Comic News for 5/28/10: Green Lantern Gets TV Show; Michael Bay on TMNT& More "CAPT. AMERICA" Cast!

Both get movies, one gets a TV cartoon.

DC NEWS: "GREEN LANTERN" GETS A CARTOON SHOW; FLASH GETS A MOVIE (EVENTUALLY); TITLE OF NEXT ANIMATED DVD RELEASE REVEALED & MORE!

- Heat Vision (www.heatvisionblog.com/2010/05/cartoon-net-planning-green-latern-series.html) has announced that a Green Lantern cartoon series is being developed to air on Cartoon Network "in the second year after the film release" of "GREEN LANTERN" - which means the year 2012-2013. Launching a cartoon series shortly after a movie about a superhero is hardly uncommon, especially for DC superheroes. "BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES" debuted on Fox after "BATMAN RETURNS" hit theaters. Even "SUPERMAN RETURNS", which Warner Brothers (WB) did not see as a success, sparked the return of Superman to Kid's WB as the lead character in "LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES", which ran for the final two seasons the network lasted. However, this will be the first time Green Lantern will star in his own cartoon series, instead of being part of the cast of a team show, such as "SUPERFRIENDS" or "JUSTICE LEAGUE", or as a guest character like in "SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES" and even "DUCK DODGERS". This is interesting, as an interview with Bruce Timm, producer of many of WB's hit DC cartoons and current producer of their "DC Universe Animated" line of animated DVD films, claimed that Warner Home Video felt that the DVD animated feature, "GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT" did not sell well enough to warrant a sequel. Could it have been because WB would rather save their resources for a longer term Green Lantern project, such as a TV show? At any rate, it helps cement the rise of the character within this past decade from notable B-Lister to all but replacing Wonder Woman as part of DC's Big Three (or becoming part of their Big Four).

- Following up on a story last reported here two months ago (www.examiner.com/x-19829-Brooklyn-Comic-Books-Examiner~y2010m2d27-Comic-News-for-22610-Goyer-writes-Batman-3--Superman-film7-Actors-Try-for-Capt-America--More), WB is apparently serious about launching a film franchise out of the Flash. The Hollywood Reporter (www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ifeb8cbc990332c1c8ece0b50741f3da3) notes that with 2011 being the last year a "HARRY POTTER" film will be released, that Warner Brothers is looking to DC super heroes to provide them with the next slate of blockbusters. The third Batman film, directed by Chris Nolan and starring Christian Bale, is set for a July 20th, 2012 release with another Superman film scheduled for "holiday season" of 2012 (which means November or December). A film for "The Flash", however, is "close" to being green lit, with the studio also mulling over films for Wonder Woman and Aquaman (both of whom were in planning stages; the former had Joss Whedon attached to direct, before being scrapped). Back in July, it was announced that FLASH and GREEN LANTERN comic writer Geoff Johns (who has since been promoted within what is now DC Entertainment) would work on "THE FLASH" film as a writer and co-producer (www.comicbookresources.com/). Greg Berlanti, who has written part of the "GREEN LANTERN" movie, is still apparently on hand to direct the film. There is also no word if WB will want to eventually "connect" these films to form a "JUSTICE LEAGUE" film, much as Marvel Studios is building towards 2012's "AVENGERS". Perhaps WB is waiting to see how that goes for Marvel before imitating it; however, they missed the chance to be innovators rather than imitators in that regard.

- The World's Finest (via Toonzone.net) has revealed DVD and blu-ray box covers for "BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD", which is released onto store shelves July 27th. It reveals that the next DC Universe Animated feature, which is scheduled for "fall 2010" will be called "SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE" (www.worldsfinestonline.com/news.php). World's Finest has reported that this will be a sequel DVD to "SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES", which reportedly was the best selling of the DC Universe Animated DVD's so far (www.worldsfinestonline.com/news.php/news.php). More speculation is that since this is a sequel, it will emulate another Jeph Loeb story drawn by Ed McGuiness (whose style was used for the character designs of "SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES") for SUPERMAN/BATMAN, which was titled "With A Vengeance" in issues #20-25 (and featured, among other things, the World's Finest leading other DC heroes against The Maximums, a brutal team that sought to satire Marvel's Ultimates, as well as appearances from Darkseid, the Joker, and even Terry McGuiness) from 2005. Or, it could adapt the very next SUPERMAN/BATMAN story by Loeb after "Public Enemies", which was "The Supergirl From Krypton" (issues #8-13) which also featured Darkseid and was drawn by the late Michael Turner in 2004. It could even be a combination of both stories. This also means that after "WONDER WOMAN" and "GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT" performed below what Warner Home Video would have liked, that they want to stick to "safer" animated fare, such as Batman, Superman, or Justice League material (or material that combines all three). Word of whether Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy would thus reprise their roles (again) as Superman and Batman for this sequel are unknown. Meanwhile, Comic Book Resources has an exclusive review with voice actor John DiMaggio, who is probably best known as Bender from "FUTURAMA" (or Dr. Drakken from "KIM POSSIBLE") but has played characters for a slew of cartoons, from "JUSTICE LEAGUE" to "BATMAN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD" to even Marvel cartoons like "SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN". He speaks about his role in "BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD", where he gets to voice the Joker, a voice role often made famous in modern times by Mark Hamill. DiMaggio stated he was "shocked" that he landed the role and that he tried to incorporate many versions of the Joker, from Caesar Romero from the 60's series to Jack Nicholson from 1989's "BATMAN" in his performance. He also stated that while he has few preferences for the types of characters he is cast to voice, he "loves playing villains".

