…Turning to 20th Century Fox and it looks like the studio has quietly removed Fanatastic Four 2 from its upcoming slate after the unmitigated disaster of this year’s reboot, with the planned release date of June 9th 2017 now vacant. Meanwhile, the folks at Screen Junkies have given the Honest Trailer treatment to the Josh Trank-directed film, and you can watch it here…
…Fox marked Thanksgiving with a new promotional image from the Deapool movie [see here], while Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth revealed that he’ll be appearing at the Sao Paulo Comic Con on December 4th, and you can watch the announcement video here…
…With Fantastic Four 2 seemingly shelved, it seems that Fox may be looking beyond Marvel for new superhero properties, with the studio apparently showing interest in a pitch from Rob Liefeld for a move adaptation of Prophet. The creator-owned Image series revolves around John Prophet, a homeless man who finds himself transformed into a supersoldier by a time-travelling scientist from the future…
…Moving on to DC now and Ben Affleck has been speaking about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, admitting that there’s a “ton of pressure” on the film as the big launching point for the DC Extended Universe: “I think there is a ton of pressure on it. I mean I would be bullshitting you to say there isn’t. You’ll see next year [Warner Bros.] are going to have a great year. They are now developing probably the single greatest under-exploited IP asset in the entertainment business, the DC comic world. And now they have started to exploit that and you are going to see that blossom. And, when it does, it’s going to be massive… We are a very kind of instant gratification culture when it comes to analyzing the film business. And there is a lot of hyperbole involved. Nonetheless, there’s a lot of pressure on it. If it doesn’t do well, that will be extremely disappointing…”
…In a few other Batman v Superman bits and pieces, we’ll get an exclusive sneak peek of the film this Monday during the fall finale of Gotham, while some new promotional artwork of Wonder Woman’s logo has surfaced this week [see here], along with the cover and synopsis for the children’s companion novel Cross Fire [see here], promo images of Medicom’s MAFEX series figures for The Dark Knight and the Man of Steel [see here], and an action figure triple pack which may – and the emphasis really is on may here – confirm an old rumour about Lex Luthor [see here]…
…Producer Charles Roven has given a brief update on the Aquaman movie, which is slated for release in 2018: “We’re very early days. We’re just starting with the screenplay. [James Wan] is making The Conjuring 2 now, so he’s had his hand in the creation of let’s just call it a working document from which to write. But he’s directing that film [and] he’s got his hand ever so slightly in the development, but he’s really gonna throw himself into it after he finishes shooting Conjuring 2. And we’re planning on it being his film after Conjuring 2. He is a serious Aquaman fan.” Meanwhile, despite it being very early days, Joblo claims to have uncovered the identity of the villain set to battle Jason Momoa’s Aquaman in the film – it’s probably speculation, but at the risk of spoilers you can find out who it might be here…
…And sticking with dubious rumours, Latino-Review is claiming that Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road) and Alona Tal (Supernatural) are being considered for the role of the Black Canary in Zack Snyder’s two-part Justice League, with a view to incorporating the character into a Birds of Prey film further down the line…
…The CW announced this week that DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is set to get underway on Thursday, January 21st, and to celebrate the network dropped the first trailer for the spinoff to Arrow and The Flash, which you can watch right here…
…This coming week will see the introduction of the Legends of Tomorrow – well, some of them, at least – with the two-part crossover between The Flash and Arrow, and you can take a look at a batch of promo images from part one ‘Legends of Today’ here and part two ‘Legends of Yesterday’ here, as well as a new international promo here. Meanwhile, David Ramsey has hinted at another possible King Shark appearance in the crossover, with the actor stating “We are going to be tracking down a particular member of the Suicide Squad that so happens to be a 14-foot shark” when asked what brings Team Arrow and Team Flash together again…
…Speaking of crossovers, Bleeding Cool has posted a couple of Arrowverse-related rumours this week, claiming that Matt Ryan’s Constantine will join the roster of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow for its second season, while a crossover between The Flash and CBS’ Supergirl is also said to be in the works, should Supergirl receive an order for its back nine episodes. CBS has previously played down talk of a crossover between the two shows, but it’s said that it is now seen as a way of boosting Supergirl’s flagging ratings…
…It has been announced that Tom Amandes (Everwood) has signed on to appear in two episodes of Arrow as Noah Kuttler, a.k.a. The Calculator, “a criminal mastermind and technical genius [who] uses his advanced skills in computer science and internet manipulation to blackmail Roy [Colton Haynes] out of retirement to do his bidding, which leads to an epic battle with Team Arrow.” Lot’s of speculation that this could be Felicity Smoak’s father…
…It looks like the Man of Steel – well, the Boy of Steel actually – is heading to CBS, with Supergirl looking to cast a 13-year-old actor “with future leading man” looks to play the teenage Kal-El for a series of flashbacks “that establish the cherished bond between him and Kara”. Meanwhile, the Red Tornado makes his debut in the series this coming Monday, and we have a promo for the episode here along with a sneak peek and clips here., as well as Martin Carr’s reviews for episode four ‘How Does She Do It?’ here and ‘Live Wire’ here…
…It’s the fall finale of Gotham on Monday, and you can watch a promo for ‘Worse Than a Crime’ here, while we’ve also got a batch of stills from the episode here, as well as Martin Carr’s reviews of episode nine ‘A Bitter Pill to Swallow’ here and ‘The Son of Gotham’ here. And, with the Batman v Superman sneak peek set for Monday, the cast of the show have been choosing their sides; check out the video here…
…During a promotional interview for his new film In the Heart of the Sea, Ron Howard revealed why he’s yet to take on a superhero movie: “I’ve had opportunities over the years [to make superhero movies]. I really feel like you shouldn’t make a movie as a kind of exercise. You have to be all the way in. I was never a comic book guy. I like the movies when I see them, especially the origin stories. I never felt like I could be on the set, at 3 o’clock in the morning, tired, with 10 important decisions to make, and know, intuitively, what the story needs. For me, I’d be copycatting and not inventing. I’ve never said yes to one…”
…This won’t really come as much of a surprise seeing as he’s scored all of Brad Bird’s movies from the first Incredibles, but it has now officially been announced that Michael Giacchino has signed on to compose the music for 2019’s The Incredibles 2…
…And finally, with Heroes Reborn now on its winter break, you can read Tai Freligh’s review of the midseason finale ’11:53 to Odessa’ 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.
