The Week in Spandex – Man of Steel, Iron Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Thor: The Dark World, The Avengers 2 and more

…If the third Man of Steel trailer wasn’t enough to satisfy your Superman cravings for the week (or left you dying for more), we’ve also got new images of Superman and Faora, along with twenty officially licensed promotional posters, which you can see here. Meanwhile, if you’re not overly concerned about spoilers, you might want to head on over to Entertainment Weekly for a rather revealing breakdown of five key scenes from the trailer, including how Superman finds himself in military custody, General Zod’s ship and the inclusion of the LexCorp tower…

…Considering Man of Steel is written by David S. Goyer and produced by The Dark Knight trilogy mastermind Christopher Nolan, it’s not really surprising that there was a certain Batman Begins-vibe to the latest trailer, and this week saw Goyer drawing comparisons between the two reboots: “We’re in the same place [on Man of Steel] we were at with Batman Begins, If you think about Batman Begins, there had been these previous iterations of Batman, the TV show, the Burton films. We were trying to do something that’s different. We were going against the tide. The public perception of Superman comes largely from the Donner films. Superman’s been preserved in amber since something like 37 years ago, and for the general public, he hasn’t really shifted since. Anytime you do something different, shake up the orthodoxy, you risk offending people. Superman has been reinterpreted many times over the decades, and if he is going to remain a vibrant myth, he needs to continue to be reinterpreted. Hopefully, that’s what we’ve done and people will embrace it…”

…In a few other bits and pieces from Warner Bros.’ DC movie universe (if you can call it that), Goyer has become the latest name to be rumoured as a possible contender for the director’s chair on Justice League (or possibly just on scriptwriting duties, which would make more sense considering the highlight of his directing career has been Blade: Trinity); WB and DC Entertainment have secured their latest victory in their long-running legal battle against the estate of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, which opens the door for a possible Superboy movie; and THR revealed that Will Smith (After Earth) was approached about appearing as the alien bounty hunter Lobo in the studio’s planned big screen adaptation from Brad Peyton (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island), the status of which is currently up in the air after Dwayne Johnson (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) suggested recently that the project had “went away”…

…It had been a while since we saw anything of note from the set of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (in fact, all we’ve really seen of note so far are a few shots of Shailene Woodley’s Mary Jane Watson), but this past week brought us our first look at Marc Webb’s interpretation of Electro as Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained) took to the sequel’s ‘Times Square’ set in full (Ultimate-inspired) make-up as the film’s main villain Maxwell Dillon. We’ve got a selection of Electro set photos which you can view here, or visit AOL for a video of Foxx stumbling around NYC like a Romero zombie. Meanwhile, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were also snapped filming a scene as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy; check out a tonne of set photos here, here and here, along with my personal favourite here. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is set for release next year, with a cast that also includes Paul Giamatti (Sideways) as Rhino, Chris Cooper (American Beauty) as Norman Osborn, Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond the Pines) as Harry Osborn and Sally Field (Lincoln) as Aunt May, while Felicity Jones (Like Crazy), Colm Feore (Thor) and B.J. Novak (The Office) will appear in as-yet-unrevealed roles…

…There’s just a few days to go until Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe launches here in the UK with the release of Iron Man 3; we’re under embargo on our review until Tuesday, but be sure to check out Luke Owen’s coverage of the London press conference, which saw Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man) joined by Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes / War Machine), Ben Kingsley (The Mandarin), Rebecca Hall (Maya Hansen), screenwriter Drew Pearce and director Shane Black. If you can barely contain your excitement for Tony Stark’s third solo adventure, then there’s also been plenty of Iron Man 3 promotional material for you to dig through this past week, including the first clip and new TV spots [see here], an ‘Advancing the Tech’ featurette [see here], a ‘Date Night’ clip [see here], six minutes of behind-the-scenes footage [see here], a selection of official character portraits and descriptions [see here] and LEGO versions of two official Iron Man 3 movie posters, tying in with the upcoming video game LEGO Marvel Super Heroes [see here]…

