With classics like “My Adidas”, “It's Tricky” and “Walk This Way”, Raising Hell is unquestionably Run-D.M.C.’s best album—indeed, the first rap album to go both platinum and multi-platinum. King of Rock, which first leaned into the rock influence that eventually led to the team-up with Aerosmith, kicked ass, too.

The album ultimately went platinum, carried by four singles which charted on Billboard’s Top 100, including one that someone should play for DC Studios’ co-chair and solitary mouthpiece, James Gunn: “You Talk Too Much.”

When the cat took your tongue, I say you took it right back
Your mouth is so big, one bite could kill a Big Mac

Gunn kicked off the week that was by chastising fans for holding onto “the idea that individual stories aren't meaningful unless they lead to something else.” I can't really define irony, but I know it when I see it and that's an ironic comment coming from the architect of a shared universe in which he promised that animated projects, live-action projects and video games would all feed continuity and canon.

His point that each story should have standalone value is well taken and, of course, what all fans should want. But it's hard to take it at face value when he started off the press tour for Clayface by saying, “I can’t wait for you guys to see what we do with him.” This isn't a case of having your cake and eating it, too, though when I made mention of it on Twitter, plenty of Gunn backers threw out the “two things can be true” line--which gets used so often to dismiss any effort to think critically by feigning intellectual superiority as if the very existence of the phrase renders any argument useless--but the man has a history of saying too much and then having to reel it back in with some confab bullshit.

Let's just look at a brief history of the pattern since he began creating the DCU.

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The Techsorcist

In an effort to remove the Butcherbird killer from Vision, E.D.I.T.H. performs an exorcism that riffs hard on The Exorcist while interchanging computer jargon for Catholic jargon.

“I break thee from they loop with batch command, end function. I sever thine process with back-slash body in all targeted nodes. In the name of function and command. In the presence of database and query control-alt-delete thee from this place.”

Spader’s “the power of code compels you!”, perhaps just improv on his part, works to remind the audience why his return is among the very best things to happen in the MCU. Given more to do here, Spader is making the case to keep Ultron around for a very long time.

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I was working at MCU Exchange when Avengers: Age of Ultron hit theaters in 2015. While it wasn't a bomb and not too harshly panned, fans didn't love it as much as its 2012 predecessor and neither did critics. Today, it sits at 75% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a critical consensus that reads “Exuberant and eye-popping, Avengers: Age of Ultron serves as an overstuffed but mostly satisfying sequel, reuniting its predecessor's unwieldy cast with a few new additions and a worthy foe.”

I can remember chatting with the MCUEx crew on Slack and, like many other fans, we came to believe that over time, Age of Ultron would be judged differently and as a consequential turning point for the larger shared narrative. 11 years on, there's no doubt that it not only had a major impact on the Infinity Saga, as the precursor to Stark and Rogers’ fallout, but also the Multiverse Saga and, possibly, the Mutant Saga or whatever they call it. Sure, they killed Quicksilver, but Wanda and Vision carried a heavy, narrative load and now, Ultron has returned, as he always should have, making AoU perhaps the most comic booky comic book movie ever made.

With Man of Tomorrow, it sounds as though James Gunn has every intention of stripping AoU of that title, stuffing the Superman sequel with nearly a dozen heroes to aid Kal-El and Lex Luthor in their battle against Brainiac. But that's just what’s been made public.

Below the paywall, I'll share what I've heard about the 2027 film and the pivotal place it looks to hold in the now-secure future of the DCU.

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When Terry Matalas took over showrunning duties for VisionQuest, the project underwent a significant structural pivot from Jac Schaeffer's initial 2022 pitch. Where Schaeffer originally envisioned a direct, grief-focused epilogue to WandaVision anchored in physical locations, Matalas injected a serialized, high-concept sci-fi framework—bringing his signature Star Trek: Picard pacing to Marvel Television…and, oh, he also brought back James Spader.

