Does Marvel's 5-Year Plan Include The X-Men? Here's What Kevin Feige Says

Does Marvel's 5-Year Plan Include The X-Men? Here's What Kevin Feige Says

One of the biggest things to come from the merger of Fox and Disney is that Marvel Studios now has the film rights to the X-Men. With the confirmation that the upcoming Dark Phoenix will be the final chapter of the existing X-Men universe, fans are looking forward to what appears to be the inevitable inclusion of the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, as things currently stand in the MCU, we may not be seeing the X-Men anytime soon. According to Marvel chief Kevin Feige, the current plan for the next five years of Marvel movies doesn't include the mutants. According to Feige...

It’ll be a while. It’s all just beginning and the five-year plan that we’ve been working on, we were working on before any of that was set. So really it’s much more, for us, less about specifics of when and where [the X-Men will appear] right now and more just the comfort factor and how nice it is that they’re home. That they’re all back. But it will be a very long time.

Kevin Feige tells i09 that Marvel had been working on plans for the next phase of the MCU long before the deal with Fox was made, and thus, those plans didn't include a place for the X-Men. Feige says that those plans haven't been significantly impacted by this addition, so it likely won't be until after the current plan is finished that new characters, like the X-Men, will be added.

On the one hand, this makes a lot of sense. While we don't have a lot of visibility to what Marvel has planned for its next phase, we can assume a lot of work has been done behind the scenes. A lot of that work would go out the window and need to be started over, all with a much shorter turn around time, if the X-Men were made an immediate concern.

While Marvel has yet to confirm anything officially after Spider-Man: Far From Home comes out this July, we do think we know what's coming. Movies about Black Widow, and The Eternals have been rumored. Sequels for Doctor Strange and Black Panther are expected, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is back on the schedule, though it will now be coming out later than previously scheduled.

And there's really no need to bring in the X-Men too soon. There are plenty of other characters that can be focused on in future films and the longer the X-Men are left alone, the easier it will be to bring them back in a new, rebooted, form.

At the same time, as i09 points out, Marvel pivoted pretty quickly once the studio made a deal with Sony to get Spider-Man into the MCU, so it wouldn't be the first time plans had changed because new opportunities had presented themselves. There's always the possibility that, even if there are no specific plans to bring in the X-Men right now, those plans could always change.

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Detective Pikachu Is Poised To Make A Ton Of Money In Theaters

Detective Pikachu Is Poised To Make A Ton Of Money In Theaters

These days there's really no such thing as a bad time for a big tentpole movie to release, but the "summer movie season" which these days starts around late April or early May, is still a period that gets a bit more love from studios. Big movies tend to open bigger and it looks like that's going to be the case for Detective Pikachu. Early tracking for the live-action Pokemon movie has it running at an opening weekend of between $75-$90 million with a total domestic run of somewhere around $250 million.

To put that in perspective, the only movie expected to do better than Detective Pikachu at the box office between now and when Pikachu opens May 10 is Avengers: Endgame. The rest of the major releases, Disney's live-action Dumbo, Shazam!, Hellboy, etc. are not expected to do anything close to what Detective Pikachu is looking at putting up.

This is certainly at least somewhat surprising. While Pokemon certainly has a lot of fans, in North America it would still have to be viewed as a niche property. While the success of more mainstream Pokemon games like Pokemon Go certainly have helped the brand achieve broader popularity, there was no guarantee that would translate to success elsewhere. However, based on these numbers it certainly does look like Detective Pikachu is set to be a huge hit.

The fact that Pokemon's international appeal has the potential to result in the film doing even better overseas means that when global numbers are tallied, Detective Pikachu could end up being one of the highest grossing movies of the year.

As Box Office Pro points out, there are some potential stumbling blocks to Pikachu's success. It will be opening during Avengers: Endgame's third weekend, and while that will likely give the superhero juggernaut enough breathing space, if that film is able to retain a sizable audience for that long, it could potentially cut into the business of the Pokemon movie.

Detective Pikachu will likely have about two weeks to make the bulk of its domestic cash. That's when Disney live-action Aladdin will be opening, which will likely appeal to the same wide audience that Pikachu looks to be wooing. The weekend in between will see the opening of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, which, as an R-rated action movie, is unlikely to draw too much away from the Pokemon audience.

Considering the movie is still well over a month away, these projections will almost certainly change. The only question is which direction they will go. There's a strong chance that as we get closer to release more people will begin to get excited about Detective Pikachu. It's very possible this movie will be even bigger than we think it's going to be.

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The Hulk Originally Could Have Turned To Dust In Avengers: Infinity War

The Hulk Originally Could Have Turned To Dust In Avengers: Infinity War

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on a serious roll in Phase Three, as every new blockbuster has been met with critical and box office success. The last decade of filmmaking will come to a head when Avengers: Endgame arrives in a matter of days, picking up the narrative from the shocking ending of Infinity War. The Russo Brothers broke fans hearts by wiping out half of all life, as moviegoers watched countless fan favorite characters fade to dust.

I didn’t know until I saw the movie. For one take, I did disappear, and then the other one I didn’t.

Well, this is wild. Bruce Banner/Hulk has been in every Avengers movie, so it's hard to imagine Endgame without the big green guy. But it looks like that was on the table for a while, as The Russo Brothers had Mark Ruffalo film a dusting scene of his very own.

In the end, all of the OG Avengers managed to survive The Decimation, along with supporting characters like War Machine, Rocket, Okoye, and Nebula. But it turns out that Bruce Banner could have perished, as Mark Ruffalo filmed both endings for his character. Ruffalo recently revealed this, saying:

Mark Ruffalo's comments to Yahoo are sure to puzzle cinephiles, given how Infinity War and Endgame were filmed directly after each other. As such, Hulk's fate presumably was only a question for a limited time. Because The Russo Brothers had the scheduling nightmare of working out shooting for Endgame, and would need Ruffalo to clear up his schedule in order to play Banner/Hulk alongside the rest of the living heroes.

The ending of Avengers: Infinity War was truly devastating, as the fandom didn't expect Thanos to win and exterminate so many iconic characters. And it seems The Russo Brothers experimented a bit with who would be a victim of the snap, and fade to dust before our eyes. Instead of merely being phased into a rock in the Hulkbuster armor, Bruce Banner could have also faded to dust from within the suit. And with that ending, Hulk wouldn't have gotten another chance to face off against the Mad Titan.

Luckily, Bruce Banner survived the snap, and should have a meaty role alongside the rest of the survivors when Avengers: Endgame finally hits theaters. Fans are especially eager to see Hulk return to the screen, as he was largely absent in Infinity War after losing a fight in the film's opening scene. As a reminder, you can check out that scuffle below.

