Ben Kingsley is Back as IM3 Baddie Trevor Slattery in Marvel One-Shot

The Marvel One-shot film "All Hail the King" has been leaked and it's featuring Sir Ben Kingsley reprising his role as Trevor Slattery, the faux- "The Mandarin" from Iron Man 3.

It actually comes full circle since we will be dealing closely with the Ten Rings from Iron Man, yes the one that we were actually supposed to see in Iron Man 2 before they decided they wanted to a Hollywood version of "Demon in the Bottle"

**The Embed codes have been removed. Here's the Link - Cosmicbooknews

Thoughts: I liked Trevor-Trevor not Trevor-Mandarin and while his fate is still up in the air, this one-shot provides us with a juicy tidbit, that the legit Mandarin will still be lurking somewhere in Golmera and yet to make a move against Tony Stark.

Secondly, I love that we also get treated to a Sam Rockwell appearance. Underutilized Justin Hammer is just underutilized. Quips, quips and more quips. Gotta love it. Director Drew Pierce pieced a nice short in under 15 too.

Finally, gotta hand it to the scoring for making it feel like an 'Iron Man' themed score without going all full Black Sabbath or AC/DC on us.

Credits: Cosmicbooknews

Top 10 Movies for 2013

Since 2013 is about to end and as we welcome 2014, I decided to give you MY top 10 movies for 2013 (in no particular order mind you). This of course wouldn't be possible if not for our friends from 20th Century Fox, Dreamworks, Warner Bros. Pictures, Solar Entertainment and new additions like Captive Cinema, CrystalSky and Axinitte Digicinema. 

10. Gravity 

Nothing can be more compelling than humanity overcoming anything being thrown at them including space debris and burning space shuttles. Add to that some stellar acting from Sandra Bullock and George Clooney and Alfonso Cuaron just paved his way to an Oscar.

9. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 

The continued saga of Thorin Oakenshield together with the rest of his dwarf company and Bilbo Baggins continues and it's being shown in magnificent HFR IMAX 3D. Great adaptation and butchering of the J.R.R. Tolkien classic kids book and great way to give the ladies another fellow to swoon over in the form of Thranduil. 

8. Captain Phillips 

The only 'realistic' movie in my list. Captain Phillips is all about humanity in the face of adversity. It's a play on morals and decisions and compassion and it's got Tom Hanks in it playing the titular Captain Phillips. You'll also be amazed at the military tactics and precision that is the US Coast Guard and Navy Seals.

7. This is the End 

This one's on my list for all the sheer hilarity and dirtiness of the characters particular James Franco. I hated that they were pushing too much of the bromosexuality but that's all forgiven the moment you see the Backstreet Boys dancing in heaven to the tune of "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)".

6. Thor: The Dark World

Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston return for another serving of Asgardian goodness. There's so many things to love about this sequel. More humor and more Hiddleston however are the top reasons. And they got the ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston to play the bad guy Malekith the Accursed too.

5. Iron Man 3

Never have I ever thought that Tony Stark could actually be twice as good as the Iron Man armor. Shane Black delivers a really good and solid Iron Man movie focusing equally on the massive array of Iron Man armor as well as the man inside the shell. Robert Downey Jr. truly rocked this performance. Great cast too and despite the debacle of The Mandarin, it's still a good movie to watch.

4. Man of Steel

Director Zack Snyder shows us a radically different Superman in Man of Steel. This man really punches hard and even breaks necks (literally!). The world is different and the acting was OK. Henry Cavill also shows us why he was born to play the role of Clark Kent/ Kal El/ Superman. It sucks though that there's very little chemistry between him and Lois Lane Amy Adams. Still, a pretty great movie. It's like Dragonball Z only with DC's main hero in it.

3. Frozen

A DISNEY MOVIE THAT WILL MAKE YOU SING?!?! How long has it been since that were the case. usually it's just there to make us cry but it hasn't made us sing and hum. Frozen does that and delivers a wonderful story that's loosely based on the legend of "The Ice Queen". It's a love story but it's not played out entirely like that and while the main pull might be a love angle between Christoph and Anna, it's really the sisterly love between Elsa and Anna that gets the main spotlight. Massive props too for the addition of Olaf who's quickly become a favorite character of mine.

