The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Multiverse Saga has been ebbing and flowing in some fascinating ways over the years, telling a wide variety of stories across movies, Disney+ television shows, and more. One project on the franchise's slate -- which actually predated the establishing of the Multiverse Saga itself -- is Blade, a new movie centered around the titular vampire-hunting Daywalker. Oscar winner Mahershala Ali has been attached to portray Eric Brooks / Blade since San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, ultimately making his MCU debut with an uncredited voice cameo in 2021's Eternals movie.

In the years since the Blade solo film was first announced, the film has held, and subsequently lost, multiple writers, ensemble cast members, and release dates. At the time of this writing, Blade is committed to debut in theaters in November of 2025, but updates surrounding the film's production have been few and far between. With Ali now in talks to star in Universal's upcoming Jurassic World movie, which would begin production in mid-June for a July 2025 release, some have begun to speculate about what that means for Blade's newest release date. Could Blade still debut in the fall of 2025, or is another date change on the horizon?

Thanks to last year's writers' and actors' strike, the most recent updates surrounding Blade's development and pre-production have been few and far between. Countless reports have hinted at the various creative overhauls have entailed, ranging from various period pieces, to lower budget fare, to a female-led ensemble that would have Blade himself be a supporting character. Ali was quoted in December of 2023 saying that he's "encouraged" by the most recent direction the movie is heading in, but newer details have been scarce. The most recent concrete piece of information came from Aaron Pierre, who joined the project in 2022, confirming in March of this year that he is no longer attached amid those creative evolutions. Other previously-reported cast members, including Mia Goth, Milan Ray, and Delroy Lindo, have also become something of a Schrodinger's box as well. (The fact that Lindo has also signed on to Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan's untitled vampire movie at Warner Bros., which has been fast-tracked for an early 2025 debut amid Blade's delays, hasn't helped either.)

In a hypothetical scenario where some combination of Ali, Goth, Ray, and Lindo are all still attached to Blade, there is still the question of when the production would commence. If Ali is signed on for Jurassic World 4, that mid-June production could feasibly last a few months, meaning he might not be available for Blade until the fall of 2024. That would, at best, give the movie a little over a year to go from pre-production to release -- a feat that certainly isn't impossible, but could certainly exacerbate previous complaints about Marvel Studios having rushed visual effects and shorter windows for marketing campaigns. The studio's highly-anticipated The Fantastic Four reboot could also be running into a similar logistical problem, which has led some to wonder if it will ultimately take Blade's current fall 2025 slot.

Beyond that, there's no telling what the future might hold for Blade. Maybe the film will ultimately land Marvel's next theatrical release date in early 2026, if the company ends up rearranging its slate to better map out its next two Avengers movies. Some have even begun to theorize that Blade is among the projects secretly cancelled by Disney CEO Bob Iger, who hinted earlier this year that some of those "tough calls" have already been made. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long to find out the movie's fate.

As mentioned above, Blade is currently scheduled to be released on November 7, 2025.

Update: NetEase has now revealed that Marvel Rivals will also be coming to Xbox Series X/S. The original story can be found below.

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NetEase Games has announced that its new multiplayer game, Marvel Rivals, will be coming to PlayStation 5. Upon its first reveal earlier this year, NetEase said that Marvel Rivals would only be coming to PC initially. As expected, many across PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch platforms soon began making it known that they'd like to see the Marvel multiplayer game come to their own hardware of choice. Now, NetEase has made it known that it will be making good on those requests, but only for a single avenue.

Revealed during PlayStation's new State of Play event, Marvel Rivals was confirmed for PS5 platforms. NetEase shared that it would be holding a new Closed Beta for the game in a little over a month in July, although its full launch wasn't yet detailed. In addition, it was verified that a PS5-exclusive Scarlet Spider skin would be given to Spider-Man in-game. Details on how this would be unlockable weren't provided, though.

"Marvel Rivals is a Super Hero Team-Based PVP Shooter," says the game's official description. "Assemble an all-star Marvel squad, devise countless strategies by combining powers to form unique Team-Up skills and fight in destructible, ever-changing battlefields across the continually evolving Marvel universe! Choose from a vast array of fan-favorite and cult-classic Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains from across the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men, and many more from across the Marvel Multiverse."

As mentioned, Marvel Rivals doesn't yet have a release date as NetEase is still in the beta phase for the title. Additionally, versions of the game for Xbox and Nintendo Switch have yet to be announced in any capacity. Given that a PS5 edition is now known to be happening, it will surely only strengthen calls for the title to come to other hardware. Whether or not this ends up happening remains to be seen, but we should start to learn a whole lot more about Marvel Rivals and its launch from NetEase Games as 2024 continues to progress.

One of the longest-standing debates in the Marvel fandom has been the question of who would win in a fight between Thor Odinson and The Incredible Hulk. As two of the Avengers' biggest powerhouses, Thor and Hulk's respective power levels (strength, stamina, durability) are often too close rank decisively; in the finale to the Avengers: Twilight event series, Thor and Hulk have to take things all the way in a fight to the death - and there can only be one winner.

Avengers Twilight #6 sees Luke Cage's new Defenders team (led by an elderly Steve Rogers) locked in a furious final battle with The Red Skull. In his clandestine takeover of America, Red Skull brainwashed Hulk into being his one-man Weapon of Mass Destruction. With an enraged Hulk on the battlefield, there's only one person who can counter the threat: Thor.

Thor and Hulk battle (quite literally) across America, from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles. During the fight, Thor manages to get through to Banner, who tragically confirms that he is little more than an echo now, and slave to Red Skull's hijacking of his Hulk form. Bruce's consciousness is haunted by all the people he's killed and places he's destroyed while under Red Skull's thrall. Banner has one message for Thor: kill him before Hulk's rampage destroys so much more. Thor holds off as long as he can - until he's battered and bloody, and his armor is broken - until he has to make a final, drastic decision to give Banner what he wants.

How Thor Kills Hulk, Explained

To finish the fight, Thor uses the one advantage in power he has over Hulk: his mystical hammer Mjolnir. Thor flies Hulk to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and traps him there by placing Mjolnir on his chest. As Marvel fans know, Mjolnir's enchantments make it impossible for anyone but Thor (or someone equally "worthy") to lift. With the hammer pinning him, and Thor choking the remaining air out of him, Hulk eventually runs out of oxygen and drowns. The death is confirmed in the epilogue to Avengers: Twilight, in a scene where Tony Stark (who also dies in the final battle with Red Skull) runs into Bruce Banner in the great beerhall of Vahalla.

Marvel lore has always been spotty when it comes to defining the limits of Hulk's power. The debate varies with different versions of Hulk (the prime 616 version, the "Ultimate" 1610 version, and this "Twilight" version). On the whole, it's generally accepted that Hulk does not have unlimited ability to breathe underwater - to the point that the 2022 event series Maestro: World War M had a major twist reveal that Hulk's powerful future self variant (Maestro) had developed the ability to breathe underwater, allowing him to defeat a shocked Namor in the underwater setting of Atlantis.

...That's all to say, Avengers: Twilight might be an alternate reality, but the way that Thor killed Hulk feels like it's very much in line with Marvel canon.

Avengers: Twilight is now available to read at Marvel

Regal is getting in on the popcorn bucket craze with a specialized bucket for Deadpool & Wolverine. One of the highlights of going to a movie theater is getting a limited-time popcorn bucket for the film. One thing that makes the reunion between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Deadpool & Wolverine so unique is it's the only movie Marvel Studios is releasing this year. After a rocky film slate, Marvel Studios is looking to rebound at the box office, and soon moviegoers will have Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn buckets as souvenirs. The bucket planned by Regal Cinemas hopes to be at the top of the request pile.

The Regal Instagram account shared a video teasing its popcorn buck for Deadpool & Wolverine. "Alright, @vancityreynolds You showed us yours but we're gonna make you wait to see ours. #warofthepopcornbuckets #DeadpoolAndWolverine," the account said. "If you want to see the full video, tweet at Ryan."

As for the video, a narrator tells us that "Regal is proud to introduce our first-ever combination drink and popcorn collectible container, featuring a character from Deadpool & Wolverine. The chair on the screen slowly starts to spin around to the viewer, but before we can find out who is sitting in the chair, the TVA interrupts the signal to prevent multiverse spoilers. Is You can check out the video below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Regal (@regalmovies)

AMC reveals Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn bucket

AMC Theatres was first to unveil a Deadpool & Wolverine-themed popcorn bucket. "Don't try to butter me up. #deadpoolandwolverine ??," star Hugh Jackman shared on X (formerly Twitter). earlier today. Of course, the bucket is just as crude as the Marvel movie, with the bucket formed in the shape of Wolverine's head with its mouth open awaiting popcorn. It also has the phrase, "Designed by Deadpool" written on it.

These popcorn buckets come on the heels of AMC Theatres' souvenir sandworm bucket for Dune: Part Two. They caused a huge stir online and inspired a hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch. AMC Chief Content Officer Elizabeth Frank recently responded to the Dune: Part Two buckets.

"We continue to learn and evolve. We would have never imagined the Dune thing. We would have never created it knowing it would be celebrated or mocked," Frank told Variety. "Absolutely," she added when asked if the SNL sketch felt like a "seal of approval." "And you couldn't make it happen if you wanted to. It wouldn't be fair to pull our creative talent aside to say, 'We hope it makes SNL.'"

"Some fans are collectors. There's another group of people who are specific film fans, buying three different Ghostbusters products. It's all a mix. It's a material part of our food and beverage business, but it's not the majority of it. It also makes the movies more fun. It's like going home from a concert with a T-shirt. There is a lot of creative energy from it," she added.

What is Deadpool & Wolverine about?

In Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The film also stars Matthew Macfadyen as Paradox, and Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, with the return of Deadpool alums Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapi?i? as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Rob Delaney as Peter, and Lewis Tan as Shatterstar. Aaron Stanford is returning as Pyro from the X-Men film series, with Jennifer Garner rumored to return as Elektra Natchios.

Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D'Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey and Simon Kinberg serving as executive producers. Deadpool & Wolverine is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy. Deadpool & Wolverine will be released exclusively in theaters on July 26th.

Giancarlo Esposito is joining the MCU according to the actor himself, and new information paints a picture of who he could be playing in Captain America: Brave New World. Murphy's Multiverse wrote that the Breaking Bad star is in the upcoming Marvel movie. Immediately, fans raced to try and figure out who he could be playing. While popular fancasts like Norman Osborne and Magneto still abound on social media, there's a much lower key character that could be the likely pick. Giancarlo Esposito is probably playing the Black Widow villain Prophet, and that would make a lot of sense.

For those who are unaware, Prophet is the leader of an organization called Chaos in the Marvel Comics Universe. In essence, he's a teleported who has access to information about the future. Chaos uses this advance knowledge of the future to fund causes and initiatives that help that chosen future come to pass. Prophet tries to help influence events that occur within the Marvel Universe to ensure that the mysterious entity feeding their organization information remains in power. This all tracks with what we know about the movie so far and that makes his inclusion both a surprise and logically consistent.

For more than a year now, we've known that Tim Blake Nelson's The Leader would be a part of Captain America: Brave New World. In the comics, the Hulk villain is the head of The Intelligencia, a group of villains looking to dominate the world using their command of information and access to power. Those goals align almost perfectly with Prophet and that of Chaos. In fact, they're an easy way to ensure that we end up right in that Multiversal War that's been teased since the beginning frames of Loki Season 1. Think of how many shadowy forces are just laying silently in the larger MCU at the moment. It makes a lot of sense, but it isn't confirmed yet!

Giancarlo Esposito Has Been Teasing An MCU Role

A lot of Giancarlo Esposito's recent public appearances have been teasing a Marvel project. At the time, some fans believed this was a "Madame Web situation" where he singed on for a Sony Marvel movie instead of a mainline MCU project. As more information has come forward, it would seem that Marvel Studios really is his destination. Some of the specifics of his comments make way more sense after the Murphy's Multiverse piece.

During Phoenix Fan Fusion, Esposito said, "The MCU has knocked on my door and it's a role you won't predict. It will be teased and there will be a series afterwards." (Legion of Sand really helped all of us by snagging this moment on Twitter!) Clearly, Esposito's tease of joining the MCU "sooner rather than later" at CCXP was no bluff either.

Prophet would also fit into "a role you won't predict" as well. (Even though that's what we're doing right now!) But, Captain America: Brave New World has one more massive factor that makes this casting very very likely. This week, Anthony Mackie's Marvel movie is undergoing reshoots and that means the studio has even more tinkering to do with the finished product.

Captain America: Brave New World Stealthily Places Pieces On The Board

The Multiverse Saga has continued to roll onward, but there have been a few bumps in the road. Maybe the chief among them was Jonathan Majors' firing from Marvel Studios over domestic violence charges. Desptie the severity of the claims, a lot of fans couldn't help but wonder what would become of Kang the Conqueror. While a loud section would see the MCU ditch the character entirely, that's never quite made a ton of sense for a villain that can easily be retrofitted into another concept. (Does anyone think Secret Wars won't feature Doctor Doom or The Beyonder at this point? They'll get here.)

Chaos as an organization paves the way for something like an evil Illuminati or The Masters of Evil to emerge. (In the comics this would be The Cabal, but who knows what it will be called. Illuminati would be this writer's bet at the time of writing.) Using these far-reaching forces to draw Earth 616 into a multiverse standoff feels inevitable. Then our heroes, including Captain America might have to make a tough call to choose between their home or the lives of millions.

Then, when Doom or whoever is revealed as the one who's been feeding Esposito's villain the information, you get a massive flush of excitement from the audience. (It also give Marvel a way to bring back a greatest hits team of villains for the Avengers to throttle in a movie.) Think of threads like The Power Broker's mysterious business partner, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine's actual boss, and the weird She-Hulk plot thread and lingering interest in Hulk DNA. All of them could be a big bad pulling the strings to weaken this Earth to preserve (or bring back) a Sacred Timeline. Still, you should bet we'll get a formal announcement of some sort at San Diego Comic-Con in a few months.

Who do you think Esposito is playing? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse assembled Spider-people from all walks -- and webs -- of life. The animated movie inducted a number of arachnid adventurers into the Spider-Society, an elite strike force dedicated to the security of the multiverse led by Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099.

