Archive for May, 2013

Review: Gambit #12

Gambit #12Defenestratin’ Hussy. I think that is my new phrase…

This issue of Gambit ends the long plot-arc of Joelle and just what her game is, so SPOILERS.

Now, I never much cared for her just in general, but now that she’s gone I can’t help but be a little pissed about it. I mean, I understand why she used the Zero Compound to off herself but it feels like so much of a cop-out and pointless.

Yes, she was sad and depressed that her daughter died and she couldn’t… but… did she not have grandchildren? No other legacies? And there was Gambit right there, okay, yeah, he kinda went into ROMY mode when Rogue came around (which actually makes this all the worse). Surely Gambit and/or Rogue weren’t so blind to see what she was about to do. I know that once she touched the liquid she was a goner but Gambit was right freaking there, he could have knocked the cannister out of her hand.

Maybe I’m a little oversensitive to the subject due to personal history but I really think that this wasn’t the best way to end things. I think it would have been stronger, both in story and in character, for Gambit (and maybe Rogue) try to help her more. Joelle could have been legitimately pulled out of Gambit’s life as she sought treatment for her depression and learned how to live… I’m sure Wolvie would be willing to sit her down and put her straight.

However, I can’t say that it was a bad ending, it wrapped itself up and was a legitimate conclusion (even if I think it was the wrong one), and the reactions of Gambit and Rogue afterwards were well done. You can see Gambit is hurting, even if he didn’t love Joelle he still failed to save her, plus he’s a bit lost himself right now. Rogue wants to do something but knows it’s all stuff Gambit has to handle on her own, lest he fall into the same comfort trap she was worried about falling into herself.

It’s all so freaking sad.

Curse you Asmus for all the FEELS.

Keep up the good work.

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The full trailer for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been released.

There is a lot more here, we see that Coulson is basically pulling together his own little mini-Avengers team complete with agents and non-agents alike. It also seems like Coulson’s death has been kept as the status quo, and in general everyone still believes him to be dead. This could get very interesting later on (and I wonder if he will be making an apperance in Captain America 2?)

We also see Whedon’s signature wit in the dialogue and at least one crack made at the name S.H.I.E.L.D.

So far, so good.

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io9 – Every single clue hidden inside the  Agents of SHIELD trailer

ComicBookMovie – S.H.I.E.L.D Viral Site Launches – “We Are The Rising Tide”

ComicBookMovie – Unlock EXTENDED Trailer for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D via Twitter

ComicBookMovie – Mark Ruffalo Talks THE AVENGERS 2; Debunks Rumours Of Cast Members Not Returning

ComicBookMovie – Mark Ruffalo Discusses IRON MAN 3 Stinger Cameo

ComicBookMovie – IRON MAN 3’s Ty Simpkins Has Signed A 3 Picture Deal With Marvel Studios

Newsarama – DC Comics’ FULL August 2013 Solicitations

ComicBookMovie – Eight New MAN OF STEEL Images Featuring Jor-El, Perry White And More

CinemaBlend – Paul Giamatti’s Rhino Revealed In New Amazing Spider-Man 2 Photo

ComicBookMovie – Rhino Pantsed By Spidey In New AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Set Photos & Video

ComicBookMovie – Andrew Kreisberg Comments On How  ARROW and SyFy’s BOOSTER GOLD Could Link Up

CinemaBlend – Arnold Schwarzenegger May Star In Upcoming Toxic Avenger Reboot

Newsarama – ANGELA’s Marvel Look Revealed

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New photo has been put up on twitter by Bryan Singer and this one is a possible spoiler so I’ll just link to it here.

If you didn’t look, read no further. If you peaked, then here is what I have to say…

Okay, let’s start with the caption, “Welcome to 1973”. Those walls look mighty bright, metal and sterile for 1973 style and esthetics… but, I suppose we could assume that perhaps the underground facility was built like that and never got remodeled since which is why it’s the same in the X-Men movies.

Secondly, Logan. Now, is this 1973 Logan or future Logan brought back to 1973? Since he’s ‘ageless’ and wearing 1973 style clothing (which he could have gotten at any point) we just can’t know for sure which one he is. Granted, DOFP Logan in the comics was given a stripe of grey hair to denote his age, but they could have easily skipped doing that for a multitude of reasons (like how he doesn’t have the streak in The Wolverine which, in theory, wouldn’t be that far off from the ‘future’ he is coming from if he is indeed the time traveler). Speaking of hair, the Wolverine coif does seem to be more prominent here than it was in The Wolverine… but that’s not a lot to go on regarding knowing which Wolvie this is as it could simply be different Hair/Make Up because it’s a different crew, different director, etc. All we do know is that Wolverine is getting a decent sized role in DOFP as has been suggested by the fact he was one of the first original crew picked up for the film and he was placed first on the casting board.

