Marvel Movies Archives - Page 5 Of 23

December 12, 2020

The Fantastic Four Are Finally Coming To The MCU!

Probably (no, definitely) among the biggest reveals from the Disney Investors Meeting on Thursday night was the announcement that the Fantastic Four – Marvel’s “first family” – will finally make their debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point in the near future. Whether this is to be the final installment of Phase 4, or the first film of Phase 5 is hard to tell, because the lines between phases are starting to blur now that COVID-19 has messed up the entire release date calendar. Marvel President Kevin Feige offered no details: which makes me wonder if, for the time being, we might not hear as much about separate “phases”, just to give Marvel a little more freedom as they maneuver around the pandemic.

A first logo for the film was revealed: a sharp, angular four in electric blue. And Feige also announced that his Fantastic Four will be directed by Jon Watts, who has been very successful at bridging the gap between Marvel and Sony, directing their Spider-Man films. He is currently at work on Spider-Man 3, which Feige also confirmed on Thursday will feature Multiverse elements: it’s been widely reported (and become something of a joke online) that Spider-Man 3 will include virtually everybody – Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane, Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx’s Electro, and probably Charlie Cox’s Daredevil. If Watts is showing onset that he’s capable of masterfully handling all these different characters and their individual storylines, he may be the perfect fit for Fantastic Four, which will almost certainly deal with the Multiverse in some way or another.

Watts isn’t, perhaps, the most exciting choice on paper: especially since many still feel that Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles and The Incredibles 2, is the only director who’s shown any success with a similar concept – without even trying, Bird basically designed the blueprint for how a Fantastic Four film should feel. I understand why there would be dissatisfaction. But Watts’ Spider-Man films have been good (at least in my opinion: I know they have their extremely vocal haters), and some of the best scenes were those that dealt with the villain Mysterio, who supposedly came from the Multiverse until it turned out he was just a disgruntled Stark Industries employee. If Watts can do wonders with a fake Multiverse, imagine what he’ll do with the real deal.

That being said, a Fantastic Four film can’t be all Multiverse shenanigans and confusing time loops and paradoxes. At its core, it has to be the story of a superpowered family facing challenges and overcoming struggles together, or fans will be rightfully angry. The closest thing we’ve got to this in the MCU already is the dynamic between Ant-Man and his immediate and extended family: but where those films generally have low stakes and slightly comedic action, the Fantastic Four is big, and epic, and dramatic. Downright melodramatic, at times. It’s still unknown if the MCU’s Fantastic Four will introduce us to a fully established team, or set up a proper origin story. Fox has tried and failed at that twice, both times bungling it by trying to rush the team’s biggest villains to the forefront: I think a new origin story is necessary to show that Marvel cares deeply about these characters, and that they’re committed to getting them right before we even start thinking about things like Galactus, or Silver Surfer, or Doctor Doom. Luckily, the MCU is currently setting up Kang the Conqueror, who seems like the perfect first-film villain for the Fantastic Four, if you ask me. He’ll already have been introduced in Loki or Ant-Man 3 by that point, so the film won’t need to waste any time revealing his backstory to audiences.

As for what a proper origin story would entail, well…I’ve always felt that the Fantastic Four should be time-travelers from the 1960’s, and that’s a pretty popular theory, but they don’t necessarily have to be. In the comics, they obtain their individualized superpowers after exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific space mission gone wrong: Reed Richards, the team’s leader, becomes a super-stretchy human rubberband (a similar powerset to that of Kamala Khan, whom we’ll see in Ms. Marvel prior to Richards’ own appearance); Sue Storm, who I hope is more than just “Reed’s girlfriend” this time around, is able to turn herself invisible and create force-shields; Johnny Storm, Sue’s hotheaded teenage brother, gains the ability to set himself on fire and fly; while Ben Grimm, Richards’ best friend, is permanently transformed into a massive, self-loathing rock-monster. In the comics, they were among the first superheroes not to wear disguises, preferring to use their newfound celebrity status as a way of bringing attention to scientific breakthroughs – something that is admittedly a cool idea, but not that fresh in the MCU anymore.

