Superhero News: Arrow Teases Oliver-Felicity Development, Constantine Adds Cast Members, Wonder Woman & Marvel

The jocks have lost, and the nerds have won.  Comic books officially rule the entertainment world, at least for now.  So, here’s the latest:

1. Arrow producer promises big Oliver-Felicity development by season’s end (thehollywoodreporter.com) 

Thus far, Arrow’s Oliver Queen has bedded Huntress, Laurel Lance, Shado, Isabel Rochev, Sara Lance, and was about to go there with Detective McKenna before she got shot.  Pretty much any female of the right age and not related to him is a potential love interest, but what about Felicity, who has kind of been Moneypenny to his James Bond?  To some, Felicity is the clear love of Oliver’s life or just a potential short-term girlfriend or “ewww, those two are like brother and sister.”  Executive producer Marc Guggenheim threw Olicity fans a bone when talking to THR:

“The fun or the agony of Oliver and Felicity is they’re always taking one step forward and two steps back and that’s what I meant when I said it was a slow burn. I will say by the end of the season, you’ll see another big evolution of their relationship. But at the same time I don’t want to spoil when and how that’s going to happen. I do think part of the fun of the show and certainly Oliver and Felicity, things happen in the least expected ways. We’ll be doing something with Oliver and Felicity by the end of the year that will really confound and satisfy some viewers and infuriate others, but I think that’s when you know you’re taking chances.”

The last time Oliver and Felicity interacted was when he re-assured her that as far as Gal Friday’s go she’ll always be his girl, which was maybe an odd thing to say to a girl while you are currently in an (at least) sexual relationship with another girl, as Oliver is with Sara.  With that and this quote, it’s tempting to assume the next big evolutionary step for Oliver and Felicity is a romantic union.  However, they could also be doing something totally different, maybe even crazy unexpected like Felicity quitting Team Arrow and Queen Consolidated as a result of stuff that goes down in the rest of the season.  Other than they become a couple/she gets her own boyfriend, she quits the team to reclaim her own life, or she becomes Oracle seeing over her own Birds of Prey (Canary, Huntress) from the Clocktower what other big evolutionary steps are there for her and Oliver?

Guggenheim also somewhat ducked a question about whether their initial plans for Sara to just be a proto-Black Canary have changed, answering, “All I really want to say on the subject of Black Canary is, there is absolutely a plan and you’ll have to watch the show with some degree of patience to see how that plan gets unfolded. But we know exactly where we’re headed and we hope that everyone will stay along for the ride.”

2. Constantine adds 3 new cast members (screenrant.com)

NBC is in the casting stage for their Constantine pilot.  They’re already doing a better job of adapting DC Vertigo’s Hellblazer/Constantine comic book series than the Keanu Reeves film of the same name because their John Constantine, though also not blonde, is at the very least British (assuming he’ll speak with his natural accent on the show).  As for the supporting cast:

“Harold Perrineau ( Lost, Sons of Anarchy), Lucy Griffiths ( True Blood), and, perhaps most importantly, Charles Halford ( True Detective) will all aid Constantine throughout his adventures battling the darkness. While the latter two will play original characters created for the show, Halford will play none other than Chas Chandler, John Constantine’s longtime friend and sidekick from the comics.”

Perrineau’s character, Manny, will be an angel using his celestial powers to step into mortal bodies to keep on eye on Constantine on Earth, although he’s not suposed to interfere.  On the other end, Griffiths’ character, Liv, will be an otherwise normal human who can actually perceive all the supernatural happenings on Earth.  She needs Constantine’s protection since a demon has marked her for death.

The central antagonist, Papa Midnight, a voodoo expert from the comics, has yet to be cast. Uber-screenwriter/producer David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel, Da Vinci’s Demons) and Daniel Cerone (The Mentalist, Dexter) are writing/producing with Neil Marshall (Game of Thrones) directing.

Now you know just as much as one of Constantine’s creators from the comics, who recently penned an open letter to DC, basically shaming them for keeping him completely out of the loop on a show based on a character he co-created with Alan Moore.

3. Batman Vs. Superman‘s costume designer weighs in on Wonder Woman’s outfit (sciencefiction.com)

The first time my 5-year-old nephew saw Wonder Woman was in an episode of Justice League/Justice League Unlimited.  His first response?  “Why is she just wearing her underwear?”  That’s right – to the eyes of a 5-year-old Wonder Woman clearly looked under-dressed.  However, this is a very old problem for DC.  When they have tried to modernize her look in the comics they’ve usually received considerable pushback from fans.  They even abandoned plans to have Wonder Woman look like this in the New 52 re-boot:

Now, Linda Carter seriously rocked the panty/boustier look in the ’70s show, but surely they won’t have Gal Gadot parading around half-naked in Batman Vs. Superman, even if it is from the same guy who made Sucker Punch.

Here’s what their costume designer, Michael Wilkinson, had this to say:

“It’s a thrilling and slightly scary prospect of course. It’s so important to get her right. She really deserves to be presented on-screen in her full glory, so what I do is look at the history of the character has been presented on the big-screen, small-screen, comic books, and graphic novels; we process it all. Then we kind of put that aside and work out what it right for our film, for the cinematic universe that our director Zack Snyder is putting together. We try to create a Wonder Woman relevant for today’s audiences.  I mean, you just have to look at the gladiators from ancient Rome, they did their thing … with the shield and everything. Yes, it works for Thor and 300, so let’s see what happens.”

To many (and apparently also Wilkinson) Jaimie Alexander’s Lady Sif from Thor should be their model for how to costume an Amazonian warrior like Wonder Woman:

4. ABC will air “Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe,” a One-Hour special hyping Winter Solider, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers 2 (sciencefiction.com)

For Disney, what’s the point of owning ABC if you can’t use it to shill product produced by Disney subsidiaries like Pixar and Marvel?  So:

“ABC will air a one-hour special called ‘Marvel Studios: Assembling A Universe’ on March 18th at 8:00pm. This special will offer a ‘front row seat to the inception of Marvel Studios, the record-breaking films, the cultural phenomenon, and further expansion of the universe by Marvel Television’.

Expected to be included in this all new look at the Hollywood side of the House of Ideas are a few extended looks at ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and  ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, in addition to Whedon’s next feature. Although, with only an hour run time, it’s uncertain just how extended these looks will actually be. For all we know, we could just bee seeing the San Diego Comic-Con footage from Hall H for the sequel to ‘The Avengers’. But with the movie already filming some scenes and behind the scenes material being teased, maybe we’ll get to hear from the mastermind himself about where he’s at in the creative process that will bring Earth’s Mightiest Heroes together on the big screen once again.”

5. Marvel released a new 4-minute trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier (screenrant.com)

The Winter Soldier is due out in the US and Canada on April 4th, 2015.

What do you think?  What could Guggenheim have meant with his Olicity tease?  Do you still struggly to visualize how the very garish Hellblazer/Constantine comic will translate to the small screen?  Do you think it would be a mistake to drastically alter Wonder Woman’c classic costume for Batman Vs. Superman?  Let us know in the comments section.