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For those of you who don’t know, my fellow Entertainment Editor, Hannah Lodge and I, along with Beat Contributors Harper Harris and Cal Cleary, host a mostly-weekly podcast together for our site, GeekRex (where we also write-up comic and movie reviews, along with the rare television and game piece). For the latest episode, Heidi has been […]

While we know Marvel Studios proper is skipping out on SDCC this year, creating a trend that also saw Sony and Paramount deciding to skip the show, their television division will indeed be there with a Ballroom 20 appearance covering both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, along with an animation panel the next day.

No sign of the Netflix shows though, mostly likely they will remain saved for NYCC instead.

FRIDAY, JULY 10

Marvel Television Presents — Panel Session

3:00 PM – 4:15 PM in Ballroom 20

Join the casts and producers of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Marvel’s Agent Carter”!

SATURDAY, JULY 11

“Marvel’s Agent Carter” – Cast Signing Event

10:00 AM at the Marvel Booth (#2329)

Cast Attending: Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Tara Butters (EP), Michele Fazekas (EP), Chris Dingess (EP), Louis D’Esposito (EP) and Jeph Loeb (EP)

Marvel Animation Presents – Panel Session

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM in Room 6BCF

Go behind-the-scenes into the world of Marvel Animation!

“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” – Cast Signing Event

2:30 PM at the Marvel Booth (#2329)

Cast Attending: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Brett Dalton, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, Luke Mitchell, Maurissa Tancharoen (EP), Jed Whedon (EP) and Jeph Loeb (EP).

Please note that both signings are ticketed events and passes will be available on a first-come, first-served lottery basis beginning at 9:30 AM on Saturday, July 11 at the Marvel Booth (#2329).

For us, we get to see Mad Max: Fury Road with the rest of the critics who are getting it screened tonight, for you, it is Tuesday. Did I just nail that Street Fighter reference or what? No? Okay…onto the news…

– Television talk continues to dominate most of the online discussion today, and in a recent conference call with the press, ABC President Paul Lee explained why the proposed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off focusing on Adrianne Palicki‘s Bobbi Morse and Nick Blood‘s Lance Hunter didn’t come to fruition:

We absolutely love those characters on ‘S.H.I.E.L.D. We feel S.H.I.E.L.D. hit its creative stride this year, and we love it… We felt the right time now was to leave them on S.H.I.E.L.D., because it’s so strong at the moment.

To be fair, pulling the show’s most intriguing characters from its parent series seemed like a bad bet, there’s also a fairly good possibility that killing off this spin-off is what made room for another season of Agent Carter, which I’d say is the right move. Speaking of which, there’s a new synopsis making the rounds for Peggy Carter’s sophomore season, which finds her in a brand new city:

Marvel’s Agent Carter’ returns for a second season of adventure and intrigue, starring Hayley Atwell in the titular role of the unstoppable secret agent for the SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve). Dedicated to the fight against new atomic age threats in the wake of World War II, Peggy must now journey from New York City to Los Angeles for her most dangerous assignment yet. But even as she discovers new friends, a new home — and perhaps even a new love — she’s about to find out that the bright lights of the post-war Hollywood mask a more sinister threat to everyone she is sworn to protect.

And for those Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans in the crowd, here’s the third season synopsis that was just released:

Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) embarks on a deadly new secret mission to protect the world from new threats in the wake of SHIELD’s wars with Hydra and a rogue faction of Inhumans.

– In their recent Milkfed Criminal Masterminds newsletter, Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick revealed that the former will be appearing on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” Thursday May 21st. How many comic book writers (or least writers that are primarily known for writing comics) have appeared as guests on American “late night” television at this point? We’ve had Harvey Pekar, Stan Lee, David Goyer and Brian Michael Bendis. Am I missing someone? Surely I must be. Bottom-line though, it’s a huge deal.

