There aren’t any big comic book movies coming up in the last few months of 2015, but when 2016 hits, it will bring a veritable tidal wave of superheroes from Marvel, DC, and Fox. So many grown ups running around in tights. One of the characters we’re most excited to see is Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme when he shows up in Doctor Strange next fall, and while we knew Beneict Cumberbatch will play the title character, we now know who his leading lady will be.
According to The Wrap, Rachel McAdams confirmed the rumor that she will star in Doctor Strange while talking to them at the Toronto International Film Festival. While this rumor has been making the rounds for the last few months, and the True Detective Season 2 star has never played demure when it comes to revealing that she was in fact in discussions for the part, which now appears to be all hers.
What we don’t know, however, is what exactly the nature of her role is. We speculated about it a bit back when McAdams’ involvement was first rumored, but we don’t know for sure. She could be Clea, who is Doctor Strange’s most notable love interest in the comics, not to mention related to some of his most powerful adversaries; though there are other notable female characters within his purview, including Victoria Bentley and Morgana Blessing, or it’s possible McAdams could play a wholly original character, one specifically cooked up for the MCU.
Directed by Sinister helmer Scott Derrickson, Rachel McAdams joins what has quickly become a fantastic cast. Along with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role, the call sheet also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, and Tilda Swinton playing Stephen Strange’s mystical mentor, the Ancient One. We’re very curious about this role, as the character is traditionally male, and Swinton is obviously a woman; and while the initial reaction is to assume the gender has been swapped, there were also rumors going around that Swinton could play the character as male, so it will be interesting to see what happens there. Additionally, Hannibal star Mads Mikkelsen will also play an adversarial role in the film.
Moving into Phase 3 of the MCU, Doctor Strange will reportedly continue to expand the boundaries of the movie world, much like how Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man tried to bring something different to the slate of films that are often criticized for being overly homogenous. In pursuit of that goal, they’ve certainly put together a fantastic team of creative in front of and behind the cameras.
Doctor Strange will begin shooting this November, and hit theaters on November 4, 2016.
We’re in an age of cinema where superhero movies dominate the landscape of blockbuster releases, both from Marvel Studios and Warner Bros/DC Entertainment. Both studios have a five year plan in place that spans the scope of their respective comic book universes, featuring heroes both old and new. It’s a strategy that so far has made a lot of people a whole bunch of money. Even a decidedly smaller Marvel release like Ant-Man has the potential to bring in a box office haul of over $400 million, making the stakes even higher for films featuring marquee superheroes.
One such hero is Wonder Woman, whose standalone movie from Warner/DC will be hitting theaters in June of 2017. Before then, we’ll get our first look at her in a supporting role, in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Across Marvel and DC’s movie universes, Wonder Woman’s growing presence will represent a groundbreaking event. Why you ask? The reason is simple: Neither studio has put out a female-led film, and it’s past time they did.
Marvel has managed to stay ahead of the game at least in their television sector, with both Agent Carter and November’s Jessica Jones featuring female leads. On the DC side, they have yet to launch their own cinematic universe in earnest, while their collection of wildly popular television series has women playing supporting roles. On the surface, it seems like a small distinction to make; isn’t the job of a studio to make a movie with the best possible story, regardless of the gender of its protagonist? The answer to this question is more complicated than a simple yes or no, and it’s worth emphasizing just how important Wonder Woman will be when it hits theaters.
Much of the justification for the scarcity of female comic book heroes in Hollywood is based around two failed efforts from the mid-00s in Elektra and Catwoman. Studio execs have propped these two subpar efforts up as living proof of how women simply aren’t marketable for wide audiences. The fact of the matter though is that both films flopped at the box office because they were poorly constructed, not because of the women they featured. Flashing forward into the modern era of superhero films, we have Wonder Woman, the first effort since Elektra in 2005 to put a female superhero in the driver’s seat.
Details on the Wonder Woman movie are scarce, but what we do know is that Gal Gadot will be assuming the title role alongside co-star Chris Pine. The story is rumored to date back to World War I, making the titular hero about 200 years old by the time she shows up in Dawn of Justice. More than anything, the reception of Wonder Woman will be a barometer for all future female-led movies with DC and Marvel’s cinematic universe. A well-made movie that does favorably at the box office has the potential to knock over the first domino, especially with Marvel releasing Captain Marvel in the following year.