Marvel had been teasing that the Spider-Society would be spun out of the Edge of Spider-Verse anthology series and into their own comic book, but the roster was a question mark: With infinite Spider-Men and Spider-Women to choose from, which Spider-heroes would form the Spider-Society?

February's Edge of Spider-Verse #1 saw Julia Carpenter, the clairvoyant known as Madame Web, warn Earth-928's Miguel that the Web of Life and Destiny connecting the multiverse's many Spider-Totems was in danger from a mysterious threat. "We need to form a society of the unexpected," Madame Web said, tasking Miguel with recruiting "a task force built on the Spider-Heroes these villains would never see coming." In March, that threat was revealed in Web of Spider-Man #1: the Sinister Squadron, an assemblage of multiversal Spider-villains that includes the Gwen Stacy Green Goblin.

After Miguel recruited Anya Coraz?n, a.k.a Ara?a, he was attacked by the Sinister Squadron and taken off the board before he could put together the Spider-Society. Anya has been acting as Web's chief recruiter, and her roster was revealed on the final page of this week's Edge of Spider-Verse #4. The Spider-Society includes:

• Anya Coraz?n / Ara?a (Earth-616)
• Miles Morales / Spider-Man (Earth-616, formerly Earth-1610)
• Mayday Parker / Spider-Girl (Earth-982)
• Gwen Stacy / Ghost-Spider (Earth-616, formerly Earth-65)
• Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman (Earth-616)
• Bailey Briggs / Spider-Boy (Earth-616)
• Peter Parker / Weapon VIII (Earth-72)
• Felicia Hardy / Night-Spider (Earth-194)
• Hobie Brown / Spider-Punk (Earth-138)
• Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter-Spider (Earth-31)
• Zarina Zahari / Spider-UK (Earth-834)
• Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man India (Earth-50101)
• Peter Potnoodle / Spider-Ramen (Earth-54202)
• Peter Porker / Spider-Ham (Earth-8311)
• Pter Ptarker / Spider-Rex (Earth-66)

Spider-Society #1, written by Alex Segura (Edge of Spider-Verse) and drawn by Scott Godlewski (Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace), will "spin the entire multiverse into one epic saga," per Marvel's official description.

"We've had such a blast building toward and teasing Spider-Verse in the pages of Web of Spider-Man and Edge of Spider-Verse," Segura said. "I hope readers enjoy the amazing roster of Spider-Heroes we're bringing together to face off a new, but eerily familiar threat."

"Scott Godlewski's the perfect choice to bring our Spider-Verse adventure to life, and his take on the Spider-Heroes, from Spider-Man 2099 to Spider-Ramen, is spot-on," he added. "Readers can expect a wild Multiversal ride full of surprises and fun character moments, evoking the Spider-Verse tales they love. August can't come fast enough!"

Spider-Society #1 (of 4) is on sale August 14 from Marvel Comics.

Deadpool & Wolverine is heading to theaters in July, and Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have been doing some fun promotions for the film. They've been teasing an "intentionally crude" popcorn bucket, and the results are about as horrifying as you can imagine. The popcorn bucket mayhem started earlier this year when AMC Theatres' souvenir sandworm bucket for Dune: Part Two caused a huge stir online and inspired a hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch. In April, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige took the stage at CinemaCon during Disney's presentation and teased Deadpool & Wolverine would give Dune a run for its money in the popcorn department. Well, the bucket was finally revealed today, and it sure is something.

"Don't try to butter me up. #deadpoolandwolverine ??," Jackman shared on Twitter earlier today. You can check out the video of the popcorn bucket reveal below:

Don't try to butter me up. #deadpoolandwolverine ?? pic.twitter.com/EAkvxh2ngn

-- Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) May 30, 2024

AMC Exec Reacts to Dune Popcorn Bucket Backlash

Variety recently spoke with Elizabeth Frank, the Chief Content Officer for AMC and she Frank addressed the response to the Dune: Part Two bucket.

"We continue to learn and evolve. We would have never imagined the Dune thing. We would have never created it knowing it would be celebrated or mocked," Frank explained. "Absolutely," she added when asked if the SNL sketch felt like a "seal of approval." "And you couldn't make it happen if you wanted to. It wouldn't be fair to pull our creative talent aside to say, 'We hope it makes SNL.'"

"Some fans are collectors. There's another group of people who are specific film fans, buying three different Ghostbusters products. It's all a mix. It's a material part of our food and beverage business, but it's not the majority of it. It also makes the movies more fun. It's like going home from a concert with a T-shirt. There is a lot of creative energy from it," she added.

What Is Deadpool 3 About?

In Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The film also stars Matthew Macfadyen as Paradox, and Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, with the return of Deadpool alums Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapi?i? as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Rob Delaney as Peter, and Lewis Tan as Shatterstar. Aaron Stanford is returning as Pyro from the X-Men film series, with Jennifer Garner rumored to return as Elektra Natchios.

Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D'Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey and Simon Kinberg serving as executive producers. Deadpool & Wolverine is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy.

Deadpool & Wolverine will be released exclusively in theaters on July 26th.

The latest figure in Mezco Toyz's outstanding One:12 Collective lineup is a classic Marvel comic book inspired Doc Ock, who comes complete with a huge assortment of accessories and interchangeable parts. Highlights include a removable lab coat, three interchangeable head portraits, and tons of customizable tentacle options.

A full breakdown of the accessories is available in the list below, but first we have the details on how you can add the Doctor Octopus One:12 figure to your collection. It is currently available to pre-order here at Entertainment Earth for $112 with free US shipping slated for January 2025. You won't be charged until it's on the way to your doorstep.

Doctor Octopus One:12 Collective Action Figure Features:

• One:12 Collective body with over 28 points of articulation
• Hand painted authentic detailing
• Approximately 16cm tall
• Three (3) interchangeable head portraits
• Six (6) interchangeable hands
  • One (1) pair of fists (L&R)
  • One (1) pair of posing hands (L&R)
  • One (1) pointing hand (L)
  • One (1) chop hand (L)

Costume:

• Bodysuit
• Laboratory coat (removable)
• Belt

Accessories:

• Four (4) short tentacle arms
• Four (4) medium tentacle arms
• Four (4) long tentacle arms
• Twenty (20) interchangeable tentacle claws (attach to tentacle arms):
  • Two (2) pairs of grabbing tentacle claws
  • Two (2) pairs of open tentacle claws
  • Two (2) pairs of holding tentacle claws
  • Two (2) pairs of floor standing tentacle claws
  • Two (2) pairs of closed tentacle claws
• One (1) One:12 Collective display bases with logo
• One (1) One:12 Collective adjustable display posts

Captain America: Brave New World might contain Giancarlo Esposito's MCU debut according to the latest turn of the rumor mill. Murphy's Multiverse has reported that the Better Call Saul star will be appearing in Anthony Mackie's big 2025 Marvel movie. While the specific details of the role are unclear, it stands to reason that Esposito will be an antagonist for our new Captain America as he tangles with The Leader and President Thunderbolt Ross. Mackie and director Julius Onah have teased that Sam Wilson was going to have a trial by fire with Captain America: Brave New World, and throwing yet another obstacle in there would definitely confirm that.

"The MCU has knocked on my door and it's a role you won't predict," Esposito claimed during Phoenix Fan Fusion. (Credit to Legion of Sand for snagging the quote on Twitter.) "It will be teased and there will be a series afterwards." Clearly, the Mandalorian star meant it when he said that he was joining the MCU "sooner rather than later" at CCXP recently. But, no one could have imagined this was a tease for Captain America: Brave New World as a lot of the information about the film was believed to be set in stone. (This week's reshoots could be even bigger than many might anticipate.)

Captain America: Brave New World Set To Test Sam Wilson

Sam Wilson's back is going to be up against the wall in Captain America: Brave New World. Anthony Mackie talked about the stakes of this movie and how The Multiverse Saga is developing during an interview with Entertainment Weekly a few weeks ago. The MCU star explained that things are shifting into a higher gear for his character and the other heroes. He already had a Red Hulk and The Leader to deal with. But, add Esposito's bad guy into the mix? Yeah, things are getting serious for Captain America this time.

"This movie is a clear reset. It really reestablishes the idea of what this universe is and what this universe is going to be," Mackie shared. "I think with these movies, you're getting a clear, new branding of what Marvel is headed towards the same way they did with Captain America: The Winter Soldier."

"The title implies that there's a new, bigger enemy now; there's a new frontier that we have to conquer," Mackie added. "From Captain America: The First Avenger to Endgame, the enemy was always good versus bad. Now that we've conquered that, where do we go from here? When the bad guys reappear, in what form are they reappearing? It is a new storyline with new characters, with new beliefs, and it creates a new idea of this new world that we're going into."

What role do you think he's playing in Captain America 4? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

The Spider-Woman who debuted in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has officially joined the Marvel Universe. Issa Rae voiced Jessica Drew in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and the film introduced a motorcycle-riding, pregnant Jessica Drew to viewers. While moviegoers may not have been familiar with the Spider-Verse, comic book readers have enjoyed its exploits most recently in Edge of Spider-Verse. The miniseries caught up with fan-favorite Spider heroes while also creating all-new heroes. One of the short stories in the final issue of Edge of Spider-Verse put the spotlight squarely on the new Spider-Woman, and the romantic relationship she had with an Avenger.

*WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Edge of Spider-Verse #4. Continue reading at your own risk!

The story "The Hard Road" in Edge of Spider-Verse #4 comes from the creative team of Nilah Magruder, Marcus Williams, Eric Gapstur, Ra?l Angulo, and VC's Joe Caramagna, with special thanks to Phil Lord. Spider-Woman narrates for the reader, and we learn that she's retelling an old story to her kid about a time when she was late to a dinner anniversary with their Dad. While driving on her motorcycle, she spots an explosion on top of a high-rise building and races up its side to check it out. There she's met by Hawkeye, who she has a romantic history with.

"Yes, that's right. You were nearly Little Baby Barton," Spider-Woman narrates to her child. She also states how Hawkeye was one of her biggest mistakes in life. This Hawkeye is working with Taskmaster, but according to Hawkeye, it's complicated. Spider-Woman and Hawkeye then spend their time fighting with their fists, arrows, webs, and words, taking shots at each other verbally while also physically.

Spider-Woman ultimately wins their fight and ties Hawkeye up for the authorities to find. Before they go their separate ways, Hawkeye tells Spider-Woman that whoever she is with now is a lucky guy. Later that night, Jessica Drew shows up for her date, and the story ends before we learn who she's in a relationship with now. Is it another established Marvel character that we already know? Maybe we'll find out in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Issa Rae comments on pregnant Spider-Woman

ComicBook spoke to Issa Rae on the red carpet for the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse premiere, where she talked about how the filmmakers used their knowledge of the character to craft something truly unique among Spider-Lore.

"You know, I'm so excited that the filmmakers chose to use their nerdy knowledge of the Spider-Man canon to incorporate this specific art for Jessica Drew where she happens to be pregnant, kicking a** on a motorcycle. Which I am terrified of," Rae laughed. "I just think it's just, so special. She's also like the only Spider-Person who doesn't wear a mask and she's out here saving the world because she doesn't have anything to hide. She's like you can get this work any time."

Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who lost a proxy battle with Bob Iger earlier in the year, has reportedly sold his stake in Disney. This brings to end a long-simmering feud between Peltz and Iger, with the former attempting a power grab to push Iger out at Disney and appoint himself and his colleagues to the Disney board of trustees. Back in April, Disney shareholders rejected Nelson Peltz and his Trian Fund Management partners' bid to join the Disney board. Disney shareholders backed Iger and the rest of the board, and now it appears Peltz is moving on.

CNBC reports Nelson Peltz sold his entire Disney stake, according to a person familiar with the matter. He reportedly sold his Disney stock at about $120 a share, which earned him around $1 billion. Disney stock is currently trading at around $100 per share. Part of Peltz's issue with Bob Iger's reign at Disney had to do with the company's streaming and theatrical strategy, most notably calling out feature films Captain Marvel and Black Panther. His comments called out the reasoning behind having movies that were comprised of "all women" and "all Black" casts.

"Why do I have to have a Marvel [movie] that's all women?" Peltz wondered before the proxy vote was underway in April. "Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can't I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?"

Nelson Peltz's feud with Bob Iger

Some of the animosity between Nelson Peltz and Bob Iger is tied to Ike Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment. Iger told CNBC about the power play's underlying dynamics during an interview. He pointed out how Trian Partners is 75% owned by Ike Perlmutter. The former Marvel executive has some complicated personal ties to both Disney and Marvel that help color the conflict that continues to play out.

"Our filings indicate that both Ike and Nelson were working together to try to encourage the board or convince the board to put Nelson on the board," he recalled. "They have a relationship that dates back quite some time. We bought Marvel in 2009. I promised Ike the job that he would continue to run Marvel after that. Not forever, necessarily. But after that."

Iger continued, "And in 2015 he was intent on firing Kevin Feige who was running Marvel's studio, the movie making [operation] at the time, and I thought that was a mistake and stepped in to prevent that from happening. I think Kevin is an incredibly, incredibly talented executive that you know, the Marvel track record speaks for itself. And so I moved the moviemaking operation of Marvel out from under Ike into the movie studio under Alan Horn."

Photo credit Marco Bello/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The first season of X-Men '97 recently drew to a close, and its impact on the Marvel landscape is continuing to be felt. The ten-episode first season not only continued the narrative of X-Men: The Animated Series, but it reinvigorated a lot of the conversation surrounding Marvel adaptations. In addition to its unpredictable fight scenes and its unabashed love of Marvel canon, one element of X-Men '97 has stood out -- the romances.

