‘Eternals’ & Olympians Essentially Same Sect Of Immortal Aliens In The MCU?

The next big Marvel Studios release to grace the big screen will be Chloe Zhao’s Eternals, which will see the MCU version of the team. We already know that the film incarnation will be different than their comic book counterparts and a new detail might help link them to a similar group of god-like aliens.

Marvel’s Nate Moore recently revealed to Comic Book another slight tweak to the Eternals origin, stating the group of immortals are from an alien planet called Olympia.

“In the past we see the Eternals, who, in our version of the mythology, are immortal aliens from a planet called Olympia. [They’ve] been asked by the Celestials to come to Earth to rid the Earth of creatures called the Deviants. The Deviants are these parasitic aliens who go from planet to planet, and as they kill the apex predators on a given planet, they sort of take the characteristics of those predators and wipe out intelligent life. Well, the Eternals are heroes, so they’ve come to earth to eradicate the Deviants and allow humanity to thrive.”

In the comics, Olympia aka High Olympus was set on Earth in Greece.

Interestingly enough, The Olympians (Marvel’s cosmic version of the Greek pantheon of gods) will be officially introduced in Thor: Love & Thunder after Australian actor Russell Crowe revealed he’d be playing the MCU version of Zeus in the sequel.

I don’t exactly see why Marvel wouldn’t have Zeus and The Olympians also being from this planet of Olympia as a streamlined way to be less confusing to audiences by making the groups essentially interchangeable. This might also be why Zuras (Thena’s father) isn’t in the film, both Zeus and Zuras have similar character designs in the comics.

Zeus, of course, is the father of demigod Hercules Panhellenios aka The Prince of Power, who just happened to be on The Avengers roster around the same time as Gemma Chan’s Sersi and Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman aka Black Knight.

Adding a bit of fuel is that director Chloe Zhao told Empire Magazine that the Eternals are “akin to stories of Greek and Roman gods, who live very human lives with human traits, rivalries, jealousies and frailties.”

It’s hard not to notice this information only further distancing themselves from Thanos and Titan. In the trailer, Ajax (played by Selma Hayek) explained that The Mad Titan wasn’t a Deviant, which prevented them to interfere with his dastardly plan to kill half the universe (addition of Olympia could suggest he’s not an Eternal either). This line was also likely out of convenience because Marvel wasn’t even thinking about bringing Jack Kirby’s obscure creations, The Eternals, into the MCU until Chloe Zhao pitched them on the idea.

However, nothing stops them from making Titans like Starfox part of the Eternals/Olympian group.

The MCU version of Deviants could also have a larger connection to Lemurians and world of Namor/Atlantis, if Lemuria and Atlantis both were sunk during The Great Cataclysm (potentially shown in Eternals). This might explain why we see Deviants coming out of the ocean in the trailer footage and possibly where they’ve been hiding out for 5,000 years until the events of the film.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see when Eternals releases on November 5.

Guillermo del Toro Hopeful For ‘Pacific Rim’ & ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Crossover – “Perhaps, One Day They Can Rumble”

While Legendary is about release their big Monsterverse crossover Godzilla vs. Kong, director Guillermo del Toro is on Twitter responding to fans with the hope that at some point his Pacific Rim universe could “rumble” with the Monsterverse in a crossover of it’s own.

DEL TORO: “I personally love seeing the Neon, Sea battles, building demolition, etc because secretly -maybe- the PAC RIM Universe co-exists in the LEGENDARY Kaijuverse and, perhaps, one day they can rumble!”

Pacific Rim: Uprising didn’t do the kind of business that had been expected and given the two films have their other mythology with kaiju (titans in the Monsterverse) being sent to Earth by aliens. Adding aliens to the Monsterverse could one way to continue the franchise beyond the next installment. However, they might have to do a soft-reboot to make it fit for a crossover. Similar to how Kong: Skull Island was Legendary’s soft-reboot of King Kong to become a direct entry point into the established universe of Godzilla.

You can’t watch the Godzilla vs. Kong trailer without noticing the visual cues from del Toro’s neon-filled Pacific Rim. They’re also seemingly teasing robots with the possible inclusion of Mechagodzilla in the new film.

GODZILLA VS. KONG – Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth. 

SOURCE: GUILLERMO DEL TORO

Amazon’s ‘Jack Reacher’ Series Reboot Shooting In Toronto From April To July – Stars Alan Ritchson

The Ronin has been able to independently confirm that Skydance and Amazon’s upcoming Jack Reacher series reboot starring Alan Ritchson will be shooting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Filming is on the streaming series is expected to take place next year from April 15th to July 30th.

Alan Ritchson isn’t a stranger to shooting projects in Canada as he shot DC Universe’s Titans in Toronto as well.

The first season is reportedly taking cues from the novel The Killing Floor written by Lee Child and takes place in Georgia.

Jack Reacher comes to the little town of Margrave looking for information about the mysterious death of a guitar player named Blind Blake. Instead, he finds one of the largest counterfeiting operations in history.

Tom Cruise previously played the titular role in the Paramount feature films Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. A casting choice that author Lee Child was never happy with given the character is a tall and hulking figure in the books.

Skydance Media is also behind Amazon’s Jack Ryan series starring John Krasinski.

Since that Jack Reacher isn’t likely going to wrap until the summer (barring production delays) I wouldn’t assume that it would be ready to be released before the fall of 2021 or early 2022.

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

Alan Ritchson To Lead Amazon’s ‘Jack Reacher’ Series

Yesterday, it was announced by Amazon via Deadline that they’ve officially cast Alan Ritchson (Titans, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as the new Jack Reacher for their Prime Video series, which will be a reboot of the Lee Childs hard-boiled character. Reacher is known to be a hulking figure at 6’5 (Ritchson is 6’4), so the casting seems to be great on paper, we’ll have to see if Amazon will have another Jack Ryan level hit on their hands. 

Its first season is said to be based on the novel The Killing Floor and will take place in Georgia. 

Jack Reacher comes to the little town of Margrave looking for information about the mysterious death of a guitar player named Blind Blake. Instead, he finds one of the largest counterfeiting operations in history.

The character had been previously played by action star Tom Cruise in Christopher McQuarrie’s Jack Reacher and the box office blunder Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. A casting choice that seemed to irk author Lee Childs in retrospect.  

I’m sure folks are going to be curious if a Jack Ryan and Jack Reacher crossover event could be in the cards given they’re both Paramount/Skydance characters with their own Amazon shows. 

Amazon has a bevy of shows based on novels on the way including Lord of The Rings and The Wheel of Time about to resume production after production pauses. They also announced plans in 2018 to make a series reboot of Robert E. Howard’s Conan The Barbarian, the film incarnation starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and is credited to launching his successful Hollywood career. 

SOURCE: DEADLINE