Before reading this, if you haven’t read Batman: A Death in the Family this review will contain POSSIBLE SPOILERS.  If you haven’t read it and you are a fan of Batman or DC’s animated movies then you will enjoy this movie.  For those of you who have read it please feel free to read on.

In stores today, Batman: Under the Red Hood is one of the darker stories in the DC universe.  As everyone knows (so it’s not a spoiler) that the Joker killed Robin, Jason Todd, because of a telephone poll done by DC in 1988.  Subsequently, Jason Todd was “resurrected” in the DC universe.  This movie is the animated version of that story.

Bruce Greenwood (Captain Pike in Star Trek) voices Bruce Wayne/Batman instead of Kevin Conroy, the voice that we all know and love.  Greenwood does a fabulous job.  Neil Patrick Harris voices Dick Grayson/Nightwing and Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) voices the Red Hood/Jason Todd.  Both of them were also very good.  I missed Mark Hamill as the Joker but John DiMaggio did well enough.

The story is not unfamiliar to fans of Batman.  I thought they may have glossed over Jason’s resurrection a little fast in order to put in more action sequences.  I would have thought more interaction between him an Ra’s al Ghul would have made for a great subplot.  I really liked the team up with Batman and Nightwing, and how the writers were able to show how it differed from when Batman and Red Hood teamed up.

The animation to me was not as good as DC’s previous animated films, but the story made up for that.  I say see it and enjoy.  Just a reminder, it has graphic violence even for DC animation; it is rated PG-13. (It really is PG-13 and would probably be an R if it were live action.)

Souce: Hitfix

UPDATE: According to Hitfix, Eva Longoria would love to be a superhero, but she says she won’t be Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, in an Ant-Man or Avengers movie.  She confirmed that she had discussions with Marvel about a movie, but wouldn’t give details.

I still think she’d make a great Wasp or even Scarlett Witch.  She can’t be Black Widow since Scarlett Johansson has taken that role in Iron Man 2.

Previous Post: Eva Longoria Up for Wasp?

Saw this rumor a couple of weeks ago, and was waiting for some confirmation.  It  was reported that Eva was photographed leaving Marvel’s L.A. office clutching what appeared to be some Avenger comic books.  It was later reported that she was in talks to take the role of Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, in an upcoming Marvel Movie (Iron Man 2 or Captain America: The First Avenger or The Avengers).  The thing is that this came out a couple of weeks ago, and then everything went silent.  It was reported as  both fact and rumor.  We’ll I think she would do well in any role that they shoved her in, the Wasp, Black Widow, Scarlett Witch.  I just assume that they are going to go for the hot factor regardless of the role.  Unlike the X-Movies where everyone, except Raven, was completely covered from head to toe.

.  Would she make a good Black Widow?  Possibly.

Would she make a good Scarlet Witch?  Maybe.

She pretty much would be worth the price of admission for anything they want her to be in a superhero movie.

Souce: Blastr (formerly SciFi Wire)

Smallville fans always speculate on whether or not Tom Welling would ever don the most iconic costume in the comic book world.  This article over at Blastr has some interesting quotes from Smallville executive producers Kelly Souders and Brian Wayne Peterson.  I hope it’s true.  The show has teased fans with glimpses of the cape in several episodes over the years, but have never actually shown Welling in the costume.

Source: Superhero Hype

Source: DC Source

One of the most beloved characters to come out of the Milestone/DC partnership and a presence in TEEN TITANS (not to mention a star of his own cartoon series), Static will be starring in his own ongoing series, launching in 2011 and written by Felicia Henderson.

We’ll have more details on the series – including the art team – in the coming months, so stay tuned to this very blog. In the meantime, lets check in with Felicia about what her plans are for the series:

“When I met Dan DiDio, the first character we ever discussed was Static. Writing Teen Titans gave me an opportunity to play with this character a little. Now he’s getting his own book and I’m writing it! I’m a big Dwayne McDuffie’s fan, so it’s a privilege to reimagine the coming-of-age of a character he created. If not for the big bang, Static would be a regular, awkward, teenage guy trying to find himself — chasing girls, playing video games, downloading underground mixes of his favorite music. Instead, he has no time to find himself because the call of the superhero has found him. It’s a comic book writing dream for me.”

