WIRE Buzz: Black Widow timeline, Defenders MCU details; Lost Boys pilot reworked

Today’s WIRE Buzz is a lot of Marvel (past, present, and future) along with a throwback film’s rocky escapades during its journey to TV. Turns out not all vampires belong on the small screen, at least not on the first shot.

Netflix’s poor canceled Defenders were recently the subject of discussion in a conversation with Kevin Feige — and if anyone can change the fates of the super-New Yorkers, it’s the head of Marvel Studios. But even his powers are limited.

Feige discussed this paradox with BET, explaining that while he loves the members of The Defenders (Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Iron Fist), there’s not much he can do thanks to some legal issues. “There were a lot of great characters that were on those Netflix series,” Feige said of bringing the small screen heroes to the MCU, “and I think there is a period of time…it’ll be a while before we could use any of them based on what the contracts were, so I’m not sure.”

With the Marvel head’s focus split between the upcoming slate of films that have already been announced and the massive endeavor that is integrating the X-Men and Fantastic Four universes into the established canon, it seems the streaming superheroes may stay out of the game for a while. And maybe then there won’t be any legal loopholes requiring the services of Nelson & Murdock.

Next up is Black Widow. We reported on some photos and videos taken from the set of Scarlett Johansson’s still-unconfirmed Black Widow solo film, but now a few new snapshots have given the MCU experts enough information to speculate on the film’s place in the complex timeline.

CBR says the below photos indicate that Widow will be set between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War:

Why? The make and model of her car. Sure, Black Widow is being pursued by someone that may or may not be Taskmaster. But what’s undeniable is that she’s driving a "2017 BMW 5 Series Touring Wagon.” That points to the film occurring around that year (since the MCU typically demands pristine new models as blockbusters are wont to do), and those two films have a nice little narrative gap where Natasha could slip right in.

Fans can find out for sure when director Cate Shortland’s Black Widow film most likely hits theaters on May 1, 2020.

Finally, in a bit of sad but ultimately heartening news for nostalgic vampire fans, The Lost Boys pilot has dropped almost its entire cast. Barring two exceptions, the prospective CW show ditched everyone as part of a retooling effort instigated by the network. That's rough. But also, The CW is still asking for more of the property...so that's a good sign?

Deadline reports the two that made the cut are Medalion Rahimi and Dakota Shapiro, who will now co-star in the reworked pilot. Shapiro will still play the Kiefer Sutherand character from the 1987 movie while Rahimi will play a version of Jami Gertz’ role, Stella. As for everyone else and the plot itself? Not good enough for The CW to pick it up, so expect a lot of differences. 

Filming of the adaptation is planned for the end of 2019.