Rumor: Bale offered $60 million to play Batman again

As you may have heard by now, the sequel to Man of Steel will feature Batman vs Superman. The big question has been who will play Batman. A few names have been tossed around, including Orlando Bloom and Josh Brolin. However, a new rumor suggests that Warner Bros. is willing to pull out all the stops to bring back Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader. It's good news for fans of the Nolan films, and the arrival of Superman on Earth could be a good reason to bring Bruce Wayne out of retirement.

News: Jurassic Park, Norman Osborn and more!

There's some awesome news this week for several franchises, starting with one of my childhood favorites: Jurassic Park 4 has finally found a director. Plus, Guardians of the Galaxy has cast another character and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has added yet another major character, and we can finally see Amy Adams as Lois Lane. It's after the jump.

LEGO gives more hints at summer Super Heroes

The first official images of this summer's LEGO Marvel and DC Universe Super Heroes sets are surfacing, and they're full of hints and spoilers for Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel. Iron Man: Extremis Sea Port Battle has Iron Man and War Machine chasing after Aldrich Killian in a speedboat. It looks like Guy Pearce's Killian in going to be trying out Extremis on himself, based on the minifigure's face. That's a change from the comic storyline.
Next, is Iron Man vs. The Mandarin: Ultimate Battle. It looks like it's final showdown of the film and features Tony Stark in the rumored Heartbreaker armor. The questionable accuracy of LEGO sets hopefully means the Mandarin won't be driving around in a flame-throwing buggy. Man of Steel and the big spoiler for Iron Man 3 are after the jump.

'Man of Steel' trailer shows off moody Superman

Here's a full-length trailer for Zach Synder's take on Superman. Snyder is responsible for the visually spectacular Sucker Punch, as well as the comic-based 300 and Watchmen. I actually liked Sucker Punch, though it certainly had problems. However, this time around, DC has Christopher (Dark Knight) Nolan producing, and it's definitely given the movie a dark and brooding feel. I'm just not sure that's a good thing. There's not enough Amy Adams here, that's for sure. Of course, it's too early to tell what any of this means, but it's unfortunate this trailer doesn't have the same "F*** Yeah," quality seen in last week's Star Trek Into Darkness trailer. Also, there's a shot-by-shot breakdown over on io9.

Catwoman, Dwarves and Superman

Here are three images from upcoming films that I believe warrant a closer look. First--and possibly the most exciting--is this hi-resolution look at Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises. I like the practical look of Hathaway's costume. Unlike some versions of Catwoman, it doesn't look ridiculous. I'm also glad to see the return of the Batpod, and I wonder if Bruce Wayne will be sharing the technology or whether Catwoman will be "borrowing" it from Wayne Enterprises.

Casting updates and links

Since I last posted about anything about casting, almost the entire Hunger Games cast has been filled in. There's an unremarkable announcement for Zach Snyder's Superman reboot, which is now titled Man of Steel. Also, there's a suspiciously mundane press release for The Dark Knight Rises.

My March reading recap

I didn't end up reading as much as I'd wanted to in March. There's one big reason for this, and some other things got in the way as well. I'm hoping a lighter schedule this quarter will let me read more on my own. Of course, this month's all ready a third gone, so I'd better get on that right away. But if you want to see what I read for fun, it's after the jump.

A collection of updates

It's been a while since I posted any links, though it's not like anything particularly Earth-shattering has happened over the last week or so. There's some Warner Brothers news about the future of their comic franchises, news on Ron Howard's The Dark Tower, and a small item on The Hobbit. Oh, and there's more casting for The Hunger Games. It's all after the jump, so click on ahead.

A few updates

It's time for some updates to things I seem to be making a habit of posting about. Today, that would be The Hobbit, Hunger Games, Superman, and Wonder Woman. I'll start with this first set photo from The Hobbit of Peter Jackson in Bag End. It's great that it looks exactly the same as it did in The Lord of the Rings, since I'm guessing they had to rebuild completely rebuild it. Also, PJ looks more like a hobbit than ever. That makes me wonder what his cameos will be this time around.

Avengers and other superheroes

There's just so many cool little tidbits of information floating around. For example, who knew I'd ever consider news even remotely Justin Bieber-adjacent to be worth reporting? Or care about anything related to Kevin Costner?