In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Justice League, Batman, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Dark Knight Rises, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Krypton, Smallville, Batman: The Killing Joke, Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Fantastic Four, Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, New Warriors, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinsiter 6, Legion, Spaghettiman and more…
Ben Affleck took to social media this week with a rather major surprise, sharing a mysterious piece of footage featuring the character of Deathstroke, which looked like it had been shot on the Justice League set. Was this confirmation that Deathstroke will appear in Justice League? Test footage for the solo Batman movie? Well, we don’t know exactly, although of course El Mayimbe was on hand to pop up with the most conveniently-timed “scoop” in the history of the internet, claiming to have confirmed with his source that Deathstroke will be the main villain in Affleck’s Batman movie. Hopefully he didn’t confirm it with the same source who told him Scott Eastwood was playing Deathstroke in Suicide Squad. Or the source who told him Jim Parrack was playing Deathstroke in Suicide Squad. Or the source who told him Joe Manganiello was playing Deathstroke in Suicide Squad…
…Speaking of Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn co-creator Paul Dini has shared his thoughts on the movie, and Margot Robbie’s performance as Dr. Harleen Quinzel: “I thought Margot did a really terrific job and I loved all the nods to her origin such as the elements of Mad Love that were alluded to in the therapy session with her and The Joker, some of their relationship and of course the brief flash of her in the Bruce Timm costume as interpreted by Alex Ross in the dance sequence they did. I felt she had a really good sense of humour about capturing the character and there are moments where you see her mind is always working. She really captured the kinetic energy of the character. If anything, it proved to me that character has enough to support her own movie.” Be sure to read the rest of Dini’s thoughts on Suicide Squad and the DC Extended Universe in general here…
…Kevin Smith has been talking more about the DCEU this week, stating that he believes Warner Bros. has learned from the reaction to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: “The audience that pays to see these things are like, ‘There’s a certain set of standards that we want when we come see these superhero movies, and, yes, most of those standards have been set for us by Marvel,’” states Smith. “‘Regardless, this is what we want in our superhero movies. We don’t want doom and gloom. We want them to like each other. We want them to have an interplay.’ It looks like [Warner Bros. and DC Comics] heard that loud and clear and everything that was missing or perceived to be missing from Batman v Superman seems like it’s in full display on Justice League, so I’m on board. I was already on board, but I’m very happy to see that they’re taking that direction…”
…Former Lois Lane Margot Kidder has added to the criticism of Batman v Superman, revealing that she wasn’t a fan of the Daily Planet’s roving reporter in the film: “They took one of the best American actresses around, Amy Adams, and didn’t give her anything to do! I mean, how stupid is that? They made her what used to be – the girlfriend – which kind of ended in the ’60s with women’s rights…”
…Casting our minds back pre-DCEU now, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been discussing the ending to The Dark Knight Rises – which saw is character Robin John Blake seemingly set to take on the mantle of Batman – and said he didn’t feel disappointed that he never got to don the cape and cowl in a sequel as he felt the conclusion was “perfect” for the story and a spinoff would have been unnecessary: ““I know we’re all used to the sort of Marvel movies, which are just kind of endless series. They don’t really have a beginning, middle, and end. But I think Christopher Nolan very much thought of that movie as a conclusion, and there’s a theme that runs through all three of those movies that begins in the first movie, runs through the second movie and it concludes in that moment where he says that Batman is more than a man, Batman is a symbol. And so to have another man other than Bruce Wayne kind of becoming Batman at the end of that trilogy, I think that’s the perfect ending to that story…”
…From one Batman story to another and with Gotham set to return this month we’ve had a first look promo for the third season [watch it here], along with a poster and new image of Bruce Wayne’s doppelganger [see here], as well as a synopsis for the season three premiere ‘Better to Reign in Hell…”, which reads: “Gordon works in a monster-ridden Gotham as a bounty hunter and seeks to find answers about the Indian Hill escapees, and why their powers appear to be killing them. Meanwhile, Bruce’s doppelganger roams the streets, and Barbara and Tabitha open a new nightclub called The Sirens in the all-new “Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell…” Season Premiere episode of GOTHAM airing Monday, Sept. 19…”
