I'm a 20 year old girl and I love Marvel. This is my experience reading major Marvel comic book story arcs for the first time. We're all here to have a good time.
Hello, hello, hello. Between the holidays and school and other such matters, my blog has gotten some serious neglect over the last month. But with news as big as this, it has brought me back!
As you can see from the title of this post, it was confirmed by Marvel yesterday that the one and only Benedict Cumberbatch will be portraying the Sorcerer Supreme in Marvel's Doctor Strange movie set to be released in November of 2016. This news supposedly "broke" back in October when the heavy rumor was going around about Cumberbatch being in serious talks with Marvel for this role. So, needless to say, I was prepared, but then again, I wasn't. There are some fans who are quite upset by this casting choice due to the fact that they believe Marvel is "whitewashing" the entire genre. While they definitely could have gone with a person of color for the role, I have enough faith in Marvel to believe that they chose the person who could best fulfill their expectations and someone who could really bring the character to life in a way that no one has ever seen before. Benedict Cumberbatch is one of my all-time favorite actors and I'm beyond excited to see where he can take the character of Stephen Strange. This movie is said to be Marvel's most wacky and weird film yet. With Stephen Strange gaining the powers to travel to parallel dimensions, and the "strangest" parts of space, I think that Cumberbatch has the right caliber to bring the gravitas that the character flaunts. And he not only has a flair for dramatics, but The Batch also has a knack for playing characters whose brains are much larger and more knowledgeable than the uncultured swine that is 99% of the population. You can see these characters in such works as the BBC show "Sherlock," 2013's "Star Trek Into Darkness," and most recently, "The Imitation Game" where he plays noted mathematician Alan Turing who helped break the Enigma Code during WWII. With credits such as these coupled with Marvel's track record for making ridiculously good movies out of material that no one thought would be good, I have nothing but faith in this film. If Benedict Cumberbatch is good enough for Marvel, then he's good enough for me. (But who am I kidding, he's always been good enough for me).
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Also, I will post about Guardians of the Galaxy issues 7-10 as soon as I possibly can. Thanks for your patience, folks. It's been a wild month.
Alrighty, folks, after the face-melting awesomeness that Marvel has provided us over the last week, it's time that we try to settle down for a bit with the new information that we have. Guardians of the Galaxy is really starting to get into some deep story. Let's get right into the good stuff. We open up on The Watcher; an almighty being whose job is to merely watch over all events happening on Earth. He's not to interfere with anything, his job is strictly to observe. Sidenote: There was a rumor going around for a while and I think it's still a conspiracy, that Stan Lee has a cameo in nearly every Marvel movie as an easter egg version of The Watcher. He's there always watching over events, but never interfering.... It's a fun theory so I'm going to stick with that. Meanwhile, Thanos and Peter are having a little heart-to-heart about the fact that the Earth is doomed to be subjugated and that somehow, the "Earthers" found a way to rip open the space-time continuum. This most likely has to do with the fact that Angela is suddenly hanging out on this end of the space-time continuum. Peter tries to use his element gun to shoot at Thanos and the comic changes scene. Gamora is dueling with Angela and they seem pretty evenly matched. That's really saying something about Angela considering the fact that Gamora is known as the dealiest assassin in the galaxy. Rocket, Groot, and Tony jump in to help but Groot is beheaded within 10 seconds and Angela starts going crazy on everyone, including Drax, until Peter stuns her with lightning from his element gun and they finally floor her. The Watcher then reveals himself to the Guardians to let them know that her name is Angela and that her presence troubles him in his duties to watch over the Earth... Dun Dun DUN!!
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What I love about these comics is the phenomenal storytelling. They have a way to have different storylines happening with three or four different members of the Guardians, and yet they all seem to somehow connect in each issue, and in the overall story.
I'm really loving that they brought in The Watcher here. it's a good place to introduce someone who has their eye on everything that's happening in the Marvel comic universe. It really gives weight to the fact that Angela being near Earth is a huge deal and that something is really not right. I'm curious about an even higher deity in the Marvel Universe. Who put The Watcher in charge of "watching?" These are important questions.... I'll probably get the answer to them later.
I'm really excited to see what else will happen with Thanos in the big picture because he is one of the "big bads" of the Marvel universe and I really want to start seeing some Infinity Gems tie-ins. I'm also really looking forward to seeing Gamora kick some more butt. She is nearly unstoppable and I just love the action scenes where she is taking someone down. It's pure gold and I need more of that in my life.
