Monthly Archives: March 2025

Mar 28 2025

Avengers: Doomsday Announcement IOW Avengers Vs. X-Men!

On March 26, 2025, Marvel Studios painstakingly announced the cast of next year’s Avengers: Doomsday with an online stream that lasted over FIVE hours. The marketing team behind this event can be either commended for increasing anticipation and publicity for Avengers: Doomsday or slammed for coming up with this idea of using chairs to slowly announce cast members and stretching this out for several long hours.

Many fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) woke up that day with news that Marvel Studios was making a big announcement later in the morning. They speculated about what would the news be about. More MCU films announced? The cast for the new X-Men? At first, when the stream began and an obscure figure entered the screen and placed a chair with Chris Hemsworth’s name on it, people guessed it may have been a revelation that a new Thor film was coming. Then 12 and a half minutes later, another chair was revealed with Vanessa Kirby’s name on it, and we all knew by then the announcement was about the cast for Avengers: Doomsday. It was inevitable since the film was scheduled to begin filming around this time and the finale of the stream declared just that. These were the following cast members announced for Avengers: Doomsday in the order they were announced:

  • Chris Hemsworth as Thor
  • Vanessa Kirby as Invisible Woman
  • Anthony Mackie as Captain America
  • Sebastian Stan as Bucky/Winter Soldier
  • Letitia Wright as Shuri/Black Panther
  • Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
  • Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent aka dime store Captain America
  • Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
  • Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Thing
  • Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
  • Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
  • Kelsey Grammer as the Beast
  • Lewis Pullman as the Sentry
  • Danny Ramirez as the Falcon
  • Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch
  • David Harbour as Red Guardian
  • Winston Duke as M’Baku
  • Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
  • Tom Hiddleston as Loki, most likely the God of Stories
  • Patrick Stewart as Professor X
  • Ian McKellan as Magneto
  • Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
  • Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
  • James Marsden as Cyclops
  • Channing Tatum as Gambit
  • Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic and
  • Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom

That is an impressive and surprising line up for what will be the biggest and most important MCU film in years. The announcement certainly generated excitement among fans and much of it was positive although there were many questions that went unanswered. Here are a few takeaways:

Drawn Out Announcement

On paper it seemed like a good idea to slowly announce the cast with intervals that lasted several minutes. With a cast this large it took over five hours for the announcements to be completed and this tried the patience of many online viewers who wanted (and screamed) for the announcements to hurry up.  For others however, the announcement built up anticipation and created something of an event as many wondered who would be announced next. Some announcements had excited reactions while a few others were obvious.

The event also for all intents and purposes spoiled Thunderbolts* since most of the cast from that upcoming film will survive and appear in Avengers: Doomsday. The Fantastic Four will play an important role in the film which is natural since Doctor Doom is their main enemy. The question remains is how big a role will they play? Most likely the team will be on the level of co-stars and function the same way that the Guardians of the Galaxy did in Avengers: Infinity War.

Finally, given the latter cast announcements, this film not only reunites a few actors from the original Fox X-Men films, but the film will probably be a loose adaptation of the Avengers Vs. X-Men comic book series event from the last decade.

Who Was Left Out

A lot of the buzz generated by the stream was about who was not announced, and it was surprising that some characters apparently won’t be a part of Avengers: Doomsday. These characters include the Hulk, She-Hulk, Spider-Man, War Machine, Captain Marvel, Photon, Star-Lord or the new Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, Wolverine, Wong, and finally the Young Avengers.

Some of the absences are puzzling given how integral some heroes are to the Avengers like the Hulk, have been set up in other MCU projects like the Young Avengers were, and how popular others are like Spider-Man. After all, at the very end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, a title card announced that Star-Lord would return. If not in this film, then were else? Well, Avengers: Secret Wars, of course.

A few weeks ago, some concept art was leaked that showed images of these missing characters and a few others like Vision and Doctor Strange in what looks like Batttleworld, the location of the Secret Wars comic books. In the first issue of Secret Wars, the main Marvel Universe collided with the Ultimate Marvel Universe and both were destroyed. Doctor Doom managed to scrape together segments of many realities into an artificial world called Battleworld and the Marvel characters were re-imagined. The same thing will probably happen with Avengers: Secret Wars and the absent characters will turn up in that film. This is similar to what happened with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame where Ant-Man and Hawkeye were featured in the latter film but not the former one.

Keep this in mind, however. After the stream ended, Marvel Studios cryptically announced on social media that there would be more announcements. This can be welcome news but truthfully, Marvel Studios has to be careful not to bring in too many characters in order to focus on a few important ones.

