Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb might has cast two veteran actors from the show he shephereded to success, followed by an alarmingly fast burnout, Heroes, to voice the leads in the upcoming American translations of the Wolverine and Iron Man anime series.

Now say what you will about Heroes, or anime takes on Marvel superheroes - both topics which can easily spark heated debate - but there is no doubt in my mind that the actors in question, Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia are spectacularly well suited for their roles.

Especially Pasdar, whose evocative voice and knack for nailing the moral subtleties of the cutthroat capitalist have made me a fan ever since he starred in the title role of the cult classic TV series Profit. Pasdar will be the voice of Tony Stark/Iron Man, a role he was practically born to play.

Ventimiglia as Logan/Wolverine is slightly less obvious - while Pasdar is known for his masterful portrayals of morally ambiguous yet ultimately, kinda/sorta heroic industrialists, Milo does not exactly scream "I'm the best there is, bub," literally or metaphorically.

However, as fans who have been watching the Japanese take on Wolverine have noted, often with contention, this is a very different Logan than the one we've come to know from the X-Men, Avengers, and a whooole lotta solo titles. This is a young, thin, more nuanced Wolverine. Less body hair, more triple-back-somersaults. Whatever you think of this version of the character, it's not a stretch to imagine him voiced by Milo Ventimiglia..

The shows, slated to air in the US on G4, will have American subtitles but otherwise are expected to remain true to their preexisting storylines, based in Japan and immersed in Eastern culture.

Next in the pipeleine from Marvel: Blade and X-Men anime series.

So - are we excited?

This is grim news indeed for The Wolverine, which has a lot of making up to do for the damage done to the X-Men/Wolverine film franchise in X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Aaronofsky's appointment as director was a sign that things were looking up for the old Canucklehead, but according to the Hollywood Reporter, Aaronofsky is stepping down based on the grounds that completing the film would keep him out of the cuontry for too long.

Plus - Hugh Jackman is just nowhere near as hot in ballet clothes as Natalie Portman.

No word yet on who will fill Aaronofsky's shoes, but I'll cross my fingers and keep you posted.

If tough guy stares could kill...! Brock and Wolvie meet up, and geekgasms commence. All we need is Golden Age and/or Pre-Crisis Batman and this is pretty much Valhalla, right here. This collosal display of machismo and questionable hairstyles comes courtesy of deviantARTists Daniel Araya and Enrique Rivera, in a piece appropriately titled Collab of Badassery.

The closing credits to Gary Shore's masterful video describe this clip as X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2. If only. 

If The Wolverine is half this good, it will be the best comic book film of the past several years. The motion picture industry and the budding genre of motion comics could learn a lot from the beauty and grace on display here.

Someone needs to explain to me why there isn't a huge bidding war between Warners and Disney for this guy, because the combination of technical and artistic skill with a subtle touch and a respect for his subject is, to coin a phrase, uncanny. Astonishing even.

Seriously, this rules.