The Sunday Post
Have a Marvel-ous Christmas!
Winter is here. ‘The Final Watch’ has begun- new episodes of What If…? started arriving on Disney+ this morning and will for seven more mornings. And Christmas is only days away.
All is quiet right now at Friends From Work. Keep your eye out for the continued free releases of Robby and Kyle’s Daredevil podcasts (the first three, covering season 1, are out now) but the next brand-new podcast on the main feed probably won’t be until after the What If…? series finale.
Things have definitely *not* been quiet in the work of MCU news. For the second straight week, news was flying fast and furious as more and more outlets published their 2025 previews. Let’s break it all down at…
THE WATERCOOLER
THIS WEEK IN THE MCU
Entertainment Weekly spent the entire last week previewing all the Marvel projects debuting over the next six months, starting with What If…? which, of course, debuted today. In their exclusive interview with Brad Winderbaum (Marvel’s Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation), Brad talked about how the show ties into next year’s Marvel Zombies and whether the series finale will provide closure for fans who have been invested in characters like Uatu, Captain Carter, and Kahhori over previous seasons.
Winderbaum did another extensive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, as well. In this one, he talked about several other shows coming to Disney+ in 2025 and how important Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) is to the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I recommend reading both of Brad’s interviews in full.
Back to Entertainment Weekly, they also previewed Captain America: Brave New World, Marvel’s next film, which will be released on Valentine’s Day next year. Talking to producer Nate Moore, Weta visual effects supervisor Dan Cox, and Marvel Studios’ Head of Visual Development Ryan Meinerding, EW got the scoop on bringing the Red Hulk to life and discussed Harrison Ford’s willingness and desire to join the MCU.
The outlet also talked to Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, and showrunner Dario Scardapane about Daredevil: Born Again, which premieres on March 4th, 2025. They talked about the violence fans can expect in the series and how they retooled the show to honor better the three seasons that originally aired on Netflix from 2015-2018.
Finally, EW previewed Thunderbolts* by talking to star Julia Louis-Dreyfus (who plays Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine). JLD praised the grounded nature of the movie and teased the reveal of her character’s ‘master plan.’
Deadline reported last week that Marvel has tapped Ed Bernero (Criminal Minds) as the showrunner for the Nova series, which is expected to open a writer’s room early next year.
Deadline also broke the news that longtime Marvel executive Nate Moore will be leaving the studio early next year. Moore’s loss will undoubtedly be felt throughout the studio, but by all accounts, it appears to be an amicable split, as Moore will still return to produce a third Ryan Coogler Black Panther movie. Denzel Washington had accidentally revealed the sequel to be in development during the press tour for Gladiator II. Still, it appears to be several years away.
BEYOND THE MULTIVERSE
The headline-grabbing news of the week was easily the first teaser trailer for next summer’s Superman. James Gunn’s first feature for the new DCU has a lot riding on it, but if the teaser is any indication, it is ready to rise to the occasion. In case you missed it, FFW+ subscribers can check out Kyle and Robby’s initial thoughts on a special bonus pod released last week.
Sony also made some news by officially announcing Bob Persichetti and Justin K. Thompson as the directors of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. Though they were just announced, they’ve been directing the movie since the beginning. Persichetti previously served as a director on Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and Thompson served in that same role on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. As for the movie itself, it does not appear any closer to receiving a new release date from Sony.
TRUE BELIEVERS RUMOR OF THE WEEK
It feels like casting rumors for Avengers: Doomsday and Spider-Man 4 could dominate this space every week for the foreseeable future and this week is no different. The latest names in the rumor mill include Ana de Armas for the former and Anya Taylor-Joy for the latter.
That wraps things up for this pre-Christmas edition of The Sunday Post. From everyone at Friends From Work, we would like to wish all of our listeners, readers and subscribers a safe and happy holiday season. I’ll see everyone back here next Sunday for a post-mortem on What If…? and the final Watercooler of the year.
- Greg