The Amazing Spider-Man Isn’t Entirely A Reboot....Huh?

"But I thought it was a reboot...."

Okay...I'm confused....

I thought the new Spider Man flick was a reboot.
According to Marvel Executive producer Avi Arad it isn't....

"It's not a comeback. You have to look at it this way: Do you want to know more about The Amazing Spider-Man? This movie is going to tell stories that you didn't see in movies 1, 2, and 3."

THIS Spider Man has mechanical webshooters, a new costume, is dating Gwen Stacy, J. Jonah Jameson and Mary Jane Watson aren't in it....?

But it's not a reboot?

Wait a minute... at the beginning Peter Parker wakes up and Gwen is in the shower.....

X-Men: First Class

Yes we all know Thor is coming out on May 6, 2011 and we are looking forward to it.

Ditto for Captain America: The First Avenger, also set for 2011, on July 22nd.
I still think Marvel missed the boat here, it should have been July 4th.

One film I haven't mentioned here is X-Men: First Class.
Matthew Vaughn is directing and the film is set for release on June 3, 2011 and it is supposed to be the first of three films.

Here is the plot synopsis:
"Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men."

The "Big Bad" for the film is supposed to be the Hellfire Club (which could be interesting).

Here's the cast rundown so far....

James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier (Laurence Belcher as a young Charles Xavier).
Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr / Magneto (Bill Milner as a young Erik Lensherr.)
Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw
January Jones as Emma Frost / White Queen
Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert
Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy / Beast
Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme / Mystique (Morgan Lily as a young Raven Darkholme).
Oliver Platt as "The Man in Black"
Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore
Caleb Landry Jones as Sean Cassidy / Banshee
Lucas Till as Alex Summers / Havok
Edi Gathegi as Armando Muñoz / Darwin
Jason Flemyng as Azazel
Álex González as Riptide / Janos Quested
Tony Rich as Thomas

So from looking at this, Marvel is going WAY off the reservation with this one.
And people complain about Smallville.

Looking at the info available on the film, I have to quote multiple Star Wars characters and say, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Something about it just looks wrong.
Nothing I can really put my finger on.
Maybe going too far from the books I grew up with?

Why do I keep thinking it shouldn't be called X-Men: First Class, it should be called X-Men: We Really Want This Movie To Do Good So We're Gonna Get A Younger Cast and Rip Off Twilight

And if this is First Class...where's Angel,Ice-Man and Jean Grey?

People keep saying this is a Silver Age adaptation.
No it's not.
Sebastian Shaw, White Queen, Moira MacTaggert, Mystique and most of the others in this film weren't around in the Silver Age.

But hey, I could be totally wrong and the movie could be great.

Marvel Comics Movies - Fantastic Four

The first superhero team created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, The Fantastic Four appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 November 1961.
As much of a family as they were a superhero team, the FF caught on fast and soon became one of Marvel Comic's top sellers.
Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben never went the secret identity route, but embraced their fame and celebrity status.
And their fame with readers sent The Fantastic Four, or "The Greatest Comics Magazine in the World!!" as Marvel said into all kinds of media, including movies.

The Fantastic Four (1994)
The first Fantastic Four movie as sadly just an exercise to allow the producers to secure the copyrights to the property.
It was The Fantastic Four, made in 1994.
The film was produced by B-Movie legend Roger Corman and Bernd Eichinger.
Even though the film was made just to hold onto the copyright and never intended for release, the actors and crew were never told that.
The film starred Alex Hyde-White as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, Rebecca Staab as Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman, Michael Bailey Smith as Ben Grimm and Jay Underwood as Johnny Storm / The Human Torch. Although Michael Bailey Smith played Ben Grimm, Carl Ciarfalio was under the make-up as The Thing.
Corman made the film for under 2 million dollars.
As far as bad movies go, Wizard Magazine ranks this film as better (worse) than Batman & Robin, Steel, Virus and Red Sonja.
The best way to find this movie is bootleg copies.

The Fantastic Four (2005)
The franchise got a major reboot with The Fantastic Four (2005).
This movie was made for $100 million and grossed over $330 million worldwide.
It starred Ioan Gruffudd as Dr. Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm / Invisible Woman, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm / The Thing and Chris Evans as Johnny Storm / Human Torch.
Julian McMahon portrayed a sort of "Ultimates" version of Dr. Doom.
The critics didn't love this movie, but I liked it.
Except for the way they did Dr.Doom.
It wasn't the greatest superhero movie ever made by any means, but I still don't think it was the worst.
And the movie performed well enough for a sequel.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
The FF returned in 2007 with Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
The original cast returned with the addition of Doug Jones as the body of the Silver Surfer, and Laurence Fishburne as his voice.
Some critics liked the sequel better than the original.
But the film didn't pull in enough to go ahead and green light a third movie.
Fantastic Four Reboot?

Fantastic Four Reboot
20th Century Fox has announced plans to overhaul the Fantastic Four film franchise with a new movie produced by Akiva Goldsman and scripted by Michael Green.
This came right after the news of the proposed merger with Disney.
Akiva Goldsman won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind.
But he also did Lost in Space, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.
He's currently working on Jonah Hex and the movie adaptation of Teen Titans.
Television and film writer, as well as a comic book scripter, Michael Green has worked on the upcoming Green Lantern movie, the NBC TV series Heroes, Everwood, Jack and Bobby, Smallville, Kings and Snoops.

