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An Iron Man spoiler may also give a clue to the Avengers movie. A District 9 review gives away tons of plot twists. And Caprica features two alternative families. Plus Aliens In The Attic, FlashForward, Heroes, Lost and Chuck spoilers!
Mad Men's John Slattery plays Tony Stark's dad Howard, and he says he just appears in flashbacks. But those flashbacks may actually become important in other upcoming Marvel movies, most notably The Avengers, Slattery hints. (Remember Captain America's shield on Tony's workbench? Am I on crack, or was there some talk of Howard having developed it for Cap back in the day?) [Sci Fi Wire]
Marvel's Kevin Feige says the new movie is much more Jim Rhodes-centric, not least because it introduces War Machine. And the film's climactic fight scene is bigger and more spectacular than the first movie. Also, Nick Fury may not bust out the big fighting moves yet, but he is the conduit by which all the superheroic characters (including the Avengers) connect up. [IESB]
Aliens In The Attic:
Ashley Tisdale says she doesn't deal with the aliens in the film as much as the guys do, and in fact her character had a much smaller role in the film until Ashley came on board. She gets a big scene where she tells off her boyfriend Ricky for bad-mouthing her family. [IESB]
District 9:
This is a "very original chase movie," about aliens who landed 20 years ago, their ship out of fuel — though it still hovers, dead, over the city 20 years later. The aliens have been forced into makeshift camps, and they need a black substance to fuel their ship and their sophisticated weapons. You need alien DNA to operate those weapons, but a Nigerian underworld boss named Obesandjo buys them all up anyway, for cat food, which the aliens love. A private company, Multinational United (MNU) is put in charge of the aliens, and decides to relocate them to a rural camp, a task it assigns to "by-the-book wimp" Wikus, a field operative.
Wikus delivers eviction notices, and comes across an alien lab run by an alien named Christopher Johnson. Wikus gets infected with an alien virus that changes his DNA, and he grows an alien claw for a hand. The claw can operate that alien machinery and weaponry, and he becomes the "most valuable business artifact on Earth." Wikus' own father in law decides to harvest his organs. The MNU starts chasing after Wikus, who flees, and his main pursuer is the film's villain, Koobus. Also chasing Wikus is Nigerian gangster Obesandjo, who wants to eat Wikus' alien arm. Wikus hides out with Christopher and his son, and it turns out that virus is actually a substance Christopher was developing for the past two years to refuel the mothership so the aliens can get home. [Hollywood Reporter]
Caprica:
The SyFy Channel got a "failing" grade for its depiction of gay characters, and promised to do better — for one thing, there's Ming-Na's lesbian character on Stargate Universe, and her wife, played by Reiko Aylesworth. But also, it turns out one of the major characters on Caprica is gay and has a husband — and it's a "goodfella" type gangster, who's a stereotypically macho leg-breaker. (And AfterElton thinks this character is Sam Adama, Joseph's brother and Bill's uncle. Which would make sense, since Sam's spouse is named Larry.) Separately, another major Caprica character is actually in a group marriage, with both men and women. And in all these cases, the character's sexuality isn't made into a big deal, says SyFy's Mark Stern. [TV Guide and AfterElton]
FlashForward:
New promo artwork is pretty bland, but maybe there's a hidden message. Like, what's that sunrise over the water mean? A flood coming? [SpoilerTV]
So there's a casting call for episode five, and it sounds as though we'll encounter some kind of political crisis. We meet Dave, a powerful, commanding, egotistical Latino government worker who takes charge of the room; Joyce, a forceful and brusque fiftysomething woman who spars with a number of individuals; Abner, a "pinched-faced suit" who's "high up in politics" and plays it safe; and Judith, a maternal lady who's a friend to everyone but conceals a lot of anger.
There's also Maya, the attractive and sardonic chef at a hip Los Feliz restaurant. And Noland, a middle-aged man who runs a business meeting and diagnoses a situation. There are some reporters and a newscaster who cover a press conference. And a Tae Kwon Do instructor who's impressed by his student's sudden moves. And finally, Joan, a former drug addict who becomes a hit doing a one-woman show about her experiences. [SpoilerTV]
And then there's a casting call for episode six as well, which sounds like it's going to get very Lost-ish. A mental patient named Bishop starts painting "bizarre, cryptic canvasses" in his room, and (shockingly) these paintings turn out to have a wider significance. Meanwhile, an African American Pentecostal preacher named James has his world rocked when he starts hearing messages from God over the radio. Like I said, very, very Lost.
There are two possibly recurring characters in episode six: An eccentric coroner named Dewey, who has a lightness about his job, and a computer geek named Harold, who's dorky but accepts his own dorkiness. There's also a bus driver with a short fuse, a gang member who sticks up for someone being picked on, a masked teenager who gets caught doing something bad and is terrified his parents will find out, and a gorgeous woman who has a flirtatious encounter with a know-it-all and "holds her own." [SpoilerTV]
Lost:
Apparently when Dominic Monaghan stepped on stage at this show's panel and waved to the fans, he had "Am I alive?" written on his palm. [TV Guide]
Heroes:
Claire has a new arch-nemesis. Tessa Thompson, who played Jackie Cook on Veronica Mars, will play Becky, an upperclassman and sorority pledge master who torments Claire. And Becky has a secret of her own. [TV Guide Magazine]
And here are some set pics featuring Milo Ventimiglia and Deanne Bray, who plays Peter's hearing-impaired new girlfriend. Peter is wearing his paramedic uniform, then he changes into his black leather civvies and has an argument with his new girlfriend — maybe he told her what happened to his last girlfriend, and she got understandably upset? Then he saves her from some kind of peril, involving greenscreen and maybe flying. More pics at the link. [AccidentalSexiness via SpoilerTV]
Chuck:
Adam Baldwin says Casey will be toting some new and improved weapons including a badass minigun. [E! Online]
One of the skills the Intersect 2.0 gives Chuck is "guitar-playing." [TV Guide]
Allison Scagliotti says that now that Claudia has rescued her long-lost brother from teleportation limbo, she's stuck trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. "Once Claudia settles into the warehouse, she definitely finds her groove and finds her confidence; likes to have fun, sometimes at the expense of the warehouse and always at the expense of Artie's nerves. But also brings her new-age, steam-punk skill set to the IT system." [SF Universe]
Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.
Send an email to Charlie Jane Anders, the author of this post, at charliejane@io9.com.
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