Marvel just experienced perhaps the biggest leak in its 16-year history. A confirmed concept artist for Marvel Studios inadvertently shared exclusive art from the most anticipated films of the MCU’s slate, namely The Fantastic Four: The First Steps, Avengers: Secret Wars, and more. 5t221b

Artist Mushk Rizvi shared the leak on their official website, sparking immediate conversation online among eagle-eyed Marvel fans. The art was swiftly taken down from Rizvi’s site. Or more accurately, Rizvi’s entire website went dark, as did every one of their social media s, including Instagram, Facebook, and X. One can only assume the Marvel execs, namely Kevin Feige, popped a blood vessel when news of the leak reached their desks.

The MCU has endured a rough couple of years since the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame. The long-running storytelling machine has ran face first into numerous critical and box office hit-or-misses throughout Phases Four and Five, leading fans to question how much gas the studio has left in the tank. In response, the studio has pulled back, throwing up metaphorical “under construction” signs. But somehow, we just got a glimpse through the cracks. If even half of this leaked concept art comes to life, the MCU might just be entering another golden age.

Note: This leak is huge and is a major spoiler for the conclusion of Marvel’s Multiverse Saga. To maintain the theatrical integrity of the films, WGTC has chosen not to embed the links into this article. Instead, we have linked out to them, allowing readers to choose whether they wish to see them or not.

The most detailed leak of the bunch come from what appears to be Avengers: Doomsday, at least according to initial reports; trusted insider My Time To Shine has said the art is actually from Avengers: Secret Wars. The standout image shows Doctor Doom seated on a throne, clad in white armor reminiscent of the Secret Wars (2015) comic run. It looks like Doom rules over a universe of his own making — presumably Battleworld. At first blush, Reed Richards appears absent and all we see is a woman who could be Sue Storm standing beside Doom with, presumably, Franklin by her side. Another woman with a blonde braid down her back holds a thick chain wrapped around the neck (or hands) of a man kneeling at Doom’s throne. That woman shares a resemblance to Yelena Belova, and the chained man may or may not be Reed Richards. If it’s not Reed, it could suggest he is stranded elsewhere, trying to reunite with his family in Battleworld. The image also reveals Doctor Strange’s unmistakable silhouette, which might explain why Benedict Cumberbatch previously stated he won’t appear in Doomsday but will return for Secret Wars.

Another long-speculated decision seems to be confirmed: the introduction of a new Black Panther. The leak all but guarantees a recasting of the role, originally embodied by the late Chadwick Boseman. Given the film’s shifting timelines, Marvel could introduce an older Black Panther, possibly played by Denzel Washington. Those long held rumors could finally be coming true.

Some concept art introduces entirely original MCU ideas that are not rooted in any comic run, making predictions rather difficult. One such image shows Star-Lord sitting on a couch next to White Vision. Another depicts a medieval planet ruled by Hulks, of which we see Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner-Hulk front and center talking to someone who may or may not be Hulk’s son, Skaar. Another image reveals Star-Lord and Wong in a Guardians of the Galaxy-esque bar surrounded by of the Young Avengers team, of which includes Kate Bishop, Stature aka Cassie Lang, Tommy Maximoff aka Speed, Billy Maximoff/Kaplan aka Wiccan, and Ms. Marvel. The direction of these stories remains unclear, but they hint at major shake-ups.

How will all of this unfold in the final films? We don’t truly know. As Sean Baker said in his Oscar speech for Anora, we’ll just have to head to the theaters and find out.

I know, we’ve been hearing about supposed movement on the Young Avengers front since approximately *looks at watch* 2019, but as 2025 kicks into gear we might actually be getting somewhere at long last. Marvel has been taking its sweet, sweet time in bringing the next-gen heroes of the MCU together, with the Multiverse Saga so far sowing the seeds for the team’s arrival at the pace of a Celestial’s gestation (What? Does nobody Eternals?).

