Arse-bot here again with even more X-Men: First Class casting news/rumors!

As of yesterday, it looks like there are some pretty strong sources saying Aaron Johnson will be playing Cyclops, Caleb Landry Jones will be fillilng Banshee’s shoes, and Nicholas Hoult will be playing Beast.

Now, another name you can add to that list? Lucas Till (pictured above) may be playing Cyclops’ brother, Havok. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that the Hannah Montana: The Movie co-star could possibly be filling the role of Scott Summers’ sibling. BUT! They are quick to point out the following:

. . .keep in mind that these parts may not be the actual characters in the movie. Instead, this could be part of a misdirection campaign to keep some surprises from X-Men fans.

On top of all this crazy casting news from the past few days, EW throws one more wrench into the gears with this little tidbit:

. . . Aaron Johnson is not appearing in X-Men: First Class. The British star of Kick-Ass may have been photographed leaving a building with Vaughn and McAvoy, but he will not be playing any type of superhero, or any other part for that matter, in the new film.

Which blatently contradicts AICN’s “source” claiming that the role has all but been announced by FOX!

SO WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!

I think the easy and shortest answer is “no one outside of the studio knows”. The fact is, until something is officially announced by FOX, these should all be filed under the “rumor” to “strong-probability-but-still-a-rumor” categories. That being said, sometimes the fun of these upcoming movies – especially ones like X-Men with an ensemble cast – is seeing all the speculations and rumors of who might play who, and then seeing the final decision. So, sit back, enjoy the ride, and we will keep bringing you all the rumors and speculations, and eventually the final confirmations from the studios!

Earlier today, it was unofficially announced (and we are still waiting on confirmation) that Aaron Johnson will be donning the Cyclops shades for Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class – and now we may have two more pairs of shoes filled.

Variety is reporting that Caleb Landry Jones (above) will be playing Banshee in the film, and Nicholas Hoult (below) will be playing a presumably pre-fur Hank “Beast” McCoy. Much like the announcement earlier today, FOX has yet to confirm any of this – but Variety seems to feel confident enough to be reporting this as “news”.

Sound off in the comments! How do you like the “new” Cyclops, Beast, and Banshee?

As you know, we have a weekly column in IN Magazine and it’s available on newsstands in the Greater Salt Lake area.

If you’d like to read the online version, you can do that here, or you can click on the image below to read the article that way.

This week, we paired three excellent graphic novels with a lovely summer beer.  You can purchase any of these on Amazon here.

If you remember, a while back some photos were taken of Kick-Ass star, Aaron Johnson, having lunch with Kick-Ass and X-Men: Frist Class director, Matthew Vaughn and his new Professor Xavier, James McAvoy. Of course, speculation began to fly that this was more than just a “lunch with friends” and that it was more likely they were discussing a possible role for Johnson in Vaughn’s X-Men outting; of course, the top name flying around the interwebs was Cyclops.

Well, today, AICN is reporting they are confident that Aaron Johnson with play Cyclops in the upcoming X-Movie. Apparently, they got a tip off from a reader who is somehow involved with the movie who told them this:

I work in the [REDACTED] and we heard today that Matthew Vaughn found his young Cyclops and it shouldn’t be any surprise because he worked with him before. It’s Aaron Johnson. This is one hundred percent locked at this point. Thought you guys should know.

According to Quint over at AICN, he has reached out to his contact at the studio who has confirmed the same.

So, barring any official word from FOX denying this claim, it looks like we have our new Cyclops!

I for one think Johnson is a pretty talented actor and enjoyed him in Kick-Ass. It will be quite the change to see him go from fumbling wannabe superhero to the hard-headed, confident leader of the X-Men – but I have no doubt in his ability to pull this off. I still have a lot of reservations about another X-Men movie under the FOX tent, but I am trying my best to remain cautiously optimistic.

So, Aaron Johnson = Cyclops! What do you think!?