In my breakdown of the two-episode premiere, I laid out how the stage is set for a very unique look at intergenerational trauma. Below the paywall, I’ll examine how Matalas shifted the story into an AI-focused techno-thriller, what we know about Tommy Shepherd’s trajectory, and what rumors reveal about James Spader’s multi-project deal.

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In a logical world, having Watts, who created Skeleton Crew--a very well-received streaming series--and directed one of the Top 10 highest grossing movies of all-time in Spider-Man: No Way Home, team up with Kinberg, the co-creator of a universal beloved Star Wars animated series, might look a bit like a step in the right direction. But this is Star Wars fandom, making the announcement the worst since Sleepy Sheev Palpatine Order 66’d the Jedi.

Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering.

If you've followed me for a while, you know how critical I ALWAYS was about Kinberg’s choices with Fox’s X-Men franchise. Fundamentally, the man simply did not understand the X-Men; however, that's not the case here as he was clearly dialed in on Rebels, which used conceptsnand designs straight from the mind of the Creator himself. He has a solid working relationship with Filoni, who (probably) has Lucas's blessing to take the franchise forward. I'm willing to give Kinberg this chance…because I know I'm not getting Mangold's film or the Hunt for Ben Solo and I don't really mind Filoni’s penchant for exploring other ideas about how those other than Jedi and Sith interpret and utilize The Force.

Fresh off the Spider-Man trilogy, Watts jumped at the chance to make Skeleton Crew and brought back the innocence that’s been missing from one of the world’s premiere franchises for far too long. He also navigated a metric shit ton of BTS issues with Spidey, pulling together an incredible trilogy end cap after one of the first film’s stars refused to return, leaving No Way Home without a third act and, possibly, forcing the studios to pivot to bringing in additional Peters.

Somehow, Watts successfully navigating big studio bullshit and putting out a banger has enraged Star Wars fans, who I guess believe that they're fans of an indie art house franchise that's made a quadrillion dollars and sells more merchandise than just about any other IP in the world.

I understand the love and nostalgia for the original trilogy and the desire for Lucas to have put out 6 more movies just like them. But that was never going to happen and the 3 that he did make really were not that good. I understand that as well as anyone because I spent a decade or two of my life pining for that to happen but I didn't get it. So I have learned to be happy with what I do get.

Star Wars is what it is under Filoni. And it's fine. The sequel trilogy was brutal but that wasn't his fault. Maybe this trilogy will suck, too. But watching “fans” walk the actual path to the dark side before they even know the kernel of the idea behind a trilogy coming from a pair of creatives who are both step into their respective wheelhouses is just exhausting.

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The Easter egg-heavy sixth episode of Lanterns, “Bad Optics”, continues to prove that James Gunn’s all-new, all-different DCU is VERY lived in. Superman’s opening crawl revealed that metahumans have been around for 300 years and pretty much every project has treated the powered-up heroes and villains the way that people who live in the Rocky Mountains treat them: they’re there, but there not really a big deal anymore.

Over the course of the latest episode, people and places like Batman and the Phantom Zone were casually referenced as was an attack by a giant starfish. John Stewart’s reference to Starro marks the umpteenth time that events of 2021’s The Suicide Squad, directed by Gunn, popped up in the DCU despite the film having been created before the birth of the new shared universe. And it’s not just references and nods: several characters from the film now play integral parts in the DCU’s overarching narrative, which would obviously lead to the very simple and very logical conclusion that the film’s events were simply retconned into the DCU, a place where superhero stories have existed for 300 years. And that would be super easy to accept!

Except Gunn, who has a proclivity for overexplaining things and, thus, overcomplicating them, has explained that the events of The Suicide Squad are not part of the new DCU’s canon…except for the parts that are…which are most of them…but not all of them…unless they need to be…but they can’t all be

.

