With less than a month to go before Hugh Jackman dons the adamantium claws for the final time (well, supposedly final), 20th Century Fox has released another couple of TV spots from Logan [see here], as well as giving us a new look at Stephen Merchant’s Caliban [see here]. Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman has been talking about playing an older Wolverine in the film, revealing that he got some tips from Jim Broadbent: “When he was playing older, [Broadbent] would tape a little stone to his heel. I would have that, just to remind myself of a limp. [Logan’s] body hurts. His joints hurt. His heart hurts. Psychologically, he’s damaged. What’s the collateral damage of being Wolverine for all those years..?”
…Jackman has also been reflecting on his first outing as Wolverine way back in 2000’s X-Men, stating that: “I was kind of struggling, to be honest. It was the first movie I had ever done in America. I was pretty tight. I was nervous. I was average, to be honest, at best. No one was saying anything and I sort of thought I was getting away with it, but I wasn’t. [Producer Tom Rothman] told me that he believed in me, that from the moment he’d seen my tape he had a gut feeling I was the guy, but watching my dailies was like watching someone put a lampshade over a light…”
…Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have followed in the footsteps of James Mangold, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds by denying that the Merc with a Mouth will cameo in Logan, although they’re not ruling out a crossover at some point: “Yeah, that’s not happening. The tones are just too different. I’m not sure exactly where that rumor came from, but Hugh and Ryan are really close and they really do want to work together and they really do want to see these characters come together, so in the long run, that rumor could become true — that they’re in a movie together, but it’s just not Logan. And no, not even an end-credit scene. When I say the tone doesn’t work, I think the tone will absolutely work if we put those two together. Deadpool always needs a straight man, a foil, and Wolverine would be as good a foil as Colossus, just more cantankerous. I just know the Logan movie as they conceived it could never have Deadpool in it and work. It just couldn’t; it’s way too serious and way too dark. It’s just not right tonally. It’s really, really different…”
…And speaking of tone, Reese and Wernick are also hoping that future X-Men movies will retain the same tone as Deadpool in an effort to stand out from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe: “The different universes tend to have different tones, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a very specific, genius tone that was set in Iron Man and has lived well beyond that into the other movies. DC tends to have its own tone, which is this dark, gritty tone. The X-Men have their own tone, which is kind of somewhere in between. Not too funny, not too light. But not quite as dark as the DC stuff. And I think what we stumbled into was a new tone, and I haven’t seen Logan, so it’s tough to say if they have it, but I think we hope to have our own universe that is defined less by characters and timelines and things like that and more by tone. The hope is Deadpool 2 and X-Force and future movies all be this new, consistent, sillier tone. More self-aware tone. And edgier and rated-R tone. We want to be establishing the universe but also focusing on each individual movie and not worrying too much about building a larger threat to the world or a larger plot machination…”
…If rumours are to be believed, Pierce Brosnan could soon be announced as having secured the role of Cable in Deadpool 2. The speculation started last month when Jackman and Reynolds shared the above image to social media, and now it’s being reported that the former 007 has been in talks with Fox and director David Leitch, and will likely be announced via Reynolds’ social media channels soon. Nothing official hear, but I guess we’ll find out either way soon enough…
…As Bryan Singer gears up for his return to the X-Men universe to direct Fox and Marvel’s TV pilot, the director has been chatting about his latest foray into the world of television: “Marvel Studios, they do their own films, then Fox Studios, we sort of do them separately when I make the X-Men films. Marvel Television is different. Their TV division works more closely with Fox. I’m actually directing one for Fox network, an X-Men related television show, which we started prepping today. Their television people work with us. It’s nice because we get back-story, we get information. I can’t read every comic book. So I want as much input as possible.” You can read the rest of Singer’s comments here…
…James Gunn celebrated the one-year anniversary of the start of production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 this week, while Marvel marked the occasion by releasing a batch of new images featuring Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Hasbro unveiled its upcoming Dancing Groot figure, which is sure to be a big seller this year. Meanwhile, we also got a look at some concept art for the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, offering up an early costume design for Star-Lord…