Avengers Vs. X-Men

The biggest surprise in the announcement was that of the Fox X-Men film characters returning. This was very welcome news by fans of the early X-Men films, and some of the announcements were stunning. Cumming had such a miserable experience with the blue makeup when filming X2: X-Men United that he refused to reprise his role as Nightcrawler even though his character was very popular. Channing Tatum proved that if a performance is earnest and strong enough it can win you a return ticket to a major franchise. His appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine was among the best and he injected that role with lots of vigor and enthusiasm; frankly he deserved to come back to an MCU film in some fashion.

Among the most notable absences were Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm and Famke Janssen as Jean Grey/Phoenix. Janssen’s absence is puzzling since it brings up the question if the film will have anything to do with the Phoenix Force story from Avengers Vs. X-Men. This implies that the Avengers film will only loosely adapt Avengers Vs. X-Men and focus more on Doctor Doom. It seems likely that instead of the main Marvel Universe battling the Ultimate Marvel Universe, this film will have the MCU characters confronting the Fox X-Men film characters. It is questionable if these X-Men will be those featured from the early films and might be variant versions. It is hard to tell and given that the timeline of those Fox X-Men films is confusing, it’s for the best not to think too hard about it.

The most logical assumption is that the MCU will meet the X-Men seen in the alternate universe seen at the end of The Marvels when Monica Rambeau wound up stranded in that universe. Her appearance will set off an incursion event that will have the two universes collide and lead to Avengers: Secret Wars. But then, if that is the plot, then why wasn’t Teyonah Parris announced? Maybe she will, later. Maybe Marvel Studios wants to keep some appearances as surprises to make up for spoiling Thunderbolts*.

There are many questions that have been raised by the streaming event, which is great for Marvel Studios and Avengers: Doomsday. This demonstrates that there is still interest and excitement about the MCU. To think, all this buzz is for a film that is over a year away and we still haven’t seen a trailer or set photos or anything official aside from a bunch of chairs and Robert Downey Junior motioning us to be silent. All this will be for nothing if Avengers: Doomsday doesn’t deliver, but given the talent behind the film, that seems unlikely.

José Soto

Mar 22 2025

Independent Comics Are The Way Forward

The two big comic book companies, DC Comics and Marvel Comics, rule the comic book market and have done so for decades. But their reign right now is largely due to inertia and for decades comic book fans complained about the Big Two and the saturation of the market with superhero comics. It seemed as if it would be that way for a long time…and it still is at this point. However, this status quo is overdue for a shakeup and it is probably going on right now with independent comics.

To the outside world, what captures the headlines are the latest (non) developments with superheroes, like someone dying and coming back to boost sales, a newly relaunched title with a brand-new number one just to flood markets with variant covers, and so on. Also, back issue sales are still dominated by older superhero titles and will continue to do so. But what has captured fans’ attention has been the proliferation of independent comics from various publishers that for the most part don’t feature superheroes but cover a wide range of subjects. From straight horror to sci-fi to fantasy to crime dramas, there are actually a wide selection of comic books in your local comic shops (LCS) or available digitally. Many non-fans and casual fans are understandably surprised at the many choices available of comics to read and enjoy.

Right now the hot comic is Mark Spear’s Monsters, a beautifully drawn comic put out by Keenspot that features many classic monsters in painted art that evokes Alex Ross but with Spears’ own unique style. Other popular comics include Feral, Geiger, Monstress, A Vicious Circle, Invincible, Conan the Barbarian, Saga, Eight Billion Genies, The Infernals, Something is Killing the Children, Local Man, Transformers and G.I. Joe. None of these titles are superhero-based, except for Invincible, Local Man, and maybe Geiger. The latter is more of a post-apocalyptic tale of a radioactive loner/warrior, while Local Man is a fresh grounded take on Image Comics’ superheroes. Yes, Transformers, Conan the Barbarian, and G.I Joe are based on popular IP, but they are not based on superheroes.

What’s an even more interesting development is that movie and TV studios are turning more and more to comic books not based on superheroes to adapt as they see the potential in the stories. There have been successful film and TV adaptations of non-superhero comics like The Walking Dead, Road to Perdition, 300 and Sin City, but be prepared for an onslaught of even more adaptations. Right now, there are efforts to adapt Eight Billion Genies and Something is Killing the Children, which at the very least would make great animated films.

