Amazingly, we're just a week away from the start of Superhero Movie Season 2016, despite the fact that it's only February. As the world prepares for the arrival of Deadpool, this week has shown signs that the traditional superhero movie paradigm might shift this year—bad news for Marvel, perhaps—and that Power Rangers actually might have the best on-screen villain of any upcoming super-flick. As ever, these are the highlights of the last seven days' worth of superhero movie news.
This was unexpected—and likely bad news for Marvel Studios. Variety had a report that the Warner Bros. properties Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice are 500 percent more popular on social media than Captain America: Civil War or the studio's other 2016 offering, Doctor Strange. Apparently, BvS is currently leading the charge, followed by Suicide Squad and Fox's Deadpool. With Civil War due out in four months, don't be surprised if that changes pretty soon, however.
Why this is super: Could this be the year that Warners' superhero properties overtake Marvel's? And if so, is it because of the strength of those properties, or simply that audiences have had time to get used to (and, therefore, bored of) the Marvel characters? This year will be an interesting one for the big superhero studios, it seems...
Speaking of Deadpool, we're just a week away from its release, which means it's time for the PR to start getting, well, weird. First off all, there's a new location for trolling your friends with fake links, as well as special Year of the Monkey greetings—
—and special infographics introducing the main cast:
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Are you guys ready for this yet?
Why this is super: Look, if you're not at least grateful for a promotional campaign that's zigged instead of zagging wherever possible, then there's always the bright side that the movie's almost out. For the rest of us, we'll miss the increasingly weird updates. Can we have more of these even after Deadpool has been released, please?
Latino-Review is reporting that it has the answer to the mystery of just who Scoot McNairy is playing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Apparently, he won't be playing any of the previously speculated characters (Metallo, the Flash, Jimmy Olsen), but rather an all-new character injured in the climactic battle of Man of Steel who becomes a pawn for Lex Luthor and gets turned into "a human bomb." But probably not The Human Bomb. Although who can tell?
Why this is super: OK, so it's not so super for Scoot, but who can really be too mad about a manipulative, misanthropic Lex Luthor who considers everyone else mere cannon fodder in his war against Superman? Plus, we'll always have Halt and Catch Fire.
Maybe one of the reasons why fewer people are talking about Captain America: Civil War is the fact that the newly released promo art for the movie's merchandise just underscores the idea that it's a movie about a bunch of people frowning at each other, with even relative newcomers to the MCU (Ant-Man! Black Panther! Agent 13!) being folded into the greater frownfest. On the plus side, those who wanted a more American version of the Black Widow are getting Emily VanCamp's Agent 13 this time around. And for those who want to know which side they're on, it would now appear to be easier to know who you'll be teaming up with when you do choose.
Why this is villainy: While glimpses at upcoming movies are normally exciting, the distinct lack of anything new (hey, it's the Avengers falling out with each other, like they always do) and super-serious fight tone of the artwork released to date just makes Civil War feel like a slog. Here's hoping that someone comes along soon to change that.
While there's a good argument to be made that Power Rangers isn't a superhero movie, I'm ignoring it to share the important news The Hollywood Reporter broke earlier this week: Namely, Elizabeth Banks will be playing the main villain, Rita Repulsa, in the upcoming big screen reboot of the franchise. Can we get Alec Baldwin to play Lord Zedd, please?
Why this is super: If you have to wonder why this is good news, clearly you need to go back and reconsider: Elizabeth Banks is going to play the villain in a Power Rangers movie. There is nothing that isn't wonderful about that sentence.
