In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Inhumans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Agent Carter, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, Gambit, Legion, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Suicide Squad, Supergirl, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Titans, Powerless, Heroes Reborn and more…
We’ll start this edition of The Week in Spandex off with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Captain America: Civil War, which received a new behind-the-scenes featurette this week [watch it here], while co-director Joe Russo revealed where the Phase Three launcher will pick up from the ending of Avengers: Age of Ultron: “We like to say that the amount of time that has passed in between films is the amount of time that has passed in the movies. So, it’s about that amount time. We find Cap leading the Avengers. He’s tutoring or mentoring Scarlet Witch in the beginning of the movie and bringing her into the fold. We find them on a mission at the start of the film. The effect that Ultron has had on everyone certainly is central to the storytelling of the movie. It’s very strong. We’re dealing with issues of collateral damage, imperialism, what rights do super heroes have to pursue villains across borders. It’s very politically minded. Cap’s dealing with all of that at the beginning…”
…This week has also brought us a look at some merchandise for Civil War in Funko’s Pop! Vinyl line – including one rather spoilery character and an unmasked Black Panther – while a listing on Merchoid for a Spider-Man hoodie may have revealed that we could get our first look at Marvel’s wall-crawler some time next week, with the clothing design embargoed until Friday, January 15th. Here’s hoping…
…In addition to Civil War, Joe Russo has also been discussing Avengers: Infinity War, and how he and his brother Anthony plan to handle the cosmic side of the MCU: “That is another one that we would have to reserve as a surprise, but we will say this: People will not be disappointed in the amount of characters in the movie. The concept of Infinity War is that the Marvel universe unites to battle the greatest threat to the world and universe that you’ve ever seen, and we’re going to honor that concept… We’re just going to approach the cosmic side with the same fervor that we did the earthbound work we’ve been doing. We also are going to work really hard to bring a psychological realism. We obviously can’t bring a naturalism to it because it doesn’t really exist outside of science fiction, but we can bring that psychological realism to it, to the characters, and that’s going to be our focus…”
…Having handed the reins of the Avengers franchise over to the Russos after Avengers: Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon has now confirmed that he’s “made a completely clean break” from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: “I’ve gone off the reservation for a while,” said Whedon. It was five years that I was working on either Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D.. That was an enormous gift they gave me; they handed me several hundreds of millions of dollars and said ‘do what you do,’ which is very rare and I was very lucky. At the same time, it’s important for me not just to have my own thing and do something smaller, but also to create a new challenge for myself because I will start to repeat myself. I was their sort of consigliere for a while…but I sort of had my finger in all of the films in the second phase but then I just had to concentrate only on Ultron and sort of know that when it was done, I was just going to stop, so I made a completely clean break…”
…After the deluge of promotional material last week, Marvel has now debuted another piece of concept art from November’s Doctor Strange showing the Sanctum Sanctorum; check it out here…
…It’s been announced this week that Marvel and director James Gunn will be shooting Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in 8K resolution using RED’s Weapon 8K camera, with Gunn stating that he is “excited to be going truly cosmic with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 being the first film to shoot using the RED Weapon 8K…”
…Although Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduced the concept of the Inhumans to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Clark Gregg has revealed that he doesn’t think the movie will be beholden to what’s been established in the TV series: “The Inhumans movie I suspect will be its own cinematic version. That writer and director will have free reign to do what they want to do with the Inhumans. But hopefully there’ll be some way that our Inhumans connect to that. It’d be too bad if that was wasted. [But] what’s kind of necessary for the show to work is that it is its own thing and it’s not dependant upon thosecrossovers. They’re just fun stuff that happens once in a while. They destroy the organisation our show is named after and we have to deal with that! I’ll be interested to see how it evolves, that crossover stuff…”
…Marvel kicked off the promotion for the return of Daredevil this week with the release of a teaser trailer, poster and banner, as well as confirming that the second season will arrive on Netflix on March 18th (debunking rumours that it would go head-to-head with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on March 25th). Meanwhile, Charlie Cox spoke briefly about Matt Murdock’s relationship with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, stating that: “It’s really complicated. It feels like they’re sworn enemies, but at times it feels like they could be best friends and brothers. In order to find common ground, compromise has to be made…”
…The Defenders TV Podcast is up to episode 10 of Jessica Jones, and you can listen to their review of ‘AKAK 1000 Cuts’ here…
…With Agent Carter’s return on January 19th fast approaching, ABC has released a batch of promotional images and synopses for the two-part season two premiere ‘The Lady in the Lake’ and ‘A View in the Dark’, which we have for you here…
…Moving on to Fox and with its Valentine’s Day release fast approaching, a new TV spot for Deadpool entitled ‘Blatant Bachelor Baiting’ arrived online [watch it here], along with some images featuring Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson and Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa [see here]. Meanwhile, this week has also brought potential details on the film’s runtime [see here], comments from Kevin Smith saying it “may be the greatest movie ever” [see here], a batch of promotional images for Hot Toys’ 1/6th scale collectible figurine of the Merc with a Mouth [see here], and an op-ed from Flickering Myth’s Mason Manuel entitled ‘Deadpool: The Hero We Need, The Merc We Deserve’ [read it here]…
…Reynolds spoke about the Deadpool movie this week, and how it will fit in with the wider X-Men universe: “There are moments [in the movie] where we really just venture into the heart of darkness and stay there for a few beats, but then it also has this very humorous undertone. We can go places and do things with this that you couldn’t do with any other superhero property. This film certainly works within the context of the X-Men universe but it doesn’t necessarily include the sensibilities of an X-Men movie. It’s like taking an X-Men character, pumping him full of LSD and then releasing him back into that fold…”
…With Fox set to expand its X-Men output with three releases this year (well, two, assuming Gambit will be pushed back to 2017), Empire unveiled a cast photo featuring several of the expanding roster of the X-Men universe in T.J. Miller (Weasel), James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Channing Tatum (Gambit), Ed Skrein (Ajax), Gina Carano (Angel Dust), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Oscar Isaac (Apocalypse), Evan Peters (Quicksilver), Nicholas Hoult (Beast) and Olivia Munn (Psylocke)…
…The upcoming X-Men TV series Legion found its first cast member this week, with Rachel Keller set to reunite with Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley as the female lead in the series, which is based upon the comic book character of the same name, who also happens to be the son of Professor Charles Xavier…
…Click below to continue on for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Suicide Squad, Supergirl, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Titans, Powerless, Heroes Reborn and more…