I'm intrigued by where exactly Angela came from and I look forward to the moment (hopefully in Issue 7) where we get to hear her side of the story. I'm also really curious as to why she is only wearing a metal bikini-type outfit. I know that all girls in comics have huge breasts and are usually scantily-clad, but come on! I know she's of a different race and all that, but you can't just be bare-skinned in outer space... Anyway, this issue was a really good read and I'm jumping for joy to read issue 7. Man, I love Marvel.
I needed to use all capital letters to show how important this is. Today was a great day to be a Marvel fan. At a press/fan event earlier today at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, they revealed their entire movie slate for Phase 3 and revealed the Black Panther himself. Let's get right into the good stuff. 1. Marvel kicked off their announcement with the reveal of Captain America: Serpent Society. It was quite shocking to everyone because we were all betting on either "Civil War" or "Fallen Son." However, they later revealed that they were just throwing people off and the subtitle would officially be Civil War. Captain America: Civil War will be released May 6, 2016 and will be the first film in Phase 3.
2. Next on their list was the Sorcerer Supreme himself, Dr. Strange. His movie will be hitting theaters November 4, 2017. They did not make any mention of casting rumors, nor confirm that Benedict Cumberbatch will be playing the titular and strange Marvel character. Anything that was not confirmed today is still rumor for now.
3. A special guest announced their next film via cell phone video. James Gunn appeared to raucous applause and announced that moving up from July 2017, the untitled Guardians of the Galaxy 2 will be pushed up to May 5, 2017. They bumped it up due to how well the film has done this year, becoming the highest-grossing superhero film of 2014 and third highest-grossing Marvel Studios film of all time. (I didn't add the writing to the title card, Marvel presented it like that)
4. The announcement of the next film was revealed to thunderous applause, which was fitting. It has been under speculation for some time, but it was finally confirmed that Thor 3 will be officially titled Thor: Ragnarok. There was quite a bit of whooping when the fans realized that not only will the God of Thunder be returning for what Marvel President Kevin Feige called "the Cap 2 of Phase 3," but that everyone's favorite villain, Loki will be returning as well, and they will have to ban together again, but this time for the battle of the ages. Thor returns on July 28, 2017.
5. Up next came the film that was given some of the loudest applause. Being one of the first films in Phase 3 to introduce a new character to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther will be ready for fans to enjoy on November 3, 2017. What's interesting, however, is that his solo movie will not be the Black Panther's first appearance in the MCU. He will be appearing in full character and costume in Captain America: Civil War. Who will be playing the elusive T'Challa? None other than Chadwick Boseman, star of 42 and Get on Up.
6. Also coming in with some of the loudest cheers of the day was the announcement of a Captain Marvel film starring beloved female Marvel character Carol Danvers. This announcement is extremely exciting because this will be Marvel Studios' first female-led superhero film. She is more on the galactic side of the Marvel Universe so it will be interesting to see if there are any cameos in movies like the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel. This film is set to hit theaters on July 6, 2018.
7. Last, but not least of the newly-introduced characters, Marvel announced that a decently-sized large cast will be appearing in an Inhumans film hitting theaters November 2, 2018. Essentially, the Inhumans are the poor man's X-Men, and seem like the perfect fit in the Marvel Universe. We are just starting to see the range of powers that these superheroes can have beginning with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. with the over-arching story that Marvel has been building, it's only fair they raise the stakes for heroes and villains alike. this is sure to be a hit.
8. As Marvel does, they saved the best reveal for last. After a montage of their building up of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, Marvel showed a teaser of the Gauntlet on the hand of the Mad Titan himself, Thanos. The light of the Infinity Stones bursted and revealed the title of Avengers: Infinity War. It will come in two parts, however. Part 1 is slated to hit theatres May 4, 2018 with Part 2 following up Inhumans to end Phase 3 in May of 2019.
Here's a link to a video on tumblr of the small scene from Age of Ultron that was shown at the event. This video is different from the scene that was shown tonight during Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Spoilers Ahead! If you don't want to hear about a potential plot point from Avengers: Age of Ultron, skip the next section. You have been warned.
Now, about the clip from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I was thrilled! I have been hoping that they would show the scene with the various Avengers trying to lift Thor's hammer since they announced that they would be showing bonus footage instead of the trailer; which leaked last week. I know that it was showed at San Diego Comic Con, and I've been dying to see it ever since. It was easy to tell that they had shortened it a bit, but it was still a really fun watch. There was one moment where you think that Steve is going to be able to life Mjolnir and you can see the fear in Thor's eyes. I am desperately hoping that Steve will be able to straight up lift Mjolnir by the end of the movie. Because honestly, in what world is Thor worthy, but not Steve Rogers? Is there something that I'm missing? If I'm wrong, or you want to point something out to me, please do! I welcome it!
