by Kim Filchak, Reporter

Good afternoon everyone! Welcome back to Rampant Speculation your guide to the world of internet rumor mongering and my portal to the wonderful land of carpel tunnel syndrome! Enough my lamenting, let’s get to the good stuff, shall we!

Avengers: Age of Ultron- Cinema Blend has gotten a hold of set footage from the upcoming film, which is currently doing its thing in England at the UEA Campus in Norwich. The footage features Marvel Studios Conciliar and Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story), Chris Evans (Captain America: The Winter Solider, Snowpiercer, Not Another Teen Movie) as Captain America, Robert Downy Jr (Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) as Tony Stark and Chris Hemsworth (Thor: The Dark World, Cabin in the Woods) as Thor, plus a bunch of other things that could mean anything and that the folks at Cinema Blend gleeful speculate on if you are into that sort of thing… which if your reading this you probably are so go ahead  watch and read it here. I’ll wait

Also in Avengers: Age of Ultron- Last week The Latino Review dropped a bunch of potential spoilers for the upcoming film, some seemed reasonable and some seemed completely out of left field. One in particular. Like seriously, where the heck did that come from? People are a little freaked out it and apparently Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers, The Normal Heart), one of the principles involved in said rumor, has responded to the concern by trolling everyone like a giant green troll whenever he gets asked about it.  Movie Pilot has the details which I will not give you, because some spoilers you need to go looking for so you can blame no one besides yourself for the trauma and stress they cause.

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice- Is it just me or is Batman V Superman rapidly becoming so stuffed with super heroic cameos that at this point we might as well just call itself Dawn of Justice: Batman & Superman Meet EVERYONE. I am seriously starting to get hero fatigue here people.

No one from Warner Bros. has made any comment yet but HitFix is reporting that Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones)will be playing Arthur Curry, aka King Orin of Atlantis, aka Aquaman. Right now his IMDB page is only stating that he is in The Justice League, so I do not know if he will be making any sort of introductory cameo in Batman V Superman.

The rumors of Momoa being cast as Aquaman have been floating around the web for what seems like forever, though he himself has been all about the plausibly deniable denial when asked about it. It was your basic “What? That’s crazy? Who told you?” response whenever someone would bring up the rumors, but it seems he was just playing it close to the vest.

Fan reaction has been mild enough, I think we all have hero fatigue at this point. Personally I think the casting is an interesting choice in a good way and that has absolutely nothing to do with the many years I spent watching him be awesome and gorgeous on Stargate: Atlantis. To be honest for me it comes down to the fact that he can act and he has the right look. Aquaman had a fairly epic makeover in the 90’s where he went from the dude with the 1950’s haircut wearing an ugly orange shirt and green tights to a one-handed, shirtless demigod with flowing hair who rocks a pretty epic beard, wields a freaking trident, and kicks all the ass. The only thing missing on Momoa from that description is the hair color and that really is not the big a deal.

DC: As I am sure you are all aware by now, there is a list wandering around the web at this very moment that purportedly reveals Warner Bros. master plan for the films based on DC properties as they work to build into their own personal  MEGA franchise. NikkiFinke.com reported the list last Thursday, which lays out Warner Bros release schedule for the DC Movie Verse until 2018.

Niki Fink’s source mentioned two other possible movies that were originally on the list but did not make the final cut, The Suicide Squad and The Metal-Men, as well as giving a fairly reasonable explanation for why Warner Bros. seems to just keep dog piling superheroes on top of Batman V Superman and making the entire film seem to outside observers seem a bit of a hot mess.

“Like Marvel’s The Avengers, there will be cameos of superheroes for future installments. The cameos will include the already known Cyborg and Flash. Green Lantern [not played by Ryan Reynolds, thank god] may be introduced. And Aquaman will be seen in the Justice League movie. Problem is, Warner Bros Pictures was still negotiating with the actors for those cameos and future roles, meaning major contracts for multiple JL/character films to follow. The studio didn’t want to move forward until they had more of this secure so they held off starting production for a few months. Seemingly simple reason, but the implications are pretty darn huge.”

Her sources also says they intend to make the big announcement at Comic Con in July, which is not surprising though what is on the list itself is a little unexpected. The unnamed source is right, there are some pretty huge implications with this list. For what it is worth this is my break down of said list, why the names on it might work, and any potential logistical problems with the line up.

