Category Archives: Marvel

DC, Marvel, Other

Interview– Can Girls Like Comics Too?

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Female fans of comic book movies have been under pressure for a long time; there’s yet to be a (serious) female solo film from any of the major movie houses, despite the fact that 40% of megablockbuster The Avengers‘ audience was female. If they do get their own films, they are disrespected or oversexualised, bogged down with bad plots and worse writing. Yet despite these facts, female fans do exist, holding out hope for a comic book adaptation that doesn’t demean their onscreen idols, but rather holds them up to the same standards that men are held to.

Female fans unite! Jordan (center, dressed as Hawkeye), and me (right, as Black Widow) at San Diego Comic Con 2012.

I interviewed a close friend, superhero lover, and feminist, Jordan, about these very topics. Jordan was immersed in comic books by her father at a young age and grew up watching DC cartoons, including Teen Titans and Justice League. Recently, however, she’s turned her favor towards Marvel. “They have more interesting stories; more complex characters, especially women. So far, DC has a lot of angst– a lot of men whose parents die and they have to come back for justice… DC does television better, but Oliver Queen” (Arrow) “is basically another Bruce Wayne.”

Be that as it may, isn’t DC home to one of the most iconic female characters of all time: Wonder Woman?

Jordan agrees: Wonder Woman is a great character, and with Gal Gadot set to play her in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman film due out in 2015, will probably be a big hit. “Still,” she says, “she’s not the main focus; she’s a side character. The movie is called Batman vs. Superman, even though no one really cares about Superman… Take him out and put in more Wonder Woman!”

That’s not the only female superhero that Jordan thinks should make the leap to more screen time. “The X-men are full of great female characters. Wolverine now has two spinoff movies… why not give one to a character like Storm, or Rogue?” Why not, indeed? Scarlett Johansson’s turn as Black Widow in The Avengers has redefined the female superhero… and she did it without any powers. What could a fully-powered heroine do to the silver screen?

Still, these movies are only dreams stuck “in development” for the moment. We may be on the brink of a turn, but we have yet to reach it. In the meantime, what adaptations would Jordan recommend for the near future?

“Definitely Guardians of the Galaxy. It could be a huge flop, but it could also be great. It’s new and so different from what Marvel’s been putting out lately.”

And, for the record, it has a female villain.

Iron Man, Marvel, Thor

Marvel One-Shot Hints at Future

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This past week, Thor: The Dark World was released on BluRay and DVD, premiering tons of new bonus content from the Marvel Universe. One such item of bonus content was the one-shot “All Hail the King,” a continuation of last year’s Iron Man 3.  These short Marvel films have been included as bonus content on the DVD releases since 2011’s Thor, which premiered the light-hearted “The Consultant,” a follow-up to both The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. Since then, four new one-shots have been released with each of the new Marvel movies, including “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer,” “Item 47” (which spawned the ABC Television show “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”), “Agent Carter” (also rumored to have sparked a television show), and “All Hail the King.” Watch a clip from the short below:

This newest one-shot, following Iron Man 3’s hoax villain Trevor Slattery during his time in prison, is particularly interesting because of what it might mean for the future of the universe.

[Warning: SPOILERS below for those who have not seen Iron Man 3 or this newest Marvel one-shot.]

Ready? Okay.

Trevor, enjoying his celebrity status in prison, is being interviewed about his time posing as The Mandarin while in the employ of AIM. About halfway through the short, the interviewer stops to tell Trevor about the real Ten Rings terrorist group and their leader, the Mandarin King. Trevor is oblivious, but the interviewer starts to assemble a gun, revealing a tattoo of… the Ten Rings! The same terrorist group that kidnapped Tony Stark back in the first Iron Man  movie. Trevor finds himself, at the end of the short, with a gun to his head being told to prepare to meet the man whose name he stole.

