ANOTHER! Marvel Lining Up The Team For ‘Thor 3′

Thor and Thor: The Dark World have grossed over $1 billion worldwide, and Captain America 3 is already in the works, so it's to be expected that Marvel would have only one thing to say about Thor movies.

The Wrap reports Marvel has hired two writers for Thor 3, Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle. Christopher Yost co-wrote Thor: The Dark World and co-wrote several X-Men comics with Craig Kyle (New X-Men, X-23: Innocence Lost, X-Force). Craig Kyle co-created the X-Men character X-23. He also executive produced Thor: The Dark World and has produced and written many animated series for Marvel.

In other words, both writers have nerd cred and have already worked on the Thor franchise. As for the plot of Thor 3, Hitfix thinks it may be time for Ragnarok.

If my sources are correct, the end of Age Of Ultron sets up a difficult situation for Thor as Midgard and Asgard find themselves looking at a possible war. Could we be looking at the beginning of Ragnarok, brought on by Loki in the guise of Odin? Could the third film find Thor having to fight against the realm that he's spent so much time defending?

Please let Thor and Heimdall team up to cancel the apocalypse.

GIFs via What Should We Call Swing Dance and Unmarvel.

Raven’s Got A Gun In New ‘X-Men: Days Of Future Past’ Pictures

Empire Magazine has been rolling out new X-Men: Days Of Future Past content all week starting with 25 magazine covers featuring the cast. Now they've released four new pictures, collected below. None of the pictures include fodder for more Quicksilver memes, unfortunately.

Pictured: Sunspot (Adan Canto), Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), and Colossus (Daniel Cudmore)

Note the bone claws, as in Wolverine doesn't have the adamantium yet. It's hard to tell from this photo, but that might be Stryker reflected in the mirror. Or just some random dude. Hard to say.

Empire also spoke to production designer John Mayhre about the design of the future Sentinel, which veered from the comic book Sentinels. Here's what the movie's future Sentinel looks like.

Here's John Mayhre's explanation.

"They're biomechanical weapons. We had to come up with what would be the ultimate version that could actually, in principle, stop the X-Men. We started with this idea that they were almost made up of magnetic plates slapped over one another, imagining that the plates could contract or grow, so the Sentinel can be skinny to get through a small space or the plates can open up to become a bigger shape. So they have become virtually unstoppable."

Virtually unstoppable? If you want it to become certainly unstoppable, you know what to do...

X-Men: Days Of Future Past opens on May 24th.

Via The Playlist and /film.

How It Should Have Ended Imagines A Friendlier Finale To ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug’

Of course the real answer to the question, "How should The Desolation of Smaug have ended?" is "With the end of the goddamn story because there's no way The Hobbit needed to be three, three-hour movies."

Buuut what the hell, let's play along with the How It Should Have Ended folks, who imagine a Middle Earth where luck dragons exist and everyone tries to resolve their differences with Smaug in a friendly way. It doesn't go so well...

Okay, let me explain the eagles thing - they don't use them all the time because they have to climb a tree to call them, and sometimes the tree is toooo tall to scale. That's the explanation I came up with as a kid, and I think it still holds up pretty well.

via How It Should Have Ended

This App Kills ‘Vertical Video Syndrome’ So You Can Stop Punching Strangers

"Shoot horizontal videos" isn't a suggestion. It's an order.

Remember the funny PSA about Vertical Video Syndrome we posted last summer? Someone has finally come up with a solution for people who hold their camera the wrong way and mess up potentially interesting videos. (A solution besides tranquilizer darts dipped in birth control, we mean.)

Evil Window Dog has created an App called Horizon, which automatically films in landscape mode no matter what angle you're holding the device. Hypervocal explains:

You can still hold your phone upright, no matter how many times you've been told otherwise by people who care about you, and still not ruin the memory of an occasion you're already nostalgic for while you're still there.

It's so simple, we're not sure why it isn't a default option on iPhones already. Horizon costs 99 cents on iTunes, but it only works on phones running iOS 7 or higher. Can I pay 99 cents to install it on other people's phones, whether they want it or not? Can I also program it to randomly interject my voice yelling, "WORLD STAR"? Just trying to make the world a better place.

