Twelve Guys Succeeding At The Super Hero Game

The 48th Annual Springfield Easter Egg Hunt begins in just over an hour, so, in an unexpected twist and turn of events, the Home Office has decided to dabble-down the comicsblog early.  Our (surviving) staff was aces with The Joker last week, and 'sides, even the most intrepid Springfield abbracadabblers deserves a treat every now and then.  But before we  hop along to the festivities, hoopla, and all-around holiday hi-jinx -- and the never-ending quest for a sugar high -- we're bringing a bit of spice to the blog.

Chris Evans, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth, Justin Hartley... The names go on, but it's a short list of Hollywood's hottest. And they're not just hot; they're super. Why? Because we've all harbored the deep-down secret desire to be a super hero - and the twelve actors on the blog today count among the select few that succeeded.  Aside from their undeniable good looks, does this dozen have more in common than meets the eye? Are the heroes they play on TV or the silver screen simply parts to our boys, or do they feel they're a part of something bigger? If they have what it takes, do you? And are your chances even better if your name is 'Chris'?

All food for thought...Which reminds us, we're running late for a very important date. We hope your Easter is a basket of fun, too; we've got you off to a good start with twelve right here.  Sure, these dudes may not be as tasty as chocolate bunnies, but they are most definitely eye candy. Indulge your sweet tooth.

Chris Evans - Captain America [IMDb]
Steve Rogers (First Avenger: Captain America, Avengers)

Lucas Lee (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World)

Jensen (The Losers)

Johnny Storm (Fantastic Four films)

Christian Bale - Batman III (untitled) [IMDb]

Bruce Wayne/Batman (The Dark Knight)

Bruce Wayne  (Batman Begins)

Chris O'Donnell - Robin, The Boy Wonder [IMDb]

Dick Grayson (Batman & Robin)

Dick Grayson (Batman Forever)

David Boreanaz - Angel [IMDb]

Hal Jordan / Green Lantern (Justice League: New Frontier)

Angel (Angel)

Angel (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

Chris Hemsworth - The Mighty Thor [IMDb]

Donald Blake/Thor (Thor)

George Kirk (Star Trek 2009)

James McAvoy - 'World's Greatest Assassin' [IMDb]

Wesley Gibson (Wanted 2)

Wesley Gibson (Wanted)

James Franco - Harry Osborne [IMDb]

Harry Osborne/New Goblin (Spider-Man 3)

Harry Osborne (Spider-Man 2)

Harry Osborne (Spider-Man )

Ryan Reynolds - Green Lantern [IMDb]
 Hal Jordan (Green Lantern)
Wade Wilson (Deadpool)
Deadpool (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Blade: Trinity (Hannibal King)

Jude Law - Doctor John Watson [IMDb]
Dr. Watson (Sherlock Holmes)

Justin Hartley - Green Arrow [IMDb]
 Oliver Queen (Smallville)
Arthur Curry (Aquaman)

Brent Spiner - Lieutenant Commander Data [IMDb]
 Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
B-4 (Star Trek: Nemesis)
Lore (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Dr. Arik Soong (Enterprise)
Dr. Noonian Soong (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

James Marsden - Cyclops [IMDb]
Techotl (Conan: Red Nails)
Richard White (Superman Returns)
Scott Summers / Cyclops (X-Men 3: The Last Stand)
Scott Summers (X2)
Scott Summers (X-Men)

 All photos (above) except as noted [via]

Brent Spiner  [via]

Marvel At Two Fans' Teaser Tributes

 

On the heels of yesterday's fan-made Green Lantern poster, we're stoked to have yet another trio brightening our blog this Tuesday. They're each a testament to the abilities of the artists as well as the Photoshop software they're using. We can't even remember what life - or design - was like before Adobe developed the program. But they must have been dark days, indeed. 'Dark' seems to be the common theme in our newest fan homages to the films of Marvel Comics, too.  Deviant Art user NineTeenPSG created four variants of his Captain America teaser - we picked our fave and stuck it just above. And we went back for seconds, too; 19's Wolverine might be a little dated at this point, but the art's pretty sick. All in all, it's JerzeyHellboy who manages to win it for us at the end, though.  The human-looking Thor placed in the foreground is what clinched it -- and that the pic bears more than a resemblance to Chris Hemsworth  gives  a good idea of what he'll look like in his Thunder duds.  With these breaking across the 'net. we're sure Wave 2 won't be far behind. Stay sharp!

