In this pre-Comic Con edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, Ant-Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Avengers vs. X-Men, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 2, Deadpool, Heroes Reborn and more…
As Warner Bros. gears up to showcase its DC Cinematic Universe at the San Diego Comic-Con International this weekend, we’ve seen a new image of Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel, along with a photo from the convention floor showing Ben Affleck’s armored Batsuit. and some promotional images of three new 12″ collectible statues, including a rather awesome armored Batman. Meanwhile, Zack Snyder has been talking about Wonder Woman’s role Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Henry Cavill also spoke about next year’s hugely-anticipated superhero ensemble and whether it can be regarded as a sequel to 2013’s Man of Steel: “As far as the individual character is concerned, [Batman v Superman] is not a Superman sequel. It’s more of an introduction to Batman, an opening to Justice League, and an expansion of the world that was created in Man of Steel. here’s plenty of time for individual Superman sequels. He’s a tough character to tell. People like the darker vigilante. I think it speaks to the human psyche more easily rather than the god-like being that we can’t really understand. Once we have a more expansive universe we can delve more into the character of Superman and hopefully tell more stories…”
…This Thursday sees the release of the the documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, which explores the failed 90s Superman movie Superman Lives from director Tim Burton and star Nicolas Cage; you can watch the first ten minutes of the film here, and be sure to check out the Flickering Myth Podcast exclusive interview with producers Jon Schnepp and Holly Payne here…
…Marvel Studios is skipping Comic-Con this year, but fans do have the latest instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to look forward to next week with the release of Ant-Man. Naturally, we’ve seen a tonne of promotional material for the film, including an official release of the extended IMAX preview that was attached to Jurassic World [see here], a rather spoilery TV spot that features a surprise cameo from the MCU [see here], a new Christine Everhart viral video [see here], promo posters for the European premiere [see here], and a stack of clips, TV spots and featurettes [see here, here and here]. We’ve also got a selection of photos from the London press conference [see here], and if you’re interested in spoiling yourself, you can read details on the film’s two post-credits scenes here…
…UPDATE: We’ve posted our first spoiler-free review of Ant-Man, which you can read right here…
…During a promotional interview for Ant-Man, director Peyton Reed has spoken about the pressure of stepping into Edgar Wright’s shoes on the superhero adventure, stating that: “I remember when, literally as just a bystander, when that thing happened and I was direct messaging with Jeremy Smith, Mr. Beaks at Ain’t It Cool. Jeremy and I were exchanging messages like, ‘God, what happened with Edgar Wright?’ And he’s like, ‘I don’t know, man.’ I think I literally DMed him, ‘Who is the poor sap who is going to take over that movie?’ I did that! Then, I found myself a week and a half later meeting with Marvel and I decided to do the movie. I can’t remember if I emailed or called Jeremy, but I was like, ‘Guess what.’ He just read about it and was like, ‘What the f*ck?’ So, it was a really weird turn of events. Listen, it’s the kind of movie I’ve wanted to do for a long time. And I knew coming in last minute that it was going to be a speeding bullet that I had to catch up on.” Reed went on to discuss which elements of Wright and Joe Cornish’s script he retained for the final film, and you can read the rest of his comments here…
…Avengers: Age of Ultron may be lagging behind Jurassic World and Fast & Furious 7 at the box office this year, but its worldwide haul has received a shot in the arm thanks to its release in Japan this past weekend, where it pulled in an opening weekend of $6.5 million – the biggest Japanese debut for a Hollywood movie this year. The Joss Whedon-directed sequel is expected to pull in around $50 million from that market, which will help push it beyond the $1.4 billion mark…
…Rumour time now and according to Heroic Hollywood, Marvel has made an offer to Rachel McAdams (True Detective) for the female lead in next year’s Doctor Strange. If there’s any truth to the report, and McAdams accepts, she’d join a cast that so far includes Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) as Stephen Strange, Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer) as The Ancient One and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) as Baron Mondo…
…Moving on to the small screen and cameras have started rolling on the second season of Marvel’s Netflix series Daredevil, with the first set photos landing online on Monday featuring Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock) and Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson) shooting a scene in East Harlem. Meanwhile, it’s also been announced that G.I. Joe: Retaliation star Elodie Yung has secured the role of Elektra for the second season, where she’ll join fellow newcomer Jon Bernthal as The Punisher. Accompanying the news was a brand new teaser poster, which you can see to your left…
…Before the second season of Daredevil gets underway, Marvel will launch its second Netflix series Jessica Jones, and some new set photos have landed online featuring Krysten Ritter’s title character alongside David Tennant’s Kilgrave and Mike Colter’s Luke Cage; check them out here…
…With Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. set to be showcased as part of Friday’s Marvel Television Presents panel this Friday, a SDCC promotional poster has arrived online for the third season of the Avengers spinoff, which you can check out here…
…Hayley Atwell will be in San Diego this Friday to promote Agent Carter, and the actress shared a few thoughts on Peggy’s status as a strong female role model [read her comments here], as well as offering some detailss on what we can expect from the second season of the show: “I do know that, one thing they have decided, is that it’s going to be set a year later. So it’s 1947, it’s going to be set in L.A., and I keep on thinking about L.A. Confidential, that kind of film noir, which would be great. And I think there will be a new romantic interest and then I think there might also be… Well, there will be, repetition of characters. So Jarvis and Howard will be there with us again… I don’t think it’s the end for her, in terms of the struggles working in a male-dominated environment back in the forties. I think that’s going to be an on-going thing. And there’ll be a new nemesis, and a new female character, strong female characters. It’d be nice to – I’d like to – strengthen her friendship with Angie a little bit more, and explore that. Because it’s really refreshing that you get two female characters on screen who are not competitive with each other, or they’re not talking about the guys that they like. It’s quite nice to have that, so I hope that they reinforce that a little bit more…”
…Click below to continue on for Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Avengers vs. X-Men, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 2, Deadpool, Heroes Reborn and more…
Originally published July 8, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
