Here's A New Way To View Me!

So there's a new way to read my blog, and I hope everyone gives it a chance.  I've decided to create a Facebook page for the blog, and I need "likes," so here's a pathetic attempt to get some.  Go to the page https://m.facebook.com/TheComconoclast1/?ref=bookmarks and like the page.  Each one counts and helps me follow who reads the blog and who doesn't.  So far, it's been viewed over 12,000 times and has been seen in 49 different countries.  Help me to keep this growing!  And to everyone who reads this blog...thank you!

Justice League vs Teen Titans

There has been a lot of talk about the supremacy of Marvel over DC, and vice versa, especially now with Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice coming out later this year.  It was a forgone conclusion that seeing Batman and Superman on the silver screen together for the first time that no other movie would be able to touch it. Then came the announcement that the third Captain America film was going to be based on the comic book story Civil War, and the perception changed.  Until both movies are released, we won't know which one will win the box office, but there is one area that DC and WB have dominated over Marvel, and that is in their straight to Blu-Ray animated features. 

There's been a lot of talk about the upcoming The Killing Joke, but before we get to see that one, we'll be graced with Justice League vs. Teen Titans.  Check out the trailer below:

The official synopsis for the film goes like this:

"The demonic forces of Trigon infiltrate the minds and bodies of the Justice League, turning the veteran super heroes against their youthful counterparts in the all-new DC Universe Original Movie."

By the way, Trigon?  That's Raven's demon dad.  Here's the list of the actors on voice duty, and who they'll be reading for:

Trigon...Jon Bernthal
Raven...Taissa Farmiga
Robin...Stuart Allan
Beast Boy...Brandon Soo Hoo
Starfire...Kari Whalgren
Cyborg...Shemar Moore
Nightwing...Sean Maher
Blue Beetle...Jake T. Austin
Batman...Jason O'Mara
Superman...Jerry O'Connell
Wonder Woman...Rosario Dawson
The Flash...Christopher Gorham

Justice League vs. Teen Titans comes out later this year on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital HD.

The Blade Runner Sequel To Begin Filming In July

The announcement of a Blade Runner sequel has had me scratching my head.  Not because of the argument of, "Why ruin a classic movie with a sequel?", although that is one of my worries, rather why make a sequel to a movie that was based on a book that had no sequel?  Okay, there were other books that were written, but not by the original author.  The book and author that I'm referring to is Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.  The author of the Blade Runner books that followed were written by K.W. Jeter, a friend of Philip K. Dicks, and yes they were authorized and considered "official" sequels, but I'm sorry.  Not from the original mind of the creator, not a true continuation.  Not in this case, anyway.  I know that there are people out there that will argue with me on this matter, and they may be right, this is just my opinion on this particular book/movie.  But I digress...

Harrison Ford is going to return as Rick Deckard , a role he last played in 1982, and will be joined by Ryan Gosling in the sequel to Blade Runner.  The screenplay is being written by Hampton Fancher (co-writer of the original movie) and Ridley Scott.  It doesn't sound like the script is using any of the material written by K.W. Jeter, but instead is going to be an original story based on the world created by Philip K. Dick.  The movie will be distributed by Sony and starts filming this July.  Sony Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman said in a statement:

"At Sony, we have made a strong commitment to the international marketplace.  We know of few projects with greater international potential than the long dreamed of sequel to Blade Runner, especially given the all-star creative team Andrew and Broderick have assembled.  We are deeply grateful to everyone at Alcon, Denis and Ridley for entrusting us with such a gift.  Working on a Blade Runner film also fulfills a long-time personal ambition, as I deeply love and admire the original."

I question that last line of his, "...as I deeply love and admire the original."  Then why possibly ruin it with a sequel?  Oh well, it's not the art of movie making anymore, but how much money can it make.

No release date for the film has been given.

New Rumors Show Rogue One Is Going To Be Action Packed!

Every time I read something new about this year's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, I get more and more excited for it to be released!  Take the most recent news that just came out.  Comicbook.com is reporting that not only will Darth Vader be making an appearance in the film, but will play a major role in it, as well.  This isn't really news, though.  Just last week I reported that Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin are going to be in the movie.  You can't have a movie about the Death Star without having both of these characters showing up.  But that wasn't the most interesting bit of news.  Yes, it's pretty exciting that Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin have all but been confirmed as appearing in the film, but the second part of the rumor was what grabbed my attention.

Here's what Comicbook.com had to say about what else we can expect:

"Additionally, a new Tie Fighter design will be shown off and AT-AT's will be featured in Rogue One.  There is also said to be a 'scene stealer' droid that works with the rebels, specifically Felicity Jones' group.  The droid was originally an Empire droid which was repurposed to serve the rebel alliance.  He is two-legged and a dark grey or black color with long arms and legs, looking very different from C-3PO."

Can you see why this was exciting news?  AT-ATs!!!  One of my favorite memories of any Star Wars film growing up was the first time I ever saw an AT-AT in The Empire Strikes Back.  Seeing their size and hearing how loud their footsteps were as they moved closer and closer to the rebel base sent chills up my spine.  Hey, I was eight years old for crying out loud!  It was awesome!

So that's it for new Rogue One rumors.  If you hear anything else about the film, feel free to let me know and I'll look into it.  You can either leave it in the comments section below, or you can contact me at comconocave@gmail.com.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story comes out December 16, 2016.

