For those who haven’t seen the trailer for Wall-E, check it out here. Now that we’re all familiar with this wonderful little robot, let’s take a gander at the replica’s that will be released after his movie:

I don’t know if this is a clever photo-shop job or the real deal. Either way, I dig it.

Update from Humanjunk:Could be legit look at this still from the trailer:

(Click here for a larger version of this picture. It seems pretty clear that this picture is probably legit.)

So, according to a number of nerd news sites (and now this one included), it would seem as though Marvel is set to announce their lineup of films for the next couple of years hot off the heels of Iron Man’s incredible $104 million opening weekend take.

All of the pertinent information is in an article on Yahoo Finance:

Marvel today updated its feature film slate strategy and plans for the next three years, locking in key release windows for its character franchises. In order to focus its attention on maximizing the success of an Iron Man sequel and the launch of Thor in the summer of 2010 and because Marvel believes that the summer is the optimal time to launch a new property, the Company will not release a self produced film in 2009. Marvel plans to launch its 2010 film slate with the release of the sequel, Iron Man 2, on April 30, 2010, followed by the launch of Thor on June 4, 2010. Additionally, Marvel is planting its feature film stakes for summer 2011 with an Avengers-themed summer – a two-picture project which will debut on May 6, 2011 with The First Avenger: Captain America (working title), followed by The Avengers in July 2011.

So. There it is. Clang! Boom! Steam!, Dr. Cyborg and I had been talking and we’d all discussed how great it would be if the Captain America movie was set completely in World War II and ended with him being encased in ice, as a cliffhanger. And then the Avengers movie would open with Nick Fury and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. thawing him out. With the two month break that Marvel is placing between those two movies, it would make a hell of a lot of sense.

And hopefully, they’ll keep their track record going of giving nerds exactly what they want (like the post-credits scene to Iron Man.)

Swank-mo-tron: So, we’ve all seen Iron Man now and I want to start out by saying that the film was great, but I think the best scene of the movie was the one that played after the credits. Clang! Boom! Steam! and I were talking before the movie and we said that Iron Man was at a disadvantage because there’s no one thing about him that screams Bad-ass to a comic nerd. He’s not Wolverine and can extend his claws. He’s not Magneto and can’t pull the Iron out of somebody’s blood. He’s not Batman. But with the action in the film, the movie got 80% of the way with the bad-assery. It was the last scene, with Sam Jackson as Nick Fury, that gave nerds, or me at least, that last 20% and had me tearing up with joy.

Estebot: What’s this about Nick Fury? It sounds like I missed something. I also really enjoyed it. I have only really read a little bit of Iron Man in the comics and I wasn’t a huge fan of the character (partially because of what Swank said – not all that bad-ass), so I wasn’t expecting too much, but I REALLY liked it.

Swank-mo-tron: Nick Fury was in the last scene of the movie, post credits. You really fucked up by not waiting.

Mookatron: Nick showing up was cool, even if Samuel L. Jackson has almost turned into a parody of himself lately. As for the flick itself. Awesomer than awesome. Smart, funny, little tidbits for all us nerds in the audience (the house computer is named Jarvis? Nice), well paced, great cast, top-notch special FX, and story that not only flows and makes sense, but doesn’t have any speedbumps. No moments where you go “okay…that was just lame/stupid/non-sensical/gratuitous. And the MVP of the whole thing is Robert Downey Jr. Kudos Mr. RDJ. Best comic movie ever? The debate can begin! Oh, and best scene? Tough call without seeing it a few more times, but I think I’d have to go with landing in Afghanistan to take out the bad dudes in the newly minted armor. Even MORE awesomer than awesome.

Swank-Mo-Tron: Any nerd surprises for anybody in the film?

Mookatron: So I had a pulsating circuit during one particular scene of the movie and had do some research on it to see if the hunch I had at the time was correct. AND it was. I R AWESOME! So the scene is towards the end when Stane (Jeff Bridges) has his crack-team of Stark Industries scientists trying to figure out how the “arc generator” works and scale it down to a more manageable size. Needless to say they’re having difficulty doing it and Stane is none too happy. He snaps at a guy in a lab coat with a one of those really bad “shave the top of my head (but not the sides!) to make it look like I’m bald and thusly in my 50’s” haircuts that are seen in film from time to time. The scientist looked familiar, and after some extensive research (okay, a quick glance at IMDb) it turns out it was Peter Billingsly. Yep, Ralphie from “A Christmas Story” has grown up and works at Stark Industries. I guess he didn’t shoot his eye out after all. He’s actually a producer these days. And he just happens to be a producer on “Iron Man.” AND he’s worked with Favreau on most of his movies. Still…he’ll always be Ralphie to me.

Doctor Cyborg Robot M.D. Attorney at Law : Ralphie. You don’t say. Well on to more important business, what did I think? I did like it, but I don’t think that it was even close to the best super hero movie to date, because that movie was made in 1989 and is called Batman. I thought the action was cool, but I also thought it was too long. I am not just saying that because I have a secret prejudice against it because my nickname through robot medical school was Iron Man. (At least that is what the fem-bots called me.) I liked the Nick Fury ending, but I didn’t like the soundtrack. My favorite scene was when the Dude drove up on a Segway smoking a gigantic cigar. I thought Robert Downey Jr. was great, and I would go see it again.