It's not just that X-Men '97 included romantic relationships -- it included the mess that can ensue from them. Cyclops discovers that he married and had a child with the cloned version of his childhood sweetheart, and then tried to balance his literal and psychic bond with both of them, all while said childhood sweetheart continued to express feelings for Wolverine. Rogue, Magneto, and Gambit found themselves in a surprisingly deep-seeded love triangle, which only further complicated the death and destruction of the fall of Genosha. Storm and Forge found an unlikely love story amid the "LifeDeath" arc, Jubilee and Sunspot struck up a teen romance, Beast got betrayed by his crush on newswoman Trish Tilby, and Morph broke the Internet with their implied feelings towards Wolverine. Even Professor X joined in on the trend from afar, making innuendos about his bond with his alien partner, Lilandra. These are just the canonical romances in the text of X-Men '97's first season -- and even the smallest one can't be removed from the broader storyline without impacting some part of the superhero plot, or some moment of character growth.

It's no secret that the romantic melodrama became one of the highlights of the conversation surrounding X-Men '97 -- both because it was fundamentally accurate to X-Men comics, and because it was something that differed wildly from the trend of the larger MCU. The MCU has been criticized for years for not prioritizing its romantic subplots, or for essentially shutting the door on some potential romances that fans detected through subtext. (If you were among the franchise's fandom in the time between 2012's The Avengers and 2014's Avengers: Age of Ultron, you probably heard a convincing argument for Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton's romantic past, only for the latter movie to introduce that Clint had a secret family all along. The subtext between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes is a whole separate conversation entirely.) Sure, the franchise's early days were dotted with the occasional (exclusively cisgender and heterosexual) canon romance, ranging from short-lived adoration to long-term love stories. But even the best of the Infinity Saga's canonical love stories were built or strengthened offscreen, as opposed to using them as narrative fodder. Even Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, whose bewildered-colleagues-to-lovers arc was formed over the entire saga, still grew into a married couple with a child during Avengers: Endgame's five-year time jump. The one shining example might be Guardians of the Galaxy's Peter Quill and Gamora, whose bond formed into something unbelievably poignant in spite of their own multi-year time jump, and one of them getting killed off and resurrected in the larger Avengers crossover. There's a reason why fans spent years debating Quill's reaction to Gamora's death in Avengers: Infinity War, and why some remain verklempt about their "I bet we were fun" exchange in last year's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 -- because both moments were part of a meaningful love story that had grown before our eyes.

In addition to the Guardians franchise sticking the landing, the current Multiverse Saga has occasionally begun to turn the tide. WandaVision's most fundamental building block was the tragic love story of its two protagonists, Ms. Marvel folded Kamala Khan's teenage crushes into her larger origin story, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law centered Jen Walters' love life and sexuality in an incredibly fitting way. But in other instances, Phases 4 and 5 have continued to establish canon romantic relationships in the margins of their stories, only to do the bare minimum with them when in need of a third act emotional beat. In one way or another, Thor and Jane Foster in Thor: Love and Thunder, Marc Spector and Layla El-Faouly in Moon Knight, and Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania all fell victim to this problem in one way or another. Eternals was a different beast entirely, as the most popular relationship among its ensemble wasn't the one involved in the franchise's first onscreen sex scene, or the franchise's first gay relationship -- it was the natural chemistry felt between Druig and Makkari.

This isn't to say that every single future MCU project needs to have a romance at the core of its plot, or bend over backwards to endear audiences to the next new love story. But X-Men '97 illustrated that, more often than not, love plays a pivotal role in the actual lives of its characters, and there might be value in weaving it into the latest world-ending stakes. The pages of superhero comics have already shown this for the better part of a century -- especially Marvel Comics, which arguably built its first shared universe out of the interconnected stories of Millie the Model, Patsy Walker, and Linda Carter, Student Nurse. Luckily, the MCU does have opportunities to learn the right lessons from X-Men '97 -- both with its own X-Men movie reboot, which reportedly just hired a writer, and with the iconic romance between Reed Richards and Sue Storm in 2025's The Fantastic Four. Maybe, just as they have countless times in the comics, the X-Men can help redefine what it means to bring love into the Marvel Universe.

The jump between 2019 and 2024 has been WILD for just about everyone - including Marvel's X-Men. Five years ago, the X-Men franchise was a dimly-lit ember compared to the wildfire of interest in characters like Spider-Man and The Avengers - largely sparked by the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel writer Jonathan Hickman stepped in to relaunch X-Men comics in a bold new way - and did just that with the House of X / Powers of X two-part event.

Now the "Fall of X" event has torn the dream of Krakoa was finally torn apart. The X-Men's mutant nation was decimated by the anti-mutant organization Orchis (in allegiance with future Sentinels Nimrod and Omega Sentinel), while Mister Sinister's original human alter-ego, Nathaniel Essex, achieved near-godhood becoming "The Enigma," where he nearly controlled all of the X-Men's fates, past, present, and future.

The ending of X-Men's Krakoa Era saw Jean Grey resurrected as the Phoenix and the cycle of many lifetimes lived and re-lived by Moira Mactaggert (creating multiple new alternate X-Men timelines and realties) finally end. The X-Men were left in some interesting places, with a very uncertain status quo.

So...

What's Next for X-Men After The Krakoa Era?

X-Men Comics will relaunch in June under the new banner "From the Ashes." There's already an extensive list of titles for the relaunch, including:

1. X-Men by Jed MacKay (W) & Ryan Stegman (A)
2. Phoenix by Stephanie Phillips (W) & Alessandro Miracolo (A)
3. NYX by Collin Kelly Jackson Lanzing (W) & Francesco Mortarino (A)
4. X-Force Geoffrey Thorne (W) & Marcus To (A)
5. Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone (W) & David Marquez (A)
6. X-Factor by Mark Russell (W) & Bob Quinn (A)
7. Exceptional X-Men by Eve L. Ewing (W) & Carmen Carnero (A)
8. Wolverine by Saladin Ahmed (W) & Martin C?ccolo (A)
9. Storm by Murewa Ayodele (W) & Lucas Werneck (A)
10. Dazzler (limited series) by Jason Loo (W) & Rafel Lourerio (A)

The release strategy will see the first four books released in July; the next two in August; Exceptional X-Men, Wolverine and Dazzler in September, and Storm in October. You can read the synopses for the first waves of books, below:

X-Men - "FROM THE ASHES! Krakoa is gone, ORCHIS has fallen...but the X-Men remain, always. Cyclops leads, because that is what he does. Beast builds, because that is what he does. And from their new home in Alaska, the X-Men raise a flag of defiance. Mutant business is their business. Join Cyclops, Beast, Magneto, Psylocke, Magik, Kid Omega, Temper, and Juggernaut as new forces in the world move into position, battling for the destiny and philosophy of the mutant species."

Phoenix - "She is JEAN GREY. She is PHOENIX. She saves the world. She brings death. One woman, alone in space, who not only must do what no one else can: she yearns to. A desperate S.O.S. from NOVA brings the Phoenix to the edge of a black hole, where hundreds of lives hang in the balance...and whatever Jean does - or fails to do - will bring darkness to the universe and haunt her in ways she can scarcely imagine..."

NYX - "THIS IS NYX!This isn't a book about X-Men. This is a book about mutants living past the end of their world and into a new beginning. This is MS. MARVEL embracing her mutant life in the neon streets of the Lower East Side. This is ANOLE trying to keep his head above water. This is WOLVERINE in the shadows of Bushwick, protecting her own. This is PRODIGY writing history as it happens - and SOPHIE CUCKOO finding her own way. The news reports are bleak. The streets feel dangerous. There's something lurking underground. Evil coming from every direction. But they're determined to make it. This is mutant community. This is mutant pride. This is NYX.

X-Force - "The world is fractured. FORGE uses his powers of invention to devise the only fix: an all-new, all-different X-FORCE! Forge leads a custom-made, handpicked team of mutants - RACHEL SUMMERS, BETSY BRADDOCK, SAGE, SURGE and introducing TANK - in off-the-books missions so dire, so integral to the fate of the Marvel Universe, there's no time to stop for permission! As Forge detects increasing threats across the planet, he will recruit a specialist for each target - first up: that regenerating degenerate, DEADPOOL! Be here for an X-Force like you've never seen them before, stick around to see who joins, who lives, who dies, and uncover the mystery of Forge's discovery!"

X-Factor - "Formed by the government in response to a post-Krakoa outbreak of mutant paramilitary, ops squads, and mercenary teams, X-FACTOR will be co-led by Angel and Havok and include recruits like Pyro, Frenzy, Feral, and more. Part special agents for missions that require an arsenal of superpowers and part celebrity propaganda machine, X-FACTOR will wage war against emerging factions like the Mutant Underground and X-Term. Whether they believe in their actions or are just doing it for a check, the members of X-Factor are no fools when it comes to shady politics. As hidden agendas rear their ugly head, they'll fight against the dark consequences and disastrous public opinion from the inside!"

Uncanny X-Men - OUTLAW HEROES ONCE AGAIN, THE X-MEN EMBARK ON A NEW MISSION! Making themselves at home in the Big Easy, the X-Men protect a world that hates and fears them! Join ROGUE, GAMBIT, NIGHTCRAWLER, JUBILEE and WOLVERINE on explosive super hero adventures. Uncanny as ever, the X-Men are back to saving the day mutant-style!"

Exceptional X-Men - "MUTANTKIND'S TWO GREATEST TEACHERS MOLD THE NEXT GENERATION OF X-MEN! KATE PRYDE has returned home to Chicago following the war with ORCHIS. Having stepped away from the world of mutantdom, she is nevertheless called back into action as she crosses paths with a trio of new young mutants, BRONZE, AXO and MELEE, who clearly need training and guidance. Unfortunately for Kate, EMMA FROST thinks so as well!"

Wolverine - "There's a killer in the woods - and as Wolverine's attempt at peace is shattered, an old enemy will re-emerge as a new villain rises that will bring Logan to the brink of his berserker rage. But Nightcrawler knows his old friend is capable of doing what's right, and before long, Logan will have to unleash his claws, push his healing factor to the limit and demonstrate he's the best there is at what he does once and for all - nice be damned! Note to collectors: the new series kicks off with a key first appearance and a major addition to the lore of Wolverine!"

Dazzler - "OUT & PROUD AS A MUTANT AND BACK ON THE ROAD! Dazzler, Marvel's glittering mutant songstress, has been in and out of the limelight over the years - but now the time has finally come for her to take center stage! Dazzler embarks on a new world tour, the culmination and celebration of her entire musical career. But while Dazzler may be ready to focus on her music, her celebrity-mutant status and a violent attack may sideline the entire endeavor before it's even begun..."

Storm - "Ororo Munroe has lived many lives. She's been a thief, a goddess, an X-Man, a queen, and now... an Avenger! She is the most prominent, most respected and most powerful mutant on the world stage--and in that role, she intends to be a force for positive change. First up: a major meltdown at a nuclear facility in Oklahoma City draws Storm from her Sanctuary in Atlanta--and into a moral conflict that will test her iron resolve! As one of the year's biggest launches, it'll be packed with guest stars including Storm's fellow Avengers, X-Factor's Frenzy, and more!"

X-Men: From The Ashes Begins on July 10, 2024.

X-Men '97's showrunner revealed the sneaky Man of Steel inspiration for one finale moment. On Twitter, Beau DeMayo spoke about Rogue's little dance with Bastion. As a big fan of the Zack Snyder movie, the showrunner talked about the emotions running through the scene. Anyone who watched all of X-Men '97 knows that our girl Rogue was going through it over the course of those episodes. That made a lot of viewers sit up and cheer when she finally got her hands on the X-Men villain. Now, she didn't get the ultimate blow on the bad guy, but it had to feel pretty good. That cathartic moment is exactly what DeMayo and the team were shooting for. It's just really fun that a massive episode like this could take cues from Henry Cavill's take on The Man of Steel.

DeMayo typed, "I was likely subconsciously influenced by this when writing the #xmen97 finale beat of Rogue punching Bastion. That's not Superman hammering Zod. It's Clark, a son furiously defending the woman who raised and protected him. The action is driven by emotion not plot. #manofsteel"

I was likely subconsciously influenced by this when writing the #xmen97 finale beat of Rogue punching Bastion. That's not Superman hammering Zod. It's Clark, a son furiously defending the woman who raised and protected him. The action is driven by emotion not plot. #manofsteel pic.twitter.com/KiZSJcRXAZ

-- Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) May 29, 2024

X-Men '97 Enters The Wait For Season 2

X-Men '97 has sparked so much fan love on the Internet that social media is now rabidly awaiting Season 2. ComicBook recently spoke to director Jake Castorena about the finale. During that interview, we managed to get an update on how Season 2 is going. Yes, it's already in the oven. But, that doesn't mean we're going to get it this year. At the moment, we have to remain patient and see what the creative team has cooking.

"I equate it like, 'We're baking a cake right now.' Nobody wants to ruin a cake. I don't want to ruin a cake. Let us bake it," Castorena smiled. "The cake is well underway and being made, being fabricated as we speak. There is no rest for the wicked I guess. To use that phrase. We rolled right into Season 2, while we were on Season 1!"

Elsewhere in the interview, the director talked about not straying from X-Men: The Animated Series all that much. "It's all about, we're on a team. It's something we realize that we give ourselves false parameters to make sure we're checking our math," Castorena said. "Whether it's nerd math, geographical math, whatever it is. We gave ourselves false parameters to make sure to keep us in check, to make sure we're not going too far away from the original DNA that is the OG show. But, also adapting it. Fresh, but familiar."

Did you love this reference in X-Men '97? Check out the wild moments down below!

Marvel has officially brought X-Men's "Krakoa Era" to an end, after five years of some of the most re-inventive and divisive X-Men storytelling, following the 2019 "House of X/Powers of X" reboot event. And in its final story arc, "Fall of X," the Krakoa Era came to a close in about as epic a way as is possible for Marvel Comics.

Fall of X's culminating chapters were told in the two series Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X. Rise of the Powers of X #5 marks the conclusion of Fall of X's storyline and the end of the Krakoa Era as a whole.

X-Men: How The Krakoa Era Ends, Explained

Rise of the Powers of X #5 brought two cosmic powers into conflict, with the fate of reality at stake: Jean Grey, Hope Summers, and the mutants stranded in a realm outside of space and time (the "White Hot Room") successfully re-birthed the Phoenix Force - which turned out to also be the original birth of the cosmic entity. After being re-connected to the Phoenix, Jean Grey was locked into a cat-and-mouse game of cosmic chase against Nathaniel Essex, the scientist who created Mister Sinister and three other clones. Essex hijacked Moira Mactaggert's mutant gift (dying and being reborn over and over, with full memory of the lifetimes she lived) to accumulate the shared knowledge of his clones' lives, transforming Essex into a god-like being called "The Enigma," an interstellar intelligence that exists outside space/time.

