Charlie Cox “Excited” for Iron Fist Collaboration

There are few things that make me want to drop everything, lock the doors and power through a Netflix boxset in a weekend – the Marvel series fall in to that category. While fans (such as myself) are eagerly counting down the days until Luke Cage hits the screens (30th September – you’re going to want to clear your schedule!), Charlie Cox has been telling fans what he’s looking forward to in the future of the Marvel Universe.

Cox, who has just signed on to reprise the role of Matt Murdock in season 3 of Daredevil, will be a key player in the upcoming Defenders series. The highly anticipated show will draw together the characters from Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist in one superhero extravaganza. Fans are keen to see how Murdock will interact with last year’s solo project star Jessica Jones, but Cox is more excited to explore his relationship with Iron Fist.

Speaking at the 2016 Toronto Fan Expo recently, Cox told fans, “The relationship I’m most interested in seeing fleshed out is the Matt Murdock and Danny Rand stuff. I just met Finn Jones the other day and I just think in the comics, that’s a great relationship so I want to see how that works out on screen.”

It will be interesting to see how the two martial artist get on with the brute force of Cage and Jones – how will Hell’s Kitchen cope!

Also, Cox dropped some personal future excitement into the mix at the Canadian convention – his girlfriend (producer Samantha Thomas) is due to give birth to a baby Daredevil any day now. Let’s hope that Charlie can get plenty of sleep before The Defenders launches (potentially next year)

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Agents of Shield Season 4: First Promo Released

After months of eager anticipation, ABC has finally released a short promo for the upcoming 4th Season of Marvel’s ‘Agents of Shield’. Clocking in at only 15 seconds, the promo offers fans a tantalising taste at what both Ghost Rider and the show’s new later timeslot will mean going forward. The prevailing opinion? It’s going to be more awesome than ever before.

For seasons 2 and 3 Marvel added a subtitle to the show giving a significant hint at what the Season will generally be about. Season 2 was ‘Inhumans’ as we saw their debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, whilst Season 3 was entitled ‘Fallen Agent’, referencing the build up in the season’s 2nd half to the death of a beloved agent in the finale. This season they’re going all out with Ghost Rider, and judging by the limited footage we’ve seen so far, that can only be a good thing. The moment we first see Robbie Reyes transform will be a special one indeed.

Overall the trailer didn’t show much, but it has certainly got myself and plenty of others hyped for the show’s return. Hopefully ABC will go all out with the marketing for the show now, as it needs all the viewers it can get to ensure its survival.

 

Marvel’s ‘Agents of Shield’ Season 4 premieres Tuesday, September 20th 10pm on ABC.

Jon Favreau Confirmed for ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Appearance

The all-star cast for Spider-Man: Homecoming just keeps growing, with Jon Favreau confirmed to reprise his role as Happy Hogan for Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Jon Favreau last played Happy Hogan, good friend, security and driver for Tony Stark in Iron Man 3 (2013) – we last saw him waking up from a coma, after he was seriously injured in an explosion resulting from the unstable Extremis.

As we haven’t seen him since, we don’t know the extent of his injuries or if there’s been permanent damage caused – judging by the fates of others caught up in those blasts, it’s likely that could be the case.

Jon Favreau will also, more than likely be joining Robert Downey Jr. for his cameo in the movie. Downey will be reprising his role as Iron Man. It’s more than likely they’ll both be paying Peter Parker a visit to assist with updates to the suit that Iron Man created for Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War.

Spider-Man: Homecoming will star Tom Holland as the leading web-slinger, and is due to hit theatres July 17th, 2017.

Chris Hemsworth’s Body Scared John Krasinski Off Cap Role

Imagine an alternate universe, where the Marvel Cinematic Universe got cast in a completely different way. Rumour has it that Tom Cruise was in the running for Iron Man, Joaquin Phoenix could have been the Hulk, and Emily Blunt could have been Black Widow. But Blunt did not choose wisely, and honoured her commitment to a turkey of enormous proportions, Jack Black vehicle Gulliver’s Travels. Well played, Em! Her husband John Krasinski (The Office) was almost part of the franchise too, as he made the shortlist to play Captain America. (Fun Fact: If you go on IMDB trivia, you will see that John Krasinski was short listed for loads of major movie roles…. There’s sooo many!)

Krasinski got the enviable experience of auditioning for the role of Cap, and even got to wear the famous suit. However, Krasinski told Conan O’Brien on a recent episode of his talk show that he pulled out of the shortlist after meeting Thor star Chris Hemsworth. Krasinski said “I was putting on the suit, and I got right to my waist, I was still shirtless. I was feeling pretty good about myself. I wasn’t 13 Hours yet, but felt pretty good. And then all of a sudden, Chris Hemsworth walks by as Thor, and goes, ‘Hey, mate.’ And I was like, ‘I’m good. This is stupid. I’m not Captain America.'”