- IGN has released the next "JONAH HEX" trailer, which will see release next month. It offers more action - media.movies.ign.com/media/040/040155/vids_1.html.

How many explosions and helicopters will Michael Bay add to this?

INDIE COMIC NEWS: MICHAEL BAY WORKS ON "TMNT" RELAUNCH; "SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD" & "THE WALKING DEAD" TV SHOW UPDATES!

- Perhaps seeking to imitate the success of the first two "TRANSFORMERS" films (commercially, at least), Deadline reports that director Michael Bay and his partners from Platinum Dunes, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, have been tapped by Paramount and Nickelodeon to produce a live action TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES film (www.deadline.com/2010/05/platinum-dunes-steers-turtles-relaunch/). Last year, Nickelodeon paid $60 million dollars to acquire the TMNT license from the struggling 4Kids and from original Mirage Studios creator Peter Laird with the intention of bringing the heroes in a half shell back to both the large and small screen. Bay begun production work on "TRANSFORMERS 3" earlier this month and in the initial purchase of the TMNT, Nick had stated their intention to bring about a new Turtle movie and/or TV show by 2012-2013. This film would be "live action", but likely incorporate CGI elements. No word about what this film will specifically entail besides "reboot" have been mentioned. The last Ninja Turtle film was the 2007 "TMNT", which was released by Warner Brothers and was CGI animated by Imagi (which has since shut down). While that was also intended as a "reboot", it also worked as a loose sequel with the trio of films released by New Line Cinema from 1990-1993. It is imagined this latest film would be a cleaner break with older material, and as Bay's "TRANSFORMERS" films have brought in the most cash out of recent 1980's revival films, this move is likely seen as tagging a "top man" for the project. In related news, Mirage Studio's official website (www.miragelicensing.com/) has released a statement from Dan Berger that cements that after 25-26 years, work on Ninja Turtle comics (or any Ninja Turtle material) from their founders and/or staff is about to come to a full end. TALES OF THE TMNT #70 will be the last issue printed by the company, and while creator Peter Laird has the rights to produce 18 issues of Ninja Turtle material that is apart from anything Nick does with the license, he currently is taking stock of his life. Having gotten the lion's share of $50 million dollars for the Turtles, Laird seems to be enjoying a period of semi-retirement from running a day to day empire from his blog (plairdblog.blogspot.com/), merrily attending motorcycle shows or posting art, stories, and other nick knacks from the past. For another perspective on this is the blog of artist Jim Lawson (boxburning.blogspot.com/), who has drawn for Mirage Studios in general and Ninja Turtle material in particular for much of the last 20-21 years. His recent "I'm Done" post sort of symbolizes the end of an era for him; while past blog posts have mentioned a "generous" compensation package from Mirage Studios, TALES OF THE TMNT #70 will be his last semi-regular comic book series and he mentions being on unemployment and landing part-time teaching gigs as his options for the near future. A cynic could claim that last year's "TMNT 25TH ANNIVERSARY" push across various forms of media (including live appearances) was a plan by Laird to show how "important" the franchise was in order to be able to sell it for a high price. If so, the plan worked out for him, and having co-created one of the biggest pop culture sensations of the 1980's and early 1990's and after almost a decade of running a revived Mirage Studios, he was perhaps entitled to one last "cash in". It is still the end of an era, and what Nick does with (or to) the Turtles remains to be seen.

- In part of perhaps an ongoing quest to show she's "grown up", Miley Cyrus has indicated that she wants to star in a new movie version of TANK GIRL, a British comic book character (and series) that has been published in the United States via Dark Horse, IDW, and currently Image Comics (www.showbizspy.com/article/204331/miley-cyrus-tank-girl.html) The report by Show Biz Spy claims this would be "a big budget version" that could show that Cyrus is more than family friendly. Created in 1988 by Jamie Hewett and Alan Martin, the character came to symbolize the "punk rock" movement. In 1995, a film version was made starring Lori Petty, which was a spectacular bomb (it cost $25 million and grossed less than five million). So, we have the star of "HANNAH MONTANNA" (the face of what some call "bubble gum pop") wanting to become a former symbol of punk rock and British popular culture. Would this be akin to Milli Vanilli wanting to star in a GHOST RIDER film?

