Tag: s.h.i.e.l.d.

Ming-Na Wen Joins The Cast Of ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’

by Shawn Madden

Actress Ming-Na Wen (ER) has been cast in ABC and Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot. She will join the cast as Agent Melinda May. The agent is being described as “Soulful and slightly damaged by her combat experiences, Melinda is an ace pilot, a weapons expert and a soldier who can, and has, gone beyond the call of duty.” This would be the same character that we saw in the original casting breakdown for the series as Agent Althea Rice, aka ‘The Cavalry’.

We know Coulson will return to the show as well, which means that there are still four more roles to fill, if the previously released descriptions still hold true.  Whedon is co-writing the pilot script with his brother Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, who will all executive produce along with Jeffrey Bell and Marvel TV’s Jeph Loeb.

Source: Deadline

Geekscape Comics: Marvel Unveils Relaunched ‘Secret Avengers’ From Nick Spencer And Luke Ross

by Shawn Madden

Next February, Secret Avengers is getting relaunched from the creative team of Nick Spencer (Iron Man 2.0) and Luke Ross (Captain America). But, this isn’t going to be the same Secret Avengers we’re used to.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. has decided that they want their own Avengers team. But Avengers are loose cannons: They’re independent operators, they don’t have security clearance, they have a history of becoming bad guys.”

This sounds pretty normal except for one small thing. Well, it’s not that small. According to Entertainment Weekly:

“Thanks to the memory implant technology first seen in the 2005 Brian Michael Bendis-scripted series Secret War, Nobody on this team actually knows that they’re on this team.”

Meaning that with one word they join the team only to have thier memories wiped clean directly after the mission.

Nick Spencer’s breakdown of the core members of the team:

Hawkeye: “Clint led the last incarnation of Secret Avengers, the team that Steve Rogers put together. He’s not in charge anymore. So there’s some adjustment to be made. He’s in an interesting place. But I have to keep quiet!” 

Black Widow: “She has a such a higher profile than ever. She’s kind of the leading female character at Marvel at this point.” 

Nick Fury: “One of the most important distinctions between this Nick Fury and the Nick Fury that a lot of folks are familiar with from the film franchise is that this Nick is a field agent, and he’s a very new field agent. He comes from a lot of time in military service in Afghanistan, and that shapes his worldview and his standard operating procedures.” 

Mockingbird: “Also known as Bobbie Chase, Hawkeye’s Ex-Wife. So we have some fun dynamics to play with there.” 

Taskmaster: “A favorite of mine. I was at the Con today, and I saw three Taskmaster costumes!” 

Iron Patriot: “I can’t reveal the identity of the Iron Patriot yet, but I think people are gonna like how he ends up in that suit. That’s a suit that has a lot of history in the Marvel Universe, none of it good.” 

Hulk: “An on-call member of this team, and a walking weapon of mass destruction. They’ll use him judiciously, but when they do, it’ll really count.” 

The Winter Soldier: “[Bucky will have] a huge role in the book.”

Source: Entertainment Weekly

ABC’s ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Agents Revealed!

by Shawn Madden

Around a month ago it was revealed that Marvel and Joss Whedon would be bringing S.H.I.E.L.D. to ABC. Not much has been revealed as far as details about the show up until now. We now have some character descriptions for some of the agents. None of them are familiar characters to Marvelites but they definitely sound very Whedonesque.

SKYE: This late-20s woman sounds like a dream: fun, smart, caring and confident – with an ability to get the upper hand by using her wit and charm.

AGENT GRANT WARD: Quite the physical specimen and “cool under fire,” he sometimes botches interpersonal relations. He’s a quiet one with a bit of a temper, but he’s the kind of guy that grows on you.

AGENT ALTHEA RICE: Also known as “The Calvary,” this hard-core soldier has crazy  skills when it comes to weapons and being a pilot. But her experiences have left her very quiet and a little damaged.

AGENT LEO FITZ and AGENT JEMMA SIMMONS: These two came through training together and still choose to spend most of their time in each other’s company. Their sibling-like relationship is reinforced by their shared nerd tendencies – she deals with biology and chemistry, he’s a whiz at the technical side of weaponry.

