So, I’ve just watched the newly released sneak peek at James
Gunn’s Superman, hitting theaters July 11, and I had two immediate
takeaways.
1.Krypto is a good dog. A Superdog, even.
2.I love James Gunn.
On Point 2, it’s amazing to me that Gunn – whose similarly
slick and polished Guardians of the Galaxy films are among my favorite
in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – got his screenwriting start in the
delightfully schlocky and gloriously violent world of Troma Entertainment, cowriting Tromeo
& Juliet alongside the mastermind behind The Toxic Avenger
himself, Lloyd Kaufman. So, with this new film, one could draw a direct line
from Toxie to Superman. That’s nuts.
Also nuts is how Supes’ Fortress of Solitude isn’t all that,
well, solitary. Between Krypto and a small army of adorably caped Kryptonian
robots, Superman’s got a lot of backup whenever he gets his butt kicked all the
way to the North Pole and needs a solar-powered recharge. It’s charming. It’s colorful. It’s decidedly Superman.
The clip – which features the iconic John Williams score – concludes
with a variety of shots featuring David Corenswet’s Man of Steel in action
along with glimpses of Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult’s Lex
Luthor, Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi’s Mister Miracle and others.
Expectations are up, up and away as July approaches faster
than a speeding … you know the rest.
If there’s one thing Star Wars fans can agree on, it’s that
bounty hunters are awesome. Also awesome? The Dark Side. So, millions of voices
suddenly cried out in glee and were suddenly excited when Lucasfilm unveiled
the trailer for Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, a series of shorts
premiering on Star Wars Day, May the 4th, exclusively on Disney+.
The series will revolve around gunslinging mercenary Cad Ban
and Count Dooku’s former lead assassin Asajj Ventress, two fan-favorite baddies
from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. They’re in some of the best episodes of that
series, and I often credit Bane’s first appearance, Season One’s “Hostage
Crisis,” as the moment The Clone Wars went from being a simple kid’s show to
some of the best Star Wars storytelling out there.
Watch the trailer for Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld
below.
If you saw the news Tuesday morning you might have thought
it was a bizarre April Fool’s joke, but Sony Pictures wasn’t foolin’ when they
revealed that their anticipated follow-up to smash-hit Spider-Man: No Way
Home would be called Spider-Man: Brand New Day and that it would be
hitting theaters on July 31, 2026.
The Brand New Day subtitle might be slightly
triggering for longtime Spidey fans, as it references a mostly maligned story arc
that began in 2008. You see, in the comics, Peter Parker’s beloved Aunt May was
shot, and Peter made a pact with the actual Marvel devil – Mephisto if you’re
nasty – in order to keep her alive. In exchange for May’s life, Peter sacrificed
his marriage to Mary Jane Watson. To this day, Peter and MJ’s marriage has yet
to be restored. So, yeah, it’s a bit of a sore spot.
The ”Brand New Day” storyline served as the hardest of soft
reboots for the comic book Web-Slinger, introducing new romances, characters
and villains in a reset continuity. Given the events of No Way Home,
during which Tom Holland’s Peter sacrificed his non-Spidey life to save his
universe, it seems like the MCU could be pushing the character in a similar
clean-slate direction: low-tech suit, street-level storytelling and new
relationships. And this could be a fantastic change of pace, since Holland’s Peter has unfortunately been often overshadowed
by other Avengers and other Spider-Men in his prior MCU outings. With the promise of a more Spidey-centric narrative I’m excited
to see what’s “Brand New” for my favorite superhero in 2026.
In other Wall-Crawler news, Sony’s animated Spider-Man:
Beyond the Spider-Verse, is officially hitting theaters on June 4, 2027.
A series of empty chairs whipped comic book social media
into a frenzy earlier today as Marvel Studios’ employed a slow-drip live-stream
approach to reveal many – but all – cast members set to appear in the Russo Brothers’ Avengers:
Doomsday, now officially in production. Marvel’s cross-platform stream unveiled a new cast member’s chair every few minutes for more than five hours,
concluding with Doctor Doom himself, Robert Downey Jr., appearing at its
conclusion.
