It's been a while since the Hargreeves last got into some shenanigans at a space-continuum level (2022, since we last saw them). They return for season four—their final season of The Umbrella Academy—to right a timeline that they have created in their adventure.
Based on the comic book series of the same name, this season of The Umbrella Academy will prove interesting as creators Gerard Way (yup, that Gerard Way) and Gabriel Bá haven't written or illustrated the comic book ending yet. How will it end? And will it align closely with Way and Bá's collective vision?
From the looks of the teaser, it looks like the Hagreeves kids are now normies living out their civilian lives as best as they can (although Luther [played by Tom Hopper] still looks kinda swole). Also, it looks like their paterfamilias, Reginald, is now alive and leading a sinister organisation. And, according to the synopsis from Netflix, there's a "mysterious association known as The Keepers holds clandestine meetings believing the reality they’re living in is a lie and a great reckoning is coming." Oooh, the intrigue.
There are tons of takeaways after watching the teaser: Santa Claus going postal; Diego (David Castañeda) is a family man; Ben (Justin H. Min) is out of jail; Viktor (Elliot Page) goes ballistic... all these to the opening of "The Final Countdown". Will there be a reappearance of characters from the previous season? Can the family ever find happiness? Is there a dance battle? And what's the deal with the "upturned umbrella" tattoo?
While the final season will have six episodes, which is four less than previous seasons there is still cause to celebrate, seeing as it is a rare thing for Netflix to stick to finishing up a series.
The final season of The Umbrella Academy premieres on 8 August
Finally, we get the teaser to the long-anticipated sequel to Joker (no article, please; that's how the film rolls) and it's something. Called Joker: Folie á Deux, the film takes place directly after Joker. We follow Arthur Fleck (played by Joaquin Phoenix), who is getting used to life behind bars. That is, until he sets his sad puppy dog peepers on Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga). Cue the fireworks.
Folie á deux is French for "shared madness" and it's inevitable that Arthur and Harley's fate might mirror that of another pair of loving maniacs (think Mickey and Mallory Knox from Natural Born Killers). What's interesting is that Harley isn't a playing a psychologist. Rather, from the teaser, it looks like she's a fellow patient at the asylum—wait, do people still say "asylum"? And it looks to have a lot of dancing and singing. In several sequences of a burst of colours and song, the cinematography is reminiscent of the musicals of the '60s.
Director Todd Philips, who is known for his The Hangover trilogy, Joker and his cameo in Old School that we will always bring up (see gif for reference), says in an interview at CinemaCon that this isn't a musical but "it’s a film where music is an essential element." He then adds that, "it’ll make sense when [we] see it." We are guessing, dream sequences that only Arthur and Haryley are privy to.
Other actors appearing in the sequel includes Zazie Beetz reprising the role of Arthur's former love interest; Leigh Gill returns as Arthur's clown coworker as well as Sharon Washington, Arthur's social worker. Seeing as how Robert De Niro's character ended up in the last instalment, we can rule out his appearance. Unless he appears in Arthur's imagination or something.
Joker: Folie á Deux is scheduled for theatres 4 October
The next Deadpool movie has been speculated to death. From the hearsay and scant images that we get from behind the scenes of the next Deadpool movie, all we gathered was that Hugh Jackman will reappear as Wolverine (in the blue and yellow suit natch). Other than that... nada.
That is until the recent Super Bowl LVIII, where the teaser was revealed, along with the official title: Deadpool & Wolverine. Here are three things that we took away from the teaser.
We know that Deadpool is prone to breaking the fourth wall but he's also not opposed to breaking the laws of time travel. Thanks to Deadpool's shenanigans, where he travelled back in time to right a few wrongs (see video below), it might incur the ire of the TVA (Time Variance Authority).
We first saw the organisation in the series, Loki, and while we didn't see Loki or Mobius, we saw Tom Wambsgans- sorry, the TVA agent, Paradox (played by Matthew Macfadyen). He's behind the kidnapping/recruiting of Deadpool for a mission. To give him a "chance to be a hero among heroes".
The third chapter of Deadpool will have a host of well-known faces. The teaser's opening shows a few well-known faces including Blind Al (Leslie Uggams); Shatterstar (Lewis Tan); Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and Peter (Rob Delaney).
The reappearances of Shatterstar and Vanessa—who died in the last instalment—are more proof that Deadpool's time-travel hijinks are what got the TVA's undies in a bunch. There are two other recognisable X-Men characters in the teaser.
There's the aforementioned Wolverine... but there's also Aaron Stanford's character, Pyro. Since this is a time-travel movie, we can expect to see other IP characters. Like 21st Century Fox's portfolio, after Disney acquired the media corporation in 2019.
Given the time-travel vehicle, it may not be out of the ordinary that Deadpool & Wolverine will retcon the MCU. Thanks to the various scandals (Joss Whedon; Jonathan Majors) and the pandemic (contrary to Kevin Feige's explanation), the MCU's Phase Four was delayed and had to be revised. Deadpool's devil-may-care antics can prune a few troublesome timelines. Adjustments to few narratives (mutants!) and swapping out Dr Doom for Kang the Conqueror could help the next MCU event.
It will be a huge overhaul. One that will impact numerous franchises. But it'll put Feige's grand plan for the MCU back on track. Maybe.
We'll find out when Deadpool & Wolverine lands in theatres on 26 July.
