The Informant (News for Monday Dec. 23rd 2013)

The Informant

News for Monday Dec. 23rd

"I am Groot!"

Vin Diesel has been officially confirmed to play the role of Groot in "Guardians of the Galaxy". The newest franchise will launch from Marvel Studios on August 1, 2014. For those of you who may not already know, Groot is an extraterrestrial plant monster that is from ancient and royal lineage of his race. Unfortunately, he is also the last of his species. The character, despite being a tree-like being has a tremendous grasp of quasi-dimensional super-positional engineering. Despite being able to only say the words, "I am Groot," can actually fully and functionally communicate using only that phrase. This makes the casting of Vin Diesel interesting. The character will be completely CGI and the voice acting will be limited to just that single phrase. Vin had campaigned hard for the role and teased his interactions with Marvel through social media and Youtube, telling fans that he was in talks with Marvel and, at times, specifically for this role. Now that it has been confirmed are you excited for Vin landing the roll? Before any haters out there decide to react negatively to the casting, remember that Vin has received critical acclaim for his voice acting of the title character in Iron Giant. 

"Marvel Wave 3 confirms their Ant-Man"

Another role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was confirmed in the last few days and this time it was for Marvel's "Ant-Man." Paul Rudd was rumored to be in the running for the role but initially denied knowing of any involvement. That is all in the past now and the project is ready to move forward for its July 31st, 2015 release. Speculation as to which, of the three possible characters who have donned the Ant-Man persona is still up for speculation. But we here at Sector3 are confident that it will be the Hank-Pym incarnation of Ant-Man, who was a founding member of the Avengers. Fans are eagerly wanting the inclusion of Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp and fellow avenger for the movie. As to who will be the antagonist for the film? Let the speculations begin! The movie is being Direct by Edgar Wright, who has directed "Shaun of the Dead", "The World's End" and "Scott Pilgrim" to name a few.

"Johnny Cash versus Bruce Wayne?!"

W.B. has selected Joauin Phoenix to play the role of a villain in the highly anticipated sequel to "The Man of Steel", which many have been calling Batman v. Superman. As to which villian he will play? No one knows for certain, but many are guessing it to be Lex Luthor. 

The movie however, seems to drifting away from what appeared to be a adaptation of the Frank Miller classic the "Dark Knight Returns." In that comic, an aging Batman came out of retirement to stop an extremely violent gang known as the Mutants, kills the Joker and is pursued by a government backed Superman. This resulted in an epic battle between the two heroes. But now, the movie seems be flooding with additional casting announcements as more and more DCU characters and roles are being filled. This is leaving many to believe that this not the "Dark Knight Returns" adaptation many had hoped and is moving more swiftly than anticipated towards a Justice League movie. Earlier this month it was confirmed that Gal Gadot will be playing the iconic Wonder Woman and now there is talk that Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones and Conan) is reported to be in talks of taking the role of either another villain or the Martian Manhunter but that is currently just rumors.

The movie, directed by Zack Snyder, is set to release on July 17th 2015.

Many people had a negative reaction to the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, but what do you think about Joauin Pheonix's addition to the cast? Let us know.

"Oh the Inhumanity!"

Matt Fraction is leaving the writer's desk for Marvel's upcoming title comic, "Inhuman." The Story stems from the Fallout of the 2013 Marvel event, Infinity. Due to creative differences with Marvel Matt Fraction is now being replaced by writer Charles Soule. But if you're looking for some good boss versus employee drama you won't find it here. 

In an interview, Editor in Chief Axel Alonso had this to say, "This is just an instance where we – meaning Marvel and the writer, Matt Fraction – came to the realization that we weren’t on the same page, we probably never would be, and no one would benefit if we tried to force it to work. The series that Matt wanted to write would have been good, no doubt about it, but it was not the series we need to lay the foundation for this new universe within the Marvel Universe.

Likewise, exiting writer for "Inhuman" Matt Fraction added, "Yeah, as un-dramatic and uninteresting as it sounds, my version of 'Inhuman' wasn’t what they were into and, y’know, it’s their company. It’s a legit case of “creative differences” in spite of everyone’s best intentions. After what? 5 or 6 months where this has been my primary focus and we’re still not on the same page... I can’t say they didn’t try, they can’t say I didn’t try, and at some point, you gotta move on. It happens. This is the reality of being a creative professional. Now they have a writer and a book they’re comfortable with and "Inhuman" gets the launch it deserves. Nobody wins with me writing a book I don’t want to write."

So, are you disappointed that Matt Fraction will not be helming the future of the Inhumans in the Marvel Universe or do you think this was the right move? Do you think Charlse Sole is up to the challenge.

That about wraps it up for the news. Stay on alert for all the latest in Nerdcentric Pop-Culture here at Sector3!