Marvel Announces New Movies & Disney+ Shows at Disney's 2020 Investor Day Presentation

 
There's no escaping Marvel in 2021.

Marvel Studios was one of the big highlights yesterday from The Walt Disney Company’s 2020 Investor Day presentation.  Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios and chief creative officer of Marvel, revealed a number of new series coming to Disney+, along with new details of their upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4 films.

Feige remarked, "The Cinematic Universe weaves storylines, heroes and villains across 23 feature films to date.  And with Disney+, we’re able to extend this way of storytelling to a new format — creating series that are connected to our theatrical releases, making the MCU more immersive than ever."

Here's the rundown of big reveals during the presentation:

WANDAVISION (Disney+, Premieres January 15, 2021)

The second trailer for the series was revealed, which you can check out HERE.

Wanda Maximoff and Vision are two super-powered beings living the idealized suburban life, but begin to suspect everything is not as it seems. The series has Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany returning to their roles as Wanda and Vision, respectively. Also joining the series are Kat Dennings, who reprises her role as Darcy Lewis from Marvel Studios' Thor and Thor: The Dark World; Randall Park, who reprises his role as Agent Jimmy Woo from Ant-Man and The Wasp; and newcomers Kathryn Hahn, who plays their plucky neighbor, and Teyonah Parris, who plays the adult Monica Rambeau, who was introduced in Captain Marvel.

THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney+, Premieres March 19, 2021)

A First Look trailer for the series was revealed, which you can check out HERE.

Anthony Mackie returns as Sam Wilson a.k.a. The Falcon, and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes a.k.a. The Winter Soldier. Sam and Bucky, who came together in the final moments of Avengers: Endgame, team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities—and their patience.  The six-episode original series also stars Daniel Brühl, reprising his role as Baron Zemo, Emily VanCamp, reprising her role as Sharon Carter, and newcomer Wyatt Russell as John Walker.

LOKI (Disney+, Premieres May 2021)

An Exclusive Clip trailer for the series was revealed, which you can check out HERE.

The God of Mischief is back — and now Loki is stepping out of his big brother’s shadow. Marvel Studios’ Loki takes place after the events of Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame with Tom Hiddleston returning as the titular character.  Joining Hiddleston in the series are Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant. Loki is directed by Kate Herron with Michael Waldron serving as head writer.

WHAT IF...? (Disney+, Premieres Summer 2021)

A First Look trailer for the animated series was revealed, which you can check out HERE.

Space. Time. Reality. It’s more than a linear path.  What If…?, which takes inspiration from the comic books of the same name, flips the script on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reimagines famous events from the films in unexpected ways.  As revealed last year, each episode will explore a pivotal moment from the MCU and turn it on its head, leading the audience into uncharted territory, such as “What if Peggy Carter was the one who became a super soldier?”  What If…? focuses on different heroes from the MCU, featuring a voice cast that includes a host of stars who will reprise their roles, such as the previously announced Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. The series will star Jeffrey Wright as the voice of The Watcher.

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (Film, Scheduled for July 9, 2021)

Opening Summer 2021, Simu Liu stars as Shang-Chi in Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings. Shang-Chi must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.  The film’s cast also includes Tony Leung as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Shang-Chi’s friend Katy, and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan. Additionally, Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu and Ronny Chieng appear in the upcoming movie, which is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.

MS. MARVEL (Disney+, Premieres Late 2021)

A Sizzle Reel for the series was revealed, which you can check out HERE.

Ms. Marvel, a newer character to Marvel Comics, has grabbed the world’s imagination and Kevin Feige, president, Marvel Studios, and chief creative officer, Marvel, was excited to announce during The Walt Disney Company’s Investor Day presentation that newcomer Iman Vellani will star as Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel in the series, Ms. Marvel, set to arrive on Disney+ in late 2021!  The Marvel Studios original series centers on fan-favorite Kamala Khan — a 16-year-old Pakistani-American growing up in Jersey City. A great student, avid gamer, and voracious fan-fic scribe, Kamala has a special affinity for superheroes, particularly Captain Marvel.

However, Kamala struggles to fit in at home and at school — that is, until she gets super powers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. Life is easier with super powers, right?  Joining Vellani in Ms. Marvel, the cast also includes Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, Travina Springer and Nimra Bucha.  Fans will get to meet Ms. Marvel in her series before Iman Vellani joins Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel) and Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau) in the upcoming feature film, Captain Marvel 2, directed by Nia DaCosta, which will open in theaters on November 11, 2022!

