Justice League Villain Apparently Darkseid, And All New Man of Steel Poster Released

The news on DC and WB's planned Justice League film has been all over the place with rumors, jumping from Tahmoh Penikett's mysterious casting into the Man of Steel, to rumors that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would be returning as John Blake and the new Batman. But now we're finally hearing about something other than casting rumors, and probably just as important if not more; who is the films villain. Well Latino Review seems to have the scope on just who exactly it is, and along with that we also get a new poster for Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. Check it out below.

To start off, we have a new Man of Steel photo, showing Superman in handcuffs. I find this somewhat ignorant due to the fact that Superman can rip metal like we rip paper. In a sense it is cool to see Superman this way, almost in every movie to come out we see him with some sort of glory and praise, but with handcuffs it almost takes away his heroism and gives him a darker more powerful look. What this says about the movie, may be that there will be a minimal amount of joking and a lot of serious business.

Now the main news pertaining to DC is the new possible villain for the Justice League movie and it's none other than Darkseid. In a sense, if DC decides to go this route, they will have to make a lot of alterations in terms of plans for the Justice League and they will have to bring their A-game. By using Darkseid as the main villain for the Justice League movie they run into a huge problem. This problem being that Marvel's "The Avengers 2" will be featuring Thanos as their main villain. If DC were to use Darkseid as their villain for the Justice League movie, it would be extremely difficult to introduce characters. Unlike Marvel's superhero setup, the Justice League movie is starting from scrap. What this means is that they will either have to sacrifice some key action sequences in order to show character chemistry, sacrifice chemistry to show key action sequences, or just flat out make a long movie that gives us something that should've been done over the course of previous years.

Choosing Darkseid as a villain is a super risky move and will leave DC no breathing room, in terms of trying to build up upon each superhero and their personalities. In a sense they would have to start off the movie with the justice league already formed because it will take too long in order to show character chemistry. The rumor comes interestingly enough, because about a year ago rumors had emerged that Darkseid would be featured in Man of Steel, since he technically really starts out as just Superman's enemy. The rumor had stated that late actor Micheal Clark Duncan was being looked at to voice the role, but now that the rumor has reemerged it will be interesting to see who they get to voice him. Michael Ironside, who originally voiced Darkseid in Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, and Justice Unlimited, is always available.

Since Marvel's "The Avengers" has already dealt with character introduction, team assembly, chemistry, and what not; they are all clear to take on a bigger and more devious villain. With Iron Man 3, Captain America: Winter Solider, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Antman to add extra heroes, a deeper story line, and better preparation for Avengers 2, the Justice League movie may simply end up looking like child's play due to the fact that it comes out the same year as The Avengers 2.

What do you think of the new Man of Steel movie poster or the possibility of Darkseid being in the Justice League movie (2015)?

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Pacific Rim: Giant Monsters Versus Giant Robots,You Can't Go Wrong

What do you get when you cross giant destructive monsters and put them in a battle against giant war mechanisms meant to destroy them? Pacific Rim. On paper, it may sound like a typical Michael Bay or Peter Berg type film, but it's actually coming to us from visionary director Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pans Labyrinth), who is here taking on a different type of film, that so far seems to be a pretty impressive and creative blockbuster.Now the designs for the films "Jaegers" have been released, take a look below.

To make a long story short, Pacific Rim is a movie about a massive release of Kaiju (Giant mythical monsters) in San Francisco. In response  to this outbreak, the government creates enormous robot suits in order to take them down called Jaegars. These Jaegars are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. The main two pilots will be played by Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), Rinko Kikuchi (Brink), an impressive cast joins them that includes Idris Elba (Thor), Charlie Day (Horrible Bosses), and Ron Perlman (Hellboy). Recently we learned that Pacific Rim would be converted into 3D. Here are the designs for different types of Jaegers including the Eureka Striker (The one included on the poster above), Gipsy Danger, Coyote Tango, and Crimson Typhoon. Some have blue prints in Chinese and others are in Russian showing the origins of each robot.

Those robot designs put Michael Bay's Transformers to shame, not to mention that they'll be much larger in stature. Pacific Rim has also started a viral website, which show vague videos of the Kaiju from the film, very similar to J.J. Abram's marketing strategy for Cloverfield and Super 8. Below is a news coverage video of the Kaiju attacks, apparently before the Jaegers and the governement step in to protect the civilians and fight off the Kaiju:

Pacific Rim opens on July 12th, 2013, with Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini, Rob Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr. and Diego Klattenhoff.

