Back in July of last year it was reported that, following the big acquisition of Marvel Comics by the Disney Corporation, the first collaboration between Disney Animation and Marvel Studios on any sort of superhero cartoon was going to come in the form of an adaptation of Marvel’s semi-obscure team of Japanese heroes, Big Hero 6. At the time it seemed like kind of a strange choice. Wouldn’t you want to kick off a partnership this important with something a little bit bigger, something with a little more name recognition? Well, it looks like the guys in the suits must have had their reasons for wanting to go forward with Big Hero 6, because today Disney Animation officially announced [via the LA Times] that the film is in production—and they even gave us a glimpse of what their animators have come up with. Hit the jump to see what they’ve created, but be prepared, because it’s a little weird.

The head of Marvel Studios and one of the masterminds behind their current, stupendously successful franchise building strategy, Kevin Feige, recently did an interview with Entertainment Weekly, and not only did he address all of the plans they have for Marvel Phase II, the series of films that are going to lead up to their next team-up spectacular, The Avengers 2, but he also dropped the bomb that a group of characters who used to be under various other studios’ controls were now back in the Marvel fold. According to an excerpt from the interview pulled out by Comic Book Movie, Daredevil, The Punisher, Ghost Rider, and Blade are now back under Marvel Studios control—but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the House of Ideas has any immediate plans for them. Feige was quoted as saying, “Whenever a character comes back to us, it’s usually because the other studios don’t want to make the movies anymore—and that usually means the [previous] movies may not have been particularly well received. They all have potential, but we’re not going to say, ‘We got it back—make it!’” With all due respect Mr. Feige, screw that. There’s a perfect way to reintroduce all of these abused characters to the big screen, and it’s staring us right in the face.

For years — literally since before it was cool and you could call the shop at the S. Lamar Alamo Drafthouse and check to see if they had a particular poster in stock — we’ve been covering the work of the folks at Mondo. We’re cinematic art hipsters like that. And over the years we’ve seen them do some really great things, including series-upon-series of actually licensed posters for Star Wars and Star Trek alongside hundreds of other properties. The diversity of the work is a testament to how hard these folks work behind the scenes to secure the rights to even do the art in the first place. Unlike the Wild West of Etsy, if you want to become a popular art boutique selling posters to fanboys, you need to get your legal documents in order. That’s what makes some of the work they do so impressive. Anyone could doodle a poster and print out a few copies, but securing the rights and curating art from some of the world’s finest working artists is something special. One of the key licenses that Mondo has worked with over the past few years is that of Marvel Studios. In conjunction with a number of great Disney properties and of course, those killer Star Wars prints, their recent success has been built pretty steadily in the past half-decade over their ability to secure the biggest names in characters — Captain America, Thor and even this week’s guest of honor, Iron Man. Speaking of the latter, this

Now that Joss Whedon’s superhero team-up movie, The Avengers, made well over a billion dollars worldwide, and Marvel’s next step in their ongoing saga, Iron Man 3, has opened overseas with numbers that put the film on track to make the studio gazillions more, it’s probably safe to say that there’s a lot of public interest concerning which direction things are going heading into The Avengers 2. And, lucky for us, Whedon has been pretty generous when it comes to answering questions. When he talked to Collider on the red carpet of the Iron Man 3 premier, he hinted at the fact that he might be adding Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch to the Avengers roster in his upcoming sequel, and it seems that when Desde Hollywood talked to him at the same event, he even talked a bit about his plans for the Avengers’ arch-villain, Thanos, who made his appearance in the after-credits sequence of the first film.

Every Sunday we bring you a new list of great scenes — we call this little series Scenes We Love. From the remembrance of Sundance’s of yesteryear to the best of Michael Bay’s movies, we’re always trying to share a bit of that movie-loving spirit through the moments that make these characters memorable. This week’s person of choice is Iron Man, a character that first appeared on the pages of Tales of Suspense #39 in 1963. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby, Iron Man is the alter ego of billionaire Tony Stark. In his 50 years of existence, Mr. Stark has battled a lot of villains, wrestled with his own demons and had his share of feminine conquests (as any great playboy billionaire would). But his life on the silver screen has been only heating up as of late, propelled by Marvel Studios‘ choice to let Iron Man lead the way as their first film as an independent studio. They cast Robert Downey Jr., brought in Jon Favreau to direct, got Paramount to throw a good bit of money at it and the rest was history. This week, Tony Stark will make his fifth film appearance since 2008. That is, if we include the post-credits scene in The Incredible Hulk. Of course we do. So even though it’s recent, his run on the big screen has been rather prolific and beyond entertaining. It’s the reason that we’ve chosen to single out the five scenes we love most from

