Marvel

Marvel & George Romero’s Empire Of The Dead Announced As TV Series

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With The Walking Dead having two series and Z-Nation on SyFy, you knew it wouldn’t be long before zombie godfather George Romero got his own flesh-eating series.

Variety has announced that Romero’s Empire of the Dead graphic novel is being adapted for TV.

Romero published the comic through Marvel Comics; however, it isn’t a part of the regular Marvel Universe, so don’t expect the Marvel Zombies to show up.

Demarest Films is behind the project, with it noted the production company recently backed Kevin Smith’s Tusk, and announced the news today at the Cannes Festival in France.

The Empire of the Dead TV series will be written by Geroge Romero and longtime partner Peter Grunwald, and executive produced by Romero and Grunwald with Demarest’s Sam Englebardt and William D. Johnson.

Romero is, of course, known for the Night of the Living Dead zombie movies.

Marvel Comics published the first Empire of the Dead comic back in January of 2014, described as:

Welcome to New York City years after the undead plague has erupted—but just because Manhattan has been quarantined, don’t think that everyone inside is safe! Not only do flesh-eaters roam within Manhattan, but there’s another ancient predator about to take a bite out of the Big Apple!

The ancient predator referred to are blood-suckers, so the series features both vamprires and zombies.

A network has yet to pick up the series.

George Takei Calls Out Marvel; Taylor Swift Does A Better Job

Taylor Swift “Bad Blood”

Marvel is definitely feeling the heat for not having a female superhero movie.

Earlier saw Mark Ruffalo call out Marvel regarding the lack of Black Widow merchandise for his daughters.

To add to that, Marvel and Hasbro changed an Avengers 2 toy that removed Black Widow from the motorcycle scene as well.

Now George Takei is at it.

Takei called out Marvel regarding the new Taylor Swift music video for her latest song “Bad Blood,” which is a sci-fi romp done in the style of Sin City featuring celebrities galore.

“Taylor Swift released her much anticipated video Bad Blood starring girl celebs as action stars,” Takei tweeted. “Come on Marvel, T. Swift is showing you up.”

The tweet was retweeted over 2200 times and favorited almost 2000 times.

Marvel has yet to make a superhero female movie, but plans are underway. While it won’t star Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, it will feature Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel, though it’s not due out for another three years. Marvel also recently introduced Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch for some added girl power in The Avengers: Age Of Ultron as well.

It’s unknown why Marvel won’t go with a solo Black Widow movie; Scarlett Johansson has already proven she can be a bigger draw than both Captain America and Thor. Johansson’s Lucy netted more than both of the pair of Assemblers first solo films, and it wasn’t even Marvel related. One would think Black Widow would be an even bigger draw if you add the Marvel fanbase to the Lucy numbers.

Marvel, you know you are in trouble when Taylor Swift is showing you up.

Taylor Swift released her much anticipated video Bad Blood starring girl celebs as action stars. Come on Marvel, T. Swift is showing you up.

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) May 18, 2015

Matthew McConaughey Rumored For Norman Osborn For New Spider-Man

Alright, alright, alright.

A couple of days ago saw Matthew McConaughey reveal he had been in talks with both Marvel and DC, and has even read a few scripts.

Now a new rumor has hit the net stating Matthew McConaughey may be up to play Norman Osborn in the new Spider-Man Sony/Marvel venture, which could mean Green Goblin or even Iron Patriot.

The rumor comes from the Hashtag Show YouTube channel that states McConaughey is being eyed for the role.

While we’ve all been focused on Spider-Man, it’s possible other characters could first appear in Captain America: Civil War as well. Norman Osborn wouldn’t be a bad choice.

Check it out:

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Daredevil Costume Concept Art For Netflix

Check out a piece of Daredevil concept art revealed for the Marvel Netflix series.

Artist Ryan Meinerding is responsible for the following rendition of Charlie Cox’s look in the show.

“Joe Quesada got in touch and asked if I could help out,” Meinerding told Marvel.com. “Our whole team actually did designs, [including] Rodney Fuentebella, Andy Park, Jackson Sze, Josh Nizzi, and Anthony Francisco. I think we all did a round of designs as fast as we could, and they settled on one of mine. Beyond that, we did our normal process of modeling the head and the cowl [in] 3D with Josh Herman, and then I was involved throughout the costume creation process.”

Meinerding went on to explain creating the look isn’t that easy of a task.

“One of the most interesting things about Daredevil, that I hadn’t fully appreciated before I started working on the character, is that I think that head is one of the most difficult heads to design for a live action context,” Meinerding offered. “Because if you have a mask like Captain America’s, it’s difficult in it’s own ways, but you still have the actor’s eyes coming through. So you get performance, you get a sense of who they are, of their expression, of what they’re doing. [As a result] the bottom half of the face matches the top half, in terms of expression. With Daredevil, because half of his face has to be covered and has its own expression and the actor’s face is going to be doing something else, it’s actually a very difficult challenge to come up with something up top that’s not going to bump with something down below.”

