By: Gere Iverson - MSTv

Ok, now I'm psyched!!  After seeing the newest trailers for next month's "Man of Steel" theatrical release and this fall's, "Batman: Arkham Origins" video game release, I'm in full DC fanboy tilt mode!

Let's start with the new Superman trailer, shall we?  As more and more hints are reveled about the movie, the new preview shows earth in full invasion mode by Kryptonians looking for Kal-El/Superman. 

The leader of the invasion, General Zod, seems to be broadcasting his ultimatum world-wide with the demand that Earth turn over Supes, or else..

No, this ain't your daddy's Richard Donner's "Superman the Movie," it seems.  The nice and enthusiastic feel of that film is gone.  This looks to be another summer blockbuster superhero adventure with alien invasions thrown.  But this time, a whole superhero team isn't needed - the first and greatest of their kind will suffice.

Avengers who???

Batman, on the other hand, will be doing some invasion of his own in this fall's, "Batman: Arkham Origins" video game. This third game in the incredibly brilliant and popular series presents a much younger Dark Knight, in the dawn of his career.

As expected, Bats is much more subject to failures, impulsiveness and violence towards his prey.  But, no one will probably be complaining about that as this game will be showing first encounters with several of his arch enemies.  

But, two great videos are worth all the words I could spout.  So take a look at both and tell me you're not feeling the excitement! You're not??  What are you, dead or something???

By: Associated Press

The company unveiled the Xbox One, an entertainment console that wants to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies, sports and other entertainment. It will go on sale later this year, for an undisclosed price.

For the past two years, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has outsold its rivals. But it's been eight years since that machine came out, and Microsoft is the last of the three major console makers to unveil a new system. In those eight years, Apple launched the iPhone and the iPad, "FarmVille" rose and fell and tablets began to threaten desktop computers, changing how people interact with games and beyond.

Now, the stakes are high as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are all using their latest machines not only to draw gamers but also to command the living room. The goal is to extend their reach beyond loyal legions of hardcore gamers and to become as important to our lives at home as smartphones have become to our lives on the go.

Don Mattrick, Microsoft's president of interactive entertainment business, said the company has spent the past four years working on an "all-in-one home entertainment system."

At an hour-long unveiling at the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters on Tuesday, Microsoft executives used voice controls to switch back and forth seamlessly between watching live TV, listening to music, playing a movie and browsing the Internet - all while running apps for stuff like fantasy football and Skype chats on the side of the screen.

The Xbox One unveiling follows Nintendo Co.'s launch of the Wii U in November and Sony Corp.'s tease in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4. Each of the new consoles has shifted away from simply serving as gaming machines, as they incorporate streaming media apps and social networking features.

People will be able to connect their cable or satellite set-top box and watch TV through the Xbox One. It will have its own channel guide and allow viewers to change channels by voice command.

Senior Vice President Yusuf Mehdi demonstrated how the console switched quickly between channels after saying show names such as "Mary and Martha" or commands like "watch MTV." His voice command of "What's on HBO?" brought up the channel guide for HBO.

"No more memorizing channels or hunting for the remote control," Mehdi said.

The interface for the TV goes well beyond the functionality in the Wii U, which still requires users to press buttons to change the input source on the TV. Xbox One seamlessly flipped between games, movies and TV shows with voice commands.

In addition to the console, Microsoft unveiled a new version of its camera-based Kinect system with better motion and voice detection, including the ability to recognize faces, tell if you're smiling or talking and gauge your heart rate. In a demonstration, the new sensor detected up to seven people in front of it. Microsoft said the new Kinect will be included with the Xbox One and is deeply integrated into the system, but it won't necessarily always be watching users in their living rooms.

"There's the ability for you to manage the privacy settings so you can turn it off," Marc Whitten, Microsoft's chief product officer of interactive entertainment business, said in an interview in his office after Tuesday's presentation. "Just like the 360, the biggest thing for us is that you are in control of your privacy."

The company also introduced a more ergonomic Xbox controller, with a slightly different layout from the Xbox 360 controller and trigger buttons that vibrate. The new console will also add the ability to play Blu-ray discs, matching what Sony has in its older PlayStation 3.

The Xbox One won't require a constant connection to the Internet, but having it will be useful for many of the gaming and entertainment features. The Xbox has been popular largely because of its Xbox Live service, which lets users play games online with other players with annual plans that cost as much as $60 a year.

Despite talk that Microsoft might restrict the use of games previously owned by others, the company confirmed that the Xbox One will indeed play used games, but it didn't provide details on how that would work. It said games for the Xbox 360 won't work on the new system because the underlying technology is different, though the company said it will continue to make games for the older machine. Whitten said the Xbox 360 "is going to be incredibly vibrant for some time to come."

A multiyear agreement between Microsoft and the National Football League is in the works to develop new interactive viewing experiences for pro football games through such products as the Xbox One and Microsoft's Surface tablet computer. Fans will be able to watch games, chat with other fans, view statistics, access highlights in real time and gather fantasy information about players and teams - all on a single screen. For those who prefer multiple screens, fans can get an even deeper experience on mobile devices such as tablets.

Nintendo kicked off the next generation of gaming in November with the launch of the Wii U, the successor to the popular Wii system. The Wii U features an innovative tablet-like controller, though its graphics is on par with the previous-generation Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo said the console sold just 3.45 million units by the end of March, well below expectations.

