Superhero Bits: Nicolas Cage Got His Name From A Marvel Superhero, Echo Begins Filming & More

(Superhero Bits is a collection of stories, updates, and videos about anything and everything inspired by the comics of Marvel, DC, and more. For comic book movies, TV shows, merchandise, events, and whatever catches our eye, this is the place to find anything that falls through the cracks.)

In this edition of Superhero Bits:

• Nicolas Cage's name has a surprising, fun tie to the world of Marvel Comics. 

• The "Echo" series is officially in production.

• A major Marvel character was almost in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."

• DC celebrates the legendary George Perez.

• All that and more!

Marvel has released a new trailer for the upcoming event series "Fortnite x Marvel: Zero War." As the title implies, it is going to bring the Marvel Comics universe on a collision course with the wildly popular video game. This worked out quite well for DC when they did a similar "Fortnite" crossover, so this was a natural next step. The synopsis for the book reads as follows:

The inhabitants on the Island are locked in what seems like a never-ending war, and only one thing has the potential to turn the tide – a crystallized fragment of the Zero Point that was cast into the Marvel Universe. Spider-Man and Wolverine team up with several Fornite fighters and new recruit Shuri to hunt down the elusive Zero Shard. Will these allies be able to find it in time and avert catastrophe? And can the heroes of the Marvel and Fortnite realities hold off the Imagined Order long enough to give them a fighting chance?

"Fortnite x Marvel: Zero War" #1 hits stands on June 8, 2022.

The world was dealt a pretty rough blow earlier this year when it was revealed that comic book legend George Perez was diagnosed with terminal cancer. But Perez is still here with us, and DC Comics is going to celebrate the man's 68th birthday in June with a two-page spread (see above) in all of its periodical releases that month. Other industry giants such as Jim Lee, Walter Simonson, Alex Ross, Dave Gibbons, Todd McFarlane, Daniel Sampere, Jerry Ordway, Nicola Scott, and many more, collaborated on the colorful spread. Writer Dan Jurgens had this to say about it:

"When I was asked to come up with a design and layout that would honor George Pérez and his many incredible contributions to DC Comics over the years, I was truly honored. I have admired George's work since I first saw it and have had the good fortune to work with him in different capacities, on a number of projects. More importantly, I've been able to see the way George treats fans and readers, always smiling, gregarious and approachable. It was a joy to watch this cover come together and I'm sure everyone who contributed feels the same way."

Full details on the celebration, as well as who was involved, can be found by clicking here.

Circling back to some "Fortnite" business, Moon Knight has officially arrived in the game's item shop. Those who are enjoying "Moon Knight" on Disney+ who also happen to be fans of the game can get an outfit for a satisfying crossover. As is always the case in "Fortnite," these costumes are merely cosmetic and do not provide the player with any sort of advantage over anyone else, but at least you can look like Marc Spector whilst trying to be the last one standing. 

Have you seen people talking about how good "Young Justice: Phantoms" is, but you don't have time/want to catch up on three full seasons of the show before watching the new one? The folks at DC are here to help with a 50-minute video covering the entirety of the show's third season for those looking to save a little time. This is also probably a useful tool for those who watched the show a while back but could use a little refresher. Enjoy!

You could probably fill multiple books with things that almost happened in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but didn't quite get there. Here, we have another example from James Gunn, who revealed on Twitter that Darkhawk was almost in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." As we can see, the original tweet has a fan suggesting that Gunn should tackle "Darkhawk" as his next project. While that won't be the case, as he seems to be heading back to DC territory after "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," he clearly has (or at least had) some interest in the character.

The next MCU series for Disney+ has kicked off production. Alaqua Cox, who fans will recognize from "Hawkeye," has revealed that her spin-off series "Echo" has begun filming. The news came from a post on her Instagram Stories (via Reddit), which revealed that Cox was sent flowers in honor of filming getting underway. For the moment, much remains mysterious about the show, but with filming now taking place, we can probably expect to see it sometime next year. This also means we could hear more in terms of official casting announcements and whatnot in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

The one and only Nicolas Cage, star of "Ghost Rider" and many, many other wonderful things over the years, recently did one of Wired's autocomplete interviews. During the video, the actor was asked why he changed his name from Nicolas Coppola, and it turns out, in picking a new name, he was inspired by none other than Luke Cage. Cage explained:

"It's a combination of Luke Cage from Marvel comics, who was a character I liked, also named Power Man, and John Cage, the avant-garde composer. Speaks volumes about everything I've been up to ever since." 

Well, that's pretty neat, and it speaks to the fact that Cage is a true-blue fan of this stuff. After all, he once owned a copy of "Action Comics" #1, which saw the debut of Superman.

Lastly, today brings a new poster for the upcoming "Doctor Strange" sequel from artist BossLogic, which features the Sorcerer Supreme shattering reality with a rather intimdating look on his face. The artist created the poster in collaboration with Marvel Australia. There is no word yet on whether or not this is one that will ever make it to print so you can hang it on your wall. For the time being, it's certainly nice to look at on the web. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" hits theaters on May 6, 2022.