Presenting our weekly round-up of all the biggest news stories from the world of movie superheroes…
Entertainment Weekly went behind-the-scenes of Christopher Nolan’s final Batman feature this past week for an inside look at The Dark Knight Rises that included five new images from the hugely anticipated sequel. Although nothing revelatory, they do provide us with a few more shots of Batman (Christian Bale) and Bane (Tom Hardy), along with Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the briefest of glimpses of the new Batcave. The article provides a brief description of said Batcave, and also features quotes from Nolan, Bale and screenwriter Jonathan Nolan [check out the highlights here]. Meanwhile, it seems we might have some waiting to do for further footage from the film, with Warner Bros. opting against a Super Bowl ad spot for TDKR and Batman-on-Film reporting that the next trailer is likely to arrive in May and could be attached to Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows.
Although Batman (and Spider-Man) will be absent from the Super Bowl, Marvel are said to have purchased a minute long slot for The Avengers and you’d have to imagine a second trailer to arrive soon after. You can also expect the team to invade your local multiplex in the very near future, courtesy of a series of cinema standees featuring Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson. Meanwhile, Marvel are pushing on with their next slate of films and it’s been revealed that Saving Private Ryan scriptwriter Robert Rodat has been brought in for a last-minute rewrite on Thor 2, which is now in the hands of director Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) and is slated to hit cinemas in November 2013. According to Tom Hiddleston, Thor 2 will start shooting this summer – unless any other snags hit the production, of course – but things seem to be moving a lot more smoothly on Iron Man 3, with Robert Downey Jr. stating: “I think we have an opportunity with the third Iron Man to make it the best of the three, and maybe one of the better superhero movies that’s ever been made.”
Wrapping up the best of the rest…
…Green Lantern may have failed to set the box office on fire this past summer but it seems that plenty of people were impressed by Ryan Reynolds’ take on Hal Jordan – or at least those who bother to vote in the People’s Choice Awards – with Reynolds taking home the gong for Favourite Movie Superhero on Wednesday night against competition from Chris Evans’ Captain America, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, James McAvoy’s Professor X and Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique…
…Presumably Reynolds is also still in line to reprise his role as Wade Wilson in director Tim Story’s X-Men spin-off Deadpool and speaking at the Amazing Arizona Comic Con this past week, the Merc with a Mouth creator Rob Liefeld claimed to have seen eight minutes of early test footage: “I may or may have not seen some sort of test of footage that would blow your mind if you saw it and go holy crap and that’s Deadpool in costume. Katana swords, guns, shooting people’s faces off and making me laugh. And I may or may not have seen something that looks just like that. And you’ve got what would amount to the first R Rated X-Men movie. Because that script is R Rated…”
…In other news from the X-Men franchise, screenwriter Jane Goldman spoke to MTV about the potential sequel to X-Men: First Class, stating that “If [Matthew Vaughn] decides he wants to direct the next one and if he wants me on board, I’m 100% there.” Fox currently have First Class Simon Kinberg (whose various writing and producing credits include X-Men: The Last Stand, Sherlock Holmes and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) working on a story for the proposed follow-up and Michael Fassbender seems convinced that he’ll be back as Magneto: “I have no choice. They contracted me for two options,” joked Fassbender to SuperHeroHype this past week. “We’re at the ground level, but yeah I think there’s going to be another one…”
…On the subject of Vaughn, he’ll also be producing the sequel to 2010’s Kick-Ass and creator Mark Millar has spoken about the project with Comic Book Resources, revealing that Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl is likely to take centre stage, with the movie set to combine adaptations of both the Kick-Ass 2 and solo Hit Girl comic book series…
…A pilot episode for a Green Arrow TV series is being developed for the CW network, with Greg Berlanti (Brothers & Sisters), Marc Guggenheim (Flash Forward) and Andrew Kreisberg (Vampire Diaries) acting as the creative team and go-to pilot director David Nutter (Dark Angel, Smallville, Without a Trace, Supernatural, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) said to be in the frame to helm the project. Berlanti and Kreisberg have previously been announced as working on a Booster Gold series for Syfy, while its also thought rumoured that a live-action Blue Beetle series could feature as part of Cartoon Network’s upcoming DC Nation programming block. Let’s hope they don’t all go down the Wonder Woman route…
…Speaking of DC Nation, Marvel Entertainment and Disney XD have just announced their own programming block; entitled ‘Marvel Universe’, it is set to feature the second season of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, along with the premiere of the upcoming Ultimate Spider-Man, and will launch on April 1st in North America…
…Last week we got a look at some toy concept art for the aborted Superman Lives project from director Tim Burton and now we have some more courtesy of TimBurton.jp, which includes more designs for Brainiac’s ship, Superman tackling an alien creature, a humanoid Brainiac and the monstrous Doomsday, along with a prototype Superman action figure that you need to see to believe…
…Meanwhile, in a late bit of casting news from Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, actor Richard Schiff (The West Wing) took part in an interview with I Am Rogue where he revealed that he will be portraying Dr. Emil Hamilton of S.T.A.R. Labs and has already shot scenes with Superman himself, Henry Cavill…
…In addition to a new French poster featuring Nicolas Cage’s Johnny Blaze, Sony have also announced the winning entry in their Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance ‘Face the Fan’ poster contest, with New Yorker Justin P. taking home the grand prize for this effort…
…Along with all of their TDKR goodness we mentioned earlier, Entertainment Weekly also debuted a brand new picture of an unmasked Andrew Garfield from The Amazing Spider-Man, which you can check out over at ComicBookMovie…
…As we inch closer to the February release of the ‘found footage’ teen super powers flick Chroncile, ComicBookMovie nabbed an interview with screenwriter Max Landis, while Fox have also launched a competition for UK fans to show what they’re capable of by showcasing their skills and abilities on YouTube. For more information, head on over to the official Chronicle UK YouTube channel, which you can find here…
…While we’re talking about Chronicle, Variety are reporting that first-time director Josh Trank is top of Fox’s shortlist to oversee their reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise, with the studio keen to see how his low-budget debut fares on its release over the Super Bowl weekend in the States…
…And finally, we close this week with the first trailer for a new documentary entitled With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, which celebrates the creative achievements of the man behind iconic characters such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man and the X-Men. The documentary is set to premiere on January 24th at the Slamdance Film Festival, and features input from the likes of Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Stewart, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicolas Cage, and Jon Favreau. Take a look at the trailer over at InsideMovies.
Holy Franchise, Batman! – Arriving this June.