“Daredevil” is currently on Netflix with all 13 episodes; Season 2 is being developed and will be released next year.

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Marvel Announces New MU Following Secret Wars

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Following deleted tweets by a Marvel writer that stated Marvel is rebooting following Secret Wars, now Marvel has unveiled a teaser for the “NEW MU.”

The aftermath of Secret Wars will find the various Marvel titles jumping ahead 8 months, similar to the recent “Time Runs Out” or DC’s “One Year Later” storylines (as well as NEW MU obviously similar sounding to “New 52”).

Marvel’s Tom Brevoort offered the following (via Newsarama):

“In the same way that events jumped forward in time eight months in Avengers and New Avengers during the lead-up to Secret Wars, so too when we enter the new Marvel Universe eight months will have passed for all of the characters as well. This provides our creators, even apart from Secret Wars, to drop into exciting new situations and status quos on the fly. So look for surprises and mysteries and changes galore as series resume in the NEW MU.

As we’ve been saying, the building blocks of the NEW MU are being established throughout the various Secret Wars titles, with every series contributing something to the NEW MU. Whether that something is a character, a place, an environment, an object, a status quo, or any other thing that you might think of.”

It’s currently unknown what will make up the new line of titles, but Marvel did confim A-Force, Weirdworld, All-New, All Different Avengers and Uncanny Inumans will be a part of the NEW MU, as well as the Maestro, and Mrs. Deadpool & The Howling Commandos.

Watch: Epic Marvel Vs. DC Animated Fan-Film

Now this is a must watch!

Check out the above Marvel Vs. DC The Ultimate Crossover Animation Film put together by Saruhan Saral on YouTube.

The video features all the fan-favorite characters: Batman vs. Iron Man, Spider-Man vs. Green Lantern and lots more!

It’s action-packed!

Saral stated it’s his first short film project which he started in February that took three months to complete.

He grabbed the character models and voices from various video games including Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Nicely done.

Writer Says Marvel Is Getting Rebooted Following Secret Wars

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Reboot? Relaunch? Is there any difference these days?

Marvel’s current event, Secret Wars, recently launched which sees various timelines and dimensions converging on to Battleworld.

The outcome of the event is currently unknown, but fans have been speculating Marvel is going to reboot their line.

Now there is further proof of the thought as a writer for Marvel tweets out there will be a reboot.

Apparently, Marvel writer G. Willow Wilson tweeted then deleted a series of tweets – first stating it’s reboot, but then catching herself following-up stating it’s a relaunch.

Newsarama managed to spot the tweets:

Last before the big Marvel U event starting this month. Then every Marvel title gets rebooted in the fall.

Several minutes later, Wilson clarified it to call the line-wide change a “jumping-on point” and a “relaunch” rather than a “reboot.”

In a recent interview with The Verge, Marvel EIC Axel Alonso spoke about Marvel being relaunched or rebooted and offered it’s up to the fans to decide (whatever that means).

There’s been a lot of talk about how this may or may not be a reboot. My understanding is this is effectively changing the fabric of that multiverse but not necessarily the characters. Is that right?

Yeah, I’d say that’s what this is. It’s ultimately for the readers to decide what they’re seeing. What I will say is that we don’t believe our continuity or our universe is broken. We don’t believe it needs to be fixed. And I think that this story will bear that out. We have a tremendous opportunity here to transform the Marvel universe in a way that makes for incredible stories down the road, for the next 10, 20 years worth of publishing. This is an instance where we’re going to be bringing into the Marvel universe new characters, new regions, new concepts, and, in certain cases replacing, out of necessity, some pieces that were on the board. And it’s going to make this a lively debate on the internet and beyond.

Marvel Star Wars TV News

Star Wars & Marvel TV Channels Possibly On The Way

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Possibly joining the Disney channels, ESPN and ABC could be Star Wars and Marvel.

SlashFilm reports at a recent investors call, Disney CEO Bob Iger mentioned the possibility of Star Wars and Marvel channels.

“We have said that with these channels and these brands — ESPN, ABC, Disney, maybe even down the road something related to Star Wars and Marvel — we do have an ability as a company to take product, specifically filmed entertainment, television, movies, directly to consumers,” Iger offered.

It’s noted Iger didn’t elaborate on the Star Wars or Marvel channels, but it’s not too hard to guess what they may feature.

Obviously a Star Wars or Marvel channel would feature all the past movies and animated series, with the possibility futher down the line of having original shows and series. It’s even possible one day that the Star Wars or Marvel Disney channels would exclusively feature the branded series – say, instead of Netflix.

As of right now, it’s basically just talk, but the potential is definitely out there. An added bonus if they do create original content for the Star Wars and Marvel channels would be the use of more obscure characters.

Comic Book News Marvel Star Wars

Top Ten Comic Books For April 2015

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The Force is strong with Star Wars, but not for the rest of Marvel comics for the month of April.

