In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers, Infinity War, Ant-Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Agent Carter, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Force, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and more…
Entertainment Weekly helped to usher in the New Year by peeling back the curtain on November’s Phase Three origin story Doctor Strange, releasing the first official images of Benedict Cumberbatch as the Sorcerer Supreme, along with some concept art for the film [see here and here], as well as some details on Tilda Swinton’s The Ancient One and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Mordo [see here] and Mads Mikkelsen and Rachel McAdams’ as-yet-unrevealed characters [see here and here]…
…As well as revealing that Benedict Cumerbatch’s popularity almost cost him the role of Stephen Strange, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has offered some details about Doctor Strange’s powers and abilities, along with his Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto: “He can do a whole host of things, eventually. He does cast spells, which in the comics have very sort of tongue-twisty fun names. We don’t want to shy away from that, because that’s what makes Doctor Strange Doctor Strange. He has a Cloak of Levitation that allows him to fly, but he doesn’t fly like Superman or like Thor. It’s almost got a consciousness of its own, this cloak, which, again, gives us a superhero with a red cape — which we’ve seen a few times — but allows us to do it in a wholly unique and wholly original way. He can create these mandalas of light that he can use as shields and he can use as sort of weapons. He can create portals that will open before your eyes that he can step through and go to other places around the world. And frankly, even in this film, we’ll only touch upon what a lot of his powers are. In this film, the Eye is a very important relic that can be quite dangerous if used in the wrong hands, because it has the ability to do any number of things, the most dangerous of which is, it can sort of manipulate probabilities. Which is also another way of saying, ‘screw around with time’ — which is part of our story…”
…Some new promotional art for Captain America: Civil War has arrived online this week, which feature shots of ‘Team Cap’ and ‘Team Stark’, Captain America battling Black Panther, and Ant-Man riding Hawkeye’s arrow [see here and here], along with a LEGO version of the first trailer [watch here]. Meanwhile, some rumours also surfaced about the film which, if true, contain pretty major spoilers; if you’re interested, you can read them here…
…New Spider-Man Tom Holland has also been talking about Civil War, and how it’s increased his excitement for the 2017 solo reboot for the web-slinger: “Captain America: Civil War will be a brilliant movie, a huge movie and I’ll have the support of the success of that movie so that I can go on to my own. It was also a real eye-opener to what it will be like when I start my film. I think the problem with Civil War for me was that it made me 10 times more excited to start on Spider-Man, but we don’t start for months so I’ve got to sit on that excitement for the moment…”
…Speaking of Spider-Man, Marvel’s Kevin Feige has also spoken briefly about the reboot: “It’s going to be as big and spectacular a Spider-Man film as has ever been made. But it’s a Peter Parker story and has more opportunity to be focused on the story of a 15-year-old kid going to high school…”
…It was certainly a busy Holiday Season for Feige, who also offered up some comments on 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, suggesting that the Mad Titan Thanos will be absent from the 2017 sequel: “I wouldn’t look too hard in that movie for Thanos. The next time we see Thanos he will not be messing around. It will be, ‘Oh, that’s why they’ve been teasing this villain for five years..!'”
…Feige then went on to another 2017 sequel in Thor: Ragnarok: “I don’t think people will read into that title alone [regarding] what the movie’s going to be. It’s going to be, perhaps, as totally different from the two prior Thor movies as The Winter Soldier was from the first Captain America. We want to take it to new places, we’ve got new characters that will show how big we’re swinging on this. And we have a Hulk… The film takes place within the cosmos primarily which is to say, frankly, very little Earth…”
…Moving on to 2018, and Feige discussed the Black Panther movie, stating that it will have links with the two-part Avengers: Infinity War: “This one is important. Not only do you get an unbelievable lead character, but you also get all of Wakanda which is a whole new setting and culture to explore. It’s a big geo-political action adventure that focuses on the family and royal struggle of T’Challa in Wakanda, and what is means to be a king. T’Challa’s story is very important to us as it links to the next Avengers films, which is why we brought it forward…”
…Looking back to Phase Two and Cinesite Studios has released a featurette for Marvel’s Ant-Man, showcasing their VFX work on the film, and particularly the final battle between Ant-Man and Yellowjacket; watch it here…
…Moving on to the small screen side of the MCU and Marvel has released the first official images from season 2 of Daredevil, which features shots of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Elektra (Elodie Yung). Check them out here and here…
…Mike Colter has been speaking about the Luke Cage series, and how it will stand out from Daredevil and Jessica Jones: “Luke Cage is going to have soul, it’s going to have intensity, it’s going to have dark parts to it. I think what’s going to make it unique is also the musicality of it. There’s going to be a musical taste that you found a little bit in Jessica. It defines itself through sound that you can feel when you’re watching the scenes, whether it’s something that’s actually a song that they’re playing or actually just the pulse of the music that they choose thematically. Luke Cage is going to define itself in that way, and it’s going to define itself in the locations that we’re doing. It’s no secret that you’re going to find Luke Cage uptown after the [Jessica Jones] series is over, so the things that happen to him and Jessica will affect him. And then when you find him months later in Harlem, you’ll see him in a different setting. That’s going to be a setting that’s surrounded with different characters and different light all unto itself.” You can read the rest of Colter’s comments – including whether we’ll see Luke in his iconic yellow costume – here…
…Be sure to check out Defenders TV’s podcast review of Jessica Jones episode nine, ‘AKA Sin Bin’, which you can listen to here…
…Over at ABC and with Agent Carter set to return on January 19th, we’ve had a detailed official synopsis for the second season, along with two new promos [see here and here]…
…Click below to continue on for Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Force, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and more…
