When Marvel officially announced the release date for Thor last week (June 4, 2010), news quickly followed that Matthew Vaughn was no longer directing, a script was being fine-tuned and Marvel was in search of an actor to fill Thor's mighty shoes. Seeing as he's blonde, a very popular actor and has starred in films like Troy, the first name to pop into the minds of fanboys (and girls) everywhere was Brad Pitt. And whaddya know: Latino Review is saying this week that Pitt is at the top of Marvel's wishlist. Who woulda thunk it?

On paper, this does seem like a logical -- and realistic -- choice. Pitt is at a similar point in his career as Robert Downey Jr., Edward Norton and even Johnny Depp (who surprised fans by starring in three Pirates of the Caribbean films for Disney). If there ever was a right time for Pitt to take a leap and "do one for his kids," Thor would be that project -- especially since his gal Angelina has already starred in two Tomb Raider flicks. But then the guy would have to sign for at least three films (most likely), not to mention the fact that he'd need to be in phenomenal shape. Plus, perhaps Troy was Pitt's Thor, and maybe he's tired of all those giant blockbusters; maybe he'd rather do some smaller stuff.

However, then you look around Hollywood and, honestly, who else could play the Marvel superhero? Taking into consideration the move by Marvel to hire bigger names for their films, is there anyone else who could muscle-up and play Thor? Or is Pitt the only name that could truly bring this project to the next level?

There's all sorts of madness going on at Marvel right now in the wake of Iron Man's ridiculous opening weekend. Marvel's Kevin Feige was promoted to God and now it's time to start looking toward the future. While we await the release of Marvel's second self-financed flick (The Incredible Hulk) later this summer, The Hollywood Reporter tells us Matthew Vaughn is no longer directing Thor (currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 4, 2010, not July 4 as previously reported -- unless HR made a typo). According to HR, Vaughn's holding deal expired. In the meantime, Marvel is waiting for a script polish from writer Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend).

On what we should expect from Thor, Feige says, "It's very much a Marvel superhero story but against the backdrop of nothing you've seen before. " He then described the flick as a "period fantasy in the vein of The Lord of the Rings." Sounds pretty cool to me. Who do you think they should get to direct Thor? Heck, why not throw Peter Jackson on it -- I'm sure fans would freak over that one.

Additionally, and this is just a rumor right now, HR also claims that Hulk might be featured in Iron Man 2 (due out April 30, 2010). They don't go any further than that except to say we should expect cross-referencing in all these films now that Marvel has control over the movies its characters are in. However, one thing's NOT for sure right now -- and that's Robert Downey Jr.'s participation in the Iron Man sequel. He's signed on, but HR says Marvel may have to "sweeten the pot to reward the movie's star." Oh, they'll sweeten ... or else millions of fans will look to bring on a world of hurt.

If I asked you to name a half-dozen Marvel characters besides Spider-Man, Wolverine, and The Hulk, you'd probably have no problem. But if I asked you to rattle off six DC Comics superheroes besides Superman and Batman, your response might sound a little like this: "Well, The Flash, of course. And Wonder Woman. Oh, Aquaman! Um ... Green Arrow and Green Lantern, I suppose..." and then I'd rudely interrupt you with mentions of Hawkman and Martian Manhunter before you started shaking your head in either confusion or disbelief in my nerdiness. (I can never tell which is which.)

I know all about the Justice League movie problems and the inability to get Wonder Woman flying, but really: After seeing how well-received Iron Man was -- and after hearing about Marvel's plans regarding The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers -- I'm starting to feel a little bad for DC Comics' movie division. But here's the thing: As a character of popular culture, Iron Man (born 1963) is not exactly a Spider-Man or even close to a Superman -- and still Marvel and Paramount were able to bang a really excellent blockbuster out of the guy. (And let's not forget that a relatively obscure Marvel character called Blade pretty much kick-started this comic-flick renaissance.) Does anyone doubt that a character like The Flash could have similar results? Given the right cast and crew, I'm thinking The Flash could be one hell of a fun flick. So let's get moving already!

