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Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 14, 2015 in Comic Books 
Engineering student Albert Manero is the man behind the Collective Project, a program in which he and his crew provide 3D-printed artificial limbs to kids and families for free. It’s a really cool project, but it just got a little cooler thanks to Robert Downey Jr. showing up. The one and only Iron Man showed up to deliver a bionic arm to Alex, a young boy born with a partially-developed right arm. The arm they provide lights up and well, the fact that it was delivered by Iron Man is pretty cool. Alex is surprisingly composed for meeting one of his heroes! If only all marketing ploys were as helpful and uplifting! Read more…
Tags: Iron Man
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 11, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
It seems a bit spoilery to me, but the CW put out a promo for upcoming villains on The Flash. You’ve got your Weather Wizard, your Golden Glider, your time travel, all good stuff — but forget those guys. As mentioned a few months ago, Mark Hamill is returning to play an older version of the Trickster in an episode featuring a new copycat Trickster. Hamill previously played the role in the 1990 TV show The Flash, and while that show isn’t canon to 2014 The Flash series, get this: they’re using pictures of Hamill in that crazy outfit to reference this older Trickster’s criminal past. I love meta references like that! I wonder if he’ll have any scenes with John Wesley Shipp or Amanda Pays, who were on both TV series as well? Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Flash
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 11, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
As much as I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I have to admit that they have a villain problem. Other than a few notable exceptions (like Loki), the film version of these villains lack depth, whether it’s the fault of the script, the editing, or something else. It’s encouraging to see the first full trailer for Daredevil focus a good portion of the trailer on Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin. Maybe having 13 episodes to play with will give Marvel the time it needs to fully develop the character, who seems to be trying his best to do good things for his neighborhood, albeit using questionable methods. It’s going to be hard to wait a whole month for this. Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel, Netflix
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 5, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Admittedly, I’m not watching any more Avengers: Age of Ultron trailers, because I don’t want to see the same scenes over and over again and ruin their context within the film. I already know I’m going to see the movie. But that doesn’t mean readers shouldn’t watch this trailer, because from what I’m told, you finally get a good shot of the Vision’s face; the character has had minimal marketing so far, probably so people don’t ask too many questions about potential plot twists he’s involved in. Go ahead and watch, I won’t judge!
Read more…
Tags: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 3, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
In what isn’t a huge surprise, it seems that Drew Goddard may be writing and directing the next Spider-Man. While Goddard’s rep walked back initial reports that it was a sure thing, he apparently has a meeting with Sony to discuss the possibility. Goddard first joined the Spider-Man franchise when he left Marvel’s Daredevil (coming soon to Netflix) in favor of Sony’s Sinister Six spin-off of The Amazing Spider-Man. With that series officially dead and Sinister Six put back into development — which seems like the precursor to a mercy killing. Honestly, this just makes sense, so don’t be surprised when this is announced soon. Read more…
Tags: Marvel, Sony, Spider-man
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 27, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
The Josh Trank Fantastic Four film grows closer, and stills seems to be a bit of a mystery. Even with a teaser trailer, the movie seems to be a bit obtuse from a marketing standpoint. It doesn’t help that there have been negative rumors floating around during filming (mainly that Trank has been incredibly unprofessional). Those rumors haven’t really solidified since, but the lack of marketing and Fox’s general disregard for the film has been puzzling. Still, they released four new photos with Empire, and well… they sure are photos of the cast. Nothing really special though, and definitely nothing big enough to start the hype train rolling. Check them out below! Read more…
Tags: Fantastic Four, Josh Trank
