As you can see, our short vacation has ended and we are fully back into the swing of things.  Big thanks to Lucian for continuing his Wrestling Recaps while I have been gone.  I have not been able to check out Scott Pilgrim vs. the World yet, but I’ve wanted to see it for a while and Lucian’s review only makes me want to see it more. Anyhow, I’m happy to be back with a new Pit and this week’s edition will have a slight superhero slant (sorry, but sooooo much has been going on while I’ve been out).

• Okay, first up is the confirmation that X-Men: First Class will feature the Hellfire Club. That’s right, it is confirmed that Kevin Bacon will be the villainous Sebastian Shaw with Mad Men‘s January Jones will be Emma Frost, aka the White Queen. How does this fit into the past films with Emma being featured by Tahyna Tozzi in X-Men Origins: Wolverine? The film will start in the 1960s with James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender’s Magneto working together for the future of mutant kind.  I hate that they’ve cast a younger Mystique… she’s a shape shifter, she can look as young as she wants forever. They should have kept Rebecca Romijn if we ever see an of age Mystique. At least it would feel a little connected to the other films. We shall see…

• Okay, lets move off one X-Men prequel and onto another one: X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 (god, I hope that isn’t going to be the official title).  It has been rumored for a while that the film would take Wolverine to Japan where he’d train to be a samurai warrior and fight the likes of Silver Samurai.  Yeah, so the Wolverine we met in the first X-Men film was no samurai, I guess that means he’ll be getting shot with another memory wiping bullet? Ugh.  Prequels are stupid, just make a good damn sequel.

• Yesterday I checked out DC Comic’s animated Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and I gotta say, I dug it. DC has really been on a roll with its animated features, Superman Doomsday and Justice League:  The New Frontier were both very well done. I wasn’t before, but now I’m really interested in the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight’s next animated team up in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. The film once again features Tim Daly as Superman and Kevin Conroy as Batman, and they are joined by genre fan favorite Summer Glau as Supergirl.

• Okay, so this isn’t movie related, but it is both comic adaptation related and Batman related. It has been a long time, but Batman and Scooby-Doo will meet again!  An upcoming episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold will feature the cartoon dog and Batman teaming up to solve a case. While I don’t regularly watch the series, I will be checking out this episode.

• According to Mark Millar, Kick-Ass 2 has been officially greenlighted and we be based on his upcoming graphic novel follow up to the first series. Matthew Vaughn did an awesome job adapting Kick-Ass for the big screen. He knew just what to cut and what to keep to make the film as good as it can be. I hope Millar learns from what Vaughn did with the film to craft the sequel series.

• AICN has been reporting that Fox has narrowed the possible directors list for its Fantastic Four reboot to James McTeigue, Joe Carnahan, and David Yates. None of them get me excited about the film.  McTeigue could make it visually impressive, Carnahan would be just as bad as Tim Story, and Yates is a passable director, but is he suited for the first family of superheroes? There is also a rumor that the studio wants a CGI Thing voiced by Bruce Willis. Um… okay.

• Disney and Marvel Comics are moving forward with an Iron Fist movie! The karate expert with literal fists of fury could make a decent film. In the past, Ray Parks was rumored to be in the running for the role and I still think he’d make a great fit. I’m assuming that Disney will want to make the film be a kid friendly action flick. Hopefully we’ll see Luke Cage in it.

• No MJ in the Spider-Man reboot? That’s the rumor from THR. If it is true, I can understand the need to want to distance the movie from the Raimi trilogy, but this is just plain stupid. Have MJ, have Gwen, and just concentrate on making the best Spider-Man movie possible. If this is true, it’d bring my interest for this re-do to zero.

Excited about all of the upcoming comic book flicks? Sound off in our comments!

I have loved everything I have seen about Matthew Vaughn’s film adaptation of  Kick-Ass.  These four new connecting posters that feature Red Mist, Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl, and Big Daddy are awesome. Click it for a larger image.

Matthew Vaughn directed Stardust from Niel Gaiman’s book and came very close to directing X-Men 3: The Last Stand, before he left due to the studio pressure to get the film out as quick as possible regardless of quality. I love his style and I really can’t wait for Kick-Ass. You can check out videos from the new film over at the IMDB.

Since “Watched” hit theaters early this past summer and made some nice coin, studios and producers have been fighting to get other Mark Millar created comic properties. His series “Kick-Ass” is currently in production for Marv Films and Plan B. Entertainment, with Matthew Vaughn directing and Nicolas Cage and Christopher Mintz-Plasse starring.  Rumors have been swirling that Millar is developing a “Wanted” sequel and that he might be in the running to write a new Superman film trilogy.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Sony and Michael De Luca (producer of “21”) will be bringing Mark Millar’s “War Heroes” to theaters. The series “centers on a U.S. military experimental program developed in light of dwindling enlistments and the expanding war on terrorism that gives ordinary soldiers superpowers. When a rogue group of the supersoldiers breaks off to form a criminal enterprise, one hero rises from their ranks to prevent catastrophic results.” The series was orignally pitched to Marvel Comics as the “Ultimates 3”, before turning into its own thing.  There is no word on whether Millar will be writing the script to the comic adaptation, or just producing with Tony Harris, the series’ artist.

G4 Network talked to Mark Millar about his new graphic novel “War Heroes”, the film adaptation of his ongoing series “Kick-Ass” by Matthew Vaughn (Stardust), and his proposed “Superman” film trilogy that he has pitched to the WB with an unknown director. The interview then talks to “War Heroes” artist Tony Harris about the upcoming book.

The “Superman” info comes in at around the 5 minute mark, and I gotta say, it sounds really interesting. The idea of a 7 hour epic “Superman” story broken up among 3 films and shot back to back to be released every year sounds like a dream come true. Millar thinks he’ll be getting word if the WB wants to go with his proposed project within two to three weeks and ideally they would shoot next summer.

• A book to film review of The Kite Runner has been added to our archives. (My Hollywood Dream)