Guardians 2 title revealed and Comic Con lineup announced

Marvel’s third phase has titled its new properties fairly simply – Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Inhumans – while their sequels have received subtitles – Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok and The Avengers: Infinity War. The new Spider-Man’s title is yet to have been revealed but the latest news from Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is that the sequel has been titled: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.

Gunn directs the cast of Chris Pratt (Jurassic World) as Star Lord, Bradley Cooper (Limitless) as Rocket, Zoe Saldana (Avatar) as Gamora, Vin Diesel (Pitch Black) as Groot, Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) as Thanos, Karen Gillan (Oculus) as Nebula, Dave Bautista (Riddick) as Drax, Seth Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Howard the Duck and Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) as The Collector

The schedule for the famed San Diego Comic Con 2015 has been revealed.

Thursday:

• Lionsgate: ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2′: 12:00 PM-1:15 PM, Hall H
  Lionsgate presents an exclusive first look at one of the studio’s highly anticipated films coming to theaters this fall. Get a sneak peek into the powerful final chapter of the epic The Hunger Games film franchise. Attendees will be shown exclusive, never-before-seen footage from Mockingjay: Part 2 and treated to a cast and filmmaker Q&A session revealing details on the big-screen finale. Featuring stars Jennifer Lawrence and Julianne Moore and director Francis Lawrence.
• CBS TV Studios Comic-Con Lineup: 12:00 PM-3:30 PM, Ballroom 20
  Exclusive Sneak Previews and Panels for the CBS series ‘Extant’, ‘Zoo’, ‘Under the Dome’, ‘Limitless’, and ‘Scorpion’.
• ‘Doctor Who’: BBC America’s Official Panel: 2:15 PM-3:15PM, Hall H
  Following his record-breaking first season as the Doctor, Peter Capaldi will make his first ever appearance at Comic-Con with stars Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) and Michelle Gomez (Missy), and lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat. Doctor Who follows the adventures of the Doctor, the time traveler who will continue to journey through all of space and time in epic adventures in the new season premiering this fall. Capaldi’s first season delivered BBC America its highest rated season ever and is available now on all digital platforms.
• ‘Sherlock’: 3:45 PM-5:15PM, Ballroom 20
  Steven Moffat (co-creator, executive producer, and writer), Sue Vertue (executive producer) and Rupert Graves (actor, DI Greg Lestrade) discuss the latest adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his long-suffering faithful friend, Dr. John Watson. Sherlock will return to BBC in a forthcoming special.
• MTV’s ‘Teen Wolf’: 5:00 PM-6:00PM, Ballroom 20
  Teen Wolf cast members and executive producer are taking Comic-Con by storm for the sixth consecutive year. The pack of MTV’s hit series Teen Wolf will dish secrets, share a sneak peek of the upcoming season, and answer fan questions.
• ‘Damien’: 6:45 PM-7:45 PM, Room 6A
  From executive producer Glen Mazaara (The Walking Dead, The Shield), Damien follows the adult life of Damien Thorn, the mysterious child from the 1976 motion picture who has grown up seemingly unaware of the satanic forces around him. Haunted by his past, Damien must now come to terms with his true destiny: that he is the Antichrist. Starring Bradley James (Merlin), Barbara Hershey, Megalyn Echikunwoke and Omid Abtahi. Get an exclusive first look at the show followed by a Q&A with cast and producers, plus a special guest appearance.

Friday:

