Explosions! Black Widow! Nick Fury! The Falcon! Robert Redford!
Marvel, Natalie Portman sponsor effort to get more girls into the sciences
With Thor: The Dark Work on the horizon, Marvel and star Natalie Portman are launching the Ultimate Mentor Adventure to inspire more girls to explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. Girls 14 and up are eligible to apply. UL (Underwriters Laboratories), Dolby Laboratories, National Academy of Sciences and Girl Scouts USA are also sponsoring the effort.
Portman, who reprises her role as astrophysicist Jane Foster in the film, also had some interesting things to say about female characters:
“I want them to be allowed to be weak and strong and happy and sad – human, basically. The fallacy in Hollywood is that if you’re making a ‘feminist’ story, the woman kicks ass and wins. That’s not feminist, that’s macho. A movie about a weak, vulnerable woman can be feminist if it shows a real person that we can empathize with.”
She joins a long line of Marvel ladies speaking up for variety. (via)
Report: Marvel developing Agent Carter for TV
Marvel may not have any (announced) movies with an undisputed female lead in the pipeline, but could they have a TV show? Deadline reports that they’re currently developing a show based on Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter. Atwell recently starred in Agent Carter, a short film on the Iron Man 3 DVD, that takes the character beyond the events of 2011’s Captain America. The short was well-received by early audiences.
Atwell’s return isn’t a sure thing, and the show going forward will no doubt be somewhat dependent on how Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. does, but it’s a welcome development. The Iron Man 3 DVD and S.H.I.E.L.D. both debut next Tuesday
Marvel is not Star Wars – and vice versa
So the spate of summer cons where Lucasfilm might announce news related to Episode VII has come and gone, and we’ve gotten some announcements, but nothing mind-blowing. As Dunc said earlier this week, let’s not lose our heads over it. Is it frustrating that Celebration Europe’s big reveal was John Williams, and nothing much came from D23 Expo? Perhaps. Especially when compared to the glut of Marvel movie news that came out at Comic-Con and appearances made at D23. But as film franchises go, Marvel is not Star Wars. And Star Wars is not Marvel.
Trailer park: Thor, Loki and more
The latest trailer for Thor: The Dark World reportably contains some of the footage that was shown at Comic-Con, and also features plenty of Loki.
Below the cut: New looks at Ender’s Game and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Video: Nerdist animates Patton Oswalt’s Star Wars plot from Parks and Rec
Back in April, Patton Oswalt appeared on Parks and Rec and delivered a citizen filibuster outlining his plot for Star Wars episode VII, incorporating the Marvel universe, and a full version of the improvised rant popped up on the internet for all to see. Now Nerdist has gone ahead and animated the rant, to help bring Oswalt’s vision to two-dimensional life.
SDCC: Marvel piles on superhero reveals; Superman and Batman to meet in 2015
Saturday night’s highlight was the Marvel Studios panel, which opened with Tom Hiddleston as Loki (in full costume!) taunting the crowd and introducing a new new trailer for Thor 2: The Dark World. They continued with the full cast of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and more footage… And then the Guardians of the Galaxy cast, who’ve only just begun filming. Somehow they brought footage as well, and then… Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan, who will be playing space pirate Nebula, revealed she’s shaved her head for the role. They introduced some new Guardians concept art, above. And then Joss Whedon came out to reveal that Avengers 2 is titled Avengers: Age of Ultron. [Recaps: Tor, THR, HitFix/HitFix, Hero Complex, EW]
For the Marvel properties that live at other studios, Fox brought out the entire cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past, a time travel story which includes mutants from the original films and the prequel First Class. [THR, EW, /film] And Sony touted the just-wrapped Amazing Spider-Man 2. [/film]
As for DC… They announced that the Man of Steel sequel will also involve Batman – a new one, as the studio has previously said that they’ll be rebooting the character for any future films. Both writer David S. Goyer and director Zack Snyder will return. It’s aiming for… You guessed it… 2015. Rumor has it that they plan to follow the team-up with The Flash and Justice League. [Hero Complex, THR, EW]
Trailer park special edition: Fall’s new genre shows
The TV stations held their upfronts last week, giving advertisers (and viewers) their first look at fall’s new shows. So your first trailer park of the week is devoted to genre and genre-ajacent TV show trailers.
Up top, the biggest gun: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. from Joss Whedon and the Disney/Marvel conglomerate, coming at you on ABC, Tuesdays at 8:00. And yes, there is already a push to abbreviate this as MAoS, so pass it on.
Note that yes, some of these are spoiling their show’s first episode, but love it or leave it, their main purpose is to sell ads.
Continue reading “Trailer park special edition: Fall’s new genre shows”
Video: Patton Oswalt’s Star Wars filibuster
Patton Oswalt shares his (improvised!) concept for Episode VII on… Parks and Recreation? Sorry hon, you lost me at Boba Fett
Video: Trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man
Today is one of those days that the collective internet loses its shit over a comic book movie trailer… On the other hand, I wasn’t a big fan of the whiny Raimi versions, so this already looks like an improvement? (The power of Emma Stone compels you!) And does Andrew Garfield look a lot like Hayden Christensen or am I hallucinating? (The Celebrity Genome Project lives!)