Tag: X-Men

Kevin Feige Reiterates 'Avengers: Secret Wars' Leads Into Their Reboot Of 'X-Men' & Mutants
Posted on in Film News, News

Kevin Feige Reiterates ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ “Leads Into” Plans For Mutants & ‘X-Men’ Reboot

We’re still in the dark about the direction of Marvel’s reboot of the “X-Men,” but we have an official update of sorts, giving us an idea of when those elements are expected to come together. Marvel Studios head and CCO Kevin Feige appeared virtually at the Disney APAC Content Showcase in Singapore (via Deadline). During the Marvel presentation, Feige reaffirmed to the audience there that the “X-Men” reboot will have some sort of connection to “Avengers: Secret Wars.”

“I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some ‘X-Men’ players that you might recognize. Right after that, the whole story of [‘Avengers: Secret Wars’] really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the ‘X-Men.’ Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back,” Feige recently said.

Something we really shouldn’t be surprised given talk of the next phase of MCU movies ushering in “The Mutant Saga.”

This comes after “Deadpool & Wolverine” became Marvel’s first big live-action mutant project ahead of their “X-Men” reboot (alongside the animation revival of “X-Men ’97”) and whatever they have planned leading up to it post-“Avengers: Secret Wars.” The R-rated pic amassed a hefty $1.3 billion at the box office (on par with “Black Panther” back in 2018), and Disney+ claims that the film’s streaming debut on the service nabbed 19.4 million views globally. Their first big effort in the world of mutants has been a wild success for Marvel/Disney; given the recent narrative of “superhero fatigue,” it looks like “Deadpool & Wolverine” has been the exception.

What we do know about the next mainline “X-Men” film is that British screenwriter Michael Lesslie (“The Little Drummer Girl,” “Macbeth”) was hired by the studio to tackle the script. It’s unclear if Marvel has hired subsequent writers to help out or if Lesslie’s work will make the final shooting script, as Marvel projects tend to go through multiple drafts/rewrites with multiple screenwriters contributing to them.

We’re still waiting on Marvel to announce things like a director and official release date.

Channing Tatum as Gambit in “Deadpool & Wolverine”

Deadpool, Logan/Wolverine, Laura/X-23, Colossus, and others (Cable and Domino?) are more than likely going to appear in “Avengers: Secret Wars,” but it is unclear who will be playing the rebooted versions of the “X-Men” beyond The Multiverse Saga. Speaking of continuations, there was a deleted scene from “Deadpool & Wolverine” with Channing Tatum‘s Remy LeBeau, aka Gambit, surviving The Void and potentially making his own jump to another universe. Ryan Reynolds told EW that Marvel Studios is “obsessed with” Tatum’s Gambit and could signal his continuation of the X-Men member moving forward into the reboot.

“I honestly don’t know what goes on behind closed doors in the bookkeeping sessions at Marvel, but I do know that they’re obsessed with him in that role,” Reynolds said. “It’s kind of like the same situation I went through. Once you show that it works well, that’s really what they need. Sometimes, they just need to see it in action.”

In “The Marvels,” we saw Kelsey Grammer reprise the role of Dr. Hank McCoy, aka The Beast in a post-credit scene but remains to be seen if that universe holds answers to the future of the “X-Men” or simply was meant to tease things to come like “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” did with their own cameo from Patrick Stewart’s Professor Xavier.

With “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” shooting close together (not back-to-back) by The Russo Brothers, there is an expectation we’ll potentially start hearing more details about the latter likely sometime next year. As we already know, “Doomsday” has Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU as the villainous Victor Von Doom (expected to appear first in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”), but the “Secret Wars” villain has yet to be announced. We’re starting to suspect that it’ll be a version of The Beyonder, and the return of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki (overseer of The Sacred Timeline) wouldn’t be all that shocking, either, since the TVA is still a major player.

Other things expected to be announced in the near future include “Doctor Strange 3” and “Black Panther 3,” also, we’re still curious how “Spider-Man 4” will impact the “Avengers” installments.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

FEATURE: What The Future Holds For Marvel's 'X-Men' Reboot
Posted on in Features

FEATURE: How Marvel’s ‘X-Men’ Reboot Can Update & Separate Itself From The Fox-Era

With Marvel’s development on “X-Men” finally in full swing, we have some thoughts about the direction of the new project and how it could strive to establish itself as different from what happened in the 20th Century Fox era of feature films alongside fixing some longstanding grievances and limitations.

