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Marvel’s Biggest Villain Officially Joins Apple TV’s MonsterVerse Spin-Off

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Father-son thespian duo Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell have both taken their turns in the MCU; in fact, the younger Russell is set to be among the teeming throngs of characters in Avengers: Doomsday. However, even in their own project in another, totally different cinematic universe, they can’t escape it. Marvel villains large and small have signed on to star in the duo’s new Apple TV series, a spin-off of the MonsterVerse TV show Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

The series will be set in both the Cold War and the modern day, and is set to star the Russells as monster hunter Lee Shaw at various phases of his life. Shaw first appeared in Legacy of Monsters as one third of the monster-monitoring Monarch organization’s founding trio, alongside Japanese scientist Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto) and American cryptozoologist Bill Randa (Anders Holm); after a relatively brief expedition to the strange Axis Mundi dimension, he was brought back to our world twenty years after he’d left, thanks to time dilation. He retired to Japan, and eventually found himself wrapped up in a monster-chasing expedition with Keiko and Bill’s grandchildren to find their missing father. Now, his lost years will be explored in a new spin-off which is also slated to star Millie Brady and Pilou Asbaek. It will see Shaw race to stop the Soviet Union from unleashing a new monstrous threat that endangers the whole world.

As reported by Deadline, Corey Stoll, Ralph Ineson, and Nyasha Hatendi will all join Russell in the as-yet untitled series. Stoll starred in Ant-Man as the villainous Darren Cross, alias Yellowjacket; he returned as the disproportionate MODOK in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Robert Eggers mainstay Ineson, meanwhile, stomped all over the Earth as Galactus in last summer’s Fantastic Four: First Steps. Hatendi has yet to menace a costumed hero, but starred on the series Casual and Alex Rider, and recently appeared in the Agatha Christie adaptation Seven Dials.

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What Is the MonsterVerse?

Introduced in 2014’s Godzilla, the MonsterVerse is Legendary Pictures’ cinematic universe of giant rampaging creatures. Linked by the shadowy Monarch organization that attempts to keep tabs on the world’s kaiju and keep them secret from the general populace, the MonsterVerse has expanded to five films and one TV show, with a new show and movie in development. It includes not only Godzilla, but several of his compatriots licensed from Toho, including Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah; it also features the classic American creation King Kong, and pitted him against Godzilla for the first time in almost 60 years in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong. The net big-screen entry in the franchise, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, is due in theaters on March 26, 2027.

The Lee Shaw spin-off of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is in development. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.


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Release Date

November 16, 2023

Network

Apple TV

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Showrunner

Chris Black, Matt Fraction

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Directors

Julian Holmes, Matt Shakman, Mairzee Almas, Andy Goddard, Hiromi Kamata

Writers
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Al Letson, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Chris Black, Mariko Tamaki, Amanda Overton, Andrew Colville, Matt Fraction, Milla Bell-Hart

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