Ever wondered what’s next in the Marvel and DC universes? Buckle up for a rollercoaster of geek news as we bring you the latest and greatest updates from both worlds! From the epic conclusion of Benjamin Percy's Wolverine comic series to the thrilling announcement of a new Disney+ Vision series starring Paul Bettany, we’ve got you covered. Marvel fans, get ready for X-Men 97’s second season and the exciting progress on Marvel Studios' X-Men movie with Michael Leslie now at the helm. We also dive into DC Comics' fresh buzz with Damon Lindelof’s return to television, bringing the Green Lantern Corps to life in the upcoming show Lanterns. Plus, Simon Kinberg's new Star Trek feature for Paramount Pictures is set to explore the early days of Starfleet and humanity's first contact with alien life, with a nod to the Kelvin universe timeline.
But that’s not all! We tackle the controversies and challenges shaking the entertainment industry. Hear Nelson Peltz's critical take on Disney's casting decisions and the backlash against diversity in major franchises. Kathleen Kennedy steps up to confront the harassment faced by female and minority stars in the Star Wars universe, especially with the upcoming series, The Acolyte. On a lighter note, get the scoop on Fantasy Flight Games' new Clone Wars edition of their Star Wars deck-building game, and catch the latest on Universal Studio Group's Munsters reboot. We also talk about Mike Flanagan’s bold new direction for The Exorcist franchise, Nicholas Galatzine’s casting as He-Man in the Masters of the Universe movie, and the exciting addition of Tom Bombadil in Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power on Prime Video. Tune in for all the geeky goodness!
Ever wondered what’s next in the Marvel and DC universes? Buckle up for a rollercoaster of geek news as we bring you the latest and greatest updates from both worlds! From the epic conclusion of Benjamin Percy's Wolverine comic series to the thrilling announcement of a new Disney+ Vision series starring Paul Bettany, we’ve got you covered. Marvel fans, get ready for X-Men 97’s second season and the exciting progress on Marvel Studios' X-Men movie with Michael Leslie now at the helm. We also dive into DC Comics' fresh buzz with Damon Lindelof’s return to television, bringing the Green Lantern Corps to life in the upcoming show Lanterns. Plus, Simon Kinberg's new Star Trek feature for Paramount Pictures is set to explore the early days of Starfleet and humanity's first contact with alien life, with a nod to the Kelvin universe timeline.
But that’s not all! We tackle the controversies and challenges shaking the entertainment industry. Hear Nelson Peltz's critical take on Disney's casting decisions and the backlash against diversity in major franchises. Kathleen Kennedy steps up to confront the harassment faced by female and minority stars in the Star Wars universe, especially with the upcoming series, The Acolyte. On a lighter note, get the scoop on Fantasy Flight Games' new Clone Wars edition of their Star Wars deck-building game, and catch the latest on Universal Studio Group's Munsters reboot. We also talk about Mike Flanagan’s bold new direction for The Exorcist franchise, Nicholas Galatzine’s casting as He-Man in the Masters of the Universe movie, and the exciting addition of Tom Bombadil in Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power on Prime Video. Tune in for all the geeky goodness!
Thanks for listening! Come visit the podcast at https://www.multiversetonight.com/
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Tonight. Vision returns, prodigy does too, piltz quits on Disney and the Munsters reboot. All that and more in this edition of Multiverse Tonight. Comic books, sci-fi, fantasy and more. If you're looking for a roundup of geeky news, you're in the right place.
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This is Multiverse Tonight, and here's your host, thomas Townley. Well, hello everyone and welcome to episode 216 of Multiverse Tonight. I'm, of course, your host, thomas Townley, and uh, well, it's uh's getting hot in here and it's 80 degrees most days right now. We've been getting some rain finally, so that's good news. It's been rather dry here, so it's good. Other than that, not a lot else to report. Hope you had a good May for what it's worth. Hope you have a good June. Anyway, since I don't really have a lot to talk about at the top of the show here, let's go on to the Marvel News with the latest run of the Wolverine comic ending how it started with Claws and Blood.
