…Moving on to the X-Men franchise now and it has been announced this week that Drew Goddard has signed on to write and direct the studio’s X-Force movie, which will see the return of Deadpool 2 co-stars Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Josh Brolin (Cable) (although unannounced, we can presumably add Zazie Beetz’s Domino to that list). This isn’t Goddard’s first brush with the superhero genre, having been attached to direct Sony’s abandoned Sinister Six movie, as well as being the original showrunner on Marvel’s Netflix series Daredevil. Goddard has apparently already completed the screenplay for X-Force, and will turn his attention to the film once he completes production on his next project Bad Times at the El Royale…
…In other X-Men news, Jessica Chastain has suggested that reports claiming she is playing the character of Lilandra in the currently-in-production X-Men: Dark Phoenix are wide of the mark, while Jennifer Lawrence revealed why she’s decided to reprise the role of Mystique for a fourth time: “My contract was up, I didn’t have to do another one, but if I didn’t do another one, what would her story be? I felt like I owed it to the fans, and I owed it to the character to follow her journey, to be fair to the movies, and not be like, ‘I don’t want to do another X-Men!’ And then I just never show up and everyone’s very confused about the Mystique they’ve been following for the last three films…”
…Turning to the DC Extended Universe now and this week has brought us a new image of Ben Affleck’s Batman from November’s Justice League, as well as details on Warner Bros.’ Justice League VR experience, which will let fans take on the roles of Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg. Meanwhile, Mattel has also released promotional images for its upcoming Target exclusive DC Comics Multiverse Justice League The Flash From Page to Screen action figure 2 pack, which includes a six inch Flash based upon Ezra Miller’s Scarlet Speedster, as well as as Rebirth comic book version; take a look at the figures here…
…With Wonder Woman helping Warner Bros. to win the summer box office showdown, director Patty Jenkins has revealed that she had braced herself for a critical backlash prior to the film’s release: “I went into the release of the movie assuming it would be, in best case, a mixed bag. And I sort of braced myself for it, where I thought, well, ‘Listen, you’re doing a beloved superhero; it’s always going to end up being at least 40%, oh you could have done, blah blah blah.’ So, the support and positivity that the movie has received, and also just the people wanting to talk about what we wanted to talk about in the movie and not other things, has been stunning…”
…The search for a director on Suicide Squad 2 is over, with Warrior and The Accountant helmer Gavin O’Connor to direct the supervillain sequel, as well as writing the script with Anthony Tambakis. It’s unclear when Suicide Squad 2 will go into production however, as O’Connor is also attached to reunite with Ben Affleck for a sequel to The Accountant…
…With Shazam! set to be the next DCEU project to go before the cameras, it’s been rumoured this week that WWE star John Cena (Daddy’s Home) and Joshua Sasse (Galavant) are “tentatively the front runners” for the title role in the David F. Sandberg-helmed solo movie, while an alleged synopsis has also surfaced: “Based on the DC Comics character “Shazam!” Billy Batson becomes Captain Marvel, the world’s mightiest mortal, when he says the magic word “Shazam! The name is an acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world as well as their attributes. The wisdom of Solomon, strength of Hercules, stamina of Atlas, power of Zeus, courage of Achilles and speed of Mercury…”
…With Warner Bros. announcing a non-DCEU Joker origin movie, in addition to a DCEU Joker and Harley Quinn film, fans have been left a little confused by the situation, and Suicide Squad star Jared Leto has revealed that he’s also in the same boat: “I’m a little confused too, but yeah, there are a couple of things happening in the DC world and I loved the Joker, he’s a great character, a really fun character to play. It’s a big universe and when you play the Joker, there’s no ownership there. You have the honor of holding the baton for a little while and then passing it off. But there are other films in development and I’m excited to see what comes from them…”
…Having revealed back in June that he’d pitched Warner Bros. a Superman: Red Son movie, Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts has shared his opinion on Warner’s new non-DC division, and revealed that he is still hoping to get the call: “Well, apparently they’re taking that idea. They’re not taking me up, because I have gotten no phone calls about that. I was surprised to hear the headline, regardless of whether or not they want to do Red Son, I think that is the smartest, most punk rock thing that DC can do right now to separate themselves from Marvel is just to double-down and say, ‘We’re going to tell a bunch of crazy stories. We’re going to tell stories in different universes and different times and really play around and just tell you great stories with these characters.’ To me, I think that the expanded universe is one long story thing that will always serve its purpose, but we’ve got to think about what’s next. To me, that’s interesting. To me, that’s … I’m happy that they’re apparently now entertaining that idea. I would love to get a call saying, ‘Hey, do you want to talk about Red Son?’ But I have yet to receive that phone call…”
…Fox has revealed a new trailer for season four of Gotham which focusses on the rise of the Scarecrow and Bruce Wayne’s ongoing transformation into Batman [watch it here], along with a featurette that sees David Mazouz discussing Bruce’s journey [watch it here], and a couple of new posters [see here]. Meanwhile, executive producer John Stephens has revealed that Jim Gordon will find himself hunting Bruce’s young masked vigilante: “In the first half of the season this year, Jim Gordon is going to try to loosen Penguin’s hold upon Gotham. He does that by forming an alliance with Sofia Falcone, who Crystal Reed is playing, and the two of them work together to basically try to dethrone Penguin. At the same time, Bruce Wayne is going to go out there and start operating as a vigilante wearing a mask… And then moving forward after that, Jim Gordon will realize that this vigilante is operating out there in Gotham somewhere and he goes “I’m going to hunt that guy down” and we have Jim Gordon and a masked Bruce Wayne going head to head…”
…The CW’s Arrowverse shows have been adding to their casts ahead of next month’s premieres: Izabela Vidovic (The Fosters) and Olivia Nikkanen (The Americans) are set to play younger versions of Kara and Alex Danvers for an upcoming flashback episode in the third season of Supergirl; Courtney Ford (Supernatural) has been cast as Eleanor Darhk, the daughter of Neal McDonough’s Damien Darhk, for season three of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; and Liam Hall (Lucifer) will portray Joe Wilson, the son of Manu Bennet’s Slade Wilson, for a two-part episode in the sixth season of The CW’s DC show Arrow…
…Another two cast members have also been added to DC’s Teen Titans live-action series, with Alan Ritchson (Smallville) and Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) securing the roles of the crime-fighting couple Hank Hall/Hawk and Dawn Granger/Dove. The duo joins the previously announced Brenton Thwaites (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) as Dick Grayson, Teagan Croft (The Osiris Child) as Raven and Anna Diop (24: Legacy) as Starfire…
…And finally, 20th Century Fox TV is taking another stab at rebooting Steven J. Cannell’s cult classic The Greatest American Hero, with ABC giving a put pilot commitment to a female-led half-hour single-camera comedy project from Fresh Off the Boat writer-producer Rachna Fruchbom. This take will see a gender-swap, and revolves around Meera, “a 30-year-old Indian-American woman from Cleveland whose talents include tequila drinking, karaoke and not much else. Then some aliens entrust her with a super suit to protect the planet, and the world has never been in more unreliable hands.”
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.
