CIVIL WAR II #2 Takeaways: TONY’s Sane, the Horror of a Pants-less HULK & Wait Until #3
This week, Civil War II kicked into high gear with the release of Civil War II #2, in which Tony Stark went a little bit off the rails and kidnapped Ulysses, the Inhuman whose precognitive powers sparked the building conflict between Marvel’s heroes. Tony invaded Attilan, taking Ulysses and bringing the Inhumans – and many of Marvel’s heroes – to his front door. Newsarama caught up with Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort to discuss Tony’s thought process as he escalates the budding superhero conflict, and how Ulysses’ climactic vision will affect the future of the Marvel Universe. Spoiler alert: per Brevoort, “It’s a bad time to be a Hulk.”
RYAN REYNOLDS DROPPED A LOT OF CASH TO GET BEA ARTHUR IN DEADPOOL
We know the making of Deadpool wasn’t all “unicorns and cocaine,” but we had no idea how much of his own money Ryan Reynolds dropped for this passion project. Apparently, it took Reynolds 10 years and $10,000 to get the R-rated superhero flick just right. Wade Wilson’s love of Bea Arthur is one of the character’s defining traits — he would seriously kill for her — so it’s no surprise that Reynolds did what he had to do to get the late Golden Girls star in Deadpool. According to the film’s DVD commentary track, via Gizmodo, Reynolds personally made a $10,000 payment to use Arthur’s likeness in the film. The money went to an undisclosed charity. Reynolds even reached out to Daniel Saks, one of Arthur’s two sons, for permission to use her image in the film. (Arthur’s image appears on one of Wade’s tank tops.) Of course, his reputation as a Nice Guy came in pretty handy.
Donald Glover Joins ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’
Donald Glover is in talks to join the cast of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Homecoming is Sony’s reboot of its Spider-Man franchise, which it has partnered with Marvel to produce, and the movie is due to begin production later this month. Tom Holland is starring as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in a story that takes the character back to his high-school roots. The project has been quietly casting up and the roll call includes Michael Keaton as a villain, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May and Zendaya as the female lead. Also on board are Tony Revolori, who starred opposite Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Laura Harrier, who appeared on the soap opera One Life to Live. Robert Downey Jr. will appear as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Details of Glover’s character are being kept secret.
‘Conjuring 2’ Spinoff ‘The Nun’ in the Works (Exclusive)
New Line is developing a bad habit. Fresh off the success of The Conjuring 2, the film company is spinning off the villain of the supernatural thriller, the demonic nun, into her own movie. David Leslie Johnson, who co-wrote Conjuring 2, has been hired to pen what is being titled The Nun. James Wan, who directed the Conjuring movies, and Peter Safran, who produced them, are reuniting to produce the spinoff. What is noteworthy about the demon nun character is that she didn’t exist until about three months before Conjuring 2 opened, as she was only added during last-minute reshoots. The studio and Wan had a cut of the movie, which stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as paranormal investigators, in which the antagonist was a demonic figure with horns. The studio was ready to release that version but at the last minute, Wan was struck by a revelation. And so he came up with a new concept, a demon nun, which he pitched to New Line. And even though the late-in-the-game change could have spooked some studios, New Line exec gave him their blessing.
Don’t Expect To See THIS In The ‘Wonder Woman’ Movie
Gal Gadot is in production on Justice League, but we will next see her Diana Prince in the solo Wonder Woman movie on June 2, 2017. We’ve already been treated to Gadot wielding the lasso, sword, and shield in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, but there’s one piece of Wonder Woman iconography that we won’t be seeing: the invisible jet. I’m not sure if that pun is intended or not. In speaking about the film with People, DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson teased a bit of what fans can expect from the Patty Jenkins-directed film. “It will have its own tone and look – it’s beautiful. There is humor in it, there is real emotion in Diana’s journey in discovering the complexity of man,” Nelson says, adding, “There is no invisible jet. Not in this iteration.” Warner Brothers/DC will be bringing a life-size replica of the jet for a celebratory display at Comic-Con, however, which will also include Wonder Woman-inspired graffiti and costumes from the 1970s Lynda Carter TV series to Gadot’s in the most recent iterations. It would be tricky indeed to make that jet work in a film set in the World War I-era (as the Wonder Woman movie is), but, man, I’d love to see them try.
