Our weekly round up of all the latest stories from the world of screen superheroes, including Man of Steel, Justice League, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers 2, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Kick-Ass 2, Arrow, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man, Teen Titans Go! and more....
![Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill on the set of Man of Steel]( "Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill on the set of Man of Steel")
And so, after an absence of seven years, Superman returned to the big screen yesterday with the release of Zack Snyder's hotly-anticipated reboot Man of Steel, and despite a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the Henry Cavill-headlined superhero epic is soaring at the box office. Man of Steel pulled in a mighty $21 million in the States on Thursday night (more than the midnight openings for The Avengers and The Dark Knight) and an estimated $45 million by close of play on Friday, with analysts predicting an opening weekend of around $125 million, which would give it the second-best debut of the year behind Marvel's Iron Man 3, and a record for June openings. Throw in the $170 million from pre-release promotional tie-ins - not to mention international box office receipts, which are yet to be reported - and it seems that the $220 million blockbuster is already well on its way to turning a solid profit for Warner Bros. And while RT critics may be less than impressed with Man of Steel, that's not the case with Flickering Myth's Martin Deer, who awarded the film ★★★★★ in his spoiler-free review:
"...There is a lot to love about Man of Steel, and circling back to Superman, the character really is given the platform he deserves. The showcase of his abilities, of his morals, of who he is and why, are handled with care and respect. For a long time people have been under the misconception that Superman is boring, that he isn't relevant in today's world. Well, Man of Steel has just delivered a thunderous shot to the mid-section. An uppercut to the naysayers of both the character and Zack Snyder, Man of Steel gives Superman wings once again, but most importantly, it gives him importance, and a reason to look up to him." - Read Martin's full review here.
...Of course there's been plenty of promotional material for Man of Steel arriving online this past week, including a clip of Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) readying baby Kal-El for his trip to Earth [see here], New York premiere interviews with Snyder, screenwriter David S. Goyer and stars Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe, Ayelet Zurer, Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Michael Shannon (General Zod), Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent), Lawrence Fishburne (Perry White), Antje Traue (Faora) and Christopher Meloni (Colonel Hardy) [see here], highlights of the red carpet action from the European premiere [see here], a stream of Hans Zimmer's score [see here] and a couple of Mondo posters from artists Ken Taylor and [see here and here]...
![Justice League]( "Justice League")
...In the run up to Man of Steel's release, a report surfaced claiming that Warner Bros. has given the go ahead to Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer to fast-track Man of Steel 2 through development, with the sequel forming part of a three-picture deal between Goyer and the studio which also includes the long-rumoured Justice League. However, Goyer himself is playing down the speculation and continues to tow the "it all depends on the box office performance of Man of Steel" line, although he did admit in an interview with MTV that he is keen to tackle Justice League, as well as reiterating that any future DC movie universe will be kept entirely separate from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy (so no Christian Bale or Joseph Gordon-Levitt, for anyone still holding out hope): "If I were offered [Justice League], I wouldn't say no. Well, what are you going to do after Batman and Superman? How do you top yourself? I can't go back to Metamorpho after this... The Dark Knight films do not exist in the same universe. Zack [Snyder] has gone on record. The fact that we have [***spoiler***] Wayne Industries on the satellite [***spoiler***], Bruce Wayne exists in this universe. Lex Luthor exists in this universe. Other metahumans do exist in this universe, so the hope is, depending on how [Man of Steel] does, that we'll be able to roll into some other films..."
...And just in case anyone was still under any illusions about the possibility of Justice League serving as an extension to the Nolanverse, Goyer went on to spell it out even more clearly during an interview with HeyUGuys: "Zack has said that Bruce Wayne exists in this universe. It would be a different Bruce Wayne from Chris’ Dark Knight trilogy, and it would be disingenuous to say that Zack and I haven’t had various conversations on set, around ‘what if’ and ‘moving forward’. That having been said, it’s all going to depend on the next few weeks. Warner Bros. has hopes that there will be more Man of Steel films, and that this will be the beginning of a shared universe. We could meet Batman, or Wonder Woman, or the Justice League in these movies. But they all hinge on box office reception. If that happens, I would be happy, and nervous, to dive in... I think Warner Bros has seen – and Chris deserves the biggest credit for this – that we were able to revitalise Batman and put it into the first billion dollar superhero film. And they’re hoping that Superman will be revitalised as well. And if we can do Batman and Superman, then maybe we can move on to Wonder Woman, and The Flash, and characters like that..."
![Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder on the set of Man of Steel]( "Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder on the set of Man of Steel")
...And with regards to Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises director took a moment during the New York premiere of Man of Steel to discuss his level of involvement with the Superman reboot during a chat with Access Hollywood: "For me, the only challenge really was helping David Goyer put the story together and helping guide the screenplay where it needed to go and then it was dumping it on Zack Snyder and saying to Zack, 'I hope you can deliver what it is we all see in this.' And he really knocked it out of the park, he's done something very spectacular that I think audiences today are really going to be excited by in a way that I was as a kind when I saw the Christopher Reeve version in 1978..."
...As the bean counters at Warner Bros. celebrate the financial success of Man of Steel, filmmaker Kevin Smith - who has past experience with the Superman movie franchise, having penned the aborted 90s adaptation Superman Lives - has offered some advice to Warner Bros. on how the studio should approach its planned DC universe during a chat with the Toronto Sun: "I wish that DC would just flat out be like, 'We're just going to steal Marvel's plan since it seems to be working for them,' and then just do the same thing... They've got characters and they can do a Justice League movie as well." Of course, it's one thing to have the characters, but it's another thing entirely to do them justice...
...That leads us nicely into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and we'll start things off with the currently-in-production Captain America: The Winter Soldier; as with the last few weeks, there's been plenty of spy photos from the Cleveland set arriving online this week, including Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) with a battered, paint-stripped shield during his confrontation with the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) [see here], Anthony Mackie's (Pain & Gain) Falcon taking to the sky courtesy of wires (and CGI wings, to be added in post) [see here], our first look at Frank Grillo (Zero Dark Thirty) as Brock "Not in Crossbones Attire" Rumlow and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) helping Steve to forget about Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) by locking lips with the man out of time [see here]. Meanwhile, in addition to another piece of concept art, we've also had our first look at the redesigned Captain America suit as worn by Evans' stunt man, while a rumour over at Joblo states that Steve will also be returning to his old WWII uniform at some point the upcoming sequel. I can't say I blame him - this new one looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. has sent someone down to Argos to pick up a deluxe fancy dress superhero muscle suit...
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...There's been a lot of talk lately about Marvel Studios being unhappy with Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor, and if true then Tom Hiddleston certainly doesn't share the studio's concerns, with Hiddleston full of compliments for the Game of Thrones helmer during a chat with Flicks and the City at the London premiere of Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing: "Alan is amazing. He has this extraordinary breadth of vision about The Dark World - just the scale of it, what he imagined Asgard to be, what the depth and the specificity of his imagination about extending the reach of the film and taking the audience into parts of the Thor universe that they haven't seen yet. I've found that really exciting..."
...A few weeks back it was announced that former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan had joined the cast of James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy as the "lead female villain" and now we may have uncovered the identity of her character with a Scottish newspaper (via NeoGAF) claiming that Gillan will be portraying "Angela, a flame-haired, sword-wielding bounter hunter". If you're not familiar with the character, that's because Angela is yet to appear in the pages of Marvel Comics, having been created by Neil Gaiman for Todd McFarlane's Image Comics series Spawn; following a dispute between Gaiman and McFarlane over the rights to the character, Angela is set to make her Marvel debut later this year in Age of Ultron, and is also gearing up to appear in the relaunched Guardians of the Galaxy series from Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven. Guardians of the Galaxy is scheduled to begin filming later this month, with a cast that also includes Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana (Avatar) as Gamora, Dave Bautista (Riddick) as Drax the Destroyer, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) as Yondu, John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) as Rhomman Dey, Glenn Close (Damages) as the leader of the Nova Corps and Benicio Del Toro (Sin City), Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) and Ophelia Lovibond (London Boulevard) as as-yet-unrevealed villains...