If Joss Whedon were really going to add two of the biggest superheroes in Avengers’ history to the roster of his team in Avengers 2, two characters who we’ve yet to see in any Marvel movies or who have yet to even be hinted at in regards to Marvel’s upcoming plans, there’s no way he would reveal it to us this early in the Avengers 2 developmental process, would he? The gut says no, but when you watch the following interview [via Collider] he did on the red carpet of the Iron Man 3 premiere, the brain tells you otherwise.

If you haven’t had your coffee yet, now’s a good time to take it ocularly. For the most part, this Phase Two featurette from Marvel (via Superhero Hype) is a keen look into the world of Iron Man 3 with an eye to how they’re deepening the well while returning to it in order to make Tony Stark a richer character post-Avengers. The cast and crew, alongside Marvel head Kevin Feige, weigh in on how this trilogy entry is also a piece of a much larger puzzle. Then, they show some of the other pieces. The briefest of footage from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World is joined by test footage from Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man, concept footage from Guardians of the Galaxy and a few comments from the filmmakers. At any rate, let’s stop pretending that you’re reading this and get to the video:

Given the relative obscurity of the characters that regularly get featured in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” title, it’s always been something of a curiosity as to why they’re the next priority when it comes to the movies Marvel Studios is making. Couldn’t they be spending their time and resources introducing characters that have a little bit more mainstream recognition into their film world? The logical answer to this question has been that, seeing as The Avengers are likely to be going up against the intergalactic conqueror Thanos in The Avengers 2, Guardians of the Galaxy will be the vehicle through which Marvel’s extended cosmic universe gets introduced. Just imagine if The Avengers 2 had to do all of the heavy lifting when it comes to who Thanos is, why he’s such a threat, and what exactly he’s been getting up to across the entire universe for all these years. The movie would be completely bogged down with exposition and unable to enjoy all of the brevity in storytelling that being a Part 2 usually affords a film. But introduce a number of alien worlds in this Guardians of the Galaxy movie, have Thanos lurking in the background as an unspeakable threat, and suddenly a lot of the narrative load is taken off of The Avengers 2’s shoulder. Plus, you might create a bankable new film franchise to boot.

Drax the Destroyer is a member of Marvel’s intergalactic team of superheroes The Guardians of the Galaxy, and like the Incredible Hulk before him, he’s basically a big green guy who likes to wreck things. Given the character’s stature, where is Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn going to find an actor big enough to pull the part off? According to Latino Review, he must have looked toward HBO’s Game of Thrones, because they’re reporting that Marvel has just offered the role to actor Jason Momoa (meanwhile, THR says he’s only tested). Momoa was one of the actors who tested for the character alongside names like Isiah Mustafa, Dave Bautista, and Brian Patrick, and apparently the imposing presence and physical charisma that he’s shown in things like his role as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones and his turn as Conan the Barbarian in the recent relaunch of that franchise was enough to get him an offer. It should be noted that Momoa’s people were said to have countered the offer, so the negotiations are still in progress rather than the signing being official, but given the fact that Momoa’s initial attempt at starring in a big franchise film, Conan, underperformed at the box office, one can’t imagine that he’s going to be making any unreasonable demands in the face of being offered another role in a big tentpole flick.

Editor’s Note: Paul DeBenedetto is a writer and comics fan from Brooklyn who used to run the comics blog Wednesday’s Child. He is also a reporter covering the borough of Queens for DNAinfo.com, and his work has appeared online and in print for various local and national media outlets. Given that he knows his stuff when it comes to superheroes and graphic literature, we asked him to whip something up in response to the recent confirmation of Marvel’s Doctor Strange adaptation. Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, is officially coming to the big screen. That’s the news Kevin Feige had for MTV’s Splash Page, who interviewed the Marvel Studios president on Friday about their Phase Three films. This next crop of Avengers franchise titles will touch on “different corners” of the Marvel Universe, Feige said, with Doctor Strange being confirmed for release around the same time as the long-awaited Ant-Man movie from Edgar Wright. “Doctor Strange, which I’ve been talking about for years, is definitely one of them,” Feige told Splash Page. “He’s a great, original character, and he checks the box off this criteria that I have: he’s totally different from anything else we have, just like Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s totally different from anything we’ve done before, as is Ant-Man, which keeps us excited.”

