If you have superhero media fatigue, sorry. This week’s pop culture news was heavy on the costumed heroes and anti-heroes, although perhaps the promised freshness (and nostalgia) of the upcoming films and series below will respark interest. Let’s go.
Film
This week kicked off with Super Bowl Sunday, which meant people in later time zones woke up on Monday morning to a tsunami of movie trailers. These included the new Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes trailer (out 10 May); decades-later disaster movie sequel Twisters (in cinemas on 19 July); and a first look at stage musical adaptation, and Wizard of Oz prequel, Wicked (debuting 26 November).
Breaking viewership records, though, was the first teaser trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, which brings Ryan Reynolds’s unhinged Merc with a Mouth, Wade Wilson, officially into the MCU via the Multiverse. He’s paired with Hugh Jackman’s Logan/Wolverine for this very R-rated adventure, which comes to cinemas on 26 July. The film’s Super Bowl reveal was paired with a Valentine’s Day-themed teaser poster.
Speaking of Valentine’s Day, 14 February was used as a promotional opportunity for two comic book adaptations. First up, director Todd Phillips took to his Instagram account to unveil some brand new images from upcoming sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. The film releases on 4 October this year.
Grabbing far more headlines, though, was Marvel harnessing the day, and social media, to reveal the cast and setting of the movie that finally brings The Fantastic Four into the MCU.
While the cast of The Fantastic Four has been an open secret for a long time – The Last of Us’s Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Mission: Impossible’s Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Stranger Things’s Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch – the film’s retro setting was just a rumour. Now we know that the film, with WandaVision’s Matt Shakman directing, will be at least partially set in the 1960s. Expect multiversal shenanigans and maybe science mishaps to bring Marvel’s First Family to our time.
The Fantastic Four comes to cinemas on 25 July 2025.
A few more movie tidbits:
- It looks like hybrid live-action/animated Looney Tunes adventure Coyote vs. Acme is going the way of Batgirl after all – being locked away in a Warner Bros. vault or straight up deleted for tax write-down purposes. Offers to purchase the film by the likes of Netflix and Paramount have been rejected, with no counter offers allowed. One tiny, tiny sliver of silver lining is that the US government is now watching these soulless corporate practices more closely.
- Huh? Seems like Anya Taylor-Joy has a secret role in Dune: Part 2. The surprise was revealed (although we don’t know what character she plays) when the actress appeared alongside the rest of the cast at the London film premiere. P.S. Have you entered our ticket giveaway for Dune: Part Two early screenings if you live in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa?
- Finally, prepare to be blown away by the first image of Jaafar Jackson playing his uncle Michael Jackson in Antoine (Training Day) Fuqua’s upcoming biopic, based on the life of the King of Pop. Michael is in theatres on 18 April 2025.
Series
One TV-related news story stood out for us this week – namely the trailer for upcoming Disney+ animated series Marvel Animation’s X-Men ’97. Arriving next month, on 10 March, this new cartoon continues on directly from beloved 90s show X-Men: The Animated Series, exploring how the mutant heroes continue the work of their deceased founder Charles Xavier. The ten-episode first season features the return of most of the original voice cast.
Lifestyle
Comic Con Cape Town 2024 is two-and-a-half months away. Which means it’s time for the guest announcements to start.
The biggie, to date, is that former DC Comics writer, editor and co-publisher Dan Didio will be at the five-day convention on 27 April, 28 April and 1 May. Didio now heads up Frank Miller’s creator-owned comics imprint.
Then there’s South African freelance artist Anand Ramcheron, who has contributed to Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse, as well as illustrated covers for Marvel and Studios! Comics. Anand hails from Durban and will be at CCCT 2024 on all five days.
Finally, Italian cosplayer Taryn Cosplay returns to South Africa for the first time since his appearance at Comic Con Africa 2022. He will be at the Cape Town show from 27 – 29 April.
The second-ever Comic Con Cape Town, in partnership with FanCon, takes place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC 2) from 27 April – 1 May 2024. As work days, 29 and 30 April have afternoon and evening times, while Saturday, Sunday and the public holiday Wednesday are traditional day sessions.
Gaming
There was a lot of anticipation going into the big Xbox Podcast address that took place this week to outline the game company’s future plans. The biggest news out of the panel discussion – featuring Xbox heads Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty – is that Diablo IV is coming to Game Pass on 28 March. More Activision and Blizzard games will be joining the service in future.
As for the swirling rumours that Xbox exclusive games will be coming to other gaming platforms, that move was confirmed… with the caveat that no actual games were named. Here’s an extract from the press release:
“We are currently in the process of bringing four Xbox games to other platforms. These are titles which have been available to Xbox players for at least a year, including hidden gems that deserve to be experienced more widely, and live service games whose communities will benefit from welcoming even more players. We will share more details on these titles soon.
Going by this statement, and accompanying third-party reports, the best bet is that the games making the shift to multi-platform are Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded and Sea of Thieves.
Finally, some Tomb Raider announcements to coincide with Lara Croft’s birthday this week, on 14 February. You can read about all of them here, but in short, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is now out, there’s a brand-new Tomb Raider Gear Store to stock up on merch, and fans can join the Society of Raiders, which gives members access to wallpapers, the Tomb Raider newsletter, the latest franchise announcements and other perks.
As a sidenote, reports are circling that the inclusion of this image on a new Tomb Raider website indicates how the character will look in the next main entry in the franchise – which promises to bridge the Reboot trilogy and the classic games. We’re not putting money on this claim, though. Crystal Dynamics would have made a big deal about the reveal; it seems more like some nifty “placeholder” art that covers all of Lara’s current appearances in other media, including Call of Duty and the now closed Tomb Raider: The Live Experience attraction.