Here's a demo video.

A Compendium Of Cool Comics Cosplay: January 17th

Once again it's time for our Friday comics cosplay feature, casting the spotlight on the best comics related costumery from the cosplay community. As always, we're focusing on those cosplayers who we think deserve special recognition for their hard work creating the best costumes, whatever their budget, and also the work of those photographers who capture them for posterity.

This week we're featuring some awesome cosplay of Black Canary, Thanos, Wonder Girl, Emma Frost, Blue Beetle, Rogue, Shadowcat, The Question, Sif, Catwoman, Thor and Loki!

Gamma Squad is committed to giving a voice to the cosplay community. Each week we aim to spotlight our favorite costumes and we encourage all cosplayers, costumers and photographers to submit pictures of their work to our Flickr group to be considered for inclusion in our regular cosplay features.

Now enjoy this week's selection!

Triple Canary photographed by Paul Cory. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Thanos cosplayer at Comikaze Expo 2013. Photo by Jon (av4rice). Source: Flickr

Donna Troy cosplay by Mariedoll. Photography by Mineralblu. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Emma Frost cosplayer at MCM London Comic Con 2013. Photo by Dave Pearce. Source: Flickr

Blue Beetle cosplayer at Dragon*Con 2013. Photo by Pat Loika. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Rogue and Shadowcat with Lockheed at Comickaze 2013. Photo by Ryan C. Source: Flickr

The Question cosplayer at Dragon*Con 2012. Photographed by TheGeekForge. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Lady Sif cosplayer at Comikaze Expo 2013. Photo by Jon (av4rice). Source: Flickr

Catwoman cosplay by Caroline Knight. Photo by V Threepio. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Asgardians Gangnam style photographed by Greyloch. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Will ‘Call Of Duty’ Fall Victim To The Next-Gen Curse?

Previously, we looked at the third console curse and found it was less about numbers and more about hubris. But there's another curse worth looking at, and one a hell of a lot scarier to publishers: The next-gen curse, wherein the biggest genre on the last generation fades or even collapses like a tissue skyscraper. And Call of Duty might well be next.

The Evidence

It's pretty simple, when you think about it: Each console generation has had a genre that defines it. 8-bit consoles were buried in platformers. 16-bit consoles had fighting games out the wazoo. The PlayStation generation was the golden age of survival horror. The PlayStation 2 era was arguably when racing games ruled the roost; the Gran Turismo series has two out of the top three slots, topped only by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

And the PS3 and the Xbox 360 saw the rise of the multiplayer first-person shooter, particularly a military themed one on consoles. This isn't to argue that there weren't other popular genres, or great games in these genres, or that these genres ceased to exist: Just that where they once were dominant, they have faded in popularity. So what's going on?

The Pattern

Generally, what happens, and this has always happened on consoles is this. In the first few years of a console's life cycle, a game comes along that breaks out to a staggering degree, such as, in this case, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The video game industry being what it is, it throws out a few knock-offs or at least games obviously inspired by the hit, those sell to players who want more... and then we're off to the races.

The Chug

For the first few years, gamers enjoy something new and new ideas on a theme are spun out. Call of Duty marked a moment where consoles were close enough to PCs that the games could be more effectively ported. But over time, the idea starts to wear out its welcome. And sure enough, time has not told well on Call of Duty: Ghosts.

This is generally followed up with a high-profile bomb scaring publishers away. It seems doubtful it'll be a Call of Duty game; things would have to go horribly wrong for the fanbase to abandon it in such droves that the game actually tanks. But one suspects that bomb is lurking on the release schedule, waiting to go off.

The Implosion

But there's the missing part of this story; the genre that comes next. Making that is a hard call; if you'd told somebody the decently-selling but hardly world-beating Call of Duty games from the PSOne era would spawn a generation-defining franchise, you'd be laughed at. But it seems that multiplayer games are making a transition that Call of Duty can't; games like Destiny and The Division are offering more, and more engaging, ways to play.

