In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Justice League, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Gotham City Sirens, Aquaman, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Black Lightning, Powerless, Batman and Harley Quinn, Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Venom, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Inhumans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Fist, The Punisher, Deadpool 2, Legion and more…
On Saturday, Warner Bros. released the brand new trailer for Justice League, and you can read the thoughts of our writing team in the latest Flickering Myth Reaction here, as well as Anghus Houvouras’ op-ed ‘How Batman Got His Groove Back’ here. While Superman was absent from the trailer, a new piece of concept art arrived online showing the Man of Steel alongside the rest of the team [see here], while director Zack Snyder spoke about Superman’s role in the film: “t’s hard to have a Justice League without Superman. That’s how I feel about it. It was always a super-intriguing concept to me to have this opportunity to have him make that sacrifice but also have him be this, in a weird sort of way, the why of Justice League: What do you do now with him? What does the team think? What does the world need? All that comes into play. It’s fun for us but it’ll be interesting for audiences what we do with him.” You can read Snyder’s comments on the rest of the Justice League here, while the director also dismissed rumours that the film will have a 170-minute runtime, and we also got a look at a fanmade poster featuring Armie Hammer as Green Lantern…
…Warner Bros. has added another DC movie to its upcoming slate, with news this week that The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron helmer Joss Whedon is heading to the DCEU to write and director a Batgirl solo movie. Although the deal is yet to be finalised, Whedon will reportedly take inspiration from the New 52 incarnation of the character, which sees Barbara Gordon taking to the streets as Batgirl once again after recovering from her injuries at the hand of The Joker in Batman: The Killing Joke…
…Before we get to Batgirl, Warner Bros. is set to unleash its first female-headlined superhero movie Wonder Woman this June, and this week has brought a batch of new images [see here and here], while some promotional images for the Wonder Woman Warrior Battle LEGO set has given us a new look at the film’s villain Ares [see here]…
…Warner also has another female-led DC movie on the horizon in Gotham City Sirens, and this week has seen Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain expressing her interest in taking on the role of Poison Ivy alongside Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn: “I’m interested in all things where the characters are strong and dynamic, and not stereotypes or objects. I like female characters that are subjects, not objects. And so, if Poison Ivy happens to be that, sure. Throw my hat in the ring…”
…Following her brief appearance in the Justice League trailer, Amber Heard shared a new video of her in training to play Mera in 2018’s Aquaman solo movie, while Patrick Wilson also bigged up his villain role as Ocean Master…
…With DC announcing new projects left, right and centre lately, it seems the studio may be looking to add some Oscar-winning screenwriting talent, although it may face some competition from Marvel Studios. “I happen to have meetings coming up with both DC and Marvel,” said Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, The Newsroom). “I have to go into these meetings and tell them as respectfully as I can that I’ve never read a comic book. It’s not that I don’t like them. It’s just that I’ve never been exposed to one. So, I’m hoping that somewhere in their library is a comic book character that I’m gonna love and I’m gonna wanna go back and start reading from the first issue on…”
…Turning to the small screen now and Kevin Smith returned to the director’s chair on Supergirl this past Monday for ‘Distant Sun’, and you can read Martin Carr’s review of the episode here. The show is on a break now until April 24th, but you can watch a trailer and promo for the next episode ‘Ace Reporter’ here…
…Be sure to check out Jessie Robertson’s review of Tuesday’s episode of The Flash ‘Abra Kadabra’ here, and take a look at a trailer and promo for the next episode ‘The Once and Future Flash’, which is set to air on April 25th…
…Tuesday saw The CW airing the penultimate episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow season two, ‘Doomworld’, and you can read Jessie’s review here; meanwhile, we’ve also got a trailer, promo and images for this coming Tuesday’s season two finale ‘Aruba’, which you can find here, here and here…
…You can also read Jessie’s review of Wednesday’s eighteenth episode of Arrow season five ‘Disbanded’ here, and take a look at a promo for the next episode ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ – airing April 26th – here. And in other Arrow news, executive producer Marc Guggenheim has ruled out Felicity Smoak donning a mask followed her costumed cameo in Legends, while it’s also been announced that Katie Cassidy is set to return as a series regular for season six as the Earth-2 Black Siren…
…With production now underway on the pilot episode, The CW has released an official promotional image of Cress Williams in full costume as the superhero Black Lightning, which you can see here. The pilot is the latest DC project from Greg Berlanti, and focusses on Jefferson Pierce, a man who hung up the suit and his secret identity years ago, but with a daughter hellbent 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…
…Powerless returned after a couple of weeks break this past Thursday, and you can read Rachel Bellwoar’s review of ‘I’ma Friend You’ here…
…Batman ’66 fans rejoice! You’ll soon be able to get your hands on Funko’s Pop! Vinyl figures for The Riddler, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Batgirl, and King Tut along with a rather splendid Batmobile and Dynamic Duo action figure set! Take a look at the official promotional images here…
…On the animated front, Warner Bros. has announced that it will set the stage for the live-action Wonder Woman feature by reissuing the rather splendid 2009 animated movie with a special Commemorative Edition. You can take a look at the cover art, special features and trailer here…
…The bonus features for Wonder Woman: Commemorative Edition will include a sneak peek at Bruce Timm’s next DC animated movie Batman and Harley Quinn, but this week did bring us our first image from the film, which looks to be very reminiscent of The New Batman Adventures; take a look here…
…Click below to continue on for Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Venom, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Inhumans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Fist, The Punisher, Deadpool 2, Legion and more…
