According to Deadline, Disney proposed a 50/50 deal that would have seen both companies split the costs and earnings, and presumably would include movies involving Venom, Carnage, Miles Morales, and others. Sony refused and made a counter-offer that Disney turned down.
What this means for the future remains to be seen. But for the time being, everybody’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man will be swinging solo unless immediate changes happen. The sequel to Venom is in production, and actor Tom Holland is attached to at least two additional films. It is only a matter of time before Venom and Spidey cross paths onscreen. Will Sony keep the billion-dollar income without the rest of the Marvel MCU attached? We may not have to wait too long to find out.
Spider-Man #1 by JJ and Henry Abrams & Sarah Pichelli
Marvel announced back in June that famed Hollywood writer/director JJ Abrams will be writing his own Spider-Man comic this fall. This week, they released a trailer for the project. Not only does it feature interviews with JJ and his son Henry, but it also has input from Marvel Editor Nick Lowe.
As hinted for the last month, the series will introduce a new villain for the web-headed hero in the form of Cadaverous. While the full nature of his powers is not yet revealed, it does seem like he is a techno-organic mishmash that really cranks up the Creep Factor.
Spider-Man #1 drops on September 18th. It is written by JJ and Henry Abrams with art by Sarah Pichelli.
In our previous episode, we discussed the revelations for Marvel’s Phase Four of The MCU. Here we talk a lot of the other news coming out of The Mecca Of Geekery that is San Diego Comic-Con!
Each trailer is listed below with the appropriate timestamp in the show discussion.
It is worth noting that only films slated for 2020 and 2021 were announced. There were no definite indications of theatrical releases for 2022. The possibilities of Black Panther 2, Captain Marvel 2, and Avengers 5 are still very strong.
For each of the announced movies or series, we’ll give our main speculation points and pair them up with what was confirmed during the Hall H presentation.
Speculation: Florence Pugh will play Yelena Belova/Crimson Widow. David Harbour will be Taskmaster. This may introduce a cloned Natasha like in the comics
Confirmed: Pugh will be Yelena Belova, David Harbour will be Alexi Shostakov aka Red Guardian, the Russian equivalent of Captain America.
New Speculation: Yelena Belova may be Taskmaster instead of Crimson Widow
Speculation: Millie Bobby Brown and Angelina Jolie would be the same character. Thanos and Adam Warlock would be involved in some capacity.
Confirmed: Several roles were announced, none of which were Thanos or Warlock. It will take place on Earth, and Kevin Feige described it as “full-on Jack Kirby“.
Speculation:Shang-Chi will fill the void Danny Rand/Iron Fist fills in the comics as the martial-arts expert. If this is an attempt to get a Bruce Lee vibe, it will fail to do so
Speculation: Will take place before Vision’s death in Infinity War.
Confirmed: Takes place in current time, so maybe Captain America was able to revive Vision in his post-Endgame quest. Monica Rambeau is in the show, perhaps to become a new Captain Marvel or Miss Marvel.
Speculation: Possible origin story or another story from the past. Loki’s escape during Endgame could play a factor.
Confirmed: Takes place after Loki’s escape in Avengers: Endgame. This will be the classic evil Loki and not the sympathetic character he became in Phase Three.
Speculation: Could be directly related to Guardians of the Galaxy 3 given the styles of directors James Gunn and Taiki Watiti. Plus Thor left with the Guardians to close out Endgame.
Confirmed:Natalie Portman will be reprising Jane Foster and will become Thor.
Current Speculation: Thor himself will be a supporting role, and it could still tie into Guardians 3
1:01:05 – Hawkeye (Fall 2021)
Speculation: Clint is back to adventuring now that his family is safe. We may see Kate Bishop.
Confirmed: Kate Bishop will be major part of the show
Maharshala Ali was a surprise announcement as the MCU Blade. It was not stated whether this will be a feature film or a Disney+ mini-series.
1:13:00 – X-Men and Deadpool (Phase Five?)
Marvel did not outright say any immediate future of the X-Men franchise, including Deadpool. But it seems like X-Men may wait a few years and get rebranded for Phase Five.
However, if you were hoping for stories about Wolverine, Spider-Man, or The Fantastic Four, you may be disappointed. Feige clarified while speaking with Screen Rant that only stories from The Infinity Saga (Phases 1-3) will be explored.
