We are officially less than a year away from the first brand new Star Wars film since 2005! I am so excited for this. Let's take a quick look at how we've gotten to this point.
Back in 2013, George Lucas sold his company LucasArts to Disney, relinquishing all rights to all LucasArts studio franchises; namely Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Disney promptly canceled all projects that LucasArts had in production, using the name only for producing video games. This shook the world of Star Wars fans, whom for years had been extremely vocal over their distaste for the Star Wars prequel movies (Episodes 1-3) and for Lucas in general. Lucas had gone on record previously saying that the latest Star Wars movies were targeting a younger audience as were the following animated projects. This wouldn't change the hardcore fans opinions though. And why should it?!
As a fan I felt that Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was awful! Filled with lazy writing, boring politics, horrendous CGI, wooden acting, and terrible casting. George Lucas had written, produced, and directed this one, as he did with Episode II, Episode III, and Episode IV. He wrote the screenplay for every other Star Wars movie too, but did not direct episodes V and VI. There is a clear difference in writing between the original trilogy and the new episodes. The original had a passion and a clear love of science fiction and film making that you could feel while watching it. The Episodes 1-3 felt lifeless and expensive. (I'll go further into detail about the Original Trilogy vs. the New Trilogy another time).
So what does Episode VII have going for it? Well aside from George Lucas selling LucasArts and giving up the rights to everything related to Star Wars, he also has nothing to do with the writing or production and has completely handed over control to Disney and JJ Abrams the new director. We're not departing from the feel of the originals much though, as the original screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan returned to pen this one! Abrams and Kasdan are even bringing back the beloved characters from the original trilogy. We'll finally find out what happened to Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewbacca after the Rebel Alliance destroyed the new Deathstar and the Galactic Empire in Return of the Jedi!
That's not all either! Gone are the days of the movies just being another Episode in the Star Wars Saga, but now we're also going to be treated to spin off movies! The first spin off rumored to be in the works is a Han Solo story possibly starring Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad fame. We're going to see a new line of Star Wars comic books, the first issue was released last week with action figures attached to some of the collector's edition covers.
There are so many exciting possibilities that come with the new Star Wars, from new films to new TV shows or specials to comic books and novels. We have so much to look forward to and less than a year to check it out for ourselves! I personally cannot wait for this movie and really think it's going to be fantastic.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Monday, December 29, 2014
Why I think Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice will be the worst movie I watch 1,000 times.
Alright people, here's the thing. Last summer at the San Diego Comic Con, Warner Bros. announced that the sequel to 2013's Man of Steel would be called Batman vs. Superman. This announcement shook the nerd world. I mean, people literally freaked out about this. Here's why:
The idea of Superman and Batman sharing the big screen is a really big deal to comic fans. Their team ups go as far back as 1940. They are two of the most popular and well known super heroes of all time, and now we'll get to see them in a live action show down! Awesome right? Maybe not.
DC Comics and Warner Bros. have not given their fans any good reasons to think this movie will be anything but a crapfest. As I said before, the announcement for this movie was made last summer and already the release date has been pushed back a full year, casting announcements have been released on an almost weekly basis along with announcements of other DC movies green-lit for production.
All these announcements give off the feel as though DC is rushing to catch up to what Marvel is doing, which is building a movie universe full of major characters interesting enough to carry their own solo films and then team up for a grand collaborative film. Marvel has released 10 movies so far that have helped build this universe, along with a television show (Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.) that ties in with the movies. DC has given us 1 movie and 3 TV shows that have nothing to do with their movie universe.
Marvel also does this thing that I love. If you've waited until the end of the credits of any Marvel movie you know what I'm talking about. There's this extra scene that usually teases a sequel or teases another character's movie. For instance, at the end of the first Iron Man movie, Samuel L. Jackson made a cameo as Nick Fury and made mention of the "Avengers Initiative". This planted seeds of excitement for fans all over the world. Now we knew for sure we were going to get an Avengers movie! DC has given us 1 movie and 3 TV shows that have nothing to do with their movie universe. Yes, I know I wrote that already.
If you're keeping tally, you could say that Marvel is wiping the floor with DC. That's why Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice needs to be good. No, not just good, it needs to be absolutely amazing. People need to walk away from this movie so super pumped that they buy another ticket on their way out.
Since this movie has been announced, the rumor mill has exploded. I'm not going to talk about any of those rumors until something has been confirmed. So let's go over what has been confirmed. Here is what we know so far:
1. The full title is Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
2. It's a sequel to Man of Steel.
3. Ben Affleck is Batman. Take a minute and let that sink in.
4. Batman and Superman will fight.
5. Jesse Eisenberg has been cast as Lex Luthor.
6. Wonder Woman will make an appearance.
7. Victor Stone aka Cyborg will make an appearance.
8. Ben Affleck is Batman. Yep. Still.
What does this mean you ask. Here are some clues. The title has the tag "Dawn of Justice". There are 2 other major characters besides Superman and Batman that have been cast and confirmed. Wonder Woman and Cyborg, both are members of the Justice League of America. The Justice League or JLA is DC's equivalent to Marvel's Avengers. Also, a Justice League of America movie has been announced for part one in 2017 and part 2 in 2019. So we're probably going to see the birth of the Justice League in this film, plus Batman fight Superman, introduce a major villain in Lex Luthor, have Batman and Superman become friends, meet Wonder Woman and Cyborg and any other JLA members, AND overcome whatever kind of evil scheme Superman and Batman face. Doesn't it feel cramped? How long is this movie going to be?
