In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at X-Men: Apocalypse, Fantastic Four, Gambit, Wolverine 3, Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Agent Carter, Marvel’s Most Wanted, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Jessica Jones, The Defenders, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, Green Lantern Corps, Booster Gold, Powerless, Krypton, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham, Batman: The Killing Joke and more…
This coming Wednesday sees the release of the fourth superhero movie of 2016, as Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox unleash the latest chapter of the X-Men franchise with X-Men: Apocalypse. Flickering Myth’s Oliver Davis reviewed the film [read his ★★★ review here], while Fox also unveiled some new promotional material including a Mystique character promo and extended TV spot [see here], a Cyclops character promo [see here], a clip of Cyclops discovering his powers [see here], and a clip featuring Professor Xavier and Mystique [see here]…
…As well as getting to see the film early, Oli was also lucky enough to speak to the cast and crew about Apocalypse and all things X-Men. First up was producer and Fox’s X-verse “architect” Simon Kinberg, who talked about the chances of an X-Men and Fantastic Four crossover and a potential crossover with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as explaining the reason for the latest delay on the Channing Tatum-headlined Gambit, and reflecting on last year’s Fantastic Four, revealing that he’s “committed to trying again.” Click on any of those links for excerpts, or you can read – or watch! – the full interview here…
…As yet, there’s been no official word on the future of the main X-Men franchise following Apocalypse, with the First Class cast members’ contracts up for renewal and Bryan Singer set to adapt Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as his next movie. However, Simon Kinberg has offered one nugget of information, revealing that “the next one is set in the ’90s”. That follows the ten year gaps between First Class, Days of Future Past and Apocalypse, and means that should the likes of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult return, they’ll be playing characters in their fifties and sixties…
…As next years Wolverine 3 gears up to go into production, Simon Kinberg spoke briefly about the movie, sidestepping talk of Patrick Stewart’s involvement and confirming that the plan is to go for an R-rating: “I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say about that. I will agree with you that Patrick Stewart was rumored to be a part of that film. It takes place in the future, and as you and others have reported, it is an R-rated movie. It’s violent, it’s kind of like a western in its tone. It’s just a very cool, different film…”
…Fox’s first R-rated X-Men offering Deadpool arrived on Blu-ray and DVD in the States this past week, and so naturally it was time for the folks at Screen Junkies to give the movie the Honest Trailer treatment, complete with guest commentary from Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth himself [watch the Honest Trailer here]. Meanwhile, in other Deadpool news, Hot Toys unveiled its latest series of Cosbaby Bobble-Heads, and you can take a look at some promotional images here…
…Moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now and Captain America: Civil War opened in the States last weekend, pulling in a domestic opening of $182 million – the fifth biggest of all time. The film wasted little time in overtaking Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714.4 million) to become the highest-grossing Captain America movie, and surpassed Deadpool’s $762 million yesterday when it crossed the $800 million mark worldwide; it’s expected to hold onto top spot at the box office this weekend, and will likely top Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice when the dust settles this Sunday. So, not a bad start for Phase Three…
…Former Spider-Man Tobey Maguire took to social media to share this thoughts on Tom Holland’s wall-crawler this week, while screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus spoke about Spidey’s inclusion in Civil War and how they developed the script without knowing for certain whether they’d be able to use him in the movie. While Spider-Man obviously did feature in the end, Marvel opted against another cameo appearance from Thanos, and the screenwriting duo also discussed why they decided against an appearance from the Mad Titan, who will of course go head-to-head with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the two-part Avengers: Infinity War…
