Writer Steven S. DeKnight has got more than enough geek cred to bring any doubtful idea to a new level of excellence even when most other writers would choke under the pressure.

The man has worked with Joss Whedon in the Buffyverse and Angelverse, taken on young Superman in Smallville, and now he’s getting his blood and iron on with Spartacus.

Season 2 is starting up soon and Steven gives us some insight on how exactly they can pick up after the epic season 1 finale, and how difficult it was switching from Andy Whitfield to new star Liam McIntyre.

Another thing DeKnight touched on was a franchise he has yet to work with The Flash. He once proposed a series to WB in which we follow a young Flash in high school, and now Steven thinks this is a perfect time to get the project off the ground.

See what he had to say and more after the jump.

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Yes, there’s bound to be several barbarian-like hordes of Twilight fans (that is, if there were a tribe of sickly-looking, sparkle-ridden barbarians…maybe those wimpy Phoenicians) at this year’s Comic Con, but those of us who prefer vampires of Buffy-slaying variety will be pleased to know that Buffy creator Joss Whedon’s newest project A Cabin in the Woods now has a U.S. release date: April 13th, 2012. Need I mention that’s a Friday? OOooOOoooOOo!

Aside from Whedon producing and co-writing with frequent collaborator and Cloverfield and Buffy writer Drew Goddard (who’s also directing), Cabin stars Thor‘s Chris Hemsworth as a young professional who, with a group of friends, visits a rustic cabin in the woods (makes sense) “and ends up scratching the surface of something so massive and horrific that they can only begin to fathom it as time quickly runs out.” My guess is that it’s a busted septic line.

The film also stars Richard Jenkins (Let Me In), Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), Kristen Connolly (The Happening), Brian J. White (Stomp the Yard), Amy Acker (Angel), Fran Kranz (Donnie Darko), and Jesse Williams (Brooklyn’s Finest). Not much else has been said about the film, but with such names behind it, we can expect some genre-bending badassery (septic tank or not). Whedon himself has described it as, “The horror movie to end all horror movies,” though he may be slightly biased.

Congrats to all those who have made it past Comic-Con’s endless Hall H lines, sat through countless hours of the studio’s pleading with you to buy movie tickets, and made it back home in one, tired piece. What awaits you is a month filled with the studio’s last line of blockbuster attack ads until the holiday season.

Fear not, as the lines will be vastly shorter than the wait for Eclipse. Instead of emos and soccer moms in “Team Edward” T-shirts, you’ll find yourself beside teenage boys who watch Rocky V on their Evos while waiting for The Expendables.

Curiously, the generals of Universal and Lionsgate both decided to fire missiles into the 13-30 years old guys camp. With the troops dispersing, you should be able to deftly maneuver yourself to the safety of a comfy recliner at the multiplex.

My advice, do like Julia Roberts and Eat some buttery popcorn, Pray for a film worth the ticket price, and Love the below reviews. Let’s check out what’s in store for us in August.

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Julie Benz appears to have gone from victim to hero in one fell swoop. After leaving behind Rita Morgan after four seasons on Dexter, the actress is primed to portray Stephanie Powell on ABC’s upcoming family show, No Ordinary Family.  No longer the dead body in the bathtub, Powell is a busy professional scientist and researcher who develops super speed following a crash landing in the Amazon on a trip with her family. After deciding to move on from Dexter, Renz related that she was looking for a new challenge and the character of Stephanie was just what she was looking for.

“When pilot season started, my quest was to find a character that was strong female character, a character that is more active than Rita. I was getting offered a lot of parts that were similar to her and I was turning them down because I wanted to find something that was different.”

While there might be the temptation to compare Rita with Stephanie, Benz insists that she didn’t pull inspiration from portraying a mother on a previous show. For one thing, the personalities are incredibly different.

“I think they’re both mothers, but other than that, there’s really no commonality. Rita was not career driven at all, she was very dependent, very damaged with a lot of  vulnerabilities, very emotional. Stephanie’s very controlled, a Type A personality, goal oriented and has a hard time interacting with her own family.”

