According to Deadline Hollywood, the formidable Christopher Eccleston has signed on to play the main villain in Thor: The Dark World. He’s an excellent addition, bringing a severe acting talent and genre experience to the Marvel universe as Malekith The Accursed. The character is a major villain in the Asgardian realm who is not above deception (which might echo Loki). In fact, it’ll be interesting to see where Loki is during this sequel considering his involvement in the larger film universe. Or at least how he will fit in with a new villain taking the larger spotlight. In the comics, Loki and Malekith have worked together on more than one occasion. Hopefully they won’t change the design at all. Eccleston with purple and black half-face and giant gray hair? Genius. It’ll make up for him having to say that horrendous, “It never rains but it pours,” pun line in Gone in 60 Seconds.  

There is exactly one piece of information about Edgar Wright‘s upcoming Ant-Man movie that actually matters. That piece of information is not its release date or where it will film or when it will film or how long that shoot will take or how much Marvel plans to budget for catering. That piece of information is who is going to star in the film. Agreed? Admittedly, there is a certain level of excitement that we can ascribe to most Ant-Man news because, guys, Edgar Wright is actually making his Ant-Man movie and we’re going to get see it. Like, in theaters and stuff. Yet, beyond that, what do we really care about when it comes to the film? Perhaps we can try to care about its possible filming details because that will determine when we get to see it? Perhaps? Maybe? If so, Latino Review has a lead on both when and where the film will supposedly lens, which might also give us a hint as to when the final film will hit movie theaters.

The trailer for Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel recently made it online after rolling in front of the related DC property The Dark Knight Rises. Reactions have been mostly positive to the somber looking film, with words like “restrained” being laid upon it. Many have chosen to highlight the apparent effect that Batman producer/director Christopher Nolan has had on the Superman story. The trailer for Supes does seem to harken to a more Batman Begins esque story rather than say, Superman Returns or Green Lantern. Hey, the Batman movies were good for the most part right? Having Christopher Nolan involved is a great idea, right? Well, not if you want your universe to do anything other than implode.

When I arrived to check out the RAW Studios Panel, the brainchild of actor/writer/director Tom Jane and master illustrator Tim Bradstreet, I was a bit early and took a seat for the 10th Anniversary of something called Courtney Crumrin, which from what I could tell, was an innocent enough book as they talked about there being no real cursing, no sex, and a children friendly Victorian something or other. As they went on and as the RAW panel came closer and closer, the room got decidedly more rock and roll as guys dressed as The Punisher came in with girls in tight mini-dresses and the number of beards in the room roughly quintupled. Once our rough and tumble crowd of around 250 people took over the room, it was time for the RAW panel to begin – though some technical difficulties shifted the schedule around and we started with an announcement that the 1980′s anthology series Alien Worlds was being relaunched by the team, with master fantasy artist William Stout on board to rock out one of the first stories: Before & Afta, which will feature dinosaurs!

This Friday I took a little meander around the Hall early in the morning and snapped some pictures, which turned out to be a secretly and accidentally smart thing to do since I ended up stuck in line for the majority of the day before seeing about three hours of panels. It was the Hall H line from Hell, but that didn’t stop us from getting a ton of cool pictures for you to check out. Come on in to the gallery and see some cool stuff from GI Joe, Iron Man, Prometheus, Gremlins, and a very sexy pin-up of our very own Rorschach!

It’s a good news, bad news day over at Fox when it comes to their ripe-for-reboots (at least in their minds) Marvel properties. Over at Deadline Hammer Falls, (via Cinema Blend), the outlet reports that Josh Trank is now officially set to helm their Fantastic Four reboot, just as David Slade exits their latest take on Daredevil. While Chronicle director (and comic book adaptation director It Guy) Trank is apparently still signed on for two other comic adaptations- “Shadow of the Colossus” and “Red Star” – and he’s been rumored as a top pick to helm a “Venom” film, the outlet reports that the studio expects that he will direct Fantastic Four next. The film will feature an all-new cast, and Fox is planning on scheduling its production after their new The Wolverine and the X-Men: First Class sequel, which means we’re due for massive casting speculation as of sometime last Tuesday.

Here be Spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man. Consider yourself warned. With The Amazing Spider-Man performing considerably well — and better than a supposedly worried Sony had expected — we’re bound to hear news of a sequel in the coming weeks. We already know the plans for a trilogy, but where that trilogy will actually go remains something of a mystery. The dull Peter Parker’s parent subplot/question will likely be answered, sure, but why not move away from this topic? Better yet, why not take a crack at all these suggestions below that I just know every exec at Sony is feverishly scribbling down? They may need to. Although Marc Webb‘s reboot of Spider-Man is pretty good, the impending release of something like The Dark Knight Rises means “pretty good” doesn’t exactly cut it. Sam Raimi handled the character properly, and showed how to make a great movie or two with him in the meantime. Even with all these origin amnesia criticisms that have been made, The Amazing Spider-Man didn’t exactly take notice of what worked in Raimi’s first two Spider-Man installments, and it should have; there’s plenty to improve on. Some of these things include:

There used to be a time when only die-hard comic book fans knew what Stan Lee looked like. His likeness appeared in many of the Marvel comic books for the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but to the average person, he was nothing more than a guy with some shaded glasses. Then Hollywood started putting the guy in some movies. He’s never had a very big part, but to honor the man for helping to create some of the most legendary superheroes (and some of the biggest moneymakers for the movie business), Lee has been given customary cameos in almost every major movie that has been made from characters he helped create. Those who have seen The Amazing Spider-Man (which should be most of you faithful readers, by now) were treated to one of his best and funniest cameos yet. And with more Marvel movies coming down the pike, he’s sure to show up many times again. This gave us a chance to look back on his many appearances over the years and assemble a list of his ten best cameos. Excelsior!

From the looks of it Django Unchained, Pacific Rim and Anything Marvel Does Forever are topping the list of the most anticipated movies hitting Comic-Con 2012. The question is, with 400 million (number estimated) other movie panels showing up in San Diego, how will you possibly see everything? And how can you see anything if you aren’t going to be there? Since the list of events is massive, we’ve teamed up with 14 other movie websites to make sure that every inch of the convention center is locked down. Consider this your portal, bookmark it, and return often to check out the full spectrum of coverage from ours and other fine sites. To get started, here’s a small look at what all of us are most excited to see.

Well, we do know that it’s not Black Panther (and remember those heady weeks – er, days – when we thought that might be true?), and apparently we’re now on the Guardians of the Galaxy beat (thanks to a report from Latino Review last week), but without any full confirmation on what the upcoming “secret” Marvel movie is, we’re left to play with hard and fast facts. Like release dates. Box Office Mojo reports, in what is surely a bit of pre-holiday clean-up, that the still-secret Marvel movie has now moved from May 16, 2014 to August 1, 2014. And, just like that, we’ve got nearly three more months to talk about this thing. Over at /Film, friend o’ the Rejects and superhero fans everywhere, Germain Lussier prognosticates that this move is, in fact, a confirmation that Guardians is this next Marvel film. His take holds that a late summer date is a far better choice for an unproven franchise that will be a “harder sell” in the earlier summer months. Giving it an August date gives it room to breathe – and succeed. With Comic-Con on the horizon, we’re surely in for some kind of big announcement on the project, so sit tight, Marvel fans.

The title alone is tantalizing enough – Item 47. Just what is Item 47? And just how would the latest Marvel short (dubbed “One-Shots”) tie into the increasingly large and complex cinematic world that Marvel has crafted? We’ve known for weeks that the next One-Shot would appear as a bonus on the upcoming The Avengers home-video release (and, well, duh, of course there’s a new One-Shot, as is becoming par for the course after both Thor and Captain America got one), but the events of that film looked to have (spoiler alert?) taken the star of the previous One-Shots out of commission. Now, thanks to EW (who also debuted that first still up above), we’ve got a bevy of new information about Item 47, including plot, stars, and just what that title means. Even better? The skew of Item 47 signals Marvel’s interest in exploring the “real world” that’s currently home to all manner of superheros, and that’s the sort of interest that can expand the universe exponentially. The outlet reports that Item 47 stars Lizzy Caplan (awesome) and Jesse Bradford (also awesome) as “a down-on-their-luck couple who find one of the discarded alien guns from the finale to The Avengers — and proceed to make some incredibly bad decisions.” Really, what would you do if your city was attacked and a giant Chitauri gun fell into your hands?

Back when Sony Pictures announced it was going to reboot the Spider-Man franchise, it felt as if Dr. Octopus had simultaneously slapped my face, sucker punched me and whacked me on the nuts. After waiting three years for signs that Sam Raimi would recapture the magic of Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 (and make amends for the listless mess that was Spider-Man 3), the disheartening news came. The powers that be had decided to serve up the same old familiar origin story (misfit Peter Parker gets bitten, goes through Spidey-puberty and lets his uncle die because he hasn’t got his proverbial caca together), instead of taking the saga into more interesting territory. This was not just an “aw, shucks” let-down like the one I felt when I heard Edward Norton wouldn’t be reprising the role of Bruce Banner in The Avengers. I actually sunk into an existential lament for the future of the superhero genre. I imagined a future where other franchises would follow suit, offering formulaic retreads of the exact same plot points ad infinitum. But three things happened: Time passed, my doctor upped my meds and I suddenly found myself able to put things in a brighter perspective.