It’s gotten to the point that the next Avengers movie — which we all thought the Young Avengers project was supposed to act as a precursor for — is entering production before the gang of superpowered young adults has even been officially announced. With any luck, though, more concrete news will be forthcoming now that it seems the project has finally locked in its core ensemble cast. But there’s one thing about the project that fans might not be expecting.

Marvel’s Young Avengers Champions’ roster might have been revealed 6d3x5w

According to the latest word on the street (as originated from frequently cited insider, Daniel Richtman), the heroes who will make up Marvel’s Champions have been unveiled. Yes, Champions, not Young Avengers. It seems the studio has dragged its feet so much in bringing them together that the term Young Avengers isn’t even accurate anymore. We wonder if the fact that Hailee Steinfeld recently became older than Scarlett Johansson was in The Avengers has something to do with that.

As for the reported Champions line-up, the team roster supposedly includes Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel), the aforementioned Ms. Steinfeld (Kate Bishop), Kathryn Newton (Cassie Lang), Joe Locke (Wiccan), Dominique Thorne (Ironheart), and Xochitl Gomez (America Chavez).

All in all, this is pretty much the ensemble fans have been expecting, as other potential recruits such as She-Hulk‘s Skarr, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s Eli Bradley, and Loki‘s Kid Loki sadly seem to have vanished from the face of the MCU. What’s interesting about this roster, however, is that it inverts the gender disparity of the OG Avengers. In that case, Black Widow was the only woman surrounded by five guys. Now Billy is the only guy in a mostly female team.

In Marvel Comics lore, the Champions are an alternate teen-oriented super-group from the Young Avengers, of which Ms. Marvel is a member (alongside various MCU no-shows like Amadeus Cho, Miles Morales, and Moon Girl). Given Kamala’s central role in this team, having started her own “Kid Avengers” initiative in The Marvels, it probably makes sense to go with the Champions. Besides, for those unfamiliar with the source material, Young Avengers may well have sounded a little too Muppet Babies.

With Ironheart finally premiering on Disney Plus this June 24, it seems likely that we can expect the Champions to recruit themselves a new member as soon as this summer. We’re still not entirely sure what form the project will take, but it seems like Young Avengers Champions will itself be a streaming series and not a movie.

If you’ve been missing a certain beloved Marvel character, easily one of the most popular and important characters to arrive on the scene since 2020, then you might just be in luck…

Very soon, we’ll be able to say that Avengers: Doomsday — the beginning of the end for the Multiverse Saga — is coming next year, and we still don’t really know what this era of the MCU is driving toward. Just take a look at the three cast either confirmed or reliably reported to be in it so far: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Hayley Atwell. All are legacy Infinity Saga stars. So which newbies of Phases Four and Five are destined to stick around in a big way? At least we now know one of them.

Ms. Marvel confirmed to be “a big part of the MCU” despite The Marvels’ misfire 39375s

Good news, everyone! The Marvels‘ box office implosion of November 2023 might not have been quite as destructive as we feared. The lowest-grossing film in the MCU’s history memorably ended with Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan recruiting Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop into her “Kid Avengers” initiative, but since then we’ve heard nothing more on this front. Thankfully, it sounds like Ms. Marvel will be back before long, and in a big way.

Brad Winderbaum, Marvel’s head of television and animation, was asked by The Hollywood Reporter what’s next for Vellani following her guest voice appearance in What If…? season 3. Winderbaum was as cagey as you’d expect from someone personally trained by Kevin Feige, but he did promise that the New Jersey-based junior heroine is “really important” to Marvel’s plans going forward.

“I love Iman. She’s incredible,” Winderbaum teased. “I love that character. I will tell you that she’s certainly a big part of the MCU to me. Ms. Marvel is a really important show to us, and without going into great detail, because I don’t want to spoil anything, she is top of mind. So it’s going to be exciting to see where she pops up next.”