• ‘Lucifer’ Pilot Screening and Q&A: 11:30 AM-12:30PM, Room 6BCF
  Lucifer is the story of the original fallen angel. Bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar has resigned his throne and retired to the City of Angels, where he owns an upscale piano bar called Lux. When a beautiful pop star is murdered, for the first time in roughly 10 billion years, he feels something awaken deep within him. Is he actually capable of feelings for a human being? The very thought disturbs him. The murder attracts the attention of LAPD homicide detective Chloe Dancer, who finds herself both repulsed and fascinated by Lucifer. At the same time, God’s emissary, the angel Amenadiel, has been sent to Los Angeles to convince Lucifer to return to Hell. But with the City of Angels at his feet and a newfound purpose, Lucifer’s having too much fun to go back now. Sexy, dark and irreverent, Lucifer makes its Comic-Con debut with a screening of the complete pilot episode, followed by a Q&A with series stars and producers. From Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Aggressive Mediocrity in association with Warner Bros. Television, and based on characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg for DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint, Lucifer premieres Midseason on FOX.
• AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’: 12:00 PM-2:00 PM, Hall H
  Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Chandler Riggs, Sonequa Martin-Green, Michael Cudlitz and Lennie Jamesjoin executive producer and showrunner Scott M. Gimple, executive producer Robert Kirkman, executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, executive producer Dave Alpert, and special effects makeup supervisor and executive producer Greg Nicotero in a panel moderated by Chris Hardwick (The Nerdist, Talking Dead). The panelists will discuss the shocking finale of Season 5 and what to look forward to in Season 6, debuting this fall on AMC. Join the panelists for a Q&A session and an official sneak preview of Season 6.
• ‘Minority Report’: 1:45 PM-2:45 PM, Ballroom 20
  Be one of the first to take a look at FOX’s new fall sci-fi action thriller. Based on the hit futuristic Steven Spielberg feature, Minority Report follows the unlikely partnership between a man haunted by the future and a cop haunted by her past, as they race to stop the worst crimes of the year 2065 before they happen. Join Stark Sands (Inside Llewyn Davis), Meagan Good (Think Like a Man franchise, Californication) along with other cast and producers for a special screening followed by a Q&A.
• ‘Game of Thrones’ Panel and Q&A: 2:30PM-3:30PM, Hall H
  Based on the bestselling fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, HBO’s Game of Thrones concluded its 10-episode fifth season in June and will begin filming its sixth season this summer. The series, executive produced and written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, is an epic story of treachery and nobility, set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years. Panelists include (in alphabetical order) Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy/Reek, John Bradley as Samwell Tarly, Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth, Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth, Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell, Conleth Hill as Varys, David Nutter (director), Hannah Murray as Gilly, Carolyn Strauss (executive producer), Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark, Carice van Houten as Melisandre, and Maisie Williams as Arya Stark.
• Marvel Television Presents: 3:00 PM-4:15 PM, Ballroom 20
  Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s head of television) brings you exclusive news and surprises about your favorite action-packed Marvel series on ABC. Join Jeph, showrunners, and the casts of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter for this can’t-miss panel that’ll have everyone talking! Featuring Clark Gregg and Hayley Atwell.
• ‘iZombie’ Special Video Presentation and Q&A: 5:45 PM-6:45PM, Ballroom 20
  After the shocking events in the season finale of brainy hit iZombie, be among the first to get the scoop on what’s in store for Season 2. Now that Liv (Rose McIver) gave the cure for zombie-ism to Blaine and Major (one that she desperately wanted to take herself!) will Ravi find a way to develop another cure? Will Clive remain in the dark about the existence of zombies? A special video presentation will be followed by a Q&A with series stars as well as executive producers Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) and Diane Ruggiero-Wright (Veronica Mars). From Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Spondoolie Productions and Warner Bros. Television and based on characters created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, published by DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint, iZombie returns this fall with all-new episodes on Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW. iZombie: The Complete First Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 29.
• Lucasfilm: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’: 5:30 PM-6:30 PM, Hall H
  Lucasfilm president and producer Kathleen Kennedy, director J.J. Abrams, writer Lawrence Kasdan, and special guests provide a special look at Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Featuring Harrison Ford, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o and Andy Serkis.
• ‘Orphan Black’: BBC America Official Panel: 5:45 PM-6:45 PM, Room 6BCF
  Stars Tatiana Maslany (Sarah and the Leda clones), Jordan Gavaris (Felix), Maria Doyle Kennedy (Mrs. S), Dylan Bruce (Paul), Kristian Bruun (Donnie), and Ari Millen (Mark and the Castor clones) and co-creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson look back at last season before filming begins on Season 4. Orphan Black Season 3 is currently on VOD. For those new to the Clone Club, you can also start watching the BBC America series by streaming the first two seasons on Amazon Prime or download the entire series from any of the major digital platforms.
• Star: ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’: 6:00 PM-7:00PM, Room 6A
  Original filmmakers Sam Raimi (executive producer, director, writer), Rob Tapert (executive producer), Bruce Campbell (executive producer and star of the series, Ash), Ivan Raimi (co-exeuctive producer), and Craig DiGregorio (executive producer), along with Lucy Lawless (Ruby), discuss the highly anticipated new series and what fans can expect in the premiere season.
• ‘Yoga Hosers’: 7:15 PM-9:00 PM, Hall H
  An evening with Kevin Smith. After all the interesting and exciting movie panels are over, Hall H belongs to a middle-aged loser who dresses like a 12-year-old! Ask Kev questions about AMC’s Comic Book Men and his forthcoming Mallrats sequel Mallbrats, and see the world premiere of the trailer to his new movie, Yoga Hosers. Wrap up a busy Friday with the Clown Prince of Comic-Con! With special guests from the Yoga Hosers cast. Featuring Johnny Depp and Haley Joel Osment.