Last week saw the confirmation (via Deadline) that British screenwriter Michael Lesslie (“Now You See Me 3”) is indeed “in talks” with Marvel Studios to pen their upcoming “X-Men” reboot (previous reports suggest there were multiple contenders in the mix). Lesslie’s credits include “Macbeth,” “Assassin’s Creed,” the recent “Hunger Games” prequel, and wrote four episodes of the John Le Carre spy series “The Little Drummer Girl” that starred MCU actress Florence Pugh (“Thunderbolts,” “Black Widow”) and directed by Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook (“Old Boy”).

A director has yet to be named for “X-Men,” however, we’ve been pushing the idea of recruiting from within and mentioned years ago about considering Ryan Coolger (“Black Panther”) for the gig after extending his deal with the studio as he’s involved with “Eyes of Wakanda” and has been long assumed to wrap up a trilogy with “Black Panther 3.”

MULTIVERSE MUTANT VARIANTS: While we are still a bit in the dark about the studio’s main plan for the X-Men, we’ve seen variants appear in various recent films with Charles Xavier/Professor X (Patrick Stewart) in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” dying in Earth-838, in “The Marvels” we see a CGI variant of Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) where he mentions another variant of Xavier, and “Deadpool & Wolverine” brings in the TVA from “Loki” alongside with the tease of Wade Wilson (Previously existed in his own universe outside of the Singerverse since he had variants of both Colossus and Juggernaut) and a mysterious Logan variant (We don’t know for sure if both are making the jump to Earth-616 the film until we see how it ends).

“Fantastic Four” is expected to take place in a retro-futuristic universe, but it remains to be seen how mutants will be joining the fold as Marvel has yet to telegraph what the plan actually is. However, the internet has plenty of theories, none of which have been confirmed, including the rumbling of an MCU reboot after “Avengers: Secret Wars.”

There is the obvious notion that “Deadpool & Wolverine” is simply saying goodbye to Fox’s era of Marvel films, hence why Jennifer Garner’s Elektra is set to appear in the project when she had zero connection to the “X-Men” movies and even less likely to join the MCU for the foreseeable future.

MCU MUTANTS ALREADY EXIST: King Ch’ah Toh Almehen/Namor (Tenoch Huerta) is referred to as a mutant in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” it’s also worth mentioning that he’s part of an X-Men roster in more recent comics and is heralded as Marvel Comics’ first mutant. He’s not the only one either, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) also had been teased in her Disney+ series as being a mutant while incorporating the “X-Men” animated theme, and Damage Control seemed to be developing an early version of the Sentinel Program (via Stark/Mysterio drones) as a government response to combat meta-human threats.

Having Namor or Kamala becoming a cohort of the X-Men wouldn’t be a bizarre notion.

FIX GLARING PROBLEMS OF THE SINGERVERSE: It’s hard to not be aware that Kevin Feige is precious about his time working on the original run of “X-Men” films, but they clearly weren’t great adaptations of the characters or their comic book adventures while they were still mostly entertaining installments.

Mutants like Cyclops, Rogue, Storm, Callisto, and a few others barely resembled their comic book counterparts during the Fox days. Hopefully, fans will finally get authentic versions, and we’ve already seen that Marvel is open to finally putting them in their iconic costumes. Hugh Jackman, of course, wearing a version of the Jim Lee-era suit (still waiting to see footage of the cowl) in the upcoming “Deadpool” sequel.

Some of the problems weren’t just improper takes on various mutants. Shoehorning them in the movies without much of an introduction, exploration of their origins, or much character development without an impact on the story. A good amount ended up being included just to kill off, used in the background, or simply added as an Easter Egg/cameo for the die-hards.

When director Bryan Singer returned to tackle two more movies, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “X-Men: Apocalypse,” a big issue started to materialize and conflict with the canon of the previous movies. ALL MUTANTS now, suddenly, without explanation, had a slow-aging power set when that was once relegated to a handful of specific mutants. It was a lazy method by producers to keep the “X-Men: First Class” cast together while the movies jumped decades spanning four different decades (starting in the 1960s and ending in the 1990s with “Dark Phoenix”) while the actors never really actually aged, which was frustrating for fans. Since the MCU is already filled with characters that don’t age normally, if the reboot decided to only make this a characteristic for a few like Wolverine, Magneto, Mystique, Mister Sinister, Apocalypse, and Sabretooth, we’d be all for it.

