As most of you already know, Iron Man 3 will be the first Marvel Studios movie to come out after the mega-hit The Avengers. Of course, that means expectations will be extremely high for this third installment of the franchise. Early word on Iron Man 3 is that director Shane Black is focusing primarily on Iron Man and less on The Avengers and the bigger picture.

With that, and building the buzz, in mind, there’s a new trailer for the movie that’s dropped today. In it we see a bit of that focus as well as a whole bunch of ass-kicking action.

Gotta say it, we’re hooked. Can’t wait to see more. Look for Iron Man 3 in theaters on May 3rd.

When it was rereleased on XBox Live Arcade three years ago, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was the hottest title for fighting game fans, even nine years after its release. What came next was the most hyped fighting game in recent memory with Marvel vs. Capcom 3. It’s no surprise that Capcom would take the popularity of the franchise as well as the recent publicity of Marvel because of the success of the Avengers and release two of the games that started it all.

Coming in September of this year to both the PlayStation Network and XBox Live Arcade is Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, a two for one deal with both Marvel Super Heroes and the first Marvel vs. Capcom. Before the X-Men crossed paths against Street Fighter, Marvel pitted its own heroes and villains against each other in Marvel Super Heroes. After the crossover success of X-Men vs. Street Fighter though, Marvel picked its heaviest hitters and brought them against Capcom’s all-star lineup in Marvel vs. Capcom.

Who doesn’t love stop motion animation? Hell, Seth Green and Matt Senreich have basically made a career out of it, so what’s to stop fans from the web to continue the trend with their own whacked out storylines?

Enter YouTuber Patrick Boivin, who showed us who would win in epic fan-requested battles like Iron Man vs Bruce Lee and of course the timeless battle of Michael Jackson vs. Mr Bean. Now, Boivin brings us exactly what (he thinks) would happen if/when Iron Man 2’s Black Widow goes completely nuts and takes out some of our favorite fictional characters.

See if you can spot them all, but we definitely noticed Jack Bauer, Robert Patrick, Predator, and Michael Jackson. Needless to say, things get pretty intense, and all to a pretty killer baseline.

Check out the video after the jump.

Hard to believe it’s already that time but the countdown has begun for the release on DVD and Blu-ray of this summer’s biggest hit Iron Man 2. The film may have gotten 90% of the geeks across the globe excited in theaters, but the special features on the Blu-ray are sure to get that last 10%.

The big combo pack will be the Blu-ray edition, of course, and should be chock-full of features and extras to keep you entertained. Check out a complete list of the features below, and be sure to grab Iron Man 2 on Blu-ray and DVD September 28th.

Disc 1 (Blu-ray):

• Feature film with optional commentary by Jon Favreau (HD)
• S.H.I.E.L.D. Data Vault (HD)— Extend your knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with high-level clearance into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s digital data vault. Interact with select scenes from the movie that include new layers of graphics and insider information. View case files, dossiers, S.H.I.E.L.D. training films, tech details and more.
• Previsualization and Animatics (HD)

Many, many moons ago I recall waiting with a bunch of my geeky and not-so-geeky high school pals in a never-ending line around the block for the  highly-anticipated 12:01 showing of Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It was a showing at our local theater, before the days of stadium seating and online ticketing. I remember that the film held a certain magic in the hours before it started.

Energy was buzzing all around us. While waiting, my friends and I played poker, tossed a football, answered trivia from boys dressed as Jedi Knights, and talked about which starship would win in a battle. Anyone who goes to Comic-Con’s geekest panel of them all, “Starship Smackdown”, knows the Millennium Falcon has been taken out of the running for winning one too many times.

But, I digress. There was excitement, magic, and a new hope that this film would be great. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed. As were many others that day.

As I waited for my friend to arrive at the 12:01 Arclight Hollywood Dome showing of Iron Man 2, I recalled those days with a bit of nostalgia. As I looked around the theater, I realized the movie-going experience had evolved.

As many of you will remember, Marvel celebrated February with announcements for the Heroic Age where they revealed not one, not two, not even three but four teams of Avengers… well sort of.

In addition to the Avengers, the New Avengers and Avengers Academy rosters, Marvel put out a teaser campaign for the Secret Avengers as well. These teaser posters had a quote describing their respective member but only a blacked out silhouette for artwork.

These outlines have lead to massive speculation with names like Venom, the Black Panther, Doctor Voodoo and the Hood all being listed as possibilities. It looks like Marvel threw a little curve ball at everyone by leaving out certain details in the outlines of these silhouettes as well as you can see with the reveals of both Beast and War Machine as the first two Secret Avengers.

Things which could have helped narrow down the possibilities drastically for who these two were just “happened” to be left out such as Beast’s fur or the arsenal attached to War Machine’s shoulders. Still, kudos to Marvel for letting there still be some surprises in comic books today in a world full of online spoilers.

Take a peek below at the final reveal posters of Beast and War Machine and stick to The Flickcast for more reveals for the Secret Avengers as they happen.

As soon as Iron Man hit the movie screen comic book fans began speculating as to whether Tony Stark would turn to booze.  This, of course, comes from the highly praised Demon in a Bottle storyline in which Stark falls into a depression, forsakes his Iron Man alter ego, and becomes an alcohalic.  With Marvel Studios casting Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, someone who has battled similar demons, it only bolstered the idea that this story had to be addressed at some point.

Neither Marvel nor Downey Jr. have said much about Demon in a Bottle.  The party line thus far has been little more then acknowledging they know the story exists, but have never committed to its inclusion in the films.  Now, thanks to comic book artist Bob Layton, we’re beginning to hear more about how Demon in a Bottle may play out in the films to come:

“I think they’ve come up with a terrific segue to the third film, which I think is going to be fairly powerful,” he said. “My understanding is that the third film could very well be the ‘Demon in a Bottle’ story mixed in there with everything and I’m kind of looking forward to that, if that’s where they wind up going.”

Now that the week is back with five days again we can get news of new comics on Monday instead of Tuesday. That also means that new comics come out this week, as they normally do, on Wednesday. So, with that in mind, following is this week’s list of Marvel titles dropping this week for your reading pleasure.

Among the ones I’m most interested in are the new Dark Avengers #9, Deadpool #12, Punisher #9 and X-Factor #48. But as always, check out the full list here from the official Marvel press release. Plus we’ve also got some cool cover art for you after the jump as ell. Enjoy.

Hey there True Believers, here’s your official list of comic books, collections and posters arriving in comic stores on September 16th, 2009. For more information on any of these titles, and on upcoming mighty Marvel releases, please visit http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?date=2009-09-16 or contact your local comic book retailer at 1-888-comicbook.

Comics On-Sale: