In #Trending I’ll highlight and offer my opinions on any comic-related news that occurred during the week. This will included news about comic books, comic-related movies, TV shows, video games, etc. while also highlighting various Comic Book Cosplay (one female and one male). Let’s begin:
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NEWS
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X-Force Arrives?
A big pre-ComicCon leak has occurred in regards to FOX’s X-Men franchise of films. Apparently, they’re making an X-Force movie! Currently they have a writer in place (Jeff Wadlow) who may also direct the feature. Mark Millar had this to say, being non-committal however: “You have to remember that Fox grabbed the X-Men back in the ’90s because it was the biggest franchise in the world. So X-Force or Cable or Deadpool — all these amazing characters are things we haven’t really gotten to yet. ‘X-Force’ #1 was the second biggest book of all time behind Jim Lee’s ‘X-Men’ #1, so there’s an immediate brand recognition to that stuff and a build in fanbase. You go to any convention in the world, and you’ll see 20 people dressed as Deadpool. In a lot of ways, these are Marvel’s coolest characters, so I want to remind people of that and build on what we already have.” Not to be left out, Rob Liefeld confirmed the leak and commented: “I can pretty much eliminate some sites suggestion that the Milligan X-Statix stuff is in the mix. An X-Force film is Cable. Is Deadpool.” He also revealed that the whole project has been in the works since March. X-cellent news indeed!
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X-Men: Days of Future Past & The Wolverine
With all the talk of what comes next, we don’t want to overlook the two already known X-Men movies: X-Men – Days of Future Past and The Wolverine. It’s expected that over a dozen cast members will be featured during a Comic Con presentation for the movie with more details about the film being learned including possible confirmation on just who Peter Dinklage is playing. What was confirmed was that the character of Havok (played by Lucas Till) will be returning in the sequel to X-Men: First Class. Hugh Jackman also revealed this little nugget of info regarding the soon-to-be released The Wolverine: “There’s a lot of great actors in it, and if you stick around to the end of the credits of The Wolverine, you’re going to get a really nice little Easter Egg for what Days of Future Past has to offer…which we can’t reveal!” Looks like FOX is actually using their brains for once…or just copying what worked for Marvel.
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DC News
(#1) The next (and possibly last) DLC character for Injustice: Gods Among Us was revealed to be the Martian Manhunter. A character that has been at the top of everyone’s wish lists finally gets the roster spot he so richly deserves. Included with the new character will also be a new Green Lantern skin for Hal but with a twist: John Stewart will be represented but with new dialogue recorded by a new voice actor. Now that is what you call a skin.
(#2) The ending of Justice League #22 wasn’t how it was originally going to play out. SPOILERS Superman killed Doctor Light in the comic but this murder was quickly explained by the villainous Outsider: “Thanks to me, everyone will actually believe that Superman’s killed Doctor Light.” The reason for this revelation at the end of the issue was simple: DC saw the negative reaction towards the Man of Steel’s ending and wanted to avoid the same backlash. END OF SPOILERS. And now you know.
(#3) Justin Jordan has decided to leave Superboy due to the now familiar “creative and editorial differences” on the title. If he is leaving just this title or DC as a whole is unclear though.
(#4) Harley Quinn is once again going to get her own solo series a decade after her last one ended. The co-writers are going to be Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner who will be teaming-up with an unknown artist. Palmiotti revealed: “We took a good long look at the New 52 version and then applied it to what we were going to do in the series. Harley is a complex character and we are going to build on her background, motivations and her home and supporting cast. Sort of what we did with Power Girl but with a mix of a bit more homicidal maniac added in.” Conner added: “That original version is what seems to be stuck in my head, but at the same time, I always thought it would be cool to see Harley (but not her Harleen self) outside of her costume, and what she would be like. That’s kinda what we have with this version of her. We want to put her in a new surroundings, with new people, and see how she behaves in that environment. Is she going to try to keep it together, or is she just going to cut loose and introduce her new world to the Harley brand of crazy? The Joker is someone that she’ll never be able to shake, nor is she really going to want to. Their relationship is a lot of what defines her now, although she is going to get into a lot of stuff where it has nothing to do with him. But that will always be looming in the background. She’ll have some serious ex-boyfriend issues.” Palmiotti continued: “I always think its a bit of a weakness to start pouring guest stars in every issue out of the gate, but she does play in a very colorful world. In this series, we are moving Harley out of Gotham to a place that makes sense for her. Gotham will always be a part of her adventures, but we’ve got some madness up our sleeves.” More Harley Quinn is always a good thing but it looks like an exit from Suicide Squad is in the cards for her.
