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Much like Warner Bros is spreading the DC Universe on a number of different networks, Disney and Marvel Television look to be doing the same with some of their characters on the fringe. Today, Freeform (formerly known as ABC Family) has announced a greenlight for a Cloak and Dagger series per Variety. Given the romantic […]

It’s Friday, so we’re about to call it a weekend over here on the Entertainment side of The Beat, but here’s a couple of quick items of interest: Marvel and Netflix’s Iron Fist has added its second cast member, following Finn Jones as Danny Rand, as the series has enlisted another Game of Thrones alum […]

Last year, the Netflix release of Marvel's Daredevil took superhero fandom by storm. The set of episodes that comprised Daredevil's freshman year breathed new life into a fairly moribund television landscape.

Best known as Ser Loras Tyrell on HBO’s massively popular series Game of Thrones, Finn Jones is Marvel’s pick to play Danny Rand/Iron Fist in their upcoming series on Netflix per Entertainment Weekly. Iron Fist, centering on the eponymous character created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, will be the fourth series of the Marvel/Netflix […]

Moralities collide between Matt Murdock and Frank Castle in this newly released Daredevil Season 2 trailer. While the promo mostly focuses on the conflict between the two, with The Punisher taking some inspiration from the actions of Daredevil, make sure you watch the whole thing for a quick glimpse of the other big character debuting […]

 Announced today at the Television Critics Association event, the critical smash Jessica Jones will be returning for a second season along with showrunner Melissa Rosenberg. No premiere date was given, but Netflix head Ted Sarandos indicated that the release would depend upon The Defenders, which has a contractual start date after both Luke Cage and Iron Fist […]

Marvel and Netflix look to be lining up their sixth series

Marvel and DC's grim vigilantes are going to duke it out for your eyeballs

Get a closer look at the newest version of The Punisher

Marvel and Netflix's fourth series has reportedly found its new head writer

We take a spoiler-free look at the highly anticipated Marvel/Netflix series

ALIAS comes to life!

Remember a few months back when there was talk of a spin-off of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that focused on Adrianne Palicki‘s Bobbi Morse and Nick Blood‘s Lance Hunter? At the time it seemed like we were either getting that or Agent Carter Season 2, and once ABC opted to renew the latter, the former […]

With Jessica Jones gearing up for its Netflix debut sometime later this year, the press around it is starting to gear up. Per IndieWire (easily one of my favorite film sites), their team got a chance to chat with Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg during the TCAs about what’s coming for […]

For those of you who don’t know, my fellow Entertainment Editor, Hannah Lodge and I, along with Beat Contributors Harper Harris and Cal Cleary, host a mostly-weekly podcast together for our site, GeekRex (where we also write-up comic and movie reviews, along with the rare television and game piece). For the latest episode, Heidi has been […]

We’ll have more to say about the big “Marvel Television Presents” Press room that ended just a few moments ago a little later on, but one big detail that we can share right away comes from Agent Carter showrunners Tara Butters and Michelle Fazekas who were able to share just a few tid-bits about the Season 2 antagonists that will be opposing Peggy and Jarvis when they come to L.A.:

Fazekas: The antagonists, I would say, exist in the Marvel comics, a version of them. And there’s even a group called the Secret Empire. And I can also tell you, and this is somewhat of a spoiler, there’s a thing called Darkforce, that comes from the comic book universe, which also created Blackout on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it comes out of the Doctor Strange universe as well. That’s going to show up, causing problems for people.

Fazekas is surely being a bit vague in order to keep things under wraps, but The Secret Empire would indeed be a logical choice of villain for this upcoming season. In the comics, this organization began as a subsidiary of HYDRA and have always been led by a mysterious (and changing) leader, simply known as “Number One”. They later reformed as major antagonists for Captain America, with an implication that their leader was actually the President of the United States. They’ve existed in the background of the Marvel universe ever since, making a recent appearance in Mark Waid‘s seminal Daredevil run.

The fact that Agent Carter will also be potentially tapping into the Doctor Strange mythos most likely underscores the importance of the upcoming Scott Derrickson-directed feature film.

While we know Marvel Studios proper is skipping out on SDCC this year, creating a trend that also saw Sony and Paramount deciding to skip the show, their television division will indeed be there with a Ballroom 20 appearance covering both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, along with an animation panel the next day.

No sign of the Netflix shows though, mostly likely they will remain saved for NYCC instead.

