In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, Gambit, Deadpool, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Gotham, Batman: The Killing Joke, Rising Stars and more…
We’re starting things off the in the Marvel Cinematic Universe this week, seeing as director James Gunn and star Chris Pratt have announced that principal photography has now wrapped on next year’s hotly-anticipated superhero space opera Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Gunn made the announcement in a Facebook video, during which he also confirmed that he and the cast will be heading to San Diego next month for Comic-Con: “We, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, are coming to San Diego Comic-Con this year,” states Gunn. “I’m going to be there, Chris Pratt is going to be there, a bunch of the gang is going to be there and we’re going to show you guys something pretty cool” (first teaser trailer, perhaps?). Meanwhile, Chris Pratt also shared a couple of behind-the-scenes images of himself and his stunt double Tony McFarr in costume as Star-Lord…
…The Guardians will be joined by Doctor Strange as part of Marvel’s Comic-Con festivities (and fans attending will be able to get this hands on an exclusive Funko Pop! Vinyl figure of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme), and this week brought a few words from Mads Mikkelsen, who teased the tone of the Scott Derrickson-directed movie: “If you look at the comic books, the comic books are quite different [to other Marvel stories]. I think that the film will be different from the other [Marvel] films that we’ve seen, but not as different as the books are, because that was basically the ‘60s and ‘70s – it was more like an acid trip. We’ve taken that fascination of the time into something we can relate to today. So you still have the energy, you still have the colours, you still have the madness, but you also have something you can identify with. I think that was a necessity – if not, you would just make a crazy film. But you still have it there – you have all the action, all the good ingredients you get in a Marvel film, but it will have a different flavour, that’s for sure.” Click here to read what Mikkelsen also had to say about his as-yet-unrevealed villain…
…With filming set to get underway on Thor: Ragnarok next month, Mark Ruffalo has been speaking about what the film may have in store for The Incredible Hulk, suggesting that we’ll see a resolution to the conflict between Bruce Banner and his alter-ego: “I think the arc that he is ultimately making in his relationship with The Hulk and how that’s gonna resolve itself, that’s really where … nobody has gone to that place. He’s always been running from him or trying to deny it but they are coming for a collision course with each other and I think that could be pretty exciting if we can figure out a way, how to do it — multi-dimensionally…”
…Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming is also set to kick off production in July, and this week has brought news of three additions to the cast in Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus), Martin Starr (Silicon Valley) and Donald Glover (Community). Glover of course was the subject of a fan campaign for the role of Peter Parker prior to Andrew Garfield’s casting in The Amazing Spider-Man, and also voiced the character of Miles Morales in Ultimate Spider-Man. As yet, there’s no word on who any of the three are playing, but they join a cast that so far includes Captain America: Civil War’s Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark) and Marisa Tomei (Aunt May) alongside new additions Michael Keaton (Birdman), Michael Barbieri (Little Men), Zendaya (K.C. Undercover), Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Laura Harrier (One Life to Live) and Kenneth Choi (Captain America: The First Avenger)…
…While we’re on the subject of Spidey, Marvel has debuted a clip from this Sunday’s episode of Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, entitled ‘The New Sinister Six – Part Two’, which you can watch here…
…Moving on to Fox’s X-Verse now and as X-Men: Apocalypse chugs towards the $500 million mark at the worldwide box office, director Bryan Singer has released a rather brief behind-the-scenes peek at the filming on Hugh Jackman’s cameo in the Weapon X sequence; take a look here…
…And speaking of Hugh Jackman, the actor is currently hard at work filming his X-Men swansong Wolverine 3, and this week brought us some new set photos showing Jackman alongside a young girl, who could potentially be X-23, owing to the fact she’s walking around with a gaping bullet hole wound in her chest [check out the set photos here]. Meanwhile, two potential titles also emerged this week, with Fox registering web domains for Wolverine: Weapon X and The Death of Logan. Of course, it may well end up that neither of these turn out to be the title, but if I was a betting man my money would be on the first…
…Having been stuck in development hell for a year or so, it looks like Fox’s Gambit movie isn’t going to get moving any time soon, at least not under director Doug Liman, who has added another film to his slate this week in Chaos Walking. Apparently the Edge of Tomorrow helmer still remains attached to the spinoff, but this is now the second new project he’s signed on too since production on Gambit was delayed earlier this year…
…With Deadpool arriving on Blu-ray and DVD here in the UK this week, we got our hands on a couple of exclusive featurettes entitled ‘Creating Colossus’ and ‘Camera Bike’, which you can watch here…
…Click below to continue on for Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Gotham, Batman: The Killing Joke, Rising Stars and more…