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 21, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Jason Momoa and Zack Snyder promised that Aquaman in the upcoming Batman v Superman film would be “badass,” a term that not many non-comic fans would associate with the character. However, given that they cast Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and going by this first image of his costume, I have to say: he does look pretty badass. When they announced Momoa as the actor to play him, I definitely pictured a more Khal Drogo-esque Aquaman, and this fits the bill. It remains to be seen how much of a part he’ll play in the film, but hopefully Aquaman will be handled well and become a fan favorite. Read more…
Tags: Aquaman, Batman v. Superman
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 13, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
The Deadpool movie is still a year away, but that won’t stop Ryan Reynolds from teasing the costume on Twitter! The actor posted a sepia-tone photograph with the mask hidden in shadow… but you can still see it pretty well. Basically: it’s Deadpool’s mask. They’re turning away from X-Men: Origins entirely (as stated by Rob Liefeld) and starting fresh. Reynolds does joke that the “sepia tone disguises the fact the mask is ballerina pink.” Thanks to that leaked test footage, we’re actually seeing this movie come to life. Now let’s just hope it’s actually good, because Deadpool’s wisecracking style will be tough to translate to the big screen! Read more…
Tags: Deadpool
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 11, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Quick recap: when the company was going through hard times, Marvel sold the film rights to its most popular characters, which meant when they started making movies, they needed to turn their B-list heroes into stars. They’ve reacquired some of those rights, but X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man have remained in the hands of Fox and Sony. But since Sony’s Spider-Man movies have been floundering — The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is just awful — they’ve been talking to Marvel to try and get things back on track. Thankfully, they finally have a deal, and it’s great news for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Spider-Man’s back. Or almost back. Read more…
Tags: Marvel, Sony, Spider-man
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 10, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Superhero or superhero-esque stories are very popular right now, and in the last two years, we’ve seen a bunch of shows start airing on network TV, of all things. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, and Gotham may not be pulling in the usual network TV ratings, but they’re succeeding in their intended demographic and keeping pace with the CW’s Arrow and Flash. But NBC’s Constantine is not doing so hot, partially because of what they’re allowed to get away with on network TV, and partially because Friday night is a horrible night for new TV. As the future of the show is uncertain, a rumor has surfaced that NBC may move it to another one of its networks: SyFy. Read more…
Tags: Constantine, DC Comics, NBC
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 8, 2015 in Comic Books 
Marvel has slowly been working on making more diverse comics, and while it’s still not perfect, they’ve made some big strides. Their latest announcement is the A-Force, an Avengers comic featuring an all female cast. The roster will be lead by She-Hulk, along with Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru, and a new heroine called Singularity. The art for the series will be done by Jorge Molina with writing by the Ms. Marvel scribe, G. Willow Wilson, and Marguerite Bennett (Batgirl). This is a really cool setup (it’s part of Marvel’s Secret Wars storyline right now) and I hope it continues beyond that. Check out the full cover art below. Read more…
Tags: Marvel, The Avengers
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 5, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Many Marvel films go for a slightly more light-hearted tone, adding an endearing mix of humor and optimism to potentially dark events. Trailers may seem dark, but it’s usually just marketing for otherwise PG-13 adventure material, like Ant-Man‘s overly serious trailer for a film that’s actually described as a comedy. But on Netflix, they can play with more expectations, and the first of four upcoming series is Daredevil, which finally released a trailer for its April 10 premiere. With the Netflix series focusing more on vigilantes cleaning up New York (specifically Hell’s Kitchen in Daredevil), it’s not just visually darker, but tonally darker. I think we’re going to see a lot more blood in this series than any other Marvel movie to date. Take a look yourself! Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Feb 3, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Marvel has quite a nice cast shaping up for A.K.A. Jessica Jones so far. Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), David Tennant (Kilgrave), and Mike Colter (Luke Cage) were all previously confirmed, and last week Rachael Taylor (Patricia “Trish” Walker) joined. Now we’ve got Trinity from The Matrix stepping in. Marvel declined to reveal what character Moss would be playing, only saying that she was “a no-nonsense woman who could prove a powerful ally to Jessica…if Jessica doesn’t completely alienate her first.” That doesn’t really narrow it down, but she could easily be an original character too. Either way, it’ll be worth watching this great cast when A.K.A. Jessica Jones premieres on Netflix in early 2016, or if we’re lucky, late 2015. Read more…