In late 2024, Gunn stated that when things from projects that predated the existence of the DCU were mentioned in DCU projects, those things became DCU canon. “Now in Creature Commandos, you’ll hear them talk about things that happened in [The] Suicide Squad or Peacemaker,” said Gunn. “Well then, those things automatically become canon.”

The Suicide Squad introduced John Cena‘s Peacemaker to fans as part of a second team of degenerates sent by Amanda Waller to Corto Maltese. The events of The Suicide Squad, including the death of Rick Flag at the hands of Peacemaker, serve as the set up for Season 1 of Peacemaker. With Amanda Waller, who appeared in both projects, and Rick Flag’s father appearing in Creature Commandos and again in Season 2 of Peacemaker, and Peacemaker continuing to develop as a key player in the DCU, a clear line of continuity can be established from one project to the next. Until it can’t.

As it turned out, almost all of Season 1 of Peacemaker was able to be retrofitted into whatever larger story Gunn is telling with the only hold up being the final scene that saw the Justice League show up too late. Because in Gunn’s new DCU, there is no League. “The truth is almost all of Peacemaker is canon with the exception of Justice League… which we will kind of deal with in the next season of Peacemaker,” which was done by replacing the League with the Gang. No big deal.

With that move having resolved the questions around Peacemaker’s canonicity, it would seem as though something similarly simple could be done for The Suicide Squad. However, when asked in late 2025 about the canon status of his film, Gunn gave a far more complicated answer. “People are always asking me about stuff from The Suicide Squad, and The Suicide Squad is a difficult thing because it is not DCU,” said Gunn. “But there aren’t too many things in it that aren’t [DCU]. Unlike Peacemaker season one–which is completely DCU, besides the ending and one or two mentions of different things–The Suicide Squad brings up more questions than answers.”

This is honestly one of the dumbest fucking things anyone has ever said in an effort to explain why something is or is not or both is and is not canon. It just doesn’t need to be this complicated.

Like I’ve said before, canon doesn’t matter…until, of course, it does..and at some point, it might. Obviously, there’s some event or reference to an event in The Suicide Squad to conflicts with Gunn’s Gods and Monsters plans. Perhaps it’s something as simple as Bloodsport shooting Superman; perhaps it’s something far more complicated. However, looking at Gunn’s track record here, it’s likely something very simple that’s he’s willing to complicate to a level hitherto unknown to mankind.

In his DCU, the same Peacemaker who is a key player killed Rick Flag Jr. and is currently exiled on Paradise because Rick Flag Sr. is mad at him for offing his offspring. However, the movie in which that happened isn’t considered part of the story being told except for what it was. Let the enormity of that egregious stupidity sink in. Until then, we have a largely entertaining film that, like Schrodinger’s cat, exists in a paradoxical state of superposition instead of just existing in a logical and ordered superhero universe.

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A little more than four years after Disney thrilled fans by announcing that Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio were returning for a what was originally planned as an all-new, all-different 18-episode take on Daredevil, the House of Mouse has pulled the plug on what evolved into a very Netflixy series.

Under showrunner Dario Scardapane, Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 was rewrite. Aand Season 2 became Daredevil Season 4. The upcoming third season looks to be Defenders Season 2 and it will now be the last season of the revival.

When Disney revived the series, it was with three seasons in mind, so it's not a cancellation but rather a decision to close the book on what's been a very well-received if not always well-viewed series. The reality is that it isn't very surprising in the age where the lifespans of streaming series are increasingly shorter. However, it is a bit confusing.

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While nobody expected a Power Ranger-esque 30-season run, the vast number of Daredevil stories available to be adapted that haven't been tapped into does lead to some headscratching over Disney pulling the plug on what Marvel Television boss Brad Winderbaum clearly saw as the studio’s flagship, live-action streaming project.

“That’s the plan,” replied Winderbaum when asked in 2025 if Daredevil: Born Again was being set up as an annual release. “Season 2 will come out next year, and then hopefully season 3 and season infinity after that. I think this world is extremely rich, and there are many stories to be told on the streets of New York.“

How do you get from “season infinity” to Daredevil: Dead Again in just over a year's time? I don't know but I know what I have thought was a problem for the series for quite some time.

