Welcome to the third week of “It’s All Connected”, your favorite weekly fandom news wrap-up show, hosted by, Corbin Shanklin, one of The Illuminerdi’s druid scribes.
Every Monday, this weekly roundup presents everything you need to know about the hottest stories developing in the entertainment industry. Week three of the show is especially exciting for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though followers of The Boys on Amazon Prime won’t be disappointed either.
THE BOYS: REFLECTING ON SEASON ONE WHILE PEEKING INTO SEASON THREE
The Boys is an enigma within the world of comic book adaptations and live action superhero stories. Serving as both a highly effective satirical take on the superhero subgenre and a phenomenal addition to that same genre in it’s own right, it comes as no surprise that The Boys has seen a sharp rise in popularity as of late. The phenomenal cast, provocative, gut-wrenching plotlines, and strong emotional core of the show don’t hurt either.
That’s not to say that season one wasn’t without issues. The sexual assault storyline involving The Deep and Starlight could have been handled with much more tact and elegance. Additionally, Jack Quaid’s generally lovable and oddly charismatic character, Hughie, suffered from more than a few lines of cheesy, unbelievable dialogue.
RELATED: THE BOYS SET TO FLESH OUT TWO NEW “HEROES” IN SEASON 3 – SOLDIER BOY & [SPOILER]: EXCLUSIVE
Joining the aforementioned cast in the third season is none other than Jensen Ackles (Supernatural, My Bloody Valentine, Batman: Under The Red Hood) who will be playing Soldier Boy, who will be a very prominent character in that season. As the first “superhero” in the universe of The Boys, Soldier Boy’s arc is certain to shed light on the history of Vought International and the initial reception of superpowered beings. He will be joined by Supersonic in season three. Considering how phenomenal Jensen Ackles was as the voice of Red Hood, I could not be more excited to see Ackles tackle a live action comic book role.
MOCKINGBIRD RECAST IN THE HAWKEYE SERIES?
FandomWire.com recently released an exclusive article pertaining to the upcoming Hawkeye Disney+ TV series. The report alleges that Hawkeye, which stars Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfield as Kate Bishop, will feature the classic Marvel Comics character known as Bobbi Morse AKA Mockingbird. More importantly, the report states that Mockingbird will be recast, and rebooted.
Adrianne Palicki played Mockingbird on ABC’s Agents Of Shield, though she left the series around season three, well before AOS diverged from the main MCU timeline in season five, as an unintended and unaddressed result of time travel. Palicki has expressed interest in returning to the role multiple times, and many fans of the character would be crushed if her character was recast and her stories removed from the main MCU canon.
Thankfully, I do not believe this FandomWire story for a moment, and neither should you! Their questionable level of credibility aside, this report claims that “Kevin Feige has made it clear in the past that he doesn’t consider the television shows he had no oversight over to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Due to Feige’s approach, it obviously makes sense that the studio is recasting.”
That claim is simply inaccurate and anything but factual. I can only assume that they are referring to Feige’s statement that the Disney+ TV series would be the first time that the MCU would interlink on the big and small screen. Those who claim that pre-Disney+ TV is not MCU canon love to use this quote to further their agenda, but they fail to understand the definition of “intersect”.
The truth is that the relationship between the films and TV shows was generally one-sided, only ever “intersecting” with Man-Thing and Edwin Jarvis (two characters who were introduced in MCU TV shows before making appearances in film). Feige was not saying that the original MCU TV shows were not canon, nor has he ever stated such a thing. Fans of Adrianne Palicki’s Mockingbird need not lose hope yet.
MADAME MASQUE WILL REPORTEDLY APPEAR IN HAWKEYE
Luckily for Hawkeye fans, the FandomWire report about Mockingbird was not the only news about the series to break recently. The Direct exclusively reported that Madame Masque will be joining the Disney+ series in an antagonistic role. This would make her the third reported villain, joining Trickshot and The Tracksuit Mafia.
Fascinatingly, a version of Whitney Frost, Madame Masque’s second alter-ego appeared on ABC’s Agent Carter, which is one of only two pre-Disney+ TV shows to be produced by the head of Marvel Studios and Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Kevin Feige. Her original alter-ego was Guilietta Nefaria, so perhaps the Hawkeye version of the character will go by this name in the series in order to avoid the presence of two separate Whitney Frost characters in the MCU.
MURPHY’S MULTIVERSE BRINGS NEWS ABOUT SHANG-CHI AND WANDAVISION
Our friends at Murphy’s Multiverse are reporting new developments regarding the Disney+ series WandaVision and the Phase Four film Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings. The Wandavision news was exciting, though not as much as the Shang-Chi news. Then again, perhaps I am a little bit biased, as my Chihuahua is named after Marvel’s master of Kung Fu. Their team’s examination of the Disney+ source code seemed to indicate a premiere date of November 27th.
Regarding Shang-Chi, their report shed light on the role that the infamous dragon Fin Fang Foom will play into the story. Additionally, more information was revealed about the village set back in August. Most exciting of all was the revelation that some characters in the film will utilize the power of Chi as a weapon, an ability already demonstrated in the MCU by Colleen Wing, Danny Rand, and Davos in the criminally underrated Iron Fist.
MS. MARVEL CONTINUES TO SEARCH FOR ITS CAST
Last week, news broke that casting was underway for certain character on the upcoming Disney+ TV series, Ms. Marvel. These characters appeared to be the MCU incarnations of Zoe Zimmer, Ms. Marvel’s best friend, as well as her eventual sister in-law, Tyesha Hillman.
Today, The Direct has revealed casting calls for four additional characters on the series. “Sheikh”, “Fariha”, “Aadam”, and “Auntie Ruby” are the four roles revealed in that report. Auntie Ruby and Sheikh seem fairly self-explanatory, as the characters will almost certainly be a local Jersey Sheikh and Auntie Ruby is almost certainly the MCU version of Kamala Khan’s aunt Ayesha. The other two characters are a bit harder to pin down, though more light on those characters will likely surface inbetween now and Ms. Marvel’s release, which has not been officially dated at this time.
It’s All Connected!
Thank you for joining us for another week of “It’s All Connected”! Are you excited for The Boys and the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the small screen? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media!
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