Saturday:

• Warner Bros.: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM, Hall H
  A “sneak peek” at a few upcoming releases from Warner Bros. Likely including The Man From UNCLE (Armie Hammer, Guy Ritchie), Pan (Hugh Jackman, Joe Wright), In the Heart of the Sea (Chris Hemsworth, Ron Howard), Point Break (Edgar Ramirez), Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ben Affleck, Zack Snyder), Central Intelligence (Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart), Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie), Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur (Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law), Suicide Squad (Jared Leto, David Ayer) and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Eddie Redmayne, David Yates).
• The Weinstein Company: ‘The Hateful Eight’: 1:30 PM-2:15 PM, Hall H
  Academy Award-winning writer/director Quentin Tarantino brings fans an exclusive look at his highly anticipated 8th film, The Hateful Eight. Followed by a Q&A session with the cast: Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bruce Dern.
• Legendary Pictures: 2:30 PM-3:30 PM, Hall H
  Filmmakers and talent from Legendary’s upcoming Warcraft (Duncan Jones, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell) and Crimson Peak (Guillermo Del Toro, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain), distributed by Universal Pictures, will discuss the innovative slate and present never-before-seen material. Chris Hardwick (AMC’s Talking Dead) hosts the panel that will also include surprises from highly anticipated legendary movies, including Great Wall, Krampus, and more.
• 20th Century Fox: 5:45 PM-7:30 PM, Hall H
  20th Century Fox Presentation including Fantastic Four (Miles Teller), Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Dylan O’Brien), The Martian (Matt Damon), Bridge of Spies (Tom Hanks), Kung Fu Panda 3 (Jack Black), Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), X-Men: Apocalypse (Jennifer Lawrence), Independence Day: Resurgence (Jeff Goldblum), Gambit (Channing Tatum), and Assassin’s Creed (Michael Fassbender).
• Warner Bros. Television and DC Entertainment Screening Block: 8:00 PM-11:00 PM, Hall H
  Includes Supergirl season 1 (Melissa Benoist), Gotham season 2 (Ben McKenzie), Arrow season 4 (Steven Amell), The Flash season 2 (Grant Gustin) and Legends of Tomorrow season 1 (Brandon Routh).

Sunday:

• TV premieres including Heroes Reborn, American Horror Story, Scream Queens, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries.

Ava DuVernay in talks with Marvel, Fox announce new X-Men and Diego Luna joins Rogue One

For those unaware, The Marvel Cinematic Universe so far is split into two phases: Phase 1 featured Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and Avengers Assemble while Phase 2 was comprised of Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man.

Phase 3 is set to be a belter with ten films: Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Spider-Man , Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Inhumans and Avengers: Infinity War 1+2. As well as returning favourites Anthony and Joe Russo and James Gunn, Scott Derickson has been added to the directorial role call but the latest addition is Ava DuVernay. The director of Best Picture nominee Selma is reportedly either helming Black Panther (starring Chadwick Boseman and Andy Serkis) or Captain Marvel (written by Guardians’ Nicole Perlman and Inside Out’s Meg LeFauve).

Fifteen years after its debut, the X-Men franchise is moving faster than ever. The upcoming projects are Deadpool starring Ryan Reynolds, Gambit starring Channing Tatum, Wolverine 3 starring Hugh Jackman and X-Men: Apocalypse starring Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters and Oscar Isaac. A new film in the canon has been announced with The Fault in Our Stars director Josh Boone. The New Mutants focusses on a younger team of new superheroes.

Finally, The Terminal and Elysium actor Diego Luna is part of the cast of Rogue One, the first Star Wars Anthology spin off film. The film tells the story of the rebel pilots who steal the plans for the Death Star. Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) directs the cast of Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything, The Invisible Woman), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler, Four Lions), Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games, The Riot Club) and Ben Mendelsohn (Killing Them Softly, The Dark Knight Rises).

Rogue One – December 16th 2016

The New Mutants – 2018?

Black Panther – July 6th 2018

Captain Marvel – November 2nd 2018

Channing Tatum gives new word on Gambit and Mark Hamill stars in new Star Wars promo shot

The X-Men franchise made a huge development when it cast Channing Tatum as the staff-wielding, card throwing, fan-favourite mutant Gambit. He’s likely to make his debut alongside James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Brendan Pedder, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters and Hugh Jackman. Tatum told MTV about his view of the role. “Creatively, we’re starting to chug forward. Obviously there’s nothing written. There are only conversations and dreams really, right now. The machine of the Marvel world is so ginormous that it’s literally like climbing a mountain, getting one of these movies made, and all of the pieces that go along with it, but I’ve been pretty vocal about wanting to be the part of Gambit for a very long time. It’s a weird, pinching-myself moment that we’re even having the conversation.”

