The first Captain Marvel film may have had its detractors, but personally I really enjoyed the first one. I honestly believe that a lot of the hate thrown at this movie is fueled by the misogyny of a relatively small population of the audience. I really liked Brie Larson in the role of Carol Danvers and the sequel, titled The Marvels, will see the inclusion of some interesting characters like Monica Rambeau from WandaVision and Kamala Khan from Ms. Marvel. All three of these characters are connected in very different, but very important way. While I’m sure Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel will be the main focus of the film, it makes a lot of sense to bring these characters together for something closer to an ensemble than a straight up Captain Marvel 2. So I’m definitely looking forward to the next film when it hits theaters later this year.
Kamala Khan AKA Ms. MarvelMonica Rambeau
The Marvels was originally supposed to premiere in late July, but was recently pushed back to November 10. This seems to be an effort on the part of Marvel Studios to spread their films out a bit more. I think they realized that, over the past couple of years, they’ve oversaturated the market a little. So we’re going to start seeing less MCU Disney+ shows premiering as well as a longer amount of time between new film releases. Which I think is a really good idea. In fact, it’s probably one of the best moves Marvel Studios could make right now. As the old saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. In the meantime, Marvel has debuted a very cool, new teaser poster for The Marvels. I like the inclusion of the three main characters and how it evokes the very cool teaser poster for the first Captain Marvel movie. Check it out…
So what are your thoughts on this upcoming MCU project? Are you a fan of the original Captain Marvel film? 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!
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
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 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!
There’s some fantastic and exciting pop culture content coming out in 2022! Movies, graphic novels, TV/Streaming, and more! Shows like Peacemaker and movies like The Batman got us off to a great start, but there’s an embarrassment of riches still coming our way this year. Below are my picks for the Movies, TV/Streaming projects, Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Books, and Video Games that you don’t want to miss in 2022!
MOVIES
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore
Release Date: Apr 15, 2022
Warner Bros. just released this fascinating Behind-The-Scenes video about the new film. Definitely worth giving a watch:
While the Fantastic Beasts series hasn’t been the universally praised films that the original Harry Potter films, I’ve loved these movies, especially the last one. This is such a fun world to visit and I love this rich time period in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, showing us fascinating stories and characters we haven’t seen before. Also, c’mon, Jude Law is a PERFECT young Albus Dumbledore and I can’t wait to see more of him in this next film. Check out the trailer here:
Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness
Release Date: May 6, 2022
With possible exception of The Batman, no film in 2022 has me more excited than Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness. Doctor Strange is one of my favorite comic book characters as well as one of my favorite MCU characters. I thought his solo film in 2016 was a very fun, dynamic, visually interesting, and all-around solid introduction to a character with an incredibly rich history. We really just saw the tip of the iceberg in that film. he’s also my favorite hero in infinity war, his one on one duel with Thanos wielding the infinity gauntlet is one of the most iconic and just fucking cool scenes in the MCU. With this new film the character and his world has been established, giving the filmmakers the opportunity to really dive into some crazy shit. Man, after seeing the teaser trailer that aired during the Super Bowl and the full trailer that was simultaneously released online, we really got a chance to see how absolutely fucking bananas this movie is going to be. Marvel does a great job with their trailers of not spoiling the movie while still getting you incredibly excited for the project. And the Doctor Strange trailers have done that pitch perfectly. Considering the stuff that they showed us in the trailer like the illuminati call Ma fucking Patrick Stewart has Charles Xavier! Ultron drones! Wanda appearing appearing to go full villain! Incredible stuff. Marvel has always also described this film as the closest they’ve ever done to making a horror movie, which is really interesting because we haven’t seen anything like that from the MCU yet.
So you combine all of that with the fact that Sam Raimi, the legendary Director of the original Spider-Man trilogy, the Evil Deads films, Drag Me To Hell, The Giftt, and a lot of other great movies is helming this film, I think we’re gonna get something really special. Sam Raimi directed what is arguably one of the best superhero films ever made with Spider-Man 2 and we also know that he excels at weird, fucked up, offbeat, crazy, horror with the Evil Dead films and Drag Me To Hell . Rami has also been a very outspoken fan of Doctor Strange throughout his career. My expectations are so fucking high for this one I think it’s going to be a home run, but I’ve been burned many times before so let’s keep our fingers crossed. On the other hand marvel has never burned me, so far I’ve always been able to trust them to somehow zinc bigger than even their fans to deliver a fantastic project. This is my pick for The Must See Movie of 2022.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Release Date: July 8, 2022
Unlike Doctor Strange 2, we haven’t had a trailer yet to knock our socks off, but there’s a lot to be excited about in this film. Interesting, Thor is the only founding Avenger and the only MCU hero to get a 4th entry in his series. Taika Watitti has returned to direct Love and Thunder after directing not only the best Thor movie with Thor: Ragnarok, but also one of Marvel’s most beloved film in recent years. It’s a real fan favorite. The biggest draw for me is the debut of Christian Bale as Gorr The God Butcher.
