…Moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now and this week has brought us a batch of official stills from the Phase Three launching Captain America: Civil War featuring Cap, Iron Man, Black Panther, Falcon, War Machine, Black Widow, The Vision and The Winter Soldier [see here], along with promotional artwork featuring much of the roster including Scarlet Witch [see here and here], four promo posters of Cap, Iron Man and Crossbones [see here], covers and details on the Civil War junior tie-in books [see here], official images of the LEGO Marvel sets, including a massive spoiler [see here], and some comments from directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who have said that the threequel is “twice as aggressive” in tone and execution as their first MCU outing, Captain America: The Winter Soldier…
…Remember when the Russos said they had 67 characters set to feature in Avengers: Infinity War? Well, the duo addressed the comments this week and it turns out they were mistaken: they’ve actually got 68…
…Aside from Civil War, it’s been a fairly quiet week from the big screen side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although Sylvester Stallone has reportedly been spotted heading to the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, while Hot Toys unveiled Drax the Destroyer collectible figure from the first movie. Meanwhile if you were hoping that Marvel Studios would follow Fox and Warner Bros. by venturing down the R-rated superhero movie path, you’ll be disappointed to hear Bob Iger’s latest comments, stating that “we don’t have any plans for R-rated Marvel movies…”
…It seems that Sony isn’t content with partnering up with Marvel Studios to relaunch Spider-Man, as it has been announced this week that the studio has revived its plans for a Venom movie, bringing in writer Dante Harper (Sleepless Night, Edge of Tomorrow). So, we’ll be getting Venom in the MCU right? Wrong. The project is being developed independent of Tom Holland’s wall-crawler, and is being viewed as the first instalment of a standalone Venom franchise. Oh, Sony…
…Turning to the small screen and with less than two weeks to go until Daredevil season two lands on Netflix, Marvel has released a new promo poster which sees Charlie Cox’s Man Without Fear battling The Hand…
…Sticking with Netflix and Marvel came in for some criticism for missing the opportunity to add a little diversity to the MCU when it cast Game of Thrones star Finn Jones as Danny Rand in Iron Fist, but if a new rumour is to be believed the series will also feature an appearance by Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung Fu, with Marvel said to be “exclusively auditioning males of Asian descent” for the role…
…Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns from its winter break this coming Tuesday, and you can take a look at a trailer and clip from the midseason premiere ‘Bouncing Back’ here, along with a batch of images from the following week’s episode ‘The Inside Man’ here. Meanwhile, showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen have confirmed that Brett Dalton’s Grant Ward has been transformed into the Marvel villain Hive. You can see a first look image of Ward’s Hive here, along with comments from Whedon and Tancharoen about his new persona…
…ABC has announced this week that it has given an early renewal to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a fourth season, although as yet there’s been no word on whether Hayley Atwell will be back for a third season of Agent Carter. And speaking of the ratings-challenged show, be sure to take a look at Amy Richau’s review of the season two finale ‘Hollywood Ending’ here, and listen to the Defenders TV Podcast review of episode five ‘The Atomic Job’ here…
…On the Marvel animation front, we’ve got a clip from this Sunday’s episode of Guardians of the Galaxy which sees Drax battling The Destroyer [watch it here], as well as a clip from this weekend’s Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6 featuring Norman Osborn’s Iron Patriot going up against The Vulture [watch it here]…
…In other Marvel-related animated news, Disney’s smash hit Big Hero 6 is heading to the small screen, with Disney XD announcing a new animated series is in prdouction from Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley (Kim Possible). “Our colleagues at Walt Disney Animation Studios have created a brilliant new world, inspired by Marvel, with vivid, unique characters,” states Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer, Disney Channels Worldwide. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to further develop these characters into a world class animated series — full of fun, action and the kind of endearing storytelling that only Mark, Bob — and Baymax — can deliver.” Click here to read the synopsis for the animated series…
…20th Century Fox has expanded its upcoming Marvel output, setting new release dates for two new Marvel superhero movies on October 6th 2017 and January 12th 2018. As yet, there’s no word on what movies they will be, but it’s likely they’ll be two from Deadpool 2, X-Force and New Mutants. Meanwhile, in another adjustment to its slate, the studio has also officially pulled Gambit from its October 2016 date, with the Channing Tatum-headlined spinoff now without a set release (and seemingly no closer to starting shooting this month, as it was initially suggested after last year’s production delay and appointment of Doug Liman as replacement director for Rupert Wyatt)…
…The Merc with a Mouth continues to perform well at the global box office, with Deadpool retaining top spot in North America last weekend and passing $600 million worldwide. By close of play on Thursday it is sitting on $623 million, but will lose out on top spot this weekend to Disney’s Zootopia. Meanwhile, illustrator Joshua James Shaw released some concept art from the movie this week, giving us a look at his design work on Deadpool himself, along with a few alternate takes on Negasonic Teenage Warhead; check the artwork out here…
…As the dust begins to settle on Deadpool, Fox’s marketing department will soon be turning its attention to X-Men: Apocalypse, and this week brought us a very brief promo for the May release, while Olivia Munn took to social media to share a rather nice BEHIND-the-scenes image of her in costume as Psylocke…
…Having previously suggested that he’d be open to a return, Liev Schrieber has stated this week that he’s spoken with Hugh Jackman about a potential return as Sabretooth from X-Men Origins: Wolverine in Jackman’s final X-Men outing, Wolverine 3, as well as seemingly confirming the Old Man Logan rumours: “We talked about it. He’s mentioned it to me. The Old Man Logan story, that’s appealing. That’s something that I can do. Old, being the operative word…”
…Fantastic Four enjoyed some award success this past weekend. I’m talking of course about the Golden Raspberry Awards – a.k.a. The Razzies – where the failed superhero reboot was “honoured” with Worst Remake, Ripoff or Sequel, Worst Director (Josh Trank) and Worst Picture, the latter of which it shared with Fifty Shades of Grey….
…FX’s X-Men pilot Legion added another name to its cast this week, with Katie Aselton (The League) securing the role of Amy, “the practical older sister to lead character David Haller (Dan Stevens), who does her best to remain positive, which proves difficult when her brother has spent years in and out of hospitals after being diagnosed as a schizophrenic…”
…And finally, be sure to check out Flickering Myth TV’s latest show Scooperhero News, which sees Oli and Luke running down all the week’s big superhero news stories. Take a look over on our YouTube channel here.
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
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