The 12-inch ArtFX War Machine statue is the latest ArtFX pre-order we’ve got and it’s as nice a piece as any they’ve ever offered. As per usual, the look is sleek, clean, but perfectly detailed and the pose manages to be brilliantly dynamic even frozen on your display shelf.

Adding to the brilliant look of the statue, War Machine boasts a number of LED lights positioned in the eyes, chest and arms, as well as in the base, built not only to stand on, but in the image of a Repulsor Transmitter (meaning he’s lucky he’s not going flying). Unlike a lot of the other statues on offer, ArtFX has chosen to work in high-quality PVC, which actually looks pretty impressive and has a sheen that the others don’t. Fans of the film or the character on his own should definitely check it out!

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A truly impressive item, the metallic paintwork is stunning, as are the light-up effects, and the whole build of the statue presents a kind of quiet power that is the antithesis of the man behind the mask, billionaire playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downy Jr. in the films). This item is available for pre-order now and ships in June while its counterpart, the similarly-sized War Machine Bust (see below) ships in the 3rd quarter of this year.

War Machine

They’re just two of a huge collection of Marvel Sideshow collectibles ranging from Carnage to Psylocke, Silver Surfer to Emma Frost, Captain America to Ghost Rider and many, many more. Check ‘em all out!

And the rest of the Marvel Select line has been looking pretty good lately, too. Available for pre-order right now are characters like Juggernaut, Deadpool, Cyclops and Magneto and they’ll be adding to a collection that already features the likes of Black Cat, Iron Man 2′s War Machine and the Red Hulk Exclusive. It’s a good time to be a fan.

Standing 12 inches tall, clad in real fabrics and featuring an uncanny (really!) likeness of Robert Downey Jr., Sideshow’s brought us a rendering of playboy Tony Stark down in his Stark Industries workshop and testing out the inner workings of his Iron Man costume, arc reactor glowing brightly as he powers up his signature weapon, the Repulsor.

Naturally, though, and as is the way with seemingly every Sideshow figure yet released, there are a ton of accessories and alternate parts that come with this item.

* All new head sculpt, hand-painted with authentic likeness of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark as IRON MAN
* TrueType figure body with newly designed chest, forearms and legs with 34 points of articulations
* Two pairs of interchangeable hand palms
* LED-lighted heart device, hand gauntlet and boots (battery operated – batteries included)
* Realistic mechanically wired gloves and boots
* Articulated mechanical robot with fire extinguisher
* Belt with pouches
* Knee pads
* Realistic leather shoes
* 6″ x 6″ square black figure stage
* Cardboard backdrop imitating Tony Stark workshop setting from the film

Shipping in the 4th quarter of 2010, get ready for Scarlett Johansson’s red-headed femme fatale, Black Widow, to hit our shelves as part of Sideshow Toys’ stunning Marvel Iron Man collection. Naturally, the beauty the sculptors have managed to capture is impressive on its own, a show of both their talents and the the fact that Scarlett’s features as Natasha Romanoff seem a work of art in themselves. Add to that the fact that it boasts a ton of great features and this is one item you’ll definitely want to pre-order in a hurry. Here are a couple notes:
* Real fabric hair implantation
* Newly developed female TrueType body
* Approximately 28 cm tall
* Over 28 points of articulations
* Two (2) pairs of interchangeable gloved palms (one (1) pair of relaxed palms; one (1) pair for holding pistols)
* One (1) extra right gloved palm for posing on waist
* Each piece of head sculpt is specially hand-painted
* One-piece tight dark blue colored jumpsuit with one (1) belt included
* One (1) extra greyish black colored belt with pouches and pistol holster
* One (1) pair of leather-like greyish blue colored platform boots with buckles
* Two (2) pistols
* One (1) pair of bracelets with multiple-bullet design
* Figure base with Black Widow nameplate and the movie logo

Naturally, she looks pretty impressive alongside the rest of the team, from Stark to Rhodes, but lest we forget, she’s not the only new character deserving of a deluxe 12-inch rendering, but fortunately the wizards at Sideshow are already on it. We don’t have anything concrete yet, but take a look at this tantalizing preview image and click to pre-order:

A couple of the features include “a LED chest light (white light, battery operated, battery included), a metallic electricity generator with light-up function at the back, a brown jumpsuit with burning effect and holes, plus a hydraulic exoskeleton with brown-colored leather-like harness” and those are just the beginning. Naturally, when we get a look at the figure itself, we’ll be posting it right here. Until then, look forward to it!

