Spoiler alert, I made this seem like three updates but it’s actually two.

Doctor Strange to appear in Spider-Man: Far From Home Sequel

With the death of Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame Spider-Man lost a mentor and father figure, the fallout from which was dealt with in Spider-Man: Far From Home. But who will fly into scenes to display a delightful goatee and give sage advice? It turns out that Marvel has another guy like that.

The Hollywood Reporter … reports that Benedict Cumberbatch is joining the cast of the next Marvel/Sony Spider-Man movie to take on that mentorship role. This also lends some credence to the multiverse theory that has Jamie Foxx returning as Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The Next Doctor Strange film is called Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, after all.

Given the “branch realities” explanation of time travel in Avengers: Endgame and the fact that WandaVision is a direct tie into Multiverse of Madness, and the casting of Johnathan Majors as (probably) Kang the Conqueror in the next Ant-Man & The Wasp movie, it seems like the multiverse is going to be a big deal in phase four of the grand Marvel experiment.

Both Spider-Man and Doctor Strange are meant to be starting filming soon, and while they’re currently scheduled for 2021 and 2022, who knows what’s going to happen with the schedules.

What a time to be alive.

Natalie Portman drops some Love and Thunder details

It’s not a secret that Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster is going to lift Mjolnir in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, but what is the story going to be, exactly? Portman dropped some detail in an interview with Fatherly:

I can’t tell you that much. I’m really excited. I’m starting to train, to get muscles. If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them they are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of the Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side.

On the one hand, this is exciting because The Mighty Thor storyline is good and a logical jumping-off point. On the other hand, it’s exciting because if there is one thing Marvel Studios is good at, it’s remixing the comics stories to meet their own needs.

Thor: Love and Thunder is currently scheduled for 2022 but, well, you know.