Iron Man 2 - The Mark IV suit

The good folks over on the VG Forum posted this photo of the Mark IV Iron Man suit from next years sequel. Not really that much different from the Mark III (shown below) and still not enough like my favourite version from the comic (shown at the bottom).

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Jon Favreau sees Iron Man 3 and The Avengers in 3D

"I really love the 3-D," director Jon Favreau told MTV at the San Diego Comic-Con. "I think 'Up' was probably my favorite movie I've seen this year."

Marvel has plans to make at least one more "Iron Man" film, as well as an "Avengers" film in 2012 that will feature Tony Stark. If Favreau has his way, he'd like at least one of those films to be three-dimensional.

"I like all the new technologies, 3-D being one of them. James Cameron had brought me around a few months back to see what he was doing with 'Avatar'; that's what's been seen now by many of the fans," he said of the 3-D footage shown last week. "It was exciting to go in there and see what he's doing with cutting-edge technology. He's just a great storyteller as well, and to see a great filmmaker working with the cutting-edge of this technology is amazing."

"I talked to Marvel after I'd seen [Cameron's footage] about doing 'Iron Man 2' in 3-D," he said. "I was hoping to get a shot at doing it this time around, but it didn't work out that way. ... There are a few drawbacks to it at this point — there's more cost involved, and it also forces you to shoot digitally. My cinematographer [Matthew Libatique] really likes film, and 'Iron Man' had a certain look because it was film."

As of right now, Favreau isn't certain he'll direct "Iron Man 3" or "The Avengers." But Feige is on record as saying that he'd like to see Marvel films jumping off the screen soon, and Favreau is convinced that the technology will be there for whichever film he makes next.

"We haven't had any talks about [me directing 'Avengers'], although we do have talks about what the content of 'Avengers' will be," Favreau said of the film expected to feature Iron Man, Nick Fury, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow and others. "I'm going to be involved in some capacity with it, but as far as directing goes, we're still working on this one. ... I'm happy they brought me back to do 'Iron Man 2.'

"But I think that, as the digital technology gets better, 3-D is going to be a lot easier," the filmmaker continued. "Certainly for 'Iron Man,' I think it would work out well."

Would you like to see the Marvel superheroes go 3D?

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Captain Jack as Captain America

The Avengers film draws ever closer and we have our Iron Man, Thor, Nick Fury, and a few others. However, there is still no news on who will play Captain America.

Worryingly Will Smith's name keeps getting bandied about. Don't get me wrong, I like a bit of Big Willy stylee (hmm a dodgy sentence if ever there was one!) but they should stick with the Steve Rogers set out in the comic. However, another actor, who would agree with the sentiments of my previous sentence but in a whole different way, has said they'd like to give it a go.

During the BBC "Torchwood: Children of Earth" mini-series panel at Comic-Con last weekend, actor John Barrowman revealed that he would like the chance play Captain America in The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers films.

"You know what I want to play? Captain America," he said to the wildly receptive crowd, before adding that it "so won't happen."

Barrowman plays the fixed point in time, Captain Jack Harkness and is pretty good at it.

The question is would he make a good Cap? To be honest I think he would. He's got the looks (my wife and mother love him as do many other men and women), he's a bit of an unknown for the mainstream audience (only fans of TV sci-fi, musical theatre and 1980's Saturday Morning Kids TV would know him) which would make them buy into him as the character rather than as a big name playing a part. Although Kevin Feige has said they are looking for a star with international appeal.

Of course, there would be none of the shenanigans that Captain Jack gets up to if he took on the role of Steve Rogers.

I seriously doubt that this will come to pass or that he will even make it to an audition, just one of those things that the Comic Con throws up once in a while. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are people working away on making vids and pics of Barrowman as Captain America right now.

Would Barrowman be a good Captain America?

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Planet Hulk - Trailer

I had no idea they were doing an adaption of the excellent Planet Hulk storyline by Greg Pak, but here is the trailer and it looks fantastic.

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The Avengers and Captain America - Could the Skrulls and The Invaders feature in them?

Some interesting facts have been hinted at by Kevin Feige, over on CHUD, regarding various things that may feature in their forthcoming Marvel films.

'Will the Skrulls be the villain in The Avengers?' I asked.

Feige gave me one of those looks he's good at giving and just said, 'We do own them.'

More digging turned up the fact that Marvel Studios owns the Skrull race, while Fox own the Super Skrull.