Thanks to Reed Richards’ obsession with time travel, quantum physics, and world-hopping, the Fantastic Four are intricately tied up with all the biggest villains in the Marvel Universe: particularly those who threaten the timeline, like Kang the Conqueror and Doctor Doom, or those who threaten to devour the world itself, like the cosmic being Galactus. But the fact that they have such epic enemies and high-stakes battles makes it all the more crucial that their first film in the MCU is smaller and more personal, with a strong focus on family.

So what do you think? How would you recommend Marvel proceed with this long-awaited adaptation? And who’s your favorite Fantastic Four character? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!

December 9, 2020

“Save Daredevil” Worked! The Hero May Return In “Spider-Man 3”!

When Netflix’s Daredevil was cancelled after four seasons in 2018, fans of the series – which had been developed in partnership with Marvel Studios and was, theoretically, MCU-adjacent – were rightfully angry, especially since an added complication in the breakup between Marvel and Netflix was that Marvel had to wait a full two years before being able to use any of the characters they had previously handed to Netflix: characters like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and a bunch of other street-level superheroes and villains. Well, now that the two years is finally up, the rights have reverted back to Marvel at long last: and a new scoop from Murphy’s Multiverse indicates that the studio is going to do what fans have been hoping and praying they would, which is to bring back the version of Daredevil that Charlie Cox made so popular and beloved over on Netflix. Not only that, but he’ll be arriving in the MCU soon – jumping into Spider-Man 3, which is already busy filming.

Whereas many of the Netflix Marvel shows and characters were just okay adaptations (and some were downright mediocre), Daredevil was actually very successful, and probably the most comic-accurate of the entire bunch. Cox is a great actor, and Marvel president Kevin Feige has been said in the past to be a big fan of him and his work. So it makes sense why Daredevil would end up joining the already massive cast of Spider-Man 3 – which, as we discussed yesterday, is set to bring back several other major characters from past Marvel franchises, including Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s versions of Peter Parker. But it’s also huge news, if true, because it means that Kevin Feige could pick and choose some other MCU-adjacent actors (or actresses) to make the jump into the MCU proper. If you know me, you know where this is going…

Yes, my end-goal is still the same: I want Quake (brilliantly portrayed by Chloe Bennet across seven seasons of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) to finally make her own MCU debut in the near future, and there’s an entire fandom that thinks the same way. Just as Daredevil fans have been told for years that their favorite show was never going to be inducted into the official MCU canon because of its cancellation and the messy rights situation, so have Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans been told the same thing. And I understand why a lot of people think this: Marvel Studios and Marvel TV didn’t have a great relationship, and the Marvel TV shows drifted pretty far from MCU canon as time went by. But things have changed with the rise of passionate, determined fan-movements (which got #SaveDaredevil trending last month), and the introduction of the Multiverse: a risky but wonderful narrative tool that has the power to make literally anything possible.

Although we don’t know if Charlie Cox’s Daredevil will hail from a parallel universe when he appears in Spider-Man 3, it’s certainly an intriguing coincidence that he’ll be showing up in a movie that already features so much Multiverse mayhem. The Multiverse (a vast network of infinite alternate realities) enables his entire series to exist just outside of MCU canon, but easily accessible if need be – with the potential for any number of characters to cross over from one to the other, no problems. Daredevil, obviously; but also Kingpin, his arch-nemesis, as whom Vincent D’Onofrio has been eager to return. Same thing with Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., where Quake and Yo-Yo Rodriguez are among the handful of characters I would select to make a comeback. Either that, or these MCU-adjacent TV shows could just be canon pure and simple, which works for me too. But if Marvel wants an excuse for how and why they’re doing it now, instead of years ago when these shows were actually still running; they have the means to do so organically. That’s what I’m saying.

