A Super Super Bowl of News

Tonight Lee Field Retires, karana Sooz Awards Given and remember William O'Connell and Carl Withers. All that and more on this edition of Multiverse tonight.

Comic books, sci-fi, fantasy and more. If you're looking for a roundup of geeky news, you're in the right place. This is Multiverse Tonight, and here's our host, Thomas Townley.

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 208,. I believe Multiverse Tonight. I'm, of course, your host, Thomas Townley, and this is the second time I've recorded this episode. This is kind of how I save my podcast, say isn't it. But yeah, apparently I updated my computer yesterday and when the programs reset and it reset, it changed the settings in Streamlabs. So while you could see me, you could not hear me, so I have to do the show all over again. But that's okay, it's a good dry run. It will make it a lot easier for me to do the program today. Yesterday, of course, was the Super Bowl, and well, it was a very good game, really great action, very tight. I won one bet. I won $12.99. Oh, that night I picked Kronkowski would lose the kick of Destiny 2, so I got a $25 extra bet there. So I already put that down. So hopefully they'll turn in some actual money. There was also the trailer for the new Deadpool movie, the Deadpool 3, deadpool Wolverine. That looked very good. But other than that I really don't have a lot to talk about at the moment. So let's go on to the DC Comics News and we begin DC Comics News. That music was very appropriate because we're going to be talking about a documentary about legendary actor Christopher Reeve is on the way and it's founds a place at well a familiar home. On Friday, it was confirmed that Super Slash man, the Christopher Reeve story has landed at Warner Bros pictures following intense bidding war and omitted a statue at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Super Slash man the Christopher Reeve story will be released in theaters as well as streaming as a joint venture between DC Studios, warner Bros motion pictures, hbo, cnn films and Max, and reports state that Warner Bros was previously reported to be the frontrunner in the bidding war acquire the rights to Super Slash man the Christopher Reeve story for $15 million, according to a statement a discovery spokesperson said quote everyone at Warner Bros Discovery is incredibly proud to have come together as one company to partner with Christopher Reeve's family and the filmmakers behind Super Slash man the Christopher Reeve story and bring his personal journey to audiences the world over. Wbd's, dc Studios, warner Bros motion pictures, hbo, cnn films and Max are grateful for the opportunity to honor one of our company's most cherished creative partners and celebrate Christopher's rich life and career. Now let's go on to the Marvel Comics News, and we start the Marvel Comics news with uh, maybe sad news. A crew member working on Marvel's Wonder man Telgents series died after an accident at the Rutherford Studio Center, formerly CBS Rutherford. According to Variety, the LA County Coroner identified the crew member as Juan Carlos Osario, a 41-year-old rigor who lived in Temple City. Osario died after falling off the rafters Tuesday following a filming for Wonder man, which was not occurring at the time of the accident, and the production is now halted. A spokesperson for Marvel said quote our thoughts and deepest condolences are with his family and friends and our support is behind the investigation into the circumstances of this accident. After decades of giving maximum effort as the creator of Marvel Comics standout, deadpool, rob Liefeld, who is 56 years old, says he's putting down the pencils on Deadpool. Liefeld says he will retire from Deadpool once he has completed work on a book for Marvel that helps to hit shelves in the summer, just in time for Deadpool 3, which hits theaters July 26. The artist and co-founder of Image Comics announced his decision via Instagram, saying he would always assume he would continue with his signature creation until much later in life, but due to his continued passion for the Merc with a Mouth. He told the Hollywood Reporter quote about 10 years ago I really felt like I was in a groove and in my mind I was going to do this till I was 70. But the eyes and the hands and the aches and the pains they have a different timetable. I have learned as I have gotten older that the last year's worth of work was the hardest to produce unquote. Liefeld is proud to have written and illustrated over a thousand Deadpool pages since the character's 1990 debut and estimates you will have worked on 150-plus covers and 45 different number 1 issues, including last year's Deadpool battered blood. The artist, whose other creations include Marvel's Cable, appreciates that the comics company emailed him late last year about working on a new offbeat Deadpool story to come out around the same time as the new film