This is a big deal for Warner Brothers, DC Comics and fans all over the world. For the fans, we've been waiting for a long long time to see Batman and Superman appear on the big screen together. For Warner Bros. and DC Comics, they could use a solid victory over Marvel. It just doesn't feel like that's going to happen though. Marvel announced their line up of future movies a few weeks after DC and just stole all the thunder. On top of these future Marvel movies, DC also has to compete with Star Wars (another Disney owned franchise) and 20th Century Fox's X-Men movies. DC has a lot to contend with and have yet to make anyone feel good about what they're doing.
The rumor mill has since quieted down, especially since it was announced that filming had wrapped. We're still a little over a year away from this movie being released too, so that's plenty of time for post production and reshoots. I really hope it's good, I really do, but I strongly believe it will be the worst movie I watch 1,000 times.
The idea of Superman and Batman sharing the big screen is a really big deal to comic fans. Their team ups go as far back as 1940. They are two of the most popular and well known super heroes of all time, and now we'll get to see them in a live action show down! Awesome right? Maybe not.
DC Comics and Warner Bros. have not given their fans any good reasons to think this movie will be anything but a crapfest. As I said before, the announcement for this movie was made last summer and already the release date has been pushed back a full year, casting announcements have been released on an almost weekly basis along with announcements of other DC movies green-lit for production.
All these announcements give off the feel as though DC is rushing to catch up to what Marvel is doing, which is building a movie universe full of major characters interesting enough to carry their own solo films and then team up for a grand collaborative film. Marvel has released 10 movies so far that have helped build this universe, along with a television show (Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.) that ties in with the movies. DC has given us 1 movie and 3 TV shows that have nothing to do with their movie universe.
Marvel also does this thing that I love. If you've waited until the end of the credits of any Marvel movie you know what I'm talking about. There's this extra scene that usually teases a sequel or teases another character's movie. For instance, at the end of the first Iron Man movie, Samuel L. Jackson made a cameo as Nick Fury and made mention of the "Avengers Initiative". This planted seeds of excitement for fans all over the world. Now we knew for sure we were going to get an Avengers movie! DC has given us 1 movie and 3 TV shows that have nothing to do with their movie universe. Yes, I know I wrote that already.
If you're keeping tally, you could say that Marvel is wiping the floor with DC. That's why Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice needs to be good. No, not just good, it needs to be absolutely amazing. People need to walk away from this movie so super pumped that they buy another ticket on their way out.
Since this movie has been announced, the rumor mill has exploded. I'm not going to talk about any of those rumors until something has been confirmed. So let's go over what has been confirmed. Here is what we know so far:
1. The full title is Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
2. It's a sequel to Man of Steel.
3. Ben Affleck is Batman. Take a minute and let that sink in.
4. Batman and Superman will fight.
5. Jesse Eisenberg has been cast as Lex Luthor.
6. Wonder Woman will make an appearance.
7. Victor Stone aka Cyborg will make an appearance.
8. Ben Affleck is Batman. Yep. Still.
What does this mean you ask. Here are some clues. The title has the tag "Dawn of Justice". There are 2 other major characters besides Superman and Batman that have been cast and confirmed. Wonder Woman and Cyborg, both are members of the Justice League of America. The Justice League or JLA is DC's equivalent to Marvel's Avengers. Also, a Justice League of America movie has been announced for part one in 2017 and part 2 in 2019. So we're probably going to see the birth of the Justice League in this film, plus Batman fight Superman, introduce a major villain in Lex Luthor, have Batman and Superman become friends, meet Wonder Woman and Cyborg and any other JLA members, AND overcome whatever kind of evil scheme Superman and Batman face. Doesn't it feel cramped? How long is this movie going to be?
This is a big deal for Warner Brothers, DC Comics and fans all over the world. For the fans, we've been waiting for a long long time to see Batman and Superman appear on the big screen together. For Warner Bros. and DC Comics, they could use a solid victory over Marvel. It just doesn't feel like that's going to happen though. Marvel announced their line up of future movies a few weeks after DC and just stole all the thunder. On top of these future Marvel movies, DC also has to compete with Star Wars (another Disney owned franchise) and 20th Century Fox's X-Men movies. DC has a lot to contend with and have yet to make anyone feel good about what they're doing.
The rumor mill has since quieted down, especially since it was announced that filming had wrapped. We're still a little over a year away from this movie being released too, so that's plenty of time for post production and reshoots. I really hope it's good, I really do, but I strongly believe it will be the worst movie I watch 1,000 times.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
What If Superman fought the Incredible Hulk? Who would win and how?
