The MARVEL SDCC 2019 took place yesterday (Overnight for us non US fans) and not only were the first films of MCU Phase 4 announced but time was also given to the new Disney Plus streaming service shows which will all tie into the big screen MCU Universe. It was also confirmed that all the shows will be post ‘Avengers: End Game’ in terms of the characters we will see on screen.

The show that interests me the most which was also the biggest surprise when it was announced before End Game hit cinemas is “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” which finally has a logo that will make all the sense post End Game events. Hitting screens hits Fall 2020 and will see Sebastian Stan & Anthony Mackie reprising their roles. Daniel Bruhl was also confirmed to be returning as Baron Zemo and he will be much more in line with the comic book version of Zemo.

We know from End Game that Falcon will become the new Captain America after Steve Rogers passed his Shield to him and Mackie has confirmed that he has already had his first new suit fitting at his home. This show will be an interesting first look at how the Avengers might begin to take shape without Cap and Iron Man and the pressure that will no doubt be on Falcon to live up to the legacy of Steve Rogers.

“WandaVision” arrives in Spring 2021 starring Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda and Paul Bettany as  Bettany but we do not know exactly how Vision is coming back into play. We also know from the MCU Film reveal at the panel, that this series will also leading into the Doctor Strange sequel which Scarlet Witch will also star in. Teyonah Parris was also confirmed to play the adult Monica Rambeau, the grown up version of the character introduced in ‘Captain Marvel’.

Not much was revealed about the LOKI series other than the Loki we see will be the version that stole the Tesseract during End Game and not the Loki we lost at the very start of Infinity War. This Loki will be a more angry version similar to the one we saw in ‘Avengers: Assemble’ way back when which might make some fans rather unhappy to have a Loki who has not gone on his long redemption story arc we saw him take throughout the MCU so far.

Similarly to Loki, not much information was given about ‘Hawkeye’ other than we know the show will explain and show what Hawkeye was doing following the impact of the Thanos Snap where he lost his whole family. It should hopefully fill in the gaps during the five years where he went rogue and taking on the mantle of Ronin which is where Black Widow finds him during End Game. Jeremy Renner returns as Clint Barton and thought not yet cast, will feature Kate Bishop who Barton will pass the mantle of ‘Hawkeye’ on.

What If? will be the MCU’s first animated series and has cast Jeffrey Wright as the voice of The Watcher. The animated series will feature many actors from across the MCU,  reprising their roles as voice talent including Chris Hemsworth, Michael B. Jordan, Josh Brolin, Sebastian Stan, Mark Ruffalo, Hayley Atwell, Jeremy Renner, Karen Gillan, Michael Douglas, Jeff Goldblum and many more. “What if?” will showcase alternative events if different choices had been made throughout the MCU…

My Thoughts….

It is very interesting to see MARVEL continuing the small screen and big screen experiment that began with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the MCU years back but now look as though they are doubling down and really using the Disney Pus service (yes I know its all about using MARVEL to sell subscriptions to the streaming service) to tie both worlds together as we rush headfirst into Phase 4 of the MCU. I am very much intrigued to see how these shows not only carry on following the events of End Game but also still expanding events that happened during End Game such as Hawkeye and seeing what happened to him before we find him standing in the rain after cutting down multiple Yakuza.

I am hoping that with Falcon and the Winter Soldier kicking things off later in 2020 that we will discover how non US fans will get to watch these shows or if Disney Plus itself will launch for the UK and elsewhere, but I am even more excited for these shows than I was before knowing how much of a role they will all play in Phase 4, not to mention it is always awesome to have more Loki!

I among many other MARVEL fans had really hoped for some form of tease at least, about how the MCU would look with the Infinity Saga now over, and during the huge MARVEL Panel the first films were revealed and boy, are MCU fans in for a ride!

This week it was already confirmed that Taika Waititi would be returning to direct the fourth Thor film and now we have the title for it, ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’. Chris Hemsworth’s  will return as Thor alongside Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie.

Taika Waititi told the Hall H audience that he has taken inspiration from “The Mighty Thor” story-line by Jason Aaron, with the massive news that it will star a returning Natalie Portman as the female Thor! ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ is scheduled to release November 5th 2021.

