Talking to the Scottish Daily Record newspaper, Millar explained that the success of Wanted has taken him one step closer to his dream of reworking the Man of Steel:

Since I was a kid I've always wanted to reinvent Superman for the 21st century. I've been planning this my entire life. I've got my director and producer set up, and it'll be 2011. This is how far ahead you have to think. The Superman brand is toxic after that last movie lost $200million, but in 2011 we're hoping to restart it. Sadly I can't say who the director is, but we may make it official by Christmas. But fingers crossed it could work out, that would be my lifetime's dream.

He elaborated slightly on his messageboard soon after:

In the interests of clarity (because I'm sure this will be picked up somewhere) a very well known American action director heard about my love of Superman, approached my and asked me to team up with he and his producer to make a pitch for this. We've been talking for several weeks now and, if this is going to happen, we'll know by Christmas. He has huge pull at WB so fingers crossed. But this is nothing more than a huge US name pulling me into his fold and making me part of a package.

While some people are getting very excited about this idea, it's worth pointing out that Mark's actually sung this song before. Cut to October 2007:

It's 8.58am right now, my guys at CAA get into the office in about seven hours and my call will be waiting for them to talk about this. I want to revamp Superman like Hillary wants thin ankles. Revamping this franchise is what I as given fingers for and so, invited or not, I'm putting my plan together now. I've been asked to work on half a dozen screenplays lately, but this is the only one I have ever truly wanted.

As most here know, I have literally hundreds of pages of notes and sketches just waiting for this opportunity. This would be my dream gig and, as a fan, I know exactly what this project needs to work. This has to be Superman for the 21st Century, keeping everything we adore, but starting from scratch and making the kids love it as much as the 30-somethings. I would honestly write this thing for free.

He didn't get the gig because, he explained, Warner Bros didn't want to hire a Marvel Comics-contracted writer for a DC Comics project. Which seemed somewhat strange considering Warner then hired fellow Marvel-exclusive writer Marc Guggenheim to write the Green Lantern movie less than a week later, but facts should never get in the way of a good story.

For those who may be interested in what Mark's plans for Superman would be, he's hardly been shy about sharing in the past; in addition to the now-legendary failed pitch from the year 2000 (when Millar, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid and Tom Peyer tried and failed to take over the comic franchise), he's also been happy enough to talk about his own plans once or twice. Care to share, Mark?:

I know Superman isn't an orphan in this dreadful period he's been under seige (from 1986 until Hitchy and I fix him again), but the true understanding of the character is, like Bambi, he loses his Mum and Dad again. All the iconic heroes do whether it's Superman, Bambi or Batman... Superman is God, Jor-El is the Holy Spirit and Clark Kent is Jesus. The Kents are Mary and Joseph and Lois is Mary Magdelene.

Yeah, that's the kind of Superman movie that the world is waiting for alright.

So is this latest claim true? Going on past experience (like Mark's Eminem is going to star in Wanted claim or the Jim Caviezel is Superman in Superman Returns bet), I wouldn't bet on it, but stranger things have happened, and that Wanted box office haul has to be pretty persuasive to Hollywood types...

Exclusive: Scots comic writer Mark Millar is toast of Hollywood after Wanted [Daily Record]

Cinema Blend's insiders spilled that Wanted isn't just getting a sequel as graphic novel writer Mark Millar has been saying, but going one further with a completely unnecessary trilogy about the fraternity of assassins and their super-loom. James McAvoy is considered a lock, as is bullet-making monk Terrance Stamp. And Angelina Jolie might be back briefly (they'll need someone to carry the brunt of the marketing after all). Let's go ahead and assume that this'll be a flashback featuring Fox, or else Fox's sexy evil twin, since Angelina's character was clearly dead by the end of the first flick.

In other "please dear god why is this being movie being made" news, the word on the street is Sony is already gearing up for Hancock number two. Still, the rumor has it Will Smith didn't actually like the first film, and he won't be back for a second outing unless he gets some sort of creative control over the next flick. Well, at least he has enough taste to hate his own work.

[Cinema Blend]

Okay first of all, now that you've agreed to be spoiled: this summer's movies featuring untrustworthy mentors include Iron Man and Wanted. In Iron Man, we hear a lot of vague stuff about how Obadiah (Jeff Bridges) gave all this guidance to Tony Stark after Tony's dad died, and then of course Obadiah turns out to be a backstabbing asswipe. And in Wanted, Morgan Freeman does a huge Obi-Wan impression (but doesn't teach James McAvoy how to shop for fresh fruit) and then of course we discover his whole happy magic-loom-of-murderous-destiny story is a monstrous lie.

So here are some other great lying mentors from classic scifi, and the lessons you can learn from their mendaciousness.

So yeah, Obi-Wan: not the most honest mentor out there either. Here's what he tells Luke in the original Star Wars:

A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father.

Takeaway lesson: We've all had mentors who pulled shit like this. Like trying to convince you that their rivals in middle management were evil SOBs who totally wasted the office snack budget on their own "sales fiesta."

Of course, Obi Wan's a paragon of honesty compared to Palpatine, who takes young Anakin under his wing in the Star Wars prequels and feeds him all sorts of nonsense, including "the Dark Side of the Force can save your wife from death."

Takeaway lesson: Mentors who give you advice about your marriage are always evil. Always.

Ra's Al Ghul teaches Bruce Wayne how to be a stealthy head-kicking shadow of justice in Batman Begins. Which is great, until it turns out his League Of Shadows is really an evil organization that wants to destroy Gotham City for some vague reason.

Takeaway lesson: You can learn some useful skills from your mentor... even if you end up hating what the mentor wants you to use them for.

As this TV Tropes entry on Evil Mentors points out, Sylar becomes a mentor to Maya, the girl with the runniest mascara in the world. He tells her a bunch of lies about who he is and where he comes from, and also tells a lie of omission about that whole "I killed your brother thing." But mostly, he tries to influence her into using her runny-mascara powers for ebil.

Takeaway lesson: When your mentor tries to get you to go on a goo-eyed killing spree, or generally compromise your deepest principles, it may be time to find another shoulder to cry on.

Jordan Collier in The 4400 takes super-healer Shawn Farrell under his slimy wing and becomes his mentor and surrogate father... until Shawn realizes that Jordan is secretly using death-ninjas to commit terrorism against all those annoying vanilla non-superpowered people.

Takeaway lesson: Pick your mentors carefully. And watch out for those shaggy wannabe Messiah type people.

Thomas Nau in Vernor Vinge's A Deepness In The Sky rapes and murders Qiwi's mother in front of her. But then he erases her memory using a version of his Focusing technique, and turns her into his trusted assistant. Every now and then, she starts to remember the truth and tries to escape, but he just mindwipes her again.

Takeaway lesson: Ummm... pay attention to that little voice in the back of your head, I guess?

