In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors, Fantastic Four, X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, X-Force, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, The Flash, Superman Lives, Justice League Mortal, Gotham, Arrow, Constantine, Supergirl, Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Batman: Bad Blood, The LEGO Batman Movie and more…
Marvel Studios unleashed the second superhero movie of 2015 – and the twelfth instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – on Thursday evening as Ant-Man began its roll out around the globe. In the States, the film kicked off its run with $6.4 million in Thursday previews and is tracking a domestic opening weekend in the region of $60 million, with around $125 million expected worldwide. Here’s an excerpt from Scott Davis’ ★★★★ spoiler free review of the film:
While its troubled production history may have been cause for concern, rest assured that the troubles have only served as a spur to make Ant-Man even better. And it worked: there are the usual Marvel quibbles as well as a slight lull around the mid-section, but this is easily the most fun you will have in the cinema this summer. Funny and exhilarating, Ant-Man makes being small feel so immense.
You can read the rest of his review here…
…Of course, Marvel made sure everyone was aware of Ant-Man’s arrival this week with a wealth of promotional material, including a new theatrical poster [see here], and IMAX poster and featurette [see here], a LEGO poster and new WHIH news viral video [see here], the obligatory clips, TV spots and featurettes [see here, here and here], and video interviews featuring director Peyton Reed alongside stars Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Pena, T.I. and David Dastmalchian [see here]. Meanwhile, Marvel chief Kevin Feige offered up a few details about the “surprise” (or “not a surprise if you’ve been watching the TV spots”) cameo from an Avenger [see here], and Flickering Myth’s Luke Owen delved into ‘The History of Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man’ with an in depth feature that you can read here…
…Ant-Man director Peyton Reed has been speaking this week about his earlier brush with the superhero genre, having spent time developing Fantastic Four before Tim Story came on board for the 2005 movie: “I was a huge Marvel fan when I was a kid and knew Fantastic Four inside out and felt they were always the crown jewel of Marvel. So I went in and got [hired for] the movie and I developed it for the better part of a year with three different sets of writers. But it became clear after a while that Fox had a very different movie in mind and they were also chasing a release date… so we ended up parting company. I felt like I couldn’t make the movie I wanted to make in that environment. The environment at Fox in 2003 was very different to the environment at Marvel in 2015. Fox at that time had a very specific idea; they wanted to pitch it much younger than I wanted to and I always felt like they were treating those characters like b-level characters. I never felt like they understood the real strength of that property. I actually feel like Joss Whedon’s first Avengers did a lot of the same things that I would have liked to have done in Fantastic Four. These massive battles in the streets of Manhattan for example. But I’m psyched for Josh Trank’s version of Fantastic Four. I know nothing about it but I know I really liked Chronicle so I’m hopeful. I think there is a great Fantastic Four movie yet to be made…”
…She’s been linked to the role for a couple of months, and now Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer) has confirmed she’s set to star in Doctor Strange alongside Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Stephen Strange) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Baron Mordo) in the role of The Ancient One: “We’re so far in talks that we’re not talking any more [laughs]. It’s done. I just really liked the premise of this and the idea of playing this character. I’m a Marvel fan and I think this particular world that Doctor Strange goes into is really, really, really exciting. I’m really interested as both an actor and a fan to see what’s done in this particular world. It’s all about creativity. It’s not about everything exploding at the end. It’s about something very different. The idea of playing The Ancient One is really just too tickling. I can’t say no to that…”
…With production continuing on Captain America: Civil War, some set photos have emerged showing a battered and bloodied Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) [see here], while our new Spider-Man Tom Holland sparked speculation about a potential appearance alongside The Punisher in Civil War by posting an image of himself alongside Daredevil star Jon Bernthal (although in all likelihood, it probably relates to the movie Pilgrimage, which they’ve both just completed)…
