Marvel's Expanding Universe: Comic Con in Short

Because Otherwise We'd Be Here Forever

Finally found a cover picture for these articles!

Due to complaints that the superhero-movie posts are too many, and the "other stuff" movie posts are too few on this site, I'm going to compile the 10 posts I wanted to put up these past few days into one summarized post of all the excellence that happened at Comic Con. From an intergalactic raccoon to cream-colored armor, here's the finest bits of Marvel news for you.

Quentin Tarantino adds Jonah Hill to the Cast of Django Unchained

If ever there were ever to be an actor capable of defying typecasting, few would have guessed that that actor would be Jonah Hill. Originally confined to rather silly roles in raunchy comedies such as Get Him to the Greek and Superbad, Hill has since broken out to play characters in a number of rather substantial films including 21 Jump Street, The Wolf of Wall Street, True Story, and Moneyball, the latest of these landing him an Oscar nomination. Hill’s newest position will be as part of Quentin Tarantino’s heavily anticipated film Django Unchained.

Star Trek 2 Villain

Who Will Benedict Cumberbatch be Playing in Star Trek 2?

Warning: this article contains mild character spoilers.

X-Men Second Grade: We need a leader!

Casting the mighty Cyclops in the First Class sequel

Who will play the elder Summers's bother?  Also, look at his chin.  Memorize it....thank me later.

X-men First Class was one of those movies that left people wanting more.  Not entirely in a bad way, either.  Yes, it had it's issues, but it also had a ridiculously rushed production schedule.  You can't make an incredible film with people breathing down your neck, caring more about how fast you get something done, rather than how well it gets done.  Despite this, Matthew Vaughn did an incredible job with his X-men story.  Seeing mistakes in the first one only made me want to see them fixed in a sequel, and we will be getting that sequel.

A time will come when I'll write about who they've cast, what story they might be using, who the villains are, and all that jazz.  For now, I want to focus on something specific.  Although Xavier is technically the "leader" of the X-men, there has always been someone else who led the team into the field, trained a lot of new mutants, and has been someone to look up to.  Cyclops.

Johanna Mason: Sassy, Sexy, and oh so Dangerous (Casting Rumors)

Flying into theaters...

UPDATE: If reports are correct, all indications point to Jena Malone taking the role of the ax-wielding tribute from District 7.

With Catching Fire set to start filming as soon as August of this year and still many characters still yet to be cast, the interwebz have had its share of fun debating who should play whom. Lionsgate studios did a nice job at averting a crisis when director Gary Ross turned down a second go at helming the Hunger Games sequel by nabbing Francis Lawrence to call the shots. Now with the director's chair filled, fans want to see characters getting cast. I even got into the fun with an article on the possible candidates to play the hunky District 4 victor, Finnick Odair. Wow, that was a fun article to write. So many dreamy men...

Too bad we can't cast your reflection...

Now, the fun turns to looking at lovely ladies. For article purposes only. Right...?

I'll try not to spoil too many parts of the series, but... I must warn you, mild spoilers may arise.

In Suzanne Collin's series about children tearing each other apart, Johanna Mason is a previous Hunger Games victor from the lumber district, District 7. During her turn in the arena, Mason played a weakling girl to make sure that the other tributes wouldn't find her threatening. Then, when the number of survivors waned, Mason did her thing. Wielding axes, Johanna showed off her "wicked ability to murder" thus vaulting her to victory. A bit older than Katniss, when the two girls meet, Johanna is definitely envious of the attention Katniss receives. Katniss notes that Johanna is quite attractive, and like Finnick, she likes to flaunt it.

She's dangerous. She's cunning. She's brash. And, like Finnick, she's damaged. Still carrying the emotional scars from winning, Mason admits there's "no one left I love." After certain cataclysmic events in Catching Fire, Johanna becomes even more of a tortured soul in Mockingjay.

Seriously. She's awesome.

So who would be an ideal lady to play this sassy District 7 victor? Well, the actress would have to have the ability to play a wide range of emotions, ranging from wild-eyed and fierce to brooding and broken. She needs to be sexy, sassy, and an aura of "you can't touch me."

Well, gentlemen (and ladies...), I give you my candidates to play the sly, provocative Johanna Mason in Catching Fire.