…In a few other Civil War-related bits and pieces, Marvel released a pair of featurettes for Team Cap and Team Iron Man [watch them here], along with an official image featuring a rather giant spoiler [see here], while some unused concept art gave us a look at what a masked Zemo could have looked like [see here], and artist Paolo Rivera shared his exclusive poster for the cast and crew [see here]. Meanwhile, on the merchandise front we also got a look at Funko’s Captain America: Civil War Pop! Vinyl set featuring Captain America, Spider-Man, Hawkeye and Iron Man [see here], along with Hot Toys’ Artist Mix collectible bobble-heads which include Captain America, Falcon, Iron Man and War Machine [see here]…
…It was rumoured a couple of months back, and now Kevin Feige has confirmed that Natalie Portman won’t be returning as Dr. Jane Foster in next year’s Thor: Ragnarok. Asked about the reason why, Feige responded: “Many reasons. Many of which are in the film so you will see that. There are only a couple of scenes on Earth in this movie. 80 to 90 percent takes place in the cosmos…”
…Now that T’Challa’s big screen debut in Civil War is out of the way, it looks like Marvel is filling out the supporting cast alongside Chadwick Boseman in 2018’s Black Panther movie, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Lupita Nyong’o said to be in talks to join the film as the main love interest (which in the comics is of course Storm, although the rights to that character belong to Fox). Meanwhile, Ryan Coogler’s pal Michael B. Jordan has also signed on for a role, with the Fantastic Four star potentially portraying the film’s villain…
…Last year’s Ant-Man gave us a brief glimpse of Janet Van Dyne’s Wasp during the flashback sequel, but an eagle-eyed fan has also noticed that the character appears during the climax of the movie where Scott Lang goes sub-atomic, which seems to confirm that Janet is alive and well inside the quantum realm. Expect Hank Pym’s search for Janet to play into the plot of 2018’s sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp…
…Sharon Stone has revealed this week that she’s set to join the MCU, revealing that: “I am going to do a Marvel movie. I’m just doing a wee part in a Marvel movie, upcoming, and I can’t tell, because you know, you have to sign confidentiality agreements. But I’m going to do a wee part in a Marvel movie now. That’s it.” There’s no word on who she might be playing, but how about the aforementioned Wasp, setting up a Basic Instinct reunion with Michael Douglas..?
…Some bad news for fans of Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter, as ABC has officially confirmed that Agent Carter has been cancelled, and won’t be getting a third season. And if you were hoping that Marvel’s Most Wanted might fill the gap, then you’re also going to be disappointed to hear that the network has also passed on the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff, which would have centred on Adrianne Palicki’s Bobbi “Mockingbird” Morse and Nick Blood’s Lance Hunter. Be sure to check out Tony Black’s op-ed ‘The ABCs of Death: Does the network’s cull spell trouble for Marvel?‘…
…Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be continuing on ABC however, having already been renewed for a fourth season, and as the third draws towards its conclusion be sure to check out Danny Hale’s review of Tuesday’s ‘Emancipation’ here, while we also have a promo and batch of images for this week’s two-part finale ‘Absolution’ and ‘Ascension’, as well as a clip from the double-bill here…
…Marvel may be struggling on ABC, but it’s going from strength to strength on Netflix, and this week has seen Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter revealing that the second season of her show will shoot back-to-back with the big crossover team-up The Defenders: “They’ll be back-to-back. I don’t know if they’ll overlap a little bit. It’s about to be a serious undertaking. I’m starting my physical training – lots of weight training and boxing. I’m excited to see what happens next for Jessica, and the end of season one left a lot of doors open and questions unanswered. Kilgrave was her reason for getting up every morning. Saving people gave her purpose. I wonder how emotionally taxed she’s going to be now…”
…We’ve posted a few MCU-themed op-eds and features on Flickering Myth this week; check out Luke Owen’s ‘Blunder Woman: Why Black Widow Hasn’t Had a Movie Yet‘, Henry Bevan’s ‘Marvel Studios: The Movie Villain?‘ and Tony Black’s ‘Free Critics From Disney (Or How I Should Learn to Stop Worrying About Marvel‘…
…Click below to continue on for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, Green Lantern Corps, Booster Gold, Powerless, Krypton, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham, Batman: The Killing Joke and more…