Merchandise from Avengers: Endgame hints at a rematch for these two powerful characters, so it's a good thing that Hulk wasn't dusted during The Snap. It's also poetic to see the original team reunited in the upcoming blockbuster, allowing The Russo Brothers to end the narrative that started back with Iron Man in 2007.

Answers will come when Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters on April 26th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Agent Coulson Was Originally Going To Have A Way Smaller Part In Iron Man, According To Clark Gregg

Agent Coulson Was Originally Going To Have A Way Smaller Part In Iron Man, According To Clark Gregg

Agent Phil Coulson will long be remembered as one of the most important lynchpins of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When the franchise was first starting up, he was utilized as the character bringing everything together and one could easily argue that the movies wouldn’t be the same without him. Which makes it all the more amazing that his initial part in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man was much smaller than what we all saw in the finished cut of the film.

After about seven years away, Clark Gregg is now back on the big screen as Phil Coulson in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel, and it was during the movie’s recent Los Angeles press day that I learned just how tiny the character’s role initially was in the first Iron Man. During our interview I steered the conversation towards a reflection on his start in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Gregg explained that Coulson in the script didn’t have anywhere near the impact on the movie that he ultimately does:

Agent Coulson was a small role, was two scenes, if anything. And they liked something about that repartee. They liked something about having the S.H.I.E.L.D. presence being there, and all of a sudden they added seven more scenes! Next thing I know Pepper Potts is going, 'Thank you, Agent Coulson.' And I was like, 'I've got a name now; this is cool.'

That’s right – apparently Clark Gregg’s character wasn’t even named Agent Coulson before an appreciation of the actor’s contribution on set led to an expanded part. And that expanded part, of course, led to future roles in Iron Man 2, Thor, The Avengers, and the still-running television series Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. He has been at the center at some of the most crucial moments in the history of the franchise.

It’s also worth noting that the impact isn’t limited to the big and small screen. Phil Coulson made his debut in the pages of Marvel Comics in January 2012, palling around with Captain America, the Avengers, and even Deadpool. And none of that would have happened if the character’s part in Iron Man was as big as it was in the script.

Obviously it’s led to great things for Clark Gregg, but the actor also sees the whole situation very much reflecting why it is that Marvel Studios has been so incredibly successful in the last 11 years. As protective as they may want to be with the material, there is still a certain openness to new ideas that allows spontaneous greatness to be generated. Said Gregg,

But I've always thought to myself that there's a secret there, which is that even in those early days there was a trust of the filmmakers, a trust of what they were seeing. If something feels like it's working, they would go with that. There's a kind of flexibility that I think has as much to do with the longevity of this as anything else.

Captain Marvel, which is the 21st film from Marvel Studios, is further example of the company’s pop culture dominance, debuting this weekend with a $153 million three-day start. The blockbuster, which stars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law and Annette Bening in addition to Clark Gregg, is now playing in theaters everywhere – and we’ll have plenty more content about the film coming your way in the next few days.

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Wesley Snipes Is Playing A Villain On Screen Again And We Have The Details

Wesley Snipes Is Playing A Villain On Screen Again And We Have The Details

During his decades-long acting career, Wesley Snipes has played a variety of characters, many of whom have been good guys. However, he has occasionally taken on villainous roles, most notably Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man. Now, over 25 years after that Marco Brambilla-directed movie came out, Snipes is returning to antagonist territory with his upcoming movie, Payline.

Written by Rob Robol and Jay S. Boyd, Payline is described as a casino heist story in the vein of “Oceans 11 meets Free Fire.” The movie is about a small-town casino that turns into a battleground after two groups of criminals try to rob it on the same night. In addition to performing on camera, Snipes will also executive produce Payline for Dawn’s Light Media and Maandi House Studios alongside Alexander Ferguson, while Allan Ungar (who worked on that Uncharted fan film Nathan Fillion starred in), Richard Switzer and Jason Cherubini (the latter two are from Dawn’s Light) are attached as producers.

No specific details were provided about who Wesley Snipes is specifically playing. If I had to guess, he’s either the leader of the gang that’s being framed as the “bad guys” in this heist or he’s the manager/owner of this casino these groups are breaking into. In any case, since this is Snipes’ first villain role since Demolition Man, this is surely a momentous occasion for him. Here’s what the actor had to say about Payline overall:

We at Maandi House Studios along with our sister companies and strategic partners are extremely excited to be working with Dawns Light Media on the kind of action film not seen in years. This is a vehicle to demonstrate the next generation of indie-film making in a 5G powered world. It is our goal to show how a 100% Certified Renewable Energy film production can show love for the environment, community and still produce a kick-ass popcorn movie.

Although he’s stretching his villainous muscles again for the first time in nearly three decades, Wesley Snipes will arguably always be best known for his time as a superhero, having played Eric Brooks, a.k.a. Blade, across three movies from 1998 to 2004. Snipes has expressed interest numerous times over the years in reprising Blade for a fourth movie, though there’s still no indication that will happen. In any case, Payline allows him to once again operate on the side of corruption rather than justice.

In recent years, Wesley Snipes has appeared in movies like The Expendables 3, Chi-Raq, Armed Response and The Recall, as well as the TV series The Player. Along with Payline, his other upcoming projects include the Netflix movie Dolemite Is My Name, where he’s playing D’Urville Martin alongside Eddie Murphy’s Rudy Ray Moore; the RZA drama Cut Throat City, which also stars Terrence Howard, T.I. and Eiza Gonzalez; and the TV series Paper Empire, which also stars Robert Davi, Denise Richards and Robert Knepper.

Payline’s release date hasn’t been announced yet, so stay tuned for that information. In the meantime, you can find out what movies are hitting theaters later this year in our 2019 release schedule.

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Are The Russo Brothers Open To Joining The DCEU?

Are The Russo Brothers Open To Joining The DCEU?

Change is a great force that keeps worlds, both personal and cosmic, moving into the future. Societies thrive on it, and in the entertainment world, it definitely helps to have a degree of flexibility that allows for change to take place. In the case of Anthony and Joe Russo, the directing masterminds behind this year’s three-hour epic Avengers: Endgame, change is a subject that has definitely been mentioned in recent conversations, as the brothers have been asked whether or not they’d do a film for the DC Extended Universe. While the answer is unclear, the pair definitely haven’t shot down the possibility just yet.

On the brink of what could be their crowning achievement in comic cinema history, Joe Russo had the following to say about whether or not he and his brother Anthony would consider directing for DC:

I mean, our brains are so fogged at this point, I don't know if we can consider anything. But you never say never.

