MarvelBlog News for April 7th, 2024

When is a Marvel hiring also a purpose pitch?

I’ll provide the answer in the latest MarvelBlog News update!

The Silver Surfer Casting

Roughly nine months ago, rumors reached a crescendo about the impending arrival of the Silver Surfer in the MCU.

At the time, the belief was that a familiar face from Hulu’s The Bear would portray the character.

Specifically, many simultaneous rumors suggested that Ebon Moss-Bachrach was the leader in the clubhouse.

That’s a telling statement about how much of an echo chamber Marvel rumors often are.

Somebody hears something – or makes something up – and then a bunch of other people hear it/report it.

However, this particular rumor had some teeth to it, albeit not in the way you’d expect.

Marvel proved extremely interested in Moss-Bachrach, just not for the role of the Silver Surfer.

Marvel hired him to voice (and possibly play?) The Thing, the visually memorable, gruff member of the Fantastic Four.

However, I doubt that Moss-Bachrach was ever up for the Silver Surfer because Marvel just cast someone else.

Along the way, the studio revealed the details for the character, and it doesn’t strike me as a fit for Richie from The Bear.

Specifically, Fantastic Four’s story will include the character of Shalla-Bal rather than (or in addition to?) Norrid Radd.

We saw Radd in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, where he seemingly died while aiding the team against Galactus.

However, a mid-credits scene indicated that the Silver Surfer survived, setting up a sequel story that never came.

The mediocre box office of Fantastic Four 2 led to an eventual franchise reboot that…well, totally bombed.

But the inclusion of Shalla-Bal in the MCU version of the film is fascinating.

About Shalla-Bal and the Weird Marvel Drama

 

In the comics, this character is the immortal empress of Zenn-La and also the lover of Radd.

Once Galactus threatens Zenn-La, Radd agrees to become its herald in exchange for the planet-eater not destroying his home world.

Eventually, Radd and Zenn-La join forces as heralds for a second Galactus – old comic book stories are wild, y’all – reuniting the lovers.

That’s an alternate-reality version of what happened, but it’s the story we may learn of Shalla-Bal.

We have no way to know yet whether Norrid Zadd will be a part of it, though.

But you shouldn’t miss the palace intrigue that led to this casting.

The Walt Disney Company, the corporate owner of Marvel, just staved off an activist investor named Nelson Peltz.

In a weirdly soap-operatic turn of events, Peltz controlled Isaac Perlmutter’s shares of Disney stock.

Disney CEO Bob Iger infamously fired Perlmutter from Marvel last year, theoretically ending a longstanding internal problem.

Marvel staff members despised Perlmutter to the point that they loudly cheered when learning of his firing.

In recent weeks, Peltz has acted as Perlmutter’s mouthpiece while pressing Disney and Marvel on several issues.

The most stunning turn of events occurred when Peltz performed an interview with The Financial Times.

In that discussion, Peltz wondered why Marvel was creating all-black films like Black Panther and all-female films like Captain Marvel.

The first is that Black Panther doesn’t include an all-black cast nor does Captain Marvel feature an all-female cast.

Some people wondered whether Peltz had even seen either of those films.

There are two readily apparent responses to those thinly veiled dog whistle criticisms.

Second, those two movies earned a combined box office of $2.5 billion. They were massive blockbusters.

Marvel made those movies to earn a lot of money. Duh.

The Silver Surfer and the Purpose Pitch

In baseball, there’s a term called the purpose pitch. It refers to when a pitcher throws at a hitter just to intimidate the opponent.

You often throw a purpose pitch when you’re making a point.

Marvel and Disney just threw a purpose pitch at Nelson Peltz and Isaac Perlmutter by choosing a female Silver Surfer.

On the same day that Warner Bros. Discovery hired a man to direct a female superheroine film, Supergirl, Marvel did this.

Of course, since we’re talking about Marvel, it’s also one of the best actresses in the business today.

Julia Garner of Ozark will portray Shalla-Bal. Garner has won three Emmy Awards and is the reigning Golden Globe winner.

Garner isn’t new to comic book movies either, having portrayed Marcie in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

So, the cast of Fantastic Four includes some of the most lauded performers from The Bear, Ozark, The Mandalorian, and Stranger Things.

If this movie fails, it won’t be because of the talent involved.

Meanwhile, Perlmutter, the dude who turned Marvel into a heavyweight, is left stewing as he thinks about this turn of events.

Marvel just weaponized his dislike of movies featuring strong female characters and used it against him to rub salt in the wound.

Marvel Miscellany

We’ve got three other, less grudge-y stories to cover this week.

The first is that director Sam Raimi splashed cold water on the idea of him helming Spider-Man 4.

Don’t get me wrong. The director isn’t opposed to the idea in the least; he sounds like he’s hoping it happens.

However, neither Sony nor Marvel has approached him with an offer. Yet. Stay tuned!

In Daredevil: Born Again news, Deadline refers to the show as “the two-season series.”

That’s…news to everyone. Marvel had openly discussed an 18-episode first season.

Based on this update, I don’t know whether Marvel split those 18 episodes into two seasons or the show already received a renewal.

Were I guessing, I’d expect a ten-episode and eight-episode season, but that’s pure conjecture on my part.

Finally, Production Weekly has updated with some tantalizing Marvel tidbits.

According to the principal photography tracker, the Shang-Chi sequel will film in March 2025, with X-Men starting later next year.

Blade also remains on track for filming at the end of 2024, but we’ve just learned that Vision Quest may join it.

Armor Wars is still scheduled for 2025 as well. So, those five projects aren’t just happening but will enter production over the next 18 months.

 

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