The Skrull are a shape changing alien race who have had a hard-on for Earth for quite some time. They would make a pretty great big bad for the film for a number of reasons: first of all, there's a bunch of them, so the film wouldn't have to contain just one or two fight scenes with the main threat, and each of the team members could have their own battles at their own power level. For another, they allow Marvel Studios to do something really cool - what if it's revealed that certain characters from the previous Marvel movies have been Skrulls all along? And Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch proved in the first Ultimates series that the Skrull (called the Chitauri there) make a convincingly cinematic threat.

Of course the other possibility is that The Avengers will battle Hydra. As I mentioned in this story about The Invaders possibly appearing in The First Avenger: Captain America, Feige name-dropped Hydra as being something with which Steve Rogers had to contend. Might the truth be that Steve Rogers would just meet some of the Nazi supervillains who go on to head Hydra? And with The Avengers being a SHIELD group in the movies, it might make sense to make the villain a SHIELD villain. On top of that, like the Skrull, the sheer number of Hydra agents mean the film could contain lots of battles and that each of the Avengers could get something to do during the course of the film.

Having the Skrulls in the Avengers films throws up some interesting possibilities - the Hulk may feature but turn out to be a Skrull, other characters in Iron Man, Thor etc may turn out to have been replaced by Skrulls at some point.

What do you think of the news?
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Iron Man 2 footage from Comic Con

Well almost. Some people who saw it did a "sweded" version of it. Excellent stuff.

You can see some screenshots from the actual footage here.
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Iron Man 2 won't end on a cliffhanger for the Avengers to resolve

At the moment we know that War Machine (check out the screenshot from the Iron Man 2 footage) will make a significant appearance, Black Widow could be good or evil, and Sam Rockwell will be reinventing the character of Justin Hammer. Director Jon Favreau weighed in as well at Comic-Con with his own details on the film, stating that the sequel won't leave an open-ended cliffhanger for Marvel's 2012 "Avengers" movie. We also know what heroes to expect in the Avengers film.

"We're working towards 'Avengers,' but by the same token we want to resolve this film and make ['Iron Man 2'] play on its own," Favreau told MTV News. "It's not a serial. It's a self-contained film."

Since Marvel Studios began planted movie crossover appearances in "The Incredible Hulk" and the first "Iron Man," continuity buffs have had a great deal to speculate about, given Marvel's ambitious calendar of releases, including "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger." Favreau stressed that while the movies would all be working off of each other, his focus remains on making his film work on its own.

"It's not building towards a cliffhanger that's the next movie," he explained. "It's about wrapping up our story and making it a complete tale."

What about Iron Man 3? "There’s an Iron Man 3. Here’s how I know. When they make the option deals, they include Iron Man 3. So I know they’re planning on 3. Whether that would be before or after Avengers, they’ve announced that Avengers is next but they pushed back The Avengers once which I thought was encouraging."

As for whether, like many sequels, there will be too many villains in Iron Man 2 Favreau had this to say, "Well, we had to walk a fine line. I think you’re good for number two. Two seems to be the charm because you got your origin story out of the way. You can add some complexity to it and you have room, because you don’t have to tell the origin story, to introduce the characters. When you get to number three, you can get hidebound. You’re like a beached whale sometimes because you have so much, you collapse under the weight of the complexity that you’ve created. We looked at the successful sequels that we liked. I’m not talking about Two Towers or films that are chapters based on novels or Harry Potter. I’m talking about true sequels. The two that we liked the most, this was me and Kevin Feige talking, were Wrath of Kahn and Empire Strikes Back. Those were the two that we said, “They did it right. Now let’s look at what they did right.” There were so many others that didn’t feel as good as the first but for those two, what we found was that it really gave room to explore the characters and the villain plotlines were very simple but the stakes were very high. The less you get bogged down in complexity, the more you could really let the audience enjoy what they really like which are the relationships. Two years later, I know I’m a pretty savvy audience member, I don’t remember the dynamics and the subtleties of it. It’s not as precious to me as it is to the filmmakers. So it’s putting yourself in the seat of the audience and saying, “What do they want to see more but you want to go bigger.” You go from Alien to Aliens and then you want to show them the characters that they’ve invested in and how they’ve changed and change those dynamics by introducing new characters. Don’t just add to the action but throw the relationship into a little bit of a curve ball."

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The Avengers - Which heroes will make the cut?

Kevin Feige,the President of Production of Marvel Studios, spoke to Collider at the San Diego Comic Con and gave a run down as to who we will be seeing in The Avengers movie.