If Elektra and Catwoman are still being held up as litmus tests for the marketability female superheroes 10 years after the fact, it stands to reason that Wonder Woman will do the same for the modern era of the genre. A lot is riding on that single release, and a successful run in theaters could spell a much-needed proliferation of women in lead roles in future films from both DC and Marvel. The superhero model is one that hasn’t changed much since Marvel mastered it in the late 00s with Iron Man and company, but it could be in for a major shift come 2017. Simply put, Wonder Woman may very well change the way comic book movies are approached for the foreseeable future.
It’s a question that will be asked until the end of time. And frankly, why not? When two similar franchises are making movies, they are bound to be compared. When arguing, you often hear about
1: The Funny Avengers vs. The Brooding Justice League
2: The box office competition
3: The better story
and so on and so forth.
However.
There is an interesting point that I have not yet heard made in this argument. A point that, while it may not decide who wins the arguement, sheds a bit of light on what has been going on, and what could happen in the future.
The real difference between Marvel and DC is!
*insert drumroll
The actors!!!
.
.
.
No please don’t go! There’s more to this! This whole idea come down to it! I mean, we don’t go to movie that don’t have characters in them do we? That’s why the actors are so important, they draw people into the movie. Many a time has a friend of mine gone to see a movie because they like the actor.
And that’s where the difference lies
All Marvel movies are a part of the MCU or Marvel Cinematic Universe(except for Big Hero 6). Because of that, they need to keep continuity with the actors playing the characters(except for Rhodie….) Because thats what people want to see.
When you see this man:
Do you think Tony Stark/Iron Man? Or do you think Robert Downey Jr?
Marvel has given us actors over and over again to plat roles because that’s what we expect to see in a connected universe.
On the other hand….Batman.
Batman has been played by, soon to be 6, different actors. And that’s fine, because he isn’t in a connected universe, so they can do that.
But is DC doing something more with this???
Yes.
What’s going on is that DC has been doing exactly what Marvel has been trying to avoid. They are intentionally having new actors playing their characters.
Why?
Well its a brilliant idea really.
In comic books we didn’t have a specific actos to root for. Batman was Batman, in any iteration. That’s what DC is trying to replicate. With different actors playing the same person, one doesn’t get as engrossed on the actor because, well, they’ll be gone soon. And if the movie flops (here’s looking at you Batman and Robin) they can blame the actor and get right on to the next movie.
But will DC buck that trend now that they are starting to have a Universe of its own? Only time will tell.
PS Now is a streaming service offered on the PS4 that will allow users to access a large selection of titles from the Playstation, PS2, PS3, and PS Vita library. With half of my old Playstation discs scratched or lost, this will give me the opportunity to conveniently play them again in the highest quality.
Honestly, I can’t wait to play some of my favorites like Final Fantasy 8 and Tomb Raider 2 again. There’s a nostalgic list put together by USgamer of 20 PS1 Games you will definitely want to play on PS Now, and we highlight a few of them here…
Resident Evil 2 I appreciated the original Resident Evil from afar, but Resident Evil 2 marks the first time the series really clicked with me. It still features those dated tank controls, but thanks to the guidance of Platinum’s Hideki Kamiya, Resident Evil 2 feels much more refined and far less clunky than its predecessor. If you’re looking to jump into a classic survival horror game, Resident Evil 2 makes for one of the most accessible choices, and the DualShock version even features an easy mode to help spoiled modern gamers (me included) deal with the demands of 1998 gaming. – Bob Mackey
Final Fantasy Tactics I’ve already written about FF Tactics before, but let me just state this again: Final Fantasy Tactics is an amazing tactical strategy RPG, the likes of which has yet to be surpassed by Square Enix. Tactics Advance and Tactics A2 were okay, but they were no Tactics. Others have raided the hill to take the throne, but for me, no one has succeeded yet.
Like Alpha 3, Tactics is available on the PlayStation Store, but it needs to be available to players on Sony’s subscription service. Until it is, I shall continue to be the game’s prophet, preaching of its greatness until the time that its holiness gets a proper sequel. – Mike Williams
RidgeRacer I’m nominating this classic Namco arcade port for purely selfish reasons. It was the first game I played on PS1, and it just blew me away. At a time when most were still used to playing 16-bit classics like Aladdin and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Ridge Racer looked every inch the generational leap forward it represented.
