In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Spider-Man: Homecoming, Venom, Silver & Black, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man, The Defenders, Deadpool 2, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Fantastic Four, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 2, Justice League, Gotham City Sirens, Aquaman, The Flash, The Batman, Batman and Harley Quinn, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Watchmen, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Titans and more…
There’s less than a fortnight to go until the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Sony and Marvel have released some new promotional material this week, including a couple of clips and TV spots [see here and here], a new one-sheet [see here], and character posters for Tom Holland’s wall-crawler, Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Michael Keaton’s Vulture [see here], while Sony also unveiled the official cast list, which revealed a number of surprise additions and villains [read it here, but beware of spoilers]…
…In other Homecoming news, we also got a look at promo images for Hot Toys’ Iron Man XLVII collectible figure [see here], while Kevin Feige explained how he convinced Sony to allow Spider-Man to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, director Jon Watts discussed the wall-crawler’s future in the MCU, and a report arrived online suggesting that Spidey will be teaming up with another Marvel hero in the Homecoming sequel, although it won’t be Iron Man this time. Meanwhile, you may also want to check out Henry Bevan’s feature, ‘Looking Back at James Cameron’s Aborted Spider-Man Movie’, which you can read here…
…Sony has added another two cast members to its Animated Spider-Man movie in Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage) and Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta), with Ali voicing Miles Morales’ until Aaron Davis, and Henry as Miles father. They join Shameik Moore as Miles, and Liev Schreiber as the as-yet-unrevealed villain…
…During a promotional interview for the Spider-Man reboot, producer Amy Pascal has suggested that Sony’s SpiderVerse spinoff movies could be connected to Homecoming (despite Kevin Feige’s earlier comments that they won’t be part of the MCU), while Tom Holland shared his thoughts on Tom Hardy’s casting as Eddie Brock in Venom and Carnage has been revealed to be the film’s villain, director Gina Prince-Bythewood shared her excitement over Silver & Black, and it’s been reported that the studio is also planning to develop further spinoffs featuring Kraven the Hunter and Mysterio…
…Bad news for any Darryl Jacobson fans hoping to see the God of Thunder’s New Zealand roommate making an appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, as Chris Hemsworth has revealed that Darryl won’t be making an appearance in the Phase Three threequel, jokingly suggesting that he may still pop up in Infinity War (well, every other Marvel character is, so why not?). Meanwhile, Hemsworth also revealed that we’ll be seeing the introduction of the sixth and final Infinity Stone “very soon” (so, Thor: Ragnarok, then?), as well as stating/joking that it’s “illegal” for Marvel actors to make an appearance in the DC Extended Universe…
…Erik Killmonger, M’Baku/Man-Ape and Ulysses Klaue won’t be the only villains that T’Challa has to contend with in Marvel’s Black Panther, as actress and singer Nabiyah Be has revealed that she’s portraying the character of Tilda Johnson, a.k.a. Nightshade, whom we briefly glimpsed in the trailer…
…The Sorcerer Supreme descended on the set of Avengers: Infinity War this week, with Robert Downey Jr. sharing a behind-the-scenes photo of himself alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong and Mark Ruffalo [see here], and the Russos also posted a photo of them on the set of the Sanctum Sanctorum alongside Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson [see here]. Meanwhile, Scarlett Johansson has teased an epic scene with over 30 Marvel characters together: “I think that the Infinity Wars – I think at one point there are 61 or 62 Marvel characters in it. There’s a lot… In one particular scene, there’s like 32. There’s a lot. There’s so many of us, I don’t even know who’s a Marvel character and who’s a crew member, honestly…”
…During a promotional interview ahead of the release of his new film Baby Driver, filmmaker Edgar Wright spoke about his departure from Marvel’s Ant-Man movie: “The most diplomatic answer is I wanted to make a Marvel movie but I don’t think they really wanted to make an Edgar Wright movie. I was the writer-director on it and then they wanted to do a draft without me, and having written all my other movies, that’s a tough thing to move forward. Suddenly becoming a director for hire on it, you’re sort of less emotionally invested and you start to wonder why you’re there, really…”
…This week saw Netflix release the first official poster for The Defenders, which features our four heroes Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones) [check it out here]. Meanwhile, we also got a few photos from the set of Jessica Jones season two featuring Ritter and Rachael Taylor’s Trish Walker [see them here]…
…Cameras began rolling on Deadpool 2 this past week, with Ryan Reynolds sharing a set photo from Hatley Castle in Victoria, British Columbia, which has previously doubled as the X-Mansion in last year’s Deadpool, along with X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand. Also spotted on set was a yellow taxi cab, suggesting that Karan Soni’s Dopinder will feature in the scenes, while it’s also been reported that we’ll get to see the inside of the mansion in the sequel…
…It’s been reported this week that the mutant pop star Dazzler will make her big screen debut in X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The character was referenced in a deleted scene in X-Men: Apocalypse, with rumours suggesting that Taylor Swift would be portraying the character, although it seems there’s no plans at present to cast Swift for the next instalment of the main X-Men franchise…
…With his brother Liev having played Sabretooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, American Gods star Pablo Schreiber has said he’d like to join the X-Men franchise himself, taking over the role of Wolverine from Hugh Jackman: “I was a huge fan growing up of Wolverine and of Daredevil. Those are my two favorite guys and I would jump at the chance to play either one of them in a second. And you know I think Hugh is done now with Wolverine, so maybe it’s time for a reboot. Maybe it’s time for a new Wolverine… Maybe we can reboot Sabretooth. I don’t think he would agree to play Sabretooth to my Wolverine…”
…Click below to continue on for Fantastic Four, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 2, Justice League, Gotham City Sirens, Aquaman, The Flash, The Batman, Batman and Harley Quinn, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Watchmen, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Titans and more…
Originally published June 24, 2017. Updated November 30, 2022.
