In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Defenders, Inhumans, Runaways, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Logan, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Justice League, Suicide Squad 2, The Batman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, Gotham and more…
After opening internationally to $101 million last weekend (and pushing the total gross of the Marvel Cinematic Universe beyond the $11 billion mark in the process), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 made its way to North America yesterday, and is tracking a massive domestic opening weekend in the region of $150 million – $170 million. With China to go on top of that, it looks like it’s going to be a stellar weekend for the acclaimed Marvel sequel…
…You can read our reviews of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 here, here and here, while Liam Hoofe has also broken down the film’s five post-credits scenes, and Samuel Brace has written an op-ed looking at three things that worked and three things that didn’t. On the marketing front, Marvel has released a couple of clips featuring Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and Kurt Russell’s Ego [watch it here] and Sylvester Stallone’s Stakar and Michael Rooker’s Yondu [watch it here], and Hot Toys has unveiled its new range of Cosbaby Bobble-Heads featuring Star-Lord, Mantis, Nebula, Groot, Rocket and Yondu [see here]…
…Having stole the show in Guardians Vol. 2, Michael Rooker has said that James Gunn had to fight for his casting in the first movie, while Dave Bautista has also revealed that he was initially disappointed with Drax’s role in the sequel, and it wasn’t until the table read of the screenplay that it clicked for him. Meanwhile, Gunn himself is already looking towards the next instalment, revealing that he’s started writing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and confirming that the story will take place after the events of Avengers 4…
…The Guardians will next be seen in Avengers: Infinity War, although Chris Pratt has revealed this week that they’ll be playing a supporting role to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: “We definitely will have a strong presence, but we are playing supporting cast – you know what I mean? We’re there to help them tell an awesome Infinity War story. But Guardians is cosmic. It is its own special off-shoot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” Meanwhile, with filming shifting from Edinburgh to Durham Cathedral, some new cast members have been spotted on set, including Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), as well as Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) and a Rocket Raccoon stand-in prop…
…LEGO unveiled its Thor: Ragnarok tie-in sets this week, which feature Thor vs Hulk: Arena Clash (complete with Thor, The Hulk, Loki, The Grandmaster and Sakaarian Guard minifigures) and The Ultimate Battle for Asgard (including Thor, Bruce Banner, Hela, Valkyrie and two Berseker minifigures); take a look at the official promotional images here…
…Sony and Marvel have unveiled a new banner for Spider-Man: Homecoming, as well as announcing that we’ll be getting a special sneak peek at the film during the MTV Movie & TV Awards this coming Sunday night. Meanwhile, stars Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau took part in a “secret shoot” for the reboot this past week, while Funko unveiled its line of Pop! Vinyl tie-in figures [see here] and we also got a look at Hasbro’s ‘Tech Suit’ Spider-Man action figure, who’s wearing a blue costume that presumably will have nothing to do with the film itself [see here]…
…It’s been a pretty big week on the Marvel Television front, starting with The Defenders, which received its very first trailer this week! You can watch the trailer here, and be sure to check out the thoughts of our writers in the latest Flickering Myth Reaction here; meanwhile, we’ve also got a promo teasing the return of Elektra [watch it here], as well as a poster and batch of images for the hotly-anticipated team-up [see here]…
…The Defenders weren’t the only Marvel team we got a look at this week, as the first official image from ABC and IMAX’s Inhumans also arrived online, featuring Eme Ikwuakor (Gorgon), Ken Leung (Karnak), Anson Mount (Black Bolt), Serinda Swan (Medusa), Isabelle Cornish (Crystal) and Iwan Rheon (Maximus). Reactions on Twitter certainly weren’t too positive. Along with the image, we also got to see a brief teaser [watch it here], along with the release of the first poster [see here]…
…And if The Defenders and the Inhumans weren’t enough, Freeform also released the first promo image from Runaways as they announced that the show has received a full series order. You can check out the image here, which features Ariela Barer (Gert Yorkes), Lyrica Okano (Nico Minoru), Rhenzy Feliz (Alex Wilder), Gregg Sulkin (Chase Stein), Virginia Gardner (Karolina Dean) and Allegra Acosta (Molly Hernandez)…
…Over at ABC and you can read Danny Hale’s reviews of Tuesday’s twentieth episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season four ‘Farewell, Cruel World!’ here, while you may also want to take a look at a promo, clip and images for the next episode ‘The Return’ [see here and here], along with a synopsis for the season finale ‘World’s End’, which sees the return of Ghost Rider [see here]…
…While Kevin Feige has seemed dead against incorporating the TV side of the MCU into the feature films, he’s now admitted that a crossover is inevitable at some point in the future, although his comments also seem to indicate that the movies could also recast any small screen characters they may wish to make us of: “The future’s a long time. So, the truth is, I don’t really know, but there are a lot of TV shows being made, and hopefully we’ll continue to make a lot of movies. At some point, there’s going to be a crossover. Crossover, repetition, or something.”
…Click below to continue on for Logan, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Justice League, Suicide Squad 2, The Batman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, Gotham and more…
Originally published May 6, 2017. Updated November 30, 2022.
