We previously reported on a contest being held by Activision for the upcoming Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Basically the contest gave anyone the chance to the voice of a hero in the game. For the guys, Bruce Banner, the Hulk’s alter ego. For the ladies, Jean Grey, the telepathic mainstay of the X-Men. Casting has closed for the voice of Bruce Banner, but tryouts for Jean Grey remain open. Meanwhile, a new character is now open for tryouts for the men, Namor the Sub-mariner.

Grand Prize winners will win a trip to Los Angeles to record their dialogue and meet the producers of the game, and receive an X-Box 360, a copy of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance the game, a pack of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance playing cards, and a poster signed by Stan “The Man” Lee!

Submit your auditions soon because entries end July 23, 2006. For the official contest page with full entry details and rules, along with information on Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, head to: www.MarvelUltimateAlliance.com.

2006.07.11 13:41 EST: Huge news for Marvel Legends fans! ToyFare has gotten their hands on a picture of one of the new figures along with a listing of the rest of the assortment, which is sure to be on display at next week’s San Diego Comic Con.

From the Wizard site:

The first series of Marvel Legends to be released by Hasbro, who takes over the Marvel license from Toy Biz in January, will feature Planet Hulk [pictured], Banshee, Hercules, Movie Beast, Emma Frost, Ultimate Iron Man, and Annihilus as the build-a-figure! Check out ToyFare #109, on sale Wednesday, for more images of the figures, as well as images of movie Ghost Rider toys and new Spider-Man figures from Hasbro!

 

 
It looks like build-a-figures are here to stay as they clearly have gotten collectors to buy entire waves far more eagerly. Of note, is the presence of Ultimate Iron Man, not to be confused with the Modern Armor Iron Man of Toy Biz Wave 8. I’m sure his presence is due to the impending movie release. Rememer that there are still a few more waves of Toy Biz figures to go before these ever see the light of day.

Let the speculation on variants begin.

[Update – Crazy: 2006.07.12 12:33 EST ToyFare has posted a picture of Banshee on their forums after great speculation on the quality of the line based on the Hulk figure. They also reminded us that these were very early prototypes so some results may vary. I added the Banshee picture next to the Hulk above.]

[Update 2 – Crazy 2006.07.13. 12:00 EST I found some scanned in pages from the latest ToyFare that reveals the line up. The images came from here. Images added above. Again.]

iF Magazine spoke with recently resigned Marvel Entertainment head Avi Arad about upcoming film projects he’s working on for Marvel. In additon to breaking news that the next Hulk movie will be a complete “do-over” of the first one, he also says new cartoons for Spider-Man, Wolverine And The X-Men, Fantastic Four, and even Iron Man after that movie is done.
And he clarifies some of this ToyBiz confusion as well:

iF: Switching to toys how do the new HASBRO toy lines look in comparison to the previous TOY BIZ lines?
ARAD: TOY BIZ is very involved in the design of the toys, but the distribution will be through HASBRO. The scale isn’t going to change.

Maybe Marvel Legends isn’t in as much danger as I thought, because Hasbro seems to have no trouble getting mountains of Star Wars, GI Joe and Transformers to market…

The Four Horsemen have announced that their FANtastic Exclusive line will be expanding with five troop builder figures available each as an exclusive to a different magazine or website and limited to only 250 of each figure. The figures will be repaints of the Xetheus figure, but with new head sculpts, accessories and armor details. Apparently the jaw on the new heads will even be articulated.

If you’re too lazy to click the link for the article, you can read the official announcement after the jump.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Okay, so It’s no Fight Night, but this Boxing game brings home ROCKY BALBOA!  How ill is that?  You can even play as his opponents, including Apollo Creed, Tommy Guns, VIctor Drago, and Clubber Lang.  Not only that, but all the minor opponents from the movies have been included as well.  You can either choose to take Rocky to the top as in the movies, or you can take one of the other boxers and take him through the tournament mode.  My only beef is that Hulk Hogan’s character Thunderlips wasn’t playable, but oh well.  For those boxing fans looking for something other than Fight Night or fans of the movies, you can’t go wrong at all with this.

Marvel.com has a page up describing some of their future movie plans. Among the many movies on slate for Marvel, Iron Man is one of the top of their current list to get into production. They’ve taken on Jon Favreau of Swingers and Made fame to direct the Iron Man film.

Jon Favreau To Direct Iron Man

Los Angeles, CA (April 28, 2006) – Aggressively pursuing its strategy to develop and produce a new slate of feature films, Marvel Studios – a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) – has engaged director/actor/writer Jon Favreau to direct the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of Iron Man. Additionally, the studio has tapped several screenwriters to pen scripts based on some of its marquee Super Hero franchises. The projects to which screenwriters are now attached and have officially begun development include Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Ant Man, Captain America, Nick Fury and Thor. The announcement was made today by Avi Arad, Chairman of Marvel Studios.

Check out the page for more information on the franchises mentioned. Most of it is background stuff. The real announcement was having Favreau direct Iron Man.

Toy Fair 2006 came and went pretty fast with a deluge of new initiatives by most of the toy companies. In all the press, it was easy to miss several of the more prominent announcements, nevermind the smaller ones. One of the larger initiatives shown came from Toy Biz on their plans with the future of the Marvel Legends Line. Things are looking up if you follow this fan-favorite line.

The next 4 waves of the main line were tentatively announced, each with its own build-a-figure in the tradition of Galactus, The Sentinel and Apocalypse. Each figure in the wave will come with one piece of the larger figure included. When you have all the figures in the wave (not including chase variants) you will have all the pieces necessary to assemble the larger figure.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

I am a casual Avengers fan and have never read any of the Ultimate books yet. I watched this movie going in with no expectations other than who most of the characters would be.

Read on for the rest of the review.
Note: Contains spoilers

[Read the rest of this entry…]