Anarchy ensues on the streets of Gotham City, at least that’s what we get out of the recent batch of videos coming from the set of The Dark Knight Rises, now filming in New York. Three videos showing different takes from what looks like an important scene in the movie found their way onto YouTube and thanks to IGN, we have them here for you. As always, if you want to go into The Dark Knight Rises spoiler-free, I recommend you skip this.

In the last video we see Batman going up against Bane in the middle of the street, surrounded by people beating the crap out of each other. SPOILER, if you ask me, it doesn’t seem like he’s winning that fight. Also, with so many extras on the set, this looks really expensive, not to mention they are filming on Wall Street no less. This could end up costing easily $250 million when done. But considering The Dark Knight made over $1 billion in box office receipts worldwide, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. spared no expenses on this one.

There’s also a video showing some photos of Batman and Bane from the set:

Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine and Liam Neeson. Set to open July 20th 2012, The Dark Knight Rises is easily one of the most highly anticipated movies of next year and videos like this only serve to send the hype meter into overdrive.

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After a somewhat long break we are back to superheroes. Last time around we were in 2008 looking at what was arguably the best year yet for the genre. Today we’ll look at a few comic book characters brought for the first time on the big screen, an original black hero, two sequels, a spin-off and a once considered impossible to adapt graphic novel. But first there’s a little something that must be done.

Before we get going I have to give Spider-Man 3 a second look just to clear some things. I understand very well that last time I came across way to harsh on Sam Raimi, blaming him for a lot more then he deserved blaming. What I didn’t mention was how Sony handled the project and how they forced Venom into Raimi’s story with a crowbar. This explains why the Symbiote plot was so underdeveloped and why it seemed shoehorned into the overall plot. Now I’m not saying Raimi is a saint, he could have handled certain plot points a lot better and his direction was all over the place compared to previous entries. Throwing that to the side, I blame Sony and only Sony for how Spider-Man 4 was handled (read cancelled) and I have to be honest, if it wasn’t for Mark Webb (500 Days of Summer) directing The Amazing Spider-Man, I would not be interested in that reboot.

Back to 2008, we start with Wanted, the Mark Miller comic turned big budget movie starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman. This isn’t your typical superhero but the dude can curve bullets and he fights a secret worldwide assassin organization, so you could say he qualifies to be in here. Wanted made $134.5 million in North America and $341.6 million worldwide. A sequel has been considered and then dropped but there’s still a chance we might get Wanted 2 in the future.

Released on the 2nd of July 2008 starring Will Smith, Hancock became the first original superhero movie to hit big. It made $227.9 million in North American and $624.3 million worldwide, mostly thanks to the huge drawing power of its star, Will Smith. Hancock 2 is categorized as being in development on IMDB for a 2013 proposed release.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army came out on July 11th 2008. You see, the original Hellboy (2004), while loved by fans, wasn’t a particularly big hit grossing only $99.3 million worldwide on a $66 million budget, so Sony dropped it. Few years later, Universal stepped in and gave Guillermo del Toro $85 million to make the sequel fans expected. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army was well received by just about everyone but, turns out releasing just a week before the most hotly anticipated title of the year isn’t a good idea, even more so when said title is also a superhero movie. With $160.3 million worldwide Hellboy 2 didn’t cover its budget so the 3rd planned entry is now on hold. Unfortunately with time passing by so fast and Ron Perlman (Hellboy) not getting any younger (61), not to mention Guillermo del Toro being so busy with other projects, Hellboy 3 is starting to look like a pipe dream.

July 18th 2008, the day The Dark Knight opened in theaters. Now for those living under a rock, this is the sequel to 2005′s Batman Begins, the fantastic reboot of the cape crusader handled by the brilliant mind of Christopher Nolan. Now Batman Begins made $372.7 million worldwide, a good number, certainly not enough to prepare us for how big The Dark Knight would become. I won’t make a big deal out of it but the untimely death of Heath Ledger (28 at the time), playing the Joker in the movie, turned more then a few heads and ears. But it was the movie that kept building hype and if Spider-Man 3 taught us anything, hugely anticipated popular superhero movies can become extremely popular at the box office. The Dark Knight was no different, grossing $158.4 million opening weekend, a new record at the time (second today). It generated $533.3 million in North America becoming the 2nd highest grosser ever (3rd today) and by far the biggest superhero movie (a title it still holds). The Dark Knight made over $1 billion worldwide (4th movie to ever get there) turning Batman in Warner’s biggest moneymaker and going as far as having them move Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (that was set to open in November 2008) to summer 2009 just so they had a big movie the following year, since they already had their fill for 2008. The Dark Knight Rises, followup to this, will open in July 2012.