Well, ideally where Kamala popped up next would be a Young Avengers project, but considering the studio is taking its sweet, sweet time in getting that one off the ground — Steinfeld is already aging out of the job description — we might have to take what we can get. Captain Marvel 3 is an obvious choice, but honestly we’re even less sure what’s next for Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers than we are her biggest fangirl. In that way, you could argue Ms. Marvel is the biggest success story of the many next-gen heroes of the Multiverse Saga as she’s already more entrenched in the franchise than her precursor. Some, like Ironheart, Stature, and Wiccan, have yet to be given enough of a chance to prove their worth. Others, like Eros, Hercules, and Skarr, have seemingly vanished from the face of the Sacred Timeline.

At least we’ve got Vellani back as Kamala for an episode of What If…?‘s third and final season, premiering this Dec. 22 and dropping daily thereafter.

It probably says a lot about the wayward priorities of Marvel‘s Multiverse Saga that we’ve gotten official confirmation that Robert Downey Jr. is coming back to the MCU — in the very next Avengers movie after the one that killed him off — before we’ve gotten an actual confirmation that a Young Avengers project is happening. You know, the team of next-gen heroes who were supposed to lead the franchise into the future?

Marvel has been dragging its feet something chronic in bringing Earth’s Mightiest Post-Adolescent Avengers to life, despite the fans having been hyped for it ever since Cassie Lang was aged up in 2019’s Endgame. The past five years have oh-so-slowly brought more and more of the popular comic book group into the MCU, and things certainly feel like they’re heating up… And yet we’ve just had another year go by without any whiff of a Young Avengers announcement.

This December marks a mind-altering development, however, which should really serve as Marvel’s final warning to get a move on: one of its Young Avengers is now officially older than one of its actual Avengers.

Hailee Steinfeld is older than Scarlett Johansson was when she starred in The Avengers 2h263n

Happy birthday, Hailee Steinfeld! The multi-talented actress and singer turned 28 years old on Dec. 11, 2024 — a fact that may make many feel old, considering she broke into the business at the age of 13 in True Grit, a movie that doesn’t feel 15 years old. In the context of her MCU career, though, Steinfeld rapidly approaching 30 is even more existentially alarming, serving as a damning indictment on how long Marvel’s assembly of the Young Avengers is taking.

The thing is, Steinfeld is now older than Scarlett Johansson was when The Avengers came out. The Black Widow star was actually 26 when she shot the 2012 blockbuster that changed the face of film franchises forever, but she had turned 27 by the time it released. So, whatever happens now, no matter how quickly Marvel makes its Young Avengers project a reality, at least one of its cast — perhaps its biggest star, too — will actually be more advanced in age than a founding Avenger was last decade.

It’s still unclear who will be on the team and who won’t, as numerous potential recruits have popped up since 2021 and been swiftly forgotten (it it, who has thought about Hulk’s son Skarr since 2022?). However, The Marvels told us that Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan and Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop are core . And a recent Disneyworld ride suggested Ironheart (Dominique Thorne) and Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) are in the mix, too. Add in Joe Locke’s Wiccan and then we’re talking.

Honestly, we’re singling Steinfeld out here, but Newton and Thorne also turned 27 this year so the majority of the Young Avengers may well be in their 30s by the time the world gets around to seeing them suit up. At this point, we’ll need a Young Young Avengers to balance out the Old Young Avengers. Never mind Downey’s Old Old Avengers that threaten to reassemble.

We can scarcely believe our eyes, but we have seen the Young Avengers together in an official Marvel production. Well, kinda. Ever since Avengers: Endgame, the stage has been set for the Young Avengers to assemble, and yet coming up to six years later we’re still waiting on the next generation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to form a team of remarkable young people. The wait may just be over, though, thanks to an unlikely source.

A year ago, The Marvels ended with Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan recruiting Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) into her new “Kid Avengers” initiative, and now three more have teamed up…. Uh, off-screen, at least. In a new video played at the Worlds of Marvel restaurant on the Disney Treasure Cruise, none other than America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), and Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) are shown hanging out.