starring Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds. But Liefeld says he has had recent health setbacks and is not expressing pain in his hands after drawing for years without much discomfort, liefeld said about his reasons for writing off into the sunset quote I can't continue to grind like this, so why not make the last grind something memorable? It's just a function of the eyes and the hands have to cooperate with their ambitions, and I can sense that this is getting harder and harder. Why not just put my own guard rails up and deliver it on my own terms? Unquote. Liefeld isn't saying much about his final Deadpool tale, but he did say that this would be an expensive story to adapt and as for other comics work, including the new series Last Blood that recently launched, he plans to re-evaluate how he's feeling at Starve next year. So we wish Mr Liefeld the finest of days and he'll probably still be at convention. So there you go. Anyway, let's go on to the Star Trek news. Filming on Paramount Plus' Star Trek Section 31 movie is underway. Paramount Plus announced that the production began in Toronto on Section 31, which stars Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh as Emperor Philip A Jorjo, a character originated on Star Trek Discovery. Now, during the series, jorjo joined Section 31, a secret division of Starfleet, and in the Section 31 film, jorjo is tasked with protecting United Federation of Planets, but must also face the sins of her past. Also announced on this movie is supporting cast of Amariah Hardwick, kc role and Emmy winner Sam Richardson, sven Rygrock, robert Kaczynski, herb Beryli Gonzalez and James Rokoliu. In a statement, executive Producer Alex Kurtzman said we're off to the races Thrilled to report. Principal Photography has started on the Star Trek Section 31. We welcome our incredible cast of new characters as they join our beloved Michelle Yeoh on her next wild adventure across the Trek universe. And speaking of the Trek universe, star Trek Lower Deck Season 4 will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 16. The Star Trek Lower Deck Season 4 2 Discs Collection will include all 10 episodes of the season, plus exclusive audio commentary tracks from the shows, cast and Crew, feature it and more. Now, this was a milestone season for the development characters like Beckett Mariner, who came to grips with her anxieties about taking command positions in a way that tied back to the next generation episode, lower Decks, and so be sure to pick that up when it's released. Now let's go on to the Star Wars news. Actor Gina Corrano is suing Disney and Lucasfilm over her firing from the Mandalorian back in 2021. She got fired over social media posts in which she compared being a Republican to being Jewish during the Holocaust. The suit filed in California federal court alleges wrongful termination and discrimination, as well as demand that the court should force Lucasfilm to recast her and pay at least 75,000 in punitive damages. Now Elon Musk is funding the suit following his promise to pay for legal actions taken by people claiming discrimination from posts on Twitter and X. Funny enough, the posts weren't on Twitter or X. They were on Corrano's Instagram stories. Joe Benrack, head of business operations at X, said in a statement quote as a sign of X-Core's commitment to free speech, we're proud to provide financial support for Gina Corrano's lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication when her free speech writes on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment or discrimination. Now, gina Corrano played Cara Dune, the rebel soldier turned mercenary, during the first two seasons of the Mandalorian, but she went under immediate criticism when she shared that post from a different Instagram account in February of 2021. Corrano's lawsuit, which includes several elaborate Star Wars references, says Disney and Lucasfilm made it clear that only one orthodoxy in thought, speech or action was acceptable in their empire and that those who dared to question or failed to fully comply would not be tolerated. Now she also pointed to social media posts from actors like Pedro Pascal and Marc Hamill, in which Donald Trump and supporters were compared to Nazis. Has acts of discrimination on the part of Disney turning a blind eye to male co-stars' political statements with no financial or professional repercussions. I'm not going to get on such a high horse this time around. You should have heard my earlier statement, but I don't know that she has much to say. This is not a free speech thing. Disney has the right to hire you in fire. You have a will. So free speech is the government has no right to tell you. You can't say that. Companies have every right to tell you. Walmart could tell me to knock it off and I would have to knock it off. So I don't think she has quite the leg to stand on that she thinks she has. Anyway, on to other news, star Wars