Their newsletter states that some big news regarding their deal with Universal will be dropping soon, so it’s very likely that this appearance will in promotion of that announcement. You can sign up for their newsletter here. I highly recommend it.

– On his Twitter feed, director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) announced that his newest project will be an adaptation of the French comic series Valerian and Laureline entitled Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which Besson will write and direct. The series, which kicked off in 1967, was created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and is described thusly per our friends at SuperHeroHype:

Valerian and Laureline are exploring Syrte, capital planet of a system of 1,000 worlds. Their mission is to discover whether the Syrtians could present a danger to Earth. What they find is a decaying empire led by decadent aristocrats, a population ripe for revolution, and a mysterious caste of masked wise men who discreetly pull the strings from hidden fortresses. Swept up by the winds of history, the agents of Earth will have to choose a side.

Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) and Cara Delevingne (Suicide Squad) will star in the film which is slated for Summer 2017.

– We’ve talked about it some, and it seemed like only an eventuality, but The CW has officially picked up the Arrow/Flash spin-off and has given it a real title: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

The series, which stars Arthur Darvill as Rip Hunter, follows the time-traveler as he is tasked with assembling a group of heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat, where both the planet and time itself is at stake.

Also appearing in the new series will be Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Ciara Renee, and Franz Drameh. Each either reprising their roles from Arrow and The Flash, or starring as new characters for the series, such as Renee’s Hawkgirl.

So, at the very least The Atom, the first Black Canary, Captain Cold, Heatwave, Rip Hunter, Hawkgirl and one half of Firestorm are heading up this team. Drameh’s character is the only mystery remaining, here’s how the casting rumors described his part:

“MYSTERY HERO” | An African-American male in his twenties will fill the role of a regular, street smart guy who unexpectedly gains powers, and then, as part of the team, regularly quips about the insanity of the situations.

– In exciting news for anyone that’s a fan of good genre television, ABC opted to renew Agent Carter, despite being a somewhat soft performer ratings-wise (averaging about 5 million viewers an episode). Showrunners Michelle Fazekas and Tara Butters are expected to return. Also, as expected, ABC renewed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for another season.

While I’m fairly lukewarm to negative on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the potential of Agent Carter is pretty tremendous, given its cast and concept. I rather hope that next season does the “ten year jump forward” bit that Hayley Atwell has mentioned in the past. It’s a series that could afford to shake things up somewhat, and really, who doesn’t want to see Peggy Carter in the “Mad Men era” or better yet, something Jim Steranko-inspired? Plus, I really just want to see John Slattery take over the Howard Stark role at this point.

– With this good news though, it looks like ABC only had so much room for Marvel programming, as according to Deadline, the proposed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off focused on Adrianne Palicki‘s Bobbi Morse will not go forward. Truthfully, that might have been a blow that its parent series might not have recovered from.

– Lastly, Hugh Jackman has confirmed that this next Wolverine entry will be his last, per an interview with an Australian talkshow:

This will be my last one. It just felt like it was the right time to do it. And let’s be honest, 17 years! I never thought in a million years it would last, so I’m so grateful to the fans for the opportunity of playing it. I kind of have in my head what we’re going to do in this last one. It just feels like this is the perfect way to go out.

It feels like Jackman says this every few years, but given that he’s starting to creep up in age (he’s currently 46) and the sheer torture he probably puts himself through to get into “Wolverine shape”, it’s surely for the best.

Despite hitting a series low ratings point in its desired demo just a week ago, ABC is apparently looking to spin-off their freshman Marvel television series according to Entertainment Weekly.

As for the subject matter, that remains a mystery, but here are the relevant details that EW was able to obtain:

We’re told a spinoff is being developed by SHIELD executive producer Jeffrey Bell (Angel, The X-Files) and SHIELD writer Paul Zbyszewski (Lost, Hawaii Five-0).