In the end, consistency or continuing established franchise canon wasn’t a prime concern, adding to the habitual confusion audiences experienced over two decades. There is the optimism that the team over at Marvel Studios would be way more dedicated to make sure everything clicks and fits together.

Christopher Marc on X: "I am not saying that Marvel needs to be competing with STAR WARS or DUNE, but they have a chance to do their own big space opera via

EXPAND THE COSMIC SIDE OF THE MUTANT SAGA: Another thing that the Singerverse really never got right was the X-Men’s connection to space opera elements via The Shi’ar Empire and The Imperial Guard. Allowing them to take pages from “Star Wars” and “Dune” without having to strictly rely on The Guardians of The Galaxy for future cosmic adventures. Cyclops’ father/brother are members of the space pirate team The Starjammers. Marvel even has their own take on the Xenomorph with the deadly invasive alien species, The Brood, and the other big space invaders, The Phalanx.

An expansion could also mean exploring a heap of other mutant-related teams on Earth, such as Alpha Flight, X-Force, X-Factor, Excalibur, The Morlocks, and Exiles.

RECASTING FOR A NEW GENERATION: Recasting Wolverine would certainly be Marvel’s main priority as the character, thanks in part to Hugh Jackman’s run as the Canadian mutant, is easily as popular/well-known as Spider-Man or anyone on the Avengers roster. Despite all the teases from “Deadpool & Wolverine” of Jackman’s variant making the jump to the mainline MCU in Earth-616, there is a strong common sense expectation he’s not going to be playing the role for Marvel over the next 10-plus years.

There have been plenty of fan-castings online featuring a laundry list of genre-friendly actors such as Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter”), Taron Egerton (“The Kingsman”), Karl Urban (“Dredd,” “The Boys”), Zac Efron (“The Iron Claw”), and even one that had Jackman’s public endorsement, Tom Hardy (after director Matthew Vaughn attempted to cast him as Young Wolverine during his time making “X-Men” films). My own opinion is that folks on the rise like Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear,” “The Iron Claw”) and Austin Butler (“The Bikeriders,” “Dune: Part Two”) might be more in-tune with the kind of actor that Marvel should be seeking out.

I’m not too worried about Marvel recasting the X-Men lineup, mainly, from seeing how they’ve handled “Fantastic Four.”

X-Men '97 - Official Trailer (Marvel)

Many fans enjoying “X-Men ’97” feel that Marvel should simply move forward with a live-action incarnation of the animated show and place that version within the mainline MCU. But the problem with that idea is that they’ve killed off characters and explored storylines that could still be reworked for the big screen. Even with the show’s popularity, I don’t see a huge reason to start this new era of the X-Men by having to adhere to a 30-year-old pre-existing canon when this should be a true REBOOT. It’s exactly why I think a reset from the Singerverse is a must, too. Then again, there are some neat character choices that could be carried over.

We’re sure to get some more updates on “X-Men” in the coming months as Marvel Studios looking to make a presentation this summer at the D23 event.

Posted on in News, Television News

‘X-Men ’97’ First-Look Trailer: The Beloved Mutant Animated Series Returns March 20 On Disney+

While we’re going to have to be patient for Marvel’s hard reboot of the “X-Men” franchise, we do have a couple of mutant-focused projects on the horizon. This July will see Wade Wilson return to the big screen in “Deadpool & Wolverine” an R-rated Multiverse romp that is already planting seeds for “Avengers: Secret Wars” (Although, to what extent is clearly unknown). But before that, Marvel is resurrecting an old favorite with the Fox Kids animated series via a continuation called “X-Men ’97” which will debut March 20 on Disney+. Alongside that date confirmation, they’ve released a first-look teaser trailer (See Below) giving us a minor glimpse at the animation style and look of the revival.

The trailer connects the new show to the old one as it had Magneto overseeing Xavier’s school and the new de facto head of the X-Men. Magneto, of course, is well known to many as one of the main antagonists of the franchise but has a conflictive streak that doesn’t make him “all that bad.” Will he be a great mentor to the team or revert to his dastardly plans? I guess we’ll have to watch and find out for ourselves.