“Right now, we’re focusing on for the first season, everything you know about the 23 movies in the Infinity Saga and adding one twist to them and seeing how everything turns out different.”
Marvel President Kevin Feige to Screen Rant
While that excludes classic issues where Wolverine kills The Hulk, or The Punisher becomes Captain America, the good news is that still means over twenty movies worth of material can be explored. Add in that the known actors will still be providing the voices, and it’s still a pretty ambitious concept.
Seth “Zandrax” Zillmann and “Crazy Train” Jonathan Bolick return for another episode of Geekville Radio.
2:00 – A NEW 007?
Every so often, characters get recast or revamped with different features. Most of the time, the changes are irrelevant. other times, they can be essential. This is a subject that has been discussed in past episodes of Geekville Radio.
The latest case is the rumored recasting of Ian Fleming’s Agent 007. James Bond has been a fixture in pop culture for over 50 years. Now, James Bond is allegedly being replaced with a new character to be played by Lashana Lynch. We look at this news and compare it to other times perennial favorites have been revamped.
Contrary to the fan theory, James Bond was not an alias. It was always the same man in all of the classic Fleming novels. What is allegedly happening is similar to what Marvel Comics does when they revamp a character (James Rhodes becoming Iron Man is an example). It is not the same character reimagined, but a new character taking Bond’s place as Agent 007.
15:50 – THE STATE OF THE MCU AFTER PHASE THREE
Marvel’s Phase Three for its Cinematic Universe (MCU) wrapped this year with Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, andSpider-Man: Far From Home. All three films wrapped up the last ten years of stories, while still bringing new characters into the fold.
Still, much of the highly anticipated Phase Four is left in mystery. Disney and Marvel are staying tight-lipped about what major threats could be in store for the heroes come 2020. So we’ll do whatever any sensible fan would do when faced with this dilemma: Make our own conclusions, and yell and scream when they aren’t met to the letter.
Let’s take a look at each of the characters and where they currently stand as of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Then we can see where they may fit in future films.
Iron Man/Tony Stark – In the climactic finale to Avengers: Endgame, Tony sacrificed himself to save the universe. As anybody who reads comics can tell you, nobody stays dead in comics (well, except for Thunderbird, he’s still dead). It wouldn’t be terribly surprising to see Tony back in some capacity, even if it’s in a flashback or cameo from another universe. That said, the chances of him back full time are pretty slim at best though.
Captain America/Steve Rogers – The last scene in Avengers: Endgame was Steve returning back to a post World War II America to reunite with Peggy Carter. Some fans objected, saying that Cap would never do this in the comics. While that is technically true, the unfortunate truth is actors age in the real world, whereas superheroes never need to.
Could we see a cameo in a period piece or a time travel story? Or even once more as a 100-year-old mentor? Chances are fans wouldn’t complain.
Thor – The final scene of Endgame saw Thor joining Guardians Of The Galaxy, even making an Asgardians Of The Galaxy joke. Since Thor doesn’t have to worry about leading his people for a while, it seems likely he will continue his big-screen adventures, whether in a solo film or in Guardians 3.
Hulk/Bruce Banner – Bruce has learned to control himself to the point where he has the best of both worlds. The Hulk’s strength and endurance paired with Banner’s intelligence. Allegedly, only Universal can make a Hulk standalone movie, which is why he is always second fiddle to other heroes in their movies. Still, with Hulk likely staying Hulk full-time, the character can continue to have onscreen adventures even if Mark Ruffalo should bow out.
Plus there’s always the possibility of introducing Amadeus Cho as The Totally Awesome Hulk. And it’s probably only a matter of time before we get She-Hulk.
Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff – She’s dead. Yet she’s getting a movie. More on that later.
Hawkeye/Clint Barton – All Clint wanted was his family back. He got that, so presumably, he’ll be suiting up again as an Avenger sooner rather than later. Could we be getting Kate Bishop?
Ant-Man/Scott Lang – Reunited with his daughter after five years, Scott looks to be good to go for another round of adventuring. He and Hope Van Dyne are probably a duo from here on out.
Dr. Stephen Strange – Strange was pivotal in helping the heroes turn the tide and defeat Thanos. There is plenty more mysticism and magic in store for The Sorcerer Supreme.