In a parody of The Avengers’ shawarma scene, the narrator explains that the trio are “celebrating their latest victory” while hanging out at an eatery. “So, who’s up for shuffleboard">Vision Quest. Maybe, once Billy has tracked down Tommy, Kamala will drop by and do her best Nick Fury impression again.

If this is the MCU’s Young Avengers, it’s certainly missing a few key players, both from the comics and those already teased in the franchise itself. Eli Bradley’s Patriot (Elijah Richardson), who we met in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, springs to mind. And then there’s Iron Lad, although his connections to Kang the Conqueror may count against him post-Doctor Doom takeover. Whatever happens, though, the team’s name is still a misnomer. Your periodic reminder that Hailee Steinfeld is now 27, the same age Scarlett Johansson was when she made The Avengers.

In a bid to revive the one-legged Marvel Cinematic Universe, it looks like Marvel Studios is pulling out all the stops with the Young Avengers. And this time, the MCU might be drawing in an A-lister who’s previously shown little interest in superhero stardom. 

Jason Statham is equal parts rugged and charming, but can the action hero find his footing in a superhero blockbuster? (After all, we saw how that worked out for Dwayne Johnson). Nonetheless, the British star, known for his roles in The Italian Job, Transporter, The Beekeeper, and many more high-octane flicks, is now at the center of an unexpected MCU casting rumor. 

Is Statham making his MCU debut? 1n5u4a

According to rumors from an Instagram fan outlet, supercons_official, Statham could be prepping for a slightly unexpected detour– a role in the Marvel Universe’s Young Avengers project. And if the rumors are to be believed, he’ll be bringing the heat as Genis-Vell, a lesser-known but highly compelling character from Marvel’s vast roster. This speculation comes after a couple of actors’ names have been reported to feature in the next phase of the Marvel Universe, with Statham’s now being one of the most exciting and unexpected contenders.

If he is indeed cast in Young Avengers, Statham will Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, Iman Vellani as the high-energy Ms. Marvel, and Joe Locke’s Wiccan, who recently debuted in Agatha All Along. Statham is well known for his intense action chops, and could be exactly the unexpected addition to turn up the heat. And while it’s far too early to predict how Genis-Vell will fit into the Young Avengers lineup, one thing’s for sure, and that is Statham knows how to bring both gravitas and gritty cool to any role he tackles.

But first, who exactly is Genis-Vell, and how does Jason Statham fit in all this? 1i2m1e

If you haven’t heard of Genis-Vell, you’re not alone. He’s one of Marvel’s more obscure characters, but that doesn’t make him any less interesting. Genis-Vell is the genetically engineered son of Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel, making him part Kree, an alien race known for their superhuman abilities and distinctive blue skin. Gifted with cosmic awareness, Genis-Vell possesses incredible powers, including energy projection, superhuman strength, and, sometimes, a slightly rebellious streak that aligns perfectly with Statham’s on-screen persona. His first appearance was in the comic series, Silver Surfer Vol 3 in 1993, and a couple of other comic books across the late 90’s including his comic book series. 

Where exactly Statham would get to play this rumored role, and when, remains a mystery. However, we could speculate that if he’s indeed suiting up for Marvel, his character may first appear in Thunderbolts, scheduled for release in May 2025. This film, known for featuring anti-heroes and morally complex characters, could offer a fittingly gritty introduction for Genis-Vell before he potentially steps into the more polished realm of the Young Avengers.

However, given Marvel’s love for surprise reveals, an end-credit cameo seems the most likely way to ease Statham’s Genis-Vellinto the MCU, potentially paving the way for future roles as an antagonist, protagonist, or maybe a key ing character. This approach would give the audience a taste of what to expect, setting the stage for Genis-Vell’s larger impact across multiple Marvel storylines. Notably, Genis-Vell’s last comic book appearance was also tied to the Thunderbolts, adding fuel to the speculation that Thunderbolts could be his first step into the MCU’s next chapter.

