When most actors first join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they don't have a huge amount of input when it comes to shaping either the personality or storyline direction of their characters, with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark being an obvious and notable exception.
The internet was buzzing yesterday when Chris Pratt posted a video from the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, seemingly confirming that the long-awaited Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel has finally started production ahead of a May 2023 release date.
Blockbuster timelines are always dependent on the story being told, and we've seen movies pick up minutes or even seconds after their previous installments, while others jump years and decades into the future. As a comic book movie populated by teenage characters, the DCEU's Shazam! Fury of the Gods was virtually guaranteed to follow a real-world timelie.
Following on from the world premiere of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Eternals, an unexpectedly mixed bag of reactions hit the internet, with one of the recurring criticisms of the cosmic comic book adaptation being the sheer volume of exposition contained with a story that runs for over two and a half hourse.
History has shown that putting too many villains into a superhero movie is never the greatest of ideas, but looking at the multi-billion success enjoyed by each of the four Avengers epics, the Marvel Cinematic Universe certainly knows a thing or two about packing its cast with a huge number of heroes.
You can't help but admire the dedication of the Daredevil fanbase, who continue to support the idea of the former Netflix series being resurrected and continued as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, long after Kevin Feige confirmed that he doesn't view any of the former small screen properties as official canon.
Scott Frank's The Queen's Gambit was a phenomenon when it hit Netflix in October last year, as evidenced by the huge uptick of interest in chess among the general public after they'd witnessed the trials and tribulations of Anya Taylor-Joy's prodigy Beth Harmon.
It was well over three years ago that John Wick prequel series The Continental was announced to be in development at Starz, but the project has roared into life since being reconfigured as a three-night event, with each installment set to run for 90 minutes and cost upwards of $20 million.
Quentin Tarantino has always been notorious for talking up a huge number of projects that he never gets around to making, but he'll need to settle on something pretty solid eventually when he continues to reiterate that his next feature film is going to be his last.
It's becoming increasingly difficult for comic book creators to come up with brand new superpowers that haven't been done before, when the medium has grown so vast that almost every unique ability of note has been seen on either the printed page or in live-action, animation or video games ten times over.