…20th Century Fox’s 2016 superhero slate kicks off in less than three months with the release of Deadpool, and the studio has unveiled a Christmas-themed theater standee that will be popping up in cinemas around the globe this December, offering you the chance to sit on the Merc with a Mouth’s lap…
…Bryan Singer took to social media this week to tease the upcoming trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse – which is attached to Star Wars: The Force Awakens – with an image of James McAvoy’s Professor Xavier using Cerebro, while Evan Peters has promised that the X-Men: Days of Future Past follow-up will feature a “bigger, longer and more detailed” slow-mo scene for his character Quicksilver: “Quicksilver does his thing again, in the new film. It’s bigger, longer and more detailed. I think it’s an amazing sequence that they’ve put together. Just filming it, I was like, ‘Oh, my god!’ I think we shot for 22 days of second unit, working on the sequence, which is amazing. It’s so cool to take that much time to make something like that really pop and really work. Knock on wood, I think it’s going to be a fun and enjoyable sequence for people to watch, with Quicksilver running around and doing his thing in slow-mo time. I hope people like it….”
…Am unconfirmed rumour emerged this week suggesting that Bryan Singer has signed on to direct another X-Men movie following Apocalypse, which will go into production in Montreal earlier in 2017. While it’s almost assured that talks will have taken place about the future of the franchise, it does seem a little early to be making concrete plans, especially as the First Class stars contracts expire with the release of Apocalypse…
…And speaking of X-Men: First Class, James McAvoy has detailed what would surely have been a horrendous scene from the 2011 release, had it made the final cut: “There was actually a scene in X-Men: First Class where we come up against somebody so dumb that I can’t mind bend him,” states McAvoy. “We end up actually having to have a real deal fight with him, me and Magneto, because there’s no metal in the room either. We end up just having a fight with this guy who was seven foot six or something like that. And we kill him by shoving a bear’s head over his head. It was weird… We twisted it and broke his neck and I said something like, ‘I couldn’t bear that man…'”
…Simon Kinberg has been discussing Fox’s upcoming Gambit movie, and how it will differ in tone compared to the studio’s other X-Men films: “Deadpool obviously has a very different, almost antithetical tone to the mainline X-Men movie. The X-Men movies are dramatic and almost operatic, whereas Deadpool is irreverent and hysterical and sort of a dirty R-rated comedy in many ways. And Gambit will have its own different flavor and tone to it, will be more of like a heist movie and a sexy thriller in a way. We have a director in and I don’t know if I’m allowed to say who it is yet because his deal isn’t done, but it’s somebody we’re excited about, and somebody I adore, and hopefully we can make an announcement soon about that. But we’ve been spending a lot of time together — Channing Tatum, [Reid Carolin, Tatum’s producing partner], [screenwriter Joshua Zetumer], the director, and myself—just working on the script, and we hope to start shooting next spring…”
…With filming underway on Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot took to Twitter to unveil the first image of her as the Amazon Princess in the 2017 solo movie., while Warner Bros. has officially announced the supporting cast of the film alongside Gadot’s Diana and Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor, with Robin Wright (House of Cards), Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), David Thewlis (The Theory of Everything), Ewen Bremner (Snowpiercer), Said Taghmaoui (American Hustle), Elena Anaya (The Skin I Live In) and Lucy Davis (Shaun of the Dead) all set to appear in as-yet-unrevealed roles…
..Last week we got our first look at Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor in period clothing on the set of the film, and now Heroic Hollywood is claiming that the image doesn’t actually show Steve Trevor, but rather Steve Trevor’s grandfather. According to the site, Pine is actually pulling double duty and will portray Steve’s grandfather during World War One, and his identical grandson in the present day. It should be noted that El Mayimbe was claiming #MISDIRECTION a few months ago when he was adamant Pine was playing Green Lantern, so read into that what you will…
…While we’re on the topic of Wonder Woman, this week has given us our first look at a costume from Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller’s abandoned 2007 superhero ensemble Justice League Mortal, with a few images arriving online of Megan Gale as the Amazon Princess. Want to see how she stacks up against Gal Gadot? Well see for yourself here…
…From one incarnation of Justice League to another now and with Warner Bros. seemingly set to go into production on Justice League Dark next year, the usual rumour suspects have jumped on the bandwagon with some potential cast and crew details. Pinch of salt time again, but apparently Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor are both up for the role of John Constantine, with the loser getting to play Etrigan the Demon as a consolation prize, while Ron Perlman is favourite for Swamp Thing and Monica Bellucci is being eyed for Madame Xanadu. Meanwhile, Ben Mendelsohn is in the frame to play the villain Anton Arcane and is keen depending on the choice of director, which is said to be a toss-up between Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) and Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado (Big Bad Wolves)…
…As we await the arrival of the new trailer, Warner Bros.’ marketing campaign for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has fallen deathly quiet (presumably to avoid going head-to-head with the Star Wars: The Force Awakens overload), but this week did bring us a look at some promotional art courtesy of a few merchandise images; take a look here…
…Ahead of his debut on the big screen as Barry Allen (potentially, with a cameo in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), Ezra Miller has been offering some thoughts on what he’d like to see from his incarnation of The Flash: “I’d like for it to be an exploration of a human being, a multi-dimensional human being, to speak. Wow, I just made such a pun, without meaning to! I’d like the character to have many dimensions. But really, I’d like him to have the usual dimensions we know and love, and then some extra ones that are part of the amazing consideration of this superhero. I hope to realize him as a person, and I think what’s most exciting for me in superhero mythologies is when we feel the humanity of someone who is heroic — or the heroism of someone who is a flawed, deeply human person…”
…That leads us nicely into The CW’s upcoming crossover / DC’s Legends of Tomorrow lead-in between The Flash and Arrow, which is set to air on December 1st and December 2nd following a week’s break for both shows for Thanksgiving. To whet our appetites, The CW has released an extended trailer and a promo, along with a new image that sees Hawkman (Falk Hentschel) and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) in handcuffs alongside Green Arrow and The Flash…
…CBS’ Supergirl juggled its episodes around this past Monday in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, airing the fourth episode ‘Livewire’ rather than the third ‘How Does She Do It?’, which will air this Monday. Following ‘Livewire’, the network released a new trailer entitled ‘Confidence’ which you can watch here, while there have also been a couple of casting announcements, with Melissa Benoist’s husband and Glee co-star Blake Jenner is set to play Adam Foster, a handsome stranger and potential love interest for Kara, and Constantine star Charles Halford portraying Jemm, Son of Saturn. And speaking of Jemm, you can check the character out here, courtesy of a batch of images for the seventh episode ‘Human For a Day’…
…Over at FOX and we have a promo and three clips from this Monday’s episode of Gotham, entitled ‘The Son of Gotham’, which include the first mention of the Order of St. Dumas [see here and here], while B.D. Wong (Jurassic World) has taken to social media to tease his look for his upcoming appearance as Professor Hugo Strange…
…And finally, with Heroes Reborn heading in to its midseason break, be sure to take a look at Tai Freligh’s review of episode nine ‘Sundae, Bloody Sundae’ here and check back soon for his review of the midseason finale ’11:53 to Odessa’. Meanwhile, over on our YouTube channel we have a promo for the final three episodes of the event series, which returns on January 7th; watch it here.
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.
