Movies

Marvel Rumored to Have Cast Female Villain for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2’

As notorious misogynist Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter becomes a distant memory at Marvel Studios, studio chief Kevin Feige is rapidly adding women left and right to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From elevating the Wasp to headliner status, to pushing the Captain Marvel movie to made and a rumored Black Widow film in early pre-production, it seems clear that the MCU will have a lot more women in it now that Perlmutter no longer has a say.

After the debacle of Iron Man 3 director Shane Black revealing that “Marvel corporate” vetoed his female villain for the film over a fear of lost toy sales, it was easy to wonder how deep the anti-woman sentiment ran at the House of Ideas. As if to answer, it has been leaked that the main villain for the anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy 2 will be female.

Kismet
Kismet

According to Joblo, Elizabeth Debicki, from The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Great Gatsby and The Night Manager has been cast as Ayesha a.k.a. Kismet a.k.a. Paragon a.k.a. Her — a being of immense power and dubious motivations.

A group of renegade scientists called the Enclave attempted to create genetically perfect humans to repopulate the Earth. Their first attempt was “Him,” a creature that rebelled and eventually became the cosmically powered hero Adam Warlock. Their second attempt at genetic perfection was “Her” a being that also rebelled and took to the stars to find Warlock, believing him to be her perfect mate.

In the comics, Ayesha is able to manipulate cosmic energies — giving her incredible powers that can even stop the Hulk.

Debicki joins the original Guardians, plus newcomers Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Chris Sullivan as Taserface and Tommy Flanagan as Tullk. Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell have also been cast, and there is virtually no doubt that one of them will be playing Starlord’s alien absentee father — a plot thread left dangling by the first movie.

Don’t be surprised if that father turns out to be … Adam Warlock.

Brie Larson Has Reportedly Entered Talks to Play Captain Marvel

Academy Award winning actress Brie Larson (The Room, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) has reportedly moved into frontrunner status for the role of Carol Danvers a.k.a. “Captain Marvel.”

Brie Larson as "Envy Adams"
Brie Larson as “Envy Adams”

While it is unknown where they are in the negotiating process, industry sources have told Variety that Larson is now Marvel’s first choice to play the cosmic Avenger, and they are fully focused on landing her for the role.

Captain Marvel will be Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie. The plot will follow the exploits of Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot whose body is permeated with “Kree” DNA when an alien doomsday machine explodes. The resulting mutation gives her the power of flight, superhuman strength and durability, and the ability to absorb and project energy.

Captain Marvel - art by Jaimie McKelvie
Captain Marvel – art by Jamie McKelvie

While the Captain Marvel film will not debut until 2018, chances are looking high that the character will be introduced sooner than that — likely during the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War Part I if not earlier.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige had previously announced that both casting and a director for Captain Marvel would be announced “within the next few months.” It is unknown who Marvel is pursuing to direct the movie, although they have indicated that the eventual selection will be a woman.

The film does have two excellent writers attached. Nicole Perlman, the original writer of Guardians of the Galaxy and Meg LeFauve, a Pixar writer on Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur.

Larson is known to comic fans for playing the scenery-chewing “Envy Adams” in the cult comic-book classic Scott Pilgrim vs the World. She also just accepted the Academy Awards for Best Actress for the indie drama Room and has also signed on to star in the tentpole movie Kong: Skull Island.

If Larson is cast, it will end years of speculation on who might get the role. Almost every actress under 40 in Hollywood has been rumored to be up for the part. Including Katee Sackhoff, Rebecca Ferguson, Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie and Kathryn Winnick.

Captain Marvel hits theaters on July 6, 2018.

The Fans That “Respect the Original Ghostbusters So Much” Just Turned on Ghostbusters Creator Dan Aykroyd

Unlike the vast majority of people offering opinions on the film, original Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd has actually seen the new Ghostbusters, and he thinks it’s great.

