The One Thing That Bugs Me The Most About Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald
I didn’t like Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald. I love the Wizarding World of Harry Potter as much as the next person, and I relatively enjoyed the first Fantastic Beasts movie. But the new sequel is baloney. It’s a hodgepodge of conflicting and confusing subplots, all attempting to pad out a movie that’s really only concerned with setting up the rest of the franchise.
But there’s one thing that really, really bugged me about the new film: the casual use of the killing curse.
Spoilers: Bellatrix kills Sirius
I’m not going to spoil anything in the movie, at least nothing important. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that the acolytes of the criminal Grindewald, among others, use the killing curse. It’s just how they use it that really annoys me, and how I feel it contradicts established Harry Potter canon.
Honestly, a lot of things in The Crimes of Grindelwald contradict Harry Potter canon. And as someone who enjoys the pedantry of Harry Potter canon, the detail that JK Rowling put into the Wizarding World, a lot of this really bugged me.
But what really sticks in my craw about the new movie is how casually the wizards flick their wands and administer Avada Kedavra, the killing curse.
Spoilers: Lucius kills nobody
In the books and the original films, we’re taught that Avada Kedavra is one of the three Unforgivable Curses. It’s a big freaking deal. We’re also taught that casting spells without shouting the incantation is a powerful magic that takes years of study. And I feel that it was heavily implied that you couldn’t just cast off Avada Kedavra without using the incantation.
You’ve got to really mean it when you cast Avada Kedavra. You’ve got to put your whole damn soul behind it. Even powerful wizards like Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape and Vodlemort himself have to speak or shout the incantation out loud to cast it.
Spoilers: Voldemort kills Grindelwald
But in the film, wizards can casually stroll into a room, flick their wrists and people die.
The most egregious example, the one that really grinds my gears, involved an Auror, ostensibly one of the good guys. This Auror is standing there, wand down, when he’s startled by someone at his side. He quickly turns half around, barely raises his wand, says nothing, and a little plume of green magic comes out and the person at his side is dead. It goes that quickly and that simply.
Are Aurors just flinging around the killing curse all willy nilly? Does it really not take that much effort?
Granted, the film takes place in 1927, and the Harry Potter movies don’t happen until the 1990s. Maybe stuff like this is why the Unforgivable Curses were so established in the first place. But it always felt like those were old magical rules.
Perhaps all this casual killing, by good guys and bad guys alike, led to some new magical rules. Still bugs me though.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/17/18
Oh boy, this must be some kind of record! I’ve got 10 — count ’em, 10! — reviews for you henchies this week! The combination of a day off from work on Wednesday, and plenty of time to write these up, allowed me to really enjoy comics this week. I even skipped some titles to spare my sanity, so there could have been even more!
We’ve got G. Willow Wilson’s debut on Wonder Woman, which I enjoyed. We’ve got the much-hyped Uncanny X-Men #1, which was meh. We’ve got the long-delayed new issue of Fantastic Four, which was good. And a ton of others!
Comic Book of the Week goes to the final issue of Mister Miracle for a pretty momentous epilogue issue. It remains as mind-boggling as the rest of the series.
R.I.P. Funky Flashman
I skipped a bunch of comics this week. Ms. Marvel was nice, but was a pretty weird tangent. I think I’m going to stop reviewing Rainbow Brite after only that first issue. The second one lost me. I skipped the new Domino purely because there were so many comics this week. And I’m still not caught up on Thor! Why do all my favorite comics come out in a single week?!
Comic Reviews: Amazing Spider-Man #9, Captain America #5, Catwoman #5, Fantastic Four #3, Go Go Power Rangers #14, Mister Miracle #12, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #38, Uncanny X-Men #1, Unstoppable Wasp #2 and Wonder Woman #58.
How Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them Should Have Ended
Once upon a time, I was going to write a post about how Newt Scamander doesn’t actually do anything in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. Rewatch the film and you’ll see. He doesn’t impact the main plot until maybe at the very end.
Either way, the new sequel is out today! So let’s enjoy the video.
Solid How It Should Have Ended. Thankfully, when they don’t do superheroes, they don’t go to their Batman/Superman cafe scenes. I like that.
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Good News, Everybody! Stingray Isn’t Dead After All!
I was worried for a minute there. But we can rest easy, folks.
Stingray is probably my all-time favorite Avenger. It’s all in the costume. That is one damn cool superhero costume. And I love his reserve status, this ordinary dude who sometimes helps out the Avengers when it comes to watery stuff. I love that he designed his suit for his job as an oceanographer, and first and foremost, he’s an oceanographer, but will help out as a superhero when necessary.
And should Marvel Comics ever come calling, I have a tight 5 to 6 issue Stingray pitch to offer. Seriously, call me.
He flies through the seas with the greatest of ease
Last month, it appeared that his longtime ally, Namor the Submariner, killed Stingray in Avengers #9, by writer Jason Aaron. I was devastated. It’s been a rough year for me and having my favorite superheroes killed.
The issue opens with a really awesome scene of Stingray fighting Tiger Shark, drawn by David Marquez.
Brothers-in-law
But then a new evil Namor shows up, having once again declared war on the surface world, or some such. When Stingray balks at kissing Namor’s ring, Namor beats him within an inch of his life and orders his war sharks to kill Stingray. It’s pretty brutal.
Namor is dead to me
And that looked to be the end. Stingray is a minor character, and having him killed to kick off some big Namor storyline in Avengers is a perfectly reasonable use of a minor character. That’s what happens to minor characters.
And fans of such minor characters, like me, just have to deal with that fact.
But then the follow up issue, Avengers #10, came out this week. Captain America seems to reassure me personally that everything is OK and the world isn’t as dark and horrible as I’d feared.
Are there two more beautiful words than “damn near”?
Stingray doesn’t actually appear in the new issue, but that comment from Cap is good enough for me! He lives! Stingray lives!
For now…
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My 6 Favorite Comic Characters Created by Stan Lee
Stan “The Man” Lee passed away this week at the age of 95. He had a good, long life, full of imagination and storytelling, two things I hold very near and dear. Not only was he instrumental in revolutionizing the comic book industry — which dominates my life, hopes and dreams — but he’s been enjoying a delightfully fun resurgence in pop culture over the past two decades with his movie cameos.
Stan Lee is a legend. And the best way I can honor him is by geeking out over some of my favorite comic book characters!
1922 – 2018
I never had the pleasure of meeting Stan Lee. I think the most I ever managed was seeing him board an escalator at New York Comic-Con once. That’s good enough for me. I’ve never been one for hero worship, especially with famous people and celebrities. But there’s no denying that Stan Lee created a fictional world that means everything to me, and has inspired me to dedicate my own life to creating awesome fictional worlds. Gotta give the guy props for that.
So join me after the jump for my favorite Stan Lee creations in comics! And please feel free to share your own in the comments!
Henchman-4-Hire 