Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.
– X-Men: Apocalypse, Fox’s next instalment in the inexplicably now seven film series, has started filming and to mark the occasion, Fox has released the first look at Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler. While the video is little more than some animated flair around a promotional still, I can’t deny that he does look like Nightcrawler. That cheeky grin is certainly more in keeping with the loveable elf we know from the comics as opposed to the self-harming version we got in X2.
– Speaking of X-Men: Apocalypse and how it’s started filming, some set photos has given us a look at Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers and Lana Condor as Jubilation Lee as well as the aforementioned Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner. If nothing else, I like the fact that Nightcrawler is clearly a fan of Eddie Murphy Raw.
– Over at CBR, Charles Soule talks about how he and Alex Maleev with be bringing the only black man to survive the rise of the Empire to comics in “Lando”. In all seriousness, I love both these creators and I love the character of Lando Calrissian so this is a book I’m looking forward to a lot.
– To coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the organisation SHIELD, Marvel Comics will be releasing five one-shots in September detailing five different characters and their connections to the history of SHIELD. Newsarama has a rundown of the five titles and the creative teams announced so far, but I have to say… no Maria Hill? Really? That’s a lil weird, right?
– While everyone continues to go back and forth between Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice and the Joker’s appearance in Suicide Squad, I think I can say one thing for certain: Batman: Arkham Knight looks pretty damn excellent. And this new (and hopefully final?) trailer before the game’s June 23 release showcases a new mechanic that will allow player to flip seamlessly between controlling Batman and one of his many allies including Robin, Nightwing and Catwoman in the middle of combat. It’s a neat idea and will hopefully integrate those characters more than the last games, but christ can no one at Rocksteady come up with a good Robin design?
– With the current seasons of Arrow and The Flash coming to a close, CW is really trying to push them hard. The Flash gets a new trailer that gives maybe a little too much away of what is to come while Arrow gets a poster of Katie Cassidy’s Black Canary. I haven’t been watching Arrow, but I gotta admit that the new Black Canary costume looks pretty great.
– Next, and I’ll admit this isn’t exactly comic news, but I want to talk about the fact that Silent Hills is officially cancelled. Silent Hills was set to be the next installment in the survival horror franchise directed by Guillermo del Toro, famed horror director, and Hideo Kojima, creator and director of the Metal Gear Solid series, and was going to bring life back to a genre that has been effectively dead for about a decade now. Unless Capcom can capitalise on the quality of Resident Evil: Revelations 2 then it looks like survival horror is officially relegated to the realm of indie games once more.
– To cheer you all up, then, here’s news that even though Avengers: Age Of Ultron isn’t even out in soon countries, Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War Parts One & Two will shoot back to back over the course of nine months, starting late next year. Remember: you’re here forever.