What do you think of the Jaeger designs? Are you excited for Pacific Rim?

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Patrick Stewart And Ian McKellen Officially Returning for X-Men: Days of Future Past, Hugh Jackman In Talks To Join

With the recent new that original X-Men director Bryan Singer is now replacing Matthew Vaughn as the director of X-Men: Days of Future Past, the movie is starting to sound a lot more like a sequel to the original X-Men trilogy, and not of X-Men: First Class. None the less, Singer has confirmed that First Class stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, and Jennifer Lawrence are all returning for Future Past, but the surprising news is Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have also signed in for the film, as well as Hugh Jackman.

As many may no Stewart and McKellen played the original older Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr in Singer's X-Men trilogy. Now while McAvoy and Fassbender played the younger version of the characters in First Class, the Days of Future Past storyline calls for time travel, which is why it makes sense that both set of actors will be featured in the film. it is very likely that what we will be seeing as a team-up/crossover of the X-Men characters from First Class and the ones from the original trilogy. While the past version of both Xavier and Erik where not a part of the original X-Men storyline, modifications were expected to fit better Fox's current X-Men universe.

 Jackman's involvement comes as a bit less of a surprise, although there were some theories that he may not be returning do to how close the filming for both The Wolverine, which Jackman has just finished up, and Days of Future Past are so close together. Future Wolverine was originally a part of the Days of Future Past comic storyline, along with Kitty Pride, who was previously played by Ellen Page in The Last Stand. There is still no word on whether Page will be returning as Pride, but look out for either her joining the cast or declining her involvement some time soon.

The modified version of the Days of Future Past storyline is rumored to involve the X-Men from these two different time periods teaming up to undo the fatal (And poorly fan received) events of Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand, which involved the death of many key characters. The general concept is over all similar to the comics, in which the present day X-Men has teamed up with the X-Men of an apocalyptic future including Cable and Bishop. There is still no word on whether these X-Men members will also be featured in the film, but is highly unlikely since it seems Fox has replaced these X-Men in the storyline with the First Class X-Men.

For what it's worth here's a little overview of what exactly happened to the X-Men in the comics. In Chris Claremont’s Days of Future Past arc, an alternate future saw surviving mutants held in concentration camps while giant robot Sentinels patrolled the land; most of the X-Men had been killed. It fell upon heroes of a prior timeline to stop a key event from happening that would lead to the alternate future. Now whether this will be the same problem we will see in this movie is still a mystery, especially if The Last Stand timeline is what the X-Men are trying to prevent, there wouldn't really be reason for another future apocalyptic timeline. It's still very Singer and writer Simon Kinberg will find away to incorporate some of this into the film, especially since a villain will still be needed. Could we really finally see the Sentinels face off against this whole team up of X-Men, it would be a fans dream come true.

What do you think of all the lastest cast additions? Are you excited for Days of Future Past?

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Matthew Vaughn Seemingly Confirmed To Be Directing Star Wars: Episode VII

And so the Star Wars: Episode VII directors search continues, with the latest rumor being that Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class), who was said to be Disney's top choice to direct the film a few weeks back, may be taking on the job after all. With previously rumored director Colin Trevorrow, now announced to be writing and possibly directing Disney's Flight of the Navigator remake, Vaughn is once again the top name up for the job.

Just a week ago the main word on Star Wars: Episode VII was that director Colin Trevorrow had confirmed his involvement with the new film as back as in June in an interview for his film Safety Not Guaranteed. Although very vague about what his next project was, many had automatically assumed he was talking about Star Wars, especially considering how many Star Wars refrences there were in Safety Not Guaranteed. But it looks like we were all off on that one, because Disney has just tapped him and Derek Connolly for their Flight of the Navigator remake. Now the number one name that had come up to be a frontrunner before the Trevorrow thing had started was Matthew Vaughn, who unlike other directors whose names have been attached to the project (J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird, Steven Spielberg) never denied his involvement with the film.

