The Binquirer, August 16 Edition: Marvel NOW! overview, Iron Man 3, The Wolverine, Cronenberg dissing comics, and much more!

Comics News
The Binquirer, August 16 Edition: Marvel NOW! overview, Iron Man 3, The Wolverine, Cronenberg dissing comics, and much more!
By Dan Horn
August 16, 2012 - 13:50

The Binquirer isn't just an asinine pun; it's also your best source for pop-culture news. Here at the Bin, we're dedicated to making your reading experience more fulfilling, and our new aggregated news articles, The Binquirers, will keep you up to date on comic books, films, video games, and more in one frequent and concise package. Enjoy our latest installment below!

Marvel Comics:

Marvel NOW! was surprisingly difficult to get a handle on as I endeavored to create a comprehensive overview. I admittedly overlooked a few things in my earlier attempt. Marvel.com isn't much of a help either. Have you been on their website lately? It's an absolute mess.

Not only are there about a dozen new titles in the works, but there are current titles like Hulk and Journey into Mystery getting makeovers as well. The latter is seeing Kieron Gillen, who will now be writing the new Iron Man series, step down, and Kathryn Immonen will step in to helm the series. Journey into Mystery will also see a shift away from young Loki and will star Lady Sif. Jeff Parker's Hulk will be transitioning into Red She-Hulk. Also, the Avengers vs. X-Men event series will be followed up by an anthology series entitled A+X, which is a team-up book from the looks of it.

Most books appear to be unaffected by the relaunch (except for those books being relaunched or being directly replaced by a similar relaunch title), but Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson's The Defenders will be cancelled in November, and recent news broke that Christos Gage's Avengers Academy will be cancelled with November's issue 39.

As for the relaunch books, here's what I've been able to put together, by month:

October launching titles:

Uncanny Avengers by Rick Remender and John Cassaday

A+X by various including Jeff Loeb, Dale Keown, Dan Slott, and Ron Garney

November launching titles:

All-New X-Men by Brian Bendis and Stuart Immonen

Indestructible Hulk by Mark Waid and Leinil Yu

Captain America by Rick Remender and John Romita, Jr.

Iron Man by Kieron Gillen and Greg Land

Thor: God of Thunder by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic

Fantastic Four by Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley

FF by Matt Fraction and Mike Allred

X-Men Legacy by Si Spurrier and Tan Eng Huat

Deadpool by Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, and Tony Moore

December launching titles:

Avengers by Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opena (releasing twice monthly)

New Avengers by Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting

Film and Television:

In an interview with NextMovie about his upcoming film adaptation of the novel Cosmopolis, visionary director David Cronenberg questioned the artistic integrity of comic book films, The Dark Knight Rises in particular, and went on to diss comic books in general, saying that the medium is "adolescent." I agree with some of his points (namely that Memento is Chris Nolan's greatest film, and, yes, some comic book movies are adolescent garbage), but Cronenberg makes several sweeping generalizations about comic books in his statements which seem odd considering he himself adapted a comic book, A History of Violence, just a few years ago. Anyway, maybe we should take this as a charge to up the ante on our comic book movies. Man of Steel looks like it's going to do just that next year.

Jose Padilha's Robocop remake stirred up some controversy this week when "fake" designs for the titular character surfaced and plot details that portray Robocop as a terrorist-killing "Transformer" leaked. Honestly, I didn't think Robocop was such a sacred cow that it couldn't receive a drastic overhaul, but maybe I was wrong. I trust that Padilha is going to make this movie incredible and powerfully political and poignant. Go check out his Brazilian films is you have any reservations about him as a director. It's truly brilliant stuff.

Kick-Ass 2 has a release date for June 28, 2013.

The Wolverine released an official plot description on its Facebook page. "Based on the celebrated comic book arc, THE WOLVERINE finds Logan, the eternal warrior and outsider, in Japan. There, samurai steel will clash with adamantium claw as Logan confronts a mysterious figure from his past in an epic battle that will leave him forever changed." That "celebrated comic book arc" is Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's four-issue Wolverine miniseries from 1982.

Is Vin Diesel going to be playing the android the Vision in Avengers 2? According to Cosmic Book News, the actor has a penchant for teasing upcoming roles on his Facebook page, and Vin recently uploaded a few illustrations of Vision.

The Dark Knight Rises actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been making the press rounds recently (he has a new movie, Premium Rush, releasing nation wide on August 24), and he's been talking about TDKR an awful lot, from discussing the ending of the film on Jimmy Kimmel Live to talking with The Hollywood Reporter about the possibility of a sequel. JGL explained that he wouldn't be opposed to a sequel, and that he would choose the project based on the merits of its script and director, but he didn't believe the ending to TDKR was necessarily open-ended. “I don’t think [the ending of The Dark Knight Rises] is necessarily a set-up. I think it is the great ending for that trilogy. Even if you go back to Batman Begins, he’s talking about how Batman is more than a man, it’s a symbol, and a hero can be anybody and we all have heroes inside of us," he explained to Jimmy Kimmel.

Cosmic Book News reports that lead actor Robert Downey, Jr, was injured while performing stunts on the set of Iron Man 3, and production on the film has subsequently halted for the time being.

The Grit released word on the Guardians of the Galaxy film logline: "About a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants."

The classic Raiders of the Lost Ark will be seeing an IMAX release in select theaters on September 7, 2012!

The Prometheus Blu-ray will include 40 minutes of deleted scenes. I wonder if we might find a suitable plot and character development somewhere in those extra 40 minutes.

Video games:

New concept art and screenshots from the upcoming Deadpool video game have surfaced, courtesy of Comics Alliance.