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 a new Doctor Strange trailer, Spider-Man: Homecoming set videos and photos, the latest Black Panther casting, a new Arrow trailer, The Flash Season 3 images, plus more. Get caught up below.
‘Doctor Strange’: New Trailer Shows Funny Side of the Mystical Realm
With Doctor Strange just being about a month away from its release, I think it’s safe to say that marketing for the film has just switched gears. We got big clues of that switch this week by getting a new trailer, more images, plus new posters. The standout in all of this promotional material is definitely the trailer, especially because in it you find something that hasn’t been present in previous promotional material, humor. Not that we expected Doctor Strange to lack jokes, it is a Marvel movie after all, but it is a nice switch-up for the marketing campaign. I also liked that we got a little peek at Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in training from the images, and the trippy visuals incorporated in the posters are definitely eye-catching.
On a Doctor Strange-related side note, this week we also got confirmation that Doctor Strange will appear in Avengers: Infinity War. During an interview, Cumberbatch himself confirmed his appearance on the film while commenting that the Sorcerer Supreme’s next challenge would be “aligning his schedule with those of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany.”
‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’: Set Videos and Photos Show Spidey in NYC
Production on the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming has taken over the streets of New York City, so naturally the shoot hasn’t been short of people taking photos and recording videos of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man/Peter Parker in action. In the latest set photos and videos you can see things like Peter doing a quick costume change in an alley, Spidey hanging off a fire escape on the side of a building, and more. Nothing too revealing plot-wise from the images or videos other than small clues maybe, but one thing is for sure, Holland must be having the time of his life on this shoot. One nice little sneak peek was a look at a car with a Stark license plate, teasing us with Robert Downey Jr.’s appearance as Tony Stark/Iron Man.
‘Black Panther’: Winston Duke Joins Cast as the Villainous M’Baku
It looks like King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) won’t be lacking in the foes department when we go to Wakanda in Black Panther, now that the film has cast its newest villain. According to reports, actor Winston Duke has landed the role of the villainous M’Baku who is also called Man-Ape in the comics. In the source material, M’Baku is one of Wakanda’s most powerful warriors and has tried to steal T’Challa’s place on the throne, with abilities like superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, and durability. With the addition of this newest villain, it’ll be interesting to see how Black Panther and the film itself handles the number of antagonists. I guess being king doesn’t come with any shortage of enemies.
‘Arrow’: Season 5 Trailer Rounds Up the New Team
Green Arrow will be facing many new challenges on this 5th Season, challenges that he might not be able to handle by himself, as evidenced in the newest trailer for the show. In this latest trailer for Arrow Season 5 we see Oliver assembling and training the newest team of vigilantes that will defend Star City. While a new team of vigilantes isn’t necessarily a draw for me, I think this trailer does its job well in setting up what this next Season will bring, and apparently it isn’t short on action. My biggest hope is that the show delivers on the promise of returning to its former glory, let’s not forget Arrow is where this whole CW superhero universe started.
‘The Flash’: New Season 3 Images Released
The return of The Flash is just around the corner, and we got a new peek at the 3rd Season in the newest images released from the show. The latest images from The Flash are from this Season’s second episode, titled “Paradox,” where, according to the episode’s synopsis, “Barry (Grant Gustin) realizes the effects from Flashpoint are much greater than he thought.” In the images we get our first look at Tom Felton as Julian Albert, Barry’s newest co-worker who isn’t amused by Allen. I’m curious to see the type of exchanges and dynamic we’ll get from Felton and Gustin, and how that work relationship develops. Moreover, I’m looking forward to see this Season’s altered timeline that Barry has created from his questionable choices.
‘Supergirl’: Superman Flies in New Clip
Supergirl is close to making her CW debut for Season 2, and she’s bringing a friend…or cousin, and just in case you needed a reminder, this new clip will definitely do the job. In this Supergirl clip we see Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl and Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman teaming up to save the day from a falling aircraft. What I enjoyed the most about the clip was the team-up aspect, we saw Superman working with Supergirl instead of swooping in and saving the day by himself. At the end of the day the show is called Supergirl, and this clip does hint that they have no intention of keeping the spotlight off the title heroine, which is a relief.
‘Justice League’: Zack Snyder Teases a Deathstroke Scene
Social media friendly director Zack Snyder is at it again, this time sharing a behind-the-scenes image from his upcoming Justice League movie. At a quick glance it looks like a playful picture of Snyder wearing Batman’s gauntlet while working on the film, which is an amusing sight, but a closer look reveals a more interesting clue. If you look very closely at what Snyder is working on, you can make out that he’s working on a scene, but not just any scene, a scene that includes Deathstroke. In the image you can actually see eyepatch-wearing Slade Wilson in sketch form. There’s no context about the scene Snyder is working on, so for now we assume that the #JusticeLeague tag implies we will see Deathstroke in Justice League, in an introductory capacity perhaps, all before we see him in full force in the standalone Batman movie.