As you might remember, 2008 started bad for superhero movies with the godawful Superhero Movie. It was only fitting that it would end on that same note with The Spirit. This is a movie I can only describe in so many words and those would be: REALLY BAD. The Spirit made only $39 million worldwide, so a massive disappointment on all accounts.

Watchmen, the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of the most celebrated graphic novel ever, came out in March 2009 under the direction of Zack Snyder of 300 fame. Thought by many to be impossible to adapt, making Watchmen was anything but an easy task. When it finally came out, the movie was appreciated for a lot of things it did (or tried to do) but not nearly as much as I think it deserved. For anyone interested in a more complex, brainy, superhero flick, I definitely recommend you watch this. It gets a lot more hate then it should, blue penis aside. A 163 minute R-rated superhero movie is not what you would call commercial so Watchmen only made $185.2 million worldwide on a $130 million budget. Warner were not too happy about that.

In May 2009 it was time for Fox to dust off that old X-Men license once again with a spin-off titled X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The movie tells the story of Wolverine and how he became the character we knew in the X-Men movie trilogy. Arguably the most popular of the X-Men, this was the obvious choice for a spin-off and it payed off, at least financially since fans didn’t particularly enjoy this one all that much. On a budget of $150 million, X-Men Origins: Wolverine made $373 million worldwide and a sequel simply titled The Wolverine is planned for sometime in 2013 (and yes, I am well aware they are not calling it a proper sequel).

Finally on today’s order is Kick-Ass, a weird yet awesome flick based again on a Mark Miller (Wanted) comic. Coming out in April 2010, just before the big summer craziness, Kick-Ass had a lot of internet hype that unfortunately didn’t translate into big numbers at the box office. It made only $96.1 million worldwide on a $30 million budget, so at least it made back some money. The idea of a sequel has been thrown around but so far nothing is certain.

We started in 1978 and we’re already in 2010, now there’s just one more part left to go and I promise it won’t take as long as this one. Until then, if you’ve missed any of the previous parts, you can check them right here in the links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8.

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Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up, this is a lesson Warner learned the hard way with Batman. And yes, that is a direct quote I stole from Batman Begins, and for good reasons. Since we’ll cover 2005 up to 2007, Bats is not the only superhero of old coming back. In this part we see DC Comics showing its teeth after years of nothing (Catwomen is best forgotten), the return of a long lost hero, the end of a trilogy and a bunch of other Marvel properties parading about, trying to look as cool as their bigger brothers, but mostly failing horribly.

Batman Begins was the title that Warner chose for the return of the dark knight. Under the strong hand of Christopher Nolan, who was previously credited for movies like Memento or Insomnia, the new direction of Batman was clear, a darker tale focused on the human side of the hero, exploring his journey, going from a lost man fulled by revenge to the hero that criminals learned to fear by the end of the movie. This was a huge departure from the neon goofy Batman created by Joel Schumacher with Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Christian Bale was the new Bruce Wayne while Michael Caine was Alfred. It also featured: Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Liam Nesson, Katie Holmes and many others. A fantastic cast for the movie that became a turning point for the superhero genre. And yes, it was a critical and commercial success, ok, maybe not the hit it could have been but considering the bad taste left by Batman and Robin only 8 year before, $205.3 million in North America and $372.7 million worldwide on a $150 million budget, was a great start for this new take on Batman. For me personally, this is still the best superhero movie ever made and what makes it so great is the fact that Batman Begins is a genuinely good movie regardless of the genre.

Fantastic Four, another Marvel property turned to the big screen by Fox, followed but didn’t have the same impact as the X-Men movies had. This was a goofy action-adventure superhero flick that made $154.6 million in North America and $330.5 million worldwide. While it didn’t set the world on fire, it was a fun time at the movies so a sequel was green lit soon after.

