Just when the MCU should be bringing its stars back together ahead of Avengers 5 and Secret Wars, it looks like one of its longest-lasting leads and one of its most-anticipated newcomers could be jumping ship to other rival franchises.
There’s nothing wrong with sharing, sure, but with release dates rushing towards us and actors’ schedules filling up, these two exciting opportunities for these individual performers might spell bad news for the Marvel universe as a whole.
Chris Hemsworth could star in Paramount’s answer to The Avengers that no one wants to see
Brace yourselves, Peter Cullen collective, because Chris Hemsworth is taking over as Optimus Prime for this summer’s animated film Transformers One. Intriguingly, it’s possible he could reprise his role in live-action movies too. According to Deadline, the Australian Avenger is in talks to star in the much-threatened Transformers vs. G.I. Joe crossover, which was teased against our will at the end of Rise of the Beasts. A voiceover role shouldn’t preclude him from doing Thor V, but it’s surprising that he could miss Avengers 5 to do another multi-franchise event flick.
Mahershala Ali eyeing up a Jurassic role doesn’t bode well for Blade‘s chances
Marvel’s Blade reboot is still technically scheduled to hit cinemas on Nov. 7, 2025, but anyone who still believes it’ll make that probably also thinks Tom Holland can really climb walls. With less than 18 months to go and no production start in sight, the horror-flavored film isn’t getting here until 2026 at the earliest, let’s be real. That is, assuming Mahershala Ali is still interested in making it at all. Similar to Hemsworth, he’s also been hoovered up by a rival franchise — Jurassic World 4, also starring Marvel’s own Scarlett Johansson. Honestly, after five years and counting stuck in development hell, we wouldn’t blame Ali for climbing out of his coffin to go fight some dinosaurs.
Scarlet Witch lives? Marvel rumored to be hiring director for Wanda Maximoff movie
We know, we’ve been hearing whispers about Wanda Maximoff’s return to the land of the living for a long time now, and… Well, OK, this is still just a whisper, but it’s a slightly more robust one, at least. The latest word on the streets (of Westview) is that Marvel is secretly on the hunt for a director to helm a Scarlet Witch movie. That’s almost too good to be true, so we should probably retain some healthy skepticism for the moment, but it surely can’t be long before the studio brings back one of its biggest guns to help end the Multiverse Saga with a little magic.