Walmart Leaks Avengers: Season One

Both Marvel and DC are always searching for new ways to attract fans of their respective movies and convert them into comic readers. This year, Marvel has focused a significant amount of attention on the Season One line of graphic novels. These standalone hardcovers offer streamlined, contemporary versions of early Silver Age adventures. So far, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, X-Men, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, and Hulk have all received the Season One treatment, with Doctor Strange next in line.

Oddly, there is one strange omission in that lineup. What about the Avengers? Especially considering they just had an extremely popular movie, one would think Earth's Mightiest Heroes would be a natural fit for the Season One line. As it turns out, there is an Avengers: Season One in the works, and it's coming sooner than fans might expect.

Walmart's website revealed the book's existence over the weekend. It turns out that the retailer will be selling a special bundle that includes the Avengers Blu-ray and the Season One graphic novel. The set is listed with a $39.99 MSRP and is currently available for pre-order for $25 on the site. The release date in September 25, the same as the regular DVD/Blu-ray release.

Initially, the question was whether Avengers: Season One would actually offer an original story lie the others, or merely provide reprints of older Avengers material. But Peter David soon set the record straight on his blog:

Bleeding Cool announced yesterday that Marvel is releasing a special edition through Walmart of The Avengers on Blu-Ray and DVD, packaged with an all new, original “Avengers” graphic novel. But who (they wondered), WHO could possibly have been involved with the creation of it?

Yeah, uh, that would be me. One hundred page original Avengers graphic novel. I’ll let you find out the artist(s) on your own, but the entire story is by yours truly.

That still leaves a number of other questions, not least of which the identities of the art team. The cover illustration was rendered by Adi Granov, but did he also provide the interior art?Also unclear is the exact size and format of the graphic novel. Will it be a standard-trim hardcover like the rest of the Season One line, or will it be a smaller, cheaper volume with dimensions similar to the Blu-ray case? Will the book eventually be made available at other retailers or digitally? We expect that Marvel will have an official announcement forthcoming.

Thanks to Bleeding Cool for the original tip-off on this story.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. He can't wait until he's old enough to feel ways about stuff. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

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Ten Movies People Love... and Why They're Not That Great

Sometimes movies hit a sweet spot in our cultural consciousness. It could be a gooey sensibility that appeals to our national pride, it could be a sugary flavor that stimulates our sentimental guts, or it could be mad special effects that blow our minds – at least until the next $500 million sci-fi epic rolls around.

But sometimes, these movies aren’t so great upon re-watching. Perhaps they’ve aged particularly badly, or they were up against a lousy bunch of Best Picture nominees the year they were released, or perhaps many of us just had a severe case of the Emperor’s New Clothes when we watched them in the first place. Be honest: when you told your friend that you really enjoyed a Little Miss Sunshine or a Juno, did it taste a little... bitter?

Here’s a list of movies that people generally loved, but have somewhere along the line been blown out of proportion and are now held in esteem far above their modest qualities. These aren't bad films, just over-applauded.

And if you like 'em... why, that's just fine.

 This list is a companion piece to Ten Movies People Hated… and Why They’re Not That Bad, is purely subjective and contains mild spoilers.

 

Crash

Paul Haggis’ 2005 meditation on race-relations took away the Best Picture Academy Award that year, performed well critically (well-ish, 76% on Rotten Tomatoes), and made more than seven times its budget at the box office.  But does anyone really remember it?

We all recall its Oscar running mate, Brokeback Mountain, and while this could be put down to Mountain’s audacious subject matter, it's more likely that Brokeback is a stronger film - Crash still feels too manufactured to be distinctive. Haggis’ Los Angeles is a horrific melting pot of racism, but his characters' racist attitudes are written upon them, engulfing any semblance of character and giving the whole affair an aura of unreality. Weakened further by a series of unlikely narrative turns (they were blank bullets? Gimme a freakin' break!) Crash misses its mark, despite any admirable intentions behind it.

A Beautiful Mind

Despite an engrossing central performance from Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind was another topical film elevated into the stratosphere by a Best Picture Academy Award. The embodiment of the term ‘Oscar-bait,’ A Beautiful Mind appears to tell a story of mental illness in earnest, but is bogged down by a  script that descends into easy melodrama, feeble supporting characterisation – Jennifer Connolly deserved much better than this one-dimensional-put-upon-housewife, despite her Oscar win - and absolutely nothing to distinguish itself from a ‘movie-of-the-week’ on the same subject.

