One of Marvel's oldest and most powerful heroes is FINALLY getting a movie! Surgeon turned master of magic and eventually Sorcerer Supreme, Steven Strange joins the pantheon of movie heroes. Doctor Strange will debut November 4 this year.

In the Marvel movie-verse we first heard SHIELD mention Steven Strange being a possible "threat" in Captain America: Winter Soldier. It will be great to see that hint from a few years back finally play out on screen.

Feast your eyes on Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme!

Learn more:

• Marvel's Doctor Strange listing
• IMDB listing
• Official movie site

Images and video courtesy Marvel and Disney

Captain America: CIVIL WAR trailer is here!

The Avengers are back! And things are not looking good--Captain America and Iron Man are frenemies! How did they come to this?

The trailer for next summer's blockbuster Marvel film, Captain America: Civil War is already here and gives us a glimpse of the ever-widening rift between former popsicle and die-hard boy scout Steve Rogers and genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Tony Stark.

This next chapter in the Marvel movie cycle is based on the 2006 comic book crossover event of the same name. In that storyline, Cap and ol' Shellhead were at odds over whether to comply with a government mandate to register and reveal their secret identities.

No word yet on how close the film will hew to the comics, but it looks like at least the main pillars of that plot are in place:

• Captain America and Iron Man as opposing team leaders? CHECK!
• An inciting "disaster" (or several accumulating ones from previous films) to make the government take action? CHECK!
• Fast-paced chases and fight scenes? CHECK!

We're still not sure how big a role Cap's old army pal, Bucky Barnes, AKA The Winter Soldier, will play in the story. Also no word on whether Spider-man will make an appearance. He was a key player in the comics. Spidey's movie rights are owned by Sony, but there was word that they might be striking a deal with Marvel Studios to appear.

Still, looks like it's going to be a superhero squabble for the record books. Here's the trailer--enjoy!






EDIT: Nifty scene-by-scene breakdown of the trailer by io9!

Get set for an action-packed AVENGING APRIL!

Have you noticed something super in the library lately? We've been sneaking some of your favorite Avengers in the secret comics shelf! So far we've got Iron Man and the Hulk!

Stop by every Wednesday all through the month of April to see what new avenging Marvel heroes are swooping in for adventure. Here's the heroes who've already assembled and those yet to arrive:

April 1 reveal

April 8 reveal  

April 15 reveal

April 22 reveal

April 29 reveal

 

We're assembling a super team every week, leading up to the big day: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY on Saturday, May 2!

And don't forget that Avengers: Age of Ultron opens on Friday, May 1!

More Fantasy February books!

We've got a few more great finds for Fantasy February, including:

• George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones (the basis for the hit HBO series)
• Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (made into a movie in 2007)
• J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit (prelude to The Lord of the Rings trilogy). 

Thrones and Compass are brand new additions, while The Hobbit was previously featured in our Books to Screen series. All three are the first books their respective sagas. So hurry and check out these epic adventures while they're in stock!

Fend off the COLD with these stories!

This past weekend the temperature dipped to -11 in our neck of the woods. It hasn't gone much higher but it's slooooowly starting to recover. Back to double digits anyway. So we dug up three books that take place in HOT climes to help warm up your reading this week: Life of Pi, Prince of Persia, and DUNE!

....can't get much warmer than DUNE.

From Books to Screen: On The Road!

You'll have to forgive the lateness of this post. We decorated the Library today with Christmas lights and neglected to get the next selection in our Books to Screen series in there until just now!

Tonight we added On the Road by Jack Kerouac, the "Bible of Beat Generation" as the book's back states. On the Road is a quasi-fictionalized account of Kerouac's own travels across the US after World War II. It's often considered a major influence on the free love movement that followed a decade later.

The book was thought for years to be unfilmable in part due to it's unconventional (long and winding) structure. After passing hands from filmmaker to filmmaker since the 60s (including an attempt by Francis Ford Coppola) the film version of Road is finally on it's way to theaters this month. Have a look at the trailer:



On The Road is now parked snugly in the Library of Justice for you to enjoy!

From Books to Screen: The Hobbit!

One of my favorite books, having read it in 5th grade: The Hobbit! This story features the exploits of Bilbo Baggins (Frodo's uncle) many years before the events in the Lord of the Rings. It's a bit more of a rollicking epic than the Rings books which were heavy both in plot and tone. J.R.R. Tolkien's first tale is much lighter affair, featuring a dozen or so dwarves with rhyming names, a bunch of nasty beasts to fight, and some old favorites like Gandalf the wizard and Gollum.

This tale of little folk on a grand adventure sends Bilbo, a hobbit of the Shire, reluctantly on an epic quest (as hired by his pal Gandalf) with a his dwarf companions. They're off to reclaim a treasure hoarded by the dragon Smaug beneath the bowels of the Misty Mountain.

Though there is only a single book for The Hobbit, director Peter Jackson has said there will be three films, which will include some additional material Tolkien had written afterwards. Here's the trailer for the first film set to premiere mid-December:



Now's the time to come pick up the story and see how it fares against Jackson's on-screen vision. If you hurry to the pick it up now, you could be "there and back again" before it hits theaters!

A brand new copy of The Hobbit is waiting for you in the Library of Justice!

From Books to Screen: Life of Pi

NOW! IN THEATERS! The Life of Pi, based on the book by Yann Martel, is the holiday season movie that everyone is talking about! Once thought to be "virtually unfilmable" the movie is now being lauded for the visually stunning manner in which it tells this dramatic tale. From the back cover:

Pi Patel, a God-loving boy and the son of a zookeeper, has a fervent love of stories and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family and their zoo animals emigrate from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship. Alas, the ship sinks--and Pi finds himself in a lifeboat, his only  companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi. Can Pi and the tiger find their way to land? Can Pi's fear, knowledge, and cunning keep him alive until they do?

This beloved story can now be enjoyed in your own imagination AND on the silver screen! Which do you think you'd enjoy more? Can movies ever really capture the essence of a book? Check out The Life of Pi from the Library of Justice and then make your way to the theater to see director Ang Lee's interpretation:

From Books to Screen: Master And Commander!

Starting today through the next few days we'll be featuring books that went on to make it big in Hollywood! We're kicking it off with Patrick O'Brian's Master And Commander, the first in a series of novels following the seafaring exploits of Captain Jack Aubrey of the British Navy. O'Brian's stories are known for their rigorous historical accuracy when it comes to crafting the 19th century. From the back cover:

This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R. N., and Stephen Maturin, ships surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.

The novel (and some of its sequels) later served as the basis for the film version staring Russel Crowe (which, incidentally, is one of my favorite movies!). Here's a look at the trailer:

So sail on over and check out the novel that started it all--Master And Commander is now available in the Library of Justice!

New Iron Man trailer and a new foe: THE MANDARIN!

Have you seen the new trailer for Iron Man 3? Here it is if you've not seen it:



So the word is that the new main villain this time around is The Mandarin played by Sir Ben Kingsley.

Our surprise for today is the just stocked first volume of Essential Iron Man which includes The Mandarin's first appearance in comics (Strange Tales #50 February, 1964) in glorious black and white ink.

Color cover and rated "E" for everyone!

The Mandarin as he was first depicted.

Come and check it out! We've got this and more comics anthologies on the way!

Oh, and what did you think of the trailer? Let us know in the comments!