Marvel Studios Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Following his turns as the evil character in Marvel’s Netflix series, Vincent D’Onofrio is obviously back as Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, in the proper Marvel Cinematic Universe (the Netflix era was previously disconnected from canon). D’Onofrio already re-appeared as the character in the “Hawkeye” Disney+ limited series (2021), and he’s back once again in the “Echo” series, which is streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu (read our review).

Robert Downey Jr. is on his way to an Oscar nomination for “Oppenheimer,” and if you’re a betting person, well, I would already bank on the win, personally.

It’s all but assured that the X-Men will enter the MCU soon. But how, and when exactly? That’s yet to be determined outside of Hugh Jackman‘s Wolverine co-starring in “Deadpool 3” later this year.

Marvel’s new limited series, “Echo,” is deeply frustrating, a show with good intentions and poor aim. Ostensibly full of depth but never hitting the bullseye— seemingly about the complicated emotional agonies of families, adopted, found, and betrayed and the burdens of trauma—most of it is told without meaningful resonance.

Earlier this week, rumors about Steven Yeun leaving the upcoming MCU film “Thunderbolts“ were proved true. And it was a shock of sorts to start 2024 for Marvel Studios.

Over the holidays, you probably saw Marvel Studios hype the hell out of the second season of animated hit, “What If…?” The series doesn’t necessarily qualify as “required viewing” for the MCU, but for those who just can’t get enough of the characters, it serves as an outlet to take these beloved icons and put a new spin on them. (More about that in our review.) But apparently, the real world shitshow that was going on in 2020 led to the showrunner of “What If…?” to change course a little and focus on having more fun, which meant ditching what would have been a very dark episode featuring none other than Spider-Man.

Welp, there it is. A rumor that made the rounds on social media earlier today has turned out to be true.

Almost one year ago, Marvel Studios, DC Studios, and all of the millions of superhero film fans were optimistic. Sure, 2022 wasn’t the best year on record for the film/TV superhero genre, but there was plenty to give hope, especially after the pandemic really threw a wrench in things.

Let’s face it: from ‘Quantumania,’ to the Victoria Alonso and Jonathan Majors dramas, and “The Marvels,” Marvel Studios had a really bad 2023 (we went over their stressful year in much detail here). At the very least, they’ve ended 2023 on a very good note with “What If…?” season two, a series we gave some really top marks for for its mythical and archetypal writing.

Even though he’s a legendary filmmaker, it’s safe to assume Michael Mann isn’t the top name on Kevin Feige’s short list of directors to discuss Marvel Studios projects with. Sure, Feige would probably love to have Mann involved in a superhero project, but let’s be real, the filmmaker isn’t someone who would likely decide to work within the Marvel content factory.

After a particularly brutal year for the brand, Marvel manages to end 2023 on a last-minute positive note with the animated series “What If…?” The series continues to surprise and even disarm the viewer with the unexpected. Just when you think it’s content to provide simply entertaining fan-service-y alternative multiverse stories of your favorite with a twist— and it surely can do that too— it turns and deepens leveraging the freedom of the inventive, imagined what-if presentation to tell darker, richer versions of Marvel Cinematic Universe tales, often with a meaningfully tragic bent that really compel.

OK, it’s that time of year, the holidays. As you generally know, we mostly avoid the scuttlebutt of daily internet rumors.

Honestly, it feels as if “Echo” isn’t getting as much marketing love as Marvel Studios projects typically do. Perhaps that’s because the series marks the first TV-MA project for the studio and is part of the Marvel Spotlight banner, which makes it not as dependent on MCU continuity.

In today’s episode of ⁠Bingeworthy⁠, our TV and streaming podcast, host Mike DeAngelo dives back into the mystery of Apple TV+’s latest mystery series, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.” The show follows multiple characters in different eras on a twist-filled journey to uncover the mysteries of the organization at the center of the MonsterVerse films. The show stars Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, and many more.

Following the announcement of a guilty verdict in his domestic violence trial this afternoon, Marvel Studios has fired actor Jonathan Majors. Majors was convicted on December 18 of two misdemeanor counts of reckless harassment and assault of Grace Jabbari, his ex-girlfriend.