Spoilers have come to an end, faithful Marvelite.
Here's the clip with a shortened trailer afterwards. Again, if you don't want to be spoiled, don't watch it. That is all. Enjoy Anyway, this last few days has been a rollercoaster ride of Marvel mayhem, but it's been awesome. We can take the next couple of months to process all of this new information and look forward to the next batch of trailers and sneak peeks that will inevitably come from the unstoppable machine that is Marvel Studios. I'm secretly glad that everything's supposedly over because I'm pretty sure that I almost died from a heart attack earlier today. Until next time, strive to be worthy to life Mjolnir.
Well, if you've been living under a rock for the past three days, then this may be news to you, but for everyone else, you know that the Age of Ultron teaser trailer has been made public. In a somewhat expected move from Marvel, they released an HD trailer on their YouTube channel on Tuesday night and the response was everything they dreamed and more. With 34.3 million views worldwide in just 24 hours, it broke the previous 24 hour-view record of 20 million formerly held by Iron Man 3. They released the HD trailer after a somewhat low-resolution leaked trailer found it's way onto the web and everyone started freaking out. It was originally slated to air during Tuesday the 28th's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but that all went out the window once a leaked trailer found its way online. It made sense for Marvel to at least give people the high-quality trailer they wanted since everyone was going to watch it, regardless. Marvel has now made an announcement that there will be a special press/fan junket on Tuesday, and that they will also be releasing exclusive clips from Age of Ultron during this next week's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of the trailer. So the world will still tune in to watch and not all hope was lost for Marvel's TV-verse. However, there is now speculation about what Marvel is going to reveal at this special press event. Could they be releasing their entire slate of movies for Phase 3? Could they be revealing the subtitle of Captain America 3 (even though we all have a pretty good idea of what it might be, it would still be cool to get a confirmation)? Have they cast a Dr. Strange without anyone knowing? When it comes to Marvel announcing things like this, no one really knows. Okay, now that all of that speculation is out of the way, let's jump right into the trailer, here, folks! I have been trying to collect my thoughts for the last couple of days and I have watched this trailer (I kid you not) at least 20 times since it was leaked. I'll add screenshots to help guide us through this experience. This is going to be a pretty long post, guys. But if you, like me, love Marvel, then it won't be long enough.
SPOILERS AHEAD! If you don't want the trailer or potential plot points of the movie to be spoiled, READ NO FURTHER. I've said my peace.
We open with voice-over by James Spader as Ulron saying,"I'm going to show you something beautiful. Everyone screaming.... for mercy." This is interspersed with shots of destruction and people (surprise, surprise) screaming. We then proceed with a creepy rendition of the song made famous in Disney's "Pinnochio," I've got no strings to hold me down/ to make me fret, to make me frown/ I've had strings, but now I'm free... It's extremely eerie when put together with what looks like dark moments from each of the individual avengers. They then come together in action shots, and many parts of a battle between the Hulk and Stark's aptly-named Hulkbuster suit. The trailer ends with a quick glimpse of Cap's broken shield, then a full view of Ultron's face talking to one (or all?) of the Avengers and saying in James Spader's gravelly deep voice, "There are no strings on me." *Avengers: Age of Ultron logo, epic music, and millions of people whose brains just exploded*
You can watch the trailer here:
Now, let's talk about it! I'm just going to bring things up as they come along chronologically in the trailer. And here's just a general observation: The whole trailer is really good. But somehow, something seems "off" the whole way through. It feels like something's missing from this team, and that they're not coming together quite like they did in Avengers. It's an eerie feeling throughout and this movie is going to be a lot darker than Marvel movies past. Joss Whedon and Marvel are pulling on our collective puppet strings as fans and things are going to get real.
1. The first thing I noticed was the image of Ultron's hand covered in what looks like molten metal. This is clearly a nod to the fact that he can regenerate himself. Whether this is tony creating him, or Ultron building himself a new body out of Vibranium (more on this later) it looks fairly ominous.
2. Where is Cap's shield?!
3. AWESOME shot of the new Quinjet. They all look exhausted. I'm wondering if this is after the scene where Bruce Banner is freaking out in the snowy mountains. What kind of effects does post-Hulking have on Bruce? He looks like someone died. Did he cause it? What could he have done as the Hulk that could make him as depressed as this? Joss Whedon has mentioned that this movie will also bring in aspects of the Hulk being just as afraid of Bruce Banner as he is of the Hulk. It will be a really interesting dynamic to have in this universe. I'm excited to see where they go with it.
4. This Ultron is what looks like one of the first models. It still looks extremely similar to the Iron Man suit. It's intensely creepy the way it's walking like a marionette. No wonder everyone having dinner at Tony's house is extremely startled.
