• We have a lot of news out of Comic-Con this weekend, and while I’ve tried to slice off the fantasy portions, I’ve put together something of a Comic-Con Gallery of interesting photos over on the Facebook page of AfterElton.com as the weekend progressed you might like.

• But I’d be remiss if I didn’t say a few things about our superheroes, like the fact that Mark Ruffalo is indeed playing Hulk, and Jeremy Renner is Hawkeye. In fact, here we see The Avengers assemble for the first time: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Incredible Hulk, and Director Joss Whedon.

• Guillermo del Toro left The Hobbit for a Haunted Mansion movie, but he swears what got people most excited at his panel, “where we had a house at full capacity, with 6000 asses levitated by both pieces of footage” was for his horror film Are You Afraid of the Dark starring Katie Holmes. That’s why she made the front page.

• Supernatural is filming the impossible sixth season, and they swear it doesn’t suck. Dean is living the domestic life for a year, thinking Sam is dead when he gets sucked back into hunting. They also planned a meta episode (my favorites are the meta episodes) about vampires, and how real vampires are having a feeding frenzy because girls want to date Edward Cullen. Supernatural vampires aren’t cuddly like “pasty, waify” vampires from Twilight and Vampire Diaries.

• As long as we’re talking about vampires, you may as well see this trailer for the second half of True Blood. It seems to me we’ve just been setting the pieces in place so far. Things haven’t even begun to get interesting.

• Speaking of vicious vampires, Priest was a big hit at Comic-Con. I don’t know whether to view this as sci-fi or fantasy, but vampires have driven humans into walled cities. Priests are genetically engineered super-soldiers meant to fight them. Let Twilight’s Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, and Karl Urban explain.

• And so you can decide for yourself if these are vampires we’d recognize in any normal sense of the word, here’s the trailer for Priest. I think they’d have Edward Cullen for lunch.

• Dragon Age: Origins announced some upcoming DLC this weekend. Don’t expect much in the way of story: this is a dungeon designed for high-level players to hack their way through hordes of enemies in an unforgiving environment.

• Zack Snyder sat down with MTV to talk about Xerxes. He’s careful not to call it a prequel or a sequel, since the graphic novel they’re using as a book takes place over the same three days as 300 happened. He’s not even against trying to get Gerard Butler into somehow, even if I am.

• The Cape is a weird mix. It seems to have a disgraced cop trying to clear his name donning a costume from one of his son’s comic books, but also using basic magician tricks and illusion in the hunt for bad guys. But some bad guys are better than others since he lives with a group of circus clown bank robbers. I’d watch this one early, because it sounds too weird to gain an audience.

• We got the first trailer of Ironclad at Comic-Con, with Paul Giamatti as King John storming a castle, complete with some major catapults.

• Killruddery House and Gardens (pics at link) has been de-modernized to stand in for the palace in Starz’ Camelot in Northern Ireland. They’ve added replica gates to take the castle back to a more medieval look, and stars Ralph Fiennes and Jamie Campbell-Bowers have already raced up to the front on horseback as Merlin and King Arthur. I have to say it looks more “right” than the French castle they use in Merlin.

• In the side bar on the front page, we’ve been running the teaser for The Goon, the animated zombie film that David Fincher is trying to make. There’s still no studio funding this beyond a short, which is a shame, because I’m not sure we’ve seen anything quite like it before. Here’s the animated short the teaser was cut from. Somebody please make this.

• Most of the UK is buzzing about A Game of Thrones, one of the few properties not at Comic-Con this weekend since they only just began shooting. But they’re calling it the most anticipated television show ever, and the only thing the article compares the show to is Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, which is pretty exclusive company to keep. It also offers the best summary of what it is I’ve read yet, “A Game of Thrones is high fantasy; although with a lot more swords than sorcery. It’s a world of prophecies, exiled princesses, talking crows and magical trees. There’s lots of death and lots of sex; the world is relentlessly bleak and war is hell.” This is also the first place I remember reading that the BBC has a stake in the show, which will matter to our British readers.

• On Friday we mentioned Drive Angry 3D, and showed some demonic concept art. The first footage that was released doesn’t really show any of that, just Nic Cage playing the same Nic Cage character he always plays, this time with a more traditional hairpiece than The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

• Thor is a weird property: he’s a Norse God, but he exists in the same Marvel universe as Iron Man’s technology. So it should be as no surprise when he falls to earth, cast out by Odin, he’s taken to an Area-51 style facility. But the reports out of Comic-con say that while he is a God, science is king to the story, and most of it takes place on Earth. Here’s Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) in front of Odin’s throne, with the Destroyer armor behind them.

• Another big movie with a lot of expectations is Let Me In, which is an American remake of the classic Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In. There’s been much discussion about whether this remake was necessary, but I’ll be honest, it’s tough to maintain tension with an American audience with subtitles.

