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?

The original RoboCop was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Sadly the sequels didn’t hold up to the original, and the television spinoff are better left unseen. When I heard that they were remaking the movie I was annoyed. Ugh. Yet another remake of one of my favorite 80s movies (grumble, The Karate Kid, grumble). But this one is shaping up to be something special.

José Padilha, the director behind the Elite Squad flicks, took over the project from Darren Aronofsky (who is one of the most interesting directors that keeps coming close to doing genre movies – Wolverine, Batman Year One, and now RoboCop). I’m not familiar with Padilha’s work, but his casting choices have been inspired. In the past month, both Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson were announced in roles; Oldman as the scientist that invents RoboCop and Jackson as an over the top television personality/mogul. Now they have stepped up the game even more by casting House MD‘s Hugh Laurie as the villainous CEO of OCP –the company in the original RoboCop that practically owns Detroit. The title role is being played by The Killing‘s Joel Kinnaman, with Abbie Cornish rumored to be portraying his wife.

So far the RoboCop remake is doing something very right with its casting. Hopefully they have worked just as hard on getting the script right and everything else will follow suit. I’m still hesitant, but getting more and more excited for this flick.

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…

Marvel Studios has released a poster for their new upcoming animated series, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.  Featured in the poster are four of Marvel’s “big guns”, Hulk, Ironman, Thor, and Captain America. I really like the look and animation style of the new series. Reminds me of the classic Ironman and Fantastic Four series from the 90s.

Missing from the poster are Ant Man and The Wasp, both who have been confirmed to be in the series.  This Saturday at Comic Con, Marvel and Disney will be premiering the first two episodes, then the series is expected to start in the fall.  The art is pretty cool and the team lineup is perfect. I really hope that the series is good and that the upcoming film will be even better!

While on the subject of the film version, at Comic Con we finally got confirmation from Joss Whedon himself, that he will indeed be directing The Avengers for Marvel Comics.  With Ed Norton out as Bruce Banner, I am hoping that Marvel reveals who will be the new Hulk at Comic Con. Rumors are pointing towards Mark Ruffalo, who I think is an excellent actor and has the look for Banner.  Robert Downey Jr, Samuel L Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, and Chris Evans are all confirmed to be reprising their roles as Ironman, Nick Fury, Thor, and Captain America respectably.  We haven’t had any word on who might be portraying Ant-Man or Wasp, who usually get the short end of the stick (see above poster, also).  I could picture someone like Nathan Fillion as Ant-Man, but I have no ideas for Wasp.

Who do you think could fill the roles?

There have been a lot of rumors about Spider-Man 4; story and character arguments between director Sam Raimi and Sony Pictures and a possible release date change.  None of this has been confirmed by the studio, but shooting has already been delayed and no start date has been confirmed. This would make it very hard for the special effects superhero film to hit its May 6th, 2011 target date. At this point, any summer date would become hard. Which brings us to…

SPIDER-MAN 4 vs THOR

Okay, so there is no way Spider-Man 4 and Thor will get released on the same date, but for the moment, they share a target release date. With Spider-Man 4’s release so uncertain, Paramount Pictures have moved Thor from its original end of May release to the 6th. The date has been secured by Marvel for years and is the best way to open the summer. Right when Thor moved its release date, Disney moved the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie (On Stranger Tides) to Thor‘s old date.  So, if Spider-Man 4 gets back on track, will it be able to come out in the summer?

Regardless of the problems with the new Spider-Man flick, I think that this is a great move for Thor.  The film is gearing to start up production, with direction by Kenneth Branagh and starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Stuart Townsend, Ray Stevenson, and Rene Russo (with an appearance by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury).  Everything about the production has seemed to be going smoothly, from the script which has gotten rave reviews to the all star cast. I’m excited.