As for Daredevil in the MCU, we don’t know what the plans for him are beyond his appearance in Spider-Man 3. YouTuber Grace Randolph has added that she believes Daredevil (or rather, his alter ego Matt Murdock) will be acting as Peter Parker’s lawyer. Last time we saw Parker, his secret identity had just been revealed to the world, and he was being accused of murdering scientist Quentin Beck. He’s presumed to now be on the run from authorities and a host of supervillains, so a strong legal defense is probably a good idea. But if that rumor is true, it does means that She-Hulk (another lawyer whose business usually involves representing superheroes in court, and who will star in a Disney+ series), won’t be the first of her kind in the MCU. That being said, it could be interesting if She-Hulk and Daredevil are rival lawyers, and go toe-to-toe in court (something that Randolph notes is a possibility, as she believes Cox is also in talks to join the She-Hulk series).

So what do you think? How excited are you for Charlie Cox’s return, and what do you think this means for other MCU-adjacent characters? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!

December 8, 2020

“Spider-Man 3” Recruits Andrew Garfield For Epic Crossover!

The third (and as yet untitled) installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man series is shaping up to be truly epic, combining elements from several past iterations of the character’s long onscreen history in what is sure to be a massive Multiverse extravaganza. Tobey Maguire’s 2002-2007 trilogy, Andrew Garfield’s 2012-2014 duology, and Tom Holland’s MCU series will finally collide in Holland’s third solo film, with major actors from all three franchises reprising their iconic roles and interacting for the first time ever. And yes, that includes the three Peter Parkers themselves. Garfield has just been confirmed today to be joining Holland in the upcoming Spider-Man 3, alongside two crucial members of the Maguire Spider-Man franchise – Kirsten Dunst and Alfred Molina – while Maguire himself is rumored to still be in talks, but is close to finalizing his own deal.

We’ve been hearing for a while now that this plan was in the cards all along, so the news isn’t too surprising – it’s just extremely relieving and exciting that it’s actually on the verge of happening. The first hint that it could be a possibility was the casting of Jamie Foxx back in October. Foxx, who played Electro in Andrew Garfield’s second Spider-Man movie, was confirmed to be returning as the electric supervillain rather than an entirely new character, although one would hope he’s getting a brand new look out of this, because his previous appearance was…not great. Soon after, it was rumored that Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus in the original 2002 Spider-Man movie) had joined the cast. Those rumors have now been confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter. And that would have been big enough news to spark a lively bit of fandom discourse, but then Collider joined in the fun and gave us far more to talk about.

Collider’s article casually tosses out the bombshell that Andrew Garfield will return as the version of Peter Parker he played in his short-lived series, which came to an abrupt end after Garfield fell out of favor with Sony. In that very same sentence, and with no further elaboration, they also confirmed that Tobey Maguire is currently in talks to return as his version of Peter Parker, but that he hasn’t closed his deal just yet. And in the next sentence after that, they revealed that Kirsten Dunst, who played Mary Jane opposite Maguire’s Peter Parker, will also be coming back: and she will probably be joined by Emma Stone, Gwen Stacy in the Garfield movies. Stone isn’t a lock just yet, due to her pregnancy, but the fact that she just dropped out of a lead role in Damien Chazelle’s Babylon because of a scheduling conflict indicates that she might be returning to the Marvel Universe. Stone returning is interesting, given that Gwen Stacy…um, died.

