In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Jessica Jones, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, Wolverine, X-Men: Apocalypse, Fantastic Four, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Gotham, Arrow, The Flash, The LEGO Batman Movie, Heroes Reborn, The Crow, American Hero, The Greatest American Hero and more…
…With production on Marvel’s Doctor Strange getting underway in Nepal this week, the first set photos have arrived online showing a bearded Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, presumably on his quest to seek out The Ancient One. You can check out the set photos here and here, as well as the first set video featuring Cumberbatch in action here. Meanwhile, it has also been announced that Michael Stuhlbarg (Boardwalk Empire) is in talks for an unspecified role, where he’d join a cast that also includes Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer) as The Ancient One, Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) as Baron Mordo and Rachel McAdams (True Detective) and Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal) in as-yet-unconfirmed roles…
…Before we get to Doctor Strange, Marvel will kick off Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Captain America: Civil War, and this week brought us a glimpse of Steve Rogers’ new scalemail armor thanks to some merchandise for the film [see here], as well as concept art showing Cap and Iron Man facing off [see here]…
…Promoting his new movie Spectre, Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista offered up a few words this week about we can expect from Drax the Destroyer in 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: “I haven’t read the script, and I’m being completely honest when I say that, but I think, having talked to James Gunn about the film, I know he’s… I hate to give any spoilers, but I know he’s really going to focus on Drax being a badass. He’s still not really going to get metaphors, even though he thinks he does, but he’ll still be that very literal Drax, but I think you’re going to see a lot more badass Drax. As far as the storyline as a whole, I honestly don’t know, and if I did know obviously I wouldn’t tell you, but I hope they’ll continue on with that path….”
…With Mark Ruffalo confirmed as returning as The Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok, the actor was asked this week about the chances of seeing the Jade Giant in his own solo movie, and pretty much dismissed the possibility due to rights issues: “[It] feels even further away. It’s not Marvel’s property, it’s Universal’s property. I don’t know. It seems really problematic…”
…We all know that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has made Robert Downey Jr. a very rich man, but how does his pay cheque stack up against the rest of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? Well, details emerged this week revealing how much each of the six original Avengers cast members were paid for Avengers: Age of Ultron, with Robert Downey Jr. pulling in $40 million, Scarlett Johansson $20 million, Chris Evans $6.8 million, Jeremy Renner $6.1 million, Chris Hemsworth $5.4 million and Mark Ruffalo $2.8 million…
…Ahead of its release later this month, Marvel released the official home entertainment details for Ant-Man, providing info on the special features (which are reserved for Blu-ray and iTunes releases, with the DVD just coming with the movie itself)…
…Moving on to the small screen and ahead of its arrival on Netflix on December 20th, we got a huge batch of new stills from Jessica Jones [see here], along with official episode descriptions for all thirteen episodes, which of course contain some minor spoilers [see here]…
…Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. celebrating its 50th episode this past Tuesday with ‘Among Us Hide…’ and you can take a look at a special video featuring the cast and crew marking the occasion here, along with Danny Hale’s review of the episode here. We’ve got a promo, clips and images from the next episode ‘Chaos Theory’ [see here and here], while it’s also been announced that Mark Dacascos has signed on for a major recurring role as Mr. Giyera, a character said to be the new head of security at S.H.I.E.L.D….
…In a quick piece of casting news from Agent Carter, it has been announced that Ken Marino (Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp) is set for a season two role as mob boss Joseph Manfredi, “a volatile leader in the Maggia crime syndicate who will help Peggy Carter’s (Hayley Atwell) adversaries further their agenda…”
…We have a clip from this Saturday’s episode of Guardians of the Galaxy, entitled ‘The Backstabbers’ [see here], and be sure to check out our exclusive interview with Marvel’s Cort Lane and Stephen Wacker about the animated series here…
…20th Century Fox, director Tim Miller and star Ryan Reynolds are currently back in Vancouver for some additional photography on February’s Deadpool movie and you can take a look at some set photos of Reynolds suited up as the Merc with a Mouth here, along with a couple of new official stills here…
…It seems that X-Men: Apocalypse is gearing up for some reshoots of its own in Toronto, and if rumours are to be believed then Hugh Jackman will be taking part in the additional filming, donning the claws as Wolverine again ahead of his swansong in 2017’s third solo movie. Meanwhile, Evan Peters has also been speaking about his return as Quicksilver for Apocalypse: “The story is that my character is searching for his father and wants to find him. It starts there and then he jumps on the X-Men train and gets sucked up in this whole Apocalypse madness: He tries to stop him from destroying the world…”
…Click below to continue on for Fantastic Four, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Gotham, Arrow, The Flash, The LEGO Batman Movie, Heroes Reborn, The Crow, American Hero, The Greatest American Hero and more…
Originally published November 7, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
