Jay And Silent Bob Crash Marvel While Star Wars Maps Its 2026 Comeback

We break down a stacked week in pop culture: Marvel swings big with Jay and Silent Bob, DC sharpens its Absolute line, Star Wars charts a 2026 return, and the industry shifts behind the scenes. We also share updates on Bruce Campbell and honor Robert Carradine and Rob Grant.

• Marvel’s Jay and Silent Bob miniseries announcement
• Bishop limited series details and creative team
• DC Absolute Green Arrow and Absolute Catwoman concepts
• Star Wars 2026 slate across film, series, and books
• Star Trek Waze voice and Orville update
• Ted moves to animation and Treasure Island series news
• Dark Horse leadership change under Embracer
• Children’s and Family Emmys key winners
• Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery deal notes
• Game of Thrones conquest film development
• Cannes honors Peter Jackson
• Tributes to Robert Carradine and Rob Grant

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Transcript

Opening Rant And Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Tonight, Jay and Silent Bob join the Marvel Comics Universe, incoming Star Wars stuff, The Doctor the Navigator, and remember Robert Carradine and Rob Grant, all that and more in this edition of Multiverse Tonight. Welcome to Multiverse Tonight, your source for EQ. We dissect films, games, comics, and much more, bringing you entitled commentary on pop culture. This is Multiverse Tonight. Now here's your host, Thomas Townley. Well, hello and welcome to episode uh 260 of Multiverse Tonight. I'm of course your host, Thomas Townley. And I've all recorded this episode once and it's really ticked me off. Uh Elgato, you have a lot of uh angry emails coming because your new Wavelength 3 software is crap. Pure crap. Okay? If you re you Elgato, if you want to reach me, traveler1345 at gmail.com send me send me an email and we'll talk about your crap new software. It was it's been buggy for for for weeks and weeks. You released it, still buggy as all get out. So I am pissed. So Elgato. Anyway, let's go on to the Marvel News. Uh Jay and Silent Bob are cut are coming to a Marvel comic book called Jay and Silent Bob J Jay's a Future Past. It's uh written by Kevin Smith, illustrated by Giuseppe Gemancoli. Uh it's coming out on June 10th. Uh, of course, Kevin Smith is a lifelong Marvel enthusiast. You know his uh stuff with uh Marvel. So uh Doctor Doom decides that uh these two Jersey guys must die. So they're going to team up with the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the X-Men, and a whole lot of hosts, a whole host of heroes to unwit uh superhero fatigue. Again. And uh sounds sounds very good, doesn't it? Uh Bishop is returning for a new limited series. The iconic X-Men will receive a five-issue limited series starting in June from Selden Ahmed and artist from Mario Centoro. We'll pit him against a time-traveling mutant against a dark force from his own future. Uh he teams up with his sister, so uh that looks interesting. On to the DC Comics News. DC Comics News begins with DC's Absolute Universe expanding with Absolute Catwoman and Absolute Green Arrow. Now, Absolute Catwoman, or Absolute Green Arrow, excuse me, will be no trick arrows, no money, no mercy. And he's the absolute hunter. The story is a serial killer using green arrows targeting corrupt billionaires and victims are all connected to the recently murdered Alpha Queen. Uh, absolute black canary and executive protection specialists must investigate a list of dangerous archers to uncover the mysterious murderer's identity. It's a six-issue series that'll spin out of the events of absolute evil. It's uh written by PornSek uh uh Pichetchot, uh art by Raphael Ukirky and Marcelo Mayol. Uh comes out May 20th, 2026 in a variety of covers. Absolute Catwoman, launched in June. Uh taglined with all the wealth, with all the gear, with all the skills. She's the absolute predator, apex predator, isn't everyone the absolute universe? Um, she's the world's greatest thief, relying on ingenuity and high-tech gear. However, her carefully constructed like life collapses when a figure from her past appears. To survive, Catwoman must survive must solve a mystery that forces her to go on a global journey to the dark shell of the absolute universe, which the absolute universe is nothing but dark shadows, and we'll focus on her connection to Black Mask. And that's from Chi Che Garsen, uh Grayson and Scott Snyder, art by Bengal and variety covers. Also from uh DC, there'll be uh more coming your way. Anyway, let's go on to the Star Wars news Roger Roger Roger Roger. Star Wars is Poison Maker Resurgence in 2026 with a slate of six sequel projects, plus uh novels and other stuff. Uh first off is