Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Welcome back to another episode of the Nerdgend report. I'm your host Pablo, and joining me as always, his mister Bryan Schultz, Brian.
What we speculated, Brian, turned into rumors.
We speculated that if there were anything that needed to go was armored wars and possibly blade, because we've been telling Mahershala, you gots to go, Blade, Brian, cannot not be done.
But you need not be here because that's it. Even Kevin said he called me.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: I want to get to that.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: So there has been rumors that Marvel is looking to cancel certain shows and movies, correct, Brian?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Yeah, we don't know all the extent of that, but there's two, two higher profile ones that have been mentioned that a decision will be made either way and cancellation is on the table.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: I'm gonna say this, Brian. This is what's gonna happen with armor wars. Armor wars is done. Armor wars is done. Blade won't be done in terms of we're not gonna make the movie. The announcement will be that Mahershali will probably no longer be attached to the film. That's what I think. But they're still gonna do blade. They cannot not do blade.
So arm rewards is done. So that's my prediction.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: I would 100% agree. I think this is a project that's had no plan and no home since the beginning. This was announced as part of the tv lineup back when we were all about subscribers and nothing else. And then we got the sort of cryptic explanation that as they were doing it or putting it together, it just made more sense to do it. It was so big, they had to do it as a movie, which you kinda just reeks of B's when you hear that.
And then we've heard nothing. Right. There's been nothing on this since normally you get oh, so and so is doing a pass on the rewrite. Oh, here we're casting up the supporting people or what? Nothing like this project has had no updates.
Don Cheadle obviously reprised his role as a Skrull in the ill fated Secret Invasion series. I don't think there's any steam at all for this project. I don't see the point of it. Why would they give it 100, 5200 million dollars to send it to the big screen? And why would they do it as a streaming only? Like it has no, it has no real function right now for them. So yes, I think odds very high. We see armor wars wrapped up and forgotten about.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Right. When was that announced in terms of armor wars being produce, being, thinking, thought about?
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Oh, the series was in the original it was in the original Disney plus lineup. It was back in whatever that was. 2019. 2020.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: Let me ask you this. Do you hear anybody calling for Don Cheese to throw his hands up in the air and leave? Because they haven't done this. You know why, Ryan? Because nobody cares. Yeah, people care about Blade. They want to see Blade, but they keep kicking the can around for whatever reason. We don't know what's happening, but it's time to just move on. Let Blade get done by somebody else and just move on. Armor wars is just over, but as we expected it would be because it was just there for all this time. It was always part of some lineup.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: This is not at all a referendum on Don Cheadle as an actor who's great.
It is a referendum on the part of Roady of War Machine, which is.
That's not a character to frontline, big budget blockbuster. It's not like people get excited about Rhodey. Why? Because Tony Stark might be nearby. People get excited about Rhodey. Why? Because there's avengers flying all around.
Sorry, but people don't just look at war Machine and be like, I need to follow the life and times of War Machine.
Now, when they announced it as a Disney series, it kind of made more sense because you're like, all right, you're going to populate this initial run with a lot of these sidekick characters getting their own series, right. That's kind of what happens in tv a lot of times, the definition of a spinoff. But this idea that, like, oh, it got so big, so now we have to make it, like, this huge ten pole summer blockbuster. That's a guaranteed money loser. And I think they realized that, and now they're just like, we don't need as many Disney shows. They're already booked out on Disney for several years, so this thing is just gonna fall through the cracks, and I think everyone's gonna be just fine with it, Don Cheadle included. Oh, yeah.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: There's no need for arm wars.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: No. Now, Blade, you're 100% right. A blade incarnation has to happen, will happen, will definitely happen. It just won't be this one.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: I mean, at some point, you just have to look at this and say, like, cut our losses and start overd.
Yeah, but for Kevin to make that statement, which you're referring to, I thought was so unusual, like, I'm trying to find the exact quote, but he. They. He said all the right things all the way through. Right? He was giving you the whole, like, we don't want to be rushed. We've been trying to crack the movie. We want to make sure it's the right movie.
