Matt Damon has followed up The Odyssey with a red spandex super suit and a ray gun, and the environment is the enemy.
Set photos published Wednesday by TMZ show Damon filming Thasnagar, the secret “sci-fi” movie from Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, in Los Angeles.
Damon is in the full hero costume: a bright red jumpsuit and matching helmet, white gloves, and a green ray gun. In one shot, he throws a salute while a performer in a green creature suit stands behind him.
TMZ also caught the actor in a black sleeveless shirt between takes, hanging out with costars dressed in the same red gear.
Filming is taking place at several locations around Los Angeles, including a college campus, and the production is being kept under wraps.
A Superhero Movie With Global Warming As The Villain
Thasnagar is the first film from the Daniels since Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven Oscars, including Best Picture.
Universal has it dated for theaters on November 19, 2027.
The title surfaced in July on a Production Weekly casting grid, and Universal has never officially confirmed it, so it may just be a working title.
The project has been described as a “superhero tentpole with global warming as the villain,” with a story that jumps between the 1980s and the present day. The ’80s side follows a group of teenagers.
The rumors get more specific from there: the teens wear color-coded outfits and fight kaiju monsters, with Damon playing a superhero-type figure who guides them and Sandra Oh playing his AI sidekick.
None of that is confirmed. It does explain the Power Rangers comparisons, and it matches the suits in Wednesday’s photos.
Charles Melton, Michael Gandolfini, and singer PinkPantheress round out the adult cast. Sean Kaufman, Silvia Dionicio, Jackson Kelly, Kerrice Brooks, and Thalia Dudek play the five young leads.
Damon teased the movie on The Dan Patrick Show back in July, saying the Daniels pitched it to him as “The Breakfast Club meets Inception meets an anime film” crossed with an episode of John Oliver’s show that never aired.
He added that anyone who liked the wildness and the heart of Everything Everywhere All at Once will like this one.
Disney Just Killed The Real Power Rangers
Here is where it gets interesting.
Three weeks ago, the actual Power Rangers died at Disney+. The live-action series from Percy Jackson showrunners Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz was scrapped in August without ever getting out of development.
One rumor floating around claims that’s no coincidence, that Disney backed out because the Daniels were already making their own Power Rangers-style movie with Matt Damon over at Universal.
The timing feeds it: the reports about Thasnagar‘s Power Rangers influence started spreading the same week the Disney+ series died.
The likelier answer is money. Deadline reported the Disney+ pass was a business decision, not a creative one. Power Rangers belongs to Hasbro, and Disney wasn’t going to bankroll an expensive superhero series built on a brand it doesn’t own.
Disney+ has been cutting budgets and content across the board. The live-action Gargoyles reboot died the same way two weeks later.
Goofy Sci-Fi Keeps Bombing
The other question hanging over Thasnagar: does anyone still want this kind of movie?
The goofy, quippy sci-fi formula has been bombing all year. Masters of the Universe flopped hard. The Mandalorian and Grogu is the lowest-grossing theatrical Star Wars movie ever. Supergirl opened below Morbius.
Universal is betting the Daniels are the exception. Everything Everywhere was an original that turned a modest budget into more than $140 million worldwide and a Best Picture win, not another studio running the Guardians playbook into the ground.
Damon, meanwhile, is coming off the biggest hit of his career. The Odyssey has passed $1.1 billion worldwide, the most ever for a Christopher Nolan movie, and it was back at No. 1 at the domestic box office this week — seven weeks into its run.
His follow-up is a red jumpsuit, a toy ray gun, and a salute.
Thasnagar opens in theaters on November 19, 2027.
