In the land of Detective Comics, Zack Snyder’s Superman (a.k.a. Henry Cavill) gets a foster mom in Diane Lane — word is she joins Kevin Costner as Pa Kent. David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman (a.k.a. Adrienne Palicki) gets a nemesis in Elizabeth Hurley. And Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises gets a possible plot revealed by Devin Faraci. Major story spoilers if true. (It sounds very plausible to me.)
Tag: DC
Bruce Gets Incepted.
Gotham in Limbo? Take it for what it’s worth, but rumors abound that Inception alums Joseph Gordon-Levitt (long rumored as Joker 2.0) and Marion Cotillard have both joined Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises (which already includes Tom Hardy and Michael Caine), as Alberto Falcone and Talia Al-Ghul respectively. In movie terms, that would mean the son of Tom Wilkinson and the daughter of Liam Neeson from the first film, but I’m only familiar with the latter character.
Englishman in Metropolis.
“In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time, and I am honored to be a part of his return to the big screen. I also join Warner Bros., Legendary and the producers in saying how excited we are about the casting of Henry. He is the perfect choice to don the cape and S shield.“
Meanwhile, over on the DC side of things, Sorry Brandon Routh (and the Legion of Jon Hamm Fans): Zack Snyder’s Superman has found its Man of Steel in Henry Cavill, formerly of The Tudors. (The photoshopped Cavill-El above was found here.) I don’t really know the guy, but I hear good things.
Beauty and the Beast.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story…I am [also] delighted to be working with Tom again and excited to watch him bring to life our new interpretation of one of Batman’s most formidable enemies.“
So, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises (still a bad name) has announced its villains: Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane. (Not Hugo Strange, as it turns out — wires must’ve gotten crossed somewhere with Arkham City.)
Hathaway and Hardy…that’s not bad. I still might’ve preferred Marion Cotillard or Olivia Wilde for Selina Kyle, but I’ll give Hathaway the benefit of the doubt. And, while I’m not much excited about Bane as a villain, I’ll concede that I haven’t read the definitive take on the character (which is, apparently, Knightfall), and that he might actually be less of a one-note, musclebound oaf than he’s seemed in Batman and Robin and other venues.
Silent Knight.
Cheer up, Bruce, it’s Christmas! Happy holidays to you and yours, from Berk, Bats, and GitM.
Hammer and Prongs.
Metallica roadie or Norse God of Thunder? Chris “Papa Kirk” Hemsworth finds himself stuck inside of Midgard with the Asgard blues again in the teaser for Kenneth Branagh’s Thor, also with Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Ray Stevenson, Clark Gregg, Kat Dennings, Colm Feore, Rene Russo, Jaimie Alexander, Stellan Skarsgard, and Idris Elba. Hmmm. Like the forthcoming Green Lantern over on the DC side, this looks rather cheesy…but maybe Loki will be fun.
Meanwhile, a more promising upcoming comic creation announces its main villain — one who’s also potentially featured in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises — in this impressive trailer for Batman: Arkham City, due out next fall. Looks great, and Arkham Asylum is both very fun and a totally immersive Batman experience. But, while I get that they’re riffing on Call of Duty: Black Ops here (and take that, Sam Fisher), I’m already way over the recent trend towards interrogation scenes in my gaming.
Cackling into the Night.
“‘The idea is to use these fragments of cut scenes and use CGI to have The Joker appear one last time,’ a source explained. ‘Chris wants some continuity between movies and for the franchise to pay tribute to Heath and his portrayal of the Joker.‘”
Take for what it worth, but a New Zealand paper is reporting that Chris Nolan will give Heath Ledger’s Joker one final bow at some point in The Dark Knight Rises. “‘It would only be a fleeting moment in the movie and would only be included with the full consent of Heath’s family,’ the source added.” Perhaps an after-the-final-credits flourish? Update: Or not. “‘That’s all wrong,’ said the writer-director.“
Fruits of the Hallows.
With young Master Potter set to commence his crying jags through the wilderness at midnight, the Deathly Hallows crop of trailers has sprung…
- Dashing fighter pilot Ryan Reynolds is commissioned by a dying alien to defend Sector 2814, and maybe do some wisecracking along the way, in our first look at Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern, also with Blake Lively (who seems reallll bored), Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Robbins, and Mark Strong. Hmm, ok. Sinestro, Kilowogg, and Tomar-Re all look solid, but the tone seems a bit FF-ish to me…This could go either way at this point. (For those looking to take it frame-by-frame, here are the screencaps.)