the Mandalorian and Grogu on May 22nd, 2026. Of course, the sequel to The Mandalorian on Disney Plus, and we'll just focus on The Mandalorian and Grogu. So don't expect you know a lot of other uh supporting characters. Uh also Maul Shadow Lord come April 6, 2026. Uh, this is an animated show coming to Disney Plus. Will take place a year after the series finale of the Clone Wars in Order 66, and we'll see uh Darth Maul deal with the restructured Sith Hierarchy and uh surviving the Dark Force, you know, that kind of stuff. There's also Star Wars Vision presents the Ninth Jedi based on the Ninth Jedi from Star Wars Vision season one. Uh gets the car's story further further along, and uh so uh that'll be interesting. Uh Soka Season 2 uh will of course come at come right on the heels of season one, and will also uh be the first series not to have like a span of time in between the first one and the second one. You'll automatically pick up right where the story left off. Now uh this uh there's also Reign of the Empire, Edge of the Abyss novels coming out September 15, 2026. Uh, this novel by Rebecca Ran Rowanhorse is set uh one year before and or season one as a direct sequel to Reign of the Empire, the Mask of Fear. There's also the legacy novel, July 28th, 2026. Uh, this takes place between episode eight and the rise of Skywalker, and is about Ray continuing her training under Leia Organa. Uh picks up at the after the Battle of Crate. There's also a uh a few comic books. There's Jar Jar No. 1, February 11th, 2026, which is a sequel to Revenge of the Sith, and you know, goes about you know how Jar Jar feels about being used. Shallow of Maul, uh comic book, March 4th, 2026, a sequel to Clone Wars. You know, does more of Maul's storyline. There's a new Galaxy's Edge book, Galaxy's Edges of the Empire, uh, which will be placed between episodes five and six, and will be episode the galaxy's reaction to the empire's growing control and the consequences of Luke's confrontation with Darth Vader. Uh, there's the Mandalorian The Manja, Volume 4, May 5th, 2026. Uh, this will, of course, you know, be more of the manja of season one. So uh there you go. Go ahead and check those out. Let's go to Star Trek News. All right, Star Trek. Uh Starfleet Academy has come to the Waze app on your phone. Uh, the doctor will now be your guide for navigation. Robert Cardle lends his voice with the Doctor Signature Witch and extensive knowledge, and he'll navigate everyday you'll hop in navigate everyday traffic hazards and guide you through the final frontier. There is also a legendary Vulcan salute for a map icon, and you can swap your vehicle for USS Athena. Um fans of Seth McFarland's The Orville have been waiting for its return for a long time. Good news. Uh the it's he does have a four-season written. Uh, it's just bad, the bad news is it's gonna be delayed because, well, he's busier than I'll get out. So, you know, he's got season two of Ted to do, he's got a new animated version of Ted coming out. So, you know, he's just you know all sorts of busy. So he'll get to it when he gets to it. Hopefully, you know, the the the actors from the series can come back to recreate the recreate the show. Otherwise, he's gonna have to do a lot more rewriting. Anyway, let's go to the geek news. Uh again, Seth McFarlane, known for his uh crude comedies, especially the Ted franchise, uh, which has two movies and a TV spinoff. Of course, Ted's season two premiered uh March 5th, uh, putting him putting the character in his senior year of high school. Next will become Ted the Animated series. Uh this will be a sequel to Ted Two, the movie, and will feature Mark Wahlberg and Amanda Seifred. Quote, it's such an undertaking to produce this series. It's a half-hour comedy, but it feels like a half-hour single camera comedy. It oftentimes feels like you're doing an adventures movie every 20 minutes with the amount of CGI and the amount of care and skill in of the barly animators. The one thing the animated series allows us to do is we couldn't do it in a live-action show, was pull together people like Wahlberg and Seifred, people who are really busy in the film world and would probably not be available to do TV in any capacity. So it's allowed us to pick up after the second movie finished. Um, he thinks he'll get that out late 20 2006 or 2007. You know, frankly, he has you know no real ideas on the exact timing of that. So, you know, your mileage may vary. Uh, next up, MGM and Paramount Plus are teaming up for a huge new six-part series based uh called Treasure Island, based on the Robert Lewis Stevenson now novel. It'll debut on Paramount Plus in the UK and Ireland, and MGM Plus here in the States. And uh this will be, of course, the