Fall of X saw the X-Men battling on two fronts: a war against anti-mutant organization Orchis on Earth and in orbit, while also battling the omnipotent threat of Enigma, who sought to play god with the timeline, guaranteeing his ascension and survival by taking away the one threat to a dominion's existence: Jean Grey's Phoenix powers. In Rise of the Powers of X #5, Enigma darts across time, trying to tweak little events that can stop Jean from becoming the Phoenix, or reconnecting with its power, while Jean pursues, correcting each deviation that Enigma makes. Finally, Jean uses the Phoenix to become a cosmic avatar for all mutants, who collectively stab Enigma through the head with a flaming set of Wolverine-Phoenix claws. Enigma doesn't die, though: he's trapped in a perpetual final moment, forever in the throes of dying, unable to escape back to the safety of the realm outside time/space.

Enigma is defeated, while Orchis and the Sentinel threat of Nimrod and Omega Sentinal were ended in Fall of the House of X #5. In the aftermath, Charles Xavier submits himself to be arrested for his crimes, while the X-Men get set to embark on a whole new era.

The Krakoa Era began in HoX/PoX by revealing that Moira Mactaggert is in fact an omega-level mutant. We learned that Moira has reset the Marvel Universe timeline in an attempt to prevent a man-mutant-machine war across no less than ten lifetimes.

The new "Phoenix Timeline" is announced by a final epilogue scene in Rise of the Powers of X #5, which sees an adolescent Moira Mactaggert awaiting that fateful moment when her mutant power kicks in again - only to find that it doesn't happen. Moira declares "I'm free. It's over," as she happily dances across a field.

What Does The Ending of Fall of X Mean?

In terms of comic book storylines, Marvel will relaunch the X-Men franchise under the new "From the Ashes" tagline in the summer of 2024. That will see the X-Teams and specific characters (like Wolverine) trying to move forward in a world where Krakoa is gone, and most mutants are still living on Mars, or are stranded in another dimension.

MORE: Full List of New X-Men Comics Coming in 2024

Behind the scenes, Immortal X-Men and Rise of the Powers of X writer Kieron Gillen just put a definitive period ending on the Krakoa Era, by negating the biggest thing that defined it: the many realities of Moira X's lives. Moira is back to being an unremarkable side character, and the entire wild re-imagining of the X-Men that Jonathan Hickman started now exists in a bubble, to be revisited and mined by later generations of X-Men writers that will follow.

The House of X - Fall of X era of X-Men is available to read at Marvel.

The latest issue of Ultimate Spider-Man puts the focus on Green Goblin. One of the highlights of Marvel's new Ultimate Universe is it gives readers a different perspective on familiar characters, which is how the Ultimate Universe was originally set up in the first place. For example, Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man as a married man and father of two kids. Green Goblin is another character that has a different origin compared to his Earth-616 counterpart, and readers finally get to see what caused Harry Osborn to put on the Green Goblin suit and become a vigilante, and not a villain.

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Ultimate Spider-Man #5. Continue reading at your own risk!

Ultimate Spider-Man #5 comes from the creative team of Jonathan Hickman, David Messina, Matthew Wilson, VC's Cory Petit, and VC's Joe Sabino. It begins by taking readers back in time, months before there even was an Ultimate Spider-Man. Norman Osborn and his wife Emily are at an event in a high-rise building, waiting for Harry to arrive. Norman gives Harry a fatherly speech about what the Osborn name means, and his expectations for Harry when a blast rockets from the sky and vaporizes the building Norman and Emily are in, as well as the surrounding area. Harry can only watch helplessly from the street below.

Green Goblin's Ultimate Universe origin revealed

Fast-forward a few weeks and Harry, with his wife Gwen Stacy, attend a meeting for Norman Osborn's estate. Everything is left to Harry and Gwen, along with a spade trading card that just showed up at the attorney's office that day. The card is from Wilson Fisk, and Harry meets him the next day. With the fall of Stane/Stark, Wilson is now the Kingpin of Manhattan, a man with extraordinary power. And with that power, he hands the Stane/Stark company over to Harry.

Harry, Gwen, and Otto Octavius, who fans will recognize as Doctor Octopus, dig into one of Stark's labs and come across some of his Iron Man armors. But what's more interesting are the files that Otto uncovers. They reveal how there is a secret council ruling over this Ultimate Universe, which The Maker set up during Ultimate Invasion. Maker's goal was to recreate the Ultimate Universe without superheroes, appointing various characters as the rulers of different regions. Not only are they responsible for keeping heroes like Spider-Man from reaching their full potential, but Harry believes they are the ones responsible for Norman's death. Also, with Tony Stark's inventions, Otto Octavius is able to create Harry Osborn's first Green Goblin armor.

One of Harry's first stints as the Green Goblin involves tracking down Shocker and taking his gauntlets, which are Stark proprietary tech, back. Finally, we jump back to the present, where we see Ultimate Bullseye, one of Wilson Fisk's cronies, captured by the Green Goblin.

This was a nice departure from what has already been an entertaining installment of Ultimate Spider-Man. Getting to learn Harry Osborn's motivations, and see just how he's trying to correct the wrongs that have taken place on his Earth, and hopefully avoid the villainous turns Earth-616 Harry Osborn committed. We'll have to see if he sticks to the hero's path, or if something turns Green Goblin and Spider-Man into mortal enemies.

Hasbro is adding to their Marvel 85th anniversary lineup of Marvel Legends figures with The Cabal 3-pack, which is inspired by Siege: The Cabal comics. The set includes Iron Patriot, Taskmaster, and Doctor Doom along with 17 accessories such as alternate heads, hands, weapons and effects.

The Marvel Legends The Cabal 3-pack will be available to pre-order starting May 29th at 10am PT / 1pm ET here on Amazon as an exclusive priced at $74.99. UPDATE: The set launched at $99, but a price adjustment to $74.99 is expected before it ships on September 1st. Pre-order customers will automatically get any discounts. Details on previously announced figures in the Marvel 85th anniversary Marvel Legends lineup can be found below. Reveals include Skaar, Son of Hulk, Wolverine, Superior Spider-Man. Warbird, an Iron Fist and Luke Cage 2-pack, Ghost Rider, Venom, and more.

Last week, Hasbro unveiled a new Hulkbuster figure that's inspired by the Iron Man comics. It will stand at over 9 inches tall, and will include swappable hands, armor pieces, and a tony Stark head.

Pre-orders for the figure are now available here at Entertainment Earth (free US shipping on orders $79+ / $10 - $50 off orders of $100 or more during Memorial Day Sale) and here on Amazon priced at $59.99.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES WOLVERINE (MARVEL 85TH ANNIVERSARY) - $24.99 / Available here at Entertainment Earth and here on Amazon: "With unstoppable healing powers and adamantium metal claws, the astonishing Wolverine battles threats alongside the mutant X-Men team. Celebrate the MARVEL UNIVERSE and 85 years of MARVEL COMICS with this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES WOLVERINE (MARVEL 85TH ANNIVERSARY) figure. This quality 6-inch scale figure features deco inspired by the character's appearance in Marvel's Astonishing X-Men comics. The figure features extensive articulation and is highly posable for display and play. Includes figure and 6 comics-inspired accessories including masked and unmasked heads and hands with and without claws."

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN (MARVEL 85TH ANNIVERSARY) - $29.99 / Available here at Entertainment Earth and here on Amazon: "When Doc Ock swaps bodies with Peter Parker, gaining his powers and conscience, he becomes the unlikely hero Superior Spider-Man. Celebrate the MARVEL UNIVERSE and 85 years of MARVEL COMICS with this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN (85th ANNIVERSARY) figure. This quality 6-inch scale figure features deco inspired by the character's appearance in Marvel's The Superior Spider-Man comics. The figure features extensive articulation and is highly posable for display and play. Includes figure and 11 comics-inspired accessories including alternate head and Spider-Arms with removable backpack."

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES IRON FIST AND LUKE CAGE (MARVEL 85TH ANNIVERSARY) - $49.99 / Available here at Entertainment Earth and here on Amazon: "Luke Cage and Iron Fist reach new heights as heroes when they're called to join the roster of New Avengers, teaming up to fight for justice. Celebrate the MARVEL UNIVERSE and 85 years of MARVEL COMICS with this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES IRON FIST AND LUKE CAGE (85TH ANNIVERSARY) 2-pack. These quality 6-inch scale figures feature deco inspired by the characters' appearances in Marvel's The New Avengers comics. The figures feature extensive articulation and are highly posable for display and play. Includes 2 figures and 12 comics-inspired accessories including alternate head and hands for each figure."

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES GHOST RIDER (DANNY KETCH) (MARVEL 85TH ANNIVERSARY) - $49.99 / Pre-orders will launch on 4/30 at 10am PT / 1pm ET here at Entertainment Earth / Amazon: "When Danny Ketch crosses paths with a cursed motorcycle, he is transformed into the Spirit of Vengeance, wielding supernatural powers as Ghost Rider. Celebrate the MARVEL UNIVERSE and 85 years of MARVEL COMICS with this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES GHOST RIDER (DANNY KETCH) (85TH ANNIVERSARY) figure set. This quality 6-inch scale figure and vehicle features deco inspired by their appearances in Marvel's Ghost Rider comics. The figure features extensive articulation and is highly posable for display and play. Set comes with 6-inch scale Hell Cycle vehicle with moveable foot peg, semi-translucent fire wheels, and fire stands for displaying on 2 wheels or 1. Includes figure, bike and 9 comics-inspired accessories including motorcycle display pieces and alternate hands and chain for figure".

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES VENOM (MARVEL 85TH ANNIVERSARY) - $24.99 - This Walmart Exclusive is expected to launch on July 25th or 26th during Walmart's next SDCC Collector Con event. When it does drop, you'll be able to find it here. "When Spider-Man breaks free from an alien symbiote, it latches onto Daily Bugle reporter Eddie Brock - who becomes the supervillain Venom, seeking revenge on the web-slinger. Celebrate the MARVEL UNIVERSE and 85 years of MARVEL COMICS with this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES VENOM (MARVEL 85TH ANNIVERSARY) figure. This quality 6-inch scale figure features deco inspired by the character's appearance in Marvel's Spider-Man comics. The figure features extensive articulation, is highly posable for display and play and comes on collectible cardback packaging with retro-inspired design. Includes figure and 3 comics-inspired accessories including alternate hands and an alternate head."

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES SKAAR, SON OF HULK (MARVEL 85TH ANNIVERSARY) - $39.99 / Fan Channel Exclusive / Release Date TBA: A born fighter from the brutal world of Sakaar, the Son of Hulk seeks the power needed to destroy his enemies. Celebrate the MARVEL UNIVERSE and 85 years of MARVEL COMICS with this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES SKAAR, SON OF HULK (85th ANNIVERSARY) figure. For the first time, fans can add Skaar, the son of Hulk to their collection. This quality 6-inch scale deluxe figure stands 8 inches tall and features deco inspired by the character's appearance in Marvel's Skaar: Son of Hulk comics. The figure features extensive articulation and is highly posable for display and play. Includes figure and 5 comics-inspired accessories including alternate head, hands, and weapons accessories."

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES MARVEL'S WARBIRD (MARVEL 85TH ANNIVERSARY) - $24.99 / Target Exclusive / Release Date TBA: "After damaging her powers while saving Earth's sun, Carol Danvers joins a team of Avengers and takes on the codename of Warbird. Celebrate the MARVEL UNIVERSE and 85 years of MARVEL COMICS with this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES MARVEL'S WARBIRD (85th ANNIVERSARY) figure. For the first time, fans can add Carol Danvers as Marvel's Warbird to their collection. This quality 6-inch scale figure features deco inspired by the character's appearance in Marvel's Avengers comics with her black Warbird-era costume from her time on the Avengers team. The figure features extensive articulation and is highly posable for display and play. Includes figure and 5 comics-inspired accessories including alternate head, hands, and power FX."

Captain Marvel star Brie Larson shared some of her advice for new superhero actors. The Hollywood Reporter's drama actress roundtable featured the Marvel star and she got asked about her MCU experience. When asked about being a "superhero mentor" she singled out training and costume bathroom logistics as two popular pieces of advice for actors entering the superhero world. Funnily enough, Larson's one of the first people to reach out when newcomers are looking for advice. She's been in the MCU for a minute now, and people are surprised by the amount of training they have to do to get "superhero fit." Along with that, you're going to need a bathroom plan, so go ahead and start thinking about that from the moment you get into the suit.

"Always. I'm the first person to email everybody because it's very specific and very strange," Larson began. "People are like, 'I don't know how to do this.' Yeah, no one does. Why would you? I'll say, 'Train, because you'll want to be as prepared in your body as you possibly can because it only gets harder as the job goes on. And really understand how to be able to go to the bathroom in your suit.' The first Captain Marvel, it was a 45-minute thing to get me in and out of that costume."

Brie Larson's Road Through The MCU

It's hard to believe so many years have passed since Brie Larson's introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She's appeared in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, The Marvels and Captain Marvel. Entertainment Tonight previously spoke to the Carol Danvers actress about her journey through the MCU. In essence, there's still more for Captain Marvel to do, but fans have already seen a lot of growth from the character since her early moments in the franchise.

"I think there is still so much inside of Carol," Larson reflected. "I feel like getting to be on this team just cracked her open in a way that she hadn't been and I really loved that for her."

"I just loved her letting the shoulders drop a little bit, and not need to feel like all the responsibility was on her," Larson added. "So I think that there is just so much more to go... She is just a great character to continue to grow with. It's like, as I am growing she is growing."

What Was Brie Larson's Last Marvel Role?

In The Marvels, which arrived in theaters on November 10th, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol's estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as "The Marvels."