Arvin Sloane in Alias is the perfect nurturing, caring boss for young Sydney... until it turns out that every word that comes out of his mouth is poisonous trash. Basically, he's not one of the good guys, and he doesn't really work for the CIA, and he's not trying to bring about world peace and harmony and happy vibes.

Takeaway lesson: If your father figure has your boyfriend murdered because you got careless in your pillow talk, that could be a clue to something.

Joseph Korso takes young Cale Tucker under his wing in Titan A.E., saving his life and teaching him how to pilot a spaceship and race Wake Angels for fun and good luck and all that good stuff. But then it turns out he's secretly working for the evil alien Drej.

Takeaway lesson: If your mentor has a special knack for sneaking you aboard the evil aliens' spaceships and piloting them, it could be because he has a certain... affinity for those bastards. Just a heads up.

Elijah Price teaches David Dunn how to be a superhero in M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable... but then it turns out Elijah, aka Mr. Glass, is secretly a supervillain who caused several disasters, including a train wreck, to find un unbreakable hero.







Takeaway lesson: If all the pieces fall into place for your mentor to "discover" your talents, then it may not just be a coincidence.

And then there's Alan Moore's graphic novel V For Vendetta, where V lies to his acolyate Evey about a whole bunch of things... most notably he puts her into a fake, head-shaving prison camp in order to stiffen her spine for the things that must be done.

Takeaway lesson: There's hazing and then there's crazy hazing. If your mentor believes in the "prison camp" model of employee orientation — or even just paintball gone too far — it's time to bail.

I feel like Professor X from the X-Men has lied to his pupils a thousand times, but the only examples I can think of are when he secretly suppressed Jean Grey's abilities in the third X-Men movie, and when he hid the fact that he was in love with Jean Grey in Ultimate X-Men. He also spared Magneto's life but told everyone he'd killed Magneto in Ultimate X-Men as well.

Takeaway lesson: If your mentor is secretly in love with you and is secretly holding you back and sabotaging your abilities, it maybe time to get mental on your mentor.

And then there's Bill Adama in the new Battlestar Galactica, who lies to his protegee Starbuck (and everyone else) about knowing the secret location of Earth. Laura Roslin tells Starbuck the old man has been lying, which leads to this exchange between Starbuck and Adama:

"How much longer 'til we reach Earth?" "It's hard to say." "You got a guess?" "You know I don't like to guess." "We getting closer?" "I'm sure we are. Good luck on the next test."

Finally, a pissed off Starbuck decides to obey the President's orders and go back to Caprica to get the Arrow of Apollo.

Takeaway lesson: If someone blows the whistle on your lying mentor, you may as well listen to the whistleblower instead. You can't do much worse, and you might get something useful out of it.

Other mentors we almost forgot include Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, who hides her daughter's true parentage from her. And the Confessor in Astro City, a superhero who hides his vampirism from his plucky sidekick. And of course Captain Beatty in Fahrenheit 451, who pressures Guy Montag to burn all of the books in his possession, and yet quotes constantly from books himself. Who did we forget?

Additional reporting by Lauren Davis and Meredith Woerner. Image by Stephanie Fox.

Updating fans on his Millarworld messageboard this weekend, Millar explained the Hollywood math surrounding the movie:

[H]ere's the deal... had this movie's opening weekend hit 30 million then we would have a sequel. Had it hit 35 I'm told that's a franchise. Advance tracking yesterday suggested we could be looking at 40. But after Friday night it looks like opening weekend could be upwards of 50 MILLION DOLLARS, with the movie scoring as high with women as men (unusual for an action movie, oddly, as all the girls I know love action movies). I thought we'd be in trouble up against that wee robot guy, but everything's going great.

As producers as well as creators, this obviously delights JG [Jones, co-creator of the comic] and I. We're discussing the idea of the overseas Fraternity led by Mister Rictus making a play for the US territory Morgan Freeman left behind (ie, the middle section of the book), but this is nothing more than chat at the moment. Nothing will be greenlit until final weekend numbers are in. It's all looking very, very good, though. Thanks for supporting us with your hard-earned dollars.

At time of writing, the movie looked set to have earned upwards of $51 million dollars on its opening weekend, which probably translates into "massive franchise you'll be sick of four movies later" or something.

Wanted's Opening Weekend Set To Break Records [Millarworld]

While some critics may bemoan Timur Bekmambetov's movie adaptation of Wanted a beautifully-filmed piece of misogyny, they're apparently unaware that the movie's casual hatred and disdain for women is simply a more targeted version of the contempt that the original comic had for its own readers. Under the jump, two of the greatest, most over-the-top, pages of ending any comic has ever had. Potential spoilers, so be warned.

Charlie wasn't alone in noticing that Wanted was lazily misogynistic, forcing its hero Wesley to be "surrounded by dumb bitches... dragging him down. If only he could meet a woman with a killer bod and no personality whatsoever, apart from a vapid smirk"; Peter Bradshaw, of the British Guardian newspaper went much further in his scathing review:

This is a film where womankind is represented by irrelevant sleek babes and obese comic foils, an ugly whorehouse aesthetic which really does sock over its contempt for femaleness very, very powerfully indeed.

In slight defense of the movie, however, it's worth pointing out that for true contempt, you can't get better than the original comic's literal "fuck you" to its own readers climax:

The best part of this sub-Fight Club conclusion may have been the fan reaction at the time, which seemed to largely range towards "Yeah! We are assholes! Thanks for telling it like it is!"

Wanted [Top Cow]

Call this the summer of Chuck — we're suddenly ass-deep in movies about pathetic nerds who suddenly become super-spies or super-assassins. Get Smart was the story of Steve Carrell's analyst who pores over his computers and analyzes obscure "chatter", until he gets his chance to prove himself as a spy. Both Incredible Hulk and Iron Man had nerd-boy heroes whose experiments turn them into powerhouses. But Wanted may be the first summer escapist movie whose hero is just a weedy accountant.

As you may be able to tell, I'm somewhat conflicted about Wanted. Even star James McAvoy admitted, on the Daily Show, that reading the movie's script he thought it "could just be another awful action film." He only took the gig because he knew that director Timur Bekmambetov was an "evil genius." And he is. That pretty much sums up Wanted: toilet-paper script, poetically wonderful action sequences.

In Wanted, McAvoy plays Wesley Gibson, an office peon who's terrorized by his fat binge-eating boss — who's a caricature straight out of a 1980s Twisted Sister video. She harangues him, clicking her stapler next to his ear, and making impossible demands until he has a panic attack and snarfs anti-anxiety meds like candy. Meanwhile, when his whiny girlfriend isn't waking him up by bitching at him, she's fucking Wesley's vapid best friend on the table Wesley bought her. McAvoy's running voice-over, and cartoony touches like an ATM that calls Wesley a broke asshole, hammer home his loser status. He's surrounded by dumb bitches, and they're dragging him down. If only he could meet a woman with a killer bod and no personality whatsoever, apart from a vapid smirk. Enter Angelina Jolie.