The release of The Amazing Spider-Man this week has left some people scratching their heads. How can a movie that is billed as “The Untold Story” be so achingly repetitive? With the first hour of the film an alternate take on the first hour of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man from 2002, people have questioned the need to rehash essentially the same origin story of such a widely-known superhero. As reported in Latino Review, director Marc Webb insists the reboot was necessary. (Spoiler: it wasn’t.) He continues to say it was to introduce the world to a new Spider-Man and, more importantly, a new Peter Parker. (Spoiler: It really doesn’t.) Whether Webb was pressured by the studio for the redux origin or if he just wanted to not have to follow any of the Raimi canon, it seems silly to tread such familiar ground so soon. In 2002, Spider-Man continued the trend that X-Men started two years before, making superhero films profitable and possible in the big studio system. Since then, we’ve seen quite a few origin stories – from full-blown reboots of known characters as in Batman Begins to introduction of heroes who aren’t known much outside of comic book fans as in Iron Man. However, with The Man of Steel coming up next year and an obvious Batman reboot once The Dark Knight Rises finishes its run, who knows what Hollywood is going to do next?

It was a kinder, simpler time back in January of 2010. Daybreakers and Youth in Revolt were both in theaters, New York City was asking people to eat less salt, and we were all about to find out the one-two punch that Sam Raimi was done with Spider-Man but Sony was not. It was the sort of news that reeked of corporate thinking – extending a franchise cash cow without the creative forces behind it; rebooting an unimaginably familiar character just five years after his last outing; and deciding to do all that on a dime. Optimism pointed to characters like James Bond getting new actors, but this was that rare time where a character introduced to us was being re-introduced to us, and the announcement was, admittedly, a bit surreal. It won’t be revolutionary, but there are two ways, two chances for that reboot to change the ways that movies are made. Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man will have a lot of eyes on it these week, and a few of them will be watching it as an experiment instead of entertainment.

Marvel has enjoyed a pronounced measure of success with their films of late. Captain America, X-Men: First Class, and especially The Avengers have proven worthy of all manner of flashy adjectives. And now we arrive at Marvel/Sony’s reboot of the character for which flashy adjectives are often indivisible from his name. The unfortunate irony is that any number of films on Marvel’s slate from the last year are more deserving of the descriptor “amazing” than Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man. That’s not to say the film is a total disaster, but in the company’s current climate of quality, passable is not acceptable.

More than a few people will consider this a spoiler, so consider that your spoiler warning, but really it’s just a bit of speculation that might be a really cool element to a part of a movie that’s not even part of the movie. Confused yet? Excellent. According to the rumor mill over at indie haven The Playlist, art house film Iron Man 3 might be introducing a highly-anticipated hero in its post-credits tag. Of course that isn’t really a spoiler because, well, of course Marvel is going to tease the next movie in the line-up at the end of their current movie. The question is, what hero will it be?

Joss Whedon’s The Avengers capped off the supposed first phase of Marvel’s cinematic superhero domination in spectacular fashion. It currently sits as the third highest-grossing film of all time (not accounting for inflation), but more importantly, it’s a damn entertaining film. Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige recently laid out parts of phase two, which included sequels to Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, but he also left two titles unannounced. Confirmation on those mystery titles will most likely come during this summer’s Comic-Con, but that hasn’t stopped the speculation. The Avengers 2 seems obvious. Ant-Man is high on fans’ wish lists. The Vision is absent on most polls. But now it looks like we know the identity of at least one of them, thanks to Latino Review. They broke this scoop earlier today which, judging by their past history, pretty much makes it official. One of the previously unannounced Marvel films is going to be…

Three is the magic number for The Avengers this week. Not only is it third on the weekend Box Office (behind Snow White and the Huntsman and Men in Black 3), it’s also the third highest grossing movie in the world, and the third highest grossing on the all-time domestic charts. With a continued strong showing, it surpassed The Dark Knight ($533m) to take the spot with $552m. It’s worldwide gross is over $1.3b. In order to take the #2 domestic spot, the Joss Whedon flick would have to take down another $106m to best Titanic – a task that seems equally possible and unlikely. So, it turns out people like this thing. However, Batman will have a chance to answer later this summer with The Dark Knight Rises. Will it be even bigger? [Box Office Mojo]

The fine folks at Marvel would like to prove that production on Iron Man 3 has begun as a reminder in these dark knighted times. As if their dominance of the early summer isn’t enough, the production house is getting the official advertising/awareness campaign going 11 months before Shane Black‘s film hits theaters with Robert Downey, Jr. back in the Stark suit. As the above picture (click it to enlargify) shows, he’s got a lot of them now. He’s also got an odd man with a clapboard following him around. Watch out, Tony! He’s got a fanny pack of some sort! Jokes aside, has a threequel ever been this anticipated based not on the second installment, but on another film entirely?

Blood-crying Bond villain and skull crusher Mads Mikkelsen is in talks to play a villain in Thor 2 according to Variety. Great news or greatest news? The impeccable actor is fresh off of a strong showing at Cannes with The Hunt, which is another addition to a growing list of powerful roles he’s taken on. Now what kind of silly costume will he get? Citing rumors that The Enchantress will be in the film, Devin Faraci is opining that Mikkelsen may play the brutish Executioner. If all that comes to pass, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster isn’t safe at all. However, I still hold out hope that he’ll play his character from Valhalla Rising, making this a sweet cross-over project.