- Amanda Seyfried romps in the forest with teenage werewolves (Shiloh Fernandez, Max Iron) as Gary Oldman, Virginia Madsen and Julie Christie look to make some mortgage payments in the trailer for Catherine Hardwick’s Twilight-ish take on Red Riding Hood, Yeah, no thanks.
- Special Agent Michael Caine joins the Radiator Springs gang for a world-spanning Bondish adventure in the trailer for John Lasseter and Brad Bird’s Cars 2. I know Pixar doesn’t make bad films, but the first Cars is probably my least favorite of the bunch. Still, I’m probably in.
- Jason Statham is Charles Bronson — eh, never mind ,no he isn’t — in the trailer for Simon West’s remake of The Mechanic, also with Ben Foster and Donald Sutherland. Maybe on Spike TV someday, I guess.
- Slacker knights James Franco and Danny McBride team up with badass warrior Natalie Portman to save Zooey Deschanel from the clutches of an evil wizard in the trailer for David Gordon Green’s Ren Faire raunchfest Your Highness, also with Justin Theroux (as said wizard), Damien Lewis, and Toby Jones. Unfortunately, with the exception of that ridiculous weed-puffing muppet at the end, this looked aggressively stupid to me.
- And, in the most promising of the lot, it’ll be a bad day at Black Rock when the ETs come to town in the impressive trailer for Jon Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens, with Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, Paul Dano, and a seemingly engaged, not-drunk Harrison Ford (perhaps reprising his character from The Frisco Kid?) I have to say, this looks surprisingly solid to me.
Riddles and Rivets, Kiwis and Cats.
“‘We’ll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we’ll be introducing some new ones,’ Nolan said cryptically.” Lots of big doings on the fanboy front recently: First up, the next Batman movie has a (lousy) title: The Dark Knight Rises, and Chris Nolan has announced the Riddler will not be the villain. (He earlier wrote off Mr. Freeze.) So whomever Tom Hardy turns out to be, it’s not Edward Nigma. (My current guess is he’s Killer Croc, with a yet-to-be-cast Catwoman as the main villain.)
Riddles may not feature in Gotham, but they will soon be spun in deepest Wellington: In happy news, New Zealand will be returning as Middle Earth for the upcoming Hobbit films. “‘Making the two movies here will not only safeguard work for thousands of New Zealanders, but will also allow us to follow the success of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy in once again promoting New Zealand on the world stage,’ [Prime Minister!] Key said.“
Those are the two big upcoming guns. But, also on the docket, James Cameron officials signs up for two more Avatars for 2014 and 2015. Well…ok. I can think of other worlds I’d rather see him tackle than Pandora again.
And, with Black Swan opening very soon, Darren Aronofsky announces his next project (after, um, Wolverine 2), will be called Machine Man. “Machine Man, not to be confused with the Marvel Comics character, concerns a tech engineer who, tired of going through life average and unnoticed, replaces parts of his body with titanium upgrades of his own design. He then discovers that he isn’t the only one with plans for his new body.“
Tales of the Big Three.
While work has been kicking my ass like Doomsday on a tear through Metropolis, some big doings for the Big Three on the comic-to-film front. To wit:
- Marc Webb’s Spiderman revamp gets a Gwen Stacey in the very Mary Jane Watson-ish Emma Stone (of Easy A and Zombieland) and a villain to menace Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker in Rhys Ifans, most recently of Greenberg and Exit Through the Gift Shop. Apparently, Ifans is playing Curt Connors, a.k.a. the Lizard. Both solid casting (if Stone can pull off blonde), but, honestly, what’s Dylan Baker gotta do to catch a break?
- Meanwhile in DC land, the Nolan-produced Superman reboot has locked down a director in…Zack Snyder. “The character of Superman needs to be relevant again, without disrespecting his mythology. That’s my goal.” Well, Snyder has shown he knows how to recreate comic storyboards in 300 and Watchmen, but he still doesn’t seem like a great fit for this franchise to me. We’ll see.
- Over in Nolan’s Gotham City, word breaks that Tom Hardy of Bronson and Inception will be playing a lead role in Batman 3, which likely means the villain. The Riddler? The Penguin? Black Mask? Killer Croc (to go along with the New Orleans location shooting?) At this point, I’m only ruling out Catwoman and Poison Ivy.