HAWKEYE (Disney+, Premieres Late 2021)

Marvel has confirmed Hailee Steinfeld will join Jeremy Renner, who reprises his role as Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye, in his series Hawkeye, as the well-known archer from Marvel Comics, Kate Bishop.  Rounding out the cast of the original Marvel Studios series are Vera Farmiga, Fra Fee, Tony Dalton, Zahn McClarnon, Brian d’Arcy James, and newcomer Alaqua Cox who will star as Maya Lopez.

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (Film, Scheduled for March 25, 2022)

Currently in production, the Sam Raimi-directed sequel stars returning cast Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Benedict Wong (Wong), Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Mordo), as well as the addition of Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff) and newcomer Xochitl Gomez who will portray America Chavez, a new fan-favorite from the comics.  The Marvel Studios adventure, set to debut in theaters March 25, 2022, will connect the events of next month’s WandaVision, the original new series debuting on Disney+, and the upcoming Spider-Man film.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (Film, Scheduled for May 6, 2022)

With Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), and Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) returning to their roles, they will be joined by Christian Bale, who will portray the villain Gorr the God Butcher.  The fourth film in the Thor franchise, Waititi previously revealed, "When we were shooting Ragnarok, I was reading one storyline by Jason Aaron, called THE MIGHTY THOR. And for those of you that don't know that storyline, it's incredible and full of emotion and love and thunder. And it introduces, for the first time, a female Thor,” confirming that Jane Foster, played by Portman, will become the Mighty Thor, Goddess of Thunder.

BLACK PANTHER II (Film, Scheduled for July 8, 2022)

Marvel Studios’ Black Panther 2 will continue to honor the legacy of Chadwick Boseman and his portrayal of King T’Challa, and will not recast the character. The sequel will continue to explore the incomparable world of Wakanda and all of the rich and varied characters introduced in the first film.  Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, who was behind Black Panther, the film will be released on July 8, 2022.

CAPTAIN MARVEL 2 (Film, Scheduled for November 11, 2022)

Returning to her role as Carol Danvers in Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel 2, Brie Larson will be joined by Iman Vellani, who makes her debut as Ms. Marvel in the Disney+ series of the same name. Additionally, joining the cast is Teyonah Parris, who portrays grown-up Monica Rambeau — a character introduced as a child in Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel — in Marvel Studios’ WandaVision.  The film, directed by Nia DaCosta, is slated to open November 11, 2022.

THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY HOLIDAY SPECIAL (Disney+, Premieres December 2022)

A ragtag bunch of misfits. The holidays. James Gunn. Do we really need to say anything else?  Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to write and direct The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special for Disney+!  Before Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot hit the big screen with the next Guardians of the Galaxy film in 2023, watch the Guardians engage in some spirited shenanigans in an all-new original special, created for Disney+, during the 2022 holiday season.

SHE-HULK (Disney+, Premiere Date TBD)

It’s time to dive into the world of superhuman-oriented legal cases with Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk, a brand new comedy series coming to Disney+. Tatiana Maslany stars in the show as Jennifer Walters — a.k.a. She-Hulk — a lawyer who specializes in this specific kind of legal case.  Additionally, the show will welcome a bevy of different Marvel characters to the series, including the Hulk, once again played by Mark Ruffalo, along with the Abomination, with Tim Roth returning to the role.  She-Hulk is directed by Kat Coiro and Anu Valia, with Jessica Gao serving as head writer.

MOON KNIGHT (Disney+, Premiere Date TBD)

The Marvel Studios original series for Disney+ centers on the character Marc Spector a.k.a. Moon Knight, a complex vigilante who suffers from dissociative identity disorder. These multiple identities who live inside him are distinct characters in the series and will appear against a backdrop of Egyptian iconography.  The action-adventure Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight series, created for Disney+, is directed by Mohamed Diab.

SECRET INVASION (Disney+, Premiere Date TBD)

They might have gotten off to a rocky start in Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel, but now Nick Fury and Talos are back!  Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion, a new series coming to Disney+, has Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn reprising their roles as the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director and Skrull, respectively.  The crossover comic event series showcases a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls who have been infiltrating Earth for years.

IRONHEART (Disney+, Premiere Date TBD)

Marvel Studios’ Ironheart stars Dominique Thorne as genius inventor Riri Williams who creates the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man himself, Tony Stark.

ARMOR WARS (Disney+, Premiere Date TBD)

What happens if Tony Stark’s tech falls into the wrong hands? Find out in the newly announced series, Marvel Studios’ Armor Wars, coming to Disney+.  Don Cheadle returns to the role as James Rhodes — aka War Machine —  who must face these tech consequences in this classic Marvel story.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA (Film, Release Date TBD)

It’s a family affair! Kathryn Newton joins the cast of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania as Cassie Lang, the daughter of Scott Lang. Paul Rudd reprises his role as Ant-Man, alongside Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne/Wasp. Joining them are returning cast members Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne — aka, Hope’s parents.  Additionally, Jonathan Majors will portray Kang the Conqueror, with three-time repeat Ant-Man director Peyton Reed returning behind the camera.

