Is Spider-man About To Join The Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Word this week is that there has been talks between Sony and Disney about possibly bringing Spider-man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I reported last week that Disney and Fox, who own X-men and Fantastic Four movie rights, are at war with each other and we wont see those franchises come to any Disney/Marvel productions any time soon. But Sony and Disney have always had a good relationship and continue to do so and there is a strong possibility that we will see Spider-man at some point in an Avengers movie.
This was reported by Hitflix.com:
While I can’t get the confirmations I need to verify the story, I’m hearing that there are some very cool “Spider-man” plans being discussed that would help Sony refocus their enormously important franchise while also opening up some connections in the onscreen Marvel movie universe that would blow fandom’s minds. Will it work out? I don’t know. I would love to be able to state for sure that it’s happening. What seems clear from what I’ve heard is that Marvel wants to be able to play with all of their characters, and if they can make that work creatively and on a corporate level, they will, and that means the world gets bigger again.
This year Sony released Amazing Spider-man 2, and although it was profitable for Sony, it was the worst performing Spider-man movie in the franchise’s history. This caused Sony to postpone the sequel and reconsider the future of the Spider-man franchise. Financially, Sony is not doing well and for the last few years have been reporting an operating loss for their company, which prior to this has never happened before for the company. Sony has gotten out of the cell phone business (Erickson) and computer business (VAIO) and other than the Spider-man franchise, their movie business has not been doing well either. Disney may not own the production rights to the Spider-man movies, but they own all of the merchandising licensees, which means Sony’s is just making profit from the movie distribution.
Originally Disney/Marvel were going to have Oscorp Tower, that was in the first Amazing Spider-man movie, in The Avengers movie as a cross promotion for both films, but Sony was unable to meet the deadline to submit the design before final editing of The Avengers was completed.
It is feasible that a deal can be struck where Sony will have Spider-man in Avengers 3 and that Disney may coproduce Amazing Spider-man 3. There definitely have been talks with Disney and Sony and without a doubt, Disney does want to get Marvel’s most popular character to be part of their Marvel Cinematic Universe.
First Official Image Of Daredevil Released
Marvel. com has released the first official image of actor Charlie Cox (Stardust, Boardwalk Empire) as Daredevil, which will be an ongoing series on Netfilx. I’m pretty sure this is just his first costume that he uses before he dons the traditional red costume (well, I hope so).
Here is the official synopsis for the Netflix Daredevil series:
“Marvel’s Daredevil” follows the journey of Matt Murdock, who was blinded as a young boy but imbued with extraordinary senses, now fighting against injustice by day as a lawyer, and by night as the super hero Daredevil in modern day Hell’s Kitchen, New York City.
Back in 1979, Frank Miller began writing for Daredevil and infused some new life into the Daredevil legend. One of Miller’s stories, Daredevil: Born Again, is one of my favorite story lines of all time and tells a very dark story in which Daredevil’s identity is revealed to the public and how it affects his life and the lives of those closest to him. Born Again was published shortly after the Frank Miller story that forever changed comics and was responsible for bringing comic book movies into our culture, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986). The Dark Knight Returns comic heavily influenced Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and to me was the most influential comic ever written. The Dark Knight Returns turned Batman into the Dark Knight, who no longer played by his old rules and truly became a dark and menacing figure, no longer the Adam West Batman but a dark hero that criminals feared. Miller’s gritty and film noir writing style first originated with Daredevil. Back in the day, Daredevil was nowhere near as popular as Batman, but if he was, it’s possible Daredevil would have been what Batman is to most people today.
Matt Murdock, Daredevil’s secret identity:
Daredevil’s Netflix costume (center) is heavily inspired by comic book artist, John Romita Jr. (left). I’m sure we will see Frank Miller’s classic design (right) in the series:
Official Daredevil logo:
Marvel’s Daredevil is an upcoming live-action American television series developed by Drew Goddard, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It will be produced by Marvel Television and ABC Studios, distributed via the streaming service Netflix, and will be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It is the first in a series of shows that will lead up to a Defenders miniseries. Charlie Cox stars as Daredevil, The Man Without Fear. All episodes are set to premiere in May 2015.
Keanu Reeves Now Added To The List Of Potential Doctor Strange Candidates
Never thought of Keanu Reeves for Doctor Strange but he does have the look. Not sure about the voice though, keep thinking of Ted Theodore Logan. Now that Joaquin Phoenix is out of the running, along with Reeves as a potential candidate, are Benedict Cumberbatch, Jared Leto, Tom Hardy and Ethan Hawke.
Reeves recently spoke to Collider.com about possibly playing Dr. Strange:
From a practical standpoint the idea of a longtime contract is sort of “errr” because you want to make sure the material is up to a certain level. Like the good or great level. I like the idea. I go to those kinds of movies. I grew up on them and comics and graphic novels. [But] I didn’t know Doctor Strange as a character, I didn’t read that as a kid. I’m gonna have to read it. I remember reading something… who’s going to play Doctor Strange? Would I be good for the role?
Disney Vs. Fox: Round 2
Last week I reported that Disney and Marvel are cancelling the production of all Fantastic Four comic books just prior to the release of next year’s Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot. This is likely being done so that no free promotion will be provided for the Fantastic Four movie. ComicBook.com was at this year’s New York Comic Con convention this past weekend and took a photo of 2015’s newest X-Men story line called “No More Mutants”. Is the same strategy that Disney/Marvel used for the Fantastic Four movie being applied to the Wolverine and X-Men Franchises? It does make you wonder. Wolverine is also being killed off in the comics this month and not expected to return until sometime in 2016. (No one dies forever in comics)
So how much credence is there to this story? Well there are some points to consider. The next X-Men movie, X-Men: Age Of Apocalypse will not be released until 2016 and the next Wolverine sequel will be released some time in 2017. So as far as hurting the movie franchises, if that was the case, I think they would kill them off later rather than sooner.
That’s it for this week!