Before Chris Hemsworth swings his hammer as Thor this May he will running for his life in The Cabin in the Woods on April 13th. A second trailer debuted on Fear Net for the long-awaited film by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard. The trailer is spoiler heavy but gets you excited for what looks like a hybrid of slasher in the woods/supernatural creatures/conspiracy horror flicks.
“We’ve got a Hulk!”
The Green Goliath is ready for action in this new photo courtesy Screen Rant. Mark Ruffalo plays Dr. David Banner. In the comic book origin Loki manipulates the Hulk into a rampage which unites the Avengers. All the clues from the trailers make it appear the Hulk is not an enemy but ally of the heroes. Has SHIELD found a way to tame or control the gamma powered powerhouse or could Joss Whedon have been inspired by the Peter David 90’s run when he merged Banner and the Hulk so you had Banner’s intelligence and the Hulk’s body?
We find out May 5th.
The Black Widow is Marvel’s sexiest and most dangerous super spy. Natasha is starring in the Secret Avengers, The Winter Soldier with her lover Bucky and will have a role in Avengers Vs. X-Men. And then there’s that little movie you might have heard about during the Super Bowl.
Marvel’s The Avengers features Scarlett Johansson as the super spy on the big screen. Fans can dive into a new Widow limited series set in the cinematic Marvel Universe. The spy goes back to Russia to stop an international crisis and demonstrates how lethal she can be. Marvel’s The Avengers: The Black Widow Strikes is set between Iron Man 2 and the Avengers movies writer Fred Van Lente tells Marvel.com.
“Black Widow is running down some loose ends from Iron Man 2, namely some bootleg Stark technology that Justin Hammer made. It’s her and Agent Coulson going into Russia, but you’ll also probably see Nick Fury and the other heroes as necessary.”
“For this series, I’ve given Black Widow a kind of fan/stalker–a freelance espionage operator who has modeled herself on Black Widow,” explains Van Lente. “She’s attempting to usurp the Black Widow title from Natasha, so these two are in competition with one another.”
“I took my inspiration for this series from Joss Whedon’s script for Marvel’s the Avengers, which I was lucky enough to read,” says Van Lente. “He does a good job making her inclusion on the team perfectly believable.”
“This is on the same scale as the Marvel movies. We’re working closely with Marvel Studios to have it integrate seamlessly with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once this is over, they’re welcome to use any of my ideas here for a movie,” Van Lente says with a chuckle. “It was fun to talk to the studio and see what they have in mind for Black Widow, but who knows where she’ll be after Marvel’s The Avengers‘; maybe she doesn’t even make it out at the end?”
For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.
A Geek’s opinion: I’d love to see a Black Widow solo movie (vs. Yelena?) but I’d much rather see Natasha partner with Steve Rogers in Captain America 2 where she meets The Winter Soldier/Bucky.
Praise for The Avengers that should get fans excited! The FX artist with a resume full of Marvel superhero films says The Avengers is the best he’s worked on to date. Chris Wells is a supervisor at visual effects house Hydraulx and seen a rough cut of the film. His company is working on the prologue.
“I went to a screening with all the temporary visual effects and it was pretty fleshed out. It’s a long movie but it doesn’t feel like it. Out of all the comic book movies and franchises I’ve worked on, this is the best one I’ve seen so far,” Wells tells Starburst Magazine.
“This thing has gone so big that Marvel are dwarfing their other franchises. For people who enjoy the comics and haven’t really liked the way some of the characters were treated in other movies, I think they’re going to be a little more appeased by this one. Especially the Hulk. They let the Hulk be Hulk and that’s great. He acts more like the comic book Hulk”.
“I think he [Joss Whedon, director] did a very good job of setting up the characters based on what we know from the Marvel franchise, integrating them together with all their differences and similarities and then getting on with business. And just when you think the movie is a character piece it just goes nuts.”
Thanks to Dark Horizons for the story. I’m thrilled by his comments – especially the Hulk! The Avengers Assemble this May.
On this Valentine’s Day I wanted to share a memory of my favorite comic book couple. Joss Whedon finally united Kitty Pryde and Colossus during his Astonishing X-Men run. This cover to issue 5 by John Cassaday.
Colossus caught Kitty’s eye in the Chris Claremont/John Byrne era when Professor X brought Peter, Logan and Ororo to the Pryde home in Chicago to recruit the young mutant. Years of drama and even death kept them apart. The lovers are apart again but on this day let’s remember when Kitty and Colossus were together and actually ‘got together’ if you know what I mean – to which Logan said “about time.”
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Young Romance: The Best of Simon and Kirby’s Romance Comics The men who created Captain America also created the romance comics genre! Fantagraphics collects all the love, schemes, heartbreaks and makeups of the classic comics of a bygone era.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga A woman, two men that love her and the most powerful destructive force in the universe. The tragic heroine Jean Grey fighting a losing battle to control the darkness within her. Cyclops and Wolverine were the two men who’d take on the universe to save her. This is the ultimate X-Men story and one of the most cosmic love stories in comics.
Astonishing X-Men Omnibus This is must pick for two great love stories. Scott Summers and Emma Frost. The stoic leader of the X-Men slowly fell for the ice-cold bad girl turned ally. Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin. Not even death could keep them apart. Colossus came back from the dead and finally had sex with his beloved “Katya.” This is Joss Whedon’s romantic, thrilling and game changing X-Men era in one huge collection with stunning art by John Cassady.
Jessica Jones and Luke Cage Marvel’s coolest couple is former hero Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Ex-superhero turned private investigator Jessica was introduced in the series Alias by Brian Michael Bendis. Former Hero for Hire Luke Cage was her love interest. When Bendis revamped the Avengers, Captain America recruited Luke and Jessica and their baby moved into Avengers HQ. The couple married in the beautiful New Avengers Annual #1. Luke has unbreakable skin but the tough guy went all soft and romantic for the troubled ex-heroine. AKA Jessica Jones based on Alias is in a television pilot stage and could become an ABC series.
Rick Jones and Marlo Chandler this may be an odd choice but I love against all odds love stories. During Peter David’s classic run on The Incredible Hulk he eventually merged Bruce and the Hulk into one being. Rick was the Hulk’s sidekick. Marlo was the Hulk’s girlfriend in Las Vegas back when he was grey and a mob enforcer named Joe Fix-It. Marlo later became best friends with Betty Banner and fell in love with Rick. Not even death could keep them apart. After Marlo’s resurrection they couple were married in Incredible Hulk #418 in a sweet but hilarious cameo filled ceremony.
Marvel gave the world a :10 second teaser for the new Super Bowl spot! You can watch below – is that a hint of what Loki’s secret army might be?
Fans got to chat with The Avengers director Joss Whedon, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston and Clark Gregg today via Twitter.
Here’s the entire chat session replay on Marvel.com.
How many fans would love the chance to talk with Joss Whedon? I would probably be speechless or so hard trying to be cool – I’d blow all my questions.
Marvel is giving you the rare opportunity to chat (via Twitter) with the fan favorite creator and two stars of The Avengers.
Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Clark Gregg (SHIELD Agent Coulson) will join the writer/director Tuesday, January 31st 2pm EST for a global chat.
Fans can use the @Avengers handle and #Avengers hashtag in a live 30 minute session. The faithful will be rewarded with a :10 second preview of the :30 second commercial appearing in the Super Bowl.
For more details here’s the Marvel.com link to learn more.