The Final Trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has just dropped and this looks like one hell of an exciting film! In addition to the new trailer, which you can check out below, Wakanda Forever is introducing quite a few new characters and concepts into The MCU. With the movie’s release fast approaching, it seemed like a good idea to give you all a much better look at two of the new characters making their MCU debut in the film: Namor The Submariner and Riri William a.k.a. Iron Heart. In this article, we dive into how these exciting new characters affect the world of Wakanda, as well as the rest of The MCU. But first, watch the new trailer, right here:
As we’ll get into later in the article, to bring the character of Namor and his world to life, South American culture and mythology were huge influences for the filmmakers when it came to costumes, set design and more in the new film. Something you can see on display in the beautiful image below. Them gorgeous cover for this month’s issue of the excellent Empire Magazine, features (from left to right) Queen Ramonda, Shuri, and Namor.
NAMOR: THE SUBMARINER
Namor is one of Marvel’s oldest characters. Often featured in comics fighting alongside Captain America in WWII. He’s basically Marvel’s Aquaman, if Aquaman were a massive asshole who blurred the line between hero and villain.
Namor from a recent issue of Avengers
Like Aquaman, Namor is usually portrayed as the King of Atlantis. However, in Wakanda Forvever, while Atlantis still exists, Namor (played by Tenoch Huerta) will be the king of a different lost undersea kingdom called Talocan from Aztec mythology. This change takes nothing from the character, while adding a whole lot of potential. The filmmakers have created the opportunity for Namor himself, set design, costumes, VFX, and more to be inspired by Mesoamerican and South American mythology. From what we’ve seen in trailers and photos released from the film. The costume design and visuals for Namor, his people, and his kingdom, have looked spectacular. Wakanda was so richly and beautifully brought to life for these films, so it’s only appropriate that they attempt to do the same thing with Wakanda and Black Panther’s South American, antagonistic, counterpart. This has the added benefit of helping Namor stand out against the already successful and well established big screen version of Aquaman over at DC. We’ve already had a very successful Aquaman film with it’s own unique visual language, and by adding these beautiful flares to Namor’s world, it helps differentiate the two characters.
Namor
Namor and T’Challa arguably have one of, if not, the greatest rivalries in The Marvel Universe. The characters have a long history of animosity and bad blood, which is just another reason it’s a shame that we won’t see T’Challa appear in this film.
Until recently, it was unclear if one major part of Namor’s backstory would be translated into The MCU. However, it was recently revealed by Namor himself, actor Tenoch Huerta, that like his comic book counterpart, the Namor of The MCU is a Mutant. In the comics, Namor has often been referred to as one of “the first mutants”. His mother was Atlantean and his father was human, who passed the X-Gene on to him. Atlantean’s are already born with enhanced abilities from evolving at the ocean depths. The combination of his Atlantean heritage and his mutation, make Namor extremely powerful character with abilities far beyond those of normal Atlanteans. Namor is without question one of the heavy hitters of The Marvel Universe. Anybody who can go one on one with The Hulk is not to be taken lightly.
RIRI WILLIAMS: IRON HEART
Namor isn’t the only new character to make their debut in Wakanda Forever, Riri Williams a.k.a. Iron Heart (played by Dominique Thorne)will also apppear in the film, with her own Disney+ show to follow. A much more recent addition to The Marvel Universe, the character was created by Brian Michael Bendis in the pages of Invincible Iron Man. Riri is a teenage prodigy and a genius on par with Tony Stark or Shuri. While attending MIT, she reverse engineered the Iron Man armor and build her own armor out of materials taken from the MIT campus. She’s mentored by characters like Pepper and goes on to team up with other young heroes like Kamala Kahn’s Ms Marvel and Miles Morales.
A brief glance at the Iron Heart armor from the new trailer
She was shown briefly in the 1st trailer for Wakanda Forever, working alongside Shuri in her lab. There are a few quick shots in this new trailer, showing her working own her suit and flying into battle. Considering that the character is from Chicago in the comics, I suspect she’ll have begun working with Shuri through one of the Wakanda Outreach Programs T’Challa implemented at the end of the first Black Panther. Below we have the best look yet at the Iron Heart armor Riri will be wearing in the movie. Like a lot of superhero movie/TV reveals, this one came from promotional material for toys connected to the movie. You’d be surprised how often we get our first look at major comic book characters on film through toy advertisements.