FANTASTIC FOUR (Film, Release Date TBD)

Make way for Marvel’s First Family — Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), Johnny Storm (Human Torch) and Ben Grimm (The Thing)!  Closing out The Walt Disney Company’s Investor Day presentation, Kevin Feige revealed the studio will bring one of Marvel’s most iconic families to the big screen with the release of Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four! Spider-Man veteran Jon Watts is on board to direct.

MOON KNIGHT Casts Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector

 
Marvel has found their Fist of Khonshu.

Deadline is reporting that the upcoming Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe series Moon Knight, based on the Marvel Comics superhero, has cast Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector...a.k.a. Jake Lockley...a.k.a. Steven Grant...a.k.a. Moon Knight.

According to the article, Isaac is currently in negotiations to star in the series, which will be overseen by Jeremy Slater, who developed and wrote Netflix’s adaptation of The Umbrella Academy from Dark Horse Comics.

Isaac, 41, is a Guatemalan-American actor best known as the pilot Poe Dameron in the Star Wars films The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.  He also played the Marvel supervillain Apocalypse in the film X-Men: Apocalypse, and will be appearing as Duke Leto Atreides in the 2021 adaptation of Dune.  In addition, he voiced Spider-Man 2099 in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and has appeared in the films The Addams Family (2019), Life Itself, Annihilation, Ex Machina, The Bourne Legacy, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Robin Hood (2010).

Created in 1975 by Doug Moench and Don Perlin, Moon Knight first appeared in Werewolf by Night #32 as a villain hired by the Committee to capture Jack Russell, the Werewolf.  He found out that the Committee wanted to use the Werewolf as a weapon and helped the Werewolf escape, briefly fighting alongside him.

After being recast as a hero, Moon Knight received a full origin and his own ongoing series.  Born in Chicago, Illinois, Marc Spector was a Jewish-American rabbi's wayward son, who, as an adult, had been a heavyweight boxer before becoming a U.S. Marine serving in Force Recon.  Afterward, he left the Marines to become a mercenary occasionally doing work for the CIA.  As a mercenary, he befriended the French pilot Jean-Paul DuChamp, whom he affectionately called "Frenchie".  

While working for the African mercenary Raoul Bushman in Egypt, the group stumbled upon an archaeological dig whose crew included Dr. Peter Alraune and his daughter Marlene Alraune.  The dig had uncovered an ancient temple, where artifacts included a statue of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Intent on looting the dig, Bushman killed Dr. Alraune.  In response to Alraune's murder, Spector challenged Bushman to personal combat but was defeated by Bushman and left to die in the sub-zero temperatures of the desert night.  The Egyptians who worshipped the ancient gods found Spector and carried him to their temple.  Helpless before the statue of Khonshu, Spector's heart stopped.  Khonshu appeared to him in a vision, offering Spector a second chance at life if he became the god's avatar on Earth.  Spector awakened, wrapped himself in the silver shroud that covered Khonshu's statue, and again confronted Bushman. This time, he defeated Bushman and returned to America with Marlene, Frenchie, and the statue of Khonshu.  Deciding to become a crimefighter, Spector created a silver cloaked costume, based on the silver shroud, and became Moon Knight, "The Fist of Khonshu".

After his return to the United States, Spector invested the money he had accumulated as a mercenary and developed a small fortune.  To distance himself from his mercenary past, he created the identity of millionaire entrepreneur Steven Grant, using this identity to purchase a spacious estate.  To remain in contact with the street and criminal element, he also created the identity of taxicab driver Jake Lockley and has acquired civilian allies such as Bertrand Crawley, Gena Landers, and her sons.  His origin of being "created by The Committee" was explained as a ruse set up by Frenchie so that Marc could shut the Committee down.  Over time, Spector was revealed to suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), with his various identities actually becoming alternate personas.

Isaac will be the first actor to portray Moon Knight in live-action, although the character has appeared in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man (voiced by Diedrich Bader), Avengers Assemble (voiced by Gideon Emery), and Spider-Man (2017) (voiced by Peter Giles).

Moon Knight is currently expected to premiere on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

DAMN Good Comics -- MOON KNIGHT #1

"I've died before.  It was boring, so I stood up."

 

I know what you're thinking -- Another Moon Knight #1?  Really?  What is this, volume 7?  Yeah, it's another Moon Knight series, with another take on the Fist of Khonshu from another completely different angle.  But the thing is, unlike so many of the others, this approach actually works.