Gorr is one of the coolest and most terrifying Marvel villains to debut in the comics in the last decade, so it’ll be very interesting to see how they plan to portray such a dark and blood thirsty character. Thor won’t have to face Gorr on his own because everyone’s favorite band galactic heroes/outlaws, The Guardians of The Galaxy, will feature heavily in the film.
NOPE
Release Date: July 22, 2022
The next horror film from Jordan Peele about UFO’s? HELL. YES! I cant wait for this one.
The long awaited return of one of, hands down, one of the best shows on television is finally here! And there’s a hell of a lot to be excited about! Showrunner Eric Kripke has said Season 3 will feature their take on the “HEROGASM!” story line from the comics (And to answer your question: Yes, the story is just as depraved and horrifying as the title would suggest). The season will also see a new addition to the cast, with Jensen Ackles joining the show as, the Captain America-esque, Soldier Boy. This marks a reunion for Eric Kripke and Jensen Akcles, who previously worked together on the hit series, Supernatural. Kripke created the now iconic series, where Ackles played Dean Winchester, one of the show’s two lead characters. The beloved show recently wrapped up it’s incredible, record breaking 15 Season run. Check out the trailer here:
Obi-Wan Kenobi Series (Disney+) 5/27
With the possible exception of The Mandalorian Season 3, there isn’t an upcoming Star Wars project more anticipated the Obi-Wan Kenobi series coming to Disney+. Ewan McGregor is finally making his return to the fan favorite character, but he’s not the only returning character viewers should expect to see. Hayden Christensen is also returning to reprise his role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Which pretty much guarantees that we’re going to see a rematch between the two, after their epic lightsaber duel on Mustafar in Episode III. In exciting news, it was just announced that the first two episodes will premiere together on May 27th.
Fans had been clamoring for a Kenobi solo project for years, with many people hoping a film focusing on the character would be made under the, “A Star Wars Story“ banner. However, I would argue (and I think most fans would agree) that with all of the incredible storytelling we’ve seen on the Star Wars TV shows, a Disney+ series sounds much more appealing than a 2 hour film. Check out the trailer right here:
The Sandman (Netflix) (TBD)
Like The Lord of The Rings, which was considered to be “un-filmable” for decades, an adaptation of The Sandman would’ve been impossible 15 years ago. Again, like Lord of The Rings, the first obstacle was a technical one. So much of The Sandman is set in places that just simply didn’t exist in the real world. Visual effects would be heavily needed for everything from environment creations, characters, MoCap, augmenting practical effects, and the list goes on and on. We’re finally a point where you can expect to see film quality visual effects and storytelling on a prestige drama on cable or a streaming service. You can see the passion that was put into this project in this Behind-The-Scenes video…
Audiences needed to be ready for this story as well, it’s not something you can watch casually. I think over the last 10 years audiences have been trained by The MCU, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and other stories that became hits beyond the core audience, to be able to except and buy into a such a sprawling, imaginative fantasy. It’s a truly unique story and I can’t wait to see what they’re doing with it. There hasn’t been official release date announced yet. However we can expect to see the show premiere sometime in Summer 2022. Trust me keep an eye out for this one it’s gonna be something special. Take a look at the first teaser trailer:
The Lord of The Rings: Rings of Power (Amazon Prime) 9/2/22
Amazon Prime’s new take on the classic work ofJ.R.R. Tolkien, taking place during the period surrounding the forging of the original rings of power and Sauron’s eventual rise to The Dark Lord of The Rings. The 8 episode first season cost over $58 Million per episode, making it the most expensive show in TV history. Blowing past the previous titled holder, Marvel’s Disney+ shows, at $25 Million per episode. Here’s the trailer:
Moon Knight (Disney+) 3/30
Well, we don’t have to wait too long for this one, but I felt it was still important to include. Moon Knight is the next Marvel Cinematic Universe series to hit Disney+. The series stars Oscar Isaac as the title character and the always fantastic Ethan Hawke, playing a mysterious new character. Someone at Marvel Studios described the series as “Indiana Jones meets Fight Club”, which is as damn good of a description as I can think of. Moon Knight has some cool supernatural element to it, as well as dealing with a main character who has severe mental health issues. It’s lot to get into, but I think this is going toi be a special one. For once, I wish Marvel would drop alll 6 episodes at when the show premieres. my favorite part about streaming service shows is that the entire season drops when the show premieres. I understand why Disney+ and Marvel don’t adopt that model but every once in a while they could throw us a bone and give us a little treat. Anyway check out the trailer, for a little bit of insight into the series:
The Umbrella Academy (Netflix) 6/22
There isn’t much new info about the umbrella academy season three except for the release date and some cool posters which I have you can see below. If it wasn’t for shows like the boys or invincible, I would say that the umbrella Academy would probably be my favorite superhero show on TV right now I love how offbeat and unique it is and I can’t wait to see the new season.