Wow....Superman vs. The Hulk...that's a toughie.
Well, they've fought before, you know. Yup. Marvel Comics and DC Comics did a crossover back in 1996 in a limited series. There were some great match ups, where the outcomes were voted on by the fans. In the 3rd issue, Superman faced off against The Hulk in a true smashathon. A battle this grand really deserved it's own issue, but we just got a 3 page quickie. Now I get to weigh in and give you my opinion on what really would happen.
So let's define the parameters of the conversation. In order for one of these two characters to win, they must immobilize their opponent. In this case, I believe both sides would come at each other with brute force rather than any kind of strategic or tactical maneuvers.
Now we have to consider each hero's power sets. A hero's power set is defined by the attributes or abilities that they have and how far they can go before reaching their limit.
When Superman first debuted in 1938, his powers differed greatly from the Supes we know now. For one thing, he didn't fly, he leapt. Much like the Hulk does. This is where "Leaps tall buildings in a single bound, more powerful than a locomotive, able to change the course of mighty rivers, faster than a speeding bullet" came from. As the character evolved, Superman took on more and more abilities such as the super-breath or heat vision, he became physically stronger, his speed increased, and his invulnerability was tested to it's absolute limits. In 1992, Superman "died" while fighting the villain Doomsday(Death of Superman). It turned out that with enough exposure to Earth's sun, Superman could resist death. He returned even more powerful than before. To give you an idea of how powerful, at one point after his resurrection Supes gets in a fight on Earth, gets kicked in the gut and thrown into space. Once in space he realizes that after taking a single breath on Earth his blood became completely oxygenated and his body no longer needed him to breathe.
As for The Hulk, well...he's the Hulk. The angrier he gets, the stronger he gets. That's what is so great about this character, his abilities are straight forward. He's immensely strong, you make him mad, he freaks out and smashes EVERYTHING, and because of his unbound rage he's able to heal very quickly nor does he tire. If he's able to retain Bruce Banner's mind and not fall into an absolute savage rage, and he is, he becomes even more difficult to beat. That's because he's using Banner's genius level intellect to figure out how to beat you!
Ok, so limitations; with the Hulk, he's damn near invulnerable to physical attacks, but he has his limits too (he's been beaten by knockout gas). However, any pain he might feel turns to anger which just makes him stronger. In one of my favorite Hulk stories, Planet Hulk, the Hulk once got so angry, that he stood on the front of a space ship as it flew through space with no need for oxygen or anything to hold him in place. In the sequel, World War Hulk, he faced off against The Sentry, a man who possesses the power of a million exploding suns (I don't really understand exactly what that means, but the dude is powerful). He is vulnerable to mental attacks, but he wouldn't be facing anything like that with Superman. It basically comes down to brute strength with these guys.
Superman though is a little tougher. What can actually stop Superman, kryptonite? Even when kryptonite first appeared in 1949, it was never strong enough to defeat the Man of Steel. Over the years we've seen many versions of kryptonite, each with their own abilities that affect Superman in different ways. None of which were ever able to flat out stop him. Batman came the closest, using the kryptonite to slow down Superman and make him vulnerable to physical attacks while peppering him with a variety of gadgets and finally blowing him up with a nuclear missle. He still didn't die, though.
For the sake of argument, let's say the Hulk is at his peak of anger and Superman is in his sights. The fight would be spectacular! The force of their punches would shatter windows miles away. But what it comes down to is power sets, and Superman is a totally different league. No matter how angry the Hulk gets, there's a limit for him, and underneath all that muscle he's still human. Even if the Hulk is the angriest he's ever been, the amount of energy he would expel in this fight would be matched by and trumped by Superman. Superman's power borders on Godlike, and his kryptonian physiology also gives him the edge. As long as Superman is around a yellow sun or near objects that absorb and retain solar energy, Superman can't be stopped.
Winner: Superman, after lots of smashing.
Well, they've fought before, you know. Yup. Marvel Comics and DC Comics did a crossover back in 1996 in a limited series. There were some great match ups, where the outcomes were voted on by the fans. In the 3rd issue, Superman faced off against The Hulk in a true smashathon. A battle this grand really deserved it's own issue, but we just got a 3 page quickie. Now I get to weigh in and give you my opinion on what really would happen.
So let's define the parameters of the conversation. In order for one of these two characters to win, they must immobilize their opponent. In this case, I believe both sides would come at each other with brute force rather than any kind of strategic or tactical maneuvers.
Now we have to consider each hero's power sets. A hero's power set is defined by the attributes or abilities that they have and how far they can go before reaching their limit.