Is ***SPOILER*** Going To Be The Villain In Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2?

Yesterday I talked about the possible new team members that could be showing up in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, so today I thought I'd talk about the possible villain for the film. And as always, ***POTENTIAL SPOILERS!!!*** ahead.

Have you ever heard of Ego?  If you haven't, don't worry.  If Geek.com is right, you'll soon know who he is.  But if you don't want to wait that long, here's a quick rundown on the guy.  First off, he's a planet.  Curious, eh?  He is an actual living, thinking planet that hails from the Black Galaxy, which is a dark nebula located deep inside the Milky Way Galaxy.  He was created back in 1966 by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and first appeared in Thor #132.  He has hyperintelligent consciousness and spends his time roaming the galaxy searching for planets and other galaxies to conquer.  His unusual nature seems to be the perfect fit for the movie, considering what we were given in the first movie.

This rumor hasn't been confirmed by anyone, so take all of this with a grain of salt, but considering that you need a formidable bad guy to make every adventure movie great, what better baddie could you have than an evil planet?  Thanos is obviously being kept for Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 1 & 2, so he's out of the question.  That's not to say he won't make an appearance, but who knows?  Maybe they are going to hold off on him until the next Avengers movies come out.

By the way, here's a pic of Ego from one of the comics he's appeared in:

New Team Members Rumored For Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2

 

Just so you know, there are ***POTENTIAL SPOILERS!!!*** ahead.

"You said it yourself, bitch.  We're the Guardians of the Galaxy!"

Best line smack down line ever.  Yeah, the dance off line was pretty good, too.  It's moments like this that made the movie so much fun to watch, and why we can't wait for the sequel to arrive.  People hadn't expected much from the first movie before it came out, since most of us weren't that familiar with the characters, but now the expectations for the sequel are huge.  So what are we going to see when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 comes out?  How about some new members to the team?

Geek.com is reporting that a few new characters will be joining the motley crew for Vol. 2, and not all of them are going to be strangers, and one is a bit of a surprise.  They're saying that Yondu, Mantis, and Nebula (yes, that Nebula!) will be climbing aboard the Milano the next go around.  Yondu, as you know, is the captain of the Ravagers, and kidnapper of Peter Quill.  Mantis, as far as the comic book goes, is a telepath and an empath with the ability to do astral projections.  She's a master of the martial arts, and can control plants and vegetation.  She should make an interesting addition, considering Groot is basically a walking tree.  Then there's Nebula, Gamora's sister with an attitude.  How is it that she fits into the mix, considering that she tried to kill Gamora in the first film?  Ahh...sibling rivalries.

So that's it!  What do you think about these possible new crew members, and how do you think they'll react with the original ones?  You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 come out May 5, 2017.

Three Avengers To Die In Captain America: Civil War?

I know this is pointless to say, but ***POTENTIAL SPOILERS!!!*** ahead!

In some of my previous posts, I talked about how there have been a couple of funeral scenes that have been shot for the upcoming Captain America: Civil War movie.  The rumors about who they are for point to Agent Peggy Carter, who we all know was in a bad way when we last saw her in Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Captain America himself.  After Cap makes a deal with the government to give immunity to his team after everything is over, he gets shot after leaving the Capital Building. 

It turns out that they might not be the only two that die.

A new rumor emerged claiming that the Russo brothers have actually filmed four funeral scenes!  This could be true for a couple of reasons.  The first one being that they filmed the four funerals, but only plan on using two or three.  This would throw off people claiming to know what's going to happen in the film.  The Empire Strikes Back did something similar to this when they were filming.  When Darth Vader tells Luke that he was actually his father, while they were filming, Mark Hamill was told that Obi Wan killed his father.  The actual line wasn't revealed until post production and release.  So this could all be smoke and mirrors.

The second possibility is that there really will be four people dying in the film.  If this is true, we already know (or think we know) that Agent Carter and Captain America are going to die, so that leaves two others that won't survive the movie.  After reading a couple of articles that were speculating on who they could be, the two names that made the most sense were War Machine and Scarlett Witch.  War Machine made sense because he's always been more of a background character in all of the Iron Man movies.  Yeah, he's in them, but doesn't really do much except stumble around.  Don't believe me?  In Iron Man 2 his armor was taken control of and used against Iron Man.  In Iron Man 3, his Iron Patriot armor was taken control of again.  Don't need a character like that crapping things up all of the time.  Scarlett Witch is a little harder to justify.  She wasn't used to her full potential in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and with her brother dying in that movie, what's to keep them from offing her too in this movie?

So what do you all think?  Remember, these are all just rumors, so this may or may not happen, but if it turns out to be true, who do you think the other two characters are that are going to die?  Let me know in the comments section below.

Captain America: Civil War comes out May 6, 2016.

Jonah Hex To Appear In CW's Legends Of Tomorrow

Do you know what I like best about the continued expansion of the CW's "Arrow-verse?"  All of the different comic book characters that they are introducing us to.  After reading them for so long in comics, it's been fun to actually see them come to life.  The biggest reason behind the explosion of new characters on the small screen has to be because of The Flash.  This show actually brought in superheroes and super villains to their world, and with the introduction of the "Speed Force," now time travel is a part of it as well.  So where do they go from here?