Thirdly, Beast… isn’t all that beastly. As far as I know the only way Beast could look like himself after he turned Blue was by using an image inducer. Could this be at work here? It would cut down on the CG budget, avoid more Care-Bear beast makeup, and be easier on the actor. Not sure if this really affects anything else, but it could be fun… and I’m reminded of Chellerbelles’ Squeaky & Stripes where Gambit runs around with an image inducer on which has a shirt saying “I’m naked under my Image Inducer.”

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Maurissa Tancharoen posted a link via twitter to a YouTube video with a first look at Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

We start out with some kind of hooded character with seemingly super-human powers. Will we be seeing minor Marvel characters showing up, ones that probably won’t make it onto the big screen, or will these be all new? Hopefully it’s a mix of both because there are several smaller characters who deserve their moment but at the same time the show will want to keep things fresh.

The rest of the sneak, which is woefully short, is a bunch of normal fighting between normal looking people. So there does look like a lot of action in the pilot but not of the super-human type. This makes sense as a) they have to keep the threat below ‘get the Avengers’ and b) they have to keep the budget below what Disney is willing to pay. But there is a little tech in there so it doesn’t look like it’ll be completely ignored.

No idea on the overall theme or tone (other than action packed) but we do get a nice look at Coulson there at the end with the proclamation that #CoulsonLives. Yes, yes he does… and we couldn’t be happier.

I don’t know if this is the same sneak that will be aired tonight during Once Upon a Time, but I’ll be watching in either case.

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Repost of the news from Deadline:

No surprise here — ABC’s first new series order for next season has gone to Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D., from The Avengers’ Joss Whedon. The network will air a first-look at the series, officially titled Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., during the season finale of Once Upon A Time on Sunday. This marks the first pilot and first series for Disney-owned Marvel on ABC. Detailed description below:

Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series.  “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.

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The Maximoff Twins: Scarlet Witch and QuicksilverAt the moment, we have fairly good reason to believe that Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, will be in Avengers 2. Let’s hope they don’t get dropped from the script any time between now and filming.

Now, according to this article from SuperHeroHype, the siblings are going to get a bit of an overhaul. Why? Because the twins are stuck in limbo. They mostly belong under the Avengers title but they are mutants and the children of Magneto himself… so they could be used by Disney or Fox so long as the respective connections to Avengers or X-Men are ignored.

So, yeah, having the Maximoff’s not be mutants makes sense from a legal perspective. Disney doesn’t want to step on Fox’s toes regarding the licensing and Disney also probably doesn’t want to open the door to let Fox milk off their recent success.

Then what could our twins be? Lots of options. Experiments gone wrong. Augmented humans. Or down-right pure magic. Since Disney’s MCU isn’t taking itself nearly as hard-core serious, i.e. everything doesn’t have to be realistic and explainable, giving the twins Magic, whether inherent or learned, is their best bet. It gives them a reason to be ‘super’ without being ‘mutants’ and gives them connections to Dr Strange who is getting his own movie and has a connection to Wanda as a teacher of the magic arts.

Now that I think about it, they could treat magic like it’s treated in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, it’s basically a really high understanding of physics. Can you imagine Bruce and Tony trying to figure that one out? Oh… the comedic value alone…

What about their history?

DRSTR60_OpeningThe same SuperHeroHype article mentions that Disney is basically looking for 20-somethings for the twins. This makes sense for the legal reasons I mentioned. Also, if they are Mags kids and he lived through the Holocaust as a pre-teen then they’d be in their late 40s (at best, like if Mags had them when he was much older). So basically making the twins younger avoids a paradox and also steers them away from the licensing issue (though hopefully Whedon will at the very least just not mention their father, or say they were adopted, etc, to keep that little hint of something in there, rather than giving them a father who isn’t Max, erm, Erik).

The twins also joined the Avengers when they were relatively young, so it does fit their profile for them to do so in the MCU.

But the big thing is, if Disney wants to keep the Avengers going they need fresh ‘young blood’  who can be tied down to several future films. While I’m sure Dr Strange will be an older-ish character, anyone else they bring in, like Ant-Man and Wasp, will likely also be in the 20-something club as well.

Okay, there is also talk in that article that the twins are going to be British, rather than Eastern European. This could radically change their characters. One of the staples of the twin’s backgrounds is that they are gypsies (Romani) from Transia, a fictional country next to Romania. Thing is, Eastern European Romani are not like the gypsies everyone thinks of as not all gypsies are the same. For starters, in Eastern Europe they are predominately Muslim. If they want to make the Maximoff’s legit Eastern European Romani then they have to make them Muslim which I think would actually be really awesome, but, I fear that, for the sake of not wanting to offend anyone, they will make them British gypsies which are mostly Catholic/Protestant. That way they don’t have to bring up religious beliefs at all.

