Could an A-Force Movie Work?

Image from www.screenrant.com

After such a long hiatus, it feels weird to go back to this blog. There were a lot of personal reasons I stopped posting. As it is, I’m probably not going to post regularly again. I don’t think I will go back and fill in the gap by reviewing everything I missed. But I do want to continue the speculation articles, especially looking at everything that’s coming with the FOX acquisition and the introduction of Disney+.

Friday I saw a video on YouTube that really got me thinking. In the video, the speaker talks about a rumor that Marvel is planning an A-Force movie as a follow-up to the She-Hulk Disney+ series. Looking at the comments, the reception from that particular audience was… skeptical, to say the least! I can understand why people would be less-than-thrilled with the idea of a “Ladies Night Out” superhero movie, especially in a world of “All must bow to the will of Political Correctness.” Previous attempts at all-female reboots/sequels have had mixed success (see Ghostbusters). I’m sure a lot of the male readers here are thinking, “Why would I want to see a bunch of chicks fighting?”

At the same time, I am of the opinion (with the regard to the MCU) that any Marvel property can conceivably be adapted into a movie/TV series and turn out well (see Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, among other things). What’s necessary is a good story about interesting characters doing interesting things. Does that mean that an A-Force movie is a sure-fire hit? No, of course not; nothing is. But it does mean that there’s a way to make it good. That’s my goal here.

As a caveat, I know that I only partly fit the “target audience” for an all-female MCU movie: I’m not a woman, but I am a fan of superhero movies generally, and MCU movies specifically. And I Marvel Studios will want this to appeal to both of those audiences.

Ultimately, this movie comes down to a question of “Why?”

Sony's Trying to be Stupid Again

Does Sony really want another of these
on their conscience?Image Courtesy marvel.wikia.com

In the “Weekly MCU Review” this morning, I talked about Sony’s continuing descent into madness.  However, I don’t think I quite talked it to death enough there, so here we are.  To recap:  news broke last week that Sony was planning to produce a Venom movie (something they had been planning as a spinoff to The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, but which the Marvel deal put on hold).  However, it was unclear at that time whether the Venom movie would be part of the MCU.  This week, news started circulating that Sony was also planning a movie about Black Cat and Silver Sable, two female antiheroes associated with Spider-Man.  Then, almost as soon as the news came out, there was a follow-up Tweet saying that this movie will not be part of the MCU and that Kevin Feige is not involved.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Sony decided to get in on the Female-Led Superhero Movie™ bandwagon.  After all, Marvel Studios has two different movies on the way starring female heroes—Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel.  Warner Bros has Wonder Woman coming out this June, and they have already started working on a Gotham City Sirens movie with Harley Quinn (among others).  So of course Sony wants to get in on it without stopping to consider why any of these movies will (presumably) be successful—and without even waiting to see whether Wonder Woman will even make money!

I’ve already talked about the possibility of Spider-Man spinoffs, and about why the Venom movie should be in the MCU.  This time around, I will talk about exactly why Sony would be shooting themselves in the foot by producing spinoffs outside the MCU, why Black Cat and Silver Sable will not work outside the MCU, and why this movie concept will work in the MCU.

Rumor Has It... Namor is Coming

Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org

As I mentioned in the Weekly MCU Review, there are some indicators pointing to a secret project in Hawaii involving Namor the Sub-Mariner.  Currently Marvel’s Inhumans is preparing to enter production in Hawaii, so there may be a connection there, but that is all we know so far.

But, of course, you don’t come here to only be told what we know for certain; if there’s one thing I do more than anything else (aside from the actual reviews), it’s idle speculation!  So let’s get to speculating!  First, we will run through who Namor is and why he is so important, and then we will talk about possibilities for his character.

Weekly MCU Review for 2/18

Another week, and more MCU news!  Not a ton of new MCU news, though Cloak and Dagger and Inhumans both have some rumors to delve into.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Rumor Has It... White Tiger on Netflix

Image Courtesy www.netflix.com

Just a couple days ago, Bleeding Cool broke a rumor suggesting that Marvel and Netflix have shot pilot shorts for four different potential series.  Presumably these series would not enter active development until after The Defenders has been finished.  This is not the first rumor to this effect to come out—the last one suggested Punisher, Deathlok, Spider-Woman, and Moon Knight as the four series to follow The Defenders.  Of course, thus far the only thing to come from that previous rumor was the announcement of The Punisher following Jon Bernthal’s turn in the role during Daredevil season 2.