 

NEWS of the BLOG: Roy Disney Dies at 79, Alexander Tweets THOR...plus More!

December's proving to be a busy month, dabblers! Comics, movies, TV, and more, the world of superhero pop culture isn't slowing down, not even for Santa. Here's just a few of the tidbits and treats we've got to share with you today, in our new and potentially re-occurring NEWS Of The Blog! Duh-Duh-duh-DUMMMMM!!!

The Los Angeles Times was one of many sites to report that Roy E. Disney, Walt Disney's nephew and heir-apparent to the Disney company, died yesterday morning of cancer. Most known for the Disney-shareholder responsible for twice-ousting senior management - including former Disney CEO Michael Eisner - in order to align the company more closely to his own views of 'family entertainment,' he also helped to revive Disney's investment in the animated features which now have characterized Disney for much of the last two decades. Among the films, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Disney was 79. [link]

Speaking of Disney, their new Studio Chief, Rich Ross, is leading the company's return to The Black Hole, a pretty cool 1979 sci-fi flick I loved as a kid despite the Mouse's involvement. The movie, rated PG, was clearly Disney's answer to Star Wars, and it's budget of $26M marked the film as Disney's most expensive movie to date. Hole also helped move Disney onto the special effects map George Lucas' LucasFilm had charted two years prior.

If you haven't seen The Black Hole, it's worth a look, although you'll probably find it a bit slow by today's standards. But Disney introduced some very memorable robotic characters in the movie, including the menacing and just a little scary red robot Maximilian, who's rumored to be coming back for the remake. On-board the project is Tron: Legacy's director, Joseph Kosinski, and script duties are being handled by Clash of the Titans scribe Travis Beacham. [link]

And Marvel movie news keeps

pouring forth from the venerable house of ideas this week, too. Tobey McGuire, everyone's favorite Spider-Man, had little to say about the rumors we hashed out on the blog Monday. His lack of silence was coupled with a few smiles, and John Malkovich's Vulture may be a flying high in Spider-Man 4 after all. [Link]

Also getting some Spider-press is an article posted by Irish newspaper The Dundalk Democrat, which ran an April Fool's Day article that Sam Raimi would be filming scenes from Spider-Man 4 in the town. The town apparently has massive wind turbine featured earlier this year in a New York Times article, which Raimi saw and wanted his web-spinning hero to eventually ascend. The Democrat claims that they re-ran the story by mistake a month and half later, and have since printed a retraction on their website. All we can say is, somebody was drunk!

And last but not least, Kyle XY star Jaimie Alexander revealed via Twitter that she and her fellow Thor cast members will be beginning rehearsals within the next couple of weeks. Thor's production schedule has called for a January start date for months, so the news means that Marvel's next big movie is right on track. Alexander's tweets said that she was "excited" to start her rehearsals, and really, can you blame her? She'll be playing Sif, Thor's Asgardian lover, so she'll have plenty of on-camera time with actor Chris Hemsworth. Lucky, lucky lady!

And lest we forget, the super-sweet illustration of the Thunder God we've been talking about comes to us from superstar comics artist Frank Cho's Apes and Babes blog. The Marvel Comics artist is currently hard at work on the company's big Hulk event this winter, Fall of the Hulks. Even so, Cho hasn't relaxed his duties on the next Ultimates series he'll be co-creating with Mark Millar, either. Marvel's 'Ultimate Universe' characters have been the primary influences on its movies, from Spider-Man to the X-Men, and Thor. Their "Ultimate" versi0n of the Nick Fury was even based on actor Samuel L. Jackson, which of course made his portrayal of the super-agent a done-deal before the character's first cameo had even be conceived. The Ultimates are Marvel's modernized Avengers, so look to Cho and Millar's next comic as a storyboard for the 2013-slated feature film.

