…With production now well underway on Fox’s Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds released a new official promotional image from the X-Men spin-off featuring Wade sitting on the toilet reading the final issue of his comic book series, while this week also brought a tonne of spy photos showing Reynolds in full costume on the Vancouver set [see here, here, here and here]. Meanwhile former Game of Thrones star Ed Skrein confirmed that he’s playing the villain Ajax, while Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld shared his thoughts on the movie finally becoming a reality…
…Following reports that former EastEnders star Ben Hardy is set to portray Warren Worthington III – a.k.a. Angel, a.k.a. Archangel – in next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse, director Bryan Singer confirmed his casting this week and went one better by dropping a couple of pieces of concept art of Hardy as a “not very nice Angel” [see here], while Apocalypse himself Oscar Isaac spoke about the attraction of the eponymous villain: “With X-Men, it’s about why this woman who invented Apocalypse, [writer] Louise Simonson, she was tasked with: make a new arch-villain. She said, ‘OK, I’ll make the embodiment of the Second Coming with the Four Horseman and all.’ That’s scary shit. So I’m curious about that. What’s the philosophical expression behind the apocalypse? What apocalypse means, which comes from the Greek for ‘to reveal.’ To lift back the curtain…”
…Before we get to Apocalypse, Fox has The Fantastic Four set for August of this year, and this week has brought video featurettes of director Josh Trank and writer-producer Simon Kinberg discussing the casting of Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell as Marvel’s First Family [see here], along with several new images, including our best looks yet at The Thing [see here and here]…
…From the latest big screen incarnation of the Fantastic Four to the earliest now (well, if it had ever seen the light of day, that is) and a poster has arrived online for Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four, which promises to reveal all about the infamous low-budget 1994 Concord-New Horizons / Constantine Films adaptation of Marvel’s First Family; check it out here…
…Moving on to the DC Cinematic Universe now and with production about to begin on Suicide Squad, David Ayer posted a photo of the cast for the supervillain ensemble, which saw the director joined by Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg), Will Smith (Deadshot), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), Jay Hernandez (El Diablo), Karen Fukuhara (Plastique), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jai Courtney (Boomerang), Cara Delevingne (Enchantress), and Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), as well as Adam Beach, Jim Parrack and Ike Barinholtz, who will allegedly play the characters of Deathstroke, Ravan and Hugo Strange. Missing from the photo was Jared Leto, but Ayer then made up for that by posting a Killing Joke-inspired snap that gave us our first look at the Oscar-winner with his green hair…
…We’ve already heard talk that one major Batman character will be dead going in to the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and now rumours have emerged that another will have also died prior to the Zack Snyder-directed DC superhero ensemble; no (potential) spoilers here, but if you’re interested you can find out who by clicking here and you can read how it may impact subsequent DC movies by clicking here…
…It looks like Warner Bros. has identified a director for its 2018 Aquaman movie, with reports this week that the studio has held preliminary talks with James Wan, who is certainly hot property coming off the box office success of Fast & Furious 7. However, there may be a snag, as Universal is said to have an option on Wan for Fast & Furious 8, which could prevent him from helming the Jason Momoa-led DC movie…
…Another DC project has taken a step forward this week with the news that Jump Street and The LEGO Movie filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller have signed on to write The Flash for the studio, and are currently working on a treatment for the 2018 solo movie, which will see Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) in the lead role as Barry Allen…
…The Flash also returns to the small screen this week, with its eighteenth episode ‘All Star Team Up’ and we have an extended trailer for the episode that you can watch here, as well as a batch of images from the following week’s episode ‘Who is Harrison Wells?’ here. Meanwhile, a ‘Pull Forward’ trailer has previewed the remaining episodes, including shots of Arrow, The Atom, Reverse Flash and Gorilla Grodd [see here], while a set photo has hinted that Ciara Renee could make her DC TV debut as Hawkgirl in an episode The Flash ahead of her upcoming regular role in the Arrow/Flash spin-off…
