In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers 4, The Punisher, Inhumans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Runaways, New Warriors, Deadpool 2, The Gifted, Justice League, Shazam, Black Adam, Flashpoint, Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Black Lightning, Krypton, Titans, Batman vs. Two-Face, Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Justice League Action and more…
After beginning its worldwide roll out last week with an international opening weekend of $107.6 million (putting it ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), Marvel’s latest blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok debuted in the U.S. this Thursday night with $14.5 million, and is tracking a domestic weekend of around $120 million. Be sure to check out Luke Owen’s ★★★★ review here, Robert Kojder’s ★★★★ review here, and Helen Murdoch’s ★★★★ review here, while you may also want to read Anghus Houvouras’ latest op-ed ‘Is Thor: Ragnarok the Best Marvel Movie Ever?‘…
…In other Ragnarok news, Marvel released an illustrated poster and a batch of character one-sheets for the film; director Taika Waititi has explained how the cut went from 100 minutes to 130 minutes [read his comments here], which villain character was originally set to make an appearance [see here], and that he’s hoping to get to make another Thor movie, which he’d see as Ragnarok 2 rather than Thor 4 [read his comments here]; screenwriter Eric Pearson revealed that the human characters of the previous films – Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) – were never considered for Ragnarok [read more here]; Jaimie Alexander explained Lady Sif’s absence [see here], Tessa Thompson discussed a cut scene hinting at Valkyrie’s bisexuality [read her comments here], and Mark Ruffalo admitted that he was initially worried that Thor: Ragnarok would break the Marvel Cinematic Universe [read more here]…
…Tessa Thompson has revealed that Marvel’s leading ladies cornered Kevin Feige to pitch an all-female team-up movie, with Thompson stating: “I think in that group was Brie Larson, myself, Zoe Saldana — although she ran off to the bathroom, I think, so she came midway through the pitch but she had been in the rev-up to it — Scarlett Johansson. Pom Klementieff and Karen Gillan, who are both in the Guardians movies. Yeah, I think it was that group. We were just sort of all in a semicircle talking, and it just came up, because none of us really worked together – well, I suppose Zoe, and Karen, and Pom – and wouldn’t it be nice if we could all work together? We were sort of speculating on the ways in which it might happen in Infinity War, or might not happen. And we thought, ‘No, we should just have a whole movie where we know every day we’re going to arrive and get to work together.’ So we just ran right up to Kevin Feige and started talking about it…”
…Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has revealed that he’d been keen on directing his own female Marvel with with a Black Widow comedy: “In all honesty, I reckon I could probably bring something pretty unique to any of the franchises, so I’d love to see Black Widow. Black Widow as something crazy and a bit funnier than we expect it to be, because we know her story and it’s very sullen and very dark and her history is very dark. But! What’s the funny version of that? What’s the more entertaining version of that..?”
…Marvel’s first female-led movie is on the horizon, and this week has brought word that principal photography on the Brie Larson-headlined Captain Marvel is set to get underway in Los Angeles in February 2018. The film is being directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and will see Larson joined in the cast by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s Ben Mendelsohn as the main Skrull villain…
…As production continues on Ant-Man and the Wasp, we’ve had our first look at Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet Van Dyne thanks to the latest batch of photos from the Atlanta set, while Laurence Fishburne spoke briefly about his role as Bill Foster, as well as revealing that he’s working on another top-secret Marvel project: “I’m developing something else for Marvel that I can’t talk about. It’s gonna be really cool. It’s gonna change the world, we hope (laughs). I went to Marvel and pitched them something that really couldn’t work out—there was a lot of legal red tape that just [was] something they couldn’t work out. But then they came back with the offer for Ant-Man and the Wasp and then they said, ‘Hey, what do you think of this?’ and I went ‘Oh yeah that, yes!’ so…”
…While we continue to wait for the Avengers: Infinity War trailer, a new piece of promotional artwork has arrived online featuring Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Captain America (Chris Evans) [see here], while it has also been revealed that The Hulk and Rocket Raccoon will strike up a friendship [read more here], and co-director Anthony Russo described the movie as “a heist film” about stealing Infinity Stones: “With Infinity War, the biggest new element to the movie is Thanos and the fact that he’s entering the storytelling in a very bold, strong way, to the degree that he’s almost one of the leads,” said Anthony. “We’ve shaped an interesting narrative around him that in some ways leans heavily on a heist film in the fact that he’s going after the Infinity Stones in a much bolder, successful way than he has in the past. The entire movie has that energy of the bad guy being one step ahead of the heroes. We looked at a lot of movies that had that heist-style energy to them, [and] that brought some inspiration.” Read the rest of the Russos’ comments on Infinity War here…
…As filming on the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4 nears its end, Robert Downey Jr. shared a behind-the-scenes image [see here], while we also got a look at Downey and Mark Ruffalo filming a scene [see here], as well as Downey, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) shooting what seems to be a flashback to the end of the first Avengers movie [see here]…
…With less than two weeks to go until the arrival of The Punisher, Netflix has released two brief new promos for the Daredevil spinoff series [watch them here], along with the latest character motion poster, this time featuring Frank Castle’s sidekick Micro, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach [see here]. And, in other Netflix news, Jessica Henwick has announced that she has begun training for her return as Colleen Wing in the second season of Iron Fist…
…Over at ABC and we have a promo and batch of images for the season – and presumably series – finale of Inhumans, ‘…And Finally: Black Bolt’ [see here], while the network has given us our first look at some of the new additions to the roster of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for its fifth season with a batch of images and character descriptions for Deke (Jeff Ward), Tess (Eve Harlow), Flint (Coy Stewart), and Grill (Pruitt Taylor Vince); check those out here…
…Click below to continue on for Runaways, New Warriors, Deadpool 2, The Gifted, Justice League, Shazam, Black Adam, Flashpoint, Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Black Lightning, Krypton, Titans, Batman vs. Two-Face, Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Justice League Action and more…
