In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham, Batman: The Killing Joke, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: Civil War, Hellfire, Deadpool, Plutona and more…
The San Diego Comic-Con takes place this coming week, and so naturally we’re expecting big things on the superhero front. 20th Century Fox has decided to skip the event, but Marvel and DC will be out in force, and Warner Bros. has announced details of its DC Films panel for Saturday, which is set to include Suicide Squad (with guests David Ayer, Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Scott Eastwood, Cara Delevingne, Adam Beach and Karen Fukuhara) and Wonder Woman (with guests Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot, Chris Pine and Connie Nielsen). No sign of Justice League, but Ben Affleck has said he’ll be in attendance, so read into that what you will. Meanwhile, director Will McKay and star Will Arnett will also be on hand to promote The LEGO Batman Movie…
…As you’d expect with Suicide Squad less than three weeks away, the marketing has went a little crazy this week, offering up three trailers featuring some previously unseen footage [watch them here and here], a batch of motion posters [see here] and a “mind-blowing” new poster [see here], while Jared Leto shared a Joker selfie [see here] and we also got a glimpse of some alternate designs for Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn [see here], as well as details of the characters played by Scott Eastwood and Ike Barinholtz (unsurprisingly, they’re not any of the numerous “Heroic Hollywood stab-in-the-dark-scoops” either). And all the promotion seems to be paying off, as it’s said that the film is tracking a $125 million domestic opening weekend, which would knock Guardians of the Galaxy off its perch as the biggest-ever August bow…
…One big attraction for Suicide Squad is the inclusion of Batman, and director David Ayer has been speaking about how the Dark Knight will be portrayed in the supervillain team-up: “All the Batman movies have been from Batman’s point of view. He’s the good guy. He’s the hero of his own movie in all the movies we’ve seen. If you look at what Bruce Wayne has done in creating the Batman persona, his idea was to terrorize criminals. It’s sort of psychological warfare against criminals. This wraith that comes in the night and attacks and pulls criminals from society. For the first time, we’re seeing Batman from the point of view of the criminals and he’s freaking scary…”
…Warner Bros. announced this week that Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg are to be credited with the script for next year’s Wonder Woman movie, as opposed to original screenwriter Jason Fuchs (Ice Age: Continental Drift), while the studio also dropped an official synopsis which reads: “Gal Gadot returns as the title character in the epic action adventure from director Patty Jenkins. Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers…and her true destiny…”
…We also got a batch of stills from Wonder Woman this week featuring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine [check them out here], while Gal Gadot spoke about Diana’s big screen debut: “I feel like Diana is really accessible. It’s very easy to relate to her. She has the heart of a human so she can be emotional, she’s curious, she’s compassionate, she loves people. And then she has the powers of a goddess. She’s all for good, she fights for good, she believes in great. I want to be her. And in Wonder Woman, she has this naiveté in her. It isn’t stupid, it’s magical. I would want to be naïve like that again. She’s a young idealist who’s been taught that the world is very simple: it’s black or white, bad or good. It’s how she was raised. It’s what she believes in and there is something charming about the simplistic way in which she sees the world. But once she falls in love and starts her journey with Steven Trevor, he educates her about the complexity of mankind. There is no such thing as only good and bad, black or white. It’s complicated.” You can read the rest of Gadot’s comments about working with director Patty Jenkins here…
…Stills photographer Clay Enos has been releasing a series of behind-the-scenes images from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to support next week’s Blu-ray release of the Ultimate Edition, with his latest offerings showcasing Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight and Gal Gadot’s Amazon Princess. Meanwhile, he’s also dropped a BTS shot from Justice League, although this one’s probably only going to be of interest to huge fans of Zack Snyder and / or cinematographer Fabian Wagner…
…The CW’s new superhero show Supergirl has added two new DC characters to its roster, with Ian Gomez set to play Snapper Carr, and Floriana Lima securing the role of Maggie Sawyer. Meanwhile, fellow new addition Tyler Hoechlin has been talking about taking on the iconic role of Superman, stating that: “I know it’s such an iconic character that means so much to a lot of people. The interesting thing to me is meeting people who are much older than me and saying, ‘Oh Superman has always been my hero’ and shaking my hand. It’s such a weird position to be in because you’re not just assuming that this is a character for a younger generation, it’s for anyone who’s a fan of the character. It’s really exciting, I’m really looking forward to be putting our own spin on it, seeing where this character fits into this storyline, and this version of Superman. Like I said, I take it with great respect for the character and what it means to people so I’m excited to get to work on it and see what comes out of it…”
…The Flash is going to get a couple of new speedsters for its third season! First up came two official images showing Keiynan Lonsdale’s Wally West suited up as Kid Flash (it’s unclear at this point whether this is only for the first episode ‘Flashpoint’, or going forward), while Lonsdale was spotted on set alongside another mystery character, with speculation suggesting he could be the villainous Black Racer…
…DC Collectibles has unveiled a new range of action figures based upon the Arrowverse, featuring The Atom, Hawkgirl and Firestorm from DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl and Martian Manhunter from Supergirl, Zoom from The Flash and Vixen and Constantine from Arrow. Check them out here…
…Click below to continue on for Gotham, Batman: The Killing Joke, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: Civil War, Hellfire, Deadpool, Plutona and more…
Originally published July 16, 2016. Updated November 29, 2022.
