After an... interesting American election the guys sit down to discuss the latest in geek news in an attempt to lighten the mood. Fortunately it has been a busy week with plenty to dissect. Starting on a high note Julian, Dan and Jeremy break down the latest Wonder Woman trailer and simultaneously get excited while also wondering if it'll be another DC disappointment. There was also news out of Marvel as Michael Keaton was confirmed as Vulture, Michael Giacchino will be scoring Spider-Man: Homecoming and a possible shakeup at Fox with the X-Men franchise. In TV news, the nerd world received a miracle as Young Justice season 3 was announced, more characters join The Defenders and Agents of SHIELD gives a fun nod to the original Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze. It was also N7 day recently and the ToB Crew unpack all the details out of the Mass Effect holiday. Finally, they review Doctor Strange, the latest movie out of the Marvel Machine starring non other than Benedict Cumberbatch. All this, and so much more, in this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!
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Time Stamps
- Nerd Association: 00:03:52
- News: 00:11:55
- Doctor Strange: 01:49:10
Show Notes
Nerd Association
- Round 1: Teen Titans
- Round 2: Uncharted
- Round 3: Call of Duty
Movies
- Wonder Woman trailer
- Johnny Depp will apparently star in the Fantastic Beasts sequel
- Director David Yates also revealed that Dumbledore himself will also appear in the sequel
- Newly appointed director Shawn Levy has apparently already started some low-key talks with actors about the leading role in the Uncharted movie and in an interview with io9 he had some choice quotes:
- “We have a tone that Joe Carnahan (screenwriter) and I are channelling right into the script that is that Nathan-blend of real guy, heroism, snarky, funny wit. I think we figured out the tone in an exciting way.”
- He aldo added “it's been a long ass time since we’ve had a great and contemporary, treasure hunting movie”
- “Those action scenes blow my mind in the game and if I don't give that experience to audiences with the movie I didn't do my job. And I intend to do my job”
- The Dark Tower film has been delayed to July 2017 from its original February 2017 release to finish working on visual effects. - EW
- Feige confirms that Michael Keaton will play Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Doctor Strange and Rogue One composer Michael Giacchino will be scoring Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Speaking of Rogue One, according to some Bluray commentary from JJ Abrams, we have a confirmation that Kylo Ren and Rey had never met each other before the events of Episode VII. However, Kylo has apparently heard of the girl.
- Despite Deadpool’s success things aren't looking great for the X-Men franchise at Fox. With Hugh Jackman about to finish his tour as Wolverine in Logan and X-Men: Apocalypse underperforming at the box office it looks like Fox is looking to shake things up.
- According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series "will be reconfigured," as franchise producer and writer Simon Kinberg begins work on a new script.
- It's important to note that Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy have reached the end of their contracts, but Fox is keeping them "optimistically in mind." for future projects.
- Brian Singer, reportedly won't return to direct the new film.
- They also want to get back to work on the dormant Gambit movie and hope to start filming a “Young Mutants” spinoff as early as this spring.
- Sticking with the X-Men for a moment, Fox is already planning a Deadpool 3 and according to THR they aim to introduce the X-Force in the film.
TV
- Young Justice Season 3 is actually happening.
- “new twists, turns and dangerous new threats for the team, but most importantly, the opportunity for fans to finally continue the adventures of some of their favourite Super Heroes.”
- Original Young Justice producers Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood, Superman: Doomsday) and Greg Weisman (Star Wars Rebels, Gargoyles, The Spectacular Spider-Man) have both returned to the series for the new episodes.
- Vietti: "I just want to pass along a very heartfelt THANK YOU to all the fans that supported Young Justice and never gave up hope. I am truly amazed and grateful that so many of our fans all over the world were able to come together and make their voices heard. Young Justice season 3 is happening because of them!" - Comicbook.com
- Weisman: "I am incredibly psyched to be going back to Warner Bros. and Young Justice, I start at WB on Monday, 11/14. And can't wait for Brandon and I to dig in and get our hands dirty." - Comicbook.com
- Sam Register, President, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series in a statement has this to say: “The affection that fans have had for Young Justice, and their rallying cry for more episodes, has always resonated with us, We are excited to bring the show back for this loyal fan base and to provide an opportunity for new viewers to discover this excellent series.”
- Another week, another story about more Marvel Netflix cast joining onto Defenders. After this I honestly don't think there’s a single character NOT coming to the Defenders.
- Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple (Surprise!)
- Scott Glenn’s Stick
- Rachael Taylor’s Trish Walker
- Talia Al Ghul will be joining Arrow as a recurring character. Lexa Doig (Continuum, Stargate SG-1) will make her debut as the daughter of the demon in this seasons 10th episode
- Last week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD revealed how their Ghost Rider, Robbie Reyes, got his powers. Apparently Johnny BLaze himself “gifts” them to him. In a flashback scene we see the motorcycle riding Ghost Rider save Reyes’ life after being thrown from his car.
- He’s never explicitly named but… i mean who else would it be.
- Johnny BLaze is in the MCU, confirmed-ish.
- Plans to potentially spinoff to his own Netflix series or feature film
- Ubisoft is apparently working on some type of Netflix series. No word as to what it is though.
Games
- GTA 5 has now shipped over 70 million units
- GTA Online keeps rolling along and Rockstar announced a new mode called Deadline for that's been heavily inspired by Tron and it looks awesome!
- According to Gamestop, October videogame sales underperformed
- Let's keep the bad news coming, CoD Infinite Warfare released recently and according to UK sales data, it has fallen almost 50% from last years CoD BLOPS 3. On the bright side it was still the second largest game release of the year coming in second to FIFA in the UK.
- Keeping with sales data, Capcom has announced it expects to sell 4 million copies of RE7 at release (January 24)
- For comparison RE5 sold 6.5 mill and RE6 at its launch was 4.8 mill.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
- New cinematic trailer
- Story details:
- Andromeda initiative was started around the time of Mass Effect 2
- Arcs with both Human and other species
- Investigating the Heleus Cluster
- Pathfinder (the “leader” of the human arc “Hyperion”)
- Separated from the other arcs
- New details:
- 4 player multiplayer
- Destructible environments (Frostbite)
- A “more flexible progression tree for skills and weapons”
- No Paragon or Renegade system. Wanted to be more subtle.
- More action oriented and won't require the need to pick a class.
- Not necessarily the beginning of a new trilogy.
What We’ve Been Watching/Playing
- American Beauty (Kevin Spacey)
Review: Doctor Strange
- Director: Scott Derrickson
- Box Office
- $85 mill domestic over opening weekend
- 10th biggest MCU opening
- $86 mill internationally in its debut last week