The release of Doctor Strange is less than a month away, so that means there will be a lot of updates on upcoming Marvel movies hitting the web over the next couple weeks—including some in this piece! We've also got news on Wolverine's new sidekick and who will be helping out the Justice League in Zack Snyder's next movie. (Is it summer 2017 yet?) Yes, dear friends, these are the highlights of the last seven days' worth of superhero movie news.
SUPER IDEA: Logan Gets a Friend (And an Enemy, But You Can't Have Everything)
The updates on the third solo Wolverine movie are coming thick and fast now, for some reason. After last week's reveal that the movie is going to be called Logan, two important pieces of information about the film have been revealed. First, this:
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Yes, that's Boyd Holbrook playing cyborg anti-mutant bigot Donald Pierce. But the onetime member of the Hellfire Club wasn't the only character revealed for the upcoming movie recently; The Wrap reports that Wolverine's gender-swapped clone Laura, AKA X-23, will also be making an appearance in the movie, played by Sienna Novikov. In fact, that's apparently her hand in the first teaser image:
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Why this is super: The X-23 appearance has been rumored for a long time, but if it sets up the possibility for the character to continue on in other X-Men movies, then it's exactly what we want from the future of the Fox franchise. If that means we have to sit through a movie with Donald Pierce to get there, well... it could be worse.
SUPER IDEA: The Right Director at the Right Time
Gal Gadot talked to Variety about next year's Wonder Woman and pushed back against the idea that only a woman could be the director of Wonder Woman: "I don’t think it’s a gender kind of thing," she said. "Maybe because we’re telling a story of a girl growing up and becoming a woman, it’s easier for it to be told by someone who was once a girl and became a woman. I feel like Patty Jenkins was the right person for the movie because she was the right person for the movie. She knew exactly how she wanted to tell her story. She knew exactly what she wanted to get."
Why this is super: As far as dealing with potential accusations of positive discrimination go, this was a pretty good response, while also reinforcing the idea that the movie is Jenkins' work as opposed to an extension of the Zack Snyder DC movies that have already appeared. Stop making us excited about this movie, dammit.
MEH IDEA: No Blade 4 Anytime Soon
Sorry, people who were getting excited about the possibility of a Blade revival; despite Wesley Snipes' occasional tweets to the contrary (and an offhand comment from *Underworld'*s Kate Beckinsale, oddly enough), Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is denying that the studio has plans to bring back the vampire hunter anytime soon. "We still think he’s a great character. He’s a really fun character," he told reporters last weekend, but "there is nothing imminent to my knowledge."
Why this is villainy: Somewhere, Wesley Snipes is deeply unhappy, especially given that Feige also suggested that, if Marvel did decide to do something with Blade, it could be similar to the way it dealt with Ghost Rider… which is to say, sticking him in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and leaving him in TV land for the foreseeable future.
SUPER IDEA: The Doctor Is In(deed Striking)
Feige was talking about Blade during a press conference to accompany a 15-minute sneak peak at Doctor Strange ahead of its November release. The preview ran four scenes, including an expanded version of the sequence glimpsed in trailers where the Ancient One reveals to Strange how little he knows about reality. If the aim of the screening was to push back against the lack of excitement surrounding the movie with just a few weeks to go before release, it seems to have worked. Buzz from those attending the screening has been uniformly positive, with many people present suggesting the special effects are unlike anything people have seen before.
Why this is super: Perhaps it's merely the strange superhero summer everyone experienced, but the lack of audience buzz for Strange just weeks before its release is nonetheless surprising. Given the departure the movie is for Marvel, it's understandable if the studio is getting nervous, but if the response to this screening is anything to go by, word of mouth might be on their side this time around.
MEH IDEA: Captain Marvel's Solo Movie Will Also Be Her Origin Story
From the same Kevin Feige press conference, a surprising piece of news about Brie Larson's Captain Marvel. Speaking about the origin story formula in regards to Doctor Strange, Feige played it off against earlier Marvel movies before saying, "I guess [Black Panther] isn’t really an origin story since we saw him already in Civil War, but his standalone [movie] certainly introduces you to 99 percent of his world which you never saw before. And Captain Marvel is certainly an origin story from the start."
Why this is villainy: But… wait. Captain Marvel comes out after the next Avengers movie, which has been heavily hinted to include the character. Does this mean that Captain Marvel will be a flashback, or that Avengers: Infinity War won't have Captain Marvel in it after all? That would be a very bad idea indeed. (Perhaps Marvel will split the difference, and feature Larson as Carol Danvers, pre-superheroics?)
SUPER IDEA: Meet Aquaman's Leading Lady
While Justice League remains more than a year away, Zack Snyder and the folks at Warner Bros. can't help but reveal images and characters from the superhero team-up—including, this week, the first glimpse of Amber Heard as Mera, the Atlantean queen and love interest for Aquaman. The costume looks like a more armored version of her traditional comic book garb, but shot in such a desaturated way (as is traditional for a Zack Snyder project) that it's almost colorless. Wasn't that supposed to change in Justice League?
Why this is super: For those not currently reading DC's Aquaman comic book (shame on you, it's actually kind of wonderful), Mera is basically Aquaman, but better: She might not talk to fish, but she can control water and has the kind of attitude that demands respect. If she doesn't get more or less equal screen time with Jason Momoa's Aquaman in the 2018 solo movie, there'll be a problem.
