Weekly MCU Review for August 12

Another week, and more MCU news!  Not much going on right now, but Inhumans hits theaters in about 3 weeks, and The Defenders will be released on Netflix next week.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Weekly MCU Review for July 22

Another week, and more MCU news!  There’s a lot of stuff going on, what with San Diego Comic-Con going on this weekend.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Weekly MCU Review for July 8

Another week, and more MCU news!  Spider-Man: Homecoming is finally out, so go see that!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Weekly MCU Review for June 17

Another week, and more MCU news!  Not too much excitement this week, but Spider-Man: Homecoming is only a few weeks away!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Two Ideas for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5

Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org

As I’ve talked about previously, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been renewed for season 5.  Last week’s article went into detail on everything we know so far.  This week, I’m going to play the “wild speculation game” and try to guess at what might be happening during this next season.

I actually have a couple different thoughts on how this can play out.  First, we’re going to talk about the potential of completely changing the format of the series.  Then, we’re going to talk about a hybrid format which retains the “pods” from season 4 but incorporates some elements of my new format idea.

Before we get started, there is one assumption I am making:  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to take at least 3 Fridays off next season.  Given that the show is going to be on Friday nights, it would not make sense for them to air episodes on the U.S. release dates of Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War since they would be in direct competition with their own studio’s movie (and they would lose).  Likewise, I hope/expect that they will skip Good Friday.  So based on this assumption, the season would last until June 22 if they air all single episodes.  But note the “if.”

Weekly MCU Review for May 20

Another week, and more MCU news!  We got new synopses for two movies, the Venom movie is moving forward, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ended, and now we know more about AoS season 5 as well as Inhumans.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Post-Credits Scenes

Image Courtesy marvel.wikia.com

This article is going to be fairly brief.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 includes no less than five post-credits scenes, all of which contribute something to our understanding of where the MCU is going to go in the future, particularly as things start turning in a more cosmic direction.  In this article I will look at the five post-credits scenes (something that’s already been done a few times) and what they may mean for both Avengers: Infinity War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, as well as any other upcoming cosmic adventures.

Obviously there are spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 EXPECTATIONS

Image Courtesy www.ew.com

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is already raking in the dough internationally, but it does not come out in the U.S. until tomorrow.  On the bright side, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be released in the U.S. tomorrow!  Who do we expect from it?

Weekly MCU Review for March 4

Another week, and more MCU news!  We got a whole lot of Inhumans news this week, including the entire main cast.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Weekly MCU Review for 1/28

Another week, and more MCU news!  Black Panther is filming, and a whole bunch of upcoming MCU shows are moving closer to filming.  We also got some episode titles for Iron Fist.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Mostly MCU Reviews

My articles from the week

Expectations and Review for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s “Wake Up” (4x11)

MCU News

Links to news articles and blog posts about the MCU

Black Panther has begun filming, and we have our first confirmation that Martin Freeman will be in the movie.  It was already assumed he would appear, but this makes it certain.

Here is the first synopsis for Black Panther:

“Black Panther” follows T’Challa who, after the events of “Captain America: Civil War,” returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to take his place as King. However, when an old enemy reappears on the radar, T’Challa’s mettle as King and Black Panther is tested when he is drawn into a conflict that puts the entire fate of Wakanda and the world at risk.

It looks pretty cool.  There’s no mention of Klaue (the “old enemy” is probably Erick Killmonger), but that doesn’t mean he won’t appear anyways.

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 started filming this past Monday.  That means we should start getting all kinds of additional news and photos any time now…

The Inhumans will reportedly film in Hawaii in June.

Cloak and Dagger has a director for the pilot.  And it *may* also have stars in Noah Gray-Cabey and Debby Ryan.  Oh, and according to that last report Runaways may be close to casting its leads.

Check out these character breakdowns for Cloak and Dagger.  They look pretty close to the main universe versions of the characters (as opposed to the Ultimate Universe).

Here are the episode titles and directors for almost all episodes of Iron Fist season 1.

