Category Archives: Marvel
Marvel to Give Us More Punisher
Some of you may have noticed that I’ve stopped reviewing the Punisher comic by Greg Rucka. I haven’t been enjoying it, and when that big crossover hit with Spider-Man and Daredevil, I wasn’t able to buy the other comics and basically I just haven’t been able to work up any interest whatsoever in continuing. If you highly enjoyed my Punisher reviews, let me know in the comments and I can try and continue.
Otherwise, brace yourself for a second ongoing Punisher series…for some reason.
As if Punisher has never fought the Marvel superheroes before
I guess all those teasers from earlier this week that I thought referred to Ultron War were wrong. It’s just teasing a new Punisher series. Or maybe Marvel is rebooting the current Punisher series. I don’t know, but I assume we’ll find out more soon.
I don’t think Punisher needs more than one series at a time. Back in the 90s, he had four ongoing series because the Punisher was very popular…until all four series crashed and burned, and Punisher became radioactively unpopular for a long while. One Punisher series is all that Marvel needs, as far as I’m concerned. I am not like the current series, but a lot of other people do. So good for them.
But for my money, nothing will ever reach the heights of Garth Ennis’ Punisher ever again. I’m very biased.
An Odd Slew of Marvel Movie Rumors
A funny thing happened two months ago when The Avengers movie made a BILLION DOLLARS in a matter of weeks! And if there’s one thing that movie studios like, it’s money. So here we are, two months later, and rumors about new Marvel superhero movies are coming out of the woodwork! We already know about the sequels to Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, but did you know that Marvel have several hundred other superheroes to choose from?
I guess movie studios are starting to find that out, because some of these rumors are for some very odd choices indeed!
Though sadly, none of them are on my own list of The Next 6 Movies That Marvel Should Make.
1. Guardians of the Galaxy
Everybody has guns in space!
What is it: This appears to be the next big franchise from the same Marvel Studios that made The Avengers. According to Latino Review, Guardians of the Galaxy is being prepped for a May 16, 2014 release, and will actually become part of The Avengers story. This has even been confirmed by Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, both of whom state that a script has been written by someone named Nicole Perlman. Remember the big purple smiling guy who appeared in The Avengers mid-credits teaser? That was Thanos, one of the biggest, baddest villains in the Marvel Universe. And Thanos is a cosmic space villain, which the Earth-bound Avengers rarely deal with. Enter the Guardians of the Galaxy, who are basically the Avengers in Space. They’re an eccentric band of various do-gooders who spend their time trying to save the galaxy from super-villains.
There are actually two versions of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Back in the 1960s, they were a band of time-traveling heroes from the future who fought aliens…and it’s best you just ignore that. I’m pretty confident that Marvel is going to use the more recent Guardians of the Galaxy, considering they guest-starred in the comic Avengers Assemble, which was launched in connection with the movie. Back a few years ago, Marvel was publishing a lot of space comics, and they were really popular. From those various stories eventually emerged the new Guardians of the Galaxy, which like I said, was basically a ragtag team of space heroes who banded together to fight evil. You had their leader Starlord, Drax the Destroyer, the insectoid Bug, the galaxy’s most dangerous warrior Gamora, and then you had Rocket Raccoon and Groot, the talking tree.
Cooler than humanly possible, and they ain’t human!
Hells yeah!
Marvel Studios producer Kevin Feige has gone on record as saying that Guardians of the Galaxy is in pre-production, and Marvel recently started buying up a lot of copyrights for Guardians of the Galaxy. So this is a pretty solid bet.
What do I think: Guardians of the Galaxy is a very, very weird choice for a movie franchise. That’s not to say it can’t be done, I’m just in the camp that Marvel (and DC for that matter) should stick with characters that people know. Absolutely nobody outside of comic book fans who read Marvel’s space comics has any idea who the Guardians of the Galaxy are. Sure they can be described as ‘Avengers in Space’, but can that be portrayed on the big screen in an easily digestible format? Will people get it? Do they even want to get it? Personally, I have no desire to see the Avengers on some outer space mission, let alone teaming up with wild and wacky outer space superheroes. The recent popularity of superhero movies has stuck by the realism angle pretty well, and it has definitely paid off. Thor dealt with some pretty wild topics, such as gods and Asgard, but the movie was mostly focused on Thor hanging out in New Mexico. The moment you start throwing weird, alien concepts at people, they’re going to start losing focus and interest.
