Lost in The Multiplex

This will hardly constitute movie news, unless J.J. Abrams is a big fan of Parks & Recreation (and why wouldn't he be?), but it is worth sharing for the sheer overload of geekery. In this extended scene, comedy alpha geek Patton Oswalt plays a character who is attempting to filibuster a proposed bill by stalling for time with a lengthy and elaborate pitch for Star Wars Episode VII.

Morris Chestnunt, best known for his role in Boyz N The Hood and the Kick-Ass movies, slipped up on Twitter last night with the following entry:

"It's time to get familiar with the Black Panther character."

What a lovely problem to have!

In a recent interview, Marvel exec Kevin Feige gave away a few Iron Man 3 details (nothing you shouldn't already know if you've seen the latest trailer), and explained how Whedon has been given an early screening.

Joss Whedon was very busy this weekend showing his new effort, a take on Will Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, at SXWS festival. But that didn't prevent him from teasing the audience by talking a little about the upcoming Marvel TV series pilot SHIELD.

Marvel Mastermind Kevin Feige recently spoke to SFX magazine about the studio's plans for Phase Two.

Scarlett Johansson's turns as Black Widow/Natasha Romanova in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers brought one of Marvel's coolest characters to the cinematic Marvel Universe with a lot of style. Far more than just being used as eye candy (which would have been so easy for Hollywood to do), in the hands of John Favreau and Joss Whedon, Black Widow became an integral character for many. Scarlett's embodiment of the character is note-perfect, containing all of the calm and collected elements whilst still maintaining the ultra-honed battle and espionage skills.

Marvel Studios must have the mantra "Go BIG or go HOME" tattooed on their foreheads, there is no other explanation for their almost fearless committal to telling the most ambitious stories in the superhero genre.

That attitude carries through to Marvel's Phase Three, which until now was an intangible concept with so much attention focused on the advent of Phase Two. Latino Review's El Mayimbe, king of the superhero scoops, decided to drop a gamma bomb of a scoop on Marvel fans during last night's Superbowl.

Marvel do not like to rest on their laurels. Phase One was a formidable task; introducing movie audiences to Iron Man, Thor and Captain America and then bringing them all together with a renewed Incredible Hulk for the first ever big screen superhero crossover. They somehow pulled it off, The Avengers is one of the biggest movies of all time, and now there is no stopping them.

Phase Two begins this summer with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, continuing next year with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, a fairly out-there cosmic action movie by Slither-director James Gunn. This will culminate in 2015 with the release of The Avengers 2. Where next for Marvel's movie master plan?

So that was 2012 was it? Despite the apocalypse, there have also been some great (and some rather lacklustre) comic book movies released this year which have had fans cheering or heckling, and diehards yelling "That's not canon!" like the sad types that we are. As we are still prior to the impending end of the world (to be ushered in by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse doing the "Gangnam Style" dance), I thought I'd take a look at the releases of the year and get some flame wars going once I slag off your favourite.

Joss Whedon is one busy chap, that's for sure.