Marvel teases with slate of 10 coming releases
Marvel Studios is calling superhero fans to assemble at cinemas as the film industry tries to get back on its feet after being battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a three-minute-long hype reel released on Monday, the Disney-owned studio teased its slate of 10 upcoming releases, including snippets from the highly anticipated Eternals, directed by Oscar winner Chloe Zhao.
Also revealed were release dates and titles of new sequels, including the second Black Panther film, now titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“See you at the movies,” the Marvel hype reel teases.
The much-delayed Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson, will be the first major Marvel film to come out on July 9 as Disney again experiments with a theatrical release as well as streaming option for an extra charge.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will follow on September 3 and introduce actor Simu Liu as Marvel’s first Asian superhero.
The 25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will also be the first to feature a predominantly Asian cast, including Awkwafina and Michelle Yeoh.
Fans are also excited by new clips from Zhao’s Eternals, which features an ensemble cast that includes Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Kit Harington and Gemma Chan.
The film has been hailed for its diverse casting. Syrian refugee-turned actor Zain Al Rafeea, 16, will also appear in Eternals, although very little is known about his role.
Al Rafeea is most known for his role in the Oscar-nominated Lebanese film, Capernaum, by Nadine Labaki, for which he won a number of awards. The young actor was spotted with Eternals co-stars Hayek and Lia McHugh in 2019.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the sequel to the history-making 2018 film with Chadwick Boseman in the lead. While Boseman’s death in August last year put the film’s sequel in doubt, producer Kevin Feige said production is going ahead, but Boseman’s role as Black Panther or T’Challa would not be recast.
“To honour the legacy that Chad helped us build through his portrayal of the king of Wakanda, we want to continue to explore the world of Wakanda and all of the rich and varied characters introduced in the first film,” Feige said at a Marvel event last December.
Stars of the first Black Pantherfilm – Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright and Winston Duke – are set to return along with director Ryan Coogler.
The Marvels, a sequel to the 2019 hit Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, will also feature the first big-screen appearance of Ms Marvel or Kamala Khan, who is Marvel’s first Muslim superhero.
Played by Canadian teenager Iman Vellani, Ms Marvel will first debut on Disney+ as a standalone series later this year, before the show’s lead character makes the leap to films.
Vellani, who makes her acting debut in the show, was announced for the role in October 2020, months after Disney revealed it would be turning the popular comic book into a live-action television series.
Ms Marvel was in part created by comic book artist Sana Amanat, who previously told The National that the character was sparked by a conversation she had with her senior editor, Stephen Wacker, about her own experiences growing up in New Jersey as a Pakistani-American Muslim.
“I was talking about the fact it was really hard to be a young Muslim in America and the different struggles I had, like trying to go to the prom, making my own dress that was fully covered, fasting and playing lacrosse, wearing tights underneath my shorts in 90° weather and not being able to go on dates,” Amanat said.