Our weekly round up of all the latest stories from the world of screen superheroes, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Daredevil, Big Hero 6, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Arrow, The Flash, Constantine, Gotham, Batman: Assault on Arkham, Powers, Hellboy 3 and more…
As you’d expect with less than three weeks to go until its release, Marvel Studios has really ramped up the promotion for Guardians of the Galaxy this week, dropping a rather impressive extended look trailer [see here], as well as a featurette focussing on Gamora (Zoe Saldana) [see here], seven TV spots [see here, here and here], some first look images of Michael Rooker’s (The Walking Dead) Yondu [see here], and a batch of images featuring Gamora, Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Ronan (Lee Pace) [see here]. Meanwhile, director James Gunn has announced that he’s finished work on the film, stating that: “Well, other than finalizing the 3D, I’m officially wrapped on Guardians of the Galaxy and on my way to the airport to fly to Singapore to begin the press wing of this journey. I saw some amazing VFX shots today to wraps things up. I couldn’t be feeling more gratitude and love for all the people who have helped create this film. However the audiences take it, there’s not a single dishonest or impure bone in Guardians’ cinematic body – and that’s a hell of a thing for a spectacle film of this size with so many people involved. Best experience of my life. Thank you all…”
…Moving on to Avengers: Age of Ultron and Mark Ruffalo has posted a new behind-the-scenes image showing him gearing up for some performance capture work as The Incredible Hulk, while Stan Lee has confirmed that he’s just shot a cameo for the film alongside Chris Hemsworth’s Thor. Meanwhile, director Joss Whedon also shared a few thoughts about the eagerly-anticipated sequel: “The model I’m always trying to build from is The Godfather: Part II, where a ton has happened in between and it’s a very different movie, but you don’t need any information. You’re in the vernacular of the first movie and you’re ready to just pick up in this new place. It’s got a sci-fi element to it that’s stronger than the other film. And it’s a little bit darker. Getting the team together was so rousing, but keeping the team together is a completely different problem.” Whedon then went on to confirm that Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow will feature prominently, stating that: “Natasha is a huge part of the sequel. You want to concentrate on the people who don’t have their own franchises…”
…Not content with adding Adam McKay (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) to its writing staff for Ant-Man, it’s now been reported that Marvel has tapped Gabriel Ferrari and Andrew Barrer (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) to work on the Phase Three offering, which is now being directed by Peyton Reed (Down with Love) following Edgar Wright’s departure. Meanwhile, Hank Pym himself Michael Douglas has revealed that Ant-Man will have a presence at the San Diego Comic-Con International later this month, as well as offering more thoughts on Wright’s exit: “[Edgar] is a wonderful talent. It was very disappointing, yeah. It was a big disappointment and more so for him because he had a lot of years invested and he was really the one initially who got them to even consider it, you know, the screenplay that he wrote. I’m not the producer on it and I’m an actor for hire, and, you know, Marvel certainly has a pretty amazing track record, rightly or wrongly, so I think it just was that kind of combination where although they like the idea of the individual and somebody with Edgar’s individual spirit and everything, maybe just collided with an operation – I think they’re all on relatively decent terms…”
…As rumours once again surface that Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) could have secured the role of the Sorcerer Supreme (stemming from the fact that Cumberbatch is set to attend his first Comic-Con later this month), new director Scott Derrickson (Sinister) has spoken about working with screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) on the still-not-officially-announced Doctor Strange: “Obviously it’s been announced there’s a writer on Doctor Strange but in that situation it’s maybe my favourite screenwriter in town. I’d read four of his scripts before ever meeting him. I think that the opportunity to work with great talent and people who can supersede my abilities in various areas is extremely exciting to me. Like, Jon Spaihts is a genius…”
…We’re still waiting on full details of Marvel Studios’ big Hall H presentation for Comic-Con on Saturday, July 26th, but the studio has announced its plans for the Marvel Television Presents panel, which will showcase both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, with Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May), Brett Dalton (Grant Ward), Chloe Bennet (Skye), Iain de Caestecker (Leo Fitz), Elizabeth Henstridge (Jemma Simmons) and Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter) among the guests set to take part in a Q&A on Friday, July 25th. See the full details here…
…Surprisingly, Marvel’s upcoming Netflix miniseries are absent from the Marvel Television Presents panel (or absent from the official press release, at the very least), but with production now underway on Daredevil this week has given us the first set video and photos from the miniseries, which shows a young Matt Murdock in what is presumably the accident that causes him to lose his sight. Take a look here…
…Disney has released a short teaser for Big Hero 6 which sees the character of Baymax introducing himself, while it’s also been announced that the animated movie will have a presence at Comic-Con with director Don Hall, producer Roy Conli, production designer Paul Felix and character designer Shiyoon Kim holding a panel on Thursday July 24th to show off some art from the upcoming film…
…Moving on to Fox now and any Anna Paquin fans disappointed that Bryan Singer decided to remove Rogue’s big action sequence from X-Men: Days of Future Past will be delighted to hear that producer Lauren Shuler Donner has confirmed a director’s cut of the hit superhero sequel is in the works. As yet, no further details are forthcoming, but if Fox follows the same release pattern as The Wolverine this will presumably arrive alongside the standard home-entertainment edition later this year…
…While Marvel will have a big presence at Comic-Con courtesy of Marvel Studios, it seems that Fox has chosen against showcasing director Josh Trank’s upcoming reboot of The Fantastic Four, with Marvel’s First Family absent from the schedule of the studio’s Hall H presentation on the Saturday, which will instead consist of Let’s Be Cops, The Maze Runner, The Book of Life, Kingsman: The Secret Service and Hitman: Agent 47. Of course, there’s nothing to say the studio won’t have a surprise or two in store for those in attendance…
Click below to continue on to the next page for the Spider-Man franchise, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Arrow, The Flash, Constantine, Gotham, Batman: Assault on Arkham, Powers and Hellboy 3…
