Yesterday we brought you the big news and some of the descriptions from the Marvel Studios Panel, which did not disappoint. Today we actually get to watch the entire Marvel Studios panel, minus the footage that was shown.
After the jump is the entire Marvel Studios panel, in all it’s glory:
Joss Whedon made a huge splash at the Marvel Studios panel today, when he announced the title to the Avengers sequel, and shocked the crowd.
But before we get to that let’s talk about the rest of the panel (which you can watch here) showcasing some footage from both Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The new footage from Thor was introduced by a fully costumed Tom Hiddleston as Loki, which Hall H ate up. You can check his intro after the jump:
Continue reading SDCC 2013: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, and More from the Marvel Studios Panel!
I am a Marvel fan. Time to be real, get a little personal, Marvel is my slow jam. So over the last few years I have been known to get crazy excited for the Marvel Studios panel in Hall H. There has been an impressive display every year since the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, leading up to the huge unveiling last year of Marvel’s Phase Two. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a lover of all comics, and I’m excited for the potential of a DC Cinematic Universe, but this year it’s Marvel.
This year we can expect more from Phase Two, including some probable first looks at the next slate of films. Probably some casting news and more revelations regarding Phase Three, which so far includes Ant-Man and Doctor Strange, plus 3 mystery movies we previously discussed here.
Continue reading SDCC 2013: Preparing for the Marvel Studios Panel, & Catching Up on the MCU
Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the top stories in comic based Film & TV news!
I’m sure there could be a more random casting, but I’d have to think about it. However, Robert Redford signing on for the new Captain America might be my new go-to example. When it was first announced, I wrote it off as a ridiculous rumor but lo and behold, Mr. Redford himself confirmed it on stage at the Indie Focus Screening Series.
[quote]”I’m doing this film because it’s different. It’s a new thing for me… I think these films are really powerful. I think they’re great. This is the kind of film I would have loved to see as a kid.” – Robert Redford via LA Times[/quote]
In addition to the fabulous Robert Redford, word has been circulating (starting with the Latino Review) that MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre has been cast as Batroc the Leaper. The real shocker in this headline is this is not Georges St-Pierre’s first film role. Oh no, he’s had the honor of being a part of some real cinematic masterpieces such as Death Warrior and Hell’s Chain. One might say he could be the next Robert Redford.
While we are on the subject, why not enjoy a Captain America: The Winter Soldier trailer?
I almost expected the headlines to read “Kid’s Choice Awards ratings skyrocket as thousands of fanboys tune in to catch new Iron Man 3 TV spot”. While no one went with this headline and I have no idea what the ratings for the Nickelodeon awards show were like, there is no doubt in my mind that there were people watching for no other reason than to see this.
Not much that in addition to previous trailers but it was fun to see anyways. With a little over a month left before the movie’s release date, it’s time to get excited about Iron Man 3.
Fans in China are no doubt as excited as the rest of us and they should be even more excited as their version of the Marvel studios film with be just a little bit longer than the rest of the world’s. The studio announced that the Chinese version will include bonus footage of a Chinese actress named Fan Bingbing cast as “Dr. Wu’s wife” but they did not say how the extra scenes related to the plot, if at all. Guess we’ll just have to wait until the illegal copies make their way to eBay to find out.
No really, I’m able to mention Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (let’s be honest here, that is a kickass name) twice in one post. Not only is she going to appear in the Chinese version of Iron Man 3 but it looks like she’s going to be in the new X-Men as well!
Bryan Singer took to twitter a bit ago and posted this
3 #Oscars, 6 #GoldenGlobes, 1 #BAFTA, 2 #Emmys, 2 #Tonys, 5 #Oliviers, 1 #Ceaser – Now let’s blow s**t up! #XMEN twitter.com/BryanSinger/st…
— Bryan Singer (@BryanSinger) March 15, 2013
with the following picture attached.
So everyone we expected – Hugh Jackman, Ellen Page, James McAvoy (yum), Patrick Stewart (sexiest bald man alive), Peter Dinklage, and who is that? Oh that’s just Daniel Cudmore which means he is reprising his role of Colosses from X-Men: The Last Stand. Not only that, but the aforementioned Fan Bingbing is there and on her IMDb profile it says she is going to be playing Clarice Ferguson aka Blink. [Ed. Note – The editorial staff would just like to express how much we love this news as Blink is one of our favorite characters, the Age of Apocalypse was awesome, and she doesn’t get the love she deserves…]
All these names are great and wonderful, but I think we can all agree it would be better is Alan Cumming were mentioned amongst them. Unfortunately there will be no Nightcrawler in Days of Future Past. Don’t worry Alan, we’ll always have Spy Kids.
That about does it for this edition of Hero Express! Let us know what you think of these stories in the comments and we’ll see ya next time!
Some big casting news on the Captain America: Winter Soldier front as it looks like Steve Rogers has found his new leading lady. According to reports, Emily VanCamp of Revenge fame has scored the coveted leading role for the new Marvel film.
