The Dark Knight Rises teaser poster courtesy Warner Brothers
If you want to read a compelling story that inspired The Dark Knight Rises then check out Batman: No Man’s Land. A new edition of volume three is out this week.
SPOILER WARNING
KEY PLOT POINTS OF “THE DARK KNIGHT RISES” AHEAD
SERIOUSLY
HERE IT COMES
Batman: No Man’s Land Volume Three New Edition courtesy DC Comics
In The Dark Knight Rises Gotham City is cut off from the rest of the world and under siege from criminal factions thanks to Bane. In the comic books an earthquake rocks Gotham City in Cataclysm. The governor declares the city uninhabitable and orders everyone to leave. Those left behind in No Man’s Land are caught in the turf war between Gotham’s biggest and new crime lords. Batman and his family (Catwoman, Robin, Batgirl, Nighwing) are the only protection for those stranded.
The big difference in the comic book storyline is Bane is on a mission for Superman villain Lex Luthor. The Joker plays a critical role in the finale of the crossover in a showdown that affects Commissioner Gordon. This storyline featured many top writers (Chuck Dixon, Greg Rucka, Dennis O’Neill) at the top of their game.
Double duty for 007 during the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics! James Bond escorted the Queen to the event in a film by director Danny Boyle then starred in a new spot for Skyfall – take a look!
Thanks to 007.com. Skyfall opens November 9, 2012 in the U.S. By Editor
The top-secret shoot revealed and a highlight for 007 fans! James Bond (Daniel Craig) escorts Her Royal Highness to the London Olympics Opening Ceremony! The film was directed by Danny Boyle. Here it is again courtesy 007.com.
This is also the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond film series. James Bond returns in Skyfall this November.
Marvel is making Guardians of the Galaxy their next big screen adventure. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning wrote the new version of the team spinning out of their Annihilation storyline.
Unlike the previous incarnation set in the 31st century, DnA’s team was set in the present day with an odd assortment of cosmic characters that just clicked including Rocket Raccoon and a revamped Star-Lord. It was this team that Marvel Films will feature in the upcoming movie.
“Dan and I are really excited to see the Guardians of the Galaxy make it to the big screen, especially as it would appear to be the iteration of the team established during our run on the title. We will be eager to see the film along with all the fans of cosmic stories,” Lanning told Comics Newsarama.
courtesy Marvel.com
“One thing we’d like to go on the record with is that we owe a huge debt of thanks to the great stories of our predecessors, in particular, Jim Starlin and Keith Giffen, these guys are the giants on whom we stood.
“Beyond that, we’re sorry but we really don’t know anything, so we can’t make any further comment,” he concluded.
Guardians of the Galaxy blasts into theaters August 1, 2014. No word on a new comic book series but with Rocket Raccoon appearing in promo art for Marvel NOW! it’s a good bet the team will be back in a new book soon.
Marvel NOW! Captain America design courtesy Marvel, an MTV Geek exclusive
The Marvel NOW! relaunch means new books, new teams, creator changes and new costumes for classic heroes. Captain America is sporting a new design by Jerome Opena and John Cassaday. Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort talked with MTV Geek about the new look for the Star-Spangled Avenger. The new look is more military inspired like the Cap played by Chris Evans in Captain America: The First Avenger.
“The approach and the thought was very simple: we wanted to modernize Cap’s outfit so as to reflect the gear worn by actual soldiers, to convey that sense of the character visually.”
Brevoort was asked about the criticism that will follow about changing just for the sake of change.
“Well, every costume design change is really change for change’s sake, and certainly Cap’s costume is a classic. But that said, it’s been updated before, and so long as what we ended up with still looked like and gave you the silhouette of Captain America, that was what was important to me. We just did years of stories in which Bucky wore a variant of Cap’s costume, and people were able to accept it just fine, and still recognize and react to him as Captain America. Same thing here,” Brevoort replied.
Marvel NOW! Captain America design courtesy Marvel, a MTV Geek exclusive
For more of his thoughts on the costume here’s the MTV Geek link.
The look reminds me of Bryan Hitch’s Cap in The Ultimates. Cap will be starring in Uncanny Avengers with art my Cassaday and Avengers with art by Opena.
If you want to see Cassaday’s take on the classic costume take a look at Captain America: The New Deal by John Rey Neiber and Cassaday.
