Our weekly round-up of the latest superhero news and talking points, including Avengers: Age of Ultron, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Punisher, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Daredevil, Big Hero 6, Deadpool, The Fantastic Four, Venom, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Superman Returns, Gotham, Arrow, The Flash, Constantine, Lucifer, Supergirl, Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, Powers and more…
It looks like Marvel Studios is gearing up to kick off the promotion for next year’s sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron, with this week bringing us the first official synopsis for Joss Whedon’s eagerly-anticipated follow-up to his 2012 blockbuster, which reads as follows:
“Marvel Studios presents Avengers: Age of Ultron, the epic follow-up to the biggest Super Hero movie of all time. When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure. Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Robert Downey Jr., who returns as Iron Man, along with Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. Together with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and with the additional support of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, the team must reassemble to defeat James Spader as Ultron, a terrifying technological villain hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Pietro Maximoff, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and meet an old friend in a new form when Paul Bettany becomes Vision…”
…Looking further ahead to Phase Three, and this week has brought word that Marvel Studios will be heading back to the UK to shoot Doctor Strange, with director Scott Derrickson (Sinister) set to kick off production in May 2015 ahead of a release on July 8th 2016…
…In other Phase Three news, while Marvel done a fantastic job of keeping the Ant-Man footage from Comic-Con under wraps, a fan made storyboard version of the teaser has arrived online, which gives those of us not fortunate enough to be in attendance for Marvel’s Hall H panel an idea of what was show; you can watch it here…
…Illustrator Ryan Meindering has released a piece of concept art produced for Guardians of the Galaxy featuring Howard the Duck [see here], while this week has seen Marvel’s smash-hit space opera passing the $300 million mark domestically, as well as taking its worldwide haul beyond the $600 million mark. The James Gunn-directed film has helped the Marvel Cinematic Universe to reach $7 billion in total from its ten releases, making in the second biggest franchise of all time behind Harry Potter, which has a $700 million lead from its eight instalments. Of course, with Avengers: Age of Ultron on the horizon – not to mention Phase Three – that lead won’t stay intact for much longer…
…During a promotional interview for the home-entertainment release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, co-director Joe Russo jokingly teased a Punisher cameo in this year’s solo sequel, stating that the yellow Penske truck that saves Nick Fury is the very same truck that later hits Agent Jasper Sitwell, and that: “The man who drives that truck is very highly trained. He thinks on his own terms. He’s got a plan and a very specific skill set…”
…Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to ABC this coming Tuesday, September 23rd, and this week has given us a new poster, promo, first clip and a batch of images from the season two premiere ‘Shadows’, which has the following episode description: “Coulson and his team are now wanted fugitives with limited resources–but that’s not stopping them from keeping the world safe from powerful and unseen threats everywhere. However, with new members they hardly know, will S.H.I.E.L.D. ever be trusted again?” And, if you just can’t wait for the second episode, we’ve also got a batch of images from ‘Heavy is the Head’ which you can see here…
…In other news from Marvel’s various small screen projects, James D’Arcy (Let’s Be Cops) has signed on to portray Jarvis alongside the previously announced Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Enver Gjokaj (Agent Daniel Sousa) and Chad Michael Murray (Agent Jack Thompson) in January’s Agent Carter TV series, while Scott Glenn (The Silence of the Lambs) is to play Matt Murdock’s (Charlie Cox) mentor Stick in Netflix’s Daredevil series, which also features Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), Vincent D’Onofrio (Kingpin), Peter Shinkoda (Hachiro) and Rosario Dawson in an as-yet-unrevealed role…
…And in one last piece of Disney-related superhero news, another TV spot for the upcoming animated movie Big Hero 6 has arrived online this week, which sees Baymax showing off his Sweet Ninja Skills. You can watch the promo here…
…Moving on to 20th Century Fox now and it seems that the insanely popular reaction to the leaked Deadpool footage from back in July has convinced the studio to pull the trigger on a solo movie for the Merc with the Mouth, with Fox announcing that Deadpool will hit cinemas on February 12th 2016 (as part of the announcement, it was also revealed that Josh Trank’s The Fantastic Four has been moved back a few weeks to August 7th). At this point, it is yet to be confirmed whether Ryan Reynolds will be reprising his role from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but Reynolds has taken a moment to speak about the reaction to the test footage, stating that: “The movie has been in a state of limbo for a while. There was such an overpowering reaction to the footage, you sort of feel like, ‘Oh, so we weren’t crazy for our reasons for loving this character, for loving this role. It’s interesting to see the power of the Internet. It’s awe-inspiring, actually. And it’s neat that Twitter and Facebook and Instagram can move mountains when used in the right way…”
…Meanwhile, Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld has also shared his thoughts on the movie finally getting the green light: “I am absolutely beyond thrilled that Deadpool has been officially announced! I’m thrilled for Tim Miller, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Ryan Reynolds as well as all the guys at Blur Studio! This is a tremendous achievement for them! Rhett and Paul wrote a brilliant, and I don’t throw that word around loosely, a brilliant script! Audiences are going to go on the ride of their collective lives with this film as they envisioned it! Tim Miller is a genius, he is brilliant as everyone who witnessed the leaked footage witnessed! There is so much more to come! Deadpool fans will freak out when they see all that Tim and the boys have in store for them! This is a huge triumph for all the fans that supported my work on New Mutants, X-Force over the years! The fans deserve this amazing gift from film makers who have proven they have what the fans desire! Very exciting! I know where Me and a gazillion fans will be on February 12th, 2016…”
…And in one final piece of Marvel related news, Alex Kurtzman has offered an update on the status of Sony’s Venom movie Venom Carnage, revealing that work on the script is now underway: “Before last Friday came out, we started kind of roughing out a story. Ed Solomon’s going to be writing it very soon. I can’t tell you too much, but I’m really excited about it.” Kurtzman also refused to reveal which incarnation of Venom we’ll get to see in the movie, stating that: “I would not say it’s an easy choice. I would say that there are quite a few things about Venom that are interesting. Venom had several different iterations, and there are several things that are very unique, interesting and specific. And so I think we all want to make sure that we’re making the right choices for a character that’s so beloved…”
…Click below to continue onto the next page for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Superman Returns, Gotham, Arrow, The Flash, Constantine, Lucifer, Supergirl, Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, Powers and more…
