There have been some truly awful Thors over the years. In researching this column (yes, I do research. It involves watching a lot of cartoons) I was reminded of how difficult it can be to bring a character like Thor to the screen. Things that work well in the comics, such as his faux Shakespearian dialect or his long, girly hair, just don’t really translate that well unless done properly. You either have to go all the way, and adapt the comic character as is (will only work in animation), or you have to make some pretty drastic changes somewhere.

To pick a prime example, check out Eric Allan Kramer’s awful turn in nineteen eighty-eight’s The Incredible Hulk Returns. While the original Hulk TV series was absolutely brilliant, Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno’s return to our screens in several low budget TV movies left a lot to be desired. Of the three, and opinions are divided, but in this writer’s opinion, this first one was the worst. Yes, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk featured a completely uninspired version Daredevil, but the Thor who showed up in Returns, and had his ass handed to him by the Hulk, was, at best, a one note joke. An Asgardian warrior who relished battle, women and drink. There was no nobility to the character, and he was incredibly difficult to sympathise with. He also looked bloody stupid.

So, as with last week’s look at Iron Man, we’re faced with a dilemma. There are few truly great Thors, and not a whole lot of good ones to choose from either. Still, I did manage to find five who, at the very least, could be considered adequate. Four of the men on this list deserve their places. This first guy though, I’ll admit, is mostly there to fill out the numbers...

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Superman is the greatest and most powerful superhero in the DC Universe. You all know the drill, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And yet, his greatest enemy, the one man he can never truly defeat, is a megalomaniacal bald bloke with a penchant for nice suits.

Lex Luthor is the archetypal supervillain, the polar opposite of his nemesis. Where Superman is physically powerful, Luthor’s greatest asset is his mind. Superman is decent, upstanding and completely selfless, Luthor is shallow, nasty and thinks of nobody but himself. But what sets Luthor apart from other supervillains are his goals. While he’s never going to stop seeking more money and power, his ultimate goal is simple. He wants to kill Superman. Luthor can’t stand that there’s someone in Metropolis who is more powerful, and more loved, than he is. That’s it. Pure, simple, jealousy. Everything Luthor does is ultimately about destroying the Man of Steel, and he takes everything Superman does personally. There’s a short speech from Luthor in JLA #11, written by Grant Morrison, which sums up his relationship with Superman perfectly:-

“There have been ‘Justice Leagues’ before, of course. I’ve indulged their existence. Let them conduct their colourful public brawls, like drunken sailors with a Hollywood budget. Let them play their games. I could have destroyed any of those organizations at any time. I chose not to. Until now. Until Superman. I would have overlooked this latest media-friendly pantomime by creatures whose very existence makes a mockery of human achievement. I would even have been prepared to indulge the astonishing arrogance of their lunar clubhouse. But for Superman. I take his leadership of this preposterous team of alpha males as a direct challenge, a throwing down of the gauntlet, a clear escalation of hostilities between us. I intend to utterly destroy Superman’s private army, and to do so I have assembled the perfect weapons…”

Superman takes up leadership of the League, never even giving Luthor a second thought, and Luthor genuinely believes that it’s all about him. This is why he’s such a good adversary for the Last Son of Krypton. He doesn’t know how to be anything else.

Luthor on screen has been tackled by a lot of different actors, many of whom have gotten it shockingly wrong. There seems to be a propensity to portray Luthor as a cackling, pantomime villain, ignoring any of the quieter moments which make the character so menacing and launching into full on over the top histrionics *cough* Kevin Spacey *cough*. But, there have also been a few actors who just get Luthor.

I was quite surprised at the results of your votes for the best Luthor of all time, which was won by Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum. I was genuinely expecting Gene Hackman to clinch the top spot. But who features on my list of great Luthors? Let’s find out...

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My name is Shelley, and I am a role-plaholic. I think that's the official term I’ve just coined right there.

I'll mostly play MMOs, medieval-themed RPGs on the Xbox (or anything where you collect stuff and things. ALL OF THE THINGS) and very few PC games excepting Minecraft, which I might play a bit too much for my own good.

There's something about RPGs that appeals to me... probably because they're an escape from my real life. My real life in which, believe it or not, I can't commandeer the USS Starship Enterprise, build powered minecarts in which to carry my mountains of diamonds or punch a rat to death with my bare fists (believe me, I've tried).

