Thanks to the power of youtube, we finally get our first peek at the footage from SDCC 10, video and synopsis after the jump.

The clip opens with a police blockade and nice little high speed chase with some cops, and shootout that sees Rick wounded. The video cuts to Rick waking up in the hospital and discovering it destroyed and empty with rows of corpses laying outside. There are then a ton of zombie action shots. At one point Rick is freaking out as he points his gun at a creepy zombie little girl. Rick is talking to Michael Rooker saying he’s looking for his family and nothing will get in his way. There are some great shots of Rick riding through barren Atlanta and encountering insane zombie hordes. Rick ends up under a tank shooting up the zombies zombies. He then manages to climb in a tank, and we see a fantastic aerial shot of hundreds of zombies piling on top of the tank.

Judd Winick is comic book and comic strip writer/artist known for his work on such comic books as Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Power Girl. Winick’s other comic book work includes Batman, The Outsiders, and Marvel’s Exiles. Winick was also responsible for bringing Jason Todd, the second character known as Batman’s sidekick Robin, back from the dead, and making him the new Red Hood, the second such Batman villain by that name.

Winick is thrilled with the way his words have transitioned from comic/graphic novel to screenplay to animated film in the form of Batman: Under the Red Hood, and is only too happy to talk about the end result. Here are some of his thoughts …

What was the greatest challenge in taking your graphic novel to script format?

WINICK: I had to take two years of story and boil it down to 75 minutes of film, and that’s a challenge and liberating at the same time. It forces one to cut out all the fat and get to the heart of it. It’s about making a movie. And for those who know anything about movies, it’s about putting one foot in front of the other, building from one scene to the next to the next and so on. There are no cul-de-sacs or crossovers – it’s all about getting the story to its essence.

Were you disappointed with what you needed to cut out?

WINICK: Actually, I was thrilled about what went in. I’m really, really happy that the emotional core of the story is still there. We don’t really get to tell stories like this in animation. The opera of it all is usually reserved for live action. This story is about characters actually emoting and dealing with horrible situations. Animation usually gets just the action and the visualization, and not the characters actually feeling anything. So it was nice we got to do that.

Can you describe the gratification of watching your words come to animated life?

JUDD WINICK: It’s great. And I don’t mean to take anything away from writing for comics, as this is just a different form of story telling. One of the fun parts of writing for film is that it allows you the freedom for your characters to just shut up and fight. We can’t do that in comics – there always has to be some banter or internal monologue. More importantly, it’s gratifying to see the words and action come to life in all the ways film affords – through incredibly talented actors giving the words all that emotional impact; and to see the characters actually fight and run and yell and shout and cry. They become living, breathing beings. That’s a very exhilarating experience for a writer.

Do the voices of Bruce Greenwood, Jensen Ackles, Neil Patrick Harris and John DiMaggio match what you had in your head while writing the dialogue?

JUDD WINICK: I’ve been writing these characters for years, and it’s remarkable the job those actors did. Greenwood is about as Batman as you can get – which is exactly what you want. You don’t want to be surprised – as soon as he speaks, you want to say to yourself, “That’s Batman.” Nightwing is exactly as I’ve had him in my head – Neil Patrick Harris couldn’t possibly do it better. I’d like to do an entire feature with Bruce Greenwood as Batman and Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing.

Red Hood is funny for me because I thought I’d written this character in this incarnation more than anyone else, but I had no clue what he’d really sound like. And yet, when Jensen speaks, that’s the right tone and timbre. As far as Joker, that is one of the truly great characters that I think needs to be left up to interpretation. There’s only been a handful of people who have created Joker – Mark Hamill set the standard for animation, then you’ve got Jack (Nicholson) and Heath Ledger. But John (DiMaggio) has such versatility, he could go anywhere with it, and he made it totally his own. He really gives a very big and gruff and masculine performance, so deep and throaty and bass. He’s wonderfully scary and really gets the job done.

Wade Williams as Black Mask absolutely cracks me up. He’s like a lion. Honestly, what came out in the animation came directly out of his performance. Wade made him into a caged animal who might go off at any second. He’s constantly roaring, which is an entirely different take than I anticipated and that’s awesome. That’s an actor making decisions and making it his own and really hitting the mark.

