Our Thoughts on X-Men: Days of Future Past Rogue Cut

X-Men: Days of Future Past was, for the most part, universally loved. It satisfied a lot of comic book fans, in knowing that the story wasn’t massively butchered or Brett Ratner’d (admit it, you were afraid). It satisfied the moviegoers because it retcon’d out X-Men: The Last Stand (maybe you can gather our opinion on the third movie from the last few statements). It also brought Bryan Singer back in the fold in the director’s chair, which he stepped away from in the last decade and let he-who-will-not-be-mentioned-again and Matthew Vaughn keep the seat warm for the triumphant return.

Exclusive Simon Kinberg Interview: Rogue, Apocalypse & The Future of X-Men

With X-Men: Days of Future Past coming out on DVD/Blu-ray on Tuesday, October 14, 2014, we get to view what is arguably the best of the X-movies right in the comfort of our own homes. Of course, there will be a lot of special features on the discs and we know that there will be some deleted scenes and features we’ll be dying to see, like the previous incarnation of the kitchen sequence. We know that X-Men: Apocalypse will be coming along in a few years with a gaggle of other X-Movies to accompany the franchise. One of the people shepherding these movies to a new phase is screenwriter and producer Simon Kinberg. Not only did he write and co-produce X-Men: Days of Future Past, he is also produced and wrote the new Fantastic Four reboot for 20th Century Fox, and helped create the Star Wars: Rebels series, so he definitely has a lot on his plate. We managed to catch a few minutes with Simon and found some great insights into this X-Trilogy, the deleted scenes for Days of Future Past, as well as the future of the franchise and what he’d like to see.

X-Men: Days of Future Past – First Look at Full Size Sentinel!

On Friday Bryan Singer gave us another peek behind the curtain for his upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past movie, this time revealing a full size Sentinel, and stood beside it for scale! As we reported last week, the X-Men: Days of Future Past marketing strategy seems to be really kicking into top gear now that The Wolverine and the other main summer super-hero movies are out of the way.

The Sentinels were first introduced in The X-Men (Vol. 1) issue #14 (Nov 1965) and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. According to Marvel canon, Sentinels are programmed to locate mutants, then capture or kill them. The Sentinel in Singer’s picture looks to be around 13 to 14 foot tall, which certainly gives it an imposing stature, but isn’t as nearly as tall as what we are used to in the comics were they are usually depicted as being around 3 stories tall.

As for the design itself? It differs significantly from the Sentinels we are used to in the comics and is even different in design from the Sentinel you may have spotted during the ‘Danger Room’ sequence in X-Men: The Last Stand.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the new design. I don’t think it evokes the terror that a Sentinel should. I do appreciate that things have to be redesigned with the times though. I also assume that within the context of the film they will also need to look a little cuddlier, being that they are initially introduced to the public as a policing force against the mutant threat.

Now, it is important to note that on the thigh of the Sentinel it does refer to them as SNTL2, what I expect is a mark-2 design. Bryan Singer did also caption the photo on Twitter with “Here’s to the next 50 years”. I suspect then that these may not be the only Sentinels featured in X-Men: Days of Future Past.  The recent viral posters also hint that they may get a little nastier.

X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theaters in the U.S.A on May 23, 2014. Let us know your thoughts on the new-look Sentinels below.

SDCC 2013: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ Panel!

X-Men: Days of Future Past has already had a somewhat impressive showing in San Diego this year. Early on we got our first look at  the head of a Sentinel, and then later new character portraits featuring Bishop, which was another first look. While no panel was on the schedule, fans were hopeful for something during Fox’s time at SDCC.

Not that unexpectedly, Fox did indeed have a secret panel yesterday for X-Men: Days of Future Past. Rather unexpectedly, The entire cast from the film appeared on stage, an then held a panel. It was pretty extraordinary to see that many people on stage, and there is no doubt the fans were surprised.

SDCC 2013: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ – Character Portraits & First Look at Bishop!!

While it’s still early in this years SDCC, Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past has already started to make a pretty big splash. Early today we got our first look at a Sentinel head (presumably a scaled down version of it) which you can check out here, and now we get to see a viral campaign based around Trask Industries, the creators of the Sentinels led by Peter Dinklage’s character Bolivar Trask. You can check out the new but relatively slim Trask Industries website, as well as some of the promotional materials from SDCC after the jump:

Hero Express: Captain America, Iron Man, and Day of the Future Past…

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

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Roy Hobbs confirms his involvement along with a UFC fighter

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]

What he might look like after Captain America gets to him.

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?

Iron Man 3

New TV spot and what is this about a Chinese Iron Man?

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.

Fan Bingbing

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.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Colossus returns, but sadly no Nightcrawler. Oh and more Fan Bingbing.

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!