When Superman first debuted in 1938, his powers differed greatly from the Supes we know now. For one thing, he didn't fly, he leapt. Much like the Hulk does. This is where "Leaps tall buildings in a single bound, more powerful than a locomotive, able to change the course of mighty rivers, faster than a speeding bullet" came from. As the character evolved, Superman took on more and more abilities such as the super-breath or heat vision, he became physically stronger, his speed increased, and his invulnerability was tested to it's absolute limits. In 1992, Superman "died" while fighting the villain Doomsday(Death of Superman). It turned out that with enough exposure to Earth's sun, Superman could resist death. He returned even more powerful than before. To give you an idea of how powerful, at one point after his resurrection Supes gets in a fight on Earth, gets kicked in the gut and thrown into space. Once in space he realizes that after taking a single breath on Earth his blood became completely oxygenated and his body no longer needed him to breathe.
As for The Hulk, well...he's the Hulk. The angrier he gets, the stronger he gets. That's what is so great about this character, his abilities are straight forward. He's immensely strong, you make him mad, he freaks out and smashes EVERYTHING, and because of his unbound rage he's able to heal very quickly nor does he tire. If he's able to retain Bruce Banner's mind and not fall into an absolute savage rage, and he is, he becomes even more difficult to beat. That's because he's using Banner's genius level intellect to figure out how to beat you!
Ok, so limitations; with the Hulk, he's damn near invulnerable to physical attacks, but he has his limits too (he's been beaten by knockout gas). However, any pain he might feel turns to anger which just makes him stronger. In one of my favorite Hulk stories, Planet Hulk, the Hulk once got so angry, that he stood on the front of a space ship as it flew through space with no need for oxygen or anything to hold him in place. In the sequel, World War Hulk, he faced off against The Sentry, a man who possesses the power of a million exploding suns (I don't really understand exactly what that means, but the dude is powerful). He is vulnerable to mental attacks, but he wouldn't be facing anything like that with Superman. It basically comes down to brute strength with these guys.
Superman though is a little tougher. What can actually stop Superman, kryptonite? Even when kryptonite first appeared in 1949, it was never strong enough to defeat the Man of Steel. Over the years we've seen many versions of kryptonite, each with their own abilities that affect Superman in different ways. None of which were ever able to flat out stop him. Batman came the closest, using the kryptonite to slow down Superman and make him vulnerable to physical attacks while peppering him with a variety of gadgets and finally blowing him up with a nuclear missle. He still didn't die, though.
For the sake of argument, let's say the Hulk is at his peak of anger and Superman is in his sights. The fight would be spectacular! The force of their punches would shatter windows miles away. But what it comes down to is power sets, and Superman is a totally different league. No matter how angry the Hulk gets, there's a limit for him, and underneath all that muscle he's still human. Even if the Hulk is the angriest he's ever been, the amount of energy he would expel in this fight would be matched by and trumped by Superman. Superman's power borders on Godlike, and his kryptonian physiology also gives him the edge. As long as Superman is around a yellow sun or near objects that absorb and retain solar energy, Superman can't be stopped.
Winner: Superman, after lots of smashing.
Inhumans vs. X-Men
I mentioned in an earlier post that the rights to the X-Men movie franchise is not owned by Marvel Comics but by 20th Century Fox. Well, to fans of comics, this is a very big deal.
Marvel recently released a time line of movies all the way up to 2020. 1 of those movies comes in 2 parts. Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War Part 2. With the only facts that we have being the titles of the movies, we're left to our assumptions. So, naturally, those of us that are into this sort of thing, assume and speculate the heck out of it! We assume that the story line that the producers will follow will be lifted straight from the comic book it's based on (we always assume this, which is why most super fans get so upset over a movie release). The announcement from Marvel is full of assumption and speculation with the 2 part Infinity War being at the top of the list. We all assume that every character from the recently released movies and the future released movies will be involved, because that's what happened in the comic books. Here is where we run into a problem. Both Spider-Man and the X-Men played major parts in the Infinity War story, and neither franchise is currently owned by Marvel.
Now, here's why I love Marvel so much. Instead of scratching out an entire population of characters that were the X-Men and mutants of the Marvel Universe, Marvel was forced to get creative. Enter The Inhumans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhumans#History. The Inhumans are a race of crossbred humans and aliens with super powers that cannot be triggered unless these people are exposed to something called the Terrigen Mist. In the comics, the Inhumans began as a small race of people, namely just a royal family. Their King Black Bolt, his wife Medusa, Karnak, Gargan, Triton, Crystal, Lockjaw, and Maximus the Mad are all part of this royal family and represent the old generation of Inhumans who once reigned on earth. They lived quietly in a technologically advanced hidden city called Attilan, until Black Bolt decided to abandon their city and moved the family to the Blue Area of the Moon (an oxygenated section on the dark side of the moon).
I'm sure you're asking, "how does a family of super powered humans fill in for the X-Men and other mutants?" Yes, the mutants of the Marvel Universe made up a very large portion of Earth's population, until recently. Several years ago a story line was published where the climax included the mutant population being lowered from millions to only a few hundred. Well, Marvel's answer came in the form of the Inhumanity storyline, where several Terrigen bombs exploded around the world and triggered the powers of millions of unaware Inhumans. Thus giving birth to a population of super heroes and villains completely owned and controlled by Marvel. Brilliant.
