A Man Without Fear Is In A World of Shit: Vincent D’Onofrio Cast In Daredevil

It has been really easy to crap on Marvel Studios recently for their botched handling of Ant-Man in the aftermath of original director Edgar Wright leaving that project a couple of weeks ago. In fact, it’s been so easy that it can be easy to forget that the way Marvel Studios got themselves into a position where they have a multi-billion dollar intellectual property empire to defend: by poring over the remains of Jack Kirby’s life’s work without having to pay his estate a plugged nickel!

Whoops! I meant that Marvel Studios originally got to where they are by generally hiring top shelf, yet often unexpected, talent to work on their projects. For example, it’s easy to forget in 2014 that, back in 2007, Robert Downey Jr. was best remembered by the general public as being a drugsucking multiple felon whose most recent on-screen triumph was a comeback on Ally McBeal, from which he had been fired for getting arrested for the fourth time. However, somebody at Marvel Studios remembered that the guy also had been nominated for Academy Awards and Golden Globes, so we all wound up with a compelling dude to play Iron Man.

Well, Marvel Studios is still working that way, at least when it comes to the talent they put in front of the camera. In addition to their slate of movies, they are working on a few TV series that are scheduled to premiere on Netflix in 2015, including Daredevil. Now a couple of weeks ago, they announced that they’d cast Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock (to which we responded by exclaiming a resounding, “who?”), but today they made another announcement. They’ve cast their Wilson Fisk. And it’s a choice that made me a little more excited for this show.

I Want To Believe In A Doctor: New Constantine Trailer Released

With all the weird publicity surrounding Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man (including the recent comment by Michael Douglas, who’s playing Hank Pym, that he is “very disappointed” that Edgar Wright left the project), it’s easy to forget that there are other filmed adaptations that aren’t quite as… embattled? Struggling? Fucked?

Case in point: DC / Vertigo’s Constantine is still scheduled to start on October 24th on NBC, and a new trailer for the show has been released. It doesn’t show a ton of new stuff, but it features a couple of new visuals that DC and John Constantine fans are likely to enjoy, including John drinking beer (twice!), and the helmet of a certain doctor that might indicate the show’s relationship with the greater DC Universe… although since the show will be on NBC while Arrow and The Flash are on The WB and Gotham is on Fox, the chances of any kind of crossover seems minimal. With that said: Law And Order: Special Victims Unit is still on NBC, which means that John Constantine could, theoretically, meet John Munch, which would place Constantine in the same universe as Fox Mulder, thus causing the universe to explode.

But one thing missing from this trailer, same as all the other trailers? A fucking cigarette. The character caused a child’s soul to be ripped into hell, but the problem is that he likes cigarettes? Let the evil prick have a Silk Cut, for God’s sake! Because it’s all fun and games until some kid with pristine, pink lungs gets picked up for sacrificing some orphan to Ba’al.

Ah, well. You can check the newest trailer out after the jump.

Crisis On Infinite Midlives Podcast Episode 18: P. S. Balls, Sweet Valley High

It is Sunday, which means another episode of the Crisis On Infinite Midlives Podcast! This one recorded after the depths of a sugar coma!

In this episode, we discuss:

• The recent Slate article by Ruth Graham condemning young adult literature as being something adults should be ashamed to read… and which pretty much out-and-out condemns genre YA fiction as “transparently trashy stuff”
  • During the conversation, we reference a novel called Submergence, by J. M. Ledgard
  • Further during the conversation, I maintain that David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest is a genre sci-fi novel. This may anger those who like to haul their copies around college coffee houses in an effort to look smart and try to score coed tail, but I am not the only one who thinks so.
• MTV’s announcement of the MTVu Fan Awards during the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, MTV’s genre and comics cred (which they utterly ignore in the announcement of said event), and whether Linkin Park is the right band to play SDCC when Anthrax (who did a song about Judge Dredd) will be right around the corner
• Original Sin #3, written by Jason Aaron with art by Mike Deodato, and
• Big Trouble In Little China #1, written by The Goon‘s Eric Powell with art by Brian Churilla!

