The Expendables franchise appears to have lost its leading man today as Deadline reports that Sylvester Stallone has exited the big screen action series. Although a fourth Expendables franchise entry was being planned for 2018, today’s report indicates that disagreements between Stallone and and Millennium Films‘ Avi Lerner have led to the star stepping away.
Holy female empowerment, Batman! Variety is reporting that none other than geek legend Joss Whedon (Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) has signed to write, direct and produce a Batgirl movie for Warner Bros. and DC Films!
Whedon, of course, directed The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron for Marvel Studios, grossing nearly $3 billion dollars in the process. He also co-created/shepherded the ABC series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now he’s jumped over to the competition, as it’s confirmed that his Batgirl movie will be part of the ever-evolving DC Extended Universe that includes the upcoming Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman and The Batman solo film, as well as another female-centric entry in David Ayer’s Gotham City Sirens.
No other producers are attached to the Batgirl movie, though Toby Emmerich, Jon Berg and Geoff Johns will oversee the project for the studio, which apparently only came into being within the last month.
Batgirl’s first comic appearance in 1967 was as Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner James Gordon, and she later became an ally of Batman and Robin in Gotham City. She was previously portrayed by Yvonne Craig in the campy ’60s Batman series, then by Alicia Silverstone (as Barbara Wilson, Alfred’s niece) in the equally-campy 1997 flop Batman & Robin. She was recently voiced by Rosario Dawson in The LEGO Batman Movie.
Whedon, who had previously written a treatment for his own Wonder Woman movie a decade ago, was last said to be working on a World War II horror movie, but he has stated previously that he would like to make a Batman film. Whether he will take a larger role overseeing the DCEU as he did during Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe remains to be seen, but for now that role belongs to Geoff Johns.
The latest DC Comics small screen hero has today made a colorful debut. Black Lightning, starring Cress Williams (Hart of Dixie) in the title role, has officially started production in Atlanta. In the gallery viewer below, you can take a first look at the Black Lightning costume in a piece of art from the upcoming The CW pilot. Greg Berlanti, Salim Akil, Mara Brock and Sarah Schechter are executive producers on Black Lightning, from Berlanti Productions and Akil Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Salim Akil is directing the pilot from a script he wrote.
When Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures worked out a deal for Spider-Man to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, none of us really knew what that deal entailed. I thought Marvel would get to play with Spider-Man as much as they wanted to, but that doesn’t sound like that’s the deal that was made. It sounds like Spider-Man could only be a part of the MCU for a limited time.
Spider-Man made his big debut in Captain America: Civil War and is set to get his own film with Spider-Man: Homecoming. After that, he will appear in Avenger: Infinity War, and that will be followed by a second solo film. According to former Sony Pictures head Amy Pascal, after that sequel, Sony Pictures will regain full control of the character. When talking to CosmicBookNews, she explained:
“One of the things that I think is so amazing about this experience is that you don’t have studios deciding to work together to make a film very often. In fact it may never happen again, after we do the sequel. Because Sony, and Disney, and Marvel all decided that the right thing to do was to allow Peter Parker and Spider-Man to be in the MCU and to work with the Marvel guys and have them produce this film.
“I think that was a very rare thing for three companies to do, and a very brilliant thing for them to decide to do because there are only so many stories that you can tell again and again and again about Spidey, and this is something that we would have never been able to do in any other way.”
It sounds to me like after the Spider-Man sequel Sony will have to decide whether or not they want to stay in business with Marvel. That’s obviously not a guarantee. It would be a pretty big bummer to see Spider-Man leave the MCU after we get used to him being a part of it. But as you know, Sony is developing their own cinematic universe that will launch with Venom, and if that does well they’ll probably going to want to include Spider-Man in it. I don’t know why else they would want to yank him out of the MCU.
We’ve still got awhile to go before these decisions need to be made, but I hope that Sony will want to continue this Spider-Man sharing relationship with Marvel.
In 1977, Obi-Wan Kenobi battled Darth Vader aboard the Death Star. At the time audiences had only a partial understanding of the relationship between the Jedi and the Sith, unaware the confrontation was the culmination of decades friendship and betrayal. After crossing blades and words, Obi-Wan took a final look at Luke Skywalker and accepted his fate, falling to Vader’s blade. But what looked like a battle of titans when Star Wars was first released started to resemble the frantic bumbling of two elderly men once fans realized what Jedi and Sith were capable of in the prequel trilogy.
But with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story last year, and now the latest episode of Star Wars Rebels, Lucasfilm is laying the groundwork that could explain why the final encounter between the Master Jedi and his Padawan is so lackluster in hindsight.
WARNING Spoilers for both Rogue One and the “Twin Suns” episode of Star Wars Rebels beyond this point.
Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios have released the new Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer!. The web-slinger returned to the big screen in Captain America: Civil War and in the earlier trailer, we got a look at the issues inherent in being a superhero in high school and a secret friend of Tony Stark.
