The Avengers Movie For Kirby Fans

There's a lot of talk about boycotting The Avengers movie by comic book fans, out of respect for how Jack THE KING Kirby wasn't treated/compensated/credited fairly by Marvel.

Let's all be honest with each other...

Comic book fans are a small subset of the audience for this movie.
Fans that have declared they will boycott are a small subset of that small subset.
Fans that will actually follow through are a small subset of a small subset of that small subset.

How badly will this really punish Marvel? I mean, if you're dedicated to it, I doff my cap to you and admire you. If you're honest, you'll know you're really accomplishing little more than making sure to put your principles in action, which is a worthwhile goal on its own.

Wouldn't it be great, though, if all the people that find it difficult to resist summer blockbuster crack had an option?

Is there no one that can arrange for some sort of donation vehicle that can funnel money directly to the Kirby family? Perhaps a "sin tax" of a few dollars per ticket or DVD bought, which would be more than the average per ticket compensation they'd have seen if Marvel and Stan Lee didn't wrong The King?

Barring that, I'd encourage all those that love Kirby's contributions but can't resist the siren's call of the movies to at least make a donation to The Hero Initiative to help other creators still with us that might not have been compensated properly in their career or, for some other reason, have fallen on hard times now.

Even if you just contribute $2 per ticket and $5 per DVD/Blu-Ray/permanent digital copy, you'd be making a difference and, maybe, help assuage a bit of your feeling dirty.

Iron Man 2 Casting Chaos?

It was one thing when Terence Howard was jettisoned in favor of Don Cheadle.

But this crud is seeming to get ridiculous now.

According to Variety (as MTV's Splash Page already pointed to), Marvel Studios lowballed both Mickey Rourke and Samuel L. Jackson for their roles in Iron Man 2. Rumors have suggested that Rourke is (was?) set to play Whiplash, while Jackson is obviously meant to reprise his role as Nick Fury.

After an amazing first Iron Man movie that hit all the right notes, especially in casting, Marvel Studios might be risking the health of the franchise to save a few bucks during these rough economic times.

Sam Rockwell is rumored to be in the process of getting cast as Justin Hammer. Emily Blunt is said to be cast as Black Widow, as well. Rumor has it that Rockwell might be getting lowballed, as well. While it is possible that there might be a silver lining where the movie doesn't get bogged down with too many villains, you don't want to achieve that result by alienating actors and agents needlessly.

SCHWAPP!!!@TheMovies: INCREDIBLE HULK (Theatrical Release)

Edward Norton: My Problems Were With Marvel

Less than 30 minutes ago, Edward Norton was on The Opie & Anthony Show to publicize his next film, Pride & Glory.

On the prep sheet for the interview, it said "his version of Incredible Hulk" was coming out, meaning the update versus the Ang Lee version. Host Greg "Opie" Hughes thought "his version" indicated that the movie had been restored to the cut that Norton had fought for.

When asked about his version coming out, Norton responded with, "it is?" He followed that up with, "when does it come out?"

The star clarified that the version coming out still isn't his version and that he had no problems with the director, Louis Leterrier, but with Marvel Studios. It seemed for a moment that he would elaborate further on the disagreement, but he apparently caught himself before airing too much dirty laundry.

Later in the conversation, he detailed how studios are better off not having him conduct publicity for movies that he's not thrilled with. Norton indicated he wouldn't lie to promote a film and a non-appearance is better than him obviously dodging certain questions with responses like, "how about those (NY) Jets?"

For a company that plans on making an Avengers movie that they likely want Ed Norton to reprise his role as the Hulk for, Marvel certainly doesn't seem to be actively trying to keep that bridge from burning. Replacing Bruce Banner is NOT the same as replacing Jim Rhodes (which isn't an insignificant change in its own right).

Guess we'll have to wait and see where this relationship goes.

SCHWAPP!!!@TheMovies: IRON MAN (theatrical release)

I recut the review I did for Iron Man's theatrical release, as I figured there is plenty of interest in it, again, due to its release on DVD and Blu-Ray. Clipped out the bits about returning after a long absence and having a new vlog feature that I quickly forgot all about.