Now that Star Wars: Episode VII’s filming has begun, the recently snapped promo shot for the film of Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) has all but confirmed that the character (30 years older than in Return of Jedi) will be bearded in the sequel. Hamill, as well as original cast members Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker and Peter Mayhew, will be joined by John Boyega, Domnhall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong’o, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Oscar Isaac, Gwendoline Christie, Max Von Sydow, Daisy Ridley and Andy Serkis as well as director JJ Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8).

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

Juassic World hires Giacchino, Simon Kinberg talks Fantastic Four/X-Men’s future, Tatum is Gambit and the new Batmobile unveiled

As Fox confirmed that they were making a reboot of The Fantastic Four, we speculated that it could be tying in with Fox’s existing X-Men universe and, until recently, we weren’t so sure. Writer Simon Kinberg brought to our mind a problem we hadn’t quite considered. How will the quartet be special in a world full of mutants? “The Fantastic Four acquire their powers,” he explains, “so for them to live in a world where mutants are prevalent is kind of complicated. You’re like, ‘What’s so fantastic about you?’ No, they live in discrete universes.”

“People have a very different relationship to the Fantastic Four movies than they have to Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. Raimi’s Spider-Man is a beloved movie that sort of redefined, tonally, what comicbook movies could do. Rebooting a beloved movie fewer than ten years after it came out is challenging. We approach Fantastic Four with a different set of challenges.” The superhero action will star Jamie Bell, Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B Jordan, Tim Blake Nelson, Toby Kebbell and Reg E Cathey and is directed by Chronicle’s Josh Trank.

In other X-Men news, we finally have the confirmation we’ve been talking about for months – we do have the official casting for Marvel’s Gambit. You may remember that the “ragin’ Cajun’s” on screen journey began with 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine where he was decently portrayed by Taylor Kitsch but we all knew that the fan favourite deserving of a better script and bigger screen time. Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, Magic Mike, The Vow, White House Down) has been confirmed for the role of the mutant, although producer Lauren Shuler Donner has been talking about the collaboration for a long while. Gambit has been rumoured to play a part in Days of Future Past follow up X-Men: Apocalypse. Should he appear there, Tatum would join director Bryan Singer (X-Men 2, Valkyrie, Apt Pupil, The Usual Suspects) and cast of Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Hugh Jackman. If not, there are still plans for Gambit to have his own solo film.

One of John Williams’ greatest known musical works, besides Indy, Star Wars, Jaws, Harry Potter, ET or Superman, is the theme of Jurassic Park; the tune has essentially become synonymous with dinosaurs. Despite the theme’s iconic presence in the series, there were doubts that the five time Oscar winner would return, seeing as usual collaborator Steven Spielberg is only a producer this time – Safety Not Guaranteed’s Colin Trevorrow directs. No matter as an admirable replacement has been found in the form of Michael Giacchino.

His fantastic work spans from the bombastic reimaging of Star Trek, the poignant Super 8 score and the Oscar winning efforts of Up (Giacchino is a Pixar veteran with credits also on Cars 2, Ratatouille and The Incredibles). “While this new score will honour the indelible work of John Williams,” Giacchino elaborates, “our mission is the same as the film itself – to create something bold and new for people who love dinosaurs.” Jurassic World will star Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Judy Greer, Jake Johnson, Kate McGrath, Omar Sy, BD Wong, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins and Vincent D’Onofrio.

Finally, it’s over to the big news of the day which reveals the first proper look at Zack Snyder’s (Watchmen, Man of Steel, Dawn of the Dead, 300) new Batman and Zack Snyder’s new Batman’s new Batmobile. It was teased yesterday with this pic but this is the real thing, but it’s hard to tell with the chiselled Ben Affleck (Argo, The Town) facing down – Batman is the definitive brooder after all. We want to hear your thoughts on both the Bat-Suit and the new Batmobile as well as just queries about the film itself. Will it work with no Batman villains? Is it more Burton or Tumbler? What’s with the tiny ears or the faded logo? Just tell us what you think. DC’s so far untitled Justice League set up will star Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Holly Hunter, Callan Mulvey, Tao Okamoto, Diane Lane and Laurence Fishburne.

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

Gambit – 2018?

