Comic Strip: ‘Iron Man’ Marathons, DC Villains and Hugh Jackman Talks ‘Wolverine’

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.

WonderCon

WonderCon 2013 wrapped up over the weekend, filling the Anaheim Convention Center with thousands of comic book, movie and television fans anxious for updates on developing projects … and an excuse to cosplay as Deadpool, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and/or R2-D2.

Yahoo has a decent slideshow of costumed WonderCon attendees. Flickr captured hundreds of images over the weekend, as well.

As for movie news, the most buzzworthy panel seems to be Guillermo Del Toro’s 'Pacific Rim' presentation, which HitFix editor Gregory Ellwood says involves “a jaeger dragging an oil tanker through the streets of Tokyo (or Hong Kong?) and then using it like a baseball bat to knock down a monster.”

Incredible. Read all about the ‘Rim’ panel here.

'G.I. Joe: Retaliation'

If you didn’t go to WonderCon over the weekend, chances are you checked out Jon M. Chu’s ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation.’ The sequel – which was delayed last summer to accommodate a 3D retrofit – broke the bank at the box office, posting an estimated $51 million domestically and a grand total of $132M worldwide.

Those numbers typically earn you a sequel, and Paramount already greenlit ‘G.I. Joe 3’ as of Monday morning. Several comic sites started looking ahead to the sequels, and which characters we’d love to see on screen.

We, for example, started the ball rolling on a campaign to get Snow Ball and Chuckles in Joe: Part 3. I’m not kidding. Snow Ball and Chuckles. Vulture wants to see The Rock fight Cobra Commander at the end of the third movie, while Collider gets producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura on record about what he’d like to see in the sequel:

There are elements we’re really excited about. I’d like to do more ninja story. That’s really fun, and I think the mythology will support some really cool things. You know, I was a really huge fan of the TV show Combat! as a kid, and there’s an intimacy the show had because their budget demanded it—it’s always a bunch of guys and they’re going down a ditch. I’d like us to do some of that kind of stuff where you’re really on an intimate level. ‘Surprising’ isn’t the right word, but ‘gratifying’ how Dwayne and Channing’s ‘home scenes’, if you would, they’re not buddy scenes but they translated that way somehow. So they’re basic character scenes, and they’re domesticated scenes. How well that played in the scale of what we’re trying to do. I’d like to see more of that.”

'Wolverine'

Earlier this week, after several frustrating teases, multiple trailers for James Mangold’s 'The Wolverine' landed … and generated a fair share of opposing reactions. Catch up with them here, starting with the international cut:

And transitioning into the domestic cut:

The Internet, as expected, devolved into a cesspool of fan opinion. So instead of regurgitating Twitter reactions to Mangold’s footage, we’ll share what Hugh Jackman has to say about the trailers, and his feelings on this character he has played for four films at this point.

Jackman spoke with MTV about the upcoming movie, addressing the character of Viper, the action sequence on the bullet train, and the Jean Grey cameo, of which he said:

There's no doubt that the most important relationship in his life is — we've seen through the movies — is his relationship with Jean Grey. Yes, we saw her die at the end of 'X-Men: The Last Stand,' but in this movie, she has a presence, which I think is vital to the movie, particularly for him confronting the most difficult thing within himself.

It’s an interesting interview, and absolutely worth a listen:

To date, Logan’s the only character who has received multiple standalone movies. That doesn’t seem fair. So SuperHeroHype did a thorough breakdown of the “Nine X-MEN Movies FOX Should Make,” touching on everyone from Magneto to Rogue. Are you ready for a Savage Land movie?

Marvel

Marvel’s obviously gearing up for the release of ‘Iron Man 3,’ which hits theaters on May 3.

As such, there are a number of newsworthy items fans should be made aware of. The 'Iron Man 3' score, for example, is available for pre-order on Amazon at the moment, and will be released on April 30.

Beginning May 2, movie theaters are planning an ‘Iron Man’ marathon that will include Jon Favreau’s first two ‘Iron Man’ movies, Joss Whedon’s ‘The Avengers’ and, finally, Shane Black’s ‘Iron Man 3.’ SuperHeroHype says participating theaters should be announced shortly.

If you are lucky enough to be in Southern California later this month, stop by Disneyland’s Innoventions section and experience the “Iron Man Tech: Presented by Stark Industries” exhibit, which is set to open on April 13. DisneyParks says virtually technologies will give guests the ability to control a Mark 42 Iron Man suit, “even getting the chance to test out its infamous repulsor blasts.”

Shell Head isn’t the only Marvel hero gearing up for a sequel. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ continues to cast, adding UFC fighter Georges St. Pierre in a villainous role? Batroc the Leaper, obviously.

Robert Redford, meanwhile, opened up on the reasons why he wanted to join the franchise. And if you are interested in acting alongside the great Mr. Redford – and who wouldn’t? – there will be an open casting call for ‘Cap 2’ in Cleveland. Paid extras will be asked to film in April and May. The casting call will be held April 19-20. Click here for more details.

DC Comics

On the DC front, ‘Man of Steel’ screenwriter David Goyer got the Internet buzzing earlier last week by stating that Lex Luthor isn’t NOT going to be in the Superman reboot. Does that make sense? I mean, Luthor obviously has been a major part of so many other Superman silver screen iterations, but fans seem split between what they want for future Superman movies. Either try Luthor again (and get him right) or go in a completely different direction and include some of the MANY DC villains who have yet to make their debut on screen.

Do you need a cheat sheet? Good, because Yahoo confirmed that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC Entertainment are coming out with ‘Necessary Evil: Villains of DC Comics,’ a feature-length documentary that will be narrated by the legendary Christopher Lee! Production actually began over the weekend at WonderCon (to bring things full circle), but there’s no idea yet when the doc will be released. Stay tuned.