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.”
Fans of Kitty Pryde and Colossus are teased again in this week’s Wolverine and the X-Men #14. This AvX tie-is a slice of life with humor, drama and hope at the Jean Grey School in a world where the Phoenix Five rule and Avengers are hunted.
Kitty and Peter split after the events of Fear Itself and Schism. This issue sees a Phoenix fueled Colossus trying to woo his way back into Kitty’s heart. The man who could have everything just wants the love of his life back. Fans like me just want our favorite mutant couple back together but Jason Aaron is making a convincing argument for Kitty and Bobby.
Kitty’s date with Colossus gets hot but not in the way you hope. By the end I’m excited to see Kitty grow as co-headmaster of the school and develop a romance with Iceman. Bobby comes to a grim realization after an encounter with the Phoenix powered Cyclops.
It’s amazing how many characters Jason Aaron juggles while giving them all moments that carry the stories forward. From a lovesick Toad’s “date” with Husk to Doop’s defense of the school there are surprising moments of that make you laugh and connect with the odd cast.
Marvel NOW! is coming. Brian Michael Bendis is taking over the X-Men franchise with All-New X-Men but this issue shows why Jason Aaron should keep crafting this title that delivers heart, humor and thrills. The staff and students of the Jean Grey School deserve to stay. If the editors do cancel it the Bullpen deserves a Bamf infestation!
By Editor
Sometimes I feel like Avengers vs. X-Men should be title Operation Hate the X-Men.
Longtime X-Factor fans should prepare to be rewarded for their devotion. Peter David promises bring to dangling plot threads and long running storylines together in Breaking Points.
One of the most tortured couples in Marvel Comics history is Havok and Polaris. The couple recently returned from Shi’ar space and Wolverine placed them with X-Factor Investigations in the book they starred in back in 1990’s also under Peter David’s watch.
Alex Summers will be starring in Rick Remender’s Uncanny Avengers. The younger brother of Cyclops will lead the hybrid team of X-Men and Avengers that will be the first book of the Marvel NOW! relaunch. Will Lorna be joining him? Will there even be an X-Factor title?
Breaking Points appears to be Peter David’s opportunity to wrap up his storylines but is it the end? Lorna’s relationship with Alex and her connection to Magneto will be explored in the storyline. David tells Marvel.com why fans are so obsessed with the Lorna and Magneto and makes a vow.
“Probably because there have been aspects of Lorna’s background that have been left dangling for literally decades. It’s not just Magneto himself; it’s the entire story behind the demise of her mother and father, and whether Magneto had anything to do with it. All of this will be answered.”
For more of his interview and plans for other members of X-Factor here’s the Marvel.com link. I’m loving the David Yardin cover for X-Factor #243 featuring Marvel’s tortured mutant lovers.
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.
Brian Michael Bendis is taking on the original Children of the Atom after an epic era on the Avengers franchise. Bendis and Stuart Immonen’s All-New X-Men #1 debuts in November. The original Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Bobby Drake, Warren Worthington and Hank McCoy journey from the past into the modern-day Marvel Now!
Bendis tells Comics Newsarama taking over X-Men was always in his mind.
“Yes, but the whole time I’ve been at Marvel, there’s been someone steering the ship in a pretty fantastic way. When I took Avengers, I certainly saw the importance of a strong statement about the book. My friends and colleagues and people who I admire who have done well on the X-Men, or any book really, have come with a very strong statement. I wanted to make sure when the time came, that I had a strong position, something hopefully intriguing to fans and to people who hate me. [Laughs.]
It’s a little different from other writers who have come into X-Men. Like when Ed [Brubaker] joined X-Men, he had never written the X-Men, or Matt [Fraction], or Grant Morrison — they had done so pretty cold. Whereas over the course of my time at Marvel — House of M alone — I decimated the X-Men, I brought Wolverine’s memories back. I’ve done a lot of big things in the X-universe without ever writing a technical “X-book.” Avengers vs. X-Men, and some other things I’ve been involved in, have affected the X-Men in a great, powerful way, which I’m proud of — but that does mean that I’m coming into the X-Men with some notoriousness attached. “That’s the guy who decimated the X-Men!” Some people weren’t reading House of M but were reading X-Men — all of a sudden they opened up a book and [mutants] were down to 200. “Who did this? That guy!” I know that there’s a bit of X-Men fans who see me coming and are nervous, and also I’m known for murdering characters — even though that’s not fair. So I know I’m coming into it with quite a reputation. But on the flipside I’m coming to the X-verse, which is known across the comicsphere as the most dedicated fans, the loudest fans. So I’m diving in head first, whereas with Avengers I wasn’t prepared. [Laughs.] But I am now. On some level.