It’s a scenario that we’ve seen happen plenty of times with on-screen talent: you debut in one comic universe, and whether it’s a boom or a bust, eventually there’s an opportunity to move into the next realm and continue the good work. So you’d have to be nuts not to wonder if The Russo Brothers would want to take the fantastic experiences they’ve had since starting their tenure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and try to replicate them on the DC Comics team. Unfortunately, the answer is wobbly at best for now.

But of course, there’s a lot of history that ties the pair to the MCU. They first put their stamp on it with 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and have continued to help tie the entire universe together in their subsequent films Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.

This response to MTV News’ Josh Horowitz, while seeming non-committal as any good Marvel Studios professional would be in this situation, is also particularly understandable. It has to be considered that Joe and Anthony Russo have literally just locked Avengers: Endgame into its final form as of this weekend.

Putting the finishing touches on Avengers: Endgame marks the end to a shoot that saw two gigantic epics filmed back-to-back, with the actors not even knowing which half their particular scenes were going into. So not only did they have to keep themselves straight on how the story was working out, they had to navigate those waters carefully for their cast as well.

The Russo Brothers do indeed have the full right to feel fogged over at this point, as they’ve just put to bed what has the potential to be the biggest film in the history of modern blockbusters. It’s such a frenzied event that fans sold out opening weekend showings in record time, broke ticketing apps in the process, and have even begun selling their Avengers: Endgame tickets for obscene amounts.

And yet, at this moment, some executive at Warner Bros. has to be weighing the pros and cons of making an offer to the Russos for a DC Comics crossover that has such spectacular ramifications, that only the pair that have handled Marvel Studios’ most ambitious pair of films to date could handle it. Naturally, while an outright yes or no would be foolish at this juncture, Joe Russo is wise to not dismiss the notion wholesale.

While the question of whether or not the Russo Brothers will work in the DCEU is not an open and shut answer, it is a possibility that should continue to engross fans and delight decision makers at DC Comics until the day that a final statement has been issued on the matter. So if you’re hoping that somehow the DC Rebirth arc will be adapted, and allow for the series to start over with a renewed purpose and the Russos at the helm, you might want to make your voice heard about now. You never know what the future will bring.

Avengers: Endgame breaks down the walls of your local theater on April 26th. But, of course, if you’d like to get some fun into your box office calendar before that point, you'll want to see our 2019 release schedule, as it has the information you’ll need before heading out to the theater.

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David Harbour Responds To Black Widow Rumors

David Harbour Responds To Black Widow Rumors

It's an extremely exciting time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with just one blockbuster left in Phase Three. 21 movies and a decade of filmmaking will come to a head when Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters, picking up on the action after the devastating loss to Thanos in Infinity War. But aside from Spider-Man: Far From Home, Marvel Studios' plans for the future are largely a mystery.

There are some exciting projects being developed, even if their release date is currently unclear. Chief among them is the Black Widow movie, which will finally give Scarlett Johansson the chance to lead a Marvel blockbuster. Director Cate Shortland seems to be making some steps toward casting the movie, with the latest report indicating Stranger Things favorite David Harbour landed a role. Now Hopper himself has responded to those reports, saying:

Yeah man, like I want to do the movie. [Marvel would] kick me out so fast…[if I reveal anything]. Look here's what I will say. It's being directed by this woman Cate Shortland who is a phenomenal director. She directed a movie called Lore. She's a phenomenal director, so what's really exciting to me about it is it's gonna be like a real deep, interesting film. And so yeah, I'm just excited for it as a film as well as a superhero movie

While clearly nervous to anger the Marvel gods before he can even begin, David Harbour confirmed his excitement about the Black Widow movie, especially when it comes to working with the director. Fresh off his debut as Hellboy, the Golden Globe nominee is going to head to another comic book adaptation.

David Harbour's comments to ET are sure to excite his many fans, who are hoping to see more of him on the big screen. His debut as Hellboy will arrive in theaters shortly, offering an R-rated romp free disconnected from Guillermo del Toro''s previous set of movies. But Harbour joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe is perhaps more exciting, especially with the future currently so unclear.

Black Widow's movie has been a long time coming, and David Habour's comments make it seem like nothing we've ever seen before in the MCU. Scarlett Johansson's signature character has been a major presence in the shared universe, but she's never gotten her own time to really shine. This is especially hard because Widow is one of the most complicated and badass Avengers, and we've gotten only small glimpses into her sordid past. But according to Harbour, the movie is going to be an intimate look at the character.

For now we'll have to wait as Black Widow's movie is developed, and hope for details regarding the cast, plot, and settings. Because depending on her fate in Endgame, a prequel film might not be out of the question.

Black Widow will return to theaters when Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters on April 26th, and you can catch David Harbour in Hellboy on April 12th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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We Saw New Avengers: Endgame Footage And It Revealed The Heroes' Plan To Take On Thanos

We Saw New Avengers: Endgame Footage And It Revealed The Heroes' Plan To Take On Thanos

We’re going to get into a spoilery-ish scene we screened from Avengers: Endgame today in this piece. If you want to go into the upcoming Marvel movie fresh – and I totally don’t blame you – please hop out now and check out one of our other lovely articles. If you love reading everything you can about the movie, forage on!

We’re so close to Avengers: Endgame I can taste it. In fact I got a taste of it today at CinemaCon 2019 when Disney shared a lot of brand new footage and other content from its upcoming 2019 slate of films. (No Star Wars Episode IX though, sorry.) Among these moments was an extended scene from Avengers: Endgame that captured more of Captain Marvel interacting with some of the other Avengers as well as revealed a little bit about the heroes’ plan to take on Thanos.

First and foremost, the scene opens with some footage we’ve seen snippets of in the trailers so far. Cap, Rhodey and some of the other Avengers are strategizing about when and how to take down Thanos. Captain Marvel really feels like it’s her fight, but the other Avengers assert “it’s our fight too.”

As it turns out, it’s also Nebula’s fight. We’ve known for a while now that Nebula would play a key role in Avengers: Endgame. In fact, actress Karen Gillan previously revealed she believes Nebula will sway the audience in a different way this time around noting:

She's evolved from a villain to someone we've developed empathy towards. I think she's going to be a character we're all rooting for.

In the new clip, Nebula reveals that while she was busy attempting to earn Thanos’ approval and please him, he always talked about wanting to go to The Garden. (Hilariously, Rhodey quips that’s it’s just peachy Thanos “has a retirement plan.”) The Avengers use some fancy technology to track an energy signature that seems to be a second use of the stones. Assumedly that’s a tie-in to Thanos terraforming the planet.

The team then spends the next few minutes deciding they’ll need to go into space, find the planet, take on Thanos, and then use the stones to undo what happened prior during Avengers: Infinity War.

