2009 San Diego Comic-Con may have ended weeks ago but it continues to bear its geeky fruit to the legions of fans who love all things comics/sci-fi/fantasy … including fans of Iron Man. Yesterday afternoon, 5 minutes of footage that was screened at Comic-Con this year finally made its way to the Internets for all to see. The footage isn’t really all that action-packed but we do get a glimpse of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in action and a pretty good look at Whip Lash (Mickey Rourke) … AND our first look at War Machine in action:

You know it was bound to happen that someone with a Flip cam will have gotten the courage to post footage they shot at the now-legendary Hall H Presentation for Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2. Here at ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! we don’t support piracy of any kind, but so many of our readers who couldn’t make it to San Diego (or get into Hall H) have been clamoring to see the footage that we decided to share a decent bootlegged leaked of the video posted to YouTube. Check it out below before it gets yanked by Marvel and Paramount!

Just a head’s up, the footage is a bit grainy and sometimes blurry and off center but, hello, it’s bootleg so … beggers can’t be choosers. After the jump, check out video of the 5 minute preview clip of Iron Man 2 in full …

READ THE REST OF THIS POST »

Last week we got our first look at Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in the new film Iron Man 2 (due out in theaters next Spring) and today we get to check out another new photo of Scarlett as Romanoff along with new promo pics of the other characters in Iron Man 2 … including Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodey Rhodes and Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. Here are the new promo pics along with some info on Iron Man 2’s presence at Comic-Con in San Diego, CA this weekend:

Mickey Rourke’s screams fill the empty basin of the Los Angeles River and spill into the midnight air. He’s having trouble with his Russian accent, which is turning the intended line from the Iron Man 2 script — “until you’ve lost everything” — into “Until you’ve lost every ting.” And the off-camera epithets are flying. After a half-dozen takes, he nails it. As he does after many scenes, Rourke beckons to his personal assistant — a round, unkempt guy known on set as “Superbad” because of his resemblance to actor Jonah Hill— who lights a smoke and puts it between Rourke’s lips. “Damn,” Rourke mutters, settling into a director’s chair. “That’s a tricky accent. But I wanted to be more than a one-note villain. That might have worked in the old comic-book movies, but not now. Not with these fans.” By “these” fans, Rourke means the 125,000 who will be awaiting him and dozens of other stars, filmmakers and TV producers who dare peddle their wares at Comic-Con, the nation’s largest convention of pop-culture junkies and self-proclaimed superhero nerds. The convention, which kicks off Wednesday night at the San Diego Convention Center, has become kind of an American Idol-style tryout for Hollywood. Since 2001, when 20th Century Fox trotted out its cast for X-Men, studios and networks have tried to dazzle the Twittering YouTube generation with celebrity glad-handing, sneak peeks and panel discussions. Of course, bringing your product to Comic-Con can be like singing for a room full of Simon Cowells. “This is about the toughest group there is to impress,” says Robert Downey Jr., reprising his role as playboy superhero Tony Stark. “They’re watching your footage, every one of them waiting to Twitter whether you suck.” … “You can’t underestimate how powerful this group is,” Favreau says. “It’s an unlimited press corps, all of them knowing how to communicate in a digital age. The geeks have inherited the Earth, and that’s good news for us.”

The raucous festivities at Comic-Con get underway tonight and will carry forth into the weekend. I have to say, as much fun as the superhero/sci-fi lovefest sounds I cannot, for the life of me, imagine that I would not have my head explode if I indulged. I never had the chance to attend Comic-Con when it wasn’t such a big deal … now that it’s the biggest deal ever, I can’t say that I have any interest in throwing myself into the fray. I’m sure that the legions of fans who are making their way to SD right now (and over the coming days) will have a blast … I will be just happy to watch from afar … and by “afar” I mean right here at home ;)

[Source]

Entertainment Weekly magazine scored a bit of a coup this week as they are able to feature the principal stars of the much-anticipated sequel Iron Man 2 on their cover this week. Additionally, EW is also giving us the exclusive first look at Scarlett Johansson in the role of Black Widow! Here is the cover of this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly that features Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Ivan Vanko/Whiplash (Mickey Rourke):

Entertainment Weekly’s second annual Comic-Con preview issue features Iron Man 2 on the cover, and inside it’s packed with exclusive first looks at highly anticipated TV shows, comic books, and movies. The first Iron Man blasted Robert Downey Jr. back to stardom, and the superhero franchise is readying to return to the big screen on May 7, 2010. Iron Man will battle new villain Mickey Rourke, size up Scarlett Johansson (exclusive photo of ScarJo as Black Widow, after the jump!), and, hopefully, prove that the success of the first movie wasn’t a fluke. Downey knows the movie isn’t an underdog this time around. “There are a lot more invisible eyes on us now,” he says. When Marvel Studios first announced the sequel, no one was sure what the movie would be about. Downey, director Jon Favreau, screenwriter Justin Theroux, and the rest of the creative team struck upon the idea of introducing two very different foes for Stark. On one side is Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a fast-talking weapons manufacturer who fancies himself the next Tony Stark; on the other, Vanko, who, while incarcerated in a Russian prison, creates his own battle-suit, which shoots devastating, whip-like beams. Hammer and Whiplash join forces to take down Downey’s character, Tony Stark. Rourke, for his part, wanted to instill some lightness into the role of the heavy. “I told Favreau, ‘I don’t want to just play him as a one-dimensional p—-,’” he says. “He let me have a cockatoo, who I talk to and get drunk with while I’m making my suit.” Just as the deals were being hammered out, Terrence Howard — who had played Stark’s best friend — fell out of the sequel in a public salary dispute. The role was re-cast, with Don Cheadle stepping in. “We had to make some tough deals,” says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. “When they got public, you go, ‘That sucks. Okay, you want a peek behind the curtain? Here you are!’” Says Cheadle, “Terrence and I couldn’t be more different. We address it head-on in the movie in one exchange. We’re not trying to fool people.” (Cheadle admits he didn’t know much about Marvel’s superhero before the first movie came out: “I always thought Iron Man was a robot.”)

