Captain America's Movie Shield Revealed

While is was disappointing that Marvel did not publish the Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor footage (although they did show it to the audience present during the panel discussion). And while The Avengers cast announcement was fantastic, Marvel Studios also revealed the Captain America shield at the studio's booth at the San Diego Comic-Con! Throughout the week, Marvel Studios also revealed Odin's throne, the Destroyer and Thor, Loki and Odin's helmets.

Marvel Announces Anime

Four brand-new anime series featuring some of the Marvel Universe's landmark characters have been announced. Produced by Madhouse for Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan (SPEJ), these four original series will feature iconic characters from Iron Man, X-Men, Wolverine and Blade in a new anime re-version. These series will premiere in 2011.

Jeph Loeb, Executive Vice President, Head of Television at Marvel Entertainment said, “The size and scope of the animation from top-flight studios Madhouse and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan is nothing short of mind-blowing. We look forward to the start of a beautiful friendship and can’t wait to see the reaction from our worldwide fan-base.”

Each of the four new anime properties will air as standalone series made up of twelve 30-minute episodes. Guided by multiple Eagle award winner Warren Ellis, the four shows will feature a matrix of interlinked storylines and shared guest characters.

Iron Man (teaser trailer above): In an effort to make amends for his weapons manufacturing past, Tony Stark has dedicated himself to building the world up rather than tearing it down. Traveling to Japan to build a new arc reactor that will deliver unlimited free energy to the Japanese people, Stark is challenged by the Japanese government and the media when he attempts to import the necessary nuclear priming device. And when the reactor-in-construction is repeatedly attacked by the mysterious Zodiac consortium, Stark must gather his allies to take on Zodiac and its mastermind.

X-Men: The X-Men are reunited following the death of a teammate, and are summoned by Charles Xavier to Japan following the abduction of Hisako Ichiki (Armor). There, they confront the U-Men, a lunatic cult that steals and transplants mutant organs to further strengthen their own army, and the battle for justice is on.

Wolverine: Based on the popular graphic novel by Frank Miller, the series begins in Japan, where Logan is challenged by Shingen Yashida, the notorious leader of a powerful mafia clan. When Shingen's employee Yukio, a female assassin, falls out of Shingen's favor, she must kill him or be killed. Teaming up with Logan, the pair seek out the villain to exact their revenge.

Blade: Seeking revenge on Deacon Frost, the vampire lord who killed his mother while she was still pregnant with Eric. With all the powers of a vampire and none of their weaknesses, Blade's quest leads him throughout Southeast Asia in search of Frost, and, in Vietnam, he discovers a vampire plot that threatens to take down the whole world.

While anime translations have worked out for DC Comics in the past with Gotham Knights, it'll be a toss-up to see how Marvel capitalizes with this shift introduction of four major playing characters in one go.

Green Lantern Promo Images

Warner Bros. Pictures has provided us with four new Comic-Con promo images for Green Lantern featuring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, Mark Strong as Sinestro and Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond. You can check out bigger versions by clicking on them at the Warner Bros. website.

Needless to say, this first look at Sinestro is awesome.

Also below, you'll find the Green Lantern movie panel will all the director and starring cast at San Diego's Comic Con taking questions from the crowd.

Opening in theaters on June 17, the Martin Campbell-directed action adventure also star Tim Robbins, Taika Waititi, Temuera Morrison, Angela Bassett, Jay O. Sanders and Jon Tenney.

The Green Lantern Game

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment today announced Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, an action-adventure title that will be available in conjunction with Warner Bros. Pictures’ epic superhero feature film Green Lantern scheduled for release Summer 2011.

The game will be available for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Wii and Nintendo DS.

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters is inspired by the feature film, which brings the popular super hero to the big screen for the first time and which stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role as Hal Jordan. In the video-game players will utilize over a dozen constructs and take flight across the deepest parts of the Universe to restore intergalactic order by wielding the ultimate weapon: the Green Lantern power ring.

“Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters gives players the chance to experience the world of the Green Lantern mythology in an interactive way, going beyond the events of the film and comic books,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “The game is the first to center around DC Comics’ Green Lantern franchise and we’re excited to give fans the opportunity to experience the power of the ring with engaging gameplay.”

Avenging Update

The first day wrap-ups of Comic Con 2010 are being gradually leaked on to the internet - and some the news couldn't be more exciting.

Joss Whedon, of Waterworld and Buffy, has confirmed lending his direction talents to The Avengers film. Robert Downey, Jr. and Don Cheadle are set to reprise their roles as Iron Man and War Machine, respectively. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston will reprise their roles from the upcoming Thor as Thor and Loki as well. Samuel L. Jackson signed on to play Nick Fury as part of an unprecedented deal with Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures for nine pictures, including The Avengers and its respective sequels. Scarlett Johansson, playing the Iron Man 2 role of Black Widow, will be in the film. Chris Evans will reprise his role as Captain America from the forthcoming film Captain America: The First Avenger.

In June 2010 during Comic Con, reports surfaced that Jeremy Renner was in final negotiations to play Hawkeye in the film as well.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that the Hulk will appear in The Avengers but the character of Bruce Banner will not be played by Edward Norton.

Now that's an update.

Cap & Thor Go Live

After unleashing images for Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor, Marvel Studios has now also brought online the official sites for the films which you can check out at CaptainAmerica.Marvel.com and Thor.Marvel.com!

For now it's mostly the logos for both films on the sites, but it is hoped that more images will be released during Comic-Con this weekend.

Odin's Beard

As revealed in this new photo from Marvel Studios' Thor featuring Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor with his hammer. It has also been confirmed that both Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger will be released in 3D.