In addition to MCU mainstays like Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Paul
Rudd’s Ant-Man, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, Sam
Wilson’s Captain America, Letitia Wright’s Suri/Black Panther and Simu Liu’s
Shang-Chi, we also saw chairs for each member of the Fantastic Four – whose debut film drops this summer – as well as X-Men
series actors Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Alan
Cumming and Kelsey Grammer. Plus, it looks like Deadpool & Wolverine scene
stealer Channing Tatum is back as Gambit!
This cast is absolutely stacked, but I also feel like the aforementioned Deadpool & Wolverine said pretty much everything that needed to be said about the Marvel Multiverse. This could just be a bunch of action figures being dumped onto the carpet and smashed into each other for three hours. Having said that, I not only love action figures but feel strongly that the Russos’ efforts are among the strongest stories in the MCU. This could be something really special.
Notably, no Spider-Mans (Spider-Men?), members
of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and neither Deadpool nor Wolverine were confirmed
for Avengers: Doomsday but, then again, May 1, 2026 is a long time from now ... multiversally speaking.
So, before I get into it, if you have ever liked Star
Wars – or even if you don’t – you need to watch Andor Season 1. Hard
stop. It’s by far the best Star Wars show on Disney+ and it stands as an
excellent companion piece to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is
widely regarded as the best Star Wars film Disney has produced since acquiring
Lucasfilm in 2012. So yeah, expectations are high.
More than two years after its outstanding first season, Andor
is back April 22 – now called Andor: A Star Wars Story – and its new
trailer kicked us in the teeth just a few hours ago as of this writing. Like
its first season, it looks raw, it looks emotional, and it looks, dare I say it
… rebellious. And the modern-day music in the trailer that accompanies the bold
visuals just feels right.
But don’t just take my word for it. Check out the Andor
Season 2 trailer below!
Following widely publicized production
woes and extensive reshoots, Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World has arrived, and
although it’s not as disappointing as social media or Rotten Tomatoes might
have you believe, it’s a shaky flight for the winged Avenger.
Featuring Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, having taken up the
Cap mantle from Steve Rogers at the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame and solidifying
himself as the star-spangled hero in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter
Soldier, this film unfortunately only feels like a Captain America sequel
sometimes. Mostly, it’s a follow-up to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, with
many plotlines and characters carried over from that film 17 years later. It’s
also a follow-up to notorious Marvel miss The Eternals, finally addressing
the massive dead Celestial in the Indian Ocean that one would think would play
into the MCU over the past 4 years. I give the film credit for picking up the
pieces and pulling these elements back into continuity, but it all starts to
feel more like housekeeping than storytelling – especially when these elements pull
us away from Sam.
The pacing is a bit rough as well, and the two-hour film
feels longer than that. The action scenes are fun when they aren’t generic, choppy fistfights – especially an aerial dogfight
and the thrilling-but-brief battle between Cap and Red Hulk – but the rest of the film is
mostly exposition-heavy and feels more procedural than powerful. It seems like Julius Onah is trying to replicate the political intrigue of the Russo
brothers’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it often feels like a
serviceable episode of Law & Order instead.
Despite feeling flat and disjointed overall, there were some good performances. Mackie brings a lot of charm to Sam’s Captain America, while
Harrison Ford – stepping into the role of “Thunderbolt” Ross following William
Hurt’s death – brings new vulnerability and urgency to the character,
especially when he finally “Hulks out” in the third act. Danny Ramirez provides
warmth and humor to the role of Joaquin Torres/Falcon, and Giancarlo Esposito oozes
his trademark measured menace as Sidewinder, the leader of the villainous
Serpent Society, even though it often feels like he’s in a different movie altogether. Everyone else does fine enough with what they’re given,
although one returning character from The Incredible Hulk who winds up being
the film’s primary antagonist elicited a lot of unintended laughs from my
screening due to sheer goofiness.
All that said, I wouldn’t say Captain America: Brave New
World is among Marvel Studios’ worst outings, but it’s solidly middle-of-the-road.
