…It wasn’t just Marvel suffering a flood of set photos this week with Captain America: Civil War, as Warner Bros. has also been suffering the same fate with its currently-in-production DC supervillain ensemble Suicide Squad. This week we’ve seen Jared Leto’s Joker in full costume alongside Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn [see here and here], as well as a high quality close up look at Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s Killer Croc [see here]…
…In other DC news, former Latino-Reviewer El Mayimbe has dropped some more alleged concept art from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice showing The Dark Knight and the Man of Steel squaring off against each other (although the fact that Warner Bros. is allowing it to remain online whilst demanding the removal of any and all legit material that’s been leaked makes me question its authenticity)…
…Looking further ahead in the DC movie universe and Phil Lord (22 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie) has been speaking about The Flash movie, and its (lack of) connections to the TV series: “We’re trying to break a story. It’s interesting, because there’s a really popular TV show out there, and we’re trying to carve out space for the movie that’s apart from that. I think we’re doing alright. I believe [our Flash] is going to be Barry Allen. It’s going to be it’s own [thing] — we’re more trying to stick with the cinematic universe… it really is its own thing, and kind of a stand-alone movie. We’re just trying to think of the best story. I think you guys will like it, it’s kind of a different take on superhero stuff…”
…Despite being in development for several years, one DC movie that was absent from Warner’s big announcement last year was Lobo, which would have reunited Dwayne Johnson (who is now set to play Black Adam in Shazam) and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and San Andreas helmer Brad Peyton. Well, Peyton has now provided an update on the project, and it sounds like we won’t be seeing the intergalactic bounty hunter on the big screen any time soon: “I think what’s happening with DC is that they have prioritised what they need to make first in order to kind of lay the foundations for the DC universe. This is what I believe is happening just from what they’ve been talking about. They’re talking about Justice League, Batman v Superman, and going into Flash, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Those are kind of the pillars of that universe. I was really happy with the script. I talked with Dwayne [Johnson] about it. Joel Silver [producer] and I had a really amazing meeting about it. I did a rewrite of the script and was really, really excited for it. In their estimation, though, he wasn’t one of those main guys. I think there’s going to be a really amazing time for Lobo and I think people are going to realise, certainly once they revisit it, what they’re sitting on. Fingers crossed it comes to fruition at some point…
…With The Flash airing its season finale this week [read our review here], The CW kicked off promotion for this fall’s second season – and the fourth season of Arrow – by releasing two promos, which don’t actually feature anything in the way of new footage, but do see Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti teasing what’s in store for the future of both shows…
…In other CW superhero news, Grant Gustin has stated that The Flash is set to introduce multiple universes in Earth-One and Earth-Two, while a poster for Arrow recapped the events of the third season, and showrunner Marc Guggenheim has revealed to expect a lighter tone when we return to Starling City in the fall: “We’ve been working for about a month now in the writers’ room, talking about Season 4, and I think that one thing we all collectively understood was Season 3 beginning with Sara’s death, because it’s the death of a major character on the show, it set a tone for the remainder of the season. And I’m not the least bit apologetic for that tone. I happen to like dark and I like the fact that Arrow is a pretty dark show particularly for a network show. That said, every year you want to mix things up and there was sort of a collective desire on all of our parts to try to inject a little bit more lightness into the show, a little bit more humor. It’s not going to radically change. The show’s still going to be the show but in terms of tone we’re coming off a very very hard season for all of our characters. We wanted to try to mix it up a little bit…”
…Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen may have joined Melissa Benoist’s Kara Zor-El for some promotional images this week, but executive producer Greg Berlanti has played down the chances of a crossover between The CW’s The Flash and CBS’ upcoming series Supergirl: “The network has said publicly at this point they’re going to keep her to themselves. I always approach the shows as a fan first, so I would love to see [a crossover]. I think in success, all things are possible. But there’s a lot that would have to happen before everybody might say yes to that…”
…And finally, NBC’s upcoming Heroes revival Heroes Reborn has secured another original cast member, with Greg Grunberg set to reprise the role of mind-reading detective Matt Parkman. Grunberg will join fellow Heroes alumni Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Jack Coleman (Noah “HRG” Bennet) and Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian) in Reborn, which is set to get underway in the fall.
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.
