Though it was rumored months ago, Marvel Studios has officially announced that actor Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith in The Matrix, among others) has been cast as the main antagonist, the Red Skull, in Joe Johnston’s upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger.

The news doesn’t come as much of a shock, even without the rumors. Weaving has made himself known as one of the top character actors to play a marketable villain since his work in The Matrix, and has even reprrised his badassery in Michael Bay’s Transformers films as Megatron. Also, director Johnston just finished and released The Wolfman for Universal, which cast Weaving as one of the main characters.

In the film, the character is said to be an updated version of the villain we know from the comics. In this incarnation, Johann Schmidt is drafted into the Third Reich and given the codename “The Red Skull.” In the comics, Schmidt is given the name due to an accident that caused his head to be…a red skull. Whether or not they will actually put Weaving in tons of makeup has yet to be announced.

The film also stars Sebastian Stan (Hot Tub Time Machine) as Bucky Barnes, Hayley Atwell (The Prisoner) as Peggy Carter, and Chris Evans as the titular Captain America. Captain America: The First Avenger is currently set to hit theaters on July 22, 2011.

While a few faces may change in the Marvel movies (like Eric Bana to Ed Norton) or some actors may cross over (like Chris Evans playing Johnny Storm and Captain America), there is always one consant: the Stan Lee Cameo. He’s made an appearance in just about every Marvel film since they started with X-Men back in 2000.

It seems with this new wave of Marvel films coming up, even “The Man” isn’t getting a break. We get to see Stan as “Larry King” coming up in Iron Man 2, and we’re now getting word of where he’ll pop up in the upcoming Thor film. From Fanboyweb.com

Thor’s hammer ( Mjolnir ) is found lying inside a crater in the middle of the road by the U.S. Army. The army tries to move it but can’t because it’s too heavy. They decide to bring in a truck for assistance. The soldiers tie Thor’s hammer to the back of the truck with chains. The truck driver accelerates to pull Mjohnir. The back half of the truck falls apart as the front keeps moving. Finally, the camera cuts to the driver who happens to be comic legend Stan Lee.

Some may think it’s campy, but most think it’s a nice homage to the man who first thought up concepts like a scientists who’s hit by gamma rays or a teenager who’s bit by a radioactive spider. It’s nice to see that no matter what, we can always expect to see his smiling mustachioed face.

Next question is, where does Stan fit in to the upcoming films that have yet to start shooting? Could he be a delivery man knocking on the doors of Avengers Mansion? Is he the kind, old janitor that first stumbles onto The Ant-Man? Will he play a Nazi getting sucker-punched by Captain America? Only time will tell.

Stan Lee has undoubtedly had a pretty amazing career, going as far back as the days of the Marvel Bullpen. He has the mantle of creating some of the world’s most beloved and well-known characters, as well as the impressive feat of still being alive to see them come to visual fruition in the form of big-budget films.

Though he may have had a bit of a lover’s quarrel with Marvel a few years back, they seemed to have made up, and Stan has been making the rounds in just about every Marvel film dating back to Spider-Man. In just the world of Iron Man alone, “The Man” has played Hugh Hefner, Larry King, and in a brand new spot for Dr. Pepper, a janitor at Tony Stark’s house.

The spot is pretty funny, but for those who aren’t laughing, you still get a look at Stark’s array of Iron Man costumes (including what looks to be the classic “Secret Wars” armor), as well as the voice of Paul Bettany as Jarvis.

Check out the spot after the jump, and be sure to catch Iron Man 2 in theaters and IMAX on May 7th.

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This week On the Radar a bunch of gaming news about Halo and Gears of War, Red Sonja switches up celebrity hotties, Mark Strong talks Sinestro in Green Lantern and Tom Arnold takes to the sea to fight aliens!

Court dismisses Marvel, Stan Lee law suit.  Excelsior!

While Stan Lee has been working overtime on film cameos and convention appearances he’s also been dealing with legal fights.  This one was between Stan Lee Media Inc. and it’s former board members.  At it’s most basic level the case was over ownership of mainstream characters like Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Fantastic Four.

The judge dismissed the case based on two primary factors.  First, the shareholders did not acquire their shares until a year after the issue of ownership occurred and second, said shareholders should not have waited nearly a decade to file their case.  No word yet on whether the decision will be appealed so until next time true believers…

Halo movie will be happening at some point

What should be an easy sell as far as a video game adaption, Halo has struggled to gain traction with studios.  However, Frank O’Connor of Microsoft Game Studios has said the film will happen eventually:

“We’re going to make a movie when the time is right,” he said. “We own the IP. If we want to make a movie, the scale of all the other stuff that we do changes dramatically. We make tens and tens of millions of dollars on ancillary stuff, toys, apparel, music and publishing. If we do a movie all of that will grow exponentially. We have some numbers if we do a movie, but it changes everything. It also changes our target and age demographic.”