Only the Star Wars comics from Marvel managed to grace the top ten, with four of the ten being Star Wars related.

DC Comics took the rest of the six with their new Convergence event and Batman.

Things will more than likely shift Marvel’s way in May as Secret Wars just launched.

Marvel Comics still managed to take the top dollar and unit share for Apri, so it’s not like they have anything to complain about.

Below you can check out the charts via Diamond.

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Avengers: Everybody Wants To Rule The World Audiobook Trailer

Watch a promo trailer above for Marvel’s Avengers: Everybody Wants To Rule The World audiobook, which is based on the original prose novel of the same name by Dan Abnett.

This adaptation in GraphicAudio comes alive with a full cast, music and sound effects to create an unforgettable listening experience.

This exclusive first LISTEN gets you a seat alongside the Avengers while they embark on an all-new adventure across the planet!

The audiobook is available fromhttp://www.GraphicAudio.net/Marvel and via the FREE GraphicAudio Access Mobile App which allows customers to directly download titles on their Android or iOS smartphones and tablets.

GraphicAudio CD formats and Marvel prose novel editions also available at comic shops and Super Soldier-loving bookstores near you!

The Avengers: Everybody Wants To Rule The World prose novel is available through Amazon at a discount.

Description:

Just in time for Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron: an all-new, original prose novel by the New York Times-bestselling author of Rocket Raccoon and Groot: Steal the Galaxy! and Guardians 3000! The Mighty Avengers face an array of their greatest foes-all at once! In Berlin, Captain America battles the forces of Hydra. In the Savage Land, Hawkeye and the Black Widow attempt to foil A.I.M. In Washington, Iron Man fights to stop Ultron. In Siberia, Thor takes on an entire army. And in Mangapore, Bruce Banner and Nick Fury battle the High Evolutionary. Only one thing is certain: This isn’t a coincidence. But what larger, deadlier threat lies behind these simultaneous att acks on Earth?

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NINO #30 Review & PC Op-ed

An Opinion-Editorial Oriented Review Decrying Political Correctness in Comic Books

Duggan, like Bendis, has no real understanding of science-fiction. They both just rip-off plot and action elements from popular cinema and televised science-fiction and science-fantasy. This issue, Duggan copies some elements from Babylon 5 and Deep Impact to make yet another thoroughly insipid and totally implausible NINO storyline.

Duggan admits he copies teen Spiderman plot elements from the past, and he likes to take to twitter to talk about what a brave, filled-to-the-brim with integrity kind of guy he is because he resists the harsh criticism leveled at him about NINO and keeps churning out NINO trash. Hey Duggan, that doesn’t make you brave or full of integrity. Re-packaging well-worn tropes from comics, cinema, and TV just makes you a hack.

The eye-rolling and stomach-churning moments go hand-in-hand in this issue with Duggan having NINO take on an ultra-powerful and ultra-experienced trained warrior – and of course, totally implausibly winning. Stupid. Unbelievable (in a bad way).

Of course, NINO predictably continues to screw up and his screw-ups result in Earth being put in incredible danger from multiple sources including a storm of asteroids heading straight for Earth. Also, predictably, NINO (just like all the other current cosmic characters) has the Avengers on speed dial to call to save the day because cosmic characters are such buffoons under Bendys, Duggan, Loeb, Brevoort, and Alonso – that all cosmic characters can do is screw-up and place Earth in danger. They can’t save Earth (or anything else). Cosmic characters can no longer effectively single-handedly deal with cosmic threats. They just trigger cosmic threats. Then they’ve got to call The Avengers or The X-Men for help. How dumb is that? Pretty dumb. But what else do you expect from Bendys, Duggan, Loeb, Brevoort, and Alonso? They wanted to reduce cosmic to bathroom humor level buffoonery and they succeeded.

The art continues to decline on this deplorable book. NINO continues to look thoroughly stupid in a poorly designed manga-ish military uniform he never earned in the first place. It’s actually painful to look at the little idiot.

With sales under 20K despite all the marketing hype, a regular cartoon appearance, and shoehorning the little idiot into every major event, Marvel needs to wake up and declare this trash the failure that it so obviously is. But that would make too much sense. Instead, they decided to double-down on the failed formula and do an even more politically correct version of NINO, a PC-NINO-ette as it were. Out with the half-alien/half-Hispanic male kid and in with the black female kid. I guess the reasoning was, “If it worked for Ms. Marvel, maybe it’ll work for NINO.”

If you’re a true fan of the original Nova concepts and you’d like to see Rich Rider back in his rightful place, its past time to take action. Boycott, NINO and PC-NINO-ette. Send Marvel a clear message that they need to stop replacing beloved classic characters just for the sake of appealing to political correctness in the general population. The general population could care less about comic books.

