MarvelBlog News for April 9th, 2023

Marvel has unveiled the Secret Invasion trailer, Isaac Perlmutter has cried foul, and James Gunn has blamed The Blip.

This week’s MarvelBlog News feels like a Mad Lib gone awry.

Not So Secret Now

Image: Marvel

As promised last week, Marvel revealed the official trailer for Secret Invasion. Here it is!

Samuel L. Jackson is making the rounds right now, and he has indicated that he views this as one last ride for his character, Nick Fury.

Meanwhile, obsessed Marvel fans have spent the week placing every single frame under the microscope to discover hidden Easter eggs in the trailer. And I’ll level with you.

MarvelBlog will likely do that soon as well because we know how much you care about this, the first Disney+ Marvel series since October 13^th, 2022.

Source: Marvel Studios

As a reminder, Marvel never intended this kind of gap between the series. It only happened due to mismanagement of the special effects for other projects.

If more fans had loved the look of Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and (especially) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, we never would have arrived at this place. But here we are.

Source: Marvel Studios

Now, Disney is counting on Secret Invasion to reinvigorate the brand and remind people of the greatness of Marvel.

Disney will get two kicks at the can between now and June 21^st. Remember that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens on May 5^th.

In fact, tickets are now available for the next Marvel film…and one of only two we’ll watch from now through the end of 2023.

Source: Marvel Studios

As an FYI, Marvel hasn’t announced the viewer numbers for the first 24 hours of Secret Invasion’s trailer, which is the standard practice.

I presume that data will come out soon, but it’s unusual that it’s taken this long. Read into that what you will.

They Don’t Like Ike

Photo: Getty Images

Whenever I think we’ve tied off the Isaac Perlmutter story for good, his name somehow pops up in the headlines again.

Last week, I told you that Disney has used its layoffs, the very ones Perlmutter had requested, as an excuse to dump him.

Not only that, Disney laid off all the people within Marvel Entertainment perceived as loyal to Perlmutter. It was a clean sweep of the old guard.

Getty Images

Disney felt confident in taking this approach because, well, what’s Ike Perlmutter gonna say about it? He’s a notorious recluse.

The former owner and leader of Marvel performs interviews about as often as DC makes a good superhero movie, which is to say NEVER.

Until this week.

Yes, Perlmutter took the extraordinary step of approaching the Wall Street Journal to tell his part of the story.

Photo: Getty Images

Perlmutter wanted to set the record straight that Disney fired him rather than the company’s claim of a layoff.

That’s a strange accusation. After all, if Perlmutter had remained quiet, everyone would have found the story amusing but already moved on to something new.

Instead, Perlmutter has willingly set himself up for additional ridicule by confirming that Disney specifically wanted him gone.

Source: Avengers Campus Disneyland

I mean, we could all read between the lines and guess that this happened. Still, it’s weird that Perlmutter chose to broadcast the news.

Honestly, Perlmutter comes across as a bit of a wounded bird. It sounds like he respects, maybe even likes, Disney CEO Bob Iger.

The thought that Iger is the one responsible for Perlmutter’s termination seems to bother the billionaire.

Source: Marvel/ Disney

Meanwhile, Marvel’s formal leader confirmed that he never trusted Hollywood executives, whom he feels dwell too much on box office and not enough on return on investment.

Frankly, Perlmutter sounds like he should be happy he’s gone.

Gunn vs. The Blip

Source: @JamesGunn

Speaking of DC movies, Disney faces a fascinating challenge for the next little while.

Director James Gunn completes his Marvel tenure with the release of the third Guardians film.

However, the producer also spends his days plotting the future of the DC Universe, which Warner Bros. is currently rebooting.

Source: Daniel Knighton/ Getty Images

Gunn runs the show at DC, even as he markets Marvel’s most important film in years. Disney must trust Gunn to comport himself well during interviews.

Obviously, Gunn won’t step out of line much here. He is liberated enough by his circumstances that he can be brutally honest, though.

I mean, James Gunn isn’t begging for work from Marvel anytime soon. The dude can speak his mind…and he did!

James Gunn in front of Mission Breakout background

Photo: Handout/Getty Images

Gunn opened up on two different struggles he has faced recently with Marvel.

First, Gunn left Marvel for a time due to…unpleasantness. While he was absent, Avengers: Endgame wrote his Marvel characters into a corner.

That film ended with Thor exploring the galaxy with his new friends. Gunn hadn’t signed up for that and had a first draft without Thor.

Source: Marvel Studios

Gunn caught a break in that Taika Waititi solved the crisis in Thor: Love and Thunder, smoothly explaining why Thor wasn’t with the Guardians anymore.

Even with that resolution, Gunn still lamented Endgame. In his estimation, Marvel has grown more challenging since The Blip.

Oreo the Raccoon and James Gunn. Photo: AFP/Getty/BBC

That five-year gap and its aftermath frustrate the director. “There’s this worldwide, universe-wide event that happened.

And in truth, everybody would be stark raving mad at this point. So, it’s hard to write stories in the wake of that.”

The dude’s got a point.

Marvel Miscellany

Image: Marvel

We’ve got a couple of news items to cover. For starters, Disney has finally given up the ghost on Quantumania.

Ownership gave this project every chance to regain some momentum, but it just didn’t happen.

Image: Marvel

Now, Quantumania will debut on digital on April 18^th. Based on how Disney has approached Avatar: The Way of Water, Ant-Man 3 likely won’t appear on Disney+ for at least a month after that.

I’m comparing apples and oranges, though. People acted like they wanted to see Avatar 2 in theaters.

Image: Universal

Despite an era of tremendous box office inflation, Ant-Man 3 has earned less than the first two Ant-Man films.

Finally, Sony revealed the second trailer for this summer’s mega-release, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Take a look:

The trailer includes two surprises. First, The Spot, whom we know is (allegedly) the antagonist of the next two films, comes across as comic relief here.

Second, a different Spider hero, Miguel O’Hara, sure seems like the primary source of conflict here.