Bryan Singer just confirmed on his twitter account that Days of Future Past will receive the coveted Memorial Day tent-pole position in 2014 meaning it will come out Friday, May 23rd, 2014.

https://twitter.com/BryanSinger/status/347890677381726208

Days of Future Past Film-VerseMemorial Day Weekend in the USA is one of the biggest selling weekends for movies and so companies like to put out films that will give them a strong opening. For example, this year saw the release of Hangover III which had a 42mil opening weekend (and it is a Rated R film) and Fast Six which did 97mil . This means that Fox has a lot of faith in this film which hasn’t even finished production yet.

Though, with the literal all-star cast which includes several Oscar winners and some really hot names right now, they probably call this movie a win-win regardless.

You’ve probably already heard, but Robert Downy Jr has signed on for two more Avengers movies meaning we’ll have two more movies (at minimum) to look forward to in the Avengers franchise, a Phase 2 and a Phase 3 film respectively. Will they get Downey for longer? Dunno, but it will at least give them two films to figure out how to sub-plot a change of either actor, or character all together.

Here is the official press release:

“I am Iron Man.”

Tony Stark’s famous closing line to the very first Iron Man film takes on new  life today as Marvel is pleased to announce the signing of Robert Downey, Jr. to  reprise the role of the “billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist.”

Under the two-picture agreement, Downey will star as Tony Stark/Iron Man in  “Marvel’s The Avengers 2” and “Marvel’s The Avengers 3.”  Downey is represented  at CAA by Bryan Lourd, Jim Toth and Matt Leaf and by his attorneys Tom Hansen  and Stewart Brookman of the firm Hansen Jacobson.

Downey, Jr.’s last two Marvel films, 2012’s “Marvel’s The Avengers” and this  year’s “Iron Man 3,” rank as two of the top five grossing films of all time,  collectively earning over $2.7 billion worldwide to date.

“Marvel’s The Avengers 2” is being written and directed by Joss Whedon.  Featuring favorites from the first Avengers film and new Marvel characters never  before seen on the big screen, “Marvel’s The Avengers 2” is slated to begin  production in March 2014 and open in theaters May 1, 2015.

Thrilled by this mega announcement, Marvelites? Well, be sure you stay glued  to Marvel.com because in the coming days and weeks and months, Marvel.com will  be FIRST in the world to reveal additional casting updates, new characters  coming to Marvel movies and so much more — directly from the most secret  meetings at Marvel! You wouldn’t want to miss out on that now, would you?!

Thor: The Dark World: Prelude #1Doing comic book tie-ins are actually a really good idea, as long as they are done well. They’re basically all the extra scenes that got cut out of the movie because they really weren’t needed but would have been nice to see.

That’s pretty much what comprises this particular tie-in.

We know Thor gets to Earth using dark magic and Jane is shipped off to Norway, but here we see it happen.

The best part is the little things, such as Frigga being the one to see that Loki is still alive. I really hope she gets some face time with Loki in Dark World because even if Odin is suspect, she always treated him as her son.

As for Thor himself, he learned that every action has consequences… and this is definitely one of those moments where the bigger picture is about to come crashing down on him.

Just… couldn’t they have done a better cover?

X-Files: Season 10 #1Okay, so I started this blog intending to mainly focus on X-Men, Marvel, and Fan Fiction, I wasn’t going to review the other stuff I read such as Suicide Squad and Wood’s Star Wars. In fact, I don’t review every Marvel title I read either (why am I still reading Thunderbolts?)… but The X-Files television series is really what shaped me as a writer, how I put things together like plot, pacing, etc. Mulder and Scully were strong characters and when the show was good, it was beyond good. Though, when it was bad, it was beyond bad (I’ll never forgive Chris Carter for that finale).

So when I heard they were doing a Season 10 comic book ala Buffy and Angel, I knew I had to get it. (Actually, I got four of them, I have a compulsion when it comes to variant covers.)

I was… disappointed. But that may just be because I set the pedestal very high.

I’m going to look past the artwork because while it’s not especially good, it’s not terribly bad either. I mean, at least the actors look like themselves and aren’t demonic like in X-Men Legacy. A friend did point out that Scully starts out in a skirt and magically changes into pants when she meets Skinner… suddenly I’m reminded of the Hollywood A.D. episode… anyway, we’ll move past that for now.

It starts out with a typical “Scully in peril” trope from the tv show which is cool, I mean, it’s classic… but the rest of it just kinda slowly goes down hill. Mulder has regressed to his kiddish nature as seen in the pilot episode and throughout the first season. He’s grown a lot since then and it just didn’t seem to fit for him to be that much like a ten year old. And Scully, seeing her cry just didn’t work for me either. I get she was talking about the child they gave up but Scully was never one to express her sorrow so easily, it was usually after a much larger buildup.

Speaking of William… while I like that they are going to address that sore spot of a plot-point in the series, if they don’t handle it properly, it will just make the wound that much more painful.

