Marvel Studios is setting the bar ridiculously high for superhero movi- scratch that, Marvel Studios is setting the bar ridiculously high for movies in general. Robert Downey Jr, aka Tony Stark, aka Ironman, tweeted this all new solo poster for Avengers: Age of Ultron (hot on the heels of a team shot). He has also stated that a “big announcement” will be coming in 8 days. Ironman 4? Has Downey Jr extended his contract with Marvel further into the future? Will they confirm that Spiderman will be featured in Captain America: Civil War? It can be so many things, which is very exciting.

In other Avengers 2 news, we just got confirmation that Anthony Mackie (the Falcon), Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter) and Idris Elba (Asgardian Heimdall) will all be appearing in the gigantic sequel. They join an already stellar cast of heroes including Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Cobie Smulders (ex-SHIELD Agent Maria Hill), and Paul Bettany (Vision), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlett Witch), rumored villain Andy Serkis, and James Spader’s title character of Ultron. Hopefully they fit in some of our Agents of Shield, like Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May), and Chloe Bennet’s now “Inhuman” Daisy “Skye” Johnson.

Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters on May 1st, 2015 and I’ll be in the first screening with a huge bucket of popcorn!

Marvel Studios has released a new poster and teaser trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Check out the new poster, which is a very cool variation of the original Avengers poster.

You can check out the teaser trailer here. Directed by Joss Whedon, the action sequel teams up the original Avengers with a crop of new heroes from other Marvel solo movies (the Falcone from Captain America: Winter Soldier, War Machine from Ironman 2 & 3) to take on a much worse evil entity (the title character Ultron). The movie will star Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Cobie Smulders, and Paul Bettany, with newcomers to the Marvel Universe Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Andy Serkis, and James Spader as Ultron.  We have a long wait as it does not come out until May 1, 2015.

Wonder Woman Revealed
Sure, Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment released some Dark Knight Returns inspired footage for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, but that was slightly overshadowed by the reveal of the movie’s Wonder Woman. Until now it was unknown if Gal Gadot would even don a costume, but here she is in a darkened version of her classic suit. The amazon warrior looks very similar to another warrior princess, but personally I don’t have any issue with that. Hopefully the outfit will get some classic red and blue before the trinity of heroes team up in Justice League.

Josh Brolin is Thanos
The Marvel Studios panel had almost everyone from Avengers: Age of Ultron in attendance, including Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Samuel L Jackson, and James Spader, but joining the panel was someone unexpected; Josh Brolin who will be stepping into the boots of Marvel’s cosmic big bad Thanos. He jumped on the stage wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, ate a rose that Robert Downey Jr gave him, and showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with… eventually.

Evil Dead: The Series
Talk about unexpected. There was nt an Evil Dead screening or anniversary panel or anything like that. Instead, during the Screen Gems panel Sam Raimi, there to talk about The Last of Us, dropped a bomb on the audience; he is developing Evil Dead as a TV series with Bruce “Ash” Campbell and Ivan Raimi. Campbell followed up the announcement with the reveal that if it happens, he will star in the series. The team is no stranger to TV, having worked on shows such as Jack of All Trades and Xena: Warrior Princess together, and each having a hand in many other shows. God, I hope this happens.

The Walking Dead Season 5 Trailer
Not many TV shows get presented in Hall H, but The Walking Dead is a show that has earned its place in the large ballroom. AMC aimed to please the crowd and showed a lengthy (and spoiler filled) trailer for the new season. There is so much packed into this trailer (you can watch it here); what secrets do Terminus hold? How will our survivors get out? What new characters were revealed? Where is Beth? I’m not posting the spoilers here, but the release of this trailer alone makes the San Diego Comic Con worth it.

What piece of news from the 2014 San Diego Comic Con excites you the most? Which of these 4 awesome things is your favorite?

Yesterday we talked about Captain America: The First Avenger, which comes out this weekend, and now thanks to Comic Con we have the first official poster for Marvel Studio’s The Avengers.

Directed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s Joss Whedon, The Avengers brings together Marvel’s Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) along with new additions Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and SHIELD agent  Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), and of course our new Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).

I think it is a safe assumption that we’ll get a taste of the team up flick at the end of this weekend’s Captain America, likely after the credits. Are you excited for The Avengers? I can’t wait to see more…

It is no secret that I’m a huge Captain America fan. He is Marvel Comic’s Superman. Now, I haven’t always been a huge Captain fan, but I was damn impressed by him in Marvel’s (decently recent) “Civil War” storyline that divided the Marvel heroes pitting the Captain against Ironman. I’ve been very nervous about the new movie. I mean, they cast the Human Torch as Steve Rogers? And how could anyone forget the 70s Captain America flick? Well, we have a new poster that is pretty damn awesome…

And what is this? Thanks to the Superbowl, we have a new teaser of the upcoming superhero flick. Check it out here. Now, I don’t hate the trailer, but I could have used less of Steve Rogers pre-transformation and more actual Captain America footage. I love that we get to see a glimpse of the Red Skull and that the movie is staying pretty true to various comic incarnations.  July can not come soon enough. I hope the movie rocks.