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I’m really not sure why I like the Predator franchise. Out of the previous 4 movies featuring the rapacious reptilian aliens, only one was really any good. And even then, the first Predator film has become more famous for catchphrases like “Get to tha choppa!” or being the only major Hollywood film to feature two future Governors of US states (see, I bet you forgot that Jesse “The Body” Ventura was in Predator or that he was Governor of Minnesota, but I digress). Predators have scared the bejeezus out of me since I was a little kid. I remember fondly the ads for Predator 2 that ran in my Chris Clairmont X-men comics and how I would quickly turn the page to not have to look at the Predator’s frightening visage. And how I would then, after screwing my courage to my 9 year old sticking place, pore over the ad and its explanation of the Predator’s impressive arsenal. And eventually i saw Predator 2 and wasn’t so much scared as… umm… bored. And despite how gawd-awful the Alien vs Predator movies were (whoever wins, we lose– indeed! 8 bucks and two hours of our lives we lose….) I went into this with somewhat low expectations.

Piquing my interest was this film’s pedigree. Specifically, the casting choices seemed interesting, and I really love the films of Robert Rodriguez (sans terrible childrens’ films that he lets his kids co-write with him), who served as producer on the film. Rodriguez’s fingerprints are apparent on the film. Apart from the obligatory Danny Trejo appearance, he also made sure some of this was filmed in and around Austin, TX.  Specifically, a nice scene filmed at what is unmistakeably McKinney Falls State Park. So, despite mine and Rodriguez’s love of Austin, was this film passable?

Absolutely. The spoiler free plot?  If you’ve seen the trailer, you can basically guess: a group of badasses, including Russian Spetznaz, US Special Forces, a mercenary, Yakuza, one of the FBI’s most wanted, a cartel enforcer, a leader of an African genocidal death squad…. and Topher Grace? are all put on a Predator game preserve and hunted.  It’s kind of like Ten Little Indians if the hunted fought back with samurai swords and big effing guns.

When the movie was action it was awesome. Great fun, lots of tension, great payoff.  When it got all talky and one of the characters conveniently knows something that helps explain the plot, it got boring. It also felt contrived and well, kind of dumb. Who cares what the hunting patterns of the Predators are, or that one of the characters was privvy to the details of what happened to Dutch in the Guatemalan jungle in 1987? It almost feels like the actors break the fourth wall and talk directly through the screen to the audience to say, “In case you haven’t been paying attention, here’s what’s going on….”  It really took you out of it because despite all the tension that had been built and the sense of impending doom, you knew that as long as exposition was happening that they wouldn’t be attacked by Predators.  Ho-hum.

But this cast does an amazing job with what they’re given.  Most of these characters are fairly two dimensional, and in the hands of lesser actors might have been forgettable. But you find yourself actually caring when one of them is killed savagely, or at least satisfied when someone’s spine and skull are ripped out in one motion.  Good times.

This film also goes off the rails when it tries to have some deeper meaning or teach us a lesson. You can tell the filmmakers figured that things were dragging when it wasn’t about people being hunted. Some either sloppy editing or sloppy scripting leads us to believe there was mucho left on the cutting room floor- for example, a subplot involving other aliens being hunted on the Predator game preserve planet. (And NO– not Aliens aliens.)

Regardless, while this is not a perfect film, it’s fun when it’s firing on all cylinders. And that is the majority of the time. If you want to see some awesome hardcore violence, lots of squirting green flourescant blood, hot Predator on Predator fighting action, and lots of exploding people and things, this is your flick.

2 1/2 stars

I am usually working when The Forcecast is live and I haven’t dipped my toe into many podcasts, so it was interesting to catch a really big news piece on the one time I listened to the show in the last few months.

Last week, host Jason Swank (no relation) interviewed Matt Wood who is one of the bigshots in audio over at Lucasfilm.  He was also General Grievous in Episode III and he Clone Wars cartoons.  During the interview he dropped this tidbit about Obi-Wan’s Krayt Dragon call in A New Hope:

And, to be honest, that sound effect has been changed again. So at some point the audiences will be hearing that scene again with the new sound effect.

He also talked about how whenever they get a chance to remaster the audio for A New Hope they try to do so because it wasn’t recorded with longevity in mind.  Over the years they’ve worked to clean the audio and replace stock sounds.

Some have been wondering what they could be once again remastering and tinkering with the audio for and I think it’s pretty obviously the Ultimate Blu-ray collection.

I think we’ll see other changes to the films for the Ultimate edition as well.  There have been rumblings of a digital Yoda replacing the puppet in The Phantom Menace and I’ve even heard a crazy rumour (that I doubt is true) about a revamp of Anakin and Obi-Wan’s fight in A New Hope.

The biggest change I’d like to see that I think would create the most goodwill of fans is to see the scene in the Cantina fixed once and for all.  Han fires first.