News from Around Geekdom

Anything not related to the MCU that I find interesting

So this week’s big Marvel announcement was a collaboration between Marvel and Square Enix to produce a video game franchise based on Marvel characters.

The upcoming X-Men series helmed by Matt Nix has been ordered to pilot by FOX.  As a huge Burn Notice fan, I am excited to see what this will look like.  I actually thought he would have been a brilliant showrunner for Marvel’s Most Wanted.  But, alas.

The Flash has a new writer coming in to do rewrites.  Is the DCEU ever going to get an unqualified success?

Star Wars Episode VIII has received a title:  Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  Thoughts?

Here is the recently-released synopsis for the upcoming Star Wars: Thrawn novel, set to be released April 11:

One of the most cunning and ruthless warriors in the history of the Galactic Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn is also one of the most captivating characters in the Star Wars universe. From his introduction in bestselling author Timothy Zahn’s classic Heir to the Empire, through his continuing adventures in Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, and beyond, Grand Admiral Thrawn has earned an iconic status among Star Wars’ greatest villains. But Thrawn’s origins and the story of his rise in the Imperial ranks have remained mysterious. Now, in Star Wars: Thrawn, Timothy Zahn chronicles the fateful events that launched the blue-skinned, red-eyed master of military strategy and lethal warfare into the highest realms of power—and infamy.

After Thrawn is rescued from exile by Imperial soldiers, his deadly ingenuity and keen tactical abilities swiftly capture the attention of Emperor Palpatine. And just as quickly, Thrawn proves to be as indispensable to the Empire as he is ambitious; as devoted as its most loyal servant, Darth Vader; and a brilliant warrior never to be underestimated. On missions to rout smugglers, snare spies, and defeat pirates, he triumphs time and again—even as his renegade methods infuriate superiors while inspiring ever greater admiration from the Empire. As one promotion follows another in his rapid ascension to greater power, he schools his trusted aide, Ensign Eli Vanto, in the arts of combat and leadership, and the secrets of claiming victory. But even though Thrawn dominates the battlefield, he has much to learn in the arena of politics where ruthless administrator Arihnda Pryce holds the power to be a potent ally or a brutal enemy.

All these lessons will be put to the ultimate test when Thrawn rises to admiral—and must pit all the knowledge, instincts, and battle forces at his command against an insurgent uprising that threatens not only innocent lives but also the Empire’s grip on the galaxy—and his own carefully laid plans for future ascendancy.

This certainly looks interesting, especially since it is being written by Timothy Zahn, the writer who created Thrawn in the first place.  I assume it is part of the new canon, but the article doesn’t confirm that.

In more interesting Star Wars novel news, there are two new books on their way fleshing out the back stories of Rogue One characters.  First is Guardians of the Whills about Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus.  Second is Star Wars: Rebel Rising about Jyn Erso’s history with Saw Gerrera.  Both look interesting.

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Weekly MCU Review for January 14

Another week, and more MCU news!  Someone turned on the spigot; there's a ton of new information on Marvel movies, network, and Netflix!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Weekly MCU Review for 10/29

Happy Halloween!  Another week, and more MCU news!  Not too much of note, though Thor: Ragnarok finished filming.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Weekly MCU Review for 10/22

Another week, and more MCU news!  We’re getting closer and closer to the Doctor Strange U.S. premiere, and more movies and Netflix shows are entering or nearing production.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Potential New Spinoffs for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Part 2

Image Courtesy
www.facebook.com/
AgentsofShield

As I said last week, now that Marvel’s Most Wanted has been passed on, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is left without an announced in-development spinoff, which is an absolutely unacceptable state of affairs (note the sarcasm).  Of course, if Marvel wants to compete with the well-oiled machine that is the DCTVU on the CW Network (seriously: they’ve got 3 originals, 2 imports (including Constantine since he appeared on Arrow), and 1 animated), then they do have to start working on another AoS spinoff post haste!  Now, that’s not a good reason to authorize a spinoff as a TV executive, but it’s an excellent reason to theorize about a spinoff as a blogger!  And I’m not a TV executive (probably a good thing), so let the theorizing commence!