That being said, despite all evidence to the contrary, if Marvel thinks that there really is an enormous demographic of buyers out there just dying to buy books about female, racial minority, religious minority, and sexual orientation-minority characters – then by all means please create such NEW characters from scratch and give them a book. Let’s have a book about a super-powered, bi-sexual, female, half-Gypsy/half-Pygmy, wheelchair-bound, Shinto priestess who’s seriously considering sex change surgery. Sounds hilarious. I might even buy the first issue. This ultimately PC character would certainly please the “small but vocal” PC crowd (and their PC police force who frequently shoot the rest of us in the back as we try to flee this PC nonsense). But please, don’t use that ultimate PC character as a replacement for Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Nova, etc. Live up to your name as the “House of Ideas,” do the courageous/non-lazy thing, and create a brand new character with the demographics you want to capture.

Rosario Dawson Returns For Daredevil Season 2

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The Night Nurse returns for season two of the Daredevil Netflix series as Rosario Dawson will be back as Claire Temple.

Marvel.com announced the news where it’s mentioned Daredevil Season 2 will air in 2016, and that Dawson’s deal will allow her to appear in the other Marvel Netflix series.

Info:

Marvel and Netflix are proud to announce Rosario Dawson will reprise her role as Claire Temple in the second season of the Netflix Original Series “Marvel’s Daredevil,” coming in 2016, as part of a larger exclusive TV deal that will also allow her to appear in any of Marvel’s other Netflix original series.

Romantically entangled with Matt Murdock in the series’ first season, Claire helped the hero after more than a few of his brutal battles in the streets of Hell’s Kitchen.

Celebrated for her work in “Top Five,” “Cesar Chavez,” “Sin City,” “Kids,” and much more, fans can currently see her as Claire Temple, a character with ties to many of the Defenders heroes in the comics, in Season 1 of “Marvel’s Daredevil,” only on Netflix.

“After working with Rosario in the first season, we knew instantly that we had to have her back for our second,” said Executive Producer/Head of Marvel TV Jeph Loeb. “Claire Temple proved a fan favorite in Season 1, and we can’t wait for fans to see all the plans we have for her next.”

“Marvel’s Daredevil” is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios for Netflix.

“Marvel’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones” comes only to Netflix later this year and “Marvel’s Luke Cage” premieres on the streaming service in 2016. Future series exclusively debuting on Netflix include “Marvel’s Iron Fist” and “Marvel’s Defenders,” a mini-series event uniting key characters from the previous series.

Marvel Movie News Star Wars

Marvel Studios & Star Wars Previews Coming To D23 Expo 2015

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While back in early March saw Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn state Marvel Studios will not be attending this July’s San Diego Comic-Con, it’s learned Disney will be revealing new footage at their D23 Expo in August.

Disney has announced Star Wars and Marvel are coming to the D23 Expo, which will feature previews for the Disney, Marvel and Star Wars movies.

You can read more in the below press release, but the names of the Marvel and Star Wars movies aren’t given, just that “…will preview the coming slate of live-action films from Disney, Marvel, and Lucasfilm” and “…films from Marvel and Lucasfilm, along with some very special guests, take center stage.”

More than likely footage from Captain America: Civil War will be revealed as well as Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The D23 Expo runs August 14-16 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Here is the official info:

Press Release

The Disney Legends Awards Ceremony, hosted by Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, will kick off the Expo on Friday, August 14. Later that same day, The Walt Disney Studios will give fans a sneak peek at all the latest from Disney Animation and Pixar. On Saturday morning, The Walt Disney Studios will preview the coming slate of live-action films from Disney, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. Then, on Saturday afternoon, fans will get a preview of what’s in store at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts during a presentation hosted by Parks Chairman Bob Chapek.

To showcase these Expo favorites, Disney is creating “Hall D23,” a new 7,500-seat venue located in Hall D of the Anaheim Convention Center, so that more guests than ever can see the presentations live and in person.

The Schedule of Hall D23 Events and Presentations includes the following (times and additional announcements forthcoming; all events subject to change):

The Disney Legends Awards Ceremony will take place Friday, August 14. The ceremony, hosted by Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, will once again honor those who have made significant contributions to the Disney legacy. The creativity and innovation of these visionaries and artists have earned them a place among such names as Dame Julie Andrews, Howard Ashman, Annette Funicello, Sir Elton John, Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin, Alan Menken, Hayley Mills, Fess Parker, Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Walters, and Robin Williams. At D23 EXPO 2013, Tony Baxter, Collin Campbell, Dick Clark, Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Jobs, Glen Keane, and Ed Wynn were inducted.

In two separate Hall D23 sessions, The Walt Disney Studios will unveil an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at its upcoming film slate. At Friday’s session, fans will go in-depth with the talented filmmakers at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios to get a sneak peek at films such as Zootopia and Finding Dory. On Saturday, live-action titles such as Alice Through the Looking Glass and The Jungle Book and films from Marvel and Lucasfilm, along with some very special guests, take center stage.

On the afternoon of Saturday, August 15, join Bob Chapek, chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, for a behind-the-scenes peek at the magical experiences and entertainment coming to Disney parks and resorts around the world.