And here's where it starts to veer away from its source material, the graphic novel written by Mark Millar. It turns out Wesley's the son of a super-assassin, a member of an assassin "Fraternity" led by Sloan (Morgan Freeman). And those anxiety attacks that he's been medicating himself for? Turns out they're actually his super-senses kicking in, allowing him to slow down his perceptions to the point where he can shoot the wings off a fly. They only work when his heart rate accelerates to 400 bpm — making Wesley the second hero of a recent movie who gets superpowers when his pulse races (the first being Bruce Banner, of course.)

So Wesley has the raw power of gun-fu (including the ability to curve a bullet's trajectory) but he needs to be broken down and rebuilt as a bad-ass. The movie takes us through a long boot-camp sequence, including plenty of montages, showing Wesley training and getting the crap beaten out of him over and over again. He gets smashed up a zillion times, and it's lucky the Fraternity has a nice healing bath instead of the traditional hot-tub. Wesley's a loser. He's a pussy. He's a nothing wimp. He's a fucking nothing. The breaking-Wesley sequences are lovingly over-the-top, including a knife expert who slices Wesley up in a room full of hanging animal carcasses. Finally, after being beaten to a pulp for the hundredth time, Wesley confesses that he doesn't know who he is — and within seconds, Freeman's Sloan swoops in and starts the process of building him up again.

The rest of the movie is a pretty standard action movie about Wesley going after the guy who he thinks killed his father. And the Fraternity turns out not to be what it seems: it has a whole cockamamie backstory about monks a thousand years ago who learned to read binary code in the threads from a special loom, but the real story turns out to be even more cockamamie than that. It's just bursting with cockamamie. Everything rockets towards a completely ludicrous conclusion that will make you feel like your head is full of rocks. Visually, Wanted is comparable to a Tarantino movie, but I would have killed for some of Kill Bill's sharp writing.

So, like I mentioned, Wanted's saving grace is the direction from Bekmambetov, who also directed Nightwatch and Daywatch. He brings a Ringo Lam-esque flair to endless scenes of knife fights in a meat forest, shootouts and car-train-gun battles. Actually, it's not just the action — pretty much every scene in the movie is shot hyper-kinetically and with super-emphasis. If you're in this movie's target demographic, you've probably seen the clips and trailers with the cars flipping over and the slow-motion shooting, or Jolie splayed on the hood of a car Death Proof-style, shooting like a maniac. The whole movie's like that.

This would probably be a good movie to see on crystal meth.

What's more, Bekmambetov does such a good job with the cartoony visuals that you almost don't care if the movie makes sense, or is vaguely evil. It's just a fantastic spectacle, brilliantly shot violence porn with smatterings of real porn. If the Fraternity really existed, and it needed a legion of couch potatoes to serve as cannon-fodder, it could totally use this movie as a recruiting video. It's pure thrilling escapism, with hardly any of the "great responsibility" angst that usually laces escapist fare. What's more, it has total conviction, thanks to a mostly solid cast: you believe that these people are bad-asses who really enjoy killing. And McAvoy makes Wesley's transition from droolbag to super-killer totally believable.

A lot of the film's marketing revolves around the sexiness of Angelina Jolie, but there's no sexual tension between her and McAvoy, or anyone else. We stare at her naked ass, but she acts as though all she thinks about is killing. She's sublimated all of her sexuality into her gun, and the only time she's sexual is when she's using sex to get something. (She does make out with Wesley in front of his weaselly ex-girlfriend, but you get the sense she's just doing Wesley a favor.)

As I said, Wanted isn't too subtle about embodying the fantasy of breaking free of the mindless service job and escaping from the nagging bitches to become a real man. (Early on, Wesley's voiceover talks about his repetitive strain injury, but it never keeps him from practicing the same gun move a few thousand times.) It's significant that the Fraternity's headquarters is a textile factory — obviously it's partly because the factory houses the Loom of Fate, but it's also meant to contrast with Wesley's dumb office. Wesley's stupid "customer account manager" job is emasculating because he doesn't make anything, he doesn't work with his hands, and he just moves bullshit pieces of information around. The Fraternity, meanwhile, works among giant machines, they're manly garment workers who create a physical product. If you want to be a real man, the movie suggests, you should ditch the pointless symbolic labor of the cubicle farm and haul the moldering corpse of the manufacturing economy out of its grave.

So, bottom line: Wanted works great as a fun, fluffy action movie. It's not up to the standard of Tarantino or any of the great Hong Kong or Japanese directors, partly because nobody in the film is particularly likable. And it may annoy you if you're not in its target demographic. But if you're looking for a fun shoot-em-up with a huge dose of high-energy escapism, it's pretty much perfect for what it is.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Incredible Hulk 2:

If there is an Incredible Hulk sequel, it's not a slam dunk that Sam Sterns (the Leader) will be the main villain. Another school of thought has Leonard Samson, the psychiatrist who was dating Betty, becoming the bad guy. He occasionally clashed with the Hulk in the comics, although mostly they're friends. And Samson might be miffed that Bruce stole his girlfriend Betty. Director Louis Leterrier says he'll ask the fans at Comic-Con whom they'd like to see as the villain of TIH2. [Underwire]

Wanted:

Here's this guy's list of a dozen or so weird/wacky things that happen in Wanted. They're pretty much spoilers we've already covered, but his write-up is pretty entertaining and he puts his finger on some of the more ludicrous things in the zany actioner. [XLBBQ]

G.I. Joe:

Here are a couple more character posters from G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, which show the Baroness and Snake Eyes looking sultry and snakey, respectively. [IESB]

Heroes:

Here are more set photos from Heroes season three, showing Future Peter meeting regular Peter. And getting all grabby with his niece Claire, who's gotten the too-much-makeup bug from Ali Larter. I guess this is right before she shoots him? Are they actually going to get together on the show, now that the actors are dating? Is Peter the character who will turn out to be also adopted? (So they're not blood relations any more?) Or is it just going to be one huge tangle of ick? Either way, it looks like a community college production of Grease. Oh, and is that a painting predicting some kind of future Earth-crack? [TheBadandtheUgly and Heroes The Series and Gilmore Girls News]

And now that you're all pumped up for a new season of Heroes (you are, aren't you?) here's some more news: Kristen Bell's electrosex kitten Elle will be in only about five episodes of the season, give or take. But Mama Petrelli will be in every. single. episode. Because she has "lots to do."

Meanwhile, Sylar and Claire's daddy H.R.G. will have lots and lots of scenes together, because they will be working together. As a team. (This could be related to that rumor that Sylar gets a change of heart?) [E! Online]

Smallville:

Smallville season eight will be more about Metropolis and the whole Lois-and-Clark thang that we used to love back in the 1990s. Plus lots and lots of Green Arrow, with sprinklings of Justice League. [E! Online again]

Doctor Who:

Based on the new trailers, plus some filming that was observed earlier, Planet Galifrey has pieced together more spoilers for Saturday's new Doctor Who, "The Stolen Earth." It starts with the TARDIS still red and cloister belly. And then it catches fire! The Doctor finds that Earth has been stolen, and goes to visit the Shadow Proclamation to find out what's going on. The Proclamation has been offering a refuge to all the races that have lost their worlds already, like the Adipose and the Rexicorocofallipatorians.