coming of the age story of Jim Hawkins, Sheltered Kid Becomes the Pirate. You know, you know the whole Treasure Island story. I don't need to you know recount the you know the the the you know beats of the story for you. Uh stars uh David Owillow, uh has Long John Silver, Haley Atwell as Beth Hawkins, Jack Huston as Aaron Graham, and and Tomer Capone as Billy Bones, and Tom Sweet as Jim Hawkins. With uh Ryan Murvey as executive producer and TN creator. So uh are we do are are we are you ready for you know this? Is it kind of a little late, you know, considering you know the the pirate thing was you know a decade ago about. Anyway, Mike Richardson, the founder of uh and longtime CEO of Dark Horse Comics, has been replaced by Embracer, the company that holds Dark Horse since 2022. Uh Jay Comas, a gaming executive, is taking over. Embracers thinks that this will uh focus Dark Horse for a for a more group dynamic. The goal is to modernize the business, strengthen collaboration between publishing games, film, merchandise, and our key areas. Uh Richardson's career began as a comics retailer with Pegasus Fantasy, later Things from Their World in Oregon. In 1986, he launched Dark Horse Comics with a focus on career rights, becoming home to careers like Frank Miller and Mike McGnola. It was successfully, he also successfully published licensed comics such as Alien and Predator and uh also Star Wars before that went back to Marvel. Uh, crucially, Robinson uh Richardson was a pioneer in taking comics to Hollywood, with Dark Horse being the first one to be taken seriously, with uh successes like The Mass, Time Cop, and Hellboy, and of course uh the Umbrella Academy on Netflix. Now he sold the company Dark Horse to Swedish-based Embracer Group in 2022, but stayed on CEO until now. The new CEO campaigned for the role for months, but lacks direct Hollywood experience. So uh we'll see what go what uh comes out of this. Bruce Campbell, the Star of the Evil Dead franchise, announced that he has been diagnosed with a form of cancer. The 67-year-old actor uh shared news with the Spans on social media, described his health issue as an opportunity, and explained that the cancer is treatable, but not curable, a revelation they admitted was shocked to him as well. In his post, he stated his professional commitments will be changing to comic treatment, such as uh convention appearances and general stuff like that, will be taking a backseat to treatment. However, he plans to be focused on getting well over the summer so he can promote his new movie, Ernie and Emma, on in the fall. Campbell concluded by emphasizing his resilience and support system. He's not trying to get sympathy or device. He's just trying to get the information out there before you know the press jumped all over it. Uh the following were winners at the Children's and Family Emmy Awards. Uh Star Wars Skeleton Crew won Outstanding Young Teen Series, Outstanding Visual Effects for Live Action Program, Outstanding Editing for a Young Teen Live Action Program, Outstanding Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Uh, Outstanding, and uh so uh congratulations to them. Outstanding Children and Young Teen Animated Series went to Win or Lose. They also picked up Outstanding Winner, Outstanding Writing for Children's Program, uh Pickle, Win or Lose, Outstanding Directing for an Animated Series, Win Orlose, uh Outstanding Editing for an Animated Program. Uh Ultraman Rising, one outstanding animated special. It also won Outstanding Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Uh Daffy in Wacky Land on HBO, one outstanding short form animated program. And David Ergo Jr., one for uh Tiny Tunes University for Outstanding Multiple Role Role Voice Performer in Children's Ortelligence Program. And if this be my destiny from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, one outstanding voice directing in an animated program. And the Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures won outstanding sound mixing and sound editing awards as well. I don't know if I'll take a long, long uh talk about this or not. Of course, you heard Paramount finalized its$111 billion acquisition of Warren Burst Discovery. Uh Netflix withdrew, saying that it was no longer financially attractive. David Elson says a lot of stuff. Dave Zaslav says a lot of stuff. You know, they're both kind of evil. Uh transaction values WBD at$31 per share and has a ticking fee of a quarter per sh per quarter, which will be distributed to shareholders commencing September 30th, 2026. Further powering regulatory approval or disapproval. Uh furthermore, Paramount is obligated to pay a$7 billion breakup fee should the transaction fail. The acquisition is supported by$47 in$47 