WOLVERINE Is Fox’s IRON MAN

Hugh Jackman as The Wolverine courtesy Marvel and 20th Century Fox

  The success of Iron Man paved the way for other Avengers solo films (Thor, Captain America) and the shared universe that became the box-office smash Marvel’s The Avengers for Marvel/Disney.

  Fox controls the cinematic rights to Marvel’s X-Men and Fantastic Four. Fox Creative Consultant calls Hugh Jackman’s next Wolverine the beginning of a shared universe among the Fox franchises. 

  “I felt like Iron Man was really the beginning of something for the Marvel Studios movies, and ‘The Wolverine’ will be a similar starting point to build a lot off of for the Fox movies,” Millar told Comic Book Resources.

   That idea will roll into X-Men: Days of Future Past  when it starts production in April. There was a recent change in roles behind the scenes for the upcoming film. Original X-Men director Bryan Singer will now direct and X-Men: First Class director/Millar friend Matthew Vaughn will produce.

  “Bryan’s worked as a producer even on the X-Men movies that he didn’t direct — he was a producer on ‘First Class.’ So when Matthew decided he wasn’t going to do the sequel, they just switched places with Matthew producing and Bryan coming on to direct. That’s got nothing to do with me, but I’m delighted that Bryan and I will get to work together over the next few years. I’ve been working with Josh Trank on ‘Fantastic Four,’ and I have a lot of ideas of other places we can go with the characters Fox has the rights to.”

  A big question for me: Will Hugh Jackman appear in Days of Future Past? The story is partly set in a dark future in which an older Logan leads the surviving X-Men (Storm, Kate Pryde, Colossus, Magneto, the daughter of Scott and Jean, the son of Fantastic Four’s Reed and Sue against the Sentinels.)

By Editor

Fantastic Four Blasts Off!

Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel

Marvel’s First Family blasts off in a brand new Fantastic Four #1 this week. After writing X-Men, Invincible Iron Man and The Mighty Thor, Matt Fraction takes on Marvel’s First Family and their extended family. Fraction and Mark Bagley relaunch Fantastic Four #1 and later this month Fraction and Mike Allred give us FF #1.

   The Marvel NOW! relaunch sees Reed, Susan, Ben and Johnny taking the kids on a cosmic vacation in Fantastic Four while a select team of heroes stands in for them back on Earth in FF. Fraction tells Marvel.com why he’s chosen to write the Fantastic family.

   “The family unit of it all; adventure dad, adventure mom, that whole thing, when you’re a kid, is great. And The Thing. Greatest comics character of all time, or super greatest? Now I’m struck that in 102 issues, Stan and Jack pretty much built a universe. That’s a tall order, creatively, an impossibly high bar.

  I want to tackle that kind of challenge, to take on a book whose mandate, whose creative soul, means to invent wildly and with reckless abandon.”

Fraction follows an epic run by Jonathan Hickman. What is the tone of the new title?

  “The Incredibles.” That “The Incredibles” was kind of the perfect modern Fantastic Four story and wasn’t a Fantastic Four story is, like, a provocation of creative war, y’know? Again, talk about impossibly high bars, but there you go. Can there be a Fantastic Four that’s wildly new, wildly inventive, and that appeals to everybody that might encounter it, regardless of their age or how many comics they’ve read? Let’s find out.”

For more of Fraction’s interview here’s the Marvel.com link.
Artist Mark Bagley joins Fraction on this Fantastic voyage! Here are some images from inside their premiere issue courtesy of Marvel.com.

Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel

The first image looks like a new interpretation of the iconic moment when the four were first bombarded with cosmic rays. Ben Grimm is in human form but the kids are in the picture so…

Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel

This must be a dream as we see Franklin wake up from a nightmare. A sign of things to come?

Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel

The final shots show the family in what looks like prehistoric times complete with a dinosaur….always welcome in an adventure in time and space!

Fantastic Four #1 courtesy Marvel

  My Geek Wish: Reed Richards vs. Dr. Nemesis in a mental clash of the scientific titans! I loved how Fraction wrote the X-Club on his Uncanny X-Men run. Nemesis will be in Cable and X-Force but it would be great fun to see Reed put the arrogant genius in his place!

By Editor

Avengers Assemble Spider-Woman

Avengers Assemble courtesy Marvel.com

A new creative team launches an amazing race between the biggest brains in the Marvel Universe in this week’s Avengers Assemble #9!

Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel) and Artist Stefano Caselli welcome Spider-Woman and the new Captain Marvel are joining up too. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark will form two teams in a race to find a missing scientist.

DeConnick and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort talked with Marvel.com about new members and tone of the movie-friendly title.

“These are the AC/DC Avengers. When I saw the movie, I managed to keep in together until Iron Man came onscreen and Back in Black blared. I bounced up and down in my chair. That’s the moment I’m writing for,” Kelly Sue DeConnick said.

“These will be tight ‘get in, get out’ adventures, focused mostly on the classic, ‘public’ Avengers from the movie, drawing in other characters as it demands. Big impact.” – Tom Brevoort added.

The inclusion of Spider-Woman on the teaser image sparked excitement for a bigger role…movie role…for Jessica in the Avengers sequel.