It’s not like the Guardians of the Galaxy have any famous characters to bank on. It’s a big, bloated concept, and I think Marvel is making a mistake by hitching this wagon to The Avengers franchise. If Marvel wants to use The Avengers to launch some new characters/concepts, there are a lot better, simpler choices. Like Ant-Man, which is also heading towards production. But maybe they want to be risk-takers.
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Big Hero 6
The freakiness of Japan in superhero form
What is it: Rumors just started coming out that Big Hero 6 is going to be the Disney/Marvel animated movie that’s in the works, directed by Don Hall and scheduled for 2014 as well. Rumors of such a collaboration started a few months ago, and only now do we know the property. Who are Big Hero 6, you ask? They’re an obscure team of Japanese superheroes that have only been around since 1998. Originally pitched as a spin-off of obscure X-Man Sunfire, the Big Hero 6 are basically a bunch of wacky, fun Japanese-flavored superheroes doing the team thing in the Land of the Rising Sun. You’ve got characters like Baymax the giant robot, Hiro the boy genius, Honey Lemon the babe and Fred the giant lizard man, not to mention samurais and other sword-wielding dudes. Basically nobody you’ve ever heard of, but wacky and Japanese.
What do I think: Read my list of the 6 movies I think Marvel should make next. Big Hero 6 is not on that list for a reason. Nobody has any idea who they are. Much like Guardians of the Galaxy, this team of superheroes is just too obscure. But then maybe that’s the point. Maybe the movie makers don’t want to play up the Marvel superheroes angle. Maybe this guy Don Hall just has an idea for an animated superhero movie, and the Big Hero 6 fit his mold. It’s not like anybody really cares about the Big Hero 6, so he can reshape them however he wants.
If Marvel and Disney really want to collaborate on an animated superhero movie, there are many better choices than Big Hero 6. But if they just want to make an animated superhero movie, there are worse places to find inspiration than the extensive character catalog offered by Marvel.
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The Human Fly
He has nothing to do with actual flies
What is it: Damned if I know. I had to Wikipedia this one. Apparently Marvel published a comic book from 1977 to 1979 based on the life of real-life stuntman Rick Rojatt, though I guess the film will be based on real-life stuntman Joe Ramacieri. The comic ran for 19 issues and was about who knows what. A stuntman being a superhero, I guess. Well apparently Hollywood types Alan Brewer and Steven Goldmann were fans, because they have picked up the rights for Eisenberg-Fisher Productions, which is part of Paramount. They’re going to make Human Fly into an indie film.
What do I think: Some how, some way, these people went and found the worst, most obscure Marvel character of all time, and are going to turn him into a movie. Wow. I don’t know whether to be impressed with their gumption of laugh out loud at the silly insanity. But I guess more power to’em…the weirdos.
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But we’re not done talking about upcoming Marvel superhero movies! Check back later for an update in the ongoing Edgar Wright/Ant-Man saga!
Hulk Smash Pickle Jar!
Here’s another amazing Marvel/Perry Bible Fellowship cartoon! Love this stuff!
Spider-Man to Team Up with Poochie
Or at least his own Poochie equivalent: Alpha!
File this new comic book news under ‘eye-rolling’, as Marvel is apparently going to give Spider-Man a sidekick! According to Fox News (of all places), a new character named Alpha is going to be introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #692 in order to celebrate Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary. Marvel has been teasing “Who is Alpha?” for a week or two now, and today they finally revealed that he’s going to be some white kid who accidentally gets super-powers while visiting Peter Parker’s lab.
Someone got paid to design that costume?
Since Peter is going to feel directly responsible for the kid (‘power and responsibility’ kind of being Peter’s thing), then Spider-Man is going to take Alpha under his wing to teach him about being a superhero. And in glorious fashion, Alpha is going to not only be more powerful than Spider-Man, but he’s going to be edgy and have a little attitude. Because that’s exactly what comic book fans want in their shoe-horned characters. Apparently they also want painfully generic black and teal superhero costumes.
When I first saw this announcement this morning, I thought it had to be some kind of joke. This story could almost qualify as an Onion parody about Spider-Man getting a generic, mainstream media-friendly sidekick.