(For more frequent Star Wars updates, you can visit me on The Examiner)

Aside from that, what would you like to see changed in the new edition?

We’ve just learned from an official announcement from Sony that they have cast who will play Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the new Spider-Man movie directed by Marc Webb. The movie opens July 3rd 2012 and will be released in both 2D and 3D. Here is a picture of him followed by the official Press Release.

After a comprehensive worldwide casting search, Andrew Garfield has been chosen to portray Peter Parker when Spider-Man swings back onto the screen in 3D on July 3, 2012.  The new film will begin production in early December directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt.  Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad will produce the film from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.

As most of our faithful readers know, we have a weekly column in the Salt Lake City weekly paper IN Magazine.

In it, we generally work hard to attract those who wouldn’t ordinarilly read comics to give them a chance.  And other times, we let Dr. Cyborg write the column and… well… the results speak for themselves.

If you live in the Greater Salt Lake Area, you can pick up a copy on newsstands. You can read the online version of the article here, but for those of our bretheren who live outside that area, we’ve provided the laid out page below.

This is perhaps one of the best Dr. Cyborg columns I’ve read and I hope you enjoy it.

We spoke to J. Michael Straczynski last week about his launch of Superman, and now we’ve been given the chance to talk to him this week about his launch of Wonder Woman.  The first issue of his run is in comic book stores now.

Big Shiny Robot!: When the announcement was made that you’d be taking over Superman and Wonder Woman, Superman sort of overshadowed Wonder Woman in a big way.  I think it speaks a lot about Wonder Woman in general, but why do you think that was?

J. Michael Straczynski: I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Superman is so strongly identified with America, so much a part of our history as a country, and a national symbol.  I don’t think it says anything about Wonder Woman any more than any other character, it speaks entirely to the unique place occupied by Superman in our history.

BSR!: Despite that overshadowing, fan excitement over your run is high.  Your track record with Gods and bringing them to greatness is very, very good.  (Seriously, I’m a giant Thor nerd and your run was as good as my favorite Simonson runs). But how will this new Wonder Woman fit into the rest of the DC universe if she’s not what we know.  Will they remember her as she was?

JMS: As far as Simonson goes, honestly, I’m not fit to carry his pencil-box when it comes to Thor, but reviving that book and character and moving him to the top ten also required a fair amount of rethinking and looking for ways to make the mythic more appealing, and that was a terrific challenge that worked out well.

In the case of Diana, because the timeline was shifted, most people only know her as she is.  But there are some in the DCU who can see both timelines…the oracle, in the 600 and 601 issues, and down the road, the Phantom Stranger and Deadman, among others.

BSR!: It seems like this gives you a fresh launching pad to completely redefine her character and her relationships within the DC Universe.  Was that
sort of the point?

JMS: Very much so.  Her character is solid, the writers who’ve written her are terrific.  But over the decades, the world around her has constricted and gotten more insular and less accessible to new or casual readers.

So the key was to move her away from that environment and put her into another one, where her character could be more easily and accessibly seen.  You can have the best garden in the world, but if you can’t see it for all the brush, then the solution is to clear the brush.

BSR!: Wonder Woman has always been a very positive female role model, does this new version of Wonder Woman live up to that?  Or will she be living up to that slowly along the way?

JMS: The best person to ask would be female, so I can’t pretend or attempt to speak for them.  What I can say is that this is a Wonder Woman who’s had to deal with both an Amazonian and an urban upbringing, putting some of her dilemmas growing up much closer to the average person.

She’s still a fighter, still battling for the good of her people, and searching for the truth, and that makes her a role model as much as anything else.

BSR!: How do you approach writing a strong female character differently than someone like Superman?

JMS: I don’t think of it in those terms, I tend to go to the kind of people I like in general, and male or female attach what I see as the strongest attributes of what I like to that character.

So in my case, I’ve always been drawn to women who are strong-minded, independent, resourceful, and quick to speak their mind.  To me, a sexy woman is someone who can think rings around me.  It’s more about what’s between the ears than what’s inside the bra.

That in sum may be why I’ve always found it relatively easy to write strong female characters, from Delenn and Ivanova in Babylon 5, to Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote, and Christine Collins in Changeling.

BSR!: With her timeline changing, what does that mean for regular supporting characters like Steve Trevor?

JMS: That’s one of those answers I’d rather answer in the telling than in an interview.