…Guardians Vol. 2 will kick of this year’s MCU offerings in May, followed by Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming in July, and this week brought us some new promotional art featuring the wall-crawler, along with promo images for Medicom’s rather nice MAFEX Spider-Man action figure based on Tom Holland’s appearance in the solo reboot [see here]…
…This week also gave us our first look at the new Jack Kirby-inspired logo for Thor: Ragnarok [see here], while director Taika Waititi spoke about his approach to the God of Thunder’s latest fantastic adventure: “I think the overall sense that I’m trying to give to the audience and what I want the audience to leave the cinema carrying with them is a sense of joy really. Sometimes I would stop and think, I’m doing a movie that’s got Thor and Doctor Strange and The Incredible Hulk and Loki and every character is so strange and different… Captain America: Civil War is just humans, humans with human problems. Ours is creatures and beings and all these sorts of really different characters. Again displaying human problems, but in outer space or in other worlds.” Waititi also confirmed that he’ll make a cameo in the film, as will his Hunt for the Wilderpeople star Sam Neill, who already let that slip a few months ago…
…Doctor Strange added $4.5 million to its haul this past weekend as it finally made its way over to Japan, while director Scott Derrickson spoke about the as-yet-unconfirmed sequel, stating that Marvel has too much on its plate with Phase Three at the moment to start thinking about Doctor Strange 2: ““I have no idea where it fits in. I’ve sort of been off the grid. I very much needed a break after that. But I’m starting to read TV pilots. I love dramatic television, and I’ve gotten quite a few good offers on really good pilots. I may do a pilot before Doctor Strange 2, if Doctor Strange 2 is going to happen. Right now, I don’t think the people at Marvel are calling anybody for anything. They’re making way too many movies at once right now [to do that]. [Given] how intimately involved they are in the development and shooting and post-production of those movies, they’ve got their hands very full right now.” In other Doctor Strange news, check out the S.H. Figuarts collectible figure for Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme here…
…We’re yet to get any set photos from Avengers: Infinity War, but we have had a couple of cast members confirm their inclusion on social media this week in Guardians of the Galaxy stars Karen Gillan (Nebula) and Pom Klementieff (Mantis)…
…Turning to the small screen and Marvel announced casting on its two new TV project this week; first up was Cloak and Dagger, with Aubrey Joseph (The Night Of, Run All Night) and Disney channel star Olivia Holt (Kickin’ It, Didn’t Do It) securing the roles of Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen. Here’s the updated synopsis for the show which was released alongside the news: “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger” is a coming-of-age series based on the beloved Marvel characters. Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson come from starkly different backgrounds, each growing up with a secret they never dared share with another soul. Once a privileged little girl, Tandy Bowen watched as her family was destroyed by a disastrous storm that uprooted her life. Now in her late teens, an unexpected encounter with a boy named Tyrone sparks a life changing event. Young Tyrone Johnson wanted nothing more than to prove he was fearless. But when everything he held close was taken away, life taught Tyrone to be afraid. Now older and more sheltered, Tyrone closes himself off. But when he meets a girl named Tandy his life changes forever…”
…The Cloak and Dagger news was quickly followed by a cast announcement for Runaways, with Marvel announcing Ariela Barer (New Girl) as Gert Yorkes, Lyrica Okano (The Affair) as Nico Minoru, Rhenzy Feliz (Teen Wolf) as Alex Wilder, Gregg Sulkin (Anti-Social) as Chase Stein, Virginia Gardner (Goat) as Karolina Dean and Allegra Acosta (100 Things to do Before High School) as Molly Hernandez. You can read the official character descriptions for the young supervillain offspring here…
…With less than six weeks to go until the release of Iron Fist, Netflix has debuted a new banner and promotional images of Finn Jones’ Danny Rand from the latest Marvel series [see here], along with a batch of images featuring Jessica Henwick’s Colleen Wing, Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple and Carrie-Anne Moss’ Jeri Hogarth [see here]…
Over at ABC and you can read Danny Hale’s review of this week’s twelfth episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season four ‘Hot Potato Soup’ here, while we’ve also got a promo, images and sneak peek clip from this week’s ‘BOOM’ [see here, here and here], along with a synopsis for the following week’s fourteenth episode ‘The Man Behind the Shield’ [see here]…
…And finally, if The LEGO Batman Movie, Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League aren’t enough to satisfy your superhero appetite this year, we do have one more to look forward to in Fox and DreamWorks’ Captain Underpants: The Epic First Movie, and you can take a look at the official poster for the animated movie 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.
