Tag: The Punisher

Posted on in News, Television News

Marvel’s Revamped ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Series Adds ‘Moon Knight’ & ‘Loki’ Directors

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel Studios has officially secured new directors for their revamped “Daredevil” streaming series titled “Daredevil: Born Again.” The shake-up on the project stems from an aim to retool the show during the pause in production over the last couple of months in the wake of both the writers’ and actors’ strikes, as filming had been underway in New York City.

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, the duo known for Marvel’s “Moon Knight” and the recent string of episodes of “Loki” in season two have been tasked to complete the series alongside the new showrunner Dario Scardapane (“Jack Ryan”). The latter is an alumni of the Netflix wave of Marvel Television produced series with “The Punisher,” and potentially a welcomed sight as Jon Bernthal is expected to reprise the role of Frank Castle in the MCU show alongside Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio.

While the recent string of episodes of “Loki” isn’t exactly action-packed, there were plenty of fight sequences in “Moon Knight” that should make fans happy the new directors being called in have experience already within the world of MCU streaming shows.

Chris Ord and Matt Corman had been previously acting as “head writers” before their exit from the Marvel series earlier this year as the studio looked toward a new vision and it remains to be seen what the final episode count will be. Originally, “Daredevil: Born Again” was aiming to get 18 episodes completed for this new series.

Kevin Feige had recently indicated in a book focusing on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s canon that the previous Marvel Television shows like the ones made for Netflix won’t be considered mainstream canon. With that in mind, “Daredevil: Born Again” is expected to do its own thing rather than being a continuation of the previous incarnation but will keep a handful of cast members in their roles and others likely won’t be reprising their roles anytime soon.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

James Gunn Echoes Marvel Studios’ Stance That Marvel Television Era Shows Aren’t MCU Canon

Earlier in the year, Marvel Studios’ producer/executive Nate Moore revealed that the Disney+ shows were the first time that films universe, the MCU, connects directly with Marvel shows. This comes after Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb exited the company and Kevin Feige took over the television division (killing multiple shows including a Ghost Rider series) after becoming Marvel’s chief creative officer, re-branding as Marvel TV Studios.

“When Disney+ was announced we realized that there was an opportunity to interweave a cinematic universe with a television universe which has never been done before,” Nate Moore said in a Disney+ special Marvel Studios: ASSEMBLED focusing on The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

You can see that clip below spotted by The Playlist.

This would confirm that Marvel Studios only sees the series that they make are the shows that are canon in the MCU because Moore’s statements were cleared by both Disney and Marvel, since this was their own segment and not a random interview. Even if it was an interview, Moore is so high-up at Marvel Studios that what he says is gospel, just like when Kevin, Victoria or Louis speak upon what the studio is doing.

Now, Guardians of The Galaxy franchise writer and director James Gunn (who speaks with Marvel Studios brass on a regular basis) is under this impression too while interacting with fans on Twitter and dismissing that Agents of SHIELD/Agent Carter are MCU Canon, despite what fans think or desperately want to believe is true.

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1410677884390236160
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1410762542998122498
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1410764308712022018

He also debunks the narrative that Marvel Studios had been blocking actors from taking roles in DC Comics projects at Warner Bros. Pictures.

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1410677684871393280

James Gunn has completed work on The Suicide Squad (releases August 6), will wrap on his HBO Max series Peacemaker this month (releasing January 2022), and Chris Pratt says Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 (will hit theaters on May 5, 2023) begins shooting this November.

SOURCE: JAMES GUNN

Posted on in Television News

‘She-Hulk’: ‘Gotham’ & ‘The Punisher’ Actress Anais Almonte Spotted On The Set With Mark Ruffalo

Marvel’s She-Hulk series is currently filming and another actor seemingly has joined the cast.

Actress Anais Almonte (The Punisher, Gotham) posted a bunch of set photos, including one with herself in costume with Marvel Ruffalo in his Hulk motion-capture suit. She has since deleted the photos but She-Hulk Daily on Twitter was able to post the photos online.

Matthew Bass spotted this fourth image of Anais in her full costume from her Facebook account that was also deleted.

Almonte’s character hasn’t been revealed but could be playing someone with action scenes given that she’s pictured with Mark Rufflao. But don’t get too excited about her links to The Punisher as she played a dead body on that show.

Jennifer is the cousin of Avengers member Dr. Bruce Banner aka Hulk and after a blood transfusion from Bruce is granted her own Hulk powers becoming She-Hulk. The series officially will see the return of Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, Mark Ruffalo back as Banner, Renee Elise Goldsberry as Amelia, and Ginger Gonzaga.

The 10-episode series will be directed by Kat Coiro and Anu Valia with Emmy-winner Jessica Gao (Rick & Morty) set as head writer.

She-Hulk’s crew consists of production designer Elena Albanese (Lovecraft Country), costume designer Ann Foley (Godzilla Vs. Kong, Altered Carbon), and stunt coordinator Monique Ganderton (Loki, Avengers: Endgame).

Marvel Studios hasn’t announced when She-Hulk will debut but given the visual effects involved likely won’t drop until later in 2022.

SOURCE: ANAIS ALMONTE & SHE-HULK DAILY

Posted on in Television News

Alexander Siddig Joins Charlie Hunnam In Apple’s Gangster Series ‘Shantaram’ – From ‘Punisher’ Showrunner Steven Lightfoot

Apple is developing a series adaption of the novel Stantaram by author Gregory David Roberts, the story focuses on escaped Australian prison now living in India and getting himself embedded into the criminal underworld.

The series is being written and showrun by Steven Lightfoot, likely best known for his work on the two seasons of the Netflix series The Punisher starring Jon Bernthal as the Marvel Comics vigilante Frank Castle. British actor Charlie Hunnam is set to play the show’s protagonist, Lin, the escape convict.

A new casting report from Deadline has revealed that Star Trek and Game of Thrones alum Alexander Siddig will be playing Lin’s father figure and Bombay underworld kingpin, Khader Khan.

Shot across two continents, Shantaram tells the story of Lin (Hunnam), a man on the run from an Australian prison looking to get lost in the teeming city of Bombay. Cut off from family and friends by distance and fate, he finds a new life in the slums, bars and underworld of India.

Hunnam’s more recent acting credits include Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen and the Netflix thriller Triple Frontier.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Kevin Feige Sounds Open To More R-Rated Marvel Projects Beyond ‘Deadpool 3’ If They Deserve It

During the TCA (via Deadline), Marvel’s Kevin Feige talked a little about Deadpool 3 and the reasoning behind keeping an R-rating that was previously established with the first two films. He seems to allude that they’re not rushing out to make a whole bunch of mature projects but if that something deserves it they’ll have discussions.

FEIGE: “I think we target everything we’re doing for kids and adults, so I think your question is more adult or R-rated. Other than Deadpool, which has already established itself as a certain genre and a certain rating, that we already said we would not mess with when we started working on Deadpool — which we have — other than that, we haven’t encountered a story or a storyline or a character’s journey that a PG-13, or the tone, or the ratings we’ve been using up to this point has prevented us. We haven’t been held back by. If we ever are, than certainly there can be a discussion that can be had now that there’s other outlets like Star. But that just hasn’t been the case. We’ve told all the stories that we wanted to with the tonality and the rating we have now.”

I think Star certainly opens the door for mature series in the future but I don’t think we’ll see PG-13 characters make the jump to R out of the blue.

However, the way Kevin Feige talks about audiences having expectations about future Deadpool movies being mature feels like that point of view could be applied to the Blade franchise too. It was recently announced that the Blade reboot, titled Blade, The Vampire Hunter, nabbed a screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Hunters, Watchmen), but it hasn’t been officially confirmed if they’ll be aiming for a PG-13 or R-rating.

I think it’s worth considering that all three Blade movies are mature (Feige was a producer on Blade: Trinity) and given that Eric Brooks essentially murderers blood drinking vampires an R-rating just might be needed due the nature of the Vampire Nation and the violence the franchise is know for, not unlike the Deadpool films.