Here’s Marvel’s official synopsis for Wakanda Forever: In Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda. Introducing Tenoch Huerta as , king of a hidden undersea nation, the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livanalli.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters November 11th
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On this episode, Mike Cole returns to The World’s Best Podcast as we discuss the biggest news to come out of COMIC-CON 2022! Among the many topics touched upon in this episode, Mike and I pick out our favorite trailers and chat about some of the other major announcements made at COMIC-CON. Along the way, we have an in depth discussion about Black Panther and the legacy of Chadwick Boseman. We offer up several different view points and give our conclusions regarding the question: Should Marvel have re-cast the role of T’Challa after Boseman’s tragic death? Plus, we ponder some the greatest and most profound of life’s philosophical questions! All this and so much more on The World’s Best Podcast!
We also want to recommend Mike Cole’s new podcast, Talking About The Big Stuff with Michael Cole! Available on all of the apps where you listen to your podcasts including iTunes and Spotify, to name a few. I’ll be making a a guest appearance on the show in the coming weeks, sos start tuned! Thanks for listening and enjoy!
We’d love to hear your feedback about anything discussed on the show! What had you most excited from this year’s COMIC-CON? Do you think Marvel should have re-cast Black Panther or not? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks for listening! Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews for the podcast, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
When The Infinity Saga came to a close, The MCU began premiering new movies and Disney+ projects as part of Phase 4. One the biggest questions left unanswered for fans, was the status of The Avengers. With Tony, Steve, and Natasha gone, was there even a team anymore? If so, who was on it? As we’re heading into the end of Phase 4, the films and Disney+ shows have made it pretty clear that The Avengers are still very much a staple of The MCU. We’ve just been left in the dark about some of the details. Now that the team will be officially assembling again with not one, but two new Avengers movies on the horizon, who will make up the New Avengers roster? I thought it would be fun to try to answer that question. These picks include, characters that I think Marvel Studios will likely want on the team, some less obvious, but potentially interesting inclusions, as well as some personal favorites that I’d like to see pop up. We would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave your ideal Avengers roster in the comments below! Anyway, let’s get into it…
The New Avengers
Captain America (Sam Wilson) & The Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes)
You can’t have The Avengers without Cap and Sam Wilson has shown he’s more than worthy of the mantle. The team also needs someone to fill the leadership role left by Steve (but I think there are a couple of other worthy candidates for team leaders as you’ll see below). When it comes to Bucky, he and Cap are a package deal (whether Cap is Steve or Sam) and frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Shang-Chi
This one’s a no brained for a couple of reasons. In the marketing for Shang-Chi, the trailers would often say something along the lines of “Get ready for the next Avenger.”. Marvel has always had big plans for this character. Plus the director of Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, Destin Daniel Cretton, is also directing the upcoming Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. So this one’s pretty much a lock.
Captain Marvel
The Avengers need a powerhouse and Carol Danvers certainly fits the bill. She’s another character I could see filling the leadership vacuum in the absence of Cap and Tony. She also has another movie on the way with The Marvels premiering next year.
Ant-Man
Who would have thought that Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man would become such an integral part of The MCU? Compared to some other characters on the list, Scott Lang is a veteran Avenger at this point. Going up against Kang The Conqueror in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania will make him even more important to The Avengers and The MCU.
Hulk, She-Hulk, or Both
If I had to pick one Hulk that I think Marvel would want to use, it’d be She-Hulk, which would be fine by me. I like the character a lot and I think her new show looks really cool. But one thing we’re missing from this line up, is a scientific genius, so the team needs Bruce Banner. The more Hulk’s the better I always say!
Spider-Man
Tom Holland’s continued role in The MCU is a bit of question mark, but his participation as an Avengers in the Multiverse spanning, Secret Wars, is damn near guaranteed.
Wong
The team needs a big time magic user and Wong is Sorcerer Supreme, after all. It should also be noted that Wong has taken a very proactive role in keeping an eye on the major events and players in Phase 4. Hell, Wong has basically been the Nick Fury of Phase 4. So far he’s already made major appearances in Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness, and She-Hulk. He’s even seen as a part of mini-Avengers alongside Captain Marvel and Bruce Banner in the Shang-Chi post-credits scene.
Doctor Strange
While many fans saw Dr.Stephen Strange as the natural choice to take up an active leadership role within The Avengers, Marvel recently came out and said that he’s technically not even on the team, let alone one of it’s leaders. Having said that, obviously Doctor Strange is going to be one the main characters in any Avengers film. Doctor Strange is a key character in Secret Wars particularly. Strange and Wong are the mystical Stark and Rhodey.
Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
C’mon he’s a founding Avengers! The Avengers have never lost a battle where Hawkeye was present. He can definitely play both a mentor and leadership role. He’s a clutch member and could be the heart of the team in this new era.
Other Likely Contenders
Without going into too much detail, based on skills, experiences, abilities, and seniority, I think it’s a safe bet that Marvel will include, some or all, of the heroes on The Avengers roster:
Rhodey aka War Machine
Ms Marvel
One of the Eternals?….
Phastos (his power is basically control of technology, a technopath, and the team is out of the big science guy with Tony Stark gone)
My Top Picks To Join The Avengers
Loki
This would be so much fun. At this point Loki has done a complete 180, going from villain to anti-hero to full-blown hero. Loki was the reason The Avengers had to form in the first place! Making him an official member of the team would create so many interesting character and storytelling opportunities. Loki was the first major MCU character to understand the threat that Kang poses to The Multiverse. Much like Banner in the beginning of Infinity War, Loki could show up early in the story to warn the rest of Earth’s protectors of the coming threat.
Daredevil
Daredevil is by far my favorite Marvel superhero and I love that the character has left Netflix purgatory and is poised to become a major player in The MCU. Matt Murdock made his first canonical MCU appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home and he’s already confirmed to have major roles in multiple upcoming projects. Including She-Hulk, Echo, the animated series Spider-Man: Freshman Year, and his new Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again in 2024. In addition to being one of the best hand-in-hand combatants in the world, he’d also bring some unique abilities and skills to The Avengers. It would be pretty sick to see The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
So which MCU characters do you will make the New Avengers lineup? Do you have a favorite character that you’d love to see on the team? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews for the podcast, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
When The Marvel Cinematic Universe began with Iron Man, each subsequent film was building towards 2012’s modern classic, The Avengers. When The Avengers proved to be a smash hit, it was clear that The MCU wasn’t going anywhere. As they continued to build their mythology, the characters I wanted to see on the big screen more than any others were Doctor Strange and Black Panther. When they finally made their debut in The MCU, they didn’t disappoint. There’s still so much to look forward to in the comics.
T’Challa has an amazing rivalry with Namor The Submariner, The King of Atlantis (Basically Marvel’s more villainous version of Aquaman). Seeing a conflict between the two characters play out was high on the list of things I wanted to see come to life in The MCU.
I’m still unsure exactly how Marvel is going to handle Black Panther after Chadwick Boseman’s tragic and untimely death. I’m fairly certain it’s been stated that Marvel Studios doesn’t plan on killing off the character in The MCU. The sequel to Black Panther, titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to premiere in November. It looks like the plan is to shift the focus to the ensemble supporting cast from the first movie like T’Challa’s sister Shruri, Okoye The Head of The Dora Milaje, Nakia, a Wakandan spy and T’Challa’s former love interest, and M’Baku, leader of The Wakandan Mountain Tribe. This official promo art from the upcoming film shows how, both Shuri and Okoye will appear in the movie.
I’ve always maintained that Marvel should have waited a respectable amount of time and then recast the character. These characters are bigger than one actor who inhabits them. As much as we would love to see Chadwick Boseman in the Black Panther costume again, he’s in his family has come out to say that Chadwick would want the character to continue on after his passing. After speaking to Boseman’s brother, Derrick, TMZ reported “…Chadwick knew the power of the character, and the positive influence it carries. Derrick says there’s so much power in seeing a Black king — especially in a superhero capacity, like in the Marvel flick — which has a huge impact on African-American youth.” It’s like saying we should never have The Joker appear on screen again because Heath Ledger died.
What’s bittersweet for me, is that the new films story seems to be about a conflict breaking out between Wakanda and Atlantis. Which is awesome, but if Marvel wants to tell that story, T’Challa should be a part of it.
Tenoch Huerta
Actor Tenoch Huerta has a large, but unspecified role in Wakanda Forever. Most sources say that Huerta is indeed playing Namor. The character rides the line between anti-hero and villain, so I assumed he was the Big Bad in Wakanda Forever. However, new promo material for the upcoming movie has me thinking the film will portray Namor in a more heroic light. New promo images and an official character description has revealed that another long time Atlantean Marvel villain is appearing in the movie. A powerful bad guy named Attuma. Take a look at the character design and the character description below.