Batman vs. Superman – April 29th 2016

Fantastic Four – June 18th 2015

Jurassic World – June 12th 2015

First posters for Agent Carter, Gotham and more plus future X-Men to shoot back to back

There’s little over a week until the release of X-Men: Days of Future Past, a time travel sequel predicted to become the biggest film of 2014 so far. Its two settings, 1974 and 2024, are setting up two story threads that the series is attempting to follow with future instalments. The only two that we can firmly say are coming soon are Bryan Singer’s (The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, Valkyrie, X-Men 2) X-Men: Apocalypse and James Mangold (3:10, Walk the Line, Girl Interrupted, The Wolverine) Wolverine 3. Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman, a star busy working on Les Mis 2: Dream a Dream Harder!!!, and his iconic anti-hero Wolverine has been in every X-Men film so far and yet his involvement in Apocalypse hasn’t been confirmed.

He managed to let that slip today when he announced his intentions to film Apocalypse and Wolverine 3 back-to-back, confirming his participation in the sci-fi epic. The two projects are likely to be Jackman’s final in the role. He joins James McAvoy (Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) and Nicholas Hoult (Beast) while its rumoured that younger versions of Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Jean Grey and Gambit (traditionally played by James Marsden, Halle Berry, Alan Cumming, Famke Janssen and Taylor Kitsch) will feature. Other X-Men projects we still want to get out there are Jeff Wadlow’s X-Force, Tim Miller’s Deadpool, Lauren Shuler Donner’s Gambit and Mystique.

We recently gained the confirmation that a 13 episode first (potentially of many) season of SHIELD origin story Agent Carter will be filling in the mid-season gap between the two parts Agents of SHIELD season 2. Just to prove that the show is definite, Marvel have revealed an awesome new poster for the show which we hope will star Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper and Toby Jones. However, Carter isn’t the only comic book TV show to debut a new teaser image. DC and Danny Cannon’s Batman prequel Gotham (starring Ben McKenzie, Jada Pinkett Smith, Donal Logue and Sea Pertwee), which we can confirm will feature villains such as Penguin, Riddler, Poison Ivy and Catwoman, and Arrow spin off The Flash (starring Grant Gustin) also disclosed as few new sneak peeks. Note – for Gotham look out for the cat, the penguin poster, the plants running up the side of the building and the graffiti “?” hinting at what’s to come for the supporting cast.

Agent Carter – late 2014

The Flash – late 2014

Gotham – late 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

Wolverine 3 – March 2nd 2017

Simon Kinberg talks X-Men, Richard Armitage on The Five Armies and Snyder set for Justice League

The sequel to 2013’s Man of Steel has began to look increasingly like a straightforward Justice League film, despite the working title being Batman vs Superman. Ben Affleck is Batman, Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill is Superman and Ray Fisher was recently confirmed to play Cyborg while Grant Gustin may be to man to portray The Flash, should the upcoming TV series tie in with the film franchise. All we need for a full set would be Aquaman (who Matt Damon has been rumoured for) and Green Lantern, or maybe Hawkman or Martin Manhunter, but we’ve discovered something that my change that.

Zack Snyder (Man of Steel, Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen) has been announced to direct Justice League, which we can assume is a different project to Batman vs Superman. Despite introducing many of the team members early on, we may have to till 2018 to catch of DC’s super-team fully in action. B vs S will also star Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Callan Mulvey, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Tao Okamoto and Laurence Fishbourne.

Meanwhile, X-Men’s writer/producer Simon Kinberg has spoken out about the future of both X-Men and Fox’s Marvel properties. “Fox does understand that they are sitting on this massive universe with the X-Men, also with Fantastic Four obviously,” says Kinberg. “But they definitely have a sense of it and there’s a real interest and appetite for how to explore and expand that world.”

“It makes sense to tell some of these stories in TV,” he continues, “partly because there’s just not enough screens to do all these characters, and also because the serialized format of comic books is better suited for TV. Because that’s it, every week you come back to the same characters, different story, and in comic books every week it’s the same characters, different story.”

Back to the feature film side of things, Fox are trying to get into cinemas Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse (starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence), Jeff Wadlow’s X-Force, Lauren Shuler Donner’s Gambit (starring Channing Tatum) and Tim Miller’s Deadpool (starring Ryan Reynolds).  “It makes sense to me,” says Kinberg of a movie adaptation. “Genuinely it’s early phases, early days, but if you’re gonna do a Deadpool movie, I think you’ve gotta do a hard-R, darker movie and he is the perfect character to do it with.”