andor season 2 has wrapped filming and series star Diego Luna is saying goodbye in a touching tribute he shared on social media Quote. Today is the last day of filming andor. I could not be more thankful to the entire crew for this amazing experience and the years of hard work. More than 700 people have worked on this production and it is impossible to say goodbye and thank you to everyone individually, which is why I write here. Thank you for the love and the wonderful experience. Now, andor season 2 is currently not on the release slate for 2024. So whenever we see it, we'll see it. High Republic fans have been looking forward to the Acolyte for a while now, since the first trailer was shown last year in London. So we got some news from Collider that the live-action High Republic set series from creator Leslie Hedlund is set to be released this summer on Disney+ Said 50 years before the events of the fan menace, the Acolyte will follow a former Jedi Padawan and her one-time master as they fall into an investigation of sinister crimes in an ever-changing galaxy. The trailer that premiere at its celebration only gave fans a hint at what they can expect when the series premieres, but even so already impressed those lucky enough to see it with the bold visual taken on an era that has thus far not been seen on screen. Lucasfilm and Marvel Comics announced the first details surrounding the Star Wars Ahsoka tie-in comic, which will begin to be published this July. The Star Wars Ahsoka comic adaptation will be written by Rodney Barnes, with pencils by Stephen Cumming and Georges Gianti. Barnes said in a statement to StarWarscom quote it is truly an honor to be adapting Ahsoka. The character is the essence of classic Star Wars layered, complex and fun. I hope the fans enjoy this adaptation as much as the series it's adapted from. Now let's go on to the geek news, and we begin geek news with award news. First off, the Grammy Awards had several genre award winners. First off, at Song of the Year was what Was I Made For from Barbie, best Completion Soundtrack for Visual Media, also Barbie, the Album from Barbie. Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, including Film's Intelligent, went to Oppenheimer. Best Songwriting for Visual Media was what Was I Made For from Barbie, the Album. And Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media went to Star Wars Jedi Survivor. Congratulations to those winners. Our next awards come from the Saturn Awards. Avatar, the Wavewater, oppenheimer and Star Trek Picard were among the main winners at the 51st annual Saturn Awards, which honored the best in genre entertainment. Avatar's sequel won a leading four awards on the film side for Best Science Fiction, film Direction, screenwriting and Visual Effects, after coming into the night with 12 nominations. Oppenheimer, which had 11 nominations, was named Best Thriller and won for Best Editing, while the film's Emily Blunt won Best Supporting Actress. Blunt also presented Nolan with the Honorary Saturn Visionary Awards. Other Honorary Awards went to the Life Career honoree, jody Foster, keanu Reeves, seth MacFarlane, dave Filoni and the Walking Dead and Star Trek, the Next Generation and another Star Trek iteration. Star Trek Picard won four Saturns out of its seven nominations, including Best Science Fiction Series, best Actor for Sir Patrick Stewart and Supporting Actor Prizes for Jerry Ryan and Jonathan Frakes. Other multiple winners Sunday include Barbie, indian Jones and the Dial of Destiny, outlander. And Wednesday and you can see more about that in our show notes Disney dropped a bunch of new information at the first quarter earnings call Frozen 3 and Toy Story 5 have been confirmed and fans of the series can look forward to that in 2026. Bob Iyer, the CEO, said quote and we're already looking forward to 2026 and beyond with Frozen 3, the first Toy Story movie since 2019, and a new Star Wars movie that brings the Mandalorian and Grogu to the big screen for the very first time. So that seems to be a pretty definitive direction from the head of the company. Disney has already stayed their intention to make more sequels in response to the sluggish 2023 box office. Now a scroll of the established release schedule so far shows that there is a Pixar movie slotted for June 19th 2026, and another untitled Disney animation project slayed for November 25th 2026. Now could these be the dates for those movies, who knows? However, iyer did sound confident about all these sequels, and that seems to be a strategy that Disney will not be diverting from. They're betting that some of the other high-profile underperformance stemmed from them not being slam dunked properties Now, other notes from the earnings call included Zootopia 2, which is hanging cinemas over the Thanksgiving break on November 26th 2025. 