The Marvels will also see the franchise returns of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Saagar Shaikh as Aamir Khan, Zenobia Shroff as Muneeba Khan, and Mohan Kapur as Yusuf Khan. New cast members include Zawe Ashton, Park Seo-joon, and Shamier Anderson. Produced by Marvel Studios, The Marvels is directed by Nia DaCosta with a script from DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, and Elissa Karasik.

What would you be most excited to do as a superhero? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

Deadpool & Wolverine's Hugh Jackman opened up about his retirement from the role of Wolverine. Apparently, playing the X-Men favorite had his body hurting every day back near Logan. People Magazine had Jackman and his buddy Ryan Reynolds interview each other ahead of the MCU blockbuster. It's a bit of a bro-fest, but through the writing, their special friendship really comes through. Yes, Reynolds always wanted Jackman to come back to the role. But, the time away gave his body some time to adjust and reinvigorated his love for Wolverine. So, once the star arrived on the set of Deadpool & Wolverine, he was ready to sink his claws into the task at hand. Check out how Jackman described that process right here.

"I had got to the point probably 10 years ago I was like, I'm not enjoying it. It was hurting. It was tough," Jackman recalled. "But I've had a break, and I've been doing a lot of dance. I've been doing stage shows. And so when I came back to it, it was really fun."

Deadpool & Wolverine Lured Hugh Jackman Out Of Retirement

Throughout the press tour for Deadpool & Wolverine, Jackman has been adamant that he was done playing Logan. However, with a friend like Reynolds, he probably wasn't going to be down forever. Rotten Tomatoes' Jacqueline Cooley spoke to the duo and asked about putting the tights on for the first time. Jackman is very candid about his thought process after 2017's Logan. He really thought he was done. But, when a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity rolls around, it's pretty hard to say no. Especially, when the person driving that particular bus is your best friend.

"I was on my way - I was just driving - and literally just like a bolt of lightning came this knowing, deep in my gut, that I wanted to do this film with Ryan... for Deadpool and Wolverine to come together. And Jacqueline, I swear to you, when I said I was done I really thought I was done," Jackman shared. "But, in the back of my head, ever since I saw Deadpool 1, I was like 'Those two characters together...' I knew it: I knew the fans wanted it. Ever since I put on the claws fans have talked about these two, so that had always been there, but I just knew."

What's Happening In Deadpool & Woverine?

In Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The film also stars Matthew Macfadyen as Paradox, and Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, with the return of Deadpool alums Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapi?i? as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Rob Delaney as Peter, and Lewis Tan as Shatterstar. Aaron Stanford is returning as Pyro from the X-Men film series, with Jennifer Garner rumored to return as Elektra Natchios.

Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D'Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey and Simon Kinberg serving as executive producers. Deadpool & Wolverine is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy. Deadpool & Wolverine will be released exclusively in theaters on July 26th.

Are you happy Jackman came back for Deadpool & Wolverine? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

This is a great week for comic books! The top ten has a little something for every collector. Fans of comic book artwork will be thrilled to see Inhyuk Lee and Jenny Frison covers hit our top ten! We also see Logan Lubera pay homage to another horror cover and fans receiving a long-awaited J. Scott Campbell cover. Fans of Doom and late rapper MF Doom will be happy to see those books taking off, along with key issues featuring two femme fatales. Although X-Men '97 may have wrapped up, a certain character is still making our top ten. His name's Gambit... remember it!

Want to know what comic books are trending each week and why? COVRPRICE.COM uses live sales analytics to identify and compile the most robust market price guide, highlighting the weekly top trending comics. No opinions. Just data. Each week, they present a newly updated list of the TOP 10 COMICS trending in the aftermarket. These trends are due to rumors, fan-favorite covers, story-driven content, and content-related news.

Top 10 Comic Books Rising in Value for the Week of 05/27/24

#10: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: FURIOSA #1 | DC | 2015: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga debuted this past weekend, and reception has been mostly positive. Fans and critics alike praise the film, claiming it to be a film for "fans first, general audiences second." The film's debut has increased interest in Furiosa's first appearance and legacy. We saw the book make a climb throughout the past couple of weeks leading to the film's debut! We tracked it at a high sale of $124 for a CGC 9.8, and a current NM raw FMV is at $21.

#9: THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK VOL.2 #2 | MARVEL | 1989: Taylor Swift single-handedly propelled Dazzler comics into the spotlight. Except, it wasn't Swift that did anything. It was a simple rumor that she would cameo in the Deadpool and Wolverine movie as the mutant that made the books take off. This book is experiencing the same fuel on the heels of the next Swift rumor. According to a few leakers, Marvel has been in talks with Swift to take on the role of the Blonde Phantom, a little-known heroine from the Golden Age of comics. The problem is, her first appearance was in 1946's ALL SELECT COMICS #11, which is both hard to find and already pretty pricey (recent 2.0 raw sale of $1,795). A confirmation of Taylor playing this blonde bombshell will surely spike values; budget consensus collectors turned to this more modern issue, featuring her first appearance in a comic since her golden age appearances. Granted, it's only a two-page panel cameo of her as an older woman called "Weezie." However, in issue four, it's revealed that she's the retired superhero known as The Blonde Phantom and features flashbacks of her Alter Ego's character in action. There hasn't been any official support or denial of this rumor, but for now, it is enough to fire it up on the aftermarket. We tracked it at a high sale of $115 for a CGC 9.8 and a current raw NM FMV of $10.

#8: SPIDER-GWEN: GHOST SPIDER #1 - JENNY FRISON - VIRGIN (1:100) | MARVEL | 2024: To say that Jenny Frison is a rising star is an understatement. Her covers have been highly sought after on the aftermarket. The increasing popularity is well-deserved, as her unique art style captivates collectors. Moreover, Spider-Gwen is one of the most popular spider variants in the spider-verse. Pairing these two powerhouses has led to a spectacular retailer incentive. The high ratio, 1:100, will make it a tough find for fans of Jenny Frison and Spider-Gwen. We tracked it at a high sale of $200 for an NM raw and a current NM raw FMV at $167.

#7: DOOM #1 - ADI GRANOV | MARVEL | 2024: This book marks the first in a series for Doom since the 2000s. Marvel also used this book as a platform to provide a tribute to the late rapper MF Doom. The book took off due to the character's popularity and the story's quality. The book continues to skyrocket as fans discover the tribute to the rapper on the story's first page. The tribute is subtle, highlighting a few key lyrics as the beginning text of the story. We tracked it at a high sale of $90 for a CGC 9.8 and a current NM raw FMV at $22.

#6: ASCENCIA #22 - J. SCOTT CAMPBELL - TORPEDO COMICS - HIDDEN MAIL-IN EXCLUSIVE | WAKE ENTERTAINMENT | 2024: Most of the best variant covers on the market are the ones that drifted by most casual collectors' radar. This book took a lot of work and patience to obtain. Fans of the Ascencia series had to collect coupons from books #13-17 and mail them in for a secret J. Scott Campbell cover. This promotion had significant delays, halting production for nearly a year. This week marks the distribution of this long-awaited cover. It quickly hit the aftermarket and started to hit new all-time highs with each sale, with popularity that will likely continue to grow. With an estimated print run of 380, it's that much more desirable! We tracked it at a high sale of $350 for NM raw copy and a current NM raw FMV at $286.

#5: THE UNCANNY X-MEN VOL.1 #266 | MARVEL | 1990: This book is back on our top ten list! It originally took off due to rumors that Channing Tatum would take on the role of Gambit in the upcoming Deadpool and Wolverine movie. It then took off a second time after the 5th episode debuted on X-Men '97, and everyone wanted to collect the brave hero's key books. It kicked off again after the series finale when Marvel teased a possible comeback for Gambit in the after-credits scene. Regardless of the reason, his popularity on the aftermarket continues to grow as fans pursue this book to add to their collection! We tracked it at a high sale of $594 for a CGC 9.8 and a current NM raw FMV at $139.

#4: BLOOD HUNT: RED BAND EDITION #2 - LOGAN LUBERA - CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #16 HOMAGE (1:25) | MARVEL | 2024: Marvel's red band titles have been tapping into classic horror covers for homage inspiration. The move is quite brilliant, and the retailer incentives have been blowing up. The first issue retailer incentive has an NM raw FMV of $145. This book was just released last week, and it is already taking over the aftermarket as fans of the homage covers are hunting it down. The book has an NM raw FMV of $188. Wolverine is the perfect Marvel hero to step into this cover homage! We tracked it at a high sale of $275 for an NM raw copy.

#3: THE NEW MUTANTS #98 - INHYUK LEE - 2024 FACSIMILE (1:25) | MARVEL | 2024: Marvel has slowed down movie production this year; the only MCU film we're getting is Deadpool and Wolverine. These two characters are already massively popular, but this movie's hype has propelled it to the top of every collectors' want list. Last week was the release of another facsimile edition of Deadpool's first appearance. Interestingly, the 1:25 ratio sketch variant by Inhyuk Lee was the top seller! It may not be a direct homage to the original cover, but that is what makes it a hot variant. The sketch cover of the merc-with-a-mouth has become wildly popular in the aftermarket. We tracked it at a high sale of $59 for an NM raw copy and a current NM raw FMV at $56.

#2: DOOM #1 - SANFORD GREENE - REGULAR | MARVEL | 2024: This book took off when it hit the stores, and many copies were instantly on the aftermarket. Doom is a massive Marvel villain, and fans of the character are there for any new Doom solo series. The book quickly took off but what gave it another big boost was a subtle tribute found on the first page of the book. The book starts with the lines, "Living on borrowed time... The clock ticks faster..." lyrics from rapper MF Doom's track 'Accordion.' The rapper was known for wearing a Doom mask and tragically passed away in 2020. We tracked 206 it at a high sale of $50 for NM raw copy and a current NM raw FMV at $35.

#1: X-MEN '97 #2 - ANIMATION ART - 2ND PRINT | MARVEL | 2024: X-Men '97 was a crucial step in the reintroduction of the X-Men. The animated series debuted to positive reception from fans and critics. Every episode left us on a cliffhanger, anticipating the next episode's release in the following week. However, no episode left us needing more than episode 5's attack on Genosha. The episode had many twists and turns, but none left us more at the edge of our seats as Gambit's noble sacrifice. This cover is an incredible tribute to that moment, as we see a fading Gambit saying his goodbye to Rogue as he fades away. Fans of the series were waiting for this cover to drop. Given the number of books that moved on the aftermarket this week, it is clear how many collectors loved the series! We tracked it at a high sale of $19 for NM raw copy and a current NM raw FMV at $10.

Deadpool & Wolverine is on the horizon, and it has been no secret that the ultra-meta third installment of Ryan Reynolds' R-rated comic franchise would include all sorts of cameos from prior Marvel projects. There have been rumors about all sorts of major appearances, in a movie that many expect to be an on-screen "death" of the former Fox X-Men universe. If that's the case, one of the names near the top of fan wishlists is undoubtedly Dafne Keen.

The young actress starred as X-23 in 2017's Logan, the acclaimed film that was initially intended to serve as Hugh Jackman's final appearance as Wolverine. With Jackman returning for Deadpool & Wolverine, there's a lot of hope that Keen will return as well.

There has been no word on Keen returning just yet, and she wasn't able to offer any details about a potential return when she spoke to ComicBook about her new TV venture, Star Wars: The Acolyte. Keen was, however, able to talk about her reaction to all of the inquiries and rumors regarding her beloved X-23 coming back into the fold.

"What goes through your head is, first of all, how cool that something is that big that if seeps and it bleeds into other projects," Keen said. "And how cool it is that I got to be a part of something that had such a huge legacy that almost 10 years later I'm still being asked about and that just feels pretty huge."

In Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The film also stars Matthew Macfadyen as Paradox, and Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, with the return of Deadpool alums Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapi?i? as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Rob Delaney as Peter, and Lewis Tan as Shatterstar. Aaron Stanford is returning as Pyro from the X-Men film series, with Jennifer Garner rumored to return as Elektra Natchios.

Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D'Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey and Simon Kinberg serving as executive producers. Deadpool & Wolverine is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy. Deadpool & Wolverine will be released exclusively in theaters on July 26th.

Marvel's Spider-Man movie curse continues, as yet another famous person involved with the Spider-Man movie franchise has confessed they didn't even know they were in the film!

Comedian Jim Norton appeared in Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man movie, in the bit role of "Surly Truck Driver." Raimi's film uses a lot of testimonials from NYC citizens and media regarding the phenomenon of Spider-Man's appearance. But apparently, Jim Norton had no idea that his bit actually made it into Spider-Man (2002), until it blew up in theaters:

"I often wondered - as I feel he was the lynchpin in the film - very underrated role, the Surly Truck Driver - really turned the tone of the city," Norton joked with ComicBook's Chris Killian.

Getting more serious, Norton explained that he didn't know he was in Spider-Man (2002) simply because he didn't formally film anything on a main set with Sam Raimi - he was one of many improv actors that filmed bit scenes with the 2nd Unit crews:

"I didn't even know I made it in - because I didn't work with Sam Raimi," Norton said. "It was 2nd Unit; in Queens, we shot that. So they just told me to improv a bunch of stuff, so I did. And I was doing jokes about like webs, almost like whacking-off and a web would shoot. And they were like 'You can't do c*m jokes: this is a kids' movie. And I go 'Oh, okay.' So I did what I did and they used a couple of lines - or just one line - and I realized when fans were calling into the radio show [Opie and Anthony] saying 'Ay, I saw Spider-Man: You're in it!'"

This isn't an isolated incident for Jim Norton, who also didn't realize he made it into an Oscar-nominated film by Martin Scorsese: "That's how it was with The Irishman too: I didn't know I made it until the night before, I bumped into Ray Romano and he goes 'Hey! Great job!'"

It's also not an isolated incident for Spider-Man movie actors: Back in 2019, when all the Marvel Cinematic Universe actors were out doing press for Avengers: Endgame, Iron Man franchise star Gwyneth Paltrow sparked headlines and social media uproar when she admitted that she had no idea she had appeared alongside Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Paltrow eventually doused the flames by explaining that the volume of MCU projects she appeared in made it hard to know which scenes were going where:

"I just got confused. There's so many of these wonderful Marvel interconnecting movies and I thought that it was an Avengers movie, but it was not."

Spider-Man movies: a web of collaboration so big it's hard to keep track of everyone who gets caught in it.

Visit JimNorton.Com for his latest stand-up tour dates or check out his new YouTube show "Nikki & Jim."

X-Men '97's director told us how things were going with Season 2 right now. ComicBook's Phase Zero podcast spoke with Jake Castorena about the wild finale and the wait for another season. He confirmed they werre already hard at work on another batch of mutant adventures. However, no one is trying to rush things after the well-received first salvo of X-Men '97. Fans were hooting and hollering at the work showrunner Beau DeMayo and the team assembled. While that makes all the viewers extremely thirsty for Season 2, these things take time. People have to realize that Marvel Studios was working on X-Men '97 for multiple years before the animated series took Disney+ by storm. Check out what else the creative had to say during our interview right here!

"I equate it like, 'We're baking a cake right now.' Nobody wants to ruin a cake. I don't want to ruin a cake. Let us bake it," Castorena laughed. "The cake is well underway and being made, being fabricated as we speak. There is no rest for the wicked I guess. To use that phrase. We rolled right into Season 2, while we were on Season 1!"

Later in our conversation, the director also mentioned keeping things in line to not stray far from what folks really loved about X-Men: The Animated Series. "It's all about, we're on a team. It's something we realize that we give ourselves false parameters to make sure we're checking our math," Castorena claimed. "Whether it's nerd math, geographical math, whatever it is. We gave ourselves false parameters to make sure to keep us in check, to make sure we're not going too far away from the original DNA that is the OG show. But, also adapting it. Fresh, but familiar."

X-Men '97 Sparks Calls For More Animated Series

With the success of X-Men '97, now fans want more animated adventures in the '90s. Castorena was very happy to bring Spider-Man into the fold during their show. Now, that's basically Peter Parker from Spider-Man: The Animated Series. (He even found MJ somehow after the events of that show?!?!) Fans now want the Fox Kids/Saturday Morning Cartoon staple to get the X-Men '97 treatment. Whether that occurs or not remains to be seen. Clearly Marvel Studios has seen the chatter. But, even if that possibility is on the table, it will be a while before we see anything from another 90s cartoon.

"Honestly, I think that came down to, one again, Beau was a fan. We're all fans. We're all nerds," Castorena told us. "I think there was something that Sony was like, 'MJ and Peter? Ok.' You know, it just worked out. And, I'm pretty sure, I'm like 99.9% sure, it's real MJ. I don't remember off the top of my head. But, I remember talking to Beau and it was like, 'Well, if we're gonna do it, we're, we're gonna do it! Let's give the bump. And, so it's not a clone, I'm pretty sure it's end game. I'm 99.9%."

What do you want to see in X-Men '97 Season 2? Check out the wild moments down below!

While the comparisons between this Ultimates and the original are inevitable, they are most alike in how differently they approach the challenge of reimagining Marvel comics. Ultimates #1 is instantly distinguished by its narrative approach; it presents readers with a densely woven story combining an ensemble of conflicted characters, grandiose sci-fi, and a layered timeline. It has much more in common with the highlights of prestige television than the "cinematic" comparisons of the early 2000s. Ultimates #1 is a comic book that assumes its audience is intelligent and treats them accordingly.

This series addresses the high-concept framework for Earth-6160, which is summarized in a few paragraphs on the opening page before the story picks up where Ultimate Invasion left off. Camp seeds key ongoing character arcs and plot elements from that series throughout the first issue, ensuring that even if readers are joining in media res they won't be lost by the issue's end.

The sci-fi mechanics provide a compelling framework for the story at hand and are woven into the artwork as expository dialogue plays with visual elements and characterization to avoid growing dry. It's an effective presentation that moves too quickly to grow dull. It sets global stakes for a small team of heroes and the resulting underdog dynamic is undeniably compelling. Camp and Frigeri's vision of the Marvel universe is still loaded with colorful, superpowered individuals, but most of them are in league with authoritarian systems or resigned to their fate. It makes the resistance of a few bold individuals stand out more than the waves of endless Avengers found on Earth-616.

Frigeri proves an excellent match for this approach. They capture the mood of a world resigned to its fate in the issue's opening splash of a decimated Manhattan. Despite notable changes like this or the inclusion of Moloids, the world outside of Tony Stark's lair is recognizable and manages to make the wondrous costumes and powers displayed seem grounded in their relationship to the billions of people on Earth. There's a sense of consequence when these figures move through the streets of New York City and even their own resplendent hideout still seems to be composed of steel and glass.

Frigeri knows how to draw a superhero and the costume designs range from good to outstanding with a couple of reimagined classics standing out. Rather than running from the style of superhero comics for something more realistic, like what audiences have come to expect from every new MCU film, Frigeri leans into the strengths of the medium. Superheroes are still figures of wonder, even if their costumes hide very human figures beneath them.

Those figures contain the greatest strength of Ultimates #1. As it presents an ensemble composed of seven superheroes on the cover alone, the issue provides each of them with at least one notable character beat and serves to define their conflicts and relationships well enough that I found myself invested in the entire cast after only 30 pages. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in the introduction of Hank and Janet Pym who arrive as recognizable personalities grappling with sympathetic dynamics and traumas in a way that emphasizes their humanity. Where a prior volume of Ultimates opted to flatten Hank into an unsympathetic wretch, Ultimates #1 offers him sympathy and understanding without denying his flaws.

It's the fallen nature of this superhero team that defines Ultimates #1, each of them grappling with failures while recognizing the need to act in a world desperate for heroism and good actors. They serve to reflect a readership surrounded by tides of uncertainty and horror. How does one respond to climate change, rising fascism, and worsening wars? It's an impossible question, but Ultimates #1 serves to remind readers that heroism lies in rising to face great threats without any certainty of victory.

Published by Marvel Comics

On June 5, 2024

Written by Deniz Camp

Art by Juan Frigeri

Colors by Federico Blee

Letters by Travis Lanham

Cover by Dike Ruan and Alejandro S?nchez

Alex Ross's Fantastic Four: Full Circle will get an oversized, hardcover "extended edition" from Marvel and Abrams Books in the fall. With almost 300 pages of bonus material including sketches and behind-the-scenes material, it's more than just a "bonus scene at the end," and more like DC's Annotated Watchmen, which saw artist Dave Gibbons work with the publisher to create a scholarly work that was published alongside the original comic. In the case of Full Circle, you could draw comparisons back to the early collected editions of Kingdom Come, in which Ross provided concept art, sketches, and unique insights into his creative process.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle Expanded Edition will be available from Abrams Books on October 1, 2024. In addition to the original story and plenty of extras from Ross, the book will reprint a classic Fantastic Four issue that served as the inspiration for the story -- Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's The Fantastic Four #51.

"This is the Fantastic Four story I have been wanting to tell for years, and visually it is one of the greatest artistic experiments I have attempted," Alex Ross said when the project was announced. "I'm excited to share this work with everyone, as it unites the two great publishing forces of Marvel and Abrams ComicArts in a bold new collaboration."

"Alex and I have been working together for close to 30 years, when I was an editor at DC Comics and hired him to paint his very first book cover back in 1993, before Marvels was published," added Ross's longtime editor Charles Kochman. "In Fantastic Four: Full Circle, Alex revisits a classic Stan Lee-Jack Kirby comic from the 1960s and introduces the storyline for a new generation of readers."

Per an announcement from Marvel, the expanded book will include "288 additional pages of jaw-dropping bonus material from Ross" -- a massive jump from the original comic's 64 pages. In the book, "Ross walks readers through his process and vision for the making of the book which School Library Journal called a 'pop art masterpiece.' Showcasing early visual concepts through final art, Ross takes readers behind-the-scenes, revealing for the first time his proposal, thumbnails, sketches, inks, and color guides, models and never-before-seen preliminary artwork, alongside all-new commentary."

While collected editions of Ross's comics are among some of Marvel and DC's most evergreen, celebrated titles, Fantastic Four: Full Circle was pitched as the first fully original graphic novel Ross had done for the publishers. While projects like Kingdom Come and Marvels helped to reshape superhero comics, Full Circle falls a little more in line with Ross's series of oversized coffee table one-shots like Superman: Peace on Earth and Batman: War on Crime, which told stand-alone stories featuring classic versions of the characters.

Fans got to witness some of Wolverine's past as a part of Team X in a prequel story to X-Men '97. The animated series recently came to a conclusion, and left viewers with more questions than answers. How did the X-Men get lost in the timestream? Which new X-Men will join Bishop and Forge to go find them? Is Apocalypse going to resurrect Gambit? For fans eager for more X-Men, Marvel is publishing an X-Men '97 companion series, which takes place before the events in X-Men '97 Season 1. In its latest issue, readers got to meet a figure from Wolverine's past.

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for X-Men '97 #3. Continue reading at your own risk!

X-Men '97 #3 comes from the creative team of Steve Foxe, Salva Esp?n, Matt Milla, and VC's Joe Sabino. It features the X-Men versus the Marauders on the streets of Westchester. Just as Wolverine is about to renew his rivalry with Sabretooth, he's shot from behind by someone named Agent Carl Denti. He's there to arrest all mutants involved in the skirmish and appears to have an anti-mutant agenda. Once Wolverine catches Agent Denti's scent, he's reminded of his time as a part of Team X alongside Maverick and Sabretooth.

We get a flashback of the trio during one of their missions to take down some dirty agents selling state secrets to a militia. Agent Denti is taken down by Team X and also suffers a facial scar that he still wears to this day. This all explains his vendetta against mutants, and Wolverine specifically. The Marauders eventually escape, leaving the X-Men to deal with Agent Denti. Valerie Cooper shows up and reveals Agent Denti is operating without her authorization, and states that the government doesn't consider the X-Men enemies of the state. Of course, Agent Denti disagrees, but gets taken away to be disciplined. Before he leaves, Agent Denti alludes to his connection to the anti-mutant organization Friends of Humanity.

X-Men '97 gets Season 2 update

"It's still an animatic phase. Animation takes so long to make as I'm sure you know. There was a great bit about this in Invincible Season 2," Marvel's head of streaming, Brad Winderbaum, told ComicBook. "They just nailed it so hard, it is the greatest. And it takes a long time. Because the studio wants to see how successful the first season is before they greenlight the second season there's a lag. We were lucky enough to get the greenlight before we aired so there's maybe less of a lag. People are just going to have to be patient with us.

The first season of X-Men '97 is now available to stream on Disney+.

Days ago, ComicBook revealed that Todd McFarlane and his McFarlane Toys brand are FINALLY getting to play in one of the most elusive action figure sandboxes, Marvel Comics. McFarlane and Marvel will be collaborating on 1:10 and 1:6 scale posed, non-articulated figures that recreate iconic artwork from Marvel Comics, beginning of course with McFarlane's classic artwork from The Amazing Spider-Man #301 and The Amazing Spider-Man #323. What other iconic Marvel artists could get a figure in the future? ComicBook asked Todd this in an exclusive interview, and he revealed the potential is VERY open.

"I sort of got a soft spot for some of the guys I grew up with. So I'm gonna do a tip of the hat in the first series to Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld because I thought that during that whole era where we came along we sort of each made our mark in different ways that were there. Eventually I'd like to tip my hat to some of the people that inspired me a ton, George Perez and John Byrne. But I also know that there's a whole generation that have come in who those aren't the guys they grew up with, right? It's more of people that they're looking at right now. And whether it's the interior artist and, or the cover artist, I'll be sort of looking at what they're asking for and giving them that.'

"So we'll see, you know, I do one that is like a Peach Momoko cover or something like that. Like, yeah. Sure. Why not? It'd be cool. It'd be cool. So I think we need to, I need to span all of it. Right. All the way from, literally from Stan and Jack in the beginning of the Fantastic War. All the way to today with a nice balance and then just sit back and just see, is this line that I'm doing, uh, uh, more
of a retro play? Is it more of a classic or is it just people just wanna see McFarlane finally doing some, Marvel figures? Uh, I'm hoping it's a little bit of all the above so I can play with, some of the newer characters that have come out of post-2000."

Todd McFarlane's artwork won't be the only one rendered in 3D as the first wave of McFarlane-Marvel figures will also include figures inspired by the work of Jim Lee, Steve Ditto, John Romita Sr., and Rob Liefeld. Characters featured in the first wave include Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Iron Man, and Deadpool. These figures feature a comic reprint and are mounted on environmental bases with a diorama backdrop, inviting fans to step into the pages of some of their favorite Marvel adventures.

McFarlane revealed that a major sell in this line of course is him being able to render his own artwork into 3D, so fans can likely expect a piece based on his artwork with every wave, and almost certainly a different Spider-Man in every wave too.

"When I talk to my group about Spider-Man, I go, I guys stop just looking at covers right. There are a lot of interior pages that have some really cool funky poses and the question is over time, can I basically pick 10, 12, 15 different poses over time that are completely different from each other? One is crunched, one is upside down, one is flying, one of the legs are kicking up one sideways, whatever. If I go through my own book there's plenty to pick from that will be different than the last one you pick....I did one where Spider-Man was waiting for something to happen. So he just hanging upside down. He's got a doughnut on every finger and he's trying to figure out which doughnut he wants. That would be kind of fun sitting on the shelf too to look at instead of just, you know, constant sort of action hero stuff."

In the late 1980s, Todd McFarlane became a superstar illustrating Amazing Spider-Man for Marvel Comics. But after creative clashes with the publisher over censorship during the "Sabotage" crossover with McFarlane's adjectiveless Spider-Man and Rob Liefeld's X-Force, the visionary writer-artist quit Marvel. McFarlane and six other creators -- including Liefeld and McFarlane's successor Spider-Man artist Erik Larsen -- formed their own company, Image Comics, in 1992. It was there that McFarlane birthed Spawn, an anti-hero forged in hell and star of the most successful independent comic book ever published.

McFarlane announced via ComicBook that his McFarlane Toys will be collaborating with Marvel to bring some of his iconic Amazing Spider-Man covers to life as a collection of 3D statue-like figures, part of a first wave featuring the works of Amazing Spider-Man artists Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr., and former Marvel artists and Image co-founders Liefeld and Jim Lee. Speaking exclusively to ComicBook about the collection, which launches this summer, McFarlane gave an update on his upcoming Spawn movie reboot from Blumhouse and revealed if the Marvel collaboration might spawn another: a Spider-Man/Spawn crossover comic.