His full statement from WhoSay:

As originator of the original: Saw test screening of new movie. Apart from brilliant, genuine performances from the cast both female and male, it has more laughs and more scares than the first 2 films plus Bill Murray is in it! As one of millions of man-fans and Ray Stantz, I’m paying to see that and bringing all my friends!

This is the man who actually conceived of the entire concept of the Ghostbusters and wrote the first draft of the original script. A man who played Ray Stantz, “the heart of the Ghostbusters” in the 1984 classic. So the fans who love that movie so much that they want to destroy the remake sight unseen, processed this new information from their childhood hero and adjusted their opinions.

Just kidding, they acted like the woman-hating man-babies that they are and immediately began attacking Aykroyd and redoubled their hatred of the film.

Things started off on a respectful note.

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This gentleman was concerned about the new movie’s role in the government conspiracy to “destroy white men.” That seems rational.

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For those not concerned about the government plot to make caucasian males feel bad about themselves, the studio plot to pay people to say nice things about the movie was a common concern. (Although, a quick peek at his profile shows that he is also concerned about the plot against men.)

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The good thing was that the commenters were able to keep things in perspective when talking about a slapstick comedy from 30 years ago.

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When all else failed, they questioned Aykroyd’s sanity and implied that he was washed up.

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So we finally settled the real question: The self-proclaimed defenders of the original Ghostbusters hate women far more than they respect the original. I guess there really wasn’t much doubt about that.

The new Ghostbusters opens on July 15, 2016, and none of these basement dwellers will be there — that’s an extra enticement to see the movie.

Miles Morales Rumored to Star in His Own Animated Movie

One of superhero project that has been floating under mos people’s radar is an animated Spider-Man movie in development at Sony. Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie) the animated Spider-Man movie was announced by Tom Rothman, chairman of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group at last year’s Cinemacon.

When he announced the movie, Rothman made it clear that it would not tie into the live-action Spider-Man, who is now a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film will exist independently of the projects in the live-action Spider-Man universe, all of which are continuing.

So the animated Spider-Man would not be the same Spider-Man that Tom Holland is portraying in the live action movie. Now Hollywood Heroes is reporting that the animated Spider-Man will not be Peter Parker, but Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man instead.

Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man

After Peter Parker died in the Ultimate Universe, Miles Morales,  a half-black, half-Puerto Rican teen was bit by another radioactive spider that was developed in an attempt to recreate Parker’s powers. Taking up the mantle of Spider-Man, Morales became New York’s protector.

Writer Brian Michael Bendis was inspired to create the character om Morales by his own mixed-race family and the campaign to get Sony to cast African-American actor Donald Glover as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man movie. Although it ultimately failed, the campaign culminated in Glover wearing Spider-an pajamas on an episode of Community.

Bendis said of Glover, “I saw him in the costume and thought, ‘I would like to read that book.’ So I was glad I was writing that book.”

Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso also cited the election of Barack Obama, the first African-American president as a catalyst for the creation of Morales.

“When we were planning Ultimatum, we realized that we were standing at the brink of America electing its first African-American President and we acknowledged that maybe it was time to take a good look at one of our icons,” he said.

After the events of Secret Wars, Morales has found himself in the mainstream Marvel Universe, Earth-616, and has joined the Avengers.

 

How Does Wonder Woman’s $100 Million Budget Stack Up?

The Internet lit up yesterday after Melissa Silverstein, the Athena Film Festival creative director, announced that Wonder Woman was the first live-action film directed by a woman with a $100 million budget. That led to a flurry of articles on the ground breaking nature of the $100 million budget, then a new flurry of corrections once people realized that Kathryn Bigelow was given a $100 million budget for K-19 back in 2002.

This was taken as a sign that that female-led movies and female directors were being taken just as seriously as movies led by men. But are they? We decided to crunch some numbers.

For the sake of our comparison, we decided to group Wonder Woman in with other superhero films that either introduced or rebooted a character. We also limited our sample size to films made after Bryan Singer’s X-Men revived the genre in 2000.

