Ghost Rider 2 Shifts into High Gear

Hoping to catch the wave of publicity from The Sorcerer's Apprentice (sizing up to be Disney's latest bomb) Nicolas Cage has announced signing on to reprise his role as Ghost Rider in the sequel film subtitled Spirit of Vengeance.

According to scriptwriter David Goyer via MTV:

This story picks up eight years after the first film. You don't have to have seen the first film. It doesn't contradict anything that happened in the first film, but we're pretending that our audience hasn't seen the first film. It's as if you took that same character where things ended in the first film and then picked it up eight years later—he's just in a much darker, existential place.

Screenrant.com revealed a rumored plot in which Ghost Rider would go up against the demon biker gang seeking to resurrect the demon lord Zarathos. Sounds like a good time. The movie is supposed to start filming in November for a 2011/12 debut.

Who's in X-Men First Class?

Casting for X-Men: First Class is under way and things are already starting to get crowded. Its sounding like X3 all over again which along with numerous cameos had Professor X AKA 'Wheels', Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey AKA 'Phoenix in Name Only', Rogue, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Shadowcat, Colossus, Magneto, Mystique, Pyro, Juggernaut, Multiple Man, Arclight, Callisto, Quill, and Leech.

So far, the following have been cast for X0:

James McAvoy is Professor Charles Xavier AKA X

Michael Fassbender is Magneto

Alice Eve is Emma Frost - The White Queen

Mystique

Nicholas Hoult is Beast

Aaron Johnson is Cyclops

Lucas Till is Havok, brother of Cyclops

Caleb Landry Jones is Banshee

Kevin Bacon is rumored to be the villainous Mr. Sinister

Most likely we will also see other mutants such as Jean Grey and Storm who were core members in the previous X-Men films. Let the casting continue...

Marvelous Animation Tour - The Marvel Super Heroes (1966)

A tour through Marvel's animated history begins here.

Marvel's first entry debuted in 1966. The Marvel Super Heroes aired five times a week with a different hero taking the stage each night (each with his own theme song). The series pretty much consisted of straight adaptations of comic book series onto film. In fact, the animation costs were kept to a minimum by photocopying art from the comic pages and just animating the mouths.

Monday night belonged to Captain America (along with occasional Avengers team-ups)




Tuesday was Hulk night




Iron Man took the stage on Wednesday



Thor was all over Thursday



Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner finished the week on Friday



The X-men actually made their onscreen debut in the Prince Namor series, replacing the source story's Fantastic Four due to rights issues.

In all, 195 7-minute segments were produced for 65 episodes.

More (Zebraless) Green Lantern Movie Pics

Take a look at leather clad Hal, Carol Ferris, the ring, Amanda "the Wall" Waller, and Hector Hammond in these other GL images from Entertainment Weekly. Now we're talking.

Green Lantern Zebra Costume Revealed

Looks like Green Lantern is about to get some negative feedback. I just didn't expect that the final reveal would look like a green muscle-suited zebra. Maybe this still shot just doesn't do the CG suit justice, but wow, I was expecting something different. As a rule, fan art shouldn't outshine the real deal. I guess you can't win em all.

The Hex That Should Have Been, and Is

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

The short Jonah Hex movie is wrapping up its horrendous theatrical run barely eking out $10 million, but the Jonah Hex short is looking to impress when it debuts in two weeks with the Batman: Under the Red Hood DVD. Check out the clip.

Superman and Captain Marvel to Clash Again

Captain Marvel AKA Shazam and Superman have crossed paths before in the Justice League Unlimited series as well as in The Superman Batman: Public Enemies DVD. They are set for another encounter in a double length animated short that will anchor a short film DVD compilation (along with rumored longer versions of The Spectre, Jonah Hex, and Green Arrow).

According to a leaked summary, Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam will feature the following story: Clark Kent interviews street kid Billy Batson, he realizes that the feisty kid has a lot of heart. When Billy is chosen by an ancient wizard to turn into the hero Captain Marvel just by invoking the word, "Shazam!" Billy's powers come none-too-soon, because he also discovers that he's being pursued by a centuries' old, murderous villain, Black Adam, who is out to destroy Captain Marvel and is so powerful, not even Superman can stop him. Rated PG-13.

Confirmation of this short lends further credence to a list of potential shorts which also includes Blue Beetle / Booster Gold, Lobo, Catwoman, and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. Though no official release date has been given, Spring 2011 seems likely.

NOTE: Sorry about the lack of sources in this post. The information about rumored shorts came from a post at the toonzone forums, and the info about Superman and Shazam being the next to get released is from a site that does not want to be referenced.