…Everyone was pretty much expecting it anyway, but it seems we may have confirmation that Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is set to appear in X-Men: Apocalypse ahead of his final outing in the 2017 solo movie, with Brooklyn-based custom leather goods company Kika NY revealing that it has been contracted to make a special duffel backpack for Jackman while he’s shooting the film in Montreal…
…With hotly-anticipated Rogue Cut of X-Men: Days of Future Past set to arrive on Blu-ray in July, a selection of images from the extended edition have arrived online which show Anna Paquin’s Rogue alongside the likes of Magneto (Ian McKellen), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page). Check them out here…
…Ahead of its expected Hall H panel at Comic-Con, Fox has released an extended TV spot for the upcoming superhero reboot Fantastic Four which you can watch here (although it doesn’t really offer anything new in terms of footage), along with a ‘Power of Four’ promo here (which does contain some previously unseen footage)…
…When you lose El Mayimbe from your writing staff and actually manage to become even less reliable, then you know you’ve got problems. However, that seems to be the case at Latino-Review, with the increasingly sketchy site desperately throwing as much excrement as possible at the wall this week in the hope of getting something to stick at Comic-Con. So, what will definitely generate a load of links due to its superhero content, could actually turn out to be true, but is so far away that if it doesn’t it can be deflected using the trusty “plans changed” excuse, assuming anyone remembers by that point anyway? If you’re thinking an X-Men and Fantastic Four crossover in 2018, then you’d be absolutely correct…
…As well as the aforementioned X-Men/Fantastic Four story, Latino-Review tried its luck with another “scoop” that absolutely no one else has ever speculated about before: that Ben Affleck is to direct The Batman for release in November 2018. And just in case that doesn’t pan out, they’ve also reiterated their earlier report that Chris Pine will play Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern movie, despite Variety stating that he’s actually up for Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman. Let’s hope these rumours come from a more reliable “source” than the one who told them – twice – that Asa Butterfield had already been cast as Spider-Man. And that Drew Goddard would direct. As always with LR, take these with a pinch of salt (preferably smelling salts, which you can hold up to your nose to mask the smell of bullshit)…
…Sticking with Green Lantern and another rumour has popped up this week over at Collider, with the site reporting that the 2020 reboot could feature not one, not two, but three Green Lanterns in Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Guy Gardner, which – if true – would certainly help to differentiate it from the 2011 Ryan Reynolds movie, as well as satisfying fans who want to see John Stewart as part of the DC Cinematic Universe…
..Fast & Furious star Tyrese Gibson has continued lobbying for the role of John Stewart this week, going as far as teasing that he may have already been cast: “There are certain things I can’t speak on, but I will say, however this works out, it’s definitely the fans’ fault. I was at home minding my own business and fans start creating these fan-made videos of me as Green Lantern and I looked into it. I’ve been a fan of the Green Lantern. I took the oath, and I had a meeting at Warner Bros. and certain things were said and talked about. We’ll just see what happens… Listen, these muscles are here and they’re ready to be used. There are lot of people, domestically and internationally, who’s got love with your boy… I’m coming into this thing with some fans and some box office receipts behind my name and I say that proudly and humbly. I just think I deserve a shot at suiting up and becoming the Green Lantern… You never know. I might be [at Comic-Con] on the other side of an announcement. You never know…”
…Turning to the small screen and Fox announced this week that Gotham will return to the network on Monday, September 21st, with the official synopsis for the second season promising appearances from The Joker and Mr. Freeze: “The stakes are higher than ever as Gotham explores the origin stories of some of the most ambitious and depraved Super Villains, including The Riddler, The Joker and Mr. Freeze, and Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) uncovers more secrets from his father’s past.” Meanwhile, it has been announced that Jessica Lucas (Evil Dead, Gracepoint) has secured the role of the DC villain Tigress (as Tabitha Galavan), with James Frain (True Blood, Orphan Black) set to play her brother Theo Galavan…
…Somewhat bizarrely, Gotham will find itself in direct competition with another DC show from Monday, October 26th when Supergirl premieres over on CBS, and a new trailer has arrived online this week for the Melissa Benoist-headlined series, which you can watch here…
…The CW has announced that the second season of The Flash is set to get underway on Tuesday, October 6th, followed by the premiere of season four of Arrow the following day, October 7th [take a look at a couple of promotional images for the returning shows here]. Meanwhile, Arrow star John Barrowman has revealed that he’ll be back as Malcolm Merlyn for the fourth season, stating that: “We start filming in July, season four — I just finalized my deal about a week ago. I’m very excited about going back, I can’t tell you anything because I do know a bit about what’s going to happen. But if you love Malcolm Merlyn, if you love Oliver Queen, if you love Thea Queen, if you love the Canary sisters, and I say that with a bit of a twist and a joke in it, you’re going to love what’s going to happen across the DC world…”
…The CW’s upcoming Arrow / The Flash spinoff DC’s Legends of Tomorrow took a step forward this week, with Phil Klemmer (Veronica Mars, Chuck, The Tomorrow People) signing on as showrunner and executive producer, while a rumour claiming that the network is already planning a spinoff of the spinoff based around the character of Hawkgirl was swiftly debunked by actress Ciara Renee herself…
…On the DC animated front and ahead of its direct-to-DVD release on July 22nd, a new clip has arrived online from Bruce Timm’s animated feature Justice League: Gods and Monsters, which you can watch here…
…Hellboy star Ron Perlman continues to lobby hard for a third and final instalment of the series, stating this week that: “The Hellboy saga was meant to have a beginning, a middle and an end, and that, if you were loyal enough to us where you came and watched both those two movies that we made, we owe you a resolve. And there will come a time where he will have to live up to his destiny, which is to be the beast of the apocalypse, or if he has to suppress that destiny by sacrificing himself in some way so as to not destroy mankind but do the opposite. And that’s the discussion of the third film; I think it’s a discussion worth having, and I think it’s something we owe the fans and I’m being very clear about that with… [The story] is in Guillermo’s head. And he’s shared enough of it with me to know that it will be mind-blowing. I mean it will be mind-blowing. It will be great cinema. And if you are somebody who followed the first two movies, it will be even more mind-blowing because we have something… if you liked the first one and the second one, we have something really rock ’em, shock ’em in the third one…”
…We finally got our first real look at Heroes Reborn this week as NBC released a full trailer for the upcoming event series [check it out here, along with a detailed synopsis] which was preceded by a short teaser promo [see here] and a brand new poster [see here]. The Heroes revival is set to get underway on NBC on September 24th.
…And finally, Anghus Houvouras has posted a couple of superhero-related op-eds here on Flickering Myth this week – be sure to check out ‘I Kind Of Love Batman Forever‘ and ‘Peter’d Out: Why I’m Already Bored With the Spider-Man Reboot‘.
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.
