Cape Watch: So, Looks Like Batman’s in Suicide Squad

From Suicide Squad to Fantastic Four, here are the highlights of the last week of superhero movie news.
WIRED CapeWatch
Marvel Entertainment (left, right), DC Entertainment (center)

Let's just pretend for a second that Ant-Man isn't coming out this year (given those trailers, this might end up being the best idea). Now that Avengers: Age of Ultron is a thing of the past—we've all moved on to talking about Mad Max: Fury Road and making passive aggressive comments about Tomorrowland, right?—that would leave just one other major superhero movie this year, in Fox's Fantastic Four. Consider it the calm before... well, all of the below, really. Here are the highlights of the last week of superhero movie news.

SUPER IDEA: So, Looks Like Batman's Definitely in Suicide Squad

While it is always technically possible that Ben Affleck visited the set of David Ayer's DC Entertainment movie just to say "hello!" it's far less likely that he brought the Batmobile with him just to take some friends for a ride. Yes, with the Batmobile careening around the streets of Toronto, where the follow-up to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is being filmed, it's definitely beginning to look like the Dark Knight will be showing up in the movie... or, alternatively, that Ayer's filming a Squad lead-in featuring Batman that'll appear in BvS.
Why this is super: If nothing else, using Batman in an action sequence in Suicide Squad is a far bolder statement of shared universe than having Samuel L. Jackson show up in a post-credits scene.

SUPER IDEA: Expect Mor(lock) From the Next X-Men Movie

Fox's embrace of Chris Claremont's 1980s X-Men material continues following the announcement of the Gambit and New Mutants movies—not to mention the appearances in the next central X-movie, X-Men: Apocalypse of two Claremont co-creations, Psylocke and Jubilee. Now director Bryan Singer has shared that the movie will also feature Caliban, another Claremont co-creation who lived under New York City as part of an outsider tribe of mutants called the Morlocks.

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Why this is super: The Morlocks were a big thing during "my" era of X-Men, so I'm particularly excited that we'll get to see them on the big screen. (Especially given what happened to Caliban in the comics when he met Apocalypse...)

SUPER IDEA: Gambit Is a 'Martial-Arts Badass,' According to the New Gambit

While promoting Magic Mike XXL, Channing Tatum talked to Empire about his upcoming turn as thief-turned-hero Gambit in the X-Men spin-off of the same name. "I love Gambit," he said, explaining that he identified with the character's heritage, and that he loves that he's "kind of a tortured soul and he's not a good guy. But he's not a bad guy either. He walks his own path." The first draft of the screenplay is in, he reported, calling it a "killer" take on the character's origin story. "We're going to be changing some of the tropes of [superhero] movies," he said. "It's always about saving the world [laughs], but maybe we're going to shift things a little bit."
Why this is super: We have absolutely no nostalgia or affection for the Ragin' Cajun, but Tatum's enthusiasm shines through. Given that he's been pretty great in the Magic Mikes and 21 Jump Streets, could it be worth trusting him for this one too?

SUPER IDEA: Are You Ready For George Miller's Justice League?

Before he blew the collective mind of 2015's cinema-going public with Mad Max: Fury Road, director George Miller was working on a big screen version of DC's Justice League, called Justice League: Mortal. The movie crashed during the pre-production phase in 2008, but now there will be a chance for audiences to see what they missed, courtesy of a new documentary investigating what happened to the project. Apparently, private investors for the project are already lined up, but there might be an attendant crowdfunding campaign, so prepare to dig deep.
Why this is super: Movies about movies that didn't happen are somewhat in vogue these days (see: Jodorowsky's Dune and The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?), and the sheer spectacle of Fury Road has reignited fascination in the Justice League we didn't get to see. Maybe this is a perfect storm of superheroic documentary filmmaking.

SUPER IDEA: Flame On

Were you one of those fans who got upset when Michael B. Jordan was cast as the Human Torch, because the character has always been white in the comics? First of all, you're a jerk. Secondly, I don't need to tell you that because Jordan did so himself, in a piece for Entertainment Weekly. "It used to bother me, but it doesn't anymore," he wrote, pointing out that Fantastic Four co-creator Stan Lee was cool with the change. "To the trolls on the Internet, I want to say: Get your head out of the computer. Go outside and walk around. Look at the people walking next to you. Look at your friends' friends and who they're interacting with. And just understand this is the world we live in," Jordan wrote. "It's okay to like it."
Why this is super: Do we really need to explain why this is cool? Really? Good for you, Jordan. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch the final two seasons of Friday Night Lights to relive Vince Howard's glory days.