It’s unclear despite being a series coming from Marvel Studios and the newly formed Marvel Animation, if the animated show is going to have any impact on how they conduct their upcoming “X-Men” reboot and we’re unsure if it’ll have any genuine influence other than the character/costume designs (The iconic Jim Lee/Chris Claremont era being one of the most popular versions of this Marvel team). They could always jump to a live-action incarnation here, but given that a heap of storylines already used up was either skipped over entirely or mangled during the Singerverse years at 20th Century Fox, it would feel odd to brush over those events given that Marvel can now start with a clean slate.

Marvel Animation is also behind “Marvel Zombies” and the upcoming Spidey show “Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man.” Although, I’m still a little surprised they didn’t attempt a revival of the 1990s animated “Spider-Man” series alongside “X-Men ’97.” Perhaps, it was simply too much of a headache or a cameo for “X-Men ’97” is in the cards?

The teaser trailer features an article from The Daily Bugle questioning if Spidey is a mutant himself (There were crossovers between the two Fox Kids shows in the 1990s, so that version of Spider-Man exists in “X-Men ’97”). Also, it mentions Eddie Brock, aka, Venom in that paper as well. A crossover cameo wouldn’t be all that shocking since “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” had Parker running into X-Men remembers in a couple of episodes. This paper could suggest that Brock and Peter will be showing up to the Hellfire Gala, as the Hellfire Club are expected to be villains in the new show.

Pin by Geek King on 90s Spider-Man | Marvel cartoons, Barbie cartoon, Marvel animation

Also, to chime in on the question that the paper asks: “Is Spider-Man A Mutant?” In comic book lore, Peter Parker and Bruce Banner are considered mutates, not mutants. That simply means their DNA/genetics have been mutated but through technology and not by birth. So, technically, their children like Banner’s son Skaar would be mutants because their mutations would have been passed down genetically. Namor is actually considered Marvel’s “first mutant” and we’ll see if that angle is ever explored in the future. The mutant gene is likely going to play a HUGE role in the MCU moving forward and oddly enough is connected to the Celestials, last seen in “The Eternals.”

Anyways, you can watch that brand-new trailer with our first real look at the show’s animation below.

SOURCE: MARVEL STUDIOS

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Avengers 5’: Marvel Studios Officially Fires Kang Actor Jonathan Majors After Guilty Verdict In Assault & Harassment Trial

For months now Disney and Marvel Studios have been walking on eggshells by attempting not to comment or spotlight the legal woes of actor Jonathan Majors, who just yesterday was convicted of reckless assault in the third degree and guilty of harassment. This is from a two-week trial in NYC that stemmed from a March altercation between the Marvel actor and his ex-partner, Grace Jabbari. Sentencing for Majors will take place on February 6, 2024, and will shed light on what kind of consequences he’ll be seeing for his actions.

Within hours of the verdict being announced trades like The Hollywood Reporter learned that the studio had finally decided to drop Majors from his contract and sever their ties with him for future MCU projects. Majors had been playing multiple variants of the Multiverse Saga villain, Kang The Conqueror, and was expected to become a rather key aspect of both “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” as well. The quickness of the announcement was more than likely prepared months in advance and the studio had just been waiting for the trial’s outcome to make the firing public.

Kang had been mostly confined to variant appearances on two seasons of the Disney+ series “Loki” and played the main villain of “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania,” the latter project not exactly supported by either critics or audiences. Recently there have been some creative hiccups on the next project said to feature Kang as Jeff Loveness (“Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania”) reportedly exited as the screenwriter on “Avengers 5” with fellow “Rick & Morty” writer Michael Waldron (“Loki,” “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness”) stepping in to do rewrites on the script after being previously assigned to “Secret Wars” too. This coming around the same time as director Destin Daniel Cretton also left the “Avengers” pic to focus on his “Wonder Man” series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen,” “Aquaman 2”) and a gestating sequel to “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings” led by Simu Liu (“Barbie”).

It’s clear “Avengers 5” is getting an overall but what that will look like isn’t being revealed officially and we’re still going to have to wait for more concrete details on how much they’re actually changing.

