It’s amazing Mark Millar has been appointed the coveted position of handling Fox’s Marvel adaptations and has yet brag about it or give us exaggerated news stories to scoff at. Millar actually seems to be taking this gig rather seriously. Based on his still slightly cryptic plans, we can see why. Considering Millar just signed on for the job, there isn’t a whole lot of news in what he had to say about the future for Fox’s Marvel properties. If there’s anything newsworthy in what Millar had to say about the future it’s regarding the obvious spinoffs from the X-Men franchise, “Fox are thinking, ‘We’re sitting on some really awesome things here. There is another side of the Marvel Universe. Let’s try and get some cohesiveness going.’ So they brought me in to oversee that really, so to meet with the writers and directors to suggest new ways we could take this stuff and maybe new properties that could spin out of it, because the X-Men alone feels like a universe of itself; there’re so many characters, there’re so many great potential spin-off characters.” The X-Men world is currently the only universe Fox has set up, but could Daredevil work in an X-Men world? The rumor was Fox wanted an unsurprisingly “gritty” take on the man without fear, and after the tone Matthew Vaughn established with X-Men: First Class, would the two styles mesh together well?

Fox hasn’t always been the most successful studio, as far as adapting Marvel comic books is concerned. Though their 2000 film version of X-Men is largely responsible for launching the current comic book movie boom, their more recent mutant movies haven’t been all that hot, and their takes on the Marvel-created Daredevil and Fantastic Four franchises haven’t been able to produce anything remotely up to snuff. Their treatment of their superhero movies has gone so far off the rails that they’re even set to lose the rights to the Daredevil property, as their attempts to get a new film together haven’t kept pace with the end of their contract. That doesn’t mean that Fox’s days of making Marvel movies are over, though. They’ve still got two more X-Men movies in the works in James Mangold’s The Wolverine and Matthew Vaughn’s  X-Men: Days of Future Past, and they’ve made a new commitment to taking another crack at the Fantastic Four franchise by bringing Chronicle director Josh Trank on for a reboot. That’s some powerhouse talent paired with some potentially lucrative material. And today Fox announced their next step toward getting their Marvel properties back under control: they’ve hired veteran comic book creator Mark Millar to come on as a creative consultant for all of the House of Ideas characters that are still under their control.

Earlier this summer, we learned that a Kick-Ass sequel called Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall was likely to go into development and was likely to be written and directed by a guy named Jeff Wadlow. Well, turns out that not only is all of that coming to fruition, but a bunch of casting has already been taken care of, so now the film is looking (surprisingly enough) super official. First off, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Moretz, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse were all rumored to be negotiating to come back and resume their roles from the first film, and that has indeed happened – but they’re not the only names that have officially come on board. The storyline in Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s “Kick-Ass 2” comic revolves around Kick-Ass joining a newly formed crew of crime fighters called Justice Forever, which means that this new movie sequel is going to need to cast a lot of new actors in a lot of new superhero roles.

A Wanted 2 has been kicking around ever since the first film’s 2008 release. Even after becoming a surprising R-rated success and Mark Millar talking up the project every chance he gets, the likelihood of Wanted 2 seemed dimmer year after year. When Angelina Jolie passed on the sequel, it was publicized as the death knell of the project. Now, with director Timur Bekmambetov making the press rounds for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, he’s remarked the project is now picking up steam, thanks to a “great” and “shocking” idea he came up with. The Playlist got an update from Bekmambetov, who explained the bright future for the project, “An unbelievable thing happened three weeks ago. Because we stopped, we didn’t know what to do for three or four years. Three weeks ago I came up with a great idea and I pitched this idea and everybody fell in love with it. And now I think we’re on track. Right now the writer is working on the script, and it will be shocking.” As we all know, not too many characters made it out of Wanted still breathing, except, of course, Wesley Gibson. Bekmambetov confirmed it would pick up where the first film left off, “It’s a continuation of the story, with Wesley Gibson… Other people are dead, you know, we can’t bring them back. The story is the same character, same mythology, but it’s got a great twist.”

There’s no director set. No cast. And Lionsgate wasn’t just thrilled about getting another Kick Ass out into the streets. Apparently none of that matters because comic creator Mark Millar is boasting a summer shooting schedule for a movie that has appeared dead since early last year. Of course, this comes after the last time Millar claimed Kick Ass 2: Balls to the Wall would be moving forward, and the time before that. In his latest interview with the Daily Record, Millar upped the ante by stating that the sequel to the Matthew Vaughn-directed ode to violence would start shooting this summer in addition to a film version of his comic “American Jesus.” A movie he first announced three years ago. He also claimed that he was responsible for Marvel’s success and the hype surrounding The Avengers, that he turns down tons of huge projects, and that he refuses to move to LA because he has major Hollywood players coming to him anyway. Seriously. The interview feature is a must-read simply for how bodacious it is. His newest sci-fi book will be the biggest franchise since Star Wars? This guy has brass bollocks. It’s a shame not even half the stuff he says publicly comes to pass.  

