Our weekly round up of all the latest stories from the world of screen superheroes, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Fantastic Four, Chronicle 2, Batman vs. Superman, Arrow, Gotham, Son of Batman, Batman: Strange Days, The Incredibles 2, Lucy and more….
We’ll jump straight this week with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which opened in the States yesterday and is currently tracking a domestic opening in the region of $93 million, which would put it above Marvel Studios’ last release, Thor: The Dark World and overtake the $86.2 million debut of Fast Five to set a new April record. This comes after a solid $75 million international opening weekend (including a £6 million, first-placed opening here in the UK), meaning that Marvel has yet another smash hit on its hands with its third Phase Two offering. If you’re still undecided about whether to catch The Winter Soldier (and you should, as it’s great), we’ve got a few new clips and a TV spot that you can check out here, here and here, and be sure to read our reviews of the film here, here, here and here…
…Coinciding with the release of The Winter Soldier is the first look at Chris Evan’s Steve Rogers in his updated costume on the set of Avengers: Age of Ultron, while Marvel chief Kevin Feige has offered up a few words about the eagerly-anticipated sequel, promising that we’ll be seeing a lot more of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye: “I would love to do [a solo movie] with Mark Ruffalo. But part of the fun of Age of Ultron was saying, you’ve seen another Iron Man adventure before, you see another Thor adventure and another Cap adventure, but we haven’t seen the Green Goliath again. So that was important in the characters you haven’t seen – Hulk being one of them and Hawkeye being one of them – Ultron will make up for it. They have very big parts in Age of Ultron…”
…And speaking of Feige, it seems the Marvel mastermind has a rough plan for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the next 14(!) years, with an extensive map of potential Marvel films adorning his office wall through to 2028: “”It’s like looking through the Hubble telescope. You go, ‘What’s happening back there? I can sort of see it. They printed out a new one recently that went to 2028.” Talk about long term planning…
…Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man has added a villain to its cast, with Matt Gerald (All Hail the King) signing on to play an as-yet-unrevealed bad guy in the Phase Three movie. Gerald joins the previously announced Paul Rudd (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) as Scott Lang and Michael Douglas (Behind the Candelabra) as Hank Pym, while the cast also includes Patrick Wilson (Watchmen) and Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)…
…On the small screen, Marvel has released a new poster for the next episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. teasing the unveiling of the Clairvoyant in the Captain America: The Winter Soldier tie-in ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ [see here], while we’ve also got an action-packed promo for ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’, as well as a batch of images from the next episode ‘Providence’ featuring guest stars Patton Oswalt and Adrian Pasdar [see here]. And of course, we’ve also got a review of the latest episode ‘End of the Beginning’, which you can read here…
…Turning to The Amazing Spider-Man and of course, a week can’t go by without another trailer for the upcoming sequel – this time an international one, featuring a dodgy foreign dub [see here] – and if that’s not enough footage for you for one week, we’ve also got a couple of clips [see here and here], a new featurette entitled ‘Secrets of Electro’ [see here], a first look image of B.J. Novak (The Office) as Alistair Smythe alongside a pre-Electro Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) [see here], and a new IMAX poster and Daily Bugle viral article which namedrops Dr. Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. The Vulture [see here]. Meanwhile, any Shailene Woodley fans upset over her omission from the sequel may be upset to hear that the actress is unsure about whether she wants to return as Mary Jane Watson for 2016’s The Amazing Spider-Man 3, with the Divergent star stating that: “I have no idea [if I’m going to be in the third film] and I don’t know that I’d even want to do two franchises at this point, having been through this…”
…20th Century Fox has also been busy promoting its 2014 superhero offering this week, releasing ten posters for the Bryan Singer-directed sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past, which showcase Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Magento (Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen), Professor X (James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart), Storm (Halle Berry) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) [see here, here and here], a new TV spot [see here], and promo images featuring Wolverine, Magneto, Beast, Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Rogue (Anna Paquin) and Bishop (Omar Sy) [see here and here]…
…Looking ahead to Fox’s next Marvel offering and it appears that director Josh Trank has identified the man to play the Fantastic Four’s arch-nemesis in next year’s reboot, with Toby Kebbell (Wrath of the Titans, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) in final negotiations with the studio about taking on the role of Doctor Doom. Assuming they reach a deal, Kebbell will join Miles Teller (Divergent) as Mr. Fantastic, Kate Mara (House of Cards) as Invisible Woman, Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) as the Human Torch and Jamie Bell (Nymphomaniac) as The Thing in the cast of The Fantastic Four, which is set to go into production this month ahead of a release in May 2015…