• But while the poster is bleak, I’m not going to lie to you, Marge, the trailer creeps me out. Children as vampires isn’t often done, and in most cases they’re considered abominations, and this doesn’t seem to be the route they’re taking here. Color me intrigued.

• And finally, I know this column is long, and it’s epic, but I can’t leave without sharing the sizzle reel for Mega Python vs. Gatoroid from SyFy. It’s got teen queens Deborah Gibson and Tiffany in an epic fight scene worthy of Dynasty, and Tiffany’s cleavage is working overtime.

• I’m down with Sam Raimi, as he’s given us a plethora of geeky delights over the course of his career, from Evil Dead to Xena to Spider-Man. Not sure how I feel about his upcoming Oz prequel project, but the idea of him doing an apocalyptic scifi western is pretty darn cool.

• Jerry Bruckheimer recently tweeted a new still of Jack Sparrow in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and it … well, it’s really boring.

• So by now we’ve all seen this image …

• But here’s a new shot of Thor as he apparently is on trial and about to be banished to the human world. Notable in this pic is it’s the first shot of Loki with his iconic horned helmet, which you can see if you reeeealllly squint and look at said God of Mischief all the way to the right.

• If you’ve got some time to kill, check out the 5 Gaping Plot Holes Hollywood Knows You Won’t Notice.

• I will never, ever, ever forgive the creators of Lost for how they wasted six years of my life. But if you can overlook that the show was ultimately directionless and devoid of any meaning, sense, or plan, there’s apparently a twelve-minute-long prequel on the DVD of the sixth season.

• Ouch. Some reporter totally smacktalked M. Night Shyamalan to his face.

• Well, we’ve finally found a movie that looks like it sucks more than Twilight, and it’s … a spoof of Twilight.

• Chris Hemsworth flew in to support baby brother Liam at the premiere of that awful Miley Cyrus movie (best review? Miley Cyrus Upstaged by Sea Turtles). And Access Hollywood got him to take a moment to discuss Thor, and somehow it became a Norse fashion discussion.

• A while back, fantasy king Neil Gaiman responded to a reader complaining about the next Song of Fire and Ice book from George R.R. Martin. His rather blunt response was to say “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.” This wise piece of rather disappointing information has now been developed and set to music.

• I was looking through the ratings for syndicated shows, and it explains a lot about the fate of Legend of the Seeker. It’s nowhere near a Top 25 syndicated show, and none of the Top 25 have to support original production of a scripted program. Most are reality or game shows. Not fair, is it?

• Just because we hate the idea of things like Battleship, Monopoly, and Candyland (O.K., Candyland could be cool) being made into movies, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t work. This is evidently old, but I’d never seen the trailer for Pacman: The Movie.

• AMC has greenlit The Walking Dead zombie series for six episodes. The latest rumor is that the main role in the series is being eyed by Eli Stone himself, Johnny Lee Miller. I’m not a zombie person, but I have feeling that if zombies are chasing Johnny Lee Miller, it might not be because they’re just after his Braaaaaaains.

• The Bram Stoker Awards have been handed out, and winners include Audrey’s Door by Sarah Langan, Damnable by Hank Schwaebel, and Chimeric Machines by Lucy A. Snyder.

• Brian Froud says work is progressing on Dark Crystal 2, including character build by Henson. The only reason that I’m not terrified of them touching this fond memory is that Genndy Tartakovsky of Samurai Jack fame is onboard to direct. Can puppets still thrill us after so many years of CGI?

• I’m not sure, but this bizarre new Muppet music video of ‘Stand By Me” surfaced yesterday. While it’s the classic tune, I keep hearing a children’s song about “Little Bunny Foo-Foo” in my head when I watch him hunting the forest. Maybe puppets can still excite after all these years of CGI.

• We’ve got the first concept art for what is Ridley Scott’s Forever War movie. Honestly, the concept of an elite military task force going off on a brief battle and returning to earth find 20 years lost and everything changed sounds a little tired, but the art looks a little unique for that synopsis.

• There’s a strong rumor that Louis Leterrier is attempting to resurrect Y: The Last Man and get production restarted at New Line. After years of languishing behind less ambitious films, it sounds like someone is interested in bringing it from the page to the screen.

• Whedonesque has all the details on the writers for Firefly: Still Flying, and it’s like a guest list for a dinner party with old friends: Jane Espenson, Ben Edlund, Brett Matthews and Joseph Molina. Now if they could just give us a date.

• Seth Grahame has done an interview about Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and why it seemed like the perfect idea. The more I hear about the book, the more I want it for a summer beach read.

• The Iron Man 2 onslaught continues, and now we have a trailer meant to hype why you should see the film in IMAX. There’s a couple of new fight scenes in the film and a much better look at the opposing mechs. Best part is that Tony Stark is so freaking funny.

