Author: Trafficblast

Arguably the best original series the DC Universe streaming service has produced so far is officially continuing. It was announced at the DC Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con that Doom Patrol, which stars Diane Guerrero, Brendan Fraser, April Bowlby, and Matt Bomer, has been renewed for a second season. There’s a bit of a catch, though.

In an interesting twist, the second season won’t just air on DC Universe. Instead, the series will be featured on both the DC Entertainment standalone service, as well as HBO Max, which is WarnerMedia’s upcoming streaming offering. New episodes will premiere on both services simultaneously. Additionally, all Season 1 episodes of Doom Patrol will be made available on HBO Max when the service launches.

The other big live-action DCU news from the panel was the premiere date for Season 2 of Titans. The service will return for new episodes on Friday, September 6. Interestingly, Titans will still be a DC Universe-exclusive show at this point. While that could change in the future, for now, Doom Patrol remains the sole series jumping between the two services.

HBO Max will launch in early 2020 and in addition to Doom Patrol, it will also be the exclusive streaming home of classic shows like Friends and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Additionally, the service has a number of original shows in the works, including an animated Gremlins prequel series.

Sometimes all it takes is a tweet. One of the big announcements at Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con panel was the casting of Simu Liu in the lead for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings. But it seems that Liu’s starring role started with a tweet that the Kim’s Convenience actor sent to Marvel last year.

Although the Shang-Chi movie was officially announced at the SDCC panel, it was first reported that Marvel was planning a movie based on the Asian superhero in December 2018. Liu clearly knew that he was right for the role, so fired off this tweet shortly after the news broke:

Nearly seven months later, it was confirmed that Liu was indeed playing Shang-Chi. The actor was quick to remind fans where it all started, with this reply to his original tweet:

Of course, we don’t know the background to the first tweet and the conversations that happened in the time between. But it’s exciting to think that a tweet to Marvel is all it takes if you’re the right choice for the role.

Shang-Chi will also star Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) and be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who also helmed Brie Larson’s breakthrough film Short Term 12. It hits theaters on February 12, 2021.

At the SDCC panel, Marvel boss Kevin Feige also announced Black Widow and The Eternals in 2020, followed by Doctor Strange 2: In The Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder in 2021. The new Thor film will see Natalie Portman reprising her role as Jane Foster, who in this movie will become the Goddess of Thunder. There was also a big surprise at the very end of the panel when Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali was announced as the title character in a new Blade movie.

For a full recap of the panel, check out our rundown on everything announced at the Marvel Studios panel.

It turns out that sort of out-of-place Natalie Portman cameo in Avengers: Endgame was a little more important than anyone could have guessed. The actor, who hasn’t played a major role in any MCU movie since 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, will be making a return to the MCU to reprise her role as Jane Foster in Thor: Love And Thunder–with one major caveat: she’ll be wielding Mjolnir.

Director Taika Waititi took the stage at San Diego Comic-Con during the massive Marvel Studios panel to surprise fans. Moderator Jessica Chobot prompted Waititi with a question about what comic book storylines had inspired him, which Waititi was quick to answer. “When we were shooting Ragnarok, I was reading Jason Aaron’s Mighty Thor, and it introduces female Thor [Jane Foster]. So, there’s only one person who can do that.”

Natalie Portman herself then took the stage to massive applause, before being handed her own replica Mjolnir to really drive Jane’s new MCU status quo home.

“This feels pretty good,” Portman laughed, “I’ve always had a little hammer envy.”

Jane’s turn as Thor came after Thor Odinson was rendered unworthy by a cosmically aware Nick Fury (don’t ask), who confirmed that a villain named Gor the God Butcher, who believed all gods in the universe were fundamentally horrible and wrong, was “right.” By whispering that simple phrase: “Gor was right,” Thor found himself experiencing such a crisis of confidence that he could no longer lift Mjolnir.

Thankfully, Mjolnir’s powers have some strings attached, if you remember its inscription–“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” During Thor’s crisis, Jane, who had actually been battling fatal cancer, was able to lift the hammer and become imbued with the powers. As a deity, Jane’s cancer was also “cured,” but only while she was in her Thor form, creating a dangerous catch-22 when she would revert back to her mortal self.

It’s unclear what the set up for Jane’s transformation in the MCU will actually be, since as far as we know she has been in perfect health, but with Doctor Strange 2‘s introduction of the multiverse, it seems like anything and everything is possible.

Thor: Love And Thunder will hit theaters on November 5, 2021.

Marvel’s big San Diego Comic-Con panel outlined lots of new plans for Phase 4, but a few notable omissions raised eyebrows. Specifically the panel didn’t make any major announcements surrounding Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Black Panther 2, or Captain Marvel 2.

But fear not, true-believers; all of them are still on the way. MCU boss Kevin Feige offhandedly joked near the end of the panel that they just didn’t have time to fit all their plans in, alongside a brief mention of the X-Men and Fantastic Four. None of those got a spotlight at this particular event, which largely focused on new franchises and surprise announcements.

The panel announced the Black Widow and Eternals movies in 2020, followed by Shang-Chi, Dr. Strange 2, and Thor 4 featuring Natalie Portman reprising her role as Jane Foster, who in this movie will become the Goddess of Thunder. The panel’s big surprise came at the very end, with the announcement of Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali as the title character in a new Blade movie.

All of these announcements came alongside more details for the MCU TV series that will be offered through the Disney+ service. Falcon and Winter Soldier will premiere in fall 2020, and then WandaVision and Loki in spring 2021. A “What If?” animated series is coming in summer 2021, and then a Hawkeye series in the fall.

It’s not clear if Guardians 3, Black Panther 2, or Captain Marvel 2 could fit around these plans, or if those films have been pushed into Phase 5.

It was an absolutely jam-packed Marvel Studios Hall H panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con including first looks at the recently confirmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, Thor 4, titled Thor: Love And Thunder, Black Widow, The Eternals, as well as Disney+ TV shows like Loki and Falcon and Winter Soldier. At the end, it felt as if there was no more news left in the Marvel Universe for fans to get.

But nothing in the MCU is ever what it seems. As the panel wrapped up for the evening, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige dropped a handful of playful teases that serve as confirmation for something fans have been clamoring about for years: the inclusion of not only the Fantastic Four, but “mutants” (you know, like the X-Men) in the MCU.

“We talked about so much tonight, it’s a shame we didn’t have time to talk about Black Panther 2, about Captain Marvel 2, about Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 […]” Feige joked, “We didn’t have time to talk about the Fantastic Four, or about the mutants.”

The recent Disney/Fox merger has made both additions to the shared universe possible, meaning that the confirmation isn’t exactly unexpected–but it is certainly more than welcome.

With D23, Disney’s own pop culture convention, just around the corner on August 23 through the 25th in Anaheim, California, we can certainly expect to hear more very, very soon.