In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Logan, Deadpool 2, Alpha Flight, Exiles, Legion, Fantastic Four 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Inhumans, Iron Fist, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Runaways, Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad 2, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Green Lantern Corps, Wonder Woman, Nightwing, Gotham City Sirens, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Black Lightning, Gotham, Powerless and more…
20th Century Fox unleashed its latest X-Men offering this week as Logan rolled out around the globe, with the film said to be tracking a worldwide opening weekend of between $170 and $200 million. It’s already off to a $32 million opening day in the States (the biggest for an R-rated movie in March), and should it manage to reach $200 million, it would give the Fox franchise its third-biggest worldwide opening after Deadpool ($264.7 million) and X-Men: Days of Future Past ($262.9 million). For comparison, Hugh Jackman’s previous solo outings X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine opened with $158.2 million and $139.6 million respectively…
…You can read Rob Kojder’s ★★★★★ review of Logan here, and Shaun Munro’s ★★★★★ review here, while Fox’s marketing department has also released a new critics TV spot (featuring us, yay!) [watch it here] along with another of the Weapon X Instagram teasers entitled ‘Extinction’ [see here]. Director James Mangold has been talking about how he “got away” with making an R-rated movie, as well as revealing that he’s also working on a black & white version of the film a la Mad Max: Fury Road’s Black & Chrome Edition, while screenwriter Scott Frank revealed that at one point in development Mangold wanted to feature an appearance from Sabretooth…
…Rumours of a cameo or post-credits scene didn’t quite pan out, but U.S. fans going to see Logan will get to catch a glimpse of Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth, as North American theaters are screening a Deadpool 2 teaser prior to the film; directed by David Leitch, the teaser sees Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson stumbling upon a crime scene, at which point he channels Superman and enters a phone booth in order to change into his Deadpool costume. Unfortunately he struggles with the suit in such a confirmed space, and doesn’t quite make it in time. For those outside the U.S., Ryan Reynolds was kind enough to share it online, complete with a Stan Lee cameo cut from the theatrical sreenings…
…In other Deadpool 2 news, it’s been reported/rumoured this week that Stranger Things star David Harbour has been testing for the role of Cable, and that Man of Steel’s Michael Shannon was also considered, but was unable to commit due to a scheduling conflict. Meanwhile, Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld tweeted Russell Crowe to tell him he should read for the part of Nathan Summers, although Crowe didn’t take too kindly to being asked to audition…
…While we await official word from 20th Century Fox as to its future plans for the X-Men franchise, Simon Kinberg has been teasing the possible introduction of the superhero teams Alpha Flight and Exiles, as well as revealing that the studio has plans to use Mister Sinister as a villain, after rumours of his appearance in Logan turned out to be false…
…We’ve posted a few X-related features on Flickering Myth this week; be sure to check out Luke Owen’s ‘The True Story Behind Dougray Scott Playing Wolverine in X-Men and Why Hugh Jackman Took Over‘, Anghus Houvouras’ ‘How to Fix the X-Men Cinematic Universe‘ and Samuel Brace’s ‘After Logan: Where Should the X-Men Universe Go Next?‘…
…Be sure to read Rachel Bellwoar’s review of the fourth episode of Legion here, and we’ve also got a promo for the fifth episode, which you can watch here…
…Marvel and Fox have also continued the casting on their as-yet-untitled X-Men series, with Stephen Moyer (True Blood) and Amy Acker (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) set to play the leads, Reed and Kate Stewart, who go on the run when it is discovered that their children possess mutant powers. Joining the duo are Natalie Alyn Lind (The Goldbergs) as daughter Lauren, Emma Dumont (Pretty Little Liars) as Lorna Dane/Polaris and Sean Teale (Incorporated) as Marcos Diaz/Eclipse, a mutant created specifically for the show…
…A few weeks back Simon Kinberg suggested that Fox could yet give the green light to Fantastic Four 2, but Toby Kebbell has revealed that he won’t be returning as Doctor Doom: “I won’t be in [a sequel]. Truth is, Doom is an incredible bad guy. They just keep trying to force him into the Fantastic Four. They just need to move it out because he smashes up Thor and Iron Man and they get wasted. Doom is a monster, but my Doom was not, so that is that.” Asked whether the opportunity of appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe would change his mind, Kebbell responded: “Yeah, if they lend him out like a footballer. They do with Spider-Man…”