"I don't know if it will. I have conversations with Marvel on a semi-regular basis, and that's the only topic of conversation we have," McFarlane tells ComicBook. "Usually, it's a 20-second conversation. It's like, 'Todd, are you any closer to thinking about it?' And it's like, 'No, not really.'"

McFarlane's long-running Spawn comic has crossed over with another Image title, Witchblade, but it wasn't until Spawn/Batman that his creation starred in an intercompany crossover. Published by Image in 1994, the one-shot was written by The Dark Knight Returns visionary Frank Miller and drawn by McFarlane, who had penciled Batman in issues of Detective Comics for DC in the late '80s. The Hellspawn and the Dark Knight would cross paths again in the one-shot Batman/Spawn: War Devil, by legendary Batman writers and artists Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, and Klaus Janson; in 2022, McFarlane scripted Batman/Spawn, a third crossover one-shot drawn by Spawn and Batman artist Greg Capullo.

Unlike Spawn/Batman and Batman/Spawn, McFarlane will handle both writing and art duties when he eventually returns for his first Spider-Man story in more than 30 years.

"It's a massive undertaking for me because it has to be Spider-Man/Spawn, and I have to do all the artwork," McFarlane explains. "Anything less than that is not doing it proper. So I just have to be able to see myself clear to be able to devote the time needed and not feel like I'm a little bit here, and a little bit here, and I'm rushing it, because it will show on paper. I need to be able to channel all the things that people like in my artwork when I was doing it on a regular basis and put it back on the paper."

McFarlane paid homage to his covers for 1987's Amazing Spider-Man #298 and Amazing Spider-Man #299 with Spawn #298 and #299 during "War to 300," the lead-up to the history-making Spawn #300 in 2019. In 2020, McFarlane took to social media to share a "momentous occasion in comic book history": his first official artwork featuring Spider-Man and Spawn together. The piece (above), a cover for the Overstreet Price Guide, was embraced by fans who then asked: Will McFarlane ever bring Spider-Man and Spawn together in a comic book?

The Image Comics president and McFarlane Toys CEO likens a potential Spider-Man/Spawn crossover to a "revival tour for a band." And like many long-awaited revival tours, it could be another decade before McFarlane returns to the stage to play the hits, so to speak.

"Will [Spider-Man/Spawn] ever happen? I don't know," McFarlane says. "But my guess is that it's probably more likely to happen once I sort of wind down the distractions in my life and I actually do have time and I go, 'I can just go back to drawing and don't have to worry about a hundred other things I have to do.' It might be 40 or 50 [years after Spider-Man] by the time we get there, but we'll get there."

Rebecca Romijn first played the fan-favorite X-Men villain Mystique in X-Men in 2000 and went on to play her again in X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) before having a brief cameo in X-Men: First Class (2011). In 2007, Romijn married actor Jerry O'Connell who is best known for Stand By Me, Scream 2, Sliders, and Star Trek: Lower Decks. It's clear from various interviews that the couple has a fun time together, and O'Connell further proved how silly he can be by dressing up as Mystique at Houston's Comicpalooza.

"Who wore it best? Last time I invite @mrjerryoc to @houstoncomicpalooza," Romijn joked on Instagram. You can check out the post below:

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A post shared by Rebecca Romijn (@rebeccaromijn)

Rebecca Romijn Slams X-Men: The Last Stand Director:

Last year, Rebecca Romijn confessed in an interview that she had bad experiences working with Brett Ratner on the set of X-Men: The Last Stand, revealing that she had "major issues" with the director. However, the star didn't feel the need to go into any detail since Ratner had already been "canceled" after numerous allegations of sexual misconduct.

"I was not happy working with [Brett Ratner]," Romijn told The Independent. "But he's been canceled. I haven't spoken up about anything with regard to #MeToo, because I had two major issues with two directors I've worked with - and both of them already got theirs, one of them being Brett Ratner...I didn't feel like I needed to say anything. I know the two people that I worked with had it coming, and they got theirs...I don't need to say anything else."

"He's a fantastic filmmaker, you know?" Romijn added when asked about Bryan Singer, another controversial director, who helmed X-Men and X2. "It was amazing watching him work. And you have to decide if you want to try and separate those two things. I know that the other cast confronted him about things. But I was not a part of that. I wasn't there for it, so I can't really speak to it."

"There was drama on set, and I witnessed it and I heard a lot about it," she added. "And he sometimes didn't come in prepared. But he would show up and, without any preparation whatsoever, direct the most awesome scene that he was able to put together because he's such a good filmmaker."

Stay tuned for more updates about Marvel.

After an exciting ten episodes, the first season of X-Men '97 has come to an end on Disney+. As fans eagerly await the second season, Marvel Studios has been releasing some fun content to hold folks over. The show's behind-the-scenes Assembled episode is now available to watch on Disney+, and the soundtrack with music by The Newton Brothers is finally available to stream online.

"Suit up and press ? on @marvel Animation's X-Men 97 official soundtrack, featuring music by The Newton Brothers ... All episodes of #XMen97 are now streaming on @DisneyPlus," Marvel Studios shared on Instagram. You can view their post below:

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A post shared by Hollywood Records (@hollywoodrecords)

X-Men '97 Soundtrack Track List:

You can view the X-Men '97 track list below:

1. X-Men '97 Theme (1:05)
2. The Summers (3:03)
3. Give Them the Forecast (1:26)
4. The Trial of Magneto (1:40)
5. Magnus the Savior (2:46)
6. Goodbye (1:45)
7. Mister Sinister (2:32)
8. In Hell (1:23)
9. Fight or Die (2:17)
10. Remember Who You Are (2:16)
11. What Have You Done? (1:15)
12. Fate of the X-Men (0:59)
13. Betrayal or Forgiveness (1:45)
14. Man vs. Machine (1:40)
15. Boss Battle (2:09)
16. Nightcrawler (2:01)
17. A Peaceful Life (1:20)
18. Trails of Love (2:33)
19. Busy Bees (2:42)
20. Invasion (2:31)
21. A Different Empire (1:57)
22. Sisterhood (1:56)
23. Galactic Peace (1:26)
24. She's Back (2:21)
25. We Need You (1:58)
26. Requiem to Friends (1:14)
27. Break In (1:49)
28. Time Manipulation (1:27)
29. Fight for Yourself (5:26)
30. Bonding Time (2:02)
31. Too Little Too Late (1:39)
32. Rising Up (1:50)
33. Sentinels Attack (1:57)
34. Metal Bends (1:28)
35. Inevitable Vision (4:02)
36. Bad Odds (1:20)
37. X (3:58)
38. You Hurt Me (2:22)
39. Rising Waters (2:10)
40. X-Men End Credits (0:53)

Find out where to listen to the X-Men '97 soundtrack here.

How Far Along Is X-Men '97 Season 2?

ComicBook recently had a chat with Marvel's head of streaming, Brad Winderbaum, and he revealed that Season 2 is currently in the animatic stage.

"It's still an animatic phase. Animation takes so long to make as I'm sure you know. There was a great bit about this in Invincible Season 2," Winderbaum explained. "They just nailed it so hard, it is the greatest. And it takes a long time. Because the studio wants to see how successful the first season is before they greenlight the second season there's a lag. We were lucky enough to get the greenlight before we aired so there's maybe less of a lag. People are just going to have to be patient with us.

Stay tuned for more updates about X-Men '97.

X-Men '97's director talked about what went down with Spider-Man's Mary Jane Watson in the finale. ComicBook's Phase Zero podcast interviewed Jake Castorena to unpack all the chaos from those final moments. Fans watching at home were absolutely shocked to see Peter Parker and MJ just randomly turn up in the 11th hour. But, it seems clear that showrunner Beau DeMayo had designs on giving some Spider-Man: The Animated Series fans what they've been asking for. While that's all very exciting, Castorena did also joke about The Clone Saga and Spider-Man's penchant for missing out on Mary Jane. Hopefully, this one was the genuine article. But, you can never be too sure...

"Honestly, I think that came down to, one again, Beau was a fan. We're all fans. We're all nerds," Castorena clarified. "I think there was something that Sony was like, 'MJ and Peter? Ok.' You know, it just worked out. And, I'm pretty sure, I'm like 99.9% sure, it's real MJ. I don't remember off the top of my head. But, I remember talking to Beau and it was like, 'Well, if we're gonna do it, we're, we're gonna do it! Let's give the bump. And, so it's not a clone, I'm pretty sure it's end game. I'm 99.9%."

X-Men '97 Uses Previous Animated Series To Make An Impact

All these various cameos were the icing on the cake for X-Men '97. Castorena was quick to point out that the Marvel nods are in the series DNA of the original show. He had to give props to X-Men: The Animated Series director Larry Houston. That team worked very hard to sneak in cameos for the current '97 gang to include this time around. Including Marvel heroes was forbidden back then. But, without that spirit of mischief, a lot of current MCU fans might never have been introduced to some of their favorites beforehand.

Castroena smirked, "Well, I mean, like one look we had, we had good scripts to work off of. Cameos and the universe expansion. That again, that's ingrained in the DNA of the original show. Except when Larry Houston did it, all of those cameos were illegal. So, thanks for all the contingencies we have in place. We can't do that these days. I love telling that story and I love reminding Larry. Like, 'Thank you, Larry.' He just laughs and it's funny."

Do you think that's the original Mary Jane? Check out the wild moments down below!

The Fantastic Four could have looked very different in the MCU according to Rahul Kohli. Over at Salam Nerds, the actor talked about his audition for the role of Reed Richards in the Marvel Studios film. He couldn't give any details but Kohli intimated that he got the chance to step into Mr. Fantastic's shoes, if only for a little while. The hosts, like most of us, were absolutely gobsmacked by the revelation. Now, the iZombie star couldn't completely address it. (We hope we're not getting him in trouble!) But, he also shared his thoughts about constantly popping up in fancasts for these projects. It's both incredibly humbling and a reminder of how the mechanations of Hollywood actually play out.

"Yeah, I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about it but... I didn't get it is the important thing. But, on good days I see the Constantine," Kohli admitted. "It will flare up once and again. And, I love all of them. On good days, you're like, 'Man, I'm wanted!' People really want to see. You're the guy that people will shout out for anything. On bad days, 'It's a reminder that you're not the guy. You're not there. These are the roles you'll never get.' So, it's sweet and it's perspective. It's how you feel about yourself."

Holy shit did you know Rahul Kohli was up for the role of Mr. Fantastic and lost it to Pedro Pascal. Do you think he would have made a food Reed Richards? Check out the full podcast here on youtube and on Spotify #fantastic4 https://t.co/Cno0cG7tya pic.twitter.com/l7hbrJv7By

-- watchwithneebz (@watchwithneebz) May 25, 2024

What's Going On With The Fantastic Four?

Right now, there's been a torrent of casting information about The Fantastic Four. Familiar names like John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser and Ralph Ineson have all joned the project in recent weeks. While most of their roles are being kept under wraps, there's probably going to be some big reveals at San Diego Comic-Con and D23 this year. ScreenRant asked Walter Hauser about his involvement and the comedian had to navigate that landmine of a question delicately.

"I know what that question is leading to, which is the answer as to which character I'm to play. So all I can say is that I, in some iteration, am in the movie The Fantastic Four until I get fired or recast," Hauser explained quickly. "So I can't say anything about the character I'm playing, but know that it is in the sort of lexicon and mythology of The Fantastic Four stories. And it's a very distinct character that I'm excited to play and I'm kind of mapping out what I'm doing with that right now."

"But I've always wanted to be a part of a cinematic universe. I spent a lot of time trying to campaign to play the Penguin in the Matt Reeves film, and that of course went to Colin Farrell and he did a masterful job and it was totally different than what I was trying to do," he mused. "So I really appreciate Marvel giving me the time of day and entrusting a role to me in some capacity that I get to be a part of that family. I'm really excited to partake in."

Are you headed to the movies this weekend? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was one of the most buzzed-about projects of Marvel Studios' Phase Four, with a sequel to the martial arts superhero blockbuster being teased soon after in the fall of 2021. In the time since, there have not been a lot of updates regarding the Shang-Chi sequel, but it sounds like the film is definitely still on the way. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Liu offered an update on the Shang-Chi sequel, confirming that he and director Destin Daniel Cretton are committed to delivering an epic follow-up.

"This is where I use all the mental gymnastics that I possibly can to answer this question," Liu explained. "Well look, I will say this -- it's definitely happening. I should probably lead with that. People, whether it's online or in person, ask me every single day, and tell me every single day how much they enjoyed the first movie, and how much of a moment it was. And I think there's just so much goodwill, and I'm so deeply appreciative of that. So please know, if you've ever sent me a message, if you've ever asked about a sequel, or just approached, or any which way, I take it to heart and I really appreciate it. I really do. And I think I speak for myself and Destin, our returning director, when I say that we're so beyond excited to jump back in. We really are."

.@SimuLiu confirms there will be a @shangchi sequel! #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/y6Ht1fAYur

-- The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) May 24, 2024

What Will Shang-Chi 2 Be About?

Liu is expected to reprise his role as Shang-Chi in a sequel, which has been confirmed to be in development at Marvel Studios. While a title, synopsis, or other plot points surrounding Shang-Chi 2 remain a mystery, Liu previously hinted that the sequel would further expand the mythos, and hopefully include as much of its ensemble cast as possible.

"Going into a sequel feels exciting. It doesn't necessarily feel like there's a pressure to perform or a pressure to exceed," Liu told Collider last year. "It feels like we've established a world and there's just something really nostalgic and exciting about returning to that world that we've spent so much time ideating on and thinking about. And then, we're getting to revisit some things, but also show the viewer new things. We'll deliver all of the amazing action that we were celebrated for on the first movie, but then also hopefully explore new sides of Shaun's character and the characters around him. That is, of course, if we can still afford Michelle Yeoh. She's on top of the world and just the queen of everything."