…Iron Man 3 will mark Robert Downey Jr.’s fourth outing as the Armored Avenger (not including his Tony Stark cameo in The Incredible Hulk), and with his Marvel contract having now expired, there’s a big question mark hanging over the MCU – will he sign a new deal, or will Marvel go down the James Bond route with the genius playboy billionaire philanthropist for The Avengers 2 and the inevitable Iron Man 4? Well, Shane Black seems confident that we’ll see RDJ suiting up again, but the man himself is keeping his cards close to his chest – presumably in another attempt to bag a $50 million + pot as he did with The Avengers – stating that: “How many genre movies can I do? How many follow-ups to a successful follow-up are actually fun? I come from a family of very innovative writers and directors and actors and artists, and the circle of friends they were in were the people I heard having pun-offs playing poker at two in the morning, and it was just the most comforting aspect of my childhood. So there’s this kind of legacy of souls from what I consider to be a very particular time in entertainment, and I’m sensing a return to that…”

…On the subject of The Avengers 2, writer-director Joss Whedon has been speaking about the second gathering of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, revealing a February 2013 start date for filming on the sequel, as well as addressing whether he feels any pressure to “top” last year’s mega-blockbuster: “The only pressure is the pressure that is there every time I do a new project. Is it going to be good? It is going to be different? Is there even a reason to make another one? Is there a reason for this to be my next thing? Can I pull it off? I am not going to try and match the box office of the first one because that would be bonkers. There is a certain level of safety – because now people know about The Avengers and they like the characters so it probably won’t completely crash and burn. But you don’t want to just get by and do something that is merely OK. If I am going to dedicate three years of my short life to this then I want to do something that I have never done before. So I think of The Avengers 2 as a glorious challenge – it is a sequel, yes, but how can it be different? Of course, the pressure that I don’t feel, my body internalises. It happens all the time. I was comfortable making the first Avengers, but I didn’t sleep during it…”

…The Avengers 2 isn’t the only Marvel project on Whedon’s plate at the moment, and he’s also provided a brief update / tease about his TV pilot Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., telling Total Film: “”The S.H.I.E.L.D. show fits into the mythology of The Avengers remarkably well and they both complement each other. So it just seemed like a no-brainer – although it has required a lot of my brain to get it right… We have just finished shooting and I am excited. I think Marvel fans will appreciate what we have done.” We’re still yet to hear whether ABC has picked up the show for a full season order, but that also seems like a no-brainer…

…Shifting back a few Marvel movies and this coming Tuesday (April 23rd) we’ll get our first look at November’s Thor: The Dark World when the first trailer arrives online and to get us in the mood, the studio has released the first poster for Chris Hemsworth’s second solo outing as the God of Thunder. Thor: The Dark World is directed by Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones), with Hemsworth joined in the cast by returning Thor stars Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Rene Russo (Frigga), Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Ray Stevenson, (Volstagg) Jaimie Alexander (Lady Sif), Tadanobu Asano (Hogun) and Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis), alongside MCU newcomers Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) as Malekith the Accursed, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) as Algrim the Strong / Kurse and Zachary Levi (Chuck) as Fandral…

…Looking ahead to next year’s offerings and the first spy photos have emerged from the set of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which depict a scene between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and give us a glimpse at Cap’s newly-redesigned suit (from a distance, anyway), while Anthony Mackie (Pain & Gain) has spoken to Black Film about his turn as Sam Wilson / Falcon, confirming that the recent concept art for his character is accurate, and stating that “I’m in a good deal of the movie and I play an integral part with Captain America taking down The Winter Soldier.” Captain America: The Winter Soldier is being directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (Community), with Evans, Johansson and Mackie joined by Marvel veterans Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / The Winter Soldier), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Toby Jones (Arnim Zola) and Maximiliano Hernandez (Agent Jasper Sitwell) and franchise newcomers Emily VanCamp (Revenge) as Sharon Carter / Agent 13, Frank Grillo (Zero Dark Thirty) as Brock Rumlow / Crossbones, George St-Pierre (Death Warrior) as Georges Batroc / Batroc the Leaper and Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) as S.H.I.E.L.D. chief Alexander Pierce…

