Talking to Variety, Cumberbatch has confirmed that he’ll be sitting out Doomsday to play a major role in Secret Wars. The reason for Strange’s absence from the movie is said to be “the character not aligning with this part of the story.” He does confirm that he’s going to be in Secret Wars ‘a lot’ and that Strange is “quite central to where things might go.”

We don’t know what that means officially, but a lot have been speculating that Marvel is trying to future-proof their stories from canon inconsistencies and actors’ contracts expiring by establishing a multiverse after Secret Wars and just having multiple timelines running parallel to each other.

Since Strange is one of the first characters to jump the Multiverse in the MCU, it’s possible that he would have something to do with the change of the status quo by the end of Secret Wars; but then again, this is just speculation on the fans’ part.

With Cumberbatch sitting out Doomsday, some are guessing that the next Doctor Strange movie could release right before Secret Wars to fully establish his role in the second film. We don’t know exactly what they have planned for Cumberbatch, but it does seem like he’s in no hurry to leave the MCU anytime soon.

Avengers: Doomsday is set to release in theaters on May 1, 2026. Secret Wars comes out May 7, 2027.

Having worked on both franchise, Grillo talks about how enthusiastic he is to be jumping over to DC after his run with Marvel. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, he says:

“They’re very different… Marvel’s a different machine, and it’s great in its own right, but the thing I love about James’ and Peter’s DC is that it’s much more contained. It’s so much more personal and I really enjoy it better. I just love being part of something in the embryonic stage and being able to grow with it and watch it and flourish.”

Admittedly, Grillo did not have the most major part when he was working with Marvel, and was kind of the face of the villain’s muscle when he was introduced in Winter Soldier. Sure he was able to put on his comic-inspired outfit in Civil War, but he was eventually killed off in the first act.

Even then, I think that Grillo did his best to be memorable in the films, and he seems like a great choice for Rick Flagg Sr. Though we’ve seen the animated version essentially take the place of the original Rick Flagg, we’ve yet to see Grillo appear as the character in live-action. We’ll have to wait for Superman to come out in July before we can see that.

From that point, we should expect Grillo to appear in subsequent movies as Flagg. Hopefully they do something more with him than just being another muscle for the main villain (this time Amanda Waller).

Grillo is in Creature Commandos now streaming on Max.

One huge draw of the Marvel brand has definitely been the movies, so Rivals has decided to drop a trailer showcasing all the MCU skins that are currently available in the game. Check these out:

From the get-go we have skin for Spider-Man (No Way Home), Iron Man (Avengers: Endgame), Thor (Love and Thunder), Loki (Loki Season 2), Scarlet Witch (Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness), Black Widow (from her solo movie), Namor (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Wolverine (from Deadpool and Wolverine), and the playable heroes from the Guardians of the Galaxy (from GOTG Vol. 3).

With more characters expected to be introduced in both the MCU and Marvel Rivals, we should expect more crossover skins to come to the game soon. MCU Iron Man himself has several different suits to choose from, and  even pre-MCU properties like Spider-Man and X-Men have a lot of different skins that fans should want to get their hands on.

After such a long drought of great Marvel games, Rivals feels like the W that Marvel needed after the recent slump of MCU films in the box office. Hopefully they get their groove back soon; and in the meantime, I’m just enjoying how Rivals has been able to put the spotlight on obscure characters like Squirrel Girl and Jeff the Land Shark.

Marvel Rivals is now playable for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC.

With the upcoming series Agatha All Along and Daredevil: Born Again in the works, it’s said that Marvel is going to be taking a new approach when it comes to their TV spinoffs. Talking to ComicBook, Marvel Studios’ Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation Brad Winderbaum explains:

“We want to make sure that Marvel stays an open door for people to come in and explore… On the heels of Endgame, I think there was, maybe, a little bit of an obligation to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything. As you know, as a comics fan, they’re designed to just pop in, find something that you like, and use that to enter you into the universe, and then you can explore and weave around based on your own preferences.