And the thuggish Judoon are keeping order for the Shadow Architects, who are skinny and have weird blond hair. The Doctor takes the floor, talking a mile a minute and being clever, but it doesn't go that well. Then he goes back to the TARDIS and has a moment of being happy that Rose is coming back — before he gets another message that shocks him again. The rest of it is spoilers we've covered before in some depth. [Planet Gallifrey]

Stargate

The direct-to-DVD Stargate: Continuum takes advantage of its feature-length format to give more little "moments" to its characters, including Mitchell going back to the farm, Carter going shopping and Daniel going to the bookstore. And later, there are scenes where the world has to adjust to "a world not their own." Carter is an astronaut who brilliantly sacrifices herself and saves her crew. Ben doesn't exist because he literally acted out the "grandfather paradox." And Daniel phones himself and reads his own book. He gives himself a pep talk, saying things like, "Trust your feelings." [Sci Fi Weekly]

Meanwhile, in case you haven't seen it, here's a promo for Stargate: Atlantis season five that's been airing lately.

True Blood:

Here are episode synopses for the second, third and fourth episodes of True Blood, HBO's science-vampires show:

"The First Taste". Sookie suspects Bill is behind the murders of the people who almost ended her life; Tara deals with family matters; and a new church threatens the vampire world.

"Mine". Tara visits LaFayette seeking comfort from her woes, Sookie meets some of Bill's rowdy friends and saves them from harm from a human among them, and, Sookie and Hugo visit the Church of the Fellowship of the Sun.

"Escape From Dragon House." One of the barmaids from Merlotte's is murdered and all signs point to Jason as her killer. Also evident is the fact that she had been around vampires, and Sookie knows just where to go to find out who the girl had been with. Bill introduces Sookie to Fangoria, the biggest vampire bar in Shreveport, and Eric, the oldest vampire in Shreveport. Her search could lead her into territory she never thought she'd cover.

Thanks to Lauren Davis for research help.

X-Files: I Want To Believe:

Here's a new trailer for the X-Files sequel, which includes more about Billy Connolly's weird visions, and maybe settles once and for all exactly what it is that scared Scully. [Apple]

And here's one new still from the movie, showing all the main cast except for one. [Multiple Verses]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Some new locations for Transformers 2 include some library steps at UPenn that could stand in for any number of fancy buildings. Eastern State Penitentiary is being done up as Cell Block 7, with some electronic rigging. And then Philadelphia City Hall was done up as a French cafe in Paris, where Sam's parents are on vacation. Also, a chase sequence was filmed involving Bumblebee, an orange car and a green car. [Transformerslive]

Doctor Who:

The BBC issued a new plot synopsis from the Doctor Who season finale, "Journey's End." It's pretty spoilery, all told:

The entire universe is in danger as the Daleks activate their masterplan... The Doctor is helpless, and even the Tardis faces destruction. The only hope lies with the Doctor's secret army of companions – but as they join forces to battle Davros himself, the prophecy declares that one of them will die.

[BBC Press Office, via Planet Gallifrey]

And here's a bevy of pics from the penultimate episode of the season, "The Stolen Earth." It looks like the spoiler about Dalek Caan being all chained up and fucked up is true. And you can see the Daleks out in the streets, herding humans as in the set report we posted months ago. We'll meet a new UNIT commander, General Sanchez. The red Dalek reminds me more and more of the sports car my friend's dad got — do you think Davros is having a midlife crisis? [Blogtor Who]

Death Race:

Here's a new (I think) pic of Tyrese Gibson in Death Race. [Black Voices]

Lost:

Some guy claims on his Livejournal that not only did Jin survive the freighter explosion, but he somehow made it back to the island. He'll be chillin' with Sawyer and the crew all next season. [Hellhounds Lair]

Heroes:

In a video interview, Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli) says Angela Petrelli is the mother of three superpowered people. Does he mean that she's Claire's grandmother? Or is there a third child of Angela that we're going to discover next season? [Heroes Revealed]

Batman: Gotham Knight:

Here are a few more stills from Batman: Gotham Knight, the new direct-to-DVD animated anthology. In one, Batman glares upward from the sewers of Gotham City, where Scarecrow and Killer Croc are lurking, in David Goyer (Batman Begins)' segment. In another, the animalistic Man-Bat version of Batman (not to be confused with the actual Man-Bat) flies towards the camera in one of the Rashomon-esque tales told in Josh Olson's segment. And in the third, Batman is wounded and crawling through the sewer while he recalls his training in India, in Brian Azzarello's segment.

Wanted:

The first preview screenings of super-assassin movie Wanted were yesterday, and one guy posted a super-detailed summary to writer Mark Millar's web forum. Here's the gist:

The movie starts out with a super-assassin visiting a woman, and she freaks out. But he says if he was there to kill her, she'd be dead already. He looks across the window and sees some guys with guns targeting him, and he backs up to the elevator, then runs and jumps out the window, killing all four guys. One of the guy's phone rings, and the super-assassin picks it up, telling their boss he shouldn't have sent amateurs to kill him. The boss says those four guys were just decoys, and the guy realizes he's standing on an "X" just before a bullet explodes his brain. We "rewind" the path of the bullet, back to an apartment, where Cross has just fired it with a super-telescope.

Then we cut to Wesley (James McAvoy) in his apartment, with his nagging girlfriend, whom he knows is cheating on him. He's filled with anxiety and hates his best friend for taking advantage of him. Wesley's boss is fat and gives him lots of grief. And then, he meets Angelina Jolie in a drug store and (you've probably seen this clip) she tells him his father was a super-assassin, who just died on a rooftop. She saves him from Cross, the other super-assassin, and tells him he's inherited all his dad's money and guns.

Eventually Wesley gets taken to the HQ of the Fraternity (of assassins, I'm guessing), which is a textile factory. They make him shoot the wings off a fly at gunpoint, and Morgan Freeman offers to train him in badassery. Wesley freaks out and runs home, putting his gun in his toilet tank. He realizes he now has $3.5 million in the bank. He quits his job, telling off his boss and smacking his best friend in the face with his computer keyboard "resulting in lost teeth, blood and keys flying everywhere."

Outside, Wesley sees the newspapers list him as a wanted fugitive, along with Jolie. She's parked nearby and he gets in her car. Wesley realizes his old life is over, so he joins the Fraternity. Then the hazing begins. (Well, it is called the Fraternity!) Wesley is put through tests, in between dips in a super-healing bath that heals all wounds in no time. The Repairman breaks Wesley of old habits by beating him up. The Butcher teaches Wesley to handle a knife, slicing him up in the process. And the Gunsmith teaches Wesley to shoot a gun. And the Exterminator is a Russian guy who likes to attach bombs to rats. Wesley trash-talks the Fraternity, and gets sent to the Repairman for another beating.