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It’s impressive whenever any entry in the MCU is able to display its own personality and identity, as most of the time a Marvel Studios production’s primary purpose is to blend in rather than stand out from the pack. As a follow-up to WandaVision, one of the Multiverse Saga’s most unique offerings, Agatha All Along certainly managed this. That said, it sounds like its disconnectedness from the wider Marvel world wasn’t entirely be choice.

Now we’ve consumed all nine episodes, we can see how Agatha ties into the bigger universe — most notably in introducing Joe Locke’s Wiccan and, potentially, in dropping Aubrey Plaza’s Death into the mythology — but there were also many obvious avenues for the show to explore that it just never went down. There was no Scarlet Witch. No Tommy aka Speed. And not even any Hulkling, aka Teddy Altman, Wiccan’s love interest from the comics.

If the show’s team had their way, though, Hulkling would’ve already smashed his way into the MCU.

“There were early conversations’: Agatha All Along almost included Hulkling, until Marvel forbade it 6h6057

In Agatha All Along, Billy does indeed have a boyfriend, but it’s not Teddy… It’s Eddie. As played by Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Eddie seems to be a non-superpowered, but very ive, love interest for the son of the Scarlet Witch, yet his name hints at some kind of connection to Hulkling. As it happens, the familiarity of his name is just a vestige of a plotline that was never allowed to be (witch)crafted.

When asked about whether Hulkling was ever on the table, EP Jac Schaeffer confirmed that she and her team did originally want Teddy in the mix, but a “Marvel decision” meant Hulkling was off-limits. As for whether Eddie could be revealed to be the character at a later date, all Schaeffer could stress is that the writers never considered them to be one and the same while making this series.

“There were early conversations [about Hulkling],” Schaeffer stated. “[Eddie] was originally called Teddy because we were looking at the artwork and thinking about that. That was a Marvel decision to not have him be Hulkling for the purposes of our show. Within our show, he is not Hulkling.”

While popular with the fandom on the whole, Agatha‘s finale did leave something of a sour taste in audience’s mouths as it felt more like an open door than a finished book — a set-up for further movies and shows to come. Going by this comment, and others she’s made elsewhere, it’s clear this fault doesn’t necessarily rest with Schaeffer and the writers. With Marvel snatching key characters and plotlines from their hands, to be saved for some nebulous future, it’s impressive that Agatha was as enjoyable and satisfying as it was.

Marvel’s in a tricky place now, as Gutirrez-Riley’s Eddie was actually a highly likeable character, and we don’t necessarily want to lose him. And yet Hulkling is far too important to Billy’s narrative and that of the Young Avengers to erase. Maybe if Marvel had given us an inkling of Hulkling in Agatha, we wouldn’t be facing this quantum quandary.

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By far one of the most exciting prospects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s future is the team-up of the Young Avengers franchise after a years-long set up. Still, there’s one major problem with the way the squad has been portrayed so far — at least according to fans online.

When you think about it, the future of the Young Avengers we have met so far — Kamala, Riri, Kate, Teen (it should be no spoiler by now that he’ll most likely be revealed to be the Scarlet Witch’s son Billy aka Wiccan), America, and Cassie — all have variations of the same personality. They all fit the excited, snarky teen sidekick model that has been around since the dawn of television and film. Some might also chalk it up to how a writers’ room of millennials and Gen X’ers think a Gen Z teenager is supposed to speak and act, with little nuance.

However likable all of these characters are — and they easy to like, with their fangirl/boy approach to the superhero/magic world they inhabit closly mirroring the way longtime MCU viewers feel towards the franchise — they are also repetitive.

“The problem here is that they are all written exactly the same,” responded one fan to a video edit of all the future Young Avengers in their respective movies and shows. Others are more concerned about how, by the time these gifted teens get together, their ages will be so advanced that the personalities with which they were introduced will no longer make sense, and nor will the “Young” half of “Young Avengers.”