Daredevil: Born Again--perhaps more directly Scardapane, Cox and D’Onofrio--have a Kingpin problem.

As great as D’Onofrio's Fisk has been, the inability to move completely away from the character as really the only thorn in Daredevil’s side IS a problem. With 60+ years of stories, Daredevil has plenty of villains capable of occupying his time for more than the couple of episodes given to Muse, a character who occupied quite a bit of Hornhead’s time in the comics. But the decision to go all Kingpin all the time puts some rather serious limits on what can be done narratively.

In that light, perhaps the studio has recognized that as long as Cox and D’Onofrio are attached to the property, fans and writers will never be able to break free of the dark, depressing Netflix creations. Scardapane surely has not. And so the non-renewal gives the studio a chance to utilize the upcoming soft reboot of the MCU to eventually introduce new iterations of the characters. That's obviously not something that will be universally well-received but it is something that would allow some objectively great Daredevil stories to be told. Or they could just keep sticking Cox places…

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Created as a somewhat silly Shazam analogue named Marvelman, Miracleman became much more under the curation of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. And that idea is incredibly incongruous with one of Marvel Comics long-standing foundational ideas that has driven the way characters have been written for nearly 60 years. Despite the House of Ideas’ annual sleight of hand to make readers believe that major changes that will change the universe in major ways that you’ve majorly never seen before, nothing really changes and it hasn’t for quite some time; however, Miracleman is THE agent of change, having, under Moore and Gaiman, shaken up the universe he inhabited while also reshaping the comic book industry through the use of dark and deconstructionist themes. By introducing the character into the mainstream Marvel Universe, the publishing house puts itself on the brink of legitimate change for the first time since it permanently wiped the Ultimate Universe from existence or, more radically, killed its first great Cosmic hero, Mar-Vell.

Dropping a character as catalytic as Miracleman into a world where storytelling as wonderfully innovative as Hickman’s Krakoan-era X-Men is eventually unraveled seems like another perfunctory and performative stunt but maybe this time, they mean it…

To read my thoughts of how this stunt could fail (or succeed), the David Colton dynamic, and the editorial risks for Marvel, upgrade to a paid subscription

.

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X-Men scooper James Mack recently dropped a delicious rumor that Black Panther III, scheduled to hit theaters on December 15, 2028, would introduce Ka-Zar and the Savage Land, weaving the MCU's narrative tapestry with threads from the Antarctic-set prehistoric jungle.

At first glance, the rumor seems simple to dismiss: mixing dinosaurs and sabre-toothed tigers with the high-tech, afro-futuristic kingdom of Wakanda seems too comic booky for a comic book movie. However, if you know your Marvel Comics well enough and you know Kevin Feige a little, it might not be as far-fetched as you think.

It’s Your One-Way Ticket to Wakanda…

Call it Anti-Metal! Though the two settings couldn’t be any more aesthetically different than they are, they are intrinsically interlocked by Vibranium.

While in the pages of Marvel Comics, Wakanda is home to massive amounts of Vibranium A/Wakandan Vibranium, a dangerous isotope of the element that possesses its own unique set of properties. Whereas Wakandan Vibranium absorbs and stores kinetic energy, Vibranium B/Savage Land Vibranium emits a unique vibration capable of liquefying all known metals.

Wakandans and Savage Landers have interacted plenty of times in the comics, so as wild as this rumor might sound, it’s actually well-grounded in decades of established comic lore.

To read my deep-dive analysis of how Black Panther III’s production code-name might connect to the rumor and behind-the-scenes Marvel Studios intel, upgrade to a paid subscription.

Subscribers below the line unlock:

• The Production Company Clue: What the working title "Fragment" tells us about how the Savage Land was created in the MCU.

• The One Above All’s Adoration: Kevin Feige’s long-standing personal obsession with Ka-Zar and why the timing is right.

