Marvel Studios has started quite a powerful trend in the entertainment industry and all the other studios with comic book properties are trying to emulate what Marvel has created. How long will Marvel be able to keep this up, though? There’s going to come a point where actors won’t renew their contracts and something is going to have to happen to those characters if those actors aren’t replaced.

Marvel Comics has been telling the stories of these characters since the 1940s. They’ve also rebooted their comic properties as well. The fact of the matter is Marvel has a ton of stories that they can tell and you never know, there could come a point where the studio reboots the MCU. Regardless of how things turn out, I personally don’t think Marvel will ever stop making movies.

Screen Rant has released a video essay called “Will The Marvel Universe Go On Forever?” and it explores what the future of Marvel might hold. The video comes with the following note:

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last eight years, you’ve probably noticed a certain trend in superhero movies: the shared universe. While superhero films used to be treated as independent series that would reset after two or three movies, they now build on top of each other to create an almost overwhelming amount of shared continuity. Case in point: the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, which functions as a follow up to Captain America: Winter Soldier, an action-packed reunion of the Avengers: Age of Ultron cast and an introduction to both Black Panther as well as a new iteration of Spider Man!

But how long can this go on? Hollywood’s obsession with fan approval shows that one day a series that seems to be riding strong (Amazing Spider Man, for instance), can bottom out within 9 months of the latest films release. Steven Spielberg has even gone on record saying the superhero film will soon go “the way of the western” and fall out of popularity in mainstream Hollywood.

Is the father of American Blockbuster Cinema on to something? Around 30 characters have already enjoyed multiple appearances across the Marvel films so far, and a library of characters in Marvel Comics continuity that number in the thousands, most of whom can appear and cross over between a number of films and TV series. With a potentially infinite number of combinations, will this cinematic universe collapse under its own weight? Or will the Marvel Cinematic Universe go on FOREVER?

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Funny or Die has released an amusing animated comedy sketch called Why Superman is The Most Dangerous Superhero. It’s part of a web-series called Superman v Batman: The Unauthorized Adventures. In this episode, Superman flies into Gotham City and accidentally kills Robin after he and Batman take down The Joker. Here’s a brief description that came with the video:

After once again successfully vanquishing the Joker, Batman and Robin are rudely interrupted by Superman, whose late arrival spells trouble for the Dark Knight's boy wonder sidekick.

Enjoy!

I had no idea that the Armored Combat League existed until I came across this short documentary Harlem Knight Fight. It centers around a man named Damion DiGrazia, the captain of the New York chapter of the league. 

It’s basically a medieval-inspired fight club in which people dress up in their real metal suits armor and beat the living shit out of each other! This is no joke. These guys are serious and it’s MMA fighting with the contestants wearing heavy-ass armor. 

The doc shows off footage of what these fights look like and they are freakin’ intense! A lot of these contestants get seriously injured and I’m surprised no one has died in combat yet. These guys aren’t wielding foam weapons, they are metal axes, swords, and various other things and they are hitting each other freakin' hard!

The doc also tells the story of how DiGrazia, who is a Harvard and Columbia graduate, got into the sport. This is incredibly fascinating and it’s a doc you’ve gotta watch! Here’s the synopsis:

For Damion DiGrazia, joining the Air Force, graduating from Harvard and Columbia and putting together a lucrative career as a management consultant at a top investment bank in Manhattan wasn’t enough. He had one more, slightly less conventional item for the bucket list. When this Sunday school teacher isn’t spreading the Good Word, he prefers a metal fist to the teeth. DiGrazia is the captain of the New York chapter of the Armored Combat League — a sort of medieval fight club whose members smash the hell out of each other while dressed like attendees of the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones. “This is a sport that requires passion,” he explains. “Because there’s no responsible way to do it.” We met with Damion at his East Harlem training studio and followed his team to their regional matchup with New England.

Marco D’Alfonso has created a glorious piece of fan art that features all of the film versions of The Joker paying tribute to Prince. The piece was created for last week’s The Line it is Drawn challenge at CBR.

They asked artists to mash comic characters with Prince, to “illustrate his song lyrics with comic book characters, have comic book characters appear in Prince music videos, Prince album covers, comic book characters as Prince movie characters, whatever strikes your fancy!”

If you couldn’t already tell, the art was inspired by the classic 1989 Batman scene in which The Joker goes to the Gotham Museum to "lighten the mood." I included that scene below for you to watch, which included the Prince song "Partyman."