There’s been a recent announcement that The Hobbit’s final chapter will be called The Battle of the Five Armies. Richard Armitage, the portrayer of Dwarven prince Thorin Oakenshield, has elaborated about the epic finale of Peter Jackson’s sextet of Middle Earth adventures. “There’s a couple of big surprises.” He goes on to enthuse, “I think it will probably be quite a cinematic event.”

“It’s going to be quite a nostalgic event I think,” continues Armitage. “It’s going to be 15 years of seeing Middle Earth on the big screen, the culmination of Peter Jackson’s life’s work.” The Five Armies will star Martin Freeman, Luke Evans, Ian McKellen, Evangeline Lilly, Manu Bennett, Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, Mikael Persbrandt, Lee Pace, Cate Blanchett, Dean O’Gorman, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Ian Holm, Sylvester McCoy, Lawrence Makoare, Billy Connolly, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving and Benedict Cumberbatch.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – December 12th

Batman vs. Superman – May 6th 2016

Justice League – 2018

Mystique in line for X-Men spin off, Divergent sequel splits into two and Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur raises flag in 2016

Jennifer Lawrence is undoubtedly the most popular actress of the moment; she’s won a Leading Actress Oscar and has a further two Academy Award nominations for Silver Linings Playbook, Winter’s Bone and American Hustle and has the iconic lead role of Katniss Everdeen in blockbuster franchise The Hunger Games at the age of 24. She’s also a major character (hero or villain we’ll discover soon) in the X-Men franchise where she plays the shapeshifting mutant Mystique. Fox seem to be riding on Lawrence’s success however: they’ve dramatically bumped up her rank in the promotion for this May’s X-Men sequel Days of Future Past (which marks Bryan Singer’s return to the series) and they’ve taken that one step further.

Producer Lauren Shuler Donner has let slip that Raven could be one her way to a solo movie. The mutant spin-off isn’t an unheard of occurrence. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has received two already, X-Men: Origins Wolverine and The Wolverine, and for a while standalone adventures for Gambit (Channing Tatum) and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) have been in production, with the latter’s Tim Miller determined to bring the fan favourite to the big screen. Meanwhile Singer’s Apocalypse, James Mangold’s next Wolverine and Jeff Wadlow’s X-Force (chronicling the story of time traveller Cable) will be Fox’s priority so we may have to wait a fair while till we get to see Mystique: The Movie.

British writer director Guy Ritchie is probably more associated with his hardcore crime/comedy/thrillers Snatch, Rocknrolla, Revolver and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, as well as Madonna rom-com Swept Away but let’s not go there. More recently, he’s become better known for his surprising critical and commercial success with cracking detective adventure Sherlock Holmes and its sequel A Game of Shadows. We’re still begging for Holmes 3 (hopefully starring Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Stephen Fry, Kelly Reilly and Eddie Marsan) but Ritchie is plowing through to other things with the reboot of 1960s comedy The Man from UNCLE as well as developing project King Arthur, which we haven’t heard anything about since January.

All we know so far is that, after the tanking of 2004’s Arthur and 1995’s First Knight, Ritchie is reinstating the fantasy elements of the story and could be planning as far ahead as six instalments. It’s now confirmed that Warner Bros have slotted Arthur into a July 2016 release, booking early to avoid conflict with the likes of Star Trek 3, Batman vs Superman, X-Men: Apocalypse, Captain America 3 and Avatar 2. You may remember that this version of the story was chosen by the studios, pushing aside David Dobkin’s plans involving Kit Harrington as the young king and Gary Oldman as the magician Merlin.

Divergent may have lost its “the new Hunger Games” potential but it has still done impressive box office numbers, seems to have charmed numerous critics (far more in the US than in the UK however) and is leaps and bounds ahead of The Mortal Instruments, Beautiful Creatures and The Host, other recent failed candidates of the genre. The production was confident enough to greenlight its sequel Insurgent although that’ll be directed by RED’s Robert Schwentke, taking over from Tomorrow When the War Began’s Neil Burger. We’ve got our first piece of news about the third instalment, and adaptation of last year’s novel from Veronica Roth, Allegiant.

It’s not overly surprising to discover that Lionsgate are pulling the same cheap money-extorting approach taken by Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games: they are splitting the final novel into two films. You may have picked up that we’re not fond of this strategy but we’d be more assured if the studios actually bothered to come up with a different name instead of a generic Parts One and Two, how about Hunger Games: Capitol or Harry Potter and the Lost Diadem. The Hobbit managed that three times with excellent success. The Divergent series will likely star Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney, Zoe Kravitz and Miles Teller.