This of course assumes that they even keep the gypsy background. They could, again, as not to offend anyone, make them boring old British people from Croydon (wherever that is).

But how important is it that they are gypsies? Not being an avid Avenger’s reader, I’ve never seen it addressed in the comics I have read, and it is just part of their characters ‘mystic quality’, at least Wanda’s. That’s the thing though, if they are going to be magic users then being gypsies would definitely be a way to kinda cement their individuality. If they are just augmented humans, then I doubt anyone other than the fans would even notice their lack of Romani heritage.

I do like the hint that they are looking for “Euro” and “edgy”… the “edgy” part actually. The twins did try a stint at being bad guys at first but decided against that pretty quick. So it’s possible that they could actually be the sub-villians in Avengers 2 and somewhere in there turn good. Or maybe they are petty-criminals in the beginning who are recruited by Fury early on (or are simply just new recruits but that would be boring). This could all lead into Wanda perhaps being in the Dr Strange movie as a tie-in.

X-Men Evolution - Wana MaximoffLastly, the clothes. Yeah, the red corset and pink leggings are way to much even for the MCU. They should take a cue from X-Men: Evolution and give Wanda normal (but well-tailored) clothes and a red leather jacket. As for Pietro, anything would work, really, though I’m fond of giving him a silver racing-jacket in my fan fics.

Well, that’s all I have to say at the moment, we don’t really know a heck of a lot beyond some words thrown around and that’s too little to be able to really gain a love it/hate it opinion. Also, in the next six months Disney/Whedon could decide to drop them from the cast list. I hope they don’t though because these two could really have some fun on screen.

Oh, let the fan casting begin…

(though I’d like to note the hilarity of the fact that a great Pietro would be a young Michael Fassbender…)

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Seriously, just look at that shirt…

Bryan Singer tweeted this garish image of James McAvoy as Professor X and at least we know the costume department has a sense of humor. But yeah, if this movie will take place predominantly in 1973 then this is the right look for Xavier… but perhaps a little overkill?

Singer hashtagged #Serpico on the tweet, Serpico being a the famous 1973 movie with Al Pacino as a police office who goes undercover to fight corruption in the NY Police Department, based on a true story as well. I don’t think this has anything to do with DOFP and is just Singer making fun of McAvoy’s hair.

Speaking of which, the hair question (as in when/how does he go bald) is a big one and McAvoy has made comment that it is something that will come up, though we don’t know anything on the particulars yet. From this picture, Xavier has more hair now than he’s ever had, which could make it quite ironic/hilarious should he lose it later in the film.

In any case, it looks like they have started filming present-time (yes, the 70s which is the past is technically present, that’s so X-Men) but that doesn’t mean the future stuff is over yet… though I wouldn’t be surprised if it was as the future shouldn’t take up that much screen time. In fact, we don’t want the future stuff to drown out the present-time because ultimately that’s what this is all about. It’s great to see the old gang together but it’s the present with the ‘First Class’ gang that is the crux of the story… or at least should be.

We still don’t know anything about the time traveller or Dinkledge’s role in the film and I doubt Singer will tweet any spoilers, but we’ll keep our eye out for them anyway as things are about to get interesting…

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Review: A+X #7

A+X #7This series is already starting to cycle through characters which is kinda lame since it’s only issue seven and there are literally hundreds of characters they can pull from.

Regardless, these were pretty fun stories.

Tony gets his butt beat by Hulk but not in the traditional sense. Basically both Tony and Beast get outsmarted by Bruce which is hilarious in its own special way.

As for Thor and Iceman, can you say ‘odd couple’? Bobby is always not taking things seriously and Thor is perpetually missing the joke. Nice to see Iceman kick a lot of butt though, it would be easy to just let the super-powered Thor take the win so it’s great to see Iceman getting to show why ice can be one tough element.

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CW's ArrowNot only is Oliver a really horrible friend but he’s also a really crappy son.

He has his mom drugged, subjects her to ‘torture by proxy’, and then he makes it all about him. Poor little boy is just so confused. Oh shut up.

Then he goes and decides he’s going to kill Tommy’s dad, just like that, without a single flinch of “you know, Tommy would be pissed if I did this”. And you wonder why Tommy doesn’t want anything to do with you?

I’m not sure if this crappy writing, or really genius writing in disguise. Oliver really hasn’t changed, he’s just as selfish and spoiled as he was when he left. So far, he’s not redeemable in my eyes.

And then there is the whole thing with Laurel. I get that they are trying to give Tommy good reasons to be mad at Oliver and do the whole Green Goblin thing (psst, that’s Marvel, did you forget CW?) but they have pretty much devolved Laurel’s character into the love interest while dangling Felicity out the window.

Diggle continues to be the only voice of reason here and truly the best character, ‘knight in shining armor’ indeed.

As for Yao Fei… screw you CW.

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