5. Who is the woman next to Thor? Could it be that Marvel has re-cast Natalie Portman? They've done it before with Rhodey so would we really be surprised? I guess only time will tell on that front.
6. Looking for Bucky?
7. What is happening to Bruce here? Hulking out? Suffering the effects of what he did while in the form of the Hulk? This must proceed the scene on the Quinjet.
8. I believe this is one of the rooms in the Triskelion that was featured in The Winter Soldier. Does Natasha miss the way S.H.I.E.L.D. used to be?
9. The twins are with Ultron here. Does Tony send Ultron to fetch them? Their motives are not totally clear in the comics so I am throwing out speculation now that the twins start out on Ultron's side and then they begin to see the light and join the Avengers near the last 1/3 of the movie.
10. This sentient army is crazy..... crazy awesome! This is what Ultron looked like in his comic book/animated series form. The way he will evolve in the movie will be something new that we haven't seen before.
11. What could possibly cause Thor to drop Mjolnir? I'm beginning to wonder if at some point near the end of this movie, Thor does something that compromises his ability to be "worthy" to wield Mjolnir. And it won't be pretty.
12. Whatever caused Scarlet Witch to feel this way is going to really make her powers go crazy. I'm stoked to see how this scene plays out.
13. HULKBUSTER!!! That's pretty much all that needs to be said. However, there is speculation about the context of this scene. Is there a spat between Tony and Bruce? Has Ultron taken over the tech and The Hulk needs to be the one to fight him off? My bet is with the latter. It makes sense for Ultron's intelligence to have taken over Stark's suits and create his army. It's not 100%, but it makes sense to me. We'll have to see what happens in May!
14. Easily one of the most badass moments of the trailer was Black Widow on her new motorcycle dropping out of the moving Quinjet and right onto the street. It doesn't get more lady-empowered than that. Nice new bike she has, too.
15. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have some pretty cool powers. I've heard quite a few people who are less than thrilled with the way Quicksilver has been portrayed in this trailer versus how he was portrayed in X Men: Days of Future Past. While the way Marvel chose to portray the superspeed is different, I like it. And I like the blue that you can see while he's running. Some have equated it to a cheap TV effect, but this is an early SFX scene and I'm sure that they will all be refined by the time we see the film in the theatre. Now, as for Scarlet Witch, I thought this red "energy ball" that she's got is a pretty good manifestation of her power to be able to manipulate energy in many forms. Usually it's kinetic, but she can do other things as well. We didn't get to see a whole lot of her powers, so that still leaves some mystery as to the amount of devastation that she can cause.
16. This is one of the things that I'm most excited about revolving around this trailer. They give us a small (probably less than half a second) shot of Steve in what appears to be the 1940's. We know that Haley Atwell is slated to play young Peggy Carter again in this movie so there are a few scenarios that people have been playing around with. One, Steve is having a flashback of a moment that we didn't see in The First Avenger. Two, Steve is having some sort of dream or vision about what his time in the 1940's could have been like had he not been frozen. Three, (this is my favorite theory. I ship Steve/Peggy so hard) there is speculation going around that somehow, the Scarlet Witch will use reality-bending powers to allow Steve to somehow travel back in time and have his last dance with Peggy. I know it seems far-fetched, but if there was any way in this world that this could happen, I would probably cry forever. I love them so much and Steve could get the emotional catharsis that he so desperately needs.
17. This small one second of Andy Serkis is one of the most talked-about moments in the trailer. Marvel doesn't give a character facial hair like this for no reason. Rumor has it that Andy Serkis is playing Ulysses Klaw. For those of you who don't know, Klaw is one of the main villians of... wait for it... THE BLACK PANTHER. What?! Yes, folks, it's possible that we will get mention of T'challa in this movie and that maybe, MAYBE, Marvel will cameo Black Panther (probably in one of the end-credit scenes). And even if there is no cameo, I have no doubt that one or both of the words "T'challa" or "Wakanda" will be mentioned. Klaw is also how people speculate that Ultron's Vibranium body comes about, or at least how Cap's shield breaks. All this information is too juicy to avoid talking about.
18. Straight-up awesome.
19. Let's all be honest, everyone needs a shirtless Thor scene.
20.I LOVE this moment. Black Widow and The Hulk appear to be touching hands. People have speculated about a possible romantic relationship between the two, and while I don't agree with that, I think that their friendship is much more intimate now. Joss Whedon planted the seeds of a good friendship between them in the first Avengers and this time around, we finally get to see that pay off.