Marvel UPDATES: IRON MAN's Virus Continues! Sam Jackson Is 'Furious' with THOR

Believe it or not, we have yet to exhaust our Marvel movie news, but tonight's blog should put Iron Man 2 and Thor to bed -- at least until Christmas Day, when second Iron Man's first trailer opens ahead of Robert Downey, Jr.'s new Sherlock Holmes. However, we have told a few friends they'll see a short but sweet Black Widow bio on the comicsblog this week - so keep your eyes peeled, Scarlet Johansson groupies.

* * * * *

Dabblers, y'all better buckle in. What could've been an isolated incident when we blogged it only a few days ago is now looking like it's here to stay, and if you haven't given the first round of Iron Man 2's viral marketing campaign a closer look, trek back down the comicsblog and do that now.

A second viral bit hit the web on Monday, popping up on Screen Rant, followed today by a third clue this morning on CHUD. Scrutinizers of the pics, as well as last week's Whiplash teaser,are now referring to them as clues, as each of the images appears to be emphasizing a different word within it. This weekend's clue called attention to the word 'SECRET', while Monday's has highlighted the "STARK." This morning's faux-photo puts "CONFESSION" front and center.

Iron Man 2 : Viral Specimen #2

Iron Man 2 : Viral Specimen #3

If you jump the pics above, you'll get a better look at Monday's image-- all attention seems to be drawn to the photo below 'Walking on Air,' and you can see someone dressed in a Roman kilt (or something similar) apparently doing just that. But whether that's also a clue we're meant to find or not is anyone's guess. Screen Rant's posted several theories plus tons of feedback postulating on what these three clues may mean, so you might want to check it out. You'll know where to go at the link. [Link]

Unless we're alerted to some earth-shattering revelation tied to Iron Man 2's viral campaign, we've decided to refrain from posting future clues to the comicsblog. A t this rate, we're expecting a new clue to show up somewhere every day, and unless one suddenly appears in our in-box, we'll let interested dabblers pursue this mystery on the their own!

Yes, you know who that is. That's the guy from your home movies....err, and our's, too. No joke -- Samuel L. Jackson's such a prolific actor that he and an unknown collie be in the photo of the next picture frame we buy at Wal-Mart! Seriously, though, we dig the dude, and we can all rest a bit easier now that the 'I's' have been dotted and the 'T's' crossed, as Marvel has confirmed once and for all that Mr. Jackson will be reprising his role as SHIELD Col. Nick Fury in Kenneth Branagh's Thor.

Jackson's been signed to a multi-picture deal, as his Fury will appear in every Marvel movie up to and including 2013's Avengers motion picture. It's possible that he'll even play the lead in an all Nick Fury movie, although Marvel Studios has only speculated on that possibility. But the comics publisher did recently add Jackson's name to the cast on their Thor hub-site , and the larger picture gets even bigger, one day at a time.

Marvel also posted a this poster at the Thor hub, which showcases Thor artist Olivier Coipel's interlocking cover art from the recent six-issue Thor limited series, Tales of Asgard. You can't tell by looking at it, but the poster's actually made of vinyl, and stretches over 10 feet wide. Coipel's an amazing illustrator, and his Thor work has never been less than impressive. He's captured 63 different Asgardians in the piece - which is a helluva closer to being mural-sized than poster-sized -- which makes this Sistine Chapel rival more than an ample primer for the feature film.

Marvel's also created an ENORMOUS legend to help fans and film followers identify each one of the Norse gods Coipel's portrayed. We decided against posting to abbracadabbling, as no amount of enlargement we could offer would give you the close-up that Marvel can. You'll find Marvel's legend -- and Coipel's fantastically drawn heroes of myth -- at the link! [Link] (BTW, interested shoppers who may want to buy their own ten feet of Thor should see their local comics retailer.)

However...! We did go through the trouble to pull up some great scans of Thor's very first comic book appearance, just in case a few of you might enjoy a flashback to the Norse God of Thunder's humble beginnings. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced Thor in August of 1962, inside the pages of Journey Into Mystery #83. The comic had long been the home of horror stories, monsters, and aliens, but when superheroes once again became popular and the Silver Age of Comics began, Journey Into Mystery shifted its focus to Thor's adventures. Thor headlined Journey through Issue #125, after which the comic was retitled The Mighty Thor.

