We have a whole weekend's worth of spoilers to digest, in one extremely massive spoiler-blast. A ton of new reviews of Iron Man came out, including loads of ironclad plot details and a couple dozen photos. There are also pics and video which reveal a new villain in the next Doctor Who Christmas special, now being filmed. We also learned a ton of new info about the storylines of Heroes season three, and a few snippets about the tail end of Lost season four. Plus there are new stills from The Dark Knight, Star Wars: Clone Wars and Hancock, and a few details about Wanted. We've gone spoiler crazy, and we're taking you with us.
Miscellaneous:
Empire Magazine has new stills from Batman: The Dark Knight, Hancock and Star Wars: Clone Wars. [Empire]
Wanted:
In Wanted, James McAvoy plays Wesley, who's apathetic and "nearly clinically depressed," having been manipulated by the government, his family and his bosses. He shares one "epic snog" with Angelina Jolie during the film. [Ohnotheydidnt]
Iron Man:
More Iron Man reviews have turned up online, and they include some plot details for the movie, which opens Friday. (The overall consensus: It's a fun movie, but suffers from the common problem of having to do an origin story and then include a tacked-on final battle.)
Empire says Tony Stark is shot down (ironically) with his own military hardware, and then imprisoned in a cave by Afghan terrorists who want him to build a missile capable of leveling cities. Stark instead builds his first Iron Man armor, which looks nothing like the missile he's supposed to be building. The terrorists have him under video surveillance, but somehow don't notice the substitution. The film rushes to get Iron Man into his armor, and then flounders around a lot. A lot of the plot deals with how those terrorists got their hands on Stark's weaponry in the first place.[Empire]
When Tony comes back from Afghanistan and announces he wants to change the direction of Stark Industries away from weapons, it's not just bad-guy Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) who's resistant — Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts also digs in her heels at first. There are lots of scenes of Tony working day and night on his improved armor in his workshop. The "global conspiracy" that Tony has to fight at the end of the movie sort of comes out of nowhere, and involves those terrorists from the start of the film. [Emanuel Levy via Rotten Tomatoes]
Also, those Afghan terrorists (the "Ten Rings") get their hands on what's left of Tony's original armor after he escapes, and they start putting it together. They also use some of Tony's weapons to terrorize the locals. The terrorists' leader Raza wants to be the next Genghis Khan. Tony's self-appointed "international enforcer" role pisses off the U.S. military, who send those two fighter jets you've probably seen after him. And then, as you probably know, the climactic battle is between Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges, both wearing armor that seems sort of clanky. [Variety]
And here are some new Iron Man stills. [Slashfilm]
Heroes:
The first episode of Heroes season three will include some new characters:
- Jesse, a "mean-looking SOB" with an explosive temper.
- Two reporters, covering the news in Odessa, Texas.
- An E.R. doctor working Odessa, Texas.
- A commentator on a national TV news program
- Two "scary thugs" preying on innocent people in New York City.
- A paramedic administering emergency care to a seriously injured patient (Nathan?).
And the second episode, "Dreamtime," will feature that aborigine storyteller we've been hearing about, a "member of the Maasai, Samburu or another similar nomadic pastoral tribe. A storyteller with great wisdom."
Also, we'll learn more about the mysterious group of older heroes who included Angela Petrelli and Kaito Nakamura. As for how we'll learn more about these characters' pasts, says producer Allan Arkush, "We are going to play with time and we are playing a lot with space and where people are on the planet." The new season will focus on "Villains," including Sylar and some new characters, but also on morally grey characters like Angela and Claire's dad Bennett. Matt Parkman will be exploring his new psychic power and will be "flashing someplace," which will be a "cool surprise." We may see more different versions of Hiro, along the lines of his badass self from the alternate future. And we'll see more of Niki/Jessica/someone.
Another huge storyline in season three: the "genetic essence" of these characters' powers, and how they got them in the first place. And the fact that the first episode is called "The Butterfly Effect" is significant, because a major theme of the new season is that whole "chaos theory" thing about stepping on a butterfly and "changing the flow of the universe." [Heroes Revealed]
Doctor Who:
The official Doctor Who site includes season four wallpaper art, and a section on the fat-people-infesting Slitheen is "coming soon." Does that mean they'll be farting their way across our screens again soon? [CoolSciFi]
And there are more details of the Christmas special filming. The normal-looking Cybermen are leading some children away, along with an Undertaker who's mind-controlled by a flashing blue earpiece. The children try to run away but some "cyber-shades" (those cyber-ghosty things) hiss at them. And then the undertaker yells, "Enter the court of the Cyber-King! March!" And the children go in.
Meanwhile the Doctor and his new companion "Rosita" (Velile Tshabalala) are watching the cybermen lead the children away. The Doctor says the cybermen's lair will be too well-guarded to try and sneak in. They run away, but two cybermen sneak up on them. Which the Doctor says is "cheating." "Did you put your legs on silent?" And then Mrs. Hartigan (played by Dervla Kirwin) shows up, standing between the cybermen. The Doctor tries to convince her to move away from the cybermen before they can attack her, but Mrs. Hartigan says she has nothing to fear from her "shining knights." The Doctor says Mrs. H. hasn't been converted into a cyber-woman, so she should still have her own free will, and she replies that she's with the cybermen of her own volition, and "no-one can make me change my mind."
Later, the Doctor discusses Mrs. Hartigan's evil plans, which involve something dreadful happening on Christmas, which will affect the whole British Empire. She asks who the Doctor is, and how he knows so much about the cybermen, and he tells her his name. They cybermen say his appearance doesn't match their visual records. (Which would mean they're not the same cybermen he met in the alternate universe?) The cybermen are about to kill the Doctor, who asks Mrs. H., to let him die happy by telling him what she wants the children for. She replies, "What does anyone want children for?" The Doctor throws something at the cyberman, who catches it and tells the Doctor it's ineffective against the cyber-race. And then David Morrissey (the "other Doctor") jumps out and shoots the cybermen with some sort of weapon. And here's a video. [Doctor Who Forum]
Lost:
In this Thursday's Lost episode, Jack has appendicitis and Jin gets a gun. Sawyer, Claire and Aaron run into Frank Lapidus, the helicopter pilot, who tells them to hide because Kearny is still alive. They hide, but then Aaron starts to cry. All of the Oceanic Six, plus Sayid's wife Nadia, are at the funeral of Christian Shepherd. Sayid actually storms out of the Oceanic Six's press conference because he doesn't like telling lies about what happened. There's a party at Hurley's mansion. [Nicole's Lost Blog]
But other sources suggest the party at Hurley's Mansion takes place in the season finale, not this week's episode. (And possibly that press conference as well.)