So how does Wonder Woman‘s $100 million stack up to other modern superhero movies? Sadly, not very well.

Movie Budgets

Wonder Woman is the third leg of DC’s “Trinity.” She is the most well known female superhero in the world — on a par with Superman and Batman in terms of popularity. But the $100M budget she received was significantly less than Batman Begins ($150M) received 12 years earlier; and it is less than half what they allotted to reboot the Superman franchise with Superman Returns ($204M) or what they spent to reboot Superman again with Man of Steel ($225M).

Green Lantern ($200M) got twice as much money. Even R.I.P.D., the Ryan Reynolds supernatural comic-book fiasco was given a budget of $130M. In fact, Wonder Woman has been given the exact same budget as 2004’s Catwoman, a film that killed the idea of a female-fronted superhero movie for more than a decade.

Out of the 25 movies we surveyed, Wonder Woman ranked 20th in terms of budget. Only Daredevil, X-Men, Hellboy, Deadpool and Elektra were made for less. But the numbers get even worse when you adjust for inflation.

Movie Budgets. - adjusted

After taking inflation into consideration, X-Men and Daredevil both actually had larger budgets than Wonder Woman. leaving the Amazon in 22nd place instead of 20th. And the gap between Wonder Woman‘s budget and the budgets of other superhero films has grown even more pronounced.

Still, $100 million is serious money. Patti Jenkins is a serious director. And we have no reason to expect anything but excellence after Gal Gadot stole the show in Batman vs. Superman. But the budget that studios allot for these movies is a sign of how much faith they have in the project’s potential. And the $100M that Warner Bros. is betting on the most famous female superhero in the world is less than half what Marvel was willing to risk on an unknown talking raccoon two years ago.

Sources: The Numbers and Google

Valkyrie, Hela, Skurge and the Grandmaster Confirmed for ‘Thor: Ragnarok’

We got more information on the the third installment of the Thor franchise last week. Tessa Thompson and Cate Blanchett were confirmed as Hela and Valkyrie, respectively. And Karl Urban and Jeff Goldblum were added to the cast as Skurge and the Grandmaster. They join the already confirmed Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Idris Elba as Baldur, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Chris Hemsworth as the titular Thor.

That’s a lot of new information, but these characters are likely unfamiliar to the public unless you read Thor comics. So we’ve prepared a quick guide for each character to catch you up to speed. If you can’t follow all the crazy subplots — don’t worry. The backgrounds will undoubtedly be simplified for the movie.

Valkyrie

Valkyrie
Valkyrie

Valkyrie is the title given to the Asgardian Brunhilde. She was a woman chosen by Odin to lead  the Valkyrior, warrior maidens who brought the souls of the recently deceased to the afterlife in Valhalla. She wields a magic sword and is one of the fiercest combatants in Asgard — on par with Sif and bested only by Thor himself.

At times, Valkyrie has been a love interest for Thor, although she has not been used in that capacity for decades. Although Valkyrie herself is immortal, her soul was removed from her body and  placed into the human host of a wealthy socialite Samantha Parrington. In this form, Valkyrie joined the Defenders and fought strange menaces alongside Doctor Strange, the Hulk, Hellcat and others.

The current version of Valkyrie has reunited the mind and body of Brunhilde. She rides a winged horse named Aragorn and has been tasked with assembling a new group of Valkyrior — using women from Earth this time.

Valkyrie will be played by Tessa Thompson in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok.

Hela

Hela
Hela

Hela is the Marvel Universe version of the Norse goddess Hel. Hela was appointed as the goddess of death by Odin, and rules Niffleheim and Hel, the realms of the dead.  She is a frequent foe of Thor and Odin as she seeks to expand her realm into the lands of the living.