Well now the chances of him directing seem more fact than fiction, considering what Jason Flemyng had to say in an interview when asked about the new Star Wars film. Fleymings has been a frequent collaborator of Vaughn's for quite some time now, and they have done nine films together, so it's safe to say he has a heads up on just what Vaughn is doing next. Flemyng seemingly confirms the Vaughn/Star Wars rumor when talking about if the director would find a role for him in the new Star Wars film. Check it out at the 1:10 mark:

Vaughn has recently been making some odd moves as far as his future films, which further supports the rumor of his plans to direct Star Wars: Episode VII. First the director had dropped out of the Kick-Ass sequel to work on the sequel to X-Men First Class; X-Men Days of Future Past. But recently Vaughn also dropped out of Days of Future Past and was replaced by Bryan Singer, apparently to work on an adaption of Mark Miller's Secret Service comic, which ironically has Mark Hamill attached to star. Now Vaughn has certainly proven through his track record that he can put together great films, and mainly his film Stardust embodied some the very elements needed to make a great Star Wars movie. That plus the many talented actors that Vaughn has worked with, thtat would personally fit well in the Star Wars universe, such as Aaron Johnson, James McAvoy, Henry Cavill, Mark Strong, and Michael Fassbender make him a pretty exciting choice for Disney to go with.

As for the other news on Star Wars Episode VII, writers Simon Kinberg (X-Men: First Class, Sherlock Holmes) and Lawrence Kasdan (Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark) had been officially been set on writing duties for Episodes 8 and 9, after Michael Arndt was recently confirmed to be working on the script for 7. But now THR is reporting that Kasdan and Kinberg may not be necessarly working on Episodes 8 and 9, but rather character spinoff films. While this has yet to be confirmd, it's safe to say that this rumor fits with statements by Michael Iger stating that Disney plans on releasing a new Star Wars film every two to three years, as well as a recent staement my Kathy Kennedy herself that they plan on producing a few LucasFilm movies per year.

While that isn’t necessarly limited to just Star Wars, it’s currently LucasFilm’s most active franchise. The rumor also states that Disney and LucasFilm are planning on modeling the Star Wars universe after Marvel’s own Cinematic Universe (Who isn’t these days). Whether this means that we will be seeing origin stories of some of our favorite characters, such as Joe Johnston’s proposed Boba Fett film, or that we will just be seeing spinoffs of the new trilogies characters has yet to be revealed. The expaneded universe of Star Wars has already been shown in books, video games, and comics, so maybe we’ll be seeing adaptions of those some time soon. Force Unleashed movie anyone?

What do you think of Matthew Vaughn directing Star Wars: Episode VII? What do you think of the plans for an expanded Star Wars universe?

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Star Trek Into Darkness Synopsis Revealed As Well As Possible Villain

J.J. Abrams is well known for keeping things pretty tight lipped about his films until they reach their release, and the sequel to his 2009 Star Trek reboot 'Star Trek Into Darkness' is no exception. While little has been known about the film so far other than casting and speculation, we finally have an actual plot released for the film, which also gives hints as to who really is the villain Benedict Cumberbatch will be playing in the film.

The release of information on Star Trek Into Darkness doesn't come as much of a surprise, considering the fact that a nine minute prologue to the film will be shown before The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 500 IMAX theaters, similar to The Dark Knight Rises prologue before Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Here is Paramount official synopsis of the film:

In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes ‘Star Trek Into Darkness.’ When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

Now the plot obviously doesn't get to in depth on anything, but it does give a base to start on especially for what exactly Kirk and his crew will be facing this time around. Now Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch was casted in the villain role way back when, and automatically the first villain that he was rumored to be playing was none other than Khan, from the famous Star Trek film The Wrath of Khan. While many other actors that fit the Khan part had been up for the villain role such as Benecio Del Toro and Edgar Rodriguez, Cumberbatch really doesn't fit the bill in comparison to Ricardo Montalbán who orginally played the role back in 1982.

But these rumors of "an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization" sounds a lot like the most recent villain Cumberbatch was rumored to play, a character named Gary Mitchell. Mitchell is a well known Star Trek baddie for being a member of the Star Fleet gone rogue, here's a little more information on him put together by Screen Rant's Kofi Outlaw:

Gary Mitchell appeared in the original Star Trek TV series, in an episode titled “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” It is the third episode in the original series (but was made as a second pilot), and chronicles a tale in which the Enterprise crew discover the record log of a long-lost ship at the (literal) edge of the universe. While there, the Enterprise experiences a strange phenomenon that transforms two crew members – one being Kirk’s longtime friend from the academy, Gary Mitchell – into beings of immense psychic ability. These new powers quickly corrupt Mitchell, who proclaims himself a god; when Kirk and Spock try to strand the power-crazed crewman on a remote planet, it results in a confrontation that claims lives, and forces Kirk to kill his old friend to save the universe.

