The Week In Geek: X-Men First Class! Anne Hathaway Is Catwoman! Disney Hearts Johnny Depp! +More!
X-Men: First Class Pics Leak Early, Online Shitstorm Ensues
Earlier in the week, the first pic of the cast of X-Men: First Class leaked online, in what looked like an obvious photoshop mock up using several different publicity stills (none of which had yet to be released) Of course, internet fanboys, being the discerning bunch that we are, instantly started to hate on these pics for a variety of reasons. This caused director Matthew Vaughn to go to Slashfilm and essentially give a lengthy apology for the leaked pics apparent suckiness. This is what he had to say for himself:
“I freaked out on them yesterday. I don’t know where the hell that came from. I don’t think it’s a Fox image. It’s not a pre-approved image. When I found out, I said, what the fuck is this shit, and Fox is running around trying to figure out what happened as well. I agree. It’s like a bad photoshop, which maybe it was by someone. It didn’t reflect the movie. I was shocked when I saw it. I was like ‘Jesus Christ’… I’m a fan of X-Men. We’re not bastardizing X-Men, I’m trying to get them back to being whole again.
“The costumes are blue and yellow as well, because fuck it, lets take it back it the original. Also, by the way, those costumes are hardly in the movie. The main costumes are like these cool 60’s James Bond ones…”
Boy…that is a lot of excuses. First off, I don’t think Vaughn has jack shit to apologize for. Internet fanboys bitch and complain because that is what they do. They gotta act like they know better, when nine outta ten times they are complaining for complaining’s sake. When the pics for the original X-Men movie first hit the internet way back in 2000, comic fanboys bitched and moaned about how different the costumes were from the comics. Now flash forward a decade later, and those same fanboys, now older and fatter, are bitching because the outfits look too much like the comics. You shouldn’t have to go online and explain why the costumes are yellow and blue. We know why. Nothing will make them happy until the movie comes out and either works, or doesn’t work. Just keep doing your thing Mr. Vaughn and don’t listen to fanboys. Half the time they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Well, except for me of course. I always know what I’m talking about.
In other X-Men: First Class news, there is a bit of speculation going around about just what comics the movie will be based on. And while the movie probably won’t be based on any one comic, apparently the core of this story will in part be based on Ed Brubaker’s 2005 mini series X-Men: Deadly Genesis, much like the core of X2 was the graphic novel X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills.
Deadly Genesis was the story the revealed that prior to Charles Xavier’s recruitment of the 2nd Generation of X-Men in Giant Size X-Men #1 (Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, etc) to rescue the original team from the island of Krakoa, he had recruited another team first, all mutants under the care of Dr. Moira MacTaggert. He didn’t train them properly, essentially downloading months of training psychically into their brains. All were ill prepared and most died on their first mission, leading Xavier to recruit the team we all know and love today. Among the dead mutants of the unknown X-Men team were Cyclop’s brother Vulcan, which caused a rift between Cyclops and Xavier, one where Cyclops ultimately asked the Prof. to mindwipe him.
Now, we know First Class has at least some elements of this story; a team of X-Men prior to the ones we know to be the original students (in the first X-Men movie it was revealed that Cyclops, Storm and Jean were the first students) Dr. MacTaggert being a big part of the story (in Deadly Genesis, the secret team of X-Men were mutants originally under Moira’s care) and possibly the smoking gun for this theory, the inclusion in the cast of the mutant Darwin, who was part of the secret X-men team. Darwin is not shown in any of the leaked pics, but he IS confirmed as being in the movie. I imagine a pic of Darwin will show up soon, followed by an apology from Matthew Vaughn.
The Dark Knight Rises Gets Two Villains
Ending months of speculation as to who at least one of the female leads in The Dark Knight Rises is going to be, it was finally announced this week that Anne Hathaway would be joining the cast as Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman. Well, the official press release given by Warner Brothers doesn’t say Catwoman actually, only Selina Kyle, which has lead some to speculate that maybe Selina won’t wear the infamous catsuit or crack her whip in the movie. But while I think she probably won’t be Catwoman for a good portion of the film, I think it is safe to say she will be in the outfit for at least as long as Harvey Dent was Two Face in the last movie. Or there are gonna be a lot of pissed off fanboys who are denied their Anne Hathaway as Catwoman masturbatory materials.
Still yet to be cast is the second female lead, recently rumored to be either Talia Al Ghul or reporter Vicki Vale. While I would greatly prefer Talia, that character of Catwoman already fills the slot of deadly enemy/love interest, so she is probably not it. That leaves Vicki Vale, the Batman comics wanna be Lois Lane who is usually as interesting as dry toast. Although a well written version of Vicki Vale could salvage that character. If anyone can do it, it will be Christopher Nolan and David Goyer.
And lastly Tom Hardy, long speculated to be Dr. Hugo Strange (and before that, the Riddler) is officially announced as playing Bane, the South American muscle man who back in the 90’s broke Batman’s back. Outta left field much?? Only ever played in live action once before in the dreadful Batman and Robin, this will hopefully be the character’s big screen redemption. And for those of you who don’t think Tom Hardy is buff enough to play Bane, I suggest you rent Bronson. That’ll change your mind right quick.
Flashpoint: DC’s Answer to X-Men: Age of Apocalypse?
Over in Comic Book land, DC’s big crossover event for 2011 is going to be called Flashpoint, and while it will involve the whole DCU, it will center around the Flash much as Blackest Night revolved mainly around Green Lantern. All we know from teasers that DC has provided is that Flashpoint deals with alternate timelines (one where Wonder Woman and Aquaman enter into a political marriage, another where Bruce Wayne runs a series of casinos, another where Kal-El’s ship never crashed, etc) Flashpoint officially starts in May.
What DC has not officially announced is that they are going to be taking a cue from 90’s Marvel, back when they “cancelled” all their X-Men titles and replaced them with alternate timeline books like Amazing X-Men, Weapon X, X-Calibre, etc. The whole event lasted for months and was called The Age of Apocalypse. The crossover stunt was a huge hit that launcehd several characters for Marvel; DC is no doubt hoping to have the same kind of luck here.
The story began hitting the net this week via Bleeding Cool about DC planning a similar event, but while Age of Apocalypse only affected the X-Men books, Flashpoint will “cancel” ALL the mainstream DCU titles and replace them with alternate timeline books. While the creative teams are yet to be announced, artist George Perez has already said he is working on a book called “The Secret Seven” While many assume that will be an alternate timeline version of Secret Six…it could just as easily be an alternate version of the original JLA. All should be known next month when DC reveals their May comic book previews.
Johnny Depp Is Disney’s Bitch. Or Is That The Other Way Around??
Ever since Johnny Depp turned the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and Alice in Wonderland into a cash cows for Disney Studios, he has become their go to guy. Not only is he already scheduled to play Tonto for Disney’s Lone Ranger movie, but he is now being offered the part of the Wizard in Disney’s prequel to The Wizard of Oz called Oz , The Great and Powerful. Originally offered to Robert Downey Jr, between Sherlock Holmes 2 and The Avengers, it appears he just couldn’t find the time. Enter Johnny Depp, who will be adding yet another Disney flick to his schedule. And this is in addition to a potential Pirates 5 and 6. Hopefully, Johnny will make things more interesting than The Tourist in his non Disney down time. Although I gotta wonder if anyone wants to see him play a regular person anymore.
