The Latest Comic Book Film News

Over the past week or so we have had some huge news appear on the comic book movie front. So let’s get cracking. Last week the first photos of the new Spider-Man and the Captain America suits were unveiled. There has been some criticism with Spidey’s suit, more at Garfield and his lack of physique then anything else. I think this is insane. At the end of the day, when Stan Lee was pitching Spider-Man, he said that he was a scrawny little teenager, he is meant to be us. This is why Garfield looks perfect in the suit: he is not built like a monster about to step into the octagon, he is not meant to look like Superman, he is meant to look like a geek. I wish people would stop comparing him to what the other heroes look like. Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory has Peter Parker physique for example, not Christian Bale. More interestingly, there are rumours that Spidey will have his mechanical web shooters. The loss of these in the original trilogy was a huge thing for me: part of Peter Parker’s personality is that he is intelligent, really intelligent and he thought these up all by himself. The spider bite never gave him the ability to make his webs organically in the comics and I don’t think it should in the films either. So touch wood these rumours will be confirmed at a later stage. Also it was rumoured today that there will be no J. Jonah Jameson, the Publisher of the Daily Bugle and boss to Peter. Although this character has been in the comic books since the beginning, I can see why he might not be in this film. If Sony want to make a couple at least tween friendly Spidey films where he is in high school, it would make more sense for him to appear in the second one at the earliest. To give an origin story that is different to Raimi’s, much more depth will be needed. Whether Peter even gets to selling his photos in this film is another issue altogether.

Check out the image here, at Bleeding Cool.

Looking at Chris Evans (no not the numpty with Ginger hair, the other one) as Cap was awe inspiring. I love his costume for Captain America: The First Avenger. The suit is heavily based on Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s interpretation of Cap in The Ultimates. Millar and Hitch wanted Cap’s World War Two suit to look more like an army uniform than a superhero costume and with this film it truly looks like Cap has jumped out of the comic book into the film. Yet don’t expect this suit to appear again in Avengers (apart from right at the beginning)

You can check out the Cap’s costume here.

Talking about The Avengers, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) was interviewed about the Avengers. Check it out:

This week saw the first image of X-Men: First Class be revealed. I am, unfortunately, not impressed. For me, there is a big problem with the X-Men franchise (and I am talking about comic books as much as films), there’s so many of them. X-Men is a strange book for me because it consists of characters who I think range from some of the best ever created to some of the worst. I think this is one of the reasons why I enjoyed the Wolverine film so much. It had Wolverine in the starring roles (but if we are being honest he was for the other three X films as well) and had Gambit and Deadpool. As well as this, it had Sabertooth who is one of Wolvie’s best villains. In my opinion, this film already had troubles: it has no Wolverine. I am sure the average film goer will see a trailer for this, see the name X-Men and assume that Wolverine is in it. This is a big loss because at the end of the day he is the best mutant hero. The other reason I watch or read X-Men is for Magneto. I see Magneto as maybe the most interesting character created and to me he is not the villain. So this film still had hope because he was in it. Then I saw what they had done to him. I am sorry but he is nothing like what a young Magnus should look like. I worry for this film because I think the weight is on his shoulders to perform and somehow outperform Ian McKellen. Now comes to the bit where I really do not understand the mutant choices in this film. Remember this is meant to be a prequel. So the mutant in question is Emma Frost. We last saw a very much child version of Emma Frost running away from Stryker’s prison with Cyclops towards Patrick Stewart as Xavier in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Now, a very grown up Emma Frost is pictured in this line up along with James McAvoy as Xavier. McAvoy still has all his hair (which is fine because a young Xavier did not lose it till later) but how on earth has, what looks like, an older Emma Frost met up with a younger Xavier?! Confused. I sure am and I understand the crazy ideas of comic book time travel. Quite simply this film will break continuity to explain Emma Frost even though it is meant to be a prequel to the other X-Men films. Very odd. I think it is a shame but from the look of it I have little hope for this film. It has a great cast but no-one seems to have bothered to take any care with it a all.

Check it out by clicking this very link.

Finally, comes the comic book film we have all been waiting for, The Dark Knight Rises. It has finally been confirmed that Bane will be the next villain for The Dark Knight to face. I myself, on this website, predicted this and could not be happier with the choice. Finally Bane will be shown in all his glory by Nolan. Bane is a character that most people will simply know as a simpering henchmen to Poison Ivy in Batman and Robin but to comic book fans, Bane is so much more. Bane was introduced in the early nighties and broke Bruce Wayne’s back. He actually retired The Dark Knight for sometime, taking over Gotham in charge of all crime. Bane makes so much sense to Nolan’s trilogy. If we think back to The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent mentioned that someone had let The Joker off his leash. I believe we will find out that this was Bane. In the comic books, Bane is not thick, he is a genius. He can match Batman wit for wit and strength for strength. A proper adaptation of this character is very exciting indeed. Also it has been announced that Anne Hathaway will be Selina Kyle (I.e. Catwoman). Yet the fact that it has only been said that she will be Kyle, I think we are unlikely to see Catwoman and instead will see her simply as a love interest. Again, I have no problem with the character being used. Many have commented to me that we have had overkill with this character but she has yet to be shown in the right light, especially as an anti hero that she now is often portrayed as. Anyway I cannot wait.

So to some up, I think that everything apart from X-Men is ticking over nicely in the film comic book land.