To rub salt in the wound, this ‘true story’ of the schizophrenic Professor John Nash eschews pivotal facts about the real Nash, including his homosexuality. Director Ron Howard, while generally reliable, if not remarkable, is painting-by-numbers.

Forrest Gump

Overexposure can be a terrible fate for mega-successful movies; look at the backlash against Titanic and Avatar. But it's not a fate that has befallen the mighty Forrest Gump. The feelgood drama still holds a warm place in our hearts, even in the face of our rampant Internet-bred-cynicism.

This is weird, because Forrest Gump shares much with the Cameron blockbusters, insofar as it's a remarkable technical revolution with a story batting above its weight. The principle problem with Forrest Gump is Forrest himself - who is, in fact, a one-note 'holy fool', untouchable to the sinful masses (e.g., the rest of us, and poor slutty Jenny who embraced the 'alternative lifestyle'). This would be palatable if his simple virtue was not presented to us as quite so inspirational by director Robert Zemeckis. Consider the message behind the death of Jenny, who bucked against the status quo, while Forrest continues through life immoveable and unquestioning. It's a dodgy conservatism that washes over us like hyper-coloured baby barf, mixed up with a magnificent soundtrack.

Garden State

2004's Garden State is another of those beloved indie dramadies that sits quite comfortably with fellow upstarts Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. While credit must unquestionably be given to creator Zach Braff – who made this in his twenties – Garden State is nonetheless too threadbare to justify the (principally Gen Y) love heaped upon it.

In 2004 the term ‘manic pixie dream girl’ did not exist yet (it was coined by a critic the following year), but the narrative formula associated with the archetype is pitch perfect here. Zach’s Braph’s paper thin ‘emotionally-repressed young dude’ meets impossibly kooky Sam (Portman), a charming cipher who eventually ‘rescues’ him by bringing him out of his shell. Set to a soundtrack dominated by indie darlings The Shins and featuring enough wacky moments to sink a polka dot tugboat full of Zooey Deschanels, it’s no wonder people loved this. It’s just without substance; a rom-com in skinny jeans.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

There should be a support group for those who didn’t love Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. We generally find ourselves in the minority, and act like overexcited lunatics whenever we meet someone else who suggests hey, I didn’t think it was that great either.

It’s not that Pilgrim is a bad movie – in fact it's very clever – but it lacks the emotional weight to elevate it beyond a very smart in-joke. Much of the problem lies with its ambition to stuff a series of graphic novels into a single film, rather than spreading them across multiple; we are whisked from one irony-encrusted encounter to the next before catching our breath. The characters consequently get very little time in which to be anything but super cool, super confident quip-machines - and when everyone is just so unruffled, why give a damn?

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker, which sits at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and won six Oscars at the 2009 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, is a satisfying war thriller, yet a curiously indistinct one. Perhaps this is because The Hurt Locker is, in fact, just a satisfying war thriller, despite being sold to us as something more authentic; a mirror held up to reality without Hollywood’s dusting of sugar.

It was, after all, based on the accounts of freelance journalist Mark Boal, stationed in Iraq for two weeks in 2004, and its themes of ‘war addiction’ evoke the grimy realism of classic war flicks The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now et al. But instead of the kitchen sink, we get an entertaining war flick, albeit one peppered with as many hackneyed quips and manufactured narrative turns as the next (Staff Sergeant William James’ personal revenge mission still rings false upon re-watching). Director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break) is great at capturing muscular action in a cinematic bottle – but this time, that’s all she’s captured.

The Green Mile

If one thought Frank Darabont’s ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ erred on over sentimental, one could sure as hell never admit it out loud; it would be akin to killing a puppy. While Darabont did indeed tread a fine line between sentimentality and sensitivity in 1994’s prison drama classic, he leaped over it into a bottle of syrup in his 1999 prison drama ‘classic’, The Green Mile.

On paper, the movie hits all the high-notes for weighty Hollywood drama, yet onscreen it drowns in its own sappiness, over-simplifying the roles of the good guys and bad guys into perfect saints and wicked sinners, battering us across the face with Disnefied messages of hope and the power of miracles. This didn’t stop it from being nominated for a handful of Oscars; perhaps its heady cocktail of Tom Hanks, race-relations, and dramatic Stephen King source material (which takes much of the blame here) was too much for the Academy to resist. Suckers.

