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Kevin Feige Joins “Star Wars” Team!

What is Kevin Feige? What is he, that he can patiently build up 23 films worth of material, mash it all together (successfully, no less!) in the most ambitious crossover event ever, than outdo himself the very next year, wipe the board clean and start all over immediately afterwards, unveiling his genius plans for the next two years and implying that he already has the next five planned out in his head? How is it that this man can expand one of the biggest movie franchises in the world to include as many as 12 new properties (14 if you include Fantastic Four and X-Men, which he hasn’t even begun discussing yet), probably 8 films in total and 8 streaming shows, seemingly without any worry that he could risk over-extending Marvel Studios’ reach? How is it that he can lose one of his company’s most iconic characters to a rival studio in a bitter war between his superiors at Disney and Sony, without breaking a sweat?

How is it even humanly possible that he looks at everything he’s got on his plate right now, calmly, studiously examines everything, nods his head, and says: “You know what, let’s add a Star Wars movie to the mix”.

You heard that right: Star Wars. Kevin Feige, a lifelong fan of the Galaxy Far, Far Away, is joining the troubled franchise to work with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy on a new Star Wars movie.

From Kennedy’s point of view, this is probably both relieving and slightly nerve-wracking. Feige, with an entire decade of blockbusters behind him, will be a boost to the franchise, which has been going through some rough patches lately, with studio shakeups and audience backlash dominating the headlines: Star Wars is still a wildly successful property, but Kennedy needs it to outlast the Skywalker family, who will probably make their last appearances in this year’s The Rise Of Skywalker. However, her attempts to do so have been met with resistance, as some fans refuse to let go of the Skywalkers, or aren’t interested in the stories of Rey and Kylo Ren. Kennedy has a huge new wave of films she wants to roll out in the coming years, but so far her picks to produce and direct them have been so shocking, it almost seems like she’s intentionally courting controversy: Game Of Thrones‘ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are working on an entire trilogy for the franchise, even after the disastrous final season of their hit TV show that basically turned an entire fandom against them; and Rian Johnson, who infamously directed The Last Jedi (a film I actually quite liked) and became so hated among the Star Wars fanbase that Kennedy didn’t even keep him around to develop the sequel, is also shaping up his own trilogy.

Feige, then, is a breath of fresh air in this crowded kitchen. The man is beloved by the Marvel fandom, widely recognized as a business-savvy genius with a keen understanding of PR as well as how to craft excellent stories, and has produced many of the highest-grossing films in history. He’s also a die-hard Star Wars fan, which means he’s not just being brought in to rescue the franchise, but actually has a good idea of what he’s getting into.

But while Kennedy has to be happy about all that (what with her current track record of hiring directors, she had better recognize a good thing when she’s got it), there still has to be some doubt in her mind: Kevin Feige is a presence that leaves a mark on whatever he touches – assuming his Star Wars project is a stand-alone, that might not be so bad, but what if he wants to direct more? Apparently, he has already approached a major actor that he’s worked with before to star in his Star Wars film, and that actor has expressed interest (the rumor is that it’s Brie Larson, star of Captain Marvel, and a huge fan of Star Wars). How much of it will, in fact, be his? Kennedy’s obviously not passing Lucasfilm onto Kevin Feige, but she has to be worried that her own legacy in the company will be overshadowed by Feige, especially if Disney sees that the results are favorable and decides to work with Feige again. Disney CEO Bob Iger has just recently gone on the record criticizing his company’s handling of the Star Wars situation, saying that they tried to do too much at once and rushed the process. Wow, Kennedy’s got to be thrilled about that assessment of her work. The last thing that Star Wars needs right now is more infighting, and Feige’s involvement could be the spark that lights the flames of war.

And as for Feige? Well, I can’t imagine how he’s going to balance all of his new projects, or if his move to Star Wars signifies a shift away from Marvel (something that would undoubtedly only increase Kennedy’s fears). Some are saying this would be the perfect time for Feige to make good on his promise to diversify the Marvel franchise, by putting his current Executive Vice President of Production Victoria Alonso in charge of the studio. Others are begging Feige not to leave Marvel in favor of what they view as a lost cause.

I’m still busy wondering whether Kevin Feige is a cyborg: the man takes multitasking to the next level.

So what are your thoughts? Is this a good move for Feige, Kennedy, or both? Or is this is sign of worse things to come for both Star Wars and Marvel? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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“Eternals” Begins Filming: “Thena” Revealed!

We’ve all been waiting for a glimpse, however brief, at one of Marvel Studios’ most tantalizing and mysterious upcoming projects – Eternals, the story of a race of human/alien gods created by the Celestials to protect our earth from prehistoric threats. Today, we’ve been given a glimpse, but it raises more questions than answers.

