…Moving on to DC now and the DC Extended Universe picked up its first Oscar this past Sunday as Suicide Squad took home the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling (that’s one more than the MCU has, DC fans!). Director David Ayer marked the occasion by thanking the makeup team, while we also got a look at them at work with a new behind-the-scenes image of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn in a wedding dress [see here]. Meanwhile, a batch of concept art arrived online, revealing that the Scarecrow was considered as a possible member of Task Force X [see here], as well as offering up some artwork featuring Batman, The Joker and Harley Quinn [see here]…
…He’s yet to sign on to the project, but Mel Gibson has given a brief update on his potential involvement with Suicide Squad 2, stating that: “I just met some guys about story points. It’s not a done deal or anything. But it’s just fun to shoot the bull when it comes to stories. And if we can elevate any kind of concept it’s good. We’ll see…”
…It wasn’t just Suicide Squad picking up the awards last night, although Warner Bros. probably wasn’t celebrating Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s haul at the Razzies, with the Golden Raspberry Awards bestowing Worst Supporting Actor (Jesse Eisenberg), Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff or Sequel, Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Combo (Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill) on the Zack Snyder-directed superhero showdown/team-up…
…Zack Snyder celebrated his 51st birthday this week, marking the occasion by sharing a snippet of Justice League footage featuring Jason Momoa’s Aquaman swimming underwater [watch it here], while Gal Gadot also wished Snyder a happy birthday by releasing a behind-the-scenes image of the director shooting a Wonder Woman scene [see here]. Meanwhile, Henry Cavill had a little fun on social media surrounding the rumours that a Green Lantern will cameo in the movie, while an addendum to said rumour claimed to reveal which member of the Green Lantern Corps will be showing up. In my opinion, it’s guesswork…
…Speaking of Green Lantern Corps, Moonlight star Trevante Rhodes played coy when asked about the rumours linking him to the role of John Stewart in the 2020 release, although he did admit he was open to the idea of playing a superhero…
…Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins took to Twitter this week to praise her latest DC Films colleague Matt Reeves, who is replacing Ben Affleck as director of The Batman; meanwhile, a report emerged stating that Reeves has been given “the final say on all things The Batman“, and that a dispute over creative control was what led him to exit negotiations with Warner Bros., before the studio decided to give in to his demand…
…Last week it was announced that The LEGO Batman Movie helmer Chris McKay is set to direct a live-action Nightwing movie, and McKay has been talking about why Dick Grayson is perfect for his own movie: “Bruce Wayne in my mind came from privilege and I think that’s why he’s more dour and angry. He’s self-made as far as his becoming all of these cool things we like him for… Dick Grayson didn’t come from that. Dick Grayson came from a circus family. Essentially people who aren’t rich and they are self-made. They’re entertainers. They’re gymnasts. They’re people who live hand-to-mouth and that’s something that informs him and his attitude… he’s a fascinating guy to me, because he had all the same things happen to him. He’s got some of the same negatives as Bruce Wayne and then from a society standpoint — obviously he was adopted into Bruce Wayne’s life… but he didn’t start that way. He’s this guy who has all these negatives and then even more negatives and yet he remains… Those are things why I like Dick Grayson, why I like the idea of Nightwing as a movie…”
…In a couple of other bits and pieces from the DCEU, the cover to Wonder Woman: The Deluxe Junior Novel, has given us a new look at Gal Gadot’s Amazon Princess from June’s solo movie, while Suicide Squad David Ayer has seemingly teased Black Mask as a villain for his next DC effort Gotham City Sirens…
…Turning to the small screen now and its been reported this week that iZombie’s Rahul Kohli will be guest starring in the eighteenth episode of Supergirl season two, where he will play Jack Sphere, a.k.a. the villain Biomax. Meanwhile, you can take a look at Martin Carr’s review of this past Monday’s fourteenth episode ‘Homecoming’, while we’ve also got a trailer, promo and images for the fifteenth episode ‘Exodus’ [see here and here], as well as a synopsis for the sixteenth episode ‘Star-Crossed’, which features the debut of the Music Meister and kicks off a two-part musical crossover with The Flash [see here]…
…And if you’re desperate for the synopsis for The Flash part of the crossover, ‘Duet’,you can find that here, while we’ve also got a review of this past Tuesday’s ‘Attack on Central City’ [read it here], as well as a trailer, promo and images for this coming Tuesday’s ‘The Wrath of Savitar’ [see here]…
…Speaking of crossovers, Andrew Kreisberg has responded to fan questions as to why we haven’t seen alternate versions of characters from Supergirl in Earth-1 and vice versa: “The problem with that is it feels to us like if we do that once, we’re going to open the floodgates of insanity. It’s like Supergirl’s over here, and it’s its own show. Technically speaking, it’s just another Earth, the same way Earth-2 is or Earth-3 or Earth-19. So technically speaking, there should be an Alex Danvers on Earth-1, or Earth Prime. But if we start doing that, I just feel like… Not that all hell hasn’t broken loose already, but unless we had a really good story for it. The more you start to do that stuff, the more it can very easily become annoying or like, ‘Here we go again.’ Even on Supergirl itself, like Chyler Leigh got the opportunity to play a White Martian impersonating Alex. Already built into our show, there’s already characters playing different versions of themselves. It could very easily spiral out of control…”
…You can find Jessie Robertson’s review of Wednesday’s fifteenth episode of Arrow season five ‘Fighting Fire with Fire’ here, and take a look at a trailer, promo and images for the next episode ‘Checkmate’ here and here…
…DC’s Legends of Tomorrow took a break this week, but it’s back on Tuesday with ‘Land of the Lost’, and you can find a batch of images for the episode here, along with a synopsis for the fifteenth episode ‘Fellowship of the Spear’ here, which will see the Legends teaming up with The Lord of the Rings creator J.R.R. Tolkien…
…Having found Jefferson Pierce last week with the casting of Cress Williams (Hart of Dixie), The CW and Greg Berlanti have added two more names to the cast of the DC pilot Black Lightning, with Nafessa Williams (Code Black) and China Anne McClain (House of Payne) set to play Jefferson’s daughters Jennifer and Anissa. You can find the official character descriptions here…
…Powerless took a break this week, but NBC did release a batch of promotional images for the March 16th episode ‘Van of the Year’, which you can see here…
…It has been revealed this week that Ra’s al Ghul is heading to Gotham, with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Game of Thrones star Alexander Siddig securing the role of the Demon, who is expected to debut when the Batman prequel series returns from its current break in April. This will mark Ra’s second live-action appearance on the small screen, following Matt Nable’s turn in Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow…
…And finally, we end on the very sad news that the beloved actor Bill Paxton passed away last Sunday, aged just 61. Paxton was best known for his work in films such as Weird Science, Aliens, Twister, True Lies and Titanic, but he also made his mark on the Marvel universe with a role in season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. where he played John Garrett, a S.H.I.E.L.D. specialist who was also The Clairvoyant, the main antagonist of the first season. R.I.P.
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.