 

A couple of years back, writer Warren Ellis wrote an incredible six issues of Marvel's Secret Avengers series, giving us stories far better than a superfluous Avengers book deserved.  One of those stories, "Aniana" from Secret Avengers #19, featured Moon Knight wearing a tailored white suit and mask instead of his traditional superhero costume and coming off more insanely cool than ever before.

 

Well, Marvel and Ellis must've loved the idea, because Marc Spector is rocking the white suit once again (Does he shop at the same men's store as Planetary's Elijah Snow?) in a new ongoing series, with art by Declan Shalvey.  Instead of wiping the slate clean as you might expect, the book is a subtle continuation of previous Moon Knight incarnations, including previous runs by Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev, and Charlie Huston and David Finch.  And for old-school Moon Knight fans, Ellis even brings back characters like Joy Mercado and Detective Flint.

 

This first issue brings the character back home to New York (after Bendis' series set in Los Angeles), a location Ellis seems to know well after his recent novel Gun Machine.  Instead of flying around in moon-shaped helicopter, however, Marc now rides in the back of a white limousine, driven by a computer named Driver.  Oh, and he and Detective Flint now have an arrangement where "Mr. Knight, a concerned citizen," is able to assist the NYPD without them being forced to arrest a dangerous vigilante.  If you've ever wondered what a Batman series written by Warren Ellis would be like, Merry Christmas.

 

Shalvey's art feels a bit sketchy in places and may depend on your personal taste, but there are some incredible visuals here that add considerable impact to Ellis' script.  There's a particularly effective sequence where Moon Knight parks his limo over a sewer manhole and climbs down at least three levels of underground tunnels.  I'm not exactly sure how he manages to keep his suit so pristinely white in the process, but hey, it's comics and sometimes you just have to roll with that sort of thing.

 

Ellis caps off the issue with some intriguing revelations about Marc's presumed Dissociative Identity Disorder and how it may be something else entirely...unless, of course, Marc is actually hallucinating these revelations and it's just yet another example of his mental instability.  This book is going to be one hell of a ride that could take us practically anywhere, so here's hoping Ellis is in this for the long run.

 

DAMN Good Comics -- SECRET AVENGERS #16

You know, for a guy who supposedly thinks superheroes are silly, Warren Ellis seems to be really good at writing them.

In a week dominated by the ending of the Post-Crisis DC Universe and the launch of the new Post-Flashpoint DC Universe, it's interesting that Marvel managed to sneak in and release such an attention-grabbing issue of Secret Avengers by Ellis and artist Jamie McKelvie.  This thankfully self-contained story, "Subland Empire," comes off like the illegitimate offspring of The Avengers and Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary and we're all better off for it.

With a scaled-down team consisting of Steve Rogers, the Black Widow, the Beast and Moon Knight, Ellis throws out an insane amount of big ideas like he just reached into a bag of Lay's potato chips and casually flung them all over the floor.  This issue features nothing less than a secret city over a mile under Cincinnati, Ohio, time-travel emissions named Von Doom radiation after Doctor Doom's time platform, atomic-powered Cadillacs, guns that fire flechettes that dissolve within a few minutes to become untraceable, using a city-sized time platform to turn Cincinnati into a bomb that can be dropped onto other cities, and turning said atomic-powered Cadillac into a neutron bomb to destroy said city-sized time platform.  As ridiculous and impossible as such concepts may be, they're exactly what makes for great superhero comics.

One of my favorite things about this issue had to be the Beast's explanation that a time machine also has to be a space machine.  Ellis, through the Beast, very astutely points out that as we move forward through time, we also move forward in space as Earth revolves and orbits around the sun.  Therefore, in order to go back in time, you also have to calculate where your target will be positioned at that time in the past or the future.  Otherwise, as the Beast remarks, "you would materialize in deep space and be dead in thirty seconds."  A lot of time-travel writers, especially in comics, never seem to think about this rather obvious necessity and after reading this, you're probably going to be very annoyed whenever some other writer drops the ball in this regard.  Welcome to my wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey world.

As for the art, Jamie McKelvie produces some clean, distinct artwork that complements Ellis' script nicely in a way very similar to John Cassaday.  The two-page spread of Moon Knight soaring above the underground cityscape is particularly stunning and McKelvie's action sequences are very stylish and cinematic.  I was a bit disappointed to learn that McKelvie is only one of a rotating series of artists, but if the talented scheduled roster can keep up the high standard set here then Ellis' Secret Avengers run, however long it turns out to be, should be a genuine highlight every month.