Wolverine 2 may in fact be shooting sooner rather then later. Despite the long list of possible directors given earlier this summer, it appears that 20th Century Fox and Hugh Jackman have lowered the number of candidates considerably.

According to a report by Deadline, 30 Days of Night director David Slade has met numerous times with lead star Jackman numerous times over the past week to discuss the film. The other possible candidate is Darren Aronofsky, director of the art film Requiem for a Dream. Aronofsky has worked with Jackman before on The Fountain. However, Deadline personally seems convinced that Slade will lead the production for the next X-men prequel.

Despite hitches along the way, it appears that X-men First Class has begun shooting and with that we have learned a great deal about the upcoming superhero adaptation. Through a phone interview with executive producer Bryan Singer, Aint It Cool News has revealed details regarding the latest film in the X-men franchise.

One of the major aspects of the superhero prequel will be the time period it is set in. First Class is scheduled to take place in an alternative 1960's with John F. Kennedy as president, and with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X having a background role in the film. First Class will also emulate the retro-future technology of the era, similar to the 1960's James Bond films. Because of this change in time period, we will not see fan favorites Cyclops and Marvel Girl in this film.

As for plot details, the major villain has been revealed to be Sebastian Shaw, played by Kevin Bacon. Shaw will be backed up the Hellfire Club's White Queen Emma Frost, played by January Jones. However, the majority of the story will explore the relationship between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and how their relationship deteriorates. It will also be revealed how Xavier became crippled.

X-men: First Class will be released on June 3, 2011.

Although he has already become a big name in Hollywood, X-men: First Class will be Matthew Vaughn's first studio funded production. Accustomed to such self funded productions such as Kick Ass, Vaughn has been feeling the pressure when it comes to adapting a well loved franchise for a big named studio. The upcoming X-men prequel has already undergone several rewrites and drafts since it began production last year.


However, with most of the film casted and shooting to begin later this year. Vaughn never expected another rewrite to come so late in the game. According to Hero Complex, this latest roadblock came to Vaughn's attention last weekend after viewing Christopher Nolan's Inception. While the Kick Ass director openly expressed his love for the supernatural dreamscape thriller, he was also forced to remove almost twelve pages of script and storyboard from First Class. This lost sequence was in fact going to be a dreamspace combat sequence between Charles Xavier's mutants and a rival faction. These scenes, which were to feature spinning rooms and physics bending combat, were labeled as being to similar to the already popular Inception, and thus scrapped.


Despite this Vuaghn remains optimistic about his upcoming edition to the X-men franchise. In fact, in an enthusiastic discussion with IGN.com, he compared his latest attempt at adapting Stan Lee's beloved franchise to the highly successful JJ Abrams 2009 Star Trek reboot. "Obviously [Abrams] couldn't make everyone happy with that one, but he did a pretty good job," Vaughn said. "He made a fantastically exciting reinvention of that world, with those great characters. And I think there will be comparisons a little bit with X-Men: First Class. It's very similar, in a way. But we're doing some cool stuff in this movie, some really cool stuff that you haven't seen before."


Vaughn also hinted that the setting for the story, written by Bryan Singer, is also something he is excited for, seeing as it deals with recent world events.

While Dracula may not actually be joining the X-men anytime soon, it appears that yet another star has been added to the already expansive X-men:First Class cast.

According to Deadline New York, Edi Gathegi, who played the vampire Laurent in the first two Twilight movies, has been cast as the mutant Darwin for the upcoming Matthew Vaughn directed prequel. Darwin stands about among mutants for having the power of reactive evolution, which allows him to adapt to any environment or situation.


X-men: First Class is due out for release June 3 2011.

Marvel has always been lacking when it comes to the animated world. While it has had such amazing series as the Spectacular Spider-man and X-men: Evolution, the comic book company is repeatedly outmatched by its competitor DC when it comes to animation. However, this looks to change with an upcoming series of Marvel inspired anime scheduled to be released on G4 developed by critically acclaimed studio Madhouse.

Last summer at SDCC, Marvel announced Iron Man and Wolverine, and today Blade and X-men were confirmed as the latter two adaptations. All four will air in 2011 throughout the coures of the year.

Each series will consist of 12 half hour episodes with heavy Asian influence added to the existing back story based off the Marvel comics. Each story line was outlined by Marvel veteran Warren Ellis and later scripted by Madhouse.



Source: Variety.com

While the X-men prequel, X-men Origins: Wolverine, was not the best received movie in the world, a sequel has been in production since last year and now 20th Century Fox has begun the long task of finding a director that will hopefully bring a better take on the franchise.

According to ThePlaylist.com, Cloverfield director Matt Reeves and Man on Fire director Tony Scott are the two most discussed names over at Fox. Other less likely candidates include Kathryn Bigelow (Hurt Locker)and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted). However, due to numerous scheduling conflicts it appears that the job may indeed fall into Reeves's hands.

Wolverine 2 will follow the clawed mutants violent trip to Japan and his mastering of Japanese martial arts. The script, adapted from the comic written by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont, was written by Christopher McQuarrie.

Although the cast has been expansive in terms of actors and character, X-men First Class has yet to pull any true surprises. While it is great to see such favorites as Magneto and Beast among the list of mutants, director Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass) has yet to pull the rug out from under our legs. That is until today.

According to Straight2DVD, actress Erica Hosseini recently auditioned for the role of Willow, an obscure mutant from the 2099 spinoff series (most famous through its series Spider-man 2099, which appears in the upcoming Shattered Dimensions game) : "I was auditioning for a role named Willow -- hopefully I don't get in trouble for blabbing details on the off-chance that I get it. It's a role similar to Mystique from what I understand. Potentially lots of body paint, so that would be really fun."

