Originally published May 16, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, Arrow, Constantine, Gotham, Titans, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The New Mutants, The Incredibles 2, Heroes Reborn and more…
With the US television networks taking the opportunity to showcase their upcoming offerings, we’re starting things off on the small screen this week, having had a first look at two new DC projects, starting with CBS’ Supergirl. On Wednesday night we got a couple of banners and and official synopsis for the show, which was followed by an extended six-minute trailer; featuring the first footage from the Melissa Benoist-headlined series, which is confirmed to get underway on Monday nights at 8pm – putting it in direct competition with Gotham on Fox (assuming the Batman prequel series returns in the same timeslot, of course)…
…Following Supergirl was the first trailer for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The CW’s upcoming spin-off of Arrow and The Flash, which was accompanied by an updated synopsis, as well as confirmation that Caity Lotz is returning to the role of Sara Lance, or rather the White Canary. Lotz is set to feature alongside several Arrow/Flash alumni in Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer/The Atom), Victor Garber (Martin Stein/Firestorm), Wentworth Miller (Leonard Snart/Captain Cold) and Dominic Purcell (Mick Rory/Heat Wave), as well as Ciara Renee (Law & Order: SVU) as Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who) as Rip Hunter, and Franz Drameh (Attack the Block) as Jay Jackson…
…Over at The CW, Firestorm, Captain Cold and Heat Wave featured on new character posters for The Flash, as did Barry Allen and Harrison Wells in a promotional poster which was released alongside a trailer, promo and images for the season finale ‘Fast Enough’ [see here], as well as a second extended trailer [see here]. Meanwhile, a season one sizzle reel arriving online, offering up a handy summary of the story so far [see here], and you can also read our review of Tuesday’s penultimate episode ‘Rogue Air’ here…
…Moving to Starling City, a Ra’s al Ghul character poster arrived online ahead of Wednesday’s season three finale of Arrow, ‘My Name Is Oliver Queen’ [read our review here], while David Ramsey addressed the rumours suggesting his character John Diggle could in fact be John Stewart, a.k.a. Green Lantern, as well as revealing that Diggle will be donning a mask in the upcoming fourth season: ““I do think you need some kind of concealment. And to that end, they are working on something. You will see something for Diggle next year. Season 4. You will…”
…With NBC pulling the plug on Constantine, Arrow star Stephen Amell has been voicing his support for the show, as well as revealing that he’d had discussions about a crossover appearance between his Oliver Queen and Matt Ryan’s supernatural detective: “There is an opportunity for interconnectivity with any DC television show that exists. Like, as an example, yesterday Constantine was cancelled. And there is…yeah, I know, it’s brutal…it’s a good show, and it should come back. And it may come back, like there are various platforms where it could come back. Now, Constantine was an NBC show. I’m on The CW. I had had discussions with DC… so not NBC, not CW… but with DC Entertainment about guest starring on Constantine when it was still on the air. And that was and is still on the table… The reason that I was going to guest star on Constantine, at least the idea that we were throwing around was he’s an expert when it comes to the Lazarus Pit, which is now something that is a part of and will continue to be a part of Arrow…”
…And speaking of Constantine, be sure to check out Martin Carr’s Hellblazer op-ed ‘John Constantine: Rise and Fall of a Superman’, which you can check out here…
…Fox has announced that Morena Baccarin (Dr. Leslie Thompkins) has been promoted to a series regular for the second season of Gotham, while showrunner Bruno Heller has revealed that the early episodes of season two will see a big focus on The Joker: “We’re going to find out how the hell Jerome, the proto-Joker we met earlier in this season, connects with the Joker as people known him. That’s the big focus of the beginning of the second season. We’re going to tell the story of how the Joker came to be. That’s teaser enough, I think…”
…If you were disappointed that TNT’s Teen Titans adaptation Titans was missing from the upcoming TV season then fear not, as network chief Kevin Reilly has confirmed that it’s only on temporary hiatus and could start moving forward this summer: “[Akiva Goldsman’s] been very busy doing some other things. I sat down with Akiva and said — and he ultimately agreed — that the [TV] landscape right now is well-serviced on the superhero front. So what space is this going to inhabit? And really what he wants to do is be very true to the source material. I think it’s going to end up being a very, very interesting offering. I think it’s going to be excellent…”
…Turning to Warner Bros.’ big screen projects and this week has seen more alleged concept art from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice surfacing, giving us a look at the new design for the Batwing, as well as Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. Meanwhile a couple of batches of set photos from fellow 2016 release Suicide Squad have also landed, offering up more shots of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith), Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) and Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) [see here and here], as well as a shirtless shot of Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) [see here]…
…Click below to continue on for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The New Mutants, The Incredibles 2, Heroes Reborn and more…
