“Your children aren’t real, you created them by magic.”

“That’s what every mother does.”

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms of the MCU, the wonderful moms in our Friends From Work community, and especially to my mom and my beautiful wife and mother to our three daughters. As anyone with young kids knows, mothers are the real superheroes! Celebrate them.

With Thunderbolts* officially in the rearview mirror, Kyle and Robby get a chance to catch their breath this week, before ramping up again for Ironheart and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. But that doesn’t mean the podcast is taking a break. Tomorrow, FFW+ listeners will get a highly anticipated Screensaver episode checking in on season 2 of The Last of Us. Then, on Thursday, Robby has an exclusive 90-minute interview with comics legend and the new writer of “The Amazing Spider-Man” Joe Kelly (more on him further down this newsletter). If you have not already, swing by your local comics shop and grab the first three issues to prepare for this week’s interview.

Let’s check in on the news you might have missed last week with a stop at…

THE WATERCOOLER

THIS WEEK IN THE MCU

• The latest issue of Empire magazine previewed Ironheart last week. According to star Dominique Thorne, she received the official Iron Man seal of approval. With the show now less than 45 days from premiering, a trailer should be imminent.

• As first speculated by Friends From Work here, and now confirmed by Deadline, Liza Colon-Zayas (The Bear) has been cast in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Revisit our initial report for speculation about who she might be playing in the movie.

• For the second week in a row, Thunderbolts* ruled at the box office, bringing in $34 million domestically (a 56% drop), and is now on pace to approach $450 million at the global box office during its theatrical run. On a conference call last week, Disney CEO Bob Iger told reporters how happy he was with the upcoming movie slate, and with the quality of Thunderbolts*.

• Deadline exclusively revealed that Marvel Studios’ top choice to direct their upcoming X-Men film is none other than Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier. Expected to be one of the first films in Phase 7 of the MCU (with a script from Michael Lesslie), the report states that Schreier met with the studio just last week about the job.

• Another exclusive report from Empire finally revealed the name of the person voicing H.E.R.B.I.E. in The Fantastic Four: First Steps- voice actor Matthew Wood (he also voiced General Grievous in the Star Wars franchise). For now, the identities of the characters played by John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Paul Walter Hauser remain a mystery.

• The Captain America: Brave New World 4K steelbook releases on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to watching this one again at home.

BEYOND THE MULTIVERSE

• DC Studios released the first trailer for Peacemaker season 2 last week, featuring some surprise appearances from characters that will first show up in this summer’s Superman. Peacemaker debuts in August.

TRUE BELIEVERS RUMOR OF THE WEEK

• There is a rumor circulating that Chris Hemsworth would like to return for a fifth Thor adventure, but Taika Waititi will not be returning to direct a third movie in the franchise. Current speculation is that Hemsworth would like to bring in Sam Hargrave who directed Hemsworth in the Extraction trilogy and previously worked as a stunt coordinator on several of the MCU’s biggest movies (including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.)

• After the Jake Schreier report linking him to X-Men, some additional casting rumors surrounding the film started to surface. According to a frequent Twitter scooper (Main Middle Man), Patrick Schwarzenegger (The White Lotus) is in the running to play Cyclops/Scott Summers. According to Hollywood insider Jeff Sneider, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss (Avatar: The Way of Water) is a possibility for Jubilee.

THE ORGANIC PRICED BOOKS PICK OF THE WEEK

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY OMNIBUS VOL. 1

And we're back! When the biggest Spider-Man movie of all time (No Way Home) chose to adapt one of the most controversial Spider-Man comics of all time (“One More Day”), I was surprised but delighted. Now it looks like they're taking it one step further, and I couldn't be happier.

“Brand New Day” is another polarizing period of Spidey's comic book history. It shouldn't be. Say what you will about Marvel's decision to rewrite twenty years of Spider-Man continuity in “One More Day”, but the comics that followed that reset were just plain great. With its "Spidey Braintrust" of writers -- Bob Gale, Marc Guggenheim, Joe Kelly, Mark Waid, and Zeb Wells -- and art talents like John Romita Jr. and Chris Bachalo, it's not hard to see why.

Designed as a jumping-on point for fans of Sam Raimi's trilogy, “Brand New Day” remains a great introduction to The Amazing Spider-Man. But it holds up just as well on repeat readings -- which is why I knew I'd be ordering this omnibus as soon as it came out. And that was before the next MCU Spidey movie title was announced. Add the fact that a certain member of that Spidey Braintrust will soon be appearing on Friends From Work, and you've got yourself the perfect time to pick this up.

RE

Thanks, Robby! That’s going to be a wrap for this week. Enjoy the upcoming pods and catch your breath, because even more fun stuff is coming very, very soon. Tell your friends about the podcast, join our Discord server, and follow us on your social media platform of choice.

-Greg