In 2019, acclaimed director Martin Scorsese became a trending topic for comparing superhero films to theme parks. The director's comments about Marvel are often brought up in interviews with various big names in Hollywood, and everyone seems to have a different opinion. Recently, Star Wars creator George Lucas was interviewed at Cannes by Brut 9, and was asked his thoughts on Scorsese saying that Marvel movies weren't cinema.

"Look. Cinema is the art of a moving image," Lucas explained. "So if the image moves, then it's cinema. I think Marty has kind of changed his mind a little bit." Lucas went on to talk about working with Scorsese and the Film Foundation, and how the Goodfellas director was originally opposed to making movies on digital, but he also came around on that idea.

During the chat, Lucas also confirmed he is done making movies.

"No, I'm retired," Lucas confirmed. "The last one I did as a producer was a thing called Strange Magic, which is an animated film. So I was doing movies that I wanted to do rather than ... I was financing myself and had my own studio ... I am building a museum in Los Angeles. It's keeping me very busy."

"The stories they're telling are just old movies," he added of Hollywood. "'Let's do a sequel, let's do another version of this movie' ... There's no original thinking ... The big studios, they don't have an imagination." You can watch the full interview below:

"J'?tais ? la plage, ? faire des ch?teaux de sables avec Steven Spielberg. Des amis m'ont appel? en disant : regarde les infos [...], c'est l? que j'ai compris que Star Wars ?tait un vrai succ?s."
Conversation entre @ATrapenard et George Lucas, qui re?oit une Palme d'or d'honneur... pic.twitter.com/uXMN78AktA

-- Brut FR (@brutofficiel) May 24, 2024

George Lucas Talks Star Wars Sequels:

In another Cannes interview, Lucas talked about the Star Wars sequels: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.

"I was the one one who really knew what Star Wars was ... who actually knew this world, because there's a lot to it. The Force, for example, nobody understood the Force," Lucas shared at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, per The Hollywood Reporter. "When they started other ones after I sold the company, a lot of the ideas that were in [the original] sort of got lost. But that's the way it is. You give it up, you give it up."

Earlier this year, Lucas publicly shared his support for Disney CEO Bob Iger during a proxy battle over the control of the company.

"Creating magic is not for amateurs," Lucas explained in a public statement at the time. "When I sold Lucasfilm just over a decade ago, I was delighted to become a Disney shareholder because of my longtime admiration for its iconic brand and Bob Iger's leadership."

Stay tuned for more updates about Star Wars and Marvel.

Deadpool & Wolverine will see a surprising appearance from Rob McElhenney according to Ryan Reynolds. The Marvel actor told fans this was happening on a new video from Welcome to Wrexham. As the duo owns the Wrexham AFC operation together, it makes sense that McElhenney had to visit the set of Deadpool & Wolverine. However, in order to facilitate the meeting, Reynolds had to promise the Always Sunny In Philadelphia star a role in the MCU movie to keep him quiet. It's a fun tease for the fans. So many things are blurred out, including a lot of plot details from the Deadpool star. But, they can look forward to some sort of cameo from another fan-favorite actor now. Check out the clip down below!

"Because of my busy schedule, I had to invite my co-chair, Rob McElhenney, to the set of Deadpool in London to discuss everything Wrexham," Reynolds explains during the clip (s/o to @DeadpoolUpdates!). "And yes, I did have to promise him a role in the upcoming Deadpool film. For confidentiality reasons, no one can see or hear any of this stuff. I can't tell you which character Rob plays in Deadpool for fear of being shot down by the Marvel drone that follows me and my kids around."

Ryan Reynolds has confirmed that Rob McElhenney will be making an appearance in #DeadpoolAndWolverine

(?: @WrexhamFX) pic.twitter.com/G7BWvEQ87I

-- Deadpool Updates (@DeadpoolUpdate) May 24, 2024

Deadpool & Wolverine's Rumored Taylor Swift Cameo

While getting McElhenney in Deadpool & Wolverine is a blast, there is another slightly more famous face that fans are expecting to show up. Fandango sat down with Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Shawn Levy to preview the MCU feature. They asked about all the chatter surrounding Taylor Swift and a possible cameo. While the Deadpool star could not reveal anything, he's obviously very amused by all the speculation surrounding the film. So many people have been rumored to be showing up that any of them could be true really.

"Movies like this, there's so much speculation, so many people that might end up in the film," Reynolds explained. "I mean, I saw one that was convinced Elvis was in the movie. Anything could happen, and that's sort of what I love about this universe and this world. Surprises are the essence of Deadpool."

What's Coming In Deadpool & Woverine?

In Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The film also stars Matthew Macfadyen as Paradox, and Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, with the return of Deadpool alums Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapi?i? as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Rob Delaney as Peter, and Lewis Tan as Shatterstar. Aaron Stanford is returning as Pyro from the X-Men film series, with Jennifer Garner rumored to return as Elektra Natchios.

Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D'Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey and Simon Kinberg serving as executive producers. Deadpool & Wolverine is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy. Deadpool & Wolverine will be released exclusively in theaters on July 26th.

Are you intrigued by Cassandra Nova in Deadpool & Wolverine? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

Deadpool & Wolverine's Emma Corrin revealed what popular film bad guy inspired their Marvel villain. Harpers Bazaar profiled the Deadpool actor and talked about stepping into the MCU. Corrin says that Cassandra Nova was directly influenced by Inglorious Basterds' Hans Linda. In the Quentin Tarantino film, the Nazi colonel is played by Christoph Waltz. The menace from the character comes from a calm demeanor that belies a true monster under that ghastly uniform. (There's also the possibility that Nova shares a commonanlity with Waltz's villain as they could both be hunting vulnerable populations...) At any rate, it's an interesting choice to be sure. Check out how Corrin describes the Tarantino bad guy.

"Because he's in that uniform, that says everything you need to know," they told the outlet. "He can sit down at the table and just chat like we're doing now, be animated, very pleasant. It's so unnerving because he's as evil as they get, the worst person on the planet. ... He is the opposite of a scary villain; he lets his physicality do the talking, and then he flips the other parts on their head."

Deadpool & Wolverine Takes Things To 11 With Cassandra Nova

Cassandra Nova is going to ignite a ton of fan speculation when it comes to Deadpool & Wolverine. But, Emma Corrin really sunk into this role and that should excite everyone without seeing another second of her twisted bad guy. In the same profile for Harper's, both Ryan Reynolds and Jackman commended their co-star for bringing a sort of lurking danger to the X-Men baddie. Nova is focused, and decidedly evil, but it seems like her character motivations make a ton of sense! And, that's probably not going to bode well for Deadpool & Wolverine.

"It felt like working with a skin-covered Swiss Army knife," Reynolds shared. "Emma brought a Gene Wilder energy to Deadpool & Wolverine. Mischief, danger, unpredictability--from their first scene onward, we understand the villain enough to know why she's motivated to oppose our heroes. And that's because Emma is so fucking excellent at humanizing even the most chaotic lines. The only thing we love more than hating a villain is loving one. And we love Emma's Cassandra Nova from the jump."

Jackman also had to give Corrin some props for that wild performance. "Emma has an ability to so subtly change--to turn on a dime," Jackson added. "There was an effortlessness, a sense of danger."

Are you intrigued by Cassandra Nova in Deadpool & Wolverine? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

A new Moon Knight series will explore all of the different Fists of Khonshu throughout Marvel's illustrious history. Moon Knight is one of the more complicated heroes in the Marvel Universe, but also one of the heroes with a loyal fanbase. Marc Spector was the current Moon Knight, but his death has left a void that others have tried to fill, with varying success. However, Marc Spector is not the first Fist of Khonshu, and soon readers will get to meet several Moon Knights from the past in a new spinoff series from an all-star list of creators.

Phases of the Moon Knight is a four-issue miniseries featuring Khonshu avatars you may already know, along with those readers have never met before. This is similar to how fans have met previous Ghost Riders, Iron Fists, and Black Panthers in the pages of Jason Aaron's Avengers and other series. Some of the creators attached to Phases of the Moon Knight include Benjamin Percy, Rod Reis, Erica Schultz, and Manuel Garcia.

What is Phases of the Moon Knight about?

Below is a description from Marvel of Phases of the Moon Knight #1:

Though he is among the most recent, Marc Spector is far from the first Fist of Khonshu! As fans have witnessed in the pages of Jed MacKay's hit run, Marc and Hunter's Moon are only the latest in a long line of diverse and fascinating Khonshu champions. The spectres of their predecessors have been called upon to aid in their most desperate battles, and now it's time to learn their stories!

• Following Marc Spector's death, the supernatural villain known as the Shroud rose as a darker, more vengeful Moon Knight! Writer Erica Schultz and artist Manuel Garc?a take readers back to the night it all started when the Shroud undertook his new mission and began enacting his unique and violent vision of justice!
• Writer Benjamin Percy and artist Rod Reis introduce an all-new Moon Knight from the ancient past: the Moon Knight of the Old Crusades! Forged in the crucible of a holy war, this mighty Moon Knight crusader finds himself in Ancient Egypt where he'll clash with one of the first mutants--APOCALYPSE!
  

Marvel reveals identity of new Moon Knight

Vengeance of Moon Knight is a new series that takes place after Marc Spector's death, and follows the Midnight Mission as they search for the identity of the new Moon Knight. Tigra and Hunter's Moon have been following the trail of this mysterious Moon Knight, and once they finally catch up to him, he's unmasked to reveal its Shroud.

That story takes a backseat to Jed MacKay and Pepe Larraz's Blood Hunt event, which sees a vampire uprising take over the Marvel Universe. Since MacKay is the writer of both Vengeance of the Moon Knight and Blood Hunt, it's quite possible that we could see Marc Spector return in splashy fashion to help quell the creatures of the night.

Phases of the Moon Knight #1 goes on sale August 28th.

Back in 2013, comedian Patton Oswalt appeared on Parks & Rec in the show's fifth season. In the episode "Article Two," Oswalt's Garth Blundon filibusters by describing how he thinks the Marvel and Star Wars universes could come together now that they were both owned by Disney. In the speech, which Oswalt improvised, Garth describes Boba Fett climbing out of the Sarlacc pit. He also talks about Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet and explains how it could be used to make the two universes crossover. Of course, the Infinity Gauntlet ended up being a major part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Thanos used it to dust half the universe in Avengers: Infinity War in 2018. In 2021, The Book of Boba Fett was released and featured the iconic bounty hunter escaping the Sarlacc. During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Oswalt talked about how some of his predictions came true.

"So the scene was supposed to be [that] I announce I'm gonna do this filibuster and then they cut to Amy's character, Leslie, just going 'Oh dear God,' and that would be the joke," Oswalt recalled. "And then the directors and the writers said, 'Let's not yell cut and just see how long he'll talk.'"

"[Marvel] had not done Guardians of the Galaxy," he explained. "When I say 'Time Gem' [one of the Infinity Stones], they cut to Chris Pratt. This was way before he did Guardians ... Also, Amy has the funniest line in the whole thing when she says the female part's a little underwritten, which was so exactly what those movies were."

"When The Book of Boba Fett came on, [creator] Jon Favreau confirmed this for me, they cut the opening shot to match my filibuster," Oswalt revealed. "You can sync them up time-wise... [it] pans down from the twin suns, the hand comes out of the sand, you can match it up to my filibuster. They did that on purpose."

Did Chris Pratt Confirm His MCU Return?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ended with a title card teasing that Pratt's Peter Quill/Star-Lord will return. Ever since, fans have wondered about the actor's next appearance in the MCU. Additionally, now that Guardians director James Gunn is co-leading DC Studios, some fans have wondered if Pratt will follow Gunn to this new franchise. While speaking to ComicBook about his work on The Garfield Movie, Pratt teased that either option is possible.

"Well, it probably make more sense that I would be Star-Lord again," Pratt said. "But anything is possible, and especially with James over at DC. Maybe there's something that would be right over there. Maybe both. How about both? Let's do both. I think it's 100% both."

Stay tuned for more updates about the MCU.

The sophomore season of the Hit-Monkey animated series has gained a major new cast member. On Thursday, it was reported that Cristin Milioti has joined the cast of Hit-Monkey, which is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. This is the latest comic book television role from Milioti, as she has already been cast as Sofia Falcone in Max's forthcoming live-action DC series The Penguin.

According to the official character description released by Hulu, Iris has grown up vowing never to be like the father, Bryce, who abandoned her, but when fate brings them back together, she realizes that she and her old man are cut from the same cloth as they hurtle towards a final reconciliation.

What Is Hit-Monkey About?

Season 2 of Hit-Monkey will see Monkey (Fred Tatasciore) and the ghost of American assassin Bryce (Jason Sudeikis) travel from Japan to New York.

The cast of Hit-Monkey also includes Ally Maki as Haruka, Olivia Munn as Akiko Yokohama, Reiko Ayelsworth as Lady Bullseye, and Noshir Dalal as Fat Cobra. Leslie Jones has been cast in an unknown role in Season 2.

Is Hit-Monkey in the MCU?

Hit-Monkey was originally conceived to be part of a connected universe of animated streaming shows from Marvel Television, which would also include Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. and the never-realized Howard the Duck and Tigra & Dazzler shows and be set outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When Hit-Monkey was greenlit for a sophomore season, it was announced that the series would no longer be branded as a Marvel show. The Marvel Television branding is now being revived by Marvel Studios, as a shorthand to differentiate between the projects they are delivering to audiences.

"We want to make sure that Marvel stays an open door for people to come in and explore," Marvel Studios Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation Brad Winderbaum recently revealed in an exclusive interview with ComicBook. "On the heels of Endgame, I think there was, maybe, a little bit of an obligation to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything. As you know, as a comics fan, they're designed to just pop in, find something that you like, and use that to enter you into the universe, and then you can explore and weave around based on your own preferences. So part of the rebranding of Marvel Studios, Marvel Television, Marvel Animation, even Marvel Spotlight is to, I think, try to tell the audience, 'You can jump in anywhere. They're interconnected but they're not. You don't have to watch A to enjoy B. You can follow your bliss. You can follow your own preferences and find the thing you want within the tapestry of Marvel.'"

Season 2 of Hit-Monkey will debut exclusively on Hulu on July 15th.

h/t: Variety