We don’t know is which characters from the current series will be moving over to the proposed spinoff – so let the speculation being on that. There won’t be an implanted pilot episode this season directly setting up the spinoff, either (like how CW launched The Flash out of Arrow). However, story elements that are still to come on SHIELD this year will be used to lay the groundwork for the potential new series. So by the end of the season – assuming the details for this project haven’t already leaked, which is rather unlikely – the spinoff concept should be clear.

According to TVLine, this also will not interfere with any potential plans for a second season of Agent Carter, so breathe a sigh of relief those of you (like me) that were worried this might spell doom for our favorite Marvel spy.

While, it’s hard to tell what this series will be about, the best guess I’ve seen is that it will be a Deathlok spin-off, given that the character *spoiler alert* made a surprise appearance in this week’s episode.

I can’t say I’m the biggest Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fan in the world, but much like I found The Flash to be a huge improvement on Arrow, perhaps whatever this series turns out to be will perform in much the same way. We’re sure to find out more in the next few weeks as whatever above-mentioned groundwork takes shape.

It was a slow news weekend on the entertainment front these past few days, but here are the the headlines that grabbed my attention in the past 48 hours:

– Both of the casts and creative teams for The Flash and Arrow were on hand at PaleyFest over the weekend. Nothing really earth shattering was announced, but there were a few teases that might excite fans, particularly for The Flash. According to TVLine, Greg Berlanti has hopes that they’ll tackle Wally West or Bart Allen, though no sooner than Season 2. They also hinted that the series will be adapting a major Flash comics storyline soon. Flashpoint, Crisis on Infinite Earths, or a meld of the two seem the obvious answers there, but who knows?

– James O’Barr‘s The Crow is getting another shot at the big screen, directed by Corin Hardy, and according to O’Barr, the film has already found its lead (per Dread Central):

O’Barr said that “Jack Huston has definitely been cast,” that he was “really happy with that choice,” and that the film “will shoot in a couple of months.” He also said the film will essentially be a straight adaptation of his original graphic novel, which differs quite a bit from the (still awesome) 1994 Brandon Lee vehicle.

Jack Huston is a fan favorite from Boardwalk Empire, so this makes for a fairly compelling choice. Whether or not the world needs another Crow film…I’ll leave that up to your discretion.

- The folks over at Latino Review have really been nailing the Suicide Squad news over the past week, dropping some choice tidbits about Jared Leto‘s Joker before the weekend hit. Now they have a few details regarding Batman’s appearance in the David Ayer directed ensemble picture:

According to sources, in the film Batman is some sort of big boogeyman that the government REALLY hates. Get this, prior to the events in #BatmanvSuperman, THE JOKER is the only one to really ever meet him or know him and that’s why he’s so important to Amanda Waller. They have footage of Batman in action which they watch. There is a bit of dialogue where they say Batman is the key to tracking down all “the supers.” Very cool stuff.

- I never find myself terribly excited about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a number of reasons that have been covered by enough people, but it was pointed out to me this morning by Hannah that in the most recently released episode synopsis, Lucy Lawless‘ Isabelle Hartley is coming back:

“One Door Closes” – War comes to Coulson’s doorstep in a way he never anticipated as shocking revelations are brought to light, and Skye struggles to control her new abilities but will soon make a decision that irrevocably changes her life, on “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Tuesday, March 31 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” stars Clark Gregg as Director Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Chloe Bennet as Agent Skye, Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz, Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons, Nick Blood as Lance Hunter and Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse.

Guest starring are Henry Simmons as Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie, Lucy Lawless as Isabelle Hartley, Edward James Olmos as Robert Gonzales, Jamie Harris as Gordon, Christine Adams as Agent Weaver, Kirk Acevedo as Agent Calderon, Cornelius Smith, Jr. as Case, Sai Rao as Susanna, Mackenzie Astin as Tim Maguire and Rick Otto as lead Hydra agent.

So, in other words, the pattern of no one ever actually staying dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues, then again, I guess that’s pretty true to the comics.