2. Mama / The Conjuring

Can't figure which of the two I liked best so I'm chucking them as a special two-in-one deal. Guillermo Del Toro has Jessica Chastain playing a reluctant surrogate mother/ aunt whose kids brought along the diabolical 'Mama'. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson on the other hand are real life paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren. Both movies are scary and both have some sense of royalty among other horror movies that came out this year. 

1. Pacific Rim 

Giant fighting robots? Check! Giant monsters called Kaiju? Check! Two brooding and awesome pilots? Check! 3D monster-robot fights?! Check! Fuck the intricacies of the story and just watch this like 5 year old boy and you will surely enjoy this film. Nuff Said!

So there we go. Here's to more movies for 2014 and many more reviews! 

How the Real Mandarin Can Enter the MCU

Latino Reviews broke the news recently about Ben Kingsley working once again with Marvel Studios on a 'secret project'. Turns out, as LR reports, that Kingsley will merely be reprising his role as Trevor Slattery, the actor hired to play the Mandarin in Iron Man 3.

The report states that the real Mandarin will make an appearance in order to extract revenge on Slattery (Kingsley) after the latter and Aldritch Killian (Guy Pearce) made a mockery of his name [as seen in IRON MAN 3]

Details are very scarce and honestly, it's not yet confirmed. But on the flipside, it's pretty obvious that there's no other character that Kingsley can portray except the faux Mandarin/ Slattery. So here's a thought, what's a very plausible entry plot for The Mandarin? Obviously Marvel Studios does not intend to let the character and the epic fail-ness of Iron Man 3's main twist lie dead. 

Here's how it's possible to inject Mandarin into the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe:

- The Mandarin looks for Slattery's whereabouts using agents of the TEN RINGS in 'Murica. 
- Agents locate Slattery in prison (where he was being led to in his last few seconds in IM3). 
- Agents kidnap/swap Slattery and bring him to a secret location. 
- There's a confrontation between Slattery and the 'real' Mandarin from the shadows, with the scene focusing on the ten rings of power. 
- Threats and humor are injected
- Slattery is seen being hauled to an operating room where they... 
- Remove his face/ or change his face
- We see the 'real' Mandarin now wearing Trevor Slattery's face. 

Relax it's my theory anyway. The thing here is that the reason The Mandarin wanted to use Slattery's face is because it's already established. He might have been outed as a fake but let's come back to the classic line in IM3; "You'll never see me coming". By using the fake's face, the governments and people like Tony Stark won't see him coming. They would even see him as a joke, a farce; which will serve him better because he's a terrorist and he wants to always surprise his enemies. 

What do you think? Does this sound feasible? 

HOT TOYS Tony Stark The Mechanic 1/6th Scale Figure Preview

For the hardcore collectors of HOT TOYS' MOVIE MASTERS line, here's the Tony Stark (The Mechanic) figure.

Tony Stark, the beloved hero and billionaire genius, faced some challenging issues in Iron Man 3. Terrorists badly injured his friend, destroyed his house, and kidnapped his girlfriend, but despite the downward spiral that he was in, Tony didn’t give up and was determined to take down The Mandarin.

Hot Toys is thrilled to introduce the Tony Stark (The Mechanic) Collectible Figurine after the exciting scene where Tony Stark creates homemade weapons to infiltrate The Mandarin’s mansion.

The movie-accurate Tony Stark (The Mechanic) Collectible Figurine is specially crafted based on the image of Robert Downey Jr. as the genius billionaire Tony Stark in his battle damaged civilian attire in the movie, highlighting the newly developed head sculpt, an advanced body with light-up chest light and greatly detailed weapons and accessories.
It is now open for pre-order.

The bonus 1/6th scale Homemade Wrist Repulsor will be included for selected markets only.

The official product name for Iron Man 3: 1/6th scale Tony Stark (Mandarin Mansion Assault Version) Collectible Figurine is now changed to Iron Man 3: 1/6th scale Tony Stark (The Mechanic) Collectible Figurine because of licensor’s comment.











Check it out, Hot Toys even managed to nail Stark's look for when he sneaks inside The Mandarin's mansion.

HOT TOYS 1/6th Scale THE MANDARIN Figure

Here's a preview of another upcoming HOT TOYS release for their MOVIE MASTERS line - THE MANDARIN from IRON MAN 3.

The 1/6th scale The Mandarin Collectible Figure’s special features:
- Authentic and detailed fully realized likeness of Sir Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin in Iron Man 3
- Movie-accurate facial features with detailed beard, wrinkles and skin texture
- Approximately 28 cm tall
- Body with over 30 points of articulations
- Seven (7) interchangeable palms with rings including:
- One (1) pair relaxed palms
- One (1) pair of fists
- One (1) pair of open palms
- One (1) posing right palm
- Each piece of head sculpt is specially hand-painted

Costume:
- One (1) black tee
- One (1) light brown vest with dark green trims
- One (1) patterned waistband
- One (1) embroidered dark green robe with bronze color trims and hood
- One (1) pair of camouflage pants with golden dragon embroidery on the left
- One (1) pair of army green boots

Accessories:
- One (1) Chinese style antique chair
- One (1) pair of sunglasses
- Figure stand with The Mandarin nameplate and the movie logo

Artists:
- Head Sculpted by Kojun
- Head Painted by JC. Hong
- Head Art Directed by Yoong Young Lee
- Accessories Painted by Hai Lim

** Prototype shown, final product may be slightly different
** Product details could be subjected to change without further notice

Release date: Q1-Q2, 2014

Captain America's First Love Peggy Carter Gets her own Short Film

Hayley Atwell will not only appear in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She's also starring in her own MARVEL ONE SHOT entitled AGENT CARTER.

The story is set a full year after the fateful 'death' of Captain America in "The First Avenger". Carter is sent off to another military branch where she's brought down to being a desk worker. She then decides to prove that she's worthy to be a field operative once more which leads to the things you'll be seeing on the clip below. The one shot will appear with the Bluray version of Iron Man 3 among other things. Here's the clip from that MARVEL ONE SHOT.

Big Boys Toy Store Offers Toycon Exclusive Pop Vinyl Iron Man 3 Figure

If you plan on visiting Toycon 2013 next week (that's June 14-16) be sure to keep your tickets as that'll give you a special 100 php off when you purchase this Pop Vinyl figure.

So yes, basically you just have to pre-order the figure and claim it during the event itself. Then present your ticket for that aforementioned rebate. Pretty cool noh? I wouldn't mind shelling out 500 bucks as long as they make sure that when they say it's 'exclusive' it stays that way.

Again, visit Toycon on June 14-16 as well as their official Facebook page for more information - HERE

Robert Downey Jr. Doing the Gangnam

Just to pass this boring Friday, here's Robert Downey Jr. doing PSY's Gangnam Style

More after the cut

A Few Iron Man 3 End Credit Sequences That Never Took Off

If you've seen Iron Man 3, you know that Marvel Studios made a terrific job with the closing credits which features all the highlights from the three Iron Man films in random order. I recall saying that it was dynamic and colorful and very similar to the opening credits to the animated TV show 'Teen Titans'. Well there were other end credit options that never took off. Bleedingcool shares the videos and now I'm sharing it to you guys.

Check out the vimeo videos done by Jose Ortiz, Ash Sharp, Alasdair Wilson and Ken Pelletier after the cut.

Hot Toys Iron Man 3 Mark 42 - No Longer on Pre-Order

Adding this cool looking Hot Toys Iron Man 3 1/6th scale figure to my wishlist; well just because it looks nice. Could probably spend hours looking at it.

Oh and this one's in cold hard, diecast. 

I checked the Facebook page for Neverland Toys and the damned thing has been out of the pre-order game for weeks now. I might try other places like Big Boys Toy Store or Play Giant (yeah as if I'll even get a reply from them, those guys don't even reply to Facebook messages *blergh*) Or I could try my luck with Toy Empire; they've got a cozy place in Greenhills to boot.

More photos after the cut...

I was thinking that this was actually a good intro for Hot Toys as Marvel Studios is currently knee deep in unleashing their Phase Two movies. So we should definitely expect other Marvel stuff from the Hong Kong based figure maker such as Thor from Thor: The Dark World and Captain America's new 'Commander Rogers' costume from Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

In fairness, they got Robert Downey Jr.'s face down pat.