DC Gives a History of LGBT Heroes and Villains
With June being LGBT Pride Month, this week's episode of DC All Access featured guest-host Jase Peeples (entertainment editor of The Advocate magazine) giving a history of the publisher's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender heroes and villains.
Some notable highlights:
- DC's first gay character -- the ever-controversial and flamboyant Extraño
- The GLAAD-award-winning Green Lantern story where Kyle Rayner stood by his newly outed friend
- Renee Montoya, who was outed by Two-Face before becoming the new Question
Landmark Team Shifting Focus to EverQuest Next
Daybreak Games is shifting its development priorities from one MMORPG to another. The developer formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment will focus on more important tasks and systems for EverQuest Next, resulting in less updates for Landmark.
According to a blog post on the Landmark site, the changes will not move EverQuest Next's release window up.
"As the team has wrapped up the various pieces related to the wipe and the bugs associated with it, we have been shifting our focus and resources over to work on the highest priority tasks and systems that will be used in EverQuest Next," Senior Producer Terry Michaels said. "While we do this, we're working in areas with high amounts of creative risk. This means that while we know what we want to do, we know it will take an unknown amount of iteration, tweaking and sometimes drastic direction changes to get these in game and working the way they need to."
Rules Changes Come to Capcom Pro Tour Events
Capcom has made an amendment to the rules for qualifying for this year’s Capcom Cup, featuring Ultra Street Fighter IV.
If the top four or more finishers at a Capcom Pro Tour premier event are already qualified for Capcom Cup, the automatic qualifying spot will be eliminated and then added to the leaderboard qualifiers, according to Capcom.
The old rules stated the automatic bid goes to the next player in the standings who had not already qualified for Capcom Cup. Sixteen qualifiers would come from premier events and 15 qualifiers would come from the top players on the leaderboard. One spot is reserved for last year's Capcom Cup champion, Yusuke Momochi.
5-25-77: Star Wars Fan Movie Finally Coming Out
It's been a long time -- "a long time..." -- since we heard anything about Patrick Read Johnson's autobiographical indie film 5-25-77. The title, of course, is a reference to the exact date that Star Wars came out in theaters, which is primarily what Johnson's film centers around.
Shot in 2004 and set in 1976, the film follows Pat Johnson (played by a gangly John Francis Daley), a small-town movie geek whose advance screening of the yet-to-be released Star Wars changes his life forever. You can check out the trailer below, which was first posted online roughly a decade ago:
Alas, outside of a couple test screenings (most notably at Star Wars Celebration IV back in 2007), 5-25-77 never saw the light of day... until now.
Power Rangers Movie Will Be ‘Mature but Still Playful’
Shortly before the Power Rangers movie was pushed back to 2017, we learned that Dean Israelite (Project Almanac) was set to direct the film, penned by screenwriters Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (X-Men: First Class, Thor).
This week, I got a chance to speak with Israelite about the home video release of Project Almanac (more on that soon!), and I was able to ask him a few Power Rangers questions.
Obviously, the filmmaker couldn't say much about the story (which is still under lock and key at Lionsgate), but he was able to talk about the film's tone, which he described as grounded and mature but also "completely playful." He also revealed how he actually got the directing gig and when we might start to see casting announcements.
Star Wars Cosplayer Sparks School Lockdown
A man walking around Lynn, Massachusetts, showing off his stormtrooper outfit was arrested after he unintentionally caused a nearby school to briefly lock down over security fears.
The principal of the Brickett Elementary School was about to dismiss classes for the day when she spotted a man in a costume carrying what appeared to be a gun near the school grounds.
George Cross, 40, "was arrested on charges of disturbing a school and loitering within 1,000 feet of a school," according to Salem News.
The principal suspected the gun was plastic, but as Lynn Police spokesman Lt. Rick Donnelly explained, "the way things are today, you can't have that."
Destiny’s Prison of Elders Could Be Better…
Destin Legarie, Jose Otero and Fran Mirabella are back discussing what they hope to see at E3 and talking about some of the great updates this week.
Please let us know what you think of the show in the comments or email us at the address below. Android users, Feedburner is the way you can get the show in audio form. Also you can join our Facebook Group here! Good Luck!
Punisher: War Zone Director Helming Arrow: Season 4 Episode
Lexi Alexander, the director of Punisher: War Zone, has revealed she'll be directing a Season 4 episode of The CW's Arrow.
When asked on Twitter if Netflix has approached her to work on one of its Marvel projects, Alexander replied, "They have not. But I'm excited to direct Arrow in August."
In addition to Punisher: War Zone, Alexander's directorial credits include 2010's Lifted and 2005's Green Street Hooligans.
Arrow returns to its regular time slot, Wednesdays at 8pm, this fall on The CW. In the meantime, check out Arrow's 10 coolest easter eggs from Season 3.
Collect All Ant-Man Marvel Legends Toys, Get an Ultron
No, those randomly-severed body parts you see in the packaging for the upcoming Ant-Man Marvel Legends action figures aren't gruesome trophies obtained by the heroes.
They're collectibles that, once combined, will form an entire Ultron action figure built to match his design in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Marvel Legends' Ant-Man Ultron series includes Ant-Man, Giant Man, Bulldozer, Grim Reaper, Tiger Shark, and Wasp. The Fwoosh reports they are currently available for Pre-Order and will officially release for purchase on July 1.
Transformers: Marvel, Star Wars Our Franchise Writing Models
Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind, Batman & Robin, I Am Legend) is the boss of the newly minted creative brain trust overseeing the future of the Transformers movie franchise. According to Goldsman, the "writers room" approach employed by TV series and now more frequently by major movie franchises is a model he's also following in bringing new Transformers tales to the big screen.
“There is such reciprocity between TV and movies now, that we’re borrowing this from TV,” Goldsman told Deadline. “I got a taste of this from J.J. Abrams when I came in to write an episode of Fringe, and then Jeff Pinkner let me hang around for four years like the drunk uncle. The whole process of the story room was really delightful, and we are seeing it more in movies as this moves toward serialized storytelling."