It is quite possible The Avengers is the most important superhero film of all time. It could singlehandedly set a bar for audience acceptance in multi-film, continuity heavy, comic book franchise.

Not to mention the fact that this is essentially the sequel to four different individual franchises. So yeah, people pay attention when things like two new banners are unveiled.

Yahoo! Movies and Moviefone both debuted one of the two new character banners for The Avengers. The first depicting the main four heroes from previous franchises, and the other showcasing supporting characters and the villain of the movie.

These are very standard looking character posters, but there are a few interesting things we are seeing here. For one, this is the first time I have seen Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and I see the character more so than the actor. Also, Captain America is the only one in mask and not showcasing a star of the film.

This might be some extreme over analyzation, but I think it really fits the character of Cap to stay in his mask, as opposed to the nigh celebrity in Tony Stark, who is on the poster sans helmet.

Compared to the Comic-Con connected character posters, these banners seem almost lazy. It is almost like they had a series of cool character posters and chained them together for the sake of creating something banner sized. It would have been much more exciting to see the comic style painted posters as a banner and these cut up into individual pieces.

Take a look at the full spread of posters after the jump.

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Most of the fanboys and fangirls will get plenty of Kristen Stewart next week with the first half of Twilight: Breaking Dawn, but for those who want to see her in less of a”damsel in distress” capacity and more of a strong heroine type, you’ve got the upcoming film Snow White and the Huntsman.

The film is going to highlight a bit more of a mythical take on the classic Snow White fairytale, which will be nice, seeing as how this is one of three Snow White incarnations we’re getting now, including ABC’s Once Upon a Time series and Relativity Media’s Mirror Mirror.

So you’re caught up to speed on this prett-people-filled flick, here’s the synopsis.

In the epic action-adventure Snow White and the Huntsman, Kristen Stewart plays the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen (Charlize Theron) out to destroy her. But what the wicked ruler never imagined is that the young woman threatening her reign has been training in the art of war with a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) dispatched to kill her.

You can see this trailer embiggened this weekend as it’s attached to reels of Immortals, or just catch it after the jump. Snow White and the Huntsman is set to hit theaters June 1st.

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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: It’s no secret that one of the most highly anticipated comic book movies of all time is Marvel’s upcoming The Avengers. Directed by Joss Whedon and featuring an all-star cast, the movie’s geek pedigree could not be better.

It has all your favorite characters including Iron Man, Captain America, Nick Fury, Thor and Scarlett Johansson in skintight leather. Come one, what more could you want from a comic book movie?

Recently, we shared some cool pics from the upcoming film. Today, we’ve got something even better: the first trailer.

In it we get our first real look at the film, the characters and what’s going to be the biggest movie of 2012. And man, does it look good.

Check it out after the break. The Avengers, which stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Samuel L. Jackson, arrives in theaters on May 4, 2012.

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It’s no secret that one of the most highly anticipated comic book movies of all time is Marvel’s upcoming The Avengers. Directed by Joss Whedon, the movie’s geek pedigree could not be better.

It features all your favorite characters including Iron Man, Captain America, Nick Fury, Thor and Scarlett Johansson in skintight leather. Come one, what more could you want from a comic book movie?

Marvel has released a few new pics from The Avengers to get you even more psyched to see it. Not that you probably needed it. Like us, we’re sure you’ll be in line on day one for what promises to be the greatest Marvel movie of al time.

Check out the pics after the break. The Avengers, which stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Samuel L. Jackson, arrives in theaters on May 4, 2012.

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Right after the presentation late yesterday at Comic-Con in San Diego, Universal Pictures released the first promo images for their upcoming re-imagining of the Snow White story called The Huntsman. And to be honest, they look pretty cool.

In this images we get our first look at Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Charlize Theron as the Queen, Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman and Sam Claflin as the Prince. The film also features Ian McShane, Eddie Izzard, Bob Hoskins, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Steven Graham and Nick Frost.

Sadly, no pics of any of them just yet. Got to get the big characters and big actor names out in front first, apparently. According to reports from the panel, the proof of concept footage from the film looked pretty good too so if these images and that fact give us a bit of hope that the tend will continue and this movie will end up finishing the sam way.

The Hunstman opens on June 1, 2012. Click through to see all the rest of the images.

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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.

With anticipation for the start of Comic-Con 2011 at a fever pitch (It’s tomorrow!) one of the things we’re really looking forward to is some Avengers news and appearances by some of the cast and director. To help us, and those of you attending the Con, Marvel has released it’s signing schedule for the upcoming film.

Keep in mind that each signing is a ticketed event, which means that attendees will have to make their way to the Marvel booth as soon as the convention opens on Thursday to secure their free (but limited) tickets. So, in other words, if you want to get something signed by one of these guys, get their early and be ready to wait in line.

Here’s the schedule:

Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Chris Evans (Captain America)

Saturday, 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson)

Saturday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Joss Whedon, writer/director

The Avengers, which opens May 4, 2012, also stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. Obviously, they were too busy to come to San Diego from New Mexico for the Con. Sad, but true.

As one of the great modern TV writers of the current time, Damon Lindelof has certainly gotten into the hearts and minds of science fiction fans everywhere with both LOST and several other projects with J.J. Abrams. That coveted spot didn’t come without work, however, and that’s just what we have today.