There’s a little bit of a debate about what will be different this time around. Captain Marvel quietly and effectively says "me," but it seems there may still be some skeptics among the other heroes. I'm assuming they don't know the whole breadth of what the character can do or they wouldn't rib her so much, but it's hard to tell given the context.

You’ve seen part of this clip in a recent trailer for Marvel's Avengers: Endgame, in which Thor stands up, retrieves Stormbreaker and declares about Carol Danvers, “I like her.”

This whole scene fits in line with recent footage we’ve seen. In the last trailer, Thanos noted:

You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me.

That seemingly implied at the time the Avengers were the ones tracking down Thanos in order to restore balance to the universe and eventually found him, but now we know how they get started. The clip ends with a shot of plenty of Avengers in a space ship: Captain Marvel, Bruce Banner, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Nebula, Rhodey and Rocket. That’s footage, too, that was confirmed in a recent trailer.

Still, seeing an extended moment confirmed a little bit more of the plan, it got me even more pumped to get into the nitty gritty of what happens and it reminds me that although a lot of the marketing for Avengers: Endgame has been serious, this movie is going to have some new team-ups among the heroes. In addition, the clip confirmed it’s going to be fun to have Captain Marvel be “the new kid” in the gang, and the convos she has with the other heroes are pretty amusing.

We won’t have much longer to wait to see how this whole story plays out. Avengers: Endgame is finally out on April 26 and if you don't have tickets yet for opening weekend, they seem to be selling quickly.

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Aladdin Box Office: Disney Opens Big On Memorial Day As Brightburn And Booksmart Struggle

Aladdin Box Office: Disney Opens Big On Memorial Day As Brightburn And Booksmart Struggle

Dumbo, who? Disney rebounded from that movie's disappointing opening early this year, finding a whole new world of money with Aladdin. The 2019 live-action remake is making good use of Memorial Day weekend, and it's expected to make over $100 million just at the domestic box office alone by the time the four-day holiday is over. There wasn't much magic at the box office for anyone else, with Aladdin leaving everybody in the dust, including the three repeats just behind it -- John Wick 3, Avengers: Endgame, and Detective Pikachu. You have to head down to #5 to find the first other newcomer in Brightburn, followed by Booksmart.

Check out the full top 10 chart from the domestic box office. The results below are just for the usual three-day Friday-to-Sunday tally, and more money will be made Monday to finish out Memorial Day weekend.

If Aladdin can reach $110 million on Monday, that will make it one of the top five Memorial Day openings ever, per Box Office Mojo stats. It seems to be trending toward the higher end of the initial estimates for its opening weekend box office. That said, there's no chance it will take the #1 Memorial Day weekend spot from the reigning champion, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which nabbed $139 million in its four-day debut.

Aladdin has already made more than $120 million at the international box office, for a current worldwide total of $207.1 million. It should easily pass Dumbo, which only has a current domestic total of $112,701,413 and a worldwide total of $348,096,055.

Speaking of Dumbo, though, it got a boost from Aladdin's opening. It actually just missed the top 10, placing #11 with a $1.046 million weekend. That's a +238.2% jump over its 18th place finish last week. Sometimes it seems like Disney is stacking these releases too close together, but as we saw from Captain Marvel when Avengers: Endgame came out, the releases don't cannibalize each other so much as give the previous film a nice ticket boost.

John Wick 3 was the top dog last week, finally dethroning Avengers: Endgame as #1 title on the weekend charts. They are both still toward the top this weekend, along with Detective Pikachu, which left the indie newcomers struggling for air. Brightburn is a superhero movie, but not a big studio comic book movie. It was made on a shoestring budget, so that $7.5 million isn't exactly a failure, but does it bode ill for the potential to continue the story from here? Same with Booksmart, which is one of the best-reviewed films of the year. It's earning raves, but only $6.5 million at the box office.

It's always tough to be a small film out there, but especially around a big holiday weekend like this. Brave of them to even try to take on Aladdin, John Wick, and Endgame with some counter-programming. But would another time of year have been more advantageous?

Looking ahead, next week is going to be another monster at the box office -- literally, with Godzilla: King of the Monsters ready to take your money. Rocketman will also open to try and claim the non-blockbuster crowd.

Who took your money this weekend and why? Poll time.

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Chris Pratt Really Didn’t Want To Audition For Guardians Of The Galaxy

Chris Pratt Really Didn’t Want To Audition For Guardians Of The Galaxy

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a massive place, with a ton of franchises and endless heroic characters to follow. But certain properties stand out among the rest as fan favorites, and James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy is definitely one of those. The movies follow a motley crew of misfits, featuring an all-star cast including Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, and Chris Pratt.

But it turns out that Chris Pratt wasn't always keen to play Peter Quill/Star-Lord in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, he initially refused to audition for Marvel Studios, making the casting process a complicated one. Marvel casting director Sarah Finn recently recounted this at the Avengers: Endgame premiere, when asked about which Marvel blockbuster was the hardest to cast.

They're all challenging in their own ways, but I'd probably go with Guardians of the Galaxy. James Gunn has been very generous about this in saying that I, to the point of annoying him, kept insisting that Chris Pratt was the guy for the part, but Chris didn't want to play the part and refused to audition.

Well, this is surprising. Chris Pratt seems like the perfect choice to be Star-Lord, given his mixture of comedy and action experience. But the Parks & Rec alum was originally hesitant to join the franchise, so it took some convincing.

While moviegoers know just how successful the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise grew to be, there was no guarantee it would resonate so well with audiences before its 2014 debut. The characters were not household names, and the team included a giant talking tree and a foul mouthed raccoon. Chris Pratt can't be faulted for having some trepidation, before finally agreeing to meet with Sarah Finn and the folks at Marvel.

But once Chris Pratt agreed to read for Star-Lord, Sarah Finn still had to convince James Gunn. As she mentioned in her same interview with Variety,

I finally got him to audition and James Gunn said he didn't want to see him and that really was a challenge. I was really happy when I finally got them together and it was honestly one of those eureka moments that we talk about in casting when it absolutely feels right and you know it's right. James turned to me within ten seconds and said 'He's the guy.'

To me, it sounds like Sarah Finn gets the credit for casting Chris Pratt because she deserves it. The casting director clearly saw something special about Pratt's talents and the lone human Guardian, and it's a decision that seems to have paid off. Pratt has gone on to perform the part in three Marvel blockbusters, and is expected to reprise his role in Avengers: Endgame.

While there was some pullback from both Chris Pratt and James Gunn, eventually the director saw Pratt read as Peter Quill. And almost instantly, he realized that was the right guy all along. Why don't casting directors get Oscar attention, again?

