Mark Hamill retiring his voice as the Joker

In an interview with Mark Hamill and IGN, Mark Hamill discusses his retirement from voicing our favorite clown prince of crime, the Joker. It's safe to say that Batman: The Animated Series spawned a definitive generation of Batman, towing fans of all kind to praise the breakthrough performance Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Andrea Romano crafted, including the fantastic voice talent of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. It's not uncommon to hear Batman fans using BTAS as the standard to all other visions of Batman. It's sad to hear Hamill will be retiring his Joker voice, but it's exciting to know he'll be going out with a bang for the second video game installment of Batman: Arkham Asylum. The storyline was compelling enough to keep Hamill onboard, considering he wanted to retire the Joker with the first game.

"Mark Hamill, known as both Luke Skywalker and one of the most revered voices of the Joker, says he'll be hanging up his acid-squirting flower after completing Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. In an IGN interview, the veteran actor says he was reluctant to return to the role for the original Arkham, and even more so for its sequel. "This will be my last, there's no question about that," he said. "But it's the last hurrah."

Read the full article here.

James McAvoy to be cast as Charles Xavier in X-Men film reboot

The X-Men reboot, X-Men: First Class (to be directed by Matthew Vaughn), has cast James McAvoy to play a young Charles Xavier. McAvoy's film credentials include Wanted, The Last King of Scotland and The Chronicles or Narnia. If you can imagine Patrick Stewart as a young man, it's not hard to picture James McAvoy. McAvoy is a solid actor, and I think this is setting the stage well for the X-Men reboot. Combine that with the semi-faithful adaptation of Matthew Vaugn's Kick-Ass, I think X-Men fans won't be disappointed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Wolverine won't be in this film and that Cyclops will actually have a pair of balls!

Movie Review: Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time had potential to be Disney’s next Pirates of the Carribean with Bruckheimer on board. Unfortunately, it fell slightly short and was no more or no less than what I expected this movie to be. What you get in the trailers is what you get in this film.

Jake Gyllanhall did an outstanding job convincing me he was the Prince of Persia and Gemma Arterton was as fun to watch as she was smoldering hot, but there was something lacking in the film that made it un-memorable. It may have to do with the time travel aspect being the focal point of the story. The problem I have with movies that deal with time travel is that everything can be fixed and the conflict that made the movie interesting can be isolated and corrected too easily. There was also a level of repeativeness that made the ending all too predictable. Everyone in Daston’s (Gyllanhall’s character) inner circle that uncovered the truth beyond the deception was quickly killed off.

I’ve never played any of the Prince of Persia video games, but I’m familiar with some of the game play. The parkour that was prominantely displayed in every chase and escape scene was a nice touch, bringing the game to life, but I was honestly hoping for more of it.

Overall, it’s a fun movie a decent amount of action. There’s action, humor and tragedy but the movie needed more of a plot device than a time traveling dagger quick fix.

Batpod anyone?

A real working replica in fact! Looks like you can be a proud owner of your own, fully functional replica Batpod! "Fully functional" meaning you can drive this thing to work "fully functional," minus the explosives and wall-rotational-doohicky-thing-a-ma-jig. The eBay auction was originally set with a reserve price for $30,000 with no takers, so they knocked the price down to a humbling $5,000 or best offer.

The Return of Bruce Wayne: Action Figures!

The moment I saw the varied cover sketches of "The Return of Bruce Wayne" I thought it would be make for a great action figure line-up! Sure enough, DC Direct already has series one in motion! I can't wait to buy these figures! Thanks to Toynewsi.com for the pics:

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Batman: Under the Red Hood will be hitting stores on July 27th! Warner Brothers Entertainment also has a site dedicated to this animated film which you can find here.

UD Replicas - Iron Man Mark V (Suitcase Armor)

The team that brought you The Dark Knight's armor in motorcycle fashion is possibly taking on a new license with Marvel Studio's! They will be recreating Tony Stark's Mark V (aka Suitcase Armor). I wonder if the chest (pseudo Arc Reactor) will light up?



Rewind back a bit, I actually own The Dark Knight suit that I purchased from UDreplicas.com. Nothing comes closer to wearable art while being fully functional for motorcycle wear than The Dark Knight suit. I'll review it soon with some detailed pics.

I'd also like to say kudos to David Pea and his team at Universal Designs for a great customer experience, in addition to producing great high quality gear! David Pea was kind enough to personally answer all of my questions before making my purchase. As soon as the Batman Begins suit and Utility Belt is available, I plan to be first in line to buy!

Season 9 Finale of Smallville: Salvation

Smallville's season nine finale brought fans slightly closer to seeing Superman in full garb, but not quite. Simply, a mirrored glimpse of things to come, as Clark's famous red and blue suit is literally made available to him at his fingertips. The show's ending was bitter sweet, leaving a heavy-handed cliff hanger with obvious things to come for the next season, which may sadly be it's last. In "Salvation," they managed to wrap the season up well in a neat little package, as the Kandorians are wisked away to their new planet thanks to the "Book of Rao," Zod included. Leaving us with Clark, falling off a building in a crucified pose, with a sharp chunk of blue kryptonite lodged in his stomach. The things I liked most about this finale was the glimpse of the future, the hard goodbye between Lois and Clark, and the final fight scene between Clark and Zod. I'm really hoping they carry this steam well into the next season, holding nothing back! If it is their last season... might as well end it with a bang!

The Cape

I've known nothing about this show other than it's obvious nod to superheroes. I have to admit, it doesn't look half bad. It's got some Batman, some Punisher, some Batman, with a whole lotta the Spirit.

More on Batman Arkham Asylum figures

C'mon guys... it's not rocket science! Please leave Batman's cape black or very dark blue. One color would be fine, not this two-tone nonsense! Is it really that hard to stick to one color? Otherwise, the sculpt looks great. I like the protective clam-shell packaging, and the card artwork looks suitable. I'm hoping we get another series with a scalable Croc or Bane!