Fanboys Anonymous

Boom Studios has announced a Star Trek and Planet of the Apes crossover at Comic-Con International. The comic book crossover will pair the original U.S.S. Enterprise crew with Taylor, Nova, and the cast from the original Planet of the Apes film. The plot is still under wraps, but a small teaser has been released:

"With the Klingons secretly backing a renegade gorilla general in a coup for control of Ape City, Captain Kirk finds himself in the uncomfortable position of having to help out Dr. Zaius' orangutans."

Storm's a-brewin'!

Lightening Strikes for Storm #1

Agent Carter producers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus spilled some interesting information about the new show when they said that a (somewhat) new character would make his debut: Edwin Jarvis.

For those who are unaware, Jarvis from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not exactly how the character has always been. In the comics, Tony Stark quite literally had a butler named Edwin Jarvis, as stereotypical as that seems.

While the new take on the character has been extremely popular and implemented into other incarnations, it is nice to see that Marvel will be giving even more backstory to Jarvis by making him Howard Stark's servant whom Tony is inspired to model his artificial intelligence based on.

J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) is voiced by Paul Bettany, who will be portraying The Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron, which naturally has led to the conclusion that the android will be the next step up from that and the next evolution very much in the same spirit as what we will see on Agent Carter.

However, if you are expecting Bettany to be on the show as Jarvis, you will likely be disappointed. The actor has said numerous times that his role in these films is not that taxing, so he probably will not be on board with joining the series in such a minor role. Instead, look for Jarvis to be played by a completely different actor, but still just represent the sort of personality that J.A.R.V.I.S. was spawned from.

Who would you like to see portray Edwin Jarvis on the show? Are there any other Easter eggs that you will be looking out for? Tell us your ideas in the comments below!

A VISION of the future. Eh? Get it? See what I did there? Yeah, I hate me, too.

Justified Films has tweeted out our first real look at The Thing from the upcoming Fantastic 4 reboot film.

The picture shows a sculpture which is used as a reference point for the visual effects team to do their magic.

Take note that this may not be the final product and it should be assumed that what we will see on screen will be much more polished.

Still, in a movie that is riddled with so many production problems and such little support from the fans, I think this is a good step forward. In no way does it make me feel better about the other problems that I'm anxious about, such as the casting decisions of every single character, using Mole Man as a villain, basing it off the Ultimate Fantastic 4 (which I felt was underwhelming in more ways than one) and so on and so forth. However, it seems like the look of The Thing was another potential disaster that they have avoided.

What do you think about Ben Grimm here? Is it an improvement on the Tim Story films or does it not match up to the quality you were hoping for? Will Jamie Bell do a good job with the role or is the movie screwed?

Leave a comment below and fill us in on whether or not you're sold on this reboot.

The collaboration between DC and Warner Bros. for animated feature films revolving around Superman, Batman and the rest of the Justice League cast will be continuing in 2015 as two new films were announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2014.

These will be:

Justice League: Gods and Monsters — an original story written and directed by Bruce Timm

Batman VS. Robin — based at least partially on the Court of Owls characters and Scott Snyder's work on that arc, although that may not necessarily be the case and it may end up drawing inspiration from such titles as the one pictured on the right by Grant Morrison

The next two films in the DCUAOM (DC Universe Animated Original Movies—now you see the need for the acronym) are Batman: Assault on Arkham (scheduled for release on August 12, 2014) and Justice League: Throne of Atlantis.

What are your thoughts on these animated films? Do they make up for the lack of progress DC has made with their live-action movie franchises? Which ones are you most excited about seeing?

Filmmaker Sam Raimi, appearing on a panel in Hall H at Comic-Con International as producer in the film adaption of The Last of Us video game, shocked the audience after revealing his next project, an Evil Dead TV series. One word: Groovy.

Who remembers the Garbage Pail Kids? They were the little trading cards that featured clever rhymes and cabbage patch-looking kids such as Bony Joanie or Christina Ugliera. Comic-Con International announced IDW Publishing's newest venture, a Garbage Pail Kids comic book series.

