Name: Frank Castle Jr.

Occupation: Undercover FBI Agent/Vigilante

Family: Maria Castle (Wife), Will Castle (Son), Frank Castle Sr (Father) and extended family (all killed by mobsters in Puerto Rico)

Allies: Joan, Spacker Dave, Bumpo

Enemies: Howard Saint, Livia Saint, Quentin Glass, Robert and John Saint, Harry Heck, The Russian

Weapon(s) of Choice: Twin Colt M1911A1 Pistols, Compound Bow, Ballistic Knife, M16

Body Count: Unknown

Memorable Quote: “Those who do evil to others – the killers, the rapists, psychos, sadists – you will come to know me well. Frank Castle is dead. Call me… The Punisher”

See Frank in Action:

Thor

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard

Directed by: Kenneth Brannagh

Plot: After inciting a war with the frost giants in Asgard, Thor is cast down, powerless, to Earth by his father Odin, where he’s discovered by scientist Jane Foster and SHIELD.

Rotten Tomatoes Freshness: 82%

Critic Consensus: “A dazzling blockbuster that tempers its sweeping scope with wit, humor, and human drama, Thor is mighty Marvel entertainment”

Something Borrowed

Starring: Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin, John Krasinski, Colin Egglesfield

Directed by: Luke Greenfield

Plot: Timid Rachel always lets her friend Darcy get her way, which included letting her date the guy she had a huge crush on.  Now they are getting married and Rachel has to help Darcy with the wedding.

RT Freshness: 12%

This week Zach and Joe experience ambivalence toward The Event, speculate wildly about the third Christopher Nolan Batman movie, get excited for the future of Marvel TV shows and school you about Slasher Films.

• Show and Tell: Joe watched Curb Your Enthusiasm and It’s Complicated(?) and also Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time while Zach watched The ‘Burbs and the most ridiculous episode of Masters of Horror, The Washingtonians.  Both of the guys also are still inexplicably watching The Event and Joe gives a quick preview for UFC 121.
• News: Drive Angry 3D trailer, Incredible Hulk (and other Marvel properties) coming to TV, Villains cast for Spider Man and Batman 3 and Top Gun is possibly getting a sequel.  Also the New Release Round Up.
• Slasher Films: We continue Horror Month with an in depth examination by Horror Expert Joe of the big slasher franchises like Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street and give some love to some of the more obscure gems like The Collector, for instance.

We want to hear your comments, feedback and, most importantly, suggestions for discussion topics. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, be sure to subscribe to us in the iTunes music store (just do a search for Everything Actioncast in the store) and follow us on twitter @evaction and on Facebook.

There’s a new Marvel cartoon debuting on Disney XD in October and to get everyone pumped they’re releasing short “microsodes” every day until the first episode airs on October 11th.  They seem to be taking place in the canon of the movies as, in this first microsode, we find Tony Stark still unwilling to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and taking on various threats by himself.  The evil organization HYDRA attacks the UN and Tony heads out to stop them while S.H.I.E.L.D. mobilizes.  The cartoon looks pretty cool and you can check out the microsode below and head to marvel.com every day for the other episodes.

I’m pretty sure we’re going to know everything about X-Men: First Class by the time it comes out but produce Bryan Singer gave out some more information last week.  Here’s the bullet points.

• The movie will take place in the 60′s and feature the Hellfire Club, headed up by Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw and January Jones as Emma Frost.
• Young Charles Xavier will be up and walking around with a full head of hair but a falling out with Magneto will place him in his wheelchair.
• James Bond films of the 60′s are some of the main inspirations for the movie
• Confirmed Mutants: Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, Xavier, Magneto, Beast, Banshee, Darwin, Mystique, Azazel, Moira MacTaggert, Raven Darkholme and a female version of Angel.
• The previous spin off movie X-Men Origins: Magneto has been absorbed into this movie.

What happens when Zach and Chris are left with hosting duties for the week?  The most tangent filled, nerdiest episode ever.  The duo talks about the return of Futurama, the bizarreness of the Seinfeld pilot, Green Arrow, ridiculous moments in Marvel Comics and spend over an hour talking about everything Power Rangers.

• Show and Tell: Chris stays current by watching Office Space and also checked out the first episode of Louis C.K.’s new show Louie, Zach watched Changeling and Toy Story 3 and both the guys watched the premiere of Futurama.
• News: Pirates of the Caribbean 4 plot revealed, trailers for Green Hornet, Red and Predators and Marvel might start making short films.  Also the New Release Round Up.
• Power Rangers!: It’s the 15th anniversary of the movie this week so Chris and Zach go into depth about it’s pros and cons, how it’s different from the show, favorite crazy monsters and crazier Zords, was Ernie actually Zordon?, PSAs, video games and knock off shows like Big Bad Beetleborgs.