“ So part of the rebranding of Marvel Studios, Marvel Television, Marvel Animation, even Marvel Spotlight is to, I think, try to tell the audience, ‘You can jump in anywhere. They’re interconnected but they’re not. You don’t have to watch A to enjoy B. You can follow your bliss. You can follow your own preferences and find the thing you want within the tapestry of Marvel.'”

Admittedly when the Disney+ Marvel series had started out, everyone was thinking that they would have larger canon consequences like either WandaVision or Loki bringing mutants into the MCU. The longer it went on though, it was clear that none of the series was going to have huge stakes that would mess with the story that was being told theatrically.

With this new outlook though, I think that it gives a clear line for the incoming creators on the stories they can tell moving forward. Now we can expect shows like Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and hopefully She-Hulk to just tell stories in their own unique pockets of the MCU.

Fingers crossed we get another update soon on a future lineup of series.

The next big Marvel live-action series, Agatha All Along starring Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, and Patti LuPone is set to premiere on Disney+ on Sept. 18.

Chris Hemsworth, fresh off of the divisive Thor: Love and Thunder, talks a bit about how those actors annoy him, and how he’s still thankful for getting to work with Marvel despite the decline in reputation. Hemsworth tells, The Times:

“It’s, like, ‘They’re films that are successful — put me in one. Oh, mine didn’t work? I’ll bash them…

“Look, I grew up on a soap opera, and it used to bother me when actors would later talk about the show with guilt or shame. Humility goes a long way. One of the older actors on Home and Away said, ‘We don’t get paid to make the good lines sound good, but to make the bad ones work.’ That stuck with me.

Though some people like to blame the superhero genre for tanking the movie industry, Hemsworth says that it’s more the fault of smartphones and social media. Hemsworth continues, “Cinema-going did not change because of superheroes, but because of smartphones and social media. Superhero films actually kept people in the cinemas during that transition and now people are coming back. So they deserve a little more appreciation.”

Even now, Hemsworth says he’s still open to return as Thor, if it can give him any chance to ‘redeem’ himself from the divisive nature of Love and Thunder. Personally, I did like Love and Thunder more than Ragnarok, but I was always eager for the Thor franchise to go back to its earlier tones—kind of like if the MCU had its own version of Lord of the Rings.

For now, Hemsworth is gearing up for the release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga co-starring with Anya Taylor-Joy. Catch his Dementus when he rides into theaters on May 24.

Talking to Empire, Jackson exclaims, “He’s not dead!” and when the site tried to ask him what kind of project he would have liked to work on, Jackson just said, “Everything, yes!”

For context, Jackson’s Mace Windu had been one of the main Jedi masters of the entire sequel trilogy, finally brandishing a lightsaber in Attack of the Clones, then falling to his death thanks to Darth Sidious and Anakin Skywalker.

With so many characters coming back to life, a lot of fans think that it’s ultimately better for Star Wars if some characters stayed dead, but there could be ways for Jackson to come back in some form without having to resurrect Windu.

He already did a voice cameo as Windu in The Rise of Skywalker, but some fans have been pitching a young Windu series with someone else taking on the role. If they want to go further with the Ahsoka series, I think they could just bring in a hologram of young Windu in Clone Wars armor, and use some of that Captain Marvel magic to de-age Jackson.

For now, Mace Windu remains a dead Jedi, but there’s always some wiggle room in a galaxy far far away.

As per @MyTimeToShineH on Twitter, Affleck is currently in talks to play Dario Agger a.k.a. the Minotaur a.k.a. the President of the Roxxon Corporation. Here’s the post:

Ben Affleck had talks with Marvel Studios to play Dario Agger in an upcoming project

— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) December 28, 2022

Seeing that Affleck had recently played Bruce Wayne for DC, having him play another billionaire in a comic book franchise could be fitting. Though comic book films tend to glorify billionaires like Tony Stark, I’m kind of hoping that Affleck (should he land the role) draws from some modern-day influences—kind of like Edward Norton’s character in Glass Onion.

