…It’s been pretty quiet on the DC Cinematic front this week, although Jared Leto did respond to the rumours linking him to the role of the Joker in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad by stating that: “You know there’s a film called Fight Club, my friend. And you know the first rule is, don’t you? Enough said. I’m not really in a hurry to jump into a film unless its something I can’t say no to.” Leto is one of several actors linked to Suicide Squad, with Jai Courtney (Terminator: Genisys), Will Smith (After Earth), Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) and Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) said to be in contention, and Jesse Eisenberg reportedly in talks to reprise the role of Lex Luthor from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice…
…On the animated feature film front, The LEGO Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have been speaking about the 2017 spin-off centred around the character of Will Arnett’s Batman. “Rest assured, every era of Batman filmmaking will be acknowledged,”said Lord, with Miller adding that: “There have been so many interpretations of Batman and there is so much to play with there. There are 40 versions of his origin story alone…”
…This week has given us our first look at the upcoming two-part crossover between The Flash and Arrow, with both Grant Gustin and Stephen Amell appearing on the cover of EW [see here], and The CW releasing a batch of promotional images from ‘Flash vs. Arrow’ [see here], along with a promo for the concluding part, ‘The Brave and the Bold’ [see here]. The crossover is set to get underway on December 2nd, but before then we do have one more episode of The Flash entitled ‘Power Outage’, and you can check out a trailer and promo here, along with Jessie Robertson’s reviews for The Flash episode 6 ‘The Flash Is Born’ [see here] and Arrow episode 7 ‘Draw Back Your Bow’ [see here]…
…Turning to FOX and we have a promo for the fall finale of Gotham, entitled ‘Lovecraft’ [see here], along with Martin Carr’s review of the previous episode ‘Harvey Dent’ [see here]. Meanwhile, showrunner Bruno Heller has promised a “prenatal origin story” for Robin in an upcoming episode, as well as seemingly ruling out an appearance from fan favourite Harley Quinn this season: “We’re going to do a prenatal origin story for Robin down the line. There are no MRIs involved. There’s an episode coming up where we learn how Robin’s parents got together… One of the things about the size and scope and ambitious of this production is that—it’s not that there’s lots of chefs in the kitchen, but there’s a lot of people with opinions and views and inside knowledge. That aspect of the show—which characters to use and when — is a source of constant discussion. And that may well have been an issue that came up and was dropped. We haven’t got Harley Quinn in it. Riddler’s girlfriend is coming up. And Harley Quinn is definitely planned for later on, but so far no…”
…With Constantine clinging on for dear life amid cancellation fears, NBC has released a promo for Friday’s sixth episode ‘Rage of Caliban’ which you can see here, and be sure to take a look at Martin Carr’s review of episode four ‘A Feast of Friends’ here…
…During a promotional interview for his new film The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne was asked if he had any interest in starring in a superhero movie: “I’m desperate to do Bananaman. Bananaman is this great guy who eats a banana, and he becomes Bananaman. He’s the one that I’ve always wanted to play, to the extent that Andrew Garfield — an old pal — was asked in an interview, ‘If you could play any superhero other than Spider-Man, who would you play?’ And he was thinking about it, and the interviewer was like, ‘Bananaman?’ And Andrew was like, ‘No, Eddie’s playing that.’ I’d have to do some serious working out. Shit. Maybe I’m not destined to be Bananaman.” As it happens, there is an animated Bananaman movie set for next year, so perhaps Redmayne could lend his voice to the character instead…
…And finally, we’ve posted a few superhero-related op-eds this week on Flickering Myth; check out Anthony Stokes’ Why Guardians of the Galaxy Was A Massive Success and Thomas Roach’s Should The Joker Be In Suicide Squad?, while Anthony and Anghus Houvouras have each taken sides on the debate over Idris Elba’s recent comments about working on Thor: The Dark World – take a look at Anthony’s criticism here, and Anghus’ defence 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.
Originally published November 22, 2014. Updated February 28, 2020.
