Thor is arguably the toughest character and film to sell out of the upcoming slate of movies in development at Marvel Studios, but it is the one I’m most excited for.

Besides my interest in the character, what really grabs my interest is the man in charge: Kenneth Branagh.

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[UPDATE: Check out what might be the first promo poster for Iron Man 2!]

Today we got a tip from a local California resident by the moniker of “FASTBACK67,” who was out and about around the Encino Hills area - “NW of intersecting freeways 101 and 405″, according to our Screen Rant “Bruce 2.0 GPS system” - where he stumbled across something VERY interesting and, being a smart cookie, connected the dots to Iron Man 2, which is currently halfway into its shooting schedule.

And just what did Mr. FASTBACK67 discover? A huge outdoor set complete with a massive green screen, built into the famous Sepulveda basin - but what is it for?

For months there was speculation as to which character Mickey Rourke would play in Iron Man 2. Since it was revealed that the character would be Russian, fans of the comic (myself included) speculated that he would play an armored nemesis of our favorite armored Avenger - either Titanium Man or The Crimson Dynamo. So when word came that Whiplash would be in the film, people thought maybe Sam Rockwell would play that character and we’d have a double-villain scenario.

Terminator Salvation came to theaters on May 21st.  It sparked an idea in my head about technology in our society and if it’s really possible get to the point of what the Terminator franchise projects for our future.

When I presented the idea to a co-worker, he dissed it immediately. When a scientist or engineer starts to immediately diss the possibility of an idea, it’s a good clue that it might be a good idea for us to wrap our imaginations around. Hence, the birth of this article.

This was going to be a short piece… but unfortunately, like the technology in Terminator, the more I looked into the subject matter, the more the article grew on me. It got bigger than the original idea. It took me over and I found myself inexorably abducted into having to write it.

Maybe I’m just out of touch with today’s youth culture, but as I look over this “winners list” from the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, I can’t help but feel like a crotchety old man who complains about the kids today with their loud music and funny ways of talking. The Twilight Saga wiped the floor with the competition, proving that vampire romance is the current king of pop culture, for better or worse.

In the interest of fairness, Screen Rant presents the complete list of winners from the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Be wary, though: your head may explode as you read which actors and films lost to Twilight.

The folks over at Empire had a little chat with Jon Favreau, director of Iron Man 2 and its super-successful predecessor, as well as Mickey Rourke, that other famous comeback actor in the movie.

Favreau hinted at the story arc for Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark character and little about Don Cheadle sporting some cool tech as the eagerly anticipated War Machine. About the plot, Favs says that Mr. Stark is under a ton of pressure and that he needs an outlet for that (alcohol?). As for Jim Rhodes, Favs had this to say:

Hey gang, we’ve got a new image from the set of Iron Man 2. Just a few days ago we showed you the first official photo, showing Tony Stark working in his lab with a variety of Iron Man armors in the background. Call me a geek, but that was enough to put me back into full Iron Man 2 anticipation mode.

Sam Rockwell spoke to MTV recently about his upcoming Sci-Fi movie Moon, and they were wise enough to sneak in some Iron Man 2 questions.

We already knew that Sam Rockwell was playing Justin Hammer, and it was obvious from casting that there would be a different spin on Tony Stark’s business rival - but today we get our first bit of insight into director Jon Favreau’s approach to the character.

They call him Wolverine, and he’s the best at what he does, and what he does is shred the box office with berserker rage!  Okay, enough of the Wolverine analogies, but you can’t help but be impressed with the $87 million haul of X-Men Origins: Wolverine!

What a way to start off the summer–with the 2009 box office up over last year, people are still hungry for movies, even in this economy. Fox need not fret any more about the pirated version that leaked out, hurting the box office, because the Hugh Jackman-starrer proved that people love to see movies in the theaters.

The first official image from Iron Man 2 was supposed to be released tomorrow, but USA Today jumped the gun and posted it online tonight (thanks to /Film for the alert). The coolest thing about the image is that it seems to highlight Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr., of course) “Hall of Armor” from the comic book. It’s a room where he keeps all the different versions of his Iron Man armor.