And, as usual, our disclaimers:

• This show is recorded live to tape with no editing, and as such may contain more pregnant pauses, looping logic, repeated assertions, and references to “Diarrhea Island” than you are accustomed to in a comics / pop culture podcast
• This show contains spoilers. We make an effort to announce them ahead of time, but as to whether we are successful, well, see the point about “no editing.” Be particularly careful when it comes to our discussion of Original Sin #3.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is not safe for work. While I might personally think Beats By Dre are an abominable waste of money, I will ignore their use in the listening of this show.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:01 — 61.4MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!

Ant-Man To Be Directed By Dude Who Did Bring It On, Written By Auteur Of A Public Statement From Anthony Weiner’s Penis

It has been a bloody couple of weeks following the announcement that Edgar Wright had walked away as director of Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man movie, with rumor after rumor of proposed replacement directors on the project. First it was Adam McKay of Anchorman, who announced he wasn’t gonna take the gig almost as soon as his name was floated to the press. Then there was Ruben Fleischer (who directed Zombieland) and Rawson Marshall Thurber (who directed We’re The Millers), but Thurber noped out of the job a couple days ago, while in the meantime Paul Rudd has presumably been at some undisclosed location, lifting weights and eating skinless chicken and steamed broccoli, and possibly wondering if he can use his new superhero physique to beat his fucking agent into oblivion.

But as of today, Marvel Studios’ (if not our) long national nightmare is over, because they have officially announced that Peyton Reed will be directing the movie. To which we, and I presume much of fandom in general, gave a loud and resounding… “who?”

Because Nothing Screams Comic Book Nerd Like Linkin Park – MTV Announces New Fan Awards Show At SDCC

So, MTV has decided that it needs to up its presence at Comic-Con. This year it will hold something called the mtvU Fandom Awards and a MTV Fan Fest. Here, let them tell you about it:

Grammy-winning rock band Linkin Park will headline the first ever mtvU Fandom Awards and MTV Fan Fest, both of which will be held on Thursday, July 24, at Petco Park during San Diego’s Comic-Con. Then on Sunday, July 27, at 8 p.m., on the final day of Comic-Con, MTV and mtvU will air the 60-minute mtvU Fandom Awards special, showcasing the musical performances from the Linkin Park-headlined show, and honoring all of the fans whose passion have swept across the globe, stemming out of Comic-COn.

“The mtvU Fandom Awards will reinvent the traditional award show format,” says executive producer Ryan Kroft. “In addition to handing out trophies, we will recognize the achievements of fans and their favorite obsessions with special surprises and experiences. It’s the perfect event to reward the fans at Comic-Con, the epicenter of all fandoms.”

Yes, because when I think of nerd fandoms, so often my mind immediately turns to MTV…and Linkin Park. Not.

It seems between this and Zachary Levi’s Nerd HQ, which we talked about here, Petco’s going to be hopping for the duration of the convention.

Desperate Times: Ant-Man Director Search Continues While Guardians of The Galaxy TV Spot Is Released

I was originally gonna write another story about the trials and tribulations of the Ant-Man movie since Edgar Wright has abdicated on directing the film, but there’s still nothing but rumors.

One of those rumors is that, since Rawson Thurber and Adam McKay have passed on the project, Marvel Studios has approached Nicholas Stoller and Michael Dowse to take over the movie. Dowse we can kinda get behind, since he directed Goon which was actually pretty funny and featured one of the guys who played Sabretooth, so there’s a least a glimmer of hope that he can handle a superhero flick. Stoller, the director of the recent Seth Rogan movie Neighbors,  is also attached to a superhero movie… unfortunately, it is as the writer of Captain Underpants. I have less hope for that choice.

Regardless, every day that goes by makes Ant-Man look more and more The Island of Misfit Career Choices, so I don’t want to spend a lot of time wondering who is gonna direct the movie when the more pertinent question is who the hell will want to watch it.

Instead, here is a new TV spot for a Marvel Studios movie where they made an unorthodox directorial choice, stuck with it, and wound up with a movie that looks better than the unknown source material would lead one to believe. That movie is Guardians of The Galaxy, directed by Slither and Super director James Gunn, and you can check the latest TV spot for that movie, featuring actual dialogue from Rocket Raccoon, after the jump.

