Comic Strip: New Looks at ‘Captain America 2,’ ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2,’ ‘X-Men’ and More

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic-book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, Empire Magazine released its preview of this year's upcoming superhero movies (sans 'Guardians of the Galaxy'), 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' preps for New Year's Eve, and rumors speak of an expanding 'Fantastic Four' universe.

'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'

If you have a chance to pick up the latest issue of Empire Magazine, we highly recommend you do so, as it contains a hefty preview of the next run of superhero movies coming in 2014. Among them is a batch of new photos of 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' highlighting Sebastian Stan as the title villain, Robert Redford as the mysterious S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Pierce, as well as the returning Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and, of course, Chris Evans (Captain America).

'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'

Empire also released two new stills from next installment of director Marc Webb's Spider-Man series. This time around Jamie Foxx is main villain, Electro, although Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and Green Goblin (presumably Dane DeHaan's Harry Osborn) will have parts to play, as well.

The above images are just a taste of what's to come during the New Year's Eve celebrations. Sony Pictures is counting down via its EnemiesUnite.com viral site to debut a brand-new clip from 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2.' As Webb said in an interview with ABC News promoting the event, the footage will tease the epic showdown between Spidey and Electro in Times Square, which was shot on location.

Check out the full interview:

'X-Men'

Closing out Empire's new look at the superhero movies to come is Bryan Singer's highly anticipated 'X-Men: Days of Future Past,' which features the combined casts of the original X-Men movies with that from 'First Class.' The latest behind-the-scenes image (shown above) takes us back to the '70s, where Hugh Jackman's Wolverine has traveled from the future to warn the X-Men of the moment that'll set off a chain of events leading to an apocalyptic future.

SPOILERS: From the viral website TheBentBullet.com, the event in question is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by -- yup -- Michael Fassbender's Magneto. If you haven't checked out the site yet, it warrants your time; there are many small tidbits about how the villain pulls it off, including some trickery from Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique, and how it leads to worser things down the road.

While we can't wait to see 'Days of Future Past' in its finished form on the big screen, it is just the tip of the iceberg. Where previously we reported 20th Century Fox plans to expand its superhero properties -- so far an 'X-Force' movie is in the works with director-writer Jeff Wadlow, the sequel to 'Days of Future Past,' 'X-Men: Apocalypse,' has been announced for 2016, and director Josh Trank is rebooting the 'Fantastic Four' series -- The Motley Fool, a multimedia financial-services company, now says that the studio is planning to team up the Fantastic Four with the X-Men for an 'Avengers'-style movie.

Though this remains unconfirmed, the site reports said film will be "based on a 1987 four issue comic called 'Fantastic Four vs. X-Men,'" and "will see the characters against each other because of secrets regarding the Fantastic Four's origin." [UPDATE: The Motley Fool edited out this news update from their story on Monday, seemingly debunking the rumor.]

DC

As for the upcoming slate of DC movies, Wonder Woman takes the cake. The recently cast Gal Gadot gave her first extended interview (in Hebrew) on her casting in Zack Snyder's 'Man of Steel' follow-up, 'Batman vs. Superman.' The highlight of her comments, though, is without a doubt what she had to say about fans criticizing her breast size. When she was cast, internet trolls ridiculed her body for being too slim to portray Wonder Woman, and the interviewer wanted to know her thoughts on -- of all things -- what they said about her chest size. And she gave an awesome response:

I represent the Wonder Woman of the new world. Breasts … anyone can buy for 9,000 shekels and everything is fine. By the way, Wonder Woman is amazonian, and historically accurate amazonian women actually had only one breast. So, if I’d really go “by the book” … it’d be problematic.

For those fluent in Hebrew, the full video interview is below. Otherwise, click HERE.

'Batman vs. Superman' already features Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, and Diane Lane as Superman's Earth mom, but there's still the villain role to fill. Joaquin Phoenix is the latest said to be up for the part, though Jason Momoa (who was almost cast as Drax the Destroyer in Marvel's 'Guardians of the Galaxy') and Callan Mulvey of 'Zero Dark Thirty' are also in contention -- though it's not clear whether it's for the villain. Also, rumors have reignited from AMC Movie News Editor-in-Chief John Campea over 'Breaking Bad' and 'Godzilla' star Bryan Cranston's alleged involvement:

And the plot thickens ...