Toys News International is showing off some of the first wave of Marvel Legends under the direction of Hasbro. While a few fans have expressed distaste for the future of this line, I’m going on record as saying Planet Hulk looks cool.

See the gallery of Emma Frost, Ultimate Iron Man, Banshee, Planet Hulk and Hercules here: Hasbro Marvel Legends Series 1

One thing I think all can agree on, the new bubble packaging looks really nice. Its a big departure from the rather rectangular boxes Legends has has for years now, but its a lot more vivid and eye catching. Now it appears we’re losing the pack-in comic book, but we’re gaining a much better logo.

Ultimately we’re going to have to get these in hand before we can really tell whether Hasbro has improved or doomed this line. Either way, distribution is about to get a lot better and we’ll have to chase a lot less variants.

Thanks Josh!

Ramping up to the big Iron Man feature and follow on the heels of 2 successful Ultimate Avengers direct-to-DVD releases, Lions Gate and Marvel will release Invicible Iron Man on January 23rd. The invincibly tiny cover art was provided by DavidDVD and heres a synopsis of the plot:

While raising the ruins of a long buried Chinese kingdom, billionaire inventor Tony Stark digs up far more than he bargained for. He unleashes an age-old prophecy that foretells the resurrection of the Mandarin, the emperor of China’s darkest and most violent dynasty. To confront this destructive force, Stark creates an armored suit infused with high-tech weaponry to stop the evil that he himself has raised form the earth.

I’m supposing this will take place inside the Ultimate Avengers continuity as a prequel or something.

Special features include featurettes on the origin of Iron Man, a gallery of Iron Man armor, and a first look at the 4th Marvel DVD feature, Dr. Strange. Suggested retail is $20 as usual but theres a Gift Set planned with Iron man and both Ultimate Avengers movies and a Marvel Icons Iron Man bust. That will set you back $60. They obviously carefully planned this gift set release for the busy Valentines day season. Ladies, you now know how to charm your comic nerd boyfriend, and its with cartoons and the torso of an alcoholic in a suit of armor.

ACADEMY-AWARD(R) NOMINEE TERRENCE HOWARD SIGNS ON TO MARVEL STUDIOS’ IRON MAN

Joins Robert Downey Jr. in Super Hero Action Adventure Film Being Directed by Jon Favreau and Distributed by Paramount

[Read the rest of this entry…]

The news just hit – Robert Downey Jr. has been cast to play Iron Man. While I’m typically hesitant to put stock in what AintItCoolNews has to say, Reuters has already got an article running on it too. As Marvel Entertainment’s first independently produced film, it sounds like they’re doing a pretty good job with picking and choosing the people involved.

According to the article:

Marvel president of production Kevin Feige said the filmmakers looked for the best actor to embody the character.

“The Marvel characters are not just about how high they jump or how fast they fly, they’re about their character flaws,” Feige said. “They’re about their inner demons. They’re about the struggles that they go through between being a man and being a hero.”

Downey, who has battled his fair share of inner demons, worked hard to get the role, getting in shape and even growing a goatee like the one Stark sports in the comic books.

The whole article can be found here.

Forgive me if this is old information, somehow I’ve yet to see this as a big announcement and thought I would inform others in case it slipped under anyone else’s radar.

Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Pencils and Cover by TOMMY LEE EDWARDS
World War II. America needs a super soldier. Only one man possesses the formula to create the perfect fighting machine from volunteer Steve Rogers. But when a deadly bullet kills Dr. Erskine along with his bodyguard, M.P. Ben Parker, Steve’s destiny—and that of the Marvel Universe—is changed forever.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Jon Favreau posted this somewhat crazed-looking image of him sitting with Peter Billingsley (Iron Man’s executive producer) at a table loaded with crazy huge guns onto his MySpace page. Obviously, this are at least related to the Iron Man movie, if not actual props. In fact, I kind of hope they are props, because man, who let them have all those giant guns?

Movie blog Screen Rant got a hold of some designs that are not going to be used in the Iron Man movie.

I post this as news in hopes that if this extremely cool looking armor is whats not being produced, then I anxiously anticipate what they think looks better. It doesn’t look directly like any of the variations I know (Stark has so many, I could be wrong…), but its got the color and style right.

SuperHeroHype reports that Terrence Howard is considering the part of James Rhodes in the Iron Man movie currently under development. In an interview with MTV, he was quoted as saying:

“Mayyy-bee,” he said about taking the role. “It’s something I’m trying to fully consider. Action is a whole ‘nother animal. The CGI and special effects, that’s a whole ‘nother thing. Playing to green screen or blue screen, I’ve never done that. I want to accomplish it and do it well. I don’t want to do anything and not do it well.”