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Doux News: February 15, 2015

This week: Spider-man comes home -- Ash gets two sidekicks -- Drax will fight the Highlander -- This week in casts -- Jon Stewart says goodbye to the Daily Show -- This week in trailers

Spider-man comes home

Since I'm more of a movie person than a television person, I thought I would lead this week off with the big news out of Marvel Studios. If you haven't heard by now, Spider-man will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a cross-studio venture. Sony, who still owns the rights to the character, has allowed Marvel to introduce a brand new version of Spidey in a future Marvel movie (probably Captain America: Civil War).

This means a few things. First off, the Amazing Spider-man series is officially over. Secondly, Andrew Garfield is also very likely no longer going to be playing Spider-man anymore either. How this works is pretty complicated, but I'll try to get through it. Marvel can use the character in Marvel films, but they cannot make a Marvel movie where Spider-man is the star. The stand alone Spider-man movies are going to be exclusively produced by Sony, but they will also be a part of the MCU insofar as even including characters from Marvel movies (like Iron Man or the upcoming Daredevil).

What does this mean going forward? Well, for us, not really all that much. This is all back room contracts and deals, where money goes, and all that jazz. Substantively, the only thing that will really change is the inclusion of Spider-man in Marvel movies (like Spider-man in Avengers 3 and 4), and a brand new reboot of Spider-man coming in 2017 that will be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ash gets two sidekicks

Two new characters have been cast in the upcoming Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead. This is going to be a full series continuation of the Evil Dead franchise that will star Bruce Campbell in the titular role. Ray Santiago (Meet the Fockers) will play a sidekick to Ash similar to Sancho in Don Quixote. Dana DeLorenzo will round out the group as a "young woman trying to escape her life". Sam Raimi is writing the pilot, and his involvement in the project suggests it will stick closer to Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness than the new remake. This news almost makes me want to subscribe to Starz.

Drax will fight the Highlander

Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) has just been cast as the villain Kurgan in the new Highlander reboot movie. This comes before any casting news about the main character (Connor), or really any substantial information about the project itself. The last rumor had the project in some trouble, with actors and writers signing up and leaving, and Tom Cruise stepping in as Connor's mentor Ramirez. Unfortunately most of the same producers are on board as well, and given the track record of Highlander movies, I'm feeling mixed over this news. Bautista's sheer physical presence makes him perfect for the role, and after his turn as Drax, I'm sure he can give a good performance. I just don't know if the movie will be any good.

This week in casts

-- Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black) as just been cast as a lead in the upcoming CBS drama Doubt.

-- James Franco is set to produce and star in the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's time travel novel 11/22/63. A premiere date hasn't been released, but the show is going to be on Hulu.

-- Walton Goggins (Justified) has just landed a major role in the new HBO series Vice Principals. Goggins is a marvelous actor, and just this casting news makes me curious about the series.

-- Emily Kinney (The Walking Dead) has just been cast as a villain for an upcoming episode of The Flash. The episode will also guest star Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer) and Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity). Kinney will be playing Brie Larvan, a female version of comic villain Bertram Larvan (a.k.a. Bug Eyed Bandit) who is a nemesis for the hero Atom.

-- David Morrissey (The Walking Dead) has joined the cast of Extant for season 2. Apparently the network is trying to refocus the series, which includes cutting out some characters and bringing on Morrissey and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Supernatural, Grey's Anatomy). I stopped watching around mid-season 1, but maybe I'll catch up and check out season 2 after all.

-- Adrianne Palicki (John Wick) just got bumped up to series regular on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which comes as welcome news because I was sure Bobbi Morse was going to be killed off or written out in a few more episodes when Palicki inevitably got another gig.

Jon Stewart says goodbye to the Daily Show

After nearly 20 years, Jon Stewart has announced he is leaving the Daily Show. I didn't realize how long the show has been on the air, but it almost goes without saying he will be missed. Stewart said he will continue to make new episodes until he steps down at an unspecified date later this year. Unfortunately, he didn't go on to say what he's going to do next.

This week in trailers

After the abysmal attempt at an adaptation starring Timothy Olyphant, I never expected another movie to be made based on the video game Hitman. At least this one looks like it might be a lot more fun.


Then there was a trailer for a movie starring Henry Cavill, but it wasn't Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a remake of a 1960's spy drama that starred Robert Vaughn and David McCallum (NCIS)


And that's it. No cats this week. I tried looking for a Spider-man themed cat, and the Google results were a bit terrifying.
---
Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.

5 comments:

  1. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. looks like fun. Might have to check that one out.

    You're right about those cats! Yikes!

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  2. Great news about Spidey. The last two movies sucked, so it's good Marvel takes him home.
    Hey, he can be an Avenger now just like in the comics. I approve.
    Yay Bobbi is staying. I hoped she would.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yay for Bobbi Morse! She very quickly became one of my favourite characters.

    And in lieu of any cats, I give you this, which my students and I discovered while looking up camel spiders the other day:

    http://humorlib.com/items/20080102/spiderman-camel.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  4. OMG, cats as spiders. You can't unsee that! I'm not a Spider-man fan, but adding it to the existing MCU is definitely a good thing because they seem to give a damn about doing things right.

    Speaking of which, I don't know how I feel about this Highlander news. Dave Bautista was awesome in GotG, but he's not Clancy Brown, who was the best thing about the original Highlander movie. And if the original producers are still calling the shots, they might as well fold up the tent and go home before they even begin.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I saw that news about Adrianne Palicki becoming a regular yesterday and I think I actually squealed out loud, then ran off immediately to find my husband and share the news. We love Bobbi Morse! Yea, Adrianne Palicki!

    ReplyDelete

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