In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Avengers: Infinity War, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Inhumans, The Defenders, Jessica Jones, Ms. Marvel, Deadpool 2, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Doctor Doom, The Gifted, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Flashpoint, The Batman, Nightwing, Suicide Squad 2, Shazam!, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Titans, Gotham, Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, Black and more…
Avengers: Infinity War co-director Joe Russo has been teasing the epic scope of next year’s superhero blockbuster, revealing that it will weave together almost every single narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: “Everything is setting up Infinity War. Every narrative that you have seen in any of the Marvel movies leading up to this point comes to bear in some way because all of the characters and all of the franchises are coming together, bringing their themes and their tone and the things that motivate the characters are driving them through this story. It has been the hardest part of the job for us, is melding all of that together, But thankfully, we got Markus and McFeely working with us. They are incredible collaborators. They wrote Winter Soldier for us, and Civil War. Now they’re writing both Avengers movies. I feel like we’ve got a great Vulcan mind meld between the two of them, and me and my brother.” Meanwhile, with the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4 gearing up to go into production, Josh Brolin has confirmed that he’ll be back as Thanos, dismissing any speculation that the Mad Titan’s storyline will be wrapped up in a single movie…
…Next up from the MCU is November’s Thor: Ragnarok, and this week has seen the release of a new piece of promo artwork thanks to the subscriber cover of the latest issue of Empire [see here], while Chris Hemsworth revealed that the trailer’s ‘He’s a friend from work” line came from a Make-A-Wish kid visiting the set, and Cate Blanchett said that she hopes her role as Hela opens the door for more female villains in the MCU: “I didn’t realize until [Marvel’s] Victoria Alonso told me that I was inhabiting the first female Marvel villain onscreen. I thought, ‘Surely not… well, no actually that’s true.’ There’s been many, many, many in the comic books, but they’ve been a little tardy in bringing them to the screen, so hopefully there will be a lot more villainesses…”
…Spider-Man: Homecoming is gearing up for its Japanese release with the arrival of a rather nice illustrated poster from manga artist Yusuke Murata [see here], while we also got a look at the upcoming Blu-ray steelbook art for the Marvel and Sony-produced reboot [see here]. Meanwhile, Tom Holland was asked about Kirsten Dunst’s recent comments that the reboot was “milking” Spider-Man for money, with the actor responding that: “You know, she’s entitled to her own opinion and I’m not one to judge at all. I definitely am not doing this movie for the money. I mean, it’s a job that I think anyone would do regardless of what you were getting paid, you know? All I know is I had the greatest time on this movie and I absolutely loved it and if she doesn’t want to go and see it, I don’t really care. I don’t dislike her in any way for what she said and she’s entitled to her own opinion, so it’s all cool…”
…With a little over two weeks to go until the season premiere of Marvel’s Spider-Man, Disney XD has released five new Origin shorts for the upcoming animated series, which you can watch here…
…Production on Ant-Man and the Wasp got underway this week, with Marvel releasing a brief logo reveal teaser, as well as an official synopsis for the film: From the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes a new chapter featuring heroes with the astonishing ability to shrink: Ant-Man and The Wasp. In the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a Super Hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from their past…”
…Some Captain Marvel plot rumours emerged online this week, claiming that The Kree will feature prominently in the story alongside the previously announced Skrulls, and that Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel, will also appear in the film, as will Carol Danvers’ original Ms. Marvel suit; read more here…
…With the home-entertainment release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 fast approaching, the film’s gag reel arrived online this week [watch it here], as did some concept art showing Adam Warlock’s cocoon from one of the film’s many post-credit scenes [see here]…
…With Inhumans set to make its debut next month, Flickering Myth’s Thomas Harris popped along to IMAX this week to catch a preview of the new Marvel series – although he wasn’t really impressed by what he saw. You can find Thomas’ footage report here, and check out our exclusive interview with director Roel Reine here. Meanwhile, we also have a new clip from the series which features a tense situation between Serinda Swan’s Medusa and Iwan Rheon’s Maximus; watch it here…
…Before we get to Inhumans, Netflix subscribers have The Defenders to look forward to, and this week saw the release of a new poster and huge batch of images from the Marvel team-up, while both Sigourney Weaver (Alexandra) and Elodie Yung (Elektra) have been chatting about their respective characters…
…In other Netflix news, it has been announced that Arrow’s J.R. Ramirez has signed on to the cast of Marvel’s Jessica Jones for its second season, where he is set for a recurring guest role as Oscar, the new superintendent of Jessica’s (Krysten Ritter) apartment building…
…A rumour has arrived online this week about John Ridley’s long-gestating Marvel project, claiming that it focusses on Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel: “While it was originally written with the intent for the character to debut on ABC, ABC Studios is also considering Freeform and Hulu as potential platforms for the show. The original pitch began development in the Spring of 2015, but following Marvel’s success on platforms outside of ABC, as well as changes to the schedule of Marvel Studios, in particularly the development and delays of the Captain Marvel film, have altered both the original script and the expected release timeline significantly. The script has undergone several rewrites since its initial commission over two years ago, but development is expected to be officially announced soon, as John Ridley will be able to showrun the project himself following the cancellation of American Crime, which he had previously been working on during the show’s long development…”
…Be sure to check out Ben Robins’ op-ed ‘Marvel’s Murder Problem’, where he talks about the different attitudes towards killing from Marvel’s mightiest heroes; read it here…
…20th Century Fox gave us our first look at Atlanta’s Zazie Beetz as Domino in Deadpool 2 this week with the release of two promotional images of the actress in full costume as the mutant mercenary [check them out here and here], while we also got a bunch of set photos featuring Domino and Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth, which includes a sequence of the two character parachuting [see here, here and here]…
…Jessica Chastain has confirmed her casting in next year’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix, although she stopped short of confirming her role – reportedly that of Lilandra, Empress of the Shi’ar Empire. Meanwhile, having shaved his head once again for the role of Charles Xavier, James McAvoy has revealed that he’s not a huge fan of his bald look…
…Although he’s already had one negative experience with a Fantastic Four audition, Doctor Strange star Mads Mikkelsen has revealed that he’d been keen to take on the role of Victor Von Doom in Fox’s planned Doctor Doom solo movie: “Yeah, it’s always interesting. They are experimenting with doing some of the villain’s stories as well. Let’s see if they do that. I’m not familiar that they’ve done it with anyone yet. They haven’t done it with The Joker [and] they haven’t done it with The Penguin. So we’ll see when that day comes…”
…Fox has released a new featurette for Marvel’s upcoming X-Men series The Gifted entitled ‘Meet the Mutants’ which sees writer/executive producer Matt Nix discussing the upcoming X-Men series and features interviews with stars Blair Redford (Thunderbird), Jamie Chung (Blink), Sean Teale (Eclipse), and Emma Dumont (Polaris); take a look here…
…Click below to continue on for Justice League, Wonder Woman, Flashpoint, The Batman, Nightwing, Suicide Squad 2, Shazam!, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Titans, Gotham, Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, Black and more…
