In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ant-Man, The Defenders, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, X-Men, Deadpool 3, Gambit, New Mutants, Logan, Suicide Squad, Justice League, The Flash, The Batman, Harley Quinn, Gotham, Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Young Justice, Justice League Action, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, Painkiller Jane and more…
Marvel’s latest superhero blockbuster Doctor Strange made its way across the Pond last weekend, opening in North American with $85 million and falling just short of Thor: The Dark World’s $85.7 million November debut back in 2013. The Benedict Cumberbatch-headlined origin story for the Sorcerer Supreme ended the weekend with an impressive $325 million worldwide, and has since pushed its haul beyond $350 million; it is expected to retain top spot in the States this weekend and is being tipped by analysts to end up breaking the $700 million mark around the globe, with some suggesting as high as $800 million, which would make it the first Marvel movie not starring Robert Downey Jr. to do so. Be sure to check out the latest character posters and IMAX featurette, along with Oliver Davis’ interview with the film’s villain Mads Mikkelsen, which you can read here…
…It’s been rumoured ever since he was first linked to the project, but Marvel’s Kevin Feige has confirmed this week that former Batman Michael Keaton is set to portray the villain Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. The Vulture, in Spider-Man: Homecoming. It’s also been announced that Doctor Strange and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story composer Michael Giacchino is set to score the wall-crawler’s solo reboot, while Zendaya has spoken about her role (rumoured to be Mary Jane Watson), stating that she isn’t playing a love-interest to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker: “My character is not romantic. My character is like very dry, awkward, intellectual, and because she’s so smart, she just feels like she doesn’t need to talk to people, like, ‘My brain is so far ahead of you that you’re just not really on my level.’ So she comes off very weird. But to me, she is very cool because she’s deep. She’s always thinking about something, always reading. I like that. And I also like that I don’t really have to do anything for hair and makeup. I just get to walk in and walk out.” Zendaya also had a few words for those who argued that MJ should be played by a white actress, and you can read the rest of her comments here…
…In other Spidey news, Tom Holland has revealed that we’ll be seeing plenty more of the web-slinger in the MCU, as he has a six film contract with Marvel: “They give you options and those could be exercised whenever. Like a cameo in Avengers. I’m unclear as to which movies though. I do know I have three Spider-Man appearances in other movies and three solo movies contracted. But if you have another movie, Marvel is so good at working around it. They’re very respectful of your life, really. They understand that you have to work on other movies, and they try and fix it up so you can work around each other…”
…It seems that we almost saw the return of Toby Jones’ Arnim Zola in last year’s Ant-Man, with illustrator Josh Nizzi releasing some unused concept art this week which shows the former Hydra scientist in his robot body form; take a look at the concept art here…
…During an interview this week, Kevin Feige discussed the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and whether they’ll go down the recasting route when age catches up with their stars, or follow the Hank Pym model from Ant-Man by using older versions of the characters: “I think it could be either one. These characters have been around for 50-plus years, and have been relatively ageless. Sometimes there are alternate stories where the character is younger than they usually are, or older, but they usually maintain a certain age. I think most of these characters that are iconic, like James Bond, like Batman, like Spider-Man, like Iron Man, someday will be portrayed by different actors. The good news right now is I don’t have to think about that for a long time. We have storylines for this cast for many years to come…”
…Having already slammed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, calling it “a piece of shit”, Mel Gibson turned his attention to the Marvel Cinematic Universe this week, criticising it for its levels of “violence without conscience”: “To talk about the violence question, look at any Marvel movie,” said Gibson. “They’re more violent than anything that I’ve done, but [in my movies,] you give a shit about the characters, which makes it matter more. That’s all I’ll say…”
…While Mel Gibson is taking umbridge with the violence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Flickering Myth’s Anghus Houvouras is more concerned about the amount of humour; be sure to check out his op-ed ‘Why Won’t Marvel Take Their Heroes Seriously?’, which you can read here…
…With production now underway on The Defenders, it has been revealed that Elodie Yung will be reprising the role of Elektra for the Marvel team-up, while Charlie Cox has once again reiterated his desire to see Bullseye introduced in the third season of Daredevil: “It’s no secret, I’ve said it before and I get in trouble every time I say it, I’d like to see Bullseye make an appearance at some point. I think it’s a really interesting opportunity. Deborah Ann Woll obviously does not want Bullseye to show up for obvious reasons. Elodie Yung, who plays Elektra, doesn’t want Bullseye to show up either…”
…Gabriel Luna has revealed this week that “deals are in place” should Marvel look to launch a Ghost Rider spinoff from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: “It’s been talked about, there’s definitely deals in place for that potential. But I just take it one day at a time. I have so much fun now I just want to make sure I get these episodes right. If they throw more episodes on my plate, I will do my best to do well with those stories as well.” Asked what form a spinoff might take, Luna replied: “I don’t have a preference. People talk about ‘Ah man he’d be great as a feature,’ which is [an] idea too… It could be in the cinema, it could live on Netflix, whatever it is… I think it’d be cool to see Blade, and The Punisher, and Strange and that whole Midnight Sons kind of run. And you have the Dark Avengers – you’ve got all these teams that The Ghost Rider slides into… I love that idea, that potential…”
…A report into 20th Century Fox’s current plans for X-Men surfaced this week, offering up plenty of news (or rumoured news, at least) surrounding the future of the franchise. Starting with the main franchise, it’s being reported that Fox is planning a “reconfiguration” following X-Men: Apocalypse, with Bryan Singer out, and writer-producer Simon Kinberg currently working on a script for a new instalment that includes the likes of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence, despite the fact that their contracts expired with Apocalypse. However, it remains unclear at this point whether they’ll ultimately appear, given that the trio won’t come cheap should Fox decide to renegotiate. And on the rumour front, Latino-Review has regurgitated an old report from April suggesting that the next instalment could revisit the Dark Phoenix Saga…
…Despite the fact Fox is yet to find a replacement director for Tim Miller on Deadpool 2, it seems that plans are already afoot for Deadpool 3, which will reportedly introduce the team of X-Force. Meanwhile, it’s said that the studio is also looking to get the Channing Tatum-headlined Gambit movie off the ground once again, while Josh Boone’s New Mutants may also go into production as early as the Spring…
…While Fox looks to sort out the future of the X-Men franchise, the studio does have Logan incoming this March, and another new image from the Wolverine solo movie has landed online this week featuring Hugh Jackman’s fan-favourite mutant standing over a fallen foe…
…Legendary X-Men comic book writer Chris Claremont has been talking about the decline of the mutant superheroes within Marvel, blaming the fact that the rights to the characters are at 20th Century Fox, as well as discussing whether he could see a Spider-Man-style deal between Marvel Studios and Fox: “If at some point Fox decides that the X-Men properties are no longer lucrative I’m sure that they will cut a deal with Disney. But I also expect that the deal they would want to cut would be extra-ordinarily expensive and Disney or Marvel might just as easily say “screw it” we love the X-Men but we are not going to hurt ourselves to get it because we have our other properties that we own that are doing far better. If you want to give it back or take a reasonable deal that’s one thing, if you’re just going to go crazy screw you…”
…Click below to continue on for Suicide Squad, Justice League, The Flash, The Batman, Harley Quinn, Gotham, Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Young Justice, Justice League Action, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, Painkiller Jane and more…
