In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers 4, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Silver & Black, Nighthawk, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Inhumans, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Punisher, X-Force, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad 2, Shazam, The Joker, Superman: Red Son, Gotham, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Titans and more…
With the release of Thor: Ragnarok fast approaching, Fandango has revealed that the Marvel threequel has edged out Warner Bros. Justice League in its poll to find the most anticipated movie of the fall, while early box office tracking is predicting that the film will open domestically with around $100 million. Should that project prove accurate, it would put Ragnarok ahead of the God of Thunder’s previous solo movies (which debuted to $65 million and $85 million respectively), although it would be down on the MCU’s two other releases this year, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opening to $147 million and Spider-Man: Homecoming $117 million…
…Marvel certainly stepped up its promotional efforts for Thor: Ragnarok this week, releasing a TV trailer which sees Thor assembling his new team ‘The Revengers’ [watch it here], along with a promo [watch it here], an IMAX poster [see here], eight character posters [see here] and a pair of promotional posters featuring the battle between Thor and The Hulk [see here]. Meanwhile, stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson have been discussing the relationship between Thor and Valkyrie [read their comments here], while Thompson slammed “dumb” male screenwriters for their handling of female heroes [read her comments here] and the film’s producer Brad Winderbaum has teased its connections to Avengers: Infinity War and Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as discussing its Planet Hulk inspiration [see here]…
…As production on Avengers 4 continues, it’s been reported this week that the production will be heading back to Scotland next year, having already shot scenes in Edinburgh and Glasgow for Avengers: Infinity War. Meanwhile, on the rumour front, there’s also talk that Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye will be swapping his bow for a sword as Clint Barton adopts the new identity of Ronin for the as-yet-untitled sequel…
…Spider-Man: Homecoming finally made its way to China this weekend, with the film pulling in an opening day of $22.2 million, pushing its worldwide haul beyond $770 million to make it the highest-grossing reboot of all time – a record previously held by 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man on $757 million. Projections are suggesting that Homecoming could go as high as $880 million globally, which would put it ahead of Wonder Woman ($814 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($863 million) to make it the biggest superhero movie of the year so far. Meanwhile, Sony is gearing up for the home-entertainment release of the movie, and you can check out a list of the Blu-ray special features here, along with promo images for Beast Kingdom’s Diamond exclusive Homecoming collectible figures here…
…Taking a quick break from the MCU now and this week has brought a couple of rumours regarding Sony’s SpiderVerse spinoffs; first up, it’s been claimed that Silver Sable’s Wild Pack will feature in the Silver & Black movie, while it’s also been reported that Sony is keen on developing a Nightwatch movie, and is eyeing Spike Lee to direct…
…Hasbro has unveiled some of its upcoming tie-in action figures for Marvel’s Black Panther movie, which give us our first look at Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger in his Golden Jaguar suit; take a look at the figures here…
…Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has revealed that the Phase Four release Vol. 3 will be out “in a little under three years”, suggesting we’ll be looking at a summer 2020 release for the film…
…Flickering Myth’s Alex Moreland spoke to Marvel’s Visual Development Supervisor Andy Park this week, with Andy discussing his work on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the Marvel house style and more. You can read the full interview here…
…Former Doctor Who star Matt Smith has become the latest actor to express his interest in taking on a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Smith stating at Fan Expo Canada that: ““I’d love to. They’ve got ask me though, the swines. But it would have to be the right project.” Should Marvel ask Smith, he’d become the third Doctor to join the MCU after Christopher Eccleston (Thor: The Dark World) and David Tennant (Jessica Jones), while former companion Karen Gillan portrays Nebula in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies…
…Turning to the small screen side of the MCU now and following its IMAX theatrical opening of $2.6 million worldwide, it has been reported this week that the new TV series Inhumans has been “a source of contention” between ABC and Marvel Television, with the network apparently unhappy with the quality of the show’s visual effects and scripts. Fans who haven’t made the trek to IMAX cinemas will soon be able to make up their own minds, with Inhumans set to premiere on ABC on September 29th…
…Despite this alleged difference of opinion on Inhumans, Marvel’s Head of Television Jeph Loeb has confirmed that we’ll be seeing more Marvel series on the network in the future: “Absolutely. Obviously, these aren’t things I can talk about. But look, as it is with every single one of the networks that we have gotten with that this is with, and whether it’s Fox or it’s FX or it’s Freeform, or it’s Hulu, or it’s Netflix, ABC is always going to be our mothership…It is a Disney-owned network. We are a Disney-owned corporation and we’re a good fit for each other. We speak a lot of the same language and the kinds of things that are important to them, which is people rising up again adversity; real emotion; a strong female character, but also a strong sense of family and questions of identity…All of those things are key to being a successful ABC show, but they’re also key to being a Marvel show. So in that way we’re going to go and see what happens along the way…”
…It has been revealed this week that a familiar face will be returning for the fifth season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., with Nick Blood set to reprise his role as Lance Hunter for an unspecified number of episodes. Hunter was last seen in the third season alongside Adrianne Palicki’s Bobbi Morse, with the duo then starring in ABC’s failed spinoff pilot Marvel’s Most Wanted…
…As we await a premiere date for Netflix’s The Punisher, we’ve had a new image from the Jon Bernthal-headlined solo series which features Frank Castle during his days in the Marines [check it out here], while Bernthal spoke about the character’s motiviation, stating that dealing out ‘justice’ in his killing sprees is “the only thing that silences the demons, temporarily. There’s going to be an attempt to move beyond the Punisher, but that’s something he can’t shake. There’s part of me that’s hungry to get back into the darkness, that’s excited to see it fall apart…”
…Click below to continue on for X-Force, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad 2, Shazam, The Joker, Superman: Red Son, Gotham, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Titans and more…