This time around the rumor is a little lighter on the details as far as the characters involved, but it does suggest that development has progressed at least a little further than the last rumor suggested.  In fact, the only character specified in the rumor is Angela del Toro, a.k.a. White Tiger.  There are plenty of possibilities for the other characters involved, and I will give my ideas at the end, but for now let’s focus on the single character we “know” from the rumor.

Weekly MCU Review for 8/13

Another week, and more MCU news!  Marvel and Netflix have a lot of stuff going on, particularly with Luke Cage only about 6 weeks away.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Weekly MCU Review for 4/16

Another week, and more MCU news!  Marvel must have noticed how little news I had last week and decided to release as much news as possible, because there was a ton of news!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Rumor Has It... In-Development Captain Britain TV Series

Image Courtesy www.twitter.com/CiaraMcAvoy1

According to Ciara McAvoy, a Scottish movie poster artist, Marvel has a Captain Britain series in development and she was hired to paint a teaser poster for it!  In a follow-up Tweet, McAvoy revealed that there are producers attached to the project (and their names), and they are working on a sizzle reel in advance of bringing it to Marvel.  A definite announcement may have to wait until late 2016 or early 2017, however.  Evidently this is not an official Marvel Studios project, but a project being spearheaded by fans looking to receive Marvel’s blessing if they like the pitch.

With that in mind, I thought I would try my hand at helping those producers out with my own ideas of what would make for an interesting Captain Britain TV series.

Now, I already talked about Brian Braddock, a.k.a. Captain Britain, in my “National Heroes” article and when talking about Union Jack’s rumored appearance in Captain America: Civil War.  However, in this article I will highlight the kinds of things which could have some bearing on a possible Captain Britain TV series.

Weekly MCU Review for 3/26 (Holy Saturday)

Another week, and more MCU news!  There really wasn’t a ton of news this week:  Daredevil season 2 came out last weekend, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. got the ball rolling on its spinoff.  Although, there was this little art-house flick that premiered yesterday… what was it?  Oh, that’s right:  Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Rumor Has It: Iron Fist and Netflix

Image Courtesy www.netflix.com

This Rumor Has It article is a continuation of “The Adventures of the Iron Fist Development.”  Before getting down to the rumor itself, however, let’s take a look at how we got to this point.

It all started in 2013 when Marvel announced a deal with Netflix which would see the two companies partnering to produce four individual character-based TV series of 13 episodes each, leading up to a team-up miniseries called The Defenders which would star those four heroes.  The announced heroes for the four series were Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.  Daredevil entered production in 2014 and was released on Netflix this past April.  It was such a success that it was immediately renewed for a second season, with Jessica Jones set to be released later this month (November 20) and Daredevil season 2 and Luke Cage set to be released sometime in 2016 (potentially the first half of the year).

This all sounds great… until you realize that something—or someone—is missing.  Where’s the news on Iron Fist?  No actor has been cast to play him and so far every potential showrunner has been rejected.  In fact, over the last few weeks/months reports have been coming out suggesting that Marvel doesn’t exactly know what to do with Iron Fist because they are afraid that he’s too fantastical to fit into the dark and gritty universe they have established with Daredevil and are continuing with Jessica Jones.  A couple weeks back, there was even a rumor that Marvel Netflix was planning to straight-up swap out Iron Fist for Punisher since they already have an actor for Frank Castle in Jon Bernthal and already have some ideas of where a Punisher series would go.  Potentially, this would also include the Punisher taking Iron Fist’s place in The Defenders.

So with that background established, let’s get down to the rumor.

Weekly MCU Review for 11/7

Another week, and more MCU news!  Doctor Strange rumors and photos are starting to leak, there was a major reveal on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which aired its 50^th episode), and a whole slew of other stuff happened.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up (*ducks*) on your Marvel news!

