In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Iron Fist, The Punisher, Runaways, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Spider-Man: Homecoming, Legion, Logan, X-Men: Supernova, The Batman, Batman Unchained, Justice League, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, Gotham City Sirens, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Powerless, The LEGO Batman Movie, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract and more…
We’ll start things off with the Marvel Cinematic Universe this week, seeing as we’ve had our very first peek at 2018’s hugely-anticipated superhero epic Avengers: Infinity War, thanks to a three-minute behind-the-scenes video brief footage of the production’s first day of shooting with stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), concept art, and comments from Marvel chief Kevin Feige, directors Anthony and Joe Russo and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely [watch the video here]. Meanwhile, Josh Brolin has seemingly let slip that Benecio Del Toro will be reprising the role of The Collector for Infinity War, a casting call has strongly suggested that we’ll be paying a visit to Asgard (which isn’t really too surprising consider it is home to one of the Infinity Stones), and Flickering Myth’s Samuel Brace has been ‘Trying to Remember the Virtues of the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘ in his latest opinion piece…
…During an interview this week, Kevin Feige discussed the criticism aimed towards the villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, promising that won’t be the case when Thanos takes centre stage in Infinity War: “Well, I mean, it always varies, but it always starts with what serves the story the most and what serves the hero the most. We’ve been criticized, if a big criticism of ours is that we focus on the heroes more than the villains, I think that’s probably true. I don’t think it will always be true and I think some of you spoke to Chris and Steve at the Civil War junket. When the heck was that, yesterday? Last week? And they talked about, in appropriately oblique terms, Thanos. Thanos in Infinity War is, you know, in a movie that has a lot of characters, you could almost go so far as to say he is the main character, and that’s a bit of a, that’s a bit of a departure from what we’ve done before, but that was appropriate for a movie called Infinity War…”
…The Super Bowl took place last weekend, which meant we got to see a sneak peek at several of the year’s biggest movie releases, not least Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, with Marvel releasing an extended spot packed with brand new footage from the hotly-anticipated sequel [check it out here, along with the new poster]. It seemed to go down a storm with audiences, topping a poll of moviegoers with regards to which of the spots they found to be the most exciting…
…Marvel ramped up the promotion for the home-entertainment release of Doctor Strange this week by debuting three deleted scenes from the movie featuring Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his zealots and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Daniel Drumm (Mark Anthony Brighton) [watch them here], while we also got a glimpse at some alternative designs for Dormammu thanks to a new batch of early concept artwork [see here]…
…In a couple of other bits and pieces from the big screen side of the MCU, a set photo from Black Panther gave us a look at the returning Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue, and Michael Douglas officially confirmed his return as Hank Pym for Ant-Man and the Wasp…
…With just over a month to go until its arrival on Netflix, we got a new trailer for Marvel’s Iron Fist this week [watch it here], as well as a ‘Final Defender’ promo focussing on Finn Jones’ Danny Rand [watch it here], and a first clip which shows Jessica Henwick’s Colleen Wing putting her martial arts skills to good use [see here]…
…Sticking with Netflix and we also got some new set photos from The Punisher this week, which see Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle tussling with New York’s Finest; check them out here…
…After announcing the young leads last week, Marvel has now cast its supervillain cabal The Pride for Hulu’s upcoming Runaways series, with Ryan Sands (Hat Hair, The Wire) as Geoffrey Wilder, Angel Parker (The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, The Strain) as Catherine Wilder, Brittany Ishibashi (This Is Us, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows) as Tina Minoru, James Yaegashi (Breakfast at Tiffany’s on Broadway, Madame Secretary) as Robert Minoru, Kevin Weisman (Hello Ladies, Alias) as Dale Yorkes, Brigid Brannagh (Army Wives, True Colors) as Stacey Yorkes, Annie Wersching (Timeless, The Vampire Diaries) as Leslie Dean, Kip Pardue (Remember the Titans, Ray Donovan) as Frank Dean, James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) as Victor Stein and Ever Carradine (The Handmaids Tale, Goliath) as Janet Stein. You can read the comments of executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and comic book co-creator Brian K. Vaughn here…
…Over at ABC and you can read Danny Hale’s review of this week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ‘BOOM’ here, and we also have a promo, images and clip from this week’s fourteenth episode ‘The Man Behind the Shield’ [see here, here and here], along with promotional images for the fifteenth episode ‘Self Control’ [see here]…
…This week has brought us promotional images for a whole host of Marvel-related action figures and collectibles, including Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Series Spider-Man: Homecoming figures, complete with new Ultimate Iron Man-style armor [see here], two-packs for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Doctor Strange [see here] and 12″ Deadpool, Hulk and Thor figures [see here], Beast Kingdom’s Egg Attack action figures for Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange and Avengers: Age of Ultron [see here] and Hot Toys’ 1/6th scale Iron Man Mark V Armor collectible figure [see here]. You may also want to check out my thoughts on Eaglemoss’ rather splendid – and rather massive – Hulkbuster statue from Avengers: Age of Ultron, which you can find here…
…Marvel kicked off its brand new X-Men series this week with the premiere of Legion, and you can read Rachel Bellwoar’s review of the first episode here; we’ve also got a promo for this coming week’s second episode [see here], along with a batch of character banners featuring cast members featuring Dan Stevens, Jeremie Harris, Katie Aselton, Rachel Keller, Jean Smart, Amber Midthunder, and Bill Urwin [see here]…
…Marvel and Fox’s Bryan Singer-directed X-Men pilot picked up its first cast member this week, with Blair Redford (Switched at Birth, Satisfaction) signing on to play Sam, described as “the strong-headed Native American leader of the underground network.” Expect more news on the pilot in the coming days and weeks…
…In other potential X-Men TV news, it’s been rumoured that Marvel is in development on a brand new animated series for the mutant superheroes, which would be the first since 2009’s Wolverine and the X-Men. Apparently we can expect an official announcement later this year…
…The X-Men franchise returns to the big screen in just a few short weeks as Hugh Jackman says farewell (maybe) to Wolverine with the solo sequel Logan; 20th Century Fox unleashed a Super Bowl TV spot last weekend [watch it here], along with a first clip [watch it here] and a rather moody ‘Sunseeker’ promo and a few TV spots [see here]. Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman shared an image to social media featuring Wolverine’s original yellow suit, prompting speculation that we may finally get to see Logan in his classic costume…
…There may be question marks surrounding the future of the main X-Men franchise, but the rumour keeps persisting that the next instalment – thought to be titled X-Men: Supernova – will revisit the Dark Phoenix Saga, and a rumoured synopsis surfaced this week adding further fuel to that fire: “Gathered together by Professor Charles Xavier to protect a world that fears and hates them, the X-Men had fought many battles, been on adventures that spanned galaxies, grappled enemies of limitless might, but none of this could prepare them for the most shocking struggle they would ever face. One of their own members, Jean Grey, has gained power beyond all comprehension, and that power has corrupted her absolutely! Now they must decide if the life of the woman they cherish is worth the existence of the entire universe…”
…Click below to continue on The Batman, Batman Unchained, Justice League, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, Gotham City Sirens, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Powerless, The LEGO Batman Movie, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract and more…