Closer

Mike Nichols’ heavy ‘war of the sexes’ drama Closer certainly has its detractors, but chances are you still know someone who thinks it’s the best thing since Citizen Kane for its uncompromising bleakness and single-minded determination to ‘go there.'

Adapted from a wordy play script by dialogue wizard Patrick Marber, Closer the movie occasionally sings in isolated pockets of verbal warfare -“have you ever seen a human heart?! It looks like a fist wrapped in blood” - but eventually buckles under its own ultra-serious weight. The four leads – gamely played by Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Jude Law and Natalie Portman – are all cruel urbanites whose only redeemable collective feature is an ostentatious physical attractiveness, lending their poetry all the weight of a bit of dead skin floating up an air vent. Could Closer have had more of an emotional punch if Nichols had pared down Marber’s script, focusing on quiet, reflective moments that could potentially have redeemed some of its humanity? Possibly, but maybe the source material was too damned contemptuous to be adapted to film in the first place.

American Beauty

American Beauty teetered on universal praise when it was released in 1999. Funny and dark, it was a surprisingly anarchic Hollywood drama, an attempt to sardonically lift the veil on the white middle class and flip the bird to the faceless ‘Man’.

And while American Beauty gives it an admirable shot, it falls short of revealing our deep, dark realities. It presents to us, instead, a caricature of them, our desires in hyper-coloured strokes. Col. Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper) as a brutish Nazi sympathizer and closet homosexual is handled loudly and, arguably, crassly - consider the film’s ending, which, while moving, rings like an easy out, rather than the shockingly revealing blow the filmmakers intended. Wes Bentley’s ‘weirdo’ Ricky Fitts also comes off the rent-a-character shelf, quirky enough to provide contrast to the shrieking suburbanites but nothing more than a hastily sketched idea. Broad strokes would be forgivable if this was satire, but American Beauty is not. It presents us with shocking scenarios intended to move us to reflection, to 'look closer,' but in fact it’s a well-acted, often titillating flirtation with a more brutal truth.

Little Miss Sunshine

The winner of Best Original Screenplay at the 2007 Academy Awards, Little Miss Sunshine was a true crowd pleaser. It was also a critical darling (91% on Rotten Tomatoes), praised for an unusual emotional intelligence in the well-trodden dysfunctional middle-class family yarn. Alan Arkin snorting heroin and Steve Carrell attempting suicide? Daringly dark stuff.

But instead it’s a wholesome optimism that laces itself through Little Miss Sunshine’s bones, and the characters, pitched as ‘you and I’, ultimately reveal themselves to be delivery boys for the screenwriter’s alarmingly virtuous messages. Along the way, their complicated issues are packaged into a single convenient box labelled FAMILY IS IMPORTANT, while the film’s ending dissolves into nauseating sap (they were going for heartwarming, we got ipecac instead.) This would all be fine of course, if we hadn’t been lead to believe there was going to be some pluck here. A little bit more of that promised indie edginess would have gone a long way.

Agree? Disagree? What movies do you think are overrated? Let us know in the comments.

Lucy O'Brien is Assistant Editor at IGN AU. You should talk to her about games, horror movies and the TV show Freaks & Geeks on IGN here or find her and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.

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Horror Prequels We Hope Hollywood Never Makes

Sick of prequels to classic movies that don't need prequels? So are we! Inspired by the recent rumor of a prequel to The Shining, we present to you five horror prequels we hope Hollywood, never, ever makes.

Kid Fly

Starring: Zachary Gordon, Rick Moranis, Martha Plimpton, Robert De Niro, Selena Gomez

The Pitch: Wuh oh! Lil' Seth Brundle’s gotten into his father’s teleporter again, and this time, he’s not alone! That’s right, we’re turning the gene-splicing concept upside down with this fun 're-imagining' of 1980's The Fly! This delightful family film follows 10-year-old Seth (Gordon)  as he hilariously attempts to hide his body horror from his parents (Moranis and Plimpton) while trying to stop evil scientist Franken Snadien Lankanotvitch (De Niro) from stealing his father’s blueprints! And will he be able to impress his cute neighbor Rachel (Gomez) when bits of his face keeps falling off, or will she finally realize it’s what’s on the inside that counts?

