It's proving to be a bit of a slow news weekend ahead of what we're hoping will be an impactful Super Bowl tomorrow, but thanks to The Cosmic Circus' Alex Perez, we have some big MCU rumours to delve into today.
There's still a lot of uncertainty surrounding Spider-Man 4 and Perez now claims to be in the dark with regards to what Marvel Studios has planned for the movie. He previously seemed pretty confident about Venom and Knull making an appearance but only shares that he's not expecting The Punisher to show up, despite reports to the contrary.
However, with Spider-Man 4 set for release between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, he doesn't believe it will be an Ant-Man and The Wasp-type situation with movie's the story playing out before the events of the former. Remember, Tom Holland is set to be one of Doomsday's leads.
As for how the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home factor into the battle with Doctor Doom, Perez points out, "They’ve always been linked. If I had to divide the blame as to who is responsible for the current incursion 616 is about to face, 75% of it goes to Strange, with 60% being the events of [No Way Home]."
Addressing Holland's MCU future, it's said another Spider-Man trilogy is in the works along with three other planned appearances. The next Avengers movies account for two of them.
Over to the X-Men and Perez has heard Marvel Studios plans to "do new actors" when it comes to Earth-616's iteration of the mutant team. That means we're unlikely to see any familiar faces carry over from Earth-10005.
He also backs up claims about the Russo Brothers guiding the Mutant Saga and, asked about the X-Men's role in the next Avengers movies, teases: "[It's the] same actors with new iterations that look like the X-Men ‘97 counterparts. And also new characters in the fray as well."
Another big reveal comes with the claim that after returning in Doomsday and Secret Wars, Thor's next movie will see him share the screen with the Thor Corps, Hercules, and Ares, with Valhalla a likely destination for some of the action.
Here are more the highlights from this latest Q&A:
- Wong, America Chavez, and Nico Minoru will appear in Strange Academy
- Work is slowly continuing on the Scarlet Witch movie
- Ravonna Renslayer is still in The Void "along with some fun characters we have yet to meet"
- Marvel Television's Netflix characters will likely return in future seasons of Daredevil: Born Again
- Captain Britain could be coming to the MCU
- There's no word on Echo's future
We've also saved one of the most exciting teases for last. Asked how we'll see The Avengers utilised moving forward, Perez reveals, "Avengers vs the Annihilation Wave for starters. And also against the Celestials. It’s about to get cosmic... It starts with the Nova series and keeps expanding from there."
As always, let us know your thoughts on these rumours in the comments section below.