FRIDAY, JULY 10

Marvel Television Presents — Panel Session

3:00 PM – 4:15 PM in Ballroom 20

Join the casts and producers of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Marvel’s Agent Carter”!

SATURDAY, JULY 11

“Marvel’s Agent Carter” – Cast Signing Event

10:00 AM at the Marvel Booth (#2329)

Cast Attending: Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Tara Butters (EP), Michele Fazekas (EP), Chris Dingess (EP), Louis D’Esposito (EP) and Jeph Loeb (EP)

Marvel Animation Presents – Panel Session

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM in Room 6BCF

Go behind-the-scenes into the world of Marvel Animation!

“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” – Cast Signing Event

2:30 PM at the Marvel Booth (#2329)

Cast Attending: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Brett Dalton, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, Luke Mitchell, Maurissa Tancharoen (EP), Jed Whedon (EP) and Jeph Loeb (EP).

Please note that both signings are ticketed events and passes will be available on a first-come, first-served lottery basis beginning at 9:30 AM on Saturday, July 11 at the Marvel Booth (#2329).

AKA Jessica Jones was always kind of a clumsy title for the televised adaptation of Marvel’s Alias, even when it was going to be an ABC series a few years back.

But, thanks to the keen eyed folks over at TennantNews.com, it looks like Marvel is fixing that issue for the Netflix iteration of the series, as they’ll be dropping the AKA portion of the title, and it will be known simply as Marvel’s Jessica Jones.

Given that there was already the old Alias television series, starring Jennifer Garner, that you can watch right now on the streaming service; using the Brian Michael Bendis–Michael Gaydos title would surely be too tricky. Marvel instead went the most sensible route possible.

In additional news, it looks like we should be seeing before the end of the year based on that “Coming 2015″ bit. I wouldn’t be surprised if Netflix and Marvel Television stick to a Spring and Fall release schedule for all of their upcoming series.

For us, we get to see Mad Max: Fury Road with the rest of the critics who are getting it screened tonight, for you, it is Tuesday. Did I just nail that Street Fighter reference or what? No? Okay…onto the news…

– Television talk continues to dominate most of the online discussion today, and in a recent conference call with the press, ABC President Paul Lee explained why the proposed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off focusing on Adrianne Palicki‘s Bobbi Morse and Nick Blood‘s Lance Hunter didn’t come to fruition:

We absolutely love those characters on ‘S.H.I.E.L.D. We feel S.H.I.E.L.D. hit its creative stride this year, and we love it… We felt the right time now was to leave them on S.H.I.E.L.D., because it’s so strong at the moment.

To be fair, pulling the show’s most intriguing characters from its parent series seemed like a bad bet, there’s also a fairly good possibility that killing off this spin-off is what made room for another season of Agent Carter, which I’d say is the right move. Speaking of which, there’s a new synopsis making the rounds for Peggy Carter’s sophomore season, which finds her in a brand new city:

Marvel’s Agent Carter’ returns for a second season of adventure and intrigue, starring Hayley Atwell in the titular role of the unstoppable secret agent for the SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve). Dedicated to the fight against new atomic age threats in the wake of World War II, Peggy must now journey from New York City to Los Angeles for her most dangerous assignment yet. But even as she discovers new friends, a new home — and perhaps even a new love — she’s about to find out that the bright lights of the post-war Hollywood mask a more sinister threat to everyone she is sworn to protect.

And for those Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans in the crowd, here’s the third season synopsis that was just released:

Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) embarks on a deadly new secret mission to protect the world from new threats in the wake of SHIELD’s wars with Hydra and a rogue faction of Inhumans.

– In their recent Milkfed Criminal Masterminds newsletter, Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick revealed that the former will be appearing on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” Thursday May 21st. How many comic book writers (or least writers that are primarily known for writing comics) have appeared as guests on American “late night” television at this point? We’ve had Harvey Pekar, Stan Lee, David Goyer and Brian Michael Bendis. Am I missing someone? Surely I must be. Bottom-line though, it’s a huge deal.

Their newsletter states that some big news regarding their deal with Universal will be dropping soon, so it’s very likely that this appearance will in promotion of that announcement. You can sign up for their newsletter here. I highly recommend it.

– On his Twitter feed, director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) announced that his newest project will be an adaptation of the French comic series Valerian and Laureline entitled Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which Besson will write and direct. The series, which kicked off in 1967, was created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and is described thusly per our friends at SuperHeroHype:

Valerian and Laureline are exploring Syrte, capital planet of a system of 1,000 worlds. Their mission is to discover whether the Syrtians could present a danger to Earth. What they find is a decaying empire led by decadent aristocrats, a population ripe for revolution, and a mysterious caste of masked wise men who discreetly pull the strings from hidden fortresses. Swept up by the winds of history, the agents of Earth will have to choose a side.

Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) and Cara Delevingne (Suicide Squad) will star in the film which is slated for Summer 2017.

Per a report tonight by Deadline, the recently announced Agents of SHIELD spin-off may have its stars in place, as Adrianne Palicki (who plays Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird) and Nick Blood (her ex-husband on the series, Lance Hunter) are nearing deals to star in the not yet greenlit series.

It has been said that the new spin-off will be set up in the final set of episodes of this season of Agents of SHIELD, so fans will have a pretty good idea of what the status quo of the spin-off should be in just a few weeks.

Deadline posits that due to their existing relationship, the series is likely to have a very “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” vibe, with a former husband and wife duo that are highly trained spies, but obviously with an added Marvel Cinematic Universe edge.

The pilot script is being written by Agents of SHIELD executive producers Jeffrey Bell and Paul Zbyszewski, with the latter acting as showrunner if the series is picked up.

While Agents of SHIELD hasn’t exactly performed like gangbusters in the ratings, it has at least begun to steadily improve after hitting a series low 1.4 in the 18-49 demo just a few weeks ago. The spin-off may end up filling the gap between a presumptive third season of SHIELD‘s 1st and 2nd halves, as Agent Carter‘s renewal chances continue to hang in the air.

It’s Friday! Here a few of the Entertainment-related headlines that just hit the wire:

– After weeks of negotiations, AMC has found its lead for its adaptation of DC Comics/Vertigo’s Preacher, and it’s a face familiar to comic book movie fans: Dominic Cooper. The British actor, who you surely recognize as the younger face of Howard Stark (Mad Men‘s John Slattery plays him in his middle aged years) in Captain America: The First Avenger and Agent Carter, will be playing the role of Jesse Custer, with production on the pilot beginning this summer. Preacher‘s Executive Producer Seth Rogen confirmed the news on twitter today.

For you Garth Ennis experts out there, what do you think about this casting choice? Did AMC make the right move?

- 12 Years A Slave is easily one of my favorite films of this decade, and one of the only movies that’s moved me to near-tears in the theater. It is truly that moving and engrossing. So, it was with great shock today that I saw EW reporting that its screenwriter (and winner of the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for his work on the film) John Ridley is teaming up with Marvel for a mysterious television project aiming to reinvent an existing Marvel character for ABC. This project is reportedly a separate entity altogether from the already announced Agents of SHIELD spin-off that’s in the works.

Given that it’s for ABC, something like the Punisher seems like a no-go, and really, neither does Blade (both of which Marvel recently regained the rights to back to a few years back). I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Moon Knight perhaps, but really any guess is a good one at this point.

Ridley is no stranger to comics, having written The Authority and the graphic novel The American Way.

– Yes, we know all about the leaked Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer, and we won’t be posting it here for obvious reasons. Plus, the presentable version will make its way online by Monday, if not over the weekend. We’ll hold out for that. In the meantime, here’s a related unconfirmed rumor, according to Jeff Sneider (of TheWrap) on his latest episode of Meet the Movie Press, he stated that the Green Lantern that we’ll see in the 2020 reboot (and presumably the Zack Snyder directed Justice League films) will be John Stewart.

Sneider’s sources on this kind of information are generally pretty strong, so there’s likely something to this. Many fans had hoped/figured the new Green Lantern post-Ryan Reynolds would be Stewart given the younger audiences greater familiarity with the character over Hal Jordan thanks to the Justice League animated series.

Plus, he’s just an awesome character. Green Lantern: Mosaic anyone?

Are you still running on a Daredevil high from over the weekend? We sure are, and we’re working on our big post-binge review which you’ll see this week. But in the meantime, for those who are done watching, how do you fill that Marvel-Netflix shaped hole that Charlie Cox and company have left in your life?

Why, with AKA Jessica Jones news of course.

Marvel’s next Netflix series doesn’t have a release date, the network still lists it as a 2015/2016 release, but filming is well underway.

One question that was brought up on a group viewing of Daredevil this past Friday, what exactly is David Tennant‘s Kilgrave/Purple Man going to look like? Will he actually have purple skin? Marvel never seems to have an issue with embracing their comic roots, though if this past weekend is any indication, they seem to be going a bit more grounded with these Netflix offerings.

