Wizard World Announces Los Angeles Comic Con

We have had a blast at our first day at the Anaheim Wizard World Anaheim Comic-Con! When we first got there we noticed that we were among a handful of other podcasters and instantly began to imagine a weekend of rivalry, trash talk and nefarious pranking. None of that happened (yet). We sat next to the nice folks at Comic Impact and had a wonderful time chatting it up with comic fans, cosplayers and droids.

Wizard World announced that they will launch a Los Angeles Comic Con for two days in September. The Comic Con will be held at the at the enormous Los Angeles Convention Center.

That’s right cosplayers! If you didn’t have enough time to get your Cloak or Dagger outfit together for Anaheim—you just got five months to make it work.

We hope to see you today at the Con!

More Drama! More Havok! More Cleavage! Another New ‘X-Men: First Class’ Trailer Debuts

The more I see from X-Men: First Class, the more I am absolutely thrilled to see it. Matthew Vaughn and team seem to be embracing what was important about the first, and especially the second, X-Men films: the human drama. Fans usually cry out for all of their favorite characters to get the big-screen treatment, but the thankless task of bringing a dozen super-powered characters into a single two-hour film often goes unnoticed. The trick for the filmmakers is to feature these men and women with amazing powers, and tell a compelling story, and ground it in enough reality that we’re not grimacing over the ridiculousness of the whole affair.

There have been a host of trailers for the film that opens in about a month, both international and domestic, and each one has different wow elements interspersed with strong dramatic elements. This is what an X-Men film needs to be.

X-Men: First Class opens on June 3^rd.

New 'Green Lantern' Character Posters Released

 While there are definitely different levels of excitement, I am officially excited about the four major comic book adaptations this summer: Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and X-Men: First Class.

Right now I keep waffling between Captain America and Green Lantern. Both of those films seem to be tapping into my inner-child and I think I know why. I get a serious Star Wars vibe from Green Lantern and a Raiders of the Ark vibe from Captain America. Not that I expect—or need—these films to live up to those golden apples from my childhood, but these comic book adaptations seem to be bringing the a similar imagination and excitement.

I continue to grow more excited for Green Lantern with every new clip or poster. I think the character designs for the famous GL supporting cast have been spot-on. The filmmakers have perfectly adapted Sinestro, Tomar Re and Kilowog. Check out the new character posters released by Warner Bros. this week.

Green Lantern lands into theaters on June 17^th.

Wonder Woman's DNA

As a fan of superhero comics I am looking forward to DC's Flashpoint series.

As a fanboy I am looking forward to Flashpoint's Wonder Woman mini series.

Why?

Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (A.K.A. DnA).

They hardly do me wrong. I have been a fan since their Legion run back in the early 2000s.

CBR has an interview with them about their two Flashpoint mini series, Wonder Woman and Lois Lane.

Check it out here.

Action Comics 900

In the pages of Action Comics 900 something happened.

Yes Superman fought Lex Luthor, Yes a surprising twist was brought to the “Reign of Doomsday” storyline and yes Action Comics now has 900 issues published.

But the story that is getting headlines is that Superman has renounced his US citizenship.

People are pissed.

In the story Superman is scolded by a member of the U.S. President’s Security staff when he shows up in Iran to take part in a protest.

The staff member gets into it with Superman about how his actions will affect America.

Superman then rips up his passport and craps on it.

No he didn’t do that. Superman makes the choice to renounce his U.S. citizenship rather than have his actions seen as a statement from any government or a country's policies.

Couple of things.

First off, I know Superman’s tag line or his banner rather, is Truth Justice and The American way.

So I understand that many will see this as Superman (or DC) spitting on the flag.

Secondly, think about it people, he’s Superman. Can he really be cut off at the country line?

He hasn’t in the past, and when he’s saving everyone from Brainiac or Mongul I am pretty sure he’s saving the world and not just the United States.

This is going to be a debate and it will be interesting to see how DC moves forward with this, but as a HUGE Superman fan I don’t see the big deal.

I actually hope this wasn't some small story not meant to be taken with a whole heart. I hope this turns into issue in the comics and both ideas are addressed.

But really, come on, he's Superman, the most powerful superhero in the world!

Not America.

This isn't a big deal.

Though his membership in the JLA might be revoked.

'Smallville: The Complete Series' Box Set Announced

It’s time to test your Smallville love.

Warner Bros. announced the Fall release of their comprehensive DVD release of the long-running series with Smallville: the Complete Series. No word yet on whether there is going to be a total Blu-Ray conversion of the series (the series is currently available in the high-definition format beginning with season six).