Sky High, released in the middle of the 2005 summer, was sort of a live-action The Incredibles but without that Pixar magic sprinkled on top. Nevertheless, it was a good movie that got decent reviews all around. Unfortunately, while Sky High grossed $86.3 million worldwide on a $35 million budget, Disney never had the guts to follow it with a sequel.

Now The Mask of Zorro on the other hand, got a sequel but only 7 years later in the form of The Legend of Zorro. Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones returned along with director Martin Campbell. Unfortunately it was to little to late, the movie was average at best and the magic of the previous entry was gone. The Legend of Zorro only made $142.4 million worldwide (The Mask of Zorro grossed $250 million in 1998) on a $75 million budget. At this point the only way we’ll get Zorro back is in the form of another reboot and with the new-found success of swashbuckling movies (thanks to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise), we might not be all that far from something like that.

X-Men: The Last Stand opened in May 2006 and was supposed to be the end of the X-Men trilogy. Some unfortunate events happened during production, some involving another movie I will cover today. You see, part of what made X-Men and X2: X-Men United so great was director Bryan Singer. He understood the characters and managed to make something very good of what was essentially a very hard to adapt series. With so many characters, it’s easy to get lost and screw things up. Well Bryan Singer left X-Men: The Last Stand to direct Superman Returns, his longtime dream project. Matthew Vaughn took over, but left weeks before filming was set to begin (later returning to direct X-Men: First Class). The cast and crew were ready, so Fox hired Brett Ratner and threw as much money as possible into X-Men: The Last Stand ($210 million no less) in order to make at least something decent in the very short time they had. What came out wasn’t a bad movie but it wasn’t on the level of the first two either. On the other hand it did become the highest grossing of the series with $234.3 million in North America and $459.3 million worldwide. Financial success doesn’t always equal quality and for X-Men: The Last Stand it was very true. After screwing up the series to the point that a sequel became almost impossible, Fox were left with only two options, reboot or spin-offs. Since everyone was rebooting left and right, they chose spin-offs and in all honestly, it wasn’t such a bad idea.

A few paragraphs back I mentioned that Bryan Singer left X-Men to make his dream project, Superman Returns. After the success Warner had with Batman Begins a year before, one might think they would try to reboot Superman as well but this wasn’t the case here. Superman Returns was a full blown sequel to the Superman movies of old, recapturing the classic feel of the first two in the series (truth be told, it ignored the events of Superman III and IV). While it did make a good amount of money ($200 million in North America and $391 million worldwide), production costs were absurdly high ($270 million budget, most expensive movie at the time, just like the original in 1978) that it was deemed a financial disappointment. Unfortunately this Superman was way to classic for what modern audiences were expecting, not to mention with heroes like Batman, Spider-Man or Wolverine, the man of steel was becoming too old. I personally think it was a good, almost great movie that gets a lot more negative publicity then it should. No sequel followed but a reboot is planned for 2013, more about that at another time.

Superheroes at the box office Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.

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In Part 3 of our look at superheroes at the box office Batman was still the main topic of conversation, while in this feature he definitely starts to takes a backseat. By now everyone knows what came after Batman Forever and while it ain’t pretty, we have to remind ourselves of this dreaded event because only by knowing the past, can you prepare for the future… and not make the same mistake twice. Obviously, Warner Bros. didn’t learn anything from the Superman fiasco.

Before we get to Batman and Robin in 1997, we still have 2 years to go over and we start at June 30th 1995, one of the rare dates that had 2 superhero movies opening at the same time. The first was Mighty Morphin’s Power Rangers, a movie based on the popular 90′s Fox Kids show, and the second movie was Judge Dredd, a $90 million Silvester Stallone Buena Vista (Disney) R-rated action movie based on the popular British comics. Neither of them was #1 that weekend (Apollo 13 was, with more than double both their takings) and with $38.1 million from Power Rangers and $34.6 million for Judge Dredd in North America, there wasn’t much left to write home about. Power Rangers got another shot with a sequel in 1997, but that was a box office bomb with just $8.3 million.

