Hex Marks the Spot

Here is your first look at Jonah Hex from the upcoming August 2010 movie. Yep, his face is messed up, though not quite to the extent of interpretations such as the one from Batman: The Animated Series (compare below). If the Dark Knight featured Two-Face, then on that scale, Jonah earns a nick name One-Point-Five-Face.

Logos a Go Gos

Some preliminary movie title cards have debuted, and if you can get excited about these, perhaps you have some sort of heightened excitement mutant power, cuz there aint too much to see.

The first and best is from Dreamworks upcoming Oobermind (formerly Master Mind) which hopes to satiate the thirst for The Incredibles 2 (it won't). Here we get our first look at some of the characters from the film described as "a villain gets depressed after accidentally killing his superhero nemesis Ooberman."

Up next. Look! Its Iron Man. Yeah, he pretty much looks like he did last time. I guess we can conclude that Iron Man will indeed be in Iron Man 2.

Next. Title cards for Marvel's slew of Avengers themed movies. Excited yet?

And perhaps least exciting of all, a tease for Spider-Man 4 which from the card may or may not have Spider-Man in it. But it looks like it might at least have some webbing.


Wow, I sure feel teased...

What to Expect From The Last Airbender

Some may argue that The Last Airbender is not a "superhero." Well, I would assert that Aang is a hero, and he certainly has super powers. I mean, can you control the four elements? I didn't think so. Thus, the upcoming The Last Airbender will be covered on this site.

The movie is based on a popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender which aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon. Each episode of the series was introduced as follows:

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony; but that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them, but when the world needed him most...he vanished. A hundred years past and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, and airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skills are great...he has a lot to learn before he is ready to save anyone. But I believe...Aang can save the world.

Here is perhaps a better description for the uninitiated:

In a world where the four elements (Fire, Earth, Water, and Air) can be controlled, the Fire Nation is waging a ruthless, oppressive war to control the other great nations. The only hope for stopping the brutal Firebenders rests on the shoulders of a reluctant young boy named Aang. The last known survivor of the peaceful Air Nomads (Airbenders), Aang is also the "Avatar", the physical incarnation of the world itself who possesses the ability to manipulate all four elements. Aided by a protective teenage Waterbender named Katara and her bull-headed brother Sokka, Aang begins a perilous journey to restore balance to their war-torn world. Standing in his way is the Prince Zuko, the banished Prince of the Fire Nation, who seeks to capture the young Avatar in order to restore his honor.

The series had a surprising amount of character development, continuity, and cultural detail for each of the 4 element-based nations in the show. Also, the main antagonist, Zuko, was a refreshingly developed and interesting villain.

The movie incarnation is dropping the Avatar to avoid confusion with the upcoming but unrelated James Cameron movie Avatar (what are the chances of two films called Avatar being made at the same time?). It is hoped that this live-action adaptation will launch a trilogy of films, each based on a season long arc of the original series.

The original source material was superb (check out my season 1 review), but I am apprehensive about this film series. In animation, it is much more believable that kids could win a fight with adults. But in live action, I don't care how many black belts you have, an unpowered kid shouldn't be able to defeat an adult soldier. Its just not believable, see The Chronicles of Narnia. The film is going to be directed by M Night Shyamalamadingdong, who I personally like quite a bit, but who has fallen from popular favor over his last few films. Hopefully, people wont expect a trademark twist from The Last Airbender and will give M Night a break.



The film also got off to a controversial casting of an all white group of kids to represent the ethnically diverse characters from the original series. This has since been somewhat rectified with some recasting. The Last Airbender opens on July 2, 2010, hoping to capitalize on the 4th of July Weekend. I have tempered high hopes. Look for the trailer to be attached to this months Transformers 2.

Spotlight on Shadowcat

Kitty Pryde first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 in 1980 using the mutant name Sprite. Kitty's first onscreen appearance was as Sprite in the 1983 episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends titled, "The X-Men Adventure."

In her next appearance, Kitty took top billing in the 1989 pilot (to a series that never was) Pryde of the X-Men. By now, Kitty was known as Shadowcat and was featured with her trademark pet dragon Lockheed.

Now, this is when things get interesting. Most people are aware of Kitty Pryde's live-action appearance in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand in but Shadowcat was one of just a select few mutants featured in all three X-films, albeit she was played by different actresses. In 2000, she was addressed as "Kitty" and shown phasing through a door just after Wolverine met Professor X.

In 2003's X2: X-Men United, she was briefly shown escaping the X-Mansion raid by falling through her bed.

But it was in the 3rd X-Men film that she got any real presence, taking on and outsmarting Juggernaut.

Of course, peppy Kitty was also an integral character in the 2000 series X-Men Evolution.

Shadowcat is also one of the more prominent X-Men in the current Wolverine and the X-Men series where she continues to solidify her position as a fan favorite member of the team.