billion in equity capital from the Elson family, Redbird Capital, uh$54 billion in debt financing from Bank of America City Group in Apollo, and uh of course from Saudi Arabia, etc. Uh Paramount projects the closing of the deal in the third quarter of this year. Uh they'll have to fight California to get to get through, though, and maybe Europe. Uh Paramount will remit a$2.8 billion termination fee to Warner Bros. from Warner Bros. Discovery 2 Netflix for abandoning the deal. If uh this breakup, if breakup happens from Paramount, Warner Brothers will get$3 billion. Um from uh there are several key provisions to this. Uh Warner Brothers and Paramount will still be independent studios and will be operated as such. There will be a guaranteed output of 15 films to theaters a year, a guaranteed 45-day theatrical window unless it's commercially viable. Uh the MERS Corporation will continue to practice the life of practice of licensing its content to third-party entities and acquiring programming from external studios. Uh, they will also combine HBO Max and Paramount Plus into one streaming service to rule them all. Yeah, your joke here. I had lots of jokes when I originally went through this, I'm not going through it again. Anyway, uh a Game of Thrones movie is Long Room Air, it's finally in development for the brothers with writer Bo Willman attached. Uh, this will be a Dune cinemasize cinematic event. It'll focus on King Aegon 1 Tigerian's conquest of Westeros, uh JJR Martin, which both the uh they did this, they said this in an HBO uh an a Hollywood reporter profile of J.R.R. Martin. With uh the film division HBO working on compete versions of the same story. So uh you know we'll see you know what comes to light, whether it's a combination of the two or you know each one. Paramount is also uh making G.I. Joe movies still with two distinct treatments. There's one from one from uh Max Landis, the screenwriter who was uh hit up by the Me Too movement in the late 2010s, will be working on feature adaptation, and Danny McBride will is also separate pending a separate script. So we'll see what happens there. The Cannes Film Festival is uh honoring Peter Jackson with the honorary Palme d'Or at the upcoming French Festival, which runs May 2012 to the 23rd. Uh festival organizers praised his body work, saying it was a body of work that blends Hollywood blockbusters and films to Atul with extraordinary artistic vision and technological audacity. Jackson called the award one of the greatest privileges of his life and recalled his history at Cannes beginning in 1988 with the movie Bad Taste and returning in 2002 with the Fellowship of the Ring. Last year, the honorary Palme d'Or was awarded to Robert De Niro and Denzel Washington. Finally, tonight, Richard Carradine, Abel of member of the storied Carradine Acting Family, has passed away at the age of 71. The actor, best known for his roles in the Long Writers, Revenge of the Nerds, and Lizzie McGuire took his lone life on Monday, following a nearly two-decade-long struggle with bipolar disorder. His older brother, Keith Carradine, described Robert as the family's bedrock, but acknowledged that his mental illness ultimately overcame him. The family released a statement to deadline expressing their profound sadness. Quote, is with profound sadness that we share that our beloved father, grandfather, uncle, and brother Robert Carradine has passed away. In a world that can feel so dark, Bobby was always a beacon of light to everyone around him, where bereft at the loss of this beautiful soul and want to acknowledge Bobby's valiant struggle with against his nearly two-decade battle with bipolar disorder. We hope his journey can sign a light on encouraged addressing the stigma that is attached to male illness. At this time, we ask for the privacy to grieve this unfathomable loss with gratitude for your understanding and compassion, unquote. Keith Carradine emphasized the family's desire to be open about Robert's struggle with bipolar disorder, saying that we want people to know that there's no shame in it. It's an illness they got the best of him, and we want to celebrate him for his struggle with it and his beautiful soul. Born on March 24th, 1954, Robert was the youngest son of actor John Carradine and brother to actors David and Keith Carradine and Disney Imagineer Christopher Carradine. He forged his own path in Hollywood, making his big screen debut in 1972 alongside John Wayne in The Cowboys, a role his brother David encouraged him to audition for. His career included appearances of Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Hal Ashby's Oscar Winning Coming Home, the latter leading to speculation he might be the family's best actor. In 1980, he