Source: Superhero Hype via Marvel Studios and Paramount

‘nuff said.

Source: Superhero Hype

Superhero Hype posted images from Entertainment Weekly from the set of the upcoming Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds. Tim Robbins plays Senator Hammond, and Angela Bassett plays Dr. Amanda Waller (incidentally, the character is played by Pam Grier in CW’s Smallville). Check out Superhero Hype for the rest of the images.

Related Posts:

Angela Basset Joins Green Lantern

Pam Grier Joins Smallville

Source: Superhero Hype

Here is another shot of Jason Momoa as Conan. Is it me, or does the release of all the pictures and promotional material make it seem like they are over-selling the idea of Momoa as Conan? He looks the part and I don’t really think people need any more convincing. If they want to generate interest, they should release a teaser trailer or something like that. Check out Superhero Hype for more pictures by clicking here.

Source: L.A. Times

The Los Angeles Times posted an image for the movie Thor from Marvel Studios. The picture is of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and Loki (Tim Hiddleston). The only comment that I really have is how badass does Sir Anthony look?

All the recent controversy over the recent changes to Wonder Woman’s costume got me thinking about the character and her origin. Itbrought up a random thought of a black Wonder Women but I couldn’t think of her name. A few days later it hit me Nubia. The character has two versions a pre and post Crisis on Infinite Earths.  If you don’t know what that is don’t worry about it its not that important, basically DC re-booted everything .    I’m going to give just a brief over view, but if you really want to take a  deep dive you need to go to www.carolastrickland.com.   It’s a goldmine of information.

A few things did stand out to me , the character was scheduled for an apperance on the Wonder Woman televisonshow she was to be played by Teresa Graves of  Get Christie Love , they even made a Nubia Doll for the line of dolls based on the show.   Guess what happened?  CBS canceled the show before the appearance.   At least they didn’t kill her in the first 5 minutes.

The pre-Crisis  Nubia was created by Robert Kanigher and Don Heck, she debuted in Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #204, (January 1973).   Formed from clay as a twin to Diana (Wonder Woman), the dark skinned Nubia was kidnapped by Mars, who raised her, controlling her mind so that she would help him bring down the Amazons.^[1] I won’t get into all the details, but Wonder Woman and Nubia met again as adults,  get into the standard hero on hero fight before they team-up to fight the real enemy Mars.   Nubia only had a handful appearances before she and the rest of the DC universe rebooted.

The modern character named Nu’Bia (slight name change)  was created by Doselle Young and Brian Denham, she debuted in Wonder Woman Annual (vol. 2) #8 (1999).    This time around they changed the origin of the character.  Now she  is the original Wonder Woman since she was the first Amazon to win the “Tournament of Grace and Wonder”  that Diana won to become Wonder Woman.  Her assigned mission was to guard “Doom’s Doorway”, which is an entrance to the river Styx and the Tartarus Gate on Themyscira. Entering Doom’s Doorway she was to guard the entryway from the inside, stopping anyone from entering or any creature from escaping. As Diana was never told of Nu’Bia it is assumed that the Themyscirian Amazons assumed she perished during her mission long before Diana’s birth. Sometime during her time in Hell, Nu’bia explains she met the Zoroastrian god of light, Ahura Mazda, and became his lover.^[1] She also explains that on another adventure where she aided Gorgons, she was given the ability called Cold Sight which allows her to transform any living being into stone as a gift of gratitude from the Gorgons. After aiding Wonder Woman with her mission Nu’Bia then returns to the underworld to see Ahura Mazda.

So basically Nu’bia  is  Wonder Woman’s peer and in the Post Crisis version her predecessor.    It’s a shame that DC keeps her on the back burner.