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The Dark Knight Rises is potentially the most anticipated movie of 2012.  With a July 20 release date, fans can hardly wait for a phenomenal finale to Christopher Nolan’s franchise.

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The summer is always full of blockbuster hits, and they usually back into about twelve weekends.  Opening weekend is usually the biggest for established movies like this, in terms of revenue.  With that being the case, other movies don’t want to try to compete with the big blockbusters, so they open on separate weekends.  There aren’t many movies that are the sole movie opening in their respective week,  but this summer, The Dark Knight Rises is the only one (technically, The Amazing Spider-Man opens the same week as Savages). That should give it a good shot at beating out The Hunger Games as the top movie in 2012, and justify the prediction that is the title of this article.

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There is speculation about the plot of The Dark Knight rises, and some even say the Caped Crusader will not survive — whether it be from Bane, Catwoman, or something else.  I can already see that there are so many characters’ stories woven into the script that it might even be too much.  The Dark Knight Rises cast features about as many stars as you can have.  Returning characters include Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman as Commissionor Gordon, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.  New cast members include Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Tom Hardy as Bane, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake (whom we all know is just a made-up character Nolan threw into the script because he likes Gordon-Levitt so much).  And finally Liam Neeson makes his return as Ra’s Al Ghul.  Who knows if he will be featured in past memories of Bruce, or if he actually survived the train crash in Batman Begins.

If you know me, you’ll also know how excited I am for Hans Zimmer’s score to the movie.  He (and Klaus Badelt) did such an amazing job with the first two that the third one is sure to be a hit.

If you haven’t yet seen a trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, check it out here.  And get ready for when “The Legend Ends” July 20!

What are you looking forward to the most in The Dark Knight Rises?

Jack Stewart is a writer for Superhero Legacy

Now that the dust has settled, 2011 superhero movies can now be officially critiqued and graded.   It was a momentous summer for some of the lesser-known superheroes who finally got their own movie.  Let’s face it: Superman and Batman have had their time to shine  (and will for years tocome), but some of the other great superheroes received due attention in 2011 superhero movies.

Image Credit to Nick Leshi's Blog: http://open.salon.com/blog/kikstad

Some quick notes about the 2011 superhero movies you might find interesting:

• In 2011, two star actors portrayed the second superhero of their respective careers.  Chris Evans helped Captain America gain some respect after playing the fun-loving Johnny Storm in Marvel’s Fantastic Four movies.  Ryan Reynolds gave Green Lantern its box office success this summer as Hal Jordan (a DC Comics character), previously playing as Wade Wilson’s Deadpool (a Marvel character) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Some would also count Hugo Weaving, who mastered the part of the Red Skull, in that group, since he played V in V for Vendetta.
• Notable characters who reprised their roles in 2011 superhero movies: Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson.
• It was the biggest year for superhero films overall (five mainstream films) ever, and the most produced by Marvel in one calendar year (three).

Best Actor – It’s tough to give out an award for this category, since so much goes into the portrayal of superheroes, villains, and supporting characters.  When it comes to likeability, most people would dub Ryan Reynolds as the sure winner, due to his exceptional humor and personality. It would also be easy to crown Sir Anthony Hopkins (Odin in Thor) the champion, because let’s face it: does he ever do a poor acting job?  Tommy Lee Jones caught everyone by surprise when he made an outstanding character out of Colonel Phillips (The First Avenger).  But of all these talented actors, the most impressive was Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of Erik Lensherr, also known as Magneto (X-Men: First Class).

It takes a special person to be able to give an accurate representation of a character in a younger stage after someone has already portrayed the character in three movies previous.  Fassbender gave us an interesting look at what Magneto was like before he turned “bad,” and he didn’t stray from the black-and-white persona that Ian McKellan solidifed in the X-Men trilogy.