Kevin: I think we know. It’s going to be Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Nick Fury. I think it’s safe to assume that there will be some members of the Hulk universe in the film as well. In terms of the additional, I think Black Widow for sure. SHIELD’s organization for sure. And, again, what’s exciting to me about the Avengers movie are seeing those four characters together and interact with each other. Anywhere from the first issue of the Avengers to Civil War, the dynamic between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark is awesome and fascinating. It brings out sides of the others that won’t be brought out in their own franchises. Throwing Thor into the mix is a whole other thing and I think that will be cool. So to pile in another ten or fifteen…or frankly even four…I think will be too many.

Is the Hulk in it?

Kevin: You know Zack Penn is outlining it as we speak so we’ll see.

Looks like no Wasp or Hawkeye then. What do you think of the line up?

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Wolverine Anime - Trailer

First there was the Iron Man anime trailer. Now Wolvie has got in on the action.

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Iron Man 2 Comic Con Panel

San Diego Comic Con panel for Iron Man 2, which features Q&A with Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johansson.

Check out some photos from the exclusive Iron Man 2 footage that was shown.

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UPDATED with Pics - Iron Man 2 - War Machine has been seen at Comic Con

Jon Favreau premiered a look at for Iron Man 2 during the San Diego Comic Con. /film had the following description and it sounds brilliant.

Tony Stark is eating a donut while laying in the hole of the huge donut on the roof of Randy’s Donuts. Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury yells up “Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to exit the donut!”

Cut to: Stark and Fury inside the restaurant eating and chatting. Stark asks if Fury was going to ask him to join his group again, to which Nick responds “I remember, you do everything yourself. How is that working out for you?” Stark asks Fury if he is supossed to look at his working eye or the eye patch.

Cut to: A government court hearing, where Tony is talking with Pepper Potts a few rows behind him. Senator Stern Asks Tony if he posseses a weapon, the iron man weapon. Stark says that its not a weapon, and that technically it’s a high tech prosthesis.

“Its a weapon Mr Stark!

“If your priority was to protect…”

“Well you can forget it!”

“I am Iron Man, the suit and I am one. You cant have it!”

The Senator calls Rhodey to the stand. Rhodey walks by Stark and tells him he’ll deal with it.

The Senator asks Stark what his point is and Stark responds that his point is “You’re welcome, I’m your nuclear deterrent,” … “I’ve kept the world safe, what more do you want? I tried to play ball with these ass clowns!” The Senator then says “F— You Mr. Stark!”

A montage begins with shots of newspapers and magazines with Stark on the cover. Voice over in a Russian accent “You come from a family of thieves and butchers…” Shots of Rourke putting together his whiplash suit. A bunch of random shots, including a bunch of girls dancing in front of a display with the American flag, and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, kicking ass. Rourke arrives at the race car track in his Whiplash suit. He activates it and the wires light up with electricity as he whips them around. Stark is bloody, in his racing suit, down on the concrete. We see a close-up of Rourke laughing.

Cut to: Iron Man flying through the night air, dodging missiles which explode behind him, as he blasts towards Earth.

The Iron Man 2 logo appears on the screen, along with the music.

Then we get an extra sequence. Rhodey in a air plane hanger. Justin Hammer walks over and asks what this is about and Rhodey says it’s classified. Hammer looks down at a suit, which appears to be Stark’s old Mark II armor. “Is that what I think it is?” “What can you do for us?” Hammer shows Rhodey a bunch of different weaponry. Rhodey tells Hammer “I think i’ll take it.” “Which one?” “All of it.” Cut to: A shot of War Machine blasting off his guns.

Teaser Trailer had the pics

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Iron Man Anime Trailer

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Photo of Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow in Iron Man 2

Marvel Studios has premiered a new photo of Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2 on Yahoo Movies. Johansson plays Russian superspy Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, who is hired as Stark’s assistant which inevitably sparks romantic tension between Stark and former assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who’s been promoted to CEO of Stark Industries.

Iron Man 2is due out on 7th May 2010.

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Iron Man 2 has finished filming

Good news for fans of old shellhead. Production on Iron Man 2’s principal photography has wrapped on Saturday, after 72 days of shooting.

Marvel Studios producer Kevin Feige issued a statement to Marvel.com:

Shooting ‘Iron Man 2′ was a fantastic experience and we couldn’t be happier. Although there were many challenges in making this film, having Jon Favreau, Robert Downey, Gwyneth Paltrow and almost the entire crew from the first film back on board, allowed us to hit the ground running as everyone was instantly familiar with each other from day one. This dynamic allowed us to get done what we needed on a day to day basis and was a big factor in why we finished slightly ahead of schedule. Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell and especially Don Cheadle all stepped right in and meshed well with our returning cast. From our experience on the first film, we learned what works and doesn’t work in terms of shooting practical versus CGI especially with the Iron Man suit. This enabled us to be much more efficient in many departments, making it a much smoother experience.” … “The next step for us is beginning the post production process which is extensive and filled with its own set of challenges. It is also a very exciting time because you get to see all the hard work from the hundreds of cast and crew members begin to come to life.