It hints at big things for The Avengers and the MCU as a whole, but to me felt
like a hollow, brief, occasionally enjoyable experience in and of itself. I
should note, however, that this film has one of the worst post-credit sequences
in the history of the MCU. If you need to race to the bathroom as soon as the
credits start, it’s not worth the wait.
We all assumed we would be getting trailers for Marvel
Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Universal Pictures’ during Super Bowl LIX this Sunday, but both franchises kicked
things off a bit early, giving fans of summer blockbusters a lot to discuss and
dissect this week. But which trailer packs the most punch? Has the bigger bite?
Scarletts the most Johanssons? OK, that last one is pretty obvious.
Let’s see how they match up.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Let’s be honest: There has never been a good Fantastic
Four movie. There are some fun moments in the 2005 Tim Story film, but from
the 1994 Roger Corman schlock flick to the 2015 reboot misfire, the silver
screen has been unkind to Marvel’s First Family. But the debut Marvel Studios
film for Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and The Thing
shows promise, placing the characters against a reimagined 1960s backdrop that’s
separate from the established Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Matt
Shakman and starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon
Moss-Bachrach, The Fantastic Four: First Steps also features John
Malkovich and Natasha Lyonne in its star-studded cast, with Ralph Ineson
voicing The Devourer of Worlds himself, Galactus. The retro-futuristic
aesthetic in this is a lot of fun, and the visual effects bringing The Thing to
orange, rocky life are exceptional. If the MCU is “at a bit of a low point” –
as stated by Deadpool in a certain billion-dollar team-up flick earlier this
year – this might be the splash of freshness and color the nearly 20-year-old movie
universe needs.
Jurassic World: Rebirth
Jurassic World Dominion wasn’t great. In fact, it wasn’t
even good. Overstuffed with characters and lacking any of the awe factor that
made Jurassic Park a classic, Dominion felt like an extinction
point for the prehistoric franchise. I remember hearing that the next film in
the series would be a soft reboot, and it seems like that comes by way of a new
human cast, ramped-up horror elements and the emergence of a new mutant dinosaur
threat. It’s also directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)
and written by Jurassic Park co-writer David Koepp so, yeah, I’m in.
The Rebirth trailer features Scarlett Johansson’s Zora
Bennett joining Jonathan Bailey’s Dr. Henry Loomis and Mahershala Ali’s Duncan
Kincaid on a dangerous expedition to extract dino DNA from several dinosaurs at
Jurassic Park’s original research laboratory so it can be used to create a
miracle drug. Things obviously go wrong, and the group is attacked by Velociraptors,
Spinosauri, at least one Tyrannosaurus Rex and a hideous mutant dinosaur that
will likely be a pretty cool toy.
The plot doesn’t veer too far away from the working formula
for all things Jurassic – put humans and dinosaurs together and see what happen
– but Rebirth looks like a massive stomp in the right direction after the
underwhelming Dominion. Let’s hope there are no giant locusts this time.
The Verdict?
It’s close, but when it comes to The Thing taking vs. The
Rex, “It’s Clobberin’ Time!” Fantastic Four: The First Steps wins in a
battle of fresh vs. familiar. Jurassic World: Rebirth’s trailer seems to
tread familiar ground to bring the series back to basics, while First Steps aptly
showcases what sets these characters apart from the 30+ prior Marvel Studios
films.
Daisy Ridley’s return as Rey Skywalker is one step closer to
becoming a reality, with Ocean’s 12 and The Bourne Ultimatum writer George
Nolfi joining the film set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker, according to
The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision.
The unnamed Star Wars standalone film will be helmed by
documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and will feature Rey – who adopted
the Skywalker surname at the conclusion of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.
Nolfi’s addition comes after a string of writers joined and
left the project, including Damon Lindelof, Justin Britt-Gibson and Peaky
Blinders creator Steven Knight. It has yet to be revealed when production will
officially begin.
As was the case with the Prequel Trilogy 20 years ago,
conversation around the Star Wars sequels is decidedly mixed and at times contentious,
with some pockets of the fandom calling for Disney to de-canonize them entirely.