Hooray, it’s Friday! My weekend is going to be filled with Cowboy Bebop and early Miyazaki as I try to give anime a proper go. Hopefully your plans are even more fun! Here are your Friday morning headlines:

– It’s now official, Harrison Ford is returning for a sequel to Blade Runner, and replacing Ridley Scott in the director’s chair will be Academy Award nominated director Denis Villeneuve (Enemy, Prisoners). The new film will be scripted by Hampton Fancher, who co-wrote the original, and comics-scribe/Green Lantern screenwriter Michael Green (who is also working on the sequel to Prometheus). This story will take place several decades after the end of the first and is based on an idea of Scott and Fancher’s.

Does the world really need a sequel to Blade Runner? Probably not, and I say that as someone who thinks Blade Runner is the best science fiction film ever made. Though I can’t help but be curious as to what Villeneuve may bring to the table visually.

– CBS’ Supergirl continues to add to its cast as David Harewood (Homeland) will be joining the cast as Hank Henshaw, better known to comic fans as Cyborg Superman. In this series, Henshaw will be an ex-CIA agent that now heads up the Department of Extra-Normal Operations which monitors extraterrestrial threats to the planet. Sounds like an antagonist to me.

The series has also enlisted Chyler Leigh (Grey’s Anatomy) to play Alexandra “Alex” Danvers, Kara’s adopted sister. It’s worth noting, that every cast member added to Supergirl thus far has either been a female or a person of color, which I find to be a wonderfully exciting development.

– By way of the folks at Latino Review, here are some new Daredevil images from Empire:

– Last up, we have a nice poster by Gabrielle Dell’Oto for the upcoming March 3rd mid-season premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. focusing on the changes occurring in Skye and Raina:

Happy Monday everyone! Hannah and I took today off from our regular gigs, but I didn’t want a few of the more interesting headlines to pass us by…so, let’s take a look at what’s causing a buzz in the entertainment side of things.

– According to TVInsider, Jamie Alexander is returning to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reprising her role as Lady Sif from the Thor films and her guest appearance in the first season of the ABC series. Alexander will guest star in the second episode of the midseason, where Lady Sif will be struck by amnesia after a massive battle with a yet to be revealed villain. Though executive producer Jeffrey Bell states that the memories that she hangs onto will prove very important in the on-going Inhuman-based subplots of the series.

– Over the weekend, OK! Magazine (via SpoilerTV) reported a rumor that Angelina Jolie (Unbroken, In the Land of Blood and Honey) was offered $20 million dollars by Marvel Studios to direct their upcoming Captain Marvel feature. This rumor caused a bit of a stir online, but let’s face facts, Marvel has yet to offer any director that kind of payday and it’s hard to imagine they’d start doing that now ($20 million dollars was Christopher Nolan‘s take for Interstellar for example). Most sources I’ve spoken with in trying to follow up on this report state that the rumor is fiction. The one thing it gets right is that Marvel is likely looking to hire a female filmmaker for the property, and that is a very exciting prospect.

– Another unsourced story (from Cinelinx) floated around yesterday that NBC/Universal, in the wake of not renewing Constantine for a second season, would be moving it to SyFy and renaming the series Hellblazer. It’s a great idea, yet I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Sadly, barring a sudden surprise renewal announcement, the upcoming finale is likely the last you’ll seen of John and company.

– Production on X-Men: Apocalypse continues, and Bryan Singer, ever the busy tweeter/Instagrammer, has posted a photo of interest:

I know. Old door. But there’ll be something new behind it. #XmenApocalypse

A photo posted by Bryan Singer (@bryanjaysinger) on Feb 9, 2015 at 9:59am PST

It sounds like the Danger Room is returning if I were to hazard a guess.

The second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been slowly ramping up the Inhuman-related developments that have been in the series background for some time. Now with Skye aka Daisy Johnson’s (Chloe Bennett) abilities beginning to manifest per the midseason finale, it only seems natural that another of her kind would be needed to ease her transition.