Batman v Superman: (May 2016) Currently filming. Still no word on the status Jesse Eisenberg’s hair.

Shazam: (July 2016 ) Wait. We are getting a Shazam movie before a Wonder Woman movie?

Sigh… Okay! Moving on!

This is not the first time Warner Bros./DC has had a Shazam movie in the works, back in 2006 they had made significant progress on a film with John August (Corpse Bride, Titan A. E.) tapped to write the script, Peter Segal (The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates) on board to director, and no less than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Fast and Furious 6, Tooth Fairy) was attached to play Black Adam. Then it fell apart, as theses things do. At the time the studio was not thinking MEGA franchise, no one was, and going the way of traditional film making convention they wanted to put all of their eggs in Superman’s basket. Oh the difference a few years and The Avengers box office gross makes. Marvel Studios has proven that a single MEGA franchise can support multiple heroes and their respective solo films, so I am not at all surprised that Warner Bros is putting Shazam back in the lineup.

It makes me wonder, with the abbreviated schedule that Warner Bros has set for their DC Movie Verse, that if instead of starting from scratch with Shazam they might use at least some of what they had previously had in development. Johnson just announced on the twitter that he recently sign a deal with Warner Bros to play an as yet unnamed character in on of the DC Movie Verse properties, so it is possibly that he could finally be playing Black Adam?

That said, at this point we have not idea who he will be playing, and probably will not know until Comic Con in July when DC makes their big announcement of their future plans. As much as I personally think he would make a freaking amazing Black Adam, and he totally would, Johnson could be playing anyone from the comics. Or at least any role that has not previously been cast, or Power Girl. He’s probably not playing Power Girl.

There is another, very petty, reason why I could see DC making Shazam a priority as they move to fill up their Hall of Justice. It is possible they could be doing this as a bit of a screw you to Marvel. As many of you know, the hero Shazam was not originally called Shazam, in fact the character was actually originally named Captain Marvel and remained so for quite a few years; that is until DC lost the rights to the name to Marvel Comics. For many fans that is still the name they think of when they see Billy Batson’s signature gold lightning emblazoned cape and incredibly square jawline and it would seriously stick it to Marvel Studios if DC/Warner Bros. beat them to the punch with a Captain Marvel movie in all but name before Marvel Studios even got their own version of a Captain Marvel movie out of the gate. It could even conceivably hurt Marvel’s “brand” if it confuses enough people about who the “real” Captain Marvel is. It in all it would be a serious d*ck move but not entirely outside the realm of possibility.

Sandman: (Xmas 2016) I really want to see what they do with this one. While there have been a few characters who go by the name Sandman, some even with ties to the Justice Society, this movie is going to be based on the comics by Neil Gaiman which are amazing but an odd choice for a company trying to build a MEGA franchise. Best case scenario this is a stand alone project. The Sandman comics have no real ties to the DC comics continuity, except for when Death makes her adorable cameos, so whatever they do it is not bound by the rules of a pre-set universe so they can truly go to all of the fantastic and disturbing places the comic created.

Justice League: (May 2017) Done deal the only thing left to do is microwave some popcorn and judge the heck out of any decisions regarding the film that come to light.

Wonder Woman: (July 2017) Finally! Besides being pushed so far back the only thing that seems odd with this one is that timing, it looks a little squiffy to me. If Wonder Woman is to have any sort of major role in Justice League, and she totally should as part of DC’s “Trinity”, when they heck are they planning on filming this? Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice opens in May 2016, giving the film two years of production time, Justice League opens in May 2017 and I can’t help but think they will want to give that film as much attention as possible before releasing it into the wild. So, given the amount of production time involved with both of those films when would they have time to film the Wonder Woman solo film and make it as awesome as it needs to be? As a woman who spent a great deal of time as a little girl spinning herself sick in the attempt to turn into an amazon warrior princess and lifetime member of the cult of Xena I need this movie to be awesome and I am positive I am not alone. So I am… let’s call this concerned. Above anything else we do NOT need another Catwoman. Full stop.