“I really really like Jessica Drew. I like how crazy and broken she is. She’s a character I really wanted to write,” DeConnick revealed.

“I don’t ever want to be in direct competition with Brian Michael Bendis. I might be able to beat him up, that’s possible. We’re different writers with different takes. We do have a similar sense of humor and love for banter-y dialogue. I have been a fan of Brian’s for many years long before I knew him. But I’m writing my Avengers book,” DeConnick said of following Bendis.

“The first arc is kind of an Amazing Race thing where the Avengers are teaming up and competing with each other. Spider-Woman is with Hulk and Thor with Iron Man,” DeConnick said of her initial story.

DeConnick just relaunched Ms. Marvel as the new Captain Marvel and now becomes the first female writer on an Avengers title.

“I’m very interested in making sure women knowing that wanting to work in this industry is not peculiar. There is not anything in heroism or sci-fi that is exclusively masculine. The hero ideal is as important to my daughter as it is to my son. But I don’t want to represent all women in comics…particularly because I blow things sometimes!” DeConnick said.

“If Cap or Thor or Hulk are there, you can have Quasar or Machine Man or Triathlon standing next to them in context. They may not be in the movies now, but wait until Avengers 9!” – Tom Brevoort said of upcoming guest stars.

For the entire livelog here’s the Marvel.com link.

Op/Ed:

Could this be a sign that Spider-Woman may join the lineup in the Avengers 2 sequel or series being developed by Joss Whedon?

Editor in Chief Axel Alonso did say Spider-Woman will remain part of the Avengers and may turn up in Avengers Assemble. And this fuels my hope that Mila Kunis play Jessica Drew on the big screen!

By Editor

Joker Attacks the Batman Family

Batman #14 courtesy DC Comics

The Joker’s terrifying comeback continues in three Batman family books this week! Last month the Clown Prince of Crime invaded Gotham Central and left a wake of death. In the final panel of Batman #13 we finally saw the Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s horrific new take on the classic villain as he attacked Alfred at Wayne Manor. The cover of this week’s Batman #14 shows a chilling image of the Joker in his own makeshift Batcave-like control center watching his targets.

Batman and Robin #14 courtesy DC Comics

One of those targets will be Damian. The renegade Robin sets out on his own mission. What sinister plan could the Joker have for Bruce Wayne’s son?  This week’s Batman and Robin #14 could be a critical tie-in to the Death of the Family event.

Another Bat-family target is Barbara Gordon. Her mom has been abducted by the Joker’s gang. As discussed at GeekGirlCon, Gail Simone has made Batgirl a story of overcoming trauma. Barbara has come so far and in this week’s Batgirl #14 she must face the psycho that left her paralyzed in their last encounter and threatens her real family now.

Batgirl #14 courtesy DC Comics

As a huge Barbara Gordon fan the Joker’s plan for her could be the most compelling for me. I have been thinking about what Death of the Family could really mean. Could a member of the Batman family be pushed so far that they kill the Joker? I hope Barbara doesn’t kill but I would love to see her unleash some severe punishment I.E. beat the hell out of the Joker!

  Death of the Family will continue in upcoming issues of Catwoman,  Teen Titans, Red Hood and the Outlaws and Nightwing.

By Editor

Uncanny X-Men Begins Again!

Uncanny X-Men #1 courtesy Marvel

If you thought Uncanny X-Men and Cyclops’s Extinction Team were extinct…think again! Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo relaunch Uncanny X-Men for the Marvel Now in February 2013. It was confirmed today on Marvel.com.

It appears Cyclops may not trying to make up for his actions in Avengers vs. X-Men. The new mutant population boom has the fallen leader inspired to save his race – by any means necessary. Magneto, Emma Frost and Magik join Scott on his missions to recruit young mutants and protect them from a world that fears and hates them.

  “You will discover in the very first issue of ALL-NEW X-MEN exactly where Scott Summers’ head is at. Of all the X-Men that feel it is their job to further the legacy of Charles Xavier, no one feels it more strongly than Scott Summers.

  Scott Summers himself is not only trying to save these kids but he is trying to train them and get them ready for what he feels is coming mutant revolution These new students represent his only hope for true redemption. And his only hope to make the world the way he really thinks it should be.”

All-New X-Men #1 courtesy Marvel

The new Uncanny X-Men follows after All-New X-Men, both written by Bendis. The writer reveals which is the flagship and how the books connect to Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron.

  “I feel the audience decides what is or is not a flagship title, but I will say that UNCANNY X-MEN will be the one-stop shop for these very important characters in the mutant [corner of the] Marvel Universe and the Marvel Universe proper. I’m very lucky that I get to write ALL NEW X-MEN and UNCANNY X-MEN at the same time. I can examine this fascinating part of the Marvel Universe from vastly different angles.

  I can’t think of a time where the mutant part of the Marvel Universe has been more exciting. Every character is so complex and there are so many characters interacting. Literally anything could happen,

  It is not unlike the job I had writing NEW AVENGERS and DARK AVENGERS at the same time, even though this is not DARK X-MEN.”

