Welcome back to Collider's “This Week in Superhero News”! The place to go to find the latest news of each week regarding the various superhero projects in movies, television, and other mediums. Trying to keep up with all of the superhero news that drop daily can be a daunting task, so we make it easier for you by compiling them in one place. The superhero news of this week includes the Harley Quinn/Birds of Prey spinoff finding a screenwriter, the X-Men franchise being “reconfigured”, Deadpool 3 reportedly already being in the works, Elodie Yung returning as Elektra for The Defenders, and the newest Logan image. Get caught up below.
Harley Quinn/Birds of Prey Spinoff Movie Lands Screenwriter
After seeing Suicide Squad, the move to give standout character Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) her own standalone film made plenty of sense, more so that Warner Bros./DC are making the spinoff movie a priority. We got a sign of that urgency this week with the news that the project has set up-and-coming screenwriter Christina Hodson to pen the script. According to reports, Hodson is set to write the screenplay for the untitled Harley Quinn spinoff, which will also reportedly include DC’s female team-up the Birds of Prey. Hodson’s work includes the recently released thriller Shut In, starring Naomi Watts and Jacob Tremblay, and she’s also penned the Bumblebee spinoff for Paramount. A release date or any other timeline information about the female-centric film is yet to be revealed.
‘X-Men’: Franchise Being “Reconfigured”; Bryan Singer Not Returning
The X-Men franchise has come a long way since its debut with Bryan Singer’s X-Men back in 2000, but after the performance of this year’s X-Men: Apocalypse it looks like the mutant franchise will undergo some changes moving forward. It’s being reported that the main X-Men franchise is being “reconfigured” over at Fox, with Singer not returning for a sequel since he has moved on to other projects. Also to be noted is that the contracts for Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy have come to a close, but writer/producer Simon Kinberg is writing a new screenplay with the optimism that the trio would return to reprise their roles. It’s looking like Fox has quite a lot of planning to do and time will tell us where they decide to take their X-Men universe.
‘Deadpool 3’ in the Works, Will Reportedly Feature X-Force
The sequel to this year’s successful R-rated superhero film Deadpool hit a few bumps recently when it was revealed that director Tim Miller and composer Junkie XL had dropped out, but it looks like those setbacks haven’t shaken the studio too much with the reveal that Fox is already working on Deadpool 3. According to the same report on the status of the X-Men franchise, Fox has plenty of faith in Deadpool and even with the recent obstacles, the studio is already developing Deadpool 3. The third installment featuring the Merc with a Mouth is also reportedly featuring X-Force, the mutant team led by popular X-Men character Cable. With the retirement of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Logan, Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool seems to be the character Fox is looking to take the torch, and at this point it’s the most suitable choice, so plans for Deadpool 3 don’t come as much of a surprise.
‘The Defenders’: Elodie Yung to Return as Elektra
Netflix’s upcoming Marvel miniseries The Defenders has already been announced to have plenty of characters from Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, and this week we got the announcement of the newest player being added with Elodie Yung returning as Elektra. A social media announcement confirmed the addition of Yung to The Defenders, and if you remember where we left her character in Daredevil Season 2, this announcement presents a lot of questions. Elektra was a big part of the second season of Daredevil and the character stood out along with Yung’s performance, so her addition has to be seen as a plus. What still intrigues me the most is how all these characters will mix together and what exactly will make the team up in the first place.
‘Logan’: Wolverine Bathes in the Moonlight in New Image
At this point we should get up each week expecting to see a new image from Logan, but you’ll see no complains here. If anything, these images are making me wish we get a black-and-white version of this film at some point. The latest image coming out of the Logan camp features Wolverine standing in the moonlight outside of a house beside the body of someone we can only assume is no longer breathing, a Reaver perhaps. By itself the picture is very pleasing to the eye, but like other images, the most interesting aspects are the questions it poses. Who is on the ground? Is that Logan’s house and he was attacked there? Is Logan hunting someone in that house? The image also calls back moments of the amazing trailer we recently got, so there might be bits of context there.