Angelina Jolie, one of the stars of the film (the others being Gemma Chan, Kit Harington and Richard Madden) has been spotted in the United Kingdom, filming some very interesting and unusual scenes for the superhero movie. Jolie has been confirmed to be playing the immortal warrior Thena, but, well…she doesn’t appear to be playing the character here: or, if she is, then her outfit has been dramatically altered since we saw it in the D23 Expo concept art last month.

I won’t post all of the photos, since they might be considered spoilers by some; but the few that I’ll show certainly seem to imply that Jolie’s take on the war-goddess is definitely very different from how she’s appeared in the comics, dressed in Greek-inspired armor.

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Twitter | @eternalsupdates

The first image shows Jolie, sporting the character’s white-blond hair, in what looks at first glance to be a Greek gown of some sort, wading through water, holding some sort of little black pot. The general consensus among internet theorists is that she’s scattering ashes, for whatever reason.

But the next photo made me start wondering…

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Twitter | @eternalsupdates

Because I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a depiction of ancient Greek women wearing such modern footwear. And that inspired me to start looking more closely at the rest of the outfit: those long sleeves certainly seem out of place in the ancient world, for instance…and then I found this image.

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Twitter | @eternalsupdates

Ignore the modern coat that Jolie is wearing over her outfit to keep warm, and look at the front of the dress: it’s very clearly a modern or 20th Century button-up dress, rather vintage-inspired by the looks of it. In fact, it gives off some serious Indiana Jones vibes, to the point where I almost began wondering whether Jolie was playing some sort of similar adventurer, or…archaeologist.

Oh, wait. Remember all those rumors from months ago that a “female archaeologist” was the lead of Eternals? But everyone dismissed them because Jolie was confirmed to play Thena, and nobody else seemed to fit the description of the character. That female archaeologist, after all, was said to be Margo Damian, from the original Eternals comics published back in the 70’s, a character who wore her hair in that decade’s trendiest styles (because archaeologists are paragons of fashion: everybody knows that), and dressed like a female Indiana Jones.

And now we have Angelina Jolie, the lead of the film, doing the same.

But Jolie is playing Thena, right? How can she also be playing Margo Damian? Well, there isn’t any precedent for this in the comics, but it is an established part of recent Eternals lore that the Eternals’s minds were once wiped by the trickster Sprite (who will also show up in this movie), and the gods were forced to live as humans, suffering from amnesia and fragmented memories until they remembered who they were. In the original comics, it turned out that Damian’s partner and love interest, Ike, was in fact the Eternal Ikaris (shocker, I know). We don’t know for sure what’s happening here, but Marvel might be updating the story and having Margo be the one to discover that she’s the long-lost embodiment of an ancient goddess – since, in the comics, she sort of just…died. This would also help to explain why the Eternals didn’t show up in Avengers: Endgame to help in the fight against Thanos – because they don’t remember their powers yet.

So what do you think? Is Jolie playing Thena or Margo Damian in this scene? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Marvel’s “Hawkeye” Aims To Cast Hailee Steinfeld!

Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series, Hawkeye, centered on the post-Endgame adventures of the former Avenger and expert marksman, has apparently just scored another win, mere days after landing Mad Men screenwriter Jonathan Igla.

Singer and actress Hailee Steinfeld, the Oscar-nominated star of True Grit and Bumblebee, is apparently in early talks to star alongside Jeremy Renner in the miniseries, as Hawkeye’s young apprentice Kate Bishop, a crucial member of the Young Avengers. Kate Bishop, an expert archer, fencer, and strategist, has long been rumored to make her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Hawkeye, but this confirmation is an exciting stepping-stone on the path toward having the Young Avengers team finally assembled in the MCU – with other Disney+ shows like WandaVision, Ms. Marvel and Loki also possibly hinting at the gang of teen superheroes, it sounds like the family-friendly streaming service could eventually be home to the team: which, honestly, seems like a great fit. Though, considering that Steinfeld is twenty-two years old already, this makes it look like Marvel’s casting choices for the Young Avengers will be skewing slightly older than expected.

We don’t really know anything about the plot of Hawkeye, or how much of it will be about Jeremy Renner’s iteration of the character versus Steinfeld’s fresher, younger take. But a quick look at Kate Bishop’s character bio opens some interesting possibilities for potential plot points: in the comics, Bishop has also donned the nickname “Hawkingbird” because she stitched her own outfit together from bits and pieces of Hawkeye’s attire, as well as that of another hero, Mockingbird, a.k.a. Bobbi Morse. Morse has already shown up elsewhere in Marvel, on ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., played by Adrianne Palicki – while both she and her partner, Lance Hunter, were forced to retire from the S.H.I.E.L.D. team early on, both characters are still very much alive in the MCU – and in fact, almost got their own spinoff series on  ABC, which was cancelled before airing a pilot. Palicki would probably be willing to work with Marvel again on the Hawkeye series, and her character, displaying super strength, agility and martial arts prowess, seems like a good fit for this mostly powered-down group of civilian heroes: plus, the retired agent would probably have a lot in common with Hawkeye himself, who notoriously left the main Avengers team to be with his family.

