Comic Books have really impacted the movie industry lately. Ever since the first X-Men movie, Hollywood has been pushing out comic book movies left and right. In the last six years, we have seen great movies like Superman Returns, Sin City, and Spider-Man.

While there have many good ones, there have also been a few that weren’t that great like Catwoman and Daredevil (which is a shame, since Daredevil is one of my favorite characters). While the year of 2006 gave us Superman Returns and X-Men 3, what can we expect for the future? Of course, there are always sequels to be made. Coming from the X-Men series, there have been talks of X-Men 4, a Wolverine movie and even an Xavier film. Even the famous graphic novel Watchmen is getting the Hollywood treatment. Anyway, here’s the lowdown of a few movies that have piqued our interest here at 4cr.

Spider-Man 3

Release Date: May 4, 2007
Directed by: Sam Raimi

Notable Cast:
Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson:
James Franco as Harry Osborn
Topher Grace as Eddie Brock Jr./Venom
Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko/Sandman
Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy
Rosemary Harris as May Parker
J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
Dylan Baker as Dr. Curt Connors

The Word So Far:
In this movie Spider-Man will battle an all time high of three villains. On one hand, Parker will have to put up with the actions of his former best friend Harry Osborn after he learns that Peter Parker is his hated enemy Spider-Man. Meanwhile, one Flint Marko is identified as being the true killer of Ben Parker, instigating Peter to bring the Marko to justice. And to top it all off, John Jameson brings back a strange parasite from space that forms a symbiotic relationship with Spider-Man’s suit, causing Parker to act in strange and violent ways.

Also, after finally winning over Mary Jane Watson, Peter starts to grow attracted to a blond-headed girl by the name of Gwen Stacy. Things grow more interesting when Gwen’s other gentleman caller, Eddie Brock Jr., starts to get jealous and react violently towards Parker. Oh boy oh boy, with all these complications, I frankly don’t see how Parker will survive the whole movie! One interesting note is that the new addition of the Sandman as the killer of Ben Parker has a few comic fans stirred, being that this contradicts the storyline of the comic books.

Sin City 2
Release Date: 2007
Directed By: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller

Notable Cast:
Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan
Clive Owen as Dwight McCarthy
Devon Aoki as Miho
Rosario Dawson as Gail
Jaime King as Goldie/Wendy
Mickey Rourke as Marv
Angelina Jolie as Ava Lord

The Word So Far:
While the last Sin City film was based on three different stories written originally by Frank Miller in the 90’s, Sin City 2 will feature the story A Dame to Kill For, which follows the story of Dwight McCarthy before he got his “new face”. Dwight’s former wife, Ava Lord, returns to frame Dwight for the murder of her new husband. With the help of Marv, Dwight eventually befriends the prostitutes of Old Town and exacts revenge on his wife. Weaving in and out of this story will be a new story written by Frank Miller about skinny little Nancy Callahan. Not much is known about the story besides that it will “show a new side of Nancy” and that it follows her after the death of Detective Hartigan.

Batman: The Dark Knight

Release Date: July 18, 2008
Directed By: Christopher Nolan

Notable Cast:
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne
Michael Caine as Alfred
Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman as Lt. Gordon
Heath Ledger as the Joker
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox

The Word so far:
As hinted in the last movie, Batman will be teaming up with Harvey Dent and James Gordon to take down the Joker. Though Harvey Dent appears in the movie, he will not be Two Face for a significant part of the story, the story will instead focus on the Joker. Batman Begins seemed to borrow themes from Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see certain elements from Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke or Jeph Loeb’s The Long Halloween. Filming will begin in 2007. Keep your eyes open to see who will play Harvey Dent in this movie, it should be an interesting pick!

Ghost Rider

Release Date: February 16, 2007
Directed By: Mark Steven Johnson

Notable Cast:
Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider
Eva Mendes as Roxanne Simpson
Wes Bentley as Blackheart
Sam Elliott as Caretaker
Peter Fonda as Mephisto
Donal Logue as Mack

The Word So Far:
Well the trailer has been out for a while, if you haven’t seen it yet you can catch it at Apple Trailers. Basically, Johnny Blaze makes a bargain with the devil to save a loved one’s life. Soon afterwards, Mephisto himself calls on Blaze to perform a task for him, transforming Blaze into the Ghost Rider. This one is coming out in just a few months so get ready for some flaming motorcycle goodness!

Wonder Woman

Release Date: ????
Directed By: Joss Whedon

Notable Cast: None, but hopefully I’ll be in there.

The Word So Far:
There are no current plans for a release date and no plans for a cast. Joss Whedon, of Firefly and Buffy fame, has finished the second draft of the script and submitted it to Warner Brothers. There has been no word yet about that script, but the creative team had hopes to get a final script by the end of 2006. The story will be based on the comic book origin of Wonder Woman. A human man by the name of Steve Trevor crashes on Paradise Island, Wonder Woman’s home, and while Wonder Woman nurses him back to health, the two fall in love. Eventually, Wonder Woman must make a choice of whether she wishes to remain at home or follow Steve Trevor back to the outside world. Wonder Woman chooses the latter. Expect to hear more about the movie at Comic-Con 2007.

Iron Man

Release Date: May 4, 2008
Director: Jon Favreau

Notable Cast:
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark aka “Iron Man”
Terrence Howard as Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes

The Word So Far:
After the rights to this movie had been passed around for a decade and a half, the Iron Man movie will finally begin production. The movie will chronicle the origin of Iron Man as he goes through three different suits. He builds his first suit out of necessity after being captured in Afghanistan. After being freed, billionaire Tony Stark then continues to upgrade his suit eventually incorporating a flight system and a weapons system. Expect to see Iron Man battle a new Mandarin that has been modified for the film. Although alcoholism is a significant trait of Tony Stark’s, the film will not focus in on this specific characteristic.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Release Date: June 15, 2007
Directed By: Tim Story

Notable Cast:
Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards aka “Mr. Fantastic”
Jessica Alba as Sue Storm aka “The Invisible Woman”
Chris Evans as Johnny Storm aka “The Human Torch”
Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm aka “The Thing”
Julian McMahon as Victor von Doom aka “Dr. Doom”
Doug Jones as Norrin Radd aka “The Silver Surfer”

The Word So Far:
The second Fantastic Four movie will hit theatres only a month after the release of Spider-Man 3. This time around, not only does Dr. Doom return, but Galactus and the Silver Surfer decide to pay Earth a friendly visit. Expect to see the Baxter Building with more techy gadgets and Jessica Alba to do more stunts. While the movie will be focused on the Silver Surfer, expect Galactus to steal the show at some point.