We want to hear your comments, feedback and, most importantly, suggestions for discussion topics. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, be sure to subscribe to us in the iTunes music store (just do a search for Everything Actioncast in the store) and follow us on twitter @evaction.

*BONUS* The bizarre anti-bullying PSA from the Power Rangers:

Marvel movies are on fire right now with Iron Man 2 and the upcoming Thor, Captain America, Avengers trifecta.  But there’s a ridiculous amount of characters who are just as cool but aren’t really known to anyone outside of comics readers.  A recent rumor is that Marvel might tackle introducing these characters in live action shorts that will appear before their big tent pole movies.  Characters like Dr. Strange, Black Panther and Luke Cage (with Iron Fist?) are some of the names being thrown around.  If anyone of these characters really gains buzz from audiences then they could potentially be turned into full length features.  Pixar seems to have great success with their shorts and it would be awesome to see some of Marvel’s second and third tier heroes get some mainstream attention.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/06/21/marvel-developing-short-films-could-the-live-action-short-film-return-to-movie-theaters/

So no one has really been clamoring for a sequel to 2007′s Ghost Rider, which starred Nicolas Cage but that might change after word got out this week that the duo behind the Crank movies, Neveldine and Taylor were looking to direct the sequel.  Sony had previously said that they might go forward on a sequel without Nic Cage because their rights would expire for the property but now it’s looking like Cage will be back, with a script written by Dark Knight screenwriter David S. Goyer.  This all actually sounds really awesome, just imagine Nic Cage in Bad Lieutenant mode with his head on fire and then all the crazy shit Neveldine and Taylor will throw on top of it. Plus they already kind of demoed it at the end of Crank: High Voltage.

Name: Tony Stark

Occupation: Head of Stark Industries, Iron Man

Family: Howard Stark (Deceased)

Allies: Pepper Potts, Jim Rhodes/War Machine, Harry “Happy” Hogan, Jarvis, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., Natasha Romanoff

Enemies: Terrorists, Obadiah Stane, Whiplash, Justin Hammer

Weapon of Choice: Iron Man armor

Body Count: 32

Memorable Quote: “I am Iron Man”

See Tony in Action:

One of the most ambitious movie projects of all time looks to have a director.  Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy and Firefly, is in final negotiations to direct the big screen adaptation of Marvel’s Avengers team, which consists of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and possibly the Hulk.  Starting with Iron Man 1, the Marvel movies have started to connect with each other, much in the same way the comics do, with the ultimate goal being that all the movies converge with The Avengers.  Whedon already has experience with comics, apparently his run writing the X-Men was fantastic and I think he’d be able to handle the A-list ensemble cast that will be in the Avengers.  The only thing people are worried about is that Whedon is relatively unproven, movie wise.  His only big screen effort is Serenity, which while fantastic, was pretty low budget and based on his own creation.  Another less certain aspect of this story is the fact that Whedon is going to help rewrite the scripts for both The Avengers and the Captain America movie.  As long as no one asks what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning, I think we’ll be good.

So we’re all gearing up for Iron Man 2 in a couple months but next year Marvel is unleashing the God of Thunder into theaters with the Thor movie.  Chris Hemsworth (most recently seen as Papa Kirk in Star Trek) is set to wield Mjolnir and the movie is also starring Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson and Idris Elba.  Paramount released a plot summary earlier this week and it seems that Odin casts Thor out of Asgard after Thor’s reckless actions restarts an ancient war.  Thor is cast down to Earth and meets the beautiful scientist Jane Foster and he decides to change his ways and become a true hero, just in time to face off against one of Asgard’s most deadly foes.  As with most of the Marvel movies coming out, Thor is going to link up with the Iron Mans, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America and, ultimately, The Avengers.  Expect Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury to come calling sometime during the movie.

Spider Man 4 has been all over the place recently, first with casting rumors of John Malkovich playing The Vulture and now Sony has said that they are completely scrapping the Raimi/Maguire series and starting fresh with a reboot.  Raimi walked after concerns over the script and schedule and Sony has hired script writer James Vanderbilt to write the reboot.  Sony says the new Spidey series will follow a Peter Parker who is still in high school and will have to deal with all the major teen concerns along with his super powered ones.  This sounds exactly like Ultimate Spider Man where Marvel restarted the series with revamped villains and making it more contemporary (Peter’s an intern on The Daily Bugle’s blog, for instance).  Spider Man 3 was a major disappointment but it seems a little early for a complete reboot.  We’ll have to wait to 2012 to see it.