Untitled Flash & Green Lantern Buddy Cop film: (Xmas 2017) This is where the list and the plans it represents gets a little confusing for me. Up until this point DC has been fairly consistently silent on any questions about if their movie and television shows are going to remain separate entities, with the no being implied pretty heavily in the beginning. While Stephan Amell (Arrow, Private Practice, Hung), who plays Oliver Queen aka the Arrow of Arrow, has indicated his enthusiasm at the idea of folding the DC Television Verse into the larger DC Movie Verse there has been no talk to indicate that this is the plan, or even a general idea. All he has said is that he personally, as a person and a fan, thinks it would be neat. So yeah, no plans or even hints that there is such a plan have yet to surface.

Which is why it gets tricky when it comes to a Flash & Green Lantern buddy cop movie. (What? Barry is a forensic investigator, Hal is literally a space cop. How could this be anything other then an intergalactic version of Rush Hour?) The Flash television show just got picked up for a full season by the CW to run as a companion show to the network’s hit show Arrow and while it is no guarantee that it will be around in three years to cause confusion with the potential Flash & Green Lantern film, it is airing on the CW. Thus far as a network, for the most part, the CW tends to run their shows into the ground. Supernatural is still going strong after ten years and they have as yet to put a bullet in Beauty and the Beast, they like to hold on to what they have if it is a proven property. Sure they will end a newer show if they have too if it underperformed, but they have really low standards for what counts as under performing and The Flash is being spun off of their single post popular show and if it does even half as well Arrow they will be running those shows until well into the zombie apocalypses. So where does that leave us?

I see four possible answers to this conundrum.

One, the two previously separate universes are going to become a single universe with a multi-platform storyline, much like Marvel Studios is doing right now. The TV shows will be their “street” level heroes, including Arrow, the Batman prequel Gotham and The Flash. The movies will involve the Big Guns (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, the JL) with some crossovers as needed. This could open up DC to doing what Marvel is, using their huge back catalog of characters who would normally not be recognizable enough to carry a movie to further solidify their brand and generate interest in the bigger picture via Marvels “everything is connected” philosophy.

Two, there are going two be to different Flash’s played by two different actors in two different universe, one in the movie and one in the TV show and it is not going to confuse the general public that is currently being trained by Marvel to expect interconnectedness at all and hey!  Even Marvel already did this too, and it sort of worked out for them and their double Quicksliver’s (What is the plural for autocratic speedster d-bag?). Eh. We will see on this one, I am not a fan of this plan because it will led to me spending hours repeatedly explaining the reasons behind the two Flash’s to my non geek friends but it is preferable to option number three.

Three, they plan on ganking The Flash TV show when they start filming the movie to avoid confusion, no matter the fact that it will probably be fairly successful if it’s big brother Arrow’s performance is anything to go by.

Or four, the list is wrong… Or at least it is about the Flash & Green Lantern buddy cop movie.

Personally, I am really hoping it will be either choices one, two, or four, because I am still licking wounds from the time FOX did that with The Sarah Conner Chronicles and we ended up losing an amazing TV show for a seriously mediocre film. In the end I guess it all depends on how things work between the television and movie making branches of Warner Bros.. Are they separate? Interconnected? Run by two former besties who now hate each other or are they just your basic executive level frenemies who can work together for the great good? We shall wait and see.

Man Of Steel 2: (May 2018) This makes sense if they want to accomplish everything they are planning on doing in the next few years, something was going to have to get tossed to the end of the line. It’s a bold move on the part of the studio, as the big blue boyscout is the Iron-Man type lynchpin of this paradigm and they are counting on people to be more interested in the potential for the DC Movie Verse than following Superman’s individual story in a post Man of Steel world.

 Star Wars: Episode VII- Harrison Ford’s foot is well and truly broken. The actor was injured on the set of Star Wars: Episode VII when a hydraulic door fell on him while they were filming. The Guardian is reporting that Ford is set to be off his feel for six to eight weeks, which is an eternity in movie time.

Transformers 4: Age of Extinction- This Chinese poster from TFW2005 for the new Transformers film looks badass.

Transformers 4: Age of Extinction opens June 27th.

X-Man: Apocalypse- Comic Book Resources is reporting that Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days Of Future Past, Cinderella) talked with Jeff Goldsmith on his podcast and revealed that the “Next movie takes place in 1983,” 10 years after X-Men: Days of Future Past. I am kind of terrified as to what that may mean for the costuming for the film. You can listen to the entire Podcast here.