That being said, it wasn’t a bad comic in and of itself. It didn’t try to drown the reader in exposition and even though it obviously assumes you have seen the tv series it isn’t so riddled with drop-ins as to annoy someone who might be interested in getting into the comic books.

I think mostly I was expecting to open it up and be able to hear Mark Snow’s theme music as I read the pages… and that just didn’t happen. I couldn’t help but put the pedestal to unreachable heights, I can at least acknowledge that.

But I am very much interested in seeing where this goes, and what the Lone Gunman have to do with it… seeing that they’re dead and all (though one can never be too sure).

Shailene Woodley as Mary JaneThe news is all over the place and I saw it first on BleedingCool, but Shailene Woodley’s role as Mary Jane Watson in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 has been cut from the film. There are several reasons this could have happened, two very big ones. Firstly, since she only filmed a couple of days it’s likely her role was just introductory and had nothing to do with the main plot meaning if they needed to cut something for time it’s that kind of sub-plot that would be the first thing to go. Secondly, as BleedingCool pointed out, since film makers are looking into the future now with probably two more films, they might want to hold off on MJ’s introduction instead of trying to cram her in.

Both are legit reasons that I’ll support.

However, there is one possible reason that I really hope isn’t it. You see, there was a lot of backlash against Shailene being picked to play Mary Jane. For some reason, a bunch of insolent fanboys have got it into their head that Shailene isn’t pretty enough. WTF? Here is a quote from the CinemaBlend article If You Think Shailene Woodley Isn’t Pretty Enough For The Amazing Spider-Man 2, You Don’t Deserve The Movie:

Yesterday we posted the first on-set images of Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, currently in production in New York. Because they were pictures of an actress walking from place to place on the set, not in costume, the notable difference was seeing her hair tinted to Mary Jane’s signature red. Honestly, the photos weren’t that interesting. Until the comments started.

“Omg she looks horrible I hope they can do something with that face of hers.” “Mary Jane is supposed to be hot.” “Looks horrible as a redhead.” The comments on our site weren’t actually as bad as they were elsewhere on the Internet, and not half as bad as the so-called satire posted at Comic Book Movie, with instructions on how to make Woodley hot enough to play “every nerd’s wet dream.” The “satire” was so close to the real thing that most of their commenters didn’t get the difference, and reading it makes your skin crawl because you just know that’s exactly how a strong handful of fanboys feel, no irony intended.

It is so bad that when I typed ‘shailene woodley mary jane’ into Google to get a photograph it auto-suggested ‘shailene woodley mary jane ugly’. I have never done a search on her name before so that was something Google pulled up from the internet itself.

Really guys?

REALLY?!?

Just when I feel the need to defend fanboys against rampant complaints of how sexist and hostile the fandom can be towards women, I run across something like this.

If the hate was more of a ‘we prefer Gwen Stacey’s character’ or ‘Dunst is a better actress’ then I can see that being a decent debate. I also understand that everyone has a slightly different view of beauty. But to just go off and say that this lovely young woman is ugly and that Mary Jane only exists as a wet dream for nerds? That’s not a legitimate complaint, that’s a request for a swift kick to the balls. One I’ll happily oblige.

Maybe I’ve been blissfully innocent, but I’ve never seen this amount of hate towards the casting of a character based solely on his/her looks. I’ve seen complaints about how someone can’t act or how someone looks nothing like their character (and by nothing I mean changing big stuff like race/gender) but not vehement complaints of how they are ugly and not pretty enough. So maybe the MJ fanboys are the ‘asshole in every group’, after all, the comic book world fandom is quiet vast and there is one is every group…

Anyway, if Shailene was nixed for time or to give her introduction a more solid foundation, then I’m cool with that. But if the filmmakers bowed down like some shameless sycophants… then stop the world cause I’m 110% done and I want off.

Bryan Singer has sent us another clue to the storyline that DOFP will be following.

https://twitter.com/BryanSinger/status/347043471040856064

First off, this confirms that the mutants did attend the Paris Peace Accords of 1973 as previously assumed. Also, the scene with Nixon which was also teased more than likely directly relates to him giving the speech which is shown in the photo. The fact that apparently things do not end well in Paris must lead to the introduction of Trask and the Sentinels.

One big issue though… if this is happening in 1973, then why, in X-Men, are mutants talked about as if they are something just now being acknowledge? If in ’73 they pull a big enough stunt that the President is giving a speech to a large body of people at possibly the White House itself (which I think will be green-screened in, the way the front is set up kinda looks right for the White House or the Senate House), then how are they pretty much ‘forgotten’ or considered conjecture/nonsense later on? And, of course, no Sentinels exist in the X1-3!future either outside a danger room session.

So, is this the turning point? Is the DOFP!future not actually the X1-3!future, but an alternate future? Then Bishop (likely) is sent back to make sure whatever happens here causes the X1-3!future to come into existence?