The Justice League: A Super Friendly Tour (Part 5)

Hoping to build on the popularity of the animated series, things went horribly wrong in 1979 with the live-action, variety style, laugh-tracked Justice League spin-off.


Legends of the Superheroes

There was some variation to the team roster due to rights issues and also trying to balance out the teams gender ratio. This team featured Batman and the Boy Wonder Robin, Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman, while Captain Marvel, Huntress and Black Canary were added to the mix. Notable absent were Superman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman as well as the characters invented for the cartoon show (Wonder Twins, Samurai, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan).


The first installment centered around the birthday party for retired hero Crimson Cyclone's birthday (Why not just use Red Tornado? I guess robots don't have birthdays...?). The party was interrupted by the Legion of Doom featuring Riddler, Weather Wizard, Sinestro, Mordru, Dr. Sivana, Giganta and Solomon Grundy. The heroes ended up powerless, but still pulled out a victory.

The second episode was a celebrity roast of the superheroes hosted by Ed McMahon. Thankfully, they stopped at two.

Availability: Check YouTube.

Up Next: The World's Greatest Super Friends

The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure * Super Friends * The All New Super Friends Hour * Challenge of the Super Friends * Legends of the Superheroes

Summer Box Office Update

Here we are approaching the end of May. I thought it might be time to check in on our summer ponies. My prediction of $175 million for old Logan is starting to look pretty prophetic as the movie slowly inches toward that figure. Thus far, Wolverine is holding strong in the #2 summer movie position (though it will likely be overtaken eventually by Night at the Museum as well as other others that haven't opened yet) and it holds the biggest opening weekend so far (look for Transformers 2 to break it). On the bright side, Wolverine's $175ish total will be likely be good enough to keep above disappointing performances from other prequel-sequels Terminator and Angels & Demons. Not bad for a Canadian :)

1. Star Trek $75 Opening, $191 Total
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine $85 Opening, $165 Total
3. Angels & Demons $46 Opening, $88 Total
4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian $54 Opening, $70 Total
5. Terminator Salvation $42 Opening, $65 Total

Onscreen History of Bane

Bane is one of the more recently created characters to hit the mainstream. He first appeared in 1993, in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1. Although his comic book counterpart is an intellectual match for Batman, his onscreen personas have been considerably more brutish. He bulks up with a steroid like substance, venom, becoming a physical threat for mere mortals like the Dark Knight. Bane is perhaps best known for breaking Batman's back in the epic 90's Knightfall arc.


Bane first appeared on screen in 1994 on the Batman: The Animated series episode "Bane" as an assassin for hire who nearly broke the Bat's back.

His next appearance would not be so dignified. Many people recall that Batman and Robin featured Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze, fortunately they fail to remember the 3rd (because 2 just weren't enough) major villain of the film was Bane.







At this point it was tough to believe he would ever be used in any medium ever again.

This moronic brute was more of a "Hulk Smash" style nitwit thug than any sort of thinking villain... though he did a decent job filling in as a chauffeur.

In 1998, Bane regained a bit of street cred with appearances in both The New Batman Adventures and Superman: The Animated Series (although Superman really cleaned his clock).

For some reason, this incarnation of Bane took a bit of an S&M turn, complete with studded dog collar. This same interpretation would return in the 2003 direct to video move Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.

The ultimate fate of Bane was revealed in 1999's Batman Beyond series which portrayed Bane as a washed up junkie still chasing a venom induced fix.

Bane made a couple of appearances in The Batman beginning in 2004. "Traction," attempted to retell Knightfall in 20 minutes, and threw in a Bat-mecha just for fun.

Bane also appeared red as a beet when using his venom... for no real reason other than it looked "cool."

Perhaps fearing that Bane was too violent or that drug use was inappropriate for The Batman's audience, Bane's appearances were few and far between, though Joker managed to beef up on venom in a later episode.

Enter 2009. Bane appeared in an opening sequence of Batman: The Brave and the Bold where he battled Batman and street brawler Wildcat. Again, the artists provided a little S&M for big Bane in the form of a zipper fitted gimp mask.


Later in 2009, Bane will appear in the Superman / Batman: Public Enemies movie. Not sure what role he will fill as he was not in the original comic book story, but hopefully he can will be able to go home at the end of the day proud of how far he has come since his low point 10 years ago.

I suppose there is a slim chance he could return to live action in the future, but for now Bane seems resigned to an animated lifestyle.

 

UPDATE: October 2011

 

 

 

A truer to form, intelligent and somewhat refined Bane had a recent stint on the animated Young Justice series where he opted for face paint rather than a mask - though have no fear he still pumped himself full of muscle inducing venom.

 In 2012, Bane will join the Legion in their quest to defeat  the Justice League in Justice League: Doom.

Bane has also been announced as one of the main villains in the 2012 live action The Dark Knight Rises where it looks like he will slip back into that comfy mask.