Our weekly round up of all the latest stories from the world of screen superheroes, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, The Fantastic Four, Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Aquaman, Arrow, The Flash, Gotham, Constantine, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, Batman Unlimited and more…
With just over a month to go until its release, Marvel Studios has continued ramping up the publicity for Guardians of the Galaxy with the arrival of an extended TV spot [see here], an IMAX poster [see here], an international poster [see here], a behind-the-scenes featurette entitled ‘Definitive Anti-Hero’ [see here], and new images featuring Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Ronan (Lee Pace), Korath (Djimon Hounsou) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) [see here and here]. Meanwhile, director James Gunn has confirmed that Firefly and Castle star Nathan Fillion is set to make his long-awaited debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe “with a very small fun cameo”, before denying reports that Fillion would play either Richard Rider or Cosmo…
…Sticking with Guardians of the Galaxy for a moment and it looks like we’ve had our first look at the rumoured animated series, with a banner on display at the Licensing Expo 2014 showing an cartoon version of the cosmic superhero team alongside current Marvel Animation shows Avengers Assemble and Ultimate Spider-Man (if this is Marvel’s animated line-up for the new TV season then it doesn’t bode well for Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.)…
…Mark Ruffalo has confirmed that he and the rest of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will take a break from filming on Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron to head over to San Diego next month for Comic-Con, with Marvel’s panel reportedly set to feature the first teaser trailer for the eagerly-anticipated sequel to 2012’s The Avengers. Until we get an official first look at the sequel, we’ll have to make do with unofficial spy photos, and this week has delivered a few more, giving us new shots of Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) [see here and here]…
…As we await an expected Phase Three announcement from Marvel at Comic-Con, Edgar Ramirez (Che, Wrath of the Titans) has revealed that he’s been talking with his Deliver Us From Evil director Scott Derrickson about a possible role in Doctor Strange. Of course, talking to Derrickson is a far cry from being “in talks”, so we’ll have to see how this one plays out…
…The cast of Marvel’s Netflix miniseries Daredevil continues to take shape, with Elden Henson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) set to play Foggy Nelson alongside Charlie Cox (Stardust) as Dardevil, Vincent D’Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket) as The Kingpin and Rosario Dawson (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For) in an as-yet-unspecified role. Meanwhile, British director Farren Blackburn (Luther, Doctor Who) has revealed that he will direct an episode of the show, becoming the second director to sign on after Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods)…
…Turning to Fox’s Marvel properties now and the students mutant superhero franchise X-Men has hit the $3 billion dollar mark overall this week as X-Men: Days of Future Past crossed $700 million on Tuesday, putting it in touching distance of rival superhero movies – and the year’s highest-grossing releases – The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($703.2 million) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($710.7 million). By close of play this weekend, Days of Future Past should find itself sitting pretty as the year’s biggest earner so far…
…In other Days of Future Past news, Kelsey Grammer has spoken about returning to the role of Beast, as well as stating that he hopes to return as Hank McCoy in a future instalment of the X-Men franchise: “Actually I called Bryan [Singer]. I bumped into Hugh Jackman and he said, ‘Oh you’re gonna be in another X-Men, mate!’ and I said, ‘No I’m not, I don’t know anything about it.’ So I made a couple of inquiries, got a hold of the script, found out that it’s primarily dealing with the past and that timeline I don’t have a place in, but I saw that at the end there was this coda where he made an appearance. I said, ‘Listen, I really wanna be involved,’ so Bryan arranged for it and I had a lovely time… I hope to do another. I hope they find some way to come up with a new story that involves Beast in my timeline…”
…With Bryan Singer facing various allegations, there’s been some speculation as to whether Fox will stick with the director for X-Men: Apocalypse, and now we have some official word from the studio, with president of production Emma Watts stating that: “It’s always been the intention for him to [direct Apocalypse]. Right now we are totally at the outlining phase, but nothing would make me happier than if it all worked out. It’s alwasy been the intention for him to do it…”
…We’ve seen very little in the way of set photos from Josh Trank’s (Chronicle) reboot of The Fantastic Four so far, but this week gave us our first look at the Baxter Building – or rather the ‘Baxter Institute’ – and you can take a look at the building sign here. Meanwhile, Emma Watts has spoken about Trank’s vision for the film, as well as seemingly confirming that the reboot will adopt a similar found footage style to that of Chronicle:”Certainly the audience seems to still be really enjoying it. We’re making a big bet for 2015 with The Fantastic Four and director Josh Trank. To me, the key is the originality of the filmmakers and the choices they make. Josh is another really interesting example, who is using the vision he gave us in Chronicle to reinvent a franchise he’s loved his whole life. It’s not that you can’t make original ideas — you can, and we did it with Chronicle. The director is the key to not letting superhero movies go stale. That’s the truth… It’s Josh, so it can’t not have that [found footage] feel. That’s his talent, that’s what he does, and that’s what excites him about it. It is a really interesting young cast, and he is the magnet that’s brought them all together…”
Click below to continue on to the next page for Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Aquaman, Daniel Radcliffe and Marlon Wayans on Robin, Arrow, The Flash, Gotham, Constantine, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis and Batman Unlimited…