Does that mean that the Mandarin, the mystical, rings-wielding, archnemesis-of-Iron-Man version,  actually exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? It looks like it. Will we meet him in a future film? That’s harder to tell. These one-shots seem to be pushing towards television shows, but I can’t imagine Ben Kingsley or Robert Downey, Jr. starring in a network television dramedy. And with RDJ’s most recent contract only keeping him around for two more Avengers movies, I’m not sure we’ll see the Mandarin on the big screen anytime soon either.

It could be that this is just an attempt from Marvel to clear what has been considered by many fanboys “the biggest wrong” the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done them. With the bait-and-switch reveal of the “fake” Mandarin, they want to know there’s a real one out there. This could just be the MCU’s attempt to leave the existence of the Mandarin up to personal interpretation, thus satisfying the fanboys and fangirls still angry that they had the wool pulled over their eyes.

What do you think? Will we ever see the “real” Mandarin on the screen? And if you haven’t, go check out Thor: The Dark World on DVD!

Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Marvel

Marvel Netflix Series to Film in NYC

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At a press conference yesterday, Marvel announced that their newest endeavor into entertainment– five Netflix series, following four superheroes and ending in a superhero team-up– would film on location in New York. The first series, starring blind crime-fighter Daredevil (otherwise known as Matthew Murdock), is set to release in the fall of 2015.

Daredevil and Luke Cage, enjoying the pleasures of New York City

Why is this exciting? Well for one thing, moving Marvel properties onto Netflix is yet another risk being taken by the studio, whose blockbuster formula (while working spectacularly at the box office) has left little room for surprise or innovation. The strength of streaming services has been rising rapidly with hits such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and even the newest season of Arrested Development. Sending these shows straight to Netflix allows a certain amount of maturity not usually seen in Marvel’s films, a good thing for the “grittier” superheroes of Hell’s Kitchen (Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist).

Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage– the group of superheroes from the area known as “Hell’s Kitchen.”

For another, this deal allows Marvel to dip into its lesser-known superheroes, branching into minorities who have yet to appear on the big screen. While Black Widow has appeared in a few Marvel films, and both War Machine and the Falcon have made appearances in other films, none of these heroes has yet to headline a movie. If these smaller superheroes have success, it might influence what we will see in the cinemas in the future (Black Panther, anyone? Or how about Captain Marvel?).

Finally, shooting on location allows both authenticity (these superheroes are all from New York, the same city where The Avengers took place), and creates jobs and revenue for the city itself. Rather than shoot in Los Angeles or on a soundstage, bringing the action to the real New York will create industry jobs for somewhere around 400 people, as well as revenue of $200 million– a great added bonus!

These Netflix series are set to air somewhere between 2015 and 2018, so most details have yet to be fleshed out. Still, it looks like an exciting road ahead!

Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel

Guardians of the Galaxy Revealed

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Marvel Studios’ cinematic universe has been off to a strong second round ever since the release of The Avengers in 2012. Their follow-ups to Iron Man and Thor far outgrossed their previous movies, and the sequel to Captain America is one of the most hotly anticipated movies of the upcoming summer. While the success of these movies shows Marvel’s newfound status as a powerhouse under Disney, they have yet to test their success on a new property– until now.

Meet the Guardians of the Galaxy, the gang of misfits that produced mostly a chorus of “huh?” when their movie was announced at Comic Con International back in 2012. Their movie has been kept mostly under wraps for the previous year and a half, only getting a handful of movie stills and the cast list released within the past few months. Then, early last week, the first trailer for the movie was dropped during Jimmy Kimmel, followed by the movie poster and a slew of new movie stills. The trailer, featuring Guardians “Starlord” (outlaw Peter Quill), Drax (also known as the Destroyer), Gamora (the deadliest assassin in the universe), Rocket (a bipedal, gun-toting raccoon), and Groot (a walking, regenerating tree), has lit intense debate across the internet. Some say it looks like the risk will pay off with one of Marvel’s most exciting and funniest movies, while others can’t get over the idea of a talking raccoon flying around the galaxy. See what Marvel has to say here, and check out the trailer for yourself below:

What do you think? Has Marvel overestimated their success, or does that song get you pumped up for what looks like a great romp in the Marvel galaxy?