Our weekly round up of the latest stories from the world of screen superheroes, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Gotham, Arrow, Son of Batman, Powers, Bananaman and more…
Here in the UK we’re just five days away from the start of the 2014 superhero season as Marvel Studios continues Phase Two of its Cinematic Universe with the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The review embargo for Chris Evans’ second solo outing lifted on Thursday evening, and it looks like Marvel has knocked it out of the park once again; you can listen to the thoughts of Luke Owen and Scott Davis in the latest Flickering Myth Podcast, and here’s an excerpt from Luke’s review:
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a movie where everything gels. It’s not perfect and it isn’t a game changer like The Dark Knight for example, but it really stands above the movies that have come before it. The performances are great, the story is good and the action is pulse-racingly brilliant. It also might be the most important movie within the Marvel Universe as it is bound to play a huge part in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. So, while it may feel like a cliche to give it the label, Captain America: The Winter Soldier really is the best solo Marvel movie to date.“
You can read Luke’s full, spoiler-free ★★★★ review here…
…So, while we await the arrival of The Winter Soldier, Marvel has delivered plenty of promotional material this past week to tide us over, including five TV spots [see here, here and here], an IMAX poster [see here], over 15 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage [see here] and a tonne of new images featuring the majority of the cast, including Evans, Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier), Scarlett Johannson (Black Widow), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Maximiliano Hernandez (Jasper Sitwell) and George St. Pierre (Batroc) [see here]…
…On Tuesday, ABC aired the one-hour documentary special Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe, which gave us our first look at Avengers: Age of Ultron with concept art for Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (played by Godzilla duo Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) going up against Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in his Hulkbuster armor; also included in the documentary was some new concept art and behind-the-scenes ‘sneak peek’ footage from Guardians of the Galaxy (including a first look at Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser and Glenn Close’s Nova Prime Rael), in addition to some high-resolution images from Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man test reel. If you’ve not had a chance to see it, you can check out the concept art, images and behind-the-scenes footage right here…
…Sticking with Age of Ultron for a moment and it’s been reported that principal photography will get underway today with “intense battle scenes” at the Forte di Bard in Aosta Valley, Italy, with Olsen, Taylor-Johnson and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) all set to take part. Meanwhile, in other AoU news, Scarlett Johansson has discussed Black Widow’s role in the film, hinting that the red in Widow’s ledger could catch up with her in the sequel; Marvel chief Kevin Feige has waxed lyrical about the new villain Ultron, played by James Spader (The Blacklist); composer Brian Tyler (Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World) has been confirmed as scoring the film; and Marvel legend Stan Lee has admitted that he’s not got a clue who the A.I. bad guy is, telling Playboy (via Hitfix) that, “I don’t have any idea who the hell Ultron is. He was a character developed after I stopped being involved in the Avengers story…”
…Kevin Feige may have spent time teasing the possibility of a Black Widow solo movie recently, it seems that the studio would rather bring an original character to the screen for its first female-led superhero offering, with Feige stating that: “Frankly, if we do a Black Widow movie after The Avengers: Age of Ultron, she’s been central in three or four movies, I don’t think we’d get the quote unquote credit for it. People would say, she’s already a big giant superhero. But if we’d had a great idea, we’d do it. I like the idea if we’re going to do [female lead], do a new one. Do a wholly new character, do an origin story. We’ve talking a lot about [Captain Marvel]. I think that would be very cool…”
…Meanwhile, with so many movies and potential movies in various stages of development, Feige has revealed that Marvel Studios is open to expanding its output beyond the usual two movies per year: “I think television is filling some of that now, in terms of bringing out more product. That’s certainly the idea with the Netflix shows. But I don’t know that we will necessarily say ‘Okay, we’re now moving strategically to three a year, now we’re moving to four a year.’ What I think is more likely – if [knocks on wood-like table] the next group of movies work and people want to see additional stories – we’ll have too many franchises and you can’t do one of each franchise every two or three years. We’d have to move to three a year, but that would have to be a natural move if it were to occur. We’d have a [script] draft, we’d have a filmmaker, we’d have a character the audience wants to see – let’s slot in a place for a third one. Or a fourth one. But it’s hard enough to deliver two quality, hopefully bar-raising movies a year…”
…Disney has announced that Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron will all get the IMAX treatment alongside some of the studios big tentpole releases, which also includes Maleficent, Tomorrowland and Star Wars: Episode VII…
…Before we move on from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we’ve had our first look at J. August Richards’ Mike Peterson in his Deathlok costume from Tuesday’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., while Patton Oswalt (King of Queens, Ratatouille) has been announced as appearing in a guest role as Agent Eric Koenig, and ABC has revealed that the season finale will air on May 13th. With the network yet to reveal whether Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been picked up for a second season, might this also serve as the series finale..?
