Our weekly round-up of the latest news and talking points from the world of screen superheroes, including Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Agent Carter, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Big Hero 6, Deadpool, Cable, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Amazing Spider-Man 3, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Shazam, Catwoman, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, Constantine, Batman ’66 and more….
Idris Elba made a slip up this week when he revealed that he’d shot a scene as Heimdall alongside Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki in Avengers: Age of Ultron, prompting director Joss Whedon to respond by stating that: “Um, should he receive an email from me, there might be an attitude of scold… When you have a cast of 19,000 people, inevitably, one every month you pick up [a story] and you’re like, ‘Awww.'” If rumours are to be believed, we’ll be seeing a bit more of Loki during Phase Three too, with a report claiming that – as expected – the God of Mischief will appear in Thor: Ragnarok, while he’ll also be back in some capacity for Avengers: Infinity War…
…As well as commenting on Elba, Joss Whedon also offered up a few thoughts on Marvel’s Phase Three line-up: “You know, it is a little daunting [seeing things being planned out far in advance], and you sort of go, [mock-whiny] ‘What about my movie? I haven’t even been born and you already like my younger siblings better?’ But at the same time it’s exhilarating. It’s really fun to see where Kevin Feige’s taking it and to see the workings of that mind. I think it was a very canny and very human move, I really like the slate…”
…This week gave us a behind the scenes glimpse at both Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man during ABC’s TV special Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop! (which included a very, very brief glimpse of The Vision from Age of Ultron). It also seems we’ve got our first look at the Ant-Man villain Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll), while Marvel has issued an updated synopsis for Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man, which features on significant change – Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang is no longer described as a “con man”, but rather a “master thief”. The new synopsis reads: “The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world…”
…Marvel’s space opera Guardians of the Galaxy achieved another box office milestone this week, overtaking fellow Disney release Maleficent to become the second-highest grossing movie of 2014. Guardians is currently sitting on $765.3 million, leaving it second only to Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age of Extinction ($1.087 billion) in terms of the year’s biggest earners…
…Following Marvel’s big Phase Three announcement, Kevin Feige stated that The Incredible Hulk “is going to appear in many of those movies”, but it seems that Mark Ruffalo is still waiting to hear which ones will feature the Green Goliath: “We haven’t really gotten into the deals of that,” said Ruffalo. “I’m still waiting to hear how many they want me for! It’s like doing a TV show, but in a movie.” And on the subject of The Hulk and Phase Three, check out Thomas Roach’s op-ed Will The Hulk Appear in Guardians of the Galaxy 2?…
…We are of course still waiting on word as to who will be taking on the role of Dr. Stephen Strange in 2016’s Doctor Strange, with Benedict Cumberbatch allegedly all but confirmed, if rumours are to be believed. This week, The Imitation Game star was asked directly if he’s been in talks with Marvel, and decided to have a little fun with his response, denying that he’d heard of the character before adding with a smile that: “I dunno, maybe. I know a little bit about Doctor Strange, maybe…”
…In other potential Phase Three casting news, after turning down the part of Maya Hansen in Iron Man 3, Jessica Chastain has seemingly hinted that a Marvel appearance is on the cards: “We’ve talked about aligning our forces in the future. And here’s the thing with me… If you’re going to be in a superhero movie, you only get one chance. You’re that character forever. So why do a superhero movie and play the boring civilian? Whatever it is, I want a fight scene. I could be an incredible villain. I could be a hero. I want a cool outfit, and I want to kick ass. There was one thing, I don’t want to say too much – but there was one thing, there was a possibility in the future of the character becoming… And I was like, ‘I understand that, but I want to do it now.’ I do know about [Captain Marvel], listen, that’s 2018. We don’t know where we’ll be, maybe I’ll give up acting by then.” And, after speculation starting running wild, Chastain took to Twitter to clarify: “Oops uh oh… I’ve never had talks about Captain Marvel. Was referring to a different film from over a year ago…”
…We do know that Chadwick Boseman will appear as T’Challa in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War before getting his own solo movie in 2017, and the Get On Up star has been speaking this week about nabbing the role of Black Panther: “The reaction on stage at the El Capitan Theater was, like, amazing. The way that Marvel set it up and wanted to surprise people with it, it was one of the best surprises that I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve heard from a lot of my friends, and a lot of people I don’t know have congratulated me — but I’ve actually not heard a lot from other people because I went away. I tried to get away from everything just to ground myself. But it’s been amazing. I’m so excited! I’m ready to start right now, and they’re telling me, ‘Slow down a little bit! It’s never been done. [A black superhero] has been done before in different ways, but it’s never been done exactly like this. Wesley Snipes also had his own franchise [with Blade] — you have to acknowledge that. You have to acknowledge what Anthony Mackie’s doing [with the Falcon]. But this is a little different in the way that Marvel is presenting it, so it’s amazing…”
…As usual, UK fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are going to have a little less time to wait for the Phase Three line-up, with Marvel announcing UK release dates for its upcoming slate this week which will see the arrival of Captain America: Civil War on April 29th 2016, Doctor Strange on October 28th 2016, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 on April 28th 2017, Thor: Ragnarok on July 28th 2017, Black Panther on October 28th 2017, Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 on April 27th 2018, Captain Marvel on July 6th 2018, Inhumans on October 26th 2018 and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 on April 26th 2019…
…This week has seen Hayley Atwell confirmed as reprising her role as Peggy Carter in both Ant-Man and the upcoming November 18th episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., while Tuesday also brought us the first clip from Peggy’s own series Agent Carter, which you can see here. Agent Carter has been confirmed as premiereing on Tuesday January 6th, with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s midseason finale on December 9th (thanks AnakinCorleone!) and its midseason premiere on March 3rd. Meanwhile, Bridget Regan (John Wick) has been announced as joining the cast in the role of Peggy’s neighbour Dottie, and Costa Ronin (The Americans) has signed on to play Anton Vanko – the father of Mickey Rourke’s Ivan Vanko – who we glimpsed on his deathbed as an old man in Iron Man 2…
…Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. took a rest this past week but the show returns on Sunday for the seventh episode of season two, entitled ‘Writing on the Wall’, and we’ve got a promo for you right here, along with a clip that sees Agent Triplett on the trail of Grant Ward here…
…Disney launched its animated Marvel Comics adaptation Big Hero 6 in the States yesterday, and looks like it is going to beat out Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar at the box office, edging out the sci-fi with a projected weekend of $54 – $56 million compared to Interstellar’s $50 – $52 million. We’ve got over six and a half minutes of clips from Big Hero 6 which you can see here, and our review will be up on the site soon…
…Click below to continue on for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, Deadpool, Cable, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Amazing Spider-Man 3, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Shazam, Catwoman, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, Constantine, Batman ’66 and more…
