Guardians of the Galaxy (News)

Pom Klementieff was cast in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. There were no details on the character given at the time, but now thanks to Deadline, we do know who she'll be playing. According to the report, she will be taking on the role of Mantis.

Mantis was created by Steve Englehart and Don Heck, and she first appeared in Avengers #112 in 1973. Mantis is the half-Vietnamese, half-German daughter of the antihero Libra, and a martial arts expert with psychic abilities and ties to the alien Kree race. She also has a connection to the Avengers and Thanos in the comics. I'm not sure if those connections will be utilized in the MCU, but there's obviously a possibility. As far as her powers and abilities go, here's some information from Marvel:

"The powers she adapted from the Cotati enabled her to communicate telepathically with plants, survive in space, and transfer herself (and her son) from plant life to plant life across interstellar distances or interdimensionally. Once reborn, she could fire powerful energy blasts, form energy fields, communicate directly with cosmic beings such as Eternity and Death, and gained complete control of her personal energies as well as her physical form. Her mind, a human/plant hybrid, is largely immune to mental or metaphysical assault, and her physical durability is greatly enhanced. She can achieve a meditative state in which she is largely immune to physical, mental or spiritual harm. She also seems to have limited powers of flight, though it is possible these function only in the vacuum of space.

"Through training with the Priests of Pama, Mantis attained "complete control" over her body, achieving peak human agility, the ability to accelerate her recuperative powers through force of will, and an empathic nature enabling her to sense the emotions of others as "psychic vibrations." Her mastery of the Priests' martial arts, which focus on manipulation of nerve endings and pressure points, has enabled her to knock out beings as powerful as Thor."

Guardians of the Galaxy is set to be released on May 5th 2017

Jessica Jones Trailer Officially Released

Jessica Jones Trailer Officially Released

After multiple teaser trailers, Marvel revealed when we would get the official trailer for Jessica Jones. That day is finally here. Marvel and Netflix have released an official trailer for the highly anticipated series. The trailer offers us the first glance at Jessica's (Krysten Ritter) train-wreck of a life and her journey to save everyone, including herself, in it. Supporting characters aside, we also get to see for the very first time the third Defender of the series, Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and the much awaited villain, Kilgrave (David Tennant).

All 13 episodes of Jessica Jones will debut exclusively on Netflix on November 20th

Thor: Ragnarok (News)

The God of Thunder is heading to Australia for Thor: Ragnarok next year.

While Marvel only just now confirmed the reports, Thor actor Chris Hemsworth recorded a message thanking the Australian government for allowing the production on Ragnarok to take place in Australia, expressing his excitement at heading home for the filming of the next Thor installment.


The third Thor film, which is set to be directed by Taika Waititi, will enter pre-production in January before going on to film in June. While Marvel hasn't revealed much concerning Thor: Ragnarok thus far, we do know that Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Jaimie Alexander (Lady Sif) will return, while Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Hulk) will make his debut in his first MCU film outside of the Avengers franchise.

Below is the full press release from Marvel:

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk met with Marvel executives in June in Los Angeles and, through Screen Queensland, worked tirelessly to ensure Queensland was the production destination of choice.
“This is a huge win for Queensland and I am thrilled that Thor will be filming exclusively in our state,” Ms. Palaszczuk said.
“As our economy diversifies, Queensland is demonstrating its strength as a lead destination for filmmakers both internationally and locally, and my government is doing what it can to ensure that Queensland remains a global hub for the screen sector.
“The production will spend more than $100 million AUD in Queensland and will employ over 750 Queensland crew.”
“Queensland offers an amazing and diverse backdrop for 'Thor: Ragnarok' and we are very excited to bring this film to such an incredible locale. Marvel Studios would like to thank the Queensland Government for helping to make this a reality,” said Louis D’Esposito, Co-President of Marvel Studios.
The studio will film at many locations throughout Queensland including scenes at Village Roadshow Studios at the Gold Coast.
The first two films in the Thor series--"Thor," released in 2011, and "Thor: The Dark World," released in 2013--earned more than $1 billion USD at the global box office.

 Thor: Ragnarok is set to be released on November 17th 2017

Marvel Just Made To Its Phase 3 Plans And Beyond

Marvel’s Phase Three is only seven months away from starting, but the studio is still making changes to their upcoming slate of films. The Phase Three movies were first announced almost this time last year, ranging from Captain America: Civil War to Inhumans.

It was announced today that Ant-Man and The Wasp will arrive in theaters in 2018, three years after Ant-Man’s release.

The biggest changes we can expect from Phase Three starting in 2018 and even some hints about what’s in store after 2019.