Ultimately Chris Pratt's Star-Lord debuted when Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters in 2014, and became a summer hit that grossed a whopping $773.3 million. The cast reunited for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in 2017, which made even more money at the box office and was another critical darling. Pratt leads the cast and gets top billing, and the sequel was largely focused on his relationship with father Ego (Kurt Russell).

Star-Lord and the rest of the Guardians (including newcomer Mantis) were handed over to The Russo Brothers for Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, which let them finally crossover with the greater MCU. They brought in a breathe of fresh air to the ultra-serious Infinity War, and their interactions with Thor and Iron Man didn't disappoint.

They had a major role in the multiple stories, proving how popular and essential the Guardians have become since Chris Pratt auditioned and landed the role of Star-Lord. Gamora was the key to the Soul Stone, while Rocket and Groot helped Thor get his new weapon Stormbreaker. Meanwhile, the rest of the Guardians and Nebula faced Thanos on Titan.

Related: Why The Soul Stone Was Very Important To Avengers: Infinity War’s Script, According To The Writers

Star-Lord's action ultimately helped Thanos' victory, and stopped the team on Titan from beating the big purple guy. When the Mad Titan was briefly incapacitated, Nebula revealed that Gamora was dead, as her sister wasn't there with him. In a fit of rage he punched Josh Brolin's villain, and broke Mantis' concentration in the process. Thanos came to, and made quick work of the heroes with his full power.

It should be interesting to see how Star-Lord factors into Avengers: Endgame. Rocket and Nebula were the only characters to be spared from Thanos' wrath, and the two characters will likely lean on each other in the upcoming blockbuster. Most moviegoers assume the dusted characters will somehow be resurrected, with the newest Endgame trailers indicating the survivors will try to wield the stones themselves.

Some type of resurrection is going to be needed in order for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to come to fruition. Star-Lord, Rocket, Drax, and Mantis all got dusted thanks to Thanos. So if The Decimation is reversed, the team should be in much better shape. But the big question is what will happen to Gamora. Rather than dying from the snap, she was murdered by Thanos in order to procure the Soul Stone on Vormir. Is there any hope for her?

While it may have been a long road, Chris Pratt's casting as Star-Lord is inspired, and the actor and James Gunn seem to have a good working relationship. This collaboration will continue for Guardians 3, now that Gunn has been officially rehired by Disney to helm the threequel. But first things first: the Guardians and Avengers need to tend to Thanos.

Star-Lord faded to dust in Avengers: Infinity War, and the character is expected to somehow be revived and pop up in Endgame. In the meantime, fill out CinemaBlend's Endgame death pool, and be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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The 25 Most Emotional Moments In Avengers: Endgame

The 25 Most Emotional Moments In Avengers: Endgame

Warning: Based on the box office, the entire world saw Avengers: Endgame this weekend, but if you somehow didn’t, click on one of our other fine stories because the spoileriest of SPOILERS are contained within!

In pop culture’s most emotionally exhausting weekend ever, Avengers: Endgame delivered all the emotional wallop that we’ve been predicting and expecting for years. Avengers: Endgame was billed as a culmination; a definitive ending to The Infinity Saga story that we have been following since 2008. That finality meant that no one, at least none of the original six Avengers, was safe, and being that we’ve invested so much time with these characters, the potential for tears was high.

Avengers: Endgame did not disappoint on this front and the only gauntlet more powerful than the infinity, is the emotional one this movie puts you through. With that in mind, here are the 25 of the most emotional moments in Avengers: Endgame.

Hawkeye Losing His Family

We saw a lot of people die at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, but there was one set of deaths saved for the very beginning of Avengers: Endgame. This climactic film barely gave you time to get adjusted in your seat before it hit you with the emotional gut punch of Hawkeye losing his family (as I predicted, by the way). While on house arrest, Clint Barton was enjoying time with his family, teaching his daughter archery, unaware of the war raging in Wakanda. Then, suddenly his wife and kids were all gone and his whole world with them.

Message For Pepper

This moment was partially shown in the first trailer for Avengers: Endgame, but that didn’t take away from its emotional impact in the film. Tony Stark, far from home, with no hope of rescue and a clock rapidly ticking down to his death, uses some of his remaining time to send a message to his one true love, Pepper Potts. Their relationship is the longest in the MCU and Pepper was the one person who could turn Tony Stark from playboy to husband. His sweet and loving message in this moment is testament to that.

Rocket And Nebula Holding Hands

The Decimation was particularly devastating for the Guardians, who had already lost Gamora and were whittled down to only Rocket Raccoon and Nebula. Rocket was left on Earth alone, surrounded by strangers, with no way to know if his adoptive family was simply missing or gone with half of the rest of the universe. And it was particularly sad for Nebula, who has yearned for love and acceptance for so long to lose her sister and her friends. So when Captain Marvel returns Nebula to Earth, the reunion between her and Rocket where they hold hands was beautiful and touching.

Tony’s Breakdown

We heard that Captain America: Civil War should be part of any MCU re-watch prep before Endgame, and this moment makes it clear why. The rift formed in that film was deep and long-lasting. When Tony is rescued from space and returns to Avengers HQ, he has a breakdown and basically blames Cap for not being there when he needed him. Tony Stark is in pain, unable to process his grief and lashing out to try and assign blame for what happened. It’s tough to watch, but it rings true for these characters after the events of Civil War.

The Stones Are Gone

When going to get Thanos on his garden retirement planet, Cap says that he doesn’t know what he’s going to do if it doesn’t work. Then it doesn’t. The Avengers easily subdue Thanos, but he reveals that he reduced the Infinity Stones to atoms to prevent temptation for them to be used again. Thor finally goes for the head, but it doesn’t matter. Thanos still won. This moment is, for the time being, the complete loss of hope, with the faintest glimmer snuffed out due to Thanos and his inevitability and it leaves the heroes reeling for five years.

The Support Group

In HBO’s The Leftovers, the characters are struggling to move on, to find hope in their grief at the loss of 2% of the world’s population. In Endgame, 50% of all life has been extinguished and we see how emotionally wrecked the survivors are. Here, co-director Joe Russo cameos as a man who lost his partner to the snap. He talks about how difficult it is to begin living again and to open himself up to love after having it ripped away from him. It is sad, but also hopeful as he says he’s going on another date.

Black Widow Tearfully Carrying On

I think it’s safe to say that the original six Avengers saved the best for last when it comes to many of their performances, and that rings especially true for Scarlett Johansson. After the time jump, Black Widow is still carrying on, trying to keep the world safe because that is all she knows how to do and it seems like she thinks she owes it to everyone. It’s a lonely position and we see that weariness on her face. And when Rhodey tells her about what Clint has been doing, you can see and feel her grief and heartbreak.

