MarvelBlog News for May 12th, 2024

Malkovich. Malkovich. Wait for iiiiiit. Malkovich.

Just like that, I have summoned actor John Malkovich into the MCU. You’re welcome, everyone!

If you hadn’t guessed, we’ll discuss more Fantastic Four casting in MarvelBlog News. I presume the film’s story involves an infinite loop.

Welcome to the MCU, Mr. Auteur!

In 1984, a 31-year-old actor garnered acclaim for his work in Places in the Heart.

Over the next 15 years, this individual would do everything from terrifying Clint Eastwood in In the Line of Fire to seducing Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Liaisons.

For a long time, John Malkovich was viewed as one of the most dangerous people in Hollywood due to his talent and genius.

The actor’s success culminated in Spike Jonze making him legendary in Being John Malkovich.

In that film, a woman entered the mind of Malkovich and puppeted him to seduce another woman.

If you’ve never seen the movie, none of it makes sense, but Being John Malkovich is considered seminal cinema to some.

Over the past 40 years, Malkovich is arguably one of the greatest living actors, yet his awards cupboard is oddly bare.

To date, Malkovich has won only one Emmy, while being nominated for but losing at the BAFTAs, Oscars, and Golden Globes.

For years now, people in Malkovich’s orbit have joked that he’d be perfect for the MCU.

Now, we’re apparently getting that wish, as Marvel has cast John Malkovich in Fantastic Four.

As was the case with Paul Walter Hauser, the producers of Fantastic Four chose not to reveal whom Malkovich would be playing.

Just as the internet has fan-casted Hauser as Mole Man, they have equally tried to wish an idea for Malkovich into existence.

People really want him to portray Puppet Master, which would be a full circle moment 25 years after Being John Malkovich.

Remarkably, that’s possibly not the only Fantastic Four news, either.

Face/Off

One of the funniest parts of chasing down Marvel rumors is the ridiculousness of it all.

People run YouTube channels and Patreons wherein they pretend to have inside knowledge.

Most of said knowledge comes from hanging out at the same bar as Marvel staff members or having a cousin who works there.

In short, the accuracy of these “trusted sources” is on the level of Daniel Jones throwing to a downfield receiver. That’s not good.

What often happens is that an agent will contact someone at a reliable service and leak intel as part of an information exchange.

Then, we have odd instances like the one last weekend when Giancarlo Esposito effectively trolled the internet.

For no apparent reason, Esposito appeared at a live event and casually dropped the tidbit that he’s joining the MCU.

The surprise of the moment was so dramatic that the room collectively paused before everyone went nuts.

If you’re unfamiliar with Esposito, what I’ll say is that you know him whether you recognize his name or not.

Esposito dazzled as Gustavo Fring on Breaking Bad and, later (but earlier), Better Call Saul.

Lately, Esposito has impressed Disney executives with his work in The Mandalorian, where he has portrayed Moff Gideon.

The actor had campaigned to join the MCU, and when Disney likes you, that’s a likelihood. Now, it has happened.

Here’s Esposito explaining what has happened:

“I think that there’s something about being original. We’ve seen different versions of Professor X.

“Wouldn’t you like to see me play a character in a Marvel movie who is original and new and fresh?

“So, mark my words! This will happen sooner than you think.”

Who Will Esposito Play and Where?

Esposito is one of the great villainous actors of our era, but Marvel fans had hoped to cast him for a different role.

Specifically, many wanted him to portray Professor X, as he referenced in his comments.

Apparently, that won’t be the case. Instead, the actor will appear in a Marvel project coming soon, which narrows the choices.

Could Esposito portray Doctor Doom in Deadpool & Wolverine? What about Norman Osborne in something?

The wording doesn’t even guarantee that he’ll physically appear. It could be a voice-acting appearance instead.

Then, we must acknowledge that he could just be lying, and it’s Professor X.

Personally, I’m hoping for Doctor Doom, but since the actor has an incredible voice, I’m not ruling out Galactus, either.

Oh, wait. He’s not gonna be Galactus. Marvel has cast Ralph Ineson in that role.

Ineson portrayed the role of Finchy on the original British version of The Office and has worked steadily since then.

He was Dagmer Cleftjaw on Game of Thrones, William in The Witch, and Nickolai Tarkanov in Chernobyl. And he, too, has a cool voice.

So, Ineson will voice (and possibly play?) Galactus, but we don’t know about Esposito’s gig.

Stay tuned as we await additional information!

Marvel Miscellany

We’ve got a couple of extra stories we’re tracking this week.

One of them involved The Walt Disney Company’s quarterly earnings call.

During that conversation, CEO Bob Iger mapped out the new Marvel blueprint.

According to Iger, Marvel will release no more than three movies and two live-action television series per year.

I’ll add that this statement should come with some caveats. It’s the plan for right now, not forever.

Once Disney has the streaming math cracked, I’d expect Marvel to ramp up production again.

For the time being, Disney is resolute about the “less is more” release strategy. And that’s bad news for you and me.

Part of the reason for this strategy involved Disney’s 2023 strategy with MCU films.

The Marvels struggled financially, and while I disagree with pretty much the entirety of this calculation, I should still report it.

According to one writer at Deadline’s calculations, The Marvels lost $237 million.

Those numbers are highly questionable, but if you ever see them mentioned, that’s the source.

Earlier this year, I mentioned that the film probably would lose $100+ million, but this person’s calculations are overly dramatic.

Finally, there’s a growing belief that Marvel fans will get more animation over the next calendar year.

What’s on Disney Plus has indicated that Eyes of Wakanda and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man may air in 2024.

When Disney discusses Marvel release patterns, it evaluations live-action as being dramatically more expensive.

So, the scaling of Marvel animation makes good business sense. And X-Men ’97 is garnering the headlines Disney wants.

 

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