What remains unclear is what Marvel is expected to do about the character of Kang and if they’ll simply recast, given the Multiverse villain has many variants (“Loki” has established that variants can both look like the original character or completely different) allowing for a brand new actor to be placed in the Kang role without much narrative headaches. General audiences likely didn’t get too attached to Majors as Kang after the underwhelming reactions to “Ant-Man 3.” Plenty of names have been thrown around online as potential wishlist replacements such as Oscar-winner Denzel Washington (“Gladiator 2,” “The Equalizer 3”), his son John David Washington (“Tenet,” “The Creator”), John Boyega (“They Cloned Tyrone,” “Star Wars”), Damson Idris (“Snowfall”), and many others. Using the villain’s other variant aliases like Rama-Tut or Immortus could also be a way to distance themselves from using the Kang name alongside retitling the next “Avengers” installment.

Pedro Pascal is expected to play the variant of Reed Richards in “Fantastic Four” after we saw John Krasinski play him as the Earth-838 incarnation in “Doctor Strange 2.” So, Marvel isn’t above recasting these parts and the Multiverse gives them a narrative excuse to do it. We saw a backlash against Marvel’s choice not to recast T’Challa for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” after the sudden death of star Chadwick Boseman due to a private battle with colon cancer, which might have been understandable from a grief perspective among the director, cast, and crew. What I don’t think fans want to see is the erasure of black characters becoming a trend within the MCU and finding another actor doesn’t seem like that much of an ask since the Multiverse angle gives the studio a lot of wiggle room.

Loki Season 2 Ending Explained | The Direct

“Loki” Season 2 also just wrapped up and the ending of the series downplayed the 616/Majors version of Kang allowing for them to pivot to a new variant/actor or simply find another villain altogether, given Loki‘s renewed popularity having him potentially meddling with the Multiverse with his new gig at the TVA might be another way to go here.

Some online have convinced themselves that Marvel is going to “pivot from Kang The Conqueror” entirely to focus on a character like “Fantastic Four” baddie Doctor Doom because he had been an antagonist in a more recent comic incarnation of “Secret Wars.” However, given that the “Fantastic Four” reboot hasn’t even been established it feels odd that the studio would be rushing Doom to shoehorn him into two “Avengers” installments before he’s been properly fleshed out in the “Fantastic Four” films. While many still look to the comics for what might end up happening in the MCU, the studio isn’t exactly known for making one-to-one adaptations of the source material they ultimately do their own thing. It’s worth noting that we still don’t have official confirmation that Doom is even showing up or being cast for the Matt Shakman-directed reboot, Doom’s involvement has only been speculation going back to when the project was first announced by the studio and previous rumors of his involvement in other MCU projects didn’t pan-out.

Before the merger, Noah Hawley (“Legion”) had been quietly developing a solo “Doctor Doom” film for 20th Century Fox but seemingly has moved on with the latest season of “Fargo” and production on his Earthbound “Alien” series at FX/Hulu set to resume in the new year.

🔥 The Avengers #148 9.6 CGC White Pages George Perez Squadron Supreme Iron Man | eBay

There are villain surrogate options for Marvel besides Doom such as “X-Men” Multiverse villain Mojo, who on the Fox Kids animated series (being continued via “X-Men ’97” on Disney+) kidnaps the X-Men forcing the team of mutants to appear on his interdimensional TV station in Mojoverse/Mojo World as a massive boost to their ratings. A plot point that could be easily applied to the MCU version of Battleworld given that the “X-Men” are expected to be coming to the MCU after the events of “Deadpool 3” which is said to involve a Multiverse/TVA angle to it.

In my personal opinion, a group of Multiverse villains perfectly suited for these next two installments would be The Squadron Supreme. Not only do they originate directly from the Multiverse in the pages of “Avengers” comics but including them may remove the need for variant/cameo overloads as Marvel’s version of Justice League would be a compelling pack of antagonists for our heroes to go toe-to-toe with and wouldn’t need to be explored beyond the two event pics. Allowing for some slightly more self-contained threats that don’t need to be established over time in a dozen other projects.