So it goes that Luke Mitchell (The Tomorrow People) will be joining the cast as an Inhuman named Lincoln who will help Skye understand the true extent of her transformation. And yes, just in case it needed to be clarified, Skye is indeed an Inhuman.

Here’s what Marvel’s Head of TV Jeph Loeb had to say regarding the new addition:

With the revelations surrounding Skye’s true identity in the Winter Finale, we knew we’d be introducing more Inhumans as our story progressed…the charming energy Luke brings to the role will make him a character to watch as we continue our season.

Mitchell’s new character will surely be the first of many, given that The Inhumans are clearly becoming the backbone of both Marvel’s cinematic universe and publishing line. The day that Lockjaw appears on my screen will be a wonderful day indeed.

Happy MLK Day! It hasn’t been a terribly eventful Monday insofar as entertainment related news goes, but here are a few relevant links that you might find worth the click:

– Fox’s upcoming X-Men spin-off, Deadpool, starts shooting this Spring in Vancouver. Ryan Reynolds is back in the superhero world, and hopefully this trip will be better than his previous, all too painful, outing. I’m not terribly hopeful, but if the meta-jokes are allowed to fly, there’s a chance Reynolds sees some redemption…maybe.

– BleedingCool has a report about the spin-off of AMC’s The Walking Dead. They got their hands on the script of the pilot episode, and according to said draft, the series is entitled Fear The Walking Dead. I really hope that’s just a draft title and something better is around the corner.

– Collider recently posted a set of videos of a number of young actors and actresses auditioning for the roles of Kara Zor-El and Jimmy Olsen in CBS’ upcoming Supergirl series. The videos linked may have some possibly spoilery info for those hoping to avoid that altogether.

– Lastly, Clark Gregg spoke to building towards The Inhumans being set in place in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in an interview with Comic Book Resources. I especially like how he outright admits that the first half of last season was “treading water” as the writers waited for Captain America: The Winter Soldier to release. I appreciate that candor.

Straight from the offices of Publishers Weekly, it’s More to Come! Your podcast source of comics news and discussion starring The Beat’s own Heidi MacDonald.

In this week’s very special podcast the More to Come Crew – Heidi “The Beat” MacDonald, Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons – discuss the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, its positive impact on the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and compare Warner Bros.’s DC Comics movie slate to Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, all on PW Comics World’s More To Come.

Now tune in Fridays for our regularly scheduled podcast!

Listen to this episode in streaming here, download it direct here and catch up with our previous podcasts on the PublishersWeekly website, or subscribe to More To Come on iTunes

Agents of SHIELD—or as we call it here, that’s So Coulson—is returning from an Olympics break tonight, and it’s kind of do or die, and the producers know it. Launched with tremendous fanfare the program has managed to present a dull bunch of twerps having adventures registering on the adventure scale somewhere below the typical episode of Cupcake Wars.

But all that is changing! Bill Paxton is being added as a interesting character tough as nails SHIELD veteran, and next week we get Jaime Alexander as Sif and Deathlok is lurking as well because, to the surprise of many, AoS is set in the Marvel Universe! I had NO IDEA. Cool concept.

The producers chatted with CBR and Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon explains why the delay:

Tancharoen: There were times when we wanted to say, “Just wait for the back half!” It was always part of the plan to lay down a foundation and then bear its fruits in the back half. We’re happy that people are responding to it positively. We’re happy that people are enjoying the plan. It seems like it’s working.

Whedon: There were many reasons that we built the season that way — as I’ve said before, out of respect for the films and not wanting to overload a universe that has taken its time with big movie franchises with a bunch of heroes and people with powers. But we did try to plant the seeds and weave a web that’s not all coming together. We’re happy that people are responding well to something that we’ve been waiting to happen for a while. We’re über excited about the stuff that’s coming up. We think it’s only going to get better.