Tune in to the 2012 MTV Movie Awards

'Watchmen'I'm not sure whether to applaud Zack Snyder's guts, or worry that a mob of "Watchmen" purists might march to his door with torches and pitchforks. Despite Snyder hinting to MTV back in August that the ending of "Watchmen" would have very few (if any) changes from the graphic novel, reports from a test screening last month suggested that the film's ending had been tweaked from the original graphic novel. [Patrick Wilson, who plays Nite Owl, also hinted to MTV that the end of the film would remain the same.]

In the "new" ending, the moral dilemma was the same, but the mechanics were different -- and missing in action was one highly anticipated giant squid. The reviews were quickly pulled from the Internet forums they appeared on, and many were skeptical they were real. Theories circulated that Warner Bros was testing alternate endings to see if they could appeal more to mainstream audiences.

Well, wonder no more. In an interview with Dark Horizons, Snyder confirmed that he had changed the ending of "Watchmen," and shot down reports that he had filmed more than one. Read More...

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'Conan'Brett Ratner, the director the fanboys and girls just love to hate, is officially the director of "Conan." Or at least, almost officially. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ratner is in final negotiations with Lionsgate to direct a reboot/remake of the world's most famous barbarian. This confirms the rumors that have swirled around the project for months, and is likely to lead to months of ranting on the geekier corners of the Internet. Well, they do say any publicity is good publicity, right?

Apparently, Ratner fell in love with the revamped script, which was penned by Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly, who drew heavily on Robert E. Howard's original pulp stories. The writing duo is in the process of doing a quick polish to incorporate some of Ratner's ideas -- which may or may not look back to Howard's pulp tradition. Read More...

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BeyonceThe big-screen debut of Wonder Woman, DC's most iconic female superhero, has been plagued by on-again/off-again troubles for almost three decades, from Joss Whedon joining the project as a writer and then departing due to "creative differences" to co-producers Joel Silver and Leonard Goldberg soliciting story ideas from the Wachowski brothers. When (or rather, if) the project does happen, however, singer/actor Beyonce has made it clear that she'd like to wield the Amazon's magic lasso.

"I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman?" Beyonce told LA Times blog Hero Complex. "It would be great. And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It's time for that, right?" Read More...

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Iron ManGreek philosopher Aristotle once said, "Man is by nature a political animal" -- and he would've been hard-pressed to find any disagreement with that statement this week. Even in the world of comic books and the movies based on 'em, there was politics to be found around every corner... and on every page, for that matter.

Here are the topics that made up our campaign platform this week:

- In an MTV-exclusive chat, Robert Downey Jr. played the role of a master statesman when discussing the switch from Terrence Howard to Don Cheadle in "Iron Man 2."

- Warren Ellis, Matt Fraction and Peter David told us which candidate some famous comic characters would vote for.

- Samuel L. Jackson continued his campaign to bring Nick Fury back in future Marvel movies like "The Avengers" and "Iron Man 2."

- Creators from all corners of the comic book industry shared their thoughts about Barack Obama becoming the next US President.

- "Hulk" producer Gale Ann Hurd told us why "Magdalena" can't avoid being controversial.

- Screenwriter Chris Morgan confirmed he'll be scripting "Wanted 2" and offered up some hints about the potential storyline for the sequel.

- We also received an update on the Matt Damon and Jake Gyllenhaal "Torso" rumors from the film's producer.

- Neil Gaiman told us how he got involved with "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?", what inspired his new travel book "Monkey and Me" and how "The Graveyard Book" would smell.

- Finally, we gave you a sneak peek at writer/director Luke Ricci's new Viper Comics series "How to be a Serial Killer."

So, there you have it, folks. We quoted Aristotle, talked politics and had some good times all around. See ya next week!

Wonder Woman in New York Chocolate ShowIt's every girl's dream to be covered in chocolate, and on Thursday night, a few lucky models dressed as superheroes got to live out the fantasy. Talk about wearing designer -- this was designer chocolate.

Wonder Woman, Bat Girl, Poison Ivy, Dark Phoenix Storm from the X-Men, and even Iron Man walked the catwalk at New York's Chocolate Show, where designers paired with chocolatiers and pastry chefs to create one-of-a-kind edible outfits. (Former "Project Runway" designers Jack Mackenroth, Kevin Christiana, and Kit Scarbo handled duties for Wonder Woman, Black Phoenix, and Poison Ivy, respectively, with Jaslene Gonzalez from "America's Next Top Model" displaying the Wonder Woman outfit.) Read More...

