-
Back in 1963, The X-Men first debuted in Marvel comic books, revealing five teenaged "mutants" who were granted superpowers due to their genetic makeup and were shunned by society. 50 years later, the X-Men are not only one of Marvel's most popular comic book characters, but also a multimillion dollar movie franchise to go along with several cartoon adaptations, toys and video games. But how close are mutants to becoming a reality? If some reports are to be believed, it could be only 30 years before human beings are able to control the weather or shoot beams of energy out of their eyes.
Are mutants on their way? >> Posted 03.13.13 by Ryan -
Comic book legend Stan Lee first started working for Marvel Comics in 1939, back when it was still known Timely Comics, eventually co-creating Marvel's most enduring characters, including the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and the Avengers, to name a few. Still going strong at 90 years old, many might be surprised to know that Lee hasn't worked at Marvel Comics for years, as he is still seen as a figurehead for the comic book company. Lee continues to field questions and comments on Twitter, where he has a huge following, and continues his association with Marvel through his many cameos in Marvel movies.
Lee made his first onscreen cameo in the 1989 TV movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and would go on to appear in 2000's X-Men, all four Spider-Man, 2003's Daredevil and Hulk, both Fantastic Four movies, 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, both Iron Man movies as well as 2011's Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger and last year's The Avengers (but not, inexplicably, 2003's X2: X-Men United or X-Men: First Class). Lee's entire, chronological cameo history has been compiled into a single video (via Mary Sue), including most of our ten favorites (sorry, Mallrats doesn't count) and excluding Lee's voice over work from Marvel's animated series.
watch the video >> Posted 01.09.13 by Ryan -
Back in 2000, director Bryan Singer shocked comic book fans by delivering a decent adaptation of X-Men. Singer followed it up by the even more satisfying X2: X-Men United in 2003, and then, in 2006, X-Men: The Last Stand happened.
Directed by Brett Ratner and written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn, The Last Stand disappointed fans, which is putting it mildly. 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine filled the X-Men void at the box office, but didn't really please fans leaving the disappointment of the The Last Stand in fans' collective memory.
Director Matthew Vaughn's upcoming prequel X-Men: First Class could be the movie that gives fans what they want. Kinberg, who produced First Class, told io9that "lots of things" were learned from The Last Stand.
what did kinberg say? >> Posted 06.03.11 by Ryan -
Today's Challenge: Five years ago, the top two May releases were X-Men: The Last Stand and The Da Vinci Code. Can you find the link to connect these spring blockbusters from 2006?
Our first Facebook movie game, ClusterFlick, plays off that old "six degrees of separation" theory — you know, the one that has a certain Kevin at the center of the Hollywood universe. It's easy to play, but not so easy to win. The goal is to use the major cast of movies to get from Point A to Point B in the smallest number of moves.
Play ClusterFlick >>
Posted 05.28.11 by reelz -
In the recent issue of Empire Magazine, X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner discussed future X-Men projects beyond June's X-Men prequel, X-Men: First Class.
One of the most discussed X-Men movies is Deadpool, which sees Ryan Reynolds reprising his role from 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While Reynolds admitted last September that he may not be able to fit Deadpool into his jammed schedule, the actor said earlier this month that Deadpool was "still in the works" and that he "wants it to happen." Shuler Donner told Empire (via The Playlist) that Reynolds was still very much involved in the Deadpool adaptation.
He’s very involved, Ryan. He’s working with the writers on the screenplay and it is [his] as much as it is ours. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s true to the comic. You’ll see all of them. You’ll see Wade Wilson, the good-looking Ryan Reynolds! You’ll see Deadpool in his costume and you’ll see the cancer-scarred face.
MORE >> Posted 03.29.11 by Ryan -
British actor Nicholas Hoult wasn't the first actor cast as Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy, aka The Beast, in director Matthew Vaughn's upcoming X-Men prequel, X-Men: First Class. But after Benjamin Walker was cast and then dropped out, Hoult won the role first played by Kelsey Grammer in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. In a recent conversation with Bleeding Cool, Hoult described how watching Grammer's performance was part of his First Class preparation.
Yeah, [I read] comics, I watched Frasier, I watched the X-Men films. And then training was physically, athletics. I gained a little bit of weight and still managed to fit into my muscle suit. [laughs] We lifted weights, did some boxing. It was also in part so that we stayed energized. That worked out pretty well.
How did Frasier help? >> Posted 02.25.11 by Ryan -
Despite fan fears that director Matthew Vaughn's X-Men prequel movie, X-Men: First Class, will be a slapped-together mess because of the huge cast and the need for under-the-wire reshoots, Vaughn recently told Empire that "it's working." He also offered up his reason for taking on the X-Men now as opposed to in 2005 when he dropped out as director of X-Men: The Last Stand only two weeks before the movie was set to go into production, and why he chose James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender to play Prof. X and Magneto.
what did Vaughn say about First Class? >> Posted 02.03.11 by BrentJS -
It's only appropriate to end a week filled with X-Men: First Class news and promotional items with some more details from director Matthew Vaughn.
The week started with news that the production was still shooting, followed by a cast photo of a majority of the cast in yellow and blue uniforms (which Vaughn later described as "bad photoshop"). Then, Michael Fassbender discussed his role as Magneto, Kevin Bacon discussed his role of Sebastian Shaw, and January Jones described her role of Emma Frost and her character's relationship to Shaw. There were also plenty of new photos and a teaser poster as well.
Finally, Vaughn spoke to Entertainment Weekly and gave his description of the upcoming prequel to the trilogy of previously released X-Men movies.
The best way of describing it is X-Men meets Bond, with a little bit of [Cuban missile crisis biopic] Thirteen Days thrown in for good measure. It’s set in the ’60s, and I basically molded a young Magneto on a young Sean Connery. He’s the ultimate spy — imagine Bond, but with superpowers.
You’re seeing Xavier become a professor. For me, Magneto is the good guy in the film, but he’s a sort of a good bad guy. He literally kicks off the movie, and Xavier goes along on the ride trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and trying to persuade Erik [Lensherr, a.k.a Magneto] that you don’t have to kill everyone.
First Class like Twilight? >> Posted 01.23.11 by Ryan -
In a terrible twist of fate, comic book fans lost on a possibly incredible "what could have been" when director Matthew Vaughn dropped out on the third X-Men movie, X-Men: The Last Stand, two weeks before production began. Director Brett Ratner replaced Vaughn, and the results left disappointed fanboys across the nation in its wake. With Vaughn recently on board to direct the prequel X-Men: First Class, Ratner told MTV that he was pleased with the choice of director.
ratner cool with it even though Vaughn trashed him after X-Men 3 >> Posted 05.19.10 by Ryan -
Director Brett Ratner has a very hot-and-cold relationship with comic book movies. On the "hot" side, his turn at directing Marvel Comics' X-Men in their last franchise adventure, X-Men: The Last Stand, was the most profitable of the three movies, easily doubling its $210 million budget. On the "cold" side, The Last Stand was the most poorly reviewed of the X movies, with many fans blaming Ratner for the collapse of the franchise. With the recent return of Bryan Singer to the X fold, it's unlikely Ratner will ever get another chance to work on another X movie, but he recently told MTV that he's looking forward to starting his own comic book movie franchise with Youngblood, a big-screen adaptation of Rob Liefeld's comic book of the same name.
More Youngblood, and Ratner gets defensive about his bona fides >> Posted 05.13.10 by BrentJS