Tickets for D23 EXPO 2015 are available at a discounted price for a limited time. Until June 30, 2015, tickets are $67 for a one-day adult admission and $48 for children 3–12. Tickets for D23 Members are $58 for a one-day adult admission and $42 for children. Multi-day money-saving tickets are also available. D23 Members can save as much as $188 off the price of admission, based on the purchase of four three-day tickets at the D23 Member rate. For more information on tickets and the ticket pricing structure for D23 Members and general admission, visit D23EXPO.com.

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Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver Are No Longer Mutants In Marvel Comics

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When you read Axel Alonso stating the MCU doesn’t effect the comics, just laugh out loud like us Marvel COSMIC fans have been doing for the past few years.

Case in point: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

We all know Fox Studios owns the rights to the X-Men and mutant characters, but various characters that crossover to each other’s franchises are allowed to be shared, such as the Avengers (or vice-versa).

We saw how in Avengers 2, Marvel Studios wasn’t allowed to refer to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch as mutants and insinuated their powers were a result of Loki’s staff – meaning they weren’t mutants.

Now a week following The Avengers 2 opening in the U.S., Marvel Comics has rectonned the histories of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to make them no longer mutants.

We see in the preview for Uncanny Avengers #4 below that the High Evolutionary was responsible for giving the twins their powers. It says so right in the panel.

You can bet if there are any more crossover characters that Marvel Comics will do more of the same.

Reportedly, Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter and Fox are at odds over the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four. Marvel Comics has gone so far and even blown up the cast of the Fantastic Four comics in one of their comics (note: not the FF characters, the actors portraying them). The writer of FF attempted to back-peddle and state people misinterpreted the scene – but we laughed out loud at that, too.

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Kevin Feige Extends Marvel Contract; Talks MCU

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Good news for fans of the Marvel cinematic universe as it’s learned Kevin Feige has extended his Marvel contract.

Feige recently attended a Q&A at his alma mater, the University of Southern California, where students watched a prescreening of Avengers 2.

Feige offered his Marvel contract has recently been renewed, but wouldn’t say anything more on the subject. Update: It’s now being said Kevin Feige didn’t say his contract has been renewed, but that some of the actors had their contracts renewed.

Feige is the president and producer of Marvel Studios overseeing the billion dollar plus franchise for Disney as well as is involved with Marvel properties at other studios including Sony’s Spider-Man.

The most recent Marvel movie to have debuted, The Avengers: Age Of Ultron, is already at $700 million worldwide. Up next for Feige is Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Inhumans, The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2 and the new Sony standalone Spider-Man.

At the Q&A, Feige also let it be known that at any given moment Marvel is thinking 10 to 20 years ahead for their films, but is actively working on the next 5 years, and that what matters most is the movie coming out next. Feige said the current long term focus is the Phase 3 movies.

Feige also said that the characters from the Marvel TV series might make future appearances in future films – or they might not – but that they won’t rule anything out.

Another detail mentioned by Kevin Feige was that a scene meant for The Avengers 2 will show up in Captain America: Civil War, which was a joint decision by both Feige and director Joss Whedon. Feige said the scene was one of his favorites.

Regarding the future use of the same actors, Feige let it be known the characters will continue, but whether or not they will continue with the current actors is unknown as absolutely nothing is set in stone.

Feige answered a question regarding the MCU becoming “darker” (I’m guessing compared to the DC movies) with Feige responding the Marvel movies won’t be going that route, but will always have the tone and humor they have now. Feige said he “hoped people would catch on by now” that there will be “no giant dark turns in the MCU – the humor is the DNA of the movies and there are no plans to change that.”

One last tidbit includes mention Quicksilver will stay dead. Feige said Quicksilver won’t be resurrected (i.e. Coulson Lives). Feige said Quicksilver is dead and wanted to make sure people understood that.

Thanks to redditor JonLuca for posting his class notes.

Fun being back at 466 @USC. Great screening of AVENGERS 2 and conversation between @leonardmaltin and Kevin Feige. pic.twitter.com/szn5hEhjTC

— Timothy Dowling (@TimothyDowling) May 1, 2015

Advanced Review: Secret Wars #1

Fans have been clamoring over all the buzz regarding Marvel’s attempt at “re-creating” it’s universes for months. They have been clogging up chat rooms and drooling over the chance to see some of their favorite storylines from the past come blazing back to life throughout the Secret Wars event. I personally cannot wait to see the new take on Inferno, but I digress. Even though the hype is through the roof for this event, it is the first issue that sets the tone and will drive fans to comic shops in droves. Sadly, I was hoping for more than what Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic are bringing to the table.

I LOVE an epic tale that throws caution to the wind and has you on the edge of your seat throughout the tale. That is what I was expecting here, and it just never got to that level of excitement. The entire book, from start to finish, is one giant battle that comes across as having way too many moving parts to feel like a cohesive tale. It is just a jumble of explosions and falling debris with commentary by opposing Reed Richards’ that tries to form itself into some semblance of a story. Even the prolific yammering of Doom as potential bookends to the tale just couldn’t hold this story together enough for me to enjoy it as an actual, singular tale that is supposed to launch Marvel into a new era.