RPGs are the best. They're my lifelong love affair. So watch me play them and generally dick about in the voiceovers, won't you?

Battle, ambush and race your way to leaderboard domination in bigger and improved challenge mode.

The latest news from Rocksteady Studios is that Batman Arkham City will be five times bigger than Arkhum Asylum, so no suprises to fans that the roaming areas have been expanded to give more character freedom and cure one of the few faults of the original game Arkham Asylum, one of the best gaming titles to be released to date.

Great news is the return of the challenge mode, after you complete the campaign mode and collect all the Riddler trophies, a more expansive and competitive challenge mode awaits to play as either the Batman, Catwoman or Robin and we all give thanks to the developers for including these playable characters free of charge and resisting the temptation to charge us for the extra content. I wouldn’t be surprised if a villains pack was available to download some time after release to compete in challenge mode but that’s just me thinking of how they’re going to hit our pockets and keep the game fresh during some really major release titles in the months after this baby hits shelves, pure speculation on my behalf.

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Call of Jaurez: The Cartel
Ubisoft: Techland
FPS Released: 22 July 2011

After feeling like Clint Eastwood in the previous installment, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood I was excited when this latest installment in the franchise hit the shelves and went to Blockbusters to give it a try. Did it fire the six shooting smash that the previous version delivered, leaving you friskily looking at the mrs with your best “Hey Blondie“? I gave the game the zonalcrew dissection to see if it was worth our money.

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"I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" - Clint Eastwood

That's what Harvey 'Two-Face' Dent appears to be saying to us in this new promo shot from the sequel to Rocksteady's 2009 (was it really that long ago?) smash hit Arkham Asylum; Arkaham City.

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Sadly fans of the Sci-fi epic Blade Runner will be disappointed to know that Gearbox Studios' journey to develop the Ridley Scott classic into game format is now over. Brave software company Gearbox are no strangers when it comes to movie-to game conversions having picked up the rights to blockbuster films in the past such as the already abandoned action classic HEAT starring Al Pacino and Robert Deniro and the endlessly delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines that has also had development problems.

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Zonalcrew brings you gaming crack for iOS and Android!

Having recently purchased an iPad for business purposes, I've found myself distracted from mundane, and even exciting, tasks by the volume of pure fun available for little to no cost via the Apps Store. So here are some Zonal Essentials to get you started....

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That's right folks!! Here's yet another variation on previous posts I've been posting... [Insert number] to Wacth has now been assimilated into the ever burgeoning GONZO/Sidekick sub-brand - whatever that means!

But wha' i' was righ' was that I was prepping for a usual News Blast (thanks x360a!!) when I noticed that much of the news took the form of some truly awesome trailers! So I changed the news reader pic for a director portrait and away we go!

Ladies and gents, we have within, the cream of the trailers relased from the past 7 days. I think the E3 uber-games show in LA being just around the corner is the reason for the slew but who are we to complain?!? Just soak it all up and enjoy, Roy!

Click through for trailers for (NB - I did not realise how AWESOME this list was until I started typing it!! I had to pick 619's for each page!!)...

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Alice: Madness Returns
DiRT 3
Gears of War 3 - 619
SSX

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Metro: Last Light
WWE '12
Batman: Arkham City - 619
Dungeon Siege III

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 619
L.A. Noire
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Saints Row: The Third

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Lord of the Rings: War in the North - 619
The Darkness II
Call of Duty: Elite
Duke Nukem Forever

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Tomb Raider
El Shaddai: Ascension
Prey 2 - 619
Darksiders II

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Serious Sam: BFE
Soul Calibur V - 619
XCOM
Rage
FIFA 12

Phew!!

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Stand by Sidekicks... The game announcement I have been waiting ages for has arrived! Soulcalibur V is on its way! Time to brush up on the exquisite art of the samurai sword!

The premiere fighting game, the Soulcalibur series launched with Soul Blade (or Soul Edge in other territories) waaaaay back on the original PlayStation in 1996. The title's unique selling point was the weapons used by the characters to beat the shinola out of each other - made a change from getting bloodied knuckles!

Details are very thin on the ground but, in famous Sidekick fashion, here's a round-up... And the teaser trailer!

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