Oops! Bat Spoiler A Quite Embarrassing Case Of Mistaken Identity

Rich Johnston's Lying in the Gutters last week ran a Dark Knight spoiler. It was quite an interesting one, and sounded utterly plausible. Unfortunately... it was incorrect.

Johnston's source was mistaken. They saw an image of one person, identified them as another and... oh dear. Let's just say Rich mines the new story for every drop of irony he can but it's still quite an awkward moment.

All the same, Rich is not at fault, at all, he's handled it well, and he now has a new version of the spoiler, which will put you right about the wrong one, as it were.

Latino Review's Dark Knight Spoilers - UPDATED AGAIN

I have one gem of a Dark Knight piece and hopefully, I'll be able to publish it very soon. It's a corker. It's something people really want to see...

In the meantime, I missed the Latino Review piece and have been asking around, looking for some idea of what they had originally posted. This is the best I can do at the minute, but please, please, if you have any more info, please let me know. Obviously, this is a post jam packed full of spoilers, and if you're at all worried about that, don't read on. At all.

The police get rather distracted by the 'fake Batman' I told you about before.

Harvey Dent is 'Two Faced' by The Joker. It happens rather late in the story, but there's still time for him to seek revenge.

Batman prevents Two Face from killing The Joker, and this is when Dent finally goes utterly nuts.

The Joker manages to get Batman's identity out of Rachel Dawes, but Bruce uses the fake Batman to his advantage to confuse The Joker and get away with it.

Dawes dies.

[EDIT:And now, thanks to Tourettes Haiku I have even more. Here's the spoiler material - possibly verbatim - from the Latino Review piece:

THE BATMAN WANNABE: There’s a fake Batman roaming the streets of Gotham City. He's 'for' the cops, they believe that he's the real Batman. And it's a connection to the Batman Begins scene with Bruce, Henri Ducard, Ra's Al Ghul and many ninjas, the 'invisibility' scene.

THE BAT-POD: The “motorcycle” is not a part of the Thumbler (the ‘Batmobile’ vehicle Batman drove in Batman Begins), it's another Lucius Fox's gadget. The Bat-Pod has one big action sequence in the film.

TWO-FACE: Many have clamored for information since it was revealed that Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart) will become Two-Face in The Dark Knight. However Two-Face has only one scene, which comes at the end of the film.

RACHAEL DAWES: Remember the Joker’s dialogue in the trailer? TONIGHT PEOPLE WILL DIE, I’M A MAN OF MY WORD” It’s from a big party scene where the Joker (Heath Ledger) kidnaps Rachel Dawes (now played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) and she tells the Joker that Bruce Wayne is The Batman. However Batman has a scene in the film with the Joker and through some trickery has The Batman and Bruce Wayne in the same room. This causes Joker to think that Bruce Wayne is NOT Batman and that Rachel lied to him. Rachel is also having an affair/having a romance with one of the main characters of the film and, no, it is not Bruce Wayne.

THE BIG FINALE: Someone dies - a main character dies. We aren’t going to tell you who dies but what we can say is that promotional materials already reveal who dies, you just have to look for it. You can slice through Latino Review’s Dark Knight photos and find the huge clue? IT COULD! However this is a big fight at the end in which Harvey wants his revenge, wants to kill The Joker, but Batman stops him and Harvey is going crazy. And now he is against The Batman.

The Joker now knows that Bruce is Batman, but Harvey does not.

Most of this is stuff we've heard before - indeed, some of it is in that spoiler video I posted a long time ago - but some of it is new. What's more, there's plenty of stuff not revealed. For example: how Harvey Dent is involved in the trickery that makes Batman and Bruce Wayne appear in the same room; how many doubles and pairs there are throughout the film - Batman/fake Batman, Batman/Joker, Two Face, the two boats of hostages and so on...]

[EDIT: And BrokenUnion are now disputing these spoilers outright]

Ratatouille Spooky Spoiler From Toy Fair

ASMzine got snap happy with the Ratatouille toys at the 2007 Toy Fair. Notice the purple man in the picture above? Why is he purple? Brad Garrett can spoil it for you, if you wish.

"I play the owner of the French restaurant where the rats live, Rousseau, who is dead but lives like a ghost and kind of nicely haunts the restaurant."

Rousseau was not originally dead at all, this was a relatively late development in the production, possibly related to Brad Bird taking over the reigns from Jan Pinkava.

