After last weekend’s column was pretty much dominated by Marvel, Warner Bros. have hit back in a big way, dominating the news this past week with their two major DC superhero properties – The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel. First up came a load of set photos and videos from the Pittsburgh shoot of Christopher Nolan’s final Batman feature, beginning with a look at the filming of a prison break sequence before giving us an early preview of a scrap between Christian Bale’s Batman and Tom Hardy’s Bane. As if that wasn’t enough, we soon got a few shots of other cast members, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Detective John Blake and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate (yeah right). While that was already more than enough for us Batman fans to sink our teeth into, the studio then released the first official image of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle / Catwoman, and surprisingly, it was met with a bit of a negative reception (whaaaa?). I’d not start calling for the return of Halle Berry just yet, but from the looks of it Hathaway’s Catwoman is going to be a different interpretation to what we’ve been expecting, which might explain why she was announced as portraying Selina Kyle rather than her alter-ego. I must say I wasn’t overly impressed, but I don’t think it’s time to start freaking out just yet (and if Batman-News are to be believed, Catwoman will drop her goggles at some point in the film to wear a cowl / mask).
Turning now to the week’s other big story, which was of course the reveal of Henry Cavill’s new-look Superman from Man of Steel. From the looks of the shot, it would appear that Superman has dropped the red trunks, which isn’t an issue for me personally (although I could understand fans take umbrage over the change) and Cavill seems to be a pretty good fit in character. The actor also spoke to Total Film earlier in the week about the role, while it was also announced that Laurence Fishburne has been cast as Perry White, joining the likes of Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane and Russell Crowe in the Zack Snyder-produced reboot.Rounding up the best of the rest…
…Despite the poor performance of Green Lantern this summer, WB president Jeff Robinov has been talking about plans for a sequel with the Los Angeles Times, stating that the potential follow-up will need to go down the Batman Begins-route of being “a little darker and edgier with more emphasis on action”…
...Meanwhile Marvel Studios appear to be pulling together a plan for their sequel to Thor now that director Kenneth Branagh has departed, with Variety reporting that Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones) tops a potential list of directors that also includes Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods), James McTeigue (Ninja Assassin), Noam Murro (300: Battle of Artemesia) and Breck Eisner (The Crazies). Don Payne (My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Thor) is currently working on a screenplay for the God of Thunder’s post-Avengers adventure, which is expected to feature a greater emphasis on “Asgardians and creature in the Norse mythology-set world”…
…This week’s ‘No Shit, Sherlock Award’ goes to Marvel CEO Avi Arad, who told the Toronto Sun that there are no plans for Spider-Man to join up with The Avengers any time soon, as “Spider-Man has a huge universe of its own, so many villains, foes and friends, it's not something we're thinking about because we have so much more to tell." So, there you have it, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Sony own the movie rights to the character……On the subject of Spidey, Collider posted a video interview with Andrew Garfield, in which the star talks about bring the webslinger to the screen in the upcoming reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, while Deadline report that the sequel to the as-yet-unreleased film will arrive on May 2nd, 2014…
…Spider-Man mightn’t be entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe any time soon but it looks increasingly likely that Doctor Strange will be as TwitchFilm report that screenwriters Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (Cowboys & Aliens, Conan the Barbarian) have turned in a script and Marvel Studios are now looking at a shortlist of candidate to helm the feature…
...Thor arrives on DVD and Blu-ray next month, along with the 'Marvel One Shot' short entitled The Consultant, which features S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson. Marvel released a teaser for the short film which you can check out here, while Clark Gregg has also been talking about The Consultant, the follow-up short A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer, his role in The Avengers and the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe...
...And finally, a couple of interesting articles arrived online this past week, with ScreenRant delivering a comprehensive breakdown of the changes between Captain America: The First Avenger and its comic book source material, and IFC posting a piece entitled 'Make Movies the Marvel Way'.
Gary Collinson
Holy Franchise, Batman! - Coming 2012.
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