• When speaking to io9.com, Beth Williams, who’s taking over the production side of Doctor Who talks about bringing The Doctor into the 21^st century (sounds weird to say). From the new TARDIS, to the new Doctor, new sonic screwdriver, and brand new CGI, everything is updated. Much attention has been lavished on the musical score, and they have budget for things like helicopters. Can’t wait for the U.S. premiere.

• I was unaware a Twitter exchange between Craig Ferguson (funniest late night host) and Grant Imahara (MythBusters) was to result in Craig getting a robotic sidekick for the Late Late Show. But delivery of our future robot overlord of comedy is to take place on the April 5^th show.

• Funny thing: On April 1, SyFy had a press release about a new SyFy Original Movie called Scream of the Banshee. Here’s the issue: I have no idea if something this bad is a real film, or if it’s an April Fool’s Day joke. How sad is your production if an entertainment blogger can’t tell the difference?

• The saddest thing to me about Lost approaching the series finale is that I can’t mock it anymore. Unless someone wants to take this drawings for Lost: The Animated Series and turn them into something?

• The first stills from Resident Evil: Afterlife seem to involve a lot of hot women in skintight clothes pointing guns in an unrealistic fashion. The fact that I noticed there were guns in the pictures should tell you something about me.

• Here’s my favorite part of the column, because I was without a closer this week until the last minute. I’m sure you’re all aware of the fantasy web series The Guild, created and starred in by the delicious Felicia Day? Here’s the animated spinoff series, Lil’ Guildies. Have a great weekend!

Franchises, like Goonies, never say die, and Marvel is a company built on franchises. Now with their own film company, Marvel is bringing the complexity of their comic book universe to the silver screen. Here’s a look at some of their upcoming projects.

X-Men

Arguably Marvel’s most popular title (and the flagship of an infinite number of X-book spin-offs), the X-Men have appeared thus far in three movies, and Wolverine just had his first solo outing. What’s next? There are a few possibilities:

X-Men: First Class - A film focusing on the younger members of the X-Men clan, namely Iceman, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Angel, and Jubilee, as well as others, who get up to their own wacky high school adventures without Storm and Wolverine, two of the few surviving adults from the X-Men trilogy. The verdict? A possibility, but Shawn Ashmore and Anna Paquin are a little long in the tooth to play high school students, which may mean…

X-Men 4 - The long-rumored fourth entry into the main X-Men franchise may just be another version of First Class, since many of the first few films’ stars are not contractually obligated to appear, which means they can hold out for more money. But why pay the big bucks when you can just use other, younger, less expensive actors (like Paquin and Ashmore)?

Wolverine 2 - This is almost a sure thing, as talk of a sequel began even before the first Wolvy film opened, and despite being a critical flop, the film did okay in the numbers. Expect it to cover the samurai era of Logan’s past.

Deadpool - Ryan Reynolds is a hot ticket these days, and rumor is he’s been longing for a hero franchise of his own ever since playing second fiddle to Wesley Snipes in Blade: Trinity. But now that he’s scored the part of Green Lantern in the upcoming film, will two superhero franchises feel like overkill?

X-Men Origins: Magneto - Though it’s been in “development” for a long time now, not much progress has been made on this one. It’s not an easy task to design a prequel film focusing on a villain, so whether it will ever see the light of day is anyone’s guess.

Blade

Speaking of prequels about villains being a bad idea…

Untitled Blade Prequels - As if one film weren’t bad enough, actor Stephen Dorff, who played villain Deacon Frost in the first film, had this to say about an upcoming project:

“It will be a prequel to the ‘Blade’ movies, Deacon’s story. It’s a new trilogy the director [Stephen Norrington] has created. It will [be] cool.”

You read that correctly - not just one film, but a trilogy.

Avengers

The extraordinarily well-received Iron Man was the first step towards a filmic tapestry leading up to The Avengers, as displayed by the final scene in which Tony Stark is approached by Nick Fury to speak with him about “the Avengers initiative,” and then Tony Stark’s cameo in The Incredible Hulk where he mentions a “team.” This sort of cross-pollination is enough to make even casual readers geek out, so here’s a look at what’s to come.

Iron Man 2 - Duh.

The First Avenger: Captain America - Though it has an unnecessary prefix, the Captain America movie was the first and most obvious choice when building a slew of films gearing up towards the Avengers. Shooting is set to begin next summer.

Thor - Shakespearean actor/director Kenneth Branagh is helming the epic fantasy about the mythical Norse god Odin. Super props to Marvel for not shying away from this utterly magical piece of the Avengers puzzle in the wake of the Dark Knight-inspired love for grittier, realistic superhero flicks.

And, of course:

The Avengers - The current expected premier date of The Avengers is May of 2012, which means they have to work fast with the other films if they want to make that goal.

Spider-Man

Oh, yeah, they’re making Spider-Man 4. And 5 and 6. These could really go either way. I’m hoping they’re like the first 2 and not the unwatchable Spider-Man 3.