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In case you’re not familiar with the story of actor Steven Baldwin. He’s had a long career, was pretty popular and did some decent movies, including The Usual Suspects. But now, according to reports, he’s broke and needs money.

So, what do celebrities do when they’re broke and need money? They turn to the Internets of course. Although, according to the site established by a Christian ministry for Baldwin he didn’t commission them to put it together, they are just doing it to help out the actor.

What does all this have to do with Joss Whedon and his ass-kicking chicks? Glad you asked. Watch the video after the jump and all will be revealed in a pretty hilarious way.

Enjoy and don’t say we never gave you anything good.

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It seems the prayers of geeks everywhere are going to be answered as Joss Whedon is reportedly in final negotiations to direct The Avengers movie for Marvel Studios. This comes after rumors have been circulating for weeks that the Buffy, Firefly and Dollhouse creator was on the short list of possible helmers that would take on the project.

Marvel’s Avengers is to be a massive superhero team-up film featuring characters such as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Nick Fury and many others all assembling to fight bad guys and rally to save the world. Needless to say this film will be a huge undertaking for all involved and a giant, expensive release for Marvel.

I have to say that this news is still somewhat surprising given Whedon’s track record. His shows (Dollhouse, Firefly) get canceled by the networks, his one decent-sized feature film, Serenity, performed modestly at the box office and he seems to have a tendency to get kicked around a bit by “the powers that be” in Hollywood — which, of course, is one of the reasons fan’s love him. However, he is a tremendously talented writer, of that there is no doubt. Plus, he can direct.

It just seems like a very large and important project for a studio to take a chance on someone that’s never done a very large project before. Hollywood is not known for taking chances. They definitely prefer as much of a sure thing as they can get. And make no mistake, if Whedon is getting this job, somebody is taking a chance.

That said, I firmly believe he can do it and do it extremely well. He’s a smart, talented and thoughtful man. Plus, I’m just pretty damn psyched for the idea. I’m just still sorta amazed its actually happening. Maybe some of those “powers that be” in Hollywood are not as lame as I thought?

How about you guys? Do you think Joss Whedon is the right man to direct The Avengers? Assemble and sound off in the comments.

As I was watching the new Eclipse trailer, out of sheer boredom and a hint of curiosity, I found myself wondering why in the world two super-powered boys would fight it out over a girl clad in American Apparel who’s a hell of a downer.

How is there an entire film series devoted to one girl’s delusional obsessions of a fairy tale ending with a born-again killer? Sparkely vampires want to kill you, strapping werewolf shape-shifters want to keep you safe.

Do these Edward fans have a death wish and a yearning for abandonment? Is Bella Swan so heavily marketed as mesmerizing that it erases the history of the brazen blonde that came before her?

A long time ago, otherwise known as the 90’s, there was a series called Buffy the Vampire Slayer where a feisty girl from the southland slayed Urban Outfitted demons. This legendary show paved the way for multi-tasking girls who cheer by day, slay by night, and every once in a while hook-up with a tormented blood sucker.

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When I first heard Hawaii Five-O was getting the remake treatment I wasn’t that interested. I only vaguely remembered the original series and it was one step closer to rebooting Magnum P.I. (how sacrilegious would will that be?) in my opinion. However, I’ve begun to shift in the other direction regarding this series as more casting news comes out.

The most recent addition is James Marsters. Probably best known as Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Marsters also played Brianic on Smallville and Barnabas on Caprica.  As exciting as it may be to have him on the new Hawaii Five-O it doesn’t sound like he’ll have a continuing role, at least not yet. Marsters will be in the pilot and appear, “as the nemesis of lead character Jack McGarrett.”

