Avengers 2: Possibly Featuring Vision and Ant-Man?

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.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

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.

Hero Express: Iron Man 3 Casting, Thor 2 Finds a Villain, & The Dark Knight Returns First Images!

Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the top five stories in comic based Film & TV news!

Edgar Wright’s ‘Ant-Man’ Close to Ready, but ‘The World’s End’ with Pegg/Frost Beckons First…

The Avengers has decided to earn a decent amount of change over the last week (probably the GDP of most small countries but minor details) so what’s next? Obviously we have Iron Man 3, followed by Thor 2, then Captain America 2, and another Avengers, but could there possibly be something more added to the mix? Edgar Wright shared a pic on his twitter detailing that since Disney and Marvel are all going Scrooge McDuck and diving and swimming in their profits, they decided to give Wright some confidence in his Ant-Man project. Yes, that one that has been in the works seemingly forever. But it would make sense to get him to the next Avengers movie. Also money talks. That too.

But first, and possibly more importantly, it looks like Edgar Wright is reuniting with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to finish what they started. They are coming together again to write and shoot The World’s End by the end of the year for a Spring 2013 release. Yes, you may geek out. Details you ask? Look below my friends via EW and Deadline:

20 years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hell bent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by mate Gary King, a 40-year old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their home town and once again attempts to reach the fabled pub, The World’s End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind’s. Reaching The World’s End is the least of their worries.

Yep. it’ll be cool. I’m glad Edgar Wright has a few jobs because we need him out there. Just because Scott Pilgrim solidified him as one of my favorite directors out there. He’s out there for the greater good. The greater good.

Hero Express – Iron Man, The Avengers, Spidey and The Punisher on TV?

Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the news filled world of superhero’s in Film, TV, Video Games and whatever else floats your boat.

This is the Hero Express for November 6th, 2011

Punisher series coming to TV – (Gamma Squad)

Fox is set to shoot a pilot for a new television show based on The Punisher. The series will be produced by Ed Bernero, who’s worked on Criminal Minds and the actual real life Chicago police force.

“[It will] focus on NYPD detective Frank Castle, whose alter ego is that of a vigilante seeking justice for those failed by the court system.”

Sounds like if it’s given a chance and enough mature content, we could get a Frank Castle worth watching.

Shane Black Speaks on ‘Iron Man 3’ – (Slash Film)

Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Jon Favreau’s replacement director for Iron Man 3, had some important things to say regarding the upcoming Tony Stark picture, beginning with a dismissal of The Mandarin as a possible villain. Black didn’t reveal any possible villains for the movie but denied the inclusion of The Mandarin, calling the character a “racist caricature”.

You’re saying “Chinese Magician” does NOT make for a great villain?

Black went on to say that while Iron Man 3 may refer to the other Avengers in the movie, there won’t be any super-hero cameos by other members of the team.

And now for the big stuff: Black confirmed that Iron Man 3 will not tap into the ‘Demon in a Bottle’ story arc.

“No, because if we go there — it’s part of Tony’s character, but I think the “Demon In A Bottle” aspect, if you go there, you really have to go there. The film then becomes about that, because the journey that involves recovering from alcoholism is an entire movie. I mean, I want to keep it dark and interesting and edgy and spicy and all those things, but I don’t think we want to go as far as to deal with Tony’s descent into alcoholic madness. That’s maybe not where we want to be.”

Later on, he went into what makes the franchise successful:

“Iron Man is a different type of property, in a way, because Robert Downey is a different type of actor, number one. If you look at the first “Iron Man,” the events of the story feels like the crossover between what’s in a comic book and what’s in real life. There’s always been the tendency to make Iron Man the real-world superhero who deals with things a bit more rooted in geopolitical reality and then have comic book elements added. What’s interesting to me about the first movie, and to some extent the second movie, is the character. If you’re really paying attention to the story, the more people care about the character, the more people will care about the outcome, I think.”

The interview in its entirety is at Comic Book Resources.

New Trailer & interview for ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’

Rhys Ifans, playing The Lizard in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot talked a bit at Comic-Con about director Marc Webb’s vision for the movie, and gave some insight to his approach to playing the Spidey villain:

Additionally, here’s your official teaser for the film:

Run-Down of Avengers Footage Shown at NYCC – (Superhero Hype)

As is the norm with Comic-Con footage, the Avengers panel showed attendees an exclusive scene from the movie that you won’t be able to find online or anywhere else. However as is also the norm,  you can read a description of the scene as transcribed by someone viewing it first-hand. Here’s a snippet of the scene, where Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) confronts Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo):

“The extended scene begins with a little girl running through the streets and crowded marketplace of what’s clearly India, arriving at the door of a building where a woman tells her to leave because “there is sickness here.” We go inside and we see that Ruffalo’s Dr. Banner has been working there, trying to help the sick people and the little girl pleads with him to help her father (both of them speaking in Hindi). He follows her out to a remote rundown shack on the outskirts of the city with goats tied up outside, and when he follows the little girl into the shack, she jumps right out the window.

It’s a trap!

Scarlett Johansson walks out of the shadows and says that for a man who is supposed to be avoiding stress, he picked a weird country to come to, and they have a bit of small talk in the way of introduction of what brought them both there. Banner makes a comment about the little girl they used to trap him, saying that “they’re starting agents very young,” and she tells him that she started that young.”

You can find the rest of the scene here, which you should definitely do right now.

And that’s all for The Hero Express this week!

Grizzly Review: ‘Cowboys and Aliens’

I wanted to like this movie so much more than I did, but it just wasn’t happening. Not to say I hated it, but it definitely could have used some work. That being said, let’s get to the premise of the whole tale.

Basically this fella wakes up with no memory of…. anything really. This movie probably set the record for the most times that the phrase “I don’t know” was used. One of the things he doesn’t remember is the metal bracelet on his wrist. This bracelet, as we know from the trailers, has the awesome ability to deal out seemingly endless ass whoopings to both aliens and humans alike.

He makes his way to the town of Absolution, a little place run by the Cattle Boss Woodrow Dolarhyde and his imbecile son Percy. Percy doesn’t really run anything, he’s just a downright turd who bullies everyone in the town because of who his father is. Our mystery man as it turns out is really Jake Lonergan, a wanted man for numerous crimes. After he is taken captive by the local law enforcement is when the real fun begins, because that’s when the aliens arrive. Their attack results in Dolarhyde’s dumb ass son, and many other townspeople being taken captive by the invaders, with Jake’s bracelet activating in proximity to their ships. He manages to shoot one down and the wounded pilot is their ticket to finding the captives that were taken.

 

The group to go after the alien and their people consists primarily of Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), Jake (Daniel Craig) and Ella (Olivia Wilde) who is a rather mysterious woman with a very keen interest in Jake’s past and missing memory. The tag-along company includes a Bartender named Doc who’s wife was taken, one of Dolarhyde’s cattle hands, and a preacher. Doc is played by an always excellent Sam Rockwell, and serves as a bit of comic relief as the man not accustomed to gun play or combat. Meacham the preacher is played by veteran of the screen Clancy Brown, who is a favorite actor of mine. Aside from Pet Semetary 2, Shawshank Redemption and the HBO series Carnivàle, this was the first extended role he’s had in a movie in a very long time, and it was good to see him in it.

I won’t explain anymore about the plot of the movie, so as to not give away any spoilers. The movie suffered from the many amnesia flashback scenes that Daniel Craig had. To me, the whole amnesia aspect only served the purpose of finding an excuse to put the wrist blaster onto Daniel Craig. If you look at it from a standpoint of trying to add depth to Daniel Craig’s character Jake it failed miserably. I like Daniel Craig and think he did a great job in the movie, but his character was just a shell that I really could have cared less about.

“No my name is not Indiana F–king Jones! It’s a different hat!”

