December 10 seen the arrival of Disneys Investor Day, or D23. This year seen a whole splurge of announcements, reveals, teasers and full blown trailers across all of their owned properties, to keep our appetites wetted. Below is the link for the official webpage containing every announcement made for all of Disneys owned properties.
https://d23.com/every-disney-announcement-and-more-from-the-disney-investor-day-2020/
For the last decade or so we’ve had at least 1 or 2 Marvel movies released annually, resulting in the large and dense Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), concluding with Avengers:Endgame in April 2019. This year should have seen the release of the Black Widow movie, which along with tv shows streaming on DisneyPlus+ would have kicked off phase 4. However the CoVid outbreak resulted in the release date for Black Widow being pushed back (as it stands it’s due for release May of next year), as well as production on streaming tv shows being halted. The last few months however have allowed for filming, and post-production to resume with a view to streaming on the DisneyPlus+ service starting from early next year, as well as future cinema releases.
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The Falcon and The Winter Soldier focuses on 2 of Captain America’s closest friends and allies (Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson) as they learn to live in a world without him, while also carrying on his legacy. There is much to be said for this trailer – it seems action heavy, with location hopping to rival any Bond or Bourne movie, as well as the budget to match. Ultimately though it seems as well as carrying Cap’s legacy, it will also have the task of bringing Marvel fans from the big screen to the small screen. What will arguably make this show work, is how well it explores these 2 main characters, and how they identify with themselves in a Cap-less world.
What If… will riff on a series very popular in Marvels comic books. The premise is using classic stories and characters but doing reinterpretations or altering of significant events from their history . The animated series will work in a similar vein, each episode taking a known part of the MCU and turning it on its head, creating a anthology of stories. From the teaser we can see a story where instead of Steve Rogers, Agent Carter undergoes the process that gave us Captain America, resulting in her becoming a Super-Soldier. Another gives us an alternative take on Starlord, instead of Peter Quill being picked up by Yondu, he whisks a young T’Challa away. So you get the idea of this premise, this could prove to be a real hit, and also help spread the notion of the multiverse (something which is set to grow across several future movies and shows, most notably with Loki), and allow unique storytellers the chance to explore alternate realities within the MCU.
WandaVision is another show, which may explore Marvels growing multi-verse. It will show Wanda, and what seems to be an alive and kicking Vision (*3 year old spoiler alert* he was destroyed by Thanos in Avengers:Infinity War) as they live what appears to be a quiet all-american suburban life. However not all as it seems, and either Wanda’s powers are going out of control, or she really has brought someone back from the dead. This show could be the best of this bunch. It will show a superhero, and an extremely powerful one (it will be interesting if the MCU version of Wanda will be as powerful as her comic book counterpart) and how they deal with the grief of losing someone they love, and the effects that has on the mind. Do they become stronger, or do they completely snap, and what implications will this have for the wider MCU in the coming movies.
As Marvel loves to do from time to time is push the boundaries, and to show characters whose motives, or morality isn’t always explicit. Characters like Erik Killmonger (Black Panther), and even Thanos have had their supporters, and at times we sympathise with their agenda, even if we don’t agree with their means of achieving it. Now comes the turn of Loki. This show will again continue this thread of alternate universes, within the Marvel Multiverse. The Loki we knew is dead, however this will follow the Loki who was seen escaping with the Tesseract in Endgame. From the trailer it seems he will be hoping from universe to universe, getting up to his usual hijinks and attempting to carve out his own little kingdom to rule, as well as escape from Owen Wilson and the Time Variance Authority. This looks to be the most interesting of all shows announced, and is set to possibly re-write the book on what we have come to know and expect from the resident God of Mischief, as well as what we feel towards him.
More shows in the pipeline, include Hawkeye where our hero trains a protege in the form of Kate Bishop. Armour Wars, which will see the return of James Rhodes aka War Machine as he tackles Tony’s worst nightmare of rogue ‘Iron Men’ using his tech. Secret Invasion will see the return of Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury, as well as Ben Mendelsohn as the Skrull Talos, as they uncover a plot by the Skrulls to infiltrate the earth. Ironheart will focus on Riri Williams, a character from the comics who is an engineering student who decides to build her own suit of armour and take over where Tony left off. She-Hulk confirmed Mark Ruffalo will return, along with surprise announcement of Tim Roth returning as Abomination. Finally Ms.Marvel had a small sizzle reel which introduced footage of the casting of Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan (Ms.Marvel), as well as highlighting the unique ethnicity of her character, as well as the production team behind the show. It was also revealed she will appear in the next Captain Marvel movie, fitting considering she idolises her and models her costume on her, after discovering her powers.
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As well as the above, we also got announcements (or at least fresh title cards) on several other projects, coming to cinema’s and streaming over the next few years. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which will also feature Wanda fresh from her tv show. Eternals, Shang-Chi, introducing us to more uncovered corners of the MCU. Thor Love and Thunder, will see Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster take up the Thor mantle, and will see the Villainous Gorr-The God Butcher played by Christian Bale appear to hassle our hero. There will also be a remake of Blade in the works, starring Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, True Detective, The Hunger Games) in the titular role. Another remake, getting the proper Marvel treatment is the Fantastic Four, all we got so far however is a title card, and that it will be directed by Jon Watts, of the recent Spider-Man movies. The most interesting, but possibly overlooked announcement came in the form of the new Ant-Man movie, titled Ant-Man and Wasp:Quantumania, with confirmation of the main villain being Kang The Conqueror. Comic book Kang is a god-like omnipotent time traveller from the future. His appearance could be a large scale threat that requires the re-formation of the Avengers, and he could fill the role of a Thanos-level treat for our heroes and the universe further down the line. Finally we got announcements of Captain Marvel 2, with new director, Nia DaCosta, and Ryan Coogler returning to direct Black Panther 2, along with a statement to say the late Chadwick Boseman will not be replaced or recast.
So overall plenty to look forward to, and it looks like the next phase in the MCU will be a combination of big screen and small screen outings. Which will reference and touch on each other, much like the previous decade of movies did to create a wider broader story, rich and full of detail. Looks like its going to be another great decade to be a Marvel fan!