Jaws: The Beginning

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Shia LaBeouf, LL Cool J

The Pitch: This gripping historical epic centers on a young Quint (Wahlberg) as a naval officer on the U.S.S Indianapolis, famously hit by a Japanese torpedo in 1945. Director Darren Araonofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan) boldly examines that chilling night, casting an unflinching eye on the crumbling humanity of Quint and his men as they try to survive against a host of great white sharks. Never one to shy away from gritty topics, Aranofsky has filmed 95% of Jaws: The Beginning in the water, where 588 officers get painstakingly picked off one by one in an array of gruesome scenarios across four hours. But what is real and what is nightmarish delusion? You’ll soon find yourself questioning your own sense of reality while watching the movie critics are already calling “Aranofsky’s most ambitious work yet” and “the bleakest film you’ll see all century.”

Damien's Big Day Out (aka The Omen: Lost in London)

Starring: Sylvester Stallone (voice), Ricky Gervais (voice), Amanda Seyfried, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet

The Pitch: From the producers of Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 comes this cheeky comedy that puts the ANTIC back in ANTIChrist! During a day trip with one of his nannies (Seyfried), poor little Damien gets ‘accidentally' left at the foot of Big Ben, and must find his way home using only his adorable baby wits and the terrifying ability to telepathically persuade everyone around him to kill themselves! Featuring the voice talent of Sylvester Stallone as little Damien and Ricky Gervais as his cockney canine companion Bobby-three-paws, you’ll split your sides laughing as the spawn of Satan tries to find his way home to begin his tyrannical reign over the human race.

Misery: The Book Club Years

Starring: Rebel Wilson, Anne Hathaway, Kristen Wiig, Diane Keaton, Kirsten Dunst

The Pitch 25-year-old Annie Wilkes (Wilson) is a hopeless romantic and a hopeless shut-in - in fact, her closest relationship is with her pet pig! But one day she sees a members-wanted ad in the local newspaper for a book club...that will change her life forever! Featuring an all-star cast including Anne Hathaway as the bossy leader, Kristen Wiig as the hilarious hippy, Diane Keaton as the older lady and Kirsten Dunst as the slut, Misery: The Book Club Years is a gentle chick-lit-flick that reminds us all to treasure the small things in life: a strong cup of tea, some good friends, and a great Paul Sheldon novel!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Presents: Frat Attack!

Starring: Cory Monteith, Noel Fielding, Kieran Culkin, Michael Cera, Emma Stone

The Pitch: Set during the swingin’ sixties, TTCMP: Frat Attack takes place at the fictional South Central Austin College where the Kappa Chi Delta chapter reigns supreme. But the Fraternity’s President Todd (Cory Monteith ) has no idea what he’s letting himself in for when he recruits the Sawyer brothers into the fold! From playing unnerving ‘surprise cutting’ tricks on rival fraternities to straight up, unapologetic homicide, Robert ‘Chop Top’ Sawyer (Brit comedy thesp Fielding), Nubbins ‘The Hitchhiker’ Sawyer (Culkin) and ‘Leatherface’ (Cera) grow quickly out of control. How will Todd stop them from dismembering everyone at their annual kegger? And will Leatherface ever learn how to talk to smart, pretty sophomore Amy (Stone) without the uncontrollable urge to gut her from head to foot? Modeled after classic frat-house comedies like Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds, TTCMP: Frat Attack is bound to make you laugh and drop your jaw in equal measure.

Lucy O'Brien and Luke Reilly are Editors at IGN AU. They both like beer, cursing and share a crippling obsession with movies from their 80's childhoods. Talk to Lucy here and Luke here, or meet them and the rest of the Australian team at the IGN AU Facebook community.

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Five Theories About Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel Studios is steering full speed ahead on the next round of superhero movies, which includes a number of sequels and the debut of a cosmic team known as the Guardians of the Galaxy. While the Guardians movie is currently being rewritten by Chris McCoy, a rumored plot synopsis for the film popped up this week:

"About a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants."

Though that synopsis is only one sentence long, it hints at what direction Marvel is taking these characters. We've decided to explore what the synopsis reveals -- assuming its accurate -- and the various questions it raises.

Who Is the U.S. Pilot?