They've also worked out a way to use Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch in the Avengers movies without Fox throwing a hissy fit over the fact that both of those characters are also members of the X-Men. Originally Quicksilver and his sister, the Scarlett Witch, were bad guys following Magneto, then in 1965 they switched sides and joined the Avengers, then Quicksilver joined an offset of the X-Men called X-Factor in 1993. In order for Marvel to work around the previously established fact that Quicksilver (most recently seen in X-Men: Days of Future Past played by Evan Peters and soon to be seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his sister, the Scarlet Witch are mutants. Marvel needed to introduce the Inhumans years before their movie was released. If you follow Agents of Shield on ABC, you'll see the first Inhumans in the MCU at the end of their midseason finale.
While comic fans will miss Wolverine and other X-Men's involvement in the Infinity War, we can look forward to some completely new and original film making in the Inhumans movie and the Infinity War.
*********************
Rumor Report time: this is kind of on the topic of the Inhumans. Vin Diesel has been possibly dropping clues about his involvement in yet another Marvel movie. Rumors are flying that he will be playing King Black Bolt in the Inhumans movie. This actually makes a lot of sense because of 2 things:
1. Everyone already knows that Vin Diesel did the voice of Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy.
2. Playing Black Bolt would allow Diesel to appear on screen as a major character and not be confused with the voice of another. Simply because Black Bolt doesn't speak! One of Black Bolt's powers is a quasi-sonic scream. A simple whisper could tear you apart.
Oh, and do you know the best part about Black Bolt? His full name is Blackagar Boltagon. HAHAHA I love it!
Marvel recently released a time line of movies all the way up to 2020. 1 of those movies comes in 2 parts. Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War Part 2. With the only facts that we have being the titles of the movies, we're left to our assumptions. So, naturally, those of us that are into this sort of thing, assume and speculate the heck out of it! We assume that the story line that the producers will follow will be lifted straight from the comic book it's based on (we always assume this, which is why most super fans get so upset over a movie release). The announcement from Marvel is full of assumption and speculation with the 2 part Infinity War being at the top of the list. We all assume that every character from the recently released movies and the future released movies will be involved, because that's what happened in the comic books. Here is where we run into a problem. Both Spider-Man and the X-Men played major parts in the Infinity War story, and neither franchise is currently owned by Marvel.
Now, here's why I love Marvel so much. Instead of scratching out an entire population of characters that were the X-Men and mutants of the Marvel Universe, Marvel was forced to get creative. Enter The Inhumans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhumans#History. The Inhumans are a race of crossbred humans and aliens with super powers that cannot be triggered unless these people are exposed to something called the Terrigen Mist. In the comics, the Inhumans began as a small race of people, namely just a royal family. Their King Black Bolt, his wife Medusa, Karnak, Gargan, Triton, Crystal, Lockjaw, and Maximus the Mad are all part of this royal family and represent the old generation of Inhumans who once reigned on earth. They lived quietly in a technologically advanced hidden city called Attilan, until Black Bolt decided to abandon their city and moved the family to the Blue Area of the Moon (an oxygenated section on the dark side of the moon).
I'm sure you're asking, "how does a family of super powered humans fill in for the X-Men and other mutants?" Yes, the mutants of the Marvel Universe made up a very large portion of Earth's population, until recently. Several years ago a story line was published where the climax included the mutant population being lowered from millions to only a few hundred. Well, Marvel's answer came in the form of the Inhumanity storyline, where several Terrigen bombs exploded around the world and triggered the powers of millions of unaware Inhumans. Thus giving birth to a population of super heroes and villains completely owned and controlled by Marvel. Brilliant.
They've also worked out a way to use Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch in the Avengers movies without Fox throwing a hissy fit over the fact that both of those characters are also members of the X-Men. Originally Quicksilver and his sister, the Scarlett Witch, were bad guys following Magneto, then in 1965 they switched sides and joined the Avengers, then Quicksilver joined an offset of the X-Men called X-Factor in 1993. In order for Marvel to work around the previously established fact that Quicksilver (most recently seen in X-Men: Days of Future Past played by Evan Peters and soon to be seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his sister, the Scarlet Witch are mutants. Marvel needed to introduce the Inhumans years before their movie was released. If you follow Agents of Shield on ABC, you'll see the first Inhumans in the MCU at the end of their midseason finale.
While comic fans will miss Wolverine and other X-Men's involvement in the Infinity War, we can look forward to some completely new and original film making in the Inhumans movie and the Infinity War.
*********************
Rumor Report time: this is kind of on the topic of the Inhumans. Vin Diesel has been possibly dropping clues about his involvement in yet another Marvel movie. Rumors are flying that he will be playing King Black Bolt in the Inhumans movie. This actually makes a lot of sense because of 2 things:
1. Everyone already knows that Vin Diesel did the voice of Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy.
2. Playing Black Bolt would allow Diesel to appear on screen as a major character and not be confused with the voice of another. Simply because Black Bolt doesn't speak! One of Black Bolt's powers is a quasi-sonic scream. A simple whisper could tear you apart.