"I Love You 3000"

As audiences began seeing Avengers: Endgame and expressing their gratitude to Marvel Studios, the Russo Brothers and the Avengers themselves, one of the common refrains was “I love you 3000.” These are the words Tony Stark’s daughter Morgan says to him in the film. In a sweet moment in Morgan’s bedroom, we see that Tony Stark, once the last person in the world who should be a father, has become a great one. It’s love we all hope to have in our lives, and this love drives Tony’s desire to maintain the present in the rest of the film.

Scott Finds Cassie Alive

When Scott Lang emerges from the Quantum Realm and enters a world that is unlike the one he left, he sees monuments to all the people who died in the snap. It’s a moment of sheer terror and dread as he looks, hoping not to see his daughter Cassie’s name. It’s like when you hear a friend or family member got in an accident and are fearful of the worst. So when he knocks on the door and finds Cassie alive and much older than when he left her, a wave of relief washes over him and us.

"Don’t Give Me Hope"

After a really cool sequence of Ronin killing a bunch of people, Natasha finally finds him. She sees what the loss of his family has done to him and he tells her she shouldn’t be there, almost embarrassed and not wanting her to see him like this. When she tells him there’s a chance to undo it, he responds with the devastating “Don’t give me hope.” It’s heartbreaking to see how he has lost so much that he doesn’t even want to think about getting it back because the pain will be far too great if it doesn’t work.

Tony And Cap Reconciling

It sucks to have to choose sides and to see two people whom you both care about fighting. So when Tony races up to Avengers HQ to offer his services, the wounds of the past begin to heal. Tony mentions not wanting to have resentment and he returns Steve Rogers’ shield to him. They reconcile, finally ending their civil war and moving forward as friends and teammates as they were always meant to be. It’s incredibly heartwarming to see these two pillars of the MCU finally together again, not only fighting the same enemies, but being on the same team.

Rocket Talking About His Family

Rocket Raccoon is quietly one of the most tragic characters in the MCU, and we see that again in Avengers: Endgame. When on the mission to Asgard to get the Reality Stone, Rocket has to snap Thor out of his malaise, and to do that, the sweet rabbit shrugs off his hardened exterior to talk about his family, the Guardians, how they’re gone and how much it means to him to get them back. The family you choose is just as important to the family you’re born into, and hearing how much the Guardians mean to Rocket is quite moving.

Thor And Frigga

Leave it to Avengers: Endgame to somehow make Thor: The Dark World, considered by many to be the MCU’s worst movie, so much more meaningful to the character in hindsight. At this point, Thor has lost Loki, Odin, Frigga and half his people, arguably more than any other Avenger. So for him to get to see his mother Frigga again, and to finally get some sort of goodbye is extremely moving. Her motherly wisdom helps him to find a path forward, to become who he is and who he is meant to be, not who inheritance and title dictate.

Tony Talking To His Father

All the best superheroes have daddy issues, and that adage holds true for Tony Stark. The genius’ relationship with his father has always been complicated and it is only after Howard is gone that Tony is able to understand him, appreciate what he gave and forgive him his mistakes. When Tony and Steve go back to the '70s and Tony sees his father again, he is able to have the kind of conversation with his father he never could before. Tony ends up imparting some wisdom to Howard and basically tells his dad thanks and that he loves him.

Steve Looking At Peggy Carter

Duty has always had to come before love and personal happiness for Steve Rogers. That’s just who he is, but sometimes it is harder than others. That’s what happens when Steve is in the past in Peggy Carter's office. She is right there, the love of his life is just feet away, and all that separates them is glass. And yet he cannot go to her and his longing is palpable. It is incredibly sad because it seems to him, and us in that moment, that that’s as close as they’ll ever come again.

Black Widow’s Death

Before Endgame,the smart money was on Tony or Cap dying, and with her own solo film on the way, Black Widow was not an obvious candidate. But the Soul Stone exacts the ultimate price, and that lead to one of the film’s most emotional moments. Natasha, the torchbearer for the Avengers, willing to do whatever it takes, and Clint, the broken man, wanting his death to mean something, battled each other for the right to die. We didn’t want either to win, and when Black Widow kicks off the cliff and Hawkeye screams in agony, we feel his pain.

Nebula And Rhodey

This was a great movie for Karen Gillan’s Nebula as we got to see even more of how tragic she is as a character. In a surprising and emotional moment with Rhodey, she tells him that she wasn’t always like this, lamenting the artificial enhancements forced upon her when she wasn’t good enough. Rhodey, who now requires mechanical assistance due to his injuries, empathizes and tells her that they work with what they got. It was a beautiful kindness that showed that it’s not flesh and blood and bone that makes someone human (or Luphomoid), but actions and choices.

Call From Laura Barton

After losing Black Widow, the Avengers needed the plan to work so that her sacrifice would mean something. After they craft a gauntlet, Bruce snaps his fingers and there is a moment of uncertainty. Then, we hear Clint Barton’s phone and see that it is his wife Laura calling. As he’s picking it up, you can see that he allows hope to creep back in, but it is paired with trepidation, fearful of the possibility that that hope could yet be dashed. The relief on Hawkeye’s face as he picks it up and hears his wife’s voice is super moving.

Cap Is Worthy

Not all of the emotional moments in this film are sad; some fill your heart with happiness and make you pump your fist in excitement. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we got the first inkling that Steve Rogers was worthy to wield Mjolnir, and in one of Avengers: Endgame’s most crowd-pleasing moments, we find out for sure. Thor’s “I knew it” is a great callback drowned out by theater cheers and then we see Cap, taking on Thanos with his shield and Mjolnir in a moment that elicits one pure emotion: glee.

Avengers Assemble!

The first 11 years of the MCU have built to this film and the entire history of comic book movies feels like it built to this moment. After Cap stands alone against Thanos and his horde, the cavalry comes in. All the snapped characters have returned to the fight, and this emotional moment sends serious chills down your spine. And when we finally, after nearly two dozen movies, get to hear “Avengers Assemble!” as Cap stands with all the heroes of the MCU in an image out of a comic, the only tears shed are ones of joy.

Tony Hugging Peter

Tony Stark has always been one to opt for jokes and snark over sincere affection, and that was the case with his protege Peter Parker. But when Peter Parker fell to Thanos, it wrecked Iron Man in a way no one’s death save Pepper’s could. Peter was perhaps the person that made Tony want kids and the person that made him join the Time Heist. So when Peter is brought back and Tony gives him a genuine hug in the middle of battle, showing his love for him, it is one of the film’s most heartwarming moments.

