Category Archives: Marvel
Benedict Cumberbatch is an Ideal Doctor Strange!
Word is spreading like wildfire today that British thespian Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as Doctor Strange for the upcoming movie! I couldn’t be happier! Seriously, I think he’s the perfect choice for the Sorcerer Supreme, on multiple levels!
Though I’m not sure about a Cumber-beard
Deadline broke the news, and several other agencies are picking it up. They say Cumberbatch is in final negotiations, and I’m fairly certain Deadline has been right about a lot of Marvel’s casting over the months, so this is probably a lock. Woot!
I’m a huge Cumberbatch fan. I first saw him on Sherlock, obviously, which is one of my favorite shows. He’s stellar as the title character, even in these later seasons. I liked him on Star Trek Into Darkness, one of my top two favorite movies last year. And he’s great as the dragon Smaug in the Hobbit films. I haven’t seen any of his smaller, personal work, but who needs to? Cumberbatch has presence, and that’s important!
First of all, he really seems like he’d fit the character. He’s aristocratic, with very noble mannerisms. He’s also more than a little odd. That seems like a solid Doctor Strange to me.
He’s drinking tea, that’s totally British!
Second of all, people love Cumberbatch! He’s huge with female audiences, which sounds perfect for a Marvel film! He’s got a built-in fanbase who probably already enjoy the Marvel movies, so this team-up sounds like a no-brainer.
So consider me totally on board with this casting! What do you guys and gals think? And check out my list of the 6 things I want to see in the Dr. Strange film!
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 10/25/14
Whatever happened to holiday theme comics? Next week is Halloween, but I don’t know if there are any Halloween comics coming out! Whatever happened to those great comics about fighting giant pumpkin monsters? Or meeting demonic hell spirits? Or what about the greatest Halloween superhero adventure of all time? You henchies remember that one, right? Whatever the case may be, there isn’t nary a Halloween reference in any of this week’s haul!
But we’ve still got a pretty good haul. I picked up new issues of Aquaman and Harley Quinn, while also checking in with the ongoing craziness happening in Axis and Multiversity. One is a little more crazy than the other. I also picked up the first issue of the new Arkham Manor series…but I doubt I’ll be picking up any more. Fortunately, the latest issue in Jonathan Hickman’s ongoing Avengers saga is amazing! Avengers #37 easily scoops of Comic Book of the Week for the high quality, character-based drama!
Some day they’ll laugh about this
You can also check out my coverage of the soon-to-be cancelled She-Hulk over at Word of the Nerd. That title should have survived for the Matt Rocks cameo alone!
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #35, Arkham Manor #1, Avengers #37, Axis #3, Batman Eternal #29, Harley Quinn #11, and Multiversity #3.
The First Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailer is Chilling and Oh So Good!
I don’t even know where to begin with how awesome that trailer was! It leaked online last night, and then Marvel just went ahead and released the whole thing in HD for all of us to devour! It’s so good! The action, the character beats, the glimpses of our favorite heroes, all great. But then everything to do with Ultron himself is just beyond insane! This is one super-villain who is legitimately chilling! That first moment, when he stumbles into view, a hodgepodge of old Iron Man pieces, is gorgeous. Then that creepy rendition of the Pinocchio song is absolutely perfect!
And then that final glimpse of Ultron at the very end, when he finishes the song himself…oh man, oh man. He looks more gnarly and amazing than I could have ever predicted!
Come May, Avengers: Age of Ultron is going to be everything we could have ever hoped for.
Review: Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #6
It’s issues like this where patience pays off! Brian Michael Bendis has been building to something good, and this is it! This is the battle, these are the confrontations, this is what we’ve been waiting for! Miles Morales vs. the Green Goblin! The truth about Peter Parker! Even more exciting stuff! The last issue was all about transitioning us into this stellar adventure, and I’m all the more glad for it. I’ve almost always been a fan of Bendis’ decompressed storytelling. I like that he takes the time to build a scene, or build up to a moment, because we get pay offs like this issue.
Ultimate Spider-Man #6
Ultimate Spider-Man #6 is one of the richest, most confident and exciting comics in Miles Morales’ short career.
Comic Rating: 10/10 – Fantastic!
Yep, a perfect score. I don’t do that very often, but if I don’t do it for an issue like this one, then what am I saving it for? Ultimate Spider-Man #6 has it all, and almost all of it is satisfyingly good. This is a big moment for Miles and for the series. Our young hero fully embraces his role. He stands tall as a true Spider-Man, and has more than a few great moments, while his predecessor looks on.