He’s not given up hope though. Krasinski is a huge Marvel fan and would love to be part of the Universe – possibly as a villain. Considering everyone on the planet appears to be getting featured in Avengers: Infinity War, surely there’s got to be something he can do!

The episode of Conan aired on 24^th August. Watch the clip here:

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Agents Of SHIELD: Season 4 Premiere Pictures And Info

We are less than two weeks away now until the Season 4 premiere of ‘Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD’ and in lieu of an actual trailer, ABC has begun releasing a steady stream of information. The latest is the official press release and pictures for the episode, which reveal some interesting tidbits of information.

In light of the Sokovia Accords, and with Hydra obliterated, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been legitimatized again and no longer needs to operate in the shadows. Since the world presumes that Coulson is dead, the organization needed a new Director to be the face of the organization. Coulson finds himself back in the role as an agent and teamed with Mack, and together they are tasked with tracking down and confirming the presence of Enhanced people, aka Inhumans. Agent May is tasked with training specialist strike teams, and Fitz and Simmons have taken a big step forward in their relationship.

In the season premiere episode, “The Ghost,” Ghost Rider is coming, and S.H.I.E.L.D will never be the same.

Guest starring are Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez, Gabriel Luna as Robbie Reyes, Mallory Jansen as Aida, Lorenzo James Henrie as Gabe, Briana Venskus as Agent Piper, Max Osinski as Agent Red, Ricardo Walker as Agent Prince.

As well as confirming that Ghost Rider will be appearing in the first episode, the Guest Star list notes some interesting new and returning players. It’s great to know Natalia Cordova Buckley will return as ‘Yo-Yo’ hopefully with an expanded role, whilst some of the Agents listed have appeared before, and hopefully point to the show expanding on existing characters. We also have confirmation that Mallory Jansen as ‘Aida’ will be appearing early on, whilst Lorenzo Henrie (Fear The Walking Dead) is set to appear as Robbie’s brother ‘Gabe’, signalling the family dynamic Marvel is so excited about with this character will be there from the off.

ABC also released several promo images from the episode featuring Ming Na Wen as ‘Agent May’, Henry Simmons as ‘Alphonso Mackenzie’, Gabriel Luna as ‘Robbie Reyes’ and John Hannah returning as ‘Doctor Radcliffe’. This last one is the most interesting as he isn’t listed under the guest stars. Is it possible he’ll be bumped up to series regular this season? Given how brilliant the character is, I certainly hope so.

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‘Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD’ Season 4 premieres Tuesday, September 20th 10pm on ABC.

Black Panther Movie To Be “Grittier” Than Previous Marvel Films

It’s common knowledge that Marvel’s superhero outings are much lighter in tone compared to DC’s, however it appears the upcoming ‘Black Panther’ movie could be a bit of a break from tradition. Now plenty of Marvel’s films have a significant dose of drama, this year’s ‘Captain America: Civil War’ was packed full of it, but none have ever been too dark, so it’ll be interesting to see what approach ‘Black Panther’ will take.

In an interview with CBR, Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman explained the difference between his superhero and the others:

“For me, most of the time the darker superhero movies are the ones that I gravitate towards, that I love the most. I’m glad that the tone of Black Panther may be a little grittier. I just wanted to establish that from the beginning, that that’s what we were doing. That that’s what I intend to do. I feel like we’ll end up in a place that I’ve always wanted to be when I look at superhero movies. Those are the ones I like the most. It’s exciting to do that.”

Given the different direction ‘Black Panther’ is going compared to Marvel’s other films, Director Ryan Coogler spoke to EW about how he would be keeping it in line with the wider Marvel Universe:

“It’s a specific challenge. What Marvel’s doing, and what you see a lot of studios doing now that Marvel has done it so successfully, is making content that exists in a particular universe, where the characters tie in and crossover.

I think that’s a great creative challenge to me–to make this movie as personal as possible. It’s going to be my most personal movie to date, which is crazy to say, but it’s completely the case. I’m obsessed with this character and this story right now, and I think it’s going to be very unique and still fit into the overall narrative that they’re establishing.”

Each Marvel film tends to tackle a different genre, tone or style, and it will certainly be exciting to see how Black Panther differentiates itself from the rest. The character was already given a warm welcome in ‘Civil War’ and definitely stood out from the rest, so his solo film is set to be interesting indeed.

Black Panther will release in cinemas July 6, 2018.

‘Agents of SHIELD’ Season 4: First Look At Ghost Rider

With the Season 4 premiere for ‘Agents of SHIELD’ mere weeks away now, it seems ABC is picking up the pace in promoting it. Entertainment Weekly today revealed the first look at Gabriel Luna (Matador) as Robbie Reyes, a.k.a Ghost Rider.

Though the picture doesn’t give us a full reveal as to what Luna will look like as Ghost Rider, Executive Producer Jed Whedon stated how the character would be adapted from his decidedly minimal source material.

“As always, we are going to put our own spin on the character. We are staying true to the comics in the places where we feel like it’s really important — we love the character’s family dynamic and the East L.A. kid in him.”

