Iron Man 2 (The Game) Is Better, Stronger, Faster

Iron Man, the movie, rocked the Casbah. It was a supreme surprise. Robert Downey, Jr. sparked the normally stoic, dislikable drunkard/millionaire Tony Stark to life with a quirky genius and refreshing inventiveness. Iron Man the movie has become one of my all-time favorite comic book movies.

Iron Man, the first Sega video game, sucked big sweaty elephant balls. It was all of the bad things that videogames shouldn’t be: unfocused, repetitive, uninspiring. It made you feel like Iron Man was a pretty lame super-hero as he fought endless waves of stupid thugs from five miles away. Who would want to play another Sega Iron Man game again?

Can Sega pull off a kick-ass Iron Man 2 video game? My fingers are crossed.

“The world has changed, Jarvis. The crazies are getting smarter. I’m not alone anymore,” says Downey, Jr. in this first reveal trailer on Sega’s home page.

Hm… does this actually look, dare I say, intriguing? In a cynical world, no one in their right mind should give Sega a second chance after the first game’s poor effort. But things change, publishers learn lessons, people get inspired, and sequels shouldn’t be prejudged.

In Iron Man 2, developed by Sega’s San Francisco Studio–formerly known as Secret Level–a completely new creative lead heads up a mostly new dev team. The game is designed on a completely new, built-from-the ground-up engine, and gamers should get to play in the new Mark IV armor.  The game isn’t based on the movie, but shares elements of it, giving Sega wiggle room to do cool things in the game that it was restricted from doing the first time around (causing some of the first game’s issues).

For instance, Iron Man confronts Crimson Dynamo, as revealed in the first trailer, a character who isn’t in the movie (or so we have heard). From the video it appears that Sega has imbued Iron Man with a sense of power, enabling him to defeat enemies by blasting straight through them, ripping off their heads, and pummeling them to pieces. That’s sounds cool by me.

The story is penned by Iron Man comic book writer Matt Fraction, which means it will be more true to the character, his strengths and weaknesses, than anyone else is likely to pull off. Add to that the ability to research, create, and modify custom weapons for your suit before each mission and already this game sounds better.

A video game trailer can be deceiving. But this Iron Man 2 video does look bitchin’. Should we believe in Iron Man 2? I’m hoping Sega can pull it off, and I know it knows the first game stunk. So I am truly hoping they’re using that game as fuel to construct a truly kick-ass Iron Man 2 that’s worthy of the first movie and the Iron Man comic book legacy.

Punisher: No Mercy For PS3 Fans

I receive the Marvel Pulse newsletter because it’s filled to the brim with exciting exclamatory sentences, dozens of pictures of superheroes, and there is just this regular positive vibe with each delivery. It’s like, sure, nukes are going off in North Korea, we’re deep into the Great Recession, but hey–excelsior!–we have new Wolverine movies, plus new concept art! Brilliant! It’s just pure, unadulterated escapism.

Take this first paragraph as an example: “Punisher fans rejoice! Marvel’s ruthless anti-hero returns to video games with ‘The Punisher: No Mercy’ and we’ve got the official price and release date!”

See what I mean? Pure exciting!!!! fan service.

Except one thing, Punisher: No Mercy? Unless I am mistaken–and I very well could be–this game looks strikingly similar to that unfortunate DLC Watchmen game that arrived back in February. Yes, I mean, it looks it’s cra…I mean it looks like a trap! The Punisher: No Mercy, available for $9.99 exclusively on PSN, July 2, 2009, is a first-person shooter packing single- and multi-player modes (up to eight players can vie), plus lots of stuff to unlock, Punisher fans!!!!

PLUS!!! PLUS!!!! Punisher fans can now rejoice!!! Yes, REJOICE! In case, you hadn’t already been doing so. Marvel has teamed with Zen Studios and enlisted legendary Marvel Comics artist Mike Deodato to illustrate the storyline mode!!!!!!

Panting yet?

After two pretty stinky Punisher movies and a better-than-decent game from THQ, it’s quite difficult to pull off a Punisher movie/game/whatever without nailing every single aspect down pat.

Check out punishernomercy.com for more WILD, EXPLOSIVE MARVEL GREATNESS! Or Read this here release.

Hiddleston to Play Trickster Loki in Thor

Alongside burgeoning new star Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek), Marvel Studios announced today Tom Hiddleston will star as Loki in the 2011 release of Thor.

Hiddleston is relatively unknown actor in the big scheme of things, having appeared predominantly in TV series such as Wallender, Miss Austen Regrets, and Suburban Shootout, among others.

Following Marvel’s desire to tie-in multiple heroes in multiple movies (see the end of the Hulk and Iron Man, for example), Thor nicely ties into the Avengers’ theme.  The comic book team The Avengers starred various heroes over the years including Iron Man, the Vision, the Hulk, Valkyrie, Captain America, Ant Man, the Wasp, and Thor (among many others). This logically explains the next three years of Marvel movies: Iron Man 2 (May 7, 2010), The First Avenger: Captain America (July 22, 2011), and the Avengers (May 4, 2012).

Thor is scheduled for US release May 20, 2011.

I’m guessing that the low-key Samuel L. Jackson will play a part, even if very small, in each new film as Nick Fury. Kenneth Branagh will direct Thor, which is being written by Mark Protosevich, Ashley Miller, and Zak Stentz.

With Wolverine–currently the most popular Marvel character–getting a rather hack treatment on the silver screen (me = sad panda), and much higher expectations for Iron Man 2 than the original, I am a little perplexed that anyone would take on the notion of making a Thor movie.

Thor is not one of the stronger (i.e. more popular) or interesting Marvel characters, despite his Norse origins…which should make him legendary, right? (Or maybe Marvel thinks Thor will rake in the bucks in Sweden and Norway?) And with flops like Daredevil, Elektra, both Fantastic Four movies, and the surprisingly rank rendition of Wolverine (which I had hoped would be better) being churned out, Thor looks like a potential flop in the making. I can see him as part of an Avengers film, but alone? I hope I’m wrong, but a Thor movie sounds like a bad idea.

Iron Man 2: First Shot

What new contraptions does Stark have up his sleeve this time?

Marvel Pulse just posted the first still-shot of Robert Downey, Jr. in Iron Man 2.

OMG! It’s Robert Downey, Jr….

Now, get a grip! Yes, that’s him, looking just like Tony Stark. He’s got the generator built into his chest and perfectly poised in the background are four, yes four, Iron Man suits. Stark is assuredly building cool new weapons for his newest improved suit, too. One must wonder, though, how did he explain that whole “I am Iron Man” thing?

Don’t ponder too heavily, you’ve got one year and two days from now to think about it. Look for the film to arrive May 7, 2010.  Ack!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Fights Gambit Video

Wolverine fights Gambit? Hell yeah.

Marvel.com, which just launched a funky Wolverine Facebook app, posted a killer new video featuring Wolverine and Gambit kicking the shit out of each other in the upcoming videogame, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Activision’s game is due on Xbox 360 and PS3 May 1, 2009.

Watch the new video here.