Presenting our weekly round-up of all the biggest news stories from the world of movie superheroes…
Marvel Studios stepped up the publicity campaign for next year’s superhero team-up as The Avengers took over Entertainment Weekly, giving us our first proper look at Joss Whedon’s versions of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) with their latest cover shot. EW followed up the cover reveal with the individual character portraits and comments from the six main cast members, along with some behind-the-scenes shots that includes Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. First impressions are that Mark Ruffalo destroys Scarlett Johansson in the pouting stakes and Captain America’s new costume isn’t a patch on that of The First Avenger.
Looking further ahead for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it seems that the recent reports linking Monster director Patty Jenkins to Thor 2 were right on the money, with Jenkins responding with ““I can’t say, but yes,” when asked by NYMag if she was set to venture into Asgard for the sequel to this year’s box office hit. Chris Hemsworth certainly seems to think that’s the case, telling Hero Complex that “she has a great take on the story and a solid grasp on that kind of universe.”
Chances are that if you’ve been online in the past couple of days there’ll be absolutely no need for you to heed this spoiler warning before we move on to the news that Cillian Murphy has been spotted on the set of The Dark Knight Rises, meaning that Christopher Nolan’s final Batman outing looks set to feature the return first two Rogues to confront Christian Bale’s Dark Knight – the Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson). The Murphy-sighting was accompanied by a reported scene description featuring the Scarecrow presiding over a kangaroo court of thugs, villains and mercenaries, with Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), Miranda Tate (Marion Cottilard) and several GCPD as the ‘defendants’ (read the full report and alleged dialogue here). It would be nice to see Murphy’s Jonathan Crane back for a brief cameo a la The Dark Knight and the whole ‘mock trial’ thing is very Batman, but personally I’d still like to see him fall victim to Bane.
The possible return of the Scarecrow wasn’t the only leak to hit The Dark Knight Rises, as a host of spy photos arrived online earlier in the week to give us our first full look at Anne Hathaway in costume as Catwoman. The shots confirmed a couple of things – firstly, that the report of a cat-ears/domino mask combination was correct, and secondly, that Hathaway looks distinctly average next to previous Catwomen (and yes, I’m including Halle Berry in that). However, if this alleged scene description of Selina’s introduction during the Black Gate prison break proves correct and Hathaway can manage to pull off the badassery, then perhaps she’ll come through. Nevertheless, we can still rest easy in the knowledge that no matter how far TDKR may fall short of our lofty expectations, it will still be a vast improvement over Batman & Robin, which George Clooney described as “really shit” when passing on his thoughts about Joel Schumacher’s 1997 atrocity in a recent interview with Total Film.
If rumours are to be believed, John Williams (Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones) could be returning to the Superman franchise as composer for Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, with the five-time Academy Award-winner said to have secured the gig ahead of rivals Hans Zimmer (The Lion King, Gladiator, Batman Begins) and Snyder stalwart Tyler Bates (Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch). Meanwhile, Deadline also broke the news that Julia Ormond has left the cast of Man of Steel, with Ayelet Zurer (Angels & Demons) stepping in as her replacement for the role of Kal-El’s Kryptonian mother Lara. Zurer joins the likes of Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne and her on-screen husband, Russell Crowe, in the cast of the currently-in-production origin story.
Wrapping up the best of the rest…
…Hugh Jackman has been doing the rounds to promote his latest movie, Real Steel, with talk naturally turning to The Wolverine. The actor talked in depth with The Playlist about the current status of the movie (it’s happening straight after Les Misérables), Darren Aronofsky’s departure and subsequent appointment of director James Mangold, the rewrites to Christopher McQuarrie’s original script and the chances of him returning for X-Men 4 and X-Men: First Class 2…
…Jackman was joined in the Real Steel promotion by director Shawn Levy, who spoke to Collider about his proposed big screen outing for DC’s speedy superhero The Flash: “I oversaw a draft for about three-and-a-half months,” said the filmmaker, who was attached to the project back in 2007. “In the end, The Flash went away because Justice League was gonna happen. And then it didn’t happen. To my great dismay, because I would have been first in line for that, too…”
…And on the subject of the Justice League, Warner Premiere have released details of the cast for the next installment of their DC Universe Animated Original Movies line, Justice League: Doom. Among the familiar voices are Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series), Tim Daly (Superman: The Animated Series) and Nathan Fillion (Green Lantern: Emerald Knights), with Carl Lumbly, Michael Rosenbaum and Susan Eisenberg also reprising their roles from Justice League and Justice League Unlimited as Martian Manhunter, the Flash and Wonder Woman respectively. Check out a detailed plot synopsis and some images from the animated feature over at ComicBookMovie…
…In other animated DC news, Green Lantern: The Animated Series will receive its premiere at the New York Comic Con on Saturday, October 15th (in addition to a Q&A with series creator Bruce Timm) ahead of its small screen debut on Cartoon Network in November…
…Brian Taylor discussed his and co-director Mark Neveldine’s upcoming sequel-cum-reboot Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance in a 15-minute video interview with Collider, covering topics such as the film’s post-production conversion to 3D, stars Nicolas Cage and Idris Elba, the ‘Neveldine/Taylor’ filmmaking style and possible deleted scenes for the eventual home-video release…
…And finally, it looks like Andrew Garfield’s friendly neighborhood web-slinger will be swinging back into cinemas soon as the BBFC bestow a PG classification on a new theatrical trailer for next year’s 3D reboot The Amazing Spider-Man. If the timings of previous classficiations are anything to go by, this could be with us in the next week or so.
Holy Franchise, Batman! – Coming 2012.
Originally published October 1, 2011. Updated November 29, 2022.