With Marvel’s ever growing web of projects, it’s starting to be inevitable that every working actor in the industry would have had worked with the studio at least once. While actors who worked on both Marvel and DC used to be such a huge deal, I think that list of comic book actors is going to keep growing as the comic book genre continues to dominate the box office (and streaming; don’t forget about the Disney+ shows).

After he got burned with Batman by WB, I’m just hoping that Affleck is able to find a good role that makes good use of his talent. We never got to see his Batman arc completed, but if he was an evil Tony Stark in the MCU? I’m sure I would line up to see it.

No official announcement has been made about Ben Affleck joining the MCU.

Talking to GQ, Cameron says The Way of Water seeks to be a different kind of blockbuster by putting the focus on family. He explains:

“I was consciously thinking to myself, Okay, all these superheroes, they never have kids. They never really have to deal with the real things that hold you down and give you feet of clay in the real world.”

Of course, fans were quick to point out online that characters like Ant-Man and Iron Man had kids in the films, but it looks like Cameron is really putting the children in a central part of the story—not just mcguffins for the protagonist to objectify. Cameron continues:

“What do two characters who are warriors, who take chances and have no fear, do when they have children and they still have the epic struggle?…  Their instinct is to be fearless and do crazy things. Jump off cliffs, dive-bomb into the middle of an enemy armada, but you’ve got kids. What does that look like in a family setting?”

I guess it’s a take, but we’ll just have to wait and see how The Way of Water plays out. I’ll admit, I was skeptical about a sequel to a movie from 2009, but the trailers look fantastic. If the story isn’t solid, at least we know we’ll be in for a show.

Catch Avatar: The Way of Water when it swims into theaters Dec. 16.

/Film confirms that the news from The Hot Mic that Harrison Ford will be taking on the role of Thunderbolt Ross in the MCU are apparently true. Ford will make an appearance as Ross in Captain America: New World Order and will reprise the role again for Thunderbolts. Who knows, with She-Hulk hinting at a Hulk movie soon, maybe we can see Ross come back and torment Banner in a new way.

It’s funny that Ford should find himself in another franchise with crazy fans because he has infamously been grumpy about being asked lore questions when it comes to Star Wars. Despite his reluctance though, fans have kind of embraced Ford’s mood toward his work, and are already laughing at the thought of him being asked about the Multiverse or possibly having to play Red Hulk.

I think the casting is pretty great, and Ford does have the charisma to play a serious person who isn’t afraid to break some rules. Hopefully they write his Ross character to have a more personal arc when he Ford finally gets to debut in the franchise.

Watch out for Captain America: New World Order when it hits theaters May 3, 2024. Thunderbolts comes out the same year on July 26.

During the Hall H panel (via The Hollywood Reporter), Feige talks about how marvel takes ‘big swings with part threes.’ He explains, “How do we elevate it in the way we’ve been able to with Civil War, and Infinity War and Ragnarok? … It’s very fun to be in the world of the Ryan Reynolds show.”

Despite all the films that were announced last weekend, Deadpool 3 is yet to get a release window. We don’t know what Marvel plans to do with the franchise, but with the time they’re taking, I’m having the feeling that they could be waiting until Avengers: Secret Wars to have Deadpool introduced via Multiverse. Then again, with several projects in the pipeline, DP could very much make his cameo appearance as soon as She-Hulk.

While Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was a fine film, it was kind of disappointing that the movie didn’t really embrace that wild, wacky concept. How is it that we only got Professor X to show up from the Fox films? They could have easily had Deadpool fall through some multiverse portal in an after-credits sequence. How is it that in the same year as MoM, we got a better crossover film with Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and a better Multiverse movie with Everything, Everywhere, All at Once?

Deadpool 3 has no release date yet, but hopefully we get something a D23 later this year.

