Get ready to see a whole lot of spandex in Hall H. Ahead of Comic-Con‘s official lineup announcement, Marvel and Sony have confirmed their plans for 2013’s edition. Marvel will present its sequels Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Saturday, July 20. Marvel head Kevin Feige is the only…

EXCLUSIVE: Christopher Eccleston has been set for the villain role in Marvel Studios’ Thor: The Dark World, starring opposite Chris Hemsworth in the role of Malekith The Accursed. If you don’t know who Malekith is, your Hall H privileges at Comic-Con are officially suspended. He is a super-villain in the Marvel…

Disney just said that it is moving Lone Ranger to the Fourth of July holiday in 2013, securing a July 3, 2013 date for the update of the Western hero starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp. It originally was scheduled for May 31, 2013. The studio also said it is moving Thor 2 up a week to November 8, 2013. In addition…

EXCLUSIVE: Summit Entertainment wants Anthony Hopkins to join the cast of Red 2. And Hopkins wants to do it. The sticking point is whether or not he can make the dates work with Thor 2, as he’s already committed to reprising his role as Thor’s father Odin. Red 2 will be directed by Dean Parisot, with Bruce Willis…

EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios has set Saving Private Ryan scribe Robert Rodat to rewrite Thor 2 for director Alan Taylor. Rodat is reworking a draft by Don Payne. Disney will put the film into production later this year for release in 2013 with Chris Hemsworth returning as the title character. The sequel changed when…

EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios has found its Thor 2 director. I’m told that Marvel has set Alan Taylor, who was widely rumored to be on the short list to replace Patty Jenkins. Taylor is an accomplished TV director whose recent credits include Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and Nurse Jackie, and he directed the feature P…

EXCLUSIVE: Director Patty Jenkins is leaving Thor 2. Best known for directing Charlize Theron to an Oscar in Monster and the pilot of AMC’s The Killing, Jenkins had been set to helm the film in late September. I’m told that Marvel Studios is already talking to agencies as it canvasses for a new director, something…

Deadline broke the news when Patty Jenkins was the surprise choice to direct Chris Hemsworth in Thor 2, and Marvel has just confirmed that her deal closed. Jenkins, who directed Charlize Theron in her Oscar-winning Monster performance, also directed the pilot of the AMC series The Killing. Still, she was a surprise…

BREAKING: Disney has confirmed that the Gore Verbinski-directed Johnny Depp-starrer The Lone Ranger has come back on track, with the studio setting the film for a May 31, 2013 release. As Deadline revealed yesterday, the film will begin production February 6. The film was originally supposed to get underway this fall…

EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios is getting close to naming a director for Thor 2, and I’m hearing they might go with a surprise: Patty Jenkins, best known for directing Charlize Theron to an Oscar in Monster, and also for directing the superb pilot for AMC’s The Killing. This would be a real surprise, because women…

As Deadline told you yesterday, Marvel Studios needs a director for Thor 2 with Kenneth Branagh departing, but they have got a writer. Marvel has set Don Payne, one of the credited scribes on the first film, to script the sequel. Payne rewrote Lobo for Warner Bros, and was one of the writers on Fantastic Four: Rise Of…

UPDATE: Disney has set a July 26, 2013 release date for Thor 2. EARLIER EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios, which is in production on the Joss Whedon-directed The Avengers, is making a full commitment to Thor 2, with Chris Hemsworth reprising his role as the title hero. Marvel will need to hire a director for that film…