20th Century Fox is holding on to the Fantastic Four franchise and signed up Josh Trank to reboot Marvel’s First Family. Fox President Tom Rothman told Collider about the young director’s involvement with a new Fantastic Four.
“Josh Thank who did Chronicle, I think this has been reported, is gonna come on and work on a take, or a vision, that he has for it, so we’re very excited about that.
This Geek’s Opinion: I loved Chronicle. The story about three high school friends in Seattle who gain powers after exposure to an alien artifact was an exciting take on how a hero or a villain can develop. When I heard the Trank news I kept picturing the excellent Dane DeHaan as a young Puppetmaster. I know this may be sacrilege but how about a modern, edgier reboot of Marvel’s First Family without Doctor Doom? A new creator could tap into the Annihilius and Negative Zone or Red Ghost and his Super Apes. Doom could be like Blofeld in the Sean Connery 007 movies.
James Bond is back in Turkey in Skyfall. 007 has been to the exotic country where East meets West in two previous adventures. My favorite 007 book and movie From Russia, With Love is set in Cold War Istanbul with my all time favorite Bond ally, Kerim Bey (played with perfection by Pedro Armendariz) head of Station T. The World Is Not Enough featured a finale in the Bosphorus as Pierce Brosnan’s Bond saved Istanbul from a financially driven terrorist attack.
Director Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig, Bond girls Naomie Harris & Berenice Marlohe, Ola Rapace and producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson held a video press conference to mark 007’s return to Turkey.
The New Mutants graphic novel cover courtesy Marvel.com
Updated! I promise I had this draft long before I saw this recent story teasing a possible New Mutants movie. Here’s the Collider link so you can read it for yourself. Basically when pressed Fox’s Tom Rothman is smartly coy in his response. You can be the judge.
Original story:
It’s time Fox show some love for the New Mutants era for the sequel to X-Men: First Class. Cannonball aka Sam Guthrie would be a perfect addition to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
The film series has mixed and matches X-Men from various eras. First Class included everyone from original X-Man Beast and Angel Salvadore from the Grant Morrison New X-Men run. Time for the
Jack Quade played the Tribute ironically named Marvel in The Hunger Games and now that I’ve seen more photos of him I keep picturing him as the poor miner kid from Kentucky who blasts his way into the Xavier school.
The New Mutants graphic novel by Chris Claremont would be a great source of inspiration for the sequel script. X-Men books and films have always demonstrated diversity. Having Danielle Moonstar (Mirage) or Xian Coy Manh (Karma) in the next film would continue that tradition. Dani is a Native American had the power to create illusions of her enemies’ fears or wishes and co-lead the team with Sam. Karma is of Vietnamese descent and has the power to possess minds. In recent years Xian or Shan came out as a lesbian.
Sam and his sister Paige (aka Husk) are currently teaching at the Jean Grey School under headmaster Wolverine. Dani and Karma are on a New Mutants team based in San Francisco.
By Editor
This Geek’s Updated Opinion: Of course I’ll go see any X-Men related movie but with the X-Men: First Class franchise firmly set in the past would it make sense to have another X franchise set in the present? No disrespect to the New Mutants fans, creators or characters but I don’t think they can hold up on their own as a film franchise. I would be curious how Fox would pull it off. Professor X founded the New Mutants but Magneto served as their instructor and eventually the Cable turned the team into X-Force. As I stated above I would love to see Sam, Dani or Karma in an X-Men: First Class sequel or rebooted present day X-Men film.
You may have heard a little something about a movie called The Avengers. You can’t escape the promotion. Hype is high. It’s the first time this many iconic super heroes from other blockbusters are in the same big movie. Here’s what you need to know if you’re never seen opened an Avengers comic book or seen the previous Marvel films: The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America or Thor.
Spoiler Warning: this guide gives away the endings of those previously named movies.
1. SHIELD is an international agency charged with protecting Earth led by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson.) The Avengers Project is a gathering of super powered heroes to fight the global threats no single hero can handle alone – that big threat is here.
2. Captain America: The First Avenger Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers, a skinny, weak Brooklyn kid with a big heart who wanted to serve his country in World War II. Steve volunteered to be part of a top-secret experiment to create Super Soldiers. Steve was chosen because “a weak man knows the value of strength” and he became Captain America. Cap stopped a rogue Nazi scientist known as the Red Skull. The super serum transformed the man into an insane monster. Cap saved America from the Skull’s flying superweapon by crashing it into the arctic. Cap was frozen. SHIELD scientists discovered and revived Steve who was shocked to learn decades of his life are gone. He’s alone in a modern world he doesn’t understand.
Iron Man from Marvel.com
3. Iron Man Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is an arrogant genius inventor/playboy. Tony was kidnapped in Afghanistan and learned that his company’s weapons were being sold on the black market against the terrorists that U.S. forces were fighting. While in captivity Tony builds a suit of armor to escape his captors and protect the world as Iron Man.
