Sci-Fi Storm

Marvel announced today that Robert Downey Jr. has reached an agreement to reprise his Tony Stark/Iron Man role in two more films – but not alone.

The two-movie deal only covers the upcoming Avengers 2 (to start production next March for a May 2015 release) and Avengers 3, but leaves Iron Man 4 further in doubt, considering this will take Downey to around 2018, when he’ll be 53, and he’s already said he only wanted to do it until he’s 50.

Then again, they seemed to leave the end of Iron Man 3 at an appropriate closing point, and the primary comic character storylines only seem to be making it to three films as it is before the reboot tag starts getting thrown around…

The nominees for the 2013 Hugo Awards were announced yesterday…here they are (with links when available if you want to check them out). The 2013 Hugos will be presented at LoneStarCon 3 in San Antonio, Texas, August 29-September 2, 2013 – the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention.

Best Novel:

[asin=0316098124]2312[/asin], Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
[asin=0316081078]Blackout[/asin], Mira Grant (Orbit)
[asin=1451638450]Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance[/asin], Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
[asin=0765334798]Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas[/asin], John Scalzi (Tor)
[asin=B00B9ZEMN6]Throne of the Crescent Moon[/asin], Saladin Ahmed (DAW)

Best Novella:

[asin=1616960655]After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall[/asin], Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)
[asin=1616960922]The Emperor’s Soul[/asin], Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)
[asin=0956392458]On a Red Station, Drifting[/asin], Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
[asin=B0089EHIA4]San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats[/asin], Mira Grant (Orbit)
“The Stars Do Not Lie”, Jay Lake (Asimov’s, Oct-Nov 2012)
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Pretty much as usual, a roundup of the Oscars when looking at the science fiction and fantasy genres is a short article. Even with the expanded Best Picture list, nothing made that list, not even The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Probably the highest level award is the Best Animated Feature, which is at least full of genre entries, with Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and Wreck-It Ralph filling the sheet.

The dueling Snow White movies, Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman, will duke it out again for Achievement in Costume Design, while The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey did receive nods for Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design and Visual Effects, with Snow White and the Huntsman and The Avengers also getting nods in the latter.

Here are some of the big and our favorite stories we covered in 2012…

In January, rapidly rising British actor Benedict Cumberbatch joined Star Trek: Into Darkness, while CW’s Arrow dropped “Green” from the name and named Stephen Amell the lead actor.

We lost actor Ian Abercrombie and the voice of the Robot from Lost In Space Dick Tufeld.
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Just announced a short time ago, actress Ming-Na (ER, Stargate Universe) will star in the upcoming Joss Whedon TV pilot Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D., based on the secret organization that permeates Marvel’s Avengers universe and featured prominently in the Whedon-directed movie The Avengers.

Ming-Na will play Agent Melinda May, described as “Soulful and slightly damaged by her combat experiences, Melinda is an ace pilot, a weapons expert and a soldier who can — and has — gone beyond the call of duty.” Originally the character was to be named Althea Rice, with the nickname “The Cavalry”, but this was confusing as that is also the name of a team of superheroes.

It was previously announced that Clark Gregg, who has appeared in all the Avenger-related movies as Agent Phil Coulson, will reprise the role in the pilot.

Stan Lee Media, Inc. (which isn’t really related to Stan Lee himself, since the company filed for bankruptcy back in 2001), is swinging for the fences. The company filed a $5.5 BILLION lawsuit against Disney, claiming that Disney does not actually own the rights to Stan Lee’s creations, and therefore want all the profits from the massive movie hits that Marvel, and now Disney since they acquired Marvel in 2009, plus a declaration of full control over the characters. This directly affects the Spider-Man, Iron Man and X-Men franchises, and several characters in The Avengers.

This appears to be a continuation of lawsuits that started back in 2007. SLMI claims that when the company was formed, Stan Lee assigned all rights to his characters to the company. But later on, Lee assigned the rights to Marvel, the company he originally created and published all those characters. It all hinges on what Lee actually gave to SLMI – was SLMI created to work on new properties, or to administer the old ones?

This is just funny…Cookie Monster and Grover from Sesame Street dropped by Entertainment Weekly, and did a few musical numbers about some popular movies, singing about The Hunger Games, The Avengers, Newsroom, and even Doctor Who! Check out the video at EW’s PopWatch…

Don’t forget…the huge blockbuster The Avengers will be released on [sfs=1249]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1250]DVD[/sfs] this coming Tuesday, September 25th! There is still time to order from Amazon via the above links and if you get two-day shipping (free for Amazon Prime members) and get it on release day!

And if you don’t have any of the individual Avengers team movies, there is also the [sfs=1253]Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One – Avengers Assembled Limited Edition Blu-ray set[/sfs] that includes The Avengers (Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray), Captain America: The First Avenger (Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray), Thor (Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray), Iron Man 2 (Blu-ray), The Incredible Hulk (Blu-ray), and Iron Man (Blu-ray) plus bonus material!

Now we know what the “live action Marvel TV series” is that was reported when Disney struck a deal with Joss Whedon in the wake of his The Avengers juggernaut: S.H.I.E.L.D., a TV series based on the peacekeeping organization that runs throughout the Marvel universe and prominently in The Avengers.

ABC has given the green light for a pilot to be written by Whedon, his brother Jed Whedon, and Jed’s wife, Maurissa Tancharoen – the team responsible for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and have worked together on various other projects including Dollhouse. Joss Whedon may even direct if his schedule permits.

Planning way ahead after confirming that Joss Whedon will be on board for the inevitable sequel to the mega-blockbuster The Avengers, Disney and Marvel Studios have already set a release date of May 1st, 2015, just a day short of a year from The Amazing Spider-Man sequel, which is a year-less-a-day after Iron Man 3. It seems that Marvel wants to own the beginning of May…

The Avengers comes out on [sfs=1249]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1250]DVD[/sfs] on September 25th.