…Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 made its way across the Pond this past weekend, with the latest chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe pulling in a $146 million domestic opening (the fifth biggest of the MCU) and pushing its total worldwide gross beyond the $500 million mark midweek. Guardians will retain top spot at the box office in the States this weekend, easily fighting off competition from King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and could well find itself around the $650 million mark by close of play on Sunday…
…In other Guardians news, James Gunn and Michael Rooker have been discussing the end of the film [see here – but beware of major spoilers], while Anghus Houvouras wrote an op-ed entitled ‘Why Yondu is the Best Character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’, which you can read here. James Gunn has been chatting about his first cut and deleted scenes (including a sixth post-credit sequence, which he details here) as well as confirming that Elizabeth Debicki’s Ayesha will be back for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Meanwhile Kevin Feige also spoke about Stan Lee’s new buddies, confirming that Fox and Marvel share custody of the characters, and we got some Baby Groot concept art [see here and here], alternate designs for Mantis and Ego, the latter sporting a J’Son-style costume [see here] and promotional images for Hot Toys’ new Groot Pop! Vinyl figures [see here]…
…There’s less than two months to go before we get the next instalment of the MCU, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and we’ve had a wealth of marketing material this week including the first clip [watch it here], an Amazing Fantasy #15-inspired poster [see here], four promo posters [see here], and new images featuring Peter Parker (Tom Holland), Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), Liz Allan (Laura Harrier) and Michelle (Zendaya) [see here and here]. Meanwhile, Zendaya has once again denied the rumour that here character Michelle is actually Mary-Jane Watson, while early box office projections have estimated a $135 million domestic opening for the reboot, and Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista has suggested that Marvel may be close to fully reacquiring Spider-Man from Sony…
…An international trailer arrived online for this year’s third MCU release Thor: Ragnarok, although it didn’t feature anything in the way of new footage [watch it here]. Meanwhile, Jeff Goldblum has revealed that he was heavily encouraged to improvise for his role as the Grandmaster by director Taika Waititi, while Waititi also took to Twitter to tease a possible return for Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster…
…Avengers: Infinity War is currently shooting at Durham Cathedral in England, with Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) and a Rocket Raccoon stand-in all spotted on set. Well, this week brought reports that Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) will also be joining the shoot for the sequence, while a set photo revealed a tie in Avengers: Age of Ultron and a potential plot point; check it out here if you don’t mind spoilers…
…Good news for fans of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as despite some falling ratings, ABC has officially renewed the show for a fifth season to air alongside Inhumans from this September. Read Danny Hale’s review of this past Tuesday’s episode ‘The Return’ here, and check out a promo, batch of images and a clip for the season finale ‘World’s End’ here, here and here…
…And speaking of Inhumans, star Anson Mount has been talking about his role as Black Bolt and how the mute ruler of Attlian will communicate in the show, while showrunner Scott Buck was asked whether the first two episodes – which are set to be released in IMAX theaters this September – will feel like a movie: “Yes, I would say the first two episodes do, because it gave us a lot more freedom and pushed and encouraged us to think a little bit bigger than we would if it was just a normal network show. We just wanted to think bigger in terms of scope, and what we were seeing, and how we bring these characters to the audience. Hopefully just to get people really excited. I think it’s something that absolutely stands on its own, but hopefully it’ll intrigue people enough to make them want to watch the rest of the show…”
…Before we get to Inhumans and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season five, we’ve got The Defenders to look forward to in August, and this week has seen the release of a series of motion posters featuring Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist [see here and here], while Mike Colter has revealed that the mystery villains will have some connection to each of the street level heroes, and the series costume designer Stephanie Maslansky has pretty much confirmed that Sigourney Weaver is playing the head of The Hand…
…In other Netflix/Marvel news, the first set photos from season two of Jessica Jones season two have arrived online, featuring Krysten Ritter as Jessica alongside Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker [see here], while Theo Rossi has confirmed that he’ll be reprising the role of Shades for season two of Luke Cage…
…We can officially add another Marvel show to the upcoming list, with Fox placing a series order for the X-Men show The Gifted from Matt Nix (Burn Notice), which has the following official synopsis: “THE GIFTED, from Marvel, tells the story of a suburban couple whose ordinary lives are rocked by the sudden discovery that their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive.” You can watch the first teaser here, while pilot director Bryan Singer also shared a behind-the-scenes image of Emma Dumont as Lorna Dane, a.k.a. Polaris, which you can see here…
…And Marvel Television will also be continuing its X-Men run with a brand new – and adult – animated series for Deadpool, with FXX placing a ten-episode straight-to-series order. The show has been created by Donald Glover and his brother Stephen Glover, who will serve as showrunners. Speaking on the announcement, Marvel’s head of television Jeph Loeb said: “How much more fun could this be? Deadpool, Donald and FX – the perfect fit for the Merc with the Mouth. We’re thrilled that our relationship with FX that started with Legion continues with what is sure to be a groundbreaking show in adult animation…”
…That brings us on to the Merc with a Mouth’s next live-action outing in Deadpool 2, and a rumour emerged this week that Fox and director David Leitch were casting three members of X-Force – Sunspot, Feral and Shatterstar – who will apparently feature in a post-credits scene to set up the X-Force movie. Well, that would be the case at least, had screenwriter Rhett Reese not debunked the report almost immediately…
…This week did bring us some official X-Men casting news, with the long-rumoured Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) and Anya Taylor-Joy (Split) finally confirmed to be playing Wolfsbane and Magik in Josh Boone’s X-Men: The New Mutants. According to unconfirmed reports, Boone’s The Fault in Our Stars star Nat Wolff won’t be joining the film however, nor will James McAvoy be appearing as Professor X…
…And finally, just a few months after Guillermo del Toro revealed that his plans for Hellboy III were officially dead, it has now been announced by Hellboy creator Mike Mignolla that a brand new R-rated reboot is in the works, with Neil Marshall (The Descent, Game Of Thrones) directing and David Harbour (Stranger Things) starring as Hellboy. The film is going by the working title of Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, and will be scripted by Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden and Mignola. Following the announcement, screenwriter Cosby spoke about the tone of the film, describing it as “a darker, more gruesome version of Hellboy”, while Peter Briggs, writer of the original Hellboy, has opened up about a planned spinoff to the original film centered around Hellboy’s ally Abe Sapien titled Hellboy: Silverlance. Read his detailed overview of the project 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.
