Our Father's Eyes

It's been a while but here's a look at some of the stuff I've been watching over the last few weeks.

Batwoman: We're two thirds into this show's second season and things have gotten fairly interesting. Black Mask while not perfect has been a better baddie than Safiyah and the twisted reintroduction of Kate Kane now played by Wallis Day feels like something out of Gotham - in the best way possible. Alice is always a blast, I liked the girls night episode with Ryan, Sophie and Mary, Stephanie Brown's inclusion was nice, especially for her scenes with Luke. Right now Jacob's snakebite addiction is the only weak link  this season.

Schitt's Creek: It's taken seven months but I finally finished this wonderful series and this last season was so much fun, I didn't want it to end but alas, it's over.  The last episode with David and Patrick's wedding was a good one to end with along with Johnny and Moira leaving for pastures new and even Alexis going on a journey of personal growth in this last season. Then there's Stevie being the best ever, Roland proving that he does have Johnny's back when it counted, Twyla being secretly rich, Ted and Alexis breaking up, fun snarky comments from Ronnie, Jocelyn almost taking on a new career and a brief reappearance from Jake. I'm so glad I saw this show all the way through.

Supergirl: There's no denying that Melissa Benoist's maternity leave definitely put the writers in a position where they needed to be their most creative in terms of Kara's reduced screen time. The Midvale two parter had fun with younger versions of Kara, Alex and Cat while putting Nia and Brainy at the forefront and for the better too. I'm glad the Phantom Zone plot has been resolved as the gang managed to rescue both Kara and her father and I can't wait to see what mischief Nyxly will get up to now that she's also in National City.

The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: If you were worried that Sam was never going to become Captain America, then the last two episodes were not only a treat but you've got a movie on the horizon to see even more of Sam in his new role. This series was excellent from start to finish, not just with Sam and Bucky's respective journeys but also for characters like John Walker, Sharon Carter, Zemo and Karli. That's two Disney+ shows the MCU have knocked out of the park. 

The Flash: I'll be honest - I'm finding this season something of a slog to get through. The main plot with the forces isn't that particular gripping and even things like Cisco and Chester time travelling and the whole Killer Frost trial hasn't landed as well as they should've. Although I did like the actor playing Speedforce Nora, overall the second half of the season needs to give Barry a more gripping antagonist to work with.

• Fox have cancelled Prodigal Son after two seasons.
• Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh will be leaving The Flash this season.
• The CW will now air new programming on Saturdays next season.
• Grey's Anatomy has been renewed for an eighteenth season.
• The reunion special of Friends will stream on HBO Max from May 27th.
• Netflix has renewed Bridgerton for a third and fourth season while the second season is currently filming.
• Netflix have also cancelled The Irregulars after one season.
• Loki will stream Wednesdays on Disney+ from June 9th.
• Zachary Quinto and Billy Porter will play a married couple in an upcoming Disney+ series.
• UK viewers wil be able to watch the second season of Love Victor from June 18th on Disney+.

Life Is A Caberet

I'm using a new tablet to write this so bear with me, lol but here goes.

Batwoman: Things have certainly taken an interesting turn now that we know Kate Kane is alive and that Black Mask and Enigma currently have her prisoner. Already it's a step up from the underwhelming plot with Safiyah that's currently on pause while Alice broods over her lost sister, Ryan cemented herself as Batwoman and Sophie finally questions the way of the Crows.

Schitts Creek: Five seasons down and with one more to go, I'm glad I got into this series. The fifth season had fun with Moira doing a certain horror franchise as well as the soap convention circuit, while David and Patrick got engaged, Alexis was willing to to the Galapagos with Ted, Stevie took on an iconic acting gig as well as a brief romance with Amir while Johnny had fun with a roast at Roland's expense.

Supergirl: With the CW doing the bare minimum in terms of promotion and as a consequence of Superman And Lois having to take an early break, the final season of the Girl of Steel opened on a decent note. Lena is back in the fold with the main team, Lex has been rendered mortal again and Kara herself has wound up in the Phantom Zone but at least this last season is off to a good enough start.

The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: Following the success of their previous MCU effort, it seems that Disney+ are on a roll with another hit here. Three episodes in and this show has reunited Bucky and Sam as a right Odd Couple, added a new Captain America with John Walker, shown the duality of the Flag Smashers along with welcomed returns of Sharon Carter and Zemo along with a new potential mainstay in Torres. The action sequences have been impressive along with the chemistry of the leads.

The Flash: With the Mirror Monarch story dealt with, Iris out of the Mirrorverse, it actually feels like the season has actually started properly. Both Abra Kadabra and Psych were good guest baddies, Barry and Iris dealing with their traumas handled well, along with both Caitlin and Frost being split in half with the latter gaining a new threat of her own. It's still not the show at its best but does feel like an improvement over last season.

