Charles Pulliam-Moore
What if...Captain America had a gundam instead of superpowers?
Is apparently a question Marvel’s What If...? is going to ask when its third season hits Disney Plus at some point in the future.
Marvel
Echo star and Daredevil alum Vincent D’Onofrio says Netflix’s Marvel series are part of the MCU’s canon, which was obvious if you watched shows or listened to Kevin Feige.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Disney Plus’ Echo limited miniseries feels like the studio’s first successful attempt at matching the energy that made Netflix’s Marvel shows great.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Moon Girl season 2 is set to launch this February.
The first season of Disney and Marvel’s animation Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur ended with a cliffhanger that made it seem like Lunella Lafayette might be lost somewhere in the multiverse.
But in a new trailer for the animated show’s upcoming second season (out February 2nd), the young hero appears to be back in her home reality, rocking some new threads, and very ready to keep New York’s villains on their toes.
Richard Lawler
Echo’s impending premiere on Disney Plus and Hulu also introduces Marvel Spotlight.
After a debut in the Hawkeye Disney Plus series a couple of years ago, the Echo show starring Alaqua Cox starts January 9th. Other than serving as another link to the Netflix shows with appearances from Vincent D’Onofrio (Kingpin) and Charlie Cox (Daredevil), it’s appearing on both Hulu and Disney Plus, even as those experiences overlap.
And it’s the first Spotlight-branded Marvel show, which means:
...in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity...our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in Maya’s story.
Wes Davis
With the second season of Marvel’s What If...? newly here, why not a clip from season 3?
Disney just released season 2 a few days ago. Now Marvel has posted a “look into the future” of the alternative timeline Avengers series, featuring a younger Red Guardian, the Winter Soldier, and a car chase.
The video leaked early when fans found it unlisted on Marvel’s YouTube channel, according to BGR.
What If’s second season is at its best when it’s exploring the edges of Marvel’s established cinematic canon.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Richard Lawler
Marvel counts down to season two of What If...?
We’re just weeks away from a new year (no, really, I checked), but before the calendar flips over, the MCU will deliver a new season of its animated What If...? series on Disney Plus.
They reworked the 12 Days of Christmas carol as a reminder it’s on the way, just in case anyone forgot.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Alex Cranz
There’s a proxy fight at Disney.
You might have thought Bob Iger returning to Disney would have smoothed things over with the board and investors, but activist investor Nelson Peltz is back baby.
Peltz and his firm, Trian Fund Management are looking for two seats on the board. When Iger was asked about it yesterday at New York Time’s Dealbook conference he demurred.
But today the company responded to the proxy fight accusing Peltz of collaborating with Ike Perlmutter (who owns most of the shares Peltz is relying on). Perlmutter was fired from the board this year after losing more and more of his once iron grip on the Marvel franchise. He once called women-led superhero films a “disaster” and attempted to scuttle both the hugely successful Black Panther and Captain Marvel films for exactly the reasons you think.
Alex Cranz
Bob Iger thinks he knows why The Marvels failed at the box office.
Speaking during the NYT DealBook Summit 2023, he did not blame the actors’ strike and lack of publicity for the film’s performance. Nor did he blame the weird hatred of the film driven by sexism coming from a small and vocal cadre of Marvel fans upset over a film helmed by three women.
He did blame the sheer volume of content being created for making it more difficult to maintain quality and said, “The Marvels was shot during Covid, and there wasn’t enough supervision on set” from executives.
But given that overreliance on executive creative control is one of the things that have driven the Marvel brand to its current nadir... that’s certainly an interesting assessment.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The MCU’s Agatha Harkness seems to be back on her bullshit.
How Agatha Harkness: Darkhold Diaries will address the events of WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is anyone’s guess.
But in a new WandaVision behind-the-scenes feature reel which also includes some new Darkhold Diaries production footage), Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness appears to be back to her old seld, and messing with the kind of magic that tends to get people roped into big crossover events.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Take a closer look at The Marvels’ stars and garters.