“Attuma was born into the tribe of Homo mermanus who eschewed civilization to live as nomadic barbarians. For some unrecorded reason, Attuma was endowed with strength far surpassing that of his people. Nearing adulthood, Attuma learned of a prophesy, in the lost Atlantean Chronicles, of a conqueror who would take the empire of Atlantis by force. Believing he is that conqueror, Attuma has launched numerous attacks on the city of Atlantis and its regent Namor the Sub-Mariner.”
As apprehensive as I am about this film, I must admit that this sounds very exciting. Marvel is once again pulling back the curtain on an entirely new part of the rich tapestry that makes up The Marvel Universe. I’ve always said that Black Panther’s best adversaries are characters like Namor and Doctor Doom because they’re all kings. The best hero and villain dynamics occurt when the characters are reflections of one another. Being King of Wakanda is one of the most fundamental aspects of who T’Challa is. He feels great responsibility to his country and his people. He’s more than just a King, he’s a great leader.
So putting him up against somebody in the same position, who has gone down a darker path, makes for some incredible storytelling opportunities. I think Ryan Coogler is a fantastic director, and he certainly has an absolutely stacked cast to work with. The first Black Panther film was excellent, Marvel knows what they’re doing. Hopefully, sometime in the near future, Marvel Studios will come to their senses and give us a new T’Challa/Black Panther. Not just for the fans, but to also honor the legacy of Chadwick Boseman and the character we saw him create and bring too life. As I mentioned before, from what I’ve heard, the character of T’Challa is not being killed off, so it will be interesting to see how they handle his absence. Almost the entire cast of the first film is returning for Wakanda Forever, not to mention that Wakanda itself is such a cool and unique setting, that it’s almost a character in its own right, so the filmmakers definitely have a lot to work with here. Every time I’ve had serious doubts about a decision Marvel Studios under Kevin Fiege has made, I end up eating my words. Hopefully that streak will continue and this will be the spectacular sequel that Black Panther deserves!
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews for the podcast, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
It’s an exciting week to be a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe! LOKI on Disney+ is in full swing, with the season finale premiering next Wednesday. More significantly, this week sees the release of the long-awaited and much anticipated Black Widow film, starring the always incredible Scarlett Johansson. But those sly dogs over at Marvel Studios always want to leave us wanting more, so they dropped the first full trailer for WHAT IF?… their upcoming Disney+ series premiering in August. I was already excited for this project, now that I’ve seen the full trailer and I understand the ambition of where they’re going with this, I’m really psyched. So, take a look for yourself right here:..
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WandaVision has finally premiered on Disney+, officially kicking off Phase 4 of The Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Entertainment has posted this very cool video to mark the occasion. The video shows how the Phase 3 films, which begins with Captain America: Civil War and ends with Spider-Man: Far From home. The video shows how some the Phase 3 films perfectly re-create iconic images and moments from the comic books source material and put them on the big screen. Take a look:
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At this point, I’m sure most of you know that actor Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away a few days ago at the age of 43, after a long bout with colon cancer. Everyone processes death and grief differently, but following the death of a celebrity that I like, I’m usually surprised and I think something like “Well, that really unfortunate. I’m sorry to see them go“. But on the rare occasions, there are celebrity deaths that genuinely upset me. Unfortunately, Chadwick Boseman’s death has been one of them. The last time I felt something real after the passing another of a public figure like this was when Robin Williams died. I’m in my mid-30s and I feel like, to a lot of people in my generation, Robin Williams was a real cultural icon growing up. Williams starred in some of the most important films of my formative years. The fact that Chadwick Boseman, whose career was almost just getting started, can hit me as hard as the death of an icon and legend like Robin Williams speaks to exactly how special Chadwick Boseman really was.
Obviously, I’m a massive comic book fan and I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the characters I most wanted to see on the big screen was Black Panther, he’s always been one of Marvel’s most interesting and compelling characters. Even though he has cool superhuman abilities and bad ass tech at his disposal, he isn’t fascinating because of his extraordinary powers. In fact, he’s one of the relatively weaker Avengers, at least when it comes to his power set. But like Batman in the DC Universe, Black Panther is arguably the most dangerous man alive in the Marvel Universe. Black Panther, or King T’Challa, is unique among other superheroes. Not only does he protects the world as an Avenger (and often the leader of The Avengers at that), but he’s also a king, who rules the most technologically advanced society on the planet. He’s a genius on par with Tony Stark or Bruce Banner. He’s the guy who would make the tough calls when the shit really hit the fan. However, there was always an innate compassion and humanity to the character that added a whole additional layer of heroic depth.
