Originally published September 2, 2017. Updated November 21, 2019.
…Over at 20th Century Fox and Josh Brolin has been singing the praises of his Deadpool 2 co-star and producer Ryan Reynolds, with the Cable actor stating that: “He’s an amazing guy, very smart and really sweet — and really handsome. He’s a smart guy, he’s the one who saw this and tried to get this movie made for eight years and was unable to. I think he has such a perfect sensibility. He’s a great producer on it, there’s a lot to trust there…”
…If you were expecting Fox to take the X-Men franchise cosmic with the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix – what with the inclusion of the Phoenix, Lilandra and the Shi’ar Empire, well think again, as according to director Simon Kinberg: ““[We must] find a way to ground it so it’s not too intergalactic.” Kinberg went on to state that he intends on keeping the focus on the “human” element of the franchise…
…A few months ago it was rumoured that 20th Century Fox has decided to take another stab at the Fantastic Four franchise with a “kid-centric” reboot focussing on the characters of Franklin and Valeria, the children of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, and now we have some more potential details on the project. According to a report this week, the reboot as been merged with Kindergarten Heroes, an as-yet-unpublished book from Mark Millar, which is said to be serving as the basis for the new movie…
…Moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe now and this week has brought confirmation of another cast member for next year’s Avengers: Infinity War, with Letitia Wright set to reprise the role of Shuri, the sister of T’Challa, from February’s Black Panther. Meanwhile, Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista has been chatting about the superhero team-up, teasing the chemistry between Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord: “I’m excited about some of the stuff we did, but I don’t know what’s going to make it in the film. I always thought there would be a lot of good interaction between Tony Stark and Drax, and there was. And Star-Lord and Tony Stark as well. When you put those two guys in a room together, it’s like a spontaneous combustion. Talk about two talented guys who are so witty and smart and honed-in on their craft. It was a spectacle, and I’m so excited I got to witness it firsthand…”
…This past Thursday would have marked the 100th birthday of legendary artist and comic creator Jack Kirby, and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige celebrated the occasion by unveiling a new logo for Thor: Ragnarok – a movie he called “an unabashed love letter to his vision”. Meanwhile, we also got a new promo entitled ‘It’s Main Event Time’ which gives us another look at the God of Thunder taking on the Hulk, as well as a brief glimpse at Hela in action [watch it here], and it was announced that UK fans will be able to catch the Phase Three threequel three days earlier than originally announced, with Ragnarok now set to open on these shores on Tuesday, October 24th…
…Kevin Feige wasn’t the only person marking the birthday of Jack Kirby, with concept artist Ryan Meindering sharing some of his Kirby-inspired work for the Mark I armor from 2008’s Iron Man [see here], and Ant-Man star Evangeline Lilly taking the opportunity to unveil the very first image of her character Hope Van Dyne suited up as The Wasp from next year’s sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp [see here]…
…With Spider-Man: Homecoming set to swing into Chinese theaters later this month, Sony and Marvel unveiled a new IMAX poster for the Middle Kingdom [see here], while we also got to see some rather nice Chinese posters which turned out to be fan-made [they’re worth a look anyway – check them out here] as well as some concept art showcasing designs for Michael Keaton’s Vulture [see here]. Meanwhile, it has also been announced that Homecoming screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are in final negotiations with Marvel and Sony to return to pen the script for the wall-crawler’s second solo movie, while Sony has announced that it is cashing in on Homecoming’s home-entertainment release with the Spider-Man Legacy Collection 4K box set, which features 4K remasters of Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2…
…Marvel’s Inhumans opened in IMAX yesterday to near-universal critical derision ahead of its premiere on ABC at the end of the month, and as part of the promotion, this week brought us a couple of new promos entitled ‘An Astonishing Saga‘ and ‘War for Their World‘…
…With The Defenders now out of the way, Netflix stepped up the promotion for its next Marvel show with a new promo and episode titles for The Punisher [check them out here], while Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Creator and Content Development C.B. Cebulski dropped a little tease by suggesting that “another Marvel hero may be showing up [in The Punisher].” Any thoughts as to who this could be? Let us know in the comments…
…Netflix also unveiled the first official image from Luke Cage season 2 featuring Simone Missick’s Misty Knight complete with her bionic arm, while Charlie Cox teased that elements of the classic Born Again storyline could feature in Daredevil season three [read his comments here], and Flickering Myth’s George Chrysostomou speculated whether Netflix could be building to a Shadowland adaptation for the second season of The Defenders…
…It looks like the long-gestating reboot of The Crow is back from the dead, with Sony Pictures picking up the project after close to a decade in development at Relativity. Apparently, both director Corin Hardy (The Hallow) and star Jason Momoa (Aquaman) remain attached to the film, for the time being at least…
…And finally, the Hellboy reboot added another cast member this week, with The Vampire Diaries and Hemlock Grove actress Penelope Mitchell signing on to play Ganeida, “an elder witch who has decided that Nimue’s wrath has gone on for too long and must be stopped.” The reboot will need to find a replacement for Deadpool star Ed Skrein however, with the actor deciding to drop out of the film due to the whitewashing criticisms of his casting as Major Ben Daimio, a member of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, and an Asian character. Be sure to read Anghus Houvouras’ op-ed ‘Why Ed Skrein’s decision to walk away from Hellboy is a game changer‘.
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.
