#FridayisUpdateDay: June 28

#FridayisUpdateDay

OK so since this is is my first set of updates in a while, I'm just gonna throw a ton of information out here. Scroll down to see info for what movies you're interested in.

You'll notice there's a Stark-load of links throughout this blog. Each link will take you to another one of my posts about that subject. For example, if the post is about the film itself, the link will be in the title header of the film. If the post is about an actor or character, it will be in the casting section. Basically they're all in places that make sense, and if you want to know more about that, click the link.

As always, feel free to comment below with any questions, comments, or requests!

Wolverine (July 26, 2013)

- Set after "The Last Stand"
- Tweazer
- First footage
- Teaser Trailer/Poster
- Domestic Trailer/Poster
- Hugh Jackman (Logan/Wolverine), Hiroyuki Sanada (Shingen Yashida), Hal Yamanouchi (Yashida), Tao Okamota (Mariko Yashida), Rila Fukushima (Yukio), Will Yun Lee (Kenuichio Harada/Silver Samurai), Brian Tee (Noburo Mori), Svetlana Khodchenkova (Viper), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey).

Kick-Ass 2 (August 16, 2013)

- New heroes and villains
- First trailer
- Second trailer
- Aaron Johnson (Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass), Chloe Grace Moretz (Mindy Macready/Hit Girl), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Chris D'Amico/The Red Mist/The Mother Fucker), Jim Carrey (Sal Bertolinni/Colonel Stars and Stripes), Donald Faison (Doctor Gravity), Robert Emms (Insect Man), Lindy Booth (Night Bitch), Daniel Kaluuya (Black Death), Clark Duke (Marty Eisenberg/Battle Guy), Augustus Prew (Todd Haynes/Ass-Kicker), Olga Kirkulina (Mother Russia), Andy Nyman (The Tumor), John Leguizamo (Javier)

Agents of SHIELD (September 2013)

- #CoulsonLives
- Will feature Coulson leading his own team of SHIELD Agents
- Will focus on non-superpowered people in the world of superhumans
- Watch the trailer
- Follow the blog
- Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May), Brett Dalton (Grant Ward), Chloe Bennet (Skye), Iain De Caestecker (Leo Fitz), Elizabeth Henstridge (Jenna Simmons), J. August Richards (unrevealed).

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (October 4, 2013)

- Featuring storylines from "A Dame to Kill For," "Just Another Saturday Night," "The Long Bad Night," and an original story.
- Jessica Alba (Nancy Callahan), Powers Boothe (Senator Roark), Josh Brolin (Dwight McCarthy), Jamie Chung (Miho), Marton Csokas (Damien Lord), Rosario Dawson (Gail), Julia Garner (Marcy), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Johnny), Eva Green (Ava Lord), Mickey Rourke (Marv), Bruce Willis (John Hartigan)

Thor: The Dark World (November 8, 2013)

- Takes place after "Thor" and "The Avengers"
- Will feature more focus on the nine realms.
- Watch the trailer
- 14 Questions and Observations about the trailer
- Learn about the prelude comic
- See some photos
- Chris Hemsworth (Thor Odinson), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Tom Hiddleston (Loki Laufeyson), Stellan Skarsgard (Dr. Erik Selvig), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Christopher Eccleston (Malekith the Accursed), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Algrim the Strong/Kurse), Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis), Ray Stevenson (Volstagg), Zachary Levi (Fandral), Tadanobu Asano (Hogun), Jaimie Alexander (Sif), Rene Russo (Frigga), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Clive Russell (Tyr), Chris O'Dowd (unspecified).

300: Rise of an Empire (March 7, 2014)

- Prequel to "300"

- Originally slated for a 2013 release but pushed back

- Will feature Xerxes' journey to becoming the god-king

- Sullivan Stapleton (Themistocles), Lena Headey (Quen Gorgo of Sparta), Eva Green (Artemisia), Rodrigo Santoro (Xerxes, King of Persia), Andrew Peavin (Daxos), Callan Mulvey (Scyllias), David Wenham (Dilios), Jack O'Connell (Calisto), Hans Matheson (Aeskylos), Andrew Tiernan (Ephialtes).

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014)

- Takes place after "The Avengers" in modern day
- SHIELD and Black Widow play major roles
- Will feature the Trikselion, SHIELDs ground-based HQ
- See some concept art
- The blu-ray release will include a short film featuring Haylet Atwell as Peggy Carter after Cap's "death."
- Co-director Joe Russo says "It’s going to be much greater than any Marvel movie to date"
- Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon), Colbie Smulders (Maria Hill), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow/Crossbones), Georges St-Pierre (Georges Batroc/Batroc the Leaper), Haylet Atwell (Peggy Carter), Toby Jones (Arnim Zola), Maximilano Hernandez (Agent Jasper Sitwell), Dominic Copper (Howard Stark), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter/Agent 13).