At this point it seems producers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek, Transformers, Fringe) are trying to capture the geek community for the new show.  Marsters joins a cast that encapsulates geek programming; Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Jean Smart (24), and Alex O’Loughlin (Moonlight) are already on deck.  With Scott Caan on board as well suddenly Hawaii Five-O is a show I can start to get behind.

After long month of waiting since the news first broke, tonight fans of Buffy and Angel finally get their wish as James Marsters makes his debut on Caprica. Taking on the role of terrorist Barnabus Greely, Marsters will bring the crazy and definitely up the tension even more on this great show.

In the clip we’re introduced to Greely and from the first moment we know he’s not messing around. He’s here to make a difference and will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. It’s great to see Marsters, one of my favorite characters from Buffy and Angel, become a part of my favorite new Sci-Fi show. Now, all things are as they should be.

Check out the preview for tonight’s episode after the break. Caprica airs at 9/8C on Syfy.

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Welcome to another edition of The Pull List Comic Reviews! This week, the Blackest Night event takes center stage, Bendis and Oeming make a triumphant comeback and Archie gets married (again). As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

Blackest Night #5 [of 8]
DC Comics – $3.99 US
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis
Score: 9.0

The mastermind behind the dead rising stands revealed as the Blackest Night prophecy inches towards becoming true, but will the unified heroes of the world have enough to stop it? Not if a late dinner guest bearing gifts has anything to say about it.

Geoff Johns welcomes you all to hell. How could he not? In the thirty plus years that I’ve been reading comics, I can’t remember a time when things looked so grim in a story thanks to this issue. The big guns of the Justice League arrive in time to assist the Flashes – Barry Allen and Wally West – in confronting Nekron as the Black Lanterns’ power battery reaches full charge. Fast forward to the end of the issue and only two heroes remain standing while the rest are chomping at the bit, dying to feast on some good, old fashioned heart muscle. And this is only the fifth issue in an eight-issue series?!? Wow.

Johns, along with artist Ivan Reis, are obviously toying with us and giggling madly along the way. The re-emergence of “Bruce Wayne” – his name was in quotations in the issue as well – signaled that the next phase was about to begin, but what he did to heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, etc I don’t think anyone saw coming, characters and readers alike. The sixth issue cannot get here fast enough, if you ask me.

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DreamWorks Studios, with plans for a Fright Night remake, have signed Mad Men writer-producer Marti Noxon to write the script about a horror-obsessed teen who thinks his neighbor means something altogether different when sipping some red.

Noxon, no stranger to vampires herself since she was a writer-producer for both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it’s spin-off Angel, will keep the comedy/horror vibe the original had when it was released in 1985, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film went on to be a surprise box office hit, trailing only A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge in the horror department that summer.

Producers Michael De Luca, Michael Gaeta and Alison Rosenzweig had signed onto the project back in May of this year, while overseeing the project for DreamWorks will be co-president of production Mark Sourian. No word on a potential release date or casting as of yet, but we’ll keep you posted.

As we’ve done previously, we’ve got a preview of the brand new Marvel motion comic Astonishing X-Men: Gifted. Featuring the talents of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, this project offers fans a cool way to enjoy a great comic story on their favorite portable device like an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Even though I’m a fan of reading paper comics and I hope they don’t go away any time soon, this is just another way in which new fans can potentially be brought into the fold. Which is a good thing. Plus, with this kind of story and the talent involved, you have to expect this to be a pretty big success for Marvel. Hopefully, that will mean more comics will be getting the “motion” treatment.

So, check out this preview and enjoy it. Also, as we agreed to do in order to bring you cool things like this, following is Marvel’s “official” info about this project and this preview.

Marvel is proud to unveil your first look at episode 2 of the Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic! Based on the acclaimed story by superstars Joss Whedon (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and John Cassaday (Captain America), the X-Men are faced with a mysterious new villain and a possible cure for the mutant gene! Now Cyclops, Wolverine and all your favorite mutants must face the greatest threats of their lives and, before it’s all done, experience one of the most jaw-dropping moments in Marvel history!

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