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Marvel News
(#1) The new arc of Iron Man starting in November is entitled “Iron Metropolitan” and will see Tony Stark return to Earth with the aim to create a utopia over the remains of Mandarin City.
(#2) Marvel is bringing back the Marvel Knights line of comics. The first new mini-series (Spider-Man) comes to us in October by Matt Kindt and Marco Rudy. X-Men by Brahm Revel hits shelves in November and Hulk by Joe Keatinge and Piotr Kowalski arrives in December. The original intention of the line was to “revive comic book franchises at Marvel that were believed to have lost their way or no longer attracted the audience they once had.” Obviously with the three titles announced so far, that is not the case anymore.
(#3) Matt Fraction is indeed writing a new Inhumans book for Marvel. It is described by Bleeding Cool as “a Game of Thrones take on the characters, with separate houses and competing, warring, interests, all linked and divided by family ties.” Titled simply Inhuman, the crutch of the series is that “the Terrigen Mists spread across the world, triggering millions of dormant Inhumans which gives us back the pre-‘No More Mutants’ Marvel Universe but with Inhumans instead.” As for the artist it is none other than the very talented Joe Madueira. I’m not a big fan of the Inhumans but I might give this series a chance just based on the creative team alone.
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Movies/TV News
(#1) The plot of the pilot episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to be spun out of one particular Marvel movie and it is not The Avengers. Which one could it be? The odds on favourite so far is The Incredible Hulk. As for the date of the premiere episode, we’ve learned that will take place on Tuesday, September the 24th. Should be awesome!
(#2) Rumors are circulating that Sony is looking at actress Holland Roden (Teen Wolf) for the role of Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man film franchise. These rumors are just going to keep on coming…
(#3) More rumors: Marvel is possibly looking at Joseph Gordon Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises) for the role of Doctor Strange. Yeah…I don’t think this is going to happen though. Chalk this one up as just wishful thinking on someone’s part.
(#4) The creator of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Alan Moore, had this to say regarding the announcement last week of a television pilot being shot for the series: “The modern entertainment industry clearly have no ideas of its own and have to go through dust bins and spittoons in the dead of night to recycle things. The announcement that there is a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen television series hasn’t caused me to drastically alter my opinions. Now it seems they are recycling things that have already proven not to work.” Is anyone really surprised by this reaction?
(#5) The first episode of Season 2 for Arrow will be titled City of Heroes. Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim also revealed that Oliver’s arsenal will get an upgrade this year, becoming more high-tech probably due to the fantastic Felicity Smoak. Actor Colton Haynes also alluded to something very interesting: “There’s going to be some new characters, I’m sure you guys have read, that are going to be joining, some very very well known characters that have been in prior movies so I think it’s going to be exciting to see. I think it’s going to be exciting to see who they cast as those people or if they can get some of the people from the actual movies that have played them.” Let the speculation begin!
(#6) The likelihood of an announcement in regards to finally seeing the Adam West Batman TV show get a DVD release is looking greater and greater. Expect to hear something concrete in the next few days. My fingers are crossed…
(#7) DC’s next animated movie after Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is entitled Justice League: War. The movie will be based on Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s opening arc of the New 52 Justice League series showing us that even the animated films aren’t immune to the DCnU anymore. The voice cast includes Jason O’Mara (Batman), Michelle Monaghan (Wonder Woman), Christopher Gorham (The Flash), Alan Tudyk (Superman), Justin Kirk (Green Lantern), and Shemar Moore (Cyborg).
(#8) Felicity Jones has spilled some of the beans in regards to what character she will be playing in The Amazing Spider-Man. SPOILERS In an interview with View London she stated: “It’s all quite shrouded in secrecy, but I’m the Goblin’s girlfriend – I’m in a relationship with him, and his accomplice. I’m on the dark side.” But when pressed about the character’s name she said: “I can’t say actually. It’s all in the vaults of Marvel. I love all that secrecy, I think it’s great. It builds anticipation, there’s too much transparency in everything these days.” So Black Cat is still an option then. END OF SPOILERS.
(#9) Finally, there’s one big rumor that I highly doubt is real but if it was…I’d be over the moon ecstatic. Apparently what’s circulating is that Warner Brothers are contemplating having the planned Batman reboot actual adapt the animated Batman Beyond television series. That would be so amazing…if only it was true…
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Comic Book Cosplay of the Week 
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And that concludes #Trending. Thoughts on any subjects discussed? Anything else worth mentioning? Comment below!
The Speech Bubble 
Yay X-Force movie! Boo X-Force movie that is not The Dark Angel Saga!
They have to do a lot of set-up to get there with that one. Maybe X-Force 3? Or is that just my wishful thinking? 🙂