Executive Producer Bruce Timm says your pitch was unorthodox in that it was over the phone and yet was absolutely perfect and completely sold him. How’d you pull that off?

WINICK: I’d given a rougher pitch to Gregory Noveck (DC Comics’s Senior Vice President of Creative Affairs) and he loved it, but we had to pitch it to the gang. The schedule worked out that I had to be in San Francisco, and they had to be in Burbank. That’s not the ideal way to pitch, especially for me – I like to jump around a lot, shout a lot, wave my hands and be theatrical. That’s especially true for this pitch because it’s a very emotional script. I kind of sold the idea in the first five minutes of the pitch, which was essentially describing the first five minutes of the movie.

I thought this would be a cool animated feature, but to really tell this story, we had to find a way to show Robin dying. We had to get the history in quickly to start the movie with that emotional smack. So I’m on my head set, going through this scene, talking about Batman barreling down the street of Sarajevo, the Joker beating Robin to death,. I’m banging my hands on the desk, yelling as loud as I can, and by the time I said “Fade to black, cue to opening credits,” it was just dead quiet on the other end of the line. I said, “Is everybody still there?” And they said, “Yeah, that was awesome.” Done. Sold.

How did you first enter the Batcave as a fan?

WINICK: Like many people of my age, I’m sure I was reading the comics but I remember watching the TV series more – and not really liking it. It didn’t quite feel right. I know I enjoyed it more like watching Super Friends, but I really gravitated toward the comics more than anything. The series wasn’t dark enough. It didn’t have the edge I wanted in my Batman. Ultimately, the TV show gave me a sense of what I didn’t want Batman to be, even back then.

For The Real World fans out there … do you have any inclination to do another reality show?

WINICK: I would say NEVER. Laughs. Doing reality was like elective surgery. I got the nose job, it worked out just fine. I don’t need a touch up, and I don’t need another one. When they started to do the follow-ups, we just kept saying “No” until they stopped asking us. We have jobs and responsibilities and really don’t need the money or the humiliation. And most importantly, we had a fairly extraordinary and terrible experience during the show and still came out positively. We are very lucky in that way, and I would not assume to tempt fate and do anything like it again.

Do you feel Batman: Under the Red Hood fits into Batman’s current live-action film tone?

WINICK: I’d say Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight was sort of the catalyst. After seeing that film, it got my juices going thinking that we could do something like that with a Red Hood arc. At the time, I didn’t even know what Warner Premiere was working on. It all started with a quick email to Gregory (Noveck) asking if they were looking for any more Batman features. Comics and film present very specific camps for the characters and the stories. Animation should be its own genre that straddles between the two that can give comic fans the product their hoping to see, and provide a new vision for the fans who only know these characters in the most mainstream way.

Do you like presenting your stories in animated form?

WINICK: I really do. I’m a cartoonist. I don’t draw for money, and mostly what I do is the writing. But that’s how I view myself more than anything else – as a cartoonist. I grew up on animation, and I always loved knowing that the cartoons on the page could actually come to life. I worshipped at the alter of Chuck Jones, and realized at a very young age that one guy did all the things I love best. I love it as a medium and I love how it’s evolved. Animation features have exploded – there is more high-end animation being produced now than ever before, and I think that’s great.

Casting/dialogue director Andrea Romano finds the perfect blend of voice and character for “Batman: Under The Red Hood”, the next DC Universe animated original film coming to DVD/Blueray July 27, 2010. Romano took a few minutes to offer her perspective on the voices of Batman: Under the Red Hood. Here’s what she had to say:

Let’s take the cast one member at a time. What made Bruce Greenwood right for the role of Batman in this particular film?

ANDREA ROMANO: One of the coolest finds of this past year for me was Bruce. I’ve seen so much of his work over the years, and he can do so many things so convincingly.
I knew I’d have to offer him a big role. Something with meat. And I knew he would really sink his teeth into the material and make it his own. I don’t need to tell you what a wonderful actor he is – but for this film, he gives a terrific, sensitive performance. This is the most tortured we’ve ever seen of Batman and, without overplaying it, Bruce really showed us a lot of the guilt and issues Batman has in his luggage. It’s an exhaustive, emotional piece, and he carried it perfectly.

How did Jensen Ackles perform in his maiden voyage in animation?

