Marvel Studios really is priming the lead up to Comic Con with yet another production still from the set of Thor. Here we see Thor in the midst of retrieving Mjolnir from its resting spot in the New Mexico desert (as we saw at the end of Iron Man 2).
Chris Hemsworth got fucking huge. It’s hard to believe that this guy was George Kirk a year ago.
Like many other comic book experts, I too believe that Thor will not have an alter ego. In the comics, his Earthly form was that of Dr. Donald Blake who was sickly and required a cane to get around. I think I read an interview with Kenneth Branaugh where he said that there would just be Thor … and I’m okay with this
Marvel Studios is doing a pretty good job generating buzz, and I really am hoping we’ll see the full cast of The Avengers on stage this week at San Diego Comic Con.
When Chris Evans was announced as Captain America a tsunami of nerd rage swept across the Internet. Frothing talkbackers claimed that he lacked the command presence that America’s Super Soldier is known for. At the time, I didn’t feel up to weighing in on the subject but I have to say that I was satisfied with the casting decision. I loved Evans in Sunshine and I think that he captured the cocky swagger of Johnny Storm and was arguably the best part of the Fantastic Four films.
In an interview with Empire Magazine, which I picked up through /Film, Evans weighed in on Captain America’s costume and made light of some of the controversy when he was cast in the role:
It’s an amazing costume. Given the fact that his costume is red, white and blue, and it’s tight, and it could be kind of flash and over the top – and given the fact that the movie takes place in the ‘40s and ‘50s – they’ve done a really good job of making it look really cool. I think everyone that’s going to see it is going to say, ‘Okay, well done. Well done. I think they got the costume right. The casting they completely ruined, but the costume they nailed!’”
While he may not have been the fanboys ideal candidate (I would actually have liked to see John Krasinski’s take on Cap), but I have to admit I’m very anxious to see how he does. Of course most of us has seen the leaked concept art for the Captain America costume, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a glimpse of Evans in full patriotic garb later this month at San Diego Comic Con.
Because I am in no way a professional film critic, I’ll just put it out there … Iron Man 2 was enjoyable as hell. I’ll admit that I became a little nervous when the reviews started to come out and they weren’t overwhelmingly positive. A number of the reviews indicated that there were so many characters that it was heading into Spider Man 3 territory (which is not good). ‘
Understandably, the Internet becomes my worse enemy in times like these. However despite their best efforts, there was no way I wasn’t seeing Iron Man 2 opening night. From here on out it may get mildly SPOILERISH ….
Iron Man 2 picks up relatively soon after Tony Stark makes his announcement to the world that he is in fact Iron Man. In the next 2 1/2 hours you begin to get a taste of the greater Marvel Universe and how Tony Stark/Iron Man plays into it. Comic readers will see call backs to very important Iron Man story arcs like the Armor Wars and a hint of Demon In A Bottle.
Some may argue that the inclusion of the Black Widow was needless or that the final battle in which Iron Man and War Machine take on Whiplash is anti-climatic. When you think of truly excellent comic book franchises the sequels have been significantly better: such as Spider Man 2, X2: X Men United, and The Dark Knight. Does Iron Man 2 belong on that list … I believe it does. It delivered exactly what I wanted, some great heavy metal action, the introduction of War Machine … and oh yeah SUITCASE FUCKING ARMOR.
There is one gripe I have, and it is relatively minor in the scope of things. I am hereby issuing a SPOILER ALERT ………
When Rhodey takes control of the MKII suit it appears that it has it’s own Arc Reactor, I guess that’s new?. And furthermore at when Nick Fury asks him how Rhodey was able to do that … Stark just shrugs it off. This could have easily been rectified by inserting a line like, “Rhodey was the contingency plan, if anything ever happened to me he would be Iron Man” … that’s all.
There are few things this summer that aim to be more awesome than Iron Man 2. With the movie hitting theaters just under a month from now, the marketing campaign has been ramped up. Over the last few days couple of new TV spots have hit:
I can watch Sam Jackson and Robert Downey, Jr. chew scenery all day. But one thing is bothering me … Scarlett Johanson’s apparent lack of a Russian accent as Nastasha Romanov/Black Widow. With Favreau being so tight with the adaptation so far, I’d expect that her ‘American’ accent is part of the cover … but we’ll see.
I’m going to level with all of you, the most recent Iron Man 2 trailer gave me a full on erection. A raging, throbbing hard on of unfathomable proportions. Perhaps it’s because on Sunday night instead of watching the Oscars, I popped in my Iron Man Blu Ray and reveled in all its glory, and I was still coming off that high when I caught the trailer. All I know is that Iron Man 2 looks AWESOME. I’ve been known to fawn over various nerdy things in my day, but this trailer is pretty much it.