• American Gods has been cancelled after three seasons, though Starz are considering a movie to wrap up potential loose ends.
• Annie Murphy has joined the second season of Russian Doll.
• The Right Stuff has been cancelled by Disney+.
• Rege Jean Page will not be returning for the second season of Bridgerton.
• Nicholas Podany and Donald Faison have joined the cast of Powerpuff Girls.
• Young Sheldon has been renewed for an extra three seasons.
• Daniel Zovatto and Lori Petty will star in upcoming HBO Max series Station Eleven.
• Dan Stevens has joined Starz series Gaslit.
• Law And Order: Organized Crime has added Nicky Torchia, Michael Rivera and Ibrahim Renno to the cast.
• Rose McIver will star in the US version of Ghosts which will air on CBS.

SDCC 2019 - Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 4 Announcement (Spoilers Included)

They sat out SDCC last year and this year upon their return, Marvel decided to go big with the announcement of five movies and five streaming shows on upcoming service, Disney+

So, here's a look of what we can actually expect in the next two years from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Black Widow: Due for release on May 1st 2020, this prequel movie will see Scarlett Johansson reprise her role as Natasha Romanov in a movie that is rumoured to be set during the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Joining Johansson here will be David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, O. T. Fagbenle as Rick Mason, Rachel Weisz as Melina/Iron Maiden as well as Ray Winstone in an undisclosed role. The main antagonist for this movie will be Taskmaster. Filming for this movie started in May.

Eternals: Due for released on November 6th 2020, this movie will focus on a space battle between the titular group and their enemies, the Deviants. Rounding off the cast for this movie are Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, the leader of the Eternals, Lia McHugh as Sprite and Don Lee as Gilgamesh. There's still some more casting for this movie to be confirmed but filming will begin in September in London for this one.

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings: Due for a February 12th 2021 release, this movie had been fast tracked by Kevin Feige since December 2018 and we now know that the title character will be played by Simu Liu with Tony Leung Chiu-wai portraying the Mandarin and Awkwafina also cast in a role in the film. Filming for this movie will take place in Australia within the next few months.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness: Due for a May 7th 2021 release, Benedict Cumberbatch's surgeon turned magical superhero will be getting a second solo outing and this time he'll be backed up by Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch as Nightmare has been confirmed as the main antagonist for this movie. This movie will also be tied into Olsen's upcoming Disney+ series, WandaVision, the latter which will stream prior to this movie's release.

Thor: Love And Thunder: Due for a November 5th 2021 release, I think we were all shocked earlier last week to find out that Chris Hemsworth was getting a fourth solo movie and with director Taika Waititi returning following the success of Thor: Ragnorak, this movie will not only see Thor reunite with Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie as the latter looks for a queen but in a major surprise, Natalie Portman will not only reprise her role as Jane Foster but she'll also be playing Lady Thor for good measure too. Between finally confirming Valkyrie's bisexuality and giving us Lady Thor, this movie isn't messing about.

Elsewhere, there was another surprise announcement of Mahershala Ali being confirmed as Blade for an upcoming movie while sequels for Black Panther, Guardians Of The Galaxy and Captain Marvel were confirmed with hints of mutants eventually making it into the main cinematic movies. However the fourth phase will seemingly be about the five above movies I mentioned and five upcoming television series, leading to this bit.

With Disney+ due to debut in the next few months, MCU fans will have a big incentive to watch the five upcoming series they're planning as these series will tie into the main cinematic universe in a fairly big way. First up will be The Falcon And The Winter Soldier with both Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan reprising their respective roles with Emily VanCamp and Daniel Brühl set to reprise their roles as Sharon Carter and Baron Helmut Zemo from August 2020. Then it'll be WandaVision, focusing on the relationship with Olsen's Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany's Vision while Teyonah Parris will appear as an adult version of Monica Rambeau while Loki will see Tom Hiddleston's mischievous trickster in a post Avengers: Endgame timeline. Both those series will debut in early 2021. After that, we've got What If…?, an animated anthology series with Jeffrey Wright voicing the Watcher and several familiar characters appearing in rather different circumstances, with a mid 2021 date being earmarked for it's release. The last series then will be Hawkeye with Jeremy Renner reprising the title role but also handing it over to Kate Bishop. This show will debut in late 2021.

Meanwhile it's also been confirmed that Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD will end after seven seasons. The show currently into it's sixth season, airing on both ABC and E4 respectively will be the most successful of Marvel live action show in spite of it often being ignored by the MCU itself (although Clark Gregg did recently play Agent Coulson in Captain Marvel). I stopped watching the show a few seasons back but it's incredible that the show lasted as long as it did. I also think that following it's imminent demise, the only Marvel shows we'll be getting for the foreseeable future will be on Disney+

So that's the next two years for the MCU sorted then. What were the most exciting announcements for you? Which movie or streaming shows are you most eager to see? Was there something you wish had been announced but wasn't?