No, no– it’s not about Batman raping hicks. Or hicks raping Batman. It’s a French fan-made film about a Batman getting on in his years but still suiting up for one last fight…against Wolverine.

Yeah. I said Wolverine.

Seriously, who cares about Superman versus Batman? Watch the epicness after the jump– the important part starts up at about 4, 4:30. Before that is introspection in French, which is apparently a requirement of all French cinema.

Director Darren Aronofsky is known for great award-season films like The Wrestler and Black Swan (and The Fountain if you like genre stuff), but he was also attached to a rather unorthodox project: a Wolverine reboot called, well, The Wolverine. At least until now, anyway. Citing the fact that the film’s schedule would keep him out of the country and away from his family for over a year, he decided to call it quits from the project. Fox insists they’re going to move forward with the project, though without Aronofsky the prospect of another Wolverine movie just doesn’t sound that great, if it ever did.

Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.

I really like what Madhouse is doing with Iron Man and Wolverine! As you can see with that extra touch of anime love Iron Man features some nice mecha and Wolverine wades more into a goth look:

…and here’s the official press release:

Marvel Entertainment Inc., has partnered with renowned Japanese animation studio Madhouse (Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers) and multiple-Eagle Award winner Warren Ellis to create four all new anime versions of classic Marvel Super Heroes. Get an exciting first glimpse of IRON MAN and WOLVERINE, two of the planned four series!

These Marvel Anime TV series are being created as a way of merging the beloved Marvel Super Heroes of western culture with the bold animation tradition of Japan. The resulting product will be four visually groundbreaking anime series featuring popular Super Heroes redesigned and repurposed as emerging from the fabric of Japanese culture. The series is expected to begin appearing on the Animax channel in Japan in spring of 2010.

Madhouse, Inc., established in 1972 with offices in Tokyo, Los Angeles and Beijing, is one of the top animation studios in the world working exclusively with some of Japan’s top anime directors. They have created many well-known titles such as worldwide hits Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, Trigun, Tokyo Godfathers, and Metropolis, Japanese successful TV series such as “Death Note” and “Nana”, as well as Paprika (an Official Selection at the 2006 Venice Film Festival) and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2007 Japanese Academy Award for Best Film – Animation)

I love Skottie Young’s work, but I’ve been wondering just when Marvel would allow him to take a pass at one of their more well known characters and it looks like for Wolverine First Class #19 they’ve let him run with the ball. The first thing I love about this cover is that it has a sense of humor, too often Marvel covers (or DC) take themselves too seriously. Yet you get right away who Wolverine is despite Young’s cartoony approach. In addition to the usual great draftsmanship and page layout the coloring here is A+: The added zip-a-tone as a texture is nice homage to comics books of the past:

It’s going to be hard to top Watchmen for movies based on comic books this year, but that said X-Men Origins: Wolverine isn’t looking too shabby. The film hits theaters on May 1st and if you’d like to decorate your desktop in anticipation here’s some wallpaper to get you started:

We just stumbled over this leaked trailer of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on the net! I have to say that I had my doubts about this film, but it looks like it’s going to be action packed. Although the bad news is that when you see it in theaters there will be the same idiots who get to their seats late just like you see in this secret trailer!