Rumors of Wonder Woman’s casting have been swirling for years and that has only heated up with rumors that the Amazon might appear in the forthcoming Batman/Superman film featuring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill, respectively. The HollywoodReporter is reporting that actress Gal Gadot has been cast for the role in the Man of Steel sequel.

“Wonder Woman is arguably one of the most powerful female characters of all time and a fan favorite in the DC Universe. Not only is Gal an amazing actress, but she also has that magical quality that makes her perfect for the role. We look forward to audiences discovering Gal in the first feature film incarnation of this beloved character.” -director Zack Snyder.

This will be Gadot’s first time in a leading role after having portrayed mostly supporting roles in notable films in several of the Fast & Furious movies and Knight and Day.

Gal seems to have the right look, but she has a very small frame. I would have imagined a female body builder more in line with the look for the role. This seems like a hard sell. I look forward to seeing how they will make it work.

[Source: HollywoodReporter]

This past weekend I was lucky enough to participate in the open beta for Gazillion Entertainment’s free-to-play MMORPG Marvel Heroes. I got an invite for the closed beta a few weeks back, but didn’t have the chance to play for very long. I took more time with the Beta this past weekend, and was impressed by it. Since progress in the beta won’t carry over to the game’s launch, I avoided making too much progress in the game. At the same time, I got a good sampling of what the game had to offer. Marvel Heroes will feature over 2 dozen playable characters (including Rocket Raccon and Squirrel Girl), each with their own upgradable skill tree, Unreal Engine 3 powered graphics, randomly generated environments, and a script by Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Ultimate Spider-man).
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After a 10 year court battle between Neil Gaiman and Todd MacFarlane over the ownership of several characters, we are finally seeing the ramifications and fallout. Angela, a character created for the pages of Spawn (an Image comic), will make her debut in Marvel Comics in the final chapter of the Age of Ultron event currently playing out at newsstands and comic shops.

The lawsuit, started in 2002 by Gaiman, ended in a settlement at the start of 2012. It was clear that things were going in Gaiman’s favor as he won motion after motion and came out on top for several important rulings on other characters. In the end, the settlement left both men with 50% ownership of the Angela character. What we are seeing here is that it may have been a bit more specific than that. It could be surmised that Gaiman was awarded 100% ownership over the name and character, whereas MacFarlane got ownership over the look and design. This would explain the high-profile overhaul that Joe Quesada has given Angela.

Say what you will about Quesada as an editor, but the man was and will always be a great artist. I think the new design captures the character pretty well while dispensing with some of the goofier parts of her attire. After Ultron, she will be following Gaiman over to the Guardians of the Galaxy series with Brian Michael Bendis and art by the extremely talented Sara Pichelli.

Press Release after the jump
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I know what you are thinking. Man-Thing? How on earth is he going to make this connection?

I’ll be honest. I had to do some research when I came home after seeing Iron Man 3. There was a scene that piqued my curiosity. Do you know the scene I’m talking about?

Join me after the jump as I take you on a magical origin filled journey! (spoiler free!)
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May the 4th be with you this Saturday at Free Comic Book Day! Local Comic Shops around the world will be celebrating this unofficial holiday with free comic books, parties, costumes and all around love for comic book characters and stories. At least, thats what they do around here.

Some comic shops put a limit on the number of free books you can get, so its not always easy to choose what books you want on the spot with the crowds waiting for you to move on. And since FCBD is kind of a big deal around these parts of the internet, we decided to put together a guide for all the books that will be available this weekend.

Join us after the jump for the full lowdown!
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A new major event was announced for the X-Men at C2E2 this weekend by Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron and Brian Wood. X-Men: Battle of the Atom pits some time travelling X-Men from the future against the original X-Men from the past, leaving the X-Men of today caught in the middle. Sound confusing? It sure does to me! The event will happen in September and October of this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of mutant mayhem. X-Men #1 came out in September 1963.

The story will be told in the following books:
X-Men Battle of the Atom #1
Uncanny X-Men #12-13
All-New X-Men #16-17
Wolverine & The X-Men #36-37
X-Men # 5-6
X-Men: Battle of The Atom #2

Details seemed a bit light beyond the above description, but we did get to see some concept art by Art Adams. Most of the images show the future X-Men including Beast, who has gone through further mutations, a grown up Molly Hayes from the Runaways, a female Xorn, a kid Wolverine with blue skin, red hair and stubby claws (did Logan shack up with Mystique?), an Ice Hulk (future Ice Man?), Deadpool and an unknown character at this time (This guy’s concept art was released by accident. He is a surprise character. Hint: The file name had ‘ProfX’ in it). The future team will apparently be led by Kate Pryde (Day of Future’s Past anyone?)

[Source: Newsarama live coverage]

Marvel Studios head, Kevin Feige, has confirmed in an interview with Newsarama that the rights to Daredevil, the Man Without Fear, have reverted back to Marvel Studios.

It was reported that Fox Studios had a deadline of October 10, 2012 in order to retain the rights to the character. It was widely believed that the deadline was missed, but no official word came out until Mr. Feige’s comments at an Iron Man 3 press junket. Daredevil is not the first Marvel character whose rights have reverted back to Marvel Studios. The Punisher and Blade are on that list as well. Fox still retains the rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Spider-Man and Ghost Rider remain with Sony. The rights to these properties can all revert back to Marvel Studios if no film is in active development by a certain deadline for each. These agreements were all made prior to the formation of Marvel Studios in 2006.

The new Man of Steel trailer has been released. We some bits or origin, some bits of Zod, and a whole lot of voiceover. I think this is the best of the trailers so far. The others really seemed to lack external conflict.

Are you excited? Disappointed? Let us know in the comments!

Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill as Superman and is set for release on June 14, 2013.