We have updates on two major actresses confirming their roles in big superhero tentpoles, with Kiersey Clemons (Dope) confirming her Iris West will have a cameo in Justice League, and The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira confirmed to reprise her Black Panther role of Okoye in Avengers: Infinity War.
“This November, I’m making a cameo in ‘Justice League’ as Iris West and it’s the first time that you meet her before we get to see her in ‘The Flash’ with Ezra Miller,” Clemons told Modeliste. “It was my first time doing something so extravagant like that. We filmed in London and that’s one of my favorite places.”
Despite setbacks after her Dope director Rick Famuyiwa vacated the director’s seat of The Flash solo film, Clemons will debut Iris West in Warner Bros. Pictures‘ DC Comics adaptation of Justice League, which is set to open on November 10, 2017. In the comics, Iris West is the girlfriend and later wife of Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), and also the aunt of Wally West, who goes on to take up the Flash mantle. The DC Extended Universe film is currently undergoing extensive reshoots in London under the direction of Joss Whedon (The Avengers) after original director Zack Snyder departed post-production on the film following the death of his daughter.
Justice League, which features a screenplay from Chris Terrio from a story by Snyder and Terrio, stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, with J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, and Amy Adams as Lois Lane. While not in the official Justice League cast list released by Warner Bros., it is expected that Ciarán Hinds will play Steppenwolf, Amber Heard will appear as Mera, and Kiersey Clemons will appear as Iris West.
Meanwhile, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gurira is reported by Deadline to appear in Marvel Studios‘ Infinity War as Okoye, a member of the Dora Milaje, i.e., the elite personal female bodyguards of King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman). If you saw the recent kick-ass trailer for the February 16, 2018 release Black Panther, then you caught a glimpse of Okoye at T’Challa’s side (see above).
Marvel Studios’ Black Panther follows T’Challa who, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king. But when a powerful old enemy reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king—and Black Panther—is tested when he is drawn into a formidable conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people and their way of life.
Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman, reprising his Captain America: Civil War role, alongside Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, with Angela Bassett, with Forest Whitaker and, returning from Avengers: Age of Ultron, Andy Serkis.
The film is directed by Ryan Coogler and produced by Kevin Feige with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Nate Moore, Jeffrey Chernov and Stan Lee serving as executive producers. Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole wrote the screenplay, based on the Marvel Comics character who made his debut in 1966 during Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s epochal Fantastic Four run.