All of this is very thrilling and happening very quickly, but we have to slow down and talk about why this is happening now. Because of another confirmed casting for Spider-Man 3, that of Benedict Cumberbatch reprising his role as the MCU’s Doctor Strange, we can reasonably surmise that all these alternate versions of characters are showing up in Tom Holland’s universe because of something (or someone) tampering with the Multiverse – Strange’s field of expertise. If I had to guess, I’d say that someone is probably Wanda Maximoff, who will be toying with parallel universes in her upcoming Disney+ series, WandaVision, before supposedly having a major role in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. Spider-Man 3, sandwiched neatly between the two, will likely deal with the fallout from Wanda’s disastrous attempts to reconstruct reality, and Doctor Strange will be forced to help the young hero battle villains from other dimensions. Meanwhile, the three Peter Parkers will have to team up to save humanity, and we’ll see what Maguire and Garfield’s Parkers have been up to since their franchises ended. It’s extremely meta, and I love the whole concept already.

As for anything in particular I’d love to see, well…I do hope that Andrew Garfield finally gets his wish and plays his version of Peter Parker as a bisexual man. Bisexual representation is sorely lacking in mainstream media, and so far the MCU hasn’t done a great job of depicting its own bisexual heroes and heroines: a scene confirming Vallkyrie is attracted to women was cut from Thor: Ragnarok, and a scene in which Okoye flirted with a woman was cut from Black Panther.

So what do you think? With Garfield, Molina, Foxx, and Dunst officially returning (and Maguire and Stone likely to follow suit, if all goes well), what are you hoping to see in Spider-Man 3? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!

November 11, 2020

Mads Mikkelsen In Talks To Join “Fantastic Beasts 3” As Grindelwald!

Like it or not, Johnny Depp has now been officially ruled a wife-beater by a British court, and there’s likely very little he can do at this point to prove otherwise. The ruling, which came about after a prolonged legal battle between Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard (whom Depps claims physically and emotionally abused him, and who herself claims to be the victim of Depp’s own abusive tendencies), has already led to consequences for Depp, at least from a business perspective: it wasn’t long after the court case ended that Warner Brothers announced they had let him go from the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Depp was actually the first to break the news, in an Instagram post where he admitted that Warner Brothers had asked him to resign from the role of the dark wizard Grindelwald, a pivotal character in the franchise whom he has played since the Fantastic Beasts franchise’s start in 2016.

What both Depp and Warner Brothers neglected to mention at the time was that Depp, who had not yet filmed any scenes for the third film in the Fantastic Beasts series, would nonetheless be receiving his full 8-figure salary for his work. In light of that reveal, I think we can all agree that – no matter how you feel about Depp and the allegations against him – the actor has been left financially well-equipped by Warner Brothers to continue his fight in court (he hopes to challenge Heard again for libel, here in the United States), and probably find work elsewhere before long. In the meantime, filming is still underway for Fantastic Beasts 3, but the movie now needs a new Grindelwald fast – he’s not a side-character who can just be removed from the story. He’s the main antagonist of the series.

Luckily for the franchise and its small but admittedly devoted hardcore fandom, it seems that Fantastic Beasts director David Yates has long had a replacement in mind, and thus, after just a few days, Yates and Warner Brothers have expressed their intent to bring Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen into the Wizarding World. Mikkelsen, who is often cited as the actor most people wish had gotten the role in the first place, is already in early talks to join the series – a bold and potentially very risky move for the actor, who has up until now made mostly solid career choices: his most significant role to date being Hannibal in the popular TV series of the same name. He hasn’t had much luck when it comes to big film franchises, which may be part of the reason why he’s interested in taking the juicy role of Grindelwald – a charismatic fascist dictator whom we last saw mustering armies of dark wizards to conquer the world and enslave the non-magical population, and who cunningly manipulates the emotions of his nemesis and former lover, Albus Dumbledore. A few years ago I think all this would have been quite enough to convince Mikkelsen (or anyone, really) to take the role. But nowadays, I would personally be hesitant to attach Mikkelsen to the Fantastic Beasts franchise and its swiftly growing hurricane of controversy – for Mikkelsen’s sake.

