In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The LEGO Batman Movie, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnariok, Daredevil, The Punisher, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Apocalypse, Gambit, New Mutants, Deadpool, Heroes Reborn and more…
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may have had a tough time with critics, but Warner Bros. celebrated a spectacular start at the box office as the film set a pre-summer opening day record of $170.1 million on Friday, leading to a whopping global opening of $424.1 million – the biggest ever debut for a superhero movie, and the fourth-biggest of all time behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ($482.2 million), Jurassic World ($524.9 million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($529 million). It wasn’t all good news though, as the film also suffered the steepest Friday-to-Sunday decline in history, but it’s still managed to cross the half billion mark in less than a week, and is expected to perform strong in its second weekend…
…Zack Snyder has been speaking about various aspects of Batman v Superman this week, discussing the SPOILERY ending to the movie and the formation of the Justice League, as well as the death of Robin prior to the movie at the hands of The Joker; meanwhile, Warner also debuted a deleted scene featuring Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor and a mysterious alien creature, along with an IMAX ‘Behind the Frame’ featurette and a behind-the-scenes video exploring the film’s big Batmobile chase sequence…
…Kevin Smith shared his thoughts on Batman v Superman this week, stating that he felt it “didn’t really have a heart”. You can read Smith’s thoughts here, and be sure to check out our reviews of the movie here, here and here, along with our Podcast reviews here and here, and Anghus Houvouras’ op-ed ‘Why Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Is Worth Defending’ here…
…From the moment that Ben Affleck was cast as Batman, there’s been speculation suggesting that he’ll take the reins for a Dark Knight solo movie, and Affleck’s reps at the William Morris agency have confirmed that he has written a screenplay: “He’s contracted to do at least Justice League One and Two, so at least three times [we’ll see him] wearing the cape. There’s a script that he’s written that is a really cool [Batman] idea, so that’s out there as an option…”
…It looks like Batman v Superman will mark Hans Zimmer’s final superhero score, with the composer stating this week that: “I did Batman Begins with Christopher Nolan twelve years ago. So The Dark Knight trilogy may be three movies to you. To me, it was 11 years of my life. Then I did [Man of Steel], then I did [Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice]. I have officially retired from the superhero business…”
…In other Bat-related news, this week brought us a second teaser trailer for The LEGO Batman Movie, the 2017 animated spinoff from The LEGO Movie featuring Will Arnett as the Caped Crusader; check it out here…
…Back to the live-action side of the DC multiverse and if rumour is to be believed, Warner Bros. has taken note of fan criticism towards the serious tone of Batman v Superman and embarking on major reshoots on Suicide Squad. According to reports/speculation, these aren’t your typical blockbuster reshoots, with Warner said to be investing “tens of millions of dollars” in order to lighten the tone and add more humour, seeing as “all the jokes are in the trailer”…
…In other Suicide Squad news, this week has brought us an international trailer and a couple of new images, while Jared Leto has spoken briefly about his upcoming role as The Joker: “The work that’s been done on this character by so many people before me has been so impactful, so incredible, so much fun, so profound, so risky, that it’s a very special thing to be asked to take on that responsibility. You just knew you had to do something different. You had to make it your own. That happens all the time. Whether you’re a composer working on a piece of music that was written a century ago, or you’re an actor on stage, reinterpreting a play, it’s very common these days. Directors take on great works of cinema, actors reinterpret roles, that’s been going on for a great deal of time. From Scarface to Hamlet. In some ways it’s really interesting to reinterpret, redefine. It a weighty thing to do. But it’s exciting. The Joker is one of those roles. He was written brilliantly when he was first shared with the world 75 years ago, or something crazy like that. And I think I’m just really grateful I had the opportunity…”
…Last week we got our first look at the Amazons of Themyscira thanks to an official image from next year’s Wonder Woman movie, and now we have some set photos showing Diana (Gal Gadot) meeting Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) on the beaches of her homeland, as well as a group of soldiers facing off against the Amazons…
…During an appearance at WonderCon, James Wan shared his excitement over his upcoming Aquaman movie, stating that: “I think Aquaman is a character that is, you know, a lot of people have made fun of over the years, and I just think it’s fun to actually show a really different, cool, badass side to this character, but at the same time, let’s not forget to have fun with it.” Wan went on to elaborate on his plans for the King of Atlantis: “I would love to capture the fun spirit of high-sea adventures, treasure hunts, sea monsters. That’s the spirit that I’m going for. Swashbuckling. Like Zack Snyder said, from Day One, Warner has always said to me that we are a filmmaker-driven studio and we want each of the DC characters to have the stamp and the trademark of the filmmakers that they’ve picked to come shepherd it. As I’ve always said, whether it’s at Marvel or at DC, they have that sandbox. That sandbox is in place. So you have to come in there and play within their sandbox. But the key here is to build your own sandcastle. And make that sandcastle yours…”
…On the small screen, we’ve got a promo and batch of images for Monday’s episode of Gotham, entitled ‘Into the Woods’, while Fox has also released a featurette entitled ‘Oswald’s New Family, which you can watch here…
…Supergirl is on a short break until April 11th, but CBS has given us a peek at the season finale ‘Better Angels’, releasing a batch of images from the episode, along with an official synopsis…
…Shifting to The CW, and you can read Jessie Robertson’s review of this week’s episode of The Flash ‘Flash Back’ here, while we also have a trailer, promo and images for the next episode ‘Versus Zoom’, which is set to air on April 19th [see here and here]. Meanwhile, Kevin Smith has been talking about his upcoming episode, revealing that his good pal Jason Mewes is set to make a guest appearance…
…You can also take a read of Jessie’s review of this week’s episode of Arrow ‘Beacon of Hope’ here, and we have a promo, trailer and batch of images for this week’s ‘Eleven-Fifty-Nine’, which you can see here and here…
…The CW released a new trailer for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow this week which gave us our first look at Jonah Hex, as well as announcing a couple of new cast additions in Michell Kummen (Horns) and Patrick J. Adams (Suits). Meanwhile, you can also take a look at this Thursday’s upcoming episode ‘Progeny’ here and here…
…Click below to continue on for Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnariok, Daredevil, The Punisher, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Apocalypse, Gambit, New Mutants, Deadpool, Heroes Reborn and more…
