…Moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now and as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 pushes its worldwide haul beyond $650 million (look for it to surpass the $700 million mark this weekend as it battles Alien: Covenant for top spot in North America), we’ve had a new featurette from Marvel Studios focussing on Baby Groot and his time with the Ravagers [watch it here], along with some concept art showing alternate designs for Gamora and Nebula [see here] and Star-Lord and Mantis [see here]. On the subject of Mantis, the character’s co-creator Steve Englehart has expressed his disappointment at her portrayal in Guardians Vol. 2, stating that “that’s not Mantis up there”, while James Gunn has spoken about cutting Nathan Fillion’s Simon Williams cameo (as well as posting a couple of the faux movie posters featuring Fillion)…
…With the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming fast approaching, this week has brought us our first look at Michael Chernus as the secondary villain The Tinkerer [see here], along with a batch of images featuring new shots of Spidey/Peter Parker (Tom Holland), Vulture (Michael Keaton), and Liz Allan (Laura Harrier) [see here]. Meanwhile, composer Michael Giacchino shared a video of him recording the score for the reboot, which sees him conducting the classic Spider-Man theme from the 1960s animated show! Watch it here…
…Sony has found its Eddie Brock for its Spidey spinoff Venom, with news breaking last night that The Dark Knight Rises star Tom Hardy is set to don the symbiote suit in the R-rated solo movie, while Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) will direct. The movie will be part of Sony’s ‘Marvel Universe’, which is separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe inhabited by Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and will also feature the upcoming Black Cat and Silver Sable movie. It’s unclear at this point whether Spider-Man will exist in the new shared universe, and how Venom will exist if that’s not the case. Anyway, Venom is gearing up to go into production in the fall, so expect plenty more news, rumour and speculation over the coming weeks and months…
…In other Spider-Man related news, Kirsten Dunst – who played Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi’s trilogy – has revealed her disappointment at not getting to return for Spider-Man 4, as well as dismissing the Andrew Garfield-headlined reboot: “I wanted to be in [Spider-Man 4] so badly. I loved it, and I wish we could have made a fourth. I don’t care [about the reboot]. Everyone likes our Spider-Man. C’mon, am I right or what? Listen, I’d rather be in the first ones than the new ones…”
…Shifting back to the MCU now and we’ve had a new image of Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder from November’s Thor: Ragnarok [see here], while LEGO has also unveiled official promotional images for its two tie-in sets: The Ultimate Battle of Asgard and Thor Vs. Hulk Arena Crash [take a look here]…
…Sebastian Stan has taken to social media to announce that he’s starting filming on Avengers: Infinity War, while Avengers composer Alan Silvestri has revealed that he’s seen footage from the hotly-anticipated superhero blockbuster, teasing that “it’s everything we could have hoped for…”
…The new issue of License Global offered up synopses for three of Marvel’s upcoming blockbusters in Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War; check them out here…
…The fourth season finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. aired this past Tuesday, and you can read Danny Hale’s review here. Meanwhile, it’s also been announced that the fifth season won’t premiere until midseason 2018, following ABC’s new Marvel series Inhumans, which will air on Friday nights…
…With The Defenders fast approaching, a new image from the Marvel team-up surfaced this week featuring the street level heroes Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones), while Jones also revealed that the series will take place over the span of a couple of days: “It’s 8 episodes but it takes place over a couple of days. So it has this real-time frenetic energy to it which I think adds to the impending doom. So we’re all kind of brought together not through choice, but through necessity. We don’t want to work with each other but our backs are against the wall and we kind of have to…”
…Kevin Feige may have ruled out a Sony-like deal with Fox to bring the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the MCU, but he’s admitted this week that he has hopes of one day bringing every Marvel character back home: “My goal is to replicate the experience that, you know, comic book fans have reading the books up on the screen and we’ve been able to accomplish that beyond my wildest dreams over the last ten years. Spidey in Civil War and in the upcoming Infinity War is yet another dream that I didn’t even dare to talk about publicly because I thought the odds of it were very slim. So, no plans beyond that right now for any of the few remaining characters that aren’t already in the MCU, but I always say ‘never say never,’ who knows what can happen in the future..?”
…Marvel may not have the X-Men at its disposal for the big screen, but it will soon be launching the new TV series The Gifted on Fox. We got to see the first trailer for the show this week [watch it here], along with a poster and batch of official images [see here] and a couple of behind-the-scenes shots of Emma Dumont as Lorna Dane, a.k.a. Polaris [see here]…
…With Logan set to receive its U.S. home entertainment release this coming week, director James Mangold unleashed a trailer for the black-and-white Logan Noir edition, which screened theatrically this past week and will be included as part of the Blu-ray release [watch the trailer here], while we also got a clip from the special features which shows Dafne Keen auditioning for the role of Laura alongside Hugh Jackman [watch it here]. Meanwhile, James Mangold has revealed that he’s spoken to Fox about Dafne Keen’s X-23 making her return to the big screen [see here], as well as talking about the “happy ending” of the film [see here], and producer Hutch Parker has stated that “the idea of casting someone else as Wolverine is just not something I can think about” [read his comments here]…
…In other X-verse news, Michael Fassbender has reportedly revealed he’ll be returning as Magneto for X-Men: Dark Phoenix (but not X-Men: The New Mutants) [see here], Josh Brolin has shared an image to social media of him in training to play Cable in Deadpool 2 [see here], and artist Phil Noto has shared some artwork imagining how Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams might look at Magik and Wolfsbane in The New Mutants [see here]…
…After last week’s announcement that Hellboy is set to receive an R-rated reboot, with Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) directing and Stranger Things star David Harbour taking on the lead role, Hellboy creator (and co-writer on the new film) Mike Mignola has shared an illustrated promotional poster for Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, which you can see here…
…If rumours are to be believed, Sony may be about ready to begin casting on its Valiant Universe-launching Bloodshot movie, with El Mayimbe claiming that Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nocturnal Animals), Mark Wahlberg (Transformers: The Last Knight) and X-Men stars Nicholas Hoult and James McAvoy are all on the studio’s “wishlist”. This being an El Mayimbe scoop, there is of course a get-out clause, as apparently there are three other mystery names on the list, and that any offer may well be made to one of the other candidates…
…And finally, this week has brought us a trailer for Rendel, the first ever Finnish superhero movie. The synopsis for the film reads: “A dark avenger is born when a worldwide corporation known as VALA launches an untested vaccine called Nh25 into the market by bribing, threatening, and killing every official opposing them. Rendel unleashes his own special kind of hell against VALA, threatening to put an end the distribution of Nh25 As blood spills and the money burns, VALA recruits a group of mercenaries to do what they seemingly can’t, eliminate Rendel permanently.” Watch the trailer for Rendel 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.