21. Ballerinas means Black Widow backstory! The world is ready.
22. Supposedly Hawkeye is going to get more lovin' in this movie but we haven't seen much of him in the trailer. What we did see, however, was pretty cool. It looks like he's on the same mission as Bruce Banner assuming that there's only one sequence involving snowy mountains.
23. What in the world could break Cap's shield? Again, my bet is on something having to do with Andy Serkis' character. Whether he's playing Klaw or not, there needs to be a way for Ultron to get the "indestructible" body. They barely show the broken shield in this trailer. Hopefully we will get a full-on look at it in trailers to come. Also, note that it's Thor's hand and not Steve's. Just sayin'...
24. "There are no strings on me." *incoherent screaming* Ultron even has James Spader's menacing eyebrow glare. Of course, that's probably because James Spader did the motion capture as well as the voice of Ultron. I've seen people on the internet complaining that he sounds too human, but these robots are much more advanced than **Jarvis and he sounds pretty much like a real person. I don't have a problem with the voice. I think Spader was the perfect choice for something that is supposed to give a performance that is extremely imposing and scary, while also doing it with no emotion.
** I mentioned Jarvis in the last paragraph and that reminded me that I also wanted to mention how excited I am to see The Vision in this movie. He is played by Paul Bettany who is also the voice of Jarvis. The relationship between The Vision and Scarlet Witch plays a fairly large role in the Age of Ultron storyline in the comics. I wonder if they will have a relationship in this movie-verse and if so, if it will affect the story as deeply. All we've seen of the vision so far is a full-bodied shot in a piece of concept art, and in the background of Quicksilver's section of the Age of Ultron poster released at San Diego Comic Con.
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Whew! That was a lot of typing and a lot of thinking. I hope you guys enjoy the hundreds of words that I can spew over a two-minute video. Please let me know what you think. This kind of thing only happens every three years so we shouldn't be taking this awesomeness for granted. Let's talk it out until we lose our voices. Or type about it until our fingers fall off. Your choice.
Until next time, remember that if you create an army of sentient robots, make sure they don't know where to find Vibranium.
Oh my Groot! This issue was wild, my friends. Here's a quick synopsis to give you the basic low-down on what happened:
We open on a supposed Angel who's un-originally named Angela taking down some aliens and declares that she wants vengeance for being ripped from her home, which is (surprise, surprise) named Heaven. The scene turns to Rigel 7 where Peter Quill is running from Spartax guards and gets pulled inside the home of Mantis; who he was looking for in the first place. He tells this green-skinned telepathic lady friend about weird visions he's been having and she tries to see what's going on inside his mind. They find out that someone has messed with the space-time continuum. We can safely assume this is how Angela (who then decided to attack Earth) came into existence in this universe. The scene then leads into a fight between Gamora and Angela with a voice-over of someone talking to Peter about the fact that he's lucky that he didn't get sucked into the space-time rips in the universe and get lost forever. The scene goes dark and opens back up with Peter talking to none other than..... Thanos! No one has ever hated a "to be continued" panel more than I did at that moment.
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Alright. Let's talk these new ladies.
From what I know about the Marvel Universe, Angela first showed up in the "Age of Ultron" storyline (which I will get to later), but this is her expanded story about how she was intercepted by the Guardians. She's a bounty hunter who has a personal vendetta against whoever took her from Heaven where she was to oppose Spawn. They end up becoming frenemies when Spawn fixes the broken reality she was in. I personally think she could be wearing some more clothes, but hey, what do I know?
Now I really loved Mantis. She is a half-Vietnamese, half-German daughter of Libra who was left at a Vietnamese temple which was a sect of the Kree. She was mind-wiped and later meets the Swordsman who trains her and they both join the Avengers later down the road. The comic book panel that showed what she was seeing in Peter Quill's head was a really interesting interpretation of how her powers were working. I really really hope that we get more of her as this story goes on because I feel like she will get a really awesome chance show off her excellent combat abilities later down the road.
Thanos! Say What?!
I audibly gasped when we finally got the view of Thanos on the last page of this comic. All I want to is read Issue 6. I am so freaking stoked about this right now. I was thinking that Thanos would show up a little later, but this works, too. I'm looking forward to so many things surrounding the big baddie. How much face-to-face interaction will he have with the Guardians? Is he going to want Gamora to join him on his quest? Was it him who tore the space-time continuum? Does he currently have any of the Infinity Gems? We will find out, folks!