Enjoy it, while Marvel Studios tries to find someone to direct a movie about a character that exactly two people care about: departed director Edgar Wright, and Stan Lee, who stands to make a million bucks if he can get just one more person to give a fuck about Hank Pym.

Give Me Your Best Shot Pal, I Can Take It

I’m gonna keep this short, because it has been one of those weeks. You know the kind of week I’m talking about: the kind that starts with little sleep and not enough help where and when you need it, slides happily into unexpected time sinks that force all your personal schedules into disarray, and moves seamlessly into professional disappointment and disillusionment, leading only to the urge to kill it with fire, or at least fireball shots.

But here’s the thing about even the busiest, most infuriating and disappointing weeks: they have a Wednesday. And Wednesday means new comics. Which means that this…

…means the end of our broadcast day.

But there are some cool comics there that should distract us from the irritations of our day-to-day lives. The one we’re most excited about is Big Trouble In Little China, written by the movie’s director John Carpenter and The Goon‘s Eric Powell,since Amanda and I are big fans of the movie (I am the only person I know who saw it in the theater), and seeing a continuation through Powell’s eyes? Yeah – we’re in.

But there is also the third issue of Jason Aaron’s Original Sin crossover, a new issue of Warren Ellis’s and Declan Shavey’s Moon Knight, the first issue of Kevin Smith’s Batman ’66 Meet’s The Green Hornet (and, if history is any guide, the next issue will appear in July. July, 2016), and a bunch of other cool stuff!

But you know how it is: before we can talk about any of them (and at this point, yes, that talking will likely be literal, in our podcast), we need time to read them. So until then…

…see you tomorrow, suckers!

Pay No Attention To That Man…: Dr. Strange Director Announced

So Marvel  Studios has spent a week and a half dealing with the aftermath of Edgar Wright leaving as director of Ant-Man with just over a year to go before the thing opens in theaters. And some of that dealing has been frantically trying to line up a new director for the project before someone gets the genius idea to start lobbying the masses to begin shipping crates of Cornetto ice cream cones to Kevin Feige… but so far, that hasn’t gone so well.

So what do you do if you’ve got a public relations mess, that you can’t solve right away, about a movie currently in production? Well, how about you make a snap announcement about a long-rumored future movie that isn’t currently in production?

To wit:

Data Recursion

It is one of those days, those days that seem to happen more and more often recently, where life has gotten in the way and we don’t have a lot of time to write about damn near anything today.

So we are going to take the last hour or so of the day to finish messing with the ID3 tags on our existing podcasts to make them ready for listing in iTunes. Yes, I know that we said we would be ready for Prime Time last week, but we are drinkers. We should not be trusted.

We will return to our regularly scheduled programming shortly.

Crisis On Inifnite Midlives Podcast Episode 17: The Bucky Larson of Superhero Movies

It’s Sunday, so it’s time for another Crisis On Infinite Midlives Show! May God have mercy upon your soul!

It has been a big, weird week for Marvel, both the movie studio and the comic publisher, so we talk about:

• Edgar Wright’s departure from the Ant-Man movie, who might be a good choice from the directors who have been named as probable replacements, and who would actually be a good replacement
• The rumor (a rumor that is picking up some partial documentation and some steam) that Marvel might cancel Fantastic Four to spite Fox Studios efforts to promote the latest movie adaptation
• The concept that Marvel and DC might just be intellectual property farms for movies and TV, the deleterious effect that that could have on comics, and what, if anything, comics fans can do about it (spoiler alert: not much)
• Fantastic Four #5, written by James Robinson with art by Leonard Kirk
• Trees #1, written by Warren Ellis with art by Jason Howard

And, the usual legalese:

• This show was recorded live to tape, which means you might hear more weird pauses, aborted jokes, and jokes about abortion than you might hear on your normal podcast
• This show contains spoilers. We try to warn ahead of time, but there is every chance you will hear the odd spoiler of a story point or nine. What can I say? We ruin stuff.
• This show contains adult, explicit language, and is not safe for work. Invest in some headphones, even if they must be those awful Beats By Dre monstrosities.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:41 — 75.7MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!