Spider-Man

Fans can get a first look at “The Amazing Spider-Man 2″ villain Electro, played by Jamie Foxx, in new photos snapped on the film’s set. The photos, taken while the filmmakers were shooting in New York’s Times Square, show Foxx wearing creepy blue makeup and prosthetics, as well as an LED-lined hoodie, revealing an Electro that might not be familiar to some fans of the classic villain. In the original comics, Electro is an electrician named Max Dillon who gains the ability to generate and control electricity after he’s struck by lightning while repairing a power line. He turns to a life of organized crime. The character, who first appeared in 1964, is typically seen wearing a green suit and a yellow lightning bolt mask. But Foxx’s Electro appears to be more closely modeled on the Ultimate version of the […]

“Superior Spider-Man” writer Dan Slott may have shared more with the audience at his WonderCon spotlight panel Sunday than he’d intended. After a technical worker hooked up Slott’s laptop to the large display screens in the room at the Anaheim Convention Center, the writer’s desktop was visible, and it included a couple of items labeled with the name of a different Marvel hero: the Silver Surfer. “What in here should you not see?” he said as he began looking it over and rearranging items. “This is dangerous,” he said a few minutes later. Asked about the Surfer, Slott told the crowd that Marvel has “cosmic stuff” in the works and said, “It would be fun, and I’m, you know, toying around with it — I won’t lie, I am toying around with the idea. But let’s be serious — I’m […]

Feld Entertainment Inc., which produces the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, along with other live shows such as Disney on Ice, is teaming up with Marvel Entertainment to produce a live arena show featuring Marvel characters. It’s the latest in a series of new ventures for the company that created the likes of Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Hulk, including two upcoming animated series, a Web series and a new digital comics platform. An arena or stage show featuring comic-book characters has been done — witness last year’s ‘Batman Live’ and the accident-prone “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” — but Kenneth Feld, CEO of Vienna, Va.-based Feld Entertainment, believes that his company’s experience with these types of acrobatic shows could make the difference. “What [the 'Spider-Man' Broadway show] tried to do was new for them, but it’s the stuff we […]

Young artists looking to break into comics might want to take a page from David Marquez. Based in Austin, Texas, the illustrator is one of the industry’s fastest-rising stars, working alongside veteran writer Brian Michael Bendis on such titles as “Ultimate Spider-Man” and “All-New X-Men” and working in his second graphic novel, “The Joyners in 3D,” after arriving on the comics scene only three years ago. Soon after college, Marquez got his start as an animator for Richard Linklater’s 2006 rotoscoped film “A Scanner Darkly.” His first graphic novel “Syndrome,” co-written by Daniel Quantz and R.J. Ryan, was released by indie publisher Archaia Entertainment in 2010, soon followed by “Days Missing Vol. 2: Kestus” in 2011. His work earned him a nomination for the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer award, given out each year at the prestigious Eisner Awards, and […]

It’s been an eventful time for Spider-Man. Marvel’s most recognizable hero starred in a feature film reboot that cast Andrew Garfield as a sweetly sarcastic Peter Parker in “The Amazing Spider-Man,” directed by Marc Webb. In late December, Peter Parker gave up the suit — and the ghost – in the final issue of “The Amazing Spider-Man,” a controversial creative decision that saw Peter’s arch-nemesis Otto Octavius inherit the web-slinging mantle. Now, Spider-Man is starting a career as a government agent and leader of his own squad. The second season of Disney XD’s “Ultimate Spider-Man,” set to launch Monday, sees Spidey joining up with Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. organization — he’s part of a teen team that includes White Tiger, Nova, Power Man and Iron Fist. The move sets him up to face two new challenges: sharing his home with Aunt […]

Peter Parker’s never had the best of luck — last year, the little he had finally ran out when Brian Michael Bendis placed Peter on the losing end of a confrontation with the Green Goblin at the conclusion of the Death of Spider-Man story from Marvel’s Ultimate Comics. But with the final issue of “Amazing Spider-Man,” which arrives today, Dan Slott and artist Humberto Ramos have crafted a different and even more controversial end for Peter, not to mention a rather unexpected new beginning for his web-slinging superhero alter-ego. (The spoiler-averse should stop reading now.) The issue that brings the landmark comic book to a close sees Peter die once more in a turn of events that leaves his nemesis Otto Octavius wearing the costume — and carrying Peter’s own memories and experiences, too. It’ll be Octavius in the signature suit […]

The Green Goblin makes his first appearance on Disney XD’s “Ultimate Spider-Man” Sunday, with an updated, re-imagined version of the maniacal villain voiced by  Steven Weber. The actor boasts a lengthy television résumé that stretches back to the mid-’80s, but he might remain best known to some for his starring turn on the long-running sitcom “Wings.” He’s also appeared on series including “Once and Again,” “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” “Brothers & Sisters” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” — not to mention taking on a character in director Mick Garris’ 1997 miniseries adaptation of the Stephen King novel “The Shining” that was first brought to the screen by Jack Nicholson. Hero Complex contributor Jevon Phillips caught up with the self-professed sci-fi dweeb to talk about his longtime love for Marvel, the role of humor on the “Ultimate […]

Spider-Man has teamed up with John Belushi and Stephen Colbert. Last year, Batman crossed paths with “Weird Al” Yankovic and Scooby-Doo. Superman once traded punches with Muhammad Ali while Eminem did a lock-and-load tale with the Punisher. Now another nutty collaboration is in the works: Spider-Man and the Avengers will  join forces with Phineas and Ferb — yes it’s the first animated special to take Marvel Universe characters and mash them up with other Disney properties. Get used to it: Disney didn’t spend $9 billion on Marvel to leave the powerful brands alone on their own corporate island. Announced at Comic-Con, “Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel” will have Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk drop into Danville but they’re not happy to be there — a scheme by Dr. Doofenshmirtz has robbed the mighty quartet of their powers.  The marooned heroes will […]

What’s the most effective way to depict a teenage superhero swinging through the urban canyons of New York City, trudging through subterranean tunnels and battling a 9-foot humanoid reptile? Such were the questions faced by “The Amazing Spider-Man” director Marc Webb and the visual effects artists at Sony Imageworks. For many key scenes, the answer was to create and animate fully digital environments and actors, which allowed for a great deal of creative freedom but presented their own artistic and practical challenges. We caught up with digital effects supervisor Dave Smith to talk about his team’s vision for Spidey’s return to the big screen. The exclusive video below (narrated by David Schaub, supervisor of additional animation) demonstrates how digital effects were used to bring some of Spider-Man’s classic comic-book poses to life and to re-create New York streetscapes in painstaking detail. HC: […]

Who are the 50 greatest science fiction characters in television history? We answer that question with the latest edition of Hero Complex: The Magazine, which will be distributed for free at the doorstep of Comic-Con International this week in San Diego. We’ve printed up 100,000 copies of the glossy magazine for fans headed to the world-famous pop culture expo –  but if you’re not headed to the San Diego Convention Center you can also pick up a copy at six comic book stores: Meltdown Comics  in Los Angeles; the Earth 2 Comics in Sherman Oaks and Northridge; and any of the three Midtown Comics in New York City. The choice we made for our cover portrait is completely logical: Mr. Spock of the USS Enterprise as portrayed by Leonard Nimoy on “Star Trek” in the 1960s. How many other Starfleet […]