MarvelBlog News for July 27, 2020

The first-ever Comic-Con@Home event has ended.

During the event, we learned several interesting tidbits about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel in general.

Also, a titillating rumor popped up that makes a lot of sense.

We have much to discuss in the latest edition of MarvelBlog News.

The New Mutants Are Coming!

You know how you’ll hang out with a friend, and they say that they’re going to do something that sounds insane?

You’re not quite sure how to react or what to say, but every instinct tells you to talk them out of it.

Well, that’s how many people felt when The New Mutants took center stage at Comic-Con@Home and swore that the movie would keep its release date.

Marvel announced it around the same time that Disney delayed Mulan, which is the logical thing to do for all remaining 2020 releases.

So, we’re getting a bit of a mixed message here. Disney owns Marvel, yet one August release got delayed indefinitely. The other will come out soon.

No, that doesn’t make much sense, but that’s Hollywood for you.

Comic-Con has posted the full 30-minute panel for The New Mutants, which you can watch:

At a minimum, you should skip to the 24-minute mark, which shows the entire introductory scene from The New Mutants.

The flaw with an August theatrical release stems from external sources.

The three largest theater chains in North America all recently delayed their reopening dates.

We’re facing a situation where most movie theaters might open on the date when The New Mutants comes out, August 28.

I’m allowing for the possibility that Disney has a grand plan here. The company has generated a lot of buzz for the film this week.

If theaters aren’t open, the company could release The New Mutants on Hulu or Disney+, and it would receive more attention based on these events.

Plus, Disney could pretend like the movie theater chains were the ones who prevented the release of The New Mutants.

Or maybe this film will become the first major movie release after the pandemic. We’ll know soon!

Other Marvel Panels

I’d previously opined that Disney may sit out Comic-Con@Home, at least with blockbuster reveals.

That’s mostly what happened. Marvel hosted the events that it had announced, but none of them would qualify as earth-shattering.

During one panel, the company unveiled some footage from its upcoming Disney+ series, Marvel’s 616.

One of them recounts the story of how two women created Kamala Khan, the new Ms. Marvel. You can watch it here:

The full documentary series will debut later this year. You can watch the entire panel here:

Also, Marvel hosted Next Big Thing, which discusses the Empyre event currently happening in the comics.

Finally, Marvel’s Storyboards features some of the company’s most successful storytellers.

They reveal some of their tricks of the trade to Joe Quesada, the legendary creative director at Marvel Entertainment.

None it will excite you like a new WandaVision trailer would, but Marvel fans should take a look at all of it.

Oh, Marvel did release a Helstrom trailer, though.

The world isn’t ready for a #Helstrom family reunion. All episodes premiere October 16, only on @hulu. pic.twitter.com/MagWdt4WvN

— Helstrom On Hulu (@helstrom) July 24, 2020

Spider-Man Delayed

The other impactful MCU news this week also involves Coronavirus-related issues.

Virtually every major film production is behind schedule due to the pandemic.

The delayed movies from 2020 will populate a significant portion of the 2021 schedule. But the ones that haven’t started yet are unlikely to make their dates.

One of the impacted projects is the third Tom Holland Spider-Man production, which still doesn’t have a name yet. I’d call it Spider-Man 3, but…jazz hands!

Anyway, this film won’t debut On November 5, 2021, as expected.

Instead, Sony will take advantage of a Disney setback. The latter studio just delayed Avatar 2 by a calendar year.

So, the next Spider-Man movie has claimed this desirable release date, December 17, 2021.

Titles that come out the week before Christmas do remarkably well at the box office.

As long as we have a COVID-19 vaccine by then, the Spidey sequel could wind up as one of the top five box office blockbusters of 2021.

By the way, Sony officials employed some interesting language in explaining the delay.

These executives indicated that the Tom Holland film may come out on a different date internationally.

This statement hints that film producers may abandon the established day-and-date global release for some titles.

I presume the evaluations will occur on a case-by-case basis. However, I think Sony of all people should appreciate the dangers of hacks and piracy.

If the next Spider-Man movie came out in other countries first, Sony might have a problem.

The sequel could feasibly be available illegally long before it officially received its North American release.

For this reason, I expect Sony to change its stance on the idea.

Who Are the Illuminati?

A bunch of Marvel insiders suddenly reported variations of the same rumor this week.

Perhaps some Marvel executive tipped them all off in anticipation of a Comic-Con@Home announcement.

Whatever the explanation, several people are chasing down the same story now.

The prevailing belief is that Marvel’s Illuminati is coming to the MCU.

Who are they? Well, in the comics, the leaders of all the popular superhero teams secretly meet and relay information about threats to society.

We’ve already seen Illuminati characters in the MCU like Doctor Strange and Iron Man.

Other participants include Charles Xavier of the X-Men, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, Black Bolt of the Inhumans, and Namor, the ruler of the seas.

Obviously, Xavier and Richards are coming to the MCU, while Avengers: Endgame foreshadowed Namor’s arrival.

We’ve technically seen Black Bolt in the failed Inhumans television show. Still, I would expect new casting there if Disney brings back the character soon.

Why Did We Skip World War Hulk? Wait a Minute…

The idea of the Illuminati is that they have a hand in many of the preeminent storylines in Marvel Comics. The same theory would apply to the MCU.

The movies would ostensibly introduce these characters and then tie them together, possibly through a backstory.

In fact, Marvel possesses a viable play here. In the comics, World War Hulk occurs because the Illuminati banishes the Hulk off-planet.

When the green monster comes back, he’s…unhappy. And he wrecks many Marvel characters while getting his revenge.

You may have already connected the dots here. Just in case you haven’t, think back to Thor: Ragnarok.

Thor found himself transported to Sakaar, a place known in the comics as Planet Hulk.

Why is Sakaar called that? The Hulk randomly showed up, became a gladiator, and eventually took over the entire planet.

Thor: Ragnarok diverges from this story, but the story leaves something significant unspoken.

Why is Hulk on Sakaar?

Marvel skipped a step there, possibly a critical one.

The MCU could feasibly utilize the Illuminati to fill in the blanks about how Hulk became an intergalactic traveler.

After all, Marvel set Captain Marvel in 1995. The MCU would have no problem introducing a post-Avengers: Age of Ultron story that explained the Hulk’s absence.

Mark Ruffalo is on record as stating that the Hulk got removed from Captain America: Civil War.

Marvel didn’t want people to know what had happened to Hulk, which means that they might have had this contingency in mind as early as 2015.

Even if Hulk’s history isn’t a part of the Illuminati, the introduction of this shadowy cabal will add substantial intrigue.

That’s reason enough to bring them into the MCU, right?

Chew on that until next week, my friends!

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