It’s not just because Mikkelsen will receive a barrage of unwarranted abuse from Johnny Depp’s most ardent supporters, who will cry foul and continue to defend Depp’s right to return to the role; it’s not just that Mikkelsen will have to work around and hopefully overcome valid criticisms that the characters of Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore are written intentionally vaguely so as to queerbait audiences; it’s not even just that J.K. Rowling, the series’ creator and lead writer, is a ticking time bomb who has done her level best to destroy her own reputation and the reputations of those who associate with her by constantly waging war on the trans community in a series of attacks that ranged from depicting transwomen in her adult crime novels as serial killers by nature, to writing up entire essays about how she thinks transwomen are infiltrating spaces reserved for cisgender women or being forced to transition by nefarious forces, to unfollowing fellow author Stephen King on Twitter after he simply proclaimed that transwomen are women. It’s also that Fantastic Beasts is a struggling franchise overall, one which any bystander can see is probably on a collision course with disaster. While the first film was fairly decent and made a good profit, the sequel derailed the story entirely – and unsurprisingly, it drew in overwhelmingly negative reviews before dying a long, slow, death at the box office. Fantastic Beasts 3 is now being moved from the franchise’s consistent, safe, November release date to an alarming spot in mid-July, where it will open just a week after Captain Marvel 2, the sequel to last year’s female-led, billion-dollar-club entry. At one point, this series was supposed to be a five-film epic: now, with everything up in the air, it’s going to be extraordinarily difficult to make a fourth or fifth film happen, and J.K. Rowling would be wise to at least try and wrap up the entire series in this third movie – the only one she’s assured to get. But with the way she’s been acting recently, I’m not holding my breath. What seems more likely is that she’ll end Fantastic Beasts 3 on yet another bizarre cliffhanger just before the entire franchise gets gently terminated, leaving us all unsatisfied, frustrated, and exhausted. Either that or Warner Brothers sticks with J.K. Rowling’s vision and continues to suffer the consequences.

And as for Mads Mikkelsen personally, well, he’ll get a big paycheck for sure, but the laundry list of possible consequences for him for taking this role goes on. Right upfront, he’ll be expected to come up with an excuse for how he can be comfortable working under J.K. Rowling – and, in fact, all the Fantastic Beasts stars will need to do so before long. So far, the series’ lead Eddie Redmayne has wavered between vocally condemning Rowling’s harsh rhetoric and writing supportive letters to her. Mikkelsen should be ready with a statement of his own: if he signs on, he will become the first major actor to join the franchise after Rowling’s transphobic views became widely-known, putting him in an unenviable position. For the moment, he’ll also carry the massive burden of trying to rescue the franchise (assuming that’s even a concern of Warner Brothers’ at this point): he’s the only new name thus far attached to the cast, and none of his costars, not even Jude Law, did much to draw audiences to theaters when the last film came out in 2018. Depp’s parting and Rowling’s statements make it inevitable that we’ll also see calls to boycott in the months and weeks leading up to the film’s release: there’s a widespread feeling among the fandom that supporting Fantastic Beasts financially equals supporting transphobia.

With that being said, Mikkelsen is popular enough that he might actually be able to rescue the franchise, though he’ll never be able to repair all the damage that’s been done. Since the news of his involvement broke last night, I’ve been surprised to see a surge of people expressing renewed interest in the upcoming third film, saying that they’ll watch it just for Mikkelsen, or at least catch it on HBO Max. Granted, this moment of hype could die out by the time the film actually opens, and we’ll have to see how Mikkelsen looks and acts in the Grindelwald costume (or if he gets embroiled in any controversy of his own, something I truly hope doesn’t happen), but he’s almost certain to turn in a great performance: the kind of performance that could even get Fantastic Beasts some good reviews. If Warner Brothers is trying to get this franchise off their hands, they might have chosen too good an actor to make that possible just yet.

So what do you think? Is Mikkelsen a much-needed win for a franchise getting back on its feet after failure, or is this a disastrous career choice the actor will regret for a long time? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!