Marvel Studios Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Between the Marvel TV reckoning, the new “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios” book, which details a lot of Marvel’s 2023 and post-‘Endgame‘ issues and this new “Crisis At Marvel” Variety article, it really does feel like that the “Marvel is in trouble” narrative is starting to take hold. READ MORE: Marvel’s ‘Blade’ Halts Production Until WGA Strike Is Resolved According to the new Variety report, one of the biggest signs that there is trouble afoot is the development of the “Blade” film.

If you’re a fan of comic books and superhero storytelling in that medium, you know that “dead” doesn’t actually mean “dead.” Just because you see a hero like Captain America “die” in one issue, he could definitely be back several issues later. So, even though it might come as a surprise to some that Marvel Studios is reportedly considering a return of its original “Avengers” cast for an upcoming film, it actually does make a bit of storytelling sense.

Ever since the first tease of “The Marvels” way back at the end of the first season of “Ms. Marvel,” we were shown that the film would be a bit of a bodyswap adventure.

As Matthew Vaughn makes the press rounds to promote his upcoming movie “Argylle,” in theaters next February, he’s talked about all sorts of topics, from his burgeoning spy cinematic universe at MARV to time working on the “X-Men” series. So how does Vaughn weigh in on the apparent superhero movie fatigue that’s permeating moviegoing recently? In a new interview with ScreenRant, the director stated that “maybe we all need a little bit of time off from” superhero films, at least until somebody makes one that gets audiences truly excited again.

We’re already into Phase 5 and Marvel’s The Multiverse Saga, which began with “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quanumania” and goes all the way to 2027 with “Avengers: Secret Wars.” This means that eventually, we’ll likely end up seeing “Avengers: Kang Dynasty” (2026) and ‘Secret Wars’ become massive ‘Endgame‘-level events that allow dozens and dozens of heroes to face off against the main antagonist Jonathan Majors’ Kang The Conqueror.

“Superhero fatigue” can be a loaded phrase that generally raises the hackles of fandom. For one, it’s been weaponized, used, seemingly for years, like a Cassandra in the streets foretelling doom, to no avail—superhero films have ruled the box office for nearly two decades now and have rarely shown signs of slowing down (the pandemic box-office hit, notwithstanding, but everyone took a beating there).

There’s a lot of upheaval at Marvel Studios of late. Amid an ever-rearranging theatrical release schedule and months of VFX backlash against the studio, there’s also Marvel’s emergent TV Reckoning.

With the entry to the X-Men into the MCU, there’s been plenty of rumors of who would play a new rendition of the fan-favorite Wolverine. Sure, Hugh Jackman returns to reprise his role as Logan for “Deadpool 3,” but that may be a one-off.

As the SAG-AFTRA strike nears 100 days, many wonder how long the guild and the AMPTP will be at odds and how badly it will affect next year’s theatrical release calendar. Only a handful of Fall 2023 releases got pushed to 2024 so far, the big one being Denis Villeneuve‘s “Dune: Part Two,” but it’s 2024 releases halted mid-production that are most concerning.

If you read the trade report earlier this week, which we are dubbing the Marvel TV Reckoning for shorthand—the gist being Marvel scrapped their “Daredevil: Born Again” series, are starting over, and in general, are finally conceding that their method of making TV is not working and are going to try the traditional route, with showrunners, show bibles and all the elements they attempted to do without—this new The Watch podcast from The Ringer is a must-listen and excellent additional context.

OK, hopefully, you’ve just read our article on Marvel’s “Daredevil: Born Again,” which is going through a massive creative reboot/rethink/overhaul, etc., because Kevin Feige and the Marvel powers that be have decided the show—which was supposed to be a whopping 18 episodes long—wasn’t working. READ MORE: Marvel’s Plans ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Creative Reboot & Massive Overhaul Of Half-Finished Season One of the biggest takeaways from the original article, however, the bigger picture is Marvel’s ego.

Scott Derrickson is part of a tiny group of filmmakers who were chosen for a Marvel Studios project but actually backed out. After massive success directing the first “Doctor Strange” film, Derrickson was quickly asked to come back to helm the sequel, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” However, after quite a bit of development, Derrickson and Marvel Studios decided to part ways, citing creative differences.

Where did franchise television go (almost immediately) wrong? Marvel television was supposed to enrich character stopgaps between blockbuster movies—a place to spend more quality time with your favorite supporting character who doesn’t get enough airtime. Disney+’s MCU TV strategy was supposed to be the salve.