Matching the Norse myths, Hela is both a daughter of and a past love interest of various incarnations of Loki. As the goddess of death she wields immense mystical power, and she fully controls the fate of any who die in Asgard or worshiping the Asgardian pantheon.

Hela will be the first major female villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — a fact made more significant by the recent revelations that the female villain was excised from Iron Man 3 over fears of lost toy sales.

Hela will be played by Cate Blanchett in Thor: Ragnarok.

Skurge

Skurge and the Enchantress
Skurge and the Enchantress

Skurge is an Asgardian warrior who wields a double-bladed magic axe. He made a name for himself fighting storm giants to protect Asgard, taking the nickname “The Executioner.” In the comics, Skurge was deeply in love with Amora, the villain known as the Enchantress. She frequently used him as a pawn in her schemes, although she never truly loved him.

Originally portrayed as a simple supervillain, Skurge also often found himself allied with Loki and other villains. He has attempted to take over Earth, led an army of trolls against Asgard, among other crimes.

Although generally portrayed as a villain, Skurge died a hero, sacrificing himself in an attack on Hela’s forces, as he attempted to stave off Ragnarok, the Asgardian end of the world. Skurge was consigned to Hel, until Thor drank a toast to his memory, which made Hela realize that he belonged in the halls of Valhalla.

He was taken from Valhalla by the Grandmaster, who forced him to join his Legion of the Unliving and attack Asgard. Freed from the Grandmaster’s control, he fought Hela’s forces in Hel and once again earned the right for his soul to enter Valhalla — making Amora realize she truly loved him in the process.

Skurge will be played by Karl Urban in Thor: Ragnarok.

The Grandmaster

The Grandmaster
The Grandmaster

The Grandmaster is one of the ageless and immortal “Elders of the Universe,” along with his brother The Collector — portrayed by Benicio del Toro in Guardians of the Galaxy.  The Grandmaster is obsessed with and has mastered all forms of games of chance. He was a former wielder of the Mind Gem, one of the Infinity Stones coveted by Thanos. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that gem originally powered Loki’s scepter and is currently a part of the Vision.

The Grandmaster is a being of almost unfathomable power. He has frequently engaged in games of chance — using Earth’s Heroes as pawns — with other cosmic beings including his brother and even the cosmic incarnation of Death. The heroes are generally forced to fight villains or each other for the entertainment of the Grandmaster and his foe. The heroes have defeated him by winning his games — occasionally cheating to get the desired outcome.

After besting Death, The Grandmaster and his brothers were banished from her realm, making them effectively immortal. They attempted to destroy Galactus and with him the entire universe, reasoning that since they cannot die, they would live to control and manipulate the next universe. They were defeated by Galactus and the Silver Surfer.

Based on Benicio del Toro’s portrayal of The Collector, the Elders of the Universe are significantly less powerful in the MCU, but still formidable opponents.

The Grandmaster will be played by Jeff Goldblum in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok.

New Margot Robbie Harley Quinn Movie Enters Pre-Production

Batgirl #29 variant - Cliff Chiang
Batgirl #39 variant – Cliff Chiang

Months before Suicide Squad has even opened, Warner Bros. is so confident than Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn will be a breakout star, that they’ve given the actress a chance to reprise the role in an untitled project that she will also produce, according to an article in The Hollywood Reporter.

What is even more interesting is that the project will not be a Harley Quinn solo movie. Rather, it will focus on a number of DC’s female heroes and villains. Names being thrown around include Batgirl and the Birds of Prey.

Birds of Prey
Birds of Prey

Robbie is the driving force behind the movie, according to sources. She dove deep into DC comics lore to prepare for her role as Harley and fell in love with the female heroes and villains. She pitched the idea of a female-driven superhero film to Warner Bros. brass and got the go-ahead based on the strength of her performance in Suicide Squad.

Robbie has brought in an unnamed mystery writer who is currently penning the script, and she is reportedly very excited to bring more of DC’s deeps stable of female characters to the big screen.