Oh, and do you know the best part about Black Bolt? His full name is Blackagar Boltagon. HAHAHA I love it!
First Fan Question!!!
I recieved my first question!
mary brinkofski @brinkofski
20 minutes ago
Midland Park, NJ
@SuperNerdyNews cool! Had questions about Fox's GOTHAM series. Keeping true to the legend of Bat Man? What do u think of the portrayals?
mary brinkofski
A break down of Super Hero Cinematic Universes
Marvel (owned by Disney) currently consists of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.); Captain America (Chris Evans); Thor (Chris Hemsworth); the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo); Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson); and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) collectively known as The Avengers. There is also the cosmic side to the MCU, which are The Guardians of the Galaxy: Star-Lord (Chris Pratt); Gamora (Zoe Saldana); Draxx the Destroyer (Dave Batista); Rocket Racoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel).
Marvel's main competition is DC (owned by Warner Brothers). DC heroes include Superman (Henry Cavill) Batman (fomerly Christian Bale and now Ben Affleck); Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot); Green Arrow or just Arrow (played on tv by Stephen Amell, no mention of movie version yet); The Flash (played on tv by Grant Gustin and in the movies by Ezra Miller); Green Lantern (last played by Ryan Reynolds, no mention of a new actor yet); Aquaman (to be played by Jason Momoa of Games of Thrones fame).
Here is where it gets a little confusing. Marvel publishes comics for more characters than they have the movie rights to. Here's the breakdown:
20th Century Fox owns the rights to: The X-Men, Wolverine, Deadpool, and the Fantastic Four
Sony owns the rights to: Spider-Man and all characters contained within the spider-man story lines, including the Sinister Six and Venom.
Disney also owns the rights to Star Wars (next movie to be released December 2015!!!!) and Indiana Jones. A rumor started to spread that part of Harrison Ford's deal for the new Star Wars films included another (or 2 more) Indiana Jones movies in which he passes the torch to a new actor. That would open the door to a whole new Indy franchise! Very exciting!
The exciting thing here is that every character mentioned will be featured in a movie! Marvel announced their line-up of releases all the way up to 2020, so did Warner Bros. Fox plans on releasing X-Men Apocalypse in 2016 and a rebooted Fantastic Four in 2015, and has mentioned plans for a 3rd Wolverine solo film.
In my honest opinion, I am not at all looking forward to a new Fantastic Four or Wolverine. The reboot of fantastic four seems to be Fox trying real hard to not give the rights back to Marvel and therefore possibly destroying Marvel's first family. (Marvel comics has since cancelled the Fantastic Four comic book and all marketing of the team). I was never that big of a fan anyway, and the other 2 movies were pretty crappy. I don't see the movie doing very well.
As for Wolverine. This situation is just a real shame. I am a HUGE Wolverine fan, and don't get me wrong, I like Hugh Jackman. But not Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Wolverine is a vicious bad ass character, the movie version is way too domesticated. Anyway, all this for another time.
Marvel's main competition is DC (owned by Warner Brothers). DC heroes include Superman (Henry Cavill) Batman (fomerly Christian Bale and now Ben Affleck); Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot); Green Arrow or just Arrow (played on tv by Stephen Amell, no mention of movie version yet); The Flash (played on tv by Grant Gustin and in the movies by Ezra Miller); Green Lantern (last played by Ryan Reynolds, no mention of a new actor yet); Aquaman (to be played by Jason Momoa of Games of Thrones fame).
Here is where it gets a little confusing. Marvel publishes comics for more characters than they have the movie rights to. Here's the breakdown:
20th Century Fox owns the rights to: The X-Men, Wolverine, Deadpool, and the Fantastic Four
Sony owns the rights to: Spider-Man and all characters contained within the spider-man story lines, including the Sinister Six and Venom.
Disney also owns the rights to Star Wars (next movie to be released December 2015!!!!) and Indiana Jones. A rumor started to spread that part of Harrison Ford's deal for the new Star Wars films included another (or 2 more) Indiana Jones movies in which he passes the torch to a new actor. That would open the door to a whole new Indy franchise! Very exciting!
The exciting thing here is that every character mentioned will be featured in a movie! Marvel announced their line-up of releases all the way up to 2020, so did Warner Bros. Fox plans on releasing X-Men Apocalypse in 2016 and a rebooted Fantastic Four in 2015, and has mentioned plans for a 3rd Wolverine solo film.
In my honest opinion, I am not at all looking forward to a new Fantastic Four or Wolverine. The reboot of fantastic four seems to be Fox trying real hard to not give the rights back to Marvel and therefore possibly destroying Marvel's first family. (Marvel comics has since cancelled the Fantastic Four comic book and all marketing of the team). I was never that big of a fan anyway, and the other 2 movies were pretty crappy. I don't see the movie doing very well.