Thor hits theaters on May 6, 2011 and Captain America: The First Avenger (the other Marvel ship) on July 22, 2011.

First Frost

Jennifer Lawrence, from Winter's Bone fame, will play Mystique in 20th Century Fox's X-Men: First Class. Also, Kevin Bacon has signed to play the villain, whose character is still under wraps.

The two join James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Alice Eve, Nicholas Hoult and Caleb Landry Jones in the Matthew Vaughn-directed film, coming to theaters on June 3, 2011.

If you've read our recent entry on X-Men: First Class, the cast for this show is growing each month with a younger and lesser known group of actors being drafted to take on portraying Marvel's first family.

Playing Thor

Just so that you have my official opinion in written form: the Iron Man game that was inspired by the movie sucked. The coolest thing about that game, by far, was the free roam flying - but that was it. I would go so far in to say that the Iron Man game spoiled the video-games-from-superhero movies genre, for me, forever.

In any case: SEGA just announced that Thor: The Video Game is coming in 2011

Yesterday SEGA Europe and SEGA of America announced they will bring Marvel’s hall-of-fame franchise Thor to video game systems for an epic third-person adventure, scheduled for release on all five major video game platforms in 2011.

Thor: The Video Game is set to take players through an original third-person adventure for which Matt Fraction, the Eisner Award-winning writer and lead Thor comic book author, served as story consultant.

In the game, Thor battles through the numerous worlds of Norse mythology that span realms ranging from fire and ice to Frost Giants and Trolls - to obviously save Asgard. And yes, you will be using Mjölnir.

Each version of the game will be uniquely suited for its platform, with the PlayStation 3 system and Xbox 360 versions featuring cinematic, third-person action gameplay with melee combos, ranged hammer throws, tide-turning elemental powers, and an upgrade system to bolster Thor’s powers as gamers progress. Players will take on enemies up to four times as large as Thor, with multiple grappling points and a variety of strategies for taking them down: go toe-to-toe with 25 foot tall, 12 ton Ice Trolls for a truly heart-pumping experience.

The Wii game will feature the same overarching storyline as the next-gen consoles, but will also present a different gaming experience by utilizing the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers to battle enemies and deliver Thor’s elemental powers. Thor for the Wii version will also be presented with a uniquely styled comic book look that it will share with the PSP system version, along with different cinematics, story elements, dialog, locations, and dedicated flight levels. Nintendo DS players will experience a 2D side-scrolling adventure with narrative and gameplay unique to the platform.

Thor: The Video Game marks the character’s progression from mythology to comics to TV and film, and now to interactive entertainment in his first standalone appearance in a game ever.

Green Light

...and here's where GL screams like a little girl !

Picture Me Rollin'

While the first Ghost Rider movie and its rather lack-luster impression still lingers in our minds, all good things are meant to move on. Below, we have a time-line of events that have occurred so far with regards to this franchise.

On February 9, 2007, Marvel producer Avi Arad announced the development of Ghost Rider 2. Surprisingly, Peter Fonda has also expressed a desire to return as Mephistopheles. (Mephisto).

In February 2009, Columbia Pictures had greenlit a sequel to Ghost Rider. Nicolas Cage will reprise the lead role, whilst the studio are in search of writers.

On September 23, 2009, it was reported that David S. Goyer signed on to write the script for the sequel. Goyer spoke to MTV about the sequel, stating that the story will pick up eight years after the events of the first film and that he hopes to start filming by 2010. The sequel is entitled Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance will be produced by Mike De Luca.

On July 14, 2010 it was confirmed that Nicolas Cage will return and Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are in negotiations to direct. In July 2010 Cage revealed shooting is to start in November.

Are we hoping for the best? Guilty !

Going First Class

In the latest of movie news, the confirmed castings so far for X-Men: First Class are:

Nicholas Hoult who will play Beast
Caleb Landry Jones who will play Banshee .
James McAvoy (best known as the guy from Wanted) who will play Charles Xavier

Michael Fassbender who will play Erik Lensher

and Alice Eve (from She's Out Of My League) who will play Emma Frost.

X-Men: First Class will following the classic Marvel mythology, charting the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. 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. The story will follow the process of how a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men.

X-Men: First Class will be directed by Matthew Vaughn.

Sony Pictures has officially announced that Andrew Garfield has landed the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in director Marc Webb's Untitled Spider-Man Film! The film focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human powers. The action adventure will open in 3D and 2D theaters on July 3, 2012.

The official press release is as follows:

After a comprehensive worldwide casting search, Andrew Garfield has been chosen to portray Peter Parker when Spider-Man swings back onto the screen in 3D on July 3, 2012. The new film will begin production in early December directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt. Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad will produce the film from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.

Garfield will immediately begin preparing for the coveted role.

The Spider-Man franchise is one of the most successful in film history and the three previous motion pictures have collectively grossed more than $2.5 billion in worldwide box office.

On selecting Garfield, director Marc Webb said, "Though his name may be new to many, those who know this young actor's work understand his extraordinary talents. He has a rare combination of intelligence, wit, and humanity. Mark my words, you will love Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker."

Garfield is fast becoming one of the most respected and sought-after young actors working in the industry today. In a short 5 year career, he has already been directed by, and starred alongside, some of the greatest names and received a BAFTA for a role that won him international praise.

Garfield most recently worked with director David Fincher on the upcoming film The Social Network. He previously starred for Spike Jonze on his robot love story, I'm Here, which premiered at Sundance this year. He plays the lead male opposite Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan in Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go, due for release later this year.

While mostly limited to dramas, this will be Garfield's first foray into the superhero genre - and there is little doubt that there is a legacy and fan expectation to live up to.