Blade really should be essentially an action-horror version of John Wick, but watering down the violence or horror stuff for a PG-13 rating feels like a really bad idea on Marvel’s part. I love the Blade franchise but the films aren’t exactly character driven and while Marvel Studios will likely add that element taking away things we expect seems wrong.

A scene like the blood rave just couldn’t happen in a PG-13 film because of how the MPAA punishes movies for their use of blood. Marvel Studios movies certainly have their fair share of violence but nothing that compares to Blade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEeNoS3XMnk

We’ve seen PG-13 and R versions of both Wolverine and Punisher, but traditionally we know as Blade as a mature anti-hero just like Wade Wilson.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Marvel’s Kevin Feige Comments On Possibility of Bringing Back Netflix Shows – “Perhaps Someday”

Deadline was able to transcribe quotes from Marvel’s Kevin Feige at Disney+ virtual panel at TCA press tour, the company’s chief creative officers talked about the possibility of the Netflix shows finding a second life. While he pointed out that some online rumors are completely wrong he sounds open to the idea down the line.

FEIGE: “I think we probably could do it, I think a lot of that stuff comes back to us. There’s always rumors online about things reverting, sometimes that’s true, sometimes it’s not, but I’m not exactly sure of the exact contracts but perhaps someday.”

You might remember that Feige took over Marvel Television after the exit of Jeph Loeb and re-branded the division as Marvel TV Studios with Kevin overseeing the shows under the same umbrella as the feature films. The Netflix shows included Daredevil, The Punisher, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and The Defenders. We currently don’t have any official word on the fate of those characters and if they’ll be heading to the MCU anytime soon.

Jessica Henwick also revealed Marvel Television had been considering a Daughters of The Dragon spinoff and a Ghost Rider series was killed in development stages.

There have been plenty of rumors about character rivals and shows carrying-over but none of that has actually been made official. Feige’s comments here does suggest there might be some truth behind some of them, but what they are he isn’t sharing.

Disney+’s mature section Star could give Marvel Studios a home for more graphic characters.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Kevin Feige Doesn’t Sound Terribly Interested In Reviving The Netflix Shows Anytime Soon

Ever since the cancellations of the Marvel/Netflix shows in the wake of Jeph Loeb’s exit and the demise of Marvel Television, there have been plenty of speculations and rumors about what Marvel/Disney plans to do with the character rights as they revert back to them.

These various rumors over the last two years have run the gauntlet of the main actors reprising roles in the MCU to even bolder claims that their shows would get a complete resurrection elsewhere on Disney’s streaming services. It’s worth noting none of this has ever been made official despite the hopefulness of fans.

During a chat with Deadline, they asked Marvel’s CCO Kevin Feige his current intentions on reviving the Netflix shows specifically mentioning Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, his answer alludes to them being too busy with their own material. However, not entirely closing the door.

FEIGE: “Well, certainly you’ve seen what we announced at Comic-Con a year and half ago and on Disney Investor Day a few weeks ago, so that’s our focus. But I’ve been at Marvel long enough to never say never about anything.”

Marvel Studios focusing on their own projects sounds about right as they really haven’t given the impression they are interested on returning to those projects. Instead, developing bigger things and introducing new heroes/franchises to audiences. Feige has the power to bring back shows or actors as the chief creative officer and is now running the newly branded Marvel TV Studios.

They also got the rights to a string of Marvel characters from the merger with 21st Century Fox that would likely be more of a priority for them as seen with the Fantastic Four announcement and official development on Deadpool 3.

Considering the Netflix shows had always fell outside of the main Marvel Cinematic Universe canon and they weren’t projects that were developed by Marvel Studios, there isn’t a huge obligation to continue those shows with those exact actors (their contracts have all expired). Of course, there are plenty of fans of those shows that would disagree and have convinced themselves that they could have a second life elsewhere despite the mature nature of those shows would mean they’d have to land on Disney+’s adult arm Star or Hulu.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

Jon Bernthal Still Hopeful Marvel Will Ask Him To Reprise ‘The Punisher’ Role – “I’ll Be Ready”

Despite fan wishes and rumblings that Marvel Studios was going to resurrect the Netflix lineup of Marvel shows for Hulu/Disney+, that doesn’t seem to be happening as Marvel Television was re-branded as Marvel TV Studios with Kevin Feige overseeing future television projects after Jeph Loeb exited the company.