What’s cool is, there’s some alleged pre-vis from Marvel which is said to be a look at Doctor Doom’s armor. Take note, this hasn’t been officially confirmed:

Doctor Doom isn’t going to be the villain of Wakanda Forever. Marvel are building him up to be the next Thanos level character. IF this Pre-Vis is legit, he’ll appear in the credit scene. pic.twitter.com/dqSYMabAgV

— MCU Geeks (@realmcugeeks) July 13, 2022

Since full suits of armor have a different context when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it makes complete sense that Doom would sport one. I guess it’s his own special flair to add the green cloth around the armor and treat it like his own skin.

Ever since Thanos, Marvel seems to be grasping at straws for their next big villain. If anything, a lot of characters are vying for the ‘ultimate villain’ title of the next Marvel saga. Some say it could be Doctor Doom, but others are convinced it could be Kang—who is going to be appearing in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

With Marvel moving closer and closer to the comic origins, I think it would be great if they really managed to capture the nuance of Doctor Doom as character. Sure, he’s a super genius proficient in science and magic, but he’s also the ruler of his own small country, complete with loyal subjects who think he’s the best.

We don’t know who they could cast in the role, but a lot of fans are hoping that the franchise just bring back Mads Mikkelsen. I mean, who even remembers him as the villain of Doctor Strange? They could make him some kind of variant or something if they really want to stick to a certain canon.

Doom is speculated to be teased in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which hits theaters on Nov. 11.

Talking to Total Film (via Games Radar), Bale was asked whether he was hesitant to join comic movies after the Dark Knight trilogy, to which he replied, “Absolutely not, no. That didn’t even enter into my head at all.” The funny thing is, Bale also had no idea what it meant when people were saying he joined the MCU. “I’d read that, and people would go, ‘Oh, look at this! He’s entered the MCU!’ And I’d go, ‘I’ve done what? I haven’t entered shit, thank you very much.’ I’m like, ‘The MCU?’ I had to ask what that was.” 

WIth Bale being known to be such an intense method actor, a lot of people were wondering how he was going to get in touch with the role of someone who wanted to murder gods. While he really wanted to iron something out with director Taika Waititi, it looks like they never got to be as extensive as they wanted to be. Bale says:

“There’s obviously sort of a Nosferatu slight attitude. Taika and I wanted to do a whole dance, which we didn’t get to do, but we had all this sort of Kate Bush stuff that we worked at. But I think he just realised he was never going to be allowed to put that in the final film. I would say that the most common thing I was staring at was the Aphex Twin video of ‘Come To Daddy’. But I don’t even know if that will be in the final film.”

Fingers crossed the trailers didn’t spoil too much. While I thought Gorr’s look was originally underwhelming, the trailers make me feel that Christian Bale is going to steal the scene whenever he shows up.

Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8.

Talking to Fandango, Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal has confirmed that Sony is set to have another Spidey trilogy with Tom Holland as the lead. She says:

“This is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel – [this is not] the last Spider-Man movie… We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel. We’re thinking of this as three films, and now we’re going to go onto the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies.”

Though we don’t have any details on what could come in the next Spidey trilogy, fans suspect that this will finally have Peter coming out of high school and entering early adulthood. With a ‘college trilogy’ probably too redundant, maybe they can have Peter enter college in the first movie, and have him figuring out his adult life in the next two films—the final one is where we could get Miles Morales.

With No Way Home teasing a Sinister Six clash, there are so many more Spider-Man stories to explore, from his clash with Kraven the Hunter to his symbiote storyline with Venom. I’m just here wishing Holland a good run as Spider-Man; hopefully he doesn’t feel too burnt out by the role in the end.

Catch Spider-Man: No Way Home when it hits theaters on Dec. 17.

As per a mod post on r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers on Reddit, a leaker has revealed that Sonic the Hedgehog’s Jim Carrey has been cast as the live-action Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing a.k.a. MODOK; and he could appear as early as the She-Hulk series, with multiple appearances planned and a cameo in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

While nothing official has been confirmed, Carrey does seem like inspired casting. Seeing as he’s an actor who’s known best for his animated face, he would be the perfect actor to play a character who is literally a giant face. Until we get an official announcement from Marvel though, we should just consider this a rumor.

