In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, The Defenders Captain Marvel, Namor, Doctor Strange, Black Widow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Marvel’s Most Wanted, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, New Mutants, Deadpool, Irredeemable, Justice League, Aquaman, Batman, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Gotham, Batman: The Killing Joke and more…
Having opened in the UK and many international markets last weekend (and earning a $200 million debut weekend in the process), Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War made its way across the Pond this week, grossing $25 million from Thursday night previews in the States. That figure is $2.7 less than Warner Bros.’ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice managed, but the Phase Three launching threequel is expected to outperform its DC rival in terms of domestic opening weekend, with current projections suggesting around $180 million compared to BvS’ $166.1 million haul. Globally, Civil War should cross the $600 million mark this weekend, having earned $291.2 million internationally by close of play on Thursday and will have a couple of weekends to build on that before it faces new superhero competition from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: Apocalypse…
…You can read Robert Kojder’s review of Captain America: Civil War here, while we also have a couple of clips featuring Cap and Bucky [watch it here] and Hawkeye battling The Vision [watch it here], a couple of new TV spots [watch them here] and the latest WHIH News Report, which covers the film’s terrorist attack in Lagos [watch it here]. Meanwhile, in celebration of Civil War’s release, Screen Junkies revisited the 1990 straight-to-video Captain America movie for its latest Honest Trailer, and you can watch it here…
…Oli Davis has been posting more of his Captain America: Civil War interview content here on Flickering Myth this week, which includes interviews with Chris Evans and Paul Rudd [see here], Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan [see here], and Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner [see here], as well as comments from Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan on fan theories about Cap and Bucky’s sexuality [see here and here], Chris Evans on when he might hang up the shield and leave the MCU [see here], Jeremy Renner on being sidelined by Joss Whedon in The Avengers [see here] and rumours of a Hawkeye Netflix series [see here], and Anthony Mackie saying it would be “great” to see a DC and Marvel crossover movie [see here]…
…Civil War directors Anthony and Joe Russo are now turning their attention to Avengers: Infinity War, and the duo have revealed this week that they plan to change the titles of Part I and Part II of the films, as well as admitting that they aren’t confident of fitting any of The Defenders in the two-part epic: “The Marvel Universe is sprawling – the Marvel Cinematic Universe is enormous. Just think of all the characters that haven’t been introduced yet that are going to be introduced by the time that we’re working on Infinity War. We have a tough task just telling the stories of the characters who exist [on the big screen] in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, let alone adding the entire Marvel Television universe. Anything is possible in Marvel. It’s certainly something we’re considering. But our focus is on telling the stories of the characters that currently exist on the movie side.” One character whom it seems will feature however is Captain Marvel, with the brothers letting slip that Carol Danvers will appear in Infinity War – Part I ahead of her solo movie in 2018…
…Having introduced Spider-Man and Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, screenwriter Stephen McFeely has revealed that he’d like to tackle Namor the Submariner next: “[Namor] is kind of a jerk and has a chip on his shoulder and he is a king and lives underwater. The degree of difficulty is so high, though. Cause it could be a great movie or it could be truly terrible…”
…It’s been announced this week that Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles, Jurassic World) will be composing the score for Marvel’s Doctor Strange, while director Scott Derrickson has waded into the debate over the “whitewashing” of The Ancient One, taking to Twitter to state that: “Raw anger/hurt from Asian-Americans over Hollywood whitewashing, stereotyping & erasure of Asians in cinema. I am listening and learning.” Derrickson’s comments followed some rather stinging criticism from Star Trek legend George Takei, who called Tilda Swinton’s casting “cringeworthy” and that “Marvel must think we’re all idiots”…
…Fans have long been calling for a solo movie for Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, and Kevin Feige has suggested this week that it could be a possibility for Phase Four of the MCU: “We’ve announced the next nine movies, ten counting Civil War, through the end of 2019. Where we go beyond that are ongoing discussions that we’ll focus on in the next few years because we have a lot to do before then. Of the characters that you’ve just mentioned I would say certainly the one creatively and emotionally that we are most committing to doing is Black Widow. We think she’s an amazing character. We think Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of her is amazing. She’s a lead Avenger and has amazing stories in her own right to tell that we think would be fun to turn into a standalone franchise.” Check out Tony Black’s op-ed ‘Black Widow The Movie: Everyone Wants It, So Why Don’t Marvel Make It?‘…
…Iron Man and Iron Man 2 Jon Favreau revealed this week that he hasn’t entirely ruled out a return to the MCU when asked if he’d be up for directing another Marvel movie: “[If there’s] a great story. I know the people over there. I like them. I still executive produce the Avengers series and I like what they’re doing a lot now, I do. By the same token I feel like I’ve made my mark; whatever we did in those early days has continued and is in good hands with new filmmakers with fresh voices…”
…On the small screen side of the MCU, take a look at Danny Hale’s review of Tuesday’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ‘Failed Experiments’ here, and if you want a taste of the next episode ‘Emancipation’ you can see a promo and a batch of images here, along with a clip here…
…In other ABC news, if you were hoping to see more adventures for Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter you will be disappointed to hear that a season three renewal for Agent Carter is looking “highly unlikely”. Meanwhile it’s also been reported that the network has “cooled” on the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff Marvel’s Most Wanted, and the pilot may not make it to series…
…Shifting to Netflix now and Samuel Brace has posted an article entitled ‘5 Things We Want to See from Daredevil Season 3‘, while Melissa Rosenberg has revealed that filming on Jessica Jones season 2 will likely get underway in 2017: “Will it be before The Defenders or after? I’d certainly love it to be before but there are things that play into that — time, availability…”
…We’ve posted a few MCU-related articles here on Flickering Myth this week, so be sure to have a read of Tony Black’s ‘Marvel’s Continuity Problem: Will we accept a reboot?‘, ‘Let’s Not Have The Avengers and The Defenders Team Up‘ and ‘Civil War vs Dawn of Justice: One Film, One Theme, One Victor‘, Neil Calloway’s ‘The First Nick Fury Film‘ and Anghus Houvouras’ ‘Is Zemo the Best Marvel Movie Villain?‘…
…Click below to continue on for X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, New Mutants, Deadpool, Irredeemable, Justice League, Aquaman, Batman, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Gotham, Batman: The Killing Joke and more…