Now that Marvel Studios has been wildly successful at turning some of their most popular comic book properties into hugely profitable feature film series, the publisher turned movie house is taking the next step in their development by trying to prop up one of their more off-the-beaten-path properties as the next big thing. Said property is a ragtag team of intergalactic superheroes known as the Guardians of the Galaxy. The team, which includes characters like Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and Gamora, is going to be brought to the big screen by director James Gunn (Super) in a big budget feature that’s scheduled for an August 1, 2014 release.

What is Casting Couch? It’s the movie news column that’s easing into Christmas with a cup of coffee and some casting reports. Let’s take this one step at a time. Marvel Studios is on such a roll now that any movie they make that ties directly into their upcoming Avengers 2 is going to be a big deal—even if it’s based off of a comic book that nobody’s ever heard of like Guardians of the Galaxy. So, the competition among young actors to get cast as the Guardians’ leader, Star-Lord, is pretty fierce. According to Variety, that competition has been narrowed down to two guys. The trade reports that Jim Sturgess is the sole survivor of the original crop of five actors the studio screen tested for the role, and Zachary Levi impressed so much playing the smaller role of Fandral in Thor 2, that Marvel is looking to give him a larger role in their universe by maybe making him the half-human, half-alien leader of this ragtag crew. Who would you find more believable commanding a gun-toting space-raccoon?

Transformative technology. Fips. The Marvel Model disrupting superhero movies (and how it can survive alongside perpetual reboots). The literal death of film. Megan Ellison saving movies. The sleeper hits of 2012 and a great movie year for every kind of fan. Emerging independent funding. Fans saving shows with their own money. The digital horizon. Here at the end of the year (and the end of this podcast) I’ve asked FSR associate editor Rob Hunter, Cinema Blend editor-in-chief Katey Rich, Movies.com managing editor Erik Davis and screenwriter Geoff Latulippe (Going the Distance) to talk about the things that will never be the same again in the movie world after 2012. They’ve come through with some incredibly interesting answers. Plus, your view on what’s changing and a look ahead to the future. Download Episode #156

The first two films to be released in Marvel Studios’ post-Avengers, second wave of interconnected films are Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 and Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World. Through various rumor mills and casting reports we’ve already gleamed a lot about what these two sequels are going to be about, but today Marvel finally released official synopses of the two films, and have effectively removed any lingering doubts. First up is Black’s film, which the studio describes by saying, “Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?” While all that stuff about Iron Man having to go on a quest that tests his mettle is pretty vague, that last line of the synopsis about the man making the suit or the suit making the man clearly supports the rumors that have surfaced (due to various casting reports) that Iron Man 3 would largely be taking its inspiration from Warren Ellis’

If you’ve been wearing a black armband in tribute to Agent Phil Coulson since The Avengers opened last May, it’s time to rip the thing off, because you’ve been mourning a decoy. Well, we can ramp up the theory that we saw a Life Model Decoy stabbed to death by Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in the movie, but we’ll have to wait for the S.H.I.E.L.D. television series to know just how the character survived. Apologies to anyone who hasn’t already seen The Avengers (what’s wrong with you?) and has now been spoiled that Coulson is killed off, but now he’s alive again so I guess it doesn’t matter. At the New York Comic Con Marvel television panel today, actor Clark Gregg hit the stage and then was joined via video by Avengers writer/director Joss Whedon and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige for the announcement that Gregg will reprise his franchise-connecting role as the lead on the show.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, in addition to having a name that’s fun to say, is also a seasoned actor with credits on beloved shows like Lost and HBO’s Oz. And, heck, he’s a big screen actor with credits in a few genre works like The Mummy Returns and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra too. So he’s probably the perfect choice to play one of the villains in Marvel’s upcoming Thor sequel, Thor: The Dark World. According to Variety, the English actor has signed on to the sequel to play the role of the vengeful and powerful Kurse. A look at Marvel’s in-house Wiki of all their characters explains that Kurse started off as a Dark Elf called Algrim the Strong, who served a master called Malekith the Accursed. After Thor came knocking on Malekith’s door to rescue an Asgardian woman that he had kidnapped, Malekith set Algrim on Thor and had the two do battle. Before a victor could be declared, however, the treacherous Malekith opened a chasm under the two warriors, sending them plummeting to their deaths toward a lake of molten lava.