Best Movie – Once again, there is bias when determining an outright winner for the best of the 2011 superhero movies, and factoring in the acting and directing talent, the storyline, special effects, and everything else, makes it quite the task.  Thor was especially exciting because it was the first movie to connect to the Iron Man movies’ timeline and move us closer to an Avengers film.  Green Lantern had unprecedented special effects which were not even in existence up until recently.  Captain America made us believe that a superhero could actually fight for one country, and gave hope to those of us who sometime feel unimportant in life.  Seth Rogen gave us a taste of… well, not what we remember the Green Hornet as… but at least it was unique.  That being said, X-Men: First Class did something that no other movie did — it took us back to the beginning.  Sure, the other three big movies showed us how each respective superhero got their start, but none of them had four other movies to mold a story around like this one did.

First Class had everything you could hope for in a superhero movie: action, humor, a great story (despite the timeline problems with the other X-Men movies), good acting, a fantastic soundtrack, and best of all, a ton of mutant powers!  Like Fassbender, James McAvoy did justice to his respective predecessor’s characterization, and Kevin Bacon pulled off a pretty good villain, too.  The story of how Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr met, and how their friendship broke, is one you definitely need to see if you have any interest in X-Men at all.

Image Credit to Randall D. Larson: http://www.buysoundtrax.com

Best Soundtrack – Not counting Patrick Doyle (Thor), all the composers for 2011 superhero movies are quite established in the Hollywood community.  James Newton Howard scored the music for both Green Hornet and Green Lantern.  Alan Silvestri had either the toughest or the easiest job by scoring a movie that needed music that was both patriotic and triumphant, but also not too cheesy.  However, in what might be called his most successful project yet, Henry Jackman’s score for First Class stood out, making this fifth X-Men movie run the table in our three categories.  He combines the classical sound of strings and brass with more modern rock elements of guitar and drums.  Jackman based the sound off of John Barry’s legendary James Bond scores.  Since hardly anyone cares about the soundtracks as much as I, any more analysis would be pointless.

So what did you think of the 2011 superhero movies?  Give us your opinion by commenting below!

Jack Stewart is a writer for Superhero Legacy

The first Superman comic in print was recently sold at an auction for a hefty $2.16 million.  The previous owner was a person who is familiar to the superhero fan-base — Nicolas Cage.  Cage played the infamous Ghost Rider in the feature film from 2007, and the sequel to be released next year.

The title of the comic is “Action Comics #1,” and it was released in 1938.  There are believed to be only about 100 copies still in existence.  It became the first comic to be sold for over $2 million.  The previous highest price for a comic was a copy of the same issue sold last year for $1.5 million.  It is unknown who the buyer is, but he is obviously a serious collector.  The price listed on the front cover of the comic is 10 cents.  This copy was graded at 9.0 (the previous record-holding copy was 8.5).

Cage’s copy had been stolen back in 2000, but it was recovered earlier this year.  Cage is so much of a Superman fan that he actually named his son who was born in 2005 the Man of Steel’s birth name — Kal-El.

Skyman

Sylvester Pemberton is a not-so-well-known DC superhero from the Golden Age of Comics.  But despite his unfamiliarity among many superhero fans, he played an important role in the early age of superhero history.

Star-Spangled Kid

Sylvester Pemberton became the Star-Spangled Kid in order to fight Nazis in the 1940s. You could say he was DC’s watered-down version of Marvel’s Captain America.    It was common for comic book writers to make supervillains Nazis during World War II since they were an easy group to pick on.  Star-Spangled Kid, along with his sidekick Stripesy (how’s that for an original superhero name?), who was a grown adult.  Sylvester Pemberton and Pat Dugan (which was the alter ego of Stripesy) did not have any superpowers, but they had exceptional agility and acrobatic abilities for being normal human beings.  Sylvester also used a cosmic rod (owned by Starman), which allowed him to fly and project energy.

Pemberton in Smallville

When Sylvester Pemberton grew up, he changed his name to Skyman, and he founded the superhero team Infinity, Inc.  This team of Justice Society-rejects is made up of many other small-name superheroes, but they still made a difference in the world of evil that is the DC Universe.  Some of the team’s members include Obsidian, Silver Scarab, and Fury.

Stargirl in Smallville

The story of Sylvester Pemberton does not have a happy ending, as he was killed by Solomon Grundy.  After this, the stepdaughter of Pat Dugan, Courtney Whitmore, found Stripesy and Star-Spangled Kid’s superhero gear, and made herself the second Star-Spangled Kid.  Later, she changed her name to Stargirl.