Marvel found the perfect actor to embody this character in Chadwick Boseman. The actor perfectly portrayed T’Challa’s brilliance as a tactician and warrior. He was regal and he carried himself with all of the strength and dignity that was necessary to bring this incredible figure to life. Boseman has already given us so much from this character to look back on and enjoy. I was extremely excited to see what he and Marvel were going to do with the character next.
Of course, Chadwick Boseman’s performance as Black Panther had a whole other meaning to millions of people around the world, that I can never understand. It cannot be understated how culturally important Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther was to people of color all over the world. There had never been a superhero movie like Black Panther, with a black lead, an almost entirely black cast , and a black crew behind the camera. I’ve heard so many people say that both Chadwick Boseman and King T’Challa were both role models to so many children around the world. I believe with all my heart that stories give people hope, they show them what they can be, and what they can achieve. With the wrong actor it might not have worked, but Chadwick Boseman was simply the man for the job. Clearly, off screen he was a man of incredible character and integrity. He radiated confidence, poise, grace, and humility. Through his incredible talent he was able to play characters as different as Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, and King T’Challa. It was nothing short of extraordinary that he brought so many important figures from black culture to life, even the fictional ones. The tragedy of his death is that Chadwick Boseman was just getting started. He was one of the greats in the making. More importantly, he seemed like a genuinely wonderful human being and the world is a little less bright without him in it. I think we can take solace in the fact that, in his all too short time on Earth, he touched billions of lives for the better. How few people can say that? To do all of it while he was fighting cancer showed his indomitable courage. The worst of this disease hit him during his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he still gave us one of the most memorable characters, in a series of films with dozens of iconic characters. He truly stood out among the pack. To do all of this, while going through what he did, is incredibly brave. Chadwick Boseman showed us all how stories can change the world. That will be his legacy. Wakanda forever.
“Reed Richards: T’Challa, if this doesn’t work… If we fail, then that will mean this is the end, and… Black Panther: And then I will see you on the other side, my friend. Trust me. Death is just a different kind of journey… To the land that I am King.” – Secret Wars #7 (2015)
Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!
This weekend, running from August 23 to 25th, is Disney’s D23 expo. It’s a massive annual event put on by Disney, where they make announcements regarding their upcoming projects. Considering that Disney owns Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, The Simpsons and hell of a lot more, fans were expecting some big news. Particularly, Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney +. In some ways D23 is kind of like Comic-Con. With all of the spectacular, aforementioned properties that fall under Disney’s umbrella, D23 is a huge event for genre entertainment. This is something fans, as well as writers who cover this type news online (like myself), look forward to every year. Disney often uses this time to make unexpected and surprising announcements and this year they certainly didn’t disappoint!
MARVEL:
MOVIES
BLACK WIDOW (Opens in theatres 5/1/2020)
New First Look Poster!
In addition to the cool new poster for the film, Marvel also debuted the first footage from their upcoming Black Widow solo movie (which unfortunately has not been leaked online… yet) The footage shows is an action sequence with Natasha fighting Yelena Belova (a character who’s also held the mantle of Black Widow). Like Natasha, Yelena was a product of Russia’s Red Room program, turning young women into super spies. But unlike Natasha, she never found any kind of redemption and became the living weapon her masters wanted her to be. It was also confirmed that David Harbour will be playing Red Guardian in this film, essentially Russia’s version of Captain America. Natasha will also have to contend with the formidable villain, Taskmaster, all the while sporting a cool looking new, white costume. Check out some other cool stuff we have posted below, like this concept art featuring Natasha squaring off against Taskmamster, photos of her new, white uniform on display…
THE ETERNALS (Opens 11/6/2020)
Of all the Marvel movies that have been announced for so far for Phase 4 this is the one think has the potential to be very cool and unique. The Eternals are a race of immortal superhuman beings created by cosmic, godlike beings called The Celestials. The Eternals protect humanity from their evil counterparts, The Deviants. The Eternals are actually the beings that humanity based the Greek gods upon. Because of their in mortality, they’re still around today. Many of whom live among regular people. The cast includes Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, and Selma Hayek.
Angelina Jolie as Thena
Richard Madden as Ikaris
The cast of The Eternals on stage, image of them in character on the screen behind
A few days ago it was revealed that Kit Harington a.k.a. Jon Snow from Game of Thrones was joining the MCU in an undiscloosed role. Now we know exactly who he’s playing and what film he’s appearing in: Harington will be playing Dean Whitman a.k.a. The Black Knight in The Eternals.