had two films at the Cannes Film Festivals, Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One and Walter Hill's The Red Writers, where he starred with his brother David Keith. Hill famously cast Real Brothers to play the Outlaws, all the Outlaws. Robert Keith and David played the Younger Brothers, James and Stacy Keach played Frank and Jesse James. Randy and Des Quaid were the Miller brothers, and Christopher and Nicholas guests were the Ford brothers. His great film success came in 1909 as Lewis, the head nerd in Revenge of the Nerds, a role that became a beloved franchise and embed him in the consciousness of a generation. Later, he gained a new generation of fans as the father in the Liza McGuire series. Despite never having formal training or learning to read music, he had deep love for playing guitar, often performing with his birds Keith and David. He also accompanied his friend Peter Yarrow and the film folk legend Rambling Jack Elliott. In the late 80s, he and Mayor Windingham formed a band called the Waybacks. His own great passion was race car driving, starting with go-karts at the age of 11. He eventually went on to Grand Prix level at the late 80s and 90s, including a stint as a driver on Team Lotus with Paul Newman. He is survived by his children, grandchildren, brothers, nieces, and nephews. He has a daughter, actress Ever Caritine with Susan Snyder in 1974. That year he met Eth Manny, who with whom had two more children, Marika and Ian. His niece, actress Martha Plimpton, recalled that he was everyone's beloved uncle. And he was also a devoted grandfather to Ever's children, chaplain Sam and Marika's son Jack, often attending Little League and horse shows and jumping at the chance to babysit. Again, Robert Carradine was 71 years old. Finally, tonight, Robert. Rob Grant, co-creator of the beloved sci-fi sitcom Rob Red Dwarf, died at the age of 70. His passing was announced by his family on Wednesday, February 25th, who said that it was a great loss to his family, friends, and comedy fans across the world. Grant was born in Salford, Greater Manchester in September of 1955, studied psychology at Liverpool University. There he met Doug Naylor, his future writing partner, before collaborating, Red Dwarf. The pair collaborated on various projects in the 80s, including Radio 4 comedies, the satirical puppet show Sping Image, and various works for the comedian Jasper Carrot. The initial concept for Red Dwarf came from a character Dave Holland, space cadet, the Grant Naylor, developed while writing for the Radio 4 sketch show Son of Cliche. Red Dwarf debuted on BBC 2 on February 15, 1988, following the low-ranking technician Dave Lister, played by Craig Charles, who awakened from suspended animation on mining spacecraft to find his last surviving human. He is joined by companions Arnold Rimmer, played by Chris Berry, the cat, played by Danny John Jules, and Santation Droid Chris Crichton, Robert Llewellyn, and the ship's computer Holly, played by Norman Lovett, for most of the series. For a lot of the series. The series, which Grant Naylor would be high from 1988 to 1999, was a success, launching with a 4.75 million million viewers and growing to 8 million by the final run. It was later revived on Dave TV on Dave from 2009 to 2020. The writing partners also published several Red Dwarf novels under the joint pseudonym Grant Naylor. Grant Naylor split in the 90s due to creative differences. Grant's more recent books were written in collaboration with screenwriter Andrew Marshall. Just days before his death, Grant had announced the forthcoming publication of a new Red Dwarf prequel novel titled Red Dwarf Titan. And then, and so again, Rob Grant, creator of Red Dwarf, dead at the age of 70. And that brings us to the end of our show for today. Now uh thank you for putting up with this rushed reading. That uh be sure to check us on social media. We're at Blue Sky at multiverse tom, thread Facebook, and Instagram, Multiverse Tonight. If you've gotten some value out of the show, bless you. And uh if you'd like to pay it back, uh please head on over to multiverse tonight.com where you'll find our Patreon and Kofi links. Check our show notes, visit our TeePublic store, leave some feedback, and so much more. And if you this is your first time listening, thank you and welcome. Go ahead and hit that subscribe button, share it with friends and family. Special thanks to Shane Irers for the intro music and Lobo Loco for the outro theme music. Thanks for watching this edition of Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in two weeks with more sci-fi and comic book news and hopefully equipment that works correctly. Now, please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night.