Hello, friends, and welcome back to The Sunday Post. I just returned home from 10 days at the beach, in time to update you on the massive success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, an exciting X-Men update, and a few less flattering news items from Marvel Studios.
But first, some important podcast updates. Kyle and Robby were everywhere last week. It started with a special free Screensaver episode covering The Odyssey, continued with a bonus FFW+ Comics Corner episode featuring yours truly and Tanner Burge, and ended with their initial reactions to Spider-Man: Brand New Day (video above).
This week, Robby sits down once again with acclaimed comics writer Chip Zdarsky. Chip is currently writing the ongoing “Captain America” series, along with Marvel’s huge crossover event “Armageddon”, which will lead into Chip taking over the primary “Avengers” book in November. FFW+ members can submit questions through our Discord server for a chance to have them answered by Chip. And the guys will be back one more time to reflect on Spider-Man: Brand New Day and its amazing first week in theaters.
For more on that, over to…
THE WATERCOOLER
THIS WEEK IN THE MCU
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swung into theaters last week, backed by a 90% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 98% audience score. As of this writing, the movie is expected to bring in $355 million at the domestic box office (just $2 million shy of the all-time record set by Avengers: Endgame) and over $925 million worldwide. Those numbers are spectacular, and it would not be a surprise when the final numbers are tallied if it ends up breaking the domestic record set by Endgame. Combined with The Odyssey, it was the single highest grossing weekend in North America ever. Movie theaters are back, baby!
On the heels of Spider-Man returning to theaters, Deadline confirmed the first (?) official casting announcement for Jake Schreier’s X-Men movie- Samara Weaving (whose uncle Hugo portrayed the Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger) will play the role of Emma Frost. Obsession star Inde Navarrette also confirmed to Variety that she met with Schreier about a role, and is hoping to play Mystique. With Disney’s D23 less than two weeks away, could a full cast announcement happen at the event?
In more depressing news, Wonder Man was unexpectedly canceled by Disney and Marvel Studios last week, according to Variety and later confirmed by the actors and creators behind the show. The second season was just greenlit in March, and it is incredibly disappointing to learn that the show will not return after all, especially after star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was nominated for an Emmy for his performance. Combined with the news a few weeks ago that Nova is now being developed as a movie, and that there are no live-action shows currently in production, it is hard not to wonder if Marvel Studios is shifting away from releasing content on Disney+ altogether. This is another thing I will be keeping an eye on at D23 in twelve days. Will Kevin Feige announce any new shows?
Compounding the bad news, Mahershala Ali finally spoke out about his infamous Blade project, announced in 2019 and now officially dead at Marvel Studios. Ali laid the blame at the feet of the studio, and it is an admittedly bad look that Feige and his team couldn’t figure out a way to make things work with the two-time Academy Award winner.
So, I'm good. [Laughs.] Again, you had me under contract, they have billions of dollars, if they wanted to do the movie, we would've done the movie. So we're not doing the movie. When I look at this and Blade, I couldn't have done both, and the reason this even exists is because that project fell apart and Bassam had the time, space, energy, and focus to go and write this and then re-approach me. And I was able to use those skills that I had been working on for over a year training for Blade. In that way, I feel creatively redeemed on some level, just in my own journey between me, myself, and I. But I feel ready to move on from the Blade questions. Those questions are for them. They didn't want to do it, so they should answer that question.
BEYOND THE MULTIVERSE
No Blade. No Wonder Man season 2. No Booster Gold? Writer David Jenkins (Our Flag Means Death) said on Friday that his treatment for the show was canceled by DC and HBO. It is possible the series will move forward with another creative team, but it is hard to categorize this as anything other than a setback for a show that has been in development for three years now. Be sure to check out The Sons of Gunn podcast on The Friends From Work Podcast Network to get Matt and Jaylen’s thoughts, as well!
TRUE BELIEVERS RUMOR OF THE WEEK
For the next two weeks, nearly every rumor you hear is going to be connected to possible X-Men castings. There are several names that I could put in this space, related to Professor X, Magneto, Rogue, Cyclops, and more. But instead, I’ll mention something that came up on Jeff Sneider’s YouTube show (and was first mentioned by me several weeks ago)- that Ryan Coogler will be involved in the casting of Storm because that character will appear in Black Panther III on December 15th, 2028.
PANEL BOUND COMICS PICK OF THE WEEK
SPIDER-MAN BY CHIP ZDARSKY OMNIBUS
With Chip returning to the podcast this week, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day captivating audiences worldwide, it seems like a good time to recommend Chip’s Spider-Man omnibus, which has a fresh printing coming out on September 15th. It is available for pre-order now through our good friends and partners at Panel Bound Comics, and my recommendation is that you act fast to add this to your collection. These collections tend to sell out quickly. Use code “FRIENDSFROMWORK” to receive an additional discount off your purchase.
That’s it for tonight. I hope everyone enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day! Thank you to everyone for supporting the podcast by listening, watching, and reading here. Consider signing up for FFW+ on Patreon, where for a limited time you can get a slick new FFW t-shirt for free with an annual subscription. The next five months are going to be crazy, and it will be worth your investment!
Have a great week,
-Greg
