-up to their box office smashing Marvel film Avengers: Endgame. I’m sure if Secret Wars does materialize they’ll want to wait for the Eternals, Fantastic Four, and X-Men to be well established beforehand so they’re not spending all their time on character introductions. 

Romance hasn’t been a huge part of the MCU but Eternals is expected to change that slightly and could allow She-Hulk’s love life to be explored in the series and films. 

In more recent comics, Thor and Jennifer are in a relationship that could be used for future films. 

She-Hulk has also has had romantic encounters with Hercules and Eros of Titan aka Starfox the womanizing brother of Thanos both are expected to be part of the Eternals franchise the two just happen to be fellow members of The Avengers. Gemma Chan’s Sersi and Kit Harington’s Black Knight are likely also going to join the Avengers ranks just like their comic book counterparts. 

A-FORCE: Marvel actresses approached Kevin Feige on the set of Avengers: Endgame to pitch him an all-female superhero film which most have suggested could be a live-action version of A-Force. A feature film that could easily see characters like She-Hulk among those ranks. 

I also wouldn’t rule-out cameos in stuff like Thor: Love & Thunder, Ant-Man 3, and Captain Marvel 2 to help establish Jennifer’s relationships with Hope (a surrogate for Janet), Valkyrie, and Danvers leading up to an A-Force film. 

There is a lot of crossover potential with a character like She-Hulk and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of her in the future beyond this Disney+ series. 

Marvel Studios Hires ‘Orphan Black’ Star Tatiana Maslany To Play ‘She-Hulk’

Marvel Studios has reportedly hired Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany to play Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk in the upcoming Disney+ series according to Deadline.

The Canadian actress is coming off an Emmy win for her work on Orphan Black and most recently had a supporting role in the HBO series Perry Mason.

Jennifer Walters is the lawyer cousin of Avengers member Bruce Banner and during a blood transfusion is given her own set of powers becoming the heroine She-Hulk. The character has been part of the ranks of both The Avengers and The Fantastic Four.

Mark Ruffalo confirmed talks with Marvel about joining the series and reprising the Smart Hulk/Banner role but his deal has yet to be made official.

Kat Coiro (The Mick, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) is in talks to direct multiple episodes with Rick & Morty’s Jessica Gao set as the show’s head writer.

Filming may begin next year in Atlanta.

She had previously tested for lead roles in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Last Jedi but didn’t land the parts.

Tatiana might end up being a supporting character in other feature films once her series is released.

SOURCE: DEADLINE