MarvelBlog News for August 24th, 2025

We’ve got clarification about Daredevil: Born Again season three (probably), but some former Marvel actors don’t sound happy.

We’ll discuss why they’re disgruntled as well as some casting details in this week’s MarvelBlog News.

Oh, and Sue Storm apparently woke up and chose violence. So, I’ll explain that, too.

Frustrations Abound

Marvel hasn’t enjoyed the 2025 it’d hoped for, much like in 2023. Despite carefully laid plans, it has fallen apart.

Thunderbolts* should have turned around the MCU after the expected dud, Captain America: Brave New World.

Alas, that didn’t happen, with Thunderbolts* throwing under the box office of its immediate predecessor.

Marvel had intended for The Fantastic Four: First Steps to ride that new wave of passion for the MCU.

You know, it would have been the one created by a genuinely exceptional movie, Thunderbolts*.

When that didn’t happen, the latest Fantastic Four reboot proved less successful than hoped as well.

Sure, the movie has done fine and will turn a profit. It’s just not the blockbuster Marvel had projected.

Now, we’re in a nuclear winter between MCU films, with none arriving until December 2026.

In the interim, disgruntled former MCU employees sounded off a bit this week, albeit with decidedly different refrains.

Ray Winstone, whom I have adored since Sexy Beast, apparently feels the same way about Black Widow that the rest of us do.

The actor, who played the villainous Dreykov in the movie, felt that Marvel edited the spirit out of the film.

“We used to get applauded on set. It was probably the best thing I’ve done for a really long time…”

Afterward, Winstone apparently received a call requesting reshoots. When he asked how many, he was told, “All of them.”

Yeah, that’s not good, and he knows it. In fact, he sounds furious about it. In Winstone’s words, Marvel doesn’t care about art.

That’s not a surprise to anyone with a pulse, really, but he sounds aggrieved about what happened.

Marvel’s Paradox

Specifically, Winstone believes that Marvel cared more about making money than a culturally impactful film.

I was taken aback by that criticism in that I’d never considered Marvel’s current plight from that perspective.

The actor strikes me as accurate in his assessment in that the MCU became a money-making machine.

With several stories, especially in the 2020s, the studio has seemed almost cynical with its film productions.

They’re blatant attempts to make money, and the story has often gotten lost by the wayside.

Almost on cue, Nia DaCosta, the director of The Marvels, spoke to this very point the other day.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, DaCosta seemingly threw a Marvel writer under the bus with this quote:

“One of the issues I had with Candyman and Marvels was the lack of a really solid script.”

That may sound mean, but it’s actually a self-own since DaCosta co-wrote the screenplay for The Marvels.

However, it supports Winstone’s point that Marvel may have lost the plot a bit, at least for a time.

Several films paradoxically focused so much on being blockbusters that savvy consumers sniffed them out. So, they bombed.

Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four both demonstrate that MCU executives may have recognized that.

This story merits more consideration while we all anxiously await Avengers: Doomsday, though.

MCU Casting News

Speaking of Doomsday, actor Alan Cumming has indicated he has finished filming his scenes.

Cumming, who brightened up The Good Wife and is currently hosting The Traitors, always speaks his mind.

He described Doomsday as such a satisfying experience that it undid the negativity of X2: X-Men United.

You may have heard that director Bryan Singer behaved appallingly on that film.

Cumming went so far as to say that he’d leave the set and cry at night while binge-eating, too.

While the actor didn’t provide specifics about his role, he suggested that Marvel has gotten this one right.

Since Cumming is known for his acid tone, I don’t think he’d just randomly say this. He’s known for not playing the Hollywood game.

Conversely, that may be Ryan Reynolds’ one special skill, and we just learned the obvious.

Everyone expects Deadpool to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, as I mentioned last week.

The catch is that recent reports suggest that Deadpool won’t become an Avenger in the film.

Let’s just say I’m skeptical about this story, but that is what’s being reported right now.

Meanwhile, I’m much less dubious about a different report involving Spider-Man casting.

Tramell Tillman, who got his Master’s degree at the University of Tennessee (Go Vols!), has joined the crew.

The actor, who has surged in popularity thanks to his mesmerizing work on Severance, will be in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Details about his character remain private, as has been the case with most people added to the film.

Still, this news will make my wife VERY happy, as she raves about Tillman all the freakin’ time.

Marvel Miscellany

First, if you’ve got Disney+, I’ve got great news! You can watch Thunderbolts* on Wednesday.

You can probably tell from what I said earlier that I really, really think you should do that. I even wrote this.

Circling back to Fantastic Four, actress Vanessa Kirby has indicated that Sue Storm will be different in Avengers: Doomsday.

I don’t want to spoil First Steps, but let’s just say the story sets the table for Sue to become quite aggressive.

Then, following up on last week’s Daredevil discussion, we have this tidbit from ComicBookMovie.

A reporter from that site attended a Charlie Cox event and asked the actor point-blank about the story.

Cox updated his previous comments by confidently stating that the show would return for a third season.

He immediately hedged, as he should. If the algorithm suggests a streaming series should be canceled, execs rarely push back.

Therefore, I doubt any decision will be made until Disney+ learns the viewer counts for the upcoming second season.

Still, that’s a nice change in tone from Cox’s previous comments, which were probably overblown anyway.

 

 

 

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