MarvelBlog News for November 26th, 2023

This past week, we’ve gained a new casting confirmation – no, not that one – and learned that Thor will return.

Forget everything you thought you knew before reading this holiday edition of MarvelBlog News!

Robert Kirkman (?!) Confirms MCU Casting

Okay, I presume you’re familiar with Robert Kirkman, the creator of quite possibly my least favorite comic book ever, The Walking Dead.

You heard me.

Anyway, in 2010, Kirkman executive produced and wrote some of the episodes for the runaway blockbuster television series of the same name.

The Walking Dead’s instant, electric popularity built a franchise that has somehow survived the collapse of cable television.

That’s no small feat for a series that has aired on AMC, a cable channel. In truth, AMC+ probably wouldn’t exist if not for The Walking Dead.

Over the years, stars from that series have turned into bona fide Hollywood superstars.

Most notably, Steven Yeun leveraged his fan-favorite role as Glenn Rhee into a film career.

Ultimately, his excellent choice of roles and incredible talent led to an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Yeun is currently up for an Emmy for his performance in Beef as well.

In short, Yeun has turned into one of the most accomplished actors on the planet, cementing his status via television, movies, and streaming.

Apparently, Yeun’s successes have impressed Marvel, which is something we’d already known.

As I mentioned in February, Deadline felt confident that Yeun would portray a character in Thunderbolts and possibly Captain America: Brave New World.

As usual, Marvel refused to provide character details, though.

Now, Kirkman has just shouted from the rooftops, “IT’S SENTRY! STEVEN YEUN IS PLAYING SENTRY!”

Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but the casting news is apparently true.

Glenn from The Walking Dead, who couldn’t fight back against Negan back in the day, is now the most powerful person in the MCU.

What Kirkman Said

You can watch Kirkman’s comments for yourself right here.

The hilarious part is how casual and incidental they are. I bet Marvel is fuming.

Anyway, here’s the full quote if you don’t want to watch:

Kirkman: “My good friend Steven Yeun is playing the Sentry in a movie.”

Podcast host: “I saw that, yeah. That’s coming up, right? That’s gonna be pretty exciting.”

Kirkman: “Yeah, he called me. He went in for a costume fitting. I hope I’m not…I don’t think this is a spoiler or anything that will get anybody in trouble.

‘I dunno. Maybe? We’ll see. I don’t care. I don’t work for Marvel. What are they going to do to me?

“He told me, ‘I just came back from a costume fitting for the Sentry. I guess I only do superheroes that are yellow and blue.’”

That last sentence references the fact that he voices the lead character in the animated series, Invincible.

The Sentry also wears a costume that’s yellow and blue if you’re unfamiliar with the character.

When I first reported the story in February, some speculation suggested that Yeun might play an adult Amadeus Cho, which I dismissed at the time.

Yeun is too big a star for that role. Now, he levels up by joining the MCU as Marvel’s equivalent of Superman, albeit with a split personality.

The character’s other half, The Void, is basically the incarnation of entropy.

Current story speculation suggests that the other Thunderbolts work with The Sentry until The Void arrives and terrorizes them all.

Our young grocery forager Glenn is all grown up!

The Other Casting News

I’m happy to report that I’m not about to talk about Fantastic Four…yet.

The film’s director, Matt Shakman, recently echoed what I said last week.

“(There) will be an announcement at some point in the future when the strike has concluded. I would love to share that information, but that’s the best I can do today.”

In other words, no matter the current rumor, nothing is in the offing.

Marvel will announce the Fantastic Four cast when it’s ready and not a second before.

Of course, if recent reports are true, the film will enter pricing photography during the first quarter of 2024. So, we’ll likely find out something soon!

In the interim, we must make do with a fairly epic backtracking by Marvel.

Earlier this year, in the wake of the failure of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated something bluntly.

Iger, whose company owns Marvel, blamed the struggles of some recent Marvel projects on going to the well once too often.

Specifically, Iger disputed the notion that Marvel needed a third Ant-Man film.

At the time, Marvel reversed course from recent practices and announced that it would focus on new characters rather than unwanted sequels.

Well, that philosophy lasted about, oh, eight months. In the aftermath of The Marvels, which is already pretty much dead at the American box office, there’s been a pivot.

Now, Marvel appears headed to another sequel. Specifically, Taika Waititi indicates that Chris Hemsworth will return in Thor 5.

However, Waititi will NOT direct this project, presumably because many consumers found Thor: Love & Thunder too weird/depressing.

The Other Marvel Headline

We’ve had a slow week due to the Thanksgiving holiday in America.

One site has broken a story with some fascinating repercussions, though.

Presuming that The Ankler is right, Amazon has apparently soured on a Silk: Spider Society television series.

None of this is set in stone yet and requires some projection, even as The Ankler reports parts of the story as fact.

Here’s the deal. Once the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes ended, studios were obligated to restart production on various films and television series.

Amazon Studios hasn’t fully abided to those terms. Instead, some projects remain in purgatory at the moment.

One of them is Silk: Spider Society, the Amazon streaming series based on the characters from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

Amazon greenlit the project at a time when different rules applied for series.

Once the WGA acquired fairer terms under the new deal, Amazon’s plans may have changed.

Amazon had employed the so-called mini-writer’s room to reduce costs. It’s no longer possible to do that under the updated WGA contract.

Rather than add more staff, Amazon hasn’t proceeded with the series.

The WGA is making noise that it might sue unless Amazon restarts Silk: Spider Society as expected/required.

Stay tuned as this story could get quite interesting…and rather combative.

 

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