Nerd News: Man of Steel, Star Trek/Toy Story mashup, Who art and more

Vol. 3, Issue 47

Got a big issue for y'all this week. Hope you enjoy!

In movie news:

• io9 posted a great rundown of the Star Trek Into Darkness trailer.
• And this new photo shows who's hands were at the end of the Japanese version.
• It's also been announced that Benedict's character is someone named "John Harrison"—maybe. Here's what J.J. Abrams has to say about his character.
• Also announced: Alice Eve will be playing a known character from Wrath of Khan canon, and there will be Klingons! (Thanks, Colt!)
• Check out the first footage from Thor: The Dark World.
• These new Iron Man 3 photos give us a look at new character Wang Xuequi.
• Uncle Ben might make an appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man sequel.
• Also possibly making an appearance: Morbius the Living Vampire. 
• A new international poster for The Wolverine was released last night.
• Will we be seeing Halle Berry's Storm and James Marsden's Cyclops in X-Men: Days of Future Past? I hope not. I'm down for some cameos, but this is getting kind of ridiculous. (And Marsden's Cyclops is awful.)
• The Fantastic Four reboot will hit theaters in 2015.
• Samuel L. Jackson wants in on Star Wars VII.
• This week's EW features four Hobbit-themed covers.
• Here's a first look at Orlando Bloom's reprising of the Legolas role in the third Hobbit.
• And here's a glimpse at Smaug's treasure from the second.
• The upcoming sci-fi film, Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp and being produced by Christopher Nolan, sounds quite interesting.
• New promo photos from A Good Day to Die Hard have been released.
• Here are two new photos from Monsters University.
• Three new posters for Pacific Rim can be found at the bottom of this link.
• Some of the Harry Potter cast have been filming a mini-movie that will air at Universal theme parks.
• Dennis Haysbert (24, those Allstate commercials) has taken over the Sin City 2 role that was to be played by the late Michael Clarke Duncan (RIP).
• Transformers 4 has found its leads.
• Kristen Wiig might have a role in Anchorman: The Legend Continues.
• Sean Astin is "1,000 percent sure" of a Goonies sequel.
• Also in the works: An Alice and Wonderland (Tim Burton version) sequel.
• Angelina Jolie is working on Salt 2.
• The Jumanji remake now has a writer.
• The international poster for Oz: The Great and Powerful kind of makes me feel like I've been snorting rainbows.
• Top Gun will soon be making its way—in 3D—to IMAX theaters.
• Kevin Smith now plans to make Clerks III as his last film project.
• Angry Birds: The Movie has brought on board Despicable Me and Iron Man producers. (Thanks, TGG!)

Here are a ton of trailers/clips:

After Earth

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G.I. Joe: Retaliation

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Iron Man 3

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The Lone Ranger

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Man of Steel

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Pacific Rim

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Welcome to the Punch

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He is ... Tin Man?

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I might need to take a copy of this to the midnight premiere tonight.

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More neat minimalism.

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In other Star Wars news, have you seen the full-scale Millennium Falcon project? (Thanks, TGG.)

Mondo released some great posters earlier this week—the Lord of the Rings posters will be released at some point today.

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In TV news:

• Here are a few new promo photos from the Doctor Who Christmas special. Guess who's voicing the Snowmen!
• And here's a peek inside the TARDIS' interior.
• Matt Smith is kind of talking about when he might leave the role.
• This slideshow makes the waiting for Community's new season even more difficult than it already was. (Feb. 7, be sooner!)
• The S.H.I.E.L.D. series might have bumped another "too similar" show off the ABC radar.
• Colton Haynes (Teen Wolf) is joining Arrow as Speedy. I'm now totally confused as to why Oliver has called his sister that.
• Additional episodes have been ordered for the new Arrested Development "season."
• Gillian Anderson (X-Files) has joined the new Hannibal series.
• The Walking Dead executive producer Gale Ann Hurd is working on a new "sci-fi period drama" about aliens and WWII.
• Eliza Dushku (Buffy, Dollhouse) has joined the reboot of The Saint.
• The CW is going to air a Hunger Games-esque reality show. Minus the whole, you know, killing thing.
• "Jennifer Love Hewitt is producing a modern-day TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for Lifetime called Darcy's Town." I couldn't really come up with a better synopsis than that, so I'm just quoting it.

And here are a set of promos for Who Christmas special:

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I love how detailed these illustrations are.

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The doctors make cute owls (or vice versa?). The rest of the eleven can be found at the link below.

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Levar's already been on the show ... it's only a matter of time.

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This is amusing.

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In Webseries news:

• The finale of Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is out.
• Two dudes from Rooster Teeth are literally walking into Mordor. (Thanks, Rachel!)

The Gorgonist has the cutest pop culture art in her shop!

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Jesse Lonergan, who's art I've posted some of before, has recently done both a series of Doctor Who illustrations and illustrations of characters from the Hobbit. I love them all! (Thanks, Rachel.)

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In SCIENCE! news from The Mister:

• James Cameron has found some weird stuff in his latest deep sea expedition.

I found some items, too:

• Curiosity is littering on Mars, but it's pretty.
• SpaceX, a private space travel/exploration firm, recently got military contracts.
• Former NASA executives are selling trips into space.
• More evidence that volcanoes killed the dinosaurs has recently been uncovered.
• This is what real-life Hobbits (yes, there was such a thing) looked like.
• And, if you were worried, NASA says the world will not be ending in 2012.

I've posted a few of these Disney minimalist posters before, but some of them are new. (1/2 a point to Samar for these!)

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And these costumes are fab.

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In comic news:

• A new Martian Manhunter Justice-League-back-up-story will be written by Geoff Johns and Matt Kindt.
• Harlan Ellison is working on a brand-new sci-fi series for DC.

I'd enjoy reading this magazine, I think.

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These are lovely versions of lovely ladies. (Thanks, Rebecca!)

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In gaming news, from TGG:

• The next game in the Mass Effect universe has started production and we could see it by or in 2015.
• Here's a list of the winners from last week's VGAs.
• The biggest news from the awards show was the inclusion of a possible trailer for Metal Gear Solid 5. (TGG says to "stick around til the end for a fire-unicorn and a flaming whale eating a helicopter. Seriously.") Some speculation about the trailer can be read here.
• Other trailers shown during the show included ones for Dark Souls 2, The Last of Us and South Park: The Stick of Truth, which TGG assures looks to be a good game. (I can't stand South Park, so I couldn't judge.)
• Here's a new trailer for the Assassin's Creed 3 DLC "Tyranny of King Washington."
• And one for the Tomb Raider reboot. 
• And one for God of War: Ascension, which can get a little graphic.
• And one for upcoming FPS Metro: Last Light. Get a free copy of the first game in the series, Metro: 2033, by visiting the site linked at the end of the trailer before Dec. 16.
• MMO The Secret World will soon be free to play. 
• Square Enix's new browser-based MMO, Star Galaxy, will go into beta next week. Check out a trailer.
• An official Pokedex is now available for iOS.
• Valve is offering to distribute Indie Games Festival finalists on Steam.
• Double Fine's Kinect Party will be released Dec. 18 and will be free until the end of the year.
• This Captain America-modded Xbox is pretty dang amazing looking.
• There's a "gamer suite" in a UK hotel.

Also: There is a fan-made 8-bit-ish Sherlock game in the works.

I'm sure you know someone who would enjoy finding this in their Christmas stocking.

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A new gallery show, "Girls: Fact and Fiction," is running now at the the Light Grey Art Lab in Minneapolis. There's some awesome art featured in the show, including:

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And finally, this is so good.

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