For any of you who need some background about Thanos, I will give it to you now as briefly as possible because I could go on for a while if I wanted to:
Thanos was born on the moon Titan to the race of beings known as the Eternals. However, he was carrying the Deviant gene and therefore had the same physical appearance of the Eternals' cousin race. Later in his life, he fell in love with Death (who, in the comics, appears as a woman) and wanted to impress her. So he goes on a quest to find all 6 Infinity Gems/Stones and eventually wield the Infinity Gauntlet and become the Master of the Universe. Sidenote: Gamora is his adopted daughter.
This issue almost left more questions than answers, but I can't wait to keep reading to get the answers that I am oh, so craving. Also, just a piece of advice: Listen to the Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol. 1 Soundtrack when you're reading the comics. It makes them that much better. Until next time, I'm not always hooked on a feeling, but when I am, I'm high on believing.
If you guys don't have access to this show, I suggest that you find a way to watch it. This show is Marvel gold. I have loved every episode so far and can't wait to keep watching. So far, each episode has basically been an introduction to an individual member of the Avengers. Namely, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, and Captain America respectively. I have really loved the way that this show sets the characters up so they each have their own little story arcs, while still building towards the stories where they finally team up. Basically, it's a stripped-down version of the MCU.
Iron Man is Born!
In his story, we see Tony Stark fight off giant robots sent from HYDRA. The action scenes are very fun and comicbook-esque. Tony Stark (not surprisingly) saves the United Nations from the horrendous fate they would have had to face if HYDRA's robots had succeeded in destroying them. We then see some HYDRA goonies getting dragged off by Nick Fury and Maria Hill to a super secret prison where many super secret things are kept.
The man who does the voice of Tony Stark in this series sounds ridiculously like Robert Downey Jr. and it was really throwing me off for most of the episode. But I really liked the portrayal. Also, Pepper Potts in this series is just as protective and worried as she is in the MCU. I think we should just crown her the Ultimate Worrier. Nick Fury seemed to be hiding something so I'm really looking forward to discovering his character a little more.
Thor The Mighty
This episode was a really fun watch. We get Thor smashing some huge Frost Giants, and then later, decimating the Wrecking Crew on Earth; where he also meets Jane Foster, a paramedic who was sent to help clean up the Wrecking Crew catastrophe. There's also a really cool battle between Thor and Loki involving a lot of lightning and magic. Loki has some really cool powers that we have never seen in the MCU (here's hoping we will get some in Thor 3!). We're talking like dark magic that was used in many different ways. The most we've seen Loki do between two Thor movies is move some furniture and make things appear differently than they would without magic. I'm really hoping Marvel will help him flesh out some cool powers in later movies.
Overall, this episode was really enjoyable. It ended on an unfinished note regarding the whereabouts of Loki so I have no doubt that he will be back later. He has a lady friend who also appears to have magical abilities, so between the two of them, I'm sure they can come up with a dastardly plan that will require the efforts of multiple Avengers.
Hulk vs. The World
I don't know that the title is really explanatory of the episode, so I'll go ahead and try to explain what happened. We open on Bruce Banner running away from a very large armored tank in Las Vegas. General Ross appears to know that Banner is somewhere in the city and plans on capturing him. Bruce gets to a diner and runs into one of the "abominations" that were captured and experimented on by SHIELD. They have an epic fight and Black Widow and Hawkeye eventually join in to help stop them. Hulk destroys his opponent and Bruce Banner is taken back to the Vault were SHIELD takes some of his blood in an attempt to try and "cure him." Bruce, however has an inkling that they merely want to make more creatures like The Hulk.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye spots Black Widow being super secretive and hacks into her profile and finds a transmission from her to HYDRA scheduling the pick up of SHIELD information. He follows her and she turns on him at the last minute, telling SHIELD that Hawkeye is the traitor. Some HYDRA and SHIELD agents get taken down and Hawkeye is captured. Black Widow (in a discombobulating Russian accent) declares that she is now in the clear and is still working as a double-agent for HYDRA.
This was a really interesting twist that I honestly didn't see coming. Everyone knows that Black Widow has a lot of gray area thinking when it comes to her morals, but I wasn't sure that a betrayal from her would come so soon in the series. I'm liking where this is going, though. I almost wonder if she is a triple-agent. How long can she really keep a facade for SHILED? And speaking of SHIELD, I'm really not surprised that they may be trying to make more beings like The Hulk. They've had a history, at least in the MCU, of trying to use an Infinity Stone to create weapons of mass destruction. They want to keep themselves and everyone else on Earth protected, so it makes sense, but I feel like they usually go about in in the wrong way while also trying to keep it a secret from everybody. Also, I've really been enjoying the sass that comes from Hawkeye. We need more of this in the MCU.