It turns out that you take characters from both shows, team them up in a time-traveling adventure that has them chasing down an immortal bad guy.  The best part about this is that now they can bring us characters that live in different time periods and bring them into the Arrow-verse as well.  Case in point, it was recently announced that in the eleventh episode of the show Legends of Tomorrow (premieres tonight at 8pm on the CW) Jonah Hex will be making his debut.  It's actually quite fitting that they decided to use him, since he's been known to have a few time-traveling adventures of his own.  Here's what EP Marc Guggenheim had to say about his decision to use Jonah Hex:

"Ever since we decided that Legends would involve time travel, we were eager to do a story set in the Old West.  But if you're going to do a story set in the DC Universe version of the Old West, you simply must include Jonah Hex in it.  We're thrilled about bringing another well known, beloved DC character to television."

This won't be the first live-action version of the post-Civil War bounty hunter, though.  Back in 2010 they made a Jonah Hex movie that starred Josh Brolin.  Hex has also been seen in Justice League Unlimited and other animated projects, voiced by either Adam Baldwin or Thomas Jane.  There's been no word on who will be playing him on Legends of Tomorrow.

Batman v Superman...Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

Heads up, everyone...potential ***SPOILERS!!!***ahead!

With the movie coming out in just over two months, DC and WB have been ramping up excitement for the film anywhere and everywhere they can.  Just last night on the CW, they had a half-hour special talking about the new film, as well as the other films that they are in the process of filming, such as Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad.  They've also been releasing all sorts of new footage for Batman v Superman in trailers that have been popping up all over the place.  Because of these trailers, many fans think that Zach Snyder and DC/WB have revealed way too much, and may have possibly spoiled the surprises in the picture.  I'm referring to the reveal that Doomsday is going to show up and fight Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.

Latino Review says that isn't the case, and they dropped a bombshell on us recently.  They are reporting that on top of having Lex Luthor and Doomsday appearing in the film, there's one more "secret villain" that will also show up.  That bad guy is none other than...Bizarro!

So from all of the footage that we've seen from the film from the trailers that have been released, we know that Lex Luthor has taken possession of General Zod's body, as well as some Kryptonite.  It's being assumed that Doomsday is the result of Luthor experimenting on Zod's body, and it doesn't look like he can control him.  As a result, he tries to clone the Man of Steel from some DNA he's obtained to create someone that he can control and out pops Bizarro.  If this is the case, don't expect him to be the Bizarro from the comic books where "yes" means "no" or "up" means "down" and all of that.  It will be a whole new version of the classic character.

Again, these are all just rumors and we won't find out for sure until the movie comes out.  In fact, the Bizarro theory doesn't gel with a lot of other "facts" about the movie that are rumored to be true, so if this one is real, then the others are wrong and vice versa.  If it is true, what do you think?  Are they making a "Spider-Man 3/The Amazing Spider-Man 2" mistake by giving us too many villains in one film, or do they all help make a better story and movie?  Like I said, we'll just have to wait and see.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice comes out March 25, 2016.

The Empire's Dream Team Returning To The Big Screen?

Two of the most evil villains from Star Wars: A New Hope may be making an appearance in the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  I'd talked about how there were rumors about them bringing Grand Moff Tarkin back for the movie by using CGI to create the likeness of Peter Cushing, who played Tarkin in the original film, back to the screen.  That seems to have been confirmed in a report by Making Star Wars.  The report didn't stop there, however.

They are also saying that they've recreated an exact replica of the Darth Vader costume that was used in the movie Star Wars: A New Hope.  It says, "By all accounts the costume is so close to the original everyone is very happy and very impressed with the work done by Brian Muir and his team."  But that's not the best part.  Helping complete the Empire's Dream Team is none other than James Earl Jones himself.  What good would it be to have Darth Vader return and not have his iconic voice to go along with him?  There's no word on who will be wearing the Darth Vader costume in the film, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that it won't be David Prowse.  Before the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released, Prowse went on a tear against the people behind the original trilogy saying that he had been screwed over by the movie company.  I know, it's hard to believe that a movie company would do that to it's talent (yes, that was sarcasm), but he honestly seemed to have an valid complaint.  Because of this, though, I'm sure they'll be using someone else for the physical part of the role.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set between Episodes III and IV, and is being labeled as a "heist film."  The movie will follow a group of Rebel fighters that try to steal the plans for the Death Star so they can find a weakness in it and destroy it.  In order to do this, they'll have to infiltrate the Empire and escape with the plans.  Since Grand Moff Tarkin is to be the one in charge of the Death Star, and Darth Vader was under his command, it seems reasonable that these two characters will be an important part to the story.  The amount of screen time these two get, though, hasn't been divulged.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story come out December 16 of this year.

Why Do Movie Companies Continue To Keep Doing This?

Yes, we are going to be blessed with another reboot, since movie companies don't seem to take the hint after such triumphant successes like Total Recall, The Karate Kid, and Conan the Barbarian.  There are plenty more that I could name, those are just the first three that came to mind.  The most recent reboot to be announced is Flash Gordon.

I remember watching Flash Gordon when it was first released back in 1980.  It was so horribly campy that it was awesome.  The cheesy special effects and sets seemed to draw inspiration from the old black and whites that were made, and the cast that they put together was perfect.  My favorite character in the movie was Brian Blessed's Prince Vultan.  Flying around with those wings, leading an army of Hawkmen?  Who wouldn't want to be that guy!  And it's soundtrack?  Queen knocked it right out of the park!  It was a great movie to see at that age, and it's still one of my favorites.