Marvel has yet to announce a director for either “Avengers 5” or “Avengers: Secret Wars,” but the current assumption is that we could end up seeing whoever is hired for one to shoot both films. The next film is slated to be released on May 1, 2026, but we won’t hold our breath that it sticks to that date.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Deadpool 3’ Moves To July 26 While Marvel Bumps Other 2024 Tentpoles ‘Captain America 4’ & ‘Thunderbolts’ To 2025

Yesterday, it was announced by Marvel/Disney that they would be shifting around their release dates for upcoming films. The main tidbits from these updates see “Deadpool 3” (only completed 50% of filming and resuming later this month) moving to July 26 taking a spot originally meant for “Captain America: Brave New World” (wrapped before the strike). Both “Captain America 4” and “Thunderbolts” would be moving out of 2024 entirely with new dates in 2025. This would make “Deadpool 3” the only feature film coming in 2024 and would overload audiences in 2025 with four releases.

These are the new dates for the upcoming slate of Marvel Studios feature film releases:

DEADPOOL 3 – July 26, 2024

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD – February 14, 2025

FANTASTIC FOUR – May 2, 2025

THUNDERBOLTS – July 25, 2025

BLADE – November 7, 2025

AVENGERS: THE KANG DYNASTY – May 1, 2026

AVENGERS: SECRET WARS – May 7, 2027

ARMOR WARS – TBA

SHANG-CH 2 – TBA

X-MEN REBOOT – TBA

“Thunderbolts,” “Fantastic Four,” and “Blade” have yet to start filming and we should be expecting some big casting news coming soon as the actors’ strike is resolved (pending membership ratification) and the casting process can now resume.

However, even with that July date for “Deadpool 3” now officially etched-in they have two fallback dates just in case the film needs more time to be completed given that normally films of this scale tend to take longer to be completed. Those include the film’s original date of September 6, 2024, and the former “Thunderbolts” date of December 20, 2024. The hope here is that Marvel Studios and director Shawn Levy won’t be rushing things as the film has only finished 50% of production (also would likely need reshoots/pickups after a round of editing).

This won’t be the last time Marvel shifts around these upcoming dates and we should be prepared for more shuffles in the future.

SOURCE: DISNEY/MARVEL

Posted on in Film News, News

Daniel Radcliffe Denies Persistent Wolverine Casting Rumor Whilst Strapped To A Literal Lie Detector: “Flattered, But No”

As soon as it was revealed that Marvel Studios would end up getting the “X-Men” film rights reverted back them in the wake of Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, there has been an oddball fan campaign online to get “Harry Potter” actor Daniel Radcliffe (A well-known short actor) to take over the Wolverine role from Hugh Jackman (Appearing as Logan in “Deadpool 3”).

Well, despite the actor himself debunking various casting rumors over the years, he’s now been strapped to a lie detector for Vanity Fair(See video below) and was asked again about his potential casting as the iconic Canadian mutant by his fellow “Merrily We Roll Along” cast members Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez. As expected, the British actor denied it, again, adding that his recent buffness seen in the latest season of his comedy series “Miracle Workers” has nothing to do with being courted to play Wolverine by Marvel. When directly asked if he started the Wolverine rumor himself he responded with a clear, “No.”

“Yes. I got buff because I am obsessive, and I want to… You’ve seen my parents, they’re like insane fitness people. So that’s just been passed on. But no. No Wolverine. Flattered, but no,” Radcliffe stated.

This wouldn’t be the first time the actor has been connected to an MCU role as “online rumors” once claimed he was in the running to play Mark Spector, aka, Moon Knight, and was another rumor he had to deny multiple times in interviews.

Still, I’ll be holding out for more likely/suitable contenders such as Austin Butler (“Dune: Part Two”) Jeremy Allen (“The Bear,” “Iron Claw”), and Paul Mescal (“Gladiator 2”) to get a crack at the role of one of the most popular Marvel Comics characters. While I’m warming up to the idea of Taron Egerton doing it, I feel like there are plenty of others already doing action that could put the claws on too. Just hiring an actor because they’re short is a bit of the ridiculous fan asks applied to the new Wolverine, but likely won’t be a real make-or-break requirement of the studio for casting given this role is going to become a mainstay in the MCU for the next decade or more. Given that Marvel is reportedly only just meeting with screenwriters for “X-Men” it’s unlikely that we’ll see the new Wolverine actor anytime, despite any online rumors concerning what will or not show up in “Deadpool 3.”

