The Mark: Rob Liefeld's near-mythical movie for Will Smith (First announced in 1997) possibly disappeared due to worries over its similarity to Marvel's Star Brand series (which is, itself, a rip-off of DC's Green Lantern): Smith was to play an average joe who would end up with ultimate power that he didn't want, thanks to a mysterious brand that is magically "transferred" to his body from the corpse of a Confederate soldier. The pitch meeting probably went like this: "Picture this, Will. You have this mark on your hand, right? And you're looking at it, wondering what it is, and then it has this laser blast that comes out of it and blasts through a wall in your apartment." "Can I look at the hole in the wall and say 'Awww hell naw'?" "Sure." "I'll do it!"

Warcop: In 1993, Madonna wanted to star in another movie, and thought that she'd make a good superhero. She asked Spawn creator Todd McFarlane to come up with an idea for her, and Todd - wanting nothing to do with it - gave the idea to Grant Morrison, who came up with a pitch involving a Judge Dredd-esque futuristic space cop who traveled in time back to the present day to catch a particular perp. In one of her last good career moves, Madonna decided against the project, but Grant apparently didn't; the title, at least, is about to be used for one of his new comic books.

Iron Fist: Is this adaptation of Marvel Comics' kung-fu fighter anything more than a hopeful dream for The Phantom Menace's Darth Maul, Ray Park? The stuntman-turned-actor has been talking about the perpetually-upcoming movie version of Danny Rand for more than half a decade now, and the movie has had multiple co-stars, directors and screenwriters attached at various points in its history but seems to be getting no closer to actually being made. This can only be a good thing, because it just increases the likelihood of teaming the character up with (the similarly movie-cursed) Luke Cage to give us the Power Man And Iron Fist movie the world needs to see.

Green Lantern: One of the greatest near-misses in cinema history is the fact that fan outcry halting pre-production of Jack Black's comedy movie version of DC's space cop superhero a few years ago. Hearing Jack talk about what we could've seen in an alternate world is enough reason to be grateful:

I was going to be making all kinds of stuff... I was going to be capturing bad guys with green, giant prophylactics. Some funny stuff.

To everyone who complained loudly enough to stop this movie being made: Thank you.

Spider-Man: I know, I know; you're all thinking "Wait, didn't they make Spider-Man? I'm pretty sure I've seen a Spider-Man movie." But I'm not talking about the Sam Raimi version; I'm talking about Jim Cameron's mooted early '90s version that would had a villain that kissed his girlfriends to death, a personality-less Sandman as afterthought thug, and Peter revealing his secret identity at the end of the movie to a surprisingly unimpressed Mary Jane. There's no doubt that it would've made a cool-looking special-effects bonanza, but it had none of the heart or quirkiness of Raimi's version.

Iron Man

We won't see Iron Man's fellow armored superhero War Machine in the Iron Man movie, but we may get to see Jim Rhodes (who becomes War Machine) put on Iron Man's old armor to rescue Tony Stark, based on hints actor Terence Howard dropped. [IESB]

Dragonball

Here's a picture of the Mexican set for the new Dragonball movie, opening in 2009. It looks like some kind of crater, presumably with CGI stuff happening in the middle where the greenscreen is. [Slashfilm]

Lost

There are rumors that the next Lost episode (the one with the funeral in Iraq) will also feature "GI Jack (aka "Through the Looking Glass" Jack)" in action, and could be a multi-character flash-forward. The episode definitely will feature scenes on the beach, in Otherton, and in the forested valley where Karl was shot. There's also a rumor there will be no Sawyer-centric episode this season. [DocArzt]

Smallville

The April 24 episode of Smallville, "Sleeper," feaures a blonde femme fatale named Vanessa, sent to investigate one of the characters. [BabetteW54]

Battlestar Galactica

Here are the official first 15 episode titles of season four: "He That Believeth In Me," "Six of One," "The Ties That Bind," "Escape Velocity," "The Road Less Travelled," "Faith," "Guess What's Coming to Dinner," "Sine Qua Non," "The Hub," "Revelations," "Sometimes a Great Notion," "The Disquiet That Follows my Soul," "The Oath," "Blood on the Scales," and "No Exit." [Pop Media Cult]

Batman

Robin's dead ex-girlfriend, Spoiler, recently started turning up mysteriously in some of the Batman comics, but we won't find out who the new Spoiler is until this summer. But she's someone we know, says writer Chuck Dixon. Also, Robin will soon face a "true badass" named 666Gun, who will force Robin to rethink his view on the world. And an upcoming storyline will challenge Tim Drake's present as Robin, and his hard-won future as Batman. This synopsis, plus an upcoming cover image (below), gives weight to the idea that Batman will be dying and Robin will take his place. [Comic Book Resources]

Marvel Comics

A low-level Marvel employee dished some minor spoilers (and bitched about the company) in a Livejournal that was deleted over the weekend. Apparently, spoilers included that several of the company's classic 1970s heroes will turn out to have been replaced by shape-shifting alien Skrulls years ago (as part of the big "Secret Invasion") — and that means blaxploitation hero Luke Cage will be back to his original tiara-wearing, yellow shirt look. Also, Iron Man may get a new villain: MODOG. And Spider-Man's dead girlfriend Gwen Stacy may be back. [Lying In The Gutters]