…Logan may have lost top spot at the box office last weekend to Kong: Skull Island, but the acclaimed Wolverine solo movie continues its march towards the half billion mark – a feat it will accomplish this weekend, despite more competition from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. And speaking of Beauty and the Beast, Fox released a new TV spot for Logan, advising moviegoers to skip the beauty and come see the beast; watch it here…
…If you were wondering why/how the character of Caliban appeared in Logan after appearing as a different actor in a different timeline in last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse, director James Mangold has revealed the answer – Fox just wasn’t paying attention: “It’s a funny, messy story of how so often these things actually are not as coordinated as everyone thinks,” said Mangold. “I actually had written him into our movie, and they didn’t know in Apocalypse, and then they kind of wrote it in their movie, and then they cast someone in their movie, and I had not seen it and was working away on mine…”
…Deadpool star Brianna Hildebrand has been teasing her return as Negasonic Teenage Warhead in the upcoming sequel, stating that: “I’ve not yet actually read the script, but I do think she will be a lot cooler, based on the wardrobe ideas and stuff. I’m very excited. I think it’s cool that she’s grown and matured and she still has so much of this essence of a punk kid.” The actress also discussed how she relates to the character, saying: “That was exciting, just because I felt so close to Negasonic in that she reminded me so much of myself. Like young, teenage/tweenage, angsty like pissed off Brianna is who she reminded me of. It was just like, ‘Oh! She’s so cute. I get her, you know?’ So yeah. That was super exciting to see that people liked her too because it felt like people liked me, or the part of me in there somewhere…”
…We’re still waiting on official confirmation on X-Men: Supernova, the next instalment of the main X-Men franchise, and it seems that so is Alexandra Shipp, who has revealed that she’s yet to learn whether she’ll be back as Storm: “I’m not too sure. We haven’t gotten any info on that. When you sign on for a franchise, you definitely sign on for that. But it’s all whatever Fox wants, Fox gets!” Shipp then went on to reveal how she’d like to see her character evolve should she get the call, adding: “I’d really love to see Storm coming into her matriarch form. In the last X-Men, she was very young and she had a different viewpoint. I’d love to see her take on more of a substantial role and really see her come into her own. I want to show how Halle Berry got there. And to do that, I think we just need to show that evolution. And I’m all about a good character arc…”
…FX has announced this week that it has renewed the acclaimed X-Men series Legion for a second season: “The first season of Legion was a stunning achievement,” said FX original programming co-president Eric Schrier. “More than a new series, Legion is a wholly original take on the super hero genre. Our thanks to Noah Hawley for taking the creative risks and shattering expectations. It’s a privilege to work again with Noah, his producing partners, the outstanding cast and our partners at Marvel Television on another season of Legion.” Be sure to read Rachel Bellwoar’s review of this week’s episode here, and take a look at a promo for Wednesday’s seventh episode here…
…Doctor Strange star Mads Mikkelsen has revealed that he auditioned for 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot, but he walked out mid-audition as it felt “wrong”: “I’ve had tons of [bad auditions]. We’ve all been there. We all show up and it’s a little office room with a desk and some books and they want you to do a scene where you have two lines – maybe not even two lines – maybe just ‘Bleurgh!’ or ‘Get back!’ And you’re hiding behind a palm tree that’s not there. It’s like, ‘Guys, couldn’t you have picked a different kind of scene to this? This is fucking mad.’ You feel like an idiot. I think I walked out on the Fantastic Four one. I think I actually said, ‘I can’t do it. It’s not about you, I’m sorry, this is wrong…”
…Moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now and with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 fast approaching, Marvel’s marketing department has unleashed the first clip from the hotly-anticipated sequel which sees Rocket Raccoon threatening Star-Lord with one of Drax’s “famously large turds” [watch it here]. And that’s not all, as we also got a couple of new TV spots [see here and here], along with a Baby Groot-themed Empire subscriber cover [see here]. Meanwhile, early box office tracking is in, and suggests that the Guardians are set for a whopping $160 million domestic opening, which is on par with the debut weekends for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, and would place the film in the top ten biggest opening weekends of all time…
