By the time you read this, our long national nightmare will soon be over. Yes, Captain America: Civil War—which everyone believes will crush everything before it— will be in theaters, bringing an end to the recent cinematic trend of superheroes fighting each other for our entertainment. So now that the second punchy-hero-punch-punch epic of the year is out of the way, can we finally get back to our favorite crusaders fighting bad guys? While we collectively wait to find out, here are the highlights of the last week's superhero movie news.
Someone should have told Warner Bros. not to run before it could walk. Late last week news broke that Seth Grahame-Smith was stepping down as director on The Flash due to "creative differences." That report was then followed by a story claiming that James Wan was also close to jumping ship from his Aquaman movie. Wan later offered a rebuttal of sorts via Twitter, but nonetheless: Things aren't looking too good for the DC Cinematic Universe right now.
Why this is villainy: No matter what the nature of Grahame-Smith's "creative differences" might have been (as a first-time director, they could simply have been "I'm not ready for something of this scale"), this really makes things look like Warners' initial plans for its DC properties are shaky at best. Following the response to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it's not a good sign for the studio.
You'd think that after managing to juggle so many heroes for Captain America: Civil War, directors Joe and Anthony Russo would be excited to add even more for the two-part Avengers: Infinity War, but that doesn't seem to be the case. In fact, the brothers apparently shot down the possibility of bringing in characters from Marvel's TV shows, with Joe telling BadTaste.it "the Marvel Universe is sprawling—the Marvel Cinematic Universe is enormous. Just think of all the characters that haven’t been introduced yet that are going to be introduced by the time that we’re working on Infinity War. We have a tough task just telling the stories of the characters who exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, let alone adding the entire Marvel television universe." This is unfortunate news for those of us who wanted to see Daredevil and the Winter Soldier have a stubbly frown-off.
Why this is villainy: On the one hand, it's not as if Infinity War wasn't already going to be filled with superheroes. On the other, it sure would've been nice to see Jessica Jones and Luke Cage complain about being entirely out of their element when facing Thanos, before taking out their frustration on him. Maybe he can end up being the villain of the Defenders series, when it arrives?
Of course, many things still seem to be in flux when it comes to Avengers: Infinity War—including, apparently, the movie's title. The two-part movie will now not be a two-part movie, it seems. "The movies are two very different movies," co-director Joe Russo told Uproxx, going on to say that the current Infinity War Part 1 and Infinity War Part 2 titles aren't going to stick. "The intention is we will change it, we just haven’t come up with the titles yet. But, yes, we will change it," he said. "Yes, that is a scoop: we will retitle them."
Why this is super: Let's be honest: Infinity War isn't a catchy title, even if it's one that has true comic book credentials. Whether or not the new movies will keep a shared subtitle or each get their own name, it can only be an improvement.
Of course, while *Civil War'*s directors are keeping the numbers down, one of the movie's co-writers, Steve McFeely, is thinking about bringing in someone new. Asked during a Hollywood Reporter interview what other characters he'd want to introduce into Marvel film, he replied, "Namor. He is kind of a jerk and has a chip on his shoulder and he is a king and lives underwater. The degree of difficulty is so high, though. Cause it could be a great movie or it could be truly terrible." His partner, Chris Markus, meanwhile, wants to adapt Marvel Zombies, but admits that it "would require a whole other wing or, at least, another dimension."
Why this is super: Sadly, the movie rights to Namor (aka The Sub-Mariner) are curiously complicated, according to Internet scuttlebutt, making this introduction sadly unlikely. However: "kind of a jerk and has a chip on his shoulder and he is a king and lives underwater"? Warners, if you've not already found your Aquaman writers, maybe give these guys a call.
Just in case Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice didn't quench your thirst for "What if Jesus was a superhero?" stories, X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer has your back. "I've gotten to explore Professor X when he was an older, bald, wise man, when he's insecure, when he's defenseless, when he's powerful. He's more of a Christ figure," Singer told IGN during a recent interview. “He chooses to be a teacher. He could go inside Cerebro and rule the world, but he chooses not to. He chooses to teach and preach and hope that people follow his message: peace and unity." Um... OK? To underscore the point, Singer also said that new villain Apocalypse is "kind of the opposite of Christ, actually," adding, "He's also a false god, which makes him kind of like a cult leader." Got that? Xavier good. Apocalypse bad. In case him being called "Apocalypse" wasn't enough of a hint for you.
Why this is super: OK, sure, this sounds a little bit unsubtle and, as a result, unpromising. But as a counter-argument, look at this:
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Dazzler, everyone. Dazzler.
With the Joker debuting in Suicide Squad, what villain will show up in Ben Affleck's solo Batman movie? How about a lot of them? Birth.Movies.Death. ran a rumor that suggested the movie will attempt to be "the ultimate Batman story" by bringing in a "just about every major bad guy you've ever wanted to see." Which, perhaps coincidentally, sounds not unlike the high concept behind the upcoming comic book series All-Star Batman. A curious case of great minds thinking alike? Or is there something more to this coincidence?
Why this is super: This wouldn't be the first time a Batman movie has tried to bring all the biggest villains together, and it worked out pretty well that time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whgBnumr3QQ