As we've discussed in past Marvel features, one of the functions of the Avengers was to serve as a litmus test for casual fans, determining whether or not they'd tolerate a few science fiction-based characters and plot elements alongside more traditional superhero fare. Audiences seemed to respond well, given the box office numbers, and that's why Marvel is pushing ahead with a Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

GotG will take Marvel's Cinematic Universe more fully into the realm of sci-fi. However, whether you're looking at comics like Guardians of the Galaxy or TV shows like Farscape, one element many space-based stories share is that at least one central protagonist hails from Earth. It helps to have an ordinary hero for fans to latch onto and to help keep the story grounded a bit.

The summary makes it clear that the GotG movie will have such a character. Chances are the “U.S. Pilot” in question is Peter Quill, better known as the hero Star-Lord. In the comics, Quill is a NASA pilot with a troubled childhood who essentially cheats his way into becoming a super-powered space cop. Star-Lord had a largely solo career until he became leader of the modern version of the Guardians after the storyline Annihilation: Conquest.

Marvel's concept painting (seen at the top of this page) clearly shows Star-Lord front and center among the Guardians. However, there's also the possibility that the summary isn't referring to him at all. The original version of the Guardians created in 1969 was a team based in the 31st Century rather than the present. That team had its own Earth-based hero named Vance Astro. Like Quill, Astro is a NASA pilot, only he was frozen in suspended animation for 1000 years as he traveled to Alpha Centauri on an experimental spaceship. Astro eventually joined up with a number of colorful heroes to form the futuristic Guardians of the Galaxy.

Another remote possibility brought up by the folks at Topless Robot is Carol Danvers. Though best known as the heroine Ms. Marvel, Danvers was recently rechristened Captain Marvel in the comics. Danvers is an Air Force pilot who accidentally gained powers when she was abducted by Kree scientists. It's unlikely that Marvel would opt to bring in a separate Avenger character when the GotG franchise already has two separate characters who fit the “U.S. Pilot” bill. Additionally, her origin might be too difficult to pull off in the context of a team movie like this.

On the other hand, Marvel has been placing unusual emphasis on the character in their comics recently. Perhaps they're preparing for her mainstream Hollywood debut? Also, it really wouldn't hurt the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have more central female heroes. There's no need for Black Widow to continue shouldering that burden alone.

It's more likely that the U.S. pilot is Peter Quill rather than Astro or Danvers. However, as we'll discuss later, it seems that Marvel may be combining elements of both versions of the Guardians. It's possible the cinematic Star-Lord will at least share some traits with Vance Astro.

Present or Future?

As mentioned, there are two distinctly different versions of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the Marvel Universe, one based in the present day and one in the 31st Century. The concept painting Marvel released suggests that the movie will be based on the contemporary Guardians. However, the fact that they're referred to as “futuristic ex-cons” has us wondering if the movie isn't borrowing from both incarnations. Are the Guardians futuristic because their technology and resources are leaps and bounds beyond Earth's, or because they literally come from the future?

Perhaps Marvel Studios are still hoping to keep the movie as contained to Earth as possible. By setting the movie in the future, the various team members could be explained as being products of highly advanced genetic engineering rather than aliens. In the case of some of them (Drax, Rocket Raccoon) this isn't necessarily that off the mark anyway. However, we fear the team would lose some of its color and charm if they were all presented as Earthlings.

Either way, time travel could easily become an element of the conflict. Even in the contemporary GotG series, some of the characters were whisked away to the future in order to see what dark fate was in store for the universe 1000 years down the road. Both timelines could come into play as the Guardians confront a terrible threat in the 31st century and then travel back in order to stop its rise. Time travel could even be used to foreshadow the events of Avengers 2, which we now know won't be hitting theaters too long after this movie.

Are the Guardians Criminals?

Perhaps the most interesting and unexpected tidbit of information revealed in the plot summary is that the Guardians are “ex-cons.” While individual team members have sometimes had questionable loyalties, the Guardians as a whole have never been portrayed as being on the wrong side of the law. Most are bounty hunters or adventurers, while Groot is royalty on his home planet.

Perhaps their respective origin stories are being altered for the Cinematic Universe. The Guardians may become a team more like DC's Suicide Squad, where prisoners volunteer for dangerous missions in exchange for reduced sentences. Given Peter Quill's somewhat shady past, he may find himself thrust into a similar sort of situation when he commits a galactic faux pas. If this is the function the team serves in the movie, we'll be curious to see what intergalactic power is giving them orders.