When Bendis took over the Avengers he literally blew up Earth’s Mightiest Heroes so an X-Men fan may be concerned about how he kicks off his run.
“I’m not blowing up the mansion or anything like that. I came in [Avengers], “I’m gonna blow up the mansion, and go crazy!” and some people really loved that, and some people were like, “Whoa, whoa!” It was tantamount to someone going on the playground and just knocking over your toys. You’re like, “I liked my toys, why are you doing this?” I didn’t see it that way at the time, but in retrospect — I wouldn’t have changed the story or anything, but I was shocked by some of the reaction, and then I went, “Oh, no, I get that. I literally just blew up the house on page three.”
What I am doing here is, I think, as big, but not as destructive. I think it’s additive, I think it’s emotional and dramatic. This idea has been floating through the Marvel retreats for a couple of years. Both [Jeph] Loeb and I would be looking at each other going, “That’s a great idea.” It never stuck to the wall. I literally asked Axel, “Where did that idea start?” It just inspired so many story ideas to me.”
Future X-Men (Rachel, Cable, Bishop) have gone into the present. This is a new twist on time traveling mutants.
“Yeah. I’m a big fan of “Days of Future Past.” I think it’s one of the greatest imagination-inspiring storylines — the idea that your future is going to be hell on earth. If the original X-Men saw what was going on at Marvel today, this is worse than “Days of Future Past.”
Fans always say, “Oh, I wish Stan Lee was still in charge, things would be different.” Joe [Quesada] would point out that that’s not true. Stan was changing the Marvel Universe so quickly, much quicker than we do. Tearing up tracks, switching the Avengers, and blowing up the X-Men, and he was the first guy to do this. If Stan Lee was still in charge, you wouldn’t even recognize the Marvel Universe. So that idea inspired, “what would it feel like if characters from the Silver Age saw the Marvel Universe today?” I did a little bit of it in Avengers, in the Kang storyline. It’s obviously inspired a couple ideas in my work.
There’s something about Jean Grey, there’s something about those original five being such idealists, coming here and seeing what those ideals turned into for good or bad, and deciding to fight for them. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Inside that idea is a bunch of different ideas. The idea itself is the headline-grabber, but what people have to look forward to inside the story is much more. It’s a much more emotional story involving all of the X-Men, and that’s what’s going to be coming in future issues.”
For the entire exclusive interview here’s the Comics Newsarama link. So how will the rest of the X-Men family and titles change? Stay tuned.
Opinion: One of my favorite elements of the Bendis Avengers era is the revigoration of classic characters like Spider-Woman and Luke Cage and newer creations like the Hood and the Sentry. I’m very curious to see how the X-Men will mutate under Bendis.
Marvel unveiled a brand new team with a classic brand name in a new animated series on Marvel.com. The All Winners Squad includes Avenger and Nanny Squirrel Girl joins Howard the Duck, Uniforn, Hypno Hustler and more cult favorite “winners” who save the day with comedy. Take a look at the pilot and learn some cinematic Marvel history from Howard!
For every great villain there’s a Paste Pot Pete! Enjoy. Do you have a favorite? I’m digging Hypno Hustler! By Editor
Hugh Jackman, Director James Mangold and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the start of production on The Wolverine in Jackman’s homeland. The upcoming film is based on Logan’s adventure in Japan but it means $12.6 million to Australia’s film industry. Jackman reflects on his role as the fan favorite X-Man.
“I have been working for 12 years on the Wolverine character and while the franchise will go well beyond me, it really has been the backbone of my career,” he said, adding that he will hand in his Wolverine claws “when I stop loving it,” Jackman tells The Hollywood Reporter.
“This one has certainly been the most interesting and complex of the Superhero characters. I do take my career one (step) at a time and I feel like a golfer always looking for that hole in one.’
The Wolverine is based on the story by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller and hits theaters July 26, 2013. Logan will face the Silver Samurai, the Viper and the Yakuza crime family and fall for the love of his life, Lady Mariko.
