In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, Wolverine 3, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Iron Man 3, Guardians of the Galaxy, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Blade, Justice League, Harley Quinn, Suicide Squad, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Powerless, Batman: The Killing Joke and more…
With X-Men: Apocalypse opening in the UK this past Wednesday [read our reviews here and here] ahead of its Stateside bow this coming week, 20th Century Fox has unleashed some new marketing material in the form of an Apocalypse character promo and international trailer [watch them here], a viral video taking the form of an 80s TV commercial for Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters [watch it here], a new clip featuring Michael Fassbender’s Magneto [watch it here], and a batch of new images from the mutant superhero sequel [see here]. And if you want to revisit the trailer, albeit in LEGO minifigure form, then you may want to check out this stop-motion animated LEGO remake here…
…Be sure to check out Oli Davis’ exclusive interview with X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer, where he touches upon his level of involvement with Deadpool and Wolverine 3 as well as discussing how to shoot a Quicksilver slow motion scene [if you’d like to read / watch the entire interview, you can do so here]. Oli also caught up with stars Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp and Ben Hardy for a quick game of ‘The Who Men?’ (which is pretty much Articulate with X-Men characters), and you can see X-Man reigns supreme here…
…Fox has added another name to the cast of Wolverine 3, with Fear the Walking Dead star Elizabeth Rodriguez signing on for an as-yet-unrevealed role, while producer Hutch Parker officially confirmed that Patrick Stewart will be returning as Professor X for Hugh Jackman’s X-Men swansong…
…It’s been a week of celebration for Captain America: Civil War and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, with the film overtaking DC rival Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at the box office this past weekend, and in doing so, pushing the MCU as a whole beyond the $10 billion mark worldwide – an incredible feat in just eight years and thirteen movies. But of course Civil War’s box office didn’t stop there, with the film then surpassing fellow Disney release Zootopia to become the biggest earner of the year so far, before breaking the $1 billion mark this past Thursday – the fourth time Marvel has achieved that feat after The Avengers, Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Meanwhile, Hot Toys also showcased its upcoming Team Iron Man Cosbaby collectible series, which includes Spider-Man [see here]…
…As it gears up to go into production, Marvel has officially announced the cast for director Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, as well as releasing a new piece of concept art. As we already know, Mark Ruffalo will be joining Chris Hemsworth for the God of Thunder’s third solo outing, along with returning stars Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Idris Elba (Heimdall) and Anthony Hopkins (Odin). Meanwhile, the film will also see Cate Blanchett (Carol) as Hela, Jeff Goldblum (Independence Day: Resurgence) as The Grandmaster, Tessa Thompson (Creed) as Valkyrie nd Karl Urban (Star Trek Beyond) as Skurge the Executioner. “The continuation of the epic Thor franchise will be powerful and unique, and with the additions of Cate, Jeff, Tessa, Karl, and Mark to the cast we have the makings of his most dangerous and heroic adventure yet,” said Kevin Feige. “The sheer, raw talent each of these actors brings to the screen can’t be quantified. Having any one of them join the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be an honor, and having all of them is incredible.” Actress Jaimie Alexander has hinted on Twitter that she could be returning as Lady Sif, but as yet there’s no official word on whether she’ll be back alongside the Warriors Three…
…A few weeks ago Marvel’s Kevin Feige told us to expect an announcement on a filmmaker for Captain Marvel in the next month or so, and so naturally some names have been plucked from thin air as possible contenders. According to rumour (so pinch of salt at the ready), White Girl director Elizabeth Wood has been meeting with Marvel about taking the reins of the movie, while Emily Carmichael, who is best known for her short film work, has also been touted as a possibility. Hopefully we’ll find out who’ll be taking the reins soon enough, so we don’t have to sit through much more speculation passed off as insider knowledge…
…And speaking of speculation passed off as insider knowledge, a rumour surfaced this week claiming that John Boyega had taken a meeting with Marvel and was looking to join Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o and Michael B. Jordan in the cast of Black Panther. Within hours, Boyega’s agent Femi Oguns had taken to social media to debunk the report, stating categorically that the Star Wars: The Force Awakens star would not be appearing in the movie…
…This week also brought a rumour stating that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk is set to appear in next year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. While it certainly sounded plausible, the report lost all credibility by going on to claim that Andrew Garfield could be back for the Venom movie as Sony doesn’t want to give up on the foundations it laid for The Sinister Six movie in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. And if that wasn’t enough to get the bullshit alarm ringing, Vincent D’Onofrio also took to Twitter to deny all knowledge of the report…
…In other Homecoming news, Entertainment Weekly has revealed that Michael Keaton (Birdman) is back in talks with Marvel and Sony about taking on the villain role in the Spidey reboot. And according to rumour, said villain is The Vulture, with Adrian Toomes also reportedly set to be aided by The Tinkerer, “who will help him build his suit with recovered Chitauri tech from the Battle of New York…”
…It’s been three years since the big Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3, and director Shane Black has been discussing the fan backlash during an interview this week to promote his new film The Nice Guys: “I wish that the fans liked [Iron Man 3] more. I’m a people pleaser. Marvel saw so many negative things they made a whole other movie just to apologize called All Hail the King. In which they said, ‘No, no, the Mandarin is still alive. That wasn’t him. There’s a real Mandarin.’ The only reason they made that was an apology to fans who were so angry. They didn’t care [how I presented the Mandarin]. But when the blowback hit, they cared. We all thought they’d eat it up because it never occurred to us the Mandarin is as iconic to people as, say, the Joker in Batman. They just wanted to see the magic rings shoot lasers. You’d need to take the piss out of it and explain how this can happen. In the comic books, it’s literally magic. It’s magic from outer space. I love the fans. I really want to please them…”
…Black also revealed that he originally intended on having a female villain in Iron Man 3, only for Marvel to nix the idea for fear that they wouldn’t sell enough toys: “There was an early draft of Iron Man 3 where we had an inkling of a problem, which is that we had a female character who was the villain in the draft,” director Shane Black tells Uproxx. “We had finished the script and we were given a no-holds-barred memo saying that cannot stand we’ve changed our minds because, after consulting, we’ve decided that toy won’t sell as well if it’s a female. So we had to change the entire script because of toy making. New York called and said, ‘That’s money out of our bank,’ In the earlier draft, the woman was essentially Killian — and they didn’t want a female Killian, they wanted a male Killian. I liked the idea, like Remington Steele, you think it’s the man but at the end, the woman has been running the whole show. They just said, ‘no way.’ If you ever say anything about decisions made at Marvel, I hope you’ll qualify it by saying that Kevin Feige is the guy who gets it right. And I don’t know if it was [Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter], I don’t know who it was. They never told me who made that decision, we just got that memo one day and it was about toy sales. That’s all I know…”
…Steven Spielberg has been discussing his favourite comic book movies while in Cannes to promote his new film The BFG: “I really like Richard Donner’s Superman, Nolan’s The Dark Knight and the first Iron Man movie, but the superhero movie that most impressed me was Guardians of the Galaxy. When it ended, I left the cinema with the feeling that I had just experienced something new, free of cynicism and without concern for being gritty when necessary…”
…Click below to continue on for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Blade, Justice League, Harley Quinn, Suicide Squad, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Powerless, Batman: The Killing Joke and more…
