Marvel Phase 2: Avengers 2 Has Found Its Ultron & Guardians Has Its Raccoon

There have been some major Marvel news coming out in the past few days that will greatly impact Phase 2 movie slate so let us get to it. First off, according to The Hollywood Reporter and several other news outlets, The Avengers sequel has found its main baddie. James Spader has been tapped to take on the all-star cast as the supervillain Ultron for the major Marvel movie of 2015.

james spader ultron

James Spader has been seen recently in Lincoln, the Spielberg movie for which he got a ton of critical praise for. He’s also most known for his work on television, with the most recent gig being Blacklist on NBC. Granted, he was also on that one forgettable season of The Office as Robert California but we won’t let that get in the way of the excitement. I think he definitely has the gravitas and the acting chops to keep up with Robert Downey Jr. and his superhero squad so it’ll be interesting to see the chemistry between the heroes and villain and their back and forth.Ultron does hate the Avengers with the passion of a thousand burning suns so there should be some great back and forths on screen.

In the other big news, Marvel.com has officially named the voice actor for Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy. That happens to be recent Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper. Yep, that same dude from the Hangover movies and Silver Linings Playbook. He joins the ensemble cast that already boasts Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista to name a few.

bradley cooper rocket raccoon

It’s an interesting choice because Cooper has not done any voice acting before and there has been mixed reactions in the fanboy community as to whether he can pull it off. I like the choice because I do like Bradley Cooper and I think he should be able to pull off playing a military leader behind Star Lord and dish out some damage with his affinity for weapons. Again, it’s all contingent on how the movie looks, as well as his character, but I have faith in Marvel. Phase 2 should make for some interesting fun and their recent casting, for the most part, seems inspired. Recent actor choices have ranges from Ben Kingsley in Iron Man 3, to Captain America: Winter Soldier getting Robert Redford to now Spader and Cooper joining the Marvel cinematic universe. Time will tell but I think it’s safe to say they know what they are doing at this point.

What do you guys think? Make sure you leave comments either down below or on the Facebook page and if you want, offer up some suggestions who you think it should be for these movies if you don’t agree with the choices. For those that don’t know yet, Guardians of the Galaxy will hit theaters August 1st, 2014 while Avengers: Age of Ultron hits on May 1st, 2015.

The Order of X: A Game of Thrones and X-Men Mashup You Need to See

The X-Men have certainly had their share of makeovers in their illustrious career. Whether it is the yellow and black look of the Jim Lee era, the iconic retro look from the X-Men’s first appearance or even the much talked about leather clad look from the movies, they have all managed to have an impact on fans around the world. This is not even including the multiple alternative Earths that the characters have appeared in. With all these costume changes it is refreshing to see that an artist can still put their own spin on these well traveled mutants. Which is where Nate Hallinan comes into the picture (thanks to Newsarama for the information).

His take on mutants comes from a much more fantastical view point and his character designs certainly have a Game of Thrones feel to them. Here is a quote directly from Nate’s web site to show you exactly the direction he is taking.

[box_light]The Order of X is a group of ‘gifted’ individuals in the service of Lord Charles Xavier. The Order provides sanctuary and protection to individuals outcast by society due to their innate abnormalities. These people are often misidentified as monsters, demons, warlocks and witches. Only those who are accepting of the ‘gifted’ are welcome in the realm of Lord Xavier.[/box_light]

Now that has peaked your interest, have a look at the gallery of newly designed X-Men with an abridged run down of their new origins.