King Arthur – July 22nd 2016

X-Men: Mystique – 2018?

Allegiant: Part One – March 18th 2016

Allegiant: Part Two – 2017

New X-Men Days of Future Past poster and Fox schedules sequels to Fantastic Four and Wolverine plus mystery Marvel project

Fox is overseeing the release of its tentpole X-Men sequel Days of Future Past but it’s going further to launch new Marvel projects into the future. Following DOFP is X-Men: Apocalypse (May 29th 2016), you can find more about that here, and then a reboot of The Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank, the man behind chilling superhero horror Chronicle, and was recently confirmed to be starring Michael B Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell. The latter is over a year away from release but Fox are confident enough to put in a rudimentary July 2017 release date for a potential sequel.

But that’s not all; we can pencil in the return of Hugh Jackman and James Mangold for March of that year as well as a mystery superhero outing in 2018. We’ve no lead on this so we can timidly speculate these three options First, there’s X-Force, an potential spin off for Days of Future Past’s Bishop directed by Kick Ass 2 and Never Back Down’s Jeff Wadlow. The other obvious choice is Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds’ oddball fantasy Deadpool. Perhaps it’s the long awaited Gambit spin off, starring Channing Tatum and produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, that we’ve heard so much about.

We finish today with another bit of exciting X-Men news. An awesome new poster has been launched. The time travelling thriller stars Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Lucas Till, Evan Peters, Anna Paquin, Booboo Stewart, Omar Sy, Adan Canto, Josh Helman, Fan Bingbing, Evan Jonigkeit, Daniel Cudmore and Halle Berry. It’s the biggest X-Men movie in terms of scale so far and will hopefully be the best.

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

Deadpool – July 3rd 2018?

Gambit – July 3rd 2018?

X-Force – July 3rd 2018?

The Fantastic Four – June 18th 2014

The Fantastic Four 2 – June 14th 2017

The Wolverine 2 – March 3rd 2017

Nightcrawler and Gambit considered for X-Men Apocalypse

Bryan Singer (director of X-Men, The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil and Valkyrie) follows up from this May’s Days of Future Past with another mutant sequel, this time titled Apocalypse. It’ll see the First Class graduates, most likely James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne and Lucas Till, in their second outing where they are the full centre of attention. It’s now confirmed that Singer is considering adding two iconic X-Men to the fold. First there’s Gambit, a staff-wielding, card-throwing fan favourite who saw a half decent incarnation from Taylor Kitsch in the heavily maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Since then, X-producer (?) Laura Shuler Donner has repeatedly expressed interest in bringing Gambit to the big screen with 21 Jump Street star Channing Tatum.

The other mutant in the mix is my personal favourite Nightcrawler, who was last seen in the brilliant X-Men 2 where he was portrayed by Alan Cumming. The blue skinned teleporter is traditionally the offspring of Mystique (Lawrence) and Azazel (Jason Flemyng) but we can’t guarantee that here. This was accompanied with the confirmation that the film will be set in the 1980s. This is an oddly similar setting to that of 2009’s Origins so it may actually be the perfect time to reintroduce Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and we know that Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) hanging around America at that time. Despite this, we don’t want Singer trying to cramp too many mutants into the story, the character overload didn’t do wonders for previous X-adventures. Before we consider any of this, we’ve still got to figure out who’ll be playing the new titular villain I don’t think we’re quite in the position to predict cast or plots for future instalments just yet, we’ll have to wait and see where Days of Future Past leaves us – they’ve got to bump someone off haven’t they?

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

News for X-Men’s Apocalypse and Gambit plus Marvel hires writers for Thor 3

The rights for film adaptations of comic book giants Marvel’s characters lie across several different companies. Sony are the studio behind The Amazing Spider-Man and the upcoming spin-offs Venom and The Sinister Six; Fox are money behind The X-Men and Wolverine franchise and the upcoming reboot of The Fantastic Four as well as, potentially, The InHumans and X-Force; Disney are the corporation behind the billion dollar success of The Avengers, featuring Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Ant-Man, Loki, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Agents of SHIELD, Doctor Strange and Black Panther, and have the rights for Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones. Oddballs such as Elektra, Blade and Howard the Duck are still up for grabs however.

With that quick guide to the franchises over, we can skip to the main news which, as you’ve probably guessed, is rather Marvel focused today and we start with Fox’s side of things. Late last year, Bryan Singer, creator of House/director of The Usual Suspects and X-Men: Days of Future Past, was proud to confirm X-Men: Apocalypse for 2016. At the time, we’re weren’t sure at all of the setting, characters (beside Apocalypse) or even if Singer would be directing it but, since then, we’ve been baby fed the details.

