IRON MAN

USA Today has an article about the Jon Favreau-helmed Marvel adaptation, including a new photo of Downey in character as Tony Stark. "We didn't want to just go with a safe choice," Favreau said. "The best and worst moments of Robert's life have been in the public eye. He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That's Tony Stark. Robert brings a depth that goes beyond a comic-book character who is having trouble in high school, or can't get the girl. Plus, he's simply one of the best actors around."

Meanwhile, Phamous Photos has a behind-the-scenes video from the production.

SMALLVILLE

Kryptonsite has new screen captures from a preview for the black-and-white episode "Noir," which has Clark Kent in glasses, as well as scans of a special Metropolis Inquisitor insert from the network's "Justice and Doom" online game and promotional images from the season finale, "Phantom."

SGT. ROCK

Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment wants to bring the war hero to the silver screen, but is stuck ... trying to find the right actor for the role. "It's going to be a challenge because it's a big movie to mount and it's going to require someone to play Rock, and there's not a lot of guys out there who can really step into the shoes, put a helmet on, and be a real tough guy," said David Gambino, the vice president of production for Dark Castle. "He's written in the comic as being this really bulky, muscular guy. That's not an easy thing to cast. The good news is we have a fantastic screenplay and everybody's really happy with it. It's really just about trying to attach cast right now and really decide what the movie is going to be, how we're going to make it. There's been talk about possibly doing it like a '300,' really making it like a graphic novel come to life, but no decisions have really been made on that. It's pretty exciting though. It's a project that Joel has had for probably going on 15 or 20 years now. It was something that he almost had in production with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the late '80s and it ultimately fell apart in financing at the studio. But it's something he's been hoping we can crack forever and we finally have a script that everybody's happy with, and now it's just a matter of getting the ball rolling here and trying to put it into production."

MAGNETO

Who's directing the Master of Magnetism's origin story? Find out here at CBR.

HEROES

Speaking of CBR stories, we've also got promotional photos and the official network description of the next episode, "String Theory."

As well, producer Gren Beeman has posted a new blog talking about the preparations to end the season.

FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER

Can't stand the suspense about what Galactus will be like in the sequel? Ain't It Cool News had a look at the novelization, and they know ... or do they? Huge spoilers abound, so be warned. Meanwhile, Wizard Magazine has a feature about the film, talking with the cast and director, also backing around the question of the world devourer. Finally, special invitees in Australia were supposed to see premiere footage of the film, but Moviehole alleges that didn't work out.

BARBARELLA

Actress Kate Beckinsale talked to IGN and denied picking up where Jane Fonda left off. "I just found out myself today," the actress said. "It's thrilling! I've never heard anything about it before today. One of the ['Whiteout'] crewmembers told me."

SPIDER-MAN 3

We've got an interview with actor Thomas Haden Church about getting gritty as Flint Marko.

The Associated Press is keeping track of the war of words going between studio and director, quoting Sam Raimi as saying, "I know there'll be a 'Spider-Man 4, 5 and 6,' I just won't be the guy that'll probably write the story, because I've got to step away from it to clear my head."

"My hope is that Sam and Tobey and Kirsten will want to come back for more," said Amy Pascal, Sony co-chairwoman. "They can make as many `Spider-Man' movies with me as they want to." But with or without them, "then I'll be making 'Spider-Man' movies," Pascal said. "We will continue to make them at the studio." "We'd love to have Sam, we'd love to have Tobey, we'd love to have Kirsten. We'd like to keep the team. But Spider-Man is bigger than all of us," said Avi Arad. To further that goal, Yahoo! Movies notes that David Koepp has been retained to write a script for the next film.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

We can't do this without you. The rumors, the scoops, the set photos -- they're all fueled by passionate fans emailing in the goods. The ones who ask, "What do you mean your sister's dating somebody who works for Miles Millar?" The ones who know the code names of movie projects and scour city permit filings for them. The devoted, the involved. Fans, just like you. Whatever you know, we wanna know, and whether you want your name shouted to the web's rafters or kept closer than a classified report, we've got you covered like a comforter. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is your humble scribe Hannibal Tabu (web site, MySpace blog) saying thank you for your time and indulgence, and "enough talk -- let's go make with the 'biff' and the 'pow' already."