Right off the bat I have to post this image, the first of Chris Evans as Captain America (big thanks to Entertainment Weekly!):

I love the color and look of the uniform (for a full body shot of the CA stunt double, click here). Revealed in the article is that Evans signed a 6 picture deal with Marvel. Epic. Okay, lets move on with some other comic book movie news…

• One thing I’m not digging, is changes to the X-Men universe. It was revealed that in the upcoming First Class, Mystique will be an insecure teenage girl who is hiding the fact that she is really a mutant. Something about that just feels off, than again I thought the character was underused and mishandled in both Singer’s and Ratner’s X-Men movies, so I shouldn’t be surprised here. Pictures also reveal James McAvoy as Charles Xavier with hair. I wasn’t sold on him originally, but with hair he feels like a completely different character. Are they going to reveal the mysterious origin of  Xavier’s baldness? Come on guys…

• Staying with the Marvel Comics universe of movies, a lot of names have joined Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the direct sequel to the 2007 lackluster Mark Steven Johnson movie.  Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze and is joined by Christopher Lambert, Ciaran Hinds, Johnny Whitworth, Violante Placido, and Thor‘s Idris Elba.  Elba recently talked about having a multiple picture deal with Marvel, but I don’t think people expected a supporting role in the new Ghost Rider, personally I was hoping for Elba being cast as Luke Cage, but a lot more people want him as Black Panther. How many comic roles will Idris Elba need to take before he gets a real character? The film is being directed by the team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the guys who brought us the Crank series. That gives me a lot more hope than the first one that was directed by Mark Steven Johnson, who also directed the disappointing Daredevil flick.

• Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film has a title! The Dark Knight Rises. Yeah, seriously, it is that bad. Nolan has also denied rumors that the Riddler will be featured in the film. Earlier he said no to Mr. Freeze, so we are slowly narrowing down the villain possibilities. This might be Nolan’s last Batman film, so I’m hoping for someone good (or a good combo of villains). Maybe Hugo Strange along with a couple “monster” types; Man-Bat, Clayface, or Killer Croc? They can continue the theme of the mob and give us Black Mask. Tom Hardy, who worked with Nolan on Inception, has been cast in an undisclosed role (maybe a villain?). We have until 2012 for the film, so we might not hear anything else anytime soon.

• Darren Aronofsky will be directing X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2. (I think they can remove the “X-Men Origins” from the title, seriously guys) Aronofsky works best with a gritty realistic style, as used in The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream. His attempt at sci-fi in The Fountain fell a little flat. I want a really good Wolverine film, but I have zero faith after X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  I don’t think Fox will let a good movie happen and I don’t think Aronofsky should waste his time here.

• Right on the heels of news that Mark Wahlberg may take the leading role in a remake of The Crow comes news that director Stephen Norrington is off the project. Norrington directed the original Blade for Marvel, and while a good film it was very flawed (especially the ending). Since Blade he has only directed two films, The Last Minute, which I’ve never heard of, and the horrible adaptation of the graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I think The Crow might be better off without him.

Are you excited about the upcoming crop of comic book movies? What will you be seeing?

Earlier this week both Captain America and X-Men villain turned ally Emma “The White Queen” Frost have been spotted!  Click the above image for a larger view of the two.

Lets begin with Captain America. This is not a shot of Chris Evans in the costume, but rather a stunt man doing a motorcycle chase through Europe. Regardless of who is in the costume, this IS THE COSTUME. And I gotta say, I like it.  Hopefully when Captain joins up in present day with the rest of the Avengers the helmet will turn into a normal mask.  You can check out a bunch more pictures of the costume in action here.

Also spotted is January Jones (of the awesome AMC series Mad Men) as Emma Frost. The costume may be covered by a white coat, but it looks pretty spot on. INF Daily got the scoop and has a dozen pictures, which include January and her stunt double. Apparently they were filming some sorta sequence with Emma coming to blows with a few army types and taking off in a helicopter. I can’t wait to see her with Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw and the other members of the Hellfire Club.  I still don’t know how they are going to tie this into the other movies and it is a shame that we’ll never see Wolverine being the last man standing against the club (pictured below).

X-Men: First Class will hit theaters on June 3, 2011, while Captain America: The First Avenger will be coming out a month later on July 22, 2011. I’ll be seeing both opening night.