Undercover Latverian.

Superhero Hype! posts what’s purported to be the first official pic of Victor Von Doom in Fantastic Four, but all I’m seeing is a guy in a suit. Please don’t tell me they’re foregoing the mask…that’d be the worst costuming decision since Willem DeFoe’s static faceplate in Spiderman. Slightly more promising are these new pics from Batman Begins, which include Ken Watanabe as Ras Al Ghul and Tom Wilkinson as a mafioso.

Filming the Fantasy Shelf.

Much recent news on fantasy-fiction-to-film projects has materialized of late: Christopher Nolan preps for The Prestige post-Batman, WETA readies Prince Caspian as the second film in the Narnia series (after The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe), and director Chris Weitz discusses his adaptation of His Dark Materials.

Joey and the Bat / Gary vs. the Empire.

In the fanboy bin, Bruce Wayne’s girl-of-the-moment Katie Holmes talks a little about Batman Begins, and Gary Oldman opts out of Revenge of the Sith due to its being a non-SAG production.

Prince of Gotham, son of Krypton.

The first pics of Ken Watanabe as Ras Al Ghul in Batman Begins have been posted on a Japanese site. And, if you prefer your Caped Crusader with a side of Supes, the fan trailer for World’s Finest (by Sandy Collora, the guy who made the somewhat goofy Batman: Dead End short running around awhile back) is now also available. Yeah, the acting’s pretty substandard here, but I have to say, I sorta prefer the Collora cowl to the rubber suit look they’re going with in Chris Nolan’s film.

Prince of Gotham, King of the World.

In the movie bin, some some news of a Batman Begins teaser (and a first look at Liam Neeson), and James Cameron speaks about his top-secret 3D Sci-Fi project, now starring Brian Cox. If Cameron is really serious about resurrecting 80’s action film stars, one of his favorites, Michael Biehn, is probably waiting by the phone…