Meet Captain America
This episode was interesting because it was essentially a flashback. Someone who I'm guessing now will be a "bad guy" later figures out that Captain America is the reason for his timestream being disrupted. So he uses a really fancy computer system to "travel back in time" and watch the day that Captain America, Bucky, and the Howling Commandos try to take down the Red Skull. He realizes that when Captain America fell in the ocean, he didn't die, but instead, he was just frozen for 70 years.
I really liked the storyline of this episode. It was fun to see the Howling Commandos almost exactly as they were in the MCU. However, I did not like Bucky. He looks like he's a kid who just tagged along with Captain America one day and Cap was just too nice to say no. His outfit was kind of ridiculous. He was pretty much the Robin to this Captain America's Batman. I didn't like the look or personality of the character at all. I'm sure they'll do the Winter Soldier arc, and I will love that. But as of right now, Bucky is not high on my list of most-loved characters in this series. The MCU wins that one. I'm betting that, like in the MCU, wince we didn't necessarily see the Red Skull die, that he will probably be back at some point in this series. I love the "origin" stories, but I'm ready for the Avengers to finally be able to team up.
Tell me that outfit doesn't look ridiculous. I don't know. Maybe it's just me.
I will get back to Guardians of the Galaxy comics extremely soon and be back with my review of Issue #5. Until then, remember that it's okay to be a fan of Bruce Banner just because he can turn into an enormous green rage monster. It's pretty cool.
If any of you have been paying attention over the last 24 hours you will know that a HUGE development has been made over at Marvel Studios. It was announced yesterday that none other than Robert Downey Jr. has been signed onto the yet-to-be-titled Captain America 3. This is extremely exciting news for any fan of Marvel. This strongly leads us to believe that Captain America 3 will center around the Civil War storyline from the comics. If it's true (which is highly likely), then Captain America 3 will likely be subtitled with either "Civil War" or "Fallen Son."
SPOILERS AHEAD; If you don't want to know about a key plot from the Civil War comic series that revolves around the death of a major character,
then skip the next section.
The "Fallen Son" revolves around the Death of Captain America. During a confrontation during this key story arc, Steve gets sniped by an assassin. Let's say for the sake of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that it will most likely be Crossbones that brings Captain America to his demise. Crossbones is the alias of the character of Brock Rumlow from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It's hard to imagine that they would introduce Crossbones at the end of the movie without leading to Cap's death. Personally, I don't know how they would fit Chris Evans into Avengers 3 if they kill him off in Cap 3 but I guess only time will tell. Needless to say that he will bite the dust in either Cap 3 or Avengers 3 and it will be extremely sad either way. We're talking serious tears here, people.
Spoilers have now ended... continue on, faithful Marvelites.
According to Marvel President Kevin Feige, the working subtitle for Captain America 3 has been in the works for around a decade, so this Civil War storyline has been the goal from the beginning. Now that's a freak-ton of time to be working on how this universe is going to flow. It's so amazing to have this amazing storyline in the hands of people that care so much about creating an amazing universe with amazing movies. So far, Marvel is a nearly unstoppable train of colorful capes, shields, hammers, green people, and master assassins. I have total and complete faith that their future movies will be nothing less than amazing. What a time to be alive/ a Marvel fan...
Here's a source about why RDJ joining Cap 3 is one of the most amazing things to happen to everyone in the Marvel fandom.
As you can see, Gamora was in just a little bit of peril in this issue. We open with the Guardians in a bar celebrating Groot for all his hard work in breaking them out of those weird cryotube objects that the Spartax Empire had them in. Groot is happy and adorable, and Peter Quill is sweet-talking some girl of a different alien race. Meanwhile, Tony and Gamora somehow end up sleeping together and Gamora doesn't seem that impressed. She is on her way back to the bar post-coitus and gets shot by a bounty hunter named Maxilin the Accuser. She seems paralyzed for a time, but then she suddenly gets up and starts kicking this guy to the curb. After quite a confrontation, she attempts to ask him who put the bounty on her head and suddenly he gets shot and ends up with a gaping hole in his chest. Gamora is stunned by this and the rest of the Guardians find her a little ways from the bar after their own confrontation with some more members of the Spartax guard. The group is walking away and the last comic panels show the hand of Maxilin the Accuser move and curl up into a fist. He's not dead?! *Dun Dun DUN*
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I thoroughly enjoyed this issue for many reasons:
One, I loved seeing a happy Groot. He was genuinely enjoying himself in the bar being with all his friends. Even though the only thing he can say is "I am Groot," the character really has some soul and it's pretty much impossible not to love him.