Check out this quote from Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso from that article:
“Part of it is that Spider-Man is grown up. He’s older, more seasoned, but young at heart. He’s still a young man, but he’s been around. It’s interesting because it flips the paradigm. Teen hero Spider-Man is now responsible for this teen hero sidekick. He’s responsible because one of his inventions caused this kid to get his powers. He’s directly responsible for the responsibility this kid now has with his new powers. He feels he has a responsibility to make sure this kid walks the right path, which won’t prove easy.”
Did you guys know that Spider-Man is all about ‘responsibility’?
After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve decided that Alpha is being trotted out for a mainstream-friendly story designed to reinforce the ‘powers and responsibility’ motto in time for Spidey’s big anniversary. Alpha is going to be an homage to classic Spider-Man stories. There’s no way this kid is a permanent sidekick for Spider-Man. Or even filling in as a replacement Spider-Man. In fact, I think these news stories are using the word “sidekick” a bit too heavily. Maybe he’ll stick around and become a member of the supporting cast, someone Peter is always thinking about and looking out for, but we’re not talking a Robin level of sidekickery. He’s not going to become as intricate a partner to Spider-Man as the Boy Wonder is to Batman. He’s just going to become a new character in Spider-Man’s life because Dan Slott had a great idea about Spider-Man feeling directly responsible for Alpha getting super-powers.
You can check out a preview for issue #692 and the origin of Alpha right here.
Basically it looks like Peter invents some kind of ‘Science Gizmo’ that fires ‘Parker Particles’, which blast the kid and give him super-powers. Ho-hum.
Science!
If Spider-Man were to really get a permanent partner, the people at Marvel Comics could come up with someone a lot more creative than Alpha.
There is no way that the brilliant Dan Slott, current writer of Amazing Spider-Man, came up with such a bland, generic-looking character as a permanent sidekick to Spider-Man. I mean, c’mon. The name ‘Alpha’ is as generic as calling a new superhero ‘Power Boy’ or ‘Vengeance’. And that costume is ridiculous. Not even a mask?
Here’s what Slott himself said on the message boards at ComicBookResources:
As soon as I turned in the first draft of the story, I said, “When news of this breaks, there are going to be 3 comments made IMMEDIATELY on the internet…”
“I dropped Spider-Man shortly after Brand New Day started and I honestly haven’t missed it. This whole, sidekick thing just shows how right I was to drop it when I did.” <– I nailed this one almost WORD FOR WORD!
The other two involve the words “Poochie” and/or “Scrappy Doo.”
🙂Seriously tho– This is going to be a fun storyline and one I’ve wanted to do for ages. It is VERY Spider-Man. It’s SUCH a Spider-Man story straight-to-the-core. In fact it is SO VERY VERY VERY a quintessential Spider-Man story– it’ll be one of the ones where people AFTER THEY’VE ACTUALLY READ IT will go, “I can’t believe the series has been going for 50 years and no one EVER told that story before.”
So clearly Slott recognizes just how generic and impromptu Alpha is, comparing the character to Poochie and Scrappy-Doo. Slott recognizes that idea and dismisses it. So it’s safe to say that he has something else in mind. Which is good to know, because Slott is a great writer, and there’s no way he’d be responsible for such a weak character.
However, I think Slott would absolutely be willing to create such a boring character as a foil for Spider-Man. Because, as he said, this is Spider-Man’s story, not Alpha’s story. Alpha is just a plot point. He’s a character for Spider-Man to react to. He’s someone for Spider-Man to mentor and reinforce his ‘power and responsibility’ motto. This will be like those Public Service Announcement comics. A fluffy, mainstream-friendly story that anyone can pick up and appreciate Spider-Man for Spider-Man.
We love ya, big guy!
Though we can probably anticipate a dark twist or two, like Alpha becoming a villain or something. I doubt Alpha will be immediately dropped after one story. I’m sure Slott has an end game in mind.
And if you want anymore proof that Alpha is just a mainstream-friendly character: Alpha’s real name is ‘Andy Maguire’. In the big screen films, Spider-Man has been played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Come on!
Awesome Deadpool Fan Film
If my life had gone in different directions, such as being a film student and having access to film equipment and actor friends, I could easily see myself making superhero fan films. It looks like a lot of fun! Especially in this epic Deadpool fan film, which perfectly nails the character and has a blast in the process. Give it up for the creative people of Bean Di Productions for Deadpool: A Typical Tuesday!
Henchman-4-Hire