In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Arrow, Gotham, Constantine, Batman vs. Robin, Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Black Widow, The Incredible Hulk, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Defenders, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, The Fantastic Four, The Incredibles 2, Heroes Reborn and more…
So, with Avengers: Age of Ultron less than a week away from release, Warner Bros. has decided to pull the trigger on our first look at its huge DC offering Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, announcing earlier in the week that the first trailer is to be screened in select North American IMAX cinemas this Monday. To whet our appetites, director Zack Snyder took to Twitter with a 20 second tease, and then… just as the internet was exploding over the second teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens – the full thing leaked in shaky, blurry camcorder quality. Fortunately, unlike The Dark Knight Rises teaser incident a few years ago, Warner Bros. decided to bring forward its plans for the teaser and release a shiny, official HD version online late yesterday, which you can watch here. And if you were planning on attending the IMAX screenings, Snyder has revealed that you’ll be treated to a trailer that contains a “few extra shots”, as well as some exclusive swag. Plus of course you get to see the trailer in IMAX, so all in it’s a pretty sweet deal…
…It’s been a bit of a busy week in the world of the DC Cinematic Universe, with director David Ayer taking to social media to announce that production is officially underway on Suicide Squad, while Jared Leto gave us our closest look yet as to his final look as the Joker in Warner’s second DC movie of 2016, posting an image of himself sporting the iconic green hair and red lips…
…Meanwhile, Warner Bros. also found itself having to hunt for a new director on Wonder Woman after Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones) vacated the chair due to “creative differences”, which reportedly included a tiger sidekick for Gal Gadot’s Amazon Princess. Fortunately for WB and its planned June 2017 release date, the studio managed to secure a near-immediate replacement, with Patty Jenkins (Monster) signing on to direct the film. As it happens, Jenkins herself has experience with superheroes and creative differences, having originally been attached to Thor: The Dark World. So, what price Michelle MacLaren taking on Captain Marvel…?
…In other Wonder Woman-related news, Latino-Review’s scoop about Scott Eastwood (Fury) portraying Steve Trevor in Suicide Squad turned out to be wide of the mark, but it hasn’t taken long for a few more names to be thrown into the mix, with Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) and Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games) reportedly wanted for the role alongside Gal Gadot’s Amazon Princess…
…The Flash and Arrow both resumed their respective seasons on The CW this past week, with the network marking their return with a rather cool ‘Superhero Fight Club’ promo featuring the heroes and villains of both shows battling it out in a Thunderdome-style cage. You can read our review of The Flash’s ‘All Star Team Up’ here and Arrow’s ‘Broken Arrow’ here, as well as checking out a trailer, promo and images for this week’s episode of The Flash ‘Who Is Harrison Wells?’ here, and a trailer, promo and images for Arrow’s ‘The Fallen’ here. And if you want a look a little further ahead, a batch of images for the following episode of The Flash, ‘The Trap’, is available here…
…We’ve also got a promo and a batch of images for this Monday’s episode of Gotham, entitled ‘Under the Knife’ [see here], as well as a batch of images for the following week’s episode ‘The Anvil or the Hammer’, which includes our first look at Chris Chalk (12 Years a Slave) as Lucius Fox [see here]…
…Over at NBC and there was a report this week suggesting that the network had finally made a decision over the future of Constantine, opting to pull the plug on the Hellblazer adaptation; however, it looks like fans shouldn’t quite give up hope just yet, as showrunner Daniel Cerone debunked the claim, although in fairness it’s not sounding too promising for a second season: “I just received confirmation from the corporate offices at NBC. I was assured that Constantine has not been canceled and our pitch meeting to discuss a potential second season remains on the books. By the way, this is a pitch meeting involving the president of Warner Bros and and the entertainment heads of NBC. Nobody at this incredibly busy time of the development season has time to waste taking pointless meetings. Now, is it fair to say that Constantine is a long shot? Sure, that’s fair to say. While we marginally improved a tough time slot for NBC, we’re a very expensive show to produce. A lot of NBC’s decision making will not doubt hinge on their new pilots and how they feel those new shows would fare as a companion piece to Grimm, versus a second season of Constantine…”
…Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released its latest DC Universe Animated Original Movie this past week, and if you’re yet to see it you can check out a clip from Batman vs. Robin here, which shows the first meeting between Damian Wayne and Talon…
…Warner has also unveiled a new trailer and synopsis for its next animated DC feature Justice League: Gods and Monsters, along with the cover art and details of the special features. The direct-to-video released marks the return of Bruce Timm to the DC animated universe, and is set to arrive on July 22nd, with a voice cast that includes Michael C. Hall (Batman), Benjamin Bratt (Superman), Tamara Taylor (Wonder Woman), Jason Isaacs (Lex Luthor), Paget Brewster (Lois Lane) and C. Thomas Howell (Dr. Will Magnus)…
…Click below to continue on for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Black Widow, The Incredible Hulk, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and more…