In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Justice League, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, Batman, Suicide Squad, The Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, Green Lantern Corps, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham, Krypton, Batman: The Killing Joke, LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Silver Sable, Animated Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Jessica Jones, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ghost Rider, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, Deadpool 2 and more…
Warner Bros. pulled back the curtain on Justice League this past week, inviting bloggers to the London set of the DC team-up, as well as releasing an official logo and image of the Batmobile, and the following synopsis: “Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions…”
…In addition to the logo, we got plenty of details about the movie – which Zack Snyder confirmed as being a single movie, rather than a two-parter – including confirmation that Steppenwolf is the main villain (debunking another rumour about Ares and Ocean Master from the previous day!), details on the plot of the film, and Willem Dafoe’s role being confirmed as the Atlantean Vulko. There’s a whole lot more too – be sure to check out Tai Freligh’s ’20 Things We Learned About the Justice League Movie’ here…
…In other Justice League news, Zack Snyder has reflected on the mixed reaction towards Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, admitting that criticism from fans has made him reevaluate his plans for the tone of the big DC team-up: “When Batman v Superman came out, I was like, ‘Wow, okay, oof,’ It did catch me off guard. I have had to, in my mind, make an adjustment. I do think that the tone of Justice League has changed because of what the fans have said… Listen, if it’s about putting more fun in the movie or embracing some of what I think is in all the characters inherently, this sort of larger-than-life, big, fun stuff… [with Batman v Superman], you really had to dig down on the darker parts of them to make them fight each other. I really do believe that with this movie, with Justice League, they’ve been freed of the responsibility to be in a place where they would fight each other. That’s liberating for us in making the movie, because now we have a single enemy with a single objective, and it’s really about uniting the team. That, to me, is a fun activity…”
…Jesse Eisenberg has confirmed that he’ll be reprising the role of Lex Luthor for Justice League, and would love the play the character “for years”: “They are filming (Justice League) now, and I jump in from August. I loved the character and it was the most fun I’ve ever had at playing a role, and most challenging, in a great way, and most rewarding. I would love to play it for years. The character I play is so unusual and complicated. As an actor he’s everything you’d want to do. It’s very exciting for me to play that role. It was really special to me. The most exciting part was to play such an interesting character and I certainly hope he stays alive throughout the next few films.” I’m sure there are a lot of fans hoping that he’s killed off in his next scene. Be sure to check out the rest of Eisenberg’s comments here…
…During the Justice League set visits, Gal Gadot offered up a few words on Wonder Woman, and how the Amazon Princess will differ between the DC team-up and her upcoming solo movie: “The Wonder Woman we see in the Justice League is similar to the Wonder Woman that we saw on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The Wonder Woman that you will see on the solo movie, she’s different. It’s the coming of age story, it’s about her become an adult, really. From a child to an adult. And understanding the complexities of life.” Be sure to check out a promotional banner for the Wonder Woman movie here, which was on display at Licensing Expo 2016 this week…
…Ben Affleck also finally confirmed that he’s set to direct a solo Batman movie when discussing why he’s acting as executive producer on Justice League: “Why I’m an executive producer [on Justice League] is that I’m directing one of the movies,” states Affleck. “So there’s sort of this cross-pollination of story and characters and I don’t want to give any of that stuff away, but it basically means that there are some things that might happen in my Batman that are affected by, I mean, here we are in the police station in Gotham City. There’s a potential that something like this might exist in that story. So it’s a creative way that DC came up with of kind of being a filmmaker-driven company and entity and also making sure that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing and so that there’s collaboration and supervision. So that somebody doesn’t go sailing off, causing problems for your movie with their movie. You know, in a way, it’s also a kind of a courtesy. You know what they’re doing, one hand knows what the other is doing, and I get to weigh in on stuff that impacts the Batman stuff.” You can read the rest of Affleck’s comments, including his thoughts on the progress of the script, here…
…Warner Bros. has announced this week that the Ultimate Edition of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is set for a one night only (and free) theatrical release on Monday, June 27th, the day before the digital HD release. A new trailer for the extended edition arrived online this week, giving us a glimpse at some of the additional footage and the bonus features, while Funko also unveiled its San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Doomsday Pop! Vinyl figure…
…And speaking of Comic-Con, with Suicide Squad set to invade San Diego ahead of the film’s release on August 5th, Warner Bros. has stepped up the marketing for the supervillain ensemble this week with a theatrical poster [see here], an IMAX poster [see here], and not one but two sets of character posters [see here and here]. We also got a a glimpse of some new footage courtesy of the music video for twenty one pilots’ ‘Heathens’ [watch it here], along with a new image of Jared Leto’s Joker and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn [see here] and a look at Medicom’s MAFEX Deadpool figure [see here], while director David Ayer announced on Twitter that post-production is complete, describing the final film as “a beast”…
…In one last piece of news from the DC Extended Universe, the logos for much of the DC Films’ slate were on display at Licensing Expo this week, including The Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, Green Lantern Corps, Batman and Wonder Woman; check them out here…
…Moving on to the small screen now and it’s been announced that former Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter has joined the cast of Supergirl, where she will appear in multiple episodes as the President of the United States. Carter becomes the latest DC veteran to appear in the show after Helen Slater (Supergirl), Dean Cain (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) and Laura Vandervoort (Smallville). Meanwhile, Supergirl will also introduce the Man of Steel in its season two premiere, with Tyler Hoechlin set to become the latest actor to portray Superman, and this week he was asked whether he felt any pressure about living up to Henry Cavill’s portrayal in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: “I never try to compare and contrast performances because it’s such an iconic character already. Superman is Superman so I’m just going to try to carry on the tradition of that and play that part. I think the fun is going to be finding where Clark Kent is in this world. I’m just excited to find out Clark’s sense of humour….”
…Click below to continue on for The Flash, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham, Krypton, Batman: The Killing Joke, LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Silver Sable, Animated Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Jessica Jones, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ghost Rider, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Apocalypse, Wolverine 3, Deadpool 2 and more…
Originally published June 25, 2016. Updated November 29, 2022.
