MCU rumors

[MRP]

I am not as excited about Phase 4. I think the lack of A-list heroes is really apparent. I'm open to anything, but less excited about Disney+ than films.

What about Ant-Man?

That's the thing though. The MCU isn't built on A-list heroes. Iron Man, Cap and Thor weren't A-list heroes until the MCU propelled them there. Marvel's A-list heroes were Spidey, Hulk and the X-Men, and none of those were available when the MCU started, so it went with B-listers and C-listers and made them A-listers. We'll have to wait and see if Phase 4 can do the same for it's slate of characters.

-M

[PNGwynne]

Cap has always seemed A-list to me.

[MRP]

Cap has always seemed A-list to me.

To comic fans maybe, to general public, no. They basically gave away publishing rights to Cap to Rob Liefeld for a year in the 90s and couldn't interest anyone in his film rights when they were climbing out of bankruptcy and selling off character rights to whatever high bidder they could find to keep the company solvent, and no one wanted the Cap rights. They still had the rights to Cap, Iron Man and Thor to start the MCU because no one wanted to buy those rights from Marvel in the preceding decade where they were taking any and all offers.

-M

[PNGwynne]

What about Ant-Man?

IDK, I loved the first one but the sequel seemed to me to just be going through the motions until the end.

[PNGwynne]

Spidey is evergreen, but film development of that character still took forever. Hulk in any new version rode the coat-tails of the diluted TV version. X-Men is the litmus test, a fan-favorite that was introduced to the public. The kids of the '90s that loved the cartoons were all ready for the films.

Regarding the "status" and appreciation of Captain America, to me it's like Batman eclipsing Superman--but that doesn't mean Superman isn't an A-lister. As awful as it was, wasn't the first Marvel film in the wake of Batman '89 was Cap? That's some indicator of public recognition. Hulk & Thor were TV fare then.

Iron Man is the real indicator of a "lesser" character elevated in the MCU IMO

Now the poor Fantastic four...

[MRP]

Spidey is evergreen, but film development of that character still took forever. Hulk in any new version rode the coat-tails of the diluted TV version. X-Men is the litmus test, a fan-favorite that was introduced to the public. The kids of the '90s that loved the cartoons were all ready for the films.

Regarding the "status" and appreciation of Captain America, to me it's like Batman eclipsing Superman--but that doesn't mean Superman isn't an A-lister. As awful as it was, wasn't the first Marvel film in the wake of Batman '89 was Cap? That's some indicator of public recognition. Hulk & Thor were TV fare then.

Iron Man is the real indicator of a "lesser" character elevated in the MCU IMO

Now the poor Fantastic four...

That Cap film couldn't find a US distributor though as no one thought they could sell it to US audiences because it wasn't a known quality (then they saw the quality of the film too and that killed it right there). I think it says something about Cap's status when Marvel could sell rights to Blade, Doctor Strange (the Newline deal that had Wes Craven attached even if it never got made), Daredevil, Elektra, Ghost Rider, Namor (again trapped in development hell and never made but sold) in the pre-MCU era, but not Cap.

Cap was pretty much considered box office poison, not an A-list character, by anyone making movies and trying to sell tickets to movies until the MCU refurbished Cap's rep among general audiences. If anyone cares to remember, a lot of the buzz in the pre-release of Captain America First Avenger was not hey it's Cap yay, but it's Cap and this might flop and kill whatever momentum Marvel has coming off of Iron Man because very few people know him and those that do usually don't like him. The core three Avengers (Cap, Thor, Iron Man) pretty much had zero pop culture cachet until the MCU put them in the spotlight and they became the darlings of the public eye.

Remember when the rumors of a Tom Cruise Iron Man film were floating around, the pop culture buzz wasn't man, Cruise could kill Iron Man, but why would Cruise want to take a risk with such a d-list property? The MCU changed that. It was a huge game changer that took second and third tier characters and made them A-lit pop-culture phenomenons as well as making a boatload of box office cash. We've (collectively as a pop culture) already started taking for granted the after of that ground breaking seismic shift and forgetting the before, and that is coloring our perceptions of the Phase 4 announcements and our perception of the status of Cap, Thor and Iron Man in the pop culture landscape.

-M

[thunderbolt]

Keanu's MCU role may be revealed at D23. Frontrunner rumors are Adam Warlock and Reed Richards.

[hedrap]

Keanu's MCU role may be revealed at D23. Frontrunner rumors are Adam Warlock and Reed Richards.

I'll bet you Pali's Freedom Force collection Keanu is Silver Surfer.

FF2 wasn't "The Coming of Galactus" or simply "Galactus" but "Rise of the Silver Surfer" due to Surfer being a separate license. To honor the contract, a Surfer movie was made as the name is featured on the marquee, it just happened to be a co-production with the FF sequel.

Over the years, a Surfer project was in permanent development at Fox. Keanu was someone they tried to attach it to during the 90's. Same with Namor. It would be very easy to have Keanu Surfer intertwine GoTG3 and Eternals, and having Galactus appear in some form in Eternals would be the perfect introduction. I would think they'll revise him to be some rogue Celestial as an easy segue for everything laid out in GoTG.

As for Reed, Marvel has wanted Clooney in the role since '03 and George literally started the Russo's career. The only hurdle is he would be 60, but Keanu will be 55 and that didn't stop them. As we know, de-aging CGI isn't an issue for Marvel and we're talking about a character made of plastic. If the Russo's do end up with FF, then I can see Clooney as Reed and Kate Hudson or Elisha Cuthbert as Sue.

[Hector]

I’m all for Keanu being the Silver Surfer!!!!!!

[Hedji]

Makes complete sense to have Keanu be a cosmic surfer, going back to his Hawaiian name and his "Whoah" days of surfing in Point Break.

[thunderbolt]

Like the Silver Surfer is going to talk like a dude. I don't see them wasting talent on a full on CGI character like that. Warlock is coming up soon. Reed is down the road a bit, but they might make a cameo sooner than later. I thought the guy from the Office was frontrunner for Reed Richards but you never know.

[jwyblejr]

CBR is thinking the next Spidey movie is how we get Matt Murdock into the MCU. Whether or not we get the same actor from the Netflix series is anyone's guess.

[Hector]

CBR is thinking the next Spidey movie is how we get Matt Murdock into the MCU. Whether or not we get the same actor from the Netflix series is anyone's guess.

You know they are not...but that will be a crying shame because Charlie Cox is awesome, the perfect Matt Murdock.

[powersthatbe]

Andy Serkis is directing Sony's Venom 2 which is very interesting.