Fitzsimmons fans are about to get their moment on Agents of SHIELD. Justice League could introduce another female superhero. The Flash teases a surprise return. Tomorrow’s episode of Doctor Who includes a weird first. Plus, James Gunn answers a ton of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 questions. Spoilers Now!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Entertainment Weekly’s coverage
The scale of him, for instance, is one reason. He is large. He appears tall. And also just the facial design – you couldn’t have gotten there with prosthetics. It’s too extreme. Without giving too much away at this point, he has a very distinctive, idiosyncratic bone structure and facial structure. You could never have done it [in real life.]
And briefly teases the villain’s mysterious influence in the film:
Supreme Leader Snoke is quite an enigmatic character, and strangely vulnerable at the same time as being quite powerful. Obviously he has a huge agenda. He has suffered a lot of damage. As I said, there is a strange vulnerability to him, which belies his true agenda, I suppose.
J.J. Abrams teases Maz Kanata’s (Lupita Nyong’o) backstory:
Her history is that she was a pirate for a long time. She’s lived over a thousand years. She’s had this watering hole for about a century, and it’s like another bar that you’d find in a corner of the Star Wars universe.
All that backstory will be forthcoming. In the movie, you don’t learn these things, but I know that these are things that are coming out in other venues.
And finally, J.J. Abrams discusses the absence of Luke from the marketing and twists his response to focus on why the character is suddenly such a myth in the Star Wars galaxy:
It was the thing that struck me the hardest, which was the idea that doing a story that took place nearly 40 years after Jedi meant that there would be a generation for whom Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia would be as good as myth. They’d be as old and as mythic as the tale of King Arthur. They would be characters who they may have heard of, but maybe not. They’d be characters who they might believe existed, or just sounded like a fairy tale.
To someone who is living alone and struggling without a formal education or support system, who knows what that person in the literal middle of nowhere would have ever heard about any of these things, or would ever know, and how much that person would have to infer and piece together on their own. So the idea that someone like that would begin to learn that the Jedi were real, and that the Force exists, and that there’s a power in the universe that sounds fanciful but is actually possible, was an incredibly intriguing notion.
Fans have been in conniptions over the reveal of a small toy for the video game Disney Infinity. The item in question is a “power disc” for the game’s upcoming The Force Awakens level, that is described as a “Resistance Tactical Strike” and features the image of a giant laser blast destroying a planet.
The idea of the Resistance having their own weapon capable of destroying planets has been a long-running theory and rumor
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2
James Gunn hosted an impromptu Twitter Q&A about the movie. Here’s a few of his responses to fans:
Justice League
Heroic Hollywood claim that the movie will add Mera, the superpowered Queen of Atlantis and wife of Aquaman, to the film. The information comes from a supposed casting call for the role, but no other information about the character’s portrayal was included.
Doctor Strange
Amy Landecker has been cast in an undisclosed role. [The Wrap]
The Good Dinosaur
Butch explains how he got his trademark scar in a new clip from the film.
Agents of SHIELD
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen confirm that the next episode of the show will see Fitz and Simmons move forward in their relationship—and down a romantic path:
Whedon: Their relationship will visibly change forever. Their chemistry is something that was conceived, in creating the characters, as two people who are inseparable. We talked about many different versions of that before casting it — they’re like brother and sister who are always bickering and they complete each other’s sentences, drive each other crazy and are totally co-dependent.
When we first conceived the characters, we didn’t think it would go this way. It was only in seeing them play it that their chemistry was so undeniable.
Tancharoen: For a while, that was the beautiful thing about the FitzSimmons love story is that, to everyone around them, it’s so clearly obvious that they should be together, but to Fitz and Simmons, it seems like the most absurd idea ever to be anything beyond friends, working partners and each other’s best friend.
Jessica Jones
TV Guide confirms that in a flashback in the show, Jessica will wear her purple hair and white jumpsuit from her superhero career as Jewel, before her traumatic encounter with the Purple Man.
The site also has a short montage of clips where the cast and crew discuss David Tennant’s villainous character:
Doctor Who
“Sleep No More” will hold a strange title for the show: due to its nature as a “found footage” styled episode, it will be the first in Doctor Who history to air without a title sequence. [Radio Times]
The Doctor, Clara, and their new friends run from a terrifying monster in a new clip.
The Flash
A gallery of pictures for “Gorilla Warfare” has been released—containing pictures of Henry Allen as well as Harrison Wells... suited up as the Reverse Flash. You can find more at the link. [Comic Book]
Arrow
Likewise, here’s a gallery of images from “Brotherhood”—there’s plenty more at the link. [Coming Soon]
Supergirl
Supergirl battles Red Tornado in a new picture from “Red Faced”. Here’s a brief synopsis:
Personal and professional stress get the better of Kara when she goes too far during a training exercise against Red Tornado, a military cyborg commissioned by Lucy Lane’s father, General Sam Lane. Also, Cat’s tough exterior is shaken by a visit from her judgmental mother, Katherine, and Alex enlists Winn to look into her father’s mysterious death.
Last Man on Earth
Tandy and Todd fetch some chips for Gail in a new clip from “Baby Steps”. [TV Guide]
Gotham
Finally, here’s a couple of photos from “The Son of Gotham”—more at the link. [Spoiler TV]
Additional reporting by Gordon Jackson and Charlie Jane Anders. Image: Star Wars: The Force Awakens.