Ever thought Peter Parker was a dumb name? Perhaps you hate Bruce Wayne's poncy moniker? Or maybe you just want to be Dave Lizewski? Well, now you can do better: you can be the alter ego for Mark Millar's next superhero, Superior.

In something of a tradition for the Kick-Ass scribe, Millar is auctioning off the name to his next comic book character, giving everyone a chance to live on in the pages of graphic novel history. And very possibly on screen as well.

Superior, launching in October, is the story of a young boy who has multiple sclerosis. Then, one day, thanks to a magical wish, he becomes the superhero of his dreams. It's written by Millar, and drawn by Leinil Yu - the only thing missing is that character's name.

"We had great success with the Kick-Ass and Nemesis auctions, and hopefully we can raise a similar sum again with this opportunity," says Millar on the auction's page. "Dave Lizewski is now an action figure and movie icon as well as a comic-book character and both Matt Anderson and Blake Morrow are delighted to find themselves as the leads in the upcoming Tony Scott adaptation of Nemesis."

All proceeds from the auction will go towards a special needs unit in a school where Millar's brother, Dr Bobby Millar, has been raising cash for handicapped children for several years.

Head over to ebay make your bid. You've got until 16:24 on Thursday 9th September.

Natalie Portman has been offered the lead role in Gravity. Alfonso Cuaron's sci-fi film has suffered quite a bit over the past year, with Angelina Jolie playing hokey cokey with the casting director until eventually she got bored.

Co-written by Alfonso and his son Jonas Cuaron, Gravity focuses on a female astronaut who gets stranded in space when debris wipes out the rest of her crew. Produced by Warner Bros, the reportedly $80m film has gone through a few potential lead actresses, including Scarlett Johansson.

Now, though, Portman looks set to get the part. After impressing audiences with her turn in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, Cuaron would be an idiot to let her slip away from his space suit. With Robert Downey Jr locked into a supporting role, shooting will start next January, in time for Downey Jr to fly off and make Sherlock 2. And The Avengers, of course.

With Natalie Portman's star officially rising way out of orbit, expect to hear confirmation of this one very soon. 

Ridley Scott has approached Gemma Arterton about appearing in his prequel to Alien. After standing out for all the wrong reasons in Prince of Persia and Clash of the Titans, the British actress impressed the director with her turn in The Disappearance of Alice Creed.

After seeing her raw performance in the indie thriller, Scott is arranging to meet Arterton to discuss the 3D sci-fi horrors. As she put it: "He wants me to meet for Aliens: The Remake or something."

Ridley is not the only person won over by Arterton's acting: she's also just been cast in Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaptation of The Keys to the Street. Based on the Ruth Rendell novel and scripted by Nolan himself (although since subject to some dubious rewrites), the screenplay has been sitting around since his debut, Following. The Inception director, however, will no longer be at the helm.

Arterton will play Mary, a bone marrow donor who enters into a relationship with the man whose life she has saved. Talking again to The Times, she voiced her surprise that the film had been sitting around for so many years.

Gemma Arterton will next be seen in Stephen Frears' Tamara Drewe (out this week) - a step up in quality from Quantum of Solace. You've got to admit, her slate is shaping up pretty nicely for the near future. Except for Clash of the Titans 2, of couse. 

Director: Nanette Burstein
Cast: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Charlie Day, Christina Applegate, Jason Sudeikis
Certificate: 15
Trailer/Clips

You can almost hear studio execs thinking up the idea of a long-distance relationship during the kooky animated credits. With its oh-so-witty title, Going the Distance clearly thinks its onto a winning concept. And it is a topic that hasn't really been focused on in a film before. But in the year of Sex and the City 2 and The Back-Up Plan, Going the Distance is original for a completely different reason: it's really good.

Tom Hardy has replaced Michael Fassbender in the upcoming movie of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Scripted by Peter Morgan, it's the first time Le Carre's most famous spy has been seen in cinemas. Set in the aftermath of the Cold War, Tinker, Tailor follows George Smiley, an agent trying to unearth a mole within the British Secret Intelligence Service.

Directed by Tomas Alfredson, his first English language film after Let the Right One In, the production had to switch actors when Michael Fassbender got caught up in shooting for Matthew Vaugn's X-Men: First Class.

Fresh from being awesome in Inception, in stepped Tom Hardy to play the part of Ricky Tarr, one of Smiley's colleagues. He joins an incredible cast, which includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Jared Harris and Ciaran Hinds. Oh, and Gary Oldman as George Smiley.

The only thing that could possibly dampen your excitement is the fact that this news first surfaced in The Daily Mail.

No, that's not a racial slur. Zhang Ziyi will actually play Mulan in an upcoming live-action take on the tale. The story of Hua Mulan, the young woman who joins an all-male army, was first told in the 6th Century poem The Ballad of Mulan before Disney came along, animated it and shoved some songs in.

The new adaptation of the tale has nothing to do with Disney. It's actually an indie-financed flick, a Chinese-English co-production, which will be shot in the English language. There's no information on exact details of John Bickstead's script - the story could in theory be set at any point in China's history.

What we do know is that Mulan will be directed by Jan de Bont, the man who gave us Tomb Raider 2 (banned in China) and that Speed sequel.

Ying Ye, the film's producer, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter: "This is the first independent film directed by Jan de Bont, whose worldwide box office track record is huge". If that box office track record works well here, presumably it's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens: Zyang Ziyi in Mulan 2: Cruise Control.

When Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino revealed Grindhouse to the world, they probably knew what would happen: a ton of other people would come along and start making B-Movies like it was the 80s all over again.

And so, hot on the heels of Machete, Rutger Hauer is a Hobo with a Shotgun. Based on a trailer originally made for a SXSW competition (judged by Tarantino and Rodriguez), Hobo with a Shotgun is getting its own bloody cinematic feature release.

Hauer plays the gun-wielding bum, who aims to wreak vengeance upon the world for motives that aren't quite clear yet. Despite the fact that he monologues for most of the trailer to a roomful of babies. The one thing that is obvious? He's very, very angry. Oh, and he has a shotgun, of course.

Directed by Jason Eisener (who's Canadian), Hobo with a Shotgun will shoot its way into cinemas sometime next year. The trailer appeared online thanks to AICN, but you can read on for the full video.