In opposition, the Avengers team we met in 2012, and all the movies leading up to that, had markedly contrasting identities and world views — it’s what made their coming together so ripe with possibility and conflict. A Norse god meets an earthly millionaire meets a 1940s soldier meets a rehabilitated Russian assassin meets a nervous lab rat is hardly comparable to how Marvel has established the new generation of heroes so far.

Readers might recall that the Young Avengers were teased at the end of 2023’s The Marvels when Kamala/Ms. Marvel approached Kate/Hawkeye to form a team of equally gifted young superheroes. Marvel fans have anticipated this for a long time, but with the way the future live-action schedule is laid out, it does feel like a Young Avengers film or show isn’t exactly at the top of the studio’s priorities.

Despite the debut of a significant number of squad over the past few years, including those named above but also Eli Bradley/Patriot, Kid Loki, and Billy’s brother, Tommy/Speed, Disney hasn’t officially announced a Young Avengers production, though there are currently four untitled Marvel films in the Mouse House’s release slate.

Equally disappointing is the lack of time we’ve gotten to spend with each of these characters apart from Kamala, Kate, and now Teen. Plans also include a stand-alone outing for Riri in Ironheart, which is expected to come out in 2025. With how long we’ve waited for these characters to meet, it’s frustrating that the build-up has been both so slow and so monotonous. Let’s hope that changes soon.

Allow me to set a scene for you. The year is 2024, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is quite blatantly building towards a Young Avengers project, and their latest release, Deadpool & Wolverine, is dominating the box office, featuring an actor whose superhero track record as pristine as you can ask from someone of their young age. I speak, of course, of Dafne Keen, who recently went on record to proclaim that she’d play X-23 for the rest of her life, which we, as it happens, would be all too happy to watch for the rest of our lives.

Speaking recently in an interview with Empire Magazine, the actress voiced her unfettered dedication to a never-ending supply of X-23, should the MCU take that route, and it didn’t take long for X to whip out the only Deadpool & Wolverine gag that such news could ever be met with.

Say what you will about how underutilized she was in Deadpool & Wolverine (a film that, as a whole, left a lot of storytelling to be desired), but Keen’s acclimation to playing an MCU mainstay character would be an exciting development. Her main role in the near-spotless Logan laid the foundational pillar for her Deadpool & Wolverine cameo, and the idea of Keen playing X-23 as the stoic, straight-man archetype to the franchise’s younger, cheekier heroes, would deepen the tone of this heavily-hinted Young Avengers project, and benefit the MCU as a whole.

For the moment, we can safely bet on Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop, Cassie Lang, and possibly America Chavez to comprise the MCU’s Young Avengers roster, with Agatha All Along likely to set up Wiccan (sorry, “Teen”) and Hulkling (sorry, “Teen”‘s boyfriend), and Captain America: Brave New World possibly setting up Patriot (aka Eli Bradley, who we caught a glimpse of back in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier).

It’s true that X-23 hasn’t technically been a member of the Young Avengers in the comics, but the MCU is no stranger to building its own sector of Marvel mythology, and if all of the above characters turn out to be a part of this enterprise, X-23 would spice up the dynamics immaculately. How might she relate to Ms. Marvel and Wiccan, the two other mutants of the group, when the contrast of her personality is ed for? How might she both accommodate and challenge Patriot—who seems to boast a similarly stoic demeanor—and vice versa? And if X-23 ends up linking the team to the X-Men the way that America Chavez links them to Kamar-Taj and the wider multiverse, how might the two differ as liaison-types? You know what to do, Feige.

