In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Captain America: Civil War, Iron Man 4, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, The Punisher, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers: Ultron Revolution, X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Suicide Squad, The Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern Corps, Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Batman: The Killing Joke, Heroes Reborn and more…
Hello and welcome to The Week in Captain America: Civil War, or at least it feels like it! As Marvel’s latest offering kicked off Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we’ve posted a tonne of coverage of the film this week, including a few Flickering Myth exclusives!
We’ll start things off with our coverage: Be sure to read Eric Bay-Andersen’s ★★★★ review here (although only if you’ve seen the movie, as it does contain spoilers), as well as Scott Davis’ coverage of the London press conference here (during which Chris Evans revealed that he’d be Team Iron Man in real life). Scott and Kat Kourbeti were lucky enough to attend the European premiere, and you can watch their highlights video here, along with interviews with co-director Anthony Russo and executive producer Nate Moore here. And Oliver Davis also got to chat to the cast and crew of the film – first up from his interviews were Anthony and Joe Russo, who spoke about DC copying Marvel’s cinematic universe model, why the Russian cut of the movie is different, and wanting to see Wolverine in the MCU. You can read Oli’s full interview with the Russos here, and we’ll have the cast interviews up soon, but if you want a taste of what’s in store the post-credit sequence of the latest Flickering Myth Podcast has a tease as Oli annoys Chris Evans with questions about ‘Stucky’; have a listen here…
…On the promotional front, this week brought a Captain America ‘Ultimate Franchise Trailer’ mashing up footage from all five of Cap’s MCU appearances [watch it here], a TV spot featuring some new footage of Spider-Man (Tom Holland) battling The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) [watch it here], a clip of the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) fighting Bucky [watch it here], a Black Panther chase featurette [watch it here], a Steve and Bucky featurette [watch it here], a WHIH news report on the cost of the Avengers [watch it here], and a couple of new international posters featuring Team Cap and Team Iron Man [see here]. On the merchandise front, take a look at some SPOILERY promo images for Hot Toys’ Ant-Man Cosbaby Set [see here] and 1/6th scale Black Widow collectible figure [see here], and if you’re interested you can read my review of the Crossbones’ Hazard Heist LEGO Marvel Super Heroes set here…
…During one of his many promotional interviews this week, Joe Russo has revealed that Kevin Feige gave the green light for a Civil War adaptation in response to Warner Bros. and DC announcing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: “For our part, when we finished Winter Soldier two years ago and we were thinking about doing the next one, the only thing that seemed interesting to us was to deconstruct the Marvel Universe — because where else can we go at this point? There have been 11 or 12 movies so far, all with a fairly traditional structure. Our pitch to them was: People will tell you they love chocolate ice cream — until you give it to them five days a week. It’s time to give them some rainbow sherbet. Kevin [Feige] is a maverick and he’s very sensitive to how people are responding to his content. He said he thought we might be right. And after they announced Batman v Superman, he said, ‘you guys are absolutely right.’ We needed to do something challenging with the material or we were going to start to lose the audience…”
…A few weeks back, Robert Downey Jr. said that Captain America: Civil War is “like my little Iron Man 4“, but it seems we may get to see a real Iron Man 4 at some point in the future, with Downey stating this week that: “I feel I could do one more”. Of course, that doesn’t mean Marvel will go ahead with a fourth Iron Man, but given the box office takings for the Armored Avenger’s solo movies, it certainly would not be a surprise. Still, we do have a further three RDJ appearances to look forward to in Phase Three, with the actor returning as Tony Stark for Spider-Man: Homecoming and the two-part Avengers: Infinity War…
…After Tilda Swinton responded to criticism of Marvel’s “whitewashing” of The Ancient One in Doctor Strange by stating she wasn’t portraying an Asian character, Marvel released an official statement this week, clarifying Swinton’s comments and explaining how and why they have updated the Sorcerer Supreme’s mentor: “Marvel has a very strong record of diversity in its casting of films and regularly departs from stereotypes and source material to bring its MCU to life. The Ancient One is a title that is not exclusively held by any one character, but rather a moniker passed down through time, and in this particular film the embodiment is Celtic. We are very proud to have the enormously talented Tilda Swinton portray this unique and complex character alongside our richly diverse cast…”
…James Gunn took to social media this week to share his latest #WhatWeShotWednesday concept art sketch from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which teases the team’s new addition Mantis (played by Pom Klementieff). Meanwhile, some set photos arrived online this week, revealing that Nathan Fillion will be making a cameo in the film – and this time he’s not just playing some big no-name alien, but a character whose comic book incarnation has ties the Avengers and everything! No spoilers in TWIS, but if you want to know who it is you can find out here…
…It’s been rumoured for months, and now it is official: following his supporting turn in Daredevil season two, Jon Bernthal will be reprising the role of Frank Castle for a Punisher series on Netflix. “We want to thank the fans who are clamoring for more of Jon’s stunning and powerful performance as Frank Castle from ‘Marvel’s Daredevil,’” said Executive Producer/Head of Marvel Television, Jeph Loeb. “Now combined with Showrunner Steve Lightfoot’s compelling writing, we’re thrilled to bring ‘Marvel’s The Punisher’ to Netflix.” You can watch the first teaser for the series, as well as reading comments from Netflix’s Cindy Holland and showrunner Steve Lightfoot, here…
…You can read Danny Hale’s review of the eighteenth episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season three ‘The Singularity’ here, and we also have a promo for this coming Tuesday’s ‘Failed Experiments’, along with a batch of images…
…The Hulk loses his powers in this Sunday’s episode of Avengers: Ultron Revolution, and Disney XD has released a clip from ‘Dehulked’, which we have for you here…
…We’ve posted a few Marvel-related features on Flickering Myth this week – be sure to check out Neil Calloway’s ‘The Captain America Movie You Haven’t Seen (And Probably Don’t Want To)‘, Anghus Houvouras’ ‘Oh, the Inhumanity: Why Marvel Needs To Bury the Inhumans‘ and ‘Movies Marvel Should Make: Vision and the Scarlet Witch‘, Tony Black’s ‘Does It Hold Up? Avengers: Age of Ultron One Year On‘ and Henry Bevan’s ‘Defending The Amazing Spider-Man‘…
…Click below to continue on for X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Suicide Squad, The Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern Corps, Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Batman: The Killing Joke, Heroes Reborn and more…