• The Post-Multiverse Pivot: How this sets up the mutant ecosystem ahead of the X-Men saga.

• Magnum Force: How Denzel Washington’s role could connect the dots between Val’s ambitions and the Savage Land’s treasure.

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But since I got MM up and running in 2019, the internet and the way people consume content has changed. Traditional entertainment sites are trapped in a never-ending cycle of chasing Google algorithms, fighting ad-blockers, and churning out aggregated clickbait articles a day just to keep the lights on. And I don’t intend to stop doing that because I have to keep the lights on. The site matters to me and it will ALWAYS be there. But that’s not why I started doing this, and I know it’s not why you click the links.

I want to spend less time playing Google’s game and more time delivering the deep dives, context from an old-school insider, and sharp analysis you actually care about. To do that, I am turning Alter Ego into a premium, subscription-backed companion to the main site…and I do hope it’s a game changer for all of us.

What is Alter Ego?

Murphy's Multiverse will remain as the public front—it will still be there for breaking news, standard trailer drops, and general updates.

Alter Ego is where I’ll look under the hood. This Substack is now my exclusive, direct-to-your-inbox hub and it’s probably not for everybody.

By upgrading to a paid subscription ($7/month or $60/year), you are unlocking a VIP tier of content that you won’t find anywhere else:

• Deep-dive industry analysis on filming schedules, working titles, and behind-the-scenes shifts. Not scoops but an old insider’s thoughts about what’s actually happening.

• The “Spoilers Allowed” Review Room: My unfiltered, spoiler breakdowns of major theatrical releases and episodic streaming projects, connecting the final cut to the production rumors.

• Exclusive Post-Show Community Chats: Live-text Q&A threads directly with me following a major film or finale, a massive studio slate announcement or when breaking news dictates it.

But Charles, Why?

By supporting Alter Ego, you are directly funding independent, accurate journalism in a pop-culture landscape overrun by engagement-farming influencers who are rarely fans and even more rarely knowledgeable. Your subscription ensures I answer to you—not to ad networks.

If you just want news, you can absolutely stay on the free tier or visit the site. But if you want to be in the room with me, understand the business of how these franchises are built, and discuss them with a community of like-minded fans, I would love to have you as a paid member.

The multiverse is expanding, and I’m ready to cover it on my own terms.

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Want to become a Founding Member?

For those who want to deeply invest in the future of independent entertainment reporting, Murphy’s Mob ($150/year) includes everything in the paid tier, a piece of MM merchandise (first up is a hat), and exclusive access to our monthly, off-the-record private Q&As.

Thank you for the years of support, and welcome to the next chapter.

Charles M.

Most of the names that have been thrown out there don’t really hit as hard as Ali’s revelation either. Sure, Adam Driver is a big name and a familiar face. Jodie Comer is apparently very talented (I have never seen anything she’s in). Paul Mescal must be a big deal. Then there are the dozen other names that keep getting thrown around because social media guidelines dictate that Giancarlo Esposito must be up for every role. However, in the course of a couple of weeks, a pair of names have popped up in rumors that have done more than buzz.

First, Antonio Banderas was rumored to be in talks to play Galactus. What an absolutely fascinating idea! Banderas is an absolute icon and has more charisma in his pinky toe than most of the people taking up the big roles today. After exploding on the scene in Spain, Banderas moved to the US and took Hollywood by storm in the 1990s despite speaking very limited English. Though modern audiences might just know him as a meme (most probably have no idea he’s the voice of Puss in Boots—a job he slays, BTW), kids of the 80s and 90s know him El Mariachi, Zorro, Gregoria Cortez, Ahmad Ibn Fahdland and the dude from Assassins. An action star. An onscreen lover of Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and more. A true self-made star with enough sex appeal that if he kicked your ass, you’d ask him politely to do it again.