1996 followed with The Phantom, The Crow: City of Angels and Barb Wire, all bad movies and equally unsuccessful at the box office with numbers from $3.7 million (for Barb Wire) to $17.9 for The Crow sequel.

After so much turd, the waiting for the next Batman was finally over in the summer of 1997. Since we were on the subject of turds, Batman and Robin was to become the biggest of them all. Costing a whopping $125 million (one of the most expensive movies at the time), the adventure of Batman, Robin and Batgirl (yes, they had to go that far) made for an excruciating movie that turned into a box office bomb, grossing only $107.3 million in North America and $238.2 million worldwide. So when did all the sucking start? Well, some would say the second Robin entered the series but since we are talking about Batman and Robin here, I’ll start with the recasting of the dark knight with George Clooney. Then there was a goofy Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Mr. Freeze and Uma Thurman was Poison Ivy. Did I mention they got Batgirl in there also? Alicia Silverstone had the “honor” of playing her. Basically everything turned into a bad Saturday morning live-action cartoon that killed that Batman movie franchise. It was time for a reboot that would take Warner 8 years to get round to, but what a reboot that was.

So with both Superman and Batman out, there weren’t that many high profile superheroes to exploit anymore. I mean yeah, there was Spider-Man but that was stuck in development hell since before Superman (1978) came out. Bringing Spidy to the big screen was considered, at the time, too expensive and hard to shot with the technology they had back then. So we were left with second-rate superheroes for three more years.

But, it was one of this second-rate superheroes that started to turn the tide again for the genre. Spawn in 1997 wasn’t that hero but it was certainly not a bad effort. It was a mediocre movie in a time when superheroes needed great movies in order to rise again. Grossing $54.4 million in North America and $87.8 million worldwide, it was a step at least partially in a somewhat good direction. Then came Steel and which was definitely ten steps back, grossing only $1.7 million. Top that!

1998 was the year of hope with not one but TWO good superhero movies. After so many years of darkness, a ray of light was finally on the horizon for this once respected genre. Think of it this way, you know how we hate movies based on games today? Well that’s basically how things were at the time with superheroes in movies.

The Mask of Zorro opened on July 17th 1998 to warm reception and a total of $94 million in North America and $250.2 million worldwide. So what was the secret to go from Steel to The Mask of Zorro? Well for starters Sony and Columbia Pictures got competent people to make this movie, Martin Campbell directed (he previously did GoldenEye and this year he made Green Lantern, according to critics, not his best effort) and a good cast to boot lead by Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins starring as an older version of the titular hero. Steven Spielberg was also an executive producer on The Mask of Zorro, and years later a sequel followed.

So while Zorro was a hit, he wasn’t exactly what the superhero fans out there wanted, actually pretty far from it. It wasn’t Zorro but Blade on August 21st, that turned the tide for the superhero genre. A Marvel Comics hero for once (Superman and Batman are DC Comics), Blade was an instant hit with the fans and without it, Marvel would be in a very different position right now. Blade made $70 million in North America and $131.1 million, so not a huge hit money wise but what really mattered here is that Blade was a competent movie that actually followed the source material and represented the hero as he should be, in an R-rated flick. Blade spawned 2 more sequels in the years to come and single-handedly greenlit projects like X-Men, Spider-Man and other Marvel properties that would become so popular in the years to come.

In Part 5 the Marvel revolution finally gets under-way….

- Superheroes at the box office (Part 1)
- Superheroes at the box office (Part 2)
- Superheroes at the box office (Part 3)

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Welcome to the second part in our look at the history of superheroes at the box office. Last time around Superman was the main topic, having raised and almost killed the superhero genre in just 5 years on the big screen. With the Man of Steel in the ground, Hollywood had to find another property to replace him, a more human hero, relatable to the mass audiences. It was Warner Bros again and, well, by now you know we’re talking about Batman here.

But wait, I got carried away for a second and forgot that before Batman, there was another Superman movie in 1987. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, a low budget last attempt at saving the series by trying to go back to the roots. By roots I mean getting Gene Hackman back to play Lex Luther (absent in Superman III) and setting Superman up to fight a super villain with similar powers in the form of Nuclear Man (like General Zod and his gang in Superman II). The movie was ultimately panned by everyone and is best left forgotten. It made only $15.6 million in North America and considering that just 6 years before, Superman II opened with $14.1 million, it was clear that this hero had to be buried for good, at least until following century.