But make no mistake. Again and again, gamers have witnessed this story, and it's coming soon.

Here’s A Cthulhu-Themed My Little Pony, Because Friendship Is Madness

We've seen mashups of Cthulhu and My Little Pony before, like this T-shirt by Joie Brown and this custom-sculpted toy on deviantART, but now Bigshot Toyworks have outdone themselves with this Cthulhu-themed My Little Pony design.

They're calling this disturbingly-cute Old One "Little Maddie", and these animated mock-ups are part of an upcoming animated series and toy line they're calling "Friendship is Maddness". You know who else is calling? Everyone's favorite Lovecraftian nightmare, Cthulhu. Don't answer it.

via Laughing Squid

Hugh Jackman’s New Job: Trying To Kill Peter Pan

OK, so we're only guessing at the whole "trying to kill Peter Pan" thing, but it would seem to be part of his job. Jackman's signed on to play Blackbeard in Pan Begins, oh, sorry, it's just called Pan.

Before you ask, yes, it is a Peter Pan origin story, where we find out where everybody's favorite child abductor came from. As for what Blackbeard has to do with it, and where Hook is, here's the plot summary according to Variety:

The origin story revolves around an orphan who is taken to the magical world of Neverland where he becomes a hero to the natives and leads a revolt against the evil pirates. The idea is that Blackbeard is the film's main antagonist while Hook would serve as Pan's close ally before turning bad.

So essentially it's The Last Samurai, except with children fighting pirates. Jackman is currently working on Neil Blomkamp's Chappie, which is basically "Hugh Jackman adopts a robot", and then he'll become Blackbeard.

Mostly we'll be curious to see how Warner Brothers expects to sell a Peter Pan movie. Despite the belief that every property people grew up with will be an instant hit, Peter Pan hasn't fared so well in the movies. Hook is a movie many look on with great affection, but let's face it, it's not Spielberg at his best. Similarly, the 2003 Peter Pan wasn't exactly a huge hit, although admittedly opening anywhere near The Lord Of The Rings will kind of limit your ability to make money. But, hey, in the long run, at least some of the money will go to sick children, so it's a win either way.

(Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore on Flickr)

Amazon And Steam Both Want All Your Video Game Money This Week

Hey, were you hoping to save a few dollars over the holidays? Maybe hold off on any gaming purchases until you got a sense of your gifts and how long you're going to stay in a gaming hole? Amazon and Steam would like to break your resolve over their knee and take you for all you're worth with their video game sales.

First up, the Steam Holiday Sale. We all know the drill: Valve starts the sales at 33% and starts cutting prices willy-nilly from there. As of this writing, Monaco is $3, BioShock Infinite is $10, Dishonored is $7.50, and those are just the deals going away at 1pm EST. This being Steam, pretty much everything is cheap right now: If you really want to relive the disappointment of Spore, you can do that for $5, for example.

Meanwhile, Amazon has decided to try and get some of your cash as well. Amazon, though, is focusing more on bundles. For example, both Borderlands games are $12, all three BioShocks are $15, you can get both Manhunt games for $3, and so on.

But if that doesn't do it for you, you can just browse the 1,334 games they've got on sale. Yes, they've got a lot of games on sale. Kind of the whole idea. Also, certain purchases will entitle you to $5 off Amazon's games of the year.

In short, you will be able to stock up on games right before the holidays. And then immediately forget about them as new games come out that you want to play. It's the circle of life!

See, THIS Is How You Do An Iron Man Cartoon

Animation was, even in the days of the dreaded Marvel curse, a bright spot for the House of Ideas. But sometimes the fans just do it better. Like Anthony McGrath, an animator at Evolution Studio, who cut together something that will be passed off as an Iron Man 4 trailer, no doubt.

Essentially, it's a short subject about why you don't fire missiles at Tony Stark. Because Tony Stark always has his Iron Man armor. Always.

