Marvel keeps many secrets hidden behind the Iron Curtain, and does just about anything
it can to keep them from leaking.
Duping actors with fake scripts so they don't know what's true and what's completely made-up?
Been there, done that.
Filming multiple different endings to obscure the real conclusion?
Yep, Marvel filmmakers have done that, too.
These tactics may have worked to stop actors from spilling the beans, but they apparently
weren't aggressive enough to prevent others from sharing sensitive information about Marvel's
projects.
And speaking of sensitive information: Spoilers ahead.
It appears that a good portion of Marvel's plans post-Avengers: Endgame have leaked on
Twitter, both for Phase 4 of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and for a number
of television shows coming to the Disney+ streaming service.
And not just a few days ago or a week ahead of Avengers: Endgame launching in theaters,
these purported leaks hit the web back in December 2018.
The details come from a semi-anonymous Twitter user who goes by the name of Roger Wardell,
who began sharing what he described as "leaks" for Avengers: Endgame at the end of last year.
At the time, Wardell's tweets gained virtually no traction, given that his profile offers
virtually no identifying information other than his name, which could be fake, and because
there was no way to confirm his tweets as factual.
Looking at them now in retrospect, though, the things he said about Endgame turned out
to be completely on-the-money... like, scarily accurate.
"Oh, I'm getting chills."
Wardell predicted that Thor would lose his chiseled physique and, quote, "look a bit
like his old friend Volstagg," that Agent Carter actor James D'Arcy would make the jump
from Marvel TV to the MCU as Edwin Jarvis, that Robert Redford would return as Secretary
Alexander Pierce, that Scott Lang would mess up "big time," and that Chris Evans would
"play a completely different Steve Rogers" in the film, seemingly referencing the choice
Steve made to stay in the past and live a normal life with Peggy Carter before catching
up to the present as an old man.
He even nailed details like Thor decapitating Thanos, Stan Lee making a cameo in the 1970s,
and Brock Rumlow and Jack Rollins returning to recreate the elevator scene from Captain
America: The Winter Soldier, including a hint at Cap's now-famous line from the recreated
scene.
You know the one.
"Hail Hydra."
By all accounts, Wardell was almost totally right about what went down in Avengers: Endgame.
This makes it far easier to believe what he tweeted about Marvel's future is just as precise.
Wardell claimed in one tweet:
"While [Kevin] Feige has talked about films based on Power Pack and Ms. Marvel, it's also
being heavily discussed to have these as multiple season long shows on the Disney service."
Disney+ is the forthcoming streaming service home to a number of Marvel superhero series
including Loki, WandaVision, and Falcon and Winter Soldier.
Additionally, Wardell alleged that the Black Knight has been a hot topic of conversation
at Marvel Studios.
The character has flip-flopped between being a superhero and a supervillain as several
different people have brandished the moniker.
According to Wardell's tweet:
"The Black Knight has been discussed quite a bit over at Marvel Studios.
They see the character as a potential New Avenger and capable of holding his own solo
film, and possibly a trilogy."
Wardell's final tweet on the account teased a handful of returning villains:
"... Marvel still has big plans for Zemo, Ghost, Justin Hammer, General Ross, and the
[Abomination].
The Leader is being discussed to return as the main villain of Thunderbolts, which is
being planned as a trilogy."
The Leader, whose real name is Dr. Samuel Sterns, has already appeared in the MCU: Tim
Blake Nelson portrayed Sterns in 2008's The Incredible Hulk.
In that flick, Sterns transformed Emil Blonsky into the Abomination using super-soldier serum
and some of Bruce Banner's blood.
When the Abomination attacks Sterns, some of Banner's blood drips into an open cut on
Sterns' forehead, thus triggering his metamorphosis into the Leader.
Considering his past foundations in the MCU, it seems plausible that the villain could
rise to lead an ensemble trilogy down the line.
"That was the most extraordinary thing I have seen in my entire life."
Given how spot-on Wardell's tweets about Avengers: Endgame were, it's tempting to take everything
he's said about the future of Marvel as 100-percent factual.
Certain elements, like Marvel planning something major for Black Knight and the studio developing
a Thunderbolts movie, seem more plausible than others.
Actress Hannah John-Kamen, who played Ghost in Ant-Man and the Wasp, once noted that she'd
love to reprise her villainous role for a movie about the Thunderbolts.
She told ScreenRant in June 2018,
Years before that, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn shared that he told Kevin
Feige he really wanted to make a Thunderbolts movie.
Maybe after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 gets out in theaters, Gunn will take on Thunderbolts
as his next feature.
Regarding the possibility of a Black Knight movie, MCU Cosmic founder and editor-in-chief
Jeremy Conrad relayed in December 2018, not long after Wardell shared his tweets, that
Marvel knows what it wants to do with the character.
Conrad, a reliable source for Marvel movie news, tweeted at the time:
"There's been some hinting and talk about Black Knight recently.
Apparently Marvel does have a plan for him in the MCU, and they already know how he'll
be introduced."
Still, as fun as it would be to believe Wardell's tweets as truthful and based on insider information
he obtained from Marvel brass, it's best to take these "leaks" for what they are: unfounded
details posted by someone whose real identity is a mystery.
Feige already confirmed that Marvel will announce the first few years of its five-year, post-Endgame
plan sometime after the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home this July, so fans won't have
too much longer to wait to find out the real truth about the studio's future.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
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