Back when Superman still meant something on the big screen, Warner started working on another DC Comics superhero, Batman. Bringing the Dark Knight to the big screen had a lot of ups and downs and at one point Bill Murray was set to star as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) was to direct. From the initial stages of development Batman was set to be an origin story and the Joker was supposed to be the villain. In 1987 Warner started pursuing Tim Burton for the director chair while Sam Hamm was hired to write a new script. Come 1988 everything was in place, Tim Burton was to direct, Jack Nicholson would play the Joker while Michael Keaton would become Batman. A storm of fan backlash starts after hearing Keaton was cast as Batman, going as far as to petition Warner Bros. to recast the role. In October 1988 filming started at Pinewood studios, UK. In January 1989 the first trailer for Batman is released in theaters to fantastic reception and the Michael Keaton backlash was put to rest. The hype meter started going into overdrive in anticipation of the June 23 1989 release of what was the most highly anticipated movie of that year (a year that also had Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). Batman was finally here and it blew expectations out of the water with the highest opening weekend of that time, $40.4 million. It went on to make $251.1 million in North America or what would be almost $500 million today adjusted for inflation. Worldwide it grossed $411.3 million and Warner were already talking about Batman II. This was huge and they were given a second chance after screwing the cash cow that was Superman.

But Warner were not the only ones making superhero movies, after years of going back and forth, New Line finally released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in March 1990. The beloved comic book characters took the box office by storm after opening with $25.3 million (second highest that year) and going on to make $135.2 million in North America and $201.9 million worldwide, all on a $13.5 million budget. With such a new strong property on their hands, New Line rushed a sequel for release just a year later.

In August 1990, Universal tried its hand at another superhero (after the disappointment that was Flash Gordon), this time on a much lower budget ($16 million), playing it as safe as possible. Darkman came out to good reviews and with a worldwide box office of $48 million, it managed to turn a decent profit for the studio. Universal had plans for a sequel but because it was ultimately considered too expensive to release on the big screen again, Darkman only got two direct-to-video sequels in 1995 and 1996..

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II came out in March 1991 to a $20 million opening and a $78.6 million total. While it made a lot less and cost a lot more ($25 million), this was still considered a success and plans for part 3 were underway.

For every Superman or Batman, there is a lesser known superhero out there, one of such being The Rocketeer, brought to theaters in the summer of 1991 by Disney. This $35 million flick opened with $9.6 million and went on to gross $46.7 million in North America. This was nothing to write home about and plans for a sequel were abandoned because of the poor box office performance.

In Part 3 we’ll see how Warner Bros. slowly starts to fall into the same trappings as before with their Batman franchise.

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Following news earlier this week that Warner Bros. is planning a Justice League movie for 2013 there were questions as to whether it would be connected to Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot, and the new Batman reboot which the studio is also planning for after The Dark Knight Rises.

While at the London opening of Sucker Punch Snyder was questioned on the recent Justice League news, and said it won’t be connected to his new take on Superman.

From HeyUGuys:

We asked Snyder about the plans for the Justice League movie and how his Superman fitted in with that? This is what he said,

‘It doesn’t. Like what Chris Nolan is doing and what I’m doing with Superman, what they’ll do with Justice League will be it’s own thing with it’s own Batman and own Superman. We’ll be over here with our movie and they’ll kinda get to do it twice which is kinda cool’

I’m not fond of the idea of having separate Superman and Batman movies running alongside a Justice League franchise. While Superman and Batman are the most well known members of the team the studio should just let them have their own thing going on, and use the Justice League movie to establish The Flash, Wonder Woman and other characters. Do we really need two actors playing Superman and Batman?

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Christopher Nolan’s decision to draw his Batman trilogy to a close next year is a problem for Warner Bros. The studio is already losing Harry Potter this summer, and with their only proven DC franchise on its final stretch they need to plan ahead for 2013 and beyond.

Warner Bros. President Alan Horn is retiring this week, and will be replaced by Jeff Robinov. In a new interview on the future of the studio Robinov said he plans to fill the void with more DC characters, including a Justice Leage movie, and he also intends to reboot the Batman franchise.