...With Benicio Del Toro signing a multi-picture deal with Marvel, it had been presumed that he'd be portraying Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy, setting up the Mad Titan for a showdown with Earth's Mightiest Heroes in The Avengers 2. However, during an interview this week, director Joss Whedon has stated that there'll be no cross-over of characters between Guardians and his 2015 sequel: "We’re following Guardians of the Galaxy at Shepperton [with Avengers 2] but we won’t be swapping cast members. Every movie is its own thing and has to be. Unless I take a lot of peyote and write a very different draft… and I’m not ruling that out." One thing Whedon has seemingly ruled out is another appearance from Loki, telling Empire that: "Everyone is going to be looking for the Loki-Hulk smash moment and you'll be looking for quim [editor's note - if you are looking for quim, The Avengers XXX is probably a better bet]. No, first of all, imitating what I did before is the surest way to do it not as well. Second of all, Loki's not there to say those terrible things. Although I do think we should bring the word back, not as an insult, it's just a nice word..."
![]()
...Looking further ahead in the MCU, Marvel has set release dates for two Phase Three films, with the previously announced Ant-Man set to be followed by as-yet-unrevealed movies on May 6th, 2016 and May 5th, 2017 respectively. At this point in time, we can only speculate as to what these movies could be, with Doctor Strange seemingly a likely candidate alongside any one of Black Panther, Daredevil, Inhumans, Iron Man 4, Thor 3, Captain America 3 or perhaps even a first solo outing for Mark Ruffalo's Incredible Hulk...
...Moving on to 20th Century Fox's Marvel universe and while things have fallen quiet on the X-Men: Days of Future Past front (save for a set photo featuring Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique alongside a potential Misty Knight), the studio has stepped up the publicity for Hugh Jackman's impending solo sequel with a new trailer and first TV spot for The Wolverine which are packed with previously unseen footage that gives away plenty about the plot for 2013's next superhero offering. The Wolverine arrives in the UK on July 25th (one day earlier than previously announced), with James Mangold (Knight and Day) directing a cast that also includes newcomers Rila Fukushima as Yukio and Tao Okamoto as Mariko Yashida, along with Will Yun Lee (Total Recall) as Harada (a.k.a. the Silver Samurai), Brian Tee (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) as Noburo Mori, Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai) as Shingen, Hal Yamanouchi (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) as Yashida, Svetlana Khodchenkova (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as Viper and Famke Janssen (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) as Jean Grey...
...In addition to some new set photos of Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker), Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) and Sally Field (Aunt May), Jamie Foxx appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where the Django Unchained star gave us a preview of his voice for Max Dillon (a.k.a. Electro) in Sony's forthcoming sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Meanwhile, it's been rumoured that Electro, The Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper) will be joined by another iconic villain from Spidey's rogues gallery, with reports claiming that Colm Feore's (Thor) mystery character is none other than Norman Toomes, better known as The Vulture. Apparently, next year's sequel could serve as a set-up to the introduction of the Sinister Six, who would then battle Garfield's wall-crawler in The Amazing Spider-Man 3...
![]()
...Having caused all kinds of controversy through her use of the 'C-word' in 2010's Kick-Ass, Chloe Grace Moretz has spoken about her character Hit-Girl's continued use of profanity in the upcoming sequel Kick-Ass 2 and how it's used to distinguish between the teen assassin and her alter-go Mindy Macready.: "In the first one, you saw a lot more Hit-Girl than you did Mindy," the actress tells Total Film. "I think you saw Mindy two times in the whole story. But in this movie, you see way more of Mindy than you do of Hit-Girl. You see this young girl struggling with who she is. In the last film, I only cussed six times in the movie - I counted! – but each time was really pivotal and it really meant something. And in this film it’s the same – it’s not like she just drops it all the time because she’s older. She only uses it when she’s Hit-Girl. She doesn’t use it when she’s Mindy." Considering Christopher Mintz-Plasse's Red Mist has rechristened himself The Mother F*cker and leads a band of villains called The Toxic Mega-C*nts, I doubt there'll be too many eyebrows being raised by Hit-Girl calling someone a cocksucker...
...Warner Home Video has released details of the upcoming home entertainment release for the first season of The CW's hit superhero series Arrow. Set to hit shelves on September 17th, the Blu-ray/DVD Combo set features all 23 episodes across 9 discs, along with deleted scenes, a gag reel, a Fight School/Stunt School featurette and a behind-the-scenes documentary entitled Arrow Comes Alive!, which sees creators Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg and the cast of the show describing the creation of their modern update on DC's Green Arrow...
