Our weekly round-up of the big news stories from the world of movie superheroes…
The big talking point this past week was of course the arrival of the second theatrical trailer for Marvel’s epic superhero team-up The Avengers (or Marvel Avengers Assemble, as it’s now officially known here in the UK), which debuted online on Wednesday and went on to shatter the iTunes record set by The Dark Knight Rises back in December, racking up an astonishing 13.7 million views in its first 24 hours. The trailer featured plenty of new footage, and although the identity of Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) alien army still remains a mystery, the trailer did give fans a first glimpse at Cobie Smulders’ Agent Maria Hill (check out two official stills here) along with tantalising peek at the ‘Leviathan’ – a giant robotic creature / craft that immediately sparked talk of it being Joss Whedon’s interpretation of Fin Fang Foom [personally I’m not convinced myself, but feel free to share your thoughts on this and the trailer in general in the comments below]. Meanwhile, preceding the release of the new trailer was a brand new poster, in addition to a number of short interviews from EW featuring the entire roster of the Avengers, with Chris Evans (Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) all chipping in with some brief comments on their respective characters.
Wrapping up the best of the rest…
…Animator Dan Pierse of VFX company Framework Studio posted his pitch for the title sequence of The Amazing Spider-Man trailer, which was ultimately rejected by Sony: “I had the opportunity to pitch on The Amazing Spider-Man trailer last year and it made it all the way through the animation stage. Sadly, it was not the only horse in the race and was passed on down the line. I did get a chance to develop how to attach the ‘web’ and the shard together with spline dynamics and Xpresso. All the swinging and webs are completely controlled by dynamics. Good times!” Take a look here…
…In other Spidey-related news, we’ve received our first look at the animated – and teenage – incarnations of Iron Fist and Power Man from the upcoming Marvel cartoon, Ultimate Spider-Man. Both characters debuted on Marvel’s official site (see here and here), while writer and consulting producer Brian Michael Bendis also had a few words about the crime-fighting partners: “If there’s anything not broken in comics, it’s the dynamic between Iron Fist and Power Man… They’re like the Laverne and Shirley of comics. They’re the Odd Couple. They’re fantastic together. And that dynamic only gets more interesting with the connection of the other three teammates [Spider-Man, White Tiger, and an as-yet-unrevealed hero]. No matter what happens on the team, these two are good.” Ultimate Spider-Man premieres in North America on Disney XD on April 1st, and EW have got their hands on the first clip from the series which features Spider-Man (Drake Bell) meeting with S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Chi McBride)…
…During a promotional interview with IGN to discuss his latest movie Safe House, Ryan Reynolds spoke about the long-rumoured Deadpool solo movie, providing an update on the screenplay and distancing the project once again from the Merc with the Mouth’s last live-action appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine: “The script I think is fantastic. It has been developed even further in the last three months or so. The film has to be rated R and it has to be done a certain way. It has to do all these things that I am sure can be worrisome for the guys cutting the checks, so if it’s going to be done, it needs to be done right.” Reynolds also touched upon the rumoured sequel to last year’s Green Lantern, stating that he has “no idea” if it will become a reality…
…One sequel that does look like it’s set to become a reality is a follow-up to 2008’s blockbuster Hancock – at least, according to director Peter Berg, who told French site CineHeroes (via BleedingCool): “[Hancock 2] should be done. We are in talks. Once our respective projects will be finished, that Will Smith is finished with Men in Black III, once I’m done with Battleship and Lone Survivor, we will. I talked with Will Smith, he is always ready.” Unless he’s busy filming the I Am Legend sequel, of course…
…Conversely, the future doesn’t seem to bode well for fans of Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy series, with star Ron Perlman stating that: “If I had to bet, I would bet that there would not be a Hellboy III, but I’ve never given up hope. I feel as though it’s too good of an idea, the third part of the trilogy, to ever completely abandon, because it would have really answered all of the questions that were brought up in [Hellboy] and [Hellboy II: The Golden Army] and Guillermo’s idea of how to finish the trilogy is so amazingly theatrical that it would be a great shame if we never did it…”
…Two more actors have joined the cast of CW’s Arrow pilot, with Deadline reporting that Paul Blackthorne (The River, Justice League: Doom) is set to guest star as Detective Quentin Lance, the father of Katie Cassidy’s Laurel Lance, and Jamey Sheridan (Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Homeland) securing the role of Robert Queen, pops to Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow…
…Last week Matthew Goode touched upon DC Comics’ controversial Before Watchmen prequel series and now his Watchmen co-star Jeffrey Dean Morgan has revealed that he’d been interested in reprising his role as the cigar-chomping Comedian, should a film adaptation ever become a reality: “It would have to be the right people involved. I would like Dave Gibbons, the creator of the [comic], to be behind it. I’d love to work with Zack [Snyder] again. But we always said when we did Watchmen it was a one off. There’s no way there can be a prequel so I don’t know. It makes me nervous that they’re even talking about it… If there was a way [Warner Bros] could squeeze a movie out of it they’d probably try to find a way. I don’t know honestly if they’d recast but since I play the Comedian from 18 to his demise at 60 I guess I would fit in there somewhere. We’ll see…”
…Zack Snyder has of course swapped the world of Watchmen for another DC Comics adaptation, Man of Steel, and Michael Shannon took some time to briefly discuss his portrayal of antagonist General Zod with IFC, stating that: “He’s actually not a very scary guy, he’s just trying to do his job” (which, presumably, is world domination). Meanwhile Shannon also revealed what could be the formerly-bearded villain’s voice in next year’s reboot, teasing a line of dialogue from the film by telling MTV: “Do you realize the universe is constantly shrinking, Superman?” I guess Zod knows something that Stephen Hawking doesn’t…
…Sticking with Superman, director McG continues to dig up the reboot, while expressing further regret over the cancellation of his own origin tale, Superman: Flyby, which was based on a script by Star Trek’s J.J. Abrams: “I did indeed cast Henry Cavill [as Superman]. He’s a fantastic actor, he’s very, very strong and he’s wonderful. I think Zack Snyder’s going to do a great job with Henry Cavill. I can’t wait to see that picture. I’m heartbroken that I never made my Superman, but it was my own f**k-up because I was afraid of flying and couldn’t get down to Australia. I got properly thrown off that picture, sacked for being a mental case! You live and learn, you keep on truckin’…”
…Before Henry Cavill hits the screen as Kal-El, Justice League voice actor George Newbern will return to the role of the Man of Tomorrow for the direct-to-video animated feature Superman Vs. The Elite, which is set to premiere later this month at Wondercon. Check out some images from the film over at SuperHeroShows, which are taken from the special features of Justice League: Doom (and while we’re on the subject of Justice League: Doom, ComicBookMovie’s Ed Gross caught up with DC regular Michael Rosenbaum to discuss his work as Flash, while Nathan Fillion shared his thoughts on Green Lantern over at MetalMachine)…
…And finally, it’s been yet another quiet week from The Dark Knight Rises camp, but with rival superhero flick The Avengers dominating much of the headlines recently (and topping The Dark Knight Rises’ iTunes trailer record), this must surely be the calm before the Batman storm and you’d have to image we’ll be hearing something from Christopher Nolan and company very soon… here’s hoping, anyway!
Holy Franchise, Batman! – Now available for pre-order from Amazon.
Originally published March 3, 2012. Updated November 29, 2022.