It’s been a while since we’ve given you guys an update on Iron Man 2, so here’s a little “catch up” for you…

First up is Scarlett Johansson addressing rumors about her physique and the fact that she supposedly has to lose 14 pounds to get into “superhero shape.” She’s not exactly “Twiggy” and leans more towards the voluptuous, but she’s by no means overweight:

[UPDATE: According to Gary Oldman's manager, Douglas Urbanski, Gary Oldman is NOT in the film.]

Yesterday, news hit the web that two actors with the first name Gary could be in Iron Man 2: Garry Shandling and Gary Oldman. It’s nice to have some positive casting news to balance out the negative - The negative being Terrence Howard’s removal from the film and his feelings about it.

Shandling reportedly was on set Tuesday shooting a big scene (filming for Iron Man 2 began Monday) and according to IESB, he’s playing Senator Stern. His character apparently appears in a scene that helps bridge the two movies together.

For those who have been following along with news and updates surrounding Iron Man 2 since the movie first went into development, you’ve no doubt come across the many issues involving actors’ contracts for the sequels.

You could say that this all started last fall when out of nowhere, Marvel announced that Terrence Howard would not be back in the sequel and James Rhodes/ War Machine would instead be played by Don Cheadle. That’s not all though – director Jon Favreau had some issues in trying to get re-signed for the sequel and then there were the infamous low-ball offers handed out to Mickey Rourke and Samuel L. Jackson.

Screen Rant has some brand new set images from two highly anticipated upcoming films: Iron Man 2 and The Expendables. Iron Man 2 just started shooting yesterday, and The Expendables has been shooting for about 10 days now.

Here’s  how things are looking on set:

Well Jon Favreau let folks know that today was the first day of shooting on the set of Iron Man 2. These days he’s keeping fans up to date on his Twitter page instead of on MySpace (thank goodness!).

Yesterday he said it was Robert Downey Jr’s birthday and they spent the last part of the evening going over the script one more time before shooting began.

Here are a couple of pics he posted just for fun (nothing Earth shattering):

A while back I talked about how the global economic slow-down was affecting Hollywood (How Is The Economy Affecting Movie Studios?).  Now as new films go into development or production, studios are looking for ways to keep costs down. It looks like the recession has hit Hollywood, too.

Yes, you read that right, Don Cheadle as Tony Stark’s best buddy in Iron Man 2 will be donning the War Machine armor.

Our friends over at TrailerAddict.com have an interview from EW where they talk to Robert Downey Jr. briefly about transitioning from his Sherlock Holmes movie back into Iron Man mode. During the interview he was asked if he could reveal a tiny tidbit about the movie, and he talks about the characters - and he lets slip a nugget about Don Cheadle as Rhodey.

Jon Favreau, the mastermind behind the Iron Man films is a regular user on Twitter and this week, he’s been creating a lot of buzz by posting images from a “geek tour” of his personal at-home collection of goodies (which of course included some cool Iron Man collectibles).

But that’s not all - Favs is using Twitter to keep his 20, 000+ users up to date with where they are in production of Iron Man 2. This week he’s been reporting on rehearsals of the main cast and he was kind enough to share a picture from last night’s rehearsal with us.

When Scarlett Johansson was announced as the actress to play the Black Widow in Iron Man 2 and other Marvel universe films, fans were NOT happy. If you look at the image above, it’s pretty obvious why.

But at least as far as visually, things are looking up - When she recently showed up in London at Moet and Chandon: A Tribute to Cinema party, Scarlett was looking considerably more like the Russian spy that we’ve come to know.

Check out her new look below:

One of the favorite things about Star Trek to any bonafide Trekkie is the gadgets. We love to examine, obsess over and collect prop replicas from every iteration of the franchise in TV and film. One of the (many) concerns of long time Star Trek fans has been: What will the phaser, communicator and tricorder look like? How will they compare to the iconic designs of The Original Series?

There are rumors and then there are rumors… I would put this one down in the “very likely to be true” column: Jon Favreau may be directing The Avengers.

Now, all together… say it with me: SWEET!

