Did y’all catch the teaser trailer for Thor 2: The Dark World, which hit this morning (you can check it out HERE)? I dunno about you, but,  it took me by surprise. Coming off the first flick, being as adequate as it was, I didn’t expect much for the sequel. This time around, however, things appear be on a much grander scale. More risk, more at stake, and a hell of a lot more epic. Bottom line: it doesn’t look as cheesy as the first, it actually seems like it’s taking itself seriously. Heck, even the posters for Thor 2 are looking pretty slick…

The talented and legendary Olly Moss has created cast and crew posters for TTDW focusing on Loki, Odin and Heimdall. Check em’ out above and below. If you look closely, the ray from the bifrost bridge and the sky combine to form Thor’s Mjolnir.

And Olly’s payment for the work? One of the Mjolnir hammers used in the film.

Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World,” in theaters November 8, 2013, continues the big screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

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Marvel’s phase two is in the works, though much of what’s going on behind the scenes, within the story, is being hid from us.  Kudos to them, cause personally, I don’t want too many spoilers ruining my experience of what they have lined up for us in this round of super hero awesomeness.  They’ve shown us enough Iron Man 3 to kill a man and rumors fly about everything else, but now it’s time for the next step in showing us just how fkn amazing their next round of movies is going to be.  The Thor 2: The Dark World trailer has just hit and it’s looking good enough to make you poo yourself.  Check it out below:

Either their marketing team has a fkn genius editing their footage down to this trailer, or this film is going to blow us away.  After rewatching the trailer for the fourth time, I’ve finally achieved faith that phase 2 is going to make us proud.

Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t, but I’m spending my $12 on opening night.  You should check it out too, later this year on November 8^th.

Thanks to /film for the heads-up.

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Phase Two of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe is about to kick off with Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3 hitting theater screens everywhere on May 3rd. The production team at Marvel studios is still hard at work on the other pieces of Phase Two, The Avengers 2, Thor 2, Captain America 2, and the new comer to the bunch, Guardians of the Galaxy.

The President of Production at Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, recently talked with the Italian magazine Best Movie about why the studio decided to include Guardians to the Phase Two movie roster:

“[For a] long time that we wanted to bring in a movie and adventure set entirely in space. We immediately liked the idea of making a movie based on a comic mostly unknown by people [...] that present[ed] various superheroes in one movie.

“Although it’s set up from another part of the universe, a human will be in a superhero role of Peter Quill, played by Chris Pratt. There will be lots of characters: from a sexy warrior to an animated tree [to] a raccoon with a gun. It’s a unique franchise and we are pleased that it’s so different from what we have done so far.”

While the majority of the work being done today is focused on Phase Two, some are looking forward to Phase Three and which established characters will return.

“Currently, the third phase is still developing. 99.9% of our time is used for Phase 2, the development of ‘The Avengers 2′ and the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ keeps us very busy. Definitely we’re not leaving aside the old glories and we can also see familiar faces such as Iron Man, Thor and Captain America.”

Along side the already established movie characters some more comic book favorites are joining the lineup. Edgar Wright’s long-discussed Ant-Man and word is that Doctor Strange (A favorite of Feige) will be making a, hopefully triumphant, return to the big screen.

Yep, there was a Doctor Strange TV movie back in 1978 starring Peter Hooten as Dr. Stephen Strange, Sir John Mills as Lindmer “The Ancient One”, Clyde Kusatsu as Wong, and Jessica Walter as Morgan Lefay. You can take a look at part one below, it’s painful, but really makes one wonder at what today’s special effects wizards can do with the subject matter that were impossible back when this was made.

“Dr. Strange! I love the aura of mystery that surrounds this superhero and the magical world that surrounds him. We’ve never faced anything like this and there is a lot of material that we could exploit. I would love to also see a new superhero in the ranks of the Avengers. We shall see!”

Phase Three is scheduled to commence after the release of The Avengers 2 in May 2015, while Dr. Strange has yet to officially receive a release date. Which movies are you most looking forward to? Is there a character that you’d like to see that has not been on screen yet?

Iron Man 3 releases May 3rd, 2013, Thor: The Dark World on November 8th, 2013, Captain America: The Winter Soldier on April 4th, 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1st, 2014, The Avengers 2 on May 1st, 2015, Ant-Man on November 6th, 2015, and Doctor Strange sometime after that.

Via: Screenrant

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And now, my lovely Nerd Readers, a bit of casting news from the front line of the second Thor flick, Thor: The Dark World.  It seems as if the beloved British comedy, The IT Crowd is outsourcing its talent in the form of Chris O’Dowd.  In case you can’t remember which guy he played, here’s a picture of his melon:

When talking about his choice of roles, O’Dowd had this to say:

I think I’ll do more dramatic stuff and I think I have some stuff coming out that’s a bit more dramatic. I don’t know if I’d do an action movie because I don’t know if I could keep a straight face honestly, I just think it’s so silly. Like I love watching them but I can’t imagine me doing one. Actually, you know what I’ve done, just for fun because I didn’t think there was any way that I could be in a superhero movie, so I’ve done a scene in the new “Thor” movie, just for that. I just do like one scene, which was fun.

