Green Lantern will take on the issue of hate crimes in an upcoming issue (#54) in which Terry Berg, a gay supporting cast member, is nearly beaten to death by bigots.

Writer Judd Winick is getting a lot of publicity for the story from AP and the New York Times and will appear tonight at 8 pm ET on Donahue on MSNBC.

--Newsarama
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Don’t get your hopes up to see Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) in the upcoming Star Trek X: Nemesis.

His cameo in a wedding scene was cut as part of 48 minutes that hit the editing floor, according to producer Rick Berman. The edited footage wasn’t germane to the main plot.

--Coming Soon
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Rapper/actor Coolio is talking about his role in the upcoming Daredevil movie.

He plays a man wrongly accused of a murder and defended by DD’s attorney alter ego. "Matt Murdock has to save my a**, so to speak," he tells Sci Fi Wire. Courtroom and jail scenes are shared with costars Ben Affleck and Jon Favreau, who plays Murdock’s partner Foggy Nelson.

A comic book fan, Coolio is pleased that DD’s billy club was done correctly. "They got the cane down," Coolio said. "Mostly, it was the cane and the outfit. Once you got that down, all you had to do was throw in the dialogue, and the rest was easy. I've been reading comic books since I was a kid. I actually used to have a really great collection. I sold it like an idiot about 15 years ago, but I'm a hell of a fan of Daredevil."

--Sci Fi Wire, Super Hero Hype
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The upcoming Iron Fist movie, based on the Marvel martial arts superhero and starring Ray Park, will reportedly carry the sub-title “Ballistic.”

Park has started training for the film although a production date has yet to be chosen.

Park next appears in Ecks vs. Sever, the spy action film starring Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas.

--CHUD, Dark Horizons
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Wesley Snipes says he’s interested in working behind the scenes on writer David Goyer’s proposed Blade TV series.

Snipes said he wouldn’t act in the small-screen version but would “definitely produce,” according to Sci Fi Wire.

--Sci Fi Wire
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Details of writer Paul Dini’s Zatanna: Everyday Magic project are now emerging. Readers of DC comics know Zatanna is a stage magician and sometime JLA member who recites spells backwards to affect magical results.

Here’s how Dini described the character’s conflicts to Comicon Pulse: “Zatanna may be able to create miracles on stage or go toe to toe with an evil demon, but magic doesn't necessarily solve every problem, especially when it comes to juggling a hectic performing schedule or dealing with old boyfriends. In that regard she's not so different from the rest of us in that the same problems that are a part of our everyday lives are her problems, too,” he told Pulse.

”She's somewhat of a workaholic and as a result is often lonely. Dating is hard, even for stunning female magicians. She has to run a career, a staff of employees and her home-life by herself and that sometimes gets to her. She also has to deal with insecurities, hateful rivals, and the fact that Tony Bennett makes a lot more than she does when they both play Tahoe. Okay, relatively few people have to deal with that last one,” he said.

Expect some familiar characters and some new players, Dini said. "Everyday Magic also introduces a new character named Nimue to Zatanna's world. She's a rather pretentious goth girl/wanna-be sorceress, but she is motivated by a jealous hatred of Zatanna, and that makes her dangerous.”

The project will be drawn by Rick Mays with a cover by Brian Bolland (pictured).

--Comicon Pulse
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Expect more realism and surprises in the second season of Mutant X, says series star John Shea, who plays Adam.

"One of the best things about the Mutant X world is that it's changing, it's mutating, it is evolving,” Shea told attendees of the recent Comic-Con in San Diego. “The Sanctuary, where we all hang out, is transformed. I won't tell you exactly how. But stuff is gone. The world that was so completely clean-surfaced is now littered with real life.

"The world of Genomex that you know is no longer that much of a threat. So what happened in the time between Season 1 and Season 2 is that we were able to rethink our environment,” Shea said. “We redesigned everything. We've changed things around to make it much more like real life."

Changes will also occur with Adam. "What you discover about Adam is that things are not what they seem," Shea said. "This guy who is always sort of noble and heroic and always this kind of purer-than-life, charismatic leader, has some hidden sides as well. It turns out that he wasn't just in genetics, but he also had his fingers in all kinds of parts of the military industrial complex. He's working with the government, he's working with CIA, he's working with Interpol. "He's a genius, and he's really rich. The question is: How did he make that money and what did he do with his brains? And we're going to find that stuff out as Season 2 goes by."

--Comics Continuum
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If you missed any episodes of Fox’ spy drama 24 last season, now is your chance to catch up.

FX will run all 24 episodes in a day-long marathon starting midnight, Sept 1 and ending midnight Sept. 2.

--Hollywood Reporter
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You can get a glimpse of Magneto (Ian McKellen) in the upcoming X-Men 2 sequel online. It shows the mutant master of magnetism in the plastic tunnel leading to his containment cell.

McKellen posted the image on his Web site (http://www.mckellen.com/epost/x2/020814.htm) and offered this about the script: “Everyone who reads the script for the new film comments on how much action there is in it -- this may not end up being the dominant feature of the finished movie, rather that descriptions of action in screenplays tend to be long-winded and excitingly written-up a) to satisfy those like me who can't easily translate a script into images and b) to give the stunt department detailed warning of what will be required of them.”

--Cinescape
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A trailer for Jackie Chan’s upcoming martial arts comedy The Tuxedo, co-starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, is online at http://www.dreamworks.com/thetuxedo/.

Chan plays a chauffeur who gets pushed into the role of secret agent when he’s wearing a suit that gives him special powers. It debuts Sept. 27.

--Cinescape
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