Black Panther/T’Challa – Another breakout hero for Phase Three who scored a billion-dollar jackpot with his own movie. Panther will be around for the long haul.
Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers – The chances are high that Carol will take flight again in her own film, as well as back up the other heroes if needed.
Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes – Disney’s upcoming streaming service ensures we’ll see a lot of Bucky in the forseeable future.
Loki – Seemingly killed off in Avengers: Infinity War, but escaped from captivity during Endgame. What effect did his escape during the past have on future films?
29:30 – PHASE FOUR MOVIES
It’s no secret that Disney and Marvel have several years of MCU films on the docket. Some, such as Black Widow and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, fans have been clamoring for years to get. While others, The Eternals and Shang-Chi, seem more experimental.
Seven films are confirmed for Marvel’s Phase Four at the time of recording, thought there could be more in the works. There are also mini-series spotlighting MCU characters set to air on Disney’s streaming service Disney+. However, many of those appear to be standalone stories and not related to the immediate future of the MCU.
We will likely hear a lot about what is in store for Phase Four in the coming weeks with San Diego Comic-Con and D23 around the corner.
Release Dates
These are the current release dates given by Disney/Marvel, but are not officially connected to any titles at the moment.
May 1, 2020
November 6, 2020
February 12, 2021
May 5, 2021
November 5, 2021
February 18, 2022
May 6, 2022
July 29, 2022
So without further ado, let’s take a look at what Marvel has in store for The MCU in Phase Four
Confirmed Phase Four Films
Black Widow – At long last, Scarlett Johansson is starring in her own Black Widow movie. Fans have been asking for this since her debut in Iron Man 2. The problem is her clear self-sacrifice during Endgame.
Images from the filming set show a 2017 model BMW SUV which would imply at least some of the story taking place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Other on-set photos point to Taskmaster as the villain.
The supporting cast is made up of David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, and Florence Pugh. Rumors point to Harbour as Taskmaster, and Pugh as Yelena Belova, aka Crimson Widow.
As for how this could fit into Phase Four, the current Black Widow in the comics is a clone of Natasha. That could be an inspiration for a big-screen return. Which, depending on when the clone was created, could pose an interesting question: Which one died, the real Natasha or the clone?
Black Panther 2 – It’s no surprise that T’Challa will be returning to the big screen after such a runaway hit in 2018. Ryan Coogler will also return to write and direct. There is a rumor that Michael B Jordan will appear in some capacity. Of course, that doesn’t mean Killmongor is alive. It could be a flashback or fantasy segment.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 – After much controversy, James Gunn is returning to write and direct the third installment in the space comedy franchise. Most of the cast will be returning, but no confirmation whether Thor will be involved.
Joining the cast in an alleged voice role is Mark Hamill, who has been rumored to be anything from Rocket’s creator to The High Evolutionary..
The Eternals – Angelina Jolie headlines the cast, and Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things fame is also allegedly in negotiations to star in what will be a cosmic level story. Eternals, Celestials, Inhumans, Titans, and Deviants are all characters who fit in these classifications. But they may be simplified for a big-screen take. In the comics, Thanos and Adam Warlock have links to them. So it is possible we may get a Thanos origin story.
Captain Marvel 2 – Given Carol’s big screen debut topped the billion dollar mark, it’s a safe bet she will grace the screen in her own sequel.
Avengers 5 – While not officially announced, another movie with the Avengers name is almost certain. As with previous films, it will probably wrap up Phase Four and set the stage for Phase Five. There are a ton of suitable stories from the comics that could be adapted to the big screen.
Secret Invasion – Now that Skrulls are regulars, it opens the possibilities of major players getting replaced with imposters
Secret Wars – A legendary universe-wide event where Dr. Doom gets the powers of a god.
Kang The Conquerer – With time travel is a part of the MCU, it’s a pretty safe bet the heroes will meet, and anger, Kang.
Evolutionary War – The High Evolutionary (mentioned earlier as a possible Mark Hamill role) comes to Earth and wreaks havoc
Up In The Air
Thunderbolts – A Thunderbolts film has been rumored for some time. They are an undercover villain team from the 1990s that turned into a team of anti-heroes. Sometimes called Marvel’s Suicide Squad.
