By Let’s face it – there are a lot of comic book movies out there these days, and they can have a tendency to dominate the conversation. With Comic Book Movie Roundup, Flixist hopes to consolidate some of the nerdy news of the last few weeks that might not warrant their own news posts (or might have fallen through the cracks) in a digestible, bite-sized format.
DuVENAY PASSES ON BLACK PANTHER: Last time we got together like this, we reported that Ava DuVenay was set to direct 2017’s Black Panther for Marvel after weeks of rumors suggesting the Selma director would helm either that or Captain Marvel. Soon after we published that piece, DuVenay confirmed to Essence that she passed on the movie.
“I think I’ll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be,” she said. “I love that they reached out to me.”
The news comes as a legitimate bummer – like we mentioned before, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is desperately in need of some diversity behind the camera (and in front of it) and DuVenay – arguably the most prominent black woman directing movies right now – is a great director who would have brought a unique voice to the MCU. That said, it’s hard to blame DuVenay for walking away. At this point, we know Marvel has fairly tight control over its movie projects – Joss Whedon is on record as having butted heads with studio execs over Age of Ultron‘s content several times, and having “different ideas about what the story would be” is essentially Edgar Wright’s stated reason for walking away from Ant-Man. As great as a DuVenay-helmed Black Panther would likely have been, it’s understandable that she wouldn’t want to deal with that.
RACHEL McADAMS IN TALKS TO JOIN DOCTOR STRANGE: In Doctor Strange‘s ever-growing cast, we’ve got the hero, mentor and villain – it was inevitable that we’d start hearing about the lead love interest. If recent reports are to be believed, Marvel is courting Rachel McAdams – currently starring in the second season of True Detective – to take on that role. The report comes from Heroic Hollywood, so take the news with whatever level of salt you feel appropriate.
There’s no word on what her role in the movie might be, though some fan speculation suggests a good role might be Clea, a sorceress and sometime paramour of Doctor Strange from the comics. Then again, she could theoretically be playing any number of Stephen’s lovers – the dude is kind of a lothario in the comics. It’s also entirely possible that McAdams will play an entirely new character. Regardless, McAdams is a strong actor joining a cast full of strong actors, so this is welcome news if true.
WESLEY SNIPES HAS MET WITH MARVEL ABOUT MORE BLADE: One small bit of news to come out of San Diego Comic-Con is causing a fair bit of buzz: Wesley Snipes said he’s talked to Marvel about the possibility of bringing back Blade. To quote the man himself:
The project is controlled by Marvel and we did have a really productive and a wonderful meeting and we discussed a number of things. I don’t know where it’s on their schedule at this point, that hasn’t been decided. I guess it’s still up in the air.
I’ve always been a fan of these pieces and adaptations and I’d be nice to be a part of the family again. But if we don’t to a Blade 4 or something else with Marvel, we’ll do something else.
The news has already gone viral, with geek news sites across the land practically giddy at the thought of Snipes putting on that killer leather jacket and shades at least one more time (that excitement being enough to make them forget about Blade: Trinity and the short-lived Spike TV series starring Sticky Fingaz, apparently). Can’t say we blame them, though – people always talk about Bryan Singer’s X-Men or Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man as ushering in the modern era of the blockbuster superhero film, but people forget that those movies wouldn’t have happened if not for the breakout success of the original Blade in 1998. Marvel’s had the rights to the character back for a while now, so it would be great to see the elder statesman of the superhero flick join the MCU. That said, it’s hard to imagine Marvel giving a character best-known for his hard-R movie franchise into its decidedly PG-13 universe (give or take a Daredevil). Marvel could theoretically cloister a new Blade flick off in its own corner of the universe and maintain the foul-mouthed violence fans know and love, but it seems like a long shot.