Striking While The "Iron" Is Hot, Marvel Studios Paves Way For "Avengers" Movies

Bryan Christian — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:13:00 GMT

If you've seen the new Iron Man movie, and know anything about the Avengers, the superhero supergroup that's been Marvel's answer to the Justice League for about 50 years, well then the newly released roster of forthcoming Marvel adaptations should make a fair amount of sense, particularly if you take into account this year's other Marvel movie: The Incredible Hulk.

While Marvel Studios will not release a self produced feature film in 2009, it will have a busy run from 2010 to 2011. They plan to launch their 2010 film slate with the release of the sequel, Iron Man 2, on April 30, 2010, followed by the launch of Thor on June 4, 2010. Additionally, Marvel is planting its feature film stakes for summer 2011 with an Avengers-themed summer – a two-picture project which will debut on May 6, 2011 with The First Avenger: Captain America (working title), followed by The Avengers in July 2011.

There's even a possibly non-canonical Ant-Man (aka Giant Man) movie due from Edgar (Shaun of the Dead) Wright in 2010, which means that short of The Wasp, pretty much everyone in the classic Avengers lineup will have their own movie within a few years, establishing a foundation for Marvel to spin franchises basically into infinity. Guess now that Marvel's got their own studio, and doesn't have to go renting their properties to other people, they're feeling comfy enough to let their most prized possessions out in the wild. To which we say: soft-core She-Hulk movie NOW!

Call Us When They Get To She-Hulk!

Bryan Christian — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:27:00 GMT

Not content with dominating the summer blockbuster lineups, Marvel Comics has branched out into the online world as well, creating Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, which offers hi-res scans of classic and contemporary Marvel books for $60 a year.

Subscribers will be able to access the first hundred issues of key titles, turn pages with a click of the mouse or navigate a battle against Dr. Doom frame-by-frame with a "Smart Panel" viewing feature. The user can zoom in on details of art by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko from the 1960s or catch up with today's The Ultimates and New Avengers.

This sounds great for dedicated fanboys and comic art enthusiasts, but for all y'all casual comics lovers out there, here's a little tip: you can get lo-res versions of a lot of this stuff on Amazon already.

How does this all this stack up to DC's Zuda Comics, which are entirely new digital comics rather than classic titles like Batman and Superman? Who can say. It's hard to handicap a race when the horses are roughly five years late making it to the gate. In any event, let's hope that Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited manages to satisfy all the kids and men-children that will be disappointed to learn that the Marvel Universe Online -- a similar-sounding venture with Microsoft which was basically meant to be World of Marvel Warcraft -- is most likely cancelled. We were so hoping to run a virtual strip club as Howard the Duck, too.

[Full disclosure: we once interviewed for a job at a then-unnamed DC subsidiary which we assume to now be Zuda, and were fantastically bummed not to get the gig. Did you know that at DC's New York offices, a statue of Superman bursts from a phone booth in the reception area? Great Caesar's Ghost!]

Scanner : she-hulk

Striking While The "Iron" Is Hot, Marvel Studios Paves Way For "Avengers" Movies

Call Us When They Get To She-Hulk!