Or if you just want the highlight in GIF form:

McGrath actually did most of this himself, if you examine the credits, although he did have some help with the modeling and one or two people pitched in elsewhere. But mostly we find ourselves wondering why this guy doesn't already have a job at Marvel. OK, so it likely took McGrath a lot of time to properly animate and render this, and it's a minute and a half of animation, but who wouldn't buy an entire movie of this? Or watch an animated series? Or buy a "Tony Stark Car Armor" toy?

At the very least, he should be thrown some cash so he can put the AC/DC song that was obviously removed from the credits back in. It's just not Iron Man without heavy metal.

A Compendium of Cool Comics Cosplay – Best of 2013 (Part 1)

Once again it's time for our Friday comics cosplay feature, casting the spotlight on the best comics related costumery from the cosplay community. As always, we're focusing on those cosplayers who we think deserve special recognition for their hard work creating the best costumes, whatever their budget, and also the work of those photographers who capture them for posterity.

This week we're presenting a special seasonal bumper edition, spotlighting some of the best cosplay of the year. 2013 s produced some amazing costumes - so much that we couldn't pack it all into a single week, so sit back and enjoy the first part of our selection, with characters including:

Ultron, Talon, Kid Omega, Deathstroke, Miss Thing, The Penguin, Venom, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Thanos, Clayface, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Joker, Hope Summers, Superman and Squirrel Girl!

Be sure to check back next week for more amazing costumes.

Gamma Squad is committed to giving a voice to the cosplay community that thrives in communities like our friends at TheSuperheroCostumingForum.com. Each week we aim to spotlight our favorite costumes and, in addition, we also host a regular cosplay contest, with the results forming a special theme week. We invite all cosplayers, costumers and photographers to submit pictures of their work that relates to the theme (or any cosplay in general!) to our Flickr group to be considered. We'll then pick our top choices and post them on Gamma Squad for the adoration of all.

Our current theme is:

• Elseworlds and What Ifs..!

For now, enjoy this week's selection.

Ultron cosplay by Zaxmon at Dragon*Con 2013. Photo by Pat Loika. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Talon cosplayer photographed by Tarz n de los Gnomos. Source: Flickr

Kid Omega cosplay by My Brass Clue at Wondercon 2013. Photo by Pat Loika. Source: Flickr

Deathstroke the Terminator photographed by Random420. Photo by Random420.
Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Miss Thing cosplayer at Heroes Con 2013. Photo by Pat Loika. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

The Penguin cosplayer at London Super Comic-Con 2013. Photo by Rob Schofield. Source: Flickr

Lady Venom cosplay by Mad Maven. Photography by Carlos Adama. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Cosplay Group.

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold at Wondercon 2013. Photo by Pat Loika. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Lady Thanos cosplayed by Contagious Costuming. Photo by Mike Dickens. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Clayface cosplayer at Edmonton Expo as photographed by David Ngo. Source: DTJAAAAM.com

Guardians of the Galaxy at Dragon*Con 2013. Photo by Greyloch. Source: Flickr

The Joker at SDCC 2013. Photo by V Threepio. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Hope Summers cosplayer at Katsucon 2013. Photography by Anna Fischer. Source: Flickr

Kingdom Come Superman as cosplayed by Bob Kieffer. Photo by Patrick Sun. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Squirrel Girl cosplay by Galacticat. Submitted via the Gamma Squad Flickr Group.

Five Clips From ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug’ Are Having A Gravitas Contest

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens next Friday, December 13th, so Warner has released five new clips from a movie so long they could release a hundred more clips and there would still be footage left.

In the first clip, Evangeline Lilly and Orlando Bloom speak some of that sexy elvish she just told Conan about. In the second clip, Thranduil (Lee Pace) finds out an evil entity may be returning to Middle Earth. So much acting in those eyebrows. The third clip follows Bard (Luke Evans) and Thorin (Richard Amitage) as they try to out-gravitas each other. Smaug isn't the only one who's smoldering.

In the fourth and fifth clips, Bilbo (Martin Freeman) avoids telling Gandalf about the ring he found in the goblin tunnels, and then he convinces the dwarves to get into barrels. He managed to do this without flipping off the camera.

[Sources: The Playlist and CBM. Banner courtesy of Warner.]