Mark StrongActor Mark Strong, who plays mob boss Frank D'Amico in the upcoming adaptation of Mark Millar's comic book series "Kick-Ass," had quite a bit to say about the Matthew Vaughn-helmed project in an interview with FirstShowing -- including some details about the ultraviolent story's print future.

In the interview, Strong addressed reports that Vaughn's decision to self-finance "Kick-Ass" was a product of studios balking at the level of violence in the story. According to Strong, his conversations with Vaughn indicated that the level of violence in "Kick-Ass" was never an issue, and the decision to self-finance the project was based on creative preference more than any other factors. Read More...

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'Preacher'Last week, the Internet lit up like hellfire when The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that not only was the on-again/off-again comic book masterpiece "Preacher" once again headed for the silver screen -- this time with Columbia Pictures obtaining the rights -- but Sam Mendes was also attached to direct. And while it still looks as though "Preacher" itself is still headed for development, the news about Mendes was just a bit off.

In a sit-down with Empire magazine that hit the 'Net this morning, Mendes cleared up some of the rumors surrounding his attachment to "Preacher."

"I’d love to make Preacher, but there’s no script," said Mendes. "This is a typical Variety announcement. 'Mendes to direct Preacher' – I wish! Basically they should have written, 'Mendes in development with 'Preacher.'' What I’m doing is, I’ve gotta find a script. I’ve just got to get it written.” Read More...

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MTV News sat down with geek-favorite actor Samuel L. Jackson to talk about his upcoming role in "Soul Men," but given that it's impossible to not bring up his surprise cameo as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury in "Iron Man," we also had a chance to get some insight from him on where his character is headed within the Marvel Universe and his place among the titans in the upcoming "Avengers" flick.

Check out the video below to get Jackson's predictions on Fury, and if he'll be on board if Marvel should come a'callin' for his talents in other films, such as "Thor" and "Captain America"...

"Should be some little piece of all of that," said Jackson. "I should kinda pass through "Iron Man 2," "Captain America," "Thor," — all those things — and eventually get to that "Avengers" space, yeah. Especially now that they've got Don Cheadle. I know Don'll want me."

To watch more about Jackson's upcoming roles -- or to just bask in his trademarked bad-assedness -- head on over to MTV Movies.

Are you excited to see Jackson's Nick Fury showing up in future Marvel films? Which upcoming Marvel movies are YOU most looking forward to? Talk to us in the comments.

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'Batman: Cacophony'As comic book fans are already well aware, when writer/director Kevin Smith isn't busy making a porno, he occasionally scripts a pretty good comic, too. Sure, he's taken a lot of heat for missing deadlines or, in the case of 2002's "Daredevil: Bullseye" miniseries, dropping the project entirely, but his work on "Green Arrow" -- which brought Oliver Queen back from the dead and successfully relaunched the series -- was a diamond worth all of the rough. Smith makes his return to comics next week with "Batman: Cacophony," a 3-issue miniseries featuring the return of a villain Smith created during his "Green Arrow" run: Onomatopoeia.

Over at MySpace Comics, there's a 5-page preview of "Cacophony," and fans of Smith's films should probably take note that the art for the series was provided by none other than Walt Flanagan -- he of the many roles in "Clerks" and various other Smith projects (and the inspiration for Jason's Lee's character in "Mallrats," or so the 'Tubes tell us). On this end, though, I'm just excited to see the return of Onomatopoeia, who (in this writer's opinion, at least) was one of the best new villains created in comics the last few years.

We've pasted one of the full pages from the preview after the jump, but head over to MySpace Comics for the rest of the preview. Read More...

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'The Losers'Warner Bros. might be taking awhile to decide the various fates of their big DC superheroes, but they haven't forgotten about their smaller DC and Vertigo books. According to Variety, Sylvain White ("Stomp the Yard") is set to direct "The Losers," a film based on the DC/Vertigo series that ran from 2003-2006 written by Andy Diggle with art by Jock. While the trades reference the original 1970s series, it doesn't look like it will play any part in this film.

"Losers" centers around a Special Forces team, who are set up and betrayed by their enigmatic handler, Max, who soon discovers that you should never leave a bunch of black-ops commandos for dead. The Losers regroup for revenge, and to get their names off a pesky CIA death list. For issue after issue, they conducted covert operations against the CIA, and sought to uncover the plans and conspiracies of the powerful, secretive Max. Read More...

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Cover Artist

Splash Page welcomes Ed Tadem to our cover artist family (our custom-designed theme up top). Currently working on the forthcoming "Avengers" animated series, Tadem's work can also be seen in the "Jackie Karma" issues of Image's "'76," and in "Pop Gun, Volume 1." Ed Tadem can be found online at EdTadem.com.