‘Venom’ Trailer Looks Intriguing — Except for Venom Itself

I hate Venom, the Marvel Comics villain-turned-anti-hero spun off from The Amazing Spider-Man, so I am definitely not the target audience for Venom, the movie. That would be 13-year-old boys who think the stylized hyper-violence of the comic is cool, and love the idea of a character whose costume is not only alive, but fights its wearer, Eddie Brock, for control over Brock’s body.

The new trailer for Venom was just leaked to the interwebs, compelling the studio to officially release it earlier than planned. Apparently far earlier than planned, because the worst thing about the clip is the appearance of Venom itself.

The title character is supposed to be a mix of actor and CGI, but it clearly needs to spend more time in rendering. Green Lantern also tried to pull this off back in 2011, and we all know what an unmitigated disaster that turned out to be!

This Sony film is centered on a Marvel character, but it is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (like the Avengers and Spider-Man), which is unfortunate because Venom’s comic book origin is intimately tied to Spidey and his supporting cast; with Peter Parker and pals off-limits, the movie has to manufacture a new origin for Venom, and it’s… weak.

It’s also part of this trailer. See what you think:

Disney Is Open to Making Fox-style R-rated Superhero Films

The senses-shattering news that Disney, home to Marvel Studios, has acquired 20th Century Fox‘s library was met with elation by many comic book fans, but the blockbuster deal also struck fear into the hearts of some, who worried that the family-friendly brand would neuter Deadpool’s famously NSFW aesthetic and turn the foul-mouthed and bloody murderer into someone acceptable at a small child’s tea party.

While not a promise, it sounds like Disney is at least willing to consider releasing R-rated superhero movies like Deadpool and Logan in the future — as long as they are segregated from the PG-13 heroes and the kiddie stuff.

It’s Official: Disney Buys 20th Century Fox Properties

The Walt Disney Company has announced that it is acquiring 21st Century Fox‘s film and television studios, cable entertainment networks and international TV businesses for $52.4 billion dollars.

But forget all that financial babble — all comic book fans want to know is: When will the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool be reunited with the House of Ideas? Well, it’s certainly going to happen, as Disney’s release stipulates:

“The agreement also provides Disney with the opportunity to reunite the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool with the Marvel family under one roof and create richer, more complex worlds of inter-related characters and stories that audiences have shown they love.”

Japanese ‘Black Panther’ Trailer Boasts New Footage

 

The just-released international trailer for Black Panther contains a significant amount of new footage and dialogue not seen in either version of the first domestic trailer, shedding more light on the characters and hinting at the film’s storyline.

We also get a slightly clearer look at Andy Serkis‘ villain — Ulysses Klaue a.k.a. the supervillain Klaw — using the sonic device on his left arm. (We saw his arm get chopped off in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.) There are also some nice shots of Michael B. Jordan as the film’s Big Bad, Erik Killmonger.

Does this new international trailer make you more excited to see Black Panther when it opens Feb. 16, 2018, in the USA and on March 1 in Japan?

Your First Look at Sophie Turner as Phoenix

The next installment in the long-running X-Men series, X-Men: Dark Phoenix will see the mutant heroes battling one of their own, telepath Jean Grey, when she is driven mad after being possessed by the Phoenix, an entity of nearly unlimited power.

Entertainment Weekly has the first images from next fall’s big movie, depicting star Sophie Turner (Sansa, GAME OF THRONES) as Phoenix. When she turns evil, she becomes known as Dark Phoenix.

According to director Simon Kinberg, the Phoenix force is awakened after a solar flare hits the team during a mission in space. First-time helmer Kinberg wrote and produced a number of previous X-flicks.

Here are EW‘s three exclusive images from the movie:

‘The New Mutants’ Film Scares Up its First Poster

This spring will see the debut of a new group of superheroes who are mutants, but not part of the X-Men, and their movie aims to be nothing like the complicated long-running franchise featuring their elders.

Today’s release of the creepy first poster for The New Mutants confirms that director Josh Boone is going all-in on something totally new: a superhero horror movie.

“We are making a full-fledged horror movie set within the X-Men universe,” Boone (The Fault in our Stars) said. “There are no costumes. There are no supervillains. We’re trying to do something very, very different.”

Debuting back in the 1980s, The New Mutants (created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod)  comic book series featured a handful of youngsters gathered by X-Men mentor Professor Xavier, who intended to teach them how to control their powers, but not for the purpose of being superheroes. However, events conspired to force the fledgling team into battle.

The First ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Trailer Is Here, and It Is Everything!

This is it: Every movie in the Marvel Studios line of superhero films has been leading up to Avengers: Infinity War, and the House of Ideas has finally dropped the first trailer promoting its ultimate achievement. If this movie tanks, all 18 films Marvel has put on the screen over the past 10 years will have been for nothing.

But from the looks of this trailer, AIW will not tank. In fact, it looks like the biggest, baddest superhero movie ever. It looks positively epic!

Not only do we get to see Peter Parker’s Spidey Sense make its franchise debut, we get a bearded Captain America, a blonde Black Widow, Thanos without his helmet, Doctor Strange, Loki wielding the Cosmic Cube… I mean, the Tesseract, the cool Black Panther — and those A-holes, the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Take a deep breath. Just breathe.

Ready for Another Revamp of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman?

Reboots, relaunches and reimaginings are all the rage at Marvel and DC, each of which seems to change the origins, powers and even universes of its superheroes on a near-monthly basis. And now, DC Comics brings us something a little… different. Yes, it’s a reimagining of their core Trinity — Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman — but it’s going to be Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as you’ve never seen them before.

Meet Milkman Man, Father Bruce and Wonder Wife, the Wholesome Trinity, courtesy of five one-shot issues from DC’s Young Animal imprint, beginning in January. In “Milk Wars,” DC’s regular Justice League and Doom Patrol take on strange doppelgangers created by RetCo, an interdimensional corporation that repackages reality by rewriting it as stories” for its clients.

Milkman Man is an even more upright, uptight version of Superman. Father Bruce has dedicated his life to orphans, while Wonder Wife is a Stepford Wives’ nightmare of a stereotypical 1950s housewife.

“Milk Wars,” which will last only about a month, kicks off with JLA/Doom Patrol Special #1, by Steve Orlando, Gerard Way, ACO, Magdalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew, which will be released on Jan. 31, 2018.

Deadpool Sequel’s NSFW Teaser: ‘Wet on Wet’

Deadpool, the “merc with a mouth,” is back, and he’s brought us a very NSFW painting lesson that pays loving tribute to the late Bob Ross more than it teases next summer’s Deadpool sequel.

There’s no way this should work, but Ryan Reynolds forces it to work through sheer commitment to the ludicrous material. He molds this into potty-humor gold.

Now I want to see the untitled Deadpool sequel more than ever! It drops June 1, 2018.

‘Black Panther’ Trailer Showcases Futuristic Wakanda

A double-dose of fantastic trailers for the forthcoming Black Panther movie was released today, setting the scene — quite literally, in Wakanda — for the latest solo movie starring one of the Avengers.

Both trailers highlight what an amazingly advanced society the hidden African nation Wakanda is — light-years ahead of Western society. Yet Wakanda is shrouded in mystery and mostly the stuff of rumors, which is exactly how the Wakandan people and their king. T’Challa, like it.