We don’t know what the future of Marvel looks like now, but with the Multiverse opening up, the studio is getting closer and closer to more obscure (and ridiculous) characters in the IP. Marvel modeling the Ten Rings after the Taliban for the sake of realism seems like such a faraway dream now.

By any case, Carrey would be a great recurring villain for the MCU, and while I’m sure he can play over the top manic, it would be great if we can get some realism from a character as silly as MODOK.

In the meantime, the next Marvel series, Hawkeye is set to make its Disney+ debut on Nov. 24. You can also catch the character MODOK in his own animated series on Hulu.

As per Variety, Johansson is suing Disney for releasing Black Widow on Disney+, which is a breach of their agreement as a huge chunk of Johansson’s compensation was dependent on the box office performance of the film.

Johansson’s attorney John Berlinski says:

“It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney Plus to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company’s stock price – and that it’s hiding behind Covid-19 as a pretext to do so… But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court. This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts.”

On Disney’s end, they say that Johansson’s filing has ‘no merit whatsoever’ and is ‘‘especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Disney said that Johansson had already received $20 million for her work and that the release of Black Widow on Disney+ had ‘significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation’.

After multiple delays and falling interest in the film, it’s understandable that Disney would want to release Black Widow the soonest it could. Though COVID-19 is a very legitimate reason to withhold the film, fans believe that a renegotiation was in order with Johansson—something Disney didn’t provide any information about.

We don’t know how Johansson v Disney is going to end, but for now, you catch Black Widow in theaters and on Disney+ for premiere access.

Here’s Korg and Deadpool reacting to a trailer for Free Guy:

It’s great that the two characters can appear alongside each other as both Waititi and Reynolds are in Free Guy. They even have some fun meta banter with Deadpool commenting how Free Guy feels like a ‘last days of Fox Fire Sale’ kind of film, and asking Korg how to get into the MCU.

While fans are already freaking out about how this clip is Deadpool’s introduction to the MCU, I think it’s just some great brand synergy on Disney’s part—using characters from their more well-known properties to promote something new. No doubt they probably also predicted how fans would freak out seeing Deadpool interact with an MCU character.

I was already excited for the release of Free Guy when they teased it last year, so it’s great to see that the movie is finally going to come out next month. Director Shawn Levy has proven his mettle as a great family friendly director with films like Night at the Museum and Stranger Things, so I’m excited to see how he handles Free Guy.

In Twentieth Century Studios’ epic adventure-comedy “Free Guy,” a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way…before it is too late.

Catch Free Guy when it comes out Aug. 13 in theaters.

Talking to The Times (via IndieWire), Snyder comments that he would love to work on a Star Wars film, but, “I don’t think I would survive that.”

While it could mean a lot of things for Snyder to ‘survive’ an SW film from the project itself or the hyper-critical toxic fandom, Snyder does share that he is not into the idea of injecting his point-of-view in a world that isn’t asking for it. Snyder says:

“Where it gets difficult is when you take a director with a personal point of view and ask him to participate in a thing that is not asking for that… The journeyman film-maker? There are a lot of them, and they’re good. I just happen to have a specific point of view. The lesson I’ve learnt is it’s much easier for me, as a film-maker, to create a world and invite you into it. As opposed to me saying, ‘Let me put my cog in your wheel.’

Though Star Wars may looking good with successful releases of The Mandalorian and the final season of The Clone Wars, we should remember that they did fire Phil Lord and Chris Miller in the middle of them directing Solo: A Star Wars Story. Fans are still wondering what exactly J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio honestly had to say about working on The Rise of Skywalker as well.

While Star Wars is the franchise that Snyder named, this could probably mean the same for fans wanting him to work on the MCU as well. After what went down with Justice League back in 2017, I’m just happy that Snyder is back at work with a movie that doesn’t have some enormous fan expectations on its shoulders.

Catch Snyder’s Army of the Dead when it hits Netflix on May 21.