We also wonder if this means the Klyn will factor into the conflict of the movie. The Klyn is a maximum security prison built at the edge of the universe and designed to hold the most powerful creatures in the universe (even characters like the Beyonder and some of Galactus' relatives). Star-Lord himself spent time in the prison before his recent resurgence in the comics. Using the Klyn as a locale in the movie ensures that Marvel can toss in pretty much whatever iconic villains and alien races they want, depending on contractual rights.

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Making a He-Man Movie Work

Given how massively successful Michael Bay's Transformers movies have been, it's no surprise that various studios are pursuing big-budget, live-action revivals of classic 1980s toy lines. G.I. Joe is another recent success, though its sequel has perplexingly been delayed until next year. Despite this delay, it's clear that Sony sees something in G.I. Joe: Retaliation director Jon Chu. Earlier this week we learned that Chu has been tapped to direct Sony's live-action He-Man film.

Can He-Man find the same big screen success the Autobots and Joes have? As popular as the Masters of the Universe franchise was in the '80s, the previous live-action movie didn't do He-Man any favors. Is it possible to do right by the character in live action? We say yes, and we have a few suggestions for how Chu can dust off the most powerful man in the universe for a new generation.

Blend Fantasy and Science Fiction

You want to know what the problem was with the first He-Man movie? Well, it's hard to narrow it down to just one, but one of its more significant missteps was that it tried so very hard to be Star Wars. Suddenly He-Man, Teela, and Man-at-Arms were freedom-fighting rebels seeking to free Eternia from the clutches of a scary dude in a black cape. All that kooky technology and architecture from the animated series and comics degenerated into generic sci-fi scenery. He-Man fought most of his battles with a blaster, not his sword or rippling biceps.

Yes, the He-Man franchise is more than a little inspired by the likes of Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian, and Jack Kirby's Fourth World comics, but that blend of influences results in something more unique and memorable than what unfolded on screen in 1987. Eternia is a strange place that mixes science fiction and fantasy in equal measure. Its residents wield advanced gadgets and soar through the clouds on hovercraft, yet they also dress like they're attending the local Renaissance fair. Most of them wear fur underwear outside their tights, as if they were prehistoric superheroes. The planet is crawling with dragons, monsters, and ancient demons. In short, there's no reason for a He-Man movie to feel so familiar and redundant.

This time around, we want the movie to celebrate the unique visual trappings and style of the source material. It shouldn't fall too far on either side of the sci-fi/fantasy spectrum. Nor should the movie attempt to be a gritty, realistic take on the mythos. There's plenty of room for violence and darkness in Eternia, but Eternia is also a bombastic place full of colorful characters. There's nothing realistic or plausible about any of it. The film shouldn't descend into Flash Gordon levels of camp, but nor should it pretend to be something it isn't.

The Most Powerful Man in the Universe

1987's Masters of the Universe featured Dolph Lundgren as He-Man. Physically, he fit the part well enough. But Lundgren was poorly suited to play the dual role of the burly He-Man and the bumbling Prince Adam. Perhaps it was for the best that the movie didn't even attempt to work that dynamic into the mix.

This time around, we want to see the filmmakers cast an actor who can convincingly play both Adam and He-Man. Digital effects have progressed to the point where it wouldn't be any great challenge to enhance the actor's physique for the He-Man scenes, a la Xerxes in 300. Perhaps even the reverse approach for the Adam scenes, a la Captain America. This time around, charisma and screen presence are more important than muscle mass. As with Superman's Clark Kent persona, Prince Adam is a way for viewers to identify with He-Man and provide him with more personal ties.

That said, it is possible to ditch Adam entirely depending what direction Chu and Sony want to take the film. Before the first animated series defined the He-Man mythos, the early mini-comics packed in with the figures presented He-Man as the leader of a barbarian tribe who possessed one half of the mythical Sword of Power (Skeletor being the owner of the other). Here is where the Conan inspiration was most apparent. That's another possible angle to pursue, but the result would probably be less mass market-friendly than Sony is aiming for.

