December ‘23 CQMB - The Marvels, Loki: Season 2, Marvel Delays, & More

SPOILER WARNING!

Each of these episode reviews were written after I finished the show:

Episode 4 - Heart of the TVA: The ending of this episode had me even more shocked than the end of episode 4 in season 1! The moment Victor Timely was shred into nothing made my jaw drop. This episode had me thinking the MCU had just ended or something. I had absolutely no idea where the next two episodes were headed. It reminded me a little of Infinity War: just being left with that shock of watching the protagonists tragically fail. From this point on I couldn’t wait to watch the next episode given the opportunity.

Episode 5 - Science/Fiction: It was cool seeing each of our beloved TVA characters in their old lives on the timeline. We finally got to see Mobius on a jet ski! Not riding it, but just sitting on it… I think that’s good enough. But this episode’s ending too- it left so many questions and so much uncertainty for what was to come next.

Episode 6 - Glorious Purpose: It’s so full-circle to have the first episode of the series and the last to have the same title. In this episode, we truly see Loki fulfill his destiny as a God, as he becomes the new He Who Remains. How epic is that? Cmon! It’s cool seeing how his powers are green, similar to the time stone. This makes it seem like he’s a representation of the time stone, similar to how the Scarlet Witch kind of represents the reality stone, as she’s been able to manipulate reality, as seen in WandaVision. She also has the same red color scheme as the reality stone. This was a very satisfying conclusion to this journey we’ve been on since Endgame, which is when we first saw Loki take the tesseract, altering the timeline. Who would have known that seemingly small plot twist would have grown into this. I’m also very happy this didn’t quickly turn rotten like several other of the Disney+ shows have recently.

I give this season a 9.3/10.

SPOILER WARNING!

Well, I’m kind of not surprised with this one. The marketing for this movie didn’t really sell for me, and I had relatively low expectations going into this movie. Now, I wouldn’t call it awful, but it’s definitely not necessarily good. There were several plot conveniences, making the movie feel pretty sloppy. I do think the character of Carol Danvers was portrayed better in this movie in comparison to the first in her series, so I’ll give them credit for that. Ms Marvel is fun to watch on screen, and Monica is an enjoyable character, and I felt the chemistry between the three main characters worked well. Something that really didn’t work for me was the singing village-place-thing. It felt really weird and out of place. It had me rolling my eyes, which is disappointing when you’re watching the MCU. The ending had me really excited though (the only issue being that the whole movie felt unnecessary by the end). But away from my disappointment, it was really cool seeing Ms Marvel recruiting Kate Bishop for what she hopes to be a Young Avengers team. This team-up has been highly speculated, and it’s exciting that it’s actually happening. It sounds like Cassie Lang will also eventually become a part of the team. But! Let’s talk about the mid-credits scene. I was stunned. I knew the X-Men were coming soon, but not THIS SOON! BEAST?! THAT’S CRAZY! Them revealing Beast and then showing the “X” door had me freaking out. I hope we keep getting small teases like this in the future because that had me hyped. Overall, I give The Marvels 6.3/10.

Cool. I wasn’t the biggest fan of season 1, but this looks appealing enough for me to check it out. Be sure to check the trailer out! What If…? Season 2 will stream a new episode daily starting December 22, ending December 30 on Disney+.

Woah. I did not expect this. I expected this show to have a similar tone to Hawkeye, but maybe slightly darker. But they are not holding back. This show is going to be TV-MA, the MCU’s first mature rating for a project. Kingpin seems like he’s going to have a very prominent role in the show, obviously indicating he survives Echo’s gunshot wound at the end of Hawkeye. This trailer was super intriguing, and I’m very interested to see what Marvel does with this character. Once again, I hope this show doesn’t become a disaster like so many of the other shows. Echo will be streaming on January 10, 2024 on Disney+ and Hulu. All episodes are releasing on the same day.

Nah bro… Sony legit provided a budget of $20 for this film. I know a lot of people are talking about the suits, which some of them are cool, but look at the main villain. He looks like he got his costume from Spirit Halloween. Just when I thought Morbius was as bad as it gets… It’s so hard to believe this movie is being made by a large company, and it isn’t some fan-film. This trailer has the movie looking like it was made with no effort. I’m really worried to see how this movie is, but who knows, maybe it isn’t that bad. Madame Web will be in theaters on February 14, 2024.

Director of Shang-Chi and the upcoming Disney+ series Wonder Man, Destin Daniel Cretton, has exited from directing the fifth Avengers movie, which is set to release May 1, 2026. He stepped down from the project so he could focus on directing the Wonder Man show, as well as the sequel to Shang-Chi. Reports have clarified that this was a completely healthy exit, and that there is no toxicity between Cretton and Marvel Studios, meaning Cretton is going to continue working for them in the future. Speaking of people dropping from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, so did writer Jeff Loveness a while back. He wrote for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, which did not do that well. In replacement, Michael Waldron has been hired to write the script for this movie, as well as Secret Wars. Waldron was responsible for writing both seasons of Loki, as well as writing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. That makes me feel a little better about how this movie will turn out.

Following the conclusion of the Hollywood strikes, production on movies and TV shows are back, up and running. As a result of delays in production, delays in release were inevitable. Here are the delays on both MCU movies, as well as Marvel movies outside of the MCU:

New release dates:

Madame Web (February 14, 2024) [same]

Deadpool 3 (July 26, 2024) [delayed]

Kraven the Hunter (August 30, 2024) [delayed]

Venom 3 (November 8, 2024) [delayed]

Captain America: Brave New World (February 14, 2025) [delayed]

Fantastic Four (May 2, 2025) [same]

Thunderbolts (July 25, 2025) [delayed]

Blade (November 7, 2025) [delayed]

It’s crazy how often these movies get delayed. One interesting thing is that the MCU will only be releasing one movie next year, which is Deadpool 3. Of course, it’s always possible that could change, but it seems Marvel is just now starting to focus in on quality over quantity and getting their priorities straight. Hopefully the MCU will be much better in these coming years.

Also- it has been confirmed that the MCU Blade movie will be rated R.

Nicholas Hoult, who had been previously reported to have been in the running for the role of Superman, has now been cast as his archenemy, Lex Luthor. Nicholas Hoult played Beast in the prequel X-Men movies (he didn’t play him at the end of The Marvels), so he already has some superhero movie experience. There were also a few more minor roles cast in this film, but I won’t be covering that, so feel free to do your own research. Superman: Legacy will be in theaters July 11, 2025.

For those of you who are Star Wars fans, you may be delighted (or annoyed) by the fact that it sounds like Pedro Pascal may be our Reed Richards in the MCU. These are still just rumors, and nothing has been confirmed, but it seems to be possible. I personally don’t think he best suits this role, and I’m sure there’s another place in the MCU that would maybe work better for him, but I’m not quite sure how I feel about this rumor. If it did end up happening though, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this month's CQMB. Be sure to stay tuned for the next CQMB which will release on the first of January.