Even though Dolarhyde’s son was a complete nincompoop, I still felt more sympathetic towards him because of his past as a soldier and depth of care for his son’s well being. That being said, Harrison Ford did a great job in the role of Woodrow Dolarhyde playing his usual gruff and stern self, but this time with a twinge of crazy to it. As the movie went on I liked him more and more, especially towards the end when he starts to take charge. There was a particularly touching scene with him and a dying somebody. (You’ll know what I’m talking about when it happens in the movie.)

Hell, Even Ella’s background was far more interesting than Jake’s once you find out what it is, but like I said I won’t spoil it for you guys. Needless to say Olivia Wilde was a great actress once more, while also managing to be one of the hottest women on the planet.

Kudos to her!

The aliens themselves were kind of one dimensional, but I did enjoy them. They were definitely scary enough and kind of reminded me of the Independence Day invaders the way their set of little arms emerged from inside of their large outer body. Some people though (Doc Kronner) only thought of our little disgusting friend Kuato from Total Recall.

GO KUATO! IT’S YOUR BERFDAY!

One thing that I did not enjoy about the aliens was their main reason for being on Earth. Most people would be fine with it I guess, but I just cringed when I found out. I was actually hoping that the aliens were going to have a translator of some sort so as to have some sort of communication with the humans, but they still worked fine as the more primal type of aliens who just like to kick primitive human ass.

“Come on 007. Haven’t you ever shot a wrist blaster? It’s like this!”

I wish Jon Favreau all the luck in the world, but I’m starting to think he may have just got lucky with Iron Man. Iron Man 2 wasn’t that great of a movie, and Cowboys and Aliens was just a step above that. His movies – though shot beautifully – are suffering from something I can’t quite pinpoint. Perhaps the writers (Orci and Kurtzman) were still a bit rusty from writing the piece of shit we call a movie Revenge of the Fallen. So maybe it’s really their fault.

Either way I give the movie a 2 out of 5 bears. Great presentation and cast, but it fell flat on story and utilization of the material. It could have been so much more, because it took out all of the bad from the graphic novel aesthetically, but the story from the graphic novel would have better suited the movie.

Marvel Movie Updates: Avengers, Captain America, and Thor

It’s time again for the latest round of Comic Movie News, and with the storm that’s hitting Hollywood now you better believe we have a doozy of an update for you. So grab a Hot Pocket and a comfy chair, settle in, and let’s get to it.

The Avengers – Scheduled to Open on May 4th, 2012

Filming has begun! One of the most anticipated superhero movies EVER started filming last week, and here’s the press release as well as the first pic from the set from SuperHeroHype:

Production has commenced today in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Marvel Studios’ highly anticipated movie “Marvel’s The Avengers,” directed by Joss Whedon (“Serenity”) from a screenplay by Whedon.  The film will continue principal photography in Cleveland, Ohio and New York City. Robert Downey, Jr. (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2”) returns as the iconic Tony Stark/Iron Man along with Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”) as Thor, Chris Evans (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) as Captain America, Jeremy Renner (“Thor,” “The Hurt Locker”) as Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo (“The Kids Are Alright”) as Hulk, Scarlett Johansson (“Iron Man 2”) as Black Widow, Clark Gregg (“Iron Man,” “Thor”) as Agent Phil Coulson, and Samuel L. Jackson (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2”) as Nick Fury.  Set for release in the US on May 4, 2012, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is the first feature to be fully owned, marketed and distributed by Disney, which acquired Marvel in 2009.

Continuing the epic big-screen adventures started in “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Iron Man 2,” “Thor,” and “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Marvel’s The Avengers” is the super hero team up of a lifetime. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster.

Based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1963, “Marvel’s The Avengers” brings together the mightiest super hero characters as they all assemble together on screen for the first time. The star studded cast of super heroes will be joined by Cobie Smulders (“How I Met Your Mother) as Agent Maria Hill of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as Tom Hiddleston (“Wallander”) and Stellan Skarsgård (“Angels & Demons,” “Mamma Mia!”) who will both reprise their respective roles as Loki and Professor Erik Selvig from the upcoming Marvel Studios’ feature “Thor.”

