Tag: disney tv

Marvel Bounces Back With Phase 4 Releases And Finally… Fantastic Four!

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2020 has been the first year in a decade not to see any Marvel theatrical releases. While I’m certain I don’t need to explain why that is, the news from today’s Disney Investors meetings should keep fans of the studio’s output very happy. Buckle up, because this is quite a ride…

A slew of new releases will begin on January 15th, as WandaVision becomes the first Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series, crossing over onto Disney +. Here’s the new trailer for this extremely exciting looking show, starring Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Teyonah Paris and Kat Dennings:



Following that on the same channel, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Emily VanCamp and Wyatt Russell, will arrive on March 19th. Marvel dropped a brand new trailer for this:



The first trailer also arrived for the Loki series, starring Tom Hiddleston as the God of Mischief, Owen Wilson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw:



And finally we have a sizzle reel, including the first snippets of footage, for the as-yet undated Ms. Marvel, starring Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms.Marvel:



Also announced and/or confirmed without release dates, were forthcomng series Hawkeye, seeing Jeremy Renner reprise his role, alongside Hailee Steinfeld as comic book favourite, Kate Bishop, and She-Hulk, with Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk, Tim Roth returning as the Abomination and an appearance from Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo.



Meanwhile, What If…? and I Am Groot will see animated adventures on the channel, and just announced at the last minute: James Gunn will write and direct The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, for an unannounced date in 2022, and the same year will see Don Cheadle in his own series as James Rhodes, in an adaptation of a famous Iron Man comic book storyline, Armor Wars.



Looking further ahead to shows in development, Moon Knight will get his own series (apparently with Oscar Issac in the title role, as a bizarre and complex vigilante), Samuel L Jackon’s Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s Skrull, Talos from Captain Marvel, team for Secret Invasion (another comic book series, which saw the shape-shifting Skrulls infiltrate the Marvel heroes on Earth), and finally, Dominique Thorne will play genius inventor Riri Williams in Ironheart, a series about the creator of the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man.

The long-delayed Black Widow movie will finally be released, to cinemas according to Marvel Studios’ head honcho, Kevin Feige, on November 6th, 2021. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has now completed production and will be in theaters July 9th, 2021.

Christian Bale is confirmed to be joining the cast of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder, released May 6th, 2022.

Meanwhile, Brie Larson returns as Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel 2 on November 11th, 2022, directed by Nia DaCosta. Joining the cast are recently announced Ms. Marvel, Iman Vellani, and Monica Rambeau played by WandaVision’s Teyonah Parris.

Peyton Reed is back to direct the third Ant-Man film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer all return. Kathryn Newton joins the cast as Cassie Lang and Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror. No release date was given for this yet.

Although news on Black Panther 2 was somewhat understandably slim, Feige confirmed that T’Challa, as played by the late Chadwick Boseman, will not be recast.

And, as if all this wasn’t breathtaking enough for Marvel fans, Feige announced that Jon Watts (director of the MCU Spider-Man films) will bring Marvel’s First Family (created by Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby, in 1961), Fantastic Four to the screen at last, thanks to the all-powerful Disney returning the characters to their rightful home in the recent acquisition of 21st Century Fox. There have been two previous screen versions of these characters through Fox (including a rights grabbing abomination, infamously directed by Josh Trank in 2015), but fans of the Four have longed to see them integrated into the MCU, and now that will happen.



2020 may have been a quiet period for Marvel fans, but it’s safe to say the studio will be back with a bang in 2021.

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The MCU Gets Weird With WandaVision Trailer

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The trailer for WandaVision, the first Marvel Cinematic Universe series to hit Disney Plus dropped last night, and it looks like things are about to get mighty strange…



Not much is known about the plot for WandaVision, but it does apparently take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the events of Avengers: Endgame, which saw The Vision meet his synthetic maker (that can’t possibly be a spoiler for anyone now, right!?). That in itself makes this show intriguing, to say the least.

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their roles from the Marvel movies, joined by Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings, Randall Park, and Kathryn Hahn, while the six episodes have been written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman.

No date was given for the release of the series, just a generic ‘Coming Soon,’ though since the series was originally supposed to drop in December, following Falcon And the Winter Soldier (which has been delayed in production due to that all-encompassing Covid-19), it now looks like WandaVision will kick off the Disney Plus Marvel bandwagon.

We’ll just have to wait and see when exactly this slice of Marvel weirdness will arrive on our screens, but this trailer certainly has me looking forward to it…

Marvel Cast Tatiana Maslany As She-Hulk For Disney Plus

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I have to be honest, I’m a little obsessed with Tatiana Maslany. It’s her teeth. They are, and I’ll brook no argument on this, the sexiest teeth on television.

That aside, the fact that Marvel have landed Maslany for the title role in their new She-Hulk series for Disney Plus is excellent news, because her performances in BBC America show, Orphan Black, were fabulous. Maslany was nominated for three Emmys and a Golden Globe during the show’s run between 2013 and 2017, winning the Emmy for best actress in a drama series in 2016.