And one more thing: If you’re looking for the original film to catch up before Iron Man 2 hits DVD and Blu-Ray,here are the Amazon links you’ll need to snag it!

Iron Man (Ultimate Two-Disc Edition + BD Live) [Blu-ray]

Iron Man (Single-Disc Edition)

Bio:

Jennifer Walters, the meek and mousy lawyer cousin of Bruce Banner, was the daughter of Sheriff Morris Walters. Agents of Nicholas Trask, a crime boss who had crossed paths with her father, shot and seriously wounded her on a day when her cousin was in town. Bruce gave her a blood transfusion, as no other donors of her blood type were available; the radioactive blood mutated Jennifer as it had her cousin, transforming her into the She-Hulk.

Although Jennifer was at first savage while in her form as She-Hulk, she eventually gained the same intelligence she had as the normal Jennifer Walters. She quickly came to appreciate the confidence and assertiveness that had come with being She-Hulk. For a long time, she felt more comfortable in her form as She-Hulk than in her “normal” form as Jennifer. But she has gradually grown comfortable in both forms, and realized that she has much to offer the world in both her forms. After a brief solo career, she joined the Avengers and temporarily replaced the Thing in the Fantastic Four.

During her tenure with the Fantastic Four, the She-Hulk had to prevent a radiation leak in a downed S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. This radiation exposure apparently mutated Jennifer to the point that she could not transform back into her original form. But this was an agreeable turn of events for her, since she preferred her She-Hulk form anyway. It was revealed much later that the “genetic block” was in fact purely psychological, shortly before a similar block locked her in non-Hulk form. That block proved to be temporary.

After the Fantastic Four , the She-Hulk rejoined the Avengers and joined the staff of District Attorney Blake Tower, where she met Louise “Weezi” Mason, formerly the Golden Age super heroine called the Blonde Phantom; during this period, she discovered that Mason had manipulated Towers into hiring She-Hulk so that Mason could again star in a comic book and thus avoid dying of old age. Mason’s husband, also a former comic book character, had passed away three years ago, but other, more popular characters from the era, such as Captain America and Namor the Sub-Mariner, were still around.

While doing some legal work for Heroes for Hire, she also went on a few adventures with them and spent some time dating Luke Cage. Later She-Hulk was a member of the short lived hero group the Fantastic Force.

Jennifer currently works as a lawyer for the Superhuman Law division of the New York law firm of Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, & Holliway. Now able to change forms at will again, Jennifer is rediscovering she sometimes has wildly different views and opinions in each form, where as the She-Hulk she has come out publically in favor of the recent Superhuman Registration Act, yet as Jennifer Walters she understands the views of those against the Act.

A very long time ago, there was going to be a She-Hulk movie. There are photos out there somewhere of Brigette Nelsen painted green like She-Hulk. They were going to use them to drum up interest in producers/investors. The project fell through. Personally, I think a well done She-Hulk movie would be a hit. I have read fan blogs on getting Megan Fox to play her (which would be horrible).

Also found a picture of a bodybuilder who could play the She-Hulk (don’t know who she is)….so what do you guys think??

Marvel Select: She-Hulk Action Figure available at: www.cmdstore.com

Shipping in the 3rd quarter of this year, look for Hot Toys and Sideshow’s War Machine bust, the latest addition to our awesome collection of Marvel Sideshow figures and statues. Portrayed by Don Cheadle in this summer’s Iron Man 2, War Machine is Tony Stark’s greatest ally and an impressive superhero in his own right, clad in a considerably tougher-looking suit than his red and gold counterpart.

