She Hulk
Disney may have yet to show more than a minute or two of footage from its upcoming Disney+ shows, and yet the slate it’s come up with is nothing short of incredible. At least on paper.
On the Marvel side alone, heading into this weekend, we had:
- A Loki series
- A Falcon and Winter Soldier series
- A Hawkeye and Kate Bishop series
- A Scarlet Witch and Vision series
And now we have three more to add on top of those.
Last night at the D23 Expo, Disney announced that it was adding three more Marvels shows to that roster, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight and She Hulk,
Ms. Marvel is especially significant because Kamala Khan will be the first Muslim superhero seen onscreen, and it was a big deal when she debuted in the comics back in 2013. She’s supposed to be 16, so expect a young, probably unknown actress to take the part, though none were announced yet.
Past that we have Moon Knight, a curious superhero to focus on, given that he’s relatively unknown to the casual Marvel movie fan. Moon Knight has been a presence in Marvel comics since 1975, and with 40 years of stores behind him, there’s a lot of room for a potential series, which is probably why he was chosen. And Wizard magazine rated him as the 149th best superhero of all time, so I mean, he’s a must-have in the MCU.
The shows
Finally there’s She Hulk, something I don’t think anyone was expecting to see yesterday. She Hulk debuted in 1980, and is Bruce Banner’s cousin, though we don’t know if we’ll get any cameos from Mark Ruffalo or the big man himself (probably yes, given how many A-listers Disney has wrangled for Plus). She Hulk is kind of like the Avengers Endgame version of Hulk, where she’s big and green but gets to retain her personality. I’m curious as to who is going to get cast here. My mind first went to Gina Carano, but she’s already busy working for Disney on The Mandalorian. My first pick? Elizabeth Debicki, an actress who is starting to break out in all kinds of projects and is reportedly 6’3. Though she’s also the golden Ayesha in Guardians of the Galaxy, so perhaps that rules her out. Second choice? Blake Lively. If her husband Ryan Reynolds is now merging into the MCU as Deadpool, get her in there too.
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 17: Anna Kendrick (L) and Blake Lively attend the UK premiere of 'A ... [+]
I am actually a bit more curious about these three new shows than I am the ones that star characters and actors we already know. This seems to me like Disney trying to craft its own Netflix-like micro Marvel universe, though obviously I think fans still wish that Daredevil, Punisher, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones had moved over rather than being cast into oblivion.
So that’s seven Marvel shows, that we know of, unless I’m missing any, as Disney tries to get everyone on earth to sign up for Disney+ this fall. I was sold after The Mandalorian alone, but sure, I’ll take an endless parade of hopefully good superhero series as well.
Disney is pulling out all the stops when it comes to Plus, and while we don’t know the quality level of any of these future projects, if they’re even close to the majority of the MCU films, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Apple and everyone else need to watch out, as this could be an extinction level streaming event.
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