Venom Rears His Ugly Head

Here's the latest on Spider-Man 3, and as usual, this contains a fair amount of spoilers. Confirmed spoilers, at that, coming from one source near the production and verified with at least two more. Just about the entire film has been discussed here at film ick at some time or another, so by clicking on Spider-man in the tags at the bottom of this post you should be able to find an answer for just about any Spider-Man 3 question you have.

Here, though, are a few more interesting bits and pieces, including some shocking Venom business and even a little tiny bit about Carnage. Enjoy.

What role does Dr. Connors have this time?

It's in his class that Peter and Gwen Stacey (Bryce Dallas Howard, soon to reteam with Shyamalan) are first brought together. Later, he takes a look at Peter's black costume and this is when we see lots of his lizardy research material around the lab - not so much a set-up for part 4 as an injoke for the fans.

Who gets the job at the Bugle that Peter and Eddie Brock are competing for?

Peter proves that Eddie has been doctoring photos of Spider-Man and as a result, Eddie gets fired. This is during Peter's black-suit phase.

Does Peter dump a load of water on the Sandman to beat him in the final battle?

No - Sandman gets washed away in a much earlier fight, shortly after the symbiote has attached itself to Peter. Sandman actually stands down in the final battle.

Who lives, who dies?

Well, there's a lot of misinformation about this, even close to the production, but I can now confirm that Sandman, Aunt May, Mary Jane and Gwen all live, while Eddie Brock and Harry die. The symbiote survives too, an alien parasite all alone, left looking for a new host. Surely this leaves the Spider-Man team cornered? Surely this means Carnage must appear in a future film?

When does Venom first rear his ugly head?

The symbiote is hanging around Central Park, but as for Venom, the recognisbale alien face with all the scary, jagged teeth? Believe it or not, Venom first rears his ugly head when Peter and his Russian landlord get into an argument about rent. That poor Russian guy.

Why does Harry have a change of heart?

Well, at first, he certainly doesn't have a change of heart. Very early on, he has a big fight with Peter - much detailed previously on film ick - and Peter takes a few good knocks before putting Harry down. When Harry comes around, he doesn't have much memory of what has been going on, or of his bitter history with Peter. It all starts coming back to him later, however, when Mary Jane and Peter have a black suit-fuelled tiff and she comes running to Harry for comfort. Harry now hits upon the idea of exploiting his Green Goblin alter ego to approach Mary Jane and manipulate her.

It's Spider-Man's actions in the final battle, risking his life to save Gwen and Mary Jane, that seem to bring Harry round. He gets in the way of one of Venom's attacks to save Peter, and this ends up being the ultimate sacrifice.

So what's the deal with The Sandman?

He's got a criminal history, and yes, it's true, he's the one who killed Ben Parker. He has a wife and a daughter, and the young girl is very ill. Much of the motivation behind the Sandman's actions, right from his very first appearance - and particularly his attempted Armored Truck heist - stem from his daughter's illness and the need to pay for medical treatment. I could get very political about this, but I won't.

Thomas Haden Church is truly superb in the role.

Any criticisms?

There are a few neat coincidences, but most of them aren't too off-putting. The two most notable, I suppose are Gwen Stacey being Peter's study partner and the daughter of police head honcho Captain George Stacey - this makes for some convenient plotting - and Peter's arrival at the Church just when he wishes to get rid of the symbiote, the Church being the very place that this will be possible. Of course, Brock is there too, so that whole sequence might come off as far too convenient. Deus ex machina, sure, but perhaps it's part and parcel of the Spider-Man style.

On the other hand, the film has a lot of depth, takes itself just seriously enough and delivers on the slam-bang action everybody has been hoping for.

Even More Details Of Spider-Man 3

There are spoilers ahead - just ahead - so be wary.

[EDIT: This is only the first page of Spider-Man spoilers you can read here on film ick. There's plenty more]

Can anybody who knows the Spider-Man comics well enough tell me if this ties in with the printed version of events: I've been told that, in the new movie, Gwen Stacey and Eddie Brock have dated. As far as I can tell, they don't date during the film, the idea is that they have already dated - but is that official continuity?

Indeed, I've been given lots of info about those two characters, how they are treated and what they do in Spider-Man 3. I had another pile of spoilers for you a few days ago, but Aint it Cool beat me to it with almost every detail, but anything I've got left over after their piece, I'll pop in this post.

We'll talk about Ms. Stacey, first of all. Gwen is called upon to introduce Spidey at a the big Spider-Man Day jamboree - we saw stills from this last year, with the kids in costume and all of the balloons and so on, and there's a pretty good look at it to be had in some of the trailers out there now. Gwen actually happens to be Peter's science study partner at this time, but she certainly doesn't know who Spider-Man really is behind the mask: she appears to get the gig of introducing him simply because her dad is Chief of Police. Some girls get all the luck.