"As a child of the Eighties, I was at ground zero for the Garbage Pail Kids phenomenon,” series editor Denton J. Tipton said. “The profoundly irreverent stickers spoke directly to the rascal inside each and every one of my classmates, and helped us drive our teachers to the brink of insanity. I couldn't be more happy to be working with some of the giants of alternative comics to push the buttons of an entirely new generation of educators, many of which likely remember when the poo-covered sneaker was on the other foot."

The anthology-type release will feature various writers from across the industry. As part of the announcement, they have released an exclusive character named Comic-Con Ron, which was created by cartoonist Peter Bagge. SDCC '14 will also be featuring exclusive comic-themed apparel and trading cards.

I don't know about you, but these cards always gave me hours of giggle-fits that would brighten my day. I have a huge stack that my husband saved (hoarded) from his childhood and even my son has taken to the retro craze.

The series is set to launch in 2015, so there is still time to convince them to name a character after me. I'm sick of Bubbly Brianna.

Do you remember which Garbage Pail Kid had your name? Who was your favorite kid? Leave us a comment and keep checking back for the latest Comic-Con news.

The bad news for Marvel's Ant-Man film just keeps rolling in, as Deadline is reporting that the movie has lost three of its actors in Matt Gerard, Kevin Weisman, and Patrick Wilson. There is no confirmation that this is due to the Edgar Wright split, although it's pretty easy to speculate about that, isn't it?

Earlier today at San Diego Comic-Con, some interesting potential casting news for the movie adaptation of The Last of Us broke during the Screen Gems panel. Neil Druckman, co-director of the video game and writer of the movie's script, and Sam Raimi, a producer of the movie, took the stage to discuss the adaptation. There they revealed that Maisie Williams, better known as Arya Stark from Game of Thrones, is in very serious talks to play Ellie. Nothing is set in stone, but apparently they just recently had a promising meeting with Williams, so this may very well happen.

I can see it. Courtesy of this IGN blog post.

What is up Fanboys and Fangirls? Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is back again, patrolling the Interwebs to get you the latest updates from this year's San Diego Comic Con. Earlier this afternoon AMC's The Walking Dead gathered its stars and producers in a panel hosted by the one and only Chris Hardwick (AMC's Talking Dead and Comedy Central's @Midnight). They talked about the season 4 finale and what lies on the horizon for the survivors we've come to love and watch each year! Here are the highlights that came out of the panel. Enjoy!

• Chris Hardwick teases the fans that he visited the set 4 weeks prior to Comic Con and says right out of the gate the series will be intense, more so than it has ever been.
• Scott Gimple (showrunner), Robert Kirkman (creator) and Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, and Greg Nicotero (executive producers) were present and there to kick off the panel with Hardwick.
• They go on to tell the fans in attendance this season will cover "who the survivors have become after doing the unthinkable to stay alive," and the history of Terminus will be explained.
• Kirkman goes on to explain the TV series will start to sync back up with the major comic events.
• The panel says season 5 will see more suburban/urban areas than the previous seasons. 
• The Wire's Seth Gilliam will join the cast of The Walking Dead this season as Gabriel Stokes. 
• Nicotero has been experimenting with ways to make the walkers look different and expand the world of walkers in season 5.

 

Hey Fanboys and Fangirls!

For my next list, I will discuss the top 10 antiheroes that made it from comic books to cartoons, TV shows, or movies. The list is based on 1 being the most-known and 10 being the least-known.

The tricky part of making this list was ordering these characters according to which were the most or least popular. The really difficult part was considering which of the antiheroes to add to the list and which ones to leave out. One example that I left out was Batman, because no matter what people might think or say, Batman is a hero!