…Fox may have set its stall for the next four years when it comes to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, but it seems the studio isn’t giving up hope of another non-Marvel franchise, with reports this week revealing that newcomer Jack Stanley has signed on to write the script for Chronicle 2. Stanley replaces Chronicle screenwriter Max Landis, who left the project last year due to creative differences over the direction of the sequel, while Fox will also need to find a new director with Josh Trank occupied with The Fantastic Four…
…While Sony, Fox and Marvel Studios have all laid out their plans for their superhero output for the next few years, Warner Bros.’ sole offering so far remains 2016’s Man of Steel sequel Batman vs. Superman, but according to reports, the studio is set to announce a slate of DC films “in the near future”. Meanwhile, there has been some casting movement on Batman vs. Superman, with Holly Hunter (The Piano), Callan Mulvey (300: Rise of an Empire) and Tao Okamoto (The Wolverine) as original characters newly created for the film, while Noah star Russell Crowe has ruled out the possibility of a return as Kal-El’s (Henry Cavill) Kryptonian father Jor-El in the sequel, which doesn’t really come as much of a surprise…
…Having made her live-action debut with a brief cameo in Arrow a couple of weeks back, we’ve had our first full look at Harley Quinn as she appeared in the show thanks to a behind-the-scenes shot of up and coming actress Cassidy Alexa alongside the rest of the Suicide Squad [see here], while we’ve also got a couple of promos [see here] for the next episode, entitled ‘The Man Under the Hood’, which is described as follows: “Oliver (Stephen Amell), Canary (Caity Lotz), Diggle (David Ramsey) and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) return to the lair and find Slade (Manu Bennett) waiting for them. An epic battle breaks out and one member of Team Arrow is sent to the hospital. Thea (Willa Holland) hits her breaking point, but just as Oliver is about to reach her, Slade intervenes and Oliver is faced with a choice – his battle with Slade or his family. Meanwhile, Laurel (Katie Cassidy) struggles with a new secret…”
…On the animated front, Warner Bros. has released a batch of new images and the first clip for the upcoming DC Universe Animated Original Movie release Son of Batman, which sees Batman going up against Killer Croc [see here and here]. Son of Batman is set for release on May 6th with a voice cast that includes Jason O’Mara (Justice League: War) as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Stuart Allan (Rise of the Guardians) as Damian Wayne / Robin, Morena Baccarin (Homeland) as Talia, Giancarlo Esposito (Once Upon a Time) as Ra’s Al Ghul, David McCallum (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) as Alfred Pennyworth, Xander Berkeley (24) as Kirk Langstrom / Man-Bat and Thomas Gibson (Criminal Minds) as Deathstroke / Slade Wilson…
…Elsewhere on the small screen, it’s been announced that another iconic villain from Batman’s Rogues Gallery is set to appear in the pilot episode of Fox’s Gotham, with Cory Michael Smith (Olive Kitteridge) joining the cast as Edward Nygma, a.k.a. The (future) Riddler, whose character is described as “”a brilliant young forensic scientist working for Gotham PD and a penchant for speaking in … rather cryptic language. Inquisitive, eccentric and outgoing — yet socially awkward — he wants to be liked, but he doesn’t quite know how…”
…In other (super exciting) animated news, Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Bruce Timm is set to reunite with The Dark Knight this coming Tuesday for a new DC Nation short entitled Batman: Strange Days. The short will air after the latest episode of Teen Titans Go! this coming Wednesday, and features a lost tale from Batman’s past as The Dark Knight tracks a strange giant to the mysterious layer of Dr. Hugo Strange. Check out some first-look images from Batman: Strange Days here…
…With Disney-Pixar having announced that Brad Bird is busy developing a sequel to The Incredibles, Nick Fury himself Samuel L. Jackson has teased the return of his character Frozone when The Incredbles 2 finally arrives on screen, stating that: “Every time I run into Brad [Bird] he always tells me Frozone is going to be part of whatever’s going on, so I have to believe that. I guess they would be the Incredibles without Frozone but I think Frozone would be a wonderful, wonderful addition to what’s already there. I’m just looking forward to seeing what Jack-Jack turned into….”
…As well as portraying Marvel’s Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson is set to flex her superhero muscles as the title character in Luc Besson’s (The Fifth Element, Leon) upcoming sci-fi Lucy, which sees as a drug mule who accidentally develops superpowers and sets out for revenge. You can check out the first trailer for the film here, while Lucy itself will hit cinemas on August 8th with a cast that includes Morgan Freeman (The Dark Knight Rises), Choi Min-sik (Oldboy), Amr Waked (Contagion), Analeigh Tipton (Crazy, Stupid, Love), and Pilou Asbæk (Borgen)…
…And finally, we finish things up on a sad note this week with the news that American screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr. has passed away from natural causes, aged 91. In addition to penning feature films such as Papillon, Three Days of the Condor, Flash Gordon and Never Say Never Again, Semple was best-known as the co-creator of the classic 1960s Batman TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward; he also served as Executive Story Editor on the first season, as well as the 1966 feature Batman: The Movie.
Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen – Available now via Amazon.co.uk
