‘Entertainment Weekly’ Offers First Look at Chris Evans as Captain America

The cover of the Nov. 5 issue of Entertainment Weekly gives fans their first up-close and official look at Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in Marvel Studios’ Captain America: The First Avenger. The issue’s six-page spread on the anticipated 2011 film features a few more more never-before-seen photos of Evans as Cap in addition to a glimpse of Hugo Weaving as the villainous (pre-Red Skull) Johann Schmidt.

With his chiseled jaw and all-American haircut, the former Johnny Storm certainly looks like Cap to me, and I like that the design is a real-world revision of Cap’s comic book garb that doesn’t abandon its most recognizable elements, namely the red, white and blue color scheme, the stripes on his torso and the star on his chest. And let us not forget his legendary shield, which remains as iconic in live-action as it is on the printed page.

Bravo, Marvel.

Nolan Names His Next Batman Film

For the past two years or so, comic book fans—and fans of good movies in general—have been anxiously awaiting Christopher Nolan’s inevitable follow-up to his Oscar-nominated masterpiece The Dark Knight. While that sequel is still a long way off—hitting theaters in 2012—at least we all know what to call it.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex blog, Nolan confirmed that his third and final Batman film will be called The Dark Knight Rises.

Hmmm. The Dark Knight Rises. Not quite as exciting as we thought it might be, is it? Indeed, a title says very little about the quality of the actual film (Nolan’s Inception would still be awesome even if it was called Sleepy Time Mind Spies). However, there’s something disengaging about simply adding the word “rising” to the end of the title of the previous film, especially considering the fact that the title progression from Batman Begins to The Dark Knight was so dramatic. All that said, it’s pointless to gripe about the title of a movie that’s still a year and a half away. Let’s move on.

Nolan also confirmed that the Riddler will not be the villain in The Dark Knight Rises. Filmmakers have also ruled out Mr. Freeze and, barring some creative casting, we probably won’t be seeing the Joker either. Since Nolan’s Bat-verse is very much grounded in reality, I’m guessing the Penguin is a reasonable possibility, as are Catwoman, Bane, Black Mask, Deadshot, Firefly or even Harley Quinn. It’s tempting to rule out outlandish adversaries such as Clayface, Killer Croc and Poison Ivy, but let’s keep in mind that Nolan made the extremely supernatural Ra’s al Ghul semi-realistic in Batman Begins. Hell, we might even see a gritty reimagining of Clock King or Maxie Zeus.

Nolan also revealed in the Hero Complex piece is that The Dark Knight Rises will not be screened in 3D. James Cameron weeps.

For the full story, click here.

Lando Calrissian’s ‘Real Talk’

I’m not much of an R. Kelly fan, but it’s pretty impossible not to love Lando Calrissian...well, except for the whole selling out your friends thing, but as he told Leia, he “had no choice.”

This is a major week for Star Wars fans. Season two of The Clone Wars is out on DVD and Blu-ray, while The Force Unleashed 2 is tearing it up on consoles. Oh, and for the record, I spent a few hours with the game on Tuesday night and it rocks far more than the original. But I digress.

Thanks to a YouTube user by the name of FrankenseussLabs, geeks have yet another reason to celebrate Star Wars this week: an uproariously funny and bizarre parody video for R. Kelly’s “Real Talk,” starring our favorite gas-mining scoundrel-turned-rebel hero. Watch the video below.



(Via Topless Robot)

He’s Got the Tools, He’s Got the Talent

At Spike TV’s Scream 2010 awards show, Bill Murray shockingly appeared in his iconic Ghostbuster uniform to accept the best horror movie award for Zombieland, for which he also won best cameo honors in recognition of his brief (but wholly memorable) appearance as himself. However, the comedy legend was quick to remind fans that there was no hidden message behind his choice of outfit. In other words, this doesn’t mean he’s signed on for Ghostbusters 3—or if it’s even happening.

“I don’t mean anything by this, it’s just all that was left that was clean,” Murray quipped in reference to his Peter Venkman garb, complete with a fairly realistic proton pack. Of course, it’s very likely that he just loves screwing with us.

Watch the clip below.

Bill Murray Dusts Off the Old Suit - FULL CLIP | SpikeTV | SPIKE.com

The Marvel Universe Gets the 'Tron' Treatment

In one of Disney’s most brilliant marketing moves since acquiring Marvel Entertainment earlier this year, the House of Mouse has teamed up with the House of Ideas to give our favorite Marvel characters the Tron treatment in anticipation of Walt Disney Pictures’ Tron: Legacy, which hits theaters on Dec. 17. Hooray for corporate synergy!

Beginning in November, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Ms. Marvel, Captain America, Wolverine and others will be reinterpreted as denizens of the computerized Tron universe on variant covers of the publisher’s top titles.

My personal favorite? Mark Brooks’ Tron reimagining of our favorite wall-crawler on the variant cover of Amazing Spider-Man #651. The issue hits shelves on Dec. 15.