The Black Knight
The Black Knight is a long time Avenger who’s a direct descendant of one King Arthur’s Knights of the Roundtable. He fights with a sword called The Ebony Blade forged by Merlin himself. When he doesn’t have The Ebony Blade have he basically just uses a lightsaber (seriously). He’s an expert fighter on par with Hawkeye or Black Widow and will occasionally have enhanced strength, speed, and agility, depending on the story you’re reading. He’s actually a pretty cool Avenger. You can check out the awesome concept art by BossLogic of Harrington as The Black Knight below.
Kit Harrington as Dane Whitman, The Black Knight
He’s most often linked to The Eternals through the character Sersi played by Gemma Chan. Sersi and Whitman have been a couple at various points in their comic book history.
BLACK PANTHER 2 (Opens 5/6/2022)
We all knew it was coming, but it’s still nice to have a release date. Kevin Feige briefly brought returning Black Panther director Ryan Coogler out on stage to announce the film’s official release date May 6th 2022.
No details on plot yet, but a lot of fans, myself included, want to see T’Challa go up against Namor The King of Atlantis. Imagine it: A war between two super advanced countries that most of the word didn’t even know existed with the monarchs of each nation being super powered badasses. It would be fucking sick! I honestly think there’s a good chance that we’ll see some version of that concept for Black Panther 2. Below I have some pictures depicting Namor and T’Challa’s rivalry and an awesome concept art poster from artist BossLogic
TV SERIES
THE FALCON and The WINTER SOLDIER (Fall 2020 on DISNEY+)
There’s not that much new info on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, but their were a few interesting tidbits. Kevin Feige brought two actors onstage. First, Emily VanCamp, to confirm that she’s returning as Sharon Carter AKA Agent 13 was (Peggy Carter’s niece). Then he introduced Wyatt Russell, who’s playing John Walker AKA U.S. Agent. In the comics U.S. Agent was conceived as a replacement for Captain America when he was presumed dead, but still frozen in the ice. I’m pretty sure he eventually goes crazy because pretty much anyone whose tried to duplicate Dr. Erskine’s super soldier formula has had things go sideways on them, usually to horrific results.
Sam Wilson as Captain America battling U.S. Agent
What I like about the casts and these characters is that this really feels like Captain America 4. When Captain America was killed in the comics, the book continued with characters like The Falcon, Bucky, and Agent 13 continuing Cap’s mission. Villains like Baron Zemo (who’s returning for this series) and USAgent played prominent roles. Steve Rogers may have been gone, but these were some of the best Captain America stories ever. If the show is taking inspiration from the comics, then the series is heading in the right direction. Below, you can see a leaked for photo of a promo poster for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, with Sam and Bucky both sporting new looks.
WANDAVISION (Spring 2021 on Disney+)
We still know very little about the upcoming WandaVison series on Disney+. All we’ve really heard, is that the show is a “mix between a sitcom and a superhero action epic”. Which, on the surface, seems like a weird direction for them to go in. Well, I think the series is going to be even weirder than Marvel has led us to believe. First take a look at this promo poster released for the series:
After seeing this poster for the show, I think I have a pretty good idea of what’s going on. Anyone who’s been paying attention to Scarlett Witch over the last several movies, probably noticed that with each subsequent film, she gets more and more powerful. Hell, in Endgame she nearly ripped Thanos apart on her own. She probably would’ve killed him if he didn’t order his ship to start fire bombing the battle sight. In the comics, as Wanda’s power grows, her mental and emotional state begins to deteriorate. We know that this series takes place after Endgame and Vision was seemingly killed in Infinity War. I think the image of an almost 1950s “perfect family” sitcom we see in the poster, is a new life conjured into existence by Wanda. Her powers eventually get to a point she can manipulate reality itself. So what if she resurrected The Vision and decided she wanted to have a perfect suburban life with him, straight out of a cheesy old sitcom? The image also brings to mind the recent miniseries ,The Vision, by writer Tom King. In that story, Vision also heads to suburbia in an attempts to start a family of his own, meaning a wife, a son, and a daughter who are all androids just like himself. All I’ll say is is that things start to go very bad, very quickly for The Vision Family. I should also mention that this was one of the best comics Marvel has published in the 21st century. I wouldn’t be surprised if the series draws at least partially on the tragic stories in Wanda and Vision’s past. I have a feeling this series is going to be a lot darker than people expect. Which would make sense because apparently the events of this series lead right up into Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness co-starring Elizabeth Olsen. That film has been described as Marvel’s first horror movie. Also joining the cast are some other familiar faces, Randall Park who played Agent Woo in Ant-Man and The Wasp and Kat Denning who played Darcy in the first 2 Thor movies will both be joining the show. If I had to bet, I’d say that they are wacky neighbors or something, that are part of whatever twisted family situation is going on with Wanda and Vision. I could be completely wrong, but if I’m right this could be a very exciting and interesting way for the show to go.
