Blockbuster Breakdown

This week was filled with tons of comic book movie related news. It was almost too much to handle.

First off, Christopher Nolan has announced the first of some major casting news for Dark Knight Rises, the third movie in his Batman series. Tom Hardy has been attached to the film for a while, but it was announced that he will be playing Bane. The other big announcement is that Anne Hathaway will be playing Selina Kyle.

Overall, Ret-Conned HQ is very pleased with the casting and can’t wait to see what they’ll do about it. One of the most interesting things about the announcement is that it specifically states that Hathaway will be playing Selina Kyle not Catwoman. Does this mean that Catwoman won’t make an appearance? Probably not, but I do suspect this means that she will spend the majority of the film as Selina and become Catwoman later in the film like Aaron Eckhart was only Harvey Dent for the majority of Dark Knight. For anybody who was concerned about Hathaway fulfilling the sex-kitten femme fatale side of Selina’s character, you need look no further than the pictures from her latest GQ photo shoot.

Tom Hardy as Bane was what surprised me the most. I saw him in Inception and loved him (Although I could never remember his name. He was just “the other guy who wasn’t Leonardo DiCaprio or Joseph Gordon Levitt.”) and also loved him in Star Trek: Nemesis. I was a little thrown off that they picked a Brit to play a Caribbean Latino, but I’ve stopped trying to understand Hollywood’s logic on those sorts of things. My bigger concern is that while he’s handsome, from his previous roles I’d seen, I wouldn’t consider him a fit for the muscle bound Bane. Then, Kris showed me pictures from his roll in Bronson and my fears were quieted. Kris and I still think that somehow the resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul will be involved, but otherwise I think that Newsarama’s analysis of what these characters mean for the new movie is spot on. I think this has a chance to be an awesome movie.

Also this week, the first full cast photo of X-Men: First Class was leaked. Everybody was quick to jump on the poor Photoshoping composition and then director Matthew Vaughn was even quicker to announce that image wasn’t an official image, while providing some of his own. I’m less concerned about the quality of the photos and more interested in who the First Class actually is. When the die hard X-Men fans think First Class, they immediately jump to the original X-Men: Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, Beast, and Cyclops. I knew that the new movie was going to have a different set of first mutants, but I hadn’t realized how much it diverged. Other than Magneto and Professor X, the only mutant who had a major role in the original trilogy and is in this movie is Mystique. Beast was also in X-Men: Last Stand, but his role was so minor, the producers must have found it acceptable to let him back in. Emma Frost, the sexy unstable telepath, is clearly the replacement for Jean Grey, the sexy unstable telepath. It’s not the X-Men without a Summers brother, but since the well-known Scott (Cyclops) was the leader in the first series, we are left with the lesser known Alex (Havok) Summers. While not the characters I would like to see, I can understand why they went with some of these. The two that I don’t get are Angel Salvadore and Azazel, neither of whom I had heard of until this week. I know I’m a little behind in my X-Men reading, but one of these characters has only been in 7 issues of the comic at that’s it. Seems a little weird to me. Granted, this movie will have Kevin Bacon with the 1960’s evil smarm turn to 11. It might be worth it just for that.

We also got to see the first images of Captain America and the new Spider-Man in their respective costumes. I’ve always thought that Cap’s World War II outfit looked kind of silly, even in the comic. It still does to a degree, but I think it will work. Especially if the rest of the movie and characters stay drab grays and blacks like in the pictures released. We’ll find out on Superbowl Sunday when the first trailer for Captain America will be released. Spider-man’s costume looks like Spider-man and he even has mechanical web slingers this time, which is keeping closer to the comic. It’s still too early to tell about the new Spider-man reboot, but if anything new comes out we’ll let you know.

Travis, what’s on your pull list?

• Batman: Streets of Gotham #19 - This is the Paul Dini writing interesting, compelling stories that fill in the rich tapestry of Gotham that I missed.
• Darkwing Duck #8
• Tiny Titans #36 - Tiny Titans Terra still creeps me out a little.

Kris, what’s on your pull list?

• Batman #706 - I’m glad they are using Enigma and Catgirl, but this book is also showing how splintered the Bat books are. Catgirl hasn’t shown up in any of Catwoman’s other appearances. Good book, but it feels very odd in the new scope of Batman Inc.
• Batman: Streets of Gotham #19 - A great issue with a fun and disturbing story about Joker in the early days. Paul Dini is a great writer when he’s on form which has been happening less and less. I blame him fully for this book being cancelled. If he wanted it, this book could have continued forever under his pen.
• Brightest Day #18 - Life isn’t good. That’s what this issue teaches us. Life is life, and it involved good and evil. I love the story of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, it really speaks to the romantic in me. And the White Lantern is a total asshole.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer #40 - The best issue of the arc. This is pure Joss Whedon, and it reads like a great season finale. I love how all the characters are portrayed. Can’t wait for season 9.
• Green Lantern Corps #56 - Tony Bedard has the ability to make any character a total badass. Not that these characters needed much of a push to reach that level, but I’m loving this book and this arc.
• Justice League of America #53 - Wow, this is like an episode of the Super-Friends, but not in a good way.
• Legion of Super-Heroes #9 - Brainiac is growing on me. He’s such an ass, but he really is smarter than everyone else. Otherwise, not much happens in this issue, but I think that’s because they are still trying to figure out how to work in Mon El as leader.
• Power Girl #20 - Winick and Basri are a great team and I want them to continue to write this book for a long time. Power Girl is my favorite character in the DCU right now, and this book is why.
• Ratchet & Clank #5
• Supergirl #60 - A great issue, but the super hero tracking app would have been one of the first apps out of the gate in this world, not something thought up years into the tech. Its a fun new concept, and I want to see where it goes. Props to the new team.
• Superman/Batman #80 - A fun issue, but basically a throw away. Remember when this book was supposed to be telling important stories in the history of Superman and Batman?
• Wolverine & Jubilee #1 - I didn’t read Curse of the Mutants beyond the Storm/Gambit One-Shot, but I love the story of Jubilee. This is well written and really pulls you in and make you feel her pain.
• Young Justice #0 - This issue takes place inside of the second episode of the animated series. I like the interactions between the characters although it’s a little weird to have Superboy teaming with Wally and Dick as opposed to Bart and Tim. Add in Miss Martian and the new Aqualad and you have the most random amalgamation of continuity since… Well, since DCUO.