One of the most important events in the whole movie happens in this scene: showing off a little, Spidey hangs upside down and actually reprises his famous topsy-turvy kissing technique from the first film, this time with Gwen. I guess this is a Superhero version of all of those popstars pretending to be single so that they don't alienate their fanbase, or those huge Hollywood superstars fibbing about their sexual orientation because while Peter would have to admit that Gwen is very attractive, he is (at this point at least) planning to ask Mary Jane to marry him.

It's when Peter is trying to propose to MJ that Gwen next resurfaces, interrupting his patented geekiness-come-romantic flow. She asks if he has a picture of her kiss with Spider-Man, and frankly, this goes down like a lead balloon with Ms. Watson.

Skip forward in the movie some way, past a lot of black suit shenanigans. Peter and Gwen decide to come by MJ's singing gig - but this is after the symbiote has taken a hold of our hero, so you better be prepared for things to not go well. Peter's all over Gwen, for one thing, and then he upstages Mary Jane - what a braggard! - and then Gwen rushes off in a terrible huff. Love triangles, eh? Who'd have one?

Having two women to save certainly doesn't make Spider-Man's life any easier. In the final battle, Venom and Sandman have both Gwen and Mary Jane, and they're both at extreme risk of a nasty fall. Now, I can't get any confirmation that MJ dies, but I do have a few voices telling me that she lives. What I can say, very confidently, is that Gwen Stacey walks away intact. (Going back to my original source, I was told again that Harry and Aunt May are the only lead character deaths in the film).

After Ms. Stacey is dropped from very, very high building it looks like we're on for the classic death of Gwen scene, and to a point it plays out in an incredibly similar fashion. Look at the panels of the comic book for a clue to some of the shots, in fact - but don't expect that controversial 'Snap' sound effect to make too loud an appearance because this time, her neck doesn't break. Hurrah?

After Gwen is saved here, she tries to kiss Spider-Man again, but Peter's having none of it this time, letting her down gently (pun intended) and swinging off to save the day. Here ends Gwen's arc, really.

So, how about Mr. Brock? What does he get up to?

Well, he's a pretty new recruit to the Daily Bugle's freelance line-up, in this version of events. A decent staff position is coming up and Peter and Eddie appear to be the competing leads for the role. Peter's advantages (he knows where Spider-Man will be, of course, and can even pose for his own pictures) and disadvantages (he won't slur Spider-Man just to climb the greasy pole and he sometimes has to go webslinging instead of shutterbugging) are pretty well established from the earlier films, while Eddie's established here as something of a cheat. He's seen trying to get the upperhand by doctoring pictures and he generally acts like an all-round naughty paparazzo badboy.

After the scene in the belltower (use the tags below to trawl film ick's history of spoilers) and Brock has been splashed with symbiotic splooge, it's Venom we're really dealing with here. He only makes his grand appearance towards the end of the film, after Brock has tracked down Marko and they've formed a Terrible Two (where the other four are, I don't know) in order to make Spider-Man's life misery and, presumably, corner him and kill him. This is when Gwen gets kidnapped (a Brock spurned, and so on) and pretty soon we're into the big smack down.

After Peter has made a lot of clanging noises on the girders at the building site - see my previous post on the final battle royal for more on that - the symbiote suit slinks off of Eddie and makes an attempt to re-symbiotise (ahem) with Peter. Now, I've been told by one reliable source that Brock buys the farm at this point, and another reliable source that he's alive, just a bit bruised, and that he's headed to the clink instead of the grave. I guess I just don't know - and perhaps, just perhaps, nobody does yet with both endings scripted, storyboarded or maybe even shot to give Raimi and crew some options?

All the same, the originator of my new info consolidates my previous findings: Mary Jane Watson does not die, and neither does Gwen Stacey. They're really mixing things up on us here.

I've been promised more soon, so watch this space - add me to your RSS subscriptions or sign up for the daily e-mail newsletter.

Spider-Man 3 (the best film of 2007?) opens pretty much everywhere on May 4th.

The Big Finale: Spoilers From Spider-Man 3's Battle Royale

As Spider-Man 3 progresses through postproduction and more and more sequences approach completion, so it means that more and more staff on the production get to see more and more of the material.

