Alright, SPOILERS revealed in the paragraph below. Only keep reading if you want to know!
Last month many of us were left shellshocked, as jaws dropped to the floor and we learned Captain America had been a Hydra sleeper agent since he was a boy in Captain America: Steve Rogers #1.
Thing is, in spite of what Rogers might recall from his childhood, everything is not as it originally seemed. Indeed, from the creative team of writer Nick Spencer and artist Jesus Saiz, we learn in Captain America: Steve Rogers #2 that Steve's 'memories of indoctrination' were implanted by Kobic, the sentient cube that became a girl. And the buck don't stop there...it turns out Kobic had been under the influence of Red Skull for months.
In an interview with GQ, when asked about his take on the potential for a Captain America and Winter Soldier romance, Sebastian Stan said,
"Look, man, I think it’s great. Movies are for people to relate to in whatever way they want. No one here is ever going to point a finger and say what’s right and wrong. For me, it’s like, Awww. It’s cute, it’s great. If someone takes the time to think about that, that's great. I don’t think of the character that way, though. But there’s no right or wrong answer."
Vulko was created by Bob Haney and Howard Purcell. Vulko's a talented Atlantean politician who plays an invaluable role as a mentor (also the city's eldest dignitary) to Aquaman. Before Aquaman's reign, Vulko was around for his birth where he fought and argued against the curse of Kordax.
We're not sure just yet how much screen-time Dafoe will be getting, but we do know he's set to appear in the full Atlantean-royal costume.
Even though Justice League's only 31 days into the 111 scheduled for production, Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. still managed to show off a clip from the film at last weekend, on set in London.
The scene opens on Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) entering his dark lit apartment, and shortly thereafter all the lights come on to expose Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) sitting there, waiting for him.
“Barry Allen… Bruce Wayne,” Bruce says addressing a stunned Barry Allen. “You say that is if it’s normal to have a complete stranger sitting in my second favorite chair,” Barry responds to several laughs from a few press members that are around to watch the epic introduction.
Bruce proceeds to whip out a surveillance shot, which was Flash's cameo appearance in Batman v. Superman; and continues to question Barry about what he was doing during the footage. Barry responds saying that sure, it's someone who looks exactly like him, but is probably just an 'attractive Jewish boy.'
Bruce undeterred by Barry's expectant reluctance to reveal his identity, chucks a Batarang at Barry, who easily sidesteps the assault, launching the scene into slow motion and capturing that moment when Barry learns Bruce's true identity (and vice versa).
Time falls back to normal pacing, and Barry says, "You’re the Batman,” to which Bruce responds, “And you’re fast.” Then Barry tells him Bruce he thinks that way of thinking about the matter is an “over-simplification.”
Scene closes with Bruce recruiting a very eager Flash, who says he needs and friends, and also asks to keep the Batarang.
Emmerich claims himself a visionary, and one who has no time for 'superhero fare' inspired by his films. Fair to say, Emmerich's about to be dealt a nice serving of blowback based off the following incendiary remark he made about Marvel superhero movies...
“I’m a big believer in original ideas. I tell this to every kid who comes to me and says they want to be a filmmaker. I say, ‘Do what you want to do and don’t let yourself be talked into anything.’ When you look at my movies it’s always the regular Joe Schmo that’s the unlikely hero. A lot of Marvel movies, they show people in funny suits running around. I don’t like people in capes. I find it silly when someone dons a superhero suit and flies. I don’t understand it. I grew up in Germany, that’s probably why.”
The Exec. Producer for Justice League, Deborah Snyder confirmed that Steppenwolf will be the main villain in Justice League, though the final casting for the role hasn't been decided just yet.
Steppenwolf is Darkseid's uncle, and also one of his most valued lieutenants. Steppenwolf's been killed and brought back to life multiple times, with the first and most memorable time being after he assassinated Izaya, the Highfather of New Genesis.
Heggra, Steppenwolf's sister was Darkseid's mother, until Darkseid went on to kill her. Steppenwolf's basically known as the undisputed military mind behind Darkseid's army of Parademons.
Who should play Steppenwolf? Check out the deleted scene from Batman v Superman, which shows us our first glimpse of the villain in action, below:
Good lord, the promising developments just keep rolling in for this film. Just a couple days ago we learned that Donald Glover's joining the stacked Spider-Man: Homecoming cast, and now this? Gilfoyle, or the actor's actual name Martin Starr (but come on he will always be Gilfoyle in our hearts..)?
Lest we forget that Starr was also the scientist in the Incredible Hulk that ordered that clutch pizza that one time. Couldn't find a clip, but if you can drop that in the comments section!
Anyways, congrats to Starr on landing a role alongside some tremendously talented actors like Tom Holland (Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man/Tony Stark), Marisa Tomei (Aunt May), Michael Keaton (The Vulture), Zendaya, Michael Barbieri, Kenneth Choi, and Tony Revolori.
In a recent interview, Suicide Squad Director, David Ayer talked a bit about the outlandish rehearsal regimen he encouraged his cast adopt; and it's honestly sounding like just the kind of crazy you'd need, to get your actors in the right mindset for this kind of film:
“It wasn’t a normal rehearsal, we’d talk about their lives, their history, and really got them to open up as people to each other. I also had them fight. I had them fight each other. You learn a lot about who a person really is when you punch them in the face. It gets rid of a lot of the actor stuff.”
As far as Joker's Hot Topic-esque mural of tattoos, Ayer said the following:
“A lot of it has to do with creating a character with some kind of history and footprint in our world, and not have this sacrosanct being outside of our continuum, our reality. If a guy like him really existed today, where would he come from?“ The tattoos tell a very specific story, and eventually people will decipher them and understand what’s going on, but obviously they’re contentious, any time you do something new it’s contentious. There’s very specific stories and Easter eggs in those tattoos. And even his teeth, there’s an entire story behind that which is absolutely canon. It’s putting his history on his body. This Joker is a little more working class, who I believe could live in our world.”
Alriighty then. And what would a proper closing be to this bit on the Suicide Squad be without the most recent Jared Leto Joker antics be without this little gem that just came to light about how Leto would treat his costume designers?:
“When we first met him, he said — look girls, I’m going to be pretty intense, I’m going to be the Joker when I come for fittings. Sometimes he tried to terrify us, but we’re strong women. He was growling at us, and we’d play back.”
“I just heard about that,” Evans said to the Wizard World Philadelphia crowd. “I really hope that happens! I love Brie Larson. We did a movie together back in ’09, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I cannot say enough about Brie Larson. I think she is phenomenal, and I really hope that happens.”
And there ya have it. Cap'n is completely on board with the Brie Larson Captain Marvel development.
Not really sure what is happening here -- did Baffleck finally lose his senses altogether? -- but during an interview with Spanish-language news outlet Cines Argentinos, Ben Affleck offered up the following response when asked about his plans for the untitled, future solo Batman project:
“I think what I would do is, I would probably do in some ways what Zack [Snyder] did with this movie, which is to borrow great stories from the great comic books but create an original story around it. I wouldn’t want fans to already know the story, but I would borrow — steal — great things that have been done before in the comics.”
Rose McGowan, an American actress released the following statement regarding her general disapproval of the X-Men: Apocalypse poster:
‘There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film.'
She went on to wrap up her interview with Hollywood Reporter, regarding the matter, with:
"I’ll close with a text my friend sent, a conversation with his daughter. It follows: ‘My daughter and I were just having a deep discussion on the brutality of that hideous X-Men poster yesterday. Her words: 'Dad, why is that monster man committing violence against a woman?' This from a 9-year-old. If she can see it, why can’t Fox?"
The poster, as you can see from above depicts the villain Apocalypse essentially choking the living sh*t out of Mystique. McGowan's not the only one to step forward to express some outrage. The internet reactions are already running amok, check 'em out below. Because if you're like me, you probably had no idea who the heck Rose McGowan was..
Batman: The Killing Joke might just be one of the most anticipated Batman graphic novels adapted to animation, of all time. The 1988 graphic novel was written by Alan Moore with art by Brian Bolland. Empire managed to steal some time with Mark Hamill, who provides the voiceover for Joker in the animation adaptation:
"I can't imagine how people are going to react to this, because I'm a Killing Joke purist. When they first talked about it, I said, "The only way we can do this is as a book on tape so that we honor every comma, every word, every letter, every syllable of Alan Moore's script. We can add music and special effects to enhance it." They kind of said, "What are you talking about? Nobody is doing this as a book on tape. It's not commercially viable for us to do it that way. See if you can get the rights and record it in your basement or something if that's what you want to do. This story has to be expanded." If we just adapted The Killing Joke as an animated film, it would maybe be fifty-five minutes. They've actually done a really incredible job of supplementing it with Barbara Gordon/Batgirl material."
Hamill also offered up his thoughts on how surprised he was at the edginess of Batgirl:
"Even that surprised me, how edgy the Batgirl material was. This is not your father's Batman. The one regret I have is that if I was nine years old, there's nothing I would rather see more, yet it reallyisn't for kids. I hope people understand when they say it's R-rated, they mean it."
Check out the rest of the interview featuring other cast members over here!
This rather shocking revelation follows Justice League #42 when Batman who has gained possession of the Mobius Chair (basically a badass time-traveling chair that can answer all one might ever have to ask) tests the chair's ability to actually answer any question by asking who killed his parents, and then after hearing the correct answer, asking what the Joker's name is.
Not until this week's Justice League #50 did we finally figure out what Batman heard back from the Mobius Chair. After the events of the Darkseid War, Hal Jordan goes on to ask Batman what exactly the Mobius Chair said in reply to his question.
And this is where it gets real weird, real quick: the chair didn't provide Batman one name, it tricky skullduggerous know 'n see all piece of high-tech furniture provided Batman three. THREE. Like wait what? A bold move by Geoff Johns, for sure.
We'll be curious to see how this pans out, as Joker's notorious for his inability to 'play well with others', but were the three Jokers ever to manage a coordinated attack against the dark night, it's probably fair to say that sh*t would hit the fan in one way or another...
Wolverine 3 Producer, Simon Kinberg confirmed the rating/theme himself when he told Collider,
“It’s a very radical, bold, different Wolverine than you’ve ever seen in any of these movies. […] I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say about [Patrick Stewart’s rumored casting]. I will agree with you that Patrick Stewart was rumored to be a part of that film. It takes place in the future, and as you and others have reported, it is an R-rated movie. It’s violent, it’s kind of like a western in its tone. It’s just a very cool, different film.”
Alright, sweet, now can we get some sort of hint on the possibility of the Old Man Logan storyline...
This comes as welcomed, truly exciting news. Tracing back to 2014 Downey Jr. disclosed to Variety:
"There isn’t one in the pipe. No, there’s no plan for a fourth Iron Man.” And that has been Downey’s stance in most of his public interviews. It seemed as if the Iron Man solo films with RDJ in the lead as Tony Stark were over. But it seems like that may have changed sometime recently."
Well well, now we've an encouraging update via a segment Robert Downey Jr. was filmed on during Nightline. It's short and sweet, clear, and to the point:
"I feel like I could do one more."
Alright, let's build on that RDJ. This is the first time Downey Jr. has spoken on record about being willing to do Iron Man 4.
"Brewvies Cinema Pub in Salt Lake City is looking at the devastating prospect of having to pay a fine ranging between $1,000 and $25,000, or face getting their liquor license revoked. Apparently, in Utah, there is incredibly lame law that prohibits the showing of nudity, sex acts and alcohol in one spot. So after two undercover Salt Lake City cops FINALLY saw the film, they proceeded to smack it with a fiery report heavily weighted in disapproval. And we quote from the 'report':
"The main character (male) in the film is shown numerous times engaging in acts or simulated acts of sexual intercourse with the female counterpart during a holiday themed sex-montage," wrote Agent Bradley Bullock.
"An example of this is during 'International Women's Day' Vanessa looks to be sodomizing Wade in their bed," Agent Sean Cannon wrote in another report. "Later in the movie, Wade gets into a fight with another character - Ajax played by Ed Skrein. During the fight, Wade's clothing comes off. Wade shows full frontal nudity during the fight scene."
