Marvel and Sony struck a distribution deal for the comic book character, Spider man, to exist within the current Marvel Universe as well as starring in a brand new feature length film but the Sony e-mails gave us a look at some of the restrictions that have been drawn for the iconic web slinger and they sure are an interesting read. Through the never ending, nightmarish, Sony hacked e-mail scandal, Gawker published a piece containing sections that spoke about the character and how he will be portrayed. For example, under the first section titled, "Mandatory Character Traits," some of the requirements such as "Does not torture," or, "Not a Homosexual (unless Marvel has portrayed that alter ego as a homosexual)," can be found. There is another subsection beneath that pusher that a bit further, stating that "He is Caucasian and heterosexual," as well. This is also interesting after the controversy caused by the most recent Spider Man star, Andrew Garfield, in 2013, when he questioned why Peter Parker could not be portrayed as possibly bi-sexual or gay and star alongside a male love interest. The only possible way that could happen is if Marvel were to publish a storyline featuring Peter Parker and a male love interest or, as the contract seems to state, an entirely alternate character all together, just not Spider Man himself. It's surprising to see how rigid and specific the lines have been drawn here but not entirely shocking.
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The 2015 Marvel Hero lineup poster is amazing! You can see a number of characters that have been featured in the recent Marvel cinematic universe, as well as some new faces who will be joining in the mix soon. Spiderman, Black Panther, Ant-man and even Miles Morales are all along the front row. The odd thing about this image is it's missing some key Marvel heroes that have usually been present in these images before. Not a single member of the X Men or Fantastic Four appear among these heroes and it looks like the reason behind their exclusion is due to the fact that Marvel is actively suppressing those franchises because they lack the rights to their films. This, of course, isn't the first report of this happening. This also is not the only popular or well known character that Marvel doesn't own the rights to. It was revealed by actor Avengers actor, Mark Ruffalo, that the film rights were owned by Universal studios. While Marvel has a large amount of films planned, X Men is still the longest running super hero franchise and Fox has no plans to slow down with the up-coming New Mutants, Deadpool, Wolverine 3 and two Fantastic Four films. Maybe that's Marvel's motive or maybe it isn't, regardless, lets just hope we continue to get some awesome comic book films! You can look below at the some of the previous years posters to see the Xmen and FantastiC Four teams.
After weeks of teasing, director David Ayer let loose a full image of Jared Leto as Suicide Squad's Joker and boy, is it a lot to take in. A few things to notice are the symbolism of the various tattoos and accessories, displayed all over Leto's body, from the jester face over the left side of this pec, to the grinning mouth on his forearm next to (what appears to be) a purple surgical glove, to the sprawling "ha ha" written on both the other side of his chest and along his other fore arm. We can see that this version of the Joker will have the iconic green hair sitting just about the word "damaged," tattooed along his fore head. We can also see just the top part of a stomach tattoo that I'm sure we'll get a better glimpse of at another time. To me, Leto looks like a punk rock maniac and it has me a lot more excited for the forthcoming film than I was before. Get ready to see the newest version of the Joker come to life August 5th, 2016.
Italian comic book artist, Milo Manara, came under some major fire earlier this year when the variant cover art for the upcoming Spider-Woman issue featured heroine Jessica Drew in a very explicit pose. While a lot of people called out Marvel for allowing this to happen, it seems like things would get a bit messier for Manara after it announced that two of his future variant covers would not be published but Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, Alex Alonso, released a statement today saying the reason these covers are not going to be released will be due to "time constraints." He also continued by stating that, "(Manara) will be doing more covers for us, in fact, he's working on one right now that will be announced sometime soon." Do you think the image was too much and should Milo Manara be allowed to continue to work on variant covers? Will Marvel give him a slap on the wrist or hold him to a tighter set of standards? Spider-Woman #1 will be released this November. (Below is the full cover image)
Fall TV premier season has officially begun and we're kicking off the last leg of 2014 with one of the most anticipated shows, Gotham on Fox. Gotham follows the rise of Jim Gordon in the city that becomes home to one of DC's most prolific heroes, Batman. Right off the bat, we move into the young Bruce Waynes origin story (parents killed in a alley, Alfred shows up to get him) and while it is pretty short lives, with out a lot of emotional connection, only time will tell how pivotal a role young Bruce Wayne will play. One of the strengths that becomes extremely apparent early on, is that the supporting cast acting along side Gordon's Ben McKenzie, is fantastic! Donal Logue plays a perfect hardened Detective Harvey Bullock, while villains Jada Pinkett Smith (although physically different from what you'd see in the comic) as crime boss Fish Mooney and Robin Taylor, as the sociopath Penguin, compliment their characters perfectly. We also get a look at the younger version of a handful of other notable DC villains, Poison Ivy as well as Selena Kyle, better know as Catwoman. As the story progresses, Poison Ivy's father is revealed to be set up in an attempt to look like he was the man responsible for Bruce Waynes parents murder. The stakes are raised as Detective Gordon finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy that's involved not only his partner, but his love interest Barbara, played by Erin Richards. While a lot of colors make the show feel pretty muted, there's enough twist, turns and betrayals to make this pilot one heck of a ride. Be sure to keep up this fall, Mondays at 8 on Fox.
