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Posted by Bob Muir on Jun 4, 2014 in Comic Books, Videogames 
After the somewhat disappointing Batman: Arkham Origins, most fans are pretty excited about Batman: Arkham Knight, the third and supposedly final entry in Rocksteady’s series. While the game was originally supposed to be released by the end of 2014, that seems to no longer be the case. Now Rocksteady says the game has been pushed back to 2015, to allow more time to deliver “the awesome level of quality that Batman fans and gamers expect.” I’d imagine some of this is prompted not only by working with newer hardware — the game will release only on current-gen platforms: PC, PS4, and Xbox One — but also to make sure it’s much more impressive than Arkham Origins, which Rocksteady didn’t develop. I’ve always got a lot of games on my plate, so I don’t mind waiting. But still, it would be nice if most of the big games for these new platforms weren’t all coming in 2015 or later. Hopefully E3 next week has some good news for that issue. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Batman: Arkham Knight, DC Comics, Warner Brothers
Posted by Ben Huber on Jun 1, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
It looks like we finally know who our Thanos will be: Josh Brolin. That’s a pretty impressive secret to keep locked up, Marvel! Thanos will first show up in Guardians of the Galaxy, and then presumably in Avengers 3 as the final “big bad.” I think Brolin is a pretty good choice for this part, especially given that square jaw of his. No prosthetic needed! Marvel is doing their best to thread Thanos throughout the Marvel universe, getting him ready for his big debut, so I think it’ll get fans excited when he finally shows up. Let’s hope Brolin does a good job! Read more…
Tags: Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel, The Avengers
Posted by Ben Huber on Jun 1, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
So who have Marvel found as their replacement for Edgar Wright? It’s hard to tell. AICN was reporting the Adam McKay (the director of Anchorman) was directing it early yesterday, but then McKay claimed it wasn’t happening. Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) and Rawson Thurber (We’re The Millers) were also in the running. Whoever they pick will need to appease Paul Rudd, as a director leaving a film 8 weeks before shooting isn’t exactly a good thing. I’m sure whoever they hire will do an alright job on the film, but I still can’t help but wonder what Wright’s original vision would’ve looked like, completed. The Marvel film I was probably most excited for is now the one I’m most cynical about. What a shame! Read more…
Tags: ant-man
Posted by Bob Muir on May 29, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
Drew Goddard leaving Marvel’s Daredevil show (coming to Netflix) in order to concentrate on making The Sinister Six for Sony was a bummer when we learned it last weekend. But thankfully, Goddard’s replacement seems well-picked, and now we know who will be playing the titular role. Charlie Cox will play blind lawyer Matt Murdock who becomes the vigilante Daredevil. You may recognize Cox from his roles on Boardwalk Empire and Stardust, and now you’ll be watching 13 episodes of him on Netflix, in the first of several various superhero series that are planned. As someone who is eagerly devouring anything connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe lately, I’m pretty excited to see what Marvel can do with Netflix. Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel, Netflix
Posted by Bob Muir on May 28, 2014 in Comic Books, Videogames 
It’s good that the disappointing Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes didn’t kill the series. After the much more enjoyable Lego Marvel Super Heroes, it’d be nice to see a Lego game that incorporates all of DC well. That’s what Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham promises when it releases this fall on pretty much every platform you’d imagine: PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, and 3DS. 150 unlockable characters must work together to stop Braniac from destroying Earth. Expect to collect lots of Lego studs along the way. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Lego
Posted by Ben Huber on May 25, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Something is definitely going on at Marvel this weekend. Latino Review has broken a story, reporting that Drew Goddard (director of Cabin in the Woods and writer on Cloverfield and many TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has left the Daredevil series. Daredevil was part of Marvel’s deal with Netflix to debut several heroes on streaming TV series via the service, and Goddard was intended to write and direct the first episode. He’s also no longer the showrunner. Instead, THR is reporting that Steven S. DeKnight (another Buffy writer) will be taking over the project. Weird stuff is happening at Marvel… I just can’t help but wonder what. Perhaps it was just Goddard’s upcoming film, the Sinister Six, that got in the way? Read more…