I just wet myself… 

“Marvel’s The Avengers” is being produced by Marvel Studios’ President, Kevin Feige, and executive produced by Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Louis D’Esposito, Patty Whitcher, and Jon Favreau. Marvel Studios’ Jeremy Latcham and Victoria Alonso will co-produce.

The creative production team also includes Oscar nominated director of photography Seamus McGarvey (“Atonement”), production designer James Chinlund (“25th Hour”), Oscar winning costume designer Alexandra Byrne (“Elizabeth: The Golden Age”), Oscar winning visual effects supervisor Janek Sirrs (“Iron Man 2,” “The Matrix”), visual effects producer Susan Pickett (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2”), stunt coordinator R.A. Rondell (“Superman Returns”), and four-time Oscar nominated special effects supervisor Dan Sudick (“Iron Man,” “War of the Worlds”). The editors include Oscar nominated Paul Rubell (“Collateral”) and Jeffrey Ford (“Crazy Heart”).

Chris Hemsworth talks a little with Splashpage about how The Avengers really puts the spotlight on each hero, and how he looks forward to the team assembling during a read through.

MARVEL has a lot going on…

With the impending release of Thor, Captain America, and the newest X-Men movie, Marvel is in the spotlight right now. Then there is also the future projects The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man 3, Wolverine 2, and The Avengers. Needless to say, its gonna be a busy couple of summers over at Marvel. Well, I thought we’d get a little caught up on some of it.

THOR – Opens May 6th, 2011

Relative new comer Chris Hemsworth will play the title role, while Geek-Goddess Natalie Portman will appear as Jane Foster, Thor’s longtime romantic interest in the comics.

Marvel just released a new extended trailer for the film that will introduce many non-geeks to the God of Thunder for the first time.

X-Men: First Class – Opens June 3rd, 2011

This is one, that despite having a director I like, I’m just not pumped for. X3 and Wolverine were so terrible I can’t allow myself to get excited for this yet, but SupaScoot did a pretty detailed writeup on it.

CAPTAIN AMERICA – Opens July 22nd, 2011

While Chris Evans isn’t who I had in mind when this movie was announced, I am hopeful that he’ll exceed my expectations. Director Joe Johnston however, does not excite me, so I have to remain skeptical…

The Amazing Spider-Man – Opens July 3rd, 2012

The reboot cast is highlighted with Emma Stone, Dennis Leary and Martin Sheen. The new Spidey though, Andrew Garfield is a mystery to me. Maybe that’s cause the only thing I’ve seen him in is Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974, and I don’t even remember him. But this picture looks awesome…

The Avengers – 2012

Joss Whedon is directing what will be the most ambitious Comic Movie project ever undertaken. This is what Marvel is banking it all on, set for sometime in 2012.

Below is a fan-made poster based on the upcoming project.

Iron Man 3 – In Pre-Production

The Iron Man franchise is in flux, and I couldn’t be happier about it. The first Iron Man was great, but the 2nd one was a bit of a letdown. Iron Man 3 will be a direct sequel to The Avengers. The first 2 movies were directed by Jon Favreau, who is now leaving the franchise. And while I like Jon Favreau, I love his apparent replacement – Shane Black.

If you’re not a movie dork you may not know Shane Black, but I’m sure you’ll recognize his work as a writer. He, in my opinion is batting a thousand. He wrote the first 2 Leathal Weapon movies, The Last Boyscout, The Monster Squad, Last Action Hero, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He also directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Black and Downey Jr on the set of KISS KISS BANG BANG

The Wolverine – Pre-Production

This video has nothing to do officially with the Darren Aronofsky helmed follow-up to the piece of crap Wolverine movie, but it is pretty damn cool.

This is pretty surreal, to think that piece of crap Wolverine movie is gonna spawn a sequel directed by one of the most respected Directors working now. The Wrestler, Black Swan, The Woverine?

Now, if you’ll be so go as to vote on this poll you won’t have to suffer the same fate as our mascot did at the hands of the Hulk…