He did as much 13 years ago in Iron Man 3, the second he dropped his guise as the Mandarin to reveal that he was actually Trevor Slattery. The efficacy - not to mention the morality - of this twist has been the topic of heated debate ever since, but no one can deny that Kingsley isn't utterly sympathetic in the role.
After the 2026 Golden Globes, Hamnet director Chloe Zhao was asked what message she wanted viewers to take away from her work. "What is grief, but love persevering?," she answered, while the cast nodded in agreement. It sounds like a beautiful maxim from Shakespeare itself, but it actually came from the Marvel Cinematic Universe - something Zhao would know, as she herself made an MCU movie. Its origin, Jac Schaeffer's show WandaVision, was the first MCU TV show to premiere on Disney+, and it set a high bar for the rest of the franchise - one that sparked a movie, two spinoff series, and countless comparisons to other shows.
In the last few weeks we've had three almost completely pointless short trailers online, with another reportedly playing in cinemas ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash. First there was Captain America cradling his baby, then Thor praying to his dear old dead omnipotent dad. This week we got our first proper look at the classic X-Men lineup in the new film, and there are suggestions that an encounter between the Fantastic Four's The Thing and half of Wakanda is imminent. Something weird is clearly happening.
Chris Hemsworth's Thor may be the most tragically misunderstood character in Marvel's Cinematic Universe. At the very least, he's the most inconsistent: he suffers the most from Marvel's episodic approach, with each writer and director delivering a different idea of his character. Kenneth Branagh introduced Thor as an upstart prince who spoke in Shakespearean verse; those who followed used him as either comic relief or a punching bag, saddling him with one tragedy after the next in lieu of true character development.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
There was once a time when Hugh Jackman Wolverine cameos made a sort of sense. Bursting out of a cell in full Weapon X gear, massacring half a bunker, then vanishing, in 2016's otherwise pretty forgettable X-Men: Apocalypse. Telling potential recruitment team Magneto and Professor X to, er, go fuck themselves while propping up a bar in 2011's X-Men: First Class. Even popping up via archived footage from X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2018's Deadpool 2.
The multiverse could give Pepper Potts a new lease on life. Marvel Studios The MCU will soon bring all its disparate storylines to a head in Avengers: Doomsday and its follow-up, Secret Wars. The film is set to bring the Multiverse Saga to a close, but before it does, it will feature more Marvel characters than any story that's come before it. Some will be familiar characters from other universes, like Fox's X-Men. Others could be takes on new characters played by familiar faces.
One of the most highly publicized instances of this was Disney-owned ABC's pulling of Jimmy Kimmel Live , following pressure from the FCC, after the talk show ran a segment that said the Trump administration had latched onto the event in order to "score political points." In response, several public figures have spoken out in protest, including some actors who have prominently worked for Disney by appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
LOS ANGELES -- Marvel Studios' "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is headed home following its blockbuster theatrical run. The all-new chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be available on digital platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango at Home starting September 23. Fans can then add the film to their collections when it arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on October 14.