Director Joss Whedon isn’t known to be shy about killing off characters in his movie and television projects. In fact, Whedon actually teased “death, death, and death” for the Avengers sequel during a recent question and answer session.

As part of a lengthy interview in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, Joss Whedon addressed if he could actually kill off a Marvel icon. Whedon said, “I’m always joking about that. Um…maybe?”

Whedon added, “But I’d have to have a really good reason, a really great sequence for [Marvel executives] to go, ‘We’ll cut off a potential franchise, that’s…

And in case it isn’t obvious already, the trade also notes that Affleck is “signed for multiple movies,” which means he’ll be wearing that cape and cowl for a while. And more importantly, as many folks have already been pondering, THR says that this whole deal “potentially lines Affleck up to star in (and direct?)” in the eventual “Justice League” movie. It doesn’t seem to be much more than guesswork now, but you have to remember Affleck was previously offered “Man Of Steel” and “Justice League” to direct, turning them both down. Could starring as Batman be a way for him to test the…

Briefly: Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp are prepping the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, with Kon Tiki directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg taking the helm. Jeff Nathanson is scripting, and while we don’t know any story details at this point, now we’ve got a title. The series will finally get around to using a classic pirate phrase, as the film is reportedly titled Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

I love the title a lot, but I still couldn’t care less about this film. Simply do not care at all.

Ben Affleck is set to star as Batman in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel sequel, Warner Bros. has announced.

As reported by The Wrap, Greg Silverman, President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production at Warner Bros. made the following statement earlier today:

“We knew we needed an extraordinary actor to take on one of DC Comics’ most enduringly popular Super Heroes, and Ben Affleck certainly fits that bill, and then some. His outstanding career is a testament to his talent and we know he and Zack will bring new dimension to the duality of this character.”

“Ben provides an interesting…

Hayley Atwell—probably best known to nerds as Peggy from “Captain America: The First Avenger” and the upcoming “Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter”—has tweeted today, “Shooting Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella in Pinewood this week.” No word yet on her role, but she joins an already impressive cast for Disney‘s live action reboot, that includes Lily James in the lead, Cate Blanchett as the Evil Stepmother, and “Game Of Thrones” star Richard Madden as the prince, along with Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera as the stepsisters. Maybe Atwell is rounding out that trio? We’ll find out soon enough. The…

According to my sources, Saoirse Ronan has passed on the role of Wanda Maximoff, The Scarlet Witch, in The Avengers: Age of Ultrondespite being, at some point or another, Joss Whedon‘s top pick for the role.

Unfazed, however, Whedon and Marvel then moved their attentions on to Elizabeth Olsen.

I always feel awkward reporting on these “second choice” moments, but then I remember how Harrison Ford probably hasn’t ever woken up in a cold sweat from a Tom Selleck nightmare and I feel a bit better about it.

Olsen is a great choice, I think, because she’s a pretty good choice for anything. The…

Yesterday, J.J. Abrams’s production company Bad Robot released a trailer called “Stranger,” and while it was cool-looking and intriguing, no one seemed to know what it was a trailer for exactly — it didn’t seem to fit anything on Bad Robot’s film or TV dance card. Well, consider the mystery (probably) solved: The trailer’s for Abrams’s book.

Well, how very disappointing is that?

When Disney first announced that it had purchased Lucasfilm and was planning a new trilogy of Star Wars movies, the release date for the first film was penciled in for 2015.  While an official release date has yet to be announced, Disney President Alan Horn confirmed that Episode VII will hit theaters in 2015 when speaking at the studio’s recent D23 convention.  Many have assumed that a May 2015 release date is the most likely, since all six previous Star Wars films were released in May, but now a new report has surfaced claiming that Disney is actually eyeing a different release date…

“You see Nick Fury the office guy, him going about the day-to-day work of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the politics as opposed to that other stuff. It’s great to have him dealing with Captain America in terms of being able to speak to him soldier to soldier and try to explain to him how the world has changed in another way while he was frozen in time. Some of the people who used to be our enemies are now our allies — him trying to figure out, “Well, how do we trust those guys?” or “How do we trust the guys that you didn’t trust who don’t trust you? And explaining to him that the black and white of good…