For the past several months, folks have been questioning The Incredible Hulk and whether Edward Norton's extremely "hands on" involvement hurt or helped the finished product. It took a very long time for any images from the film to hit, and even longer for an initial trailer. Some have claimed that part of the hold-up had to do with a dispute between Norton, director John Louis Leterrier and Marvel -- with the latter wanting a more commercial cut of the film and the former, according to Entertainment Weekly, wanting a "more meditative cut of the film that ran about two hours and 15 minutes." From what I've heard, Norton is notoriously hard to work with -- so much so that everyone around him must refer to the guy as Edward, not Ed or Nort or Dude from Fight Club. I imagine folks just go along with it so they don't have to see him angry. In case you didn't know, you don't want to see Edward Norton when he's angry.

After trying for more than a month to interview the guy, EW has just published a 257-word statement (approved in advance by Universal and Marvel) from Norton. In it, he briefly addresses some of these accusations in saying, "Every good movie gets forged through collaboration, and different ideas among people who are all committed and respect the validity of each other's opinions is the heart of filmmaking. Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a 'dispute,' seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen.''

I'm sure we won't hear the real story until well after the film is out in theaters (if there even is a real story), but we'd like you to chime in here: Should this sort of off-screen dispute worry fans of the film? And would you rather see a more commercial or meditative cut of The Incredible Hulk (which, mind you, hits theaters on June 13)?

Check out Norton's full statement to EW after the jump ...

UPDATE: Cinematical was contacted by Penn's rep a little while ago, and informed that Zak is NOT writing Captain America. The wording in the interview made it sound that way (and the transcript was correct), but Penn was actually talking about being attached to The Avengers, not Captain America. Obviously this probably means David Self's script is still in the mix, and we'll update you when there's more info.

In a new interview over at ComicMix, writer-director Zak Penn talked up a ton of projects including his latest film The Grand (which I loved, and which you should see), as well as his geeky comic-related screenwriting projects like The Avengers, that X-Men spinoff flick (featuring the young X-Men), The Incredible Hulk, a new one called Bermuda Triangle and, finally ... Captain America? Oh yes, though he doesn't go into much detail (aside from saying he's attached), apparently Zak Penn is now the guy writing Captain America. (Not sure what happened to David Self?) And assuming Edward Norton doesn't sign on to star, Penn's final script may actually make it before cameras this time.

As far as The Avengers goes, Penn admits they're waiting for other Marvel characters to debut their solo films first, like Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and they may even wait for Captain America as well. So with all those films still left to go before cameras, I'd get used to waiting ... patiently. Penn also talked up the X-Men spinoff story he's still attached to write and also direct; he says it involves "a younger group of X-Men at the beginning" and that "it's a little bit more of getting back to the classic X-Men." No word on when that will see the light of day.

It's good to see Penn is writing Captain America, because if he's the guy penning that Avenges movie, you'd like to see him involved in as many of these as possible. Of course, I'd like to hope he'll find time to stuff in another tiny mock like The Grand, if only to see which ridiculous character he has Werner Herzog play this time.

I miss the days when the Incredible Hulk used to evoke only images of green-muscled mayhem and comic goodness. Since Ang Lee's take on the film, the name is met with as much apprehension as it is fan praise. Of course, we're getting a re-do soon courtesy of Edward Norton, The Incredible Hulk, but so far, the production has not quashed fan fears, and it looks like it might succumb to them.

We're finally getting the trailer debut on Wednesday night, 9:56 p.m. on all MTV channels, VH1, and Spike. The trailer's super-late release hasn't helped get fans pumped, and if Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily is right, that's not the only reason to be apprehensive. Her sources say that Norton and Marvel are fighting over how to cut the film. "Insiders say Norton was 'promised tremendous involvement and access'" into the feature, and now there is "a lot of posturing going on between Edward's camp and Marvel over how you edit the final version." They go on to say that the camps are meeting to try and come up with an "amicable resolution."

Some are saying that Norton is being his difficult self. Others say that Marvel won't listen to him. Whatever the case, this could definitely hurt the film -- will the best cut reach our apprehensive eyes? If Norton isn't happy, will he promote the film? And if he doesn't, what will that mean for the expensive, action-packed picture?