She-Hulk, to those who are behind on their Marvel Comics’ lore, is the alter-ego of lawyer Jennifer Walters, Bruce Banner’s cousin who, at least in her four-colour origin, is tranformed into an intelligent, green-skinned giant after a life-saving blood transfusion from her (in)famous relative. Mark Ruffalo has coyly intimated he may even reprise his role as Banner for a cameo on the show.

She-Hulk’s debut on the screen is shaping up nicely, as Maslany’s casting joins the announcement from earlier this week that Kat Coiro had been signed as director and executive producer. She will direct the pilot and additional episodes of the series. Jessica Gao is writing the series and serves as executive producer and showrunner.

Coiro has directed shows including It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Dead To Me, while Gao has Rick and Morty on her resume, which suggest She-Hulk might follow the frequently semi-comedic tone taken by the best of the character’s comic book appearances (star artist/writer John Byrne produced a memorable run in the 80s, with Shulkie, as she’s affectionately known, frequently breaking the fourth wall to address readers).

She-Hulk, with a currently unknown release date, will join other Marvel Cinematic Universe shows on Disney Plus, including Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision and Loki, with Hawkeye, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel also in development.

We’ll bring you more news as it hits.



Tatiana Maslany photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

This Is The Way, This Is The Mandalorian Season Two Trailer.

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The trailer for the highly anticipated second season of The Mandalorian has just dropped and, well, it’s rather good…



This first teaser doesn’t reveal any new characters known to be appearing, such as Boba Fett or Ahsoka Tano, but we do see greater involvement from the Empire and a clear sense of Din Djarin’s mission from The Armourer, to reunite The Child with his own kind.

The Mandalorian is really shaping up to be some of the best Star Wars coming out of the franchise since Disney came on board (though that’s not necessarily a high bar after The Rise of Skywalker), and I’ll be glued to Disney Plus when this begins streaming on October 30th (especially now the channel has launched here in Norway).

Will you be tuning in, or are you done with Star Wars? Drop a comment below…


The Mandalorian – Simply Star Wars *spoiler free review

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mandalorian

If I tell you that the first episode of The Mandalorian – the new high profile, live action Star Wars series helping to launch the Disney + channel – is simple, I trust you’ll understand that I’m complimenting it.

Set five years after the fall of the Empire, as seen in Return of the Jedi, the extremely straightforward storyline of this premiere episode follows the adventures of a Mandalorian bounty hunter (played by Pedro Pascal, though so far he remains firmly under the helmet) hired to round up or exterminate a mark. And for the first 38 minutes, that’s pretty much it.

Carl Weathers crops up, as does (in a much-ballyhooed, sublime piece of casting) existential German film director, Werner Herzog, who appears to be having a blast in his role, plus we meet (sort of) Nick Nolte and Taika Waititi (director of Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit). It’s a heckuva cast for what amounts to a little spaghetti western in space.

What you really want to know is: does it feel like Star Wars? Yes, it does, and it feels like exactly what I had hoped for, Star Wars without the Skywalkers, or Jedi, or the Force (at least so far), and what a lot of fun it is. The Mandalorian comes across as if show creator Jon Favreau and pilot director Dave Filoni are just kicking back and enjoying themselves in the Star Wars universe. They even manage to throw in a deep-cut gag taken from the infamously reviled Star Wars Holiday Special TV show from 1978.

The Mandalorian looks and sounds totally Star Wars too, with some really top notch VFX and creature FX (many of which, I’m overjoyed to say, are practical). Whoever thought we’d live to see a weekly Star Wars TV series with movie level special effects? Not this kid who saw the original movie more than twenty times at the cinema in 1977 and 1978, that’s for sure.

There’s no great human drama, so far, but we get a lot of world-building in just over half an hour (with no necessary Star Wars knowledge needed, but plenty of nods to fans), events are set neatly in place and some intriguing threads are left dangling. We’re offered just enough of what might make the title character of interest (he’s a bounty hunter with a heart of gold), but the main point here is to make us want to come back for more. And if the showrunners can ensure this level of pure enjoyment for the next seven episodes then that won’t be a problem.

Simply put, The Mandalorian is uncomplicated fun.

Rogue One Writer For Disney Plus Star Wars Show

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Star Wars:Rogue One

Tony Gilroy, co-writer of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, has jumped aboard the Disney Plus series based on that film’s central character, Cassian Andor.

Variety just dropped an exclusive report, stating that Gilroy would write and direct several episodes for the forthcoming, as yet untitled, live action show for Disney’s streaming channel.

The series will star Diego Luna, reprising his role from Rogue One, and follows Rebel agent Andor in adventures set before the events of that film, in the early days of the Rebellion against the Empire. Alan Tudyk will also return as K-2SO, Andor’s droll droid sidekick.

Gilroy was originally an uncredited writer on Rogue One, and came onto the production to handle extensive reshoots on the film, earning a screenwriting credit in the process. After the reshoots, he is also said to have worked closely with director Gareth Edwards to supervise the editing of the film.

No air date has been set for the show, but previous reports suggest it will launch in 2021. Disney Plus launches in the US and other markets (but not here in Norway, curse you Disney) on November 12th.

