Tagged: Captain America

Captain America Hulks Out

Captain America Hulks Out

A while back, The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier claimed that a scene was shot in which Bruce Banner travels in the arctic. In the scene, the filmmaker hid one heck of a red, white and blue easter egg: Captain America buried beneath the ice, shield and all. The film’s producer Gale Anne Hurd later denied the claim, saying that "Captain America was not visible in that scene."

Welp, time to call bull puckey on that line of defense. Film School Rejects got their mittens on a copy of the Incredible Hulk DVD (available on October 21 and one we’ll be reviewing here soon) and watched the scene in question. Sure enough, Steve Rogers himself is indeed in the film, though you might need a magnifying glass and a few stiff drinks to catch the cameo.

Towards the end of the 2:25 long scene, an avalanche occurs that crashes at the camera. It’s during this sequence that Captain America’s star-spangled body can be seen just beneath the ice. Looks like Letterier has won this round, Ms. Hurd.

For those keeping track, this marks three direct references to Captain America in the Marvel Studios film lore thus far. In Iron Man, there’s a brief shot featuring the fabled Avenger’s shield in Tony’s workshop. In Hulk, there are two mentions of Corporal Rogers: the use of "super soldier serum" by Emil Blonksy and, of course, the hero’s newly discovered icy tomb.

If these references are to be taken as canon, then Hulk‘s snowy prologue takes place before the events of Iron Man, since Steve’s shield is buried beneath the ice. That implies that Rogers’ body was discovered at some point between the two films, possibly before Tony Stark is fully immersed as Iron Man. Keeping the two films’ endings in mind, namely Tony’s encounter with Nick Fury and his conversation with General Ross, it’s possible that The Avengers are already in place by the time The Incredible Hulk concludes. Perhaps, then, the superhero team-up feature will take place soon after Hulk’s ending with the Avengers pursuing the Jade Giant.

So, has Marvel tipped its hand and revealed how the cards are falling together on screen, or do we just have too much time on our hands? Tell us what you think below!

Routh to ‘Return’ as Superman?

Routh to ‘Return’ as Superman?

The DC movie goodness keeps rolling in and for the second day in a row, Latino Review is spilling the beans.

At Monday’s Watchmen presentation in New York City, which you can read about here, the Web site’s Kellvin Chavez had the opportunity to speak with DC Comics President Paul Levitz. Over the course of the candid conversation, Levitz revealed something quite interesting about the oft-whispered Superman reboot.

According to the site, Levitz stated: "[Previous Superman] Brandon Routh has come around the offices in New York and Los Angeles as of late to talk about Superman and what we want to do."

This is the highest profile indication that the newest live-action Superman film would include members of the lukewarmly received Superman Returns. Chavez’s report continues to mention that "Mr. Levitz made it seem … that [DC Comics and Warner Bros.] loves Brandon Routh as Clark Kent and that he’s just a great guy."

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Road to Ultimatum

Road to Ultimatum

Last week, Marvel released a free comic enitlted March on Ultimatum Saga, a basic guide to the history of the Ultimate Marvel Earth and its heroes. Although one or two of the facts reported are in question (as I discussed in my article Where Have All The Editors Gone?), it is an appropriate release when you consider that the Ultimate Marvel titles are supposed to suffer a dramatic change as a result of the crossover Ultimatum.

But in case you missed out on this issue, don’t worry. Marvel has put it up as a digital comic on their website. So if you’re a paid subscriber to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, this issue is just a few clicks away.

Didn’t read the story arc featuring Ultimate Carnage? Missed out on what’s been revealed so far in Ultimate Origins?Curious where the heck Ultimate Nick Fury disappeared to? The answers are all there.

ComicBookResources.com has also posted preview pages of Ultimate Origins #5, which will lead into Ultimatum.

Ultimatum #1, written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by David Finch, will be on sale the first week of November. If you missed out on the free comic and don’t feel like paying for the online subscription, here’s a quick rundown of just a couple of the recent major events that you should be aware of.

 

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Guitar Hero: ComicMix Edition

Guitar Hero: ComicMix Edition

Gaming website Kotaku recently reported that Stan Bush wanted his song “The Touch” from the classic, animated Transformers: The Movie in Guitar Hero or Rock Band music videogames. We couldn’t agree more. It’s a rockin’ song that we’d love to play on our fake plastic instruments with our friends.