And yes, there are some great scenes in this book! There are a number of character deaths that were unexpected and shocking, there is a “fastball special’ sequence that I NEVER would have thought I would see, and there is a particular scene by a gun wielding man that I thought was absolutely brilliant. But all in all, these scattered scenes do not make up the entirety of the book, and there is too much emphasis on fitting the utter destruction of two worlds into this single issue to actually build up a great story.

Fans of the Avengers books will enjoy Hickman’s eventual “payoff’ that he has been building up to for the past few years, but for those fans who want to buy this book to see what is going to happen to the Marvel Universe, they will be utterly lost! Absolutely NOTHING is explained to the reader, you are thrust face-first into utter chaos, and the only options you have are to hold on or close the book and move on. Unfortunately, Hickman has made this book impossible for new readers to feel connected to at all, when the whole point of this event comic is to draw new readers into a brand new Marvel U!

If you have been enjoying Hickman’s run on Avengers then you will love this book. But if you are someone looking for a cohesive, enthralling story that launches into an epic new direction for Marvel, you will be left wanting more.

As of this issue, if my hard earned dollar had a choice of going to a bunch of domes “converging” or two worlds colliding – it would be nestled safely “under the dome!”

Major Spoiler Death Revealed For Secret Wars #1

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Tomorrow sees Marvel’s latest event kick off with Secret Wars.

Friend to Cosmic Book News, “Richard Rider Is Nova,” sent in some early information about the book.

Spoilers follow.

• The Ultimate Universe battles the Marvel 616 Universe leading to the death of – Rocket Raccoon!

• Rocket Raccoon gets blasted through the chest – as both world’s destroy each other!

Check it out below.

While we are sad to see Rocket go, perhaps Marvel will bring back the version of Guardians of the Galaxy that inspired the near billion dollar movie and get rid of the version that has become a parody of itself.

Update: Check out our Secret Wars #1 advanced review.

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Whedon Wanted Spider-Man & Captain Marvel In Avengers 2

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First Loki, and then Grey Hulk, now it’s learned Spider-Man and Ms. Captain Marvel Carol Danvers were going to be put in Avengers 2.

It turns out Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron may have been different if things would have worked out.

While Loki and the Grey Hulk were cut, Whedon says Spider-Man and Captain Marvel just came too late.

Empire has the following from Whedon when they questioned if the line-up in the movie was the line-up he wanted:

“Well, I wanted all those people. I said it would be great if we could just add a few more. If you guys could make a Ms. Marvel – I always say Ms. Marvel because that’s when I read it. That’s what it was. – If we could have a Captain Marvel there that you have made a deal for. And they talked about it. I was like ‘Spider-Man, we could do that, too.’ Sony had approached us during the first [Avengers] movie about a little integration. So I would have put both of them in, but neither of the deals were made. Then they were like ‘we’re making a Captain Marvel movie, and we’ve got Spider-Man as a property.’ I’m like ‘I’ve already locked my film you f-ckers. Thanks for nothing.'”

Marvel ended up announcing the Captain Marvel movie about six months ago, and Spider-Man only recently, with the new Web Crawler speculated to first appear in Captain America: Civil War prior to the new standalone Spider-Man movie in 2017.

Captain Marvel has a November 2, 2018 release with no actor yet cast for Carol Danvers.

Ryan Phillippe In Talks With Marvel For Netflix Series; Possibly Iron Fist

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It’s learned Ryan Phillippe is in talks with Marvel for something Netflix related.

The 40-year-old actor recently appeared on Howard Stern where he offered: “Marvel is interested in talking about a Netflix series, possibly. The Daredevil series is great.”

The actor then followed-up on Twitter with: “I have no real Marvel news other than an upcoming meeting. Sorry to disappoint fans thought there was more to it. There is no story there [smiles].”

Speculation immediately led to Phillppe possibly playing Iron Fist, as the actor has yet to be cast. Interestingly enough, Ryan Phillippe does hold a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, so at least he might be familiar and capable of doing some martial arts moves (IMDb already lists that actor as playing Iron Fist as well).

In the comics, Iron Fist is Daniel Rand, the heir to Rand Corporation, and in the Daredevil series, was the company truck that spilled the chemicals on the young Matt Murdock.

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Awesome Marvel Inspired NFL Helmets

Check out the “MFL” helmets featuring artwork on NFL helmets inspired by Marvel characters. The images are from JustKozy.com, with the artist’s son posting the following on Reddit. I was always a big fan of Rhino! MFL Helmets

Comic Book News Marvel Sports

CM Punk To Co-Write Drax Comic For Marvel

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Former WWE Superstar soon-to-be turned UFC Fighter CM Punk has been announced as co-writer on a new Drax ongoing series for Marvel.

Punk, aka Phil Brooks, recently wrote a story for the Thor Annual for Marvel.