A young Peter Parker / Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.
Spider-Man: Homecoming also stars Zendaya, Jon Favreau, Donald Glover and Tyne Daly.
Directed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: Homecoming was written by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley, Jon Watts & Christopher Ford, and Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. The film is produced by Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal, and executive produced by Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Patricia Whitcher, Jeremy Latcham, and Stan Lee.
Spider-Man: Homecoming will swing into theaters on July 7, 2017. What do you think of the new Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer? What do you think of Tom Holland in the role? How does he compare to Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield? We want to hear your thoughts. Post them in the comments
IMAX announced today the Marvel’s Inhumans release date! The first two episodes will premiere in IMAX on Friday, September 1, followed by the full eight-episode series on ABC this fall.
The Inhumans, a race of superhumans with diverse and singularly unique powers, were first introduced in Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1965. Since that time, they have grown in prominence and become some of the most popular and iconic characters in the Marvel Universe.
You’ve run out of space again, haven’t you? That’s why you’re here. It’s ok. It happens to us all. Everyone eventually gets sick of hitting the delete button and wants more space. Well the good news is that there’s a solution and we’ve got a list of the very best xbox one external hard drives.
Unlike PS4 hard drives , the Xbox One can’t be easily gutted for the sake of hard drive swapping. Instead, helpfully, Microsoft lets you plug in external drives to store the overflow of games and gaming goodies and there’s plenty to choose from. The Xbox One’s USB 3.0 ports mean you can plug in some pretty fast-moving drives, and you can always buy an enclosure and fill it with a loose drive. If you’re looking for more space, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s check out the best Xbox One external hard drives. Oh, and if you’re looking for more games to fill up your new purchase, check out our best Xbox One games.
A no-brainer to double your original Xbox One HDD
Capacity: 1TB | Storage Type: HDD
This slimline external drive is both a bit of a bargain and big enough to either double or triple your Xbox One’s storage capacity, depending on your console’s starting point. It will sit unobtrusively next to your Xbox One and deliver a full 1TB of extra game storage across the speedy USB 3.0 interface for a great price.
Heaps of storage at a great price
Capacity: 2TB | Storage Type: HDD
Western Digital is probably the biggest name in traditional spinning platter hard drive storage, and its My Passport Ultra is a massive external drive in capacity only. Despite the fact you can get up to 3TB of storage the device itself is pleasingly diminutive and comes in a range of shades. Pro-tip: berry is the cheapest option. The 2TB drive though is probably the best-value version for Xbox One gamers.
Step up your speeds with a solid state drive
Capacity: 500GB | Storage Type: SSD
So, money’s no object for you, eh? Well, if you want the speediest external storage drive for your shiny Xbox One then Samsung has got the tiny box for you. Because it’s using solid state storage this is the smallest option on the list and also the fastest. It’s been designed so the footprint is about that of a credit card, though obviously a little thicker. And boy is it quick… You can grab the 500GB version for a reasonable price (for an SSD), but if you crave more storage there are seriously expensive 1TB and 2TB versions available.
For when you never want to run out of space
Capacity: 5TB | Storage Type: HDD
If you never want to worry about storage ever again, look no further than Seagate’s 5TB affair. With USB 3.0 it’s up to speed in terms of transfer rates and did we mention that it’s 5TB? It’s not going to win any awards in terms of style (it’s a big box that weighs 948g) and you’ll need to plug it in but it definitely gets the job done in terms of storage. You’re going to end up just downloading Games with Gold because you can.
A speedy budget DIY option if you’re happy to buy a caddy
Capacity: 1TB | Storage Type: SSHD
There are a couple of options if you’re going for a do-it-yourself drive – this Seagate SSHD is a hybrid of traditional spinning platters and solid state storage giving you a large amount of space for a good price with a bit of a speed boost thanks to a small cache of SSD-like storage. You will though need either a USB 3.0 caddy to house it, if you want a neat finish, or a simple USB 3.0 to SATA adapter if you don’t mind the bare hardware aesthetic.
The best DIY SSD solution
Capacity: 500GB | Storage Type: SSD
The other option is to go for performance and use an SSD for your external storage. Samsung is the current king of the SSD world and its 850 EVO drive is a great example of the company’s ability to balance performance and price. You are sacrificing capacity for speed – though you can spend more on 1TB or 2TB options – but if game load times are currently getting you down an SSD will help. Remember you’ll also need a USB 3.0 caddy for this one too.
Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Machete) is now the frontrunner to direct the upcoming Escape From New York remake, according to TrackingBoard. There is no finished deal yet, but Rodriguez is reportedly interested. John Carpenter, who was the director on the original 1981 film will serve as an executive producer, and The Picture Compay’s Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman will produce. The script for the Escape From New York remake is from Luthor creator Neil Cross. The story will follow, “Col. Robert “Snake” Plissken during an 11-hour mission to find the villainous heir to an agrochemical and biotech corporation as a major hurricane approaches.”