Star-Lord Seeing Gamora Again

We all assumed that somehow, the victims of the snap in Avengers: Infinity War would be returned to life in Endgame. But things were less certain for Gamora, who was killed prior to the snap. And ultimately, the Gamora we knew is still dead. But for Peter Quill, just seeing her again, even if she didn’t know him or the history and love they shared, gave him hope that neither time nor space nor death could keep them apart. He got an unfortunate knee for his trouble, but now he gets to fall in love with her all over again.

Tony Stark’s Death And Funeral

Tony Stark started the MCU and he’s the character that we’ve spent the most time with, so his death and funeral elicited quite a few sniffles in the theater. From Peter Parker telling him he would be okay to Pepper letting him know that her and Morgan would be all right, it was tough to hold back the tears. Then the film delivered a scene out of a comic, as all the characters of the MCU attended the funeral for Earth’s greatest protector, who sacrificed himself to ensure victory. It was hauntingly beautiful and a sorrowful ending to the battle.

Cap Passing His Shield To Sam

We’ve long wondered what would happen once Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers hung up the shield and if he would pass it off to either Sam or Bucky as he has done in the comics. The Winter Soldier deferred to Sam and an old Cap passed his shield on to Falcon, in whom Cap saw the heart required to wield it. It was an incredible show of trust and belief, and although Falcon was grateful, there was also a bit of sadness, because wielding the shield meant that Steve no longer would, making the whole thing bittersweet.

Steve And Peggy Get Their Dance

While there is some grumbling about the can of worms this ending opens, it cannot be denied that it is perfect on a thematic and emotional level. Cap has always been a man out of time. He's able to find purpose, but not true happiness; not a real life in modern times. So it is a beautiful and emotional ending for him to find peace by returning to the past to live the life he missed out on and finally collect on that rain check for a dance with Peggy Carter.

As long as this list is, it is still not all encompassing, Let us know the Avengers: Endgame moment that tugged at your heartstrings the most in the comments below and check out our 2019 release schedule for all the movies headed your way this summer.

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Spider-Man: Far From Home May Be Hiding A Classic Villain In Plain Sight

Spider-Man: Far From Home May Be Hiding A Classic Villain In Plain Sight

Spider-Man has one of the deepest Rogues Galleries next to maybe only Batman on screen. There are so many different places that new Spider-Man movies can go with villains, that we can now see enemies like The Vulture (Michael Keaton) and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the MCU for the first time because the previous Sony films already have exhausted classic comic characters like Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus.

But the Sony/Marvel Spider-Man movies also have the ability to seed the backgrounds with potential villain possibilities. Michael Mando played Mac Gargan, aka Scorpion, in Spider-Man: Homecoming. And there is a character named Dimitri in the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home who may or may not be set up to eventually become The Chameleon.

We asked Far From Home director Jon Watts specifically about the rumor that actor Numan Acar, who plays Dimitri, was being set up to be The Chameleon on screen, and the director revealed:

Well, Dmitri in the film works for Nick Fury and I think anyone who works for Nick Fury, they certainly have a mysterious past. We're not specifically saying that he's [Chameleon]... but we're not not saying.

The character of Dimitri shows up in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in the trailer. He works for Nick Fury, and he can be seen to the left of Peter in this shot:

But when CinemaBlend visited the set of Spider-Man: Far From Home last year, we learned even more about how Dimitri will be used in the story.

As it turns out, Nick Fury really will hijack Peter Parker’s European vacation. After Fury recruits Spidey in Venice, he plans to place Dimitri on the class bus, taking the place of the driver, so he can drive Peter to locations where the Elementals are showing up. Executive Producer Eric Carroll walked us through the bulk of the plot for Far From Home, and told us this about Dimitri:

One of the guys on Nick's team is played by Numan Acar. He's a fantastic actor. And he's got this really great thing where he looks super imposing. He looks like the sort of guy you'd expect to be a mercenary. But he's hilarious. Just one of the funniest actors. … So now you've got this really scary-looking mercenary driving these kids around Europe. So, they get rerouted [by Fury]. They drive through the Alps, and there's a fun character set piece here where Peter, who now has access to some technology in the wake of having met up with Nick Fury, tries to use that technology for iffy purposes…. and almost blows up his bus by launching some weaponized drones that this spy team has access to.

It sounds almost like Jon Watts is asking Numan Acar to disguise himself as the school bus driver to stay near Peter Parker on this trip, and bring him to the places Nick Fury needs Spider-Man to be. Could he be… a chameleon, working for Fury?

For those who might not be aware, The Chameleon is Spider-Man’s earliest foe, appearing in issue No. 1 of The Amazing Spider-Man comics, dating back to 1963. He’s a master of disguise, a villain whose face is featureless and can basically pretend to be anyone. He’s also related to Kraven the Hunter, and damn if Numan Acar doesn’t look like he’d make an amazing Kraven, as well.

But we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves here. Spider-Man: Far From Home already has Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), and four Elemental creatures who are meant to represent MCU versions of Hydro-Man, Sandman, Molten Man and more.

We’ll see if the Chameleon really is in the cards when Spider-Man: Far From Home opens in theaters on July 2.

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Hellboy Reviews Are In, Here’s What Critics Are Saying

Hellboy Reviews Are In, Here’s What Critics Are Saying

In 2004, Hellboy finally made his big screen debut, with Ron Perlman inhabiting the eponymous role and Guillermo del Toro writing and directing the movie. Both that and its 2008 sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, received mostly positive reviews, but they weren’t huge commercial hits, and despite fans hoping for years that Hellboy III would eventually get made, it never did.

Instead, Lionsgate decided to give Hellboy the reboot treatment, but if you were hoping that this latest theatrical adventure starring Big Red comes anywhere close to being as good as its predecessors, if not better, it sounds like you’ll be disappointed. Hellboy reviews are pouring in online, and not only do many of them paint the reboot as the Dark Horse Comics character’s worse theatrical outing yet, but also as a subpar comic book movie in general.

CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg was disappointed with how Hellboy turned out, giving it 2 out of 5 stars in his review. He noted that while there are parts of the movie are handled reasonably, like certain story elements and and the look of this Hellboy, overall it’s a “messy piece of work that doesn’t seem quite sure what it wants to be or who it’s for” which especially suffers from bad one-liners and “clever” bits.

Hellboy is definitely a disappointment. As has been proven in the past, this is a character with a lot of big screen potential storywise, but the earlier movies suffered because they couldn’t find an audience, and this one suffers because it feels like it tried to throw everything at the wall in hopes of circumventing that same issue. It’s not a disaster, but with talent like Neil Marshall and David Harbour involved one expected better.