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Marvel fans who have been dreaming about future sequels to Iron Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man might be entering into a creative nightmare. According to The Hollywood Reporter the children of comic book icon Jack Kirby have officially sued Marvel to terminate copyrights and gain profits from such lucrative comic creations as Iron Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man.

The suit, officially filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, is a follow-up move from the 45 notices of termination the estate sent out to Marvel, and owner the Walt Disney Co., as well as Sony, Universal, Fox in September of 2009. Marvel responded in January, filing its own lawsuit, claiming the creations were “work-made-for-hire” and that Marvel was the real “author” of such works under the 1909 Copyright Act.

Kirby’s heirs are seeking declaratory relief, including copyright termination and profits, focusing on Kirby’s chief creative period, from 1958 to 1963, when Marvel existed in a tiny office with few employees and relied upon “freelancers to which they had little or no obligation.” As such, they are disputing Marvel’s claim that all creations were “work for hire.”

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This week on the radar we’ve got news on Steven Spielberg’s potential return to dinosaurs, the status of the third Mortal Kombat film, NBC gets a Gold in the ratings competition, and what comic book legend may show up on one of our favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory.

Let’s see what blips are on the radar this week.

Boba Fett, finally the deadliest action figure in a galaxy far, far away

If you’re like me, you grew up on the first generation of Star Wars toys and action figures. You know the ones, they had a massive (sarcasm) five points of articulation. Well, one figure that was sort of an urban legend was the missile-firing Boba Fett.  We all heard of it, but rarely saw it.  Well, now it can be yours with the purchase of five other figures!  Offer expires 3/31/2011, while supplies last, only valid in US and Canada…and a whole lot of other legal fine print I’m sure.

Tron: Legacy viral campaign starts to gear up

Disney teased everyone at last year’s Comic Con about a Tron viral campaign. With the highly anticipated film set to open this December online viral goodness have started to trickle out.  The first is a new site with a somewhat enigmatic theme to it.  Can you figure out what it is?  I don’t want to ruin it, but if you must know check this link out.

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If you haven’t heard by now Clerks and Cop Out director Kevin Smith was asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight last weekend.  The reason, he was deemed a “safety risk”, or in Smith’s words, “too fat to fly.” That’s right, Southwest Airlines tossed “Silent Bob” off a flight. What has the world come to?

Smith has come out and said he wasn’t drinking, acting out-of-the-ordinary, or too fat to fit in the seat:

“Dear @SouthwestAir, I flew out in one seat, but right after issuing me a standby ticket, Oakland Southwest attendant Suzanne (wouldn’t give last name) told me Captain Leysath deemed me a “safety risk”. Again: I’m way fat… But I’m not THERE just yet. But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I’m seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who’d already I.d.ed me as ‘Silent Bob.’”

Armrests securely down, he was all prepared to leave (with his bag stowed no less) when the Captain asked that he be removed. Granted, anything could have happened on that flight, but the fact Southwest Airlines tried to issue him a $100 voucher in response (which he refused) doesn’t help their case.

All that said, a number of people have come to Smith’s defense, including Marvel‘s own Stan Lee.  Speaking via Twitter, Lee made a few remarks in support of Smith’s case:

@smilinstanlee: The only way Kevin could look really fat would be if he packed his pockets with cards bearing the names of each of his 1,600,000 followers!

@smilinstanlee: Maybe us thin guys who don’t take up the whole seat on a plane should ask for a discount! It ought’a work both ways!

While humorous, Lee’s remarks note one very important thing; Smith has over a million followers on Twitter.  Sure, there could be a lot of spam accounts in there but let’s assume even half (I’m sure there are more than that) are real people.  500,000 or so individuals following, listening and generally waiting for Smith to say something.

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We at The Flickcast are pretty diligent about serving up all the news that comes out each week. However, try as we may to cover it all, some things occassionally slip by. Well, no longer.

Welcome to On The Radar! This weekly post will be your premiere destination for a comprehensive roundup of items that may be developing stories we’re watching, Twitter commentary, or other relevant news that wasn’t quite ready for prime time just yet.  In short, a grab bag of geek items which are sure to please.

Let’s see what blips are on the radar this week.

