…Moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Elizabeth Olsen has offered up a few words about her upcoming return as Scarlet Witch in the Phase Three-launching Captain America: Civil War, as well as praising Daniel Bruhl’s role as the villain Baron Zemo: “I think it’s going to be the best [Marvel movie yet,” states Olsen. “For real. I am very excited to see it myself. I only worked on set for five weeks, so I wasn’t there for the majority of it. [Daniel Brühl] is an incredible actor and he’s playing the main villain in it and he’s incredible. It’s a movie about people as opposed to robots this time. So it’s darker and it’s allowed to be darker because it gets more in the mindset of humans rather than machines…”
…Avengers: Age of Ultron arrives on Blu-ray here in the UK this coming week, but if you just can’t wait to cast your eye over the deleted features for Joss Whedon’s blockbuster superhero sequel then you’re in luck, as you can watch them right here…
…James Gunn took part in an inpromptu Q&A this week, fielding questions from fans about 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Among the details revealed was further confirmation that The Hulk WON’T appear in the sequel, that Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) will be the only human character, and that we may get a new female member of the team: “As I’ve said many times it’s one of my goals to get a higher % of female heroes (and villains) out there. So MAYBE…”
…Back in March El Mayimbe claimed that Marvel had already cast the lead role for 2018’s Captain Marvel, and with that particular rumour yet to pan out/proven to be utter bullshit, he’s decided to take a guess at “scooping” Carol Danvers, claiming that Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) now tops Marvel’s shortlist. Expect him to pluck another hot, in-demand actress out of his arse if and when it becomes clear that this one isn’t going to pan out either…
…Turning to Marvel’s Netflix series, and this week has brought the first teaser trailer for the Krysten Ritter-headlined Jessica Jones, as well as the announcement that the series will debut on Netflix on November 20th, while we’ve also had some casting news for the subsequent series Luke Cage, with Frank Whaley (Gotham) signing on to play Detective Scarfe…
…Over at ABC, we got a brand new promo for the third season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [watch it here], while Hayley Atwell revealed that Bridget Regan’s Dottie Underwood will be returning for the second season of Agent Carter: “[Dottie] is a slippery bitch. We haven’t seen the last of her. Peggy has male baddies that she fights, but to have someone who is physically her equal — she’s a Black Widow, incredibly capable and very smart — I think that shows some balance for Peggy, like a flip side of the same coin. You’ll see more of her in season two…”
…Thanos is set to take on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in this weekend’s episode of the Disney XD animated series Avengers Assemble, and you can take a look at a clip from the episode ‘New Frontier’ right here…
…Marvel has announced that it is set to showcase the Netflix series Jessica Jones and Daredevil, ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, and the animated shows Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors, Avengers: Ultron Revolution and Guardians of the Galaxy at next month’s New York Comic Con, with Marvel Television chief Jeph Loeb stating that: “With so much of Marvel’s history rooted in New York City, it is only right for us to save our biggest reveals and announcements for New York Comic Con. Our fans are in for an awesome experience and will get a glimpse of things that no one on the planet will be able to see anywhere else…”
…If you’re struggling to keep track of how to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in chronological order, then you may want to check out this handy infographic which covers every movie and TV show to date, while Marvel has also announced that it will be taking us behind the scenes of the MCU with a new series of guidebooks, beginning with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2…
…This week has brought us a few bits and pieces from 20th Century Fox’s various Marvel properties, with a new image of Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead) from February’s Deadpool [see here], some leaked X-Men: Apocalypse images featuring Oscar Isaac (Apocalypse), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Angel (Ben Hardy) and Psylocke (Olivia Munn) [see here], and some concept art from Fantastic Four which shows early designs for the Fantasticar and H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot [see here]…
…If you thought the Fantastic Four franchise couldn’t sink any lower after Josh Trank, well you may be wrong as The Room director Tommy Wiseau has expressed his interest in helming the sequel: “You know, I told you I saw this Fantastic Four….it just….I’m not being critical – let me put it this way, I like it, I did enjoy it number one. Number two, it’s too bad they didn’t call me, that’s all I want to say and I rest my case. (laughs) That’s all I can tell you. (laughs) Good response in Europe though, that’s my understanding, but it’s too bad they didn’t call me, that’s my point. Maybe if there’s a sequel, you know. You know, maybe your article gets me that job, who knows what will happen...”
…A couple of weeks ago, Steven Spielberg predicted that superhero movies would go the way of the Western, and Zack Snyder has addressed those comments this week, stating that: “He might not be wrong. I think it puts more pressure on us, the filmmakers, to not just crank out superhero movies for the sake of it. To me, the one thing I love working in the DC universe is that Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman are American mythology. It’s not about making a superhero, it’s a mythological universe that we live in. That I hope stands the test of time. They stood the test of time. That’s hopefully the sort of magic bullet. But who knows what audiences will want in the future…”
…And finally, Captain America himself Chris Evans also shared his opinion on the future of superhero movies, and was a little more optimistic: “It’s going to be a matter of the tone they strike. You could take any superhero movie and if you ground it enough, if you make it real enough — that’s what I think [Joe and Anthony Russo] do really well. Certain superhero movies feel like “superhero movies” but Russo movies almost feel like human stories with a little bit of superhero sprinkled in. So you might get exhausted of the larger-than-life powers I suppose, but as long as the filmmakers keep on reinventing the flavor and the approach and the tone, audiences are going to still go.”
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.
Originally published September 12, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