From Hero Complex:

“We have the third Batman, but then we’ll have to reinvent Batman…Chris Nolan and [producing partner and wife] Emma Thomas will be producing it, so it will be a conversation with them about what the next phase is.”

The world was given Batman movies before Batman Begins, so it is was inevitable that we would get more after The Dark Knight Rises. Nolan staying on as producer will be encouraging to some fans, but I think they should leave it a few years before giving us another Batman with a new director and new actor in the role.

There is a possibility that the Batman reboot could have connections to other plans by the studio:

Robinov said a new Justice League script is in the works. Also being written for Warner are scripts featuring the Flash and Wonder Woman, who could be spun off into their own movies after Justice League.

Warner Bros. tried making a Justice League movie in 2007/08 but it was hindered by the Writers Guild of America strike, tax credit issues in Australia, and concerns about having a new incarnation of Batman running alongside Nolan’s. Perhaps the end of Christian Bale’s run will allow Warner Bros. to introduce a new Batman that has connections with the Justice League.

What do you think about Warner Bros’ plans for a Batman reboot with Nolan involved, and the possibility of a Justice League movie?

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The headline says it all with this one, folks. We have no idea what character he’ll be playing, but Inception star Joseph Gordon-Levitt is set to reunite with director Christopher Nolan (and co-star Tom Hardy, for that matter) in The Dark Knight Rises.

Deadline brings the report, claiming that the 29-year-old will be on board when Nolan begins filming this May. Gordon-Levitt is currently filming Rian Johnson’s Looper – one of my most anticipated films in a long time – and should be freed up for filming by Nolan’s start date.

There were early rumors of JGL playing The Riddler in the final entry of Nolan’s Batman trilogy, but those came and went without confirmation. This news seems a bit more finalized, although, again, we’re not sure what role he’s playing. Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway are co-starring as Bane and Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) alongside Christian Bale, and it’s assumed the rest of the great supporting Bat-cast will return to this third installment as well. Expect more clarification on this story in the weeks to come.

What role should Gordon-Levitt play in The Dark Knight Rises?

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We recently saw a new game trailer for Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum which sold over 2 million copies in it’s first week and it earned a spot in the Guinness World Records for the “Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game”.

For those who were intrigued by the trailer, Warner Bros has announced that the game and will be coming to PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 in fall 2011.

The story for Arkham City takes place one year after the events of Arkham Asylum. Quincy Sharp, former warden of Arkham Asylum, has taken credit for stopping the Joker, and used that notoriety to become mayor of Gotham City. As neither Arkham nor Blackgate Prison are in any condition to hold inmates, Sharp buys out a large section of Gotham’s slums and arms the perimeter with private military contractors from a group called Tyger in order to create “Arkham City”.

The prisoners are brought into Arkham City and are given free rein, as long as they do not attempt escape. To oversee the city, Sharp uses psychiatrist Hugo Strange who appears to have his own secret agenda for the city. Hugo secretly knows that Batman is really Bruce Wayne and attacks him with guards in Arkham City. Batman maintains a vigil over the city, worried that the situation may get out of hand.

The events of the game are set in motion when Two-Face, seeking to gain status among the inmates and other villains outside the city, devises a plan to publicly execute Catwoman. Batman decides for both the safety of Gotham and of his past relationship with Catwoman that he must stop the execution by entering Arkham City himself.

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Over the next few years we will once again see Batman and Superman on the big screen, but for those waiting for a Justice League movie this DC Universe Online game may keep you occupied while Warner Bros. gets the ball rolling with Green Lantern, The Flash and Wonder Woman.

A six minute cinematic trailer for the MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) has been released, and it’s quite excellent (although the game itself will look normal).

You can pre-order DC Universe Online, which will be released in November, via these links:

PlayStation 3 | PC

I’ve often wondered why we haven’t seen a computer animated superhero movie. Obviously we have The Incredibles from Pixar, but we have yet to see an animated feature based on a well known superhero. There are a few advantages to this, one being you can do practically anything with a computer. Action scenes deemed too expensive for a normal movie can be added significantly cheap and easier with CGI, however there can be an emotional disconnect from audiences who prefer to see real human faces.

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