Earth's Mightiest Heroes

So I've been really getting into the Avenging spirit lately, have you?

Last week I saw Captain America: The First Avenger and it was one of my favorite superhero films of all time. Director Joe Johnston just nailed the tone and look. Everyone keeps referencing his work on The Rocketeer, which was great, but Don't forget he also made a few clunkers so I'll say I was really pleased to see he brought his A-game to this one. Minor nitpicks like the way they killed off Bucky aside the film delivered on all fronts especially the cast. The film has pitch perfect casting and really great performances all around. For anyone who hasn't seen it yet I'd obviously, highly recommend it.

So as we all should know by now, Caps story is dovetailing into next summer's big Avengers film, being directed by none other than Jon Favreau. The movie will bring together every geek's wildest comic to film dreams, with Captain America joining Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow on Marvel's premiere super team The Avengers. There's already a short teaser trailer up for the film, and if you missed it the first time, the ending and credit sequence to The First Avenger, give us a bit more teaser goodies on the upcoming film.

I'm pretty stoked about The Avengers movie, since I've been a Marvel fanboy for a very long time. While I was never a huge Avengers follower, preferring to stick mostly with Spider-Man and some of the cosmic guys like Silver Surfer, I always enjoyed seeing my favorites interact with the Avengers, and whenever there was a big company wide event storyline I was always excited. The trick as with any ensemble cast is to make sure everyone gets enough screen time, and that it all serves the story. With this creative team involved though I am heartily optimistic.

I also just recently finished watching the first season of the latest Marvel cartoon on Netflix, and it couldn't have gotten me more in the mood for some Avengers action. The cartoon, which launches into its second season this October on DisneyXD, is of course The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

The first season consists of twenty six 22 minutes episodes and will set you up really well with everything you'd want to know about the Avengers and more. All of the major players are introduced and explored, as well as most of the major villains, and even a few of the bigger storylines are tackled in this first season. As anyone who's read The Avengers comic even a little bit like me knows, the team has had a few different makeups over the years and Earth's Mightiest Heroes is no different. After the obligatory origin episodes, which I'm actually very glad they didn't rush through, the team lineup features: their team leader Iron Man, along with Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Ant Man, Wasp, Hawkeye, and Black Panther. Additionally a few other 'Avengers-to-be' make regular appearances, like Black Widow, and Wonder Man. What's great about these characters and the writing, headed up by Christopher Yost, is that everyone is given time to develop organically, we get a great balance of character moments where the players actually grow throughout the season and amazing battle sequences where the viewer is treated to just minute after minute of perfectly choreographed battle scenes.

If you think you're even remotely interested and you have Netflix streaming, I'd really recommend checking it out. The season is available for instant streaming right now, and if you only want to give one or two episodes a try, jump ahead to the two parter The Breakout, which kicks the season into high gear and gives a good sample of the action to come.

While I was on a Netflix streaming kick I realized that there are a lot of other Marvel superhero shows online. The 90s cartoons of X-Men, Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Silver Surfer are all available in their entirety right now; although Fantastic Four, and perhaps to be expected the pretty awful Avengers: United They Stand cartoons are not there. Other great Marvel cartoons are though, including the Spider-Man 1967 series, the first of the excellent two season Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, X-Men: Evolution, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, and the first season of the currently airing Iron Man: Armored Adventures (season 2 is in full swing now on Nicktoons). Unfortunately, none of the other more recent Marvel animated series (Wolverine and the X-Men or any of the Marvel anime projects) are available yet; nor are any of the other older Marvel animated series like the classic Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. That said there is also one more cool new series that is available on instant Netflix streaming that should be checked out: Black Panther the animated series. While I understand why fans we're a bit disappointing to learn that this miniseries (its only 120-ish minutes long in its entirety) wasn't much more than a souped up motion comic, I'd still really urge you to have a look. If you like motion comics, then you're in luck, this is probably the best produced motion comic ever with voice talents that include the amazing Djimon Hounsou, Alfre Woodard, and Kerry Washington. Also it's got a pretty kick ass opening title sequence with a catchy song.