And then…Margot Robbie entered the mix of names up for the role of Sue Storm. Robbie, like Banderas, took Hollywood by storm and has never looked back. While many of the other actresses on the list for Sue Storm are certainly talented, Robbie is something else entirely: she is transcendent. As is true with Banderas, Robbie oozes talent, charisma and sex appeal. In some ways, she’s a throwback to the classic beauties of Hollywood but then she’s SO much more. An action star? Oh absolutely! The norm-smashing Barbie film due out later this year is only going to add to her profile not only as an incredible actress but as a driving force for change in Hollywood. Robbie is gorgeous and fearless and talented and there’s nobody I’d rather see step into the role of Sue Storm (yes, even more than Mila Kunis), who I’ve long believed to be the true center of the Fantastic Four…long before Marvel Studios made that choice.

Should Banderas and Robbie actually land their rumored roles, Marvel Studios would be well on their way to making a surprising choice for Fantastic Four: fueling it with star power, unlike anything they’ve done recently. Because these aren’t just Hollywood stars-these are icons. Sure, it’s nice to catch lighting in a bottle with newcomers, but when you can just add some pre-bottled lightning, do it.

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Marvel Studios has completed several trilogies before including, most recently, the Ant-Man trilogy; however, none of them have seemed to pack the emotional punch that Vol. 3 seems prepared to unleash. During the global press event for the film, host Nathan Fillion asked Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, if he could put his finger on why this one feels so much different. "You know, we've had trilogies before. We've had a number of them, actually," said Feige. "And I was thinking, why does this feel so different and so much of a passage of some sort? And it's because Guardians really was the first movie that was completely outside of the realm. It tied in with Thanos and Infinity Stones. But The Avengers were not in it. And we weren't setting up Tony Stark's next adventure, or Captain America. And it was really our attempt of saying, we don't wanna just do superhero movies."

Longtime fans of the MCU likely recall the trepidation that swirled after Guardians of the Galaxy was first announced. Given that most fans had never heard of the characters, it was widely presumed that the film would flop. While it was certainly a gamble for the studio, as Feige explained, for the MCU to grow, it had to be more than the core Avengers and the Guardians opened that door. "We don't want to just do Iron Man movies or Avengers movies. And we wanted to do, as James said earlier, a big space movie," Feige explained, "and it worked in a crazy way. It worked entirely because of James Gunn. So, it just feels like this trilogy, and James writing and directing all three of them, it represents something unique within the pantheon of the MCU, that I'm very proud of."

In hindsight, Gunn's Guardians captured lightning in a bottle. Like the team itself, the odds were stacked against the first film launching as successfully as it did and with the enormously high expectations that every Marvel Studios project has hanging over it now, it seems unlikely we'll ever see a feelgood story like the Guardians again.

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Like almost all of the members of Deadpool’s X-Force, Peter met a grisly fate during the team’s first mission in Deadpool 2. While attempting to save Zeitgeist from a woodchipper, Peter was killed by Zeitgeist’s acidic vomit. However, during the post-credit scene to Deadpool 2, Deadpool used Cable’s time-traveling device to save Sugar Bear from his fate.

X-Force’s most surprising member is back for another round in Deadpool 3! According to Deadline, Rob Delany who played Peter, aka Sugar Bear, in Deadpool 2 has signed on the dotted line for a return to the role.

Like almost all of the members of Deadpool’s X-Force, Peter met a grisly fate during the team’s first mission in Deadpool 2. While attempting to save Zeitgeist from a woodchipper, Peter was killed by Zeitgeist’s acidic vomit. However, during the post-credit scene to Deadpool 2, Deadpool used Cable’s time-traveling device to save Sugar Bear from his fate.

In a 2018 interview with Empire, Reynolds explained why Deadpool chose to use the device to save only Peter, the only unpowered member of the team, rather than any of the other members of X-Force. “I love that he just completely ignores this marquee cast that he could’ve saved of useful and wonderful superheroes, but instead went back and saved [Peter],” explained Reynolds, adding, “I always felt that it was important to save Peter, just because in the helicopter before we jump, I say to him ‘I’d never let anything happen to you, sugar bear. I’m just saying this to impress the other guys.'” So, I felt like that was a promise that Wade made early on in the movie, and it was nagging him, so he went back and got Peter.”