Taika Waititi has already clarified he won’t be back for “Thor 5“ if Marvel Studios wants one. So who will take his place in the directing chair for that hypothetical sequel? Don’t look at “The Creator” director Gareth Edwards who, despite rumors to the contrary, insists he’s not connected to the project.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire? Are the rumors of “Captain America: Brave New World” true? What rumors? Well, “‘Captain America: Brave New World” was once a summer 2024 movie set right in the heart of July. However, after the strikes, Marvel Studios revamped their entire schedule, moving “Deadpool 3” into that July position even though its production shoot—which is still going on now as we speak—wasn’t complete and ‘Brave New World’ had finished its principal photography.

The new season of Marvel Studios’ animated hit, “What If…?” debuts right around the holidays, so why not include a bit of Christmas spirit in the marketing?  READ MORE: The 67 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Series Of 2024 And as seen in the newest trailer for “What If…?” Season 2, which is a little more than a week away, Marvel Studios is tying the new batch of episodes in directly with the approaching holiday.

Marvel Studios opened a bit of a can of worms when it announced the return of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, in the MCU. This is after the studio basically disavowed the events of the Netflix “Daredevil”/“Defenders” continuity when the character was brought back under the Marvel Studios umbrella.

Though 2023 has been a rough year for Marvel Studios, it’s not like the studio is giving up and shutting down shop. There are still an absolute ton of new projects on the horizon for the biggest franchise in cinema history, and one, relatively small, branch of this massive cinematic universe is the animated series that are being produced.

Jon Favreau‘s 2008 film “Iron Man” is usually referred to as the blockbuster that first kicked off Hollywood’s superhero movie craze (well, that one and “The Dark Knight“). But according to Pepper Potts herself, Gwyneth Paltrow, “Iron Man” wasn’t pitched to her as a sure-fire success.

If you believe the scheduling, as of now, then Marvel Studios is putting all of its 2024 film eggs in one basket, “Deadpool 3.” Thankfully, anticipation for “Deadpool 3” is through the roof, as it’s a beloved franchise and the new one will be the first in the MCU. And if set leaks are any indication, the film is going to have a ton of Easter Eggs and cameos.

As we close the book on 2023, one of the biggest stories coming out of Marvel Studios this year was the reshuffling and uncertainty surrounding “Blade.” What was once announced with so much confidence in 2019, has now entered a place where it’s unclear if we’ll ever see it get made. Directors have come and gone.

Whether it’s true or not, 2023 will largely go down as a bad year for Marvel Studios. A couple of the films greatly underperformed (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels”) and one of the TV shows was just a big turd (“Secret Wars”).

Is a sequel to “Spider-Man: No Way Home” imminent? Not according to Tom Holland, reports Deadline. And that’s because writers haven’t written a decent enough story idea to greenlight another movie.

Thanks to “The Marvels” being the first MCU film not to break $100 million domestically at the box office, yes, superhero fatigue is a real thing. And according to actress Jodie Foster, it’s a good thing, too.

Disney CEO Bob Iger had plenty to say about the MCU‘s current issues at The New York Times‘ annual BookDeal summit yesterday. But CNN reports that Iger also had a multilayered explanation for why “The Marvels” did so poorly in theaters earlier this month, taking in just $47 million domestically its opening weekend.

After a shaky 2023, Marvel Studios finds itself in unfamiliar territory: looking like a vulnerable enterprise instead of an unstoppable entertainment juggernaut. But despite creative overhauls and several release schedule changes for projects in Phases 5 & 6, the MCU machine keeps turning.

One of 2023’s biggest stories in the entertainment industry is Disney CEO Bob Iger‘s call to retrofit the swollen release calendar of various IPs, namely the MCU and the “Star Wars” universe. Iger’s reasons? The sheer glut of releases in theaters and on streaming dilutes focus and attention from moviegoers and lowers the overall quality of what Disney creates.

Though it’s clear that Zack Snyder’s filmmaking interests, as of late, have brought him to the stars for his “Rebel Moon” franchise, the man really did generate a cult-like following thanks to his DC superhero films. In fact, to this day, there is still a legion of devotees posting on social media, begging Warner Bros.