Tags: Jessica Jones, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Feb 1, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Is there any actor who has fit into a role as perfectly as J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson? So many fans loved his portrayal of the cantankerous and outspoken EIC of the Daily Bugle that they’ve basically begged for him to return. I mean, how often do you get to see an actor and character pair transcend “movie universes” and reboots? Simmons could be the first and best! In a recent interview with Howard Stern, Simmons was of course asked about another Spider-Man movie: “I just heard that we…that’s a possibility.” When asked by Stern if he’d do it, Simmons replied, “Absolutely.” What Spider-Man film is Simmons talking about? Well, that’s anybody’s guess at this point. Read more…
Tags: J.K. Simmons, Spider-man
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 28, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, just like X-Men and Spider-Man. A lot of Marvel fans are upset about that and would rather Fox hand the rights back over to Marvel so they can make a proper adaptation. But that’s not happening, so let’s look at what we’ve got. Despite all the talk of stupid decisions like Doctor Doom being a blogger and a fantastic team being “grounded,” this actually looks pretty good. Despite being Marvel’s first superhero team, a lot of the aspects of the comic could seem more like a horror story; one guy gets turned into a monster! It’s not a bad idea to move their origin from space to an alternate-dimension experiment, taking inspiration from Ultimate Fantastic Four. So while I’d prefer this to be a lighter, more “out there” story in the vein of Marvel’s other films, I have to admit Trank and Fox’s version doesn’t look half-bad. Read more…
Tags: 20th Century Fox, Fantastic Four, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 27, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Part of my enjoyment of all these new Marvel movies and TV series is getting to know characters I never knew of before. The Netflix series fit that bill pretty well, because non-comic fans likely have no idea who Jessica Jones is. But A.K.A. Jessica Jones is the second Netflix series in production (after this April’s Daredevil), telling the story of a retired superhero who becomes a detective. We’ve learned that Krysten Ritter is the titular hero, while Mike Colter is potential love-interest Luke Cage (with his own Netflix series at least a year out). Now Marvel has cast their villain: David Tennant. Read more…
Tags: Jessica Jones, Marvel, Netflix
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 22, 2015 in Comic Books 
Remember how Marvel was teasing its next crossover event Secret Wars — a revival of their original 80s crossover — with ads for previous popular storylines, many of them alternate worlds? Well, they’ve clarified what’s going on, and though they won’t call it a reboot, it’s basically a soft reboot. Once Secret Wars #1 is out, “there’s no Marvel universe, there’s no Ultimate universe. It’s all Battleworld,” a world made up of countries formed from all the different Marvel universes. That means alternate realities like Age of Apocalypse will be mixing with 2099. The main focus will be on the main Marvel-616 universe colliding with the Ultimate universe, as the latter has been winding down as of late. Read more…
Tags: Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 16, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Rumors are fun! You also can’t always take them seriously. But this one has some heft behind it: over the past month or two we’ve seen tons of leaked Sony emails and an abundance of rumors that all point to Sony being in talks with Marvel. They want to do something with Spider-Man… but as usual with giant corporations, they’re getting hung up on all the little details. However, Da7e from Latino Review is reporting that according to their sources, the Marvel and Sony deal has gone through, and Spider-Man will feature in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1. It will not feature Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man. Still, it’s hard to really believe this until we see it, because hey: it still sounds almost impossible for the two behemoths to agree. But I sure do hope that this all works out in the end! Read more…
Tags: Marvel, Sony, Spider-man
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 13, 2015 in Comic Books, Television 