There are plenty of fan-favorite agents of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division that it’s highly probable will appear but the looks of it this may be the central cast. Whedon may be creating new characters and bringing in fan favorites in to test out their response possibly. Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen are set to serve as executive producers and showrunners on S.H.I.E.L.D. in addition to co-writing the pilot with Joss Whedon. We should definitely expect some casting announcements in the coming weeks.

Source: TV Line

Will The Item 47 Stars Appear In The S.H.I.E.L.D TV Series?

by Shawn Madden

With the announcement of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. television series, many have been wondering if Item 47 stars Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford would be making their way onto the show. Whedon has promised a new cast of characters and when asked by Crave Online if we would see the two appearing in the series:

I honestly do not think they are available because I think she is on another show. We’re building it with a new group of people. They were great and that had a lot to do with why we are making the show, but we are starting fresh.

Bummer. Caplan and Bradford were both great in the Marvel One-Shot and I personally had hoped to see more of them in the future. So, who do you think we will be seeing in the cast of the new series? Is there any S.H.I.E.L.D. agents you guys would like to see featured?

Marvel Studios ‘The Avengers’ Is Coming Back To Theaters!

by Shawn Madden

Marvel Studios has revealed via their Facebook page for the superhero epic and box office smash hit, The Avengers that the movie will be returning theaters this Labor Day Weekend! Starting tomorrow up until the 6th of September you will be able to once again assemble in theaters. The studio released a high-resolution still of Thanos to get fans even more hyped to see it again. Will you be assembling once more this weekend before you pick up the movie on DVD or Blu-Ray on September 25th?

Jesse Bradford Is A Big Deal! The Geekscapepod For August 28th, 2012!

by Jonathan

Geekscape writer Shawn Madden joins me on this Geekscapepod as we talk about potential directors for Warner Bros planned ‘JLA’ movie. Marvel, Joss Whedon and ABC put a S.H.I.E.L.D. series into production! Kick Ass 2 is putting together quite the cast. Rob Liefeld has lost his damn mind! A new team is taking on The Man of Steel for DC and the leaked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles script sounds awful! PLUS! Jesse Bradford is a big deal and my neighbor has a mid-life crisis!

Subscribe to the show on iTunes!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:58 — 18.7MB)

Joss Whedon Reveals First Details For ‘S.H.I.E.L.D’!

by Shawn Madden

Just hours ago news broke that ABC has green lit the live-action TV series based on Marvel’s peacekeeping organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. and now the first details have been revealed straight from the mouth of the pilot’s co-writer & director Joss Whedon. Variety snagged a quote from Whedon earlier today:

“The storyline for the proposed series will be largely “autonomous” from the “Avengers” sequel feature. The series will revolve around the activities of the SHIELD org governing body for the superheroes featured in  The Avengers.”

As we reported earlier, Whedon will be directing the pilot as well as writing alongside his brother, Jed Whedon & his wife Maurissa Tancharoen. There is a high possibility we could see many of the cast of the Marvel One-Shot Item 47, which included Jesse Bradford and Lizzy Caplan, Maximiliano Hernández, Titus Welliver, as possible recurring cast members. And let’s cross our fingers for an Agent Coulson cameo/flashback…or two.

Source: Variety

‘S.H.I.E.L.D’ Pilot Greenlit, Whedon At The Helm

by Derek Kraneveldt

Deadline reports that ABC has ordered a pilot for a S.H.I.E.L.D television series.

Joss and Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen (Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena) are set to write the pilot, and Joss Whedon is set to direct (bearing scheduling conflicts). It had been known that Whedon was set to do a Marvel television project, and now it’s officially in the works.

As Deadline states, this is the first order for a live-action series based on the Marvel universe established in the recent films. No characters, plotlines, or information of any other sort have been revealed about the upcoming show but you can expect numerous S.H.I.E.L.D. affiliated characters from the comics. Production is set to start immediately, with no planned release date announced.

So, what are your thoughts? Excited? Glad that Whedon is returning to TV?

Joss Whedon

 Joss Whedon, director of good things.

The Details On Marvel Studios Short Film ‘Item 47’

by Shawn Madden

After ‘The Avengers’ hit theaters it was revealed that Marvel had a shot a short film in secret. The short film that will be featured on the Blu-Ray as well as receiving a screening during Comic-Con next week is titled ‘Item 47’. Now thanks to Entertainment Weekly we have details on the cast and just what the 12 minute ‘Item 47’ is about and how it is expanding the Marvel universe.