No word on the creative team for a possible Captain America solo book in the Marvel NOW! relaunch yet.
My bet is on Mark Waid. I’d like to see Salvador Larroca drawing the Sentinel of Liberty. Stay tuned.
Judge Dredd fans are hoping to see justice done with the 2000 A.D. character. Karl Urban (Star Trek, Lord of the Rings Trilogy) wears the uniform in the upcoming Dredd 3D. Urban spoke of his take versus the first film starring Sylvester Stallone.
“To me, that wasn’t the Dredd that I knew. To me, it was far more interesting to have a character with this inner rage and struggling to contain it, rather than letting it all explode,” Urban tells Movie Fanatic.
“That’s the direction that I was going in. I decided that what I wanted to do was find the humanity within Dredd. He’s not a superhero. He’s a cloned man, but he’s just a man. He doesn’t have superhero powers. His heroism is defined by the fact that he’s walking into a building while everybody else is running out.”
One big difference with the films: Dredd will not remove his helmet just like in the comics. Urban explains how he overcome that obstacle.
“The challenge was: How do I convey all that without the eyes?” Urban wondered. “There’s a wariness too about the character which is really important. Your voice becomes extremely important. In my research I discovered a passage in one of the comic strips that described Dredd’s voice as a saw cutting through bone,” he reveals.
“Other tools were the physicality. What can I express with my movement? It’s also really important to identify where the humor lies. That’s one of the things I really loved in the comic is just the really dry, dark humor.”
Captain America is going into darker territory in his sequel but Marvel films picked two directors known for comedy to take the Star Spangled Avenger there. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is based on Ed Brubaker’s gritty epic in which Steve Rogers faces a mysterious Russian assassin and a ghost from his past.
Anthony and Joe Russo (Community, Arrested Development) are writing, producing and directing the Cap sequel and gave a preview of what to expect in the modern-day set sequel based on the Brubaker storyline.
Chris Evans as Captain America in Marvel’s The Avengers courtesy Marvel Films
“Well, we like the [story]. I can’t talk too much about specifics, that’s the way Marvel handles things. I can say in general that there’s sort of a darker, edgier sensibility at work there that we found appealing, and that is going find its way into Captain [America] in the modern-day,” Russo tells Huffington Post.
Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger was an homage to World War II films so how will the tone change in the new film set in the present day.
“I have to be very careful how I answer this, because it does border on issues of what the movie is. But yeah, he is in a very different time and place. For as well as that style worked for his World War 2 experience and the origin of Cap — part of the fun of picking a guy out of one time period and plopping him down in another is that all bets are off. The whole world is different, and that’s part of the struggle of the character and the challenge the character faces,” Russo explains.
Black Widow and The Winter Soldier from the cover of Captain America and Bucky #624 courtesy Marvel.com
In the modern age Cap falls for SHIELD Agent Sharon Carter (niece of Peggy Carter from the first film.) No word on if Sharon will appear but Anthony Mackie is in talks to play Cap’s partner, Sam Wilson aka the Falcon. Sebastian Stan is set to return as Bucky Barnes.
Will Hugo Weaving return as the Red Skull? How will the Russos explain the archenemy’s return. I do have this geek casting dream Christoph Waltz as Aleksander Lukin, the KGB mastermind who becomes a billionaire with a twisted connection to the Red Skull. Could we see a Black Widow cameo or even as major cast member since Natasha was crucial to Brubaker’s storyline and is currently co-starring in the Winter Soldier book.
The Dark Knight Rises one sheet courtesy Warner Brothers
The Dark Knight Rises is the end of Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale’s Batman trilogy. Warner Brothers will likely reboot the iconic hero again at some point with a new actor in the role.
“I’m very intrigued to see another interpretation of it at this point,” he tells MTV News.
Bale reflected on the past film versions of the Caped Crusader.
“There have been many wonderful ones,” he said. “Adam West did it fantastically, spoofing it. I’m sincere. He really did.”
The character’s ability to change has the Oscar-winning actor excited to see what’s next.
“So it would be very interesting to see what someone else does with the character,” he said. “I’d be the first one there to watch.”
Opinion: I always said one of the reasons Christian Bale made such a great Bruce Wayne was that he would make an excellent Joker. Just look at American Psycho. I would hope the Court of Owls storyline might tempt Nolan and Bale to return for one more film…but a geek can dream.