- Ain't It Cool News (www.aintitcool.com/node/45261) has an interview with comic writer Robert Kirkman about "THE WALKING DEAD" TV series that is being filmed for AMC. He states that he has written the pilot episode and will be writing the last two episodes of the initial six episode order, and that it will be filmed this summer. Begun over six years ago, THE WALKING DEAD has become the zombie comic to read and is one of Image Comics' best sellers.

- Super Hero Hype has posted a seven page set visit report from "SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD", complete with an interview with Ellen Wong, who plays Knives Chau. The official movie poster claims it is "an epic of epic epicness". It remains to be seen if the box office reaction will be as rough as they were against the obnoxiously named "KICK-***" or the prophetically named "THE LOSERS" (www.superherohype.com/features/articles/101068-scott-pilgrim-set-visit). On the plus side, the comic series by Ryan O'Malley (and hopefully the film) lifts heavily from video game conventions, which could help it reach a strong target audience.

Prof. X has been recast, but what about the cat?

MARVEL NEWS: TOMMY LEE JONES & DOMINIC COOPER JOIN CAST OF "CAPTAIN AMERICA"; JAMES MCAVOY CAST AS YOUNG CHARLES XAVIER; DISNEY ENTERS THE KIRBY LAWSUIT & MORE!

- "CAPTAIN AMERICA" has added two more actors to it's cast, as shooting is slated to begin in London in the near future. Salon reports that Dominic Cooper, from "MAMMA MIA!" and "THE DUTCHESS" has been slated to play Howard Stark, the father of Tony Stark, in "CAPTAIN AMERICA" (www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/cannes_film_festival/index.html). In the two "IRON MAN" films, Howard Stark is stated to have been something of a war hero from World War II, and "IRON MAN 2" reveals that Howard kept a bit of a "memento" from that period that related to Capt. America. Cooper was once falsely linked to "THOR" as Fandral of the Warriors Three last year; while that rumor proved to be false, it was at least true that he was on Marvel Studios (and Paramount's) radar. In bigger casting news, Comic Book Movie stumbled across a video interview with Hayley Atwell, who will play Peggy Carter in "CAPTAIN AMERICA", that confirms a rumor that Tommy Lee Jones will have a role to play in the film. While that hasn't been officially confirmed, rumors speculate that he will play Gen. Chester Philips (www.comicbookmovie.com/news/). This isn't Tommy Lee Jones' first comic book film; he is best known as Agent K from the "MEN IN BLACK" films and played Two-Face in "BATMAN FOREVER". While Tommy Lee Jones has quite a few hammy performances in his resume, he also did win the Oscar for "THE FUGITIVE" in '94 (and was nominated for the Oscar twice before; the last time as recently as 2007). At any rate, much as with "IRON MAN 1 & 2" and "THOR", Marvel Studios is lining up top talent for this feature.

- Heat Vision has posted an exclusive that Matthew Vaughan has cast James McAvoy to play a young Charles Xavier in "X-MEN: FIRST CLASS" for Fox (www.heatvisionblog.com/2010/05/james-mcavoy-playing-professor-x-in-xmen-first-class.html). Fox wants to release this film by June 3rd, 2011, and word is that production is starting to heat up. McAvoy, who is 31 years old, was in another comic book film, "WANTED", in the recent past. Fox claims that "FIRST CLASS" will "chart the beginning of the X-Men saga" as Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr meet as friends before eventually becoming rivals and forming two teams of mutant students to serve their separate goals. Marvel has actually "revealed" that Magneto's true name was Max Eisenhardt in the 2008 comic book series X-MEN: MAGNETO TESTAMENT; it is unknown if this will cycle into this Bryan Singer produced prequel. Considering that most Fox summaries of this film talk more about a young Xavier and Magneto than any other characters, it remains in contention that Bryan Singer's previous idea for a "MAGNETO" prequel film has evolved into an "X-Men Year One" style project where some teenage X-Men are thrown in as well. This could also be due to the fact that Fox has to insert as many X-Men as possible into all of their X-films in order to maintain the license over the rights of the entire X-Men roster for films (otherwise they would only have the rights to, say, Magneto or Xavier if they were not careful, and Marvel Studios would perhaps recover rights to Wolverine or other X-Men characters). Patrick Stewart played the character in three X-Men films and made a "digital cameo" in "X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE".

