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.
R.I.P. MARVEL CREATIVE COMMITTEE: Hot on the heels of the news that Marvel Studios Head Kevin Feige would no longer report to Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter, BirthMoviesDeath reports that the Marvel Creative Committee has been disbanded. The committee was a group of people who gave notes on Marvel movies as they were produced.
BMD’s Devin Faraci suggests that the committee was more of a hindrance than a help, often focusing on nitpicky details and being very slow with notes (the committee included people like Brian Michael Bendis and Joe Quesada, people who already have important gigs at other parts of Marvel, which may tie into the delay). Faraci also writes that the notes that eventually led to Edgar Wright’s departure from Ant-Man came from the committee.
It’s hard to know just how this will impact future Marvel films – next year’s slate of movies, Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange, are already well into production. Moving forward, though, Faraci reports that creative decisions at Marvel will be made primarily by Feige and a couple other producers – which could mean a jolt of energy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Only time will tell.
NETFLIX’S LUKE CAGE FINDS ITS MISTY KNIGHT: Deadline reports that Netflix’s upcoming Luke Cage series has cast Simone Missick as Misty Knight, a longtime friend and ally of the titular character in the comics. Knight is an ex-cop-turned-private-detective with a bionic arm, and is a notable female hero of color in the Marvel universe. Missick has appeared on Ray Donovan and Everything I Did Wrong in My 20s.
Perhaps most interesting about this casting choice is its potential implications for other Marvel series. Knight is often romantically paired with Danny Rand, aka Iron Fist, aka the Netflix series that will follow Luke Cage. Considering that we know the shows are willing to set up other series and move characters around – Rosario Dawson will reprise her Daredevil role in Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, and that inaugural series had more than a few references to characters – it’s not at all out of the question that Knight’s role in Luke Cage could be set-up for a role in Iron Fist. That said, considering Iron Fist is still likely more than a year away and we know next to nothing about it, at this point anything is possible.
THE AVENGERS GET GOOFY: The Avengers: Age of Ultron Blu-ray release is still a little less than a month away, but Marvel wants to get you stoked to pick it up now. The studio has released the movie’s gag reel, which you can check out right now, if you’re into that sort of thing. Age of Ultron hits home video release on Oct. 2.
RECAP ON GOTHAM’S FIRST SEASON, IF YOU MUST: Look, the first season of Gotham was…not great. As a whole, the show tried to walk the line between Nolan-esque realism and West-like camp, but wasn’t really all that great at either. That said, the show had its moments in that first year, and the second season looks to be leaning hard into the Batman mythos, so maybe you’re interested in diving in when the show returns Sept. 21. If that’s you, check out this seven-minute recap of Gotham‘s first season.
HULK DEFINITELY WON’T BE IN CIVIL WAR: After months of speculation and teasing, Mark Ruffalo has confirmed that he absolutely, definitely, 100 percent certainly will not be appearing in next year’s Captain America: Civil War. In short, Marvel wasn’t ready to reveal what happened to Bruce Banner after Age of Ultron just yet.
“The reason is too great to be revealed in this movie,” Ruffalo said. “I was in the script but then they removed my character. They don’t want to reveal where is he [after Avengers: Age of Ultron] and why. I don’t even know if Hulk will be back soon.”
Presumably, Hulk will return in one of the Avengers: Infinity War sequels, the assumed last big hurrah for the core cast we’ve known since the first Iron Man (give or take an Edward Norton). Of course, there’s nothing stopping the character from showing up in any one of the phase three movies between now and then, so maybe Marvel will throw us a curveball.