Geekiary News Briefs! Disney Finds Mulan, Avengers: Infinity War Trailer, Queer News, and More

Welcome to today’s Geekiary Briefs! We’ll be talking about Dinsey finding the female lead for its live-action Mulan, Supermodel Captain America in the Avengers: Infinity War trailer, some queer news, and more!

Let’s start with Disney. Not only did the House of Mouse debut the official trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, the studio also cast Chinese actress Liu Yifei as Mulan. Liu also goes by the stage name Crystal Liu. The 30-year-old actress is a big name in China, lovingly called ‘Fairy Sister’ in the country. I’m happy with the casting. And for people who might be worried about Liu being too pretty for the role, check her out in 2008’s The Forbidden Kingdom, where she stars opposite Jackie Chan and Jet Li. She’s more than capable of holding her own during action sequences.

Ming-Na Wen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), who voiced Mulan in the animated movie, is onboard with the casting too!

Congrats to #LiuYiFei ! Great choice for live action #Mulan! 👏👏👏👏#Disney https://t.co/MMHyHgSZea

— Ming-Na Wen (@MingNa) November 30, 2017

The more than 2-minutes long Avengers: Infinity War trailer showed our heroes in a lot of trouble. Thanos is not playing around and it’ll be exciting to see how everyone comes together to beat him. I also did a reaction and trailer breakdown video. Steve Roger’s hair is everything!

The first trailer for Love, Simon has been released. Based the novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, the film has a March 16, 2018, release date. The film stars Nick Robinson (Jurassic World) Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse), Josh Duhamel, and Jennifer Garner. It’s directed by Greg Berlanti. While the trailer is enjoyable, it does look like a Netflix movie. I hope it’s able to find an audience at the box office.

On the TV side of things, Bryan Fuller and Micheal Green are exiting as showrunners of Starz’s American Gods, citing differences over budget and creative direction while working with producer FremantleMedia. I enjoyed watching American Gods and I hope their departure doesn’t ruin the upcoming second season. As far as Bryan’s other projects go, he’s working on Apple’s Amazing Stories reboot. (via Variety)

I recently talked about Andrew Kreisberg’s suspension over sexual harassment allegations. Turns out Warner Bros. didn’t back down. The studio has fired the co-creator and executive producer of The CW’s DCTV shows Supergirl, The Flash, etc. Kreisberg is the latest addition to the continuing trend of sacking such individuals in power. Here’s to hoping the world wakes up and goes after politicians with the same force.

Matt Lauer lost his job.
Charlie Rose lost his job.
Mark Halperin lost his job.
Glenn Thrush lost his job.
Billy Bush lost his job.
Harvey Weinstein lost his job.
Kevin Spacey lost his job.
But in politics…
Conyers still in Congress.
Moore still running.
Trump still President.

— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) November 29, 2017

Shadowhunters lead Dominic Sherwood was caught using a gay slur. Of course, I don’t trust his apology. However, I do hope his actions help fans realize that when it comes to TV and movie stars they look up to, one can never be sure about where they stand on LGBTQ+ and other issues off-camera.

CBS has given an eight-additional episodes order for Elementary season 6. Yes, to more Lucy Liu on my TV screen! I just hope that an expanded season doesn’t mean that the series will be ending with its sixth season. (via THR)

While this year’s Arrowverse crossover ‘Crisis on Earth-X‘ didn’t attract last year’s numbers, it was still able to pull in a strong key demo rating for The CW. Furthermore, the crossover also featured a kiss between Ray and Snart, gay superheroes played by out actors Russell Tovey and Wentworth Miller respectively. Things between Sara Lance and Alex Danvers also got hot and heavy. (via ScreenRant)

In more good queer news, Pakistan and India have been offering tuition-free education to transgender people through the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU) in Tamil Nadu (India) and the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) in Islamabad (Pakistan).

“After getting neglected by the society and even by their parents, the transgenders are forced to beg on the streets. If we can create a favorable condition for acquiring better educational qualifications, it will enable them to occupy enviable positions in government or private institutions, and hence, the MSU has taken an initiative in this direction,” said vice-chancellor K. Baskar.

“Our university education system is based on distance learning, so they can get the education without coming to classrooms, and avoid possible taboos attached to them,” said Dr. Shahid Siddiqui, vice chancellor of AIOU.

(via PlanetTransgender)

What did you think of the Avengers: Infinity War trailer? Are you excited about Liu Yifei as Mulan? Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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