At the San Diego Comic Con this past week, Marvel producer Mike Jones revealed that the last gen hits Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 and 2 are coming to Xbox One, PC, and PS4 this Tuesday. The games will be available digitally, with both games carrying a price tag of $40 each or $60 together. The games will feature graphical and UI tweaks, along with other features that will help it fit on current generation systems.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance and its sequel were a pair of action RPGS that put players in the shoes of many of Marvel’s finest, including Captain America, Spider-Man, the X-men, and the Fantastic Four. The first game had players battling Dr Doom and the masters of Evil, while the second game’s plot was inspired by 2006’s Civil War crossover. The games featured 4 player co-op (both local and online), unlockable costumes, and tons of cameos from throughout the Marvel Universe. If you never played these games before, or if you want to revisit them, now is a great time to do so. Who knows? We might even be seeing MUA 3 before long.

Well, everyone’s favorite gun-toting raccoon and living tree are among Marvel’s newest (and most obscure) movie stars as of this weekend in Guardians of the Galaxy, and earlier this summer, everyone’s favorite mutants returned to the silver screen in X-men Days of Future Past, and what good would any movie be without the prerequisite tie-in games? Of course unlike recent movie tie in games, such as the Gameloft-Cashgrab mobile games based on Captain America 2 and Spider-Man 2, these games have no in-app purchases (it’s a rather biting commentary on mobile gaming when we’re praising games for NOT having any IAP, but I digress). The games themselves aren’t bad either.
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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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Chris Hemsworth returns as Thor in Thor: The Dark World.
From IMDB:

Thor battles an ancient race of Dark Elves led by the vengeful Malekith who threatens to plunge the universe back into darkness after the events of The Avengers.

Natalie Portman also returns as Jane Foster.
Thor: The Dark World is due out in theaters on November 8, 2013.

Though, I think Thor was the weakest of the first phase of movies, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I am very much looking forward to the sequel’s release and anticipate that only increasing once Iron Man 3 is released.

Thomas Jane debuted a short fan film (NSFW) at SDCC 2012 called Dirty Laundry. Jane reprises his role as the Punisher in the short, which also features a guest appearance from Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy). Its pretty great to see actors who are genuine fans of the characters they portray. Jane played the part of Frank Castle in “The Punisher” released in 2004.

Quote from Jane:

I wanted to make a fan film for a character I’ve always loved and believed in – a love letter to Frank Castle & his fans. It was an incredible experience with everyone on the project throwing in their time just for the fun of it. It’s been a blast to be a part of from start to finish – we hope the friends of Frank enjoy watching it as much as we did making it… Not pushing anything. Just a fan film from friends of Frank.

He’s been talking about it on his twitter account, which you go see here.

I almost feel bad spoiling a joke that comes in the second half of the podcast by producing this week’s photochop album cover. But dammit, I laughed and said I would do it and I’m a man of my word. This also allowed me to image search Kate Upton for research.

This week we discuss the return of Sailor Moon, what it means to read Marvel Now, the casting of a Wolverine sequel, a Beatle teaming up with Bungie, and Kate Upton.

It wasn’t until I wrote this description and had everything all done that I remember George Lopez in an eye patch from episode 55.

Listen live on this page, or subscribe via RSS or iTunes.
Direct Link:Powetcast 127: Kate Upton Jr

Show notes follow!

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Okay, so this isn’t a video game, or even video game related (although War Machine is a playable character in Marvel vs Capcom 1 and 2, and makes appearances in other games that feature Iron Man), but it is a slept-on classic. In 2001, Marvel introduced Max comics, a sub-line of books aimed at mature audiences (a’la DC’s Vertigo). Although many of the books were hit or miss, the line was used to introduce some pretty creative concepts at the time. Alias introduced the character of Jessica Jones to the Marvel Universe, while Garth Ennis’s hideously gory take on The Punisher was a hit with readers. Writer Chuck Austen contributed a brand new take on War Machine, Iron Man’s buddy. Although he may have been one of comicdom’s most hated writers, Austen scored a hit with this series.
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