by Eric Diaz Friday 31st December 2010

The Week In Geek:Dark Tower Casting! Avengers Rumors Galore! Marvel Secret Wars Returns! And More!

Welcome to the last Week in Geek of 2010. While the Holiday season is slow with news coming out of the Hollywood geek machine, there are a few little nuggets of info that come out during the last few weeks of the year….starting with some news on what is sure to be the biggest gamble on a genre property since the Lord of the Rings began shooting a decade ago….
<h2>The Dark Tower Casting Games Begin</h2>
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So who will play the role of the gunslinger Roland in Ron Howard’s epic upcoming movie and television project, the adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series? According to the New York Post (not always the best source of info, I admit) the two frontrunners are Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen. Now, while both of those names are good choices, remember…this is set to not only be a movie trilogy, but also a tv series set between the films with much of the same cast. Can Ron Howard and Stephen King be a big enough deal to get the likes of Oscar bait actors like Bardem and Mortesen to do tv? This is such a different and groundbreaking project in both size and scope, my gut tells me that any A lister would be happy to jump on board, even if it means “slumming it” on tv. 
<h2>Avengers Movie On Rumor Overload </h2>
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This past holiday week was swirling with rumors regarding Marvel’s upcoming Avengers movie it seemed. First was the (now debunked) rumor coming out of a local New Mexico newspaper that the plot of the Avengers would have the team caught up in a war between classic Marvel Comics alien races, the Kree and Skrull. Sadly, as cool as this sounds, a Marvel Studios rep quickly chimed in to call bullshit to this particular story. Then, Disney channel actress Demi Lovato (yeah, I never heard of her either) was said to have snagged a role for the upcoming movie. And while that was also debunked as just a rumor….what does appear to be true is that there is another female lead character in the Avengers that actresses are auditioning for aside from Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow. 
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This makes perfect sense of course; writer/director Joss Whedon is a well known feminist after all. Two of his most known television projects, Buffy and Dollhouse, were female driven, and even the cast of Firefly was almost half women. Joss Whedon is just not the type to have a token “hot chick” and be done with it. Just not his style. 
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Which of course begs the question: who would this rumored female character be? The most obvious choice is Janet Van Dyne, AKA The Wasp. She was a founding member in the comics after all, and with Ant Man already confirmed as being a no show, she fills that slot nicely. Other choices are Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers (it would be Whedon- like to have a woman on the team close to match the strength level of the boys), S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill (although two non powered super agent characters in one movie is redundant probably) and maybe even Spider-Woman?  Ok, that one is doubtful. The only other obvious female Avenger would be the Scarlet Witch, but I am pretty sure her rights are locked up at Fox with the X-Men franchise. That leaves choice #1, The Wasp, as the most likely suspect, but then Marvel could be waiting to throw us all a curveball and be gearing up to announce the casting for Mantis or Jocasta.
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Oh, and if you’re wondering who the Avengers related cameo is going to be in the big screen version of Thor? Keep your eyes peeled for Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye (another rumor… but one we actually like the chances of).
<h2>From Marvel Movies to Marvel Games</h2>
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You’ll notice I don’t report gaming rumors on this here column, and pretty much stick to movies, television and the occasional comic book news. That is because I’m simply not a gamer and know jack shit about video games. However, the comic geek part of me could not help but get his interest piqued when I heard the rumor that just last week, Marvel filed a trademark for “Secret Wars” that covers stuff like software and video-games, among various other things. This is leading many to believe that “Secret Wars” is Marvel’s next big video game push for 2011.
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For those of you out there who don’t remember or were not alive yet, Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars was a 1984-85 Mini Series that had a cosmic character called “The Beyonder” gather all of Marvel’s A List heroes and villains and pitted them in a so called “Secret War” on a distant planet (it is pretty amazing how The Beyonder knew just which Earth heroes had their own comics or were fanboy favorites. Why didn’t Captain Britain qualify? D-Man?).  Secret Wars was a pretty simple (and still cool) concept that has video game written all over it.  I hope if this does become a game, that the characters will be in their retro 1985 best…meaning a smart Banner brained Hulk, Storm with a mowhawk,  and an Avengers with that African American female version of Captain Marvel who no one cares about today. She deserves her comeback moment too, right?
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Of course…this could all be more than just a video game. While Disney can’t make a live action film starring the likes the Spider-Man, the FF, or the X-Men, the animated film rights are a whole other story. Now imagine a Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars movie from Pixar. Food for thought kids. Disney didn’t pay $4 Billion dollars for nuthin’.
<h2>I Know You Are, But What Am I….Infinity.</h2>
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Pee Wee Herman made his television debut way back on HBO in 1981 with The Pee Wee Herman Show, an adult innuendo filled version of his live stage act. The success of this special of course led to Pee Wee’s Big Adventure,  five seasons of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, and a merchandising bonanza .  Of course, a certain 1991 “incident” would make Pee Wee go away for nearly 18 years.  But starting last year in LA, Paul Rubens brought Pee Wee back as if he had never left, with a restaged and revised version of the original Pee Wee Herman Show, and then took the show to Broadway. 
Well, this week HBO announced that they will shoot an all new special immediately following the show’s conclusion on Broadway on January 2nd, with the special to air sometime in 2011. Even though I was one of the lucky few who caught  the show in its pre-Broadway run in Los Angeles, I am thrilled that everyone who missed it will have the chance to see this now. Alongside Elvira – Mistress of the Dark, 2010 brought Pee Wee back as if he had not aged a day since he went away. There is something heartwarming about my childhood icons of kitsch culture frozen in time the way they are, still doin’ their thing like it’s  still 1984.
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