Beast – Hendrick McCoy

order of x beast

[box_dark]Henrick’s mind is as fierce as his appearance. Henrick was given the name “Beast” as an ironic term of endearment. He is loved by his peers and is one of most wise and trusted members of Xavier’s council. He is well educated and continues to be a scholar of many disciplines.[/box_dark]

Colossus – Peter Rasputin

order of x collossus

[box_dark]The mountain of metal; Colossus. His father was a blacksmith and eventually apprenticed him in the family trade. Hard labor made Peter strong but he was always larger than the other kids. His size and strength even made certain people nervous. Others even rumored that it was ‘unnatural.’[/box_dark]

Cyclops – Scott Summers

order of x cyclops

[box_dark]Scott and his younger brother were both orphans who grew up fending for themselves on the streets. The day Scott’s ability manifested he accidentally destroyed several buildings and set fire to half the village. In the chaos of everything Scott lost sight of his brother for he couldn’t open his eye without causing more destruction. Xavier, perceiving the trouble, quickly dispatched members from his order to rescue Scott.[/box_dark]

Lady Grey – Phoenix

order of x lady grey

[box_dark]Jean comes from the noble family of Grey. She was a bit of a tomboy growing up. Her parents despised and discouraged her unladylike behavior, but once she developed unnatural abilities, her family feared the worse. Lord Xavier offered her parents an opportunity to provide her with guidance and protection; they reluctantly accepted.[/box_dark]

Night Crawler – Kyrt V’wagnyr

order of x nightcrawler

[box_dark](Kyrt V’wagnyr roughly translates from elven as Nightcrawler.) Kyrt never knew his real parents. He was found by a band of elves as an infant. They were on a twilight march, celebrating the new moon, when they found him crawling next to his basket on a riverbank. They happily adopted him seeing that he was part elf. His enchanting midnight appearance and mysterious abilities makes him highly regarded among elves. Magic runs deep in the race of elves but Kyrt’s abilities are more potent than most.[/box_dark]

Stormbringer – Ororo

order of x storm bringer

[box_dark]As a young adult, Xavier met Ororo as a child on one of his quests. He caught her trying to steal his coin purse with his mind, but when he did, he saw her potential. He offered her a home where she would never have to steal again. Henrick McCoy took her in as one of his apprentices.[/box_dark]

If you liked these superb pieces of art and want to read more on how the characters were created and their full history then check out Nate’s website here, where he will be putting more character designs up in the near future. Here is hoping that he does not leave us waiting to long for them. Just to give you a taste of what is to come here is Nate’s take on Wolverine. He makes one kick ass dwarf!

order of x wolverine

New Fan Art Gives the Dark Knight’s Foes a 1920’s feel

Fan art is fast becoming one of the quickest ways for lovers of all things fandom to express their nerdy tastes. Heck you can’t jump onto the internet without something popping up, whether it be gifs, mash-up t-shirt designs, or just interpretation of old characters in a new light. With the hot news on the net of Affleck’s casting as Batman, it seems appropriate to look at a new re-imagining of the Caped Crusaders foes (thanks to Buzz Feed).

This 1920’s inspired series of mug shots comes from the mind of J.E. Mark (whose website can be found here) and they perfectly sum up the prohibition era. Check out his versions of Mr Freeze, The Joker, Two-Face and company below to see what I mean.

batman fan art 2 face

batman fan art joker

batman fan art mr freeze

batman fan art penguin

batman fan art poison ivy

batman fan art riddler

It is always fun to see a new take on an old characters and Mark has given us some incredibly life-like pieces of art here. The detail is incredible and the harder edge to the characters makes this a world this reviewer would love to visit again. Batman has had adventures in this era many times before in the comic books (mostly through the Elsewhere series of books), but still Mark’s work shows a freshness to it that makes these images a joy to behold. I especially love the Riddler who reminded me of an older version of the Adam West Batman foe The Riddler (played by Frank Gorshin) and the bloodied faces of both The Penguin and The Joker. Here is hoping he gives us some more takes on popular comic creations very soon.

[Editor’s Note – My favorite is actually Ivy, who just seems to fit with that flapper look… – BK]

Christina Hendricks is Swinging on a Pole in DARK PLACES

Fans of the fiery redhead Christina Hendricks will not be disappointed with one of her newest acting choices. This buxom beauty will be playing the role of Krissi Cates in Dark Places. In the novel that this film will be adapted from, Krissi is a stripper who is down on her luck.