Speaking for myself, I appreciate The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi more and
more as time goes on. The Rise of Skywalker, though, feels like a lot of missed
opportunities and compromises culled from Reddit forums, but it’s still a mostly
fun watch. I’m curious to see where Rey’s story goes from there, and which other
Sequel Trilogy characters could be joining her. My fingers are crossed for Babu
Frik.
Ryan Gosling, Barbie’s scene-stealing Ken and the immensely
likeable star of such films as The Notebook, The Big Short, Drive,
Blade Runner 2049 and La La Land, is in talks to star in Shawn
Levy’s upcoming Star Wars film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Coming off the $1.3 billion success of Deadpool &
Wolverine, Levy will helm a feature set in that galaxy far, far away that will
reportedly have no connection to the Skywalker Saga. The as-yet-unnamed film
has been in development for two years and will go into production this year,
being the next in an increasingly long list of potential Star Wars films
that have yet to (kyber) crystallize. It would follow the release of The
Mandalorian & Grogu, which is set to hit theaters in May 2026.
I’m always on board for more Star Wars, and Gosling
is always fun to watch, but it’s going to be a real heartbreaker if this never
sees the light of day. After all, where’s the Rey movie, the James Mangold “first
Jedi” project, the rumored Episodes X-XII, and all the other films that
have been announced/teased for the past 5 years? When it comes to Star Wars
at the movies, I can only quote Yoda: “Impossible to see, the future is.”
Star Wars fans are a hyperbolic bunch. Whenever a new
project debuts – whether it’s a theatrical film or a streaming series – it’s
either the best thing to happen to the franchise in years or it’s the
catastrophic death knell for that galaxy far, far away. Admittedly, my reactions
tend to be more positive when it comes to Disney’s near-constant output of Star
Wars content. You can call me a shill if you must (it wouldn’t be the first
time), but I was a kid during the “Dark Times” of the early-mid ‘90s when all
we had were the original three films on well-worn VHS tapes, a handful of PC
games and a stack of novels and comics of varying quality to satisfy our
fervor for the Force. I’m OK with being spoiled with so many Star Wars
stories these days, even if they don’t all hit the figurative two-meter thermal
exhaust port.
But where does that leave Skeleton Crew, the eight-episode Disney+
pirate yarn featuring a Force-sensitive and swarthy Jude Law, a group of plucky
young adventurers and a host of furry, feathery and sometimes squishy alien
creatures? In short, it’s damn good.
Skeleton Crew is
a love letter to many things, namely 1980s Steven Spielberg coming-of-age
stories, practical visual effects, swashbuckling adventure films and, yes,
childhood. It all blends together to form the most accessible Star Wars
streaming series since The Mandalorian’s debut season in 2019, devoid of
required reading/viewing as long as you’re familiar with the basics of Star
Wars (and who isn’t?). As such, I’ve been excitedly recommending this show to
just about everyone, not only those who know the difference between a Mon
Calamari and a Quarren.
Starring Jude Law as the mysterious Jod Na Nawood and a
quartet of kid actors – Ravi Cabot-Conyers as the starry-eyed Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong
as the headstrong Fern, Kyriana Kratter as the analytical KB and Robert Timothy
Smith as the bashful blue alien Neel – Skeleton Crew features stronger performances
than you might expect from what many perceive as a “kids’ show.” Joining the
flesh-and-blood cast is the tough-as-nails droid SM-33 voiced by Nick Frost, who
brings a lot of heart and humor to a broken-down bot with a rat living in its
skull.
Series creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford crafted this
season alongside a murders’ row of directors, including Daniel Kwan and Daniel
Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and the always game Bryce
Dallas Howard, who really needs to be directing Star Wars movies as soon
as possible. It all comes to a close in satisfying fashion in this week’s
finale, but there’s more adventure to be had with these characters if the
viewership demands it. After The Acolyte ended after just one season, I’m
not getting my hopes up too high but, as has always been the case with me and Star
Wars, I’m choosing to look on the Light Side.
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