As for Wolverine. This situation is just a real shame. I am a HUGE Wolverine fan, and don't get me wrong, I like Hugh Jackman. But not Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Wolverine is a vicious bad ass character, the movie version is way too domesticated. Anyway, all this for another time.
The thing about Spider-Man is...
Welcome back!
So I'm just going to jump right in here. About a week or so ago rumors started circulating that Marvel Comics would soon be regaining the rights to the Spider-Man movie franchise. It turns out that Sony (the company that currently owns the rights and more recently brought us that terrible movie Amazing Spider-Man 2) was hacked and a large number of emails between executives were leaked online. Many of these emails contained conversations about the future of the Spider-Man franchise.
Now, Sony has seen a lot of success with Spider-Man. The first 3 movies with Sam Raimi directing and starring Tobey McGuire saw record breaking box office draws and gained critical acclaim. After the major let down of Spider-Man 3, and the departure of Raimi and McGuire; Sony felt it was best to reboot the franchise. A reboot is simply taking an already established character and starting over fresh.
This was only an ok idea. Batman Begins had been recently released and saw great success, so the idea of darkening the Spider-Man story from the cartoony feel of the first 3 movies seemed like a good decision. And it was... to a point. We went from a loveable nerdy Peter Parker to a socially awkward hipster skater Peter Parker played by Andrew Garfield. Other changes included were Peter developing and building his own webshooters, a big difference for superfans of the character. In the first 3 movies, Peter's new super powers included natural webs shooting from his wrist. The Amazing Spider-Man may have modernized the character of Peter Parker, but also stuck to the comic books as far as Peter's abilities.
The Amazing Spider-Man also saw success at the box office. Nothing like the first Spidey movies, but enough for Sony to produce a sequel. Now at this point, Marvel (owned by Disney) released The Avengers and completely changed the way the world would see Super Hero Movies. They introduced us to a shared universe. This means that they took popular characters in successful solo movies like Iron Man and Captain America and put them on screen together. Now, herein lies the problem for us super fans. Marvel Comics has been publishing Spider-Man comics since 1963, we are all well aware of how important he is to the Marvel Comic Universe (he really REALLY is). So for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to build up without Spider-Man is really hard to understand.
Sony saw the potential in what Marvel was doing and decided to do something similar with Spider-Man. Again, not a terrible idea, but poorly executed. In their attempt to build a universe around Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man, they rushed characters into The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the result was difficult to watch. Spidey faced off against not just 1 new villain, but 3! Instead of writing a story the fans new and old could get behind and enjoy, they gave us a melodrama between real life couple Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. In what should have been a film that built towards a huge battle between arch enemies Spider-Man and the Green Goblin and then teased a new movie to build the universe; we got a poorly written Goblin character, an underdeveloped Electro (played by Oscar Winner Jamie Foxx) and severly underused and possibly interesting character in The Rhino (played by Paul Giamatti). To top it all off, before the final box office numbers could be tallied, Sony released a statement that before we got an Amazing Spider-Man 3, we would get a Sinister Six movie and a Venom solo film. (The Sinister Six is a group of Spidey's villains that team up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinister_Six)(Venom is also a Spider-Man villain, possibly his most deadly and also very popular. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom_%28comics%29)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was met with mediocre reviews and a very poor fan reaction. The leaked emails from the Sony hack would go on to reveal that Sony execs had been and would continue to meet with execs from Disney to possibly bring Spider-Man into the MCU. This was huge news.
So far we can only speculate as to what these meetings are about and the potential of Spider-Man sharing a screen with The Avengers. Until then, any ideas on how Marvel could incorporate Spidey into an already established universe?
So I'm just going to jump right in here. About a week or so ago rumors started circulating that Marvel Comics would soon be regaining the rights to the Spider-Man movie franchise. It turns out that Sony (the company that currently owns the rights and more recently brought us that terrible movie Amazing Spider-Man 2) was hacked and a large number of emails between executives were leaked online. Many of these emails contained conversations about the future of the Spider-Man franchise.
Now, Sony has seen a lot of success with Spider-Man. The first 3 movies with Sam Raimi directing and starring Tobey McGuire saw record breaking box office draws and gained critical acclaim. After the major let down of Spider-Man 3, and the departure of Raimi and McGuire; Sony felt it was best to reboot the franchise. A reboot is simply taking an already established character and starting over fresh.
This was only an ok idea. Batman Begins had been recently released and saw great success, so the idea of darkening the Spider-Man story from the cartoony feel of the first 3 movies seemed like a good decision. And it was... to a point. We went from a loveable nerdy Peter Parker to a socially awkward hipster skater Peter Parker played by Andrew Garfield. Other changes included were Peter developing and building his own webshooters, a big difference for superfans of the character. In the first 3 movies, Peter's new super powers included natural webs shooting from his wrist. The Amazing Spider-Man may have modernized the character of Peter Parker, but also stuck to the comic books as far as Peter's abilities.