When Venom was finally revealed back in 2006, there were some apprehensions, but for the most part, anticipation was huge for the third Spider-Man movie. Then it came out, and even the die-hard fans seemed to be at least somewhat disappointed. What really sucks in these situations is when over-all disappointment tarnishes good bits. I imagine that Marvel is thinking the same thing. According to IESB, Eddie Brock and Venom are going to get their own film.

The site says that since the rights to Venom have reverted back to Marvel (New Line had 'em), they are meeting up with a number of "A-list writers" to work on a spin-off film. (They're not sure on how Sony fits into all of this.) IESB says: "We have to assume that since there is movement, and there has been recent meetings with writers, this property must belong to Marvel since they have made an interim agreement with the WGA."

It's not every day that we get the possibility of an evil spin-off. This could be cool, although a bit tricky with the whole Spider-Man part of it (even without the webbed hero as a star, the symbiote grabbed Parker first). But that's just me... What do you think?

As much as I'd like to tell you that the above image is from an upcoming episode of MTV's Cribs (featuring Tony Stark), it's actually a screen grab from the new Iron Man Superbowl commercial, set to air this Sunday during the big game. The image comes to us from Marvel.com, and it does indeed feature Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) testing an early version of his suit to make sure it, ya know, does cool stuff. Me? I just want to go for a ride in one of those nifty cars displayed in the background. That's it. Take me for a ride past my old high school so I can be all like, "What's up now, punks! Davis is hanging with Tony F**king Stark!" Directed by Jon Favreau (and I truly think this film is going to rock hard), Iron Man arrives in theaters on May 2.

For the current trailer, head over to Moviefone to watch it in glorious HD.

For those closely following the exploits of writer-director Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces), you'll remember that shortly before the new year, he posted an image of the comic character Juggernaut, with a cryptic message that read, "I'll let you guys go nuts on this one." Of course, fans immediately thought the guy had been hired to direct an X-Men spin-off flick featuring Juggernaut, but Carnahan has finally spilled the beans and it's nothing like that at all. In a new post over on his official blog, Carnahan explains how he was approached to do "a limited run for Marvel comics after striking up a relationship with current X-Men editor Axel Alonso." However, Carnahan goes on to say that "my take on Juggernaut would have directly interfered with a major Marvel event, so I was asked to revive a character called Taskmaster and just today, about an hour ago, I got word that we were moving forward."

Carnahan goes on to add: "It will be a 4-6 volume series and will commence with the events following Taskmaster's severe beat down at the hands of 'Moon Knight.' I've always been a latent comic nerd and this will represent my opening salvo into that world. I'm being given the opportunity to literally build this character's origin story as well so I'm looking forward to pushing it as much as possible." Seeing as I'm not a hardcore Marvel geek, here's what I managed to dig up on Taskmaster (pictured above, via Wikipedia):

"Taskmaster possesses an ability which is a unique form of photographic memory that ties directly into his muscle memory, giving him an ability he refers to as "photographic reflexes." This ability enables him to watch another person's physical movements and duplicate them without practice as long as it is physically possible for an ordinary human to accomplish. He is capable of emulating the styles of, among others, Daredevil, Wolverine, Captain America, Elektra, Spider-Man, the Punisher, and Deadpool. In addition, he is a very capable marksman, able to emulate Bullseye's perfect aim, as well as that of the Punisher and Hawkeye."

He sounds like a really cool character, and definitely the kind I'd like to see adapted into a big-screen flick. Should Carnahan's work here prove successful, it will be interesting to see if he's approached to write and direct a Taskmaster film. What say you fans?

Although he made his Marvel Comics debut in 1962, (The Mighty) Thor has been around for quite some time. In Norse and German mythology, Thor is the god of thunder ... and war. I'm sorry, but that alone makes him cooler than Superman. Say what you will about good ol' Kal-El -- but he's not exactly a GOD, now is he? Would a god run screaming from a glowing green meteorite? No ,I think not. Plus Thor has this awesome giant hammer called Mjolnir that spits lightning and returns to its owner when thrown at an evildoer. Yeah, Thor! Whack those villains with your gigantic hammer! (But remember the PG-13 rating.)