It may seem a bit early to be featuring characters from Iron Man 2 on a magazine cover, especially since the film doesn’t open in theaters until Spring of next year, but with Comic-Con taking place in San Diego, CA next week it makes sense that EW would want to put a big name attraction on the cover. After the jump, check out the first promo pic of Scarlett as Black Widow that has been released to the media …

READ THE REST OF THIS POST »

Back in March we learned that Mickey Rourke, the Comeback Kid, had traveled to Russia to prepare for his role as Ivan Vanko (Whiplash) in the upcoming sequel film Iron Man 2 and then in early May we got our first look at the first photo from the film (Tony Stark chillin’ in his Iron Man laboratory). Today we get to see the second photo released from the film and our first look at Rourke in full costume as Whiplash … behold:

In Iron Man 2, the scarlet and golden-metaled hero must face an adversary with some amazing gadgets of his own. Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) sports a power pack on his chest that looks similar to the one that Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) uses. “The technologies are definitely related,” says director Jon Favreau. “That’s part of the core theme of the film.” The villain’s alter ego, Ivan Vanko, is a Russian who “has constructed his own version of a suit,” Favreau says. Among the creative innovations: a pair of whips, powered by the suit’s glowing chest piece, that are expected to keep Iron Man cracking. Whiplash “is going to light them up,” Rourke quips. This first image of the character shows Whiplash making an appearance at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix. Favreau as usual is tight-lipped about plot points and declines to discuss whether the big-screen Whiplash is, as in the Marvel Comics, a weapons designer who works for Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a competitor of Tony Stark/Iron Man. “We like to play into and against the expectations that people might have, so we mixed it up a bit,” Favreau says. Rourke’s performances in Sin City and The Wrestler helped convince the director that the actor was the best candidate to face Downey in his sequel to last spring’s blockbuster that grossed $318.4 million. “It was very important that the villain be as compelling as can be. … Once I thought of Mickey in that role, it made me understand how to shape the story.”

Hahahaha … the pic is kinda cool but I’m not sure I quite see Whiplash just yet. All I see is The Wrestler wearing bondage gear. Mickey does have that gnarled look that makes him look like a badass … but until we can hear him speak or see him in action we won’t really get a good feel for his take on the character. Even still … I’m loving that director Jon Favreau loves to release photos like this so early in production … the film doesn’t open in theaters until May of next year but we’re already getting photos like this. My guess is that if another “first look” photo gets released it’ll be of Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow. So … what do y’all think of this photo of Whiplash?

[Source]

Altho the movie won’t be opening in theaters until May of 2010 (less than 12 months from now, on 050710 to be exact), we get our first look today at the first teaser poster for Iron Man 2 which has been unveiled at the Licensing International Expo in Las Vegas, NV that is going on this week. While the poster itself isn’t all too exciting, it does signal the start of the promo machine for Iron Man 2 that will, most likely, help the film do very well at the box office next year:

If I’m being completely honest, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if this photo was a left-over from the first Iron Man film but … I guess it’s never too early be begin promoting the big Summer blockbuster movie … even tho the current Summer blockbuster movie season has yet to really get underway.

[Source via Source]

Robert Downey, Jr., who is currently in production for the sequel to the wildly successful Iron Man in Hollywood, CA, was spotted doing a bit of fight training with a professional on the set of Iron Man 2 earlier today. Here are a couple of pics:

It’s so hard for me to see RDJ as a tough guy. I know he does some fighting in Sherlock Holmes (which we got a peek at in the new just-released movie trailer) and it looks like he’ll be kickin’ butt in Iron Man 2 but … he’s a lover, not a fighter.

[Photo credit: X17]

Last Friday we got our first look at a new promo pic from the film Iron Man 2 (which just went into production a few weeks ago) which showed Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark in his superhero secret lair. Today we get to see photos of RDJ filming out in public as director Jon Favreau puts the comic hero in a funny situation. Earlier this week, Favreau posted a fun photo on his official Twitter profile of the comic hero filming a funny scene for the film … here it is:

It looks as if someone (Iron Man perhaps?) is taking a respite from the trials of crime fighting in order to indulge his sweet tooth. After the jump, check out a more zoomed in photo for a closer look …

READ THE REST OF THIS POST »