Shock confession time: Man of Steel is one of my most-anticipated movies because, well, it’s directed by Zack Snyder, and with a script written by David S. Goyer, and with Chris Nolan as producer, there’s absolutely no way this movie can go wrong.

Now we have the first look at the guy playing Clark Kent/Superman, Henry Cavill, in costume as the title character. Click on the image to embiggen:

Personally, I think it’s absolutely badass. I love that they’re using the Earth-Two Superman logo for this suit too.

Not a fan of the textured look (I think it worked better in The Amazing Spider-Man, though) but I’m willing to give that particular design mistake a pass, mainly because you know they’re not going to pussify Superman, unlike that other recent movie.

What do you think?

(Source)

So Peter Parker of the Ultimate universe was prominently featured recently in the Death of Spider-Man storyline, and – here’s a shocker – bit the bullet in the end. Nobody saw that coming, really. Anyway, Marvel just recently debuted the brand-new Spider-Man for the alternate Ultimate Universe, and I’m really loving this little development.

Welcome, Miles Morales. Hope Marvel doesn't shit on your life... much.

Here’s an except from Marvel’s announcement in USA Today:

Revealed in Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Fallout Issue 4, out Wednesday, the new Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe is a half-black, half-Hispanic teen named Miles Morales. He takes over the gig held by Peter Parker, who was killed in Ultimate Spider-Man Issue 160 in June.

In his first appearance, he simply breaks up a fight. But readers will learn the true origin of Morales and how he became the new Spider-Man when Ultimate Spider-Man relaunches in September with a new No. 1 issue [...] In addition to an alliterative name, Miles has a connection to his predecessor in how he received his powers. But he will have different abilities, too. Supporting characters such as Peter’s Aunt May and Gwen Stacy also will give Miles nuggets of wisdom to help his transition from young kid to New York City superhero.

I’m just afraid that with Brian Michael Bendis writing a half-black, half-hispanic Spider-Man, his signature heavy-handedness might get too unbearable. Let’s just see, alright?

Welcome to the (Ultimate) Marvel Universe, Miles Morales. Hope you become popular enough to not get killed and be replaced by your (non-minority) predecessor.

From the general consensus on the internet (like Bim of Comicology hating it to bits), it looks like I’m the only guy here who actually liked the just-released trailer for the Marc Webb-directed reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man.

It does show some nice bits, like Peter’s parents (I hope they’re also S.H.I.E.L.D. agents for this version) and forced awkwardness from him care of Andrew Garfield’s acting. I didn’t care for the spider biting him on the neck, instead of the right hand, but if everything else works out I’ll give it a pass. Also, they seem to be portraying Curt Connors/The Lizard (Irrfan Khan) as a straight-up evil/ambitious villain instead of the more traditional sympathetic portrayal he has in every fucking adaptation. I hope this isn’t how he ends up in the final cut, because I swear, I will step on a kitten if they do that. (continue reading…)

… is using his great power responsibly.

I’ve been pretty ambivalent about Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man. I really thought that the guy was great in The Social Network, and admittedly, he looks a lot more like Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire ever did. But for some reason I never really cared about him getting the titular role in Marc Webb’s reboot of everyone’s favorite web-slinger.

That is, until today.

From Slashfilm: the first official photo of Andrew Garfield in the Spider-Man suit.

Two things: I love the fact that the new costume gets rid of the raised webbing from the Sam Raimi movies. That was the one thing that irked me from the otherwise faithful costume from the first series. Weirdly, this new costume modifies the comic book costume a bit – I can see where they’ve changed up some of the classic patterns. (continue reading…)