In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Daredevil, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: Civil War, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Spider-Man, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, The Fantastic Four, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Aquaman, The Flash, Arrow, Gotham, Supergirl, Batman vs. Robin, Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Jupiter’s Legacy, The Incredibles 2, Heroes Reborn and more……
Avengers: Age of Ultron may kick off the big screen superhero season later this month, but yesterday saw Marvel unleashing a 13-part treat for fans as Netflix unveiled its first Marvel series, Daredevil. If you’re yet to start watching the show, you can check out a TV spot [see here], a couple of clips [see here] and a behind-the-scenes featurette [see here], as well as a first-look image of Bob Gunton as Leland Owlsley / The Owl [see here] and a one-sheet and motion poster which reveal Matt Murdock’s iconic red suit [see here and here]…
…During a Reddit AMA to promote the release of Daredevil, star Charlie Cox spoke about the possibility of him making the jump to the big screen side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to link up with The Avengers: “I really think Chris Evans does an amazing job as Captain America and I happen to think him and Daredevil would work well together. I have no idea if this is even a possibility but I can tell you that I would love nothing more. I don’t see why the character from our show couldn’t fit in with the Avengers, if he was invited…”
….Flickering Myth’s Luke Owen has posted reviews of the first two episodes [see here and here], as well as a few Man Without Fear features on ‘6 Cancelled Daredevil TV Shows, Cartoons and Video Games’ and ‘The Evolution of Daredevil’s Costume‘. He also looked back on the Ben Affleck-headlined movie with ‘Does the 2003 Daredevil Movie Really Suck?‘, while the much-maligned film was also the subject of Screen Junkies’ latest Honest Trailer, which you can watch here…
…Daredevil isn’t the only big Marvel offering to look forward to this month as we are now less than two weeks away from the UK release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Disney’s marketing department has certainly been working overtime this week to remind us. Among the flood of promotional material to sift through is a final trailer [see here], new TV spots [see here], location and story featurettes [see here and here], and a banner and character poster which officially unveil Paul Bettany’s android superhero The Vision [see here and here]. Meanwhile, some new promo art has also popped up online featuring the main players from the Joss Whedon-directed sequel [see here and here], while Hot Toys has given us a look at its life size Captain America statue [see here] and a stunningly-detailed 1/6th scale War Machine Mark II collectible figure [see here], and details of Julie Delpy and Linda Cardellini’s characters have been revealed [see here]…
…We’ll be staying spoiler free on Avengers: Age of Ultron here in The Week in Spandex until around the end of May – and that includes laughing at how many of El Mayimbe’s “scoops” have been debunked (although you can read about the first one here) – but we will say that if you’re planning to stick around until after the end credits, you will be wasting your time. As per, Joss Whedon: “There is nothing at the very end. And that’s not a fake-out. We want people to know so they don’t sit there for 10 minutes and then go ‘Son of a bitch! I’ll kill them.’” However, Kevin Feige has promised that a mid-credits scene will be present, adding that: “There will be a tag, but there’s not a post-post-credit scene…”
…And speaking of The Avengers, it’s now official that Joss Whedon will be handing over the keys to Marvel’s flagship franchise to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War helmers Anthony and Joe Russo, with the duo confirmed as directing Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 [you can read Marvel’s official press release in full here]. Meanwhile, rumours persist that the Russos will be joined on the two-part superhero epic by Captain America screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, although their involvement is yet to officially be confirmed…
…Before the Russo tackle Infinity War, there’s the small matter of next year’s Captain America: Civil War, and this week has saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier star Frank Grillo confirming his return as Brock Rumlow / Crossbones and teasing that the movie is “gonna be a free for all”…
…In a few other bits and pieces from the big screen side of the MCU, Marvel has also debuted the first official still of Corey Stoll suited up as the villainous Yellowjacket in July’s Ant-Man, while it’s also been rumoured that Ghostbusters star Ernie Hudson is circling the role of King T’Chaka in 2018’s Black Panther movie and Disney has renewed its deal with IMAX through to 2017 this week, confirming that we’ll be getting BIG big screen releases for Marvel Studios releases Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor: Ragnarok…
…With a third season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. said to be a lock, the show returned from its midseason break this past week with ‘Afterlife’ [read our review here], which also saw the return of J. August Richards’ as the revamped ‘Deathlok 2.o’ [see here]. Next up the show will delve into the backstory of Melinda May, and you can check out a promo for ‘Melinda’ here, as well as a promotional poster here…
…As Marvel takes the first step on the road to The Defenders on Netflix, it seems that ABC is keen to expand its own Marvel output on the small screen. No, it’s not a second season of Agent Carter (not yet, anyway), but rather a new spinoff from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is being developed by S.H.I.E.L.D. executive producer Jeffrey Bell and writer Paul Zbyszekski. Details are virtually non-existent at present, but it’s said that story elements from the remaining episodes of AoS season two “will be used to lay the groundwork for the potential new series…”
…This one’s probably fake as hell, seeing as no one else managed to spot it, but a poster over at Moviefone claimed to have snapped the official logo for Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man reboot, which suggests the film is going by the title of The Spider-Man. Be sure to take this one with a pinch of salt…
…Click below to continue on for Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, The Fantastic Four, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Aquaman, The Flash, Arrow, Gotham, Supergirl, Batman vs. Robin, Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Jupiter’s Legacy, The Incredibles 2, Heroes Reborn and more…
Originally published April 11, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