We’ve only seen a smattering of photos from the shoot so no doubt there will be many more over the next few months. I also wonder what Jon Favreau will unveil at the forthcoming Comic Con this year. Personally, I am still itching to see the War Machine armour that is meant to be in the sequel.

What are you looking forward to seeing in Iron Man 2? Do you think there will be a glimpse of the mysterious Mandarin? Maybe Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer is working for him?

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Iron Man 2 - First look at Don Cheadle as Rhodey and Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer

EW have debuted some new photos from Iron Man 2. On the left you can see Don Cheadle, who replaced Terrance Howard as Col. James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes. Behind him is Sam Rockwell as weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer.

The photo on the right shows director Jon Favreau, who also plays Happy Hogan, and Robert Downey Jr watching some playback in a boxing ring.

Source: /film

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Scarlett Johannsson as Black Widow in not very good photos

This Friday’s issue of Entertainment Weekly will have the first look at Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow, Russian superspy Natasha Romanoff from Iron Man 2.

Here are a couple of not very clear photos of her. They also show Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. As soon as some better quality shots come out I'll get them posted.

It's due out on 7th May 2010.

Source: /film

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Green Lantern in Iron Man 2?

Well not really, but Jon Favreau did tweet that Scarlett Johanson's husband, Ryan Reynolds, visited the set. Who, as we now know, is playing Green Lantern.

Here is a video from the Iron Man 2 set at Sepulveda Dam in Los Angeles. It shows a great big green screen and not much else.

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Iron Man 2 - Nick Fury won't be doing much and lots of Armoured villains?

Samuel L Jackson is in Iron Man 2. That's known, as is the fact he's signed up to star in all the other Marvel films. However, will he be doing much kick ass spy type stuff? MTV spoke to Jackson who said fans will likely have to wait for The Avengers for Fury to see some action.

“Not this time, not yet,” Jackson said likelihood we’ll see his character become the action hero fans know in “Iron Man 2.” “We still haven’t moved Nick Fury into the bad-ass zone. He’s still just kind of a talker.”

Asked whether fans will have to wait until the superhero team-up in “The Avengers” to see Fury get into some action scenes, Jackson simply said, “Looking forward to that, yeah.”

Along with dropping some hints about Nick Fury’s potential brawl, Jackson also told MTV News that he’s done filming on the project, adding that most of his scenes were shot with Robert Downey Jr., but there were also a few with Scarlett Johansson, too.

Cinemablend have a news story saying Robert Downey Jr went to the aid of an extra who was injured during filming. That's not the interesting part though. Apparantly this happened during a scene in which stunt men dressed as robotic villains rampage through the set.

That's the interesting bit and reminds me of the Armour Wars storyline. That is the one when Stark realises his technology has got out and tracks down all the armour that utilizes it and shuts it down. We know Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) has armour that appears to be derived from Stark Tech, could these be more?

Image by Skottie Young

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The Losers and Freddy Krueger to go head to head in 2010

It looks as if the Comedian and Rorschach will be battling it out in the box office next year.

According to Box Office Mojo, the adaption of DC Comics The Losers will hit theaters on 16th April 2010. This is the same release date as New Line’s A Nightmare on Elm Street

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jackie Earle Haley are the leading men of The Losers and Nightmare.

As far as I was aware The Losers had yet to start filming so it is a bit of a surprise for the release date to be announced so soon.

2010 should be quite a good year for Comic Book lovers - The Losers, Iron Man 2, Jonah Hex and Scott Pilgrim vs The World announced so far.

Out of The Losers and The Nightmare on Elm Street remake which one are you most looking forward to?

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Shamelessly She-Hulk - Fan Film

Fan Cinema Today did it again when they found the trailer for a new She-Hulk fan film.

Garrett Gilchrist is making Shamelessly She-Hulk, an ambitious, feature-length fan film that sports not only Jennifer Walters (AKA She-Hulk), but also Spider-Man, The Punisher, Blade, Captain America, Iron Man, Superman, Batman, Black Widow and even an animated Howard The Duck.

Here's the trailer. Let me know what you think of it.

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