So what's the best way to pay homage to a movie classic?  Ruin it with a reboot.  Why do I think that they'll ruin this movie?  It was from a quote I read from writer Mark Protosevich when asked about the film after he'd been asked to take over the script.  Here's what he said:

"I can't wait to get started and if you're curious about the take?  I'm not saying a word.  All I'll say is this - it will be nothing like any version of Flash Gordon you've seen."

Great.  Someone's unique vision to update a classic.  What could possibly go wrong?  This isn't the first time someone has tried to revive the Flash Gordon name.  Syfy did a horrible job with a series a few years ago, and back in 1997 there was talk that a new Flash Gordon movie was in the works, but after the box office bomb that was John Carter, it got shelved.  Now, with the success of movie like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Guardians of the Galaxy, the movie studios feel that the timing is right to try again.

They will never be able to mimic the tone of the original, or the love that people have for the 80's movie.  Let's just hope that it's not completely awful and they give us something fun to watch.

Have Scientists Discovered Gravitational Waves?

If you've ever watched an episode of Star Trek, you've heard the term "gravitational Waves" before.  They are a big part of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, and he predicted their existence back in 1916.  The problem is we've never been able to confirm their existence, they are still just theoretical.  That may (or may not) be changing soon.

First off, I had to actually look up what gravitational waves really were, not just rely on my Star Trek knowledge.  Okay, I really didn't have to look that far, it was in the article that I was reading (and I hate to admit this, but I found the article on Yahoo).  Here's what they said about gravitational waves:

"According to his (Einstein) theory of general relativity, a number of incredibly powerful cosmic systems across the universe will generate measurable ripples in the fabric of space-time called gravitational waves.

One example is two black holes orbiting one another that are eventually destined to collide.
When a smaller black hole meets a larger one, the two attract one another through tremendous gravitational forces. As the smaller black hole inches toward its inevitable doom, is accelerates through space at an ever-increasing rate toward the larger black hole, and, in so doing, generates gravitational waves."

They also pointed out that to this day, there has been no confirmation for astronomers that gravitational waves exist through direct, observational evidence.  So then why am I bringing all of this up?

This past Monday, theoretical physicist Laurence Krauss suggested that researchers might have detected these gravitational waves for the first time.  At this point, the idea that they've been discovered has yet to be confirmed, and there is no evidence that has been released to prove otherwise.

The researchers that Krauss refer to work at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO for short.  Spokesperson and Louisiana State University physics and astronomy professor Gabriela Gonzales gave the following statement:

"We are still taking data, and we won't finish analyzing and reviewing results until at least a month or two later.  The instruments are working great, but ... I don't have any news with analysis results to share, yet."

At one point, scientists thought that they had discovered them before, but their data was later disproven.  Because of that, all data from LIGO will be checked, and then double checked before being released into the scientific community. If it proves to be accurate, though, it will revolutionize astronomy as we know it today.

SpaceX Will Attempt To Land A Rocket On A Barge

Elon Musk, a man who I've written about a number of times here on this blog (namely his "tubular shuttle") is going to have his SpaceX program attempt a rocket landing on a floating barge.  It won't be the entire rocket, only the stage-one portion of the rocket, but this is still a pretty big deal...if it works.

SpaceX has tried to land stage-one rockets on barges before, but with less-than-stellar results.  They both crashed, basically.  However, with the successful landing of their rocket on the ground recently, they have renewed hopes for this attempt.  The landing attempt will take place on January 17 after they launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to send the Jason-3 satellite into orbit.  The Jason-3 is designed to measure sea surface height with an accuracy of within a few centimeters, and needs to be placed in near-polar orbit, which is why it's launching from Vandenberg.  Launching from there gives the rockets greater inclination trajectories, as compared to Cape Canaveral in Florida, where SpaceX made their successful rocket landing back in December. 

The rocket that they will be trying to land is an older version of their Falcon 9 rocket.  It won't be the entire rocket that will be attempting to land upon return, just the stage one rocket, alothough SpaceX is in the process of trying to figure out how to land the stage two rocket, as well.  The stage one portion will launch with the rocket, then upon separation it will rotate, and then use its engines and "aerodynamic fins" to steer itself back to Earth and onto the barge.

Each rocket costs roughly $61 million to build, although $200,000 of that is actually spent on fuel.  If the landing is successful, it could dramatically cut back on the cost of space flight if we were able to retrieve rockets to reuse.  It would also allow rockets to cut back on the amount of fuel that is needed to make a launch of this kind.  A majority of the fuel is spent in the initial lift off, but then fuel is needed for the return turn around and landing.  If the rocket has to steer back to a ground landing zone, then it may require more fuel for the trip.  If they can successfully land their rocket on the barge, then the amount of fuel needed could be dramatically reduced by opening up whole new areas for their rockets that would potentially be closer for an ideal landing. 

So mark your calenders!  The launch of the Jason-3 satellite will be televised on NASA TV, but the landing won't be.  Don't worry, though.  SpaceX should be releasing pictures and video of the landing no matter the outcome.

JJ Abrams Just Released WHAT?!?

Sorry everyone, but this was just too good to wait until Monday to talk about.  It was just revealed that Paramount Pictures and JJ Abrams have been working on a sequel to 2008's Cloverfield.  And it comes out on March 11th!  How did they manage to do this without anyone finding out???