ROMANO: When you get a first-timer in the booth, there are often risks involved, particularly in understanding the techniques involved in working with the microphone. Jensen picked it up so quickly and was so effective in this very difficult role. Red Hood is written as such an embittered, angry, verging-on-insane character, and it can so easily be overplayed. But Jensen found just the right level of energy and flair. I loved his acting. His quality was dead-on, and he really offers a perfect balance with Bruce (Greenwood). As a director, you live the emotions with the actor. There’s one scene where Jensen has to let his emotions completely bubble to the surface. I had to work really hard to see my script through the tears that I was crying with him as he let his emotions come through.

Who better than Neil Patrick Harris to break up all the emotional drama of this film?

ROMANO: Who doesn’t love Neil Patrick Harris? He’s charming, talented, friendly, and remembers everyone he works with. He can sing and dance, not that I need that talent for Red Hood (she laughs). And in this instance, he did the unthinkable – he came to record for us on his way to the airport as he was going to New York to host the Tony Awards. Nightwing really does give a comic balance to this intense story, and Neil brought that spunky, funny instinct to the character with his usual effortless performance. He’s completely believable whether he’s doing drama or comedy, and he really added to this film. If I could, I would use Neil on every single project I do.

The Black Mask

Jason Isaacs is such a nice guy. Why’d you have to make him play a villain again?

ROMANO: Jason Isaacs is a delight. And you’re right (she laughs) – nice guys sometimes make the best villains. I’ve worked with Jason several times, and he’s absolutely fantastic. For Ra’s, I needed something slightly exotic. He’s a great, unusual character, but we had to fight against him getting too cartoony – and I knew Jason had the chops. He’s also a wonderfully intelligent actor – during the recording session, he had so many ideas, and would so respectfully suggest them to Bruce (Timm) and I – and I honestly don’t know that there was one we didn’t use. He helped edit the copy, he added beats where we didn’t even see them, and really nuanced the performance.

The Joker has had some very memorable live-action and animated performances from some notable performers. How did John DiMaggio fit into that legacy?

ROMANO: If I weren’t in love with my husband, it would be John. He’s such a versatile, talented voiceover actor. The Joker is such an intense character, and I knew I needed somebody with great range – and John was delighted to come in and play, and he gave it some beautiful new twists. Because he has such a deep gravely voice, and he’s good at comedy, and he’s a good actor, I knew John already had covered most of the points of the Joker. But I didn’t want a light, thin reedy voice, I wanted a voice with some mass to it. That’s John.

You’ve placed Vincent and Alex Martella as the Young and Younger Robin voices. Had you ever cast brothers in the same film?

ROMANO: This is the first time I’ve ever cast brothers in the same film. I was familiar with Vincent’s work and had been looking for something for him, and this was a great, interesting opportunity because I needed to cast the younger version of this character at two different ages. Vincent has a younger brother named Alex, who has only just begun in the industry, but because siblings tend to have very similar qualities to their voices, it was kind of a no-brainer to cast his younger brother as his younger self. And they were terrific – Vincent was pure dynamite in his performance, and I actually think Alex learned from watching his older brother record before him. What really surprised me was in their attention to detail. They had to set up this character’s life for another actor that they weren’t even going to act in the same room with, and I thought the transitions were seamless.

What set this cast apart from the first seven DC Universe films?

ROMANO: Each one of these actors had something to bring to the party above and beyond what was required of them. They had questions, they had input, they had ideas and, because the piece is so adult, complex, intense and dark, they knew they weren’t coming in to play The Smurfs. In order to make sure they were in the right head space and had the right tone, they asked a lot of questions. And that’s always a good sign. When the actors are that involved with their characters and the story, that challenges Bruce (Timm) and I to truly think through everything even more thoroughly, and then it becomes a much more collaborative effort. I’m not above telling an actor how to read a line. But I’d prefer that the actor comes up with the idea himself and I’m able to just tweak things here and there. We all need a challenge, something that keeps us on our toes, and recording this film was one of those experiences. A very, very positive experience.

HitFlix is reporting that according to Marvel sources, the company has decided that they are going to cast “an unknown” to play Bruce Banner and The Hulk in the film.

