Bryan Singer, director of X-Men, X2, and the soon-to-be-released X-Men: Days of Future Past, has stepped off the publicity trail after allegations surfaced that he sexually abused a 17-year-old boy.
While calling the accusations “a sick twisted shakedown,” it has been decided that he halt promoting the film, and has suspended all work on the sequel X-Men: Apocalypse until further notice.
The public is split on whether or not to support the movie– some say they will not see his work since this news broke, others say that nothing has been proven, and that it takes more than one man to make a movie. Either way, the future of the X-Men on the screen will probably be affected by this through box office numbers or a change in creative control.
Despite the slew of Marvel news that has been gracing the internet for the past few weeks, DC has been very tight-lipped about their properties and the future of their cinematic universe. This could be simply because, in comparison to Marvel, they are just beginning their journey to a multi-superhero juggernaut, rather than right in the midst of it. However, the hope of their new franchise seems to be resting on the fate of Batman vs. Superman, to be released in 2015, as they are packing it full of superheroes that will eventually inhabit the Justice League.
Ray Fisher has been cast as Cyborg
Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, Alfred Pennyworth, and several other minor characters have already been casted, but the newest announcement is that Cyborg will also be making an appearance in the movie, played by Ray Fisher.
But wait– I thought that this was supposed to be a Batman/Superman team-up film that led into the Justice League– not a Justice League movie itself. Why cram all these superheroes into one movie if it’s not for a team-up?
Apparently, DC plans to have them all cameo in different parts of the movie, in order to familiarize the audience with them without bogging down the script with too many heroes. Will it work? We’ll see. Personally, I like Marvel’s solo-films-building-into-team approach more than DC’s add-on tactic, but to be fair, this movie hasn’t actually come out yet– it hasn’t even started shooting!
We’ll have to wait until 2015 to see how successful Batman vs. Superman will be as it goes head-to-head against Captain America 3, both premiering on the same day.
Marvel (the Disney portion of it, anyway) has perfected the art of the post-credits scene. When people leave the theater before the credits stop rolling on any of the Avengers properties, you know they’re doing it wrong. The other factions of Marvel (Fox’s X-Men and Sony’s Spider-Man) have tried following suit, and to some extent even succeeded. It’s just a little more difficult when you only own one property, as opposed to the many that make up The Avengers.
You would think that these properties would use their post-credits scene to prop up future events in their own timeline. For example, the post-credits scene of The Wolverine was a pump-up piece for X-Men: Days of Future Past. The last Amazing Spider-Manmovie teased the appearance of the Green Goblin. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is supposed to be building towards a potential Sinister Six movie, so you think that one of them would show up in the post-credits scene, right?
Wrong. According to those who have seen the movie overseas, the post-credits scene isn’t promoting anything Spider-Man. Instead, it’s a clip straight from X-Men: Days of Future Past– a film from an entirely different studio and Marvel franchise! But don’t get too excited– this isn’t build-up to a crossover between the X-Men and your favorite webslinger. This is just a straight promotional clip, and probably part of the contract that Marc Webb has with Fox that allows him to hop over to Sony to make these Spider-Man films.
While I know this is just a straight business deal, I’m a little upset. Post-credits scenes are supposed to be secret Easter eggs that help build a universe and give the loyal audiences a treat. Why should I stay for footage that I’ll be able to see, in context, just two weeks after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 airs? If you’re not going to tease something new or mysterious in your post-credits scene, don’t trick the audience into staying.
Carl’s Jr, a burger chain popular on the west coast and distributer of some controversial ads, has just released a new ad campaign for their double bacon burger that features characters from the X-Men Universe. They are… lazy, to say the least:
The first one, featuring Quicksilver, has some pretty simple special effects that makes me nervous about the portrayal of the character in the movie (I’m not really a fan of the costume, either. It looks like just that: a cheap, bright, shiny silver costume rather than something a superhero would legitimately be wearing in this universe). I get the concept, but I’m not a huge fan.
The second one is, in my opinion, even worse. They couldn’t even get Jennifer Lawrence to play her own character! They took a random actress and put her in the costume, hoping we wouldn’t notice. Newsflash: everyone knows that isn’t her, and it weakens the advertisement.
These aren’t very effective in promoting either the burger or the movie, as they look sloppy and ill-put-together. I think Fox dropped the ball on this one, and should have passed on the Carl’s Jr. team-up.
Spoilers below for the recently-release Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released this past Friday, opening to rave audience and critic reviews alike. The film is fast, action-packed, and sets new stakes for the movie universe being assembled by Marvel. Not only does it lay the groundwork for the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the film drops hints about what may be coming in “Stage Three” of the Marvel Universe.
In particular, there was an explicit mention of “Stephen Strange” from Agent Sitwell (as well as one of a high school valedictorian– Peter Parker, perhaps?!). Stephen, otherwise known as “Dr. Strange,” is one of the more popular Marvel superheroes, and one whose movie has been in development for quite some time. Could this mean we’ll be getting a Dr. Strange movie in Phase Three? Perhaps, especially because it seems that Marvel Studios is moving towards a more magically and cosmic experience with the introduction of Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver for the second Avengers movie. We’ll probably find out soon, but it’s an interesting tidbit to look into!
Keep a lookout for my full review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier!
The highly anticipated sequel to 2012’s The Avengers is currently in production, shooting in London, South Korea, and Italy. Rather than the ultra-secrecy one might expect for these types of products, production photos and videos have been flooding the internet over the past few days, including thank you videos from Joss Whedon (writer/director) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) to the people of Seoul, South Korea.
In addition, set photos of Ultron, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Captain America have leaked, showing off new costumes for the new and old characters alike. I’ll put links to them here, here, and here, so those who would rather not be spoiled don’t have to be.
