Our weekly round up of the latest stories from the world of screen superheroes, including The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Venom, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Superior, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Batman vs. Superman, Beware the Batman, Batman Beyond, Son of Batman, Batman: Assault on Arkham, Arrow, Heroes Reborn and more…
Sony took the next step in its fledgling Amazing Spider-Man franchise this past week as the Marc Webb-directed sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2 swung into cinemas internationally ahead of a North American release on May 2nd. In the UK, Germany, Spain and Belgium the film enjoyed the biggest opening day of the year so far, bringing in a total of $5.5 million on Wednesday and setting the Spidey sequel off to a solid start. You can check out our reviews of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 here, here and here [be warned, the last one contains mild spoilers… and is extremely negative], while for those of you yet to see the film we’ve also got a clip and a couple of extended TV spots [see here and here], along with two international posters that you can see here…
…The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may have just started rolling out, but producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are already hard at work fleshing out the future of the Spidey franchise – with The Amazing Spider-Man 3 (and 4) in development alongside the spin-offs for Venom and The Sinister Six – and this week Tolmach teased the possibility of Cletus Kasady, a.k.a. Carnage, popping up alongside Venom in the Alex Kurtzman-directed flick: “The idea of Venom and Carnage, taking it into consideration. Watch out for this Venom movie. We are crazy excited…”
…If you’ve caught The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in (non-IMAX) cinemas, then you’ll probably have noticed a mid-credits stinger for another upcoming Marvel film in rival studio 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. So, does this mean we can expect to see Sony and Fox teaming up to take on the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a Spider-Man / X-Men crossover? Well, not quite. According to reports, the reason for the cross-promotion is down a contractual wrangle with director Marc Webb, who held a commitment to Fox for another movie after (500) Days of Summer, which could have prevented him from directing the Spidey sequel, and to ensure his participation, Sony had to agree to offer free promotion for Days of Future Past…
…And sticking with potential Spidey crossovers, producer Matt Tolmach has ruled out the possibility of Andrew Garfield’s web-slinger making an appearance alongside the Avengers until Sony has “run out of ideas”, stating that: “[Fellow producer] Avi Arad always refers to that question as a stunt. If you were to do that, you know, Spider-man in The Avengers is a stunt. And I get why everybody – you know, fans and audience members and movie goers – I understand it. When you think about the Sinister Six and you think about Venom and you think about Carnage and you think about Spider-man in whatever way you want in association with those movies, they feel like they’re built for Spider-Man. Like that’s where his story needs to go and wants to go, and it has to be about more than a stunt. Stunts can be cool but its also a business, and so the other side of the answer is they’re owned by different companies. And there’s a ton left in Sony’s world – there’s a lot of business left because there’s a lot of story left. So for them to want to take this character and put it with Marvel and Disney is a huge undertaking and probably, as Avis’ saying, isn’t necessary until you feel like, ‘Wow, we’re sort of out of ideas. what should we do?’ And we’re far from out of ideas…”
…Taking a step back now to Fox’s upcoming X-Men sequel, and the studio has ramped up its game in terms of promotion for X-Men: Days of Future Past this week (perhaps not the best of weeks to do so, given the accusations flying around about Bryan Singer). As well as the release of an epic “final” trailer for Days of Future Past – which you can see here if you haven’t already done so, or you’d just like to see it again – the studio has also given us an extended clip of the opening battle between Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Warpath (Booboo Stewart), Blink (Fan Bingbing), Sunspot (Adan Canto) and Bishop (Omar Sy) and the Sentinels, as well as five behind-the-scenes featurettes and a new international poster [see here and here]. Meanwhile, any Rogue fans disappointed with reports that the character has been cut from the film will be pleased to hear that Anna Paquin is set to feature, although “essentially [it’s] a cameo…”
…After expressing his interest in the role of Gambit last year, Channing Tatum has now revealed that he’s held talks with longtime X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner about taking on the role of the fan favourite mutant: “I met with Lauren Shuler Donner, and I would love it. Gambit is really the only X-Man I’ve ever loved. I mean I’ve loved them all, they’re all great, but I guess from being down south – my dad’s from Louisiana, I’m from Mississippi, Alabama, Florida – I don’t know. I just related to him. He’s just kind of suave… He’s the most un-X-Men X-Man that’s ever been in X-Men. Other than maybe Wolverine, who’s like the anti-hero. He’s a thief. He’s not even a hero. He’s kind of walking the line of grey…He loves women and drinking and smoking and stuff so he’s just a cool guy who happens to have a moral center… I hope it [comes together]. You never know it’s a weird industry. If the stars align, I would die to play it. I’m already working on the accent. It’s crappy at the moment…”
…Sticking with Fox and the studio has moved to extend its superhero output beyond X-Men and The Fantastic Four by snapping up the rights to the Millarworld comic book series Superior, which revolves around a young boy with multiple sclerosis who transformers into the eponymous hero after being granted a wish from an alien monkey who turns out to be a demon. The movie adaptation will mark the third collaboration between director Matthew Vaughn and creator Mark Millar after Kick-Ass and the upcoming The Secret Service…
Continue on to the next page for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Batman vs. Superman, Beware the Batman, Batman Beyond, Son of Batman, Batman: Assault on Arkham, Arrow, Heroes Reborn and more…
Originally published April 19, 2014. Updated March 19, 2020.