The Doctor Strange sequel was announced with the original director Scott Derrickson returning in what the panel described as “the first scary MCU film” hinting that the darker side to the magical realm of the MARVEL Universe will be explored. The surprise announcement was that Scarlet Witch will also feature but her own Disney Plus TV show “WandaVision” which will air before the film, will lead directly into the events of ‘Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’

Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his role as Doctor Strange with Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch . “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” will premiere May 7th 2021 with “WandaVision” airing in the spring 2021.

We learned that Black Widow, the stand alone character film has already been in production for the last 30 days. Scarlett Johansson takes the lead as Black Widow and will be joined by David Harbour, Florence Pugh, O-T Fagbenle and Rachel Weisz.

The story is set shortly after Captain America: Civil War which sets it before the events of Infinity War and End Game. This will be the first release of Phase 4 with a May 2020 release in cinemas.

Jack Kirby’s “Eternals” was confirmed as the second Phase 4 MCU film which will release November 2020. Cast was revealed with Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden is Ikaris, Lauren Ridoff is Makarri, Brian Tyree Henry as Faustus, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Kumail Nunjiani, Don Lee as Gilgamesh and Salma Hayek as Ajax the Leader.

The Eternals comics introduced The Celestials as god level characters and their adversaries, the Deviants who were at war spanning the galaxy millions of years ago. The Celestials conducted experiments on humans which led to the creation of mutants.

The MCU will finally get the REAL Mandarin as ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ was announced for February 12th 2021. Tony Leung will play ‘The Mandarin’ alongside Simu Liu as Shang-Chi. The story will see Shang-Chi facing off against the Ten Rings organisation introduced in Iron Man 2 and since the reveal, multiple references to the Ten Rings have been made in various forms with characters having the Ten Rings Tattoo.

The panel came to an end with Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige revealing that Mahershala Ali will be the new Blade as Ali came on stage to huge applause in Hall H. No details were giving about the film but Feige also used this moment to tell the audience about plans for 2022 with Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Captain Marvel 2 before casually name dropping the first MCU ‘The Fantastic Four’ film.

My Thoughts…

Whilst I was hoping to hear some new MCU news from SDCC this year I have to admit I was not expecting the above right out the gate. The synergy between the big screen MCU and the small screen on Disney Plus streaming shows looks to be a huge part of what kicks off Phase 4. I love that The Madarin and Blade will finally make their true appearance in the MCU and simply by adding these worlds you open up so many new possibilities in the MCU with vampires and not to mention the tease of the Fantastic Four and X-Men universe with The Eternals film setting up mutants. Most of the above feels like laying the foundation for what is to come as the MCU moves on from the original Avenger’s world and it is being done at a sensible pace.

Now all schedules are set to change and these reveals seemed to me to be a very toned down reveal unlike the Phase 3 reveal which then had multiple changes to schedules with some not even happening at all by the end of the time scale. But I am really excited to see what MARVEL has in store next that I am really not too worried that not much more was made of the X-Men acquisition with now mention of it or Deadpool for example as well as no dropping of the next Spider-Man either as no doubt MARVEL and Sony Pictures will be working on how their partnership continues.

Star Trek fans, of which I am also a big Trek fan, have been chomping at the bit for more information on the return of iconic Star Fleet Captain, Jean Luc Picard after it was announced that the character was set to return in a brand new series. Today we not only got to see the first full trailer for the show, but the SDCC 2019 panel revealed some amazing news as well:

The trailer shows that not only will Picard have a dog, but he has also put together a new crew which will see the return of Data (Brent Spiner), The Borg Hugh (Johnathon Del Arco) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), all of which were on the panel. We also learned by Johnathon Frakes and Marina Sirtis wil reprise their roles as Will Riker and Deanna Troi.

The show will be set after Picard has retired from Starfleet, but suddenly finds himself thrown back into action,  and requiring the building of a new crew for a new mission after a mysterious young woman comes to him saying her life is in danger.

This show is already looking amazing but it has to tread a very fine line from trying to repeat the success of previous shows but also in not pandering just for nostalgia sake. But the characters returning are compelling, personally I cannot wait to see Data and Seven of Nine working together!

