We couldn’t have been more excited when we heard–way back in 2020– Disney+ tapped Emmy-winning Orphan Black lead actress Tatiana Maslany into the Marvel Universe as She-Hulk. Finally we have the first trailer. Now called She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the series appears to lean into the humor instead of giving audiences another heavy dramatic effort. Instead of green paint and make-up, the show opts for CGI, which isn’t quite convincing in this first trailer. Look closely and it’s not so much the green tint as the CGI hair. But they have plenty of time to finish this better in post-production in time for the actual summer premiere.
Check out the first trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law:
The first two episodes of Marvel’s Hawkeye series are less than two weeks away. After the mental anguish of this year’s first round of Marvel streaming series–depression and loss as the themes of WandaVision, self-doubt and imposter syndrome as the themes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and regret and hopelessness as the themes of Loki–Marvel fans have earned themselves a fun Marvel series, and Hawkeye looks like it will fit the bill.
In yesterday’s quick Disney Plus Day event, the streaming service previewed what should be another fun series, as critically acclaimed Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany looks like she finds it easy being green as the title superheroine of She-Hulk. It’s a little harder to see what angle will be taken with Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight. A deadly war of the gods with Egypt as a backdrop feels and looks like Isaac in X-Men: Apocalypse. And Iman Vellani stars in Ms. Marvel, which looks a lot like Marvel’s version of DC Comics’ Stargirl. New announcements include series Echo starring Alaqua Cox, Ironheartstarring Dominique Thorne, Agatha: House of Harknessstarring Kathryn Hahn, and Secret Invasion starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn.
Take a look at another great Hawkeye trailer, and our first glimpses (barely) at She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marvel below.
Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is likely the most popular villain in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s also one of the best, staying true not only to the comics, but the spirit of the Norse mythology they pulled him from. So a Lokiseries, coming soon to pay streaming provider Disney+, is almost guaranteed to be the big winner of 2021, right? That seems to be confirmed in the latest trailer for the six-episode event series. Is there a superhero series or movie this year you’re more anxious to watch than Loki?
As demonstrated by Luke Wilson’s appearance as co-star of Stargirl, you get the feeling the Wilson brothers are going to be the secret weapon for another sure-fire superhero series (even if it is about a super-villain). This time it’s Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius, who is going to introduce Loki–and the audience–to a new universe tangent to the Marvel world we know about. Mobius M. Mobius is a character with some true comics street cred, originating from the mind of writer/artist Walt Simonson. And Mobius has a past in the comics pages connecting him with Fantastic Four and She-Hulk–will Wilson’s character be the new glue to connect the integration of the FF from Fox to Disney, and pull Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk into the MCU in her own series, due to arrive next year?
And does this furry friend know Goose from Captain Marvel? Other actors in the series include Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, and Richard E. Grant, who played Marvel character Dr. Rice, the mad scientist in Logan, from the other Marvel studio–Is this another opportunity to pull in the Fox Marvel stories?
It was only a year ago here at borg we were discussing some of the projects expected to arrive in 2020. That didn’t happen, but a pandemic later and some juggling by the execs at Disney and we seem to have a realistic schedule for the projects we’ll see in 2021. So let’s gather some excitement for Marvel superheroes heading our way, at least from the first looks at these shows we’ve seen via their movie and series trailers. What does it look like we’re going to actually see in 2021 via streaming Disney+ or Vudu streaming? As Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues with the final episodes of WandaVision on Disney+, next up will be The Falcon and the Winter Soldier starting on Disney+ March 19. Probably the most eagerly awaited of all Marvel projects since Spider-Man: Far from Home is Black Widow, delayed and delayed some more, now expected to arrive May 7, probably for a theater run and a pay version via Disney+. Which leaves the six episode mini-series Loki, also expected to arrive in May, via Disney+. The common link? All of these feature characters and storylines still heavily anchored to Phase III of the MCU, and all are an opportunity to tweak the past via time travel or a changed past to allow for new characters and new storylines.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is expected to arrive in theaters June 25, and Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings has a July 9 premiere date, but Disney hasn’t issued a trailer for either yet. As a bonus we’ll throw in the trailer below for the animated series What… If? which doesn’t have anything but a 2021 projected Disney+ series launch date, and the trailer for Morbius, a Sony production tying into the MCU–at least via a cameo by Michael Keaton as Vulture, the villain from Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. It’s now slated for a January 2022 theatrical premiere. Although an Eternals movie is expected around Thanskgiving and another Spider-Man movie could slip in around Christmas, all the other Phase IV projects have been pushed out beyond 2021–the next movies featuring Doctor Strange, Thor, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man and The Wasp, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Fantastic Four, and TV series featuring a new Hawkeye, Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Guardians of the Galaxy (a special), Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Armor Wars, and a Wakanda series.
Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe took center stage with some big reveals at a Disney investor event this week. The biggest news is a preview of Loki, which takes fan-favorite actor Tom Hiddleston’s beloved villain into more strange places, continuing the comic villainy that keeps fans coming back for more. Along with Loki, Disney rolled out previews of the new Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the What if…?animated series, the casting of the lead for Ms. Marvel, and details on new series from Secret Wars to Ant-Man 3 and She-Hulk. Plus new target release dates? Check those out and the trailers below.
Two of television’s best genre actors are soon going to be donning superhero garb for the two major comic book movie franchises. First, earlier this month Disney+ announced Emmy-winning Orphan Black lead actress Tatiana Maslany will be expanding the realm of the Marvel Universe as She-Hulk in her own series. Then today Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson announced Leverage co-star Aldis Hodge will be joining him to fill bring into the fold one of the last members of the classic Justice League of America to have a major series or movie role. Hodge will play Hawkman in the Black Adam movie. Both will be live-action shows.
Marvel Contest of Champions is a 2014 mobile fighting game from Kabam, released four years ago on iOS and Android, boasting more than 100 million players. Based on ideas generated from the 1982 three-issue Marvel Comics series Contest of Championsby Mark Gruenwald, John Romita Jr., and Bob Layton, players select superheroes from across the history of the Marvel universe to battle each other. Both the original comic and the game key in on the scheming machinations of Grandmaster and the Collector, and if the idea sounds familiar, it may be because it was also featured in Marvel’s big screen Thor: Ragnarok, with Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster pitting Chris Hemsworth’s Thor against Mark Ruffalo’s Planet Hulk-inspired gladiator Hulk.
Initially intended to be based on Marvel’s Super Heroes Secret Wars comics, the Contest of Champions video game features more than 100 playable characters, and includes dozens of others. The characters as realized for the game and the game environments is the focus of a new book from author Paul Davies, Marvel Contest of Champions: The Art of the Battlerealm. The book represents one of the rare assemblages of so many characters from all segments of the Marvel universe. Showcasing the story by Sam Humphries and artwork by Gabriel Frizzera, Luke Ross, and others, the book is full of great character designs, concepts, and final selections. It even takes readers beyond the events of Infinity War, although the game does not adhere to the movies.
Readers and game players will find it difficult coming up with characters from Marvel Comics not incorporated into Contest of Champions. In the book they’ll find updated versions of all the superheroes (and many villains) from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, plus the X-Men, Deadpool, Old Man Logan, X-23, Spider-Gwen, Ghost Rider, Howard the Duck, Hyperion, Jane Foster’s Thor, Miles Morales’s Spidey, Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel, Spawn, Dark Phoenix, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Cable, Gwenpool, Mephisto, Blade, Carnage, and the Inhumans. Plus there’s the Netflix Marvel series characters, lesser used characters like the future evil Hulk called Maestro, Magik, M.O.D.O.K., Sentry, Sentinel, Sabretooth, Agent Venom, Morningstar, Guillotine, Karnak, Kang, Doctor Voodoo, Black Bolt, and Venompool. Both Angela, grand-daughter of Odin, and King Groot are brilliantly realized in the game and the book (shown above).
Here are some preview pages fromMarvel Contest of Champions: The Art of the Battlerealm:
Earlier this year Marvel Comics introduced a series of $1 reprinted introductory titles under the True Believers logo. All featured characters leading into Marvel’s Secret Wars summer event series. A new batch of True Believers titles are being released this month, offering a great jumping on point to ten titles featuring the best of Marvel’s pantheon of strong women leads.
Each issue is a reprint of the first issue of key titles, many available in their full story arcs as trade paperbacks and hardcovers for those who get hooked. And expect to. Whether you’ve been in or out of the Marvel Universe lately you’ll find stories here that even made national news. Like Jason Aaron’s story of the first woman holding the Thor mantle (and hammer). Like Ms. Marvel, soon to be featured in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film.
