In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers: Ultron Revolution, X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, New Mutants, Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Justice League, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Krypton, Supergirl, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and more…
Well, this time next week, Captain America: Civil War will have opened here in the UK, and it looks like Marvel has another box office juggernaut on its hands, with early tracking suggesting that the Phase Three threequel is looking at a domestic opening of $175 million, even possibly going as high as $200 million (of course, we all know how accurate box office tracking is). To whet our appetites for the movie further, Marvel has debuted a clip from the chase sequence featuring Black Panther, Winter Soldier and Captain America [watch it here], a WHIH Newsfront viral video looking at the impact of the Avengers [watch it here], three IMAX exclusive posters which are being offered to customers of AMC Theaters [see here], international posters featuring Vision and the Scarlet Witch [see here], and some rather stunning concept art of Cap and Iron Man in mid-fight and a handful of new TV spots [see here]…
…On the Civil War merchandise front, Hot Toys has debuted promotional images of its 1/6th scale Iron Man Mark XLVI [see here] and Bleacher Creatures has unveiled its range of plush figures [see here]. Meanwhile, be sure to check out Oliver Davis and Scott Davis’ spoiler-free review of the film on the latest Flickering Myth Podcast [listen here], and if you’re not bothered about spoiling yourself, you can read details of the mid-credits scene here…
…This week has brought news that Iron Man and The Jungle Book director Jon Favreau will be returning to the MCU as executive producer on Avengers: Infinity War, while screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely briefly discussed their excitement about working on the two-part superhero epic, and in particular, getting to write Thanos: “You know, he’s never been the villain in any of the movies. He’s never been the main character in that way, so giving lots of good screen time to Thanos is paramount and pretty fun. He hasn’t had an amazing scene. I think it’s an advantage ultimately, right? Because people are anticipating this guy coming in and really delivering the goods. So, I think they’re eager, and we just have to deliver it. We don’t have to convince them that he’s gonna be interesting. We just have to execute what has been teased.” You can read the rest of Markus and McFeely’s comments about juggling the insanely huge roster of characters here…
…While we’re on the subject of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Joss Whedon had a few harsh words for Avengers: Age of Ultron following the release of the sequel last year, but it seems he’s now had a bit of a change of heart. Speaking at the Tribeca Film Festival, Whedon said: “Ultron, I’m very proud of..There were things that did not meet my expectations of myself and then I was so beaten down by the process. Some of that was conflicting with Marvel, which is inevitable and a lot of that was about my own work and I was also exhausted, and we right away went and did publicity. I created the narrative – wherein I’m not quite accomplished at – and people just ran with [that] – ‘well it’s OK, it could be better, but it’s not Joss’ fault’ and I think that did a disservice to the movie, and to the studio and to myself. Ultimately, it wasn’t the right way to be because I’m very proud about it. The things about it that are wrong frustrate me enormously but I got to make an absurdly personal movie about humanity and what it means in a very esoteric and bizarre ways for hundreds of millions of dollars. The fact that Marvel gave me that opportunity twice is so bonkers and beautiful and the fact that I come off as a miserable failure is also bonkers, but not in a cute way…”
…If you were worried we’d not get to see Robert Downey Jr.’s next outing as Iron Man until Avengers: Infinity War, then you’ll be pleased to hear it has been confirmed this week that he’ll be reprising the role of Tony Stark alongside Tom Holland’s wall-crawler in Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. With the two-part Infinity War, that will take Downey’s outings as Tony Stark up to ten, assuming he doesn’t pop up anywhere else in Phase Three, of course…
…We may however have to wait until Infinity War to see Samuel L. Jackson back as Nick Fury, with the actor stating this week that: “I think I’m in Avengers 3 and 4, but I’m not in Civil War.” There is of course the possibility of Fury making a cameo before then, and he has been rumoured to appear in Thor: Ragnarok, despite reports that the majority – if not all – of the movie will take place away from Midgard…
…Last week we saw the arrival of the first trailer for Marvel Studios’ second release of 2016, Doctor Strange, and Oliver Davis and Luke Owen have posted a feature comparing the contents of the first trailer with the concept art teaser that was shown at D23 last year [read it here]. Meanwhile, Tilda Swinton has addressed critics accusing Marvel of “whitewashing” The Ancient One, stating that: “Well, it’s not actually an Asian character — that’s what I need to tell you about it. I wasn’t asked to play an Asian character, you can be very well assured of that. You just have to wait and see, because it’s not an Asian character…”
…As production continues on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Chris Pratt has offered a sneak peek behind the scenes of the cosmic superhero sequel thanks to a trio of set videos, which are part of the film’s Omaze charity campaign. You can watch the three videos here…
…Kevin Feige suggested a few weeks back that Inhumans could be pushed back due to the addition of Ant-Man and the Wasp and Spider-Man: Homecoming to the Phase Three slate, and now it has been made official, with Marvel pulling it from its 2019 release date. As yet, no new date has been set for Black Bolt and company, which adds further fuel to the rumours that Marvel Studios was never keen on the project, and had been pressed to include it as part of Phase Three by the TV side of the operation…
…Turning to the small screen side of the MCU now and Marvel kicked off production on its fourth Netflix series Iron Fist in New York this week, and so naturally it was only a matter of minutes before some set photos arrived online, giving us our first look at Game of Thrones star Finn Jones as Danny Rand. Meanwhile, Marvel also rounded out the series regular cast, adding Jessica Stroup (90210) and Tom Pelphrey (Banshee) in the roles of brother and sister Joy and Ward Meachum, the children of Harold Meachum, played by David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings). Also featuring as a series regular is Jones’ Game of Thrones co-star Jessica Henwick (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who is portraying Colleen Wing…
…In other Netflix-related news, Diamond Select Toys has unveiled promotional images of its Daredevil TV Series Minimates Box Set, which features Daredevil, Foggy Nelson, Claire Temple and Wilson Fisk from the first season of the acclaimed Netflix series; check them out here…
..Over at ABC, it’s been announced that the third season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is set to conclude with a four-episode event entitled ‘Fallen Agent’, which promises to bring death for one member of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the team battle to stop Hive from executing his master plan. You can check out the official ‘Fallen Agent’ description here, but before we get to that there’s still this Tuesday’s episode ‘The Singularity’, and this week has brought us a promo, a batch of images and a clip [see here, here and here]…
…There’s no Guardians of the Galaxy or Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6 on Disney XD this weekend, but we do have a clip from Avengers: Ultron Revolution’s ‘Into the Dark Dimension’, which features a guest appearance from the Sorcerer Supreme; watch it here…
…Click below to continue on for X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, New Mutants, Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Justice League, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Krypton, Supergirl, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and more…
