In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Spider-Man: Homecoming, Venom, Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, The Defenders, The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Inhumans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L..D., The Gifted, X-Men: The New Mutants, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 2, The Batman, Suicide Squad 2, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Arrow, The Flash, Black Lightning, Gotham, Batman: Gotham By Gaslight, The Umbrella Academy, The Incredibles 2, Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, Sky High and more…
Spider-Man: Homecoming swung into cinemas last weekend, with the Marvel and Sony-produced reboot spinning a $257 million worldwide opening weekend, of which $117 came domestically, giving Sony its second-best ever debut behind Spider-Man 3’s $151.1 million back in 2007. And, while the movie has just opened, Sony is already looking towards the home-entertainment release, with a promo image of the 4K Ultra HD collector’s set arriving online this week [see here], and director Jon Watts revealing that one of the special features will compile a selection of unused Public Service Announcements featuring Chris Evans’ Captain America…
…We do of course have plenty more Homecoming stuff for you this week, including alternative posters which pay homage to The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Taxi Driver [see here], a video breakdown of the film’s Easter eggs and cameos [watch it here], and a review of Michael Giacchino’s score [see here]. You may also be interested in the latest comments from Kevin Feige who reiterates that Zendaya’s Michelle is not Mary Jane Watson [see here], Marisa Tomei talking about a deleted scene between Aunt May and Peter Parker [see here], and the film’s screenwriters talking about May and Peter’s relationship moving forward [see here]…
…Rumour time now and it seems we may be getting another symbiote host in Sony’s Venom solo movie, with rumours this week that director Ruben Fleischer is looking to cast Eddie Brock’s ex-wife Ann Weying, a.k.a. She-Venom. Meanwhile, the same report also goes on to state that the movie will be taking inspiration from the Ultimate version of Venom, where the symbiote is actually a genetically engineered biosuit, rather than an alien lifeform…
…In other web-slinging news, Disney XD has released a new promo and official synopsis for the animated series Marvel’s Spider-Man [check them out here], as well as announcing that the voice cast includes Robbie Daymond (Get Blake) as Spider-Man, Max Mittleman (Transformers: Robots in Disguise) as Harry Osborn , Nadji Jeter (Kirby Buckets) as Miles Morales, Melanie Minichino (Mr. Peabody and Sherman) as Anya Corazon, Fred Tatasciore (Marvel’s Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.) as Max Modell, Laura Bailey (Marvel’s Avengers Assemble) as Gwen Stacy, Nancy Linari (The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest) as Aunt May, Patton Oswalt (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Uncle Ben, Scott Menville (Teen Titans) as Doc Ock, John DiMaggio (Samurai Jack) as The Jackal, Alastair Duncan (The Batman) as Vulture, and Marvel’s chief creative officer Joe Quesada as coffee shop owner Joe…
…Directors Anthony and Joe Russo took to social media yesterday to announce that principal photography on next year’s Avengers: Infinity War has wrapped, although there’s no time for rest as the cast and crew will move straight into production on the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4, given that the two films are shooting back-to-back. We did get one final Infinity War set photo too, with Robert Downey Jr. sharing an image of him alongside the Russos, co-stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Holland, and Marvel legend Stan Lee; take a look at the set photo here…
…This week brought us a whole host of new images and character portraits for Marvel’s Black Panther, offering new looks at Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, Daniel Kaluuya’s W’Kabi, Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Forest Whitaker’s Zuri, Angela Bassett’s Ramonda, Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger, and Winston Duke’s M’Baku [take a look at the images here and here]. Meanwhile, Chadwick Boseman discussed his character’s evolution from Captain America: Civil War and the villains Killmonger and Ulysses Klaue [see here], while producer Nate Moore talked about modernising the character of Man-Ape [see here] and Danai Gurira spoke about her character Okoye and the Dora Milaje [see here]…
…Disney’s D23 Expo is taking place in Anaheim, California today, and it’s expected that we’ll be getting some big Marvel news at today’s live-action Disney panel. In the meantime, a Thanos statue from Avengers: Infinity War is on display on the convention floor [see here], as is some promo artwork for Ant-Man and the Wasp giving us our first look at The Wasp’s redesigned costume [see here], along with a new poster for Thor: Ragnarok featuring Thor and The Hulk in battle [see here]. And in other Ragnarok news, we’ve also seen some new promo artwork featuring Thor, Loki, Hela, The Grandmaster, The Hulk, Valkyrie and Skurge [see here]…
…While Marvel Studios will have a presence at Disney’s D23 Expo later today, we also have a 90 minute panel to look forward to next weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con International. Marvel is keeping details close to its chest, but while Phase Four announcements may not be forthcoming (Kevin Feige has previously revealed that they plan to keep details close to their chest for fear of spoiling Infinity War and its as-yet-untitled sequel), we can surely expect to see Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War showcased, along with a few surprises…
…Marvel Studios officially announced the special features for the DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD home-entertainment release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 this week. One of the features is a music video for the James Gunn-penned ‘Guardians Inferno’ song, and you can take a look at a poster for the video featuring David Hasselhoff and the 70s-themed cast of Guardians here. Meanwhile, Beast Kingdom has also unveiled promo images for its Rocket Raccoon and Groot Egg Attack figures, and you can find those here…
…With just over a month to go until The Defenders hits Netflix, a new promotional image for the Marvel team-up arrived online this week featuring Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist together [see here], while we also got a San Diego Comic-Con International poster for the show [see here], and showrunner Marc Ramirez has been chatting about Sigourney Weaver’s villain Alexandra, revealing that the character isn’t so much a “villain” as an “adversary”: “In her career, she’s come up against a lot of different people — armies, mercenaries, devoted religious fanatics and all kinds of different groups — who have tried to take her down, but she’s never met four people who are seemingly just interested in taking care of this one little part of New York,” Ramirez says. “I think she’s actually really charmed by it, and weirdly, because they’re unlike anybody she’s ever faced off against before, it’s intimidating to her. [She’s a] survivor. Above all else, she cares about living. She’s about self-preservation, and self-preservation at all costs… She has the long game in mind, and she isn’t thinking about this chess game, she’s thinking about six chess games in the future. As such, I think she’s seen a lot of beauty in humanity and in the world, but there are certain things that to her are expendable, and that’s a really dangerous worldview…”
…Click below to continue on for The Punisher, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Inhumans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L..D., The Gifted, X-Men: The New Mutants, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 2, The Batman, Suicide Squad 2, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Arrow, The Flash, Black Lightning, Gotham, Batman: Gotham By Gaslight, The Umbrella Academy, The Incredibles 2, Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, Sky High and more…