I’ve still got my original PS1 long box version of the game – one of the few PS1 games I’ve kept over the years. But since I don’t have a console to play it on, having the chance to drift sideways down memory racetrack would be great! – Jaz Rignall
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Street Fighter is a series with a long history so I’m sure fighting aficionados all have their personal favorite game in the franchise. For some that may be Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, or Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, but the spot in my heart will always be occupied by Street Fighter Alpha 3.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 is the pinnacle of the series, unless you count its various ports like Alpha 3 MAX. 33 distinct and well-animated characters (37 in MAX), the ISM system allowing you to choose your playstyle, Alpha Counters, and the kick-ass World Tour mode. World Tour allowed you to take you favored character into fighting challenges to gain experience and abilities to improve them. It was such a fun mode for my friends and I; being able to spring your new custom character on someone is great.
Ben Affleck’s Right-Hand Man Punched Up The BvS Script
After working with Ben Affleck to bring Argo — the story of the CIA pretending to make a science fiction movie to rescue six Americans trapped in Iran during the 1980s — to life, Chris Terrio came in to overhaul the Batman v Superman script. He was brought on board to take a whack at punching up the script originally written by Man of Steel scribe David S. Goyer (who also had a hand in the scripts for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films). He reportedly did heavy rewrites to what Goyer turned in.
Moving forward, Terrio, who also has an Oscar on his shelf thanks to Argo, has been tapped to tackle the scripts for the superhero team ups we’ll see in Justice League, Part One in 2017 and Justice League, Part Two, which drops in 2019. As Affleck and Terrio’s stock continues to rise, it’s becoming more and more clear who the focus of the DCEU is going to be, and that it’s Batman. On the other hand, Henry Cavill is still struggling to find an identity outside of his role as Superman, and this summer’s flop The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is not doing him any favors (which is a shame, because the movie is actually a lot of fun).
It was just last year that Robert Downey Jr. signed a contract extension with Marvel Studios, confirming him for appearances in both The Avengers: Age of Ultron and the inevitable Avengers 3, but one title that was left out of all the talks was any plans for Iron Man 4. Many took this as a sign that the number of Tony Stark solo films would be ending at three – and today new quotes have arrived that pretty much confirm that speculation.
“There isn’t one in the pipe. No, there’s no plan for a fourth Iron Man.” That was the rather blunt response that Downey Jr. gave to Variety recently when asked about the potential future of the successful comic book franchise. The actor is currently up at the Toronto International Film Festival promoting his new movie The Judge, which is the actor’s first dramatic film since 2009’s The Soloist.
Anyone who is in any way familiar with the history of contract talks between Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel shouldn’t be too surprised that the star’s stay as Tony Stark may not extend past The Avengers 3. As, statistically, the biggest draw in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Downey Jr. has long had an upper hand in negotiations with the company – to the point where he even got them to pay him $50 million for his work in The Avengers – a figure that he himself has confirmed. Because of these hardball tactics, there was a time when there was a possibility that the Oscar-nominee wouldn’t be in The Avengers 2 – and writer/director Joss Whedon even said that he wouldn’t do the movie without him. It’s not hard to see why Marvel might not be eager to jump back into contract extension conversations for an Iron Man 4.
Furthermore, while Downey Jr. was undoubtedly an extremely important player in the establishment of Marvel Studios as a blockbuster success, the company has been doing just fine making movies without him recently. James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier currently stand as the two biggest domestic releases of the year, and both achieved their positions without Iron Man’s presence (provided you ignore the blink-and-you-miss-it photo of the character in the latter film). It’s true that Downey Jr. has appeared in all of the studio’s top four titles, but the comic book giant is learning how to achieve big things without the star’s presence.
So, if Iron Man 4 isn’t part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Three plans – what projects are coming up? In addition to Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man, the Russos’ Captain America 3, and Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2, they are also working on seven untitled projects that will be coming out between now and 2019 – three of which are all but confirmed to be Doctor Strange,Thor 3, and The Avengers 3. Will Iron Man’s presence be missed, or do you think Marvel can move on without him?