To check out all of the Tron covers, visit Marvel.com.

'Ghostbusters 3' Has a Script?

If you’re like me, you’re probably pretty frustrated with the constant barrage of Ghostbusters 3 non-news that’s been hitting the Web over the past year or so. At this point, I’m convinced it’s never happening, and the sooner we all come to terms with the fact that last summer’s Ghostbusters: The Video Game is the closest we’re going to get to a third Ghostbusters movie, the better off we’re all going to be.

But if you’re clamoring for more wishful thinking disguised as news, I’d like to direct your attention to a piece I stumbled across on IGN. Reportedly, Stefano Paganini, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s product manager for Catalogue, and TV Series, announced at Rome’s Ghostbusters Day 2010 (yup, they love Ghostbusters in Italy) that “the script for Ghostbusters 3 has been approved so the engine is turned on!”

That’s all well and good, but until I hear something more official than this—or at least until Bill Murray stops vehemently denying that the project is at all moving forward—I’m going to assume that there is no Ghostbusters 3—only Zuul.

Darth Vader Gets His Ass Kicked

As much as I liked the concept and story behind 2008’s Star Wars: The Force Unleashed—an action game that put you in control of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice —I found the gameplay to be extremely lacking in several key areas. LucasArts affirms that the sequel, which hits store shelves Oct. 26, addresses the game’s most glaring issues, namely its repetitive combat and frustrating targeting system. Fingers crossed.

Regardless of how the game actually turns out, the marketing has been pretty amazing. In this television spot, for example, we see Darth Vader get his ass handed to him by his former apprentice Starkiller, who, after sacrificing himself to save the fledgling Rebel Alliance at the end of the last game, is very much alive thanks to the miracle of cloning.

Check out the commercial below.

NYCC: Hasbro Unveils 'Captain America' and 'Thor' Movie Action Figures

Although Hasbro already debuted action figures from their forthcoming Captain America and Thor movie lines at Comic-Con International in San Diego in July, the toymaker had a few surprises in store for New York Comic Con attendees this past weekend, giving fans a glimpse at what they can expect to find on store shelves before the films hit theaters next summer.

As was the case with Hasbro’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Iron Man 2 lines, Thor and Captain America offerings will include assortments based on the films themselves as well as the comic books that inspired them. Like all of Hasbro’s Marvel movie action figures, these will be in the same scale as the company’s extensive Marvel Universe collection.

Don't Touch Starbuck

She’s survived Cylons and has even gone toe-to-toe with Jack Bauer. But Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, 24) is still afraid of one thing in this universe: Nerd germs.

At the 2010 New York Comic Con, which concluded yesterday, this bizarre notice at Ms. Sackhoff’s autograph booth caught my eye:
Don’t mistake this as an insult to Katee: Judging by the questionable hygiene of many of the folks wandering the show floor (both in and out of costume), I don’t blame her for wanting to avoid having to touch any of them. Furthermore, Starbuck always struck me as more of a fist bump person to begin with.

Nerd News Roundup!

With New York Comic Con kicking off this weekend, geeky news and announcements have been particularly abundant over the past few days. Here are the most noteworthy:

Emma Stone Is Gwen Stacy
I have a confession to make: I have a massive crush on Emma Stone. She’s charming, she’s gorgeous and—perhaps most important of all—she has incredible comic timing. Don’t believe me? Watch Zombieland again.

So I was understandably pretty excited when I learned that Ms. Stone would be starring as the romantic lead in Marc Webb’s 2012 Spider-Man reboot. However, I was befuddled when I learned that the redheaded actress would be playing Peter Parker’s blonde (and doomed) first love, Gwen Stacy. Surely, Ms. Stone would be a better Mary Jane Watson, no?

Evidently, as reported by First Showing, Stone’s a natural blonde, so the casting isn’t as bizarre as it would seem. Cosmic. (Via First Showing)

Zack Snyder Will Direct Chris Nolan’s Superman
Say what you will about 300 or Watchmen, it’s hard to deny the fact that Zack Snyder is pretty good at creating compelling visuals. His actual ability as a storyteller, however, is often questioned by critics.

Be that as it may, Warner Bros. has confirmed that Snyder will be taking the helm of the studio’s Superman reboot, which is being produced by Chris Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) and written by frequent Nolan collaborator David S. Goyer.

This could be cool, assuming that Nolan, Goyer and Snyder refrain from simply rehashing the Richard Donner series, one of the predominant flaws of Bryan Singer’s 2006 attempt at a franchise reboot, Superman Returns. However, it’s rumored that the villain in the Man of Steel movie revival is Superman II baddie General Zod.

Aw, crap. (Via Heat Vision)

Transformers 3 Has a Title
Managing to somehow sound simultaneously pretentious and idiotic, Michael Bay’s third Transformers movie—due out next summer—is apparently called The Dark of the Moon. Wow, Pink Floyd is gonna be pissed.

I guess it’s better than Bay’s rumored original title, Transformers: F*ck You, Megan Fox. (Via Seibertron)