Ranking the Marvel Universe

It's been a while since I posted, and since I've missed out on reviewing the last couple of entries into the Marvel Universe, I figured I'd do what everyone else is doing and rank the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, based on the incredibly objective scale that is my own personal preferences.

Movie News: New suit for Captain America and more!

Lots of news on the movie front, especially from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Get a look at some revealing concept art after the jump. Plus, a Star Trek actor joins Guardians of the Galaxy. Click on.

Comic Movie News: Captain America and more!

It's been a while since I collected up all of the Comic Book Movie news that I've missed, so here goes. Someone else is returning for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel's looking at some big names for Guardians of the Galaxy, there's a new rumor about the Justice League movie, and a non-Superhero comic is getting a film. Click ahead to read all about it.

Marvel going all out Iron Patriot

It looks like Marvel is re-launching the Iron Patriot across all three of their universes. Early set photos from the filming of Iron Man 3 first revealed the character, which was revealed at ComicCon this summer to be the new look for Don Cheadle's War Machine. For those not aware, Iron Patriot (think Iron Man with a Captain America paint-job) initially debuted in the comics during the Dark Reign storyline as Norman Osborn (aka, the Green Goblin, it's a long story). Of course, the film rights to Osborn belong to Sony along with Spider-man, so that particular story won't be appearing on film, and thus the spangled armor has been passed to War Machine. Not only that, but it appears Iron Patriot is getting a comic makeover as well.

Ultimates #16 makes Cap President

There will be spoilers in this post. Today's news reinforces why I read Ultimate Comics. Marvel revealed that Sam Humphries Ultimates series will see Captain America become President of the United States in next week's issue #16. Like killing Peter Parker, this is the type of event that couldn't happen in any mainstream continuity (also, Superman couldn't be POTUS. See: Birth Certificate). In Ultimates #9, a human bomb exploded on the floor of Congress, destroying most of Washington DC. Meanwhile, anti-mutant sentinels and militias tore the Southwest apart and the West Coast formed an independent state, leaving the new President's work cut out for him. Comic Book Resources has a preview of the interior pages, and I love the press is calling him President Cap. Of course this raises a lot of questions. Will he keep Carol Danvers as Chief of Staff? Will Tony Stark finally get to be Secretary of Defense? Anyway, if you want to catch up on the newsest run of the Ultimates, the first two volumes are out in trades: Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Update: The Washington Post has an article worth checking out.

Breaking: Anthony Mackie to play Falcon in Winter Soldier

On the heels of ComicCon, the Hollywood Reporter has the news that Hurt Locker and Adjustment Bureau star Anthony Mackie is in negotiations to play Falcon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Mackie had previously expressed interest in the Black Panther role, but with that film not on the immediate horizon for Marvel, it seems talks have shifted. The Falcon, real name Sam Wilson, has been a supporting character in Captain America comics since he was introduced in 1969. The Falcon was significant in being the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics (Black Panther was a native African), as well the first black superhero not have the word "Black" in his name. Falcon played a major role in Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier storyline, soit won't be a surprise to see the character appear in the film.
In Marvel's mainstream universe, Falcon is a reformed criminal with the ability to telepathically communicate with birds. Meanwhile, his Ultimate universe counterpart is a genius SHIELD scientist. On film, I expect him fall more in line with the Ultimate version, the same treatment Hawkeye received in The Avengers.

Ultimate Falcon

Mainstream Falcon

ComicCon updates: Iron Man 3, Winter Soldier, Ant Man, Thor 2 and Rocket Raccoon!

Big news from Marvel's Iron Man 3 panel at ComicCon yesterday. The biggest for me? The Captain America sequel has been officially titled Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Meanwhile, Thor's sequel has been subtitled The Dark World, which tells considerably less about the film's plot. Iron Man's new Extremis armor has been revealed and speculation regarding the villain has been confirmed. Guardians of the Galaxy will indeed be the second 2014 Marvel film, and Edgar Wright showed off Ant-Man test footage, though there's still no release date. Details and my thoughts are all after the jump.

Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and more movies and comics

Iron Man 3 just started filming, and here's everything you need to know about it. Also, updates on Thor 2 and beyond. Other studios are moving on. Also, GI Joe 2 got moved, supposedly for 3D conversion. but there could be a different reason. It's all after the jump, and depending on the validity of certain rumors just might contain spoilers.

Marvel movie news

Hey, so The Avengers is coming out soon. You know what that means? Let look at what's coming out after. There's a few bits of news about upcoming Marvel superhero movies that have trickled out over the last few weeks. There are a ton of interviews from the set of The Avengers, along with a myriad of TV spots and couple of new clips.

How Marvel's "Ultimate Comics" relaunch did the things that DC should have

The only way you haven't heard about the DC Comics relaunch is if you've been living in the wilderness or you don't care about superhero comics. Either way, all you need to know is that DC restarted all 52 of their comic lines with the new #1 issues and varying changes to the characters and universe (Tor.com did a full look at the line, which can be found here). Similarly, you probably heard about the new Spider-man, who (stop the presses!) wasn't white. This new Spider-man appears in Marvel's Ultimate Universe as part of another reboot, where previous stories can be ignored and all the issues start over at #1.

Marvel launched the Ultimate universe in 2000 as an alternate continuity where they could retell familiar characters and storylines with a new spin. This reached its zenith with Mark Millar's take on the Avengers in The Ultimates 1 and 2 before crashing down with the Ultimatum storyline that killed half the characters. The line continued as Ultimate Comics for a few years, but sales were down and only Ultimate Comics Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis continued to do well, though Mark Millar's return the universe with Ultimate Comics Avengers is worth the read in my book. So Marvel decided to reboot the entire line again, but this time they didn't kill twenty famous characters, they just killed one. It was a gutsy move, killing the character that kept the line running for ten years, but apart from generating some free publicity, it highlighted the true strength of the Ultimate universe: Characters can die, and they'll stay dead.

Week Links: All sorts of awesome stuff

There's so much stuff to cover and I have so little time to do it. Seriously, I've actually had some work over the last week, which makes a nice change from the state of relative unemployment I've occupied since graduation. But in other news, I did make it to The Three Musketeers this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, I aware the movie basically terrible, but it was also pretty darn fun. Only time will tell, but it could find itself with G.I. Joe on the list of terrible movies that I watch when I want to have fun without needing to pay much attention. Anyway, I'm putting Musketeers at #9 for the year. I'll probably comes to my senses later. We'll see. Anyway, this weeks links are after the jump.

Week Links: Thor 2, Phantom Menace, and more

Today's link collection sees some news about the Thor sequel, information on that Phantom Menace re-release you were hoping wouldn't happen, some good news about Netflix, and a really pretty awesome scene from one of my favorite sitcoms. And it's been a busy week, so I'll keep this short.

Week Links: Dog cosplay, a virus and more Marvel

I had a super busy weekend, so today's links will be brief, with a teaser for a trailer and possibly the saddest--yet most awesome--dog alive. Also, I saw Real Steel. It wasn't bad for a robot boxing movie, though it lacked much of a second act, basically jumping from first to third. Still Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman turned in a solid performance and the movie ranks at #14 for the year.

Week Links: Arrested Development and more!

So, here's the secret to the "Week Links" posts: They are compiled over the weekend from the items I've saved in my Google Reader feed, plus any particularly awesome links that I've been emailed over the week. Then every now and again there's some breaking news at the last minute. That's what happened this week as the interwebs provided me with the following.

Quick links to awesome

It's been a while, so here's a few randomly cool movie and movie-related things I've been meaning to post for a while. It's The Dark Knight Rises, The Dark Tower, G.I. Joe 2, and Marvel's continuing plans for world domination, if you're interested. And why wouldn't you be? Click ahead to read all about it.

Dwarves, heroes, and other stuff

The dwarves from The Hobbit are revealed in all their bearded glory, news from Marvel on bringing their heroes to the screen, cool commentary by io9 on a TV show that shouldn't be good, awesome LEGO, and some steps toward becoming Iron Man or Captain America. That right, it's time for another collection of links from around the interwebs.