This hasn’t detoured The Punisher actor Jon Bernthal and has been vocal about reprising the Frank Castle role if Marvel wants him to. This is reinforced in a new interview with Geek House Show (via The Playlist). As great as Jon’s enthusiasm is, as he points out himself he’s not part of those decisions.

BERNTHAL: “I think with that, there’s always hope, you know? It’s unbelievably humbling how much people responded to this version of Frank. I can’t tell you how much he means to me. He’s in my blood. He’s in my bones. And for me, it’s not really a question ever with this kind of stuff about whether you get the opportunity to do it or not…It’s not about whether we do it, it’s about doing it right. And doing the version the fans really deserve.”

“We’ll see. All of those decisions are made in rooms I’m not invited into. That’s okay with me…When we get the call to go, I’ll be ready. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure we do it right or we don’t do it at all.”

The actor first played Frank Castle in Season 2 of Daredevil before getting his own solo Punisher series that landed two seasons itself before it was cancelled.

Jon Bernthal sounds more optimistic than Daredevil’s Charlie Cox, who said he wasn’t even expecting the series to get a Season 3 despite the online fan campaign #SaveDaredevil and poured cold water on the rumor he was going to be involved with Spider-Man 3.

We ultimately don’t know what Kevin’s plans are for characters like Frank Castle, Matt Murdock, Elektra Natchios, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand (despite Iron Fist connections rumored for Shang-Chi). Also, if he wants to bring them into the real Marvel Cinematic Universe I’m unconvinced he’ll even ask those actors to return to their roles or attempt soft-reboots with new actors instead. Even if characters are slowly reverting back to Marvel from Netflix the contracts for actors and showrunners (many have found new gigs) have expired, meaning that Marvel TV Studios has zero obligations anymore.

Fiege didn’t seem terribly interested in continuing the Loeb era of Marvel Television projects as reflected with the cancellations and it doesn’t look like those projects will find new lives elsewhere. It might also irk Disney to have off-shoots on places like Netflix and rebooting might be a way to sever any ties to those Netflix shows or being branded as “MCU”.

However, speaking of Spider-Man 3, Jamie Foxx is seeming getting a second shot at playing Electro in what is likely going to be an MCU take on the character not unlike J.K. Simmon’s new version of J. Jonah Jameson first seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home. There is a chance they could bring Cox and Bernthal back but ignore the events of the Netflix shows entirely given that Feige and the producing team didn’t have oversight on that material which would suggest they’re more likely to just jettison it.

There has been zero sign from Marvel that they’re even interested in using those characters anytime soon, so we’ll just have to be patient.

SOURCE: GEEK HOUSE SHOW

Posted on in Television News

Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Meera Menon To Direct ‘Ms. Marvel’ Series

Ms. Marvel has finally landed a group of directors!

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Oscar-winning short director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Saving Face, A Girl In The River: The Price of Forgiveness), and Meera Menon (The Walking Dead, The Punisher, Titans) will helm episodes of Marvel Studios’ new superhero series Ms. Marvel.

The Direct first reported that Bad Boys For Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were in the mix for the Marvel Studios show.

The series will follow Pakistani-American teenager Kamala Khan living in New Jersey as she navigates newly acquired superpowers. She happens to be part of The Inhumans in the comic books and there have been plenty of speculation this could lead to a reboot of that wave of characters after a disastrous series run on ABC.

Kamala recently got a boost in the realm of pop-culture thanks to the new video game Marvel’s Avengers, which has her as a playable character and part of the game’s story.

This is excellent news as it seems like Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, and She-Hulk are all getting ready to go soon in Atlanta.

Hopefully, they’ll be able to announce who has been cast as Kamala very soon.

There is a good chance that we could see Kamala Khan join the ranks of Avengers/Young Avengers along with possibly making her big screen debut in stuff like Captain Marvel 2, given how attached the character is to Carol Danvers in the comics.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER