Marvel

Late last week a pretty substantial rumor surfaced suggesting that Zenadaya’s secret role in Spider-Man: Homecoming is actually Mary Jane Watson. While neither Marvel nor Sony have confirmed or even responded to those rumors, it elicited an unfortunately predictable reaction from several fans who were unhappy that a woman of color would be playing a character traditionally depicted as a white redhead. James Gunn already weighed in with his thoughts, and our own Matt Singer wrote an excellent piece on the matter, and now Stan Lee himself has offered his reaction to the recent casting rumor.

Set photos — both official and otherwise — from the set of Thor: Ragnarok continue to hit the internet, and the latest batch feature the return of another familiar face, though he’s not looking quite how you remember him. With most of Ragnarok taking place in Asgard and its various unearthly realms, it’s kind of surprising to see Anthony Hopkins in costume on the streets of New York City, looking like he’s in need of some spare change. (And a change of clothes. And a shower.)

We have another update on Vin Diesel courtesy of Vin Diesel, your source for all the latest Vin Diesel news. No, it’s not more Fast 8 drama (#candyassgate was tragically short-lived), but it does involve another major franchise. According to Diesel, Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord won’t be the only Guardian of the Galaxy to appear in Avengers: Infinity War, as the actor claims that the whole team will be joining their occasionally fearless leader for the upcoming MCU event.

Take this with a grain of salt, etc., etc., but a very interesting image popped up online this afternoon which seems to feature a call sheet for Spider-Man: Homecoming. In addition to listing a few characters we already knew about, the rundown apparently reveals some that haven’t been reported, including a potential third villain. Possible spoilers ahead!

Here’s a sample of the angry comments I’ve read in the last 24 hours about the rumor that Zendaya will be playing Spider-Man’s long-time love interest, Mary Jane Watson, in Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming.

You deserve something heartwarming after a long week, and Tom Holland has just the thing. The Marvel newcomer and star of Spider-Man: Homecoming donned his Spidey suit to pay a visit to some special friends at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, and the photos will most definitely put a smile on your face.

Following yesterday’s reveal of two images from Doctor Strange, Marvel has revealed even more new photos from the Sorcerer Supreme’s upcoming solo film. And while the gallery above features several stills of Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, you’ll also find some new sneak peeks at Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Mordo and Mads Mikkelsen’s villainous Kaecilius, as well as our first good look at Benedict Wong as Wong. Oh, and there’s plenty of those mind-bending, Inception-style landscape shots, too.

It’s been well-known for quite a while that Natalie Portman isn’t appearing in Thor: Ragnarok, which takes place largely on Asgard and throughout its other spacey realms, with very few scenes set on Earth. If you were hoping that Jane Foster might return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe sometime soon, however, then you might want to take this news whilst sitting down.

We already know that Avengers: Infinity War will feature the biggest roster of MCU characters yet — even bigger than Captain America: Civil War, no doubt, as Marvel’s next Avengers chapter is set to deliver an epic conclusion to Phase 3 (and finally give Thanos a chance to stretch his space-legs). Now that the studio has scaled the two-parter back to one film, it’s unclear if that lineup will still be as massive as originally planned, but it looks like we know of at least a couple more characters who will return.

We’ve known for quite some time that Thanos won’t be appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which will instead focus on Star-Lord’s dad (Kurt Russell) and a new set of problems — including Ayesha and some very unhappy Ravagers. But it looks like the big angry purple guy isn’t the only one who (literally) won’t be in the picture, as director James Gunn has confirmed that the sequel doesn’t feature any of those pesky Infinity Stones, either.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. may have answered the burning question at Comic-Con, to confirm (a) Ghost Rider inbound, but left on the table was the mysterious new “Director” teased by the Season 3 finale. Now, Season 4 confirms Terra Nova star (and Batman voice!) Jason O’Mara has landed the gig, potentially tying back to the Agent Carter era.

The general consensus among most Marvel fans is that Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is the worst part of the first Avengers movie. It’s not that Renner is particularly bad in the role, per se — he just doesn’t have anything to do, and you needn’t look any further than Hawkeye’s great arc in Age of Ultron for proof of how terribly underutilized he was in that first Avengers outing. As it turns out, Renner himself is painfully aware of this fact — so much so that he went to great lengths to try and get Hawkeye killed off in The Avengers.