Star Trek: Picard is due to hit TV Screens early 2020 on CBA All Access in the US and Amazon Prime Video.

*Update: Entertainment Weekly interviews the cast of the show, skip to time stamp 03:20 for start*

It has been a big day for HBO at San Diego Comic Con with more information about the mysterious third Season of Westworld having been revealed as well as the first trailer below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64CYajemh6E

The end of Season 2 saw Delores escape from the park and is now in the real world, changing the dynamic of the show and its setting. Aaron Paul joins the cast as new character Caleb, a construction worker who works alongside a more basic robot in ‘George’ and is set to provide Delores a different look at the humanity she has experienced so far.

Leading into today, great effort has been made to let fans know that the third season will feel very different to the first two, with less twists and turns and cliffhangers which created some real pacing issues for the second season. Personally I have really enjoyed both seasons but with such a long gap between seasons 2 and 3, clearly there was a need to rework some aspects before returning to this world. I am very much looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Brought to TV  by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, Westworld stars Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Rodrigo Santoro, James Marsden, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Luke Hemsworth, Jimmi Simpson, Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris.

Currently the third season has no official air date but we know it will air sometime in 2020.

HBO have released the first full official trailer for ‘Watchmen’, coming to HBO (and hopefully Sky Atlantic for the UK) this October.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yKq1PRvPJQ

From Damon Lindelof and set in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws, this drama series embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name while attempting to break new ground of its own.

The cast includes Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, and James Wolk.

Watchmen is based on the graphic novel co-created and illustrated by Dave Gibbons and published by DC. #HBO

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Boy have all things ArrowVerse really kicked up a gear for San Diego Comic Con this year and fans have even more reason to get super excited for the upcoming seasons as well as the massive crossover event in ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’. We already have seen teases for how the new hero suits will look for Arrow, The Flash and especially Supergirl but today we have found out a lot more of how the crossover event will start to come together.

To kick things off, Deadline was first to report and confirm that Brandon Routh who plays Ray ‘The Atom’ Palmer in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will become Superman once more for ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover. Many will know that Routh was cast as the Man of Steel in the doomed 2006 ‘Superman Returns’, a film that disappointed fans and critics but personally, I really liked Routh as Superman, in a move that has been very much earned and deserved by his time in the ArrowVerse which began in Arrow before continuing in Legends.

Of course the ArrowVerse already has a Superman, played by Tyler Hoechlin who will also return as Superman for the Crossover so this means we will get two Superman’s in the event and I just can’t wait to see Routh back in the suit but it does let my nerdy mind race to think of another Superman that could make a surprise appearance, and following the use of the iconic Kent Farm and music from Smallville in last years Crossover, could we perhaps see a Red Blue Blur this time?

https://instagram.com/p/B0FEQg3H6HM/

Now other than the big crossover, a lot of what will happen to the ArrowVerse this upcoming season will naturally focus on the shortened final 8th season of Arrow, where Season 7 ended with the Monitor arriving to collect Oliver as during ‘Elseworlds’, Oliver struck a deal to save the lives of Barry and Kara. Season 8 will see Oliver doing missions around the world as he tries to prepare for the Crisis working for The Monitor. Season 8 will feel very different to previous seasons of Arrow and we know that the time jump last year which took us to a future where Oliver’s children William and Mia battled to save the Glades and Star City, will see them become show regulars as they now continue to serve the city as a new Team Arrow.

As part of the exclusive look ahead with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Marc Guggenheim said to EW.

“We’re taking the show on the road, really getting away from Star City. Oliver is going to be traveling the world, and we’re going to go to a lot of different places. While we’ve seen Oliver travel to many places over the years, both in the present and in the show’s signature flashbacks and flash-forwards, he’s never faced a challenge like a multiverse-spanning Crisis”

Stephen Amell also added: “Episode 1 is an ode to season 1, and episode 2 is an ode to season 3. We’re playing our greatest hits”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptX8O4w6Srs&t=0s

This upcoming season is going to be incredible for so many reasons but also a time for fans to reflect on the end of Arrow, the show that not only launched the ArrowVerse with the spin off shows in The Flash and Legends, but continues to bring new shows in Black Lightning and the launch of Batwoman this year. A rather cute trailer for Batwoman has also been released and can be seen above.