It boasts the following features and makes a stunning addition to any Iron Man fan’s toy shelf!
* Iconic likeness of War Machine from Iron Man 2 movie in approximately
* Approximately 9 inches / 23 cm tall
* LED-lighted eyes and heart (battery operated; AAA batteries not included)
* Shoulder-mounted gatling gun
* Metallic grey flat colored painting on armor
* Specially designed square-shaped stand supporting the bust and featuring the War Machine nameplate and movie logo

And if you’re a fan of the first movie, but haven’t snagged it yet, now’s a great time to grab it before the next one hits DVD and Blu-Ray! Here they are from Amazon.com!

Iron Man (Ultimate Two-Disc Edition + BD Live) [Blu-ray]

Iron Man (Single-Disc Edition)

The Wakanda leader T’Challa stands poised to strike on a rock, spear at the ready as his golden eyes glare out at any potential foe. Standing at a whopping 18 inches, the figure features some incredibly detailed sculpting, real fabric details and a wired cape for poseability. More than that, it also boasts a switchable unmasked head and an open hand should the spear prove too imposing!

The statue is the work of Marvel and Sideshow artists and designers Tony Cipriano, Don Rutherford, Anthony Mestas, Tim Hanson, Seth Rinaldi, Mike Allen and The Sideshow Collectibles Design and Development Team. Given the incredible textures on this piece, they’ve really outdone themselves. Even among a line of beautiful pieces, I would say that this Black Panther still stands out.

It’s a great piece for anyone seeking a stunning rendering of a character who is too rarely given his dues.

Those are the newest additions to our still-growing Iron Man collection: a pair of Mini-Mates renderings of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Romanova as they appeared at the Stark Expo in this year’s Iron Man 2.

The toys stand about 2 inches tall and are exclusives from Chicago’s C2E2 Comic book and media convention. So if you missed the big show, be sure to snag these!

And meanwhile, there’s actually more news from the Marvel Universe.
From The HD Room, here’s some info about what we might be able to see in the upcoming Avengers flick.

Ms. Marvel Joins Rumored The Avengers Movie Characters

Is Ms. Marvel going to appear in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers movie? How about the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier? The answer to both could be “yes” depending on how quotes from an insider are interpreted.

Director Joshua Wexler showed up at Saturday’s preview for his new 3D CGI animated film that is part of Madame Tussauds London Marvel 4D experience. Shadowlocked was on hand to ask the director about the film and grab some Avengers tidbits the same time.

Frank Cho's Ms. Marvel #1 Cover

“We worked with Marvel and did a lot of work here [in London] and in LA.,” Wexler said. “We had literally hundreds of people working on the development and the animation of the film solidly for the past six months. Certain things like the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier were made more modern than in the comics in order to fit in with designs they are working on for the Avengers movie.”

The S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier is a ginormous flying aircraft carrier. Can you imagine Iron Man taking off from that in a live-action film?

Sensing Wexler was open to discussing The Avengers, Shadowlocked asked the director pointblank if Ms. Marvel would appear in the live-action film. He responsed with an “unmistakably knowing ‘Maybe…’”

I do not profess to be fluent in the rich Marvel universe so off to Wikipedia I went for some Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel education. Turns out Ms. Marvel was born after a fusion of alien Kree and human genes. Kree.. the same alien species referenced a few weeks ago as potentially appearing in The Avengers movies as enemies of the invading Skrulls. It could be that Carol Danvers is introduced in The Avengers and goes through the fusion process to become Ms. Marvel in the final act.

If there’s to be an invasion from space that The Avengers need to take care of, what better way to patrol our skies than with the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier. Or a S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier with Carol Danvers aboard it.

Ant-Man, Wasp, Hawkeye and now Ms. Marvel. The more Avengers rumors that surface make it more likely that Iron Man, Thor and Captain America will have a lot of help come 2012.

I’m definitely excited about this one. It should be very interesting to see if they can pull off such a superhero-filled picture!