Tags: Daredevil, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on May 25, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man was one of my most anticipated upcoming Marvel films. Everything about it seemed like a perfect match, from Wright’s directorial sensibilities to the unique take on the character he’d offer. It was great to see Marvel on board with a riskier project too, and they were behind it for the better half of a decade as Wright finished other films! But very abruptly, Wright has left Ant-Man and will no longer be directing it, due to “differences in vision.” Odd, considering Marvel had a script in hand for years. Latino Review claims that Marvel brought in two writers to rewrite the script significantly, which caused Wright to leave. Joss Whedon and Simon Pegg also tweeted out their support for Wright, so it definitely appears to the public that Marvel handled this poorly. I wonder where this will go next? Read more…
Tags: ant-man, edgar wright, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on May 22, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Remember how ridiculous it was that we still didn’t know the name of Batman vs. Superman, the sequel to Man of Steel? WB has finally confirmed the name, and it’s not that great. Yes, the film will be called Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I kind of figured that they’d keep the temporary title in some form, but changed “vs.” to “v.” makes it sound like a court case instead of a confrontation. And while I know that the subtitle is supposed to be a reference to the Justice League sequel that will come next, “Dawn of Justice” just sounds like the empty, hollow kind of subtitle that means nothing. Why not something classy, like “World’s Finest”? Or if you want to set up Justice League, why not “Mere Set-up for a Bigger Movie”? It’ll be just like Iron Man 2! Read more…
Tags: Batman v. Superman, DC Comics, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on May 21, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Disney didn’t just buy Marvel so they could rake in the money from The Avengers. The first Disney adaptation of a Marvel IP is coming out November 7, 2014, and it’s a comic that’s rather unknown by the average person. Big Hero 6 is a Japanese superhero team that worked in Japan, at least in the comics. For this movie, Disney changed the setting to the made-up San Fransokyo, a combination of San Francisco and Tokyo. (I’m a bit iffy on that, due to the history of whitewashing in American films, but I’ll go with it.) In these images, you can see 13-year-old genius and main character Hiro Hamada (renamed from Hiro Takachiho in the comics) and his big robot bodyguard Baymax (which can synthmorph into a dragon in the comics). Baymax looks a little pudgy, but otherwise things look good. Now all we need is a trailer. Read more…
Tags: Disney, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on May 18, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
We’re getting a new Guardians of the Galaxy trailer on Monday, but Marvel can’t wait to share their excitement with you, so they’ve released two 20-second teasers… for the trailer. Soon we’ll be getting previews of teasers for trailers. And you’ll like it, too! There’re a lot of little snippets in these teasers that have me interested in the full film, but I hope this new trailer will pull people in better than the first one. I mean, I loved it, but that’s just because I’m already sold on the concept. It seems the average movie-goer isn’t yet sold on a talking raccoon riding a walking tree yet — which is just patently disappointing. Check out the teasers below! Read more…
Tags: Guardians of the Galaxy
Posted by Bob Muir on May 14, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Fans were somewhat apprehensive that Ben Affleck of all people would be playing Batman in Zack Snyder’s Batman vs. Superman (and also Justice League, apparently). Once some fans pointed out that these complaints mirrored the drama surrounding Heath Ledger’s casting as the Joker in The Dark Knight, which turned out to be a great call, everyone calmed down and went into “wait and see” mode. Now we have the first picture, courtesy of Zack Snyder himself. It’s not a great look at Affleck, and it’s in black-and-white, but it can’t be denied that the suit looks great. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Man of Steel, Warner Brothers, Zack Snyder
Posted by Bob Muir on May 13, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
Two weeks after I complained about DC and WB not taking full advantage of their comic adaptations, NBC put out this trailer for Constantine, a new TV series airing this fall based on the Hellblazer/Constantine comics, previously published under DC’s Vertigo imprint. And damn, this blows the trailer for Fox’s Gotham out of the water. Unlike the Keanu Reeves movie (which was enjoyable, but not actually a faithful adaptation), this looks like a real, well-made version of the original comics. Go on, watch this trailer and tell me you’re not excited to see a con man magician fight supernatural beasties as they creep into our world.