So what does this mean for the series? Honestly, I have no idea. Willow is too obscure for a hoax, which adds legitimacy to this statement.

The cast of the upcoming X-men prequel, First Class, is growing larger every day. With such mutants as Magneto, Charles Xavier, Cyclops, Angel, Beast, and Emma Frost already added to the cast this looks to be one of the largest mutant gatherings in the history of film.

Today the Latino Review announced that Caleb Landry Jones (No Country for Old Men, Friday Night Lights) is in talks to play the screaming mutant Banshee.

The Mattew Vaughn directed film is slated to begin filming this August and to be released next July.

There are few characters more central to the X-men mythology then Emma Frost. Whether acting as a rebellious psychic teen or one of the leading members of the weakening mutant community, Emma Frost is fan favorite of the X-men fanbase and one of the major characters of the Marvel universe. Despite her rather unfortunate portrayal in the latest X-men film, X-men Origins: Wolverine, it appears the heroine will be playing a major role in the upcoming Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass) directed X-men prequel.

According to Deadline New York, Alice Eve (She's Out of My League, Sex and the City 2) is in talks with studio heads to play the famous psychic in next years comic book adaptation.

X-men: First Class is due out for release June 3rd of next year.

Actor Michael Fassbender may be playing the villain for two of Marvel's upcoming superhero adaptations. According to showbiz411.com, the critically acclaimed actor, most known for his roles in 300, Inglorious Basterds, and the upcoming DC comics adaptation Jonah Hex, has reportedly signed on to play a younger version of Magento in X-men: First Class. To make things even more interesting, the site also reports that Fassbender was approached to play the villain in 2012's reboot of Spider-man. This announcement brings no further news over who the famous webslinger may face off against, but speculation places Fassbender as portraying the villainous Norman Osborn, a.k.a The Green Goblin.

Marvel has just handed over its company to the devil. Joe Quesada, the creator of the One More Day atrocity, has now become creative head for Marvel. I'm so upset and emotionally spent by this news I'm not even going to write more about it. For those interested, I have posted the press release given to Superherohype.com.

Marvel Entertainment, LLC announced today that it has promoted Joe Quesada to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. In this new role, Quesada will work alongside Alan Fine, Executive Vice President, Office of the President and Chairman of Marvel Studios' Creative Committee, to ensure that all portrayals of Marvel's characters and storytelling remain true to the essence of Marvel's rich history. Additionally, Quesada will provide creative oversight of all areas of Marvel's business including theatrical, television, publishing, animation and games, while also actively participating in all story and script development for Marvel's films and animation. Prior to this promotion, Quesada held the role of Chief Creative Officer & Editor-In-Chief, Marvel Animation & Publishing and oversaw the creative aspects of Marvel Comics and Marvel Animation. The announcement was made today by Fine, to whom Quesada will report.

Fine stated, "I am excited to have Joe join me as Marvel Entertainment enters the next chapter in our history. Joe has already played an instrumental role as Editor-in-Chief in changing the face of the comic book industry with bold new ventures and an unprecedented penetration of the mainstream consciousness. His love and passion for Marvel, along with his experience guiding publishing for the last decade, will be invaluable as we bring our characters to life in new media."

"I am honored to take this new position at Marvel Entertainment and work with Alan to bring the rich history of Marvel to a brand new audience" said Quesada. "Together with the incredible talent here at Marvel, in all our divisions, I look forward to making Marvel an even bigger part of the entertainment industry and showing why we've been an industry leader for over 70 years."

Quesada will also continue to serve as Editor-In-Chief, Marvel Publishing, where over the past decade he has helped usher in bold new imprints such as "Marvel Knights," the "Ultimate Universe" and "Marvel MAX." During his tenure, Marvel received acclaim for its "Heroes" special to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001; the groundbreaking "Death of Captain America" storyline; and President Obama's historic team up with Spider-Man. Quesada is also one of the industry's most popular artists, providing cover and interior art to blockbusters such as "Amazing Spider-Man," "Daredevil," Invincible Iron Man" and more.

So there you have it. Sugar coating a bad decision. Thanks again to Superherohype.com for the quote.

http://media.comics.ign.com/articles/108/1084430/img_7692150.html










Also it appears as if X-men will be jumping on the vampire wagon. Their new roster, which ranges from Blade to Spider-man, will be combating vampires when the new volume of X-men opens this fall. The new X-men series reportedly features a more mission based story structure, and will feature guest stars from numerous Marvel comics. I can sense the necessary Deadpool appearance already. There will also be a relaunching of X-force, and several new Wolverine stories including centric stories on Dakin and a trip through hell.



Also, among the most surprising news is that Steve Rogers will step down form the role of Captain America. Although his new title is yet to be revealed there will be two short series following the character in his transition. First, Steve Rogers: Super Soldier will follow Steve's new title, and Captain America: Patriot will follow Captain America's Cold War adventures. This new version of Steve Rogers will also appeared in the new Secret Avengers series.




Finally, we reach perhaps the most controversial series of the convention. Spider-man: O.M.I.T. (One Moment In Time) is designed to fill in the gaps created by the poorly received One More Day retcon. The series will center around the central point of the changes, Spider-man's marriage. The story arc will reveal numerous aspects of Peter's life that have remained a mystery until now. However, most of all it will be a painful reminder of one of the worst decisions in Marvel history.

Well, as the week continues. We now have four more members of the new X-men. The only true surprise is Blade. Yes the vampire hunter. While these aren't as shocking as the earlier inclusions, they still bring up the question. What the hell is up with Spider-man!?!