The final film in Marvel Phase Three was not Avengers: Endgame, but Spider-Man: Far From Home. It firmly established, in case there were any doubts, that people affected by The Snap did get a five year age difference. Plus, it featured the big screen debut of Mysterio, one of Spider-Man’s longest-tenured villains.
SPOILERS BELOW!
One thing I noticed when reading preview pages was the number of sites that didn’t seem to know the background on Mysterio. I’m not going to say names because I don’t want to hurt any feelings, but I would see websites speculate “Could this Mysterio be a hero?”. Anybody familiar with Mysterio in the comics knows that masquerading as a hero is what he does. Jake Gyllenhaal takes on a rare villain role but does play the “man out of place” facade very well.
As for the rest of the cast, all the major characters return. A few are recast due to the age differences caused by Thanos’s Snap, now called “The Blip” for the masses. The setting is eight months later, with Peter adjusting to life without Tony Stark.
A major plot point involved Peter being given special glasses worn by Tony in Endgame which had the latest JARVIS/FRIDAY type AI, EDITH (Even In Death I’m The Hero). This leads to a comedy segment where Peter accidentally sends death drones after a classmate.
Naturally, Peter, still unsure of his abilities, is hesitant to step up as a go-to guy for the Avengers. He willingly hands over EDITH, and thus all of Stark Technologies, to Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio, who uses them to wreak havoc in Italy. Why Tony Stark of all people wouldn’t have a failsafe on such a dangerous piece of technology is not explained. But that’s low on the list of questions in a world where half the population has to deal with losing five years of their lives.
Perhaps the biggest news coming out of the latest MCU offering wasn’t even in the movie itself but in the now signature post-credits scene. In it, we find that Nick Fury and Maria Hill are actually being impersonated by Jonas, the skrulls from Captain Marvel. Meanwhile, the real Fury is on board a skrull spaceship somewhere else in the cosmos.
TRAILER COMPARISONS
We speculated in our analysis of the final trailer that Mysterio not only was up to his usual trick of passing off as a hero but that he may be lying about coming from another world. Both turned out to be the case, as Gyllenhaal’s Quentin Beck harbored a deep hatred of Tony Stark for taking his tech, as depicted in Captain America: Civil War. Another one of his henchmen was the guy yelled at by Obadiah Stane for not being as good as Stark in the original Iron Man. Like Vulture in Homecoming, Beck’s team resented Stark and SHIELD for kicking them to the curb.
That brings us to one of the more puzzling elements of the last trailer. In it, Fury states that “The Snap” opened portals to other worlds. This line was not spoken during the film. The only mention of another Earth was during Beck’s introduction in the first act.
So why was this line cut? Was it simply for plot simplicity? Or was it a red herring to throw the audience off? After all, even if Beck was a fraud, a link to another universe would be a heckuva plot point to leave open. Especially since the epilogue showed that neither Fury nor Hill trusted Beck in the first place, even if it was their skrull doppelgangers.
Another piece of news concerning cut footage is the lack of Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes/Vulture. While he did not appear in the trailers, he was credited on the film’s IMDB page. Ditto for Michael Mando’s Mac Gargan/Scorpion. The presence of these villains wasn’t crucial, but it would have been nice to catch a glimpse of them. After all, the natural progression would be to have some form of The Sinister Six in an upcoming movie. The villainous group would be half accounted for, assuming Beck’s death was a ruse. They even have a common cause: Hatred of Stark Industries, SHIELD, and Spider-Man.
THE FINAL VERDICT
Overall, Far From Home delivered on every major expectation. We got a faithful depiction of Mysterio as a villain who masquerades as a hero. We got further development in Peter’s relationship with MJ. We even got J Jonah Jameson, the biggest thorn in Spider-Man’s side, reprised by JK Simmons to boot!
The only thing that could be seen as a disappointment was in the soundtrack. Not the music by Michael Giacchino, that was top notch as usual. But we’ve now had our second Spider-Man movie with a Ramones song in it, and not the Ramones cover of the Spider-Man theme from the 90s.
2020 will see the dawn on Marvel’s Phase Four, and there are plenty of possibilities where things will go. Our next episode of Geekville Radio will dive into what we know and don’t know about Phase Four.
Last month Disney held an investor’s conference where they unveiled their highly anticipated streaming service, Disney+. The presentation answered a lot of questions about what is in store for subscribers this coming Fall.