Scott Derrickson is part of a tiny group of filmmakers who were chosen for a Marvel Studios project but actually backed out. After massive success directing the first “Doctor Strange” film, Derrickson was quickly asked to come back to helm the sequel, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” However, after quite a bit of development, Derrickson and Marvel Studios decided to part ways, citing creative differences.

It’s been a little over two years since “Loki” Season 1 ended. And that ending is still one of the most surprising in recent MCU history, introducing He Who Remains (played by Jonathan Majors), one of the various variants of Kang the Conqueror.

With a new deal between the WGA and the AMPTP in place, writers may once again pick up their pens for upcoming projects. And that also means studios may start meeting with writers again for open assignments in the pipeline.

When it was originally announced that Disney was purchasing Fox, and thus, Marvel Studios would gain control of the characters that were licensed out, such as those in the “X-Men” franchise, fans were excited by the prospect. But how would Marvel Studios integrate the “X-Men” characters into the MCU? Well, a full reboot, obviously.

A theme running through most recent (within the past five years or so) interviews with Martin Scorsese is about how the filmmaker laments the current state of the film industry. Particularly, the legendary filmmaker isn’t pleased with Hollywood filmmaking and the content being produced—mostly comic book films and franchise projects.

A new Vanity Fair piece charts the behind-the-scenes work of Marvel casting director Sarah Halley Finn and the castings that might have been. For instance, Daniel Craig was an early candidate to play Thor for Kenneth Branagh‘s 2011 film, as was Charlie Hunman, Alexander Skarsgård, and Joel Kinnaman.

Marvel Studios, over the course of its decade-plus history, has become a premier place for newer/indie directing talent looking to break into big-budget studio filmmaking. We saw this with folks like the Russo Brothers, James Gunn, Destin Daniel Cretton, and many more.

When it was released, “Captain Marvel” surprised everyone in a couple of big ways. First, it earned more than $1 billion, which is massive, especially for a female-led superhero film.

Next year (depending on when these WGA and SAG strikes get worked out), we’re expected to see Anthony Mackie finally take on the role of Captain America in a Marvel Studios film. Years after he is given the shield in “Avengers: Endgame” and after he accepts the role in “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,” Mackie is finally ready to fully lead the MCU in “Captain America: Brave New World.” That said, there are still plenty of Marvel fans already anxiously awaiting the return of the previous Captain, Chris Evans.

At this point in his career, moviegoers know Woody Allen more for his notoriety than his ability to make good films. Let’s face it: Allen’s late-career period has been waning since at least 2017’s “Wonder Wheel,” but arguably earlier than that.

Has it been a good year for movies at the box office or a terrible one? Depends on who you ask, and arguably, it would be a bad one if it were for “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” rescuing the year with great box office success. How has the usually-dependable Marvel fared at the box office? So far, one big underwhelming disappointment, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which only grossed $476 million worldwide, the lowest-grossing Marvel movie since 2011’s “Thor” (not counting the pandemic releases of “Black Widow,” “Shang Chi” and “Eternals” which were all lower, but those were different circumstances).

When people think of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s superhero work, they probably think of the “Batgirl” situation. But really, the filmmaking duo started working on superhero stuff well before then, as the directors of episodes of the acclaimed Marvel Studios series, “Ms.

Are superhero films in trouble? It’s an argument that everyone’s been having in the last few years, and the pandemic hasn’t helped, given that it’s affected the bottom line of all moviegoing that’s in decline. DC doesn’t help the super narrative; they’re in freefall.

If you’ve been paying close attention to the recent reports of VFX workers being overworked and underpaid and you’re aware of labor disputes in American history, you had to know that sooner or later the VFX crews would take the next logical step—unionizing.

We’ve said this a million times when new actors join the Marvel Cinematic Universe—fans need to stop expecting these people to be diehard fans of the franchise. People are genuinely surprised when an actor admits to not knowing the inner workings of who Nick Fury is and what happened between Captain America and Iron Man in ‘Civil War.’ And after dozens of films and TV projects, it’s hard for people to expect anyone other than diehard fans to know everything about the various storylines and characters.

We’ve said this a million times when new actors join the Marvel Cinematic Universe—fans need to stop expecting these people to be diehard fans of the franchise. People are genuinely surprised when an actor admits to not knowing the inner workings of who Nick Fury is and what happened between Captain America and Iron Man in ‘Civil War.’ And after dozens of films and TV projects, it’s hard for people to expect anyone other than diehard fans to know everything about the various storylines and characters.

In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo returns from the stars to discuss Marvel’s latest Disney+ series, “Secret Invasion.” The show follows Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as he beams back from outer space in order to stop a rogue faction of Skrulls that are hell-bent on taking Earth for themselves.