In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher, Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell, X-Men: Apocalypse, Logan, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, The Batman, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, Batman vs. Two-Face, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Krypton and more…
With just a little over two weeks to go until Doctor Strange opens here in the UK, Marvel’s marketing department has been releasing a steady stream of promotional material for the Phase Three origin tale, including a ‘Strange Time’ featurette [see here], along with a host of new TV spots for the film [watch them here, here and here]. Meanwhile, Universal has also announced that it is cashing in on the Sorcerer Supreme’s renewed popularity by bringing 1978’s TV movie Dr. Strange to DVD, with the film set to hit on October 17th…
…The folks at Schmoes Know dropped a few Marvel Cinematic Universe rumours this week, offering up some plot details on Thor: Ragnarok, Star-Lord’s role in Avengers: Infinity War, and Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone’s characters in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. However, director James Gunn took to Twitter to call BS on the Guardians rumour, with all of the “scoops” then subsequently disappearing from the website. So, I guess we can safely assume they were all inaccurate…
…Three new additions to the cast of Marvel’s Black Panther have been announced this week, with Forest Whitaker (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) set to play Zuri, an elder Wakandan statesman, Daniel Kaluuya (Black Mirror) securing the role of T’Challa confidant W’Kabi, and Florence Kasumba reprising her role as Ayo from Captain America: Civil War. The new additions join the Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, Lupita Nyong’o (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Nakia, Michael B. Jordan (Fantastic Four) as Erik Killmonger, Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead) as Okoye and Winston Duke (Person of Interest) as M’Baku…
…Illustrator Andy Park has released another couple of pieces of concept art from Captain America: Civil War this week, the first of which sees Iron Man battling The Winter Soldier from the film’s climactic showdown [see here], and the second featuring Ant-Man going up against Hawkeye, which seems to confirm that Scott Lang was Team Iron Man in an earlier draft of the script [see here]…
…In a couple of other bits and pieces from the MCU, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has teased an appearance from Korg the Kronan, while Spider-Man: Homecoming has officially wrapped production. Might we get a first trailer at New York Comic Con this weekend..?
…Samuel L. Jackson was asked for his thoughts on the rivalry between Marvel and DC this week, and couldn’t resist taking a few jabs at the DC camp in his response: “Success breeds contempt. Isn’t that a question that the people at DC asking themselves?” said Jackson, when asked why both DC and Marvel movies can’t be good. “The Marvel people don’t… I don’t think the Marvel people are asking themselves that question. Hopefully Wonder Woman will be great, you know, because a friend of mine trained her, so I hope it’s good. I think there’s room for everybody to exist out here, and the fact that it’s not working or doesn’t work or people want a specific thing, that’s what makes movies the movies and what makes audiences audiences… so hopefully they’ll make one of those movies one of these days and it’ll be as big as a Marvel movie…”
…Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen have confirmed that Jason O’Mara’s new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Jeffrey Mace, a.k.a. Patriot, with the duo stating that: “We are excited to have the Patriot joining our show, a character who has existed in Marvel Comics for 70 years. Jason O’Mara brings a perfect balance of charm, mystery, heroism and humor.” Be sure to check out a couple of clips from this Tuesday’s third episode ‘Uprising’ here, along with a batch of promotional images for the following week’s ‘Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire’ here…
…Marvel’s latest Netflix series Luke Cage hit the streaming service this past Friday, and you can check out Samuel Brace’s thoughts on the first few episodes here, as well as Liam Hoofe’s review of the entire season here…
…Marvel is already looking ahead to its next Netflix series, with a trailer for Iron Fist set to be unleashed at New York Comic Con later today. To whet our appetites, this week has brought us the first official image and an announcement teaser revealing that the show will premiere on March 17th, 2017 [see here], as well as a NYCC poster by Joe Quesada [see here]…
…This week has also saw the start of production on The Punisher, with set photos arriving online featuring a bearded Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle [see here], as well as some revealing a cameo from a Daredevil character [see here]. Meanwhile, we’ve also had some casting news for the series, with Ben Barnes portraying Billy Russo (a.k.a. Jigsaw), Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Micro, and Amber Rose Revah as Homeland Security agent Dinah Madani…
…Marvel has announced the upcoming release of the animated movie Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell, which is set for release on Digital HD on October 21st and will see the Green Goliath teaming up with Doctor Strange and the Howling Commandos to thwart the villainous plan of Nightmare, the evil, supernatural lord of the Dream Dimension…
…Coinciding with its home-entertainment release, Fox has unveiled a new deleted scene from X-Men: Apocalypse, which shows Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) receiving his classic visor from Beast (Nicholas Hoult). Check it out here…
…Fox has also kicked off the promotional for March’s Wolverine sequel, releasing a first teaser poster which reveals that Hugh Jackman’s final X-Men outing is going by the title of Logan, as well as an image of Patrick Stewart’s Professor X. The unveiling was also followed by some plot rumours which suggest that the film takes place in 2024, where mutant births are severely in decline and a government-type organisation called Transigen is turning mutant children into killing machines, including one young girl “who has two claws instead of three”. Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman has revealed that we should expect to see some footage very soon, as well as briefly discussing the film’s tone: “There’s going to be some stuff coming out in the next week or so. That’s all I’ll say. I’m not good. I’m the kind of person who tells everybody everything. Basically, it’s going to be very different. Very different in tone and hopefully different to anything we’ve done…”
…Click below to continue on for Justice League, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, The Batman, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, Batman vs. Two-Face, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Krypton and more…