In a surprising, and great, announcement made today, looks like the live action Dead pool will be heading to the theaters in early 2016. After the leak of the test footage earlier this year, we finally saw a version of the comic book comedian that was a lot closer to the original material and couldn't be anything farther from the version we saw in X Men Origins: Wolverine, which I will never acknowledge due to the lack of overall effort that went into that entire film but that's a rant for another day. Aside from this great news, it looks like actor and former Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds, is still up for the role and I honestly can't think of anyone else who would fit this role as perfectly. Whether the movie will be rated R is another question, while a lot of people have already complained that Dead Pools dark sense of humor and violence caters to a more "adult audience," PG-13 films have really grown in the amount of wiggle room they have as opposed to past decades. All in all, we can look forward to Dead Pool due out in theaters in February 16th, 2016.
After weeks of hinting and some blatant misleading,Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has found his home in the DC Universe playing the only other character that he'd be more perfect for that Shazam, his long time adversary, Black Adam. Originally intended to be the successor of Shazam, Black Adam has nearly the same abilities but finds corruption at the hands of his power. The Rock confirmed the news with a tweet earlier this morning announcing the news calling himself more of an "anti-hero" than a traditional villain. We'll have to wait and see for more Details on this DC title and who will end up playing the title character Shazam when the news breaks.
Empire magazine has given us a new look at Jeremy Renner in costume on set of Avengers: Age of Ultron, looking noticeably closer to his Hawkeye character from the comic books. Dawning what looks like a black and purple trench coat, close to the material that Captain America's new suit in the Winter Solider was made out of, its a better outfit than what was used in the first movie. Hopefully these are all good signs, we all know that Jeremy Renner was not happy with Hawkeyes portrayal in the first Avengers film but new rumors are circulating that his character might even play a role in the new Captain America film. Here's to hoping we get the Clint Barton we deserve.
It was very controversial when DC announced that the release date of their upcoming sequel (and bridge to the inevitable Justice League film) would be release May 6th, 2016, the same date as Marvel 3rd installment to the Captain America films and after a long stand off, it looks like DC caved. Variety is reporting that the film has been moved to the new date of March 25, 2016, giving it a strong early spring debut, about 5 weeks ahead of Marvels Captain America. While part of me was waiting for the showdown of box office showdowns, this is good news because it will give Batman v. Superman a strong debut with a solid few weeks to gross, what I sure will be more than Man of Steel, because if Captain America: The Winder Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy are any indication, audiences certainly haven't lost any interest in Marvel films. We'll just have to wait until 2016 to see which movie ends up being better.
The Amazing Spider Man 2 still stands as one of my top 5 favorite movies I've seen in 2014 but the deleted scene that leaked onto the internet this week is more than just jaw dropping, it basically changes the entire (or what I thought would be) future of the franchise. In the scene, that was almost immediately pulled off of youtube, while Peter Parker stands in the cemetery over looking the grave of Gwen Stacy, Richard Parker, portrayed by Campbell Scott, approaches, offering some advice to Peter as well as delivering an iconic line, which I won't spoil for you but I'm sure you can recite it with minimal effort. All in all, it's not the biggest scene, but it changes the tone dramatically for the continuation of the franchise, and if Richard Parker should play a larger role in the next Amazing Spider man films, I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about his relation to Oscorp and how he survived. To be frank, this would have been heart stopped to have seen while watching the movie, so I wish they had included more footage of Campbell but it's still interesting either way. The Amazing Spider Man 2 Blue Ray and DVD will be released in America on August 19th, 2014.
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