We also want to see He-Man live up to his reputation as “the most powerful man in the universe” for once. The original animated series was pretty limited in what it could depict as far as violent action, but at least He-Man was prone to juggling boulders and smashing robots with his bare hands. The film, on the other hand, barely conveyed the sense that He-Man was any stronger and more powerful than your average action hero. When he finally held aloft his magic sword, there was no awesome transformation sequence, just a brief fight with Skeletor. The new movie needs to present He-Man as a Hulk or Superman-level hero and deliver action sequences that take advantage of his abilities. At the end of the day, He-Man is really just a superhero in an unusual setting, and the recent slate of superhero movies should serve as direct inspiration.

A real human being and a real hero? Works for us.

And who should play Adam/He-Man? We've felt for a while now that Ryan Gosling is overdue for some sort of major superhero role. No doubt the thought of Gosling decked out in fur underwear will help bring in a heavier female crowd than the average superhero film. But given that Chu is directing, we suspect that G.I. Joe star Channing Tatum may emerge as a front-runner. A He-Man movie with a slightly more comedic tone would probably suit him well given his recent successes in 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike.

Stick to Eternia

While the previous He-Man movie felt too similar to Star Wars in many respects, it also took an unnecessary cue from Star Trek IV. Just as that movie sent the Enterprise crew hurtling back to 20th Century San Francisco, Masters of the Universe plucked He-Man and friends away from Eternia and dropped them onto Earth for a significant chunk of the film. It's one thing to resort to that sort of plot twist in your third sequel, but for a would-be franchise that was just getting its start, ignoring the Eternia setting was unforgivable.

The only reason to showcase Earth at all is to explore Queen Marlena's past as an Earthling astronaut and her unexpected crash-landing on Eternia. The previous film was intended to acknowledge this plot point. Early script drafts even featured the reveal of a NASA space probe and American flag in the bowels of Castle Grayskull, suggesting that Eternians actually hailed from Earth originally. All of this adds an interesting wrinkle to He-Man's origins, but it may be superfluous for a debut film. As mentioned already, Eternia is an interesting, diverse planet. There are more than enough locales to keep the plot humming along without having to venture off-world.

Caste Grayskull certainly needs to be a focal point of the film. In pretty much any incarnation of the franchise, Castle Grayskull is a source of many secrets and powers, and He-Man is the hero called upon to defend those secrets from villains like Skeletor. What exact power Grayskull contains and how its origins and its guardian, the Sorceress, tie into He-Man's story tends to vary. But regardless, it's a crucial piece of the mythology.

Grayskull did appear in the last movie, though it wasn't quite the wondrous spectacle it might have been. What we didn't see were the actual kingdom of Eternia, its royal family, or Skeletor's domain in Snake Mountain. This movie needs to do a better job of establishing the scope and feel of He-Man's world and the people he's trying to defend. Meanwhile, Snake Mountain can serve as a dark counterpoint to Grayskull and the tranquility of Randor's kingdom.

No doubt the omission of all these familiar locations and elements in the 1987 film was heavily motivated by a lack of budget. He-Man is too colorful and bombastic a franchise to tackle in half-measures. This time around, Sony needs to put enough financial support behind the project for it to truly thrive.

A Larger Cast

If you've ever tried to be a serious collector of Master of the Universe action figures, you know that the franchise is home to dozens and dozens of characters aside from just He-Man and Skeletor. Sadly, only a small handful of these supporting players made it into the previous film. He-Man was joined by Man-at-Arms and Teela, but not even Orko or Battle Cat were deemed worthy enough to buddy up with Dolph. Instead, these faithful sidekicks were replaced by Gwildor. Wait, who?

Exactly.

As far as we're concerned, there's no reason this time for He-Man not to ride into battle atop a ferocious, green tiger and accompanied by a spell-casting, floating dwarf. The trick is in capturing the cooler qualities of these sidekicks and ditching some of the 1980's-era goofiness associated with them. For instance, we don't particularly need Battle Cat to talk, and we can certainly do without his bumbling alter ego, Cringer. The 2002 animated series set the right example by rendering Cringer mute and toning down his cowardly side. Similarly, we want to see less slapstick from Orko and more magical prowess.

Ideally, Teela and her father will have more central roles this time. If the He-Man/Adam dynamic is akin to Superman/Clark Kent, then Teela is the Lois Lane. Her simultaneous disgust at Adam's foppish behavior and attraction to the brawny, heroic He-Man could lend a nice touch of romantic tension to the plot.

