In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Deadpool, X-Men: Apocaypse, The Fantastic Four, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Shazam, Arrow, The Flash, Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, Heroes Reborn and more…
We’ll kick things off this week with the Merc with the Mouth, and with production getting underway on 20th Century Fox’s X-Men spin-off Deadpool, the studio has given us our first look at Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson fully suited up, along with an official logo for the film and a synopsis which reads: “Based upon Marvel Comics’ most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life…”
…As well as stating that “the debate rages on” with regards to a PG-13 or R-rated Deadpool, Reynolds has shared some comments about the attraction of playing the fan favourite character: “It’s just how unusual he is. You understand why there was trepidation to make the movie early on? Because it’s a really difficult character to put up on the screen for the studio. He’s a character that’s aware he’s in a film, he’s aware that he breaks the fourth wall. I mean, he does certain things that are unlike anything else in the X-Men Universe yet he is a part of the X-Men Universe. So it makes it a little challenging, I think, to find a way. He’s so popular—the comic book alone [is] one of the most popular selling comic books of all time so it’s exiting to be here shooting it. We don’t have the budget that most X-Men movies do. In the super hero world, this would be considered an independent film…”
… While Deadpool enters production, Bryan Singer continues to expand the cast of his next X-Men movie with newcomer Lana Condor signing on to play Jubilation Lee – a.k.a. Jubilee – in X-Men: Apocalypse, and Latino-Review amalgamated a few old rumours, suggesting that Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Ian McKellen’s Magneto, Channing Tatum’s Gambit and Halle Berry’s Storm will all appear in the film (as it happens, McKellen has already been namedropped by Patrick Stewart as featuring, while Tatum and Jackman have been rumoured for months now). Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence has seemingly called time on her involvement with the franchise, stating that Apocalypse will be her last outing as Mystique…
…In other Fox news, the studio’s marketing campaign for The Fantastic Four has continued this week with the arrival of a new poster for the Josh Trank-directed reboot, while a billboard has been spotted which gives us our best look yet at Jamie Bell’s The Thing, as well as Michael B. Jordan’s Human Torch with his flame (partially) on…
…Moving on to Marvel Studios and with under a month to go to the UK release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel has stepped up the promotion for the Joss Whedon-directed sequel with a banner featuring Earth’s Mightiest Heroes [see here], along with a new TV spot [see here], a ‘Super Siblings’ featurette [see here] and thirteen “fun facts” about the film [see here]. Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. has been speaking about his role as Tony Stark [read his comments here], more rumours have surfaced claiming that Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel will make an appearance [see here], and Hot Toys has debuted a few more of its Age of Ultron products in the Iron Man Mark XLIII and War Machine Mark II busts [see here], Hawkeye 1/6th scale collectible figure [see here] and Iron Man Mark VII Stealth Mode 1/6th scale figurine [see here]…
…Back during the Sony hack it was revealed that Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo were being eyed for the director’s chairs on Avengers: Infinity War, and now it has been confirmed that the duo will tackle the two-part superhero epic, with Captain America screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely also in talks to pen the scripts…
…Before the Russos get to Infinity War there’s the small matter of next year’s Captain America: Civil War, and this week has saw a casting call arriving online which seemingly confirms we’ll be paying a visit to the Black Panther’s home country of Wakanda, while rumours have surfaced claiming that Weeds star Mateus Ward is rumoured to have taken part in a secret audition for the role of Spider-Man for what will be the web-slinger’s Marvel Cinematic Universe debut…
…With less than a fortnight to go until it arrives on Netflix, Marvel has released a new poster for Daredevil featuring Charlie Cox suited up in his black costume, along with two promotional images – one featuring an Evil Alliance, and the other featuring a Good Alliance…
…As the second season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues, you can check out a promo for this coming Tuesday’s episode ‘One Door Closes’ here, along with a promotional poster for the episode featuring Bobbi Morse / Mockingbird here, and be sure to take a look at our review for last week’s ‘Love in the Time of Hydra’ here…
…Click below to continue on for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Shazam, Arrow, The Flash, Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, Heroes Reborn and more…
Originally published March 28, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
