As hard as it is for some fans of the ABC series to accept, the signs continue to point to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. not being canon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As soon as Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige stopped reporting to Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, the crossovers were no more, and the show very much became its own thing.
During the final few years of its run, the team's adventures were primarily cosmic in nature, with the expectation that S.H.I.E.L.D. had, or would, become S.W.O.R.D.
That never happened, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. VFX Supervisor Mark Kolpack has now revealed that the characters in the show weren't allowed to mention S.W.O.R.D. There was even a mention of that organisation in the series finale that was scrapped, but this isn't the first time we've heard about Marvel Studios stopping the show from using certain characters.
For example, they were banned from using M.O.D.O.K. during the final couple of years.
There are a lot of fans who, after Friday's episode of WandaVision, are hoping Mack will show up in his Nick Fury jacket or that LMD Agent Coulson will be taken out of storage by Darcy Lewis, but it's impossible to imagine it ever happening. Instead, Phase 4 looks set to continue expanding on the movies.
Check out Kolpack's comments below:
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back at last week's biggest news stories!
A seemingly endless list of actors are rumoured to appear in Spider-Man 3, with both Willem Dafoe and Dane DeHaan reportedly set to suit up as their respective versions of Green Goblin.
We can cross one of them off the list, though, because The Amazing Spider-Man 2 star has now made it clear he won't be part of the threequel.
"There’s no truth to those rumours," he confirmed. "I don’t even know how that would be pulled off. And I have no idea what they’re doing with the Spider-Man movies now, but I don’t really understand a world in which that would be possible."
Hear more from the actor about possibly returning to the world of superheroes right here.
In recent weeks, we've seen a lot of Thor: Love and Thunder cast members arrive in Australia to start shooting the movie. The Guardians of the Galaxy (minus Gamora) are now Down Under, and Chris Hemsworth has now confirmed that cameras have started rolling on the Thor: Ragnarok sequel.
The God of Thunder actor shared some photos of himself alongside director Taika Waititi and indigenous Australian Gamay dancers of the Gadigal and Bidjigal nation.
You can check those out by clicking here.
Deadpool 3 is officially in the works for Marvel Studios, and the threequel promises to bring the Merc with the Mouth into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the movie was, of course, in the works at Fox once upon a time, and Ryan Reynolds has now shared some intel on what it was set to entail.
"[Before] Disney bought Fox, Deadpool 3 was gonna be a road trip between Deadpool and Logan," the actor confirmed on social media in a 100% serious post. "Rashomon style. For real."
We can't help but wish this happened, but more details can be found here.
7. The Sandman Cast
The Sandman cast was finally revealed this week, and British actor Tom Sturridge has been confirmed as Dream. He's not alone, though, as an incredible cast has been assembled for the Netflix series.
Game of Thrones alum Gwendoline Christie stars as Lucifer, Logan actor Boyd Holbrook plays sadistic escaped nightmare The Corinthian, Vivienne Acheampong (The Witches) is The Dreaming's loyal custodian Lucienne, Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) plays black magician Roderick Burgess, while Asim Chaudhry (Black Mirror) and Sanjeeve Bhaskar (Yesterday) are set as Abel and Cain, respectively.
Find more details on this casting news, and comments from Neil Gaiman, by clicking here.
This was easily one of the weirdest stories to hit CBM this week, but it sure received a lot of attention! Promoting WandaVision, star Paul Bettany revealed that Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon originally pushed for Vision to wield not just Mjolnir, but a penis in the Marvel Studios sequel.
"I know that Joss Whedon apparently really wanted the rendition of him, when Vision first is born, before he was clothed, he was like 'He’s gotta have a penis.' And everyone - Kevin and Louis, I mean everybody was like 'I don’t know, Joss. I mean, I’m not sure,'" Bettany recalled before echoing Whedon's words, saying "'He has to have a penis! I want to see some drawings of penises!'"
The actor went on to reveal why Whedon changed his mind, and you can find out more here.
The Fantastic Beasts movies have been more than a little divisive (mostly thanks to Johnny Depp's casting and screenwriter J.K. Rowling's Tweets), but Warner Bros. continues looking for ways to expand the Harry Potter franchise. This week, we learned that could come in the form of a TV series on HBO Max.
There's no word on plot details, and we have no clue about who or when would be the focus, but the potential here is obvious. A return to Hogwarts would make sense, but preferably not with any familiar characters. After all, if you've read The Cursed Child, you'll probably know a sequel isn't the best idea.
Find out more details on this one here.
4. New Look At Steppenwolf Revealed
Steppenwolf will have a completely different look in Zack Snyder's Justice League, and a much better shot of that was revealed earlier this week courtesy of some officially released t-shirts from DC.
As you'll see, Steppenwolf has gone from looking cartoonish to a total badass, and that axe of his looks quite a bit deadlier this time around. He's also surrounded by the Mother Boxes, so those devices will clearly remain a focal point of Snyder's version of the movie (which isn't really a major surprise).
Take a look at this new promo art by checking out the original post.
Talking of Zack Snyder's Justice League, we got some big news on Friday when the movie's release date on HBO Max was finally revealed. It's heading our way on March 18th, the day before The Falcon and The Winter Soldier arrives on Disney+ (so, it's going to be a pretty busy week).
With this came a trio of posters shared by Snyder, one of which was clearly inspired by the Death of Superman storyline. Weirdly, one even featured the "Snyder Cut" itself!
You can check out those posters by clicking here.
We're taking this one with a hefty pinch of salt, but rumour has it that Jon Bernthal is set to return as a rebooted version of Frank Castle/The Punisher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It makes sense that Marvel Studios would want to scrap the character's convoluted Netflix origin story, though it's hard to imagine The Punisher being used as more than a supporting player in another movie or TV show. After all, Frank has always struggled to make an impact on the big screen, and there's a lot the vigilante could bring to any number of Phase 4 projects.
Click here to take a look at the original report.
The first trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong landed last weekend, and it didn't disappoint. Clearly, the plan is to embrace the sillier, sci-fi elements of a crossover like this, something that's evident from a toy leak.
Going back to that sneak peek, though, and it's fair to say this is the blockbuster we've all been waiting for. It's a shame that most of us will have to watch it on the small screen, of course, but it should still be one heck of an experience. The big question, of course, is who will you be rooting for?
Take another look at the Godzilla vs. Kong trailer by clicking here.