10 years ago, StarWars-Union.de launched its first massive April Fools' Day prank, a by now legendary website called Ewok Union. Now, a decade later, we have - apparently - upped the ante a little bit, with a Marvel news site that seems to have fooled quite a few of you. For those of you who believed in our Marvel / Rebels story: April, April! :-)

We want to thank the amazing Brendon and Brian Fraim for creating this fantastic retro cover for us (check out their stuff on BrosFraim.com), and we hereby apologize to all the real Marvel news sites we stole stuff from to make this website a little more believable (especially the guys over at MarvelousNews.com, ComicBookMovie.com, and ComingSoon.Net). You rock, Marvel news people! :-)

To all our readers out there: It's been a pleasure, and see you next April from another corner of our strangely april-addled minds!

-Your StarWars-Union.de Web Team

Marvel has released a new trailer for the tie-in game to Captain America: The Winter Soldier:

The game is available now on both iOS and Android.

Also, there's now a 7th TV spot for the movie:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier starts this Friday.

April 1, 2014

As we all know, Chris "Captain America" Evans first joined the ranks of Marvel superherodom when he donned the costume of the Human Torch in Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Now he comments on his soon-to-be successor, Michael B. Jordan, who will take over as Johnny Storm in Fox's upcoming reboot.

It’s so funny, you almost feel precious over the role that you don’t want someone else to do it. But when you hear someone phenomenal is doing it, it’s very exciting like you almost can’t wait. I couldn’t even give that guy any advice if I wanted, that guy is so good. It’s exciting to see what he’s going to do, because I know he’s going to reinvent it in a way that I could never have imagined. It’s almost like we’re sharing, the character is ours. I feel like I’m connected with him in a way, It’s a nice feeling.

The new Fantastic Four movie also stars Miles Teller, Kate Mara, and Jamie Bell, and is directed by Josh Trank from a story and screenplay by Jeremy Slater and Simon Kinberg. The movie will be released June 19, 2015.

April 1, 2014

Next spring Star Wars will be coming home. After 29 years, the saga will continue where it once started: At Marvel Comics. For its first monthly series, Marvel will take on Disney's upcoming animated TV show, Star Wars: Rebels, as we learn exclusively from Marvel editor-in-chief, Axel Alonso:

By now every Star Wars fan has heard the news: The epic saga of the Skywalkers will continue in 2015!

With Kathleen Kennedy and J. J. Abrams hard at work on Star Wars: Episode VII and Dave Filoni, Greg Weisman, Simon Kinberg and the award-winning team of Star Wars: The Clone Wars working on the brand-new animated show Star Wars: Rebels, fans around the globe are biting their nails for a first look at the new Star Wars Universe now in the making. That’s where Marvel comes in.

We first spoke to Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni about a roster of amazing new comic book stories almost one year ago, when the plans to bring Star Wars back to Marvel were first revealed to us at a meeting at Skywalker Ranch. Back then Dave was in the middle of putting together the first season of Star Wars: Rebels, and he loved his new stories and characters so much that he - along with Greg Weisman and Simon Kinberg - took time out of their busy schedules to confer with writers Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker on a new Marvel comic book series simply called Star Wars: Rebels.

Writers: Matt Fraction & Ed Brubaker
Artist: Stephanie Hans
Ink: Gabriel Guzman
Colors: Dave McCaig
Cover: Brendon & Brian Fraim
On-Sale: January 7, 2015

Before the Death Star's shadow ever fell on Alderaan, before the son of Skywalker first ignited his father's lightsaber, before rebel spaceships launched to strike from their hidden base, the galaxy was a dark and dangerous place. Oppressed by evil, divided by fear, and lost in despair only few dared to oppose the might of the Empire.

Among them: The courageous crew of the Ghost, a ragtag band of unlikely heroes who have joined forces to bring freedom to the remote world of Lothal. Their bravery and their devotion, their friendship and their resolve will soon serve as a beacon to bring others into their fledgling alliance of Star Wars Rebels...