Thanks to an intrepid Instragrammer, we might just have the answer. This person was able to snap a shot of Tennant on set:

So, based on that, there’s no purple skin in sight. Then again, this may be before he gets his mind controlling abilities, we can’t say for sure as of yet. But, as Daredevil has given us the most compelling Marvel villain since Loki in Wilson Fisk, I’ll be fascinated to see how they handle one of Marvel’s more frightening characters.

Despite hitting a series low ratings point in its desired demo just a week ago, ABC is apparently looking to spin-off their freshman Marvel television series according to Entertainment Weekly.

As for the subject matter, that remains a mystery, but here are the relevant details that EW was able to obtain:

We’re told a spinoff is being developed by SHIELD executive producer Jeffrey Bell (Angel, The X-Files) and SHIELD writer Paul Zbyszewski (Lost, Hawaii Five-0).

We don’t know is which characters from the current series will be moving over to the proposed spinoff – so let the speculation being on that. There won’t be an implanted pilot episode this season directly setting up the spinoff, either (like how CW launched The Flash out of Arrow). However, story elements that are still to come on SHIELD this year will be used to lay the groundwork for the potential new series. So by the end of the season – assuming the details for this project haven’t already leaked, which is rather unlikely – the spinoff concept should be clear.

According to TVLine, this also will not interfere with any potential plans for a second season of Agent Carter, so breathe a sigh of relief those of you (like me) that were worried this might spell doom for our favorite Marvel spy.

While, it’s hard to tell what this series will be about, the best guess I’ve seen is that it will be a Deathlok spin-off, given that the character *spoiler alert* made a surprise appearance in this week’s episode.

I can’t say I’m the biggest Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fan in the world, but much like I found The Flash to be a huge improvement on Arrow, perhaps whatever this series turns out to be will perform in much the same way. We’re sure to find out more in the next few weeks as whatever above-mentioned groundwork takes shape.

From the Netflix-Daredevil twitter account, here’s the “motion poster” that finally reveals what the final red Daredevil suit looks like.

Thoughts? For my part, it’s a bit armory looking, but perhaps in motion it’ll look not as stiff as I fear.

We’ll have more in-depth thoughts about the show after it debuts over the weekend.

The real journey to becoming a hero starts here. #Daredevil #Spoiler https://t.co/sjSEgpEn2Z

— Daredevil (@Daredevil) April 9, 2015

Announced today via press release, Marvel has revealed that Cheo Hodari Coker will serve as executive producer and showrunner of the third Marvel-Netflix series: Marvel’s Luke Cage.

Coker will also write two episodes of the upcoming series that will star Mike Colter as the title character.

In years previous, Coker served as the supervising producer of the cop drama Southland, and also was the co-executive producer for both Ray Donovan and Almost Human.

His writing credits also include the screenplay for the feature film biopic Notorious, which centered on the life of rapper Notorious B.I.G.

Colter will debut as Luke Cage in Marvel’s AKA Jessica Jones later this year (or possibly in early 2016, as that timetable hasn’t been quite solidified in Netflix’s release calendar).

Marvel’s Luke Cage is schedule for a 2016 release on the online network, and this is a tremendous start. I mean, who doesn’t miss Almost Human?

Here is the press:

CHEO HODARI COKER WILL SERVE AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND SHOWRUNNER OF MARVEL’S LUKE CAGE FOR NETFLIX

Beverly Hills, CA — March 31, 2015 — Netflix & Marvel Television announced today that Cheo Hodari Coker will serve as executive producer and showrunner of the anticipated series, Marvel’s Luke Cage. Coker is writing the first two episodes of the series that will premiere in 2016, everywhere that Netflix is available.

Most recently, Coker served as a co-executive producer on the second season of Ray Donovan, and prior to that was a supervising producer on the critically-acclaimed, fourth season of the drama SouthLAnd. Coker was a part of the SouthLAnd team that earned the show a 2012 Peabody Award. Coker also garnered a 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing for a Dramatic Series for his work on that show. Coker’s feature film credits include Fox Searchlight’s rap biopic Notorious. He authored the book Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of The Notorious B.I.G as well. Coker started his writing career in journalism and was a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times and contributed to VIBE, Rolling Stone, Essence, among other publications. He is a graduate of Stanford University.

It was previously announced that Mike Colter (The Good Wife, American Horror Story: Coven) will play the charismatic lead character, Luke Cage, in the series.

Marvel’s Luke Cage is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios for Netflix.