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Since 2020, writer Benjamin Percy has left his mark on the seventh version of Wolverine, but a new X-Men era means a new Wolverine number one and a new creative team. Marvel Comics will end Percy's current comic run with Wolverine number one and a new creative team. Marvel Comics will end Percy's current comic run with Wolverine number 50, the oversized finale to the 10-part Sabretooth War, paying a berserker mutant against his enemy, victor Creed, aka Sabretooth. Sabretooth has shot deep-powered Wolverine with Forge's neutralizer gun, just as Graydon Clark Graydon. Graydon Clark Graydon Creed, now, calling himself the bad seed, returns to do what his father never could kill. Wolverine Issue number 49 ended with Wolverine stood up in Manteam armor and wielding the magical Mursama blade. In the fight for his life, sabretooth reemerged from the depths of Krakoa. The 60-page final issue of Wolverine will conclude the Sabretooth War in what Marvel is calling as the final showdown between Logan and Creed. Wolverine number 50 is out now After 10 episodes.
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The first season of X-Men 97 has come to an end at Disney+ and while fans eagerly await the second season, marvel Comics has been releasing some fun content to hold fans over. The show's behind-the-scenes assembled episode is now available to watch on Disney+, and the soundtrack with music by the Newton Brothers is finally available to stream online. Wandavision's Vision will return. The Vision character played by Paul Bettany will be at the center of the studio's first new series order in some time. The as-yet-untitled show is currently on track for a 2026 premiere at Disney+ with Star Trek Picard's Terry Metallus installed as showrunner. A writer's room for the series opened up just this past week. Writer's Room for the series opened up just this past week. Bethany will be reprising his role as Vision, which spans three Marvel films and the WandaVision series, plus the voice work done in the first three Iron man movies, as Jarvis. At the end of WandaVision, vision's physical body was brought back to life with no memories of his previous incarnation. His memories were restored by the spectral vision Wanda had conjured to manage her grief as she put a hex on the town of Westview, new Jersey. The Vision series will be the second show to follow from WandaVision. The first, agatha All Along, starring Katherine Hahn as Wanda's Westview neighbor and fellow witch, agatha Harkness, is set to premiere in September. We're all looking forward to that.
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Some more X-Men news Marvel Studios' X-Men movie has gained momentum as the project has finally landed a writer. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that writer Michael Leslie, who is known for his work on the series the Little Drummer Girl and the recent prequel feature the Hunger Games, the Battle of Songbirds and Snakes, is in talks to pen the new film focused on the iconic mutant team. The feature does not currently have a release date or a director attached. And with that let's go on to the DC Comics News. And we begin DC Comics News with Damon Lindelof returning to both television and superheroes. The co-creator of Lost and the acclaimed HBO series Watchmen is part of the creative team behind DC Studios' new show Lanterns. Lanterns is, of course, based on the heroes of the Green Lantern Corps. Chris Mundy, the showrunner behind Netflix's crime series Ozark, as well as the Eisner Award-winning and longtime DC Comics author, tom King round out the creative team. Dc Studios co-head James Gunn announced this past Saturday on Instagram Lanterns is acting as one of the foundational shows for Gunn and Peter Saffron's DC Comics slate and the Sliv.
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Dc Comics news, however, is short, so let's go on to the star trek news. Star trek news begins with longtime x-men producer simon kinberg it getting to try his hand at star trek. The hall reporter has confirmed that he is in talks to produce a new star trek feature for paramount Pictures. If all goes well, the door would open to him to take creative roles on the rest of the storied franchise's film side. The project Kinberg would step into is already in very active development.
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Toby Haynes, who directed episodes of the Star Wars series Andor, is currently on board to direct a new feature, with Seth Graham Smith writing the script. The project is set to be set decades before the events of the 2009 movie that was directed by JJ Abrams likely around modern times, and is set to involve the creation of the Starfleet and humankind's first contact with alien life. In other words, we get to see the Kelvin universe version of human-Vulcan first contact, which, considering that time, was changed when the Kelvin was destroyed, not before that. Shouldn't it just be the same as the movie Star Trek First Contact? Anyone else think about that? Anyway, abrams remains involved on the new project as producer, but there is no release date. The studio has, though, signaled that it would like a 2025 opening.
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Star Trek Prodigy Season 2's release date has finally been given a date or a month at least July 2024. Or a month at least July 2024. Created by Kevin and Dan Hageman, star Trek Prodigy originally aired on Paramount Plus until it was canceled and, ceremoniously, although, a dedicated fan campaign secured Netflix as the home for the remaining season two episodes All 20 season one episodes premiered on Netflix on Christmas Day 2023, and fans have been eagerly awaiting the season two on Netflix. According to Netflix, the release date for season two will be July 1st. Now it's unknown whether all the episodes will be released on the same day or if it'll be broken up into sections. Regardless, this is excellent news for fans of Admiral Janeway and the ragtag former crew of the USS Protostar.