This package is nonetheless impressive and a must for the Smallville junkie and features some unseen goodies such as an unaired Superboy pilot from 1961, the show’s final Comic-Con panel from 2010, and a 90-minute retrospective of the series—if it’s as goose bump-inducing as the series montage from last year’s Comic-Con (below), it will certainly be something special.

'Avengers' Script Available to the Highest (and Most Naive) Bidder

Nick Fury would have never let this happen.

According to Obsessed with Film someone claiming to have a hard copy of Samuel L. Jackson’s Avengers script is putting it up for sale to the highest bidder. Which begs the question, how dumb would you have to be to attempt to publicly sell property that does not belong to you? Add this to the equation—the property belongs to Disney.

Consider that a few months ago, when the site Comic Book Movie put up a review of the Thor script, Paramount lawyers convinced the site to take down review within an hour of its posting. Remember the guy who posted the rough cut of X-Men Origins: Wolverine to a file sharing program? He was sued for $250,000.00 and faced up to three years in prison.

Matt Holmes at OWF noted in his post:

“If I were to do a review of the new shooting script for The Avengers and it was exclusive to OWF, the boost in traffic would probably kill our server on that particular day but then what happens after that? Disney, one of the biggest corporations in the world will send me a cease and desist letter within 24 hours, the article will then be removed and we will be left with The Avengers script we paid several thousands of pounds for (I’m presuming that’s how much someone will pay but in reality I have no idea) that we can’t talk about.”

Holmes is right about cease and desist letter—but it would probably be received within 24 minutes. I can’t imagine what kind of money the script “owner” thinks he could rake in that would outweigh the ringer Disney’s lawyers could put him through. I say, just read it, sit on it and keep it as a prized momento on your book shelf.

And if you’re a little curious about the script, OFM did take a picture of one of the authentic looking pages that features Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow and Bruce Banner. It’s a brief scene, but it got me excited for what we’re going to get from Joss Whedon’s big superhero pic.

Antje Traue as Faora?

Per Variety actress Antje Traue,(Pandorum) maybe the female villain in Zach Snyder's film Superman: Man of Steel.

If what they say is true the German actress is gearing up to play Faora, an evil Kryptonian and Zod's right hand woman.

In the Richard Donner films this character's name was changed to Ursa, not really sure why, but still, it's the same idea.

Of course there have been a few other takes on the character. Variety points out that another Faora was a meta-human (super human) with the ability to disrupt molecular bonds.

She allied herself with General Zod as he brought holly hell down on Superman's life, while at the same time laying down plans to overtake the U.S.

Regardless, it looks like the next Superman film is being set up to be action packed romp with alien supermen and superwomen.

Please Don't Spoil My Movies!

I knew of a big end credits scene when I saw Iron Man,
but I had no idea how big!

Do you like to be spoiled?

Generally I do not mind reading spoilers as long as they are on my terms—and it can never be about a movie that I plan to see. If I’m not planning to see a movie I’ll ask you to spoil everything—partly because I’m curious and partly because I love the trepidation on the person’s face. “Are you sure?” the person asks, certain they’re breaking some unwritten celluloid law.

Cape Town Community Mailbag: Comic Book Reviews 4/20/11

Someone listened to us! Christian, a new listener to our podcast, sent us a link to his YouTube page (carnivalofsins0) and we are happy to share it here. Christian reviews some of the week’s new comic books and uses his own unique  rating system:

Buy it, Borrow it or Toss it.

So Christian, I agree with you on Green Lantern #65 being a better book than Green Lantern Corps #59—Corps wasn’t bad, but like you said, not a lot happened. I expect the story to pick up again in Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #9.

It looks like our opinions diverge on Super Dinosaur #1. I might pick it up a second time based on where the story goes on the final page. I agree a million percent with you on Avengers #12—I’m not a fan of Romita’s art on this title and the book is not living up to its potential.

I skipped you Iron Man review because I haven’t read it yet, so I’ll compare notes later! Once again, I totally agree with you on Wolverine, but I think I enjoyed the first arc more than you. Daniel Acuna’s the man!

Thank you so much for sharing your reviews!

--Don Ventura

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #160 Quesada Variant Cover

Hey guys...Ultimate Spider-Man is in the middle of its Death of Spider-Man story and many fans are asking,

"what exactly is going to happen to Peter Parker"

Well today Marvel released this variant cover by Joe Quesada.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #160 hits shelves on June 22.