And then, like, very recently, and he talked about it needs to be r rated. And then he talked. He just threw in, like, a thing at the end about Mahershal Ali, where he's like, well, he came to us. Like, that was the quote. Like, he came to us. And I was like, wow. I was like, that sound you just heard was the beep of the bus backing up over Mahershala Ali for this project not making.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Send me the comicbook.com.
uh, Wesley's great, Wesley's greatest. Mahershala is the one who came in four years ago, five years ago, and said, I want to play blade, is what this movie's about.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: And he puts it on him like, that's. That's. That's a finger. Like, right. You. Yeah.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: Is what this movie's about.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Him coming to us four or five years ago. That's highly out of uncharacteristic for Kevin Feige to say that. Like, that's not quite Ed Norton, the letter they put out. But there's a whiff of that in there.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: We should. There's really nothing else to be said other than to move on.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And if you're Mahershala, I see a quote like that, that's just a confirmation that you're not winning this. You're not winning if you're in a power getting your way, like, you've lost. There's just no way you're winning that.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: You'Re not getting your way. It started with the phone call. You got your way and you probably kept pushing. And there was like, you know, that's not what, that wasn't the plan. I don't think. There wasn't any. A plan for blade at that moment. And he just called them up. Right. And so it's been just there ever since because Kevin had other plans, but let's move on.
Dustin.
Daniel Crenton.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Yes, Destin Daniel Cretton, director of Shang Chi.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: Director of Shang Chi.
Brian, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Brian, in terms of where the character of Shang Chi is within this MCU, I don't think I said this last time, but I simply just think Simulu is bad business for the MCU and they're looking to move on and get back in China's good graces so they can get that box office.
Unless an apology is.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: That's definitely not happening.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: So.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: It'S time to move on. And certainly Destin, Daniel Crenton is moving on to other things as well.
He's been tasked to direct Spider man for Brian. How the hell this happened? What happened?
[00:08:20] Speaker B: Yeah, this is the bizarre. This is a bizarre term event. So let's. Let's review. So Destin Cretton makes Shang chi, as, in my opinion, the most Marvel formula, sort of true to marvel formula movie of the post endgame era. It's critically acclaimed, does pretty well at the box office.
He then immediately gets the gig for Avengers five, Kang dynasty. He sets about working on Wonder man, and of course, he's sort of expected to direct Shang Chi two. Then things start to go sideways.
Avengers movies go through all their troubles. He's no longer associated with Kang dynasty. Wonder man has been filmed. It's going to happen, but kind of feels like it's been shuffled to the back of the line and there's been no mention or progress of any kind of Shang Chi sequel. So it kind of felt like Destin Cretton Washington kind of on his way out a little bit at Marvel.
But then all of a sudden, arguably the biggest guaranteed franchise of all, which spans Marvel and Sony right now, is Spider man four coming off of the $2 billion of no way home. They've had a devil of a time getting someone to direct that since Jon Watts stepped away. And all of a sudden, Destin Cretton is now directing that, which means. Feels like a big win for him.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: But you said it perfectly. That means he ain't doing Shang Chi too.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: No, no, that's like a. I was, you know, it's not quite the perfect parallel, but you remember the end of, like, Batman begins when Rutger Hauer's character comes in the boardroom and Morgan Freeman's sitting there and, like, Rutger Howard's like, I thought I fired you. And he's like, you did. I got another job. Yours. That's what it feels like.
I got another job. Yeah, yours. That one. The big one over there. Yeah, but, yeah, no more Shang chi for him, I think we can safely say, because if. Here's the thing, Spider man four is a tough task. He pulls that off, he's definitely doing Spider man five. Right? Like, we already know that that's what he's going to be doing. Don Watts did three of those.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: So we can safely, although not confirmed, because we can safely say that simulu is out.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I think. I think Shangxi will be reset. I mean, I think. I think. I think it go. Honestly, I don't think the only difference really between Shang Chi and Blade is you got the first movie made. I think they're both going to be in that same bucket of we need to start over, and that includes our lead.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Yeah, man. Because we need to make money.
And to me, he was just miscast and not because of anything else that was going on outside.
You know, at first when he was cast, I was like, okay, yeah, I like him. I saw him in Kim's convenience. I was like, okay. But I think just what they did, it's not even a miscarriage. I think just what they did with the character and the way they wanted to go with the character was the downfall for me.