We also hope to see He-Man's parents. King Randor and Queen Marlena. Again, Eternia was far too generic and lifeless a setting last time around. We need to see more of its residents and more of He-Man's civilian life as Prince Adam. Whether the movie brings in the more colorful He-Man allies – Ram-Man, Fisto, Zodac, etc. - is up to the filmmakers, but whatever the case, we hope to see the vast supporting cast put to better use.

Fearsome Villains

Perhaps the only thing the 1987 movie did right was casting Frank Langella as Skeletor. In both the original animated series and The New Adventures of He-Man, Skeletor was little more than a bumbling antagonist. He'd hatch a plan, and He-Man would foil it, call him “Bone-brain” or something similarly cheesy, and send him packing until the following Saturday. For a guy with dark magic powers and a skull for a face, Skeletor was about as far from scary as possible.

Conversely, Langella's Skeletor was actually fairly creepy and menacing. He had something of an Emperor Palpatine quality to him, which is one case where the Star Wars similarities paid off. Those are qualities we need to see from the villain in this new movie. We're tempted to say that Langella should reprise his role, if only so he can fulfill the promise he made in the post-credits scene, but that's probably not going to happen. Still, we want a version of Skeletor that inspires fear and dread, not laughter. We want a villain who offers a convincing threat to a guy who can shatter mountains with his fists. No matter how silly or serious the general tone of the movie, Skeletor himself should be dark and imposing.

Looking to the 2002 animated series for inspiration again, it may help the movie to build the ties between Skeletor and King Randor. Right off the bat, that series provided a full origin for Skeletor. He was revealed to be Keldor – a skilled fighter, sorcerer, and revolutionary who was driven insane after his face was scorched by acid. The original animated series also suggested that Keldor was Randor's brother. That plot twist could pave the way for a Hamlet-style showdown between family members. It also lends a more personal touch to the conflict beyond Skeletor's typical desire for power.

Any attempt to explore Skeletor's origin should also lay the groundwork for his onetime mentor and master – Hordak. Hordak's presence is best saved for a sequel, but there's no reason the first movie can't get the ball rolling. Another good choice for future villains is King Hiss and the Snake Men. This group of villains were recurring foes throughout the final season of the 2002 animated series. That series never had the chance to properly wrap up that conflict, so seeing a live-action He-Man film tackle the Snake Men would be a nice consolation prize.

To reiterate our main point, the He-Man franchise is an inherently goofy one. We think it's possible for He-Man to find the same sort of success in Hollywood that other '80s mainstays like Transformers and G.I. Joe have. But success isn't going to come by taking an overly dark and serious approach to the source material and ignoring the fun elements. He-Man offers a challenging blend of fantasy, science fiction, and adventure that's waiting for the proper director to do right by the franchise. We can only hope Jon Chu is that director.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and various other IGN channels and a lifelong fan of He-Man. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

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Director Talks Hawken, Need for Speed Movies

Act of Valor helmer Scott Waugh has not one but two video game movies on the table: Need for Speed and Hawken. And in a new interview, he's revealed some of his plans for the adaptations, including the notion of using the Unreal game engine to help make the latter film.

"One of the things I’ve been talking to the game developers about that I think is going to be so unique to [Hawken] is that I really want to use the [Unreal Engine 3] game engine in the movie," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "I want the film to feel exactly like the game. So we’re going to definitely really cross-pollinate what they’re doing in the game for the film. For me, I’m pretty excited about that, because that world we’re creating in Hawken is going to be exactly like the game."

Waugh also thinks that the future of game-to-film adaptations can be found in that word that makes media conglomerates so happy: synergy. In the case of Hawken, for example, game publisher Meteor Entertainment and developer Adhesive Games have the movie, game, comics and a live-action web series in the works.

"Now it’s not, 'Here’s the movie. Here’s the game,'" says the director. "It’s almost become one. That’s the experience we want to create in the film, for people to really feel like, 'Holy smokes!' … that you’re in the game."

As for Need for Speed, Waugh says the film will be a "mesh" of all the games in that series, while focusing on a specific title (which he's not revealing yet).

"I personally have always wanted to do a car racing movie," he says. "I’m a motocross racer, myself. We still quote Bullitt and French Connection. Those movies were made in the '70s. We should be able to outdo that nowadays, and I just feel like, 'I want to be the guy that makes the next authentic racing film,' and that’s my goal. It’s so great to be part of that Need for Speed franchise, because I think they do a great job on authentic racing."

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

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