TRANSFORMERS

Cast your eyes on a first look at the Autobot Jazz, courtesy of TFW2005.com.

THE DARK KNIGHT

Actor Michael Caine has revealed on his official website that he's headed back to Gotham fairly soon. "In March I reprise my butler roll in the second 'Batman' again directed by Christopher Nolan starring Christian Bale," Caine wrote. "This one is 'The Joker' and the Joker is Heath Ledger. Great casting."

Meanwhile, brothers Christopher and Jonathan "Jonah" Nolan talked to IGN's FIlmForce about scripting the Bat-sequel. "Jonah seemed the most obvious choice for someone to crack on the script and see if our story held any water," said Christopher Nolan. "You sit there with your cue cards [note cards], but till you have to write a screenplay you never actually know what you've got. So we pulled the pin and tossed the grenade."

HELLBOY 2

In an interview at Dark Horizons, director Guillermo del Toro said, "My idea with 'Hellboy 2' is that it's almost a rephrasing. You don't re-enact the franchise you reinvent it. My favorite movies are like 'Evil Dead 2' which is basically reinventing 'Evil Dead 1,' so I would hope 'Hellboy 2' could be taking what I learned from Hellboy 1 and reinventing it."

SMALLVILLE

It's Erica Durance's turn for a gallery of promotional photos, courtesy of Kryptonsite. Meanwhile, director Rick Rosenthal is quoted at JewReview.net talking about working on the upcoming episode "Subterranean." "They're going to go through a little bit of a budget contraction until they see how the CW is going to do," Rosenthal said. "My budget was clipped a little bit, and we shot the show in one less day than usual. To a degree, some of the size of the shows may get scaled back; maybe alternating between a big show and a small show."

SUPERMAN ANIMATED

The Superman Homepage is reporting that Warner Brothers has announced two direct-to-DVD features (inspired by Marvel's "Ultimate Avengers?") for launch in 2007. "Superman: Doomsday" will chronicle the "Death of Superman" saga (directed by Duane Capizzi), while "Justice League: New Frontier" will adapt Darwyn Cooke's masterwork with some help from Stan Berkowitz and Bruce Timm.

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES

Speaking of teams that call Clark Kent a member, Comics Continuum has a brief interview with voice actor Andy Milder, who provides the voice for Lightning Lad. "Garth has gone through many changes in his comic-book life," Milder said, "and Rob (Hoegee) and James (Tucker), our creators/head writers, took what I believe to be the best possible angle: He's a guy with some teenaged angst, he has family issues -- read: Lightning Lord -- and he really wants to make good. A very well-intentioned guy who gets a little hot under the collar on occasion, he's a natural leader whose only downfalls are his temper and his forgetting to look-before-you-leap on occasion. So, what do I like about him? He's finding his way. He's smart -- maybe not always too smart -- he's hot-headed and he's a real person. It's the real person under the costume that draws me in."

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY

Here's where you get in on the action. Did you see a link we didn't catch? Have you snuck into a closed movie set, and have inside data? Maybe your cousin is dating somebody who knows something, and they had to tell you? Whatever it is, we wanna know it all -- fire off an email and let us know whether you want your name used or your contributions to geekdom to go down anonymously. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is novelist/karaoke host/all-around lunatic Hannibal Tabu saying thanks for your time and indulgence, and [tagline sent back to development hell until something hipper can be dreamed up].