…That leads in nicely to to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now, and this week has brought another report that the budget for Avengers: Infinity War is a whopping $1 billion; presumably that includes Avengers 4 seeing as both movies are being shot back-to-back, but even at $500 million that shatters the previous record for the most expensive film of all time – a title currently held by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with $378.5 million [read Neil Calloway’s thoughts on why $1 billion is good business here]. Meanwhile, in other Infinity War news, the Russo brothers posted a mysterious teaser image, Michael Rooker confirmed he’ll be returning as Yondu, and Benedict Cumberbatch commented on the film’s “fun” script, as well as playing down the rumours that Marvel will be employing a Stephen Strange stand-in due to scheduling conflicts…
…Marvel stepped up its promotion for May’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 this week with a brand new trailer and poster [see here], along with a teaser featuring Drax annoying the rest of the team with his eating habits [watch it here]. The new trailer gave us our first real look at Kurt Russell’s Ego the Living Planet, although it was preceded by a leaked image of Russell in costume [see here]. Meanwhile, we also got a batch of promo posters / artwork [see here], while LEGO announced the release of its Guardians Vol. 2 tie-in sets [check out the official details here]…
…Some set photos have surfaced online this week which seem to show that reshoots are underway on Spider-Man: Homecoming at Disneyland (although they could just as well be shots for Avengers: Infinity War), while the Chinese Instagram account unveiled a rather unique poster for the reboot featuring a cartoon Peter Parker running for the school bus [see here]. And while he’s previously said there’s no plans for him to feature in a Marvel movie, Daredevil star Vincent D’Onofrio has expressed his interest in seeing The Kingpin battle Tom Holland’s wall-crawler…
…In other Spidey-related news, it’s been reported this week that Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch has boarded Sony’s as-yet-untitled Animated Spider-Man movie as a story contributor. The upcoming movie – which will focus on Miles Morales – has been written by Phil Lord (The LEGO Movie, Han Solo: A Star Wars Story), while Bob Persichetti (The Little Prince) and Peter Ramsey (Rise of the Guardians) are directing. It is set for release on December 21st 2018…
…Coinciding with Doctor Strange’s home entertainment release, Screen Junkies unveiled an Honest Trailer for Marvel’s Phase Three blockbuster, while you can read Brad Cook’s review of the Blu-ray here…
…This week also brought us some new concept art from Captain America: Civil War, featuring designs for Avengers HQ, the Wakandan lab where Bucky is cryogenically frozen, and the Avengers’ showdown with Crossbones’ men in Lagos, Nigera; check it out here…
…Some photos from the set of Black Panther also surfaced on social media, giving us a glimpse of what appears to be Wakandan and Dora Milaje armor designs; take a look for yourself here…
…Kong: Skull Island star Brie Larson has been talking about how Captain Marvel will fit into the MCU, with the actress stating that: “Quite simply, she’s kind of like the bridge between these two worlds. She’s the bridge between what’s happening up in space and what’s happening down on Earth…”
…Captain Marvel will mark Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie, but Scarlett Johansson continues to tease the possibility of a Black Widow solo feature, revealing this week that she’s been talking to The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon about that very possibility: “We talk about it all the time. We text each other back and forth.” Johansson went on to reveal that all of her focus is currently on Infinity War, after which she’ll provide an update on whether the Black Widow movie will become a reality…
…MCU fans may also want to read Henry Bevan’s op-ed ‘Why Iron Man is the Best Film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘, which you can find here…
…Marvel has announced the cast for ABC and IMAX’s upcoming Inhumans TV series, with Anson Mount set to play Black Bolt, Serinda Swan as Medusa, Ken Leung as Karnak, Eme Ikwuakor as Gorgon, Isabelle Cornish as Crystal, Mike Moh as Triton, Sonya Balmores as Auran, Ellen Woglom as an unrevealed character and Lockjaw as himself! The new additions join the previously announced Iwan Rheon, who is playing Maximus…
…There’s less than a fortnight to go until Iron Fist hits Netflix, and this week has brought us a new banner and images for the upcoming series [see here], while star Finn Jones has said he’d like to see Danny Rand teaming up with Mike Colter’s Luke Cage for a Heroes for Hire show…
…In other Netflix-related news, Hot Toys has unveiled its 1/6th scale Punisher figure, based on Jon Bernthal’s appearance in the second season of Daredevil; take a look at the promo images here…
…With a month to go until Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season four returns for its new ‘Agents of HYDRA’ arc, a new poster has arrived online for ABC’s Marvel series along with a promo which details the alternate reality that The Framework has created; check them out here…
…Marvel and Hulu’s Runaways TV series is currently in production, and some set photos have arrived online which give us our first look at some of the cast, including Lyrica Okano (Nico Minoru), Ariela Barer (Gert Yorkes) and Gregg Sulkin (Chase Stein); take a look here…
…Click below to continue on for Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad 2, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Green Lantern Corps, Wonder Woman, Nightwing, Gotham City Sirens, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Black Lightning, Gotham, Powerless and more…