...When Arrow returns to TV screens for its second season this Fall, it will be joined in the schedules by Marvel's first live-action television venture, The Avengers spin-off Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the first TV spot for the new series arrived online this past week, while creator Joss Whedon spoke to GQ about the impending return of fan favourite Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg): "[Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.] basically opens with the idea that since The Avengers things have changed. Now everybody knows that there are gods and monsters, and what is the world like. [Coulson] is the star of the show. It was part of the genesis of it: you know what makes this tick is this guy. And then there was all the 'but didn't you make him stop ticking?' But all will be revealed…"
...Shifting to Marvel's animated output and ComicBookMovie has some model sheets from Marvel's newest series Avengers Assemble giving us a look at the designs for three of Earth's Mightiest Heroes in Iron Man, The Incredble Hulk and Hawkeye, while we've got a clip from this Sunday's episode of Ultimate Spider-Man, which sees traveling to the mystical city of K’un L’un to help his buddy Iron Fist fulfill his destiny, only for the two young heroes to find themselves pursued by The Scorpion...
...And finally, on the DC animation front, the comedy seriesTeen Titans Go! has succeeded where Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series both failed by securing a new season order from Cartoon Network. Despite a 'mixed' reception from fans (particularly those of the two aforementioned series), Teen Titans Go! has been a solid ratings hit for the network, pulling in an average of 1.7 million viewers in its Tuesday night slot and is proving to be the #1 rated show in its key audience demographics. As always, be sure to head on over to The World's Finest for a video clip and images from this coming week's episode, entitled 'Girls Night Out'.
Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen - Available now via Amazon.co.uk![]()
and Amazon.com![]()
.
Gary Collinson
And so, after an absence of seven years, Superman returned to the big screen yesterday with the release of Zack Snyder's hotly-anticipated reboot Man of Steel, and despite a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the Henry Cavill-headlined superhero epic is soaring at the box office. Man of Steel pulled in a mighty $21 million in the States on Thursday night (more than the midnight openings for The Avengers and The Dark Knight) and an estimated $45 million by close of play on Friday, with analysts predicting an opening weekend of around $125 million, which would give it the second-best debut of the year behind Marvel's Iron Man 3, and a record for June openings. Throw in the $170 million from pre-release promotional tie-ins - not to mention international box office receipts, which are yet to be reported - and it seems that the $220 million blockbuster is already well on its way to turning a solid profit for Warner Bros. And while RT critics may be less than impressed with Man of Steel, that's not the case with Flickering Myth's Martin Deer, who awarded the film ★★★★★ in his spoiler-free review:"...There is a lot to love about Man of Steel, and circling back to Superman, the character really is given the platform he deserves. The showcase of his abilities, of his morals, of who he is and why, are handled with care and respect. For a long time people have been under the misconception that Superman is boring, that he isn't relevant in today's world. Well, Man of Steel has just delivered a thunderous shot to the mid-section. An uppercut to the naysayers of both the character and Zack Snyder, Man of Steel gives Superman wings once again, but most importantly, it gives him importance, and a reason to look up to him." - Read Martin's full review here.
...Of course there's been plenty of promotional material for Man of Steel arriving online this past week, including a clip of Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) readying baby Kal-El for his trip to Earth [see here], New York premiere interviews with Snyder, screenwriter David S. Goyer and stars Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe, Ayelet Zurer, Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Michael Shannon (General Zod), Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent), Lawrence Fishburne (Perry White), Antje Traue (Faora) and Christopher Meloni (Colonel Hardy) [see here], highlights of the red carpet action from the European premiere [see here], a stream of Hans Zimmer's score [see here] and a couple of Mondo posters from artists Ken Taylor and [see here and here]...