Marvel Finds Its Kate Bishop For Hawkeye TV Show – Hailee Steinfeld!

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hailee

Variety are reporting that Marvel are close to signing Hailee Steinfeld to play Kate Bishop, in their new Disney Plus limited series, Hawkeye.

Jeremy Renner will move across from the movies to play Hawkeye, and Steinfeld will play Kate Bishop, a character who took on the mantle of the Hawkeye name, while Clint Barton was off doing dark deeds as Ronin (as seen in Avengers: Endgame).

We’re big fans of Steinfeld, here at Out Of Dave’s Head Towers, from her breakthrough role in the Cohen Brothers’ 2010 remake of True Grit, through to her superb turns in films including The Edge of Seventeen and the Transformers film it’s okay to like, Bumblebee.

Since these series on Disney Plus will be more directly linked to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (unlike the ABC and Netflix shows, which drifted further away from the MCU over time), it will be intriguing to see whether Steinfeld as Bishop will eventually cross over into future films.

Hawkeye will string his bow on Disney Plus in autumn 2021.

Disney + Targets Your Wallet With New Marvel TV Shows

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JeremyRennerTheAvengers031512_0

As reported here on Out Of Dave’s Head last September, Disney/Marvel are planning a bunch of limited run TV shows with characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, played by their respective movie actors, to help the entire world decide to subscribe to its new streaming channel, Disney +, launching in late 2019.

Alongside the already announced shows for Loki (with Tom Hiddleston) and Scarlet Witch (with Elisabeth Olsen), word came down the pipeline recently of a Falcon & Winter Soldier show (starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan).

Now Variety are reporting that Marvel are developing a Hawkeye limited series, running six to eight episodes and starring Jeremy Renner as the titular archer.

The article also says that the show will introduce the character of Kate Bishop, who became Hawkeye’s replacement for a while in the comic books, before going on to share the codename with Hawkeye’s alter-ego, Clint Barton.

The shows, to be produced by Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige, are expected to have larger budgets to similar television projects, and will be much more closely tied-in with the Marvel movies than the previous runs of Netflix shows, including Daredevil and Jessica Jones.

The channel launches with new shows from Marvel, Monsters Inc. (also featuring original voices, Billy Crystal and John Goodman), High School Reunion and, of course, the two highly anticipated live-action Star Wars shows, The Mandalorian and the Rogue One tie-in adventures of Cassian Andor, starring Diego Luna.

So I suggest submitting your will to Disney and giving them all your money now. Resistance will be futile as Disney take one more step towards world domination of your viewing habits.

Your New Star Wars Live Action Series Is… The Mandalorian

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the mandalorian-1

Jon Favreau has just announced the title of the new live-action Star Wars series and, yep, as revealed in our headline, it’s The Mandalorian.

For those of you not versed in Star Wars-speak, fan-favourite character Jango Fett (from the trilogy we don’t talk about) was a Mandalorian, and he adopted his clone son, Boba Fett (from the trilogy we do talk about) .

According to Favreau, the series will feature “a lone gunfighter” hailing from the same planet as the fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett and his father, Jango Fett.”

“After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe,” Favreau announced in an Instagram post. “The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.”

So we have a series taking place between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens leaning heavily on the legacy of a pair of secondary characters from the first two trilogies. My immediate reaction is that this concept doesn’t overly thrill me, seeming to be a bit too-fan fiction heavy for me, but your Star Wars mileage may vary.

Either way, The Mandalorian bound to be a huge draw for the nascent Disney Play streaming channel and the news of this, plus other shows such as the previously-announced live action Marvel shows (featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch), plus shows based on High School Reunion and Monsters Inc., are certain to have Netflix execs feeling a little uneasy right now.

Disney Play (or whatever it ends up being called) launches late 2019.

Loki, Scarlet Witch And Other MCU Heroes Coming To Disney TV

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disney tv

In something of what seems to be a jaw-dropping exclusive, Variety are reporting that the forthcoming Disney TV streaming service is loading up some of its big guns to entice paying viewers.

According to their report, the channel will be producing live-action series featuring some of their existing Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, including Loki and Scarlet Witch. As if that news wasn’t exciting enough, it seems these characters will be played by their MCU actors, such as Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen.

While the channel has yet to make an official announcement, Variety seem confident in their reporting, and while further details on the shows haven’t been revealed, suggestions are they’ll have substantial budgets and may run for six to eight episodes each (meaning they’ve hopefully learned valuable lessons from the always-overstretched Netflix/Marvel shows).

Adding further interest, it appears the shows will not be produced under the Marvel TV banner, which has produced variable results with series including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Inhumans (about which, the less said the better), instead they will fall under Marvel Studios (producers of the MCU).

Disney are betting big with their new service, and with these new shows added to an already impressive line-up (including the Star Wars live-action show, as well as a High School Musical show and a live-action Lady and the Tramp movie), it’s pretty certain they’ll be giving Netflix a run for its money.

As ever, more news as it comes…


Photo c/o Disney/Marvel