Speaking of Peter Parker…could this really be him? Before now, I was pretty sure this was just some storyline Bendis has been working on. Miles voices the obvious option: he’s a clone. But with this issue, Bendis provides a somewhat reasonable explanation for how Peter could be back from the dead. On top of that, what’s to stop Bendis from bringing Ultimate Peter Parker back from the dead? The latest Ultimate Universe relaunch failed spectacularly. Both All New Ultimates and whatever they called the Ultimate Fantastic Four have been cancelled. The Ultimate Universe is probably on its last legs, with only Ultimate Spider-Man really kicking along.
So why not bring Ultimate Peter Parker back from the dead? Why not give him, his family and this series a happy ending? Leave Miles as the one-true Ultimate Spider-Man and just shuffle a resurrected Peter off to the side. It makes about as much sense as any resurrection in comics. And the reason it hasn’t gotten a lot of attention is because nobody really cares about Ultimate Spider-Man anymore.
I think this twist would be pretty awesome. Because considering what Bendis does with Peter Parker and his family in this issue, it would be even more cruel if Peter was revealed to be a fake.
But hey, maybe Bendis is a cruel man.
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
Marvel is Going to Kick Things Up a Notch with a Cinematic Civil War!
Who can say if this is what will actually come to pass, but Variety is reporting that Robert Downey Jr. has signed on for a significant guest starring role in Captain America 3 in order to kick off the infamous Civil War storyline that pits superhero against superhero! The third Cap film will be titled Captain America: Civil War and will have long-reaching ramifications for future Avengers sequels and the Marvel Movieverse as a whole!
And they look like such bros in Age of Ultron!
Sounds good to me!
For those who don’t know, Civil War is a rather infamous story from the mid-00s that pitted hero against hero. The government imposed a Superhero Registration Act that sought to put an end to vigilantes by making superheroes register their secret identities with the government, turning all superheroes into government agents.
Tony Stark supports the law, Steve Rogers opposes it, leading to a civil war between two of Marvel’s biggest heroes (and probably the two biggest in the Movieverse).
This sounds like an excellent storyline for the movies considering how juicy the banter and potential rivalry could be between Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans. They were already not seeing eye-to-eye in The Avengers. And considering Stark’s role in creating Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron, I bet he’d definitely be looking to make up for his mistakes by supporting such a law in the Movieverse.
So many mistakes
This would also be the perfect opportunity to debut Spider-Man into the Marvel movies. Marvel and Sony are reportedly in talks about sharing Spidey, if reports can be believed. I doubt Marvel would launch their own Spider-Man franchise, so why not make him a minor star in a Civil War-based Avengers sequel? Spidey was the face of Civil War in the comics. He was convinced by Tony Stark to reveal his secret identity to the world, only for his family to get hurt, so Spidey switched sides and joined Cap’s rebellion.
A Civil War movie would be the perfect place to debut Spidey. And personally, I think the Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider-Man movies line-up perfectly with the style and tone of the Marvel movies.
Make it happen!
So I am definitely in favor of Civil War hitting the movies. It has the potential to be huge!
One thing that bugs me about Variety’s report, though, is Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter. According to the article, Perlmutter was so angry that Downey wanted a larger role in Cap 3 (including a larger paycheck) that he ordered the part cut out entirely, only for Marvel Studios Head Honcho Kevin Feige to prevail. Perlmutter is reportedly the same guy who is so angry at FOX Studios that he cancelled the Fantastic Four comic.
I realize that we all know to hate CEOs on principle alone, but did the CEO of Marvel Comics really have to be such a douchenozzle? Couldn’t Marvel, of all companies, have an awesome CEO?
Anyway, what do you henchies think about these Civil War plans for the Movieverse? I think it’s only going to help make bigger, more exciting films. Plus it would work nicely with the various actors’ contracts coming to an end. It would shake up the Avengers franchise as a whole and really provide some new and interesting stories.
And while we’re on the topic, Marvel put out a new teaser for Civil War comics coming in 2015.
You’re going to break him!
No one seems to have any idea what this teaser means. Cap, Spidey and Iron Man are all wearing their costumes from the original Civil War, but what does that mean? Is Marvel doing a new Civil War? Or are they just putting out some kind of collected edition of the original series?
One thing is for sure: there’s no way it’s a coincidence that Marvel would post that image and Variety would break their story on the same day. How much you want to bet Marvel heard about Variety’s story in advance and rushed something out themselves about Civil War?
Whatever the case may be, all of this sounds like good news for upcoming Marvel movies!
What do you henchies think? Do you think Civil War is a terrible idea for movies? A great idea? What about Robert Downey Jr. guest-starring in more flicks? Sound off in the comments!
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