For a very long time now I've known roughly how Spider-Man 3 concludes. Just now, though, I've been handed lots and lots more information. Though my source has yet to see the complete sequence, they've witnessed enough material - some shots, some animatics, some storyboards - to get a very clear idea of what's going on. Pretty much everything to follow is spoiler material, if that doesn't go without saying.

There's a tremendous action climax to the film, set in a construction site. Peter is trying to take the Sandman down; Eddie Brock as Venom is here to try and take Peter down; and Harry does his best to lend Peter a hand.

The Sandman seems to pull out of the fight after his young daughter intervenes. She's a secret character, with not much known about her (at least as far as the material in trailers is concerned) as is his wife, played by Theresa Russell. We have seen a glimpse of her, however, in one poster, clutching a teddy bear.

The Sandman's 'submission' gives Spider-Man his chance to best Venom, and in fact, Eddie Brock is killed... even though the symbiote isn't. Peter finds himself under attack from the host-less symbiote as it tries to posess him once more. The first time it possessed Peter was after he'd put Harry in the hospital, this time it look like it comes after him once Harry has died.

The big clue as to how Peter defeats the symbiote is actually in the trailers: ringing the bell in the church tower disturbed the symbiote's groove enough that Peter could tear it off; here, he clangs girders in the construction site together to gain the upper hand.

Now, I've been told that Mary Jane Watson is definitely heading off to meet her maker before the end of the movie, and you would think that this scene is where it is most likely to happen. Unfortunately, her death really must be getting kept under the strictest security as nothing my source has seen supports the claim at all.

Obviously, though, there are shots of Mary Jane in the trailers that place her very clearly at this location, during this conflict - so there's more to be revealed. I'm thinking she dies because Peter just isn't quick enough, and possibly gives the symbiote a good chance to posess him again. That all adds up to me.

Now, a few weeks ago, I recieved an e-mail telling me that the Sandman gets destroyed in this scene and explaining how, but as this came from an untested source, I was reluctant to run it. Just as a footnote, though, I'll tell you that, predictably enough, it involved a lot of water and an electricity cable. It's possible that Raimi is working on two parallel resolutions - one that kills Sandman, one which saves him - but I doubt it. I'm banking on the 'intervening daughter' storyline as it makes more sense with everything I know about the film's plot and characterisation overall. Besides, it's about time that one of Spider-Man's opponents ends the movie alive.

Spider-Man 3 (the best film of 2007?) is released worldwide on May 4th. You can subscribe to film ick's daily e-mail to keep abreast of any developments or just check the main page (and get lots of other good stuff into the bargain).

[EDIT: I have recently received even more spoilery information regarding Spider-Man 3 and am in the process of checking it out with the two people I know close to the production. It will go right up on the front page here as soon as I hear back from them...presuming, of course, that they can confirm it]

Sony Unveil Full Spider-Man 3 Sequence

Sony have shown a full sequence from Spider-Man 3 to the lucky attendees of the Consumer Electronics Show. Apparently, the scene was mastered to represent the quality of Blu-Ray as well as hype the upcoming super 3quel.

From what I've been told, the sequence shown comes pretty early in the film. I'm going to describe it, and fill in some of the gaps, but be warned: here be SPOILERS.

The sequence begins with Peter and MJ on a date in Central Park, shortly after Peter has picked up the symbiote for the first time (not that he knows it yet). For once, Peter has actually made it to see MJ performing and she's absolutely over the moon about this and, for his part, Peter's feeling quite proud about it too. This pride is only going to bloom, and ultimately, it's going to cause Peter all manner of problems.

The next scene shown reveals the nature of the ring we've been seeing so much of in the trailers. It was Aunt May's wedding ring, and she gives it Peter to offer to MJ. How sweet. Now... you'll be careful with that ring, won't you Peter?

And then comes along what many people will consider the meat to go with those two veg. Hitting the streets on his scooter, Peter is ambushed by Harry in his Goblin X-treme get up. The breakdown of the scene as screened varies slightly from my previous intelligence on the sequence, but there were plenty of matches too. Harry uses a couple of swords to attack Peter, and blades mounted on his limbs, as well as updated Pumpkin bombs. He's not holding back. Finally, Peter pulls a 'clothesline' trick on Harry with some webbing and young Mr. Osbourne is put down for the count. He's out cold - and that's where the scene ends.

Want to know what happens next? Peter takes Harry to the hospital, effectively saving his life. And then there's much ado about that ring.

Frankly, I can't wait. Spider-Man 3 (the best film of 2007?) finally reaches screens on May 4th - less than four months away!