BSR!: What are you most excited about bringing to the table with Wonder Woman?

JMS: One of the things I enjoy most is parking the magical next door to the mundane, the surreal next to the real.  I think the contrast throws both into stark relief, and allows for counterpoint and thematic motifs that you just can’t get otherwise.

So the chance to play in that playground with Diana is very exciting to me.

BSR!: What is it about Wonder Woman that sets her apart from the rest of the DC Universe, in your mind?

JMS: I think it’s her origins in mythology and history, the presentation of her as a warrior in the classic sense, and the degree that she has, as you noted, been such a strong symbol and role model for women of all ages.

I’m very much aware of all that, so I’m going to do my darndest not to screw it up.

Hey all, last week JMS made his debut on Superman. This week he makes his debut on Wonder Woman and she has a brand spankin’ new costume, courtesy of Jim Lee. Here are the details on the direction the series is going to take.

Starting today, Wonder Woman will appear like you’ve never seen her before.

As you may have seen in THE NEW YORK TIMES, bestselling artist and DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee has redesigned her costume for the modern era, just in time for BABYLON 5 creator and critically acclaimed writer J. Michael Straczynski and artists Don Kramer and Michael Babinski to launch the Amazon Princess into an exciting and epic new era of adventure.

Starting with their story in WONDER WOMAN #600, which is in comic shops today, JMS and Kramer will begin a run that is both forward-looking and true to the legendary character, planting her firmly in the modern era. But enough about what I have to say. Mr. Straczynski took some time out of his schedule to lay out some of his plans for WONDER WOMAN right here on The Source. So, without further adieu, take it away, Joe:

Suppose you woke up one morning, or turned a corner, and suddenly the life you had been leading up to that moment…was not the life you were leading.

Suppose someone went back in time and changed one thing, and it changed your life to the point that you had little or no memory of what life had been like before the change happened. What would you do to get it back? Should you get it back? Who did it? And maybe more important…why did they do it?

That is the question faced by Diana starting in issue 600.

The Gods, for reasons of their own but which may have something to with their survival and perhaps the survival of Earth itself, have changed the timeline. In the new timeline, years ago the Gods removed their protection from Paradise Island, and left it vulnerable to attack. And attacked it was. Led by a dark figure, a veritable army descended upon the Island, equipped with weapons that could kill even the Amazons. Outgunned, doomed, Hippolyta gave over her three-year-old daughter to a handful of guardians who spirited her away as Hippolyta led one last desperate battle against the forces that had come to destroy all she had created. In that final battle, she and most of the Amazons were killed, though some managed to escape.

It’s now nearly twenty years later. Diana has been raised in an urban setting, but with a foot in both worlds. She has little or no memory of the other timeline. She knows only what she’s been told by those who raised her On the run, hunted, she must try to survive, help the other refugee Amazons escape the army that is still after them, discover who destroyed Paradise Island and why…and if the timeline can be corrected or not. She also does not yet have access to her full powers, but will be gaining them as she goes. Along the way, she will face a range of enemies — human and otherwise — who we have not seen before.

What we also haven’t seen before is her new look, the first significant change in her appearance since the character debuted in 1941 (not counting the mod look used briefly in the sixties, about which the less said the better). It reflects her origins in both the outside world and the world of Amazons: tough, elegant…a street-fighter’s look which also incorporates elements of her classic design. It reflects the two sides warring for ultimate victory, and underscores the path she must take.

It’s a look designed to be taken seriously as a warrior, in partial answer to the many female fans over the years who’ve asked, “how does she fight in that thing without all her parts falling out?”) She can close it up to pass unnoticed…open it for the freedom to fight…lose the jacket or keep it on…it has pockets (the other fan question, “where does she carry anything in that outfit?”, it can be accessorized…it’s a Wonder Woman look designed for the 21st century. The bracelets are still there, but made more colorful, tied on the inside and over the hand, with a script W on each of them that form WW when she holds them side by side…and if you get hit by one of them, it leaves a W mark. This is a Wonder Woman who signs her work…letting her enemies know that she’s getting closer.

This is Wonder Woman reborn, literally and metaphorically: fast, elegant, tough, smart…the savior of her people, their guardian and protector…avenging the fall of Paradise Island, searching to discover why Paradise Island was abandoned by the gods. In the end, what she discovers will change her life and the world forever…and she will come face to face with a decision that will mean life or death for the entire human race.