If from all my babbling you can't tell yet, I am a pretty huge fan of these Marvel superheros. I love seeing how they work solo, getting in depth on their backstory and rogues gallery; but I'm also a huge fan of when they meet, crossover, and have excellent adventures together. That's why I'm so looking forward to the Avengers movie. A great crossover crossover is in the making and I don't think anyone would have anticipated that it could be done on such a scale in a live action form. For us fanboys this is a dream come true, and for everyone else, we'll this is the best time ever to get into a hero or three. I'm sure we'll get into more Avengers goodness as the film approaches release next summer, but until then count me very excited!
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Avengers and Thor delayed!

Dammit that sucks! I have no doubt that getting everything together in just the right order for The Avengers is a huge headache, but I'm still disappointed to hear this news. Marvel has announced a revised release schedule for its upcoming properties, and the only film that has stayed squarely where it was, is Iron Man 2. So now here's what we're looking at for a release timeline:

Iron Man 2 - May 7th, 2010
Thor - June 17th, 2011
The First Avenger: Captain America - July 22nd, 2011
The Avengers - May 4th, 2012

So Thor and Avengers have both been pushed back a full year! That's what I call lame. I mean I get that they want to make the movies right, but I'm still disappointed.

In other Marvel news and rumor though there have been a few juicy casting notices out there. Apparently Mickey Rourke has finally signed on as the villain in Iron Man 2. After reports that the studio lowballed him on a paycheck word is that they have come to a much more reasonable figure now and he will be playing a Russian. No word exactly on who he's playing, but as a Russian its probably The Crimson Dynamo. Rumors are also about that Emily Blunt is no longer signed on the the role of Black Widow and it is now being offered to Scarlett Johannson. hmmm... Favreau has said that casting should be confirmed by the end of next week, and that there won't be any major surprises. Good news.

As for Thor news, well as has been mentioned before the word on the street has been lately that director Kenneth Branagh has been looking at Alexander Skarsgård for the title role, but IESB now says that Channing Tatum (aka Duke in the upcoming G.I. Joe film) is also in the running. The really big rumor on the Thor front though is that Josh Hartnett is interested in the role of the villain Loki. This is great news if you ask me, Hartnett would be fantastic as Thor's duplicitous brother. We'll have to see what becomes of this.

As for the Avengers, well over at AICN they're saying that the delay is partly due to financing, but also because Marvel wants Favreau to helm the film, and since hes definitely locked in to Iron Man 2, there wasn't anyway it could've happened before. That at least actually makes sense to me. Since the success of Iron Man, I've no doubt Marvel would love for Favs to take a crack at The Avengers.

So its kind of sad about the delays, but in the end I know I want them to make the best movies possible. If that means waiting one more year, then I guess, so be it. More on all of these as they develop.
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A long list of quick hits

There is a lot of coverage on the San Diego Comic Con out there, but much of it is buried in panel reports and drawn out press events. Also the world has not stopped turning just because of the con. There is other cool entertainment news to be had as well. But I just don't have the time to write up posts about everything. So maybe a few quick hits are in order. I mean, theres a lot of cool stuff going on, I wouldn't want to miss it. And with that said here are a few quick stories or links for you.

According to THR, Leonardo DiCaprio and his Apian Way production company are looking to possibly make a series of movies out of old Twilight Zone stories. They've put the call out to writers for pitches.

Some descriptions of the 3 minutes of Tr2n footage that was screened at the con can be read here and here, with more follow up details at AICN. And just a note, the footage was NOT actually from the new movie.