20th Century Studios Alien Reboot movie from Fed Alvarez is now known as Alien Romulus. According to the film, it'll show young people from a distant world who much faced the most terrifying life form in the universe. The movie is still set for August 16th this year and stars Kaylee Spani, isabella Merced, alien Wu, spike Fern, david Johnson and Archie Renaud. The new feature or creature from outer space movie is not connected to the FX series that Noah Hawley is behind. Other news includes Disney's brand entertainment's Percy Jackson and the Olympian series getting officially renewed for a second season at Disney Plus. The second installment will follow Percy Jackson, annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood as they embark on new adventures based on the Sea of Monsters, the second book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. Disney will also invest $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games, alongsidea multi-year collaboration on a new games and entertainment universe focused on Fortnite, to expand the reach of Disney's stories and experiences. Bob Iger, during the call, said quote In addition to being a world-class gaming experience and interoperating with Fortnite, the new universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, stop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, pixar, marvel, star Wars, avatar and more. So there's something else for you to look forward to. But let's go on to a different studio. In this case, universal has cast up and covers Julian Denson, gabriel Howe, bronwyn James and Harry Travelyn in the live-action adaptation of DreamWorks and DreamWork animations how to Train your Dragon. The quartet joined Mason Thanes and Nico Partner, who are starring as Hiccup and Astrid, the young teens who prevent dragons, with Drard Butler playing Stoic the Vast, who is reprising his role from the animation, and Nick Frost playing Goober the Belch, the trusted friend and advisor of Stoic. The young actors will be playing Fishlegs, snotlaut and Sister Brother duo Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The characters are a part of Hiccup's friend group, who will eventually learn to embrace and not fear the dragons. Dean DeBlois, who co-wrote and directed the Rital Trulty, will be starring the new film as writer, director and producer. Producing alongside DeBlois is Mark Platt, via his Universal-based Mark Platt Productions, as well as that company's president, adam Siegel. Universal has set a June 30, 2025 release date for the live-action how to Train your Dragon. Speaking of sequels, warner Bros Bealjuice sequel has landed an official title so nice they named it twice Bealjuice. Bealjuice 2024 AD will be a new movie based on the 1988 movie from Burton, which grows 75 million domestic and forge a collaboration between him and Michael Keaton, who they would both team up again on Batman and Batman Returns, as well as the live-action Dumbo Bealjuice. Bealjuice reunites Keaton with the cast members Wynonna Ryder and Catherine O'Hara, and joining in the mix system around are Jenna Ortega, willem Dafoe, monica Bellucci and Justin Thoreau. The film's romance set was burglarized back in mid-July with state police Charlotte Post on X with photos of the sculpture piece that was stolen from the East Corinth set. The title was announced on the social media site for Warner Bros. The pick comes out on September 6th during the post Labor Day box office launchpad weekend made famous by it and the Nun franchises. Exhibitors told us that for a blip due to the actor's strike, warner's was constantly playing pushing the theatrical release of Bealjuice 2, but director Tim Burton is making that date stick after a few days of last minute shoots. Post strike, hulu is joining with other streamers and cracking down on password sharing. Hulu announced that if you have our subscribers outside the household, they need to get their own account. Unless otherwise permitted by your service tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household. Household means the collection of devices associated with your personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein. Furthermore, the email added that Hulu workers may start shutting access off to accounts that are found to be in violation of these new rules. We may, in our sole discretion, analyze the use of your account to determine compliance with this agreement. If we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated this agreement, we may limit or terminate access to the service and or take any other steps as permitted by this agreement. Hulu follows in line with both Netflix and Disney Plus as the streamers start to crack down on the practice of sharing passwords with family and friends. Earlier this month, netflix applied its efforts on password sharing, saying the change in rules has substantially improved the company's bottom line. Denis Villeneuve knows his limits. The director will not go beyond three Dune films, even though there are more books than three, villeneuve said. Quote