In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Logan, Deadpool 2, Gambit, Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Animated Spider-Man, Inhumans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Defenders, Daredevil, Wonder Woman, The Batman, Justice League, Green Lantern Corps, Black Adam, Shazam, Suicide Squad, Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, Powerless, The LEGO Batman Movie, Justice League Dark, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, Hellboy 3 and more…
There’s less than six weeks to go until the 2017 Superhero Season gets underway with the release of Logan, and 20th Century Fox delivered a treat this week by unveiling the second trailer for Hugh Jackman’s X-Men swansong; be sure to watch (or rather rewatch!) the new trailer here, and check out the thoughts of our writing team in the latest Flickering Myth Reaction here. Meanwhile, Fox also released a new poster along with several images featuring Jackman, Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Dafne Keen (X-23) and Boyd Holbrook (Donald Pierce) [see here and here]…
…Hugh Jackman joined Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds and former 007 Pierce Brosnan for a couple of photos on social media this week, prompting speculation that Brosnan must have been cast as Cable in Deadpool 2 (hey, he’s old, and he’s got grey hair, so what else could it possibly be?). Meanwhile, Deadpool 2 screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick spoke about introducing Cable to the X-Men world: “With Cable, he’s got such a convoluted past, and such a convoluted origin story that I think we’re going to try to leave that, not mysterious, but there are a lot of twists and turns, cloning and all this stuff where you go, ‘Oh my God. How do we get that across in a two hour movie?’ I think we’re going to distill him down to his essence. It will be authentic and faithful, but it’s not going to include the 18,000 details if you were going to read a Wikipedia page about Cable you’d roll your eyes.” You can read the rest of their comments about how Deadpool 2 will lay the groundwork for an X-Force movie here…
…As we wait to see if Deadpool has managed to convince the Academy that it’s worthy of an Oscar nomination, Ryan Reynolds has been chatting about the lengthy process of bringing the Merc with a Mouth to the screen: “The weird plot twist was, somehow, some way, Deadpool got reinvigorated at Fox while [Green Lantern] was happening. … What a lot of people don’t know is [writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick] flew to New Orleans and, while I was shooting Green Lantern, we were actually all together writing Deadpool.” As it happens, we’ll have more on Reynolds and Green Lantern when we come on to the DCEU, but don’t get too excited – it’s an El Mayimbe “scoop”, so…
…Another X-Men project that seems to be spending forever in Development Hell is Gambit. However, it seems that despite passing through the hands of a couple of directors, and missing several production starts and release dates, 20th Century Fox isn’t quite ready to give up on the project, with a report this week suggesting that the studio still intends on moving forward, and that Channing Tatum remains attached to the role of Remy LeBeau…
…Producer Lauren Shuler-Donner has been talking about Fox and Marvel’s upcoming X-Men pilot from Burn Notice creator Matt Nix, revealing that the Sentinels will be making an appearance in the potential series: “Matt’s is much more a part of just the world [than Legion] in terms of there are mutants, mutants are hated and there are Sentinels — though very different from what we’ve seen before. You feel like you’re here in the X-Men world.” Asked if we’ll see any big name mutant characters featuring, the producer replied: “It depends. The feature side comes first, unfortunately, because it’s established. They’re our characters, so they come first, and as we decide feature world where we’re going, there are certain characters we know we won’t get into or if we do get into, it’s OK to have them have an appearance…”
…Moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and with filming set to begin on Avengers: Infinity War and its as-yet-untitled sequel, production designer Charles Wood has been teasing the scope of the superhero epic: “Any time you turn that page on this script, you’re kind of staggered, blown away, terrified by what’s in front of you. I think rather like Doctor Strange, you’ll find this film, it’s not regurgatative. What I’m trying to say, is, there are many, many, many new worlds to see in this film. Any time you turn that page on this script, you’re kind of staggered, blown away, terrified by what’s in front of you…”
…In other Infinity War news, it’s been reported this week that Marvel may have to employ some digital trickery with regards to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, due to a scheduling conflict for Cumberbatch with his new film The Current War. Apparently, Marvel has reportedly hired Aaron Lazar (The Wolf of Wall Street) to serve as a stand-in on set, with Cumberbatch then reshooting all of his close-ups and recording his dialogue after the rest of the cast have wrapped…
