…And arriving at the Marvel Cinematic Universe now, this week saw some footage leaking from the Captain America: Civil War D23 trailer featuring Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Redwing, although it didn’t last long before Marvel had it taken down. Meanwhile, we also got some rumours suggesting that the Russos have shot multiple death scenes for the film and that one of the Avengers will be killed during the Civil War, while Hasbro unveiled some action figures for the Phase Three launcher, and Marvel announced the comic book prequel series Captain America: Road to War in June…
…Marvel has found its Wong for Doctor Strange, with the official announcement this week that The Martian’s Benedict Wong is set to play the sidekick to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme. Or, in other words, Benedict Wong is Benedict’s Wong…
…The rumour mill has churned out a possible villain for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and it’s a big one (literally). We’ll not spoil it here, but if you’re interested you can read our report here…
…We also got some rumours about Cate Blanchett’s villain role in Thor: Ragnarok, along with Odin’s (Anthony Hopkins) possible involvement in the film, while Mark Ruffalo spoke briefly about the November 2017 release, describing it as a “road movie”: “There’s a little bit of Midnight Run, with Charles Grodin and Robert De Niro. I feel like that’s kind of where we’re heading with this relationship between Thor and Banner. It is a universal road movie – that’s where we’re heading. It’s not where you’d think it will be, so it’s not your classic road movie but it has that structure, I think…”
…It looks like we’ll be able to see Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man reboot a little earlier than originally expected, with Sony moving the film forward to July 7th 2017 as part of a rejigging of releases following the news that Disney has pushed Star Wars: Episode VIII back to December 2017…
…Agent Carter’s second season got underway on Tuesday, but Hayley Atwell’s latest outing as Peggy Carter struggled a little in the ratings, with the first episode pulling in a 1.0 rating and 3.3 million viewers and the second a 0.9 with 3 million viewers, marking a series low. You can read Amy Richau’s reviews of the first two episodes here and here, and we’ve also got a promo for the third episode ‘Better Angels’ here, along with a series trailer and behind-the-scenes featurette here…
…Netflix officially announced that it has renewed Jessica Jones for a second season this week, with showrunner Melissa Rosenberg teasing what might be in store for Jessica in the future: “I will always use as much as I possible can from the book [but] we’ve gone away from the mythology of the book, the MCU is very different in terms of its mythology from the [comics]. I think I just want it to be about her character. She’s a very damaged character, and that damage goes beyond Kilgrave. There’s a lot to mine from in her backstory and into her present day situation.” A season two teaser image arrived online [see here], while stars Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter spoke briefly about the first season’s sex scenes between Jessica and Luke Cage [see here]. And be sure to check out the Defenders TV Podcast review of ‘AKA Take a Bloody Number’ here…
…It’s also been reported this past week – but yet to be confirmed – that Netflix has given the go-ahead to a Punisher series, with Jon Bernthal reprising the role from the upcoming second season of Daredevil. Bernthal also spoke in some depth about his portrayal of Frank Castle in Daredevil, stating that: “Obviously secrecy is key to Marvel. I can tell you that this guy, horrible tragic things happen, and we will see how he goes through that. The effect the other characters have on him will push him certain directions. I think once you see these characters collide, it’s tremendously interesting and emotionally gripping as well. It’s going to be a special season. If you thought last season of Daredevil was dark, we’re going to a whole new place.” You can read the rest of Bernthal’s thoughts on the character and his lethal methods of crime-fighting here…
…While we’re on the subject of Daredevil, Elodie Yung has been speaking about her role as Elektra, while Charlie Cox has promised that the second season will feature a scene that’s like the hallway fight from the first season, albeit “on crack”, as well as the possibility of him appearing in Avengers: Infinity War, or – god forbid – Marvel recasting Matt Murdock for the big screen: “Marvel TV and Marvel Studios are two very different things. So even if the characterwere to appear in that film, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I would appear in that film. I will pick a fight with the guy that they choose…”
…As well as its Jessica Jones announcement, Netflix updated its catalogue with very brief descriptions for its three other upcoming Marvel series in Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders; check them out here…
…Disney XD has announced the premiere dates for season four of Ultimate Spider-Man (now titled Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6) and season three of Avengers Assemble (now titled Avengers: Ultron Revolution), with the shows set to get underway on February 21st and March 13th respectively. Take a look at the first promo for Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6 here…
…Have you ever dreamed of seeing Luke Skywalker and company teaming up with The Avengers on the big screen? Well, Stan Lee (rather optimistically) thinks it may just happen one day: “I don’t know how many characters you can have in a movie but obviously the people who produce these things are looking to be as successful as possible. If they feel that incorporatingStar Wars with the Marvel characters will be very successful, they’ll find a way to do it. Can you imagine Spider-Man saying: ‘May the force be with you’? It may come to that! We can have as many characters join the Avengers as we want to for future movies. That might be fun too – all of a sudden Luke Skywalker is an Avenger!”
…And finally, be sure to check out Tai Freligh’s review of the penultimate episode of Heroes Reborn ‘Company Woman’ here, and check back soon for our review of the series finale.
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.
Originally published January 23, 2016. Updated November 29, 2022.