SOURCE: VANITY FAIR

Posted on in Film News, News

‘X-Men’ Reboot: Marvel Studios Reportedly To Hear Pitches From Writers Soon

With “Deadpool 3” (Hugh Jackman finally in the Wolverine suit) expected to resume production once the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved, it looks like Marvel Studios is aiming to get their “X-Men” reboot going as well with the WGA strike ended we’re now expected to see various writers meet with the studio and figure out how exactly to tackle mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the events of “Deadpool 3” (expected to deal with the Foxverse/Singerverse).

Without naming any screenwriting contenders or what the film could possibly be about, Deadline has given us the first real hint that development on the reboot is in the works. Stating that Marvel will be taking pitch meetings for writers this fall with the tease of a potential announcement by early 2024 of who they’ve selected.

Keep in mind, that nearly all Marvel films go through multiple drafts and rounds of writers. So, in theory, whoever ends up getting announced first might not be the person working on the shooting draft or final version of the script.

What the mutant lineup ends up looking like is unknown and if the upcoming animated series “X-Men ’97” (a continuation of the Fox Kids series from the 1990s) will have a direct connection to it. Previously, the “What-If…?” animated series gave us Captain Peggy Carter, who got her live-action debut in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.”

Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson, aka, Deadpool is expected to make the major leap into the main MCU as previously announced when Disney acquired the X-Men rights after gobbling up 21st Century Fox. However, it isn’t clear if anyone from the previous “Deadpool” movies or the upcoming one will be making the jump with him. Marvel Studios is now in a unique position to get comic-accurate versions of their characters on the big screen by erasing all the mistakes of the Singerverse as director Bryan Singer and producer Simon Kinberg took plenty of liberties with the characters to the point some of them didn’t match with their comic book counterparts in any real way other than their powers.

Starting fresh with a brand-new cast of actors seems like the best plan of attack here.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Deadpool 3’ Director Shawn Levy Says Some Online Rumors Aren’t True & Was Extremely Excited Putting Wolverine In The Yellow/Blue Suit

Just yesterday, it was revealed that “Deadpool 3” was only halfway into production when filming was paused in the United Kingdom. Not only that, but the film’s director Shawn Levy (“Stranger Things,” “The Adam Project”) revealed that the first “X-Men” film under Marvel Studios would be a “descendant” of classic hybrid comedies like “Midnight Run,” “48 Hours,” and “Planes, Trains, & Automobiles.” A clear confirmation that Ryan Reynolds got his “road trip movie” with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, which was his original idea from the jump for the third installment.

But that isn’t the only thing the Canadian director is dishing about the sequel.

Levy is doing press rounds at the Toronto International Film Festival for the upcoming Netflix series “All The Light We Cannot See” and was asked to comment about his reaction to all the rumors surrounding “Deadpool 3.” Signaling that not everything rumored on the internet about the film is actually accurate, what a shocker.

Why Failure Became Elektra: 15 Things to Know - E! Online

“I’d rather not weigh in on that, but I’ll say this,” Levy teases when asked to comment on the endless string of casting/character rumors. “The rumors of actors, singers, sports stars who are all apparently in ‘Deadpool 3’ are fabulous. If all I read was the internet, I would have the greatest cast ever assembled in the history of cinema, so I’ll simply say that some of those rumors are true, and some of them aren’t.”

The laundry list of who has been rumored for the film is a mile-long from Channing Tatum getting to play his version of Gambit (after the solo film was snuffed out) to the entire cast of all Fox-era Marvel films showing up. The latter just sounds like a miserable waste of a film’s runtime to be nothing but a cameo factory for characters that won’t be carrying over to the mainline MCU. However, Levy does seemingly refer to the Taylor Swift as Dazzler rumbling specifically (something that already seemed fishy since she is famously on a massive tour and way too busy). We should point out that the report of Jennifer Garner reprising the Elektra role was widely circulated by trade outlets and likely means that one is the real deal. Other rumors without much backing from trades or any might be less real.

On the topic of putting Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in a version of the comic book costume, the director wasn’t hiding his personal excitement.

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“Like the rest of the world, I’ve waited two decades to see Wolverine in a whole movie with Deadpool, and I don’t know if this is our last shot at Wolverine on screen, so I was going to make goddamned sure we get the old yellow and blue just once, and that we get it right,” Levy told EW. “It also helps that I’m making this movie within the MCU, so I have access to an army of the nerdiest nerds available to a Marvel project,” he continued when talking about the multiple iterations the Wolverine suit underwent.

