In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Batman: Year One, Justice League, Green Lantern, Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad 2, Gotham, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, Arrow, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Venom, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Big Hero 6, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, Fantastic Four, Legion and more…
With twenty days to go until the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (where it is said to be tracking a global opening of $300-$340 million), Warner Bros. has been working overtime with its marketing for the DC Extended Universe team-up. This week’s promotional material includes a clip from the rooftop fight between the Dark Knight and Man of Steel [see here], a batch of new images [see here], a selection of TV spots featuring snippets of new footage and dialogue [watch them here, here and here], a featurette where Zack Snyder plugs the hell out of Turkish Airlines [see here] and a “deleted scene” from Jimmy Kimmel Live [watch it here], while we’ve also got a look at promotional images for the Play Arts Kai Armored Batman figure [see here], Hot Toys’ Armored Batman [see here], and Hot Toys’ Cosbaby figures featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman [see here]…
…Several of the cast and crew have been out doing the press rounds for Batman v Superman this week, with Ben Affleck stating that the two DC icons don’t share many scenes, as well as revealing he stole a Batarang from the set, and Zack Snyder giving an update on what Superman has been up to since the end of Man of Steel and how he’s viewed by The Dark Knight. Meanwhile, Affleck, Snyder and producer Charles Roven also spoke about the R-rated Ultimate Edition of the movie, while it was announced that Jena Malone’s character – who isn’t Batgirl or Carrie Kelley, according to Snyder – has been cut from the theatrical version but will still feature in the extended cut. And speaking of the R-rated edition, be sure to check out Anghus Houvouras’ op-ed on why it’s a good idea here…
…With rumours suggesting that Wonder Woman steals the show in Batman v Superman, Gal Gadot has been discussing her role as the Amazon Princess and trying to live up to fan expectations: “I appear in this film just as she is trying to escape her days of being Wonder Woman. When she meets Batman she feels he will be the one to bring her back to her glory days, that dynamic between the three of them if very intense because they fight for the same values. But everyone wants to shine, there is much tension… good tension, I would say. I really enjoyed this job and my hardest challenge is to not let down anyone. I know it’s hard and you can’t control what everyone thinks, but I feel that to really interpret a good Wonder Woman, I have to show everything positive that a woman has. That’s what makes this very easy because once a woman with tons of confidence is empowered, it’s very fun…”
…Morgan Freeman and Christian Bale shared a few thoughts on Batman v Superman this week, with Freeman believing it won’t live up to The Dark Knight Trilogy, while Bale also reflected on his own time under the cape and cowl, suggesting that he feels there was room for improvement: “I didn’t quite manage what I hoped I would throughout the trilogy. Christopher Nolan did, but my own sense of self is like, ‘I didn’t quite nail it.’ [Batman is a] very, very, very dark, messed up character. I found when I put on the suit, I felt like, ‘I just feel like a bloody idiot if I don’t use this as a means of, It’s his true monstrous self that he allows to come out in that moment. Let’s do that. [Heath Ledger] turned up and just kind of completely ruined all my plans. Because I went, he’s so much more interesting than me and what I’m doing…”
…Sticking with Batman for a moment and Frank Miller has been discussing the aborted Batman: Year One adaptation he wrote with director Darren Aronofsky, which Warner Bros. was developing prior to Batman Begins: ““It was the first time I worked on a Batman project with somebody whose vision of Batman was darker than mine. My Batman was too nice for him. We would argue about it, and I’d say, ‘Batman wouldn’t do that, he wouldn’t torture anybody,’ and so on. We hashed out a screenplay, and we were wonderfully compensated, but then Warner Bros. read it and said, ‘We don’t want to make this movie.’ The executive wanted to do a Batman he could take his kids to. And this wasn’t that. It didn’t have the toys in it. The Batmobile was just a tricked-out car. And Batman turned his back on his fortune to live a street life so he could know what people were going through. He built his own Batcave in an abandoned part of the subway. And he created Batman out of whole cloth to fight crime and a corrupt police force…”
…With production set to get underway next month, Henry Cavill has briefly spoken about his next outing as the Man of Steel in Zack Snyder’s Justice League: “I have [read the script]. I can tell you nothing. We’re talking about Justice League here, so this is the DC Cinematic Universe is finally getting its chance to really grow in this one, and I think all the characters are fantastic. I’m looking forward to being a part of that whole gig…”
…Justice League may provide the opportunity for the DC Extended Universe to grow, but it seems that growth may not extend to Green Lantern, with producer Greg Silverman suggesting we may not see the character until Part Two, or even 2020’s Green Lantern Corps: “[Green Lantern] is an incredible character. He’s actually multiple incredible characters. There’s real opportunity there. We didn’t do a great job on that first Green Lantern movie. This is a character who deserves to be treated in the same way that Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman are being treated now, which is with great reverence. I guess I can say to the Green Lantern fans: if they can be patient with us, I think they’ll be really happy. Every beat of [Justice League] is not yet worked out. So there’s the possibility that he may or may not be in Justice League 2. For now, we felt that we were introducing enough characters that the best possible place we could put Green Lantern is some introduction in Justice League 2, or barring that, a movie after…”
…Batman v Superman may be getting an R-rated cut, but producer Charles Roven has revealed that the plan for Suicide Squad remains to go for a PG-13 certificate: “I think right now we’re going for the PG-13. I don’t know that that’s going to materially change. We can give that movie the edge that it needs and still maintain a PG-13.” Meanwhile, in other Suicide Squad news, it has been reported this week that Warner Bros. has already given the go ahead to a sequel, which is aiming to shoot in 2017 with director David Ayer returning…
…Fox’s Gotham returned from its midseason break this past Monday, and you can take a look at Martin Carr’s review of ‘Mr. Freeze’ here, while we also have a promo for Monday’s ‘A Dead Man Feels No Cold’ [see here], along with a batch of images for the following episode ‘This Ball of Mud and Meanness’, which features Lori Petty (Tank Girl) looking very Joker-esque [see here]…
…Supergirl is taking a break this week and will return on March 14th, so in the meantime be sure to catch up with Martin’s reviews for episode fourteen ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’ here and episode fifteen ‘Solitude’ here…
…Over at The CW, we’ve got a trailer and promo for Thursday’s eighth episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, ‘Night of the Hawk’, which is directed by Joe Dante [watch it here], along with a synopsis for the next episodes of The Flash, ‘Trajectory’ [see here], and Arrow, ‘Broken Hearts’ [see here]…
…Click below to continue on for Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Venom, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Big Hero 6, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, Fantastic Four, Legion and more…