Continue reading Christina Hendricks is Swinging on a Pole in DARK PLACES

Fright Night 2 – Trailer Arrives But Does Anyone Care?

So even though the Fright Night remake never managed to blow away audiences at the box office, it obviously made enough to get a sequel made (even if said sequel is a direct to DVD version). Now for most readers straight to DVD will set off quite a few alarms (most of them are dire), but before you judge here is the films synopsis (thanks to Slash Film).

By day Gerri Dandridge (Jaime Murray) is a sexy professor, but by night she transforms into a real-life vampire with an unquenchable thirst for human blood. So when a group of high school students travel abroad to study in Romania, they find themselves ensnared in Gerri’s chilling web of lust and terror. Charley and “Evil” Ed must stop Gerri from drinking and bathing in the blood of a “new moon virgin,” which just so happens to be Charley’s ex-girlfriend, Amy. They enlist help from Peter Vincent, the vampire hunting host of a reality show called “Fright Night,” to drive a stake through Gerri’s plan and save Amy from a fate far worse than death.

fright night 2 sequel photo

Okay so this is obviously following the laws of the sequel (laid out in the Scream movies) as it will have more blood and sex in it as well as even more annoying teenagers. However it will not have most of the old cast in it. Replacing Peter Vincent, Evil Ed and Amy is Sean Power (Cowboys and Angels), Chris Waller (Inbred) and Sacha Parkinson (A Boy Called Dad) respectively. Will Payne (Elfie Hopkins) plays Charlie. So gone are Colin Farrell (fair enough he is dead in the first film), Anton Yelchin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Imogen Poots and my personal favorite Peter Vincent himself – David Tennant. So I admit it is not looking promising, especially with a cast of relatively unknown actors and actresses.

Here is the trailer for the new movie (directed by Eduardo Rodriguez in case you wanted to know who to blame).

Now not to sound too sexist about this, but it appears the only reason to actually watch this sequel is to see the very easy on the eye actress Jaime Murray (Dexter, Spartacus) in various stages of undress. I have also just learnt Jaime is Bill Murray’s daughter. I only mention this because this is the only interesting thing to come out of the researching of this release. Unfortunately it looks very much like a very generic cash in on the moderate success of the original with only one stand out scene (the car hitting Gerri). Now this is a real shame because they did have another route they could have used.

fright night 2 sequel orginal

Fans of the original 1985 movie will no doubt know the surname Dandridge. It was the name of Jerry Dandrige (spelled slightly differently) the lead vampire played amazingly by Chris Sarandon. Now casual viewers may not know that this film actually had a sequel itself in 1988. Starring most of the original cast (well at least Charlie and Peter Vincent) it basically had the same story line but had Charlie getting seduced by a vampire and the crew having to rescue him from the clutches of Regine Dandridge, Jerry’s sister who wants revenge and plans on turning Charlie into a vampire to torture him forever. It was also cheesy fun with a great selection of henchmen Regine used to help her with her goal (the scene in the bowling alley is great fun).

Now it’s unclear if the sequel to the remake is going to do this or not, but it seems that they are at least going to go with the brother sister angle because otherwise why use the surname? Alas it looks like there will be no henchmen involved which is a loss in my eyes. The final problem this reviewer had while watching the trailer is that because it is a whole new set of actors and actresses playing the roles I found it hard to know who is who. I found it even harder to care. At least with other direct to DVD sequels they managed to incorporate at least one star from the previous movies (look at the Lost Boys and American Pie sequels for evidence of this). If anyone is interested in how this film will play out then it is scheduled for release October 1st of this year.

This reviewer will indeed be checking it out just to see if my predictions on its shoddy nature come true. Hopefully they will not.

Movie or Season 5? Arrested Development Dares To Say BOTH

It’s always a good day when Arrested Development updates are abound on the internet and today’s tidbit is a great one. According to Rolling Stone, via Warming Glow, it looks like Arrested Development will get a movie. THEN a season 5 series order. Yep, that’s right, I just blue myself.

Continue reading Movie or Season 5? Arrested Development Dares To Say BOTH