Cartoon Network is developing 3 comic book titles into tv movies. The first is Firebreather, a story about a teenager growing up in a divorced family with a typical worrying mother, and a fire-breathing dragon for a father. The next is The Mice Templar, a book about templar mice, a prophecy, and oh so much more. When I was at Wizard World the creator gave me a full 5 minutes on the book after I guessed that it was probably just like Mouseguard... And the third is The Vanishers, about a fifth grader who travels through time to rescue his friends after they start disappearing from existence.

Bryan Singer is developing a feature based on the comic miniseries Freeedom Formula , a sci fi about a high speed illegal mecha racing circuit and the cost of freedom in a fascist techno-future. Seems reminiscent of IGPX with a bit of Akira.

You can watch the trailer to Afro Samurai: Ressurection at Spike TV right now, or read more about the show here.

You can watch a painfully bad clip with Paris Hilton singing from Repo! The Genetic Opera over at MTV right now.

An honestly pretty cool trailer for Sam Raimi's new family friendly tv show Legend of the Seeker (formerly Wizards First Rule) has landed online. The show is based on Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth book series, and premieres on ABC on Nov 1st, '08.

Kevin Feige said at the SDCC Marvel panel that FOX was waiting the see how well the Wolverine movie does before moving forward on the Silver Surfer solo film.

NBC has posted videos of their Knight Rider and Kings panels on their website. Also catch this new one minute KR trailer.

The will be NO Dinobots in Transformers 2 say the writers.

Care of IGN watch the trailer for the upcoming animated film Resident Evil: Degeneration. No word on a western release date yet.

MTV interviews The Rock on Shazam, and Sam Jackson on Nick Fury.

AICN has a review of what is apparently a terrible script rewrite on Escape From New York by Jonathan Mostow.

IESB has heard that The Rock may appear in the Johnny Quest film, as Race Bannon!

Watch almost 4 minutes of new footage from Star Wars Clone Wars right here on Yahoo!

MTV has a preview up for the upcoming direct to dvd Marvel animated film "Hulk vs Wolverine" and it is killer.

Read Comingsoon.net panel reports and coverage on The Spirit, Watchmen and here, Day The Earth Stood Still, Prince of Persia, The Wolfman,

Read AICN panel reports and coverage on Wolfman, Watchmen, Twilight, Wolverine, Batman: Brave and the Bold and here, and a non-con Star Trek report

Read Latino Review's reports on the Hasbro panel (G.I. Joe), the Fox panel (DTESS, Max Payne, Wolverine), Watchmen, Punisher WZ, The Spirit, Ninja Assassin, Star Wars, and a video interview for Red Sonja,

Read IESB.net's well written reports on Watchmen, Twilight, the Fox panel, the best Wolverine footage breakdown online, and video interviews on Wolverine, Max Payne, and DTESS

And that's about all I can handle for now. That's sure a ton of info, And there'll be even more tomorrow after the Saturday panels get going at Comic Con. It's kinda crazy, but very cool stuff overall. Anything in this list really stand out to you as awesome? In my opinion the Star Wars footage steals the show so far. I'll post it up on its own later this weekend. Until then, I'm off to bed.
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Iron Man 2 seems to have a director

If you'll remember online about a month or so ago Jon Favreau stirred up some trouble by commenting generally on how Marvel was dragging their feet locking him down for Iron Man 2, and that he was concerned with their lack of communication, and seemingly rushed street date. Well it looks like we can just about collectively breathe a sigh of relief. A week or two ago there were some rumblings from the man himself that the horizon was looking brighter and Marvel was in negotiations with him. Check out this IESB exclusive video for a great interview with Favs where he talked about that, as well as some on The Avengers and his thoughts on Dark Knight. Now Deadline Hollywood has announced that they've been hearing that a deal has in fact been reached. While nothings been officially announced yet, it sounds like Favreau is set to take up the directors chair again for the planned 2010 sequel. All I can say, is thank goodness this is getting worked out now. Marvel made some good moves this summer, and I hope they continue the winning streak.