The success of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie has spawned many spinoff comics for the different characters. Gamora gets her own ongoing as well from Nicole Perlman, who wrote an earlier version of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie script and is co-writing the Captain Marvel movie.

Regarding the new Drax series, CM Punk made the announcement today at C2E2 with mention the title will launch later this year. The cover for the first issue will be by Ed McGuinness. It’s presently unknown who the co-writer and artist are (Andy Lanning wouldn’t be a bad choice as co-writer) for the series.

While no plot details are known, we see mention of “Intergalactic Fight Club” on the Drax cover, which was featured in Rocket Raccoon #1 as well.

Hopefully Punk will do his homework by reading the 2005 Drax mini-series, Annihilation and Abnett and Lanning’s 2008 Guardians of the Galaxy series that inspired the near billion dollar movie.

Our advice to Punk would be to skip Bendis‘ Guardians series in its entirety.

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy #26

As far as silly situation-comedy-ish cliché goes, I will say that this issue is among the best of the worst. Faint praise, but really that’s all it deserves.

On the up side, the well-worn clichés of someone being unwillingly elected to office, the duck-out-of-water scenarios, the enjoyment of the good life that the group falls backward into, etc. are not over-played to the point of being offensive. But make no mistake – if you read this, you’ll be wading through clichés so familiar that you’ll know what’s going to happen before you turn each page.

On the down side, Bendys just can’t seem to get the character’s voices right. He inexplicably has Drax yelling Shakespearean English such as, “Have at thee!” as if he suddenly channeled Thor. He portrays Drax as completely unfamiliar with Earth culture even though Drax began life as a human. This isn’t the historical Drax from Marvel Comics or even the Drax from Gunn’s movie. This is some inferior, newly created Drax – born of Bendys’ unfamiliarity with the character.

Bendis has never gotten Quill right, either. Quill is no longer a leader capable of single-handedly taking on a Herald and winning. He’s just a goofball screw-up who falls bass-ackward into situations and either has others rescue him from his stupidity or his srew-ups just luckily turn out right.

This incredibly stupid storyline of Quill getting married to Kitty is unspeakably asinine. I weep for what cosmic has become under Bendys, Brevoort, Loeb, and Alonso. This relationship is like every other one you see on any number of clichéd network situation comedies where the woman is the wise voice of reason and the guy is an idiot screw-up who couldn’t tie his own shoes without her. I wish Bendis would just give this comic up and take a job writing one of those television rom-coms. I’d call it good riddance.

The art and coloring has its ups-and-downs, too. Some panels are impressively rendered and colored. Others have Quill and Kitty with distorted facial expressions right out of a Looney-Tunes cartoon.

I suppose the Looney-Tunes comparison is fitting, though. Because, after-all, Bendys is just writing farce. That is the ultimate disappointment of what Marvel is now calling cosmic. It isn’t serious anymore. It is just second-rate farce to their serious Earth-bound superhero stories.

Daredevil Charlie Cox Is Contracted To Do Marvel Movies

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Will we see the Man Without Fear side-by-side The Avengers?

It’s definitely a strong possibility with the success the Daredevil Netflix series has become in addition to the positive fan reception.

While Charlie Cox has stated he hasn’t heard anything from Marvel Studios, the good news is that it’s in Cox’s contract to do be a part of the MCU.

Speaking with close-upfilm.com, Cox says:

It’d be great. I’ve read Civil War [comic] now, I’ve read The New Avengers [comic], I know he’s in there but I think I missed the boat on Civil War because they’re filming that. I don’t know, Marvel have not mentioned that to me at all. It’s in my contract that if they want me to do it, I’m there, and I would love that. That would be an extension of the dream, but I’m a pretty happy customer at this point, to get to do the series again. And I get to do The Defenders at some point.

While Cox may not be appearing in Captain America 3, perhaps we will see Daredevil in Marvel’s Infinity War movies.

Daredevil is currently available on Netflix with 13 episodes, and Season 2 is in the works.

Daredevil trailer:

You can read the lawsuit here.

Marvel Studios Being Sued Over Iron Man Movie Design

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A lawsuit has been filed against Disney and Marvel Studios claiming copyright infringement and unfair and deceptive trade practices over the look of the Iron Man movie designs.

The Wrap reports two brothers, Ben and Ray Lai, are claiming Marvel has infringed on the designs of their Radix comic, as much like the movie version of Iron Man, the characters in Radix wear “highly detailed, mechanized suits of body armor.”

Note: Back when Iron Man 3 was released, the brothers filed a cease-and-desist letter with Disney over promotional material.

The gist of the current lawsuit contends that Ben and Ray Lai created Radix in 2001 and then were hired by Marvel a year later “to work as artists on its various comic book franchises.” The brothers claim the comic book version of Iron Man was simpler prior to their Marvel involvement and are claiming Marvel nabbed their idea from Radix for the upgrade.