What I consider to be an antihero is a character whose past is somewhat flawed and not so great. Because of this, the character always has a mysterious and evasive attitude toward people around him or her. For example, Superman wouldn't be an antihero, because he is a character with an epic story: his parents sent him from the planet of Krypton to the Earth but he was saved by the Kent family when he fell to Earth, so even though he is mysterious and disguises himself as Clark Kent, he became a hero, not an antihero. (Anyone who would like to argue against this can write in the comments section below!)

Instead of an epic story like Superman's, antiheroes have a sad, mysterious, and negative story. Their background usually involves their alter-ego; it's what makes them who they are, and it's how we understand what they fight for. For example, Wolverine's story begins with the murder of his father and the so-called "death" of his girlfriend and then continues with a change into his alter-ego. Logan becomes a new creature named Wolverine, the antihero (based on the movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

Another aspect of antiheroes is that they are never quite on one side—of good or evil—but rather are usually vigilantes, tending to be antisocial and keeping to themselves. They have their own principles and don't seem to care about what anybody else says. They do not commit to any rules. Still, most of them fight for good and the innocent, even if they do evil things in the process. For example, Rorschach, from the Watchmen believes in moral absolutism and objectivism, and he is determined to make the bad guys get what they deserve no matter what it means.

A final aspect of antiheroes is that they have strange and unique methods to get what they want. Unlike regular heroes, for example, the Punisher specifically uses special military-grade weaponry—along with other skills—to fight evil. Of course, there are many more examples but my choices of the top 10 ultimate antiheroes are listed below.

10. Joseph Dredd, aka Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd is an antihero because of—as his name says—his judgmental style. He is tough and distinct about his decisions against evil. As the story goes, he was one of the two clones of Chief Judge Fargo. Created by genetic scientist Morton Judd, Judge Dredd was created to "instill fear in the population." After having to arrest his clone brother, Rico Dredd, Judge Dredd was given the opportunity to become chief judge, but he declined. Instead, he preferred to serve on the streets, and so his story goes on.

Poor Batman. He can't get anyone to swing with, can't get any ice cream, he's sad about his ears being small…the guy can't get a break! As Zack Snyder and the rest of his gang of misfits finish work on the next DC comics film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, we are being fed a stream of new images of the Caped Crusader's new bat suit. Fun. I love me some Batfleck.

In case you've been living under a rock the last few months, Ben Affleck is the new Batman. You also should know all the flack the actor has taken as a result. Although I agree it seems like a poor choice, it's certainly not Affleck's fault. Would you pass up the chance to play one of the most vaulted superheros in history? Or pass up that kind of paycheck? No, you would not. In the meantime, though, it's very enjoyable to poke fun at him.

This new "Sad Batman" meme is one of my favorites. I hate when people take things so damn seriously, and Zack's new world is a prime example of this trend. It's all The Dark Knight's fault. That film had to go and make a billion dollars at the box office and make everyone at DC/Warner Bros. think they have to make everything dark and gritty, even when it doesn't fit the character (here's looking at you, Superman).

Whatever. I can't stop the trend. Hollywood will do whatever it is that makes them money, no matter how ill conceived the idea is in the first place. I don't blame them too much for jumping on what's hot and what makes money. It is a business, after all. Then again, it doesn't have to be so dreary and depressing either. We can have fun with it. I'm not saying it's time to go back to campy Batman, but it can go too far the other direction.

Man, no ice cream?!

Think you have what it takes to sell your story to Mark Waid and Thrillbent?

Mark Waid is the founder of Thrillbent and a major proponent for digital comics.

Thursday marked the official first day of San Diego's infamous Comic-Con weekend. Here are my top six reveals from yesterday in no particular order.

Reign's Adelaide Kane and Toby Regbo from SDCC '14 Credit: Getty

Teen Wolf cast reunite for special announcement. Credit:Ethan Miller

Christopher Nolan and Mathew McConaughey about Interstellar. Credit: Getty

Mockingjay SDCC '14 exclusive poster

Jack Black to star in Goosebumps movie. Credit: Roden

Community cast at SDCC '14 panel. Credit: Getty