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 2, 2014)

- Greatly expands Spider-Man's universe, including Oscorp and the Ravencroft Institute
- Mary Jane has been cut from the film, and will not appear until the third installment
- Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy), Jamie Foxx (Max Dillon/Electro), Dane DeHaan (Harry Osborn), Paul Giamatti (Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino), Sally Field (May Parker), Martin Sheen (Ben Parker), Chris Cooper (Norman Osborn), Felicity Jones (unspecified), B.J. Novak (unspecified).
- Release dates for the third and fourth films are June 10, 2016, and May 4, 2018, respectively.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (July 18, 2014)

- Bryan Singer returns as director, Matthew Vaughn stays on as writer
- Uses time travel to connect all previous X-Men films
- Will be reuniting many of the cast members of the original trilogy with cast members of the prequel First Class.
- Will feature Quicksilver, but supposedly not the same as the one in Avengers 2.
- James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart (Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X), Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen (Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Raven Darkholme/Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy/Beast), Halle Berry (Ororo Munroe/Storm), Anna Paquin (Marie/Rogue), Hugh Jackman (Logan/Wolverine), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat), Shawn Ashmore (Bobby Drake/Iceman), Daniel Cudmore (Peter Rasputin/Colossus), Fan Bingbing (Blink), Evan Peters (Quicksilver), Peter Dinklage (unrevealed).

Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1, 2014)

- See some concept art
- Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Michael Rooker (Yondu), John C. Reilly (Rhomann Dey, leader of Nova Corps), Lee Pace (unspecified villain), Karen Gillan (unspecified villain), Glenn Close (member of Nova Corps), Beicio del Toro (unrevealed).

Fantastic Four (March 6, 2015)

- Reboot of the 2005 and 2007 films
- Will share continuity with the X-Men films

The Avengers 2 (May 1, 2015)

- Will feature Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, but supposedly not the same Quicksilver from X-Men: Days of Future Past
- Thanos will not be the main villain
- Loki will not be involved
- Rumors suggest Black Panther will be involved

Ant-Man (November 6, 2015)

- Will start Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
- See some stills from the test footage
- Rumors suggest Arnie Hammer may be up for the lead role, but the actor and Edgar Wright, the director, both deny this
- Edgar Wright tweeted that he directed a scene from a movie other than his movie "The World's End." A lot of people suspect that it's a post-credits scene for another MCU movie, and since it wasn't in Iron Man 3, I hope that it shows up in Thor: The Dark World.

Unrevealed future MCU films

- May 6th.2016
- July 8th, 2016
- May 5th, 2017
- Disney announced release dates for films without revealing what the films are.
- Speculations include new characters like Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Luke Cage/Heroes for Hire, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, or a sequel to an existing movie, like The Incredible Hulk
- Rumors suggest that Dr. Strange will replace Tony Stark/Iron Man as the "hub" character in Phase 3

Expanding the DC Cinematic Universe

- Man of Steel is the beginning of a shared film universe of the DC comics characters, similar to Marvel's Avengers
- A prelude comic to Man of Steel provides proof that Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, exists and is present on Earth during the time of Man of Steel
- References to other chracters in Man of Steel include "LexCorp" being visible multiple times, as well as the "Wayne Enterprises" logo appearing, and "Blaze Comics," a reference to BoosterGold.
- Green Lantern may enter into the DCU with the recent film not officially existing in the same continuity, but still serving the purpose of introducing the character to film audiences.
- Warner Bros. is fast tracking a sequel to Man of Steel to come out as early as next year
- Superman's presence is said to "cause" other heroes to step forward, leading to the Justice League movie, which some report will come as soon as 2015

Thoughts on Luke Cage and Heroes for Hire

So one of the ideas on the back burner for the MCU right now is using Luke Cage and the Heroes for Hire. People have made the point that with Marvel going more and more cosmic, they need to pay attention to the "petty crime" world going on. With properties like Luke Cage/Heroes for Hire, Punisher, and Daredevil heading back into the arms of Marvel Studios, they've got plenty to work with. Luke Cage would also help fill out the demographic roster, as would Iron Fist, but would also fit in with the Harlem angle mentioned in my last post on the Falcon. He could also be used to fit the more normal-human/relatable hero role, somewhere between the powerless Black Widow and Hawkeye and the god of Thunder and the Hulk.

What kind of medium would be best though? If Luke Cage is your focus, films would work fine. If you want to add in Iron Fist, it could still probably translate well into a movie/franchise. But if you want to go bigger, and get the whole idea of the Heroes for Hire in there, films might not be the best way to go. Normally I'd say television would be a better fit for the rotating roster of the HFH, but with the SHIELD show debuting in the Fall, two TV shows might be a bit much. Maybe the show could evolve to show both sides of the hero work -- high tech SHIELD and HFH on the street.

Another option, one probably not akin to much thought, would be a series of short films. These could be released before the major pictures of Phase 2 and 3 (think Pixar animated shorts before their movies) and could be available on home media either as part of the blu rays of the bigger films, a collection of the shorts released when enough are made to be substantial (every 5 or so), or both.

So picture this. IM3 comes out in May, so that's too soon. Thor: The Dark World in Novemeber, also probably too soon.

But if you release a 15-20 minute short introducing Luke Cage (or have him introduced somewhere else and expand on him in the short) and release that with Cap 2 next April, then do the same with Iron Fist and throw it in on GotG in August, and expand upon the Heroes for Hire in Avengers 2, you've got an hour long Heroes for Hire story by the end of Phase 2, which could continue in Phase 3 with Ant-Man. Heck, you could even throw in info or plotlines into the show, to really tie the show together in with the movies, make it really comprehensive. Then, once a certain arc is complete, if could be released as like "Heroes for Hire: Part 1" or something on DVD.

While I'm on the topic, there were some rumors that the huge guard that Thor fought in his movie when he was trying to get his hammer back was unofficially Luke Cage (possibly before he got his powers). I would love if that were retconned to be true. In case you can't place the face, here's a photo.