BATMAN BEGINS

There's a report over on Superhero Hype about the proposed content for a Super Bowl commercial for Christian Bale's turn as the Bat.

X-MEN 3/WOLVERINE

According to Variety (subscription required), Hugh Jackman will play a role in producing both the third mutant-related sequel and a spinoff film featuring his character, Logan. "Jackman has formed a company with new partner John Palermo...whom he met when the latter was Bryan Singer's assistant on 'X-Men.' Jackman would seem a good candidate to broaden the audience appeal of tuners. He is most readily identifiable to moviegoers for the 'X-Men' character Wolverine and the vampire hunter Van Helsing. He'll continue on the action track: Jackman and Palermo will cut their teeth as producers by getting involved in the third installment of 'X-Men,' as well as a 'Wolverine' spinoff feature 'Troy' scribe David Benioff is penning at Fox."

Meanwhile, Superhero Hype talked to actress Famke Janssen about the next movie. "I've heard things and they're developing the script right now, Dark Phoenix is part of that script. Some people are [coming back] because of signed contracts, and some people can renegotiate. So I'm sure it has to do with a lot of different things. I'm not contractually obligated. I wouldn't want to do a sequel for the sake of a sequel. Hopefully there's a good director involved or the character is fun to play. I'm realistic about knowing that they're going to have to give a bunch of people a good chunk of the movie for them to want to come back. And then there's going to be new characters introduced, so it's always a little tricky. If it's anybody's movie ever, it's going to be Wolverine's movie because that's the number one X-Men character. But we'll see. From what I've heard? Yes, [Dark Phoenix]'s a big part of it."

JUSTICE LEAGUE

There's an extended interview at Silver Bullet Comics with comics veteran and "Justice League" producer Dwayne McDuffie, who talked about what's to come for the hit Cartoon Network series. "[The conspiracy arc] will continue into next season. And it will come to a conclusion at the end of next season. it will come more and more into the forefront as we continue. Although, several things you've seen already had a lot to do with the conspiracy that you probably don't realize yet. Look for Flash to figure prominently in an episode called 'The Ties That Bind,' coming up very soon. Actually, Michael's also playing several other characters in the upcoming season. So he's still doing stuff with us, which is great, because he's unbelievably talented. 'The Once and Future Thing' is a really, really fun story that's going to surprise a lot of people. A couple of major revelations for our characters and several guest shots that we couldn't have done any other way. It really is an apocalyptic season finale. (And that's not a Jack Kirby pun.) I can tell you that the bad guy is Chronos and the League will be going to the old west and meeting a lot of the DC Comics western heroes, including Jonah Hex and (my favorite) Bat Lash, among others. They will also be going into the future of the DC animated universe. Batman from 'Batman Beyond' will appear, as will Static (from the 'Static Shock' animated series, which I co-created). Static's a pretty old guy at the time the episode occurs. And speaking of old guys, we'll also see ... oops, almost gave too much away."

ELEKTRA

If you can't wait for Friday, Yahoo! Movies has posted the first five minutes of the movie for your perusal (Windows Media and QuickTime). Speaking of clips from the film, Moviefone has a segment of the movie where Elektra gets ambushed (AOL Player/QuickTime). Finally, director Rob Bowman is quoted over at Comics Continuum saying, "I think the difference between this film and other big comic-book movies is that we spend some time inside Elektra's head; the true story is really inside of her," Bowman said. "There's so much unspoken reality in her. Sure, I want audiences to experience a big action movie and give them the thrills of watching the character kick some butt. But I also wanted them to root for Elektra to triumph over her own inner darkness."

SUPERMAN

An article in the Honolulu Advertiser talks about some of what producer Chris Lee is bringing to the table. "Chris Lee, chairman of the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, has been named executive producer of the mainstream movie, planned for release in 2006. Production begins March 3 in Sydney, Australia, with filming continuing through August. ACM students in Hawaii are likely to be hired in a first-of-a-kind internship, where they will 'live and study abroad, working on the movie, gaining on-the-job training,' said Lee. Details are being finalized by Tom Brislin, who will serve as acting chairman of the film school, which begins its new semester next Monday."

HULK 2

According to Superhero Hype, Marvel's movie mogul Avi Arad talked to Total Film magazine about what to expect from the planned sequel. "The next movie, Hulk 2, the Hulk will be smaller. If you make him fifteen feet tall, there's no human connection there ... Right now we are still developing the sequel. I think the key thing is to come up with the right story." The article also says we are promised, "less angst and a lot more Hulk smashing," and that Bruce Banner will become more comfortable with his big green side.

SMALLVILLE

Kryptonsite has fresh spoilers about a title for the season's sixteenth episode and the network's official description for the year's first new episode, "Unsafe" on January 26th. Meanwhile the WB has posted video versions of the teaser in broadband and dial-up flavors. The team at Devoted to Smallville has screen captures (one, two).

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY

If you have the scoop on anything related to comic book movies, TV adaptations or just want to give us a truck full of cash, no questions asked, drop us a line and let's coordinate. You can choose an alias if you'd like, or be mentioned by name -- we honor requests for anonymity. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is your humble scribe Hannibal Tabu saying thanks for your time and indulgence, and "don't blame me, I'm drunk too!"