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Now let's go on to the Star Wars news. Roger Roger, star Wars news begins with Nelson Peltz. The activist investor who lost the proxy battle with Bob Iger earlier in the year has apparently thrown in the towel and reportedly sold his stake in Disney. This brings an end to the long-summering feud between Peltz and Iger, with the former attempting a power grab to push Iger out of Disney and appoint himself and his colleagues to the Disney Board of Trustees. Back in April, disney shareholders rejected Nelson Peltz and his Tryon Fund management partner's bid to join the Disney Board. Disney shareholders backed Iger and the rest of the board, and now it appears that Peltz is moving on. According to CNBC, nelson Peltz sold his entire Disney stake, which reportedly came in at $120 a share, which earned him around $1 billion. Disney stock is currently trading around the $100 mark.
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Part of Peltz's issue with Bob Iger's reign at Disney had to do with the company's streaming and theatrical strategy, most notably calling out feature films Captain Marvel and Black Panther. His comments also called out the reasoning behind having movies that were comprised of all women and all black cast. What a putz. But speaking of Peltz's man-baby crying over casting.
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In a new interview with the New York Times for the upcoming Star Wars series, the Acolyte, the Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said that she was aware that women in the space franchise are often attacked online more than men quote because of the fan base being so male-dominated. Unquote. Female stars Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran certainly faced online harassment from toxic fans when the most recent Star Wars film trilogy was released, and now the Acolyte is already being attacked in certain corners of the internet. A loud, primordial part of the Star Wars fandom is pushed back in predictable fashion against the show. Why are there so many women, girls and minority characters increasingly dominating the ranks of the Jedi, was a comment put on the Acolyte trailer, with others expressing a similar worldview. Kennedy told the publication about her support for Hedlund's Acolyte vision, quote. My belief is that storytelling does need a representative of all people. That's an easy decision for me Operating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation, it's terrifying. I think Leslie has struggled a little bit with it. I think a lot of women who step into Star Wars struggle with this a bit more. Because of the fanbase being so male-dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal. The Acolyte premieres June 4th on Disney+.
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Fantasy Flight Games has announced a new version of its Star Wars, the Deck Building game. This August, fantasy Flight Games will release Clone Wars edition of the game, a new standalone version of the game released last year. The new edition will feature all new cards and will not require the original game to play. The two-player game will feature similar gameplay, with each player starting with a basic deck and expanding it by buying a mix of cards from their specific faction and neutral cards. The Clone Wars version will obviously follow the Republican Separatists, although the aim of the game remains the same, with players trying to be the first to destroy three of their opponent's bases. Now let's go on to the Geek News that hits our plates, to start off with.
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A new reboot of the Munsters and a series adaptation of the 1976 Universal Pictures comedy Car Wash are among the projects the Universal Studio Group currently has in development. According to Variety, the Monster's reboot is currently titled 1313, a reference to the address of the Monster's 1313 Mockingbird Lane, but does currently not have a network or streaming home. The new show is described as a horror series that quote lives and breathes within the universal monsterverse, the unquote. The project was developed by James Wan, lindsay Anderson Beer and Ingrid Basu. Anderson Beer will serve as showrunner and executive producer via Lab Brew, with Wan Michael Clear and Rob Hackett executive producing via Atomic. Monster Bisou will also co-executive produce. Ucp will produce the Monsters, originally aired on CBS for 70 episodes between 1964 and 1966, with Fred Gwynn, yvonne DiCarlo, al Lewis, butch Patrick and Pat Priest and Beverly Owen, who briefly appeared in the series as Marion, before Priest took back the role for the remainder of the series.
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There have been multiple revivals and reboots of the series since then, including films, an animated series and, more Most recently, nbc commissioned the pilot Mockingbird Lane that ultimately airs as a Halloween special in 2012, but was not picked up as a series, and if you've never seen the Mockingbird Lane pilot, you know, go out and find it. It's pretty good. It's a shame that NBC didn't pick it up. I would have watched the show. It was that good.
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Anyway, the Exorcist franchise is set to undergo a transformation following the mixed reactions to the 2023 movie, the Exorcist Believer. Horror maestro Mike Flanagan will write, direct and produce what Blumhouse is describing as a radical new take on the franchise, one that will be set in the Exorcist universe but will not be a sequel to Believer. Flanagan's Exorcist hiring is a notable change in direction that comes nearly three years after Universal announced the $400 million mega deal that would allow it to make a trilogy of Exorcist films to be helmed by David Gordon Green, the filmmaker behind Universal and Blumhouse's Halloween movies. These plans, however, were put on the shelf after Believer earned negative reviews and brought in just $137 million at the box office. Flanagan's Hiring closes the door on those sequels to Believer which brought back Ellen Burstyn from the 1973 film and the original film that was created as one of the greatest horror films of all time, which earned 10 nominations, including Best Picture. So time to get a new Exorcist.