Wesley thinks he's ready to go after Cross, the super-assassin who tried to kill him. But Morgan Freeman doesn't agree, so Wesley has to do baby training assignments with Angelina. He learns to jump on and off moving trains.

Wesley fails to kill some rich guy at the last moment, questioning why that guy needs to die. Then Wesley learns the history of the Fraternity: they were medieval weavers who noticed a pattern in the loom, and the pattern generates names in binary code. (ASCII?) The Frat-boys (and Angelina) kill people who would go on to kill thousands of others — and one guy whom a Frat brother failed to kill slaughtered Angelina's parents. It's Morgan Freeman's job to interpret the loom and decipher the names. In the end, Wesley goes back and kills the rich guy whom he failed to kill the first time.

Wesley kills more people, including the clip we showed where he kills a guy in a limo by flipping his car over the sunroof. Cross, meanwhile, is killing Fraternity brothers one by one, and Wesley studies his unstoppable super-assassin ways, including untraceable bullets.

Wesley breaks up with his girlfriend by making out with Angelina Jolie in front of her. Then he spots Cross outside and shoots at him, leading to a big chase. The Exterminator shows up and gets shot, then Cross shoots Wesley in the shoulder, leaving a traceable bullet. Wesley thinks Cross is goading him into a confrontation. Morgan Freeman orders Wesley to go kill Cross. And then as soon as Wesley heads off to kill Cross, Morgan turns and orders Angelina Jolie to kill Wesley.

Wesley tracks the bullet to a monastery and forces the bullet-maker (Terence Stamp) to arrange a meet with Cross at a train station. Wesley spots Cross on the train and Terence Stamp flees the scene. Angelina Jolie chases after Wesley and Cross, who are alone together on the train. There's a big shootout on the train, and then Angelina slams her car into the train, destabilizing it. The train goes careening off the tracks, and Wesley and Angelina are falling. Then Cross pulls Wesley up, saving his life, but Wesley shoots him in the chest.

The train car they're in falls into the chasm, but gets wedged halfway down. Cross tells Wesley that he's Wesley's real dad, and the Fraternity is evil. Cross was never really trying to kill Wesley, which is why he only shot him in the shoulder when he had the chance. He just wanted to get him away from Angelina. She admits it's true about Cross being Wesley's real dad, and he shoots the floor out of the train, so he falls the rest of the way into the chasm.

Terence Stamp rescues Wesley and shows him Cross' apartment, which is right across from Wesley's apartment. Cross took lots of pictures of Wesley as a kid. Terence Stamp explains that Morgan Freeman's name came up on the loom of fate, as a target for assassination. But instead of allowing himself to be killed, Morgan Freeman started manipulating the Fraternity into killing targets of his own choosing.

Wesley stumbles on his dad's secret stash of weapons, and buys a ton of peanut butter. He lures some rats (with the peanut butter) and steals a dump truck. He attaches bombs to the rats and then drives up to the Fraternity's headquarters, dumping the rats so they run everywhere and then blow up.

Wesley jumps out of the truck and starts killing everyone. He grabs guns as they fall out of bad guys' hands and shoots everyone right and left. He shoots a hole in the Repairman's face and then puts his hand through the hole, shooting a bunch of other people through it. He fights the Butcher and gets cut, but finally jams the Butcher's knife blade into his gun, then shoots it into the Butcher and kicks it further into him.

Finally, he confronts Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, plus their cronies. Wesley shows everyone the "kill order" with Morgan Freeman's name on it. Morgan Freeman admits it's true and says everyone else in the room has also had his/her name come up and been spared. All the other Frat members are welcome to shoot themselves if they want to go by the strict Frat rules — otherwise they should "kill this motherfucker!"

Angelina Jolie winks at Wesley, then shoots a bullet that curves all around, killing everyone in the room, including herself. But not Wesley or Morgan Freeman, who has fled. Then Wesley goes and checks his bank balance, which is back to being pathetic.

The next scene shows Wesley back at a desk, with a voice over as Morgan Freeman approaches and points a gun at him. But it turns out not to be Wesley at the desk but a decoy. Morgan Freeman looks down and sees that he's standing on an "X" and says "Fuck!" and then a bullet ruptures his brain. Then we "rewind" the path of the bullet to see it went through Wesley's boss' donut, and his former best friend's energy drink, and then we're back at Wesley's dad's apartment. Wesley turns to the camera and says something along the lines of, "I had a sucky life, job, girlfriend, best friend and gave it all up. What have YOU done lately?" [Millarworld]

The Avengers:

Here's someone who claims (based on what, I'm not sure) that the villains of the 2011 Avengers movie will be Loki and the Masters Of Evil. [Spout]

Wanted:

Here are a couple of new clips from Wanted, the dweeb-becomes-super-assassin movie. More clips at the link. [JoBlo]

Also, Terence Stamp (who plays Pekwarsky, a bullet-maker) says his minor character will play a much bigger role in the Wanted sequel, which is already planned out. [CinemaBlend]

Oh, and apparently there was a whole sequence at the end of the movie, where Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy are fighting each other and falling through four floors of an exploding building. It took four days to film, with a groin-rupturing harness, and then director Timur Bekmambetov cut the whole sequence — it won't even be on the DVD. Instead, the final confrontation between Freeman and McAvoy is a simple sequence that took 20 minutes to film, says McAvoy. [MoviesOnline]

Life On Mars:

The American version of Life On Mars makes it very clear in the first episode that the time traveling cop Sam is really in a coma — unlike the British version, which I think sat on the fence for a while. (Of course, they're totally reshooting the pilot with a new supporting cast, so who knows what it'll really be like.) [Spoiler TV]

Heroes:

As we may already have mentioned, Adam (David Anders) will definitely get dug up and cause more trouble this season on Heroes, the show where nobody ever goes away. (Except D.L.) [TV Guide]

Doctor Who:

Here's a sneak peek from Saturday's new Doctor Who, which confirms that the Doctor dies at the hands — er, legs — of the Racnoss, that red spidery thing that ruined Donna's wedding day. Although I'm overthinking things a bit... if the Doctor hadn't met Donna on her wedding day, how would he have found the Racnoss? Wouldn't the Racnoss have waited longer to "harvest" Donna's magical sparkle energy, if it hadn't suddenly yanked her into the TARDIS? Okay, done overthinking now. [Spoiler TV]

The cover of Doctor Who Magazine gives another look at that spicy red Dalek from the end of season four. That's a spicy Dalek! [TARDIS Scanner]

And in case there was any doubt, Gwen and Ianto from Torchwood will be in the Doctor Who season finale. [Torch_wood Community]

Chuck:

More details about that episode of nerd-spy show Chuck, where we learn Sarah the superspy's real name. We also learn that she's from San Diego and her dad had a troubled past. [Zap2It]

Over at Comic Book Resources, the official (or so it claims, anyway) first review of the movie starts by letting comic fans know what not to expect from the upcoming Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy movie:

For those familiar with Mark Millar and JG Jones’ comic, you're going to see it very accurately reflected for about twenty minutes, before the film then goes on its own wild ride, though with a few snags and bulletholes from the original. It ditched the supervillains, it ditches the "bad guys won," it ditches the celebration of amorality of the lead. But for all the themes and dubious morality it ditches, it grows its own.

