Ben 10 character Heatblast from the live-action movie

I had heard there was a Ben 10 live action movie in the works. I had no idea that it was practically complete and will be released in November of this year. For those that don’t know, Ben 10 is one of the more recent cartoons produced by the cartoon Network.

The show revolves around Ben Tennyson, his cousin Gwen, and his grandfather Max. During the start of their summer camping trip, Ben is nearly hit by an alien pod that fell from space and crashed next to him. When he examines it, he finds a mysterious, watch-like device, called the Omnitrix, stored inside. The device attaches to his wrist and gives him the ability to transform into a variety of alien lifeforms, each with their own unique powers, quite similar to DC’s “Dial H for Hero” comic. Although Ben realizes that he has a responsibility to help others with these new abilities at his disposal, he is not above a little super-powered mischief now and then.

It’s a very traditional cartoon, which is rare nowadays on Cartoon Network. I found a trailer for the film on director Alex Winter’s website. Yes, it’s that Alex Winter of Bill and Ted fame.

I can’t say that I’m overly impressed by the trailer. It looks a little too kid friendly. I’m worried that they took a half-decent cartoon plot and have dumped it in favor of a dumbed-down kids movie. The villain in the trailer doesn’t look like the Season 1 villain Vilgax, but just a generic alien/warlord. Still, it should be an entertaining enough to watch once with Carter. I wonder how many of the alien transformations they will showcase in the movie.

Digging around, it looks like it will be a TV movie instead of a theatrical release. That kind of surprises me, but it makes sense for Cartoon Network. One big plus (in my book) is that Grandpa Max is played by Lee Majors. How cool is that? TV’s The Fall Guy is now someone’s grandfather in a film. Actually, that’s not as cool as I originally thought, because now I feel old.

When Earth’s sun suddenly turns red, Superman loses his powers. The SuperFriends discover that a Kryptonian named Zycree has escaped from the Phantom Zone and is causing the sun to turn red in order to get revenge on Superman. In order to save Superman, the SuperFriends must stop Zycree.

Heath Ledger as the Joker

Lots of photos have popped up over on The Movie Blog Community and on a Flickr Page that show Heath ledger as the Joker, as well as several shots of Batman from the Summer 2008 Batman film, The Dark Knight.

I really like the way Ledger looks and I also like the fact that the “Joker look” appears to just be make-up and not some accident. The scarring around the mouth is hard to see and I wish that were a little more prominent, but overall, everything looks great and I absolutely can’t wait to see some footage from this.

Metamorpho - The Element Man (Rex Mason)


Rex Mason, a soldier for hire, was contracted by Simon Stagg to find the Orb of Ra. When he found it, his cohort, Java, stole it and left Rex in the light of an ancient meteor. This meteor transformed Mason into Metamorpho, the Element Man.

Metamorpho has always been one of my favorite heroes. He’s got that weird/cool 60’s look and interesting powers. So, take a listen to the Metamorpho theme song and let it brighten your day as well.

Metamorpho’s Theme Song