Square Enix has revealed their latest addition to the Batman: Arkham Knight Play Arts Kai action figure line. Nightwing finally gets his own figure and as you might expect from the toy line, it looks incredibly cool. Here’s the description of the figure from Entertainment Earth:

Armed with his acrobatic abilities, Nightwing fights against formidable villains. The Batman Arkham Knight Nightwing Play Arts Kai Action Figure features a meticulous attention to the fine details of his armored suit to render his nimble yet strong physique. The paintwork places heavy emphasis on the texture of each material, from the complexities of the various fabrics to the life-like skin tone. Nightwing comes equipped with his gadgets, including his Escrima Sticks, which can be stowed away on his back using an adapter piece. This figure also has a very wide range of mobility in order to recreate Nightwing’s flashier action poses. The metallic, almost iridescent accent colors in his chest and shoulders shimmer brightly, as if to show off his distinctive identity. The Batman Arkham Knight Nightwing Play Arts Kai Action Figure measures approximately 10 1/2-inches tall x 4 1/8-inches wide x 2 1/3-inches long, includes display stand and is packaged in a window box.

It’s currently available for pre-order for $129.99, so if you want one click here.

Alien Day has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t enjoy the fruits of other people's labor that made that day so special. There was a shit-ton of Aliens-inspired fan art posted online recently. A lot of the art I’ve come across is from an upcoming art book called Alien Visions by Udon, and here are the artists that provided the art you see below. 

The artists whose work you see here include Shane Hillman, Derek Kaufman, Carlos D’ Gonzalo Ordonez Arias, Jaffrey Chamba, Edwin Haung, Long Vo, Tom Whalan, O_8, Livio Ramondelli, Bruce Yan, Ken Christiansen, Jim Mahfood, Whilce Portico, Ray Fawkes, Dan Hipp, John Giang, Seas Dove, Katie Cook, and Pikomaro.

Artist Eber Evangelista created this wonderful piece of art that features toddler versions of Vision and Falcon from Captain America: Civil War having a little play date. The piece is called "Children War" and it features the two characters playing marbles. Little Falcon managed to get his hands on Vision’s Mind Stone which probably isn’t very safe to play with. 

We’ve got a bunch of X-Men: Apocalypse goodies for you to check out today. We've got a great clip from the film that features a cage match fight between Angel and Nightcrawler. We have 28 photos that include some old and new visuals of several characters in the movie, such as Jean Grey, Storm, Mystique, Beast, Cyclops, Professor X, Angel, Quicksilver, Psylocke, Magneto, Apocalypse, and more that seems to be set in Egypt. I also included four featurettes that focus on Storm, Angel, Psylocke, and Magneto. Then there’s three promo pieces of '80s-inspired mutant video game art. You can check it all out below!

Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshiped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

The movie hits theaters on May 27th.

One of our readers sent in these photos of a couple awesome pieces of samurai armor. One was obviously inspired by Link from The Legend of Zelda and the other was inspired by ancient samurai warrior Sanada Yukimura. It was created by Etsy seller CoffeeCosplay and as you can see it looks pretty damn cool.

As of right now the armor is available in three sizes, but there is an option to have it custom-sized — it will just take two weeks to do. This is what the creator had to say about the armor:

The entire suit of armor is made with 5/16 inch thick thick EVA foam. The armor can be dissembled for storage purposes—the Haidate and Sode can be adjusted for proper fitting as well.

I started this project after a custom order of my Yukimura Samurai Armor (another listing) and fell in love with the color scheme of Satin Green, Pure Gold, and Navy Blue. When I assembled the entire suit I realized it looked a lot like Link. Hence, I present a Triforce inspired armor. The triforce print can placed to your liking. My next project will be his gauntlets. Stay tune for more and please share if you like my work. 

I also included photos of the Sanada Yukimura Cosplay armor set below. Yukimura was a real life Japanese samurai warrior hero. He is also known as “a Hero who may appear once in a hundred years", "Crimson Demon of War" and "The Last Sengoku Hero." If you want to order one for yourself, click here.

The director of the indie horror film It Follows, David Robert Mitchell, has set up his next film project called Under The Silver Lake. Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield is set to star in the movie, which is described as a modern noir crime thriller that’s set in Los Angeles. There are no other details on the film other than that. 

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Mitchell’s It Follows. It was an extremely cool concept, but I thought it was poorly executed. Especially the second half of the movie. There’s a huge fan base out there that loved it, though, and that’s cool! It was Mitchell’s first major feature film and I’m sure he learned a lot from it. He'll be able to take what he learned from it to this next film production.

I’m a fan of noir films and Garfield is a solid actor, so I’m definitely interested in seeing what this actually entails and how it turns out. 

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We’ve all heard stories about actors who are difficult to work with but the studio will keep on casting them because a lot of them are big names and great actors audiences want to see. They just have to put up with these actors while they are making the movie.

ScreenRant has released a video that breakdown ten actors who are reportedly hard to work with and they offer an explanation of why for each one. Some of the actors on the list include Christian Bale, Harrison Ford, Russell Crowe, Shia LaBeouf, January Jones, Katherine Heigl, and Jared Leto. 