New Captain America Photo

You know, we should make a superhero calandar. I think we have enough for 5 years.

Here is a new photo of Steve Rogers: Super Soldier.

Via SHH you can see Chris Evan speaking with MTV about playing Captain America.

Check it out.

Two New Green Lantern Posters

Meet two more members or the Corp.

Green Lantern: After Dark

The Green Lantern Corps seems closer than ever these days.

A few weeks ago I was a bit shocked by a panel that Bleeding Cool had clipped from Green Lantern: Emerald Warrior #8. Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner are stuck in the freezing cold and Guy decides to refresh himself with a shard of ice. But, the panel on its own looks… well, judge for yourself after the jump (this is a family site kids).

New 'Justice League' Titles May Be on the Horizon

Bleeding Cool is reporting that a little bird—that didn’t sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement—told the site that a new Justice League International book can be expected after the biweekly Justice League: Generation Lost wraps (the final issue will be released this week).

There is no word on the creative team on the new book, but it would an injustice for anyone but Judd Winick to get this book. Winick has proven for the last year that he has his thumb on what makes these characters work—he’s developed great chemistry among this beloved team of misfits while telling a fun superhero yarn, connected by one gripping cliffhanger after another.

Bleeding Cool also notes that this will not be the only new Justice League book to be hitting the shelves. I get the sense that DC may be learning there’s money to be made when a solid franchise is armed with strong creative teams.

This lesson in franchising has been brought to you by Avengers, New Avengers, Pet Avengers, Avengers Academy, Avengers Prime, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade, I Am an Avenger, and Secret Avengers.

International 'X-Men: First Class' Trailer: 6,000 Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Fan trailers don't come out as often as X-Men: First Class trailers. I'm not complaining though, because each one seems to give us another cool shot or two that we haven't seen in previous trailers. In this latest international trailer we see two new scenes.

First, there a new clip of Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) using his sonic scream to soar at super speed above the ocean. And it looks pretty damn cool. Next, although brief, we have a shot of Sebastien Shaw (Kevin Bacon) using a power that would give anyone above the age of 32 an immediate heart-attack (he can rechannel energy). Check out the screen shots after the jump.

X-Men: First Class opens on June 3rd.

'The Avengers' Began Filming Today! Wait. Who's the Villain Anyway?

The cast of The Avengers at 2010's San Diego Comic-Con.

The day Joss Whedon has anticipated—and feared—has finally arrived: the first day of shooting on The Avengers.

Jerry and I had one of our diversions on the podcast this week and my co-host said something that struck me—there seems to be a veil of secrecy when it comes to next summer’s big, ambitious summer adventure. Until this point we have only heard rumors and conjecture as to who the villain is.

Smallville: The Super Ten

After ten years Smallville will finally end.

(tear)

To celebrate 10 years of Clark Kent adventures I thought I would look back and pick out one episode from each season that I thought was "Super". It's hard to pick out the best (or worst) but these are the single episodes that stuck out to me.

So here we go starting with season 10...

Season 10: Episode "Scion"
We can assume that the last episode is going to be one we've all been waiting for but for the purpose of this post, I am going with "Scion". Mainly because I was completely taken by surprise by the out from left field introduction to Smallville's take on Conner Kent. Starting with this season's premier we knew that a clone of Lex Luthor was running around. The last of a series of clones created by Cadmus Labs. Each one had aged rapidly and died with in weeks. But one of them was unique. He survived because someone (yet to be identified) used Clark's DNA to slow the aging process. This was a fun and creative twist to the Conner Kent from the comic books.

Evans and Jackson in Times Square to Film Possible 'Captain America' Scene

Spoiler Warning!

Well I guess we know that Steve Rogers and Nick Fury will be introduced at some point in this summer’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Because principal filming has been completed for months, it’s possible that this could be another after credits scene after Cap wakes up in the present (check out the video below).

Director Joe Johnston was on hand in Times Square this weekend to direct a scene between Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Chris Evans (Steve Rogers), which supports evidence that this scene is for Captain America and not The Avengers (which is expected to begin filming today). I’m just guessing, but this makes me think that Captain America is set almost wholly during World War II and not for only about 80 percent of the film as has been previously rumored.

It’s been stirring around in the old noggin for a while now—just how are the filmmakers going to end the movie on a high note while still displacing Steve Rogers from his own time? It would seem that this necessary scene would leave a sour taste in audiences’ mouths if their hero is suddenly ripped from everything he knows and everyone he loves. We’ve got a few months to see how director Joe Johnston and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have addressed this.