Read more…
Tags: Constantine, DC Comics, Vertigo, Warner Brothers
Posted by Bob Muir on May 7, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
Good news for Batman fans who weren’t satiated by the Dark Knight Trilogy, the critically-acclaimed Arkham series of videogames, and the upcoming Batman vs. Superman: Fox has picked up Gotham, a police drama centered on Jim Gordon and set before Bruce Wayne became Batman. Ben McKenzie is portraying a younger Gordon, while David Mazouz is young Bruce Wayne and Sean Pertwee is Alfred Pennyworth; Jada Pinkett Smith, and Donal Logue are also supporting cast. And naturally, there are some villains involved. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Fox, Gotham
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 29, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
We all knew that Warner Brothers and DC wanted a piece of that sweet crossover pie that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been enjoying. But instead of doing several related movies as origin stories (like Man of Steel) and leading into a big team-up, they’re starting with the second movie in their new franchise: Batman vs. Superman (which should really have an official name by now). After many, many rumors since 2013 about a big team-up movie, Warner Brothers’s president of worldwide production Greg Silverman has confirmed that the third film in this series will be Justice League. And it will be directed by Zack Synder. Here’s where I begin to sigh. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Justice League, Man of Steel, Superman, Warner Brothers, Zack Snyder
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 27, 2014 in Comic Books 
I won’t even use a spoiler-y header image, just in case you don’t want to know who’ll be killed off next in the Marvel universe. But read on to find out! Surprise: it’s Wolverine. They haven’t specified how he’ll die yet, but it’ll be part of the “3 Months to Die” series where Wolverine loses his regenerative abilities. It’ll be a miniseries titled “Death of Wolverine, ” which is maybe a bit too on-the-nose for me. I suppose it’ll make it easy to find, though. According to Marvel executive editor Michael Marts, the repercussions will be felt throughout the Marvel universe. Until 6 to 9 months from now, you know, when Wolverine comes back from the dead. Maybe a year, max. Comic book characters never stay dead. Read more…
Tags: Marvel, Wolverine
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 26, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
The cast for Batman vs. Superman grows even larger! Yes, apparently Cyborg will feature in the film as well, played by Ray Fisher. The actor had also tested for a role in Star Wars Episode VII, but I imagine he won’t be doing that now. He recently finished up a stint playing Muhammed Ali in a stage play in New York. His role will reportedly be fairly small, so I imagine they’re attempting to prep in any way possible for an eventual Justice League film. Although, at this point, this movie could very well just be the Justice League film with the cast they’ve got: Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, and Jeremy Irons as Alfred. Fisher should get a more prominent role as the universe expands since Cyborg is an important member of the Justice League. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Man of Steel, Superman
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 18, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Here’s the third and most lengthy X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer yet, featuring a large amount of plot explanation. You know, just in case time travel is confusing. Granted, it’s not always done well, but I’m sure this doesn’t look very simple to the average moviegoer, so I can understand the desire to market it this way. However, given some recent allegations regarding Bryan Singer, I’m not sure I want to give him my money anymore. I think I got most of the plot from the trailer anyway! I’ll check it out on Netflix someday. It does look like a competent culmination of all the X-Men films so far, though, so if you want most of the plot, check out the trailer below. Read more…
Tags: X-Men
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 16, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Renowned composer Hans Zimmer composed the soundtracks to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy of films and also Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. Naturally, fans have wondered whether or not he’d return to score Batman vs. Superman (or whatever WB ends up calling it). Zimmer had previously mentioned he likely wouldn’t do it, since he’d fear producing the same kind of output instead of anything new. However, it seems like he’s had a change of heart. Apparently after he finishes scoring Nolan’s Interstellar, “head over to where Zack is shooting his movie and just hang out a bit and see if we can come up with any ideas.” It’s good news for fans of the composer, and if Ben Affleck’s Batman is presented in any similar manner to Christian Bale’s Batman, it might be interesting for him to reference his previous score. Read more…
Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Man of Steel, Superman, Warner Brothers
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 4, 2014 in Comic Books, Videogames 
Do you like bears? Do you like Russian bears? Do you like washed-up mercenaries fighting bears? And most importantly, do you like hats? If you said yes to any of those, you should probably check out the third installment of the Team Fortress 2 web comic. This bi-monthly comic… er, tri-monthly… actually, it’s been almost four months since the last one. Let’s just Valve Time applies to their comics too. Still, they’re definitely worth the wait, and add a lot of hilarious backstory to the Team Fortress universe. Check out parts 1 and 2 here, then jump into the latest one. Lastly, Valve also announced they’re making a moon base level for TF2. Just thought you should know. Because that’s awesome. Read more…
Tags: Team Fortress, Valve, webcomics
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 25, 2014 in Comic Books 
After over a year, Marvel is about to wrap up The Superior Spider-Man, the storyline where a reformed Doc Ock’s mind is in Spider-Man’s body. Peter Parker is coming back in The Amazing Spider-Man #1, but what will be waiting for him? Pretty much every Spider-Man ever created, apparently. The next story will be Spider-Verse, and it will be pulling in “every” Spider-Man from across multiple universes. I say “every” because there are a few rights issues preventing characters like Spider-Boy (a DC crossover) and Spectacular Spider-Man (because Sony co-owns the cartoon of the same name). But otherwise, you’ve got them all! And apparently Morlun, one of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes, is back from the dead, which can’t be good for any Spider-Man. If you want more hints as to what may happen, check out the Free Comic Book Day issue, because there will be a five-page back-up story. Read more…
Tags: Spider-man
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 22, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Sony Pictures has released the final trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which features about as much bombastic action and special effects as you can fit into a 2 minute and 40 second timeframe. It definitely looks like Spider-Man! I hope it will be better than the first film, but the huge amount of villains does make me wary. We have heard that the Rhino is barely in the film though (apparently only 5 minutes) so not only does that lighten up the load, it also means that we’ve probably seen a third of the total footage of the Rhino in trailers and teasers! Check out the full trailer below. Read more…
Tags: Marvel, The Amazing Spider-Man
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 14, 2014 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Here’s a little pile of interesting Marvel news for all you Kevin Feige fanboys out there. We knew for a while that Marvel had a movie scheduled on the same date as Man of Steel vs. Batman, but we didn’t know what film Marvel would match up against it… until now. It’s Captain America 3. That’s a pretty ballsy move! It just shows how confident Marvel is in their battle versus DC. In other Marvel news, Kevin Feige also brought up Hulk and Hawkeye, mentioning that they’ll have significantly bigger parts in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Also mentioned was the potential for Agent Coulson to return again — and we’ll apparently get more details soon. Let’s hope! Read more…
Tags: Avengers: Age of Ultron, captain america, Marvel
Posted by Bob Muir on Mar 5, 2014 in Comic Books, Videogames 
Reviews of Batman: Arkham Origins were mixed. Some liked the familiar gameplay, while others saw it as a buggy rehash of Batman: Arkham City by Warner Brothers’ b-team. Regardless of your opinion, I think we can all agree that the series belongs in the hands of developer Rocksteady, which is just what is happening. Batman: Arkham Knight will be the final game in Rocksteady’s trilogy and feature the Scarecrow as the main villain (as hinted in Arkham City). Two-Face, the Penguin, and Harley Quinn will be in the mix, with the latter playable if you preorder, though it’s unclear if they’ll be story sections or challenge maps. Batman can also freely ride in the Batmobile, newly redesigned for this game, though reminiscent of the Tumbler from Nolan’s Batman films. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Batman: Arkham Knight, DC Comics
Posted by Ben Huber on Mar 1, 2014 in Comic Books, Television 
He looks like the Flash, alright.
Were we expecting anything different? It’s really hard to get those full-head masks to look right, though. This one looks okay. I can appreciate the attempt to keep the lightning bolts on the side. Colleen Atwood, who designed the Arrow’s costume, designed this one as well. The pilot for the Flash TV series will begin filming very soon, aiming at release in the 2014-2015 season on the CW. It also aims to be part of a larger DC universe the resides on TV — whether these TV characters will ever cross into the feature film realm is unknown yet. It could be an easy way to test the waters, though! Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Flash
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