Also on a cool sidenote; in that IESB video interview with Favreau he says that he intends to include a Thor cameo in IM2. Sweet :)
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Marvel logos

Here's one more tantalizing picture from the Licensing Expo going on in NYC right now, MTV Movies Blog snagged this pic of the upcoming Marvel slate in logo form. Not that it means these films will really happen when they're supposed to, but its still neat to see.

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Cap in Hulk?!

Well we may not be getting Hilary Swank as Black Widow in The Incredible Hulk film, but we just might be getting Captain America; sort of... The rest of this post may contain SPOILERS, so beware...

a few days ago Hulk director Louis Leterrier told G4TV that "As a filmmaker and as a fan, I like to go see movies and watch them several times ... and every time I see it, discover little things in the background. Did you know that in Iron Man, Captain America's shield can be found somewhere? Well in Hulk you might see Captain America himself!". As the video's down you can read more on it at Wired. But Seriously WTF?!!?! Captain America making an appearance in The Incredible Hulk?! Why that would be, simply incredible! ;)

Seriously though, could this just be another ploy like the black hearted grinch Avi Arad proved to be with his Black Widow red herring... or could it actually be something real? None of the early reviews I read mentioned anything about this... But it looks like the mystery has been solved. Yes Captain America was in the film, BUT the scene has been cut from the final theatrical version.

Talking to Juado.com, Leterrier clarified saying "“There’s a point when Bruce Banner gives up on his quest for the cure and decide to kill himself. So he travels far North and reaches the Arctic Circle. You might have seen bits of it in some of the promos. The result was a very dark and strong scene, which Marvel, me and everyone else’s considered to be too hard to young audiences to take, so we’ve cut it. Having that said, when Bruce arrives at his destination he meets up with Captain America! At some point this week, we will make it available on the internet – but I cannot tell you where or when – and the material will definitely be on the DVD.”"

So I guess what hes implying is that there was a shot of Captain America stuck in the ice somewhere. Rumors about the Captain America movie say that The First Avenger: Captain America will be entirely a period WWII piece and end with the Captain frozen in the arctic ice only to be revived into the modern world in 2011, just in time for The Avengers movie. So at this point in the chronology Cap should logically be somewhere in the frozen north. Thats really kinda cool. My guess / hope is that the Hulk dislodges Cap from the ice and the scene ends with a man sized iceberg floating away...

Even though its not going to be in the final cut, I still think its pretty cool.

Oh and just to end on some very good news Leterrier told SuperheroHype that he is definitely up for more Hulk in the future saying "I'll do another Hulk movie any day of the week. I love it! I love the character, I love the TV show. I love that he's an anti-hero, It starts with a great story and great cast. If you like movies, you'll like Hulk". Very judicious words...
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New Next Avengers trailer

Check out this great new trailer for the upcoming direct to dvd movie Next Avengers.



For something thats an original creation, I think it looks pretty great. The dvd hits shelves on September 2nd, 2008.
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Iron Man 2 is coming when?

In a recent interview with Military.com Terrance Howard talked some about the proposed timeframe of Iron Man 2 and this has sparked another round of rumors. Howard said in the article that Iron Man 2 will begin filming in March of next year, which would fit right along with Marvels announced fasttrack schedule so that IM2 can hit theaters in 2010.

However these "confirmed" comments have stoked the fires, and Jon Favreau has responded with some comments people might not want to hear. Over on his Myspace page he has said the following in response to a reader question...

"Q - Any good news on contract talks between you and Marvel yet?
A - It’s been five weeks since the one and only phone call my reps have gotten from Marvel. I know their hands are full with the Hulk and I’m sure they will get into it shortly, as they tell me they intend to. I ran into the Marvel guys at the Hulk premiere and everyone sounded eager to get to work on IM2.

I am concerned, however, about the announced release date of April 2010. Neither Robert nor I were consulted about this and we are both concerned about how realistic the date is in light of the fact that we have no script, story or even writers hired yet. This genre of movie is best when it is done thoughtfully and with plenty of preparation. It might be better to follow the BB/DK, X/X2 three year release pattern than to scramble for a date. It is difficult because there are no Marvel 09 releases and they need product, but I also think we owe it to the fans to have a great version of IM2 and, at this point, we would have less time to make it than the first one."