- There also are rumors swirling around "THE AVENGERS", even though it is still over two years away. Comic Book Resources (www.comicbookresources.com/) had an interview with Zach Whedon, brother of Joss Whedon (best known for "BUFFY", "ANGEL", and "FIREFLY") and writer of "DR. HORRIBLE" who states that he and his brother have "have tentatively agreed to helm an all-star mega-blockbuster summer tent-pole extravaganza movie to be released in 2012", which could be an allusion to the long rumored, but not confirmed, tidbit about Joss Whedon being tapped to direct "THE AVENGERS". Avengers News has reported that actresses Alice Eve ("SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE" and "SEX AND THE CITY 2"), Malin Ackerman ("WATCHMEN"), and Rachel Nichols ("STAR TREK" and "G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA") are all in talks with Marvel Studios to play a specific role in a "future project", but what isn't known (avengersnews.com/2010/05/26/3-actresses-marvel-is-looking-at-for-upcoming-films/). Alice Eve tried out for the role of Peggy Carter in "CAPTAIN AMERICA" before ultimately losing out to Hayley Atwell, so it could be possible she may end up playing Peggy's modern era daughter, Sharon Carter (and yes, Steve Rogers in the comics does meet/date the daughter of his 1940's war time flame). Other speculation is that one or all of these women could be trying out for the part of Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp, especially Ackerman and Nichols (who have appeared in action oriented roles in comic/sci-fi films).

- Heat Vision (www.heatvisionblog.com/2010/05/meet-the-men-who-could-play-spiderman.html) reports that Marc Webb, who will be directing the Spider-Man reboot film for Sony, has been quietly meeting with young actors for the lead and is narrowing down a list (especially within the past week or two). These include: Jamie Bell ("BILLY ELLIOT", "KING KONG", "DEFIANCE"), age 24; Alden Ehrenreich, who at 20 only has one major movie credit ("TETRO" by Francis Ford Coppola) and was "discovered" by Steven Spielberg; Frank Dillane, age 19, from "HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE"; Andrew Garfield, the eldest of the bunch at 27, who was in "THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS" but is better known on several BBC TV series; and finally, Josh Hutcherson, the youngest of the bunch (he turns 18 this year) from "ZATHURA" and "BRIDGE TO TARABITHIA". Sony wants to begin production at the end of this year and no actors have performed any screen tests for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man yet. Tobey Maguire was turning 27 when he played Peter Parker in "SPIDER-MAN" circa 2002, and Sony has bleated on about wanting to "go younger" with this reboot film, and likely focus on the high school years exclusively. Therefore, the odds would be higher for the younger actors logically. Spinoff Online offers images of all of these actors for comparisons (www.spinoffonline.com/2010/05/26/is-one-of-these-young-actors-sonys-new-spider-man/).

- Deadline (www.deadline.com/2010/05/marvel-taps-no-heroics-creator-for-runaways-duty/) reports that Drew Pierce has been hired to help write a draft for a "RUNAWAYS" film, based on the Brian K. Vaughan (writer of "LOST") comic book series. His best work is a comedic British TV series called "NO HEROICS", about a bar full of young super heroes who are not allowed to use their powers while drinking. Pete Solliet is still on hand to direct the film, as reported back in April (www.examiner.com/x-19829-Brooklyn-Comic-Books-Examiner~y2010m4d12-Comic-News-for-41010-RUNAWAYS-Director-Found-Walking-Dead-TV-Show-Cast--More). Pierce sounds like he has the experience to help pull this off.

- Following up on a lingering story from September 2009 to March of this year (www.examiner.com/x-19829-Brooklyn-Comic-Books-Examiner~y2010m3d20-Comic-News-for-31910-Kirbys-Sue-Marvel-For-Real-Images-Cheeky-Promos-Evans-as-Cap--More) until now, another chapter of the Kirby family vs. Marvel legal drama has begun. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Disney, the corporate giant who as of Jan. 1st effectively own Marvel Comics, have started to throw their weight behind Marvel in the proceedings (thresq.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/disney-marvel-kirby-termination.html). Disney has filmed a memo seeking to dismiss the copyright case that the Kirbys have filed. Jack Kirby's family are attempting to reclaim copyrights to virtually all of the characters Jack Kirby is believed to have created or co-created, which include the founding X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and countless others. Marvel naturally has always contended that these were "works for hire" and that the Kirby estate cannot claim ownership. Should the Kirby estate gain ownership, they could demand hefty royalties on properties that Disney invested over four billion dollars to attain. With Disney tossing their hat in the ring, the Goliath in this proceeding has perhaps grown an extra hundred feet. On the other hand, there are some who note that some aspects of the Kirby estate's claim are tenuous, such as claiming that Kirby had influence over creating Spider-Man (a character commonly credited to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko). It is possible that Disney could offer a settlement simply to make the case go away (and could return some original artwork that the Kirby estate desires), or it could continue to trial. This drama will continue to play out as the year wares on.