It’s been one heckuva week here on Splash Page. Here’s a recap of what went down:

- “Dark Knight” actor Michael Caine told us he not only knew who the villains in the next Batman film were going to be, but he also named the actors who would be playing them…

- …only to have Philip Seymour Hoffman clarify Caine’s story just 24 hours later.

- Derek Luke told us he’d heard through the Hollywood grapevine that Will Smith had been offered the title role in “Captain America”.

- TMNT co-creator Peter Laird told us that a hybrid live-action/CGI “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” film is indeed in the works. Cowabunga!

- The Wachowski Bros. on “Wonder Woman?” We brought you an update on the big-screen future for Diana, DC’s fan-favorite Amazon.

- Aaron Eckhart told us why Batman and George W. Bush really don’t have a lot in common.

- Wondering what happened to the “Conan: Red Nails” animated feature? We tracked down the crew behind the project and brought you the full scoop!

- Mickey Rourke told us that the notion of working with director Robert Rodriguez again is enough to make him consider donning the Marv makeup for a “Sin City” sequel!

- “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” star Lynn Collins told us about the work she did (or lack thereof) to prepare for the role.

- Joseph Gordon Levitt denied the rumors that he’s been targeted to star in a live-action “Akira” feature film.

Wow. That was a heroic number of stories! See you next week!

Despite the fact that working on a green screen while wearing a bulky motion capture suit shouldn’t be comfortable for any actor or actress, for Billy Crudup, who stars as Dr. Manhattan in the upcoming “Watchmen” film, it was almost second nature.

“I look like a 40-year-old jackass, which is kind of what I am,” joked Crudup.

However, despite the high-tech aspects of filming his character — a glowing, blue-skinned, usually naked hero with god-like powers — Crudup explained that not everything was filmed using sensory-depriving sets or wearing a bulky suit. “Just the Mars stuff,” he said. “While it was a big portion of the story of the third part of the movie, it was only probably a couple weeks that we were on rocks and a big blue or green screen room. Most of it was on normal sets and me on a very strange motion capture sequence.” Read more…

Madonna’s made a lot of questionable career choices — from “Shanghai Surprise” to “Swept Away” — but she made at least one good one: turning down Grant Morrison’s “Warcop.”

“Todd McFarlane called me up one day,” Morrison recalled. “Apparently Madonna had called him up and said, ‘Todd, would you do a movie for me?’ But he didn’t want to do it. He told me, ‘I don’t care, I got a better looking wife than Madonna. You want to have a go at this?’”

So Morrison came up with an action movie idea for her — kind of a cross between “Judge Dredd” and “Demolition Man” about a cop who travels back in time to catch a suspect. “It was just very much a ’90s action movie about a kickass girl,” he said. “It wasn’t particularly weighty or worthy or anything. It was just a dumb action movie like ‘True Lies’ and those kinds of things.” Read more…

Last month, we posted some fanboy-friendly information about the script for the “Green Lantern” film, written by Marc Guggenheim, Michael Green and Greg Berlanti, who is also directing the film. COMICON recently spoke with Guggenheim about how the film is progressing, and received an update of sorts on the ring-bearing hero’s big-screen debut.

“I will tell you it features Hal Jordan and is an incredibly faithful rendition of the character,” said Guggenheim, who played it very, very safe with his status report, remarking that he had “sworn a blood oath of secrecy” regarding the film. Read more…

While discussing his work in the upcoming adaptation of Chuck Pahlaniuk’s “Choke” with MTV News, actor Sam Rockwell mentioned that he almost landed the role of Marvel’s popular jade giant in this year’s “Incredible Hulk” film.

“I was talked about for the bad guy and maybe for the Hulk,” said Rockwell, who added that he “liked about 70 percent” of the film. However, Rockwell was quick to praise the performance of fellow actor Ed Norton, who ended up both writing and starring in the film.

