Spider-Man could possibly appear in Avengers 3!

Yes, this is NOT a joke. It is NOT April Fools. This is very very real. Rob Liefeld the co-founder of Image Comics and X-Force creator recently tweeted to his followers that Marvel Entertainment is attempting to undercut any and all support of the X-Men franchise.

20th Century Fox who owns both the rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four, have not seen any marketing for their merchandise, and apparently it’s all on purpose. X-Men: Days of Future Past is doing very well in the theaters, yet you do not see any toys or X-Men comics being pushed to support the recently released movie. On the other hand, you do see more Spider-Man, Captain America, and very soon Guardians of the Galaxy toys and comic merchandise being distributed heavily.
This is what Rob Liefeld’s tweet conversations consisted of (edited for clarity):

X-Men: Days of Future Past will match If not exceed The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s domestic box office, meaning lots of eyeballs, but there are no toy tie-ins. The Fox shut out is real.

It’s not money that matters in this strategy, it’s the hearts and minds of kids/toy buyers, not-too-subtly communicating what’s “important.”

Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 toys everywhere, X-Men – zippo. No promotions from toy aisles. Starve those properties. Makes X-Men [box office] comeback impressive!

No emotion in these facts/reporting, it’s just numbers and business. But the messages are clear.

X-Men: Days of Future Past toys would get in the way of upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy onslaught of toys.

Bottom line, it’s a ballsy move to downgrade properties with high profile, big budget support in favor of stuff you control wholesale. Gotta respect it. And equal respect to those properties slugging it out without equal support across multiple platforms.

You gotta understand, I love this stuff!! I love the business of comic films/brands and the unique situation Marvel has with their licenses.

My un-informed prediction: Sony will split producing/financing w/Marvel on next Spidey film and open door for inclusion in Avengers 3.

Rob Liefeld predicts that Sony and Marvel could co-finance and co-distribute upcoming Amazing Spider-Man sequals to cross over into The Avengers. I don’t know about you, but this is very very very big news for the Marvel Cinematic Universe if the good ole web-head is going to join forces with Cap, Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor.

The possibilities of this crossover occurring now is high since VFX was recently moved to Canada by Sony, and the lackluster response from the recent Spider-Man movies in the box office; it looks like Sony might need assistance for their big budget films.

Everyone one of us Marvel movie nerds needs to hold on to our seats, because the moment Marvel Studios announces that Spider-Man is going to be in Avengers, is the day that everyone’s heads explode from complete nerdgasm.

Source: ComicBook.com

New York Times confirms two of Apple’s biggest WWDC 2014 announcements

We’re now just hours away from Apple’s big keynote at the annual Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, and we’re starting to wonder if there’s anything left for Apple to surprise us with this year. It’s obviously a pretty safe bet that Apple’s most exciting announcements of the year — new iPhones, new iPads, an iWatch, etc — won’t come until later this year, but Apple still has plenty in store for us at WWDC 2014 on Monday.

And now, two of Apple’s biggest rumored announcements have been confirmed ahead of the show by The New York Times.

According to NYT’s report, two of Apple’s iOS 8 highlights will be a health tracking app and “an announcement about its efforts with connecting to so-called smart home devices.”

Regarding the health app, we have already seemingly learned just about everything there is to know from earlier reports. The most interesting tidbit in this new report is likely the fact that the app will “initially pull data from third-party fitness and health-monitoring hardware,” and then it will “most likely be able to connect with a smart watch that Apple is widely expected to release this year.”

Very few people still expect Apple to unveil the “iWatch” at WWDC but there have been a few mentions of it in recent days. According to the Times, we can put that notion out of our minds completely.

The report included precious few solid details on Apple’s smart home initiative, suggesting that it might involve tool kits for developers so they can better integrate iOS 8 apps with connected appliances and other home devices.

Its Mourinho in the news again! Watch Jose Mourinho make his 2014 World Cup group stage picks

Hark! Yahoo global football ambassador Jose Mourinho has come down from the mountain (and entered a nondescript conference room) to present the world with his 16 picks to advance from the 2014 World Cup group stage written on stone tablets (or white poster board). With an assist from Yahoo's Melanie Collins, Jose navigates through the clear favorites and the tougher calls of the group stage with the same way most fans do: by backing the people he likes most.

"I'm very emotional, I go always with my friends," Mourinho says before picking the Netherlands to finish as runners up in Group B behind Spain, since he and Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal worked together at Barcelona in the late '90s. In Group C he went with Greece and Didier Drogba's Ivory Coast advancing over Colombia and Japan.

In Group D he couldn't choose, citing Uruguay's strength and his ties to England and Italy. "If I say England out, next season they don't let me coach here [at Chelsea]." 

In Group E, Mourinho said, "I don't believe in another collapse for France," and chose them to win the group with Switzerland edging out Ecuador for the second spot. In Group F, he opted for Nigeria to finish behind Argentina since the Super Eagles have Chelsea's John Obi Mikel (Victor Moses was on loan at Liverpool all season, so I guess he doesn't count).

In Group G, Mourinho is certain no one will finish with zero points, but he does see Germany finishing top with Portugal behind them. But, he added, that he's afraid for his native Portugal against the U.S. And finally, in Group H, he said "Belgium has the talent," but somewhat surprisingly went with Russia to finish first and Belgium second — perhaps due to their youthful inexperience. 

Here's how Jose sees the round of 16 shaping up ...



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