So I guess we'll have to see what happens. As Favreau mentions, and like I was saying before Marvel seems to be waiting until The Incredible Hulk drops to really solidify their plans. More on this as it comes in.

On a sad sidenote. It looks like maybe we were wrong about Hilary Swank showing up as The Black Widow in either Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk. Word on the street from reviews of The Hulk say that she is not to be found in the film, and while we know that Tony's Stark shows up in character in the Hulk movie, I think we're looking at any appearance as a long shot. What does that mean? Was she not cast? What about what Avi Arad said? Or is it just a case of, she was cut from the film? Favreau directly responds to the questions of Swanks involvement in Iron Man by saying that "Hilary Swank was never involved in any way." And that my friends is just too bad. I know it may just sound like more fanboy talk, but I think Swank would fit the role perfectly. I sure hope shes still a part of Marvel's future plans. Maybe she'll show up in The Avengers...



UPDATE - MTV Movies has had some words with Avi Arad regarding his comments on the inclusion of Hilary Swank as Black Widow in Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. While its not the best answer at least now we know what the heck happened. In the simplist terms possible, he fooled us. Elaborating he stated “She’s not there. She was never supposed to be. It got into the internet and, you know, especially with MTV. These rumors are starting,” Arad said, laughing mightily. “There were cameos that WERE real, and we were trying to move [the media] away from the real.” .... so there you go. No Swank at all. That kinda sucks :(
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Quick hitters

Here are a few quick tidbits that really deserve to be mentioned.

The new incarnation of Dune to be directed by Peter Berg looks like it may have found its screenwriter. Josh Zetumer is reportedly in talks to pen the film that's sure to have geeks round the world on the edge of their seats. Zeturner has also worked on the new Bond film Quantum of Solace.

The Prince of Persia film has added some new castmembers, Sir Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, and Gemma Arterton will now grace our screen alongside Jake Gyllenhaal as the prince with the magical dagger. Kingsley will reportedly play the films villain, the kind of role he seems to love to play, the vile Nizam, who as prince Dastan's uncle tries to steal the throne and lay the blame for his brothers murder squarely on our hero. Molina will play Sheik Amar, a mentor to the prince. And of course Gemma will play the beautiful and exotic princess Tamina.

In a recent interview, Jon Favreau talked a bit about his thought on Iron Man 2. He indicated his concern that he will not be able, even if he is offered, to direct both Iron Man 2 AND The Avengers movie (which he has campaigned for in the past) if only because of Marvels newly announced release timeframe. He also mentions how at this point Marvel seems to be sort of holding its breath to see how The Incredible Hulk does, and after that opens they will make more decisions on the future. As speculated the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline seems the next natural chapter for Iron Man, however he noted that he sees a lot of the same kind of imagery in the trailers for Hancock as the DIAB storyline. Favs also speaks a bit on some of the other interesting aspects of creating a Marvel Universe not just a single film, and why he has concerns about adapting the Mandarin to the big screen. Check out the rest of the interview at ComingSoon.

Sam Raimi has made public his desire to direct another Spider-Man film! Regarding the new script by James Vanderbilt he recently told ComingSoon "I'm hoping it's as great as our discussions were about it and I'm hoping it feels right for me because I love Spider-Man. I'm hoping I'm well rested enough to embrace it and I'm hoping Sony wants me to do it. If all of those things come together, I would love to do it. There are a lot of unknowns about the future." Additionally in a recent interview with IESB, JK Simmons (who played J. Jonah Jameson) mentions that as recently as February he talked with Tobey Maguire and he seemed amenable to coming back for more if the script was right. Although we should remember the current rumor has Sony eying up a back to back, or at least very quick turnaround, on Spidey 4 and 5. As with Iron Man 2, we'll probably have to wait until after Hulk opens for any real news out of Marvel.