All the shows will be building towards Crisis on Infinite Earths and it already sounds like the biggest crossover event yet for this universe with the end of Arrow leading directly into it. SDCC 2019 has certainly succeeded in building up the hype for all things ArrowVerse and whilst it will be sad to see Arrow come to an end, what a way to celebrate everything the show, cast and the people behind the scenes have achieved!

Fans at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 were given a glimpse of the artistry behind the scenes of the resistance by director Louis Leterrier and executive producer Lisa Henson.

“The idea is you watch the show and you forget you’re watching puppets.”

In this prequel to the fantasy classic, three young Gelfling inspire a rebellion against the cruel Emperor when they discover a horrifying secret.

Darkness rises on August 30. Watch The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Only on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80148535

NETFLIX has used SDCC 2019 to give us our first look at ‘The Witcher’ TV Series and I have to say as a fan of the games and the books, I am liking the look of this especially that the trailer showed that the origin story of Yennfer is being told, something the games only hinted at but never really explored.

The worst monsters are the ones we create. Watch the first official teaser for The Witcher, Season 1. The witcher Geralt, a mutated monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.

The Witcher, coming soon to Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/thewitcher

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Paramount Pictures held their San Diego Comic Con Panel to kick off SDCC 2019 and as well as the surprise appearance by Tom Cruise to reveal the first official trailer for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ we also learned some more information for upcoming ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ such as confirming that it will indeed have a full R Rated Certificate when it releases

But the big surprise is that Edward Furlong, the original actor who played John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day will return to play the older version of the character in the new film.

Terminator: Dark Fate is a direct sequel to Judgement day and will be ignoring every film released since which not means the return of Linda Hamilton in the role of Sarah Connor but having Edward Furlong return is more than just a fandom pleasing choice but just hammers home just what it means to make this film the sequel the franchise probably deserved to have all along.

In fact we have learned a bit more about Dark Fate thanks to an interview with Entertainment Weekly where director Tim Miller explains what makes this new sequel stand out from all the previous failed films:

“The first two movies really deal with time as a loop, what’s happening is the same thing that happened before and everybody is fighting to ensure that happens again and James Cameron had this lucky break that he only broke that rule at the end of Terminator 2 when Sarah destroys Cyberdyne, it’s the first thing that happened that hadn’t happened before, and so it was going to change the future — but no one knew how. And I don’t think the movies that came after it really explored that in a clean way like I believe we are, with true consequences, and it makes perfect sense for Sarah to be the one to face those consequences since they were her choices to begin with.”

The more and more I read about this new film,  the more faith I have in it as a sequel and it does sound as though Miller has gone back to basics instead of failed attempts to reuse the same formula of the story.

I am very excited to see more and after watching the special SDCC 2019 featurette video above, everything is looking “thumbs up” for Terminator Dark: Fate, due to land in Cinemas on November 1st 2019.

SDCC 2019 has opened its doors and as is now tradition with the ArrowVerse shows, Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive first look….almost….at the new hero suits for Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Batwoman.

Kicking things off where it all began and perhaps rather fitting as Arrow will come to an end with Season 8, it seems as though Oliver Queen is returning to his original “The Hood” look with a classic but improved look for his final season. I quite like this although it must be said that for all the hero’s that would normally be wearing a mask, these cover shots are not showing them.

…which does make it rather interesting for The Flash, as much has been reported that based on fan feedback from last season, the next Flash suit will indeed see a return of the ‘Chin Strap’ style Flash cowl which is more traditional for the suit. From this image it does look as though more gold lines have been added as well as a much softer looking material which to me at the very least, is a possible nod to the 90’s TV Flash suit which was more of a soft Velvet than leather and PVC of the modern show.

In the case of Batwoman, this is more of a better look at the suit Ruby Rose will wear for the new show to hit the CW ArrowVerse this year. The only real look we have seen was in last years major crossover event “Elseworlds” where we finally visited a Gotham City where Batman and Bruce Wayne have been missing for years. I do like the look of this suit, it is still close enough to the comic book suit whilst still being a fresh enough take for the first TV show to feature Batwoman.