Bendis revealed that the new Uncanny X-Men came out of story planning for AvX.

I love this response from Bendis comparing the friends and family aspect in Earth’s Mightiest Heroes versus the Children of the Atom.

   “Absolutely. If the Avengers are a family, then UNCANNY X-MEN is a very, very, very dysfunctional family.  But these characters really do need each other. And some of them love each other. And some of them don’t.”

Avengers vs X-Men #11 courtesy Marvel

Even though I love Jean I’ve said before that Emma Frost is the best thing to happen to Scott Summers. Bendis confirms that Cyke and Emma are over.

  “The romance is done. They are not together anymore romantically. It’s pretty hard to come back from what they went through in Avengers Vs. X-Men.Things were said, powers were stolen, and as we will discover in the very first issues of UNCANNY X-MEN, some things happen between them that cannot be taken back.

  And because they are Scott and Emma, this breakup is going to take a while. And it’s not going to be pretty, but fun to write.”

Magneto has been the ultimate X-Men enemy, headmaster of Xavier’s and in recent years an ally loyal to Scott. I love Bendis’s teasing answer to the question: Is Magneto reformed?

  “What you are going to see with Magneto is a very specific new chapter in his life. At the last Marvel [creative summit] we were talking about the fact that we often break our heroes but never do much to our villains. We would put the Fantastic Four through the ringer but Doctor Doom  is always Doctor Doom. I gave that conversation a lot of thought.

  What happens in the pages of UNCANNY X-MEN will establish a very bold, new chapter for Magneto.”

Bendis said he’s creating brand new mutant characters for that will be front and center with the main cast. I’m always excited for the debut of new mutants. I won’t name names but some work, some don’t.

The big question for me: Cyclops’s new headgear?

For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.

  All-New X-Men #1 debuts next week! Uncanny X-Men #1 hits in February!

By Editor

Amazing Spider-Man Sequel Talk

Andrew Garfield as The Amazing Spider-Man courtesy Columbia Pictures

Amazing Spider-Man is out on dvd/blu ray but fans are buzzing about the sequel! Director Marc Webb, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone will return.

The biggest casting rumor is that Jamie Foxx may play Electro according to Variety.     Electro’s real name is Max Dillon. The villain gains control of electricity after being struck by lightning.

Shailene Woodley is reportedly in talks to join the cast…as Mary Jane Watson?

I still think Dr. Michael Morbius (The Living Vampire) would make an excellent villain in the darker, edgier Spideyverse Webb has created but Morbius’s story may be too similar to Curt Connors/The Lizard.

What do you think of having Jamie Foxx as Electro?

By Editor

 

WORLD WAR Z Trailer! Brad Pitt vs. Zombies

World War Z cover courtesy Max Books Zombie World

Max Brooks is a storytelling genius. I absolutely love World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. A United Nations worker chronicles the outbreak, spread of the zombie apocalypse and how survivors fought back. The film is said to be different from the book with a more narrative story.

Brad Pitt stars in movie based on the book. Here’s a the trailer for World War Z:

This trailer looks like it does not follow the book but as a zombie fanatic I’m thrilled to see a high-profile star like Brad Pitt wanting to work (he’s a producer too) with the genre and see that’s it more than just horror. Zombie fiction always reflects on humanity and sometimes the living are more dangerous than the undead.

James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox and Mireille Enos co-star in the Paramount film directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace)  Damon Lindelof (Lost, Prometheus) worked on the script.
World War Z opens in June 2013.

Thanks Dark Horizons.

If you haven’t read the book here’s a link. I also highly recommend The Zombie Survival Guide and The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks – both by Brooks. And if Books comes to your local comicon – get in line! He’s worth the wait!

By Editor

X-Men & Daredevil Get Lucky?

X-Men #38 courtesy Marvel

In the category of “….and now for something completely different…” here comes X-Men #38! It did not feel like an X-book but rather a Marvel Team-Up or A+X. New creative team Seth Peck and Paul Azaceta deliver an X-Woman’s detour into a gritty crime caper with an unlikely guest star.

After the intense missions of Brian Wood’s arc involving the Proto-Mutants, Domino takes a break from Storm’s team and heads for New York City. What are the odds The Man Without Fear would run into mutant mercenary? Domino and Daredevil find themselves in an underground casino populated by a who’s who of Marvel’s criminal underworld.

Brian Wood and David Lopez’s amazing arc was a huge act to follow. This creative team has made a smart move by going in a completely new direction. Of course Domino’s idea of a vacation is going undercover in a super villain casino! Peck nails Neena’s personality and the Matt Murdock of Mark Waid’s acclaimed run. The action and wit keep building and set the stage for big mystery. I’m in.

Azaceta and Rico Renzi create a perfect palette of gritty realism for this crime time story. The art reminds me of Frank Miller’s Batman Year One and Sean Phillips but with more eye-popping color. David Lopez crafts an iconic pop art cover. This a visual feast from cover to final panel.

I admit I considered dropping this book but I’m happy I took a shot. It’s definitely a very different book now but I’m betting you’ll enjoy it. Peck, Azaceta and Renzi are an impressive team to watch!

By Editor