This comes off the heels of the news that Hayley Atwell will NOT be returning to the sequel, which is sad but necessary considering she’d be about 90 in the sequel. Still, it would’ve been great to see Cap get some closure with her Peggy Carter character, especially after a great deleted scene from the Avengers where he sees her file and lets it linger as the scene documents his struggle to adjust to modern times.
Regardless, this should be a good addition for the cast, in which she shall see Anthony Mackie playing Falcon and a possible return for Bucky (Sebastian Stan) if the storyline holds with the comic version of Winter Soldier. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) are also rumored to be in the story as well, so we should expect the good ol’ Avengers team crossovers still taking place to connect these Phase 2 movies into the Avengers sequel.
Although I have not seen Revenge, I keep hearing good things about it (well, at least the first season). I do remember VanCamp from Everwood so it’s just fun to see that she has slowly graduated from a WB show, to headlining an ABC show, to now the female lead in a huge big budget Marvel movie. She should be a good choice for the role and will be interesting to see what character she will play. Sharon Carter might ring a bell, but whether they reposition her as a relative to Peggy or someone else, I guess time will tell. The directors are Anthony and Joe Russo, who come in with an Arrested Development background (or at least that’s what I choose to reference them to) and the release date will be April 4, 2014. This will follow Iron Man 3 this summer and Thor: The Dark World in November. Guardians of the Galaxy, helmed by James Gunn, being the final piece of the Phase 2 puzzle coming out in 2014 before we get Avengers 2. Ant-Man has been confirmed as the start of Phase 3, with them gunning at a late 2015 release for the Edgar Wright film.
Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the top five stories in comic based Film & TV news!
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]
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]
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 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]
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!
We all know what’s slated for Phase 2 of the Marvel movie plan. The ambitious three year plan will culminate in The Avengers 2, which is due to melt your eyeballs on May 1st, 2015. One of the big questions though is what characters will be introduced in the sequels (Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2) and the new flicks in the fold (Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man) that might be involved in the Avengers sequel. Right now we’re going to concentrate on two of the heroes that could make their way into the lineup: The Vision and Ant-Man.
First, the Vision stuff. There’s been a lot of chatter about the Vision and who should be cast. Vin Diesel has been the one major actor that wants to throw his hat in the ring. According to GammaSquad, the Diesel himself posted a profile pic on his Facebook of the Vision before taking it down.
Obviously if we got our news from Facebook pages, all I would gather is people like to shove political views down my throat, claiming their intelligent views are supreme despite the fact they can’t tell the difference between the words “your” and “you’re”. Basically we’re going to take this with a grain of salt. While I have no doubt that Vin is lobbying heavily for this role, we are going to take the ‘wait and see’ approach. After all, he’s not even the popular choice to take on the role. That would be…
Agent Coulson himself, Clark Gregg. Despite the creepiness of seeing someone take the initiative to plant the seed in our heads with the image above (courtesy of Comics Alliance), you have to admit it would be cool despite the fact that it would go against the extremely convoluted comic canon, which frankly there is no way they’ll adhere to anyhow.
Of course, we all know what happened to Agent Coulson in The Avengers, and if you don’t, stop reading right now and go watch the damn movie. Regardless, Nerd Reactor asked Clark Gregg about the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show. For spoiler reasons, I’ll let you know that the link throws out Agent Coulson’s status in the Avengers movie in the first sentence so *SPOILER ALERT* I guess.
Now let’s explore what Gregg had to say about the Vision:
“You know the Vision is synthetic with a soul, sort of, and he’s an amazing character who I loved when I used to read those comics. I love the idea of Coulson as that guy, but I don’t know if that’s in the cards.”
I love Agent Coulson. He felt like part of the team, having brought them together for the finale, and being in all the films because Samuel L. Jackson can’t be the only one building his IMDB resume by the minute. Again, this would defy the comic continuity, but who knows, I think we can trust Joss Whedon to make the right decision on this one, right?
As for that next character, Ant-Man. We know that Edgar Wright is doing At World’s End with his boys, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost right now. Where does that land the Ant-Man movie? SlashFilm is saying that we could see it in two different scenarios: After The Avengers 2 movie, or perhaps even in the middle of Phase 2. The biggest indicator is that they are citing sources stating that after Thor 2 is done filming, that Ant-Man will occupy the same lot immediately afterwards. Of course, he’d also be into post-production on At World’s End so this could prove to just be wishful thinking. Marvel also seems to want to keep to the schedule of two Marvel movies each year, and with Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 occupying 2013, and Captain America 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy taking on 2014, there might not be enough room for Ant-Man.
However, if we stick to the Vision showing up in the Avengers sequel, we NEED Hank Pym to show up and set the stage – so stay tuned. I’m sure we will have more news as it comes because it seems to be coming out at a good pace now with the hype slowing building.
You may have seen her when she first appeared in Up in the Air, or maybe when she was in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Oh, please tell me you didn’t see her in any of the Twilight films. If you did, that’s unfortunate, but at least you know about her then. Anna Kendrick is one of those actresses you definitely want to remember so fifty years from now you can say to your grandkids, “I remember some of her first performances.” 
