In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Batman, Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, Constantine, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Ant-Man, Spider-Man, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Punisher, Deadpool, Wolverine 3, Powers, Heroes Reborn, Realm and more…
We’ll start off this Halloween edition of The Week in Spandex with the DC Extended Universe, and this week saw Empire pulling back the curtain on Suicide Squad, with the magazine releasing covers featuring The Joker (Jared Leto), Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Deadshot (Will Smith), as well as a selection of stills from the movie [see here and here]. Meanwhile, cast members Karen Fukuhara (Katana), Adam Beach (Slipknot), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Jay Hernandez (El Diablo), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc) and Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag) have briefly discussed their respective characters [see here], and director David Ayer has revealed why he thinks the film will stand out from other comic book movies: “You know, all these movies are about defeating the evil alien robot from fucking Planet X, before it destroys the world with its ticking clock. And who the f*ck cares? But you do this story about struggle and isolation and people who have been shit on that suddenly get thrown this lifeline… that’s not so bad… I like to think of this as the Comic Book Movie 2.0…”
…As well as teasing that “we’ve got to have a new trailer soon”, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder shared a few comments about how he’s building to Justice League with the DC ensemble: ““I want to — we’re working toward Justice League, and I really want to create the — part of the thing I really want to create is the possibility of a world where they could exist together. I think up to this point, it’s been difficult to suggest a world where Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman and others could exist in the same universe. That was one of the things I really wanted to try and get at. Not to mention, the amazing opportunity to bring those characters and have those characters tell an important story, their own story, within the confines of a film…”
…Despite the fact there’s been no official word on a Batman solo movie, some alleged plot rumours have popped up online this week, suggesting that the storyline will be inspired by the comic book arcs A Death in the Family and Under the Red Hood, and will see Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight battling both the Joker and the Red Hood. You can read more details here, but have your pinch of salt at the ready…
…Man of Steel was certainly a divisive movie (take Captain America star Anthony Mackie for instance, who shared his dislike for the movie this week), with many fans taking exception in particular towards Superman’s killing of General Zod. But, according to David S. Goyer, it was the right decision for the story, with the screenwriter stating this week that: “The way I work, the way [Christopher Nolan] works, is you do what’s right for the story. That exists entirely separately from what fans should or shouldn’t think of that character. You have to do what’s right for the story. In that instance, this was a Superman who had only been Superman for like, a week. He wasn’t Superman as we think of him in the DC Comics…or even in a world that conceived of Superman existing. He’d only flown for the first time a few days before that. He’d never fought anyone that had super powers before. And so he’s going up against a guy who’s not only super-powered, but has been training since birth to use those super powers, who exists as a superhuman killing machine, who has stated, ‘I will never stop until I destroy all of humanity.’ If you take Superman out of it, what’s the right way to tell that story? I think the right way to tell that story is if you take this powered alien who says, ‘You can have your race back, but you have to kill your adopted race,’ the moral, horrible situation to be in is to actually be forced to kill, not wanting to, the only other person from your race. Take Superman aside, I think that’s the right way to tell that story…”
…With production on Wonder Woman expected to get underway next month, Chris Pine has briefly shared his excitement about being part of the Amazon Princess’ solo movie: “I do not really know what I’m allowed to tell you. I’m super excited, of course, Gal Gadot is super talented, Patty Jenkins will perform, and we will shoot in film … What excites me most is to turn in a movie with a superhero woman. With a woman in the lead role. I am a team with this intelligent, beautiful and strong [woman] to destroy the wicked and save humanity. The routine, whatever…”
…Warner Bros.’ latest DC television series premiered this week, with Supergirl scoring 14 million viewers and a 3.2 rating, making it the biggest new show of the fall season. CBS followed up the premiere episode by releasing a new trailer showing what we can expect from the first season [see here], along with promo images, TV spots and sneak peek clips for the second episode ‘Stronger Together’ [see here], a first look image and synopsis for episode four ‘How Does She Do It?’ [see here]. It’s also been announced that Henry Czerny (Revenge) will play Winslow Schott – “a mad criminal genius known as Toyman – and Winn’s estranged father. Toyman weaponizes toys to wreak destruction and revenge but is ultimately driven by one thing – the obsessive desire to reunite with his beloved son…”
…Gotham also expanded its cast with some iconic DC villains this week; BD Wong (Jurassic World) has nabbed the role Professor Hugo Strange and Nathan Darrow (House of Cards) will play Dr. Victor Fries, a.k.a. Mr. Freeze, with Kristen Hager (Being Human) also cast as Victor’s wife Nora Fries. Meanwhile, you can check out a promo for Monday’s ‘Mommy’s Little Monster’ here and here, as well as some promotional images for the following week’s ‘Tonight’s the Night’ here…
…This past Tuesday’s episode of The Flash, ‘The Fury of Firestorm’, saw a surprise cameo from a DC villain; watch their appearance here, and be sure to take a look at Jessie Robertson’s review of the episode here. This Tuesday’s ‘The Darkness and the Light’ sees the introduction of the villainous Zoom, and we have a batch of images and a couple of promos for the episode [see here and here], along with an official synopsis for the following episode ‘Gorilla Warfare’, which marks the return of Gorilla Grodd to Central City [see here]…
…Shifting to Arrow and Constantine star Matt Ryan has been speaking about returning to the role of John Constantine for a guest appearance in this coming Wednesday’s episode and how he found adjusting to the Arrow universe: “There are certain things he’s doing, like picking up a sword and fighting with it, that are slightly different. And there was a period of adjustment as well, when I first put on the trenchcoat again. The first take I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ But after a while it was like, ‘Ah, there he is. There’s the posture. There’s the physicality of him.’ What’s great about that episode is that John comes into this Arrow world, and everyone doesn’t believe, or doesn’t know about, these occult worlds beyond ours, and John’s just like, ‘Look, this is the way shit is.’ And he’s an arrogant bastard as well, so everyone’s a bit thrown off by him…”
…You can see Constantine in action from this week’s ‘Haunted’ with a batch of images, a trailer and promo for the episode [see here and here], and we’ve also got the official synopsis for the following episode ‘Brotherhood’ here and a review of this past Wednesday’s ‘Beyond Redemption’ here…
…Click below to continue on for Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Ant-Man, Spider-Man, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Punisher, Deadpool, Wolverine 3, Powers, Heroes Reborn, Realm and more…