AICN reports that they have a new “source” that has given them accurate information in the past. This source sent them a report explaining the reason for the Marvel schedule release push-back:

Yesterday, we found out Marvel had signed deals with Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johannson for big roles in Iron Man 2 (and other pictures including The Avengers for Scarlett).

Today, Marvel gave us another big announcement – this time releasing a revised schedule for their upcoming feature films. The new schedule pushes each of their planned movies back except for Iron Man 2 which is still scheduled to open May 7, 2010.

Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Mickey Rourke has finally signed on for Iron Man 2 and that the pay will be “significant”.

It’s certainly great news to see the Oscar contender in one of the most anticipated films of next year - a superhero flick no less! In addition to the announcement last week that Samuel L. Jackson is signed on for a 9-picture deal with Marvel, this news helps ease some of the worries over contract controversies Marvel has been getting itself into recently.

Here’s the first pic from the set of Iron Man 2. It’s a picture of Tony Stark’s new ritzy abode, still under construction. In the picture is director Jon Favreau and cinematographer Matthew Libatique.

So despite all the ups and downs surrounding the sequel to the super-successful previous film, production is indeed under way.

Check out the pic below.

The last we heard, due to salary negotiation problems, Samuel L. Jackson was no longer going to be playing Nick Fury in movies based on the Marvel Comics universe. His next appearance was to be in Iron Man 2, where he was supposed to have more of a significant role than his brief after-credits cameo in the first film.

Although I don’t consider him irreplaceable, I do like the idea of Jackson as Fury, based on the Marvel “Ultimates” version of the character. Some people are up in arms that Fury isn’t being portrayed as the classic version of the character going back 40 years, but to me he’s a supporting character in the films so it doesn’t bother me.

According to The Playlist, Director Jon Favreau confirmed suspicions that Emily Blunt will no longer be playing the Black Widow in the Iron Man 2 due to scheduling conflicts during an interview with E! on the red carpet at the Oscars.

Blunt was pegged to play Natasha Romanov (aka “The Black Widow”), until 20th Century Fox decided to exercise their option  and have Blunt star alongside Jack Black in Gulliver’s Travels.  This lead to a scheduling conflict that ultimately lost Blunt the role in Iron Man 2.

The last we heard, Fox and Marvel were trying to work out their timelines so that Blunt could appear in both films, and denying the fact that Blunt was, of course, no longer the Black Widow.  Scarlett Johansson is still rumored to be in talks to replace Blunt and Dollhouse actress, Eliza Dushku made pleas to the public to help support her in her quest to take over as the Black Widow last week.

You know… for a sequel based on a movie that was a surprising monster success, Iron Man 2 certainly seems to stumbling quite a bit.

First came word that Terrence Howard was out of Iron Man 2, then despite the fact that last October Samuel L. Jackson stated that Nick Fury would have a larger role in the sequel, salary negotions between Jackson and Marvel Studios fell apart and it looks right now like he is Nick Fury no more.

Now comes word that Mickey Rourke, who was slated to play either Crimson Dynamo or Whiplash in the film, may not be in it either.

Until recently, actress Emily Blunt was tagged to play the Black Widow in the Iron Man sequel.  It’s currently being reported that she may have to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with Twentieth Century Fox’s Gulliver’s Travels, which she’s already contracted to star in.  Now that leaves the question of who will be chosen to fill the Black Widow’s black tights.

[UPDATE: Marvel was kind enough to provide additional information about their animated projects.]

The Marvel Animation Group panel at this year’s New York Comic Con was a rally for support– Cort Lane, director of development for Marvel Animation repeatedly asked for fans to $upport Marvel Animated projects, so that the company could continue to grow and provide fans with animated shows and features they want to see.

Reading between the lines I got somewhat of an impression that this is an important juncture for Marvel Animation. Personally, I’ve always been more of a DC Animation fan, though this panel did give me one or two reasons to consider making a switch.

With things looking bad worldwide economically, why are movie studios hurting even though box office, TV ratings and DVD rentals are all up?  Why is the big DreamWorks/Bollywood deal about to go south?  With ratings up, why are networks still hurting for money?  And finally, why are DVD sales being affected (aside from Netflix cannibalizing them)?