4. Thor What the Vikings hailed as Norse Gods were mighty beings from a mystical realm called Asgard. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was the God of Thunder and son of Odin, King of Asgard. Thor’s arrogance ignited an ancient war with the Frost Giants (a rival race that almost destroyed Earth eons ago) and Odin stripped Thor of his powers and sent him to Midgard or Earth. Thor learned lessons of humility, love and what it meant to be a true hero.
Marvel’s Avengers The Hulk courtesy Marvel Studios
5. Hulk Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) is a scientist exposed to an experimental treatment that turns him into a monstrous, childlike Hulk. Anger triggers the change so Bruce has tried to live a secluded existence while trying to discover a cure. Bruce will be recruited back to use his brains and Hulk like strength to fight the alien army – the big question – how do you control a rampaging Hulk?
6. Black Widow Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is a Russian super spy recruited to SHIELD by Nick Fury. She has no super powers but is highly skilled in combat and weapons. Natasha was working undercover as Tony’s assistant in Iron Man 2. In the comic books, Natasha has dated Hawkeye.
Hawkeye & Black Widow in Marvel’s The Avengers courtesy Marvel
7. Hawkeye Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is a tough, resourceful SHIELD agent and an expert archer. You saw Barton briefly in Thor. In the comic books, Clint is a former criminal turned good guy with a sarcastic sense of humor.
7. SHIELD Agents Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) is the no-nonsense government operative who appeared in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America. Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) is Nick Fury’s second in command.
8. The Big Bad Guy =Loki Thor’s half-brother is the treacherous Loki (Tom Hiddleston.) The God of Mischief is a master of manipulation and sorcery who orchestrated Thor’s banishment. Thor defeated Loki but the spiteful brother refused to let Thor save his life so we last saw him falling out of Asgard into deep space. Loki is back and has declared war on Earth and he’s allied with an army of aliens – this leads to the formation of the Avengers.
If you’re in the Seattle area like myself and want to catch up SIFF Cinema presents Avengers Assemble! You can see all the previous Marvel movies each night! The Incredible Hulk Monday, Iron Man I & II Tuesday, Thor in 3D Wednesday and Captain America: The First Avenger in 3D Thursday. Each night members of the cast (and local heroes) of Citizen Heroeswill be introducing the films.
You don’t have to be an Avengers expert to enjoy the movie – just come, have fun and feel like a kid again! Hope you have a great time!
If you have any Avengers related questions please contact me by leaving a comment, email or following me on Facebook or on Twitter @comicsblend.
By Editor – thanks to Marvel for the images, the characters and for making this movie happen!
Updated: How do these characters tie together? Captain America. The Red Skull was obsessed with myths and the supernatural. He recovered a lost Asgardian artifact called the Tesseract (in the comic books it’s called the Cosmic Cube) that fueled his super army’s weaponry. The artifact is in SHIELD custody. Another fact: Tony Stark’s father Howard was a part of the team that helped turn Steve Rogers into Captain America.
Prometheus still of Noomi Rapace courtesy 20th Century Fox
The man who knows the fate of many sci-fi and superhero franchise near and dear to geek hearts gave many updates at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week.
Fox Studio Chief Tom Rothman told MTV News that Prometheus has not been rated yet.
“The rating board has not opined yet and it will go in to the board soon,” Rothman told us on the press line for the studio’s CinemaCon panel. “This I can tell you and I can tell all the fans, not one frame will be cut. The movie will be what it should be. We will not cut a frame of the film,” he promised. “We will stand behind it 100 percent and if that means it’s an R, then so be it, because not an ounce, not a percentage are we going to compromise the film.”
Rothman confirmed it was hit call to not include Alien in the title. Here’s why they went with the new title.
A new Prometheus featurette is burning up the geek net! The cast is praising Sir Ridley Scott and we hear from the acclaimed director himself on his return to science fiction. The look in Michael Fassbender’s eyes as David the android is fascinating and chilling as he appears to sit the pilot seat of the “Space Jockey” and discovers the starmap. We’ve seen the scene in the trailer before but in this featurette we see Noomi Rapace in the white bikini looking outfit before what looks like a nasty fate with an alien of some kind.
I particularly enjoyed David’s quote “a superior species, no doubt.”
Go inside the thoughts of a famous high school nerd turned hero with Parker’s POV as marketing for Amazing Spider-Man begins.
courtesy Parker's POV
Now this new Parker’s POV photoblog shows snapshots and reveals thoughts of a famous teen from Queens. According to Spinoff Online & SuperHeroHype you can unlock hidden sections that reveal Peter’s design for his web shooters. This group shot of a high school debate shows what looks like actor Andrew Garfield.
courtesy ParkersPOV
For the non-comic book reader – Spidey’s webs are produced by web shooters he invented they were not organic as shown in the previous Spider-Man movies.
Exciting updates about the next Daniel Craig 007 film. The Skyfall trailer will be attached to MIB 3 in late May but there it was screened at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
I won’t give away description but I will reveal that (according to Dark Horizons) it includes this line from Craig:
“Some men are coming to kill us. We’ve got to kill them first”
I can picture Craig delivering that line in such a cool way!
Sony confirmed Bond 24 will arrive in 2014 returning to the biennial plan.