…Guardians director James Gunn also also been pretty active this week; he’s been discussing Ego the Living Planet’s powers, and why he looks like Kurt Russell as opposed to a planet [see here], as well as confirming that Sylvester Stallone and Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum are playing important characters from the Marvel universe [see here], and revealing that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is on Marvel’s upcoming slate, although he’s unsure at this point about whether he’ll return to direct [see here]. Oh, and he also spoke briefly about the Guardians’ role in Avengers: Infinity War, stating that they’ll be “integral” to the story [see here]…
…We’ve known for a while that Natalie Portman won’t be returning as Jane Foster for Thor: Ragnarok, and this week brought word of how her absence will be explained in the story – she’s simply broken up with Thor. “He’s off exploring the universe, still trying to police it and control the mayhem,” said Hemsworth. “But he’s certainly enjoying being a drifter, being a solo cowboy out there.” Meanwhile, Kevin Feige discussed Ragnarok’s new female lead Valkyrie, played by Tessa Thompson: “We wanted Thor to encounter somebody that was near his equal and that his relationship with Jane may have evolved in unexpected ways in between The Dark World and Ragnarok and we wanted to pit him against a character who was much more his equal and in many ways his superior. Valkyrie is trying to not embrace any sort of Asgardian heritage that she has. Thor thinks maybe that will create a bond between them and, on the contrary, she wants to forget it all entirely…”
…Chris Hemsworth has revealed that he thought Marvel had fired him and Mark Ruffalo given their absence in last year’s Captain America: Civil War: ““I was like, ‘What? Are we being fired?’,” said Hemsworth. “Marvel quickly reassured us, ‘No you guys have got your own journey going on, and in order for that to work you can’t be a part of this one.’ Look, it turned out just perfect because we got to do a whole different kind of thing we wouldn’t have able to do otherwise…”
…In a couple of other bits and pieces from the big screen side of the MCU, it’s being reported this week that Chris Evans is hanging up the shield following Avengers: Infinity War and the expiry of his six-film deal with Marvel, while Samuel L. Jackson may have revealed that the Red Skull is set for a return to the MCU…
…Netflix’s latest Marvel series Iron Fist hit the streaming service on Friday, arriving on the back of a wave of negative reviews (at one point, it was at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes) and leading star Finn Jones to blame everyone from the critics to Donald Trump for the show’s reception, while co-star Jessica Henwick defended Jones, and dismissed criticisms that the show has whitewashed Asian culture. You can read my op-ed on why Jones is mistaken with his remarks that there’s a distinction between fans and critics here, and check out Shaun Munro’s review of the first episode here and the second episode here…
…Next up from Netflix on the Marvel front is The Defenders, and a new video from the New York set arrived online this week which shows the street level heroes (minus Daredevil) looking in pretty bad shape; watch it here…
…As we await the return of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel has released a series of promotional posters reimagining the one-sheets for previous seasons had they taken place in the alternate ‘Agents of HYDRA’ reality; take a look at the posters here…
…This week also brought you some new set photos from Inhumans, although it’s kind of a game of Where’s Wally? (that’s Where’s Waldo? to our American friends) as you try to spot Crystal, Medusa, Black Bolt, Maximus and Lockjaw; take a look at the set photos here and here…
…Not content with getting Marvel on board to help relaunch the Spidey franchise with Spider-Man: Homecoming, Sony has now announced it is moving forward with its plans for a Venom movie, setting the symbiote for Aquaman’s former release date of October 5th 2018. There’s no word yet whether Marvel are involved, or if it will take place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity, but seeing as there was no mention in the official announcement, it seems unlikely…
…Although it seems no closer towards becoming a reality, Todd McFarlane has been talking up his planned Spawn reboot once again, stating that: “Listen, I’m going to paint it for you. The movie is going to be a dark R. If here’s PG-13 and here’s Deadpool and here’s Logan, we’re going to be here. It’s going to be dark. It’s going to be nasty…”
…Anthony and Joe Russo have lined up their next project after Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4, with the duo set to produce a TV adaptation of the Valiant comic book series Quantum and Woody. The pilot episode for Quantum and Woody will be written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, who contributed to the script for Marvel’s Ant-Man and are currently working on the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp…
And finally, Henry Bevan has been arguing that superhero cinema enjoyed its golden age in the mid-noughties, and you can read his feature here.
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.
