Tony, Sara and Norm discuss the different aspects of the movie and why it was so good. Be warned that there will be spoilers so feel free to openly discuss the movie.

Last week we got a peek at all of the incredible movie posters created buy Mondo for each member of the Avengers in celebration of the upcoming film’s release. Now, Mondo has revealed their final poster illustrated by artist Tyler Stout and the image is pretty unbelievable. The limited edition poster, of which there are two versions, is set to go on sale sometime Friday, May 4th: the day of the movie’s release in the United States.

Mondo will reveal on their Twitter feed the exact time that the posters will go on sale Friday. Those interested will have the option of purchasing either the regular or the variant edition of the poster, but not both. Mondo is also limiting one poster per person only. Check out both versions of the poster below. What do you think of each poster? Pretty amazing stuff, right?

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Poster by Tyler Stout. 24″x36″ nine-color screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 750. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. $60

Poster by Tyler Stout. 24″x36″ nine-color screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 350. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. $110

Source: Mondo

Just about everything is about The Avengers this week. It was a little surprising to hear that Soundgarden would have a song on the movie soundtrack. If you haven’t heard it yet or seen the music video, check it out below. It has some scenes from the movie but nothing really spoilery.

This song is called “Live to Rise.”

Are there any Soundgarden fans out there? Does it make sense for this type of music to be in the movie or does it date it? I do recall hearing Foo Fighters during Thor.

There has been talk of a new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man and it’s supposed to hit the internet later today. Because we don’t like to wait, Apple was nice enough to release a couple shots of the Lizard (played by Rhys Ifans and some CGI).

This is the first show showing him in the actual lab coat. The previous glimpses in the trailers and the conceptual images showed him pretty much naked.

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In the second image, it looks like Peter‘s going to need to get a new camera. Or maybe Lizard will return it since it does have his name labeled on it.

Keep an eye out for the new trailer which is also supposed to be in front of The Avengers, opening in the U.S. tomorrow.

Source: /Film

The Avengers has yet to open in the U.S. but there’s already a lot of buzz based on the overseas box office. The majority of the comments you’ll see are extremely positive. One question many may have (and I’m keeping my mouth shut until my review is posted later this week) is where does Hulk stand with the team?

We’ve seen two recent releases for the Hulk, with Eric Bana and Ed Norton. In The Avengers, Mark Ruffalo is taking his turn at the character. With all the positive feedback so far, it now appears that Hulk may get a shot at a third solo movie.

In an interview with The Huffington Post (via /Film), Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was asked a couple weeks ago about giving Hulk “another shot” on the big screen.

Well, no. This was the other shot. Right? I mean, this was the third appearance of Hulk and everything that we had and were going for, we put in to Hulk’s appearance in “Avengers.” So, I love that people are saying that and are feeling that way about Hulk, but mission accomplished at this point. And the way we go forward, we’ll see. But it was a long road to get to this point. … But we’ll be very careful about it and deliberate — as we were in how we wanted to bring him back in “Avengers.”

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Today in Forbes it seems we may have a different story. Paul Gitter, President of Consumer Products for Marvel said the following:

His sales are up in a major way. We repositioned him from where he was always misunderstood to now depicting him in a more heroic and aspirational manner.

Both comic readers and non-comic readers know who the Hulk is. With the positive comments on Hulk’s performance in The Avengers, it’s likely that audiences do want more Hulk.

There’s been talk of a Hulk TV show on ABC in development. That could cause throw a wrench into the works as audiences might not be willing to take two different versions of Hulk at the same time. Then again, we do have an animated Avengers shows currently airing with a slightly different take on the team.

So the big question is, do people want another Hulk movie? Your answer may change after watching The Avengers. (And if you have watched it, don’t bring up any spoilers!!)

Each week we cruise around the internet and gather up the coolest comic book art that you won’t actually see in comic books. The reason you won’ t see them is because artists often posts sketches and commissions on their blogs, Tumblrs and Twitter accounts. Doing these sketches gives them the opportunity to draw characters they might not normally get the chance to in their normal assignments. Of course they are simply too good to go unnoticed.

Skottie Young has been busy lately. He recently put in some appearances at C2E2 and Boston Comiccon. Check out all these great sketches he posted on his website.

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There was a whole lot of Batman going on.

Are you ready to see The Avengers next weekend (if it hasn’t already opened in your country)? Check out this “We have a Hulk” pic Paolo Rivera posted on his blog.

Daniel HDR also posted an Avengers sketch on his Tumblr. Check out his Iron Man.

Robert Atkins has made April ‘Avengers Month’ over at his blog. He’s been posting a bunch of sketches of different Avengers. Take a look at his renditions of Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man and even Scarlet Spider (who wasn’t really an Avenger but it’s always great to see him).

Freddie E. Williams II posted a bunch of sketches on his Twitter he did at C2E2 (how did I not know he was there?!?) and Denver Comicfest.

Agnes Garbowska posted some sketches she did at Boston Comic Con on her Tumblr. Check out her Ravager vs. Wonder Girl and Jason Todd with Tim Drake.

Peter Nguyen posted a couple sketches on his Tumblr. Not sure if they’re from C2E2 or another con. Take a look at Arrowette and Emma Frost.

Dan McDaid updated his blog with a few some sketches of Big Barda, Conan and Doctor Strange.

Gene Gonzales continues to post his ‘Conventionless Convention’ sketches on his blog. Here’s his Goblin Queen and Red Sonja.

Macus To reblogged this nice Batwoman sketch by Marco Rudy.

Michael Walsh put up this cool Spider-Man sketch on his Tumblr.

Dustin Nguyen updated his Tumblr with some old sketches he did. Check out his Wonder Woman, Wolverine and Gambit.

