In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fantastic Four 2, Deadpool, Prophet, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Aquaman, Justice League, Birds of Prey, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Gotham, The Incredibles 2, Heroes Reborn and more…
Marvel gave fans a Christmas present one month early this past week with the release of the first poster and trailer for the Phase Three-launching Captain America: Civil War, along with a couple of character posters featuring Cap (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). Coupled with the trailer was an updated synopsis for the film, which reads: “Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability…”
…You can read the thoughts of our writing team on the Civil War trailer in the latest Flickering Myth Reaction, as well as watching Oliver Davis and Kat Kourbeti reacting to the trailer on Flickering Myth TV, and be sure to take a look at Anghus Houvouras’ op-ed ‘Marvel Missteps: The Problem with ‘Event Comic’ Movies‘…
…Following the arrival of the trailer, directors Anthony and Joe Russo spoke about the film in some depth, and how they’re incorporating elements of the classic comic book storyline: “We’re using the essence of what Civil War was about,” states Joe Russo. “The comic book isn’t applicable to the storytelling that we’ve structured up to this point, but the concept of registration, the notion that heroes need to be either monitored or controlled because their power can be scary, is applicable. The Accords are the world jointly trying to govern the Avengers moving forward. It has to do with the effects of Ultron and Sokovia [the small city that Ultron tried to drop on the Earth from a great height at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron], and New York City [roundly trashed at the end ofThe Avengers], and Washington D.C. [nearly devastated by falling helicarriers at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier]. Examining the third acts of all the Marvel movies, we’re saying, if you could point to the collateral damage in all those incidents, could you use that against the Avengers to control them?” Read the rest of the Russos’ comments here…
…The Captain America: Civil War trailer gave us our first look at T’Challa in action, and this week saw Creed director Ryan Coogler – a rumoured contender to helm the Black Panther movie – sharing on his opinion on whether Marvel needs a black filmmaker for the solo film: “Yeah, I think it’s important. Perspective is so important in art. It’s an important thing. That’s not to say that you can’t work outside yourself. When I was coming up, I made movies about things that were close to me; I made movies about things that weren’t close to me. But I definitely think that it helps when you are close to a subject… If I was in a position where I’m making a movie about the first woman superhero that’s every going to get released all over the world, I would do everything in my power to find a woman to direct that movie out of the simple fact that I think it will give you a cultural perspective. I don’t think that’s wrong of a studio to do. I think it’s actually responsible. It’s responsible because it’s their job to make the truest, best film.” You can read Coogler’s comments in full here…
…Marvel has officially announced that production is underway on its second Phase Two movie Doctor Strange, with a press release providing the first brief synopsis: “Doctor Strange follows the story of neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions.” The film is set for release on October 28th, 2016 in the UK and November 4th, 2016 in the US, with Scott Derrickson (Sinister) with a cast that includes Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) as Stephen Strange, Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer) as The Ancient One, Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) as Baron Mordo and Rachel McAdams (True Detective) and Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal) in as-yet-unconfirmed roles…
…El Mayimbe got caught out this week with his latest attempt at guessing a scoop when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn shot down his “rumour” (can we even call it a rumour when we know it’s fake?), going as far as to offer him $50,000 if there was any truth in it: “From this moment on I’m going to stop commenting on any rumors surrounding Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, because, eventually, someone is going to come up with a spoiler that has some truth to it. That said, the rumors surrounding Quill’s parentage at the present moment are completely false, and aren’t even close to the truth. I don’t know how people come up with this stuff, but it certainly isn’t through legitimate sources… But, as I said, eventually someone will actually spoil some detail of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. So this will be my last comment squelching a rumor until May 2017. But if you do pick up on some plot detail between now and then, be aware, A) They are likely full of shit, as has been everyone so far who has claimed to have had inside info, and B) We’re creating a film that doesn’t rely on plot twists to be an enjoyable experience. They’re only a very small part of what we’re cooking up for you…”