…Despite all the marketing for Captain America, Sony has made sure we remember there’s a Spider-Man sequel on its way, continuing the marketing blitz for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with a new “final” trailer (I’ve been pretty critical about the previous trailers, but I have to say I thought this one was really solid), along with a TV spot [see here], a new theatrical poster and image of Stan Lee is in customary cameo [see here], a Chinese poster featuring Spidey (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) [see here] and a few batches of new images, which showcase our lovely couple as well the film’s trio of villains in Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan), and the armored Rhino (Paul Giamatti) [see here, here and here]…
…We know that Marc Webb will be back to direct 2016’s The Amazing Spider-Man 3, but it seems he’ll be calling time after that, with Webb ruling out a return to the director’s chair for 2018’s The Amazing Spider-Man 4: “I’d like to be involved as a consultant. I’ve already talked to these guys about it, but in terms of directing it, that will close out my tenure. I’ve had so much fun doing it, but after the third movie, it’ll be the time to find something else…”
…Moving on to Fox’s Marvel universe and we’ll finally get a look at a new trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past this coming Monday, and you can check out a brief teaser featuring much of the cast of the mutant superhero sequel here. Meanwhile, it seems that we might get to see another familiar face, with rumours suggesting that Kelsey Grammer has shot a cameo as the Future Beast, which would reunite him with X-Men: The Last Stand stars Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde), Shawn Ashmore (Iceman), Daniel Cudmore (Colossus), Halle Berry (Storm) and Anna Paquin (Rogue) – assuming the latter two actually end up being in the movie, of course (Singer has previously indicated that Paquin could still feature, while this week he also dismissed a rumour about Halle Berry being cut from the film)…
…While Singer has assembled a virtual who’s who of the X-Men franchise for Days of Future Past, there remains a few notable absentees, but it seems we may get to see a few more familiar faces in the 2016 sequel X-Men: Apocalypse, with the director revealing that, “I’m considering Gambit and Nightcrawler for Apocalypse. [I was] going to have Nightcrawler appear in [Days of Future Past] and even wrote a scene, but I felt that we were forcing to many mutants.” Of course, it remains to be seen whether Taylor Kitsch (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) or Alan Cumming (X2: X-Men United), although an appearance from Kitsch wouldn’t add any further continuity issues, given that Apocalypse will have an 80s setting…
…Earlier in the week The Wolverine director James Mangold stated that he plans to shoot Logan’s next solo adventure once production is finished on X-Men: Apocalypse, and Fox wasted little time in confirming its future Marvel plans, with the studio announcing that the third Wolverine movie will arrive on March 3rd 2017, with David James Kelly (a screenwriter on Fox’s failed Daredevil reboot) tackling the script. The next Wolverine will then be followed by The Fantastic Four 2 on July 14th 2017 (Fox must be confident: filming on The Fantastic Four is yet to have even started) and another as-yet-unrevealed Marvel movie on July 13th 2018. As for this mystery title, potential candidates include Jeff Wadlow’s X-Force, the long-gestating Deadpool and the rumoured X-Men vs. Fantastic Four crossover, although another X-Men sequel would seem the likely option…
…David S. Goyer – screenwriter behind the likes of Blade, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman and the upcoming Constantine TV series – has been discussing comic book movie fans, stating that he pays little attention to their expectations when it comes to adapting the characters for the screen: “You’re dealing with an incredibly vocal but incredibly tiny sort of [group]. That’s a mistake that I think a lot of sometimes networks and movie studios make is sort of listening too much to [them]. I mean, it’s important to listen to the fan chatter but you’re really talking about a tiny, tiny, tiny portion of your audience that may not be representative of what your mainstream audience actually thinks or feels… I’m paraphrasing Steve Jobs, it’s like you don’t give the audience or the consumer what they want, you give them what they don’t even know they want. I mean, being involved in some of these comic book movies and stuff like that, people say, well, this is what they should do. And trust me, if we had just done exactly that I don’t think the audiences would have been completely happy. I mean that’s not to say that filmmakers can’t misfire, but if you try to just do what you think the fan community wants you’ll drive yourself crazy and you won’t actually write anything…”