This season sees The Hargeeve Siblings having to contend with the mysterious Sparrow Academy, who were teased at the end of Season 2.
Ms Marvel (Disney+) 6/6
This poster is cool homage to the comic book.
If Spider-Man were created today, it’d probably look a lot like this. Based on the comic of the same name, Ms. Marvel focuses on New Hersey, high school student Kamala Khan. Kamal is a super hero mega-fan, shocked to find herself incredible new powers. Look for her to be a big player in The Marvels, the upcoming sequel to Captain Marvel.
COMIC BOOKS/GRAPHIC NOVELS
Batman: Beyond The White Knight (DC COMICS)
Following the success of Batman: White Knight and Batman: Curse of The White Knight, writer/artist Sean Murphy is bringing the Batman Beyond mythology into his popular series of Batman graphic novels, with Batman: Beyond The White Knight. As massive fan of all things Batman Beyond this is a MUST READ for me. *Now Available, digitally and at your local comic book store!
Flashpoint Beyond (DC Comics) April 2022
Judgment Day (Marvel Comics)5/7
The Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals face Judgment Day! The MarvelComics event is coming this summer. The year’s biggest stories begin in Marvel’s ‘Free Comic Book Day: Avengers/X-Men’ #1! Which you can pick up at your local comic book store or digitally on May 7.
DARK CRISIS (DC COMICS)5/7 & 6/7
Dark Crisis is THE comic book blockbuster event of the summer! Here’s what DC has to say, below are some preview images and their synopsis of the prelude to Dark Crisis, ”The Death of The Justice League”
The Last Stand of The Justice League…
Witness the rise and fall of the Justice League! The event years in the making is here with Dark Crisis. The Justice League is comics’ greatest super-team—made up of DC Comics’ legendary Super Heroes, they have saved the world countless times. No crisis was too much for them to handle…until now! The Justice League has been defeated by the Great Darkness and its army of DC’s most dangerous villains—now a new generation of heroes must rise to protect not only the Multiverse…but also the legacy of the DC Universe!
Now for the main event, Dark Crisis #1! Read the synopsis below:
Crisis on Infinite Earths. Infinite Crisis. Final Crisis. And now…Dark Crisis !
The epic event years in the making is finally here! Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League are dead. The remaining heroes are left to protect the world from an onslaught of violent attacks by DC’s greatest villains! Can the legacy heroes step out of the shadows of the classic heroes to form a new Justice League? And will that be enough to stop a darkness greater than anything they’ve ever faced from destroying everything? Don’t miss out on the first issue of the blockbuster event of the summer!
Dark Crisis #0 FCBD Special Edition will be available on May 7. Justice League: Road to DarkCrisis #1 hits on May 31. Dark Crisis #1 will follow June 7. Check out the teaser below:
Avengers: 1,000,000 B.C. (MARVEL) 7/13/22
Writer – Jason Aaron Artist – Kev Walker
One of the most fascinating aspects of Jason Aaron’s current Avengers run, has been the introduction of The Avengers of 1,000,000 B.C. A primordial team of heroes, who came together to protect a vulnerable Earth from all manner of threats, at the dawn of Mankind. The team consisted of Odin (in his youthful, adventurous, Thor-like days), Lady Phoenix (The Phoenix Force possessing one of Earth’s first mutants), Agamotto (as in “The Eye of Agamotto”, Earth’s original Sorcerer Supreme), Black Panther (One of earliest incarnations of Wakanda’s defenders), The Ghost Rider (On a Wooly mammoth), Iron Fist (The first to face Shoa-Lao The Undying and claim the power of The Iron Fist for herself), and The Starbrand (A caveman wielding the power of The Starbrand, Earth’s natural self-defense system. Kind of like the team’s Hulk).
These characters have been an important part of the story since the beginning of Aaron’s run. This one-shot looks to finally shed some light on the larger role they’ll be playing in the major conflict to come, currently being set up in the Avengers books. Though nothing official has been announced yet, there is definitely a big ol’, mega-blockbuster comic book event in the works, involving Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and I suspect this may be the book where we see things start to kick off.
Here’s Marvel’s official synopsis: “They are the defenders of the dawn of time. Marvel’s first and mightiest legacy heroes. But their greatest secrets have never been revealed. Until now. Witness the dark events that shatter their ranks. See how their lives come to shape the entire future of the Marvel Universe. And be there for the monumental event that reunites them one last time: the true story of Thor’s birth.”