Oh, and Marvel finally decided who'll be directing their big-screen adaptation of The Mighty Thor. According to Variety, it'll be Matthew Vaughn, director of Layer Cake and Stardust, and producer of Guy Ritchie's only two good movies. Comics fans will no doubt remember Mr. Vaughn as the man who was supposed to helm X-Men: The Last Stand, but bailed on the project (probably wisely) for personal reasons.

Marvel and Vaughn will be working from a screenplay by Mark Protosevich, and our source indicates that the studio might want to get the project rolling before the end of the year -- what with that black cloud of a Hollywood strike looming on the horizon. If Thor turns out to be anything like Marvel's current projects (The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man) then we can expect a whole bunch of nifty casting announcements to hit the scene soon. But for now I ask our readers: Who would YOU hire to play the massive blonde hero-god?

My vote is for DJ Qualls.

Whether you're a fan of comics, or just happen to watch superheroes on the big screen now and then, you've probably heard of Marvel. They've got almost all the biggies: Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Daredevil and Iron Man. And if you regularly read Cinematical, you know that at least a few movies are in production with these characters. Marvel Entertainment has now released their second quarter earnings for 2007, and have included the company's list of projects, which you can find over at SuperHeroHype.

We know all about some of them. Of course, under their character feature line-up, they've got my much-anticipated Wolverine, which we last blogged about a few days ago, and Punisher 2, which is going to be a do-over. Under the flicks in development, we've got Iron Man (which was very present in our ComicCon coverage) and The Incredible Hulk. But there's also a whole bunch of writers gearing up other super projects like Ant-Man by Edward Wright and Joe Cornish, Captain America by David Self, Nick Fury by Andrew Marlowe, Thor by Mark Protosevich and The Avengers by Zak Penn. There are also a few animated TV projects in the works -- Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man, some direct-to-DVD projects -- Doctor Strange, Teen Avengers and Hulk Smash and video game projects for Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

And here's the kicker: Spider-Man the Musical. Yes, our webbed friend is going to hit the stage, and somehow I've missed the buzz that has been lurking around. Woops. It's not a terrible surprise that Spidey is jumping out of the screen, especially after all the success of Sam Raimi's last flick to get theatrical: Evil Dead: The Musical. Julie Taymor (Titus and Across the Universe) is going to direct the production, and the music will come from U2's Bono and The Edge -- that pretty much guarantees us some funky music and stunning sights. Unfortunately, there's no word on when we can expect to see the web stick to the stage.

So, it's been just over a week since Comic-Con wrapped up, and I've had time to catch up on sleep, dig all of my geek gear out of my bag, delouse my Captain Marvel costume, and process all of the pop culture I was exposed to without a radiation shield. For awhile it left me weaker than Green Lantern's ability to affect the color yellow, if you know what I mean.

You can read my bullet-pointed, bite-size-chunked roundup of the news that hit closest to home for me after the break, and also check out our massive gallery of shots from the show floor and the panels below. Comic-Con always seems like such a massive buildup each year, but when it's over you scratch your head a bit and say, "Was that all there was?" Then you start looking forward to next year.

Jon Favreau has really come a long way since Swingers (and thankfully, an even longer way since Made) and I'll be the first to admit that when he was attached to direct Iron Man, I breathed a sigh of ... disappointment. I mean, how could the director of Swingers and Elf possibly do a good job with a massive Hollywood summer tentpole film? My hopes were dashed. I pictured scenes of an over-the-top villain in black hat and mustache chasing Iron Man around with a can opener. Camp style, you know?

However, after seeing the footage from the movie, not once but three times, I'm totally sold on this. In my opinion, this is going to be the big movie next summer. When you first get a glimpse of that armor (both versions), it's chilling and cool at the same time. Plus, hearing Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" is just perfect. You sold me, Favreau. Go ahead and chalk up my ticket and popcorn with a medium soda, please.

