Our weekly round-up of all the big news stories from the world of movie superheroes…
With less than two months to go before its release, The Avengers continues to dominate much of the superhero headlines and director Joss Whedon has been very active this past week, taking part in a several interviews to discuss the hugely-anticipated team-up. First up came a lengthy chat with Manila Bulletin, during which he spoke about cast members Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson, along with his visual approach to the film. Whedon had a few words for SFX Magazine about Mark Ruffalo’s interpretation of the Incredible Hulk, and also chipped in with some thoughts about how the inevitable sequel (Marvel Avengers Assemble Again?) could top the first movie: “By not trying to. By being smaller. More personal, more painful. By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself…”
…Whedon has also ruled out the Skrulls and the Kree as The Avengers’ mysterious alien race, telling EW: “It is not the Kree or the Skrulls. Those two aliens are Marvel mainstays and have enormous backstories. They have a big life of their own that just could not be contained in a film where I already had seven movie stars. The Skrulls — they can shape change. That’s a whole thing. I’ve already got Loki [Tom Hiddleston]. He’s got magic. Once you got magic along with your Iron Man and your Black Widow — it’s a real juggling act…”
…Looking further ahead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it has been reported that set construction has commenced on the Shane Black-directed sequel Iron Man 3, which has adopted the production code name of ‘Caged Heat’ and is expected to begin principal photography late April / early May. So far Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau are set to reprise their roles, while there’s speculation that Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow will also make an appearance. Presumably you can also add Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson to that list, too…
…Although The Dark Knight Rises drought continues, this past week did bring forth a new promotional shot of Christian Bale’s Batman, while costume designer Lindy Hemming also had a few words for GQ Magazine about Bane’s (Tom Hardy) attire, as well as teasing some slight modifications to the Batsuit: “Bane was meant to look like a cross between a dictator and a revolutionary. I designed the coat myself – it took a year. We took inspiration from a Swedish army jacket and a French Revolution frock coat and amalgamated the two. It was a pain to have made, because in L.A. shearling is not their sort of thing: there weren’t the tailors who could work with the fabric… There’s very few changes [to the Batsuit]. The only modifications are to do with the story. But I can’t tell you what they are.” Hmmm, some kind of spinal support, perhaps..?
…With fifteen months to go until the release of Man of Steel, Warner Bros. have issued the first (completely unrevealing) synopsis from the Zack Snyder-directed reboot, which basically offers little more than a run down of cast members Henry Cavill (Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Kevin Costner (‘John’ Kent), Laurence Fishburne (Perry White), Russell Crowe (Jor El) and Michael Shannon (General Zod)…
…Another film set to join Man of Steel, Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 on 2013’s superhero slate is Fox’s oft-delayed X-Men spin-off The Wolverine; last month there were unconfirmed reports that the film would hit cinemas next July and now comes confirmation from Hugh Jackman via his official Facebook page that he’ll don the adamantium claws for a fifth time (or sixth, if you count his non-clawed cameo appearance in X-Men: First Class) when the James Mangold-directed solo movie arrives in cinemas on July 23rd next year…
…Cartoon Network’s DC Nation programming block debuted in the US last Saturday, but for the time being those of us outside of the States will have to make do with two behind-the-scenes videos showcasing some of the superhero-themed content, along with a clip from the animated short Baby Superman, which you can check out over at CosmicBookNews…
…Meanwhile fans of DC’s animation will surely want to take a look at an in-depth interview with Kevin Conroy over at The Mary Sue, during which Conroy discusses his numerous outings as the Caped Crusader in projects such as Batman: The Animated Series, the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum and the recent animated feature Justice League: Doom, as well as passing on his thoughts about Mark Hamill’s Joker…
…Last week we got our first look at the character designs for Luke Cage and Iron Fist in Marvel Animation’s upcoming Ultimate Spider-Man series and now you can add a few more familiar faces to that list as IGN debuted a selection of images featuring the likes of Captain America, Iron Man, Klaw, Thundra, Wizard and Stan Lee’s own Stan the Janitor. IGN also posted two clips showing Spider-Man going up against the Trapster and his colleagues in the Frightful Four, while Marvel debuted a preview via their official site that provides a glimpse of Venom and Doctor Doom…
…Switching to Sony’s live action Spidey incarnation and Andrew Garfield has briefly discussed his time on The Amazing Spider-Man, revealing that he’d sought advice from predecessor Tobey Maguire and stating that: “All the way through filming the Spider-Man movie, I felt like I was serving something greater than me. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t. That character has been an important character to me since I was a kid. And all my concern was to make sure that Peter Parker and the symbol of Spider-Man were treated with the reverence that I have for them…”
…It’s also been reported that Sony are looking to expand their superhero output with a Spidey spin-off centring on the character of Venom, with Chronicle helmer Josh Trank tapped to direct. Trank has of course recently been linked to Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot, and the young director revealed his vision for Marvel’s First Family to Empire (Via CBM): “What’s cool about Fantastic Four, which is an amazing property, is that these are people who started out as human beings, for the most part. Coming to terms with with humanity is the biggest challenge, not the villains they face…. The best opportunity in my life was to make Chronicle. The next biggest opportunity I can possibly see is to make a really great movie based on characters that I grew up obsessing over and falling in love with, but I can’t say one way or another what will happen.” What would you rather see – Trank’s Venom movie, or a new Fantastic Four? Personally I’d have to go with the latter…
…Although Josh Trank appears to be moving on from the world he created with Chronicle, screenwriter Max Landis looks set to extend his stay as Deadline reported that Fox have reached a deal for him to pen the inevitable-but-not-really-necessary-at-all sequel to the low-budget found footage hit…
…Off the back of her portrayal of Dejah Thoris in Disney’s newly-released fantasy adventure John Carter, there’s been some speculation that Lynn Collins could make a suitable Amazon Princess should Warner Bros.ever manage to get a Wonder Woman feature off the ground. Well, Collins took a moment to address the rumours about whether she’d be up for another superhero outing after her turn as Kayla Silverfox in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, telling Digital Spy: “I don’t know how I even feel about [playing Wonder Woman]. I will say that Lynda Carter is an awesome woman. Following in those footsteps would be a mighty process, for sure. More skimpy costumes, more trainers and gyms and broccoli…”
…And finally, British actor Colin Salmon (Tomorrow Never Dies, Resident Evil, Punisher: War Zone) is the latest name to join the cast of the CW network’s Arrow pilot, where he will portray Walter Steele, described as “a former business associate of the late Robert Queen [Jamey Sheridan] and the No. 2 exec at Queen Consolidated who married Moira Queen [Susanna Thompson] following her husband’s death at sea and the disappearance of her son, Oliver [Stephen Amell].”
Holy Franchise, Batman! – Now available for pre-order from Amazon.
