…Shifting to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now and this week has brought a rumour suggesting that Zendaya’s character in Spider-Man: Homecoming – previously announced as ‘Michelle’ – is actually none other than long-time Peter Parker love interest Mary Jane Watson. Given that it’s an El Mayimbe “scoop” and hasn’t been picked up by any of the other trades, treat it as a rumour for the time being, much like this “leaked” call sheet which claims to reveal character details for much of the cast. Meanwhile, it seems we’ve also had a look at the first poster for the reboot, which was on display at a convention in Los Angeles…
…Next up from Marvel is November’s Doctor Strange, and this week has brought us a batch of official images, while director Scott Derrickson revealed that the film will be rated PG-13 for its release in the States, and another rumour popped up claiming that we’ll be seeing a cameo from one of the Avengers (no potential spoilers in this article, but you can read the report for yourself here)…
…Every man and his dog has suspected it since the project was first announced, but now it seems it’s official – the Guardians of the Galaxy will be teaming up with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, with Vin Diesel posting a confirmation on his Facebook page that the Guardians are set to appear in Avengers: Infinity War. Meanwhile, directors Joe and Anthony Russo endorsed Anna Kendrick for the role of Squirrel Girl, but stated that the cult character won’t be appearing in Infinity War – although we will get at least one new addition: “[We] would probably die from exhaustion if we introduced another character. That’s not to say we’re not going to introduce a new character. That’s one we’re going to have to plead the fifth on.” Smart money would be on Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, given that the Russos accidentally confirmed it back in May…
…The first official image from season four of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived online this week, featuring Jason O’Mara’s mysterious new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., while it’s also been announced that Mallory Jansen (Galavant) has secured the “key role” of Life Model Decoy Aida, “a very attractive robot who moves about quite naturally but speaks a bit formally, like Iron Man’s Jarvis…”
…We’ve also got another new image from Luke Cage ahead of its arrival this month, which gives us another look at Mike Colter’s Power Man alongside Simone Missick’s Misty Knight…
…It looks like Hulu is getting in on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the subscription service placing a pilot order for a Runaways TV series, which is being developed by Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and follows a group of six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other but have to reunite against a common foe – their parents, who are part of an evil crime organisation. This is the second time Marvel has taken a crack at Runaways, with Iron Man 3 scribe Drew Pearce penning a script for an ultimately-aborted big screen adaptation prior to the release of The Avengers…
…Captain America and Kang the Conqueror find themselves transported back in time to World War II in this Sunday’s episode of Marvel’s Avengers: Ultron Revolution, titled ‘Into the Future’, and we’ve got a clip from the episode which you can watch here…
…Moving on to Fox now and screenwriter Jeremy Slater has been talking about his early drafts for last year’s box office bomb Fantastic Four, revealing what was ultimately cut from the final script: “In addition to Annihilus and the Negative Zone, we had Doctor Doom declaring war against the civilized world, the Mole Man unleashing a 60 foot genetically-engineered monster in downtown Manhattan, a commando raid on the Baxter Foundation, a Saving Private Ryan-style finale pitting our heroes against an army of Doombots in war-torn Latveria, and a post-credit teaser featuring Galactus and the Silver Surfer destroying an entire planet,” said Slater. “We had monsters and aliens and Fantasticars and a cute spherical H.E.R.B.I.E. robot that was basically BB-8 two years before BB-8 ever existed. And if you think all of that sounds great…well, yeah, we did, too. The problem was, it would have also been massively, MASSIVELY expensive…”
…And speaking of Marvel’s First Family, it’s been announced this week that writer-director Marty Langford’s documentary Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four has secured distribution in the States, and will hit VOD on October 11th and DVD on December 20th. We’ll have a review for you very soon…
…We’ve posted a few superhero-themed op-eds this week here on Flickering Myth; be sure to check out Anghus Houvouras’ ‘Why Harley Quinn is a far more dynamic character than the Joker‘ and ‘Franchise Report Card: Marvel & DC‘, along with Oli Davis’ ‘Dear Marvel, here’s what all Expanded Cinematic Universes are missing’…
..And finally, Scooperhero News is back! Be sure to head on over to our YouTube channel for the latest episode, as Oli and Luke discuss all the latest superhero news.
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.
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