…And speaking of the Guardians, Chris Hemsworth has revealed that he’d like to see some GotG-esque humor injected into 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok: “I think [Thor 3] needs to be injected with that sort of smart wit and unexpected kind of humor, kind of what James Gunn came in and did with Guardians of the Galaxy. It was like off center and unpredictable, and I think we can definitely use a dose of that, you know? I feel we had less of the sort of the naivety or fun or humor that the first [Thor] might have had. I wish we had more of that in the second [movie] … We’ve done regal. We’ve done Shakespeare, and we’ve shown that. I think now it’s time to go, ‘Ok, cool. Let’s try something different,’ and Taika Waititi just had such a brilliant sort of take and funny kind of ideas about where we could [go], how we could do that.” Meanwhile, Ragnarok has some new competition at the box office on November 3rd 2017, with Lionsgate setting the animated movie My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic for the same date…
…With Ant-Man set to arrive online on Blu-ray and DVD here in the UK this coming Monday, a new deleted scene has arrived online showing Scott Lang and his crew using the Ant-Man suit for a little ‘wish fulfillment’; check it out here…
…Ant-Man isn’t out in the States until December 8th, where it will be joined by the Blu-ray release of Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two Collection – which includes Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man along with a host of extras – and you can take a look at some artwork for the set from Matt Ferguson here…
…If you’re busy working your way through Jessica Jones on Netflix, be sure to check out the Defenders TV podcasts for episode two ‘AKA Crush Syndrome’ [listen here], episode three ‘AKA It’s Called Whiskey’ [listen here], and episode four ‘AKA 99 Friends’ [listen here], while we also got to see a Daredevil-themed promo for the series, which you can watch here…
…Marvel’s next Netflix series Luke Cage has added another cast member, with Sonia Braga (Brothers & Sisters) is set to play Soledad Temple, the mother of Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple. Also featuring in the cast alongside Braga, Dawson and Mike Colter’s Power Man are Theo Rossi (Sons of Anarchy) as Shades, Alfre Woodard (Desperate Housewives) as Black Mariah, Simone Missick (Ray Donovan) as Misty Knight, Mahershala Ali (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) as Cottonmouth and Frank Whaley (Gotham) as Detective Scarfe…
…Marvel’s Jeph Loeb has moved to dismiss reports that Iron Fist is getting shelved from the Netflix slate, stating that: “There was a lot of speculation about what was going on with Iron Fist, because [fans] hadn’t heard anything about it, but there’s never been any change at all. We knew exactly what we were doing at Marvel and at Netflix. Let’s get Jessica Jones out there, everybody knows that Luke Cage is up and going. What I can say right now is, we’re very excited about Iron Fist, and the short answer is, yes there’ll be news.” Meanwhile, Loeb also gave a rather non-committal response when asked about the chances of seeing Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel on the small screen: “Look, that’s a character that has tremendous popularity and when that happens you know that I’m always looking around to see what we can do. We love the character, and one never knows…”
…Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. took a week of for Thanksgiving this week, while a report surfaced claiming that the show has added a new member of the Secret Warriors to its cast, with Natalia Cordova-Buckley (McFarland, USA) set to play Yo-Yo Rodriguez, a.k.a. Slingshot. Meanwhile, you can check out a clip from this Tuesday’s episode ‘Closure’ here, along with a synopsis for the midseason finale ‘Maveth’ here, which Clark Gregg promises will be an episode not to miss: “I would say that this midseason finale has two shocking twists and both of them are bigger than anything that happened in last season’s midseason finale…”
…This week also brought us a couple of new promos for the second season of Agent Carter ahead of its two-hour premiere on January 5th; check them out here and here…
…We’ve also got a clip from tonight’s tenth episode of Disney XD’s Guardians of the Galaxy series, entitled ‘Bad Moon Rising’, hich sees the Guardians encountering a living planet which can revive the dead, starting with their enemy Ronan. Watch the clip here…
…Click below to continue on for Fantastic Four 2, Deadpool, Prophet, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Aquaman, Justice League, Birds of Prey, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Gotham, The Incredibles 2, Heroes Reborn and more…
