A new season of superhero films is upon us, and there’s no shortage of reminders. Empire published a whole mess of images to whet the appetites of comic book fans, and give a little insight to how close their film adaptations are to wrapping up.
From the Marvel universe comes production and promotional stills from Thor 2: The Dark World and The Wolverine. The first shows Chris Hemsworth returning as the hammer-wielding thunder god to do battle against a race of Dark Elves led by the vengeful Malekith (Christopher Eccleston). Hemsworth will be joined by his original co-stars Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, and Anthony Hopkins for the post-Avengers sequel, which opens on Nov. 8th.
In the second set, Hugh Jackman menaces in a behind-the-scenes shot of him stepping back into role as Wolverine. To show his range, Jackson also dons a suit to show the hero’s dapper side. The new addition to the X-Men franchise takes Logan to Japan where he “confronts a mysterious figure from his past in an epic battle that will leave him forever changed” – it also serves as a link to the upcoming sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past. The Wolverine hits theater on July 18th.
Not to be outdone, DC gets some representation from Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot, Man of Steel. A post from last month saw star Henry Cavill handcuffed in a poster, and now we get to see some of the other characters. In one, we get a glimpse at Russell Crowe as Superman’s father, Jor-El, a role first brought to the big screen by Marlon Brando in the 1978 version. The other has Michael Shannon as the villain Zod, a fitting choice for an actor so adept at playing bad guys. The film, which also stars Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, and Christopher Meloni, opens on June 14th.
And from Icon, there’s two new images for director Jeff Wadlow‘s Kick-Ass 2. The first is a nice follow-up to the official image we recently covered – both pair up Jim Carrey and Aaron Johnson in their roles as Colonel Stars and Stripes and Kick-Ass. We also get a look at Chloe Moretz in full Hit-Girl regalia. The sequel releases on June 28th. [Bleeding Cool]
Do the new images do justice to their upcoming titles?