…Marvel will kick off the 2015 Superhero Season this coming Thursday as Avengers: Age of Ultron makes its UK bow, and if you’re desperate to see more footage from the film we’ve got a clip of the big showdown between the Hulk and Iron Man in his Hulkbuster armor [see here], as well as a host of assorted clips, TV spots and featurettes which you can sift through here, here, here, here and here. Our review(s) of the film will be with you in the next few days, but in the meantime be sure to check out our preview of Age of Ultron here…
…Marvel also gave us a look at their second release of this year on Monday with the release of the second trailer for the Peyton Reed directed Ant-Man, starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly. You can watch the trailer here, and be sure to read Anghus Houvouras’ take on what we’ve seen so far in his op-ed ‘Deja Vu: Isn’t Ant-Man Just Iron Man 2.0‘…
…Ahead of the Ant-Man trailer, Marvel chief Kevin Feige spoke about the July release and its place in the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe: “[Ant-Man] is not [an after-thought]. The truth is the phases mean a lot to me and some people but Captain America: Civil War is the start of Phase Three. It just is. And Ant-Man is a different kind of culmination of Phase Two because it very much is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You meet new characters and you learn about Hank Pym and his lineage with the MCU over the years. But at the same time, it also picks up the thread of Age of Ultron in terms of heroes – major heroes, Avengers – coming from unexpected places. Whether it’s prison in the case of Scott Lang or being a very disgruntled Sokovian Twins as Wanda and Pietro are in Age of Ultron. And in that way it connects a lot. Also, Hank Pym’s attitude towards Avengers, towards S.H.I.E.L.D, and kind of the cinematic universe in general, is much more informed after Age of Ultron events, and in a certain way, before the events of Civil War…”
…That leads us nicely in to Captain America: Civil War, which has been confirmed this week as being the first Marvel film to use IMAX cameras for around 15 minutes of footage, while Scarlett Johansson has spoken about her excitement over the script: “I have read the script for Civil War. You know, the film has a very different feeling than anything of Marvel’s that I’ve read or been a part of before. These films are—I don’t think darker is the right word because there’s definitely always going to be some kind of levity, and that comes in a form of humor or hope. When you compare these films to like Batman, it’s a different feeling obviously, it’s a different audience experience, but as the stakes loom like larger and larger I think these films are kind of maturing with the audience; so there’s even more complex psychological twists that I sort of hadn’t necessarily anticipated…”
…In a separate interview, Scarlett Johansson has revealed that she’s had discussions with Kevin Feige about the possibility of spinning Black Widow off into her own movies: “I’ve spoken to Kevin about it. I mean, of course, of course we’ve had that conversation before, and I think Kevin would also like to see a standalone film. I think I can speak for him and say that. That’s all, really. Right now I think this character is used well in this part of the universe, but I think that Kevin—I mean, we’ve talked about it and we both share similar vision for what could be a standalone series.” As for what the movie(s) could entail, click here to read Scarlett’s thoughts…
…One character who it seems won’t be getting a solo movie any time soon is The Hulk, with Mark Ruffalo revealing that the reason we haven’t had a sequel to The Incredible Hulk is because Marvel don’t have the necessary rights: “As far as a Hulk movie, a standalone Hulk movie, Marvel doesn’t really have the rights to that yet. That’s still Universal’s property, so there’s that issue. That’s a big impediment to moving forward with that, now I don’t think that’s insurmountable, by the way, but I don’t know where it’s going from here for me…”
…Marvel does have one female-led superhero movie on its upcoming slate in Captain Marvel, and this week has brought rumours that the project has secured a pair of writers in Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out), while it’s also been reported that Marvel wants Angelina Jolie to take on directing duties on Carol Danvers’ big screen debut. Although the very same report also suggested Jolie was wanted by Warner Bros. for Wonder Woman just moments before Patty Jenkins was announced, so while Jolie’s name is sure to have been brought up at one point or another, I’m personally chalking this one down as guesswork…
…It’s been reported this week that the official production title of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is Guardians 3000, sparking speculation that the sequel could feature members of the original comic book roster of the cosmic superhero team. Meanwhile, speaking at the premiere of Age of Ultron, writer-director James Gunn offered up a few words on the themes he’ll be exploring in the 2017 movie, as well as teasing a little further ahead: “There’s a lot of stuff I’m excited about in the new movie. Listen, I’m still excited about Star-Lord’s character and where he goes. At its heart, Guardians is a story about families, and if the first film was about him and his mother, this is a story about fathers. So it’s exciting to go there. I knew for a long time what the story of the second one was gonna be…and the third one..”
…During the press rounds for Age of Ultron, Kevin Feige has has to tackle countless questions surrounding the upcoming MCU debut of Spider-Man, with the producer confirming that Spidey will be a high-school age Peter Parker, that we won’t be getting another take on his origin story (“there is a young kid [already] running around New York City in a homemade version of the Spider-Man costume in the MCU, you just don’t know it yet”), and comparing Marvel’s plans to relaunch the character to that of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight reboot Batman Begins. Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. has shared his excitement at the prospect of Peter Parker linking up with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, stating that: “The funny thing is, it all feeds back into itself because now it’s got me thinking that that would be something that Stark Industries would actually be diverting funds to and all that…”
…In one other tidbit from the big screen side of the MCU, Kevin Feige has confirmed that shooting will begin on director Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange movie this November ahead of its release in November 2016, with Feige also sharing his excitement over the prospect of seeing Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme…
…Click below to continue on for 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…