The film is the latest in the company’s series of shorts dubbed “One-Shots,” a comic book term for stories that wrap up in one issue. Lizzy Caplan (Party Down, pictured) and Jesse Bradford (Flags of Our Fathers) star as a down-on-their-luck couple who find one of the discarded alien guns from the finale to The Avengers — and proceed to make some incredibly bad decisions.

Item 47 refers to the gun itself, which S.H.I.E.L.D. would like very much to retrieve from the hapless young troublemakers. “The world is topsy-turvy now. There’s been an alien invasion, and things are crazy,” explains Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito, who directed the film himself. “So when this gun ­literally fell into their lap, this is a sign: We’re going to rob a few banks, we’re going to buy a boat, we’re going to the Caribbean, and all our problems will be solved.”

Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (Maximiliano Hernández, returning from Thor and The Avengers, and Lost’s Man in Black Titus Welliver, making his Marvel debut) are given the job of cleaning up the mess and stopping this modern Bonnie and Clyde (not coincidentally named Benny and Claire.)

The goal was to show some non-superpowered people reacting to the aftermath of The Avengers. “Anything that expands the world and shows you the more human elements of it, that just makes the world more colorful and fun for the average viewer,” says Eric Pearson, who wrote the screenplay for Item 47, as well as the previous two One-Shots: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer and The Consultant.

 


Geekscape Comics: Sam Humphries Talks ULTIMATES: Divided We Fall

by Shawn Madden

One thing that can be said about Marvels Ultimate line is that well… anything goes. And if you’ve been reading ULTIMATES… you’ll know what I’m talking about. Starting July in ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #13 is Divided We Fall… a story stretching across all three Ultimate books. This story began in ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #10 which was the first issue that saw co-writer Sam Humphries and artist Luke Ross joining Jonathan Hickman. This issue had former Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards eradicating Washington D.C. decimating the U.S. government to the point where the off-site Secretary of Energy became next in line for the presidency.

“That’s something you can’t get away with in the mainline Marvel books, or in the movies, the cartoon shows, the video games—any place where they tell stories about Marvel characters,” says Humphries of the incnident. “I’ve always looked at the Ultimate Universe as a place that is fundamentally different. Characters are bigger, stakes are higher, and fate is more extreme. Day to day life has sharper edges.”

“It’s like the Earth’s axis is tipped one inch further to the left—you’d never be able to measure it, but everything about living on the planet would be irreversibly affected.”

ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #11 hits shelves next Wednesday May 30th and we will see S.H.I.E.L.D under new leadership with their top operatives on the run as fugitives.

“The previous president removed Nick Fury and put a new guy in his place,” Humphries recounts. “Then an attack on Washington vaporized most of the United States government. The world security agency doesn’t know which way is up anymore. They’ve got an identity crisis, and to paraphrase Marshal McLuhan, the less identity we have, the more violence we see.

“[But] Nick Fury is always in control. Even when you rip S.H.I.E.L.D. away from him and put him on the run, he’s still the man with the plan.”

And while this is all going on the other Ultimates will have their own issues to face. The worst off of them all being Tony Stark. Tony has discovered his dormant brain tumor has returned and with comes growing hallucinations.

ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #12 will be hitting shelves June 27th and with it we will see Hickman take his final bow. Humphries will take over the title full time… but will definitely not be ignoring the path Hickman has set the book on.

“Jonathan’s been crushing it on ULTIMATES with some huge developments,” he says. “I’d be a fool not to work from what he’s set up—it’s a world rife with potential and big moments. At the same time, Hickman has maintained from our very first conversation that it’s imperative for me to write what I’m interested in writing instead of trying to ape or continuing someone else’s work. What you’re reading now is a true blend of two perspectives on the Ultimates.”

And finally as stated above… starting in July… Divided We Fall.

“The thing about Divided We Fall is that the books are interconnected, but not interwoven,” Humphries explains. “All the books are experiencing the same chaos, but each book gives you a different point of view. What Miles Morales sees isn’t what Thor sees isn’t what Rogue sees. So each book tells the same larger story, but they can be read independently of each other.”

I can say that i’ve definitely been reading all of the Ultimate books and right now they’re great and this is definitely looking like something that I will be looking forward to.

ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #10 is on stands now. Get it. Read it.

Source: Marvel