Our weekly round-up of the superhero latest news and talking points, including The Flash, Arrow, Gotham, Constantine, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, LEGO Batman, Batman & Robin, Batman 66, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers 3, Ant-Man, Iron Man 4, Hawkeye, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Big Hero 6, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Sinister Six, Venom, Hellboy 3, Powers and more…
DC Entertainment and The CW launched its latest superhero show this past Tuesday, as Grant Gustin’s Scarlett Speedster raced onto the small screen in The Flash. The pilot episode drew impressive ratings, pulling in a 1.9 and 4.79 million viewers, giving The CW its top-rated premiere since The Vampire Diaries in 2009, and beating rival show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. managed on the night. You can check out our recap and review of the series premiere here, while we’ve also a promo and clip for episode 2 ‘Fastest Man Alive’, along with a couple of new trailers [see here and here], first-look images of Captain Cold and Professor Zoom / Reverse-Flash , and a batch of set photos showing The Flash battling his time-travelling nemesis. Meanwhile, it has also been announced that Victor Garba (Alias) has signed on to portray Dr. Martin Stein, best known as one half of the Firestorm entity, while Andy Mientus (Smash) will play the opently gay villain Hartley Rathaway, a.k.a. The Pied Piper…
…One day after The Flash premiered, Arrow returned to The CW for its third season premiere, posting a 1.0 rating and 2.81 million viewers – its highest rating since season 2’s ‘Heir to the Demon’. You can read our review of the season three premiere ‘Calm’ here, and be sure to check out a couple of promos for episode two ‘Sara’ here, as well as a batch of promotional images from episode three ‘Corto Maltese’ here…
…NBC has upped the promotion for its own upcoming DC show Constantine, releasing three new TV spots for the show, as well as a featurette which includes comments from leading man Matt Ryan and a first-look image of Angelica Celaya as the new female lead Zed. Constantine will premiere on NBC on Friday, October 24th…
…Over at FOX and Gotham pulled in a 2.5 rating and 6.28 million viewers with its third episode ‘The Balloonman’, which was over a million down from the second episode and almost two million from the pilot. Be sure to read our review of ‘The Balloonman’ here, while we’ve also got a promo and three clips for episode four ‘Arkham’, as well as a set of images from episode five ‘Viper’ and two featurettes focussing on the Gotham underworld and the Major Crimes Unit of the GCPD…
…Turning to Warner Bros.’ cinematic universe and Ben Affleck has spoken about his role in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, promising that it will be nothing like his last superhero outing in 2003’s Daredevil: “I have regrets about Daredevil. I have regrets about all the movies that I don’t think were executed properly… Look, if I thought we were remaking Daredevil, I’d be out there picketing myself … and that goes for other movies as well that I haven’t been happy with. You know, I’m hard on myself and I have exacting standards and I want to do excellent work and I don’t always succeed, but I think you have to start out with that drive. [Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice] was written by Chris Terrio, who wrote Argo, who’s not a comic guy. And it’s directed by Zack Snyder, who’s a incredibly magical sort of visual stylist who’s steeped in the comic world. And you have this sandwich of talents. I felt very confident about it. … I thought it would be nice to make one of these movies really, really good…”
…Having been spotted on the set of Batman v Superman a few months back (where she claimed to be “just visiting”), Jena Malone has sparked further speculation that she’s set to appear in the DC ensemble in the role of Carrie Kelley / Robin from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by posting a picture of herself with dyed red hair to Instagram. Of course, this could be for a different role entirely, or maybe she just fancied a new look…
…Following Ben Affleck’s outing as The Dark Knight in 2016, the Caped Crusader will be back on the big screen in 2017, albeit in brick form, with Will Arnett set to once again lend his voice to LEGO Batman in a spin-off from this year’s smash-hit animated feature The LEGO Movie. Chris McKay – who was slated to helm The LEGO Movie 2 – is set to direct, and it’s said that Warner Bros. is looking to push back the sequel so that the LEGO Batman movie can have its 2017 release date…
…In other Batman news, George Clooney was at the New York Comic-Con to promote his upcoming film Tomorrowland, where he took the opportunity to once again apologise for the 1997 travesty Batman & Robin: “I think since Batman that I’ve been disinvited from Comic-Con for 20 years. I see the comment sections on all you guys. I just met Adam West there [referring to behind the NYCC main stage] and I apologized to him. Sorry about the nipples on the suit. Freeze, freeze, I apologize for that…”
…And as for Adam West, the Batman 66 star was in attendance for a Batman: The Complete Television Series Blu-ray panel, which you can watch here…
…Meanwhile, Michael Keaton also reflected on his time as The Dark Knight during a promotional interview for Birdman, stating that he’d reprise the role “in a heartbeat” if Tim Burton was directing again: “Tim gets the genre better than anyone else. Tim, in movies, really invented the whole dark-superhero thing. He started everything, and some of the guys who have done these movies since then don’t say that, and they’re wrong.” Keaton also explained why he opted against returning for a third outing in Batman Forever: “The simple answer was, [that approach] wasn’t any good. I tried to make them understand. But when somebody says to you, ‘Does it have to be so dark?’… I thought, ‘Are we talking about the same character..?'”
…Warner Bros.’ next DC Universe Animated Original Movie release Justice League: Throne of Atlantis was showcased at the New York Comic Con yesterday; you can check out a snap of the DVD and Blu-ray cover art here, and you can read a rundown of the NYCC panel over at Newsarama…
…Moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Guardians of the Galaxy opens in China this weekend (where it’s been renamed Interplanetary Unusual Attacking Team) and could push its box office beyond $700 million in the coming days, with analysts predicting that the James Gunn-directed space opera could find itself topping $750 million by the end of its run, which would see it overtake The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days of Future Past to become the highest-grossing comic book movie of the year. Oh, and that Dancing Baby Groot toy you want? Well it’s coming before Christmas, and you can see a video of it in action here…
…On the subject of the Guardians, having been rumoured since July 2013, Marvel has officially announced a Guardians of the Galaxy animated series is heading to TV, with Stephen Wacker, Marvel’s vice president for production, revealing that the show will pick up where the movie left off, with Thanos set to be featured prominently. Accompany the news was the first poster and teaser trailer, which you can check out right here…
…Click below to continue onto the next page for Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers 3, Ant-Man, Iron Man 4, Hawkeye, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Big Hero 6, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Sinister Six, Venom, Hellboy 3, Powers and more…