Pricing
Disney+
Starting Price will be $6.99 per month and will be ad-free
Annual price of $69.99
Hulu
$5.99 – Basic Plan will have ads
$11.99 – Ad-Free plan
$44.99 – Ad Free with Live TV
Hulu fans have been affectionately dubbed Hulugans
Programming
Between Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, Disney will have three popular but very different streaming services that can be subscribed to individually or in a package.
Disney+
All existing Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars films at launch
Falcon & Winter Soldier Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan confirmed to reprise their roles
WandaVison – Effectively Vision & The Scarlet Witch series
Loki – Tom Hiddleston will reprise as well
The Mandalorian – Created and written by Jon Favreau
Cassian Andor – Pre-Rogue One series
Obi-Wan – Rumored more heavily lately that it will be a a Disney+ series and not a movie.
Deadpool 3 – This would seem to be the most likely possibility.
Miniseries – Since Disney+ will be family friendly, the chances of “Hard R” content, such as the Deadpool movies, are pretty slim. However, Hulu has several TV-M series.
Spider-Man 3 – This might be the most entertaining option, even if the content is toned down for PG-13 content. While some fans question putting a mature audience in a PG-13 movie, there is precedent in the comics for this. Spider-Man and Deadpool already have an ongoing series.
Aladdin’s Opening Weekend
Disney’s latest live action adaption of an animated film opened to the tune of $122 million dollars. Compared to the previous Dumbo, it was more successful. The trend to adapt animated films to live-action will likely continue.
At this time, there is no confirmation of any connections to the trilogies from Rian Johnson or Game Of Thrones creators David Benoiff and Dan Weiss. The first Benoiff & Weiss film will be in December 2022
Pattinson has been no stranger to genre roles. He was rumored to be one of the finalists to replace Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man,
before the part was given to Andrew Garfield. He appeared alongside
current Spider-Man Tom Holland and Emperor Palpatine himself Ian
McDiarmid in The Lost City Of Z.
As we keep saying, actors act for directors, not necessarily for the audience. Similar reactions to Michael Keaton, Heath Ledger, and Ben Affleck have happened before, but their performances impressed audiences.
Looks like Bruce Wayne to me…
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With the Disney/Fox merger complete, fans have been wondering how Fox-owned properties will be incorporated into The MCU. Especially now, in the wake of a Post-Snap Phase Four.
Of course, one of the hottest properties is the Merc With A Mouth, Deadpool.
It has been reported that Ryan Reynolds will keep his job portraying Deadpool/Wade Wilson. Given that Disney would almost assuredly alienate a fanbase if they recast the role, that news is most welcome.
According to MCU Cosmic, Disney is already exploring ways to bring the R-Rated cash cow into continuity. There are three main options:
Deadpool 3
A Series a la Disney+ or Hulu
A co-starring role in Spider-Man 3
Let’s look at these options one at a time
Deadpool 3 – This would seem to be the most likely option. Deadpool already has two wildly successful movies under his belt. Why would they deviate from that platform? Disney owns 20th Century Fox, so can continue to distribute under that name if they choose. Failing that, it could simply be released under the Marvel banner.
Series – There are already several exciting titles that will be debuting on Disney+ when it rolls out in the Fall. At least two Star Wars titles, two Marvel series, and every episode of The Simpsons from their near 30 year run. A Deadpool mini-series certainly could fit in with that company.
Disney has already stated that the Disney+ service will be family friendly, so the chances of “Hard R” content, such as the Deadpool movies, are pretty slim.
The possible solution to this is simple. Disney now also controls Hulu, the second biggest streaming platform in the world. Several of Hulu’s original series (Catch-22, The Act, The Handmaid’s Tail, etc…) all sport a TV-MA rating. They even have an original movie called I’mJust F*cking With You. Deadpool would fit right in with that company.
Spider-Man 3 – This might be the most entertaining option, even if the content is toned down for PG-13 content. While some fans question putting a mature audience in a PG-13 movie, there is precedent in the comics for this. Spider-Man and Deadpool already have an ongoing series.
There is one more option though, albeit not nearly as probable as the previous three. Disney is considering doing a X-Force movie. In the comics, Deadpool is part of that group.
No matter what unfolds, it seems likely that we will be seeing Deadpool in the MCU sooner rather than later.