Finally since I've mentioned it enough, a few early reviews for The Incredible Hulk have started to come out and they seem to honestly be extremely positive! See reviews here, and here and here. This is just great news if you ask me. I know I'm definitely going to try to be there opening weekend. :)
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Caps shield

I definitely missed seeing this from the Iron Man movie. But Comicbookmovie.com points out this juicy little piece of cross-promotional geek gold that is just too cool not to mention.

In the Iron Man movie at about the 1hr 30min mark, during the scene where Tony is having his robots pull the suit off him and Pepper walks in and he says "Let's face it this is not the worsts thing you've caught me doing" you can see in the background on a table none other than the very red white and blue shield of Captain America! very cool

CBM also mentions how it appears that the Super Soldier program will be mentioned in the Hulk movie. Nice :) It sure looks like Marvel is leading up to the big crossover in The Avengers by planting the seeds early. I definitely approve.

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Marvel on the move

After a HUGE weekend for Marvel, at their earnings call this morning they dropped some great news for comic fans everywhere. Care of Superhero Hype Marvel has announced release plans for a slew of their next films. All of which have been rumors, but none of which had schedules on them.

The release slate now looks as follows...

The Incredible Hulk - June 13th, 2008
Punisher: War Zone - December 5th, 2008
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - May 1st, 2009
Iron Man 2 - April 30th, 2010 (newly announced)
Thor - June 4th, 2010 (newly announced, Matthew Vaughn directing)
The First Avenger: Captain America - May 1st, 2011 (newly announced)
The Avengers - July 2011 (newly announced)

Besides the 4 new films announced, Marvel Studios president David Maisel also mentioned that Ant Man is still in development, for what I think we can assume will be a release near the Avengers film timeframe. And that Spider-Man 4 is also in early development. As an awesome little side note he also mentioned that the character Thor will be introduced in Iron Man 2. :) Doesn't that just make you happy? For a more complete list, check out the Marvel development wiki.

This is going to be awesome, seeing everything come together over the next few years leading up to the Avengers film. I love the fact that Mervel is putting so much effort and care into this stuff. Good work guys. Now we've got even more films to stalk :)
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Next Avengers trailer

Although it officially debuted on Marvel.com today, here is the trailer for Next Avenger: Heroes of Tomorrow. that's been sitting on youtube for two months now. This is Marvel's next direct to dvd animated film and is set to come out August 28th, '08.



I have to say, I'm definitely a fan of the new look. The trailer is really just a teaser, but the team; which was an original creation for this film, have a great vibe to them. Its like the creators just got to take what was best from all the current heroes and make even awesomer new one. Check out this pic of the team in action poses :)

For a better look at the film I highly recommend you check out the behind the scenes featurette on the Doctor Strange dvd, you can also see it online via IESB. It is really excellent. I know I'm definitely looking forward to this dvd. So far the Marvel animated films have been excellent, here's hoping this one will continue the trend.
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Upcoming Marvel - 02/08

Care of SuperheroHype! here is Marvel's list of upcoming projects...

It should be noted that because of the writers strike, Marvel will probably not have 2 feature films in 2009, as is their business plan from 2010 and onward. Which film will make the cut for '09 though is still up in the air. SHH thinks it will be Thor, and I hope so too.