Four time Emmy nominee Singer will direct, write and produce Apocalypse which has now been confirmed to be a sequel to X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past, meaning it’ll more likely star Michael Fassbender (Magneto), James McAvoy (Professor X) Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Caleb Landry Jones (Banshee), Angel (Zoe Kravitz) and Lucas Till (Havok) as the younger batch of mutants of the 1970s, as appose to the 2000s bunch of studious X-Men including Halle Berry (Storm), Daniel Cudmore (Colossus), Ben Foster (Angel), Shawn Ashmore (Iceman), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ellen Page (Shadowcat), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Rebecca Romjin (Mystique), James Marsden (Cyclops), Famke Jannssen (Jean Grey), Kelsey Grammer (Beast) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine). However, we can’t be sure if all of the ’70s mutants can return as we’ve no idea who’s gonna make it to the end of DoFP.

Singer has more recently spoken out to debunk some of the rumours thrown his way. The main speculation raised by the fans was that Apocalypse arrives on Earth and possesses Magneto in a post credit sting for DoFP. “That’s not the case”, he stressed, “and neither will that particular thing be in the film. People were concerned we were making Apocalypse an alien. It’s odd. I don’t know where that came from.

“One thing that interests me is the notion of ancient mutants: what would people thousands of years ago, without the benefit of science, think mutants were? And more importantly, what would mutants thousands of years ago think they were? Gods? Titans? Angels? Demons? And if such mutants did exist thousands of years ago, what became of them? Did one survive?” Whatever happens, I hope they give a long awaited origin story for Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler from X-2, who, in the comics, is the child of Mystique and Azazel (Jason Flemyng).

While we’re still in the X-Men universe, we’d like to bring to mind the character of Gambit, a fan favourite in the comics. He briefly appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, decently played by Taylor Kitsch, and was one of two interesting elements, the other being the early version of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) whose spin off movie has been stuck in development for a fair while. X-Men’s producer Lauren Shuler Donner has now shed light on a new Gambit film.

“I’m dying to do a Gambit movie with Channing Tatum,” Shuler Donner reveals. “That doesn’t have to be a great big movie. It’s a thief in New Orleans, it’s a whole different story. He’s on board, and I have to get the studio on board.” Tatum (21 Jump Street, The Vow, GI Joe, White House Down, The Eagle, Side Effects, Magic Mike) seemed equally thrilled.  “I would like to play Gambit. Gambit’s my favourite. I’m from New Orleans, around that area, and I like to do a Cajun accent. I could do it for real. No knock on Taylor Kitsch, though, ’cause I actually like his Gambit, but I’ve always lived around Cajun people. He was the punk rock of all the superheroes. He’s a thief. He kind of rode the line.” Yep, we found the statement fairly nonsensical too but that can’t detract from his chance to play a comic book icon.

We now flip over to Fox/Marvel’s younger, wealthier and more popular younger brother; I talk only of Disney/Marvel. The Mouse House have it big with the superheroes; recent smash hits Avengers Assemble and Iron Man 3 took over a billion dollars each and are respectively placed 3rd and 5th on the list of highest grossing films of all time while Thor: The Dark World’s $600 million haul was a huge improvement of the decent $400 million grossings of old, aka Thor and Cap 1.

Having set three reliable, fun and money making main characters, Disney’ll be keen to flesh them out for their own trilogies. Iron Man finished his last year but the three part quests of Thor and Captain America are still ongoing. The upcoming Cap 2: The Winter Soldier seems to be gaining huge popularity with the studio as a third Cap entered development. Evidently thrilled with The Dark World’s success last year, they’ve now put Thor 3 into action by hiring two writers.

Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost have been called to action for the threequel which could be the second or third instalment in Phase 3 of Marvel’s 5 Phase saga. The pair have wrote a tonne of Marvel TV series and mini-movies and stepped into the limelight when they respectively produced and wrote Thor and The Dark World. We can expect Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston and Jaimie Alexander to return for the sequel. We may have to rule out Alan Taylor as a director as he’s busy at work on 2015’s Terminator: Genesis. Could Marvel call upon Kenneth Branagh once more?

Just in case today’s Marvel triple bill wasn’t enough for you, here’s the very first character banners for Anthony and Joe Russo’s The Winter Soldier, starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L Jackson.

X-Men: Apocalypse – 2016

Gambit – 2017

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – March 28th

Captain America 3 – 2017

Thor 3 – 2016