Our weekly round-up of the latest news and talking points from the world of screen superheroes, including Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Inhumans, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Gambit, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, Constantine, Supergirl, Krypton, Static Shock and more….
Well, after Warner Bros. announced its DC movie slate a few weeks back, Marvel Studios fired back with a vengeance this week, inviting fans and the press to the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles for a mystery announcement, which turned out to be details of the studio’s Phase Three schedule! As well as officially confirming Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Marvel gave us the subtitles for Captain America 3 and Thor 3 – Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok – along with three new franchises in Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Inhumans, not to mention the two-part Avengers: Infinity War. If you haven’t seen them already, you can check out the official title cards and for the Phase Three movies and some Black Panther concept art here, along with a teaser trailer for Avengers: Infinity War here, Kevin Feige detailing the new additions to Phase Three here, his comments on how Civil War will be adapted for the Cinematic Universe and the possibility of Spider-Man’s inclusion here, and his thoughts on The Incredible Hulk and Black Widow’s involvement in the next stage of the MCU here. Meanwhile, the Phase Three line-up is also the topic of discussion on the Flickering Myth Podcast, while our writing team compared Marvel’s upcoming slate to DC’s in the latest Flickering Myth Reaction…
…During the big Marvel announcement, it was also revealed that Chadwick Boseman (42) has secured the role of T’Challa in the long-awaited Black Panther movie, with Boseman said to have a five-film deal which will start with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War (unless we get a surprise appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron of course). However, despite Variety’s earlier proclamation that Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) has secured the role of Dr. Stephen Strange, there was no official word on who will be playing the Sorcerer Supreme in 2016’s Doctor Strange – meaning that either the deal is yet to be finalised, or Variety jumped the gun once again, as it did with Joaquin Phoenix…
…Having been forced to release the first Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer early due to a leak, Marvel did have one Avengers treat in store for us during this week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., with an extended version of the trailer featuring a clip of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes relaxing in Avengers tower and attempting to lift Thor’s hammer. You can watch the extended trailer here, along with a clip showing tension between Steve Rogers and Robert Downey Jr. here; meanwhile, a few stars of the movie have been talking about the eagerly-anticipated sequel this week in Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans [see here], Robert Downey Jr. [see here] and James Spader [see here], while Kevin Feige has admitted that the climax of the film will see an “altered” roster of Avengers [see here]…
…Marvel had cause to celebrate again this week as Guardians of the Galaxy overtook X-Men: Days of Future Past at the worldwide box office to become the highest-grossing comic book movie of 2014. Guardians of the Galaxy is currently on $752.8 million globally, leaving it trailing just Transformers: Age of Extinction ($1.087 billion) and Maleficent ($757.5 million) in terms of the year’s biggest earners. Quite the result for such a “risky” project…
…On the small screen, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. enjoyed a ratings bump with its sixth episode ‘A Fractured House’ climbing from a series low of 4.36 million the previous week to 4.5 million viewers in total, which presumably had something to do with the exclusive Age of Ultron sneak peek. You can read our review of ‘A Fractured House’ here, and we’ve also got a promo and some images from the next episode ‘The Writing on the Wall’, which airs on November 11th; check them out here…
…As well as giving us the aforementioned Age of Ultron sneak peek, this week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. also offered up the first TV spot for January’s Hayley Atwell-headlined Agent Carter TV series, while Marvel also dropped a lengthy new synopsis for the Captain America spin-off. Meanwhile, it has also been announced that Meagen Fay (Murder in the First) has signed on for a recurring role, joining Atwell, Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark) and new MCU additions Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire), Enver Gjokaj (Dollhouse), Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill), James D’Arcy (Let’s Be Cops) and Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass)…
…If you were hoping to see Bullseye as part of Marvel’s Daredevil series, then I’m afraid you’re out of luck as showrunner Steven S. DeKnight has confrimed via Twitter that the villain will be absent from the Netflix show…
…Over at Sony and it seems the studio is still flapping about how to take the Spider-Man franchise forward after the disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with a new report suggesting that an idea is being tossed around for a team-up movie featuring all of the female characters of the Spidey universe, which is supposedly going by the working title of Glass Ceiling…
…20th Century Fox has officially given the go ahead to Channing Tatum’s Gambit movie, with Tatum signing on to star and produce in the X-Men spin-off. The script is set to be written by Josh Zetumer (RoboCop), from an original treatment by Gambit co-creator and acclaimed Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont…
Click below to continue on for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, Constantine, Supergirl, Krypton, Static Shock and more…
Originally published November 1, 2014. Updated November 29, 2022.