Feature Film Projects Being Developed by Marvel – partial list
Iron Man, Marvel - Scheduled for May 2, 2008 release
The Incredible Hulk, Marvel - Scheduled for June 13, 2008 release
Ant-Man, Marvel - Writer/director engaged
Captain America, Marvel - Writer engaged
Thor, Marvel - Writer engaged
The Avengers, Marvel - Writer engaged

Licensed Marvel Character Feature Film Line-Up
Punisher: War Zone, Lionsgate - Completed principal photography; scheduled for September 12, 2008 release
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fox - Director engaged; scheduled for May 1, 2009 release

Marvel Character Animated TV Projects
Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Moonscoop SAS (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes airing internationally.
Spectacular Spider-Man, Sony - In development; US distribution agreement with Kids’ WB; scheduled for Spring 2008 release.
Wolverine and the X-Men, First Serve Toonz (India) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release.
Iron Man: The Animated Series, Method Films (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; scheduled for Spring 2008 release.
Hulk: The Animated Series, TBD -In development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release.
Super Hero Squad, TBD - In development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release.

Marvel Character Animated Direct-to-DVD Projects
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, Lionsgate - Scheduled for August 2008 release.
Hulk Vs., Lionsgate - Scheduled for January 2009 release.
Thor: Son of Asgard, Lionsgate - Scheduled for September 2009 release.
Planet Hulk, Lionsgate - Scheduled for February 2010 release.

Marvel Character Live Stage Projects
Spider-Man, the Musical, Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment
In development/opening date to be determined; Julie Taymor director; music & lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge

Marvel 2007 – 2008 Video Game Releases (Release dates controlled by Publishing partner)
Sega, Iron Man - Scheduled for release Friday, May 2, 2008.
Sega, The Incredible Hulk - Scheduled for release Tuesday, June 3, 2008.
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Upcomming Marvel - 11/05

Once again provided by Marvel via Comingsoon.net. Check it out :)

Feature Film Projects Being Developed by Marvel - partial list
Iron Man, Marvel - Completed principal photography; May 2, 2008 release
The Incredible Hulk, Marvel - Commenced principal photography; June 13, 2008 release
Ant-Man, Marvel - Writer and director engaged
Captain America, Marvel - Writer engaged
Thor, Marvel - Writer engaged
The Avengers, Marvel - Writer engaged

Licensed Marvel Character Feature Film Line-Up
Punisher 2, Lionsgate - Commenced principal photography, slated for 2008 release
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fox - Director engaged, slated for May 1, 2009 release

Marvel Character Animated TV Projects
Fantastic Four, Moonscoop SAS (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes; Running Internationally.
Spider-Man, Sony - In development; US distribution agreement with Kids' WB for Spring 2008 release.
Wolverine and the X-Men, First Serve Toonz (India) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; Fall 2008 release.
Iron Man, Method Films (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; Fall 2008 release.
Hulk, TBD - In development.

Marvel Character Animated Direct-to-DVD Projects
Next Avengers, Lionsgate - Targeted July 2008 release
Hulk Smash, Lionsgate - Targeted October 2008 release
Thor, Lionsgate - Targeted April 2009 release
TBD, Lionsgate - Targeted September 2009 release

Marvel Character Live Stage Projects
Spider-Man the Musical, Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment
In development/opening date to be determined; Julie Taymor director; music & lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge

Marvel Video Game Releases (Release dates controlled by Publishing partner)
Sega, Iron Man - Targeted 2008
Sega, The Incredible Hulk - Targeted 2008

All looks good there. so according the this list we're getting Iron Man, Hulk and Punisher next year, followed by Wolverine, maybe Thor (if they can get that budget down) and Captain America in '09. I haven't heard too much on Ant Man lately. I wonder how that's all coming along. Good news on the direct to dvd stuff. So far that's been of a very high quality. Looking forward especially to seeing what they do with Thor. The one thing I really miss from this list is the rambling of 'other' projects on their radar. For example I'd just like a little confirmation that Marvel are considering Silver Surfer, or that the proposed Sum Mariner movies haven't been lost along the way.

Just speculation here but from tidbits garnered in the past, Marvel has or should have on the radar: Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four 3, Spider-man 4 (writer has been hired), Daredevil 2, Iron Fist (Ray Park was attached), Sub Mariner (3 films), Doctor Strange, Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Magneto.

Still, its good to see that everything's on track for the Marvel juggernaut of entertainment to continue.

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