Somehow, despite my failings as a WordPress user, I have been allowed to return to you tonight with a collection of links that went around the Internet today. Above you might notice an image with a bunch of snakes, an alligator, and some lights. Neat, huh? Well that just so happens to be our first look inside the Ark that Darren Aronofsky is building for Russell Crowe’s Noah. Aronofsky’s cinematographer, Matthew Libatique tweeted the image earlier, but appears to have deleted since.

Why Watch? The Avengers parodies were inevitable, but animator Junaid Chundrigar just won with a fantastic exploration of The Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man and other Marvel heroes on their bad days. Instead of a story, Chundrigar relies on quick, slap-stick style comic moments. Venom struggles with an ice cream cone, Spidey meets a helicopter head on, and a city burns when a meatball gets dropped. It’s funny, and the animation has an adorable Saturday Morning Cartoon vibe that makes this short even more agreeable. No surprise that the fine folks at Short of the Week sent it along – they know quality when they see it. I can’t help but think Joss Whedon would love this. What will it cost? Only 2 minutes. Skip Work. You’ve got Time For More Short Films

The huge box office and critical success of the original Iron Man came as a bit of a surprise to everyone. Iron Man, while having a long publishing history, has never been one of those mainstream, iconic super heroes like a Batman or a Spider-Man. Despite that, director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr. absolutely nailed the character so perfectly that everyone fell in love with the film. And now that ol’ shellhead has had a feature film that was such a mainstream success, perhaps the argument could start to be made that he is a character on par with the Batmans and Spider-Mans of the world. So, a lot of people were understandably upset when it was announced that Favreau, a guy who did so much for the character, wouldn’t be returning to the director’s chair of Iron Man 3. The guy they got to replace him, however, has a pretty great pedigree, and it turns out that he’s already helped out on this series before. In a Q&A at the Hero Complex Film Festival, Downey tells a story about how he and Favreau went to the new director, Shane Black, when they had reached a stumbling point on one of the past Iron Man films: “I said, ‘We should talk to Shane.’ And I was like, ‘Shane, we can’t really pay.’ And he was like, ‘Bring me some salmon and some blueberries.’ And we went to Yoda’s house in Miracle Mile and it wound up coming in

How sweet of a movie title is that? Like, that’s up there with Mom and Dad Save the World. And it would be at least 1.25 times as good and feature 27% less Jon Lovitz. But this is not about vaporizing hand grenades or facial hair (well, maybe a little bit on mustaches if I’m feeling it). This is about 3D and its current state in the industry. There is much hate in the heart of critics for 3D. Many decree it to be a fad, and a terrible one at that, a gimmick that will only spiral out of control until the format is killed again. I don’t count myself amongst their ranks though. No, I think 3D is a legitimate tool in the arsenal of the filmmakers of today and tomorrow. Like many things, though, Hollywood seems all too willing to ride this horse into the ground, smiling and waving while 3D stumbles to its death.

The San Diego Comic-Con is a strange thing. Leading up to it there’s anticipation, fear, excitement. Many of these emotions survive the first few days and you might even add a few: joy, rage, disappointment, wonderment. By the time you’re ready to leave, your body is aching and all you want to do is punch Jack Giroux in the face and sleep for 14 hours on the biggest, softest bed you can find. This year was no different. Going into Comic-Con there were certain things I was looking forward to – some of them hit the spot, others fell flat, one or two didn’t even end up being there. While I would classify the trip as a success that isn’t to say that each day didn’t bring a fair share of rage with it. So, I’ll cut to the chase and reveal the 10 Things I Liked about SDCC 2010, and 5 Things that left me cold.

In a three-way, melee attack of awesome that will leave you wondering how we removed your heart from your chest without breaking the skin, FSR is gearing up to head to sunny San Diego in order to stay indoors all weekend. Interviewer extraordinaire Jack Giroux, Robert “Fists of” Fure and I will be sharing the experience with you from Wednesday night through a hungover Sunday morning. Pack your bags, dear reader, because you’ll be coming along for the ride. Just don’t believe Fure when he tells you he’s a commercial airline pilot.

Favreau isn’t locked in as director yet, but he wants the job, and he wants the biggest bad guy of them all.

We’re not saying he should take on nine villains in the next film, but here are a few to choose from who are up to the task.

Marvel wants to deliver third tier heroes to the big screen. We’re wondering if that’s a good thing.

Sometimes I just can’t beat the man known as Peter Sciretta over at Slashfilm. And today is one of those days.

Sarcastic hyperbole aside, the heirs to Jack Kirby have finally realized that there’s some money to be made in this here comic book adaptation business, and they are looking for their piece of the pie.

The folks at Ain’t It Cool News have been posting a series of awesome reader-submitted snapshots over the course of the last few days from the Las Vegas Licensing Expo, and among them are our first look at the new logos for the upcoming Marvel movies.

Could a guy who once played a lord in a Brit television adapt of “Nicholas Nickleby” become a God for Thor?

Terrance Howard. Sam Jackson. Mickey Rourke. Casualties of financial under-appreciation or whiny over-paid ingrates?

Media website Newsarama has asked their readership who they’d like to see play Captain America in the Joe Johnston film set for release in 2011. And while their choice is interesting, we’d like to see who you would pick…

It has become clear that while Marvel is running on high lately, fresh off the success of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, DC seems to be clinging to Batman, holding on for dear life.

Layer Cake and Stardust director Matthew Vaughn does not have very good luck when it comes to superheroes. Somehow we missed it, but apparently he is no longer attached to Thor.

The X-Men 2 scribe dishes about where he thinks an Avengers movie is headed.

You read that right. The rumor-mill is buzzing about a potential cross-over between Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk in 2008.