…In a quick piece of Captain America-related news, Hayley Atwell has told The Age that Peggy Carter will feature in some mysterious footage as part of Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con presentation in July: “There’s been an online campaign for Peggy to be featured. People really liked her. So Marvel have made sure that as part of Comic-Con there will be a little kind of snapshot as to what Peggy’s actually really capable of, which was finished here and which was great fun. Hopefully, it will lead to other things.” So, what price this being the next Marvel: One Shot short for the home entertainment release of Iron Man 3..?

…Turning to Marvel’s fourth Phase Two offering and director James Gunn has spoken in some depth about the cosmic superhero ensemble Guardians of the Galaxy, during which he compares the film to The Avengers, hints about its connections to The Avengers 2, and discusses the castings of Chris Pratt (Zero Dark Thirty) as Star-Lord, Dave Bautista (Riddick) as Drax the Destroyer and Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora [see here]. Meanwhile, it’s also been announced that Gunn regular Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) has joined the cast, where he will portray the character of Yondu, a Centaurian hunter and a founding member of the Guardians in the comic book mythology…

…Despite the fact that Phase Two is yet to begin, Marvel Studios is already hard at work on developing Phase Three of the MCU, which will see the long-awaited introduction of Ant-Man, in addition to the Sorcerer Supreme. According to a “trusted source” at CHUD, Marvel could be looking at actor and screenwriter Justin Theroux (who happened to pen Iron Man 2) for the role of Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange, while Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez has dismissed speculation linking him to the project, whilst simultaneously stating his interest in helming a superhero movie: “I read [the Doctor Strange rumour]. That’s not true. Making a Marvel movie would be something that I would really love, I’m a big fan, but we’ve never really discussed that project. I don’t know where that came from… Comic book movies, they have a lot of potential if you do it the right way. There’s definitely a lot of fun things to do there, so we’ll see. We’ll see what happens in the future…”

…This past week saw filming get underway on another of next year’s big superhero movies, with Bryan Singer reuniting much of the cast from the original X-Men trilogy with a handful of the cast from X-Men: First Class for X-Men: Days of Future Past. As is the trend now, the director has been posting set photos on his Twitter account, including a shot of himself outside of what is presumably Cerebro [see here], a glimpse at Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier [see here], and a look at Shawn Ashmore complete with performance capture markers for his Iceman makeover [see here]. Other X-Men veterans to feature in the cast of the mutant epic include James McAvoy (Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Daniel Cudmore (Colossus), Halle Berry (Storm), Ian McKellen (Magneto) and X-Men ever-present Hugh Jackman (Wolverine)…

…In other news from Fox’s burgeoning Marvel universe, Hugh Jackman has taken centre stage in three new images from July’s solo sequel The Wolverine [see here], while Production Weekly has revealed that Josh Trank’s (Chronicle) forthcoming reboot The Fantastic Four will begin filming in Vancouver on June 17th ahead of its release on March 6th, 2015…

…Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kick-Ass and Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit-Girl will round out a packed summer of superheroes this year with director Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2, and the first clip from the sequel has surfaced online, which shows the two costumed crime-fighters going up against The Mother F*cker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and his band of supervillains The Toxic Mega-C*nts, with a little help from their own group of heroes, Justice Forever; check it out here…

