Catwoman and X-Men

I often feel like I'm neglecting this blog.  It probably has to do a lot with the fact that I've fully embraced Twitter, and I'm a lazy person.  It's much easier to just tweet, "d00d!  Anne Hathaway is Catwoman!" rather than sit down and write a whole blog entry about how Anne Hathaway is playing Catwoman.
Hey!  Did you hear?  In the next Batman movie, Anne Hathaway is playing Catwoman. 

First let me say, I'm thrilled that they're doing Catwoman for the next Batman film.  That was always my dream for the next film, as we can finally erase the memory of that horrible Halle Berry film.  That being said though, I question whether Hathaway has enough..."bad ass-itude" to be Catwoman.  But  hey, we all scoffed when Heath Ledger was announced as the Joker, and look how well that turned out. 

But she's not the only villain in the forthcoming Batman film.  It was also announced that Tom Hardy will be playing Bane.  You may remember Hardy as Eames, the suave, bald, British dude in Leondardo diCaprio's gang in Inception.  (My fellow trekkies probably remember him as Shinzon, Picard's evil clone in Star Trek Nemesis.)  Of course, this has the geeks scratching their  heads as, in the comics, Bane is an 8-foot tall hulking mass of muscle, and Hardy is not. 

The next Batman movie is entitled The Dark Knight Rises.  Christopher Nolan, who did Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Inception, is back as director.  It's scheduled to hit theatres in June of 2012. 

But that's not all!  As we skip across the street from DC Comics to Marvel, we have our first picture of the cast of X-Men: First Class.  Yup, another X-Men movie.  This prequel tale, set in the 1960s, follows the adventures of a young Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto, as the found the School for the Gifted, do battle with the villainous Hellfire Club, and eventually set out on the paths that turn them into arch-enemies. 

So here's the pic!

From left to right:

Michael Fassbender as Young Magneto

Rose Byrne as Moira McTaggert

January Jones as Emma Frost

Jason Flemyng as Azazel (Nightcrawler's father)

Nicholas Hoult as Young Beast

Lucas Till as Havoc

Zoe Kravitz as Angel Salvadore

Jennifer Lawrence as Young Mystique

James MacAvoy as Young Charles Xavier

I'm actually kind of giddy that this is set in the 1960s.  One of the concepts I love is "period superheroes," and it's why The Rocketeer and The Shadow are two of my favourite guilty pleasures.  That being said though, I've already heard from lots of folks that the X-Men franchise may have run its course. 

Matthew Vaughn, director of Stardust and Kick-Ass, is the director of this one.  Bryan Singer, director of the first two X-Men films, is on board as a producer.  It hits theatres this June.

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Statistics show that 50% of bloggers have two or more blogs.  I originally posted this on my work blog, which you can click here to read.