They were very, very sneaky!  In 2014 Paramount announced that they were collaborating with Abrams' Bad Robot on a film that was called Valencia (a.k.a. The Cellar) that was to be a post-apocalyptic thriller, and it was going to be directed by Dan Trachtenberg.  Turns out that the movie was a smoke screen for the Cloverfield sequel.  Here's a link to it's trailer over on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saHzng8fxLs

The movie stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., and John Goodman, and like I said before, It'll hit theaters on March 11, 2016.

Tales From The Crypt Returning To Television This Year

Yes, Tales from the Crypt will be returning to television...but with a few changes.  The biggest change is that it won't be appearing on HBO, it'll be moving to TNT.  This move kind of worries me for one simple reason...content.  When this show was airing on HBO, each show had pretty much free reign on what they could show, ranging from graphic violence, to nudity.  It was kind of a grownup's version of The Twilight Show.  Now that it's coming to basic cable, a lot of that will be lost I'm sure.

The second change that is coming to the show deals with the Crypt Keeper.  Everyone loved the Crypt Keeper, from his maniacal laugh, to his lousy puns.  He brought a face to the show that everyone knew.  Now, the Crypt Keeper (voiced by John Kassir) is no more.  At least, the Crypt Keeper from the original series' run.  Now, TNT is promising a new Crypt Keeper who will be "cool and dark!"  I think we need to start worrying about this reboot now...

The last bit of news dealing with this show is that it will be helmed by none other than M. Night Shyamalan, the one-and-done director that just keeps making movies.  And yes, the one movie that I liked was The Sixth Sense.  Everything after that was just meh.  Okay, Unbreakable was pretty good, too.

There is one more change that they seem to want to make for the show.  Instead of giving us stand alone episodes every week that change stories and character with each one, it sounds like they are wanting to have each story span an entire season, kind of like FX's American Horror Story, with the first season focusing on voodoo in New Orleans.

I don't want to sound too cynical, the show hasn't even begun filming yet, and I don't want to say that it's going to be horrible before even watching one episode, so I'll wait and keep my fingers crossed.  I'm just not too enthusiastic about all of the changes to the show that they've announced.  What are your thoughts?  Am I jumping the gun on this, or do the changes that they are making worry you as well?  Leave your comments in the section below and let me know how you feel.

ABC Has Ordered A Pilot Epsiode For MARVEL'S MOST WANTED

Sometimes I just don't understand Marvel.  They do extremely well with their movies, even with their lesser known characters like Guardians of the Galaxy or Ant Man, but then when they have what should be a sure-fire hit like Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. they fail so miserably.  They are redeeming themselves with their Netflix properties and Agent Carter, but they just can't seem to get Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. right.  So, instead of fixing what needs to be fixed, they are bringing out another spinoff of the show called Marvel's Most Wanted.  So what do we know about this new show?

The short answer is, not much.  ABC President Paul Lee said that after it had been put on hold for a while, they have finally ordered a pilot episode for the show.  It will have executive producer Jeffery Bell (who is the EP on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and writer Paul Zbyszewski on board for it, and if it goes to series, then Zbyszewski will stay on as its lead writer.  It will star Adrianne Palicki as Barbra "Bobbi" Morse (a.k.a. Mockingbird) and Nick Blood as Lance Hunter.  At the Television Critics Association press tour, Lee said, "We are making it in the next few months.  It's a really good script."

Last year in April there were rumors of this show happening, but Lee decided that it wasn't a good time to take Bobbi and Hunter from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. so the show was put on hold.  Now it seems the time is right and they are moving forward with it.

If you don't know much about these two characters because you don't watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (like me) you can catch new episodes of the show starting Tuesday, March 8 at 9PM on ABC.  Or you can watch something fun.

Avengers: Infinity War Part I and II To Be An MCU Unifier

With Avengers: Infinity Wars the Russo brothers are laying it all on the table.  Well, actually, it's all up on a board.

"We have so many characters we're dealing with.  We're breaking new ground on Avengers: Infinity War.  We have a board with 67 characters on it."

Those 67 characters include superheroes, villains, and S.H.I.E.L.D.agents.  The one question that everyone is asking, though, is if the Guardians of the Galaxy characters are part of that group.  Here's the answer they gave during an interview with Comicbook.com while at New Orleans WizardWorld:

"That is another one that we would have to reserve as a surprise, but we will say this.  People will not be disappointed in the amount of characters in the movie.  The concept of Infinity War is that the Marvel universe unites to battle the greatest threat to the world and the universe that you've ever seen, and we're going to honor that concept."

That seems to me that they are saying that the Guardians are going to be a part of the movie.  How can you have "the greatest threat to the world and the universe" and not have them be a part of it?  That's just my own take away from the interview, though.  Obviously, nothing has been confirmed on this subject. 

One of the more interesting parts of the interview came when they were asked how they were going to tackle cosmic side of films after filming two very gritty and (to a point) realistic movies in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.  Here's what they said:

"Yeah, we certainly have.  I sat in the theater and watched Empire Strikes Back seven times in a row when I was a kid.  Yeah, we're science fiction fans as well, Dungeons and Dragons.  We collected all the books when we were kids.  We had figurines.  Anything that you could think of that has to do with fantasy or sci-fi or superheroes was in our universe.  We're just going to approach the cosmic side with the same fervor that we did the earthbound work we've been doing.  We also are going to work really hard to bring a psychological realism.  We obviously can't bring a naturalism to it because it doesn't really exist outside of science fiction, but we can bring that psychological realism to it, to the characters, and that's going to be our focus."

