…Fox is set to give us our first official look at February’s X-Men spinoff Deadpool this coming week, with a red-band trailer set to premiere on Tuesday on Conan, followed by a green-band trailer that will be attached to Fantastic Four from its release on Friday. To whet our appetites, three new images have arrived online featuring Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth alongside Brianna Hildebrand’s Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Morena Baccarin’s Copycat [see here]…
…This week also brought us some new images from X-Men: Apocalypse featuring Rose Byrne (Moia MacTaggert), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Lucas Till (Havok), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Oscar Isaac (Apocalypse) and Olivia Munn (Psylocke) [see here], while director Bryan Singer took to Instagram to post a new set photo from the film featuring enormous statue of Anubis [see here]…
…Tye Sheridan has spoken about his upcoming role in Apocalypse, where he’ll take on the part of Scott Summers, a.k.a. Cyclops: “There’s no franchise I’d rather be a part of and doing sort of as my first foray into larger budget stuff than X-Men. When you go back and look at all the movies — the history of X-Men is so rich and the characters are so rich and they have such depth, and there’s such depth to the stories. I feel like most franchises and superhero films don’t have that. I think that’s why this franchise is not just special to me, but also just so special in general. I’m so lucky and grateful to be a part of it. It’s a nice progression with the roles I’ve played in the past. It’s forced me to use everything I’ve learned playing all the characters I have. My character is angry and a bit lost, which I feel like is where I’ve met a lot of my characters — in these sort of young life transitions where they’re struggling to figure things out about themselves. He’s now learning about being a mutant and trying to handle his superhero powers. The arc for the character is really cool for me — it’s not like I’m just stepping into it and I’m a superhero and it’s cool and all that with the suit. You kind of see the progression of this character — where he comes from, what he has to overcome and where he goes at the end of the film. It’s a great arc…”
…It looks like Fox’s Gambit solo movie could be running into problems, with reports emerging this week suggesting that Channing Tatum’s deal to play Remy LeBeau is in “jeopardy”, and the studio is currently negotiating with the actor in an effort to keep him attached. The film is slated to go into production in October, with Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) set to direct…
…As he gears up for his final appearance as the adamantium-clawed mutant, Hugh Jackman took to Twitter this week to post a teaser image for the third Wolverine movie, as well as asking fans for their input as to what they’d like to see from the 2017 release…
…Turning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now and Ant-Man crossed the $200 million mark at the worldwide box office this past week, with the film hitting $237 million by close of play on Thursday. At present, it remains the lowest grossing instalment of the MCU, but should overtake The Incredible Hulk’s $263.4 million haul in the coming days. Meanwhile, Marvel has released an official image of the prototype Wasp suit from the film, while Michael Douglas revealed that he’s yet to sign on for a second outing in the MCU, and director Peyton Reed detailed the stipulations from Mattel for the inclusion of Thomas the Tank Engine in the climactic battle between Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll) – including the fact that Thomas had to remain neutral, and could not kill anyone…
…Jeremy Renner has offered up a few words on Hawkeye’s role in the Phase Three-launching Captain America: Civil War, stating that: “[Captain America: Civil War] is more active, a lot of fun stuff happening in that one. I can’t speak too much for it. They’re still filming that sucker right now. But yeah, there’s a lot of stuff happening in that one physically for me anyway. Then who knows in the future? I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Renner also looked ahead to Phase Four, responding to a question about whether Marvel will stick with its core characters, or bring in some new blood to freshen things up: “I think it’s probably both. It’s always great to know that you are going have a job next year or something. That’s a fantastic blessing for any actor. It’s nice to be able to continue things and characters that you’ve kind of grown with. But it’s always great to have new faces come in. They’re not big on replacing people and characters so much, which I think is smart, because there’s so many different characters. I think there’s going to be a lot of new faces coming up in that world. I’m happy just to be a part of that big universe…”
…According to Vacation directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, Tom Holland has already shot his scenes as Spider-Man for Captain America: Civil War, while the duo also offered up a few words on how they got the job of writing the script for the 2017 Spider-Man solo reboot: “Our agent helped get our foot in the door with Marvel, sending them a script we had written, and letting them know our track record and that we’d love to move from broad comedy to action and action comedy. Also, it helped that Kevin Feige wanted to draw on the spirit of John Hughes for this Spider-Man, and we had just written and directed a sequel to a John Hughes-created franchise with Vacation. We’d pitched ourselves to both write and direct, and so our pitch included a pretty extensive story outline that appealed to them. After Jon Watts got the directing job, they came back and asked if we would be interested in doing the script…”
