Our weekly round up of the latest stories from the world of screen superheroes, including Batman vs. Superman, The Flash, Arrow, Gotham, Constantine, JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, Aquaman, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, X-Force, Gambit, The Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Daredevil, Big Hero 6, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Heroes Reborn and more…
Well, the wait is over… After teasing the unveiling of the new Batmobile early in the week, Zack Snyder went one better the following day, sending the internet into meltdown – and launching a new meme in the process – by giving us our first look at Ben Affleck as The Dark Knight in Warner Bros. eagerly-anticipated Man of Steel sequel Batman vs. Superman (if you were hoping to see more of the Batmobile, a couple of concept images have arrived online, which we’ve got for you here and here). Of course, with the photo being black and white we’re yet to get an idea of the colour scheme, but it appears that Snyder and company have opted to move away from the traditional black movie Batsuit, and with principal photography on the sequel now underway, it shouldn’t be too long before we get to see the costume in all of its black-and-grey or blue-and-grey glory. Be sure to let us know what you make of Affleck’s Batsuit, and you can read some thoughts from our writing team in the latest Flickering Myth Reaction…
…Affleck’s Batman wasn’t the only character we got our first look at this week, with the first batch of set photos showing Gal Gadot shooting scenes as Wonder Woman’s non-costumed alter-ego Diana Prince [see here]; meanwhile, speculation circulated that The Dark Knight’s arch-enemy The Joker could make an appearance in the sequel, owing to an image of playing card posted by director of photography Larry Fong [see here], while Jesse Eisenberg spoke about the one villain we do know will feature as he shared some thoughts on his approach to the role of Lex Luthor: “I don’t know the history as well as the people making the movie, so I guess it’s up to them to figure out how much they want to separate it from previous incarnations. But I will treat it like it’s its own role. There’s no way to play the history of the character played by other people, unless you do some kind of wink, but that doesn’t seem like a responsible way to act. So I will just do it as though it’s a character, in the same way you do a movie like The Double, which is a smaller movie — but you just kind of treat it like a character, and that’s probably the best course of action, I think… But the character’s written really well. It’s a really great role…”
…It’s not just the big screen where things are picking up speed (literally) for DC; having announced that the Arrow spin-off The Flash had received a full season order just last week, The CW has given us our first look at Grant Gustin’s fastest man alive by releasing a first-look promo and full five-minute trailer for the series, as well as two new images of Gustin’s Barry Allen both in his civvies and full costume. And, if you’ve watched the trailer, you’ll have no doubt noticed that Stephen Amell’s masked vigilante is set to feature in the pilot episode, while Amell himself has admitted that it’s likely there will be further crossovers between the two shows…
…And speaking of Arrow, with the curtain falling on season two with the finale ‘Unthinkable’ [read Jessie Roberton’s review here], The CW wasted little time in teasing what’s to come with the arrival of an official synopsis for season three (which is also confirmed as seeing John Barrowman’s Malcolm Meryln upgraded to series regular): “After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the Pacific. He returned home to Starling City, bent on righting the wrongs of his family and fighting injustice. To do this, he creates the persona of the Arrow and allies himself with former military man John Diggle (David Ramsey), computer-science expert Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), street brawler Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and international assassin Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), while keeping his secret from those closest to him including his sister Thea (Willa Holland), who has allied herself with his most deadly enemy. Rivalries and allegiances will shift as Oliver faces his most difficult challenge yet…”
…FOX is also wasting little time in building buzz for its upcoming Batman prequel series Gotham, releasing a first look featurette that offers up plenty of new footage and comments from the cast and crew [watch it here], as well as a selection of new cast photos of Gordon (Ben McKenzie), Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee), Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova), Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), Sarah Essen (Zabryna Guevara), Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith), Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) and Barbara Kean (Erin Richards) [see here]. Meanwhile, it’s also been announced that the show has picked up three new series regulars in Cory Michael Smith (Edward Nygma), Victoria Cartagena (Renee Montoya) and Andrew Stewart Jones (Crispus Allen)…
…Heading over to NBC and we’ve also been treated to the first poster and clip from Constantine, as well two images of Matt Ryan (Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior) as the supernatural detective and Lucy Griffiths (True Blood) as Liv, a newly created character who possesses the ability to predict supernatural occurrences and helps Constantine to track down demons and send them back to Hell. Check them out here…
…On the DC animated front and ahead of its wide release this coming week, Warner Bros. has also released two clips from the animated family feature JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, which sees the Justice League going up against their arch nemeses the Legion of Doom [watch them here and here]. Meanwhile, some early details about the Aquaman animated movie has emerged, with reports suggesting that it “will likely be something of a New 52 origin story for Aquaman, meaning at the start of the film he won’t know much, if anything, about his connection to Atlantis, his place in their royal family, and his destiny to be their king.” Sam Witwer (Being Human) will reportedly lend his voice to Aquaman’s brother Orm, who we glimpsed during the post-credits sequence of Justice League: War, and more details are expected to be announced at Comic-Con…
Continue on to the next page for X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, X-Force, Gambit, The Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Daredevil, Big Hero 6, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Heroes Reborn…