This is apparently what happens when the movie writers hadn't read the end of the comic before writing the script. Not that the movie seems to suffer from straying so far from what the faithful would've expected:

[W]hat’s most gorgeous about "Wanted" is the tone. The language, the visuals, the effects, have their tongue so far in cheek it triggers the gag reflex (in a good way). The film spends huge amounts of money, time and effort telling basic jokes. But they’re far funnier as a result and fuel this rollercoaster of a ride with an energy lacking in the dour Wachowski movies. This is an adult superhero comedy masquerading as an action flick. It’s fresh, it’s fast, it’s funny and it’s one hell of a surprise. It really sells the whole "mundanity vs madness" theme running through the film, from the cascading cereal packets to the bizarre camera-mounted handguns.

Over on British site Entertainment Wise, they're in agreement with some of the above, at least:

[T]here’s a lot of fun to be had here - no shocks, but a lot of big bangs, blood spurting and some genuinely funny gags... Wanted is a great ride - bullets, babes, and tonnes of wish fulfilment for the frustrated male 9-to-fiver. However, it takes itself far too seriously, especially given its very silly script (again, we point you to the ‘shoot the fly’ scene). Great fun for a Saturday night, or for a slow weeknight when it’s out on DVD, but not the action movie reinvention that the brilliant trailers promised.

The movie gets released on June 27th, meaning that there are still 10 days for critics to announce that the movie glorifies violence and is a threat to society.

Wanted - The First Review [Comic Book Resources]
Wanted [Entertainment Wise]

The Avengers:

Could the Hulk be the villain of the Avengers movie? Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier thinks so. Just look at Ed Norton's green-eyed evil grin at the end of the Hulk film — he's someone who could potentially enjoy his mayhem a little too much. [Comics2Film]

Wanted:

Here's a new clip from Wanted that cropped up on Entertainment Weekly, involving Angelina Jolie in a giant train crash. [Entertainment Weekly via Comic Book Resources]

Transformers 2:

Want to know what happens in Transformers 2? Do you not care if what you're reading has any conceivable relationship to the truth? Then check out this allegedly leaked treatment for the Transformers sequel, which is probably a fake. In a nutshell, Sam goes to NYU and gets drawn into the world of street racing. And Megatron gets resurrected thanks to Soundwave's "mystic healing" harmonizing his particles. It turns out that Las Vegas' glittery lights were powered by the Allspark, and there's still enough stored Allspark-energy to power Vegas for generations — but the Decepticons and Starscream are coming to claim Vegas' power source for themselves. There's a massive battle for Las Vegas, and specifically the Luxor casino, which is the gateway to the remaining Allspark energy. The U.S. Army tries to trigger an EMP, but fails, and Vegas is trashed. And Sam's girlfriend Mikaela is killed. The movie ends on a downer note, with our heroes in disarray until the third movie... but Mikaela miraculously comes back to life at the last moment. [Scribd via CobaltSS]

G.I. Joe:

UGO has one of its patented spoiler round-ups for the G.I. Joe movie, and this time there's a fair bit of info we haven't reported, maybe because we weren't covering this movie much until recently. The main villains are Destro and Baroness, with Cobra Commander as a shadowy manipulator behind the scenes. Cobra Commander is played by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, and it's rumored he's General Hawk's best friend and a former G.I. Joe who fell from grace. (He and Hawk went on a mission to stop Destro, and Cobra Commander was scarred horribly and turned evil, the way people do when their faces get scarred.)

The rivalry between the two ninjas, Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes, forms the heart of the movie — it's rumored they studied with the same sensei and fought for two days without landing a single blade. But Snake Eyes made a mistake and was deafeated, so he went to Brazil and learned a new weapons-free discipline. The evil organization Cobra enlists the aid of the mercenaries known as Dreadnoks, led by Zartan and his brother and sister, Zarana and Zandar. Zandar has the ability to change his skin color to blend in with his surroundings. There's more at the link. [UGO]

The Descent 2:

Here's the first look at the Crawlers from The Descent 2, in which a traumatized Sarah emerges from the caves covered with blood. The police force her to go back into the caves to help them look for her five missing friends, but she starts having flashbacks and remembering more of the horror she endured there, as the group gets closer and closer to getting trapped in the dark with those monsters. [Fangoria]

Battlestar Galactica:

In the remaining 11 Battlestar Galactica episodes, airing next year, we'll see the relationship between Bill Adama and Laura Roslin deepen. And we may get more of a sense that Laura has been grooming Lee Adama as her successor all along, despite their disputes. And Roslin actor Mary McDonnell definitely seems to think they just found Earth. In the rest of the season, she says, "whatever has been complicated becomes more so." [Zap2It]

We haven't seen the real reactions of our characters to their discovery in last Friday's episode yet. "Revelations" and the next episode fit together closely, like a two-parter, and they're meant to be seen a week apart, says writer Jane Espenson. [TV Squad]

Lost:

Actor Cynthia Watros (Libby) accidentally refers to her Lost character as Annie. Was this a slip of the tongue... or did she let slip something by accident? And apparently we may see more of Libby at some point, and have some of our lingering questions answered. [Spoilers Lost]

Heroes:

It turns out Claire isn't the only character on Heroes who's adopted. And the discovery of another adopted character will change... everything! We'll see more of Monica and Nana Dawson (Nichelle Nichols) in episodes focusing on their relationship with Micah. But we probably won't see any more of Claire's beau West. [E! Online]

Chuck:

In the fourth episode of Chuck's second season, an old high-school friend of Sarah's named Heather shows up at the Orange Orange, Sarah's new job. And Heather blurts out Sarah's real name, shocking Chuck, who has fun almost blowing Sarah's cover and finds out more about Sarah's background. Heather is married to another high-school classmate of Sarah's, a nerd who turns out to be more than he seems when Chuck meets him and "flashes" on him.

So Sarah and Chuck have to go undercover at Sarah's high-school reunion, to foil the sales of high-tech bombs to evil Russians. Chuck manages to look like a hero while Casey fumes, and Sarah confronts her high-school demons. Meanwhile, Lester teaches the nerds at Buy More about "friendly negotiations" with customers, with unexpected results. [Chuck TV]

The Middleman:

Says Middleman star Matt Keeslar of upcoming episodes:

We have a Peruvian flying pike that, when it injects its venom into a victim, the victim turns into a trout-craving zombie. We have several different aliens from different planets. From one planet they happen to look like people on Earth who have had a lot of plastic surgery. From another planet they're a boy band. From another planet they embody a 14-year-old. And then there are, of course, other more fantasy-type characters, like an ancient terra cotta warrior who comes back to life to find and bring the heir to the Xing Dynasty to the underworld.