Also in the works is a new series written by fan favorites John Ostrander and Jan Duursema that will bridge the gap between episodes VI and VII. We’ll have more information about that in the near future.

In the meantime, sit back, enjoy the calm before the storm and prepare yourself for the Year of Marvel!

Axel Alonso

editor-in-chief

March 31, 2014

Marvel has released another TV spot for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

The film will be in theaters on April 4.

March 31, 2014

EW has posted a whole slate of new images from the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie. Some of them we've seen before but most of them are brand-new.

Check them all out at EW.

March 30, 2014

With Joss Whedon hard at work shooting Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron over in Italy, the website La Stampa has posted a photo from the on-location shooting in Aosta. And it seems that Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye is waring a new outfit.

Hard to say whether Renner is just wearing some kind of disguise or an actual new uniform, though.

The second Avengers movie will be in theaters on May 1st, 2015.

March 30, 2014

Great news for fans of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon will star in his own Free Comic Book day issue, featuring a brand new story with partners Groot and Wal-Rus.

Rocket Raccoon is a wanted mammal, and he’s out to clear his bounty – by any means necessary! And you’ll never believe how!" The issue will also include a reprint of a "hidden all-ages Marvel gem featuring the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Check out some really cool preview pages over at CBM.

March 29, 2014

For years Marvel has brought us reprints of some of their most legendary stories within the Essentials line collected editions. Now, however, Marvel has confirmed the end of their Essentials program. They have sold off almost all remaining inventory of older black and white in-print volumes and will not be adding further books.
Here's what Marvel Senior VP of Sales, David Gabriel, had to say on the issue:

This material needs to be in color, so we'll be replacing our Essentials program with more full-color Epic Collections.

Too bad for those of us who loved the Essentials, but he's got a point there: Color is king.

March 29, 2014

Marvel has announced that actor Patrick Brennan has been cast to play the role of Marcus Daniels, a.k.a. Blackout in the eighteenth episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., "Providence". The character was first introduced in issue #19 of Nova, back in 1976.

Daniels was exposed to cosmic radiation which gave him the power to tap into the Darkforce, a source of infinite dark energy, that allowed him to create all kinds of objects out of thin air and turn them into projectiles and to get to the Darkforce dimension.

In the TV show his powers will differ from the comics. As Brennan says:

This guy, Marcus Daniels, a.k.a. Blackout, was shrouded in darkness, his soul, everything about him was shrouded in darkness until he comes across this Cello player. And the music was the only light that came into his soul, and it gave him hope and it gave him some sense of what light was.

Looks like Blackout will run into Phil Coulson and fight it out over his cello-playing girlfriend, played by actress Amy Ackers.

March 28, 2014

This April, Marvel will kick off Original Sin from Eisner Award-winning writer Mark Waid and renowned artist Jim Cheung. The launch issue will serve as a prologue to the biggest Marvel series of the summer.

WHO IS THE WATCHER? That’s what Nova is wondering after his latest brush with the moon-dwelling enigma he’s encountered before! But what he discovers will have a profound effect on the young hero, as well as priming the pump for the most cataclysmic event in Marvel history! WHAT DID HE SEE?

Original Sin #0 will go on sale April 23.

March 28, 2014

The blue alien seen in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' episode "T.A.H.I.T.I." was all fans talked about this week.

As it turns out, actress Chloe Bennett, who plays the character of Skye, spilled the beans on this particular issue as early as last year in an interview at the 2014 PaleyFest. Here's what she had to say back then:

“I know that the alien was a Kree and I know that I was injected with serum made from that and I am cured. To normal humans like Coulson, he almost died, but for me, for some reason, nothing happened.”

Curious... Even more so since Ronan the Accuser, who is a Kree, will be in Guardians of the Galaxy this summer. Could it be that there's a connection between the show and the movie?

March 27, 2014