In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman, Justice League, Aquaman, Cyborg, The Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Man of Steel, Sgt. Rock, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, Arrow, Vixen, Constantine, Supergirl, Gotham, Batman: Bad Blood, Justice League vs. Teen Titans, Deadpool, X-Force, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Legion, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man, Agent Carter, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, Daredevil, Avengers: Infinity War, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Avengers: Ultron Revolution, Heroes Reborn and more…
It’s taken Warner Bros. a while to get its DC Extended Universe fully up and running, but the studio is now moving full steam ahead on its shared superhero universe, and this week we got a major peek behind the curtain thanks to The CW’s TV special DC Films Presents: Dawn of the Justice League. The big (or rather biggest) reveal from the special was the arrival of the second – and rather amazing – trailer for David Ayer’s DC supervillain team-up Suicide Squad [watch it here], which was also accompanied by a teaser poster [see here], a theatrical poster [see here], and ten character posters featuring The Joker (Jared Leto), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), Katana (Karen Fukuhara), Deadshot (Will Smith), Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Slipknot (Adam Beach), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtnet) and Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) [see here]…
…Following the release of the Suicide Squad trailer, David Ayer shared a few words about Jared Leto’s Joker, stating that: “It’s a scary character to tackle. This iteration of him, people will realize there really is a continuity of history – there is a lot of respect for what the Joker represents, who he is as a character. He is the best known villain in fiction so there’s an incredible responsibility there to also be faithful to what he is but at the same time push him into this next world, next time, next phase. If you’re a Batman fan, you have to love/hate the Joker because he’s the best nemesis ever. Just to have him on one of my film sets, it was a very memorable thing for me.” Meanwhile, Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder also chipped in, adding that: “I was very much looped in on the crazy stuff happening with that. The commitment to the role, you’re going to see that really shine through in a way that you’re not used to seeing actors in movies really go all the way with every little moment and every little breath. You’re going to get taken on a journey with Jared that I don’t know that everyone’s ready for but I think it will be amazing…”
…In other Suicide Squad news, it’s been revealed that Oscar-winning composer Steven Price (Gravity) is set to score the film, while David Ayer took to social media to share a look at a collectible statue for Harley Quinn, which was followed by official promo images from DC Collectibles for Harley, The Joker, Deadshot, Killer Croc, Katana and Captain Boomerang. Oh, and be sure to check out Oliver Davis and Luke Owen’s shot-by-shot breakdown of the trailer on the FMTV Podcast here…
…Dawn of the Justice League also offered up the very first footage from Wonder Woman courtesy of a featurette, which also included comments from director Patty Jenkins and stars Gal Gadot (Diana Prince) and Chris Pine (Steve Trevor) [watch it here], while this week also brought a batch of set photos from the World War I-era origin story featuring Gadot and Pine, with Diana wielding her sword in her civilian clothes [see here]…
…And of course, the special had a big focus on March’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with a new TV spot alongside an in-depth featurette exploring the hotly-anticipated ensemble [watch them here]. We also got a look at some new promo art of Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight battling Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel with some images arriving online for Batman v Superman’s collectible theater concession items [see here], as well as some promotional images for Hot Toys’ Batman and Superman bobble-head collectible set [see here] and a promo for LEGO’s Batman v Superman sets [see here]. Meanwhile, it’s also been announced that star Lauren Cohan is portraying the character of Martha Wayne, where she’ll link up with her upcoming The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Thomas Wayne…
…While we’re on the subject of The Dark Knight, Ben Affleck was asked this week about the rumours linking him to the director’s chair on a Batman solo movie, and while he didn’t confirm that he had the job, he certainly sounded open to the prospect: “I’ll just say going through the process, I would never have imagined that I could or would direct a movie like this. And in working with (Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder) and seeing what he did and watching him every day, I got really inspired by that and by seeing the scope on which he was telling the story, by seeing what he was able to do with this kind of mythic story on a grand scale…”
…Turning back to the Dawn of the Justice League special and some promotional artwork gave us our first look at Justice League members Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) all assembled – the latter two unveiled for the very first time (although Green Lantern was absent, despite being confirmed for the two-part Justice League movie) [see here], along with featurettes for Aquaman, Cyborg, The Flash and Green Lantern Corps [see here and here], and official logos for all of the upcoming Justice League movies bar Justice League itself [see here]…
…Following the DC special, TV’s Barry Allen Grant Gustin was favouriting a few tweets from fans who commented that Ezra Miller is set to play the character on the big screen. Several sites then reported that Gustin was “bashing” Miller for taking on the role, prompting Gustin to post a clarification: “I fully support Ezra Miller as Barry Allen and the Flash on the feature side of DC. I’ve never met the guy, but I think he is a fantastic and interesting actor. Would I have liked to play Barry Allen in a film? Sure. I love this character and it has changed my life and making movies and TV is something I hope to be fortunate enouh to do for the rest of my life. I ‘liked’ some tweets from fans that expressed their support of me and said they would have enjoyed seeing me in the movie. Nothing of anyone ‘bashing’ Ezra. I don’t condone that type of behavior and I defineitely don’t partake. I can’t wait to see all of the DC movies that are slate for the upcoming years. I am a fan and it will be awesome…”
…Zack Snyder has AGAIN defended the destruction at the end of Man of Steel, stating that: “I stand by it. Because for me, I’ve always said when I was working on Watchmen – and maybe it’s sort of left over from a Watchmen philosophical sort of thing – that there should be consequences to superheroes’ interaction with the earth. That was kind of the way that we approached Man Of Steel,” he adds. “I wanted a big consequence to Superman’s arrival on Earth. Certainly, Batman v Superman sort of cashes in all its chips on the ‘why’ of that destruction…”
…In one last piece of DC movie-related news, Quentin Tarantino has revealed that he once considered directing a movie based upon Sgt. Rock, a World War II veteran who in the comic book universe has also appeared as part of the Suicide Squad: “here is a script – I’m not going to do it – that I always really liked a lot by David Webb Peoples, who wrote the Unforgiven and Blade Runner.,” states Tarantino. “He wrote a movie version of Sgt. Rockthat I always thought was really terrific. I don’t think I’m ever going to end up doing it but I really did like that script and it’s one of the few times I’ve considered doing another script…”
…Click below to continue on for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, Arrow, Vixen, Constantine, Supergirl, Gotham, Batman: Bad Blood, Justice League vs. Teen Titans, Deadpool, X-Force, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Legion, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man, Agent Carter, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, Daredevil, Avengers: Infinity War, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6, Avengers: Ultron Revolution, Heroes Reborn and more…