‘Zombieland’ devours video rentals

Zombieland dominated the video lists this week, “…on the Nielsen VideoScan Blu-ray Disc chart, “Zombieland” went three for three, bowing at No. 1 and …racked up 31% of its total first-week sales from the Blu-ray Disc.” Way to go Zombieland, we can’t wait for the sequeal.

‘Avatar’ 3D boosts Cineplex ticket sales in Canada

3D showings of Avatar did wonders for Cineplex’s bottom line in Canada, “Despite running for only 13 days during its latest financial frame, “Avatar 3D” was Cineplex’s biggest boxoffice performer during the fourth quarter to Dec. 31, and has done around $74 million in Canadian ticket receipts to date.” No surprise really given the popularity of this film and the fact 3D showings are still being sold, out or causing line-ups.

Geek flicks drive Viacom profits

DVD and Blu-Ray disc sales from Star Trek, Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe stimulated Viacom’s fourth quarter earnings to the tune of $694 million.  Not bad considering the $173 million it made in the same quarter in 2008.  Also helping was the indie hit Paranormal Activity which increased operating expenses by 24%.

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When you think of comics and comic history, one name probably comes to mind pretty quickly: Stan Lee. Having created or co-created some of the most famous and popular characters in comics history, his name has become synonymous with comics and Marvel, the company he helped put on the map.

Now, “The Man” is lending his talents to a new project for Marvel, the Marvel Digital Holiday Special. This four-part comic is available only online and features a story by Stan lee himself. For more info on the comic and where to get it, check out the official press release. And, be sure to check out some pages and a cover from the comic after the jump.

‘Tis the season to celebrate! And what better way to do so than with the 2009 Marvel Digital Holiday Special – an exclusive, four-part comic available only at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited (www.marvel.com/digitalcomics). The legendary Marvel founding father Stan “The Man” Lee makes his Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited exclusive debut, penning a special Fantastic Four tale with art by Nick Dragotta that could only be called Marvel Digital Holiday Special: Rock of Ages. Check out a free preview right HERE!

The Thing teaches the rest of Marvel’s First Family all about Chanukah, and in turn, they impart some lessons of their own on some would-be street toughs. All this plus an art cameo by Lee’s FF co-creator Jack Kirby in a one-of-a-kind story that should not be missed!

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Excelsior! Sorry, couldn’t resist. Actually, that word completely applies in this case seeing as how the X-Men were created by the great Stan “The Man” Lee and Jack “King” Kirby. Still, its a pretty good day today and a pretty cool thing we have to share with you right now.

Our pals at Marvel have provided us with a new video showing a bit of behind the scenes with the folks who make the Astonishing X-Men motion comic. Hosted by producer Kristine Stone, you get a tour of the production facility and get to meet many of the people responsible for putting this cool project together. All in all, not a bad way to spend a few minutes.

You get to learn some things and have a little fun too. What could be better than that? Not much, so be sure to check out the video after the jump. The Astonishing X-Men MOCO is available now at iTunes and on Hulu.

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The dust has settled, the bar tabs and hotel bills have been paid and Comic-Con is a slowly fading memory of whirlwind good times, crowded floors, costumed fans, celebrities, new films and tv shows, comics, interviews, photos and a whole lot more. With all the sites covering the Con and providing a great deal of content, The Flickcast included, its sometimes hard for readers and fans to separate out, and in some cases find, all the stuff they want to take a look at.

We had a lot of great coverage from the Con this year and in order to do it, and its subjects, justice and bring it out into the light, I’ve put together a list of the highlights for you. With this, you can see what you may have missed or go back and experience some of it over again.

We will also be bringing you more interviews, reviews and more from the Con as the weeks and months progress and those projects get closer to being released.

But for now, click away, go back in time a bit, and enjoy some of what the Con, and The Flickcast, has to offer. Until next year.

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Sure, you could go to your local multiplex and watch the big screen, action packed Spider-Man movies featuring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and directed by Sam Raimi. Or, you could just sit back, relax in the privacy of your own home and enjoy some cool Spider-Man action online via your computer.

How is this possible? Well, thanks to the folks at Marvel Digital, the adventures of Spider-Man are coming to a computer near you today! Want to know more and find out how you can join in all the fun?

Fortunately, Marvel has graced us with all the scoop via an official press release. Check it out!

New York, NY (August 5, 2009) –Adding to its ever-growing selection of streaming video, featuring award winning animated TV series and innovative original short-form video, Marvel Comics announced the launch of the 1994 animated series, Spider-Man on Marvel.com, featuring Marvel’s seminal web-slinging Super Hero.

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