IRON MAN

Actor Terrence Howard was interviewed by VH1 about playing Jim Rhodes in the Jon Favreau-helmed Marvel flick. "Me, I like to talk," Howard said when asked about his character. "Seeing Iron Man [do] battle [in] the original suit that he made -- crashing into a car and flipping me off like I'm nothing -- [it doesn't] even affect him! Me? [My character will be] sitting there waiting -- lusting for the opportunity to have my own power."

You can also find two photos of Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow on set over at the Superhero Hype message boards ... or at least you could before the Imageshack bandwidth limit hit.

Finally, IESB has a quick video chat with actor Robert Downey Jr. about suiting up as Tony Stark.

WATCHMEN

Tom Cruise as Ozymandias? That's what has been confirmed by a story at CHUD. Their Devin Faraci wrote, "While on the phone with Watchmen director-to-be Zack Snyder yesterday, talking about the pending release of 300, I asked him point blank about Cruise, and he confirmed that he and Tom had been talking about it. A lot. But that now it looked like Cruise would not be appearing in the film. 'He was interested,' Snyder confirmed to me. 'I did talk to him about it for a while.' And would the role he wanted be Ozymandias? 'That would be the role,' Snyder said." They also note that the film will be aiming for an "R" rating.

SPIDER-MAN

We've got a press release about a new animated series planned for 2008, right here at CBR.

Meanwhile, on the cinematic front, Ain't It Cool News has a look at the latest poster for the web spinning sequel. Plus, according to a press release over at Herosite, fans will able to see seven and a half minutes of the film on NBC.com for a 24 hours after Monday's episode.

HEROES

Speaking of the hit network series, creator Tim Kring is quoted at Sci Fi Wire as saying this season will close Volume One of the story, with new characters and storylines for next season, noted as Volume Two. "Volume One comes to a conclusion at the end of episode 23, and Volume Two starts with the opening of season two. And Volume Two is a different story. We could have new people and new storylines and new ideas and new threats and new bad guys and new heroes. So I would prepare the audience for that idea, that it's not just a continuing serialized storyline about only these people. It's a little more the '24' model than the 'Lost' model."

SMALLVILLE

Two more seasons, that's it -- or so producer Al Gough told TV with MeeVee. "We all feel we have, legitimately, a good two more seasons worth of stories," Gough said. "Then I think it's time to pack it up to the fortress and go home."

Meanwhile, our pals at Kryptonsite have fresh spoilers and rumors about the May 3rd episode, "Prototype." Sorry, no Andre 3000 involved.

FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER

Director Tim Story has updated his MySpace blog with a note about two major characters everyone's asking about. "There continues to be much speculation about Galactus. Major speculation. We haven't finished the design of him/it so be careful about what you read and believe. Trust me ... no one knows. One thing's for sure, you can expect to see him/it. It will be pretty powerful. I'm having a lot of fun with the concept and believe me -- MOST will be satisfied. Doom? Oh he's coming. Just wait. Classic look! And we definitely touch on his roots in the film. We're working long hours to make it right."

Also Access Hollywood has posted some footage from the set, taped during the wedding scene.

300

Finally, the Marquette Tribune has an in depth article about the Frank Miller adaptation featuring the words of its director. "I have so much respect for the graphic novel," [director Zack] Snyder said. "I didn't want it to be Hollywood-ized. I wanted the audience to have the experience I had (reading) the novel. With a graphic novel, people should look like the drawings. I don't go 'who's the flavor of the week, let's make the King Leonidas.' We wanted the movie to be the star. I didn't want the US Magazine aesthetic to wander into the movie and take you out of it."

THAT'S A WRAP

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."