Captain America: The First Avenger hits theaters of July, 22^nd.

Cape Town Community Podcast - Ep. 014 - "Wig or Salon? The Hairy Dilemma of Karen Starr”

We haven’t hidden any Easter Eggs in this week’s show—but there’s much to enjoy in this week’s batch of comics (unless they’re new Image or IDW titles). We were unusually hard on some of the new titles published this week—they had a hard time capturing our fancy. Such is the nature of a review dear listeners. However, there was a lot of good to be had in the reliable superhero standbys this week.

The show is embedded below and is now available on iTunes for subscription. Each episode will labeled "podcast" so you can link to previous episodes here on the blog. Refer to the Show Notes after the jump as well as a direct link to download the MP3.

Happy Easter!

Have an eggsellent Easter everybody!

First Glimpse of Lex's Return to 'Smallville'

There were two things that just had to happen in the Smallville finale: First, Clark had to finally don the cape and tights (if even for the briefest of scenes). Second, and in my book, more importantly, we needed the return of Lex Luthor.

Any fan of the Man of Steel knows that Superman has one lifelong nemesis and that’s Mr. Luthor. After his departure from the series in 2008, Michael Rosenbaum has been reluctant to say the least to returning to the series. After announcing through his people last February that he would not appear in the final season of the CW’s long-running series, he had a change of heart a few days later—I won’t speculate whether or not the tremendous fan uproar was the cause of Rosenbaum’s decision to reappear as Luthor one final time. Whatever it was, I’m just glad he did.

The important thing about Lex and Clark, as it relates to the universe established in Smallville, is that their acrimonious relationship has really only just begun. Fans of the series need to see these two come to a head one last time, before their destinies as one another’s nemesis flourishes.

Rosenbaum told TV Line this week that he was nervous being back on the set again with series star Tom Welling. “To jump back into that role and start quoting Sun Tzu, and I’m looking at Tom,” said Rosenbaum. “It felt so surreal.”

The CW released the trailer above today—our first glimpse at Lex’s triumphant return to the series. I expect that Clark will be made well aware that life is going to be made a whole lot tougher by the closing credits of the series finale.

The two-hour Smallville finale airs Friday, May 13^th, on the CW.

Invincible: Thoughts

Hands down my favorite book is Robert Kirkman’s “Invincible”.

I can only praise Kirkman’s work on this title because I don’t read any of his other stuff.

Like most people I thought the six episode run of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” was fantastic, but I never read the source material.

I hear it’s good.

I don’t want to come off as snob but when it comes to funny books I mostly go for superhero titles.

I do read non-superhero titles but they don’t give me the same charge as the ‘tights and flights’ books do.

At the top of that list is “Invincible”.

SPOILERS BELOW

 

Green Lantern Poster Features Tomar-Re

This new poster speaks for its self.

Side note: in the comics Tomar-Re is the Green Lantern for sector of space were Krypton was. His greatest failure was Krypton's destruction.

Bachalo Joins Bendis on 'Avengers' for 'Fear Itself' Tie-In

While I have been reading Avengers for the last year since its relaunch, I have not been loving it. Part of it has been due to Brian Michael Bendis’ apparent desire to throw everything-but-the-kitchen-sink into the action. Unfortunately, I haven’t found John Romita, Jr. to be a good fit for the title because I don’t believe his strength is big action set pieces. I’m happy to see Chris Bachalo taking on the Fear Itself tie-in arc beginning with issue #13. His current run on X-Men has been some of the best work of his career and, based on these preview pages, he seems like a great fit for Avengers and the big, fun stories that Bendis has been aiming for.

Alan Davis—who draws a great Thor—will provide the cover for the series during this run.

Marvel Releases Loads of New High-Res 'Thor' Pics

Thor is everywhere! The God of Thunder has TV spots, he’s on the cover of Men’s Health, and he’s got his own Slurpee cup! Yeah, Thor is primed to hammer his way into the hearts of audiences around the world as his film is set for release in theaters.

Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures has released a gaggle of new high resolution photos featuring all of its cast in and out of action. There’s nothing particularly spoileriffic about the pics—these are new or clearer shots of what we’ve seen over the past few months.

There are several shots of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). There are also new pictures of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Heimdell (Idris Elba), Frigga (Rene Russo), Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Josh Dallas), and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg).