And later, on his Twitter, he had this spoiler to share:

So today I’m filming a date scene with Natalie Portman.#UpTheRossies

So there you have it folks.  We have no idea who he’s playing, but he will be there for at least a minute or so.  Check him out when Thor: The Dark World hits theaters come November 8^th, later this year of our lord, 2013.

Thanks to /film for the heads-up.

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Nerd action figure enthusiasts, like myself, are privileged to buy just about every pop culture character that ever was/is. Seriously, pretty much every iconic character from film, TV, video games and more have spawned little plastic figures honoring their image. I’m not complaining. No, I’m thrilled! I am, though, running out of shelf space. That, and my wallet and fiancee are not so understanding.

Money, storage and g/f problems be damned, because, thanks to the New York International Toy Fair (which happened this weekend), 2013  is looking like another killer year for plastics.

Toy Fair 2013 showcased all types of toys to choose from, classic toys from yesteryear, new movie tie-in toys, and toys for all ages, brought forth from the wacky minds of the toy masters at Mattel, Lego, Hasbro and many, many more. These are the products that will be hitting store shelves everywhere all year long that may flop, or become the hottest must have toy for Christmas.

Thanks to internet leaks, and work from other bloggers, we’ve rounded up the biggest and the best.

Take a stroll through the New York Toy Fair courtesy of NerdBastards “Gallery of Toys” and get your second hand look at NECA‘s Kick-Ass 2, and Lone Ranger line. Hasbro’s Star Wars, G.I. Joe:  Retaliation and Transformers, Marvel Legends/Avengers figures. Mattel‘s Masters of the Universe, DC Unlimited, Classics TV Batman, and Watchmen collections. DC Collectibles Man of Steel and, much, much more!

Check out the massive (90) picture gallery below and let your fellow NerdBastards know which are keepers and which will clutter store shelves until their thrown into the 50% off bin in the comments section below.

Note: Release dates and other deets are not provided. Please see our sources (ToyArk, ToyNewsi, ComingSoon) for more information.

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Further details were recently released regarding Thor: The Dark World–the highly anticipated sequel to Kenneth Branagh’s immensely successful Thor adaptation. The sequel will be directed by Alan Taylor (The Sopranos, Mad Men, Game Of Thrones), and reportedly will offer a new and different take on the realm of Asgard–among other things.

Marvel Studios Executive Producer Craig Kyle discussed the film and its director in a recent interview with Empire:

By bringing director Alan Taylor into the mix, with his expertise on ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Game of Thrones,’ we came up with a take that allows us to get more into the nooks and crannies of Asgard and its people. We spend more time on the ground with the commoners, as opposed to in the palace.

Kyle continued on, discussing the nature of the “Superhero Movie”, and the unique appeal of the Thor universe:

Like in Indiana Jones, while there’s high stakes and high danger, there’s always fun. We have to constantly redefine what a superhero film is or it’d just exhaust the audience. So Iron Man is the James Bond-y, classic, suave action hero; Captain America’s the period piece; Hulk is the monster movie; Avengers the disaster movie; and Thor is the science-fiction epic.

It’s a very complicated blend [of genres: high science fiction, gritty fantasy, and realism]. Thor is, until Guardians of the Galaxy hits, by far our most wild, fringe Marvel piece. But that’s why it’s the Marvel Universe and not Marvel Earth!

According to Kyle, Thor: The Dark World begins with a war torn Asgard, and the Nine Realms besieged “by rag-tag invaders known as The Marauders,” led by Mister Sinister. This leads to an opportunistic attack by the Dark Elves, led by Malekith the Accursed (Christopher Eccleston).

Thor: The Dark World is scheduled for release in 2D and 3D on November 8th of this year, and stars: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie Alexander–with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins.

(via GeekTyrant)

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Iron Man 1 & 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, was a tour de force in silver screen superiority by Marvel/Disney. As a sign of rinse, lather and repeat, Marvel is doing it all over again with it’s next phase of films.

Their cinematic excellence, in super hero films,  will be tested in Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers 2. If all goes as planned, and it very well should, Marvel will then implement it’s 3rd phase.

Phase 3: Let’s get weird…

Marvel’s talking head Kevin Feige (pronounced “fayGAY”) spoke with MTV News about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Little big man and something strange in the neighborhood…

Ant-Man is definitely part of Phase Three. Like Iron Man 3, it’s certainly set in the Marvel Universe, but it’s also through the lens of Edgar Wright — which is the only reason we’re making the movie. [...] It’s very much an Ant-Man origin movie from the perspective of Edgar Wright and his co-writer Joe Cornish. It will of course be firmly planted in the MCU, but a different corner than we’ve seen before.