Click on Jon to activate the audio, of which the highlights are below.

• On working with Vince Vaughn again: "Vince is riding high on the comedy train right now, and we have a lot of ideas that we could do. The Marshall of Revelation, which is the Western we talked about doing, is a little gritty and darker ... although we're getting a bit too old to play the roles as I wrote them."
• Is Jarvis the Butler in the movie? "Jarvis is in the movie, let's leave it at that. In some form."
• There are three different versions of the Iron Man armor in the movie. In the footage we saw, it's the Mark 1, and Mark 2 armors ... Favreau wasn't giving up the good on the other version, consarnit.
• "I'd love to do some version of Fin Fang Foom, but you can't do that in the first movie. Maybe in the second."
• On showing the footage to the Comic-Con fans: "If you have a misstep ... you could be Catwoman overnight."
• "Downey's not a guy that you cast to put asses in seats in a huge Hollywood blockbuster, he's the guy you put in the movie when you want a great actor who will bring integrity to a project like this."

I probably should've written this post last night, but couldn't find the time to get to it. If I had written it last night, then I would've been able to include Iron Man here as well, however those tricksters over at Paramount have removed the Iron Man ComicCon footage from YouTube and so we're all sh*t out of luck. I did happen to catch the Iron Man stuff before it was taken down, and I have to say it all looked pretty fantastic. I've never been an Iron Man fan, and I was weary about Jon Favreau taking on such an ambitious project, but based on what they showed it looks like Iron Man could be the film to watch out for come next summer. Another film that has lots of people talking is The Incredible Hulk re-launch -- with Edward Norton signed up to play the green monster before he's made angry.

Luckily, the brief snippet of footage from next summer's The Incredible Hulk is still online over at YouTube (as of right this second). I'm not sure if it's just not important enough to take down, or if there's barely enough there to be worried about -- but at least I have something to hand you this morning. Unlike the four plus minutes of Iron Man stuff, this Hulk "concept art" is only about 20 seconds and it features a close-up of the new Hulk, in all his green, angsty glory. Cinematical's Kevin Kelly live-blogged the entire Marvel panel at ComicCon, and so to hear more about what stars Edward Norton and Liv Tyler had to say about their roles, head on over here. Luckily, we were also able to grab some secret footage of the Hulk's transformation which, I'll admit, is a little rough and cartoonish in its current form -- but hey, at least it's something. The Incredible Hulk will smash its way into theaters on June 13, 2008.

Not long ago, writer-director Jon Favreau dropped a little clue on his Myspace page by capitalizing the word 'Swank' while speaking about accommodations in Las Vegas; the final filming location for Iron Man. At a later date, while discussing Iron Man's ComicCon plans, Favreau told fans (regarding rumors that Hilary Swank, Samuel L. Jackson and Favreau himself had cameos), that none of it was true ... except for one. Well, we now know that more than one of those cameos is true, as producer Avi Arad told MTV that Hilary Swank does indeed make a cameo in the flick. Although he refused to say who she'd be playing, rumors suggest she'll most likely play a fellow SHIELD agent; a role that could possibly be setting up something larger -- like a separate film, or an appearance as this character in the much talked-about Avengers movie.

While most of the talk as of late has surrounded a Justice League flick, Marvel seems to be the ones taking the first steps toward setting up a film that would feature an array of superhero characters -- from Iron Man to Captain America. When asked about the Sam Jackson cameo (he's said to be playing fellow Marvel character Nick Fury), Arad seemed to have been caught off guard. His reply: "The Sam thing was supposed to be the biggest secret of them all. It's amazing how it got out." Hmm, I'm actually shocked that word hadn't reached Arad yet -- after all, the Sam news is fairly old by now. Arad was equally shocked when MTV threw Swank's name at him. He asks: "How did you know [about that]?" Then, after a few seconds of silence ... "It's a cameo." So there you have it folks -- official word from the top. Since we pretty much know who Jackson is playing, now it's your turn to take a stab at Swank's role. Who is she? Or, more importantly, who do you want her to be? Iron Man is set to arrive in theaters on May 9, 2008.