Thor hits theaters on May 6^th.

'Wonder Woman' Pilot Gets Rejiggered with Action

I am really hopeful that Wonder Woman is a fresh, funny, exciting take on the Amazon Princess that captures a solid audience upon its premiere.

Not only because I want to see a superhero property succeed on television—one where the protagonist wears a costume while performing acts of derring-do. I want Wonder Woman to succeed because the series from David E. Kelly has been so unabashedly maligned after the release of a script review of a draft of the pilot and the release of a series of viciously criticized still photos of lead actress Adrianne Palicki in costume.

To add fuel to the fire, io9 reported yesterday that the script has been rewritten to include action more befitting a series called Wonder Woman. This makes sense. Kelley has himself previously admitted that the source material was not in his comfort zone. I would expect the Wonder Woman critics to take this as a tactic to fix what they believe to be a train wreck.

While I was never entirely enthusiastic about Kelley taking on this material, the guy has produced enough incredible television that he deserves more of a chance than he has gotten to date.

io9 is also reporting that the series will see Steve Trevor (Justin Bruening) crash landing on Themiscyra and being saved by Diana in the form of a flashback. This was refreshing news for me. For some reason I got the feeling that Diana’s roots would be alluded to in the series with little more than brief mentions of Paradise Island and Amazons.

I think the only thing that will quiet the fervent fanboys and fangirls is a trailer for the new Fall series. I wouldn’t be surprised if NBC premiered the pilot at Comic-Con this year in an attempt to generate some Heroes-style buzz.

Stay tuned and stay nice.

Green Lantern Extended TV Trailer

This aired tonight during '30 Rock's' 100th episode.

Tom Hardy Appears Behind the Scenes of 'The Dark Knight Rises'

Where’s the big tube of Venom?

Oh right, they’re making a good Batman film. This is our closest picture to Tom Hardy as Bane—he’s fresh from the set of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. Hardy was good enough to take a photo—or twitpic—with a fan who promptly posted the picture to his Twitter account.

As expected, Hardy has bulked up for the role of the Caribbean killer who famously broke the back of the Bat in 1993’s infamous Batman #497 (“Knightfall”). I have doubts that the character will retain his Spanish heritage, but I think that the physical threat of Bane will be well preserved (and then some).

Hardy was a standout in Nolan’s Inception last year—which is saying a lot considering he was playing alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. I wonder if he will bring any of that bad boy charm to the role of Bane, or if his will be that of a monosyllabic cold-hearted killer. We may have to wait for some official photos to be released before we can really speculate.

I think we can safely say that Poison Ivy will not be pushing his buttons.

The Dark Knight Rises is set to hit theaters on July 20, 2012.

Who Can Bring Power to a Power Man Movie?

We know Isaiah Mustafa smells good, but does he punch good?

That is the question. It sounds like Marvel Studios is warm to the idea of a Luke Cage film. Super Hero Hype spoke with the actor who is most identified as the shirtless guy from the Old Spice ads. Mustafa explained that he is a huge comic book fan and seriously interested in playing the former hero for hire.

“They (Marvel) have something in mind, I think, and I definitely want them to see that I'm extremely passionate about it,” said Mustafa. The story indicates that the film’s potential director, John Singleton, has expressed interest in Tyrese Gibson (Transformers and Four Brothers) for the role.

I think I’m with Singleton on this. Gibson is a charismatic actor who seems like he can play a guy who might sometimes lead more toward anti-hero than hero. There’s no doubt that Mustafa has the build to play Cage, but I see the character being bigger than life without being over the top. I think Mustafa might also need to prove himself more on the big screen before headlining a film.

Now Marvel, I don’t need a cavalcade of characters in this movie, but please include Jessica Jones and Danny Rand.

Superman's Costume Chills Out in May 6 Episode of 'Smallville'

There are a few more episodes left of Smallville and it’s beginning to look like we’re thisclose to that bigger than big moment when Clark Kent puts on the ‘ol primary garb he was destined to wear.

The CW released new photos from the penultimate episode—titled “Prophecy”—which features Clark and Lois in the Fortress of Solitude for some reflection before the series ends on May 13^th. Series Executive Producer, Brian Peterson, told EW that this episode “pushes us off in a really big, emotional way with a surprise and a twist toward the finale.”

I was excited to see the famous costume staged for its owner, entombed in ice and waiting to inspire a world of costumed heroes and strike fear in the hearts of evil. Now let’s see what it looks like on our hero’s person, flying up, up and away.

