Presenting our weekly round-up of all the biggest news stories from the world of movie superheroes…
The recent ‘synopsis’ from The Dark Knight Rises may have been a bit of waste of time but some interesting bits and pieces have came out of the Los Angeles shoot this past week, the most intriguing (and spoilery) of which was a brief set report of Christian Bale shooting a scene as a limping, cane-assisted Bruce Wayne. If true, this pretty much confirms what everyone is expecting anyway – that Tom Hardy’s Bane is going to inflict some severe injuries on the Caped Crusader that will probably leave him out of action for a portion of the film’s sure-to-be-arse-numbing running time. Nevertheless, we can rest assured that Christopher Nolan is going to deliver plenty of action with his final foray into Gotham City, including a chase sequence featuring an army of Gotham’s Finest in pursuit of Batman on the Batpod. Check out some spy footage and a vague scene description, and for more cop vs. Caped Crusader action you might also want to take a look at this new clip from the upcoming DC Universe Animated Original Movies adaptation of Batman: Year One.
In other animated Batman news, Warner Bros. executive Sam Register has confirmed the rumours that a new CG-animated series is in development, announcing that Batman Beyond producer Glen Murakami has taken on responsibilities for the new show. Entitled Beware the Batman, the series will see the Dark Knight joined by ‘a gun-toting Alfred’ and a female ninja side-kick called Katana to battle minor villains from the Rogues Gallery, and it is expected to premiere in 2013 as part of Cartoon Network’s upcoming DC Nation programming block. Take a look at the first piece of concept art from Beware the Batman here.
Turning back to WB’s live-action slate for a moment and some interesting Man on Steel set photos have popped this week, beginning with snaps from The Daily Mail of Russell Crowe enjoying a quick smoke in full Kryptonian clobber, giving us our first unofficial look at Jor-El from the Zack Snyder-directed reboot. The Mail also got their hands on some images from the Alaskan fishing village set in Vancouver, which featured a scruffy looking, bearded Henry Cavill filming scenes as Clark Kent alongside Amy Adams’ Lois Lane. Snyder is certainly giving a new look to the Last Son of Krypton for his interpretation – perhaps someone should tell “the world’s biggest Superman fan” that its time to lose the red trunks (and get himself some cosmetic beard surgery?). Pah, he can’t be that much of a fan.
As we count down to the arrival of the first full-length trailer for Joss Whedon’s epic superhero team-up The Avengers on Tuesday (read an purported description here), Marvel Studios have debuted some new images, including a battle-damaged Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and a behind-the-scenes shot of Whedon and Scarlett Johansson (along with hi-res versions of the previously released stills featuring Evans, Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Hiddleston). Looking past The Avengers, Chris Evans briefly updated the status of the Captain America sequel, stating that it “probably won’t start ‘til late next year”, which means that Cap 2 will be vying for one of Marvel’s two summer 2014 slots (as for the other, Ant-Man remains a strong possibility, while there’s also been talk about Doctor Strange and The Inhumans in recent days).
We’ve already heard that there’ll be strong superhero representation at the New York Comic-Con next weekend, with the world premieres of Green Lantern: The Animated Series and the Catwoman short from Batman: Year One set to be joined by sneak peaks at Justice League: Doom and Ultimate Spider-Man, along with brand new footage from The Avengers. Now you can add Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance to that list, while Marvel Television have also announced that they’ll be debuting footage from their Blade anime, in addition to the second season premiere of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and a special screening of Episode 1 of the X-Men anime series.
Wrapping up the best of the rest…
…After just about managing to recoup its production budget at the global box-office, Green Lantern comes to Blu-ray and DVD next weekend and to promote its arrival, Warner Bros. have released an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip featuring Ryan Reynolds. Something tells me they’ll need a little more than that…
…Hugh Jackman has been talking about director James Mangold’s vision for The Wolverine, likening the approach to that of the classic Clint Eastwood Western, The Outlaw Josey Wales. “He has a really great take on it,” Jackman told MovieFone. “Yes, it’s going to be different than Darren’s version, but I think it’s going to be just as great from what I’ve seen…”
…During promotion of his latest movie, David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, Michael Fassbender spoke briefly to MTV about X-Men: First Class, praising director Matthew Vaughn and stating that he and James McAvoy already have some ideas for the sequel…
…And finally, director Lexi Alexander was a guest on the How Did This Get Made? podcast, where she discussed the making of Punisher: War Zone. For my money, it’s the best Punisher movie to date (which isn’t really saying much), so it comes as a relief that Freddie Prinze Jr. didn’t get to bring his second-rate Keanu Reeves impersonation to the role of Jigsaw.
Holy Franchise, Batman! – Coming 2012.
Originally published October 8, 2011. Updated December 6, 2019.
