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Category Archives: Marvel
Superheroes on TV
Superheroes used to exist only on the page. Sometime within the last twenty years, they took over the big screen. Most recently, they’ve been trying to take over the small one.
During the premiere of 24: Live Another Day, FOX aired its first promo for their upcoming “Gotham,” a TV show about Commissioner Gordon’s start in the Gotham Police Department. Watch it below:
The internet exploded, first with huge view counts and overwhelmingly positive comments, and then with the news that Fox (the movie studio, not the TV channel), was looking into bringing one of their superhero properties to the small screen. Potential names being thrown out included X-Force, Fantastic Four, and even Deadpool.
With two superhero shows already on TV (Agents of SHIELD and Arrow), two currently in production (The Flash and Gotham), and Marvel’s five-series deal with Netflix, could TV become the new medium of comics? It’s possible, especially with shows like Agents of SHIELD holding continuity with movies as well. There’s always the chance, however, of these universes becoming too convoluted, or maybe people simply becoming overexposed to the world of the superhero.
For now, however, I think we’re good. Any addition to the superhero world on television is a good one to me.
X-Men Director Steps Down Due to Allegations
Bryan Singer, director of X-Men, X2, and the soon-to-be-released X-Men: Days of Future Past, has stepped off the publicity trail after allegations surfaced that he sexually abused a 17-year-old boy.
While calling the accusations “a sick twisted shakedown,” it has been decided that he halt promoting the film, and has suspended all work on the sequel X-Men: Apocalypse until further notice.
The public is split on whether or not to support the movie– some say they will not see his work since this news broke, others say that nothing has been proven, and that it takes more than one man to make a movie. Either way, the future of the X-Men on the screen will probably be affected by this through box office numbers or a change in creative control.
The claim is still under investigation.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Post Credits Scene is WHA
Marvel (the Disney portion of it, anyway) has perfected the art of the post-credits scene. When people leave the theater before the credits stop rolling on any of the Avengers properties, you know they’re doing it wrong. The other factions of Marvel (Fox’s X-Men and Sony’s Spider-Man) have tried following suit, and to some extent even succeeded. It’s just a little more difficult when you only own one property, as opposed to the many that make up The Avengers.
You would think that these properties would use their post-credits scene to prop up future events in their own timeline. For example, the post-credits scene of The Wolverine was a pump-up piece for X-Men: Days of Future Past. The last Amazing Spider-Man movie teased the appearance of the Green Goblin. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is supposed to be building towards a potential Sinister Six movie, so you think that one of them would show up in the post-credits scene, right?
Wrong. According to those who have seen the movie overseas, the post-credits scene isn’t promoting anything Spider-Man. Instead, it’s a clip straight from X-Men: Days of Future Past– a film from an entirely different studio and Marvel franchise! But don’t get too excited– this isn’t build-up to a crossover between the X-Men and your favorite webslinger. This is just a straight promotional clip, and probably part of the contract that Marc Webb has with Fox that allows him to hop over to Sony to make these Spider-Man films.
While I know this is just a straight business deal, I’m a little upset. Post-credits scenes are supposed to be secret Easter eggs that help build a universe and give the loyal audiences a treat. Why should I stay for footage that I’ll be able to see, in context, just two weeks after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 airs? If you’re not going to tease something new or mysterious in your post-credits scene, don’t trick the audience into staying.
Super Advertising?
Carl’s Jr, a burger chain popular on the west coast and distributer of some controversial ads, has just released a new ad campaign for their double bacon burger that features characters from the X-Men Universe. They are… lazy, to say the least:
The first one, featuring Quicksilver, has some pretty simple special effects that makes me nervous about the portrayal of the character in the movie (I’m not really a fan of the costume, either. It looks like just that: a cheap, bright, shiny silver costume rather than something a superhero would legitimately be wearing in this universe). I get the concept, but I’m not a huge fan.
The second one is, in my opinion, even worse. They couldn’t even get Jennifer Lawrence to play her own character! They took a random actress and put her in the costume, hoping we wouldn’t notice. Newsflash: everyone knows that isn’t her, and it weakens the advertisement.
These aren’t very effective in promoting either the burger or the movie, as they look sloppy and ill-put-together. I think Fox dropped the ball on this one, and should have passed on the Carl’s Jr. team-up.
Captain America Easter Eggs: Who’s Next?
Spoilers below for the recently-release Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released this past Friday, opening to rave audience and critic reviews alike. The film is fast, action-packed, and sets new stakes for the movie universe being assembled by Marvel. Not only does it lay the groundwork for the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the film drops hints about what may be coming in “Stage Three” of the Marvel Universe.
