Podcast 16: Spock is Dead

Will, Jeff, Lucas and Noah sit down to discuss the Oscar nominations, the return of Lost, Mass Effect 2, Star Trek Online and its effects on social lives, Iron Man’s suit redesign and what people can expect from Iron Man 2.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 16 (44 MB, MP3, 64:54)
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Programme:

• 0:00 — “The CN Tower can work it out (Final Fantasy ft. Q-Tip)” by Tor
• 2:26 — Academy Award nominations
• 19:20 — Lost Season 6 Premiere
• 24:49 — Dorky television and franchise cross-pollination
• 28:42 — “Royal Flush (Instrumental)” by Big Boi ft. Andre 3000 & Raekwon
• 29:26 — Mass Effect 2
• 42:31 — Star Trek Online and Martin Luther King Jr.
• 52:43 — Iron Man redesign, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers
• 46:15 — “Cousins” by Vampire Weekend

Discussed:

• Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Star Trek Online
• The Avengers, The Invincible Iron Man, Captain America
• Lost, The Hurt Locker, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, Avatar, Star Trek, Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 Trailer

Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2

Apple has posted the first trailer for Marvel’s upcoming Iron Man 2.  We finally (legitimately) get a glimpse of completed shots with Mickey Rouke’s Whiplash and Don Cheadle’s War Machine in action. The last scene of the trailer shows some heavy action with both Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Rhodey against a group of androids.

Hats off to the production, it’s insane to see two heavy hitting comic book heros go nuts on screen at the same time.  I keep watching War Machine’s huge shoulder cannon go back and fourth drilling enemies.  Check out the Iron Man 2 trailer embedded after the jump.

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Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Characters Revealed

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 ,the sequel to Activision’s 2006 hit game Marvel Ultimate Alliance is due out this Fall.  The game follows the recent Civil War storyline that rocked the main Marvel universe.  The U.S. government enacts a superhuman registration act after an incident caused by a third-rate Superhero team results in the death of hundreds of innocent people.  The heroes of the Marvel universe become divided over the superhuman registration act, with those against it being led by Captain America and those that are for it led by Tony Stark/Iron Man.  Civil War changed everything in the 616 universe and is an amazing starting point for the game.

The Civil War storyline certainly has a lot of potential, and the new gameplay mechanic of combining the superpowers of multiple heroes looks promising. I thought the first Ultimate Alliance was a blast to play, all of the recent gameplay videos and trailers seem to indicate that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 will be just as fun.

Hit the jump for a list of announced playable characters and the latest trailer for the game.

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Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee Stop-Motion Video

File this one under fights you thought you would never see. Québécois autodidact director Patrick Boivin has created this amazing “Iron Man versus Bruce Lee” stop-motion fight using action figures. It’s an awesome video with a twist ending. Make sure to hit the HD and fullscreen buttons.

Johannson and Rourke Join Iron-Man 2

Both long rumoured to be in talks for roles in Iron-Man 2, news broke today that Scarlett Johannson and Mickey Rourke have officially signed on for the Marvel sequel. Johannson will play S.H.I.E.L.D agent Black Widow, while Rourke will be playing the villain Whiplash.

John Favreau returns to the director’s chair and Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Tony Stark. Scarlett Johannson replaces Emily Blunt, who had to pull out due to contractual obligations. I think Scarlett is a good choice for a variety of reasons I am of course talking about her acting ability, and nothing else!

After being low-balled and offered a measley $250,000 for the role, apparently Rourke and his people have settled on a more reasonable deal. Pretty shameful that Marvel would offer to pay Rourke so little for the sequel to a movie that grossed over half a billion dollars. Rourke is a talented guy and a hot commodity these days: pay the man! Iron-Man 2 is due out next year.

Scarlett Johannson & Mickey Rourke Help Raise Iron Curtain @ E! Online

Fox Planning to Ruin Perfectly Good Marvel Properties… Again!

Not satisfied with making two terrible Fantastic Four movies, 20th Century Fox is once again poised to ruin Fantastic Four: this time from scratch.  IESB.net is reporting that in addition to rebooting the Daredevil franchise(oh goody.) Fox will be going in a different direction for the next Fantastic Four.  In the wake of serious comic book films like The Dark Knight and to a lesser extent Iron Man, the studios are now convinced that darker is better.  Whether this will actually pay off by giving us a particularly good film is highly doubtful since 20th Century Fox is seemingly only interested in raping every decent Marvel franchise they can get their grubby little hands on; leaving a bloated, dead corpse of a film that only superficially resembles the source material.  Sorry for the graphic analogy, but that’s how I feel.  You saw X-Men 3, right?

I for one will pass on the new Fantastic Four film.  As much as a brooding Reed Richards and psychpathic Doctor Doom sound interesting(it doesn’t), there is no way Fox will get it right.  They’re merely riding the tide of post-Dark Knight morally ambiguous superheroes.  I didn’t see the first two Fantastic Four films, and I sure as hell am not going to give a new Daredevil film a chance if 20th Century Fox has anything to do with it.

Fantastic Four is Getting a Reboot @ IESB.net

As a side note, this new tone and direction for superhero films bodes well for the Wolverine film, also produced by Fox.  Principal photography had wrapped on Wolverine and it was pretty much in the bag, when Fox decided they needed to reshoot large portions of the film.  I guarantee this decision came from some Fox suit who stated that “Yeah it’s pretty good I guess , but it needs to be more like the Dark Knight!”

Thanks to Raj for the heads up.

Marvel Comics Celebrates 70th Anniversary with Top 70 Comics Countdown

Hard to believe that little old Marvel Comics is celebrating its 70th Anniversary this year.  To celebrate Marvel.com is counting down the Top 70 Marvel Comics as voted by their readers.

Some great books on the list so far, but let’s be honest:  the company may be 70 years old, but the only Marvel Comics worth mentioning debuted less than 50 years ago.  No one ever mentions the characters of Timely Publications or Atlas Comics in the same breath as Marvel’s Fantastic Four, X-Men or Spider-Man.  One would expect to see at least some mention of Timely or Atlas in the Top 70 list, but they have yet to make an appearance in the countdown.  Silver-Age bias maybe?

Marvel Top 70 Comics Countdown @ Marvel.com