MCU Movie Update from SDCC 2019!
It’s San Diego Comic Con and it wouldn’t feel right if we didn’t talk about the Marvel panel and the slate of movies they talked about! It’s an exciting time to be a fan for sure.
This probably doesn’t need to be said if you are reading this, but SPOILERS for the MCU if you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame yet.
Scarlett Johansson is returning for another round as Black Widow. Honestly, my opinion is this is coming too late, UNLESS there is some future for the character. This kinda feels like a swan song for the character since fans have been asking for this movie for so long, but it didn’t “fit” into their first 3 phases. I could be wrong, and this could end up being something awesome that helps tie together things in Phase 4, since we really don’t know what the overall arc in this will be about. I am excited to see Taskmaster in this.
My hope for this movie as that it isn’t just a pre-qual story for the character and it gives us some sort of a future, and some way out of the death from Endgame. Though I will say I’m super excited to see David Harbour joining the cast. He has quickly become one of my favorite people I don’t really know.
I know there are some mixed bags out there on wether or not Doctor Strange was a good movie. I’ll just say I very much enjoyed it the first time I saw it, then when I saw it again I skipped to the fancy fight scenes and then to the ending. I still like it, but there’s a lot of “origin” in it, but that’s ok. I’m not here to talk about that movie.
The sequel, called “In the Multiverse of Madness” is said to continue the story that will be told in “WandaVision” on Disney+ and really gives me hope that they are going to touch on some on Scarlet Witch’s reality bending powers.
The Eternals are coming! Starring Angelina Jolie and Selma Hyak! And some other people as well, but to me I’m excited to see these two actors join the MCU! (I don’t mean that as a slight to any of the other amazing actors involved in this, but we all have our favorites)
To be frank, I have zero expectations for this movie. I’ve never really read the Eternals comics (though I’m sure I will not) and I really never cared about them. I do know Jack Kirby created them when he left DC after the New Gods, so they are kinda like Marvel’s New Gods. i09 has a pretty good primer you can read here.
So that means much like Guardians of the Galaxy, I will probably love this movie. I think that’s one of the strengths of the MCU, they take characters and teams that have a following, but are not giant hits and they turn them into gold.
Another character pulled from obscurity, Shang-Chi. I feel like what Iron Fist missed with audiences (even though I loved it) Shang-Chi will nail. I love me some kung fu movies, so count me in for this.
I do find it interesting that this features the Ten Rings, which we first learned about in Iron Man 3, and this movie has the REAL Mandarin, someone we have all been wanting to see since we learned Ben Kinglsy’s Mandaran was fake. This time we get Tony Leung playing the real one. I hope there is a nod to the fake one in this in some way. Simu Liu will play Shang-Chi, and Akwafina is cast in a currently unknown role.
I saved my favorite update for last. Thor: Love and Thunder!
I just want to say that if you told me 10 years ago Thor would be one of my favorite characters in the MCU, I would have called you a damn liar. But I’ve been won over.
Tessa Thomspon will be back as valkyrie, and she will be searching for her queen as she is the current ruler of Asgard.
Natalie Portman is returning as Jan Foster, and will be worthy of the hammer, so we will get a new Thor! I’m really interested in how they will play this in the movie with Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Portman coming back as Jane Foster to be Thor. Will they go the Odinson route like in the comics, or does this mean that Hemsworth’s Thor is going to die and Jane Foster Thor will take over?
What are your thoughts on the MCU news from Hall H?
Below at the end of this episode you can hear Kaylie and I talk about this news, as well as the news for Disney+. Skip forward to the 41:22 mark if you want to go right to it.