The only non-comic media appearance for Sylvester Pemberton is in Smallville, in the two-hour special “Absolute Justice.”  Pemberton is played by Jim Shields, and he only appears briefly at the beginning.  He warns Chloe Sullivan about someone hunting down superheroes, then is killed by Icicle.  Courtney Whitmore, played by Britt Irvin, finds Sylvester’s staff and becomes Stargirl.

Watch Sylvester Pemberton on Smallville here.

Jack Stewart is a writer for Superhero Legacy

With the void left by Smallville, news coming from the CW is that a Deadman show is in the works.

We thought there was potential for a Blue Beetle series being produced, especially with how well his cameo appearance in the final season of Smallville went over, but the CW is going a different route.  Based on the timing of this news, the series could potentially have a Fall 2012 launch date.

Deadman is a unique DC comics character in that he’s…well…dead.  He’s a ghost who can possess the bodies of other people, and he’s been in several important DC comic story arcs, including Blackest Night and Brightest Day.  He is definitely as obscure as Blue Beetle, but his TV series could be a little more interesting.

Keep an eye on what happens with this.  So far, DC hasn’t been as successful with its attempts at TV series besides Smallville (Blue Beetle, Wonder Woman).  There was talk about whether or not this series would fall into the same universe as Smallville, but is still undetermined.  The show will be directed by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke.

Of all the incarnations of the fastest man alive, the Flash mask has only been worn by a few who have gone by the same name.  Even so, it is one of the most popular, as well as one of the best-designed, cowl-mask combinations DC has to offer.

The Flash mask made its first appearance on the face of Barry Allen, the second Flash.  Barry based himself off of the first Flash (Jay Garrick), but made some modifications to his costume.  Jay Garrick did not use any facial paraphernalia to hide his identity (although at the speeds he travelled, it would have been tough to spot his face).  The only item on his head was a helmet with lightning bolts, which actually looks like it would slow him down.  Barry came up with a more aerodynamic way to show his hero identity and leave a superhero legacy.  The third Flash, Wally West (also known as the first Kid Flash), followed in his predecessor’s footsteps and used the Flash mask and cowl.

Other superheroes to have held the title of the Flash, as well as Impulse and Kid Flash, have used variations of the Flash mask, but only the second and third Flash used the original version that has become so famous.

In the Justice League animated series, Wally West takes the Flash mask and cowl off as if it’s part of the rest of his costume, similar to Batman’s mask and cowl.  The most interesting thing about this version of the Flash mask, and is true of many other superhero masks, is how it makes the Flash’s eyes white when he is wearing it.  But in the comics, Wally takes the Flash mask completely off.  I guess that just shows how DC’s writers and artists don’t always collaborate when deciding details about superheroes.

The Flash mask has yet to be featured on the big screen (although it was used in the Flash TV series from the 90s), but Flash fans can only hope that the Flash project currently in development will make it to theaters.  You can get a Flash mask made of vinyl for yourself right here.  The only downside to it is that it doesn’t have much ventilation, since the only opening is at the neck and the eyeholes.

Jack Stewart is a writer for Superhero Legacy

The moment many fans have been waiting for is nearly here: a movie featuring the Captain America shield, and the superhero who wields it, that finally do the character justice.

The Captain America shield is not only a symbol of victory for superhero fans, but also of freedom for all Americans.  The Golden Age of comics came at a perfect time in history — when the world was devastated with the largest war ever in history.  It’s not that the United States was necessarily the world’s savior, but everyone needed some hope.  Even though the U.S. had not yet entered the war, Captain America came onto the scene in 1941 to show the world that America fought for what’s right.

Captain America was unique in that he fought against villains who were actually real enemies of the United States.  To do that, he not only used his superhuman abilities gained through the Super-Soldier Serum, but his Captain America shield.  Usually a shield is considered a defensive tool, but Captain America used it as an offensive weapon.  The shield became famous for being thrown at enemies like a deadly disc and ricocheting back to him.  Several different models of the Captain America shield were made, but the most famous is probably the one from the 1980′s made of steel and vibranium.  Other versions of the shield include one made from only steel and an energy shield.