...And just in case anyone was still under any illusions about the possibility of Justice League serving as an extension to the Nolanverse, Goyer went on to spell it out even more clearly during an interview with HeyUGuys: "Zack has said that Bruce Wayne exists in this universe. It would be a different Bruce Wayne from Chris’ Dark Knight trilogy, and it would be disingenuous to say that Zack and I haven’t had various conversations on set, around ‘what if’ and ‘moving forward’. That having been said, it’s all going to depend on the next few weeks. Warner Bros. has hopes that there will be more Man of Steel films, and that this will be the beginning of a shared universe. We could meet Batman, or Wonder Woman, or the Justice League in these movies. But they all hinge on box office reception. If that happens, I would be happy, and nervous, to dive in... I think Warner Bros has seen – and Chris deserves the biggest credit for this – that we were able to revitalise Batman and put it into the first billion dollar superhero film. And they’re hoping that Superman will be revitalised as well. And if we can do Batman and Superman, then maybe we can move on to Wonder Woman, and The Flash, and characters like that..."
...And with regards to Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises director took a moment during the New York premiere of Man of Steel to discuss his level of involvement with the Superman reboot during a chat with Access Hollywood: "For me, the only challenge really was helping David Goyer put the story together and helping guide the screenplay where it needed to go and then it was dumping it on Zack Snyder and saying to Zack, 'I hope you can deliver what it is we all see in this.' And he really knocked it out of the park, he's done something very spectacular that I think audiences today are really going to be excited by in a way that I was as a kind when I saw the Christopher Reeve version in 1978..."...As the bean counters at Warner Bros. celebrate the financial success of Man of Steel, filmmaker Kevin Smith - who has past experience with the Superman movie franchise, having penned the aborted 90s adaptation Superman Lives - has offered some advice to Warner Bros. on how the studio should approach its planned DC universe during a chat with the Toronto Sun: "I wish that DC would just flat out be like, 'We're just going to steal Marvel's plan since it seems to be working for them,' and then just do the same thing... They've got characters and they can do a Justice League movie as well." Of course, it's one thing to have the characters, but it's another thing entirely to do them justice...
...That leads us nicely into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and we'll start things off with the currently-in-production Captain America: The Winter Soldier; as with the last few weeks, there's been plenty of spy photos from the Cleveland set arriving online this week, including Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) with a battered, paint-stripped shield during his confrontation with the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) [see here], Anthony Mackie's (Pain & Gain) Falcon taking to the sky courtesy of wires (and CGI wings, to be added in post) [see here], our first look at Frank Grillo (Zero Dark Thirty) as Brock "Not in Crossbones Attire" Rumlow and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) helping Steve to forget about Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) by locking lips with the man out of time [see here]. Meanwhile, in addition to another piece of concept art, we've also had our first look at the redesigned Captain America suit as worn by Evans' stunt man, while a rumour over at Joblo states that Steve will also be returning to his old WWII uniform at some point the upcoming sequel. I can't say I blame him - this new one looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. has sent someone down to Argos to pick up a deluxe fancy dress superhero muscle suit...
...A few weeks back it was announced that former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan had joined the cast of James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy as the "lead female villain" and now we may have uncovered the identity of her character with a Scottish newspaper (via NeoGAF) claiming that Gillan will be portraying "Angela, a flame-haired, sword-wielding bounter hunter". If you're not familiar with the character, that's because Angela is yet to appear in the pages of Marvel Comics, having been created by Neil Gaiman for Todd McFarlane's Image Comics series Spawn; following a dispute between Gaiman and McFarlane over the rights to the character, Angela is set to make her Marvel debut later this year in Age of Ultron, and is also gearing up to appear in the relaunched Guardians of the Galaxy series from Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven. Guardians of the Galaxy is scheduled to begin filming later this month, with a cast that also includes Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana (Avatar) as Gamora, Dave Bautista (Riddick) as Drax the Destroyer, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) as Yondu, John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) as Rhomman Dey, Glenn Close (Damages) as the leader of the Nova Corps and Benicio Del Toro (Sin City), Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) and Ophelia Lovibond (London Boulevard) as as-yet-unrevealed villains...
...With Benicio Del Toro signing a multi-picture deal with Marvel, it had been presumed that he'd be portraying Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy, setting up the Mad Titan for a showdown with Earth's Mightiest Heroes in The Avengers 2. However, during an interview this week, director Joss Whedon has stated that there'll be no cross-over of characters between Guardians and his 2015 sequel: "We’re following Guardians of the Galaxy at Shepperton [with Avengers 2] but we won’t be swapping cast members. Every movie is its own thing and has to be. Unless I take a lot of peyote and write a very different draft… and I’m not ruling that out." One thing Whedon has seemingly ruled out is another appearance from Loki, telling Empire that: "Everyone is going to be looking for the Loki-Hulk smash moment and you'll be looking for quim [editor's note - if you are looking for quim, The Avengers XXX is probably a better bet]. No, first of all, imitating what I did before is the surest way to do it not as well. Second of all, Loki's not there to say those terrible things. Although I do think we should bring the word back, not as an insult, it's just a nice word..."
...Moving on to 20th Century Fox's Marvel universe and while things have fallen quiet on the X-Men: Days of Future Past front (save for a set photo featuring Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique alongside a potential Misty Knight), the studio has stepped up the publicity for Hugh Jackman's impending solo sequel with a new trailer and first TV spot for The Wolverine which are packed with previously unseen footage that gives away plenty about the plot for 2013's next superhero offering. The Wolverine arrives in the UK on July 25th (one day earlier than previously announced), with James Mangold (Knight and Day) directing a cast that also includes newcomers Rila Fukushima as Yukio and Tao Okamoto as Mariko Yashida, along with Will Yun Lee (Total Recall) as Harada (a.k.a. the Silver Samurai), Brian Tee (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) as Noburo Mori, Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai) as Shingen, Hal Yamanouchi (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) as Yashida, Svetlana Khodchenkova (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as Viper and Famke Janssen (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) as Jean Grey...
...In addition to some new set photos of Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker), Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) and Sally Field (Aunt May), Jamie Foxx appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where the Django Unchained star gave us a preview of his voice for Max Dillon (a.k.a. Electro) in Sony's forthcoming sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Meanwhile, it's been rumoured that Electro, The Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper) will be joined by another iconic villain from Spidey's rogues gallery, with reports claiming that Colm Feore's (Thor) mystery character is none other than Norman Toomes, better known as The Vulture. Apparently, next year's sequel could serve as a set-up to the introduction of the Sinister Six, who would then battle Garfield's wall-crawler in The Amazing Spider-Man 3...
...Warner Home Video has released details of the upcoming home entertainment release for the first season of The CW's hit superhero series Arrow. Set to hit shelves on September 17th, the Blu-ray/DVD Combo set features all 23 episodes across 9 discs, along with deleted scenes, a gag reel, a Fight School/Stunt School featurette and a behind-the-scenes documentary entitled Arrow Comes Alive!, which sees creators Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg and the cast of the show describing the creation of their modern update on DC's Green Arrow...
...When Arrow returns to TV screens for its second season this Fall, it will be joined in the schedules by Marvel's first live-action television venture, The Avengers spin-off Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the first TV spot for the new series arrived online this past week, while creator Joss Whedon spoke to GQ about the impending return of fan favourite Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg): "[Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.] basically opens with the idea that since The Avengers things have changed. Now everybody knows that there are gods and monsters, and what is the world like. [Coulson] is the star of the show. It was part of the genesis of it: you know what makes this tick is this guy. And then there was all the 'but didn't you make him stop ticking?' But all will be revealed…"
...Shifting to Marvel's animated output and ComicBookMovie has some model sheets from Marvel's newest series Avengers Assemble giving us a look at the designs for three of Earth's Mightiest Heroes in Iron Man, The Incredble Hulk and Hawkeye, while we've got a clip from this Sunday's episode of Ultimate Spider-Man, which sees traveling to the mystical city of K’un L’un to help his buddy Iron Fist fulfill his destiny, only for the two young heroes to find themselves pursued by The Scorpion...
...And finally, on the DC animation front, the comedy seriesTeen Titans Go! has succeeded where Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series both failed by securing a new season order from Cartoon Network. Despite a 'mixed' reception from fans (particularly those of the two aforementioned series), Teen Titans Go! has been a solid ratings hit for the network, pulling in an average of 1.7 million viewers in its Tuesday night slot and is proving to be the #1 rated show in its key audience demographics. As always, be sure to head on over to The World's Finest for a video clip and images from this coming week's episode, entitled 'Girls Night Out'.
Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen - Available now via Amazon.co.uk
and Amazon.com
.Gary Collinson