…Ahead of its return this Wednesday (April 24th), The CW has released a new promotional poster for the hit series Arrow, along with an extended promo, images and an official description for the next episode, ‘Home Invasion’: “Deadshot (guest star Michael Rowe) returns to Starling City after taking down a U.S. Ambassador and six others overseas. By keeping tabs on A.R.G.U.S.’s manhunt for the assassin, Oliver (Stephen Amell), Diggle (David Ramsey), and Felicity (guest star Emily Bett Rickards) learn that a sting operation is underway to capture Deadshot – alive. Diggle is determined to see his brother’s killer dead, with or without Ollie’s help. Meanwhile, Laurel (Katie Cassidy) takes drastic steps to protect a young witness, exacerbating friction between Tommy (Colin Donnell) and Oliver. Later, Roy Harper (guest star Colton Haynes) unconventionally pursues all leads to find his new hero, but runs afoul of Detective Lance (Paul Blackthorne). Back on the island, Oliver recalls how Shado (guest star Celina Jade) helped him incrementally gain confidence with a bow and hit the target for the first time…”

…With the superhero craze showing little sign of slowing down, TV Line has reported that NBC could be looking to capitalise by teaming up with MSN to revive Heroes for an Xbox Live exclusive series, which would feature a new line-up of characters along with cameos from the original cast members. Heroes ran for four seasons between 2006 and 2010, with a cast that included Zachary Quinto (Star Trek Into Darkness), Hayden Panettiere (Nashville), Jack Coleman (The Office), Masi Oka (Friends with Benefits), Kristen Bell (House of Lies), Ali Larter (Resident Evil: Afterlife), Adrian Pasdar (Political Animals) and Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girls)…

…Before Henry Cavill flies into cinemas as Superman, the Man of Steel will go up against Brainiac in Warner Bros. direct-to-video animated feature Superman: Unbound, and the first clip has arrived online ahead of the film’s North American release on May 7th. Superman: Unbound is directed by WB’s new DC animation supervising producer James Tucker (Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and features Matt Bomer (White Collar) as Superman and John Noble (Fringe) as Brainiac, along with Castle co-stars Stana Katic and Molly C. Quinn as Lois Lane and Supergirl…

…Warner Bros. is also looking towards the next DC Universe Original Animated Movies release Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, releasing a new image, as well as the cover art, synopsis and details of the special features [see here]. Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is set for release on July 30th, with Jay Oliva (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) directing a voice cast that includes Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) as Batman, Dana Delany (Superman: The Animated Series) as Lois Lane, Ron Perlman (Hellboy) as Deathstroke, C. Thomas Howell (The Amazing Spider-Man) as Professor Zoom / Reverse Flash, Vanessa Marshall (Firefly) as Wonder Woman, Justin Chambers (Grey’s Anatomy) as The Flash, Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) as Aquaman, Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle) as Cyborg, Sam Daly (Red Tails) as Superman, Nathan Fillion (Castle) as Green Lantern, Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as General Lane and Kevin McKidd (Brave) as post-Flashpoint Batman…

…Michael E. Uslan – the executive producer behind Swamp Thing and every Batman movie from Tim Burton’s 1989 original through to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises – is teaming up with digital media company Blip to produce an original 12-part live-action superhero series entitled The Great S. Cape! According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series is said to be a modern rendition of the campy superhero serials of old and will star Ian Duncan (Creep) as Stephen Cape, “a magician and illusionist who applies his skills — and refusal to use a gun — to his newfound mission as a private detective. When he stumbles across the most insidious murder plot in Hollywood, powerful forces set out to stop him at all costs.” Uslan will write and produce the series, and filming is set to get underway this month…

…Some sad news this week with the announcement that screenwriter Michael France has passed away after an extended illness, aged just 51. France’s credits include the 1993 Sylvester Stallone actioner Cliffhanger and 1995’s James Bond revival GoldenEye, as well as a trio of superhero movies in Hulk (2003), The Punisher (2004) and Fantastic Four (2005)…

…And finally, Flickering Myth’s ‘Comic Book Movie Month’ has continued with Anghus Houvouras asking ‘Why Do All Superheroes Land The Same Way?‘, while a few more superhero films have featured in our ongoing countdown of the Greatest Comic Book Movies, including Watchmen at #13, Batman (1989) at #9, Spider-Man 2 at #8 and – most controversially – The Dark Knight Rises at #7; you can keep up with our full countdown here.  

Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen – Available now via Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

Gary Collinson