Hero Express: Spidey’s New Suit, Nolan Producing ‘Justice League’, & Matthew Vaughn on ‘Fantastic Four’!

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

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Chris Cooper as Osborn, Marc Webb Reveals Set Photos, and the New Spidey Suit!

Horse whisperer – check. Homicidal closeted gay man – check. Traitorous spy – check. Orchid poacher – check.

What on earth is left for Chris Cooper to play? Apparently it’s Norman Osborn, aka The Green Goblin.

Cooper will join Jamie Foxx as Electro and Paul Giamatti as Rhino as they tackle Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield, of course) in the upcoming sequel. Will Cooper’s Green Goblin be on par with Willem Dafoe’s from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man? That will be difficult as Dafoe plays the unhinged supervillain so well, but if anyone is up to the task, it would be Chris Cooper.

If you follow no one else on twitter (besides Grizzly Bomb of course), make sure you follow The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s director, Marc Webb. He’s been tweeting photos from the set everyday and it’s always fun to get a look behind the scenes, and commentary from the director isn’t too shabby. Yesterday he sent out a picture of an upended car on top of a crushed cab… Rhino’s handiwork? [Ed. Note: I’ve included a shot of Shailene Woodley as MJ from the set. No reason.]

In addition to the day to day photos, some pics of the new Spider-Man suit have been released. Now you aren’t going to make everyone happy, and there were quite a few people displeased with the suit in the first film of this trilogy, but I like this one. The eyes look great, much better than the first attempt.

Now that filming is underway, I’m sure there will be plenty more in the way of news and such from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 so stay tuned!

Justice League

Christopher Nolan is Allegedly Producing with Zack Snyder Possibly Directing, and Christian Bale Might be Batman! But Probably Not.

I can not be the only person who feels like this movie has been in the works for decades now and with every passing day comes another rumor only to be shot down the following day. At this rate, my grandchildren might get to see a Justice League movie, but only if they are lucky.

The latest of these rumors was that Christian Bale was going to be returning as the Dark Knight, but that has been apparently dismissed. However, it was confirmed that Christopher Nolan is involved in some capacity, most likely as a producer. Also a producer is Man of Steel director Zack Snyder and there are hints that he might be directing Justice League as well.

Of course the biggest statement in the ComicBookMovie report is that we will probably not be getting much Justice League news until after Man of Steel is released on June 14th of this year. What that really means is we won’t be getting any “official” information but if it’s like anything else in the internet age, we’ll know plenty. It may not be completely factual but we will know it!

Fantastic Four

Vampire Hunter Scribe Takes a Stab at the Script, And a Producer is Named!

What do Pride and Prejudice, zombies, Abraham Lincoln, vampires, and Mr. Fantastic have in common? Well, thanks to the Fantastic Four reboot, Seth Grahame-Smith. He’s taken on the task of “polishing” the script and one can only hope that means this reboot will be much better than Rise of the Silver Surfer because I think we can all agree, that is a movie that just needs to be forgotten about, for all eternity. Burned from the annals of geek history. Grahame-Smith wrote the screenplay to last year’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Killer based on his novel of the same title (he also wrote the incredibly popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) and the Johnny Depp vampire movie, Dark Shadows. Also of note, he is the writer of the hopefully upcoming Beetlejuice 2.

Matthew Vaughn has been announced as the producer of  the FF reboot, directed by Josh Trank. Vaughn is obviously no stranger to the geek world with a resume including Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class, so I think we can rest easy knowing that the Fantastic Four family will be treated right.

Speaking of Matthew Vaughn and X-Men…

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Peter Dinklage, Richard Nixon, and Halle Berry!

Ever since Game of Thrones (and the movie Station Agent,  that everyone should see) actor Peter Dinklage was announced for X-Men: Days of Future Past, there has been speculation as to who he would be playing. Now it appears as if there’s a character emerging from the rumors as a front-runner.

[quote]But thanks to a tipster who prefers to remain anonymous, but is extremely reliable, we can tentatively confirm: Dinklage is playing Bolivar Trask, inventor of the mutant hunting robot Sentinels in the movie sequel. -MTV[/quote]

Obviously fans have been waiting for the Sentinels to feature into the story for a long time, and Peter Dinklage as any character in the world is fine with me.

While that is fun news, it’s still technically a rumor so it could easily change. However, director Bryan Singer has said that there is one person we are sure to see in Days of Future Past and that is none other than the 37th President himself, Richard Nixon. Apparently part of the movie is based in the ’70s, and Singer has promised that Tricky Dick has a role in the story. If I have no other reason to watch this movie, it will be to see how Richard Nixon factors into the X-Men universe.

Also official? Halle Berry is returning as Storm. Is there really much more to say on that besides an underwhelmed “that’s good, I guess, for her, maybe?”

Didn’t think so.

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!