by Pierre Lorenz on March 4, 2021

There was some news about the Marvel Cinematic Universe once again this week. First, there is the third solo film of the "Ant-Man" series, which is not expected to be released before Summer 2022. Although main actor Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly as Wasp, Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne will be back, the franchise will have to do without one other familiar face in the future. We're talking about rapper and actor T.I., who embodied the burglar Dave in "Ant-Man". The reason for his abrupt departure is an ongoing court case, according to which the 40-year-old is accused of sexual abuse, assault, kidnapping and many other offenses. So it's no wonder that the entire "Ant-Man" team is keeping its distance and cancelling the role, especially since Disney is in no way known for giving problematic personalities a stage.

Instead, there is much more pleasant news about the shooting of "Thor: Love and Thunder", because as new snapshots from the set reveal, director Taika Waititi will pick up on the well-known theatrical gag from "Thor: Ragnarok". Meant is the scene in which nameless Asgardian actors perform a play in which the supposed demise of Loki is reenacted. Upon closer inspection, it quickly becomes apparent that Matt Damon, Sam Neil and Chris Hemsworth's brother Luke, among others, made a brief appearance. New to the cast will apparently be Melissa McCarthy, who will likely play the stage counterpart to Loki's sister Hela. This is not a groundbreaking story revelation, but it's nice to see that Waititi is sticking to the funny cameo appearances in the upcoming "Thor" movie.

Last but not least, actress Lupita Nyong'o expressed her views on the upcoming MCU adventure "Black Panther 2". Despite the tragic passing of her acting colleague Chadwick Boseman last year, the 38-year-old actress is optimistic about the future during an appearance on "Good Morning America". She said that great care is being taken by everyone to treat Boseman's legacy and his well-known role as King with dignity. The "Black Panther" team is doing everything they can to continue the role in some way, and director Ryan Coogler is said to have some very exciting ideas already. We will probably only find out exactly what this means when the movie is released on July 8th, 2022.