From a franchise perspective, I think that’s a bad move. Making sure the X1-3 movies happen and not changing anything means that the stories have no room to grow between DOFP and X-Men. Nothing can be changed or diverged and the drama is lost because you know what’s going to happen. Sure, in FC we knew what was going to happen eventually, it was how it was going to happen that was the key to why FC managed to pull the franchise up. The closer it gets to X-Men though, they won’t have that luxury. Not to mention a reboot allows new, younger actors to come into established roles and keep things going.

Anyway, as much as the word ‘reboot’ grates on me, at least they are using established canon here which could make it totally legit. But perhaps I’m reading this wrong, there is still a lot we don’t know about this storyline and we could end up very surprised.

X-Men Legacy #11David Haller is just a bit of a prick, isn’t he, but it works to his advantage.

I mean, who else would just stand up to Red Skull after all the stuff he’s done, both in general and personal against David, and just ‘whatevers’. So you’re Red Skull and you stole my dad’s brain, whoop-tee-do. You kinda have to admire that, even if it’s just a bit insane.

Then there is Ruth, running around trying to find someone to help David and the only person who might actually like him other than her she can’t even communicate with (and here I thought everyone could just understand Doop automatically). But she made herself a little team of some decently powerful superheroes… let’s see if they have what it takes to stand up to both Legion and Red Skull.

As for Red Skull… what is his plans with David? Whatever it is, can’t be good.

P.S. can we get a better artist on this title? Davidson and Huat make everyone look so… emaciated and semi-demonic…

From BleedingCool

Rumour: Christian Bale To Play Batman In Justice League, Directed By Zack Snyder, Produced By Christopher NolanWhen it comes to shared-universe comic book movies – which are, like, so in right now – Warner Bros. are definitely playing catch up. But they do seem to be moving with competitive speed.

According to “knowledgeable people close to the studio,” and quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Warners are looking to fast track a sequel to Man of Steel for release in 2014. That would probably mean they have to get into production in the next six, maybe nine months.

And what’s more, the nameless, knowledgable ones say that the Justice League movie:

could come out as soon as 2015.

Which is actually what we were expecting a half-dozen set backs ago. I guess box office like Man of Steel‘s can really light a fire.

Films can be turned around this quickly and still turn out well, but I am always disappointed by the studios’ insistance on setting release dates before they even have screenplays, let alone actual films.

If Warner Bros. really want to play Marvel at their own game expect locked-in release dates announced by, or maybe at, San Diego Comic-Con.

Astonishing X-Men #63Bobby’s kinda lost it… and it’s epic.

It’s good to see that finally everyone has noticed the weather is unnatural and that it could be Bobby’s fault, and that women have started to go missing. Bobby’s ice-clones seem to think they are helping his ex-girlfriends, probably taking them someplace safe for when all ice-hell breaks lose. The thing is, if he has Lorna and Mystique already, then they can do some damage and protect themselves. I wouldn’t underestimate Annie either, ER nurses are a tough lot. But it’s most curious that the clones seemed to have been acting on their own, like they know something is up with Bobby, or the clones just analogues of the part of Bobby that knows what’s happening isn’t right.

Also, Kitty’s conversation with Opal is quite good, especially after Opal’s conversation with Bobby. In only a few short panels Liu manages to really cut to the heart of the jokester Bobby Drake. He’s never been able to keep a girlfriend because he’s always thought he was never good enough for them. His jokes cover a deep depression made worse by being a super-hero.

Then there is the ending, one of the few times that the ‘giant steps on person’ trope actually is funny because it comes out of nowhere and it’s freaking Wolverine he steps on.

But yeah, Bobby has grown immensely with the power of the Death Seed and is now acting out. My local comic book seller had the balls to say “why is this title still going, no one reads it?”… I told him to read the latest arc and that’s exactly why people are reading it. Because Liu is freaking awesome and really knows how to deal with these characters on a more personal basis rather than just as fodder for some grand event.

Deadpool #11Coming off of the Spideypool issue, we now have Daredevil as a guest star, only it’s less ‘sexual tension’ and more ‘missed opportunity’.

If you know anything about Deadpool then you know he has some bad history with Typhoid Mary. She raped him, not to mention the other emotionally damaging crap she did to him. Daredevil also had some bleak history with the woman as when they first met he accidently pushed her out a window, nearly killing her, and possibly starting her psychotic break.

Now, I don’t really expect a whole issue dealing with this, but the simple fact that it’s just brushed over in a simple statement “Hi Kettle! Meet Black! You used to date Typhoid Mary and run with the Hand” kinda annoys me. That Deadpool would almost belittle what she did to him by using it as a joke, and not even a good joke, makes me wonder if Posehn really understands Deadpool’s history or even accepts that what she did to him was truly rape.

But I’ll accept that this is something of a nitpick seeing as there is a wider story here, but I really hope that Posehn and Marvel take the time to really think about what they are doing with Deadpool as a character and not keep reducing him to a one-note joke.