Marcio Takara was also at Boston Comic Con. Take a look at his sketches of Skeltor, Captain America and Black Cat he posted on his Tumblr.

And finally, we know that Carol Danvers is getting a new costume when she becomes Captain Marvel. Cameron Stewart digs the design and posted his take on it on his Tumblr.

That’s it for this week. You have to love convention season when artists post all the sketches they do. Be sure to check back for the next installment of Awesome Art Picks.

Everyone is looking forward to The Avengers being released next week (in the United States) but the other studios aren’t going to let us forget there is more than one superhero movie coming out this year. Reports have a new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises being in front of The Avengers (as usual, there were not any trailers before the screened version of the movie).

Before we all get to see the new Spider-Man trailer, we do get to check out a new international version of the poster. We did recently see two new posters but now we get to see the logo in a different language.

It’s always interesting that ‘international’ posters are often different besides the language and logo. The bummer is they get to see the movie on June 30 but we have to wait until July 3.

Source: SuperHeroHype

Find out more about the female character in Spider-Man’s mini-team in the animated series.

The Avengers is almost here and it seems everyone has nothing but good things to say about it. In one of the various clips released, we got to see some pretty cool Black Widow action. The more we see of her, the more impressed we get.

Last month word came out that Black Widow would be appearing in Iron Man 3. It wasn’t an official release but apparently the character and Scarlett Johansson were listed on a casting sheet along with Gwynth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Don Cheadle as Rhodey/War Machine. We’ve been hearing rumblings about filming taking place in China along with some other scientist-type characters being cast. Adding in Black Widow could take the movie in a different direction. Now it seems that won’t be the case.

In an interview for The Avengers at Screen Rant, Johansson mentioned she will not be the movie but is hoping to be in her own movie. She mentioned that the solo movie could have a Jason Bourne-esque feel to it. That would definitely bring the Marvel Movies to a different place. There has been talk of a solo Black Widow movie before. Perhaps we may end up seeing it after all.

Take a good look at Superman or Batman‘s original, 1930s costumes. They’re completely different from either their current incarnation or even what most consider their “classic” looks. Now look at Wonder Woman‘s. In sixty years, not one stitch is different.

Batman and Superman both have established costumes that are considered their “classics,” for Supes it is, more or less, his Silver Age costume. The darker blue, the larger symbol, the red and gold are all completely iconic, much moreso than his original look. For Batman it gets a little more complex as his Neal Adams incarnation is usually the go-to for the look, even if the color palette and bat-symbol have changed.

And there was some backlash for these, and especially for the most recent, changes. But nothing compared to the vitriolic, frothing rage that accompanied a short jacket and pants for Wonder Woman’s out-dated look. So much so that DC actually rolled back to it and kept it through the New-52 relaunch. But why her? Why is it SO important for Wonder Woman to keep that look? Well the sad truth may be: it’s all she’s got.

If it weren’t for the coloration and style, could you even tell when this was drawn?

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Pictured: Not even a good idea at the time

Quick! Name the most influential Batman story ever written! Not necessarily the best, but the one that defines who Bats is in the modern world. Did you say Long Halloween? Maybe Hush? Dark Knight Returns? Maybe Death in the Family if you’ve forgotten Joker becoming the ambassador to Iran?

How about Supes? It gets a little tougher because, in my opinion, Superman is just about toughest character to write for in all of comics. But you’ve still got Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Superman For All Seasons, or Birthright.

Now quick: name the one arc that totally defines the character of Wonder Woman. I’m so into comics that I’ve opened a store AND write about them for a living, and I can’t answer that question. The current New-52 incarnation is actually one of the best, most solid pieces of character-defining writing the character has ever received and while Straczynski had an epic run, I would say that as a character nothing really happened to Wonder Woman herself. It seems to be the same reason we can’t get a WW movie, despite he being one of the “Big 3″ of DC. I also just this second realized that she doesn’t have a proper nickname like “Bats” and “Supes.” Or “The Dark Knight” and “The Blue Boyscout.” Or “The Bat” and “The Man of Steel.”

To go off on a slight, but related, tangent: Red Letter Media recently completed a masterful deconstruction of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In it, the salient point was made that, despite the great movies and fond memories: Jones isn’t in any way an interesting character. This was driven home by the host’s hypothetical situation that if Jones’ trademark fedora, leather jacket and whip were removed, what would set the character apart from the myriad other pulp adventurers? As much fun as those movies are, and I personally enjoy the first three very much, it’s very true: Indiana Jones is defined more by his appearance than by his personality. And the same could be said of Wonder Woman. She’s never had a writer with a steady enough hand to really nail down what makes her HER. One arc has her as a tough-as-nails warrior who has no time for petty concerns and others have her as a more nurturing, motherly figure trying to protect everyone she can.

Pictured: A reasonable evolution.

Putting aside her BDSM-laden origin, (ah, phrases you only hear in comics) which was also titanically sexist, what defines Wonder Woman that doesn’t define a myriad of other heroes? Determination? Easily the most generic personality trait to ascribe to a superhero. Caring? Is she? She’s often portrayed much more as a militaristic-minded, hardened fighter.

I’m sure the comment section of this very article will provide many traits that could accurately describe Wonder Woman, but I wonder how many will be contradictory and from storylines that are relatively close together.

We’ve seen Diana get an update with the latest issue of her title, but this feels much more like a temporary thing, though personally I think it could stand to stick around for awhile. With Carol Danvers getting an amazing, modern redesign, isn’t it about time to retire the 1930s-style one-piece swimsuit for female superheroes? Isn’t it time for Wonder Woman’s costume to evolve along with her character?