Culture Crave newsletter — #10 💥

Happy weekend, everyone! Lots of fun news to share with you. A big thank you to all of you who consistently tune in, even with our sporadic release schedule. We promise that whenever we drop a new edition, it’ll be packed with analysis and relevant news 🫡

New details on Avengers 5

The Avengers: Doomsday cast is starting to take form. Deadline last summer said there could be more than 60 different characters that appear. Prior to dropping this newsletter, we had to update this graphic twice already… so this may be the last inclusion of it for a while 😂

Some details and thoughts:

• Hayley Atwell is reportedly returning as Agent Carter. I suspect that means the split universe where Steve Rogers jumped off to at the end of Avengers: Endgame is going to come back into play

• Chris Evans has been adamant that he’s done playing Captain America, but he didn’t say anything about Nomad, which is who he’s rumored to play. For those unaware… It’s the same character with an alternate identity

• The Thunderbolts lineup has yet to be determined for the film, as a few are expected to die in their upcoming film

• Robert Downey Jr. is reportedly earning $100M to reprise his role in the next two Avengers films. You can’t help but wonder if Chris Evans saw that news, glanced at his recent streak of critical and commercial misfires, and thought, "You know what… sign me back up”

Sony continues their legendary streak

Jumping over to the other Marvel franchise — Sony is on a generational run right now that we may never see matched again. Six consecutive live-action spinoffs without a single positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Combine the scores for Kraven the Hunter, Morbius, and Madame Web, and you’d still fall well short of breaking into positive territory. Truly, no one is doing it quite like these guys 🍅

Barbie 2 rumored to be in the works

Last bit of film news for today — Barbie 2 might be happening. Hollywood Reporter says it’s in the early works. Warner Bros says that’s inaccurate. Reps for Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach say there’s no truth whatsoever. THR stands by their sources. So what is it?

It’s no surprise, in my opinion, that anyone would want to explore sequel ideas for a film that grossed over $1.45B. Greta Gerwig might have additional motives as well— it’s been reported that she’s pressuring Netflix to give her upcoming Narnia project a theatrical run, nothing like a little reminder that she has options. Warner Bros isn’t shy about mining their IPs, we’re seeing that this week in action with a LOTR film that was pushed forward into production to hold the rights, and neither is Mattel, apparently. Just look at all these other toys they’re trying to turn into films 😳

Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards 🎮

Naughty Dog reveals Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet

• It follows a bounty hunter in an alternative universe where space travel has significantly advanced by 1986

• Inspired by Akira and Cowboy Bepop

• Over 250 developers have been working on it for the last 4 years

• Will have 'the deepest gameplay in Naughty Dog’s history'

• Soundtrack is scored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

• Cast includes Tati Gabrielle, Kumail Nanjiani, Tony Dalton, and Troy Baker

NetEase Games has officially launched Marvel Rivals for free, and it’s already a huge hit — amassing over 10 million players in its first 72 hours. The team has exciting plans for new skins, and below, you’ll find all the current options available if you’re looking to use one inspired by the MCU — or even snag a 🆓 skin

The game is available on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC. You can download the game for free on Steam here 👌

That’s all for this week. Hit the subscribe button if you enjoyed it 🤝

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