…Marvel Studios offered a first glimpse of 2018’s first MCU release this weekend with the release of the official teaser trailer for the Ryan Coogler-directed Black Panther, which sees Chadwick Boseman reprising his Captain America: Civil War role as T’Challa. Watch the trailer here, and check out the first poster here, while you can also read the thoughts of our writing team in the Flickering Myth Reaction here. Meanwhile, you can also find some comments from Kevin Feige and Ryan Coogler on how Black Panther gets his powers, as well as Coogler’s comments on Forest Whitaker’s character Zuri, producer Nate Moore discussing how the film won’t be a typical origin story, and co-star Letitia Wright talking about her character Shuri here…
…We do of course still have a couple of MCU movies to go before we get to Black Panther, beginning with July’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, and we’ve had a wealth of promotional material this week, including an extended look featurette [watch it here], a couple of NBA Finals promos [see here and here], a featurette showcasing Spidey’s Stark Industries suit [watch it here], a clip of Tony Stark and Peter Parker creating an alibi message for Aunt May following their Civil War exploits [watch it here], a featurette on Peter’s love life [watch it here] and a look at Hasbro’s Shocker action figure [see here] and Hot Toys’ Spider-Man collectible figure [see here]. Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. has said that the movie is testing “very well”, while we’ve had some new rumours claiming to be from the film’s junior novelization which reportedly reveal that identities of the characters played by Zendaya and Angourie Rice…
…After dismissing Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man reboot a few weeks back, original Spider-Man trilogy star Kirsten Dunst has been talking more about the franchise and its future direction this week, stating that: “We made the best ones, so who cares? I’m like, ‘You make it all you want’. They’re just milking that cow for money. It’s so obvious. You know what I mean..?”
…In other web-slinging news, Disney XD has unveiled the first poster for the upcoming animated series Marvel’s Spider-Man featuring the wall-crawler and his alter-ego Peter Parker; take a look at the poster here…
…Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman took to social media this week to announce that he’s starting work on Avengers: Infinity War, while Chris Hemsworth also shared a rather humorous video from the set of the superhero blockbuster suggesting that he still hasn’t quite forgiven the Russos for leaving him out of Civil War. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman star Chris Pine stoked the fires of the Marvel vs. DC war by offering up a few words of criticism for Infinity War…
…Ant-Man and the Wasp has found its first new cast member, with Hannah John-Kamen (Game of Thrones, Killjoys) signing for an as-yet-unrevealed role. She joins the returning Paul Rudd (Scott Lang), Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), Michael Pena (Luis), David Dastmalchian (Kurt) and T.I. (Dave) in the film, which is slated to begin production this July. Meanwhile, Disney XD has also released three of its Ant-Man animated shorts, which you can watch here…
…Marvel’s executive producer Nate Moore has been speaking about the studio’s approach to diversity this week, stating that quality is always put first: “We want to tell the best stories with the strongest developed characters and scripts that we can. Our biggest concern is that, in trying to get more characters out there, we rush something that’s not ready and we deliver something that’s not up to our standards. So it’s less about us rushing a character that’s diverse to get it out quickly and more about figuring out how to do it right…”
…On the small screen side of the MCU, season two of Luke Cage began production this week, and you can take a look at the first set photos here. Meanwhile, it’s been reported that the new seasons of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Daredevil will all hit Netflix in 2018, while Freeform’s Cloak & Dagger is set to resume production this July for the remaining nine episodes of its first season…
…We’ve had a look at some MCU merchandise this week, with Sideshow unveiling its life-size Iron Man Mark VII statue from The Avengers [see here], and Beast Kingdom showcasing its Star-Lord Egg Attack figure from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 [see here] and its range of Captain America: Civil War figures [see here]…
…With X-Men: Dark Phoenix reportedly set to go into production this July, a couple of rumours have surfaced this week claiming that the Shi’ar Empire are set to make an appearance in the film, and that Fox is looking to cast Angelina Jolie and/or Jessica Chastain. Expect to hear some concrete news on Dark Phoenix over the coming weeks…
…It may have found itself languishing in development hell for the past couple of years, but apparently the Gambit solo movie is still on the cards at Fox, with X-Men producer Hutch Parker stating this week that: “It is [still part of our plans]. I don’t have any news on that but there’s still a desire and a passionate interest to see that movie made.” Meanwhile, former director Doug Liman also expressed his hope that it does eventually see the light of day: “You know, it’s a crowded field of superhero films so the challenge for Gambit or any of those other movies is finding its unique space and its unique take. But, yeah, I think Simon Kinberg, who is producing it, is a great producer and he’ll create something great out of it…”
…Stranger Things star David Harbour has revealed that he auditioned for the role of The Blob in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, only to lose out on the role because he was told he was too fat! Harbour will of course soon be taking on the role of Hellboy in the upcoming reboot Rise of the Blood Queen, and he also shared a pre-production photo this week showing him being fitted for the Right Hand of Doom; take a look here…
…If you were hoping that the upcoming X-Men series The Gifted would align with the movie franchise, star Stephen Moyer has some bad news for you: “Within the X-Men Films, we’re sort of not allied to them or positioned within that. There are obviously mutant characters that have a place in the comic books. Some of them are different; some of them are sort of related in some way. But in terms of timeline, because obviously we just had Logan which was a lot further forward and obviously Legion which is a lot further back. So we definitely slot into a timeline, but as of yet, we’re not allied. I think they have given themselves a lot of leeway in order to be able to go places, but we’ve enough story within our universe to propel us forward without having to do that…”
…As we await word on when we can expect to see the webseries Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe, Valiant has unveiled some new variant covers for upcoming comic book issues which give us a look at the live action versions of X-O Manowar (Derek Theler), Ninjak (Michael Rowe), Bloodshot (Jason David Frank), Livewire (Ciera Foster), Archer (Alex Meglei) and Armstrong (Kevin Porter); take a look here…
…And finally, the British superhero show Misfits is set for a U.S. remake from Freeform, with iZombie‘s Diane Ruggiero-Wright penning the script and serving as showrunner and Ashleigh LaThrop (Siren), Tre Hall (Rebel), Allie MacDonald (Orphan Black) and Jack Cannavale (Nurse Jackie) cast as four of the five leads for the remake. Read more details 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.
