Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the top five stories in comic based Film & TV news!
Iron Man 3 Shows Mark VIII On Set In Miami
Robert Downey Jr. may have injured his ankle during shooting, but Shane Blacks Iron Man 3 is still pushing ahead. Not sure if Robert is back at shooting but his new suit certainly is. The new Mark VIII suit made its debut at this year’s Comic-Con and was met with mixed opinions. I wasn’t a fan originally but it has grown on me a bit since then and I would like to see this suit in action. Where’s the trailer at already, Marvel?
The blue suit to right is apparently not the Iron Patriot like we originally thought but instead is allegedly going to be Rhodey’s new War Machine armor. We mainly think this because of the clear US Air Force insignia stamped on the side of the new armor. I do not like the fact that the War Machine armor is almost exactly the same in appearance to the Iron Man suit! I think it will get confusing in a fast fight scene with them flying through the skies with explosions left, right, and center.
Images via [Collider]
Mark Millar To Take Control Over Fox’s Marvel Films
What a prestigious role to play with such a well-respected film company. Congratulations Mark. Oh by the way I am clapping slowly. Not shocking that Fox decided to do this since Marvel made billions on The Avengers and then got director Joss Whedon to helm their Marvel Cinematic Universe for Phase Two. So Fox wants their remaining Marvel properties to work a little more coherently under the watchful eye of Mr Millar. Nothing wrong with that, though I’d prefer if they would just give them back to Marvel. That’s clearly not going to happen so they might as well try and make them good.
Mark Millar has a rich history with comics and to be honest he is a smart choice to oversee Fox’s comic films. His most noticeable works are The Authority, The Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Civil War, Wanted, and Kick-Ass. In August 2007, he also won the Stan Lee award at Wizardworld in Chicago. He has the right background and so we will have to just wait and see what impact his involvement in the next Fox films will be. Fingers crossed its good.
These are Mark Millar’s words on taking the job:
“I really like the Fox team, love this bold new direction they have for their franchises and am proud to be working alongside some of modern cinema’s biggest talents. James Mangold is incredible, Matthew Vaughn’s one of my closest pals, and Josh Trank gave us, in my opinion, one of the greatest superhero movies of the last decade with Chronicle. The invitation to join this crew was maybe the coolest phone call I’ve ever had,” Millar said with characteristic understatement in a statement accompanying the announcement. Describing his new role as a “dream gig,” he continued, “I spent 10 years working at Marvel and am really happy with the work I did on the comic side of things, so the idea of working with these characters now in a brand new medium is enormously exciting for me.”
Interview via [Comic Alliance]
Ben Affleck Still Says No To Directing A Justice League Film
Talking to MTV, Ben Affleck has explained that he doesn’t want to direct any Justice League movie and he doesn’t understand where the rumors started. He never suggested to anyone he wanted the part or that he was approached for the directing role by Warner Bros. So in his defense the theory kind of came out of nowhere and I find it funny that he has to explain that point from now on.
These are his words about the suggested directing role:
“What happens is that there’s a lot of bloggers and Internet interest around superhero movies, so there’s regularly a rumor that comes up, obviously [with regard to] ‘Justice League’ once ‘Avengers’ happened they think, ‘Well it would be crazy not to make “Justice League,”‘ and I’m sure they will. I guess I should be flattered, and I’m sure it will be cool. I’ve seen some of the stuff from the new Superman movie and that stuff is awesome. I think they took a really cool, real approach to Superman, which no one has done before, so if that trend continues I’m sure ‘Justice League’ will be great.”
The reason that he won’t be involved, he says, is that he finds that he doesn’t really care to work on superhero movies at the moment, thanks to his experience with Fox’s Daredevil in 2003. But that he may work on a superheroes film in the future:
“I had a negative experience with the one comic book I liked, it was just a movie that didn’t work… It’s such a shame because first of all ‘Daredevil’ [is] a great book, great idea and then right after that they figured out that it was better to make the movies good and then they started making them cool and investing in them. I felt like I was in the 1930s with that outfit, the trousers: ‘Hey chum, hold up there! This fella’s trying to rob a bank!’ It was a drag but I did love it as a kid and they’re rebooting it.”
News via [Comics Alliance]
Captain America Looking for a Female Lead
Captain America is going into production early next year, but they still haven’t picked a female lead. The new lead is going to be a romantic interest to Steve Rogers, and although fans may know that Sharon Carter would be a safe bet as she is the niece of Steve Rogers Wartime love Peggy Carter. The real question though is who will play the role of the Captain’s new love interest.
The short list so far appears to include Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey), Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four), Imogen Poots (Fright Night) and Alison Brie (Community). They do appear to have got a mixed group of women for the role which makes for endless speculation. I think with Alison Brie having already worked with the directors of this film that she has a strong chance of getting the role, not to mention the draw she would bring from the loyal fans of Community (Yeah, she’s HOT!). But that’s just my theory as the casting could go to any of these ladies, to be honest they have all done some very interesting work and I am sure they would do a great job.

News via [Coming Soon]
Patrick Stewart Possibly Returning to X-Men
Rumors of a fourth X-Men film have been floating around the nerd vine for a while after X-Men: The Last Stand nearly destroyed the franchise. What a terrible film. The separate X-Men films First Class and Wolverine put us more at doubt that a fourth film would get made, but that they would continue the other independent X-Men stories. Well it might be more likely to happen now that Patrick Stewart teased us with a reply to a fan at the Montreal Comic Con this year.
SuperHeroHype reports:
At the 2012 Montreal Comic Convention, he was asked by a fan about returning to the series and he replied “I think there is every possibility” and then began to say the names of his female co-stars “Halle Berry! Famke Janssen! Rebecca Stamos! Anna Paquin!” Stewart then said, “yes, I’ll be reprising…”
Yes, he could just be messing with us. Yes, he might just be saying that he’d like to be in an X-Men film again. But with the sequel to First Class titled X-Men: Days of Future Past there might be a chance for him to reprise his role as present Professor and play along side his younger counterpart, which I would love to see and is perfectly possible in the time travel story line of Days of Future Past.
That’s it for this week!