Dune Messiah should be the last Dune movie for me. I was trying to be, as a filmmaker, as invisible as possible. I tried my best to keep the poetry of the book, the atmosphere, the colors, the smell, everything that I felt when I read the book. I tried unquote. Now Dune Part 2 picks up for the last one left off, with Paul Traidey's reaching Channy and joining forces with the Freemans to bring down the evil Harcoans. Rebecca First-Verguson, javier Bardem, josh Brolin, stella Skarsgard and Dave Patista return for the sequel, although there was a pushback from the actor's strike In the meantime. Villeneuve says he has worked on the script for Dune Messiah, which he will adapt, the second of Herbert's six Dune novels, but that has not officially been greenlit, though. He also told Empire Magazine in August that if he succeeds in making a trilogy, it would be his dream. Dune Messiah was written in reaction to the fact that people perceive Paul Traidey as a hero, which is not what Herbert wanted to do. His adaptation will be closer to his idea that it's actually a warning. After that, he plans on saying goodbye to the franchise, a choice motivated by his avoidance of a Hollywood overly guided by money. The classic B-movie title Attack of the 50-foot woman is getting a remake from Tim Burton and Jolene Flynn. Burton is attached to Direct, while Jolene Flynn will be writing. Warner Bros is behind the project, which will be a reimagining of the 1950s genre film. The logline for the old film reads Turn into a Gigantus by Nalien, a woman played by Alson Hayes, finder husband William Hudson in a bar with a flusy. Nathan Jurean, who directed the pick, which was released by Warner's Burton, is also set to produce the project, with Andrew Midman and Tommy Harper. Kai Dolbichon will executive produce. Also coming out is, 20 years later, from Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland. The film has landed at Sony Pictures. The Culver City based studio has come out on top after a projected bidding battle to win the rights to the movie 28 days later, which came out in 2002. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland will reunite to write and direct the sequel, which also has a part two to be written by. Garland. Boyle would only direct the first project, with the sequel's director as yet to be determined. And finally, we end with some sad news. William O'Connell, who's extensive film, tv and acting credits in the 1960s and 1970s include a memorable role on Star Trek and a string of adversaries in the films of Clint Eastwood, died January 15th as home in Sherman Oaks at the age of 94. His death was announced to deadlinecom, but by a family friend, but a cause was not disclosed. O'connell scored a lengthy roster of TV upside credits in the 60s, becoming a busy actor in his day. He had small roles, often nameless characters distinguished only by their job titles like flagman cabbie, etc. But also popped up on shows like Highway Patrol, peter Gunn, the Twilight Zone, dennis Domenos, my Three Sons, the Other Limits, bonanza, the Monsters, batman and the Lucy Show. His most memorable TV role was in 1967, when he was cast in the season two episode of Star Trek Journey to the Babel. There he played Thaleev, the duplicitous Orion agent disguised as the Orion ambassador. His mission to destroy the air prize was, of course, unsuccessful, but he did manage to wound Captain Kirk with a poison knife. On the big screen, o'connell was more familiar for frequent, if occasionally small roles and often adversarial roles. In the 60s and 70s he did movies with Clint Eastwood, including Pagerwagon, hyah Plains, drifter, the Outlaw, josie Wales, every which Way but Loose and its sequel Any which Way you Can Star. In May 12, 1929 in Los Angeles. O'connell served in the Korean War as a first lieutenant in the 45th Infantry, receiving many decorations, including the Bronze Star. And again he was 94 years old. And finally, tonight Carl Withers, who starred as Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky films and appeared in Predator, the Mandalorian, happy Gilmore, action Jackson, arrested Development and dozens of other films and TV shows, died. His family announced that he was 76 years old. His family said in a statement quote we're deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Withers. He died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday February 1, 2024. Carl was an exceptionally human being who lived an extraordinary life. Through his contributions to film, television, the arts and sports, he has left an indelible mark and will be recognized worldwide and across generations. He was a beloved brother, father, grandfather, partner and friend. Born on January 14, 1948 in New Orleans, he grew up and, after playing linebacker at San Diego State University, weathers, went undrafted but signed with the Oakland Raiders. He played eight NFL games for Coach John Madden in the 7071 season before