Two, we get to see Tony Stark (on Earth, a total ladies man) fail to impress a pretty alien girl such as Gamora in bed. Tony is a character who holds himself in such high esteem, that this was a real downer for him. It's good to see characters go through ups and downs like this because it brings out sides of their personality that we didn't know they had. Tony uses a galaxy-spanning "cell phone" to call Pepper after the little tryst with Gamora and we see him soften a bit. It was a really good moment for his character to let his guard down a little.
Three, I love twists. The fact that this Maxilin the Accuser guy came literally out of nowhere to claim the bounty on Gamora was good. And it leaves even more questions to the imagination like who sent him? How long has she had this bounty on her head? He mentioned that he caught the "daughter of Thanos" so which circles is he running in to know that information? And last, how is he alive? I guess only time will tell.
I'm really excited to read the next issue. This story is setting up some big conflicts and story arcs and I can't wait to find out what they are. Until next time, remember that you have not hit the ultimate creepiness factor until you've watched someone while they were sleeping... *cough* Coulson *cough*
Sidenote
I have begun to watch the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes on Netflix and I really love it so far. Since the episodes are so short and sweet, I will report back on my opinions about every 5 episodes. I would recommend watching them for anyone who's a fan of the Marvel Universe. They're light and fun and a little different to mix it up.
Okay, I know the title of this post made you guys really excited for what I'm about to say, so I'm just going to jump right in here. There are three items of Marvel-related business that I thought I would publicly address.
Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailer Debut
It has come to my attention that the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer will debut in front of...... wait for it..... Christopher Nolan's Interstellar! This news comes swiftly on the heels of rumors that this film could win Christopher Nolan his first (and by now, very well-deserved) Oscar. My roommates and I got our IMAX tickets for Thursday November 6th yesterday. I paid for the fourteen dollar ticket knowing that at least half of that price is being well-spent on the premiere of the Age of Ultron trailer which we all know is going to be amazing. I'm really hoping that the trailer is basically just the last half of the Age of Ultron footage that was released at San Diego Comic Con this year. I've listened to the audio of the footage and it sounds like everything I was hoping for and more. The other half of my money will also be well-spent because if anyone has seen the third Interstellar trailer (released on October 1st) they know that IMAX will be the only way to see this movie and that this will be a sci-fi film epic like no other. Tickets are on sale now so I would highly recommend purchasing your ticket ASAP if you even remotely consider yourself a Christopher Nolan fan (or if you, like me, are too excited to wait and see the Age of Ultron trailer online). And we all know that the Age of Ultron trailer debut will not be one to miss. This only happens every three years, guys. Our time has come again!
Just confirmed, as in about a couple hours ago, Marvel confirmed that their talks with Joaquin Phoenix about the role of Dr. Strange have officially ended. I repeat, Joaquin Phoenix is NO LONGER IN TALKS about the role of Dr. Strange. He has been the fan favorite for the last couple of months now, but I guess the role is up in the air again. I'm assuming that this had a lot to do with the fact that Marvel contracts are usually very extensive and require an almost painstaking amount of time (many, many years) to make their stand-alone movies along with sequels and team movies like the Avengers. We have yet to know if Marvel plans for any Dr. Strange sequels or how many other movies (like the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel) he may appear in, but it seems that whatever the deal, Joaquin just wasn't feeling it. So now this begs the question..... Who will be playing the Sorcerer Supreme? There have been rumors of Jared Leto, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Hardy. Who would you guys want to see take on the role of the wild and wacky Dr. Strange? Whoever it is, I know that the movie will be good because Marvel puts their movies into the hands of directors who are very passionate about the material. Just look at how a couple of guys who wrote for the show Community turned Winter Soldier into the best Marvel movie of all time. And how an indie-horror film director made Guardians of the Galaxy the "Star Wars of today's generation" and one of the most family-friendly Marvel movies. I personally can't wait to hear more news about this film as the start of production draws ever closer.
I have heard from more than a couple sources over the last few weeks that the Avengers Assemble movies and TV series on Netflix are very good material when it comes to all things Marvel. I've taken these suggestions into consideration and decided to begin watching them. I will be posting about my reactions and opinions about the various movies and episodes interspersed with my continued reading of the Guardians of the Galaxy comics. I will also talk about how they relate to the comics and how some of these storylines have or will fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Sidenote:
I will be creating pages for the various things I will be reading and watching. So there will be a Guardians of the Galaxy Comics page with only my reviews of those comics. There will also be a separate page for the Avengers Assemble movies on Netflix, Marvel Civil War comics, Marvel movie re-watches, etc... You get the picture? Everything will be posted on the main page chronologically, but if you're looking for one particular set of comics or movies, they will have their own page added as I begin reading or watching the material. Capiche?
That's all for today! Go about your day and remember that if you try hard enough, you, too, can be a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.
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