WHAT IF? (Release Date N/A)
What If? Is the first animated project made for the MCU, with a great line up of actors from The MCU returning to play their characters from the big screen. However, that doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily be playing the same version of character we know from the films. As Kevin Feige said at D23, What If ? Is “Based on a comic books series that we’ve loved for years They take a storyline that you know and change one element; and see how things could get different. Out of the 23 films that you know we’re going to make one little difference and a see how things change.” Each episode will be bookended by The Watcher (voiced by Jeffery Wright) as if he‘s presenting a What If? scenario. How seemingly small changes can have massive consequences. The Watcher, part of an ancient race of beings whose sole purpose is to bear witness, but never interfere, great change throughout the Universe. Uatu will gaze into The Multiverse and show the vast changes that can occur in a Universe if one event is changed. Some of the stories that teased in WHAT IF? were Marvel Zombies and what if Peggy Carter became Captain America. You can see a leaked image of Peggy as Captain America below.
MS. MARVEL (Release Date N/A)
Marvel made announcements about 3 additional shows coming to Disney+. The first being Ms. Marvel. Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan is a modern day Spider-Man in many ways. In fact, I think if MARVEL knew that their deal with Sony was going to fall apart as badly as it did, I think they may have saved Ms. Marvel for the big screen. There are big Spider-Man size shoes to fill in The MCU and she could be the perfect character to do it. She has a lot of the same qualities that people love about Spider-Man. She’s just a kid, a young girl in high school, trying to figure her life out. She’s not rich, she comes from a blue collar family. She’s a Pakistani-American Muslim living in Jersey City, protecting her neighborhood and beyond from any threat. She grew up idolizing the heroes of the Marvel Universe, especially Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel AKA the original Ms. Marvel. But since Carol has gone by Captain Marvel for years now, Kamala (with Carol’s blessing) became the new Ms. Marvel.
Like Spider-Man she’s trying to protect her friends and family while also following her destiny as a superhero. She also has a really cool power set, that we haven’t really seen yet. Kamala is an Inhuman whose powers are kind of like a combination of Reed Richards and Ant-Man/Giant Man. She calls one of her powers “embiggening “, it allows her to do things like make her hands into enormous fists and punch a whole bunch of bad guy across a room, she can grow 50 feet tall, she can also shrink and stretch her body in ways that even Reed Richards can’t. I was really hoping to get this character sooner rather than later. I think she is a fantastic superhero and she’s the perfect character in to include into the MCU now that, sadly, Spider-Man is gone.
SHE-HULK (Release Date N/A)
The next show announced by Marvel premiering on Disney+ is She-Hulk. This is a character fans have wanted to see on screen for a long time.
She-Hulk is Jennifer Walters, the cousin of Bruce Banner. When an accident almost killed her, she needed a blood transfusion and her cousin Bruce happened to be the only person who could donate. As a result she basically turns into a female version of The Hulk in Endgame. She’s still a green, super powered, powerhouse, but she doesn’t transform back-and-forth, her proportions are much more human, and she retains her intelligence at all times. She’s also a very talented lawyer. They could make it a superhero courtroom drama, maybe? There’ve been some great comics with She-Hulk, so this has the possibility to be a really good show. Let’s hope Mark Ruffalo is up for making an appearance as her more famous cousin.
MOON KNIGHT (Release Date N/A)
The last Marvel show announced was Moon Knight. Moon Knight is often described as Marvel’s Batman. But I see him more as a combination of Daredevil and The Punisher. This character has a super weird backstory that I don’t completely understand, which should show you just how weird this is, if even I don’t get it.
Most of the time, Moon Knight is former mercenary Marc Spector, who after being cursed/gifted by the Egyptian god Khonshu (because, sure why not?) becomes a brutal vigilante stalking the streets of New York. The only problem is Marc Spector has disassociative identity disorder, or multiple personalities. He’s bat shit crazy and violent as hell. This will definitely be a grittier show more in the vein of the stuff we’ve seen from Marvel on Netflix. However it will be interesting to see if they use a Moon Knights mental health problems to say something meaningful and interesting about the mental health issues that people struggle with every day.