*Updated* It’s been announced the (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb has been tapped to helm the new reboot and the movie is supposed to arrive in the summer of 2012.

The trailer for one of the biggest movies of next year finally debuted last night after some sort of crazy viral game/contest.  It looks great and if it’s half as good as the first one than it will still be a fun ride.  Tony Stark has become even more famous since revealing himself to be Iron Man but this draws attention from new villains Whiplash, who recreates Tony’s power supply into a suit with electric whips, and Justin Hammer, a rival industrialist.  Fortunately, Tony has help from Nick Fury and his buddy Jim Rhodes, who is going to strap into the War Machine armor.  Check out the trailer below and start counting the days till May 17.

5. CONTROL (Get Smart)

CONTROL is an agency in Washington DC who work to protect us from the evil terrorist group KAOS.  Led by The Chief and Agents 86 and 99, CONTROL has been thwarting KAOS since 60′s.  CONTROL is a closely guarded secret with entrances all over Washington and to get in you need to get through at least 6 doors.  Agents of CONTROL are given a number of gadgets to help fight evil including a shoe phoe and the cone of silence.  CONTROL’s most recent mission has them stopping KAOS leader Siegfried from assassinating the President in Los Angeles and stopping a mole in their organization.  Sounds similar to another organization on the list.

4. Third Echelon

Third Echelon is probably the fictional organization that is most likely to exist.  A sub-branch of the NSA, Third Echelon specializes in intelligence, assassination and other espionage related activites.  They rely on their “Splinter Cells”, lone agents who infiltrate areas undetected.  Their top agent is probably Sam Fisher who has stopped a number of terrorist plots in Georgia, Indonesia and East Asia.  Third Echelon is on the cutting edge of gadgets including micro cameras, various vision modes built into their agents goggles and the SC-20K assault rifle, which fires non lethal stun pads, airfoils and the micro cameras in addition to regular ammunition.

3. BPRD

During World War 2 Rasputin, with the aide of Hitler, tried to use black magic to help defeat the Allies.  Rasputin attempted to open a dimensional rift to unleash ancient creatures called the Ogdru Jahad to destroy the Earth.  He was stopped by a US army force and only one creature came through, an infant demon they called Hellboy.  After the war Dr. Trevor Bruttenholm and Hellboy joined the US’s newly formed Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.  Their mission is stop any paranormal threats, such as evil Elf princes, evil frogs, demons and anything else that might pop up.  Other agents at the BPRD include the amphibious Abe Sapian, Liz Sherman, who controls fire, and the spirit of Johann Krauss, expert in ectoplasmic phenonemmon and the beleaguered Thomas Manning has replaced Dr. Bruttenholm as director.

2. CTU

CTU, or the Counter Terrorist Agency, would normally be number one but I realized that without Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brian it is basically one of the most incompetant government agencies ever.  Founded sometime after 9/11, CTU is charged with dealing with all manner of terrorist threats in the United States.  The main office is in Washington D.C. with field offices across the states, even one in Alaska.  The busiest office had to be Los Angeles, which had to deal with at least 6 major terrorist attacks.  However, most of these attacks had to be taken of care of almost single handedly by Jack Bauer as CTU was either being attacked, dealing with a mole or just not listening to Jack.  In the end they’ve stopped an attempt on President David Palmer’s life, a spread of deadly disease and only let two nuclear bombs go off but they’ve still been disbanded by the Senate.

1. S.H.I.E.L.D.

SHIELD or the Strategic Hazard Intevention Espionage Logistics Directorate is a major force in the Marvel universe.  Founded by the United Nations after World War II and headed by Nick Fury, SHIELD helped stop various threats against the Earth including invading Skrull, rampaging super villains and even Godzilla. SHIELD has a huge budget and had advanced weaponry including their flying base the Helicarrier.  After Nick Fury conducted an unauthorized invasion of Latveria he resigned and a number of warrants were out for him.  SHIELD agent Maria Hill was given command until near the end of the Civil War when Tony “Iron Man” Stark was given command since he was in charge of the pro-government side of the conflict.  After the recent Secret Invasion by the Skrull, Tony was on the run and, because a large amount of personnel turned out to be Skrulls, the government reorganizes SHIELD and puts it in command of Norman Osbourne, which would be fine if he wasn’t a) insane and b) The Green Goblin.  So the SHIELD of the regular Marvel universe is kinda screwed but over in the Ultimate universe SHIELD is headed up by basically Samuel L Jackson and they’re in charge of the Avengers aka Ultimates so everything seems cool right now.