Wolverine Is Still Hanging In There

Those are NOT can openers......

Wolverine is still fighting at the box office.
It did have that second week drop I feared it would have, but that was because of Star Trek.
This weekend saw Wolvie drop down to third place behind the debuting Angels and Demons and Star Trek.
Wolverine still managed to pull in a $151.1 million three week total though.

As for the "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"video game, it's kinda like the movie as in I have heard anything from "awesome" to "don't bother".
From what I have heard, the game is very brutal.
Pretty much like what would happen if Wolverine really was allowed to cut loose on someone.
Cut being the operative word.

I'm kinda glad they treat the game this way though.
I know I've complained a lot about dark versus light in superheroes, but Wolverine is one hero that needs to be dark.
Woverine stunning people with his claws doesn't work.
Its like the Punisher with rubber bullets or a stun gun.

I hate to say this, but maybe "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" could have stood to be a little darker.

Wolverine Versus Star Trek

I kind of avoided all the opening weekend Wolverine buzz (maybe not to jinx it like I seem to have Watchmen) but going into the second week I think it's okay to talk now.
I saw Star Trek this weekend and loved it.
(before you start, I watched Star Trek back in it's first run on TV, watched Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, couldn't handle Enterprise, watched all the movies and no I do not know Klingon, I just like Star Trek)
Anyway, despite the fact that I loved the Star Trek movie and its getting mostly favorable reviews, Wolverine still out grossed it in it's first week.

Star Trek pulled in $76.5 million this weekend, and Wolverine pulled in $85 last weekend.
Wolverine dropped to $27 million in it’s second weekend and I dont see that big of a drop for Star Trek coming up.
So Star Trek may out perform Wolvie in the long run.

Just in case you want a little Star Trek/X-Men goodness mixed together, head over to Sir Jorge's blog and take a look at Spock versus Wolverine where the above picture came from.
Appropriate no?

Gotta admit though, Wolverine versus Sylar..now there's a fight I'd like to see.

Spiderman / Venom Spinoff

Writers confirm a Spider-Man Venom spinoff is in the works

Sony is officially moving forward with its Spider-Man spinoff movie focusing on Venom and has hired Zombieland writing team Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese to pen the script, the writers told a group of reporters.

"We had a really great relationship with Sony on [Zombieland], and so that was a nice in for us there," Reese said in a group interview. "It gave us a leg up."

The duo is already working on the script, but they are sworn to secrecy on the details. "We're under strict orders on Venom," Wernick said. "We can't talk about it. It's just super secret."
http://scifiwire.com/2009/04/writers-confirm-a-spider-.php

Superhero Top Ten. Who's More Popular? Superman...Batman?

Back in the old days, all we had to determine comic book superhero popularity was sales.
Now we have the Interweb!
And I tell you, doing some research on who is the most popular comic book character is a little strange.

1. Batman
Of course with the awesome movie and dying (what..twice recently?) I figured this would happen.
2. Robin
Robin? The Boy Hostage? He hasn't even been in a good movie. Unless you count the amazing "Grayson" fan film.
3. Spiderman
Even Obama couldnt help Spidey get up over Bats.
4. Superman
Superman Returns....meh
5. Iron Man
The movie rocked, no question.
6. X-Men
Through ups and downs, bad and good, I've always considered The X-Men to be Marvel's flagship.
7. The Incredible Hulk
Second movie was decent. And the Hulk stirs that "Forget logic, I just wanna pound something" feeling we all get from time to time.
8. Wolverine
He goes anywhere from maniac with razor sharp blades to Byronic hero. And he has a movie coming out.
9. Watchmen
I really expected them to be higher.
10. Wonder Woman
One of DC comics Trinity. And if they EVER finally make a movie.......

Notice that with the exception of Robin, and maybe Wonder Woman, all of these have movie tie ins?

Batman, Joker, Iron Man and the Oscars

As expected Heath Ledger got a supporting-actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the Joker in "The Dark Knight".
But The Batman got shut out of other top categories like best picture and director.
Oddly, Robert Downey Jr. is in the running against Heath Ledger, not for Iron Man, but for his supporting role in "Tropic Thunder".
I'm really gonna have to watch that.

"The Dark Knight" did get Oscar nominations, but they were for catagories like Achievement in art direction, Achievement in cinematography, Achievement in film editing, Achievement in makeup, Achievement in sound editing, Achievement in sound mixing, Achievement in visual effects

“Iron Man” actually racked up a couple of nominations, Achievement in sound editing and Achievement in visual effects


“Wanted” which is kinda sorta a comic book movie (well not really), got a nomination for Achievement in sound editing.

Thor (2009)

Thor (often called The Mighty Thor) is a fictional character and a superhero appearing in the Marvel Universe.
Based on the god of the same name from Norse mythology and created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Journey into Mystery # 83 (Aug. 1962). The uncredited initial inker was Joe Sinnott.

In mid-2006, Marvel Studios announced plans to release a Thor feature film scripted by Mark Protosevich.

UPDATE: In December 2008, Kenneth Branagh confirmed to MTV News that he has been hired to direct the Thor movie. He described it as "a human story right in the center of a big epic scenario.”The film has a scheduled release date of July 16, 2010.