Hello, friends, and welcome back to another edition of The Sunday Post. The MCU kicked off 18 years ago last month, but that wasn’t the only thing that began 18 years ago. Eighteen years ago to the day, I married the love of my life and it was the best decision I ever made. Happy Anniversary, Colleen!
Tonight I have some news out of SXSW London about Avengers: Doomsday, an update on season 2 of X-Men ‘97, and tickets are now on sale for Supergirl.
But first, a quick look at the summer ahead for Friends From Work. On the MCU front, July kicks off with a new 9-episode season of X-Men ‘97. The first four episodes will be available to critics for review tomorrow! Look for lots of coverage on the pod, and here in the newsletter. Spider-Man: Brand New Day won’t be far behind, and Kyle and Robby will have a “Saga So Far” pod, along with the usual instant reactions and deep dive after the movie comes out.
On the FFW+ side, this is a huge summer for Screensaver. Disclosure Day, Widow’s Bay, Toy Story 5, Supergirl, Silo season 3, and The Odyssey will all be featured on the pod. I will also have written reviews for several of these projects and maybe a few more.
So make sure you follow FFW on your social media platforms of choice, and stay subscribed to this newsletter for all the latest. I know I’ve said this before, but this would be a great time to give FFW+ a chance if you’ve been on the fence previously. It is a tremendous value.
Now, over to…
THE WATERCOOLER
THIS WEEK IN THE MCU
As I said up top, the first four episodes of X-Men ‘97 will be available to the press tomorrow. The embargo for both social reactions and reviews is next Saturday, June 13th, after those episodes debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. I will have a written review available that day. Kyle and Robby will share their social reactions on social media and Discord, and save their deeper thoughts for the pod when the episodes are released.
The Russo Brothers were at SXSW London last week for a panel discussion about their work across cinematic universes, as well as a special screening of Avengers: Infinity War. Robert Downey Jr. was a surprise guest at the movie screening, and all three offered some enlightening quotes about the most anticipated sequel of the year.
“That serial shifting and changing and surprising you and then reinventing itself and then shifting and changing and then surprising you — that’s exciting and I think you’re going to see some shifting and changing [with Doomsday]. So, get ready for it. Look, we were with Rob [Downey Jr.] earlier today. We were both talking about this concept that we are back to phase zero. This is starting over from scratch. We want to make sure everybody feels like this isn’t leaning on anything from the past.”
"What we've been laboring long and hard over… we can't beat it – we can't stand on the shoulders of these giants of Infinity War and Endgame. So we're literally zeroing out the board and we're going to try to earn your trust and respect all over again. With the likes of [directors Joe and Anthony Russo], I think we've got a pretty good shot."
“[Stephen McFeely] came up with this creative idea that reignited [the project], and I can’t talk about that creative idea, because it’s the basis for Doomsday, but that [idea] all of a sudden broke the skies open for us, and we saw all new kinds of possibilities with that idea.”
Tom Holland was a guest last week on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast and during the course of their conversation, Holland revealed that “Justin” wrote the final draft of the script. It appears that he was referring to Justin Kuritzkes, who previously wrote Challengers starring Zendaya.
Paul Rudd was profiled in The Hollywood Reporter last week, where Kevin Feige revealed that Rudd plays “more of an elder statesman now, dealing with other newer characters” in Avengers: Doomsday.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was featured last week at Variety, where he discussed the upcoming second season of Wonder Man. “Simon’s a star. I want to put Simon in ‘Independence Day.’ That’s what I’m excited to do.” Creator Destin Daniel Cretton revealed that the writer’s room is already hard at work crafting the second season. “We love these characters. We’re not planning to suddenly turn this into a completely different show.”
BEYOND THE MULTIVERSE
Tickets are now on sale for Supergirl, the first DCU movie since last year’s hit Superman. Early presales are strong, and box office tracking currently predicts an opening weekend haul of $57-77 million domestically. Be sure to check out The Sons of Gunn podcast for their thoughts on Supergirl and more. The Sons of Gunn is part of the Friends From Work Podcast Network.
TRUE BELIEVERS RUMOR OF THE WEEK
Alas, there was no new trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day last week. However, there are going to be early screenings on July 29th (two days early) in select theaters for Amazon Prime members. As for the trailer, the latest rumor suggests it will be released on June 17th, coinciding with tickets going on-sale.
No PBC pick this week, so that’s all from me tonight. Please come join our discussions on Discord while waiting for more news, trailers and content from Marvel Studios. There is never a shortage of topics to discuss there.
Have a great week and thanks for reading,
-Greg