This means that Edward Norton will not be reprising his role as Bruce Banner and The Hulk. Norton was known at one time to be excited to replay the role and wanted to play the role in the upcoming ‘Avengers’ movie, which is being directed by Joss Whedon. At this time and moment, nothing is being said if this was all Marvels decision or Whedon had some say in the matter but we should hear more if anything is announced at SDCC in two weeks.

Maybe they’ll get Eric Bana to reprise the role of Bruce Banner.

Warner Premiere’s next DC Universe animated direct-to-dvd will be “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse”, and will hit Blu-ray and DVD on September 28. The movie is based on the second story arc, “The Supergirl from Krypton”, from Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner’s, “Superman/Batman.”

Interesting sidenote, DVD cover art by Marvel Artist, Clayton Crain (X-Force, Ghost Rider, Sensational Spiderman). More importantly, the third short film in the “DC Showcase” will feature Green Arrow, with Neal McDonough (Minority Report, Traitor, Captain America: First Avenger) as the voice of Green Arrow/Oliver Queen.

RIP Michael Turner!

Warner Home Video has released the first official clip from from their upcoming new animated movie Batman: Under the Red Hood [Coming Out July 27th], this is the eighth entry in the series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies.

The short clip features an encounter between Batman and Red Hood. In the film, Batman faces his ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood takes Gotham City by firestorm. One part vigilante, one part criminal kingpin, Red Hood begins cleaning up Gotham with the efficiency of Batman, but without following the same ethical code. And when The Joker falls in the balance between the two forces of justice, hard truths are revealed and old wounds are reopened.

QUESTION: There’s been a lot of internet banter regarding the discontinuation of the DCU series based on quotes attributed to an interview in Calgary with you. True or false?

BRUCE TIMM: Kinda false. First of all, it wasn’t an actual one-on-one interview — quotes were taken out of context from longer answers I gave on a panel at the Expo. Bottom line: the DCU films are definitely continuing. We’ve got projects lined up for the next two years at the very least – lots of films in different stages of development and production. I know there are a lot of rumors circulating about future films. Some are true, some are not. I’ll tell you this much – anyone at our DCU/Batman: Under the Red Hood panel at Comic-Con will walk away with a very clear picture of the direction we’re taking the DCU animated movies in the coming year.

Source

After a decade of waiting, iconic Marvel and Capcom characters join forces again in a re-envisioned team fighting game for a new generation. Fill the shoes of legendary characters from both the Marvel and Capcom Universes as you battle in a living comic book art style powered by Capcom’s MT Framework, an advance version of the graphics engine used for Resident Evil 5. Get set for the ultimate face-off when Marvel vs. Capcom 3 hits Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Spring 2011.

Features:

• Innovative graphics and gameplay bring the Marvel and Capcom Universes to life: Powered by an advanced version of MT Framework, the engine used in Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 brings beautiful backgrounds and character animations to the forefront.
• Evolved VS. Fighting System: Wild over-the-top gameplay complete with signature aerial combos, hyper combos and other original systems. The evolved new battle system, the “Team Aerial Combo”, takes the exciting mind-reading game to a whole new level!
• 3-on-3 Tag Team Fighting: Players build their own perfect team as you assign unique Assist Attacks for each character and utilize each character’s special moves to create their own unique fighting style.
• Living Comic Book Art Style: See the most adored characters from the Capcom and Marvel universes brought to life in a “moving comic” style, blurring the boundaries between 2D and 3D graphics.
• New Characters: In addition to the cast of popular franchise characters including Ryu, Wolverine, Morrigan, Iron Man, Hulk, Chris Redfield, Captain America and Felicia, Marvel’s increasingly popular Deadpool and Capcom’s Dante join the game for the first time in fighting game history.

Marvel’s ‘Thor’ is coming to the big screen next summer, and ET’s own Kevin Frazier is exclusively with the hammer-wielding Norse god himself, Chris Hemsworth! Plus we get our first look at Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Idris Elba as Heimdall!

Past Generation Toys has posted the line-up for Hasbro’s 6th wave of 3.75″ Marvel Universe figures for 2010. This will be the 11th wave of figures in Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line. Included in this wave are the following:

• Constrictor
• Hawkeye (Dark Avengers)
• Iron Man 2020
• Thanos
• Yellow Jacket with Mini Antman

eBay seller fatman168 had these Marvel Universe 3.75″ figures up for auction on ebay recently, be sure to check out his listings for more exclusives.