Rumor Has It: Moon Knight on Netflix

Image Courtesy www.netflix.com

As mentioned in the Weekly MCU Review, Rumor Has It that Marvel Netflix is considering Moon Knight for an appearance in Netflix Phase 2, a rumor which I already talked about a few weeks ago in conjunction with the rest of the rumored four-series slate (Moon Knight, The Punisher, Deathlok, and Spider-Woman). However, the latest rumor is that Moon Knight could receive the Punisher treatment: a TV series set up with an appearance in another character’s series. That’s the part I want to talk about today.

Weekly MCU Review for 10/17

Another week, and more MCU news!  There isn’t a ton this week, but there are several rumors out about Thor: Ragnarok, Inhumans, and Marvel Netflix.  Oh, and FOX announced a couple X-Men TV series.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up (*ducks*) on your Marvel news!

Rumor Has It... Netflix Phase 2

Image Courtesy www.netflix.com

Welcome back to the next edition of “Rumor Has It,” my somewhat new off-and-on series looking at Marvel-related rumors.  These won’t come out very often, but it will generally come on Saturday afternoon dealing with a rumor from the “Weekly MCU Review” that was prefaced with the phrase “Rumor has it.”

Today, Rumor Has It that Marvel is considering the following slate for its Netflix Phase 2, starting in 2018 after the release of The Defenders:

2018: Moon Knight with Bushman as the main villain
2018: The Punisher with Jigsaw as the main villain
2019: Deathlok with Fixer as the main villain
2019: Spider-Woman with Madame Hydra as the main villain

As of now this is very much just a rumor from a single website which is actually younger than “Mostly MCU Reviews” (how weird is that?), with their first article coming at the end of May (mine was the beginning of March), so we need to be taking it with an economy-sized bag of salt.  However, I absolutely think that this slate of TV series is possible for several reasons.  In this article I will run down the heroes and villains listed as well are arguments in favor of or against their inclusion on Netflix.  I’ve talked about the subject of Marvel Netflix Phase 2 a couple of times already; one of my articles associated with Daredevil season 1 was this projection of Netflix Phase 2.  I mentioned all of these characters except Deathlok in that article, but Moon Knight was the only one I included in my Phase 2 line-up (but during the correct year!).  Of course, that’s working without any industry sources, so I guess that’s not too bad…

But without further ado, let’s get down to the brass tacks of the rumor.  Remember:  all the analysis is my own, and I’m not working off of any insider information, so you can take that with a bag of salt, too!

Rumor Has It... Union Jack in Civil War

Image Courtesy
en.wikipedia.org

According to a rumor from Comic Book Cast, someone who looks like Union Jack may have appeared in the Captain America: Civil War footage shown at D23.  Is this rumor based on fact?  We don’t know right now, but I suspect it might be an overreaction to another character in a different costume (or something like that—I also saw a completely different explanation).  However, considering how massive this movie already is, I don’t see why the Russo brothers couldn’t be using it to at least tease the even larger universe of superheroes which may be necessary for Thanos to be defeated in their next Marvel movie, the two-part Avengers: Infinity War.  And what better way to do that than by introducing us to a British equivalent of the Avengers?

In other words, this article is all about speculation on the Brit-Vengers!

Rumor Has It... X-Men TV Series

Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org

Rumor has it that FOX is actively developing its own TV answer to Arrow, The Flash, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the rest of the comic book TV series.  According to the rumor, this is a “long-running” series which may be based on the X-Factor, a team of mutants who run a special investigations office.  However, there is one slight problem with their plan:  They don’t actually own the live-action rights to their characters.  No, those rights rest with Marvel Studios.

So what does that mean for FOX’s plans?  Simply put, it means that they need to make nice with Marvel.

Yeah, good luck with that, guys…

But in the spirit of optimism, let’s talk about our ideal results for the ongoing negotiations between Marvel and FOX.  The goal here is to come up with a scenario which would be mutually beneficial, meaning that both studios gain something they can use.  We’re not talking about FOX kneeling, kissing Kevin Feige’s ring, apologizing for destroying the Fantastic Four (again), and begging him to accept their humble offering of all the Marvel rights FOX currently owns!

So without further ado, here are two possible proposals for what I think would be a fair deal between Marvel and FOX.