…As Sony prepares to bring its Spidey supervillains together for 2016’s The Sinister Six, Alfred Molina has thrown his hat into the ring to reprise his role of Dr. Otto Octavius from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, despite the fact there’s pretty much no chance of it coming to fruition: “[Spider-Man 2] was the most fun I think I’ve ever had on a movie of that kind, you know, those big, big sort of features where you spend like six months hanging off a wire, you know, and that stuff. But it was the first movie of that kind that I’ve ever been involved in. I had a wonderful time. I loved it. I mean, I’d go back and do it again in a heartbeat… Maybe they’ll come after me for Doc Ock… how about Doc Ock’s evil twin..?”
…Before 20th Century Fox reboots The Fantastic Four, writer-director Marty Langford’s upcoming documentary Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four has received a brand new trailer, which you can watch here. The Kickstarter funded documentary delves into the making of 1994’s Fantastic Four movie, which was produced by B-movie legend Roger Corman and starred Alex Hyde-White as Reed Richards, Rebecca Staab as Susan Storm, Jay Underwood as Johnny Storm and Michael Bailey Smith as Ben Grimm. Don’t be surprised if you haven’t seen it – the film was reportedly never ended for public release, and was instead cobbled together on the cheap in order to retain the rights to Marvel’s First Family…
…Moving on to Warner Bros. now and this week gave us a few set photos from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, including a look at Henry Cavill suited up as the Man of Steel, as well as a batch of images featuring Holly Hunter, Tao Okamoto and Scoot McNairy – the latter wearing green socks, which sparked speculation as to which character he could be portraying. Along with Metallo, there’s been a lot of people suggesting he’s playing The Flash, which I find a bit odd personally, unless they expecting to see Barry Allen with a really weird, Road Runner-style way of sprinting that requires CGI on the lower part of his legs and his feet…
…Before Michael Keaton secured the role of The Dark Knight for 1989’s Tim Burton-helmed Batman, several actors were under consideration for the role of the Caped Crusader. One of those was Pierce Brosnan (who happened to be joined by the likes of Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Bill Murray, Charlie Sheen and Tom Selleck), and the Irish actor has briefly spoken about turning down the opportunity to don the cape and cowl, stating: “I went and met with Tim Burton for the role of Batman. But I just couldn’t really take it seriously, any man who wears his underpants outside his pants just cannot be taken seriously. That was my foolish take on it. It was a joke, I thought. But how wrong was I? Don’t get me wrong, because I love Batman, and I grew up on Batman. As a kid in Ireland, we used to get our raincoats and tie them round our neck and swing through the bicycle shed…”
…While we’re talking about past DC projects, a new trailer has arrived online for the documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, which is set to tell the story of Tim Burton’s aborted Superman Lives movie, which would have seen Nicolas Cage in the role of the Man of Steel; watch the trailer here…
…Shifting back to the present and Dwayne Johnson has been talking more about his upcoming DC project, confirming that the movie in question is Shazam, although he’s unsure about whether he’ll be playing Shazam himself, or the villain Black Adam…
…The third season of Arrow has added another DC villain to its roster, with Matt Ward (Tron: Legacy) bagging the role of Komodo, who will feature as the “villain of the week” in the second episode, albeit one who is tied into the season-long mythology. Given that Ra’s al Ghul is set to be the main villain of the season, there’s probably a good chance Komodo will be a a League of Assassins member, and speaking of Ra’s a new casting breakdown arrived online this week, likening him to The Dark Knight Rises’ Bane: “Ra’s al Ghul. Male, 40s-50s. Open ethnicity. Accent preferrred. An iconic villain from the pages of DC Comics. Leader of the League of Assassins. Regal, mysterious, of a bygone era. Proud and unforgiving. Ra’s is a ruthless strategist, a master of martial arts, and a shaper of history. He carries the wisdom of the ages, and protects some of its greatest secrets. Think the character of Bane from The Dark Knight Rises. Someone just terrifying. Not a lunkhead, but a smart and physically imposing man. Major recurring guest star…”
…If you were hoping to see more of Harley Quinn in Arrow after her brief cameo appearance last season, then it looks like you’re out of luck as executive producer Andrew Kreisberg has suggested Harley could be off limits to the show due to other plans that Warner Bros. has for the fan favourite: “I don’t know [if we’ll see Harley again]. There are very few things we’ve asked DC Comics for that we haven’t gotten. That was something you asked for, and what you saw is a compromise that Geoff Johns and I came up with. To even get that much was a thrill for us. I know that they may have other plans for her, but it was certainly an Easter egg that thrilled us. But the Suicide Squad will definitely be back. Whether we see the ‘deranged female killer’ we saw before, we’ll have to wait and see…”
…Arrow’s upcoming sister show The Flash has also bagged another DC villain (and member of the Rogues), with Greg Finley (Star-Crossed) set to play the character of Girder; meanwhile, with the show’s premiere fast approaching, we’ve also had a new poster for the series, as well as a promotional image of Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen and a short new trailer…
…FOX has continued its marketing blitz for the upcoming Batman prequel series Gotham by releasing two new TV spots for the show [see here and here], along with a UK trailer [see here], and a three-part 20-minute behind-the-scenes featurette entitled ‘The Legend Reborn’ [see here]…
…And just so we don’t forget we’ve got another DC show on the horizon, NBC has dropped a new image of Matt Ryan as the supernatural detective and ‘Master of the Mystic Arts’ John Constantine, which you can check out here…
…Sony Television’s upcoming PlayStation Network series Powers has finalised its cast, with Sharlto Copley (Elysium) signing on as Detective Christian Walker and Michelle Forbes (True Blood) set to play Retro Girl. The pair join a cast that also includes Susan Heyward (The Following) as Deena Pilgrim, Max Fowler (The Killing) as Krispin Stockley, Adam Godley (Breaking Bad) as Captain Cross, Eddie Izzard (Hannibal) as Wolfe, Oleysa Rulin (High School Musical) as Calista nd Noah Taylor (Edge of Tomorrow) as Johnny Royalle. The series is expected to land on PlayStation Network in December…
…And finally, with a whopping TWENTY-NINE Marvel and DC movies confirmed for release between now and 2020, it’s becoming a little difficult to keep track of what we have to look forward to. Thankfully, a handy new infographic has arrived online, which covers the current theatrical release schedule for every Marvel and DC superhero movie so far announced. Take a look here.
