Comic Strip: New ‘Punisher’ Movies, ‘Wolverine’ Tix and 100 Days of ‘Spider-Man 2’

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, we have a fantastic video of Hans Zimmer recording his ‘Man of Steel’ soundtrack, Joss Whedon dropping more ‘Avengers 2’ hints, and a tease for a third ‘Hellboy’ movie.

‘The Wolverine’

Advance tickets are now on sale for James Mangold’s ‘The Wolverine,’ which will open in theaters in Jul. 26. Fox tweeted a series of images leading up to the on-sale date (ignore the fact that the one below says “Tomorrow”), introducing the hashtag #WolverineTix in the process.

That’s just the beginning, though. The studio also cranked out a new ‘Wolverine’ banner, which is an edited version of the international poster that hit the web earlier in the week.

And a TV spot made its way online with the promise of a vulnerable Wolverine ... as well as a dangerous Wolverine.

‘The Punisher’

It has been five years since Frank Castle (aka The Punisher) graced the silver screen in Lexi Alexander’s ‘War Zone.’ Producer Gale Anne Hurd worked on that film, plus an earlier 2004 ‘Punisher’ with Thomas Jane. Needless to say, she has a pretty good sense of where Castle’s going to end up next.

Hurd spoke on the Saturn Awards red carpet recently, where she caught Collider up on the film rights to ‘The Punisher,’ saying that the rights to the character have “reverted back to Marvel,” and that she believes Marvel is going to launch a series of R-rated films that will be produced under a separate company, Marvel Knights.

Watch the full interview here:

Marvel

A few random, unpredictable scraps of Marvel news filtered down the line over the week, though no one item made us more intrigued than the fact that Vin Diesel has taken a meeting with the comic movie juggernaut. What part could Diesel properly play in a future Marvel movie? In our official poll, ScreenCrush readers want the chrome-domed action hero to play Luke Cage, though Thanos and The Vision also received several votes.

- Last week, Disney teased footage from its upcoming slate at CineEurope, revealing key details from ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and ‘Thor: The Dark World.’ The studio revealed that both Marvel sequels will open in Europe before they reach the States. And ‘Cap’ co-director Joe Russo, teasing his sequel, told ScreenDaily:  

It’s going to be much grittier than any Marvel movie to date.”

Robert Redford, meanwhile, was spotted on the Cleveland set of ‘Winter Soldier.’ Yep. That’s Robert Redford (courtesy of Yahoo UK):

- Joss Whedon continued to tease ‘The Avengers 2’ as he makes an ‘Avengers’ victory lap. While walking the red carpet at the Saturn Awards, the director told Crave that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are a “huge part” of his plotline, no matter what Bryan Singer plans to do with the characters in his ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ film. 

- ‘Iron Man 3’ remains the highest-grossing film of 2013 (by a long shot). Now you can bring it home on Sep. 24. Marvel revealed the special features on the ‘Iron Man 3’ Blu-ray will include:

Deconstructing The Scene: Attack On Air Force One: Jump into action with the stunt-team skydivers in this close-up look at creating one of the movie’s most memorable scenes.
Exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Look – Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World: Experience the spectacular new worlds, unforgettable characters, and pulse-pounding thrills of the upcoming blockbuster movie.
Marvel’s Iron Man 3 Unmasked: Join cast and crew for a crash course in epic movie-making, Marvel style.
Gag Reel
Deleted & Extended Scenes
Audio Commentary with Drew Pearce & Shane Black
A special look at ‘Thor: The Dark World’

‘Man of Steel’

Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot soared near the $250 million mark at the box office over the weekend, and while the director threw around mild speculation about the scope of the announced sequel, we’re still busy celebrating all of the things that went right with ‘Man of Steel’ before we fully turn our attentions to the follow-up.

Composer Hans Zimmer’s score, for instance, continues to play on a loop in our superhero-laden brains. SuperHeroHype has a great interview with the music scribe, in which he says, “The idea of the drum circle was very specific. It's not just to show off. When you read the names [of the performers] in the drum circle, it's a jaw-dropping list, but when you think about what a string section is, it's about individuals who are extraordinary players.”

Watch Zimmer’s percussion sessions for ‘Man of Steel’ right here:

- And while every DC Comics fan is hellbent on fast-forwarding right from ‘Man of Steel’ to a ‘Justice League of America’ movie, Henry Cavill explains in this interview why that’s not such a great idea.

Justice League could be great if done correctly. It's a very tough one to do because the DC comic heroes are all god-like in their power. So in this real world setting we're telling our story in, it's going to be tough to achieve that and it has to be done very delicately with a lot of thought. So, it won't be right away, I hope it's not anyway. It may take some time of building up other movies and other characters and introducing them together in one way or another. I think it would be great to do, but I don't think it's around the corner."

Listen to the full interview here, though I’ll warn you, Peter Travers' questions are borderline idiotic.

‘Kick-Ass 2’

It sounds like we won’t have a ‘Justice League’ movie in theaters for years. Thankfully, the superhero group ‘Justice Forever’ is coming to our rescue in August when ‘Kick-Ass 2’ arrives on Aug. 16.

Two viral videos for Jeff Wadlow’s sequel have arrived online, introducing audiences to the vengeful Battle Guy (Clark Duke), Insect Man (Robert Emms) and Doctor Gravity (Donald Faison). Are you willing to join their cause?

‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’

Marc Webb wrapped production on his anticipated sequel, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2,’ on Jun. 25, announcing the monumental occasion with the simple tweet, “That’s a wrap. Thanks!”

Of course, Webb previously commemorated his 100th day of shooting on ‘Spider-Man 2’ with this fantastic behind-the-scenes Vimeo clip that swoops above a sullen Andrew Garfield’s head.

Now it’s on to the editing bay. We’ll see you at Comic-Con, Team Spider-Man.

- And if you want to keep yourself busy with ‘ASM 2’ rumors that are sure to make your blood boil, head over to MovieWeb, where they have an enraging spin on the Green Goblin and a reported “fake out” involving Gwen Stacy. Yeah, let’s all pray this is bullshit.

‘Hellboy 3’

Guillermo Del Toro was busy over the weekend promoting ‘Pacific Rim,’ yet journalists couldn’t help but ask him about the possibility of a new ‘Hellboy,’ and the director’s answers might surprise you.

Del Toro mentioned to ShockYa that Legendary, the studio behind ‘Pacific Rim,’ was interested in seeing a third ‘Hellboy’ film ... but they stopped short of saying that they’d like to put the money up for a new chapter in the franchise.

At the same junket, ShockYa asked Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman, what he thinks about a new film in the series:

Not just anybody can make this movie. … I loved working for Legendary and I know for Guillermo working on ‘Pacific Rim’ was one of his greatest experiences. The reason I loved working for them is because Guillermo was so happy. I came in six months into the shoot and he seemed as fresh as a daisy, simply because he was working for someone who appreciated and supported his outlandish visions of what he wanted to put on the screen. My immediate, silent wish was, wouldn't it be great if these guys came in and helped resolve the Hellboy series."

You know what will help seal that deal? If ‘Pacific Rim’ earns $400 million at the box office. Then del Toro will have a virtual blank check to make whatever ‘Hellboy’ movie he and Perlman want to make. The thing is, del Toro’s movies don’t make a ton of money. (‘Blade 2,’ his highest-grossing film, earned $82 million in 2002.) So maybe he just needs to keep the production costs low to guarantee another ‘Hellboy’ adventure at some point in the future.