Delany joins Fox holdovers Hugh Jackman, Monica Baccarin, Karan Soni, Stefan Kapicic and Leslie Uggams in the jump to the MCU. The returning crew will be joined by Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen, whose roles have yet to be revealed. Deadpool 3 is set to begin production later this month.

Sources: Deadline, Empire

Several beings have been imbued with the Power Cosmic and served as a Herald of Galactus, searching out planets for the Devourer of Worlds to consume. While the more heroic Silver Surfer did so begrudgingly and often sought to lead Galactus to unpopulated planets, not all of Galactus' Heralds were so noble. According to an interesting bit of info shared by Twitter scooper MyTimeToShineHello, Marvel Studios Fantastic Four may feature one of Galactus' most immoral Heralds: Terrax the Tamer.

https://twitter.com/MyTimeToShineH/status/1653017533392273408?s=20

Sought out by Galactus for his unconscionable personality, Terrax was once a powerful mutant named Tyros who ruled the planet Birj with an iron fist. Unlike the Silver Surfer, Terrax took joy in finding his master fertile and populated planets to destroy, often culling part of the population himself for sport. Though he was a successful Herald, Terrax wasn't loyal to Galactus and used his power to enslave an entire planet which he then ruled over as their god. Ultimately, he was stripped of his power by Galactus and left for dead.

At this point, it's tough to read too much into the inclusion of Terrax in Marvel Studios Fantastic Four. While his time in the comics as Herald of Galactus comes after Silver Surfers, Marvel Studios has continued to stray further and further from the comics as they develop their films so it shouldn't be assumed that Terrax's time as Herald comes after the Silver Surfer's or that the Surfer won't play a part in the MCU. Rumors persist that a Silver Surfer solo project remains in the works and it's hard to imagine an MCU that can finally include all the wonderful characters associated with the Fantastic Four would not include one of the most beloved from that group.

The opening moments of The Spies not only quickly added Gideon back into the mix but also introduced a group of high-ranking Imperial loyalists known as the Shadow Council. The Shadow Council made its first canonical appearance in Chuck Wendig's 2017 novel Aftermath: Life Debt where led by Admiral Gallius Rax, they planned to overthrow the New Republic. The machinations of the Shadow Council, which consisted of Rax, Rae Sloane, Brendol Hux, Ferric Obdur, Grand Moff Rand and Hodnar Borrum, were thought to be thwarted with their defeat at the Battle of Jokku, however, as seen in Chapter 23 of The Mandalorian, it has been reformed.

While the identities of every member of the Shadow Council weren't revealed, their goals--by in large--remain the same: reestablish the Empire. Two members of the council, Grand Admiral Thrawn's Number 2, Gilad Pellaeon, and soon-to-be First Order General Brendol Hux, who is heading the mysterious Project Necromancer, seem to be allotted a disproportionate amount of the resources available the Imperial loyalists as they work. As seen in The Spies, however, Gideon is less than impressed with his fellow council members, who seem content to wait for the return of the Heir to the Empire, Thrawn.

Gideon's speech in the opening moments of Chapter 23 certainly stirred the Shadow Council to action as the agreed to move on the accumulating Mandalorians before they were able to rise to their full strength and offer a much more real threat to the reemergence of the Empire. Given what's known about the future of the Star Wars universe, Hux's work on Project Necromancer, likely being done in the Unknown Regions, will lead to the creation of Snoke, a reborn Emperor and the rise of the First Order. However, with Thrawn set to make his return in Ahsoka and the future of Gideon's feud with the Mandalorians yet to be written, there are certainly some tense moments ahead for the beskar warriors.