…It seems that Manu Bennett wasn’t too pleased with his season three appearance in Arrow, with the actor speaking out this week on the way the producers handled his character Slade Wilson: “I think Deathstroke had a lot of possibilities with Arrow, but I think they took it in the wrong direction. I think they should have honoured the Marv Wolfman character who was literally unstoppable. I read the DC comic books and thought Deathstroke was so bad arse because they make it that nobody can stop him. He’s not even super-powered, he is just a mercenary. It took the Justice League to defeat him; it took an army to take him on. In Arrow, it took a while for Oliver to prove his point, but [in season three] was just a beating of Slade, adding insult to injury…”
…A rumour emerged this week suggesting that the upcoming Arrow/Flash spin-off would be entitled The Atom, which presumably meant it would follow Brandon Routh’s character Ray Palmer. However, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg has shot this down, promising on Twitter that the title will be revealed soon…
…Gotham returns from hiatus this coming Monday, and to whet our appetites FOX has released eight (count ’em, eight!) clips from ‘Beasts of Prey’ [see here], along with a trio of featurettes focussing on The Ogre (Milo Ventimiglia), Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) and Dr. Leslie Thompkins (Morena Baccarin) [see here]…
…In other Gotham news, executive producer John Stephens has teased the introduction of more villains from Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery when the second season gets underway in the fall: “We always want to walk the fine line of the reality of our world. Walking right up to that line where super-villains live. So there are a lot of characters from Batman lore that fit that bill. People like Victor Freeze – who’s a science villain. You can play a lot of his abilities without going into the world of superheroes… Clayface and Mad Hatter are both villains we’re going to bring in [as well]. They both have great backstories and great personalities. Clayface especially is a character I want to [explore the origin of]… The Court of Owls is something we’ve discussed a lot. We keep digging up very close to it without quite pulling the trigger. It’s clear that there is a group of shadowy individuals that control and influence Wayne Enterprise and have great power in Gotham and may or may not be connected to Carmine Falcone. Is that The Court of Owls? Maybe… Keep watching and those questions will be answered…”
…Over at CBS and a behind-the-scenes image from Supergirl has arrived online, giving us a new – and brighter – look at Melissa Benoist in full costume as Kara Zor-El in the upcoming pilot…
…On the animated front and ahead of its home-entertainment release on Tuesday, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released a clip from Batman vs. Robin which sees Damian Wayne’s Boy Wonder going up against Dick Grayson’s Nightwing [watch it here], while we’ve also had an official trailer for the next DC Universe Animated Original Movies release, Justice League: Gods and Monsters, which stems from the mind of Bruce Timm [watch it here]…
…DC Entertainment had a presence at WonderCon this past weekend, and you can check out videos of the panels for Gotham, The Flash and Batman vs. Robin right here…
…Comic book writer Mark Millar is teaming up with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers) to adapt his and Frank Quitely’s acclaimed Image Comics superhero tale Jupiter’s Legacy. The project is currently out to potential writers, although no further details are available at present…
…Back in March of last year, Disney announced that development was underway on The Incredibles 2, but since then things seem to have fallen quiet on the project. Well, this week has brought some news on the follow-up to the 2004 Oscar-winning animated superhero movie, with director Brad Bird stating that: “It’s percolating. I mean, I’m just starting to write it, so we’ll see what happens…”
…And finally, NBC’s Heroes revival has picked up another original cast member, with the announcement that Jimmy Jean-Louis is set to return as The Haitian in Heroes Reborn. Jean-Louis joins fellow Heroes alumni Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet) and Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura) in the 13-part event series, alongside new additions Zachary Levi (Thor: The Dark World), Ryan Guzman (The Boy Next Door), Gatlin Green (Finding Cody), Henry Zebrowski (The Wolf of Wall Street), Robbie Kay (Once Upon a Time), Danika Yarosh (Shameless) and Judith Shekoni (Twilight).
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.