While Phase One culminated in the formation of the Avengers, and Phase Two will lead up to the Avengers sequel, Phase Three seems to be, well, a little stranger.

So much of the stories we’re telling [right now] is about the core Avengers characters we’ve now met, and they’ll be evolving in big, surprising ways, in Cap’s next movie and Thor’s next movie and of course in Iron Man 3, as we get them all into the next Avengers film. Beyond that… Ant-Man is the only one officially announced, but you probably don’t have to look too far to guess at the next list of characters we’re toying with and beginning to develop.

And that, Feige confirmed, includes Doctor Strange.

Doctor Strange, which I’ve been talking about for years, is definitely one of them. He’s a great, original character, and he checks the box off this criteria that I have: he’s totally different from anything else we have, just like Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s totally different from anything we’ve done before, as is Ant-Man, which keeps us excited.

This is all well and good. But, honestly Marvel, I’m surprised at you. Doctor Strange is getting a movie before Black Panther? I’m not trying to pull a race card or anything, but I guess white guys with epic mustachios will always come before a brother, right?

Although, I must say, I’m far more excited about the sorcerer supreme than poor wittle Ant-Man. I, for one, don’t see the appeal in a microscopic sized dude running through air ducts and shit. On the other hand, Disney’s take on wife beating should be… interesting.

Source: MTV News

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Thor: The Dark World may not be coming to theaters for another year, but that doesn’t stop fans from wanting to know more about it right now.  Luckily for us, Marvel’s International VP, Nigel Cook, was showing off some raw footage at a cinema convention in Italy.  Some people who saw it decided to tweet it out to the rest of the world, and we are going to tell you what they had to say.

Warning!  Spoilers ahead!

With that out of the way, we’d like to thank GeekTyrant for dealing with the translation on this one, bless their souls.  It may still be a bit of a choppy read, but it’s understandable enough:

In the preview, a voice-over is heard with the oath of the God of Thunder as the new supreme ruler. We see a clash between Thor and the enemy army, in a world that is neither Asgard let alone the Earth. We see Chris Hemsworth wielding his hammer and Tom Hiddleston as Loki first wounded without a helmet, with long, loose hair and then imprisoned; his anger increasingly desperate and irrational. Then there’s a scene later in which he is free again, but still furious.

Against the backdrop of a forest, in the middle of a clearing, among the dust, we in fact face off anthropomorphic creatures, but also a big “gorilla” krosan tusker: a rather alien fauna varies so, although not extreme in size (there are also some envoys/ambassadors of a people mysterious, with oval face and black eyes, elongated and sunken)

The rest of the images show glimpses of Asgard, with Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Natalie Portman in clothes that seem more like a princess; an Asgardian princess. In between, there are images of an epic battle on horseback, who seems to have left an epic cloak-and-dagger. The threat to the Asgardians is certainly a new alien race pale (now identified as the dark elves).

A black spaceship shaped irregularly looks like a serious threat to Asgard. More sequences show Natalie Portman then alongside Thor lying on the ground, probably overwhelmed in a clash.

So until Marvel releases an official trailer or someone leaks some juicy video version of the above-mentioned footage, it’s all you’re gonna get.

Or you can just ignore all the spoilery-hype and wait to check out Thor: The Dark World on November 8^th of 2013.

Thanks again to GeekTyrant for the heads-up.

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With the release of Thor: The Dark World almost a year from now and filming still underway, you wouldn’t expect to see an actual poster anytime soon. Sure, there’s the official typography for the film, above, that was first seen when the title was announced but that’s not really a poster. This is a poster,

Almost, or as artist Olly Moss tweets it,

@v00d00m4n well, to be fair, that’s only 1/4th of the final poster.

— Olly Moss (@ollymoss) December 6, 2012

This won’t be the final poster or even a teaser poster released for the film, but rather it’s a special poster made especially for the cast and crew which they’ll receive when production ends. Moss created a similar poster for the end of production on Thor, you can see it, along with more of his fabulous art, on his website.

What do you guys think of the first kinda, sorta promo poster of Thor 2?

Source: Blastr

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With the stage now set and almost half a dozen movies on the way, Marvel Studios seems to have firm grasp on where their cinematic universe is headed. The sheer weight of planning all those Stan Lee cameos alone must tie up a lot of resources. Over the next few months we are sure to get hints and teasers of what is to come, in fact over the next few paragraphs we get that.

Next up for the Marvel Universe it’s Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013); Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8, 2013) and after the jump we have Marvel movie head honcho Kevin Feige talking about Tony Stark’s third outing and a few words Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston talk about what is in store for the Asgardian step-brothers. But first, a fresh scan from the latest Empire Magazine.

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