Marvel Comics Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It has been a busy couple of weeks for Marvel. After signing Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury for the rest of the man's natural born life and stalling on Iron Man casting (although that all worked out in the end), their behavior might have looked a little crazy -- but, it appears it was all a part of the plan. Deadline Hollywood Daily has posted a press release from Marvel today announcing "an adjusted release pipeline for its self-produced feature film properties that reflects the first time individual Super Hero characters and story arcs will be inter-woven and culminate in a multi-character motion picture."

So what exactly do they mean by adjusted? According to the new schedule, Thor will now be released June 17, 2011 (previously the big guy was slated for July 2010), The First Avenger: Captain America will now hit July 22, 2011 (one year later than expected), and the big bad daddy of them all, The Avengers has been moved to May 4th, 2012. Marvel even got a little feisty and stole some of Sony's thunder by announcing Spider Man 4's release date of May 6th, 2011. The good news for Marvel is this new schedule means that they will have a summer blockbuster entry every year between 2010-2012.

So if you were still hoping to get the chance to audition to play the mighty Thor in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation, you might have to act fast. Latino Review has just received a tip that the Shakespearean director was recently spotted having a 'working lunch' with True Blood's Alexander Skarsgård (son of *Skelllan), and judging by the photo to the right, what could the two possibly be talking about other than Thor? I mean by "Odin's beard!" look at the guy -- all you need is a winged hat and you are in business.

But the Thor chatter doesn't end there. Over at IESB, talk has surfaced that Branagh has shortlisted Josh Hartnett to play Thor's brother, and bad guy, Loki. According to IESB, "Josh and his camp are really interested because he has never played a villain before and after Heath Ledger's Oscar win for the latest comic book villain, Hartnett is intrigued by the character." But before you get too excited about Hartnett and Skarsgård, keep in mind these are some pretty tenuous rumors -- even for a comic book movie. IESB also says Channing Tatum was or is being considered to play Thor, as well.

So outside of True Blood fans, Skarsgård may not be a household name, but the addition of a relatively unknown actor for the lead would be right in line with some of the other unlikely participants in this comic book adaptation. I mean would anyone have suspected that Branagh would be handed the keys to a Marvel franchise? I know Marvel has faith in him, but do you?

*Correction: Alexander's dad is acclaimed Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård

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In the months to come, I doubt that even a week will go by without us and other bloggers making some mention of 2010's looming Marvel tentpoles -- Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 and Kenneth Branagh's Thor -- and while the former has most of its cast aligned (save for some villains), the latter is sorely lacking in a pretty critical Norse god figure.

Alas, the hunt may already be on, if the scoop by Corona's Coming Attractions is accurate (and save for one typo, it all sounds about right). Producers are looking for a "physically powerful, very handsome, occasionally egotistical, petulant, and wild" male lead in his mid-to-late twenties and standing six feet or taller in height. They want "a natural warrior with a quick charming wit who must be genuinely and severly humbled before becoming the compassionate, mature her [sic] of our film."

Man, take away the height and age restrictions, and I'd say we may already have a winner...

Back in September, the oddest paparazzi picture ever taken of Eva Longoria-Parker surfaced. She was snapped leaving Marvel Studios (arguably the heart of geekdom on Earth) with a nice stack of The Avengers.

The natural assumption was naturally that she might be up for a part in the future Avengers movie, with the most popular guess being Wasp. No one has managed to ask her until Ryan Seacrest trapped her on the Golden Globes' red carpet. If there was something more surprising than seeing Longoria with a stack of Avengers comics, it might have been that Seacrest had done his research, and knew his Wasp from his Wonder Woman.

According to MTV, Longoria said the rumors weren't true, but that she'd love to take be an Avenger if the oppertunity presented itself. So, to those who didn't want to see a Desperate Housewife battling the villains of the Marvel Universe, you can breathe a sigh of relief. For now, anyway. Remember, no one but Robert Downey Jr. is set to be an Avenger right now, so all bets could be off by next year.

But you do have to wonder ...what was she doing with that stack of comics? I will happily believe she might be the comic reading type, but traveling all the way to Marvel Studios for some new issues seems a little extreme. But hey, maybe that's where Hollywood fans have their hold slot -- although I can't believe Marvel HQ wouldn't bag and board for such clients.

One of the many nice moments in Iron Man comes as techno-titan Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) is consulting with his artificial intelligence majordomo, Jarvis, about the fabrication of the newest version of the high-tech power armor Stark intends to use to stop evil and protect the innocent. Looking at a holographic simulation of the proposed design of the glittering, golden armor -- which enables its wearer to fly, lift cars, shoot energy beams, withstand bullets and includes many other clever bits of engineering -- Stark makes a brief request regarding the color scheme: "Why don't you throw a little hot rod red in there?" Stark seems to be saying Sure, it's fancy and expensive and technologically majestic and wonderful, but a little style can still go a long way. ...

And as it is with the Iron Man armor, so it is with the Iron Man movie. Marvel Comics' first foray into self-financed film making has movie stars and impressive effects and a script where every plot point you would expect meshes with its neighbors as precisely as the plates and pieces of Stark's armor do, but it's the touches of style that make it truly sizzle. Director Jon Favreau does not seem like a choice you would expect as the director of a comic-book movie; Robert Downey Jr. does not seem like a choice you would expect as the star of a comic-book film. Between the two of them, they give us something different from the comic-book movies we've come to expect; a little swagger, a little strut, a touch of self-mocking humor that never undercuts the pleasures of the thing being mocked. It's as if someone snuck a hefty slug of bourbon into your cherry cola; all of the sugar and flavor and fizz you expect from a well-made comic-book movie are there, but there's something a little more grown-up going on behind them.

I think I can speak for most fans of Marvel Comic's Punisher when I say that in light of just how crappy previous Punisher flicks have been in the past, then a 're-boot' was really the only sensible option (though I'm not sure it's a re-boot; perhaps a continuation or something along those lines). Latino Review is now hosting three new images from Punisher: War Zone straight from director Lexi Alexander's blog (which you can also view here, to the right, and after the jump). The last picture we got wasn't exactly the most illuminating when it comes to details, and, to be honest, I couldn't make out much here either. On the up side, at least star Ray Stevenson no longer looks like Steven Seagal's long lost brother.

Taking over where Thomas Jane and Dolph Lundgren left off, Stevenson stars as Frank Castle (aka The Punisher); when his family is wiped out by the mob, he becomes a one man army pegging off criminals and mobsters everywhere. Joining Stevenson are Dominic West as Jigsaw (who fans might remember from the comics, albeit from a different storyline) and Wayne Knight (better known as Jerry's nemesis Newman) as Microchip.

Erik got the chance to talk with director Lexi Alexander about the need for a remake of the classic character. Alexander said, "I would say it's a complete different re-boot, just because neither one of the previous [films] were relevant. And with Castle, it's one story -- the mythology stays the same -- and I think I just have a very very different take on it. I was lucky to put it in the right environment, which was dark and cold". Judging by the photos on her blog, it looks like she succeeded in creating that 'environment'. Shooting for Punisher: War Zone wrapped back in December and is scheduled to hit theaters on September 12th, 2008. Check out two more pics after the jump ...