Do we have a new record? It seems the honeymoon period for Marvel’s newly announced event movie, Avengers: Doomsday, is already over after just one week since its announcement. You can thank some alleged plot details for the junked The Kang Dynasty for this one. Said plot details are convincing fans that maybe things were actually better before Robert Downey Jr. returned to play Doctor Doom, as his presence may just have a major negative effect that everyone, in their excitement, overlooked…

“We were robbed’: Avengers 5 rumored plot details have fans furious at Downey’s Doom for ruining the fun 5y294e

In the wake of The Kang Dynasty‘s demise, a rumored plot synopsis is circling social media… and it’s basically the stuff Marvel dreams are made of. As shared by scooper MyTimeToShineHello, the original vision for Avengers 5 supposedly would’ve seen the TVA recruit various Anchor Beings from across the multiverse to combat the Council of Kangs. This would’ve included Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider (!), and all three Spider-Men. So why can’t this still happen, just with Doom instead of Kang? There’s a very good chance that Downey’s $80 million earnings for this one may mean that the casting budget has been seriously slashed. Get ready for an Avengers team consisting of Madisynn, Jimmy Woo, and Howard the Duck. Actually, I would totally watch that.

After delivering Marvel’s biggest box office success for years, you can bet the studio will be keen to keep Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy around. Sure enough, the filmmaker is teasing that more collaborations are coming. “I’m very confident Marvel and I aren’t done with each other,” he teased to Variety. So what could Levy’s next MCU movie be? According to DanielRPK, one project Levy is reportedly in the running to direct is, believe it or not, the Young Avengers film. This one has been discussed for so long now that it’s almost mythical. Could Levy be the one to make it before Hailee Steinfeld turns 30?

Henry Cavill didn’t hesitate to sign up for his Wolverine cameo — or to shave his mustache 1o237

It’s a tough contest, but Henry Cavill’s appearance as a Wolverine variant — aka the Cavillerine — is one of the most surprising and fan-pleasing cameos in Deadpool 3. Unsurprisingly, for the king of cameos himself, the Superman star immediately agreed to the film when asked. “He said ‘yes’ right away because he knew it would be subversive and playful,” Levy confirmed to Variety. Cavill, for his part, has finally announced his cameo on Instagram, making a hilarious Justice League joke in the process. “To be safe, I shaved the moustache off for this one,” Cavill quipped. “Just the moustache.” Keep it off, Henry, Marvel did promise they’d treat you better than those jerks down the street. Maybe they’ll invite him back for Doomsday — if they can afford him.

Some things just make sense and Kit Connor playing the Hulkling to Joe Locke’s Wiccan is one of them.

Yes, we know. Not only has Locke’s Agatha All Along character not yet been 100% confirmed to be Wiccan aka Billy Kaplan aka Scarlet Witch’s son, but Connor has also not been officially cast in any Marvel role, much less Hulkling aka Teddy Altman.

However, recent rumors from scoopers MyTimeToShineHello and Alex P. point toward a possible future reality that we have long been championing here at WGTC — Marvel is allegedly considering Connor for the Young Avenger character. While we’re not exactly surprised, since there has never been a more obvious choice for a role ever, we’re still excited to hear this chatter and desperately rooting for it to materialize via an official casting announcement soon-ish.

We doubt Marvel and Kevin Feige would ever confirm this news before Agatha All Along finally rolls around this September. Yes, the Young Avengers era of the MCU is officially upon us after the events of The Marvels, but the studio is still adamant about keeping the identity of Locke’s character in the WandaVision spin-off series a secret for as long as possible, currently referring to him as “goth teen” in every promotional material hitherto released. So, considering Locke and Connor play fictional boyfriends in the treasured Netflix LGBTQ+ teen show Heartsopper, the latter’s addition to the MCU fold would basically give away the whole shebang.

Even without a formal verification in sight, we shall still allow ourselves to become cautiously optimistic about this prospect. Fans of the Young Avengers comics know how important and iconic Billy and Teddy’s relationship is, so it must be done justice whenever Marvel finally decides to bring it to the live-action world.

Locke and Connor seem almost tailor-made for the job. They’re both promising young actors who have proven on-screen chemistry and an adorable off-screen friendship, and, as the hand of fate would have it, they also look incredibly similar to the two comic book characters. Come on, Marvel, this is a no-brainer!