[00:11:32] Speaker B: So I think, yeah, I agree with you. I mean, I think I still like it better than you do, but I think it's also when you see the performance and I think because of him.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Or because of everything else around it.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: Well, that's the thing. I think the two, the reason. The two main reasons I like it, but, well, the three main reasons I like it better than you are. Number one, I don't find the Jackie Chan choice as off putting as you do. You are because you were so set on a certain style and format for the martial arts. And I guess I was more open to, I like the bus scene, like, I like the skyscraper scene, even though those are not Bruce Lee style, you know, martial arts. The second reason is I think, you know, Tony Leung is just too good as. I mean, like, honestly, like, I watched that guy do his thing all day and I think he's amazing. I think Michelle Yeoh is amazing. I think Munger Jong is great. So the supporting cast to me wins me over.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: Why was my expectation that because he's.
[00:12:35] Speaker B: A master of kung fu. I mean, I get why you're making the point and because they're, I mean, they, they kind of bait and switched us with the whole like rumored tournament format. That really wasn't a thing. It was like one small scene, you.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Know, but, but Chang Chi was sort of inspiration of Bruce Lee, right?
[00:12:54] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I get it.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: That's where it comes from.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I know why you're making the point you're making. And I would suspect if they do reset it, my guess is you'll get that. That would be my. It's the most obvious pivot. Is the most obvious pivot they can make. Yeah, but I think the question, and we talked about it at the time in our review show is you leave that movie and your biggest question is, can Simu Liu rise from this performance to the next one? That's really the question. And all we have to go on is the other work that he's done away from this franchise.
I don't think he's really taken off as an actor.
Like, if you look at him in a supporting role in Barbie, he has kind of a supporting role in a comedy on Netflix I didn't think was very good. It was, like with John Cena and Awkwafina, again, directed by Paul Feige, where he's sort of like a. It's a comedy, but he's, like, a villainous guy. He's kind of moving into the, like, he's always the same guy.
Like, that's the thing, right? And so when you see that, you're kind of like, I don't think he can follow the Hemsworth path. Like, I don't know that he has that in his repertoire. He's still young, but, I mean, I just haven't seen it. I haven't seen him transform into something else. And I think Shang Chi would need to evolve. Right? Like, we want Robert Pattinson to evolve in the Batman, but we have Robert Pattinson's career to look at, to say that this guy is capable of playing things differently. I don't think we have that with Simu Liu. So there isn't really a lot of reason to be like, yeah, we're really missing out on a great arc of performance as the master of kung fu and Shang Chi two and three. Like, if they were to replace him with another up and coming asian actor, like, I don't think a lot of people would react to that.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. We'll just be curious to see what the next guy can do.
[00:14:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: Because the guy is just not it. I'm sorry. So, yeah, let us know in the comment section below what you guys think of Shang Chi and where the future of Shang Chi lies. And it seems like they sent Dustin. Dustin Craig.
I mean, are you excited about that?
[00:15:06] Speaker B: Like, what did you think after all the people they tried to get to do this? Like, what was your thought on them landing on him as the answer for Spider man four?
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Interesting. That's all.
Not excitement, but interesting.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: It feels a little bit like they. It kind of tells me, I guess they still trust his hands a little bit.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: Right? Like, they familiar with working with him, and this is a big project. And so they're. They're like, okay, we couldn't get anyone else to do it. We might as well go back to somebody who kind of knows their way around marvel a little bit.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: What I hope, Brian, is that we don't get a Jennifer Lawrence performance in Dark Phoenix type of thing from Tom Holland. That's what I. You know, I don't.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: By the way, we had a. To that point. To that point, we had a John Watts sighting because they're starting to promote skeleton crew, which he's directing over at Disneyland.
He kind of said it finally, like, he said all the right things about why he didn't come back for Spider man four. He finally said it, quote, about no way home. That was such a specific moment in time. And the reaction to that movie was so unbelievable. It's never gonna be like this ever again. End quote.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: So Dustin is reading this and he's like, thanks, yo. You're already setting me up.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: Yep. I mean, that's. But that's it. That's this. He's not wrong. Like, they pulled off something nearly impossible to make that movie great. The odds that they could come over the top on that near zero.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: Look at our shows prior to that movie coming out.
Concern. You talking about concern?
We were going to be pleasantly surprised if the movie was good and it was exceptional.
Let us know in the comment section below what you guys think and we'll see you next time on energy report.
The show goes on.