Back before the show was a hit, Lindelof wrote a short play about a young time traveling boy genius and his awkward dinner with Nazis who were setting out to kill him and his family. The screenplay was then turned into a short last year, and had some pretty impressive guest appearances. Here’s the premise:

When Dade Klublershturf (Samm Levine) brings home his new girlfriend Daniella (Rachel Nichols), it’s as awkward as you’d expect any meet-the-parents dinner to be. However, events take an unexpected turn when Dade’s brother Ollie (Super 8‘s Zach Mills) reveals that Daniella, along with a couple of other last-minute dinner guests (Chris Hemsworth and Norman Reedus) are actually secret Nazis trying to steal Ollie’s time travel machine for sinister purposes. Jack Axelrod, Lainie Kazan, and George Segal also star.

Check out the full short after the jump, in all of it’s dialogue-heavy drama, and be sure to comment below as to how you can see why showrunning partner Carlton Cuse decided to pick up this young writer Lindelof after a simple play about a dinner party.

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The Marvel movie machine just keeps on chugging. With Thor released earlier this year, Captain America set for next month and Joss Whedon’s Avengers on the way, Marvel has now set its sights on a sequel to Thor.

The studio has reportedly set a Summer 2013 release for the sequel to the film which featured Chris Hemsworth as the title character. He is expected to return for the sequel but, good or bad depending upon your thoughts about the first film, director Kenneth Branagh reportedly will not be back for the second installment.

According to the report, the director’s exit from the production was “mutual and amicable. ” That’s nice, Of course, if it wasn’t, nobody would ever say anything. People gotta keep working in Hollywood after all so you don’t want to burn any bridges . . . if you can help it.

Marvel has already set Iron Man 3 with Robert Downey Jr. to open on May 3, 2013 so expect Thor 2 to hit theaters more like July. No word yet on other cast members from the first film such as Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings or Tom Hiddleston returning for the sequel.

However, for big movies like this actors usually are contracted for at least two films, with an option for a third, so I would expect those actors to be back as well. We’ll keep an eye on this as it develops.

As we rapidly approach the release of Captain America: The First Avenger, which is the final Marvel film leading up to next year’s The Avengers, we expect to be getting a lot more coverage and peeks at images and stills from the new film while it shoots in New Mexico and Ohio.

While we haven’t gotten there just yet, a correspondent over at ESQ. magazine managed to snap a shot of the brand new promo poster that Marvel is using to sell the film at the recent International Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.

Definitely digitally rendered, it’s not an exact depiction as to what we’re going to get from the film itself, but it gives a good idea at what we can look forward to when Joss Whedon brings everyone together for what will likely be an epic film.

The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Clark Gregg, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Tom Hiddleston, and Stellan Skarsgård and hits theaters May 4, 2012.

Check out the first poster after the jump and let us know what you think!

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In the war between Universal and Relativity Media for Snow White dominance, it looks like Relativity has made the latest advance. The company has pushed up its untitled Snow White project to March 16, 2012, from June 29. This comes days after Universal moved Snow White and the Huntsman up six months to June 1.

Relativity’s version has Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Armie Hammer and is directed by Tarsem Singh. Universal’s has Rupert Sanders directing Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth. With all the shuffling around you have to wonder if both of these movies will make it to the big screen. With all the jockying for position it would appear boith companies are serious about their projects. So, expect to see both of these see the light of day — ready or not.

This is just one of three pictures that Relativity has dated in moves that seem to be geared directly toward this competition against Universal. The company also announced it has moved its adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks romance novel Safe Haven to be released on June 1, 2012 and selected a Dec. 21, 2012 release date for the Phillip Noyce thriller Hunter Killer.

Check out the full release from Relativity after the jump. This reminds me of the time there were competing movies that featured a comet and or/asteroid about to destroy the earth.

You remember how that turned out? No, neither do we. But it probably wasn’t all that great – especially when movies are rushed into production just to meet a release data. That always works out well.

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While Thor has hammered the competition in theaters, it looks as though this will not be the case for the console release of the tie-in game Thor: God of Thunder. Archaic visuals alongside punishing and repetitive gameplay place Thor: God of Thunder amongst the list of failed movie to game tie ins, though the story doesn’t directly coincide with that of the Thor motion picture.

Gameplay:

Thor: God of Thunder attempts to model itself around other successful action games such as God of War or Dante’s Inferno. Players make their way through specific pathways in levels where they hack and smash through redundant hordes of faceless drones.

Thor uses standard melee attacks alongside his powers of wind, thunder and lightning and hammer throws to defeat these enemies. The downside to these god powers is they aren’t exactly very powerful and Thor’s Odinforce (think of it like Mana or Action Points) quickly depletes, leaving him with only a few sparks to shoot off over the course of combat. The rest of the time, players can simply button mash the standard attack button until grapple options become available.

As mentioned previously, Thor combats larger enemies by actually climbing up them and attacking specific spots on their body to inflict more damage. This, much like the rest of combat, becomes quickly repetitive in finding a way to dodge enemies until they are stunning to where Thor must repeatedly beat their armor off of them to uncover their weak spot. Though different enemies have different spots that must be destroyed, the principal doesn’t change.

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