The original shield from the 1940′s was triangular-shaped, but when it was noted that it looked too similar to another superhero’s uniform (The Shield), it was modified to a circular shield.  Another modification is when Tony Stark changed the Captain America shield to allow Cap to control it after throwing it.  The shield has seen damage during its time in battle, and some models have even been destroyed.  Unlike Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, the Captain America shield was never given a name.  That seems to be a ritual reserved for the Asgard…

When the Captain America shield has shown up in media other than comics, it usually has a basic appearance.  In the Captain America film from 1990, Steve Rogers wielded a basic circular shield.  It was the same for the 1966 animated series, and in Captain America’s appearance in the 1990′s Spider-Man animated series.  But the next project the Captain America shield is about to be featured in this summer is by far the most exciting — Captain America: The First Avenger.  Theatrical images and the first trailer show us that Rogers will wield both a circular and a triangular shield.  Three of the most recent Marvel films have teased us about the shield’s debut.  In Iron Man, a partially-completed shield shows up in Tony Stark’s workshop while he’s trying to get his armored suit off.  In Iron Man 2, the same

Agent Coulson with Captain America's shield in Iron Man 2

shield is used as a shim in Tony’s construction of a particle accelerator.  And by far the most hidden the shield has been was in an alternate opening to The Incredible Hulk.  Captain America’s body and shield are seen buried in the ice.  The producers of that Hulk movie made an interesting decision to not include the scene, as that may have had an effect on the storyline of The First Avenger and the potentially-subsequent Avengers movie project.

You can actually get a real Captain America shield for your full Captain America costume.  There are lots of cheaper circular replicas, but right now you can get a fiberglass shield with leather straps signed by Stan Lee at Amazon right here.  If that’s a little too pricey for you, Marvel has licensed two versions of the triangular-shaped Captain America shield that are just like the one Chris Evans uses in the new movie.  One is the original color scheme, while the other has some blue stripes.

What’s your favorite part about the Captain America shield?  Will the writers “get it right” with The First Avenger?

Jack Stewart is a writer for Superhero Legacy

The name Blue Beetle has been given to numerous superheroes over the years, but the two most common are Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes, both products of DC Comics.

Some superhero fans at this point may be wondering if the Blue Beetle is actually a superhero.  In all seriousness, who would want the name Blue Beetle?  But then again, think about how the names Batman or Superman sounded when they first hit the superhero stage.  Now Blue Beetle must not be confused with the ridiculous joke of a superhero named the Tick.  Blue Beetle at least has a legitimate career in comics.

The first Blue Beetle was named Dan Garret, and his comic series was published by Fox Feature Syndicate.  Other Golden Age versions were published by Holyoke Publishing, AC Comics, and Charlton Comics, but it was DC who gave the Blue Beetle the superhero legacy he has today.

Ted Kord was a student of Dan Garret (also spelled Garrett) and assumed the Blue Beetle identity after Garret died.  Despite Blue Beetle’s unpopularity, Kord gave him a prominent role in DC’s canon by joining the Justice League and taking part in the fight against Doomsday during the Death of Superman.  He also played an important part in taking down the supervillain organization Checkmate.

Blue Beetle Screen Test

Jaime Reyes becomes a younger Blue Beetle when he finds the magic scarab that gave the Dan Garret superpowers (Kord didn’t possess this because of his writer’s desire to have a powerless superhero).  The biggest battle Reyes faces as Blue Beetle is with Brother Eye.  Reyes joins the Teen Titans and becomes a contributing member of the team.

The magic scarab is a type of artificial intelligence device that gives Jaime and Dan special powers during use, especially infiltration abilities.  It also acts as a suit of armor, and it can replicate weapons (sword, guns, shield), communication devices, and wings.

Blue Beetle makes several appearances in Batman: The Brave and The Bold TV series, voiced by Will Friedle, who was also the voice of Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond.  But the two most exciting appearances of the Blue Beetle have yet to even happen.  The Jaime Reyes version of the Blue Beetle is scheduled to make an appearance in the seventeenth episode of Smallville’s final season, along with Booster Gold.  Even bigger news is that Geoff Johns, a DC Comics and Smallville writer, let fans know that there has been a screen test for the Blue Beetle to determine the possibility of a TV series featuring Jaime Reyes.  Blue Beetle fans can only hope that this test is successful.  The screen test has recently been released to the public.

