Batman 3:

And now from bona fide (if possibly misleading) casting hints to total out-there rumors. Some fans are suggesting that the character Tom Hardy is in line to play in the next Batman movie is not Killer Croc, but Bane. Somehow, I'm having a hard time seeing Christopher Nolan wanting to dip into the "Knightfall" well, but considering what he was able to do with "The Long Halloween," it could be great. Still, just a bit of rumor/speculation — major grain of salt. [Comic Book Movie]
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It's possible, but highly unlikely, and especially with that site...


The Runaways:

Marvel is putting the brakes on its adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's amazing comic, which had been rushing into production. It's not because they're worried it's too similar in target age group to Kick-Ass, as some have suggested, but rather because they have too many projects going on right now, and they want to do Runaways right. Director Peter Sollett, who was going to make this his next project after Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, has been encouraged to do another project first. [Deadline]


Captain America:

Could this be the first Marvel movie to go without a Stan Lee cameo? The Marvel veteran hints that this could be the case. "I don't know. They're filming it in London and I don't have the time to go there. Now if they shoot any scenes here in the States, I'm sure that I will be in one of them. But I wouldn't imagine that they're going to change their whole shooting schedule just to accommodate my cameo, so your guess is as good as mine at the moment." [Freep via Comic Book Movie]
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I think the guy's great, but I always find his appearances a distraction. Though to be honest, most of the films have been sh1t anyway, so maybe that's the real problem


Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance:

A Romanian news site has a few more details about this film. It's being shot in 3-D, with lots of pyrotechnics and vehicle stunts — not surprisingly — and huge sets are being built, including one on Plate 5, which is the highest plateau in Europe. They may relocate to Turkey for the tail end of the shooting. Ciaran Hinds is definitely in the film, but Christopher Lambert is in final talks to join the cast as well. [EVZ.Ro. via Comic Book Movie]
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I'm so underwhelmed at the thought of that film that I'm quite pleased to see Lambert making something of a comeback

http://io9.com/5670949/possible-huge-st ... s-be-pg+13

Vote for my friend Mockingbird!
http://www.majorspoilers.com/major-spoilers-costume-contest-2010-meet-the-finalists

Will do when I get home

Done; and she's in a well-deserved lead at the moment.

Finally finished reading the Dark Knight Returns. Highlight for my opinion which includes spoilers.


Found it weird - it had some very good bits and sections which I thought were "naff". The news reports/segments initially appealed but later became almost intolerable. I think they were used too frequently for my liking.

It became apparent that Commissioner Gordon knew Batman's identity. But also enjoyed Gordon's bit in the comic. Nicely done IMO. Was perplexed with both Gordon's knowledge of Bruce/Batman as well as Selina Kyle - which is why I asked if there was a backstory that I'd missed.

Carrie as the new Robin I thought was a bit much and probably should have been older. I always thought the original Robin was a teenager. Definitely loved how the Joker snapped out of his catatonic state at the sight of Batman. And it was quite fitting to see these two fight each other pretty much to the death.

I felt a lot of Batman's gadgets were a bit dated, but have got to remember that it was written in 1976, so not going to be as high-tech as TDK film.

The "older" Batman and his flashbacks remind me a lot of Garth Ennis' Punisher Max series - an older Punisher, harder, grimmer, still very much stuck in the past.

Loved the mutants thing and the later Son's of The Batman.

Batman having a fight with Superman to fake his death was something I saw coming. But to resurrect an army and lead them reminded me much of Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins.

Overall, it was enjoyable but some bits unsettled me. A few questions:

Q1: What was that thing that the Joker had? It looked human but reminded me of a humpty dumpty doll. What was it and why could it fly?

Q2: Superman deflects the EMP which then blots out the sun. Superman becomes withered - more a corpse/skeleton than a person. Is this just artistic interpretation or does superman actually turn like this in the regular comics? Moreover, he manages to recover/regenerate, but I don't know how. Could anyone explain this aspect?

Q3: What becomes of Dent? He was there, they talked about his "restoration" and then show that he's actually still Two-Faced mentally. Then I can't recall anything else!

Only if you get me Star Sapphire's phone number. I think she needs, erm, consoling.

Scroll over:

Yes, the TV bits do get overused, but the line about breaking up a three card monty game with napalm is priceless

Regarding your questions, I'd need to read over it again as only certain things stick in my mind from it (Joker's reaction to seeing Bats again being one of them!), especially since I've read countless Batman comics and GNs since then

[color=#FF0000]Here's the plot as Wiki sees it:

Spoilers in case someone clicks it by accident:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Knight_Returns#Plot

[note: I don't really think this is spoiling the core part of the plot at all so...]


I believe it's a kewpie doll (sp?) which is a prize traditionally given away at American fairgrounds. I have no idea why it could fly, although I guess with The Joker anything is possible.


IIRC, if you read the written text that goes with it it implies that Superman is somehow 'powered' by the spirit of the Earth almost, that's he's a literal force of nature. Being caught in the explosion of the missile depleted that energy, leaving him all shrunken and withered. He then absorbed more energy from the Earth to bring himself back to life. This is all entirely 'non canon' for Superman as far as I'm aware, all Miller's own invention.


Nothing, he was left as he was. The whole point of the Dent story is that even though they fixed his 'outside', they could never fix his 'inside'. In much the same way as the Batman being The Batman will never 'fix' Bruce Wayne, because fixing what's outside never fixes what's inside.

I do love some of the writing in Dark Knight Returns, particularly the dialogue which has a lot of Hemingway about it. It's been a bit over-eulogised over time but it's still a great piece of work. The writing of the scene where Bruce finally relents and returns to The Batman and, as you say, the final fight are genuinely some of the best comic writing I've veer seen.

Wiki was my first port of call but it didn't help with some of my questions.


Ahh!

Which is why I was completely confused. Thanks for clearing that up!


I understood that but I couldn't recall whether he went back to the asylum or not.

Thanks for your help guys.

Voted earlier, and she really does deserve to win, she obviously puts a lot of love and effort in:

http://flickrhivemind.net/User/mockingnerd

Well that's some spooky stalking ernie...

I typed 'Mockingbird cosplay' into Google Images, wasn't difficult

I like the Ms. Marvel pics.

Christopher Nolan reveals title of third Batman film and that ‘it won’t be the Riddler’

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/10/ ... e-riddler/

Gotta say, the title isn't doing much for me at the moment

On the Riddler front I'm kinda glad, since so much of Nolan's Bat-world is taken from the comics, and the Riddler's a good character, but he's not on the same interest level for me personally as Joker, Two-Face, the assassins and mercs... even Penguin.

Then there's the issue of Catwoman:

http://www.moviehole.net/201032704-excl ... ead-begins

Dying to know what everyone here makes of all that

+1. Completely detracts and ruins (IMO) the title of the previous title. It would have been better to call it a completely different title - just as different as the first two were from each other.


The Riddler was good but not interesting - I completely agree. If he shows up, it should be as an ancilliary villian, not a main one. I'd have gone for the Penguin but I reckoned it was going to be Catwoman at the end of the last movie.