While Gideon's return was already advertised, the live-action debut of the Shadow Council--a group of Imperial loyalists working behind the scenes to ensure the return to power of the Empire--serves as an interesting parallel to the work being done by the Mandalorians. Just as Bo-Katan, Din Djarin and the Armorer seek to round up and reunite Mandalorians from across the galaxy, Gideon seeks to amass the resources of the Imperial remnants from across the galaxy to stop them. Having Gideon launch his plan--and his trap--from the depths of Mandalore, indeed from the heart of their once great civilization, just adds another notch on the belt of this wonderful bastard.

The fallout from the events of this episode promises to be nothing short of transformational for the next arc of the series. Bo-Katan--whose desire to lead again had to be stirred extrinsically--has now led her newly formed army into a trap that cost her the life of Paz Vizsla and steadying influence of Din Djarin. How those losses will impact her next move and how an increasingly independent Grogu will respond to the capture of his father are major questions that will define not only Chapter 24, the Season 3 finale, but also next season and, ultimately, the Mandalorian-centric film set to be directed by Dave Filoni.

While the finale of the episode feels like the beginning of a slow march to the creation of the First Order, their canonical birth is still 5 or so years away and, so far as we know, Gideon is not a part of their sequel trilogy story. So, as parallel as their paths may seem at the moment, Bo-Katan and Gideon are certain to come together again. Will that be the time that Bo-Katan's song is finally written? As Din Djarin said, Bo-Katan is defined by honor, loyalty and character--all things Gideon knows nothing about. While their goals may seem superficially similar, Bo-Katan's quest to reclaim Mandalore is done selflessly for the good of her people while Gideon looks to amass the resources of the Empire for his own selfish ends. While the Shadow Council was swayed to play along for now, it's safe to say that while Thrawn may see value in eliminating the Mandalorians, Gideon won't find him so easy to manipulate. As things move towards their inevitable end and Bo-Katan and Gideon are positioned against one another, this episode will be noteworthy for its subtle conveyance of the idea that while Gideon seems to have the upper hand, he rules from a throne of fear and manipulation while Bo-Katan has grown from her mistakes and seeks not to lead but is called to it. Short of the Darksaber, which has slowly lost its meaning, Gideon now has everything Bo-Katan, Grogu and The Mandalorians desire. Has that put him in a good place or a very bad place? Place your bets and let's see what surprises are in store for the season finale!

According to an official still released by Disney, Ashton is playing Dar-Benn who is described as a "revolutionary" in the official synopsis for the film. As explained in 2021, Dar-Benn was a co-conspirator of Ael-Dan's when they deposed and murdered Clumsy Foulup, the Kree Emperor at the time. Neither Ael-Dan nor Dar-Benn's stories continued on for long as they were both killed by the Shi'ar warrior Deathbird.

And that’s where Ashton’s character comes into play. I heard that Ashton’s character, described by the trades as the villain ofThe Marvels, is loosely based on an incredibly minor Kree comic character named Ael-Dan, who has appeared and/or is referenced in a total of 3 comics. In those appearances, General Ael-Dan works in tandem with a General Dar-Benn to assassinate the sitting emperor and then take his place. Their great reign ended during Operation Galactic Storm when they were killed by Deathbird of the Shi’ar. Ashton’s character in The Marvels is a gender-swapped take on this character which means that for all intents and purposes, she’s playing an original character. I’ve heard the character described as both the Kree Emperor and a Kree general. In the comics, both are true and I can’t confirm if Ashton’s character will be one or the other or both in the film.

The release also confirms the addition of Instinct and I Hate Suzie actor Daniel Ings to the cast. Ings will be portraying a Kree by the name of Ty-Rone who seems to be an original character.

Following the release of the first trailer for The Marvels, Marvel Studios unveiled the first official synopsis for the Captain Marvel sequel.

In Marvel Studios’ “The Marvels,” Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel 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, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as “The Marvels.”

The Marvels hits theaters on November 10th.

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