More characters keep joining the upcoming massive horror crossover event Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, and the most recent character update raises the stakes for the film but comes with a huge risk. The superhero genre is credited for the popularity of connected universes, and an unlikely one was formed not long ago in the horror genre. In 2023, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey was released, a horror version of the beloved children’s character who entered the public domain a year before. Despite not being the critics’ favorite, Blood and Honey’s popularity made way for a franchise appropriately named The Twisted Childhood Universe.
The idea for the Twisted Childhood Universe is to produce horror movies centered around characters from children’s media, such as Peter Pan and Bambi. The purpose of this is for all of them to meet in a massive crossover event titled Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, projected for a 2025 release. Although some characters will get their own movies before Poohniverse, such as Peter Pan, Bambi, and Pinocchio, others will arrive during the event – and an update about one of them raises the stakes for Poohniverse but is a huge risk as well.
Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble Will See The Characters Hunting Kids, Too
Mary Poppins Will Go After Children In Poohniverse
Custom Image by Dalton Norman
The first confirmed characters for Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble are Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Owl, Bambi, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Hook, Pinocchio, and The Cricket, all of them introduced in movies released before the crossover. However, with more characters joining the public domain, the minds behind Poohniverse keep adding characters to it, the most recent ones being Mary Poppins and Tintin. Mary Poppins was confirmed to join Poohniverse in December 2024, but now a key detail about her has been revealed.
A new children's character has been teased to join the Twisted Childhood Universe, and that can make one wild theory come true but with a twist.
Speaking to ComicBook to promote Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, director Scott Jeffrey opened up about Poohniverse and Many Poppins’ involvement. Jeffrey revealed that Mary Poppins will be a kid snatcher like Peter Pan, and along with the Mad Hatter, these three will be “the worst of the worst.” In addition to that, these three will be the main villains in Poohniverse, to the point where Jeffrey wants the audience to root for Pooh after seeing how horrible Peter, Poppins, and the Mad Hatter are.
Scott Chambers, also known as Scott Jeffrey, played Christopher Robin in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2.
Pooh and company have targeted teenagers and adults so far, and though Peter Pan was expected to go after children, the confirmation of two (potentially three, if the Mad Hatter is also a kid snatcher) major villains in Poohniverse hunting kids is raising the stakes for the crossover event as no one will be safe, but that also comes with a major risk.
Targeting Kids Can Be Risky For Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble
The Twisted Childhood Universe Is Already Controversial
The risk that comes with Mary Poppins hunting children along with Peter Pan is not so much that anyone can be a target in Poohniverse, but that killing children is a very controversial area. Most horror movies stay away from having their villains go after children and kill them, and those who have done so have had to be very careful with that. In fact, not many horror movies show children being killed as it’s understandably controversial.
Turning these characters against children and attacking them on screen is highly risky territory even for this universe.
The Twisted Childhood Universe is already controversial for what it does, and each movie so far has faced backlash from those who are against horror versions of beloved children’s characters. Obviously, the state of the rights of all these characters gives artists the freedom to do with them as they please, but turning these characters against children and attacking them on screen is highly risky territory even for this universe. It’s even riskier if the kid snatchers are the major villains in Poohniverse, so the team behind this event has to be extra careful with this part of the story.
Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble Is Already Facing A Huge Character Problem
Poohniverse Is Facing The Biggest Problem Of Massive Crossover Events
In addition to the risk of having the major villains in Poohniverse targeting children, the event is facing another major problem that comes with this type of crossovers: too many characters. Joining the characters mentioned above will be Rabbit, Sleeping Beauty, and Cheshire Cat, with the tease of even more joining. This not only risks saturating one movie, but the problem is also that there’s not enough time to properly develop each of them.
Many characters from Poohniverse will be introduced in the movie and won’t get the time and space to be properly developed and explore their stories.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 3, Awakening Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White Returns are the only movies confirmed to be released after Poohniverse, with Bambi: The Reckoning and Pinocchio: Unstrung releasing before. Many characters from Poohniverse, then, will be introduced in the movie and won’t get the time and space to be properly developed and explore their stories. Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble will definitely be a one-of-a-kind crossover event, but it risks being not only controversial but also messy.
Source: ComicBook.
Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble is a horror film that acts as the culmination of the Winnie-the-Pooh horror franchise that began with Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey. Inspired by Freddy vs. Jason and The Avengers, Poohniverse will show Pooh, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Pinocchio, Piglet, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, The Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell team up to destroy the world.
Director
Rhys Frake-Waterfield
Cast
Scott Chamber
, Megan Plactio
, Roxanne McKee
, Lewis Santer
Custom image by Ana Nieves.
Custom Image by Dalton Norman
English (US) ·