First, the essentials; there’s a rumor going around that two major Marvel Studios films, Young Avengers and Midnight Sons, are due to release in 2027, and will start filming next year on top of it all. This rumor has not been confirmed in any way, shape, form, or fashion, and frankly should not be taken with any salt whatsoever.

But let’s pretend for a second that the MCU was in fact gearing up for four major ensemble films from the middle of 2026 to the end of 2027 (Avengers 5 is due out on May 1, 2026, while Avengers: Secret Wars hits theaters on May 7, 2027). That, ladies and gentlemen, is a Michelin-worthy recipe for falling flat on your face. This obsession with setup and scope is precisely what’s been dumpstering the Multiverse Saga as of late, and especially given the state that Blade is in, beginning production on Midnight Sons is categorically unthinkable.

In fact, at this rate, ensemble films are the last thing Marvel should be thinking about right now.

Avengers only worked because everything else did 73705x

As we’ve pointed out in the past, Marvel’s worst enemy post-Endgame has been a lack of proper momentum; recent projects have cared more about the next big team-up event than they do about themselves, and we viewers are physiologically unable to care about something that we don’t know anything about. Thus, there’s nothing really there for us audiences to meaningfully buy into (which will hopefully change with Deadpool & Wolverine and The Fantastic Four, but we’ll believe that when we see it).

This was not a problem during the saga that Iron Man kicked off. Earlier MCU films made entire trilogies centered around individual characters, and each entry was entirely in service to itself and the story that it was telling about its protagonist; from 2008 to roughly 2011, an ensemble event film like 2012’s Avengers wasn’t anyone’s priority whatsoever. This mentality continued with the Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man films, the first two Ant-Mans, and the pre-Endgame Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther films; these were stories first and stepping stones second (and it wasn’t a close second, either), and we could subsequently buy into the Avengers-level stakes because those previous stories resonated with us.

But now, these films and television shows are stepping stones first, because these big event films have inadvertently become the Marvel North Star, and the exciting muchness of such events has resulted in the studio neglecting to inspect the proverbial rocket so as to get on with the trademark takeoff (or, at least, what they believe to be such). And that’s just considering one ensemble film; cohesively roping together three or even four? All in the same pot? Competing against all the noise of the others at the same time? Forget about it.

But the fact remains that ensemble films can still work; the problem right now is that something like Midnight Sons or Young Avengers or even the two Avengers films that we actually know exist, doesn’t have an “everything else” to work so that they can also work.

In a better world, Blade would have been the new Iron Man 616h62

With that, let’s consider a Midnight Sons film for a moment.

Imagine, after Endgame had wrapped and maybe after tying up the Spider-Man trilogy, if Marvel Studios took a break for a year or two while cooking up Blade behind the scenes, ultimately introducing the Daywalker as the new backbone for this new chapter in the MCU. Blade would be followed by a sequel or two, and somewhere in that mix, a Ghost Rider film is launched, as is an Elsa Bloodstone feature, as well as a Moon Knight movie that isn’t terribly dissimilar from the show we already have. Conclude that phase with a Midnight Sons crossover film, and move on to the next phase, where you continue building up your core heroes while bringing new characters into the mix (maybe a returning Doctor Strange with a reimagined Nico Minoru in tow), perhaps culminating in another Midnight Sons crossover film. Repeat this again, and end on your Infinity War-Endgame equivalent with Mephisto in place of Thanos.

And once that’s done, do the same thing with Young Avengers, or X-Men, or whoever you want, but for the love of Stan, Marvel Studios, tell us a story. The aforementioned route may be out of the question by now, but the point is that Marvel shouldn’t be in such a hurry to plug as many characters as possible into their franchise just so they can appear in a three-hour CGI fest later on; they need to make us fall in love with Eric Brooks, Kamala Khan, and Scott Summers in the same way we fell in love with Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Natasha Romanoff.

And we simply cannot do that if they don’t take the time to love themselves first.