"Also, it's going to be our focus to explore the cosmic side, applying the same rules that we like to apply to the last two films that we've done.  It ends up being the rules of physics always apply or apply as much as we can get them to apply based on what we're doing."

Lastly, they had this to say about shaking up the Avengers line-up:

"Everything is finite, right? Nothing can last forever...It's cyclical. Some new Avengers in phase 4 are going to become prominent and then maybe some Avengers might not be around anymore. So, we'll see how all this plays out but you have to treat every character with respect. I think it's interesting that if you've seen four or five movies with the lead character having an arc, I want to see some story telling from some of the secondary characters. We're focusing on that right now with Infinity War while we're breaking into those movies, is which characters can we pull to the forefront who potentially haven't had their own 'A' story arc to this point. I think you'll see that the supporting Avengers are going to become primary Avengers."

Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 is scheduled for release May 4, 2018, with Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 coming out one year later on May 3, 2019.

Marvel To Kill Off Major Character In Civil War II

Well, duh!  The only thing that is more of a sure-fire way to sell comics, other than killing someone off, is bringing them back from the dead!  But I digress...

So we know that someone is going to die, we just don't know who.  What we do know is what the storyline for Marvel's Civil War II will be about.  Curious?  Then check this out!

Marvel is going to introduce a new character for this story who has the ability to "calculate the outcome of future events with a high degree of accuracy."  The knowledge of this splits the Avengers down the middle with half wanting to use this character's ability to stop someone from committing a crime before it takes place, and the other half thinking that it's not right to punish someone for something that hasn't taken place yet (can you say Minority Report?  Very original guys).  On the one side, you have Captain Marvel leading the charge to profile future crimes and stop them before they happen, and on the other side you have Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man) on the side that feels that you shouldn't punish someone for a crime that they haven't committed yet.

What pushes these two sides into a fight is that the "seer" predicts that there will be a catastrophe that happens in three days time that will be brought on by the superheroes.  Brian Michael Bendis, the series writer, says he hasn't quite figured out what the catastrophe is just yet, but he does know that someone is going to die.  About the series, Bendis said this:

"People's personal accountability is the theme of this one.  From the way cops are acting on camera, to the way people talk to each other online."

Pitting Iron Man against Captain Marvel is no surprise.  Marvel is hoping to boost her popularity up in their comic books to help promote the Captain Marvel movie that they plan on releasing in 2019.  That gives them a little over three and a half years to get fans interested in her.  That may be their hardest sell yet.

Civil War II will debut one month after Captain America: Civil War comes out in theaters. 

What We Could Expect From Star Wars: Rogue One

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens still bulldozing the competition at the box office, it's easy to forget that before Episode VIII comes out, we'll be treated to the first stand-alone Star Wars film at the end of this year when Star Wars: Rogue One is released.  This is the first of the "Anthology" series, which will be basically one-shots (kind of like in comic books).  These are independent stories that take place in the Star Wars universe, but don't actually interfere with the "Episode" story lines, but more along the lines of build on them.

So what can we expect from this first go around?  A new report from Making Star Wars claims to have the plot details to the new movie.  Want to know what it says?  Okay, but be warned, there may be ***HUGE SPOILERS!!!*** ahead!  I don't know if these reports are true, but in case they are, and you don't want to know what to expect and keep reading, don't say I didn't warn you!

It's already been revealed that this is going to be what they are calling a "heist" film.  It will follow a group of Rebel fighters, the Rogue Squadron, in an attempt to steal the plans for the Empire's new Death Star.  We now have a little more information on how this movie will play out.  In this new report, it says that the movie focuses on a scientist currently being called "Galen".  Galen is being played by Mads Mikkelsen, a "Hannibal alum".  This scientist is key to the development of the Death Star.  It says that Galen "solved several of the flaws the Empire could not and is sort of a revered person in the Empire for his contributions".  The problem is, once Galen realizes that his life's work has gone to building a weapon that can destroy planets, he starts to regret everything that he's done.

To right this wrong, Galen defects to the Rebellion, and teams up with his daughter, who is part of the Rebellion (played by Felicity Jones) to "undo the devastation her family has unleashed onto the galaxy".  This is an interesting angle, one that shows that not all of the people in the Empire are mind-numbed robots that just do what they are told.  This kind of mirrors the struggle that Finn has in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Speaking of Finn, last week I did a post that talked about TR-8R, the fan favorite Stormtrooper in The Force Awakens.  I talked about who he could possibly be, and why he was so angry with Finn.  Well, Lucasfilm came out last week and confirmed that TR-8R is actually "Nines," one of the Stormtroopers in Finn's old squad.  That would explain why Nines called Finn a traitor, and attacked him with so much force...no pun intended.  

Is This The True Idendity Of Supreme Leader Snoke?

Before I begin, if you haven't seen the new Star Wars movie, just know that there are ***HUGE SPOILERS!!!*** ahead in this article.  Some are real, most are just speculation.

Ever since Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened in theaters, one of the big questions running around people's minds dealt with "Supreme Leader Snoke."  Who is he?  What connection to the Star Wars universe does he have?  How did he gain all of his power? One particular fan tweeted this picture to show who he thinks he is.