With that in mind, as well as the criterion mentioned last week (specifically the ability to tie closely to (and enhance) upcoming Marvel movies), here are two more spinoff ideas.  These would really push in a new direction, building on the foundation already established by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and would necessitate introducing a largely-new cast of characters.  However, I think that either of these would be a very interesting expansion of the MCU on TV.

Weekly MCU Review for 8/27

Another week, and more MCU news!  Not a ton of stuff, but there are a few movie-related things this week.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Weekly MCU Review for 8/20

Another week, and more MCU news!  A bunch of little bits of news for everything, along with the major bomb that The Runaways is coming to Hulu.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Potential New Magic Users in the MCU

Image Courtesy www.twitter.com/
DrStrange

With Doctor Strange ushering a New Magical Age into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, suddenly a whole world of new possibilities opens up for our favorite movies and TV shows.  Now, it’s not as though we haven’t seen magic before in the MCU; Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has introduced (and promptly killed off) two separate Darkforce users (manipulators of extra-dimensional energy), and Agent Carter season 2 was all about the MCU’s first encounter with the Darkforce Dimension.  Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Scarlet Witch, is (properly speaking) a magic user, though her powers have thus far been limited (for the most part) to mental manipulation and telekinesis.  However, all of these examples have been given scientific explanations (less so in the case of Scarlet Witch):  extra-dimensional energy and Mind Stone experimentation, respectively.

What Doctor Strange brings to the table is a form of magic we have not seen before, which will defy most scientific explanation.  I expect that characters will attempt to give it a scientific explanation (Strange is a doctor, after all!), but at some point they will just have to acknowledge that there are some things they will never fully comprehend.

Once Doctor Strange introduces magic in a big way, I expect that we will start to see a lot of magic users appear in various MCU offerings, a theory to which I alluded last week while talking about Tie-In possibilities between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Doctor Strange.  This week I will expand on that by talking about magical characters who could appear in as many upcoming announced MCU offerings as I can.

Weekly MCU Review for 7/30

Another week, and more MCU news!  Comic-Con concluded this week, so we've got a lot of new stuff to talk about.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Wild and Crazy Captain Marvel Idea

Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org

This is just a quick idea I came up with a while back.  You may remember that I’ve talked in the past about the concept of the female hero team (A-Force and the Lady Liberators both come to mind).  I’ve also said that this only really works in the MCU as it is set up (a lot of heroes without a ton of connections to each other beyond team boundaries) when you come up with a reason for the guys to stay home and let the girls handle it themselves.  Finally, when talking about this, I’ve pointed out that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. already introduced the perfect character to necessitate an all-girls team-up.

Well, let’s take that a bit further and talk about how this could work into the MCU using one of the movies that is already on the release schedule.  Specifically, what if Captain Marvel turns out to be an all-ladies team-up movie?

Captain America: Civil War Follow-Up: Zemo

Image Courtesy www.comicbook.com

When I was originally putting together this series of articles, I intended to include Zemo in the previous article with “The Rest.”  However, as I considered further, I realized that there is so much more to talk about with regard to Zemo, particularly because I think he will come back to become a major player several years down the line in Phase 4.

After watching Captain America: Civil War, we now have a very good idea exactly where this thing is going to be going over the next few years as the MCU ramps up for the Infinity War in 2018 and 2019.  Each hero who appeared in Civil War received a satisfying arc, and at the end of the movie each of them had a definite trajectory of where their next appearances will come from.  However, the presumptive villain, Helmut Zemo, did not get to do quite as much in this movie as the heroes did—even if he did exactly as much as he needed to do!

Over the last four weeks, I talked about the members of the “Secret Avengers” and “Mighty Avengers,” as well as Captain America’s abandoned shield and the other heroes who do not fit into the other categories and a replacement Captain America.  This time around, I will talk about Zemo and how I think he fits into Marvel’s larger plans moving forward.

This is my last planned article for Captain America: Civil War; next week we’ll get into Daredevil season 2 and how it sets up future Netflix series.