Sony was next, teasing plans for its upcoming PlayStation 4 - without showing the actual box - at a February event in New York. The reaction to that console, which featured richer graphics and more social features, was mixed. The PS4 is expected by the holidays.

Microsoft didn't waste any time showing off the Xbox One console, new Kinect sensor and Xbox controller at the beginning of Tuesday's presentation.

In Iron Man 3, Tony Stark faces off against the threat of The Mandarin. This third, and possibly final, film, staring Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Guy Pierce, and Ben Kingsley, does a great job with pacing and character development. Visually, the film is quite stunning. There were no slow or dead spots in the pacing of the story or plot.

That being said, the main gripe I have is the charactarization of the Mandarin. In the comics upon which the characters are based, the Mandarin is one of Iron Man's primary villains. He first saw print in Tales of Suspense #50 in 1964. His main weapons are 10 alien artifacts that he wears as rings on each of his fingers. The rings allow him to project energy off varying types, including fire, ice, wind, electricity, physical and mental force, among others. In the film, however, this is far from the way he's portrayed.

In the film, the Mandarin is portrayed as a terrorist, which is largely his modus operandi in the comics as well, however, in the comics, he's a quasi-mystic, portraying the alien origin of the rings as magic, knowing that they are, in fact, science. the alien origin of the rings, however, is not even hinted at in the film, nor are "The Ten Rings" mentioned, above and beyond being the name of the organization the Mandarin leads.

I have to preface what follows by stating that I am not, currently, a reader of Marvel comics in general, or Iron Man specifically, so much of my information here is 2nd hand. That being said, I believe most of the story elements in this film are pulled from more recent Iron Man and/or Marvel comics, specifically the Extremis procedure. 

Not knowing much about the storyline in the comics, in the film, Extremis is an experimental procedure that allows the human body to heal itself after traumatic, sometimes even catastrophic injuries. It was developed by Maya Hansen, played by Rebecca Hall, who is a biochemical engineer and one-time lover of Tony Stark. Maya now works for Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM, the product of scientist Aldrich Killian, (Guy Pierce), a one-time fan of Tony Stark who, when we first meet him, suffers from a noticeable injury, but by his 2nd appearance is fully healed.

It turns out that Maya and Killian, through AIM, have made great strides in developing Extremis and are looking to enlist Stark in developing it further by asking Pepper Potts to try to get Stark Industries to ally itself with AIM. Pepper refuses citing the possibility of Extremis becoming weaponized. Those fears are realized when Happy Hogan is caught in the epicenter of an explosion at Graumann's Chinese Theatre, for which the Mandarin claims credit.

Stark vows vengeance against the Mandarin for putting Happy in a coma and the action in the story ramps up. Stark's home is destroyed as are many of the displayed armors. Surviving the attack at his home, Stark, beaten and exhausted, rockets, in damaged armor, to Tennessee, site of a previous Mandarin-type explosion not linked to the Mandarin. During his investigation in Tennessee, he befriends a young boy named Harley Keener, played by Ty Simpkins, who aids Stark in his investigation, giving him many key pieces of information about the small Tennessee town in which Harley lives.

The Mandarin continues to wreak havoc on the U.S. and the President, played by William Sadler, by breaking in to live television broadcasts and making threatening pronouncements to and about more upcoming threats against the country. The Iron Patriot, the former War Machine, Lt. Col. James Rhodes, is tasked to find the broadcast site the Mandarin uses to issue his threats and is captured by one the Extremis agents.

Harley aids Stark in repairing his damaged armor as well as Jarvis, the armor's artificial intelligence operating system, voiced by Paul Bettany. Jarvis leads Stark to a mansion owned by Killian where he meets the Mandarin, who it turns out is just an actor. Killian, it turns out, is not a pawn but the mastermind behind the Mandarin menace and the weaponization of the Extremis procedure.

It's at this point I renew my distaste of the treatment of the Mandarin as a villain in this movie. The Mandarin is not a petty functionary, but a menace in and of himself. He is one of the most powerful threats in the Marvel Universe and to see him portrayed as a figurehead, lowered to the level of a drug-addicted soccer hooligan is, to a comics reader like me, very aggravating.

If i were to give Iron Man 3 a grade, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5. It loses a point because of the Mandarin. I'm sorry, it's just hard to get my head around.

By: Alex Templar - MSTv

No, you're not seeing a ghost to the left.  SHIELD Agent Coulson is very much alive (despite getting bitch-stabbed by Loki in the Avengers film) and coming to the smaller screen this year.

Disney is making use of their Marvel universe and ABC network properties by confirming that Marvel's and Joss Whedon's “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” will be coming to ABC television this fall.

Whedon, long time comic fan, Buffy creator and the genius who wrote and directed that little film, “The Avengers” last year, shot the TV pilot back in January.  Well, after the billion dollar payday Disney made from the film, you had to know "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" was a go.

The greenlight comes as no surprise as Marvels massive success on the big screen should transcribe to a much desired commodity for TV viewers.

Here is ABC's official press release and description of the upcoming series.

Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet).

From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville,” “Lost,” “Heroes”) comes Marvel’s first TV series. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.

I don't know, guys..  It sounds more like what if the "X-Files" was taken over by a gang fronted by the NSA.  But even though I'm not a big Marvel fan, (bite me, fanboys!!) I'll be tuning in and hoping for the best.  But, current Marvel series on television??  i can just think of three words to sum that up: "Blade: the Series" 

Nuff said???