Unlike the shaky future of DC’s shared movie universe, DC’s shared TV universe is doing great. Arrow is getting a fourth season, while Flash is getting a second. But that’s not enough, because at least one more spin-off is coming, with the possibility of another in the wings. First is Vixen, an animated series to be streamed on CW Seed. Vixen was intended to be DC’s first African female superhero with her own comic series, but after that was aborted, she showed up later, becoming a member of the Justice League and Suicide Squad. Meanwhile, Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer, a.k.a. the Atom may see his own show, which seemed obvious once he appeared in Arrow‘s third season. Nothing is confirmed yet, but Arrow execs and WB’s president have a “general concept,” as long as there isn’t “audience fatigue.” I’m just happy to see that Routh isn’t on Hollywood’s crap-list like he was after Superman Returns. Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Green Arrow, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 13, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Were you already sold on Avengers: Age of Ultron after the first trailer? If so, don’t bother watching this second trailer. It’s got a lot of new, tantalizing footage, but all that will do is spoil you a bit more for the actual film. But if you were somehow on the fence, or you just don’t care, then soak up more shots of returning characters, big action, and dozens of little things to speculate endlessly on. Look, Age of Ultron doesn’t need much more promotion at this point beyond the final weeks before its release. It’s the sequel to one of the biggest films of all time, so people are going to go see it. But if you can’t get enough, expect more trailers and hints in the coming months. Read more…
Tags: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Jan 7, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
First promised back in 2006, Ant-Man has been on Marvel’s back-burner for years before going through several changes to the creative team. But surprisingly, not much has changed besides the loss of Edgar Wright. Ant-Man still promises to be a comedic heist movie in a superhero shell, though sadly, that doesn’t really make it across in this first teaser (human, not ant-sized). While the footage looks good, there’s little humor, with the trailer being cut like a normal superhero film. The shrinking bits look well-done, but I’ll admit, I was expecting more from this first look. Nothing looks wrong, but for a film about a more obscure superhero with a strange name/power, Marvel really needed to sell this better to those who have doubts. Still, have a look, and hope that the next trailer is more suited to the film they’re promoting. Read more…
Tags: ant-man, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 5, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
In one of the most open interviews Sam Raimi has done, the director has taken to talking about Spider-Man 3 and the circumstances surrounding it. On Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist podcast, Raimi hinted at the reasons behind the film being… generally not good, and said, “If a director doesn’t love something, it’s wrong of them to make it.” Hinting at his dislike of a certain popular villain character, when asked if he’d do it differently if he had a second chance: “[…] if I had a different story with characters that I cared about that I thought was engaging and true to the Spider-Man universe, yes. In a second. I love Spider-Man, so that was never the issue.” Listen to the full podcast to hear even more! Read more…
Tags: sam raimi, Spider-man
Posted by Ben Huber on Jan 3, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Actually, yes it is. Marvel has released a teaser… for the teaser trailer… for Ant-Man. It’s all very silly, and it’s also very, very small. The teaser for the teaser trailer has been released at an ant-sized resolution, making it not very useful if you want to make out any details, but incredibly useful for generating hype. The teaser trailer itself (in a human size) will air during the series premiere of Agent Carter on January 6th at 8PM ET on ABC… But that’s not the only teaser for a trailer Marvel released! They also teased a new Age of Ultron trailer which will arrive on January 12th during the College Football Playoff National Championship at 8:30pm ET. If you’re a Marvel fan, the next week or so should be pretty good! Read more…
Tags: ant-man, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Dec 30, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Vin Diesel’s latest Facebook post has rumors surfacing that Diesel may be appearing in Marvel’s fall 2018 movie Inhumans. See, Diesel posts these kinda strange self-affirmations, featuring himself, to his Facebook page. His new cover image shows him wearing a shirt with the comic book logo for Inhumans, with “Are You Inhuman?” behind him. (The phrase and font had previously been used in ads for “Inhumanity,” a 2013 event.) “But wait!” you say, “Vin Diesel is already playing a part in Marvel movies! He voices Groot!” Yes, but he doesn’t perform motion capture for Groot, and there’s a perfect part set up for him in Inhumans. Read more…
Tags: Inhumans, Marvel, Vin Diesel
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