In particular, there was an explicit mention of “Stephen Strange” from Agent Sitwell (as well as one of a high school valedictorian– Peter Parker, perhaps?!). Stephen, otherwise known as “Dr. Strange,” is one of the more popular Marvel superheroes, and one whose movie has been in development for quite some time. Could this mean we’ll be getting a Dr. Strange movie in Phase Three? Perhaps, especially because it seems that Marvel Studios is moving towards a more magically and cosmic experience with the introduction of Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver for the second Avengers movie. We’ll probably find out soon, but it’s an interesting tidbit to look into!
Keep a lookout for my full review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier!
‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ in South Korea and Italy
The highly anticipated sequel to 2012’s The Avengers is currently in production, shooting in London, South Korea, and Italy. Rather than the ultra-secrecy one might expect for these types of products, production photos and videos have been flooding the internet over the past few days, including thank you videos from Joss Whedon (writer/director) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) to the people of Seoul, South Korea.
In addition, set photos of Ultron, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Captain America have leaked, showing off new costumes for the new and old characters alike. I’ll put links to them here, here, and here, so those who would rather not be spoiled don’t have to be.
Captain America No More?
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An X-Citing New Trailer
Hold on tight, X-Men fans. This is a big one.
On Monday, Fox released their latest trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past. Check it out:
WOW. How about that? I have to say, I’m pretty excited. I’ve been off-and-on with the X-Universe for a while (X-Men and X2? Great! X3? Not so much. X-Men Origins: Wolverine? ….I prefer to pretend that one never happened), but X-Men: First Class and the most recent Wolverine have gained my trust back… at least for the moment. After this trailer? I’m still on board. It looks fast, intense, action-packed, and just generally SUPER, with the X-Men using more of their powers than I think we typically see from them. Not to mention the sheer number of characters on the screen, something that could be awesome, (Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart all on screen together? YES PLEASE) or cause Spider-Man 3 levels of confusion and disappointment.
With Bryan Singer back at the helm, I’ll keep my hopes up, and will definitely be seeing X-Men: Days of Future Past when it releases at the end of May.
Fantastic Four Reboot: On the Right Path?
Back in 2005, Fox produced a Fantastic Four movie that was simultaneously a superhero flick and an attempt at a parody of a superhero flick. It spawned an overall disappointing sequel (Rise of the Silver Surfer), and since then the property has remained untouched. Recently, Fox has unearthed those properties (probably because they’re about to lose the rights back to Marvel studios), and have decided to give it another go– hopefully something a little better than last time. The Fantastic Four have the unique quality of being a family team, as well as slightly older than the average group of superheroes. This film could have been the perfect opportunity for pulling in older viewers.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be how Fox (who has been hinting at an X-men/Fantastic Four crossover film if the latter is successful) is thinking with their casting and plot synopsis. Let’s start with the synopsis. A report at acting-auditions.org states:
“The Fantastic Four’ will tell the story of two very young friends, Reed Richards and Ben Grimm. After an event transforms the boys, they find themselves empowered with bizarre new abilities. Reed becomes a scientific genius who can stretch, twist and re-shape his body to inhuman proportions. Ben becomes a monstrous, craggy humanoid with orange, rock-like skin and super strength. However, the two end up being owned by the government and used as weapons. But after they mature, two others with powers come into the picture – Sue Storm “The Invisible Girl” and Johnny Storm “The Human Torch.”
This deviates wildly from the original story of the Fantastic Four, where the Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben are astronauts on the same mission who get radiation poisoning. I know it’s enough to make me nervous about the movie, as straying so far from the source material often makes me question why they don’t just create an original story with original characters.
Fox has also released casting news, listing Miles Teller as Reed Richards, Cate Mara as Sue Storm, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, and Jaime Bell as Ben Grimm. There are a lot of interesting choices within this list, some causing a lot of controversy (and outright racism) within the larger moviegoing community, as Michael B. Jordan is playing a character who is typically drawn as white in the comic books.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened– Samuel L. Jackson’s character Nick Fury was originally white, and his casting (even though it happened before the true explosion of comic book movies into the mainstream) caused a similar controversy within the comic book community. Now, everyone loves him; they’ve even based the character off of him in the Ultimate comic books.
Personally, I’m fine with Michael B. Jordan playing Johnny Storm; I’ll see the movie if the trailer looks any good. What worries me more is the skewing of the cast towards the younger side, as well as the major plot renovations. I’d rather they be true to the personality of the comic than the actual aesthetic or race of any individual character, especially when someone as talented as Michael B. Jordan is being considered the “problem.”