The Smallville episode “Prophecy” airs on Friday, March 6^th at 8 p.m. on the CW.

New 'Thor' Spot Spoofs Memorable Super Bowl Ad

Now this is one funny bit of spoofery.

Marvel Entertainment has produced a one-minute Thor spot that plays off a strikingly similar Volkswagen Super Bowl spot featuring a tyke dressed as Darth Vader. Instead of the John Williams' Imperial March, we are treated to the more dramatic Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner.

Thor is set for release on May 6th. That's a mere 15 days away!

IDW Previews First Issue of 'Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom'

I have become an enormous fan of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s wonderfully suspenseful Locke & Key series. Two weeks ago the series received four well-deserved Eisner nominations. In anticipation of the series’ fourth volume, “Keys to the Kingdom”, IDW has allowed CBR to release the first issue of the book in its entirety.

I’ll warn you not to take a gander if you haven’t read the previous three volumes, though there is a recap page for the series. Locke & Key is best appreciated from the beginning. From these first pages, it looks as though Hill and Rodriguez keep things as dark and as imaginative as ever!

Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom is scheduled for release this July.

What's Next After 2012's Big 'Avengers' Film? Go Bigger.

Where does Marvel Studios plan to go after releasing next summer’s Avengers pic?

They plan to go bigger, naturally. IGN got their hands on an interview with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige that is going to be published in Disney’s magazine D23.

Feige hints at what is next on the horizon for Marvel after The Avengers. He says that the film will be a re-launching point for the established characters that inhabit the film, namely Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. It will be interesting to see what is thrown at the team in their first outing, because if it really is the Skrulls or Loki (as has been rumored), the world these characters inhabit would become steeped significantly more in the mystical and sci-fi.

New 'X-Men: First Class' Trailer Features More Mutant Goodness

It’s official! X-Men: First Class has more trailers than any movie this summer!

And that is not a bad thing. It seems to be the underdog comic book movie of the summer, but I have a feeling this film is going to get audiences excited for mutants again (after critical let downs X-Men: Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

About midway through the latest trailer we get some new clips featuring Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) flying into action and more of that awesome fight scene with Azazel (Jason Flemyng) giving unsuspecting agents some tail. Director Matthew Vaughn was under a tight schedule to get this film in theaters on time—however, nothing I’ve seen so far seems evident of a rushed film.

X-Men: First Class hits theaters on June 3^rd.

New Green Lantern Stills

Per SSH here are some new stills from the up coming Green Lantern film.

A lot of good stuff  has been coming out in the last few weeks as The WB prepares to brings Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corp to the big screen.

Getting excited?

Green Lantern opens on June 17th

Batman: Year One

Here are some first pictures for the upcoming animated film Batman: Year One.

This will be adapted from the Frank Miller classic.

Also, Heat Vision is reporting that Bryan Cranston (Jim Gordon), Ben McKenzie (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Eliza Dushku (Catwoman) and Katee Sackhoff (Detective Sarah Essen) will lend their voices for the latest DC animated film.

Batman: Year One hits shelves this fall.

Marion Cotillard to Play Miranda Tate in 'Dark Knight Rises' and Not Talia al Ghul (wink-wink)

Okay guys (wink). It looks like Marion Cotillard (wink) had officially been cast in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises (wink). Cotillard (wink) will play Miranda Tate (wink) a member of the board of directors at Wayne Enterprises (wink) and not (wink-wink) Talia al Ghul as has often been rumored (winkity-wink-wink).

Okay, I jest. But for anyone who has been following the casting of this film can spot this act of subterfuge. I would guess that Nolan wants to bring mystery to his final Batman story, but if the revelation of Talia as a mole within Wayne Enterprises is being set up as one of the film’s big reveals—the director may need to go back to formula (as Dr. Stromm once so famously advised).

There are too many factors to indicate that Talia is going to be the film’s featured villain. First, we know that this is the final film of a trilogy that is supposed to tie the series up. Well, if we’re completing a story here, Talia—the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul—is the only character that makes sense. Also, late last year Nolan was casting for two female leads, a romantic lead and a villain. Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle/Catwoman; while I believe Hathaway could play a villain, I think it’s clear that Hathaway is the love interest. Now guessing movie plot points is not my strong suit, but this all seems pretty clear to me.

The addition of Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (as Detective John Blake) were announced today by Warner Bros. after a few months of rumors that the two were connected to the film.

The Dark Knight Rises is scheduled for release on July 20^th, 2012.