…Moving on to the DC universe and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice star Henry Cavill offered up a rather diplomatic response this week when asked who’s a better fit for Superman – Lois Lane or Wonder Woman: “This is a very long discussion because there are a lot of questions to be asked and answered. I mean who is better for a super-powered alien, a human or a goddess? Yes, the goddess can do all the normal things, which we would think are normal in a relationship, and not have any fear of Superman. But you also need to have that baseline of humanity, which Lois provides. And literally keeps his feet on the ground, keeps him down to earth. So that’s more of a debate than an answer…”
…A couple of weeks ago a rumour emerging suggesting that Warner Bros. has lined Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller up for Man of Steel 2, and this week some further alleged details have popped up, claiming that Miller is in the frame for a DC movie, but it won’t be Man of Steel 2, as the Superman solo sequel is on “permanent hold.” At this point, it all seems like speculation, so I wouldn’t give up hope on a Man of Steel sequel just yet…
…Former 007 Pierce Brosnan has spoken about turning down the role of The Dark Knight in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie, stating that: “It was the beginning of these huge movies, and I just thought, Batman? Batman held such an indelible place in my own childhood, but I said something flippant to Tim Burton, like, ‘Any guy who wears his underpants outside his trousers cannot be taken seriously.’ So yeah…”
…Suicide Squad wrapped production this week, with director David Ayer posting a behind-the-scenes photo of the cast and crew to social media to commemorate the occasion. Meanwhile, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje celebrated his birthday by sharing an image of himself in full Killer Croc makeup alongside Will Smith (Deadshot), and Margot Robbie shared some thoughts on Jared Leto’s portrayal of the Joker: “What he’s doing with the character is so cool… At first it was kind of confronting (to be up close , but now I’m so used to it, I think if I ever saw him out of makeup now I would be really confused. Actually, I saw him out of makeup once and I was actually petrified of him. I was too scared to go up and didn’t know who that person was, and when he got back into his makeup I was far more comfortable…”
…Fox stepped up its promotion for the second season of Gotham this week by releasing a ‘Villains Rising’ trailer which heavily teased the Joker [watch it here], along with a batch of promotional cast images featuring Jim Godon (Ben McKenzie), Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova), Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), Barbara Kean (Erin Richards), Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee), Lucius Fox (Chris Chalk), Butch Gilzean (Drew Powell), Theo Galavan (James Frain), Tabitha Galavan (Jessica Lucas), Nathaniel Barnes (Michael Chiklis), Harvey Dent (Nicholas D’Agosto) and Leslie Thompkins (Morena Baccarin) [see here]. And if you were wondering when we might see Batman in the series, Ben McKenzie has the answer for you: “In the very last frame of the very last scene of the very last episode of the very last season of Gotham, whenever that turns out to be, that’s when we’ll see Bruce Wayne put on the cape and cowl…”
…Over at The CW and this week has brought us a new banner for The Flash [see here] as well as a first-look image from season two featuring Barry (Grant Gustin), Joe (Jesse L. Martin), Iris (Candice Patton), Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker), Dr. Stein (Victor Garber) and Cisco (Carlos Valdez) [see here]. Meanwhile, two new casting additions have been announced, with newcomer Violett Beanne set to play the speedster Jesse Quick, who is described as “a brilliant, quirky college student who gets caught up in Barry Allen’s battle with Season 2’s big bad, Zoom”, and Demore Barnes (12 Monkeys) nabbing the role of villain Henry Hewitt, a.k.a. Tokamak, “a charming, but cocky scientist who was affected by the same Particle Accelerator explosion that created the Flash.”
…In addition to The Flash, The CW also released a first look image from season four of Arrow, which features Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards); check it out here…
…DC’s Legends of Tomorrow executive producer Phil Klemmer has been speaking about the challenges of bringing The Atom to weekly television, and differentiating him from his miniature Marvel rival Ant-Man: “The only challenge is how expensive his costume costs, and the danger that we actually injure him doing stunts, because his costume actually costs not just more than a car — more than, like, your average American home — so the scariest thing about Atom is I’m thinking, like, ‘when do you use a digital double, and when do you use Brandon?’ I loved Ant-Man and I love Paul Rudd, and I think he’s a hilarious guy, but to me, they’re just such different people — the fact that they share a crossover of powers. It also helped that I was thinking about Legends of Tomorrow before I ever saw Ant-Man. I mean, if I hadn’t started to write this first, I just never would have seen that, because you don’t want to be contaminated with another pre-existing idea. To me, Ray is a billionaire do-gooder with a secret and Paul Rudd (Scott Lang) is like a wisecracking cat burglar. So aside from the fact that they shrink, I don’t see a whole lot of overlap…”
…The CW also released the first episode of CW Seed’s digital animated series Vixen this week, while voice actor Megalyn Echikunwoke has revealed that she’d like to reprise the role of Mari MacCabe for the network’s live-action DC universe: “I think that was kind of the impetus behind hiring me, just to have that option. Of course, we don’t know and I think it’s all based on how well this animated series does and how rabid the fans are for more Vixen. I’d love to play Vixen in live action; I’m into it…”
…With two months to go until Supergirl premieres on CBS, the network has released a detailed synopsis for the pilot episode of the Melissa Benoist-headlined DC series, which you can read here…
…In one last piece of DC-related news, Nathan Fillion has namedropped a couple of DC characters when asked if there were any particular superheroes he’d like to play in live action: “I think I could take a pretty good crack at Booster Gold. That’s kind of my niche: show-offy, vain… I think I could handle that. Not too bright. I think Ambush Bug – you like that? A little bit off his rocker, you’d never see my face…”
…And finally, with less than a month to go until the return of Heroes with NBC’s Heroes Reborn, the network has debuted three new promos for the new event series [watch them here and here], while the returning Masi Oka (Hiro) and new addition Zachary Levi (Luke) graced the cover of TV Guide’s fall sneak peek issue [see here]. For those counting down, Heroes Reborn gets underway on September 24th.
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.