Now the character sure as hell fits the description given in the plot summary, as not only did Mitchell come from their own organization (We've also seen set photos of Cumberbatch wearing a Star Fleet uniform fighting Zachary Quinto's Spock which further supports this theory), but he also convey well be considered a one man weapon of mass destruction given the powers he is given. Even Star Trek star Karl Urban who played Dr. Bones McCoy a few months back had let slip the Mitchell was the villain, although it's been said Urban has a knack for misleading the media.

A couple of other things worth noting from the revealed plot is the line about Kirk's crew being his only family. Now as we saw in the first film, Kirk's father played by a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth was killed in a space ship crash during James Kirk's birth. While Kirk's mother was still alive in the film, she didn't play a very large role, but this synopsis seems to apply that she has died between the two films or will die in Into Darkness. There's also the line about a war zone world where Kirk will be facing the villain, which could be the volcanic type land we've seen in set photos and Abram's seconds of Into Darkness footage. In the original Star Trek TV show, Kirk confronted Mitchell and a baron planet, which while not volcanic (Something that just could've been done for a more cinematic and exciting feel for the film) could very well be a version of it.

So while we wait on more information for Star Trek Into Darkness after its nine minute prologue hits IMAX theaters December 14, here's a cool fan-made trailer featuring Cumberbatch as Khan:

What do you think of Cumberbatch as Gary Mitchell?Who do you think he's playing?

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Tahmoh Penikett Joins Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, But Who Is He Playing?

These past couple of days (And even hours) have been pretty crazy for DC Comic films. Just hours ago a rumor had broke the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, Looper, The Dark Knight Rises) was set to return as the new Batman for a Justice League film, only for the rumor to be debunked by JGL's reps just a few hours later. There is also Man of Steel director Zack Snyder's seemingly confirmation the his Superman will be part of an expanded universe of characters, similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that will be connected to WB's Justice League film. And amongst all these rumors a new actor has joined Man of Steel, but who is he playing? Could it be Batman himself?

Well lets start of with the JGL/Batman rumor and sort of work our way to how the Penikett casting fits in with this. Earlier today Hitfix.com has broke news that Levitt was already in negotiations with WB to join Justice League as the new Batman, as well as an appearance in Man of Steel. Now for those who haven't seen The Dark Knight Rises yet, beware because there are SPOILERS ahead. Okay so as we all know Levitt played a character known as John Blake in TDKR, a version of Robin from the Batman comics, and at the end of the film we saw him enter the Batcave under Bruce Wayne's wishes. Now Nolan has time and time again stated this was the last film in the series, and Levitt himself had said that this was the conclusion and he had no plans to return to the role. But ultimately it's WB's decision as to whether they want to continue the Blake character as their new Batman, and in that case connect Man of Steel and Nolan's Batman series to their Justice League film. The rumor had also said one other actor was set to return to keep the continuity from the previous films, that speculators believed to be Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon. Now while Levitt's reps are saying this isn't true, there is always still a chance that they are trying to turn the media in the other direction, but there is really a small chance of this being true at this point.

Now to Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse), he was just recently confirmed to have joined the Man of Steel cast, which he has announced via his Twitter. IMDB has Penikett listed as a character named Henry Ackerdson, a name very similar to Henry Ackerson, a name used by Superman's enemy Metallo in the animated film Justice League: Doom. Now IMDB isn't exactly the most trust worthy source, and it would be odd that the character would be going by the name Henry Ackerdson as opposed to his real name John Corben. For those who don't know, Metallo is a Superman villain very similar to Terminator, and he's basically an experiment of the military who was turned into an android that runs on kryptonite. Now since the military has been said to have a heavy involvement in Man of Steel, Metallo doesn't seem a far fetched villain to make an appearance. But that really doesn't confirm that Penikett is the one that will be playing the role, and when asked if he was playing Ackerdson on Twitter he refused to confirm or deny that that was the role he was playing.

Now the only other role that Penikett has been rumored to be portraying in the film in none other than Bruce Wayne/Batman himself. The rumor comes off a bit more realistic than the Levitt/Blake/Batman rumor, considering that WB has announced they want a full on Batman 'reboot' which sounds like they want to bring the character back to square one, with not connection to the previous Nolan films. Penikett's casting confirmation comes in pretty late in comparison to the other cast members, which further supports the idea that Batman will be making an appearance in Man of Steel to emphasis on the expanded universe Man of Steel is set to start. But any word of Penikett actually playing Batman is strictly rumor, although he does seem to be a good fit for the part if I say so myself.