It's not that far fetched, although it does raise some doubts about things that have happened in previous films.  The first being, if Snoke really is Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker, how did he show up as a "ghost" at the end of Return of the Jedi?  He couldn't survive without the mask of Darth Vader helping him breath, right?  Didn't he say that he'd die without the mask on?  Okay, I know Luke actually said it, but you get my point, right?  Although...

...Think back to one of the very first trailers that came out for The Force Awakens.  In it, there was a voice over of Luke talking.  He says something along the lines of, "The Force is strong in my family.  I have it.  My father has it. My sister has it.  And you have it, too."  Remember the story I did asking why he said his father has it, as opposed to had it, like you would describing someone who had died?  Mark Hamill even admitted in an interview that they had to do a number of takes for the reading because he kept saying had each time.  There had been rumors that Snoke was actually Darth Palgueis, who was mentioned by the Emperor in the prequel movies, but Andy Serkis (who plays Snoke in the film) specifically said that Snoke was NOT Darth Plagueis.  So let's look at the next bit of possible proof to this theory... 

Look at the scars of each of the two pictures above.  See the similarities?  Even if the scars look a little smoother in the picture of Snoke, think about what 30 years of aging would do to your scars over that much time.  It would also explain why he's so desperate to find Luke Skywalker.  But does he want to find him because he still wants to turn him over to the Dark Side, or does he want to exact revenge for his humiliating defeat in front of the Emperor?  This might actually explain how Kylo Ren came into possession of Darth Vader's helmet, too.  Maybe Snoke gave it to him after he completed his training with the Knights of Ren as some sort of gift.  And who better than a relative (Kylo Ren being Han and Leia's son) to go and find Luke? 

So how do we explain the ghost of Anikin at the end of Return of the Jedi?  Maybe Luke did actually save his father's soul, and it was his good side that moved on into the Force, but maybe his dark side somehow survived the beating that he took.  We only see Luke burning the Darth Vader suit at the end of the movie, we don't see his "actual" body.  Maybe there's some sort of loop hole here?

Don't expect any sort of confirmation of this by Lucasfilm.  If this does play out, we probably won't find out until 2019 when the final film of this new trilogy is released.  Still, it makes it fun to speculate! 

Another Toy Line Reveals "Giant Man" In Captain America: Civil War

Earlier I talked about how LEGO may have inadvertently released a HUGE spoiler for the upcoming Captain America: Civil War movie that's coming out later this year.  In one of their catalogs in Germany revealed a "Giant-Man" LEGO figure.  Giant-Man is the same guy that "Ant-Man" is, just instead of turning really small, he gets really big.  Yeah, I know, neither of those are very clever names, but who am I to talk?

Well, it seems that LEGO isn't the only toy company that stepped in it.  Funko, the company that makes the very popular "Pop Vinyl" figures has also revealed that they are going to be selling a Giant-Man figure.  Check out the picture below:

                                

Not only did Funko seem to confirm Paul Rudd's character will be growing into Giant-Man, but they may have revealed something about the new Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie that maybe they shouldn't have.

Not only does Funko make the "Pop Vinyl" figures, but they also make "Mysterious Minis."  They are what you would call a "black bag" toy.  That means that you never know which figure you are going to get.  They recently showed us the new line-up of "Mysterious Minis" that will be featuring characters from the new Batman v Superman movie, and one of them was "Princess Diana of Themyscira."  You can see her figure in the picture below:
                                   

 

You can see her right above the Aquaman figure towards the right.  So does this mean that we are going to be visiting the Island of Themyscira in the movie?  There had been some rumors going around that this might be part of the movie, since this set was said to be made in New Mexico.  The good news for us is these movies will both be coming out soon, so we won't have to wait long to find out.  The bad news for the movie companies is these toy companies seem dead set on spoiling everything for everyone.

Backstory For Fan Favorite "TR-8R" Stormtrooper Possibly Revealed

Since I've pretty much gone back on my promise not to talk about the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I figure, "Why stop now?"  Besides, judging by the ticket sales from the film, it's hard to believe that anyone outside of China hasn't seen this movie.  Don't worry, China, it'll be released in your country this Saturday.  But just in case there are a few of you that still haven't seen it yet, be warned! ***SPOILERS AHEAD!!!***

Like I said in the title for this piece, there is one particular First Order Stormtrooper that has become a fan favorite.  He is the Z-6 Riot Control Baton Stormtrooper, and because of his one and only line in the film (in it he yells, "Traitor!" to Finn) he has been designated TR-8R by fans.  If you don't know why, say it out loud, and compare it to his line from the film.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Slashfilm noticed that the book "Before The Awakening," which gives us some backstory tales for Rey, Poe Dameron, and Finn.  The one involving Finn is the one that may give us the identity of who TR-8R really is.  In the story, Finn goes through his Stormtrooper training with three others in his squadron.  They are FN-2199, or "Nines", FN-2000, called "Zero", and FN-2003, who goes by "Slip".  According to the "Visual Dictionary," "Slip" is the Stormtrooper that dies at the beginning of the film, and smears his blood onto Finn's mask, causing Finn to second guess everything that's going on around him.  This sets Finn on his journey to escape from the First Order and help Poe escape from his captivity.