Others officially returning to the franchise alongside Reynolds include Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Shioli Kutsuna, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Stefan Kapicic, and Rob Delaney. Some of those new casting additions on “Deadpool 3” are Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) and Matthew Macfadyen (“Succession”), who are expected to be playing villains. We’ll likely have to wait on Marvel to confirm/debunk other cast members that have been rumored for the last couple of months/years along with the rumored plot elements including the TVA and the Multiverse (Set photos seemingly have confirmed the potential destruction of the Foxverse).

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Deadpool 3’: Shawn Levy Says R-Rated Sequel With Wolverine Is Descendant Of ‘Midnight Run’ & ’48 Hours’

One of the many films that were in the middle of filming before the Hollywood strikes impacted productions and placed them on hiatus was “Deadpool 3.” It will be the first big “X-Men” movie made by Marvel Studios after acquiring the franchise during the events of Disney’s merger with 21st Century and there were some high expectations when it landed a Marvel-level budget. When it was revealed that Hugh Jackman would be reprising the Wolverine role after giving a perfect send-off to the character in “Logan” there were some skeptical fans worried. Jackman has since tried to ease the nerves of die-hards by saying the film takes place before those events.

Director Shawn Levy (“Stranger Things”), who has recently worked with Ryan Reynolds on “The Adam Project” and “Free Guy,” was tapped to helm the film that had been shooting in the United Kingdom. He’s now talking about the film with Deadline and says the sequel is “very much an R-rated film,” reiterating every single other person from Disney or Marvel when speaking publicly about “Deadpool 3.”

“I’ll say this while making [‘Deadpool 3’], I only know how to make something that I love. Long before I loved Ryan Reynolds, I loved ‘Deadpool.’ ‘Deadpool 1’ is, to me, a perfect movie and so I wasn’t going to mess with the DNA of that franchise. Our movie is raw, its audacious, very much R-rated. We went to great lengths not to shoot it on soundstages with digital environments,” Levy said of the new sequel.

The filmmaker also suggested what films he’d compare “Deadpool 3″ to, I would say it’s more a descendant of ‘Mightnight Run,” and “48 Hours,” and “Planes, Trains & Automobiles.” I guess this means that Reynolds finally got his road trip Deadpool movie with Wolverine, which was said to be the original concept of his idea back when Fox was developing the film.

Filming isn’t expected to resume until the strikes have been resolved and with no end in sight, that likely means that fans should be preparing themselves for a release delay on a bunch of upcoming films, including “Deadpool 3” and other Marvel projects.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Keanu Reeves Still Laments Not Landing Wolverine Role In Original ‘X-Men’ Film

X-Men fans are excited that Aussie actor Hugh Jackman is returning to play Wolverine one more time with Deadpool 3 giving the actor a second chance to say goodbye after previously having a deeply emotion death scene in Logan. It also gives director Shawn Levy an excuse to give Fox’s Singerverse a proper send-off after the franchise previously ended with thud during the wake of Disney acquiring 21st Century Fox. Jackman landing the beloved mutant part in the late 1990s is of the more interesting Hollywood stories as the mostly unknown stage actor had some stiff competition but ultimately landed the part once Scottish Dougray Scott had to exit the superhero flick to focus on John Woo’s Mission: Impossible 2. One of those more notable contenders that was in the mix was Canadian actor Keanu Reeves after having starred in the wildly popular cyberpunk flick The Matrix.

Today, during a Reddit Ask Me Anything session to promote the upcoming release of John Wick 4, Reeves reaffirmed losing out to Jackman for the Wolverine role in the original X-Men films was something his still laments.

When directly asked by a fan were any roles he regrets turning down the actor said, “No…but I did always want to play Wolverine.”

It’s a little heartbreaking to hear that over 20 years later that Reeves still considers it the one that got away. Also, a bit ironic that Reeves didn’t get the part since X-Men shot in Toronto, a city where he grew up, and Fox decided to pick an Australian to play a Canadian character.

Reeves is now pushing 60 and just is too long in the tooth to be playing the main version of Wolverine in the MCU once the studio actually hard-reboots the X-Men franchise after Deadpool 3 releases. The actor has been keen to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe since and studio head Kevin Feige has reiterated they’ve been trying to find a role for him multiple times. It does feel like he’ll end up finding something other than Wolverine and we’ll just have to wait to see that is.

SOURCE: REDDIT AMA