Here is Zack Snyder's apparent confirmation of a plan for a DC expanded universe that connects Man of Steel to Justice League:

“I don’t know how ‘Justice League’ is going to be handled. Honestly, I don’t… But ‘The Man of Steel’ exists, and Superman is in it. I don’t know how you’d move forward without acknowledging that.”

And when asked to go a little more in detail about Man of Steel's Justice League connection Snyder said:

“Um, how can I answer that?… I can’t really say anything to that, because that’s a big spoiler. I will say, yeah, they trust me to keep them on course.”

So it does sound like Snyder does have a sort of plan to incorporate hints to this universe in Man of Steel, and if they are spoilers then they may just be bigger then hints (Which would mean of course appearances).

What do you guys think of Penikett as Metallo or possibly Batman? How would you feel if JGL was our next Batman?

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Adam Baldwin to Replace Titus Welliver in 'Last Ship'

Guest post by Ralph Villanueva. TNT will be coming out with a new drama, "The Last Ship" in 2013, and new casting details have been released. Titus Welliver was supposed to be playing the role of Mike Slattery but had to pull out unexpectedly due to family health emergencies. So, actor Adam Baldwin will take the reins. Mike Slattery is second in command to Captain Tom Chandler on the USS Nathan James, a naval destroyer. The crew on the ship find themselves in a post-apocalyptic world where they're among some of the last people on Earth.

The new TNT drama is based off the '88 novel by William Brinkley and will be produced by none other than Michael Bay. I guess he has recently found time to focus his efforts on a few potential TV series. Well, he won't actually be focusing too much attention on the new series, but director Michael Bay is using his clout to executive produce an eight-episode prequel so far.

A well-rounded cast will join the show, including writer Hank Steinberg, known for creating "Without a Trace," and producer Steven Kane, well-known for working on "The Closer."

'The Last Ship' Crew

Rhona Mitra: Mitra will play Rachel Scott, the strong-willed and fearless microbiologist specialist. Mitra is a badass English actress with plenty of silver screen skills, starring in "Doomsday," "Shooter" and “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.” Her TV list is just as impressive: "Nip/Tuck," "Boston Legal" and "The Practice."
Eric Dane: He will play Captain Tom Chandler, the captain of the USS Nathan James. Chandler gets word from his family that they're still alive, but there are militias everywhere, jeopardizing their lives. It's up to him to figure out how to save the last of humanity. Dane became a household sensation for playing Dr. Mark Sloan on the medical drama television series "Grey's Anatomy." He was also in the films "Marley &Me," "Valentine's Day" and "Burlesque."
Adam Baldwin: He will play the character of Mike Slattery, second in command to Captain Tom Chandler. Baldwin is most known for his role in "Independence Day" and several TV series including "Leverage," "Castle" and "Chuck."
Charles Parnell: He will be playing the role of Commander Master Chief Hugh Jeter aboard the USS Nathan James. CMC Jeter runs a tight ship and even threatens to shoot a sailor who attempts to leave the ship without permission, according to i09.com. Parnell is a television actor and has made appearances on "Bones," "Fringe," "CSI: Miami," "All My Children" and "Law & Order."
Michaela McManus: Michaela McManus will be playing Lt. Jackie Mckenna, who runs the Combat Information Center and is in charge of missile deployment. She is dating Danny Green, the leader of a group of SEALS. McManus has experience in short film and television, making appearances in "Cosa Bella," "One Tree Hill," "The Vampire Diaries" and "CSI: Miami."
Christina Elmore: She plays Lt. Alisha Granderson. Lt. Granderson co-steers the ship and is an emotional wreck. Elmore will make her television debut with this series. She is a stage actress from San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater.
Sam Spruell: He will play the character of Quincy Tophet, a paleomicrobiologist who's the assistant of Rachel Scott's assistant. He helps her dig for ice samples in the hopes to find a cure for the mutating virus. Spruell has been featured in British series "Spooks" and "P.O.W." and is most recently known for his role in "Snow White and the Huntsman."
Travis Van Winkle: He will play Danny Green, the leader of a small group of Navy SEALS. Van Winkle is an experienced actor in both the television and film world, most known for his works in the Michael Bay Transformers project, "Friday the 13th," "Two and a Half Men" and "Law & Order."

Author: Ralph Villanueva A sci-fi Fanatic, Ralph is first in line for Comicon, Batman movie releases and everything "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" related.

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