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Anyway, the new Masters of the Universe movie has found its He-Man Nicholas Gazeltine. Nicholas Galatzine, who recently starred in Amazon MGM's rom-com, the Idea of you, has been cast as the studio's live-action Masters movie, which has Travis Knight directing Knight, who will be directed from a screenplay by Chris Butler, battelle Films' Rob Brenner and escape artist Todd Black, jason Blumthal and Steve Tisch are producing Masters serves on Prince Adam of Eternia who, thanks to his power sword, turns into He-Man as a dude with superhuman strength and abilities which uses his fans as his native planet and Castle Greyskull. Masters has been dated by Amazon for a worldwide theatrical release on June 5th 2026. I have the power. Speaking of power.
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A renowned Lord of the Rings character who didn't see the live day in the Peter Jackson movies will finally make a debut in Season 2 of Prime Video's the Lord of the Rings Rings of Power, that being Tom Bombadil, who will be played by the already announced Rory Kinnear. In the JR Tolkien tome, bombadil saves Frodo and the other hobbits from a myriad of perils. In season two, bombadil will encounter the stranger and his Harfoot friends Nori and Poppy on their journey to eastern Middle-earth. Kinnear says that he'll portray Bombadil with a Cornish accent because he wanted a character that quote felt like the oldest part of Britain. Unquote. The Rings of Power season two will hit prime video on August 29th. Every day is about to be a beautiful day in the neighborhood on Pluto TV. Starting this month, pluto TV will launch a brand new channel that will keep Mr Rogers' Neighborhood on the air 24 hours at seven days a week. The channel will consistently air various episodes of the beloved series, allowing fans to simply turn it on and hop in without searching for a specific episode.
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Netflix is checking into another animation series, the Streamers or the Undervale, an adult animated comedy series from Matt Roller, who has worked on series such as Archer and Rick and Morty, which will be executive produced by a group including Rick and Morty co-creator, dan Harmon. The series follows a single mother of two who struggles to run a haunted hotel with the help of her strange brother, who is now one of the ghosts and thinks the other ghosts have some pretty good ideas. The Undervale is the latest animation series set at the Streamer. It comes as the long-running series Big Mouth was renewed for an eighth and final season set to premiere in 2025, spin-off Human Resources, which was cancelled, and Love, death and Robots, which was renewed for a fourth season, and Blue-Eyed Samurai, which was renewed for a second season. The Streamer also launched Good Times last month and the second half of Mulligan earlier this year.
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A new comedy that's perfect for cat lovers is making its way to Prime Video from actress, comedian and author Aubrey Plaza. Kevin, which Plaza and Joe Winger have written, tracks the life of Kevin, a lifelong house cat who decides that he doesn't want to live among people anymore. According to the synopsis quote, kevin is executive, produced by Plaza and Dan Murphy and produced by Titmouse, evil Hag Productions and Amazon MGM Studios. Now, there's currently no release date for the project, but it will stream exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide, and with that we come to the end of our edition of the show. Now please be sure to check us on social media.
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We're on BlueSky and Twitter, at MultiverseTom Threads, facebook and Instagram at MultiverseTonight, and if you've gotten some value out of the show, please head on over to MultiverseTonightcom, where you can find the Patreon and Ko-fi links. Check out the show notes, visit our TeePublic store, leave some feedback and more. Also, if you'll notice at the top of the podcast episode description, there's now a way you can send a text to me via Buzzsprout and if you do, maybe I'll read it on air. Now, if this is your first time listening, thank you and welcome. Go ahead and hit the subscribe button. Share us with others and much more. Special thanks to Lobo Loco for the outro theme music and Shane Ivers for the intro music. Thanks for watching this edition of Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in two weeks with more sci-fi and comic book news. Now, please exit the universe in an orderly fashion, good night.
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Multiverse Tonight is a production of Half-Baked Genre Productions. Copyright 2024, all rights reserved. This podcast is part of the Pop Goes the Culture podcast network. Find out more about our other podcasts at popgoestheculturecom. Pop Goes the Culture podcast network. Find out more about our other podcasts.