…We got another addition to the cast of Infinity War this week, with Karen Gillan revealing that she has signed on to appear as Nebula in both of the next two Avengers movies; meanwhile, Gillan also discussed her return in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, stating that: “I’m so excited for people to see it! I just feel like it’s all of the best elements of the first one, just amplified. It’s even better – it’s funnier, the music’s even better … the second album is a blinder. It’s great. And in the first one everyone was being established. Now that that’s out of the way, you really get to delve into all of their dilemmas and things like that. I think family would really be the main theme of the thing. And my character Nebula is dealing with a whole lot of stuff there – we see a whole new side to her. A much more human side actually, where we understand how truly awful and difficult her daddy issues are…”
…Sticking with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and James Gunn has been singing the praises of Dave Bautista, stating that he’s been “blowing people’s minds” as Drax in the hotly-anticipated sequel. Meanwhile, we’ve also had our first look – well, in toy form, at least – at Kurt Russell’s Ego the Living Planet thanks to a Pop! Vinyl figure [see here], while LEGO has also unveiled its tie-in sets – and if you get your magnifying glass out, you’ll also catch a glimpse of Elizabeth Debicki’s Ayesha [see here]…
…In other news from the big screen side of the MCU, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has shared a photo of Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder, taken by his New Zealand roommate Darryl Jacobson [see here], details have emerged on a 90s-set flashback for Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther [see here], and 8 Bit Cinema has shared a new retro-themed version of the Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer [watch it here]…
…It’s been rumoured for a while, and now Sony has made it official, confirming that Miles Morales will take the lead in the studio’s as-yet-untitled Animated Spider-Man movie, which is being directed by Bob Persichetti, with Phil Lord and Chris Miller writing and executive producing…
…With Marvel set to go into production on ABC and IMAX’s The Inhumans in March, it has been announced that director Roel Reine (Black Sails) has signed on to helm the first two episodes (both of which will be screened in IMAX theaters in September), while ABC president Channing Dungey has been chatting about the upcoming series, and how the network wants it to exist “side by side” with Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: ““S.H.I.E.L.D. is in its fourth season and every year, that show has gotten creatively stronger and better. It was the first out of the gate for us and with Marvel, and we all have been learning a lot over the four years of that show. What we’re doing with IMAX is very different, and I think it’s going to feel and look very different from what they’re doing on Netflix. Hopefully there’s a world for me where those shows exist side-by-side on our air and are two different pieces of music that exist together in the same landscape…”
…Be sure to check out Danny Hale’s review of this week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ‘The Patriot’ here, while we’ve also got a promo, images and clip from Tuesday’s eleventh episode ‘Wake Up’, which you can see here and here…
…Following the big EW reveal, Netflix released another batch of images from The Defenders this week featuring Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor) and Danny Rand (Finn Jones) [check them out here], while we’ve also had plenty of comments on the Marvel team up from Charlie Cox and Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Finn Jones, and showrunner Marco Ramirez, who discussed the challenges of bringing the four separate shows together…
…If you were hoping to see Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin making the jump from Netflix to the big screen, it seems you’re going to be disappointed as the actor has said that it is very unlikely – at least in the foreseeable future: ““I would love to switch over to the movies, but I think it’s pretty much been said it’s not going to happen. Or at least not for a very, very long time. I think Kevin Feige explained that, and that’s what makes the most sense, he said the film universe is too jam-packed. It’s hard enough already, and if they keep bringing big characters in that they have to service in the writing, it’s not gonna work. They’re trying to figure out already how to individualise more and at the same time keep The Avengers going. It makes sense not to mix the TV stuff, there’s just too many characters…”
…Hot Toys has released promotional images of its Cosbaby figures for Daredevil season two featuring the Man Without Fear, Elektra and The Punisher; check them out here…
…Click below to continue on for Wonder Woman, The Batman, Justice League, Green Lantern Corps, Black Adam, Shazam, Suicide Squad, Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, Powerless, The LEGO Batman Movie, Justice League Dark, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, Hellboy 3 and more…