Check back here later, when I’ll be giving a summary of all of the Star Wars news from D23!
Lastly, I wanted to include a few picture of the DISNEY+ interface when it launche. By now means a comprehensive look, it’ll give you a better idea of what to expect.
Check back here at World’s Best Media for any new D23 developments. I’ll be updating this page as The Expo continues. One last thing, which D23 presentation or announcement has you most excited? Which is the biggest draw for you: Marvel or DC? Do you plan on signing up for Disney + when it launches on November 12th? Or pare you going to wait a little while for more content to be added? Comment below or on social media. We’d love to hear from you!
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Holy Fuck! Avengers: Endgame is finally here! I wanna say right up front that there will be absolutely NO SPOILERS in this article. However, we go into FULL SPOILERS in our deep dive review of Avengers: Endgame on this episode of The World’s Best Podcast! My Marvel Movie companion, Paul Sr. and I had a chance to see the movie a few days early, but we wanted to wait until at least some of our listeners had a chance to see the film, before we posted this SPOILER-RIFFIC review.
It so rare for movies to live up to the hype, but Endgame manages to surpass expectations. One of the many things fans love about comics, especially from DC and MARVEL, is the interconnected universes. You could be reading a Spider-Man comic and the X-Men or Iron Man or Daredevil would pop up. That was the ingredient that had been missing from superhero movies when the “Superhero Boom” began with movies like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and Singer’s X-Men.
It seems so obvious, but it was still brilliant. I remember seeing Iron Man for the first time and being blown away that SHIELD was in the movie. It seems so small now, in retrospect, but that little addition made it feel like the Marvel Universe (It was also the first appearance of fan favorite character, Agent Phil Coulson). Then of course there’s the immortal post credits scene from the first Iron Man film, when Tony meets Nick Fury which I’ve posted here below:
The beginning…
Building off the incredible success of IronMan and then creating 22 films that make this beautiful tapestry of a story, is mind blowing. The fact that out of the 22 films released so far, there have been so few missteps is astonishing. Even their weakest movies, and there’s only 3 or 4 like Thor: The Dark World, are pretty good or not bad at their worst. Everything else is more less gold.
The Russo Brothers, who’ve directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and now Avengers: Endgame, absolutely stuck the landing with this movie, it’s a must see. The films directed by The Russo Brothers, Joe and Anthony, aired the 4 best films in The MCU. Who would’ve thought that guys who worked on TV shows like Community would go on to tell some of the most epic stories of our generation? For the record, I loved Community.
The Infinity Stones…
I think the real hero in all of this is Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios. He was not only a massive fan of the source material, but he’d seen what mistakes other Marvel superhero films had made in the past and learned from them. So when it was time for Marvel Studios to start producing their own films, he knew what he was doing and he got the right people involved to work with them. Another huge kudos goes out to Casting Director Sarah Finn, who’s worked on almost all of the films, if not all of them. With maybe one or two exceptions out of literally hundreds, each character was a flawlessly cast. We owe a lot to her work as the reason these films came out so well.
All right then, enough chitchat. You can check out our podcast on Avengers:Endgame right here or you can subscribe on Spotify, Stitcher or iTunes: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/17766535
I haven’t been a big fan of the Academy Awards for years now, but I must admit I was very excited when Black Panther received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. This is the first time a comic book film, a superhero film has been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Even though I don’t consider the Oscars to be the standard by which excellence in film should necessarily be judged, it’s still a great feeling of validation to a lifelong comic book fan. Not to mention that it’s all too rare to see a big budget superhero film with a predominantly black cast that, as put so well by Marc Bernardin in his Entertainment Weekly cover story, Black Panther is a movie about celebrating “Excellence”. Which is all too rare. This movie’s cultural impact cannot be understated. Even putting all of that aside, Black Panther is just a great fucking movie that absolutely deserves this recognition.
The cast of Black Panther after their win for Best Ensemble Cast at The Screen Actors Guild Awards.
So, With Black Panther nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, on this episode we wanted to acknowledge that historic accomplishment as well as talk about other comic book films that deserved Oscar noms. We also discuss some of the upcoming DC films, like Birds of Prey. To top it all off, we try to figure out (if you could pick ANY character from ANY comic book universe) who would have the best chance in a face off against Thanos with The Infinity Gauntlet! All this and so much more on this episode of “The World’s Best Podcast”! Enjoy! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
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