Bryan Hitch's ULTIMATE THOR

Never let it be said that abbracadabbling leaves dabblers hanging. Here's a look at Thor as portrayed in Marvel Studio's animated film, Ultimate Avengers, which was based on the their Ultimates comic book. Bryan Hitch designed and illustrated Ultimate Thor, and it's the best guess of everybody here in Springfield that Branagh's going to take a similar 'ultimate' route with his characters. Notice the illuminated medallions (or whatever they are) on Thor's chest. They tend to glow whenever the summons lightning. Cool special effects and great ambient lighting, but perhaps a little too much for the general movie-going groupie. We'd like them to stay, but nobody I know's going to be holding their breath. Time - or maybe a drunken Bendis tweet - will reveal all. Mom, is it 2011 yet???

Five for Friday: THOR Or...?

Despite my personal preferences for both Ryan Reynolds and Green Lantern, the intergalactic DC Comics' superhero he'll be portraying when the character shines onto the Silver Screen in 2011, the buzz around town (yes, even a hamlet like Springfield has its share of buzz) is all about Thor, God of Thunder. Other than Reynolds, the Lantern folks have yet to shed any light on the film's casting, whereas Thor's casting to date has Marvel and DC fans alike waiting anxiously, their eyes and ears peeled for any hints of story or event the smallest glimpse of costuming that might leak as the film prepares to begin principle photography next month.

Marvel's clearly looking forward to pitting Thor against DC Entertainment's Green Lantern, as both movies are set to open within just one month of each other. While DC and parent company Warner Bros are clearly looking for a Dark Knight repeat with Lantern, Marvel's stated from its actions if not its words that Thor will not only be their version of last summer's billion dollar Batman sequel, it will also surpass it.

Those are lofty assertions, and while they've never been said, Thor's impressive and formidable cast more than speaks for itself in an emphatic statement powerfully punctuated by the film's director, Kenneth Branagh. Thor stars Chris Hemsworth as the sinewy blonde God of Thunder, with Natalie Portman as leading lady Jane Foster, Thor's human love interest. His immortal love interest, the Goddess Sif, will be portrayed by Jaimie Alexander, while Sir Anthony Hopkins presides as the Odin, ruler of Asgard, the Norse version of Mount Olympus. Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgard, Stuart Townsend, and Colm Feore round out the cast.

But Thor's casting -- as well as exuberant and unspecific Tweets of high praise coming from Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada and Avengers scribe writer Brian Michael Bendis -- is, so far, the only solid stuff around for the movie's building fan base to sink its collective teeth into. And if the real goods aren't there, comics fans prove time and again that they're not only imaginative, but creative and resourceful as well.

Judging by two visuals we've got on the blog here, fandom's best are already hard at work. The Thor teaser (above) made its rounds on the blogosphere about a month back, until the boys at Earth's Mightiest [Link] finally proved it to be less than the genuine article. And while that's really future-Thor Chris Hemsworth below, the faux-photo has been entirely 'imaged' by someone with mad computer skills.

While we don't know who's responsible for the little masterpiece, they've undoubtedly paid close attention to their Thor comics. Nevertheless, if Quesada and Bendis can be trusted, we're going with something a little different when it comes to Hemsworth's final look for the Thor feature. Just like The X-Men's bright spandex became black leather bodysuits back in 2000, Thor's costuming is likely to take a similar route. Leather tunics just aren't hip for 2011, and the Thunder God's silvery-winged helmet would be a blocking nightmare. And unlike Batman and Superman, Thor's not married to his cape. The end result: fashionably closer to Bryan Hitch's Ultimate Thor (minus the glowing chest medallions) than Jack Kirby's iconic ensemble.

What do you guys think? Is this fan fantasy right on the money, or will Branagh's costume designers catch us al off-guard? And is Thor going to be the ultimate hit for Marvel that we're predicting, or will Green Lantern's emerald light outshine Thor's bid as a box office deity? Leave us your Back Issues, talk back, and make it loud! abbracadabbling wants to hear what you've got to say!

No matter who's right, we'll all find out once Thor's first real teaser floods the web. No word yet on that action, but from where I'm sitting, Iron Man 2's May premiere smells like the perfect opportunity for Marvel to roll out the official fanfare. Stay tuned for more Thor movie news!!