In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Daredevil, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men: Apocalypse, Gambit, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Green Lantern Corps, Justice League Dark, Hellboy 3, Gotham, Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem, Batman: Bad Blood, Batman: The Killing Joke, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and more…
After topping the worldwide box office last weekend with $114 million – including £4 million here in the UK, where it dethroned Minions – Marvel’s Ant-Man is set to face new competition from Pixels in the States this weekend, but with $133 million in the bank by close of play on Thursday the miniature superhero is performing on par with Captain America: The First Avenger and will be looking to crack the $200 million mark when the dust settles on the box office this Sunday. Not quite what Marvel is used to, but with the summer holidays in full swing Ant-Man has the chance to build its haul before it 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four arrives in cinemas a week on Friday…
…You can read our reviews of Ant-Man here and here, and be sure to check out a LEGO version of the trailer [see here], along with a TV spot which shows a deleted scene featuring Scott and his crew celebrating a big win at the casino [see here]. And on the subject of deleted scenes, director Peyton Reed has detailed the original opening and original ending to the film, while Marvel chief Kevin Feige has promised that a character from Ant-Man will play a huge role in Phase Three (no spoilers here, but if you’ve seen the film I’m sure you can guess who)…
…Speaking of Phase Three, The Hobbit star Martin Freeman has teased his mystery role in Captain America: Civil War, while Marvel chief Kevin Feige also offered up a few words on the the film itself: “Civil War is a relatively simple story,” states Feige. [Avengers: Age of Ultron] had a lot going on. Civil War is a surprisingly grounded story about two characters that most audience members have come to know and like and admire finding themselves on different sides of a political argument, like the country does on many occasions, and how they both respond to that. That’s the story. So it’s actually a very, very simple story, and then how their personal relationships fit into that.” Feige also revealed that it will continue to explore Cap’s relationship with Bucky Barnes: “Can he save his friend? Can he turn the Winter Soldier back into Bucky? Is that even possible? While the Winter Soldier, from most other people’s point of view, is the deadliest, worst assassin of the past 70 years. So some people are like, ‘Cap, you’ve got to let it go. He’s not the guy that you used to know.’ So it’s a surprisingly personal story with a simple and very efficient plot that I think allows all those characters to have a presence and interact in a way different from other films we’ve made…”
…In other possible Civil War-related news, a Twitter account linked to directors Anthony and Joe Russo may have offered up the first glimpse of the new Spider-Man suit set to be worn by Tom Holland for Peter Parker’s MCU debut (although Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has stated that it doesn’t belong to the Russo brothers), while original Spider-Man trilogy director Sam Raimi has shared his thoughts on Sony’s Amazing series, as well as the upcoming reboot: “I saw [both Amazing Spider-Man movies], they’re great. And I’m really glad that Marvel’s taking it to high school. I think that’s going to be refreshing, and just like my favourite of the Spider-Man comic-books. I have a lot of faith that they really know their stuff. “The difficulty of going through high school is so unique to a superhero. It’s unique and that’s what Spider-Man’s all about, so that they’re going to explore that head on is very exciting…”
…Thor and Thor: The Dark World star Jaimie Alexander has confirmed that she’ll be back as the Asgardian warrior Lady Sif in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, stating that: “Marvel, I think on purpose, they don’t tell me certain things. Because they know I’ll be like, ‘So here’s what’s gonna happen.’ But I do know I will be in Thor 3 and that Sif will have a very pivotal part in that movie. I just can’t tell you what because I’ll get shot.” However, she did reveal that similar to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War will continue to plant the seeds for the third Thor movie, just as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers: Age of Ultron did…
…Selma director Ava DuVernay has explained why she decided to pull out of contention for the directing job on Black Panther: “For me, it was a process of trying to figure out, are these people I want to go to bed with? Because it’s really a marriage, and for this, it’d be three years. It’d be three years of not doing other things that’re important to me. It was a question of, is this important enough for me to do? At one point, the answer was yes, because I thought there was value in putting that kind of imagery and culture in a worldwide, huge way that they do in a certain way: flying, exciting action, fun, all those things, and yet still be focused on a black man as a hero — that would be pretty revolutionary. These films go everywhere from Shanghai to Uganda, and nothing that I probably will make will reach that many people, so I found value in that. That’s how the conversations continued, because that’s what I was interested in. But everyone’s interested in different things. What my name is on means something to me — these are my children. This is my art. This is what will live on after I’m gone. So it’s important to me that that be true to who I was in this moment. If there’s too much compromise, it really wasn’t going to be an Ava DuVernay film…”
…Marvel has announced that Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron is set for a Blu-ray and DVD release on October 2nd, and will include 45 minutes of exclusive special features including a ‘making of’ featurette, deleted and extended scenes, a gag reel and director’s commentary, along ‘The Infinite Six’, a featurette exploring the build to Avengers: Infinity War. Check out a trailer, Blu-ray artwork (including steelbook) and details here…
…Before we move on from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Flickering Myth’s Chris Cooper has ranked all twelve entries of the MCU, and you can take a look at his list and see how your ranking would match up here…
…With The Punisher and Elektra set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in season two of Daredevil, Marvel’s head of television Jeph Loeb has spoken about the casting of Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) and Elodie Yung (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) as the fan favourite characters, and you can read what he has to say here…
…On the Marvel animated front, this week has brought us the first promo for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy animated series ahead of its premiere on Disney XD this September [watch it here], and we’ve also seen a couple of posters for the third season of Avengers Assemble – a.k.a. Avengers: Ultron Revolution – and the fourth season of Ultimate Spider-Man – a.k.a. Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6 [see here]. Meanwhile, we’ve also got a clip from Sunday’s episode of Avengers Assemble ‘Avengers’ Last Stand’ [watch it here] and Tuesday’s episode of Ultimate Spider-Man ‘Burrito Run’ [watch it here]…
…Click below to continue on for Fantastic Four, X-Men: Apocalypse, Gambit, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Green Lantern Corps, Justice League Dark, Hellboy 3, Gotham, Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem, Batman: Bad Blood, Batman: The Killing Joke, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and more…