But why stop with one Transformers song? ComicMix is all about “all types of fantastic media, from comic books television and movies to video games and more.” So Activision and EA, we humbly submit… Scratch that. We demand you make a ComicMix edition of your games for the nerdcore rocker audience.

Our setlist is below. Yeah, we know it’s heavy on Superman. But rockers love the Last Son of Krypton. Send the royalty checks to our offshore PayPal account.

·         “Superman” by 3 Doors Down

·         “Spider-Man” by The Ramones

·         “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult

·         “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” by The Spin Doctors

·         “Catch Me Now I’m Falling (This Is Captain America Calling)” by The Kinks

·         “Thundercats Intro”

·         “I Am Superman” by R.E.M.

·         “Buffy Theme” by Nerf Herder

·         “Star Wars Imperial March (Leviathan Remix)” by Rage Against the Machine

·         “Batdance” by Prince

·         TMNT II “Ninja Rap” by Vanilla Ice

·         “Crank Dat/Superman” by Soulja Boy

·         “Flash” by Queen

It goes without saying, we want reader suggestions in the comments below.

Where Have All The Editors Gone?

Where Have All The Editors Gone?

Something is going on in comic books. Have you noticed? It’s been happening for a few years now. For some reason, certain comics are not making sense with the rest of the established universe and history. For some reason, things that don’t make sense have been running rampant throughout the fictional realities of DC and Marvel.

Have you noticed it? Sure you have. I’m not the only one, right?

Have you checked out DC Decisions #2? It’s very interesting. Guy Gardner is on Earth rather than Oa. And Power Girl is around instead of still trapped on the new Earth-2. Does this story take place before the current JSA storyline? Or afterward? It would be nice to be told in a brief footnote.

Then there’s the recent Hawkman Special where Carter Hall was told that his memories of being the Ancient Egyptian Prince Khufu were a lie and it basically was said that Khufu couldn’t have existed. Okay, um, wait a second. Black Adam and the wizard Shazam were both there and lived alongside Khufu. And the JSA actually went on a time travel mission a couple of years ago and worked with Khufu against a younger Vandal Savage. How can all of that be explained by false memories? Has the entire JSA been infected with identical delusions?

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‘The Avengers’ get Assembled & Animated

‘The Avengers’ get Assembled & Animated

Marvel Comics sent out a press release this morning announcing that production has begun on a new animated series, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

Film Roman (King of the Hill) has begun working on the 26 30-minute episodes which will air on television in 2011, in the wake of The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers live-action films scheduled for that summer. Ciro Nieli will produce the show for the studio.  He’s no stranger to action considering his work on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go! and Teen Titans. Christopher Yost will be script editor and his credits include Iron Man Armored Adventures and Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes.

As a result, there’s little surprise that the line-up resembles the film properties and the very first line-up of the team from 1963: Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man (called Giant Man in the release but clearyl wearing the cybernetic helmet), Wasp, and Hulk. Captain America joined the team with the fourth issue but will be here from the outset.

"The addition of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to our quickly expanding animation slate continues our plan to complement each of our tentpole live action features with an animated series," said Eric Rollman, President of Animation.  "This new ensemble series tracks perfectly with our highly anticipated ‘road to the Avengers’ strategy which includes some of Marvel’s biggest and most beloved characters, and which kicks off with two Avengers’ themed feature films in summer 2011.”

While the super-team has been seen on countless Marvel-related series in the past, this will be the first series they can call their own.  Previously, Lionsgate released two animated direct-to-DVD releases based on The Ultimates although branded as Avengers.

Marvel is making major inroads into animation after years of little production. BET will have the Black Panther in early 2009 while later that year Nicktoons will air Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man: Armored Adventures. Also coming is Marvel Super Hero Squad, whatever that is.
 

Marvel Schedules 4 Films for California Studios

Marvel Schedules 4 Films for California Studios

Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers are now scheduled to film at Raleigh Productions in Manhattan Beach, California.

The facility has 14 soundstages and 300,000 square feet of office and support space, making it perfect to mount the four films over the next three years given the shared personnel and even props and cast if all goes as anticipated.

Louis D’Esposito, Marvel’s president of physical production, told Variety that Raleigh had been "incredibly accommodating in terms of financial structures".
 

First Avenger Plot Revealed

First Avenger Plot Revealed

The boys over Film School Rejects discovered the plot to The First Avenger: Captain America which was printed in the latest issue of Production Weekly, an industry trade publication.