…And speaking of Spider-Man, it looks like Sony and Marvel have found their screenwriters for the 2017 reboot, with Vacation helmers John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein set to pen the script for the solo movie, having lost out on the directing job to Jon Watts (Cop Car)…
…Illustrator Ryan Meinerding has given us a look at some alternate designs for The Vision from Avengers: Age of Ultron [take a look here], while Joss Whedon has ruled out a director’s cut of his blockbuster superhero sequel, stating that: “It has always been my ambition never to do a director’s cut of anything, and always to make the movie with the studio that we both want to make. Ultron was very complex. There was a lot of back-and-forth. My instinct is no. Just as an artist, I’m super fucking lazy and that sounds like it would be hard. I don’t think there’s interest in it, right now. You’ll see a bunch of stuff on the DVD in extras that were meant to be there. But the narrative came together very close to the way that I hoped it would, and I don’t think it needs me to constantly tweak it. I feel you put something out, and there it is. The first time I ever heard a re-mix, I was 13 and I was listening to the radio. I heard a song that had been re-mixed and it freaked me out so much that I turned off the radio and never listened to it since, literally. That is an actual truth. I felt like, ‘Wait, that was the song. You can’t do that.’ Our entire culture consists of doing exactly that, but I’m not for it. If I tell a story, I want that to be the story I told. Ultron may have some transitions that I’m not 100% on board with. It’s also one of the most ridiculously personal things I’ve ever put on screen. The fact that Marvel gave me that opportunity and supported it, I’m very happy and very proud of everybody that worked on it. I don’t feel the need to go in and fix. I feel like, there she is…”
…If you’ve been putting off buying Marvel’s Phase Two releases in anticipation of a collector’s set then you’ll be pleased to hear that the studio has announced The Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two Collection, a 13-disc Blu-ray set housed in the Orb from Guardians of the Galaxy, which comes complete with Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man…
…A new batch of set photos have arrived online from Marvel’s next Netflix series Jessica Jones featuring Krysten Ritter’s title character and Mike Colter’s Luke Cage, while Marvel head of television Jeph Loeb has spoken about the series, as well as giving an update on the casting for Iron Fist and the chances of possible crossovers between the Netflix shows ahead of The Defenders. You can check out the set photos and read Loeb’s comments here…
…It’s the penultimate episode of Marvel’s Avengers Assemble on Disney XD this Sunday and you can take a look at a clip from the episode ‘Midgard Crisis’ here, while we’ve also got a clip from Tuesday’s Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors entitled ‘Ant-Man’, which you can watch here…
…With less than three weeks to go until the arrival of the year’s third and final superhero movie, 20th Century Fox has ramped up the publicity for Fantastic Four, with the Josh Trank-directed reboot getting a pair of “final trailers” [see here], a ‘4 Different Origins’ featurette [see here], and a new poster and selection of TV spots [see here and here]. Meanwhile, Jamie Bell has revealed that there’s NOT a post-credit scene, although the film does plant the seeds for future movies and storylines: “We don’t have a post-credits scene. It does leave the door wide open for a lot of different movies. I think this movie really focuses on the origins of each character individually – how they get their powers, how they learn to deal with them, how they learn to harness them. That’s kind of where the movie ends. But then there’s so much more to go on from there – it really leaves the door open…”
…This won’t come as much of a surprise, but Fantastic Four star Toby Kebbell is keen to see his version of Doctor Doom make the jump to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the British actor stating that: “[Doom is] pretty much the Marvel villain. You know he destroys Thor. He punches up all those people. I don’t know what the political… I can’t get into this. You’re going to write this, and I’m going to get destroyed. They’re going to sue me, but look: can someone at Marvel and someone at Fox talk, and with Doom, just lend him out, like football? You can have him for the World Cup, that’s it! Then just let me go – let me go and destroy Thor, for goodness sake. I’d love to work with those boys…”
…Click below to continue on for X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, X-Force, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, The Flash, Superman Lives, Justice League Mortal, Gotham, Arrow, Constantine, Supergirl, Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Batman: Bad Blood, The LEGO Batman Movie and more…