Of course, not every independent comic is a winner, not all the concepts pan out or their stories peter out after a few issues, but there are many more titles to choose from and more will come. Right now, Image is arguably the leader when it comes to non-superhero comics, with other publishers rising such as Dynamite Entertainment, Dark Horse Comics, Boom! Studios and IDW Publishing. Originally, Image began with superhero comics that to be honest were sup par and most of them are no longer around. But Image took a chance with writers and artists who were able to present their own unique visions and stories and it paid off well for the publisher and comic book fans.

Sure, the LCS and online catalogs are flooded with superhero titles from DC and Marvel, but more and more, a shopper will see that there is much more product in the comic book medium to choose from. Even if at some point in the future, Marvel or DC falter, which won’t happen for a long time, other publishers will take over and dominate the market with either their own superheroes or better yet, other genres. The groundwork is already in place and eventually the independent comics will overtake the superhero genre. Independent comic books today offer something for every taste, which is a sign of a healthy medium that will be with us for a good while.

Mar 9 2025

The Defenders’ Pending Return

Right now, we’re all basking in the joy that Daredevil has returned to TV with Daredevil: Born Again. What’s even more joyous is that not only is the character now firmly in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, (MCU) but the TV show is a direct continuation of the Netflix series, Daredevil, that streamed a few years ago. That may be obvious since the blind superhero is being played again by Charlie Cox and his villain, Wilson Fisk, has been reprised by Vincent D’Onofrio. But for a while, it was unclear if Daredevil: Born Again would be a soft reboot of the original series. However, that question has been answered by Marvel Studios and was shown with the additions of other cast members from Daredevil and other references and Easter eggs to the Marvel Netflix universe.

Aside from returning actors like Debra Ann Woll, Ayelet Zurer and Elden Henson, two notable references were dropped in the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again. During some conversation, Elden Henson’s character, Foggy Nelson, mentioned that he worked for the law firm, Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz, that was introduced in the Marvel Netflix series, Jessica Jones. The other reference was in a crowd scene taking place in Times Square during New Year’s Eve. In addition to MCU references like Rogers: The Musical and the Pym Van Dyne Foundation, we can spot an advertisement for Harlem’s Paradise, the underworld nightclub in Luke Cage that was eventually taken over by the title hero.

So, we can infer that the other Marvel Netflix heroes, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and yes, Iron Fist, who made up the superhero team, the Defenders, are part of the MCU now. No more vague references to a “Big, green guy” or “the Incident” aka Loki’s alien attack on New York City. But this has not been officially verified by Marvel Studios, which as usual remains tightlipped about such matters. Remember they kept quiet about Matt Murdock (Daredevil’s civilian identity) appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home for the longest time and pleasantly surprised fans when the blind lawyer turned up to represent Peter Parker. They also were mum before the Kingpin was revealed to be the main villain in Hawkeye.

As of now, all we have to go on are rumors from insiders that the Defenders will be part of the second season of Daredevil: Born Again. Kristen Ritter, the actor who portrayed Jessica Jones, was asked in recent interviews if she was reprising her role. She replied that she was available and willing to play the superhuman private detective. However, she has posted on social media that she has been at the gym, possibly to get in shape for the role. She also posted that she was traveling to New York City in late February of 2025 for unknown reasons. At the same time, filming for the second season of Daredevil: Born Again commenced in New York City last month. This could mean Ritter went to the city to film her scenes or it could be just a coincidence.

So far, there’s no word if Michael Colton and Finn Jones will reprise their roles of Luke Cage and Iron Fist, respectively, although Jones stated recently he wanted to return. However, given how negatively the TV show, Iron Fist, was received, it would be understandable if the role was recast in order to distance the character from the Netflix series.

It would be great for the Defenders to return to the world of Daredevil and be a part of the MCU. There were some plot threads that were left unresolved in the other Marvel Netflix TV shows that need to be addressed. For example, when Luke Cage took over the night club did he become a criminal? Did Iron Fist and his step brother finish their mystical quest in Asia? Also, a running plot line in Daredevil: Born Again is that Wilson as the mayor of New York City bans vigilantes; how does this affect the Defenders? Supposedly, this was to be part of the plot for the next Spider-Man film until Sony decided they want to continue playing with the multiverse, instead. Too bad, since Fisk was originally a Spider-Man villain, as was the Punisher. Involving the Defenders would better flesh out the anti-vigilante plot in Daredevil: Born Again and could adapt the events of the Devi’s Reign comic book mini-series that was devoted to Fisk’s term as Mayor and his anti-superhero crusade.

Speaking of vigilantes, the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) is part of the first season of Daredevil: Born Again and will have his own TV special next year. If he could get his own special then the Defenders should get their own specials or mini-series, as well. Just leave out the Hand as the adversaries and get better fight choreographers.