…Gotham showrunner Bruno Heller probably didn’t endear himself to his colleagues at The CW this week with his comments about superheroes on TV: “I don’t think superheroes work very well on TV, probably because of the costume thing. TV is about real people and faces, and not so much about magic and the supernatural things. [Gotham] has to be both a crime procedural and a mythic, epic, grand comic book saga. It’s a tricky combination, because you have to keep it real and unreal at the same time. The comic book constituency has become so large and visible with the whole Comic-Con thing that it is very easy to assume that the audience is purely comic book enthusiasts. But I operate the show on the basis that it is a mistake to just go there. What we are trying to do is always give little Easter eggs, little gifts every episode to the real cognoscenti, but you don’t need to know more than the basic Batman myth.” You can read the rest of Heller’s comments about what’s in store in the third season of Gotham here…
…With just over a month to go until The Flash returns for its third season, The CW has released a batch of images from the premiere episode ‘Flashpoint’, which sees Grant Gustin’s Scarlet Speedster joined by Keiynan Lonsdale’s Kid Flash [check them out here], while Violett Beane’s Jesse Wells has reportedly been spotted in costume as the speedster Jesse Quick…
…This week also brought us a batch of images from the season five premiere of Arrow, ‘Legacy’, which includes a glimpse at the new villains Prometheus and Tobias Church [see here], while David Meunier (Justified) has joined the show in a recurring role as “Ishmael Gregor, the slick and intimidating Pakhan (“Godfather”) of the Bratva, whom Anatoly (David Nykl) reports and takes a special interest in Oliver Queen…”
…The CW has also released a promo and a new poster for the second season of Supergirl [check them out here and here], and it’s also been announced that Frederick Schmidt (Snow in Paradise) is set to play one of Superman’s biggest foes in Metallo, who will feature in at least two episodes. His character description reads: “When international assassin John Corben is badly injured after taking on both Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and Superman (Tyler Hoechlin), he is reborn by a shadow organization into the Kryptonite-powered supervillain Metallo….”
…Tyler Hoechlin has also been discussing his portrayal of the Man of Steel in Supergirl, stating that: “Obviously [we want to] honor the tradition that is the character without really emulating anything that somebody else has done before. It’s Superman as I think he was intended to be, which is just an incredible symbol of hope to kids that they can do anything, that they can be good people, and that good people can triumph over evil. You don’t have to be dark and brooding and always in this state of masculine toughness. He sits in that very hopeful and optimistic place that Kara tends to be in…”
…Not to be left out, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has also received its first season two promo, which includes a brief glimpse at Sarah Grey’s Stargirl [watch it here], while executive producer Andrew Kreisberg shared a piece of concept art for Maisie Richardson-Sellers’ Amaya Jiwe, a.k.a Vixen Prime, the grandmother of Megalyn Echikunwoke’s Mari McCabe [see here]…
…It seems Greg Berlanti isn’t content with the four aforementioned CW superhero shows, as it has been announced this week that he’s developing another DC series in Black Lightning, which teams up with Being Mary Jane creator Mara Brock Akil and her husband Salim Akil. The project “centers on Jefferson Pierce. He made his choice: he hung up the suit and his secret identity years ago, but with a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend Black Lightning…”
…Syfy’s Superman prequel series Krypton has also kicked off its casting, with British actress Georgina Campbell (After Hours) securing the role of Lyta Zod, a cadet in Krypton’s military, who has been having a clandestine, forbidden romance with Seg-El (a.k.a. Superman’s grandfather)…
…Digging into DC’s TV history now and Steven DeKnight has confirmed that the original plan for Smallville was to launch a Justice League spinoff series set in Metropolis and centring on a team of Green Arrow, Superman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. “The idea was that Oliver Queen was basically giving refuge to young people with superpowers, kind of in a Professor X kind of way, putting together this team and also trying to help out these people, like he says in ‘Justice’ about how he helped out Victor Stone and Bart and Arthur Curry. I had a master plan for Brainiac showing up in the spin-off that I won’t tell you what it is, because you never know, a spin-off may happen in the future, and I will use this. But it was awesome. I was supposed to co-create it and run it, so I’m doubly sad. We were all really excited about it, you know, me and the other actors. We all got along great. We really wanted to make this show, and we thought it would be really, really cool…”
…The folks at Screen Junkies have shared their latest comic book-themed Honest Trailer, this time for the DC Universe Animated Original Movie adaptation of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s Batman: The Killing Joke; watch it here…
…Click below to continue on for Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Fantastic Four, Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, New Warriors, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinsiter 6, Legion, Spaghettiman and more…