When Finn meets up with the Z-6 Riot Control Baton Stormtrooper, and he yells, "Traitor!" at Finn, he does it with such anger and emotion that it is being speculated that this Stormtrooper is either "Nines" or "Zero."  This would make sense, seeing as he was able to match Finn's fighting style and did so with such force...no pun intended.  If TR-8R was one of the two Stormtroopers from Finn's squad, it would give the fight scene between them a whole new level of importance.  Not necessarily for the story as a whole, but at least between the two fighting.

This theory hasn't been confirmed, but with all of the stories that are coming out to fill in the gaps between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, this one certainly seems to be a plausible one.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is currently being shown in theaters.

Spider-Man To Get New Eyes?

This doesn't have anything to do with this article, but is Spider-Man going to show up in the Avengers: Infinity Wars movie(s)?  I just wanted to throw out this question, because I think it needs asking...

One of the things that Disney has been able to do pretty well with it's production companies is keep certain things close to their chest.  They did it with their Lucasfilm movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens by not revealing anything about Luke Skywalker's role in the film, and now they are doing the same thing with Marvel's Captain America: Civil War in regards to Spider-Man.  We haven't seen even a photograph of the wall crawler in anything that has to do with this movie.  However, with the film just a little under five months away from being released here in the States, we are getting bits and pieces of things that may involve Spider-Man's new look.  The amazing (yes, I used that word on purpose) thing about these little reveals are that they are coming from the Russo brothers themselves.  Check out the pic below that they posted:

 

                                                
Can you figure out what this is a picture of?  Evan Valentine from Comicbook.com thinks that they are the part of the eyes on Spider-Man's new costume.  He's dubbed them "Shutter Eyes."  Valentine thinks that the purpose of these on the new suit is so if he needs to "emote when chatting with other super powered folks around him" he'll be able to do so without having to take off his mask...like Andrew Garfield's Spidey did.  Constantly.  Really, was there anyone in New york that didn't know that Peter Parker was the Amazing Spider-Man?  In the comic books, his expressions were able to be shown to us through the artists rendering of the mask, but that's harder to do with an actual, physical suit.  This may be one way they've come up with to fix this problem.

Whether or not this comes to pass, or if it's just something that we will see in this movie, we'll just have to wait and see.  It's been rumored that Spider-Man will don more than one costume in the movie, so even if we do see these "Shutter Eyes" in this film, they may not carry over to his costume in his first Marvel stand-alone film.

Captain America: Civil War hits theaters May 6, 2016.

Is This Guy The Next Green Lantern?

Do you know who this guy is?  Chances are, you don't.  His name is Dan Amboyer, and he's more known for is stage performances than he is for anything else.  That's not to say he hasn't done any film work.  He's been in William and Catherine: A Royal Romance, Love The Coopers, and Lily in the Grinder.  Don't feel bad if you haven't seen any of these productions...neither have I, and I don't plan on it, either.  But get to know his face, because he could quite possibly be the next Green Lantern in the DCCU.  Oh yeah, that stands for "DC Cinematic Universe."  I'll use that going forward from now on.

Why do people think that this guy is going to be the next Green Lantern?  Well, to be honest, he might actually show up in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice film as Hal Jordan.  He may even show up as the Green Lantern himself, already friends with Barry Allen (a.k.a. the Flash) near the end of the movie!  This is pretty big news, considering that the next Green Lantern movie isn't expected until 2020!  So what's going on over at Warner Brothers and DC?

First of all, this guy was one of the actors that was being talked about for this role for a while now.  Fanboy's have been clamoring for this guy to fill in the gap for a superhero role, too.  Also, the fact that he's been hitting the gym now for some time says that he's been preparing for a role that may be pretty huge, leading me to believe that it's for the Hal Jordan role.

This is all speculation, but with the schedule he's been following and the lack of people refuting these rumors, don't be surprised if he's getting in shape for a role that will put him in league with some of the world's finest superheroes!  

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice comes out March 26, 2016.

"One Of The Best Marvel Movies Ever"

That was what James Gunn had to say about the upcoming Captain America: Civil War.

Gunn recently sat down for a small Q and A on Facebook, and the the topic of Marvel's Phase Three came up.  When it did, he said that the next Captain America film is "incredible, it's one of the best Marvel movies ever," and that he "can't believe what a wonderful job the Russo brothers did."  That's some pretty impressive praise coming from the writer/director of Guardians of the Galaxy.  That movie turned out to be one of the best movies Marvel has put out, and continues to be a favorite among fans, so for it's movie creator to say that the next Captain America film will be one of the best Marvel movies ever is really saying something.  He also said that the cast was amazing and that Tom Holland, who will be playing Spider-Man for the first time in a MCU movie, is "off the charts awesome" and "amazing."

Captain America: Civil War will be introducing viewers to some of the next characters to join the Avengers during Marvel's Phase Three.  Some of these characters are going to be Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel.  The Wasp will also be joining Ant-Man in his follow up movie.

People really need movies that they are excited about and are looking forward to being released.  It's fun to speculate and talk about, and when it's finally released it's fun to see it in a theater filled with people that share your same love of the character and franchise.  Now that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finally come out, people are looking towards the next big movie to be released to wonder about, and it's turning out to be Civil War.  One of the reasons for this is because of the introduction of Spider-Man, but I think that the real reason that people are looking forward to this is because it's going to pit hero against hero, and everyone has their favorite between Captain America and Iron Man, which the focus of the movie seems to be on.

Expect a lot more rumors and speculation and theories about this film over the coming months.  They won't stop until the movie is actually released.  That'll happen May 6, 2016.