The Week in Spandex – Spidey, Cap and The Dark Knight Rises

It’s been quite an eventful week in the world of movie superheroes with a first look at two of Marvel’s biggest characters in addition to a steady stream of plot rumours and possible casting movement on The Dark Knight Rises. Kicking things off is the first shot of The Social Network's Andrew Garfield as everyone’s favourite web-slinger in Sony’s as yet Untitled Spider-Man Reboot. Personally I think it’s a strong design, retaining the classic Spider-Man look while doing enough to distance itself from the Tobey Maguire version of Sam Raimi’s trilogy. They’ve resisted the urge to go with bulked up ‘action-figure’ armour and I’m sure the inclusion of artificial web-shooters will please the majority of Spider-fans.

Spider-Man is currently in production ahead of a summer 2012 release, with 500 Days of Summer director Marc Webb assembly a strong cast that includes Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy), Rhys Ifans (Curt Conners / The Lizard), Martin Sheen (Uncle Ben), Sally Field (Aunt May) and Denis Leary (Captain Stacy). Oh, and forgotten 80s star C. Thomas Howell as some bloke called Ray.

Heading across to the official ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ and with just six months to go before the release of Captain America: The First Avenger, it was about time we started to see how things are shaping up, especially since we’ve already had an official trailer, poster and a host of stills from fellow Avenger Thor. Director Joe Johnston began the week apologising for The Wolfman and promising to make amends with The First Avenger, while we also got a look at some Red Skull concept art and – just hours after the reveal of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man – Entertainment Weekly got their hands on the first image of Chris Evans in full Captain America get-up.

Again I think the filmmakers have done a pretty decent job and could see Cap fitting in with the established universe of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. However, I’ll be surprised if this is the only version of the costume in the film and I really doubt it will make it through to The Avengers (2012) in this exact form. Meanwhile going back to the subject of cheap, ‘action-figure’ looks, it looks like the production designers have been shopping for G.I. Joe knock-offs in their local Poundland when it comes to those two guys in the background (look at the size of those guns).

Captain America: The First Avenger is released in July of this year and also stars Hugo Weaving (Red Skull), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), Neal McDonough (Dum Dum Dugan), Stanley Tucci (Dr. Erskine) and Tommy Lee Jones (Col. Chester Phillips).

Although the big talking points this week were dominated by Marvel, there’s also been quite a bit of information on Christopher Nolan’s third Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, which is currently gearing up in pre-production as we speak. An alleged screenplay was received by Scriptflags.com, which suggested that Deadshot, Talia al Ghul, Black Mask and ‘Edward Nashton’ (who they describe as an amalgamation of Hugo Strange and The Riddler) would all be making an appearance, but of course you have to wonder as to its authenticity. Then later in the week THR’s Heat Vision revealed a shortlist of actresses reportedly set to screen test for ‘major female roles’ in the film, which consisted of up-and-coming stars Gemma Arterton (Clash of the Titans), Kate Mara (Iron Man 2) and Charlotte Riley (Easy Virtue) alongside established names Jessica Biel, Keira Knightley and Anne Hathaway (rumours also persist that Eva Green and Naomi Watts also remain in the frame, but may have scheduling conflicts).

One thing’s for sure, Warner Bros. won’t want Marvel hogging the entire spotlight and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear some official information from the Batman camp in the very near future. Once the female roles are cast I’d expect them to put to bed all the speculation over the likes of Catwoman and Talia al Ghul by announcing the characters, as well as confirmation on whoever Tom Hardy will be playing.

Well that just about wraps it up but on a final note /Film also posted an interesting video piece on Ang Lee’s Hulk (2003) earlier this week, revealing a giant animatronic ‘Hulk robot’ that was tested during pre-production as an alternative to the giant CGI version ultimately used. Could it really have been any worse?

Gary Collinson