Comic Strip: Daredevil, Wonder Woman, ‘Avengers 2′ and More!

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie news items. From Marvel to D.C. and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic-book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, Joss Whedon teases Thanos' role in 'The Avengers 2,' 'The Amazing Spider-Man' is photographed around New York City, and Shane Carruth talks about Superman. But first ...

’Iron Man 3’

It’s ‘Iron Man 3’ week on the Comic Strip, so let’s give Shell Head his due before moving on to the other major stories of the past few days.

With the official ‘Iron Man’ press junket and U.S. premiere happening last weekend, cast and crew members were able to answer a slew of journalist questions about the state of the franchise and Marvel’s vaunted Phase Two. Without getting too deep into spoiler territories – since most of us haven’t even SEEN Shane Black’s sequel yet – we think it’s worth mentioning that:

- Don Cheadle wants to do a standalone War Machine movie, one that’s darker in tone and has Rhodes going rogue on the U.S. government.

- He also says he thinks this will be the last ‘Iron Man’ movie …

- … and he’s not alone in saying that.

Is this the end of ‘Iron Man’ as we know it? Robert Downey Jr. should be back in the suit for ‘The Avengers 2.’ Beyond that, it’s going to take some contract negotiating. But if this is it, the character is going out with a bang. The movie already is breaking the bank overseas, tracking ahead of ‘The Avengers’ in terms of international box office. Now that’s impressive.

‘Iron Man 3’ opens in the States on Friday. What else is happening in the comic book universe?

Marvel

Let’s keep it in Marvel’s backyard for the time being.

- The first trailer for ‘Thor: The Dark World’ dropped since last we talked, and it is SPECTACULAR. Have you seen it yet? Please, take a moment and watch:

- Did you see that look Sif give Natalie Portman’s Jane? Such a love triangle. There was even a nasty rumor going around that Sif might sacrifice her life to save Portman’s character, but Jamie Alexander shot that down via Twitter.

- Lee Pace has been cast as the villain in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ The Wrap says he’ll play the film’s villain, though his identity is being kept under wraps. Any guesses?

- Anthony Mackie continues to talk up ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier,’ telling Moviefone that uniting his character, Falcon, with Cap (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) helps the standalone movie “kind of become ‘Avengers 1.5.’”

- Remember when it was guaranteed that Thanos was going to be in ‘Guardians’ and ‘Avengers 2?’ Well, the character’s creator is backing off of that statement just a little.

- Joss Whedon also walked the red carpet at the ‘Iron Man’ premiere and suggested Thanos might be held until what he calls “the grand finale!”

- But the director hints at a brother-sister hero combo in the next ‘Avengers’ movie. Is he really talking about Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver?

- If you were wondering how Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) returns from the dead to star in the ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ television show, we might have your answer right here.

- Finally, Marvel officially has reacquired the rights to Daredevil from 20th Century Fox, meaning the studio can reboot the hero, or feature The Man Without Fear in another property. Hey, didn’t Daredevil team up with Spider-Man on a regular basis?

’The Amazing Spider-Man 2’

Marc Webb continues to shoot ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ around New York City, giving camera-wielding tourists and fans the chance to capture Web Head in action. Celebuzz has some of the first shots of Spidey (in costume) meeting Jamie Foxx’s meek Max Dillon. Is he carrying Mr. Brady’s architecture plans?

Meanwhile, SuperHeroHype has a gallery of photos of Spider-Man climbing wall on the appropriately named Wall Street from last week:

And since Webb is so happy to share information with Spider-Man fans, he posted a cool diagram of “Patient Zero” to his active Twitter feed, giving credence to the theory that Peter’s transformation via spider-bite is the start of some crazy genetic experiments at Oscorp.

’Man of Steel’

Once ‘Iron Man’ drops into theaters, Comic Strip officially will turn its attention to the summer’s next major blockbuster: Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel.’ In preparation, the Superman reboot has been teasing several key ingredients … including the director’s realistic approach to the classic DC Comics material. Here, he tells the L.A. Times:

“It’s the most realistic movie I’ve made,” Snyder said. “There’s no tongue in anyone’s cheek. I’m not apologizing for Superman in any way. I’m saying, ‘Superman is a thing that must be taken seriously and embraced and understood.’”

- In other ‘Man of Steel’ news, the meal card from Carl’s Jr. gives fans a better look at the skull-inspired helmet Zod (Michael Shannon) will wear in the sequel:

- Film Music Reporter has the official track listing for the ‘Man of Steel’ soundtrack … and it basically maps out the chronology of Snyder’s movie (so beware if you want to avoid spoilers).

- Finally, ‘Upstream Color’ director Shane Carruth was asked on the Bullseye Podcast what his version of a Superman movie would look like. It’s about as awesome as you’d imagine:

The only Superman movie I'd ever want to see is the one where Superman comes to understand that people have become too reliant on him and he cant' be their God anymore. And he basically, actively, doesn't help them. And people end up dying in the learning process that they can't rely on their God anymore. That's the only way to get near these stories for me, and nobody would ever pay for that, so…I don't think I'm the right guy for those stories.

In other DC movie news, the comics company’s VP of Marketing John Cunningham talks Justice League and Wonder Woman movie adaptations at C2E2, saying “It’s coming.”

Let’s hope it’s better than this LEGO spoof that has been making the rounds:

And while he’s waiting for the next DC movie, this guy built his own Batcave.

The Secret Service’

When Matthew Vaughn backed out of both ‘Kick-Ass 2’ and ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past,’ fans wondered what project would attract his talents. As it turns out, he’ll be adapting Mark Millar’s popular graphic novel ‘The Secret Service,’ about an MI6 agent who takes his nephew underneath his wing.

This morning, Latino-Review breaks the news that Colin Firth has nabbed the lead role in Vaughn’s film, which begins production in August. ‘Secret Service’ targets a Nov. 14, 2014 release date. Do you think Firth is a good choice?

’Hellboy’

Over the weekend, Ron Perlman demanded that ‘Pacific Rim’ director Guillermo Del Toro deliver a fitting conclusion to the ‘Hellboy’ trilogy:

We both walked away from Hellboy 2 agreeing that therewould never be another one. But, with the passage of time, it became clear to me that he really always designed it as a trilogy. He has a very well-articulated idea of what the resolve would look like and it’s amazingly theatrical and is epic in scope and would make for amazing cinema, with or without the first two movies. There are so many questions posed in the first two films that absolutely need to be answered. I said, ‘You owe it to the world to finish this trilogy.’ I’ve been giving him Jewish guilt.”

Will it work? We shall see.

’X-Men’

Another week, another slew of ‘Days of Future Past’ nuggets from Bryan Singer’s Twitter feed. Above is our first look at Halle Berry back in the Storm costume.

Before that, the director used a Vine video of director’s chairs in a semi-circle to confirm that both Bishop and Warpath would be characters in his upcoming X-Men sequel.

And while we wait for Singer to assemble a massive X-Men team, Hugh Jackman will star in a standalone Wolverine movie in July. A Japanese trailer for ‘The Wolverine’ recently dropped (via Bleeding Cool), and while it has a lot of the same footage, the pacing is much better. Check it out and let us know what you think!