The first reaction of anyone coming out of The Grey probably won’t be, “I bet the director of The A-Team, Smokin’ Aces, and that BMW short Ticker made this!” Joe Carnahan prefers it to be that way. The director’s fifth feature film isn’t a full-blown action romp, but is instead a thrilling meditation on life, death, and survival. (Check out our review here.) Similar to Carnahan’s breakout feature, Narc, The Grey shows all the trappings of a true personal project — the kind of story that a filmmaker had to tell. And, after speaking with Carnahan for 25 minutes, that was clearly the case. From White Jazz to Killing Pablo, when the personable man finds a story that comes from his core, he’s got to get it made. Here’s what Joe Carnahan had to say about the life and death themes of The Grey, writing and portraying real men, and why he never wants to become a “one for them, one for me” filmmaker:

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s all about movies, and television, and comics, and literature, and photos of hot women. Such as Miss Piggy, yo. We begin tonight with perhaps the most interesting twist of the fall movie season. In recent interviews, the likes of Frank Oz and other original puppeteers and writers from the Jim Henson school are speaking out about how The Muppets might not respect the characters they helped create. “I wasn’t happy with the script,” Oz told Metro. “I don’t think they respected the characters. But I don’t want to go on about it like a sourpuss and hurt the movie.”

There’s something incredibly lacking in the announcement by Mark Millar that there will be a sequel to Kick-Ass. For one, it comes slightly unexpectedly considering the less-than-explosive showing at the box office and the unnecessary nature of continuing the story. For two, the comic book writer whose work is being adapted announcing that they want more of his work to adapt (and doing it on British radio show) seems more like wishful thinking than a genuine announcement.

Mark Millar is at it again. Talking, that is. Don’t get me wrong, as much as we love the guy for all of the subversively brilliant work he does with his comic writing, he does talk a lot about projects that may or may not ever happen.

It’s not nearly as bad as everyone’s making it out to be, but it wasn’t nearly as huge as most fans seemed to expect.

With Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn wanted to go against the grain and against the studios, and it looks like he may have done just that.

Kevin and Neil invite you to experience a milestone in Fat Guy history… both Fat Guys have seen the new films this weekend, and they pretty much agree. Get your fire-and-bimstone umbrellas ready!

There’s something significant about my notes situation as the credits rolled Matthew Vaughn’s high-energy comic adaptation. There was only one note to be written, and it came only at the end. My Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles notepad was blank, except for three words: “That was fun.”

Earlier today, a reader pointed me in the direction of a YouTube page where an intrepid movie lover could find an awesome new international TV spot for the upcoming film Kick-Ass, which highlights some of the film’s more vulgar and violent moments.

In a few weeks Kick-Ass is going to try to achieve what films like Mystery Men and Blankman could not. “Not suck,” you might say and you’d be right on that. But the latest superhero dark comedy, inspired by Mark Millar’s smashing graphic novels, will try to also break past the barrier of comic fan approval alone and burst into the hearts and wallets of the general public.

I am a comic book geek. I won’t fight it. Call me a nerd, and what have you. Those of you who know and love comic books though, probably realize how big of a deal that Mark Millar is. What you may not know though, is that he is one of the nicest and most passionate people I have ever met.

Remember that movie that everyone seems to love but hasn’t even been released yet? It’s getting a kick ass sequel.

Titan Books is releasing a very special companion book called Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie. It features never-before-seen art, script excerpts and commentary from Mark Millar. I had a chance to leaf through one this week, and it’s awesome. An anthology of badassery, if I may. And lucky for you, we’ve got a few to give away.

Most of us were taught growing up that it wasn’t nice to swear. And that it isn’t nice to kill people with a badass sword. Apparently comic super-genius Mark Millar didn’t get that lesson growing up. All of his properties, especially the two that have now been turned into films — Wanted and now Kick-Ass — include a lot of violence and a lot of words we wouldn’t say in front of our grandmother. And in this writer’s opinion, they’re better for it.

When we first got our hands on the red band trailer for Kick-Ass in late December, we had no idea what we were in for. Now, we’re completely enamored with what is to come.