It’s said that actors are a fickle, sensitive bunch. Some with varying levels of devotion to their craft. Because they’re constantly trying on new personalities, it’s not unusual for the person underneath to get a little weird over time. ether it’s because of method acting, self-righteousness, or just plain old bad manners, here are Screen Rant’s 10 Actors No One Wants to Work With.

Action director Simon West (Con Air, Expendables 2, Tomb Raider) has signed on to helm a fantasy-action movie called War Wolf. This sounds like it has potential to be not only a great film but an awesome fantasy franchise. 

War Wolf is set in 1356, after decades of war between the French and English armies, with English soldier Earl Hugo awarded the castle of his enemy, the French assassin Mauchet. But in the walls of the castle and the lands that surround it, someone has reawakened the Loup de Guerre, the ferocious War Wolf of French legend and the nightmarish creature is now on a killing spree.

Variety reports that this is the first in a planned series of films that will center around the magical world of the Loup de Guerre.

There are going to be a lot of special effects makeup and costuming that need to be created for the projects, and the studio has hired Dave Elsey and Lou Elsey, co-founders of the Igor Studios, to develop those. They have previously worked on films such as Mission: Impossible, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, and Wolves. 

Fortitude Intl. is backing the project and this is what its co-founder Nadine de Barros had to say:

“The popularity of the fantasy genre around the globe continues to grow and the fierce world of ‘War Wolf’ is an electric story. Under the masterful direction of Simon West and the brilliant team of Dave and Lou Elsey behind the special effects makeup, this film is going to blow people away with both the look of this fantastical world and the intense storytelling.”

Like always, I'm sure Simon West is going to give us something that's going to be wonderfully entertaining. 

(The image above has nothing to do with the movie, it's just a cool image that popped up when I searched for "War Wolf.")

Cuteness Warning! If you don’t want to be overwhelmed with cuteness, you probably shouldn’t look any further. 

This adorable child cosplayer was part of the opening of Studio Ghibli concept store in Hong Kong a few years ago. I had never seen these photos of her until now though, and I just had to share them with you.

Via: Fashionably Geek

One of the most anticipated episodes of The Flash this season is the one that was directed by Kevin Smith. It’s called “The Runaway Dinosaur” and today we have a promo trailer for you to watch along with a collection of photos. This has been a great and intense season so far and with this next episode coming up, it looks like it’s going to get even better.

Smith has also been set to direct another episode of The Flash in Season 3. According to ComicBook.com, “everyone from producers to the cast expressed delight at working with him, and hoped that he would return for more episodes next year.” Well, I guess they’re going to get their chance.

KEVIN SMITH DIRECTS – With Barry (Grant Gustin) gone, the team must figure out a way to handle the return of an old enemy – Girder (guest star Greg Finley).  Realizing Girder is retracing his steps from his last attack, Iris (Candice Patton) volunteers to act as bait to trap him in S.T.A.R. Labs.  Meanwhile, Barry fights to return to his old life. 

“The Runaway Dinosaur” set to air next Tuesday, May 10th at 8:00 pm on The CW.

I've got a fantastic sci-fi short film for you to watch today called Trial sent into us by The Brothers Lynch, who are the creators of this mesmerizing and cinematic film. The star follows a pioneering mind transfer procedure that offers a quadriplegic solider the chance of a new life... but it comes at a terrible cost. 

This is a fantastic short and there's a three minute POV mirror shot that the filmmakers say was done all in camera with no VFX, which, as you will see, is a pretty impressive feat. If you want to see how they actually pulled it off, I included a video explanation below from the filmmakers.

This 15-minute short film is a teaser for the debut feature film that the brothers are currently developing called Residual. It is scheduled to start shooting later this year. I can't wait to see how that turns out because this short is freakin' awesome. Check it out!

A lot of people were shocked by how well Deadpool did at the box office. Not even Fox was expecting to see that happen. They didn’t think it would do very well, which is why they didn’t do anything with it for so long. Well, Tim Miller, Ryan Reynolds, and the creative team of the movie sure did prove them wrong. Now the studio has a whole new moneymaking franchise on their hands!

During an interview with Deadline, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige shared his thoughts on the film, and he understands exactly why it connected with critics and audiences. In case you’re wondering if Marvel Studios will ever develop an R-rated movie, he says there have been no discussions about it, and explains: 

"No, we’ve not had any specific conversations about that. And that is only part of the takeaway from Deadpool. The thing that Deadpool shows is, when you present something unique to an audience, they will respond to it. When you present something as popular as a superhero character, in a different and unique and crazy way as they did in Deadpool, it demands attention and audiences went to it. They pulled it off. Tim Miller did a tremendous job. The other secret, and why it’s still a secret, I don’t know, but they just took what Deadpool is in the comics. He breaks the fourth wall. He talks into the camera. He doesn’t give a sh*t about any of the other heroes. He doesn’t take anything seriously. All of that is what made Deadpool so popular in the comics. Tim and his writers and Ryan Reynolds were able to get that and even magnify that up on the big screen. We’ve always said if there’s any 'secret' it’s respect the source material, understand the source material and then, any adaptation you make from the source material should be done only to enhance whatever the original pure spirit of the source material was. Deadpool hit on all cylinders with that."