“Born during the Great Depression, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth in a poor family. Horrified by the newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to enlist in the army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea, General Chester Phillips offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment… Operation: Rebirth. After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the ‘Super-Soldier Serum’ and bombarded by ‘vita-rays.’ Steve Rogers emerged from the treatment with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program. Three months later, he was given his first assignment as Captain America. Armed with his indestructible shield and battle savvy, Captain America has continued his war against evil both as a sentinel of liberty and leader of the Avengers.”

The film is written by Hawk Ostby (Iron Man) and Zak Penn (The Incredible Hulk) clearly inspired by the first Captain America story by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby back in 1940. No director or cast has been announced but Marvel and Paramount Pictures recently reconfirmed that the movie will open May 6th 2011.

 

Marvel Ready to Rock Fan Expectations

Marvel Ready to Rock Fan Expectations

The recent Ultimate Origins mini-series has been delving into the past of the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Now at last, we’ve learned how many of the heroes and super-humans of this reality are related and interconnected. We’ve learned the startling secrets of the creation of the mutant gene and Mutant Zero, we’ve seen the initial transformation of the Hulk and how he was responsible for the deaths of Peter Parker’s parents (although writer Brian Michael Bendis recently denied this at Batlimore Comic-Con, the recent March on Ultimatum one-shot confirms it). We’ve seen the secrets of Nick Fury and learned that he’s been around since World War II.

But most startling about the Ultimate Origins mini is the sub-plot that takes place in the present-day. A Watcher has appeared, a strange device with a single eye that claims to be part of a hive-culture. The first Watcher appeared on Earth when Captain America, the first true post-human of the Ultimate Marvel Universe, recieved his enhanced abilities. Now hundreds of Watchers are appearing all over Earth. Which means that something catastrophic is coming.

They didn’t show up during the coming of Gah Lak Tus. What could be coming now that is worse?

Possibly the end of human civilization. Magneto is back. He’s angry. He has a plan. And he may have already defeated Thor.

The story is Ultimatum, a new mini-series written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by David Finch. The tagline is simple. "For what they’ve done, they will have to pay the ultimate price." Rumors abound how much this will change the Ultimate Universe and alredady some are whispering that characters will die and titles will be cancelled. Be on the look out.

But Ultimatum isn’t the only thing Marvel is throwing at us. It has recently been revealed through a leaked cover image that the New Avengers line-up, following Secret Invasion, is likely to include Wolverine, Spider-Man, Ronin, Luke Cage and the new Captain America (Bucky Barnes). Wonder who’s gonna be on Dark Avengers if they didn’t pick up Wolverine.

And in his most recent Cup o’ Joe on Myspace, Joe Quesada talks about Deadpool, Madelyne Pryor, Secret Invasion and how the Malibu characters are not coming back anytime soon.

Iron Man – A Video Game History

Iron Man – A Video Game History

Today, the world will be purchasing the wildly successful Iron Man film on DVD and Blu-ray and to commemorate the event, we’re taking a look at the hero’s history in videogames.  While his feature film debut was acclaimed by comic fans and critics alike, his video game appearances, while many in number, are spotty at best. Let’s take a look at what ol’ shellhead brought to screens before Downey filled his tin boots.

Captain America and the Avengers – 1991 (Arcade, NES), 1992 (Sega Genesis), 1993 (SNES, Sega Game Gear), 1994 (Gameboy)

Tony’s first appearance was in the arcades in 1991 in a side scrolling beat ‘em up adventure.  He may not have gotten top billing, but he along with Hawkeye, Vision and (obviously) Cap roamed the US bashing baddies like the Wizard and Tornado in an effort to defeat the Red Skull.  It was pretty standard fare as far as action games go: just continue to the right of the screen, defeat miscellaneous thugs and continue to the boss characters.  The formula worked for the time (when brawlers like Double Dragon and Streets of Rage were all the…um…rage) but the home console ports didn’t fare as well. The first on Genesis wasn’t able to match the arcades sounds (not that “Avengers Assemble” and “Oh No!” needed to sound better when repeated ad nauseum) and the control was severely lacking. The SNES version a year later was slightly better graphically, but was still a bit maddening in the control department.  Oddly enough, the best version was on the lower powered NES…but that version only let you select Cap and Hawkeye, as the plot was changed slightly to have you rescue Iron Man and Vision from the grips of the Mandarin. Weird.

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