Some beloved kaiju could appear in Kong: Skull Island. New art could give us another look at Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s Shocker. Hear a snippet of Beauty and the Beast‘s iconic “I Want” song. Plus, new clips from the next Agents of SHIELD, and a ton of new pictures from Arrow, Flash and Riverdale. Praise Hera, the spoilers are here!
Wonder Woman
Batman News reports that David Thewlis will be playing the film’s villain, Ares, the god of war. Thewlis had been spotted in set pictures in period costume, so it seems like he’ll be playing a character Ares disguises himself as for part of the movie, but according to the site, the actual version of Ares in the film is a mix of CG and practical effects.
And we might know why it will need to be a mix. Over the weekend at New York Toy Fair, Mattel seemingly accidentally revealed Ares’ appearance in the film. Their line of Wonder Woman movie action figures featured a prominently displayed version of the villain as a bonus figure for purchasing all the other toys in the wave:
I am totally digging this mix of New 52 and Classic Ares. #wonderwoman #DCEU #Ares #ActionFigure pic.twitter.com/XQpp0dpRqW
— Mark (NationofNerds) (@nationofnerds) February 19, 2017
Quite the face you have there, Ares. The figure was not included in any official materials sent out by Mattel, however, so it’s likely the character was not meant to have been revealed just yet.
Mary Poppins Returns
Angela Lansbury has joined the cast of the film in an undisclosed role. [Coming Soon]
Spider-Man: Homecoming
New promo art from the movie’s display at Toy Fair gives us a better look at The Shocker. It shares some similarities to the classic Shocker look from the comics, but it doesn’t seem to quite add up with the purported set pictures we saw a while ago. It might just be random art for the merchandising, so take it with a pinch of salt for now.
Robin Hood: Origins
Director Otto Bathurst told Dubrovnik Daily he sees Robin Hood as being more socially relevant than ever:
To be honest, when this film was first offered to me, I turned it down immediately. The world doesn’t need another Robin Hood film, we had enough. But when I started to look into it and investigate this man and legend, the story seemed more relevant today than it has ever been. For me, making a film is about reflecting what’s going on at the moment, to bring back something to humanity, to society. So there is a purpose to the film rather than being pure entertainment. We want to be entertained as well. Every day the film seems to be more and more important.
This will be a great peace of entertainment, but there is also a real subtext to the movie about government, corruption and the power of individual to bring change to society. It’s about 99% being ruled by 1% and if any of us, any normal man has the strength and the courage to stand up and fight for the truth, then the real change can happen. That is the strong message of Robin Hood and it’s going to be an even stronger message of my Robin Hood.
Kong: Skull Island
Here’s a new clip of Kong battling the exoskeletal monster called “Skull Crawler”.
Warner Bros. recently released the film’s full credits, including the film’s soundtrack listing — but Sci-Fi Japan noticed a copyright disclaimer near the end of the film’s credit roll:
“Godzilla,” “King Ghidorah,” “Mothra” and “Rodan” created and owned by Toho Co., Ltd.
Those disclaimers seem to hint that the legendary creatures will appear in some capacity in the movie (although it might just be a brief cameo rather than an extended appearance).
Meanwhile here’s an IMAX featurette. “You have to see it in IMAX…” is what everyone in it says, unsurprisingly.
The monster, the myth, the legend. IMAX 3D tickets are now on sale for #KongSkullIsland! https://t.co/yvepgMyPi6 pic.twitter.com/xFu8zp5hy5
— IMAX (@IMAX) February 17, 2017
The Purge 4
A fourth entry in the franchise has been given a 4 July 2018 US release date, which I’m sure has no alternate implications behind it after last year’s politically-charged entry. [THR]
Beauty & the Beast
There goes the baker with his tray like always in a new clip from the film’s take on the classic “I Want” song, “Belle”.
Emma Watson spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the strong possibility Belle may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome:
It’s such a good question and it’s something I really grappled with at the beginning; the kind of Stockholm Syndrome question about this story. That’s where a prisoner will take on the characteristics of and fall in love with the captor. Belle actively argues and disagrees with [Beast] constantly. She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought.
I think there is a very intentional switch where in my mind Belle decides to stay. She’s giving him hell. There is no sense of, ‘I need to kill this guy with kindness.
In fact, she gives as good as she gets. He bangs on the door, she bangs back. There’s this defiance that, You think I’m going to come and eat dinner with you and I’m your prisoner — absolutely not. I think that’s the other beautiful thing about the love story. They form a friendship first and that gap in the middle where there is this genuine sharing, the love builds out of that, which in many ways I actually think is more meaningful than a lot of love stories, where it was love at first sight.
Mission: Impossible 6
Christopher McQuarrie told Empire that his film “does not start with action — that was the hardest pitch of this movie”, and the script will focus on Ethan Hunt as a character.
I’ve seen five of these movies and I don’t know who Ethan Hunt is. One movie sort of dealt with his personal life; the other movies are about people speculating what’s really going on in Ethan’s head. I want to know who Ethan is in this movie, I want an emotional journey for this character, and Tom really embraced it.
When asked how he’d top M:I5’s plane stunt, McQuarrie replied:
I may have found something today. I came to Tom with a picture of something and Tom looked at it and said, ‘That’s awesome! I want to fall off of that!’ It’s like, OK, I can see it on a poster, and I can see Tom falling off of it.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Empire has a new picture of Star-Lord and Drax (and a very large gun in Drax’s possession).
Power Rangers
Coming Soon has new posters for each of the Rangers. Pick your favourite colour!
The Belko Experiment
Tough decisions are made in another new clip from the film.
Game of Thrones
Things are coming to a boil, according to Jacob “Grey Worm” Anderson in an interview for Mashable:
It doesn’t feel like a panic, but I’m panicked for people, I think. I think, and this is true of season 6, you can feel that things are coming to a close. It’s all getting a bit much. The show’s kind of like a pressure cooker … It’s just absolute chaos. […] I’m just in awe of how everybody’s managing to fit as much as there is into seven episodes, because it doesn’t necessarily feel like a normal season, it feels bigger.
Alfie Allen concurs, promising bizarre new character meetings over the season — like, say, Theon running into Jon Snow after that whole “sorry I betrayed your brother and basically got your adoptive home taken over” thing, maybe?
It’s gonna be a crazy season. It’s definitely going to blow a lot of people’s minds. It’s still the same running theme; characters that haven’t crossed each other’s paths before will do, and they’re gonna take it even further this time. People have loyalties that they have to examine.
Agents of SHIELD
Fitz and Simmons have a good old “so you’re surrounded by killer robot duplicates of your colleagues” freak-out in a new clip from the next episode.
Meanwhile, Aida is up to no good in another clip from the next episode.
Aida prepares for some extreme surgery in a clip from tomorrow’s new “Marvel’s @AgentsofSHIELD” at 10/9c on ABC! pic.twitter.com/MqjXAm7ufp
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) February 20, 2017
Timeless
KSiteTV has pics from the season finale. Hop over there to see the rest.
Arrow
It’s a lady villain team-up ready to cause trouble in images from the next episode, “The Sin-Eater”. More at the link. [Coming Soon]
The Flash
“Attack on Gorilla City” finally shows us some goddamn gorillas in a new batch of promo images. Once again, there’s more at the link. [Coming Soon]
Riverdale
Finally, it’s Archie vs the Pussycats (the latter wearing a take on their classic comic costumes!) in pics from “Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill!” You know the drill, head to the link to see more. [Coming Soon]
Additional reporting by Gordon Jackson. Banner art by Jim Cooke.