From his work on Wolverine to his already classic Thor run, Jason Aaron has been the mastermind behind some of Marvel’s best books. His current Avengers run has been a total blast from the first issue. Like all of his stories, Aaron often introduces concepts, characters, and story arcs, early on in his books that pay off big time later in the story. It feels like something big is right on the horizon, so now would be a great time to dive right in, or even better, get caught up on the story from the beginning with the collected editions that you can pick up anywhere. That may seem like a lot of graphic novels for some of you, however they aren’t dense breeds and they are incredibly fun and exciting, which will make you breeze through these collected additions faster than you probably think. Below is the list of trade paperbacks, starting with Jason Aaron’s 1st Avengers arc ending with the most recent story. From there you’d be pretty much all caught up:
Avengers Vol.1 The Final Host
Avengers Vol.2 World Tour
Avengers Vol.3 War of The Vampires
Avengers Vol.4 War of The Realms
Avengers Vol.5 Challenge of The Ghost Riders
Avengers Vol.6 Starbrand Reborn
Avengers Vol.7 The Age of Khonshu
Avengers Vol.8 Enter The Phoenix
Avengers Vol.9 World War She-Hulk
Avengers Vol.10 The Death Hunters (Available in July)
That may seem like a lot of graphic novels to some of you, but they aren’t dense reads, the art is beautifully dynamic, and each story arc is incredibly fun and exciting. Which will make you breeze through these collected editions faster than you probably think. If you’re a MCU fan looking to dive into comics, then this series is a MUST READ!
BOOKS
The Maze: A John Corey Novel (Nelson DeMille) 10/11
This thriller is latest installment in the excellent John Corey series of novels. Previous installments include Plum Island, The Lion’s Game, Nightfall, Wild Fire, The Lion, The Panther, Radiant Angel, and the short story, The Book Case
VIDEO GAMES
Gotham Knights (PS4) 10/25/22
The next installment in the popular Arkham series of video games, Gotham Knights this story focuses on Bruce Wayne’s protégés Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Red Hood. The inclusion of the group of villains known as The Court of Owls definitely makes the game a lot more exciting to me. This one will be a lot of fun when it comes out. Check out the awesome trailer 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!
Holy crap this was a great week for trailers! The annual Walt Disney Co. 2020 Shareholders Meeting, took place a few days ago. Over the last decade or so, Disney has made some huge business moves that paid off, big time! With the creation of Marvel Studios, partnering with Sony to get Spider-Man in The MCU, the company acquiring Fox, and the success of Disney+, the company’s star is continuing to rise. This year Disney live-streamed the event to their shareholders, so fans had a chance watch the presentation as well. Star Wars and Marvel fans in particular, should keep this yearly event on their radar. Just and foremost, this meeting is about Disney displaying their value to their shareholders, so they usually pull out all the stops. As one among several events Disney hosts every year, this is where we can expect to see major announcements about upcoming Marvel and Star Wars projects. The heads of each entertainment division at Disney (Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Disney Animation, etc) give presentation about all of the upcoming projects that they’re working on, which will of course make the shareholders shit loads of money. The event was live streamed on and they did not disappoint with some amazing and exciting announcements. We are going to go over everything that we saw at The Walt Disney Co. 2020 Shareholders Meeting on the next episode of The World’s Best Podcast, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, some fantastic new trailers were shown, so I figured it was the perfect time for Trailers of The Week!
Trailers For The Upcoming MCU Series On Disney+
Trailers For The New Star Wars Series On Disney+
These trailers are just a few teasers among a lot more exciting content heading our way! So much information was dropped during this event, that we are going to offer continued coverage of all the announcements, so keep an eye out for new articles and podcasts that will cover all of the really cool stuff coming down the Disney pipeline!
Thanks for reading… and watching! 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. We’re on Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017. 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!
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 the show. We really appreciate the loyalty shown to us by World’s Best Media fans, so thanks again!
The second trailer for CaptainMarvel dropped today (meanwhile those sons of bitches over at Marvel keep cock teasing us with the Avengers 4 trailer)! It looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself! This looks like it’s going to be a fun space adventure, leading up to the epic finale of Avengers 4.
Below I recorded a full trailer breakdown with all of the inside info on connections to the comic book source material, how this movie relates to the rest of the MCU, background on key character and story details, and much more!
All of this is pretty SPOILER FREE, despite some speculation on my part regarding where the movie might go. Unless you want to know absolutely nothing going into this film, you should be ok. You can watch the full trailer here and listen to my audio breakdown below. I’d recommend watching the trailer and then playing it again along with my audio commentary for full effect:
World’s Best Media 