The closest thing that I think we’ll ever get to an R-rated Marvel production is what we are seeing in the Netflix series with Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Those have been pretty brutal, and I’m sure that will continue with Luke Cage, The Punisher, Iron Fist, and The Defenders. I’m ok with Marvel Studios making PG-13 movies with the characters they’ve been working with. It works. 

Then the Hulk came up. Fans would obviously love to see a solo Hulk film, but due to the rights issues, that’s not going to happen unless Marvel and Universal can work out some kind of deal. Feige explains: 

"Well, those are contractual things that I’m not entirely attuned to. Disney and Universal would need to come to an agreement to allow Marvel to do a standalone Hulk film for Disney. What’s so great, and as you just said, Ruffalo lights up any room he’s in, any Twitter feed he’s engaged in and any movie that he’s in. It’s just a great pleasure to have him in The Avengers films and as you know his next appearance will be in Thor: Ragnarok, which is a whole other type of fun Hulk adventure for him that we can’t wait to get started on."

We might not be getting a solo Hulk film anytime soon, but at least they still get to play with him in the universe. It sounds like we’re going to get to see plenty of the Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok. It might be the most screen time the character will have had in any Marvel film so far. 

Fox has released a bunch of photos from the upcoming episode of Gotham, “A Legion of Horribles,” and they give us our first look at Basil Karlo, a.k.a. Clayface. The character is being played by Brian McManamon. We also have a synopsis for the episode revealing that Jada Pinkett-Smith will be returning as Fish Mooney!

Hugo Strange welcomes a familiar face to GOTHAM after he resurrects Fish Mooney in Indian Hill. Later, Bruce discovers a friend is in danger and teams up with Gordon, Alfred and Lucius, while uncovering more of Strange’s experiments. 

This has been a fantastic season. So much has happened that I didn’t expect, and there’s still more to come! I’m excited that we’ll finally get to see Clayface. We already knew he would eventually make his way into the series.

Clayface was created by Bob Kane, and the character made his first appearance in Detective Comics in 1940. A lot of people were first introduced to Clayface in Batman: The Animated Series, but here’s some background info on the character thanks to ComicBook.com:

He was a once-famous actor who went insane with rage when he learned that The Terror, a classic horror film he starred in, was being remade without him. To exact his revenge, Karlo dressed up as the film's villain, Clayface, and killed members of the cast in the order in which their characters died in the film.

At that time, Karlo didn't possess any super-powers, but that all changed when he reappeared in 1989's "The Mud Pack" story arc of Detective Comics. The four-part series featured Karlo joining forces with the other incarnations of Clayface — Preston Payne, Matt Hagen and Sondra Fuller — to take down Batman. After they were defeated, Karlo imbued himself with shape-shifting abilities by taking samples from his downed allies (who he tricked) and injecting the samples into himself.

“Wrath of the Villains: A Legion of Horribles” will air on Monday, May 16th on FOX.

Actress Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct, Catwoman) recently appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden and confirmed that she will be appearing in an upcoming Marvel movie. 

Captain America: Civil War star Sebastian Stan was also a guest on the show the same night as Stone, and just for the hell of it, Corden asked Stone if she would ever consider being a part of a Marvel movie. This was how the conversation went down:

Stone: “I am going to do a Marvel movie.”

Corden: “Is this some kind of exclusive?”

Stone: “I’m just doing a wee part in a Marvel movie, upcoming, and I can’t tell, because you know, you have to sign confidentiality agreements. But I’m going to do a wee part in a Marvel movie now. That’s it.”

Both Cordon and Stan were pretty surprised by the news. There is no other information on who she will be playing or what film she will appear in. There’s always a chance that the “wee” role she’s talking about could end up actually being a big role, and she just didn’t want to disclose too much or make it into a big deal until some kind of official announcement. 

By using the word "wee," it also immediately made me think she’s going to be in Ant-Man and The Wasp and that she will be playing Janet Van Dyne, who is the wife of Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym and the mother of Evangeline Lilly's Hope Van Dyne. Stone and Douglas once shared the screen together in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct, so it would be awesome to see them reunite in a Marvel film! Stone as Janet is just too perfect to pass up on. 

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Whenever they get a big actor on board like this, it’s never really just a “wee” role.