Recently, Kendrick’s name has buzzed about the geek world not just because of her voice talents lent to ParaNorman, but also because she is up for the lead female role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Both Imogen Poots and Felicity Jones are also being considered for this position; one of them will most likely be playing Peggy Carter’s niece, Sharon Carter, though this character has only been rumored and not confirmed. [Ed. Note – both of whom have starred opposite of Anton Yelchin; Poots in Fright Night and Jones in Like Crazy] 
Now that all the female lead choices have been revealed, the blood bath has already begun. Heated arguments about which actress should get the lead have already popped up all over the internet, with most being in Kendrick’s favor. Brendon Connelly of Bleeding Cool says, “If we’re thinking of the casting in a ‘credible’ way, with both creative and commercial integrity, I think Kendrick probably has the edge on most counts: she’s cut-yourself sharp, well-known and well liked, and has great acting chops” [BleedingCool].
Cinemablend agrees with Connelly’s analysis of the female lead. Though both Poots and Jones are British and have the upper-hand in the accent realm, Cinemblend believes we should “never rule out Kendrick, who snagged an Oscar nomination for her first major role in Up in the Air, and seems tenacious enough to tackle a natural British accent in no time” [Cinemablend].
Yet don’t be too sure, state many film, comic book, and geek fans. Many believe Kendrick is not right for the role, right down to her looks. One person commented on Cinemblend’s report that “Imogen Poots looks and sounds like a great actress to play Peggy Carter’s niece in Cap 2. She looks more like Hayley Atwell than either Anna Kendrick or Felicity Jones, and she’s much better looking than Kendrick or Jones.” Some argue that looks are not everything, but others have pointed out that Kendrick is plainly too young for the niece of a woman from the 1940s.
My thoughts? I have never seen Jones or Poots act before, but I have watched Kendrick, and I think she’s wonderful. Based solely on my previous impressions of her, I think she could pull off a British niece of Peggy Carter, but I do agree with those who have said she looks too young for the role. I would prefer to see a natural-born British woman who is slightly older steal the screen in The Winter Soldier, but I don’t want to make any judgement calls until I see Jones and Poots act, either in The Winter Soldier or otherwise.
Joss Whedon, come on down! You’ve just been chosen to continue on the path of greatness and while adding to your god-like status amongst the human population! According to several news sources, ranging from the Hollywood Reporter, EW.com, Newsrama etc., Joss Whedon is back in the saddle as your writer and director for Marvel’s The Avengers 2.
In the deal, Mr. Joss “I Own The World, Bow Before My Awesomeness” Whedon, signs a deal with Marvel Studios that keeps in the fold through the end of June 2015. In that, he will cover his duties as director and writer for The Avengers 2, as well as helping develop a live action series for ABC and, according to the Marvel Studios’ press release, “will also contribute creatively to the next phase of Marvel’s cinematic universe.” Basically, as I have read it, he will take the Jon Favreau role in making sure that the universe that Marvel Studios has cultivated will be ushered into the next set of movies, culminating in The Avengers 2 movie. You can bet that the TV show will deal in the Avengers universe and it is safe to say that it is NOT the Guillermo del Toro Hulk series being developed for ABC apparently. Excited much? Yessir. Let us face it, Joss Whedon knows his characters and his television. While not successful all the time in terms of nielsen ratings, his television shows always are great and at least will cater to the cult crowds and die hard geeks his drops his wisdom on. Plus if it’s set in the Marvel Universe, umm, insta-hit?
A live feed from the Whedon household after the deal
From a Hollywood perspective, this should be zero surprise of course. The Avengers has made 1.5 BILLION worldwide. A large part is because not only the commercial acclaim of putting together the most brilliant way to market your movie (uhh, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger? Yeah, those were basically marketing teasers for that movie, profitable ones too at the very least), but the critical acclaim that got people coming back for more. The onus on Whedon and Marvel was making sure the characters were enjoyable to watch and developed to where they both electrified the screen individually AND as a team. Whedon solidified the Marvel Studio’s universe in this movie because he made sure this ambitious project did not implode like a dying star. With egos and sheer enormous size of this project, this could have been an unmitigated disaster with everything that was going on but instead, Mr. Firefly himself controlled the movie and its stars (and the future of this universe) and made sure the next several movies are events flicks that people of all walks and sizes will need to see. 
So let’s recap, this will be Joss Whedon’s universe for the next three years and with Iron Man 3 for May 3rd, 2013; Thor: The Dark World in November 8th, 2013; Captain America: The Winter Soldier for April 4th, 2013; Guardians of the Galaxy launching on August 1st, 2014; with possibly Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man figuring into the equation too, this will probably confirm Avengers 2 hitting theaters in 2015, right when the contract ends. Not too mention the TV show that, crossing my fingers and just a hypothetical guess, will probably be S.H.I.E.L.D. related? Excited? You know it baby. So much that this ScarJo pic will be used to match the badassness of this news.
It’s here. It finally happened. My most anticipated panel of this year’s CCI has arrived and started with a bang. I’ve got a few great news stories to discuss with you today, not the least of which is Iron Man’s new armor, Cap and Thor sequels officially titled, and the announcement of Marvel Studios’ 2014 movie! Let’s get to it.
Grizzly Bomb 