Weekly MCU Review for 1/2/2015

Happy New Year!

Another week, and more MCU news!  I guess the powers that be must have seen how little MCU news there was last week, because this week we got a whole bunch of news about Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Daredevil season 2...  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Mostly MCU Reviews

My articles from the week

First up for the week, my review of Jessica Jones season 1, episode 6, “AKA You’re A Winner.”

Next in my series of “AoS-less Tuesday Discussions” is “Pitch a crossover fight between MCU TV and the DCTVU.”

MCU News

Links to news articles and blog posts about the MCU

This isn’t a link, but a poll:  how interested are you in seeing spoilers for Captain America: Civil War?  I ask because I saw an article on ScreenRant about a rumor for the character’s fate and decided not to look.  Would that be your policy?

Here is the first promotional photo of Falcon’s Redwing drone in Captain America: Civil War.  I think it looks pretty cool; what do you think?

Image Courtesy www.twitter.com/hablemos_Marvel

So who else wants to see this in Captain America: Civil War?

Image Courtesy www.mcuexchange.com

Just like that, Marvel has ramped up their advertising campaign for Doctor Strange, with the first official image of Benedict Cumberbatch, an image gallery, and character details for Mads Mikkelsen and Rachel McAdams’ characters.

Image Courtesy www.screenrant.com

What do you think?

Huh.  So apparently Benedict Cumberbatch was almost too popular for Doctor Strange!

So Chiwetel Ejiofor hints that his Baron Mordo may not be a villain in Doctor Strange.  And with Mads Mikkelson confirmed to be playing a villain, it’s entirely possible that this is true.

Is the Eye of Agamotto going to be an Infinity Stone?  Anything’s possible.  However, if that’s the case then I think they will have to be very careful to show that there is more to magic in this universe than just Infinity Stones.

Reportedly, Thor: Ragnarok will be a primarily space-based adventure with very little of the earth.  Also, Thor’s got a pretty big team on his side:  Hulk, Sif, the Warriors Three, and (rumored) Valkyrie!  Is there still room to add Beta Ray Bill to the mix?

Here is some information about Black Panther:  it will be important and connect to Avengers: Infinity War (I wonder if Thanos is going to be after vibranium), it’s a “big geo-political action adventure that focuses on the family and royal struggle of T'Challa,” and the cast will be “primarily African-American.”  Part of me gets the last point, but at the same time, Black Panther’s not African-American!  I assume they’re not just looking at black American actors…

Here are some new pictures of Punisher, Daredevil, and Elektra from Daredevil season 2.  Also, it’s revealed that we meet Punisher much more quickly than we met Kingpin in season 1.

According to an Entertainment Weekly article on Daredevil, season 2 could possibly debut in March.  Comicbook.com is surprised, but anyone who’s been paying attention to the Weekly MCU Review knows that I’ve been saying that it could come out in March pretty much since they started production 6+ months ago!  No confirmation from Marvel or Netflix, but the timing absolutely fits.

It seems very possible that the Taskmaster’s rights are now with Marvel Studios.  Quick:  Pitch how and where Taskmaster should appear in the MCU.  Should he fight Spider-Man?  Daredevil?  Moon Knight?  Should he be on AoS, Netflix, or in the movies?

Here is a very brief update on that still-in-development Marvel TV project with John Ridley.  Essentially he says that he’s trying to reach a different audience with this than American Crime or 12 Years a Slave.  What do you think the project is?

News from Around Geekdom

Anything not related to the MCU that I find interesting

So… would you be interested in a car with a BatPod?  Ford filed for a patent for a car with a self-balancing unicycle.  Basically you remove a wheel and then attach the rest of the unicycle to it, which is stored in the trunk.  You know, that might actually be a cool idea!

Add another couple to the list of box office records Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke:  Christmas Day, with $49.3 million, crushing the record set by Sherlock Holmes (on its opening day, no less), and second weekend, with $153.5 million.  It also now has the record for fastest movie to reach $600 million, reaching the mark on Tuesday.  I’ve seen the movie twice so far, and both times the theater was packed, and the second time (last Saturday) there were no less than seven sold-out showings (well over half)!

The Force Awakens is now over $1 billion worldwide.  In fact, it is now Disney’s highest-grossing movie in North America and has topped Frozen worldwide.  And on Friday it surpassed Jurassic World to become the highest-grossing movie released in 2015 (even if it isn’t 2015 anymore).  Wow!  How high do you think it will go?  I’m thinking at least $2 billion and probably more, considering that’s after less than a week and a half!

For fun, here is a list of all the box office records The Force Awakens has broken.

Here is an interesting connection between Star Wars: Aftermath and Star Wars: The Force Awakens:  X-Wing pilot Snap Wexley appears in both.

This is sad.  Evidently Paramount Pictures and CBS have decided that they don’t like the idea of fans making Star Trek: Axenar after all, despite allowing several other fan films in the past—and presumably having given the movie’s producer permission to make the movie in the first place!  I guess the size and scope of this particular production, as well as the possible conflict with Star Trek Beyond, may have dissuaded Paramount from supporting this one.  However, according to this August interview, the producer had met with the studio executives and was given the impression that they would not object to the project as long as it did not make money.  I hope he got that in writing, because that piece of paper (along with their budget) would probably be more than enough to quash this lawsuit.

Disney CEO Bob Iger is confirming that there are plans for an Indiana Jones 5.  Just, please, NO ALIENS!

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