In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Venom, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers 4, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Black Panther, Inhumans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Punisher, Runaways, Deadpool 2, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Gambit, The Gifted, Justice League, Flashpoint, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, The Joker, Aquaman, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Titans, Teen Titans Go! and more…
We’re starting things off with the Marvel Cinematic Universe this week, seeing as there’s just a little over three weeks to go before Marvel Studios unleashes its third and final superhero movie of 2017, Thor: Ragnarok. To further ramp up anticipation for the movie, Marvel released a new international trailer and poster for the film [see here], along with a series of promotional posters [see here], a new image confirming the return of one of the Warriors Three [see here], a featurette that sees Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and director Taika Waititi discussing the movie [watch it here]…
…In other Ragnarok news, the cover to The Art of Thor: Ragnarok gave us our first look at Planet Hulk’s Korg and Miek [see here], Hot Toys unveiled its Thor collectible figure [check out the promotional images here], Chris Hemsworth revealed that he specifically requested the movie be shot in his home country of Australia [read his comments here], and a rumour emerged suggesting that Matt Damon will make a brief cameo in the film as… well we won’t spoil it for you, but if you want to risk potential spoilers, you can find our report here…
…Thanks to its success in China, Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming overtook Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to become the highest-grossing superhero movie of the year so far this week with $874 million and counting. Meanwhile, the film also received its digital release in the States, and you may be interested in watching the first ten minutes of the film [see here] and the gag reel [watch it here], along with a deleted scene where Donald Glover’s Aaron Davis name-drops Miles Morales [see here]…
…Some Venon news this week, as it has been reported that Manchester By The Sea’s Michelle Williams is in talks to join Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed in the Venom solo movie. Williams is said to be up for the role of a district attorney who may also be the love interested to Hardy’s Eddie Brock…
…Ant-Man and the Wasp star Evangeline Lilly took to social media this week to share a behind-the-scenes image of her alongside her new co-star Hannah John-Kamen, who is portraying the villain The Ghost. Sure enough, the photo was soon followed by some set photos and video featuring Lilly’s Wasp doing battle with The Ghost, as well as giving us a first look at Walton Goggins’ bad guy Sonny Burch…
…Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 star Pom Klementieff became the latest MCU star to confirm their return for Avengers 4 this week, while Hayley Atwell also sparked speculation that Peggy Carter could be set for an appearance in the as-yet-untitled sequel (although given that Marvel is also shooting Ant-Man and the Wasp, it could very well be for a flashback appearance in that movie)…
…In a couple of other bits and pieces from the MCU, Framstone released a VFX breakdown for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (which includes the rather grotesque skinless Rocket Raccoon seen above), while a description of some Black Panther footage surfaced this week, which describes the film’s action scenes as “kinetic, like a mixture of Ryan Coogler’s fight scenes from Creed and the manic bullet ballets from the Kingsman movies”…
…Marvel unveiled its latest television offering yesterday with the two-hour premiere of Inhumans on ABC; we’ll have our review up soon, but in the meantime you can check out a trailer for the series here, and we also have a promo and a batch of images for the third episode ‘Divide and Conquer’ here. Meanwhile, despite rumours that ABC has already decided to pull the plug, it seems showrunner Scott Buck is planning a three season arc for Black Bolt and company: “We have ideas. We know our starting point for Season 2, but we don’t know if there will be a Season 2. Hopefully, there will be a Season 2. If so, we know where we’re gonna start, and we’ll very gratefully gear up and get to work. We generally know where the first three seasons could go. What’s fun about the show is that it will basically always be a show about family, so there’s always going to be places to take these characters…”
…ABC also kicked off the promotion for the upcoming fifth season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the release of a teaser poster [see here], while a rumour emerged this week claiming that the network wanted to cancel the show after its fourth season, but was mandated by parent company Disney to renew it…
…While Netflix is yet to officially announce a premiere date for The Punisher, we’ve heard from a reliable source that the latest Marvel series will indeed hit the streaming service this October, likely mid-month. Still, while Netflix keeps us guessing, we have has some new promotional material this week with motion posters featuring Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle and Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page; check them out here…
…Hulu also took the opportunity to give us a first-look at its upcoming Marvel series this week, unveiling a batch of images from Runaways, which features our teenage heroes and their villainous parents in The Pride; take a look at the images here…
…Funko and Marvel have released their latest animated short, which sees the Guardians of the Galaxy’s Star-Lord and Baby Groot – in Pop! Vinyl form – enjoying a Cosmic Sleigh Ride; watch the short here…
…Moving on to the X-Verse, and Deadpool helmer Tim Miller has been speaking about his exit from the director’s chair on the sequel, and how it has opened up the door for him to reboot the Terminator franchise alongside James Cameron: “I felt like there was more stories to tell [with Deadpool], but I’m happy that somebody else is telling them. There was a sense of relief in that I get to do something new versus Deadpool 2. I think it would’ve been a great movie, but it was also going to be a continuation of what we had done. [Terminator] really gave me a chance to do something new. I feel like there was so much more to be done with these [Terminator] characters. I mean, I wanted to make Deadpool 2. I was going to do that, until I wasn’t. So, there was that, which took up about seven months of my time. But even then, David [Ellison, who has the rights to the Terminator franchise] and I were talking, like after Deadpool 2, it was going to be this [Terminator]…”
…It looks like Fox might be going down the Avengers: Infinity War route with X-Men: Dark Phoenix, with talk this week that the studio is looking to split the next instalment of the main series into two parts. Returning X-Men: Apocalyspe star Olivia Munn sparked the speculation when she stated that: “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. I’m supposed to be vague. That’s my answer. I’m horrible at that. It’s like a two-parter, this movie. That’s more than I’ve said, in general. I don’t know why people have to be so secretive.” Munn’s comments were quickly followed by a report “confirming” that the Dark Phoenix Saga adaptation will indeed span two movies, with the second part due to begin filming in Montreal in the spring for release in 2019. Until we get official word from Fox, mark this one down as a rumour…
…Also one to mark down as a report is an alleged plot description for Fox’s long-gestating Gambit movie, which describes it as “the Ocean’s 11 of the comic book genre” and features the likes of Mr. Sinister, Dani Moonstar, Jamie Madrox/Multiple Man and Marrow. The rumour comes with a handy disclaimer that the plot breakdown may have been before Channing Tatum and company decided to retool the project, so in other words it could well be pure fan fiction…
…FOX is set to launch Marvel’s new X-Men series The Gifted this coming Monday, and you can watch the first six minutes of the premiere episode ‘eXposed’ here, while we also have a first clip from the episode [watch it here], along with two new promos [see here]…
…Click below to continue on for Justice League, Flashpoint, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, The Joker, Aquaman, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Titans, Teen Titans Go! and more…