The comics “typically depicted Iron Man wearing simple spandex-like attire and minimal armor,” the lawsuit reads, where the movie franchise depicts Iron Man “wearing a fully mechanized suit of armor” which becomes increasingly complex over the span of the films.

The lawsuit continues arguing: “In the films, Iron Man is depicted wearing mechanized body armor that appropriates the copyrighted artistic work of the Plaintiff without authorization or attribution.”

And also: “The plot of each Iron Man film centers on the protagonist as he creates and builds increasingly powerful and futuristic versions of this body armor … that allow him to fly, shoot projectiles, and perform other superhuman feats.”

In addition to the claim of copyright infringement, the lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages and a permanent injunction barring further alleged copyright infringement.

Browsing the various Iron Man comic designs, it appears as if the Iron Man comic went with a more modern version of Iron Man around 1994-99, which was up to eight years prior to the two brothers having worked at Marvel, and something the lawsuit omits as part of its exhibit “A.”

The Prometheum armor in Heroes Reborn from 1996 seems to be the genesis of the modern day Iron Man:

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This one is from 1999 (Model 18):

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Billy Unger Rumored For Spider-Man

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Is 19-year-old actor Billy Unger up for the role of Marvel’s new Spider-Man?

Unger has posted images of himself on Instagram attending The Avengers 2 premiere including “Spider-Man” as a hashtag. Unger also describes himself as a “superhero” on Instagram as well.

In addition, Unger’s girlfriend lists herself as “Mrs. Spider-Man” on her own Instagram account.

It’s possible Billy Unger could be a contender for Spider-Man, or perhaps similar to Vin Diesel, is trying to draw attention to himself.

Prior to Vin Diesel being cast as Groot for Guardians of the Galaxy, the actor stretched the truth just a little bit stating he took meetings with Marvel, but in reality, had not. Marvel eventually noticed Vin Diesel’s enthusiasm, did have talks, and gave him the part of voicing Groot.

While Billy Unger’s name is not on the reported shortlist of actors for the role of Spider-Man, bear in mind the source of the info stated he was 95% sure the new Spider-Man would be non-white; however, the five listed actors are white. In addition, neither Chris Evans nor Chris Pratt were on any short-lists for their respective Marvel characters.

Billy Unger is known for Lab Rats, Ant-Farm and Kickin‘ It.

Would Unger be a good pick for Spidey?

(reddit user art1deadpool did all the homework)

#Avengers #AgeofUltron @Marvel #SpiderMan

A photo posted by Billy Unger (@billyunger) on Apr 14, 2015 at 1:13pm PDT

Had an amazing birthday yesterday. I thank you all for your birthday wishes. ☺️ you made my entire day. 19 will be a great year! My mom surprised me with a Spider-Man cake like she used to when I was a little guy. It brought back some of the best childhood memories.

Live from the @Avengers #AgeofUltron red carpet world premiere with @billyunger! #AvengersPremiere pic.twitter.com/ivk5gWKLnP

— The Avengers (@Avengers) April 14, 2015

5 Names Surface For New Spider-Man

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Five names have apparently surfaced for Marvel’s new Spider-Man.

The reporter for The Wrap, who also said he was 95% sure Spider-Man is going to be non-white, is now stating Nat Wolff, Asa Butterfield, Tom Holland, Timothee Chalamet and Liam James are in the mix to play Peter Parker, which are all white actors.

According to the report, Sony is preparing to offer the actors a chance to test for the role, with it said a decision on the new Spider-Man will take place in the next 2-3 weeks.

It’s also said the new Spider-Man won’t be needed until June for Captain America: Civil War.

Previous details confirmed by Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige included the new Spider-Man and Peter Parker will be in high school, and that Marvel already has the new costume ready.

Drew Goddard is said to be Sony’s choice to direct the standalone Spider-Man film in 2017.

Some info on the contenders (pictured above from left to right):

Nat Wolff – 20 years old; known for The Fault In Our Stars and The Naked Brothers Band.

Asa Butterfield – 18 years old; known for Hugo and Ender’s Game.

Tom Holland – 18 years old; known for Wolf Hall and The Impossible.

Timothee Chalamet – 19 years old; known for Interstellar and Homeland.

Liam James – 18 years old; known for The Killing and Psych.

Just ask the Marvel Cosmic fans.

Now An Original X-Men Is Gay

The House Of Ideas is no more as it is now the House of the Mouse.

Tomorrow sees All-New X-Men #40 released featuring the ret-con of an original X-Men now being gay.

It’s Iceman.

Pages from the issue have leaked online ahead of tomorrow’s release (via 4chan).

Note: It’s Bendys’ last issue on the title.

I just wish Bendiss would also leave the Cosmic titles.

Update: Bendis offered the following:

“There are thousands if not millions of stories of people who, for many different reasons, felt the need to hide their sexuality. The X-Men, with the conceit of time travel, give us a fascinating platform in which to examine such personal journeys. This is just the first little chapter of a much larger story that will be told.”

Here is the relevant info:

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