The marketing campaign for Matthew Vaughn's upcoming superhero prequel X-Men: First Class continues to deliver a rollercoaster of a ride, with opinion seemingly see-sawing from one week to the next. First up we had the disappointment of the initial character reveals before a rather impressive first trailer managed to get much of the fanbase back on board. At least that is, until this past week when the latest posters were unveiled to stinging criticism from the internet community, with /FILM going as far as to describe them as "the worst studio-released posters of the year so far". The posters - which feature black and white silhouettes of Magneto and Professor Xavier along with poorly-Photoshopped mugshots of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy - are pretty weak, but in fairness the majority of the publicity campaign has been less than stellar. Oh well, at least a new shot of Lucas Till as Havoc seemed to raise a few spirits. In other First Class news, IGN posted a set report this past week where they briefly described an action sequence that sees Azazel (Jason Flemyng) launch an attack on a government facility and also features Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) and Havoc (Lucas Till). Meanwhile Matthew Vaughn had a few words to say about the film's change of direction: "It's not like the other X-Men movies which I think is important. I think they need to sort of take on a new... you know, what Batman Begins did for all those Batman movies? We bloody well need it. I'm not saying it's going to be as good as Batman Begins, but it's the same sort of attitude." Aren't they all, nowadays?
While we're on the subject of Batman, Commissioner Gordon himself Gary Oldman has been out and about on the interview circuit promoting his latest film Red Riding Hood, with talk inevitably shifting to The Dark Knight Rises. Oldman said that while he’s yet to see a completed script he felt Christopher Nolan could top The Dark Knight with the story for his final instalment of the trilogy and suggested the film would tie in with Batman Begins. This of course adds weight to rumours about Christian Bale’s Caped Crusader squaring off against Talia al Ghul and the League of Shadows, although Liam Neeson has all but confirmed that Ra’s al Ghul won’t be making an appearance. Meanwhile, Oldman also gave E!Online his opinion on Anne Hathaway as Catwoman - "I think she'll probably wear the cat suit pretty well, don't you?" – and hinted at an another villain to join Tom Hardy’s Bane: “"I think it's a villain from one of the old, old, from way back from the old comics… It's not going to be the Joker." Could this be the part rumoured for Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Let the speculation begin.New Iron Man director Shane Black took part in a panel at the Omaha Film Festival, where he dropped some interesting comments about Tony Stark’s upcoming third adventure (or fourth, if you’re going to count The Avengers). Black suggested that the studio had been dissatisfied with the direction of Iron Man 2 and were now looking to avoid another “two men in iron suits fighting each other”. As well as confirming that he will be handling script writing duties with Robert Downey Jr. also contributing to the story, he also suggested that Iron Man 3 will be self-contained, so don’t expect any cameos from Thor or Captain America. It seems Marvel are looking for the heroes of their Cinematic Universe to go their separate ways post-Joss Whedon, although I’d be surprised not to see the likes of Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg popping up once again.
Elsewhere, Ray Stevenson has been discussing his role as Volstagg in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, stating that he has a three-picture deal that will see the Punisher: War Zone star return alongside Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman for any potential sequels [on the subject of Thor, the recent international trailer also revealed some new footage which you might want to check out here]. Talk also shifted to The Punisher, with Stevenson announcing that he's been discussing a potential return as Frank Castle with Marvel, who have reacquired the rights to the character from Lionsgate. Now, to a Punisher fan like myself this could be good news - although War Zone wasn't the greatest film in the world I thought Stevenson did a good job as Castle (well, better than Dolph Lundgren and Thomas Jane anyway) and the last thing The Punisher needs now is another reboot. Question is, could Marvel do a better job than their predecessors?In other Marvel movie news, BadAssDigest reports that the studio is continuing its push to extend its range of properties by kick-starting a big-screen adaptation of The Inhumans. The (unverified) synopsis states that the project would see the genetically engineered superheroes “put on Earth as sleeper cell aliens to eventually call back their race to take over the planet. Ultimately, the group of aliens fully assimilates and don’t want to cause war.” I guess the whole extraterrestrial angle could fit with the direction of the Universe should the rumoured appearance of the Skrull in The Avengers prove true, but in all honesty I’d rather see a Black Panther, Luke Cage or Dr. Strange feature before this one.
Other recent bits and bobs that caught the eye…
...former Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke about his acting comeback at the Arnold Classic last weekend, stating that although he’s had offers to return to The Terminator, Predator and The Running Man franchises, his next project is likely to see him venture back into the comic book genre: “I am also packaging a comic book character right now. I'm going to announce that sometime by the end of March or the beginning of April." There’s no word yet on the possible source material, but anyone unfortunate enough to remember Arnie’s last superhero outing will no doubt be concerned (and the less said about Turboman, the better)......BlackFilm confirmed that Derek Luke’s character in Joe Johnston's Captain America: The First Avenger is Gabe Jones of the Howling Commandos, which begs the question whether we’ll be seeing a younger version of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury...
...and finally, a trailer was unvieled for Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers, a new four-part series from Marvel Knights Animation inspired by the graphic novel from Robert Rodi and Esad Ribic. The series debuts on March 28th and will be distributed through iTunes, Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network...
Gary Collinson
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