…While it’s been quiet in the DC Cinematic Universe (i.e. Batman vs. Superman) again this week, Fox’s Batman prequel series Gotham has offered up a first look at several of its main characters, with official images of Donal Logue (Sons of Anarchy) as Detective Harvey Bullock and newcomers Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle joined by unofficial set photos of Ben McKenzie (The O.C.) as a mustache-free Detective Jim Gordon and Robin Lord Taylor (Another Earth) as Oswald Cobblepot. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in a sneak peek at how the Wayne family murder will go down, you can check out a few set photos here featuring David Mazouz (Touch) as Bruce Wayne, Grayson McCrouch (Hollywood Heights) as Thomas Wayne and Brette Taylor (Rescue Me) as Martha Wayne…
…Fox hasn’t been the only network playing with DC’s roster of Batman characters this week, with The CW giving a live-action debut to Harleen Quinzel – a.k.a. Harley Quinn – with Batman: Arkham City voice actor Tara Strong lending her voice to the fan favourite villain for a brief, one-line cameo in Arrow’s ‘Suicide Squad’. You can watch Harley’s cameo here, while we’ve also got a couple of promos [see here] and a batch of images [see here] from the next episode, entitled ‘Birds of Prey’. Here’s the official episode description: “WHEN THE HUNTRESS MET THE CANARY — When Frank Bertinelli (guest star Jeffrey Nordling) is arrested, Oliver (Stephen Amell) knows it’s only a matter of time before his daughter, Helena, AKA The Huntress (guest star Jessica De Gouw), returns to town. To make matters worse, Laurel (Katie Cassidy) is picked to try Frank’s case, putting her right in the path of Helena. Oliver tells Sara (Caity Lotz) he will handle his ex-girlfriend, but when Helena takes hostages at the courthouse, including Laurel, the Canary will stop at nothing to save her sister. When The Huntress and Canary meet, an epic battle begins. Meanwhile, Roy (Colton Haynes) realizes he needs to keep Thea (Willa Holland) safe, but doesn’t like the way he is forced to go about it…”
…On the DC animated front, Warner Bros. has released a new image of Nightwing from the upcoming DC Universe Animated Original Movies release Son of Batman, which is set to hit shelves 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…
…After struggling to get off the ground at FX, Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s superhero police procedural Powers is heading to PlayStation Network, with Sony Pictures TV reaching a deal to develop a 10-episode hourlong drama series based upon the comic book series, which will mark PlayStation’s first foray into original programming. The series “is set in a world full of people with superhuman abilities and where all of those powers are just another catalyst for mayhem and murder. The series follows Detective Christian Walker, who is in charge of protecting humans like us and investigating cases involving the God-like men and women, referred to as ‘powers,’ who glide through the sky on lightning bolts and fire and who clash above cities in epic battle, oblivious to the mortals below…”
…And finally, it looks as if the British superhero Bananaman could be heading to the big screen in 2015, with the website BananamanMovie.com launching earlier in the week. For those outside of the UK, or anyone too young to remember the character, Bananaman is the crime-fighting alter-ego of schoolboy Eric Wimp, who transforms into the fruity superhero after eating a banana. The character made his debut in 1980 in the pages of Nutty, and subsequently featured in The Dandy and The Beano, as well as headlining his own animated BBC children’s series.
Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen – Available now via Amazon.co.uk
