…We’re just three months out from the UK release of Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, and this week has brought some rumoured details regarding Andy Serkis’ character (who pretty much everyone expects to be Ulysses Klaw), as well as some comments from Paul Bettany about taking on the role of The Vision and the massive scale of the eagerly-anticipated sequel. And of course, with the release date fact approaching, we’re starting to get a good look at all of the merchandise set to flood the shelves this Spring, including LEGO sets [see here and here] and a range of Funko Pop! Vinyl figurines [see here], and a UK exclusive Savage Hulk, prompting speculation about whether we’ll see that incarnation of Bruce Banner in the movie itself…
…Captain America: The Winter Soldier star Anthony Mackie hasn’t given up hope of seeing Falcon in Avengers: Age of Ultron, with the actor hoping to get the call to film scenes during reshoots. And failing that, it seems he’s up for any Marvel movie: “I hope [I’ll be in Age of Ultron]. At this point, I have not [filmed scenes]. I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope. They’re doing reshoots and that’s why I’m letting them know I’m available. So whatever weekend they want me there, I’ll fly myself out and shoot whatever scene they want me in. Even if it’s like, ‘Oh man, it’s Iron Man and Hulk.’ But I heard today in one of the interviews that someone thought I was in Ant-Man. I hope so! I hope I’m in Ant-Man. I hope I’m in Hulk 3, I hope I’m in Thor 3, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Me and Groot can boogie!” Meanwhile, Mackie has also spoken in depth about the next Captain America movie, Civil War, and you can read his comments here…
…It looks like Twilight star Kristen Stewart is keen on joining the MCU, with the actress expressing her interest in a role in Captain America: “I love watching [superhero movies]. I would love to show people that I can do more than just be ‘Kristen Stewart’ in a different movie, in a different circumstance. I’m sure I could get on board with Captain America, you know what I mean?… It would just have to be the right thing…”
…If you thought the first trailer for Ant-Man was a little too serious given the talent involved, then you might be interested in the latest comments from Judy Greer, who stated that “there was a lot of comedy on set and we did a lot of comedic improv.” Greer then went on to speak about Paul Rudd, who is set to play the title character Scott Lang, and his character’s motivation: “Paul [Rudd] is so awesome and he’s so great in this role. This has been my first comic hero that I’ve really researched and fallen for. I also think the Ant-Man origin story that we tell in our movie is really beautiful and I think there’s something really real about a man trying to better himself for his family…”
…In a few other bits and pieces from the big screen side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) is said to be in talks for a role alongside Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme in Doctor Strange (which may or may not be Baron Mordo, Wong or The Ancient One), Guardians of the Galaxy has been knocked from its position as the highest-grossing domestic release of 2014 by The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and Flickering Myth’s Pim Razenberg has speculated whether a Black Widow movie will ever be made…
…After a week’s break, Agent Carter returns this week with its fourth episode ‘The Blitzkrieg Button’ and we’ve got a batch of promo images which you can see here, along with some images from the following episode featuring the return of Captain America’s buddies the Howling Commandos here…
…Much like Supergirl, some audition tapes for Netflix’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones surfaced on the internet this week (and were subsequently removed), which seems to indicate that the villain of the series will be Zebediah Killgrave, a.k.a. Purple Man. So far, A.K.A. Jessica Jones is set to star Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad) as the title character, along with Mike Colter (The Following) as Luke Cage. Meanwhile, Netflix has released very brief series descriptions for A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders, which you can read here…
…Marvel’s animated series Avengers Assemble returns to Disney XD this Sunday, and you can watch a clip from the episode ‘Head to Head’ here…
…Moving to Fox’s Marvel slate and director Bryan Singer has announced that Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones), Tye Sheridan (Mud) and Alexandra Shipp (House of Anubis) have secured the roles of the younger Jean Grey, Scott Summers and Ororo Munroe in next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse, while fellow new addition Oscar Isaac has briefly touched upon his upcoming turn as the titular mutant. The newcomers join returning X-Men: Apocalypse stars James McAvoy (Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast) and Evan Peters (Quicksilver), while you’d have to imagine Hugh Jackman will be back as Wolverine too…
…It looks like Apocalypse won’t be the only X-Men-related movie shooting up in Canada this Spring, with the Ryan Reynolds-headlined Deadpool reportedly set to commence production in Vancouver in March, which makes sense given its February 2016 release slot. Expect to hear plenty of casting news and rumours over the coming weeks…
…Flickering Myth’s Luke Owen caught up with director Matthew Vaughn to chat about his latest film Kingsman: The Secret Service, and the conversation turned to Vaughn’s decision to leave X-Men: Days of Future Past in favour of the spy flick: “It was a hard decision, I was in love with both projects. I wrote the treatment for X-Men [Days of the Future Past] but the script took forever to come in. And then I wrote [Kingsman: The Secret Service] in the meantime. It was actually a mixture of necessity as I was terrified another ‘fun spy movie’ would come out… So I asked Fox if they could put back Days of Future Past and they said ‘absolutely not’. And so I said, ‘alright, I’m going to do Kingsman then’. You know, X-Men is not my franchise, it really is Bryan [Singer]’s. Bryan let me play with his toys and I had the time of my life, rearranged them a bit and then handed them back.” Click here for the rest of Vaughn’s comments, including his thoughts on Bryan Singer’s film…
…Vaughn has also clarified his recent comments about The Dark Knight Trilogy, where it seemed he was critical of the tone of Christopher Nolan’s films: “What I said is Nolan is very good at doing what he did with Batman, and the subject matter of Batman deserved to be dark, but there are other superheroes, like I don’t think Superman should be dark. The clue’s in the costume, what it should be like…You have to always respect source material, and if you’re going to reinvent it, reinvent it in a way that’s done in respect, not just for the sake of doing it…”
…Given the current state of Sony’s handling of the Spider-Man franchise, it will come as little surprise to hear from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 star Felicity Jones that she’s yet to be contacted about a potential return as Felicia Hardy, although she’s still keen to don the catsuit as Black Cat: “Well, [Black Cat] is such a great character in the comics. I mean, if that happened, that would be lovely. There are no plans, but I’d love to play her. She’s a fantastic, awesome female characters…”
…And finally, Sony has announced that its adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s Powers comic book will land on PlayStation Network on March 10th, and to coincide with the news a new poster has arrived online featuring Sharlto Copley as Detective Christian Walker. Check it out here.
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PL18yMRIfoszFJHnpNzqHh6gswQ0Srpi5E&v=zzYUW1bfw34