I began by saying that we were ‘almost’ getting to see some new suits for the new seasons of ArrowVerse shows but with Supergirl, it is not quite the case. We can see that Melissa Benoist does in fact sport a brand new hair style for Supergirl this season with a fringe and bangs but other wise, this is the classic Supergirl suit that Melissa has worn since Season 1. Earlier this week however, Melissa did share a brand new suit via her own instagram and is perhaps the biggest change to any suit previously made on any of the shows.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Melissa Benoist (@melissabenoist)

The short skirt and tights have gone and now replaced with an all body suit though the knee boots have been kept as well as the original S Shield logo but the the new belt and it looks fantastic. As much as this is a stylish new look we can pretty much imagine how the new suit will be far more comfortable for Melissa with so many long and cold night suits which are a mantel of the ArrowVerse shows.

SDCC 2019 will no doubt reveal a lot more and possibly some trailers as the ArrowVerse shows fast pace their way to the biggest Crossover event yet in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” which has been teased since the very end of Elseworlds and with Arrow coming to a definitive end…..fans are on tenterhooks for more information!

San Diego Comic Con is often full of surprises and SDCC 2019 is no exception as Tom Cruise himself surprised everyone by showing the very first official trailer for Top Gun: Maverick.

Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films Present Top Gun: Maverick. Starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, and Lewis Pullman with Ed Harris.

Connect with #TopGun

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SDCC 2019 has kicked off an already plenty of news is coming out as the doors open in San Diego starting with the news that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will come to a final end with Season 7. The news was revealed by Deadline in an interview with MARVEL TV head guy Jeph Loeb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byQWZLqgyys

The interview was very candid and actually confirmed much that fans have been speculating about since the death of MCU icon Agent Phil Coulson at the end of Season 5, which many fans felts would be the end of the show as following every season there would always be the dread that it would be cancelled. Loeb actually goes further and confirms that they did feel that the show was done but then the head writers went away and had a bit of a think and came up with an idea on how to end the show on their terms by laying the ground work in Season 6 before bringing it to a full end with Season 7.

Loeb responded: “The simplest answer is so that we can end on our terms, really. How many shows do you know that just suddenly ended, and you feel like, but wait a minute, there was more. Yes, in the chronology of this is we thought Season 5 was the end. If you go back and you look at the end of that season, it is written that way. Actually, the last episode of that season is called “The End.” Honestly, we thought we were turning out the lights and going home when we got a call from ABC that said, the material is so strong, do you think you have another season, do you think you have another 13 because we sort of like this idea of doing it again”

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has always had a struggle really when it came to finding its own place in the MCU, just as Agent Carter did. At first it was a companion show that would continue the story of S.H.I.E.L.D. post the first Avengers film which fans will know, was actually the original death of Phil Coulson before he was resurrected for the TV show. It struggled to find its own rhythm for the first two seasons and relied heavily at times at the odd cameo story from the MCU such as guest starring Lady Sif following the events of Thor: The Dark World which also saw them visit London to do ‘Clean Up’ after the events of that film. It was really only when ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier’ changed the whole MCU did the show finally have free reign to let loose as it were.

But then it kind of just floated by and eventually existed outside of the MCU and never playing a part in any of the big moments including the Snap and the Blip seen with End Game and Spider-Man: Far From Home. It always bothered me that Coulson, who was the catalyst from bringing the Avengers together, some how remained under the rader once he came back to life and never interacted with any of the Avengers who also seemed to not know that he was no longer deceased.

But the show has a loyal fan base and the very fact that the cast and crew dug their heels in to get to a final 7th season is fairly remarkable, and to see them bowing out in their own way with a panned exit now that the MCU is on a break till the next phase of films are revealed is probably the most sensible way to wrap things up.

But first Season 6 has to finish, and going by the sizzle trailer below straight from SDCC 2019…..things are just getting interesting!

*Spoilers Below for the Rest of Season 6 – SDCC 2019 Sizzle Reel Trailer*