News has broken with a new headline running around that two familiar faces might just be making their return to the big screen for the MCU. Rachel Weisz and Laurence Fishburne are rumored to be returning to their roles as Melina and Bill Foster in The Thunderbolts. Let’s do some theory smashing.

Thunderbolts has finally been greenlit to begin production and filming within the next month, calling stars like Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, and Florence Pugh back to reprise their roles of Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, and Yelena Belova. Of course, we also have Ghost returning from Ant-Man 2, Taskmaster from Black Widow, and U.S. Agent from The Falcon and Winter Soldier, all being led by our friend Valentina who has made herself a prominent figure in Phase 4 and now 5. There have also been talks of Harrison Ford, who took on General Ross’ role from the late William Hurt, as Red Hulk might be appearing in the movie. All this being said, it’s a highly anticipated film for Marvel fans who not only love many of the characters but also enjoy the anti-hero storyline.

With this, stars like Rachel and Laurence returning to their respective roles as Melina and Bill can’t be all that surprising if it is true. Melina, who plays a Black Widow and the mother figure for Natasha and Yelena has clear connection to actually three characters that are part of the Thunderbolts roster. As mentioned, Yelena views Melina as a mother figure, after the Black Widow movie has shown us the relationship that was formed on a mission when Yelena was very young. In that mission, Melina is also married to Alexi, our Red Guardian, connecting all three of them. Finally, the ending of the Black Widow film also connected Melina to Taskmaster, who took her with the rest of the Widows to an unknown location after Drakov and the Red Room were taken down. One could even argue there might be a connection to Bucky, as when he was the Winter Soldier, we know there was key research being done by Melina using his program to perfect the Widow program as well.

As for Bill Foster, for some, he might be a deep cut into the MCU that quite frankly, might have been forgotten had the recent What If? season not had him featured in one of the episodes. Yet way back when there was Ant-Man and the Wasp, the first sequel of the franchise, and while many remember it for the critical end credit scene, that entire movie’s ‘villain’ was Ghost, assited by Bill Foster. He stepped in to take care of her and help her with her phasing and was an old friend of Hank Pyms. While he doesn’t have the amount of connections to the Thunderbolt roster that Melina does, his return also wouldn’t be far off. As essentially a fatherfigure to Ghost and someone who has helped her through the pain of phasing, a few shots of him with her wouldn’t be unexpected.

All in all, both Melina and Bill are high candidates for making a return to the MCU in the Thunderbolts film. Since they aren’t part of the main team, they likely won’t play critical roles in the movie, but featuring them in a couple scenes, especially in the beginning, would likely make a lot of sense. As far as this theory goes, I would give my stamp of approval that we will see Melina and Bill return in our first real team up movie of the Multiverse Saga.

Image: “Thunderbolts”, Nerdist

The first Avengers film of the Multiverse Saga could be in peril.

It has been roughly 9 months since news broke that Jonathan Majors was arrested with assault charges against his at the time girlfriend. The situation left Majors unemployed in several of his current or upcoming movies, except for his current role as Kang in Marvel. Currently, the actor’s trial is ongoing, with a decision that will either allegedly clear his name or leave him essentially blacklisted. As Kang is no minor villain for the Multiverse Saga, the off-screen drama could be just another nail in the coffin for what many already considered an out-of-place movie. So could we see Kang Dynasty be replaced? Let’s smash this theory.

Beyond the off-screen legal situation, it’s important to note that Kang Dynasty already stuck out like a sore thumb. If fans are to consider Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars similar to the Infinity War and Endgame events, then one is meant to lead directly into the other. Yet, many fans continue to question how our lead-up to Kang would enter us into a Secret Wars type of situation, as Kang is not a major player in that plot at all. Of course, the solution to this could be that the MCU does away with the Doctor Doom part of the storyline and replace it instead with Kang, allowing the fallout of Kang Dynasty to lead directly into Battleworld. Going in this direction wouldn’t be inherently difficult, but it would be a complete turnaround from how Battleworld is created and ruled in the comics. In the end, fans excited for this iconic storyline might not love the new direction, although the MCU is known to pick and choose parts of storylines.

On the other hand, there is also the possibility that Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars don’t go hand in hand, which may only help lead to the collapse of Kang Dynasty. If the movies don’t connect as directly as the Infinity Saga culmination films did, then shifting focus away from Kang doesn’t have to be difficult. Considering we are moving into Battleworld, Doctor Doom could slot into the Avengers 5 movie villain and play the throughline into Secret Wars, sticking closer to the original comic book story. With a standalone Fantastic Four movie coming before the final two Avengers films in Phase 6, the focus would be on Doctor Doom regardless, as anxious fans wait for either his arrival or his big moment in Secret Wars. Replacing Kang Dynasty which would be sandwiched between two Fantastic Four storylines would be likely doing everyone a favor.

Another important factor to consider when discussing whether Kang Dynasty could be replaced is that both the director and writer (rumored) of Kang Dynasty have stepped away from the project. A critical thing to note here is that the writer is Jeff Loveness, the same writer who wrote for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which tanked both at the box office and in the eyes of the fans. Besides that point, Kang the Conquerors’ first major appearance was met overall with a ‘meh’ feeling. It is also rumored that Loveness was too connected to the Kang storyline, which could be a creative difference if Marvel no longer wants to focus on Kang.

One final thing to mention is that Kang Dynasty, along with the follow-up Secret Wars, has been pushed back a year from its initial release date. Some of this can be chalked up to Marvel trying to focus more on quality over quantity, although some can also easily be blamed on the need to have more time to pivot away from Kang Dynasty. Where we stand now, many of our upcoming shows and movies don’t on the surface appear to be likely tied to any Kang storyline. If Marvel needs time to pivot, it may also be to make sure all the storylines line up as we get to the team-up movie and that the villain works as a whole. As Marvel did with Thanos and the Infinity Stones, stones appeared in quite a few movies before we even saw Thanos, making his eventual appearance make sense across the board. The same can’t quite be said about Kang regarding both what has already come out and what is still expected to premiere before Avengers 5.

To wrap up, between the loss of a director and Kang-inspired writer, the strange positioning of the movie itself, and the off-screen legal issues with the leading man, Kang Dynasty seems to be less and less likely to happen. While it will continue to remain a rumor until Marvel confirms or denies the change, all eyes continue to watch as our first big team-up movie of the Multiverse Saga struggles to even get off the ground. As there was also a rumor that the Loki Season 2 team was asked to pivot from a different Kang variant storyline than what we saw with Victor Timely, it does seem this theory only gains traction as time goes on. We will continue to look for news regarding this topic to see if we can get any real confirmation. In the meantime, we are prepped and ready for the final piece of MCU content for 2023, which is What If? Make sure you’re ready by listening to our predictions, out this Saturday, and as always, stay up to date with Marvel and our show as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Kang Dynasty”, Moviefeed, Medium