The only actual Blue Beetle costume available is a simple children’s version on Amazon.

Which actor do you think should play the part of the Smallville Blue Beetle and Reyes in the potential new series?  Do you think a Blue Beetle series would be successful?

Jack Stewart is a writer for Superhero Legacy

The first X-Men: First Class trailer has hit the scene, and people are now starting to talk about the film more.

We see several mutants featured in the trailer, including Xavier, Magneto, Mystique, Emma Frost, Beast, and Azazel.  This is the fifth movie to be released in the past eleven years based on the X-Men franchise, and the second prequel.

When putting superheroes on the big screen, it’s tough for writers to decide what the chronology of the plots will be, especially when more than one movie is made based on a given franchise.  Such is the case with X-Men.  Since the first four movies took place across a period of about 30 years (not including Wolverine and Sabretooth living through more than 100 years of history), writers had to decide which mutants would exist in each time period.  There will be much criticism by those who believe a strict adherance to the timeline of the comics is essential, however, we should understand the difficulty in writing successful storylines and still conforming to this belief.  In addition to this, keeping actors under contracts and timing shooting with other projects plays into this as well.  It’s just a good thing Hugh Jackman has stuck around for four (soon to be five) films.

You can check out the first X-Men: First Class trailer right here.  Be sure to let us know what you think of if by commenting below.

The superhero legacy left by Hawkgirl is a somewhat confusing one.  Multiple characters have been given the title “Hawkgirl,” and some of them have attributes of the hero known as Hawkwoman.

The first person to use the title “Hawkgirl” was Shiera Saunders, who was Carter Hall’s (Hawkman) girlfriend.  Another Hawkgirl (Silver Age) is named Shayera Hol, and she also teams up with Hawkman, and later joins the Justice League.  It was this Hawkgirl who changed her name to Hawkwoman (perhaps because she wanted to be considered an adult).  Later, a new Hawkwoman named Sharon Parker emerged, and after that, the new Hawkgirl was Kendra Saunders (a distant relative of the original Hawkgirl).  As you can see, the chronology of the female superheroes bearing the Hawk symbolism is more confusing than many other heroes, so for simplicity’s sake, we’ll focus mostly on Shayera Hol/Shiera Hall.

Hawkgirl's Helmet and Mace in Smallville

Carter Hall met Shiera and the two donned their Hawk-identities to fight villains.  There are variations to these two heroes’ origins, but the most common is that they were originally Egyptian lovers, Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-Ara, and have been reincarnated many times throughout the generations.  This version of Hawkgirl received powers from her Thanagarian Nth metal belt.  She usually uses a mace as her primary weapon, and has inorganic hawk-like wings.

Shayera Hol was an officer from Thanagar and wife of Katar Hol (Hawkman.  This Hawkgirl comes to Earth with Hawkman to prevent an invasion.  Later, the two are admitted as members of the Justice League, and Shayera changes her name to Hawkwoman.  When DC decided to merge the histories of Earth-One and Earth-Two, the characters of Hawkman and Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman from their respective worlds are also merged.

Shayera Hall in Smallville

The two most recent depictions of Hawkgirl in non-comic media have been in the Justice League animated series, and briefly in the show Smallville.  It is the Thanagarian Shayera Hall who holds the title in Justice League.  Her Thanagarian roots are alluded to throughout the series, and in the final episodes of season two, we see a Thanagarian military officer (Hro Talak) who is representative of Hawkman.  In Smallville, Hawkman (Carter Hall) references his bride Chay-Ara (or Shayera) several times, and how they have spent many lifetimes together.  Unfortunately, the closest we get to seeing Hawkgirl is in a vision, and her helmet and mace on her coffin.

There have not been any suggestions for turning Hawkgirl into a movie franchise, but as DC moves away from focusing solely on its two main heroes with the release of the Green Lantern movie this year, there may be some hope for Hawkgirl fans.  Right now the only Hawkgirl costume available is for kids, but be sure to check out Hawkgirl in action in Justice League.

Jack Stewart is a writer for Superhero Legacy