Arse-Bot: I thought the movie was fantactic! The action sequences were amazing, the character development and plot was great, and Robert Downey IS Tony Stark! Perfect casting! JF did a nice job pacing the film especially considering it was just over a 2hr. flick. He stayed true to the source material and put in several “Easter Eggs” just for us nerds watching the movie! Of course, the movie was not without it’s faults, but I don’t think there are any worth mentioning here! Go see it! Great clip at the end of the credits too! Blew my mind!

Swank-mo-tron: So, I guess the consensus from those enthusiastic enough to reply to is that we all really liked Iron Man and can’t wait to see an Avengers movie…..

Anybody else have anything to add?

Here it is.

After seeing the trailer on the big screen, I’ve come to understand why they waited until today to release. Because seeing it online sucks compared to seeing it in a theatre. I watched the bootleg version a few times and didn’t catch hardly anything but the audio and some fuzzy images.

When I saw it on the bigscreen, what I saw was an immersive thing of beauty.

I’m going to try to stop watching trailers on the computer first.

Seeing them at the movies is waaaaaay better.

In an unsurprising move Brett Ratner is developing Harbinger, a comic book movie out of Valiant Comics universe. I say unsurprising because, Ratner is about as good at making movies as Steven Hawkings is at walking. I think we all know we are going to flock to our nearest movie theater en masse to see what will quite possibly be the greatest comic book movie ever made, because, let’s face it, anything Valiant Comics publishes is a gem that makes Will Eisner’s work look like something out of the mind of Ed Wood. I think that development of The Hobbit needs to be placed on hold until Ratner finishes up Harbinger so he can turn it into a masterpiece in the same vein as X-Men: The Last Stand.

There’s this dude whom I’ve never heard of named Josh Schwartz (apparently he created “The OC”) and the future of the X-Men franchise (if there was one thanks to Brett Ratners flaming turd of a third film) is in his hands.

This comes from an article posted here:

Something he can talk about, however, is news that he will pen the screenplay for the next installment of X-Men, a prequel of sorts. “I’m very well aware that I’ll be bludgeoned by purists, but I love its mythology, and it comes with a pretty hefty paycheck.” Of the project, he beams with excitement about the opportunity to involve lesser known X-Men characters who haven’t yet been portrayed on film. It will center on teenage characters at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. “It’s not like I’m adding new characters like Toaster Head, or anything like that.” Despite his enthusiam, he’s cautious, given the double-edged sword inherent in the seemingly inexhaustible renaissance of the genre. “The Hulk looks like it’s going to be terrible. And why does he look like he’s fighting against the monster from Cloverfield? I mean, with Transformers, it’s not like fans were going to come back saying, ‘You used the wrong car.’ This, however, is a different story. Of his predecessors and their successes (or failures), he says, “Brett Ratner didn’t have a lot of credibility going in to the third X-Men movie, but I think Bryan Singer [who directed the first two installments] got a free pass on Superman Returns because of his work on X-Men.”

So, why is this guy getting the keys to Xavier’s Mansion? And why is someone paying him to do it?

I don’t know, but he probably can’t do worse than Ratner.

UPDATE: Apparently the website that ran this interview has since taken it down.  I’ve had first hand experience with peoples handlers scrambling to have big news and unflattering articles taken down from websites.  I wonder if Schwartz’ arrogant remarks about the franchise and other Marvel properties might be putting his scripting job in jeopardy.  It’s pretty likely.  Why would they want someone working on a movie when they’re out badmouthing their next movie that hasn’t come out yet?  I mean, Ratner’s X-men is fair game, but the new Hulk movie?

Personally?  I think they should just ignore Ratner’s movie and bring a competent director (preferably Bryan Singer) to finish the trilogy.

It’s also doubly interesting knowing that other writers were already attached to this project.

Whatever the reasons for the disappearance of this article, however, the cat is out of the bag.

A meat bag friend of mine forwarded me this link:

Do not, do not, do not leave before the credits have finished rolling.

Trust me.

I just got back from seeing it and the one word review is this: holyfuckingshit.

All of us robots will be back tomorrow with our first Nerd Roundtable discussion about the film. I’ll write a complete review tomorrow as well.

Until then, Kill All Humans….I mean…see you later.

UPDATE: If you’re itching for the roundtable, you can read my full review here.

UPDATE 2:  For those of you not in the know about the scene and missed it, you can click here to watch an absolute garbage version of it.  But it’s a version nonetheless.

Robot Comrades,

I’m here to tell you that one of our robotic bretheren has been placed up for sale and we need to take up a collection to free him and bring him to our robot lair.

The robot I speak of is none other than R2-D2.

Evil forces have inserted a lot of after-factory mods on him to make him what is essentially a glorified DVD player. The price tag for him? $3,400. We’ll need to save our pennies to get him, but I think the fresh air and freedom in the domain of us Big Shiny Robots! will do him good.

As a fellow robot, I have nothing but the upmost respect and admiration for R2-D2, if he hadn’t have been around during the Galactic Civil War to pull everyone’s fat out of the fryer, then we’d still be living under the control of the Empire.

So, email us if you’d like to make a donation to our cause.

Sincerely,

Swank-mo-tron

(All kidding aside, I’d kill to have one of these.)