Yesterday, actress Jaimie Alexander seemingly revealed on her Instagram account that she was heading to Atlanta, Georgia for work reasons without stating what the project is. There is a genuine possibility she could be reprising the Sif role in Marvel’s Loki series but that remains speculation for the time being. The Sif character has been in limbo concerning the MCU since Thor: The Dark World and potentially escaped being killed by Hela in Thor: Ragnaork due to scheduling issues with her series Blindspot.
Marvel Studios has previously confirmed that Loki still has 4-5 weeks of filming before wrapping-up which is likely why people are leaning towards Jaimie potentially flying in to work on the Disney+ series. However, given how many things are filming in Atlanta it could be non-Marvel work as well.
Back in October, she posted an image of herself from Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. which had people buzzing about her getting ready to bring Sif back in some shape or form. Many making the leap it could be for Thor: Love & Thunder but it’s more likely it could for Loki if there is a return at all.
There had been rumblings that Season 2 of Loki could also be starting-up in the new year but Marvel/Disney hasn’t even confirmed that is even happening, while we’ve known for a while that Loki was going to get multiple seasons.
We’ll have to place this one in the speculation folder for the time being.
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, we saw Thor join the ranks of The Guardians of The Galaxy and that seemingly will be carrying over to Thor: Love & Thunder.
The Hollywood Reporter says that after Chris Pratt does some additional photography for The Tomorrow War he’ll join the production of Thor: Love & Thunder (working title The Big Salad) sometime next year in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Reprising the Peter Quill/Star-Lord role for the Thor sequel.
Love and Thunder is due to shoot in Australia in January, and Pratt will do a short round of additional photography for his sci-fi movie The Tomorrow War before heading to the land Down Under.
I have to assume the rest of the Guardians cast will being showing up as well.
The other day, Production Weekly posted what seems to be the official working title for Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder which apparently will be The Big Salad during the filming at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia early next year.
While many believe this could be a hint to “Fat Thor” going on a diet it more likely is director Taika Waititi following in the footsteps of Spider-Man 3 director Jon Watts and honoring classic Seinfeld episodes.
Here are the previous Seinfeld references from the Spider-Man working titles.
Spider-Man: Homecoming = Summer of George
Spider-Man: Far From Home = Fall of George
Spider-Man 3 = Serenity Now
The Big Salad, just happens to be a title of a Seinfeld episode from Season 6, where as you’d guess a “big salad” happens to be part of the plot.
At Elaine’s request, George purchases a “big salad” to go for her from Monk’s. George’s girlfriend Julie hands Elaine the salad in Jerry’s apartment, and Elaine thanks her. George is displeased that Julie took the credit for the salad, and tells Elaine that he bought it. Elaine is irritated at George for making a point of such a trivial matter, and briefly vents to Julie about this. Julie is so irate that George told Elaine she didn’t buy the salad that she breaks up with him.
All four working titles seem to connect directly to the George Constanza character and I’m a little curious if there could be a Spider-Man connection to the Thor sequel.
The cast will consist of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie The King of Asgard, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster aka Lady Thor, Taika returning in a bigger role as Korg, and Oscar-winner Christian Bale is reportedly playing the film’s villain.
With Tom Hiddleston’s Loki wondering around the Multiverse in his Disney+ series there is a good chance he could end up appearing in Thor: Love & Thunder or even Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.
We don’t know much about the film but Natalie Portman suggested that they will indeed include Jane Foster’s cancer journey when adapting the Mighty Thor elements for the feature film while speaking with Yahoo! not too long ago. Having a superhero dealing with cancer could be incredibly powerful for kids that are on treatment or are cancer survivors.
PORTMAN: “I can’t tell you that much. I’m really excited. I’m starting to train, to get muscles. If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them they are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of the Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side.”
For the time being the sequel is going to be released theatrically by Disney on February 11th, 2022, as week before Valentine’s Day.
With filming for Thor: Love & Thunder expected to begin around January-February at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, we haven’t really had much of an update on the project until now.
While speaking with Yahoo! Life, franchise actress Natalie Portman briefly suggested that we might indeed be seeing Jane Foster’s going through cancer treatment in the film just like her comic book counterpart.
PORTMAN: “I can’t tell you that much. I’m really excited. I’m starting to train, to get muscles. If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them they are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of the Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side.”
Portman could be simply relaying plot points about the Mighty Thor story, but I don’t really see Marvel removing that important element of the hero.
It was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 that Natalie Portman would be playing Lady Thor in the film giving her a strong reason to come back for the sequel and possibly allows her to play the Marvel Comics heroine for many years.
Having a superhero that is undergoing cancer treatment or is a cancer survivor can be extremely powerful to kids with cancer or in remission. I can speak from direct experience that kids really looked up to Deadpool when they discovered he has cancer in that first film.
I’m sure Chadwick Boseman, the man, will also have a huge impact on kids as well as an example of strength. In the wake of the revelation that actor Chadwick Boseman was secretly undergoing cancer treatment during the film of multiple films including Black Panther, it’s not that hard to imagine that a fictional character could juggle superhero duties while fighting cancer.
I’m sure fans will have opinions on this but I think if handled properly it could be an extremely powerful and important part of Marvel’s new direction of representation.
Joining Portman in the Thor sequel will be fellow cast members Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, and Christian Bale, the latter reportedly playing a villain.
Thor: Love & Thunder is expected to be released on February 11th, 2022, unless there are further delays or shifts with the Marvel slate.
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.
THE RONIN 