Given the majority of audiences won’t be familiar with this version of Ghost Rider, it will be interesting to see what liberties the writers take with the character. Now that the show has been moved to a later 10pm timeslot, there’s much more scope to do some darker things, and this character is a perfect fit.

‘Agents of Shield’ Season 4 premieres Tuesday, 20th September at 10pm on ABC.

‘Agents Of SHIELD’ Season 4 Premiere Title Revealed

In the absence of a trailer from the fast approaching season of ‘Agents of SHIELD’, fans are currently clinging onto any information we get. And today we got something good indeed.

According to Spoiler TV, it has been revealed that the title for Episode One is ‘The Ghost’. Given what we know about the upcoming Season, this is an exciting development indeed. It has already been announced that Gabriel Luna is set to arrive on the show in a blaze of fire as Ghost Rider, and now we have a pretty substantial clue as to just when this arrival will take place.

Of course this episode title isn’t ironclad confirmation that Ghost Rider will feature heavily in the season-opener. Indeed the group could be tracking someone down simply codenamed ‘The Ghost’ before a full reveal at the end of the episode. Given how TV shows like to tease us, this isn’t exactly unlikely.

Given the reaction to this sliver of information we can only hope that ABC satisfies our hunger for news with the release of a full trailer soon. Season 4 is just over two weeks away from airing, and ABC have been annoyingly quiet in promoting it. This could be the last chance ‘Agents of SHIELD’ gets unless it gains a significant audience, so I urge anyone not watching to do so. Season 3 was consistently amazing, and across a 22 episode season that’s no easy feat.

‘Agents of SHIELD’ Season 4 premieres Tuesday, September 20 at 10pm on ABC. Air dates internationally often vary greatly.

The ‘Captain Marvel’ Director Shortlist Just Got Shorter

The ‘Captain Marvel’ film is still a long way off in the eyes of the fans, but it seems Marvel is starting to move things together ready for the film’s production. Now that we’ve got the incredible casting of Brie Larson as the title character out of the way, next up is finding a Director to actually make the darn thing.

The studio had narrowed the search down to just three candidates, however has since added one more. The initial candidates included: Niki Caro (Whale Rider), Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend at the End of the World) and Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland), with the newest name being added to the list: Rebecca Thomas (Electrick Children).

I can’t say i’m familiar with any of these Director’s works, with even ‘Homeland’ somehow managing to elude me all these years, however Thomas seems to be in high demand at the moment. Though neither film has got the official go ahead from their respective studios, Thomas is slated to direct both Universal’s live-action ‘The Little Mermaid’ and Paramount’s John Green adaptation ‘Looking for Alaska’.

In any case Marvel has plenty of time yet to decide, with the film not due to hit theatres until March 8, 2019! It certainly feels like a long way off now, but given what we already know about the film it’ll be worth the wait. With a script currently being penned by ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ co-writer Nicole Perlman, and ‘Inside Out’ co-writer Meg LeFauve, this film is looking set to be a treat.

If all this news is getting you too excited then don’t fret. Marvel has another 7 films releasing between the time of writing and ‘Captain Marvel’s’ release, one of which is the highly anticipated ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ which could likely see Captain Marvel make her first appearance. Between Film and TV Marvel has a lot to get excited about at the moment.

Marvel Developing ‘New Warriors’ Comedy Series Focused On…Squirrel Girl?

That’s right folks, it seems like Marvel’s looking to add to its dominance of everything by introducing another TV show to the mix.

As initially reported by TV Line, Marvel and ABC Studios are currently developing the show, with it “being shopped around to cable and streaming outlets”. Of course nothing has been officially confirmed by Marvel at this point, however given we know they’ve had several projects in the pipeline for a while now, coupled with the recent surge in interest regarding the character of Squirrel Girl, the reports seem highly likely.

Now the New Warriors themselves have always been a more obscure group of characters. Consisting mainly of teenage and young adult heroes; serving as a younger counterpart to the Avengers, the group haven’t had much success in comic book form. Indeed, the most notable appearance for the group was when they sparked Marvel’s Civil War event, an action that killed most of them off in the process.

Given their rocky history, it seems Marvel is looking to put the emphasis on a central character within the team, and in another outlandish move they’ve chosen this character to be Squirrel Girl. As obscure as the character sounds, high profile name Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) has shown interest in playing the character. Speaking to Net-A-Porter she said:

“My brother sent me a Squirrel Girl comic because he thinks I should. I don’t know what Squirrel Girl does other than be half squirrel, but I could be half squirrel!”

Even ‘Captain America: Civil War’ directors Joe and Anthony Russo said this would be brilliant casting, but given Kendrick has mainly stuck to big screen appearances so far, it’s unclear whether she’d make the transition to TV.

If this rumour turns out to be true, then the series will join a whole heap of Marvel TV shows in the works, including ‘Cloak and Dagger’, ‘The Runaways’, ‘The Defenders’ and ‘The Punisher’. It’s an exciting time indeed to be a Marvel fan.