This past weekend my wife and I, along with our pooch Pearl the pug, attended the 12th annual Oregon Humane Society Pug Crawl in Portland. This year's theme for the OHS fundraiser was "Pug Nation: A Better Pug for a Better America!" which came alive in a parade of costumed pugs and pug mixes wearing a variety of patriotic costumes. While the entire parade was a feast for my pug-loving senses, one marcher in particular caught my eye: A pug cosplaying as Captain America. Take a peek at full-size photos of a friendly pooch we'll call Captain Ameripug after the jump.

Northstar is getting married to his boyfriend Kyle. Rumors have been circulating for a while, but yesterday Whoopi Goldberg and the ladies of The View confirmed it. Said Goldberg; "In Astonishing X-Men #50, openly gay X-Man Northstar will propose to his boyfriend Kyle, with a gay wedding to follow in an upcoming issue." That would presumably be Astonishing X-Men #51, the cover for which was shown on-screen. Both issues are by writer Marjorie Liu and penciller Mike Perkins.

The announcement took less than a minute of airtime, but it marked a milestone; this will be the first same-sex superhero wedding since marriage equality became law in some US states, including Northstar's current home state of New York. (DC Wildstorm's gay supercouple Apollo and the Midnighter held a commitment ceremony back in 2001, but apparently only under the authority of "television network sponsors.")

It's also a milestone for another reason. By announcing this comic on The View on ABC, Marvel Comics demonstrated that it means to heavily promote the book and leverage the assets of Marvel and ABC's owner Disney to do so. That's a stark contrast to the days when Marvel kept gay characters and gay relationships out of their superhero books because they thought they were for mature readers only. Marvel must now believe that any controversy stirred up by this event will be dwarfed by positive coverage and a growth in sales. That's amazing progress.

So why is it that I don't want to celebrate this marriage?

Food: Hardee's/Carl's Jr. will serve a special "Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger" in honor of The Amazing Spider-Man movie. Sadly, it doesn't appear to feature a Spidey logo grilled into the toast. [Pitch Engine]

Movies: There's a Hook prequel movie called Rufio in the works and all the right people seem to be involved. [io9]

Creators: Greg Rucka shares his motivations for, and creative process behind, working to write the best female characters he can. [io9]

The Avengers movie is an unqualified hit, with over a billion dollars in worldwide box office (and $50 million for Robert Downey Jr. alone). The culmination of years of inter-related Marvel superhero blockbusters, The Avengers melded the heroes and stories of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Thor into both a superteam and a supermovie. Now, Marvel has released an official timeline detailing the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from its book Avengers: The Art of Marvel's The Avengers, which is worth a look for any comics (or comics movie) fan. The full image is pretty big, so click through after the jump to see the whole thing in its scrolling glory.

The superhero character models teased by Gazillion Games over the past several months finally came alive today in a new gameplay trailer for the upcoming free-to-play Marvel Heroes MMO RPG by Diablo's David Brevik and written by Marvel's Brian Michael Bendis. Showcasing the combat of Captain America, Spider-Man, Deadpool, Black Widow, Colossus, Wolverine, Magneto and the Hulk, the gameplay trailer is framed by a menacing cinematic starring the game's main bad dude: A Cosmic Cube-toting Doctor Doom.

Following yesterday's release of the first theatrical poster for The Dark Knight Rises, Warner Bros. has transmitted a new series of teasers for the much anticipated film directed by Christopher Nolan. The new posters depict each of the principals -- Batman, Catwoman and Bane -- in portraits set against the falling debris and sleet. Unlike the poster released yesterday (which was not happily received by some ComicsAlliance readers), these new images are in keeping with the color scheme and other motifs established in the initial posters and trailers.

The surreal (and, yet, more real than most) battle for Seattle continues, it seems, as Seattle's self-styled super villain Rex Velvet has released another video teasing an upcoming showdown between good and evil... and, apparently, cats. Lots of cats.

Just in time for the release of The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man films, Marvel Comics collaborated with 1928 Jewelry Co. to launch a jewelry and accessories collection inspired by some of Marvel's finest heroes, including Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, The Punisher, and Wolverine. Check out some of our favorite pieces in the Marvel Comics x 1928 Jewelry Co. collection after the jump!

A group of hunters from the Earth empire arrive in the now-empty metropolis of Kartanus world to hunt the giant Nephilim, and find more than they bargained for in this 6-page preview from Prophet #25 (originally solicited as Prophet #27). The new issue written is by Brandon Graham (King City) and illustrated by Giannis Milonogiannis with a cover by previous Prophet artist Simon Roy, available online or at your local comic book shop.

This week, Marvel has once again requested the honor of your presence at the wedding of two characters, and while a super-hero marriage is always a pretty big affair, this one is going a little further. In tomorrow's Astonishing X-Men #50, Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins are telling the story of Northstar's proposal to his long-time boyfriend Kyle, with a wedding set to follow in next month's issue.

Reading Comics author Douglas Wolk runs down the hottest comics and graphic novels coming out this week.

KEY:
^ Bagman
* Wingman
% Swagman

* BATMAN INCORPORATED #1
I believe Grant Morrison described his initial plan for the second year of this international-minded Batman-and-his-team book as being "a roller coaster ride through hell." The relaunch is arriving a little late to the starting line, and who knows how much Morrison's had to retool it given that the rest of the Bat-books have been rebooted outright, but it still sounds pretty promising--especially since Chris Burnham is drawing it, at least initially.