Marvel Studios announced its next slate of superheroes at the San Diego Comin-Con last weekend, leaving fans all around the world exhilarated at the new possibilities. Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) will include 10 movies and Disney+ series when it launches next year.
Among the movies announced were the long awaited Black Widow solo movie, a fourth instalment in the Thor series, second film in Doctor Strange series and more. While these are characters that we have already met in the previous 23 films from the MCU, there were quite a few new names taken. Among those were the Eternals, Blade and Shang-Chi and even, a female Thor!
So if you have been wanting a small introduction to these new superheroes, we have got you covered:
Eternals
The film stars Angelina Jolie as Thena, Salma Hayek as Ajax, along with Game Of Thrones fame Richard Madden as Ikarus, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Lia McHugh, and Don Lee. Chloe Zhao is directing the film. In the comics, Eternals are shown as physically similar to normal human beings but with powerful abilities. They have super strength, flight, teleportation, mind control, shape-shifting and energy projection. They were created from alien experiments on ancient humans millions of years ago. They lived in space cities and defended Earth from threats, like the Deviants, another race of super-humans that was more destructive and deformed.
There are a few dozen Eternals in the comics, but the movie is said to focus on two of the most prominent ones named Sersi and Ikaris.
Shang-Chi
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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will release on February 12, 2021. The MCU will get its first Asian superhero, the skilled martial artist Shang-Chi. The film will star Simu Liu and will be directed by Deston Daniel Cretton. It will also star Tony Leung as the real Mandarin(Ben Kingsley played an imposter version in Iron Man 3) and Awkwafina.
Shang-Chi, born in China to a Chinese father and a white American mother, first appeared in 1973’s Special Marvel Edition No. 15.The character was created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin after Marvel failed to acquire the comic book rights to the television series, Kung Fu. Shang-Chi was trained as a martial artist assassin by his father, the infamous pulp villain Fu Manchu, but later became a hero after rebelling against his father’s ways. Wonder Woman 1984 screenwriter Dave Callaham is penning the script for Shang-Chi.
Blade
Mahershala Ali, who recently won Oscars for Moonlight and Green Book, surprised the audience by walking on stage and putting on a baseball hat with the logo for Blade. No details were given but the crowd erupted in applause.
Created by writer Marv Wolfman, Blade first made an appearance in the 1973 comic book The Tomb of Dracula #10 as a supporting character. He is a vampire hunter--half-mortal, half-immortal--who tries to free the world from vampires as a way of avenging his mother, who was killed by a vampire as she gave birth to him. Actor Wesley Snipes played the character in David S Goyer’s Blade franchise.
Post the presentation, Feige told The Hollywood Reporter, that he had received a call from Ali expressing his desire to work with the studio. “When Marhershala calls, you answer,” Feige had said.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Thor: Love and Thunder is slated for November 5, 2021, release. Natalie Portman will reprise her role as Jane Foster. She will become the first female Thor in the MCU. Taika Waititi will direct the movie.
During one of Thor comic’s many storylines, Nick Fury says something to Thor that makes him lose his worthiness to lift the Mjolnir. Later, a woman lifts the hammer, proving her worthiness and fighting against the evil. While Thor tries hard to learn of her identity and win back his hammer at first, he later gives up the fight. He also relinquishes the name and role of Thor and is henceforth simply called Odinson. Meanwhile, Jane is suffering from cancer in real life so Thor doesn’t doubt that she could be the female Thor. However, turning into Thor is the only time when the cancer and chemotherapy have no effect on her.
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First Published: Jul 23, 2019 09:06 IST