“[Norton was] an excellent David Banner … an excellent choice for the part,” said Rockwell, who added that if the choice were his to make, he would have cast Norton over himself, too. Read more…

Verizon Wireless, Glu Mobile and Warner Bros. have reached a deal to produce a video game based on “The Dark Knight” for Verizon Wireless customers. Video game and Bat-fans have been wondering why the wildly-successful film hadn’t been giving the pixel-treatment for any of the major platforms, and the news that a video game will only be available on a mobile phone platform is surprising move to say the least.

The game itself will allow Verizon subscribers to don the cape and cowl of Batman as he confronts a reign of terror by a criminal mastermind known only as “The Joker.” Players will have to fight The Joker’s gang using Batman’s arsenal of martial arts and high-tech weaponry, and also use stealth to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. According to the press release, “it will take every weapon in his arsenal in order to confront his most devious enemy yet.”

Speak up, video game and comic fans — was this a smart move on Warner Bros. part to make “Dark Knight” available on Verizon mobile phones only, or are you disappointed that there won’t be a PS3 or Xbox 360 version? Discuss!

During a press event held yesterday to promote the September 30 release of “Iron Man” on DVD, writer/director Jon Favreau had quite a bit to say about the film’s much-anticipated sequel, as well as the story that will potentially lead into a third “Iron Man” film.

Here’s a quick rundown of what he had to say about the future of the “Iron Man” franchise:

Favreau confirmed that Iron Man’s longtime nemesis, The Mandarin, will be a major villain in the franchise, though the character’s magic-based rings and the abilities they provided would likely need some tweaks to fit comfortably in the high-tech world established by the first film. He also hinted that Mandarin might not appear on-screen until the third film, in order to preserve some of the mystery and threat surrounding the Asian crime lord. The Mandarin’s presence was teased in the first film when a reference was made to the terrorist cell “Ten Rings” — though Favreau said he’s struggling with the proper way to follow through on this hint and bring the character into the world of the first film. Read more…

In superhero comics, secret identities have always let people transform from something ordinary into something extraordinary; just stepping into spandex can turn the mild-mannered Clark Kent into Superman, or dorky Peter Parker into a wise-cracking web-swinger. But for one new Marvel Comics hero, the Blue Marvel, becoming a superhero means something even more: transcending the color of his skin during the Jim Crow era in America.

Created by “Underworld” movie star and “New Warriors” writer Kevin Grevioux, the new six-issue miniseries “Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel” tells the story of a black man who becomes a superhero during the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and ’60s, wearing a head-to-toe costume that hides his skin color. But despite being one of the most powerful men on Earth, he still faces the pervasive racial prejudice of his era whenever he takes off his costume.
Read more…

For those of you out there who are counting the days until the release of the upcoming “Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe” video game (and really, what comic/video game fan out there worth their salt isn’t?), one of the biggest questions left to be unanswered is, “What characters will be included?” Up until recently, Midway has remained tight-lipped, but over at Kotaku, a rumored list of playable heroes, villains and anti-heroes has been leaked, and there are some really big surprises in store for all you DC fans out there.

For those of you who want the characters to remain a mystery until you get your hands on a copy of “MK vs. DCU,” we’ll wait until after the jump to show you the list. For the rest of us though, seriously, how awesome is it gonna be to see Deathstroke take on Scorpion?!

Oops… Read more…

While at this year’s Toronto Film Festival hyping up his highly buzzed-about performance in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” actor Mickey Rourke sat down with MTV News and spoke about reprising his role as the hulking, battle-damaged Marv in “Sin City 2.”

In July, helmer Robert Rodriguez told MTV News that writer Frank Miller had recently turned in a script for the sequel and that “we’re going to go reassess” where the project would sit on the director’s busy slate. So if/when it does move forward, will his original Marv be joining the party?

When asked directly if Rourke would be willing to don the bandages and trenchcoat, the actor admitted it hasn’t been top of mind but that he isn’t closing doors. “I don’t really think about that,” he replied. “That’s really not my forte, that type of thing.” But that said, re-teaming with his former director is enough of a motivating factor to get Rourke back into the gritty world of Frank Miller’s “Sin City.” Read more…