Just a wild guess, but I think he meant Qing Dynasty, not Xing. [Comic Book Resources]

On the realism front, check out the costumes. Gone are the superhero outfits of the comic. Fox is dressed in a nice summer frock and pulls guns out of her purse: bye bye bat-belt and flashy strap-on technology. This is what Bekmambetov and his writer Derek Haas mean by "realism." Everybody looks civilian.

Also this clip does give us a small dose of real-life physics — or at least a stab at them. Sure the heroes can make their bullets curve, but when Fox shoots out the front of her Viper, she has to physically lift the wind shield — forget sexy scattering glass from one bullet. This is real life, lady. It takes work to make way for a shoot out. This also lends to the hilarious confusion from Wesley as he taps on her leg to get her to move her body ever so politely, because she's still an unknown stranger to him. I'm glad he just didn't "awaken" to his powers but still fumbles for some sort of social decorum when a hot lady is practically spread eagle and hanging out of a car in front of him.

Still, these stabs at realism seem just like that: stabs. I'm still wondering why we'd even want realism in a movie like this, whose whole point is that ordinary schlubs can become ninjas overnight.

Incredible Hulk 2:

The Incredible Hulk sequel (if it happens) will feature Sam Sterns, aka the Leader, as its main villain — to the surprise of nobody, since the first film clearly set Sterns up for that role. [Entertainment Weekly]

Transformers 2:

Just how badly do you want to see what Arcee, Transformers 2's pink motorcycle robot, looks like in her "vehicle mode"? Badly enough to wade through a four-minute music video about Michael Bay and how much he rocks our universe? Well then, this is your lucky day. There's a few seconds of Arcee goodness (around 3:22) in this otherwise paintastic video. [TFW2005]

And hey, here are some incredibly boring set photos, including Sam Witwicky's frat house! [The Faded Silver Screen]

Battlestar Galactica:

The Battlestar Galactica season finale got a sneak preview in L.A. the other night, and someone posted a full recap. Since by the time you read this, you'll be able to watch the whole episode over at SciFi.com (showing hourly from 9 to 4 EST) I'm not going to bother retyping the whole summary, but it's here. [Sci Fi Heaven]

Wanted:

Fox, the character Angelina Jolie plays in Wanted, is unhappy because her father was killed, and she's obsessed with the assassin's code she lives by. Fox doesn't talk much — mostly because Jolie insisted on editing most of her character's dialog out of the script.

Dragonball:

Some new Dragonball photos have cropped up. There's also a leaked script, but apparently it's a fake. [Dragonball Movie Blog]

Fringe:

Here's a behind-the-scenes video for Fringe, J.J. Abrams' new evil-science-conspiracy show, including some new footage from the pilot. [Spoiler Geeks]

The Middleman:

In the fourth Middleman episode, airing June 30, Wendy goes to train with Sensei Ping, a martial arts master. But Ping gets kidnapped by Lucha Libre wrestlers seeking revenge. The Middleman goes looking for Ping — and gets captured too. So it's up to Wendy to rescue them both. [Spoiler TV]

Doctor Who:

The long-secret title of Doctor Who's twelfth episode came out just after our deadline yesterday: It's called "The Stolen Earth." And here's the plot synopsis:

Earth's greatest heroes assemble in a time of dire need, in tonight's penultimate episode in this series of Russell T Davies's Bafta Award-winning time-travelling drama. But can the Doctor's secret army defeat the might of the new Dalek Empire?

With battles on the streets and in the skies, the Doctor and Donna must brave the Shadow Proclamation to find out the truth. However, a fearsome old enemy waits in the shadows...

Fearsome old enemy, presumably = Davros. [BBC, via MTemplar]

In this Saturday's Doctor Who, Donna decides to stay behind by the pool on a resort world, while the Doctor goes off in a shuttle journey to visit a sapphire waterfall. (Donna's hardly in the episode at all.) The shuttle has 10 people on it, but by the end of the episode, there are only 6 left. It's like the inside of a 1970s or 1980s jumbo jet, and an evil entity breaks in and takes over. Someone has to make the ultimate sacrifice. Singer Rafaela Carra appears as the shuttle's "entertainment packae." And someone (Rose?) calls the Doctor's name from a viewscreen, but he doesn't hear. Also, in the following episode, Donna has a "time beetle" on her back. And apparently the founders of the Shadow Proclamation are the Shadow Architects.

And here's a rumored storyline for episode 11, "Turn Left": The Doctor dies fighting the Racnoss (back in the 2006 Christmas special), because Donna isn't there to help him. And the Judoon take over the hospital, killing Martha, because the Doctor's not there. Sarah Jane Smith also dies somehow. The Sontarans nearly kill everybody, and the Torchwood team all die. The Titanic crashes into Earth and causes a nuclear disaster. The Adipose wipe out America because the U.S. is full of fatties. And then the stars start to go out, because it's the end of the universe. And Rose/Bad Wolf comes back. [Doctor Who Forum]

And hey, here are some promo pics from "Turn Left" [Spoiler TV]

Also, the BBC put up a new "FAQ" that actually includes some spoilers. There are "no plans" to bring back the Master. (Really?). The Doctor may have more than 13 lives now that the other Time Lords are gone. You'll see extra areas of the TARDIS (the Doctor's ship) in upcoming episodes. And the Doctor really, really is half-human on his mother's side as the 1996 TV movie established. [BBC]

Hancock:

Here's a new clip from Hancock, which just went online. (A few moments of it were in the trailer, but not the part with the car, I guess.) I have to admit I'm warming to this movie a bit. But the immortal-god thing is still a stumbling block for me, I guess. [Comic Book Resources]

The Incredible Hulk:

We've pretty much reached spoiler saturation point on the new Hulk movie — in large part thanks to Marvel releasing half the film as trailers and TV spots — but there are still a few bits and bobs coming out.

Actor Greg Bryk says he plays a member of an elite squad of commandos, who are hand-picked to chase down Bruce Banner. They drop into Brazil and chase Banner through the slums of Rio, across the rooftops, "parkour" style. And it ends very, very badly for these soldiers when Banner turns into the Hulk. [SliceofScifi]

Wanted:

And here's the "redband" (R-rated) trailer for Wanted, which includes more violence and (gasp!) Morgan Freeman saying the "MF" word. It also gives away more plot twists from the film, including a character death. It's also downloadable via iTunes. [Canmag]

Battlestar Galactica:

Here's a new clip from Saturday's Battlestar Galactica episode, "Revelations." Any clue why she's asking for only four Cylons? (Except for the obvious reason that the producers don't want to reveal the fifth yet?) [Gateworld]

Dollhouse:

Firefly creator Joss Whedon's new mindwiped super-agents show Dollhouse will introduce two characters for the first time in its second episode: the Actives' personal physician, Dr. Claire "The Phantom" Saunders (Amy Acker) and November, an Active who specializes in personal missions instead of criminal ones. But we'll glimpse Dr. Saunders in the pilot.

