It’s no surprise that the strikes have more or less caused major motion picture studios to re-strategize and re-asses their release schedules for the coming year. And naturally, with a franchise as interwoven and high profile as the MCU, Marvel Studios is being forced to do the same. This week, news was officially announced that four huge films, Deadpool 3, Captain America: Brave New World, Blade, and Phase 5 capper Thunderbolts would all be affected by the strikes.
Ah, the double edged sword of having a plan. Whether you want to admit it or not, Marvel Studios has always been tremendous at having the foresight to put together a gameplan for a long form story that persists over several franchises and years*. However, Kevin Feige will be the first to tell you that plans change. And with that comes a domino effect with repercussions through an entire multiverse.
The fate of The Multiverse (Saga) hangs in the balance! Following the powerhouse showing at San Diego Comic Con this past year, Marvel Studios had everyone completely psyched to see how The Multiverse Saga would play out. Boldly announcing several projects across Phases 5 and 6, audiences were thrilled, yet skeptical about whether or not the ambitious slate of shows and films would arrive as scheduled, given the sheer volume of it all.
It’s been a whirlwind of a Comic-Con folks! So much news, and not enough time or resources to cover it all. But there was no way, no way we were not going to talk about the biggest mic drop of the convention: Kevin Feige’s Marvel Studios panel!
Happy Disney+ Day everyone! Now I know there’s been a TON of fun news dropped today (I mean who else is excited for Sneakerella, amiright? Anyone? Okay.) But amid all the dozens of announcements the streaming platform has made today, I think it’s safe to say the ones that were the most anticipated were the Marvel Studios announcements that were made.
Like most folk, I’m not too keen on reminders of my ever-increasing age. But this one, well, it’s not too bad of a milestone reminder.
Miles Morales, Marvel’s best Spider-Man, debuted nearly 10 years ago! You read that right, it’s been almost a decade since Miles inherited the Spidey title from Peter Parker and immediately one upped the kid from Queens.
Behold and enjoy The NOC’s Upcoming Marvel Studios Slate Tracker! Your Nerds of Color source for all upcoming projects and release dates for the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
Shawn caught an early screening of the new Fantastic Four movie that’s out in theaters this weekend. Rather than write a traditional review, he had to get his thoughts out on video.
International TableTop Day for 2014 takes place this Saturday, April 5. What is International TableTop Day? It is a day for fans of tabletop games to come together and celebrate by playing board games whether it be at your friendly local game store (FLGS), a coffee shop, library, comic book shop, or just at home. Perhaps take out an old favorite board game or try out a new game. Find more information at TableTopDay.com.
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game
A game that has hit the table in my home most frequently over the past year has been Upper Deck’s Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game (aka Marvel Legendary). The game consists of a game board and 500 cards. Set in the Marvel Comics universe, you and up to four other players cooperate to build a team of heroes using card decks to battle evil mastermind villains and their minions. With the base game, you can set up with heroes such as Captain America, Cyclops, Hulk, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Spider-Man, Storm, Thor, and Wolverine. For masterminds, you can choose to go up against Dr. Doom, Loki, Magneto, or Red Skull. Each mastermind will bring their own team of villain groups and henchmen groups in an effort to complete one of many possible evil schemes. Can the heroes defeat evil and, if so, which player will become the most legendary?
Wake up world, Black actor Michael B. Jordan has been cast as Johnny Storm (a.k.a. the Human Torch) in the upcoming reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise. The hurricane of controversy, and all the requisite ridiculous and racist comments have begun, and will keep flowing, until, or course, the movie comes out, at which point people will go see it no matter how incensed or infuriated they are. And you know what? I don’t care if anyone is incensed, infuriated, or inconsolable about a Black actor being cast in a fictional role of a character that is known to be White. Really, honestly, and truly, I don’t care at all. That is not, however, going to stop me from addressing a few issues.
Now that Black actor Michael B. Jordan has been officially cast as Johnny Storm (a.k.a. Human Torch) in the new Fantastic Four movie, all the negative crap has started to spew (again). We’ve all heard the crap before: “Johnny Storm is white!!! That’s Like casting a white actor as Martin Luther King, Jr!” Well, dumbass racist, it’s actually nothing like that. Johnny Storm is a fictional character. Martin Luther King Jr. being played by a white actor would like… well… it would be kind of like this…
Back in May, when the news broke that Michael B. Jordan (star of The Wire and Fruitvale Station) was being considered for the role of Johnny Storm in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, let’s just say the internet wasn’t too happy about it. At the time, my friend and former editor Justin Aclin tweeted about it and then wrote about it on his blog. I’ve cross-posted the rest of Justin’s thoughts after the jump.
And come back later in the day as Justin will be my special guest on Hard N.O.C. Life where we’ll discuss his latest book for Dark Horse, S.H.O.O.T. First.
It's only a slight exaggeration to say I'd be fine with making ALL the superheroes in movies non-white. Bring it on.