The Marvels’ intriguing mid-credits sequence was yet another reminder that the X-Men are making their way to the MCU sooner rather than later.
It would have made a lot more sense, thematically, if Anna Paquin’s Rogue had popped up with a warning about the danger on the horizon. But looking at the artist Andy Park’s concept designs for an updated Beast closer to the comics, you can see why bringing Kelsey Grammer back was a solid move.
Wes Davis
How stretchy is Pedro Pascal?
Maybe enough to play Reed Richards. Deadline says that Pascal, who’s had turns as two of nerdy TV’s best dads — Din Djarin (The Mandalorian) and Joel Miller (The Last of Us) — is being looked at for the role in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. However, it also says the deal isn’t a sure thing yet.
Meanwhile, Slash Film says “the deal is done.”
Wes Davis
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty has lost its director.
Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton has stepped down. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one of the reasons was the movie’s full-year delay to May 2025.
Cretton remains attached to Marvel’s Wonder Man series, so there may not be any bad blood. But losing Kang Dynasty’s director is probably a painful setback, given how much water Marvel has taken on lately.
‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ Loses Director Destin Daniel Cretton
[The Hollywood Reporter]
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Wes Davis
The Marvels didn’t have a great opening weekend.
The Captain Marvel sequel has only managed $47 million in its opening weekend at the US box office. That may be respectable for some movies, but as Deadline notes, only two MCU movies have opened under $60 million, let alone $50 million.
The Marvels may get a lot right, as Charles said in his Verge review, but that doesn’t help if viewers don’t trust Marvel anymore.
Wes Davis
I can’t emphasize this enough, but nothing was greater than McDonald’s in the ‘80s.
There’s plenty to criticize about the company, but tell that to 7-year-old me, climbing up into that hamburger cop’s head.
Anyway, here are some behind-the-scenes pictures from the Loki McDonald’s episode. While we’re at it, here’s the McDonald’s scene from Mac and Me. And an AI-upscaled Mac Tonight commercial.
Loki’s second season goes out with a big, existential bang that gives the god of mischief a glorious but confusing new purpose at the center of Marvel’s multiverse.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel sequel is a reminder of how much fun comic book storytelling can be.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Marvel should be synonymous with a good time, but increasingly, it’s synonymous with bloat, bad VFX, and poorly scripted film and TV.
Alex Cranz
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Loki season 2 looks like it’s going out with a bang.
Somehow (see: the relentless passage of time) Loki season two is already two episodes out from its big finale. And this new teaser Marvel’s just dropped makes it seem like the Asgardian god of mischief (and friends) are going to be busy as hell keeping the universe from falling apart as this latest chapter draws to a close.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Daredevil: Born Again has found its showrunner.
Marvel’s new Daredevil: Born Again Disney Plus series seemed to be in trouble earlier this month when the studio dismissed co-head writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman, and announced that it planned to bring on a proper showrunner to lead the project.
It wasn’t clear then just how long the hunt for a showrunner might take, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has just tapped Dario Scardapane — who showran Netflix’s The Punisher — to step in.
‘Daredevil’ TV Series Lands New Showrunner, Directors (Exclusive)
[The Hollywood Reporter]
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Loki’s second season feels like the MCU making a valiant attempt at getting its multiverse together.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Jay Peters
Marvel’s Werewolf by Night is going to be re-released in color.
Andrew Webster was a big fan of the black-and-white Disney Plus special when it came out last year, and on October 20th, it’s getting a color version on the streaming service.
According to director Michael Giacchino, the new color version will “pay homage” to the vibrant color in horror movies from Hammer. Should be a fun treat for Halloween.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Marvel’s VFX workers are very serious about wanting to unionize.
In yet another sign that the workers behind some of Hollywood’s biggest movies are ready to fight to be paid what they’re owed, Marvel Studios’ VFX artists have unanimously voted in favor of forming a union under the IATSE.