Is anyone else feeling ever more conflicted with every new bit of info we hear about The Marvels? From director Nia DaCosta’s promise that it’ll be “wacky and silly” to comments that the titular trio will have a “sisterly” bond, the Brie Larson sequel really could go either way. Something exemplified best of all by the latest shocking rumors about its runtime. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four fan-casting conversation seems set on restarting hostilities between Marvel and James Gunn’s DCU.
The Marvels could be the shortest MCU movie by a long distance, but maybe that’s just what Disney needs
MCU movie runtimes have been all over the place, with the longest clocking in over 3 hours and the shortest coming in under 120 minutes. But, if what we’re hearing is accurate, then The Marvels could be the swiftest of the entire franchise by a considerable margin. Rumor has it that the sequel will come in at just 1 hour, 38 minutes, including credits. That might sound far too short, but maybe a breezy slice of Marvel entertainment is exactly what the movie needs to be to hook in audiences and end Disney’s terrible 2023 on a high note. Plus, it’s not like everyone loves its 223-minute predecessor.
Calling Carol and Monica “sisters” feels like a controversial retcon waiting to happen
Yes, as mentioned above, Nia DaCosta has opened up about how she wanted the sisterly bond between the titular trio to be the emotional backbone of the film, describing as Carol as the “older” sister, Monica as the “middle” sibling, and Kamala as the littlest. On paper, it’s encouraging that the trifecta will become as close as family, but that’s a pretty big retcon to the aunt/niece-style relationship that Carol and Monica had in Captain Marvel. And considering a lot of fans see Carol and Monica’s mom Maria as being like a couple, I’m not sure some will take kindly to this erasure of of Carol as being a second mother figure to her come the film’s release this November.
James Gunn might want to hold on tight to John Cena after the latest Fantastic Four casting conversations
The Fantastic Four fancasting has gone on for so long now that it’s easier to list everyone who hasn’t been linked to the project than those that have. Here’s one more, though, that’s getting people talking: What about John Cena as The Thing? A couple of years ago, people might not have been too hot on this idea, but after the former WWE star has proven himself a surprisingly gifted actor in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, now he could be a dark horse in the race. But if he did become our Ben Grimm, then he might not be able to play in Gunn’s DCU sandbox anymore. So maybe we should let this newfound peace between the two franchises (now that former Marvel man Gunn is in charge) stand for a while before they start poaching from each other.
Just like the quest to find out what the heck happened to Peter Dinklage in the MCU, the search for more Marvel news never ends so stay close or you’ll miss the next shocking discovery.