Also, among the characters that Eliza Dushku's Echo will become early on are a world-weary alcoholic, helping fellow addict Danika make it through a rough patch, a man's stunning date to his ex-girlfriend's wedding, and a Spanish-speaking thug who intimidates a gang of fellow criminals.

Adelle, who runs the Dollhouse, tells a client: ""This will be the purest, most genuine human encounter of your life. And hers. It is a treasure. One I guarantee you will never, never forget."

After a mission, Echo feels compelled to return to the Dollhouse, and we follow her through the memory-scrubbing process administered by uber-nerd Topher. During downtime, she's childlike and empty, having conversations like: "Echo: I swam thirty laps today. Sierra: Good for you. Echo: I'm tired now. Sierra: It's important to exercise. I try to do my best."

Topher realizes Echo, Victor and Sierra always seem to herd together — which may indicate they're starting to keep some memories. He tells Boyd, the Actives' handler. Boyd and Topher the programmer share this exchange: "Boyd: If this isn't the second coming or giant bats I'm gonna kick your tiny boy ass. Topher: Giant bats would be awesome." Boyd is worried Adelle will have the three Actives killed if she suspects they're retaining memories, but Adelle is too preoccupied with throwing FBI agent Paul Ballard (Battlestar's Tahmoh Penikett) off the Dollhouse's scent, using Echo as bait. There's way more at the link. [The Futon Critic via Whedonesque]

Heroes:

Jesse, the new Heroes badass played by Francis Capra, does have at least one scene with Elle (his former Veronica Mars castmate Kristen Bell) and also crosses paths with Peter. [12-12-12]

Oh, also, I forgot to mention that the time-traveling dark-haired Claire says she has always loved her uncle Peter right before she shoots him in the first episode of the new season. And we'll meet Daphne, Hiro's speedster arch-enemy, in the first episode of the new season. Also, the Aboriginal storyteller we've mentioned is named Usutu, and he appears in (at least) the third and fourth episodes of the new season, played by N'Tare Mwine. [Watching Heroes]

The Middleman:

Here's a new trailer for The Middleman, which gives you more of a sense of Wendy's journey from jilted girlfriend and art student to kickass superhero. Why are you not jumping up and down with excitement?

According to InstantCast, while filming Wanted in Prague, the production crew assembled a large textile factory jam-packed with destiny looms. These are looms that create fabrics which are interwoven with the destinies of people. And it turns out there's a mythical land where all-seeing weavers determine the balance of the world. Let's all hope Wanted has more flipping vipers and bendy bullets, and less fancy loom analogies. [Wanted]

[HD Trailer at MySpace]

So now that we solved the problem about the individual spoiler pages turning up in your RSS feed, we've decided to try this new format for the next week. Let us know how you're liking it. I thought it was a good sign that we had comment threads happening in the individual spoiler posts, which wouldn't show up on the front page as featured comments. Also, this gets around the "videos all start playing at once" problem. But let me know what you think!

Avatar:
Wanted:
The Dark Knight:
Doctor Who:
Lost:
Heroes:
Fringe:
Marvel Secret Invasion:

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull:

I think we've already spoiled the heck out of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull before now, but some reviews do include a few details we haven't had in morning spoilers. Like the fact that Harold "Ox" Oxley (John Hurt) spent most of his career searching for the lost city of Akator — and finally found it.

And Indy almost married Marion sometime after Raiders of the Lost Ark, but ditched her at the altar. And then Marion never bothered to tell Indy she'd had his child: good old Mutt (Shia LaBeouf.) Indy doesn't approve of the guy Marion married instead of him. And Indy admits to Marion he's been with a few women since then, but "They all had the same problem," he says. "They weren't you." Awww.

Oh, and the movie abandons its CGI-light regimen in the final moments, which may spoil the film a bit for some viewers. [Comic Book Resources]

Wanted:

A new clip from July's super-assassin movie Wanted went online, although the coolest bit was already in the trailer. Actually, the coolest bit may be all the animal bobble heads on the cat-food truck's dashboard. [MovieWeb]

Lost:

The official podcast for island-castaway show Lost's two-hour season finale has gone online. It mentions that the special before the finale will include deleted scenes from the "Oceanic Six" press conference. Ben, Jack and Charles Widmore won't die until the island is done with them — and the island kept Jack from killing himself. We will see Walt again. And they won't say who Abaddon works for, but he's not the "top of the chain." [Lost Spoilers]

Battlestar Galactica:

Some tidbits from Ron Moore's podcasts on recent episodes of robot-apocalypse show Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck's pristine Viper will play a "pivotal role" in an upcoming episode. We will learn more about the Six (and occasionally Baltar) in Gaius Baltar's head, and the Baltar in Caprica Six's head, including how they work and why.

The Galactica will start looking more and more banged-up in upcoming episodes. The Admiral Adama/President Roslin relationship still has some developing to do, and the book Adama is reading to Roslin will play a bigger role in the story. The interactions between the Caprica Six and Col. Tigh in the brig will play an important role in the rest of the series (as you may have guessed from the trailer for episode 8.)

The podcast write-ups also include some info on stuff that Moore and the other writers changed from the earlier drafts of the episodes that have already aired — like Tyrol talking in the final scene of "The Road Less Traveled," when Baltar comes to his quarters. [TV Squad]

There won't be any legal ramifications from Anders' shooting of Gaeta, since it happened during a mutiny. Plus, Adama is a slap-on-the-wrist kind of guy. [ComicMix]

Stargate Atlantis:

The fifth season of Stargate SG-1 spinoff Stargate Atlantis airs starting in July, and more details are emerging. Teyla gives birth to her child, and she'll also get closer to her Wraith side after she communes with a Wraith Queen. After that contact, Teyla's Wraith genes will be activated and she'll become a host for the Wraith Queen herself. Actor Rachel Luttrell will appear in full Wraith makeup and become the leader of "an alliance of Wraith."

And in the show's 100th episode, the cast visits Las Vegas for a more light-hearted story that may involve the Replicators. And as you may have heard, Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo) takes over as station manager and Dr. Keller (Jewel Staite!!!!) becomes a series regular. [SyFyPortal]

And new detailed spoilers for the twelfth episode of the season have come out. The team gets invited to join a new coalition against the Wraith — but the new government also wants to prosecute the Atlantis Expedition for crimes they allegedly commited. Sheppard speaks to a council made up of representatives of three groups: Kelore of Latira, Shiana of the Tribes of Santhal and Dimas of the Free People of Riva. When a representative of the