Ant-Man And The Wasp Arrives in Phase 3

It may not have set any big records at the box office, but Ant-Man was a critical and commercial success this past summer. So it’s no surprise that Marvel wanted to get a sequel out as soon as possible. However, rather than simply have Paul Rudd playing Scott Lang as the main lead again, he’ll costar alongside Evangeline Lilly’s Hope van Dyne in Ant-Man and The Wasp on July 6, 2018.

 

Black Panther's Solo Adventure Will Happen Before Infinity War Part I

When Marvel originally announced the Phase Three film slate, Black Panther was slated to be released on November 3, 2017, making it the last Marvel movie before Avengers: Infinity War Part I. Then the Marvel/Sony Spider-Man deal happened, and Black Panther was moved to July 6, 2018 in order to make room for the Web-Slinger’s new solo movie. That would have placed it right after Part I. With Ant-Man and The Wasp now on the docket, Marvel opted not to move Black Panther down the schedule, but instead release it earlier on February 16, 2018.

Captain Marvel Has Been Bumped

Ant-Man and The Wasp’s announcement may have helped Black Panther, but the same can’t be said for Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel. Originally her solo movie was to be released on July 6, 2018, but after the new Spider-Man movie was added, it was moved to November 2, 2018. Now thanks to this new scheduling change, Captain Marvel has been vacated from 2018 and will now come out on March 8, 2019, only two months before Avengers: Infinity War Part II.

Phase Four Already Has Three Planned Adventures Underway

Marvel also gave us an insight into what lies beyond 2019 in the MCU. Three new movies will arrive on May 1, 2020, July 10, 2020, and November 6, 2020, respectively. Unfortunately, no titles were provided, leaving it anyone’s guess which heroes(s) will lead these projects. However, until Marvel says otherwise, it looks like these will be the movies that kick off Phase Four. 

New Marvel TV Series

Ben Karlin, former executive producer of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, is developing a new show called Damage Control for Marvel TV, and ABC has just given it a pilot order.

The half-hour live action comedy will follow the clean-up crew of the Marvel universe. Deadline describes them like this:

Specializing in dealing with the aftermath of the unique fallout from superhero conflicts, they’re the ones who are in charge of returning lost ray guns to their rightful owners, help to reschedule a wedding venue after it has been vaporized in a superhero battle, or even track down a missing prize African parrot that’s been turned to stone or goo.

The team has never had their own ongoing comic book, but has appeared often in Marvel stories since the late '80s, including making an appearance in Civil War (though they won't be in the film adaptation). You can read more about them here.

Doctor Strange (News)

With Captain America: Civil War now in post-production, the focus for Marvel Studios has turned to Doctor Strange. Director Scott Derrickson has been scouting London for locations for filming with production set to start in November.

Head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, is a big fan of Doctor Strange, maybe even more than their other characters, a fact that he's reiterated time and time again. He has been doing some interviews leading up to Avengers: Age of Ultron hitting store shelves and has already touched on the bigger picture of Phase 3, crossover potential between shows and movies, and when Captain Marvel will be cast.

Now, thanks to IGN, he has opened up a bit more about Doctor Strange. He was first asked about the notion of not doing origin stories for their movies and makes it seem as though we will in fact see an origin story for the sorcerer.

For some reason people sometimes talked about how we're not doing an origin story, we're bored of origin stories. I think people are bored of origin stories they've seen before or origin stories that are overly familiar. Doctor Strange has one of the best, most classic, most unique origin stories of any hero we have, so why wouldn't we do that? That was sort of always the plan. How you tell that origin, perhaps there are ways to twist it or play with that, but for the most part, it's a gift when the comics have something with such clarity of story and of character. That doesn't always happen in the comics, and when it does, you use it.

The question of who the audience will follow through the various dimensions we see also came up, and while Strange will be the one we focus on, there is another person who will serve that role as well. That person will be the mystery character Rachel McAdams is playing.

She plays a very, very big part in the movie and represents a certain point of view of the worlds that we experience in that movie, but Doctor Strange, without a doubt, is the character we follow through the movie.

Moving onto The Ancient One, who will be played by Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, Feige talked about the possibility of Swinton approaching the role ambiguously, something Swinton herself has commented on before.

We get an amazing actress to play an amazing character, and do it in a way that's very unique and doesn't fall into any outdated stereotypes that sometimes pop up in the comics from years past. It's funny you ask 'Will Tilda Swinton be playing a woman?' and you ask it because she does an amazing job of being sort of ambiguous in terms of gender. I think you'll see us playing it in ways that she's played other characters that way. Clearly she's a woman, but it is very ambiguous in her portrayal.

Doctor Strange is set to be released on November 4^th 2016