joining the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League, where he played from 1971 to 1973. He then began a screen career during that era, with guest shots on such TV series as Good Times, kung Fu Swat, the Six Million Dollar man and Cannon. And as the decades went on he went to appear in episodes of Star Skin, hutch, barnaby Jones, switch, the Streets of San Francisco and other puppets or shows. He returned to his action roots in the late 90s, doing TV movies like Assault on Devil's Island and Assault on Death Mountain, starring opposite Hulk Hogan. The Raiders began amassing film credits in 1975 with a pair of Black's Pudgation Picks Buck Town and Friday Foster and had other movie roles such as Semi-Tuff Force 10 from Navarone, death Hunt and Hurricane Smith, but his career really took off during 1976. Stallone was a nude actor and screenwriter when United Artists released Rocky, the underdog boxer drama that would enter the cultural zeitgeist. Wethers was cast as Creed, the beloved, star-spangled and understandably cocky heavyweight champion who sees dollar signs and good publicity, and by giving a Philadelphia local a title shot Now the film won Best Picture and two other Oscars on 10 nominations, including Best Actor or little screenplay for Stallone and Bill Conte's rousing brass meets disco tune Gonna Fly Now, which topped the Billboard Hot 100. Carl Wethers would come back for the second and fourth movies in the Rocky franchise. Wethers appeared in more than 75 films and TV shows during his 50-year career. He played Grief Carga, the heavy bounty hunter skilled, in nine episodes of the Mandalorian over its three seasons, with the character becoming close to Pedro Pascal's Mando as the series progressed. Wethers was nominated for the role for an Emmy in 2021 and directed a pair of episodes in seasons 2 and 3. Wethers then also showed off his acting chops in a memorable arc on the rest of development, playing a version of himself as an ad hoc acting coach who proudly offered tips on saving money at everything from food buffets to airport rides, appearing in four episodes across the first four seasons of the Emmy-winning series. He also appeared as Chief Police Chief Hampton Forbes in more than two dozen episodes of the A9-95 TV series. In the Heath of the Night, starring Carole O'Connor, wethers was a series regular in the 93-94 season and appeared in the post-series telefilms. He also voiced Combat Carl in the Oscar-winning Toy Story 4, originating the character in the 2013 TV special Toy Story of Terror. Other credits include the 1998 acting turn in Action Jackson, which earned him an NCAA P-image award nomination, and came out starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987's Predator, playing Al Dillon, the CIA operative and old friend of Dutch who were stalked by a mysterious life form. That didn't end well for his character. But Wethers is, of course, best known for playing Apollo Cray, the heavyweight champion of the world, who gave Rocky Balboa the shot and then gave him a second shot in Rocky II, and his character trained Rocky Balboa in Rocky III. In the final film of the franchise, rocky IV, he died battling Russian heavyweight Ivan Drago. Wethers also had a memorable term as Derek Chubbs Peterson, playing opposite Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore. Peterson was a pro golfer who was forced to leave the tour after losing his hand to an alligator, which was the source of many of the film's gags. Wethers also has a emerging career as a TV director. Along with Amanda Lauren, In recent years, he's home to episodes of Chicago Med, fbi Law Order, the Last OG, hawaii 50 for the people, 18 Wheels of Justice and Strong Medicine. He was also in a Super Bowl commercial. This past Sunday, carl Wethers was 76 years old, and with that we reached the end of this edition. Now please check us out on social media. We're on Twitter at Multiverse Tom. We're also on Facebook and Instagram as well. We're also on Blue Sky and Threads. So look out for me there, reach out and touch me Now. If you found value in the show, please feel free to contribute. Check out our show notes, visit our Tee Public Store and so much more at MultiverseTonightcom. And if you're a subscriber, be sure to share it with friends. And if you're brand new to the show, thank you. Please be sure to subscribe, leave some feedback and let us know how we're doing Now. Special thanks to Shane Ivers for the intro music and Lobo Loco for the outro theme, music. Thanks for watching this edition of MultiverseTonight. We'll be back in two weeks with more sci-fi and comic book news. Now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion, good night. Multiversetonight is a production of half-big genre productions. Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. Multiverse Podcast is by the Popcos the Culture Podcast Network. Find out more about our other podcasts at popcostheculturecom.