In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Justice League, Aquaman, Flashpoint, The Batman, Shazam, Suicide Squad 2, Nightwing, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Gotham, Wonder Woman, Smallville, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers 4, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Venom, The Punisher, Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Runaways, Deadpool 2, The Gifted, Glass, The Boys, The Umbrella Academy and more…
With less than a week to go until the release of Justice League (and the first reactions ranging from mixed to “fine” to positive), Warner Bros. has fully opened the floodgates on the promotion for the DC blockbuster (which – given the extensive reshoots – reportedly has a budget north of $300 million). London played host to The Justice League Experience this week, with the cast and crew on hand for the film’s junket and press conference. Our invite got lost in the post, but Flickering Myth’s Thomas Harris did get down to the Justice League Experience exhibition, and you can read his review here. Meanwhile, the press event also saw Ben Affleck, Deborah Snyder and Charles Roven discussing Zack Snyder’s departure and Joss Whedon’s influence on the film [read more here and here], Henry Cavill has talked about the film’s tone [read his comments here], and Jason Momoa confirmed that we’ll want to stick around through the credits, as the film does include a post-credits scene [read more here]…
…Naturally we’ve also seen a lot of promotion material this week, including a Superman motion poster [see here], numerous clips [watch them here and here], an IMAX costumes featurette [watch it here], a promo and TV spots [watch them here], a new promo image of Amber Heard’s Mera [see here], and some behind-the-scenes images which includes a shot of Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel alongside the rest of the League [see here]. Meanwhile, Warner has also released Danny Elfman’s complete score for the film [listen to it here], and Prime 1 Studio has unveiled some promotional images for its Batman collectible figure [see here]…
…A couple of weeks ago Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn described the Marvel and DC fan rivalry as “wasted energy”, and now Marvel Studios Kevin Feige has waded into the debate, stating that he’s looking forward to seeing Justice League: “I think movies are awesome and people should go out and support awesome movies, and I go support those movies and I thought Wonder Woman was awesome. I can’t wait to see what Geoff Johns and Joss Whedon and the gang has done with Justice League. I guess people like rivalries, I guess? I don’t know. But I’m seeing Geoff Johns in a couple weeks for dinner. We went to this Dick Donner event together. Dick’s Superman is still the best archetype of superhero films. So yeah, just go see cool movies. What are you fighting about..?”
…Next up from the DCEU after Justice League is the Aquaman solo movie, and Jason Momoa has been chatting about the evolution of his character Arthur Curry from Justice League to his own film: “You’re going to see that I really wanted him to be that gruff thing, because he has to become king. If Justice League is like seeing him at his lowest, and not just his lowest, but this loneliness that I wanted about him, so when we get to Aquaman you know why he became that, and how he had been put in that lonely spot. And how he has to bring these two worlds together. Because you’re going to see this ocean world, which we just pollute, and how do these people feel underwater with what the land does to the ocean. And this war that is going to come between the two, and I’m the only one that can link the two. He has to do it. He doesn’t want to do it. Surpassing Justice League, this moment in time is his call to become king. The only thing that can save Atlantis is me fighting my own brother. There’s a big battle, and there’s an epic [fight]…”
…Last week it was rumoured that Warner Bros. has put development on Flashpoint on hold and is waiting to see how Justice League is received before making any decisions as to how to move forward with the DCEU; however, we’ve since had a conflicting report, with Warner’s Toby Emmerich reportedly stating that the studio is close to hiring a director and hopes to give the movie the greenlight soon. Meanwhile, during the Justice League press tour, Ezra Miller has revealed that he would like to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Thomas Wayne taking on the role of Batman in the alternate-universe tale: “Oh, hell yeah. I think he’s amazing. And I think he would fall right into what is becoming a very, very serious ensemble of actors. I’m so excited about Kiersey Clemons [Iris West]. I’m so excited about Billy Crudup [Henry Allen]. I just couldn’t be more stoked about the names involved so far…”
…One project which might be Justice League dependent – at least in terms of Ben Affleck’s involvement – is Matt Reeves’ The Batman, with Affleck stating this week that “I don’t know about that, we’ll see what the future holds” when asked if he expects to take his Dark Knight outings up to five (Justice League will take him up to three after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad). On the positive side for Affleck fans, the actor did state however that he had more fun portraying Batman in Justice League than he did in BvS: ““Everybody got along and I think it comes across in the movie. You see the comradery of this group. You root for them to come together and a part of that is we all genuinely like each other and had complementary personalities and skillsets as these heroes and that was just a lot of fun. It was much more fun than the last movie because I had all these people to play with…”
…Having cast Zachary Levi as Shazam a few weeks ago, Warner Bros. and director David F. Sandberg have now found Captain Marvel’s young counterpart, with Asher Angel (Andi Mack) signing on to portray young Billy Batson in the 2019 DCEU release…
…While Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam has been pulled from the Shazam movie, it seems we may not have to wait until the antihero’s solo film to see Johnson making his DCEU debut, as it has been reported this week that he could feature in Suicide Squad 2. Apparently, “the current plan for the sequel is for the members of Suicide Squad to be tasked with tracking down a weapon of mass destruction. That weapon? Black Adam himself. The villain is best known in DC Comics as the main nemesis of superhero Shazam.” While this should be treated as a rumour for the time being, it does link up with a comment from Johnson back in May where he stated that: “We have a really cool surprise for Black Adam that I can’t reveal, in terms of where we will see Black Adam being introduced…”
…Click below to continue on for Nightwing, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Gotham, Wonder Woman, Smallville, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers 4, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Venom, The Punisher, Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Runaways, Deadpool 2, The Gifted, Glass, The Boys, The Umbrella Academy and more…
Originally published November 11, 2017. Updated April 18, 2018.