The Amazing Spider-Man also saw success at the box office. Nothing like the first Spidey movies, but enough for Sony to produce a sequel. Now at this point, Marvel (owned by Disney) released The Avengers and completely changed the way the world would see Super Hero Movies. They introduced us to a shared universe. This means that they took popular characters in successful solo movies like Iron Man and Captain America and put them on screen together. Now, herein lies the problem for us super fans. Marvel Comics has been publishing Spider-Man comics since 1963, we are all well aware of how important he is to the Marvel Comic Universe (he really REALLY is). So for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to build up without Spider-Man is really hard to understand.
Sony saw the potential in what Marvel was doing and decided to do something similar with Spider-Man. Again, not a terrible idea, but poorly executed. In their attempt to build a universe around Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man, they rushed characters into The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the result was difficult to watch. Spidey faced off against not just 1 new villain, but 3! Instead of writing a story the fans new and old could get behind and enjoy, they gave us a melodrama between real life couple Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. In what should have been a film that built towards a huge battle between arch enemies Spider-Man and the Green Goblin and then teased a new movie to build the universe; we got a poorly written Goblin character, an underdeveloped Electro (played by Oscar Winner Jamie Foxx) and severly underused and possibly interesting character in The Rhino (played by Paul Giamatti). To top it all off, before the final box office numbers could be tallied, Sony released a statement that before we got an Amazing Spider-Man 3, we would get a Sinister Six movie and a Venom solo film. (The Sinister Six is a group of Spidey's villains that team up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinister_Six)(Venom is also a Spider-Man villain, possibly his most deadly and also very popular. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom_%28comics%29)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was met with mediocre reviews and a very poor fan reaction. The leaked emails from the Sony hack would go on to reveal that Sony execs had been and would continue to meet with execs from Disney to possibly bring Spider-Man into the MCU. This was huge news.
So far we can only speculate as to what these meetings are about and the potential of Spider-Man sharing a screen with The Avengers. Until then, any ideas on how Marvel could incorporate Spidey into an already established universe?
Welcome to Super Nerdy News Not Just Nerds!
Hi there potential follower and welcome to the first post of Super Nerdy News!
My name is Mike and I am your guide through the infinite universes of (most) things nerdy. From Comic Books and their movies to Star Wars and Indiana Jones, I will take my deep knowledge and bridge the gap between expert and novice. Hopefully this will help superfans communicate better with their friends and family who have only a small interest in the subject, and maybe even make them new fans as well!
For example, my wife and I were recently watching Guardians of the Galaxy (I love this movie). My wife tries very hard to keep pace with me on all these recent Comic Book Movies, but there is a lot of background info on these characters that the movies just don't have time to get into and therefore she has many questions. We started with general questions such as the 2 major Comic Book publishing companies Marvel Comics and DC Comics and broke it down to what Super Heroes belonged to which publishing Universe. IE Spider-Man is from Marvel, while Batman is from DC, or Iron Man is from Marvel and Superman is from DC etc...
So, I hope to do the same for you! Send me any questions that you want answered and I will use my vast knowledge to help you. If I don't know the answer, I will consult with another expert in the subject. I will also post my own topics, along with rumors and news headlines from the Nerd World. I will read through the rumors, respond with my findings, offer my opinion and explain why this news excites/angers the fans. There are a lot of rumors and news every day, so I should have a new post fairly often. I consider myself to be an amateur expert on Comic Books and their Cinematic Universe(s), and a huge fan willing to learn more about others.
I am very excited to get this started! So stick with me and I'll take you to every corner of the Galaxies in a language we can all understand!
My name is Mike and I am your guide through the infinite universes of (most) things nerdy. From Comic Books and their movies to Star Wars and Indiana Jones, I will take my deep knowledge and bridge the gap between expert and novice. Hopefully this will help superfans communicate better with their friends and family who have only a small interest in the subject, and maybe even make them new fans as well!
For example, my wife and I were recently watching Guardians of the Galaxy (I love this movie). My wife tries very hard to keep pace with me on all these recent Comic Book Movies, but there is a lot of background info on these characters that the movies just don't have time to get into and therefore she has many questions. We started with general questions such as the 2 major Comic Book publishing companies Marvel Comics and DC Comics and broke it down to what Super Heroes belonged to which publishing Universe. IE Spider-Man is from Marvel, while Batman is from DC, or Iron Man is from Marvel and Superman is from DC etc...
So, I hope to do the same for you! Send me any questions that you want answered and I will use my vast knowledge to help you. If I don't know the answer, I will consult with another expert in the subject. I will also post my own topics, along with rumors and news headlines from the Nerd World. I will read through the rumors, respond with my findings, offer my opinion and explain why this news excites/angers the fans. There are a lot of rumors and news every day, so I should have a new post fairly often. I consider myself to be an amateur expert on Comic Books and their Cinematic Universe(s), and a huge fan willing to learn more about others.
I am very excited to get this started! So stick with me and I'll take you to every corner of the Galaxies in a language we can all understand!
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