…Goldstein and Daley lost out on directing duties on Spider-Man to Jon Watts (Cop Car), who also had some comments about the reboot this week: “[Tom Holland] can be a real high school student. That’s why people love Spider-Man. He’s the most grounded, relatable of superheroes. And Tom can really do that. He captures that. And he can do a standing back-flip. He’s perfect… The thing that everyone keeps saying is that it’s sort of like the John Hughes version of Spider-Man, which I think is a really cool take on it. He’s in high school, and the questions that that raises I think we haven’t explored as much as we can. In the comics so much of it was about him juggling his high school life and trying to be a superhero. I think there’s a lot to do there…”
…A few weeks ago it was rumoured that Rachel McAdams (True Detective) was in talks with Marvel about the female lead in Doctor Strange, and the actress has confirmed this week that she has had discussions with the studio but is yet to sign on to the project. Meanwhile, it had been assumed that Marvel were gender-swapping the character of the Ancient One given Tilda Swinton’s casting; however, that may not be the case, as Swinton has apparently revealed that “she doesn’t yet know if she will play the part as a man or a woman”…
…Some new concept art has surfaced for Avengers: Age of Ultron, including an a new look for Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) being hexed by Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and the attack on Avengers Tower; check them out here…
…We got a new teaser image for Daredevil this week which suggests we’ll be seeing more of Matt Gerald’ Melvin Potter – a.k.a. Gladiator – when season two gets underway on Netflix next year, while former showrunner Steven S. DeKnight has spoken about the upcoming introduction of The Punisher, played by Jon Bernthal: “The thing about The Punisher, and I think there are great things about each of those versions, but none of them was completely the Marvel version. And none of those movies were under the Marvel Studios banner until they recently got The Punisher back. So this is really the first time that we’re seeing the Marvel Studios from the Iron Man days, when they can control their own product, actually do this character. [It’s doubtful that it will be as violent as Punisher: War Zone]. That was pretty violent. The first season of Daredevil was violent but I always say it was more implied. It wasn’t nearly as violent as The Walking Dead, a show that I love. On that, if somebody were to crush somebody’s head in a car door, you would’ve seen the head crush on screen but we didn’t want to go quite that far. We wanted to keep it right around PG-16 and not go all the way to the R. I have no idea if they’re planning to push it that far next season but I would be surprised…”
…Before we get to season two of Daredevil, Marvel has Jessica Jones landing on Netflix later this year, and a new logo arrived online this week, while showrunner Melissa Rosenberg spoke about the upcoming series during the Television Critics Association press tour: “It all starts with Brian Michael Bendis’s Alias series. He created this incredibly flawed, damaged interesting character. Regardless of gender, it was the character that drew me. He wasn’t afraid to go there and we went even further. We’ve gone further in all of our storytelling. The one thing [where] Steven [DeKnight] has the advantage, his show was called Daredevil but Daredevil has an outfit. Charlie Cox can get a break once in a while. My show is called Jessica Jones. There is no mask. Krysten Ritter is the hardest working actress. Jessica Jones is a very different show from Daredevil. We exist in a cinematic universe, the mythology of the universe is connected, but it will look very different. Tonally they’re very different. If you pick up Bendis’ Alias and pick up Daredevil, they’re wildly different. That was my one concern. Would I have to fit in with Daredevil? The answer was, ‘No, we’re hiring you for your point of view.’ Where you run into limitations is if you’re using one of their characters and you need to be cognizant of the mythology of the character. We’re using some pretty obscure characters so we’re taking them all over the place…”
…Rumour time now and it seems that Netflix may not be satisfied with five Marvel shows in Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders, as it’s been reported this week that a Thunderbolts series in also in the works. Treat it as a rumour for the time being…
…In anticipation of their return, ABC has released two video recaps of the second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and first season of Agent Carter, which you can watch here. The third season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has also picked up a couple of new additions, with Andrew Howard (Bates Motel) playing Banks, who is described as “an authoritative and intimidating agent”, while Constance Zimmer (Entourage) will recur as the head of a mysterious government agency which crosses paths with Coulson (Clark Gregg) and S.H.I.E.L.D. as it seeks out new Inhumans…
…We’ve got a clip from this Sunday’s episode of Marvel’s Avengers Assemble entitled ‘Avengers Underground’ [see here] as well as Tuesday’s Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors entitled ‘Inhumanity’ [see here], while this week has also brought the first clip from the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy animated series, which shows the first meeting between Yondu and a young Peter Quill [see here]…
…After producing the fan films Punisher: Dirty Laundry and Venom: True in Journalism, Adi Shankar is set to make his directorial debut with a “dark superhero drama” for HBO entitled Gods and Secrets, which “will mine territory similar to Alan Moore’s Watchmen, exploring the darker logical underpinnings of superhero tropes. In a world in which superheroes exist, personal foibles and the resulting celebrity culture are front and center. In the story, tragedy has struck the superheroic team Guardians of Justice, and in its aftermath secrets are revealed, lives are changed, and the war to end all wars begins.” Set to feature in the cast are Denise Richards, Jane Seymour, Jackson Rathbone, Kellan Lutz, Sharni Vinson, Andy Milonakis and Diamond Dallas Page…
…And finally, Flickering Myth’s Samuel Brace has written an op-ed on superhero movies, contrarian opinions and partisan fandoms, which you can read 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.
