Category Archives: Avengers
Marvel Again Betting on the Idea That We Want to See Beloved Characters Killed
Have you been a fan of any of the teen superhero comics at Marvel over the past few years?
Well good news! Some of your favorite characters are going to be brutally murdered!
Behold the upcoming Marvel NOW! series Avengers Arena, which apparently exists solely to pit young teen characters into a Hunger Games-like battle royale, where writer Dennis Hopeless actually seems to brag in this interview that characters are going to be killed.
Everybody come read about the killings!
Amongst those on the killing floor are the casts of Avengers Academy and Runaways, with random appearances by Darkhawk, X-23 and Cammie from Annihilation. The story is that the villain Arcade takes 16 kids to Murder World and then sets them about killing each other. The comic will be drawn by Kev Walker.
…
Fuck this comic.
Seriously, fuck you, Marvel Comics, you blood-thirsty, mindless drones of corporate marketing. I didn’t read The Hunger Games, but I’m pretty sure from watching the movie that one of the underlying themes was that having children kill each other as entertainment WAS A BAD THING! If you’re going to just steal the concept, isn’t it the height of irony to then completely miss the point!?
Who reads this vomit? What kind of budding sociopath reads a comic where the major draw is that fan favorite characters are going to be brutally killed?
Whoever they are, they should just go back to strangling cats and ripping the wings off flies.
Review: Avengers vs. X-Men #11
Now that was a pretty damn awesome issue. I’m happy to say that the big finale to Avengers vs. X-Men looks like it’s going to be both epic and cool, with this penultimate issue really setting up what should be a bombastic showdown. This issue has got great action, some wonderful character moments, awe-inspiring art and a brilliant cliffhanger that I’m kind of ashamed I did not see coming. But that just means it took me by one hell of a surprise! However, despite all this well-deserved praise, anyone who has been reading my reviews knows that I have one really big BUT when it comes to Avengers vs. X-Men…and this issue continues to emphasis that same glaring flaw.
Avengers vs. X-Men #11
The story is incredibly wishy-washy on just how much of a villain it wants Cyclops to be. At a time when it needs him to be a mustache-twirling Snidely Whiplash, this comic still goes to great lengths to make Cyclops sympathetic.
Comic rating: 5/5: Great.
My major gripe with Avengers vs. X-Men is that it does not have a solid answer to two important questions: What has Cyclops done wrong? And was it Cyclops who did it, or was it the Phoenix acting through Cyclops? Unfortunately, this issue continues to flip back and forth on the issue. And from someone who sympathizes with Cyclops, it just makes all the so-called heroes out to be huge assholes. One moment they are talking about having to stop Cyclops because he cannot control this evil power, and the next they are blaming Cyclops for everything. The comic has made it very clear that the Phoenix is the reason the PhoeniX-Men started turning evil, that these people were possessed by an evil force and it eventually took over. Yet never do any of the Avengers or X-Men say that they need to save Cyclops from the Phoenix. They all act like it’s Cyclops himself who is behind all of this, and not that their friend has been possessed by this evil force.
To me, that kind of makes them jerks. They don’t want to help Cyclops and stop the Phoenix. They just want to kill Cyclops and be done with it.
Despite that glaring issue, this is still a great comic. The action is fantastic, with a lot of high-stakes superheroics. But rather than just boring action, all of it is spliced with some really meaty character moments as everyone tries to reason with Cyclops while simultaneously trying to kill him. The art by Olivier Coipel is also phenomenal, giving these moments the epic feel that really makes them stand out.
Also, a very important character dies this issue, but it does not have the impact that Marvel probably hoped it would. I’ll spoil the death when we get to it in my synopsis, so if you want to know right now, just click the jump and scroll down. Otherwise, how about we get on with the fully synopsis and more review!
Cannonball Steps Up Big Time!
This is kind of a minor thing, but apparently the superhero Cannonball is going to join the Avengers in the new Marvel NOW! relaunch!
That’s him in the upper left hand corner
That’s a set of three covers from the new series, by writer Jonathan Hickman. There are a few new characters – as well as every single Avenger from this summer’s big movie – but the important one, to me, is Cannonball. Not that I’m a huge Cannonball fan or anything, I just generally like the idea of minor characters like that stepping up to do something new and bigger than their usual fare.
Plus, I remember back in the 90s when Cannonball ‘graduated’ from X-Force onto the X-Men. That was treated like a really big deal at the time, and I enjoyed him on the team. I miss the days when being on a certain team meant something, as did shifting from one team to the other. Still, perhaps you’ll enjoy the look at the new Avengers lineup. I’m sure it’s going to last…4 months.
Correct Me If I’m Wrong, But Joss Whedon Has Made Some Awesome TV Shows, Right?
So the news is all over the Internet that The Avengers director Joss Whedon is going to helm a TV show based around SHIELD, the super spy organization under the command of Samuel L. Jackson. I think this is awesome news. We all know Whedon as a geek god, and I’ve fairly consistently loved everything he’s ever done; from his Astonishing X-Men comic book series to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog to pretty much all of his TV shows.
Just because Fox completely botched Firefly and audience didn’t pick up on Dollhouse does not lessen their awesomeness. I haven’t had any faith in American TV audiences since Dancing with the Stars became a hit. But that’s being generous – I lost my faith in American TV audiences long before that.
Fortunately, my faith in worldwide movie audiences returned tenfold this summer!
To the the tune of $1.5 billion
Alright, so I don’t have any new details of the show, but in case you get your nerd news from me, here’s a run down: Joss and his frequent collaborator/brother Jed Whedon are going to do the writing, alongside friend Maurissa Tanchareon. Joss may even direct the pilot, though I think he’s going to be more of an overseer than an actual in-charge guy. There’s also the usual smattering of producers and executive producers. But typically I only care about the creative types, and this SHIELD show has some of the best creative types in the business!
And there are so many different ways they could make a SHIELD show.
Including a crossover with ‘How I Met Your Mother’
First off, just make one in the vein of the other Whedon shows – action comedy with some really great drama and ongoing storylines. Or maybe they’ll go total drama…or total comedy. I don’t know, because those fools have yet to call me to consult. I would recommend following their action comedy/great drama route. It’s worked perfectly in the past, and Whedon’s work simply has that voice. Heck, The Avengers itself is a perfect example of his style. Perhaps that’s why I liked the movie so much.
But personally, I think we’ve already seen more than a taste of what a SHIELD TV show will be like. And there’s even more coming on The Avengers DVD when it comes out at the end of September. You all may have missed this over the course of the various Marvel heroes movies…but they’ve kind of been making a ton of mini-SHIELD episodes for fun.
For example, here is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer starring Agent Phil Coulson:
That was particularly awesome.
Or what about The Consultant, set near the end of The Incredible Hulk. Coulson and Agent Jasper Sitwell having a chat in a diner.
Now we all know that Coulson probably won’t be available for a SHIELD TV show. But that Jasper Sitwell guy is popping up more and more. He’s also a main character in the new SHIELD mini-sode set to debut on The Avengers DVD. It’s called ‘Item 47’ and is about a young couple who recover one of the alien ray-guns from the end of the film. Sitwell is sent in to deal with them. The full clip isn’t online yet – it was, but they took it down – but here’s a quick clip.
I’ve seen Item 47 in its fullest, and let me tell you, it is awesome! It’s funny, it’s action-packed and Sitwell is amazing. And there’s more than just him on SHIELD. We get a little look at the inner workings of the agency.
So my theory is that Marvel has been preparing their SHIELD television show all along. And now they’re ready to make it a full-time thing.
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