Now the trailer did flesh out some sequences and hint at some of the conflict that will take place, however I only took one thing away … BRIEFCASE FUCKING ARMOR!!!
The only thing that has been running through my rather simple brain is how awesome the Briefcase Armor looks and how it seemed hacky in the comics … it totally works in the ‘real world’. May 7th can’t come soon enough.
This past week saw the release of Daredevil #500, a landmark issue on two fronts. The first is that the series was renumbered so that it can be brought into “classic numbering”, much like what was recently done with Captain America. The other occasion of note is that this issue saw the last issue that Brubaker and his balls awesome art team would be on.
Oh and another thing I’d like to point out … Marko Djurdjevic is fucking unreal. Marvel needs to make this a poster immediately.
With #501, Andy Diggle (I loved his Green Arrrow: Year One) & Billy Tan (New Avengers) will be taking over as the primary creative team after what could be considered a Daredevil run by Brubaker that could be considered the equal of Frank Miller. Brubaker picked up after Bendis’ outing of Matt Murdock in the “Murdock Papers”, and Bru ushered him through the “Devil Behind Bars”, the Super Hero Registration Act, and countless other trials and obstacles. Matt Murdock has always been a tragic hero, and with what Bru has left us with a character with a renewed vision (excuse the pun) and a true purpose.
One of the great things about Daredevil is that for the majority of Bru’s run; Matt Murdock has existed on the periphery of the Marvel Universe. And without any spoilers, it looks as though things might be changing. Thanks Bru, it was an awesome run.
It’s been a goal of mine to reassemble the entire 155-issue run of the Marvel GI Joe books. While perusing some of the issues I picked up at Wizard World a couple of months ago, I came upon one of the most truly awful contests that Marvel has every run in their history.
It’s 1986, and the House Of Ideas decided that the best way to reach out to other segments is to stage a Broadway show. I don’t think Cap ever found a “girl between 10 and 14 who can sing, dance and act up a storm”, and he never got to see his name in lights on the marquee.
There have been several instances here on DDOY where I’ve confessed my undying fanboy love for Mr. Pak for his work on both Hulk, Skaar: Son of Hulk, and Incredible Hercules. Understandably, I have a lot of hopes riding on this and from this tiny glimpse it looks spot on.
I certainly enjoyed Marvel’s last animated endeavor, Hulk Vs., but they still have a lot ground to catch up to DC’s animated efforts; which have been phenomenal (with the exception of Gotham Knight … that absolutely blew).
News broke yesterday that Steve Rogers, the original Captain America would be returning to the Marvel Universe next month in a new series, Captain America: Reborn. Two years ago, Steve Rogers was killed on a court building’s steps after having surrendered in the aftermath of Civil War. In that time his former kid sidekick, turned brainwashed Russian super-agent, Bucky Barnes picked up the mantel.
Captain America is making a miraculous recov
Two years after Marvel Comics knocked off its famous star-spangled superhero, he’s gonna be back and better than ever.
“The original Captain America is finally coming back,” Marvel Comics editor in chief Joe Quesada told the Daily News. “We’ve been patiently planning for this moment for 21/2 years.”
Captain America will return next month in a five-comic book series, “Captain America Reborn.”
In conjunction with this, Marvel has returned Captain America to its original numbering bringing this week’s issue to #600. I haven’t had a chance to pick this up, but the reviews I’ve seen thus far reek of a shitty retconning. I’ll wait until I get the issue in my hands on it.
Ed Brubaker has yet to let me down on this title, and I have a hard time believing that he would have put all of this work into Cap only to have it turn into another Clone Saga or One More Day.
I’ve had Amazing Spider-Man on my pull list for the better part of 4 years, picking up at some point during J. Michael Straczynski’s epic run on the title. I even had the testicular fortitude to hang in through the muddled One More Day, hoping for the “big pay off” that Joey Q. promised.
I’ll be honest, I really didn’t think ASM would actually be good … but for the last year, the creative team has been pumping out a quality book three times a month.
Amazing Spider-Man #589 was essentially a filler issue, with Fred Van Lente (Incredible Hercules, Marvel Zombies 3 & 4) scripting and Paulo Siqueira (Ms. Marvel) penciling. Ol’ Web Head encounters an old villian Spot, while trying to snuff out an illegal arms deal. Anyone who is familiar with Van Lente’s work is well aware that he has the appropriate amount of snark for Spidey.
Van Lente +1. If you have the chance to meet the guy at a Con, go for it. Along with Greg Pak, I think he’s probably among the most approachable and fan friendly creators that are currently on the Marvel payroll.
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