So what do you think about the casting? Is Hailee Steinfeld a good fit for archer-extraordinaire Kate Bishop? Could this be an opportunity to have Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. crossover with the main MCU? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Marvel’s Ghost Returning? Thunderbolts Explained!

It’s time for another Marvel theory! (I feel like I randomly make up times for Marvel theories because I don’t actually have a well-defined schedule for anything: well, we’ll say today is MCU Theory Saturday).

For today’s theory, we’re looking at some interesting comments made recently by Ant-Man And The Wasp actress Hannah John-Kamen (star of Netflix’s new series, The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance): the actress hinted coyly that her Marvel character, Ghost, might make an unexpected return to the big screen. Obviously, she can’t reveal too much about details – she mentioned that signing a contract with Marvel is like taking a blood oath not to spoil anything – but her words have already sparked a fair amount of debate among Marvel fans over where the quantum-phasing antihero could show up again.

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Some speculate that John-Kamen could be referring to a voice-acting role in the upcoming animated Disney+ series What If…?, which will explore 23 alternate timelines branching out from each of the 23 Marvel Cinematic Universe films: presumably, the Ant-Man And The Wasp episode will feature at least a bit part for Ghost, who was the central antagonist of the 2017 summer blockbuster. But that’s too easy an answer for me: I like a little more substance to my theories, so I’m going to say that, even if Ghost does show up there, there could be another place for the villain-turned-heroine to make an appearance – and in the main Marvel timeline, at that.

Over and over, for the past year or two, we’ve seen rumors that Marvel is considering a film (or even film franchise) based off the Thunderbolts or Dark Avengers comic runs, two relatively similar stories that could easily be merged into one cohesive whole. In Thunderbolts, the one most likely to be adapted, a group of reformed villains and antiheroes comes together, sometimes under the leadership of Norman Osborn, sometimes under Helmut Zemo (who has already shown up once in the MCU, and will return in Falcon And The Winter Soldier next year). to sell their services to government organizations: lots of chaos results, as some of them revert back to their villainous ways, backhanded deals get made, and political mayhem erupts in their wake. The actual team roster has been pretty fluid throughout the years, but one notable iteration (Osborn’s Thunderbolts) included Ghost. Since Norman Osborn is a Sony character, and Sony isn’t sharing with Marvel anymore, it looks like Zemo could take his place as leader of the team, with no problems. Other Thunderbolts members have also been featured in the MCU already, but in bit parts, such as Justin Hammer, and Thaddeus Ross (the human alias of Red Hulk). Yelena Belova and Taskmaster, both of whom will make their MCU debuts in next year’s Black Widow, are also key members of the comic team.

It’s always a tricky business, handling villains and antiheroes and trying to make them sympathetic, but Marvel has done a pretty good job in their movies of achieving this: Ghost, for instance, was originally Ava Starr, who was debilitated by a condition that made her body literally fade in and out of existence and visibility – something which also allowed her to walk through walls and disappear from sight. While Ghost’s condition was at least temporarily healed by Janet Van Dyne and her Quantum Realm powers, it seems that she wasn’t fully cured by the end of Ant-Man And The Wasp, since the whole reason that Scott Lang went microscopic and got trapped in the Quantum Realm for five years was because he was looking for more antidote for her. She and her guardian, Bill Foster, haven’t been seen since, but John-Kamen confirmed that Ghost, at least, never died. Whether she was snapped by Thanos is unknown: it’s possible that she survived, and had to endure five more years of her excruciating pain – perhaps she’s been driven back to her dark ways, and is once again wreaking havoc? How long did she hold out hope for Lang’s return? Where is she now? All these questions could be answered in a Thunderbolts movie.

Then again, maybe she’s going to have a role in the third Ant-Man film: however, as of right now, there actually isn’t a third Ant-Man film, so…that’s a bit of an obstacle. Personally, if there is an Ant-Man 3, I hope that we get to see one of Marvel’s craziest villains (and another part-time Thunderbolts member), Gypsy Moth, on the big screen, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Ghost show up again, whether as an antagonist or in a supporting role.

How would you feel about Ghost returning to the MCU as a semi-reformed villain? Could Marvel pull off a Thunderbolts movie? Share your thoughts in the comments below!