Today is a sad day for fans of manly movies about manly things, as it turns out two very different but very promising-sounding gritty crime movies have been put on the shelf. First up is Fox’s reboot of Marvel’s Daredevil character. Remember how Fox only has until October 10 to get a new Daredevil movie shooting before they lose the rights back to Marvel? The story is that they have a script that they like, which adapts Frank Miller’s fairly dark “Born Again” storyline from the comics, and they want Joe Carnahan to direct it, but they’re not really sure if they can get things developed before time runs out. Rumor had it that Marvel was willing to do some dealing to give Fox the time extension they would need to make the movie possible, but a new development is making it look like Fox refused to play ball and are likely to let the rights to the character lapse. The bad news comes from Joe Carnahan himself, who recently took to his Twitter account (as spied by ComingSoon) to tell his fans, “Think my idea for a certain retro, red-suited, Serpico-styled superhero went up in smoke today kids.” He then followed with, “We shall see. Time is NOT on anyone’s side.” The deal on the table was that Marvel wanted the rights back for a couple of its Fantastic Four characters in order to give Fox the extension that they need. Looks like the studio decided that maintaining their

Ever since Marvel Comics created its own movie studio and started making its own movies, much ado has been made about the other studios holding rights to some of their characters. How long does Sony have the rights to Spider-Man? Will Marvel ever get to make an X-Men movie, seeing as they’re already tied up elsewhere? While those properties seem to be staying in their current homes, at least for the foreseeable future, there’s one character out there who actually is close to making a jump back home to the House of Ideas: Daredevil. Recently, Fox was trying to get together a reboot of the character’s adventures on film under the watch of director David Slade, but a few weeks ago he dropped out of the project. That’s bad news for Fox, because if they don’t manage to find a new director and get a Daredevil movie in front of cameras before October 10, then film rights for the character will revert back to Marvel, and all of their efforts to reboot the property with a more gritty, Frank Miller-inspired take on the material will be in vain. In the same report that announced Slade’s departure from the new Daredevil film also came the news that Fox had lined up a director for another of its Marvel-born properties, The Fantastic Four. Chronicle helmer Josh Trank is now in control of rebooting that franchise. But a report that came out of Variety today could have consequences for both his upcoming Fantastic

Those with comic book reading experience can tell you that Marvel’s recent announcement that Captain America 2 will be released under the title Captain America: The Winter Soldier points to the fact that the bulk of the film will be concerning a Russian secret agent who has ties to Cap’s World War II past. And yet, a new report coming out of THR seems to prove that secret Cold War projects aren’t the only ground this sequel is going to be covering. According to the trade,  the prolific and under-appreciated Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Gangster Squad) is currently in negotiations to join directors Joe and Anthony Russo’s film as the character of Sam “Snap” Wilson, A.K.A. The Falcon. This is noteworthy news because – holy crap – the Falcon is going to be in a movie! For those that need a little background, the Falcon – who debuted in Marvel Comics in 1969 as their first African-American superhero – is best known as being an associate of Captain America, but he’s also an accomplished hero and a card-carrying Avenger in his own right. Growing up in a tough part of Harlem, Sam Wilson watched both of his parents’ lives get claimed by street crime as he was growing up. He tried to fight back against said violence by being a community volunteer early in his life, but eventually his anger over his upbringing allowed the all consuming criminal culture to corrupt his soul, and he briefly took a job

Theme-matched perfectly to the week of Comic-Con, Marvel has unveiled more details about their upcoming mega-release of The Avengers and the films that preceded it on Blu-ray. It’s all part of The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One, a set destined to become one of the most heavily sought after releases of the year. This week not only brings a new look at the set, seen above, but a look at the breathtaking individual movie sleeves with art by Matthew Fergusen. Check those out after the jump and please, clean up your mess when you’re done.