Over at Slashfilm, Josh Spiegel went many steps further in the negative direction and called Hellboy one of the worst comic book movies ever made, awarding it only a 1/10 score. Among the many adjectives Spiegel used to describe Hellboy include unpleasant, dreadful, obnoxious, unnecessary and interminable. In his opinion, both Hellboy’s humor and action fail to hit properly, and David Harbour fails to shine as the heroic demon.

Rebooting the character more than a decade after Guillermo del Toro’s series came to an end is fine. Del Toro’s Hellboy films are charming and feature tactile-seeming creatures, but they weren’t perfect. That’s still a vast improvement over this new film, which feels like a mistake from the start and gets worse from there.

Nerdist’s Kyle Anderson was kinder towards Hellboy, giving it a 3 out of 5 score. He acknowledged that since he was already a fan of the Hellboy comics, he was satisfied with much of what he saw, but people unfamiliar with this mythos might not feel the same way. That said, the movie’s faithfulness to the source material ends up being a burden with regard to looking like a unique/special product.

If you have longed for the Hellboy of the page to hit the screen, this movie will scratch some itches. You want a fun, bloody monster movie? You'll probably have a decent time. If you're expecting a big superhero blockbuster that hits every Joseph Campbell beat, this might not be the devil you need.

Leigh Monson from Birth.Movies.Death. was among those “disappointed” by Hellboy, taking issue with its convoluted plot, unlikable characters, “haphazard” editing and more. The entire product is filled with “strange, dumb-as-rocks” creative choices that ultimately form with the “inherent weirdness” of the source material to create a kind of “bizarro charm.”

Hellboy is some very ill-advised cinema, and those who enjoy the prospect of cinematic trainwrecks are likely to get some joy out of this. Everyone else... well, you all know where to find the better version.

io9’s Charles Pulliam-Moore felt that Hellboy was a “textbook example” of the kind of movie where, when watching it, you can pick up on “echoes” of what it was intended to be earlier in the production process. In its final form, though, Hellboy plays as more of a ‘greatest hits’ from the Hellboy comics that uses its R-rating not for proper scares, but “excessive amounts of gratuitous bloodshed.”

Like two great tastes that somehow don’t go well together, Hellboy’s greatest sin is that it makes you long for the film that it might have been because there’s so much about the movie that works in a vacuum. David Harbour absolutely nails the charming, lunk-ish aspects of Hellboy’s personality, and a handful of the film’s action sequences are legitimately fun to watch before you get back to the slog of the rest of the film. Sadly, those few bright spots aren’t likely to convince anyone that this reboot deserves to be a jumping off point for a new series or doing the Hellboy franchise any favors.

Finally, John DeFore from The Hollywood Reporter acknowledged that while the broad strokes of Andrew Cosby’s Hellboy script fit pretty well with the universe Mike Mignola created, there are too many action sequences, its characters are uninteresting and the design of Hellboy himself is questionable.

… Neil Marshall's Hellboy isn't lousy because nobody wants it, nor only because it fails to live up to both its big-screen and printed predecessors. It's just lousy. Bloated, vastly less funny than it aims to be and misguided in key design choices even when it scores with less important decisions, the film does make bold choices that might have paid off under other circumstances. But these aren't those circumstances.

These are just some of the Hellboy reviews making the rounds, so feel free to browse around other corners of the internet to see what other people have to say. Still, it doesn’t look like this movie will go down as a critical darling, and if its performance at the box office reflects this mediocre response, one probably shouldn’t get their hopes up of the reboot launching a new film series. In any case, if you’re not interested in checking out Hellboy, you can still get your comic book movie fix this month by checking out Shazam! and/or waiting for Avengers: Endgame.

You can judge Hellboy for yourself starting this Friday, April 12. Those of you interested in learning what other movies are coming out later this year can look through our 2019 release schedule.

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Avengers: Endgame Will Complete Captain America’s Arc, According To Chris Evans

Avengers: Endgame Will Complete Captain America’s Arc, According To Chris Evans

Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t going anywhere, Avengers: Endgame does mark the end of an era. Concluding both Phase 3 and this incarnation of the MCU that began in 2008 with Iron Man, the expectation has been that Endgame will either be the last time we see certain characters or mark their final appearance as major players in this franchise. Chris Evans’ Captain America is one of the top candidates on this particular list, and while we’re still not sure what fate holds in store for the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan, Evans did confirm that Endgame will wrap up the hero’s arc in the MCU. In Evans’ words:

I think just the completion of the arc. That’s safe to say, right? This movie does kind of provide an ending… He’s been through so much.

Chris Evans would have said more on that subject, but then he was interrupted by Robert Downey Jr. making a buzzing noise and saying “Judges?”, which was unquestionably a warning to Evans that he was too close to spoiler territory. From there, Evans spoke the “connections and friendships” he’s made during his time working in the MCU, prompting Downey to troll Evans about not making it to Paul Rudd’s birthday party. So while no more beans were spilled plot-wise, tea was spilled regarding cast gatherings.

This was just one of many topics discussed during the recent Avengers: Endgame press conference that CinemaBlend’s Eric Eisenberg attended, but it’s safe to say that what will happen to Captain America is one of the biggest concerns fans have going into this movie. When Chris Evans joined the MCU nearly a decade ago, he signed a six-movie contract (not including cameo appearances), though because that only took him through Avengers: Infinity War, he had it extended to he could appear in Endgame.

Beyond that, there’s been no indication that Evans will be around for Phase 4 and beyond, and Evans’ latest comment reaffirms that the arc that began with Steve Rogers being injected with the Super Soldier Serum in World War II, will reach a conclusion of sorts. However, just because the arc will end doesn’t necessarily mean that Avengers: Endgame will permanently conclude Steve’s story. Either way, hopefully fans will be pleased with the final stretch of this journey that kicked off in 2011 with Captain America: The First Avenger.

There hasn't been any shortage of theories of how Avengers: Endgame will end for Captain America, from being killed in battle to somehow traveling back in time to live out the rest of his years with Peggy Carter. That said, after Chris Evans tweeted about officially wrapping Endgame last October that indicated this was his final MCU appearance, the actor clarified soon after his post should not be taken as a spoiler.

Several months later, Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo said that Evans is “not done yet,” and that audiences would soon understand what he was talking about. That seemingly indicates that Captain America won’t die in Endgame, although let’s be honest, even if Cap did meet his demise, that doesn’t prevent the character from popping back up in flashbacks, hallucinations, etc. Whatever Endgame holds in store, given how the upcoming slate of Marvel movies looks, it’s reasonable to assume that Cap will be taking a backseat in this world as new and recently introduced characters are more prominently featured.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. For those wondering what’s coming up after this gigantic spectacle, look through our Marvel movies guide to learn what’s lined up for Phase 4.

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