While this might be a relatively quiet summer in terms of superhero movies, it's beginning to look a lot as though Avengers: Age of Ultron will be big enough by itself to fill any potential vacuum. Meanwhile, Fox is getting people excited about a couple of X-Men-related projects, Warner Bros. might have found the next Tom Hardy, and Samuel L. Jackson is clearly trying to start a war between DC fans and Marvel fans when it comes to each side's superhero movies. Here are the highlights of the last seven days of superhero news.
Another bit of proof that the Deadpool movie is actually happening: Gina Carano joined the cast last week, playing a character called Angel Dust. And that was just the latest in a number of stories about the flick to have emerged recently, including a casting call possibly revealing more about the movie's supporting characters, the news that Daniel Cudmore won't be playing Colossus in the movie, and Ryan Reynolds teasing the costume on Twitter (see below).
Why this is super: After years as a vaporware movie that seemed like it was never coming, it's a little surprising to see such activity around Deadpool, to be honest. Still, with its release less than a year away, there's a lot to be done in a short amount of time, so expect more weeks like this one over the next few months—and you know that fans who grew up reading X-Force in the 1990s are hopelessly excited about that.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Joel Kinnaman—known for his role in AMC's The Killing and the RoboCop reboot from last year—is in talks to take over the role of Rick Flagg, leader of the Suicide Squad in David Ayer's movie of the same name. He'd be replacing Tom Hardy, who dropped out earlier this year for what was officially described as scheduling issues and unofficially called "having a problem with how little screen time he would get." (Don't worry, Tom; the trailers for Mad Max: Fury Road can make us forgive you for almost anything.)
Why this is super: Kinnaman's an actor who's been waiting for a break-out role, and the chance to play a conflicted-if-ultimately-good man in a big Warner Bros. comic book movie might be exactly what he's looking for.
In an interview with Empire, Robert Downey Jr. teased the potential for this year's Avengers sequel to be the starting point for the clash that'll take up the prime real estate of next year's Captain America: Civil War. The movie "feels like a beginning and an ending," he said, adding that "the clues are in Ultron about where we might find [Tony Stark] next. ... What would it take for Tony to completely turn around everything he's stood for?" Meanwhile, in a separate Empire interview, Mark Ruffalo teased that Age of Ultron is the movie where the team has to take down an out-of-control Hulk. "I think that there is, obviously, the day when everyone expects [the Hulk] to go wrong and that day comes," he said. "And they're ready... Bruce [Banner] designed the contingency plan."
Why this is super: Wait, so we're getting three new members, the Hulk going bad, Tony Stark beginning to go fascist, and James Spader playing a homicidal robot, all in one movie? That's one packed motion picture. No wonder it's reportedly 2 hours and 40 minutes long.
Continuing his love affair with social media, X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer has been sharing all manner of images from the set of the movie on Instagram, as well as a mysterious piece of concept art (below).
Why this is super: Singer's use of social media to promote the X-Men movies is smart; he doesn't really give anything away with these Instagram images, but he nonetheless lets fans feel as if they're seeing something special and he gets coverage online for doing so (ahem), amplifying the promotion for a movie that's not even been shot yet. Everyone wins, for once! (Well, aside from those who care about door spoilers for movies.)
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OK, so maybe he didn't say exactly that, but he did say Marvel "figured out a way to make those movies accessible to the public that DC hasn't" to get audiences interested in their characters:
__Why this is neither super nor villainy, but something more confusing:__The obvious question is, what is the thing they've figured out, Sam? TELL US.
