…Ryan Reynolds has been lobbying Hugh Jackman to postpone his Wolverine retirement for a team-up movie with Deadpool, and Jackman has responded this week, stating that: “I’m hesitating, because I could totally see how that’s the perfect fit. But the timing may be wrong…”
…With 2016 drawing to a close, it’s been announced that Deadpool topped the list for the most illegal downloads over the past month, with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2nd), Captain America: Civil War (3rd), X-Men: Apocalypse (5th) and Suicide Squad (8th) also featuring in the top ten…
…With Josh Boone’s X-Men: The New Mutants looking to go into production in May, rumoured actress Anya Taylor-Joy has seemingly confirmed James McAvoy’s involvement, while McAvoy himself has admitted that he’d be happy to return as Professor X: “If they offer me a really good part, I’ll be in. If it’s not a really good part, I’ll be like ‘Eh, I’ll think about it.’ But I’ve always loved playing Charles and I’ve always had pretty interesting things to do as Charles, so if that continues, then yeah, of course I’d love to take part…”
…Marvel’s X-Men series Legion is set to premiere next month, and FX has released a new teaser promo for the show entitled ‘Sunset’, which you can watch here…
…Moving on to the DC Extended Universe now, and this week saw the release on an international trailer for Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman [watch it here], while director Patty Jenkins has been talking about the Amazon Princess’ solo debut and its World War I setting: “What motivates [Diana] is philosophical. She isn’t just taking out bad guys or fighting crime. She believes in goodness and love. [She] is fierce and willing to fight, but only to protect a better vision for mankind. Hers is really a coming-of-age story. My approach was to focus on telling the story of mechanised war and how that would look to a god visiting our world for the first time. [I wanted the audience to understand the horrors that a war on this scale makes possible and how shocking that would be to someone who comes with a strong sense of honour and justice. She doesn’t realise yet just how senselessly dark the world can be…”
…Wonder Woman will be followed in November by Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and a rumour has surfaced this weekend suggesting that the DC teamup will see us paying a visit to Arkham Asylum (which would make sense given that’s where Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor currently resides), while we’ve also had a look at the gift sent by Henry Cavill to the film’s crew…
…Cavill also shared a behind-the-scenes image from the set of his previous DC movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice [see here], while cinematographer Larry Fong has revealed Zack Snyder’s cameo in the film, with the director standing in for Ben Affleck’s bat-hang during the scene in the fight club where Bruce Wayne tracks Anatoli Knyazev…
…If you’re keen for another look at Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn before Gotham City Sirens, stills photographer Clay Enos has released an unused promotional image from Suicide Squad, which you can see here…
…With The Batman reportedly set to begin filming this Spring, it’s been reported that Ben Affleck has chosen Los Angeles to double for Gotham City; however, that’s assuming he manages to get the script ready in time, as Affleck has also stated this week that he might not direct the solo movie if the screenplay doesn’t come together: “It’s not a set thing and there’s no script. If it doesn’t come together in a way I think is really great I’m not going to do it…”
…Warner Bros. is said to have a Man of Steel sequel on its development slate, and The Impossible and A Monster Calls director J.A. Bayona has thrown his hat into the ring to helm the Superman sequel, stating this week that: “The first movie I saw in my life was Superman. I was three years old. The first memory I had was Christopher Reeve flying in the suit. Directing a Superman film would be great. I always wanted to be Superman. That’s the film that made me want to become a director.” Of course, Bayona has the small matter of the Jurassic World sequel before he can start thinking about a potential Superman movie…
…The world’s fastest man Usain Bolt has revealed that he’d like to join Ezra Miller’s Scarlet Speedster for an appearance in The Flash movie, with the nine-time Olympic gold medalist stating that: “That’d be pretty cool. That’d be really cool, maybe do a cameo in Flash or something…”
…We’re still a couple of years away from Warner’s Shazam movie, but Dwayne Johnson has been discussing his excitement over taking on the antihero Black Adam in the DCEU: “I love the role of Black Adam. I love that he starts off as a slave, that he felt like he was wronged. I just love that backstory, and I think that Black Adam has always been, for me, the most intriguing superhero…”
…Gotham returns for the second half of its third season a week on Monday with the midseason premiere ‘Ghosts’, but Fox is already looking ahead to the following week, unveiling an official synopsis for the thirteenth episode ‘Smile Like You Mean It’; read it here…
…The CW is also gearing up for the return of its superhero line-up, and we’ve got a synopsis for the Kevin Smith-directed midseason premiere of Supergirl, titled ‘Supergirl Lives’ [read it here], while it’s also been revealed that Peter Gadiot (Queen of the South) has secured the role of the trickster Mr. Mxyzptlk…
…In other CW news, we’ve got a promo for The Flash’s midseason premiere ‘Borrowing Problems From the Future’ [watch it here], along with a batch of images for Arrow’s midseason premiere ‘Who Are You?’ [see here] and an official synopsis for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow midseason premiere ‘Raiders of the Lost Art’ [read it here]…
…DC’s workplace comedy Powerless is set to premiere on February 2nd, and NBC has released a new promo entitled ‘Meet the Team’ [watch it here], as well as an updated poster [see here]…
…It looks like we might be getting another DC TV announcement soon, at least according to DC’s chief creative officer Geoff Johns. No word on whether it’s one of the previously announced pilots (Black Lightning, Krypton and Scalped), or an entirely new project…
…There’s less than five weeks to go until the release of The LEGO Batman Movie, Warner Bros. has ramped up the publicity with the release of a new batch of character posters [see here], promo posters [see here], a New Year’s promo [watch it here], two TV spots [see here], and a series of character images featuring Bane, Polka Dot Man, Mutant Leader, The Wicked Witch and Flying Monkeys [see here]…
…Upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming star Michael Keaton was asked this week why he opted against a return as The Dark Knight for Batman Forever, and he wasn’t mincing his words with his reply: “Let me simplify it for you: it sucked,” said Keaton. “The script was never good, I didn’t understand why he [Joel Schumacher] wanted to do what he wanted to do, and I knew it was in trouble when he said ‘why does everything have to be so dark..?’”
…Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld has teamed up with producers Akiva Goldsman and Graham King to develop an Extreme Cinematic Universe with a series of films based around characters such as Bloodstrike, Brigade, Lethal, Re-Gex, Cybrid, Bloodwulf, Battlestone, Kaboom, and Nitro-Gen. “Over the past nearly 25 years, since launching Image Comics, I’ve been lucky enough to see the power of these stories and characters as they’ve resonated with several generations of comic book fans,” said Liefeld. “To now be able to work with Akiva Goldsman and Graham King, who are powerhouses in their own right, to bring these compelling characters and conflicts to life on the big screen is nothing short of a dream come true..!”
…And finally, Ridley Scott has spoken about why he’s never directed a superhero movie, and it seems he’s not much of a fan of the genre at all: “Superhero movies are not my kind of thing – that’s why I’ve never really done one,” he responded. [I’ve been asked] several times, but I can’t believe in the thin, gossamer tight-rope of the non-reality of the situation of the superhero. [I want to] keep making smart films… I’ve done that kind of movie – Blade Runner really is a comic strip when you think about it, it’s a dark story told in an unreal world. You could almost put Batman or Superman in that world, that atmosphere, except I’d have a fucking good story, as opposed to no story!”
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
